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| Wednesday,
September 11, 2002,
Chandigarh, India
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Pkl-Surajpur highway widening stalled
Panchkula, September 10 The money sanctioned for the project has, now, been given for some other “more important” projects in the state. The Ministry of Surface Transport (MoST) had earmarked Rs 8 crore for this project in its annual plan early this year. Later, it decided that the existing infrastructure in the state required to be strengthened. “As a result, the money for the project has been diverted to the project of strengthening the Ambala-Chandigarh road,” said the source. The official said, after strengthening existing roads this year, the Panchkula-Surajpur road project would be taken up next year. Sources in the PWD (B and R) said the work on this stretch was to be finished on priority. Rs 3.5 crore had been earmarked for the widening of the National Highway-73 (from Majri Chowk to Kot village). A preliminary survey was also conducted along this route in June this year to assess how to shift infrastructure like telephone cables, electricity cables and trees etc. This 8 km stretch was being improved after the Deputy Commissioner of Panchkula had urged the Chief Secretary of Haryana to make the road a four-lane one as the traffic on it was heavy. The average traffic on this stretch is between 22,000 and 23,000 vehicles per count unit, with a 5 per cent increase each year. A number of accidents take place here, killing several persons, mainly because the stretch is narrow. Meanwhile, there has been a proposal to have an elevated highway from Majri Chowk to Old Panchkula Chowk. |
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Boy crushed to death
in saw mill Dera Bassi, September 10 The victim, Manjit Kumar, died on the spot after being rotated a number of times in a fraction of minute by the wheel. The wheel rotating at a very high speed crushed his legs and other bones of the body. According to labourers working at the mill Manjit was helping his father Shambhoo Prasad, an employee of the mill, when he met with the accident. As the boy got entangled into the wheel, his father Shambhoo Prasad raised alarm and switched off the machine immediately. Being on very high speed, the wheel of the saw could only be stopped with the help of wooden logs to extricate the body, another labourer added. Hailing from Uttar Pradesh Mr Shambhoo Prasad had been employed with the mill for the past couple of years. Mr Surinder Kumar, owner of the mill, was informed at his residence in Chandigarh, last evening. The body was cremated today morning with the consent of Shambhoo Prasad. No case has been registered following a compromise between the mill owner and father of the victim, sources said. |
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PU plans a health research centre Chandigarh, September 10 The high profile research project will work on all dimensions of disease prevention, environmental health and health service organisations. The centre is likely to commence at the Zoology Department which will also look into the overall management of the centre. A decision with regard to commencement of the centre has already been taken by the department’s Board of Control which later invited Dr Satnam Singh from the Regional Institute of Public Health to address the department. It was pointed out that “public health is concerned with preserving and enhancing the health of populations. To achieve this, in addition to medicine and engineering, there is a need to get cooperation from about dozen different disciplines. Among these, expertise in entomology, mammalogy (for study of plague and other rodent borne disease) and parasitology was already available in the Zoology Department’. One of the objectives for the centre is ‘to interact and establish short and long-term collaborative working relationships with the departments concerned in PU for meeting and training, health systems research and consultative needs of Centre of Public Research. The centre will try to “forge working relationships with the health sector administrators of the neighbouring states (Punjab, Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh), besides the UT, to make them aware of benefits they can accrue in the area of strengthening of major areas of public health. The centre will “investigate, if any, well justified demand exists for short training courses for state or municipal health workers in any of the partner states and the UT and arrange to provide training.” Efforts will also be made to explore options to attract endowments. This would include attracting funds for construction on the land made available in the university campus. A note adds: “To start with, the Regional Institute of Public Health will provide an enabling donation of Rs 15,000 per month. This monthly donation will be phased out following commitment of regular funds by other agencies”. Overall administration of the centre will be carried out under the chairmanship of the chairman of the Zoology Department. Dr Satnam Singh, who is also former director at the Development of Comprehensive Health Services at the World Health
Organisation, will also assist. |
