J A L A N D H A R    E D I T I O N

PTU to start 3 new institutes from this session
Jalandhar, March 17
Punjab Technical University (PTU) has decided to start three new institutes from the coming session. The new institutes included one multi-disciplinary Punjab Institute of Technology (PIT) at Mansa, a PIT for postgraduation at the university campus in Kapurthala and a Punjab Institute of Management also in Kapurthala. A textile-based PIT at Ladowal in Ludhiana and a PIT for training in food technology at Barnala is slated to start next year. The Board of Governors of PTU has recently sanctioned an amount of Rs 15 crore for construction of each of the five institutes.

Gurdaspur, Batala, Pathankot face health hazard
MC employees’ strike enters 11th day; garbage piles up in towns
Gurdaspur, March 17
Heaps of garbage piled up in the city as employees owing allegiance to the Gurdaspur Municipal Employees Union, affiliated to the powerful Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh, decided to strike work for the 11th successive day in protest against the state government’s ‘indecisiveness’ in resolving their long-pending demands.

Activists of the Shiromani Akali Dal (Badal) protest against ill-treatment of Amritinder Singh, coach of golfer Jeev Milkha Singh, at Amritsar on Thursday. Photo: Vishal Kumar

Report submitted in fake pharmacist case
Amritsar, March 17
Deputy Medical Commissioner HS Ghai, who had visited the Civil Hospital at Baba Bakala to investigate into the alleged fake appointment of a pharmacist, submitted his findings to Civil Surgeon Chandanjit Singh Kondal here today. “I am yet to receive the report. I would go through the findings of Dr Ghai and action would be initiated accordingly,” said Dr Kondal.

Two labourers feared dead in roof collapse
Tarn Taran, March 17
Two labourers are feared dead after a roof of Sandhu Cold Store collapsed at Tharu, six kms from here, today. Seven labourers had a narrow escape in the incident. There is no trace of the trapped labourers, even after eight hours of the rescue operations, launched by the administration.

PTU to start 3 new institutes from this session
Deepkamal Kaur
Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, March 17
Punjab Technical University (PTU) has decided to start three new institutes from the coming session. The new institutes included one multi-disciplinary Punjab Institute of Technology (PIT) at Mansa, a PIT for postgraduation at the university campus in Kapurthala and a Punjab Institute of Management also in Kapurthala.

A textile-based PIT at Ladowal in Ludhiana and a PIT for training in food technology at Barnala is slated to start next year. The Board of Governors of PTU has recently sanctioned an amount of Rs 15 crore for construction of each of the five institutes.

The foundation stone of PIT at Mansa is scheduled to be laid by Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal on March 26. The institute will offer undergraduate courses in mechanical, civil, electronics and computer science engineering. There will be 60 seats in each of the four streams.

The PIT at PTU campus will offer MTech courses in mechanical, electronics and computer science engineering, with 25 seats in each branch. The admission to these courses will be done on the basis of their merit in GATE and all the 75 selected students would be offered a stipend of Rs 8000 per month.

The admission for PIM, also to come up at the PTU campus, will be conducted on the basis of merit of students in CAT. The 25 students admitted for the MBA course too would be entitled for the stipend for which the BOG has sanctioned a total amount of Rs 1.75 crore in the current financial year.

Meanwhile, the PTU has set up its own building branch with the appointment of an XEN, who will handle the construction work of PIT and PIM.

Since the authorities expect that the PIT building to be ready around December, they are planning to conduct the temporary classes for the first semester at Dr BR Ambedkar National Institute of Technology (NIT). Vice Chancellor Dr Rajneesh Arora confirmed the same, “We have held a meeting with the NIT authorities in this regard and are expecting a positive response. We cannot have M.Tech classes in our own building for we need all the technical set up for the purpose”.

The VC said that the process of appointment of staff including the directors would soon be started.

Gurdaspur, Batala, Pathankot face health hazard
MC employees’ strike enters 11th day; garbage piles up in towns
Ravi Dhaliwal
Tribune News Service

Gurdaspur, March 17
Heaps of garbage piled up in the city as employees owing allegiance to the Gurdaspur Municipal Employees Union, affiliated to the powerful Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh, decided to strike work for the 11th successive day in protest against the state government’s ‘indecisiveness’ in resolving their long-pending demands.

