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18,000-litre petrol goes ‘missing’ at CITCO pump
Chandigarh, September 13 The account records of the petrol station reveal that there has been a loss of 18,067 litres of petrol from April 1 to August 18 this year. Acknowledging that there has been a loss of such magnitude, CITCO General Manager (Tourism) AK Malhotra said: “We are aware about the losses,” and then went on to add that they were checking whether the discrepancy had arisen due to some accounts mistake or due to some other reason. Officials entrusted with looking after the affairs of the petrol station, however, have their own explanation for the loss. In an official communique, the petrol station supervisor has attributed the loss to a leak in the pipe. But well-placed vigilance department officials say that their investigations have revealed discrepancies as well as mismanagement at the petrol station. “A report has been prepared in this connection and been forwarded to the higher authorities,” said a source in the vigilance department who declined to reveal the contents. In his letter dated August 18, the supervisor, Vinod Sharma, claimed that petrol was going down a pit having no lid through a pipe. “The pit was dug up by the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) over the underground tanker last year. A big pipe was left open without a cupline inside the pit,” stated the letter. “On August 14, the staff came to know about the blunder and the matter was immediately brought to the notice of senior officials of the corporation and the IOC as well,” said another official. The IOC officials had also inspected the petrol station to check the reason for the “loss”. But a senior IOC official said on the condition of anonymity that even if the lid of the pipe was missing, it would have hardly made any difference as the pipe was installed at the top of the underground tank. “The vigilance department has asked us about our report on the matter which we have already submitted,” said the IOC official.
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CTU bus conductors’ entrance exam
Chandigarh, September 13 The list was likely to increase, considering that the CFSL was screening 113 of the 144 candidates who had been selected. The results of the remaining 40 were still awaited. The CTU recruitment had been cancelled. The crime branch today declared to have arrested 13 persons from different parts of Haryana for having managed fake candidates to appear on their behalf in the written examination. The police was also probing whether there were some professional groups involved in the impersonation. Among those arrested, two were middlemen who arranged the impersonators by charging between Rs 50,000 and Rs 3 lakh from the candidates under question, said UT SSP Naunihal Singh. The two middlemen were identified as Harpreet and Vijay Shastri. Harpreet introduced candidate Anurag with Shastri, who further arranged an impersonator to appear in place of Anurag in the written examination. A total of 19,429 candidates had appeared in the written examination in October the previous year. A total of 144 candidates were selected, of which 139 were from Haryana. Following allegations from the candidates who were not selected that Haryana was preferred, a committee headed by director transport was formed to look into the discrepancies. As the committee began its probe, 31 of the 144 short listed candidates were found absent and 113 candidates appeared before the committee. The specimens of all these candidates were sent to the CFSL for matching with the handwriting of candidates who appeared in the CTU entrance examination in October. The specimen handwriting of the 113 candidates, along with the attendance sheets, application forms and videographed proof, were sent to the CFSL, Sector 36, for comparison in April. DSP Satbir Singh said investigations had revealed that candidates belonging to the districts of Ambala, Bhiwani, Panipat, Faridabad, Hisar, Jhajjar, Jind, Kaithal, Sonepat, Karnal, Kurukshetra, Delhi, Mohindergarh, Palwal, Rohtak, Yamunanagar, Mohali and Chandigarh were the ones who brought impersonators. The entire recruitment had been cancelled by the administration. The recruitment of 144 conductors also rocked the Punjab Vidhan Sabha in March. The SAD-BJP alliance sought a probe into the role of UT Home Secretary Ram Niwas in facilitating the entry of 139 candidates from his home district.
