In brief

Housing census from April 15
CHANDIGARH: The Directorate of Census Operations will conduct houselisting and housing census in Chandigarh from April 15 to May 31. During the house listing,which is a pre-requisite to population enumeration,data on amenities is collected for assessing living conditions. The department would conduct population census from February 9 to 28 next year,followed by revision session from March 1 to 5. Population census provides trends in the population and its various characteristics,which are an essential input for planning of the country.

Conference on Punjabi literature on Sunday
PATIALA: The World Punjabi Centre (WPC),Punjabi University,Patiala,in collaboration with the Sahitya Academy,New Delhi,is organising a two-day international seminar on ‘Transnational Punjabi Literature and Culture: Challenges and Opportunities’ on campus from Sunday. The seminar will be inaugurated by Punjab Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal,and will be presided over by Vice-Chancellor Jaspal Singh. Delegates attending the seminar include Fakhar Zaman,chairman,Pakistan Academy of Letters,J S Dhaliwal,and Gurumel,presidents of the Canada and the US chapters of the WPC,respectively,Anne Murphy from the University of British Columbia,Canada,Manmohan,First Secretary,Indian High Commission to Afghanistan,Patrick Frolicher from Germany,Minakshi Verma from France,Veena Verma,Darshan Dheer and Devinder Kaur from the UK,Amar Jyoti from Holland,Kirpal Singh Pannu from Canada and Dr Sawraj Singh from the US.

Employees of insurance firms stage protest
CHANDIGARH: Employees of the public sector general insurance companies have threatened to intensify their agitation if the demand for wage revision was not met. A demonstration was staged by employees working in various insurance companies in Chandigarh on Wednesday and protesters complained that their wages should commensurate with the growth and profitability of their institutions. Vivek Kumra,a spokesperson of the Joint Action Committee of the public sector association,said: “There have been five rounds of discussions with the companies. The last such meeting took place in December in Kolkata but the companies have not made a suitable offer yet. If the demands are not met,we shall continue the protest.”  

BJP city unit announces names of office-bearers
CHANDIGARH: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has announced names of office-bearers for its city unit. Raghubir Lal Arora,Desraj Gupta,Asha Verma,Heera Negi and Mukesh Bassi have been named as the vice-presidents. Ratinder Tyagi is the organising secretary,while Satinder Singh and Arun Sood are the general secretaries. The secretaries are Sachin Lohtia,Farmila,Ramnik Sharma,Ramesh Nikku,Ram Lal and Asha Jaiswal. Girdhari Lal Jindal has been named the treasurer. B K Kapoor and Lalit Sangar would be the media spokespersons while Prem Kaushik will be the office secretary.

Sanitation drive held in Sector 35
CHANDIGARH: The Municipal Corporation,along with members of the resident welfare association of Sector 35,held a cleanliness drive in the area on Wednesday. The drive was flagged off by area councillor Harjinder Kaur. She urged residents to own up to responsibility to dispose of their waste through a door-to-door collector. A rally was also taken out to spread awareness to segregate dry and wet waste. Pamphlets were also distributed with solid waste management tips.

IT township to come up in Mohali
CHANDIGARH: An integrated IT township is being developed over 220 acres in Mohali. The township,christened Yellowstone Landmark Infocity,is being developed at a cost of around Rs 1,200 crore by Sukhm Infrastructures Private Limited,a Chandigarh-based company. “The company will invest Rs 600 crore in the first phase of the project,which will be developed over 100 acres by March 2010. The township will feature plots for IT/ITES/industrial use and built-to-suit sites for IT companies. In addition,the township will also offer residential villas and flats,a multiplex,hotels,markets and a club. The project will be fully developed over the next five years,” said Managing Director Tejinder Bhatia. The company is working with Infotech,the state government’s IT department,to woo firms.

