Ludhiana, April 3
An Army jawan has alleged that his motorcycle was forcibly taken away by men in police uniform from his house at Kehar Singh Nagar on the Jassian road. Lance Nayak Sunny Pathania, posted with 30th Battalion of Punjab Regiment in Binnaguri, West Bengal, is running from pillar to post to find out which police station had impounded his bike.Pathania said his brother Manish Pathania was named in a robbery case and recently, a fresh case of decoity was also registered against him at the Salem Tabri police station. Alleging that the police had taken his bike, Splendor Pro (PB10DD 5053), from his house without telling anything to his elderly mother.“On March 22, several personnel, reportedly of the Ludhiana police, came to his house and forcibly took his locked motorcycle. When my mother and local residents asked about the reason for it, the policemen said nothing. If my brother is facing any FIR, why the motorcycle registered in my name was taken away by thet police. Now, my elderly mother is running from one police station to another to find the bike. Police stations are denying being in possession of my bike,” Sunny told The Tribune.The Army jawan said he and his mother were not in touch with his brother wanted by the police, still the police were harassing his mother, who had serious health issues.“A few days ago, my mother was informed by some city policemen that the bike was impounded by the Kotwali police. When she reached there, the policemen asked her to go to PS 4. When my mother went to PS 4, the personnel there, too, denied impounding any such bike,”The jawan later approached his Major, Coy Commander JK Aggarwal, 30th Battalion, Punjab Regiment, Binnaguri, West Bengal, who sent a letter to the Deputy Commissioner, Ludhiana; the Zila Sainik Welfare Office, the SDM and the Police Department. The Major writes: “I have received an application from Lance Nayak Sunny Pathania serving with the Punjab Regiment. It is requested the matter may please be investigated thoroughly to be resolved at the earliest since the individual is currently under stress and is unable to perform his duties with peace of mind. Action taken report on the subject may please be intimated to this unit”. Meanwhile, PS 4 SHO Rajwant Singh said no one from his police station took away any bike from the Army jawan’s house. Kotwali SHO Birbal said no such bike was impounded by the police in the recent past.
An IAF MI-17 V5 helicopter crashed near Kedarnath shrine in Uttarakhand on Tuesday morning. All those on board the helicopter, including the pilot and the co-pilot, were safe. The helicopter was carrying heavy construction equipment from Guptkashi to Kedarnath when the accident occurred.“The incident occurred around 8.10 am. The helicopter crashed 60 metres from the helipad. Only the IAF can ascertain the exact cause,” said the Rudraprayag DM. The state government had requisitioned MI-17 V5 as the Irrigation Department needed heavy machinery for reconstruction work. PTI
Tribune News Service
Solan,March 30
Veer naris and widows of ex-servicemen from across the state on Friday participated in a mega ex-servicemen rally organised by the Pine Division under the aegis of Vajra Corps at the local military station here.The General Officer Commanding (GOC), Pine Division, was also present.Addressing a gathering, officials assured them of making all efforts to resolve their grievances. The rally aimed at resolving service and civil administration-related grievances of these people through several counters.A medical camp was also organised by the Army as part of “The Year of War Disabled”. Soldiers with disabilities were also honoured.Three modified auto scooters, two wheelchairs and various grants were distributed. As many as 34 Veer naris and 94 widows were felicitated.
Ajay Banerjee
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, April 1Faced with problem of terrorists targeting military bases, the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) is now testing out an unmanned tech-based solution to provide security for the perimeter of such military stations.In the past few years, there have been almost a dozen attacks or attempts by terrorists to storm a military base to pick on easy targets like women and children living in the Army quarters.The DRDO is carrying out an experiment at a 4,000-acre military area in southern part of India. It has a mix of laser walls, radars, physical vibration sensors. The input is then aggregated. “Let us prove it, we will pass on this technology to the industry,” DRDO Chairman Dr S Christopher told The Tribune.Notably, the DRDO has demonstrated an unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) that can be sent to the spot to set aside any suspicion detected by the technology at the perimeter. “The UGV will have a light and camera, it can send across a live picture. But it will not have a weapon,” the DRDO chief said.Talking about radars, Dr Christopher said “We have told the Defence Minister that by 2022 the country will not need to import any type of radars.”We will look at Bharat Electronics Ltd (BEL) and also private companies. “There are good companies, who are making radars,” he said. So far DRDO has not given full-fledged radars technology to any private company. The joint work has been done between DRDO and private companies. The BEL-produced radars are a success and installed at various locations.The DRDO, he said, was working on projects as varied as submarines to satellites. Negotiations have been completed for the six Airbus- 330 planes which will be fitted with radars and surveillance equipment. At present, India uses the Boeing P8-I for looking over the sea while the Russian IL-76 has been modified or a role with the IAF.
A model of the Tiangong-1 space lab module (L), the Shenzhou-9 manned spacecraft (R), and three Chinese astronauts is displayed during a news conference at Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, in Gansu province, China on June 15, 2012. Reuters
Shanghai, April 2
China’s defunct uncontrolled Tiangong-1 space station re-entered the Earth’s atmosphere and burnt up over the middle of the South Pacific on Monday, the Chinese space authority said.
The “vast majority” of the craft burnt up on re-entry, at around 8:15 a.m. (0015 GMT), the authority said in a brief statement on its website, without saying exactly where the remnants might have landed.
Earlier, it had said the craft was expected to re-enter the atmosphere off the Brazilian coast in the South Atlantic near the cities of Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro.
The United States Air Force 18th Space Control Squadron, which tracks and detects all artificial objects in Earth’s orbit, said it had also tracked the Tiangong-1 in its re-entry over the South Pacific.
It said in a statement it had confirmed re-entry in coordination with counterparts in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, South Korea and Britain.
The remnants of Tiangong-1 appeared to have landed about 100 km (62 miles) northwest of Tahiti, said Brad Tucker, an astrophysicist at Australian National University.
“Small bits definitely will have made it to the surface,” he told Reuters, adding that while about 90 percent would have burnt up in the atmosphere and just 10 percent made it to the ground, that fraction still amounted to 700 kg (1,543 lb) to 800 kg (1,764 lb).
“Most likely the debris is in the ocean, and even if people stumbled over it, it would just look like rubbish in the ocean and be spread over a huge area of thousands of square kilometres.”
Beijing said on Friday it was unlikely any large pieces would reach the ground.
The 10.4-metre-long (34.1-foot) Tiangong-1, or “Heavenly Palace 1”, was launched in 2011 to carry out docking and orbit experiments as part of China’s ambitious space programme, which aims to place a permanent station in orbit by 2023.
It was originally planned to be decommissioned in 2013 but its mission was repeatedly extended.
China had said re-entry would happen in late 2017, but that process was delayed, leading some experts to suggest the space laboratory was out of control.
Worldwide media hype about the re-entry reflected overseas “envy” of China’s space industry, the Chinese tabloid Global Times said on Monday.
“It’s normal for spacecraft to re-enter the atmosphere, yet Tiangong-1 received so much attention, partly because some Western countries are trying to hype and sling mud at China’s fast-growing aerospace industry,” it said. Reuters
