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Beijing Visit Anuja Jaiswal Tribune News Service Dr Bhattacharjee has been asked to explain why he had gone to Beijing when his leave was sanctioned for a visit to West Bengal
Chandigarh, August 28 Dr Bhattacharjee, Abhinav’s psychological trainer, is working as a research officer at the ICMR, department of obstetrics gynaecology department at the PGI. While he has received accolades for his contribution to Abhinav’s achievement, his own department seems to be going all out to penalise him. He has been associated with Abhinav for the past 12 years. According to sources, Dr Bhattacharjee has been asked to explain why he had gone to Beijing when his leave application was sanctioned for a visit to West Bengal. The notice was sent to him on August 26 and he has to file a response by tomorrow. While Dr Bhattacharjee refused to comment on the issue, he confirmed that he had received the notice. Sources close to him claimed that he had mentioned in his leave application that he would be going to “West Bengal and China”. He had applied for leave from August 4 to 14. He had mentioned that he would be going to China for personal work. The notice, issued by Dr L.K. Dhaliwal, head of the department, asks him to explain the reasons for his Beijing visit and says that action would be initiated if he failed to give a reply. The sources claimed that he was upset at the move and had proceeded on medical leave. Dr Dhaliwal could not be contacted despite repeated attempts.
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Financiers did not even have licence
Swati Sharma Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, August 28 Raids conducted to nab Sant Kumar, Hari Krishan, Jarnail Singh, Prakash Chand Pandey and Randhir Singh have so far proved futile. A case was registered against them on August 25 after the intervention of the UT administrator, Gen S.F. Rodrigues (retd). The suspects used to take advance cheques from borrowers, but never gave receipts. Even after receiving full and final payment, they would present the cheques in banks and when these bounced, they would file criminal cases against the borrowers to extort more money from them. They had reportedly filed 500 cases in the district courts. Jarnail Singh is a complainant in 18 cheque bounce cases, Prakash Chander Pandey in nine, Randhir Singh in 17 and Upma Kakkar in 70 cases that are pending in various courts. Under the RTI, Baj Singh of Sector 15 found from the DC’s office that the accused did not have a licence. The licences are issued under the Punjab Money Lenders Act. Ashok Rahlan, a government employee who claims to have been harassed by one such financier, said: “I had taken a loan from a private financier after giving him blank cheques. I had been paying monthly instalments, but the financier did not maintain a record. When I did not deposit the monthly instalment, I received a summon pertaining to a cheque bounce case. Later, I found that he did not even have a licence.”
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Now, transport secy to okay new models
Rajmeet Singh Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, August 28 This has been done to streamline the work relating to approval of new models for registration in the UT. The STA will be the nodal agency for receiving and processing applications. Sources in the administration said in the past, manufacturers or dealers had to apply to the secretary, transport, and the same used to be approved at the level of the UT secretariat. This resulted in confusion and delay in approval of the models. There have been instances when the dealers have already sold their vehicles before the approval of their respective models. “It takes time in giving approvals, but it is the buyer who suffers,” an official said. Such a situation was being witnessed in case of approval of high-end models of luxury sedans recently launched by BMW and Volkswagen. Local car dealers selling BMW’s 5 series 520d and Volkswagen’s Jetta are awaiting approval from the transport department. A limited number of sedans of the two models have already been sold in the market. The Registering and Licensing Authority (RLA), Chandigarh, is not registering the sedans as certain models have not yet been approved for registration by the transport department. With the new orders, the hurdles would be cleared soon.
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MC action against agency for bungling funds
Chandigarh, August 28 The agency has been blacklisted from various departments of the city administration. The filing of a civil litigation has been ordered for the recovery of the amount from the agency. Dr Roshan Sunkaria, municipal commissioner, said they had contacted the office of the regional provident fund commissioner and director, ESIC, to get information about the EPF of employees, but they were told that the agency had deposited amount less than paid by the corporation to the agency. “We crosschecked and found a difference of Rs 8,504 which was supposed to be deposited by the agency with the EPF and Rs 32,392 less deposited with the ESI,” the commissioner said. “We had received a number of complaints from employees saying that the agency was not depositing the EPF and ESI share paid by the corporation in their accounts,” the official spokesperson for the MC said. The same agency was responsible for hiring employees and labourers since May 2006. The MC had employed more than 450 safai karamcharis through the agency, besides some labourers and drivers for the enforcement branch.
