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Eve-teaser abducts, thrashes 20-yr-old
Pushes her out of car in Sector 34; case registered; raids on to arrest him 
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, September 24
Barely five days after a college girl was assaulted following an incident of eveteasing in Sector 42, a 20-year-old girl student was robbed, abducted, beaten up and then pushed out from a car by a youth in Sector 34 today. The accused, son of a prominent sweets shop owner in Sector 46, is at large. The girl sustained serious injuries as she was allegedly beaten up with an iron rod on both her knees. The youth assaulted the girl as she had earlier lodged a complaint against him with the police in July.

The girl, a student of the Learning Institute in Sector 47, told the police that she went to the institute on her Honda Activa scooter this morning when the youth, identified as Randeep, was standing outside the institute. He accosted her and snatched her mobile phone. As the girl resisted, he pulled the keys of her Activa and threatened her. The accused then fled with her Honda Activa scooter.

Before the girl could take stock of the situation, the youth again returned in a black Alto car and asked the girl to be seated in his car if she wanted her Activa scooter back. As the girl again resisted and threatened the youth that she would call up the police, the accused pushed her into the car and accelarated. He then picked up an iron rod kept in the car and hit her on both her knees. The girl was later pushed out of the car in Sector 34.

The girl reached her home in Sector 47 and narrated the incident to her family, who called the police. The girl was taken for a medical examination. The police has registered a case against Randeep in a case of robbery, kidnapping, criminal intimidation and causing hurt under Sections 392, 363, 323 and 506 of the IPC at the Sector 31 police station. The medical examination of the girl revealed that she sustained deep injuries on both her knees.

Inspector Jaspal Singh, SHO, Sector 31 police station, said the accused was at large and they were conducting raids to nab him. “The girl had complained against the youth in July and had accused him of stalking her. He was summoned to the police station and at that time he had apologised and a compromise was reached. He accosted the girl today as she had been ignoring his advances,” he said. 

Similar incident

On September 19, a group of youngsters had attacked a girl outside her college in Sector 42 after she reacted to their vulgar gestures. They tried to pull her into their car and hit her on the head. She was admitted to the Sector 16 Government Multi-Specialty Hospital with severe head injuries. The police had arrested three of the accused in the case 

Eve-teasing incidents on the rise

The incident of a girl being robbed and abducted on Monday exposes poor policing in the city as incidents of assault on women are on the rise. On an average, four incidents of eveteasing are reported to the police every month 

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With no help in sight, villagers leave Chandi Kotla
Hina Rohtaki
Tribune News Service

Panchkula, September 24
Nathu Ram (60) has left his home at Chandi Kotla village near Chandimandir for a rented accommodation somewhere. Never before in the past 60 yeas did he feel so insecure at his birthplace. A few spells of rain, and his house looks like a pack of cards following landslides.

Like him, several others too have left for safer places. Apart from cursing rain, they all have one complaint: the administration has been totally apathetic..

A team of officials of the district administration reached the spot today. Villagers had met the Panchkula Deputy Commissioner and MLA DK Bansal, urging them to provide them with more tents. No action was, however, taken. Just five tents have been provided for the occupants of 50 houses. Over ten people have been forced to put up in one tent.

“I have been living here for the past 70 years. It was painful to see our house get collapsed in a matter of a few seconds. The villagers have not been provided with sufficient tents. We were forced to spend the previous two nights on the road. We had no option but to leave the village,” said Kamal. Kamal is a taxi driver and lives with his wife, parents and six children.

He said, “We had no option but to take an accommodation on rent for Rs 5,000 in a nearby village. My salary is just Rs 2,000. How can the administration be so inhuman?”

“What is our fault? It is painful to leave the village where we have grown up. One can’t afford to stay at relatives’ place for long,” said Kaushalya Devi, a villager.

Another villager Iqbal Singh said, “Our world has been ruined. We don’t know where to go. We have decided to leave this village because we can’t spend our nights anymore on the road now. And we are looking for a house on rent now.”

