Chandigarh, September 9
Downpour lashed the city and its adjoining areas early this morning, flooding streets and disrupting normal life and bringing to the fore once again the inefficiency of the drainage system. Traffic disruptions were common while it rained heavily from morning till afternoon and even after that.

The sky, which was generally cloudy since the last night, became overcast in the morning, resulting in a torrential rain throughout the day. According to the local meteorological department, the city received 104 mm of rain till 5.30 pm.

Low-lying areas and parking lots were inundated at numerous places and streets were turned into rivulets, affecting a large number of children, office-goers and commuters. Even Madhya Marg where water doesn’t accumulate was flooded. Several inches of water collected around the road berms, while roundabouts projected a sorry state of affair of the drainage system in the city. Slow carriageways along Madhya Marg as well as parking lots outside the showrooms on the road were full of water. The Sectors 7, 19, 26 and 27 roundabout was heavily flooded.

Those living in Sectors 8, 11, 15, 18, 24, 30 and Sector 19 Palika Bazar, Vikas Nagar and Shastri Nagar in Mani Majra, Palsora Colony, Kabari market in Industrial Area, Phase I, and slums were worse hit. Water entered the basements of shops in a few markets and houses due to the clogged drains.

The residents of the affected areas lamented that despite having lodged complaints with the civic bodies for cleaning the drainage system in their areas, the authorities concerned failed to address their grievances. The municipal corporation’s compliant center received 11 complaints of water logging from various sectors.

Electricity supply was cut off in many areas with a view to prevent short circuit. The roads were flooded with most roundabouts jammed with stalled cars. Several flights and trains from the Chandigarh got delayed due to the downpour.

The worst affected was the Colony No. 5 where the administration had shifted at least 400 jhuggi dwellers from the Rajiv Labour Colony, Sector-38 (West), without making any proper arrangements for draining the water. Despite manifold increase in colony’s population, the corporation has added no new drains for coping with the situation.

Residents complained that they had approached the ward councillor on numerous occasions before the monsoon, for arranging proper drainage system, but all in vain, as till date no officer had visited the colony for even surveying the area.

The condition of Sector 25, where there is old drainage system, rainwater entered many houses as last year. Other affected areas were Kumhar colony, Janta colony, Milkman colony, Mauli Jarga, Nizampur Kumbar, Hallo Majra and Vikas Nagar colonies.

Meanwhile, children and youngster did not miss the chance to get drenched from the long-awaited showers and passed the time playing football. Youngsters were also seen dancing and bathing in the rain on the roads. Two wheeler riders also got themselves rid of the safety helmets to enjoy the cool weather.

Chandigarh, September 9
Heavy rains lashed Chandigarh on Wednesday morning, bringing the city to a virtual halt with familiar scenes of waterlogged roads, chocked sewers and traffic snarls, as was experienced last year.

Traffic movement was affected for hours on most of the roads, including Madhya Marg, Sectors 18, 16, 17, 19, 29, 30, 35 and route leading to Sectors 41 and 42, as most of the roads were inundated and resembled streams.

Traffic jams were witnessed at several places on the National Highway 21. Roundabouts of Sectors 21-22-34-35, Kisan Bhavan and Sectors 20-30-32-33 were the worst affected. The road dividing Sectors 21 and 22 was also flooded. Commuters were caught unaware as traffic moved at snail’s pace due to waterlogging.

Several flights and trains were also delayed due to downpour. Many had to cancel important meetings and appointments at the last moment.

“Normally, it takes me 10 minutes to reach Sector 20 from the Sector 17 market. But today, I was stuck in a traffic jam for more than half-an-hour due to waterlogging on road,” said Rahul, a commuter.

Failure of traffic signals at many junctions added to the problems of the commuters. Several areas of the city witnessed waterlogged streets while long queues of vehicles were also a common sight.

A number of vehicles, including two-wheelers and even four-wheelers, broke down adding to chaos on road.

Traffic cops had a tough time in managing traffic. In many areas, cranes had to be pressed into service to clear the road.

Irate residents and commuters who were stuck in traffic snarls cursed the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation for not completing the de-silting of drains properly and on time. They alleged that overflowing of clogged drains was the reason for waterlogging on roads.

Meanwhile, Kingfisher’s Chandigarh-Jammu flight was two hours late due bad weather. Even Go-air’s morning flight to Delhi was stranded at the Chandigarh airport for two hours.

The rains also delayed arrival of two trains at the Chandigarh railway station. The Shatabdi arrived around 15 minutes late, the Himalayan Queen reached the Chandigarh station almost 2 hours late.

