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Guesthouse manager stabbed to death
Chandigarh, December 13 The severely wounded youth was referred to the PGI, where he succumbed to his injuries in the wee hours of today. The police is yet to establish the motive behind the brutal killing as the victim’s wallet and other belongings were intact. The police believes some old enmity or a sudden provocation could be the reason behind the killing. The victim had told his colleagues that some goons had assaulted him. Deepak, hailed from Garhwal and was unmarried. The incident occurred at around 11.15 pm last night when Deepak went out to have dinner. He told his colleagues that he was going out to buy cigarettes. He reportedly had an argument with some goons, which took an ugly turn. The assailants stabbed him repeatedly in the chest and abdomen with daggers. Suram Singh, a truck driver and brother-in-law of the owner of the Himachal guesthouse, told the police that he was woken up by the cries of Deepak who was bleeding profusely. Deepak was screaming that he was attacked by three “badmash. Suram Singh told the police that on seeing Deepak’s condition, he woke up Madan, a cook at the guesthouse, and they rushed him to the Civil Hospital in Manimajra. Judging the seriousness of the victim’s condition, doctors referred him to the PGI. The police got information at around 1.40 am and rushed to the PGI. The victim succumbed to his injuries at 3.15 am and the police could not record his statement. The police called experts from the central forensic science laboratory to examine the spot and picked up samples. The SHO of the Manimajra police station, inspector Hari Kumar, said they were examining mobile call details of the victim to pick up some clues. The call details revealed that the last call received was from an acquaintance of the victim and nothing incriminating was found against him.
Headless body of child triggers panic
Residents of Vikas Nagar at Mauli Jagran were woken up to a shock when they found dogs dragging a highly decomposed headless body of a child aged about two years, early this morning. According to the police, the incident came to light when Sheela, wife of a vegetable vendor, came out and found the body outside her house. She called her husband, who raised the alarm and people gathered there. The body was half-eaten and covered with mud. The police is yet to determine the sex of the child as it was partially eaten up. Residents of the area rued that due to an open graveyard in the vicinity, scavengers and stray dogs dug up bodies and ate them. The recovery of half-eaten bodies of children were a common sight, they said.
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Administration in damage control mode
G.S. Paul Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, December 13 Like a poor craftsman who ends up blaming his tools for a bad job, the administration has attempted to shift the blame for the leakage of the information on a “junior official”. The Tribune had reported that the advertisement inviting expression of interests from event management companies for the celebrations were published two days before the Mumbai terror attacks. In a clarification, Citco MD Niharika Rai stated that the management had already decided to cancel the celebrations because “no quotations were received from the management companies for these events and no re-tendering was done”. But why it chose to keep silent on the issue and reacted to it only after the publication of the news is not known. The press note issued by the public relations department furthers says: “We have checked with the hotel staff and it seems that some junior-level officials presented an incorrect picture based on the earlier plans for Hotel Mountview.” However, the truth is that senior officials of both the administration and Citco had been talking about these plans until last evening and the move to get belly dancers for the festivities was mooted by a top official. Meanwhile, the Chandigarh Club has decided not to hold any special programme for Christmas and New Year’s Eve. Mukesh Bassi, president of the club, said: “As a mark of respect to the soldiers who sacrificed their lives and the innocent people who died in the Mumbai attacks, the committee members have also decided to contribute Rs 50,000 in their personal capacity towards the welfare fund for soldiers.”
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Body found floating in lake
Chandigarh, December 13 The deceased has been identified as Ajit, a resident of Bapu Dham Colony in Sector 26. He was working as a safai karamchari with Friends Associates in Panchkula, which provides safai karamcharis to the Chandigarh MC on contract. Someone spotted the body floating in the water at around 1.30 pm and informed the police, which fished out the body after about an hour. No visible injury marks were found on the body. According to the police, Ajit had left his house on Sunday evening following a tiff with his father, Mange Ram, who scolded him for coming home late in the night. Ajit did not go home and his family did not know anything about his whereabouts. The police identified the deceased from the documents recovered from the body and informed his family. The SHO of the Sector 3 police station, inspector Har Sahai Sharma, said the family did not suspect foul play. The body was shifted to hospital for a postmortem.
