City Briefs: Bikram Jit Singh’s 39th birthday celebrated at Plaza

Student’s magazine launched at Book Fair

CHANDIGARH: To promote young writers,chairperson of the Chandigarh Sahitya Academy,Manju Zaidka,released ‘Miracle’ — a magazine written by Gintaj Arora,a student of Sacred Heart Senior Secondary School (Sector 26) at the Chandigarh Book Fair on Thursday. Arora,inspired by poets like T S Eliot,Ezra Pound and Vikram Seth,has been awarded twice by the renowned Poetry Society of United Kingdom (UK) for her poems. A literary and arts magazine,‘Miracle’ has contributions from all over the world. ENS

Electricity Commission revises regulations

Chandigarh: Bringing relief for electricity consumers,the Joint Electricity Regulatory Commission (JERC) notified amendments in some regulations,after demands from several organisations since the last few years.

While earlier anyone applying for 35 kw power connection was asked to get a separate transformer,the condition has been changed. Now,a separate transformer is required for connections of 100 kw and more. The penalty imposed on consumers for non-declaration of load has been reduced to Rs 250 per kw. Earlier consumers had to pay penalty running into lakhs of rupees. It has further been decided that in cases of connected load of LT consumers,including domestic consumers,that are found to be at variance from sanctioned or contracted load as a result of increase of load will not be considered unauthorised use of electricity. R P Singla,Technical Adviser of National Consumer Awareness Group said it is the victory of associations actively involved with the cause.

Three Babbar Khalsa members get jail terms

MOHALI: A Mohali court on Thursday sentenced two persons to 10 year’s imprisonment and one person to three year’s imprisonment for being members of a terrorist organisation.

Jagmohan Singh and Darshan Singh,were held guilty by the court of Additional District and Sessions Judge Manjot Kaur and were also asked to pay a fine of Rs 5,000 each. The third accused,Harpreet Singh,has also been asked to pay the same compensation. All three were convicted for raising funds for a terrorist organisation,conspiracy and for their links with Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) under Sections 17,18 and 20 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. Meanwhile,a fourth in the case was acquitted by the court for lack of evidence.

The four were caught in September 2009 near the PCA stadium in Phase 9 after police got a tip-off that BKI leaders had sent a gang to cause unrest in the state. A .30 bore pistol,15 live cartridges and an Indica car were recovered from their possession after which a case was registered with the Phase 8 police.

Bhola aide arrested,sent to 5-day custody

Chandigarh: Jagdeep Singh,an accomplice of recently-arrested druglord Jagdish Bhola,was arrested by the Patiala Police and was produced before a Mohali court on Thursday. He was remanded in five-day police custody. Jagdeep was booked for illegal possession of drugs on May 15 in Banur along with several others.

Former PGI dept head passes away

CHANDIGARH: Dr Kamala Dhall,former head of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at PGIMER,Chandigarh ,where she worked from 1964 to 1992,passed away Friday after prolonged illness. ENS

Four booked for duping man

Mohali: Police on Thursday booked four persons for duping a man of Rs 7.3 lakh on the pretext of selling him a plot. The accused have been identified as Mahinder Aggarwal,Tejinder Singh Bhatia,Rastogi,and Aprajeet Sachdeva,and have been booked under Sections 406,420 and 120B of the Indian Penal Code. All four accused are absconding. ENS

Man held for harassing daughter-in-law

Chandigarh: Police on Wednesday arrested a 55-year-old resident of Sector 29 for allegedly outraging the modesty of his daughter-in-law. The accused has been identified as Ajaib Singh.

Police said,the accused in the past,had tried to outrage the modesty of his 30-year-old daughter-in-law a couple of times. The victim told the police that her husband,who drives a three-wheeler,used to remain absent from the house during the day,while she would stay home with her in-laws.

The victim also said her mother-in-law used to remain silent on the actions of the accused. A case of criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty has been registered against the accused at Industrial Area police station. A total of 164 cases of outraging the modesty of a woman have already been registered by the Chandigarh police till November 7 this year as compared to 107 cases last year.