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City’s Harsimar tops all-India PMT
Chandigarh, May 30 Daughter of a Punjab government SDO, Harsimar created history by topping in the national-level examination. “I was expecting a position in the top-10 ranking but the first rank has come in as a pleasant surprise. I am thrilled at the achievement. The feeling is yet to sink in but the tears of joy in my parent’s eyes are special to me,” said an elated Harsimar. In a sequel to last year’s fantastic show, city’s three students made it to the top-10 ranking, while five found place in the top-50 ranking. Last year, six students had made it to the top-100 ranking with the best rank for the city being sixth. “We have finally done it. The city’s performance in various medical entrance examinations has been getting better year after year. When we got rank 1 in AIIMS last year, we knew we would conquer PMT and look, we have done it!” said a local PMT training centre head.
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GMSH-16 warning to senior staff members
Chandigarh, May 30 According to sources, the authorities have been receiving complaints that seniors have been compelling their subordinates to do their personal menial jobs like depositing of electricity bills, fee of schoolchildren and various household chores during the working hours. Following this, the authorities at the hospital have issued directions against this practice with a warning of stern action against the defaulters. The Medical Superintendent of the hospital, in an inter-departmental communication, has said that it had been brought to his notice that staff members, including medical students pursuing internship, Diplomate National Board (DNB) students and employees on a regular basis as well as those deployed as service providers, were being asked to do personal work by their seniors. This was against the service conduct and rules, said the circular. Though a majority of complaints have been lodged verbally, at least one staff member has lodged the complaint in writing, following which the authorities were moved to take measures in containing the practice prevailing in the hospital for long, said the sources. The complainants brought to the notice of the authorities that a ward attendant regularly goes to work at the house of a senior in the nursing department. Some junior doctors (DNB) and students pursuing their internship have also aired their grievances, said the sources.
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Drunk driving: 300 challaned in May
Chandigarh, May 30 Ever since the beginning of this month, the Chandigarh Traffic police initiated a special drive with the purchase of additional alchometers to curb the menace of drunken driving. The traffic police ended up issuing a total of 300 challans for drunk driving alone by May 30. This is the highest ever figure of challans for drunk driving since the beginning of this year. The police issued 190 challans for drunk driving from May 1 to 15, while another 110 were issued form May 16 to May 30. On the contrary, the police had issued 321 challans for drunk driving in the first four months of the year. The Traffic police had issued merely 13 challans for drunk driving in January and 58 in February followed by 99 in March. As per accident figures available with the Chandigarh police, drunk driving is the root cause of over 50 per cent of all accidents in the city. For the purpose, the traffic police had laid special barriers across the city during late night hours. “The drive has been very successful and we will continue with it,” said SSP (Traffic) HS Doon.
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Villagers resent land acquisition to benefit bigwigs
Hoshiarpur (Mohali), May 30 The land in question, notified about a month ago under Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act, is in possession of political bigwigs, including a Mohali-based politician close to the ruling Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leaders. “First the government illegally allowed division and subsequent sale of the shamlat land (village common land) and now the same land has been conveniently included in the proposed urban estate. To extend financial benefit to the bigwigs who illegally bought over the share of landowners, our houses outside the lal dora of the village have also been included,” said inhabitants of the village. In a joint representation sent to the UPA government, the affected villagers have categorically pointed out that the urban estate was being carved out 12 km from Chandigarh, whereas ample land was available in Ranimajra, Slamatpur, Palheri, Tongan, and Taprian villages. It has been
mentioned that few years ago, revenue officials allowed the division of the shamlaat land in an illegal manner. Now, GMADA would pay a handsome land compensation to the persons in whose name the land has been transferred. GMADA Land Acquisition Collector Hargunjit Kaur said the issue regarding the division of the land was not under her purview. “We would go through the objections filed by the landowners against Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act,” she said.
Residents protest
Landowners of Ferzepore Banga today protested outside the GMADA office against the acquisition of their land for Medicity project. Recently GMADA had issued notice under the Land Acquisition Act to acquire the land. Around 35 residents of
the area alleged that the area of the Medicity has been increased to 158 acres to benefit certain bigwigs. A former sarpanch of Ferozepur Bangar, Lakhmir Singh, said, “The state government is bent upon throwing us out of our homes.”
