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Sorrow of sukhna lake
Chandigarh, March 17 Recently, the Administration had put forward the proposal before the committee that during winter the demand for water was less and hence, water could be supplied from the Kajauli waterworks. Water had to be supplied to the lake to solve the problem of weed that nurtures in swampy conditions. An official said they had submitted the proposal as there had not been enough rain last year and the lake had not filled to capacity. Additional water from Kajauli would have suffocated the weed that grew in the swamp. The original area that the lake spanned has shrunk considerably. In 1958, it encompassed 228 hectares. Today, it spans across 148 hectares, down by almost a third.
WHO cares for
City Beautiful?
Most of the lake may dry up soon in the absence of life support. A study by National Institute of Hydrology, Roorkee (Uttarakhand), says the water level is going down by 6mm daily in winters and around 8 mm daily in summers
Water level
4-5 ft In Summer 3-3.5 ft
Proposal that was The UT Administration recently awarded a project to the department of zoology of Panjab University. The experts were supposed to analyse water samples from for physio-chemical characteristics reasons for weed growth. The UT Administration has agreed to pay Rs 10 lakh to the university for the study
Who played spoilsport The Haryana government turned down the UT Administration’s request to provide water from the Kaushalya Dam in Pinjore. The Administration wanted a separate water channel, which the government was laying from Pinjore to Panchkula
Additional water is required to suffocate the weed growing in the lake
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UT gets Rs 5 crore from Centre for underpass project
Chandigarh, March 17 Eight underpasses would be constructed at various points, including UT Press Chowk, Transport Chowk, Piccadilly Chowk, ISBT-Sector 17, Kisan Bhawan and Matka Chowk. The CHB has carried out a topographical survey, geo-technical investigation, underground utility survey, traffic survey and also appointed a company as consultant for the project. In the first phase, it was decided to construct underpasses at Press Chowk, Transport Chowk and Piccadilly Chowk. All stretches are prone to frequent traffic bottlenecks due to the increasing vehicle load. The work would be allotted on a design-build-maintain model and the agency hired for the project would not only plan ways to avoid common problems like waterlogging and poor lighting inside subways, but also maintain it for five years. The subways are likely to reduce congestion by a mammoth 52 percent.
Highest per capita vehicle ratio
A recent study conducted by the UT engineering department had revealed that over 35,000 vehicles crossed the UT press lights at Madhya Marg during peak hours. The city has the highest per capita vehicle ratio in the country.
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ICSE does away with environment examination
Chandigarh, March 17 Following a two-year-old decision of doing away with a separate paper for the subject, the board has decided to include parts of its syllabus in other subjects like biology and social sciences. “We are not doing away with the subject, only the mandatory examination. This will actually benefit students as the number of exams will be reduced. According to a Supreme Court verdict, students have to learn environmental lessons. But nowhere does it make it mandatory to hold an examination in the subject. The decision to do away with the exam was taken two years ago, but it will be implemented from this year,” said Gerry Arathoon, the officiating chief executive and secretary of the CISCE. The argument has, however, failed to impress both city principals and students who feel it was a scoring subject. “It was one of the most scoring, interesting and easy subjects, and there was hardly any child who was not interested in it. Though we may claim to retain the subject in bits by adding it to other subjects, it cannot substitute a full-fledged subject. Contrary to the board’s thinking, it was actually one of the most stress-free examination for students,” said a principal. Two years ago, the National Council of Education and Training (NCET) approached the Supreme Court and accepted the new curriculum. According to the new curriculum, environmental science would not be taught as a separate subject. About 10 per cent will be allocated in all the other subjects and each student will have to do two projects a year. Meanwhile, environmentalists have regretted the decision. A geologist, Prof Naval Kishore of Panjab University, says: “School education is the foundation of awareness. One thing that made the ICSE special was its emphasis on learning rather than marks and exams. Having a full-fledged subject of environment education ensured higher levels of awareness and sensitivity among schoolchildren. The practice, which should have been taken up by the CBSE, has unfortunately faded.”
