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officials’ attitude Patil’s advice to Congress councillors Aarti Kapur Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, July 22 This piece of advice came from the Administrator when the Congress delegation called upon him to complain about the alleged indifference and lackadaisical attitude of MC officials in looking into public issues raised by them. The “vocal” elected representatives, who chose to air their grievance in the presence of MC Commissioner Prerna Puri and MC Chief Engineer SS Bidda, were told by the Administrator to sit at home if they could not handle the bunch of officers in the MC. Incidentally, this “advice” from the top brass came five months before the tenure of the councillors was scheduled to end. Confirming the development, well-placed sources in the administration said the Administrator got upset when the councillors raised the issue of how the administration was allegedly dragging its feet on approving fresh recruitment in the MC and on increasing the age eligibility for recruitment from 25 years to 35 years, as was the case in Punjab and Haryana. Advising the councillors to focus on issues under the jurisdiction of the MC, he said both issues raised by them fell under the purview of the Centre and not the UT administration. This did not prevent Patil from admonishing officials on why no action had been taken in the past five years to fill vacant posts in the MC. Immediately after the meeting, the councillors were directed by senior Congress leaders not to issue any statement to the media about what had transpired in the meeting. A majority of Congress councillors had switched off their cell phones and were unavailable for comment. Party sources revealed that except for former Mayor Kamlesh, all Congress councillors were present in the meeting. Interestingly, nominated councillor and Congress spokesperson Arshad Khan joined the delegation. Sources said the UT Home Secretary joined the meeting later.
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Foreign travel despite orders to impound passport
Chandigarh, July 22 “The UT police was negligent in giving the accused a clearance and thus, he was issued a passport. When it came to light that a case was registered against him, we initiated impound proceedings. We will initiate the proceedings again and a letter will also be sent to all passport control points to impound the passport,” said RPO Vitul Kumar. The case dates back to 2007, when the RPO initiated proceedings to impound the passport issued to a liquor contractor, Azad Singh, following revelations that an FIR was already registered against him in 2001. Yet, the passport continues to be used, exposing chinks in both the RPO’s impound proceedings and the police passport verification process. The UT police, too, has failed to bring out the guilty, who gave the accused a passport clearance report despite the fact that a forgery case was pending against him. Between 2007 and 2011, the accused has managed to travel to South Africa, Dubai and Thailand, with both the RPO and the police remaining oblivious to the trips. The RPO has now resumed proceedings to impound Azad Singh’s passport after it came to light he was on the run in two other cases and could again travel overseas. Azad Singh got a passport, number G-5399405, issued in ‘tatkal’ on October 24, 2007. The then Mani Majra SHO, inspector Hari Kumar, gave him a clearance report despite the fact than an FIR under Sections 420, 468 and 471 of the IPC was registered against him at that very police station in 2001. In December, 2007, the CID department of the police sent a report to the RPO, mentioning the pending FIR against Azad Singh. That very month, the RPO initiated proceedings to impound the passport. With proceedings marred by delay, Azad Singh went to South Africa in January, 2010, and flew to Thailand in January this year. Past month, the police booked Azad Singh under the Excise Act, following which a case of attempt-to-murder was registered against him after he allegedly bashed up the police informer. He is on the run and no action has been taken by the police department to bring out the guilty who gave him a clearance report or by the RPO as to why his passport was never impounded.
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Law & order @ PU = 0
Chandigarh, July 22 The law-enforcing agency has made it an absolute cakewalk for leaders to brandish swords, smash glass panes, stop classes and ‘gherao’ the Vice-Chancellor as all such cases have been spiked. The “battles” have mostly ended in a compromise. Whatever cases the police have pursued in the courts have ended in student acquittals. Perturbed over the recent allegations of the university playing a very weak role in controlling student violence on the campus, the university authorities have prepared a detailed report on all incidents in the past few years, along with the action taken. Records show that most of the cases have ended in a compromise or without any punishment from the courts. “The PU had no role in student discipline after a case had been registered. The law-enforcing agencies needed to be more strict,” a senior university official said. University records reveal that as many as 36 cases were registered between 2001 and 2006 during the tenure of the then Vice-Chancellor KN Pathak and 31 cases from 2006 till date after the current Vice Chancellor Ranbir Chander Sobti occupied the chair. In addition to these cases, the data sheet also contains details of each case, along with the action taken, most of which ended in compromise rather than conviction and consequent action. Vice-Chancellor Sobti refused to comment on the reason behind compiling this data. However, a senior PU official said on the condition of anonymity, “We have been in the line of fire for no valid reason. When the average number of cases has been the same in the past decade, how can it be said that violence has increased? It is not that we are gratifying or accepting violence as part of the university campus culture, but I do not want it to be exaggerated as it affects the university’s reputation.” “These days, even the UT administration and police officials are counselling students. Just by way of mention, I think that it will be very unfair to treat these students as criminals. They are still young and have a long way to go in their lives and so, even the police go easy,” said a senior PU official.