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Threat of another epidemic
Rajiv Bhatia
Zirakpur, December 13 Though the Mohali district health authorities are wary of terming it as an outbreak of water-borne diseases, around 15 cases of fever and vomiting have already been referred to the GMCH, Sector 32. Sources said around 103 persons were suffering from viral fever, typhoid and water-borne diseases like stomach infection, vomiting and fever in the Zirakpur area. Poor sanitation was being attributed as one of the main reasons for the diseases. Dr Ram Kumar, SMO of the Civil Hospital at Dera Bassi, said a survey conducted in the area revealed that 103 persons were suffering from viral fever. He said around 68 persons were sick at Dhakola village and 35 at Dhakoli village. Around 10 to 15 persons were suffering from typhoid. He said a medical team would take blood samples of patients, besides water samples, on Monday. Tablets of chlorine had been distributed among people as a precautionary measure. Nearly every third family is suffering from fever and no measures have been taken by health officials or the MC, residents of the area rued. They said when they contacted the ward councillor, Ajaib Singh, in this regard, he did not even respond to their call. Jaswant Singh, a resident of Baltana village, said: “Garbage and waste material lying in the open near the village and along the Sukhna choe reflects the indifference of the authorities concerned.” “At Jarnail Colony, I have seen three garbage bins at one place, but there is not even a single bin for Baltana,” he claimed. Cooperation minister Capt Kanwaljit visited the area.
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Mega Projects: Administration gets off on wrong foot
Chandigarh, December 13 In fact, brainchild of top functionaries of the Chandigarh administration, including UT administrator S.F. Rodrigues, these projects have raised a lot of dust with a cross-section of society, including eminent citizens, farmers and minister of state for finance Pawan Bansal, questioning the very rationale of the setting up these projects. Farmer are already up in arms against low land compensation being awarded to them for acquisition of land for the projects, including in the Sarangpur institutional area where the amusement-cum-theme park, the education city, the film city and equesterian academy are coming up. The following projects have put the administration on the back foot in the recent past:
Medicity It has pushed relations between Rodrigues and his adviser Pradip Mehra to the point of no return. Taking objection to the proposed move of the high-profile medicity committee, headed by Rodrigues, to fix Rs 203.7 crore as the reserve upfront project fee price for the 45 acres of prime land, valuing around Rs 2,000 crore, in the IT park area, Mehra had questioned the very model for the project. Even as the project hit the headlines with The Tribune leading the rest of the publications, the union government took a strong view of the controversy and summoned the entire record pertaining to the project.
Theme Park Intended to make the city a tourist destination, this project has run into rough with information sought under the RTI alleging that the highest bidder for the project was ignored in favour of Unitech Limited. With allegations of favouring one particular bidder flying in the face of the administration, the administration officials are now busy shifting the blame.
Education City Despite tall claims of the administration that it would bring some of the best educational groups to the Sarangpur area to make Chandigarh an education hub, the project is mirred in controversy. Some bidders, who had been allotted the sites, have now reportedly alleged that the administration had altered the already agreed-upon terms and conditions to their disadvantage. Stung by media criticism, the administration is now toying with the idea of seeking legal opinion on the issue.
Warehousing Project To be located near the railway station on the prime 45 acres of commercial land, this is the second project that has seen the administrator and the adviser at loggerheads. In this case also, the adviser sees no logic behind setting up the complex. However, the administrator has reportedly overuled the adviser and the administration has invited the expression of interest by December 24.
Villagers’ voice The acquisition of land at throwaway prices by the administration for mega projects was a mega scandal perpetrated by the official-builder nexus. A CBI inquiry into all mega projects and the land acquistion was the only way to bring out facts about circumstances leading to these land deals, Angrez Singh Badheri, president of the Pind Bachao Committee, demanded.
