& V I C I N I T Y
Friday, March 12, 1999
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C H A N D I G A R H & V I C I N I T Y |
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Friday, March 12, 1999 |
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 More than a road being built: It is expected to open the path to modernity at Khol Fateh Singh village at Panchkula — A Tribune photograph A village cut off from modernity KHOL FATEH SINGH (PINJORE), March 11— Residents of Khol Fateh Singh village still take recourse to the age-old barter system. Khol Fateh Singh or Kaiana Wala is located about 12 km from Pinjore on the Nalagarh-Pinjore road.
Big
deficit in PU budget
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 Three slum kids contract polio CHANDIGARH, March 11 — An additional pulse polio immunisation drive will be held on March 14 and 15 in the slums and villages of the city as three positive cases of polio have been detected in the city. Decks
cleared for Ramasekhar as DC ESIC
medical scheme for factory workers |
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Cycle
out; scooter, car students’ choice PGI
doctors put off stir; plan leave on March 16 Remove
encroachments, say residents Students
flee with answer-sheets Arpana
brings an exquisite treasure Expo
’99 opens today Special
lecture on Vedas held Electricity
department found guilty Orthopaedic
conference from March 19 Commuters
await a shelter It
seems they are nobody’s baby |
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Three slum
kids contract polio CHANDIGARH, March 11 — An additional pulse polio immunisation drive will be held on March 14 and 15 in the slums and villages of the city as three positive cases of polio have been detected in the city. All three children had been administered polio drops during the Pulse Polio Immunisation (PPI) drives organised annually in the past few years, according to the health authorities. The three children — Monica of Kumhar Colony, Honey of Bapu Dham Colony and Sukmani of Palsora Colony — had received immunisation drops. The Director, Health Services (DHS), Dr R.S. Sandhu said that the efficacy of the pulse polio vaccine is known to be about 85 to 90 per cent. Some children can be affected with polio as they do not build up the immunity provided through the doses. In such cases, the cells that provide immunity are not naturally present in the body, the DHS said while explaining the reasons for the cases of polio. He claimed that the cold chain — which has to be maintained during the administration of the immunisation drops — was proper during the annual drives. Thus, the factor of issued drug not working is ruled out, he added. Nowadays the vials holding the drug indicate when the liquid inside is unuseable. The only other plausible reason could be that the drops were not administered properly during the drive. This is a remote possibility, he said as trained people administered the drops. After dealing with the three cases, the UT Health Department will follow the directions of the Government of India to give additional drops in places. Arrangements for publicity have been made through magic shows and announcements in the areas. A six-day publicity programme has been drawn up. This commenced on March 8 and ends on March 13. A total of 30,000 children less than the age of five will be administered the additional drops, for which 90 booths have been set up in rural areas around the city. The PPI drives have been
held regularly in the past three years. Each year close
to a lakh of children below the age of five are
administered the polio drops as hundreds of booths and
mobile units are set up for the task. |
Decks
cleared for Ramasekhar as DC CHANDIGARH, March 11 — Decks have been cleared for the appointment of Mr Ramasekhar as the new Deputy Commissioner.The Chandigarh Administration today received a formal notification from the Union Government about the appointment of Mr Ramasekhar, an IAS officer of the Haryana cadre. The Administration is
likely to issue his formal appointment shortly.In all
probability, Mr Ramasekhar will take up his new
assignment here next week.At present,Mr RK Rao,
seniormost HCS officer on deputation with the
Administration, is officiating as Deputy Commissioner. He
was appointed after Mr KK Khandelwal was repatriated to
his parent state of Haryana in a sudden development some
months ago. |
Who says
Internet is fast? CHANDIGARH, March 11 — Internet services in the city are in bad shape again causing frustration among users, who pay thousands of rupees to get the connection. They are facing a problem in getting connected since yesterday. After facing a lot of flak over faulty connections, the Telecom Department had launched expansion of internet lines with much fanfare a few weeks ago. This is the first time since then that there has been a problem. This has affected persona and business users. The Principal General Manager , Telecom, Mr Prithipal Singh, says “the problem has occurred as we are expanding the server and increasing lines.” Hopefully this job, which is being done in consultation with the Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited (VSNL) authorities will be completed soon. The number of users and usage time has gone up considerably, causing expansion so soon”. A recent phenomenon on the internet is that the user is put in a quandary when his account does not open after punching in the password. Several users complain that after the password is punched in, the computer asks for the user name. Users who get e-mail are
also facing problems. Around four months ago, they were
asked to change their e-mail addresses from @
ch1.vsnl.net. into @ ch1.dot.net.in. Many users kept on
using the earlier addresses. For the past four days, the
e-mail server does not open, says a user. |
ESIC medical
