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Chief Commissioner Residents’ Choice The verdict is out. Residents of the City Beautiful are overwhelmingly in favour of a change in the city's administrative structure and want restoration of the post of the Chief Commissioner for better, transparent and accountable governance. In response to The Tribune's question whether people of Chandigarh want the present system, providing for the same person being the Governor of Punjab as well as the UT Administrator, or the appointment of a separate Chief Commissioner for Chandigarh for easy accessibility and greater accountability, residents have responded almost in unison for the latter. And the reasons are obvious -- accountability and accessibility-- which people feel can make the city's governance better. The residents also seem to agree that saddling the Governor of Punjab with the responsibility of the Administration of Chandigarh has caused distortions and led to problems. The ongoing tiff between the Administrator and the Adviser is being viewed as a result of these distortions and it is being widely felt that a change in the present form of governance will be better for the city. Nearly 200 residents of Maloya village, in joint signed statement, have demanded delinking the responsibilities of the Punjab Governor with that of the Administrator and restoration of the Chief Commissioner's post.
Administrator not accessible
There is perhaps no administration in the country where there is such lack of transparency in governance as in Chandigarh. Policies are decided and decisions taken by a handful of officials behind closed doors and then announced to be obeyed and followed by the citizens as dumb-driven sheep as it were. With such being the state of governance of the city to have as head of its administration, one immune from being questioned by the courts with regard to his acts of commission and omission and hence not accountable for them makes an unfortunate situation worse. This is so with the Administrator of Chandigarh also being a Governor. This flaw in the present set up has been so vividly brought out by the ongoing raging controversy regarding the mega projects as have been proposed for the city. We need a Chief Commissioner, who is not only subject to the courts but is also, unlike the Governor, accessible to the citizens. — H. S. Mamik Peanuts for farmers In a democratic set up, a few parameters are considered to be “inviolable”. These are accountability, accessibility and total lack of arbitrariness. If these parameters are not met, the setup is any thing but “democratic” . The present situation prevailing in administering the UT has to be seen in this light. There are reports of utter arbitrariness by the present Administrator of the UT. In violation of the set procedures and norms, there are reports of various projects passed post-haste allegedly to favour particular parties. This could only happen since there is no accountability in the system. The mega projects seem to have degenerated into schemes for favouritism for the mega rich while land owners, who had sunk all their savings to buy those holding, are literally offered peanuts. It stinks of malpractices when the land acquisition prices are compared with neighbouring Punjab where democracy, how so faulty, is fully operative, to the advantage of land owners. Whatever system is adopted must match the parameters and should be responsive to democratic aspirations of the masses that the Administrator or the Chief Commissioner is supposed to “Serve”. — Brig Harwant Singh (Retd), 54, Phase-7, Mohali Projects awarded in a hurry
I welcome the CVC probe into the mega projects. However, their terms of reference are unclear and they should investigate the allegations that the Administrator bypassed dissenting officials to ensure that his writ ran large. The hurry in which these projects were sanctioned seems to be the desire of the Administrator to award as many mega projects during his tenure. However, not a single project has met stated goals or deadlines. The CVC must probe if adequate studies were made and defined procedures followed in deciding the need of these projects. The circumstances when the Governor was made the Administrator have changed. It is time that the old Chief Commissioner system be restored so no more damage is done to Chandigarh by Generals who are not used to transparency. There have been reports that indicate the UT Administrator is riding roughshod over the workings of the Administration. It is time to bring in transparency and accountability. — Balbir |
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Adopt one-man, one-post principle
Authority sans accountability fatal
