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City students shun aerated drinks
Chandigarh, August 8 Sector 36, the hub of coaching centres and one of the major selling areas for aerated drinks, has recorded a considerable drop in the sales figure. “There is a substantial decline in the sale,” admitted Mr Premjit Singh, owner of Time Pass Shakes and Snacks. “Just yesterday a girl from one of the coaching centres’ asked for a bottle of coke but when her friend warned her of the pesticide controversy and she left the bottle there only.” “In Guru Nanak Public School, Sector 36, Coke and Pepsi are no more served and not even the old stock is being sold,” affirms Gulab Chand Sharma, canteen owner of the school for the past 30 years. Similarly, Mrs Khushinder Sharma, Principal, Government Model Senior Secondary School, Sector 35, says that she has passed orders for the canteen owner to not serve cold drinks in the school. Ramakant Sharma, canteen owner at DAV College Sector 10 informed, “Carbonated drinks are not selling any more and have given way to Maaza and Slice which are basically fruit-based cold drinks”. Stop-n-Stare, a CITCO eatery in Sector 10, is the worst affected, claimed a saleswoman refusing to be named. “The sales have practically descended to half,” she said. Dr A. N. Garg, Principal, Government College for Men, Sector 11 said, “If these drinks are harmful, they should be banned by the Government.” Though the canteen walls in the college still adorn huge Pepsi logos, the canteen owner, Raman Gulati says, “We are buying lesser stocks of cold drinks now as the sales have dwindled to 20 per cent.” But he is hopeful that things will get back to normal in two months when everyone forgets the issue, like it happened in 2003. At GCG, Sector 11 too, sales have dropped to 5 per cent of what it was earlier. Gurinder Kumar, the canteen owner said, “We are not buying any new stock of Coke and Pepsi as it is getting difficult even to finish the previous stock” At PU’s Student Centre, it is the juice corner owner who is laughing all the way to the bank. “Our sales of fresh juices has shown a sudden jump,” said Gurmeet Singh, adding that though many students have shifted to consuming juices, there are still many who are hooked to cold drinks. Neeraj Kumar of Raj Eatery there added, “We have witnessed a drop in sales of about 10 to15 per cent, but it is expected to be temporary.” Mohit of Mona refreshments pointed out a similar trend adding that the sale of tea and coffee has increased. Anti-cola rally held
Students of the Banur based Swami Vivekananda Institute of Engineering and Technology (SVIET) where sale of soft drinks has been banned held an anti-cola rally at the Sector 17 piazza. Sporting placards and shouting slogans students emptied bottles of aerated drinks to mark their protest. The students have also formed an NGO “S4S”-SVIET for Society to generate awareness among city residents over the issue.
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PUTA poll canvassing gains momentum
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, August 8 Releasing their manifesto during a press conference here this evening, the N.K Ojha group claimed credit for the implementation of the pension scheme. ‘‘However, the need of the hour is to keep this hard earned unity intact, and to do your level best to further strengthen the implementation of this scheme and also to address the existing anomalies to bring about the parity of benefits among the teaching community,’’ states the manifesto. The group vowed to work towards the CAS implementation and press for achieving demands like medical care to dependents of the employees without any gender bias to streamline the medical reimbursement, advancement in the age of superannuation to 65 (62+3) years, enhancement of pension at the rate of five per cent after acquiring the age of 65 years and 10 per cent after 70 years, in addition to the regular dearness allowance, uplift of the infrastructure /services in Arts Blocks I to IV, enhancement of the contingency grants to the departments not supported by any scheme, restoration of 10 per cent cut in the contingency of each department, provision of separate building for the Department of Evening Studies, provision of intercom facilities in every faculty room, filling up of all vacant teaching posts in various departments and regional centres. The group also decided to work towards 50 per cent reservation of seats for the residents of Chandigarh for admission to professional courses, provision of contingent grant to individual faculty member to the tune of Rs 1000 and 50 per cent fee concession to the wards of university employees studying the professional courses, creation of separate space in each Department for Faculty Committee Rooms, sizable research grants to young faculty members from university funds among other things. MBA admission: The University Business School, Panjab University, Chandigarh is offering MBA courses in three streams MBA, MBA (IB) & MBA(HR) for the session 2007-08. Admission to the above courses will be made through CAT 2006 conducted by the Indian Institute of Management, Kozhikode on November 19, 2006. The CAT 2006 forms are available at UTI Bank main branches in some major cities of India till August 17, 2006. In Chandigarh CAT 2006 forms are available with UTI Bank, Sector-34, Chandigarh. CAT 2006 forms will also be available from IIM’s directly up to August 21, 2006. The last date for the submission of this form to IIM’s is September 9, 2006.LEET on Aug 13: Panjab University would conduct the Lateral Engineering Entrance Test (PULEET)-2006 on August 13, 2006. Roll Numbers have been despatched by registered post to all eligible candidates. Those who do not receive their Roll Numbers by August 10, 2006, may collect the duplicate Roll Nos. from the University Office (CET Cell) on August 11, 2006 after completing pre-requisite requirements as given in the prospectus.M.Sc. Biotechnology: Prof. R.C Sobti, Vice-Chancellor, Panjab University, has allowed DAV College, Abohar to admit students for the current academic year in M.Sc. Biotechnology in general category in anticipation of No Objection Certificate from the Punjab Government. The college has been permitted to fill the vacant seats amongst the candidates who have qualified OCET. The OCET for the vacant seats has been planned by Panjab University from August 20-23, for those candidates who could not appear or qualify earlier in the entrance tests wherein that for Biotechnology is slated for August 22. The eligibility for admission to various courses is given in the Prospectus and application form. The last date for the submission of the form is August 10.