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Goods worth Rs 3.5 lakh stolen Chandigarh, September 10 Bronze items worth Rs 40,000 were stolen from an industrial unit in the Industrial Area here. The theft was noticed early in the this morning. According to information available, stolen items include taps and sanitary fitting. A case has been registered at the Industrial Area police station. In another case, the iron grill of a house in Sector 44 was found broken. A managing director of a private firm, Mr Abi Bhonkar, was away to Delhi when the theft took place. A laptop, electronic gadgets, a gas cylinder and water taps were reportedly stolen. The total loss has been estimated at Rs 3 lakh. In yet another case two electricity meters were stolen from the junction boxes in two separate incidents. A police official said one meter was stolen from a junction box near Hallo Majra and the other from the Industrial Area, Phase 1. |
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Two MC employees suspended SAS Nagar, September 10 The employees who have been suspended are S.K. Gulati, accountant, and Rajinder Singh, sanitary inspector. The Executive Officer of the council has been asked to suspend the third employee, Padam Kumar, a clerk. |
Illegal taxi stand lures bus passengers Chandigarh, September 10 The centre is a beehive of activity for most part of the day and operates light commercial vehicles, including tempoes, Tata Sumos and taxis between Chandigarh and Delhi, Ambala, Shimla and other areas in the region. A tea stall, a fruit juice rehri, a paan-biri stall, an STD booth, a dhaba and a mechanic workshop, which have come up here slowly, now carry out a brisk business. Alcoholic drinks are available after nightfall from a stall hidden by bushes in the area. A number of jhuggis have also come up, hidden by a clump of bushes in the area. The area also has electricity, courtesy a kundi connection. Some time ago, illegal tapping of power had led to an accident in which one person was electrocuted. The commercial centre-cum-taxi stand is located about 150 metres short of a regular bus stop on the highway to Ambala. It, therefore, enjoys a locational advantage over the bus stop and frequently becomes the first choice of passengers looking for quick, comfortable and reliable transport to Ambala and other places. It is thus not uncommon to see government buses to draw a blank here because almost all passengers are picked up by the taxis offering the comfort of a car ride at the price of a bus travel. This has led to frequent tension between the taxi operators and the government bus conductors who allege that their passengers are being lured away by the taxi operators through unfair means. The government buses belonging to Punjab Roadways, Haryana Roadways, PRTC and CTU are under pressure to improve performance and maximise earnings to pull them out of the red. But illegal operations by taxi unions is putting paid to their plans. Little wonder, there are frequent verbal altercations between the two sides. Complaints to the authorities have so far produced no result. The question that is being asked here is how all this can happen without the patronage and protection of the authorities?  |
When parents’ education takes priority Chandigarh, September 10 Father and homework? Sounds funny. Aren’t fathers supposed to go to the office, work for eight to nine hours, bring home the salary and pay fees? At the most prepare reports about their day-to-day activities if they are in service or maintain accounts if they are doing business? What have they got to do with homework? Well, everything. After every fortnight or so, Rajesh Sharma, working with a pharmaceutical organisation, is called to the school and handed over a list of “things” he has to teach his little one, right from phonetics, to numbers, to shapes to songs and poems. As Rajesh never studied phonetics when he was a kid and still is unfamiliar with term, he has to get up in the morning and search through the “Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics” in an attempt to help himself and his little kid. Rajesh remembers the time when he was a school student. The mathematics teacher would just barge into the classroom, draw funny figures on the blackboard and direct them to solve over 50 theorems in one day. Daddy was of no help because he knew nothing about this “aspect of mathematics,” and the teacher, though concerned about their welfare, did not care to explain things to him. “I am not saying that dad was never called to the school,” he asserts. “In fact, he was summoned by the class teacher every Friday afternoon. The teacher would, however, only talk about my conduct, not inform him about what all were we going to study in the coming week. No wonder dad, even if he wanted to, could not be of much help”. Now the things have changed. In the beginning of every month, the parents are handed over a “broad outline of what all would be covered in the coming days”. “The outline contains information about everything the students would be learning, including a list of poems, stories, songs, shapes and colours,” says Deepak Malhotra, a businessman residing in Sector 34. “The school authorities even tell you about the topics of class discussion”. Explaining the trend, school teacher Radhu Verma asserts: “The idea behind the entire exercise is not only to tell the parents about what all their kids would be studying in the coming month, but also to encourage them into helping their children by understanding the concepts in a better manner”. |
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Students come to rescue
