Chandigarh, September 14
A slum dweller of Sector 52, Ranjit Singh, who works in a private printing press, had never dreamt of being the first person in the city to receive the allotment letter of a dwelling unit at Dhanas from the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh.

For Ranjit and his wife Raksha Devi, it was the joy of not only sharing the moment with the PM, but also seeing their dream of owning a house come true. Hailing from Himachal Pradesh, they had been living in a local slum for the past many years.

For Akhtar Ali and his wife, Laiylaiytoon Nisha, another lucky couple to get the allotment letter from the PM, it would be a complete transformation from the miserable life of slums where they had to go outside to fetch water.

But many others were not lucky to get their possession letters from the PM. Sanjay Kumar and his wife Sharda were seen inspecting the flats and discussing the arrangements they would have to make after shifting to the complex. "We are happy as we will get rid of the slum. Our three children will get better environment," they said.

Another couple, Inderjeet and his wife Kamlesh, who have been allotted a flat on the first floor, wished they could have been allotted a bigger flat so that they, along with their four children, could live comfortably. "In Colony No. 5, there was no bar on creating additional space. But here the space is limited. We can't alter it," said Inderjeet.

Soon after the ceremony, many of the beneficiaries were seen inspecting the flats.

According to the allotment conditions, the flat would be transferred in the name of the allottee after 20 years, provided they do not sell it off or did not rent it out.

During the PM's address, the beneficiaries were seen praising the UPA government.

Chandigarh, September 14
Although the traffic moving on roads connecting to the route taken by the Prime Minister’s convoy today was stalled for around 15 minutes, the city roads did not witness any major snarl-up.

The traffic on the road near the airport light point, Tribune Chowk, Sector 26 transport light point and all the roads connecting to this route was stopped for around 15 minutes, leading to long queues of vehicles. However, soon after the convoy left, the flow of traffic resumed.

The Prime Minister arrived at the Air Force station at around 10.30 am, following which the traffic was stopped at the airport light point for around eight minutes, leading to long queue of vehicles till the Zirakpur barrier. The traffic on the Tribune Chowk was stopped for 12 minutes at 10.36 am. Similarly, the traffic moving towards Panchkula and vehicles coming towards Chandigarh were stopped at the Sector 26 light point for around 15 minutes.

Being a Saturday, the traffic was less, avoiding chaos on the city roads. The convoy, after taking the road opposite the lake and reaching the Madhya Marg at the Sector 15/16/10/11 roundabout, left for the Mullanpur barrier, crossing the PGI road on its way to Dhanas.

It took around 20 minutes for the convoy to reach the venue. During the PM’s return, there was a traffic snarl near Tribune Chowk and the airport Light point in the afternoon. It took around 10 minutes for the traffic flow to get back to normal. The PM reached the Air Force station at around 2.25 pm. 

Chandigarh, September 14
An hour before the Special Protection Group (SPG) took control of the dais from where Prime MInister Manmohan Singh was to address the gathering, a woman, dressed in a white shirt and jeans, was seen accompanying Mandeep Kaur, secretary of the Chandigarh Housing Board (CHB).

Enquiries revealed that the woman, identified as Niranjan Kaur, though a private person, was on a list of government officials who were to accompany the 10 beneficiaries to be presented with allotment letters by the PM. Mentioned as a personal staffer of the CHB’s secretary, the office of the ADC had issued her a duty pass.

Sources said according to the security arrangements, the list of the officials to be present in the close cordon of the PM has to be sent to the SPG.

Chandigarh, September 14
To make sure that the BJP and BSP leaders and their supporters do not succeed in showing black flags to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the Chandigarh police launched a ‘secret operation’ to arrest the BJP and BSP leaders from 9 pm on Friday night. The police also picked up certain leaders on Saturday morning before the PM’s arrival.

Barring former Union Minister and senior BJP leader Harmohan Dhawan and BJP councillor Satinder Singh, the UT police managed to detain Dhawan’s supporters.

The police picked up BJP vice-president Ramvir Bhatti, former councillor Anil Dubey and Harishankar Mishra from their homes on this morning. The police also detained 11 members of the Ekta Samiti, which had announced that its members would show black flags to the PM, from their houses on Friday night. Besides, many other supporters of Dhawan were picked up from their homes and shops.

Sources said the police targeted only those leaders and supporters of Harmohan Dhawan, who were given the responsibility to mobilise supporters at the Transport light point in Sector 26. These leaders were detained at the police station and police posts of their respective areas and were let off around 3 pm when the PM had left for New Delhi.

