Chandigarh, June 12
With the emergence of the city as the education hub and nearly one lakh students from all over the region coming to study here, the demand for private hostels in gaining grounds to keep a check on the mushrooming of unauthorised paying guest (PG) accommodations.

In fact, this was the one of the issues highlighted in a memorandum submitted to the Punjab Governor and UT Administrator by PC Sanghi, chairman, Federation of Sector Welfare Associations (FOSWAC) when the Administrator’s Advisory Council met.

The issue gains importance with a large number of students enrolling themselves in the private coaching institutes, computer-training centres and specialised courses. Most of these students are particularly from adjoining states like Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh.

“The city has become an educational hub due to the availability of the best education facilities, strong social infrastructure and safe environment. The administration should take urgent steps to construct more hostels to keep a check on illegal paying guest accommodations mushrooming in the city,” Sanghi added.

It is argued that the private hostels, besides catering to the needs of the students’ community, will also prove beneficial for single working executives. In the backdrop of the city emerging as the IT and retail destination with the coming of the multinational companies and big corporate houses, the demand for affordable accommodations is on the rise.

“The paying guest accommodation is a costly affair. A hostel accommodation can give the same comfort levels at much cheaper rates,” says Shweta Singh, a student with a private institute in Sector 34. Presently, there is only one private hostel in Sector 15 besides a couple of working women hostels in the city.

Former Municipal Corporation’s Mayor Pardeep Chhabra said the private hostels would serve two purposes -check the menace of the paying guest accommodations and provide facilities to the students and unmarried employees.

In the absence of the private hostels, a good number of employees are currently forced to live in the paying guest accommodations and hostels of Panjab University-the stay in the latter being illegal.

Harpal Singh, a young entrepreneur, says the students’ community was one of the largest contributors to the city’s economy. Since students and their parents spend a substantial amount of their money on shopping, the Chandigarh Administration should spare a thought for them and workout a strategy for allowing private hostel accommodations to come up in the city.

A senior official said the idea of private hostels seemed to be feasible. “The administration will consider it in a positive spirit as and when it was brought before it,” he added.

Chandigarh, June 12
In a major goof-up, the Chandigarh Administration has initiated eviction proceedings against Strawberry Fields School, Sector 24, wrongly in the name of the action against the International Nehru Centre that is in the same sector.

Following the news in a section of the press, the preliminary enquiries have revealed that the Estate Office had confused the records of the two institutes because one was the International Nehru Centre and the other sounding similar was the Nehru Bhawan. The Nehru Bhawan is actually registered in the name of the Bharat Sewak Samaj.

Talking to The Tribune, Deputy Commissioner, Barjinder Singh, said: “There seems to be some confusion on account of the two institutes having similar names. I have called for all official records and will be able to make a statement by Monday afternoon. Any definite observation can be made only after confirming the draft outlay of the area”

The Deputy Commissioner also visited the site today to confirm the site allocation for two institutes under question. The two institutes are located near each other. However, both are distinctive, even on the ground demarcation.

The land under question is actually only about an acre and was registered as freehold in 1967. The report is instead makes mention of 2.2 acres, which is on the leasehold and is in the name of the International Nehru Centre.

News report in a section of press stated today that the Estate office had initiated eviction proceedings against Strawberry Fields School, Sector 24. Sources pointed out that the Nehru International Centre was allocated to Dr Amrit Tewari for

constructing a centre in memory of her husband, Dr VN Tewari. Failing to transform the action plan on ground, she surrendered the property to the administration.

On the piece of land under contention, the administration is already coming up with new houses. Atul Khanna, the director of the school, said: “Let the administration look into the issue and decide. I only want the administration to look into the credentials of the person who sought information under the RTI, in this particular case.”

Chandigarh, June 12
There is no mention of the mental age of the mentally challenged rape victim in the Nari Niketan rape case. This was stated by the counsel for one of the advocate’s of the accused AS Chahal.

The issue that the mentally challenged rape victim was not able to corroborate her statements that cropped up during the cross-examination raised a question whether it was important to bring evidence on record to establish her mental age.

Though she is 20-year-old, which she accepted in the cross-examination, it is difficult to establish whether she is fit for it or not. She takes a little extra time.

Elaborating on it he said, “Her physical age is mentioned as 20 but her exact mental age is not mentioned.”

Commenting on the mental age and need of a psychologist, a lawyer of one of the witnesses advocate Madhu P Singh said: “The girl is mentally challenged and her mental age is lesser than her physical age and it was evident from her conduct during the cross-examination. Thus instead of the attendant there should have been a psychologist in the court.”

