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May 6, 2001, Chandigarh, India
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PEC hostellers’ cup of woe
spilleth over Chandigarh, May 5 Unlike other hostels of the city, the PEC hostels are not overcrowded. Each student has a cubicle to himself and the rooms are spacious and comfortable. But according to the residents that is the only thing that is well with these hostels. Problems of cleanliness, bad food and library facilities are just some of the things these students would want to get solved as soon as possible. The girl hostellers stay together in the ‘‘Himgiri’’ Hostel. Although the newcomers get dormitories to stay in, the seniors have a room each to themselves. The major problem of the hostel is the food, which they allege is very unhealthy, tasteless and costs much more than it is worth. Food is provided through a mess run by a contractor and the students pay a sum of Rs 20 to Rs 30 each day for two meals. Breakfast is a limited choice of paranthas, eggs and bread each morning from the canteen. The choice of snacks for the evening tea too is limited. A maggie noodle plate costs a whopping 20 bucks, which ‘‘We prefer to buy from the market and cook in our room as it is more economical.’’ says a resident. But is cooking in rooms allowed? ‘‘No, but we have no choice but do it on the sly.’’ The worst part is that these residents have to pay a minimum sum of Rs 320 each month whether they have hostel food or not. ‘‘We are caught in a strange situation. Good quality food is available at the same cost from tiffin providers in the college campus itself, but we have to eat this food.’’ And as for the food quality, ‘‘Its pathetic. One can expect anything like hair, cigarette butts, even cockroaches, in the food. The contractor cannot maintain even basic cleanliness, specially when he is cooking for not more than 60 hostellers each day. The rice served is the worst. We feed this rice to birds back home.’’ Anything else? ‘‘If we have an electrical problem in the room we have to wait for at least a day before someone comes to repair it. There have been instances where some of us have been without electricity in the room for days,’’says a resident. ‘‘Security is another problem here, we have a single chowkidar and we always feel that anyone could easily climb up to the rooms.’’ Security for some, too much of bindings for others. ‘‘What hurts even more is the fact that in spite of being in a professional college, we are not allowed to be outside the hostel after 8 p.m. In case we are late, we are fined Rs 500. We are allowed only two late nights in a month, which is upto 8.30 p.m. So much for a late night.’’ Guests are not allowed to visit us if they are males and for girls who come to stay in the hostel for a day or two, we have to pay through our nose for it.’’ Food is not a problem in the four boys hostels of the college. The boys run their own cooperative mess in these hostel, are able to get rather good food and are satisfied with the result. But there are other problems which they say are worse than those in the girls hostels. ‘‘The girls are living in a heaven. They have a TV and till some time ago they were allowed to watch TV for 24 hours, now the time has been limited to 10.30 p.m. They have a washing machine too. Its we who are in a bad shape.’’ And what are the problems? ‘‘Cleanliness for one. In almost all the hostels, we have employed private sweepers since the government sweepers come in the morning for an hour, smoke bidis and depart. The private sweepers are paid from the hostel fund.’’ Kurukshetra hostel has renovation of bathrooms going on and the students are almost wishing that they had said no to renovation. It has been on for six months and they have very few bathrooms which can be used and even these are blocked and filthy. ‘‘The sweepers are not cleaning them properly and we are short of sweepers too.’’ The unclean bathroom problem seems to exist to some extent in all the boys hostels and since the number of sweepers vary in each hostel, the extent of cleanliness differs accordingly. There are also not enough hostel attendants. A single hostel attendant is looking after two hostels of a strength of 150 residents each. The residents also complain that the library closes much before it should and at least the reading room ought to be open through the night. During examinations there is sometimes an electricity problem and students in any case prefer to sit and read in the library and study during exams. ‘‘We then go to the Panjab University and study there, but are chucked out as we are not members of the library’’ laments a resident.  |
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“Encourage poetic skills