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‘Chaarpai’ provides grand finale to theatre festival
Chandigarh, December 13 The over packed hall on all days of CSNA and TFT fest has proved beyond doubt that the city beautiful has emerged with an aesthetic soul. The concluding day function commenced with the felicitation of an acclaimed vocalist thespian, Kamal Tewari, an alumnus of the first batch of the Indian theatre department of PU. Hailed as the city pride in art circles and credited with musical score in 60 plays Kamal Tewari has excelled with important roles in 10 feature films, including blockbusters like Omkara, Jab We Met, Train to Pakistan, Blue Umbrella to name a few. The old adage “Blood is thicker than water” signifies the sanctity and intensity of love for relationships in Indian culture and society. What an apathy that these relations get strained forced by circumstances. The play sculpted by playwright Rameshwar Prem brings alive the agony and anguish of a lower middle class family in a very natural theatrical bonanza. As it progresses under the able direction of thespian Alakhnandan the play bares the complexities of the three generations of a family living under one roof but without any understanding and harmony among themselves. The crisp crude dialogues and angry gestures in movements fairly brought out the intent of the play. Javed Zaidi, Vishwananath, Archna Sharan, Ajay Singh Pal, Lata Saangre, Sadat Bharti and Jitender Pande executed their roles with brilliance.
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Silence zones? Hardly
Chandigarh, December 13 Five minutes outside the PGI or the GMCH-32 will be enough to try anyone’s patience. The use of pressure and musical horns, bikes without silencers and blaring music at marriage parties in the vicinity of these institutions is common, but for the traffic police these violations don’t exist. The seriousness of the traffic department to enforce laws pertaining to silence zones can be gauged from the fact that it does not have any compiled data for action initiated against such violations. While the department was ready to give figures for violation relating to the use of pressure horns, it dithered in giving a break down of figures regarding the challan. “The truth is that we do not have any such data,” admitted an officer on the condition of anonymity, while adding that about 225 motorists had been challaned till November 30 this year for using pressure and musical horns. As per clause (5) of the Noise Pollution (Regulation and Control) Rules, an area comprising not less than 100 metres around hospitals, nursing homes, educational institutions and courts and capital complex may be declared as silence zones. Similar rules are applicable to religious places. Explaining the gravity of the violations, Tejinder Singh, a road safety enthusiast, says out of the total area of 114 sq km, about one-third of the area falls under the silence zone. As the city has around 162 government and private schools, 25 educational institutions, including several colleges, Punjab Engineering College and other national-level institutions, three big hospitals, besides over 50 nursing homes and nearly 50 religious places, about 30 sq km falls under this zone. A 2-km stretch of the road along the PEC, PGI and Panjab University, up to the Dental Hospital of Sector 25, falls under the silence zone, but no one is challaned for the violation. “Leave alone commoners, even VIPs prefer to make their way by constantly blowing siren,” rues Tejinder Singh of Sector 44.
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Fast food can cause infertility in men
Chandigarh, December 13 According to experts, the incidents of infertility among men are increasing due to several reasons, including lifestyle changes. Prof S.K. Singh of the urology department, PGI, said the problem was common among those who started smoking at an early stage and consumed pan masala and fast food in excess. The use of drugs, alcohol and cannabis could also cause it, he said. An AIIMS research on hormonal treatment to prevent frequent miscarriages has shown that there has been an alarming rise in male infertility cases in the country due to lifestyle changes. There is no such study by the PGI, but the analysis of the lifestyle of patients at the infertility clinic revealed that the leading cause of loss of sperms is changing lifestyle. Prof Sharma said there were two types of male infertility. In oligozoospermia, the sperm count declined due to stress, tension, smoking and excess intake of pan masala, tobacco and fast food. In azoospermia, the sperm count became zero due to infections like filaria and TB. Infection due to filaria and TB blocked the testes, resulting in zero sperm count. Normally, there should be 60-120 million sperms in a male. Azoospermia could be treated through surgery. Dr Reeti Mehra, a gynaecologist at the GMCH-32, said both husband and wife should be checked for infertility if a couple was unable to reproduce.
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Purse containing Rs 20,000, mobile, ATM snatched
Zirakpur, December 13 According to the police, Geetika alleged that around 6.45 pm on Tuesday when she went to a market in Mohali. After returning from market when she came near to her home, an unknown person came on Kinetic Honda from back and snatched my purse. The accused fled from the scene. She alleged that her purse contained Rs 20,000, one mobile set and ATM card. The police has registered the case and investigations are on.
