Matric, senior secondary exams from March 12
By Rajmeet Singh
Tribune News Service

SAS NAGAR, Jan 5 — The Punjab School Education Board has decided to hold the forthcoming annual examination of the matric and senior secondary school-level examination ahead of the middle class examination. While the matric and senior secondary school examination will begin from March 12, the middle class exams will start on March 27.

The decision will enable the board authorities to declare the results on time allowing the candidates to seek admission in various professional courses, say board officials. The board has also decided to hold the practical tests ahead of the written examinations.

Going by the standard practice in the past, the middle class examination is held before the written tests for the higher classes. This year the middle class examination has been scheduled from March 27, whereas in the past the exam usually commences in the first week of March.

Apart from the instruction of the government to the board authorities to not schedule annual examinations between February 9 and March 5 due to the ongoing census operation, last year experience of the board authorities — when results of the different streams of the Senior Secondary School Examination were inordinately delayed inviting severe criticism from different quarters — has apparently pushed the board authorities to work for timely declaration of the results.

The board authorities in the examination schedule have decided to declare the results within two months after the respective examinations end. The Chairman of the Punjab School Education Board, Dr Kehar Singh, said effort would be made to declare the result by the end of May. Last year the result of the science stream was declared in June whereas the result of the Arts and other streams were declared in July.

As per the new schedule, the matric class examination beginning from March 12 will be held in the morning session and end by March 26 and the Senior Secondary School Examination also beginning from March 12 will be held in the evening session. The exams of the science stream will begin ahead of the exams for the humanities and vocational streams.

The Vice-Chairman of the board, Dr Gurdev Singh Sidhu, said the practicals of the science stream of the 10+2 would be held from January 19 to January 29. The practicals of the humanities and vocational groups were being held from January 29 to January 31 and from February 3 to February 7, respectively. For the matric class, the practicals would be held from February 3 to February 7. The officials said that the work of identifying the examination centres had been finished.

Meanwhile, the board has allowed the private candidates to sit in the matric and senior secondary school level examination at three identified school centres in each block in the respective district. The decision would enable the candidates to appear at the nearest examination centre. Earlier private candidates were required to appear at divisional level centres. The private schools had been demanding the facility for long, said a spokesman of the board.

You, too, can sing like Lata!
By Vibha Sharma
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Jan 5 — Believe it or not, after a surgical procedure on your vocal chords called phonosurgery you, too, can sing like melody queen Lata Mangeshkar or speak with a deep baritone voice like Amitabh Bachchan.

While details about this kind of thyroplasty ENT specialists may like to keep close to their chest (after all, they can’t risk the corridors of the PGI being flooded with aspiring singers), the fact remains that procedures are now available with which the pitch of the voice can be adjusted with vocal chord tension or relaxation.

And as Prof S.B.S. Mann, Director-Principal, GMCH, Sector 32, Chandigarh, and former head, ENT Department, PGI, says, phonosurgery is the future in ENT surgery.

Speaking to The Tribune today, experts in the field, who are in the city to attend the annual conference of the Association of Otolaryngologists of India at the PGI, asserted that phonosurgery had certainly proved to be a boon for those suffering from voice disorders, especially those who earlier had no hope at all.

According to Dr Ashok Gupta, Associate Professor, ENT Department, PGI, 250 to 300 patients visited the OPD at the PGI with complaints of persistent hoarseness of voice. The institute performed 20 to 30 phonosurgery procedures every year.

Earlier a majority of such cases were treated by conservative methods which encouraged the patient to speak so that compensatory could develop, explained Prof A.S. Bais, Deputy Director-General, Union Ministry of Health. This technique was not very successful as a very small percentage of cases actually showed improvement. Compared to that phonosurgery gave very good results, said Professor Bais.

For the past five to 10 years almost all major centres in India have been using this technique, which was originally developed by Dr Ishiki in Japan. However, according to Professor Gupta, most of the ENT surgeons still do not have a proper exposure to this surgical procedure.

The PGI team during the conference had given a live demonstration of this technique to popularise the procedure among ENT surgeons and make people aware about its availability.

Hoarseness of voice, according to Professor Mann, could be the result of a variety of factors. It could be the side-effect of a thyroid of interventional procedure of head and neck. Increase in road accidents had also contributed to a spurt in the number of persons requiring phonosurgery. However, 70 per cent of the cases were idiopathic in nature where this condition might spontaneously arise following the paralysis of the vocal chords due to causes not known.

