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Neglect of wetlands a major concern: Expert
Young World
Ward 24
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Utilise sale proceeds from city properties on city itself: AVM
Washroom trouble leaves nursing students in the open
Farmers block traffic, burn effigy of government
Majithia flags off LPG autorickshaws
Now, watch cricket right from the ground
Unemployed youth condemn govt move
Mentally challenged abducted
Farm labourer electrocuted
Dairy devp training course from Feb 8
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Neglect of wetlands a major concern: Expert
Amritsar, February 2 Taking a dig at the administrators of the wetlands, Prof. MS Johal, Department of Zoology of the Panjab University, Chandigarh, said administrators, most of the scientists and decision makers have never visited the actual sites more than once themselves, but claim to know the answers to and offer solutions to the various problems faced by the wetlands. He pointed out that these wetlands could be used for preservation of the germ plasm of the endemic fish species. He was delivering his keynote address during a UGC-sponsored seminar on “Wetland Conservation and Management: In view of Global Climate Change” organised by the department of zoology, Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar. Dr. Johal further said the role of fisheries in the evaluation of aquatic health of the wetlands is very important. He said this not only helps in the recharge and discharge of the ground water but helps in flood storage. He said about 88 species of fishes are available in the Harike Pattan wetlands, but out of this, only seven species are essential for human health. He said the major cause of this degradation is water quality, increase in the population of fish species and pollution. He said 23 fish species from the wetlands of Punjab face risk of endangerment and can be included in the dangerous category if immediate measures of conservation are not initiated. He said the status of 20 fish species has not been evaluated so far. He said aquatic health could be improved with regular monitoring, identification of less and more degraded areas, safe area and stocking of desirable fish species, restoration and through awakening. He said the wetlands needed to be monitored with regular intervals. Dr. Raghbir Singh, Dean Academic Affairs, said wetlands are the abode of biodiversity, which provide us resources for a larger sector of human population. Talking about the economic value of wetlands, he said wetlands are major contributors in terms of ecological function to recycle nutrients and conservation of biodiversity. He said it also reduces risk by buffering the wave energy and storing water and economic benefits in the terms of providing a living to people who can use these for fish cultivation. He also expressed his concern for the encroachments and the practice of throwing garbage into wetlands. |
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Bid to up student strength in govt schools
Tribune Reporters
Tarn Taran, February 2 Ms D.K. Mahia, District Education Officer (Secondary), said here today that the department had taken serious note of the decreasing strength of students in government schools and decided to initiate a joint move with the public to improve it. The DEO further said that instructions had been issued to the school heads and other staff to hold meetings with members of the Rural Education Development Committees, Patent-Teacher Associations(PTAs), Mother-Teacher Associations (MTAs) and other social organisations working at the village level. The authorities of Government High School, Pakhoke, 12 km from here, organised such a meeting today under the chairmanship of Headmaster Dhir Singh Hundal. Representatives of the PTA and MTA and prominent personalities of the village participated in the meeting. Market Committee Chairman Amrik Singh, former Chairman of the Block Samiti Mangal Singh and former manager of the SGPC Balwant Singh assured the school authorities their full cooperation in increasing the student strength in government schools from the coming session. Dhir Singh said it was a hard fact that in government schools there was solid infrastructure like science labs, playgrounds, besides well educated and experienced staff. All the schools had been told to hold such meetings, said the DEO. Nayar delivers lecture
Amritsar: Eminent journalist Kuldip Nayar delivered a lecture on “teacher education and mass media” at the DAV College of Education for Women here on Monday. He said means were more significant than ends. He emphasised on India attaining economic emancipation. He laid stress on the propagation of values and spiritual heritage in educating students. He felt that media needed to play a more responsible role in shaping society. Shabad singing
The Spring Dale Senior School won the Shabad singing competition organised by Shaheed Bhai Taru Singh Kes Sambhal Sanstha at Pipli Sahib Gurdwara. The school team comprised seven students. In a separate event, the school held a two-day adventure camp that concluded on Tuesday. It included activities like aerobics, yoga, spoon and lemon race, snake race, tug-of-war and other games. Seminar on design
The BBK DAV College for Women held a seminar on the design process for the students of MSc fashion designing and merchandising and bachelor of design (fashion designing) today. Fashion designer Heena Sandhu, a graduate from NIFT, Bangalore, was the resource person. |
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Encroachments, red-tape threaten sacred neighbourhood
P.K. Jaiswar/Tribune News Service
