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Leisure Valley lures carnival revellers
Chandigarh, November 24 While Himachal Pradesh is the domestic tourism destination for this year’s carnival, Singapore is the international destination. The colours ruling the roost at the valley are naturally — white for Himachal’s snow and — golden yellow for Singapore’s vibrancy. The lures are many — including the snow festival which Himachal Pradesh has to offer. There is also a special range of handicrafts and handlooms to show. Tarun Shridhar, MD, Himachal Tourism Corporation, told Chandigarh Tribune today, “Our most valued clients come from Chandigarh, Punjab and Haryana. We look at this partnership as a means to touch base with them and offer them the best we can. We get 40 per cent visitors from here and we have special winter packages for them. This time of the season is perfect for a carnival as Shimla will have its first snow any time now.” Like Himachal, Singapore Airlines is looking at the Carnival as an opportunity to expand its tourist base. And this pavilion might well turn out to be the brightest corner of the Carnival with blow ups of Singapore’s hallmarks going up for display. Mohinder Bajaj, local representative of Singapore Airlines said, “We have depicted Singapore’s art and culture. Apart from information packages, we have a special cuisine corner for visitors.” Another highlight will be rural tourism, depicted not only through CITCO’s ‘vehra’, but also through a special Punjabi village designed for the Carnival. Among other stalls being put up are the ones by three Akademies — Chandigarh Lalit Kala, Sangeet Natak and Sahitya Akademi. Lalit Kala Akademi will hold demonstrations of paper folding, weaving and card making. A poster contest on the theme, “2007 - The Year of Cycling” and an art quiz will be held on Sunday. There will also be a special corner from where budding artists (from schools and colleges) can sell their artworks on “zero commission basis”. Last year, children sold works worth Rs 20,000 here. Sangeet Natak Akademi is organising folk performances besides a display of traditional folk costumes of Punjab and Haryana. Even the usual carnival features are set to look better this year, with the UT Administration vowing to promote Chandigarh internationally. Some of the special corners will be — Adventure, Friends of Children, Senior Citizens and Mini Rock Garden. Government College of Art, Sector 10, will have a special presence at the show with its 14 floats on this year’s theme ‘Sing, Song and Singapore’. Last but not the least will be the performance in the evening on both the days. The first performance will come from Shibani Kashyap and the second from Javed Ali and Santokh Singh. The Carnival parade will start from the Leisure Valley at 11 am tomorrow.
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2 DAV College boys were last seen at Marina Beach
Chandigarh, November 24 When the friends of the two students — Davinder Sharma and Gurwinder — were unable to trace them, they pressed the panic button and informed the Chennai police as well as the Coast Guard authorities. A team of divers and helicopters were pressed into service to look out for the boys. However, till the filing of this report, the two were still untraced. Both boys, residents of Rajpura and Bathonia village, respectively, and students of BA-I of DAV College, had left the city on Sunday for Chennai, along with a 37-member yoga group. The group, which also included girl students, had gone under the supervision of yoga coach Raman. The group comprised members from various educational institutes in the city. The families of the boys came to know about the incident last evening. Two members from each family have flown to Chennai. Talking to the TNS on the phone from Chennai, Davinder’s father Tarsem Lal Sharma said his son had made a number of phone calls and sent SMS up until Thursday afternoon. “But after that we stopped getting calls or messages from him. We came to know about the incident from Gurwinder’s family,” he said. Davinder’s uncle Naresh Sharma, who is accompanying Tarsem Lal Sharma, said the police had not found any clothes of the boys on the beach, which ruled out the possibility of their going out into the sea for a swim. “Coach Raman told us that all group members were sitting on the beach. Only the two were seen going towards the sea but after that no one knew what happened. We hope that the boys are safe. Had some untoward incident happened, the bodies would have washed ashore after five or six hours.” A Chennai-based police officer said on the phone that they were making all efforts to trace the two boys. The police there has registered a DDR in this regard.
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Teenager’s body found
Panchkula, November 24 Police sources said Khalil left his house to recover Rs 200 from a shopkeeper in Pinjore. He did not return home following which a "missing" complaint was lodged by his family.