scheme for factory workers CHANDIGARH, March 11 — There is good news for thousands of factory workers and their dependents as the regional office of the Employees State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) has launched a special scheme to avoid delay in their super-speciality treatment. Under the scheme, whose benefits are available to the workers covered under the ESIC scheme and whose medical expenses were in thousands and lakhs of rupees, the corporation would pay the amount in advance quarterly at the hospital concerned. The requisite amount so deposited would be recovered from the state government’s share later. The ESIC has created a fixed corpus for allowing payments to the entitled insured persons based on valid sanctions issued by the state governments. The facility will ensure expeditious payment for medical treatment to the insured persons. This will, however, be subject to the condition that the state governments authorise the ESIC to recoup the payments made out of the corpus from the quarterly instalments payable to them on account of the medical expenditure incurred by them under the scheme, sources said. It may be recalled that one of the reasons for dissatisfaction among the workers is the delay in clearance of their medical reimbursement bills. The bills are preferred by the workers because they went outside the ESI hospitals, at advanced medical centres, for certain speciality and super-superspeciality treatments like heart surgery, kidney transplant and cancer cure. According to Mr B.C. Bhardwaj, Regional Director of the ESIC, the situation was compounded since the workers were required to raise the huge amounts themselves and medical reimbursement from the state governments took months. In most cases the workers failed to raise the hefty amounts as only those with salaries up to Rs 6,500, could become the members of the scheme. He said the Himachal Pradesh Government had already decided to implement the scheme. While the Punjab Government had agreed to implement the scheme “in principle”, the Chandigarh Administration had decided not to implement it since the medical reimbursement bills are not delayed here. The response of the Jammu and Kashmir Government was awaited, he added. It may be pointed out that 36,000 workers covered under the scheme in HP, 31,000 in Chandigarh, 17,000 in J and K and over 4.35 lakh in Punjab. He added that the ESIC had already paid Rs 1.75 lakh to two beneficiaries under the scheme. An amount of Rs 1.50 lakh was given to Mr Shagun Parasad, a rheumatic heart disease patient and an employee of the Shivalik Agro Products, Parwanoo, for treatment at the PGI. Similarly, Rs 25,000 was provided to Mr GS Dhaliwal, an employee of Gabriel India, Parwanoo, for the treatment of his daughter, Ms Gurvinder Kaur, at the PGI. Meanwhile, 1,500 employees
working in 35 industrial units in Chanalon in Ropar
district, came under purview of the ESIC scheme on March
1. Over 8,000 workers working in 60 units in the Dera
Bassi-Lalru industrial belt will be covered under the
scheme from April 1. |
Big deficit
in PU budget CHANDIGARH, March 11 — The Board of Finance of Panjab University has cleared the budget for the year 1999-2000 with a non-plan deficit of Rs 7,245.72 lakh during the current financial year. The revised revenue receipts in the non-plan budget for the current year are Rs 1,474.1 lakh while the estimates for the year 1999-2000 have been put at Rs 1,484.47 lakh. The expenditure in the non-plan budget for the current year was Rs 7,673.42 lakh. The board, however, constituted a committee to rationalise certain aspects of the budget. The members include Mr S.S. Gill, Dr I.M. Govil, Mr V.K. Bhalla (special invitee) and the Finance and Development Officer of the university. The committee will look into matters under the heads of internet password facility and contractual services. Sources pointed out that the committee would also study and define expenditure under the heads of unforeseen expenditure and “meet small additional expenditure”. The meeting of the committee is likely to be held before the forthcoming Syndicate meeting scheduled for March 17 since it will be the last Syndicate meeting before the budget is presented in the Senate later this month. Sources said the meeting felt that university expenditure on account of non-plan budget should be curbed. While the Punjab Government and the UT Administration would contribute significantly to meet the deficit, the university has been asked to generate its own resources to meet the rest of the deficit. When it was pointed out that the university should make use of the money from its own corpus, representatives from the the university said the money in the corpus was the university’s and should not be used to meet the deficit. Panjab University is also likely to come under the blanket of 10 per cent cut in expenditure planned by the Punjab Government. Members pointed out that the Punjab Government should provide Rs 1 crore for the Muktsar Centre for the coming five years after which the university would take over its complete responsibility. Representative of the government assured that if the Chief Minister had made a commitment it would be honoured. The total annual expenditure (non-plan) in the year 1990-91 was Rs 2219.35 lakh. It increased to Rs 3551.04 lakh in 1994-95 and subsequently to Rs 5238.91 lakh in1997-98. Of the total amounts, 2037.41 lakh was spent on salaries in 1992-93; Rs 2806.47 lakh in 1994-95; Rs 6357.80 lakh in 1998-99; and the expected expenditure in 1999-2000 is Rs 6257.80 lakh. The total grant for books and journals (non-plan) was Rs 64.6 lakh in 1992-93; Rs 109.91 lakh in 1997-98; and Rs 126.39 lakh in 1999-2000. The revenue generated from fee for various examination in 1996-97 was Rs 2,05,53,104; the revised revenue in 1998-99 was Rs 6,89,80,000; and the same amount has been estimated for the coming year. This may seem strange because the university proposes a hike in fee under several accounts from students during the coming session. The board also cleared various proposals for generating its own resources. A few of the proposals include approaching the industry, enhancing the fee and funds from students; providing consultancy services to industry; starting sort term computer courses; enhancing hiring charges for university’s facilities like auditoriums; and approaching alumni for funds. The university has already
cleared the proposal to appoint staff for providing
maintenance services by hiring people on contractual
basis. |
PGI doctors put off stir; plan leave
