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Students take to carjacking
Panchkula, August 5 Three sensational cases of carjacking in Panchkula have been cracked and the investigators were probing their role in similar incidents happened in the tricity. The Panchkula police will be getting the accused on production warrants from the Jalandhar police. The investigators said both the thieves did their Class XII from government schools in Chandigarh three years ago and had taken shelter at a PG accommodation for the last two-and-a-half years in Mohali. They were putting up with students of a college situated in Chandigarh. The two car thieves had recently stolen a Verna car from a Panchkula couple at gunpoint near Sector 26. The youngsters, who have been identified as Bikramjeet, alias Vicky (22), and Tarsem Singh (22), are reportedly members of a seven-member car-jacking gang, which has been active particularly in Panchkula apart from other areas of Punjab. Talking to the Chandigarh Tribune on the phone while in police custody, Vicky narrated his story how cheating by a travel agent, who lured him for a foreign trip, forced him to enter the world of crime. Vicky, after completing class XII, was willing to go abroad and had taken a loan of Rs 10 lakh to pay the required amount to an agent who cheated him. Vicky hails from Ferozepur and his father is a landlord. They also started contributing towards the rent of the PG accommodation and used to pay Rs 8,000 per month, said the in charge of the Jalandhar CIA wing, Inspector Angrez Singh. In fact, their accomplices have absconded and we are looking for them. They will be nabbed soon. He had come from Ferozepur to do Class XII from Chandigarh as the craze for education from Chandigarh is there among Punjabi youth. He thought after doing my Class XII from a city like Chandigarh, he would go abroad to pursue his college studies, said
Vicky. Once all the friends were sitting and one of them talked about an agent who would help him go abroad. He met him and the agent asked for Rs 10 lakh. His father would have never allowed for this so he took a loan of Rs 10 lakh from some people and gave it to the agent. After he took his exams, he tried hard to contact the agent, but he failed to find him, Vicky added. To repay the loan I had to enter the world of crime. Carjacking seemed an easy task and the lure of easy money drew me closer to crime every time, he added.? The accused also said his friend also joined him when he saw him earning a good money. The gang strength increased to seven and they became professional carjackers, Vicky added. With the arrest of the thieves, three carjacking instances from Panchkula district have been solved. The Swift car that was used in the crime was also stolen from Punjab. Their modus operandi was they would always do planning a day in advance before the strike. Every strike used to have three members. Though they did not do any recce, they used to plan a day before the strike, said Vicky. Very soon we would
be nabbing the other members of the gang too, said SP, Detective, Rajender Singh. Sources claimed that the gang had perpetrated around 30 carjackings till now. The accused have confessed to 14 of them. It was on July 25 when a Verna car was looted at gunpoint from an old couple by three youngsters. The victims, Kulwant Singh and wife Tej Kaur, residents of Sector 27, Panchkula, were on
their way back home from the Nada Sahib gurdwara when they were stopped by the youngsters. Kulwant Singh (55) is working as an
accounts officer at Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL), Chandigarh.
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Railing gives way, 18 injured
Chandigarh, August 5 One of the eyewitnesses said people climbed the house next to the temple to watch the function. People gathered at the balcony of the building on the first floor of the building to watch a ritual called “Agni Pariksha” during which devotees walk on fire. Due to overloading, the railing of the building broke and fell, along with the people standing in the balcony, said the eyewitness. People standing under the balcony also got injured. The incident led to panic in the area. Inspector Anokh Singh, SHO Sector 26 police station, said all injured were rushed to the Government Multi-Speciality Hospital, Sector 16, for treatment. Doctors treating the injured said most of the persons received head injuries, although everyone was out of danger. Four injured persons were admitted to the hospital for treatment, while all others were discharged.
