Chandigarh, September 1
It’s not just Panjab University (PU) alone that will keep tabs on the money spent by student parties on the Panjab University Campus Students Council (PUCSC) elections; the Chandigarh police are also keeping a record of the activities on the campus. The police will submit a report to the university authorities for necessary action according to the Lyngdoh Committee recommendations.

In their bid to woo voters, the student parties will have to be cautious this year while sending students for movies or on trips, or throwing parties at discotheques as police observes are keeping a close watch on the activities of all student leaders.

Police sources said the police observers would be dressed in civvies.

UT SSP Sukhchain Singh Gill said the observers were keeping a close watch on the activities of the student parties and a report would be prepared after the elections. “We are videographing everything for evidence, which would be shared with the university authorities,” the SSP said.

The police sources said an account of posters printed by all student parties would be kept as part of the record pertaining to the expenses.

The police are also keeping a record of the car rallies organised by the student parties and the number of vehicles used in the rallies.

The SSP said after submitting the report, it would be up to the university authorities to examine the report and take action against the student fronts found violating the Lyngdoh Committee recommendations.

The recommendations stipulate that no student contesting the elections can spend more then Rs 5,000 on the elections. However, the expenses run into several lakhs with student bodies making all possible efforts to woo the voters.

Chandigarh, September 1
Student parties contesting the Panjab University Campus Students Council (PUCSC) elections are promising the moon to voters. The manifestos released by the ABVP, the SOI-INSO-SOPU-YUWA alliance and the SFS today carry promises such as providing a discount in bus fare in Punjab and concession in railway passes.

One of the student parties has even gone to the extent of assuring students that teachers’ vacancies would be filled and an inquiry ordered into previous appointments on the campus.

PU Dean Students Welfare Navdeep Goyal said the Lyngdoh Committee was silent on the manifestos of student parties.

Central university status

The issue is on the priority list of the ABVP. In its manifesto released today, the ABVP, the youth wing of the BJP, has included this item on top of its manifesto. The NSUI, the youth wing of the Congress, has no mention of the issue on its web page this year whereas it was on its priority list in the manifesto last year.

50% discount in bus fares

In its manifesto, the SOI has promised that it will get approval from the Punjab Government for 50 per cent discount in bus fares in government and major private buses for Panjab University students.

Interestingly, the party has not given any assurance about the timely release of the annual budget of the university from the Punjab Government, which usually gets delayed by months.

Concession in railway passes

In its manifesto, the SOI alliance has promised students that they would demand proper transport facility for tricity students, concession in railway passes for university students and a railway reservation counter on the campus. Interestingly, the university authorities have no say in these matters.

Students’ representation in Senate

All three student parties which released their manifestos today promised that they would demand students’ representation in the Senate. The office of the Chancellor of the university, M Hamid Ansari, has also told the university that in the next Senate elections, scheduled for 2016, representation should be given to students also.

Assurance on teachers’ appointment

In its manifesto, the ABVP has assured students that all vacant posts in teaching departments will be filled on priority. Besides, the party will impress upon the authorities to follow the student-teacher ratio in the departments. This is an administrative matter in which the decision has to be taken by the VC and the council has no role in it.

Parties that released their manifestos

The parties that released their manifestos on Monday were the ABVP, the SOI-INSO-SOPU-YUWA alliance and the SFS. 

Chandigarh, September 1
In a significant shift in the draft policy on “Towers for mobile telephones and data services”, the UT has now proposed to allow towers in open areas, excluding parks.

The open spaces have been defined as unused spots in parkings, incidental open areas of institutions or atop commercial or institutional buildings that are at least 36 metres away from any residential plot.

Continuing with the previous policy of not allowing towers on residential buildings, the UT Chief Administrator, in the draft policy submitted to the UT Adviser, has defined the location, footprint and height of the towers.

Against the previous recommendation of allowing towers up to a height of 30 metres, the UT has now proposed a height of 36 metres. The operators would have to install only silent generators. No rooftop or ground-based generators would be permitted.

After notifying the draft policy in 2012, the UT had invited objections from the public. The telecom operators had also been demanding modifications in the draft policy.

