Chandigarh, July 11
Buying a property in Chandigarh is likely to become costlier as the UT Administration has proposed to increase collector rates — the minimum rate at which the property is registered — by 30 per cent.

The hike in collector rates was proposed at a recent meeting of the officials of the UT Estate Office. A senior official of the Estate Office said it would be second hike after September 2012 when the rates were increased by 10 per cent. In August 2011, the rates were increased by 25 per cent.

The committee constituted by the Estate Office to hike collector rates studied the previous record of auctions conducted by the Estate Office in past three years to appraise itself of the market trends in sale/purchase of properties in Chandigarh.

At present, the collector rate for residential premises in urban areas is Rs 49,920 per sq yard. The charges for the same in rural areas (in villages under the municipal corporation) are Rs 6,240 per sq yard and Rs 4,160 per sq yard in other villages of the UT.

Chander Verma, chairman of the Converted Plot Owners’ Association, said they were hopeful that the Administration would not increase collector rates in Industrial Area as the rates are already high there.

Chandigarh, July 11
The Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH), Sector 32, it seems was in a hurry to launch the mobile mammography van in April this year.

The van for which the entire payment was made a year in advance has 20 defects that were pointed out by the inspection committee 15 days after its launch.

The committee headed by Dr Ram Singh pointed out that the AC in the mammography unit was not working, the batteries in the van were dead and needed replacement, front windshield was broken, ignition switch was to be replaced and covered, foldable staircase was to be provided and seat covers besides others defects. The report was submitted to the GMCH Director on May 1, a copy of which is with Chandigarh Tribune.

The UT Administrator Shivraj V Patil inaugurated the van on April 13 and the deficiencies were overlooked by the GMCH authorities.

In a communiqué to the Director on May 1, the committee had written: “In view of the deficiencies, the committee is of the view that the company may be asked to recall the mobile mammography van.”

It is learnt that the van has recently been sent for repairs. Not even a single breast cancer or DEXA screenings had been conducted after the maiden trip of the van.

“The urgency to launch the van indicates the previous director’s endeavor to win appreciation during his tenure,” said a senior faculty member of the GMCH. Chandigarh Tribune had highlighted the Administration’s failure to take note of the pooling of tenders for purchasing the van. Documents obtained from the GMCH revealed that both the bidders had quoted the equipment of the same company, yet the tender was allotted to one of them.

Chandigarh, July 11
The UT police today arrested a regular employee of the PGI for allegedly stealing two laptops and an iPad doctors’ rooms at the institute.

The accused, identified as 37-year-old Manpreet Singh, is working as an oral radiation assistant at the Advanced Pediatric Centre of the PGI.

The complaint, Dr Jagdish Marrich, junior resident at the Advanced Pediatric Centre, alleged that his laptop and iPad were stolen on July 10.

The police received another complaint from Dr Kartia, also deputed at the Advanced Pediatric Centre, that his laptop was stolen on July 10 in a similar fashion.

The police questioned the staff and managed to trace the accused through technical assistance.

The accused is working at the institute since 2002 as a regular employee. He was arrested last night from his house in Sector 37.

Chandigarh, July 11
Before you plan to board a train from the Chandigarh railway station, check its arrival schedule on the railway helpline number.

Reason: For the past few weeks, there is no official announcement of the delay in the arrival of trains at the railway station. Resultantly, a majority of the passengers who have to board a train or those who have to pick up their relatives and friends have to depend on information provided by platform vendors.

Senior divisional commercial manager, Ambala division, Gulshan said as and when the authorities receive complaints, action is taken against the official on duty. The information of any delay in the arrival or departure of a train is available on the helpline number — 139.

Sushant Chawla, a city resident, who was to board the Lucknow Express for his interview, had to cancel his journey as the train was delayed by more than 10 hours, but no announcement was made by the officials for the delay. He had to call his bother to pick him up again who had dropped him at the railway station. He said even the display board at the railway station had no information about the timing of the train.

A passenger, Ashwani Kumar, who regularly travels in the evening Kalka-Delhi Shatabdi complained that for more than two hours, the passengers were clueless about the reason for the delay in the arrival of the train as no announcement was made at the platform.

