In Brief

Two Maruti staffers die in car crash
Two staffers,working for a Maruti Suzuki local dealer,died after a brand new Swift car in which they were travelling,rammed into a tree at the Kharar-Ludhiana National Highway-95 near Bhagomajra village on Friday afternoon. The accident took place around 12.20 pm,when victims Surinder Singh and Mehraj Khan,both in their early 20s,were out on a test drive after conducting the car’s first free service. As they reached near a liquor shop,the front left tyre of the car suddenly burst,following which Surinder lost control over the car and it rammed into a tree,Investigating Officer (IO) Gurwinder Singh told Newsline. “Supervisor Surinder Singh,a resident of Desumajra village and mechanic Mehraj of Sirmaur in Himachal Pradesh,were immediately rushed to the Kharar Civil Hospital,where they were declared dead on arrival,” said Singh. Eyewitnesses said the impact of the collision was so strong that after ramming into the tree,the car took a U-turn and fell into a gorge on the side of the highway. The mangled remains of the damaged car had to be cut to pull out the bodies. The police have initiated inquest proceedings under Section 174 of the CrPC and the bodies have been at hospital for autopsy,which will be conducted on Saturday.

Two snatchings within minutes,pizza delivery boy robbed
Three snatchings were reported in quick succession at Sector 11,24 and 35 around 11.15 pm on Friday. Two youths on a black Pulsar bike first snatched a purse containing cash,documents and a mobile phone from two girls on a rickshaw at gunpoint near the Punjab Engineering College in Sector 11. The youth who was driving took out a revolver threatening the girls. The number of the bike could not be noted down. Minutes after this incident,the youths struck at Sector 24. They snatched a chain and earrings at gunpoint from a girl. The SHO of the Sector-11 police station reached the spot and investigations were on till the filing of this report. Meanwhile,another snatching was reported by a delivery boy of Dominos Pizza near the Sector 35/36 small roundabout. This time,youths in a Skoda car snatched the pizza parcel worth Rs 3,200 and Rs 4,600 cash from the scooter-borne youth.

Pbi varsity Dean to attend Journalism Council
The World Journalism Council,a coalition of 29 academic associations worldwide,has invited Navjit Singh Johal to take part in 2nd World Journalism Education Congress,which will be held in South Africa from July 5 to 7. Johal is at present Head,Department of Journalism and Mass Communication and Dean,Faculty of Education and Information Science at Punjabi University,Patiala.

GMCH doctors to enjoy privileges at par with PGI,AIIMS counterparts
The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has approved adoption of the Central Residency Scheme for junior resident and senior resident doctors of the Government Medical College and Hospitals (GMCH),such as PGI and AIIMS. The approval was received on Friday,said director principal of GMCH,Prof Raj Bahadur. Earlier,junior and senior resident doctors at GMCH were not eligible to get privileges,including monetary compensation,unlike the resident doctors of PGIMER Chandigarh,AIIMS and Central Health Services under the Central Residency Scheme. “The GMCH was started in 1991 and remained attached with the Government Multi-Speciality Hospital,Sector 16,Chandigarh till June 25,1997. The UT Administrator had accorded permission to switch over to Central Residency Scheme on June 25,1997,essentially from the time when the hospital started functioning on its own premises,in anticipation of the formal approval of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare,” said the director. “With this approval,resident doctors of GMCH will have all privileges that are due to them,” he added.

MC proposes to invite bids for Night Food Street kiosks
The Chandigarh Municipal Corporation might revert to the system of inviting bids for kiosks at the Night Food Street near PGI. In a meeting held on Friday,the Finance and Contract Committee asked officials to prepare a report on the issue.

The decision comes as an effort to prevent Night Food Street from dying a slow death. While two of the eight kiosks are vacant,other kiosk owners have been defaulting in payment of rent. The primary reason is the high price at which kiosks were auctioned. The shopowners complained about not being able to pay the rent and hiked the prices of food items. The civic body has served notices to the defaulters and other kiosk owners are also on the verge of giving up their stalls. Members of the committee have decided that a musical fountain would be installed in the Nehru Park in Sector 22 at a cost of Rs 35 lakh. The historic park was given a makeover last year. The report of an tussle at the parking lot near Bank Square in Sector 17 was also discussed. The committee also decided that the sub-divisional officers who were given the task of checking mid-day meals be exempted from the duty.