New Delhi/Chandigarh, September 12
The game of “political football” over the ownership of Chandigarh by different political parties in the region seems to be heading for the final whistle with the decision of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) to revert back to the old pattern of having a Chief Commissioner to administer the UT.

The decision has come in following a long and sustained campaign by eminent residents of the city in tandem with the media, particularly The Tribune.

Pawan Kumar Bansal, local Member of Parliament, said, “The intended change underlines the government commitment towards public answerability in governance. A Chief Commissioner who has risen to the post with a long experience in public dealing best suited the spirit of democracy. The UT Administrator, now, had become an alien for the common man, who just passed orders without listening. The voice for the democratic change had garnered strength, slowly and definitely over the past five years”.

At the same time, Satya Pal Jain, a former Member of Parliament, said, “It does not make difference who headed the UT administration till the time the common man was heard. The current situation of public feeling ignored by the Administrator was only becasue of the ego clash between the top boss and the Congress leadership. First, the Congress failed during 1980s and got a Governor and now when it failed to ensure citizen welfare, it was once again shouting for a commissioner”.

M L Sareen, a former advocate-general of Haryana, said, “The development is a hope for a positive change. We are fed up with the decisions taken behind closed doors. There is no transparency and no public participation in the decisions concerning the public welfare, under the existing scenario, vis a vis the top post.”

H.S.Mamik, president of the Independent Schools Association, said, “The accountability factor had gone absolutely missing from the administration and the Administrator made himself unapproachable.”

As reported in The Tribune today, the Governor of Punjab will not hold dual charge as Administrator of the Union Territory of Chandigarh from November. Since 1980s when the Governor of Punjab was appointed, he was given the additional charge of the Administrator of Chandigarh. The change in governance is expected to give the citizens a rightful say in the long-term development of India’s first planned city.

In the brief history of no more than 55 years, Chandigarh has been the most politically emotive issue in the north India. Originally, Chandigarh was planned as the capital of Punjab after the Partition. The capital of Punjab, Lahore, was lost to Pakistan. Since its inception in the early 1950s till 1966, Chandigarh was the capital of Punjab which then encompassed a large parts of what is today’s Himachal Pradesh and the entire state of Haryana.

Despite the administrative change, Punjab’s claims under the Re-organisation of States Act, 1966, will not be under prejudice at all, sources said.

Chandigarh, September 12
The five-decade-old Le Corbusier’s “modern style” government houses have finally become out of date with the UT administration all set to do away with Type-13 houses and replace them with multi-storey buildings.

To start with, a total of 1,434 Type-13 houses have been identified in Sectors 27, 28 and 29. These houses will be demolished in a phased manner and will be replaced with four-storey blocks with modern specifications and more covered area.

A plan has been chalked out where the single-storey block of 110 units of Type-13 houses in Sector 27 will be demolished and a four-storey block with 400 houses with a covered area of 600 sq ft will be constructed. Though the exact cost of construction on the new plan has not been worked out, estimates say that each block will cost around Rs 6 crore.

After conducting a survey, the UT engineering department observed that the cost of maintenance of these houses was too high and was denting the finances of the administration.

Officials said the cost requirement for maintaining all 1,434 houses in Sectors 27, 28 and 29 had been worked out to be around Rs 3.5 crore. “If renovations were to be carried out as per the approved specification, it would have cost the administration over Rs 22 crore or Rs 1.6 lakh per house. However, constructing a new house will cost the administration Rs 6 lakh,” said an official.

“Consequently, it has been decided to construct fresh blocks with additional storeys instead of renovating them. With this, more families will be accommodated with additional number of units. This will come as a relief to the eligible aspirants waiting to get government accommodation in Chandigarh,” said officials.

Finance Secretary Sanjay Kumar said Le Corbusier’s housing plans were considered to be highly imaginative, but these houses are not suited for today’s modern lifestyle. Most of these 55-year-old houses were in a dilapidated state.

Chandigarh, September 12
In a gross violation of rules, Panjab University’s Syndicate meeting on July 6, 2009, promoted a Senate-Syndicate member, “illegitimately”, to a higher class (second semester LLB). He could not clear his examinations.

The student was promoted by “misquoting” a regulation (No. 12, Chapter III, Page 18 of PU calendar, Volume II, 2007), in the “general discussion” on the pretext that the admission process to Semester II ended late and the student did not get time to study.

“Such a major decision was not even listed in the scheduled agenda of the Syndicate, rather it was ‘deliberately’ made a part of the general discussion. It came as a surprise at the meeting,” said a senior official of Panjab University.