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Save environment rally by students
Panchkula, August 8 Mrs Nisha Sharma, DO, made the students aware of the harmful effects of deforestation and planted a sapling with the help of the Principal, Ms Sharda Gupta. The in charge of the district Eco-Club, Mr Rmakant Gautam, made the students aware of the medicinal plants. Mr K.K. Gupta, manager of the school, encouraged the children to plant “Triveni (bud, peepal and neem). Ms Sharda Gupta and Ms Nisha Sharma flagged off the rally. More than 400 students participated in the rally, which passed through different sectors of the city. They were accompanied by the Eco Club in charge, Mrs Vandana, and the teachers. Students were carrying placards, banners and posters. They raised slogan like: “Save environment, save yourself”, “Air is our lifeline, Do not pollute it.”
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UBS cancels PhD entrance test
Chandigarh, August 8 When contacted the UBS Head, Dr Satish Kapoor, said the test had been cancelled since the question paper that was given to the candidates was not up to the mark and as a result the test was being conducted again. He added that in case any of the affected candidates had any queries they should contact him.
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Seminar held on globalisation
Chandigarh, August 8 Mr Naveen Kaul, COO, Spice Telecom (Karnataka Circle), in his keynote address said the Indian entertainment industry is the second biggest in the world. In his views the reasons for growth in economy included quality education, skilled professionals and supportive government policies.
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high court Our High Court Correspondent
Chandigarh, August 8 In his petition, Jaswinder Singh alias Rocky, who was allegedly involved in many criminal acts along with Dimpy but later fell-out with him, has prayed that the police be directed to clarify if he was required for questioning as part of the ongoing investigation in the murder case, which has so far remained unsolved. On the evening of July 7, unidentified criminals had killled Dimpy near the Lake Club, pumping five bullets into his body. No arrests have been made so far in the case. However, media reports have said that Rocky is among the prime suspects. Now, Rocky has claimed that on the day of the killing he was in his village in Fazilka (Ferozepore) and he had no hand in the murder. Acknowledging that he is facing cases where Dimpy was also an accused, Rocky has stated that the SHO of Police Station, Fazilka, had also come looking for him at his house. Today, Mr Justice Ajai Lamba issued notice of motion for August 18.
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PIL to challenge power tariff order
Chandigarh, August 8 Addressing mediapersons here, Lt-Col. Sarwan Singh (retd), Chairperson, CFC, said the tariff order was not only against the provisions of the Electricity Act, 2003, it was also highly irrational. “Despite the fact that the public, many public-centric organisations as well as some consumer organisations had approached the UT Administration to take back the tariffs, nothing was done. An in-depth study of the new and old rates reveals that the new rates are heavily loaded against the users of low energy. At the same time, consumers having high usage have given preferential treatment by keeping their rates at very low level,” he asserted. Col Sarwan Singh also pointed out that the Administration had not been able to tackle the problems of theft of power through “kundis”. “This practice has been prevalent for a long time. The power department makes a show of removal of kundis once or twice a year, but the vigil is never kept to prevent reappearance of these kundis. Similarly, security personnel deputed with VIPs have been adopting the same practice. Had the department taken protective measures to stop the theft with a firm hand, the necessity of revision of rates would not have arisen,” he added. Elaborating on the sharp increase in tariff for low and medium consumers, Col Sarwan Singh disclosed that even those consuming just 50 units in two months had been made to pay 47 per cent more than what they were paying under the old tariff. The next three categories of users of 100, 150 and 200 units are paying 18 per cent, 11 per cent and 9 per cent extra, respectively. Saying since the administration has not bothered to correct the anomaly, the CFC has decided to move the High Court, Col Sarwan Singh added that the PIL would be filed in a couple of days.
