Chandigarh, August 20
Life was thrown out of gear here today with government and bank employees (non-SBI) observing a strike on a call given by the coordination committee of trade unions against the “anti-employee” policies of the government.

The general public bore the brunt of the strike as the working of government offices and services in the financial sector, including banks and the LIC, were paralysed and employees held protest rallies and blocked traffic.

Commuters were hit hard as CTU workers suspended local bus service for two hours from 11 am. Hundreds of commuters were left stranded at the bus stand. It was a bonanza for autorickshaw owners who charged hefty amounts from commuters.

“The agitation by employees in support of their demands is okay, but they should not suspend the bus service and inconvenience the public,” Amarjit Kaur, who had come from Panipat, said.

Hundreds of motorists and commuters were stuck in a jam for around an hour near the Sector 34-35 roundabout as the employees and aaganwadi workers blocked traffic. The police had a tough time clearing the traffic.

The strike also hit essential services in several parts of the city. In Sector 61, the supply of water and power was disrupted. No complaint could be lodged as the staff was on strike.

Complaints could be lodged only after midnight today, S.S. Bhardwaj and Satish C. Sharma, co-chairman and general secretary of the Chandigarh Social Welfare Council, respectively, said.

The situation in public sector banks, barring the SBI and associate banks, was no different as their services were affected following a strike call by the All Indian Bank Officers Association. Though the banks were open and senior officers present, the absence of the lower and middle level officers disrupted the routine functioning.

Chandigarh, August 20
The Chandigarh Housing Board (CHB) is at it again. Despite the tall claims of top functionaries of the administration regarding the meeting of deadlines, the board continues to give a raw deal to allottees.

A case in point is the group housing project in Sector 49, where it has not yet given possession of flats to 464 allottees. While the CHB continues to drag its feet, the allottees are grappling with inflation and rising home loan rates.

The board had come out with a housing scheme comprising 208 two-bedroom and 256 one-bedroom flats in 2005-06. The construction began in August 2006 and was to be completed in June this year.

Even two months after the June deadline expired, the allottees have not got possession.

“While the CHB imposes hefty penal interest for late payment of instalments, there is no mechanism to ensure timely possession of dwelling units to allottees,” an allottee said.

The allottees said they should be compensated as the board was responsible for the delay in giving possession. “With the home loan interest rates rising regularly, the delay is costing us dear,” they said.

Delay in the possession of flats is not uncommon. Even as the board claims to be giving a tough competition to private builders, it has failed to work out a mechanism to redress the grievances of allottees.

CHB sources claimed that the construction was nearing completion and blamed the delay on “operational hurdles”. Sources said possession would be given soon.

Mohali, August 20
Dr Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, chairman and managing director of Biocon Limited , Bangalore, today visited the National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education & Research (NIPER), to explore feasibility and collaboration in the field of pharmaceutical research. Addressing the students, she urged them to own up and accept challenges because it was only through ownership that India could be made a strong nation. She said NIPER was an institute which was truly unique because it combined both research and education. “Biocon is looking forward to forging a working relationship with the NIPER which would certainly help in the growth of the country,” she said. She had a meeting with NIPER director Prof P. Rama Rao and the faculty of the institute. She visited the central facilities of the institute such as national bioavailability centre, national toxicology centre, technology development centre, central instrumentation laboratory and the computer centre.

Padma Bhusan Dr Shaw joined the Ballaret University in Melbourne, Australia, and qualified as a master brewer in 1975 to become India's first woman brew master. Shaw started her professional career as trainee brewer in the Carlton & United Beverages in 1974. In 1978, she joined as trainee manager with the Biocon Biochemical's Limited in Ireland. Over the years, the company grew under her stewardship and is today the biggest bio-pharmaceutical firm in India.

Chandigarh, August 20
The fire and emergency department of the Chandigarh municipal corporation has decided to issue a notice to the Centra Mall authorities for discrepancies in the fire control system installed in the mall and for appointment of untrained staff to handle the same.

During a surprise visit to the mall, a team comprising councillors and officers of the corporation found that the mall authorities were using the outer passage of the building as parking place for two wheelers instead of keeping it vacant for movement of fire tenders during a fire mishap.