Amritsar, February 2 Multi-storeyed hotels have come up around the shrine while the civic authorities have failed a keep a check on blatant violations of building norms. The absence of any parking place in these hotels has led to parking on roads, resulting in severe traffic bottlenecks. “If the Municipal Corporation, which reels under a severe financial crunch, gets the survey of these building violations done, it could generate huge funds by way of hefty fines on defaulters,” said Hardev Singh, a resident of the area near Darbar Sahib. The authorities had turned a blind eye to commercial establishments that had come up in the residential complexes, he alleged. The ward falls in the walled city, comprising Katra Baggian, Gole Hatti Market, Subash Park, Roran Wali Gali, Ganj De Muri, Telephone Exchange, Guru Ka Mehal, Guru Bazaar, Partap Bazaar, Katra Jaimal Singh, Mochi Bazaar, Katra Ahluwalia, Town Hall and even the Municipal Corporation office. In Katra Jaimal Singh, which boasts of being the major cloth market of the city, more than 60-foot road has been turned into a small lane due to the parking of vehicles. There is hardly any room left for pedestrians. “The authorities have been waiting for some major incident to happen as rehriwalas have established their shops right beneath electric transformers. Any mishap would snuff out their lives,” said a shopkeeper. The residents could at any time face a shortage of water as a majority of water tubewells have outlived their life span. There are about nine tubewells in this ward, of them four remain un-operational due to technical faults which arise every second day. “The water problem is likely to raise its head sooner than later as tubewells at Guru Ka Mehal, Gali Lallan Wali and Telephone Exchange are not functioning,” said Kulbhushan. The sewerage, laid during British era, often remains choked while there are only three persons to clear the sewer lines, who, too, are ill-equipped to handle the number of complaints received daily. “The corporation receives eight to 10 complaints of blockage of sewerage everyday and the MC employees only have bamboo sticks in the name of equipment,” said Gurbhej Singh. The absence of gas masks had led to mishaps in the past, he added.
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Utilise sale proceeds from city properties on city itself: AVM
Amritsar February 2 In a memorandum to Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and Deputy CM Sukhbir Badal, manch patron Mohan Singh pointed out that from 1997 to 2009 the government had earned more than Rs 1,000 crore by selling government properties in Amritsar. However, he rued, the amount was diverted elsewhere instead of using if for development of its infrastructure. He said under the Nehru Urban Renewal Mission, matching grants from the Central government were available and Rs 2,000 crore thus raised would fund development needs of the city to a great extent. It is pertinent to mention here that properties, including residential bungalow of the Deputy Commissioner, the vast campus of Sri Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital, Dr Karam Singh Ward and the open land around it are on the selling list, besides the vast campus of the Irrigation Department (opposite Government College for Women), PWD Rest House (adjoining Circuit House) and Government Senior Secondary School for Girls, Mall Road. The funds generated after selling these properties would ran into hundreds of crores and attracted equal grants from the Centre, said Singh. Singh rued the pitiable state of city roads since Rs 100 crore provided in the local budget had long been exhausted. The much-publicised elevated road was still incomplete because Rs 55 crore urgently required for its completion was not forthcoming. Besides, drinking water facilities and sewerage were urgently needed in peripheral colonies and villages like Sultanwind and Gumtala. |
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Washroom trouble leaves nursing students in the open
Amritsar, February 2 The reason is that there was hardly any provision made for adequate washrooms for these over 80 nursing students by the management. The students disclosed that despite bringing this inconvenience to the notice of the management of the hospital, nothing was done. Some of the students said they had to ease themselves in the open and they had to wait for the dark to find a “place of convenience”. The students said when they approached the management, they were told that arrangement would be made the next day. “But isn’t it ridiculous that this most urgent arrangement was overlooked by the management. What else can one expect?” the students said. “We had been told that this hospital is an idyllic place and commands
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Farmers block traffic, burn effigy of government
Amritsar, February 2 Member, state committee of the KSC, Bhupinder Singh Takhtmal said the Sukhbir Badal- Manoranjan Kalia committee, buckling under the duress of the Union Government, had recommended these measures. He said the agitation was part of the series of protests initiated by the farmers’ organisation to mobilise support for the cause of farmers on January 26. He said apart from Chabba, protests were held at Mandiala, Warpal Balechak, Bandala, Safipur, Jhitte, Pandori Ran Singh, Joga Singhwala, Pandori Sidhana and Pandori Romana villages. The agitating farmers demanded roll back in charging of electric bills and for drawing water from canal water. Their other demands included fixing of wheat procurement price at Rs 1,650, increase in amount of ration distributed through Blue Cards and hike in wages of labourers under NREGA. —
TNS |
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Majithia flags off LPG autorickshaws
Amritsar, February 2 Majithia said roughly 25,000 petrol and diesel-run autos were in operation in the city and hoped that gradually all of these would be replaced by the ones with the latest technology. Quoting a recent judgement of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, Majithia said even the court had prohibited He said, besides, the cost of the LPG autos was comparatively lower than the traditional autos. An LPG auto cost Rs 1.20 lakh with 14-litre fuel tank capacity, while a petrol and diesel-run auto cost Rs 1.45 lakh with capacity of eight litre fuel tank. |
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Now, watch cricket right from the ground