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Driest June since 1971 in tricity region
Chandigarh, August 5 The credit for comparative low figures for Chandigarh goes to around the showers it received on around 11 days in July. Otherwise June was enough to ring the alarm bells. According to the data received, June created a history by remaining the driest month ever in Chandigarh. The rainfall received in
June was as dismal as just 1.2 mm, which according to our data (since 1971), is the lowest ever rainfall in the city in June, said Surinder Pal Singh, regional officer, Chandigarh met department. Surinder Pal said according to their prediction, rainfall in August, like other months, would remain below normal. There is no significant rainfall expected in the region over the next eight or nine days, he said. This rainy season has had abnormal results and it seemed the monsoon will leave with a dry spell this year, he said. The rainfall in Chandigarh in August, however, has remained normal in the last five years, but the probability of below-normal rainfall in Chandigarh is high.
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Noble way to mark special occasions
Chandigarh, August 5 Over the last couple of months, 15 bodies have been donated to the PGI. While a middle-aged couple from the city visited the Department of Anatomy last month for the purpose on their 25th wedding anniversary, another 70-year-old man marked his birthday a few weeks ago in a similar manner. The trend, however, is not limited to the older generation. A 20-year-old man also pledged his body for donation at the department on his birthday two weeks ago. “We asked the young boy as what had inspired him so much to pledge his body, despite little resentment among his family members. He said he wishes to make his 20th birthday memorable for everyone around him,” said Dr Daizy Saini, Head of the Anatomy Department. The Department of Anatomy, which has already seen as many as 1,500 people pledging their bodies for donation so far, has received 83 bodies. The number of body donations, medically termed as cadaver donation, has shot up in the last four years, said the officials of the department. “It is, however, pertinent to note that the number of volunteers is highest among elderly people. The motivation for cadaver donation remains higher in older people since they start dissociating themselves from the worldly affairs and understand the utility of the body,” said Dr Sahni. The bodies are put to balming (a process used for preserving the body) wherein they are stored in tanks. Since the number of donations is going up every year, the department has made space for 25 or 30 more bodies. “We have started utilising these bodies for research purposes. We also utilise the organs for holding workshops wherein the organs can be put to display for demonstration,” Sahni added. For pledging the bodies, the volunteers need to fill in a form confirming the consent of all the members of his or her family. Following this, the department issues a registration card to the volunteer. The department also provides the facility to take the body to the department after the donor’s death.
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100 traders face criminal cases
Chandigarh, August 5 To extract tax benefit
under the VAT regime, the traders furnished bogus tax details. The role of certain persons handling the filing of VAT returns of the traders was also being probed. Assistant Excise and Taxation Commissioner Naresh Dubey said though an estimated amount of Rs 70 lakh had been recovered from the traders, the department had written to the police for the registration of criminal cases against the erring traders. All the ETOs concerned have been asked to lodge cases with the respective police stations. Though the investigations in the case had been going for the last three months, the probe was kept under the wraps to save the department from embarrassment. The information was leaked to the media after the amount was recovered and the cases referred to the police. The permission of the Excise and Taxation Commissioner had been sought before approaching the police for seeking criminal action against the traders. Sources in the department said though the department had detected discrepancy in the amount shown by the traders and the actual receipt of the department, it took over three months to trace the anomaly and recover the amount from the traders. —
TNS
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Project on fast track
Chandigarh, August 5 Disclosing this today, a spokesman said GMADA cluster would include municipal corporation of SAS Nagar, Zirakpur, municipal council, Banur; municipal council, Dera Bassi; municipal council, Rajpura; municipal council, Ropar, and it was estimated that 328 tonnes of solid waste would be generated per day in 18 urban local bodies falling in GMADA cluster. Presently, no town has a proper solid waste dumping site. As per the estimates, 141 cities of Punjab produces nearly 5,000 tonnes of solid waste per day that would be utilised for producing power, compost or other useful products. On becoming operational, the solid waste management programme would result in making all urban areas garbage free and bring a significant improvement in the overall environment of the state. An official said under this novel initiative, a scientific system would be introduced in all urban belts and towns of the state. He said this system would make Punjab maiden in the country to cover the entire state under the solid waste management project and the whole state has been divided into eight clusters. He said Punjab had been divided into eight mega clusters that included Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Bathinda, Ferozepur, Patiala, Amritsar, Pathankot and GMADA. He said each cluster would cover 15 to 30 cities. Under this private-public partnership project, door-to-door segregated collection of the municipal waste in 18 local bodies, transportation of municipal waste to the processing facility and scientific disposal or scientific landfill of the municipal waste would be carried out. The multipurpose project would work on regional planning approach basis and the waste would be treated and disposed at the central processing/disposal facility. The spokesman further said the infrastructure leasing and financial services (IL&FS), Infrastructure Development Corporation, would make the compliance of the project on PPP mode. He said the project developer agency would be responsible for the door-to-door segregate collection of solid waste, segregate storage of MSW at secondary storage or collection points, transportation of MSW from the municipal area, followed by the transport stations for processing facility, development, finance, construction and operation of project, including transfer stations, processing facilities and common engineered sanitary landfill sites.
