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recruited only to be relieved
19 ‘over aged’ teachers stand losers
Our Correspondent
Hoshiarpur, October 12
Resentment prevails among the sikhiya karamchari teachers against the District Education Officer (Elementary) for relieving 19 teachers from service on the plea that they were above 35 years of age when they joined service.
Maninder Singh Marwaha, president of the district unit of the Sikhiya Karamchari Adhyapaks Union, told mediapersons that while issuing appointment letters to the teachers there was no condition either in writing or verbal about the age limit. As many as 535 sikhiya karamchari teachers had been working in government elementary, high or senior secondary schools in the district. BA and MA teachers were being given a monthly salary of Rs 4,500; BA and BEd Rs 5,250 and MA and BEd Rs 6,000 without any other benefits and they were being governed by the village education development committees. As many as 19 teachers were relieved from service on October 7 without assigning any reason. The DEO (Elementary) told them that as per the direction of the Director-General (DG), Punjab Schools Education (PSE), these teachers had been relieved on the basis of their crossing the age of 35 years at the time of joining service. The age limit of joining the government service was up to 42 years, he claimed and urged the state education authority to roll back the decision of relieving the teachers, failing which the union would launch an agitation. DEO (Elementary) Inderjit Singh said there was the clear cut condition of 35 years of age in their appointment letters. Only 13 teachers in the district had been relieved on the instructions of the DG, PSE.
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Tribune impact
Stagnant water drained out; sewer lines yet to open
Ashok Kaura
Phagwara, October 12
Two days after the problem of blocked sewer lines were highlighted in The Tribune, machinery of the Nagar Council, Water Supply and Sewerage Department and National Highway Authority of India were pressed into service to end the trouble that has affected several localities, including posh ones.
Areas, including Model Town, Industrial Area, Tibbi, Rattanpura, JCT Mills, Onkar Nagar, and even Phagwara Nagar Council and SP office had a tough time tackling sewage trouble. Though the stagnant dirty water was drained out from several localities, the work could be started only after closing the JCT Mills and six tubewells of Hargobind Nagar, Town Hall, New Model town and Industrial Area. Thus the residents of these localities had to face scarcity of drinking water. It may be mentioned here that the main sewer line of the town has been lying blocked since Wednesday night. SDM Amarjit Paul said the required equipments were brought to drain out the dirty water from different places, including Jalandhar Municipal Corporation. NC Executive Officer, Sandeep Tiwari, claimed that origin of the problem had been located. He said NC employees were trying to clear the blocked sewer lines after digging the place three feet deep. They have found heaps of garbage from the pipes. He said the work would continue round the clock to restore the sewerage lines. The Tribune has learnt that the staff of the construction company engaged for six laning of the highway got a road map from the sewerage department and digging was done according to the map. But if the main sewerage pipe was cut then either the map provided by the department was wrong or the employees of the construction company were at fault. Phagwara SDM Amarjit Paul has instructed to close the construction work of six lining of national highway around the affected areas till sewer lines were restored. SDM Paul has also ordered a thorough inquiry to find out the root causes of the blockages of the sewerage pipes. The Nagar Council has assured to provide drinking water from 5am to 7am and 6pm to 7pm.
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Connection transferred without notice, Powercom told to undo it
Our Correspondent
Hoshiarpur, October 12
The District Consumer Court, headed by President P.D. Goel, has ordered the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (Powercom) to change/transfer the power connection in the name of Parvinder Singh forthwith and pay Rs 1,000 to the complainant as
litigation expenses within one month.
Parvinder Singh of Badla village filed a complaint against Powercom on the ground that the authorities had changed the ownership of the power connection, which was earlier transferred in his name, to the name of Chaman Lal
without any reason and prior notice. The Powercom authorities admitted that the
connection No H44/AA2501165 /407353 was in the name of Chaman Lal. Charanjit, son of Chaman Lal, made a representation that there was a dispute between the legal heirs of deceased Chaman Lal and a civil suit was pending in a court. The corporation further raised the plea that neither any request was received nor any sanction for transferring the connection to the name of Parvinder Singh was ever received. Parvinder Singh manipulated things and obtained the transfer of the connection without fulfilling the necessary requirements. When this fact came to the notice of the higher authorities, the connection was restored in the name of Chaman Lal. The consumer court held that Powercom had changed the connection in the name Chaman Lal, which was in the name of Parvinder Singh, without giving any prior notice to the complainant, thus violated the principle of natural justice, which amounted to deficiency in service. However, Powercom had the right to take action with regard to the change/transfer of the connection in the name of Parvinder Singh after serving prior notice affording an opportunity of being heard as per law and rules of Powercom.
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I’m like a child to Kaypee, Henry: Bittu
Dharmendra Joshi
Tribune News Service
Jalandhar, October 12
A few days after stating that he will verify about former minister Avtar Henry’s role behind the recent arrests of some local Youth Congress leaders, Punjab Youth Congress President Ravneet Singh Bittu changed his statement and said he is like a child to both the state Congress President Mohinder Singh Kaypee and former minister Avtar Henry.
Talking to The Tribune today, he said he had merely said he would talk to Kaypee over the issue and would also ask on what basis councillor Dinesh Dhal Kali was levelling allegations against the senior Congressman who had also worked with his grandfather, late CM Beant Singh. Bittu said he had also got a call from his aunt and former minister Gurkanwal Kaur to whom he clarified that he had no intention
to speak against any senior Congress leader. The MP from Anandpur Sahib, Bittu said he had come to Jalandhar just to meet the local Youth Congress leaders in jail to show solidarity with them as they had become “victims” of Parkash Singh Badal-led SAD-BJP government. Answering a query, he said he had also no intention to intervene in Kaypee’s jurisdiction, and it was only his right to look after the affairs of the senior Congressmen. Meanwhile, Henry refused to comment on the issue and said the matter had already died down. It may be recalled that during his visit to Jalandhar on Saturday, Bittu said he would verify about Henry’s role behind the recent arrests of Youth Congress Jalandhar (Urban) vice-president Anil Dhal Bobby and its general secretary Manpreet Singh Soni caught in last year’s Gopal Nagar firing case.
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awareness on harms of paddy straw burning
5 mobile vans on village tour
Tribune News Service
Jalandhar, October 12
To disseminate the message regarding the harmful effects of burning paddy straw, Agricultural Technical Management Agency (ATMA) wing of the Agricultural Department, Jalandhar, in collaboration with Dashmesh Mechanical Works, Amargarh, has sent a caravan of five mobile vans to villages.
The fleet of mobile vans was flagged off by the DC, Jalandhar, Priyank Bharti, who is also the District Chairman of ATMA. During the flagging off ceremony, he said besides various skin diseases and diseases of the respiratory system, the burning of paddy straw causes the loss of a number of environment friendly micro-organisms, which, otherwise, enhance the fertility of soil. Dr Kulbir Singh Deol, chief agricultural officer, Jalandhar, said if calculated, the burning of paddy incurred a loss of around Rs 200 crore every year. He said on an average, there were 5-7 tonnes of paddy straw per acre, which consists of 33 kg nitrogen, 44 kg phosphorus, 150 kg potash, kilograms sulphur and 2.5 tonnes of carbon. Agricultural engineer Dr DR Kataria said advanced implements like rotavator and happy seeder could be used to avoid burning of paddy straw.
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