Panchkula, June 12
In a clash between the police and jhuggi dwellers protesting against the demolition of their tenements in Indira Colony of the Mansa Devi Complex (MDC) in Sector 5, Panchkula, four persons, including two police personnel and one HUDA employee, were injured today. One of the injured constables has been taken to the PGI.

Those injured include a resident of Indira Colony Shriram, policeman Somnath and HUDA employee Shain. While the jhuggi dweller sustained injuries on his leg, the cop suffered injuries on his hands, during the stone pelting by jhuggi dwellers.

The injured were immediately rushed to General Hospital, Sector 6, here. Doctor relieved three of them after the first-aid treatment and referred constable Satbir Singh to the PGI.

On the second day of the demolition drive, HUDA officials, accompanied by over 250 police personnel, cordoned off the area around 12.30 pm. The illegal dwelling units were demolished in two hours.

Duty magistrate Satish Yadav, Ram Chander, SDO, and A.K. Jain, junior engineer, led the drive. Neelam P. Kasni, HUDA administrator, SP Sandeep Khirwar and DC R.K. Kataria also visited the site.

A JCB machine was torched by the agitated slum dwellers, who also pelted the police with stones. Despite resistance by the slum dwellers, the authorities removed the jhuggis from the area.

Meanwhile, it is learnt that over 200 slum dwellers were having ration cards from Chandigarh. In fact, there was a boundary dispute between Panchkula and Chandigarh and a substantial number of slum dwellers were also surveyed for the slum rehabilitation project of the Chandigarh Administration.

Now, when they have nowhere to go after the demolition drive, demand for
the rehabilitation of those slum dwellers having chandigarh residence proof is
gaining ground.

Nearly 850 jhuggis were razed by the HUDA staff yesterday. However, around 450 jhuggis sprung up again last night and today, claimed HUDA officials.

He admitted that there was some technical snag a couple of months ago, making these cards inoperative.

“However, we had got the problem rectified and since the past one month, we have not received any complaint,” he added.

Chandigarh, June 12
An anti-encroachment drive of the Municipal Corporation of Chandigarh (MC) in four booth markets in the city proved to be mere eyewash again today.

Though officials claimed it to be a “surprise” inspection, shopkeepers did not put their articles on the passages, but soon after the officials led by Dr Roshan Sunkaria, commissioner MC, left the markets, thing were back to square one.

During a visit to the markets after the inspections, the shopkeepers were seen putting their articles in the passages.

Even before the arrival of the inspection team in Sector 19, shopkeepers, who were informed earlier, did not put their things in the passages while a majority of shopkeepers in Palika Bazar did not open their shops.

While those who had opened in the morning immediately closed their shops as soon as the enforcement staff reached there.

A shopkeeper in the Sector 19 market said the market was abuzz with the “surprise inspection” and the shopkeepers in touch with the staff were alerted them.

Even as a month ago, the authorities had warned the representatives of the markets and shopkeepers to adhered to the fire safety norms and to remove encroachments, but nothing was done till date.

The inspection team, comprising SK Bansal, MC chief engineer, XEN Jorawar Singh, station fire officials SK Gosain and ML Sharma, and chairman of the fire and emergency services, MPS Chawla, carried out inspection in Sadar Bazar and Palika Bazar in Sector 19, Shastri Market in Sector 22 and booth market of Sector 15.

Meanwhile, the commissioner terminated K.C. Katoch, sub-inspector of the enforcement wing, for not discharging his duties.

Even during the raids, the markets passages were founds to be blocked by encroachers and in Sector 19 Sadar Bazar, there were “Exit” signboards. The shopkeepers demanded time to remove the encroachments.

The Sector 15 booth market was found to be full of violators, with blocked passages leaving no space for visitors and several shopkeepers were keeping gas stoves in their shops in violation of the rules.

Representatives of the Sector 22 market sought a week’s time to remove encroachments. Toilets in the market were in a bad condition and the commissioner ordered the official concerned to upgrade these.

The commissioner told the corporation staff that officer of area would be held responsible for the violations and stern action would be taken against the guilty.

Chandigarh, June 12
Setting aside speculations, Australia-based Zubeda, sister of Rosy Sharma, has told the police that the family does not suspect foul play in her sister’s death.