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Foundation stone laid for BIS building in Sector 27
Chandigarh, August 5 In his inaugural address, Agarwal said that the government is keen on making hallmarking mandatory for protection of consumers and BIS will have to meet the challenge of increasing demand for hallmarked jewelery.Further, A K Saini, Deputy Director General, Northern Regional Office, BIS, said that there are about 5700 product certification licences, 780 Hallmark Gold Jewellery licences and 14 Hallmarking Centers in the region. The BIS regional office is currently located in Sector 34.
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STA challans 429 vehicles
Chandigarh, August 5 More than 1,900 transport vehicles were checked and 429 were challaned or impounded. By compounding the above challans, Rs 9,77,000 were recovered as the composition fee. STA secretary Balbir Singh Dhol has advised the people to keep the documents complete in their vehicles i.e. RC, insurance, driving licence, pollution under control certificate and permit and not to overload their vehicles while travelling, so that they may not face unnecessary inconvenience. Schools and school bus operators are advised to engage only those drivers who have an experience of minimum five years of driving heavy vehicles. Auto-passenger operators are advised to charge the fare as per fare meter and put on uniform with name plate. Violators will be challaned or impounded as per the provisions of the Motor Vehicle Act. The office of the authority is only issuing permits to the registered LPG auto-rickshaws, as per the decision of the meeting of STA regarding shifting of petrol/diesel-driven autos to LPG autos. No permit is being granted by this office to the petrol/diesel-run auto-rickshaws, but it has been found that some auto-rickshaws are running in the City Beautiful from Panchkula and Mohali causing pollution in the city.
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PGI to install more CCTV cameras on premises
Chandigarh, August 5 “In the first phase, we had installed the cameras only at the entry and exit points to gauge the effectiveness of the surveillance since the recordings are to be monitored at the backend. The cameras were also installed at the waiting area at the emergency from where a number of cases of minor thefts were being reported earlier,” said PGI’s chief security officer PC Sharma. A committee is currently identifying the points where the cameras are to be installed. The process will be finalised in a month, said the officials. The institute is also facing a shortage of security guards. A proposal has been mooted by the security office for the recruitment of 90 more security guards to be deputed to the new areas on the hospital premises. At present, there are a total of 396 guards employed by the PGI who work in different shifts. The institute has recently come up with the Advanced Trauma Centre and Advanced Cardiac Centre. “Both areas require round-the-clock attention of the security guards. We have currently deployed some of the guards from the old lot at both these areas, but for the effective surveillance, we need at least 90 more security guards,” added Sharma. Two months ago, two cases of theft were reported at the PGI where the belongings of patients’ attendants were found to be missing from the waiting areas of two different departments. Also, three months ago, a man was caught entering one of the women’s hostels without seeking prior approval. Also, the institute has been witnessing thefts of trolleys meant for shifting patients. A number of such trolleys were spotted at a village in the PGI’s neighbourhood last month.