As per the Fire Control Act, it is mandatory to have a clear passage of 22 foot around every building so that in case there is any mishap, fire tenders could move easily.

Station fire officer S.K. Gosain said the notice would be of 15 days to one month.

It was found that the staff engaged to handle the equipment were not trained, he said. Moreover, the mall authorities had not appointed any fire officer so far and the control room was also not functioning properly. Even there was no coordination between the occupiers of the building. “They have been instructed to get their staff trained through the fire department and appoint a fire officer soon,” he added.

As per the Fire Control Act, there is a clause in no-objection certificate that every building should have a qualified fire officer along with the eight-trained firemen round the clock.

Gosain said notices would be issued to the occupiers of the building, which included PVR and Centra mall, and a copy would be sent to the owner of the building. He said instructions would also be issued to the owners that the shopkeepers on rent would also have to take no-objection certificate from the fire department.

Councillor M.P.S. Chawla, who was part of the team, revealed that suggestions have been given to the mall authorities to increase the gap between the movie shows from 5 to 10 minutes to 40 to 50 minutes to avoid chaos of traffic outside and stampede in the mall.

Chandigarh, August 20
Minister of state for finance Pawan Bansal today called upon the UT administration to lift full entitlement of wheat and rice for distribution under the public distribution system. In a letter to the UT administrator, Bansal said though over 2 lakh ration cards had been issued to above poverty line (APL) families, yet neither wheat nor rice were being lifted by the Chandigarh administration for the distribution to this category of consumers.

As a result, this category was not getting two essential commodities at the concessional rate.

He said though there were over 8,000 below poverty line (BPL) families which had been issued rations cards, yet the quantity of wheat and rice lifted from the FCI was only for 3,400 families.

Whereas in case of the APL families, there was a total denial of an opportunity to avail the benefits of PDS, in case of the BPL families, this could be due to grossly low income criteria fixed for availing the benefit, he added.

Chandigarh, August 20
The Chandigarh municipal corporation (MC) has decided to make agenda of the house meetings accessible to the public through Internet.

Mayor Pradeep Chabbra revealed that it had been decided that the agenda of the meetings of both Finance and Contract Committees would be available on the website of the corporation.

He said this decision had been taken to make the working of the corporation more transparent.

He hoped that this would increase public participation in the working of the corporation.

Panchkula, August 20
A rally by more than 15,000 shool children from tricity and participation of thousands of athletes from different parts of city marked national function of Rajiv Gandhi Akshay Urja Divas here today.

The programme started with taking an oath to promote new and renewblae energy sources by people including dignitaries and students present on the occasion, which was followed by cultural programmes and a show of sky diving by six members of Air Devils team from directorate of adventures, Indian Air Force.

An exhibition on the new and renewlable energy sources was also held at Indradhanush Auditorium.

Hero Electric, subsidiary of the Hero Group, was one of the attractions with its battery-operated vehicles participated in a rally-cum-exhibition. The event, an initiative by the Haryana Renewable Energy Development Agency (HAREDA), Chandigarh, was organised to create awareness and popularise electric vehicles among the public.

Haryana Chief minister Bhupindr Singh Hooda honoured the panchayats of Sarava, Khod and Karnavas villages in Yamuna Nagar and Rewari districts with a prize of Rs 4 lakh, 3 lakh and one lakh, respectively, for using renewable energy in their villages.

The local resident welfare committees, however, felt disappointed when they did not get any invitation in the celebrations.

“On such occasion local administration did not consider it fit to invite the local people to participate in the celebration of a function of national importance,” said S.K. Nayar, member, district public relations and grievances committee, Panchkula.

“The celebrations could be more fruitful in case the adminstraion had decided to involve the resident welfare committees and other social organisations from the district,” he said.

Panchkula, August 20
Chaos prevailed on the city roads, as thousands of people remained stranded on different routes when the police blocked the majority of roads to facilitate the marathon and rallies on the occasion of Rajiv Gandhi Akshay Urja Divas here today.