Last week, around 50 houses at Chandi Kotla village near Chandimandir had either collapsed or developed deep cracks. The administration had termed the situation as alarming in the village. 

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All clubs in City Beautiful under Admn's scanner 
Rajinder Nagarkoti
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, September 24
The controversy surrounding the lease money of the Central Club in Sector 9, which led to its ceiling, has brought other clubs under the scanner of the Chandigarh Administration.

The Administration has decided to review the issue of lease money of all clubs in the city.

UT Adviser KK Sharma today sought details of all clubs and asked officials why there was a delay on the part of the Administration to review the lease money of these clubs. Later in the day, the Adviser held a meeting with senior officials of the Administration on the issue.

Sources said the Administration was trying to frame a uniform policy for all clubs, which were on lease in Chandigarh.

Meanwhile, in the Central Club matter, its committee is waiting for the Adviser's reply before moving further. Club president Vinod Talwar said they had met the Adviser and he had assured them that the Administration would provide them justice. 

Lease money

Chandigarh Golf Club

On the renewal of the lease money of the Chandigarh Golf Club (CGC), the Administration is studying renewal documents of the Delhi Golf Club lease. The UT Adviser said they would go through the documents of the Delhi Golf Club and soon decide on the CGC lease issue. The file of renewal of the lease money of the CGC is with the Administration since 2008.

Disturbed area tag

After the quashing of the disturbed area tag of Chandigarh by the High Court, the UT Administration has undertaken a review exercise and has asked all departments to provide information whether quashing of the notification will have any affect on the functioning of the Administration. Similar details have also been sought from the UT police department. 

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96-year-old city resident to run Delhi Half Marathon
Deepankar Sharda
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, September 24
Age is no deterrent when it comes to chasing one’s passion. Having given wings to her dreams in the twilight of her life, city resident Mann Kaur (96) is all set to mark her presence in the Delhi Half Marathon on September 30.

A resident of Sector 40, two-time world record holder and "Athlete of the Year" (USA), Mann Kaur is all set to run the half marathon. Riding high on her recent performance where she won the 100 and 200-metre categories in the World Masters Athletics Championship in Sacramento, USA, Mann Kaur is practising hard to hog the limelight.

“It’s a great feeling to learn that everyone feels proud of me. I could have started running during my childhood, but during those days girls were not supposed to take part in sports. We were well-settled and had a habit of taking a proper diet during my days in Patiala because of which I am fit to run in this age,” Mann Kaur said.

Mann Kaur started her athletics career five years ago after her 75-year-old son Gurdev Singh, who lives in Canada, asked her to "run for fun".

“I was in Canada to participate in the World Masters event and came across an old woman, Olga, who was fit and competing in the event. It was then that the idea of allowing my mother to fulfil her dreams occurred to me. During the past many years, she improved a lot and will now participate in the Delhi Half Marathon,” said Gurdev Singh, her son.

Starting her career, Mann Kaur participated in the Chandigarh State Senior Athletics Championship and completed the 100-metre race in 1.07 minutes. Later, in February 2011, she competed in the same event a recorded a timing of 1.05 minutes. In the same year, she participated in the American Masters Run and completed the race with a timing of 1.01 minutes. In her latest event on home soil, she won the race with a timing of 59 seconds.

She focuses on her diet. She prefers to have two glasses of milk and a glass of apple juice. Besides, she has quality grains thrice a day along with a diet full of protein. “I have bought a special flour-mixing machine from Australia so that she can have sprouted grain roti. We are hopeful that she will continue to bring fame to her country,” said Gurdev Singh.

After the Delhi Half Marathon, Mann Kaur is expected to participate in the Asian Challengers, to be held from November 2 in Taiwan and the World Masters Games, to be held in Italy next year. 

