Thursday, September 16, 1999
|
N E W S Thursday, September 16, 1999 |
|
weather spotlighttoday's calendar |
University
amends regulation CHANDIGARH Sept 15 — Panjab University has by changing a regulation amended the basic structure of the governing body of non-government affiliated colleges to give representation to the university and the DPI ( Colleges) in their managements. The amendment of Regulation 8.1 of Chapter VIII (E) relating to 'conditions of service and conduct of teachers in non-government affiliated colleges has been recently approved by the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Department of Education, and the same will now be incorporated under Chapter VIII (A) after Regulation 1.1 relating to the 'Affiliated Colleges' of the PU Calendar, Volume I, 1994. As per the revised regulation, the governing body of a non-government affiliated college will consist of 15 members on its management. Of these nine members will be elected/nominated by the Registered Trust/Society as per their constitution; one member, will be an eminent academician nominated by the Vice-Chancellor; DPI ( Colleges) or his nominee not below the rank of Deputy Director ( Colleges); Principal of the College, who will be an ex-officio member, two representatives of teachers to be elected by all confirmed teachers and one academician to be nominated by the managing committee. The previous governing bodies of these colleges had no provision for including a representative of the Vice-Chancellor, DPI ( Colleges) and an academician nominated by the managing committee. The regulation specifies that the tenure of the governing body will be three years and elections will be held three months before the expiry of the existing term. However, if the election to the governing body is not held within the prescribed period, the university will be competent to arrange the election to constitute a new governing body at the earliest. Furthermore, the names of the members of the governing body elected/constituted shall be duly approved by the Vice-Chancellor and reported to the Syndicate. It further stipulates that if a case, in connection with a criminal offence involving moral turpitude, is registered against a member of the governing body, he will cease to function as a member of the governing body till he is convicted. In fact, he will be deemed to have been removed from the governing body with effect from the date of his conviction. The university has also been made competent to disapprove/remove any such member/office-bearer from the governing body who fail to manage the college as per the conditions of affiliation and to carry out various decisions and directives of the university. However, the member will be given an opportunity to explain his position. This amendment will facilitate the university and the state government to exercise some check on the functioning of the government affiliated colleges. The proposal for amendment was mooted a few years ago by Prof Tarsem Bahia, president of the Private College Teachers' Union (PCTU) keeping in view the non-functioning of certain governing bodies particularly women colleges in the state. The same had been approved by the university Senate last year, following which it was sent to Parliament for approval. Dr Deepak Manmohan
Singh, Dean, College Development Council, when contacted
said the amended regulation would now be circulated in
all the non-government affiliated colleges for immediate
implementation. |
Cops told
to be people-friendly CHANDIGARH, Sept 15 — In view of the increasing incidence of crime in the city, the UT police has begun strengthening its network at the police station level. The field officials were asked to adopt a friendly and community-oriented approach towards residents today at the monthly meeting of SHOs and other police officials under the presidentship of Mr. S.K. Singh, Inspector-General. To ensure an effective patrolling in each nook and corner of the city each of the police stations, which currently have a mobike and a gypsy, would be provided with two more gypsies and three mobikes. Mr Singh said to check crimes like snatching, the PCR officials have been directed to move in their respective areas between 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. There would be an extensive patrolling of residential areas between 12noon and 4 p.m. to prevent burglaries. To prevent crime and instill confidence among the residents, the SHOs and DPOs were directed to move on foot instead of vehicles during checking of beat officers in their respective areas. "They have been told in clear terms that no leniency would be tolerated and they will be held responsible for the occurrence of any crime in their respective areas. Drastic measures like suspension can also be taken. This is a part of the reorientation process initiated to make the city police a people friendly force," said Mr Singh. As a part of the drive, officials, particularly those on PCR duty have been asked to lend a helping hand to people facing any problem. "From today, people can approach the PCR people even if their vehicle has broken down or if the streetlight is off. In such cases, the PCR people would inform the authorities concerned to attend to the problem," said Mr Singh, adding that the officials have been told not to adopt stiff postures towards the members of the public. He advised people to contact him or any other senior officer if they found any police official to be discourteous towards them. According to Mr Singh,
the first phase of the reorientation of the police force
will start with an in-service training programme for
officials to be held soon at the police lines here.