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Illegal Colonies Encroachment on despite handing over of flats to inhabitants Aarti Kapur Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, May 30 While the housing board, according to the list of bio-metric survey, has allotted 10,560 one-room tenements out of the 25,727 under the Chandigarh Small Flats Scheme 2006 to rehabilitate slum-dwellers of 18 illegal colonies, the UT administration has failed to vacate the land of any of the illegal colonies so far.
In a recent communiqué, the CHB has asked the UT estate office to get land measuring four acres vacated at Shaheed Bhagat Singh Colony, Mauli Jagran. At least 320 small flats have to be constructed under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNRUM) for slum-dwellers of Rajiv colony. In the communiqué, the CHB has sought the possession of land at Shaheed Bhagat Singh Colony, Mauli Jagran, as all 717 slum-dwellers have been allotted houses under the scheme. Sources in the CHB say as per the scheme, the board has to allot one-room tenements to slum-dwellers on a monthly rent of Rs 1,050. The board is scheduled to get the rent from the day the slum-dwellers shift to these flats. Officials say due to a delay in the shifting of slum-dwellers to these flats, the board has been facing a loss of around Rs 5 lakh per month. In fact, incidents of theft in these rehabilitation colonies have been another cause for concern for the board. The officials add that due to the delay in getting the possession of land of illegal colonies, the board has been forced to hold back proposed projects in the area. Under the rehabilitation scheme, inhabitants of 18 colonies are to be rehabilitated at 25 places. Of these, 13 are with the estate office, 10 with the Chandigarh Housing Board, while two are with the municipal corporation.
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UT to get Rs 10 crore for six new schools
Chandigarh, May 30 The decision taken at a recent high-level meeting attended by Adviser to the UT Administrator KK Sharma, along with Home Secretary Ram Niwas and Finance Secretary VK Singh will put an end to the ongoing problem of skewed classroom-pupil ratio and lacking infrastructure. It will not only provide new schools in the high population density areas like Sectors 50, 53 and 54, Mani Majra, Karsan and Khuda Alisher but will also revamp the infrastructure of various popular schools, which is currently crumpling under the enrollment pressure. “The sites identified for the new schools are those where one or two schools are dealing with thousands of prospective students. While the number of applicants increase manifold every year, the infrastructure fails to keep up thereby affecting the quality of education. The funds will prove to be a boon for our education system, as not only will the students get an easy access to education but it will also ease the pressure on other schools,” said DPI (S) Sandeep Hans. While the number of applicants increases by almost 10 per cent every year, the government school infrastructure has registered only 7 per cent in the last five years. Schools like those in Mani Majra face a worse situation as the number of applications received for admission this year were 10 times more than the available seats. Meanwhile, a fund of about Rs 4 crore has also been allocated to provide school uniforms, bags, books, etc, to all students, including those of model schools.
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UT leaps to third spot on nature index
Chandigarh, May 30 The UT has earned 0.7185 points to make it to the third spot behind Uttarakhand, which is ranked first with 0.8086 points, followed by Himachal Pradesh at
the second spot with 0.7308 points. The rankings to states and Union Territories are given for their efforts towards environment conservation and adherence to environmental standards and natural resource conservation. The city, which is spread over area of 114 sq km, has forest cover on 17.6 sq km. However, during the survey, the commission did not include the Sukhna Wildlife Sanctuary’s area of 25.4 sq km in the UT’s area, as the sanctuary’s area is yet to be included in the Union Territory. The Survey of India also shows the area outside of the UT. “We (the Chandigarh Administration) are trying to include the sanctuary in the city’s map. Once that happens, we will go far ahead of Uttarakhand and assume No. 1 position in the Planning Commission-Environmental Performance Index,” said Santosh Kumar,
Director, UT Environment Department and Chief Conservator of Forest, UT Forest Department. However, he termed the No. 3 ranking an encouraging indicator for the city. “The top ranked states will start getting incentives as the Planning Commission plans to grant funds to the states based on their EPI ranking,” said Santosh Kumar. India is ranked 123 in
the global EPI.