Missing PU law student’s father files petition,HC issues notice to UT SSP
CHANDIGARH: The Punjab and Haryana High Court has issued a notice to Chandigarh Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) and directed the Station House Officer (SHO) of the Sector-17 police station to appear in court on the next date of hearing two weeks later. The directions have been issued by Justice Harbans Lal on a petition filed by Jagdish Rai Wadhwa,a resident of Muktsar. The petitioner has alleged that his son Raghav Wadhwa,a student of law at Panjab University,had been missing since January 5 and the UT police had failed to trace his whereabouts. The petitioner has also demanded a CBI probe into the case and accused the Chandigarh Police of inaction. Taking stock of the contentions,the court has directed the SHO of Sector 17,Chandigarh,to remain present in court with the entire case record.

Unemployed youth torches his car
Chandigarh: Following an argument with his parents over a petty issue,a youth in Mauli Jagran torched his car here on Wednesday. The incident took place around noon when 25-year-old Dhamma,set his Maruti car on fire while it was parked at his residence. No one was injured in the incident. The police have registered a daily diary report in this regard. The altercation of Dhamma with his parents arose over a petty issue when his father asked him to summon the laboureres who failed to turn up at their residence for some construction work. The police said that Dhamma got perturbed when his father asked him to do work. “We rushed to the spot as soon as we got the information that a car has been set on fire. It turned out to be case of family dispute. We have registered a daily diary report and are probing all angles,” said Gurmukh Singh,in-charge,Mauli Jagran police post.

‘Forensic science is crucial in solving criminal cases’
PATIALA: Forensics is backbone of the criminal justice delivery system which fights crime. Future forensic planning has to be formulated keeping in view that forensics are no more to be viewed as a tool for post-incident analysis. It is to be used as a pre-incident analysing tool to detect/prevent crime. Preventive forensics would play a major role in criminal justice system. The potential of forensic science must be harnessed to nip in the bud the plans of terrorists,as traditional methods failed to handle them some times. This was stated by P S Gill,Director General of Police,Punjab,while delivering the valedictory address on the occasion of International Symposium on Emerging Trends in Forensic Science organised by the Department of Forensic Science Punjabi University,Patiala. He said criminals have also gone hi-tech with time and their detection is possible only through hi-tech forensics. Gill said that with narco analysis combined with lie detection test and brain wave analysis techniques,the information stored in the brain can be revealed. The future plans of terrorists can be assessed and action can be initiated to prevent occurrence of crime.

Five-year-old girl abducted
MOHALI: five-year-old girl was abducted from outside her house in Phase X here late on Wednesday evening. Mehak,daughter of A G Chhina,was playing outside her house when some unidentified persons allegedly kidnapped her around 8 pm,Phase XI SHO Sub-Inspector Sukhwinder Singh told Newsline. The family called the police,which sounded an alert across the district and also neighbouring places. All entry and exit points of Mohali were sealed and vehicles passing through were thoroughly screened. No clue was,however,found till the filing of the report.

306 units of blood donated in Ambala
Ambala: NSS student volunteers and teachers donated 306 units of blood at a blood donation camp organised by the NSS Unit of Ambala Cantonment SD College in collaboration with Career Launcher on Wednesday. Donors included Rajinder Garg and Principal Deshbandhu who donated blood for the 144th and 44th time respectively. A team of doctors,led by Dr Usha Rao from the Blood Transfusion department,PGI Chandigarh,collected the blood.

Muslims stage protest against Wakf board
Ambala: Members of the minority community,under the banner of Muslim Kalyan Committee,Haryana,held a demonstration near head office of the Haryana Wakf Board here on Wednesday. The demonstrators raised slogans against the bureaucratic behaviour of the board authorities for not solving problems of the Muslims by not accepting the demands brought to their notice. The demonstration was led by MKCH president Harphool Bhatti. The main demand included illegal occupation of lands of Muslim graveyards and mosques by land mafia in connivance with board officials.

‘Govt planning exemplary action against Rathore-like officers’
CHANDIGARH: Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Ajay Maken,while replying to a question on former Haryana DGP S P S Rathore,in the Rajya Sabha said the government proposes to take exemplary action against such officers. Rathore is convicted of molesting teenager Ruchika Girhotra. Maken’s answer,however,did not elaborate on the said proposal.
He said the Haryana government had provided information regarding three FIRs registered against Rathore. The complaint against a few other officers also alleged that they entered into a conspiracy and in pursuance thereof,forged statements and other records were produced during the inquest proceedings conducted after death of Ruchika. “The Haryana government later recommended a CBI probe into the cases and accordingly,three FIRs against Rathore were registered,” Maken said.  