"During this programme, officials of all levels
would be taught the basics of good behaviour towards
people. For this purpose, two rooms have been selected in
the police lines where reorientation classes would be
held," he said. |
Shed or
white elephant? SAS NAGAR, Sept 15 — Infrastructure developed by Punjab Government at Anandpur Sahib during the tercentenary celebrations appears to have become a white elephant for it. Temporary infrastructure created at a cost of lakhs of rupees at the historic place had to be shifted out and virtually dumped at other places. Some of the infrastructure like the 'langar halls', which were made by erecting iron girders supporting tin sheets, were uprooted and transported on special trucks and re-erected at other places after the celebrations. One such dismantled 'langar hall' landed in the township. A piece of land owned by the Punjab Urban Development Authority (PUDA) in Phase I, in front of the PUDA office complex, was eaten up to re-erect the shed. Sources said that of the 19 sheds erected at Anandpur Sahib, at least 10 were dismantled and brought to the township and put up at one place. Sources said a project division of PUDA was entrusted with the job of uprooting the sheds, transporting it and refixing these. A lot of material, manpower and machinery was involved in re-erecting these sheds at a place adjoining Chandigarh. Now PUDA is thinking of giving these shed to a private contractor for parking private vehicles. Recently, the project division had reportedly written to the local Estate Office to frame some guidelines for auctioning these sheds for some useful purpose. Sources say that the Estate Office has written back to the officials to frame the guidelines for using the sheds. Officials in PUDA said as there was an acute problem of parking in front of the PUDA office, these sheds could solve the problem. At present, persons visiting the PUDA office, the SDM Office and other offices located in the complex often park their vehicles on the road leading to accidents. But the question is
whether the shed will be auctioned for parking and if
auctioned, who will ensure that persons park their
vehicles in the shed after paying a certain fee. |
Traffic
inspection by court team PANCHKULA, Sept 15 — A team of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, comprising the Court Commissioner, Mr HS Sethi, Additional Secretary (Transport), Mr Ranjit Singh, Superintendent of Police (Traffic), Mr Baldev Singh, Joint Secretary (Home), Mr Gurmel Singh, AIG (police), Mr Man Singh, Additional Transport Commissioner, Mrs Satwanti Ahlawat, and the DIG, Mr Yashpal Singal, went around the city to check the implementation of directions on traffic, hoardings and encroachments issued by the court, here today. They were accompanied by the deputy Commissioner, Mr Vivek Joshi. The team checked traffic flow, zebra crossings, lane markings and hoardings in the vicinity of a restaurant in Sector 2. It also visited a school in Sector 6 and interacted with conductors and drivers, enquiring whether the guidelines issued were being followed while plying buses. It also stopped at a vehicle pollution-check centre at the Sector 8 petrol pump and took note of the procedure being followed while issuing certificates while checking signboards of bus stops and schools at the places earmarked for these. The team was satisfied with the progress in the direction of implementation of orders the court.policemen were out in large numbers at crossings since morning and were challaning vehicles for various traffic violations. Meanwhile, the directions on traffic regulations, removal of hoardings, guidelines for plying school buses and pollution centres of the Punjab and Haryana High Court were discussed at a meeting of district officials chaired by the Deputy Commissioner, Mr Vivek Joshi, here. Speaking at the meeting, the Superintendent of Police, Mr Alok Mittal, said that all sub-inspectors and SHOs had been given instructions to follow the direction to the letter. The District Roadways Officer informed that the District Education Officer had convened a special meeting of the drivers of vehicles of educational institutions and conveyed the directions to them. Further, he informed that all vehicle pollution check centres had been instructed to make entries of certificates issued by them daily and get these signed by the official concerned. The DEO said a copy of the direction had been issued to all educational institutions and they had been advised to abide by them strictly. The DC instructed the Secretary of Haryana Roadways, Ambala, to launch a special drive to check vehicles of educational institutions in coordination with the police. He asked the SP to issue instruction to the police posts and police stations for the same. He also informed the officials present that a refresher course in driving would be organised for drivers of vehicles of educational institutions, of the state government and those of Haryana roadways. These would be organised at the driving training school at Karnal, Murthal, Rohtak and Gurgaon. The Food and Supplies
