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Additional charge for tainted doc raises hackles
Queering the pitch
‘Mother first teacher, teacher second mother’
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Incentive for inter-caste marriage proves big draw
Ankur-2008 to welcome new MBA students
Education in shambles
Students take to the streets
Power punch
Zila Parishad, Mansa
NCC training camp concludes
Cadets presenting a skit during the closing function of the nine-day annual NCC training camp in Abohar on Monday. —Photo by Raj Sadosh
Office-bearers of Teachers Society elected
Effigy of admn burnt
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Additional charge for tainted doc raises hackles
Bathinda, July 14 While the Punjab Human Rights Committee (PHRC), an NGO, has been trying to put the doctor in question, Ajit Pal Singh alias Sita Singh, in the dock, for the past six years, the department has allegedly taken no action against him. According to the documents procured, the doctor was accused of issuing fake medical certificates to the relatives of convicts held in Central Jail, Bathinda. To prove the allegation, at least three investigation committees were formed from time to time, which all chargesheeted him. In the investigation reports, it was mentioned that the doctor had specialised in chest and tuberculosis (TB) only but all certificates issued related to heart problems. He referred all patients to Rajindra Medical College, Patiala, but none of the patients reached there. Despite showing their condition as critical, no ambulance was used to transport them. Neither any medical certificate was recorded in the hospital register nor the doctors concerned were informed. Moreover, every investigating officer (IO) clearly mentioned that the certificates "seem to be fake." In a letter issued by the state health and family welfare department, which was sent to the registrar of Punjab and Haryana High Court, it was mentioned that the SMO in question, Ajit Pal Singh, was chargesheeted under rule 8 of the Punjab Civil Services (P&A) Rules, 1970. In the regular inquiry, the investigating officer found the charge of issuing fake certificates to be correct. Alleging that the whole investigation had proved to be fruitless, general secretary, Punjab Human Rights Committee, Ved Parkash Gupta, who is also a member of Amnesty International, showed a letter received from the director, health and family welfare department, through an RTI application. The letter mentions that the department had taken the tentative decision of punishing him by demoting him from the post of senior medical officer (SMO) to that of a medical officer. But till date, the directive has not been executed. Pointing to the corruption prevailing in the state health department, Gupta said, "Notwithstanding the charges framed against him, the departmental officers, due to his political patronage, have now promoted him by giving him the additional charge of Deputy Medical Commissioner (DMC), Bathinda. But we will fight the case till the end to put the accused behind the bars." When contacted, Ajit Pal Singh, brushed aside the allegations saying, "Nothing has been decided yet and the matter is under the consideration of the chief minister. Moreover, there are a number of persons who have formed NGOs to tarnish my reputation." |
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Queering the pitch
Bathinda, July 14 The changing equations between the SAD district president Sikander Singh Maluka, area in-charge of the party Sarup Chand Singla and senior vice-president of the party Charanji Lal Garg has provided enough grist to the mill here. Differences between Maluka and Garg had come out in the open during the Assembly elections as both reportedly tried to damage each other's propspects. Meanwhile, Singla and Garg also developed issues with each other. Just after SAD chief Sukhbir Badal adopted Bathinda to develop it on a priority basis, Singla's stars started shining, which apparently continued till the date of announcement of Baljeet Singh Birbehman as the first mayor of Bathinda Municipal Corporation (BMC). On the day the mayor's name was announced, Singla was reportedly not in his element. The reason given by some councillors for this was that despite his best efforts, he could not promote his hand-picked councillor Master Harmander Singh. He also remained absent from the oath-taking ceremony of 2,469 Panchayat members of the district, presided over by minister Bikram Singh Majithia. But that day, on the stage, Garg, who earlier is believed to have treated Maluka as an eye-sore, addressed him as brother and praised him. It spread rumours about the changing equations between the two ex-ministers. According to sources, Garg has been trying to promote mayor Bir Behman as a parallel centre of power against Singla. When contacted, Garg gave a reply in the affirmative about the changing political equations in the district unit of SAD.
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‘Mother first teacher, teacher second mother’
Bathinda, July 14 The workshop which was in continuation with twelve-day in-service course was conducted with the objectives of sharpening the teachers' skill and enlightening them about the latest innovations in the field of pedagogy. More than 35 teachers of various KVs of Malwa region attended the workshop. Addressing the closing ceremony of the workshop, the chief guest, principal of KV-3 Air Force Station, Bhisiana, D.S. Khati motivated the participating teachers to play their role sincerely as society had high expectations from them. During the workshop, the participants under the guidance of course director T.D. Garg, principal KV-1, deliberated upon the mental, social and psychological needs of the tiny tots of classes I to V and the strategy and technique required to accomplish their needs. The team of resource persons, including Makhan Lal, K.S. Nain, Ranjana Gupta and D.K. Kaushik facilitated the deliberation and brainstorming sessions. Garg highlighted the importance of EVS in school curriculum and even suggested the methodology for its teaching, stressing the importance of computers in every walk of life. Vice-principal of the KV-1, C.K. Mittal, highlighting the reality of the modern materialist world said that parents do not have enough time for their children nowadays. Therefore, the role of teachers had become more important and demanding as they had to step into parental role too. "Mother is the first teacher and teacher is the second mother," he said. The participants developed model grading lists, progress cards and result registers performas to monitor and record the academic performance of the students conforming to skill evaluation as per latest curriculum changes during the workshop. Earlier, in her inaugural address on Saturday, chief guest Mesha Das, desired that teachers should keep abreast of the latest changes taking place in the field of education. She stressed that teachers should access educational portals like Think.com to keep themselves in touch with the latest in the educational field.