More than 1,500 athletes from different states of the country participated in a half marathon (21 kms), which covered almost the entire city, including the national highway of Zirakpur-Panchkula. As many as 15,000 students from various schools of the tricity also held a rally on the occasion.

While police officials claimed to have deputed more than 500 policemen to regulate the traffic, but the locals as well as commuters had to go through the hardships of the traffic jams.

There remained a great rush of vehicular traffic on internal ‘B’ and ‘C’ roads in various sectors of almost entire city. Many minor un-claimed accidents also occurred during such period apart from the delay in reaching the destination on time.

The timings of the marathon and rallies, which were flagged off of Haryana chief minister, Bhupinder Singh Hooda, at around 8 am, clashed with the office timings and thus resulted in traffic jams. The police had to halt the traffic for a period up to half an hour whenever the athletes or students participating in the event reached the spot. This however, later resulted in virtual chaos on the roads.

Chandigarh, August 20
If you were one of those gizmo freaks, who chose to wait for the ‘cheaper’ iPhone to be officially launched by Airtel and Vodafone, you are in for a rude shock. Against the price of Rs 24,000 for the Apple handset in the grey market, the two companies have priced the high-end handset at Rs 31,000.

What is worse is that the media reports about the price of the iPhone to be launched by the two cellphone operators to be around $199 (around Rs 8,500) has led to the complete disappearance of the handset from the grey market in the city. As the news of a ‘cheaper’ handset spread, there was no demand for the gadget in the grey market for the past one month. As against an estimated 200 iPhones being sold by dealers in the city in June, the sale declined rapidly in July. For the past four weeks, the dealers stopped stocking the handset.

Both cellphone operators have already started a booking for the iPhone. However, they are not willing to disclose the customers’ response.

Vishal Sethi, proprietor of Bombay Communications, Sector 22, said “As against a demand of 15-20 handsets a month till June, suddenly there was no demand in the past one month. The price of the handset in the grey market remained between Rs 21,000 to Rs 24,000. It could be a business strategy to spread rumours about a low price and kill sales in the grey market and then launch it at a much higher price”.

People like Rittika Rathee feel cheated at the high price being announced for the iPhone by the cellular operators now. “Had I known that the gadget would be priced so high, I would have rather bought it from the grey market than wait for so long,” she complained.

With the two cellular operators all set to launch iPhone on August 22 at the above mentioned price, the grey market, too, is buzzing with a renewed demand for the gadget. The dealers now say that they, too, will hike the price of the handset by at least Rs 2,000 (approx Rs 26,000. “This will still be cheaper than the phones to be launched by the companies. We are hoping to do a brisk business now,” said J.P. Singh, proprietor of Gift and Greet, Sector 17.

Chandigarh, August 20
This is a 'Golden Day' for the sportspersons of the country, when one medal and other has been assured. Sushil Kumar, freestyle wrestler, won bronze medal by defeating Kazak opponent and later in the evening, Vijendar Kumar ensured the third medal for India at the Beijing Olympics when he thrashed Carlos Gongora of Ecuador. In addition to this, it was the first time that three Indian Boxers too reached quarterfnals of the Olympic games.

When the news of their winning broke, all the players and fans came on roads, they celebrated with fervent appeal and distributed sweets to one another.

“After 1952, this is the first time that we have won the bronze medal in wrestling and therefore the day becomes a special day for us,” said Darshan Lal, Sushil’s coach. He added, “I knew that he is the only one who could achieve.” “We are doing bhangra and want to celebrate the day in a different style so that we will remember it for a long time,” said Surinder, a national wrestling player.

“A few years ago he bagged the fourth position in worldwide championship, I am sure that this time he will win one medal for the country,” said Raj Singh, another wrestler.

Most of the wrestlers mentioned that there is a dearth of good facilities for the players, which is a big hindrance in the way of players’ success. The wrestlers come from lower class families and some of them shell out money from their own pockets.

CK Jerath, an official of Chandigarh Boxing Federation who accompanied the boxing squad to Beijing shared his joy with The Tribune on phone. “ It is as if we are living the dream. Our boxers are making waves here and have generated a sort of craze with their splendid performance.”

