Saturday, April 17, 1999
|
N E W S Saturday, April 17, 1999 |
|
| weather n
spotlight today's calendar |
Vineeta
Rai is new UT Adviser CHANDIGARH, April 16 — Ms Vineeta Rai, an IAS officer of the 1968 batch belonging to the UT cadre, will be the new Adviser to the Administrator of Chandigarh. She will take up her new assignment on Monday next. Ms Rai will replace Mr Jagdish Sagar. "I am looking forward to my new assignment. It is presumptuous for me to talk about my priorities without knowing about the Chandigarh Administration. I have been to Chandigarh several times. It is a nice and beautiful city," she said in an informal chat with The Tribune over the telephone this evening. Ms Rai had worked as Subdivisional Magistrate and Additional District Magistrate in Delhi before a nearly three-year assignment in Goa. She held various positions, including Home Secretary and Secretary to Chief Minister in Arunachal Pradesh for the next four years. After her stint in the North-East, she worked in the Union Ministry of Home Affairs as Director. Then she worked in the Delhi Administration both as Health Secretary and Home Secretary. Her next
assignment was as Mission Director in the United Nations
Fund for Population for South Central Asia with
headquarters in Nepal. After a full five-year stint
there, she returned last week. BBA, BCA, B.Ed exams put off CHANDIGARH, April 16—The university examinations of BBA, BCA, B Ed, M Ed and diploma in Gandhian Studies have been postponed till further notice. The decision comes after many days of uncertainty among the students about whether or not the examinations will actually take place. The examinations were scheduled to begin on April 19. One such harried student of Government College, Sector 46, Deepali Chowdhary says,``The attitude of the university towards the students is very casual. It is crazy not knowing whether you will have your exam on the scheduled date. Our teachers at the college also have failed to give a satisfactory answer. There is so much uncertainty about everything.'' Her friend, Jyoti Law, is into serious studies in spite of the uncertainty.``I am hoping the exams will be as per schedule. Besides the extra time we will get, a major drawback of the postponement is that one fine morning we will get up and read in the newspaper that the exams are scheduled to begin in a couple of days. That is going to be even more troublesome.'' The tentative dates of examinations along with the rumours are giving students a harrowing time.``The examinations are getting on my nerves. It is not so much the tension of taking an exam but the anxiety of whether or not they will actually happen and when they do, will we be able to give it our best shot ? We have prepared so often that now we have no inclination to go through the matter or even put it down on paper,'' Karan Oberoi from the Government College for Boys, Sector 11, opines. ``I have been running from pillar to post to get information but there are as many opinions on the matter of examination as there are people. This has led to a lot of wasted time this session and the students will suffer the most. We must be given at least a week's notice before the commencement of the examinations in case the examinations stand postponed,'' remarks an equally disturbed Arjun Mehra of the same college. Ruchika Kaushal of the Government College for Girls, Sector 11, is very worked up about the way the examination dates are being announced and then being followed by an announcement of postponement. She cannot put all her concentration in her work because somewhere at the back of her mind she knows the examinations are going to be postponed.``The day the actual dates come out, I will be most unprepared and my result will suffer. I will have to bear the brunt because of no fault of mine.'' Though the air is rife with rumours of all kinds about commencement of examinations, for the time being, the university authorities are not forwarding any new dates. They are keeping their fingers crossed that the matter of the private colleges will be resolved soon and they can get on with their business of conducting the examinations. Meanwhile, the only
thing certain is that the students of Panjab University,
applying in other universities will not stand a chance
for admission for want of their results. |
HUDA to
extend scheme for privatisation of sanitation PANCHKULA, April 16— Encouraged by the good results through the privatisation of sanitation of certain sectors here, the Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) has decided to extend the service to four more sectors. This is a sequel to an earlier decision taken by the authorities to hand over the sanitation of developed sectors to private contractors after getting feedback from the residents of the sector concerned. As a pilot project, HUDA had handed over sanitation of Sector 7 in 1997 before extending the service to Sectors 4, 11 and 15 over the past one and a half years. Now HUDA has decided to hand over sanitation of Sectors 2,8,9 and 10 to the private sector. The tenders to allot the cleaning job of the sectors will be invited soon. The Administrator of HUDA (Panchkula), Mr Devinder Singh, said that the decision to extend the privatisation of sanitation to other sectors was taken after talking to the residents of the sectors where such service already existed. Another proposition given by HUDA officials in favour of the privatisation drive was that it had to deploy around eight safai karamcharis in a sector and spent around Rs 35,000 on their salaries and other allowances. On the hand at least 16 workers were being deployed in each sector handed over to a private contractor. Besides, HUDA is spending more than Rs 5 lakh on the maintenance of sanitation in the township besides the upkeep of machinery but is charging nothing from house owners in the absence of a Municipal Committee. As per the norms a sector has to be handed over to a Municipal Committee after five years of being developed but several of the developed sectors were still being maintained by HUDA. Besides HUDA has decided