City residents had a harrowing time as garbage heaps could be seen piled up in heavily-populated areas of Sangalpura road, Mohalla Islamabad, Dak Khana Chowk, Geeta Bhawan road, Gopal Nagar, College road and Hanuman Chowk. The nearby towns of Batala, Dhariwal, Dinannagar and Pathankot too have been badly affected.

Anil Vij and Santosh Riar, MC chiefs of Pathankot and Gurdaspur, respectively, washed their hands off the issue by saying that it was for the state government to break the logjam and they had no role to play in the controversial issue. Batala MC chief Ambika Khanna has remained incommunicado for the last few days.

Leaders of the Punjab Municipal Employees Union met the Local Bodies Minister Manoranjan Kalia a few days ago at Chandigarh in an attempt to break the impasse but to no avail. Union leaders allege that the minister claimed that it was for the Chief Minister to take a decision on the demands of the striking employees.

To make matters worse, the Gurdaspur Municipal Council authorities snapped a contract they had with the Punjab Sewerage Board for the proper maintenance of sewerage pipes. The MC used to pay Rs 3.5 every month to the Sewerage Board which, on its part, used to provide manpower for the maintenance of pipes criss-crossing the town. However, insiders claimed that the contract was abruptly terminated last week because the MC was not satisfied with the work of the board.

Ramesh Gupta, president of the Gurdaspur MC Employees Union, claimed, “Our main demand is to regularise the services of nearly 5,000 temporary employees working with various MCs all over the state. The other demand is to provide a separate head for pensions so that money sent by the government pertaining to pensions and provident funds of the employees is credited directly into the head meant for Pensions. At present the state government directly transfers this money to the MC, which in turn, diverts it for other purposes rather than paying retired employees their pensions.”

Residents are irked over the fact that they have been exposed to a health hazard for no fault of theirs. Said Pathankot-based senior Congress leader Chowdhury Rajbir, “When we pay our taxes on time we expect the MC employees to clear the garbage.”

Our Correspondent adds from Phagwara:

As MC staff strike entered 11th day today, residents of several localities of the town were forced to clean the streets themselves. Meanwhile, the MC employees from Phagwara, Goraya and Phillaur continued with their protest rallies and dharnas today.

Report submitted in fake pharmacist case
PK Jaiswar/TNS

Amritsar, March 17
Deputy Medical Commissioner HS Ghai, who had visited the Civil Hospital at Baba Bakala to investigate into the alleged fake appointment of a pharmacist, submitted his findings to Civil Surgeon Chandanjit Singh Kondal here today. “I am yet to receive the report. I would go through the findings of Dr Ghai and action would be initiated accordingly,” said Dr Kondal.

It is pertinent to mention here that Senior Medical Officer Vijay Sethi is in the dock for allegedly appointing a fake pharmacist, who has been working in the hospital for the last two months. Sangral Kumar, who originally belonged to Gurdaspur, was also living in government quarters at the behest of the SMO, it is alleged.

The doctors, on condition of anonymity, had pointed out that no such appointment had been made by the government. They alleged that Sangria Kumar roamed in the medical wards without any fear at the behest of the SMO and used to fleece the patients.

However, Dr Sethi said Sangral was his personal assistant and he had brought him for his personal works. he had nothing to do with the hospital, the doctor stated. He, however, had failed to give any satisfactory answer to the query that why was Sangria living in government quarters.

Dr Ghai said when he was visiting the hospital for investigations, the alleged pharmacist had left the quarters and was not present in the hospital. He said Dr Sethi has stated that Sangral was his personal helper and used to work for him. He had also denied that Sangral used to work in the hospital. 

Two labourers feared dead in roof collapse

Tarn Taran, March 17
Two labourers are feared dead after a roof of Sandhu Cold Store collapsed at Tharu, six kms from here, today. Seven labourers had a narrow escape in the incident. There is no trace of the trapped labourers, even after eight hours of the rescue operations, launched by the administration.

Protesting against the mismanagement of the cold store owners and the poor rescue operations of the administration, the relatives of the victims and labourers staged a dharna on the GT Road and block vehicular traffic.

The trapped labourers were identified as Ranjit Singh (18) and Manpreet Singh (17), residents of Thathian Mahantan village, 20 kms from here.

Kulbir Singh, Additional Deputy Commissioner (ADC), who was supervising the rescue operation, failed to disclose the names of the victims. Laddi, supervisor of the labourers, said at 10 am today he heard some loud noise and when he tried to enter the cold store he felt suffocated due to ammonia gas.

He said out of nine labourers, working under his supervision, seven of them managed to come out of the store. — OC