Vodafone Drives Home Road Safety Message with Bike Rally

By Tricitynews Reporter

Chandigarh 13^th February:- To spread the message of road safety, Vodafone Punjab circle, on Sunday, took out a “Vodafone Super-Safety Bike Rally” across the Tricity in which over 50 professional bikers participated. The rally was flagged off from Vodafone Head Office in Mohali and covered key locations in Mohali as well as Chandigarh, where it passed through the ‘geri’ route and Sector 17, before culminating at the Vodafone store in Sector 20, Panchkula.

Having recently introduced the Vodafone SuperNet^TM 4G services in the Tricity, Vodafone Punjab circle drove home the road safety message with “Speed is good on Vodafone SuperNet^TM 4G, not on roads” as the theme of the rally. A responsible corporate, Vodafone India has always been at the forefront of introducing pioneering telecom solutions and undertaking socially relevant initiatives.

Elaborating on this initiative, Rajat Avasthi, Business Head, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir said that while we encourage our customers to enjoy high internet speeds on Vodafone SuperNet^TM 4G, but when they are on the road we want them to drive slow and safe. As a socially-responsible corporate, we have pioneered a holistic Health, Safety and Well-being (HSW) policy for our employees, vendors and associates with road-safety being a key component of this policy. Today’s ‘Vodafone Super-Safety Bike Rally’ has been organised with the objective of promoting safe and responsible driving practices among road users.

As part of the rally, all the riders wore helmets, luminous jackets and safety gear which are mandatory under the 9 Absolute Safety Rules (ASRs), a key component of the HSW policy of Vodafone India.  Ensuring adherence to these ASRs, Vodafone has adopted a zero-tolerance approach towards traffic rule violations. It gives proper training to all its employees and agencies associated with it to see to it that none of them violates any road safety rule.

1 500 Persons Run for Road Safety in ‘Punjab Half Marathon-2017’

By Tricitynews Reporter

Chandigarh 13^th February:- The ‘Punjab half Marathon-2017’ hosted by the national level Thrill Zone Trust for the cause of road safety was flagged off by the Founder of ArriveSafe, Harman Sidhu and Founder of Thrill Zone, PC Kushwaha on Sunday from Chandigarh Club, Sector 1.

The mega event saw the participation of nearly 1500 persons of different age groups. The marathon had two categories covering the distance of 21 km and 10 km. It commenced from Chandigarh club at 6:40 am which crossed Rock Garden, Sukhna Lake, Kishangarh, and IT Park and ended at the point from where it started. The DSP Traffic Yashpal Sharma gave away the prizes to the winners. The winners were given trophies, shoes, T-shirts and certificates.

In 21 km category for men in the age group of 18 to 45 years, Chinda Singh stood first who finished the race in 1:23:20 and Sanjay Kumar secured the second position who completed the race in 1:24:20 and Tharur Hapur took third position by ending the race in 1:25:17. In the age group of 45-55 years, Sthephan Van stood first by finishing the race in 1:26:48 and Angrez Singh stood second who took 1:29:25 and Naresh Kumar remained at the third position by finishing the race in 1:31:04. In the age group of above 50, Amar Chauhan stood first by finishing the race in 1:48:38 and S P Bangarh remained at second position by finishing in 1:53:31 and Darshan Singh bagged third position in 2:04:57.   

In the female category of 18 to 40 years, Veronika Jakovbkova stood first by finishing the race in 1:28:29 Jaya stood second by finishing the race in 1:33:49 and Renu Mathpal secured the third position by ending the race in 1:50:43. In the age group of 40 to 50, Minakshi Tewari stood first by finishing the race in 02:01:03, Archana Jain remained at second position by finishing in 02:13:46 and Ritu Batra bagged the third position by taking 02:14:50.

In the 10 km category for men, Rahul took the first position by finishing it in 00:35:01, Saurav Sharma stood second by finishing it in 00:35:52 and Amarjeet Singh bagged the third position by ending it in 00:37:11. In the female category, Anshika Alva stood first by finishing it in 00:56:19, Aswin Kaur remained at the second position by finishing it in 01:02:41 and Mona Sodhi bagged the third position by finishing it in 01:03:05.

While congratulating the winners, Founder of Thrill Zone, P C Kushwaha said that the marathon witnessed overwhelming response and the support of Chandigarh police made it successful. The next event based on the theme of women safety will be held in Patiala next month.

