In brief

Ladli scheme extended for 5 years
CHANDIGARH: Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda announced to extend the state government’s popular scheme Ladli for five more years. Implemented on August 20,2005,the scheme benefited 86,820 girls till December 2009,with the government spending Rs 95 crore for its implementation. The CM,who honoured girls at the state-level Balika Samman Samaroh at Panchkula for their outstanding achievements in various fields,said the scheme aimed to invest a financial incentive of Rs 5,000 per year for five years on the birth of second daughter in a family in the group insurance scheme of Life Insurance Corporation of India.

UHBVN snaps 2 lakh power connections
CHANDIGARH: The Uttar Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam has disconnected power supply of 2,08,073 consumers for non-payment of bills up to December 31,2009,during the current fiscal and recovered Rs 68.32 crore from them. A spokesman said these consumers owed Rs 113.64 crore to the Nigam,which has fixed a target of 4.45 lakh disconnections till April. The Nigam plans to intensify the campaign of disconnections in the coming quarter. The spokesman said more than 60 per cent of the outstanding amount had been recovered. The Nigam has also intensified its campaign of detecting power thefts. On an average,more than 100 cases of theft had been detected in a day during the second fortnight of December.

Haryana implements JSIM
CHANDIGARH: The Haryana government has implemented Jawahar Social Infrastructure Mission at a cost of Rs 150 crore for the welfare and development of persons with all types of disabilities. Health,Education and Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Geeta Bhukkal said the mission would also focus on early detection and intervention for prevention and better management of disabilities. Under the mission,60 institutions will be established at district levels throughout the state.

CD row: Congress goes to Governor to seek dismissal of government
Shimla: The controversial CDs that have already created a stir in the state’s political circle seems to have finally given the faction-ridden Congress an issue to take on Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal,who is caught in conversation with the state’s vigilance chief in one of the audio-CDs being probed by the CID. The Congress submitted a memorandum to Governor Prabha Rau at the Raj Bhawan on Friday,seeking dismissal of the BJP government and a CBI probe into all three CDs,including one video-CD purportedly showing MP Virender Kashyap accept cash from two persons allegedly to facilitate a land transfer. State Congress president Kaul Singh Thakur said the party had already rejected the CID inquiry ordered by the CM,terming it a cover-up and attempt to delay criminal action against Dhumal,Kashyap and Director General of Police (Vigilance) D S Manhas.

UGC research grant for GNDU lecturer
AMRITSAR: Dr Harmeen Soch,Senior Lecturer in the Department of Commerce & Business Management,Guru Nanak Dev University,has bagged a research grant of Rs 6,23,700 from the University Grants Commission (UGC) for her joint project with Dr Tripat Gill,Assistant Professor,University of Ontario Institute of Technology (UOIT),Canada. The project,“Critical Success Factors and Driving Forces of Wireless Web Adoption— An Empirical Investigation of Indian and Canadian Consumers”,would be a cross-cultural research study between two nations,she said.

Paramedical staff hold protest
CHANDIGARH: Over 250 contractual paramedical employees from Punjab today staged a protest on the premises of the Health Department in Sector 34 and raised slogans against the SAD-BJP government and Health Minister Laxmi Kanta Chawla.One of the protesters said they have been working for the last three years on a fixed salary of Rs 5,500,which was insufficient when food prices were touching the sky.
Demanding regularisation of jobs,another employee told The Indian Express,”According to the Pay Commission rules,contractual employees doing regular work should be regularised after three years. The Health Department has not even given us a decent salary increment.” They alleged that the attitude of Laxmi Kanta Chawla was indifferent towards their demands.

Workshop on challenges to social sciences and humanities at GNDU  
AMRITSAR: “Solution to the challenges to social sciences lies in moving from inbox to out of the box thinking on part of one and all.” This was stated by Dr S L Sharma,former dean of Arts Faculty,Panjab University,Chandigarh,at a workshop on Challenges to Social Sciences and Humanities organised by the School of Social Sciences of Guru Nanak Dev University. He highlighted the challenges of re-inventing disciplines of social sciences,restructuring and reformulating the relevance of social sciences and humanities in the context of the changing socio-politico-economic scenario. Inaugurating the workshop earlier,GNDU Vice-Chancellor Prof A S Brar said there was a greater need to have interdisciplinary approach in social sciences discipline.

Dal Khalsa to complain against ‘blasphemeous’ article on Sangh Parivar website
AMRITSAR: Dal Khalsa,a radical Sikh body,on Friday took strong exception to an article published on the official website of the Sangh Parivar,written by Ramakant Tiwari. Terming the article as blasphemous,they have alleged that the language used is against the Sikh principals and tenets. Dal Khalsa general secretary Kunwarpal Singh said they will make a formal complaint against the writer to the Akal Takht.