Chandigarh witnessed the worst period of governance in 2008, with various democratic organisations, political parties, farmers associations, industrial associations, residents welfare organisations, etc protesting against the whimsical and autocratic policies of the Administration. The basic issue common in all protests was that all controversial decisions were unilateral and there was no involvement of citizens/representatives of citizens in the decision-making process. Also the fundamental question arose. Who decides for the City ? The answer - the Administrator, who is also Governor of Punjab is in a way the final authority, but without any accountability. The authority and responsibility without accountability is extremely dangerous for any democratic set up, as we have seen in 2008. The present crisis in the UT shows the inherent weakness in the present system of governance in Chandigarh. Hence, there should be a Chief Commissioner, a senior IAS officer, who should head the City Administration. Further, bodies like advisory council comprising eminent citizens should play a more active role in key decisions pertaining to the city. The advisory council should take into consideration the views and opinions of various reputed NGOs, representing different segments of society while formulating its suggestions for the city Administration. — Rajkaran Singh
Why should a person hold dual responsibility/charge as we have plenty of talented persons available for every field, including administration? 2 The post of Governor is that of a nominal head of a state, who is expected to be neutral in all aspects to public representatives of any political party. So asking a Governor to act as an administrator appears to jeopardise this principle of neutrality. This additional responsibility rather looks out of tune with the constitutional post. 3 Chandigarh is a UT as well as the capital of two states. And expecting a Governor of one state to do justice to the functions of two other aspects, that of a union territory and the capital of Haryana, may be asking for too much. 4 There is also a question mark over exact division of powers of the Governor as Administrator of Chandigarh, the Adviser who is practically head of the Administration, the local Municipal Corporation, Member of Parliament. This needs to be very clearly defined, and there should not be any overlapping of the authority of any kind in this regard. So, in the overall interest of the Administration and public, there should be one-man, one-post principle. — Dr Rakesh
Khullar, social activist
Accountable to no one
The UT Administration was brought under the ex-officio Administrator, the Governor of Punjab, under peculiar circumstances during terrorism in Punjab with a view to bringing better administration. Since there is no elected assembly like other UTs i.e. Delhi and so on, there should only be a Chief Secretary to head the UT and not a nominated person. Moreover, the way fertile agriculture land has been forcibly acquired on throwaway price just to favour a few selected private developers has turned the Administrator as a dictator. The Adviser to the Administrator, when pointed out the serious irregularities, was made a victim, his integrity was doubted as a punishment for not following in the line of the Administrator. The Centre should immediately post a Chief Commissioner who will be more accessible to the citizens to redress their problems. At present, the Administrator does not feel accountable to any one. Such functioning is contrary to the well-established democratic principles. Undue favours have been done to the lower level officials i.e. ADCs. Why a Governor use his influence to abnormally extend the tenure of his ADC? The tug of war between the Administrator and certain officials of the UT and NGOs and public has become so dirty, if it is not check
now, it will affect the development in UT. There is a strong public opinion for
the revival of Chief Commissioner in Chandigarh. — Capt Amar Jeet Kumar (Retd) S.A.S Nagar
UT being ignored
Local political parties and residents face so many problems due to the running pretty quarrel between the Administrator and the Adviser. Their demand is reasonable for de-linking of the office of the Administrator from that of the Governor of Punjab. Everyone knows that Chandigarh is famous in the world for its planning. Requirements and problems of Chandigarh are different from others. I feel that it is not possible to give attention to Chandigarh, with Punjab, for the Governor. The public cannot approach the Governor to solve their problems. In my views, post of the Chief Commissioner is more suitable than the Administrator for this small UT. — Sumesh Kumar
Badhwar, # 4268, Sector- 68, S.A.S. Nagar
Administration real estate tycoon
Undoubtedly, the post of Chief Commissioner should be restored in Chandigarh. The Governor and Administrator is hardly accessible to the citizens of the city beautiful and, moreover, the Administrator not being a public servant or democratically elected representative has no accountability to the public. Not ignoring the recent newspaper reports that land costing thousands of rupees has been sold for a song likely to suit the whims and fancies of the Governor as well as certain individuals. The Administration seems to have become real estate tycoon. It is a common belief in the city that the Governor is interested only in monologue rather than a civilised dialogue. I would like to conclude that the post of Chief Commissioner should be revived for the betterment of the city. — Yudveer Singh
Save Chandigarh