The showers, however, brought down the minimum temperature to 23 degrees Celsius.

The Met office has predicted more rain in the next 24 hours with cloudy sky. 

Chandigarh, September 9
Once bitten, twice shy-that seems to be the buzzword for the Chandigarh Administration in the backdrop of violent clashes between the Chandigarh Police and the protesters, which held city to ransom for several hours yesterday.

Learning a lesson from yesterday’s bitter experience, the administration has decided to strictly enforce ban on holding of rallies in Sector 17 or other sectors in the city. From now, big rallies, which have the potential of disrupting the normal life, would only be allowed in the Sector 25 rally ground.

UT Home Secretary Ram Niwas said since there was already a ban on the holding of rallies in the city the administration would strictly enforce it to avoid inconvenience to the public.

In fact, it was following the directions of the Punjab and Haryana High Court that the UT Administration had decided to shift the rally venue from the Matka Chowk, the erstwhile Boat Club of Chandigarh, to Sector 25 in November 2006.However, on account of the lackluster attitude of the administration protestors used to always breach it and held the city and the traffic on ransom.

Sources said yesterday’s large-scale violence was on account of the bungling on the part of the police which failed to gauge the intensity of the situation. In fact, the police was caught on wrong foot due to the surge of protesters, which led to a lot of inconvenience to the general public.

Officials said public convenience was uppermost in the administration’s mind when the rallies were banned at the Matka Chowk. The stopping of the protesters on the Punjab-Chandigarh boundaries and their diversion to the Sector 25 rally ground could have avoided violent clashes and damage to public property.

Chandigarh, September 9
Even 24 hours after the large-scale violence by activists of the Bharti Kisan Union (Ekta) and the PSEB Employees’ Joint Forum, the police has failed to lay its hands on the leaders of the two organisations, who were at the forefront of the violent protest yesterday.

Though UT Police has sought assistance from the intelligence and vigilance department of the Punjab Police to nab the protesters, yet they have not got any information about the miscreants.

The huge loss to public and private property notwithstanding, the police seems to be in two minds on sending any police party to Punjab to nab the hooligans.

SSP SS Srivastava said: “We are putting all our efforts and have requested the photo journalists to give us footage of yesterday's clashes to help us nab the culprits.”

The protesters had reportedly left 52 police personnel injured, besides torching and damaging at least 15 police vehicles and eight private two-wheelers. Besides, windowpanes of five CTU buses were broken and nine other private vehicles parked in the vicinity of cricket stadium, Sector 16, damaged.

Meanwhile, the death toll has reached three with two more farmers succumbing to their injuries on their way back yesterday, SP (City) Madhur Verma, said.

Verma confirmed that the intelligence wing of the Punjab Police had informed them that one of the protesters died after felling from the top of the bus near to his village and another person died due to cardiac arrest.

Meanwhile, body of Jagsir Singh (28), who died at Sector 24, after a fall from the bus yesterday, was handed over to his family after the post-mortem.

Two seriously injured inspectors of the Chandigarh Police Nityanand and Har Sahai Sharma were stated to be out of danger at the PGI.

Meanwhile, the local court has sent 42 protesters, who were arrested yesterday, to judicial custody for 14 days.

Chandigarh, September 9
The absolute madness that the city witnessed, with almost 15,000 activists of farmer union coming to blows with 700 policemen on city roads yesterday, has angered the residents.

Even as the rains washed the blood stains and broken glass pieces from the roads today, the harrowing visuals the residents witnessed yesterday will stay with them forever.

With most asking for a ban on any more rallies in the city, residents narrated their side of the story while taking to the Tribune team today.

Chandigarh, September 9
The railway booking service at the city post offices just doesn’t seem to be getting popular among the city residents. Whereas post offices in other cities record a minimum of 100 to 120 bookings per day, these centers here are struggling to register even 10 transactions per day.

In August, counters in five post offices in the city have registered just about 1,700 bookings that mean not even 350 bookings at each post office. The counter remains functional for 6 hours a day (from 9am to 3 pm). And one cannot even rely on the average, as it’s mainly the Sector-17 counter that registers maximum transactions. The other four post offices in Sectors 22, 47, PGI and Mohali, Phase I, fail to even manage one fifth of the transactions carried out in Sector 17.

Chandigarh, September 9
The traffic bottleneck on the National Highway 21 between Sectors 42 and 53 it seems is not on the priority list of the Chandigarh administration.

