Sunday, December 20, 2020

Make People Aware Before Penalising

 This has become a norm with most of the public authorities.  They take action and expect everyone to comply or get penalised. 

The Chandigarh Administration's recent notice to segregate their waste otherwise they would have to pay fine.  The announcement came on 19th December. And the penalisation begins w.e.f. 22nd December. 

Is the Administration and the people well informed how the wet and dry waste is to be segregated?

There are different points of engagements that need to be taken care of logistically to make segregation a seamless process. 

I remember Panchkula MC began this campaign two years back with extensive hoardings, messaging on mobile, with instructions, besides using the print media, printed leaflets and posters for displaying in public places so that the populace is informed. 

Even the three differently color waste baskets were distributed free to the households; and many retailers also started selling the wastebins in three colors to facilitate its adoption. 

The collection vehicles were painted accordingly, and the MC staff was trained in collection and disposal process. 

Chandigarh Administration should look into all these aspects and instead of imposing fines, should spend at least three months in running public campaigns in which various NGOs should also be involved to spread the message. 

Same is the case with the traffic challans.   On most roads the signage is missing for speed limits, and even if these are there, these are sparsly displayed.  

Similarly with no alternative space demarcated for parking in the absence of the limited parking spaces around the markets, the challans are issued without making any provision for parking.   

The Administration should focus on facilitating residents and making their life easy with workable solutions for which it must also take the responsibility, instead of penalising the people. 



Monday, November 30, 2020

New Environmental Landmark Opens in City Beautiful



The Governor Punjab and Administrator, Chandigarh, Mr VP Singh Badnore today inaugurated the Museum of Trees - a unique environmental project for conservation of sacred trees of Sikhism after which many Sikh Gurudwaras are named. 

Because of Covid-19, the inauguration was done online. Ex-member of Parliament & Chairman, Minorities Commission, Sardar Tarlochan Singh and PHDCCI President, Karan Gilhotra, participated in the online inauguration.

Extending Gurpurab greetings on the 551st birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Devji, the Governor said this was the most appropriate day and most appropriate manner of remembering Guru Nanak whose hymns are replete with references to nature, environment, trees, plants and animal life.

The Governor warned that climate change is an immediate crisis for humanity and to meet this challenge people will have to come forward with initiatives like the Museum of Trees to mobilize public opinion.

He complimented DS Jaspal for patiently working for ten years to clone 12 sacred trees and hoped work on the remaining trees will also be completed soon.

Creator and Curator of the Museum of Trees, D S Jaspal, a retired IAS officer chief curator of the museum and author of Tryst with Trees – Punjab’s Sacred Heritage. thanked the Governor for supporting the project, which he said will be a source of attraction for all nature lovers, and for the Sikhs since many of the sacred trees have been replicated in this unique museum. 

Over a period of ten years, the Museum has been successful in reproducing genetically true replicas of twelve sacred trees including Dukh Bhanjani ber tree of Golden Temple; Ber tree of gurudwara Ber Sahib, Sultanpur Lodi; Ber tree of gurudwara Babe-di-Ber, Sialkot, Pakistan; Peepal tree of gurudwara Pipli Sahib, Amritsar, D S Jaspal informed. 

Many of these trees, he said, have botanical significance, viz., the Beri tree of Gurudwara Ber Sahib in Sultanpur Lodi is unique because it has very few spines. Similarly, the leaves of the peepal tree in Gurudwara Pipli Sahib have a unique yellow pigmentation.

The Museum of Trees has India’s most modern Mist Chamber facility and a Glass House Conservatory, with sixteen air conditioners, to preserve and propagate rare and endangered species which grow at high elevations.

Situated in village Daria of Chandigarh, about two kilometers inside of Chandigarh-Ambala road, off the Halomajra chowk, the entry ticket is Rs.400 per day and the museum hosts a number of workshops, and special visits for school children, and has an exhibition area too.  

More information can be had from their comprehensive website, https://museumoftrees.org, and can be contacted through email and phone for further information. 


Heritage Garden Farms Hallomajra – Panchkula Road Daria, Chandigarh


(Information courtesy, DIPR Punjab)

Wednesday, November 18, 2020

Chandigarh Lit Fest Literati from 20th November

Ireland is the partner country

Noted author Gurcharan Das 


The eighth edition of Chandigarh Lit Fest, Literati 2020, opens on Friday in its virtual avatar with noted author, intellectual, speaker, and former CEO of Procter & Gamble, Gurcharan Das, featured in the opening plenary session.

Dr Sumita Misra, chairperson of Chandigarh Literary Society (CLS) said that this time again the three-days weekend Literati shall feature some of the noted authors from India and abroad, and it is a matter of great pleasure that we have Embassy of Ireland and HAREDA as partners with Radio Mirchi 98.3 as Happiness Partner, she added.

Some of the other prominent authors participating in Literati include Sudha Murthy, Rajdeep Sardesai, Ashish Vidyyarthi, Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, Dr. Rakhshanda Jalil, Radhakrishnan Pillai, Anuja Chauhan, Dr. Janki Santoke, Amandeep Sandhu, Sarabpreet Singh, Anuja Chandramouli, Erner Davis amongst others..

The Chandigarh literary society is back with its eighth edition of Literati: Chandigarh International Lit Fest 2020 in association with HAREDA. This time it features some of the most prolific authors of national and international arena including Sudha Murthy, Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, Gurucharan Das, Anuja Chauhan, Rajdeep Sardesai, Dr. Rakhshanda Jalil, Sarabpreet Singh, Anuja Chandramouli, Dr Janki Santoke, Navtej Sarna, Emer Davis and many more.

There are over 30 authors from English, Hindi and Panjabi genre  participating in the three days event which would go live on facebook and youtube on 20th November from 5:30pm to 9pm.   

 CLS had been organizing the Chandigarh Lit Fest for the last eight years and this year immediately after lockdown in end March, it launched CLS Conversation online featuring some of the celebrated writers like Amish Tripathi, Ashwin Sanghi, Bilal Siddiqi, Sanil Sachar, Dr Farah Adam Mukadam, Mukul Kumar, Rajni Sekhri Sibal, Meghna Pant, Khushwant Singh, among others.

Literati 2020
YouTube LIVE- https://bit.ly/35G7O39
Facebook LIVE - https://bit.ly/3lIAmyi

Friday, October 09, 2020

The Dream City of India


 

It was around 1966 that my dad's friend from Jain Soda Factory in Ambala Cantt, lent us his driver and ambassador car to take us around the city of Chandigarh. Neelam and Jagat were the plush theatres, and vast market place of Sector 17 was enchanting.

There were hardly any cars at that time on road. A few scooters and cycles.

No one wanted to come to the new city. The then Chief Minister of Punjab S. Partap Singh Kairon brought in people from different parts of the country with attractive offers to own land and populate it.

We shifted ultimately in 1969.

Famous author and journalist Khushwant Singh described the city as a place of "Hariyaan Chariyaan, te Chitti Daariyaan" (the city of green hedges and white beards, referring to it as the city of retired people. 

Today it is the most sought after beautiful city