Zubeda, who was in the city today, identified the body at the mortuary in Government Multi-Specialty Hospital, Sector 16, before recording her statement at the police station-19.

While Zubeda, who is here with her niece, husband and other relatives, was reluctant to talk to mediapersons, SHO Sukhdev Singh Bhullar said she did not suspect foul play in her sister’s death.

“She used to get calls from her sister (Rosy) about tiffs over trivial issues with her husband, Pardeep Sharma, but this did not point to something fishy behind the death of Rosy”, the SHO said while quoting Zubeda.

Zubeda wanted to take Rosy’s children — 10-year-old son and nine-year-old daughter — along her to Australia, he added.

The children are Australian citizens by virtue of birth. Pardeep Sharma had no objections to sending the children with their maternal aunt, added the SHO.

Rosy (33), an NRI, was found dead at her residence in Sector 20 here on June 9. According to Pradeep, his wife often took sleeping pills, as she had not been
keeping well.

Pradeep met Rosy during a trip to Australia in 1996. A year later, they got married and shifted to India.

Meanwhile, the police has handed over Rosy’s body to the family after a post-mortem examination.

Chandigarh, June 12
Fatal road accidents continue to haunt southern sectors of the city as 33 persons have lost their lives in this part of the city till April this year.

This is twice the number of accidents reported in the northern sectors, which have better and well-illuminated roads besides having affective policing.

According to the figures available with the accident cell of the Chandigarh police, 68 persons had been killed on city roads till April, this year, while 172 had been left seriously injured.

Out of these, 33 fatal accidents were reported in southern sectors, while in 41 cases victims were rendered seriously injured.

Besides, 397 cases of minor accidents had been reported, in which victims escaped with minor injuries or vehicles were damaged.

In the northern sectors, 34 non-fatal accidents were reported in the same period, while in 294 mishaps were of minor nature.

Sources in the police department say the northern sectors witness comparatively less number of accidents as the presence of police in these sectors is more since it is the VIP zone of the city.

Even roads are wider and have less road traffic in comparison to southern sectors, which have higher population density.

The presence of police, including security staff of the police and other securities agencies, is also proving to be a deterrent to violation of traffic rules.

Contrary to this, several parts of southern sectors are without a police beat box. Similarly, the number of cases of theft is on the rise in southern sectors.

Ashutosh Juneja, a resident of Sector 51, feels insecure in his house as there is little police patrolling in the area.

“The issue has been brought to the notice of the authorities concerned a number of times, but the latter seem to be preoccupied with VIP sectors of the city,” says Juneja.

Going by the call record of the police control room, the department received 230 calls from southern sectors, and just 160 from te northern sectors in April this year.

Chandigarh, June 12
The arrival of pre-monsoon showers gave a bit of a relief to city residents from the hot weather prevailing for the past few days, but the two-hour downpour exposed the preparedness of the municipal corporation Chandigarh in draining rainwater during the coming monsoon.

On a visit to various parts of the city, the TNS found most sectorial roads inundated, resulting in snarl-ups.

Even an hour after the rain, internal roads of Sectors 7, 8, 9 and 17, roundabouts of Madhya Marg and Tribune road faced water logging problem.

A number of roads where the corporation had recently constructed rainwater gullies also faced the problem of water logging.

Most commuters on these roads had to wait for more than an hour to move on with their journey as it took a long time for water to drain. Some vehicles even met with accidents due to water logging.

While talking to Chandigarh Tribune, a couple from Mani Majra, waiting at a bus shelter in Sector 19 said they had been waiting there for over an hour, as the roads were still inundated. They said it was risky to drive on roads full of water as also potholes.

The road separating Sectors 27 and 28, which was recently recarpeted after putting underground pipes, also caved in after the rain.

The condition in the low-lying slums areas was similar due to stagnant water and potholes. Municipal corporation (public health) XEN S.K. Garg said the corporation had started a drive to clean road gullies under the corporation.

He said seven teams had been constituted to carry out the drive by June 30.

Garg added that if the met department predicted early monsoon, the drive would be speeded up.

