Mohali, September 2
The fast developing township of Mohali is fast getting out of the reach of the common man. This was proved during the auction of commercial sites today, in which a shop-cum-flat (SCF) site in Sector 64 went for Rs 6.01 crore, breaking the record of previous auctions.

Through the auction of 32 freehold commercial sites, the Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (GMADA) earned Rs 63.04 crore.

Booth sites were also put under the hammer and the highest bid of Rs 66.25 lakh was for a site in Phase 2.

Estate officer Sukhjeet Pal Singh said the bidding was along the expected lines. “The highest bidding for SCFs and booth sites indicates an increase of 287 per cent and 427 per cent, respectively,” he said.

Commenting on the trend, N.K. Marwaha, a real estate analyst, said the bidding was more than the market value of the built-up sites, but against the auctioned sites, the bidder had to pay the total amount in a period of four years. By the time the total amount was paid, the price of the property would have increased manifold.

A booth site in Sector 59 went for Rs 37.10 lakh against a reserve price of Rs 28.64 lakh while an SCF site in Sector 64 was sold for Rs 1.54 crore, against a reserve price of Rs 1.29 crore.

An official said two SCF sites in Sector 63 went for Rs 3.51 crore and Rs 3.53 crore as against a reserve price of Rs 2.32 crore. In Sector 64, the SCF sites went for Rs 6 crore against the reserve price of Rs 2.09 crore.

Sites in upcoming sectors attracted a higher premium compared to those in developed sectors.

Chandigarh, September 2
Three “tourist buses” were spotted transporting schoolchildren illegally here today. With scant regard for regulations laid down by the Supreme Court and the Punjab and Haryana High Court regarding school buses, these buses are putting the lives of students in danger by not complying with road safety norms.

Bus no. CH-01-L 9927 (Dashmesh Bus Service) and Bus no. PB-12-1321 (Indo Global) are plying on the route route Sector 48 to Bhavan Vidyalaya in Sector 27. Another bus (CH-04A-5850-Dashmesh Bus Service) is plying between Sector 7 and Bhavan Vidyalaya-27.

All these buses are not painted yellow and do not have a registration number in a 254 mm wide strip of dark blue paint going all around the body and 178 mm below the windowpanes.

Also, the name of the institution is not written on the front, either above or below the windscreen. Instead, “Dashmesh” is written on the windscreen. The address of the owners is also not displayed on either side of the buses, as mandatory.

The buses did not have a fire extinguisher or first aid boxes. The windows are too wide and there is a risk of children falling out in the absence of horizontal grills.

The buses do not carry a board with the name of the school, route and the timings, etc. These buses can be spotted in front of Bhavan Vidyalaya School-27 at around 7.30 am or 1.30 pm.

The rulebook of the Chandigarh administration is silent on the transportation of children to school. In the absence of any stringent clause, students are left at the mercy of untrained drivers and rickety overloaded buses.

“It is pity that there is no clause under which we can tighten the noose around bus operators. In the past, we did impound such vehicles, but later it was found that the buses were not associated with the school. Parents had engaged the buses on their own.

Moreover, schools refrain from taking any responsibility, which is also a cause for concern,” Anil Kumar Sharma, additional secretary, state transport authority, said.

Dr Rohini, a parent, said: “My children go to DAV School in Sector 8, Chandigarh, from Panchkula in a 32-seater bus. I have seen around 48 children and eight staff members going to the school in the bus. Children are made to sit on the lap of other children to avoid being challaned by the police.”

Chandigarh, September 2
Chandigarh, one of the few “revenue surplus” regions in the country, wants a Rs 200-crore bonanza from the central government for the completion of its various development works.

In a development that may surprise many, the administration is set to present its case for additional allocation under the plan head to the centre, sources told the Tribune.

Earlier this year, the union government had sanctioned a gross budget of Rs 1,547.65 crore for Chandigarh, with the non-plan budget being Rs 1,243 crore and plan budget Rs 304.65 crore.

Though Rs 304.65 crore was 13.83 per cent higher than the budget estimates of 2007-08 (Rs 267.63 crore), additional budget was necessitated due to administration’s ambitious plans to make Chandigarh an IT destination, create infrastructure and develop Sarangpur as an institutional area.