“After observing the cross-examination proceedings, I felt that the response time

was very less with the victim as she was not able to quickly comprehend the questions put by the defence. She was also responding in accordance with the mode of question that is if put in affirmative the reply was affirmative and if put in negative the response was also in the same tone,” the advocate added.

Explaining the legal procedure she said, “When the matter of termination of pregnancy came before the High Court the medical board of the PGI was constituted which gave the findings about her mental age. But no such evidence has been brought on record in the challan.”

Chandigarh, June 12
After heavy rain early this week that provided a much-needed relief from the heatwave conditions, the city residents have once again started reeling under sultry conditions. The humidity levels which oscillated between 47-19 per cent after the recent heavy rains, rose sharply to 63-28 per cent, said a Met official. Mercury was on the rise ending a brief spell of pleasant weather following rains, he added.

The maximum temperature, which dipped to 22.5 degrees Celsius after the downpour, again rose to almost same level of 38.2 degrees Celsius recorded on June 7, while the minimum temperature too settled three degrees below normal at 25 degrees Celsius. However, high humidity levels troubled residents.

Homemaker Divya Taneja of Sector 28 said: “Even though the humidity has increased after rain, I am still enjoying as it is a welcome break from the unbearable heat. The nice cool breeze in the evenings has given an added incentive to get out of the house for long walks.”

The forecast for the next two days is a generally cloudy sky with rain or thundershowers in some areas of Punjab and Haryana. The maximum and minimum temperatures are likely to be around 39 degrees and 26 degrees, respectively, the Met office said.

Chandigarh, June 12
The Chandigarh airport will soon have a look that will meet international parameters as the ongoing construction activity for its upgradation is likely to be finished by December-end.

Confirming this, Suneel Dutt, director, Chandigarh airport, said that expansion work was in full swing and it would be completed by the year-end. "We are helpless as still some parts of the new terminal building is under construction and that will take five to six months for completion. But the process of shifting to the new building will start in October and the terminal will be fully functional by December,” he assured.

He maintained that the air traffic from and to Chandigarh airport had multiplied by around 400 per cent since 2006. Eleven flights operate daily from the airport.

He added that the rush was going to multiply further once the international flights start operating from here. There was a great demand for flights to European and North American countries as people had to go to Delhi or Amritsar for the same.

Given the number of people who travelled abroad from the region, there would be a continuous demand on the airport and it was gearing up for the same, he pointed out.

"However, our new ultra-modern building equipped with all the facilities of international standards is under construction and work is going on at good pace. Hopefully, it will be ready for use by December and we can attract more international flights to Chandigarh," Dutt said.

The new airport building would accommodate 400 passengers at a time, which is more than four times its present capacity. It would also be fully air-conditioned, equipped with escalators and will have special facilities for the physically challenged persons. Other new steps include more advanced fire security apparatus and five-fold increase in the parking space, he added.

The airport director said the instrument landing system (ILS) of CAT-I would be installed by October after receiving formal clearance from Air Force authorities.

“The proposal to allow the Airports Authority of India (AAI) to install the ILS here on our land has been accepted, but it would take time to sign the MoU as the modalities have to be worked out. After we get legal advice from experts, we will forward it to the defence experts who would give the final nod,” said a senior IAF official in Chandigarh.

Last winter, air passengers had to face a lot of problem as a number of flights were delayed or cancelled due to fog. The present equipment at the airport is lying defunct for the last one year, causing a lot of harassment to people.

If all goes well, air passengers will have no problem during winters as the airport will be equipped with its own ILS and the flights will then have no trouble landing and taking off in a bad weather. The other expansion included creating of cargo hubs and night parking, for which a patch of 2.5 acre was awaited from the Air Force authorities.

Chandigarh, June 12
Eminent litterateurs, scholars, scribes of the city participated in the release ceremony of the Punjabi edition of author Manoj Singh’s three editions old Hindi novel “Bandhan” at the Chandigarh Press Club here today.

Chief guest Dr Jaspal Singh, Vice-Chancellor, Punjabi University, while releasing the book lauded the literary passion of the novelist, who is otherwise BTech, MBA and UPSC-1986 batch ITS officer, presently working as DDG (vigilance and telecom), Punjab.

A prolific author of four books of socio-cultural relevance, Manoj has shared the pain and anguish of schizophrenia patients with mental disorder and their families.

Eminent critic Dr Satinder Singh Noor, vice-chairman, National Sahitya Akademy, Delhi, delved into his analytical and critical appreciation.

Noor observed that the novel, richer in content and wider in range, had immaculately explored the psyche of patients, circumstances for mood and thought disorder in patients through a crispy narrative despite being suggestive respecting role of society.