Even after the lapse of over one-and-a-half-year, the proposed single span high-level bridge could not be constructed resulting in chaos on the road.

The Ministry of Road Transport and Highway has already accorded administrative approval for the bridge, to be constructed at a cost of Rs 3.46 crore.

The bridge, inaugurated in March 2008 on the downstream side of N-Choe, was to be completed within a year, but the work on the project has not been started till date for want of official formalities.

However, officials said the project had been delayed due to some modifications in the project. Now, it would be a double span bridge, they added.

When contacted, Finance Secretary Sanjay Kumar said, “Official formalities are under process. The hitch was that the project was sent back to the ministry for revalidation the approval for which has been received. The tenders have been recalled and the work is expected to be allocated within a month.” The engineering wing assured that the bridge would be completed within six months.

At present, there is a four-lane minor bridge that fails to bear the traffic burden. The upcoming bridge would enable the track to be six-lane, thus allowing the smooth flow of traffic.

“My office is in Mohali. I am always scared to go through this route on my scooter because of fast moving heavy vehicles passing through this narrow road,” said Ravinder, a city resident.

Just last month, Col JS Sandhu, another commuter, had a narrow escape when his car skidded on the road. “Luckily, no heavy vehicle was behind me at that moment. This route needs to be widened with the additional bridge,” he said.

Mohali, September 9
While the state government is taking its own time in providing administrative infrastructure in the three-year-old Mohali district, the district police has taken the lead in creating its own.

Faced with the shortage of space to house its police stations and special investigative wings, the district police had been forced to accommodate its force either in community centres or other public buildings. Beginning with the Balongi police station, the district police has taken on lease eight kanals of village panchayat land on 33-year lease on a yearly rent of Rs 30,000 per acre.

The land, adjoining the PSEB sub-station in the village, has been leased out under the rule 12 A of the Punjab Village Common Land Act (regulation) Rules, 1964, after the approval of the Financial Commissioner, village development and panchayat department.

After every three years, the lease money will increase by 10 per cent.

Confirming the development, SSP JS Aulakh said the land would be also be used for housing the CIA wing of the district police.

For the district Police Lines, the Balongi village panchayat has passed a resolution for leasing out another 23 acres of land.

The issue has been forwarded to the block development and panchayat officer (BDPO) before sending it to the higher authorities. Currently, the Police Lines is housed at a congested community centre of Phase XI here.

The SSP said the Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (GMADA) had allotted 3,920 sq yd of land on lease of 99 years at a rate of Rs 6 per sq yard in Sector 71 for housing the Matour police station.

Currently, the police station is running from the community centre of Sector 71.

Around Rs 8 lakh had already been deposited by the police department with GMADA.

For the Sohana police station, the department plans to shift to Sector 109. Emmar MGF Ltd, a housing company, has offered around four kanals of land for the purpose.

900 regular posts

The state police department has transferred 900 posts (from the level of inspector and below) from other districts to Mohali district. The final sanction from the finance department is awaited. Against the requirement of 1,800 personnel, 900 regular posts will allow additional manpower in the district. As per the formula worked out, 50 per cent of the manpower is to be provided by the state government while the remaining is to be arranged from within.

Mohali, September 9
Kharar MLA Balbir Singh Sidhu has opposed the move of the government to upgrade the Mohali civic body into a municipal corporation even as he condemns lathicharge on farmers and a hike in power tariff.

Addressing mediapersons here today, Sidhu said that residents of Mohali had elected councillors for a period of five years and in a democratic set up no change could be brought about till the end of the term. Any illegal move of the government would be strongly opposed and councillors would also go to court if required.

He said development could not be brought about with the formation of the corporation but by making funds available. Instead of setting up a corporation, the Greater Mohali Area Development Authority could be given the powers to develop Mohali as it had the required funds.

Moreover, an area should have 3 lakh voters before being made into a corporation and Mohali had only 1,68,000 voters at present. He said when the government could not take care of a small town like Mohali, how would it be able to develop the area which would get much bigger after the formation of the corporation?

Sidhu said the SAD wanted to run the Mohali civic body in its own way but it was not possible as councillors owing allegiance to the Congress were in a majority.

Lathicharge condemned

The MLA condemned the lathicharge on farmers in Chandigarh yesterday. He said they had come to present their problems and it was unfortunate that one of them got killed. It was a failure on the part of the government as adequate security arrangements had not been made.

Condemning a hike in the power tariff, Sidhu said it would adversely affect every section of society. The state was already hit by a drought and taxes and this hike would put an additional financial burden on common man.