Earlier, the police had hold a number of meetings with these leaders and and had even asked them to withdraw their protest, but when these leaders refused to relent, the police took them in preventive custody.

Chandigarh, September 14
The State Bank of Patiala on Saturday opened its first all-women branch in Sector 35 here. The regional director, Reserve Bank of India, MK Singh, was the chief guest.

While inaugurating the branch, MK Singh said women had been playing a vital role in the society since the Vedic times. “Women have been great scholars, philosophers and seers,” he said.

Congratulating the bank authorities for opening an all-women branch, he advised the staff to be customer centric while designing products and taking other initiatives. The regional director of the RBI also told the staff to change their mindset to keep up with the changing scenario.

“The State Bank of Patiala was the first bank to computerise its branches and also to introduce the core banking facilty,” said MK Singh.

“Now the bank has started the first all-women branch in Chandigarh,” he said.

Managing director of the bank Achal Kumar Gupta said it was the third all-women branch of the bank. The bank has earlier opened such branches in Bhatinda and Patiala.

“The bank plans to open twelve more branches in near future for providing best customer service,” said Achal Kumar Gupta.

Gupta said the all-women branch will help in attracting more women customers to the State Bank of Patiala.

Mohali, September 14
Members of the Sikhiya Providers Union today staged a dharna on the Chandigarh-Kurali road in Kharar. Hundreds of people were harassed for hours after being caught in a traffic blockade here.

About 1,500 members of the union, who came from various parts of the state to press for their demands, today sat on a dharna in the middle of the Traffic Chowk at Kharar, resulting in a huge traffic jam on both the sides of the Chandigarh-Kurali highway for more than six hours.

The protestors sat on the dharna at around 2.20 pm and blocked the highway. Though the police started diverting the traffic from Kurali, Ludhiana and Chandigarh, hundreds of people were still stranded for hours.

Ravinderjit Singh, who was coming with his family from Ludhiana in his car, said he was waiting for lifting of the blockade for past four hours. “My children have started crying but I am helpless. Why doesn’t the police take action against the protestors who have been bothering the public,” he said.

A Kharar resident, Sumant Kumar, said he had been stuck in the jam at Phase VI for the past four hours. “I don’t know what to do”, he said.

The administrative and police authorities, which included Mohali ADC Parveen Thind, Kharar SDM Sukhjit Pal Singh and SP (Headquarters) Darshan Singh Mann, reached the spot but could not pacify the agitators, who were demanding a meeting with the Punjab Chief Minister, Parkash Singh Badal.

There was no let up in the traffic blockade till the filling of this report.

Chandigarh, September 14
Around 24 per cent deaths below the age of five years in India are due to pneumonia as per a report of the Child Health Epidemiology Research Group (CHERG).

Dr Ajay Khera, Deputy Commissioner, Child Health and Immunisation, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, who is in the city to attend a symposium, said the maximum number of cases was reported from the northern and central states.

A study released by UNICEF this week called upon the members to commit to the survival of children. An inter-agency group report estimates that India has the highest number of deaths below five years in the world, with as many as 1.4 million deaths in 2012.

Dr Khera said in India, on an average around 4,000 children below the age of five were dying daily due to pneumonia. Diarrhoea posed a similar threat, he said.

Dr Khera said the Centre was adding an additional antigen to the pentavalent vaccine to protect against pneumonia and meningitis.

“The pentavalent vaccine is now available in nine states of the country. We expect to scale up the use of the vaccine across the country in phases,” he said.

The PGI Director, Dr Y K Chawla, said the disease not only affects the health of children, but also have an impact on their future prospects as they get hospitalised and miss out on crucial educational opportunities.

Former Director General of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) Dr NK Ganguly said it was important to address the issue of pneumonia and diarrhoea in India to reduce the child mortality by two-thirds.

India’s neighbours, such as Bangladesh and Nepal, having introduced the pentavalent vaccine have fared better in terms of child health indicators, he said.

Chandigarh, September 14
A French movie “Les Beaux Gosses” (The French Kissers) was screened as part of the weekend movie festival here at Alliance Française in Sector 36. This French comedy was shown with English subtitles. This wild and raunchy French farce was a representation of what teenage boys experience in high school.

The movie followed trails and tribulations of Herve (Vincent Lacoste) as he struggled to deal with bullies, homework, family and hormonal changes. The females did not respond favourably to him either. He suffered rejection after rejection, until he drew some attention from his popular classmate Aurore. The film was released in 2010 and was well received by critics, who particularly praised the humour, the acting and the cinematography of the movie. It won the 2010 César Award for the Best First Film.