‘Communication skills decisive in choosing managers’
CHANDIGARH: A three-day workshop on effective communication by Taleem India,in collaboration with the British Library,began on Wednesday at the British Library. Jaiprakash Singh,one of the founding members of Taleem,spoke on the importance of holding such workshops. He shared that in a survey of recruiters from companies with more than 50,000 employees,communication skills were cited as the single most important decisive factor in choosing managers.

Woman’s death: Irate relatives block NH-21
KHARAR: The relatives of a newly wed woman Harpreet Kaur (19),who was allegedly beaten to death by her in-laws,blocked the National Highway-21 here on Wednesday evening and held a massive demonstration against,what they alleged as,delay in conducting the post-mortem of the deceased. The irate protestors squatted on the middle of the busy highway near bus stand chowk and began raising slogans against the local administration. The protest,which began around 4 pm,lasted for over half-an-hour before Kharar SHOs Harsimrat Singh Bal and Tarlochan Singh managed to pacify them by assuring immediate autopsy examination. Harpreet’s maternal uncle Paramjeet Singh,who had adopted her,alleged that Kharar Civil Hospital and Chandigarh PGIMER authorities were passing the buck to each other but nobody was ready to conduct the autopsy examination citing jurisdiction dispute.
However,Kharar SHO Sadar,after managing to disperse the protesters,prevailed upon Kharar Civil Hospital authorities,who formed a board of three doctors to conduct autopsy examination before handing over the body to her maternal uncle.

To meet police’s demand for sniffer dogs,pet medical centre to train Labradors and German Shepherds in Panchkula
Panchkula: In order to meet Haryana’s demand for sniffer dogs,the Pet Animal Medical Center-cum-Teaching Hostel here will breed Labradors and German Shepherds and get them trained. For the purpose,the centre will hire a special trainer from Meerut Cantonment.
“There is a huge demand for sniffer dogs in the state. We will bring pure breeds of Labradors and German Shepherd and get them trained,” Dr M R Singla,officer in-charge of the center,said. “As we do not have a special trainer for the purpose,we will get a master trainer from Meerut Cantonment.” “We plan to provide ten sniffer dogs in the first phase,” he added. “We aim at training around 100 dogs,which can be used for police and military services.”
The medical center also runs a grooming salon for pets of the district. “We have services like hair-cutting,shampoo bath,tick bath,normal bath,pedicure,ear-cleaning and hydrotherapy for dogs suffering from paralysis,” Dr Singla said. “Two to five 5 dogs visit the salon every day.” At the salon,rates for various services vary from Rs 50 to Rs 250.

Body of missing boy found
Ferozepur: A student of Class IX of Manav Mandir School in Ferozepur district,who was missing since February 11,was found dead in Sriganganagar on Tuesday evening. His body was fished out of a nearby canal.The body of the boy,Shubam,had multiple injuries and the thumb of his left hand had been cut off. His neck bone was also broken and it seemed that attempts were made to take out one of his eyes,sources said.He had received a call on his mobile phone on February 11. He walked out of the house while talking on the phone and never returned. The police is investigating the call details of his phone. His father Narayan Singh said,” We were shocked to see the body. I do not know who could have done this to my son.” SSP S P Parmar told The Indian Express,” We are still waiting for the post mortem report,but it seems he was first murdered and then thrown in the canal.”

Class XII student commits suicide
HOSHIARPUR: A student of Class XII committed suicide by consuming a poisonous substance on Wednesday. Mahalpur SHO Harjeet Singh said Kanik Bali,a resident of Ward No 9,had gone to attend his tuition in the morning and on his way back,he consumed something poisonous. He was taken to the civil hospital in Mahalpur and later referred to the Hoshiarpur civil hospital,where he died. His father Kamaljeet Bali said he was under stress due to the board examinations which are to start from March 2.