Jalandhar, April 9
Members of the PWD Field and Workshop Workers Union, Punjab, staged a dharna in front of the District Administrative Complex (DAC) against the unruly behaviour of their Superintending Engineer here today.

The dharna was supported by the union members from Jalandhar, Hoshiarpur, Kapurthala, Nawanshahr, Ropar, Gurdaspur, Ferozepore, Patiala and Fatehgarh Sahib.

Union president Parveen Kumar said on October 19, 2009, a deputation of the Talmal Sangharsh Committee had gone to hand over a memorandum to the Superintending Engineer but he refused to accept it. “He behaved in a rash manner and refused to listen to us,” he added.

He said that the SE should be transferred from Jalandhar. “The PWD authorities should ensure that kith and kin of the employees who die in harness should be given job on compassionate ground,” he added.

Earlier in the morning, the union members gathered at Desh Bhagat Yaadgar Hall and raised slogans against the SE.

Later the agitated members of PWD Field and Workshop Workers sat on a dharna and expressed their resentment against the autocratic behaviour of the SE.

Meanwhile, the fast by the Scheduled Caste Employees Joint Action Committee, Punjab, entered the fourth day today.

The agitated members sitting on fast said the flawed list of principals released by the state education authorities had led to furor among the Schedule Caste lecturers.

Amritsar, April 9
Visibly overwhelmed over the success of his much-cherished World Kabaddi Cup Punjab-2010, Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal has claimed that the latest TRP (television rating points) survey by international agencies has revealed that the popularity of the World Kabaddi Cup has surpassed the otherwise much-publicised IPL, forcing the international broadcasters to rethink on their communication strategies.

Sukhbir was so impressed with the turnout at the World Kabaddi Cup that he went on to announce that setting up of the Indian premier kabaddi (IPK) league on the pattern of IPL for cricket was in the pipeline to promote kabaddi at the international level, apart from according a global exposure to kabaddi players.

Eight sports stadiums would be upgraded to the international standard, he added. “The World Kabaddi Cup would be made a regular feature. Efforts would be made to promote all traditional games of Punjab, including hockey. A new sports policy focusing on development of rural sports would be formulated soon. Directions were being issued to the department concerned to fill the backlog of sports quota jobs within six months, he added.

He said the SAD-BJP government had already granted recognition to the circle-style kabaddi and efforts would be made to get circle kabaddi included in the Asian, Commonwealth and Olympic games,” said Badal.

Other senior Akali leaders present on the occasion of the World Kabaddi Cup tournament here on Thursday included Bikram Singh Majithia, Senior Vice-Chairman of the organising committee of the World Kabaddi Cup Punjab-2010, Sikander Singh Maluka, Vice-Chairman of the organising committee, Ranjit Singh Brahmpura, Punjab Rural Development Minister, Gulzar Singh Ranike, Punjab Animal Husbandry and Welfare Minister, and Dr Rattan Singh Ajnala.

Jalandhar, April 9
Soaring temperature coupled with unscheduled power cuts has made life tough for the city residents. The day begins with power cuts and ends on the same note. There is no fixed time for the light to go, owing to which the routine of everyone, including housewives, industrialists, office goers and even kids, gets upset.

Electricity is off at 6.10 am for an hour. It goes off again at 8.30 am and remains off for anytime between two and four hours.

Since electricity is off during peak household work hours, almost everyone getting ready for work has to suffer.

For the past 10 days, there has not been a cut in the afternoon. But there is a cut at around 9.30 am for about half an hour.

There are power cuts around midnight again, causing much inconvenience to all those who do not have the provision of power back-up in the form of inverters or gensets.

The worst problem in the morning hours is that the water supply also goes off along with electricity.

Amrita Sharma, a housewife, says, “Storing water is a big, time-consuming process for me. If it remains undone, all household works remain pending.”

Sarita Watts, an MNC employee, said, “Getting all household work accomplished in the morning before reaching office, without power, is a big task. No electric gadgets, including washing machine, blenders, etc., cannot be put to use, leaving manual work the only option, which often becomes quite time consuming. Even clothes cannot be ironed and all such preparations need to be made in advance.”

Chief Engineer (System and Operation), PSEB, V.K. Gupta, said scheduled power cuts of four hours are being imposed daily. “At times, power supply also has to be curtailed to check excessive load,” he added.

Jalandhar, April 9
Terming the World Sikh Convention being organised by the Shiromani Akali Dal (Delhi) as a farce, the SAD (A) has alleged that it was being held to sideline burning issues before the community at the cost of crucial ones.

SAD (A) chief Simranjit Singh Mann, said the event being held from April 10-11 was at best a gathering of various factions of the Sikh polity and did not represent the “sangat” on the whole. So the decisions taken at the meeting would not have the approval of the Sikhs.

Questioning the motive behind holding the meeting, he said it was being held at the behest of the Congress to take away the focus of the people from the real and long pending issues before the community, like bringing the perpetrators of the 1984 genocide to book and ensuring justice to over 3,000 Sikhs killed in Delhi alone.

He alleged that the Sikhs had been given a raw deal since Independence and had been reduced to the status of second-class citizens in the country. While they were promised a land where they could enjoy the full glow of freedom, even a separate state came about in 1966 after a long-drawn struggle even though other states had been divided on linguistic basis, he pointed out.

Citing an example of the dual policy towards the Sikhs, he said the Centre was all out to seek the extradition of David Coleman Headly and his co- conspirators even though they were on foreign shores, yet the accused in the Sikh massacre were roaming freely in the county and to top it all had been granted bail by the courts. “Where is the justice for us in the country?” he questioned.

This was not to say that the Mumbai episode was not gruesome, but the double standards were too evident to ignore, he added. Sadly, all these issues were not on the agenda of the convention. Although there was need to ensure greater transparency in the appointment of Akal Takht jathedars but these could be taken at a later stage when more pressing issues were facing the Panth, he added. Mann said the elections to the SGPC had not been held though the term of the previous house came to an end last year. — TNS

Jalandhar, April 9
The Punjab Government has released two instalments of Dearness Allowance (DA) to the pensioners of Government-aided schools.

The first will be given from January 1, 2009, and the increase in the DA would be from 54 per cent to 64 per cent, while the other will be from July 1, 2009, and the hike would be from 64 per cent to 73 per cent and that would be at par with the state government pensioners.

Bhupinder Sharma, press secretary of the Punjab Aided School Pensioners’ Cell, said the allocation of pensioners’ fund of the government-aided schools had witnessed a hike of Rs 2 crore from Rs 20 crore last year to Rs 22 crore this fiscal year.

He said the Director, Education, Punjab, has issued a letter on April 8 to release the interim relief of 2006.

Appreciating the hike, Manohar Lal Chopra, chief adviser of the Punjab State Aided School Teachers and Other Employees Union, said the increased outlays were welcome. “We hope that Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal would fulfil his governments’ assurance to grant pensionary benefits to those who retired after June 1, 2003,” he said.

Activists urged the government to implement the recommendations of the Sixth Pay Commission at the earliest.

Bhupinder Sharma informed that a meeting of the union would be held at Sai Das School, Patel Chowk, on Sunday at 11 pm. N.N. Saini, leader of the teachers’ union, will address the meeting.