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Bill on rape cases faulty,
say lawyers
Chandigarh, August 8 Terming the Bill as “faulty”, a cross-section of the advocates is of the view that merely making women judges try the rape, molestation and sexual harassment cases would not be sufficient. In fact, the Bill fails to take into account the fact that justice for the rape cases was a “sensitive process” to be handled carefully at all stages. “The Bill only goes the half way. Besides women judges, the prosecutors and investigating officers should also be women. Since the whole case was woven around the FIR, it should be mandatory that the investigating officer be a woman,” said Mr Arvind Thakur, general secretary of the Lawyers for Human Rights International
(LHRI). Claiming that about 90 per cent of the rape cases collapsed due to “faulty” FIRs, Mr Thakur argued that a judge would pronounce a judgement based on the facts emerging from the investigation. It is immaterial whether the judge was male or female. The entire criminal justice system needed a complete overhaul instead of cosmetic changes, he added. Besides, the Bill would pose certain practical problems such as inadequate judges delaying the justice further. In Chandigarh alone, there is only one woman magistrate and she cannot try the rape cases as it is Sessions trial, said Mr Gaurav Kathuria. Moreover, the Bill, if passed by Parliament, would deal a severe blow to the right of equality as discrimination on the basis of sex of judge would raise many an eyebrow, Mr Kathuria added. A nationwide debate on such a sensitive issue should have preceded the approval of the Bill. In its present shape, the Bill fails to address certain important issues like the role of the victim turning hostile and unfair investigation by the police. The piecemeal amendments to law are sufficient in the Indian context, added Mr Gagan Aggarwal, an advocate at the District Courts here.
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Plea in murder case dismissed
Chandigarh, August 8 Truck released: As the court of Mr R.K. Bhankar, Judicial Magistrate (First Class), issued the contempt notice, the police released the truck.
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PGI makes utilisation certificate after surgery must
Chandigarh, August 8 The decision comes after the recent raids carried out by the institute’s Vigilance Cell following a complaint that the staff in the operation theatres allegedly did not return the unused medicines to the patients undergoing surgeries and instead took them away for resale. Addressing a press conference, Director of the PGIMER, Prof K.K Talwar, said usually these medicines were used for poor patients. ‘‘There is no malafide intention in keeping these medicines. Usually these are used for poor patients who cannot afford medicines. However, the committee formed to hold a hearing on the recoveries from lockers will look at the black sheep in the institute,’’ he stated, adding that the final report on recoveries and indictments would take around six weeks. Stating that the institute was keen on introducing packages, Prof Talwar maintained that they were working out ways to manage these and make them patient-friendly by providing all facilities. ‘‘We don’t want to be caught on the wrong foot once we introduce these. We need manpower to handles stores and records as well. We have contacted two management students to help us finalise this programme,’’ he said. Emphasising that income generation was becoming more important with the introduction of first free prescription and the proposal to provide surgical disposables instead of handing long lists to patients, Prof Talwar admitted that they were considering levying a nominal fee. ‘‘We are planning to levy charges to the tune of Rs 200 which everyone can afford. These will, however, be voluntary and patients will be under no compulsion to pay these. Also, it will