Industry was already facing long power cuts and a hike in the tariff would hit it hard. Many industrial units were already shifting to Baddi due to faulty policies of the government.

He demanded that the government should reverse the decision and make efforts to increase its revenue by checking power theft and reducing transmission losses.

Mohali, September 9
Congress grass and other wild growth are spreading rapidly in the town due to the lack of sustained campaign by the Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (GMADA) and the municipal council to remove it.

One comes across a rich growth of harmful weed on roads and in vacant plots, green belts, parks and open spaces. So much so that a heavy growth of congress grass can also be seen on the premises of the Primary Health Centre in Phase III B 1.

The problem becomes more acute during the monsoon when there is vigorous growth of the weed.

While the council has to clear the congress grass and other wild growth from the roads in residential areas and the Industrial Area, it is the responsibility of GMADA to keep most of the green belts, parks and open spaces free from the weed.

However, none of the two organisations take the responsibility of removing the congress grass and other wild growth from government dispensaries or government educational institutions in the town saying that it was the duty of the department concerned to get the work done.

The harmful weed causes skin allergies to some persons, while in the case of persons suffering from asthma it spells frequent attacks.

Municipal councillor Sukhminder Singh Barnala, who is living in Phase XI, said the congress grass growing near certain chowks had lead to various accidents. One could hardly see any vehicle coming from the other side while going on the main road from near the police station in Phase XI.

Similar problem was faced near Mandi Karan Board flats, JCT Chowk, and the cremation ground lights. The road leading from Fuzitsu towards ESI Hospital in the Industrial Area, Phase VII, was also full of wild growth.

He said he had approached GMADA authorities but was told that it did not have any labour to get the wild growth removed. However, the authority had recently started working in this regard, which should have been done much earlier.

Another councillor Phool Raj Singh living in Phase VII said there was wild growth on curb channels, footpaths especially on the road leading from Chawla Chowk towards Phase III A.

The position was no better in Sectors 70 and 71.

Civic body executive officer Amna Kumar Goyal said the work of removing the congress grass was started in Phases III and V.

From tomorrow it would be extended to other areas as well.

Chandigarh, September 9
Adding another chapter to the existing transport services available on hiring basis, around 10 LPG-run radio auto-rickshaws aka “tuk-tuks” were flagged off by Home Secretary Ram Niwas from the UT Secretariat premises here today.

The pink auto-rickshaws can be hired by dialing 4242424 and these can pick customers up from their doorstep.

Interestingly, the drivers include two females — Alka Thapa and Santosh — both in their mid-20s.

Showing their licences, both said they used to drive auto-rickshaws on rent from the PGI stand earlier and this would be a challenge for them.

“This will be an exciting job for us. I feel part of a special initiative. Moreover, women drivers tend to set a good rapport with women passengers. But it’s going to be demanding,” felt Santosh.

Alka, too, was equally excited to be associated with the scheme. “The pink tuk-tuk has gained popularity and it is precisely the reason why I decided to be part of it. As my brother and father are with the BSF, they wanted me to join the defence services. However, I don’t regret taking up this job,” said Alka.

Since, these radio auto-rickshaws are equipped with the GPS system and connected to the GSM, the CDMA and landline network, the vehicle’s location will always be under the watch.

The auto-rickshaws are pink in colour and will charge Rs 10 for first kilometre and Rs 8 for the subsequent kilometres. During odd hours i.e. between 10 pm and 6 am, 25 per cent extra charges will be levied on customers. The charges will be counted from the doorstep to destination.

Director of Tricity Tours and Travels — the first operator for tuk-tuk service in the city — Col VS Dhillon said currently eight persons had been hired by the firm for the job. Two of them already know driving. We will hold coaching classes for the rest of them.”

Chandigarh, September 9
Air Marshal NAK Browne, Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Western Air Command, arrived on a two-day inspection visit to the Air Force Station here today.

On his arrival at 12 Wing, he reviewed a Guard of Honour. He addressed IAF personnel and interacted with the senior officials of the station. He also reviewed the operational and training preparedness of the various units based at the station.

Recalling his earlier days at the station, Air Marshal Browne said there had been significant development towards modernisation of the Air Force since then. He exhorted personnel to be prepared for any kind of role that they may be called upon to perform in future.

The Western Air Command Chief also called upon the Governor of Punjab and UT Administrator, Gen SF Rodrigues (retd), at the Raj Bhawan here.

