IT Chandigarh

Chandigarh: Eleven year old Ruchi and 8 year old Gulistan, both mentally-challenged students from the Sadhna Institute for Mentally retarded and Handicapped children were provided scholarships worth Rs.8000 per year by the State Bank of India ladies club.

The students were given the scholarships at a function organised at the school premises to mark the circle day celebrations of the ladies club.

Both the girls, covered by the scholarships come from poor backgrounds and have been undergoing vocational training at the Institute.While Ruchi’s father passed away 2 years ago, Gulistan’s father works in a bakery.

Bhavna tyal, founder president of the Sadhna institute delivered a speech on the various activities undertaken by the students.

Tejaswini sharma, a Sadhna student enthralled the audience with the rendition of a famous Punjabi song. The students presented a group song, which was appreciated by the audience .

The children presented to colourful paintings,made by the students to the club members . Neeraj Vats, the institute co-founder said that the children needed more social support and acceptance from the community.

Chandigarh: The Mattawala bridge on the Panchkula Saha Yamuna Nagar road (NH 73) was to be opened to public in the first week of June, however, nothing of the sort has happened. It has been about two months since the bridge was closed for repairs, and the delay in its reopening is posing a lot of problem to the thousands of commuters who used to take that route daily.

“Although an alternative route has been provided, but the the daily commuters face a lot of problems. It becomes all the more difficult for those on two-wheelers as the alternative route is nothing less than a roller-coaster ride. The bridge was scheduled for opening in the first week of June, but despite the long wait, it is not yet ready,” said Suresh Kumar, who uses the route frequently. He added that it was for the authorities to check that the work deputed to the various departments was done on time.

Similar were the sentiments expressed by Satish Kumar, a resident of the area, who said that using the alternative route at night was risky as the diversion was through the river bed with no proper lighting in the area which made it accident prone. “Many times while passing through the stretch, my two-wheeler almost skidded. We are eagerly waiting for the day the bridge is thrown open for traffic,” said Kumar.

The Mattawala bridge was closed for repairs on April 28. “Due to the heavy vehicle load on this highway, the bridge was in a bad shape and needed to be repaired. Besides strengthening the bridge, we have also replaced the bearings and its various expansion joints,” said an official of the PWD (B and R) on the condition of anonymity. He added that as repairs were almost finished, the bridge would be opened to public in the first week of July.

Chandigarh: Construction of the PGI trauma centre has been restarted after a delay of . year. The new centre will have 100 beds and has been planned on an budget of Rs 21 crore.

Officials claim that the centre will be functional by November 2008. The construction work has lagged behind due to the careless attitude of the PGI.

The centre was initially envisaged in the Ninth Five Year Plan but has dragged on.

“The project was initially handed to the CPWD.When the construction of the structure began, the cost escalated to a large extent . Therefore, the institute got back the money from the CPWD,” said Anil Kumar Gupta, Deputy Director Administration (DDA).

Construction on the ambitious venture began last month after the central government gave the go-ahead on an initial budget of Rs 21 crore. “The building will cost Rs 18 crore. The government has assured that more money will be provided for the project under the 11th five year plan,” Gupta added.

The PGI has estimated that the institute will require the additional services of 400 residents, nurses, paramedical and other staff, with most of the nurses and doctors being employed for the trauma centre. The issue of the requirement of more manpower will be placed before a Finance Committee during a meeting on July 20.

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Chandigarh: “THE Punjab government has decided in principal to implement the land pooling technique in the state for urban development on the Gujarat pattern,” said Local Bodies and Industries Minister Manoranjan Kalia today.

Addressing a press conference here, Manoranjan Kalia said the government will acquire land from farmers with their consent and out of total land acquired, 60 per cent would be returned to the farmer in the shape of plots.

The farmer can sell his 60 per cent share as and when he wants. He could even sell it after constructing a house on plots allotted to him against 60 per cent land share.

Local Bodies and Industries Minister Manoranjan Kalia said with this scheme, the price of land would increase many folds. Out of the remaining 40 per cent, 15 per cent would go for roads, 5 per cent for parks, 5 per cent for community centre and 15 per cent will remain with the government.

Local Bodies and Industries Minister Manoranjan Kalia said a decision to this effect was taken on June 28 by the Cabinet sub-committee constituted for this purpose.

