Jalandhar, November 25
“Ye Akashvani Hai…”, avid radio listeners had reason to cheer in the morning as they got to hear their favourite programmes on the Jalandhar AIR after two days of silence on account of strike by the National Federation of Akashvani and Doordarshan Employees (NFADE).

The Jalandhar AIR resumed its services and went on air from 9 am today. It was a tough time for the loyal listeners of the AIR during these two days.

So much so that the staff at the local radio station was swamped with calls from across the region thanking them for being on air again.

Narrating an interesting instance, Senior Announcer Kamlesh Gulati said many of the listeners took their radio sets to mechanics to see why only the channels of the Jalandhar AIR were off air. The listeners virtually thanked the AIR staff for starting the services of their favourite channels.

“We were left answering the queries of the callers pertaining to the silence. Initially the listeners thought that the radio sets are not working properly. There curiosity came to an end only when we told them about the strike,” she added.

The Director, AIR, B.C. Pawar, said as soon as the channels went on air, the first thing listeners asked was about our services.

“Concerned radio fans repeatedly enquired and took assurances from the AIR staff that this will not happen again. The listeners across the region share a lovely bond with the Jalandhar AIR,” he added.

“Some of the listeners were so upset that they contacted their favourite programme announcers for when the programmes will be back on air,” said Sukhwinder Sukhi, another radio announcer.

Sukhi added that they received calls from others states too. “One of our loyal listener Inderpal Singh from Jugsalai, Tata Nagar, and Jatin Mehta from Ahmedabad especially asked about what went wrong at the Jalandhar AIR,” he added.

Among the loyal callers who were anxious to know the reasons for the sudden silence were - Satpal Arora, Kanchan Arora, Rajat Arora and Sahil Arora from Kot Isse Khan, Baldev Bajwa from Kapurthala, Sanjiv Jain and Rajesh Jain from Mullanpur Mandi, Sunil Pathak from Anarkali Bazaar from Jagroan and many more.

The listeners who have been waiting with unabated breath these two days today started their day with “Pop te Top” programme on FM Rainbow, “Film Music” programme on Vividh Bharti, “Punjabi Film Music” on DTH, “Film Sangeet” on Primary Channel.

The Jalandhar AIR starts its service with “Gurbani Vichar”, which is broadcast live from the Golden Temple at 4 am daily. While the Vividh Bharti services begin at 6 am and FM Rainbow begins at 7 am daily.

Meanwhile unit secretary of the NFADE Pardeep Kumar said they would conduct their second phase of strike from December 13 to 16.

“The AIR employees want repeal of the Prasar Bharti Act-1990,” he added.

Jalandhar, November 25
The Government Classic and Vernacular (CV) Teachers Union, Punjab, has warned the government to relaunch its struggle if the government fails to keep its promise to provide promotion channel to the teachers at par with that of master cadre.

A press statement released by Harbhajan Singh Dhindsa and Sukhjinder Singh Harike, patron and president of the union, respectively, said that the Chief Minister had promised to entertain their long-pending demand to promote those CV teachers who had not passed the BEd course to the post of lecturer.

He added that the CM had assured them to revise the pay scale of the CV teachers of art and craft, physical training, sewing and agriculture at par with that of CV teachers of Punjabi, Hindi, Urdu 
and Sanskrit.

He warned that if the government would not keep its promise before December 15, the union would again launch the protest which had been postponed.

Hoshiarpur, November 25
Under the ongoing programme “Badhte Kadam-II” of the national trust for mentally challenged children, a seminar was organised at Jagjit Singh Sachdeva Asha Kiran School at Jahan Khelan, 8 km from here, yesterday.

The main object of “Badhte Kadam-II” is to provide information about the national trust and its ongoing schemes for the benefit of mentally challenged children.

According to volunteers of the Ludhiana unit of the national trust Pushpinder Kaur, Sudhir Kumar and others, the aim of holding these seminars was to provide information about the rights of mentally challenged, how to make coordination of mentally challenged persons with society and information regarding mental retardation cerebral palsy and autism. They also briefed about the schemes of the national trust.

Eight districts in Punjab have been selected for this programme, seminars for which had already been held at Jalandhar on November 19, Amritsar on November 20, Pathankot on November 21, Sangrur on November 22, Fatehgarh Sahib on November 23 and Hoshiarpur yesterday.

Seminars at Patiala and Ludhiana would be held on November 25 and November 26, respectively.

Presiding over the seminar, Deputy Commissioner Dharam Dutt Tarnach assured full cooperation for disposing of all pending cases of the Ashakiran Welfare Society. He said certificates of mentally challenged children for their mental handicap would be given very shortly.

Mentally challenged schoolchildren staged a dance programme on the song “Badhte kadam” on the occasion.

Jalandhar, November 25
A function was held yesterday at Begowal village, near Kapurthala, to commemorate the death anniversary of late Surjit Singh Bachajivi who was gunned down by terrorists 20 years ago.

NRI family members of Bachajivi donated 500 desks for 25 primary government schools of the area that cater to the needs of the poor and underprivileged children.

H.S. Hanspal, member, National Commission for Minorities, was the chief guest, while Bholath legislator Sukhpal Singh Khaira presided over the function.

“The SAD-BJP alliance has failed on all fronts and the masses are ruing the day when they voted the combine to power. The Badals have only been successful in perpetuating family rule and have looted the people of the state,” Hanspal alleged.

Punjab was facing a grave financial crisis with a debt of over Rs 70,000 crore, but the “feudal” Badals were busy spending money from the exchequer on their travels and lavish living.

Hanspal congratulated Khaira for having started a novel scheme of providing desks to all 132 state-run primary schools in the Bholath constituency.

Khaira alleged that Sukhbir Badal was behaving like a feudal lord and running the state to his whims and fancies. Ironically, when the people of Punjab did not have basic facilities like education, health, safe drinking water, employment, Badal Jr was detached from ground realities and was was talking about constructing international-level stadiums, airports, five-star hotels and express highways.

He said corruption was rampant in the state with mega scandals like leasing out PIMS for only Rs 131 crore, which had a value of Rs 2,500 crore. Not only this, the Badal family had hijacked the transport sector, sand quarrying, cable network and bulk liquor trade. All these scams would be investigated when the Congress came to power, he reiterated.

Others who spoke on the occasion included Navtej Singh Cheema and PCC secretaries Rashpal Singh, Avtar Singh and Pritam Singh Sikri.

Tarn Taran, November 25
Baljit Singh (26) of Kabir Nagar, Tung Bala, of Amritsar, has been booked by the city police under sections 363, 366-A and 376, IPC, for allegedly abducting and raping a teenaged girl of the town.

The girl in her complaint to the police said she was called by the accused telephonically to a local gurdwara. She was kidnapped from there, luring her on the pretext to marry her by the accused.

She alleged that she was brought to Amritsar by Baljit on his motorcycle where she was raped for 10 days. She was send to Baba Shahidan by Baljit one day where she remained for a few days. Later she came home and revealed the incident to her father.