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Invigilators under police lens
Chandigarh, September 13 Given the fact that nearly 85 per cent of the candidates already screened were found to be fake, the police would now probe the role of these invigilators, who apparently gave identification formalities a miss during the examination, conducted by Panjab University. “As per the procedure specified, invigilators are supposed to establish the identity of examinees by matching their photographs on the roll numbers and attendance sheets. Had it been just one impersonator or two, we could have understood the lapse. But with 66 of the 73 examinees being fraudulent, we are forced to think that either it was utter callousness on the part of the invigilators or some among them were a part of the conspiracy,” said a senior police official. Agreeing with him, PU controller of examination AK Bhandhari said, “While the university institute of applied management sciences was the conducting authority, the committee formed to probe the case had given us a clean chit.” Police officials investigating the scam would question the invigilators as to why they failed to match the signatures and photographs of the impersonators with those of the actual candidates. “The revelation that 66 of the 73 whose specimens were sent to the CFSL are impersonators is just a tip of the iceberg,” sources said. “There were 19,429 candidates who appeared in the written examination. We suspect that over 15,000 of them were not actual candidates,” the sources added
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Health dept pulls up 12 doctors for truancy
Chandigarh, September 13 The two letters written by the Medical Superintendent-cum-Joint Principal Medical Officer, Rajiv Vadera, state that many of the 12 doctors assigned the task of fortnightly examination of inmates at Nari Niketan, Ashraya, Snehalaya and Juvenile Justice Home are also guilty of violating the orders of the Punjab and Haryana High Court that came in the aftermath of the Nari Niketan rape case. On June 9, 2009, the court had ordered that fortnightly checkups of all inmates of destitute homes should be conducted and regular reports on their health be submitted. Though doctors vehemently deny the charge, Vadera’s letter dated September 2 to the Medical Superintendent of the GMCH states that Dr Mala Bhalla (skin), Dr Monica Gupta (medicine) and Dr Bharti Goel (gynaecology) “have not been attending their duties for medical examination of the inmates of Nari Niketan, Juvenile Home, Ashraya and Snehalaya”. The letter “directs” the three doctors to perform their duties as per the order of the court. The letter also states that the information had been received from the Director, Health and Family Welfare vide a letter. Similarly, in an almost identically worded letters to some doctors of the GMSH (identity being withheld on request), Dr Vadera accuses them of not visiting the destitute homes. Dr Vadera, who is also the Medical Superintendent of the GMSH, confirmed writing the letters in his capacity as the Joint Director, Health Services, and claimed that since no reports was being submitted to them by the doctors, it was fit to presume that they
had not been visiting the homes. However, contrary to Dr Vadera’s claims, the doctors deny the allegations and claim that they have regularly been visiting the homes and submitting their reports. Dr Bharti Goel (GMCH) said the allegations were baseless. “We are regularly submitting our reports and are surprised how the letter was issued,” she said, adding that they had now submitted duplicate copies of their reports to the UT social welfare department. Another doctor, who requested anonymity, said it seemed that those at the helm were just fulfilling an obligation of issuing letters without checking facts. “We have been submitting our reports and if they cannot trace them, the fault is theirs,” said the agitated doctor.
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Finance Secy set to head Home
Chandigarh, September 13 With the remote possibility of appointment of a new incumbent by September 24, the day the tenure of Ram Niwas ends, the administration is gearing up for handing over additional charge to the Finance Secretary. With the handling of two important posts of Secretary, VK Singh, like his precessor Sanjay Kumar, will have a tough time doing justice to both posts. Sanjay Kumar held the post of Home Secretary as additional charge for about seven months. Sources said the matter was still under consideration of the Ministry of Home Affairs. After approval, the name selected would be sent to the Department of Personnel and Training. The final nod would come from the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet of the Prime Minister’s Office. The UT administration had sent the names of RR Jowell, PK Das and Anil Kumar to the Centre. While Jowell and Das were 1986-batch Haryana-cadre IAS officers in the rank of Financial Commissioner, Kumar was a 1988-batch IAS officer working as Commissioner of the Ambala division. In 2008, the post of Home Secretary remained vacant for about seven months. While the first panel was rejected on account of lobbying, a fresh panel was sent by the Haryana government later, from which Ram Niwas had been selected.
Additional charge aplenty in UT n
CITCO Managing Director DK Tiwari is holding additional charge of Special Secretary (Finance), Director Tourism and Director Higher Education n
DIG Alok Kumar is holding multiple charge, inclduing SP (Traffic and Security) and IG (Prisons) n
Director Social Welfare is handling charge of Director Cultural Affairs n
Rahul Gupta is handling office of Assistant Estate Officer as additional charge n
The office of PGI Director is being held by Dr Vinay Sukhija as additional charge
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The buzz
Although Brijendra, who left for New Delhi at short notice on Tuesday, was unavailable for comment, the Chandigarh administration is abuzz with talk he had recently met the party’s general secretary, Rahul Gandhi. Brijendra’s father Birender Singh is a member of the Rajya Sabha. Sources close to Brijendra said he had asked his close friends to prepare for campaigning.