City litterateur Dr Chander Trikha opined that it was a rare feat to define the clinical psychological behaviour of human beings through fiction.

Dr Raghubir Singh Sirjana, Dr Sarbajit Singh and others participated in the deliberations, while Dainik Tribune Editor Naresh Kaushal and former editor Radhaehyam Sharma, Dr Mukta, director, Haryana Sahit Akademy, too attended the function.

Dr Deepak Manmohan Singh conducted the programme.

Mohali, June 12
As many as 89 staff nurses appointed recently were given appointment letters by Punjab health minister Laxmi Kanta Chawla at a function held on the premises of Punjab Health Systems Corporation.

The department of health and family welfare had recently recruited 379 staff nurses on a contract basis, out of which 89 staff nurses belonging to nearby districts of Mohali, Ropar, Nawanshahr, Fatehgarh Sahib, Patiala, Ludhiana and Chandigarh were given the appointment letters by the minister.

While addressing the staff nurses, the minister asked them to perform their duty honestly. Reiterating the health department’s commitment for providing better health services to the people at their doorsteps, Chawla said the recruitment of the staff was being done to fill the gap and to further improve the functioning of the health institutions in the state, which would further encourage people to avail the government-provided healthcare services.

Principal secretary Satish Chandra, health and family welfare, Punjab, said different categories of vacant posts were being filled by the department. During last two years, hundreds of recruitments were made against different posts of medical and para-medical staff by the health department. He said another 104 posts of staff nurses under the National Rural Health Mission and 24 posts under trauma centres would also be filled shortly.

Mohali, June 12
Twentyone-year-old woman, Sarita, who was found hanging under mysterious circumstances at the Punjab water supply and sewerage complex’s quarter in the Industrial Area, Phase I, here on June 8 died of hanging.

The autopsy of the victim conducted by a board of doctors has confirmed the death due to hanging.

To rule out any possibility of foul play behind the death, the police has sent a suicide note written by the victim for forensic examination.

The victim, along with her husband Rajesh had a few days ago moved to her in-laws house, who live in the residential quarters at the water supply and sewerage complex.

Earlier, based on the statement of the victim’s brother, Basant, the police had registered a case of murder against the victim’s in-laws.

Chandigarh, June 12
The Ambala division of Northern Railway is eyeing a 20 per cent jump in its total income to Rs 1,800 crore this fiscal by transporting food grain, following bumper output of wheat and expected good yield of rice from Punjab.

“We anticipate a 20 per cent jump in our total income in the current fiscal, which will mainly be coming from freight collection, for transporting food grain, including wheat and rice, from Punjab to other states,” GM Singh, senior divisional commercial manager, Northern Railway, Ambala division, said here on Thursday.

Ambala division’s 90 per cent of the income generated from freight segment came from transportation of food grain from Punjab to other states.

“We had a bumper output of wheat this year and if the rice yield in Punjab also goes well, it will lead to higher collection of freight as the Food Corporation of India (FCI) will send out more food grain to other states through our network,” he said.

This year, Punjab had already transported around 150 lakh tonne wheat to other states and it was also expecting to transport over 155 lakh tonne paddy output in the coming season.

The Ambala division covers 64.5 per cent rail network of Punjab, 18.5 per cent of Haryana, 11 per cent of Himachal Pradesh, three per cent each of UP and Rajasthan.

Northern Railway (Ambala) earned a total income of Rs 1,517 crore, comprising income from passenger and freight segments, in 2009-10 with an average growth of 24 per cent.

Out of the total income, Rs 367 crore was earned from passenger segment with a growth of 11 per cent.

“We saw a substantial growth of 29 per cent in freight collection last fiscal because of high output of wheat and paddy in Punjab,” he said.

However, railway authorities are looking at 10 per cent growth in income from passenger fares in the current fiscal. The Ambala division has passenger traffic of 1.8 lakh persons per day.

Northern Railway is also in the process of converting the Chandigarh railway station into a world-class facility.

“We will submit our report to the general manager, Northern Railway, soon and thereafter a consultant will be hired to guide us about converting it into a world-class station,” said divisional railway manager (DRM) YP Singh.

He said the centre had already decided to have world-class railway stations in Delhi and Ambala.

Chandigarh, June 12
To make regular college courses more job oriented, the UT higher education department has decided to make soft skill management an integral part of the curriculum from this academic year.

In first-of-its-kind initiative, the department has decided to include activities like computer application training, communication skill development, data compilation, etc. as the mandatory part of all courses.