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Incentive for inter-caste marriage proves big draw
Bathinda, July 14 After the recent hike in the cash incentive, to the tune of Rs 25,000, a large number of such couples have applied to the Social Welfare Department to draw the benefits. According to sources, the scheme was launched way back in 1985 by the department to extend financial help to couples facing opposition from their respective families. An amount of Rs 5,000 was fixed for such couples on the production of marriage certificates, age proof and an affidavit. However, not many couples came forward to avail the scheme, as the amount, they felt, was less. Recently, the department thought of increasing the grant. Subsequently, a proposal was sent to state government, which increased the amount to Rs 25,000. While speaking to The Tribune, a department official said that in the last three months, many newly-wedded couples have approached them. "The number is bound to go further as more and more couples come forward after getting to know the scheme," he added. According to the scheme, one among the boy or girl should belong to the Scheduled Caste or the Scheduled Tribe category. It is a one-time benefit scheme. |
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Ankur-2008 to welcome new MBA students
Bathinda, July 14 The students enthusiastically presented a variety of cultural items like skit, comedies, folk dance and songs. Amandeep Kaur, Kirandeep Kaur, Pawandeep, Baljinder and Paras Sethi and Hoshiar Singh were emerged winners in dance contest while Sunil Kalra, Baljinder, Amandeep Kaur, Kirandeep Kaur, Pawandeep, Hoshiar Singh and Sonu Sharma won top prizes in skit contest. Usha Sharma, lecturer in Music, SSD College and Ashu from DLP, ICFAI were the judges. Raj Gupta |
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Education in shambles
Mansa, July 14 According to education department sources, about 1,100 senior secondary schools out of 1300 have no principals. Situation in the high schools is similar as around 1,000 schools out of 1,742 are without headmasters. There are altogether 90 government senior secondary and high schools in Mansa and 75 schools have no regular school heads. According to sources, most of the schools are running without regular school heads. In Bathinda, 120 schools out of 158 are sans headmasters while 60 out of 75 are so in Barnala. Fifty 50 out of 66 in Faridkot, 150 out of 194 in Sangrur, 100 out of 134 in Mukatsar, 120 out of 174 in Ferozepur, 110 out of 144 in Moga, 196 out of 315 in Ludhiana, 52 out of 73 in Fathehgarh, 120 out of 179 in Patiala senior secondary and high schools have been waiting for school heads. Other districts of Punjab like Amritsar have 130 out of 194, Taran Taran 120 out of 134, Gurdaspur 171 out of 243 schools, also facing similar problems. The education minister's own district Kapurthala was not out of this list, 90 schools out of 111 in the district also lack school heads. In Jalandhar 185 out of 257, Hoshiarpur 144 out of 234, Nawan Shaher 75 out of 99 schools are running without principals and headmasters. Chandigarh's nearest district Mohali has 26 schools without school heads out of 73. Convener of Save Education Committee Darshan Singh Dhillon said the situation was created because the education department had not promoted the school teachers on time. Special secretary, education, Ashok Kumar Gupta, admitted to the problem. He said this happened because the promotion cases were pending in courts. Now the situation was clear and the education department had convened a meeting of departmental promotion committee for this purpose. He hoped that vacant posts of school heads would be filled by August 15.
