Overloading in school buses
Traffic cops to conduct checking
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, April 19 — The Chandigarh traffic police has asked its staff to check overloading in school buses, autorickshaws and cycle rickshaws carrying school children.

The directions issued today have been conveyed to all cops who do duty to check unauthorised driving of vehicles by minors. Police officers on checking duty have been asked to see that school buses do not carry more children than permitted by the State Transport Authority (STA). The STA has fixed the carrying capacity of buses. However, the limit is followed more in the breach as children are stuffed like sardines on to rickety buses.

Similarly for rickshaws the police has asked its staff to check that no more than six children are made to sit in a cycle rickshaw. The aspect of overloading came to light when senior police functionaries were on a round to see the effectiveness of the newly introduced one-way traffic system outside certain schools in the city. Officials found out that some rickshaws were carrying more than 10 children. In the past, on several occasions, a hue and cry has been raised by citizens groups about the problem of overloading of vehicles that ferry children to school.

The SP ,traffic, Mr Balbir Singh, said :" There is no special drive.Already we have teams checking for traffic violations and overloading will be under check now."

Rickshaw drivers will be warned about the aspect of overloading. A similar drive will be carried out with respect to overloading by autorickshaws, Mr Balbir Singh added.

Rural schools show improvement
Pass percentage goes up
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, April 19 — The performance of ordinary government schools, mostly those located in the rural areas and colonies of the city, have shown a marked improvement in their annual middle standard examination results this year as compared to last year. On the other hand, the results of government model schools have gone down slightly as compared to last year.

It is noteworthy that while the overall pass percentage of ordinary government schools has gone up from 60.83 to 67.78, the overall pass percentage of government model schools has shown a decline of 3 per cent from 96.26 per cent last year to 93.15 per cent this year.

An analysis of the results of the middle school examination conducted by the UT Education Department in February this year, reveals that the experiment of the department in adopting certain schools which had shown poor results last year for the purpose of improving their results has been successful. It was on the initiative taken by the UT Home-cum-Education Secretary, Mrs Anuradha Gupta that 30 ordinary government schools, which had shown results below 40 per cent were adopted for an experiment in overall improvement.

Expressing satisfaction at the success of the experiment, Mrs Gupta said: “productivity improvement in the education sector is relatively lower and it is only in the long run that the effect of various initiatives can be felt. We were expecting an improvement in the results of just about 10 per cent schools, but a larger number of schools have performed better than our expectations.”

The DPI (Schools), Mr D.S Mangat said that every aspect of these schools was given special treatment — from giving specialised training to their school heads to provision of adequate staff and other infrastructure, besides constant evaluation and close monitoring. As a result of these efforts, the results of 29 of these 30 schools have shown a significant improvement. Only Government High School, Sector 11, has shown a decline from 48.81 per cent last year to 37.5 per cent this year.

With their pass percentages improving the pass percentage of government middle schools has gone up from 49.7 to 75.5 this year; those of government high schools has gone up from 47.82 to 54.91 and those of government senior secondary schools has also gone up from 42.9 per cent to 58.6 per cent.

While as many as seven government model schools recorded 100 per cent result last year, this year only two schools, namely Government Model Senior Secondary School, Sector 21-A and Government Model Middle School, Mani Majra has 100 percent results this year.

Even the most sought after GMSSS-35 and GMSSS-16 have recorded 98.28 per cent and 98.88 per cent results this year. But for a few schools, most of the model schools have shown a marginal decline in their performance this year. Teachers on condition of anonymity said that this could be because teachers from certain model schools were transferred to the ordinary schools for the experiment. Officials on their part maintain that admission of average students due to external pressures in good schools, results in failures and subsequent lowering of the pass percentage.

While the ordinary schools picked up to the experiment will continue to be the focus of attention, the department may expand the experiment to few other schools, going by the results this year.

No check on sale of cut fruit
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, April 19 — Though summer has set in and the sale of cut fruit and vegetables is on in a big way, the health authorities are yet to notify against the sale of such cut fruit and vegetables or carry out raids to curb the sales.