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Watch out
Vrinda Sharma, a BA I student of Government College of Girls, Sector 11, is currently in Kolkata representing Panjab University in the All-India Inter-University Rowing Championship.
Vrinda was earlier a swimmer and shifted to rowing recently. She won a silver medal in Panjab University inter-college rowing competition held at Sukhna Lake in the first week of November.
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Fu Enfu, President of the China Cotton Textile Information Centre, is in town on Saturday and is participating in the 62nd All-India Textile Conference being held here. He is taking part in the conference so as to get an insight in the Indian textile industry and explore options of Sino-Indian collaboration in the textile sector.
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Passing Through Dronacharya awardee, badminton coach Why are sports like badminton are on the backburner in the Indian sports scenario? Popularity of sports is more a matter of marketing and the response that cricket generates from the public is a big example. Badminton and majority of other sports figure nowhere because they do not have the finances and the leadership vision to manage the media attention Have people lost interest in badminton? It is wrong to say that people have lost interest in badminton. The game is popular. However, fewer people in India want to take up the game as a choice for profession. The socio-economic scenario here prepares a child to first take up a job in his life because of which it loses out on quality sportsperson. Is there any hope for less popular sports like badminton? The apex bodies of all sports association have to show the way. Youngsters need to be assured of a good future in sports so that they can start young and continue it for longer periods, instead of leaving sports after getting an admission in professional colleges or getting jobs. Sanjeev Singh Bariana |
Marriage of convenience on trial
Chandigarh, November 24 With aspirants far outnumbering the 26 seats on offer, question marks are being raised over the continuation of the alliance, which is being termed as “marriage of convenience” by the alliance’s principal rival — the Congress. In the BJP alone, there are 175 aspirants for the party ticket. In fact, the only saving grace for the alliance is the fact that the Congress is yet to announce its list of candidates. And the principal ally, the BJP, which is already fighting with its back against the wall in the wake of some of its former leaders joining Uma Bharati’s Bharatiya Jana Shakti Party (BJSP), is in a catch-22 situation. If it concedes more seats to its alliance partners, its image of the “big brother” will suffer a setback. And less seats to the partners will mean “dissatisfied” allies, which the party can ill-afford ahead of the crucial poll. Observers feel that the “delaying tactics” in finalising the candidates’ list by both the alliance and the Congress is understandable, as “dissidents” may pose problems and contest as Independent candidates, this upsetting party candidates applecart. As per indications, both the alliance and the Congress are likely to release the final list by the month-end, obviously to spring a surprise on the prospective rebel candidates. December 1 is the last date for filing of nomination papers. Even as confusion over sharing of seats continues, the CVM has reportedly finalised seven names for the poll. Of these, the candidature of sitting councillors Jatinder Bhatia and Vijay Singh Rana and Satinder Dhawan, wife of the CVM supremo Harmohan Dhawan, seems to be a certainty. In fact, the predominant view in the BJP is pointing to giving seven seats to the CVM and four to the SAD, with the BJP contesting 15 seats. Party leaders are hopeful of alliance partners reaching “decent” seat adjustment, taking care of the needs of every alliance partner. “Talks are in progress and everything will fall in place. We will release the final list on November 30,” BJP president Yash Pal Mahajan claimed without divulging more. The BJP is pinning hopes on the arrival of its national secretary Arun Jaitley on November 26 to finalise the seat-sharing arrangements. Meanwhile, a meeting of BJP office-bearers, including its district and mandal presidents, was held here today to take stock of the preparations for the joint BJP-SAD-CVM rally on November 26, a press note said.
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Day 1: no papers filed
Chandigarh, November 24 Scrutiny of nominations will be taken up by the respective returning officers at their offices on December 2. Candidates can withdraw their candidatures after the scrutiny of nominations is over on December 5, following which symbols will be allotted to final contestants. The city will have 26 ward councillors this year.