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Whose turn is it — that’s the question
Chandigarh, July 22 With both senior officers later refusing to own up responsibility, the weekly affair, aimed at inculcating discipline in the police force, turned out to be a show of mismanagement. When contacted, Naunihal Singh said today was not his turn to take the parade. “Doon and I take the parade on a rotation basis. Today it was not my turn,” he said. On the other hand, Doon said it was not his turn. “I would definitely have gone for the parade had it been my turn. I was not supposed to attend the parade today,” he said. Naunihal Singh had initiated the parade with much fanfare soon after assuming charge in September past year. The SSP had himself been irregular in attending the parade, thereby setting a poor example for the force. The 300-strong police force, comprising ranks ranging from constable to inspector, lined up for the parade as early as 6 am at the police lines when it gradually began to dawn on them that there was no senior officer to take the salute. After waiting for around half an hour, the parade began with GS Grewal, a newly appointed SP on deputation, finally taking the salute.
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Rajpal gets Arjuna Award
Chandigarh, July 22 While talking over the phone, Rajpal expressed his happiness of getting the precious award and dedicated this award to his former coach Jasbir Singh Bajwa, who died on July 9 due to a sudden heart attack here. “I am happy after receiving this news and I will dedicate my achievement to my coach,” said Rajpal. Adding further, “Every player has a dream to achieve new heights and this is like a dream come true for me. This award has increased my responsibility and I will give my best to fulfill my responsibility towards the game,” said Rajpal, while telling that his main focus is on Pre-Olympics, for which the player is undergoing a training camp in Bangalore. “We all are happy with his achievement. It’s possible because of God’s grace. We want him to achieve more laurels and contribute more towards the country,” said his brother, Gurpreet, also a hockey player.
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47 structures razed
Mohali, July 22 The enforcement staff led by estate officer Balbir Singh prevailed over the protestors and the drive continued for two hours. A few days ago, officials of GMADA had visited the village and asked the shopkeepers to vacate the area by Monday after which a demolition drive would be carried out. The estate officer said the landowners had been allotted commercial and residential plots in Sector 70. Most of the protesters were tenants in the dwelling units that were pulled down.
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CPS finds hospital staff off-guard
Panchkula July 22 While the toliets were found to be stinking in the hospital, dustbins had been lying in the ICU against the norms. As soon as Fauji reached the hospital at 10 am, he went straight to the general wards of the hospital and later inspected the toilets, drinking water and other facilities being provided to the patients. He directed the director general, health, Dr Narvir Singh, to immediately suspend the officials who were found missing while on duty. Fauji inspected the emergency ward, ICU, and gynaecology ward too. Finding the conditions pathetic, Fauji, issued directions to the officials, including the civil surgeon accompanying him, to get the dirty bedsheets and pillows changed immediately Taking cognizance of the complaints of the people, he inspected the toilets and asked the officers to fit western toilet seats in the toilets and also instal an RO system in the water cooler. He directed the officers not to transfer any HIV pregnant women to other hospital for delivery.
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Panchkula MC raps contractor
Panchkula, July 22 The MC had allotted the contract of over Rs 3 crore to the contractor for repair of the road dividing Sectors 2 and 5 and 4 and 5. Besides, the work of internal roads of Sector 12, road separating Sectors 4 and 12 and Sectors 5 and 8 was also allotted to the contractor. In June, the MC had issued notice to the contractor for not maintaining these roads. In his reply, the contractor had stated that he had not started the work as the MC had delayed the payment of his previous work. Panchkula MC president Ravinder Rawal said after being appointed as MC president in May, he came to know about the pending works and issued notice. “Now, we have decided to terminate his contract,” he said. He added that the MC would also impose penalty on the contractor.