City needs a synthetic track

I hope the city gets a synthetic track for athletes soon. The track is a necessity and due its non-availability, athletes have to run on grass or hard surfaces — Mann Kaur 

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Projects stalled as UT admn yet to earmark land
Aarti Kapur
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, September 24
The UT Administration seems to be delaying the earmarking of land for essential development projects of the Municipal Corporation. The projects that have been delayed for the last one decade include community parking lots in residential areas, burial land for children, six underground reservoirs, schools and a civil dispensary.

Plans of three major projects of the Municipal Corporation have been lying pending with the administration for the last five years as no decision has been taken for their implementation till date.

MC Chief Engineer S S Bidda said that the corporation was taking up the matter with the administration at the coordination committee meetings to earmark the land for these projects and hand it over to the authorities, but till date no action had been taken. He said that till the land was allotted by the administration, the projects could not be started by the corporation.

Community parking

The Municipal Corporation has earmarked Rs 1.5 crore for the construction of community parking in residential areas of the city, but at present there is no proposal in the pipeline for its execution. Records of the corporation revealed that for the last two years the proposal of three community parkings in Sectors 34 and 44 had been pending with the chief architect department. In the last two years, demand for a community parking in Sectors 27, 34, 35, 44, 45 and 47 has been made by area councillors and the matter was also taken up in the coordination committee, but no concrete results have emerged till date.

The residents have been making frequent requests to the administration to make some provision for community parking in their sectors, but nothing has been done till date. At night, there is a competition among residents to get a parking space for their vehicles in these sectors and many times this result in quarrels. The situation is similar in old sectors of the city too where the roads are congested and most of the open spaces have been converted into small parks.

Burial ground for children

In 2000, the corporation had demanded land for the burial ground for children from the UT administration, but till date no action has been taken by the administration. In the absence of a specific place, the Municipal Corporation is using the forest area behind the cremation ground in Sector 25 for the purpose. As it is a forest area, wild animals, stray dogs and even ‘tantriks’ can easily enter the burial ground and dig up graves of children.

Mani Majra master plan

In 2001, the master plan of Mani Majra was formulated, however 500 acres of land is still lying vacant for the last 10 years. The plan was submitted to the UT administration for according sanction to it, but so far, it has failed to give approval. According to the plan, the MC had planned to construct a primary school , in pocket 6 of Mani Majra,, sports complex and a hospital in pocket number 8, a college in pocket number 9, and Shanti Nagar, Janta Nagar, Subhash Nagar and Pipliwala town rehabilitation projects for the oustees in pocket number 10.

Circus ground project

An amount of Rs 60 lakh was sanctioned for converting the circus ground into an exhibition ground. There was a proposal to construct a boundary wall around this open space and provide it with proper toilets facilities for public usage and parking space near the ground. However, the maintenance work has been lying pending with the administration for more than three years.

Allotment of fish market

In 2007, the UT Administration proposed to construct an air conditioned fish market as a majority of fish vendors in the city were doing their business in unhygienic conditions from temporary outlets where there was no provision of proper cutting, loading and unloading of fish. Keeping the fact in view, the UT Administration constructed a fish market in Sector 41 comprising 12 booths and handed it over to the MC for auctioning them. No one turned up for the auction after which the MC made a suggestion to the UT Administration that a permission should be given to them to lease out the booths. But till date the administration has not given its approval. Resultantly, the project is lying unused.

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Bindra Sr counters GMADA
Tribune News Service

Mohali, September 24
Dr AS Bindra, father of Abhinav Bindra, today countered the claims of GMADA that he had undertaken construction of a boundary wall on their land at Behra village (Derabassi), in violation of the Punjab New Capital (Periphery) Control Act, 1952.

Notably, in a public notice, inserted in a national daily on September 23, it had been mentioned that Abhinav Bindra and 14 others had been undertaking construction work in violation of the Act. Dr Bindra said that on the piece of ancestral land, which is owned by Abhinav Bindra at Behra village, a state-of-the-art warehousing hub with German technology was planned and therefore, a letter (dated March 29, 2012) along with required fees of Rs 20,000 was written to the planning department to intimate the formalities.