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MC has no criteria for commendation certificate
Chandigarh, March 17 Interestingly, a five-member committee was constituted under the chairmanship of the Additional Commissioner to consider the request and nominate officials after scrutinising records and recommend their names for the commendation certificate even though the MC authorities had no criteria on the basis of which the committee could select the employees. Records of the MC revealed that during the Republic Day last year, former Mayor Ravinder Pal Singh had cancelled official orders of giving commendation certificate to three shortlisted employees as there was no official information as to who had finalised their names. The committee seems to have adopted double standard to consider the employees for the certificates. On the one hand, as per the RTI reply, there is no deadline to forward the recommendations for the commendation certificate while on the other hand, in the same reply, the authorities have informed that for January 26, 2012, the case of a public health employee was rejected on the plea that it was sent on January 16, so it could not be considered as the names had already been finalised by the committee.
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Sofat fails to file reply in court
Panchkula, March 17 The court deferred the hearing for orders on the prosecution’s application. The police had submitted that Nelson, Sumit’s driver, had never received any gunshot and the bullet was planted inside the body by specialists. The shootout was said to be staged to prove that the driver had been shot at by a Ludhiana-based businessman,
Ramesh Pashan, with whom Dr Sofat had a property dispute. In the application, moved under Section 319 of the CrPC, public prosecutor, Narinder Bhuria, mentioned that the injury was superficial and that the bullet was planted. The prosecution demanded that Nelson be summoned as accused. The application was moved after a PGI doctor recorded his statement last week. In the statement, recorded by public prosecutor Dharampal, Dr Rahul Singh had stated that as per the medico-legal case summary of the patient, treated by Dr Rajat Kalra, who had left the PGI, the nature of injury had been shown to be simple as the injury was superficial and not deep. Notably, on September 17, 2011 the police, on a tip off, had arrested Sofat, a resident of Heera Nagar (Ludhiana), at Sector 22 in Chandigarh. Sofat was booked following investigations into his complaint regarding robbery and shooting in Morni Hills in July 19 last year. The investigations had revealed that the incident was planned by the doctor himself to implicate Ramesh Pashan and his two sons in a criminal case. Earlier, Sofat had alleged that Pashan and his two sons, Vinayak and Abhinav, with the help of their driver, Ranjit, and two other unidentified persons, had attacked and injured his driver Nelson, who was shot twice in the chest. Sofat had also alleged that Pashan family had robbed Rs 33 lakh from his vehicle.
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High drama at Panchkula hospital
Panchkula, March 17 Mohan Lal, brother-in-law of the deceased, Raj Rani, while alleging the foul play, demanded that the body should be handed over to him after the post mortem examination. He also approached the SDM in this regard. However, Rajni, who said that the deceased had adopted her, also met the SDM and informed that Raj Rani and her husband had adopted her when they used to live in Sector 22, Chandigarh. She said that later, the couple shifted to Panchkula and then Rajni was married. She added that as the deceased couple had no children, she and her husband looked after the old couple. She added that Raj Rani was suffering from cataract and was operated upon about 10 days ago. Her neighbour informed her on Friday that Rani had become unconscious while washing clothes. Rajni, who was working at her office, immediately returned home took her mother to the General Hospital, Sector 6, where the doctors declared her brought dead. She alleged that her uncle, Mohan Lal, had never visited the couple for the past two decades and was now trying to take the possession of the body of his mother for ulterior motives. The SDM, after hearing the two, ordered to hand over the body of the deceased to Rajni Bala after the post mortem examination.