of kidney patient Chandigarh, September 10 Operation rescue started when the second-year students read in a newspaper about Uma admitted to the PGI. She was to undergo kidney transplantation, but could not afford the treatment. In this world of materialism where health and money are the only existing values for a majority of residents, her brother had offered to donate kidney, but over Rs 1 lakh was required for the operation. Making the matters worse, Uma, a resident of Faridabad, had to undergo dialysis over a 100 times, each one costing Rs 1500. The initiative was initially taken by two students of GDSD College, but later on others also joined in. They went to the PGI, confirmed the facts and started the process of fund collection. In the beginning, they collected money from fellow students. As more and more residents became aware, they came forward and started donating money. The college staff also contributed. Giving details, a student says: ‘’As of now we have collected Rs 16,454 and will deposit the money in a bank. We will hand over the amount to the doctors as soon as we are able to collect Rs 1 lakh”. The group, comprising Divya, Prerna, Jyotsna, Tahira and Sukhleen, adds: “If some social organisation comes forward and donates money, our job will be completed quickly”. Earlier, the Principal of the college allowed students to collect the money and extended full cooperation to this noble gesture. |
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Police clueless
in Sheila murder case Chandigarh, September 10 Fingerprints of family members of the victim and those found on the spot, have been sent for matching to Philluar. Investigations by the police has revealed that the victim had left behind ancestral property worth lakhs. The victim had prepared a will to bequeath the property among her four daughters. An official said the murder of the widow was the result of an instant reaction by the assailants. The assailants knew that if the victim survived the attack, their designs would be exposed. They ensured that blows were fatal, said the official. The cups of tea and glasses of water indicated that the assailants knew the victim. The police has almost ruled out the theory of robbery even though the entire house was found ransacked. It had been done to confuse the police, the official said. |
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Strollers object to patrolling on bicycles Chandigarh, September 10 Among those who have signed the representation are: Mr R.S. Varma (former Chief Secretary of Haryana), Mr J.P. Gupta (former Financial Commissioner of Punjab), Mr S.K. Verma, Mr P. Lal, Mr A.P. Bhatnagar and Mr M.P.S. Aulkah ( all Additional Director-Generals of Police, Punjab), Mr D.S. Nehra, Mr Jasbir Singh, Mr A.L. Varma (Presiding Judge, Debts Recovery Tribunal), Mr C.L. Bains, Mr S.K. Maheshwari, Mr K.K. Khandelwal, Mr Jagjit Puri and Mr J.B. Goyal (all IAS officers), Mr S.S. Bhatti (former Principal of the College of Architecture), Mr Nek Chand (Director, Rock Garden), Dr I.S. Dua and Mr M.M. Chopra (academicians), Brig Hardit Singh (ex-serviceman) and Dr O.N. Mathur (dentist), besides others. They all go to the Sukhna for morning or evening walk regularly. “The Sukhna is a peaceful place and patrolling by policemen on foot is adequate. There is nothing to suggest increased or speedier patrolling along the paved embankment which is used as a footpath,” they maintain. “Introducing patrolling on bicycles is a retrograde step. This creates nuisance for walkers, especially when the area is crowded. We should maintain at least one place in Chandigarh where everyone goes on foot. In any case, the area is quiet limited and patrolling on foot is the best way in every respect. Even in London, Beat Constables go on foot,” they have said in their representation. They apprehend that after the Sukhna, policemen on bicycles may extend their jurisdiction to the Leisure Valley, Bougainvillaea Garden, Rose Garden and Hibiscus Garden. And may gradually move from bicycles to scooters and motorcycles. |
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Filth surrounds govt school Chandigarh, September 10 As Meena, a college-going student of the village, viewed that the moment one enters Mauli Jagran, the slink begins. When contacted, Ms Lalit Joshi, Mayor, Chandigarh Municipal Corporation, said only last month she got the area cleaned, but felt ignorance, as how the problem erupted again. She promised to look into the matter at the earliest. The Executive Engineer (Public Health), Mr V. D. Shahi, told Chandigarh Tribune that he has taken the charge of the area recently and was not aware of any such problem. When his attention was drawn on the mobile toilet located just along the boundary wall of the school, he said since the person who look after the area was not in town, so he would comment later. But the fact is that the thousands of children who come to study and play in the school in three shifts, morning, afternoon and evening, have to bear the brunt of the negligence on the part of the UT Administration, where only recently the spreading of diseases like cholera was widely resented. A shop owner, Mukesh, said only last Sunday, Lieut-Gen JFR Jacob (retd) was to preside over a Literacy Day function held in the above school, but he could not make it and the Deputy Commissioner, Mr M. Ramsekhar, had attended the
function. |