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4 hurt in clash at engg college
Fatehgarh Sahib, August 28 The incident took place in the afternoon when boys from two groups entered in a heated argument in one of the hostels of the college. The attackers, according to the police, are Jagroop, Satinder, Vijaydeep, Paramveer and Baljeet Singh Gill. They have been booked under Sections 323, 341, 506, 148 and 149 of the IPC. A group of five boys studying in B.Tech III year and final year attacked a group of four boys, who were also studying in similar batches. The attackers were carrying baseball bats, sticks and other weapons. Panic gripped the entire college when both groups entered in a brawl over a minor issue. Some students revealed that earlier also these students fought with each other a number of times but the college authorities ignored them and did not initiated action against anyone. Police officials investigating the matter too admitted that minor brawls took place earlier but nobody lodged a complaint with the police.
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Need for sustainable governance discussed
Chandigarh, August 28 At the discussion organised by the Institute for Development and Communication (IDC), Chandigarh, the participating speakers stressed the need to address issues relating to inaccessibility and inefficient delivery of service. Speakers, including Dr. Sud, felt that non-statutory and discretionary exercise of power, grievance redress mechanisms and high transaction costs were directly affecting good governance in the country. If was felt that all mechanisms must be developed that was sensitive to cultural norms and needs of the poor. Punjab’s chief secretary Ramesh Inder Singh felt that reforms in governance was an opportunity for the government to rebuild its credibility and ensure accountability of the functionaries. “Once done, this would also reduce corruption and ensure transparency in efficient delivery of service,” he said. He further disclosed that the government had already initiated a number of reform measures to check corruption. It had simplified procedures and redefined poverty criteria to ensure equity and
transparency. Dr. Pramod Kumar, director, IDC, mentioned that the reforms were urgently required in police service and citizens’ grievance redress mechanism by making the governance participatory. There was a need to amend those formal rules and procedures which were inappropriate and gave incentives to illicit businessmen and led to corruption, he opined. Senior bureaucrat and managing director, Punjab Industrial Development Board, Sukhbir S. Sandhu, shared his experience of his tenure as head of the Ludhiana municipal corporation and said the models of Citizen Park Committee
and Sanitation Committees were extremely successful as it not only reduced stress on the official machinery, but also produced excellent results. He said only committed and visionary leadership could bring about much needed reforms in the governance. Ankur Malhotra of PWC was of the view that various competing demands of citizens had to be converged to ensure transparent and accountable delivery of services. Rakesh Verma, managing director, Infotech, was optimistc about the implementation of the reform process and cited example of simplification of passport delivery. Among those who participated in the discussion were
Randhir Singh, M.M. Puri, S.L. Sharma, P.S. Verma, Swarnjit Mehta, H.S. Mehta, Manjit Singh and Raj Mohini Sethi.
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CAT orders relief for junior assistant
Chandigarh, August 28 A resident of Kharar, Jasjinder had sought for relief from the tribunal after his index finger was accidentally chopped off due to which he was exempted from appearing in the typing test resulting in stoppage of his annual increment. Jasjinder (61) was retired from the Indian Air Force and was appointed as clerk against quota of ex-servicemen on March 26, 1980. As per the terms and conditions of the ex-servicemen quota, Jasjinder had to qualify the typing test at the speed of 30 words per minute failing which would result in non-grant of annual increments and confirmation. The applicant was physically fit when he was appointed as clerk. However, accidentally his index finger of right hand was chopped off because of which he could not appear for typing test. Thereafter, the Punjab government issued a circular letter on October 1, 1985, conveying a decision that Jasjinder is physically incapable of typewriting and he was exempted from the typewriting test. The applicant submitted his representation for medical examination to be conducted that was forwarded by the headmistress of GMSSS-37 to the DPI. The respondents passed an order on February 28, 2003, by which the applicant was granted exemption from typing test in English. He was also allowed annual increments. The applicant had filed the application wherein he had sought quashing of orders passed on February 28, 2003, requesting for directions to respondents to grant him exemption from typewriting test from 1981 with arrears and interest. The respondents argued that the applicant is not covered under the category of persons who are physically incapable of typewriting. The injury of applicant is not serious so as to cause that much hindrance as to render him absolutely incapable to qualify the proficiency in typewriting test. CAT headed by Shyama Dogra and Veena Chhotray observed: “The respondents are trying to construe the provisions of the instructions to mean that increments, after exemption, would be granted from the date of exemption. However, the instructions do not support such a view.” CAT has directed the respondents to grant the applicant benefits increments as admissible on completion of one-year of regular service.
