Chandigarh, September 6
Dreading long queues at the PGI OPD counters? Hold on! A few sweepers, security guards and hospital attendants have found a way out. Pay them some money and they will put registrations, lab tests and consultation of patients on a fast-track.

A nexus of the workers now exists in the new OPD block where the employees work as agents. They take money and save patients from standing in long queues to get lab tests done.

Recently, a patient filed a complaint with the public grievances committee of the PGIMER (a copy of which is with Chandigarh Tribune) against a sanitation worker stating that he took money to get a few tests done and disappeared later.

Chandigarh, September 6
Apparently non-serious to formulate comprehensive policies to deal with the stray cattle menace and water crisis, Mayor Subhash Chawla and councillors are all set to leave for Thiruvananthapuram on a 10-day study tour on September 18.

Mayor Subhash Chawla today held a meeting with some nominated and Congress councillors and most of them had given their consent for the study tour.

The MC had planned to spend Rs 15 lakh on the study tour of 20 councillors and five officials this year. The team would visit cities in Kerala and Tamil Nadu. The MC authorities said the tour would be beneficial for the city as councillors would get to know about the functioning of the civic bodies in the South.

However, most of the study tours undertaken by the MC in the past 10 years have failed to yield results. The MC had spent Rs 90.53 lakh on such tours, but it does not even have the record of the projects undertaken by the MC based the tours.

BJP councillor Satinder Singh said instead of going on study tours, the Mayor and councillors should put their heads together to solve the problems of stray cattle and water. The MC should seriously think about the problem of water scarcity staring the city in its face. The city will face a shortage of 9 MGD of water after parting with the share of Panchkula and Chandimandir.

Leader of the opposition Arun Sood said it was not the right time to leave for the study tour. Three families have lost their lone breadwinners in accidents involving stray cattle. The officials have wrongly impounded domesticated animals, but instead of making a comprehensive policy on catching, shifting and releasing of cattle, the Mayor is going on the study tour. This shows that how irresponsible the Mayor is, said Sood.

Mayor Subhash Chawla could not be contacted despite repeated attempts. 

Chandigarh, September 6
After the Mayor got 100 complimentary parking passes from the civic body, the Senior Deputy Mayor wants her quota of passes to be increased from 25 to 50.

The agenda for the allotment of parking passes will come up for discussion in the Finance and Contracts Committee (F&CC) meeting scheduled for September 9.

Rana Kashmiri Devi said the House had passed an agenda wherein 100 complementary parking passes would be issued to the Mayor and the Senior Deputy Mayor and Deputy Mayor would get 25 passes each. However, she said her quota be increased to 50 passes.

The issue of free parking stickers had rocked the House in May 2012 as well, after the then Mayor Raj Bala Malik cornered as many as 406 passes under various categories. Of these, 222 were issued in her name. She was later forced to cancel all free parking passes/stickers.

Leader of the opposition Arun Sood said: “What is the need for giving free parking passes to the Mayor and Senior Deputy Mayor.”

The BJP would raise objections on the allotment of parking passes in the F&CC meeting and also in the House, said, Sood. The BJP would also question the free parking passes policy of the MC, he added.

Senior Deputy Mayor Rana Kashmiri Devi could not be contacted despite repeated attempts. 

Chandigarh, September 6
The UT Administrator Shivraj V Patil today visited Dhanas and IRB Complex, Sarangpur, along with senior officers of the UT Administration to review the preparedness of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh visit on September 14. the Prime Minister will be in the city to hand over keys of 8,448 flats to slum dwellers constructed at Dhanas under the Slum Rehabilitation Scheme.

Patil inspected the dispensary, school and the police post to ensure that facilities of health, education and security was provided to 50,000 people going to reside in the complex.

He directed the officers concerned to plan and setup solar photovoltaic panels on rooftops of all the flats.

The Administrator also visited the IRB Complex at Sarangpur and inspected the site of helipad, 68 porta cabins and kitchen. He stressed upon setting up solar panels on rooftops of all the cabins. He also appreciated the work done by officers at the IRB Complex.

Chandigarh, September 6
For Krishan Kumar, a resident of Sector 50, enrolling for Aadhaar card has become a struggle as in the past 10 months he got himself registered twice, but failed to get his Aadhaar card.

Revealing this, he said in December 201 he had enrolled himself for the Aadhaar card at a centre set up by the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI). But in January 2013, when he checked the status of his Aadhaar card on the website, he came to know that it could not be generated so he needed to visit the nearest enrolment centre. On the recommendation of the centre, he again got himself enrolled in May, 2013. But, the same story was repeated again.