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World No Tobacco Day 1,243 paid penalty for smoking at public place last year Arun Sharma Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, May 30 The city residents are more vigilant about it and that is the reason that one finds only a few people smoking at public places these days here, says Goswami, while talking to The Tribune on the eve of the World No Tobacco Day. Now, you need not to bear the smoke on your face in a restaurant while it was beyond imagination before the ban was declared in 2007, he said. Even a survey conducted by the Global Adult Tobacco Society under the aegis of the World Health Organisation has revealed that there was highest awareness among residents here about the ban on smoking at public places in the city, he added. Though no ban can be made complaint completely, the rate of compliance in the city was also highest, claimed Hemant. A total of 1,243 persons were made to pay penalty of Rs 200 for smoking at public places in the city during the last financial year, while this number was as high as 1,438 three years ago during 2008-09.
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Heritage panel finds exceptional furniture at Panjab University
Chandigarh, May 30 Peculiar staff chairs, drafting tools and tables with reflectors designed by Le Corbusier’s cousin Pierre Jeanneret were identified as exceptional furniture items by a three-member heritage committee of the UT Administration that visited the library today. The committee includes Pradeep Bhagat, principal, Chandigarh College of Architecture, DS Kapoor, principal, Government Arts College, and Surinder Sodhi, UT Administration’s senior architect. The team members helped out PU’s architect department to identify rare items in the library. The members also identified a rare design of study table, with reflectors on the each side of the table, designed by Jeanneret. A peculiar design of staff chairs (with an armrest not linked to the backrest) was also identified. A similar design of chairs is found in Government Arts College. The drafting stool in the library was similar to that found in Chandigarh College of Architecture and Architect Department, Sector 9. “We found that the PU library houses probably the largest collection of heritage furniture, which is being put to use. The university departments will now identity such furniture with them. The aim is to identify all such items of rare and heritage value,” said Bhagat. In a bid to assess the quantity of heritage furniture items, the university authorities have now directed all departments to identify such furniture items and make a report. Certain experts also cite that the value of heritage furniture in library alone amounts between Rs 1.5 crore and 2 crore. University records reveal that the AC Joshi library was designed by Le Corbusier’s cousin Pierre Jeanneret, also an architect, along with university’s chief architect AN Mathur, and librarian of the Calcutta National Library BS Keshavan. Although most university officials, including library staff and architecture department are tight-lipped on the issue of heritage furniture, insiders say that everything inside the university library has been meticulously and carefully planned. Right from the provision of natural light inside the library to the design of tables, chairs meant for students and lighting system on ceiling with an indent to avoid reflection.
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Open road gullies in Sector 41 death traps for two-wheeler riders
Chandigarh, May 30 Despite tall claims of the corporation of maintaining the basic amenities, uncovered or broken storm water gullies and damaged portions of road berms in certain parts of the sector continue to be nightmares for motorists plying on the roads here. Even pedestrians have to be extra careful while using the road berms, as authorities have installed a guide map on the pavement. RWA president SB Bakshi complained that broken or uncovered storm water gullies of the area were being used by cleaning staff to dump garbage, dry leaves or other waste material gathered while sweeping the roads. As a result, the storm water drainage system had been choked. Though the MC Engineering Department undertook a major exercise in April this year in cleaning the road gullies, no attention was paid to construct the broken ones. Residents alleged that these “sunken kerb channels” are “virtual death traps” for two-wheelers in general and cyclists in particular. These “sunken kerb channel-turned-drains” become dangerous during monsoon season.
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Potholed roads connecting underpass a nightmare for motorists
Panchkula, May 30 The most affected areas include the road separating Sectors 12 and 4 and near Maheshpur village where a number of potholes have made things extremely difficult for motorists. Besides causing problems for motorists, these often resulted in freak accidents, as two-wheeler riders lost balance on these stretches. Ramesh Sharma, a resident of Sector 21, said minor accidents were commonplace, as two-wheeler riders often lost their balance on hitting a pothole on the service lane along the flyover towards Maheshpur village. Sangeeta Sharma, a resident of Sector 7, said she visited her daughter’s house in Sector 20 twice a week and it was difficult for her to drive on the damaged road separating Sectors 12 and 4 connecting the underpass of the flyover. In spite of thousands of vehicles plying daily on the road, the authorities concerned had failed to repair it, she rued. Even though some stretches near the road separating Sector 12A, Industrial Area, Phase I, Sectors 12 and 12A had been repaired by the highway authorities, there was a need to recarpet the service lanes on both sides of the flyover as water often got accumulated in potholes. An NHAI official said the work on connecting the roads of various sectors with the service lanes had been completed. He said the work on recarpeting of roads would be launched once they gave the finishing touches to the flyover, which became operational last week. MC executive officer KK Jain said they had taken up the matter with the NHAI authorities, who had assured them of repairing the road.
