An all-eve affair
CHANDIGARH, Feb 9 — An all-woman team of Assistant District Attorneys has been recruited by the Department of Prosecution of the Chandigarh Administration.

Contests mark silver jubilee
CHANDIGARH, Feb 9 — Inter- class contests were organised on the first day of silver jubilee celebrations of Guru Gobind Singh College for Women, Sector 26, here today.

Estate Office move opposed
CHANDIGARH, Feb 9 — Members of the Deep Complex Welfare Association have condemned the announcement of the award for acquisition of the land of the complex by the Estate Office.

Computerisation of village health centres urged
CHANDIGARH, Feb 9 — The Director-Principal of Government Medical College Hospital, Sector 32, Dr V.K. Kak, has stressed the need for computerisation of the public health centres in villages.

Rally on price rise CHANDIGARH, Feb 9 — Members of the the local units of the CPM, the CPI and the Janata Dal took out a rally to highlight the failure of the government to control the spiralling prices of essential commodities. Vanaspati, groundnut oil prices fall

Couple, child sustain burn injuries ‘Apni mandi’ for Sector 43 CHANDIGARH, Feb 9 — The Mayor, Mr Kewal Krishan Adiwal, will inaugurate an "apni mandi" in Sector 43 at 1 p.m. tomorrow.

PGI to host meet on speech
CHANDIGARH, Feb 9 — A three-day national conference of the Indian Speech and Hearing Association will begin at the PGI on February 12.

An all-eve affair
by Prabhjot Singh
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Feb 9 — An all-woman team of Assistant District Attorneys (ADAs) has been recruited by the Department of Prosecution of the Chandigarh Administration.

Besides three ADAs, the Administration has appointed a woman Law Officer. These appointments have been made not only to fill the posts that had been lying vacant for long but to streamline the functioning of the department.

The Chandigarh Administration had an overwhelming response when it advertised for the three positions for ADA and one position of Law Officer. More than 150 applications were received. After scrutiny, the Administration decided to appoint Ms Manisha Jain as Law Officer.

Ms Ritu Puri, Ms Protima Arora and Ms Subakshi are the new Assistant District Attorneys.

The newly appointed ADAs and the Law Officer are expected to take up their new assignments soon.

In addition to these positions, other key positions lying vacant in the department include District Attorney (Consumer Forum) and Deputy District Attorney (Vigilance Cell).

The Administration has decided to appoint Mr Raman Kumar, a District Attorney from Haryana, as the District Attorney, Consumer Forum. Mr J.C. Malhotra, a Deputy District Attorney from Punjab, has already joined the Administration as Deputy District Attorney, Vigilance Cell.

Mr Raman Kumar is expected to take up his new assignment soon.

When contacted, the Secretary, Home and Prosecution department, Mrs Anuradha Gupta, confirmed these new appointments and said all vacant positions in the Law and Prosecution department had been filled.

Vanaspati, groundnut oil prices fall
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Feb 9 — The prices of groundnut oil and vanaspati ghee continue to fall as the vegetable and fruit markets remained stable today.

It was found during a survey today, that a kg of capsicum which was available between Rs 35 and Rs 40 yesterday, was available between Rs 30 and Rs 24. Similarly, the same quantity of beans, which was being sold between Rs 28 and Rs 32 yesterday, was available at a price ranging from Rs 20 to Rs 24.

Likewise, a litre of groundnut oil, priced at Rs 75 yesterday in Sector 29 was available today for Rs 69 in Sector 35. Similarly, a kg of vanaspati has come down from Rs 42 to Rs 41.

Contests mark college's silver jubilee
From our Correspondent

CHANDIGARH, Feb 9 — Inter- class contests were organised on the first day of silver jubilee celebrations of Guru Gobind Singh College for Women, Sector 26, here today. The programme was held in two sessions in the college premises.

The morning session began with a group and individual 'shabad gayan' contests.

The college rooms were resounding with the sound of folk songs while the grounds witnessed folk dances.