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Centre’s largesse to MC — Rs 171.60 cr
Chandigarh, March 17 The corporation has got Rs 30 crore for the development of city roads, which are under the jurisdiction of the MC, whereas for solid waste management, Rs 20 crore has been allocated. For the departments, which were recently transferred, including primary health care and primary education, Rs 10 crore each has been allocated in the Budget. Even for various civic works, including a multi-level parking, upgradation of bus queue shelter, Community Centres and Sports Complex in Daddu Majra, Rs 15 crore has been allocated. An amount of Rs 15.50 crore has been allocated for augmentation of the city water supply system, including Phases V and VI, VII and VIII. For sewerage system, it has got Rs 15 crore, for storm water drainage, Rs 10 crore, for improvement of all green belts, gardens and other works on V-3 roads, Rs 8 crore has been allocated. For non-residential buildings, for upgradation of existing three-storeyed MCC buildings to six-storeyed and for fire protection and control, Rs 1 crore has been allocated in the Budget. Under the JNNURM, for the replacement and augmentation of trunk brick sewers by the RCC, NP3 pipes, Rs 25 crore and under the Swarn Jyanti Shahari Rozgar Yojana (SJSRY) Rs 1 crore has been allocated by the Union government.
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Strike by Jewellers
Chandigarh, March 17 “We have closed our market for three days as all gold shops in the country will remain closed. All jewellers in the country will keep their shops closed for three days. We were hoping for some help from the government, but instead it has taken away all help we had so far,” said Subash Kataria, chairman of the Chandigarh Jeweller Association. The jewellers lamented that if the government's proposal was implemented then their business would be adversely affected. Against the imposition of duty at a rate of Rs 350 per 10 grams, the new proposed duty is Rs 700 per 10 grams. “Due to the increase in the gold prices, we have lost customers. Maybe the customers will divert to other things like silver jewellery or imitation jewellery,” said Kataria. The excise that has been put on jewellers and artisans will mean end of their business. Small businessmen will suffer and multinational companies will come up. The jewellers have threatened to go on an indefinite strike if the government fails to pay heed to their demand.
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Good news for Mohali residents
Mohali, March 17 Though the ageing water supply system of Mohali has not been able to cater to the needs of residents of the expanding town, the authorities concerned, however, are hopeful that the supply of water to residents will go on uninterrupted though the pressure can decrease as the mercury starts rising in the coming months. Officials of the water supply wing said the demand of water in summer was 23 mgd (million gallons a day) against the availability of only 13.3 mgd. Mohali was getting only 10 mgd of canal water from Kajauli waterworks and the remaining it was getting from tubewells. At present 41 tubewells were running in the area falling under municipal limits. The canal water was not being supplied to four Sectors (from 66 to 69) which were only depending on tubewells. These areas were being looked after by the Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (GMADA). Executive engineer Anil Kumar said the gap between the demand and supply of water in the town had remained over the years, but 10 new tubewells sunk by GMADA and the municipal council were giving good discharge which had helped in easing the situation to some extent. He said no ban had so far been imposed on irrigation of lawns and washing of vehicles during morning supply hours as the demand had still not gone up due good weather conditions. If the mercury suddenly went up by March-end, the ban could be imposed from April 1, he added. He said most likely the department would not like to go in for water rationing. Instead, extra hours would be devoted to pump water so that residents got adequate supply. The civic body had also been asked to sink 12 more tubewells in areas like Phases I to V, VII, PCA stadium in Phase IX, Commando Complex in Phase XI and Shahi Majra village. When water rationing is done in the town, residents are given supply to fill their overhead tanks on alternate days. Areas linked with the water works in Phase VI are divided into two zones and water at full pressure is supplied on every alternate night to fill the overhead tanks. Zone I covers Phases I, VI, III B 2 and V while Phases II, III A, III B 1, IV and VII fall under Zone II.
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Notice to shopkeepers
Chandigarh, March 17 In the last three months, around 70 shopkeepers have been issued notices. To maintain the heritage status of Sector 17, the UT Administration has directed the estate office to issue notices to shopkeepers asking them to remove illegal constructions. The defacement is against the heritage plan. The violators have been given two months time to remove the violations. They have been asked to stick to the original design. The corridors have been covered with plywood or other material.