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Boycotted chemist raises discount up to 40 per cent
Chandigarh, August 5 It was recently that the chemists’ association had terminated membership of two chemists. They were blamed for bidding at the recent auction of chemist shops in the Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), even though the chemists’ association had boycotted the auction. The association alleged that the PGI authorities had inserted unjustified conditions in the tender notice. Following owners of two chemist shops, Bharat Medical Store and Darshan Drug Store, participated in the bidding process, the Chandigarh Chemists’ Association issued a notice regarding the termination of their membership on July 21. Following this, sellers of medicines stopped doing business with these chemists. While the decision of the association led to harassment of the two chemists, one of them, Darshan Drug Store has raised the discount on the medicines from Friday. According to the guidelines issued by the PGI, the chemists at the PGI are supposed to extend a discount of 15 per cent on branded medicines. At generic medicines and surgical items, these chemists are bound to extend 30 per cent discount as per the conditions of rent agreements. “As I am no more a member of the chemists’ association, I am free to extend the discount up to any limit to attract customers,” said Mohit Goyal, a partner in the shop. “I have decided to extend discount up to 40 per cent to the patients on those items where I get a margin of Rs 40 or more. There are many articles with a margin up to 60 per cent and these items will be sold to the patients on discount of 50 per cent,” he added. This, however, made the patients as well as others to think over the illogical MRP on the medicines. It is amazing that there is such a huge difference between the actual price and MRP of medicines, said Surindner Singh, an attendant of a patient. And that makes sense why the chemists are eager to hire the shops at the PGI by paying a rent of lakhs of rupees per month. No wonder that the owner of the chemist shop at the emergency wing of the PGI pay Rs 40 lakh per month, said Sarabjeet Singh, a patient.
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Rat menace haunts P’kula hospital
“In fact, my father was suffering from renal problem and he was admitted to the hospital. I had to be there by his side. I found that general ward is replete with rats. The nights, which I spent there were horrible as I found a number of rats running around,” said Ram Beer Sangwan, a resident of Sector 19, Panchkula. He further added, “I complained to the ward boys but they did not listen and on insisting, they blurted out that rats are part and parcel of this hospital and you will have to bear with it. I still remember that horrible time.” Similar sentiments were echoed by Leela Gaur, who was in the gynecology ward. “I had delivered a baby. While sleeping at a night, I saw a big rat behind my bed. I spent the whole night in horror because I cannot stand a rat.” Gaur is a resident of Baltana. She further added, “The next day I requested the doctors that I may be shifted to some other place.” Rats have been irking the doctors too. “I was examining a patient when a rat passed through my legs. It was then I asked the helpers to shoo it away,” said a doctor at the General Hospital, requesting anonymity. When the Principal Medical officer (PMO), Usha Gupta, was contacted, she said, “The condition has really improved now. There are hardly any rats. Previously, I did get complaints about the issue. In fact, in a recent meeting too, I had directed all the junior officials about checking the rat menace.
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open
House
The traffic police must check all the buses for safety arrangements and those found flouting norms must be penalised. To make the transport system more convenient for commuters, the information regarding the schedule should be put up on website. Regarding the miserable condition of bus shelters, there is an immediate need to repair them. Drivers and conductors should be medically examined. Unfit drivers are allowed to operate buses, which is due to negligence of the administration. Recently, an accident proved fatal for three people riding on a rickshaw as the bus driver who hit the rickshaw had a fit of epilepsy. This should not be repeated again. Vineet Kapoor, PanchkulaRude behaviour of drivers, conductors
There is an overall innovation in thought and minds of all the officers of the Chandigarh Administration but it comes to action and performance, they lag behind. There are no route signboards on the newly fabricated structures of local bus queue shelters to guide the commuters in boarding the buses to reach their respective destinations. While the drivers are mostly ruthless and rude in their behavior towards passengers, the conductors are gruffly in their dealings. They ought to be taught lessons about of good behaviour towards passengers to make the latter feel comfort and easy while travelling. Often the drivers drive rash and jump red lights much to the chagrin of the vehicular traffic and creating chaos. If the Chandigarh residents feel that all should comply with the norms, there is need to infuse good manners is attitude of the bus operators, especially the government run buses. Gurmit Singh