The UT has proposed to fix the non-refundable licence fee at Rs 5 lakh for seven years. After every seven years, the fee would be doubled. In case of government land, a ground lease fee of Rs 5 lakh would be charged.

Chandigarh, September 1
Setting an example for others student parties, the only girl presidential candidate, Amandeep Kaur, of the Students for Society (SFS) today aired her manifesto on the community radio station for the elections.

Sharing her agenda with the students, Amandeep Kaur, in her 15-minute talk on the radio station, narrated her vision for the students. This is for the first time that any candidate has aired the agenda on the community radio station of the university.

Stating that her party was using all modes of campaigning this time, she said the community radio station had more than 2,000 listeners and she managed to reach out to all of them in one go, she said.

The coordinator of the radio station, Sunil Sharma, said the talk was broadcast at 9.45 pm for the listeners of the campus.

The PUSU alliance is also planning to used the community radio station.

SFS, NSUI stage plays

The SFS staged a play on the elections, “Mela Votan Da” at the Student Centre. The play is a satire on the prevailing culture of the student elections at the PU, where student organisations use all means to woo the voters, from distributing liquor in hostels, organising trips, free dinners to distributing pen drives and T-shirts. The NSUI also staged a play on its manifesto at the Student Centre. 

Chandigarh, September 1
Residents in Sector 23-D are at the receiving end, thanks to the indifferent attitude of the UT’’s horticulture wing in cleaning the wild growth on the embankments of N-choe.

For the last several months, the residents have been regularly visiting offices of the officials in the UT Engineering Department requesting them to get the the wild growth removed, but to no anvil.

Gurdev Ram, president of the Sector 23-D Residents Welfare Association, said while the garden on both sides of the N-choe was being well maintained by the municipal corporation, the embankments on both sides of the N-choe were in bad shape.The wild growth not only attracted mosquitoes and insects, it had become a den for anti -social elements, said Sadhu Singh, another member of the association. The association members lamented that not much had been done despite them taking up the issue with the XEN, Karam Chand. Efforts to contact the XEN did not yield any result.

Chandigarh, September 1
The enforcement wing of the Municipal Corporation, Chandigarh, today removed encroachments from Motor Market in Mani Majra and the adjoining area of the market. During the drive 164 encroachers have been issued challans.

The enforcement team removed and seized 164 mechanic tool boxes, which were fixed with cement illegally on the government land.

In addition to chaises of vehicles, pulleys, oxygen cylinders, gas tanks, hydraulic jacks used in repairing vehicles etc were removed and seized. Twentyfour truckload of items was seized from
the area.

The drive was carried at 5.30 am. The MC conducted the drive on the request of the UT Electricity Department, in which they stated that the mechanics had fixed their tool boxes under the 11KV high tension electricity wire, which posed danger to their lives during the working hours.

Chandigarh, September 1
A solo play, “Khetan Da Putt’ based on transcendental writings of Paash was taged at Tagore theatre today. The play was presented by the Sidak Rangmanch and Darling Buds Hair Transplant centre.

Actor Rana Ranbir who plays the protagonist’s role conceptualised the play. The play, which was directed by Roopinderjit Sharma, evolved around the compassion and redemption of Paash’s works. It also delved into personal bonds that the writer shared with his family and friends even while tackling contemporary realities of society.

For the die-hard theatre and literature aficionados it lent thematic diversity on the life of Paash.The play also brought forth how the writer was criticised for his courage to write against social evils prevalent in the society.The play also brought forth the writer ‘s portrayal on darkness of the human psyche in his works.

Rana Ranbir won a thunderous applause for his act, that evoked emotions of the audiences.

Chandigarh, September 1
Online Computers has been directed by the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum to pay Rs 5,000 as compensation to a city resident. The forum also directed the company to pay Rs 7,000 as cost of litigation.

Gurmeet Singh (64), a resident of Sector 45, complained that since his tenants were threatening to eliminate him, so for security reasons he asked that CCTV cameras be supplied to him from the store of the opposite party and paid Rs 13,732.

He alleged that the cameras and the system did not work properly after installation. The complainant contacted the opposite party several times and asked it to check the CCTV cameras and later sought replacement. The opposite party took away the new system for checking and installed an old machinery. However, the other set also did not work, the complainant said.