New Municipal Corporation proposed for Panchkula
PANCHKULA: Limits of the newly proposed Municipal Corporation would include the Panchkula municipal council and the Pinjore and Kalka municipal committee with the national highways connecting the three. A proposal in this regard was sent to the Haryana government by the committee that was specially constituted for the purpose. A meeting of the committee was held at Ambala on Thursday. “A meeting was held under the chairmanship of commissioner of Ambala range. The limits for the newly proposed municipal council for the district were decided in the meeting and the proposal has been sent to Haryana government,” said a member of the committee. He added that the notification is expected from Haryana soon.    

Domestic help escapes with cash,valuables
MOHALI: A domestic help and her daughter allegedly decamped with cash and valuables from a house in Sector 70 here,the police said on Friday. Amarjeet Kaur,who lives alone,reported to the police that she had employed Usha and her daughter Sumita,natives of Bhagalpur district in Bihar,as domestic helps. They had access to the keys of the almirah in which cash,ornaments and valuables were kept. Kaur alleged that the mother-daughter duo left the house in the morning on the pretext of death of a relative. After they left,Kaur opened her almirah and was shocked to find her valuables missing. The exact loss is yet to be ascertained. The police have registered a case of criminal breach of trust under Section 406 of the IPC and launched a hunt for the accused.

GMADA official bereaved
MOHALI: Capt Mehnga Singh (retd),father of Balwinder Singh Multani,additional chief administrator,Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (GMADA),died after a prolonged illness at Fortis Hospital recently. He was 88. Singh is survived by a son and two daughters. He was a decorated officer of the Sikh Regiment of the Indian Army and had retired as honorary Captain from the Indian Military Academy (IMA) in Dehradun after a service of more than 32 years. Post retirement,he was actively involved in welfare activities for ex-servicemen. He was nominated twice as a member of the All India Governing Council of the Ex-servicemen League,New Delhi. He was also the present president of the district unit of Ex-servicemen League in Hoshiarpur. Bhog and Shri Akhand Path will be held at Gurdwara Singh Sabha in Tanda near Hoshiarpur on Sunday.

NGO threatens stir against cut in free power
MOHALI: The Punjab Dalit Chetna Manch,a NGO spearheading the cause of the Dalits,has threatened to launch a mass agitation against the SAD-BJP state government for cutting down the facility of free power by half to Dalits and raising the retirement age from present 58 to 60 years.  In a statement issued on Friday,Manch president Shamsher Singh said cutting down free power units from 200 to 100 was “injustice” to the poor people and raising the retirement age would prevent recruitment of young educated unemployed youths aggravating the problem of unemployment. He urged the state government to reconsider the orders or be ready to face mass agitation.

Seminar on ‘affordable housing’ held
PANCHKULA: As many as 100 people,including professionals,academicians,developers and students of G R School of Planning,Amritsar,and Institute of Engineering and Technology (IET) Bhaddal,participated in a two-day national seminar in Panchkula on Friday. The seminar,organised by the Institute for Spatial Planning and Environment Research (ISPER),was based on the theme ‘Affordable Housing: Concepts,Polices and Practices’. Y S Malik,Financial Commissioner and Principal Secretary,Government of Haryana,Industries Department was the chief guest on the occasion. Malik said,“All the three disciplines — planning,engineering and architecture should work for finding solutions to the housing problems for the larger interest of the society.” R C Aggarwal,president of ISPER,gave an overview of housing policies since the First Five-Year Plan. While discussing cheaper building materials,Vachan Singh from Tata Housing Development Company emphasized on the need of sustainable building materials and standardization of space perimeters to make housing available at affordable costs.

Dance workshop concludes
PATIALA: A seven-day dance workshop on Kathak,organised by the Punjabi University’s Department of Dance and conducted by noted dancer Anuradha Thakur of Jaipur Gharana,concluded on Friday. The students trained during the workshop also performed on the occasion.

Mohali resident dies in road accident
MOHALI: Vimal Kumar,a resident of Sector 70 here,died in a road accident near ESI Hospital in Industrial Area,Phase VII,on Thursday evening,the police said. Kumar was riding a Honda Activa scooter when a recklessly driven Chevrolet Tavera hit him and fled the spot.
Kumar’s neighbour Satpal,who was passing through the area,rushed the badly injured scooterist to a private hospital in Sector 70,where he succumbed to injuries. The police have registered a case of causing death due to rash and negligent driving against the vehicle driver identified as Jasveer Singh of Palsora in Chandigarh.

Rathore fails to join CBI probe
Chandigarh: Former DGP S P S Rathore did not join investigations on Friday despite being served a notice by the CBI on Sunday. Despite several inquiries,senior CBI officers,including DIG Satish Golcha,remained tight-lipped on the issue. Meanwhile,according to sources,Rathore and his wife Abha left their residence in Sector 6 around 6 pm and had not returned till the filing of this report. The hearing of Rathore’s anticipatory bail application is scheduled in the Punjab and Haryana High Court on Monday.