During the operation the paralysed vocal chord was pushed medially using a silastic block till an appropriate pitch of the voice was achieved. The same technique could also be used to after the pitch of the voice as was done after sex change operations.

Sun makes brief appearance but cold wave persists
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Jan 5 — The day-time temperature rose by 1° celsius in the city today while the sun made an appearance around the afternoon making the day a little more bearable than the previous day. However, the mercury was recorded at a shivering 12.4° celsius which was 8° below the normal average for this time of the year.

Yesterday the mercury had dropped to 11.2° celsius. Even the veil of fog that had hung over the city and surrounding areas for the past two days cleared away around 3 p.m. today. Meanwhile, the minimum temperature also rose by 1° celsius over yesterday’s. Today the minimum was recorded at 8.2° celsius.

Today the day begun with the fog once again hanging at a height and the sun missing for the second consecutive day. This forced residents to remain indoors and use heaters and blowers. The morning’s cold affected attendance in offices and schools. Around the afternoon the sun made a welcome brief appearance. The met office has said the cold condition, fog and mist will prevail in the morning while the sky will be mainly cloudy. 

Madhya Marg may be declared rickshaw-free zone
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Jan 5 — For cutting down on accidents, the Chandigarh Police is reportedly planning to declare Madhya Marg a “rickshaw-free zone”.

The police is also planning to impose a ban on the plying of “horse-carts, bullock-carts, and even rehris”, on the Madhya Marg. A letter seeking permission to implement the strategy has reportedly been written to the authorities in the Chandigarh Administration.

According to the plan under consideration, the rickshaws and other such slow moving vehicles will be asked to take alternate routes to their destinations. Cycles will, however, be allowed to ply.

The move, claim officials in the Police Department, is significant as rickshaw-pullers are involved in a substantial number of road accidents taking place everyday in the city, particularly on the Madhya Marg.

Though exact data is not available, unofficial studies conducted by the Chandigarh Police reveal that out of 546 accidents in 1999, an impressive number was caused due to rashness and negligence of rickshaw pullers.

In 2000, as many as 550 accidents, including about 115 fatal, took place. Sources in the police departments believe that the “involvement of rickshaw pullers in at least some of them can not be ruled out”.

Giving details, a senior police officer asserts: “The migrant labourers from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, having poor road sense, hire rickshaws at cheap rates soon after coming to the city. They cut across the road without giving indication. Most of the times, it is too late. The zipping bus or truck rams into it from behind”.

Officials also claim that a drive to educate the rickshaw-pullers was launched earlier last year. The pullers, on the other hand, insist that no one has ever approached them.

Three bodies found
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Jan 5 — A highly decomposed body of a youth, believed to have been dumped after being murdered, was pulled out from a nullah about 500m from the road dividing Sectors 31 and 47 late in the evening today.

The completely naked body, covered with algae, was discovered by a boy residing in the Sector 31 colony. He had reportedly gone to the fields at about 4.30 p.m. for answering the call of nature when he saw the body trapped between the two massive boulders.

The police on being informed about the incident by the boy rushed to the spot. The body was so decomposed that the skin kept peeling off as it was being pulled out. Intense smell from the body made the task “almost impossible”.

The Deputy Superintendent of Police, Mr S.C. Sagar, who had reached the spot, along with the Inspector, Mr K.I.P. Singh, said the smell and the condition of the body indicated that it had been in water for at least 15 days. He added that the true picture would emerge only after the report of the post-mortem examination was received.

Another police official said that the body, dumped into the nullah somewhere else in the city, had reached the spot after being carried by the gushing water. Disposed of polythene bags sticking to the body was a testimony to this effect.

He claimed that the unidentified youth, in his late 20s, was probably murdered, and is evident from the fact that his clothes were missing. Fifteen to 20 days, he asserted, was too short a period for the clothes to decompose.

Sources in the Police Department added that the body had been sent to the Sector 16 General Hospital where the post-mortem examination would be conducted tomorrow.

They also added that police records were being checked to see if anyone with matching description was reported missing in the last couple of weeks. Proceedings under Section 173 of the CrPC, have also been ordered, they disclosed.

PANCHKULA: A 22-year-old youth hailing from Himachal Pradesh, was found dead in his tenanted house in Sector 17 here today.

According to sources, the deceased, Vinod, was employed with a private security firm and was staying as a tenant for the past few years. The body was noticed by the landlords today.