Thanks to the active and constructive role played by the media, the “Save Chandigarh Campaign” spearheaded by the Chandigarh Sanjha Morcha has reached fruition. Ever since, the control structure had undergone change in the 80s, the quality of governance in Chandigarh has been gradually deteriorating and has now come to a grinding halt. It is strange, though the President’s Rule was revoked to pave the way for elected governance in Punjab, the City Beautiful continues under the administration of the Punjab Governor. Ipso facto, the Administrator-cum-Governor of Punjab has no time to attend to the legitimate grievances of the Chandigarhians. Meanwhile, in other UTs need for a government for the people, by the people and of the people was felt and elected governments formed, the Chandigarh residents, including villagers of the UT who have been deprived of their land in successive phases, have no voice in the development of their own city. Thus the so-called development with no rehabilitation is actually pushing the villagers to the wall. It is through lack of participation that the original residents of the area today have to fight for their survival. It is tantamount to democracy versus dictatorship. The past four years have been the darkest period in the history of Chandigarh. The Administration has been awfully busy in handling mega projects like IT Park, MediCity, Film City and Theme Park conceived by an individual and being implemented with mala fide intentions. Thus, the administration has lost the faith of the people as the development activities are not taking place. Even the elected representatives and functionaries of various associations are not being heard and their reservations go unaddressed. It will be in the fitness of national interest and per se Chandigarh , if the Governor of Punjab is immediately relieved of his additional burden of being Administrator of the UT. Instead, the post of Chief Commissioner for the city be restored. — Brig KS Kahlon, SM (Retd), president, Chandigarh
Sanjha Morcha To be continued
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Youth killed in car-Scorpio collision
Chandigarh, January 13 According to the police, the mishap occurred when the MUV (CH-03-L-4501) jumped over the road divider and rammed into the Maruti car (CH-01-Q-1234) driven by Kharbanda. The driver of the MUV, identified as Sandeep Kumar of Sector 37, was reportedly in inebriated condition. The vehicles collided with such a force that the Scorpio rolled over the Maruti car, crushing it before coming to a halt. Kharbanda, a professional photographer, sustained multiple injuries in the mishap. He got trapped in the mangled remains of the car and the police used a cutter to pull him out of the vehicle. He was found breathing and was rushed to the PGI, where he died during treatment. The driver of the MUV also suffered minor injuries and was taken to the PGI. He was discharged after administering first aid. The deceased was unmarried and was running a shop in Sector 22. He was on his way back home after dropping his friend at the Dadu Majra Colony. The police has arrested Sandeep Kumar on the charges of causing death due to rash and negligent driving.
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Labourer run over by vehicle
Chandigarh, January 13 The victim has been identified as Maneshi Paswan of Indira Colony. He was working as a labourer and hailed from Bihar. His body was found at around 1 am today when his family went in search of him after he failed to come back home. Quoting the victim’s son, Sharman Paswan, the police said his father went to answer the nature’s call at around 10 pm and did not return. After waiting for an hour, and suspecting something serious might have had happened to him, they went in search of him. They found him lying dead near the Indira Colony and his belly was badly crushed. There were imprints of tyres of a vehicle near the body indicating that he was run over by some vehicle. The police was informed about the incident, which took the victim to the Sector 16 Government Multi-Specialty Hospital, where he was declared brought dead. The police has registered a case of causing death due to rash and negligent driving against an unidentified driver.
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Move to give extension to Dr Bhandari
Chandigarh, January 13 With three months still left for Bhandari's retirement, the Director, Health Services, UT, Dr M.S. Bains, has reportedly moved a file for seeking an approval for his extension. Incidentally, the move has raised many eyebrows, as there is no provision for granting extension after attaining the age of retirement. Sources said as per notification, the UT follows Punjab service rules, which has no provision for extension. However, the Punjab rules do allow re-employment, but that’s done only after the person retires. Extension can only be granted by the Union government, but that, too, in exceptional cases. If insiders are to be believed, Bhandari, being close to the powers in the present set up, has managed to push his case and what is surprising that many in the administration are yet not aware of this move. His proximity to Dr Bains is also no secret. Health Secretary Ram Niwas said: “I will not be able to comment on the issue since the file has yet not reached me.”
