PU to have 24-hour cybercafe
Subsidised rates to make academics computer-savvy
By Poonam Batth
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, May 12 — Panjab University is all set to have a cybercafe, which will provide information services such as Internet, E-mail, Fax, STD, ISD and PCO at subsidised rates for the benefit of the academic community on the campus. The users will now be able to avail themselves of these facilities all 24 hours at the. It will be housed near the entry gate to the main library and have an independent entrance.

The university librarian, Mr A.R Sethi, revealed that the keeping in view the demand for the use of Internet and E-mail facilities in the library, the university had in September last year constituted a committee to work out details for setting up an information services outlet with the help of a private party.

This is also being done to spread computer culture on the campus so that more students can avail themselves of these services. This addition will be another feather in the cap of the university library, which has already been recommended by the UGC as one of the six delivery centres.

However, the academic staff and students using this facility will now have to pay a nominal price for using these services. While they can access Internet by paying Rs 24 an hour, the charges for E-mail will be Rs 2 for both incoming and outgoing messages. The P and T rates will be applicable for fax, STD and ISD services.

The contract for installing the required infrastructure has been given to Auric Graphics, which is likely to make it functional by the first week of June.

The Internet and E-mail services were, since the commencement of the last session, made available to the faculty and students free of cost. But the two terminals, one each for the staff and students were not able to meet the ever-increasing demand. As a result, large numbers would queue up at the booth to avail themselves of the E-mail facility between 9 am and 12 noon. Students had to book their turn more than one hour in advance to use the Internet between 9 am to 9 pm.

Sources reveal that very few people, both students and faculty, were using these facilities for serious research or other assignments as most others were misusing them to send E-mail to their kith and kin.

A quick look at the entries in the register of Internet users indicated that a few students pursuing humanities had been frequenting the library only to use the E-mail services on the Internet.

The authorities are hopeful that the new cybercafe will check this misuse and facilitate things for serious users in the technical sciences departments for their assignments.

Mr Sethi said that the existing facilities will be withdrawn once the cybercafe becomes operational and the terminals will then be used for helping the students of various departments with their research queries.

Formation of nagar panchayata right step, say villagers
From Our Correspondent

ZIRAKPUR, May 12 — The decision of the Punjab Government to declare Zirakpur a nagar panchayat has sent a wave of happiness among the residents of six villages merged with the town to form the panchayat. While the residents of these villages have expressed their gratitude to the government, the people of some of the villages, which have not been included in the nagar panchayat, have expressed their resentment.

The residents of the seven villages (Zirakpur, Lohgarh, Himmatgarh, Bishangarh, Bishanpura, Bartana and Dhakauli) have thanked the Akalis for fulfilling a long-pending promise.

A formal notification was issued in this connection on May 7.

The major benefits of the decision are likely to be an improvement in the civic amenities and redress of other problems like regularisation of unauthorised colonies which had come up in violation of the periphery Act.

According to Brig Rana R.S. Virk (retd.), a resident of Lohgarh, the government has taken the right step to make the Zirakpur nagar panchayat. He said that Akali Kaur Singh Colony had come up in 1987 and most of its residents are the 1984 riot-affected persons.

"Though the government has taken a good decision, yet we feel separated from our brothers. It pinches if the other brother (indicating towards Bhabat village) is in sorrow," said Mrs Harwant Kaur, a resident of New Defence Colony, Zirakpur. She hopes that the sewerage, roads, water, electricity and other basic amenities would be provided to the residents of the newly formed nagar panchayat in a better way.

"A dream of the residents has come true as the town has been declared a nagar panchayat after 15 years," said Mr Jaswant Singh Panglai, President of the Lok Dal, Punjab. Earlier residents of this area had to pay repeated visits to PUDA office for water and electricity connections. He admitted that Bhabat village was in the list of the villages to be included in the nagar panchayat. But after the rural sports meet held in February at Zirakpur, a conspiracy to keep the village out was hatched by certain godown owners, he alleged.

Mr Joginder Singh, a resident of Zirakpur, said that by not taking Bhabat village in the panchayat, the government had kept the revenue sources away which could be beneficial in the development of the panchayat.

Mr Krishan Sharma, Secretary, District Congress Committee, Patiala, appreciated the formation of the Zirakpur nagar panchayat. It would have been better if Bhabat village was included in the panchayat. The village was excluded at the last moment despite a number of promises made by political leaders to include it in the panchayat, he alleged.

Mr Ram Singh, sarpanch of Nabha Sahib, thanked the government for not merging the village with the six other villages to form the nagar panchayat. He said that their demand to exclude the village had been accepted.