Meanwhile, the Table Tennis Federation of India (TTFI) and the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) has also congratulated Vijender Kumar and Susheel Kumar for bringing laurels to the country.

Panchkula, August 20
The Haryana Government would honour the gold medalist for the state in Olympics with a sum of Rs two crore. This was announced by the Haryana chief minister, Bhupinder Singh Hooda, here today. The silver and bronze medalists would also get a prize money of Rs 1 crore and Rs 50 lakh respectively, he added.

“It would help in motivating the sportspersons from the state in achieving more successes in future,” said the chief minister.

Hooda who was addressing the gathering on the occasion of Rajiv Gandhi Akshay Urja Divas also announced that the prize money for Sania Nehawal who reached up to quarterfinals of badminton singles has been increased to Rs 25 lakh, earlier the government had announced a sum of Rs 11 lakh for her.

The winners of half marathon were also honoured with the prize money of Rs one lakh, Rs 71 thousand, and Rs 51,000 for first, second and third places respectively.

Santosh Kumar of Railways from Bangalore stood first in the 21 kilometer half marathon who covered the distance within one hour 7 minutes and 23 seconds. Similarly, Kashi Nath and B Madhusudan stood at second and third places with timings of 1:08:21 and 1:08:40. While Kashi Nath was also from Railways at Maharashtra, Madhusudan was an unemployed youth of 27-year-old form Andhra Pradesh.

In women section the prizes were claimed by Pempa Chanda, Preeti Alrao and kavita Rawat. While Pempa and Preeti were representing the Railways from West Bengal, and Bangalore respectively, Kavita came here from the Oil and Natural Gas Commission, Maharashtra to participate in the marathon.

Chandigarh, August 20
In perhaps, one of the biggest victories in the history of PUTA (Panjab Univeristy Teachers Association) elections, Dr Raunki Ram, chairman of the department of political science, won the elections defeating his rival, Prof Manjit Singh, of the department of sociology with a record margin of 147 votes. Interestingly, this time the elections were only for the post of president for which Prof Raunki Ram contested. For all other posts, including general secretary, others were elected unanimously which included only the general secretary from Raunki’s group and all others including vice-president and treasurer and all executive members from Manjit group between the groups of Prof Manjit Singh and Prof Raunki.

The polling began in the morning and continued till 1:30 in the afternoon. According to the sources, a total of 530 votes were polled out of the total 617 votes and five votes were cancelled. A total of 336 votes were polled in favour of Prof Raunki Ram while 189 votes were in favour of Prof Manjit Singh.

By winning, the president’s post, Dr Raunki Ram has staged his comeback after he served as president of PUTA in the years 2004 and 2005.

Talking to The Tribune after winning, an elated Raunki Ram said, “ The struggle for Central status for PU will be intensified, it is do or die situation for us now. We will take everyone with us for this.” Other than this, helping the newly appointed faculty to get housing facility, making CAS (Career Advancement Scheme) more effective are some other things on his to-do list. 

Chandigarh, August 20
The Chandigarh tourism department, in association with STEPS, will observe August 23 as Cycle Day. A cycle rally will be organised wherein as many as 500 cyclists from various organisations and institutions will take part.

The rally, which will start from the Open Hand monument at 7 am and culminate at Punjab Engineering College, Sector 12, will cover a distance of about 3 km.

CITCO, Dell, Infosys, Yuvsatta, INTACH, The British Library, Panjab University, State Bank of India and Punjab Engineering College will participate in the rally.

The purpose of observing this day is to promote cycling as a healthy and pollution-free activity among people.

According to a press note, the tourism department has already adopted a “culture of cycling” as the latest form of tourism because of wider roads and provision of cycle tracks alongside.

Chandigarh, August 20
The Amarnath Yatra Sangharsh Samiti, Chandigarh, today organised an 'Abhinandan Samaroh' to honour leaders and representatives of the agitating people of Jammu at Parashuram Bhawan, Sector 37, Chandigarh.