He added that V5 and V6 roads, which were with the corporation, would be cleared of all hurdles to ensure smooth flow of rainwater during monsoon.

Chandigarh, June 12
The northern region is likely to receive early monsoon this year if similar weather condition prevailed for a longer period.

Met officials said the normal date of arrival of monsoon in the region was June 29. But due to prevailing pre-monsoon conditions and early arrival of monsoon in UP, Bihar and Jharkhand, early monsoon showers were expected in the region this year.

He said the reason for pre-monsoon showers was upper cyclonic condition in
central Pakistan due to which dusty winds from Rajasthan and Pakistan were affecting the region.

Dust storm or thunderstorm with light to moderate rainfall was expected in the city in the next two days, according to the met department.

The maximum temperature recorded today was 34.6 °C and minimum temperature 27.4 °C. The humidity recorded was 53 per cent.

According to a www.weather.com report, thunderstorm and scattered rainfall will occur in the region during next week.

Mohali, June 12
Members of the Mohali district unit of the Bhartiya Kisan Union (Lakhowal) staged a dharna against hike in diesel prices outside the office of the deputy commissioner here today.

They demanded that the government should immediately withdraw the hike in the rates of diesel failing which farmers would face additional expenditure running into crores of rupees.

The protesters raised slogans against the central government and presented a memorandum to deputy commissioner Rahul Bhandari requesting him to forward it to the authorities concerned.

Leaders of the union said the farmers in Punjab had not got relief by the central government’s decision regarding waiving of loan amounts.

They demanded that all types of loans linked with agriculture should be waived and in future, loans to farmers should be given at an interest rate of 4 per cent.

BKU leaders said the Punjab State Electricity Board should start own-your-
transformer (OYT) scheme.

Farmers, who had deposited amount under the scheme, should be given power connections immediately and power supply should be given for 12 hours during the paddy season.

The rates of agricultural produce should be fixed in accordance with the recommendations of the Swaminathan Commission.

The government should give farmers Rs 1,700 per quintal for wheat, Rs 1,560 for paddy, Rs 4,200 for cotton and Rs 200 for sugarcane.

The protesters said the number of stray animals in the district had gone up and these animals damaged crops. Area around the SYL canal faced the menace of neelgai which destroyed crops and the authorities concerned should take the necessary steps to check the problem.

A part of the area falling under the Mohali district had been declared as kandi area by the government, but the entire district was facing water shortage as the underground water table had gone down which resulted in poor irrigation and adversely affected crops.

The district was not getting even canal water and as such the entire district should be declared as kandi area.

BKU leaders demanded that the central government should remove the ban imposed on the sale of milk products to other states failing which the dairy business in Punjab would close down.

Chandigarh, June 12
Childhood is the golden chapter of one’s life, but not for these kids who work up to 18 hours at a stretch to earn one meal a day.

Take Subhash, a frail and timid child, who is just eight. He works the whole day at a dhaba and in return is given food. Unable to tell even the name of his village at Bihar, the boy lives in the open with his grandfather, a rickshaw puller.

“My grandson earns food on his own. That is enough for him. Sending him to school is a distant dream for me,” he says. The irony is that these children would rather go to work than school.

Their parents have an income of Rs 50 or Rs 60 a day which they spend on household needs. So they have to earn a living.

“I cannot go to school even if I want to. I have three siblings younger to me. My father is a rickshaw puller. If I go to school, who will support me, ” asks 11-year- old Ravi. He works in an auto repair shop.

Ramji works at a dhaba and wakes up at 4 am everyday. There is no Sunday in his life. His mother is died and his father, a drunkard, deserted him and his three siblings four years back.

Other than a brother, he does not know where the rest are. He came to Chandigarh last year with one of his uncles.

“In the beginning there were times when I had to sleep on an empty stomach. Today I am happy as I have a job at a dhaba and will never go hungry.”

These kids may have been deprived of childhood joys but nevertheless remain children at heart.They too have dreams like Ramji who aspires to be a chef in a big hotel.

Chandigarh, June 12
On the World Day against Child Labour, the labour department and education department of Chandigarh spotted more than 80 violations of the Act that prohibits child labour.