The idea of a Rs 200-crore hike in the plan budget allocation found favour at a budget review meeting of senior officers of various departments with finance secretary Sanjay Kumar, who confirmed the move, adding that the amount was needed for various development activities of the administration encompassing human development, infrastructure and environment.

Chandigarh will contribute a budget surplus of about Rs 577 crore to the consolidated fund of India this financial year. Already, certain political outfits, particularly the BSP, are up in arms against the diversion of the huge sum earned by Chandigarh from various taxes levied on residents to the central government.

Chandigarh, September 2
The Western Command has deployed eight columns to help with the relief and rescue operations in the flood-ravaged areas of Bihar. Another five columns from here are being moved to Bihar shortly.

The columns, drawn from various formations of the Western Command, are of varying strength and have been positioned in different locations. About half the columns are purely from the Engineers, while others are mixed troops from different arms. While the Engineer units are equipped with motorboats, power plants and bulldozers, all units have accompanying medical support teams and ambulances, a senior officer here said.

The Army has deployed a total of 37 columns for flood relief operations in the districts of Supaul, Madhepura, Araria, Purnia and Katihar. It has also deployed 37 medical teams at major relief camps. The Army has also pressed into service 450 average size boats, 64 small size boats and six helicopters for the rescue and relief operations.

In addition, the Navy has sent 145 specialised divers and 24 boats. These divers have been sent to Bihar from Vishakapatnam, Mumbai and Kochi. More teams from the Army and Navy are being brought in.

The Indian Air Force has already airlifted around 300 tonnes of relief material, pressing into service its IL-76, AN-32 and Avro aircrafts. Around 40 sorties have been undertaken by these aircrafts. IAF helicopters have evacuated 176 marooned people in 350 sorties and have airlifted 325 tonnes of relief material.

Meanwhile, the Western Command conducted a major disaster management exercise - “Exercise Mountain Rescue” - at the Annadale Ground in Shimla today. The aim of the exercise was to practice evacuation of civilian population from the disaster affected areas in the mountains.

The Army’s aviation wing helicopters practiced casualty evacuation drills in conjunction with the troops from the units stationed in Shimla. The exercise was conducted in conjunction with the civil administration, and troops from Home Guards and fire services also participated.

Chandigarh, September 2
“Uni-compartment Knee Arthroplasty has brought in a fresh hope of complete recovery for knee arthritis patients,” stated Dr Edward Ross Jago, trauma and orthopaedic surgeon, who came here from the United Kingdom to conduct a uni-compartment knee surgery as part of an International Symposium on Oxford Uni-Compartment Knee Replacement today.

Dr Jago conducted the surgery along with Dr Manuj Wadhwa, senior consultant orthopaedic surgeon of Fortis, on 42-year-old Alka Monga, who suffered from excruciating knee-pain that would extend to her leg, crippling her day today functioning.

Giving details of the surgery, Dr Jago said, “The surgery is done by a very small cut (only 5-6 cm long) in front of the knee. Thin layers of special polyethylene and metal are used to resurface the bone ends of only one half of the joint. These prevent the bone ends from rubbing against each other and provide instantaneous pain relief. The rest of the joint, including all ligaments, is preserved unlike in total knee replacement.”

Patients can start walking the same day and can go home within 24 hours. As important, this surgery is beneficial for the younger age group unlike total knee replacement, which is best suited for those over the age of 65 years.

Talking about the available treatment, Dr Jago said, “So far there has been no satisfactory option other than physiotherapy, painkillers and activity restriction. Some patients even have to undergo the total knee replacement operation for relief from pain. But now there is hope - one has an option of a high precision, minimally invasive surgery, which provides immediate pain relief, fast recovery and hastens return to an active lifestyle. This surgery is now being adopted world-wide as the surgery of choice in such cases.”

Talking about arthritis, Dr Jago said: “Arthritis is not a symptom of just getting old. It is an inflammatory or degenerative disease of the joints that is not necessarily a part of the normal ageing process. It curbs daily activities like stair-climbing, walking, or even getting in and out of the bed. That is why arthritis can make people ‘feel old’, even though they are still in the prime of their life. It is so incapacitating that a few people enter into depression due to the ailment.”

According to Dr Manuj Wadhwa, “This surgery will be especially beneficial in India, as, according to a study, about 7 crore Indians suffer from joint related problems and this incidence is expected to rise.”

Chandigarh, September 2
Fortis Hospital, Mohali today held a nutritious cooking competition, as part of the National Nutrition Week being observed by it from September 1 to 7.

