Chandigarh, June 25
City residents need not walk across the streets to spot a cycle-rickshaw. They just have to dial the operators’ number and the rickshaw will be at their doorsteps within minutes.

In perhaps first of its kind initiative in the city, a group of volunteers have come up with a facility that enables the residents to call up rickshaw operators on their cellphones.

The phone numbers of rickshaw operators (sector wise), for ‘Dial-a-rikshaw’ service are available on the website www.chandigarh.ecocabs.org http://www.chandigarh.ecocabs.org.

And if you are satisfied with the service, you can recommend the rickshaw operator’s name to other residents by uploading his name and phone number online. A separate link on the website enables residents to recommend the name of rickshaw operators.

The website has a database of 110 rickshaw operators who are spread across 12 sectors. The service is available in Sectors 9, 11, 15, 16, 17, 20, 21, 22, 23, 40, 41, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47 and 56.

Sample this: If a resident of Sector 44 hires a rickshaw, he can take the details of the operator and upload the same on the sub-section of Sector 44 on the website.

A team of 12 volunteers from different walks of life joined hands to form a non-profit association and developed the concept of ‘Dial-a-rickshaw ecocabs’. The service was launched today in collaboration with the UT Administration, Municipal Corporation and the New Kranti Cycle Rickshaw Union.

“In case of any complaint against the rickshaw operator, the residents can access the contact number of the sector mentor from the website,” said one of the volunteers, Navdeep Asija, the founder of ‘Dial-a-rickshaw ecocabs’.

There are over 25,000 cycle-rickshaws in the city that ferry nearly 5 lakh residents daily.

Dowry death

The police has registered a case under Section 304-B of IPC against Seema's husband Surinder Bhardwaj, who is an NRI, her father-in-law Ram Lal and brothers-in-law Rajinder Kumar and Ram Kumar.Seema and her husband had not been on speaking terms for the past two years. After marriage, Seema's husband spent only 20 days with her and went to Canada. He never called up her again, said Ajay Kumar, the deceased's brother 

Chandigarh, June 25
The Government Medical College and Hospital, Sector 32, has been reeling under a severe staff shortage for the past few years. The hospital has a shortage of not only senior residents, who are responsible for round-the-clock assistance, but also paramedics, including hospital attendants, resulting in a lot of inconvenience to patients.

Sample this: A patient’s attendant, who rarely knows about different blocks, including those housing chemist shops and research labs, has to shuttle between these. A visit to the hospital last week revealed that two patients were being forced to shuttle between different departments on stretchers as their attendants were helplessly locating the private rooms while pushing the stretchers.

The situation worsens when the most staff proceed on leave or at night and half the strength of staff is available at the Emergency. The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare had sanctioned a budget of Rs 45 crore for the hospital under its project of strengthening of medical colleges in India. Out of this budget, the college received Rs 18 crore last year. According to sources, a major part of that grant has remained underutilised and could have been used for hiring paramedical staff.

Of the total sanctioned posts of 432 Group A employees (doctors) at the GMCH-32, 168 have been lying vacant while 61 of the 255 posts of Group B staff (paramedics) have not been filled for the past many months.

The authorities said recruitments were in the offing. “We are in the process of recruiting nurses and faculty as well. The posts of nurse have been advertised and we are soon going to begin recruitments of Senior and Junior Residents,” said the GMCH Director-Principal, Dr Atul Sachdev.

Sources said the key cause for the shortage of doctors was the increasing workload and various controversies reported in the past. Six months ago, the parents of a two-day-old infant, who died at the hospital, created a ruckus at the hospital, alleging negligence on the part of the staff. Similar instances were reported last year as well. 

Poor doctor-patient ratio at hospital

At the GMCH-32, 264 doctors and 184 paramedics have been looking after more than 3,000 patients in the OPD and more than 300 indoor patients at the Emergency. The paramedical staff is highly overburdened, affecting patient care. 

Panchkula, June 25
Samples were taken and packets sealed at the hookah bars, Paint Ball in Gunthala village, near North Park, and Urban Style in Sector 2, Panchkula, during raids conducted by a team of the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) here this evening.

Paint Ball is the same restaurant that had seen raided by an FDA team earlier on October 28, 2011. The team had seized two samples containing nicotine. When the team went to seal Paint Ball, Its owner had already downed the shutters and left the place.