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Test blasts create panic Panchkula, September 10 With these bombs being blasted in the open fields in the TBRL range within a span of an hour, a large number of people in this sleepy village, Panchkula Extension and even in Panchkula, got panicky. They said they heard the deafening sound at least six times. Sources in the TBRL said this was a routine exercise undertaken after the harvesting of crops to check the intensity and impact of newly developed bombs. Residents of Ramgarh and Panchkula Extension said they could feel tremors each time a bomb was blasted. “Window panes were rattling because of the impact,” they said. It is learnt that a few more test will be conducted tomorrow. |
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Roadways employees condemn privatisation move Chandigarh, September 10 Addressing a gate rally in the Industrial Area, Phase 1, he condemned the state government’s move to provide 60 per cent routes to private operators in the state. The meeting was held as part of a state-wide protest against the government’s privatisation policy. Mr Hari Narain Sharma, state president of the union, said the Haryana Government was bent on privatising the roadways, despite the fact that it had received the first prize at the national level for achieving highest productivity and profits. He urged the state government to order a high-level inquiry into the purchase of substandard uniforms by some higher officials. The uniforms were now dumped at the depot level and no worker was ready to accept these, he said. He alleged the government had cut down on overtime by half under the new policy. Instead of regularising the services of daily wage and contract workers, the government had provided an insignificant relief to them. Mr Dara Singh, another union leader of the Haryana Employees Joint Action Committee, said the roadways employees would observe a symbolic strike for two hours on September 18 and a one-day strike on October 17. Rejecting the report of the Central Labour Commission, submitted recently, Mr Pana Lal, general secretary of the union, said, “The report has paved the way for large-scale retrenchment of workers. As per its recommendations, government permission was no more required to terminate the services of workers. They could be retrenched by serving a notice of 14 days and would be paid 60-day salary in case of profit-making units and 45-day salary in case of loss-making units.” Later, a delegation of the union submitted a memorandum to the General Manager, Chandigarh. Among others, Mr Shravan Kumar, Mr Jai Singh, Mr Adarsh Kumar and Mr Tirlochan Singh also addressed the workers. |
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READERS WRITE DURING
the last three years, more than 100 coaching centres, mostly giving coaching to the students for IITJEE examination, have come up in Chandigarh alone. Every centre is claiming to have met roaring success, exhibiting the names, ranks and even photographs of successful students in newspapers. It is also said that many centres approach successful students, shower them with gifts and make them sign a declaration that they had consulted those centres for coaching purposes. This year, a popular centre of Delhi, now having branches all over India, issued a full four-page advertisement in newspapers, showing the complete list of students who accounted for almost 50 per cent of the total number of successful candidates. A close scrutiny revealed that most of them were those who had appeared in the mock test series concluded by that centre just before the actual examination. What the advertisement would have cost the centre can well be imagined. And such big amounts can be spent only when the aspirants are made to pay thousands of rupees for subjectwise coaching. Students aspiring for admission to engineering colleges are, however, a confused lot. They have to appear in scores of entrance tests conducted by various organisations. These tests include IITJEE, AIEEE, CEET, PU-CET, PTU CET, SLIET, LEET, EET DCE and many others. They have to buy costly prospectuses, apply, deposit hefty fees, appear and deposit admission fee to all these institutes. They take all examinations because they don’t want to take chances. There are counselling sessions and engineering branches are allotted. The same students, who have secured good marks, get selected in many institutes while many others are deprived of admission due to this multi-admission of a few top students. Then, the selected students choose their institutes and disciplines leaving other institutes and get refunded part-fee of their deposit. This leaves a few seats vacant and those in the waiting list are called for selection. Even those who were selected earlier are also called for re-counselling for upgradation of their branch. The process continues, the parents losing their hard-earned money, the students wasting their valuable time and the institutes accumulating lots of money from the students who left, on account of paid seats, from donations and so on. It seems as if a sort of education mafia has started working with all of us having become victims of it. Isn’t it time that a single engineering test like, say, All-India Engineering Entrance test (AIEET) is conducted and the students asked to submit their preferences and admitted to the institute nearest to their choice on the basis of the ranks attained by them? Naturally, the toppers will get admitted to IITs, next one