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Parties want to give MC more teeth
Chandigarh, November 24 The issue of transfer of the functioning of the Estate Office is one of the main issues. Ever since the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs visited the city last year, only the functioning of the Department of Births and Death has been transferred. Other departments like the Estate Office and the Department of Pest Control and Malaria have not been transferred to the civic body. With an eye on the vote bank, different political parties are set to resurrect the issue of implementing the Constitutional amendment. “Though the municipal corporation has ownership over commercial properties in Sectors 9, 34, 35 and Mani Majra, the powers of issuing permission for sanctioning of building plans and checking of building bylaws violations lie with the Estate Office,” said a senior official of the corporation. As per the prevailing practice, no record pertaining to violations, misuse and compounding fee to be charged for any violations is passed on to the civic body. If done so, the civic body stands to earn a lot of revenue. Citing the case of Fun Republic, Chander Mukhi, a member of the Manifesto Committee of the Congress, said in spite of being the owner of the land, the body has not been able to penalise the violators for building violations.
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Dalit rally organised
Mohali, November 24 The protesters raised slogans against the government. The President of the manch, Mr Shamsher Purkhalwi, while addressing the gathering said on the one hand Dalit families in the state were not able to get two square meals a day and on the other, the Chief Minister of the state was misusing public funds and the government machinery by holding vikas yatras. He further said the Dalits in the state were well aware of various activities of the politicians and would not be misled by them during the coming elections. He said the government had failed to give justice to economically weaker sections of the society who were still facing oppression. He alleged that the rich and powerful in the state were forcibly taking into their possession small pieces of land belonging to Dalit families and even the shamlat land, but the administration was not taking any action. Mr Purkhalwi further said reservation in the government and non-government institutions should not be done on the basis of the caste but on the economic status of the people. He demanded that all private schools should be closed in the state so that all categories of students were able to get the same level of education in the government schools.
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Rose Garden greens making way for pathways
Chandigarh, November 24 Never mind the fact that the garden already has innumerable winding paths — running into several kilometers. But that seems to be of little significance to the administration, which is busy turning greens into browns these days or perhaps merely exhausting excess funds. Throughout the garden, hundreds of rose bushes have been sacrificed to suit the fancy of planners, who say there was a demand from visitors to make more pathways. Strangely, the administration didn’t act as fast to check the dog menace in the garden, for roads, it seems, are more important. J.S. Gill from the Horticulture Department said the demand for pathways was there. He, however, quickly passed the buck to the Civil Wing Department, saying that it was executing the task. No matter what the defence for the proposal, those who have been frequenting the garden say the step is anything but positive. “In the city, which is already a jungle of concrete, no one should even think of sacrificing green spaces. The garden is anyway not in the pink of health. It is low on varieties and maintenance. There can be no justification for making more concrete pathways in a garden. Those who so much want to walk can take to roads.” Strangely, on the one hand where the administration talks of reviving the glory of the garden through its Rose Society, on the other it hasn’t thought twice before clearing a proposal that has uprooted hundreds of rose bushes and precious species. Officials say flower beds can be re-laid along new paths but people ask: “Can’t the administration use its funds in better jobs? Why destroy existing beds if more have to be re-laid?” The garden has already lost its sheen due to poor maintenance. It once used to have six green roses —a rare variety in the world. But now just one survives, courtesy ill-conceived plans. Incensed at the loss of green roses, Dr S. Lavasa, a visitor, says: “There are so many trails here. People have been using them for walking. Also, there is no dearth of concrete corridors for those who wish to walk. I am genuinely disgusted at the loss of rare rose species to vague plans of the administration. Even if there was a demand from people, horticulturist should have turned it down in the interest of the garden.” Incidentally, the administration’s Rose Society, created to improve the garden, has not taken off yet. The plantation season is here and no headway has been made. The society has not even been registered. It was formed to help the garden get more rose varieties. Despite being the biggest Rose Garden in Asia, the garden has just 625 varieties, against a total of 30,000 existing varieties in the world.