The dances took the audience on a journey to Manipur where the petite girls presented their traditional dance dressed in their clothes typical of the region. This was followed by Punjabi girls swinging and dancing vigorously to the applause of those present. The ethnically clad Ladakhi and `Pahari' nimble-toed girls came down from the hills to put up dances of their states.

Competitions in the folk song, 'geet' and 'ghazal' events had six, five and six participants, respectively. The 'ghazal', "Us asmaan ko zameen par utarne de'' by Vidya Bakshi was steeped in melody, while Preeti's folk song "Ve main pani bhardiya ha'' was well presented.

Residents oppose Estate Office move
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Feb 9 — Members of the Deep Complex Welfare Association have condemned the announcement of the award for acquisition of the land of the complex by the Estate Office.

Residents have been on an indefinite fast for the past month as the land has been acquired by the Administration for the CRPF without any plans of their rehabilitation.

The protesters are demanding a higher amount of compensation as the sum of Rs 6.52 lakh per acre was too meagre in view of the real estate value in the city.

Meanwhile, Mr Krishan Lal Billa has been elected chairman of the association. Other members are Mr N.R. Joshi (spokesperson), Mr O.P. Dhiman, Mr J.S. Benipal, Mr S.R. Barvaria, Mr I.S. Dhiman, Mr Maya Ram, Mr A.R. Bishnoi and Mr R.K. Gahlawat.

‘Apni mandi’ for Sector 43
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Feb 9 — The Mayor, Mr Kewal Krishan Adiwal, will inaugurate an "apni mandi" in Sector 43 at 1 p.m. tomorrow.

Mr Paramjit Singh, secretary of the Punjab Mandi Board, said here today that the "apni mandi" will be held behind the petrol station in the area.

This will be the 12th "apni mandi" in city for the convenience of the residents.

Science contest results
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Feb 9 — Vibha Dhir from Carmel Convent and Varun from Manav Mangal High School, Sector 21, both students of Class X, stood first in the sceince contest in the model schools category.

The contest was organised by the State Institute of Education, a press note said here today.

In the Class X category of urban schools, Monika from Government Girls Senior Secondary School, Sector 18, was adjudged the winner while Rajni from Vedic Girls Senior Secondary School, Mani Majra, was declared the winner from among rural schools.

In Class XII category, Neha Gupta from Shishu Niketan won in the contest in physics. Nitika Aggarwal from GGSSS, Sector 18, won in chemistry, Balika Gupta from GMSSS, Sector 10, in biology and Preeti Sood from GMSSS, Sector 16, in mathematics were the other winners.

Mr D.S. Mangat, DPI (Schools) gave away the prizes.

Rally by Left parties on price rise
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Feb 9 — Members of the the local units of the CPM, the CPI and the Janata Dal took out a rally through various parts of the city to highlight the failure of the government to control the spiralling prices of essential commodities and the growing incidences of communal violence in the country.

The rallyists, including a large number of women, assembled in Sector 20 and raised slogans against the government. They later marched through sectors 20, 21, 22 and sat in dharna in the Sector 17 Plaza.

Mr H.S. Gambhir (CPI), Mr Dilip Nandi (CPM) and Mr V.P. Bharti (JD), alleged that the BJP government was exploiting the people on the basis of religion and stability. The claim of the party that its face, method of governance, character and thought was different from that of the Congress was false.

On the other hand, the "morally corrupt and pseudo saffron brigade" was launching attacks on minorities in general and Christians in particular. The BJP is silent on the attacks and is instead shielding the constituents of the ‘Sangh parivar’ while questioning the missionary work for the poor being done in areas where the party had never bothered to go.

These attacks had sent negative signals to the international community and such attacks would put our NRI brethren in danger.

The leaders called upon the people to be vigilant against attempts of the Congress to wrest power from the BJP, which is responsible for the shaky economy of the country.

PGI to host meet on speech
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Feb 9 — A three- day national conference of the Indian Speech and Hearing Association (ISHA) will begin at the PGI on February 12.

Experts will discuss the aspect of "deafness and speech disorders".