ASI gets 2 years in jail for graft
Chandigarh: CBI Special judge Darshan Singh sentenced Assistant Sub-Inspector Surinder Pal of the UT Police to two years imprisonment along with Rs 5,000 as fine in a graft case on Friday. ASI Pal was arrested by the CBI in 2007 for taking a bribe of Rs 2,500 on the complainant of Rajesh Kumar,a resident of Ambala.

Flight,train schedules go haywire
CHANDIGARH: The continued foggy conditions disrupted flight and train schedules on Friday as well. While no flights operated on the fifth consecutive day at Chandigarh,some trains,including Shatabdi,were delayed by hours. The worst affected was the Howrah-Kalka Mail (2311) as it ran late by 21 hours. This further delayed the train leaving from Kalka (2312) by 14 hours. The New Delhi-Kalka Shatabdi Express (2011) arrived at the Chandigarh railway station at 12.40 pm,one-and-a half hours behind its scheduled arrival of 11.05 am. The Himalayan Queen running between New Delhi and Kalka arrived six hours behind its scheduled arrival of 10.27 am. This led to the delay in the train coming from Kalka. The Paschim Express was delayed by six hours.

Free cancer camp at Ivy Hospital from Sunday
MOHALI: weeklong free cancer camp will be organised from January 24 at Pinnacle Oncology International in the cancer care centre at Ivy Hospital,Sector 71 in collaboration with a US-based oncology group. Free consultation will be available from January 25 to January 29 for all cancer patients from 11 am to 4 pm.

Sector-48 residents rue lack of facilities
CHANDIGARH: A deputation of the residents’ welfare association,Sector 48,met the UT Advisor and Finance Secretary on Friday to apprise them about the lack of facilities in the sector. The members stated that the area lacked a government school,playground,proper markets and a post office. The delegation comprised association president Harbans Lal Garcha,general secretary Kulbhushan Kanwar and other office-bearers. They also demanding setting up of a community centre and better lighting facilities.

Five nominations filed for civic body committee
CHANDIGARH: Five nominations for the Finance and Contract Committee (F&CC) of the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation were filed by councillors on Friday. These included Congress councillors Pardeep Chhabra and Chander Mukhi Sharma,BSP councillor Jatinder Bhatia,BJP councillor Ram Lal and nominated councillor Dr Amrit Bolaria. The elections are to be held on January 29. With the F&CC comprising five members and an equal number of nominations received,there seems to be no contest.

Blood donation camp held at hotel management institute
CHANDIGARH: As many as 114 students and staff members of the Institute of Hotel Management donated blood at a camp organised on campus in collaboration with the Department of Transfusion Medicine,PGI,on Friday. Tourism director and CITCO chief manager Amandeep Kaur was the chief guest. T K Berry,regional manager,State Bank of India,who was the guest of honour,also donated blood.

SD College to hold free counselling session for board students
CHANDIGARH: The Department of Psychology of GGDSD College,Sector 32-C,Chandigarh is holding a free career guidance and counselling session for students of Class X and XII from January 25 to 27 in the college premises. All students who are either studying or have passed the above mentioned classes can participate in the session. Interested students can get themselves registered on January 23 in the college premises between 10 am to 2 pm. Only those registered would be allowed in the session. The counselling procedure will involve psychological testing of the students to gauge their aptitudes,intelligence,areas of interest and personality to help them decide on a suitable career.

UIPS signs MoU with pharmaceutical firm
CHANDIGARH: The University Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences,Panjab University,signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with M/s Avance Pharmaceuticals,Ahmedabad,to carry out collaborative research on a project titled “Screening and Formulation Development of Novel Phytochemical Drugs for Various Disorders of the Central Nervous System.” at the PU campus on Friday. The agreement was signed by Professor Bhupinder Singh Bhoop of UIPS,Professor Bimla Nehru,Department of Biophysics,Panjab University,Dr Shivprakash,MD of Avance and Monika Verma,CEO of Avance. To be carried out under the aegis of Centre for Industry Institute Partnership Programme (CIIPP),the project aims at providing a breakthrough in the development of more effective drugs for treating widespread disorders of the central nervous system. like alzheimer’s disease and parkinson’s disease.

Two criminals arrested
CHANDIGARH: Two proclaimed offenders,wanted in several cases of robberies and snatchings around the tricity area,were arrested by the UT police in Maloya on Thursday night. The arrested have been identified as Sunil Dutt alias Honey,and Ishant Khanna alias Ishu,both residents of Kharar. “Ishant had been declared a proclaimed offender by the Kharar police in a case under the Narcotics Drugs Psychotropic Substances Act. The duo had robbed a man of his wallet,containing Rs 3,500 in cash,and mobile phone at knifepoint in Maloya recently,”
said Investigating Officer Baldev Singh.