to put on trial specially-designed dust dins to prevent
stay cattle from shuffling the garbage from the bins, a
common complain of the residents. |
Fire
destroys 3-acre farm PANCHKULA, April 16 — Three acres of land with standing crops at Bhagwanpur village in Barwala block were destroyed in a fire this afternoon. The loss is estimated to
be several thousand rupees. |
935 kundis
removed CHANDIGARH, April 16 — In a special drive, the Chandigarh Administration removed 935 kundis from Palsora colony today. The operation was conducted under the supervision of Mr V.P. Dhingra, Executive Engineer, Electricity Rehabilitation Division, and Mr K.S. Gill, Executive Magistrate. The Palsora colony
includes Pir Colony, Vishwakarma Colony, Colony Number 2,
Kamal Colony and Indira Colony. A press note of the
Administration said that Palsora Colony was an
electrified colony where the residents were reluctant to
accept regular electricity connections. The Electricity
Department had released 1,400 connections in the colony. |
School to
be named after Major KHARAR, April 16 — As a mark of respect to Major Harmohinder Pal Singh who laid down his life for the country while fighting militants in the Kashmir valley on April 13, the Punjab Government had decided to rename Government Primary School in his native village, Mundi Kharar, after him. The school will also be upgraded to middle-level immediately. This was announced by Mr
Tota Singh, Education Minister, Punjab, and Mr Swarna
Ram, Education Minister of State, Punjab, at Mundi Kharar
yesterday. They also offered employment to the widow of
Major Singh in the Punjab School Education Board. The
ministers had come to the village to pay homage to the
departed soul.
|
Drug abuse
centre proposed CHANDIGARH, April 16 — The Inspector-General of Chandigarh Police, Dr Kiran Bedi, while speaking at an interaction at the CII in Sector 31 today proposed the setting up of a drug abuse centre. A representative of the Chandigarh Industries Association, Mr Ranvir Uppal, offered a building in Sector 30 for the centre. A meeting with "Navjyoti", a Delhi based centre that runs a drug abuse care centre was fixed for next week. During the course of her guest lecture on police -- industry partnership, Dr Bedi said the use of drugs was directly linked with small crimes and robberies. The Chandigarh Police is planning to arrest and send the drug addicts to jail where treatment for drug abuse is mandatory. Under the law, the police can nab and book drug users for six months. The IG, while responding to the demand to have identity cards for domestic help, said the beat staff that were being trained to act like a mini police station , would be asked to make identity cards for domestic help . The IG exhorted the industrialists to help promote a vocational training centre for children of police personnel. There is very little parenting time with a cop who does long stressed duties. " A lot of my attention will go to police families ," the IG said . Later, Mr I.S. Paul, Chairman, CII Chandigarh Council, offered to set up a computer centre in the police lines of Sector 26. Dr Bedi also laid stress on setting up citizen and youth patrols. The youth patrols will begin with girls, who can prevent eve teasing. The volunteers will be asked to intervene and inform the police, who will not harass them. An important issues to
be discussed was the use of reflectors on cycles and
rickshaws. Dr Bedi asked the CII to come up with a
proposal to put reflectors on cycle mudguards as a large
number of road accidents involve them. A telephone
company responded immediately and offered to provide the
reflectors while the traffic police would stick them on
cycles. |
101 akhand
paths begin CHANDIGARH, April 16 — As many as 101 akhand paths to commemorate the tercentenary of the Khalsa were started at Gurdwara Gursagar Sahib, near Sukhna Lake, here, this morning. A total of 303 akhand paths will be performed in batches of 101 during the next week while the Sarv Dharam Sammelan will be held on April 18. The gurdwara and its surrounding areas wore a festive look with colourful buntings and preparations were on for illuminating the entire area from the approach road to the venue where the ceremonies are taking place. A large number of devotees were seen cleaning the premises. A huge pandal has been erected for the occasion on an area of two acres as hundreds of devotees are expected to visit the ceremonies in the coming days. The holding of the akhand paths is an annual event but it has been planned on a large scale in view of the tercentenary celebrations. According to a spokesperson of the Shiromani Sant Khalsa International Foundation, which is hosting the event, a sum of more than Rs 25 lakh has