Chandigarh, July 11
Even as the project on home-based treatment (HBT) for mentally ill patients at the Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH), Sector 32, started two months ago and gained popularity, it is becoming difficult for the project to sustain on its own. No transport facility is provided to volunteers, who have to go from home to home, to cater to the needs of patients.

While attendants of patients have been writing to the institution for help, the lack of regular transportation facility has been giving the volunteers a tough time as they are unable to respond to new patients on time.

A total of 13 families are currently on rolls with HBT team, while another 15 are in waiting. The Department of Psychiatry that runs the project has its assistant psychiatry social workers and a nurse visiting the patients at their homes.

However, the team is dependant on the ambulances for the visits, which are seldom free for the purpose, said Dr BS Chavan, head, Department of Psychiatry.

“We had recently approached an NGO to provide us transport facility. The city-based NGO, Prayatan, has asked a bank to donate them an ambulance and the bank is learnt to have agreed,” Chavan added.

The president of the NGO, Col Mehndi Ratta said, “The bank has agreed to donate us a vehicle, but procuring it will take some more time. We have made a temporary arrangement and have tied up with a charitable institute in Mohali that will provide us the vehicle twice a week for the time being. Our volunteers have divided the 15 new families into groups of three and four to cover one group in a day”

Chandigarh Tribune had earlier reported as to how HBT helped the family members of mentally ill patients learn better ways of handling the patient’s erratic behaviour.

The experts, however, said that when the volunteers go to the patient’s home for the first, their attendants request for the patient’s hospitalisation. “Since theydo not know how to handle the patient, most of them ask the volunteers to hospitalize them, even if the patient refuses to do so,” said Chavan.

For preliminary consultation and how the attendants should go about their patient’s medication, the department is considering the need to hire one specialist in the HBT team.

Chandigarh, July 11
In the Draft Master Plan 2031 of Chandigarh, the Master Plan Committee has recommended redensification of government houses in the city.

As per the recommendations of the Master Plan committee, with redensification of the number of government houses would increase from 11,063 to 17,723 units. The committee also proposed re-introduction the the Apartment Act, which would entail subdivision of residential plots of 1,000 sq yard and above into two dwelling units on each floor.

The committee’s recommendation reads, “There are approximately 11,063 government housing units in Phase I (Sector 1 to 30) of Chandigarh. These can be increased to 17,723 through redevelopment of the pockets from single storey units to three storey ones as and when the need arises to augment the government housing stock. No redevelopment of government housing is proposed in Sectors 1 to 7. There isn’t much scope for redensification in Phase II (Sector 31 to 47) Sectors as a majority of the government housing units there are three to four storeyed.”

“In any redensification of existing government housing through redevelopment, it must be ensured that lower-income group housing units are not replaced by a smaller number of higher-income group units, thereby further skewing the distribution of population of different socio-economic groups within the sectoral grid,” recommendation further reads.

Chandigarh, July 11
Giving all credit to the Army for his achievements in athletics, Olympian Milkha Singh said it was the Army that identified his potential and nurtured his talent.

Interacting with officers and troops at Chandimandir during an exclusive preview of the biopic “Bhaag Milkha Bhaag” today, the Flying Sikh, as he is popularly known, said that it was his intense desire that the film on his life be first shared with the men in uniform before it was released for the public.

Milkha Singh, who was born in Faisalabad in 1935, had lost his parents in the riots that followed the partition. He wanted to join the Indian Army but was rejected thrice. He finally got in by enrolling in the engineering department. He joined the Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (EME) Centre in Secunderabad in 1951 and it was there that his talent as an athlete was discovered.

His first competitive event was a cross-country race and he finished sixth among 500 runners. In 1953 he joined the services after graduating from the EME Centre and paid special attention to athletics. In a very short period of time, he succeeded in establishing a new record for in 400-metre race.

Motivating the troops, Milkha said that hard work, dedication and will power could help individuals achieve anything.