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MC chief’s report absolves officials
Chandigarh, September 13 Sources confirmed the report had been submitted to Patil. In it Puri stated even though she was not holding the position of MC commissioner when the incidents alleged by the BJP councilors took place, all the relevant documents had been scanned before preparing the report. On the issue of “misuse of power” by MC secretary Lalit Siwach during the mayoral election held on January 1, the report stated the matter was sub judice in the deputy commissioner’s court. After going through house proceedings it was found the secretary had no role in conducting the elections, but it was the presiding officer who conducted the entire process, the report said. In fact the deputy commissioner who was also holding the post of MC commissioner was present during the polls, it added. The report also stated the gates were locked during the MC finance & contract committee’s meeting on the instructions of city mayor Ravinder Pal Singh, as at the first house meeting some disturbance was created by visitors of the opposition party. Allegations of interference by MC additional commissioner Lalit Siwach during the elections were baseless as he was at the district courts for a hearing. The sources said Puri stated in her report that some of the councillors had “misbehaved” at the house meetings. She suggested in order to avoid such situations all councillors had been advised to address the chair for any clarification from MC officials rather than “making personal comments on the latter’s performance”. A copy of the reply submitted by the MC officials on the issue, in which they denied staging a walkout or boycotting the general house meeting, has also been forward to Patil.
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MC officials deny walking out of general house
Chandigarh, September 13 In their joint reply to MC Commissioner Prerna Puri, the officials stated they had exited the meeting on two occasions to discuss the issue of “use of abusive language” with Puri and the Mayor, claiming it had become a “routine practice” for councillors to “humiliate” them on the house floor. They stated if they had staged a walkout or wanted to boycott the house meeting, they would not have attended it later. Expressing resentment over “misbehaviour” and “use of offensive language” by councillors on the floor of the house, the officials referred to section 64(3) of the Municipal Corporation Act, that stated that councillors had to address the chair in the house and submit their arguments rather than directly referring to an official. The officials also pointed out that according to rule 42 of the Act, councillors were not permitted to comment on the “character or conduct of a person”, except in their official capacity.
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MC files reply in paid parking case
Chandigarh, September 13 The MC stated in its reply that “contractors of paid parking areas are frequently challaned for violation of terms and conditions. It should be appreciated that in spite of some shortcomings, the paid parking system has helped in managing the parking of vehicles to a great extent.” To ensure compliance with the terms and conditions, the parking areas were always inspected by inspectors and violators penalised as per terms and conditions of the licence, it pointed out. The 26 paid parking contractors in the city were also made a party by the MC, but it refused to appear on their behalf. Fresh notices had been issued to the contractors to file their reply on October 27.
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Erring school bus operators, beware
Chandigarh, September 13 The STA plans to randomly hold a checking drive near schools to ensure that school bus operators follow the prescribed guidelines. According to the STA, violations will lead to permit cancellation. With violations by bus operators on despite the STA issuing 14 fresh guidelines, as per a Supreme Court directions, it has now decided to initiate an intensive campaign against erring bus operators. STA secretary Mahavir Kaushik said they planned special checking near schools to tighten the noose. “Despite our repeated reminders, schools bus operators are violating norms, with schools turning a blind eye to these,” he said. The STA had recently issued challans to eight bus drivers owning driver’s licence with less than five years of experience. The schools had been issued show-cause notices as to why action for permit cancellation not be initiated. Official sources said a checkpoint would be set up near a specified school each day and subsequently, near other schools as well. STA officials said the campaign would focus on ensuring that guidelines were followed. “Initiating the campaign against bus operators violating norms will force them and the school authorities to ensure that norms are followed,” an STA official said.
What do guidelines say? n The driver should have at least five years of experience of driving a heavy vehicle n
A driver challaned once for rash driving, over-speeding or drunken driving will be ineligible n
There should be a responsible person in every school bus to ensure safety norms n
There should be a qualified attendant in the school bus to attend to children n
Phone numbers of school and STA should be painted on the rear of the bus n
There should be space under seats in buses to keep school bags safe n
Doors of school buses should be fitted with reliable locks
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‘Bomb’ creates panic in Sector 22
Chandigarh, September 13 A team of police personnel of the Sector 22 police post evacuated the market near Kiran Cinema and asked shopkeepers to down the shutters and vacate the area. No one was allowed to come near the booth as the bomb detection squad executed its work. The police also made announcements on a loudspeaker requesting the public to cooperate with it. The “explosive” was seized by the team. Later, it was revealed that it was a mock drill in which senior police officials were checking the response time and efficiency of the police in an emergent situation. The “bomb” was in fact a dummy explosive. Senior officials then lauded the work of the police and announced that they would be rewarded for carrying out the exercise efficiently.