The opposite party, in its reply, denied that the cameras and the system did not work properly and that no recording was done by the DVR system. “The complainant did not operate the system in a proper manner, therefore, he faced the problem,” stated the opposite party.

“From the perusal of the record it seems that the defect was in the DVR of the system supplied to the complainant. Therefore, failure on the part of the opposite party to do the needful certainly amounts to deficiency in service,” the forum ruled. 

Mohali, September 1
To keep a tab on the police working and educate people about traffic rules, the Traffic Marshal Scheme has been revived again in the town. Appointed traffic marshals have started accompanying traffic police personnel at nakas from yesterday.

Swaran Chaudhary, former principal of DAV College, Sector 10, and the first traffic marshal in the town, said with the revival of the scheme, the traffic scenario would be improved in the town.

Chaudhary, who was seen accompanying the traffic police personnel at a special traffic naka at Phase VII-VIII traffic light point this morning, said being a senior citizen, the traffic marshal had an effective role in improving the traffic scenario.

“Moreover, in the presence of the traffic marshal, the police too will perform their duty more effectively. Revival of the scheme is a welcome step,” said Chaudhary.

The scheme was launched with much fanfare in 2010 by the then SSP Jatinder Aulakh, who had appointed 18 traffic marshals for the purpose. After being in place for around six-seven months, the scheme disappeared.

Now of the 18 marshals, around 15 have started performing their duties, said a senior official of the Mohali police.

Panchkula, September 1
Residents of Kharag Mangoli village in a large number held a protest in front of the Deputy Commissioner’s office today against the District Food and Civil Supply Officer and the area depot holder for not providing them ration and other items at the depot.

Up in arms, the protesters, mostly women, accused the depot holder of misbehaving with them and alleged that he was not providing them ration for the past over eight months.

They assembled in front of the Deputy Commissioner’s office and called up BJP leader Gian Chand Gupta, a former Mayor of Chandigarh, to take up their issues with the district administration authorities.

Talking to the Tribune, Gupta said the depot holder had not only denied them their benefits but also torn the ration cards of certain beneficiaries. Moreover, he was running a number of ration depots in and around the city and harassing the beneficiaries, Gupta said.

A delegation of the residents, led by Gupta, also submitted a memorandum of their demands to Additional Deputy Commissioner (ADC) SP Arora. The Additional Deputy Commissioner ensured early solution to their issues.

Mohali, September 1
‘Mindless’ laying of interlocking paver blocks in several pockets of the town has irked the residents here. The Municipal Corporation (MC), Mohali, is laying paver blocks in front of residences without paying heed to the norms set by Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (GMADA).

Under the norms, residents can develop green area up to five feet in front of the boundary wall of their houses. Besides, they have also been allowed to keep the ramp and floor at the entrance.

However, perhaps unaware of the notified GMADA policy, the MC officials are not only laying paver blocks on the green area but also demolishing floors and ramps to lay pavers.

“This is being done to benefit the contractor by inflating the bill. MC staff are apparently in cahoots with the contractor. The work awarded to the contractor should be probed. Replacing green area with concrete is not a wise thing to do,” said Abhi Sharma, a resident of Industrial Area, Phase IX.

“We have told the MC staff that they were violating the norms of the GMADA policy but they did not pay heed to it,” said Amit Kumar, a resident of Phase III A here.

Gurwinder Singh of Phase V lamented that he had laid expensive tiles in front of his house, which were demolished by MC officials to lay paver blocks.

MC Commissioner Uma Shankar Gupta said: “The policy is in place and no official can violate it. It is up to the residents whether they want to retain the green belt up to five feet along the boundary wall of their houses or allow laying of paver blocks. Even officials can’t demolish any ramp in front of a house on their own. In case there is a violation, victims can approach me.”

Lyngdoh panel responsible for change in trend

In 2007, students’ council election norms recommended by the Lyngdoh panel were enforced by Panjab University. This brought to an end the tradition of law students getting elected to the president’s post.