The film’s star cast and crew, including actor Farhan Akhtar, who plays the role of Milkha, and lead actress Sonam Kapoor, were also present along with Milkha Singh during the preview.

Over 500 officers, troops and their family members attended the show at Chandi Mandir. The film releases for the general public tomorrow.

Chandigarh, July 11
The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has registered the complaint in the PGI ‘fake shunt’ case which allegedly resulted in the death of Gurjot, a four-month-old baby. The Commission today directed the Director, Health and Family Welfare, Chandigarh, to file an action taken report within six weeks.

The surgery was carried out on April 2, and the baby died on June 21 at the PGI.

Alleging medical negligence, parents of the baby had filed a complaint against the PGI and the chemist from which the shunt was purchased.

The baby required life-saving surgery due to accumulation of extra fluid in her brain. The doctors treating the baby planned to insert a shunt that was purchased from a chemist shop located in the Advanced Pediatrics Centre at the PGI.

After ten days, doctors told the parents that the shunt which was inserted in the baby's body was duplicate, due to which the child was facing problems.

The complainant has also sought damages and penalty of Rs 50 lakhs to be paid to the parents.

Raghbir Singh, the deceased child’s father, said the baby required life-saving surgery due to accumulation of extra fluid in her brain. The doctors treating the baby planned to insert a hydrocephalus ventriculoperitoneal shunt and the operating doctor prescribed a particular shunt which was purchased from a shop located in the Advanced Paediatrics Centre.

Counsel for the complainant Pankaj Chandgothia claimed that the wrapper of the shunt did not bear the hologram and stamp of the manufacturer, which should have alerted the operating doctor.

Panchkula, July 11
Sanitation, particularly in the Pinjore and Kalka areas, is the biggest challenge for Upinder Ahluwalia, the first Mayor of Panchkula Municipcal Corporation, who assumed charge of her office at Municipal Bhawan, Sector 4, this morning.

Panchkula Deputy Commissioner-cum-MC Commissioner Ashima Brar was also present when Ahluwalia reached her office at around 9.30 am.

“My top-most priority is sanitation in the area, particularly Pinjore and Kalka, where the situation is worst,” said the Mayor while talking to Chandigarh Tribune.

Ahluwalia said she would talk to the local officials concerned to chalk out a plan to find a permanent solution for the “hazard”.

She said her focus also would be on slums and colonies located in Panchkula. “There is a need to improve the garbage disposal system here. Undoubtedly, most of the colonies are in a very bad state as far as cleanliness is concerned. Our special focus will be on these colonies,” said Ahluwalia.

Besides this, street lights and regular water supply are also on top of her agenda.

“During my recent visits to various parts under the civic body jurisdiction, I found that several areas had no street lights. We would identify these pockets and install street lights there,” said the Mayor.

On the maintenance of parks, Ahluwalia said meetings would be organised with residents’ welfare associations in this regard. “We would rope in residents, so that they can play an active role in helping us in the maintenance of parks,” she said.

Ahluwalia said there were many other challenges that the Municipal Corporation faced. “As no developmental work has taken place since the past three years, we would have to make extra efforts to put the things in order,” said Ahluwalia, while addressing her team.

Chandigarh, July 11
The process of recruitment of 114 drivers by Chandigarh Transport Undertaking (CTU) has been delayed after Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) directed the Chandigarh Administration not to issue appointment letters to the successful candidates till the plea of interim relief was not disposed of.

At least 10 unsuccessful candidates had moved the tribunal against the alleged mistakes in the Punjabi question paper. The candidates claimed that compared to the question papers in the English and Hindi languages, the question paper in Punjabi had mistakes and incorrect words.

Instead of having one question paper in three languages, a separate question paper was given to those who preferred to give the test in Punjabi, they alleged.

Chandigarh, July 11
Following the Punjab and Haryana High Court’s direction, the UT Education Department is compiling the data regarding the modes of transport of students of both government as well as private schools.

City has over two lakh students who are using different means of transportation, including school buses, public transport, auto-rickshaws, four-wheelers, two-wheelers and bicycles, to reach their schools.

