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Teenager crushed under truck
Baltana, August 30 The residents led by the victim’s father Dev Anand alleged that till the evening the police had not revealed what had become of the case. The police neither gave them a copy of the FIR nor disclosed whether it had taken any action against the erring truck driver. They further alleged that the police did not allow the driver to pay any compensation to the family of the victim. According to the police, Anuj Kumar, student of a government school, was going to school when driver Mann Singh rammed the truck (HR-68- 7757) into his cycle. The boy, who died on the spot, was crushed under a tyre of the truck. The police said the victim was rushed to the civil hospital in Dera Bassi for a post mortem. The residents claim that the road was in a bad condition and minor accidents on it were a routine affair. A case has been registered against the driver for negligent driving.
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One killed, 5 hurt as tree falls over booth
Chandigarh, August 30 The dead has been identified as Sushil
(Manchala), who had come from Bihar to meet his brother-in-law Gainda Ram here. Gainda Ram was seriously injured in the incident and is battling for life at the
PGI. The other injured include Mahesh Sharma, Manmohan Singh, Ramesh Kumar and
Laxmikant. The police along with a fire brigade team carried out the rescue operation. According to eyewitness, the incident took place around 6:45 pm. The huge tree had uprooted and fallen over the temporary structures of booths. Mahesh Sharma and Manmohan Singh were taken to Government Medical College and Hospital
(GMCH), Sector 32, before the police reached the spot, while Ramesh was sent to a dispensary for first aid.” Meanwhile, president of the local unit of the BSP
M.C. Suman alleged the vehicle sent by the fire brigade was too small to lift the tree. Thus, the rescue operation got delayed. Fire officer S.K.Gosain said, “The recovery van was sent because the initial reports were that a tree had fallen but after finding the incident to be serious, fire tenders from Ram Darbar and Sector 32 were rushed to the spot.”
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VIP brats flout traffic rules at will
Panchkula, August 30 In a recent incident, a VIP brat, son of a retired IAS officer, misbehaved with a person who objected to his using a hooter in his multi-utility vehicle in the Sector 8 market, here on Friday. According to reports, Sunil Suri, a resident of Sector 8, was in the market with his kids when a speeding Balero zipped past him blowing a hooter. Petrified with the sudden ear-splitting noise, Suri hurried towards the pavement to save his life. He, however, committed a ‘mistake’ when he asked the person at the wheel that was he entitled to use the hooter. This infuriated the brat, who hurled abuses at Suri, took out the red beacon light from the vehicle and said: “I will even use the red beacon and you are free to do anything against me.” This was not the solitary
case when wards of influential persons cared little for the traffic rules in the city. In February this year, a speeding car driven by the son of former municipal council president allegedly crushed to death a man in the town. City residents say that the traffic cops have confined themselves to set up nakas at the prescribed points merely check the documents of the vehicles. “You cannot spot even a single case a VIP brat being challanded for violating traffic rules. Not only this, the cops even fail to take action against persons jumping red light and making a wrong entry,” said one of the residents. Hardly any person coming from the side of KC theatre side bother to take roundabout near Shakti Bhawan for going towards the General Hospital. People in their cars and two-wheelers prefer to use shortcut from the wrong side in the presence of traffic cops deputed on the small roundabout near the hospital, said another resident. When contacted, Superintendent of Police Sandip Khiwar admitted that violation of traffic rule continue unabated in the town. He, however, said the police were doing best to punish the offenders and create awareness about the traffic rules among the residents. He said public cooperation was must to improve the situation.
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Labour not made easy
Chandigarh, August 30 In GMS-16 and GMCH-32, the number of beds is lesser than the number of patients admitted. On any given day, two or three patients, sometimes along with their newborns, share a bed. GMSH-16 admits a minimum of 300 pregnant women every day as against the capacity of 150 beds. Joint medical superintendent S.K. Bhandari admitted the problem. He said, “We know this but doctors cannot refuse to admit patients.” However, the authorities are planning to increase the number of beds, he said. He said about 11 more beds would be added in post-natal department and about seven beds in the labour room here soon. Similar is the case at GMCH-32. On an average, 50 patients are admitted here daily. The number of beds is 24 for those who come for delivery. Two patients share a bed every day and some time three patients, said a nurse at the post-natal ward of GMCH-32. "The condition in these hospitals is pathetic. I had to share a bed with another pregnant woman for the last couple of days," said Sangeeta (name changed), admitted to the hospital a few days ago. Shanti, another patient from the city, said: "Sleeping at night or getting rest is impossible as beds are too small to accommodate pregnant women. And things can be sometimes be bad if one of them is in labour,” she said, adding, “We cannot sleep the entire night as two persons cannot sleep on a single cot.” Amita, a resident of Sector 20, and Anupma of Sector 7, both of whom were sharing a bed along with their newborns, said: "It is very painful to share a bed with our infants. Neither can we feed our babies nor take food." The government has not sanctioned
more beds despite the problems the patients are facing. According to
gynaecologists, sharing beds can lead to infection among patients. “In addition, the hospital requires double the strength of the existing staff if the number of beds is increased,” said official
from GMCH-32. Health secretary Raji P Srivastava said, “We are aware about the problem but the shortage of beds cannot be solved instantly. The problem is due to the fact that we are promoting institutional delivery.” She said there are two alternatives, either increase the existing capacity of wards or build more hospitals.