On September 20, another French movie La Princesse de Montpensier will be screened. The festival will conclude on September 28 with French comedy Louise-Michel.

Chandigarh, September 14
The three-member committee looking into the fee hike issue in private schools in Chandigarh will start inspecting the schools from the next week.

The committee, headed by Justice (retd) RS Mongia, visited Bhavan Vidyalaya School in Sector 27 last month, but it could not visit other schools as one of the members of the committee was not available.

Since that member has joined back, the committee will start inspecting the rest of the schools.

The committee members said during their visit, the schools would be asked to justify the hike in their fee for the sessions 2012-13 and 2013-14. They would be asked to produce their financial details. Besides, the information submitted by the schools to the committee in response to its pro forma would be crosschecked through the physical inspection on the day of the visit.

Justice (retd) RS Mongia said the schools would be duly informed before the committee’s visit. They would be asked to keep their staff ready with the schools’ financial details and other information as desired by the committee.

“The committee is hoped to cover all private schools in the next one or two months, following which it will prepare its report and duly submit it to the High Court,” he said.

The committee, it is learnt, had to struggle to gather information from private schools. The members said all private schools had submitted the information as asked by the committee through the pro forma sent to them.

“We are at present compiling the information sent by the schools. This information will form our base during the investigation in the schools. On the basis of the details sent by the schools, the committee will visit the schools to corroborate their claims and probe whether the hike in fee is justified or not,” said one of the members.

Chandigarh, September 14
The first Pakistan company to have joint venture in India, Interwood Mobel Pvt Ltd, is among 100 odd companies participating in the Paramount Exhibitors’ Multi-Theme Expo 2013, which began at the Parade Ground, Sector 17, Chandigarh, today.

The three-day exhibition is showcasing technology, products, equipment and services in six different categories - automobiles, industrial technology and machinery, real estate, banking and finance, architecture, building and construction, medical equipment, and office and IT products.

Farooq A Malik, president and CEO of Lahore-based Interwood Mobel Pvt Ltd, said the company was showcasing its wide range of world-class wood and wood-based products in eight different categories - doors, kitchen, wardrobes, office furniture, home furniture, kids furniture, flooring and education furniture.

In the automobile section, Renault, Nissan, Honda, Hyundai, Mahindra (two-wheelers), among others will participate. In the office and IT category, Intex is the major participant. The architecture, building and construction space will be taken up by companies like Ecological Buildings, Marshal Wallpapers and Cosmic Structures.

There is also a stall from Chandigarh Pollution Testing Lab, showcasing its hi-tech equipment in testing all types of pollution. — TNS

Chandigarh, September 14
Panjab University has released counselling schedule for various departments at the university. The second counselling for 219 vacant seats in BEd (Correspondence) will be conducted on September 18 at the University School of Open Learning.

The counselling for admission to first semester MPhil Music (Vocal and Instrumental) will be held on September 23 in the Department of Music. The last date for the submission of application form is September 20.

The interview for admission to Post-MA Diploma in Psychology will be held on September 23 from 9.30 am onwards in the Psychology Department. For further details, candidates should contact the office of the Department of Psychology on the working days. PU officials said the candidates would have to furnish original documents at the time of the counselling. — TNS

Chandigarh, September 14
The second day of the University Institute of Engineering and Technology (UIET) annual tech fest “Aavishkar 13 - The Renaissance” witnessed various interesting events, including robowar, robo-ball and telephonic line. In the evening, the laser show attracted hundreds of students.

With the participation already crossing 3,500 on day one, including online participation, and on the spot registrations of approximately 1,000, the second day was no different with teams from Rajasthan, Bhubaneswar, Allahabad, Dehradun, Delhi, etc, reaching the UIET for participating in various events.

Among the events, the second round of vengeance, robo-ball and telepathic line follower, the first round of robo-war and others, including lan-bash, prastuti-model exhibition competition, quizzes, etc, drew the audience towards them. In the evening, a laser show was a treat to watch.

September 15 that is celebrated as Engineers' Day all over the country will be the concluding day of the tech fest.

A social initiative “engineers against illiteracy”, which began on Illiteracy Day and will continue till Engineer’s Day, has received an overwhelming response from the students.

“A large number of students are contributing a mere sum of Rs 20 for stationary that is to be provided to the underprivileged and orphan who cannot afford education. The cause of many problems is illiteracy, and the UIET students have pledged to help eradicate it,” said one of the students.

The concluding day will see some more technical events, including second round of submerged and robo wars, innovatica, colour detector, etc. “Idea Adda” will be set up in the college itself. Fun events like Ad Mad, DJ evening, etc., will end this technical fest on a playful note.