In Brief

General Deepak Kapoor visits HQ
Western Command
Chief of Army Staff General Deepak Kapoor visited HQ Western Command,Chandimandir,on Tuesday. He was received by GOC-in-C Western Command Lt Gen S R Ghosh and briefed on various operational training and administration matters. Gen Kapoor later interacted with officers and jawans and inquired about welfare activities. He was accompanied by Kirti Kapoor,president of the Army Family Welfare Organisation.

Pharmaceutical firm owner held for cheating
Sachin Kansal,owner of a local pharmaceutical company,was arrested on charges of cheating by the Maharashtra police on Tuesday. The police had acquired a production warrant from the court to arrest Kansal for non-payment of Rs 1.2 crore,which he owed to a firm in Maharashtra for supplying raw material. He has been remanded to police custody till February 19.

Centre to increase grant to PU
In a significant move,the Centre has decided to hike its share of the budget granted to Panjab University. The percentage increase,however,is yet to be decided by a committee constituted by the Prime Minister’s Office. The decision for the increase in share of grant has come in the wake of the recommendations of the UGC team that had visited the campus in November last year. The university had registered an expenditure of around Rs 150 crore in the last fiscal,which had led to a massive fiscal deficit of Rs 105 crore. For quite a while now,PU had been complaining of a severe fund crunch. Though both the Centre as well as the Punjab government had to share the estimated budget amount in the 60:40 ratio,both have been paying a fixed amount of Rs 30 crore and Rs 15 crore respectively for the past many years.

Minor seriously hurt in car crash
A minor boy sustained serious injuries when a recklessly driven car rammed into him near Balongi village late on Monday night. Thirteen-year-old Nitish,son of local businessman Ram Gupta,is struggling with life at Chandigarh PGIMER with critical head and other multiple injuries. The accident took place at around 11 pm when Nitish was standing outside his father’s shop and a speeding car rammed into him before hitting an electricity pole. Though two of the car occupants fled the spot,the third passenger helped take the victim to hospital,from where he disappeared. The police have impounded the car,from which a liquor bottle and glasses were found,and launched hunt to locate its occupants. Meanwhile,power supply to the Balongi market area remained suspended for almost the entire day on Tuesday due to the damaged electricity pole.

Two held for cheating
In an act of cheating and theft,two persons,one of them a minor,posed as experts in polishing jewellery and ran away with ornaments from a house in Sector 20 on Tuesday. The two entered a house telling the resident of the house that they were expert in washing gold ornaments. The two were later arrested by the police and charged with Section 406 (criminal breach of trust) of the Indian Penal Code.