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Is Cong serious about tackling encroachers?
Chandigarh, August 30 During one of the house meetings, most of the Congress councillors openly blamed the enforcement staff for indulging in bribery. Reacting to this allegation, former MC commissioner R.K. Rao even transferred the entire staff of the enforcement wing to other departments. At a recent house meeting, Congress councillor Davinder Singh Babla complained that he had informed the officials a number of times that the encroachments in Sector 28 had become a serious problem, but no action had been taken against the encroachers till date. He stated that the increasing encroachments in various parts of the city had even raised questions about the competence of the enforcement committee constituted by the house. But at the same time, he stated that he was against any increase in fine to be levied on encroachers or framing stringent norms for the same. Another Congress councillor Manjit Singh Chahuan cautioned that it would not be tolerated by the councillors if the fine was raised as most of them belonged to economically weaker sections of society. Most of the Congress councillors suggested that instead of increasing the fine
on encroachers, the authorities should initiate an awareness campaign to check encroachers. Additional MC commissioner P.K. Sharma said the corporation had started an awareness drive in Chandigarh in the month of March, which brought out negligible results. He said political interference and lack of stringent rules had made the task of the enforcement wing difficult. Even chairman of the enforcement committee and nominated councillor Arshad Khan stated that it was not possible for the enforcement department or committee to remove encroachments in the absence of stringent rules. He said most of the staff of the enforcement department were on deputation from other departments and that affected its functioning. It is a fact that most of the staff of the enforcement department of the corporation was appointed on contract and the regular staff had been deployed in various other departments of the corporation. Arshad Khan added that the major problem, which the enforcement department faced, was of habitual offenders, who had no fear of fine or law.
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Cocaine Seizure
Mohali, August 30 Sodhi
retired from the Haryana Police as DSP and was later re-employed with
the same and Dara Singh retired from the Army. The police had seized
the contraband worth Rs 1.25 crore from Dara, allegedly supplied to
him by Sodhi. SSP Jatinder Singh Aulakh said investigation into the
case was on.
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Stress on transparency in implementing economic reforms
Chandigarh, August 30 Justice Sodhi presided over the deliberations held at the Chandigarh Press Club on the issues of violations of Chandigarh’s master plan, forcible land acquisition, socio-economic impact of the so-called development projects and their effects on the future of the city’s people and its infrastructure. The function was organised by the Manimajra Farmers Welfare, Environment Protection Society and the Chandigarh Sanjha Morcha. Justice Sodhi said that Chandigarh, being surrounded by Punjab and Haryana, had very little scope for expansion. The big malls coming up in industrial areas leave no place for parking of vehicles. Talking about unplanned commercial practices adopted by the Chandigarh Administration, Justice Sodhi said that while on the one hand, the administration initiates “affordable education”, on the other, it gives land to educational institutions at a hefty amount. Consequently, the onus falls on parents, who end up paying exorbitant school fee. “The administration should adopt a uniform policy when it comes to giving compensation for the land acquisition in comparison to its satellite towns like Mohali and Panchkula,” he said. S.S.Boparai, ex-vice-chancellor, Punjabi University, termed the quality of governance in Chandigarh as worst in the region. “There are double standards for urban and rural strata. If land compensation in urban area amounts to 4 crore for a canal, it would be 4 lakh for rural area. Why is discrimination meted out to rural farmers who are instrumental in providing ‘lungs’ to the city character,” questioned Boparai. M.N.Sharma, who was closely associated with Le Corbusier while planning Chandigarh, opined that the basic character of the city is being assassinated due to the flawed policies of the administration. “Chandigarh is passing through the darkest period of time. Reforms cannot be brought about until there is a proper, competent and transparent urban planning authority or some planning commission of high order.” P.C. Dogra, ex-DGP, Punjab, said it is the most irresponsible and irrational attitude of the administration to hand over land to corporates whose motive is self-centered. Manmohan Sareen, senior advocate, said it is our fundamental right to raise our voice to put halt to defective policies and refrain from encouraging outsiders to take over whose ulterior motive is “just business”. He expressed his displeasure regarding the whimsical conversion of industrial plots into commercial plots, creating serious infrastructure problems for the Industrial Area region. He called for a legal, urban planning body with due participation of citizens in true spirit. Similar views were echoed by Madhu Sareen. Hemant Goswami, social activist, brought out the inaccessibility of the Chandigarh Administration for ordinary citizens. He stated that so-called “development projects” like IT Park were in fact mega scams worth thousands of crores. He said the Chandigarh Administration was openly violating the central government’s policy on National Rehabilitation and Resettlement, 2007, and farmers of the city were suffering badly due to this brazen violation. The proceedings were conducted by Brig K.S. Kahlon (retd), president, Chandigarh Sanjha Morcha. Col S.S. Sandhu presented the vote of thanks.