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Nominal Charges for GPAs
Chandigarh, August 28 This was claimed in a representation submitted by the Chandigarh Social Welfare Council to UT administrator SF Rodrigues here today. In affidavits submitted to the high court in 2005 and 2006, the administration had consented for a consensual transfer charges of Rs 50,000 for category A, Rs 35,000 for category B and Rs 25,000 for Category C flats, the representation claimed. However, while taking decision to impose hefty transfer fee amounting to several lakhs of rupees, the administration had gone back on its promise to the high court, it said, adding the decision had been taken at the whims and fancies of the
babudom. "In fact, the administration is relying on outdated, unrelated rules applied in isolation in the case of those who are having occupancy rights through the instrument of GPA," it said demanding a review of the decision. The administration should have followed rules, especially the Punjab Cooperative Act 1961 (as applicable to UT) and rules and practices being followed in adjoining states of Haryana and Delhi. However, the administration seemed to be giving a raw deal to the GPA holders, who were instrumental in completing a majority of housing projects of the cooperative societies. In fact, it were the GPA holders, who had paid hefty premium on the purchase of the dwelling units, besides taking huge loans from banks and financial institutions, the GPA holders added. The representation urged the administrator to look into the matter from a "humane angle" and come to the rescue of the thousands of the GPA holders.
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Rich tributes paid to Ahmed Faraz
Panchkula, August 28 Adored by connoisseurs for his uprightness and ethical approach in life and literature, the peerless poet belonged to the world at large, though he lived in Pakistan, observed Padmashri K.L. Zakir. Recalling his old association and interactions with Faraz, he talked about the poet’s life, literary voyage and his unflinching spirit to represent the ethos of the masses, much to the annoyance of military dictators who sent him to jails and in exile later. “The literary persona of invincible Faraz was indeed a confluence of tradition and modernity, romance and rebellion, sincerity of vision and vividness of imagery,” observed acclaimed author Rajbir Deswal. He saluted the literary prominence of Faraz and his courage to condemn the anti-national forces. Noted scholars Dr Deepak Tandon, Dil Kashmiri, Mohd. Mustmir, R.D. Sharma Taseer, Shams Rabrezi and others delved deep to bring alive the meaningful perspectives of his poetry. Chief guest M.M. Sharma, regional director, ICCR, also paid rich tributes to the visionary poet. In the second session presided over by Anand Kaushik, the acclaimed ghazal maestro, Vinod Sehgal of film ‘Macchis’ and ‘Mirza Ghalib’ fame, regaled the audience with melodic spell of timeless ghazals of Ahmed
Faraz.