Dead
Narinder Rana, (31), a resident of Dhakoli village in Zirakpur succumbed to injuries here today. According to the police, Narinder was on its way to Patiala from Zirakpur after his car met with an accident on Patiala Road with a school bus on Friday. After the accident the injured was admitted to GMCH-32. A case was registered against the bus driver. In another case, Mohali police constable, Jasbir Singh, was found dead in his quarter in Police Line, Mohali, here today. According to the police Jasbir, a 35-year-old hailing from Amritsar, was found dead in the morning at his quarter. Police stated that he was in depression from past few days. The post mortem of the body has been conducted and report revealed that he died due to heart attack. The body of the deceased was handed over to the family members after post mortem.
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Action Front alleges bogus allotment, misuse of funds
Tribune News Service
Mohali, December 13 Despite complaints, senior police officials were preventing action against the management of the society. “ Even the legal recourse has not been able to break the politicians-official nexus behind the bogus allotment and misappropriation of funds”, said Naveen Gupta, a member of the action front. Members of the action front committee while addressing the media showed the documentary proof and said to prevent action against the culprits, the management had given flats to influential persons and officials. The GMADA failed to act despite glaring building violations done by the management, they added. Claiming that the Punjab cooperation minister, Capt Kanwaljit Singh, had failed to act against the culprits despite being repeatedly approached about the wrong doings, the members said. Kanwaljit said, “A former financial commissioner (cooperatives), Punjab, arbitrarily regularised illegal acts of the society after the case was referred back by the Punjab and Haryana High Court. The OSD to the Punjab finance minister, Charanjit Singh, has been allotted a flat though his name does not appear in the list of 286 genuine members.” While Charanjit Singh was not available for comments, SDO Pathania said, the allegations were baseless. “I am enrolled as a member of the society since 1994. I have the relevant record to prove the point”, The action committee further alleged that Swaran Singh and his associates enrolled 599 members in the society as against 338 flats, out of which more than 50 per cent (313) were found ‘non-existent’ and declared bogus by the committee constituted by the High Court. Swaran Singh refused to comment on the issue saying the matter was pending in the High Court and was fixed for hearing on December 16. They have demanded that the matter be referred to the CBI. A high level committee should be constituted to carry out the detailed scrutiny of the matter and the state government should make amendments to the byelaws of the cooperative house building societies to tame such scam and bring transparency.
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BJP to expel MLA Ram Kumar
Panchkula, December 13 Grewal who was here to express his sympathy with Bhajan Lal for the happenings in the family while interacting with the mediapersons said the party high command has already started proceedings to expel Gautam for his anti-party activities, as there was no place for the
indiscipline in the party. Gautam who had been criticising the BJP’s alliance with the INLD in the state as well as senior party leaders, was removed as leader of the BJP legislature party on December 1 by the state president Atam Parkash Manchanda. However, Gautam did not stop his criticism of party leaders as he keeps accusing the state party president of ‘having sold the party to the Indian National Lok Dal’ for vested interests. Grewal further criticised the Congress and alleged that the law and order situation in the state was grim. On the other hand the government failed to protect the interests of the farmers as well as residents in urban areas, he said. Grewal was accompanied by Bharat Bhushan Bharati, co spokesperson from Kurukshetra, Gian Chand Gupta, V.K. Sood, Sham Lal Bansal and Sanjay Ahuja. Bharati said the BJP would put a proposal before the Chief Minister for convening an all-party meeting to address the grievances of people being displaced due to the widening of national highways in the state.
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Protest delays draw of lots
Mohali, December 13 The protesters gathered outside the GMADA office and raised slogans against senior officials, including the chief engineer. The protesters said certain political leaders were responsible for the delay and these leaders would not be spared. Sucha Singh Kalour, president of the committee, said the Punjab Chief Minister had issued directions in this regard but officials were still not fixing a date for holding the draw of lots for the remaining plots. He said GMADA had not made proper arrangements for water supply, power, streetlights and roads in these sectors. Water connections were not being given to the allottees of Sector 79 even when building
plans had been cleared by the authorities concerned. He said if a date for holding the draw of lots for the remaining plots was not fixed soon, members would be compelled to hold protests outside the houses of the officials concerned.