Saini,
Need to implement transport policy
The city is not only feeding the needs of the local commuters but also of the residents of the neighbouring towns of Panchkula and Mohali as Punjab and Haryana have utterly failed to evolve their own public transport network that could have supplemented the UT’s system. The result is that the city public transport system has woefully fallen short to meet the need of the 14-lakh population of the tri city. There is no control on the private mode of public transport like cycle rickshaws and auto-rickshaws which are often carrying commuters at the ISBT-17 and ISBT-43, who are coming from outside. The CTU bus service needs to be user friendly and frequency of buses needs to be increased during peak rush hours. Amrik Singh, Mohali
Stringent punishment for killers
In India, road accidents account for the maximum number of deaths. The World Health Organisation (WHO) in the Global Status Report on Road Safety has pointed out that speeding and drunk driving are the major contributing factor in road accidents. According to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), the total number of deaths due to road accidents in India every year is now over 1,35,000. The NCRB report also states drunken driving as a major factor for road accidents. In this respect, school going children in buses are the worst sufferers. It is not the death of 16-year-old Anupama that has exposed the risk and danger that school children face while using public transport system like CTU buses. Drivers are unable to distinguish between objects that are moving and those, which are motionless. They also misjudge their own speed as well as the speed at which other vehicles are moving. The case of Anupam has exposed the chinks in public transport system vis-a-vis the commuter safety. Looking at the past experience of accidents in the country, the apex court has already issued fourteen guidelines to exercise safety standards especially for school buses. The enforcement agencies are supposed to check the compliance of Supreme Court guidelines. It is only after the accidents take place; the authorities concerned wake up from their slumber and visit the area, express sympathies, condole the deaths with crocodile tears, announce the compensation to the bereaved, mark enquiry and wait for another accident to happen. Suggestions in the enquiry reports are seldom taken care of. Even the drivers for the new buses introduced by the Chandigarh Transport Undertaking are not fully trained to drive these buses. Along with other checks as indicated above, there is a need to give on the job training to the drivers of CTU so that they may drive the buses having new techniques with safety. The traffic police should hold seminars, symposiums to inculcate and implement the spirit of road safety measures for the drivers working in government as well private establishments. The CCTVs are required to be installed at prominent places. It would not be out of place to mention here that in erstwhile Soviet Union, buses ferrying school going children were given precedence over other vehicles. Looking into the importance of education in India, especially for the school going children, this can be applicable in India also for the safety of our tiny-tots. S.K.
Khosla,
Technology should be used
A few year ago, the CTU had introduced GPS system on its buses and also introduced an SMS service where the distance of an approaching bus from a particular bus queue shelter would be informed. But with the passage of time, none of the schemes are successful. The Chandigarh Administration officials need to ensure that high-end technologies are put to best use in running public transport system. As the metro is going to take another few more years, the buses network should be run effectively and shortage of funds should never be a problem. Ranjit Singh,
Transport system should be made commuter friendly
The death of a school student has exposed many flaws in the transport system. The administration should start special bus service exclusively for the students in order to reduce heavy rush of students during morning and afternoon. To make the transport system more effective, safe, commuter friendly and efficient, first the old and defective buses must be discarded; the servicing and minor repairs must be done on priority. Buses lacking safety arrangements like grills in windows, emergency exit and fire safety must be impounded. The transport authorities must put detailed information of the public transport services on their website for the commuter’s convenience. Most of the bus shelters are in poor condition, which is a cause of inconvenience for the people; there is an urgent need to repair the damaged bus shelters. Training sessions must be held for bus drivers in order to make them aware of the safety arrangements compulsory in buses and safety measures to be followed on roads. Periodic medical examination of the drivers must also be conducted. V.
