Chandigarh: New Adviser to take charge today; Homecoming for PEC alumnus

Bagai recalls how in the alumni meet last year, batchmates had Desraj ka samosa and chai.

“On February 14, 2020, I remember he had come to PEC to participate in the alumni meet. We all, around 15 to 16 batchmates, together relived our memories and had samosa chai. One thing I must admire is that whatever he did, he remained very focused and meticulous. He doesn’t like things to be left for last minute,” Professor Bagai added.

Not just this, the classmates say that Dharam Pal also remained an athlete. “He used to participate and win in sports events being an athlete, be it long distance or short distance events,” Professor Bagai said.

Dharam Pal, who reached the city on Tuesday evening and will assume charge on Wednesday morning, has remained a gold medalist in cross-country race of 10 km and 5 km events as well.

Bagai stated that he personally feels that the status of Chief Commissioner in Chandigarh should be restored for the UT Adviser.

Dr Y C Chopra, incharge of the electronics department at PEC who was Dharam Pal’s Professor, said that he was one of the brightest students.

“In this batch of electronics, one usually gets the brightest of all students from India and Dharam Pal was one of them,” Dr Chopra said.

Dharam Pal belongs to Banga district in Nawashahr, Punjab. He has been frequenting Chandigarh whenever he goes to Punjab.

After PEC, Dharam Pal went to pursue Masters of Technology (computer controls and instrumentation) from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi from 1985 to 1987 and then did a course from Managing Information Technology from IIM Ahmedabad in 1999.

WAS SDO IN 1987

In May 1987 after he did his Masters from IIT Delhi, Dharam Pal worked as Sub-Divisional officer in telephones department of Telecommunication, GOI. He did this work till August 1988.

Residents’ top 5 expectations from new Chandigarh Adviser:

• For all urban planning, sustenance and development, unique character of City Beautiful should be protected at all times within the ambit of Chandigarh Master Plan-2031.
• Settling long-term answers to urbanisation challenge such as mass rapid transportation, ring road, subways, parking, architectural norms and tricity unified council.
• Streamlining local government issues like sanitation, waste processing, maintenance of green areas, street vendors management and review of municipal corporation constitution.
• Strengthening health and housing infrastructure by way of adding ICU & paediatric care in public set-ups and bringing a holistic need-based change in policy applicable to all clusters of city dwelling units, viz CHB flats, group housing societies, marla and kanal houses & semi-urban tenements.
• Reinforcing citizens’ engagement in governance by structure connect with RWAs, MWAs, experts; revamping Advisory Council, putting Right to Service (RTS) Act into practice and introducing community policing.