There is no list of names of persons present in the discussion, except the Dean Student Welfare, Naval Kishore, who proposed it.

The violation is evident at the Syndicate meeting’s proceedings (as published), which say, “After decisions on the agenda items were taken, the members started general discussion.” In the first point of the general discussion, it elaborates, “According to the regulation, the Syndicate has the power to admit a person provisionally to the next higher class pending qualifying in the paper or papers, which he has “failed” to qualify for no fault on his/her part.”

This clause was proposed to deal with a situation in which students, who had been admitted late to various courses, including law, were not able to attend classes and hence could not clear 50 per cent of the exams. (mandatory to get promoted to higher class).

On the contrary, as per the rules in the PU calendar, (page 18, Chapter III), it is clear that only if a candidate may have “missed” any paper or papers, because of no fault of his, the Syndicate will consider the promotion of such a candidate to a higher class. The word “missed” had been easily manipulated and replaced by the word “failed” in the Syndicate proceedings on July 6.

“To get promoted from Semester I to II, a candidate needs to clear five out of 10 papers. The excuse given in the discussion was that a few students, including the candidate, missed the exams due to late admission. But there was a chance to give the exams in April, 2009, also which was again missed by the candidate,” said a senior member of the law faculty.

According to sources, nearly 10 students were admitted late in the class, out which seven had cleared 50 per cent of the exams. But the question that arises is - why couldn’t the rest three candidates (including the student) clear minimum five exams, despite the provision of another chance to appear in April, after having attended sufficient classes?

The Vice Chancellor, Prof. R.C. Sobti, said, “I do not have any clue about the issue. I will look into the matter.”

Chandigarh, September 12
“It is not me but the airline that decides which day I should fly back home and how much extra I have to pay for my return flight,” is a complaint that has been fast gaining ground among economy class passengers worldwide.

“Economy class correct nomenclature should be exploited class where passengers, initially lured by low fares, are exploited to the hilt and left to the mercy of airlines to complete their journeys,” says Sudarshana Singh (name changed) who had to delay her return journey by more than two months.

The reason: her return reservation could not be confirmed for want of seats in sub-category of economy class which she had booked in advance.

After making frantic calls the airline office in Canada as well as in Mumbai, she got her reservation. But not before she had doled out equivalent of Canadian $287 against a prescribed one-time change fee of Canadian $70.

Her is not only an isolated case but symbolic of thousand of air passengers who have been suffering due to lack of any regulatory control on international air carriers in India.

Though it is mandatory for international airlines in many countries to give preference to returning passengers than booking new passengers in the same sub-category of economy class, there is no such legal provision to assist returning passengers in India.

“I could not get my return reservation confirmed because the airline that issued me a return ticket in Canada says that no passenger can get reservation confirmed in case change over time mid-way in the journey was less than two hours. In my case, the change over time as per my original return reservation was 70 minutes. Airline has been threatening me that I could be offloaded in London if I insisted on my original booking.”

“Not only I had to pay equivalent of Canadian $ 350 as a penalty but had to undergo harrowing time in getting my return seat confirmed,” rues another woman passenger who travelled by Virgin Atlantic-Air Canada combine.

Problems are galore for those international air passengers who get lured by low economy fares that prohibit any change in pre-flight schedule. Instead of assisting or helping passengers in distress, airlines not only charge the penalty for change but also levy several other charges.

“There is no uniformity in controlling operations of international airlines. Recently, they blanked out travel agents by resorting to zero per cent commission. They want you to book online. But in case you have to make alterations or changes in your return reservation, you get lost,” complains another passenger who had been frequenting a travel agent for the past three weeks without any success.

Passengers want the Director-General of Civil Aviation as well as the Ministry of Civil Aviation to intervene and prevent the exploitation of economy class air travellers.

Chandigarh, September 12
While the UT administration awaits the police investigation report in connection with the cash-for-job scam, the ongoing probe seems to have stalled the TGT recruitment process.

Even as DPI (S) Samwartak Singh’s role came under scanner in the scam, Education Secretary Ram Niwas had assured transparency in the recruitment process. However, list of shot listed candidates has not been declared as yet.

It is learnt that during Samwartak’s stint as the head of the recruitment committee, list of shotlisted candidates was declared for three subjects and interviews were eventually conducted. But following his voluntary disassociation with the committee and even as Director Higher Education Ajoy Sharma took over the charge, results of other six subjects were still not declared.