on March 16 CHANDIGARH, March 11 — The proposed indefinite strike by the PGI Employees Union, that was scheduled for tomorrow, has been postponed following a decision taken in this regard at a general body meeting of the union this afternoon. The union decided to go on a day- long mass casual leave on March 16. Any decision to go on strike will be taken be during a general body meeting of the union scheduled for 3 pm on March 16, a statement of the union released tonight said. Meanwhile, since morning
senior PGI authorities had decided upon their contingency
plan. For tomorrow they had decided not to close the OPDs
, emergency or operations theatres. |
Cycle out;
scooter, car students’ choice CHANDIGARH, March 11 — Bicycles are out. Scooters are in and cars are gradually coming in. And the local bus service is the choice of a large number of students studying in various colleges of the city. This is in a nutshell the finding of a quick survey conducted by the Chandigarh Tribune to find out the mode of conveyance being used by college students. The Government College for Girls, Sector 11, one of the most sought after girls colleges in the city, leads in the number of girls coming by car to college. The trend which started two years back has now picked up with 60 to 70 cars coming daily when the session is on. Giving this information, gate attendant, Mr Narain Singh, said that the number of scooters have also doubled and only about 5 per cent girls, mostly of first year are using bicycles. Ms Jeevan Jyot, a final-year student who prefers to come by car, is of the view that it saves you from pollution and getting tanned. In fact, you go back from college just as you came. A peep into the car parking revealed the variety of cars that come in — Santro, Cielo, City Honda and of course the common ones which include Maruti 800 Maruti Esteem and Zen. This is despite the fact that the annual parking fee for cars is Rs 600 and daily charges are Rs 2. While 40 per cent girls come on scooters, a little over 40 per cent come by the local buses. Ms Gurvinder, a BA(II) student, who comes by scooter, says, “One is more independent and one does not have to waste time waiting for the bus. You can go away as and when your classes finish.’’ Kinetic Honda is the most popular scooter followed by LML Vespa, Sunny and TVS Scooty. While the annual parking fee for scooters is Rs 120, it is Rs 60 for cycles. The daily parking fee is Re 1. However, Ms Surbhi, a first year student who comes from Panchkula by bus, feels that buses are anyday safer than scooters, especially on Madhya Marg. A few other girls say that they have no other option as their parents are too scared to let them drive their own vehicle. The students from Air Force Station, HMT campus, Pinjore, come by the conveyances provided by their respective organisations. The nearby Government College, Sector 11, is dominated by scooters and motor cycles and only a few cycles can be seen. In the absence of cycles, the stand is being used to dump old broken furniture. Almost 60 per cent boys come by the local bus, especially those who come from distant places. People from the nearby areas prefer to walk. Shogun Suzuki, Yamaha are prevalent among the bikes, though a few own Enfield bullets also. A final-year student feels that it is dashing to come on a bike and one can easily impress girls. LML Vespa and Bajaj Chetak are more common. Mr Sandeep, a B.Com (I) student, who comes on scooter from Dhanas village says, “a lot of time is wasted waiting for the bus.’’ Another student, Brinder, feels that one is free to go anywhere on a scooter, especially by bunking classes. Ravinder, cycle shed in charge, says that only 2-3 students come by car or jeep. The trend is just the opposite in DAV College, Sector 10, which is primarily dominated by children from the elite section of society. Nearly 60 per cent of boys come on scooters and motor cycles, 20 per cent on cars, 10 per cent, mostly freshers from plus one and two classes, on bicycles and the remaining 10 per cent on buses. The college boasts of well-organised scooter/cycle parking system, but there is no provision for car parking. Hence, those coming on cars and jeeps have no option but to park outside on their own risk. There is no fee for car parking, but for scooters and cycles it is Rs 144 and Rs 72, respectively, for the whole year. Mr Ravi Kant, the contractor, says, “It is becoming difficult to make space for the increasing number of scooters.’’ MCM DAV College for Women, Sector 36, its counterpart, has about 60 per cent girls coming on scooters, mostly Kinetics, 20 per cent on local buses, 2 per cent on cars and just about 1 per cent on cycles. The remaining come by rickshaw or take a lift with their friends. This college, too, has no provision for car parking except for the staff members. The annual scooter and cycle fee is Rs 120 and Rs 60, respectively. The gatekeeper said that though the phenomenon of scooters replacing cycles had started 5-6 years back it has really caught up now and just about 50 of the total 2200 students can be seen on cycle. A majority of the students in GCG-42 and GC-46, more than 60 per cent come to college by the local buses. Lakhwinder, a BA final year student of GCG-42 says, `` Bus is anyday safer, keeping in view the enormous increase in the volume of traffic. Aman is also weary of the increase in the number of accidents, especially on long routes. On the other hand, Sandeep who has no choice but to come by bus grumbles that a lot of time is wasted in changing buses and then one has to bear with eve-teasers who make the journey worse for you.’’ Ram Raj, the gatekeeper while testifying the increase, says that girls are now forced to park their scooters outside the shed, once it gets filled. Even a part of the space allocated for staff members is being used at times. The trend is quite similar
in the two SGGS colleges in Sector 26 where large numbers
come by the local bus. As many as 900 students, of the
total 1400 in SGGS College for Boys come by bus.
According to Navjeet, most of those coming by bus do not
have their own conveyance, while others enjoy travelling
by buses since girls from nearby colleges travel in them.
About 400 of them prefer to come on scooters as it is
convenient to chase girls on the gerhi route or bunk
classes, revealed Vishal, a B Pharmacy student. Balwan
Singh said that about 200 students, mainly from nearby
villages and sector cycle down to college. The cycle and
scooter fee is Rs 120 and Rs 60 ,respectively.
