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UT vs Pvt Schools
Chandigarh, October 11 The UT administration has asked all schools to reserve 25 per cent of seats for EWS students as mandated under the Act for admission in the next session. However, a majority of schools who commence admission process in November have refused to do so in the absence of concrete guidelines. “The Act is non-existent on paper in black and white. The UT has, to date, not carried out the child mapping survey. It has not identified students who need to be admitted, so who are we suppose to reserve the seats for? Despite its tall claims,
the UT has failed to make any progress on the RTE. We stand where we stood last year. When the administration has failed to complete prerequisites of the Act, how can we be asked to implement the Act?” said a local principal. UT private schools and education department had entered into a tiff over the Act last year as well and several rounds of discussions failed to yield any result. This year, the education department has claimed to have been on the job from the beginning, yet it has to work out concrete guidelines or even complete the botched up child mapping survey. Bone of contention
Child mapping
Reimbursement
Warning to schools
The Act is already in practice and schools will have to make necessary reservations in admissions to nursery. Those who fail
to abide will be taken to task. VK Singh, UT Education Secretary ‘Reimburse schools’
We will reserve seats, but only when the UT completes the child-mapping exercise. We also want it to work out our reimbursement and pay us on April 1, 2012, for the entire
year. HS Mamik, president, Independent School Association
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Radio cab plans for P’kula go off-track
Panchkula, October 11 Private operators said lack of clarity in terms and conditions were a deterrent in running radio cabs in Panchkula, which has an ineffective public transport system. At present, residents have to call radio cabs from Chandigarh. Monika Sethi, a Sector 16 resident, said they had to hire autorickshaws and the operators charged at will. They were eagerly waiting for the radio cab service, which the government should start at the earliest, she said. Kamal Joshi, a resident of Sector 15, said the authorities in Panchkula should draw a lesson from Gurgaon. The telephone-based cab service would be helpful at night as women and the elderly could not go out late to look for taxis. Initially, the Haryana transport department had received two applications from private operators to ply 155 cabs in Panchkula, but later one had withdrawn his application and the other has not come forward till now. Regional Transport Authority Secretary Dharamveer Singh said they were were waiting for private operators to apply for permit to run radio cabs in Panchkula. The decision regarding fresh applications would be discussed at the top level and he could not comment on the issue, he said. Poor response in 2007 as well
The Haryana Government had tried to launch radio cab services in Panchkula in 2007. But nothing came of it even then. The scheme was amended this year, but the unenthusiastic response from cab service providers may put the plans on hold for some time.
Radio cab features
The cabs have GPS or GPRS-based tracking systems for the safety of passengers. These are fitted with electronic meters, which ensure that operators did not overcharge passengers. The system will be linked to the office of the Secretary, Regional Transport Authority, Panchkula, and the area of operation of the cabs will be 50 km from the district headquarters. The cabs will be available 24 hours, seven days a
week.
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Sacred Heart girl commits suicide
Chandigarh, October 11 The police said she had a altercation with her father, following which she took this extreme step. She consumed the substance at her residence in Sector 9 here the previous night. She was rushed to the PGI, where she succumbed to the poison today. She was residing with her family at the servant quarters in the house of an industrialist. In the second incident, a 22-year-old resident of Sector 28 hanged herself to death from a ceiling fan this evening. Ritika had been suffering from depression, the police said. No suicide note was recovered from the spot. The police seized her laptop and mobile phone as part of its investigations. Prem Pal Dhiman, father of deceased, was working with the Haryana printing press. In his statement to the police, he claimed that she was depressed as she had been hunting for a job for quite some time.
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Speeding biker killed in accident
Chandigarh, October 11 Sandeep Kumar was a resident of Mohali and was working with Reliance telecom. He was coming from the IT park and was headed towards the railway station at around 11.30 am when the accident occurred. Eyewitnesses said the youth was speeding and jumped the red light, crashing into a car at the intersection. The driver of the car has been arrested for causing death due to negligence. A PCR vehicle rushed the victim to the PGI where he was declared brought dead. The car driver had initially fled the spot, but later visited the PGI to enquire about the health of the victim, the police said. Sandeep was wearing a helmet, but it had not been clasped properly. The police has informed his family members in Uttar Pradesh. Inspector Rajesh Shukla, SHO of Manimajra police station, said both the car and the bike were speeding which resulted in the mishap.