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Corruption vs development in MC polls
Chandigarh, July 22 Senior leaders, including Mayor Ravinderpal Singh Palli, two former Mayors Pardeep Chabbra and Subhash Chawla, and members of the media committee - Chander Mukhi Sharma, HS Lucky, Amarjit Singh Sethi and Arshad Khan - came down heavily on the BJP for failing to judge the pulse of the people and its intra-party dissidence. Three BJP leaders, including Satya Pal Jain, Harmohan Dhawan and Sanjay Tandon, who have repeatedly been rejected by the people, were engaged outsmarting each other with intra-party factionalism touching all-time high, Chabbra alleged.
Cong unnerved
Terming the “jan jagran” a major success, local BJP president Sanjay Tandon claimed that the Congress was unnerved by the party campaign against corruption. Corruption, black money, and lack of development would be the major issues in the coming MC poll, he said.
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City gets uneven rain
Chandigarh, July 22 The meteorological department said with the monsoon remaining active in the country’s southwest, rainfall is expected in the northwest region in the next couple of days. Admitting there had been a “slight deviation” in the normal precipitation met officials said the tricity had received 347 mm of rain since June 1 this year as against 291.7 mm during the same period last year. The met does not see any significant change in the weather pattern in the region during this monsoon season. Officials said rainfall is expected to last in the city till September-end. Surender Paul, director of the Indian Meteorological Department, said: “This year the intensity of rainfall has been greater than in previous years, which means there was more rain during a shorter time. Rainfall has also been normal in the neighboring states of Punjab and Haryana. During the past three decades from 1980 to 2010 there was no change in the monsoon pattern, but the tricity has been seeing a decreasing pattern after the monsoon, that is, from October to March”. The weatherman said a 0.3 degrees Celsius rise in average temperatures has resulted in the pressure in the atmosphere caused by more rainfall. “However, it’s difficult to specify the area that could experience rainfall. We use a ‘high performance computing system’ consisting of different types of instruments including thermometers, anemometers, Doppler radar and hygrographs to measure weather forecasting”, he added. The met has predicted a partly cloudy sky becoming generally cloudier with possibility of thundery developments and or light rain during the next two days. The maximum and minimum temperatures on Saturday are expected to be around 34º C and 26º C, respectively.
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PIL filed against cattle menace
Chandigarh, July 22 In the PIL, advocate Pankaj Chandgothia and his wife Sangeeta demanded that a special cell be created with representatives from all departments concerned, including the administration, municipal corporation and the police to look into the problem of cattle menace. They also demanded that a compensation policy should be formulated, wherein the administration should be liable to compensate any person who suffers on account of the stray cattle menace. The police must register an FIR in every such case.
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No space to play, admn has the answer
Chandigarh, July 22 For this, the administration would charge nominal fee from children. The issue was discussed at a meeting of the Resident Welfare Associations (RWA) with Finance Secretary VK Singh today. In response to the demand of formation of a policy to promote sports and to provide space for children in sectors, the Finance Secretary said the administration had decided to appoint coaches to train kids in government schools. Initially, the project would be launched in a few schools on a trial basis after which it would be introduced in all government schools across the city. A committee in this regard has already been formed and RWAs have also been asked to give their suggestion for effective implementation of the scheme. General secretary, Federation of Sector Welfare Associations (FOSWAC), Hitesh Puri said the administration had decided to promote sports. The Finance Secretary said the administration would construct basketball courts after locating vacant space in the greenbelts across the city. The issue of shifting of the Sunday car bazaar from Sector 7 was also taken up at the meeting. Among other issues raised by the RWA included the construction of Shahaj Safai Kendra in Sectors 19, 34, 51 and 54 and setting up of more e-sampark centres in the southern sectors.
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Enrolment camp for smart cards
Chandigarh, July 22 In the camp, residents having BPL and APL cards of Sectors 52 and 61, of Tin Colony, Electricity Colony, Pandit Colony, Kuldeep Colony, Khajeri village, Mazdoor Colony and Nehru Colony can enrol themselves to get the cards. During the camp, the biometrics and photographs of all family members of the cardholders will be taken. The camp will be held for 30 days at the venue. All the beneficiaries are required to obtain a token from the fair price shops where their ration cards are registered before proceeding to the venue for enrolment.
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Chandigarh Scan
The Panjab University Teachers Association (PUTA) in association with the Amrit Cancer Foundation organised a “Breast and Cervix Cancer Awareness and Detection Camp”, at the Golden Jubilee Hall here on Friday. Prof. Vipin Sobti, member, Central Administrative Tribunal, inaugurated the camp. In the camp, special audio/visual seminar on breast and cervix cancer was presented by professor Dr Firuza Patel radiotherapy, post graduate institute, Chandigarh.