The representatives and leaders that reached the city on Tuesday evening are those who are spearheading the protest in Jammu and Kashmir for the past one month against the revocation of land allotment to Sri Amarnath Shrine Board by the J&K Government. The representatives, along with members of the Sangharsh Samiti, took out a procession, which started from Sector 24 and culminated at Sri Sidh Baba Balak Nath Mandir, Sector 29-A, Chandigarh.

On the route, the procession was welcomed in the temples of Sectors 24, 23, 22, 21, 20, 30 and 29.

The members of the samiti will also court mass arrest tomorrow at 10.30 am at the roundabout of Sectors 7 and 8.

Mohali, August 20
The enforcement wing of the Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (GMADA) removed about 250 jhuggis during a demolition drive in Sector 79 here today.

More than 500 jhuggis had illegally come up on land acquired by PUDA. The remaining jhuggis will be removed tomorrow as the dwellers asked the team to give them some time to remove their belongings.

The drive was carried out under the supervision of the SDO, S.K. Bains. Eighteen members of the security staff of the authority accompanied the enforcement wing.

Jhuggi dwellers said they had been living in the area for the past eight years and had been paying rent to the owner of the land. The land had been acquired by PUDA, against which the owners of the land had reportedly got a stay order.

GMADA officials said the jhuggi dwellers had been asked to vacate the area about a month ago, but they had failed to do so. They had again been informed about the drive two days ago.

Chandigarh, August 20
A 13-day ‘North-East Crafts’ fair was inaugurated by Jagdish Burah, managing director of the North-East Handicraft and Handloom Development Corporation, at Bal Bhawan, Sector 23, here today.

The fair would provide a platform to the craftsmen to sell their products, exchange ideas, understand implements and motives of handicrafts and handloom. “With their rich ethnic background, the people of north-east India make a unique contribution to India’s living traditions of arts and crafts,” said Jagdish Burah. “Traditional and colourful north-eastern handlooms, including Assam muga silk saree, mulberry silk saree, endi chaddar and Naga shawls, have become familiar all over India,” he added.

Many furniture items of cane and bamboo to suit modern tastes and preferences of the customers have also found display. Other exclusive items include basketry and cane works from Assam and Tripura. 

Mohali, August 20
A number of streetlights in a part of the town have not been functioning for the past about 10 days putting residents to great inconvenience.

It is learnt that three employees of the Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB), who are on duty at the municipal council office for carrying out maintenance work of streetlights, have not reported for work after August 7 as a result of which the complaints have piled up. Only one of the three employees came for work yesterday.

Three employees carried out the work of streetlight maintenance in a part of the town which fell under the tech I division of the PSEB. Streetlight material and equipment was provided by the civic body while the maintenance work was done by PSEB employees.

Amna Kumar Goyal, executive officer of the civic body, today said he had written two letters to the PSEB authorities in this regard, but had not received any response so far. He said he would now personally go and meet the executive officer. If the need arose, he would bring the matter to the notice of the deputy commissioner, added Goyal.

Municipal councillor Kuljit Singh Bedi said the number of complaints relating to non-functional streetlights had increased because of the rains, but could not be attended to as the employees failed to report for work. He said the rains had made big pot holes on roads and it had become risky to drive at night in the absence of streetlights. The council authorities should have tackled the problem on a priority basis. PSEB officials could not be contacted for comments despite attempts. 

Chandigarh, August 20
Deputy speaker of Lok Sabha Charanjeet Singh Atwal today launched the music album of an upcoming movie, Sat Sri Akal, which has one track sung by late Ishmeet Singh.

The movie is a joint production of Mata Triptaji Charitable Trust, Chandigarh (MTCT), and Frankfinn Entertainment Company. It is being produced to mark 300 years of Gurta Gaddi Diwas of Sri Guru Granth Sahib. Out of the eight shabads in the soundtrack, three are sung by Jagjit Singh whereas one shabad has been sung by late Ishmeet Singh. The track is Ishmeet’s first, last and the only playback in any film.

“Though Ishmeet is not in this world, his voice would continue to reverberate forever across the universe,” said Arvinderjit Singh, writer of the movie and also the chief trustee of the MTCT.