Today, they were found operating from the same place and nicotine in heavy quantities was reportedly found there, said the Assistant Drug Control officer, Haryana, Narinder Ahuja.

Similarly, nicotine flavoured samples were also seized by the team from Urban Style. In 2011, the FDA had banned the functioning of hookah bars in the city. The then Panchkula Deputy Commissioner of Police, Maneesh Chaudhary, had also imposed section 144 of the CrPc on the functioning of hookah bars.

According to the FDA, any product containing nicotine needs to be sold and manufactured after obtaining a drug licence under the provisions of the Drug and Cosmetics Act 1940. The department has also asked all the inspected outlets to present the record of the purchase and sale of nicotine. Legal action would be initiated against the defaulters after examining the test reports issued by a laboratory, he added.

A member of the team said there were three types of hookah tobacco, i.e. unwashed tobacco containing 0.5 per cent nicotine, washed tobacco with 0.05 per cent nicotine and herbal tobacco. The molasses tobacco is mainly produced in the West Arabian countries. It is imported in tablet form with different flavours such as chocolate, strawberry, vanilla and lime in packets weighing from 50gm to 1kg. The molasses tobacco is toxic in nature. 

Chandigarh, June 25
High drama was witnessed at the office of the registration and licensing authority (RLA) in Sector 42 here when the employees of the contractor, who has been awarded the work of affixing high security registration number plates on vehicles, refused to entertain many vehicle owners.

Around 50 vehicle owners, who had been called to get the number plates affixed on their vehicles, protested when one of the employees of the contractor misbehaved with them. The police had to intervene to resolve the matter.

Dwaraka Prasahd, a resident of Sector 56, said since morning, around 50 applicants had kept on waiting at the office, but no employee of the contractor was ready to start the work. They resumed the work three hours after the applicants' protest.

Chandigarh, June 25
The malaria wing of the Health Department today organised a health awareness camp at Colony Number 5, near Government Primary School, here. In the inaugural speech, Dr Mukhmohit Singh, Epidemiologist-IDSP, UT, stressed the various ongoing activities for the prevention and control of malaria and dengue.

He also appealed to the general public to take precautionary measures for the prevention and control of these diseases. The awareness camp was also attended by Dr Vandana Deewan, Consultant (Training)-IDSP, staff from the malaria wing, UT, the president of the Colony No.5 Residents' association and the local leaders.

People were made aware of the various ongoing activities for the prevention and control of malaria, dengue and other water-borne diseases. Anti-mosquito strategies and preventive measures were displayed. People were information about the notification/regulations issued by the Deputy Commissioner, in which it has been mentioned that action will be taken against defaulters for creating situations in and around their houses that help mosquito breeding.

Six teams were constituted by the authorities concerned for carrying field activities like the checking of coolers, containers, examination of blood slides, samples and anti-larval activities. An entomological exhibition was organised by the department in which various stages of mosquito breeding and larva-eating fish (Gambusia) were displayed. 

Chandigarh, June 25
Giving a chilling detail of survival in hostile conditions, Chetan Giri, a Maloya resident who returned to the city today, said for the first three days after the cloud burst upstream of Badrinath, the locals and labourers showed least concern towards rescuing the victims, and in fact looted them.

The victim, who was rescued with the help of city BJP president Sanjay Tandon, said before the Army reached Badrinath and neighbouring areas, there was total lawlessness and the district administration had no control over the inhumane acts of the locals.

Chetan Giri, who heads a religious sect in Maloya, said after reports of money being taken away from some people at a bank by persons attiring robes of sadhus, the local police and other local officials started harassing all the persons who were wearing robes.

“They forcibly took away Rs 66,000 from me despite my requests to verify my credentials,” he said

After the tragedy struck, Chetan, who along with 400 persons, was took shelter in a room a few metres away from the Badrinath temple, spent three days without food and water. Only when they reached Chatti, they got some food.

Sanjay Tandon, who was in contact with former Uttarakhand Chief Minister BC Khanduri said the local BJP unit was in contact with BJP leaders in the flood-ravaged hill state and was making all efforts to rescue city-based pilgrims stranded at different places in Uttarakhand.