“We declared list of the candidates for posts of three subjects on August 27 and sent them interview call letters but after the scam, the process had to be stalled. Though, we did not get any standing instruction regarding the scheduling of the remaining interviews, we have still not given any public notice declaring the roll numbers of candidates shotlisted for the other six subjects.” said one of the officials.

However, Education Secretary Ram Niwas denied any such thing and said public notices were not issued but call letters were being sent to the shortlisted candidates.

“As per the law we are supposed to make the list of shotlisted candidates public to ensure transparency. Moreover, we are facing wrath for issuing public notice so late,” added another official.

Meanwhile, reacting to the rumours of the entire recruitment being cancelled Ram Niwas said, “If I get any evidence that the scores of candidates were leaked, I will cancel it other wise not.”

Panchkula, September 12
A day after the Kot Billa bridge got damaged due to incessant rains in the region, the Pinjore-Sarahan road was closed following a landslide near the Mallah bridge here today.

While paedestrians were allowed to use the road, vehicular traffic had been diverted to Amravati Enclave to reach the Panchkula-Kalka National Highway.

The landslide had affected more than 40 villages situated across the Kaushalya river.

Eyewitnesses said a portion of the road connecting the bridge over the Kaushalya river caved in, following an erosion of earth under it leading to the closure of the road.

The authorities had closed the road finding it not fit for the vehicular traffic. In fact the four-day rain has played havoc in the region making life come to a standstill in many regions of the district.

In Barwala, which had recorded 153 mm of rain till yesterday morning, water had entered into many houses and government offices.

While block development panchayat officer Partap Singh pressed a JCB in service to make way to drain the rainwater from the electricity board office, the buildings of Senior Secondary School and Government College were still inundated.

The rains proved a nightmare for the poor as at least 5 kuccha houses had collapsed at Khatoli village leaving the inmates roofless. The wall of a pucca house at Jaloli village had also collapsed.

The Ghaggar river at Panchkula was in spate as the district had seen unprecedented rains during this week. The rains, which started on Tuesday, got stronger with each passing day and by today evening the level reached less than just half-a-meter below the danger mark with 60,000 cusecs.

Though no figures for the rains in the last 24 hours were available, officials said 98 mm of rain was recorded at 8.30 am on Thursday in Panchkula.

At Kalka it was quite high at 114 mm and Morni received 131 mm of rain. Raipur Rain was the wettest in the region with 159 mm of rainfall.

Mohali, September 12
Panic gripped residents of Sector 71, Mohali, when the main storm-sewer line, running beneath a green belt, caved in today morning.

Apart from damaging major water supply line feeding Sectors 70 and 71, the damaged storm-water line created a 50 feet wide and 20 feet deep crater adjoining a row of houses. The incessant rains further worsened the situation. The storm-water line has also started caving in at some other points, but the extent of damage was less.

Within hours of the water supply line being damaged, the supply to hundreds of houses in the two sectors was disrupted. “We did not receive a drop of water since morning. The supply was restored in the evening,” said JS Kalra, a resident of Sector 71.

Officials did not rule out the chances of several houses being damaged if rains continued in the coming days. Residents in the area blamed the Municipal Committee and the Public Health Department for not repairing the sinking storm water line on time.

In the last few weeks, the storm water line has been showing signs of collapse at different locations. At one point in Kargil Park, the public health department did initiate repair work on the behalf of the MC, but as the funds were not released on time, the repair work was hampered. Officials of the public health department blame GMADA for poor quality of work undertaken while laying the main storm water line.

“We have been telling GMADA officials about the anomaly. The land was handed over to the public health department for maintenance,” said an official of the MC. The public health officials have fixed a meeting with GMADA officials to show the spots where the storm-water line was caving in.

Chandigarh, September 12
The Jaiparkash (Jaypee) Associates Limited has dumped the recommendation of the Pollution Control Committee to install fluidised bed furnace at the garbage processing plant at Dadu Majra.

In a report submitted to the Chandigarh administration, the company has said the fluidised bed furnace was not feasible in such plants.

The report said after consulting two leading firms in the field - Thermax and Sanvhvi - it was found that nowhere in the country this pattern had proved successful for burning the RDF.

Sources revealed that the company report clarified that the fluidised bed furnace could not be set up as it required a particular size of particle and density whereas the RDF, which was produced in the plant, varied in both these points.

The plant authorities also submitted detailed design and specifications of the hot air generator and rotary dryer to the Pollution Control Committee along with the report.