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For armed forces, the wait for better deal continues
Chandigarh, August 30 It is understood that the officiating chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee, Air Chief Marshal F.M. Major, while taking up certain anomalies in the revised pay structure with the government, has held up the notification for the armed forces. Sources said this indicated that there was still some hope that the anomalies perceived by the armed forces might be redressed. There is no indication as yet when the notification for the forces would come through. A careful perusal of the notification issued yesterday reveals that the resolution passed by the ministry of finance reads, “The Government has given careful consideration to the recommendations of the Commission in respect to civilian employees of the Central government in groups A, B, C and D as also those in the All-India Services and chairpersons/members of the regulatory bodies (except Reserve Bank of India) and has decided that the recommendations of the Commission in respect to these categories shall be accepted as a package….” Armed forces personnel do not form part of the aforementioned Central government groups or the All-India Services, which comprise the Indian Administrative Service, Indian Foreign Service and Indian Police Service. In a letter written to defence minister A.K. Antony on August 25, the Air Chief had sought his immediate intervention to rectify the "anomalous situation" arising out of the amended SPC recommendations before it was promulgated. Stating that the situation could lead to “demoralisation of the armed forces as a whole”, the Air Chief had written it was “unfortunate that the finance ministry was ready to implement the SPC by introducing yet another anomaly, lowering the extant parities of officers of the rank of Lt-Col and equivalent by retaining them in the Pay Band--3, while raising similarly placed civilian and paramilitary officers to Pay Band--4. As first highlighted by The Tribune, civilians, who were till now drawing lesser salary than Lt-Col, would now surpass them in pay as well as status. The pre-revised Fourth CPC pay scale of a Lt-Col was Rs 4,700--Rs 5,900 with the corresponding civilian grade being Rs 4,100--Rs 5,300 and Rs 4,500--Rs 5,700. The pre-revised Fifth pay scales were Rs 15,100-Rs 18,700 for Lt-Col and Rs 14,300-Rs 18,300 for civilians. The revised SPC scales for Lt-Col is Rs 15,900-Rs 39,100 (PB--3) with grade pay of Rs 7,600 for Lt-Col while for civilians it has been raised to Rs 37,400-Rs 67,000 (PB--4) with a grade pay of Rs 8,700. This implies that as on January 1, 2006, a Lt-Col was drawing about Rs 28,000 while corresponding civilians were getting Rs 26,500. The equation would now change with the revised basic pay of Lt-Col as on August 1, 2008 working out to approximately Rs 31,500, while his earlier counterparts would start getting a basic pay of about Rs 45,000.
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Fee for new models of vehicles likely
Chandigarh, August 30 Though the UT Transport Department is yet to give its nod to the proposal, sources said the fee had been proposed as the cost of passing all new models of vehicles sold in the city. To streamline the work related to approval of new models for registration in the UT, the STA has been assigned as the nodal agency for receiving and processing applications. The STA has also proposed a penalty on those dealers who do not get their models approved. The fee ranges from Rs 5000 to Rs 10,000. 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.