Complaining about the mismanagement of the enrolment department, he said it had become a difficult task for the residents to get themselves enrolled for the Aadhaar card and the government was in a hurry to attach a number of welfare schemes with it. There are many residents who are facing the same problem.

During a visit to the enrolment centre, it was found that a number of residents visited it only to inquire about the status of their Aadhaar cards as they had not received these for more than a year. Officials on the basis of anonymity said they had no other option but to suggest the residents to re-enrol themselves. Unique Identification Authority of India Deputy Director General Keshni Anand Arora said there were a few such cases. She advised that the residents should visit the UIDAI office to get their problem resolved rather than going for re-enrolment.

Even the residents whose Aadhaar cards have been generated by the department are also not fortunate enough to get it on time due to terrible postal services. Vandana Wadhva, a resident of Sector 48, thrice visited the nearest post office to get her Aadhaar card, but failed to find it or get it downloaded.

Similar is the fate of hundreds of the residents who have a duplicate copy of the Aadhaar card. Adding to their woes, the portal is not functioning on the special counters set up by the UT Administration at e-Sampark centres.

A senior official said the UT Administration should increase the number of centre from where the residents could get a duplicate copy. The residents said the Union Government had made the Aadhaar card mandatory for the direct transfer of subsidy and ignored the fact that thousands of the residents had not yet received their Aadhaar cards. 

Chandigarh, September 6
Less than a month after CITCO decided not to grant extension in service to employees retiring on attaining the age of superannuation at 58, the decision has come under the Punjab and Haryana High Court scanner.

Acting on a petition filed by the Chandigarh Industrial and Tourism Development Corporation Limited Workers Union through president Kashmir Chand and other petitioners, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has issued a notice of motion.

The notice regarding stay has also been issued for September 20.

The issue affects more than 1,300 CITCO employees. In the petition filed through counsel DR Sharma against the UT Administration, the Home Secretary-cum-Secretary Tourism and CITCO, the petitioners have sought the quashing of the decision dated August 20 against granting extension in service.

Directions have also been sought to the respondents to grant extension in service to the employees in terms of earlier decisions of granting extension in service to the employees of boards and corporations, including CITCO; and to bring them on a par with other UT employees.

Sharma added the operation of impugned decision may be stayed, “in the interest of justice”; and the employees enjoying benefit of extension in service, who were to retire on August 31 and later, be allowed to continue in service.

Describing CITCO’s decision of not granting the extension in service to its employees as “arbitrary, illegal”, he said it deserved to be quashed. Elaborating, he said the Chandigarh Administration, vide order dated March 28, decided to extend the operation of an earlier order dated December 7, 2012, to the employees of CITCO, along with other corporations and boards.

As an interim measure, the Chandigarh Administration vide the December 2012 order had decided to allow willing Group A, B, C and D employees to continue in service for six months. The same was further extended twice for a total period of six months.

He added the decision as the boards and corporations were facing shortage of employees. Under these circumstances, the impugned decision was unjustified and unsustainable.

He further added on January 29, the Board decided that pending the Chandigarh Administration’s approval, CITCO’s “willing employees” retiring on January 31 or thereafter, will not be retired.Again, on March 28, the December 12 order was made applicable to the employees of the respondent corporation, along with other corporations and boards. As such, the impugned decision of the respondent Corporation “did not hold any water”.

Mohali, September 6
An engineering student today alleged that he was beaten up by an IAS officer, his gunmen and the residents of the Punjab Mandi Board Staff Colony, Sector 66, here last night. The student, who was admitted to the Civil Hospital in Phase VI with injuries , said he was staying in a flat of a relative in the colony and the Mandi Board authorities had been informed in this regard. He alleged that the attackers entered his flat and told him to vacate the accommodation. They then beat him up and pushed him down the stairs.

The Residents' Welfare Association of the colony, however, said it had complained to the board about the alleged misuse of two flats, which was spoiling the atmosphere in the colony. The association said on September 5 two teams of the board checked the flats and one person was caught and handed over to the police while a few others escaped after scaling the boundary wall. The association demanded a strict action against the flat allottees. 

Chandigarh, September 6
Few private schools in the city are eligible to get per child reimbursement under the RTE ACT. Only three private schools in the 2010-11 session and nine schools in 2011-12 could manage to get the per child reimbursement under the Act.

The reimbursement amount for the three schools in the 2010-11 session is mere Rs 81,000 and the reimbursement amount for the nine schools in the 2011-12 
session is approximately Rs 4 lakh.