The theme of the competition was baking, steaming and salads, all healthy ways of cooking. The judges were Sanjeev Verma, Diltaj Grewal, Chandok and Sunil Ganjoo.

Deepak Soni won the first prize for his preparation of whole wheat honey bread. Gurpreet Singh won the second prize with his innovation of a tri-colour wheat pizza and Jitender won the third prize. Parul Thakur and Arjun Kaushal won consolation prizes with their fruit and sprout bhel puri and whole wheat sprouted dim sum, respectively.

“The objective of the competition was to help people realise that they can bring in variety in their diet by using different cooking methods. These methods conserve nutrients, are easy to digest and quick to cook,” said Sonia Gandhi, head of clinical nutrition of the hospital.

The National Nutrition Week is being celebrated to promote awareness among people regarding good nutrition and healthy eating for all age groups. Various stalls of health foods were set up in the Fortis lobby for patients, staff and visitors, which would help them gather information and implement it in their daily diet pattern. Other activities slated for the week include a nutrition talk and quiz to promote awareness among the public and to cater to the nutritional needs of different age groups.

Chandigarh, September 2
The Chandigarh Administration and the industrialists, going in for conversion of plots on less than one acre of land in the Industrial Area, are at loggerhead again.

While the industrialists term the decision as “non-feasible” the administration claims that the decision has been taken in public interest keeping in view the peculiar character of Chandigarh, which has the highest vehicular density in the country. The aggrieved members of the joint forum of the Chamber of Chandigarh Industries, the Industries Association of Chandigarh and the Chandigarh Industrial Association met the UT Administrator today and demanded review of the parking norms.

In a representation, the forum claimed that as per the national building code (NBC) norms, parking requirement for a population of up to 50 lakh was one car per 50 square metre covered area. The population of Chandigarh is nearly 12 lakh and even existing norms are more than required.

It was argued that the administration had thought of changing parking norms because of initial bad experience of the Centra Mall in the Industrial Area. However, the teething troubles were over and there were no parking problems in any of the converted plots, the representation claimed.

"The administration should not impose the new parking norms, especially for the smaller plots, and for those who have applied for conversion,” it demanded.

The industrialists, who were constructing shopping malls and buildings purely for commercial purposes, should provide the facility of parking to the visitors, said an official.

He said a lot of thought had gone in taking the decision purely in public interest. The industrialists, who earn huge profits from their commercial activities, should be ready to provide parking facilities to the visitors, another official added.

Chandigarh, September 2
To get firsthand information about the functioning of the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation, a 70-member delegation of the Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation, led by Barala Srinivas, visited the city today.

After a brief presentation at the UT guesthouse, the delegation visited various parks and green belts developed by the MC, sehaj safai kendras, fire stations and dumping ground.

Briefing the delegates, Chandigarh Mayor Pardeep Chhabra said the Corporation was planning for 100 per cent treatment of sewage. He said the MC had latest fire-fighting equipment and well-maintained green belts and parks.

Earlier, Barala Srinivas gave a brief introduction of the Visakhapatnam MC. He said the Corporation comprises 86 members headed by the Mayor, including 72 members, five co-option members, three MPs, two MLCs and four MLAs. 

Chandigarh, September 2
A day after Punjab Government’s announcement to withdraw its no-objection letter to union government for granting central status to Panjab University, the teacher fraternity has once again woken up to the new development. While PUTA has decided to call its executives’ meeting as well as general body meeting to decide further course of action, academicians did some plain speaking.

Ronki Ram, PUTA president, said, “We will call our meeting tomorrow to decide about our course of action.” If the sources are to be believed, the teachers’ association may sit again on dharna and start the struggle for central status to PU.

It took more than two years of period to convince the Punjab government to issue the letter of concurrence to MHRD. For more than a year, the Punjab government slept on the letter from the MHRD, and it was only after the continuous agitation by the teachers and students for 142 days that finally Punjab government issued the letter.

However, the letter of concurrence that was issued only on August 26, was withdrawn on September 1, within a period of less than one week. “As the government is not paying the grants, and now with this, it has proved that it is against development of the region,” said Manjit Singh, former secretary, PUTA.

It is worth mentioning here that the current budget of PU is of Rs 187 crore, out of which PU is supposed to generate income from own resources worth Rs 91 crore. The remaining Rs 96 crore deficit is to be met by the Punjab government and UT in the ratio of 40:60.

