In brief

ATM fraud: Another complaint reported
Even as the police are yet to identify the persons behind the ATM frauds in the city,another resident today approached the police stating that he lost Rs 1.20 lakh to fraudsters.

Hardyal Singh,a resident of Sector 40-A and a retired additional labour commissioner,Punjab,in his complaint had alleged that he had an account in the State Bank of India’s (SBI) branch at Sector 37-C. He found Rs 1.20 lakh had been withdrawn form his account and took up the matter with the branch manager. He was told to get entry into his passbook,which confirmed that the withdrawals were made. He had reported the matter to the Deputy General Manager of the SBI,UT SSP and at Sector-39 police station. The police said they have procured details of all the transactions as well as CCTV footage of all SBI ATMs and are scrutinising them. The role of those who come to repair the ATMs is also under the scanner and they will also question the employees,the police said.

Gayatri Devi School bags debate contest
Maharani Gaytri Devi (MGD) Girls’ School,Jaipur,clinched the coveted 10th J K Kate Memorial All India Public School English Debate hosted by The Punjab Public School,Nabha. The team of Vidya Devi Jindal School,Hisar bagged the runners-up trophy. Twenty eight debaters from 14 reputed public schools of India exhibited their debating skills on the topic “Red Terror is the single biggest threat to internal security”. However the topic was rejected by the audience. Samik Ghosh,Principal,The Scindia School,Gwalior,was the chairperson and chief guest on the occasion.

Vanishka Choudhary of MGD Girls’ School,Jaipur got the first position,whereas Gulshan Parmar of Bhawan’s Sawan Public school,New Delhi and Manreet Khara of Welham Girls’ School,Dehradun got the second and third positions,respectively.

Freshers welcomed at Banda Bahadur College
A cultural function was organised at Baba Banda Singh Bahadur Engineering College,Fatehgarh Sahib,to welcome the 2010 batch of engineering students to the college. The 2009 batch of students organised the function which brought the young blood to cheers with various dancing,comedy and literary performances alongwith the Mr and Miss Fresher title. Ishrat Singh and Simranjot Kaur got the titles of Mr Fresher and Miss Fresher respectively while Chetan and Harminder Kaur were adjudged as Ms Personality and Miss Elegant. Speaking on the occasion,M S Grewal,Principal of the College said that it is a fact worth appreciating that the students perform so well on the stage besides performing in the classrooms and industry.

Two-day seminar on management gets under way
A two-day international seminar on “New Paradigms in Management Theory and Practice”,organised by Punjabi University’s School of Management Studies,in collaboration with Punjab Commerce and Management Association (PCMA),started at the Senate Hall here today.

The seminar chief guest,Mandeep Singh Sandhu,Principal Secretary Higher Education,laid emphasis on quality education to develop new perspectives and managerial competencies to run a country of one billion people. He said that we need to apply principles of management and knowledge to save our environment,adding that the managerial potential of today’s youth is sure to develop solutions for our nation’s problems,especially in the areas of food and water management. .

Conference on laparoscopic surgery held
A two-day conference SELSICON — Society of Endoscopic and Laproscopic Surgeons of India Conference organized by the Department of Surgery,Govt. Medical College and Rajindra Hospital Patiala began today. 84 internationally renowned and reputed surgeons from all over India (Chennai,Goa,Chandigarh,Patiala,Shimla,Muzzaffarnagar,Amritsar,Dehradoon,Jalandhar,Rohtak,Agra,Ahmadabad,AIIMS New Delhi etc.) have come as faculty. On the other hand about 1000 delegates have registered for participating in this live-workshop of laparoscopic surgery. While giving this information,Surinder Singh,Principal Govt. Medical College and organizing chairman of SELSICON,told that laparoscopic technique is becoming very popular as it reduce the hospital stay for the patients and many other complications.

Workshop on neonatalogy
The Sixth Single Theme Workshop in neonatology got under way at the Advanced Pediatric Centre Auditorium in PGI today. The theme of the workshop is “How to Set Up a Good Neonatal Unit”. Prof Anil Narang,former head of the newborn unit at PGI and currently head of the newborn unit at Chaitanya Hospital,set the stage by talking about the concept of regionalisation of neonatal care. He emphasized the need for an efficient referral system with three levels of neonatal units.