Officials said the purpose behind the compilation of this data was to know about the dependability of students and parents on different means of transportation and further to help the agencies concerned to control various transportation modes for the safety of the students.

The data of all government as well as private schoolchildren was being compiled separately since there was a widespread difference in their transportation modes, they said.

This whole exercise, it is learnt, was a part of the court case related to school buses, being heard at the Punjab and Haryana High Court.

The Education Department has already submitted the data related to transportation means of students of 67 government schools in the last hearing of the case, held earlier this month.

Officials said the data of the rest of the government school students was being compiled at present along with the data of private school students and it would be submitted to the court before the next hearing of the case, scheduled on July 19. A senior official, however, said the department was facing some issues in getting timely response from private schools. So far, only 20 private schools have shared their data of students travelling on different transportation modes.

“We have again sent the official communiqué today to the remaining schools for sending the required information to the department at the earliest so that it could be submitted to the court on the next hearing,” he said.

Several residents in the city feel the ongoing exercise should lead to a strong policy on the overall regulation of this issue.

A parent, Bhavneet Goyal, said currently there was no coordination between the agencies concerned to check violations in school buses and auto-rickshaws.

This needs to be addressed on a priority basis, she added.

Chandigarh, July 11
GGDSD College, Sector 32, emerged as the first choice for the BCom course among students from outside the UT pool applying for 15 per cent seats in the course through the centralised admissions in city colleges.

The seats of GGDSD College and DAV College were filled by afternoon during the counseling held today.

PU officials said only 48 general category seats in BCom I reserved for candidates from outside the city were left vacant during the first round of counselling.

Interestingly, Dev Samaj College for Women Sector 45 failed to attract even one student for BCom-I in the general category.

The officials said there were 30 seats in the GGDSD College for the general category that were filled within an hour after the counselling began. DAV College had 21 seats in the general category, Government College of Commerce and Business Administration Sector 42 had 16, MCM DAV College Sector 36 - 21 seats, Post Graduate Government College for Girls Sector 11 - 16 seats, Post Graduate Government College for Girls Sector 42 had 16 and Post Graduate Government College (Boys), Sector 11, had 16 seats.

All of these have been filled during the first round of counselling for candidates from outside Chandigarh.

“All seats in the SC and ST categories of all 11 colleges have been filled and no seat is vacant. Seven seats in the Physically Challenged category and one seat in the Freedom Fighter category have remained vacant,” the officials added.

Chandigarh, July 11
The controversy surrounding the JEE (Mains) is raking up in the tricity. Over 100 students gathered in front of the CBSE regional office in Panchkula today and flayed the “normalisation” criteria adopted by the board in calculating the final ranks of the JEE (Mains), released earlier this month.

In their letter submitted to regional CBSE Officer RJ Khanderao, the students said the new system had put the future of thousands of students at risk.

“The students with excellent JEE (Mains) marks and a respectable score in Class XII boards are way behind the student with a low score in JEE (Mains). It is because of the faulty ‘normalisation’ formula that has majorly disturbed the final ranks of students, said a student, Divyansh Kaushik, after submitting the representation to the CBSE.

Pallabh Singh, another student, said: “The main issue in the new system is that the Class XII scores have become a deciding factor whereas these should have been a contributing factor. The system should be changed.”

As per information, the final rank list of the JEE (Mains), held for the first time for admission to NITs, has been prepared adding 60 per cent score of the JEE (Main) entrance exam, the results of which were declared on May 7, and further adding the 40 per cent weightage of the Class XII board marks.

“The complication in the calculation of 40 per cent weightage is the major issue. It needs to be simplified for the larger interest of the students’ community, said another student, Gourav, adding that since different state boards differ in terms of difficulty levels, number of students and checking procedures, the normalisation process was certainly giving an edge to students taking their board exams from their respective states, over those who took their board exams from nationalised boards like the CBSE.

Officials of the CBSE regional office said the students’ representation would be sent to the CBSE head office in New Delhi. The matter has already reached to various courts in the country.

