Tricity buzz: Orchid flower named after PU woman professor

The honour has been bestowed upon the PU professor on the basis of significant contributions and achievements in the field of Indian orchidology

Professor Promila Pathak, chairperson of Panjab University’s botany department, now has an orchid hybrid named after her. The honour has been bestowed upon her on the basis of significant contributions and achievements in the field of Indian orchidology. The flower named “Phalaenopsis Promila Pathak White” has been registered at Royal Horticultural Society, London. Orchidaceae, commonly called the orchid family, is a diverse and widespread family of flowering plants. Prof Pathak has been instrumental in developing strategies for sustainable development of these flowers.

Professor Promila Pathak, chairperson of Panjab University’s botany department.

Congress councillors make U-turn, all praise for Mitra

From brickbats to bouquets, there’s been a total transformation in the response of Congress councillors towards the working of Chandigarh Municipal Corporation commissioner Anindita Mitra. During the last MC house meet a fortnight ago, the Congress councillors, particularly Satish Kainth, gunned for Mitra on the parking problem. But on November 12, the Congress councillors were all praise for the commissioner, that too on the same issue. Kainth applauded the commissioner for ensuring improvement in parking lots, while his party colleague Devinder Singh Babla praised Mitra for the quick response in replacing a manhole cover. The change in the Congress councillors’ behaviour didn’t go unnoticed by the ruling BJP members. Taking a dig at Babla, BJP councillor Davesh Moudgil said, “Aap aise hi tareef karte rahiye, aur hum dhakan badalte rahenge.”

Race against time, BJP on inauguration spree

The BJP members of the Municipal Corporation of Chandigarh are on a foundation stone laying and inauguration spree with the deadline of November 17 set for all such programmes. The ruling party wants to have as many achievements as possible to its credit in the run-up to the elections in December. The UT administration is also rushing to inaugurate its own projects, including the start of electric buses and the opening of the aviary before November 17. The state election commission can announce the code of conduct any day after that.

UT district court website needs spell check

When it comes to spellings of names, one should be accurate. The website of the Chandigarh district courts needs a spell check. The names of many an advocate has been spelt wrong. The name of senior advocate Rabindra Pandit is one such case in point.

RWAs back residents, not party or candidate

While some members of resident welfare associations (RWAs) have announced their candidacy for the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation elections, people have raised questions about the neutrality of RWA bodies. The Chandigarh Residents’ Association Welfare Federation (CRAWFED) chief spokesperson Anish Garg said, “Whoever wants to stand for elections is free to do so but CRAWFED will not back any candidate or support any party. We will only highlight issues of residents.”

Ward division leaves Manimajra confused

With the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation elections approaching, residents of Manimajra that has been split into three wards are not clear yet about which ward they come under. A resident said, “Most people see Manimajra as the old township and the new one. It is tedious going over the notification to see which neighbourhood is under which ward.” All three wards are reserved for general category women candidates, adding to the confusion among political parties, too. A party insider said even if one ward had been open for men, it would have worked for the parties but the recent decision has only added to the confusion.

Outsourced staff make up for shortage at hospitals

The UT health department had on October 1 discontinued the services of 81 outsourced healthcare workers, who had been recruited to handle the Covid-19 pandemic. The department also planned to terminate the services of 150 more such employees as the coronavirus cases subsided. However, after the department terminated the services of 179 NHM employees for protesting against the revised working conditions for a salary hike, the health department didn’t terminate the services of the outsourced staff. Instead, they were hired in place of NHM employees to manage patient care facilities at government hospitals and dispensaries. “We are using their services to meet the manpower requirement in hospitals. The department will soon recruit new NHM employees by following the procedure,” says Dr Suman Singh, director of health services, Chandigarh.

Elected senators await gazette notification

The process of senate elections of Panjab University (PU) was completed last month, but the elected candidates are still awaiting the gazette notification. According to the PU Act, the senate election is subject to the approval of the PU chancellor, who is the vice-president of India. Though a gazette notification for nominated members has already been issued, it is pending for elected candidates, resulting in further delay in the constitution of the new senate. The senate elections were held after a delay of one year.

Inputs by Hillary Victor, Munieshwer A Sagar, Tanbir Dhaliwal, Rajanbir Singh, Mandeep Narula and Dar Ovais