Mohali, June 25
With the rejection of nomination papers of the Congress candidate, Akali Dal candidate Manjeet Kaur today was elected unopposed as the sarpanch of Sohana village.

The Congress leaders alleged that certain officials had tampered with the nomination papers of their candidate, Davinder Kaur, and later rejected her candidature to make way for the Akali Dal candidate’s victory.

Following the development, several Congress activists, under the leadership of Mohali MLA Balbir Singh Sidhu, staged a dharna in front of the Mohali Deputy Commissioner’s office at Phase I this morning.

“Our 11 other candidates for the post of panch have decided to boycott the elections. The Akali Dal has crossed all limits to win the polls. They have already started misusing the official machinery,” alleged Sidhu.

Sidhu said the nomination papers of Davinder Kaur were tampered with. “We demand a high-level inquiry by some retired judge of the High Court in the matter,” said Sidhu.

On the other hand, the Akali leaders rubbished the allegations. “They are well aware that they have no chance of winning the elections, so they have started creating ruckus,” said Parminder Singh Sohana, zila parishad member of the Akali Dal.

Chandigarh, June 25
Fearing clashes between the key student parties which were allotted common space for setting up help desks, the Panjab University today decided to cancel the draw of lots and asked all the student parties to set up their help desks on the space allotted to them last year.

Sources said student parties, including the NSUI, SOPU and PUSU, were allotted common space for help desks; however, following inputs from the police the university decided otherwise.

“The Chandigarh Police had made an observation regarding possible clashes between student parties. The police, in written, suggested us to change the allotted place for setting up help desks,” said a 
PU official.

Following the communication, the university called a meeting of all the party leaders and decided that the parties should set up their tents on spots allotted to them last year.

Except PUSU all other parties agreed to the decision made by the university. “PUSU leaders had demanded that they should be given space of their choice to set up the help desk, but were denied that, as most of the parties had no problem with last year’s arrangement,” official sources said.

With PU following the previous year’s set-up, all the three rival parties, NSUI, SOPU and PUSU, have placed their tents on the opposite sides.

PU officials said in order to maintain peace, the parties had been asked to restrict outsiders from manning the help desks. Meanwhile, the police has also strengthened security near the help desks to avoid any untoward incident. The party members have been asked to vacate the desks by 5 pm.

“No late-night meetings will be allowed to take place at the help desks,” said an official.

The help desks are set up by the student parties to attract new students in a bid to ensure support during the student elections.

Chandigarh, June 25
Panjab University (PU) has invited applications for admission to two-year MA course in Community Education and Development and BEd (Special Education with Specialisation in Learning Disabilities).

Both these courses have 25 seats each. To join these courses at PU, students can submit the duly filled form till July 3. The list of selected candidates would be displayed on July 15.

For MA (Community Education and Development), the list of eligible candidates would be displayed on July 11. The students having graduation degree with 45 per cent marks in any discipline are eligible for admission, which would be 40 per cent marks for the SC/ST candidates. The admissions will be based on merit. The date of first counselling will be July 12.

For BEd Special Education (With specialisation in Learning Disability), the last date for receipt of application forms will be July 3.

Students having graduation degree in any discipline with 50 per cent marks can apply. The condition will be 45 per cent for SC/ST students.

Admission will be based on merit after the departmental-level aptitude test. The date of the aptitude test, to be conducted by the department, will be July 5. The list of eligible candidates will be displayed on July 10. The date of first counselling will be July 11.

For PhD in Community Education and Development, the last date of submission of application forms is July 3. The entrance test for PhD would be conducted on July 27.

Chandigarh, June 25
Adamant over their demand, the MSc final-year students of PU-affiliated colleges continued their protest for the second-day against the university’s decision to reconduct the Paper I, II and III of MSc (Chemistry) fourth semester.

The decision to reconduct the exam was taken as the exams were held prior to the date sheet at SGGS Khalsa College, Mahilpur, in Hoshiarpur.

The MSc students of other colleges who had appeared in the exam as per the university date sheet stated that why should they suffer due to the mistake made by one of the colleges.

“Many students have already left for their home as the exams were over and few of them have even joined jobs and it won’t be possible for them to re-appear in the exam that too without any mistake”, students said.

