Demand for flyover near Zirakpur
From Bipin Bhardwaj
From Our Correspondent

ZIRAKPUR, Oct 18 — A flyover on the Ambala-Kalka national highway No 22, near Zirakpur, could ease the traffic congestion. Being on the border of Punjab and Haryana, this road is an alternative route for those coming from Patiala and Ambala. But the major bottleneck of this road is its narrowness and due to high vehicular frequency it remains blocked for hours.

A narrow level crossing on this road is another trouble area which hampers the flow of traffic. Vehicles going from one side have to wait for hours to allow the traffic from other side to pass. Hundreds of heavy vehicles carrying goods to Himachal Pradesh, Haryana and Punjab prefer this road.

Without caring for their lives, the riders of two-wheelers often cross under the railway barrier here. To prevent this, the Railways had installed an alarm bell and light system here, but it has also remained out of order since long.

Commuters from Chandigarh, Zirakpur, Panchkula and nearby areas remain stranded for long hours. To reach their schools and colleges in Chandigarh, students have to look for other options.

Mr Krishan Pal Sharma, a stone crusher owner, said that because of the busy, damaged and congested road, the stone material could not be supplied to customers in due time which affected the business. The government should build a flyover so the traffic congestion could reduced.

Residents of the sectors of Panchkula adjoining Zirakpur have demanded a flyover here as they have to travel 15 km extra to go to Patiala via Chandigarh because of the bad shape and congestion on the road. They have demanded a wider road and a flyover at this place so that their problem could be solved.

Mr Anan Preet Singh, a resident of Bartana, said: "I always prefer to go Pinjore via Chandigarh. Whenever I went via Panchkula, it always took half an hour more to reach my destination."

Residents of various villages along the road have demanded the widening and a flyover on the level crossing on the same pattern as the government had decided to construct at the Bhankarpur levelcrossing, near Dera Bassi.

Teachers seek more say in PU Senate
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Oct 18 — Differences and reservations on a majority of issues which came up for discussion were the highlights of the Panjab University Senate meeting here today.

In the earlier part of the meeting, teachers said that university should ensure enhanced representation for university teachers as it was far below other categories. Initiating the discussion, Dr Ram Parkash said that in March, members were assured that a special meeting would be convened to deliberate on the issue which did not occur."The problem persists because of deciding of a cut-off date.When the scheme has been introduced in schools and other universities, the PU has no reason for the delay".

Mr M.Khalid said that the house had fixed April '98 as the date for the implementation of the pension scheme.

Mr G.K.Chatrath, in reference to the debate on seats in Senate, said the house should decide" if it wants seats or publicity in newspapers". The argument continued in the zero hour and Mr S.S.Hundal, Mr Raghuvir Singhal and Mr S.S. Virdi demanded that all should be given equal chance to speak.

Mr S.S.Hundal said that salaries of staff in non-government colleges were often delayed by five to seven months.

Prof M.M.Puri,Vice-Chancellor, said that issues which did not figure on the agenda were being unnecessarily raised before the agenda was discussed.There can be no end to thoughts one could express. As regards the pension scheme, he said that university was not assured of any money from the government for pension scheme.The corpus has to be built and the cut-off date being considered was April, 1998. Mr Ram Prakash said that no association assured 100 per cent contribution for pension .

Restoration of powers to the VC appointing selection committees was accepted by the house despite reservations by a section of members.

Mr M.S.Kalyan said the pension scheme was not on the agenda and should not be discussed.Mr Prakash, Dr P.P.Arya, Dr Anirudh Joshi and Mr Chattrath were among those who expressed their difference and said that the issue was vital.

The house also expressed its differences over the items pertaining to the contribution in medical sciences and computers asking for space, name and independence in return.Dr Prakash said that the figures given to house were misleading as the agenda said "by sheer oversight the foundation's donation of Rs 10 lakh besides Rs 70 lakh" got omitted.

Dr Ram Prakash said that the university should not accept the money if it had to give name and space to the Puri Foundation.Mrs Sneh Mahajan supported him on the issue. Prof Charanjit Chawla asked why the university should give name and one third space in a department to a private firm.

The senate decided that the donation would not be accepted in lieu of giving family name of the foundation and the space for the family.

The house also expressed its reservation on the issue of giving more seats to NRI wards on payment of additional money .Others who spoke on the issue included Mr Ashok Goyal, Mr Rajinder Deepa, Mr S.S.Hundal and Mr Khalid.

The Vice-Chancellor said that items on the "for information" list should not be debated for possible amendments.The move was opposed by Mr Deepa and Mr Goyal among others.

The four-year course in Engineering(Agro-processing) was adopted.Mr Satish said that the university should make arrangements for LLB course in Ludhiana. He offered space for the institution in the initial stages.

A member raised the question of open information on the construction of parking lot in the Regional Resource Centre.

Members also debated affiliation to an ayurvedic college.Dr Anand interfered and said that the institution had passed to Baba Farid University.Interestingly ,Dr Anand said that the meeting in a way was illegal.The Chancellor is required to preside over the meeting for which the university needs response from him.

Appointment of Mr Devinder Marwaha in the Vice-Chancellor office also came up for discussion. Mr Surjewala said it was "illegal and incorrect". Dr I.M.Joshi also pointed out the deficiencies in appointments.

Mr Satya Pal Kain demanded constitution of a legal affairs committee to sort out a number of items which figure regularly on the agenda. Mr Deepa asked the Vice Chancellor to explain the expenditure of Rs 4.70 lakh on telephone bills over the past one year.The question was repeated by Mr Praksash.However, no reply came.

Ms Sneh Mahajan pointed that the Department of Youth Welfare already had a surplus amount.The enhancement of fee from Rs 20 per student to Rs 27 was unjustified. However, students could contribute Rs 2 for the annual function.