Chandigarh: The CII Northern Region organised the ‘Chandigarh Start-ups Session’ as part of its flagship initiative, ICONN 2022 on Aug 30, 2022. The theme for the session was ‘Shaping a Vibrant Entrepreneurial Ecosystem’. Eminent speakers at the session shared how government strategies and policies are supporting entrepreneurs in the region and enabling start-ups to ensure more purposeful, productive, agile, and flexible ways of conducting business.

Speaking at the occasion, Mr Dharam Pal, Advisor to the Administrator, UT Chandigarh said, “We are keen to create a robust ecosystem for promoting innovation in businesses. Chandigarh will soon come up with its start-up policy, a dedicated start-up hub, a seed fund with a corpus of ₹50 crores, and more.”

Mr Kris Gopalakrishnan, Chairman, CII Centre of Excellence on Start-Ups & Entrepreneurship and Co-Founder, Infosys Ltd said, “It is the collective responsibility of the industry, high net-worth individuals (angel investors), academic institutions, and the government to work together to build a robust start-up ecosystem in any state or city.”

CII has conceptualized a special initiative titled ICONN to facilitate engagement between Corporates and Start-ups through a stakeholder engagement framework.

Chandigarh: Amid rising concerns over the depleting water table in Chandigarh, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) has directed the UT Administration to take all measures to minimise the withdrawal of groundwater. To check the decline in the groundwater level, the green tribunal has also asked the UT to emphasize the reuse of wastewater, especially by bulk users, besides making rainwater harvesting mandatory in the city.

“Chandigarh depends on groundwater to meet its requirements of potable water. Hence, the UT must take all measures to minimise the use of groundwater sources as it’s scarce and depletable if overdrawn,” stated the NGT in a report submitted by the UT Administration on compliance with solid waste management and sewage management in the city.

NGT stated that sewage should be treated, and treated sewage with no bacterial load can be used by commercial establishments such as malls, industrial estates, automobile units and power plants requiring water for their processes or otherwise. The treated water can also be used at local bodies institutions, universities, railway stations, bus stands and playgrounds to save potable water for drinking, observed the tribunal. Resorts and hotels are required to adopt a zero waste policy, including wastewater reuse within the resort/hotel area, stated the tribunal.

An analysis of the water-level data indicates that about 45.5 per cent of the wells have registered a decline in the groundwater level in the range of 0-2 metres, whereas around 27.3 per cent of the wells have also reported a rise in the groundwater level in the same range in the city. A senior MC official said the main reasons for the depleting groundwater were over-extraction and a poor recharge system.

Chandigarh Panchkula and Mohali are witnessing a surge in Covid cases in the last few days.

Chandigarh: The city reported 46 fresh cases of Covid-19 on Aug 31, 2022. The active cases stand at 303 as 39 patients recovered from the disease.

Panchkula: Twenty more persons tested positive for Covid-19 during the past 24 hours, while 31 patients got the better of the disease in the district. There was no fresh fatality and the active caseload in the district came down to 87.

21 fresh cases in Mohali

Mohali: The district reported 21 fresh cases of Covid-19 on Aug 31, 2022, while 29 patients recovered from the disease. There has been no fresh fatality. The active cases have also dropped to 288 in the district.

Chandigarh: The joint admission committee (JAC) started online registrations for admission to engineering courses in various institutes of Chandigarh from Monday. Registration will close on September 14.

Like other states, Chandigarh also accepts JEE -Main scores for admission to engineering course at five institutes— Dr SSB University Institute of Chemical Engineering (Dr SSBUICET), University Institute of Engineering and Technology (UIET), Panjab University Campus; UIET at PU’s Hoshiarpur regional centre, Chandigarh College of Engineering and Technology (CCET) and Chandigarh College of Architecture (CCA).

The candidates need to apply on chdenggadmissions.nic.in or jacchd.admissions.nic.in. The registration fee is to be deposited either in the form of e-challans in any SBI branch across India or through online payment.

The admissions will take place via three rounds of online counselling, followed by two special rounds. In the special rounds, all candidates who have registered before the first round of counselling or freshly registered for the special round can participate regardless of whether they have participated in previous rounds or not.

Chandigarh: Punjab Cabinet Minister Aman Arora on Monday said he held a meeting with filmmaker Imtiaz Ali and discussed ways to promote “film tourism” in the state.

Arora, the state’s Information and Public Relations minister, shared the news on Twitter and posted his pictures with the director captioning it as, “JAB WE MET! Had a productive meeting with Imtiaz Ali, Bollywood Director, Producer & Writer, in my office at Chandigarh. Discussed ways & means to boost CM @BhagwantMann Ji’s efforts to promote film tourism in the culturally enriched state of Punjab.”