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BSNL standoff hits the elderly hardest
Many senior citizens are not familiar with the use of mobile phones and prefer landline telephones. But the non-connectivity between BSNL and major mobile operators have left them in the lurch as they are unable to reach their near and dear ones or get through to utility services on mobile phones. Calls from cellular phones to fixed lines of the police, hospitals, fire department and ambulance services were also affected. Daljit Singh Grewal, secretary-general of the Chandigarh Senior Citizens Association, said a majority of elderly people use BSNL landlines as they are not comfortable with mobile phones, he said. Former principal of Chandigarh College of Arts SS Bhatti said he had been desperately trying to call a friend for the last four-five days, but in vain and giving the impression that he did not care about his friends. SK Nayar of Panchkula said he preferred to use a landline phone after medical experts warned that cell
phones could affect the hearing abilities of the elderly. Gurdev Singh, a resident of Zirakpur, said he learnt about the standoff only after he kept trying to contact his wife, who was away to Rajpura, on her cell phone, but the call kept dropping. A Sector 17 businessman, Gurbachan Singh, said recently his father died in Delhi and he came to know about it only after two days. Dr SK Chhabra, a physician, said a majority of aged patients had been complaining that they were unable to contact him at his clinic. Man dies for want of help Lalru: In the absence of timely help, a pedestrian was left lying in a pool of blood for over an hour after being hit by a vehicle on the Lalru flyover here late this evening. Rohit Sharma, an executive with the DLF, said the man fell after being hit by a vehicle. Later, he was crushed under the wheels of another vehicle. Sharma tried calling “100” from his mobile, but could not get through. The police said it got information about the accident on wireless around 10 pm. Sources said the victim was lying on the highway for long as the police did not reach the spot on
time.
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Looking for adventure? Check this out
Mohali, October 11 It is literally a neck-breaking experience for hundreds of drivers commuting on potholed roads in Mohali, which is touted as ‘Punjab’s Paris’ by the ruling Akali Dal. Instructions issued by the Deputy Chief Minister to the officials to get all roads repaired and assurances given by NK Sharma, chairman of the District Planning Committee, seems to have offered no respite to residents. All major roads that are lifeline of the city have potholes. Though the monsoon is over, not even a single road has been repaired by the Mohali municipal corporation or GMADA so far. “Politicians have been setting deadlines, but to no avail,” said Manjit Singh, a resident of Phase III-A, here. On the contrary, GMADA is breaking neatly laid footpath tiles along a road being widened in Phases 3B2, 4,5 and 7 to replace them with new ones at a cost of lakhs of rupees. Lakhs of rupees will be wasted in breaking and relaying tiles, but the government agency does not provide grants to repair the existing roads. “The repair work can be done at a cost of a few lakhs. But the government is not bothered,” said Kulbir Singh, a resident of Sector 69. It seems ridiculous, but the ruling SAD-BJP alliance riding high on a professed development agenda in Mohali has
not bothered to repair several such trouble spots in the city. “The municipal corporation has just done some patchwork on the spots,” said Amardeep Sharma,
a Phase 9 based entrepreneur. While moving from Balongi to Phase 11, motorists come across several spots, where the road has withered away or potholes have surfaced. Near the 66 KV sub-station in Sector 71 and also the Forest Complex in Sector 68, unattended road cuts have transformed into potholes. Another important road linking Sector 56 of Chandigarh to Phase VI of Mohali is the worst-affected. For years together no repair work has been carried out on the road.
Bumpy roads
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Sec-17 site a multi-level headache
Chandigarh, October 11 Due to the non-allocation of the paid parking site to any contractor, cases of vehicle theft are on the rise. The MC has not auctioned this pilot project site for the past five years, due to which the authorities are suffering loss in revenue. Sources in the MC have said the police has informed it that cases of theft are on the rise as it is not managed by a contractor. The police has asked the MC to either allot the site or manage it on its own. The sources admit that the MC has approached a few contractors, but they have refused to take charge of the parking lot as it is mostly used by service vehicles of restaurant owners and employees of the electricity department. As both refuse to pay parking fee, the contractor will have to suffer monetary loss every month. MC subdivisional engineer Avtar Singh has said the department is chalking out a plan to utilise the site. The site is near the place where the Sahib Singh showroom was once located. Records with the MC revealed that the project was approved in 2007. Due to delay in approval by the UT Chief Architect’s department, a contractor with the STYM Company, to whom the work was allotted, backed outt on the plea that the cost had increased manifold.
