Students in a pickle as power plays truant
Our Correspondent

Jhajjar, January 10
The worsening power situation in the entire district, especially in the rural areas, is becoming unbearable for the people. The unending power cuts have been causing problems galore to common people as almost all domestic tasks come to a grinding halt in the absence of electricity.

However, the worst sufferers are the students who are preparing for their annual examinations. Fed up with the prolonged cuts and frequent voltage fluctuation, people rush to their nearby electricity offices but return with nothing but hollow assurances.

A resident of Bahadurgarh, Mr Yoginder Saini, complains,” The city is facing the worst ever power crisis. Long power cuts are a common phenomenon these day. Power was cut for 13 hours on Wednesday. He informed power is supplied for hardly five to six hours in a day.

The situation is worse in the rural areas. “With no sunshine due to dense fog and a cloudy sky, it is difficult to study in the absence of electricity,” lamented Sandeep Deswal of Jasaurkheri village. He said that on an average power was available for less then five hours a day.

The village sources confirmed the situation was more or less similar in most of the villages in Beri, Salawas, Matan Hail and Badli blocks. It may be mentioned here that people from this region had resorted to a road blockade in protest against the erratic supply of power.

However, the power officials maintained that there were no local constraints in the regular supply of power.

“This situation is the outcome of the technical faults in the B 2 KV transformers in Harela”, informed Mr J. P. Goyal, Executive Engineer, at Bahadurgarh.

According to him, a fault on January 4 in the transformer led to a blackout. This was rectified later. He said another system breakdown occurred in the transformer today also.

Officials of the HVPN had been called in to rectify the problem. Mr Goyal held that as per the schedule there were no cuts in power supply in the urban areas while a six to eight hours’ cut was imposed in the supply in rural areas.

FARIDABAD
No common holiday pattern in schools
Bijendra Ahlawat
Tribune News Service

Faridabad, January 10
Every school in this town seems to be having its own set of norms for observing holidays and giving breaks during the academic session. While this is not evident in the state government-owned schools, the situation in a majority of private schools is confusing.

There are about 100-odd private and public schools in the town. However, the list of their holidays hardly matches except for Sundays and some of the national holidays like Divali, Dasehra, Holi and Republic Day. Although the syllabus of a majority of the CBSE-affiliated schools in the town is common, it is interesting to note that many schools do not observe holidays during festivals like Guru Nanak’s birthday despite their secular credentials. Non-Christian and non-Muslim schools also prefer to skip the holidays on days like Good Friday and Bakrid.

It is learnt that while the CBSE provides affiliation to the schools on the condition of following its syllabus and certain norms set by it. But there is no binding on adopting any proper holiday charter. It has been reported that a majority of the public schools worked as usual on Guru Gobind Singh’s birth anniversary, an official holiday in Punjab and Haryana.

Even as some of the leading schools in the region have already adopted the concept of five-day week, many schools in the town have the six-day routine. The same is the case of school timings. Schoolchildren, especially kids below 10 years of age, are made to attend the school from 7.30 am, which is proving quite inconvenient for both the parents and their wards.

“Despite the chilly weather conditions, the management of various schools here have failed to reschedule their timings, says Kailash Sharma, an office-bearer of the Faridabad Abhibhawak (Parents) Ekta Manch. He alleged that while the district administration and the authorities concerned were keeping their eyes closed, various schools had been flouting the norms set by the Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA). He said despite the powers to punish the offenders, the HUDA officials had failed to take any action against the schools, which had been violating the norms. He claimed that no action had followed even after serving `Resume Notice’ to some schools for not taking the regulations seriously.

He has demanded to the district authorities to set up a monitoring committee consisting of the parents’ representatives, intellectuals and educationists to see whether the public schools on the HUDA plots were obeying various norms, including admission fee, syllabus, transport charges and holiday schedule.

CA results on Jan 13
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, January 10
The result of the final (old and new syllabus), foundation and PE-1 examinations of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India held in November, 2002, would be declared on January 13, according to a press release.

The result and details of marks will be available at the following schools in Delhi: Vidya Bhawan Mahavidyalaya Senior Secondary School, Lodi Estate; G.D. Soni DAV Senior Secondary School, Raj Niwas Marg, Civil Lines and Arwachin Bharti Bhawan Senior Secondary School, Vivek Vihar.

The results and the details of marks will be available in the offices of the Institute and will also be hosted on the website, http://www.caresults.nic.in,

The merit list, like the candidates securing a minimum of 60 per cent marks and up to a maximum of 30th rank in the Foundation and PE-1 examinations and candidates securing a minimum of 55 per cent marks and up to a maximum of 50th rank in the final (old and new syllabus) examinations) on all India basis, will also be made available on the above website.

Arrangements have also been made since for the students desirous of having the results on their e-mail addresses, to pre-register their requests at the above website.

CM’s advice to NCC cadets

“Be Bhagidars (partners) in keeping Delhi clean and green,” Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit told the contingent representing the Union Territory in the National Cadet Corps (NCC) Republic Day Camp on Friday.

Appreciating the NCC cadets’ role in spreading awareness about AIDS, pollution and polio, the chief minister asked the contingent to become partners in the Bhagidari (government-citizen partnership) Programmes launched by the Government of NCT of Delhi.

The Annual Republic Day Camp is being attended by 1,800 NCC cadets from the states and Union Territories. Fifty cadets from seven friendly countries are also participating. The Garrison Parade Ground in Delhi Cantonment is the venue.

COURTS

Sarpanch gets three-year jail term
Our Correspondent

Jhajjar, January 10
The Chief Judicial Magistrate, Mr Sanjeev Jindal, sentenced three persons, including the Sarpanch of Kheri Khummar village, to three years’ imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs 6000 each on them.

The police had booked Sarpanch Ram Eshwar, Karna and Baljeet of Kheri Khummar village on charges of beating up Balwant of the same village in 1995 under Sections 323, 324 and 325 of the IPC.

The victim appeared before the court in his injured condition, following which the court directed the registration of a case against them.