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Snehalaya case goes to SIT
Chandigarh, September 13 UT SSP Naunihal Singh today said the SIT was constituted under the supervision of DSP Satbir Singh to look into the case. He added that the team would probe who was responsible for the lapses due to which the children managed to escape. A total of 266 children had been residing at the shelter, of which 199 were girls. The lackadaisical role of Snehalaya authorities was under the scanner as they were unaware of the exact dates when the children fled.
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Riar back in SAD
Chandigarh, September 13 Riar joined the party in the presence of Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal at a function in Kharar. The entry of Riar was linked to the outcome of the SGPC poll.
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chandigarh
SCAN Innovation honours
In order to promote outstanding innovations that are bringing positive social change across India, the EdelGive Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Edelweiss Financial Services Limited (earlier know as Edelweiss Capital Limited), on Tuesday, announced the EdelGive Social Innovation Honours 2012-Innovations for Women Empowerment. The objective of the EdelGive social innovation honours is to identify and financially reward organisations that help women tackle innumerable challenges and are continuously innovating to empower women in India. This year, the winners will be selected from four categories that include health and well being, education, economic security and livelihoods and rights and representation of women, said Vidya Shah, executive director and head, EdelGive Foundation
Traffic awareness programme
130 units of blood donated
As many as 130 units of blood was donated as a part of a blood donation organised by the Inner Wheel Club in collaboration with the Rotary Blood Resource Centre at the Government Home Science College. Inaugurating the camp, the president of the Inner Wheel Camp, Preet Harinder Singh, asked the faculty and students to donate blood in order to save precious lives.
Dentist awarded
Dr Ashish Jain, professor with the Dental Institute of Panjab University, has been conferred the prestigious fellowship of International College of Dentists. The International College of Dentists is a leading honorary dental organisation dedicated to the recognition of outstanding professional achievement and meritorious service and the continued progress of the profession of dentistry for the benefit of all humankind.
Newly appointed
PS Pruthi has joined as the Chief Commissioner of Customs, Central Excise and Service Tax, Chandigarh Zone. The jurisdiction of this zone extends to the States of Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and the Union Territory of Chandigarh. He is an IRS Officer of the 1978 batch. Earlier, Pruthi was working as the Commissioner Customs in the Central Board of Excise and Customs, New Delhi.
Donor organ transplantation
To increase public awareness and participation in the deceased donor organ transplantation programme, the Organ Transplantation Trust, PGIMER, will be organising a four-day Organ Donation Awareness Campaign from Wednesday (September 14). Information desk and audio-visual presentation is being put up in the New OPD Block to distribute general information and printed material and to enroll potential organ donors from 9 am to 1pm from September 14 to 17. Anyone interested in obtaining information regarding organ donation can visit the PGI, OPD premises, during that period.
Placements
Chandigarh Group of Colleges, Landran, hosted the Infosys placement drive on Wednesday where over 165 students from Landran and Gharuan campus were selected. The highest packages claimed in the placement drive were of 3.15 lakh (B.tech) and 3.50 lakh (MCA). “Well crafted and planned Training sessions provided by the Institute immensely helped the students in finding success,” Satnam Singh Sandhu, chairman, CGC, said.
Newsletter launched
The secretary finance-cum-technical education, VK Singh, on Tuesday launched the first edition of Chandigarh College of Engineering and Technology’s newsletter- fingerprint - ‘Leave an Impression. ’Principal of the college, Dr MS Gujral appreciated the efforts of students and faculty member who had been instrumental in this initiative. Fingerprint, an initiative taken by apostle of speech, the literary organisation of the college, gives an overview of the college clubs, places to hangout, details of campus placements, laurels earned by college students across the country and much more.
Transformer burnt
Power supply to different areas of Sector 30 was partially suspended on Wednesday morning when a transformer caught fire due to short-circuit. The transformer was repaired by the electricity department staff.
panchkula
SCAN The Sky School, Sector 21, celebrated grandparents’ day on the premises. The school had invited grandparents who were welcomed with roses by the playway students. Recitation by the students of pre-nursery and nursery was followed by an action song by KG students.