Cleanliness drive
Bharatiya Janata Mazdoor Mahasangh president Harishankar Mishra and ward councillor Rajkumari Mishra along with residents of the area on Friday started a drive to remove bushes and grass in the area adjoining Colony No. 4, Industrial Area, Phase-I, Chandigarh, which had become haven for criminals here.
Medical workshop
The department of anatomy, Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research organised the fourth Dr IJ Dewan Memorial Workshop on “Organ Talk - Time to take prevention” at the institute here today. The heads of three departments of anatomy of three medical institutes were present during the inaugural ceremony, which was presided over by Dr Balbir Singh, Registrar Ayush University, Raipur. The guest of honor was emertius professor of PGI, Dr Shobha Saigal. Around 300 students from Sacred Heart Senior Secondary School, Bhavan Vidyalaya, Delhi Public School and Med-XEL students were taught the virtues of healthy living via interactive posters and actual specimen demonstrations viz liver cirrhosis due to intake of alcohol consumption, damaged lungs due to smoking, osteoporotic bones, brain with extradural haematoma due to head injury caused by drinking or without wearing a helmet and fatty deposits in arteries of heart.
Bharti Airtel, a global telecommunications company with operations in 19 countries across Asia and Africa, on Friday announced the ‘Win a Chevrolet Spark’ contest for its postpaid and prepaid mobile customers in Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and J&K. The customers stand a chance to win a Chevrolet Spark by simply downloading the highest number of Hello Tunes till 15 September.
“A large number of precious lives can be saved if basic trauma care is made part of the school curriculum so that people get trained right from their student days on what assistance they can immediately give to an accident victim,” stated Dr Sandeep Mohindra, associate professor. neuro surgery, PGIMER, Chandigarh, while addressing members of the Rotary Chandigarh Shivalik at Hotel Sip n’ Dine on Thursday evening. Mohindra was talking on ‘The First Golden Hour after an Accident’
A pulsating freshers party was organised by class XII students of AKSIPS-41-B, Chandigarh on the school premises. The evening saw a heady mix of fun, dance and great food. Mannat was declared as Miss Fresher and Navdeep was declared as Master Fresher. Along with this Sonakshi and Shobhit were declared Miss and Master Elegance.
Elected
Following have been elected office-bearers of the Mair Rajput Sabha: president - Satish Verma; general secretary - Satinder Kumar Verma; and finance secretary - Ravi Kumar Bagga,
Saplings planted
A total of 125 saplings were planted as a part of a tree plantation drive in Sector 23. Surinder Kumar Jagota, area councillor, led the plantation campaign. Medicinal plants were planted in most of
the areas.
Green brigade
Students of Smart Wonders School, Sector 71, Mohali, celebrated vanamahotsava and joined the saplings plantation drive. Each child was gifted a sapling and the children pledged to take care of it. Anu Mahajan, chief administrative officer, said “It was the time that younger generation finds new solutions to save earth and adopts a new approach in which economic growth compliments the environment.”
An ENT camp was held at Sant Isher Singh Public School, Phase 7, Mohali. It was organised by Simply Health Plus Dr Rishi Raj MS (ENT) from Omni Hospital, Sector 34-A, conducted the checkup. School principal Inderjeet Sandhu highlighted the importance of hygiene for healthy living to the students.
Books distributed
The Red Cross Society of Mohali district organised a camp to distribute free books and school uniforms to needy children at Pracheen Mandir in Matour village. Simarpreet Kaur, chairperson of the hospital welfare wing of the society said not only the books and uniforms were distributed, families of students were encouraged to send their children to schools. — Tribune Reporters
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Mohali NIPER most-preferred
Mohali, July 22 A total number of 4,358 students who cleared the joint entrance exams of NIPER with minimum 60 per cent marks in general category and 55 per cent in reserved category were called for the joint counseling session. At the end of the session, Mohali NIPER emerged as the favourite at most the top rankers preferred Mohali followed by Ahmedabad and the Hyderabad. A spokesman of the NIPER said out of the 547 seats, 268 were for the general category, 79 were reserved for SC, 40 for ST and 145 for OBC candidates. Besides this, special preference was being given to the physically challenged and Kashmiri migrants. The candidates sought admissions in various 14 disciplines in all seven NIPERs at Ahmedabad, Guwahati, Rae Bareilly, Hajipur, Hyderabad, and Kolkata and Mohali. The joint entrance exam for the admission was held on July 3. Besides, the interview and group discussions were held on July 12 and July 13 for admissions to 60 seats in MBA Pharma which was only available at the Mohali institute. The interview for admission to Ph.D. Joint admission at NIPERs at Mohali, Hyderabad, Ahmadabad, Hajipur, Guwahati will be held on July 25 and July 26.