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Land finalised for MC office
Zirakpur, May 30 During the meeting, MC president NK Sharma and councillors paid tributes to Punjab Chief Minister’s wife Surinder Kaur Badal. Giving information, the president said the council had decided to construct new MC building on the old Kalka road. The construction work of the building will start after tenders are called. He also said the council had planned to include Dyalpura village in the MC limits. The villagers had submitted their resolution to the committee. He said the council had passed the resolution and sent it to the local bodies government for approval. Sharma said the work of sewerage laying in Shatabgarh village was in progress and would be completed soon.
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Think tank solicits advice on plan for Mohali
Chandigarh, May 30 The participants included state Assembly members Sunil Jhakhar, Harnek Singh and Tej Parkash Singh; IAS representatives RR Bharadwaj and RN Gupta; district administration officials Varun Roojam, Rajiv Gupta and Jatinder Mohan; and MGSIPAP adviser Rajan Kashyap, director general BK Srivastava, director Kripa Shankar Saroj and BS Dhillon. Highlighting the objectives of the plan, Srivastava said the innovative strategy focussed on micro-planning of the developmental process and aimed at incorporating the knowledge of elected members and experts familiar with the ground realities of the territory.
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Truck carrying spurious juice impounded
Chandigarh, May 30 A team of UT health department officials issued a challan to the driver, Suresh Singh, for carrying the products without permission. Samples of juice products, which were in the shape of small packets, and ice-creams were also taken by the team of health department. The products were being brought from Ganganagar district of Rajasthan and were scheduled to be supplied to various shops across the city. DSP (communication) Roshan Lal said the truck was intercepted by a PCR team and the occupants failed to produce any permit for carrying the products.
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Zirakpur MC begins survey of mobile towers
Zirakpur, May 30 After the falling of a tower over the flyover on Sunday, a council official has asked the department concerned to collect the information regarding towers installed in Zirakpur. The MC official said the council had given the permission to around 12 companies for installing the towers. He said if any company had installed the towers without permission, action would be taken against the violators. On Sunday, a 30-feet-long tower installed on a commercial building by the road side at Zirakpur fell due to rain and was stuck on the Zirakpur flyover, disrupting traffic for more than two hours. Talking to the MC chief regarding the falling of tower, NK Sharma said, the concerned department had been asked to conduct a survey and submit the report. He said notices would be sent to violators.
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No carrying of firearms to marriage palaces till July 25
Mohali/Zirakpur, May 30 Deputy Commissioner Varun Rujum promulgated the orders under Section 144 of the CrPC today. He has asked owners of the banquet and marriage palaces not to allow anyone to carry any weapon during marriage functions and should inform the police if they find anyone with the weapons. The district administration has banned the parking of vehicles on footpaths outside the marriage palaces, hotels and clubs, failing which legal action will be taken against managements of these establishments. The administration has imposed also Section 144 of the CrPC within the 100-m radius of the PSEB office, PUDA building and Fortis Hospital premises till July 25. The administration has prohibited public in general and any member thereof from forming an assembly of five or more persons, taking out processions, making speeches, raising slogans, within the radius of 100 m of buildings.
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Flute maestro Rajan casts spell
Chandigarh, May 30 It was virtually a double delight for music lovers, as the vibrantly creative maestro treated them with a veritable mix of Hindustani and Carnatic musical traditions in his recital. Globe trotting guru GS Rajan commenced the recital with a composition in raga Hansdhawni. Delineating the divine melody of raga Charukeshi in a reposeful alaap, Jod alaap and a bandish Rajan took the concert to ecstatic moments. He maintained the pace of melodic excellence in the South Indian raga Kapi close to our raga Pilu and a composition of saint Purander Das before concluding the recital with a Vaishanv Jan bhajan. Rajan displayed his adroit mastery over the instrument, breath control and immaculate planting of notes, embracing and the next note and making it a cohesive melody. The elite city audience gave a standing ovation after the concert. Earlier, Kamal Tewari welcomed chief guest Ravinder Singh, who honoured the artistes.