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Home Secy’s post loses sheen; incumbent given insignificant depts
Chandigarh, October 11 Though Satya Gopal was given additional charges of the departments of law, police, prisons, transport, food & supplies, local self-government and revenue, yet more important departments seems to have been earmarked for the other five bureaucrats. While Adviser to the UT Administrator KK Sharma, who distributed the departments among his juniors kept the crucial departments of personnel, housing and CITCO chairman for himself, the other important departments - urban planning, secretariat establishment, tourism, hospitality, cultural affairs, house allotment committee and chief administrator - were handed over to Finance Secretary VK Singh. Another IAS officer and CITCO Managing Director DK Tiwari, who is on his way out after the expiry of his tenure on December 31, got important departments of industries, health and medical education and cooperation. A close look at the department distribution revealed that UT and Punjab cadre officers are calling the shots in the UT Administration. While KK Sharma and Satya Gopal are AGMUT cadre officers, VK Singh and DK Tiwari are from Punjab cadre. Deputy Commissioner Brijendra Singh is the only Haryana cadre officer who have been given additional charges of a couple of departments, including the social welfare. Caught in a piquant situation over various UT departments headed by Ram Niwas, who was repatriated to his parent cadre of Haryana, and also to avoid protocol problems, the UT administration on September 23 gave additional charge of home secretary to Chandigarh Housing Board (CHB) chairman Satya Gopal, a 1988 batch IAS officer of the AGMUT cadre. Official sources said the allocation of departments among senior officials had been done with a view to avoid putting undue burden on one particular official handling major departments as also to avoid protocol problems. Will new HS get all departments?
With five senior IAS officers being given additional charges of important departments headed by the Home Secretary, the question whether the new incumbent will get all charges is doing the rounds in the administrative circles. Usually the charges held by the outgoing Home Secretary should go to the new incumbent. However, that is not sure as the UT Adviser is holding the additional charges of the key departments of personnel, housing and the CITCO chairman. “We will cross the bridge when it comes,” quipped a senior official on the
condition of anonymity.
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Panel on garbage? No idea!
Chandigarh, October 11 The fate of this committee was still not known as no official communication had been sent to any department of the UT Administration or the MC regarding members of the committee. Residents of Dadu Majra had protested the previous month and were up in arms against the foul smell emanating from the plant, not allowing garbage-dumping vehicles to enter the plant or the dumping ground. Sharma had called an urgent meeting and constituted a committee, comprising the MC Chief Engineer, area councillor Kamlesh, a representative of the garbage-processing plant and an official of the Chandigarh Pollution Control Board. Kamlesh said she had not received any official communication from the Administration about the committee till date. She added that she met the Adviser the previous week and requested him to convene a meeting, but no action was taken. Congress councillor Chander Mukhi Sharma expressed surprise that a representative of the defaulter garbage-processing plant company had also been made a member of the committee. He said nobody had any idea as to who the committee chairman was, whether it would work as consultant or monitor the functioning of the plant, what the issues be taken up were and what the time-frame for preparing a report was. Mayor Ravinder Pal Singh did not allow any discussion on the matter during a recent meeting of the House on the plea that action would be initiated by the authorities after the committee submitted its report.
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MC to shoot off letter to Punjab govt
Zirakpur, October 11 Sources said apart from the public interest, political consideration, too, was behind the MC’s move. Recently, the Punjab drainage department had banned construction on uncultivable land in Sukhna choe at Baltana, Bishangarh and Gazipur villages after issuing a notification. The department had asked the Zirakpur municipal council not to give permission for constructing any building on various khasra numbers issued by them. The department had declared the under-constructed structures and a Baltana police chowki illegal. An official of the MC stated that they had received an application from the land owners in which they had mentioned that the drainage department had issued ban orders on all khasra numbers. The land owners had stated that the ban should be implemented only on those areas where the free flow of river water was affected. They added that the department should lift the ban from non-affected areas. The official said the residents who had already constructed residential colonies were living in a fear. Chairman of the District Planning Committee and MC president NK Sharma stated that the matter was taken up in the council meeting. “We are writing an application to the state government to lift the ban on those khasra numbers where the free flow of river water is not affected,” he said.
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Ex-councillor issues notice to civic body
Mohali, October 11 Kuljit Singh Bedi said residents going to the market were having a tough time as the parking area had not been developed and it became difficult for them to park their vehicles. Shopkeepers were also unhappy as the poor condition of the area was adversely affecting their business. He said he could not understand why the area had not been developed so far even when the civic body had issued orders in this regard in September last year. He urged the authorities concerned to get the work started by Divali failing which he would go on a hunger strike.