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Ghazal singer casts spell
Chandigarh, August 30 The immaculately designed event Sham-e-Ghazal titled ‘Rendezvous Ghazal’ was organised by Shri Shanti Sarup Sharma Memorial Educational and Charitable Trust (S-4 Trust) in association with STEPS, Chandigarh, and Silver City Group of Companies, MY FM, Swami Vivekanand Group of Institutes, the SBI and SSIET, Dera Bassi. Giving a majestic start to the concert, Rinku Kalia, playback singer and double crown winner of Zee TV's highest-rated popular musical show "Sa Re Ga Ma", brought alive the fineness of feeling and expression with Naim Azmi’s classic ghazal ‘Tume jeene ki. A panorama of ghazals depicting diverse themes found perfect expression in her renditions. Be it the Ahmed Faraz classic ‘Ranjish hi sahi’ Qateel Shefai’s ‘dhal gya chand or Sardar Anjum’s ‘Apni duniyan mein’, she brought alive the emotional content as laced in the lyrics besides belting out original and popular ghazals, nazms and Punjabi numbers. She was undeniably at her best as she enlivened the anguished psyche of Shiv Kumar Batalvi’s masterpieces ‘Shikra yaar’, ‘Raat gai kar tara tara’ and ‘Maiye ni maiye’. Senior broadcaster of AIR Vijay Vashisht compered the show with admirable
acumen. The musical soiree for a noble social cause of creating awareness about female foeticide assumed significance when the beneficiary of the event, Riyanka Mandal, welcomed H.K. Dua, editor-in-chief of The Tribune Group of Newspapers, and Mrs Aditi Dua on stage. Mrs Dua presented a cheque for Rs 10,000 rupees to the poor but bright student of DPS on behalf of the trust. Earlier, the chief guest Punjab cooperation minister Capt Kanwaljit Singh lauded the social endeavours
of the trust.
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Drive to sterilise stray dogs
Panchkula, August 30 The civic body executive officer, O. P. Sihag said the problem would be tackled on the pattern of Gurgaon where MC, HUDA, Animal Husbandry Department and AWBI worked together to control the menace. There were more than 5,000 stray dogs in Panchkula and with thousands of dog bite cases, many deaths have been reported in the recent past. The AWBI has been involved in such projects in certain urban and rural areas in the country for the elimination of rabies. The project involves vaccinating 35,000-40,000 stray dogs every year, as well as involving NGOs in spreading awareness on the issue. The report said every year over 20,000 persons die of rabies, while the country records a whopping 17.4 million cases of dog bite in the same period. As part of this initiative, oral vaccine along with the one already in use would be used. The plan involves neuterising stray dogs and spraying stray bitches to check growth of their population, he added. The pilot project, started by AWBI at Gurgaon in February, has started delivering its results and as there was no difference in the administrative set up of both the towns, the scheme suits the town as well, said Sihag. Though not much can be disclosed at the moment it was certain that under the scheme the set up of Animal Husbandry and HUDA will be helpful to tackle the stray dogs menace with minimum cost, he added.
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Use grants for students
While the Centre Government deserves appreciation for initiating a move for granting central status to the Panjab University, the state government has shown magnanimity and farsightedness in giving consent. However, central status to PU must not be seen as a matter of rejoicing over benefits only. The benefit of huge grants for the university must percolate to students in the form of no-fee-hike and also a major increase in stipend to research scholars. Courses with far less fee than in private universities and institutes must be offered to check commercialisation of higher education. Dr I. M. Joshi, Ex-Professor, PU, 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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Schools rate poor in design
Chandigarh, August 30 A quick survey of various government schools of the city by this correspondent found that blackboards are not positioned well in classrooms, rooms are not spacious with inadequate light and ventilation and improper water drainage system. As some schools, primary classes are being run in the basement of building with no light and ventilation. Because of lack of electricity, they have no option but to sit in the dark. The situation gets worsen during the rainy days when the water gets accumulated in the classrooms. Due to wrongly placed blackboards, half of the students in a class prefer to sit on the floor than on chairs because they are unable to read the blackboard. The fact is that it is the sun glare reflecting on the blackboard from one side makes it impossible for them to read whatever teachers write on the board. The teachers rued that if windows are covered with some paper or curtains, it would be dark in the rooms because most of the lights are either broken or stolen. Even the switch boards have been broken by the children. The DPI (S) SK Setia said, “Instead of reinstalling the blackboards at proper places, we are in the process of introducing digital interactive boards for all governemnt schools which will solve the problem. At GMSSS-35 and 37, we have already installed these.” Officials said the delay in the project occurred because the bid process was challenged in a court and the matter was yet to get nod. About the architectural flaws and poor lighting, Setia said the matter had already been brought to the notice of architectural wing of the administration. “I have proposed to intall CFL bulbs in the classrooms and the switch boards to be reinstalled at height of 5 feet so that students could not damage these”. At GMSSS-45, most classrooms lack proper light and ventilation. Ironically, these flaws, official said, were noticed only when the building was partially built. An administrative official disclosed the truth. “The original drawings of the building had the main gate to be opened on the main road dividing Sector 45 and 46, which is against the school building norms. This drawback was noticed at a stage when 30 per cent of the building was already completed. Ultimately, to overcome this lapse, the same drawing was twisted and the construction was carried on accordingly. This lapse has left no scope for proper windows, corridors and doors.” At Government High School-43, staircases have been designed in such a manner that it would always be dark even during the daytime. There is no provision left for installing the tubelights or bulbs. Similarly, the Government Model High School, Colony No 4, is yet another example of architectural flaw. The staircases’ beam has been kept at a height of just four-and-a-half feet against the ideal height of eight feet. Children cannot cross the lobby without bending their heads. Looking into the strength of students and sections, the space in the GMHS, Sector 26, Police Lines’ building, and Government Model High School-42 and GMHS, Timber Market-26, is insufficient. With the result, the classes are being held in the corridors . The situation was no different in GHS-46, Hallomajra and Karsan.