Kapoor,
People should realise their responsibility
The death of Anupama has exposed the risk of using public transport. The maintenance of the bus shelters is very poor. Most of the residents are not aware of the bus routes. Boards should be put up on all the bus shelters with information regarding the various bus times and routes. More buses should be available during the morning and evening hours when the rush is at its peak. Separate buses for the school and college students can be introduced. A limit should be set on the number of passengers that can board the bus, as overloading is a major problem in the tri-city buses. People also need to realise their responsibility. People should stand in proper queues for the bus instead of getting in the rat-race to get on the bus first. School students should be allowed to get on the bus first. People should act patiently only then the case like that of Anupama can be avoided. Isha
Dahiya,
Schools should rein in private bus operators
It is not only the CTU buses, the drivers of private school buses can often be seen jumping traffic signals and changing lanes for their convenience. The school managements instead of keeping away from ensuring students safety and putting the onus on bus operators should step in and regulate the driving behaviour of the drivers. What is happening is that bus service operators are increasing the fee of school buses but do not prevail upon their drivers. Manjit
Sngh,
Passenger requirements need to be analysed
Improving the public transportation is the need of the hour but we cannot build and improve public transportation without realistic demands and proper data. Without these vital pieces of information, we can never think of an improvement. There are various issues that come in the mind when we talk of improvement or betterment of public transport that includes frequent bus service, safety of passengers and comfort at minimum cost. The CTU department needs to locate the routes where the occupancy is more and press more buses on such routes. One thing that needs to be focused on is the safety of senior citizens and children while boarding and alighting the bus for which the driver and the conductor both need to make sure that nobody is left behind and trying to board the moving bus. Regular medical check-up of drivers and educating the bus staff about the traffic rules is another necessary exercise the transport department needs to undertake. Surprise checks on the bus drivers to check negligent and rash driving should be regularly made and those found violating any traffic rule should be immediately transferred to the ground duties. Ajit Sharma,
Open house question
The issue of Punjab Governor and UT Administrator of not holding public darbars regularly due to his busy schedule has been widely debated. The darbar is held for listening to public grievances but not many complainants have been coming forward in the darbar. What best possible method should be adopted by top UT funtionaries for redressal of problems of the common man. Write your opinion and suggestions to openhouse@tribunemail.com
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Chandigarh scan Rajiv Agarwal, IAS, Secretary, Ministry of Consumer Affairs laid foundation stone of Northern Regional Office building of Bureau of Indian Standards at Sector 27 in Chandigarh on Sunday. Agarwal in his inaugural address elaborated the role of BIS both at national and international level. BIS, the National Standards Body of India is one of the founder members of ISO (International Organisation for Standardisation, Geneva) representing India. He mentioned that BIS is entrusted with the work of protecting the consumer interest and quality upgradation by implementing Indian standards. The programme was presided over by Alinda Chandra, Director General, BIS, New Delhi. In his address, Chandra mentioned that with the completion of the building, the organisation would become better equipped in terms of infrastructure and this would help NRO to attain newer heights in terms of achievements. He reiterated the resolve of BIS to provide efficient and timely services, to satisfy the consumers’ needs for quality goods. Five-day surgery course
The department of general surgery, PGI, is to start a five-day certified course in Hepato-Biliary-Pancreatic surgery here on Monday. The course will concluded on August 11 and will be held under the Indian Chapter of IHPBA. The main objective of the course is to prepare young postgraduates to be an expert HPB surgeon, who interacts with multidisciplinary team to provide comprehensive care for HPB patients.
Committee meeting
The federation of Sector Welfare Associations (regd) Chandigarh, an umbrella body of 60 different Resident Welfare Associations, held its executive committee meeting at community centre, Sector 35, here on Sunday. Issues discussed at the meeting included upgradation of domestic electricity load, hike in fee for allowing need-based changes in houses and increase in FAR. The meeting held under the chairmanship of PC Sanghi. The meeting was attended by 42 representatives of different associations.
Office-bearers elected
The following have been elected office-bearers of the Sargoda Cooperative House Building Society. President- Kamal Gupta, Senior Vice-President-Satish Kumar Goyal, Pardeep Bhardwaj, Parvesh Chauhan and Sudershan Babbal, General Secretary-Prahlad Bhagat Vasudeva; Finance Secretary-Balbir Singh Saini, and Press Secretary-Avtar Singh.
Critical care
Critical care practices in India have evolved significantly over the past two decades. The critical care medicine is a brand of medicine concerned with the provision of life support for critically ill patients. This was stated by Dr Ashutosh Sood, general manager, operations, Max Super Speciality Hospital, Mohali, on Sunday. The hospital was committed to deliver international standards of medical and service excellence through its state-of-the art intensive unit in North India, he claimed.