“On this letter and submission of plans/maps of the project and all the related documents (which were received by the planning department on April 4, 2012), we got a letter (dated July 25, 2012) from them informing us to deposit EDC charges and Social infrastructure fund of Rs 65,45,000 and Rs 1,96,350, respectively to formalise the CLU”, claimed Dr Bindra adding that this letter might be termed as approval of the CLU subject to above said deposits.

He also added that there were certain queries related to the site plan location viz a viz connectivity to the national highway to be endorsed by the revenue authorities, which then were complied with.

Dr Bindra also claimed that following the notice from GMADA, their two Counsels, Subash Karkara and AK Malhotra had appeared in the office of the Commissioner, GMADA, on the due date, July 12, 2012, and then August 17. “On both occasions, the official concerned was not present in his office and our counsels had marked their presence in the commissioner’s office”, claimed Dr Bindra adding that at that time, Abhinav Bindra had already left for the 2012 Olympics preparations.

“On one hand, the planning department has given clearance for CLU and on the other, GMADA is issuing notices. This is totally wrong. Before even starting the construction work, we had sought their permission with required fees vide our letter dated March 29, 2012. We are taking necessary action on the letter of the planning department to deposit their charges to conclude the matter, for which, there is no “last date” as per their letter (dated July 25, 2012), therefore, there is no delay or violation in the matter”, claimed Bindra.

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Chandigarh Tourism Week kicks off
CITCO hotels to offer discount to tourists
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, September 24
Magical spell of lights are adorning the City Beautiful’s buildings and monuments. Buildings, including the Open Hand Monument, UT Secretariat Building, Le Corbusier Centre, Sector 19, Government College of Arts and Tourist Information Centre, Sector-17, etc have been illuminated as part of the Chandigarh Tourism Week that began today with a Clean Chandigarh Campaign.
Students of the Chandigarh Institute of Hotel Management, Sector 42, participate in the ‘Clean Chandigarh Drive’ on Monday. Tribune photo: S Chandan
Students of the Chandigarh Institute of Hotel Management, Sector 42, participate in the ‘Clean Chandigarh Drive’ on Monday. Tribune photo: S Chandan

AK Malhotra, CITCO General Manager (Tourism), said that the UT Administration was spending more than Rs 10 lakh on the World Tourism Week. CITCO hotels were offering various discounts to tourists. He added that they had managed to get a sponsor for the two-day street art festival.

Various activities are planned for the next four days. Tomorrow, the Run for Tourism will start at 7 am from the Open Hand Monument passing through Bougainvillea Garden and Leisure Valley, which will culminate at Government Museum and Art Gallery, Sector10, Chandigarh.

A tourism quiz will be organised on September 26 at the auditorium, Museum and Art Gallery, Sector10, in which schoolchildren across the tricity will participate.

On September 27, Aditya Narayan , Bollywood singer, will perform on World Tourism Day at the Plaza, Sector 17, after 6.30 pm.

There will be classical performance by renowned artist Ventakashan M Kumar at the Tagore theatre, Sector 18, after 6.30 pm.

The major attraction of the week will be the street art and food festival, which will be held at Sukhna Lake on September 29 and 30.

CITCO has also planned to provide complimentary ride to tourists visiting Chandigarh on its popular Hop on Hop Off tourist coach on September 27. During the World Tourism Week, one can avail special discounts at CITCO hotels, Hotel Mountview, Hotel Shivalikview, Hotel Parkview and others. CITCO will also organise cultural activities at the Sukhna Lake during the week-long celebrations.

Students of hotel management institutes like CIHM, IHM and the Chandigarh Hotel Association will give welcome the tourists at the airport and the railway station. Special food festival, flower competition, cookery and bakery competition will also be organised at IHM and CIHM. 

