CN & heard

Suicide will help

A submission was made by the UT counsel a fortnight ago that only the rain god can protect Sukhna lake from drying,during the hearing of a public interest litigation concerning the lake . Taking a dig at the Administration last Friday,when the public interest litigation case came up for resumed hearing,a division bench remarked that it appears that indeed only the rain God can help Sukhna Lake. The remark was made after the Court said that so called measures taken by the Administration have borne no fruit. Not to be left behind,the UT counsel responded,“No my lord,suicides can also help”.

No monitoring these buses

Despite the education department claiming that letters have been sent to all schools regarding the CTU common school buses,the ground reality is that many schools are still not aware that the services have begun. On being asked if a school bus had been picking and dropping their children,the principal of a GMSSS said,“You can ask the people at the taxi stand outside the school,they will know better if a bus has been coming here. Neither I nor my students are aware of any such service being provided”.

No merit in play

Officials of the Sports Department revealed that the reason why there are more sports learning centers in private schools as compared to government schools has not just to do with the availability of better infrastructure. It seems,said one of the officials,that there is a nexus between some private schools and sports coaches who are being favoured to recommend the school’s name for imparting training in various sports,leading to them making some obvious excuses for deciding to give up coaching at certain centres for others.

Missing faces

The missing pictures of senior Bharatiya Janata Party leaders Harmohan Dhawan and Satya Pal Jain from the handbills prepared for by-elections at ward 7 led to much resentment among the faction ridden BJP. It is after this was pointed out that their pictures made an appearance on the pamphlets in the last three to four days of campaigning. The new pamphlets were promptly posted on Facebook as well.

Should I call the media?

The recent spurt in the incidents of alleged negligence at the city’s oldest government hospital,GMSH Sector 16,has put a fear in the minds of the doctors and empowered the patients. This is because every time there is any such incident,mediapersons are in full attendance. Recently when one of the patients had to wait a little too long for his turn in the gynaecology OPD,she went inside the doctor’s room with her husband,who threatened the doctor saying,” Are you attending my wife or should I call the media?”. Needless to say the doctor was left shell-shocked.

Damp squib

The much anticipated Davis Cup for which the Chandigarh administration had been preparing and publicising for months turned out to be a damp squib. So much so that even for the inaugural ceremony,the organisers were not able to manage a full house. And then they decided to fill the seats by inviting school kids to fill the empty stands. But they brought school children who were barely in their teens and could hardly understand the technicalities of the game. For the children it was nothing more than an escape from classes for some time.

Cake tales

At the draw ceremony of the Davis Cup earlier this week,when UT Administrator and Punjab Governor Shivraj Patil cut the cake in the form of a tennis court,most of the New Zealand players were seen clicking pictures of the cake. It was only when an official told them about the governor that the players stopped clicking the pictures. After Patil cut the cake,the Kiwi youngsters again got busy in clicking pictures of the cake.

The other Pathan

While his brother Irfan Pathan is off to Sri Lanka for the T20 World Cup,Yusaf Pathan is in Chandigarh to take part in the 19th All India JP Atray cricket tournament and represent Reliance-I. He might be out of the Indian T20 team,but his fan following is still going strong. During a practice session in Chandigarh,hordes of fans turned up to watch him practice at the nets at a local ground. Later,he was seen signing autographs and posing pictures with the fans.