only meet a very small part of our expenditure but whatever comes will be welcome. We are spending Rs 72 lakh a year only on free first prescription and have to find out ways of supporting expenditure. We are also gathering information of patients being treated free of cost to push our case for some subsidy in lieu,’’ the Director explained. He concluded by saying that tertiary care institutes like the PGIMER were providing low cost quality service to a majority of the population. ‘‘We want to seek cooperation to strengthen these systems despite shortcomings which cannot be ruled out,’’ he said. Also present on the occasion were the Medical Superintendent, Prof A.K Gupta, Additional MS, Prof Raj Bahadur, Prof Amod Gupta, Financial Adviser, Ms Ritu Dhillon, and the DDA, Mr A.K Gupta. |
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Steps to ensure supply of quality medicines
Mohali, August 8 He said that medicines were being purchased directly from manufacturers possessing World Health Organization’s (WHO) Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) certificate. Medicines were being purchased at a price which was 50 per cent less than the market rate. He said extra precautions were being taken for better upkeep of the medicines and all supplies of tablets were being taken in the strip packing. To avoid pilferage a message stating that that supplies were of the Punjab Government for Zila Parishads and were not for sale was being printed. It was being ensured that medicines had a long shelf life at the time of delivery. An expert committee, constituted for the purpose, had finalised 40 medicines that were to be made available at subsidiary health centres and rural dispensaries managed by service providers. As many as 22 medicines had already been purchased. He said that civil surgeons were allowed to purchase medicines for one month from the local market because tendered medicines could not be made available immediately. However, complaints were received that medicines purchased at the local level were not of good quality. The Chairman said the new scheme was appreciated by the Government of India. Messages were received from UP and Bihar to provide information about the scheme . The PHSC would be making available the required information regarding the functioning of the alternate healthcare delivery system to both the states. |
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Raj Kumar, Farheen carrom champs
Chandigarh, August 8 Raj Kumar outclassed Naushad of S.D.M. School, Sector 41, in the einal winning the title in straight two games. At one stage Raj Kumar was trailing 05-15 in the first game but managed to win the first game by 25-15. The second game was merely one-sided affair for Raj Kumar who thrashed Naushad 25-01 and won the title. In another final, Farheen defeated Harshpreet of Sacred Heart School, Sector 26, in straight two games by 25-01, 23-07. In the Men’s Singles event, Mohd. Shahzad upset top seed Raj Kumar beating him in straight games by 24-07, 25-11. In Girls’ Sub-Junior quarter-finals, Farheen gave a one-sided affair defeat to Jasmine 25-00, 25-00. Results 4th Day: Men’s Singles: Pre-quarter finals: Mohd. Shahzad b Raj Kumar 24-07, 25-11, Bunty b Furkan Ansari 23-10, 25-02, Mazhar Khan b Zaffar Khan 09-25, 25-17, 25-10, Riyasat Ali b Daljinder Pal Singh 23-13, 25-04, Nadeem Akhtar b Varun Sood 12-17, 25-04, 18-13, Neesam Hussain b Salim Ahmed 24-20, 25-11, Neeraj Bharti b Mohd. Aslam 25-00, 25-05, Asif Iqbal b Amjad Khan 25-18, 18-09. Boys’ Junior (final): Raj Kumar b Naushad 25-15, 25-01. Boys Sub Juniors (quarter-finals): Hassan b Mukul Sharma 25-00, 25-00, Ojal Anand b Aiyush Hemdan 20-14, 13-21, 22-18, Arish b Lakshya Piplani 23-04, 25-00, Shaquib b Kartik 25-04, 25-11. Girls Juniors (final): Farheen b Harshpreet 25-01, 23-07. Girls Sub-Junior (quarter-finals) : Farheen b Jasmine 25-00, 25-00, Samridhi Piplani b Gulshan 05-25, 21-11, 25-06, Tuba b Anjali 22-03, 18-06, Surbhi Hemdan b Himanshi Singh 25-00, 25-00. |