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Mega Projects: Citizens seek end to stalemate
Chandigarh, January 13 Taking note of the ongoing slugfest between UT Administrator S.F. Rodrigues and his Adviser Pradip Mehra over the mega projects, different organisations today demanded a time-bound Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) probe into the mega projects so that clouds of uncertainty hovering over the projects were cleared. M.P.S. Chawla and Charanjiv Singh, chairman and president of the Chandigarh Citizens Council, respectively, in
a memorandum to the Union Home Ministry, said the ongoing tussle over the projects was sending wrong signals to the investors and MNCs. If the stalemate was not brought to an end soon, the investors may shift their base to the neighboring states, which were offering incentives for the setting up of mega projects. Urging the CVC to complete the probe within a stipulated period, preferably two months, the memorandum called for restraint from various functionaries in airing their views publicly and use their energies in a better way for the development of the city. The differences between two top functionaries of the administration have taken their toll on the administrative working with various “pro-people” decisions hanging fire, they said, demanding immediate notification of various decisions taken by the administration.
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Joshi Kidnapping
Chandigarh, January 13 Aman Verma has a criminal background with two murder cases against him. The frequent offender was booked for allegedly murdering Gurmeet Sehgal in June 2001. The murder case was registered against him at a police station in Vasant Kunj, New Delhi. The trial in the case is still on. There is another case of murder and kidnapping against Aman, wherein he has been accused of murdering Vikramjit Singh. The murder case was registered against him in June 2006 in Barog, Himachal Pradesh. Aman Verma and seven others were booked for kidnapping Amit Goria. There are another 22 cases against him in which he has been booked for theft, robbery and forgery of valuable documents in Delhi, Ludhiana, Bathinda and Noida. Another accused Honey Sharma also has several cases against him. The third accused in the case, who had fled from Patiala jail, has already been declared a proclaimed offender. On November 18, 2005, 17-year-old Nikhil Joshi had gone to get his car refueled from a Sector 21 filling station. On his return, a car chased him and the occupants of the car abducted him. The kidnappers later called up Deepak Joshi and demanded the ransom of Rs 2 crore for the release of his son. The caller gave him a Singapore phone number and claimed to be members of the Chota Rajan group. The police swung into action and raided a house in Sector 16 from where it nabbed two of the accused, Honey Sharma and Manoj Kumar. Nikhil was also found handcuffed in the said house. The accused admitted that Aman was the mastermind of the kidnapping. Following the information provided by the two, the police recovered the car used in the abduction. Later, Aman, originally Jagminder Singh, was arrested in another case and after Nikhil identified him, he was booked in this case too. During the trial, Manoj Kumar fled from the Patiala jail and later court declared him a proclaimed offender. During arguments in the case, the counsel of Jagminder and Honey Sharma pleaded not guilty and false implication in the case. The public prosecutor, Vinay Jhingan, however, held that Nikhil had been recovered from the custody of the accused and also that Jagminder Singh had faked himself as Aman Sharma.
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Govt vs Private Schools
Chandigarh, January 13 The fourth Annual Status of Education Report (ASER)-2008 released by Montek Singh Ahluwalia in New Delhi today has revealed that proportion of children going to private schools has gone up from 16.4 per cent in 2005 to 22.5 per cent in 2008. The increase represents a 37.2 per cent increase over the baseline of 2005. It is particularly striking in Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan. In 2008, private schools had 20 per cent more boys than girls in the age groups of 7-10 years and 11-14 years. The report noted that half of school going children in Kerala and Goa go to private schools and 32-42 per cent of school going children in Nagaland, Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan are studying in private schools. The study also found that other than the presence of government primary schools, 67 per cent villages in India have government middle schools and 33.8 per cent have government secondary schools. The report pointed out that learning level in basic reading and writing showed no change in the country although Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh have made considerable progress. Kerala, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, and Chhattisgarh lead the nation in reading ability with over 60 per cent children in class-III able to read at least a class-I text and over 70 per cent children in class-V able to read at least a class-II text. Nationally, proportion of 7-10 year-olds not in school is at 2.7 per cent, and proportion of 11-14 year olds is 6.3 per cent. All India proportion of 11-14 year old out-of-school girls remains steady at 7.3 per cent over 2007 and 2008.