The administration had issued a notice to the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation five days back asking it to use bags of specific colour for collection of meat waste and transport them in a separate vehicle to the bio-methane plant for further processing.

It also directed the MC to inoculate the waste at the dumping ground on daily basis to minimise foul smell.

However, the plant management, in a communiqué to the MC, complained that despite frequent requests, they were still receiving garbage in bins, which were uncovered and no measure had been taken to segregate dead animals, waste of slaughter houses, vegetable markets and hotels.

Meanwhile, the report on analysis of volatile organic compounds (VOC) and other parameters to be prepared by the company is still awaited. Sources said the administration was yet to clarify the specifications on analysis of the VOC and other parameters to the plant authorities .

A senior officials in the administration said after getting all the documents relating to the reports from the plant management, they would submit it to the experts of the committee for preparation of the final report.

Chandigarh, September 12
With the Jet Airways stir entering the fifth day, there seems to be no respite for passengers as no signs of a breakthrough between the Jet Airways management and its pilots were noticed.

With even two Kingfisher flights down, passengers from the city and neighbouring region are left with no other option but to delay or postpone their travel plans. Those on urgent schedules are now resorting to rail or road travel.

Meanwhile, the airline also continues to lose as much as Rs 7.5 crores a day with the ongoing strike.

Chandigarh, September 12
After reaching out to as many as 900 patients on its 10-day mission to provide specialised medical services to the people of Congo, the 21-member team of Indian medico and non-medico volunteers returned last week.

Under Rotary’s Inter-continental Medicare Project, the team worked at a hospital at Brazzaville, Republic of Congo, and performed around 20 cataract surgeries, 23 surgeries on congenital abnormalities, 450 dental procedures, 18 gynaecology-related surgeries.

The team conducted also around 22 operations on congenital hernias and cleft clips.

Speaking to The Tribune, former Rotary International president Rajendra K Saboo shared the success tale of this year’s trip to Congo. Here are some excerpts.

Q. How was the overall experience? There must have been several difficulties that the team must have faced?

Saboo: It was indeed very challenging for the team to get past the initial reluctance in the patient and the local doctors. But slowly, everything fell in place. Electricity and water scarcity at odd hours was one of the problems. But the local honorary counsel general, Parmanand Jaswani, the Congo media and the government, all were very supportive.

Also, we reached a day and half late of the supplies we carried, reached two days later, owing to a private airline strike. Whatever the difficulties, they did not deter our commitment and professionalism.

Q. Any breakthroughs that the team registered in the 10 days long mission?

Saboo: Gynaecologists had most difficult operations. Even some of the eye surgeries took many hours because the cataracts were as old as 20 years in some cases. The outstanding contribution of Dr SPS Grewal, Dr NS Sandhu, Dr RS Parmar, Dr Anju Huria and all the other doctors in the team was evident in the cases they undertook. The impromptu decisions these guys made on the operation table, in some of the most sensitive cases, was incredible. And such attitudes inspired the local doctors as well. I think, that was a major breakthrough.

Q. What do you think the trip achieved beyond the medical targets?

Saboo: Indian presence in Congo is very insignificant. The patients might forget specific doctor’s name, but they would always remember us as Indians. With every passing day, we saw so much rush with us that it was beyond our capacity to see all patients. Even though the local language was French, it was amazing how patients, when cured, would manage a humble “thank you”, which was much more precious for us than any other recognition.

Q. When did the day begin and what was the daily routine like?

Saboo: We would begin the day at around 7 am with breakfast. And then, till 6 or 7 pm in the evening, the doctors would see patients non-stop. Volunteers helped the doctors during surgeries. Interestingly, the local doctors would stop working at just 2 pm that was the work culture there. There were surgeries that took even from 4 to 5 hours at a stretch. Cases that had been completely rejected by the local doctors were referred to our doctors. The doctors solved some of the most rigid and complicated cases, not to forget in challenging circumstances.

Q. Finally, how did this entire concept first evolve? Will we see more such undertakings in the future?

“The project was initially conceived on the idea of “Serving beyond borders,” back in 1998. In the past, we have made successful trips to Uganda, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Tanzania, Zambia, Malawi, Swaziland, Cambodia, Madagascar and Lesotho.

And yes of course, such medical expeditions will continue. We just hope we achieve ample government support as well for such initiatives in the future.

Chandigarh, September 12
Strongly advocating the need for serious introspection of the underlying causes of environmental degradation, Punjab Governor and UT Administrator SF Rodrigues made a forceful plea for a collective and action-oriented approach for promoting ecological balance and ensuring sustainable and equitable development.