Sources said that the landlords were out of station since December 24, and when they came back, they found Vinod’s room locked from inside and got suspicious. After breaking the door open they found his body.

The body was sent to the General Hospital, Sector 6. The exact cause of Vinod’s death could not be ascertained but possibility of being a drug addict has not be been ruled out, the hospital sources said.

SAS NAGAR: Body of an eight-year-old boy of Sohana, who went missing few days back, was found floating in a village pond in Sohana this morning. Suspected to be a case of drowning, the body surfaced today.

The victim, Gaurav, was a student of first standard at a school in Sohana and was a son of a rehri wala, Varinder Kumar. The post-mortem of the deceased was conducted at the Phase 6 Civil Hospital here today. A police official said there were no signs of injury on the victim’s body. The boy while playing was reported missing near the pond on December 28 last .

The victim’s parents kept on searching him and even went to the Sohana police station to lodge a complaint. The police officials had sought details and photographs of the boy.

The Superintendent of Police, SAS Nagar, Mr Gurmeet Singh Chauhan, said though the police had initiated proceedings under Section 174 of the CrPC, the exact cause of death would be known only after the autopsy report.

9 MC committees formed
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Jan 5 —The Mayor, Mr Raj Kumar Goel, today constituted nine committees of the Municipal Corporation of Chandigarh (MCC) and tried to sideline the majority BJP-SAD alliance.

Though the Mayor, whose Congress Party, has five members in the 29-member civic body, has tried to give representation to all councillors, a close look at the list indicates that the Mayor had tried his best to sideline the SAD-BJP alliance so that either the Congress councillors or the nominated councillors are elected chairmen of the committees.

In the new list, the members of the Water Supply and Sewerage Disposal Committee are Maj-Gen Gurdial Singh, Ms. Saudamini Bambah (both nominated), Mr Prem Sagar Jain, Mr Des Raj Tandon (both from BJP), Ms Kamlesh and Ms Sunita (Congress) and Mr Mohinder Singh (SAD)

The members of the Roads Committee include Ms Satinder Dhawan, Mr Gurcharan Dass Kala, Ms Kamlesh and Ms Sunita (Congress), Ms Harjinder Kaur (SAD) Mr Bachan Singh and Mr Rajinder Kumar (BJP).

Mr R.S. Kailey, Maj-Gen Rajinder Nath (Retd) and Ms Parsun Kaur (nominated), Mr Gian Chand Gupta, Mr Raghubir Lal Arora (BJP) and Ms Kamlesh and Ms Satinder Dhawan (Congress) will be the new members of the House Tax Assessment Committee.

Similarly, the Slum Development Committee includes Ms Kamlesh and Ms Sunita (Congress), Ms Shanta Abhilashi, Mr Kewal Krishan Addiwal and Mr Rajinder Kumar (BJP) Mr Kailey and Ms Parsun Kaur (nominated).

The Arts, Culture and Sports Committee will have Ms Bambah, General Rajinder Nath, Ms Surya Pandit (nominated), Ms Abhilashi and Ms Ranjana Shahi (BJP), and Ms Dhawan and Ms Kamlesh (Congress).

On similar lines, Ms Harjinder Kaur (SAD) Ms Dhawan and Ms Sunita (Congress), Mr Harish Bhanot and Dr IC Pathak (nominated) and Air Marshal R.S. Bedi (retd) and Mr Bachan Singh (BJP) will be members of the Environment and City Beautification Committee.

The names of Dr Pathak, Mr R.K. Aggarwal and General Gurdial Singh (nominated), Mr Kala and Ms Sunita (Congress), Ms Kamala Sharma and Mr Gupta (BJP) figure in the Electricity Committee.

The Legal Affairs Committee will have Ms Pundit, Ms Aggarwal and Mr Bhanot (nominated), Ms Dhawan (Congres), Mr O.P. Goyal, Ms Shahi and Mr Addiwal (BJP) as members.

The Apni Mandi Committee members include Mr Kala, and Ms Sunita (Congress), Mr Mohinder Singh and Ms Harjinder Kaur (SAD), Ms Parsun Kaur and Mr R.S. Kailey (nominated), and Mr Kanhya Lal (BJP).

PU panel to probe financial bungling
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Jan 5 — Panjab University has constituted a high-powered committee to probe into the alleged financial irregularities in the university expenditure during the past few years, highly placed sources said here yesterday.

The committee to probe the lapses on account of financial expenditure will be chaired by Justice D.V.Sehgal. Justice Sehgal has recently been nominated as a member of the university senate by the Chancellor.