A senior official of the Education Department said 37 out of 70 private schools in Chandigarh had applied for the reimbursement for both the sessions, however, most of them could not get the per child reimbursement due to the applicability of 15 per cent land allotment clause on these schools.

He said though the RTE Act stipulated the schools to fill 25 per cent of their seats from the economically weaker section and disadvantage groups, the local private schools were reimbursed for only 10 per cent of their seats because these schools were already under obligation to fill 15 per cent of their seats from the economically weaker section due to the land allotted to them at concessional rates.

“Several schools filled their seats under the EWS category, but they did not come under the RTE reimbursement because of their 15 per cent obligation," he said.

As per information, the per child reimbursement for the 2010-11 session will be Rs 825. The per child reimbursement for the 2011-12 will be Rs 860.

DEO Ram Kumar Sharma said the department had approved their reimbursement amount and it would soon be paid to the schools.

Chandigarh, September 6
Now, ultrasound will be the prime modality for diagnosing a majority of muskuloskeletal (tissue-related) injuries and arthritis. This will bring down the expense incurred by patients on more advanced diagnostic tests.

In an ongoing workshop on ultrasound and MRI imaging at the PGIMER, the delegates from across the country are being given hands-on training on the method of ultrasound examination of the joints of the body and tissues.

Experts say, the latest ultrasound equipment will not only save the patients from shelling out more for advanced tests like CT scan, but will also prevent invasion as required in case of a biopsy.

“The soft tissue detection using ultrasound is a highly significant feature especially in our country where funding on healthcare is limited and the cost of treatment is to borne by patients. The new ultrasound equipment not only reduces the cost of diagnosis five times when compared to expensive tests like CT scan and biopsy but also eases the patients,” said Prof Kakarla Subbarao, Chairman, KREST.

On the second day of the musculoskeletal ultrasound and MRI workshop the main focus was on ultrasound and MRI imaging of the wrist and hip joints.

Prof N Khandelwal, head, department of radiodiagnosis, PGIMER, said that ultrasound was non-invasive, economical, easily accessible and rapid means of evaluation of sports’ injuries of the joints.

Chandigarh, September 6
The CITCO Progressive Workers Union has sought a vigilance probe into the extension of service to the retiring employees of the corporation that was accorded by the board of directors. This has allegedly led to financial losses amounting to several lakhs to the corporation. The case pertains to giving a year's extension to employees who were to retire at the age of 58.

The complaint stated that the board of directors accorded an approval to the proposal placed before them for implementing the decision of the Punjab government adopted by the Chandigarh Administration to grant extension to the retiring employees of CITCO. The proposal placed before the board of directors was based on false statement leading to financial loss. The fact was misrepresented by the CITCO management, it has been alleged.

An agenda was placed before the board of directors at a meeting held on January 29, 2013, stating that the corporation had been following the pay scales and other service conditions of the service in respect of its employees on the pattern being followed by the Chandigarh Administration dated November 24, 1992.

The board of directors approved to adopt only the pay and allowances on the pattern of the Punjab government adopted by the Chandigarh Administration. However, the service conditions were not approved for CITCO and thus the age of retirement was fixed at 58 years only for the employees. “The fraud came to light when the CITCO management filed a reply before the Assistant Labour Commissioner in June 2013, admitting that the board of directors of CITCO did not approve the adoption of service condition of the employees of Punjab or the Chandigarh Administration”, said leaders of the union.

The board of directors in a meeting held on August this year cancelled the decision to grant extension.

Chandigarh, September 6
Heated arguments took place between officials of UT Estate Office and occupants of a house in Sector 16 this morning. The demolition staff led by Duty Magistrate Rajeev Tewari demolished a rear portion of the wall that had been raised in violation of building bylaws.

Officials in the SDO office said the main portion of the house was under construction while the occupants living at the rear had constructed a kitchen without getting sanction from the Estate Office.

The officials said despite several notices, the illegal structure were not pulled down.

The occupants, who had given an undertaking to raze the structures, did not stick to their word.

A few months ago, the officials were attacked by the occupants. 

Chandigarh, September 6
Secundrabad-based publishing house Deccan Chronicle Holdings (DCHL) chairman T Venkattram Reddy and vice-chairman and MD T Vinayak Ravi Reddy surrendered before the court of Judge Ashok Kumar in a Rs 6 crore cheque bounce case here today. The duo, however, were released on bail by the court.