However, Punjab government instead of paying Rs 38 crore, promised to pay only Rs 16 crore and that too was not paid fully during the last financial year. Similarly, UT, instead of meeting the remaining deficit of Rs 58 crore, promised to pay only Rs 33 crore. From where the university would meet the unattended deficit of Rs 47 crore is the real question to which nobody has answered.

“The central university status to the Panjab University has no bearing on whether Chandigarh goes to Punjab or not. It must be clear to the academicians that Panjab University has always catered to the needs of Punjab and will continue to do so even after it becomes a central university. We all at the university feel indebted to the Punjab government for its clear understanding of the academic underpinnings of the demand for central university status,” said Prof Shelley Walia, from department of English.

Chandigarh, September 2
Prof R. K. Kohli, coordinator, Centre for Environment, Panjab University, has been selected for felicitation during an international conference on ‘biodiversity, environment and sustainability challenges for future’ to be held on September 4 at Delhi University (North Campus).

During the three-day conference, over 50 environment scientists from countries like US, UK and Germany will discuss the challenges faced in the field. Prof Kohli, an ecologist, was selected earlier for B. P. Pal National Environment Fellowship for the period 2002-04.

Chandigarh, September 2
A sapling plantation drive was undertaken by students of Government Model Senior Secondary School, Sector 19-C, here in association with the Art of Living organisation today. About 500 saplings were distributed and planted by the students.

Sanjay Walia, principal, motivated students to plant more saplings.

Chandigarh, September 2
Inter-school tournaments have revealed the disappointing side of sports facilities, especially the grounds, in city schools. A visit to the schools is enough to bring about the truth behind the tall claims. Not more than 5 per cent of the schools can claim to have a satisfactory ground apt for one game even.

Admitting this, K. S. Bharti, UT assistant director, sports, said: “The scenario is very grim. I inspect the grounds on regular basis and believe the situation is growing worse. Leave aside the tournament, they are not even fit for regular practice of any game.”

Grounds, being managed by sports department, are always available for tournaments free of cost, as according to J. P. Sidhu, joint director, sports, “We don’t charge any money and our grounds are well managed and well equipped. But to avail them, the department has to send a prior application. I have not received any request yet.”

However, defending the administration’s move to hold tournaments on school grounds, P. S. Brar, sports organiser, said: “The only work that sports department has is to maintain grounds. We are holding the matches here to motivate school authorities to upgrade their grounds and students to participate.”

One year on after the survey by the administration, which found all schools majorly lacking in sports facilities, nothing much has improved. K. S. Bharti said: “We have funds, but till date rarely anybody asks for them to upgrade sports facilities. We also came up with ambitious proposals like providing monetary incentives to the principals, however, nothing succeeded.” Appointment of teachers specialising in one sport in accordance to the school was also proposed in March, but there seems to be no progress as yet.

DPI (S) S. K. Setia was unavailable for comments.

Chandigarh, September 2
Music department of MCM DAV College for Women, Chandigarh, organised an interactive session with Vipul Mehta, Punjab’s representative in the Star Voice of India Contest, today.

Vipul was invited to the college to pay tribute to late Ishmeet, who was also representating Punjab in Voice of India. Vipul shared with the audience the pangs and travails he had to fight in order to reach the platform. He profusely expressed his desire to win the contest to pay a befitting tribute to his departed idol.

Vipul also performed for students of the college, who sang and danced with him.

Principal of the college, Dr Puneet Bedi, said the youngsters of present day had enormous talent in themselves and it was only with this capability that one could pay a befitting tribute to the departed soul of Ishmeet.

Chandigarh, September 2
Chandigarh administration will honour eight teachers with the state award and eight teachers with the commendation certificates at a state-level function on the occasion of Teachers’ Day.

The awardees include four rural and four urban teachers, one each from senior secondary, high, middle and primary school. One award will be given only to the teachers working in State Institute of Education.

Education secretary Sanjay Kumar said the state award consisted of a citation, silver medal and a cash award of Rs 10,000. The commendation certificate consists of a citation and a cash award of Rs 1,000.

The awards have been instituted for each category of teachers including principals, headmasters of both rural and urban schools. The active NGOs in the field of education and welfare of children will also be honoured. All the national and state awardees of the previous years will also be honoured.