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Knee-replacement camp at Fortis from today
Chandigarh, August 28 Patients of knee-replacement surgery will be operated upon using the technically advanced minimally invasive -"Computer Assisted Orthopaedic Surgery procedure" devised in the US a year ago. According to surgeons who will undertake the process using computer navigation. Dr Manuj Wadhwa, senior consultant and orthopaedic surgeon, said, by this minimal invasive surgical technique, doctors would get a gamut of navigational devices to enhance precision. Energy emitting diodes and a camera would capture information while a computer would analyse data and show a 3D image on the screen to help surgeons. “Not only is the operational procedure flawless, but the operative exposure is also minimal,” he pointed out, adding that the post-operative recovery in the procedure was believed to be very fast. As the incision is only 3-4" in length, the recovery time for patients was faster, with patients being able to walk with a cane within a couple of weeks of surgery or even earlier, he added. The hospital has so far conducted 60 knee-replacement surgeries through this advanced system, said Dr. Ashok Chordiya, medical director of the hospital. At the camp, patients will also get the unique advantages of computer aided surgery (CAS) in joint replacement, said Dr Wadhwa. Talking about the cost of the surgery, he said no extra amount would be charged from the patients. Like traditional surgery, cost for single knee-replacement would be Rs 1.25 lakh and Rs 2.25 lakh in case of both knee replacements.
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Power men protest against UT
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, August 28 They held the protest against the administration as they were agitated for not having granted regular job to the wife of an assistant line man (ALM) who died while repairing the high tension electricity line in Hallomajra on 14 August. However, after Sandeepan Kumar, ALM, died while repairing the high tension line, the administration, at a meeting held on the next day, had decided to grant compassionate appointment to his wife Anju Kumari. “They said now the administration is backing out from its assurances which has compelled us to lodge its protest,” said Bhag Mal Rana, general secretary of the union. As per the nature of the duties where risk is involved, the administration had decided to grant compassionate appointments to the grieved families of departments like electricity, transport and the police beyond 5 per cent ceiling but they withdrew the decision later in 2005.
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BSNL phones on the blink as wires stolen
Chandigarh, August 28 Many of them have not been able to get in touch with their family members and friends. Jolly, who lives in Sector 36, said she could not contact their relatives. She said, “This is the only way of communication between me and my children, who are settled abroad.” "I had an emergency and could not make a call as I was unable to make any call for the past seven days," said another residents. Broadband was also affected as the basic phone was not working, said Rajesh, another resident. "I also suffered a huge loss in business as I am into the stock market," he added. According to residents, the thieves had stolen the cable 20 days back. Since then, the residents suffered a lot. Moreover, this is not the first time underground cable wires have been stolen. However, officials of the BSNL claimed that the cable had been stolen a week back. Sources said in June, about seven cable wires were stolen from under a manhole on the road dividing Sectors 34 and 44, after which almost 5,000 telephones in various sectors, including Sectors 31, 32 and 45, went dead. Similarly in May, thieves decamped with cable wires after breaking a manhole cover in Sector 42. V.K. Bedi, divisional engineering, BSNL, said more than 25 to 30 incidents of theft had been reported in the recent past. "We restore the line very soon," said Bedi. The police registered a complaint after cable stolen. "Investigations are on and we are trying to figure out how it happened," said the police.
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129 appointed on compassionate grounds
Mohali, August 28 The appointment letters were given on behalf of the education department to 14 masters, five classical and vernacular teachers, 64 clerks and 46 sewadars.
Speaking on the occasion, minister said the policy of rationalisation had been adopted in schools without indulging in any sort of ‘pick and choose’ tactics. Teachers who had been transferred were adjusted in nearby areas. Nearly 4,000 teachers were transferred under this policy and the remaining work of transfers would be completed this month. She said the government had recruited 14,000 new teachers in the state out of which 10,000 were of elementary and 4,000 of master cadres. Four thousand teachers were given promotions. She said 351 schools were upgraded and a sum of Rs 142 crore was spent on them to provide the basic facilities. Three hundred schools were linked to the edusat terminal. The minister said the government was planning to start Punjab Sikhya Rattan Award to inspire hardworking teachers.
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UT, MC staff stage demonstration
Chandigarh, August 28 Members of the committee have demanded the regularisation of daily wage earners and also to extend the retirement age from 58 to 60 years. According to the convener of the committee, the employees of the UT and the MC are sitting on relay hunger strike since December, 2004. “The administration is violating the labour laws. Daily wage employees can be appointed only for casual nature of work but various employees in the MC and the administration have been working for the past 20 years and even the retired working as same and they get neither the confirmation of their job nor any benefit after the retirement,” said Rakesh Kumar, convenor of the committee. “This violation of the law should be immediately rectified. We are also demanding to resolve the long-pending demands of Punjab Engineering College employees and Chandigarh Government Transport Undertaking employees,” he said.