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A village
cut off from modernity KHOL FATEH SINGH (PINJORE), March 11— Residents of Khol Fateh Singh village still take recourse to the age-old barter system. Khol Fateh Singh or Kaiana Wala, as it is commonly known, falls in Panchkula district. It is located about 12 km from Pinjore on the Nalagarh-Pinjore road. About 60 Sikh families comprising 350 to 400 members inhabit the village. They are devoid of any modern day facilities. This sleepy village has no approach road and one has to cross several “chos” to reach the Nalagarh road. It came into news when the villagers boycotted the Haryana Assembly elections. Villagers say that whatever development work has started is because of their sustained efforts. They maintain that the “indifferent” attitude of the administration provoked them to stay away from the polls. No leader from any ruling party has ever come to listen to their grievances. The absence of a metalled road has compounded their problems. According to Mr Kabul Singh, a local resident, “ there are at least four instances when patients died on the way because the road is hardly more than a mud track and crossing it is a time-consuming affair, the situation aggravates when the patient is a pregnant woman “. Due to lack of transportation, the patients have to be carried on cots by at least four persons, he added. There is no facility for medical treatment in the village. Mr Narata Singh, an octogenarian adds,” I have witnessed several deaths of human beings and domestic animals on account of lack of timely medical assistance. We somehow manage to carry the patients but it is impossible if an animal is ill. They generally die.” A majority of the villagers are illiterate and have no permanent source of income. They have to hunt for jobs in nearby towns and if they are lucky they get work for a couple of days at a stretch. Their main avocation is rope making. Mr Gurnam Singh says that he weaves about 4 kg of rope a day. He further adds,” Men in the village cut grass from jungle and the women knead the rope. We barter it for grocery from the village shopkeeper for buying items of daily use.” The villagers complain that they are provided with yellow cards meant for economically weaker section (EWS). According to Sajjan Singh, another resident,” We are totally discarded by the administration as the ration for our village arrives at Nanakpur, which is about 5 km away.” Although the village has a primary school but it is functioning without permanent staff, says Mr Kabul Singh. The lone teacher who teaches five sections of the school comprising about 50 students is also not a permanent government employee. The Sarpanch, Ms Ratni Devi, adds that no funds are provided to the panchayat on a regular basis by the authorities. She says several complaints to the authorities have failed to evoke any response. The village witnesses the toughest time during monsoons when it is literally marooned. The village also does not have proper water and electricity supplies. Villagers complain of low voltage. Water to the village is supplied only on alternate days. Though the administration has started work on the road but residents are not happy with the operation. Mr Sarup Singh says, “The road would hardly be of any help to us as it is very steep.” They fear that buses could not ply on it. Residents of Khol Fateh Singh are so much unhappy that they are even ready to leave their ancestral place for a possible bright future.
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Sinha joins
as Joint Secy (Finance) CHANDIGARH, March 11 — Mr Kumar Anugreb Prasad Sinha, an IAS officer of the 1992 batch belonging to the Punjab cadre, today took over as Joint Secretary, Finance, Chandigarh Admin-istration. He relieved Mr Prithi Chand, Director, Social Welfare, of the additional charge. Before coming here, Mr Sinha was Additional Deputy Commis-sioner (Development) at Muktsar. The post had been lying
vacant ever since the previous regular incumbent, Mr
Sanjay Kumar, an IAS officer of the 1988 batch, was
recalled by the Punjab Government for appointment as
Deputy Commissioner, Mansa. |
Remove
encroachments, say residents CHANDIGARH, March 11 — The Citizens Association, Sector 21, has urged the Administration to carry out an anti-encroachment drive to clear the sector of mechanics on the lines of the operation conducted in Sector 28. Mr Ashok Chopra, General Secretary of the association, said all the open areas, including the parking lots, had been taken over by mechanics with the result that the general public was put to a lot of hardship. The space in front of houses was being used to dump waste material by the offenders. He said repeated reminders to the authorities had failed to have any effect. The constant noise, pollution and harassment at the hands of the mechanics had made life a virtual hell for them, he added. He said the Punjab and Haryana High Court while deciding a case on this issue in their favour had also issued directives to the Administration to clear the sector of encroachments, but till date nothing had been done. Meanwhile, the members of the Sector 28-A Welfare Association have thanked the Chandigarh Administration for removing the encroachments from the sector. Mr Bakshish Singh, President of the association, said, with this the parks and open spaces could once again be used by children to play. Similarly, the road berms could be used by pedestrians to walk. The anti-encroachment drive was one of the major demands of the association. The efforts made in this
context by Mr Mohinder Singh, councillor of the ward,
have also been hailed by them. |
Students
flee with answer-sheets DERA BASSI, March, 11 — The Superintendent of an examination centre set up in the local Government High School, for the annual exams filed a complaint here on Tuesday against two students of ten-plus-two level for fleeing with their answer-sheets. Baljit Singh and Tarun Kumar, two candidates who were appearing in the General English paper conducted by the Punjab Board of School Education under roll numbers 266477 and 266479, respectively, skipped away with their answer sheets. The matter came to notice when the supervisor, Mr Gurmeet Singh, counted the answer sheets to tally the number of students who had appeared in the examination. He then found two sheets less. He reported the matter to the superintendent and the Controller of Examination of this centre, Ms Rekha Kalia. According to the Superintendent, Mr Hem Raj Sharma, both students took the advantage of the rush of students around the teacher as the other teacher in the same hall was busy in furnishing formalities of five other UMC cases detected by the flying squad. The matter has been sent
to the authorities concerned of the Punjab Board of
School Education for further action. Such types of cases
are a routine in this centre, he added. The police is
investigating the matter. |
Arpana