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Mumbai star bats for protesters
Chandigarh, October 11 Extending her support to the residents, she said she would join the protest fast if the civic body authorities did not find a foolproof solution soon. Kirron expressed surprise that the MC and the Congress were still in slumber and not taking any concrete steps to solve the problem Chandigarh had been facing. Considering herself a daughter of the city, she said she had been visiting the city every fortnight and had found a garbage stink in the city during the past few visits. Kirron alleged that the garbage-processing plant project was a total flop as it has neither caused any benefit to the city, nor provided employment to residents of Dadu Majra. She said the plant had become a headache for residents of Dadu Majra right from allotment to functioning and they were greatly affected by the slow poison it emanated everyday. Referring to the Congress as the most corrupt party, Kirron claimed that it had always supported corruption and had panicked when the issue of revealing Swiss bank accounts was taken up by the BJP. Supporting the Anna Hazare movement to get the ‘vachan patras’ signed by candidates, she remarked that it should be made mandatory for all elections.
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‘I used to emulate Jeeti’s singing style’
Chandigarh, October 11 Unable to control her tears, Inderjit said she had come all the way from Barnala, along with her husband Gurbachan Singh and son Divyaroop, to fly to Mumbai for the cremation of her mentor and dearest brother Jeeti. In the city at the residence of her daughter Ramnik Kaur, she said, “Even though Jagjit was living in Mumbai far away from us, yet he was very close. His rising popularity and admiration by all always augmented our status in society. We are three sisters-Harbhajan Kaur, Harbans Kaur and Jagjit Kaur- and we shared a common bond with him. I used to emulate his singing style, disclosed Inderjit Kaur, who is nine years younger to the legend. He made me play Tanpura with confidence during his strenuous riyaz and gave me an opportunity to share the stage with him at a programme while I was in second standard. Everybody in the family was inclined towards classical and devotional vocal music and my younger brother Kartar Singh used to accompany Jeeti on tabla. But music was a passion for Jeeti. While Pt Shagun Chand and late Ustad Jamal Khan Saheb, who used to stay in our house, imparted music lessons to us, Jagjit’s musical brilliance, especially in classical music of khyal dhrupad and dhamar, was unmatched. Titles like “Bul Bul E Rajasthan” made all of us proud of his profound musical talent and skills. After the retirement of my father Sardar Amar Singh Dhiman, we shifted to Ludhiana. It was probably the war days when Jagjit listened to classical music on a tape recorder with a piece of cloth on it. He was fond of Ustad Amir Khan's gayaki. I kept my passion for singing alive with compositions of Jagjit till my college days. Being a sister of the great maestro, all expected me to sing on occasions. I had mastered some hits like Ghalib’s “Dil hi to hai hingo khist”, “Hothon se chhoo lo tum”, “Shiv Btalavi’s Shikra yaar, Shikra yaar” and many more. A strong proponent of Guru Shishya tradition, Jagjit used to take and hold the spit of his ailing ustad Jamal Khan in hand as he coughed. “Voh unki malish bhi karta tha, paanv dabata tha. Such a spirit of dedication is woefully missing in the younger generation, adds Inderjit.
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booth scam
Chandigarh, October 11 The official further said loopholes in the system would be reviewed in the second part and irrelevant issues would find mention in the third part, which would be ignored. “The administration will take action on the issue. As many big names have surfaced in the report, the Administration wants to deal with it meticulously, without haste,” said the official, who did not wish to come on record. The inquiry report by former UT Additional Deputy Commissioner Shergill rocked the city on February 28, bringing the bureaucrat-politician-police nexus to the fore.
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CHANDIAGRH SCAN
Workshop
The Department of Human Development and Family Relations (HDFR), Government Home Science College, in collaboration with the International Society for the Study of Behavioral Development (ISSBD) is organising a Regional Workshop (south and South-East Asia) on Risk, Protection, and Resilience among Children at risk: Research and Action Plans at Hotel Mountview from October 13 to 15, a press note issued here said on Tuesday.
Joint action committee
Special training teachers and volunteers formed a joint action committee under the chairmanship of BS Gill here on Tuesday. Presently being paid a meagre sum of Rs 5,000 and Rs 3,000 respectively in separate categories, the teachers are demanding wages and service conditions on the Punjab pattern. Gill has been elected as the convenor of the JAC. Reema and Satinder have been elected as the co-convenors and Nishi and Gurbinder as members.
Harassed consumers
Ajay Jagga, president, local unit of Janata Party, has expressed shock at the disconnection of network services of private telecom operators like Idea mobile phones by BSNL and the result is that if one dials BSNL landline numbers from Idea mobile phones it gives message that BSNL has disconnected their network services and hence the call cannot be connected. The Telecom Disputes Settlement Tribunal (TDSAT) has already issued directions to BSNL to restore services to private telecom operators but being a government undertaking, it is not complying with the order.