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No uniformity in readmission of failed candidates
Chandigarh, July 22 A fact-finding team set up by Panjab University comprising two senate members visited the college on Friday to verify the complaint of the student, Surinder Sharma. In sync with the overall poor results of the BCA-I exam conducted by PU for students of all its affiliated colleges, barely 41 per cent of candidates cleared this exam at DAV College. Of the 120 students who were enrolled for the BCA-I course, only 50 students passed the exam at this college. Now, after Surinder’s appeal and the PU committee’s visit to DAV College, the latter’s officials are trying to sort out the matter with the student. “Since a few seats remained vacant we called up the student today and asked him to get enrolled. He was contacted as a special case and on sympathetic grounds. However, he was reluctant to join and said he was away in Delhi. “Any communication with him should be sent as a formal letter to his place. Had he been a keen candidate to enroll himself he’d have definitely grabbed at the opportunity to get a seat,” said Meenakshi Bhardwaj, head of the computer science department at DAV College, Sector 10. Incidentally, Surinder scored 72 per cent marks in class 12 and, according to merit considered for BCA-I admission at DAV College, he made it to the merit list beating many others. Reserving comments till the principal’s return, the college’s dean of admissions, KC Jain, said the case would first be discussed with the principal once he was back on Saturday. Ironically, an RTI activist forwarded the student’s complaint to the PU vice chancellor who then set up a committee, yet the student hardly showed any interest in joining the college. In this case the student is
also reported to have scored very poor marks (in single digits out of 100) in all five subjects. “According to RTE norms and the university calendar, admission can’t be denied to any student. The college prospectus does not mention any specific rule where a failed candidate is denied admission. If a student wishes to study and is willing to pay Rs 30,000 again and also falls in the merit list according to the new admission guidelines, he should be given admission,” said a senate member on condition of anonymity. PU gives a provision to failed candidates to appear as private candidates from the university and appear for exams again the next year. In the absence of the college principal, Shashi Gupta, who was away to Delhi, the committee comprising fellows Dilip Kumar and Kawaljit has postponed submission of its report to PU.
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PU dishes out code of ethics for teachers
Chandigarh, July 22 Interestingly, this code consisting 33 do’s and don’ts has been inspired by the ethics prescribed by the code of ethics adopted by ESA, USA, for its accredited scientists. What has, however, left many confused is the university’s declaration form, which asks candidates to promise abiding by these ethics by “putting their hand on it”. The code, which according to its preamble, provides guiding principles of conduct to every member of faculty to support and encourage scientific research and education and to facilitate creation and application of knowledge in management of resources. The code, which has educed mixed response amongst faculty members, has been divided into four sections, which specify general, specific, publication and ethics pertaining erratic marking. While under the general section, which contains a total of 11 postulates, asked teachers, scientists to offer professional advice and guidance on only those subjects for in which they are qualified through professional training. The specific section containing eight ethics talks about ethical usage of university resources, honesty and propriety. The third section having 11 postulates talks about ethics of publication of research and section four warns teachers against erratic marking.
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52 exhibit science models
Chandigarh, July 22 The education secretary appreciated the efforts of students who had exhibited models at the exhibition organised by the State Institute of Education, Sector 32, in collaboration with the department of science and technology, ministry of science and technology. As many as 57 students from various schools, who were selected under the scheme showcased their innovative science projects and models. The programme is a centrally funded flagship programme of the ministry of science and technology. The best five projects or models would be selected for the national-level exhibition to be held from August 14 to August 16 at New Delhi.
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From Colleges
CHANDIGARH: Students of the MCM DAV College for Women, Sector 36, secured top positions in the annual examination of Panjab University held in April 2011. The college has bagged the overall first three positions at the university level. Khusbhoo Thakur of BA III stood first in English (honours), whereas Nishtha Saxena scored the overall third position. In sociology (honours), Tapinder Ghuman stood first, Guneet Khanna secured second spot and fourth position was bagged by Vaisnavi Bansal. Website designed
Putting their innovation to practical use, students of the PEC University of Technology have designed a website that promises creation of personalised websites at competitive rates. Ideated during summer vacations by youngsters from
PEC, team of Justmakemysite.com, the website designed, boasts of clientele ranging from beauty salons to models-cum-actors. — TNS
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