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Tricity Scan Gold crown gifted
Strike
The Indian Council for Child Welfare Employees’ Union will organise a two-day strike on June 22 and 23. Union president Rekha Sharma and general secretary Bihari Lal said instead of implementing genuine demands, the authorities were provoking employees unnecessarily.
Competition
The Divisional Library, Sector 34, is celebrating the World Environment Day on June 4 by holding a poster-making competition on environment. A lecture on “environment and law” by Madhu P Singh, advocate of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, will also be delivered on June 6, according to a press note.
Decision hailed
The Punjabi Cultural Council has hailed the decision of the West Bengal government under the dynamic leadership of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to accord the status of second official language to Punjabi in the state. In a congratulatory letter to the West Bengal government, Jaswant Singh Chaapa and Harjeet Singh Grewal, chairman and president of the council, respectively, said the Punjabi community was overjoyed by the decision.
Nominated
Ramesh Chander and Surinder Pal Chauhan have been nominated as the president and secretary, respectively, of the Jan Ekta Party.
Selected
Magazine released
Hangman services
He has also applied for hanging Ajmal Kasab, a terrorist associated with the Mumbai attacks.
No Tobacco Day
Global Cancer Concern India is to organise the World No Tobacco Day tomorrow at Fun Republic, Mani Majra, involving visitors in writing anti-tobacco slogans, messages, experiences and even their demands from the government on this issue. They can write their messages on the backdrop made for the occasion in the front lobby of the mall. The most original and creative slogans will be chosen for special prizes. — TNS mohali scan panchkula scan
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PU Notes
RP Sharma of the chemistry department, Panjab University, has been invited as a visiting professor from June 1 to 30 to Jilin University, Changchun, China, for the third time. He would deliver lectures in a number of other universities. — TNS
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Records of the CHB suggest that 717 flats have been allotted to inhabitants of Shaheed Bhagat Singh Colony, Mauli Jagran, 414 of Ram Darbar and 660 of Sector 49. In fact, the construction of 1,696 flats is currently under way in Mauli Jagran (2).
The Shirdi Sai Samaj has offered a gold crown for the idol of Sai Baba. The crown is made of 1,136 grams of gold and 477 grams of precious stones. The crown was designed in Australia and made in Mumbai.
Dr Vishal Kumar, senior resident in the department of orthopaedics, under Prof MS Dhillon at the PGI, Chandigarh, has been selected amongst the best three candidates on an international basis for SICOT, an international orthopaedics organisation, award. The other two candidates selected for the award belongs to Nigeria and Egypt. He will be awarded a Diploma of Recognition at the closing ceremony of SICOT Conference at Prague, Czechoslovakia, in September.
A quarterly college news magazine “Aryans Times” of the Aryan Group of Colleges was released by Nupur Mitra, executive director of Indian Overseas Bank. Dr Anshu Kataria, group president, said the magazine would be a platform for students and staff to express their point of view, besides reporting on daily happenings on the campus.
Rajeev Tandon, a Ludhiana-based office-bearer of the Punjab state unit of Shiv Sena, submitted a memorandum at the Punjab Governor residence on Monday, offering his services as a hangman for Devinder Pal Singh Bhullar, who had attacked Maninderjit Singh Bitta, chairman of the All-India Anti-Terrorist Front (AIATF).
Kalgidhar Sewak Jatha organised “chabeel” in Phase 3B2 here. Event organiser JP Singh said to ensure that those partaking chabeel did not fell ill, they were using distilled water and took every measure to ensure that hygiene was maintained. Meanwhile, Prince, Harmanpreet, a former senior vice-president of the Mohali Municipal Council, also organised a langar and distributed chabeel. —TNS
All-India Rahul Youth Brigade national president Aakash Goel has appointed Vikram Rajinder Singh as the president of the brigade in the state here on Monday. Elated over his appointment, Rajinder Singh, son of Congress municipal councillor Sangeeta Goel, said he would launch an awareness campaign among the
youth against drug addiction and female foeticide by holding seminars in the rural areas. — TNS