During the raids, employed underaged children and their guardians were counselled and challans issued to the employers in Sector 18(2 challans), Sector 43(1 challan), Sector 52 (1 challan) and Sector 48-C(2 challans).

Whereas in a single day, the department issued six challans, in the past nearly two years, it has issued just about 20 challans.

The Chandigarh education department had constituted four special teams for a special campaign today. Interestingly, only six challans were issued by the education department, all of them in Industrial Areas I and II. The rest (69 violations) from different sectors in the city were let off after they signed an undertaking.

“If further violations are obserevd in these cases, then challans will be issued,” warned DPI (S) SK Setia. Does that mean raids on this day next year?

According to a survey conducted by the Sarv Shiksha Abhiyan wing of the education department, at least 947 children aged between 6-14 are engaged in different commercial activities in Chandigarh. The administration has set up helplines.

Anyone can seek help at the Chandigarh Police Women & Child Welfare No. 1091, Child Protection Programme at 991502345 and Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan Department at 5079203/ 5067077/ 1098 and 98766-52310.

Chandigarh, June 12
Pawan has been re-christened to chottu by the lawyers and litigants to whom he serves tea. Barely 12-year-old Pawan the child has lost his identity to some chottu.

There are about ten under-age children who are usually addressed as chottu or ramu work with the tea seller or at the Photostat shop ironically in the premises of the building where the violating the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986 are punished.

Bablu (11) who works at the district courts disclosed that he has forgotten the name kept by his parent. Taking to the TNS he said, “People here started calling me Bablu and I have forgotten my original name. I just remember serving tea.”

There have barely been any convictions since the inception of this act. When the child standing at the juice stall to cater the passerby’s were approached by the correspondent the child tried to refrain from giving any personal details.

Subsequently the owner of the stall intervened, “These boys below 14-years have taken up job at my stall after the declaration of vacations in the High Court. I have not employed them,” he affirmed.

These children are usually from Uttar Pradesh (UP) and Bihar. According to sources these children have been working here for a year or more.

“Small children are more obedient and cheap labour. Thus they are preferred over elders. If you tell the parents of these children to not let the children work they say we are helpless. But it should be ensured that such children should not indulge in hazardous work,” said a social activist Sangeeta Jund.

Explaining the other side of the picture senior advocate A.S. Sukhija asserted, “If you take the number of people below poverty in India then to some extent a child labour can be justified. For example if the parents of a child are handicapped he is forced to come out on the streets and work. It is the duty of the State to look
after them. We can’t call to violation of act and should try to in the depth of
the problem.”

There is blatant violation of The Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986 in different parts of the city. As per the act if children are working in a shop the employer has to maintain a register wherein the working hours of the child are to be mentioned and defined. According to Section (3) of Part III of the Act: “No child is permitted or required to work between 7pm to 8am.” On roadside small children are often seen at dhabas serving to inebriated men.

Chandigarh, June 12
City residents will soon be able to shop while watching their favourite movies right in the heart of Sector 34 city sub-centre or next to their doorstep in any of the southern sectors.

Relaxing the policy on multiplexes, the Chandigarh administration is all set to announce a number of sops for the owners of existing cinema houses, who are opting to convert their theaters into multiplexes.

Owners of Neelam, Nirman, Piccadilly, Batra and KC are reportedly interested in converting their cinemas into multiplexes.

In a major relief, the sub-committee on bylaws has approved the proposal to let cinemas have a height of 62’-3”.

The move will allow an additional height of around 5 feet to 7 feet to the respective structure and allow better commercial exploitation of the available area.

With the existing design, the biggest beneficiary will be the owner of Kiran Cinema, while the least will be the owner of KC Cinema.

Currently, different cinema halls have different heights, varying from 44’-6” to 59’ and it was not on a par with adjoining SCOs and SCFs.

The recommendations will be notified after vetting by the legal remembrance. Another decision specifies that there will be no architectural control for cinema houses located outside Sector 17 or in Phase II sectors.

This means that the owners will be allowed to make changes within the main frame of the respective building.

In case of Sector 17, like KC Cinema or Neelam, the owners will have to maintain the frame control or outer shape of the building.

It has been assured that the minimum floor area ratio (FAR) will be two and can go up depending upon the existing covered area.