Controller informed the officials present that samples of
petrol and diesel are collected in the presence of an
official of the oil company from the petrol stations from
time to time and tested for adulteration.The Chief
engineer,HUDA, said signposts and markings at various
points in the city had been made in accordance with the
directions of the court. |
Punjab
officials booked for fraud of Rs 35 lakh CHANDIGARH, Sept 15 — The police has registered a case against a Joint Director and a Senior Assistant of the Directorate of Panchayats and Rural Development of Punjab for allegedly defrauding the department to the tune of Rs 35.76 lakh. The money was withdrawn from the bank between 1994 and 1996. According to sources, the Economic Offences Wing of the local police has registered a case, following a compliant from the department, alleging that the duo had withdrawn money which was meant to be disbursed among suppliers. Reportedly, the modus operandi of the accused was that a file for the clearance of payments would be put up by S.K. Mahajan in which he used to note that the money for all payments should be released to him and he would distribute it among the suppliers accordingly. The next time he would make an entry that the previous cheque had been cancelled and a new cheque for a larger sum was being submitted. This time, he would withdraw the amount and keep it to himself. In a particular instance, he withdrew Rs 70,000 in one go by clubbing two payments in a single bill. He would allegedly silence some of the suppliers by either threatening to hold up their payments or would release a small amount. The Joint Director, A.S. Dhillon, would sanction all these amounts, although he told the police that he had been "clearing the payments in good trust". A case under Sections
406, 409, 420 and 120-B of the IPC has been registered at
the Sector 17 police station.
|
Zirakpur
nagar panchayat poll soon ZIRAKPUR, Sept 15 — The elections to newly-formed Zirakpur Nagar Panchayat will be held soon. The Punjab Government has constituted a team of 15 members headed by Mr Telu Ram, Assistant Director (Elections), Local Government, to conduct a population survey of the villages which have been merged to form the nagar panchayat. The team will submit the report regarding the formation of number of wards. On the basis of the report submitted by the team, a meeting of Deputy Director, Local Government, Punjab, SDM of Dera Bassi, the local MLA, and other officials will be held to delimit the wards. The public would be given one month's time to file objections. If the total population of the villages merged to form the panchayat is 20,000 or above, then 15 wards would be formed and and it would be called a municipal council. If the population is below 20,000, as many as 13 wards would be constituted. The ward would have almost equal population. Mr Amrit Lal Bansal,
Executive Officer, Zirakpur Nagar Panchayat, informed
that after the last date of seeking the objections from
the public, a house-to-house survey of voters would be
carried out before the list is forwarded to the state
election commission. The whole process would take about
three months, he added. |
Delay in
food supply to be probed CHANDIGARH, Sept 15 — Even as the UT police has initiated a probe into the delay in the delivery of food to 4000 policemen deployed on poll duty, the authorities are contemplating to blacklist the contractor, if he is found negligent. The delay in delivery of food on the poll day had resulted in widespread resentment among employees as most of them failed to get their lunch till six in the evening. There have also been allegations of supply of low quality food to employees. The food was supplied by a Sector 29 contractor, according to a menu prepared by a committee comprising senior police officers. The contractor, it is learnt, had charged Rs 70 per head for supply of evening tea and dinner on September 4 and for breakfast, lunch and evening tea on September 5, the poll day. The contract was for Rs 2.80 lakh. In addition to the charge of delay, the enquiry officer has been briefed by the Inspector-General of Police to look into allegations of supply of low quality food and charging of higher price by the contractor than that prevailing in the market. The enquiry officer has also been asked by the authorities to investigate the allegations that the contract was given to a relative of a police officer. Mr S.K. Singh, IGP,
asserted that if the allegations are found to be true,