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Students take to the streets
Mansa, July 14 Leader of AISA, Nikka Singh said that if the college management failed to start the course, students would intensify their struggle. Among others who addressed the rally were SFI leader Pardeep Singh Khoker, Bhupinder Kaur and Kirna Devi. Students said that in support of their demand, they would also meet the MP and MLA of Mansa. |
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Power punch
Moga, July 14 The other main reasons were downfall in frequency resulting into tripping in power houses and a large number of faults occurring in the power distribution network. The residents of these districts said that complaint centres of the state electricity board did not respond to their calls. Moreover, those manning the complaint centres were ignorant about the reasons for the cuts or when the supply would be restored. The electricity board was resorting to more than six hours of regular power cuts during the daytime in the urban areas, besides, unscheduled cuts during the night time and sometimes in the daytime also. Rural areas of these districts were worst hit than the urban areas. Besides, the scheduled cuts, the board authorities resort to cuts of many hours both during the day and night. In most of the areas, the farmers were not provided with eight hours of regular power supply even as the paddy growing season was at its peak. Senior authorities of the board admit that there was an acute shortage of power in the state as the demand was much higher than the supply. Gurmej Singh, a resident of Chak Bhange Wala village situated on the Indo-Pak border in the Ferozepur district said that electricity came hardly for four hours during the day time. "I have spent more than 8 drums (1600 litres) of diesel within four weeks of transplanting paddy in 22 acres of land to pump out underground water for the crop". Adding that the farmers of his area were finding it difficult to run electric tubewells due to power shortage as the required load to run the water pumps was not coming, he revealed that if the situation went on like this the cost inputs in paddy crop would rise by more than 25 per cent putting an extra financial burden on the already debt-ridden farmers of the area. "Power cuts have almost become a matter of routine this summer. Everyday there are unscheduled power cuts four to five times daily," alleged Darshan Singh, a resident of Takhtuwala village of Moga district. It has come to the notice that villages were getting power only three to four hours during the day. However, during the night most of the villages go without power in these districts. People had demanded that unscheduled power cuts should be stopped. The situation had become so worse that there were reports of protests by the people against the board authorities at many places of these districts during the past two weeks. Last week, in Moga, irate people blocked the Moga-Muktsar national highway for many hours to protest against the irregular power supply. The people had demanded that the government must take steps to improve the power situation on an urgent basis. "The situation is worsening each year. It does not even stick to its promises of not imposing cuts in the night. The daily routine is disturbed and one is not even able to work," alleged Surinder Singh, a resident of Moga town. The crisis had also resulted in shortage of drinking water in the region. Already these towns were facing serious shortage of potable water despite the tall claims of the local administration.
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Zila
Parishad, Mansa
Mansa, July 14 Sukhwinder Singh, ADC (General), said that election would be conducted on July 16 at the Zila Parishad Hall. Baljit Singh Sandhu ADC, (Development), said that according to government notification, the seat of chairman, Zila Parishad, was reserved for a woman candidate. He said they had no information about any change in the quota so far. So the question as to who would become the chairman is becoming a complex one for the people of Mansa. On the other hand, highly-placed sources in SAD have been claiming that the seat was not reserved for women now and it was converted to the general category and that Dilraj Singh Bhundar would become the chairman. Political observers said that there could not be any change in the reservation status of seats after the election. If this happens, it would be undemocratic.
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NCC training camp concludes
Abohar, July 14 Among senior cadets, Amandeep of the local DAV College won the same distinction. They were honoured by the chief guest B.B. Sharma, principal of the DAV College. Lt Colonel Dilbagh Singh decorated Kingpal Singh and Amandeep with badges of Deputy camp commandant Captain Iqbal Singh Godara said that various competitions were also organised for junior and senior cadets. The results are: Cross-country race: Jr division: 1. Govt. senior secondary school, Abohar 2. DAV senior secondary school, Fazilka 3. Govt senior secondary school, Khuyiansarwar Individual prizes: 1. Sukhbir Singh 2. Ram Kumar both of GD senior secondary school, Abohar 3. Raja Ram Senior division: 1. Kingpal Singh 3. Amit Kumar 3. Manjit Kumar all from DAV College, Abohar. In all, 68 cadets in the junior category participated in the race. Firing competition: Junior division winners: 1. Ajay Kumar DAV senior secondary school, Fazilka 2. Mohit Kumar G D senior secondary school, Abohar 3. Bhim Kumar of Govt. senior secondary school, Abohar In the senior division, only DAV College students participated in firing. Amandeep, Gur Jiwan and Kingpal Singh won the first, second and third position respectively. Former vice-principal and NCC officer O.P. Sharma awarded special prizes to Mohit Kumar and Subhash Chander both ex-cadets of the DAV College for exemplary services rendered by them during last nine days. In the essay competition, SD senior secondary school of Fazilka, GD senior secondary school Abohar and government senior secondary school, Abohar won first, second, third prize respectively. The cadets enthralled the gathering with group songs, skit, Indian instrumental music and mimicry during the valedictory function. The chief guest B.B. Sharma, lauding the participation of about 250 cadets in the camp, exhorted the students of science stream to join NCC and NSS for social service.
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Office-bearers of Teachers Society elected
Mansa, July 13 Amritpal Singh of Government Teachers Union was elected for the board of directors of the society. He got 125 votes. Jeet Singh, Paramjeet Singh and Gurpyar Singh of DTF (Democratic Teachers Front) were elected securing 132, 102 and 128 votes, respectively. Other three members for the society elected were for Adyapak Dal, Janak Singh, Kuldeep Singh and Gurjeet Singh. The elected office- |
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Effigy of admn burnt
Barnala, July 14 The committee was demanding the cancellation of the contract given to a private firm for selling any sort of government forms used in tehsil, district courts, SDM office etc. Hundreds of farmers, labourers, students and employees participated in this demonstration. Addressing the gathering, Narian Dutt, Bharatiya Kisan Union Ekta leader Mghar Singh Kularia, CPI (M) leader Mangat Rai Pasla, alleged that the district administration was least bothered about the cause of the poor and the middle class. The action committee members said that the they had raised their voice against this
contract first in April, May and June too but were now planning to stage a massive
dharna on July 30. |
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Abohar, July 14