Surprisingly, Bihar has made consistent progress in bringing more children into school. Many other states have also lowered the numbers of not-in-school children.
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Irregularities in hospital supplies
Chandigarh, January 13 According to sources, the COI was ordered by Headquarters 11 Corps on the directions of the General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Western Command, after the Army received complaints in this regard. The COI commenced at Jalandhar last week. General Officer Commanding and Infantry Division Maj Gen TS Gill has been detailed as the presiding officer of the COI, with two Brigadiers commanding an artillery brigade and a sub-area, respectively, as members. A Colonel from the Army Medical Corps (AMC) has also been detailed as a technical member to assist the COI members. The Brigadier facing the COI has been approved for promotion to the rank of Major General and is presently serving on a staff appointment at a Corps Headquarters, sources revealed. The terms of reference of the COI include investigation into the procurement of medical stores and supplies worth several crores of rupees from unregistered vendors during the tenure of the Brigadier as the hospital commandant. Further, procurements for the field medical stores depot, Jalandhar, were alleged to have been made when the commanding officer of the depot was on leave and a non-technical officer was officiating. Non-technical officers, sources said, do not have power to make purchases.
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Advertisers, shop owners axe trees
Mohali, January 13 In a recent example, small trees and fully-grown shrubs have been badly cut to apparently offer a better view to the advertiser who was maintaining green belts. The advertiser had put up hanging display boards in green belts. A visit to the spot revealed entire row of trees in front of markets of Phase 3B1 and 3B2 had been badly cut. Few days ago, the shopkeepers in Phase X market had badly pruned trees in its market, adjoining the PCA stadium. A visit to the site revealed that without caring for the law, the shopkeepers engaged a private person to cut the trees. As per the law, pruning trees amounts to a criminal action. Inquiries revealed the custodian of the trees in the parking areas was the Mohali municipal corporation. While carpeting the parking areas, the earth around the trees has already been covered, leaving no space for the rainwater to percolate down.
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DC bans illegal parking on NH-21, 22
Mohali, January 13 The district police has been asked to tow away vehicles that were parked in violation of the prohibitory orders passed by the DM, Mohali, Rahul Bhandhari. Passing the order under Section 144 of the CrPC, Bhandari directed the police to maintain round-the-clock patrolling and deploy highway patrol parties to enforce the orders. The bans also extend to buses, rickshaws, road squatters and rehries. The administration has already started the process of marking two-away zones and identifying the parking spots for public transport. The SSP, Mohali, and NHAI has been asked to ensure compliance of the directives. The orders have been passed following the Punjab and Haryana High Court orders directing the Mohali and Panchkula deputy commissioners to resolve the issue of unnecessary parking of vehicles on the national highways. Rahul Bhandhari said the IG (Traffic), Punjab, had promised strict implementation of the orders. Sources said strictly complying with the orders could be a problem as there was already a shortage of force to maintain the law and order. Even after issuing of the prohibitory orders, long route buses were being parked at Zirakpur to pick passengers. Prior to the prohibitory orders, the issue was discussed at a meeting of a sub-committee of officials of the district administration officials. The sub-committee has also suggested construction of bus queue shelters on both sides of the national highway at
Zirakpur.