Chandigarh, September 9
The Government Medical College and Hospital, Sector 32, celebrated its 17th annual day here today. Haryana Governor Jagannath Pahadia was the chief guest at the function.

He emphasised the need for continued research and services of specialist doctors to met the challenges in medical sciences.

He said the medical college should conduct refresher courses to improve the quality of health services, especially in the rural areas.

He also highlighted the demon of female foeticide, as there had been a sharp decline in the sex ratio, especially in Chandigarh, Punjab and Haryana.

He urged the medical students to take pledge to serve the rural folk.

A college magazine, “Glimpse-2009”, was later released by the chief guest. It was followed by a cultural programme.

Home Secretary Ram Niwas and college’s Director-Principal Dr Raj Bahadur were also present.

Chandigarh, September 9
A two-day festival of one-act plays with socially relevant themes concluded with the staging of two plays “Jago India Jago” and “Sawa ser gehoon ”at Randhawa auditorium here today.

The festival was jointly organised by Facets International Theatre Group and Citi Entertainment Network, in association with the UT cultural affairs department, which presented four plays all aimed at creating awakening about menacing social evils, drug abuse, communal harmony and environment with suggestive measures under the direction of Gaurav Sharma.

Based on a story “ Sawa ser gehoon”, written by Munshi Prem Chand, playwright Girish Raj Sharan Aggarwal had made certain aberrations suiting to the milieu. The play depicted the dilemma of poor Indian peasantry. The concluding offering “Jago India Jago” warned about the growing pollution and suggestions for environmental upkeep.

Earlier, the festival opened with a play “Mitti Rudan Karre”, written by Baldev Singh, which depicted the plight of a drug addict initiated into drug abuse by a rich drug peddler.

Playing lead roles, Jasbir and Asha Saklani were too natural as “Jarnail” and “Amli”. The second play, on yet another alarming issue of AIDS was also staged, in which Jasbir Singh and Vishal Verma played important roles.

Besides, Harman Pal, Mukesh, Mohit, Sunny Gill, Vishal Verma and Lalit played other roles.

London-based thespian TPS Sindra honoured the artistes.

Chandigarh, September 9
More than 150 employees of The Tribune Trust today donated blood to mark the 111th death anniversary of its founder Sardar Dyal Singh Majithia.

The blood donation camp, conducted by the Department of Blood Transfusion, PGI, was held at The Tribune office and was inaugurated by the Trustee of The Tribune Trust Dr RP Bambah, former Vice-Chancellor of Panjab University.

Addressing the gathering, Dr Bambah the need for encouraging voluntary blood donation and complimented the Tribune Employees’ Union for carrying on this tradition for the last 32 years.

“People must realise the importance of blood donation and should come forward for the social cause voluntarily,” he said.

Emphasising the need for proper screening and storage of blood, Dr Bambah said all the blood banks should be connected online to ensure it’s availability to patients on time. “No one should die because of unavailability of a particular group of blood,” he said, adding that networking of the blood banks would go a long way in resolving this problem.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr Bambah’s wife, Saudamani Bambah, said though the city on a national average has the highest number of blood donors, with 70 per cent stocks in blood banks coming from voluntarily donations, there was still a need to motivate more people. She said the media should support all such endeavours as it acts as a motivation for the donors.

Editor-in-Chief HK Dua also complimented the union for organising the camp and said donating blood was a noble task. Emphasising on the need of proper management of collected blood, Dua said in cases where only certain components of blood were required by a patient, the same should be used rather than wasting the entire lot.

Dua also thanked the PGI team, led by Dr Usha Rao for making the camp a success.

On the occasion, messages from president of The Tribune Trust RS Talwar and Trustee Lt Gen SS Mehta (retd) were also read out.

The list of The Tribune employees who have donated blood more than 25 times include Arun Kaushal (75), SS Pathania (46), Rajan Raikhy (46), Ashok Kumar (40), Anil Kumar Gupta (38), Dharamvir Sharma (38), Satinder Bedi (37), Surinder Singh (33), Sukhwinderjit Singh (29), Omvir Singh (28), Haresh Vashishth (27), Bhajan Singh (27), Balbir Singh Jandu (28), Jitendra Awasthi (28) and Balwinder Jammu (26). 

Chandigarh, September 9
The first of its kind photography course is all set to be introduced in Panjab University this year.

The department officials claim that the course, which is drawing large number of queries, will be the foremost such attempt in the whole of North India.

The one-year diploma in photography is being offered by the department of correspondence studies, following a huge response of students last year, when it was introduced as a subject in BEd.

