Chandigarh, October 7
Dr Veena Garella, a first-batch student of the Chandigarh College of Architecture (CCA) in 1961, still remembers her interaction with Le Corbusier, the creator of Chandigarh, who told her that to be an architect, one needed to wear a 16-pocket jacket. She remembers clearly that he himself was wearing one at that time.

Speaking on the sidelights of the golden jubilee celebrations of the CCA, Dr Varella said she had met Le Corbusier when he had come to inaugurate the college. Dr Garella knew a little French. This gave her some time with the legendary figure in the world of architecture. Her batch of 1961, naturally, is the toast of the entire gathering.

She said Le Corbusier explained her about the utility of each pocket separately. He had assigned a distinct place to different tools used by a planner, including his pen, pencil, rulers, thread and even spectacles.

She remembered that he would say, “Always remember the number 16 to tally with the number of tools needed before commencing your job.” The master planner would explain the utility of each pocket. In fact, there was a detailed planning involved even in keeping the tools specifically in different pockets. There was a flow in the manner in which a workman could carry his job in case he had planned his pocket layout, she said.

She was just one among over 100 odd ex-students who managed to reach the college. For the gathering, it was largely a trip down the memory lane; about the times they shared; and how their alma mater had helped them reach places of eminence in different fields.

Chandigarh,October 7
Finally waking up to the spate of auctions of heritage items overseas, the UT Administration has finally prepared an official inventory of items of heritage value.This inventory comes almost a decade and a half after the UT Administration issued directions to various departments to compile a list of heritage items.

In fact, the inventory of the heritage items prepared by the UT Department of Urban Planning after a painstaking five-month-long exercise will have a list of over 10,000 items, including furniture, tapestries, models and sketches, designed by Team Le Corbusier.The inventory would now be sent to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) for framing rules and regulations for the preservation of heritage items, sources said.

The listing of the heritage items will pave the way for preparing an official catalogue, which is expected to go a long way in stopping the “disposal” of these

items at foreign auction houses. Recently, certain foreign auction houses had raked in moolah by putting under hammer items of heritage value, particularly wooden furniture items, originating from Chandigarh.

During the course of the preparation of the inventory, it was found that several institutions, including Panjab University, had disposed of several items of heritage value at their own level without informing the UT Administration. The name of a French auction house had cropped up during the preparation of the inventory.

It may be recalled that on May 5 this year, the UT Administration had directed the departments concerned to send the list of heritage items to the administration.

The directions to prepare a comprehensive list of sketches, furniture and models were first issued in 1996. The items were designed and used by French architect Le Corbusier, his associate Pierre Jeanneret and others. These architects and planners were associated with the founding and planning of Chandigarh in the 1950s and 1960s.

Chandigarh, October 7
Chandigarh Municipal Corporation (MC) councillors indulged in mudslinging in the General House today over the issue which had no concern with the MC or the development in the city.

During the Zero Hour, Congress Councillor Pardeep Chhabra pointed out that nominated councillor Dr AP Sanwaria, who believes in giving sermons to others against corruption, had himself been involved in a case of fraud by giving a wrong affidavit for house allotment.

Objecting to it, Sanwaria said: “Ask your high command to choose candidates who can act according to the MC Act.” Reacting to it, all Congress councillors unanimously protested and demanded that the words stated by the nominated councillor be withdrawn. After heated exchange among the nominated and the Congress councillors, Sanwaria withdrew his words.

Recalling the allegations levelled in the past against Congress councillors, Sanwaria said how his case could be discussed on the floor of the House when during booth scam, Mayor Ravinder Pal Singh had stated that the issue could not be discussed as it was not in the preview of the MC.

BJP councillor Anil Kumar Dubey alleged that recently a case was registered against him on the directions of the Union Minister and Member of Parliament Pawan Kumar Bansal. Objecting to it, Congress councillors said until the person concerned, against whom the House is discussing, was not present in the House, no allegations should be levelled against him.

Chandigarh, October 7
The Municipal Corporation (MC) has woken from slumber after four months and realised that the action taken on the Uppal Housing Project located in Mani Majra on violation of terms of the memorandum of understanding (MOU) are on the basis of the incomplete inquiry report.

As per the inquiry report prepared by the former Joint Commissioner, the company had flouted the MoU by not constructing 25 EWS houses.

This fact came to light when MC Additional Commissioner Lalit Siwach informed the General House today that the report, which was tabled in the House in May, was incomplete. He said the company had made a provision to construct EWS houses by 2015. Besides, there are many loopholes in the report which are under scrutiny. He said the demand of a CBI inquiry has not been approved by the House during confirmation of minutes.

Reacting to it, Congress councillor Chander Mukhi Sharma said it was strange that officials were now challenging the veracity of the report prepared by them. He expressed surprise that on the basis of the incomplete report, action had been initiated against residents of Uppal society by not issuing them no objection certificates, but no action had been taken against the officials and the builder.

Congress councillor Devinder Singh Babla alleged that a conspiracy is being hatched by MC officials and the builder to settle the issue. Why all these facts have been brought out now when in last House meeting, councillors had demanded a CBI inquiry against officials for omitting clause of the construction of 25 houses for economically weaker section in the Uppal housing project.