KC cinema owner Ashok Sharma said he was keen on constructing a multiplex. A lot of time has already been wasted in getting approval for the plans.

“The latest proposal is a unique structure designed by an architecture firm from Australia. The structure with a dome will have four screens, shopping mall and food courts,” he added.

Though the existing FAR of KC is 2.65, the required FAR cannot be achieved due to the dome shaped structure.

The structure has a specially designed dome, fit to house enough commercial and film screening infrastructure, something that was not possible in the original theatre complex.

On the issue of giving permission to construct Imax theatre, the administration has sought expertise from other cities where such facilities already existed.

Chandigarh, June 12
A book titled ‘The Anti-Ageing: Let the silvers sparkle’ was released by Dr Rashpal Malhotra, executive vice-president of CRRID here today. The book has been written by Dr R. Kumar, medical tourism advisor to the Chandigarh Administration.

While talking to the media, he said in this book he has suggested more intake of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains in daily diet for young looks for longer time. Most of these carry no fats, cholesterol and are low in calories.

He said lots of fiber, calcium, iron, magnesium, and vitamins should be consumed as they play an important role in keeping the body functioning at optimum level.

Kumar revealed that ageing denotes certain signs like sagging skin, graying hair, loss of muscle power, fat accumulation around the waist, faulty memory, slow thinking and decreased libido.

While commenting on the book Shastri Ramachandran, associate editor, The Tribune, said the tips given by the writer were the only way to remain healthy and look younger for a longer time, naturally.

Chandigarh, June 12
In yet another incident of cyber crime related to PGI, the email ID of one of its doctors has been hacked.

In his complaint to the police, Prof A. Rajwanshi, head of cytology and gynaecological pathology department, alleged that the hacker had been sending fake mails through his IDs (arvindrarajwanshi@hotmail.com and arvindrarajwanshi@gmail.com) to doctor’s acquaintances and relatives living abroad demanding money on the pretext that he (Prof Rajwanshi) was not well and needed financial help.

“Dr Rajwanshi is being treated and caught somewhere in Malaysia and is in dire need of money”, say the fake mails.

His contacts have been asked to deposit a sum of $ 5,000 with H. Mankotia at an address of Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur. The hacker has also instructed the recipients to send the money through Western Union.

The matter came to light when Professor Rajwanshi started getting calls from acquaintances from various countries, including the USA, France, Singapore, Malaysia, Australia and many cities of India, enquiring about his health.

When the doctor enquired about the source of information, he was told about the fake emails. The doctor cancelled his mail IDs and complained to the police.

The doctor said his Singapore-based acquaintance Minni Pang had also lodged a complaint with the Singapore police, which has also swung into action.

“After getting curious calls, I tried to open my mail accounts but I could not open these”, said Professor Rajwanshi.

Chandigarh, June 12
After the marla and kanal house owners, it is the turn of the commercial building owners to await Chandigarh administration’s bonanza on need-based changes.

In fact, the administration’s major relief to residential buildings has revived the hopes of commercial establishments fighting with their back against the wall over the entry of the big corporates in the retail sector.

Traders highlighted that the entry of big corporates in the retail sector had changed the rules of the game and need-based changes were the need of the hour to promote business.

The changes, which were in the process of being finalised by the administration, should be expedited in public interest, Chandigarh Beopar Mandal (CBM) president Charanjiv Singh told Chandigarh Tribune.

The CBM had been seeking relaxations like free use of upper floors of commercial buildings like SCFs and SCOs for general trade. Permission of mezzanine in showroom was another major demand.

Saying that changes were the functional requirements for doing business, the traders demanded that wide glass facades should be allowed in place of pigeonhole facades in commercial buildings in the first phase sector (Sectors 7 to 30) markets.

In fact, the CBM had already demanded box-type structure on the rear sides of the SCFs and SCOs up to the height of the existing buildings.

Besides, the permission to have first floor and basement on the bayshops and booths had been hanging fire for a long time.

CBM spokesperson Diwakar Sahoonja hoped that such changes would provide a big relief to thousands of small and medium traders in the wake of competition with upcoming big stores and shopping malls in and around the city.

