The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

	Students raise voice against exorbitant fees Parmod Bharti Nawanshahr, November 14 The students of the local BLM Girls College under the aegis of Punjab Students Union (PSU) took out a protest march and held a dharna in front of Deputy Commissioner’s office today. Addressing the rally, PSU state executive member said the college had been charging exorbitantly for various graduation and post graduation courses. “While the annual fee of three-year degree course in the government colleges is Rs 3,500 (approximately), in the government-aided private colleges the fee shoot up to Rs 15,000,” said PSU leader. “The college is not only charging exorbitant fee but is also levying hefty fines. As much as Rs 100 is charged per day in case of a delay in depositing fees,” said the irate student leaders of the BLM Girls College adding that the students had been fined to the tune of Rs 2,000 to 3,000, which can not be justified. Meenakshi Sharma, Principal, when contacted on phone, denied the charges and said the fees and fines were charged rules mentioned in college prospectus. “The students have never approached her with any such complaint,” said the principal adding that some students who had problem in paying fee or fine had submitted their applications and the “Fee Committee” had considered their cases. A memorandum was also submitted demanding inquiry into the charging of excess fee.
	No PTU appointments to be made without court’s approval Tribune News Service Chandigarh, November 14 Issuing a notice of motion for November 29 on a petition challenging the notification of September 29 appointing Punjab Technical University’s 5th Board of Governors, the Punjab and Haryana High Court today ruled no appointments shall be made without the Court’s prior approval. Challenging the notification, Jalandhar-based Anti-Corruption Society has asserted that it is in complete violation of the provisions of the Punjab Technical University Act, 1996. Directions were also sought for setting aside all decisions taken by the newly notified 5th Board of Governors in its meeting “including the decision to recommend extension to Dr Rajneesh Arora for appointment as the PTU Vice Chancellor” In the petition filed through counsel Sartej Singh Narula, the Society had also sought directions to the state of Punjab and the PTU to nominate members of the Board of governors in accordance with the provisions of Punjab Technical University Act 1996. Narula asserted: “The PTU is the only university in the country which has more that 27 Assistant Registrars, no other university in the country has employed more than seven Assistant Registrars and that too from candidates having five years mandatory experience as Superintendent or equivalent post”. “In the case of PTU, not only has requisite experience been dropped, indiscriminate appointments have been made to adjust favourites”. The petitioner added that already 400 appointments have been made by Dr Arora within a span of one year. “The endeavour is only to provide political benefit to the powers that be, by making more appointments in the university and has burdened the university in such a manner that it can never survive the burden”. What the petition says Jalandhar-based Anti-Corruption Society files petition Challenges the newly notified 5th Board of Governors on September 29 Says it is in complete violation of the provisions of the PTU Act, 1996 Says requisite experience ignored, appointments made to adjust favourites
	Cong observers meet ticket seekers Our Correspondent Hoshiarpur, November 14 Ticket seekers from Mukerian, Dasuya and Tanda along with their hundreds of supporters met the All India Congress Committee (AICC) observer, Naresh Gupta, and PPCC coordinator Arun Joshi at local office of the District Congress Committee (DCC) today. Rajnish Babbi, son of former Speaker of Vidhan Sabha Late Dr Kewal Krishan, Ajit Narang, Master Romesh and Manglesh Judge from Mukerian segment put their credentials before the observer for party ticket. Rajnish Babbi contested the last Assembly election from this segment on Congress ticket unsuccessfully. From Dasuya segment former Minister Romesh Chander Dogra and Bibi Devinder Kaur staked their claim for party ticket. From Urmur segment MLA Sangat Singh Gilzian, who defeated the Congress candidate Satinder Kaur Cheema, and Dr Sukhdev Sharma also met the party observers. After meeting all of them, Naresh Gupta said he and Arun Joshi would go from village to village to know about the ‘win-ability’ of the Congress candidates. There was a great enthusiasm among the party workers with regard to the forthcoming Assembly elections. While talking to The Tribune, the president of the DCC, Sunder Sham Arora, said the party observers would meet ticket seekers along with their supporters from Hoshiarpur, Sham Chaurasi, Chabbewal and Garhshankar segments tomorrow.
	Doctors call for national-level programme to check diabetes PK Jaiswar/TNS Amritsar, November 14 Expert diabetologists have asked the governments at the centre and states to out of slumber and initiate some national-level programme for combating diabetes before the situation goes out of control. It is no secret now that India has become the world capital in diabetes. According to the International Diabetes Federation, the country accounted for 50.8 million diabetics, largest in the world. “Due to changed lifestyle and unhealthy food habits, childhood obesity is increasing leading to type-2 diabetes in young generation,” revealed Dr Rohit Kapoor, noted diabetologist. “Instances of diabetes among young adults has increased manifolds in the country. And in majority of them childhood obesity was the main cause of the disease,” added Kapoor. “Unfortunately, there is no systematic survey conducted on the trends of diabetes in the country or in the state. As per the recent studies, about 17 per cent of Indian children are overweight or obese and are prone to type-2 diabetes,” said Dr Kapoor. Another expert Dr Rajiv Sharma said in India, the diabetes is spreading at the rate of 5 per cent annually among the schoolchildren. Untreated children and young adults with type-2 diabetes are at much higher risk of cardiovascular diseases. The experts pointed out that the government should launch national-level programme before it’s too late. Meanwhile, EMC Group of Hospitals, Amritsar, organised Diabetes Walk to mark World Diabetes Day. The walk started from Company Bagh and about 800 students from various schools and colleges participated in the event.