He was inaugurating a two-day “Colloquium - on Environmental Degradation and its Various Facets” at Chandigarh Judicial Academy here today.

Appreciating the initiative of Judicial Academy for organising this two-day colloquium on the subject of environment degradation, he expressed the hope that the deliberations in the two-day seminar would evolve in to a workable action plan at the governmental and other levels.

A book was released on environment authored by PS Jaswal, chairman, department of laws, Panjab University. Chief Justice of Punjab and Haryana High Court, Justice Tirath Singh Thakur called for giving a lead to the world in promoting ecological balance as India had the advantage of the message of the environmental protection in our ethos and cultural heritage.

Elaborating, he said India had been the only country in the world, where our people worship trees, rivers, animals and birds, which make significant contribution for the preservation of our environmental heritage. He exhorted the people to rise to the occasion and contribute towards the noble cause, which would be a great service to our posterity.

Justice JS Khehar, executive chairman of the State Legal Services Authority, UT, Justice AK Goel, executive chairman of the Haryana State Legal Services Authority and Justice Mehtab Singh Gill, executive chairman of the Punjab State Legal Services Authority also spoke on the occasion.

Chandigarh, September 12
Taking up an appeal by Silver City Housing and Infrastructure Limited, the State Consumer Commission has stayed the orders of the District Consumer Forum imposing penalty on it for delay in implementation of a project.

President Justice Pritam Pal and member Major General SP Kapoor admitted the appeal and stayed the operation of the impugned order.

In its appeal against the orders in Gursharan Singh’s case, it was contended that the delay was for factors beyond their control. It was urged that the Punjab and Haryana High Court had earlier stayed construction of projects in and around Zirakpur.

After the stay was vacated by the High Court, Silver City was again permitted by the authorities to resume construction, which was in full swing. It was also submitted that in such events, arbitration was provided in the agreement.

Chandigarh, September 12
The Punjab Heritage and Education Foundation organised a panel discussion on the system management of government school education in Punjab for quality teaching and learning. The panellists included prominent educationist and members of the Punjab Education Department.

Director General of School Education, Krishan Kumar, was to address the panel but he couldn’t make it, so Dr Dhirender, Assistant Director, Sarv Shiksha Abhiyaan, addressed the panel.

The lapses in the system were pinpointed by the panel members. They also shared suggestions to combat them. According to Dr Dhirender, “Two prime problems that came to fore were staff crunch and lack of a proper monitoring system. The education department lacks optimum work force that eventually affects the efficiency. Similarly with no proper way of monitoring work, we at times are unable to evaluate the results and improvise. All the members came up with their suggestions regarding the two problems. We might put many of them into action pretty soon”.

Zirakpur, September 12
A young eminent author of the bestseller “You are here”, Meenakshi Reddy Madhavan, visited Dikshant International School, Zirakpur, here today.

She interacted as well as answered the queries of children about her experiences, while writing her maiden book “You are here”.

She held a workshop on creative writing for students of classes V to IX and taught them the means to exploit and access latent creativity. She taught the skills of editing, structural techniques and random idea generating to the students. During the workshop, she conducted some short exercises to stretch their writing muscles and asked children to carry a notebook everywhere to write down their observations whenever they get stuck up for ideas.

While giving children tips, Meenakshi explained creative writing as a means to express ones thoughts and feelings in an imaginative, often unique and poetic way.

Mohali, September 12
Students of The British School (TBS), Mohali, paid tributes to the victims of 9/11 terrorist attacks.

The students observed a two-minute silence to spread the message of world peace and harmony.

The students were taken to multimedia room and were shown clippings of 9/11, which would be remembered as a Black Day in the world history.

A debate was also organised where the students expressed freely and showed their hatred towards violence.

Director Reena Sethi made the students aware of their duties as responsible citizens favouring non-violence.

Conference

Chandigarh Business School, Landran, organised a national conference on “Innovative marketing strategies: Current trends.”

As many as 63 papers were received from various institutions of the country. During the conference, 31 distinguished research scholars presented their views on the subject.

Senior marketing stalwarts from well-known companies expressed unanimously that the media and Internet were the most effective tools of marketing in the present scenario.

Speaking on the occasion, Satnam Singh Sandhu, chairman, CGC, Landran and Gharuan, felt that in the present era of globalisation, business organisations had to adopt innovative marketing techniques.