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Seminar on works of Le Clegeo, Adiga
Chandigarh, December 13 The speakers disclosed that both the writers were virtually unknown before they shot into the limelight following the prestigious awards they received. It is but natural that interested readers should be curious about their works. Prof Meera Malik in her appraisal of “The White Tiger” spoke of the two diametrically opposite responses that Adiga has evoked among the reviewers. He has either been praised for giving expression to the largely ignored working classes or dismissed for presenting a negative image of India to gain approbation from the Western audiences. Simar Onkar talked about the history and politics behind the Nobel Prize. He demystified the aura underlying the Nobel by arguing that it was Euro-centric and gender-biased. However, he felt that Le Clezio deserved the attention that he has been given, because of his cosmopolitan outlook that has helped him explore civilizations and value systems beyond the dominant Western ones. The presentations were followed by a lively discussion.
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Trade fair kicks off
Chandigarh, December 13 The fair is being organised by the department of industries, Chandigarh administration. Inaugurating the fair, UT home-cum-secretary industries Ram Niwas said it would provide an opportunity to residents and visitors to see products prepared in the city and in its periphery. The fair would also provide information regarding new openings and various schemes for the budding entrepreneurs. Around 15 stalls have been set up in the pavilion displaying items like handicrafts, electronic goods, spices, bathroom fittings, solar energy equipment, steel and wooden furniture, jewellery, laptop accessories, healthcare products, batteries, automobiles and its accessories, home appliances, embroidery, garments, artifacts, surveillance products, fitness equipment, honey, presentation solutions, paper bags, jute bags, decoration material and milk products. Stalls by adult education, traffic police, Haryana Tourism and registering and licensing authority have also been set up. The main attraction of the fair will be a performance by singer Shankar Sahney during a “Musical Nite” on December 14. Other attractions include Punjabi and western dances, baazigar dance, magic show, stand-up comedy and Rajasthani nite. Competitions for schoolchildren in on-the-spot painting will be held on December 14 and quiz and dance on December 16. The home secretary also released a brochure to mark the occasion.
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Firemen to get 5 bulletproof jackets
Chandigarh, December 13 During the discussion, nominated councillor P.K.Mukerjee objected to the decision and suggested that rather than purchasing a few bulletproof jackets the department should install cabin mounted on a high-rise platform with multi-layer bulletproof glass shielded box with bellow openings for water jet nozzles strategically placed. He remarked that the committee was taking least interest in most important aspect of training and management of the firemen, but was focussing on issues that were not related to the department. He said nobody was concerned about appointing a qualified person as the chief fire officer for the fire department.
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Jain flays Centre for ignoring Punjabi language
Chandigarh, December 13 Addressing public meetings in various villages in favour of the BJP supported candidates, he said while Hindi was the national language, Punjabi mother tongue and it was unfortunate that the Central government was ignoring Punjabi language in Chandigarh. Jain also accused the Central government of being “anti-village” and ignoring the development of villages. He said the Rural Employment Guarantee Act 2004 was not extended to Chandigarh though it was made applicable almost to every state in India.
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Stress on knowledge management
Chandigarh, December 13 Cheema said validated information and knowledge were key elements in an effective decision-making process of economic development of the city. More so, when Chandigarh had to address a wide range of development needs with limited resources. Cheema said it was important to make the link between research resources and practitioners. Chandigarh had big repository of research done by various institutions, which lay buried in libraries, which should be converted into usable knowledge by digitising the same.
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‘Japanese systems community friendly’
Chandigarh, December 13 An PhD in human resource management and a research fellow in Commonwealth Youth Programme, Asia Centre, Chandigarh, Dr Bir in her group presentation, observed that Japanese possessed a highly rich and strong cultural values. She also found Japanese systems to be highly structured, community friendly and consistent and which, according to her, could be adopted in India by bringing about changes at the policy-making level. The programme gave the young leaders an insight into the education, political, social, technological, administrative, entrepreneurial and economic systems of Japan.