The committee also includes Mr Balwant Singh, AG, Punjab. Prof Paramjit Singh, Registrar, will be the presenting officer.

The university house has for the past several months resounded with noises of alleged financial irregularities, sources added.

THE BOTTOMLINE
LCA prototype to have city-made instrument
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Jan 5 — The second prototype of the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) will incorporate a vital instrument — the Head-up Display unit — which has been designed and developed in Chandigarh.

The first prototype, TD-1, made its maiden test flight at Bangalore yesterday, but was equipped with a foreign head-up Display unit (HUD). The HUD is an electro-optical unit which superimposes vital flight parameters like airspeed, altitude, rate of turn and bank, compass direction as well as the armament status on the pilot’s vision of the outside world. It has been developed by the Central Scientific Instruments Organisation (CSIO) here.

According to sources, the locally developed HUD has already been installed in the second prototype, TD-2, which is presently undergoing ground tests. The TD-1 had to do with a foreign made HUD because when it was initially assembled several years ago, the requirements for this instruments had not been forwarded to the CSIO. The HUD unit for installation in TD-2 was sent to the Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) about one-and-a-half years ago.

The CSIO has already forwarded three HUD units to the ADA, while a fourth unit is enroute. Two more units, reported to be in the final phase of testing here, have to be sent to ADA by mid-January. All the units, claimed to be the result of indigenous efforts, have qualified for mandatory air safety certification.

The HUD is installed above the cockpit’s instrument panel with its screen at about the pilot’s eye-level and enables the pilot to get all required information about the flight configuration even while scanning the skies outside, there-by allowing him to fly the aircraft with his head-up.

Since the pilot does not have to change his line of sight or visual accommodation by peering repeatedly at his instrument panel inside the cockpit, the HUD reduces his workload and reaction time, while enabling him to take split second decision and enhancing his weapon aiming capability.

Data about flight parameters generated by the aircraft’s systems is fed into the HUD and processed by an inbuilt microprocessor. The data, in alpha-numeric form, is produced on the HUD’s horizontal cathode ray tube and reflected by special angled lens above the tube. The lens allows the light to pass through, but traps a particular colour (generally fluorescent green), enabling the pilot to read the information.

Though the Rs 5 crore project was initiated in 1992 under the aegis of the Defence Research and Development Organisation and was expected to be complete in five years, initial setbacks delayed the project. Finalisation of the design took more time and the designing team also faced problems in getting certain electronic components.

Some specifications of HUDs manufactured by foreign firms were ‘’borrowed from catalogues and technical literature”. The initial units will be using imported cathode ray tubes and certain electronic components.

Five more units will be fabricated by CSIO before serial production is undertaken by Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL). Technology is reported to have been transferred to BEL by CSIO for the purpose.

Although the 18 Kg, 72 cms long and 39 cms high HUD was meant for the LCA, scientists say that with slight dimensional modifications, it can also be installed in the cockpits of other aircraft in the IAF’s inventory, doing away with the need for importing this system.

COMMUNITY

Window panes of bus broken
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Jan 5 — Agitated youngsters, believed to be students, broke window panes of a Chandigarh Transport Undertaking bus after it reportedly failed to halt at the Sector 16 General Hospital stop for sufficient time in the morning today.

Eye witnesses said the incident took place at about 11.15 a.m. The driver reportedly stopped the bus but engaged the gear before all the passengers could get on.

Agitated by the action, three of four students picked up stones and hurled these towards the bus bearing registration number CH-01-G-5326. As a result, the back and two side window panes of the bus were shattered.

Sources in the police department added that the bus, plying on route number 2-B, was on way to the PGI from Panchkula.

Karamchari union demand
Tribune News Service

SAS NAGAR, Jan 5 — The Punjab School Education (Non-teaching) Karamchari Union today reiterated its demand for withdrawal of a decision of the board authorities to allot 2.2 acres of land in the premises of head office here to the State Education Department. The union leaders submitted a memorandum in this regard to the State Education Minister, Mr Tota Singh.

Jagmohan Goel, president, and Mr RS Toki, president and general secretary of the union, respectively, said the land being given to the Education Department for construction of a administrative complex of the DPI (Schools) was purchased by the board in 1983 from the Provident Fund of its employees. The move to allot the piece of land was unjustified, said Mr Goel.

He said the union had urged the government to construct a vehicle parking shed, set up a printing press and a godown to store the stationary on the said piece of land. This would save a sizeable expenditure incurred by the board each year in getting done printing jobs from outside. 