the contractor would be blacklisted for any such jobs. |
Protest
against exam system planned CHANDIGARH, Sept 15 —The Haryana Students Association of Panjab University in a press conference here today announced an agitation against the "malfunctioning examination system" soon after completion of student body elections within this month. Mr Sunder Pal, a spokesperson, said the failure of the examination system and inefficiencies in the administration had increased manifold and needed immediate attention. Mr Pal said delays in the declaration of results and students being recharged for re-appearing in examinations because their re-evaluation results were not declared on time and lack of communication between the students and the examination branch only compounded the problem. The students should be able to rely on the departments concerned and college for completion of the admission papers and mediating authorities should assist in removing the deficiencies in official documents before the declaration of the results, Mr Pal said. Mr Pal said the most common excuse for delay in administrative work was shortage of staff. The staff could not be employed because of lack of funds. Instead of finding excuses, efforts needed to be made to ensure employment. After the elections of the student body, the HSA, with other student bodies, will chalk out a common plan of action for the welfare of students at least on the administration front, Pal added. Bhupinder Singh, the likely HSA presidential candidate, while pointing out a lacuna in administrative functioning, said the fee charged in two hostels for girls was more than that in others. However, it was later announced that it was adjusted against the fee. He said that the employees on the election duty of student bodies had increased over the past years.The period had seen an increase of 40,000 voters in the graduates constituency.This also increased the number of university employees to be deployed for election duty. Chand Singh Madaan said
the tribunal constituted during elections needed serious
reconsideration regarding rules and regulations of
elections. The word "accused" was also not
clearly defined, he added. |
Issue of
transferred students resolved CHANDIGARH, Sept 15 — The issue regarding where the plus two students of non-medical stream of Government Senior Secondary School, Sector 8, who have recently been transferred to Government Model Senior Secondary School, Sector 18, would appear for their on-going mid-term examinations was resolved today. The District Education Officer, Mr Brahmjit Kalia, when contacted said that he had asked all the 28 students to appear for the remaining examinations in GMSSS-18, where they had earlier taken their first two papers. However, the chemistry paper, for which they could not appear yesterday due to some confusion, was taken today at GSSS-8. However, since these students had covered a lesser syllabi than that covered by their counterparts in GMSSS-18, they would be given question papers set by their previous teachers in GSSS-8. Mr Kalia further clarified that even earlier he had instructed these students to take their mid-term examinations in the Sector 8 school, since it would be easier for them to appear for papers set by teachers who had taught them. However, they on their own decided to take the examinations in the Sector 18 school and the problem arose when the teacher did not allow them to sit for the third exam yesterday. He informed that since only 28 students were enrolled against a total of 120 seats in the science stream of plus one last year, the department decided to shift these students to GMSSS-18 this year and did not admit any students to this stream in Sector 8 this year. The students were shifted on September 1 and the mid-term examinations commenced on September 6. The students have now been asked to fill their CBSE forms for the plus two examinations from GMSSS-18. Meanwhile, Mr R.S
Rathore, physics lecturer from GSSS-8, has been shifted
to the Sector 18 school for the benefit of these students
and he is likely to join in a day or two. Two other
science teachers of this school have also been shifted to
other schools. |
Hindi Day
