Lukewarm response to electoral rolls revision
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, April 24 — There was a lukewarm response from the city residents to the first first phase of revision of electoral rolls, which commenced at 524 polling stations here today.

While the response was a little better in colonies and villages, the turnout was rather poor in most of the polling booths in the urban areas.

In the absence of proper information about the location of polling booths in various sectors, people had to face hardships locating their respective booths.

One such complainant, Mr J.R Jain, a resident of Sector 15, returned home without filling in the form after visiting four polling stations. The staff manning various polling stations were also unable to direct them as to where they would find the booth dealing with their house number.

A few complainants suggested that a consolidated list of houses in a particular sector along with the polling booth numbers should have been made available to the residents either in the newspaper or outside the centres to avoid this inconvenience.

In a polling booth of Mani Majra, Mr Balkar Singh complained that he was not given forms despite having proof of residence.

The Deputy Commissioner, Mr M. Ramshekhar who is also the Electoral Registration Officer, dismissed such complaints by saying that the staff had been directed to accept all forms without any proof which would only be required only at the stage of scrutiny on May 17.

A majority of the people who visited various polling booths had come to get their name included in the voter list, including those who have attained the age of 18 and are eligible to vote now.

Only a few came for correction due to change in address or to correct the mistakes in the I-card issued earlier. These include correction in father's name or sex etc.

A visit to some of the centres in the city revealed that many people collected the forms today which they would submit tomorrow or during the second phase on May 7 and 8.

Due to heat, fewer people turned up in the morning, but the numbers were more by the evening.

The DC said that better turnout is expected tomorrow as people who had collected the forms today would be submitting them tomorrow.

In some of the centres even today, the turnout was good as the staff had been directed to distribute the forms freely. The final list would be ready after scrutiny on July 15.

Meanwhile, the President of the Mazdoor Sudhar Sabha, Mr Ram Avtar, in a press note issued here today appealed to the DC to bring about an improvement in the system of making new voter cards by giving them more information.

Informing him about the problems being faced by people in filling in the number of columns, he has urged them to decrease the number of columns in the form.

For the convenience of those who are not able to fill in the forms during these two days, similar arrangements will be made at these booths on May 7 and 8.

Rush for duplicate roll numbers
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, April 24 — There was a great rush today at the cash counter and the examination branch of Panjab University with students anxious to get duplicate roll numbers for the examinations which commence on April 26.

The university had issued a press note on April 22 saying that all roll numbers for the postgraduate classes had been despatched and those not getting the same by April 23 should get in touch with the university for the issuance of a duplicate one.

Students and parents came with proof of having deposited the examination fee, sent the examination form and passport size photographs after depositing Rs 20 at the cash counter as fee for a duplicate roll number card to the office of the Joint Controller of Examination.

All those standing in the serpentine queues and braving the hot sun had a tough time at the cash counter. Most of them were angry at the way the exercise of issuing roll numbers had been carried out initially. They were of the opinion that the university should not have despatched them at all and should have, instead, given them the roll numbers by hand.

A harassed father of a student, taking his MA exam, Mr T.R. Sharma, said, “At this point I cannot expect my son to be waiting for his turn to deposit a fee of Rs 20 and then join in with those waiting for the issue of a duplicate one. He is studying at the library while I’m doing the formalities.’’

A student taking her MFC final year examination, Gursimran Kaur, waiting for her roll number, asked, “Why should we be made to pay an additional Rs 20 for a duplicate copy of the roll number? Is it our fault that there was so much uncertainty prevailing about the conduct of examinations and the university could not despatch the roll numbers on time ?’’

SASE checks avalanches in Jammu and Kashmir
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, April 24 — Experiments by the Snow Avalanche and Study Establishment (SASE) to prevent snow avalanches along the Jammu-Srinagar and Manali-Leh highways have been successful.

SASE has also set up two automatic weather stations (AWSs) in Antarctica to collect round-the-clock data from site.

In the experiments to check avalanches, a major success has been around the Jawahar Tunnel on the Jammu-Srinagar highway. Each winter the approach used to be covered under snow following avalanches. Now scientists have used a technique that does not allow avalanches to start as they used snow spurs to segregate the snow.

On the same road, a 360 metre long gallery that will cost Rs 26 crore has been planned across Shaitani nullah to save it from avalanches occurring frequently in that area.

SASE has established 22 observatories, including eight in the Kashmir valley, nine in Saichen and four in Himachal Pradesh.

Eight AWSs are functioning in the Kashmir valley and three in Saichen glacier, said Maj-Gen S.S. Sharma, Director of SASE, while addressing a press conference here this morning.

Artificial triggering of avalanches , a technique used in North America, has been tried extensively by SASE using remote delivery methods of explosive. This technique was used near the Jawahar tunnel this winter.

At the moment, SASE is helping the Army in Saichen and training troops on how to take precautions from snow . It is also advising the Border Roads Organisation about the opening of roads. The fatalities have come down to less than 20 in a year. The highest number of deaths had taken place in the winter of 1988-1989 when the death toll crossed 250, according to figures given by scientists of SASE.

Two scientists —Arun Chaudhary and Subroto Datta — visited Antarctica this year. They have collected data on energy balance and mass balance. The data is presently being analysed.

In Antarctica too, SASE scientists have set up two AWSs at a distance of 150 km from each other. The data is passed to the Manali headquarters through satellite.

Predicting weather in Himalayas

The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) is about to add another feather to its cap. A mountain meteorological centre (MMC) that will provide pinpoint accuracy in predicting the fast changing climatic conditions in the Himalayas is being set up with the help of the Snow Avalanche Study Establishment (SASE).

The project, the first in the world to be put in place for mountains of such an high altitude, has been conceived by noted missile scientist, Dr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, informed Maj-Gen S.S. Sharma, Director, SASE.

The project has been approved in principle and preparatory work will start soon. Initially, the work will start in Jammu and Kashmir.