Surinder Sawhney,Principal Architect at Surinder Sawhney Associates,talked about the architecture and physical infrastructure of a newborn nursery. He said that the success of the design of a neonatal ICU depends on efficient process flows,detailed space program and anticipation of future needs,appropriate interior finishes to optimize function and space and appropriate technology inputs among other things.

Seminar on breast cancer held
Rani Breast Cancer Trust organised a seminar to spread awareness about breast cancer in village Khuda Lahora. Dr Sandhya Dhankar educated the residents about the severity and the increasing rate of incidence of the disease. She also told them about the various symptoms and methods to check whether one is suffering from breast cancer. Residents were also told about the various tests which are performed to diagnose breast cancer. Bittu Sandhu,Managing Trustee,RBCT urged all the ladies to come forward and get their tests done and even pass on the knowledge about breast cancer to as many ladies as possible as early detection saves life.

Teachers’ Day function at PU today
The Panjab University Teachers’ Association will hold a function to celebrate ‘Teachers’ Day’ on September 5 in the English Auditorium,Panjab University at 10 am. Prof M M Puri,former Vice- Chancellor,Panjab University,would deliver a lecture on this occasion. Newly appointed faculty members would be introduced and welcomed while those who have superannuated in the last session will be honoured. In addition as a part of ‘green’ campaign,a tree plantation drive would also be undertaken in the university following the function.

British Library to hold workshop on personality development
British Library is organising a skill pill series of workshops that would cover key life skills for everyone like students,professionals and housewives. The series consist of five pills including communication skills,confidence building,work life balance skills,parenting skills and another one titled outshine. The workshops would be start from September 6. The membership drive for the library would be held from September 6 to 18.

Seminar on mountain climbing held at MCM DAV
MCM DAV College for Women,Sector 36 organised a national seminar on sport mountain climbing with the Indian Mountaineering Foundation on Saturday. The seminar was organized to educate students in the filed of mountaineering. Luminaries from the field of rock climbing and mountaineering instructed the young climbers and shared their experiences with them regarding various facets of this adventure sport.

C P Vohra,Padamshree and Arjuna Awardee and member of the first Indian team to climb the Mount Everest was the chief guest for the event.

PNB launches ‘ATM on wheels’
‘ATM on Wheels’ was launched at a function organized by the Punjab National Bank here today. After the launch,Deputy General Manager Ashok Kumar Lamba said ‘ATM on Wheels’ would reach far flung areas of the region. He said this was the second such ATM in the circle after the first one has a successful run at Chandigarh. Ambala Deputy Commissioner S P Sarao was the chief guest.

Ergonomic techniques reduce workplace stress,says expert
“Ever wondered how much time of our lives we spend sitting in front of our computers? We spend approximately half of our life sitting at our desk and PC. How we sit has a huge impact on muscles,digestive system,circulation,breathing and even our bones. Sit poorly and your posture will change in a relatively short span of time as muscle imbalances develop. At such times,Ergonomic techniques offer a reliable solution,” said Dr Harinder Batth,a city-based orthopaedics consultant at a seminar held here today.

Gunshots fired in Sector-38 market
High drama was witnessed in Sector-38 market last night when a youth fired shots in the air. The police control room received a call at 11.45 pm last night that a youth fired in the air and left his car behind. The police are on the look out for a Sector 54-based small time contractor,suspected to have fired rounds from his toy pistol in sector 38 market,in the wee hours of today triggering panic in the area. DSP (South) Vijay Kumar said the police control room (PCR) received information that a shot was fired in Sector 38 market around midnight. When the police team reached there they found a Tata Indica car there and found a toy pistol and a knife. The DSP said keeping a toy pistol was not an offence,but still they were verifying the matter. The car belonged to Varinder Singh of Sector 55. He is a contractor by profession. Police is looking for him. Meanwhile,a daily diary report has been registered at the Sector-39 police station.