22082024-CT-01.qxd 8/21/2024 11:28 PM Page 1 c m y b Chandigarh tribune HRY CM SAINI FLAGS OFF VANS FOR BJP 'SANKALP-PATRA' SUPPLY OF VERKA MILK HIT AS SECYS OF SOCIETIES PROTEST FARHAN TO RELEASE HIS NEW SINGLE REACH FOR THE STARS For the first time, the BJP will also mention timeline for the fulfilment of its election promises. P2 Supply was affected in parts of tricity as secretaries of societies protested automatic recording of milk fat. P2 Shares the cover on Instagram, where he is singing with Reach For The Stars written in the background. P04 » » FILE Akashdeep Virk Tribune News Service WHAT’S ON CHANDIGARH ‘Rimjhim Saawan: Magic of Monsoons Through Poetry’: By the Chandigarh Literary Society, Haryana Panchayat Bhawan, Sector 28, August 22, 4:30 pm Chandigarh, August 21 The Chandigarh Administration has approved September 5 as the date for the Panjab University Campus Student Council (PUCSC) elections, sources said. The day, Thursday, will be a holiday for the university as students will cast vote for four posts of president, vicepresident, secretary and joint secretary. September 6 (Friday) and September 7 (Saturday) will also be observed as holidays. It is a common practice to conduct the PU elections just before holidays to provide time for the winning fervour to cool-off. According to PU sources, the authorities had proposed that the elections be conducted on any one of the three dates – August 30, September 5 and September 13. “We are yet to receive official confirmation from the UT Administration regarding the final date, but most likely, it will be announced by the end of this week. We are taking all necessary measures to prepare for the polls and will hold more meetings with the police and students to ensure a peaceful conduct of the student council elections,” said the Dean, Students Welfare, Prof Amit Chauhan. The student parties are already gearing up for the elec- Tribune News Service ABVP HAD RELEASED ITS MANIFESTO National Students Union of India (NSUI) candidate Jatinder Singh, who had quit the ABVP to join the union merely seven days before the polls, had won the president’s post by defeating CYSS candidate Divyansh Thakur by a margin of 603 votes. The vicepresident’s post was bagged by Ranmeekjot Kaur of Sath by securing 4,084 votes. Deepak Goyat of the Indian National Student Organisation (INSO), the student wing of Haryana’s Jannayak Janta Party (JJP), was elected secretary with 4,431 votes and Gourav Chahal of Panjab University Helping Hands (PUHH), which had an alliance with the ABVP was , elected joint secretary. FACEBOOK/CHANDIGARHTRIBUNE Civic body House meeting cancelled at eleventh hour Sandeep Rana tions. However, the usual election fervour is absent from the campus due to the recent holidays as well as counselling sessions going on for fresh admissions to various departments. The university authorities had held a meeting recently with the student leaders and police officials, including the SSP , regarding security measures before the elections. As of now, no major political party has announced its candidates. “This is something which will be done in the end. Because of factionalism and the provisions of the Lyngdoh Committee, most of the parties are finding it difficult to decide a name,” said a campus student leader. It is interesting to note that even the Chhatra MAX 35°C | MIN 26°C YESTERDAY MAX 35.5°C | MIN 26.2°C SUNRISE FRIDAY 5.54 AM TWITTER/THETRIBUNECHD PU student poll on Sept 5 PARTLY CLOUDY SUNSET THURSDAY 6.57 PM » THURSDAY | 22 AUGUST 2024 | CHANDIGARH FORECAST Chandigarh, August 21 Stringent rules with regard to public toilets in parks and markets, largely run by Resident Welfare Associations (RWAs) backed by councillors and Market Welfare Associations (MWAs), reportedly led to a disagreement between AAP–Congress councillors and Mayor Kuldeep Kumar Dhalor, and the Municipal Corporation House meeting was cancelled at the eleventh hour. The petty politics has put 26 important development agendas, which were to be decided during the House meeting today, on the back burner. The councillors and the Mayor had a problem with two items in the agenda — penalty clause for unclean toilets or violation of norms and requirement of keeping an account of staff employed at each toilet. The MC said it was necessary to make amendments to the clause as there were complaints that while two workers were employed at a toilet, four were mentioned in the records. There is an additional clause about giving