been earmarked for the entire event. The expenses will be met through voluntary donations, he added. It was a unique event where one could see the holy book being read by 101 granthis and devotees alike. Guru Granth Sahibs have been arranged in a row that circles two sides of the tastefully decorated tent with the space in front open for all to sit and enjoy the recitation. A large number of fans have been installed for the comfort of the people in view of the heat during daytime. Sant Prithpal Singh, Chairman of the foundation, said it was the first time that the birth of the Khalsa was being celebrated all over the world. They had sent a proposal to the Centre to urge the United Nations to pass a resolution to celebrate 1999 as the year of humanity but it could not get through due to the political instability in the country during the past two years. Commenting on the problems facing mankind and the Panth, he said the degeneration in our moral values was the root cause of the destruction in the world. When our inner self is polluted how can one care for others, let alone work for the glory of the Panth and the betterment of mankind he said. He said the holding of seminars won't get us anywhere but if the youth shunned vices , it would mean that they are on the right track. Blindly aping the West won't get us anywhere and when we do so we must also think about the large number of foreigners who come to our country for internal peace. If being rich was the aim then why would people from those counties abandon the pleasures of life to experience internal bliss at least once. The need of the hour was not to construct more places of religious worship but cater to the needs of the youth and create more job opportunities for them even at the village level. More hospitals were needed along with more old age homes and they were working towards this, he revealed. He also said the work on
the Hemkunt Sahib approach road would begin shortly. Its
foundation stone was laid on January 5. Similarly, work
was under way to construct the 1100-seat Guru Ram Dass
Engineering College, Jabalpore, which at present is
running from a rented accommodation. |
IT key to
development: Jasjit CHANDIGARH, April 16 — Technology holds the key to the nation's development and India should not lag behind in the field of information technology (IT), the Director of the Institute of Defence Studies and Analysis (IDSA), Air Cmdre Jasjit Singh, said here today. Speaking at Gujjar Bhavan in Sector 28 here, he said IT was the fastest-growing industry with over 50 per cent growth rate per year. The software industry with a turnover of over Rs 17,000 crore could provide "productive employment" to the growing number of unemployed in the country. Since job opportunities in the government sector were declining and population was rising at an alarming rate, the training in computers, which had innumerable applications, will be a must for getting job in the next century, he added. Citing the example of Israel, Air Cmdre Jasjit Singh said the tiny nation had made progress only on account of the use technology in diverse fields. Earlier, Dr Kiran Singh, Director of the National Dairy Research Institute (NDRI), Karnal, said since the Gujjar community had to suffer a lot at the hands of the British, it should be given the status of the freedom fighters. He urged the community not to be leave agriculture and cattle-rearing since they were the professions of the future. Dr Jasbir Singh, a former Chairman of the Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC), said without economic prosperity, the Gujjars would not have much say in the affairs of the nation. Dr Suraj Singh, a Supreme Court lawyer, advocated the setting up of the All-India Education Trust for the uplift of the community. Mr Amrik Singh, President of the Gujjar Samaj Kalyan Parishad, urged the government to take immediate steps for the uplift of the community. A directory of the
members of the parishad was also released. |
Role of
plastic surgeons ‘crucial’ CHANDIGARH, April 16 — The success rate for implanting amputated parts of the body like fingers, tips of nose and toes is as high as 80 per cent in India while success rates for free tissue transfer is close to 98 percent, said noted plastic surgeon, Prof A.B. Thomas from the CMC, Ludhiana. He was talking to media persons on the opening day of the three-day national workshop on “Microsurgical reconstruction of extremities” that opened at the PGI today. Prof Thomas was of the opinion that 98 percent success rate was comparable and even better than some centres in the developed world. Prof Thomas, who is known to have pioneered plastic surgery in these parts of the country, said the CMC had so far carried out 1000 major cases of plastic surgery since the technique was first used in 1983. Even replantation of the scalp and had been carried out successfully. A full face replantation was also done and this was the only reported case of such a surgery so far, Prof Thomas said. Most surgeries take several hours to conduct. The Department of Plastic Surgery, PGI, is organising the workshop to discuss the modalities of micro surgery. According to Dr G. Biswas of the PGI, there had been an increase in the number of injuries following a rise in vehicular traffic, mechanisation of the agricultural sector and rapid industrialisation. The maximum number of injury cases received at the PGI were due to scooter accidents and involved damage to the lower limb. In such a scenario, the role of plastic surgeons in trauma care was crucial. For this a dedicated team that worked round the clock only for replantation of amputated body parts was required. Most cases were of people between the age of 20 and 40. Thus they were at the peak of their earning prowess. If such people were not cured through micro-surgery then it was a pity, he added. The workshop was