MRB Back With an ‘Peen De’ Urban Track

By Tricitynews Reporter

Chandigarh 13^th February:- After a long period of 6 years, Delhi-based singer MRB is all set to recreate his singing magic with his upcoming track ‘Peen De’. The song is his fourth track and his last song ‘Munda Marda Phire’ was a huge hit among the listeners with 50 lakh views on You Tube.

From quite a long while, MRB was looking to compose and sing an urban track for the youngsters. And with ‘Peen De’, he says that he is delivering a fresh party anthem to his listeners. Earlier, the song was sung by some other singer, but somehow MRB felt that it will be more appropriate to sing it himself. The song’s music has been composed in Punjabi style whereas the lyrics are in Hindi and Haryanavi.

According to MRB, today’s youth enjoys vibrant songs and that’s what he aims to deliver with this particular track. He is 45, and even at this age he feels like singing something fresh and different for the youngsters. However, till now he has only sung Sufi and romantic songs and singing an urban track has happened for the first time. MRB said that ‘Peen De’ is absolutely for the youngsters out there. The song has been produced by Malwa Records and its trailer is available on You Tube.

MRB said that he grew up in a musical environment at his home as his father and grandfather both were into singing. Also, he said that his grandfather was a renowned singer in Pakistan, but after division the family got shifted to Delhi. Nevertheless, they did not leave the music behind. After receiving the musical training from his father, MRB started his professional career with singer Daler Mehndi in 1985.

Those years were full of struggle for both of us and together we sang in almost all small and big streets of Delhi. And then, Daler became a hit singer and left for Mumbai and I chose to stay back in Delhi and continued with music alone,” MRB recalled. MRB’s first song was launched in 1999 and was a big hit on channels like MTV and VTV. From his very first song, MRB came under the limelight. Unfortunately, his second song was delayed because of financial backdrops which came out in 2007 and third one in 2011. However, he feels grateful that people remember him and his songs even if they are less in number. Having put all his efforts to this latest track, MRB assures that people will not be able to resist themselves from getting onto the dance floor.

MCM's Priya Confers Senior Cadet Rank

By Tricitynews Reporter

Chandigarh 13^th February:- MCM DAV College for Women- an institution with a glorious history of producing achievers in various fields, has one more reason to rejoice. Priya Paudyal, a final year student of computer applications at MCM has been awarded Senior Cadet Rank by 1 Chandigarh Naval Unit, Chandigarh.

This is not Priya's first tryst with achievement; since she started training in her first year of college, she has won laurels on several occasions at national level. Recently, competing with 17 naval cadets all over India, Priya got All-India Naval Best Cadet in Republic Day Camp 2017 and was awarded by Hon'ble Prime Minister Sh. Narendra Modi. She was also awarded with the All-India Naval Best Cadet in All India Nau Sainik Camp held at Karnataka in 2016. Aiming to be an officer in Indian Navy, Priya credits her success to MCM where she got the much needed guidance and channelisation of her potential.

While awarding Priya, Commandant Tejinder Singh of 1 Chandigarh Naval Unit motivated young girls to join NCC and be an example for others to emulate.

Congratulating Priya on her feat, Principal Dr.Nisha Bhargava expressed appreciation for her dedication and spirit of achievement. She further added that in sync with the aim of NCC, MCM inculcates leadership -qualities in youth so that they serve the Nation regardless of the career they choose.

UFBU Calls for One Day All India Bank Strike on 28th February 2017

By Tricitynews Reporter

Chandigarh 13^th February:- United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU) is the umbrella forum for nearly a million bank employees and officers represented by five workmen unions and four officers’ associations.

The Unions in the banking industry have been fighting for more than 2 decades against the reform menace that was introduced in the year 1991 and trying to halt the speed of the reforms inasmuch as these reform measures are against the interests of general public and labour force in the country.

The efforts of the successive Governments are aimed towards wiping out the public sector character prevalent in the country since long. As far as the banking industry is concerned, the nationalization of banks was done with an objective to promote small savings, inculcate self-sufficiency towards stabilized economy and primarily to reach the priority sector, which was totally neglected by the class banks established earlier.