	Four child labourers rescued Tribune News Service Jalandhar, November 14 The Labour Department today raided 52 areas in the city and rescued four children from Domoriah Bridge, Bhagat Singh Chowk and Preet Nagar areas. While one child each was recovered from a timber shop at Domoriah Bridge and a cycle repair shop in Preet Nagar, two brothers were rescued from a liquor outlet (Bhagat Singh Chowk). Labour inspector JP Singh, who rescued the kids during 26 raids conducted across the city, said while the owners of liquor and cycle-repair outlets will be fined up to Rs 20,000 (because they come under hazardous occupation), the owner at the timber shop would be fined up to Rs 10,000. Another 26 raids conducted by labour inspector Kunwar did not yield any result, he did not recover a single child. Interestingly, The Tribune found dozens of children working at the approach of the Kazi Mandi (which is just yards away from the Domoriah Bridge), the labour department could find only one child in the area.
	Body found Our Correspondent Nawanshahr, November 14 A migrant labourer, Pandu (30), was found murdered inside a water-pump room in the field where he worked in Majhoor village here on Sunday. He was attacked with sharp-edged weapons by unidentified miscreants. He was a resident of Ganji Gaon, Khatti district in Jharkhand. Gurdev Singh, landlord, in his statement said Pandu had borrowed a sum of Rs 8,000 from him in order to send his family to Jharkhand. On the fateful day, he had dinner and went to the fields at around 8 pm. However, he did not return the next day. He did not even respond to the calls made on his cell phones. On Sunday evening, his body was found when another labourer went to the fields. The police reached the spot and took note of the circumstantial evidences. A case under Section 302 of the IPC has been registered at the Sadar police station.
	Road accident claims two lives Our Correspondent Phagwara, November 14 Harbans Lal and his wife, Rani, were killed on the spot, when their motorcycle was hit by a speeding Scorpio car near Bhulrai Chowk on Mehli-Mehtan bypass on Sunday. They were the residents of Mehli village who were on their way to Jalandhar. The car driver managed to escape, however, the police has registered a case against him and sent the bodies to the local Civil Hospital for postmortem examination.
	Lucky spectators to get Nano, mobikes Tribune News Service Jalandhar, November 14 A Nano car and two motorcycles, besides several attractive gifts would be given to some lucky spectators of the World Kabaddi Cup matches to be held at Guru Gobind Singh Stadium in Jalandhar on November 16. These attractive gifts were announced by NRI Parminder Singh and Tarsem Singh, who said the effort was being made to evoke more interest of people in kabaddi.
	Painting contest held to promote energy conservation Tribune News Service Chandigarh, November 14 The Ministry of Power, Government of India has launched the National Awareness Campaign in order to promote energy conservation in the country. Various programmes for young school children have been devised to sensitise them about the need for conserving energy as also to educate and involve their parents in this cause. The Bhakra Beas Management Board organised an on-the-spot state-level painting competition among schoolchildren of UT Chandigarh, Punjab and Haryana at the Indradhanush Auditorium, Sector-5, Panchkula today. Nearly three lakh participants competed for the school-level competition, out of which 150 children were selected for the state-level competition. The first three winners of state-level painting competition will participate in the national-level painting competition to be held at New Delhi. A.B. Agrawal, Chairman, BBMB, was the Chief Guest. While addressing the audience he said that children by the way of participating in this competition have become the part of National Awareness campaign to promote energy conservation in the country started by Union Ministry of Power. Cash prizes of Rs 10,000, Rs 8000 and Rs 5,000 were given to winners. From Chandigarh Dhanvi Nair, Mount Carmel School, Lavish Neoliya of Government Model High School, Sector 28-D, and Srishti Joshi Of Strawberry Fields World School, Sector 26, won the first, second and third prizes, respectively. Similarly, from Punjab Kashish Aggarwal of the DAV International School, Amritsar, Divyangna Verma of DAV Public School, Lawrence Road, Amritsar and Kiran Rajput of Lala Jagat Narain DAV Model School, Jalandhar, were declared winners. From Haryana, Kashin Sood of The Gurukul Public School, Sector 20, Panchkula, Spandan Pramanick of Bright Scholar Senior Secondary School, Sector10, Sonepat and Bhavya Gupta of Aggarsain Public School, Kurukshetra won the first, second and third prizes, respectively.