inaugurated by Prof V.K. Kak, Director Principal of the
GMCH. |
Student-designers
display talent CHANDIGARH, April 16 — “Communicating with the youth is a problem. Moralising and lecturing is no good and a difference of opinion is attributed to a generation gap,'' Mr L.H. Naqvi said at the annual designer show of the International Polytechnic for Women, Sector 35, held at Tagore Theatre today. He congratulated the parents and students for the talent they presented on stage and remarked that modelling and designing were fields which had caught the fancy of the youth and they were doing justice to the streams they had chosen. Students in the three rounds displayed their handiwork with grace and style. From heavily embroidered `kantha' work sarees, to block printed ones, the show had a whole range of colours to present. While the first round was based on the artistic heritage of India, the second was a fusion of western and Indian wear while the third round of “unusual wear'' gave free reign to the imagination of the girls in the designing of clothes. They were clearly meant for the stage. Heavily embroidered
sarees, `lachas' and suits were also well-designed by the
students. The rounds were punctuated by interesting
fillers comprising songs, skits and lively dances
presented by the students. |
SNIPPETS Sabha to hold ‘shobha
yatra’ CHANDIGARH, April 16 — On the eve of Parshu Ram Jayanti, a "shobha yatra" will be organised by the Shri Brahman Sabha tomorrow. It will start from the Parshu Ram Bhavan in Sector 37. Meanwhile, a sunder kand path, discourses on the life of Lord Parshu Ram and a bhandara will be the highlights of a function to be organised in connection with the jayanti on Sunday. City to host writers' conference CHANDIGARH, April 16 — The 12th All-India Conference of Progressive Writers Association (PWA) would be held from April 23 to 25 at Chandigarh. It would feature eminent writers and poets, including Kaifi Azmi, Ali Sardar Jafri, Kartar Singh Duggal, Bhisham Sahni and B.N. Karup. This was announced today at a joint press conference held today at the Seminar Hall of the Punjab Book Centre, Sector 22, by Mr Shamim Faizi, Vice-President of the All-India PWA and Dr Harcharan Singh, Chairman of the Reception Committee of the conference. The conference will be held for the first time in North India", in which 500 delegates are expected to participate. Out of them, 200 will be from outside Punjab and some from foreign countries. A former Minister of Cultural Affairs of Pakistan, Mr Fakhar Zaman, will arrive on April 22 along with some other Pakistani novelists. The theme of the conference will be 'Challenges Before Writers Today'. The conference will be inaugurated by the Governor of Punjab, Lieut-Gen B.K.N. Chhibber. The guest of honour will be Dr Mulk Raj Anand. The three-day conference will include four working sessions on April 24. An open session will be presided over by Prof M.M. Puri, Vice-Chancellor of Panjab University. On April 23, a mushaira will be organised, and another cultural programme will be presented on April 24. The conference will be hosted by the Punjabi Lekhak Sabha, in collaboration with the Kendari Punjabi Lekhak Sabha and the Punjab Arts Council. NCC cadets given awards CHANDIGARH, April 16 — Forty NCC cadets were given prizes at the annual NCC prize distribution function in Central Polytechnic, Sector 26, here today. Five prizes were given to former NCC officers on the occasion. While Major P.D. Sharma was adjudged the best NCC officer from Chandigarh group, officer Nishant Kapit, in charge of the trek camp, under officer Subhash Chander, in charge of the training camp, and under officer Vijay Pal Singh, in charge of army attachment camp, were also honoured on the occasion. The remaining cadets were awarded for passing ‘B’ and ‘C’ certificates successfully. A cultural programme was presented by the cadets which began with a prayer song followed by a holy dance presented by Rajni Thakur and a group dance on a medley of popular Hindi numbers. Two skits, one on the life in an NCC camp and the other with a message for the youth to avoid drugs were the highpoints of the programme. The Mayor of the Municipal Corporation, Mr K.K. Addiwal was the chief guest at the function. He emphasised the need of social services of NCC and NSS in bringing about a change in society. The Principal, Mr S.L. Sapra, in his welcome address, highlighted the achievements of the cadets in discipline, camp lay-out, volley-ball and the annual training camp. Chakki owners’ plea to govt CHANDIGARH, April 16 — The Chandigarh Chakki Owners Association has expressed concern over the rising number of ‘unauthorised’ diesel-run mobile flour mills in the city and the surrounding areas. In a press note issued here today, Mr Gian Chand Gupta, the President of the association, said the mobile flour mills, installed on tractors were working without any valid licence and have been causing huge financial loss