In the name of reform measures, every effort is being made by the successive Governments since 1991 to shift the control of public sector entities to the private and foreign investors. In order to create a conducive environment to the private and foreign investor’s further efforts are being made by the Government to amend the labour laws to suit their needs. The proposed amendments to labour and several other related laws of the land would affect the entire labour force and also the trade unions working for the welfare of the labour in the country.

It is disheartening to note that public sector entities are permitted to hire people on contract instead of providing the job opportunities to the millions of unemployed in the country. The contract system is more dangerous for the reasons of underpayment of wages as well as insecurity of the job. Even in banking industry, every effort is being made to outsource the permanent jobs on contract basis.

Hence, UFBU is opposed to the retrograde anti-people banking/labour reforms, the moves of the Government infringing the hard-earned trade union rights and the hazardous practice of outsourcing of permanent jobs.

The implementation of demonetization and the effects of the same are known to everyone. The role and the performance of bank employees during the implementation period was appreciated by each and everyone including the top management functionaries, Government, customers and the general public. It is a pity that the day and night hard work and suffering of bank employees and officers are not given due recognition and the legitimate compensation to employees and officers for the extra hours of work performed is denied.

The cost of demonetization as well as the business loss during the demonetization period of nearly two months will have a cascading effect on the balance sheets of the banks, the brunt of which would ultimately fall on the bank employees and officers alone. It is imperative that the demonetization cost needs to be reimbursed to the Banks by the Government.

The Government is very serious in continuing the retrograde reform measures ignoring the real menace in the banking industry i.e., alarmingly increasing bad loans. Wilful defaulters are also on the increase. The whole country has so far witnessed that the method of evading repayment also is maximum done by the big and corporate borrowers. The economy of the country is affected. There is a need to fix accountability of those responsible for the bad loans. Criminal action against willful defaulters of bank loans can only reduce such types of irregularities in the banking industry.

On the issues and demands mentioned above and various other demands relating to improvements in service conditions of bank employees and officers including retirees, it has been unanimously decided by the UFBU to observe One Day All India Strike on the 28^th February 2017.

We sincerely regret the inconvenience to the esteemed customers / general public on account of strike by bank employees and appeal for their moral support to our just cause.

Satinder Satti's Book "Ajammiya Bot" Released

By Tricitynews Reporter

Chandigarh 13^th February:- WORD by word Satinder Satti weaves a tapestry of myriad emotions, reflections, moments and memories, in her first anthology of poetry, ‘Anjanmaya Both’ (Unborn Child), a collection of Punjabi poems. On this occasion, Dr. Surjit Patar was the Chief Guest. The book, published by Unistar, was released today at Punjab Kala Bhawan, with an audio book of  some selected poems also released here as part of the occasion. The title poem of the collection ‘Anjanmaya Both’, of which a video has been produced, is the story of an unborn child, talking to the mother, who is going for an abortion. ‘She’ continues the conversation with the doctor, expressing her wish to be born and be a part of this beautiful world. This poem, which Satinder Satti wrote in the first year at GNDU, won her not only awards, but many accolades. Poetry, for Satinder, singer, actor, anchor, activist is an expression and depiction of emotions, and weaves together Satti’s innumerable experiences as a creative person, traveller, woman, human being.  Satinder reflects that though poetry is an integral part of her life, there has been no method to the writing, with Satti penning down her thoughts, anytime and anywhere. On pieces of paper, napkins, pages, diaries and notebooks,

Satinder Satti said that  when she decided that an anthology must be printed; the first major block was to find these poems. It took her months to search her poetry from store books, book shelves, purses…The wait, smiles Satti has been worth it, for she through her poetry, she wants to reach out to wider audiences and give poetry lovers a chance to feel romance, Sufi philosophy, life on the move, a man’s vision of a woman, nature, spirituality…the verses all pulsating with life. She further said that this was her first dream, as she has been writing poetry since childhood, anchoring came as a gift to her, but writing poetry, and expressing what she see and feel around her, is her first passion, with woman and their issues close to her heart, for as a woman, She know their trials and tribulations.

Satinder’s personality has various dimensions, with the direction of her creative and extensive work over the last many decades being directed towards giving the ‘maa boli’ Punjabi, a new lease of life and evoking and invoking a sense of pride of being a Punjabi and reviving many of the state’s lost art forms and music. We need poetry in today’s world to keep the faith and love alive and literature has the power to touch people.