Nominated councillors demanded withdrawal of a CBI inquiry against MC officials involved in the project on the basis that it was the matter of the estate office and the MC had nothing to do with it. They also asked the Mayor to withdraw the decision of not issuing NOCs to residents of the Uppal housing project.

However, Mayor Ravinder Pal Singh said the matter would be resolved by MC Commissioner Prerna Puri.

Chandigarh, October 7
The District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum has slapped a fine of Rs 30,000 on Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) for causing mental agony and harassment to a Sector 52 resident.

In his complaint, Amit Kumar, a resident of Kajehri village in Sector 52, had averred that his wife took a policy for a sum of Rs 1.25 lakh on October 19, 2009, valid for one year from November 3, 2009, and was required to pay Rs 510 per month as premium.

He said on the same evening, his wife fell ill and got treated at the PGI where it came to light that she was four-month pregnancy. On December 21, 2009, the Amit got her wife admitted to the PGI with the complaint of shortness of breath and irregular respiration. It was diagnosed that she was a case of swine flu which ultimately led to her death after three days along with the foetus in the womb. Thereafter, he submitted the claim form along with requisite documents, but the opposite party rejected the claim on the ground of suppression of material facts regarding her health at the time of proposing for the insurance policy.

The counsel for the LIC pleaded that the claim of the complainant had been repudiated as the insured did not act in good faith and suppressed the true and correct facts from the opposite party at the time of taking the policy. The opposite party further pleaded that the life insured became aware about her pregnancy on December 19, 2009, but she deliberately did not disclose it to the opposite party while filling up the proposal form.

Chandigarh, October 7
Doctors at the liver transplant unit of the PGI are keeping their fingers crossed for the success of the second transplant that was conducted on a 30-year-old woman, Upasna, from Karnal, late last night.

With the first liver transplant conducted on April 15 this year being unsuccessful as the patient died after battling for life for 30 days, doctors are literally praying for the success of the surgery. The liver transplant on Upasana was completed late last night following which she was shifted to the ICU in the Advanced Cardiac Centre.

Doctors said the family of a brain dead patient admitted to the hospital agreed to donate the liver after the blood samples matched with that of Upasna. The formalities for the transplant, which included obtaining an NOC from the local police, were completed and the operation commenced early yesterday morning.

The donor, who subsequently died, was cremated late this evening by her family members. Doctors admitted that family members of donors were initially reluctant to donate the liver, but they agreed when they were briefed how this noble act could save another life.

Upasna was suffering from liver cirrhosis. She was lucky to get the liver as her blood group matched with that of the donor.

Panchkula, October 7
In a major breakthrough in the 15-day-old sensational high-end car theft from Sector 7 in Panchkula, a joint team of the Chandigarh and Panchkula police has recovered the Porsche car from Faizabad district in Uttar Pradesh.

Sources in the investigation team revealed that residents in Faizabad had informed the Faizabad police that a Porsche car was lying abandoned there for the past two-three days. The Faizabad police then checked the documents and found that the car was the same, which was stolen from Panchkula. The team immediately informed the Panchkula and Chandigarh police.

Sources added that after receiving the information, a team of the Panchkula police left for Faizabad to bring back the car to Panchkula. Sources further added that the GPS installed in the car was non functional.

It was on the night of September 21 that the thieves had struck at the house of a Panchkula businessman Chander Verma in sector 7 and made off with the Porsche worth around Rs 80 lakh. The same gang had struck early that morning when it snatched the chain of an elderly woman in Sector 11, Chandigarh, and stole her Toyota Corolla. Hours later during the night, the gang came in the stolen Toyota Corolla to Sector 7, Panchkula, and took away a Mercedes and the Porsche. However, the thieves abandoned the Mercedes and the Toyota Corolla and took away the Porsche car.

Mohali, October 7
Close on the heels of a scam involving the release of expensive printing papers to publishers for printing of textbooks by officials of the publication branch of the Punjab School Education Board (PSEB) without taking adequate paper security amount, another scam involving the purchase of the printing paper has rocked the board.

A publisher, Anubhav Chaturvedi, on the basis of information sought under the Right to Information Act (RTI), has claimed that the PSEB authorities were purchasing the paper at a rate of Rs 44,000 per tonne from a private firm whereas the same firm was supplying the paper for Rs 38,000 per tonne to other boards, including NCERT, Gujarat board and Indira Gandhi Open University.

It has been pointed out that certain officials in the board were pocketing the excess Rs 6,000 per tonne, thus causing a loss of Rs 6 crore annually to the exchequer.

While raising a question mark over the role of the agency from which the paper was being tested, he said the paper was not being checked by a national-level certified agency.

Refuting the publisher’s claim, Dr Dalbir Singh Dhillon, chairman of the PSEB, said an empowered committee was involved in the purchase of the printing paper and the rates were approved by the government.

On the other hand, Kharar MLA Balbir Singh Sidhu demanded a probe into the issue.