Chandigarh: The city colleges were once again abuzz with activity after the summer break as admissions to various courses began. On the first day itself, most of the seats in various courses with fixed number of seats were filled.

With anxiety written on their faces, students and parents moved from one college to another, not sure of where they would get admission or whether they would get admission in a college of their choice.

The cut-off for B.Com was the highest in almost all colleges. While at SD College, Sector 32, it stood at 101 per cent for UT pool and 103 per cent for the general pool with weightage, at MCM DAV College, Sector 36, it was 93.4 per cent without weightage. The cut-off at DAV College, Sector 10, was 93 per cent for UT pool and 102 per cent for the general pool. Government College for Girls, Sector 11, had 90.6 per cent cut-off in B.Com in the UT pool and 101.8 per cent in the general category. Courses like BCA, BBA as well as BSc (Biotech) were also high on the students’ priority list.

Though all the colleges had made special arrangements to ensure the admission procedure remained hassle free, some problems were witnessed.

At Government College for Girls, Sector 11, due to the rush, long queues of students could be witnessed. The college had put up a special tent where students could deposit their fees for which each student was given a token. Bharti, a student who had taken admission in BCA at GCG-11, said, “The admission process was without any hassle and did not take much time. But depositing fees is taking time.”
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Chandigarh: In A bid to tighten the noose around drunken driving, the Chandigarh Traffic Police have come up with a new set of rules.

If a person is caught driving a vehicle in a drunken state or under the influence of drugs, he/she would be put through a compulsory court trial for the first offence. In case the offence is repeated, the persons will be fined Rs 2,500 and imprisonment of at least six months or both. The Chandigarh Traffic Police announced the new punishment for drunken driving today.

Before this, drunk/ inebriated drivers were booked on charges of negligent driving and the police used to impound the vehicle in case there is no other person in the vehicle who can drive. According to the new ruling, the vehicle will be impounded straightaway and the drunk driver will have to go through a compulsory court trial. The driver will also be fined under Section 185/188 of Motor Vehicles Act.

“Driving under the influence of alcohol is the most heinous offence a motorist can commit. It not only poses a threat to the driver’s life, but also the passengers travelling in the vehicle and other people on the road. There had been instances where people have lost their lives to drunken driving. The main reason for such a stern punishment for the offence is to curb instances of drunk driving and save precious human lives,” said SSP (Traffic) A S Ahlawat.

It may be mentioned that the city police has already fined over 102 persons for drunken driving till June 30 this year, while 115 persons were fined for the same offence in last one year.

While the total fine collected from drunken drivers last year was Rs 53,150, the figure in first six months of this year is already Rs 61,000.

Chandigarh: IN response to the public opinion invited by the Chandigarh Administration regarding revaluation of Apartment Rules 2001, the Chandigarh Beopar Mandal, Sector 22-B on Monday submitted its opinion to the Estate Officer.

Mandal in its submission said that Chandigarh, which was originally earmarked for a population of around 3 lakh persons, has limited boundaries that restrict their spread in other areas.

Therefore, the administration can’t extend its plotted area for the population, which has touched a figure of nearly 12 lakh. The According to Mandal, Administration has no other option except to accommodate the existing poulation within the city limits.

“The Apartment Act 2001 has to stay with more simplified rules”, the Mandal has submitted. Mandal has also put forward certain submissions to justify its viewpoint: The Act has not damaged sanctity of the original master plan; the city skyline has not been disturbed; the unique character, zoning, ground cover, height and façade etc has been properly retained.

Chandigarh: Chandigarh Administration has invited nominations for the Indira Gandhi Awards for National Integration- 2006.

The nominations are to be sent to the deputy commissioner of Chandigarh for the categories including associations, institutions or organisations having legal status and registered in India.

Only names of an individual (association, institution etc)can be proposed for the award. A self-recommending proposal by a person or an organisation will not be entertained.

The award will be given to an individual or organisation for his/its activities in specified years to the cause of promoting national integration and sense of national solidarity.

The award was instituted, to give recognition to outstanding contribution by distinguished individuals or institutions.

The award carries a citation and cash award of Rs 1.51 lakh. The names of the winners are expected to be announced on or before 2nd October 2007.