PECOBA Homage to Alumnus Kalpana Chawla and Excellence Awards for Women

 Rich tributes were paid to late PEC alumnus Kalpana Chawla on the occasion of her 6th death anniversary at a Function organized by PECOBA (Punjab Engineering College Chandigarh Old Boys Association, New Delhi) on 1st February, 2009 at PGI Auditorium, Chandigarh. Kalpana Chawla had died six years ago on 1st Feb, 2003 when Space shuttle Columbia exploded. Kalpana Chawla had graduated in aeronautical engineering from Punjab Engineering College Chandigarh in 1982.
The function was organized by Sh. Amarjit Singh Kohli, founder General Secretary of PECOBA and Sh. A. Arun Kumar, founder president, PECOBA who had out enormous efforts to make it a memorable event. PECOBA has been organizing a function every year to pay homage to Kalpana Chawla on her death anniversary in which outstanding women in various fields are bestowed Kalpana Chawla Excellence Award. This function was jointly sponsored by WLC College, New Delhi whose Chairman is Sh Vinay Pasricha, a PEC Alumnus of 1987 production and Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited, a public sector undertaking.
Padmashree Sh. Chandra Mohan (1953 Mech passout from PEC), Chairman, Board of Governors, PEC formally inaugurated the Function by paying floral tributes to Kalpana Chawla.   Prof Manoj Datta, Director,PEC who graduated from IIT Delhi made a  presentation on the history of College from 1921 Lahore days till date. He informed the audience that in the end of 2008, the Board of Governors of PEC has decided to rename “Punjab Engineering College” as “PEC University of Technology”. He also said that BOG has also decided to change the present logo of PEC to the new logo. He said that the following message from Kalpana Chawla will remain a source of inspiration to the youth of the country.“ The path from dreams to reality does exist. May you have the vision to find it, the courage to get onto it and the perseverance to follow it”.
On this occasion, 'Kalpana Chawla Excellence Awards for Women 2009' were bestowed by Banarsi Lal Chawla, father of Kalpana Chawla on outstanding women for their excellence in various fields such as sports, art and culture. Those who were given the awards included, Amar Noorie, a popular singer , Bharti Singh, popular TV personality of 'Laughter Challenge' TV- show, Dr Dalip Kaur Tiwana, Punjabinovelist, story writer whose novels have been translated into English, French, Hindi, Urdu, Gujrati, Tamil.Others given awarded were.Geetika Jakhar, eight times national wrestling champion and two times Commonwealth Games Champion, Gurmeet Bawa, Punjabi folk singer, Jatinder Kaur,stage and TV actress, Manjeet Kaur, winner of more than 16 gold medals in national, Asian and international events in the 400 m race. Mr Manveen Sandhu of Amritsar was posthumously awarded for her promotion to creative and performing art. Her daughter, Dr Kirat Sandhu received the award.Ms Namita Singh an architect and Ranjit Kaur,a national judo champion were also awarded.On this occasion PEC alumnus, Madan Lal Singla who graduated in aeronautical engineering in 1969 was honoured with the PECOBA AWARD OF THE YEAR 2009 for his outstanding contributions to aerospace engineering. Madan Lal Singla was the brain behind Indias Moon Impact Probe of Chandrayaan -1 Mission. He was working for Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre and has recently retired