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UT Admn begins exercise to define PG accommodation
No action taken against 300 'violators' so far
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, September 24
The Chandigarh Administration has begun an exercise to define the meaning of a paying guest accommodation.

In order to solve the ambiguity, the finance department has asked the UT estate office to define the meaning of the paying guest accommodations.

Sources said officials were of the opinion that a paying guest accommodation was the one where food was served.

For the past one year, the UT has been not able to take a decision on the issue. As a result, the Administration could not take action against around 300 "violators" against whom the UT estate department had issued notices.

The persons who have been issued notices argued that they were not running PGs and had rented out their premises. Last year, the Estate Office had joined hands with the MC to tackle the problem.

A senior UT official said since people had been running PGs in the garb of tenant landlord rent deed options, it was difficult to prove whether it was a PG or a rented accommodation.

The sources added that the UT estate office had received less than 20 applications for the PG registration whereas more than 600 PGs were being run in the city.

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Auto operators flay hike in diesel price
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, September 24
The Chandigarh Auto-Rickshaw Union today staged a protest against the hike in diesel and LPG rates. Members of the union gathered near the Circus Ground in Sector 17 and demanded that the fare of auto-rickshaws should be revised.

President of the union HS Sawhney said the hike in diesel price had affected the auto-rickshaw operators in the tricity. He said the existing auto fares should be increased from Rs 12 per km to Rs 15 per km for the first km and from Rs 6 per km to
Rs 8 per km for the subsequent journey.

Later, the union submitted a memorandum to the Secretary Transport.

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Cadets get training in microlite flying
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, September 24
A Pre Vayu Sena Camp is being conducted by No.1 Chandigarh NCC Squadron at Patiala, where cadets are being trained in microlite flying, aero modeling, drill, weapons and other service-related subjects. Eight NCC units from Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Chandigarh are participating in the camp.

Maj Gen PS Mander, Additional Director-General, NCC, inspected the camp today and gave away prizes to winners. He was briefed about the training programme by the Camp Commandant Wg Cdr JS Jeji. He also interacted with the cadets and motivated them for putting in their best at the forthcoming All-India Vayu Sena Camp in Bangaluru next month.

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Councillors meet Principal Secy
Tribune News Service

Panchkula, September 24
Councillors of the Panchkula civic body today met Ram Niwas, Financial Commissioner and Principal Secretary, Urban Local Bodies Department, and raised various issues pertaining to development of the town.

Ravinder Rawal, Seema Chaudhary, VK Kapoor, BB Singhal, CB Goel and Pawan Mittal were present during the meeting. Estate Officer Ashwini Kumar, HUDA official NK Verma and others also attended the meeting. Ram Niwas directed the officials to get all roads repaired and parks cleaned up before Diwali.

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Workshop on child health begins at PGI
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, September 24
Over 20 participants from Chhattisgarh, Odisha and West Bengal are attending a health workshop at the School of Public Health, PGI. The workshop is being conducted to improve the knowledge and skills of district level managers for universal coverage of the Reproductive and Child Health (RCH) scheme under the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM). The workshop, being organised in collaboration with the UNICEF and WHO, was inaugurated by Dr Rajesh Kumar, head of the School of Public Health, here today.

The focus of the RCH scheme is on maternal health, child health, adolescent health, family planning and reproductive and sexually transmitted infections.

This program is being implemented at the district level in all the states of India, so as to reduce the maternal mortality ratio from 212 to 100 per 1 lakh live births and the infant mortality rate from 47 to 30 per 1000 live births.

This workshop will address the major causes of maternal and child mortality, and how these can be tackled by the effective implementation ofinterventions like institutional delivery, Janani Suraksha Yojna and oral rehydration solution (ORS).

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Muddy water being supplied to colony
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, September 24
Residents of Charan Singh Colony have been "forced" to consume contaminated water these days, thanks to the callous attitude of the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation that has failed to supply clean drinking water in the area.

Despite repeated requests by the area residents, the corporation officials have not been able to find the cause or the source of the contaminated water in the past two days.