Other playback singers of the film include Alka Yagnik, Sunidhi Chauhan, Abhijeet, Sadhana Sargam, Kavita Krishnamurthy, Krishna, Ravinder, Feroz Khan and Richa Sharma. The movie is likely to hit theatres by September this year.

Directed by Kamal Sahni, the movie revolves around traditional values, love, sentiments and colossal faith towards God. The star cast of the movie includes Kimi, Manpreet Singh, Arun bali and Vivek Shauq.

Chandigarh, August 20
The National Book Trust of India released its recent title “1857: The Role of Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh” by Prof K.C.Yadav at Haryana Raj Bhawan here today.

The book was released by Haryana Governor A.R. Kidwai. He appreciated Prof Yadav’s efforts and also urged him to continue his work in the research of history. “History is very important to understand the real India and our pride can only be maintained if we know our history well,” he added.

The 1857 revolt was shown as less effective revolt by the Britishers, but actually, it was as big as American War of Independence or Russian Revolution, said the author.

“Had India got Independence in 1857, the history of India would have totally changed. Today, India is considered the number third country in the world, but had we got the Independence in 1857, we would have been number one today,” he added.

Raghvendra Tanwar, a professor of history at Kurukshetra University, said: “The real facts were hidden by the Britishers and whatsoever we have known about the revolt of 1857 is by their accounts. The contribution of these three states have been shown as little, but in fact, these states have considerably contributed to the revolt.”

Chandigarh, August 20
Exide Industries Limited launched a new version of tubular battery EL+tubular battery for UPS systems. This was announced at a press conference at the Chandigarh Club here today.

This battery has already been introduced in south India. This was the first launch of the company in northern India.Vice-president of Exide S. Kalla, said, “Exide has made deep inroads in the battery market and we will be increasing our presence in all markets of the country with special emphasis on covering the rural banks.”

Mohali, August 20
A new fruit and vegetable market will be established at Ludhiana and will be developed as a model market.

This was stated by chairman of the Punjab Mandi Board, Ajmer Singh Lakhowal, at a press meet organised by the Mohali Press Club here today. He said the market would have a chamber for ripening of fruit, cold room, grading liners, reconditioning facility, a pack house and machines to clean the market.

An information centre would also be set up for farmers. A letter was written to the Punjab Chief Minister to avail subsidy from the Centre for the market project.

Lakhowal said a material-testing laboratory was set up in the Kisan Bhawan by the mandi board and the quality control cell. Samples of premix used on roads and quality of material used in mandis could be tested. He said the mandi board had planned to construct link roads measuring about 17,000 km at a cost of Rs 250 crore. 

Chandigarh, August 20
Cracking a whip against the schools that do not comply with stipulated guidelines, the Chandigarh education department has issued a notice to Moti Ram Arya Senior Secondary School-27 for converting their ‘permanent recognition’ into ‘provisional conditional recognition’.

The department has also issued similar show-cause notices to two other schools - Bal Niketan Senior Secondary School-37-B and SD Saini Public School.

The education department had put forth five conditions before the management of Moti Ram Arya Senior Secondary School-27 and as per notice, the school’s provisional conditional recognition would stand till March 31, 2009

The conditions include - salary of the staff to be commensurate with the government schools, issuing appointment letters to all the employees containing the service conditions, 15 per cent seats reserved for the students belonging to the Economically Weaker Section (EWS), procuring building non-violation report from the estate office and official agreement to be signed between the employees and the employers.

Confirming this, the DPI (S) S.K. Setia told that the orders would be implemented with immediate effect. He said, “The school management was given ample time to explain their position about certain irregularities prevailing in the school management, but they failed to reciprocate.”

He also said despite giving instructions, the management was running a separate school and the manager of the school was making admissions under the name of J.B Modern Public School and issuing different fee slips for both the schools.

The principal of the school Saroj Sawant clarified that they were trying to meet the conditions laid down by the department. She said, “Just today, we received the names of the sector 27 government school students, belonging to economically weaker strata, from the department. We would accommodate them to meet the 15 per cent reservation condition. The J.B Modern Public School has been merged into the main school.”