functions PANCHKULA, Sept 15 — A number of talent contests were organised on the occasion of Hindi Day by Government College, Panchkula, yesterday. These included contests in poetry recitation, singing, speech making, mono acting and dance. The results: Speech making: Vishal, B.Com-III (1) and Kulwinder Singh, BA-III (2). Poetry recitation: Vishal, B.Com-III (1) and Amit, B.Com-II (2). Singing: Naveen Sharma, B.Sc-III (1) and Raj Kumar, BA-I (2). Mono acting: Kulwinder, BA-III (1) and Amin, B.Com-II (2). Dance: Samta, BA-II (1) and Shweta, BA-II (2). CHANDIGARH A handwriting competition, declamation, poetry recitation and dances marked the Rashtriya Hindi Divas celebrations of Blue Bird School at Gandhi Smarak Bhavan on Tuesday. Students from pre-nursery to class V from the Chandigarh and Panchkula branches participated in the function. The Deputy General Manager of the State Bank of India, Mr K.K. Mehra, gave away trophies, medals and certificates to the children. The Punjab and Sind Bank, Sector 17-B, held competitions in dictation, 'prashan manch', 'nibandh' and 'kavita path' in Hindi and Punjabi. Mr Harinder Pal Singh, Zonal Manager, highlighted the need of Hindi in the banking industry. Dr Sudha Jain, a noted Hindi writer, presided over a seminar on 'Indian elections and Hindi' organised by the Sakshi Sahitya and the Kala Manch. She said Hindi was the link language during the freedom struggle. Prominent among those
who spoke were Yash Gulati, Subhash Rastogi, Prem Vij,
Madhav Kaushik, Amarjit Amar, Gopal Dutt and Jaswinder
Sharma. |
Demand to
convene meeting CHANDIGARH, Sept 15 —The Federation of Small-Scale Industries has urged the Industries Secretary of the Chandigarh Administration to convene a meeting of the Industrial Advisory Committee immediately. The President of the federation, Mr Yash Pal Mahajan, said today that since the last meeting of the committee was held in March it was necessary to held the meeting soon as two meeting of the committee must be held in a year. He also demanded that the meeting should be held after every three months. Mr Rajeev Gupta, Secretary, said that at the meeting of the committee held on March 19 many industry-friendly decisions were taken and instructions were issued to take decisions within one month."We do agree that many tops officials of the Administration had changed but delay in issuing notifications was hampering the growth of the local industry", he added. Some of the important decisions taken at the meeting were about the ownership rights to plot owners and CITCO shed owners, matters relating to the Sales Tax Department, removal of first point sales tax on industrial consumable goods, issuing of no objection certificates by the Estate Office for mortgaging of industrial sheds and permission to sub-let 100 per cent plots and sheds. Development of the
software industry, participation of officials concerned
at the meeting of the single window committee meetings,
new guidelines for issuing of NOC by the Pollution
Control Department, creation of more electricity
sub-divisions in the Industrial Area, creation of a
separate grid for water supply and recarpeting of the
roads were the other decisions taken at the meeting. |
Scholars
form two panels CHANDIGARH, Sept 15 — Differences among research scholars led to the formation of two separate research scholar associations here today. The following have been elected office-bearers of the the Research Scholars Association Panjab University:President —Mr Surender K.Pal; vice-president —Mr Des Raj Kashyap; general secretary—Mr Navneet Batra; joint secretary — Ms Meenakshi; and treasurer —Mr Jagtar Singh. Meanwhile, following
have been elected office-bearers of the Panjab University
Research Scholars Association:president —Mr
Gagandeep Singh; vice-presidents—Ms Ashu Kaushal and
Mr Kuldeep Singh; general secretary — Mr Onkar
Singh; joint secretaries — Mr Jaswant Singh and Mr
Gurjaspreet Singh; and finance secretary — Mr Ajay
Tomar. |
SNIPPETS Stress on child nutrition CHANDIGARH, Sept 15 — Experts at a state-level workshop on “Preventing malnutrition among children below two years” stressed the need for creating awareness about nutritional care of young children at antenatal stage. Mr N.P. Jain, Assistant Technical Adviser, Ministry of Human Resource Development, said the risk of death from childhood diseases increases in the case of mildly nourished children. Dr (Mrs) Lata Kumar, Head of the Department of Paediatrics, PGI, said growth faltering began at the stage of four to six months and required complementary feeding and any delay in tackling this could make child vulnerable to infections diseases. Dr M.P. Minocha, Director, Family Welfare, Chandigrh, said exclusive breast-feeding for the first five months and timely food supplements were the key factors for normal growth. Mother’s health during pregnancy was also of equal importance. PUDA proposal opposed SAS NAGAR, Sept 15 — The Phase IV Residents Welfare Association has opposed the proposed increase in the prices of plots by PUDA at the rate of Rs 1.68 per sq ft. The association President, Mr Puran Singh Kirti, said notices to this effect had been sent by PUDA to plot owners in phases IV and V. This was the third time that PUDA had hiked plot prices. The association described the hike as uncalled-for and demanded its immediate withdrawal. Music appreciation workshop CHANDIGARH, Sept 15 — The Department of Fine Arts, Panjab University, will organise a two-day