Area councillor Rajinder Kaur said that she had made a complaint to the public health officials about the contaminated water and a team of officials would visit the colony tomorrow to find the fault. She said that that she had approached the authorities on the issue. 

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City in grip of fever
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, September 24
Hundreds of patients suffering from viral fever are visiting hospitals and dispensaries in the city these days. In many cases, they are being diagnosed with serious ailments such as malaria, dengue and typhoid. At Government Multi Specialty Hospital, Sector 16, of around 500 patients visiting the out patient department (OPD) every day, patients with complaints of fever remain as high as 50 per cent.

“While nearly 250 patients suffering from fever are visiting the OPD every day, over 50 such patients are being attended at the Emergency OPD,” said medical superintendent Rajeev Vadehra.

Dr Gopal Bhardwaj of the department of medicine said the patients with high grade fever and body ache are found to be suffering from different kinds of diseases. While majority of them have been suffering from viral, others are ill due to malaria, typhoid and dengue.

Emergency in charge Deepak Bakshi said 30 patients had been admitted to the hospital after they were found with low platelet count and other symptoms of dengue.

The situation at dispensaries and private clinics is no better. Out of over 100 patients who visited the ayurvedic dispensary at Sector 28, 50 per cent were complaining of fever today, said Dr Rajiv Kapila. Dr Kailash Chaudhary, a private practitioner at Sector 30, said 60 per cent of patients visiting his clinic were suffering from viral, while other 10 per cent had symptoms of dengue. Many others were also diagnosed with typhoid, he said.

“Though all kinds of fever cannot be described as viral; in general, viral fever cases do take place in this season. People experience mild to moderate fever, sore throat, mild headache, body ache, ache in the spine and a bitter taste in the mouth,” said Professor Ram Singh, Government Medical College and Hospital, Sector 32.

While the viral fever and its health complications lasts up to two weeks, the patient must rush to a doctor immediately. Bleeding or rashes on the body can be symptoms of dengue, he said. 

10 new cases of dengue

10 new confirmed cases of dengue have been reported in the city during the last week. With this, the number of patients suffering from degue in the city has reached 28

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Kidney patient at PGI needs help
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, September 24
A 23-year-old youth struggling for life after renal surgery needs help. The patient, Sanjiv Goswami, working as a helper at a tailor’s shop, is finding it hard to spend Rs 15,000 every month on his post-operative care.

Doctors at the PGI, here, said he would require life-long immuno suppressive therapy.

Dr Vivek Kumar, assistant professor, department of nephrology, said Sanjeev had undergone a kidney transplant on August 2 last year. He, now, would require life-long immuno suppressive therapy costing Rs 1,80,000 every year.

Sanjiv’s family says that they will not be able to bear the expenses.

His father, Ghasitu Ram, said that he parted with one of his kidney so that his life could be saved. But now, his hope was fading in the absence of any monetary support, he said.

“We are a family of labourers from Khugni village in Yamuna Nagar district of Haryana. All our savings were exhausted on the transplant surgery and the post surgery medication of Sanjiv can not be followed properly as we don’t have money to bear the expenses”, said the hapless father.

“We now need monetary help, that’s our only hope”, he said.

The donors can contact Sanjiv on mobile no. 09468205674. One can meet him in Room No.13 of Nehru Serai at the PGI.

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Theatre artiste Arundhati leaves audience spellbound
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, September 24
Film and theatre actor Arundhati Nag's masterly portrayal of two characters in the skillfully conceived plot of Girish Karnad's "Bikhre Bimb" was the highlight of the fourth day of the ongoing Chandigarh Theatre Festival. The play, which was staged at the Tagore Theatre, is among the most successful plays produced recently in India. The play has had more than 100 shows and has been invited for staging at all major theatre festivals of India.

