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Rural areas to have 24-hr power supply
Banur, February 2 Addressing the gathering at Jan Suvidha Camp at Manakpur village near here, the minister said this would ensure safe drinking water and its regular supply in rural area of the state. He said a special scheme was being chalked out to achieve this soon. He said Zirakpur, Dera Bassi and Rajpura sub-divisions of the area would be given preference by the public health department under this scheme. On being apprised by the villagers about the problems being faced by them to get deeds registered for land measuring more than 1,000 sq yards, the minister directed the deputy commissioner of Patiala to look into the matter and find a suitable solution as early as possible. He also directed the Rajpura BDPO to look into the demand of five marla plots put forth by members of the Scheduled Caste community. Meanwhile, during the Jan Suvidha Camp that was organised for the people of Tasimbli, Devinagar and Manakpur villages, 350 driving licenses were made, 400 forms for pensions were filled, 20 blue cards for atta-dal scheme were disturbed, 60 yellow cards were made, besides 13 ration cards and 20 forms were filled for shagun scheme. |
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Tax-evading docs under scanner
Patiala, February 2 Sources in the department said there were many private hospitals being run in the city whose owners were not paying taxes or who had been paying less than their dues. Department officials have already drawn up a list of some private hospitals owned by doctors who have not been paying their taxes on time. During the past few days, the income tax department has already raided the premises of two laboratories and the house of a doctor and confiscated their records. The sleuths had got some vital clues from these two raids after which they decided to draw up a list of erring hospitals and nursing homes. According to sources in the IT department, patients, who were referred by doctors to various labs to get their tests done, were allegedly fleeced by both-the doctors as well as the labs. The sources said certain doctors were hand in glove with the lab owners and they deliberately referred patients to these labs to make quick money. On the other hand, the sources said, there were certain doctors who earned anything between Rs 30,000 to Rs 1 lakh per month but the same was never put on record. Such doctors preferred to reveal just half of whatever income they had. The IT department officials have already put on notice some top doctors, owners of hospitals and nursing homes and are all set to conduct raids on their premises. |
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From Schools & Colleges
Patiala, February 2 VISIT: A group of 25 students along with Anjli Sharma and Gurmeet Kaur visited Vatika Deaf and Dumb School, Sector 19, Chandigarh. St Soldier International Convent School, Phase VII, Mohali, donated Rs 5,000 to the school. This amount of money was a part of the profit incurred by students of Classes VII and VIII, who had put up lucky dip and IT stalls at the school fete. PLACEMENT DRIVE: Chandigarh Engineering College, Landran, played host to one of the biggest placement drives in the northern region. More than 2,000 students from various technical institutes of Chandigarh, Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh participated in the drive conducted by Satyam Computer Services. The written test conducted by the company is part of the two-day rigorous selection procedure, which will include technical and HR interviews of the short listed candidates. The result of the test will be available on the college website. CAMPUS PLACEMENT: A joint campus placement drive is being organised by Wipro at Indo Global College of Engineering for recruiting students in the BPO sector. Exhibition
PANCHKULA: In order to hone the skills of students in art, Holy Child School hosted an exhibition of drawings and paintings here today. It was an endeavor in the direction to encourage children to observe things differently, said the principal of school. A workshop on parenting was also conducted. |
Madan outplays Inderpal
Chandigarh, February 2 In under-10 singles event in girls’ section, Sonali from Delhi emerged champion. She beat Nidhi Sharma from Himachal Pradesh by 5-3. Delhi lad Ashish Gaur defeated Gurkaran Singh of Punjab by 5-3 to win top honours in boys’ under-14 singles. Earlier, Pawan Kumar Bansal, Union minister of state for finance inaugurated the three-day meet. Results: Singles (girls): Under-10 (final): Sonali (Delhi) b Nidhi Sharma (HP) 5-3. Under-14 (final): Shristhi (Haryana) b Anjali Bhatia (Delhi) 5-2. Under-19 (final): Jyoti Kaushik (Chd) b Sheetal (Haryana) 5-3. Under12 (final): Atul Pandey (Chd) b Shubham (HP) 5-1. (Boys) Under-14 (final): Ashish Gaur (Delhi) b Gurkaran Singh (Punjab) 5-3. Under-17 (final): Simranjit Singh (Punjab) b Lakshay (Haryana) 5-4.