Students told to change option at fag-end
by Sanjeev Singh Bariana
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Feb 9 — Students who opted for physical education in the second year of undergraduate courses in the Department of Correspondence Studies , Panjab University, are a harried lot.

They have been asked to change their option as at the fag-end of the academic sessions as the department has stopped the course in physical education.To add to their woes, they will also have to clear the paper in the new option for the first year.

A number of students have already changed their subject, saying they "had no option against a unilateral decision of the university". The department on its part maintains that the course had been discontinued following a syndicate decision and that students had been informed.

One of the students who received the letter in January said the Syndicate had taken the decision in 1997. If the department had taken a policy decision at the beginning of the session, this should have been pointed out while accepting the forms of the students.At this juncture it would be extremely difficult for students to clear two papers.

The department should have formulated a clear programme with regard to this paper and given proper information. This clearly indicated that officials collecting forms were not "educated about changes in policies." Without checking whether a particular subject combination was permitted they bothered only about collection of fees, a student pointed out.

The letter sent to the student says "you have passed BA I with physical education subject but you cannot offer the subject in BA II. You are therefore, requested to intimate another subject in place of physical education subject.You will also have to clear the deficient subject of BA I Class".

For a mistake undetected by the department, students will have buy a fresh form from the cashier. The students have been asked to get their subjects changed within 15 days of the date of issue of the copy of the letter.

The syndicate had decided to discontinue the subject in the department following complaints that students did not take practicals seriously.Even for the certificate required for the practicals, they got them made from colleges on payment. Certain institutions were found to be charging more than Rs 1000 to give the certificate of having attended the practical examination.

The chairperson of the Department of Correspondence Studies,Mrs Santosh Sharma, said the list of subjects in the prospectus did not mention physical education as any option. The decision was taken by the syndicate and she had to implement it.

She, however, did concede the fact that the forms could have been scrutinised at the time of acceptance.

Weapons on display at PU
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Feb 9 — A large number of students thronged the Students Centre of Panjab University today to have a look at the state of art weapons of the Indian Army.

Huge trucks could be seen unloading tanks, radars and other equipment which will be displayed as part of an educational programme tomorrow.

An officer said arms had been assembled from different parts of the region, including Ambala, Bathinda and Chandimandir, to educate students about what the Army has to offer.

A seminar on career options in the Army will be organised by the Panjab University Campus Students' Council in collaboration with officers of the Ambala Cantonment recruitment zone.

Protest rally: The Panjab University Staff (Non-Teaching) Association in a press note here on Tuesday said a rally would be organised tomorrow in front of the Registrar's office on various demands.

The main demands include fixed medical allowance on a par with the Punjab secretariat; implementation of the pension scheme; promotion policy for the non-teaching staff; construction of new houses; and grant of two promotional increments to the ASO's.

Award: Research workers of the Department of Zoology have been given the Yasuzumi award for the best paper presentation at the XXIInd national conference of EMSI at the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Hyderabad held in 1998.

Information regarding the award to Ms Sangeeta, Dr S.M.Handa and Dr P.K.Mittal was received recently. The paper was titled "Cytotoxic effects of monocrotophos". It highlighted that the pesticide monocrotophos was highly toxic to the mammalian biological system.

The award also carries a cash prize.

Lecture: Dr (Mrs) Manju Sharma, a secretary in the union government's Department of Bio-technology, will deliver the AC Joshi Memorial Lecture on the "relevance of teaching and education in biology" at the English auditorium on Wednesday.

She will also inaugurate a new laboratories block in the university's Department of Bio-technology, a press note said.

16 scholars await UGC scholarships
From our Correspondent

CHANDIGARH, Feb 9 — Sixteen scholars who enrolled themselves for Ph.D. after clearing their JRF last year are yet to get their University Grants Commission scholarships.

These scholars had sent their applications and had been enrolled by the university last year. Last September, however, the university received UGC guidelines according to which they were supposed to advertise the slots of scholarships available with them on an all-India basis.