The law department has produced national leaders including the Minister of External Affairs, Sushma Swaraj; Lok Sabha member Rajiv Pratap Rudy; former railway minister Pawan Kumar Bansal and Randeep Surjewala, Congress MLA in Haryana.

Chandigarh, September 1
Amid all the hullabaloo surrounding the student council elections, Chandigarh Tribune caught up with some students who are oblivious of names of student outfits, purpose of the council and even the name of the top varsity official.

A cross-section of students, on being quizzed about these and other things related to the university and the upcoming poll, went blank or came up with wrong—even funny—answers.

Sample this: For many, Professor Arun Kumar Grover is the newly appointed dean of their respective department. For some, he was recently appointed to a key post of Panjab University. On being asked about the post, they remained clueless.

One of the students had this interesting fact to share: “Prof Grover is one of the main members supervising the election procedure to further report it to the Punjab government”.

A UIET student made Prof Grover the Chancellor of the university, while a girl student of the fashion designing department, said: “I have just joined the university; so, I am not aware about our professors’ names”.

Another girl accompanying her, said: “She is actually not well-aware. Prof Arun Grover is the head of our department.” On being asked who the Vice-Chancellor is, both smiled back and said, “We don’t know, actually.”

Such is the political awareness of these young voters that most of them failed to tell the complete name of major parties: SOPU, PUSU, ABVP, SOI, GGSU and SFI.

The students accompanying party leaders and workers for department-to-department canvassing, too, were caught unawares. When a PUSU supporter was asked to give the full name of ABVP, he said: “Akhil Bhartiya Vidya Parishad”, while another student from the law department, added: “It has something to do with the Central government.” For many students, SOPU stands for Student of Panjab University and GGSU is Guru Gandhi Student Union. There are many who think the abbreviations used by new parties such as YUWA, SFI and SFS are their complete names.

On being asked about the purpose of holding the elections, many PU students said these were conducted for the “welfare of students”. However, on being asked about what they meant by “welfare”, they had nothing to say.

Chandigarh, September 1
Students contesting the students’ council elections at Post Graduate Government College for Girls, Sector 42, seem to be drawing inspiration from the recent Lok Sabha poll campaign of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Following in his footsteps, the girl candidates are shunning the common ways of greeting among youth, i.e. shaking hands or waving. Instead, the student leaders can be seen folding their hands and saying “namastey” to the prospective voters, while campaigning on the campus.

Also, Hindi as a medium for seeking votes is finding favour among these budding politicos.

Kumarika, one of the candidates in the race for the post of general secretary, said: “I am inspired by the BJP’s campaign and its leaders’ proficiency in Hindi. Although, I do not believe in their ideology, promoting Indian culture will definitely be one of my aims.”

The major issues concerning the candidates are safety of students and sanitation.

Shelly, a candidate for the post of president, said: “We are one of the better colleges in the city in terms of facilities and academics. Safety, however, remains a cause of concern for us as soon as we leave the campus.”

in the fray 
President

Anandita Bhanot

Harsimran Kaur

Navjot Thakur

Palka Rani

Preeti

Shelly

Sukhmeen Kaur

Vice-President

Garima

Latika

Neha Joshi

Roopam

Sheetal Verma

Smreet Kaur

General Secretary

Charu Advani

Kumarika

Yashika

Joint Secretary

Abhilasha

Babli Panwar

Jaspreet Kaur

Sakshi Sharma

Shivangi Khurana 

Chandigarh, September 1
DAV College, Sector 10, has put six young faculty members on duty to “handle” student leaders and deter them from indulging in violence.

Some of these faculty members have witnessed the student council elections closely during their studies a few years ago. They will keep an eye on outsiders and check identity cards of suspects.

With the involvement of these teachers, the college that has seen ugly incidents during the student polls in the recent years has remained peaceful until now.

“As we have seen the student elections in the region closely, we are relatively well-versed with the psychology of the aggressive students. As students, we used to be equally aggressive, but not violent. We realise it is very important for these students to understand the real purpose of elections,” said Dean, Students’ Welfare, Amaninder Maan, who is one of the six young faculty members.

“When we interact with the students in a friendly manner, we see them opening up to us and cooperating as well. In fact, at a recent meeting, I thanked all student leaders for maintaining peace on the campus,” said Maan.

