In Brief

Brother of Cong leader joins BJP
An NRI businessman Ramesh Chawla and brother of vice-president of Chandigarh territorial Congress committee Subhash Chawla joined the BJP on Monday at the party office in Sector 33. President of the city unit Sanjay Tandon and other office bearers were also present. Chawla said he joined the BJP because he was convinced about the policies and programmes of the party and its leadership.

PU mourns Shekhawat’s demise
The Panjab University on Monday held a condolence meeting on the demise of Bhairon Singh Shekhawat,who was the chancellor of the university from August 19,2002 to July 21,2007. Paying his homage to the former vice-president,Prof S C Vaidya,Dean,university instruction,said the country lost an excellent human being and a good administrator.

PU alumni to award 50 scholarships
The Panjab University Alumni Association (PUAA) will award 50 scholarships (25 each from colleges and university departments) and nine endowment stipends,along with trophies and certificates to students from various departments and colleges affiliated to the university. The annual general body meeting and scholarship award function of PUAA will be held on May 19 from 11.30 am onwards in the ICSSR Complex.

Student council elected in Gurukul Global School
Gurukul Global School,Manimajra,elected its student council on Monday. The aim was to familiarise students with the working of a democracy. Students were nominated for the post of captain,vice-captain and sports captain for the four houses — Dronacharya,Bhrigu,Vishwamitra and Parashar. The head boy,head girl and discipline in-charge were nominated by the principal. ENS

Notices to PSHRC for ‘illegal orders’
A division bench comprising Chief Justice Mukul Mudgal and Justice Jasbir Singh has issued notices to the Punjab State Human Rights Commission (PSHRC) on a petition filed by Karam Singh,resident of SAS Nagar. Singh has alleged that the commission has passed certain directions which it is not legally capable of. He has submitted that a news item had appeared in a Hindi daily which highlighted that due to few encroachments made by shopkeepers on Old Zirakpur-Kalka road,the road has shrunk in size only to 20 feet. The PSHRC took suo motu notice of the news and passed certain interim recommendations during the course of inquiry already pending with the local authorities.

Solar lights at Golden Temple: Work to begin by July 15
The Punjab Energy Development Authority will kickstart work to install solar lighting system at the Golden Temple by July 15. The Durgiana Temple,Wagah border and Jallianwala Bagh in Amritsar and the Vidhan Sabha and the Governor’s house in Chandigarh are next in line. PEDA chairman Manjit Singh on Monday said,“The electricity bill for Golden Temple is around Rs 25-30 lakh a month. By completing the first phase of work alone,we will be saving Rs 5 lakh. Both the state government as well as the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee are keen on the project.”

13 new tubewells for Ambala soon
As many as 13 new deep tubewells will be installed to solve drinking water supply problem of the Ambala Cantonment Assembly Constituency. Of these,construction work on two tubewells has already started. Disclosing this on Monday,local MLA and BJP Legislature Party leader Anil Vij said most tubewells had been sanctioned for outer area colonies and some villages,which were attached with this constituency after delimitation. He said canal-based water supply project,sanctioned in 2000,was likely to be completed by June 30 next year. Besides,two boosters were being installed to augment water supply to the walled city of the town. He said with commissioning of these boosters,water would start reaching overhead tanks.

Woman dies in train
A woman travelling in 2380 Amritsar-Kolkata Express died after complaining of stomach pain on Sunday night. According to railway sources,the woman suddenly felt unwell and complained of severe pain. She breathed her last before reaching the Ambala Cantonment station. The body has been to civil hospital for a postmortem.

Man,family booked on dowry charges
A man,his mother and some other members of his family were booked under the Dowry Act by the Ambala Cantonment,under orders from the court,on Monday. Teema alias Heena,who was married at Khanna Punjab in March 2009,has alleged she was harassed and tortured for dowry by her husband and in-laws. Meanwhile,a married woman,resident of sector 7 HUDA Colony,died under mysterious circumstances. Her parents have alleged she was poisoned by her in-laws.

Private bus operators on strike
Private bus operators observed complete strike and held a dharna in support of their demands on Monday. More than 55 buses didn’t ply. The drivers have submitted a memorandum of their demands to the deputy commissioner,which includes regularising routes under the new policy announced by the Haryana government last year. Meanwhile,owners of Maxicab,the three-wheelers,charged exorbitantly from passengers throughout the day.

Miscreants snatch gold chain from woman
Two miscreants on bike snatched gold chain from one Shweta,who was on her way to gurdwara Gobindnagar in Ambala City,early in the morning on Monday. She raised an alarm but the snatchers succeeded in escaping after stealing the chain. A complaint has been lodged.

Travel agents booked on cheating charges
The Maheshnagar police raided the suspected business centres and residences of the agents of Capital Emigration and Education Services in Ambala Cantonment to arrest travel agents on the complaint of one Anish Kumar,a resident of Amritsar. Yesterday,raids were conducted on the office of the agency from where 23 passports and 9 visa applications were seized. Anish had complained that the agency had promised to send him to Singapore on a job visa in February last but neither he was issued a visa nor money was given back to him. The police registered case under Sections 406,420 and 120 b of the IPC for cheating against Manish,Deepak,Gurdeep Singh,Nisha,Teenu,Seema and others.

Baddi,Parwanoo to see scheduled power cuts
Owing to shortage of electricity in Himachal Pradesh,the residents in the area are facing scheduled and unscheduled power cuts. Parwanoo will see outages of two hours every day and one-day cut in all feeders separately,said Sukhraj Sharma,Assistant Engineer,Himachal Pradesh Electricity Board in Parwanoo.