The one-act play told the story of Manjula Nayak, a professor of English literature, who was an unsuccessful writer in Kannada. She found international acclaim when she wrote a novel in English, which became a bestseller. The story started with her introducing the audience about her novel in a TV studio. However, after she finished her introduction, she was confronted by her own image on the screen. The question, which kept haunting Manjula, was whether in opting for the global audience she betrayed her own language and identity. A little-known face in Karnataka, she has now acquired an international image but she kept on confronting with her roots throughout the play.

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 Tricity scan

Chandigarh

Conference

Desh Bhagat Institute of Management and Computer Sciences organised a two-day international conference on the theme "Challenges in Human Resource Management". Over 300 delegates from different states of India and countries like the USA, Iran, Iraq, Kenya, Nepal, Afghanistan, Yemen, Nigeria and Bhutan participated in this conference. Speaking during the conference, chief guest prof Vinaysheel Gautam, head of the department of management studies, IIT, New Delhi, lauded the initiative of the institute saying that the conference focuses our attention on the fast changing needs of business organisations all over the world.

Office-bearers

To strengthen the Chandigarh Mahila Congress, the office bearers and district presidents of Chandigarh Territorial Mahila Congress Committee were announced today. The office bearers are: Harinder Mann, Bhajan Kaur Panag, Sudesh Choudhary and Sharan Anand (vice-presidents), Anita choudhary, Saroj Sharma and Mohinderjit Kaur Sardana (general secretaries), Anju Soni, Raj Rani, Sudesh Sharma and Charanjit Kaur (secretaries), Rajmeet Kaur and Surinder Kaur Brar are district presidents urban-I and urban-II respectively. Kamlesh Choudhary will be the new president of district (rural).

ICAI organises seminar

The Chandigarh Panchkula Chapter of the Institute of Cost Accountants of India (ICAI) held a seminar on the Extensible Business Reporting Language concepts - Cost Audit and Compliance Report at the PHD Chamber, Sector 31, Chandigarh. Extensible Business Reporting Language, popularly called XBRL is a new and dynamic way of reporting business information. Those present on the occasion were BB Goyal, Advisor Cost, Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Government of India, and Rakesh Singh, president ICAI.

Founder's Day celebrated

St Xavier's Senior Secondary School, Chandigarh, organised a function to mark the week-long revelry on the 79th birthday of their chairman, Andrew J Gosain. The program began with Saraswati Puja, invoking the blessing of the Goddess of wisdom. The school choir also sang songs giving best wishes on the day. The students of class VIII performed Bollywood music of the 70s and 80s. A puppets dance on the song "Puppet on a string" by the students of classes IV and V also impressed the audience. The grand finale was a mime presented by the teachers of the school, led by vice-principal Chandan Patwal.

Mohali

Felicitated

Dr Augustine F Pinto, chairman of Ryan International Group of Institutions, and managing director Grace Pinto received the Excellence Award 2012 of CCCI for their noteworthy contribution in the field of education. The award was given by Rajasthan Governor Margaret Alva in a glittering function at Mumbai recently.

Scholarship

A minority scholarship scheme was started about five years ago by the Central government for the benefit students of Sikh, Muslim, Christian, Buddhist & Parsi religions studying in India. It provides free scholarship on very easy terms to students from class-I onward till they complete their education in medical, engineering, law, fashion designing, nursing etc. Paramjit Singh, president of Gurdwara Sacha Dhan, Phase 3B-I is opening a helpline for one week for the pre-matric scholarship of the scheme for which more than 500 forms were distributed in Mohali. —Tribune Reporters

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CBSE to set up help centres 
Vivek Gupta
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, September 24
As JEE-Main and JEE-Advanced will replace the AIEEE and IIT-JEE from 2013, the CBSE is in the process of setting up two facilitation centres in Chandigarh to help students clear any doubts regarding the new pattern of the undergraduate engineering entrance exam.

The two help centres to come up in the city are at DPS-Sector 40 and the regional centre of CBSE in Sector 5, Panchkula. More centres could come up in future.