Others roped in for the duty are Neeraj Chamoli, Harjeet Singh, Gagan Brar, Rajinder Singh and Nikhlesh Thakur, all assistant professors.

Parents not cooperating: Schools

Schools claim that they had been sending notices and reminders to the parents to stop sending their wards on three-wheelers; however, the parents were not cooperating. In absence of any other mode of cheap transportation, the parents are reportedly opposing the STA order.

Chandigarh, September 1
Ahead of the Teacher’s Day, members of the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan Teachers Welfare Association (SSATWA), UT, today posted over 1,100 letters to Prime Minister Narendra Modi written and signed by junior basic teachers (JBTs) and trained graduate teachers (TGTs) working under the SSA seeking speedy approval to 1,375 posts of teachers.

SSATWA president Arvind Rana said, “Teachers have requested the PM to personally intervene and direct the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) for speedy approval to 647 posts of master and 728 posts of primary teacher as per norms of the SSA and the Right to Education Act-2009.”

Rana said the letters mentioned that as per the norms of the SSA, framed by the MHRD, Department of School Education and Literacy, these posts should have been created by the Education Department on regular basis. However, following recruitment norms of the UT, Chandigarh, teachers have been appointed on these posts on contract basis under the State Implementation Society, UT, Chandigarh. He added, “As the Teacher’s Day is around the corner, we requested the PM to take up our case, which is pending with the MHRD, for creation of 647 posts of master and 728 posts of primary teacher already sanctioned under the SSA to the UT, Chandigarh.”

Chandigarh, September 1
“Why there is a huge mismatch between the industry’s requirements and skills produced by our institutes? The question needs to be answered,” said KK Sharma, the Adviser to the UT Administrator, at the 4th CII Edu Summit organised by the CII in partnership with the National Skill Development Agency (NSDA) & Haryana government at Sector 31 here today.

Calling upon the CII to partner aggressively with the governments and skill-development agencies, the Adviser said, “Since the industry is the best judge as to what kind of skills they require the most from time to time, it should collaborate with vocational and educational institutes, universities, government agencies and skill-development centres to develop curricula besides suggesting and deciding on the courses that should be promoted. We are ready to take action on your feedback.”

He said, “As far as Chandigarh is concerned, we have got a very good response to our vocational and soft skill programmes started for Class IX onwards. Now, we are trying to expand it. We have also started a smart school to cater to the southern sectors, especially children from under-privileged sections. We have also launched a campaign, the Rashtriya Uchhattar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA), with Panjab University Vice-chancellor as its chairman.”

“Adoption of innovative and latest techniques and the PPP mode with special thrust on research and development in higher education sector would be a game changer for India in the current global scenario,” highlighted SS Prasad, Additional Chief Secretary, Higher Education, Haryana.

A CII-Ernst and Young Knowledge Paper on Alligning Higher Education with National Skills Qualification Framework (NSQF) was released on the occasion.

Chandigarh, September 1
Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH), Sector 32, is holding a one-day programme on paediatric nutrition tomorrow to mark the Nutrition Week.

The programme, being organised by the Department of Dietetics from 10.30 am to 4.30 pm in the college auditorium, will include a poster-making competition with the theme ‘Healthy eating for good health’, a skit, a lecture on neonatal nutrition and a quiz. The programme will be open to all. Other lectures to be held on the occasion are “Infant feeding” and ‘Genetically-modified food”.

Experts from the Department of Dietetics, including the Head of Department, Dr Madhu Arora, will offer diet counselling. — TNS

Chandigarh, September 1
A seminar, ‘Skill development in India: Challenges and opportunities’ was held at the PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry today.

The Aryan Group of Colleges had organised the event. The chief guest was Dilip Chenoy, MD and CEO, National Skill Development Corporation.

In his address, Dilip Chenoy said, “There is an urgent need for the industry and academia to come together and design skill-training programmes, which will empower the youth and help them become gainfully employed or self-employed.”

“Our target is to impart skill training to 3.3 million youth in 2014-15. The target committed for the current fiscal is nearly three and a half times of what was set and achieved in 2013-14,” he added.