brings an exquisite treasure CHANDIGARH, March 11— A room in the basement of Piccadily Hotel, Sector 22, has been transformed into a treasure trove of equisitely embroidered baby frocks, ladies nightwear and a complete range of household linen. This exhibition -cum-sale has been brought by Arpana and will remain till March 13. Picking up the hand-embroidered cushion covers, table cloths, napkins, hand towels, sofa covers and cute frocks for your toddler gives an added sense of satisfaction, coming from a feeling of having helped the poor: The proceeds of this venture go to charities. Also available is literature and books on humanity and spirituality. Arpana is a charitable trust headquartered at Madhuban, near Karnal in Haryana. It trains rural women of the nearby villages in handicrafts and then provides them with cloth and thread and needles to stitch clothes with love; besides marketing their production through regular outlets and exhibitions. Arpana’s aim is to tackle the lack of opportunity and inadequacy of essential needs faced by village women, their low status in society and lack of education and self-esteem. Its income- generating programme has provided materials, designs , machines, advice and guidance on quality control to over 1600 women The housewives while literally working from their kitchens, convert a plain piece of fabric into a work of art. As a result, they have been able to feed, clothe and educate their children, as well as improve their standard of living. Disadvantaged rural folk in Haryana embrace development initiatives to improve their lives through the organisation’s health care and socio-economic programmes. The three-tier health scheme is carried out with trained village folk through mobile clinics and a 175-bedded referral base hospital. Arpana also runs children’s day care centres, nutrition programmes for malnourished infants, facilitates community-based organisations in such areas as water and sanitation, provides inputs in innovative child health guidance, runs literacy classes and promotes self-help women’s groups. With the help of
magnanimous friends and supporters, Arpana is working to
awaken rural India through dedicated volunteers. It hopes
to get more financial aid for fulfilment of its tasks. |
Expo
’99 opens today CHANDIGARH, March 11 — A week-long Mini Handicrafts Expo’99 being organised jointly by the Development Commissioner of the Union Ministry of Textiles and the Haryana State Handloom and Handicrafts Corporation will get under way at the Sector 17 Circus Ground from tomorrow. The Expo will offer a special range of crafts, including folk, tribal, traditional and contemporary. Major attractions will include tribal textiles from Manipur and Nagaland, sandal wood carvings of Karnataka, artistically woven paithani sarees of Maharashtra, tribal embroidery and crochet from Andhra, cane and bamboo furniture from West Bengal, Mithila paintings from Bihar, stone carving, paper machie from Pondicherry, sea shell items from Port Blair and other handicrafts. The Government provides facilities like free of cost readymade stalls for the exhibitors from remote areas. The aim of the such exposition is to provide an opportunity to the craftspersons to directly interact with the buyers, traders and exporters without the traditional interference of the middlemen. The exhibition will be
inaugurated by Mr K.K. Addiwal, Mayor of Chandigarh.
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Special
lecture on Vedas held CHANDIGARH, March 11 — ‘Literary Criticism in the Vedas’ was the topic of today’s lecture, organised by the Syndicate and the Vice-Chancellor of Panjab University as part of the ‘Acharya Vishva Bandhu Memorial Lectures’ series. The lecture, at the ICSSR Complex in the university, was delivered by Prof. Rama Ranjan Mukherji, ex-Chancellor of Sanskrit University in Tirupati (AP) and ex-Vice-Chancellor of Burdwan and Rabindra Bharati Universities. He said that the Vedas were not only a collection of books, but also a sea of enlightenment. He said that while the Rig Veda was the centre of knowledge, the Sama Veda was the centre of music. According to him, the Atharva Veda is not clubbed with the other three Vedas because almost 60 per cent of its verses have been taken from the Rig Veda and it mostly contains prescriptions for remedies of various diseases. He added that it was from the Atharva Veda that the science of ayurveda had developed. While talking about the conflict between intellect and emotions, he said that it was necessary to have a “spiritual insight” in order to understand poetry that was gradual and sublime. He said that it was not only the “creative genius” which was important for a poet, but also the presence of the “appreciative genius” in him. He added that speech was a great energy which created the entire universe. He said that the brain had four layers of knowledge, out of which the transcendental plane was the most significant for the understanding and interpretation of poetry. The lecture was
inaugurated by Prof. Anirudh Joshi, former Dean, Student
Welfare, who in his address paid tributes to Acharya
Vishva Bhandu. The function was presided over by Swami
Pitambarananda, Secretary of Ram Krishna Mission Ashram
in Chandigarh. Speaking in Sanskrit, he welcomed this
series. Mr Shankarji Jha, Chairman of the Department of
Sanskrit in Panjab University, also lauded the series. |
Electricity
department found guilty CHANDIGARH, March 11 — Holding the UT Electricity Department guilty of grave deficiency in service for wrongly levying a penalty on a consumer, the Consumer Forum has levied costs of Rs 1,100 while quashing the penalty of Rs 13,000 and subsequent charge on it. In a complaint filed before the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum-II, comprising its president, Mr R.P. Bajaj and members, Mr. H.S. Walia and Mrs Kamlesh Gupta, the complainant M/s Deepak Radios of Sector 17 had challenged the bill of November 20,1991 for Rs 23,946, in which an amount of Rs 18,602 has been wrongly raised as the arrears of electricity charges. In his complaint, the complainant has stated that he had applied for additional electric load in the month of August, 1990, but the sanctioned load was not released for reasons best known to the Electricity Department and rather this penalty has been imposed. Therefore, he urged for correction in the bill to include charges for actual charges and compensation. In a reply filed before the forum, the Electricity Department contended that the penalty of Rs 13000 has been justified because an unauthorised load was detected at the premises of the complainant in course of checking. While dealing with the rival contentions, the forum observed that a heavy duty is cast upon the opposite party to prove the alleged drawing of additional power by the complainant at the time of checking. In this context, the forum further observed that the opposite party failed to name the checking officer and nor any affidavit has been filed naming the officer who carried out the checking. The Forum held that
“In the absence of all this material, we are of the
firm opinion that correctness of checking is not
established. Even the detailed checking report or its
copy has not been placed before us. The levy of the
penalty is totally unjustified and is an act of grave
deficiency in service.” |
Orthopaedic