among children” Chandigarh, May 5 The function started with a welcome song by Swastik Pathak and ended with music played by Zoravar Singh of Class VI. The poems — ‘My Shadow’, ‘The Funny Man’, ‘The Spider’, ‘The Blind Men and the Elephant’, ‘The Sandwiches’, ‘Maltida’ and ‘The Sculptor and his Clay’ — reflected a wide range of interests and were greatly enjoyed by the young performers as well as the audience. Mrs Dutt, in her speech, told parents of the importance of reading for children and being able to express themselves freely. She stressed that parents must encourage poetic skills in their children as it helps them to be more creative and expressive. She , who has devoted her life to the formation and development of this noble institution, felt sad that some elements tried to harm its reputation. She said the cream of Chandigarh had enjoyed schooling their wards here for nearly 40 years and its roots are too deep to be shaken. She also praised the Principal, Mrs S. Dass, for maintaining the high standards which were there in her time. Mrs Dass reassured that the school would be continuing undisturbed on the same premises. She felt confident that there was a bright future ahead and the same goodness would continue to prevail which had been there for the past 40 years. She also invited all ex-students to come and join the Vivek Ex-Students Association. She proudly congratulated last year batch — Ishan Divedi, Ilisha Didi, Puneet Arora, Udai Dhavan — on their topping the boards and middle school exams at the UT level. The function ended with a vote of thanks to the judges — Dr Shalina Mehta, Head of the Social Anthropology, Department of Panjab University, Dr Surya Prakash and Mrs Madhu Nagpal. The shield was bagged by class IV-B students. |
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Conference on career
planning Panchkula, May 5 The Principal of the school, Mr Krit Serai, said that experienced career counsellors, including Mr D.S. Parmar, District Employment Officer, Haryana, and Dr S.S. Chadha, from the Town Employment Exchange, addressed the students. Future plans for the students, their aptitude and factors for a bright future were also discussed. Apart from this, the students and parents had an interactive session with the counsellors. |
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British Library to hold contests Chandigarh, May 5 The programme includes an inter-college quiz, poem, fiction and
essay writing contests, besides extempore and collage making competitions. The celebrations will conclude with a cultural show by students of St Kabir School, St Stephens School, Vivek High School and D.A.V School. In the near future, as per the demand for the IT books, an information technology learning centre will be set up in the library with 3000 books on information technology by various authors, informed library Manager, Sushanta Banerjee. “The library has 3609 members which include professionals, lawyers,
journalists, bureaucrats, engineers, doctors and students. The library has increased the volume of books from 6,000 to 7,209 within one year. The library has around 1000 videos for corporate management, corporate training and other English dramas. Around 100 series of all sorts and 60 magazines related to education are there in the library,” adds Sushanta |
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6-day week for a month at PU Chandigarh, May 5 As a matter of routine practice, the university will function from 7.30 a.m. to 1.30 p.m. from May 14 to June 30 instead of the routine morning and evening sessions which conclude at 5 p.m. under the existing routine. The work hours will be for departments of the university, administrative block, the construction office and the Directorate of Sports. The circular reads that from July 2, the university offices will revert back to a five-day week as usual. |
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HC orders compensation
for land Kharar, May 5 The petitioner had pleaded that his land was acquired for the construction of Siswan Dam in 1997 and that the respondents were required to pay 80 per cent of the compensation of the land before taking over the possession as well as the compensation for crops and trees standing on the land. He pleaded that no compensation had been paid to him till date and he had served a legal notice dated Jan 24, 2000 but to no effect. He had pleaded that he should also be paid interest at the rate of 18 per cent per annum on the amount due.
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DISTRICT
COURTS Our Correspondent Chandigarh, May 5 The case against them was registered under Sections 406, 420 and 120 of the IPC at the Mani Majra police station. The complainant, Mr Raghunath, had stated that he had deposited Rs 40,000 in one of the scheme floated by the company. The complainant alleged that the accused had cheated him and failed to return the deposited amount to him. Jerath’s case: The case was adjourned for further argument on the bail plea moved by the accused. |
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