It is learned that there is a unanimity between the administration and traders on certain changes, including permission of basements for habitat usage along with provision for bathrooms, no restriction of height for having lifts and permission to cover rear courtyards.

Official sources said the need-based changes were high on the agenda of the administration and necessary notification would be issued soon.

However, all demands of the traders could not be met in one go and the administration may accede to demands in phases, the sources added.

Chandigarh, June 12
A multi-crore project for supply of round-the-clock water supply to Mani Majra by linking it to the Kajauli canal water system has been hanging fire for the past six months owing to the lack of coordination between the civic authorities and the railway authorities.

Sources in the municipal corporation said the project worth Rs 4.27 crore was allotted in July last year.

The project, which was to be completed in December, has been lying on the back burner due to lack of coordination between the railway authorities.

As part of the project, pipeline is being laid between the Sector 26 and Mani Majra waterworks-II.

Mani Majra was earlier not part of the Chandigarh water supply plan and was included at a later stage. The project of connecting it with the city was thus started later.

On the present status of the project, a public health department officer said the work of laying pipelines was on the verge of completion as far as the corporation was concerned.

The railway authorities were to provide passage to the pipeline. The railway department had conducted a study of the project and submitted its report to higher authorities in Delhi, but the estimate was rejected, as it did not meet certain specifications, and later sent back.

The officer added that the railway had restudied the matter and submitted another estimate, which was pending for approval.

He added that the corporation could not do anything but wait at this stage, as the railway would construct the passage and hand it over to the corporation.

It was only after this that the corporation could invite tenders for the project. So far, the Mani Majra has been getting around eight hours of water supply and that too irregular, as it depends on 33 tubewells.

The erratic power supply or snags in some tubewell adversely affects the supply. Mayor Pardeep Chhabra said railway authorities had submitted their estimate, which was pending their for approval.

After getting the approval, the railway would submit its estimate to the corporation and the amount would be paid to them to carry out the work.

Chandigarh, June 12
Panjab University seems to be relying on students, at least when it comes to guidance and counselling to students for admissions.

Even though the admission process is a yearly phenomenon, the university has never bothered to set up its own counselling cell or hold counselling sessions for the students, unlike the universities abroad.

Most of the universities across the globe hold regular counselling sessions for the students seeking admissions to the universities before they choose their courses and even the universities.

As a practice, only students’ bodies on the campus put up their guidance cells for a fortnight each year to help the students who come from far flung areas.

Many of these students have no idea about what to do, where to buy a form, where to deposit it, etc.

The students in the guidance cells come to their rescue in such cases, but as far
as the technical details about courses are concerned, even they are unable to help the students.

To make the matter worse, when the students go individually to the departments, the departmental staff does not answer to their queries.

The changed working timings of the university (8 am to 2 pm) have added to the woes of students who come from far off places to the university. Even the enquiry set up by the university is hardly of any help.

“I reached the university at about 1.30 pm and went to one of the departments to enquire about a course. But the staff there did not entertain my queries and instead gave me phone numbers of the department and asked me call tomorrow to find out,” said Jyoti, a student from Delhi.

“The university website has information about courses, but still if one has some doubts there is nowhere to go,” said Puja, a student from Abohar.

However, vice-chancellor R.C. Sobti said, “Last year we did set up our own guidance cells wherein teachers sat on rotation. This year also we plan to set up the guidance and counselling cell. We shall most probably start with it by Monday.”

Chandigarh, June 12
The city has carved a niche for itself as an education hub. The presence of one of the best universities of India, Panjab University, and over 30 colleges stand proof of the above fact.

Admissions are the most happening phenomenon that is creating ripples in the city these days. Most of the colleges have started the sale of their prospectus. One fact that can be observed is that year-by-year the inclination of students to private colleges has increased.

Till date, Government College, Sector 11, (GC-11) has sold around 1,900 prospectuses, whereas private colleges like Sanatan Dharma College (SD), Sector 32 and DAV College, Sector-10 have crossed the mark of 3,000 each.

Talk of the infrastructure and government colleges do not lack at any level. GC-11 has more than 1 lakh books in its library. On the other hand, SD College has only 15,000 books to its credit.