conference from March 19 CHANDIGARH, March 11 — The Department of Orthopaedics, PGI is organising the 18th North Zone Indian Orthopaedic Association conference at PGI from March 19 to 21, 1999. Dr O.N.Nagi, President, and Dr S.S. Gill, organising secretary, of the conference informed that more than 400 delegates, both from India and abroad, would participate. On March 19 two training workshops on shoulder, arthroscopy and interlocking nailing would be conducted by Prof S. Frostick from Liverpool, UK. Prof Anton Kathrein and Dr Daniaux from Austria will be participating in the spine symposium. The workshop would be followed by two days of scientific deliberations. The topics to be discussed would include recent advances in the field of orthopaedics and the challenges facing the orthopaedic surgeons. On this occasion a
scientific fair will also be there displaying various
advances in orthopaedics instrumentation and
pharmaceutical by various companies. |
CHANDIGARH, March 11 — The Secretary of the Panjab University Campus Students Council, Mr Akhil Goyal, has termed the proposed fee hike as “arbitrary, unjustifiable and an unnecessary burden on students”. He said the President of the council, Mr Dayal Pratap Singh Randhawa, was in Norway to attend a student leadership conference, but the university should have invited other council members to the meeting in which the issue was discussed. “As far as I can remember, though the name of the President figures in the list of members of the committee to review the fee, he was never invited,” Mr Goyal said. The university was not using the money under specific heads for which it was being charged. It was charging Rs 20 for screening a film for more than 10 years, but had not shown a single film. This amounted to cheating, he said. “The fault lies with the working of the authorities. Why should the student be made to pay for it?, he asked. The council has threatened an agitation in case the hike was not withdrawn. The Haryana Students Associ-ation, led by its President, Mr Bhupinder Singh “Bhuppi”, submitted a memoradum to the Vice-Chancellor. In case the office gives no response, the President and the convener, Mr Ashok Kumar, will begin relay fast tomorrow. Members of the local unit of the NSUI also joined the dharna organised by the HSA. Mr Harmohinder Singh Lucky has also appealed to other organisations to join the cause. Members of the NSUI will join the relay fast. Extended: The Department
of Correspondence Studies, Panjab University, has
extended the last date of submission of assignments of
master of finance and control (part I) from March 15 to
April 5, an official communication said here today. |
CHANDIGARH, March 11 — A youth, Anuj Sood, living in Sector 19 committed suicide by reportedly setting himself on fire this morning. Aged about 29 years, the deceased was unmarried and was reportedly disturbed over his unemployment. His father had died some time ago while all his four sisters were married. He set himself on fire around 5: 30 this morning. Phone call: A telephone call received by a Sector 28 resident had the police on its toes during the wee hours today. Mr R.S. Bhola, received a call around 2.15 a.m. that poison had been put into the overhead tank of his house. The harassed resident called up the police. A team of the Sector 26 police station was despatched. A team of the Municipal Corporation was summoned that filled in water samples this morning. Liquor seized: Around 1,800 pouches of unauthorised liquor have been seized from three different persons in and around the ISBT in Sector 17, the local police claimed today. Mohan of Karnal, was nabbed with 1,250 pouches of liquor. Krishan Lal of Uttar Pradesh was held while carrying 300 pouches, while Vijay Kumar of Panipat was nabbed with 250 pouches of liquor. Separate cases under the Excise Act have been registered. Nabbed: A man trying to snatch a purse was nabbed redhanded at the General Post Office (GPO), Sector 17. Ramesh Chander of Sector 15 was caught as he tried to snatch the purse of Mrs Indu Bala of Sector 30. A case has been registered. Case registered: A resident of SAS Nagar, Mrs Madhu Bala, has alleged that she was harassed and illtreated by her husband and in-laws. The police has registered a case under Sections 406 and 498-A of the IPC against Parveen Kumar, Ram Kumar, Mrs Vidyawati and Sanjay, all residents of Sector 21. PANCHKULA Three booked: The Barwala police has booked three persons including the Sarpanch of Khatauli village, for allegedly felling kikkar trees on panchayat land. The police has registered a case under Sections 379 and 120-B of the IPC against the persons on a complaint filed by Bhakir Chand, a resident of the village. He alleged that the sarpanch in connivance with a contractor, Surinder Kumar, and a labourer felled the trees worth over Rs 10,000. Gambling charge: Rattan Lal, a resident of Sector 15, and Vishal, a resident of Housing Board Colony in Sector 14, were arrested for gambling at a public place here last night. A sum of Rs 1,300 was recovered from them. They have been booked under the Gambling Act. Liquor seized: Two persons have been arrested by the police for peddling liquor in two separate cases in the district during the past 48 hours. A total of 17 bottles of the IMFL have been seized from them. Sanjeev Kumar, a resident of Brotiwala (Himachal Pradesh), was arrested near Pinjore bus stand while transporting seven bottles of the IMFL. In another case Rajesh, a resident of Delhi, was arrested for carrying 10 bottles of the IMFL in his car at Manauli village, near here. Both have been booked under the Excise Act. Injured:
Shiv Kumar, was injured when his scooter was hit by a
jeep near Kakkar Majra village in Raipur Rani. The driver
of the jeep, whose identity could not be ascertained, has
been booked for negligent driving. |
Commuters
await a shelter PANCHKULA Place: The Majri traffic lights at Old Panchkula. Problem: Absence of a bus queue shelter. History: The Majri traffic lights being at the junction of the Ambala-Shimla National Highway and the Panchkula-Naraingarh State Highway, witness heavy traffic. Hundreds of vehicles pass through the junction resulting in frequent accidents. The place being near the Government College in Panchkula and the Mini Secretariat, is the most preferred point for hundreds of bus commuters. In the absence of any bus queue shelter on the Ambala-Shimla National Highway or on the Panchkula-Naraingarh State Highway, the commuters are at the mercy of the Weather Gods. There is a heavy rush of college students in the afternoon who can be seen waiting for bus. A similar scene is witnessed in the evening. Though a dilapidated bus queue shelter — on way to Nadha Sahib Gurudwara — is located at some distance from the place, it remains occupied by hawkers selling eatables. Response from the public: The commuters demand construction of a bus queue shelter as they face problem during the rainy season and the summers. Mr Suresh Dhiman, a college student from Ramgarh, says that senior citizens, in the absence of a bus queue shelter, have to sit on the road, exposing themselves to the danger of being overrun by speeding vehicles. This coupled with a heavy traffic on the road makes life difficult for commuters as they have to inhale dust and smoke. Official version: Officials
say that though the intersection had been beautified by
erecting iron grills, constructing slip roads and
planting saplings, there was no proposal to construct a