Amritsar, February 2 Living up to its trade statement comprising value segments, the Cinepolis management has plans, in their agenda, to offer several incentives for brilliant school children who have a liking for cricket. “Yes, the incentives are in the pipeline but nothing has been finalised as yet,” said Milan Saini, the Managing Director and Country Head, Cinepolis. While speaking to The Tribune exclusively, Saini elaborated that the company has plans to offer several percentage of seats for those students who have done exceptionally well in their last examinations. “Maybe 95 per cent marks or above, but it would be too early to announce this scheme, keeping in mind the transmission fee for the matches and other expenses. We have not yet decided about the ticket charges for the IPL matches. Talks are on with our marketing wing and looking into the expected number of public responses for these matches would only motivate us to go in for such incentives but as per our policy matters, we would definitely offer something for the children in the coming days”, said Saini. Cinepolis, the world’s 5th largest movie theatre complex, has the privilege to be the first in the country to install satellite dish and offer 3-D technology in its auditorium, having a capacity of 333 seats. While talking about the technical aspect, Saini said it would be an unforgettable experience while watching the matches on 3-D format. “It would be as if you are sitting on the ground itself. It is for the first time that we have been offering all the 56 matches directly through satellite, of course after having a pact with the management of the IPL about the telecasting fee and other formalities”, he said. In addition to this, Cinepolis would also offer special cricket packages like ‘follow your team’, where one can get tickets only for those days when one’s favourite teams play. Another package includes for semifinal and final days’ play in advance, sharing the ticket rights with other friends etc. “We would be identifying our customer who would touch the one lakh mark. It is about to be achieved in just two month’s of opening in the city. We are running the Valentine theme from February 5 to 17, where couples would be offered special offers in the shape of photo frames free of cost with the friendly combo meal package they purchase”, said Saini. While talking of further plans, Saini said the company would also run scheme shortly under the name “Lets all go to movie” especially for children who belong to BPL families. This initiative of ours would be dedicated to the social cause where special movie shows would be planned for underprivileged children”, he added. |
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Unemployed youth condemn govt move
Amritsar, February 2 Lambasting the decision, the Janvadi Lekhak Sangh said it would increase unemployment besides causing frustration among the youth. Its executive member Sumeet Singh said, “Regularly we see educated unemployed teachers, pharmacists, professionals and non-professionals from various streams of education holding protest to impress upon the government to absorb them in the respective departments.” He said it seemed that the government had adopted ad hoc measures pertaining to employment as a large number of seats were lying vacant, was offering contractual jobs and now extending retirement age. Contrarily, he said, the government was extending monetary and luxurious facilities like costly cars, residential places equipped with choicest of furniture, loans at minimum interest and many more perks to its ministers and parliamentary secretaries. However, the government invariably cited financial crunch for its inability in hiring employees and releasing pay. Member, district committee, CPI (M), O.P. Bairagi said his party flayed increase in retirement age besides 13 per cent hike in bus fares. An engineering graduate, Gurpreet Singh, who has been looking for a suitable job for the past several years, said the decision would mar the employment chances of the youth in general and those who were on the threshold of attaining the age limit for government jobs in particular. He felt that there was no cogent reason behind the extension except that the government wanted to avoid the financial stress of retirement benefit on the exchequer. He opined that the government could offer the facility of voluntary retirement at the age of 55 years depending upon discretion of the employees. Tarun Malhotra, an unemployed management postgraduate, said the government adopted a clever move by not accepting the recommendation of the Sukhbir Badal-Manoranjan Kalia report to enhance retirement age of government employees from 58 to 60, but allowed employees the option to extend their service for a year. The damaging part was that it would add more unemployment and resentment among the youth which would be ominous for the society. |
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Mentally challenged abducted
Tarn Taran, February 2 Dalbir Kaur, mother of the abducted boy, in her complaint to the police alleged that the accused had abducted her son to grab his property. A case under sections |
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Farm labourer electrocuted
Tarn Taran, February 2 The Khalra police has registered a report under section 174, CrPC. |
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Dairy devp training course from Feb 8
Amritsar, February 2 He said the training would equip the candidates with information pertaining to primary check up of cattle, their fodder and breeding. He said the interested candidates must turn up at the Dairy Training and Development Service Centre, Verka, along with the requisite documents. They would have to deposit Rs 3,000 as training fee, he said. —
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Stressing on the need to re-assess policies for the conservation of wetlands, eminent scientists and academicians today emphasised on a scientific approach to develop and harness the full potential of these resources.
The change in land use (CLU) norms seem to have been brought to massive ridicule in Ward 24, a major part of which has illegally been utilised for commercial activities.
Dr Vidya Sagar Institute of Mental Health may be known as one of the best psychiatric hospitals in the state, but a group of nursing students, who have come here for getting training, think otherwise.
These students from Silver Oak Hospital, Mohali, who turned up here yesterday for undergoing specialised training in psychiatry, said they had to spend their first day in great inconvenience.