“The basic concept behind the idea is to ensure that students who opt for regular courses like regular bachelor in arts are ready to enter the job market right after it. If you see the current trend, many such students after their courses go in for computer courses or diplomas. The plan will be to provide them with all this value addition as part of their course only. So, a student doing BA in Sanskrit will have an added brownie in the form of a translation course, computer applications, etc.” said director, higher education, Ajoy Sharma.

A committee of experts, who have analysed the job requisites, has zeroed in on these special subjects, which will be made available as a mandatory choice to students.

“This is part of what we call revamping the subjects. Just reviewing and changing the syllabus is not enough in today’s world. Education needs to be more vocational in its approach. This will start as a pilot initiative and based on feedback will be expanded further,” added Ajoy.

The courses will commence from September and will be provided without any additional fee. The colleges are currently mulling over getting apt trainers or faculty for the same.

Chandigarh, June 12
To assist students on deciding a preference list for online counselling for class XI admissions in government schools, the UT education department will provide them with the last year’s cut-offs of each school.

The data, which will be uploaded on the department website, will give an idea of the requisite merit required in admission to a particular school.

After calculating the percentage with reference to their scored CGPA, students will know where they can get admission.

According to officials, students can analyse their indicative percentage vis-à-vis these cut-offs and prepare a realistic preference list.

“If the indicative percentage of a student is 80 then he should not apply to any school where the last year’s cut-off was above 90 per cent because it will go up this time. The last year’s cut-offs will give an idea to students about the requisite merit for admission to a particular school. It will help him make realistic choice and thereby make admissions more easy,” said district education officer Chanchal Singh.

The department has decided to go in for online counselling to make the admission process more convenient for students.

Over 10,000 applicants are expected to submit a list of 15 schools on priority basis and will be awarded admission to one of these after evaluating their CGPA merit acquired in the class X examination.

According to the DEO, as all students are not net savvy, they are bound to face some problems.

“To help them with filling out their choices, the department has made a team of counsellors to guide them,” he added.

According to sources, transparency in the entire process will be ensured by a six-member grievance committee headed by the DEO, which will deal with any complaint of dubious or arbitrary admission.

Chandigarh, June 12
An emerging trend of students dropping out of Panjab University’s five-year integrated Honours programme (integrated BSc and MSc degree), offered by most science departments, calls for serious introspection by the university.

Whereas in certain departments, the number of students has gone down from 40 in BSc-I to only six in MSc II, in others, around five students drop the course after completing their graduation every year.

Stringent internal assessment system in the departments and the failure of several science stream students to attain 55 per cent, which is the minimum criteria to appear in UGC NET, have been cited as the reasons for the trend by students.

Certain students find courses like MBA more luring from the job perspective, others drop out after completing their BSc from PU in a bid to seek admission in more prestigious institutes.

“Lack of motivation to pursue research or teaching as a career is also one major factor,” quipped a student of MSc II (mathematics) on the condition of anonymity.

“We had joined the integrated course with a lot of enthusiasm but by the end of the five-year course, only six students are left in our batch. The teachers have all the power to make or ruin our career. On several occasions, there has been an uneven distribution of syllabus in the question paper and we cannot complain to anybody,” added another MSc student.

“Most students in our department could not even attain 55 per cent marks needed to qualify for the UGC-NET. Only three students in the class have qualified for the NET. Hence, there is no scope left for any research,” said another MSc student.

Teachers in these departments cited several reasons for this trend. “One major reason is that MBA graduates get better salaries than others, so students get lured. Some students also drop out each year due to peer and parents’ pressure,” said KD Sharma, chairperson, department of anthropology.

In the geology department, for instance, out of 30 students enrolled initially, five have already dropped out.

“A major concern among students today is job security and they are conscious about it at an early age. Earlier, getting best qualification was the aim, now it is earning money. Students also compete for examinations in the IITs,” said GS Gill, chairperson, department of geology.

Kharar, June 12
Around 5,200 students attended a joint placement drive by the IBM Technologies at Rayat-Bahra Institute of Bio-technology here today.

Gurvinder Singh Bahra, group chairman, said students of 2009-10 batches of BE, BTech (CSE, IT, ECE, EE, EIE), MCA and MTech from all over the region participated in the drive.

Students with minimum 70 percent and above on aggregate in degree with no backlogs appeared for the placement drive.

They underwent written test, interview, HR interview and technical interview.

“IBM Technologies are here to recruit system managers, offering a package of Rs 2.4 lakh,” Bahra said.

Other information technology companies would be part of the school, he added.

IBM’s software product portfolio includes software for information management, application integration, collaboration, software development tools, content management, embedded programming, data warehousing and much more, he added.