EDUCATION

PEC ex-students’ get-together
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, February 24
It was celebration time today at Punjab Engineering College with old students of the college getting together for a reunion on the college premises here today.

With the college playing host to over 400 old students, the entire place was buzzing with activity as ex-students tried to catch up on whatever they had missed out on all these years.

It was exchange of phone numbers, addresses and a whole lot of introductions to be done the entire day as they met old friends and made new ones.

The Punjab Engineering College Old Students Association (PECOSA) honoured students of the 1952 batch who completed 50 years while the graduates and post-graduates were also honoured with mementoes in the silver jubilee year.

Various games and contests were organised for their entertainment.

These included a tug-of-war, musical chairs and tambola which elicited tremendous response from those present at the meet. A spoon-race was organised for children.

The PECOSA awarded eight scholarships of Rs 500 each to third-year toppers of various branches of the engineering stream. A cultural programme by two child artists from Mohali, Chirag Sehgal and Simrat Lisa, was also staged.

At the annual general meeting of PECOSA new office-bearers of the executive were elected. They were president: Dr S.K. Goyal, vice president: Dr Harinderjit Singh, general secretary: Prof G.S. Dhanoa, joint secretary: Dr S.S. Gill and treasurer: Mr R.P. Sharma.

Meanwhile, the spokesperson for the association said that the association was planning to build an alumni house at an estimated cost of Rs 1 crore.

The putting up of the application for allocation of land to the authorities concerned for the proposed building was in pipeline.

6 students get scholarships
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, February 24
A cultural programme marked the annual function celebrations of Paramhansa Yogananda Public School, Sector 28, here today with the students presenting entertaining and fun-filled items.

Beginning on a religious note with an invocation to Goddess Saraswati, a colourful Haryanavi dance with folk music playing in the background was next on the list. The other items included songs and skits.

The fancy dress contest saw the children dressed as Pandit Nehru, pandits and beggars, among others. The grand finale came with “Sare jahan se achcha Hindustan hamara”.

Under the Paramhansa Yogananda Scholarship scheme, six students of Panjab University were given cash awards of Rs 3,000 each who qualified for the scholarship for 2001-2002.

Those given scholarships include Sudesh Pawaria, N Viveka Shankar, Vandana Shoora, Chchavi Lekhi, Rohit Sharma, Chanchal Kumar. Prof K.N. Pathak, Vice-Chancellor, appreciated the spiritual environment provided by the school which enabled students to have complete control over mind and body for greater focus.

‘Spread book culture in city’
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, February 24
The necessity of interaction between parents and their wards to motivate the latter to read good books and become library minded was stressed by the chief guest, Prof Paramjeet Singh, Registrar, Panjab University.

He was speaking at the annual prize distribution function of the 10th Competition Master library related competitions-2001 organised by the Chandigarh Librarians Association in collaboration with a number of education institutions of the city in the Government Polytechnic for Women, Sector 10.

Appreciating the efforts of the CLA, he said it was important to spread the book culture in the city and more such movements were required.

Earlier, the president of the CLA, Mr J.K. Kataria, said that the association was working to inculcate the reading habit among students.

Giving a brief note on the programmes of the association, the general secretary, Mr I.B. Verma, said that the contests were started in 1992 with just 400 participants for four events. The number of total participants had risen to 6,000 in the past 10 years.

Over 400 prizes were given to winners of various contests during the three-phased activities. Winners of the contests held in the last phase were honoured today.

An exhibition of charts prepared by the participants during the contests was also inaugurated by the chief guest.

GGSC team wins ‘antakshri’ contest
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, February 24
The team of Nidhi and Sonika from Guru Gobind Singh College, Sector 26, won the “antakshri” contest organised on the concluding day of the Festival of Gardens here today.

The second place was bagged by the team of Shaloo and Nancy from the GGDSD College, Sector 32. The team of Bindu and Ranjana from the Government College of Education, Sector 20, won the third place.

Mr S.K.Punia, coordinator of the show, said that at least 75 entries were received for the preliminary round which was held on January 21 at Panchayat Bhavan. As many as 16 teams were selected for the contests today where as many as four preliminary qualifying rounds were conducted before selection of the final teams.

The winning team was awarded a trophy.

COURTS

2-day remand for Amrish Jain
Our Correspondent

Chandigarh, February 24
Mr Amrish Jain, the Deputy Commissioner, Customs and Central Excise, arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) was today remanded to two-day police custody by the UT Duty Magistrate.

Mr Jain was produced before the UT Judicial Magistrate (First Class), Mr K.K Goel, in his house in Sector -19 in the evening and remanded to police custody till February 27. Earlier, the CBI official made a plea before the magistrate at a local court at about 12.30 that as the CBI had been preparing documents of the case and therefore would not be able to produce the accused during court time.

The accused was posted at the Customs Freight station, Ludhiana and was arrested by the CBI for alleged possession of assets disproportionate to his known sources of income.

Another person involved in the case, Inspector with the Custom and Central Excise Department Chandigarh, Mr Arun Kumar Singal, has already been remanded to police custody till February 26 by the UT Chief Judicial Magistrate, Mr C.L Mohal. The accused was also arrested by the CBI for holding assets disproportionate to known sources of income.