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HFCL lift trophy
Chandigarh, February 2 Put in to bat first, Connect team put on 159 runs for 7 in 25 overs. Sanjay Malik was the top scorer with 28 off 26 followed by Aman and Rajil Sawhney who scored 25 and 23 runs, respectively. For Infosys, Karan, Satmeet and Anshuman, chipped in two wickets each. In reply, Infosys were wrapped on just 129 runs in 23 overs. Deadly bowing spells by Vikram and Rakesh tore apart the batting line up of the Infosys. Vikram finished with figure 4 for 24 while Rakesh claimed three for 26. Satmeet played a defiant knock of 60 runs in 68 balls whereas the other notable contributor was Mohit Garg, who made 21 runs in 16 balls. Vikram was declared man of the match for his excellent performance. The chief guest Vivek Atrey, director public relations, gave away the prizes. Brief score: Connect: 159 for 7 in 25 overs (Sanjay Malik 28, Aman 25, Rajil Sawhney 23, Karan 2 for 21, Satmeet 2 for 32, Anshuman 2 for 34) Infosys: 129 all out in 23 overs (Satmeet Singh 60, Mohit Garg 21, Vikram 4 for 24, Rakesh 3 for 26). |
GMADA to auction hospital, nursing home sites
Mohali, February 2 Unlike the earlier practice when a committee of the Punjab Urban Planning and Development Authority allotted hospital and nursing home sites, GMADA will now be auctioning these sites. The authority has also laid down eligibility criteria for participation in the auction. For nursing homes, an individual will have to be a qualified doctor possessing an MBBS degree with at least three years’ experience in the medical profession. In case the land is to be bought by a firm, it should have as its major partner (holding at least 50 per cent share of the firm), a qualified doctor holding an MBBS degree with the same experience. In case a society/trust has to bid for the land, it has to be a non-profit charitable organisation whose income is exempt from tax under the Income Tax Act. It should also have an MBBS doctor with the same experience who has 50 per cent or more contribution in the society. Such a society can also have on its rolls, an MBBS doctor with an employment contract of at least three years. Such a society should also have experience of running a dispensary, hospital or nursing home for at least three years. The eligibility criterion for participating in an auction for a super-specialty hospital is also the same as a nursing home. However, a limited company is also allowed to bid for these sites. The company should have at least one full-time director who is a qualified doctor or have a doctor on its rolls. Such a company should also have an experience of running a hospital for at least three years. Secretary, housing and urban development, Arun Goel said this policy was only for GMADA though other authorities in the state could use it as well. “This policy is binding only for GMADA area. In the rest of Punjab, the other urban authorities are free to lay down their own policies,” said Goel. The committee members, while formulating the policy, have drawn from the policy laid down for the purpose by the Chandigarh administration and the Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA). |
Barwala dacoity case solved, 2 held
Panchkula, February 2 A gang of eight burglars armed with iron rods had injured 11 persons seriously and looted four homes at Batod village on the intervening night of October 7 in Barwala. One of the injured — centenarian Telu Ram had later succumbed to injuries at PGI, Chandigarh. The police, while earlier investigating the case had picked up a 30-year-old youth of Shahbad Markanda for interrogation. He was allegedly tortured to death by CIA team on December 17 last. The SP had then ordered a judicial inquiry into the matter and had even arrested seven accused police personnel — SI Haripal Singh, head constable Bhagwan Das, constable Raghupal, Shan Singh, Chander Pal, Pawan Kumar and Joginder Singh — after suspending them. SP Sandip Khirwar today said the accused Raju and Satyawan had been arrested from Kala Amb in Himachal Pradesh. Their accomplices were still at large. The accused would be produced in the court tomorrow.
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‘India emerging as major animation hub’
Chandigarh, February 2 This was revealed by Jaideep Ghosh, director, KPMG Advisory Services, while talking to The Tribune on the sidelines of a conference on animation and gaming organised by the CII here today. He said though, as of now, most of the companies were engaged in discrete labour-intensive, low-end, modular tasks for big animation studios in Hollywood, Canada and France, the industry was slowly going up the value chain by starting collaborative animation services with these big studios. They are also initiating in-house productions. “The success of animation films like ‘Hanuman’ and ‘Bal Ganesha’ are proof of this progression in the industry,” he added. Ghosh said Hollywood studios like Walt Disney, Imax, Warner Bros and Sony are outsourcing their work to studios in India because of the low labour cost and talented manpower. “However, the Indian industry is highly fragmented with the top five players accounting for 10 - 15 per cent of the industry turnover. This factor, along with low indigenous demand for animation films, is responsible for most of the animation studios in India to adopt an outsourcing model. But things are likely to change with the success of some animated movies recently,” he said. Now, Pritish Nandy Communcations plans to produce five full-length 3-D animated films and has signed a $25 million deal with Florida-based Motion Pixel Corp, while Crest Animations has entered into a three movie co-production agreement with US-based Lions Gate. Walt Disney, too, has joined hands with Yash Raj Films to co-produce one full-length animated film each year. Ghosh said gaming, too, had come of age in India and had much better scope as these companies are better established. “The Indian companies are not just involved in mobile gaming but also in PC and console-gaming. The growing penetration of mobiles, PCs and reduction in prices of consoles- are serving as the growth drivers,” he added. He, however, warned that low levels of efficiency and professionalism, high search costs for outsourcing partners and low levels of investment in research and development and competition intent on price-cutting could cut the Indian animation growth story short.