Since previously, the university had been granting scholarships to all scholars who had cleared their JRF and enrolled for Ph.D., whatever the number, a problem arose regarding those entitled to the UGC scholarship this time, Mr M.G. Sharma, Finance and Development Officer, explained. Again, the letter did not mention who would bear the enormous cost of the advertisement, he added.

He claims,"for a clarification on ‘slots’ a letter was sent to the UGC office in New Delhi, but it elicited no response. Meanwhile, the university authorities formed a committee of deans to look into the question of how to comply with the new UGC recommendations and evolve a procedure for selection of those entitled to the scholarship, Mr Sharma said.

Further, the committee assigned a sub-committee to decide matters for them. The FDO justifies, "So many people cannot decide on an issue since there are as many opinions as there are people making a decision in the matter difficult, hence this sub-committee." He adds,"The committee of deans met once last October, as far as I know, though no decision could be arrived at then. Now, the file is with the recently appointed dean who will look into the matter and decide the date of the next meeting very soon."

Whenever a decision comes, Mr Sharma assures that it will not go against the interest of the students whose applications are with the university. "All those on the job will not suffer. Moreover, if the UGC is ready to pay for all scholars why should the university have any objection? It will promote research work in the university. However, a delay in arriving at such decisions is always there though when we get the nod and as and when money from the UGC comes in, we will pay these scholars for the past months also. Meanwhile, research in the university has not suffered", he opines.

Computerisation of village health centres urged
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Feb 9 — The Director-Principal of Government Medical College Hospital (GMCH), Sector 32, Dr V.K. Kak, has stressed the need for computerisation of the public health centres in villages.

Inaugurating an eye camp at Khudda Alisher, Dr Kak said these health centres should be linked with such institutions as the PGI and the GMCH for better referral work.

Dr N.N. Wig, a noted psychiatrist, laid stress on the need to promote healthy lifestyle among the people.

As many as 120 patients were examined and 10 identified for free cataract operations at the camp, organised jointly by the Servants of the People Society, the State Bank of Patiala, Khudda Alisher and the GMCH.

Couple, child sustain burn injuries
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Feb 9 — A young couple and their eight-month-old girl child received serious burns following a mystery fire as they were asleep in their house at Maloya village here last night.

The couple — Mr Harbaksh Singh (24) and his wife Urmilla (22) — are serious with 80 per cent and 65 per cent burns, respectively, while their child, Panpati, has 40 per cent burns.

According to details available with the police, Mr Harbaksh, who is contractor supplying sand from river beds, came home late last night. He consumed some liquor. The little child was weeping and this probably irritated Mr Harbaksh, who slapped her.

When the woman objected, she was asked to keep quiet by her husband. This led to minor argument between them and both went to sleep.

A fire was noticed in the house by neighbours around 10.30 p.m.

The injured were rushed to the PGI.

The couple in their statements to the police have reportedly said they were woken up by the fire.

*****

A Panchkula-based resident, Mr Kuldeep Singh, was killed in a freak accident that occurred on the Chandigarh-Panchkula road on Monday night.

The accident took place when a shawl of pillion rider of scooter got entangled in the wheel. The scooterist applied the brakes. A truck following the scooter also applied the brakes. There was another truck behind the first truck and the driver of the second truck also tried to stop his vehicle.

Mr Kuldeep Singh’s car was behind the second truck but he could not apply the brakes in time. He was rushed to the PGI where he succumbed to his injuries on Tuesday morning.

*****

Booked: A lecturer of the Dhanwantri Ayurvedic College, Dr Jagjit Singh, has been booked by the police for allegedly claiming a false travelling bill of Rs 42,000 from his college.

A complaint was lodged against him by the principal.

The police has registered a case under sections 408 and 420 of the IPC.

*****

Scooter stolen: A Bajaj Chetak (RJ-14-SM-3886) owned by Mr Devinder Singh Bedi of Sector 32 was stolen from his residence.

Meanwhile in a separate incident a resident of Burail village, Dharam Pal, was arrested while carrying eight bottles of whisky.