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Ajay thrashes Sudhir in tennis tourney
Chandigarh, August 8 In Boys U-14 category, Tejvansh Singh maintained the dominance of the local player and in the process he thrashed Vietnamese player Trung Le Nguyen Thien by 6-2, 6-3. In girls section, Chandigarh’s Tarrunnum Handa defeated Charvi 6-0, 6-5 to reach in the quarterfinals of U-12 category. On the other hand Haryana’s player Suraj
Beniwal, who is contesting in U-14 category (Boys), continued his winning spree and beat his opponent Shiva Tokas from Delhi by 6-1, 6-4. The other results are as follow: Boys U-14 (2nd round): Gurinder Singh (PB) bt Ajay Yadav
(CHD) 6-3, 6-1, Naveen Shankar (CHD) bt Dev Bir Singh (CHD) 6-2, 6-1, Tejvansh Singh
(CHD) bt Trung Le Nguyen Thien (VIT) 6-2, 6-3, Sudhir Tanwar (DLI) bt Raghav Singhal
(CHD) 0-6,6-2,6-0, Suraj Beniwal (HAR) bt Shiva Tokas (DEL) 6-1, 6-4 Kha Pham Chung An
(VIT) bt Bavneet Singh (DEL) 6-3, 6-1 Gautam Ahuja (DEL) bt Dev Bir Singh
(CHD) 6-2, 6-1, Gagandeep S. Gill (PB) bt Bikramjeet Singh (CHD) 6-3,4-6, 6-0. Boys U-12 (quarterfinals)
Anvit K. Bendre (GUJ) bt Nischay Rawal (CHD) 6-4, 2-6, 6-4, Ajay Yadav
(CHD) bt Sudhir Tanwar (DLI) 6-2, 7-6 (5), Karan Bidani (DLI) bt Ayush Mintri (PB) 6-4, 6-1, Manish Kumar
(DLI) bt Rishab Dev(CHD) 6-2, 6-2. Girls Under 14 (2nd round) Mehek
(CHD) bt Suruchy kumar (DEL) 6-1, 6-0, Trang H Phuung Dai (VIT) bt Jasmine
Kaur(DEL) 6-1, 6-6, Tarrunnum Handa (CHD) bt Megha Sehrawat (DEL) 6-0, 6-1, Arzoo Malik bt Prabhamrit Kaur
(CHD) 6-2, 6-1, Bigh Phant (CHD) bt Paramvir Kaur(CHD) 6-0,6-2, Roop Saran Rihal bt Indu 6-0, 6-1, Minh bt Simran Kaur (DEL) 6-1, 6-4, Jaanesh Kaur bt Bhavika Wadhawan
(CHD) 6-2, 6-3. Girls U-12 (2nd round) Megha Sehrawat(DEL) bt Vanshika Chugh
(CHD) 8-4, Bhavika Wadhawan (CHD) bt Ganeev Kaur (CHD) 8-6. Girls U-12
(quarterfinals) Tarrunnum Handa (CHD) bt Charvi Saxena (CHD) 6-0, 6-5, Arzoo Malik
(DLI) bt Simran Kaur 6-0,6-2, Boys U-14 (quarterfinals) Gurinder Singh (PB) bt Naveen Shankar
(CHD) 6-0, 6-3, Tejvansh Singh (CHD) bt Gagandeep S. Gill (PB) 6-3, 6-1, Sudhir Tanwar
(DLI) bt Kha Pham Chung An (VIT) bt Gautam Ahuja (DEL) bt 6-0, 6-1 Girls U-14
(quarterfinals) Trang H Phuung Dai (VIT) bt Mehak 6-4, 6-7, 6-4(4), Binh Phanthat bt Roop Saran Rihal 6-0, 6-0, Min N. Gyun bt Janeesh 6-4, 1-6, 6-2. Arzoo Malik bt Tarannum 6-2, 6-4. Boys U-12 Doubles (quarterfinals) Manish Kumar
(DLI) & Raghav (DLI) bt Ranjit Singh (CHD) & Sachin Kumar (CHD). Boys U-14 Doubles
(Pre-quarters) Bavneet Singh (DLI) & Lakshay Jain (DLI) bt Jatinder Singh
(CHD) & Uday Singh Maan (CHD) 8-4, Nischay Rawal (CHD) & Arsh Buland
(CHD) bt Bikramjit Kang (CHD) & Pankaj Kumar (CHD) 8-5, Hein N Guyen Huv
(VIT) & Tejvance Singh (PB) w/o Anupam Chetri & Dev Bir Singh, Trung Le Nguyen Thien
(VIT) & Kha Pham Chung An (VIT) bt Paramvir Singh & Naveen Shankar
(CHD) 8-6, Sonam Phuntsok & Suraj Beniwal bt Shiva Tokas & Hriday Kriplani
(DLI). |
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Coaching Centre-23 wins match in handball
championship
Chandigarh, August 8 Shivani 5 and Anita 4 were the main contributors in CC-23 win while Parminder 4, Yadpal 3 contributed for CC-42 (B). The match between DAV CC-8 and GMSSS-16 was a one-sided affair tie. DAV team thrashed GMSSS-16 team 24-10. Bharat Bhushan was the main contributor in DAV’s win as he scored a mammoth 10 goals. This was followed by Abhishek 5 and Plwinder 4. From the loser’s side, Dinesh scored 3 while Navjot and Ankit contributed 2 and 1 goals, respectively. In anther match, GMSSS-19 defeated GHS, Sector 7, in a well contested match. From the winners' side Anjana scored two goals, Shivani and Sanjana scored one each. On the other side, Shivani scored two goals while Anjali and Anuradha scored one goal each. Other results: GMSSS-44 b GMSSS-47 (15-13), |
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