Chandigarh, October 7
It will be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for those who wish to travel from the city to Srinagar on October 10 as the fare to be charged by Air India that day is equal to the fare of Volvo buses for the 650-km journey. According to sources, this Rs-1,584 fare will be a one-time offer.

Air India also operates as a second line of transport between the city and the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir for the men in olive green.

Between 50 and 60 seats are vacant in the Air India flight, which will take off at 12:30 pm. These are now being offered to civilians planning to visit Srinagar.

Confirming this, Air India station manager MR Jindal has said this will be a temporary exercise as a few seats are available.

The aeroplane has a capacity of 172 seats, of which 152 are in the economy class and 20 in the executive class. Air India will charge only for a one-way journey.

According to sources, there is no proposal to start a new flight from Chandigarh to Srinagar in view of the financial crunch being faced by Air India.

A survey is being conducted to know its feasibility, but there the possibility of starting it is remote as the company is not able to pay salaries to its employees for months together.

The private airliner Kingfisher, which has been running into huge losses, has already decided to discontinue its economy class Kingfisher Red flights.

Chandigarh, October 7
It was a walk down the memory lane for the alumni on the golden jubilee celebrations of the Chandigarh College of Architecture, as the event brought old friends together and gave them a perfect setting to get nostalgic.

The corridors of the college echoed with laughter and chatter of the alumni, who met their batchmates after so many decades.

Sharing his memories, MR Tayal, a 1961-batch student who retired as Haryana’s Chief Town Planner, said the college just had one classroom, a staff room and three teachers back then.

“We just had a single classroom on the Punjab Engineering College campus and a class of a handful of students. It symbolised a small step taken before a great journey,” recollected Tayal.

Col BK Sodhi, from the same batch, also had many “pleasant” memories to share. For him, it was a great experience reliving old memories. “I feel young again. This is the best thing that can happen to us - to share our old memories with our classmates,” said Sodhi. He had joined the defence services soon after passing out of the college.

PR Luthra, a former Chief Architect of Punjab and a 1961-batch student, who also taught in the college till 1974, said meeting his friends from the college after so many years was a great feeling. “I cannot put it in words,” Luthra said while hugging his old friends.

The alumni were seen gazing at their pictures culled from college forms and put on display at the venue. An exhibition of the pictures collected from the alumni and the college album was organised by the college.

Chandigarh, October 7
Walking in the rush of the Chandigarh College of Architecture alumni, one could not miss noticing a tall gentleman sharing light moments with different groups on the campus.

On enquiries, it was discovered that the stranger, who commanded love and respect among his alumni friends, was Nawab Kazim Ali Khan, a four-time Member of the Legislative Assembly, Uttar Pradesh.

He is currently the chairman of the UP State Tourism Development Corporation. He also served as the minister for minority welfare and Haj.

His demeanour, in rugged jeans and designer shoes, did not conform to the image of a politician.

This 1987-batch student had always been among the class toppers at the college. “I always had a fancy for designing my living environs. I stood third in my graduation and then went to New York to pursue double master’s at Columbia University. As fate would have it, my family background in politics pulled me back into the fold and I had no other option but to work for the man on the street,” Khan said.

Khan used to frequent Chandigarh, as his grandfather, Aminuddin Ahmed Khan, served as a Governor of Punjab.

“I stayed at Raj Bhavan, later shifted to the Commissioner’s residence and finally to a house in Sector 8. I have very fond association with each place I stayed here. I was a science student in Delhi University. However, I came here to pursue my degree in architecture.”

In 1988, Khan assisted a renowned Chinese architect, IM Pei, in one of his projects in New York.

Apart from having college buddies, Khan made several friends in DAV College and Government College for Men.

“I had a big friend circle and we used to enjoy the life of Chandigarh, which was ahead of the time then also,” he recalled. On the changes in the college, Khan said the college had added new structures and studios with modern facilities.

Although Khan is no more an architect, he certainly dreams of designing his home in UP.

Chandigarh, October 7
“Chandigarh has been able to retain the Le Corbusier’s original concept in spite of an increase in its population with time,” said renowned Portuguese architect and Pritzker Architecture Prize laureate, Eduardo Souto de Moura, who was in the city for a presentation during the golden jubilee celebrations of the Chandigarh College of Architecture.

He said there was a need to work on the concept of extension of the city to cope with the burgeoning population.

“Arrangements must be made fast to align the settlement of the regional population in the envious urban settlement.”

Eduardo, who has visited the city earlier also, said he liked the concept of natural green houses in some parts of the city. “The concept of Chandigarh, which was planned by Corbusier, is still intact”, Eduardo said while talking to The Tribune.

“The perception of people that Le Corbusier was against high-rise buildings is not true. Chandigarh was planned for a limited number of people. That’s why he didn’t want to have high-rise buildings. However, later on he designed cities in various parts of world that had high-rise buildings,” he said.

Eduardo added that not just Chandigarh but cities around the world were finding it hard to cater to the needs of burgeoning populations and their needs in the 21st century. Eduardo gave a presentation of his creations to the students of the CCA and its alumni.