to authorised flour mill owners, who have purchased the flour mills by spending huge amount of money. He lamented that in spite of the fact that mobile flour mills were banned in the city, these were working in different parts of the city without any check by the authorities concerned. Mr Gupta also demanded that the owners of the flour mills,which was a special trade as per the city bye-laws, should be allowed to change their trade as the rising number of roller flour mills in the city had rendered the trader financially unviable. Workshop on teaching ends CHANDIGARH, April 16 — The two-day seminar-cum-workshop on ‘micro teaching skills’ concluded at Dev Samaj College of Education, Sector 36-B, today. The workshop was conducted by Dr B.K. Passi ( Chairperson, UNESCO chair IGNOU) and Dr Subhashini Passi ( Director ICT, Indore, HRD Consultant), eminent educationists in the field of micro teaching and creative thinking. Dr B.K. Passi introduced the concept, procedure and implications of micro teaching and demonstrated some of the essential teaching skills — skill of questioning, skill of illustration and stimulus variation. As many as 44 participants from Chandigarh and Punjab attended the workshop. The participants were involved in active discussion along with practice training on the topics. The practical implications of implementing micro teaching in colleges was also discussed. While presiding over the valedictory function, Dr Deepak Manmohan Singh, Dean College Development Council, lauded the college principal, Mrs Satinder Dhillon, in organising such unique workshops to equip the teachers with better skills. Later, thanking the resource persons for conducting the workshop, Mrs Dhillon said that seminars go a long way in imparting new training techniques to in-service teachers as well as teachers trainees. Veterinary hospital demanded PANCHKULA, April 16 — Residents of Burj Kotian have sought a veterinary hospital for the village. This demand was raised at an ‘open darbar’ organised by the district administration at Burj Kotian here today. Posting of a doctor at the village dispensary and appointment of a teacher and repair of the village link road were also among the demands raised by the residents of Burj Kotian before the Deputy Commissioner, Ms Saroj Siwach. The problem of dust raised by stone crushers in the vicinity of the village was also aired by the residents. Tercentenary function by police DERA BASSI, April 16 — To celebrate the tercentenary of the birth of the Khalsa, the police organised a special function at the police station here today. The sarpanches of various villages falling in this subdivision along with hundreds of local residents took part in the event with great enthusiasm. Mr S.S.Sidhu, Subdivisional Magistrate, and Mr H.S.Bhullar, Deputy Superintendent of Police, participated in the function. Mr Jagjit Singh Dalli, President, Municipal Committee, Mr Satpal Vaid, President, District Congress Committee, and some other prominent persons of the town also participated. Mr Jassa Singh and Mr Tajender Singh, SHOs of Dera Bassi and Lohgarh police stations, respectively, along with other police personnel were seen serving langar to the sangat at the police station. This was the second such function organised by the local police. Plea to lift ban on recruitment CHANDIGARH, April 16 — The convention of the northern region All India CPWD Employees Union concluded here today with the participants urging the government for lifting the ban on direct recruitments effective since 1985. According to Mr Sanjay Kaul, Zonal President, those who addressed the largely attended convention included Mr Sukhbir Sharma, President of the Indian National Shramik Congress, and Mr Matu Ram, zonal secretary. He said their main demands include lifting of the ban on promotions besides payment to workers engaged by contractors as per the Minimum Wages Act. MIA organises thanks-giving SAS NAGAR, April 16 — The tercentenary Khalsa Divas should be taken as an inspiration to remove social evils from society. To protect the future generations from AIDS, drug abuse and pollution, a wave against these should be created. This was stated by a prominent religious preacher, Bhai Jasbir Singh Khalsa, at a thanks-giving function organised by the Mohali Industries Association (MIA), here today, in connection with the tercentenary celebrations of the Khalsa. Bhai Jasbir Singh, who presented siropas and mementoes to those who had played significant roles in providing services to pilgrims passing through the town to Anandpur Sahib from April 9 to 15. He said marches by school children had been organised against social abuses to create awareness about these. He appealed to the MIA to play a positive role in this direction. Among those who were
honoured on the occasion, were Mr O.P. Popli, SDM, Mr
B.S. Randhawa, SP, Mr Roopinder Singh Bal, Tehsildar, Mr
Harinder Pal Singh Billa, President of the Municipal
Council, Mr Tirath Goyal, CMO of the Civil Hospital,
private doctors who provided free medical help, officials
of the Municipal Council and the Punjab State Electricity
Board and a number of volunteers from industrial units of
the town. |
 |
 |
| Nation
| Punjab | Haryana | Himachal Pradesh | Jammu & Kashmir | | Editorial | Business | Sport | | Mailbag | Spotlight | World | 50 years of Independence | Weather | | Search | Subscribe | Archive | Suggestion | Home | E-mail | |