About the differential pay structure, the principal said the matter of revision in the salaries would be done in due course and it was not possible to increase the salaries in the middle of the session.. "We have already sent a communication to the DPI (S) for approval of the committee members who would decide the pay structure. As soon as we receive the approval, we would revise accordingly,” she justified.

However, a 26- member teachers’ delegation today met the DPI (S) to apprise him about the low salary structure being paid to them. The teachers, who were into service for as long as 20 years, told that they have not been given salaries according to the UT/CBSE norms till date.

The school management has been instructed to give details about the salary statements of the teachers, their appointment letters and the agreement signed between the management and the staff, which is a mandatory condition as per CBSE guidelines and education code.

Chandigarh, August 20
Lack of co-ordination among different quarters of Panjab University has left some students hapless as even after four years the authorities have failed to declare the result of environmental science for B.Com correspondence students.

Around 50 students, who had appeared in 2004 for the compulsory examination of environmental science, have been doing the rounds of university since four years to know the status of their result, which still hangs, consequently, the students are awaiting their degrees.

According to the sources, the authorities had misplaced the answer books and now the officials are unable to locate them. As a result, they are asking the students to appear again in the examination. The students who are now engaged in their work or have left the city are not ready to accept the unreasonable solution.

“Why should I go through the formalities of filling forms and sitting in exam when I have already done that long back? For university’s fault, why should we suffer?” said an agitated student working in an MNC.

According to the university rules, a student has to clear the environment science subject once in three years during the under graduation and only after clearing the same can one get the degree.

According to the sources, the result for the entire series of roll numbers from 10251 to 10300 of that year has not been declared as yet.

When contacted, Varinder Kapoor, joint controller of examinations, said, “I do not know where the answer sheets are and as the matter dates back to 2004, I can comment only after seeing the documents.” The students can appear for the exam again if they wish, he added.

Chandigarh, August 20
Government College for Girls-11: Gurpreet Kaur and Navpreet Kaur jointly bagged the first prize in bhajan/shabad category of Talent Hunt Contest jointly organised by the music vocal and music instrumental departments of Govt. College for Girls, Sector-11 for the under-graduate and post-graduate freshers.

Students also contested in various other vocal categories like geet, gazal, folk songs and film songs and instruments like tabla, sitar, sarangi .The winners were awarded by Mrs. Promila Kaushal, principal of the college.

Graduate category/post-graduate category

Bhajan/shabad: 1-Gurpreet Kaur /Navpreet 2-Jitender Kaur /Monika 3-Neha

Geet/gazal: 1- Bobby /Madhu 2-Ashu Rani /Harpreet

Folk song: 1 Karamjit Kaur/ Rishmpreet 2-Charu Handa /Navaldeep Kaur 3- Sukhjinder Kaur

Non-percussion (P.G. class): 1. Vandana Kapoor

Percussion: 1.Harpreet

Classical (I) sitar: 1.Alka 2.Charu

Classical (I) sarangi: 1. Jitender

Urja Diwas celebrated

MCM DAV College-36: The NSS wing of MCM DAV College for Women, Chandigarh, celebrated “Sadbhavna Divas” in the college premises here, today. To, propagate the message of “Sadbhavna and national integration”, the volunteers took the sadbhavna oath and pledged to work towards the emotional unity of India regardless of the artificial barriers of caste, religion and language. The NSS coordinators Madhvi Bajaj and Neera Verma inspired the volunteers to wholeheartedly dedicate themselves to the service of the country and society.

The Principal of the college Dr. (Mrs.) Puneet Bedi asked the students to develop and spread the spirit of unity.

Aryans Business School: Swati and Lakshmi of MBA and Gaurav of BCA class were adjudged as first, second and third winners of paper reading contest organised on the occasion of Akshay Urja Diwas celebrated at Chandigarh based Aryans Business School (ABS). This was to commemorate the 64th birth anniversary of Late Sh. Rajiv Gandhi, the youngest Prime Minister of India. Around 60 MBA students of ABS, 40 students each from BBA, BCA of Aryans Institute of Management & Technology (AIMT) participated in the event.