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Justice for Albestron through Web
Chandigarh, November 24 “Sign and do your bit to get justice not only for
Albestron, but many more” — that’s exactly what the petition “Justice-for-Albestron” says on a website on justice. The 16-year-old “victim of administrative apathy” was found dead by the roadside in Sector 15 on Monday. He was expelled from Guru Nanak Public School, Sector 36, on the grounds of misconduct. In the petition, Megha Bhagat and other students have asserted: “The right to education has been an embodiment of our Constitution ever since its inception. Every child should get complete education so as to become self-sufficient. But what do we do when a child loses his life en route to self-sufficiency?” The boy, living in a hostel, returned one night allegedly in a slightly inebriated state. Instead of reaching out to him, the boy was thrown out without taking into account the fact that he was a minor. To make things worse, the authorities did little to hold an inquiry into the matter. In violation of the principles of natural justice, he was not even accorded an opportunity of hearing. To top it all, his parents were not informed about the factum of his expulsion. Though a Manipuri Students’ Association existed in the city, it was just not taken into confidence. After scouting for accommodation, he eventually died of an internal injury after falling on the road. Action has not been initiated against anyone to date, the petition asserts. All this has given rise to more than a few sensitive issues and questions, the petition says. To begin with, why have the authorities concerned not initiated steps for setting up a helpdesk for such students living in houses in the city away from home. The desk, the students say, can go a long way in providing instant help to students as they hardly have anyone to turn to in a moment of crisis. Another issue brought to the fore is the attitude of the authorities concerned. “Is there a need to sensitise the authorities so that they can effectively deal with minors in such situations?” the students question. Residents can offer their suggestions by logging on to
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/justiceforalbestron
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Driving away ignorance
Chandigarh, November 24 As part of the ongoing efforts, the Director of Youth Affairs Division of the Commonwealth Secretariat, Dr Fatiha Serour, yesterday flagged off a car christened - CHETNA — HIV/AIDS Awareness on Wheels. CHETNA is part of the HIV/AIDS awareness campaign launched by Commonwealth Youth Ambassador Gaurav Gaur in Chandigarh. Mr Gaur works as Programme Manager for the Society for AIDS Control, Chandigarh. Praising Mr Gaur , Dr Serour called upon other young people to use their creativity and talent to turn around the tide of HIV and AIDS. Dr Serour is in town along with representatives from four Regional Centres of the Commonwealth Youth Programme based in Zambia, Guyana, the Solomon Islands and Chandigarh.
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City can become knowledge hub through ‘strategic HR’
Chandigarh, November 24 This was stated by Finance Minister, Punjab, Surinder Singla while delivering the inaugural address at a conference-cum-exposition on “Strategic HR, bridging skill gap — enhancing competitive advantage” being organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry here today. Speaking on leveraging the most important asset of India — 540 million people under the age of 25 years — Mr Singla said the government-industry partnership complimented by innovative thinking and skilled manpower were critical to ensuring competitive advantage and thereby bringing prosperity to the country. The second session on “Media- Through the Looking Glass”, moderated by Director Public Relations and Tourism, Chandigarh Administration, Vivek Atray, had The Times of India Resident Editor Anand Soon Das, Ashok Mallik of Dainik Tribune and Jyoti Kamal of
CNN-IBN as panelists. The session focussed on the challenges in media industry and its people issues. Attrition at country level and the critical analysis of the factors responsible were the highlight of the third session of the HR conference on “IT & Telecom — connecting
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Cops seek shopkeepers’ aid to check
crime
Panchkula, November 24 In a meeting with the members of the Beopar mandal and other business establishments, police chief Balbir Singh said that shopkeepers must adopt safety measures to ensure the safety of their property. He asked them to install various safety gadgets available in the market and urged them to establish a public-police initiative for better maintenance of law and order. “We have asked the associations of various markets to convey to shopkeepers the need to maintain their own security. They can have burglar alarms and parking attendants in the market place. The attendants will, in this way, be able to keep a tab on any miscreants in the market,” he said. The police, at its meeting today, has also asked each market to form its own committee to round up unauthorised elements roaming around in market places and hand them over to the police post in their areas. “The idea of this exercise is to involve the public in our endeavour to check incidents of crime reported from the city,” Mr Balbir Singh said. After a meeting with owners of commercial establishments, the police plans to hold a meeting with welfare organisations in order to urge them to be equal participants in keeping the city crime free.
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5-day seminar from Nov 27
Chandigarh, November 24 The seminar will be co-sponsored by the Rehabilitation Council of India under the Union Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment. Early intervention services aimed at the development of the “Whole child” which involves a combination of extended informal and non-formal education, including early stimulations, health and nutritional activities directed to infants and young children, have provided evidence in support of their development gains and efficiency of early intervention programmes and practises in varied localities and under diverse settings.