Blood donated
The Sant Nirankari Charitable Foundation organised a blood donation camp at Sant Nirankari Satsang Bhawan at Phase VI in Mohali. The camp was inaugurated by Brig PS Cheema, Additional Member Incharge, Medical and Social Welfare, Sant Nirankari Mandal, Delhi. He said, “Sant Nirankari Mission is a spiritual Mission which provides God knowledge to all mankind and also contributes to social activities as well.” Speaking on the occasion, Dr BS Cheema said nine blood donation camps have been organised in the Chandigarh zone till date, in which 2,128 units blood have been donated. They thanked all the donors. The blood collecting team was led by Dr Usha Rao from PGIMER, Chandigarh, and Dr Nisha Dua from Civil Hospital Mohali.
Vishvas Foundation
The Vishvas Foundation organised a blood donation camp at Vishvas Meditation Centre, Sector 66, in Mohali on Sunday. Doctor Suchet Sehdev and his team from the Department of Transfusion Medicine, PGI Chandigarh rendered their valuable services. For this camp, PGI had sent its fully equipped specially designed AC bus. The camp was inaugurated by Neelima Vishvas, Director of Vishvas Foundation. As many as 123 units of blood were collected.
Students honoured
To felicitate the achievements of the meritorious students, St Soldier School, Mohali organised ‘Accolades 2012’. The programme began with a welcome song by the students. It was followed by the Saraswati Vandana performed by the students.
Edutainment
To promote education through entertainment (edutainment) and to increase interest among the students, Chandigarh-based Aryans Group of Colleges is all set to start its 6th education session with Bollywood case studies. Movies like "Chak De! India" in MBA,"3 Idiots” in BTech and "Taare Zameen Par" in BEd would be in the first chapters of Aryans Group of Colleges. The faculty of this college is all set to start the academic session with these movies as case studies in this week.
Friendship Day
Students of Dikshant International School celebrated World Friendship Day in a very meaningful way. As many as 40 students of the school took part in various activities aimed at fostering friendship with children of Bal Sadan, an orphanage in Panchkula. The friendship bands were designed by the students especially for the children of Bal Sadan. Mitul Dikshit, Director, Dikshant International School, Zirakpur, “The objective was to develop qualities like team work among the children of Bal Sadan, as this is one of the most important lessons of life. To apply this learning in a fun way, students played some team building games like ‘Hoop-La in a circle’ and ‘Pass the bangle using straws’. ––
TNS
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PU to send compliance report
Chandigarh, August 5 In a meeting held on Saturday, the house decided that the compliance reports would be sent to the NCTE, which will give recognition to the BEd colleges, and to Punjab government, which will issue no objection certificates (NOC). Dean College Development Council (DCDC) Naval Kishore said as soon as the colleges send their compliance reports, the university would send it to the regulatory bodies for action against the colleges violating the NCTE norms. “While around 31 colleges have already submitted their compliance reports that are yet to be scrutinised, around 33 colleges have been recently asked to submit their reports,” DCDC said. The university committee, after the recent inspections, had found that some colleges lack enough regular teachers, qualified staff and sometimes even principals. Salary paid to the teachers at some colleges was as low as Rs 10,000. Few colleges lacked libraries and medical rooms. “In the recent inspections it was found that some colleges have hired unqualified staff on an ad hoc basis without the mandatory approval from the university. The number of such faculty members varied from college to college and in some cases it was as high as 70 per cent. These colleges are neither paying salaries nor DA to their employees as prescribed by the UGC,” said a PU official. On the recommendation of the committee, the Syndicate has given an extension of another three months to submit compliance reports as per the designated pro forma. Dinesh Talwar, a syndic, said, “PU should not register the students if the colleges fail to submit the compliance report,” Talwar said.