Chandigarh 'has unique setting’
By Prabhjot Singh
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, May 12 — "Chandigarh is a unique Union Territory," says Mr K. Banarji, the only IAS officer of the AMGU cadre, who has the distinction of having two tenures each , both as Chief Commissioner and Adviser to the Administrator of Chandigarh.

Leading a totally retired life across the Yamuna in the union capital, Mr Banarji is here on a personal visit. He will return to Delhi tomorrow.

It is like a second home for me," he says. "Chandigarh is more crowded now. And now people can paint their houses and fix stones than have only brick or RCC facade."

Mr Banarji was appointed Chief Commissioner of Chandigarh on March 8,1982 , and he left Chandigarh on March 9,1988. Though he had attained the age of 60 years on November 9,1987, he was asked to continue here as Adviser to the Administrator till his successor came.

"I am leading a totally retired life. Read newspapers, watch TV, go to library and relax at home is all I do," he says, maintaining that he had never tried his hand at writing or doing anything else.

In fact, he was surprised when this correspondent called on him. "I normally come here once a year on my personal visit."

"Chandigarh is a unique Union Territory, unique in the sense that here the Chief Commissioner had to attend to his office the whole day. The convention elsewhere has been that the Chief Commissioner attends to his office during the first half of the day and then he informally attends to visitors or others at his residence office during the second half of the day.

"Also Chandigarh has a unique setting. A combined High Court for the States of Punjab and Haryana besides Chandigarh is here. Then you have two

Governors, two Assemblies and two MLA Hostels. In fact, the law and order situation in Punjab and Haryana is reflected here as all demonstrations are organised in Chandigarh. It is the UT Administration which faces the music," he said humorously.

He recalls how The Tribune had displayed his taking over as Chief Commissioner with a spot news.

"Those were slightly difficult days in the sense that censorship had to be imposed following the assassination of Mrs Indira Gandhi. Also, the city journalists led by Mr Prem Bhatia, the then Editor-in-Chief of The Tribune group, took out a procession in protest against the Bihar Press Bill. But still the Administration had very cordial relations with the media," remembers Mr Banarji.

It was during his tenure that work on allotment of land to cooperative house building societies started.

School adopts Janata Colony kids
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, May 12—Corridors resounding with the sound of students repeating the Hindi alphabet after their teacher in unison may not be an unusual sight in a school but at Bhawan Vidyalaya, Sector 27, it is an example worth emulating for other schools of the city.

A peek into the class, which begins at 3pm on all weekdays, shows 55 pairs of bright eyes and enthusiastic learners sitting at desks with books open, trying to absorb every word of the teacher with rapt attention. These are children from Janata Colony in Sector 25, the Bapu Dham colony in Sector 26 and the slums in Sector 4 of Panchkula who have been adopted by the literacy cell of the school and are taught for two hours every day.

The students are picked up by a bus hired for the purpose, brought to school, taught to read and write, and then the same bus drops them at home. The school mostly relies on donations to function.

During their two-hour stint every day, students are also provided nutritious meals to ensure they grow up to be healthy children and are allowed to use the swings on the school premises.

The in charge, Mrs Urmil Gupta, a social worker, puts in all efforts to make a difference in the lives of these children, aged between four and nine. Most of the children do not know when they were born.She is assisted by two other teachers in her work and two helpers.

“Our basic aim is to make them literate enough so that they can carry out their work independently without having to rely on anybody. Moreover, it is essential that good values are hammered into their head before the vices they pick up from the colonies take root,’’ Mrs Gupta says.

Narrating a few incidents to show how dedicated the students coming from the slums are towards learning in the school, she says, “One student bought a ticket to come all the way from Panchkula on his own because he had missed the bus and the other day a student came walking from his place in Sector 25 to attend the school.’’ Partially, the nutritious food given at school is a major attraction for these students who come from the lowest strata of society, she admits.

Some children interviewed said, “I enjoy whatever we study here and am working hard to grasp what the teacher tells us every day. I don’t want the two hours to end ever,” Mani, from Sector 25, says. Rekha Kumari, from Panchkula, says,”I used to study when I was at the village but my parents could not afford to educate me in the city. Instead, I was forced to wash dishes to earn for the family. This school has been a blessing for children like us.’’

The literacy cell will be formally inaugurated tomorrow by Mrs Anuradha Gupta, Education and Home Secretary. At the inaugural function, Mrs Gupta will distribute the school dresses and shoes to the students.