music and art appreciation workshop on September 16 and 17. The workshop will be conducted by Mr Parag Trivedi and Dr D.D. Pattnayak through audio-visual aids and music cassettes. According to Dr Alka Pande, head of the department, day one of the workshop will include the study of music, its various kinds and structure of music as well as the difference between Indian and Western classical music. The second day will include the study of the Baroque, classical and romantic periods in painting, architecture and music. This will include an audio-visual presentation on 300 years from the year 1600 of art history in which the coordinators would relate the plastic arts with music. Dr Pattnayak will also provide the component of the appreciation of Indian aesthetics through Indian mythology and religion. Notice of motion to DC CHANDIGARH, Sept 15 — Mr Justice V.S. Aggarwal has issued notice of motion to Mr M. Ramshekhar, Deputy Commissioner-cum-Registrar, Cooperative Societies, UT, Chandigarh, on a contempt petition filed by Mr Vinod Tandon, a resident of Milk Colony, Dhanas, Chandigarh. The grievance of the petitioners was that despite the direction issued by the High Court in a writ petition filed by them to take steps to hold election of the managing committee of the Narvana Cooperative House Building Society Ltd., Chandigarh, within a month of the order, the same had not been complied with. The work of the society is not in progress and the construction of the flats on the allotted land has not started. The petitioner sought that respondents be summoned and punished for committing contempt of the court. 'Mushaira' on Kargil CHANDIGARH, Sept 15 — An all-India "mushaira" dedicated to Kargil war heroes will be organised by the International Punjabi Society in Tagore theatre on September 19, a press release said here today. The poets who have confirmed their participation include Padma Shree Dr Basheer Badr,Dr Sardar Anjum and Bekal Utashi. Others who will participate are Zubair Rizvi, Waseem Barelvi, Makhmoor Saeedi, Jigar Jalandhari, Nashir Naqvi, Jahan Aara Wafa and Gulrez Rampuri. Talk on capital punishment CHANDIGARH, Sept 15 — Critique organised a discussion on ''Law, capital punishment and Rajiv Gandhi'' in the Department of Sociology, Panjab University, last evening. Nearly 90 teachers from various teaching departments of the university participated in the discussion. The main focus of the discussion was to scrap capital punishment and think of other alternatives of correction. The two main speakers, Mrs Neeru Baid from the Supreme Court and Mr Sohana Bhattacharya from the People's Union for Democratic Republic, Delhi, emphasised on the need to develop a political consciousness so that ''we do not accept the judicial pronouncements in various cases as sacrosanct''. They also stressed on the need to question the state on the oppressive forms of punishment and also change the Indian thinking regarding law. Leprosy conference on Sept 17 CHANDIGARH, Sept 15 — The city has an incidence of 0.05 per cent leprosy cases, with a majority of cases found in the migratory population.This was statedhere today by Dr Bhushan Kumar at a press conference held in the PGI in connection with the 21st biennial conference of the Indian Association of Leprologists, being held on September 17, 18 and 19. The conference, being hosted by the Department of Dermatology, Venerolgy and Leperology, will be devoted to continuing medical education (CME) on the first day, and the other two days will include selected guest lectures. Dr Bhushan added that there were over five lakh registered leprosy patients all over the country,and under the annual detection programme about one lakh new patients had been detected during the past one year. The conference this year corresponds to the 125th anniversary of the foundation of the leprosy mission.it assumes significance as the World Health Organisation has set a goal to eliminate leprosy by 2000.Dr Bhushan said India had extended this goal up to year 2002 and some states up to 2005. Seminar
on TB CHANDIGARH, Sept 15 — Even today there are two billion people infected with tuberculosis worldwide, and though in India it was almost controlled, but because of the emergence of AIDS tuberculosis has again gained significance. This was stated today by Dr Joginder Singh, Director, Health Services, at a seminar held on tuberculosis, at Health Centre, Sector 22. The seminar, which was
aimed at bringing awareness about the disease in the
public, was organised by the International Association of
Lions Club, Chandigarh. |
 |
 |
| Nation
| Punjab | Haryana | Himachal Pradesh | Jammu & Kashmir | | Editorial | Business | Sport | | Mailbag | Spotlight | World | 50 years of Independence | Weather | | Search | Subscribe | Archive | Suggestion | Home | E-mail | |