A director of the company, M Sukumar Reddy, had already been arrested and granted bail two months ago, in July by the Chandigarh Police.

It was last year that DCHL had issued two cheques dated July 1, 2012, and another two cheques dated August 1, 2012, amounting to Rs 6 crore in favour of Religare Enterprises' lending vertical, Religare Finvest. The cheques bounced and subsequently an FIR and a criminal case under Section 138 were filed.Following this, non-bailable warrants were issued by the court against the company and all the directors of DCHL, including T Venkattram Reddy, Vinayak Ravi Reddy, vice-chairman and authorised signatory PK Iyer, directors Menakuru Sukumar Reddy, Karthik Iyer Parasuraman, Pendyal Siddhartha and Venkaparamani Suresh. While Sukumar Reddy was arrested others were avoiding the court till now.The accused applied for bail in the court and moved an application in the Punjab and Haryana High Court seeking more time for appearing in the trial court. Disposing of the application, High Court justice RP Nagrath had ordered that if the DCHL directors followed the process of law and put in an appearance before the Judicial Magistrate, only then the court would consider their application for exemption of personal presence during the case hearings.

Today, the two accused, were present before Civil Judge Ashok Kumar, who accepted their bail application against a surety of Rs 20 lakh each with directions that they had to inform the court prior to going abroad.

Similarly, both the accused were present in another court and sought bail where three cases amounting to the cheque bounce worth Rs 3 crore were pending against them. Civil Judge Parinder Singh denying the bail in the case asked them to appear before the court again on September 16 and file a fresh application to seek bail.

Chandigarh, September 6
Congress Councillor Mukesh Bassi today criticised the move of the UT Administration, in which the Administration had linked the allotment of 8448 one-room tenements under the Small Flat Scheme, to the clearance of the pending electricity bills.

Councillor Mukesh Bassi said that UT officials took a decision while sitting in their rooms without even knowing the ground reality and facts that after putting in so much of effort, not only in the city but also at the Central level, MP Pawan Kumar Bansal had brought his dream project - the Slum Rehabilitation Scheme - in the city for the benefit of slum dwellers.

The Chandigarh Tribune had today reported that the slum dwellers had been asked to first get no dues certificate from the Electricity Department then only the UT Administration would hand over the keys of the flats under the Slum Rehabilitation Scheme to them.

He also suggested that keeping in view the financial condition of the slum dwellers, the Administration should provide facility to them to clear their dues on monthly installment basis.

He also appealed to the Administration to handover the keys to all allottees, irrespective of the fact that whether they had cleared their pending bills or not so that Bansal’s dream project would be completed.

He also said that a delegation in this regard would also meet. 

Chandigarh, September 6
French film festival began at Alliance Francaise in Sector 36 with the screening of a French movie, Les Femmes du 6ème étage (The women on the 6th floor).

The film was set in Paris in 1960s. Jean Louis lives a bourgeois existence absorbed in his work, cohabitating peacefully with his neurotic socialite wife, Suzanne, while their children are away to a boarding school.

The couple’s world is turned upside-down when they hire a Spanish maid, Maria. Through Maria, Jean Louis is introduced to an alternative reality just a few floors up on the building’s sixth floor, the servants’ quarters. He befriends a group of sassy Spanish maids, refugees of the Franco regime, who teach him there's more to life than stocks and bonds. The women's influence on the house brings change.

Three more French movies will be screened this month. Next screening is on September 14. On that day, a movie, Les beaux gosses (The French Kissers), will be showcased. On September 20, another French movie, La princesse de Montpensier, will be screened. The festival will come to an end on September 28 with the screening of comedy drama Louise-Michel. — TNS

Mohali, September 6
Congress leader Jagmohan Singh Kang has demanded a CBI inquiry into illegal mining being carried out in his area and other parts of the state.

Reacting to the report 'Illegal mining continues unabated' published in these columns, Kang said the matter needed to be probed as it was learnt that senior leaders of the state government were involved in the illegal activity.

Kang claimed that illegal mining was going unchecked in the area.

"By projecting sand and gravel shortage, the Akali leaders have been minting money. Several transporters, who have bought tippers on instalments, are at the receiving end," said Kang.

He alleged that the police and the mining authorities are hand-in-glove with the leaders. "The state government is not following the Punjab and Haryana High Court's orders mandating environmental clearance for mining," stated Kang.

At Khijrabad village, a 10 feet pit was found over eight acres of 'shaamlat' land. The residents of the village claimed that over 150 tippers took away the material at night. Due to the shortage of construction material, the rates have been increased manifold. "The poor are having it the toughest," said Kang.