salary to workers on DC rates instead of labour ones, which are too less. Sources said the item Tiff between INDIA bloc councillors, Mayor over public utility agenda likely reason A public toilet in a green belt of Sector 28. PHOTO: PRADEEP TEWARI quently, the meeting was cancelled late last night. The MC released a “press information” at 6:30 am, which said the meeting had been “postponed.” However, it did not specify any reason for the cancellation of the meeting, which was to be held at 11 am today. Leader of the Opposition and BJP councillor Kanwarjit Singh Rana said, “Owing to a rift between the Congress and AAP councillors with the Mayor, the House meeting was cancelled. It has been learnt that the councillors and the Mayor had a verbal fight over public utility agenda during continued on page PRTC staff block road after clash with Azizpur toll plaza workers Film screening: French film ‘Ride Above’ with English subtitles will be screened at the Gallery, Alliance Francaise, Sector 36, at 1 pm on August 22. No entry fee. regarding the public/community toilets was there in the supplementary agenda, which was officially released yesterday. But, before becoming the part of the agenda, it was presented to a group of councillors and was also tabled in the Finance and Contract Committee (F&CC) meeting yesterday. The sources shared during the pre-House meeting of the two alliance partners of the INDIA bloc, some councillors raised the issue with the Mayor. They asked him why that agenda was being proposed without taking the views of the RWAs and the MWAs. They had arguments with the Mayor over this issue. Subse- Mahender Singh appointed Joint Director, Sports Tribune News Service Art Exhibition: The Real Van Gogh Immersive Experience; Nexus Elante; On till August-end; Entry with tickets APNI MANDI Chandigarh: Sectors 34, 56 and Ram Darbar Mohali: Sector 76 Panchkula: Sector 5 Please send information about events in tricity at: whatson@tribunemail.com INBRIEF IMMIGRATION AGENT ARRESTED Chandigarh: An immigration consultant was arrested by the UT police for defying the orders of the District Magistrate. Pardeep Singh, alias Satnam Singh, was running an immigration officer, CP Overseas, in Sector 34 without registration number and police verification. A case was registered and the accused arrested. He was later released on bail. TNS HOUSE BURGLED IN SECTOR 43 Chandigarh: Sandeep Kumar of Sector 43 has reported that gold and silver jewellery were stolen from his house. A case has been registered at the Sector 36 police station. TNS YOUNGSTER HELD UNDER ARMS ACT Chandigarh: A 22-year-old youth has been arrested for threatening a man with a knife. Bilal, a resident of Daria village, alleged that Sachin, alias Munsi, picked a quarrel with him and threatened him with a knife at Mani Majra. The police registered a case and arrested the accused. TNS Zirakpur, August 21 Road users were inconvenienced for around three hours this morning after a clash between staff of the PRTC and the Azizpur toll plaza. Commuters travelling on the Chandigarh-Patiala highway had to walk for about 5 km at the Chhat light point to take alternative modes of transportation. The PRTC staff blocked the highway by parking their vehicles in the middle of the road for about three hours. Local residents said an altercation took place between a bus driver and the toll plaza staff after a truck had blocked the passage at the plaza. An argument broke out between the toll plaza workers and the bus staff, which soon turned into a fight. Toll plaza employee Manoj Rana said, “A car got stuck at the plaza as there was some delay in the transaction. Close to 10 employees of the PRTC gathered and thrashed our worker.” On being asked about the allegations levelled by the PRTC staff that it was the plaza staff who attacked them first, Rana said, “The entire incident has been captured on CCTV and can be verified. They had slapped an employee earlier also but the matter was resolved later.” Later, the PRTC staff reportedly staged a protest by blocking the road. The police reached there and pacified both groups. The police said they had recorded the statements of both groups and started further action. They got the road cleared in the afternoon. Only the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), a student wing of the BJP, has declared its manifesto. It has promised to introduce cyclical reservation for permanent representation of women in the PUCSC if elected. Yuva