EDUCATION

CAMPUS BEAT 
PU results declared
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, July 30
Panjab University declared the results of the following examinations held during April-May 2002, here today: B.Sc (Home Science) Part II, M.Sc (HS) Zoology III semester, B. Pharmacy-III, B. Arch-II semester, MA (History) Part-II, Re-evaluation of English Compartment (compulsory) III.

The copies of the gazettes will be available at the Panjab University main enquiry counter on all working days during office hours.

Meanwhile, the result of MBA (executive) and M.Com (E-Commerce) for 2002-2003 was declared today and is displayed on the notice board of the University Business School, Panjab University. Selected candidates would be admitted at the department at 10.30 a.m. tomorrow.

Candidates on the waiting list would be considered for admission at 3 pm tomorrow subject to availability of seats.

Entrance test

In a decision taken by the Panjab University Syndicate, all candidates enrolling for PhD degree will be required to clear an entrance examination to be conducted by the university.

This rule will become effective from August 1 for all faculties of arts, science, languages, education, design and fine arts except in case where candidates belong to the exempted category.

Absentee students

The admissions of students who are not attending classes after taking admission to the University Institute of Engineering and Technology would stand cancelled if they do not start attending classes immediately.

In a press note issued here today, the Registrar, Dr Paramjit Singh, said seats of all students absenting themselves from classes would be declared vacant in these cases.

Protest march

Activists of the Panjab University Students’ Union (PUSU) organised a protest march on the campus in support of their demands with regard to provisional admission to the B.Sc (Hons) students who have not got the required credits.

Besides, they are demanding special chance for the students who have failed to score the minimum credits, postponement of supplementary examinations from August 9 to September 15, provision for improvement, re-appear chance for MBA students in September 2002 and 30 more seats in the NRI/Industrial sponsored category.

Meanwhile, the dharna by the Students’ Organisation of Panjab University (SOPU) outside the office of the Panjab University Vice-Chancellor entered the 14th day, today, with the president of SOPU, Harveer Singh, claiming that the meeting with the DUI, held this evening, had no positive outcome.

They are also demanding provisional admission to students of B.Sc (HS) final year in M.Sc I besides provisional admission to students in the second and third years as well. They are also demanding that the date of re-examination, recently fixed for August 9, be extended and revaluation results declared at the earliest.

Eight seats to be dereserved
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, July 30
Admissions to the 85 per cent UT pool for the three engineering colleges of the city for BE and B Arch courses were held for the reserved categories of military personnel, sportspersons, handicapped students, children and grandchildren of freedom fighters and Kashmiri migrants at Punjab Engineering College, here today.

Though most of the seats were filled in the various categories, eight seats, which remained vacant in different courses, would be dereserved tomorrow and converted into seats for the general category, the Principal of PEC, Dr Baljeet Kapoor, said.

Admissions to the general category would begin tomorrow and would be held on August 1 as well.

Eco club holds training programme
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, July 30
The Dayanand Eco Club of DAV Senior Secondary School, Sector 8-C, today organised a training programme on sustainable development under National Environmental Awareness Campaign of Ministry of Environment & Forests (MOEF), Government of India.

Mr Ravinder Talwar, Principal in his welcome speech highlighted the role of the eco club of th school in the protection of environment.

Mr D.K. Sharma IFS, Conservator of Forests, Ministry of Environment & Forests, in his key note address wondered about the use of such development if cholera and other epidemics could still ‘flourish’.

Dr Vikas Kohli, general secretary, Indian Council for Environmental Education and Dr Satnam Singh, from Punjab State Council for Science & Technology, also participated in the discussion.

The participants were also given the training on the ways and techniques of water harvesting system being installed in the school campus.

An inter house painting competition on environment was also organised in the school. Awards were distributed by the chief guest, Mr D.K. Sharma, on the occasion.

Gunman assaults PU student
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, July 30
A Punjab police cop, posted as gunman of a senior Punjab bureaucrat assaulted a youth in a Panjab University hostel here yesterday.

According to information available, the bureaucrat is a local guardian of a boy, Rohit Chawla, who was assaulted by a group of youths in the PU hostel. But the boys escaped and another boy, Navjeet, was mistaken to be the attacker. The gunman, taking Navjeet to be an accomplice of the attackers, manhandled him.

COURTS

Parking issue: notice to city Mayor, DC
Our Correspondent

Chandigarh, July 30
Accusing the contractors of charging an “entry fee”, instead of “parking fee”, a social organisation has issued legal notice to city Mayor, besides the Municipal Commissioner and the Deputy Commissioner, asking them to ensure against the acceptance of money till the vehicle was parked in the parking lot.

Claiming that the commuters were being subjected to inconvenience due to this “financial terrorism” the corporation was indulging in by imposing “penalty fee”, the Chandigarh Parents Association, in its notice, added that people were being asked to pay as soon as they entered the lot even if they had no intention of parking the car.

Giving details, the association members asserted that in Sector 17 alone, there were so many offices and private hospitals frequented by senior and infirm citizens. Money had to be paid every time they had to be dropped, the members added.