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Syndicate: Overcharging BCom colleges to face the music
Chandigarh, August 5 The Syndicate would take action against the colleges who are violating the uniform fee structure decided by the university. The SD College, Chandigarh, and a few other colleges in Ludhiana have been reportedly charging more from the BCom students. Despite the uniform fee structure of Rs 12,800 for BCom admissions, the SD College has charged Rs 26,000 from around 280 students. The Syndics raised the issue in the Syndicate meeting held on Saturday. Dinesh Talwar, a Syndic, said despite admissions to BCom has been centralised and conducted by the university, the colleges managed to overcharge the students thus violating the rules. The members said the few colleges have been overcharging for last many years. However, PU has been turning a blind-eye. “Many city colleges have overcharged the students, but the university has never taken any action against the colleges,” a syndic said. Dean College Development Council (DCDC) Naval Kishore, who is also a member of syndicate, said the house has decided that the colleges would be asked to send their fee structures to the university and those who have overcharged would face the music. The DCDC said the university would later decide upon the type of action to be taken against the offenders.
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Cuts propel PU to install power generators at hostels
Chandigarh, August 5 Recently, the northern power grid failure had lead to such a situation. There was no water in the all the boys’ and girls’ hostels. Authority concerned had to arrange for water for the hostels by calling water tankers. Vice-Chancellor Arun Grover said every hostel would have a generator to provide regular water to the students in case of power cuts. Dean Student Welfare (DSW) AS Ahluwalia said the university is planning to install a generator at the girls’ hostel No 8 where students are facing major problem.” Other hostels would get generator after that, he added. There are total sixteen boys’ and girls’ hostels on PU campus accommodating around 6,000 students. It was a long pending demand of the students that had led to many protests in last few years. Officials stated that the generators would be noise-free one so that the students are not disturbed. “It would not only help in drawing water from underground during power cuts but would also help lifting water to the upper floors of the hostels that face lesser water pressure,” officials added. Priya, one of the hostel residents, welcomed the move. She said generators were much in need in the girls’ hostels where students frequently complain about shortage of water.
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Sibal defends 25 pc reservation in RTE
Chandigarh, August 5 Speaking at St Johns, Sector 26, on Sunday, Sibal said, "If I am happy about one thing in life, it is that I have tried to change the eco-system of the education in the country by striking the right chord with our education system." He said no matter what private institution may say the integration of students from economically weaker section is possible within the education system. "That is why our programme has asked the schools to take students from elementary level because a class I student would not know anything about class, creed, colour. It is possible to integrate them in the system, said the minister during his speech after inaugurating the Br McCann wing of St John's High School. The minister however did not reply to the question on the status of the implementation of RTE in the country and whether further extension of deadline is possible. He nonetheless said if he had his way, he would bring many changes in the system. He talked about the planning of the ministry to make vocational courses compulsory in schools across India from 2013 onward and hinted at introducing open-book exams for CBSE schools. He said, "If I have my way, I will have a situation where a child can take the test book to the examination halls and allow him to look at all the text books he wants to answer the questions, said Sibal talking about proposed open-book examination system. He also said, "We in Indian have not yet understood the real meaning of education. I quote Gandhi; the real education is to cope with any situation in life. Sibal however showed concern over in-sufficient number of institutions considering the number of students increasing every year. He said by 2020 we would have over 30 million students ready to go to colleges. It is a big question whether we would have required infrastructure to deal with the demand. He said that private participation was very important to beef up the education infrastructure in the country. He also spoke about the CCE programme of CBSE and how it is helping in the holistic development of a child.Meanwhile, many dignitaries, SJOBA members and the Bishop of Diocese were present on the occasion. Kavita C Das gave a vote of thanks at the end.
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Panchkula, August 5
The public transport system in the tricity has no pattern or motivation directed towards achieving commuter’s satisfaction. There is lack of coordination among three agencies i.e. Haryana Roadways, Punjab Roadways and the CTU. In order to provide efficient services to three regions; Chandigarh, Panchkula and Mohali, there has to be effective co-ordination among the three. The recent death of a school student should be a lesson for the transport authorities. Special bus services must be started exclusively for students in order to avoid any unfortunate occurrence.