Usually a notification is issued in April, however, this year the notification is likely to be issued on May 1. The menace of cut fruit and vegetables can cause a major health hazard as the source of water to clean, wash and water the items is not known. Medical Officer of Health and his staff usually carry out raids to throw away the items being sold but rehriwalas just refuse to go away.

Water on the sold items is sprinkled from a dirty bucket with unclean hands by vendors.

Rush at swimming pools picks up
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, April 19 — Swimming pools are becoming one of the most convenient methods for beating the summer heat for a large number of people in the city.

Though swimming pools are normally thrown open to the public by middle of April every year, this time there has been a slight delay. Only a couple of pools have become operational so far.

All three swimming pools of the Sports Department — two in Sector 23 at Government Nursery and Yoga centre and one at Sukhna Lake — opened on April 15. On an average 50 to 60 swimming enthusiasts have been coming to these pools regularly.

The early morning and late evening chill are, however, keeping the number from growing. By the end of the month, the numbers are likely to increase at the pools, an official of the Sports Department said.

The Chandigarh Club swimming pool has also been opened for the summer.

One of the reasons advanced for delay has been the annual repair being undertaken at Kajauli water works last week, because of which the water supply was curtailed and those looking after swimming pools were advised to wait till the supply became normal.

With the day temperature already hovering around 40°C, swimming pools are going to be a big draw for afternoon revellers. At the Chandigarh Club, the number of those coming for a swim has been on the rise. The rush is going to pick up in the next couple of weeks after schools start closing for summer vacations, says a spokesman of the club.

The remaining pools in the city are also expected to become operational by end of this month.

Other pools in the city are at Panjab University campus, Government College for Girls (Sector 11), Golf Club, Press Club and Hotel Mountview.

Meanwhile, a splash pool for kids and a regular swimming pool of the Punjab Urban Development Authority at SAS Nagar will be thrown open to the public on April 21.

First LCA flight 'likely this year'
By Pradeep Sharma
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, April 19 — The first flight of the much-delayed light combat aircraft (LCA) is likely to be conducted later this year, the Director of the Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE), Mr K.G. Narayanan, said here today.

Talking to The Tribune at Central Scientific Instruments Organisation (CSIO) in Sector 30 here, the Director of the Bangalore-based premier defence organisation informed that the necessary tests had been conducted and efforts were being made to integrate various sub-systems which itself was a major task.

Such types of sub-systems have their own software which had to be "merged" together to form one system, he said, adding that the sub-systems had passed the tests.

While conceding that there had been delay in the development of the LCA, Mr Naryanan claimed that the delay was not too long, keeping in view the international standards. The time-frame involved in the aircraft development was 15 to 20 years, he added.

About the use of indigenous technology in the prestigious project, he claimed that about 95 per cent of the components had been developed by such premier public sectors units as Hindustan Aeronautics Limited.

Various private sector establishments had played an important role in supplying vital components for the development of the aircraft, he stressed.

While a USA-made engine would be used in the LCA, components from other countries such as the UK had also been imported for the aircraft. The indigenous engine would take about three years to develop, he added.

JDGFT post vacant for four months
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, April 19 — With the office of the Joint Director-General Foreign Trade (JDGFT) headless for the past over four months, exporters in the city are facing a lot of problems.

Exporters alleged that though the Ministry of Commerce had been boasting of an increase in the export, it seemed to be least concerned about its Chandigarh office.

It may be recalled that in the then JDGFT, Mr R.K. Sharma, died in December last. Since then no appointment had been made in his place and as a stop-gap arrangement the Ministry had given the additional charge of the local office to the JDGFT, Ludhiana, who visit the city once a week.

The exporters said the weekly visit was sometimes cancelled on account of urgent meetings at Ludhiana. The exporters were at the receiving end since over the years the export activity in and around Chandigarh had picked up as the local office also catered to the needs of the exporters of Himachal Pradesh and Ropar and Patiala districts of Punjab.

An exporter alleged that in the absence of the JDGFT here, the exporters’ cases of incentives, redemption of licences, import applications and issuing of IE codes were delayed with the result that exports were suffering.

Since no other official in the local office had been delegated the powers to send written communication to any exporter and to take action on any matter, they faced many a difficulty, he added.