Chandigarh, July 11
Seeing culture as an intrinsic value of life and living, newly nominated chairman of the Chandigarh Sangeet Natak Akademi, GS Chani, promises to explore new area of performing arts and mobalise the akademi for skill development of the local artistes as well as engage more community participation for wider cultural promotion in the city.

“Cultural scene in the city is fine but there is a need for quality intervention that can stimulate both artistes and audience, said Chani, a known theatre artist and documentary maker. His documentary series on Forts of India is well-acclaimed.

To head the akademi for next three years, he said his major priority was to make the local audience culturally aware of the diversity of the performing arts in the country. For instance, only Kerala state has 120 different kinds of tribal and folk dance. The same is true for other places. The Akedemi will try to explore new areas of the cultural performance and try to bring the good talent to the city, he said

He said emphasis would be more on cultural workshops, sharing of ideas. “As an artist, I have often felt that audience here lacks the appreciation for different genres of arts. We will try to hold different short workshops to bring them closer to the deep nuances of different art forms.”

Mobilising community participation in CSNA programnes would be of course be one of the priorities, said Chani, whose community theatre is known for attracting a lot of participation from common masses.

Chandigarh, July 11
The Computer Centre at Panjab University (PU) today launched a website for online admissions to campus, regional centres and colleges of law affiliated with Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, and Punjabi University, Patiala.

Online application for admission to some PU-affiliated colleges can also be given through this website.

Director of the centre Tankeshwar Kumar said it was for the first time that the PU had been assigned this job. It had developed its own software and website for the online admission.

The online admission will be carried out by the PU in 18 colleges for the courses of BA LLB (Hons), BA LLB, and LLB (three years).

PU officials said the names of colleges for which online admissions were conducted were available on the website. There are 2,572 seats in these colleges and on the campus of GND university and Punjabi University.

The online submission of application forms has started from today. The bank challan can be generated till 11am of July 19. The fee is to be deposited in the bank before 4pm on July 19. The last day for the submission of fee details and uploading of photograph, signature and other information is July 20.

The provisional merit list will be displayed on July 22. The seats will be allocated to students through an online process on July 31.

Chanidgarh, July 11
The French Scholarship Award Ceremony and the Pre-Departure Session was held here at Alliance Francaise in Sector 36. Five students were awarded the scholarship for higher education in France.

Dr PK Patel, HoD, Foreign Languages, Hindu Banaras University, and Dr Ashwini Kumar Nanda, Prof, Centre for Reseach in Rural and Industrial Development (CRRID), inaugurated the programme.

An interaction session on France and its lifestyle, inter-cultural aspects and teaching methods was also held.

Ashutosh Raina, Navdeep Grewal and Sankalp Sardanah, who got waiver of 50 per cent of tuition fee and Abhinav Goel and Aditya Garg, who got 25 per cent waiver, got the scholarship.

Sharing a genuine partnership with India, experts said France had chosen to open its frontiers even wider to Indian students. Almost 2,600 Indian students opted for higher education in France previous year, a jump of 50 per cent over the past five years. The vast majority of these students attend the 700-odd courses taught in English in France, the number of which is increasing year by year.

Chandigarh, July 11
The authorities at Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH), Sector 32, today said that no counselling would be held for admission to BAMS and BHMS courses for the session 2013-14 till the permission was granted by Panjab University or other recommending authority.

However, the counselling for MBBS and BDS courses will be held as per the scheduled date and time. Starting from July 15, the Government Medical College Hospital (GMCH), Sector-32, will function from 9am to 5pm and OPD registration counters will work from 8am to 11am. The emergency services will be available round-the-clock.

Chandigarh, July 11
The management of the Homeopathic Medical College and Hospital, Sector 26, here, today held a meeting with students over PU’s denial to hold fresh admissions in the college.

The students also staged a protest as members of the management failed to resolve the issue.

The students have been protesting against the management for not appointing the adequate number of teachers that led to university taking action against the college.

The students had demanded to hold a meeting with the management to know as what efforts were being made by the college to ensure that fresh admissions were not stalled. However, even after a heated discussion, the management failed to satisfy them.

Students said they would continue boycotting classes and would not even appear for the house tests.