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Sohi is officiating president of MC
Zirakpur, March 17 He said he would discuss the matter with councillors. He said the election to the post of Ward No. 6 councillor would be done after the notification. Meanwhile, a team of 160 sanitation workers will carry out a cleanliness drive in the town. He said each ward would get at least 10 workers. Four tractor-trailers, two dumper replacers and latest equipment had been given to the workers. Four supervisors had also been appointed to submit their report in the office. He said Rs 70 lakh per year would be spent on it. — TNS
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Raid at custom officer’s house
Chandigarh, March 17 Singh was arrested on Saturday for demanding and accepting a bribe of Rs 1.50 lakh in Ludhiana. The bribe was being sought on the pretext of clearing a file of a regular customer of the custom department. The superintendent was arrested along with a contractual employee, Harbans Singh, from their office in Ludhiana. Sources in the CBI said apart from the recovery of cash and liquor bottles, documents of various properties were also recovered from the house. The raid that started in the morning continued for hours. Singh was posted in Ludhiana but his native house is in Chandigarh. The sources said the role of some more officials of the central board of excise and customs department is under the scanner and Singh was being interrogated for ascertaining the involvement of other officials. They maintained that though the superintendent was demanding the bribe, he had sent Harbans for collecting it from the complainant. It was learnt that the superintendent resided in Chandigarh and he, along with three others, used to travel to Ludhiana everyday.
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46 donate blood
Mohali, March 17 Dr Joshi added that a team of doctors from the Government Medical College and Hospital, Sector 32, Chandigarh, conducted the camp, which witnessed enthusiastic response from the students.
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Man dies of electrocution
Panchkula, March 17 One of the other farm workers, Mohal Lal, informed the police who took the victim to the Government Hospital at Kot village from where the doctors refereed him to the General Hospital, Sector 6, where the doctors declared him brought dead. The victim had been identified as Lajja Ram. Mohal said that the moment Lajja tried to switch on the motor to irrigate his fields he was electrocuted. The body of the victim was later handed over to the family for conducting last rites.
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chandigarh Decision hailed: The Sikh Intelligentsia Forum, Punjab, at a meeting held under the patronage of Dr DS Dhillon hailed the decision of the Chief Minister to give the portfolio of education minister to Sikander Singh Maluka. Dr KS Dhillon, president of the forum, said they would request the people of Punjab and NRIs to open schools in Punjab so that free education could be imparted to students.mohali Students get degrees: More than 500 students of Rayat-Technology Centre of Excellence Campus were conferred degrees during a convocation-cum-prize distribution function. A total of 549 students, including 398 from BTech and M Tech, 87 from BPharma and MPharma, and 64 from management stream received degrees. Dr Balkar Singh, director (examination), Punjab Technical University, Jalandhar, was the guest of honour while Dipankar Ganguly, president, Reliance Industries, was the chief guest. — TNS
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CBSE EXAM Was exceptionally lengthy and ambiguous, claim class XII students Sumedha Sharma Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, March 17 According to students, it was the changed pattern of the paper which made it difficult for them to finish the examination in the stipulated time. “The problems had multiple logic and were lengthy. The paper required at least four hours to finish. The questions were too confusing, specially the one pertaining to debt which had the values of profit missing. Almost all students ended up leaving one or two questions. The paper surely left many in tears,” said a local tuition teacher. However, subject experts seem to think otherwise. According to the official question paper analysis report, the paper was moderately difficult and required a high level of logical reasoning, analytical skills. It was, however, scoring. “It will be definately wrong to say that the paper was lengthy. Actually, it required a lot of application skills and that is what posed problem to many students. Any student who had a through understanding of topics and had done detailed study could have solved the paper easily. There were many straightforward questions also,” said Mini Bhasin, the local commerce counsellor of the UT education department. Meanwhile, CBSE regional director RJ Khanderao blamed the increased emphasis on charted accountancy coaching for the poor performance of students. “Any child who has thoroughly done the syllabus would have not complained about the paper, but unfortunately a majority of students are accustomed to objective study patterns, as professed their CA coaching classes. The moment a child enters class XI, parents sent him to CA classes and the importance of class XII boards is diminished. Entrance examination is important, but school education is important too. If a child has faltered in this paper, probably he/she did not take Boards seriously,” said Khanderao.
