Chandigarh, November 2 
The Diwali rush was not restricted to the tricity roads only. With a huge load in the traffic on mobile networks, subscribers in the tricity complained of network failure and a high rate of call drops, especially towards the evening. 

A number of customers complained that they were unable to receive signal on their mobile handsets due to the high volume of traffic on network. People rued that call drops, too, were very high. “I had to make at least three calls on one number to send across a one-line message to my wife,” said Vikrant Kumar, a resident of Sector 44. Subscribers also claimed that even the SMSes were affected because of the traffic congestion. “ I sent an SMS to my friend in the afternoon, but it was delivered after two hours,” rued Rajneesh Kumar, a resident of Panchkula.

Sources said the call drop problem was a result of the refusal of the administration to allow cell phone companies to install new towers. As the number of mobile connections were increasing and the infrastructure remaining the same, congestion on the network was leading to these problems, they added.

Randhir Verma, president, Chandigarh Telecom Subscribers Association, said the number of connections by most cell phone companies were at least five to seven times more than the actual connections to be installed as per the existing infrastructure. “As a result, the system collapses,” he said.

Chandigarh/ Mohali, November 2
Eager to shop ahead of Dhanteras and Diwali, shoppers literally brought the tricity to a halt. Cops found themselves helpless in controlling the vehicular traffic, as chaos ruled supreme on tricity roads with commuters stranded for hours.

In Chandigarh, commuters were stuck till late in the evening along the entire stretch of Madhya Marg, Dakshin Marg, the road dividing Sectors 17 and 22 (opposite ISBT), and the road dividing Sectors 34 and 35 in particular.

The Tribune Correspondent spoke to a cross section of commuters, who vented out their frustration. Devesh Chowbey, a senior manager in a multi-national company, said it took him an hour to travel from Panchkula to his office in Sector 9.

“I did not see a single cop on duty while I was driving. This is absolute callousness on part of the authorities and some action should be taken”, he said. Chowbey was not alone who braved the serpentine mortor queues on the roads catering to the festive crowd. The residents across the city were fuming over the inadequate traffic management.

Anuradha Verma, a HR head with a private company, said, “It took me 25 minutes to travel on the less than one-kilometer road track opposite the bus stand. Sohni Sandhu, a housewife, said, “It took me more than an hour to drive back home to Mohali from Sector 22 in the evening.”

BS Negi, Deputy SP (traffic) said, “The roundabouts are manned by four policemen, all over the city. Our full force is at the job.”

Negi added, “Things are bad on roads only because of the festival season. We often allow traffic on different roads turn by turn, which leads to a big waiting at certain points. And if people are talking about missing cops on traffic points then probably they are not able to see them due to the heavy vehicular rush.”

Meanwhile, In Mohali vehicles were seen parked haphazardly in the parking lots and on the roads. It was difficult for cops to control the vehicular traffic that moved through the busy shopping streets, extending from Phase 5 to Phase 7.

By afternoon the number of vehicles had swelled manifold. Those travelling to distribute Diwali gifts added to the chaos and a rally by the employees of the Electricity Department added to the confusion as one side of the road leading to the YPS chowk was closed to traffic. The employees kept on sitting on the road till the Punjab Government officials did not accept their memorandum.

In the markets of phases 5, 3B2 and 7, there was total chaos as Diwali stalls had been allowed to operate within the parking areas. The stalls selling eatables, gifts, sweets and earthenware have come up in all the markets.

SSP Mohali GPS Bhullar said in wake of the festival season, elaborate police arrangements had been made to ensure incident-free Diwali. All the Station House Officer (SHOs) had been asked to intensify patrolling in their areas. A battalion of PAP had been requisitioned to help the local force in carrying out the patrolling.

Chandigarh, November 2
Teachers of some private schools have a new job this Diwali: Distributing gifts to a selected list of ‘VIPs’, including UT administration officials and even journalists.Various private schools in the city have directed their teachers to distribute Diwali gifts to ‘VIPs’ personally. Requesting anonymity, some teachers said they had been asked by their respective school managements to visit each person after school hours and deliver the gifts.

The school managements have also asked the teachers to ensure that every ‘VIP’ accepts the gift. “It’s very hectic for me as I have been asked to get the residential addresses of 15 persons, including journalists and officials, to deliver the gifts. I return from school at 3 pm and have to do this forced job till 8.30 pm.

Chandigarh, November 2
At least 39 PhD candidates at Panjab University have been waiting between four months and as long as a year to get their viva voce done and submitted thesis assessed which is far more than the self-imposed 120 day (four month) deadline set by the university for evaluating all thesis submissions.

As a result, many of these PhD candidates are finding their career paths delayed if not blocked. A viva voce is considered mandatory for assessing a thesis before a candidate can be conferred a doctorate.

Such delays have now put Panjab University in a stiffer, self-disciplinary mode and an explanation is now being called for the delay from respective departments.