bus queue shelter. |
It seems
they are nobody’s baby SAS NAGAR, March 11 — The residents of the city are at the receiving end as some roads in this satellite city have been crying for repairs for past many years. The problem is particularly acute in the newly developed or developing sectors, with certain parts still being without roads. The worst condition is that of the road leading from the Phase VII traffic lights to Sectors 70 and 71. Driving a vehicle on this road is a nightmarish experience as it is dotted with a large number of potholes. At a number of places, road dividers have broken and their segments are lying in the middle of the road. A large part of this major road has sunk, creating up to 1-foot craters and posing a threat to the lives of users. “It seems that the road is nobody’s baby as it has been lying neglected for more than two years”, said Jugraj Singh, a resident of Phase VII. He complained that driving turns particularly difficult during night as a number of streetlights on the road are not in a working order. The stretch of the road passing through Sectors 70 and 71, which leads to Mataur village, is virtually non-existent for want of repairs. “People have to use an alternative route passing through Sector 70 to reach the village,” said a resident. Similarly, about 1-km long stretch of the Landran road is in a bad state for it is infested with potholes and dumping of garbage. Also, almost half of the road remains choked near traffic lights due to presence of a number of rehriwallahs and vendors on both sides of the road. The state of the roads in the newly developed Sectors, particularly Sector 71, is no different. At the very entrance to the Sector from the Landran side, the road berms have not been cleared of grass and wild vegetation. Though, the earth-filling work has been completed in some areas, the roads are still waiting to be carpeted. “No road has been laid in certain areas of the Sector and we have to face great problems due to accumulation of water in front of our houses during rains,” said a resident. He added that the work had started in November but was left half done in December due to reasons best know to the PUDA authorities. Ms Seema Jain, Additional
Chief Administrator of the Punjab Urban Development
Authority (PUDA), said all incomplete roads in Sectors 70
and 71, being developed by PUDA, would be completed
within three months. “The work is in progress and we
have already completed about 50 per cent work in the
area,” she said. |
Panchayat
staff hold dharna CHANDIGARH, March 11 — Panchayat secretaries, sewing mistresses and employees of the zila parishads of Punjab held a dharna in front of the Directorate of Panchayats here today. The agitators from various parts of the state assembled in front of the Directorate and raised slogans against the indifferent attitude of the government towards their demands. A large number of women employees also participated in the dharna. Mr Nirmal Singh and Mr Gurmit Singh, President and General Secretary of the Panchayat Secretaries and Samiti Karamchari Union, said they had been urging the government to accept their demands for a long time but to no avail. The main problem of the panchayat secretaries and zila parishad employees is that they are not paid regular wages and have been denied pensionary benefits as compared to other government employees. A long time ago the government had assured them that the benefits would be extended to them but nothing has been done till date. Instead the ban on taking money out of the provident fund had posed a lot of problems for them. The government should take steps to give pension to them from 1986. The other demands of the
union include grant of technical grades to sewing
teachers, creation of promotional avenues for all
categories of employees, regularisation of daily-wagers
and scrapping the ban on taking money out of their
provident fund accounts. |
Pension
forms distributed CHANDIGARH, March 11 — In yet another instance of celebration of the International Women’s Day in the city, two members of the Chandigarh Social Advisory Board, Mrs Rupa Sarin and Mrs K.S. Raju, addressed a gathering of both women and men at Madrasi Colony in Bapu Dham, near Sector 26, Chandigarh, today, to create awareness “among women at grassroots level”. Stressing on the need of women’s education, family planning, self-employment, economic independence, and pollution-free environment, the gathering was asked to come forward and understand their political, economic and social rights. At the gathering around
200 application forms of pension for old age, widows and
handicapped persons were also distributed. |
Sahitya
Akademi elections CHANDIGARH, March 11 — At a meeting of the general council of the Punjab Sahitya Akademi, held under the presidentship of Dr Dalip Kaur Tiwana, the akademi held its elections yesterday. Mr H.S. Sidhu Lali and Dr Rama Ratan were elected as Vice-President and Secretary, respectively. The general council also
proposed the names of 10 eminent writers as
‘fellows’ of the akademi, including Prof Pritam
Singh, Mr Kartar Singh Duggal, Mr Gulzar Singh Sandhu and
Dr Jaswant Singh Neki. |
Villagers’
panel meets DC CHANDIGARH, March 11 — A delegation of the Action Committee for the Development of villages today met the Deputy Commissioner and urged him to withdraw the notification on the abadi area of Hallomajra village. Mr Chaman Lal, General Secretary of the committee, said the Deputy Commissioner assured them that the needful in this context would be done. He also said that the department concerned had already been directed to complete all formalities regarding the regularisation of 1,100 houses constructed outside the ‘lal dora’ in the villages. Deputy Commissioner also
said notices would be pasted on all vacant areas in the
city with warning that all constructions would be
demolished. |
15 teachers
court arrest CHANDIGARH, March 11 — As many as 15 teachers courted arrest in the ongoing month-long agitation of the Punjab State Aided Schools Teachers and Other Employees Union in front of the Punjab Chief Minister’s residence here this afternoon. Mr Surinder Sharma, a
spokesperson of the union said the employees belonged to
Ropar district. Meanwhile, the arrests would continue and
larger batches of teachers would court arrests in the
coming days. |
Monitor
school fees: Samata CHANDIGARH, March, 11 — Mr Ranjeet Singh Dhaliwal, President of the local Samata Party, has in a letter to the UT Home Secretary-cum-Education Secretary urged her to monitor the fees being charged by the private and government schools during the coming academic session. She should call a meeting of the representatives of various private schools and ask them not to hike the fees this session. The department should also take up the issue of these schools charging building funds even as in most cases buildings have already been completed. An attempt should also be
made to rationalise the fee structure through the already
constituted committee which should include
representatives of all political parties. She should also
check the monthly collections being done in various
government schools for the purposes of depositing it in
the post office savings bank account, he said.