According to PU officials, on May 1 a date sheet for PG courses was uploaded on the university website. Owing to some clashes of dates, a new date sheet was uploaded, however, the college did not use the new date sheet, which was declared. Rather, it used the first date sheet and conducted the examinations as per that schedule.

As a consequence, MSc (chemistry) fourth-semester examinations, which were to be conducted on May 22, May 27 and June 4, were conducted on May 21, May 25 and June 3 in that college.

Total 210 students had appeared for all MSc (chemistry) fourth-semester examinations in all colleges.

The examinations would be conducted as per the new date sheet. Chemistry paper I, paper II and paper III would now be conducted on July 2, July 5 and July 8.

The PU authorities, however, have not taken any decision in regard to the protest staged by the students.

Chandigarh, June 25
About 14,000 seats will be allotted to students in the first counselling for admission to Class XI in government senior secondary schools here.

Officials of the Education Department said an increase of 15 per cent seats had been made in the available seats of government schools.

“It is done because not all students, who are allotted seats, deposit their fee, therefore a margin of seats is increased every year considering the dropout factor, he said.

As per information, the common merit list would be out on June 28. All students are advised to go through their particulars in that list and if their marks, or name or other details are wrongly fed, they should report till June 29 before 1pm at two grievance cells made for the same at Government Model Senior Secondary School, Sector 16, and Government Model Senior Secondary School, Sector 19.

Officials said school wise and merit wise final list will be uploaded on the department website and government schools on July 1 following which two days will be given to submit the fee in the school where the seat has been allotted.

The classes would start from July 4, said officials.

The department will hold the second counselling from July 13 for those who want to change their school or stream or if some seats are vacant.

Chandigarh, June 25
Panjab University (PU) has declared the detailed schedule for the counselling of various departments on the university campus.

A spokesperson for the PU said students passing the Common Entrance Test (Undergraduate) could apply till July 2 for admissions at the University Institute of Legal Studies (UILS). They would also have to submit the hard copy of forms and documents and the last date of submission of the same was July 5.

Counselling for MBA at the University Institute of Applied Management Studies would be conducted on July 3 and 4 for the General Category and on July 5 for the Reserved Category.

The date of counselling for ME (ECE) and MTech (Micro Electronics) at the University Institute of Engineering and Technology (UIET) would be July 11. The date of counselling for ME (IT) and CSE at UIET would be July 12.

The date of counselling for the BA (HS) in Economics and MA (Human Rights) would be July 11 and for MA Police Administration, Gandhian and Peace Studies and BEd at the Institute of Educational Technology and Vocational Education and MA Ancient Indian History, Culture and Archaeology it would be July 12.

The date of counselling for BSc course of UIFT, MA Social Work, Women Studies and Punjabi would be July 13 and for MA Philosophy, Sociology, Geography, Education, Political Science it would be July 15.

The counselling for LLB would be from July 15 to 18.

Counselling for MA Economics would be conducted on July 16 and 17 and for MA Fine Arts, MSc Fashion Technology, MA Disaster Management, MA History and MSc Statistics it would be conducted on July 16.

Counselling for MA Remote Sensing and MSc Forensic Science and Criminology would be conducted on July 17 and for MSc Mathematics it would be conducted on July 18. Counselling for MEd would be conducted from July 23 to 25 and for Diploma in Punjabi it would be conducted on July 26.

Chandigarh, June 25
The government colleges of Chandigarh are holding a joint mega job fest for undergraduate (UG) and postgraduate (PG) students on June 28 at Postgraduate Government College, Sector 46 here.

Officials said companies from various sectors like I-T, banks, insurance, hospitality, aviation, stock exchange, export and import and health and also from fashion industry were coming to the college for recruitment during the fair.

Officials further stated that students from other colleges would also be free to participate in the fest.

“Graduates and postgraduates from streams like commerce, computer applications, arts and BTech would participate in the fair,” said an official.

Officials further said the basic aim of holding the joint placement session was to ensure that the students have a job in their hands soon after completing graduation.

Training and placement officers of all other government colleges are also associated with the fest.

“Students just need to come to the college on the day and get themselves registered for this drive,” they added.

Earlier, a similar job fest was organised jointly by all government colleges at the same college on March 12 this year.