Describing Sector 17 as a massive ‘parking zone sealed from all sides’, the members further maintained that there was no single ticket enabling a commuter to park his vehicle in the lots spread all over Sector 17 without paying for the tickets again and again.

President Bhim Sen Sehgal asserted that due to the distance from one block to another it was not always possible for a visitor to walk down. As a result, he was forced to commute on his vehicle. “If one has to visit four different places in Sector 17 one after another, one has to take out Rs 5 every time one enters a block. The total comes out to be Rs 20. This is certainly a very high amount and pinches the vehicle owners, leading to discontentment,” Mr Sehgal said.

He alleged, “Lakhs of rupees were being collected without any authority by the contractors in connivance with corporation officers. Our elected councillors are shamelessly watching the entire situation. It seems that some of them could be a part and parcel of this loot as no action was being taken by them”.

This, he added, was not all. “All our requests on telephones and other complaints lodged by the residents have fallen on deaf ears. We will certainly go to the court if the deaf and dumb officers of the corporation do not take any action on the basis of our representation”.

Commenting on the attitude of the parking lot contractors, he said their employees were pouncing on the vehicle owners, to hand over the tickets, as soon as they entered a block. In a large number of cases, they were also talking rudely.

He added that the parking areas in the city should be strictly earmarked and the parking contractors should not be allowed to charge fee at entry points. “The fee should be minimised in parking lots around the hospitals in Sector 16 and Sector 32, besides the PGI”, he added.

Notices issued to Administration, Dev Samaj
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, July 30
A Division Bench of the Punjab and Haryana High Court today issued notices to the Chandigarh Administration, the Dev Samaj Council and other respondents for August 21 on a petition filed by Ms Surjit Kaur Brar, former Principal of IS Dev Samaj Girls Senior Secondary School.

In her petition, the former Principal had challenged the decision of the managing committee to merge Dev Samaj Junior Model School in Sector 21 with Dev Samaj Senior Secondary School.

The petitioner contended that the right to education of children was granted under the Constitution of India and had been taken away from the students of the junior model school despite the fact that the school was granted permanent recognition with effect from 1959.

She added that the building of Dev Samaj Junior Model school had been demolished and the children were being forced to sit in the open. It was prayed by the respondents should be directed not to interfere in the functioning of the institute.

CULTURE

A timeless tale told once again
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, July 30
Sahiba padhdi pattiyaan, te jat mirza padhe koran;

yaaron vich masiti lagiyaan, jo jaane kul jahaan

As a tale of love and loss, Mirza Sahiba is timeless. No wonder then that it is every theatre artiste’s delight. Rehearsed, enacted and staged intensively, this celebrated story of unrequited love was once again presented for theatre buffs of the city.

Recreating the tale of Mirza’s death at the hand of his beloved’s brothers were the disciples of veteran Harpal Tiwana, who died on May 29 this year.

Structured as a special tribute to the man, who took Punjabi theatre to the heights it rightly deserved, today’s production was fairly good in terms of enactment and theme portrayal. Although it could not fully meet the standard of a Harpal Tiwana production, it managed to keep the interest of the audience alive, laced as it was with a fair deal of modification and theatrical manoeuvring.

Not only in terms of music by Gurinder Guri but also in terms of the stylisation of gestures, today’s play by Shingar Kala Manch was highly dramatised to suit the needs of modern audience.

A special reference here needs to be made to the employment of comedy as a tool to keep the viewer’s interest in the play alive. However, at times one felt that certain sequences picturised on Sahiba (played by Sukhi Pawar) and Kammo Brahmin (played by Vijayendra Kumar), marred sensitivity of the script. The sensitivity was, however, largely restored towards the climax.

In their respective roles, Jagjit (as Mirza), Harjit Masuta (as the father of Sahiba) and Preetma Manohar (as the mother of Sahiba) were particularly impressive. All through the one-and-a-half-hour-long presentation, they remained faithful to the tone and tenor of this timeless love story, which ends in a tragedy. The portrayal by Sahiba’s brothers, prime villains in the story, was also absorbing.

When seen from the yardsticks of theatrical production, the play was sound and sensible. The narration, the music and the editing of significant sequences teamed up to keep the sting in the story alive. On the keyboard, Rakesh and Nirdosh were well in control. Some musical tones included in the presentation, however, were not so critical to the furtherance of Balwant Gargi’s script, which was very powerful in its own right.

As the play progressed from one scene to another, the interest also grew, especially with regard to how the director of the play, Harjit Masuta, would do justice to the most challenging final scene of the story. In the climax, Sahiba hides Mirza’s quiver and arrow, exposing him to death. In her urge to save her brothers, she ends up deserting her beloved and loses him to death. The climax was well presented, as the thunderous applause confirmed. Among others who participated in the play were Hatinder Kumar in the role of Sahiba’s to-be-husband Tahir Khan, production controller Satwinder Kumar, who also played the role of Sahiba’s brother Shamir.