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‘Animation, gaming industry has vast potential in India’
Chandigarh, February 2 The conference was organised by Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in collaboration with the Chandigarh Administration, concurrent to the Chandigarh Film Festival. Film makers, animators, students and consultants participated in the deliberations. Ashok Kaul, a renowned film director and pioneer in animation films in India, said we must make use of creative talent to put the Indian animation and gaming industry on a growth trajectory, which has a vast potential in India. During the technical session on “Animation: Risks and Rewards”, Nitin Bhushan, senior product manager of Computing & Lifestyle, Wipro Ltd, Anand Kapor, director, Image Foundry and Jaideep Ghosh, KPMG Advisory Service Pvt Ltd., held an insightful discussion on challenges: creative and technological; customising content for varied age groups and different geographies; looking at animation work in India and abroad; checking out business potential. During the second technical session on “Gaming; Mapping Trends”, A. Ramesh, co-founder and chief gaming officer, Kreeda India Games Ltd., Vishal Malhotra, chief executive officer, Cornershop entertainment, Philip Edward Alexy, professor, Picasso Animation college, Tejraj Parab, senior manager- Business Development, India Games Ltd., deliberated on technological advances in mobile online and other digital gaming formats.
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Regulate steel prices, industrialists to govt
Mohali, February 2 Senior vice-president B.S.Anand and general secretary Anurag Aggarwal said here today that the government should direct steel manufacturers to go in for a price hike not more than twice a year. They said the price of steel was increased by Rs 1,500 per metric tonne on January 1 and later again hiked by Rs 3,000 per metric tonne which had adversely affected small scale units. The steel manufacturers in the country had formed a cartel and were resorting to unjustified price hikes. The profits of the steel companies were booming. SAIL had declared 32 per cent increase in profit for the quarter ended December 2007. They said it had become impossible to service orders in hand, both domestic and international, because those were booked when prices of steel were lower. “This has resulted in our failure to meet our obligations, bringing bad name and resulting in blacklisting of the companies by customers. Hundred of units are being forced to close down, rendering lakhs of workers jobless. It has become impossible to book fresh orders due to this instability in the market making future uneasy. Future business planning has come to standstill, which is again forcing the units to shut shop,” they said. Office-bearers sought a ban on exports of raw material to other countries as it made created difficulties for the local units to compete in the international market. They said it appeared that they were back to the British Raj where raw material was exported from India and furnished good brought back. They demanded that customs duty on import of scrap be reduced so that it was easily available. The MIA has urged the government for an early action failing which it would be compelled to form a joint action committee by involving industrial associations of Chandigarh, Dera Bassi, Panchkula and Ludhiana and resort to agitation. The MIA to the Punjab Chief Minister submitted a memorandum in this regard.
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Hema weaves magic in ‘Radha Krishna’ ballet
Chandigarh, February 2 Presented under the aegis of Natya Vihar Kala Kendra the dance drama ‘Radha Krishna’ depicted episodes from the life of Lord Krishna and his divine companion Radha. The programme commenced with the baal sakhas of Krishna and gopikas with their respective idols. Hema Malini was an epitome of perfection while portraying diverse moods of Radha with utmost perfection, grace and skilled ease. Floating across the stage she virtually danced her way into the hearts of the intrusive audience. So was Raul D’ Souza, the celestial god along with the accomplished classical dancers Rakhi, Vishal, Geeta, Isha, Amit, Chander and Rohini. The soulful strains of music and playback by Ravinder Jain supported by Kavita Krishnamurthi and Suresh Wadkar was the life-line of the otherwise immaculate production conceived and choreographed by Hema Malini herself. The house full gave a standing ovation to the star danseuse Hema in reverence for her kind gesture of donating a sum of Rs 1 lakh to the Athma Shakti Vidyalaya, a therapeutic community for the rehabilitation centre for the mentally ill besides charging no fee for the concert. She lauded the efforts of father Hank Nunn for the social cause. The chief guest Dr A.R. Kidwai honoured Hema Malini and the artists while Dr R.P. Bhamba, S.P. Singh and Vivek Atrey graced the function. Dr R.K. Charavorty compeered the programme. |
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Film Fest
Chandigarh, February 2 An interactive session with veteran directors Shyam Benegal, M.S. Sathyu, seemed to be very fruitful and undoubtedly joyful for the audiences. Model, actor, sportsperson, politician, social activist and the chairperson of the Children's Film Society of India (CFSI) Nafisa Ali- was also a major highlight of the day. Nafisa spoke about all the roles that she has played in her real life. The day concluded with an enlightening discussion with M. S. Sathyu and the screening of his movie 'The Hope'. 'The Mud Cake' a short film by Dr Gaurav Chhabra that had won the first prize in the international video competition organised by the World Health Organisation (WHO) was also screened at the festival. |
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