New course
Orion Edutech on Tuesday announced a new diploma in Corporate Management (DiCM). A press note issued here said that the course was best suited for those who aspire for a career in banking telecom, retail insurance, BPO
and education. Delegation visit
A two-member delegation from the Division Of Natural Sciences at the University of Sydney in Australia who visited The British School, Chandigarh, completed their two-day visit to Chandigarh from October 10 to October 11. The two professors who visited the school are Cindy Wilkinson, chief operating officer of the Division Of Natural Sciences, and associate professor Manju Sharma from the School of Physics.
Health campaign
CII-Yi Tricity, Chandigarh Chapter, launched a health campaign with free health, eye checkup and deworming camp at Bhaskar colony here on Tuesday. Doctors from Fortis hospital conducted the camp. Over 200 persons got them checked during the camp.Their prime focus of this campaign will be underprivileged children, who will be provided services like free check ups. Taking this initiative to another level, CII Yi will organise a health check up camp at Mauli Jagran onWednesday and Barr Majra village on Thursday.
Anti-encroachment drive
In a special anti-encroachment drive, the Municipal Corporation, Chandigarh, challaned 150 encroachers and lifted 15 motorcycles of Dominos from Sector 34 under the Advertisement Control Act and two cars, two trucks, several spare parts and tools and various dumped parts of vehicles with the help of cranes from Motor Market, Mani majra here on Tuesday.
Workshop on vision correction
Workshop on vision correction with special design Rose K contact lens in Keratoconus concluded on Tuesday at the Advanced Eye Centre, PGIMER , Chandigarh . Dr Paul Rose from Hamilton, New Zealand, and the designer of the Rose K contact lens introduced to the audience the ROSE K family of lenses and its applications in optical correction of keratoconus and other conditions leading to irregular corneas like post lasik irregular cornea and post graft.
350 units of blood collected
Sri Sukhmani Institute of Engineering and Technology (SSIET), Dera Bassi, in association with PGI, Chandigarh, organised yet another successful voluntary blood donation camp. The combined efforts of all concerned resulted in the collection of 350 units of blood. The donors contribution was appreciated and acknowledged by the PGI.
Entrepreneurship cell
In a first of its kind initiative, the Rayat Bahra Group's entrepreneurship cell has started a campus call centre in collaboration with Altruist Technologies Pvt. Ltd. Under the project, a call centre has been established within the campus to give the opportunity to learn the ethics of the professional world and earn while they are studying. Ten students have been selected initially to run the process which will be further increased to 30 next month. Dr. DS Verma, director, Sri Sukhmani Multispeciality Hospital, was the chief guest for the inauguration ceremony of this blood donation camp.
MOHALI SCAN Freshers’ party at Gian Jyoti mgmt
Mohali: Gian Jyoti Management and Technology, Phase-II, Mohali, organised a freshers’ party to welcome the newly admitted students of MBA, MCA, BBA and BCA programmes. A cultural extravaganza “Meet and Greet” was organised to mark this event at Tagore Theatre, Chandigarh. JSBedi, chairman, Gian Jyoti Group of Institutions was the chief guest on this occasion. All staff and senior students welcomed the chief guest. Bedi welcomed the newly admitted students and exhorted them to instill the values of inquisitiveness, hard work, discipline, courage, altruism and patience in them He emphasised that these qualities would help them in their professional journey. PANCHKULA SCAN
Placement drive
In a campus placement drive for MBA students of the Emax group of Institutions, 15 students were selected by Mas Financial Services Private Limited. Final year students had participated in the drive. The selected students will start their career as business development officers and financial analysts and will be given various projects in North and Central India.
— Tribune Reporters
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Student-friendly website launched
Chandigarh, October 11 Through the website, the students will also come to know about the rooms available for rent in the city.The final-year students Manpreet Singh, Sumit Mehra, Deepak Verma, Sachin Dhiman and Rohit Jindal launched their website today. Manpreet speaking to the Tribune said that the website would be different from the other websites as it would provide the students an opportunity to chat in any language they wished for example in Punjabi. “The content of the website revolved around PU only, there would be nothing else on the website expect information related to the university and its colleges. All Panjab University news and updates will be available on the site”, he said. Manpreet further said that the members of Stucee.com would be able to share notes, videos, pictures and buy and sell books etc. “The website aims to bring all students together and share their views”, Manpreet added. The website will also provide information about the rooms available on rent for the students in the city and information about various garment shops offering discounts to the students. The creators of the website claim to provide details of all PU-affiliated colleges to the freshers planning to join them. Manpreet said that they would also plan parties every month for the members of the Stucee.com. “Everything which is part of students life will be a part of part stucee too”, Manpreet added. Platform for PU students and affiliated colleges
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Chandigarh, October 11