DPS principal Reema Dewan said that the school has already got the intimation from the CBSE regarding the decision. She said that she was in favour of the new steam as it would streamline the whole process besides putting emphasis on class XII scores.

Officials said that there would not be any sale of forms this time as forms will be filled online only. The forms will be available on the JEE-Main website (www.jeemain-edu.in) from November 1 onwords. These upcoming centres will also help students to fill up these forms, besides giving them full clarity of the changed system.

As per the information, the syllabus for JEE-Main exam will be same as last year’s AIEEE syllabus. Its offline exam is scheduled next year on April 7 and the online exam will take place between April 8-30. There will not be any online exam for JEE-Advanced whose offline exam will be held on Jun 2, 2013.

One of the major changes in these entrance exams is that JEE-Main exam will give 40 per cent weightage to the total marks obtained in Class XII board/ equivalent exam and 60 per cent weightage to performance in the entrance exam.  A combined All India Rank (AIR) would be decided accordingly for the admission in NITs, and other Centrally funded technical institutions.

JEE-Advanced will, however, be held for admissions to the IITs, but to appear for this exam, one should be among the top 1.5 lakh candidates in the JEE-Main exam. It includes the candidates of the reserved category.

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Mixed response to PU decision on YouTube
The university has blocked entertainment websites on the campus
Deepankar Sharda

Chandigarh, September 24
With regard to the Panjab University decision on blocking entertainment websites in the academic blocks of all 18 Panjab University hostels, The Tribune correspindent Deepankar Sharda talked to hostel residents and youngsters to get their point of view. The Panjab University authorities took the decision after finding that students were using the wifi facility for downloading movies and songs from websites. Certain websites from which students download pirated softwares have also been blocked.

On an average, the minimum downloading per day per hostel is around 30 gigabytes (GB).

The ban will certainly increase the demand of wireless internet services in the hostels. Due to the misuse of the free service by some students, everyone is being penalised. Hopefully, the authorities will not ban the social netorking sites.

Vasundhra

The decision is a positive one as the authorities want students to use the facility in proper manner. With these sides being blocked, the Internet speed will improve which will help research scholars to download their material easily. Hopefully, students will take this decision in a positive manner

Sunny

The recent ban will block the use of entertainment websites. Being a hosteler, I can tell that entertainment is needed which these sites provide us. However, the authorities have taken the decision keeping in mind the proper usage of the free service and they are free to mould it for students' good.

Bhavya Sharma

According to me, the step is not in favour of the students. If the wifi service was only meant for research scholars then what about the other students? Downloading movies and songs is the only way of entertainment in the hostels. One cannot be reading books all the time

Rajat Pahwa

I think the ban is in favour of students who want to use the service in a proper manner. Downloading movie, songs and pirated software is not the purpose for which the wifi service is being provided. The decision will benefit research scholars, and other students can have their own internet connection to download material.

Prabh Kiran Kang

I don’t think the ban was necessary. The step might provide better and uninterrupted facility to the students using the facility for academic purposes. But for others who want to download material from the internet, this would burn a hole in their pockets as they would have to get their own connections.

Dharminder Singh

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Week-long festivities at UIHMT

Chandigarh, September 24
The University Institute of Hotel Management and Tourism (UIHMT), Panjab University, Chandigarh, is organising a series of activities and competitions during the week to celebrate world tourism day. These include expert talk, special lecture, various competitions and a blood donation camp. 

A talk will be delivered by noted historian Dr Tapti Roy (Vice Chancellor, Indus International University, Una) on the topic ‘Use and Misuse of History in Tourism’at the ICSSR Seminar Hall, Panjab University at 11:30am on September 25, 2012. On September 26, the eve of World Tourism Day, Prof RK Kohli, a noted environment scientist and Dean University Instructions, Panjab University, will deliver a special lecture. This lecture will be organised in the University Business School Auditorium. On September 27various competitions will be held. —TNS

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