Well-placed university sources said the viva voce of three candidates has been pending for over a year, 12 between six months and a year and 24 thesis between four and six months. In addition to these 39 candidates, there are 40 more PhD students who are on the borderline of the stipulated 120-day period, while another 55 candidates have been waiting for over two months (60 days) already.

The reasons are being attributed to the snail’s pace administrative procedures, ignorance among students about the deadlines and hitches at the departmental level.

Ropar, November 2
Midday meal scheme district manager Hazara Singh was suspended today, following raids on 102 government schools of the district.Director general of schools, Krishan Kumar and 16 teams conducted surprise check on 56 upper primary schools and 46 primary schools of the district.

Krishan Kumar said the quality of education imparted in the government schools had been found to be poor. Also 10 teachers were found absent from their duty, while 12 had reported late on duty.

The latecomers were given show-cause notices. Krishan Kumar said Hazara Singh had been placed under suspension for dereliction of duty.

Sources said Hazara Singh had convened a meeting of teachers from different blocks on the issue of midday meal. Hazara Singh does not have any authority to call any such meeting and hence has been suspended. Krishan Kumar has also suspended a clerk of government school at Kahnpur Khui village for remaining absent repeatedly. — TNS

Chandigarh, November 2
Continuing its crackdown on sweetmeat makers, a team of the UT administration destroyed over 500 kilograms of bakery items, including patties, pastries, cakes and breads from three different bakeries in Hallo Majra today.

According to officials, the bakery items were being prepared in unhygienic conditions with rats and flies all around. The officials said the workers were also not wearing gloves or head caps. The officials challaned three bakeries under the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act, destroyed the food articles under the Epidemic and Diseases Control Act and challaned two bakeries under the Child Labour Act.

The team went to Kajheri village and raided the house of Amarjit Singh, the proprietor of Krishna Sweets, Sector 9, Panchkula. The team destroyed around 3,000 kilograms of sweets.

Fatehgarh Sahib, November 2
A seminar on rural education in rural areas was organised at the Continental Group of Institutes wherein renowned educationists participated.They impressed upon the need of education in rural areas, enabling people in the rural areas to script their own success stories.

Punjab Agricultural University Vice-Chancellor, Dr MS Kang; Thapar University director, Dr Abhijeet Mukherjee; CRRID director general, Dr SS Gill; Panjab University former VC, Dr KN Pathak and Punjab Infotech chairman HS Grewal laid emphasis on ensuring the quality education for rural youth.

Dr Pathak brought out statistics indicating dismal picture of the rural education, particularly education of girls.

Chandigarh, November 2
As anticipated due to a divided incumbent student council, the first major event of Panjab University Campus Student Council (PUCSC), “Aaghaz 2010”, which is an annual cultural programme, was caught in a conflict today even before it started.

Members of the Student Organisation of Panjab University (SOPU) today accused student council president Gurwinder Vir Aulakh, who hails from the rival organisation, Panjab University Student Union (PUSU), of fraudulently spending student council funds for Aaghaz without inviting tenders.

Protesting on this issue, SOPU members forcibly entered the Vice-Chancellor’s office when a press conference was in progress at 1 pm. They demanded cancellation of the event, responding to which the Vice-Chancellor said no money would be spent from the university’s pool for the event.

“We approached the DSW office and highlighted the matter of gross mismanagement of funds and about not inviting quotations for Aaghaz. The PUCSC president has used the funds and he awarded the contract of sound, light and tents to certain people known to him and therefore kept his share. It is a rule that for any expense exceeding Rs 10,000 from the university’s funds should be incurred only if quotations are taken before hand and the lowest bidder be given the contract,” said SOPU president Amit Bhatia.

“We then went to the VC office and met the DSW, who was present there and asked him to inquire into the matter,” he added.

A meeting of the council president and other student leaders was subsequently called at the VC office. Responding to the allegations of SOPU, PUCSC president Gurwinder Aulakh denied all charges and said the entire event was sponsored. “There was no need of quotations since the entire function is sponsored. The rule for quotations was only valid in case of the university funds being utilised.”

SOPU members, however, said the explanation of sponsors was concocted since there were no names on the publicity material. The university authorities later issued a press release, saying that money for Aaghaz was arranged through sponsorship and it was not spent from the students’ funds.

Chandigarh, November 2
It sounds strange, but it is true that the special committee constituted by the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation to review the draft of recruitment and promotion policy of the employees does not have any representation from the employees of the Corporation.

As per the proposed committee, MC Mayor Anu Chatrath and five councillors are its members and Additional Commissioner II Lalit Siwach will be its convener. They will discuss and finalise the draft prepared by the authorities on recruitment and promotion policy.

It may be mentioned that in September, the CMC house meeting had decided that a seven -member committee of councillors, officials and representatives of employees would be constituted for making suggestions in finalising the service rules of the employees.

On that occasion, a majority of councillors had objected to as to why the authorities had not consulted the employees while preparing the policy because there were some flaws, which needed to be discussed among the employees before finalising the recruitment and promotion policy.