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Diplast launches Veggi Fresh for the tricity
Mohali, November 24 Mr Ashok Gupta, Managing Director, Diplast, said at a press conference here today that vegetables and fruits would be chemical free and grown under the supervision and guidance of the qualified staff. The packaging would be done in net bags and poly packs duly perforated for aeration as per the guidance provided by Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana. With the passage of time, the scheme would be extended to Haryana and Himachal Pradesh. Mr Gupta further said Diplast would also introduce hydro-tech farming which would be very helpful for those living in flats and apartments. Under this type of farming, soil was not needed and plants could be grown in water.
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Land records computerised
Mohali, November 24
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Sacrifice of Guru Teg Bahadur remembered
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Remembering Surinder Kaur Chandigarh, November 24 The Punjab Arts Council is organising a function to commemorate the 77th birthday of the legendary Punjabi folk artiste and playback singer, Surinder Kaur, at the Punjab Kala Bhavan tomorrow. The secretary-general of the council, Prof Rajpal Singh, said noted scholars and artistes, who had worked with Surinder Kaur, will share their views on her life and achievements. An exhibition of her recordings by Gurmukh Singh Lali and a documentary film depicting her illustrious career produced by Zee TV under the direction of Mukesh Gautam will be an added
attractions.
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PO offender held
Chandigarh, November 24 The court had declared him a PO in 2000. The Station House Officer, Industrial Area, Mr B S Chaddha said that a police party was sent to Bihar, who nabbed Alamgir from his village. He was working as a labourer there. Truck driver arrested:
An eye witness had provided the police with a wrong registration number (PCI-4854) of the truck, but after investigations the police found its driver innocent. Later, the police found another truck, bearing PCI 4654 as its registration number at Transport Chowk. After inquiry, the driver of the truck, Gurmit Singh, admitted that he hit the youth on the fateful day. The police have arrested the accused and registered a case of rash and negligent driving leading to death against him.
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Textiles contribute 4 pc to GDP
Chandigarh, November 24 Presiding over the 62nd All-India Textile Conference here today, he emphasised the need for sustainable development of new techniques to take on global competition. He remarked that the ability of the textile industry to create wealth by new innovations will determine its position in the global market. He emphasised on the need for setting up of committees of engineering design, manpower management and training, development of dyes and scientific research to achieve the top place in the world market. Mr J.N. Singh, Textile Commissioner, Government of India, who was the guest of honour, said that textiles was emerging as the second most important sector after agriculture in India. It contributes 4 per cent to our GDP, constitutes 14 per cent of our total industrial production and 15 per cent of our total exports. It provides direct and indirect employment to 35 million persons across the country. “India has emerged as the second biggest winner in both the US and EU markets. Countries such as Mexico and Canada have shown negative growth in the textile exports where as India has shown tremendous positive growth. Factors such as low wages (sixth among major producers), large skilled workforce, lowest cost of yarn at $ 2.5 per kg, and being the second largest producer of cotton (17%) will help Indian textiles to keep their edge over other countries in the near future,” he added. Mr S.S. Aich, President of the Textile Association of India, said that development of India’s technological capabilities coupled with the need to integrate our technology management system with international standards as bench marks has never been more important as it is today. “Thanks to some favourable textile policies of the Government of India, the industry is now at the threshold of playing its legitimate role in the global economy,” he added. Mr H.S. Cheema, Joint Managing Director, Cheema Spintex, said that we were still deficient in power supply, sea ports and logistics, where we have to show improvement. Dr Kidwai released a monogram and gave awards for excellence in textile industry. Delegates from all over the country are attending the two-day conference.
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Cellebrum ties up with UK firm Chandigarh, November 24 This service powered by Cellebrum and ICE 365, is a value addition to mobile peer-to-peer calling, which allows subscribers to create their own ambience during a call, by playing music or sound clip of their choice in the background. Commenting on the service, Mr Paul Shoker, Chief Executive Officer, ICE 365, stated that, “The launch of miTune BGM service is in line with our goal to introduce user-generated and community-based applications and services that enhance customers’ interaction with each other”.
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