|
Cyanide
provides more fun CHANDIGARH, March 11 — Cyanide ‘99, presented by the Department of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Panjab University, which had a colourful start yesterday, saw yet another fun-filled day. Though the music and literary events, which included jam sessions and words-worth, did not attract a large crowd, the skits and ad-mads events in the dramatics category proved to be major crowd puller. Towards late afternoon, students started fling in to witness tug-of-war and ‘made-for-each-other’ contests and fine-arts and technical events, that included paint-your-car contest, cartooning, fiction story writing, a general quiz, technical quiz and a crossword. The debate, antakshri and Mr and Mrs Cyanide contest to be conducted tomorrow, are expected to attract a large number of students. The highlight of the
concluding day of Cyanide ‘99 is the musical evening
with the ‘Dil Laye Gayee Kudi Gujarat Dee” lad
Jasbir Jassi. |
When lovers
monkey around CHANDIGARH, March 11 — Archo ‘99, the annual festivity by the students of College of Architecture, Sector 12, ended with an entertaining cultural evening today. Contests in instrumental and vocal music were organised. The students explored the lighter side of life with three comical plays which had the audience in splits. The Kalinga House presented a play titled “Love in Heaven’’ which depicted the anxiety of two lovers in heaven and their conceding to being transformed into monkeys to come back to earth. The Kanishka House focussed on the impact of the Indo-Pak separation on the inmates of a mental asylum with “Toba Tek Singh” and the Mauryans explored the possibility of doing away with the sorrows of the world with “Epiphany”. The highlight of the evening was the fashion show with innovative rounds presented by the three houses. They looked into the next millennium with “The Steel Age” as they foresee it and explored the fashion world from the primitive to the most bizzare. The morning saw students of the three houses participating in a column enhancement contest. They created a “wheel of thought’’ out of junk material, a green belt in the concrete jungle on a pillar in the room and the glorification of earth’s ethereal beauty with “swapna vasundhara”. Prizes for all 45 events
held from March 1 onwards will be given at the annual
prize distribution function tomorrow. |
Manjinder
is best FCI student CHANDIGARH, March 11 — Manjinder Saini was adjudged the All-round Best Student in the prize distribution function at Food Craft Institute, Sector 42, here today. Rajesh Chauhan was adjudged the Gentleman of the Year while Deepti Dhawan walked away with the title of the Lady of the Year. Dr Usha Dhawal, Principal of Home Science College, gave away the prizes. The annual report was read out by Mr Alok Shivapuri, Principal of the FCI.The ceremony was followed by a bhangra and a programme featuring Punjabi singer Hubby Dhariwal. Some other prize winners included Shivani (the Most Dedicated Student) Sukhdeep (Sportswoman of the Year); Sunil Gautam (Sportsman of the Year); and Kiranjot (the Most Regular Student). The toppers in various branches included Ravinder Kumar in front office;Siba Shankar in housekeeping; Kajal Gupta in bakery and confectionery; Tapan Reang in food and beverages services; and Nitika Popli in cookery. Earlier, on the fourth day
of the silver jubilee celebrations week, Col A.B.Singh of
a successful chain of fast food joints delivered a talk
on entrepreneurship. |
Toppers
awarded prizes CHANDIGARH, March 11 — Kumar Gaurav Dhawan and Gurpal Singh were honoured for standing first in the B Com (I) and B Com (II) examinations, respectively, at the annual prize distribution function of the GGDSD College, Sector 32, here today. Special prizes were given to Kumar Gaurav Dhawan and Vinay Bansal for standing second in the examination conducted by the Chartered Accountancy Foundation of northern India and the All-India C.A. intermediate examination respectively. A total of 350 students were awarded prizes for excellence in academics, sports and cultural activities, including 20 rolls of honour, 58 college colours and 190 academic prizes. The Principal, Dr A.C. Vaid, read out the annual college report, liberally peppered with names of students who had done the college proud. Dr Vaid, also, disclosed that Panjab University had acceded to his request of starting postgraduate classes in commerce from the next session. The president of the College Managing Committee, Mr Mohan Lal, emphasised that students should put in sustained effort, coupled with faith in God, to achieve success. The Education Secretary,
Mrs Anuradha Gupta, stated that the college, though in
its infancy, had many laurels to its credit. She said
education should endeavour to provide practical training
to students and prepare them to face challenges in life,
rather than concentrating on statistics and information. |
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