Dev Samaj College of Education-36: The NSS units of Dev Samaj College of Education-36 observed “Sadbhavna Divas” to commemorate the 64th birth anniversary of Late Indian Prime Minister Sh.Rajiv Gandhi.

Dr. Jyoti Khanna, principal of the institute, while highlighting the importance and theme of the day, told the volunteers this day was celebrated for spreading goodwill and eschewing violence. She welcomed the chief guest Dr.Shashi Jain, director, Dev Samaj College, Chandigarh, which was followed by lighting of ‘Deepshikha’ by the chief guest. On this occasion, the NSS units of 2008-09 were also inaugurated.

Dev Samaj College for Women-45: Dev Samaj College for Women, Sector 45-B, Chandigarh, observed “Sadbhavna Diwas”. Principal Dr. Meera Modi, programme officer Shiva Malik, staff members and 150 NSS volunteers took pledge. Chief guest Dr. Rekha Bhardwaj, principal, A.S. College, Khanna explained the importance of the occasion to the volunteers. Government College for Girls-42: Govt.College for Girls, Sec-42, Chandigarh, organised a blood donation camp in collaboration with Rotary and Blood Bank Society Chandigarh on the occasion of “Sadbhavana Diwas”. Shashi Malik, principal of the college, inaugurated the camp .She urged the staff and students to support this noble cause wholeheartedly. More than 110 units of blood was donated by the students and teachers on this occasion. Dr. Neelam Sharma and Dr.Gurdev Singh coordinated the camp. Principal Malik pledged the students and the staff to spread the message of peace and harmony . Srishti, the environment society of the college, organised various events on the theme of energy conservation to celebrate Rajiv Gandhi Akshay Urja Diwas.

Governement Home Science College-10: “Sadhbhavana Diwas” was solemnly observed in the college campus wherein all the students of the college, lead by NSS volunteers and NCC cadets took a pledge to work to their best towards maintaining harmony. Bhavina Aggarwal and Apoorva, students of the college highlighted the role of student community for the cause. Dr. Mrs. Rita G. Singh in her address stressed the need of maintaining a secular mind and democratic thoughts for national solidarity and progress.

Government College-46: The “Sadbhavana Diwas” celebrations began with students sharing their views. The chief guest, Raji P. Shrivastava, special secretary finance cum director higher education, Chandigarh administration, exhorted the students to be highly motivated, live in harmony. Principal Dr.K.S. Saluja emphasised that differences should be removed through the attitude of sadbhavana i.e. dialogue, compromise, humility.

Chandigarh, August 20
The students of Path Finder High School , Sector 69 Mohali, today visited the old age home, Sector 15, Chandigarh. They were also blessed by grand mothers and grandpas who loved and shared their experiences with the children, each giving the other much needed love and attention. They gave gifts to the inmates and a small cultural programme was held at the old age home. The MD of the school Kulwant Kaur and principal Rajesh Soail, who also accompanied students, expressed their love, solidarity and affection for the inmates of the home. The eatables were also served and the event was celebrated with great pomp, show and fervour. The manager of the old age home, Bahadur Singh, thanked the school for their cooperation.

Government Model High School Sector 38: Government High School-47A clinched the trophy in inter-school group song competition for boys organised by the education department here in the auditorium of Government Model High School Sector 38, Chandigarh. GMSSS-16 and Moti Ram School Sector 27A got second and third positions, respectively. According to J.S.Basota, Cultural Secretary of the Education Department, the group song competition for girls will be held tomorrow on August 21 at the same venue which will begin at 8:30 am onward.

Sharda Sarv Hitkari School-40: To make the future generation aware about the energy crises, “Rajiv Gandhi Akshay Urja Diwas” was celebrated with a great zeal.

A student’s rally was organised to make the citizens alert on the depleting conventional energy resources and to encourage non-conventional resources. The students wore t-shirts and caps bearing the logo.

The rally was flagged by the principal, B. S. Kanwar. An enlightening quiz contest on the topic of energy crises was conducted. There was tie between two teams and finally team Charak bagged the first place. While team APJ Kalam and team Arya were on second and third places, respectively.