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Seattle-based company mulls R&D centre in city
Chandigarh, August 28 Talking to The Tribune here today, Vikram Chalana, chief executive officer, Winshuttle, said they were also planning to double their staff, with a major emphasis on recruiting software engineers for their R&D centre at the Rajiv Gandhi Chandigarh Technology Park. Chalana said they were in the process of developing an application for reporting SAP data into normal Windows-based application like Excel.
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BigAdda.com mobile version launched
Chandigarh, August 28 Talking to media persons here today, Shivanandanm Pare, COO of BigAdda, said the idea behind offering social networking on mobile was to expand our reach to those who do not have an internet access. “There are 40 million internet users and 300 million mobile users. So the Mobile Adda will help us have more users,” he said. As part of the initiative, the social networking on mobiles can be done through SMSes, a WAP site or a JAVA application, he added.
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Manage traffic near Centra
Chandigarh, August 28 A press note said here though the administration had collected crores of rupees from the industrial area in the shape of conversion fee, yet no efforts had been made to check the traffic chaos. It added that hundreds of schoolchildren from Colony No 4 used this road to go to their schools in various sectors and there was always an apprehension of accident.
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Letters
Teaching is not considered as a high-profile profession in India. It's seen as a dumping ground for the less fortunate who could not enter the routine of grinding themselves. The teachers, who lack the desire to know more, are responsible for the
degradation of our education system.
Moreover, teachers are paid very less amounts of money. That is why brilliant minds are not ready to join the profession. Government should increase the salaries of teachers to attract the best talent towards the
profession. Rajesh Krishan, Chandigarh
Readers are invited to write to us. Send your mail, in not more than 200 words, at news@tribuneindia.com or, write in, at: Letters, Chandigarh Tribune, Sector 29, Chandigarh – 160 030
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Board employee cheats Class X student
Mohali, August 28 Amarjeet Singh, a resident of Malakpur village, complained to the police that he had got compartment in two subjects and was to re-appear in these subjects during the ongoing supplementary examinations. He had not received his roll number but even then board officials allowed him to appear in one subject last week as a number of students had not received their roll numbers in time which were dispatched by the board. But now the board authorities had announced that only those students would be allowed to appear in the remaining examinations who had their roll numbers slips with them. As such Amarjeet Singh came to board office today to get his roll number to appear in the next examination. But to his shock, he got to know that his examination form had not been deposited by board employee even when he had allegedly paid him Rs 2,500. The police said a friend of Amarjeet Singh had introduced him to the board employee and told him to hand over the money and the form to him and he would do the needful. Amarjeet Singh was handed over a receipt for Rs 1,000 which was paid as examination fee. The board had not issued any roll number to him as his form had not been submitted.
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Reappear Exam: Another chance for candidates
Chandigarh, August 28 The senate members also approved merger of directorate of sports and campus sports, PU, for optimum utilisation of infrastructure. The administrative control of both the bodies will be under director sports, Panjab University. The house also decided to honour the Olympic bronze medal winners, Sunil Kumar and Vijendra Kumar, and announced that a sum of Rs 25,000 each would be given to them. The fellows also approved five seats of BCA, BBA and BCom per college albeit with a condition that they should be filled on merit basis. The issue pertaining to the Homeopathic College, Sector 26, also came up in the house and the house accepted the letter of compromise between the management and the faculty members of the college. The issue pertaining to 50 per cent concession being given to the wards of the employees of PU and its affiliated colleges under NRI category was also brought in the house. The house remained undivided on the issue with fellow Ashok Goyal stating that no way the fee for the students could be hiked in between the academic session. PU vice-chancellor Prof R. C. Sobti said he himself was not in favour of giving concessions to the students belonging to affluent classes and therefore he would look into the matter and take necessary action. The senators also discussed the modalities to implement credit system to the students, following which the students could transfer their credits in various subjects depending on their choice. The house also approved on-the-spot evaluation, which would be implemented in next academic session. On a point raised by fellow Kamaljit Singh, lecturer in Botany, PU, the VC agreed to give two increments to the teachers teaching in engineering institutes with ME/MTech degrees as notified by AICTE in May 2000. The issue was also supported by another fellow G. K. Chatrath. The fellows also discussed the matter pertaining to commerce teacher in the department of evening studies, Dr N. K. Sehgal’s case dating back to 2006. Earlier, an enquiry was marked into his case wherein it was alleged that he had molested one of his girl students while she came to take tuitions from him at his place. Justice Amarjit Chaudhary, who enquired into the matter, submitted a report in this regard. The house was divided on the issue on what penalty should be imposed on him. Prof Sobti also assured that all the daily wagers would be regularised by September 30 on a point raised by fellow Prabhjit Singh.