"If the illegal activity continues, we will gherao the Vidhan Sabha," added Kang.

Chandigarh, September 6
To pay homage to Uttarakhand flood victims, the Kumaon Sabha, Chandigarh, has decided to hold a blood donation camp on September 8.

RS Rawat, general secretary of the Kumaon Sabha, said that it was decided at a meeting today that a blood donation camp would be held on September 8, 2013, at Garhwal Bhawan in Sector 29, to express solidarity with the victims of the Uttarakhand tragedy. Rawat added that this camp would be held with the support of the PGI, Chandigarh. Socail Activist, Harish Pandey, will be the chief guest on the occasion. 

Zirakpur, September 6
As many as 120 Suvidha centres have been launched in Punjab for the welfare of the general public. This was stated by Chief Parliamentary Secretary NK Sharma while inaugurating a centre in the new building of Municipal Council on Thursday.

“The centres will play a key role in providing varied facilities to the general public. Over 47 types of documents will be provided to public such as marriage certificates, arms licences, character certificates, residential certificates, caste certificates, birth and death certificates and applications for the passport, RTI applications, identity cards and senior citizen certificates,” said Sharma.

The Chief Parliamentary secretary also informed that Zirakpur would be developed as a modern city in the coming days and many development activities are also being conducted in the region, such as laying of 180 kms of sewerage pipeline and 260-kms water supply pipelines besides, setting up of 70 new water supply tubewells.

International-level sports stadium is also being constructed at a nearby Nabha village, said Sharma.

Additional Deputy Commissioner Parveen Kumar Thind said, “The centres launched are all with modern facilities.”

Political advisor Krishanpal Sharma and a former Municipal president, Kulwinder Sohi, also spoke on the occasion. Among others who were present on the occasion included executive officers Parminder Singh and Satarjeet Sharma and executive engineer Kuldeep Verma.

Chandigarh, September 6
If you are expecting some respite from the scorching heat or hoping for a sudden spell of rain in this week to give you some relief from the hot weather then you may have to wait a bit longer as the Meteorological department has predicted that the coming days will be even hotter.

Met officials stated that in coming week the maximum temperature will rise from 34 to 36 degree Celsius due to dry days ahead.

Met department director Surinder Pal Singh said as the wind pressure is towards the north side which should be on north-west to Bay of Bengal, there is a decline in rainfall which has caused the increase in the maximum temperature. “There is no chance of improvement in the weather in the coming week, due to which their will be an overall dry weather,” said the director.

He said it is expected that the city will receive less rain than the normal, which is 154 mm, in the month of September this year. He further said the city will receive rain in patches due to weak pressure for the rainfall in the region.

On an average, the city recorded a maximum temperature of 33.1 degree Celsius and minimum 21.8 degree Celsius in September.

As per the today’s met report, the maximum temperature recorded is 30.5 degree Celsius and minimum 22 degree with the rainfall of 0.2 mm. According to the forecast their will be a partly cloudy sky with thunder showers.

Chandigarh, September 6
An eye care camp was organised today by Defence Accounts Pensioners’ Welfare Association for the serving and retired employees of Defence Accounts Department at the office of Principal Controller of Defence Accounts, Western Command.

The camp was inaugurated by Dr Shivalli M Chauhan, Additional Controller of Defence Accounts.

A team of professionals led by Dr Shweta Singh, examined as many as 170 serving as well as retired employees of the department. Valuable tips were given by the medical team for taking good care of eyes.

Mohali, September 6
Educational loans should be given to all deserving students pursuing higher education, said Tejinder Pal Singh Sidhu, Deputy Commissioner, at a district-level consultative committee meeting here today.

The meeting was convened by Punjab National Bank, the lead bank, under the chairmanship of Sidhu to review the progress of banks for the quarter ended June 2013.

Sidhu, while congratulating the bankers on achieving the Annual Credit Plan (ACP) targets for the first quarter of the financial year, said banks had disbursed Rs 708 crore under the priority sector, out of which Rs 251 crore was under agriculture advances to farmers of the area, Rs 239 crore to micro and small enterprises and Rs 218 crore to other priority sectors i.e. loans for housing and education, etc.

He emphasised that educational loans should be given to all deserving students who went in for higher education. He also advised the banks to prepare a list of debt-ridden farmers and bring them under the debt swap scheme being run by public sector banks.

