Chandigarh, Oct. 10 -- Eminent residents of Chandigarh, Panchkula and Mohali on Thursday announced the launch of the Chandigarh Citizens Foundation (CCF), an institutional platform that will bring together people of the tri-city to promote civic engagement, dialogue, and collaboration on issues of public interest and sustainable development .Its governing council has former army chief General VP Malik (retd) as president, former Punjab chief secretary Vini Mahajan as vice-president, former Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research ( PGIMER) director Dr KK Talwar, former Punjab chief secretary Ramesh Inder Singh, eminent industrialist Rajinder Gupta , theatre personality Neelam Mansingh, retired IPS officer Samant Goel, former Haryana chief secretary Keshni Anand Arora, former Panjab University vice-chancellor Arun Grover and legal luminary ML Sarin as members, and IAS officer J M Balamurugan as honorary general secretary. Launching the CCF website, General Malik said, "With the formation of CCF, a long-felt need of Chandigarh tricity region can be fulfilled. This platform will give opportunities to residents, especially professionals from various fields to come together and collaborate in conducting programmes and events on subjects of local, national and global interest. To facilitate CCF activities, 12 subject-wise focus groups have been formed for various subjects." The focus groups include health and well-being, national security and international affairs, music, literature, visual and performance arts, science and technology, conscious leadership and business, economic growth and sustainable development, sustainable urban development, urban planning, design and architecture, tourism, education, sports, women empowerment and social welfare. Gen Malik said about 200 professionals from diverse fields have already volunteered to join the focus groups and are formulating activities to be conducted in the coming months. He further said that CCF is entirely a citizens' initiative, and citizen volunteers who wish to contribute their time and effort can get information on the website: http://chandigarhcitizensfoundation. Earlier in the day, the key CCF members, led by Gen Malik, called on Punjab governor and UT administrator Gulab Chand Kataria and briefed him about their mission and proposed activities. The governor lauded their initiative and promised his support for its success....