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Rafi nite on December 20
Chandigarh, December 13 She is popularly known by the songs like “Kabhi tanhainyon mein hamari yaad aeyegi”, “Mujhko apne gale laga lo ai mere hamrahi”, “Jab ishq kahin ho jata hai”, “Hum hal-e-dil sunaenge” and many more. She will also give performance in this function. Nearly 40 male and female singers from different states will sing melodious songs in the nite. Kartar Devi, minister for Health and Social Welfare, Haryana will preside over the function.
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Morcha shows solidarity with attack victims
Chandigarh, December 13
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Buses impounded for wrong parking
Mohali, December 13 The buses belonged to Indo-Canadian, Libra and Chandra transporters. The owners of the buses had been warned against parking the buses in the market areas. The drivers did not even have the relevant documents.
It had been highlighted in these columns that private buses were illegally using the market areas of Phases II and III A as bus stands, much to the annoyance of shopkeepers of the area.
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Music system, passports stolen
Panchkula, December 13 According to sources, Alka Singla, a resident of Jammu came here to meet her relatives at Sector 15 yesterday. She parked her car in front of the house in the night. Today in the morning when the family got up and found the windowpane of the car was broken and things were missing. The police has registered a case and investigations are on.
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Lecture on time management delivered
Chandigarh, December 13 The expert, who is a regional manager at the Institute of Chartered Financial Analyst of India (ICFAI), said the time management was self management. Some of the road blocks in the time managements are lack of goals, planning and priorities. One should write one’s goals. Unless not written, the goals remain a wish. Giving examples, he said the time management was must in every profession. Around 15 senior journalists from The Tribune, Punjabi Tribune and Dainik Tribune participated in the lecture.
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Admn should earmark area for playgrounds
This is in reference to the news item “Where are the playgrounds?” published in Chandigarh Tribune dated December 13 ‘08. The news item has rightly stressed that the Chandigarh municipal corporation is heading on a conversion spree to transform some grounds into either parks or green belts. There is no playground especially carved out in any of the sectors despite the fact that there are about 2,000 parks, including green belts, which are being manned by the city corporation/administration. Undoubtedly, there are stadiums for different games which are beyond the reach of street players who used to play games especially cricket on the sector roads. The school grounds have limitations as these are not meant for all children. The Chandigarh administration should earmark some area for the playgrounds where the children of every stream could play. I have given the suggestion several times that the forest land along the southern sectors from Sector 39 onwards could be cleaned to make the playgrounds on temporary basis without harming the forest interests till the land reserved for the purpose could be used. But this proposal has not attracted the attention of the administration. Keeping in view the gravity of the situation and to promote the sports in the city I appeal to the learned citizens of the city to make all efforts to find out the solution to this burning problem. S.K. Khosla, Chandigarh Readers are invited to write to us. Send your mail, in not more than 200 words, at news@tribuneindia.com or, write in, at: Letters, Chandigarh Tribune, Sector 29, Chandigarh – 160 030
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Chandigarh, December 13
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Uthala
Chandigarh, December 13
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Tara Chand Saboo Excellence Awards for four city teachers
Chandigarh, December 13 Chief Justice of Punjab and Haryana High Court Justice T.S. Thakur gave away the awards that have been instituted by the Jan Seva Trust of the Saboo family to recognise extraordinary contributions of school teachers in building and strengthening the foundation of the society. Tara Chand Saboo Excellence Award for Life Time Achievement was awarded to Shashi Banerjee, principal, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Sector 15, Panchkula, which carried a trophy, citation and a cash award of Rs 75,000. Manjeet Jauhar of Vivek High School, Sector 38 B, Chandigarh, was the recipient of the excellence award for school teaching (Secondary classes) while Dinesh Saraswat, Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya, Sector 25, Chandigarh, got the excellence award for teaching economically underprivileged children. This year, a special jury’s award was presented to Kranti Darshan Sharma of Institute for the Blind, Sector 26, Chandigarh, for his commitment towards the children. Each of the three awards carried a trophy, citation and cash award of Rs 25,000. Speaking on the occasion, Chief Justice Thakur commended the Saboo family for instituting the awards to recognise those who were building the leaders of tomorrow’s India through education and character building. R.K. Saboo, the trustee chairman of the Jan Seva Trust, spoke about the necessity of honouring these unsung champions who selflessly, tirelessly and patiently nurtured children to face the future challenges. This year the jury comprised Justice (retd.) S.S. Sodhi, former Chief Justice of Allahabad High Court and also former Judge of the Supreme Court, Malathi Subramanian, former principal of Daulat Ram College, University of Delhi, Prof. Manoj Datta, director, Punjab Engineering College and Dr Ranjana Malik, wife of Gen V.P. Malik, former Chief of the Army Staff. Awards director Anuradha Saboo said no member of the executive committee or the Trust participated in the deliberation and decision of the jury, so as to ensure a fair and unbiased selection. As a result, the panel was changed every year to include two members from the city and two from outside.