Parveen Kumar Thind, ADC (General), and Puneet Goyal, ADC (Development), desired that the banks should complete the exercise of electronic benefit transfer at the earliest to enable the transfer of all social security payment benefits electronically to the beneficiaries.

DK Sharma, DGM, Punjab National Bank, said the annual plan of Rs 3,000 crore had been launched for the year 2013-14.

Waryam Singh, Chief Lead District Manager, said Mohali district had been selected by the Punjab Government/ State-Level Bankers Committee, Punjab, for the implementation of the electronic benefit transfer.

Chandigarh, September 6
Foreign students from different universities and colleges of the UK, who were on their one-day visit to the Panjab University campus, believe that the university needs to seriously think about the traffic congestion on the campus.

About 120 students and faculty members from the King’s College, London, University of Edinburgh, Scotland, and other colleges of the UK and around 800 students from Delhi University were on their six-day trip to Haryana and Punjab as part of educational train journey from Delhi.

Aris Alexion, a student of Fine Arts at the University of Edinburgh, while admiring the beauty of the PU campus, said he could witness a large number of vehicles on the PU campus and there was a need to regulate traffic to end the congestion on the roads.

Traffic chaos on one of the roads on the PU campus; and (right) students from the UK and Delhi University during a visit to Panjab University in Chandigarh on Friday. Tribune Photos: S Chandan

Echoing similar views, Andrear, another student at the University of Edinburgh, said cycling should be promoted in the campus to check the problem of traffic. Students and faculty should pedal down the campus to avoid traffic. That would also be nature friendly.

Increasing traffic on the campus has always remained on the list of problems at the university. However, the authorities are yet to come up with some solutions that can help in reducing the congestion on the campus.

A student at King’s College, London, said there should be enough parking lots to ensure that vehicles were not parked on the roads.

British Deputy High Commissioner David Lelliott, who was also present on the occasion, said the UK was looking up at possible collaborations with the universities. “We want to see a large number of British students coming to India and spending time here. Similarly, we want Indian students to study in the UK,” he said.

He said British exports were very diverse as the UK exports about 4,913 products, which was the highest number of coded products.

He also gave a presentation on various initiatives taken up by the Deputy High Commission office, Chandigarh, which caters to Chandigarh, Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Rajasthan.

The students visited various departments and admired the architecture and beautifulness of the campus. They also presented various cultural programmes at the Law Auditorium.

Chandigarh, September 6
Strengthening of teacher-student relationship is the need of the hour, feel city’s academia. The CBSE counsellor and principal, DAV, Sector 15, Dr Rakesh Sachdeva, is of view that the lack of faith between teacher and society is the biggest worry of the day and both commercialisation and overuse of technology has played its part in weakening the bond between students and teachers.

According to her, while nuclear family system has increased the frustration level among students, teachers on the other hand are frustrated because of their exploitation at the hands of their employers. “What we need is truthfulness at every level. Society as a whole must understand the role of teachers in building the very society,” she said.

One of the senior teachers in Chandigarh, Harold Carver, Director of St Stephen’s, Sector 45, feels that “the world has changed so are the priorities, but no matter whatever development we make in the field of automation, and modern education system, a teacher will remain indispensable. The time often repeats itself and there will be days when the contribution of teachers will be of paramount importance”.

Kavita Das, principal of St John’s High School, thinks that the bond between teachers and students could not be undermined and their school was fortunate to have so much bonding between teachers and students.

Panchkula-based educationist S Kumar is of the view that “community participation is important in the education system. We need to focus on value education and commitment both on part of teachers and students”.

Mohali, September 6
As many as 37 teachers were honoured by Chandigarh Engineering College, Landran management, to mark Teacher's Day here. “Commitment and dedication to the cause of education was the criteria to select the teachers,” said Satnam Singh Sandhu, chairman of CGC.

Rashpal Singh Dhaliwal, president of the college, urged the teachers to put more emphasis on moral and ethical values apart from academics. — TNS

Chandigarh, September 6
It is time for some action now. Post-elections, the PU authorities will be examining inputs to evaluate violations of the model code of conduct by individuals as well as groups supporting candidates.

“An objective assessment of the record will be done. The poll results are subject to judgement on the violations of the model code of conduct," the officials stated.

The officials urged the students observing a hunger strike to call off their protest.

The university has also discovered an error in the compilation of the election result at the UIET department. “The list of four department representatives (DR) elected from the UIET department consists of the names of the students who had been polled less votes," the official said.

"There was no error in the counting. It was just that the names of three out of four elected candidates were listed below the candidates who had got less votes," he said.