Nearly 80 per cent students chose “photography” as their subject a year back, when it was introduced in the education department.

The course will cater to those, who wish to take up photography as a profession. Officials also revealed that surprisingly, many housewives had been enquiring about the diploma, who take interest in photography as a hobby.

“We have been receiving queries in huge numbers for the course. From mediapersons to the students of fine arts and photography clubs, everybody is excited about the course,” said Jeesu Jaskanwar Singh, assistant professor, education department, who is also the co-ordinator of the course.

While the minimum educational criterion for enrolment in the course is Class XII, even students doing their bachelor degrees are taking up the diploma through correspondence now. The course will have eight lecturers annually beside study material that will be provided by the department.

Creative photography would be a part of the course and the finer nuances of photo editing would also be taught in addition to basic computer study. The students would exhibit their work in art gallery at the end of the year and would have interaction with the media fraternity, informed the officials.

The educationists also hoped that this would increase the interest in research work in the field of photography, which had not been done earlier.

Elaborating on the diverse category of people showing in the course, the co-ordinator said, “The course is being preferred by teachers, doctors and even those who are interested in research work.”

Though the last date of applications for the course was September 7, the forms will still be accepted till December 3, along with late fee.

Fatehgarh Sahib, September 9
Director general of secondary education of the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyaan (SSA) in Punjab, Krishan Kumar, during a surprise visit in various government schools of the district, found many teachers absent.

Six teams were constituted under his supervision and 54 government schools were checked. As many as 12 teachers were found absent during the checking and seven teachers reached late on duty. One teacher was suspended by the officials, while others were chargesheeted.

The teams interacted with the teachers and enquired about the method of teaching, checked mid-day-meal and scrutinised monthly test of students.

A meeting, in this regard, was also conducted by senior officials at Fatehgarh Sahib and discussed various problems and their solutions.

Many schools were given show-cause notice during the occasion and the officials also sought explanation for incomplete works.

Chandigarh, September 9
Panjab University campus students’ council was sworn in today at the Law auditorium. The oath ceremony was presided over by dean, student welfare, Naval Kishore, and the new council members were congratulated by Vice-Chancellor Prof RC Sobti.

The panel includes Amit Bhatia, president, Virender Boora, vice-president, Deepika Thakur, general secretary, and Gaurav Aggarwal, joint secretary.

Chandigarh, September 9
With Ministry of Human Resources and Development giving its final nod to the education bill postulates, UT administration is now all set to constitute a committee to discuss the way forward.

Planning to hold a meeting of eminent educationists and city principals, the department will discuss and also plan the implementation of decisions like eradication of Class X board examinations since 2011 and offering on-demand examination and optional aptitude test instead.

Similarly, for the decisions like grades in Class X, continuous evaluation in Class IX and new assessment, ensuring scholastic development, a detailed lay-out will be made and specific directives will be issued to several schools.

A nine-point grade system (from A-1 to E-2) will be introduced in Class X school examinations, where in these grades will correspond to students’ attributes and marks, ranging from exceptional to unsatisfactory.

Students can demand their marks and percentile and even those getting E-1 or E-2 will be promoted to Class XI and will be given two chances of improvement. Similarly, for Class IX, a continuous comprehensive evaluation (CCE) system would be used, where in assessment would happen through two terms (from April to September and from October to March) and would comprise two formative (40 per cent of assessment) and one summative assessment (60 per cent).

Speaking to The Tribune, UT Home-cum-Education Secretary Ram Niwas said, “There is a lot of confusion on most of the decisions, so the committee meeting will aim at making everything crystal clear and ensuring hassle-free implementation.”

Confusion Prevails:

1. Grading in Class X from this year

l If marks will not be sole criteria, then what is the “bias” proof parameter of judging the other attributes?

l With limited number of seats and students scrambling for even point 1 per cent, how will be accommodated the wide range of percentage included in one grade like for A-1 (from 91 to 100 per cent)?

2. Promotion of under-performing students to Class XI

l With limited number of seats, how will the students, who have not performed, be given admission and how to decide upon the allotment of specific stream?

l What if a child fails to improve even in two chances, then will he be demoted to Class X again?

3. CCE in Class IX

l With first semester almost over, how will its assessment be submitted?

l What will be the full proof way to ensure that the assessment will be bias-free and be actually done based on recommendation rather than evaluators’ whims and fancies?

4. Eradication of CBSE board from 2011

l With other boards continuing with such board examinations, how will uniformity be ensured in the further selections and admissions, where boards’ result continues to be a prominent criteria?