Top Headlines of the Day

1. Gurlal Brar Murder Case: Assailants identified, bike found.

The UT police have identified the assailants who had shot dead Gurlal Brar (26) former state president of the Student Organisation of Panjab University (SOPU) on Saturday night. The motorcycle used in the crime has been recovered by the police. The UT SSP, Kuldeep Singh Chahal, confirmed that the suspects (three motorcycle-borne assailants) had been identified and the motorcycle on which they arrived at the spot had also been recovered.

The police are investigating the rivalry between the Bishnoi gang and the Davinder Bambiha group. “The FB post, reportedly uploaded from the profile of Davinder Bambiha, is also being investigated,” said a police official.

2. Six booked for violating safety norms at a house party in Chandigarh

Six people were booked for violating Covid safety norms and causing noise pollution at a party being hosted at a Sector-38 house, police said on Monday.

Complainant Mahesh of Kansal had called the police after he was allegedly assaulted by five persons — Sarwan Singla, Chetan Munjal, Kanu Sharma, Rinku, and Peeta Talwandi — at the party.

On their arrival, cops found that music was being played at volume beyond the permissible limit and no one was either maintaining social distance or wearing a mask.

3.Chandigarh: SSP holds meeting with Ramleela organizers, discusses Covid norms.

A statement issued by the Chandigarh Police said, “During the meeting, all the organizing members/committees were asked to make proper security arrangements during the festival season. Apart from this, they were also apprised of the directions issued by the Chandigarh Administration related to COVID-19. The directions included wearing masks, maintaining social distancing, every person entering should be checked with thermal scanners.”

“Sanitizers, soaps, and water facilities should be there at the entry points of the religious places. Avoid public gathering, proper sanitizing of the religious places, limit contact with commonly touched surfaces and clean and disinfect commonly touched surfaces or any shared items,” it was specified in the statement.

The directions were issued concerning Navratras as well which are scheduled to begin from October 17. However, permissions to Ramleela organizers have not yet been given. Sources said that NOC from the police department was awaited.

4. Chandigarh private schools not in favor of reopening from October 15

The ministry of home affairs (MHA), in the Unlock 5.0 guidelines issued at the beginning of the month, had permitted the schools to reopen from October 15 but most private schools of the city are not in favor of it.

Confirming this, UT district education officer (DEO) Ravinder Kaur said, “Private schools are not willing to partially reopen for academic consultation October 15 onwards. The parents are not on board with this, and the schools, which had reopened for board classes from September 21 onwards, have witnessed low attendance.”

The final call regarding the reopening of schools will be taken by UT administrator VP Singh Badnore.

5. Integrated Command and Control Centre inaugurated in Chandigarh

The traffic junctions and important government buildings in Chandigarh will now be monitored from a single unit i.e. Integrated Command and Control Center (ICCC), which was inaugurated on Monday. KK Yadav, MCC Commissioner said that this center shall monitor the smart field elements like CCTV surveillance cameras via a video wall, wherein more than 20 cameras have been installed for real-time surveillance of traffic junctions and other important buildings of Chandigarh like the Municipal Corporation building, etc.

The city-owned optical fiber has been laid for the real-time connectivity between the on-field devices and the command center for live monitoring of the system. This system also includes an advanced video analytics system and generates automatic event alerts for events like abandoned baggage, illegal parking, crowd detection, etc.

The surveillance cameras with analytics have been installed at the entry and exit of a parking lot which not only helps in effectively monitoring the operation of the parking lot but also provides vital inputs like color, makes and model of the vehicle entering and exiting the parking area, which can be used to generate alarms for blacklisted vehicles and search vehicles based on the attributes. This surveillance system shall help in real-time surveillance and shall generate alarms for specific incidents, Yadav added.

6. Due to urgent maintenance, the power supply of the following areas will remain suspended on Tuesday

• 7am-12pm: Sector 17
• 10am-2pm: Sectors 44, 45, 51
• 10am-3pm: Sector 15, Dadumajra garbage plant
• 10am-4pm: Sectors 2, 3, 4, 8, 10, 18, 19, 38
• 10 am-5 pm: Various localities in Manimajra

7. Mohali center develops technology for aquaponic cultivation of plants

Aquaponics is an emerging technique in which both fish, as well as plants, complement each other to sustain and grow. The fish waste provides organic food for plants and plants that naturally filter the water, which is used to replenish the fish tank. There is no requirement for the use of soil and fertilizers.

The process is completely organic, increases productivity of the given land saves water, and also augments the farmers’ income. The technology has been developed and suitable protocols have been evolved for scientists and farmers. —Dr. PK Khosla, Director, C-DAC

Aquaponics is suitable to cultivate lettuce, spinach, capsicum, coriander, broccoli, and some other leafy plants without the use of soil, pesticides, and fertilizers. The area where plants grow is enclosed in a glasshouse-like structure.