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MEd candidates seek another counselling session
Chandigarh, August 28 According to the sources, some 25-30 candidates, belonging mostly to Punjab, have alleged that the university officials did not inform the candidates well in time about compulsory submission of their previous examination result by August 20. Many of the candidates didn’t know that they were to submit their previous result by August 20. As a result, their names were not included in the merit list even though they qualified the entrance examination. According to the sources, the university officials only put this urgent piece of information on the website and didn’t inform them otherwise. Most of the affected students met the vice-chancellor who asked the coordinating body of the centralised admissions to allow these students get their results by August 28 and let them attend counselling scheduled for August 30. According to the sources, the students met the vice-chancellor again yesterday and expressed their resentment over having to attend counselling for the remaining seats, while the counselling was already on since August 25. Malwinder Ahuja, coordinator of centralised counselling of MEd said, “We did inform the students through the website. But if the students demand re-conducting of the counselling, that would neither be correct nor feasible. We gave them enough time to get their previous result.”
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2nd counselling
Chandigarh, August 28
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BEd counselling today
Chandigarh, August 28
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Evening shift for primary classes
Chandigarh, August 28 Jagmeet Singh, a parent, said: “Our children are so small. Do you think such small kids can actually adjust to the weird timing of 11.30 am to 5.00 pm?’’ “What enrages us is not the issue but the fact that school authorities are not ready to listen to us. When we requested to meet the principal, the teachers tried to shoo us away,” said Seema Devi, another parent. However, principal, Anil Sharma denied this, saying, “The parents never tried to meet me and just started shouting slogans. We met after this and they have submitted a written request to DPI. I spoke to them for a while and pacified them by making them understand that it was for their ward’s good?” The principal was able to pacify the group of parents in a meeting held after the episode where they raised several other issues prominent being the lack of teaching staff. No time for rubbish: Setia Surprisingly, the otherwise media savvy DPI, S. K. Setia, was not prepared to answer any questions today. When contacted on phone for comments, he, without even listening to the question, shot back saying, “I don’t have time for this rubbish.” His response would surely not be to the liking of the harried parents, who were expecting their grievance to reach him through the media.
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Nikhil wins essay writing competition
Chandigarh, August 28 Various topics regarding use, concept and means of saving energy were given. Students highlighted new and renewable energy sources, which cover technologies including improvement
chullhas, bio-gas plants, short-rotation biomass gasifiers, wind mills, small and micro hydel systems and hydrogen energy etc. In junior category, Nikhil, Rajesh and Sunil Kumer begged first, second and third positions, respectively. In senior category, Kusum Lata, Varsha and Mandeep Kaur got first, second and third prize, respectively. Co-coordinator, Prabha Bhainsora said the main aim of the competition was to promote using of new and renewable energy sources. The students were also given away the prizes.
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Provide quality education in
rural areas: Guv
Mohali, August 28 After inaugurating a seminar organised at the Shivalik Public School here, the Governor said that it was important to provide quality education in rural areas as well. Television was being used as an important medium to provide education in various parts of the country. With the help of information technology, even difficult subjects could be explained with great ease and the level of education could also be raised, he added. The seminar was organised by a TV channel - Topper Integrated Learning System. The aim of the seminar was to make education more effective and beneficial with the help of information technology.
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