He further added that Sector-4 and adjoining village will be without power for two hours on Monday. On Tuesday,there will be cut in Sector-1 and Sector-2,on Wednesday there will be cut in Sector-5 while Sector-3 and 6 will remain without electricity on Thursday,Friday cut will be for Gabriel,Cosmo & T T R and on Saturday Kamli and Kadin will be without electricity.

Thief held in Panchkula
The district police have arrested one more accused in the dacoity case at Braham Rishi Ashram that took place in April. The police recovered one golden ring,five silver coins,Rs 1,800,a pair of shoes and a bag from the accused Badal. Badal,who is a resident of Una in Himachal Pradesh has been sent to judicial custody. Further investigations in the case are on.

Alchemist Hospitals opens hypertension clinic
The Alchemist Hospitals on Monday launched a hypertension clinic in the region. Speaking about the rising cases of hypertension senior cardiologist Dr Anurag Sharma said sedentary lifestyle along and increasing body weight was one of the major causes. There are over one billion obese people globally,and the statistics for children are equally alarming — one in six children is overweight. In India,over the past two decades,cases of hypertension have increased from 15 per cent to 35 per cent in different age group populations. In urban areas,the number of cases is double compared to rural India. As regards the sex ratio,it is slightly higher in males,Dr Sharma said. Since it is a silent disease,Sharma said,it can be controlled only through early detection and treatment. “People who are obese,diabetic,smokers and those who have chronic stress,sedentary lifestyle or a family history of hypertension are more prone to suffer from the disease,” he said.

He suggested proper medication and adoption of healthy lifestyle including regular exercise,eating green food and cutting down on salt as the remedial measures.

PCA pays income tax,bank accounts released
After having received income tax,the Income Tax officials released the three bank accounts belonging to Punjab Cricket Association today. The IT sleuths had freezed the three accounts last week,after PCA failed to pay tax worth over Rs 6.5 crore within the stipulated time. Income Tax Commissioner A K Kaushal confirmed the development. The department had attached accounts of PCA in three banks — HDFC,ICICI and PNB — under Section 226 of the Income Tax Act. The department had earlier asked PCA to pay tax on their income generated during 2002-03 and 2007-08,in December last year. The charitable status of PCA was withdrawn by the department last year,following its survey operations,which revealed that PCA was not maintaining separate books of accounts for its charitable activities. The bank accounts will be released in a day or two.

Corrigendum
In the news item titled “Resumption notices to 11 private schools” published in Chandigarh Newsline on May 13,it was inadvertently reported that UT Estate Office had issued a resumption notice to the Sector-44 St Xavier’s School for violating the EWS norms. No such notice has been issued to St Xavier’s School. The error is regretted. — ens

Mohali resident booked for pouring petrol on advocate
A Mohali resident was booked for allegedly pouring petrol on an advocate in the morning today. The accused,said to be mentally unfit and suffering from depression,believed that the advocate,who was his tenant,was casting an occult spell on him,the police said. The incident occurred on the road dividing Sector 41 and 42 here this morning,when the panic-stricken tenant ran for his life leaving his car behind. The police said the accused 32-year-old Ashwani Kumar of Phase IV,Mohali,was arrested on charges of attempt to murder under Section 307 of the Indian Penal Code on a complaint lodged by his tenant Shubash Chander,an advocate in the Punjab and Haryana High Court. Chander told the police that Ashwani was accompanying him in his Maruti car (DL 03 CM 7301) to Sector 17. He occasionally takes lift from him. On reaching the road dividing Sectors 41 and 42 around 11 am ,Ashwani pulled out a bottle filled with petrol and began pouring it on him. He had a bottle filled with petrol in his bag. Chander said he was shocked at Ashwani’s behaviour,who brought out a match box and tried to light it. Panicked,Chander stopped his car and ran for his life. A huge crowd gathered and the police were informed.

Notice issued to GMCH-32 for making ‘arbitrary’ appointment
The Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) has issued notices to Union of India and the Director-Principal,Government Medical College and Hospital,GMCH-32,Chandigarh on a petition accusing GMCH-32 of making illegal,arbitrary and unconstitutional appointment of a pharmacist. Notices have been issued on a petition filed by one Gurmeet Kaur,challenging the appointment of Rachna Bisht,newly appointed pharmacist in GMCH-32. Arguing on behalf of Kaur,Advocate Rana Partap Singh Gill has alleged the selection committee “fraudulently favoured Rachna by sacrificing merit”. Gill has contended that Kaur was more qualified and experienced in the field of pharmacy and was entitled for the job. He further submitted that while Kaur has Bachelor of Science degree,Rachna graduated in Arts. Moreover,Gill has said,Rachna has no experience,as compared to Kaur,who has nearly three years of experience in the medical field. The hospital had issued advertisements for 15 posts of pharmacists on November 13,2008. In the advertisement,it was made clear that “weightage will be given to candidates having higher qualifications,experience in the nature of duties attached with the post,knowledge of computer and extra curricular activities”.

Licences to two lawyers suspended
Taking a strong note of professional misconduct by two advocates,the Bar Council of the Punjab and Haryana today suspended licences of two lawyers and imposed a penalty of Rs 5,000 each on them. Rohit Mahajan,a local practising lawyer and Hari Om,a lawyer from Rewari,have been proceeded against by the Bar Council. While Mahajan’s licence has been suspended for two years on the complaint of one Rulda Ram,a resident of Sector 40-B,Chandigarh,who has accused Mahajan of defrauding him and conniving with the opposite party in litigation. On the other hand,as many as three complaints against Hari Om were found to be true by the Bar Council. Ranging from assault,cheating,levelling false allegations against rich people in order to extort money from them to criminal intimidation,the Bar suspended him for a year.