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Another food street for Industrial Area
Chandigarh, January 13 In fact efforts are on to convert the proposal for a day and night food street in the area. Mayor Kamlesh, said, “There was long felt need of the food street in that area as thousands of workers are employed there, day and night. Adding to that are another thousands of call centre executives who are working in the call centres in the vicinity. The night food street would serve the purpose, as they would be able to choose from a variety of food items apart from having proper meals.” Sources revealed that the demand had also come from the call centre executives for a place in the Industrial Area to have hygienic food. Though the area is full of small dhabas and even rehriwalas serving food during lunch hours and otherwise, there is hardly any place to accommodate thousands of workers employed in various industries in the area. To start with Industrial Area I will have a food street first and Industrial Area II will follow. A proposal in this regard has already been sent to the concerned department. Another food street is already in the pipeline, floated by former Mayor, Pradeep Chabra in Sector 17. After seeing the success of the existing food street near Panjab University and PGIMER, which came up a few mont7hs ago, the new proposal has been floated by the Mayor. Besides, students of Panjab University and other nearby colleges in Sector 10, 11, staffers from PGIMER and even visitors enjoy Indian delicacies, southern fare and even continental food et al throughout the night at affordable prices. Though former Mayor Harjinder Kaur conceived this night food street around two years back, the same could be inaugurated only in November last year by Minister of State for Finance, Pawan Kumar Bansal.
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‘Need to improve policing to curb crime’
Chandigarh, January 13 Replying to a query about the rift in the force, which is taking its toll on the investigation into some of the sensational cases, the IGP though admitted, but played down the rift terming it as a “routine matter”. The IGP discussed it while presenting annual crime review report of 2008 at the Sector 26 police lines, here, recently. Presenting the crime figures, Jain said the crime remained under control showing an increase of 0.89 per cent in 2008. He said 4,536 cases were registered with the local police in previous year against 4,496 in 2007. He added that to keep the crime under control the police adopted the policy of free registration of cases, in which 96 cases of petty nature, in which the loss was between Rs 50 and Rs 500, were registered to send, a signal to the anti-social elements. The snatchers and the motor vehicle thieves gave the police sleepless nights throughout the last year as 1,094 cases of motor vehicle thefts were registered against 852 in 2007 and 213 incidents of snatchings in the last year against 179 in 2007. Besides this, the incidents of burglaries rose from 191 in 2007 to 257 in 2008 and thefts from 888 to 897. Basic policing and effective beat patrolling are considered to be the best means to curb such crimes. In a bid to improve basic policing, the IGP said more constables were recruited in the police and the constables were also being given over 180 bicycles for patrolling in their respective area. The police is planning to make the beat patrolling round-the-clock to improve the basic
policing.
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Municipal Council poll deferred again
Mohali, January 13 The local SDM who was appointed convener for the elections had earlier fixed January 20 for holding the poll. But the civic body got another letter from the SDM today in which it was stated that the elections to the two posts of the council were postponed indefinitely because the chief Election Commissioner, Punjab, had extended the date of correcting the voter list for the general elections till January 22. Earlier, this work was to be completed by January 10. The Punjab and Haryana High Court had issued a notice on January 8 to secretary, local government, Deputy Commissioner, Mohali, and others for January 29. The notice was issued in connection with the writ petition filed by Municipal Councillor Kuljit Singh Bedi, seeking elections to the two posts, which were lying vacant since
August 2007. Interestingly, the letter of the SDM dated January 2, announcing the elections was received by the civic body on January 8 at 5.10 pm. A copy of this letter was also sent to the Deputy Commissioner Rahul Bhandari, who was unaware of having received any such letter till January 8. Bedi said he had approached the court to protect the democratic rights of councillors and not for any personal interest.
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Warehousing Project
Chandigarh, January 13 Various feedbacks received from the consultants who participated in the pre-bid conference regarding the warehousing complex were considered during the meeting. Sanjay emphasised to publish revised advertisement as per the new terms and conditions decided so that the system remained transparent.
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Water supply to be suspended on Jan 15, 16
Chandigarh, January 13 Supply hours 15.1.09: 4 am to 10 am,6 pm to 9 pm. 16.1.09: 4 am to 10 am, 6 pm to 9 pm.
