The 9^th Panjab University Rose Festival is going to be held from 9^th to 11^th February, 2018 in Prof. R.C. Paul Rose Garden, Panjab University. The Prof. R.C. Paul Rose Garden was landscaped 10 years ago and it is situated in Heart of Panjab University in front of Vice Chancellor’s Office.

Prof. R.C. Paul Rose Garden, the venue of the festival which is spread over an area of 3.5 acres has 198 variety of Roses grown in 250 flower beds which are in full blossom these days. The Garden of Panjab University has been given a new look for the festival.  10 new varieties of fragrant roses have been added this year which were procured from Calcutta. The new varieties namely Double Delight, Classic Calcutta, Pusa Pitamber, Surkhab etc. are adding to the beauty of the garden. The staff of Horticulture Division is putting in its best efforts to make this event a success.

The three day mega event will be inaugurated by Prof. Meenakshi Malhotra, Dean of University Instruction, Panjab University on 09.02.2018 at 2:00 pm at Prof. R.C. Paul Rose Garden. The winners of the Flower Competition and Photography Competition will be displayed on the same day. On this occasion, the cultural programmes will be presented by Ankur School, Panjab University and Guru Gobind Singh Vidya Mandir Sr. Sec. School, Ratwara Sahib & NSS Volunteers, Panjab University. This will be followed by a competition of bands of various schools. This competition will be the first of its kind in the tricity.

Er. Anil Thakur, Divisional Engineer (Hort.) and Organizer of the festival apprised those present that the objective behind organising the festival is to spread awareness about the green & clean environment among the general public and to explore the hidden talent of students. During the three days festival, the different competitions will be arranged for different age groups among the School Children, College and University Students. For healthy children, there would be the competitions of three age groups of 0-1, 1-2 and 2-3 years for Rose Prince and Rose Princess at Prof. R.C. Paul Rose Garden on 11.02.2018 at 9:30 a.m.. Parents are showing great enthusiasm for participating in the competition.

Different selfie points will be created so that the visitors may keep the glimpses of the 9^th Panjab University Rose in their memories.

A three day Exhibition-cum-Workshop on the theme ‘Natural Biodiversity’ to sensitize the audience about the science, climate, environment, biodiversity, nature, flora, fauna etc. will also be there in the festival.

There will be an Art Workshop organized in the Prof. R.C. Paul Rose Garden in which eminent artists from the tricity will make live paintings on three days. The eminent artists attending this Art Workshop will be Pabitra Majumdar, Seema Jaitly, Jashandeep Kaur, Arjun Singh, Joginder Kaur, Buta Singh, Simran and Vandana Malhotra.

New feature will be added to the 9^th Panjab University Rose Festival of 3D Art. The footpath will be decorated with the different designs which will be adding new look to the Rose Garden. The artists participating in this Road 3D Art will be Simran, Sawan Arjun and Buta Singh.

There will be a Pottery Workshop organized in the Prof. R.C. Paul Rose Garden in which the different clay models will be prepared and the students will be encouraged to prepare the clay models of their own. This pottery workshop will be organized by the reputed pottery artists Roshan Ansal, Vilok Verma and Shweta Verma. This pottery workshop will be organized on all the three days of this mega event.

The 9^th Panjab University Rose Festival will have 15 competitions of different age groups such as Singing, Rangoli, Collage Making, Slogan Writing, Face Painting, Poetic Recitation, Dancing, Mehandi, Rose Prince & Princess, Painting, Photography and Fancy Dress. Entries for Photography will be accepted upto 5:00 p.m. on 06.02.2018. Entries for flower competition will be accepted upto 5:00 p.m. on 08.02.2018 at Rose Festival Secretariat and on 9.02.2018 till 10:00 a.m. at Prof. R.C. Paul Rose Garden, Panjab University, Chandigarh. Entries for all other competitions will be accepted upto 07.02.2018 till 5:00 p.m..

Special children can participate in painting competition free of cost. They are not required to fill any form and just have to report at the venue half an hour prior to the competition.

The Divisional Engineer (Hort.), Panjab University said that people are showing great interest in these competitions for which forms are being accepted in offline as well as online mode. Forms for participation are available at Festival Secretariat at Single Window Enquiry, Panjab University and also on the website ’www.panjabuniversityrosefestival.in’. The Festival Secretariat will be open on all the days including the holidays for sale and acceptance of forms.

 A competition of school bands of various schools has also been added this year, which will be the first of its kind in the tricity. To encourage participation, entry to this competition will be free of cost.

All the three days of the festival will have special attractions in the evening. On first day of this mega event, there will a performance of Rock Band followed by Fashion Competition under the able guidance of University Institute of Fashion Technology. A great enthusiasm is seen among the participants of the Fashion Competition. The topic for this year will be ‘Retro 2018’.

On the second day, in the evening, there will be a Fashion Show ‘Akx” at 5 p.m. with Special Children. The ramp walk of the special children will be accompanied by the top models from Fashion world. At 7:00 p.m., there will be sufi songs by Rza Heer, Sufi Folk singer followed by Laughter Show by the star cast of Punjabi movie ‘Laavan Phere’ starring Roshan Prince, Rubina Bajwa, Gurpreet Ghuggy, B.N. Sharma, Karamjit Anmol & others who will come to promote their movie.

Third day will have performance by Sufi Singer Kanwar Grewal. Sh. Davesh Moudgil, Mayor will be the chief guest and Prof. Arun Kumar Grover, Vice Chancellor, Panjab University will preside over the Valedictory function on 11^th February at 7:00 pm in Old Convocation Ground.

Sponsors of the festival like State Bank of India, Markfed etc. are also displaying their services/products in the festival. Space has also been provided for Social initiatives like Blood Donation, Traffic Awareness and Environment Conservation. A Charitable Lab providing free lab tests will also be set up.

For any enquiry for any other information, phone no. 9914003004 and 9814893401 are available 24x7.