In brief

Thief held,stolen goods recovered

KHARAR: The local police claimed to have solved at least four cases of snatchings and seven thefts with the arrest of Gurmeet Singh,a resident of Singhpura village near Kurali. Stolen ornaments and other articles worth Rs 2.22 lakh have reportedly been recovered from his possession. City SHO Sub-Inspector Tarlochan Singh saidd that after being arrested in a joint operation with the Crime Investigation Agency (CIA),the accused confessed to have snatched gold chains and committing thefts in residential areas of Kharar and Kurali. Gurmeet was put under sustained interrogation to solve more crime cases,the SHO added.

Truck driver electrocuted

MOHALI: A truck driver,Ravi Kumar,in his early 30s of Nawanshahr,was electrocuted after he came in contact with high voltage electricity wires at the transport area in Bhabat village on Monday. The accident took place around 8.30 am when Ravi found an electricity pole hanging precariously. He stopped to remove it but came in contact with live wires and died on the spot. The police have initiated inquest proceedings.

Vigilance inspector sent back to Chandigarh Police

CHANDIGARH: UT police Inspector S P S Sondhi,posted with the Vigilance department,was repatriated on Monday. The orders were issued by Chief Vigilance Officer Ram Niwas. Sondhi was transferred to the Vigilance department from Chandigarh Police earlier this year. Sources disclosed that Sondhi was handling certain sensitive cases,and his role as an investigating officer was under the scanner. “We had received certain complaints against Sondhi,which we got inquired into by our Intelligence Wing. We found that he was exceeding his official position and in one case even tried to influence the complainant to withdraw the complaint pending under investigation. Thus,we decided to repatriate him,” said a senior UT Administration official.

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Couple dies in road accident
ROPAR:A couple from Manimajra died in a road accident near Bharatgarh village on Monday afternoon. According to the police,the accident took place around 12.30 pm when Hari Singh (30) and his wife Kaushalya (30) were going on motorcycle to Anandpur Sahib. A truck (PB-12C-3817) collided with the motorcycle near Bharatgarh leading to the death of the couple on the spot. A case under Sections 279,304-A and 427 of the IPC against the driver has been registered at the Ropar Sadar police station.

Vehicle pile-up blocks NH-21
MOHALI:At least seven vehicles,including six cars and a bus,piled up after colliding with each other on the busy Mohali-Kharar stretch of National Highway-21 near Daon village on Monday evening,leaving the highway blocked for almost an hour. According to eyewitnesses,the accident took place around 5 pm when a car,moving towards Mohali,slammed the brakes to avoid collision with another vehicle but five other cars and a bus,coming from behind failed to stop in time and rammed into each other. Though no casualty or major injury to anybody was reported,the vehicles were badly damaged in the mishap. Traffic remained disrupted till 6 pm when the damaged vehicles were towed away from the highway.

Workshop on computers held
MOHALI:The Mohali Industries Association (MIA) organised a training workshop on computers for its members and their employees with GTZ-Cluster Pulse and ICFE at MIA Bhawan on Monday. The workshop will continue for five consecutive Saturdays and will cover the basics of computer application. The workshop was conducted by Gursimran Singh Oberoi Regional Manager,ICFE,followed by the training by Shalini Parmar,senior faculty,ICFE. The first module of the training was attended by a batch of 28 MIA members.

AIL student tops Punjabi University
MOHALI:A student of Army Institute of Law,Mohali,Jagbir Singh Mehndiratta,has secured the first position in the BA LLB exams conducted by Punjabi University,Patiala,for the term 2003-2008. He scored 3624 out of 5000 marks,making his aggregate soar at 72.48 per cent. The university will be conferring a gold medal to Jagbir,who had earlier been awarded the Best Researcher Award at the Amity National Moot Court Competition in 2005.

NSS camp concludes in Landran
MOHALI:A weeklong NSS camp concluded at Chandigarh College of Education in Landran village on Monday.  Bikram Singh Rana,Liaison Officer of NSS,Chandigarh Administration,was the chief guest on the occasion. The students presented a skit on drug de-addiction. The camp was inaugurated by environmentalist Baba Balbir Singh Seechewal.

Development projects worth Rs 12 cr approved
CHANDIGARH:The Chandigarh Administration approved various development projects,which will cost an approximate Rs 12 crore,on Monday. The projects include improvement and revamping of roads,construction of a new school and providing a Sewage Water Drainage (SWD) line in Industrial Area,Phase III. The projects were approved in a meeting chaired by UT Finance Secretary Sanjay Kumar. A new Government Primary School will come up in Pocket No 6,Manimajra,at an approximate cost of Rs 1.07 crore. The construction of the school has also been allotted. Another project with an estimated budget of Rs 86 lakh for providing SWD lines in the Industrial Area,Phase III,near Raipur Kalan village has also been cleared. In order to maintain and improve the quality of city roads,many projects for the development of roads have been given a nod. The roads to be repaired include the road dividing Sector 47 and Railway Line; between Sector 42 and 43; between Sector 46 and 47; the roundabout at Sector 25,25 West and Sector 38,38 (West); road between Sector 38 and 38 (West); recarpetting of Jan Marg along the slow carriageway,widening of the Sukhna Path (between Sector 19/27 and 20/30); between Sector 15 and 16 and between Sector 35 and 36.

Heavy fog cover disrupts rail traffic
AMBALA:Rail traffic was badly disrupted due to intense fog that engulfed the region on Monday. Over a dozen express and passenger trains ran behind their schedules by one to four hours. The old system of bursting crackers at the station to announce the arrival of trains was put into use once again as visibility was adversely affected and even the signal lights were not visible. The trains which ran late include Shatabadi,Jan Shatabadi,Unchahar,Himalayan Queen and Sachkhand Express,all late by an hour. Malwa Express was behind its scheduled time by two hours while Amarpali was late by four hours.