Siwach said that they had sent the names of the members to the Mayor for her final approval.

It was now up to the Mayor to finalise the list and confirm the names of the committee members.

Reacting to the constitution of the special committee, nominated councillor Amrit Bolaria questioned as to why the committee had not been constituted on those lines that were decided in the house?

Nominated councillor AP Sanwaria said that the authorities had made mockery of the CMC house because the decision taken there had not been implemented. It would be better to discuss the policy in the House, as there was no representation of employees in the special committee. 

Panchkula, November 2
A 65-year-old man, who had come from Kurukshetra to get his pension in the city committed suicide at his flat in Sector 20 here this morning.The deceased has been identified as Hardev Singh, a retired superintending engineer. The body was handed over to the family members after conducting a post-mortem here today.

The incident came to light when the maid servant knocked at the door of the house and after getting no response she pushed the door which opened quickly as it was not bolted from inside. She found Hardev hanging from a ceiling fan and informed the security guard who further informed the police.

The police reached the spot and sent the body to the Sector 6 General Hospital for post-mortem.

SHO Dharamveer says that it is a confirm case of suicide. He said the case had been registered and investigations were on.

According to neighbours, Hardev used to visit the city in the first week of every month to get pension. They said Hardev was disturbed after the death of his wife last year. 

Chandigarh, November 2
The District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, Chandigarh, has directed Parsvnath Developers Limited and Chandigarh Housing Board to pay ` 28,17,750 jointly for not providing flats to two complainants under the “Prideasia” project in Chandigarh even after 36 months.

Complainant Umed Singh Lamba, a resident of Hisar, said in one such complaint that on September 14, 2007, he had deposited Rs 12,85,000 and was allotted a residential unit in the Parsvnath Prideasia at Rajiv Gandhi Chandigarh Technology Park.

He stated that as per agreement signed on October 6, 2006, the construction of flats was to be completed by respondents within 36 months from October 2006, but respondents failed to make any development at the site. So, dissatisfied with the conduct of the respondents, complainant sought cancellation of allotment and refund of the amount of 
` 12, 85,000. The complainant alleged that despite his repeated requests, the respondents did not refund the amount.

The Chandigarh Housing Board in its reply stated that as per clause 9(a) of the flat buyer agreement, Parsvanath developers were required to complete the construction within 36 months of signing of the agreement and it was the developer who was responsible for non-completion of the construction within the stipulated period and there was no deficiency on part of the CHB.

On the other hand, Parsvnath Developers Limited in their reply stated that the unencumbered land was not made available by the CHB, so they could not start construction and as such the Chandigarh Housing Board was a necessary party. They also submitted that the amounts deposited by the complainant was not with the developers, rather it was deposited in the joint account with the CHB.

The forum directed the respondents to jointly and severally refund `12,85,000 to the complainant, along with ` 50,000, as compensation.

The forum further directed the respondents to pay 5,000 as cost of litigation to the complainant.

Similarly, in other complaint as well, the forum directed respondents to refund ` 14,22,750 to Amit Chopra, resident of Sector 18, Chandigarh. In this case as well, the forum directed to pay ` 50,000 as compensation and ` 5,000 as cost of litigation.

Mohali, November 2
This Diwali firemen will have to work overtime to ensure a safe festival for town residents. Plagued by an acute staff shortage the fire department has not only cancelled all leave but has asked them to work double shifts.

The fire brigade has only one leading fireman against a requirement of at least a dozen and only four fire engine drivers against the same number needed. Despite a sanctioned strength of 46 firemen, the department has only two who are working on a regular basis. Nine firemen have been employed on contract.

The fire brigade at present has five fire engines, one mini fire engine, one water bouser and two fire jeeps. Assistant divisional fire officer Shyam Lal said repeated requests to the authorities concerned for recruiting at least 20 firemen and four drivers to ensure optimum functioning of the fire brigade had failed to yield any results.

“The subdivisional magistrate had earmarked 12 sites for sale of firecrackers and the fire brigade was sent a copy of the list. However, the brigade won’t be able to station its vehicles at various locations on Diwali because of the staff crunch. In case of emergency officials will have to drive the vehicles as only two drivers would be available at one time”, Lal added.

The municipal council has set up two five-member teams to check whether firecrackers were being sold at the designated sites only as also to keep a tab on encroachments.

Mohali, November 2
The Punjab School Education Board (PSEB) authorities are proposing a change in the pass formulae for classes X and XII, exams for which are conducted under the semester system.

Against the existing system, wherein students failing in two subjects were allowed in sit in reappear exams, the board has now proposed that students failing in five subjects would be allowed to sit in reappear exams. However, the special waiver has come with a clause that only one reappear chance would be given to students.

Board officials believe that it would encourage the students to clear their exams in the special chance. The issue has to be taken to the academic council of the board before any formal decision was taken. — TNS