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Teacher on deputation
Chandigarh, January 13 While the arrangement that was made a year back continues till date, the city lecturers allege it to be a sheer result of “favouritism” prevalent in the department. Meanwhile, when contacted, Raji P Shrivastava, director, higher education, UT, pleaded ignorance into the case and promised to look into it. “The appointment of a lecturer is the UGC prerogative and I think if anybody is drawing salary as a teacher only and is competent then what is the harm?” she said. However, the reply failed to satisfy the lecturers as according to an education department official, “She is not even a school lecturer so how can somebody whom the department as yet has not considered competent to teach class 12 is competent to teach the graduation classes? She might be getting salary of the teacher but does not have same working hours.” Interestingly when questioned Bharti Gupta said, “I am a lecturer at GCG 11 and an M. Ed and PhD so I am quite competent. I could not be a school lecturer as it is done according to seniority.”
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Students move to ‘dhol’ beats at PU
Chandigarh, January 13 The chief guest, PU vice chancellor RC Sobti, to mark the beginning of the celebrations, lighted a huge bonfire. With that began the song and dance sequence. Foot-tapping on movie numbers, peppy Punjabi songs and fast tracks saw the students dancing around the bonfire. Boys and girls alike danced merrily. The celebrations were not confined to the Student Centre alone. Across the campus, the beats of the ‘dholki’ and lyrics of Lohri songs could be heard as students of several departments organised their own separate celebrations in open spaces adjoining their departments.
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From Schools & Colleges
Chandigarh, January 13 St Kabir
St Kabir Public School, Sector 26, celebrated Lohri with great enthusiasim. Students from classes VII and VIII, depicted the history of Lohri and presented a cultural programme. GC-11
Students and staff of GC-11 celebrated Lohri with gaiety and fervor today. Several dance numbers reverberated on the college grounds with boys and girls dancing to the tunes of Hindi, Punjabi, and Pop numbers. Dev Samaj
College
Dev Samaj College of Education, Sector 36, celebrated Lohri at Nari Niketan, Sector 26. NSS volunteers of the college conducted a workshop on glass painting and they also demonstrated some of their cooking skills for the residents of Nari Niketan. Amandeep Kaur, director social welfare department, UT, was the chief guest. GCG-42
The principal, staff and students of GCG, Sector 42, celebrated Lohri with gaiety and fervour on the college premises. Mayor of the city Municipal Corporation Kamlesh Kumari, was the chief guest. Narain School
Patiala: Lohri celebration function was organised in Narain Public School, Patiala, on January 13. President of the school Avtar Singh Arora, lit the bonfire on the school campus. School principal Manjeet Kaur Warriach, naratted the tale behind Lohri. Poems and songs were recited in praise of one of the heroes of Punjab, Dullah Bhatti, who used to help the poor and fought for their right. A famous Punjabi song "Eda Rang Sinduri Hai" was sung by the students of Class I. Haryanvi dance was presented by schoolgirls. The students sang ‘Sunder mundriya’ Lohri folk song. School president donated Rs 1,000 for the students as Lohri. Peanuts and popcorns were brought with this money and
distributed. Bhupindra
Public School
BIPS also celebrated the festival of Lohri with great fun and fervor. A short cultural programme was presented by the students. Many students spoke on the significance of the day. The students of the Montessori wing presented various dance items, which prompted the audience to tap their feet. The students of senior wing enthralled everyone with folk dance of Punjab. Indu Sharma, principal of the school, lighted a bonfire. The function concluded with the distribution of peanuts and sweets. Guru Gobind Singh College
KHARAR: Management, director and staff members of Guru Gobind Singh College of Modern Technology celebrated Lohri with 300 hostel students. Director of the institute Dr SS Bedi said Lohri celebrations assumed special significance for hostellers, as they were unable to join their families in UP, Bihar, MP and Jammu and Kashmir for celebrations as their semester examinations were going on. Singing and dancing formed an intrinsic part of celebrations.
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