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PU youth festival kicks off
Chandigarh, December 13 Laxmi Kanta Chawla, minister for health & family welfare, Punjab, inaugurated the same here today by lighting the ceremonial lamp. In her inaugural address, Chawla stressed upon the fact that the youth should not ape the West blindly but should actively participate in preserving cultural heritage and values. She also stressed that educating girls should be the main priority of the society and immediate steps should be taken to check the declining sex ratio of girls in north India, especially Punjab. She also emphasised that the youth should stand united for fighting the evils of terrorism faced by India. Dr. S.M. Kant, director, Youth Welfare, delivered the welcome address to the teams participating in the five-day festival. As many as 18 teams with 638 participants have registered for various competitions during event. The teams will participate in various items in the fields of music, theatre, fine arts, folk art, heritage, quiz, poetical symposium, debates, dance and painting etc.
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Workshop: PU teachers feel left out
Chandigarh, December 13 According to sources, while the university had organised the two-day event in collaboration with the commission for the Centre-state relations, New Delhi, the faculty members and entire academia was kept at an arms’ distance from the same. Up in arms, the teachers allege that while representatives from other universities were invited to participate in the deliberations, they were blatantly ignored. “Our university has no academic drought, and then how far is it justified to not invite university’s own think tanks and call teachers from other universities of the region,” said a senior faculty member on conditions of anonymity. All this while members of the commission during their interactions had clearly stated that one of the most important stake holders of the society were the teachers and their perceptions about the government and the Centre-state relations were pertinent. The discontent among the teachers is also due to the fact that while a handful of the teachers did receive invites from the organisers via e-mails, a substantial number complained of being completely sidelined. A testimony to this is the fact that even chairpersons of the departments and senior faculty members, including professors and readers, were conspicuous by their absence during the inauguration session as well as the valedictory session. Even Prof Raunki Ram and other members of the PUTA were not invited in the capacity of teachers but as office-bearers of the PUTA. Though Mohanmeet Khosla, chairperson, School of Communication Studies, who also happens to be the DPR (interim) and media in charge of the workshop claimed that e-mails were sent to all teachers registered with the PUTA, a large number of teachers confirmed that they didn’t receive any. Irked teachers even claimed, “While global universities and noted agencies of the country invite the PU teachers for special lectures as resource persons and deliberations, we have been deceived by our own people.” If the insiders are to be believed, the teachers were not even invited for the dinner hosted by the university. When confronted, one of the organising officials confirmed that budget considerations had to be taken care of as the Government of India gave the money.
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900 take part in musical play
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, December 13 The musical play conveyed the message of forgiveness, honesty, hard work and gratitude. Annual day Navika Bakshi and Barinder Rathore were declared the best athletes while Vishal Singla was adjudged the best actor at the annual day celebrations of Stepping Stones Senior Secondary School at Sports Complex, Sector 7, here today. The show was a combination of athletic events, self defence skills, music and dance. Ankita Sharma, the school captain, led the contingents. Green House was adjudged the best marching House. Dr Ashok Gupta, the chief guest, gave away the prizes to academic achievers and athletes. A blend of Indian classical and western music was seen in thematic dance performed by girls of classes VIII-X.
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