Club donates sewing machine to widow
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Jan 5— A sewing machine was donated to a needy widow by the Lions Club Rose at a function held in the city yesterday.

The District Governor, Mr N.K Grover, was the chief guest on the occasion. Speaking on the occasion Mr Grover lauded the work done by the club in helping the needy.

Mr T.K. Magazine, Director, Publication, Mr Vimal Kishore, District Cabinet Secretary, Mr b.s. Garcha, Region Chairman, Mr B.S. Jaswal, District Cabinet Treasurer, Mr K.K. Sharma, District Chairman and Mr Satish Seth, District PRO, were also present on the occasion.

Encroachments removed
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Jan 5 — In a major anti-encroachment drive, jointly led by the Administration and the Municipal Corporation here today, unauthorised structures on the school and dispensary land near the Palsora Colony were removed.

During the drive which was led by Mr H.K. Nagpal, SDM, and Mr S.C. Sagar, DSP (south) and other officers, the enforcement staff consisting of 100 workers removed as many as 350 jhuggis including some concrete structures.

During this six-hour drive, two bulldozers and five trucks were used. Carried amidst heavy police arrangements, the drive reportedly was peaceful.

Plea on tenancy rights
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Jan 5 — The Janata Rehri Market, Mani Majra, today urged the Chandigarh Administration to formulate a policy regarding the transfer of tenancy and property rights in favour of the ‘sub-letties’.

In a representation to the Adviser to the Administrator, the president of the market, Mr Sat Pal, claimed that the Punjab Government had already issued instructions in this regard by charging 10 years’ rent as transfer fee on the recommendations of the authorities concerned.

Since a majority of the rules and Acts of the Punjab Government are applicable to Chandigarh, the sites should be transferred to the names of the individuals, who are ready to pay rates fixed by authorities, a press note issued here added.

CRIME

Assault case against cops
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Jan 5 — On the complaint of a Sector 46 sweets shop owner alleging assault by police constables, the Chandigarh Police has registered a case of rioting and criminal intimidation.

Accusing constables Thakur Singh, Ravinder Singh, Surjit Singh and others of assaulting his brother, owner of Gobind Sweets Khushwant Singh alleged that the cops also threatened him.

Taking up his complaint, the police has registered a case under Sections 147, 148, 149, 457, 323 and 506 of the Indian Penal Code. A senior police official said further investigations into the matter were on. He added that raids were being conducted at their houses and departmental action would be taken after conducting an inquiry.

Journalist threatened
The Chandigarh Police has registered a case against the managing director of a masala company on the complaint of a journalist working with a Hindi newspaper.

In his complaint before the police, the journalist alleged that he was threatened in connection with a news item published after the samples of masala on being tested were found to be substandard. Earlier during the day, a delegation of journalist also met the Senior Superintendent of Chandigarh Police, Mr Parag Jain.

Fake shares
In a complaint before the police, a Sector 43 resident has alleged the sale of fake shares. According to sources in the Police Department, Mr Sandeep Grover alleged that one O.K. Pipat, residing in Sector 23. Government Dispensary, sold 650 shares of PTL company, 300 shares of Apollo tyres and 2100 shares of another company. The shares, he added, were found to be fake.

Sources added that the total value of the shares was about Rs 13 lakh. Taking up his complaint, the police has registered a cheating and forgery case under Sections 420, 467, 468 and 471 of the IPC.

Burn injuries
A Dadu Majra colony resident was admitted to the Sector 16 General Hospital with burn injuries sustained due to the bursting of a stove late in the evening today.

According to sources in the Police Department, the injured has been identified as 25-year-old Pawan. Doctors-on-duty, when contacted, said the victim had sustained 35 per cent burn injuries. Further investigations into the case were on.

Hurt in accident
A house-wife was admitted to the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research after the scooter she was riding skidded near the Airport police post. According to the sources in the Police Department, the victim has been identified as Anju Rani of Badheri village. Her condition is reported to be stable.

Computer parts stolen
Computer parts were reportedly stolen from the Punjab Civil Secretariat while it was closed for four days from December 29, 2000.

According to sources in the Police Department, parts worth Rs 25,000 were taken away. The police, say sources, were informed about the theft after a thorough inquiry into the incident was carried out by the senior authorities.

Sources added that no official was named by the authorities while getting the first information report lodged with police station north today. A case under Section 380 of the IPC has been registered.