Sangharsh Samiti (CYSS), which is relatively fresh as it was formed just before the 2022 elections only, is reeling under factionalism. “It is no more about loyalty to the party. Every leader wants to contest,” said a CYSS leader. Last year, the elections to the PUCSC were held on September 6 and the results declared the same day. Deepankar Sharda Tribune News Service Passengers look for alternative modes of transportation near the Azizpur toll plaza in Zirakpur on Wednesday. RAVI KUMAR Blood donation camp, open OPDs, flash mob at city mall mark doctors’ protest Chandigarh, August 21 The local medics continue their protest in solidarity with the doctors protesting at the RG Kar Medical College in Kolkata against the alleged rape and murder of a resident doctor. Doctors of the PGI conducted open OPDs at the protest site outside the Bhargava Auditorium. They also held a blood donation drive where 80 units were collected. “We examined around 200 patients in the open OPDs till 3 pm. A flash mob was performed outside a major mall in Industrial Area to encourage the public to join the noble cause of demanding justice for our colleague,” said a protesting doctor. A total of 4,593 patients were registered at the OPDs in the PGI, while 168 were admitted to the emergency and trauma OPD wards. — TNS Doctors hold a demonstration organised by the IMA at the Elante mall on Wednesday. RAVI KUMAR c m y b CBI officer leading Kolkata rape probe is posted in city Tribune News Service Chandigarh, August 21 A CBI officer, Seema Pahuja (57), who has been assigned the investigation into the case of rape and murder of a trainee doctor in Kolkata, is at present serving as Additional Superintendent of Police (ASP) here. Known for her impressive track record in solving complex cases, Pahuja has led investigations into several crimes, including the 2017 Kotkhai rape and murder, known as the “Gudiya case”. She had played a crucial role in the 2020 Hathras gangrape and the 2017 Unnao rape cases. One of her most remarkable achievements was the conviction of the accused in the Kotkhai case. The case dates back to 2017 when a Class X student went missing on her way home from school and her body was found in Seema Pahuja is ASP with CBI office in UT the forest of Kotkhai falling two days later. She was brutally raped and strangled. The case was handed over to the CBI after the HP police failed to crack it. The CBI solved the case using advanced DNA profiling techniques, called percentage and lineage matching, to ascertain the identity of accused. After questioning over 1,000 locals, they finally tested the DNA of over 250 people and found a match to forensic samples in the father of the accused. The culprit, Anil Kumar, who had been elusive for almost a year, was nabbed. The court found him guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment in 2021. Pahuja was awarded the President’s Police Medal for Distinguished Services. Chandigarh, August 21 The UT Administration has appointed Dr Mahender Singh Joint Director, Sports (JDS), in the Sports Department for a one-year term, extendable up to three years on the basis of performance. He has held the same post in 2017. He is likely to assume charge in the next few days. The new JDS faces the challenge of disbursing cash awards among meritorious sportspersons. The department is likely to disburse Rs 5 crore in cash awards, while many sportspersons still await confirmation of their names on the list of awardees. Conducting the All-India Administrator’s Football Challenge Cup — the annual event of the department usually conducted in September, will be another big task for Dr Mahender Singh. Three candidates of the shortlisted four appeared for the interview held last week. A five-member panel, comprising the Secretary, Sports; the Special Secretary, Department of Personnel; the Director, Higher Education; and the Director, Sports, and the Adviser to the Administrator (chairman), conducted the interview. The former JDS, Dr Sunil Rayat, has joined his parent cadre of Himachal Pradesh. He was the first JDS of the city to be appointed from HP . In February, Rayat had sought repatriation to his parent cadre. He was appointed to the post in 2021. On his submission, the Sports Department had sent a circular to the nearby states, including Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh, asking the interested candidates to apply for the post. In April, the administration received applications from only two candidates.