to NITs, next lot to DCE, PEC, Thapar, MAHE and so on. If a single all-India engineering entrance test is held, a student will get the institute and engineering branch according to his performance and merit will prevail eradicating this complex web of multiple tests, applications, counselling, multiple admissions, waiting lists and so on. Lots of country’s time and money will be saved by this single step. The Union Ministry of Human Resource Development should look into this matter with the attention it deserves. JAGVIR GOYAL Teachers’ Day When Teachers’ Day was first observed on September 5, 1962,to mark the birth anniversary of our former President Dr Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, it was hoped that this “official gesture” would usher in a new era for the teaching community and revive the lost glory of the profession. Since then, the teachers, by and large, have deluded themselves into a celebration of sorts on September 5. The community has led itself into a ritual by organising functions. Some habitual ones go through the exhortations and harangues, eat the free institutional lunch and thank heaven! On the same day, teachers’ organisations in various parts of the country boycott the functions to highlight the problems they are facing, their long list of demands and the shortcomings in the system. This year, too, Teachers’ Day was no exception. The teaching profession is regarded as the devalued
professions in the country today. There is a general impression that only rejects in competitive examinations take up teaching. In ancient India, the guru used to be compared with the Creator. The pupil was his mind’s child. The return to the wisdom of the rishis was a realistic act. The Vedas and the Upanishads have given the teacher a place of honour and distinction. Today, however, teaching and cheating are often considered synonymous. The teacher has lost his grace. The pupil has lost his opportunity. Society has lost the capacity to be grateful. Why do we celebrate Teachers’ Day at all when the teachers have lost their value and are not revered anymore? Dr Radhakrishnan was a true, honest and uncompromising teacher, versed in modernity and tradition. He was open to the free winds of modernity blowing around him from all sides. He taught us, among other things, that when the vision fades, the habitual awareness of this world returns. One is not self-existent. One is dependent on a larger nexus, which the teacher must identify and explain. To recover the inner poise is the aim of education. In the ultimate analysis, a teacher is a creator and creation is man’s lonely attempt to know his own strange and secret soul — and its real vocation. We have imprisoned Dr Radhakrishnan at many places in marble but he keeps on leaping back to life. Let us learn a little about ourselves from him. He will thrill us with ideas and fortify us with a sense of duty. Then practice will redeem theory. Teachers, performing their duties, will attain their rights. If human values go wrong, nothing in the world can ever go right. K.M. VASHISHT Ban narcotics Chemists and druggists are selling narcotic drugs in Patiala, the city of our Chief Minister, Capt. Amarinder Singh. They sell tablets, capsules, injections and liquid medicines in the form of cough syrups. Even though they are injurious to health, they are available in the market and people buy them. What is of particular concern is that these drugs are a great threat to both present and future generations. Youth have become the worst victims of these drugs. Surprisingly, in the absence of strict enforcement of the rules by the authorities concerned, licences are obtained very easily by these chemists, most of whom do not have even the prescribed qualifications. Some have, no doubt, completed pharmacy degree, but they run the business on fake licence. Some of them, who have completed just Class VIII or IX, don’t know how to talk to consumers. Licenses issued to such people should be cancelled forthwith in the larger interest of the youth and other sections who have become victims of this menace. Those drug Inspectors who are hand in gloves with these fake chemists should be brought to book. These inspectors don’t seem to object to the sale of spurious drugs since they get their monthly hafta from the chemists. GURBACHAN SINGH |
Two injured in attack Chandigarh, September 10 Challaned: In a special drive, three rickshaw-pullers were booked for plying their rickshaws wrong side near the ISBT, Sector 17. The rickshaw-pullers, Sunil Kumar, Ashok Kumar and Rangi Lal, have been booked under Sections 283 of the IPC for obstruction in the flow of traffic. Stolen: Davinder Singh, a resident of Sector 45, complained that his Hero Puch vehicle was stolen on the night of September 8. The vehicle was parked in front of the house. In another case, Dharam Pal, a resident of Behlolpur village, complained that Parkash Singh of Saharanpur was caught while stealing his bicycle from near Chandigarh Police headquarters in Sector 9 here. Eve-teasing: Jaininder Singh, a resident of Sector 15, was caught on the charge of eve-teasing near the Sector 41 chowk. Threatening call: A resident of Sector 47, Arun Chawla, in a complaint to the police said some anonymous caller had called at his house from a mobile phone and threatened him, his father and sister. The Sector 31 police is investigating the matter. |
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