Education assessment
Teachers conclave on “Educational Assessment and CCE” was held at Satluj Public School, Sector 4. The main speakers were educationists Dr. Nita Garg, Kamlesh Hooda, Reema Grover and Vijay Goel. The main points discussed were the latest assessment and pape-checking techniques adopted in the field of education. — Tribune Reporters
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For kids, learning to be fun now
Chandigarh, September 13 Under its Sarv Shiksha Abhiyaan project, the department is all set to switch government school teaching from regular ‘chalk and talk’ style to ‘learn with fun’. The education department has prepared a detailed teaching manual to revamp the style in classrooms and make lessons more enjoyable and imbibing. Asking teachers to go a step ahead of usual dictations and explanations, the department has directed them to necessarily couple all lessons with fun activities and group projects to make students learn. “We have taken a cue from CBSE’s co-scholastic evaluation system. As per our research in a majority of schools, one student is made to read a chapter while teacher explains or it is just the monotonous replication of books on blackboards. Despite implementation of the CCE, classroom teaching is not enjoyable or involving. Every single child has to be made a part of the learning process,” said a senior SSA official. As per the plan, classroom projects and discussion will play a key role. Teachers have also been advised to keep a close tab on subject interests of all students and make optimum use of available ICT resources. Educators, however, have their apprehensions as a government school principal says, “We all know how to do it but can a single teacher who is handling a class of 80 students do it? We are always running to complete syllabus. To harness the true potential of a teacher, the student-teacher ratio and student-classroom ratio need to be dealt with properly.”
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‘Demanding’ PUTA releases bulletin
Chandigarh, September 13 Claiming existent adhocism as the key problem of the university, PUTA in a charter of demands released today has not only asked for regular faculty wherever required but has also demanded a ‘faculty’ replenishment system in place. “No university can function with departments having 60 per cent of their faculty as guest faculty. The key aim of PUTA this year will be to aid and deal with existent staff crunch and relieve teachers of excessive work load” said PUTA president Akshay Kumar. Amongst other major demands are re-imbursement of medical bills to the dependents of woman colleagues, speedy processing of study leaves specially, for non-PhD faculty of new departments. Good working atmosphere n
The clinics at the dental institute be air-conditioned. n
The faculty, particularly those who are given rooms/ offices on the top floor, be provided with proper ventilation/ air circulation, preferably with air conditioning. n
Internet connections along with computers be provided to all the teachers. The facility should be extended to campus residences on mutually agreeable payment terms. n
Reactivate staff club Transparency n
The status of occupancy and vacancy in the university guest houses - on and off campus - be made available online. The computer department is ready to develop the software. n
The status of CAS applications, study leave applications and other applications filed by teachers be reported online. A mechanism/ software to this effect too can be developed. n
University should take initiative on its own to implement the Right to Service Act to make the system accountable. Congenial administrative environment n
In multi-faculty departments/ institutes, the subject-coordinators be appointed on the basis of rotation, with separate secretarial and financial assistance. n
The directors/ principals of the Institutes should also be appointed on the basis of rotation, as provided in the university calendar. n
In departments which have eligible faculty for working as coordinator/ head of the department, appointment of coordinator/ head from other departments should not be allowed. n
In the appointment of coordinators and for other administrative positions in the university, the seniority principle, provided in the calendar, should not be violated. Better academic facility n
Change in academic calendar should be avoided at all costs. In case some changes are of emergent nature, they should be intimated in time to the faculty but in no case any change should be finalized without the consent of PUTA leadership. n
The faculty should not be asked to re-conduct the exams of re-appear students, every now and then. The limits once set should be strictly adhered to. n
The faculty should not be transferred to other departments without the consent of the statutory bodies of the concerned department. n
The authority of the chairpersons, and the department committees should not be bye-passed in any case. n
It should be ensured that only those who belong to the subject concerned, be nominated to the BOS. Improved research conditions n
Instead of pre-audit, the utilisation of project-funds be post-audited. Due to irrelevant and sometimes amusing objections by the audit, necessary equipment, books, raw material needed for research is unduly delayed, causing a setback to research. n
The working of the G&P section should be made more responsive. The movement of files in this section is rather slow. In case the section is understaffed, more staff should be provided on priority bases. n
The funds allocated to different departments for seminars etc. should be released within a time frame.
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Speculation is rife that UT deputy commissioner (DC) Brijendra Singh, a 1998 batch Haryana cadre IAS officer and son of a Congress party leader, is all set to contest the Hisar Lok Sabha seat.
On Tuesday, the MC challaned at least 100 encroachers in the transport area under a special anti-encroachment drive. At least four illegal ‘dhabas’ were removed during the exercise. The drive was carried out peacefully following the orders of Lalit Siwach, Additional Commissioner. A demolition drive of illegal structures was also carried out in Sector 41 by the Chandigarh Housing Board
DIG Alok Kumar interacted with students of Shivalik School, Sector 41, on Tuesday in connection with a traffic awareness programme. He interacted with students and spoke about the precautions one must take.