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Govt college teachers submit memo to UT Adviser
Chandigarh, March 17 Teachers, in their representation, referred to the case filed by the officiating principals of Post Graduate Government College for Girls (PGGCG)-11, PGGCG -Sector 42, PGGC- 46 and the Government College of Commerce and Business Administration. The case was dismissed by the High Court with the result that the status quo granted to the lecturers holding charge as officiating principal goes away. Dr Barhm Parkesh, a members of the delegation, said that the High Court has withheld the CAT orders dated October 12, 2010, stating that the officiating charge as a college principal is to be given as per the qualification under the recruitment rules. “The Special Leave Petition filed by the Chandigarh Administration in the Supreme Court and it was held that PhD will remain as an essential qualification for promotion to the post of principal,” he added. Presently, all the four colleges have officiating principals who do not hold PhD degrees, while the senior teachers holding PhD degree have been demanding that they should be appointed as principal.
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PU to host seminar on supply chain management
Chandigarh, March 17 “Effective global supply chain management requires innovative thinking and practical application,” said Prof Suresh K. Chadha, the seminar convener.
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Prabhjot secures second rank in GATE
Chandigarh, March 17 Giving the credit of success to his parents and teachers, Prabhjot said that they stood by him at all times. Prabhjot, who wants to go into research oriented job said that billions of dollars are wasted in importing high-tech aircrafts, tanks and other defence goods from countries like Russia, USA etc. If given an opportunity, he would like to get into organisations like ISRO, DRDO and BARC.
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Children win hearts with dance performance
Chandigarh, March 17 The event started with a recitation of Saraswati Vandana by the children, followed by ‘Senorita Salsa’ and Punjabi bhangra. The function concluded with the ‘Graduation’ ceremony where children were handed over graduation and participation certificates by principal Mona Verma.
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Punjab Governor gives students a clarion call
Mohali, March 17 Speaking during the convocation of Chandigarh Group of Colleges, Landran, Patil said that technical education in different fields like engineering, pharmacy, biotechnology, business administration, computer applications, hotel management, airlines and tourism etc was equally important for the all-round growth of the society. Congratulating the students, who received their degrees, Patil advised them to put in the best of their efforts and carry out their duties most sincerely. “You are the future of the country. There is no dearth of opportunities in the world. If you work hard, all your dreams will certainly come true,” said Patil. Patil also lauded the efforts of the students for undertaking various innovative projects like project PURE, Hamara
Bachpan, blood donation camps etc. He also enjoyed test drive on solar jeep in the campus.
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Educationists pay tribute
to Major Tewari
Chandigarh, March 17 Prof Lalit K Bansal, chairman USOL, emphasised that USOL would remain committed to the path shown by Major Tewari. The Vice-Chancellor of IGNOU, Prof M Aslam, an educationist and author of 15 books, deliberated upon the theme “Open and Distance Learning: The Road Ahead”. Professor Aslam gave a historic overview of the evolution of distance education and stressed that IGNOU, currently offering four hundred programmes, had its presence in 43 countries across the world and had 46,134 counsellors on rolls. He suggested that the policy-makers of the country should consider the introduction of cross-cultural and multinational curricula, and have more provisions for collaboration at the national and international levels. The function was attended by many luminaries of education, Syndics, Senators and administrative heads. Prof Rupinder Tewari, son of Major Jiwan Tewari, thanked the distinguished guests and reiterated his determination to carry forward his father’s legacy.
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The construction of the much-awaited project for eight underpass of the UT Administration is expected to take off soon as it has received Rs 5 crore for the project from the Union Government. The Administration has already designated Chandigarh Housing Board (CHB) as the nodal agency for the construction of the underpasses to tackle traffic chaos on city roads.