Ali is known for directing movies such as “Jab We Met”, “Love Aaj Kal” and “Rockstar” as well as creating the critically-acclaimed Netflix show “She”.

Chandigarh: A “Water ATM” has been installed in Chandigarh’s sector 35 market. A total of four water ATMs have been installed among which one has been made functional. Chief engineer NP Sharma said, “The ATMs were supplied by Punjab and Sind Bank under corporate social responsibility (CSR). Each water ATM cost around ₹5.25 lakh.”

The MC paid for installation and civil work, which costs around ₹2 lakh per water ATM. The civic body will also bear maintenance costs, including paying for electricity and water, he said. The potable water available at the ATM will be as per Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS). The water will be available from 9 am to 9pm on a daily basis.

The charges are ₹1 for 300ml, ₹3 for 500 ml, ₹5 for 1,000 ml, ₹20 for 5,000 ml and ₹35 for 20,000 ml.

The water ATM has been equipped with a provision of dispensing chilled water (15°C) during summers. An LED digital screen will display four key parameters of water standards – pH (measure of how acidic or basic the water is), hardness (the amount of dissolved calcium and magnesium), TDS (total dissolved solids) and temperature in real time.

Users can swipe the card or insert a coin in the WAU (water ATM unit) sensor and choose the quantity they want. The storage capacity of each water ATM is 500 litre, which has been enhanced by providing a 1,000 litre water storage tank.

Sharma said the water ATMs will meet the long-pending demand of shopkeepers as well as visitors in the market.

Chandigarh: The smart city, Chandigarh is soon going to have its first rescue centre for all kinds of animals, including cows, dogs, kittens, birds and even snakes. The animals, including strays, will also receive treatment at the centre.

The local Municipal Corporation has vacant pieces of land in various areas and plans to run the facility from there.

MC Commissioner Anindita Mitra said, “The proposal was made by the Chandigarh Residents Associations’ Welfare Federation (CRAWFED). We will table this in the MC General House meeting. We have a vacant piece of land, and if CRAWFED wishes to run this facility, it can or we can run it in collaboration with them.”

Chandigarh: On Saturday Chandigarh Lalit Kala Akademi is going to organise a visit of students from across the tricity schools to the Art Exhibition at underpass sector 17 to commemorate the historic Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav- Celebrating 75 years of India’s Independence.

On Saturday,the second batch of about 50 students from city Schools will visit this unique exhibition comprising the inspiring works of eminent artists of the country and most evocative installations by the city’s young professionals.

Art awakes a child to the values that form the essence of learning. Children who are the future ambassadors of our golden heritage and culture need an exposure to the creative urges that form the aura of an art exhibition.

On this occasion city artists and art historian Prof Ravinder Kumar Sharma will interact with the students and will assist them to explore the rare virtues that art suggests and highlights.

The event will take place at underpass Art Gallery Sector -17 connecting to Rose Garden from 11.00 am on 27th August.

Chandigarh: Seema Rani, Principal of Government Model Senior Secondary School (GMSSS), Dhanas, has been chosen for the National Awards to Teachers 2022 that will be conferred by President Droupadi Murmu in New Delhi on Teachers’ Day (September 5).

Seema Rani, will be honored with a merit certificate, a cash award of Rs 50,000 and a silver medal.

Rani is among the 46 awardees selected this year by the ministry of education following a rigorous and transparent three-stage selection process that was conducted online. For this award, on August 4, Seema Rani had a VC and PPT with senior officers of the Ministry of Education. Let us tell you that this award has dropped in Chandigarh’s kitty after five years. Earlier in the year 2017, music lecturer Sukhraj Kaur Sandhu received the National Award in GMSSS-16 from Chandigarh. This time only seven applications came to the department for this award. A total of 46 teachers from across the country have been selected for this award.

Seema Rani started her job as an English lecturer in the year 1996. After teaching in various schools of the city, she joined GMSSS Dhanas as a principal in 2018. Since then the enrolment in the school has been increasing continuously. There were 2922 enrollments in 2019-20 and today the strength of the school is more than 3500 students. The school runs in double shifts.

Chandigarh: To celebrate the 75 years of Independence, Chandigarh Lalit Kala Akademi has exhibited a mega exhibition featuring 75 works of 75 artists from across the country at sector 17 underpass in Chandigarh.

As part of the Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav, many senior and upcoming artists have displayed their artworks focusing on various aspects of independent India.