In Brief

Man gets 10-yr jail term for rape,kidnap
A man was sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment and asked to pay a compensation of Rs 50,000 to the victim along with Rs 25,00 fine,in a rape and abduction case at a district court here on Monday. The court of Raj Shekhar Attri,Additional District and Sessions Judge,sentenced Suresh Kumar for raping his neighbour in Ramdarbar in March this year after making her unconscious.

According to the case history,Suresh had gone to the neighbouring house of the 18-year-old girl and committed the act after making her eat samosa laced with some intoxicating substance.

When the girl became pregnant,she was taken to Partapgarh in Uttar Pradesh and asked to undergo abortion. However,the abortion did not materialise and the girl subsequently came back to Chandigarh and lodged a complaint on March 23,against Suresh for raping and abducting her while his wife Pushpa was accused of criminal conspiracy. However,Pushpa was acquitted by the court.

Foundation stone of LPG station laid
The foundation stone of an LPG station to be developed by Indian Oil Corporation was laid in Sector 21 on Monday. At present,there are two auto LPG dispensing stations in the city. The foundation stone was laid by IOC Chairman Sarthak Behuria. The pump would also have retail outlet facilities.

Blood donation camp held
As many as 69 units of blood were collected during a blood donation camp held to commemorate the martyrdom day of Bhai Mati Dass. The camp in Sector 37 was organised by Bharat Scouts and Punjab Guides’ Association. A team of doctors from PGI was present.

Technical education,IT festival held
Nearly 750 students from 27 technical institutes,including the Punjabi University and Thapar University,participated at a state-level festival of technical education and information technology organised at M M Modi College,Patiala. While inaugurating the event,Manjit Singh Narang,Patiala Municipal Corporation Commissioner,laid stress on the relevance of such events in a modern technology-oriented world. Kanwaljit Singh,director,University Computer Centre,Punjabi University,presided over the morning session of the festival. Gurpreet Singh Lehal,director,Advanced Centre for Technical Development of Punjabi Language,Literature and Culture,Punjabi University,released a souvenir on the occasion.

BJP workers protest against Ambala police
Hundreds of BJP workers,led by local MLA Anil Vij,gheroaed the Ambala Cantonment police station to express their resentment against the excesses of the police and assault of a party activist. The protest continued for more than three hours. No senior police officer arrived at the spot. Vij condemned the role of Ambala police during the blockade laid by BJP workers at Indira Chowk on Sunday night to protest against the misbehaviour of BC Bazar police post incharge while on duty. He alleged that the police official had misbehaved with a party activist and torn off his clothes. The blockade on National Highway number 1 and 73 led to a traffic jam for several hours. The SDM and DSP had intervened and assured of action against the erring police official. The BJP MLA alleged that the police instead registered a case against around 250 workers,including himself. SP Bharati Arora,meanwhile,said cases were registered against the workers under different sections of the IPC as they had violated the law by blocking the highway and inconvenienced the public.

Punjabi University Academic Staff College shifts to new building
Punjabi University Vice-Chancellor Jaspal Singh inaugurated the new building of the Academic Staff College (ASC) on the campus on Monday. The building houses a lecture theatre,a library and a computer lab,equipped with 25 computers and an LCD projector. Speaking on the occasion,Singh said UGC had sanctioned Rs 75 lakh for constructing a 35-room guest house in addition to new infrastructure required for the ASC. “We are also likely to get a Centre for the Study of Disabilities,a proposal which has already been sent to the Union Ministry of Human Resource Development,” he said. Registrar S S Khehra and ASC Director N K Dogra said Punjabi University has excelled by conducting two orientation and three refresher courses in a span of about seven months. The university is one of the nine institutes in the country,which were allotted ASCs by the UGC in 2009,for conducting refresher and orientation courses for in-service teachers of universities and affiliated colleges.

Martyrdom Day of Guru Tegh Bahadur observed in Shivalik Public School
Shivalik Public School observed the Martyrdom Day of Guru Tegh Bahadur on Monday by paying rich tributes to the Sikh guru. A powerpoint presentation was shown to all students of Class VI-VIII based on the life of the revered guru. An inter-section quiz competition was also conducted later. 

PhD application of Akali leader’s wife: Panjab University Fellows to discuss issue
The PhD case of an Akali leader’s wife will be taken up by Fellows in the Panjab University Syndicate meeting scheduled in the first week of December. The Syndicate members say both the university Registrar and Dean University Instructions should be asked to explain their version of the story as V-C Professsor RC Sobti has accused them of surpassing him in this particular issue and couple of other matters.