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MEd counselling cancelled
Chandigarh, August 30 The decision was taken after the allegations by some outstation candidates that the university authorities sidelined their interests and went ahead with the counselling. According to sources, some 25-30 candidates belonging most of them to Punjab alleged that the university officials had not informed the candidates well in time that they were supposed to get their results of the previous examination by August 20. Though the merit list of the candidates, who qualified the entrance test, was displayed on August 23, many of the students who qualified for the admission, did not 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 sources, the university officials only put the urgent piece of information on the website and did not 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 to get their results by August 28 and let them attend counselling scheduled for August 30. According to sources, the students again met the vice-chancellor and expressed their resentment that why should they attend the counselling for the remaining seats while the counselling was already on since August 25, even after figuring in merit. Today again, during the counselling process, there was chaos regarding reserved category seats and seat reserved for single girl-child. “The decision to cancel the counselling was taken to safeguard the interests of all the students. The new dates for counselling will be announced soon,” said Malwinder Ahuja, coordinator of the centralised counselling.
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PU student polls likely in 2nd week of Sept
Chandigarh, August 30 “We are in the process of getting the UT administration’s nod as we have to see the availability of the police personnel,” he added. According to sources, the same ballot boxes are to be used for the upcoming second and third phases of the senate elections. So, the university authorities want to get over with the students elections first as the senate elections is a long-drawn process. The students’ elections will be held according to the recommendations of the Lyngdoh Committee as was done last year. According to the committees recommendations, there should be a time period of six days from the date of announcement to the actual date of polling. In that case, the university authorities were playing safe and could take
time in announcing the elections date, observed a university official. Though the date of polling is not yet decided, the student bodies are already in the election mode. Although the active canvassing has not started and the parties are yet to reveal the names of their candidates, still the activists are in the process of chalking out campaigning details. “The campaigning will pick up momentum once the candidates are announced,” said a PUSU campaigner. As the recommendations do not permit the use of any printed material like fliers, pamphlets and posters, the students have to
make use of only hand-written promotional material, which they can get photocopied. As the recommendations do not allow students to spend more than Rs 5,000 per candidate, it is not going to be a cakewalk for the candidates who are otherwise known to go all out to woo the voters.
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From Schools & Colleges
Chandigarh, August 30 Prarthana sabha: A blood donation camp and ‘prarthana sabha’ were organised at GGDSD college today to commemorate the death anniversary of its founder president, Pandit Mohan Lal. Over 135 donors, including the principal, staff and students donated blood. The camp was organised by the SD College Alumni Association in collaboration with Lioness Club, Panchkula, Central.
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From Schools
Mohali, August 30 Plantation drive ends: In collaboration with the Art of Living, DAV Senior Secondary School yesterday concluded the week-long plantation drive with a plethora of activities here today. The teachers as well as the students elucidated the need to save mother earth. P.P. Sharma, regional director, was the chief guest, who planted a sapling on the school premises. She exhorted the students to grow more trees and make the planet green. The tiny tots expressed their concern for the environment through a fancy dress competition. The children, dressed as the earth, sun, moon and all other celestial bodies, bundled up together to create awareness about the deteriorating condition of the environment.
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Engg placement draws crowd
Mohali, August 30 Sukhwinder Singh Sidhu, chairman, said the selected candidates would be offered attractive packages.
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