The government college is spread in around 40 acres whereas DAV has only about 15 acres. Government colleges are well equipped with swimming pools, canteens, well-furnished hostels, parks, and sports facilities.

And the fees structure of these colleges has an incomparable edge over private colleges. Still, the former lack somewhere the charm and charisma that the private institutes have.

“Times have changed, but the mind frame of the people is in status quo. They are not ready to accept that government run machinery can be as good as any private industry,” said A.L. Gauba, principal, GC-11.

“Our college is the best institute in the city. Our faculty is highly experienced and infrastructure is outstanding. I don’t believe that we lack behind in any aspect,” said Promila Thapar, principal, GCG, Sector 11.

However, the decision of students does not depend on proper research. Peers and the modern trend have major influence over their decision.

“All my friends belong to upper class and they have decided to come to SD. That is why I too decided to come here,” said, Sagar Jaswal, who aspires to take admission in M.Com.

“I am a free soul and believe that government colleges have lot more strictness. Therefore, I am opting for private institute where I can study in cool atmosphere,” said Ranjit Walia, an English (honors) aspirant.

Trend of private colleges may be in vogue these days, but the seats in government colleges never remained vacant. But here also the real factor that plays the biggest part is the low fee structure.

“I come here as the fee here is low and the education quality is good. I believe that it depends upon a person if he or she wishes to study or not. Colleges play secondary role in the life of an individual,” said Kiranjot, who has come from Bhatinda to take admission in GCG, Sector 42.

Private or government college, whatever a student chooses, the real picture is that there is no homework done in decision making.

Raji Srivastva, director, higher education, Chandigarh, believes that there is no difference in way of imparting education among government and private colleges.

“It is a matter of preference, like some people go to a particular college as it is near their home, some have peer pressures or some parents want their girls to go to women college only. The core is that all the colleges in the city are doing their best,” Srivastva said.

Chandigarh, June 12
Frameboxx Animation & Visual Effects, a conglomerate offering pioneering services in animation and visual effects training, has received accreditation of its courses with the prestigious Anglia Ruskin University and its Cambridge School of Art.

This was announced at a press meet by Frameboxx founders, Rajesh Turakhia, managing director, and Naveen Gupta, executive director & CEO, along with Caroline Hyde, business development manager for Cultural & Creative Industries from Anglia Ruskin University.

Hyde is accompanied by Chris Joyce and Jim Butler, senior members from the Cambridge School of Art, who are on a tour of India visiting Frameboxx training facilities across the country.

Chandigarh, June 12
The Punjab and Haryana High Court has found a cure for wrong entries of medical terms in judicial orders and court records.

In an order likely to end confusion arising out of wrongly spelt and vague medical terms, a Division Bench consisting of Justice Uma Nath Singh and Justice A.N. Jindal has asked doctors, appearing as expert witnesses, to submit medical reports in form of affidavits containing “clear terms and correct spellings”.

Instructions in this regard have been given to the authorities concerned, including directors (health services) and presiding officers, in Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh.

The development is significant as wrong and mis-spelt entries often lead to confusion, at times to the advantage of the accused, who manage to get some benefit out of the doubt.

In its detailed 39-page order passed in a criminal appeal and a murder reference, the Bench has ruled: “In order to ensure that medical evidence is placed on court records in correct and clear terms, and also that presiding officers of the courts do not take it lightly, we direct the Registrar (judicial) to issue instructions to “secretaries (health) and director-general/directors (health services), and the presiding officers of courts in Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh”.

The Bench added that the instructions should clearly assert “at the time of recording of evidence of doctors, who are produced as expert witnesses, courts shall ask them to submit medical reports on affidavit in clear terms with correct spellings”.

The instructions follow the appearance of a mis-spelt medical term in an order challenged before the Bench.

Taking up murder reference number 8 of 2008, the Bench observed: “Before parting with the judgement, we may like to note that in the medical evidence, reproduced and discussed in the impugned judgement passed by the District and Sessions Judge, Ludhiana, word membrance, instead of word membrane, is mentioned.”

“And, under the details of injury in the injury report of the deceased a word velvelled is typed, which we could not find in any dictionary, and even the high court doctors on being consulted showed ignorance about the existence of any such term in the medical science.”