Nakodar, March 31
A 77-year-old, Charan Singh, resident of Khanpur Rajputan village, Shahkot teshil, has been deprived of old-age pension for one year just because he was declared “dead” in official records of pensioners. Till date, Charan Singh has not been awarded his dues.

When Charan Singh tried to find the reason of stopping of his pension through RTI application, filed on February 15 this year, he was stunned to know that he was declared “dead” by the authorities. “I and my family were shocked to read the RTI report. How anyone could declared me dead as I am very much alive?” Charan Singh asked while cursing the authorities.

A copy of the RTI reply procured by The Tribune stated that Charan Singh was not awarded pension from January, 2010, to November, 2010, but his pension was reinstated from December last year.

According to information, pensions were being distributed by sarpanches of villages and due to the recent instructions by the state government to verify the genuineness of pensioners the SDM formed a committee and Dr Pardeep Kumar, veterinary doctor of Shahkot, was appointed as the Investigation Officer.

The Investigation Officer mistakenly declared pension beneficiary Charan Singh as “dead” and the report was sent to the District Social Security Department, Jalandhar, hence his pension was stopped.

Charan Singh said whenever he asked the sarpanch of the village about his pension status, he always got same outdated reply, “Your pension has been stopped, I don’t know why. Someone in the village might be playing a game with you people, but believe me I will talk to the authorities.”

The wife of Charan Singh alleged that once the sarpanch also said, “Sarkar kolo paise kadane asaan nahi hain ji.”

“For Rs 250 per month, I have been making rounds of government offices for the last one year,” Charan Singh lamented.

Charan Singh said when he inquired about his pension from the Jalandhar CDPO office last month, he was a bit happy to know that his pension was restored in December, but due to misspelling of his father’s name, he again could not claim his pension.

When contacted, a clerk of the Child Development Project Department, Lohian, Surjit Ram, said Investigation Officer Pardeep Kumar mistakenly declared pensioner Charan Singh as “dead” in pension records.

When Pardeep Kumar was asked about it, he said sarpanches of respective villages had provided all the records of the pensioners. He said now it was not possible for the beneficiary to claim his pending pension of 11 months but from December, 2010, the beneficiary could claim his pension.

When asked, the sarpanch claimed that the pension had already been restored from December last year, but the beneficiary was deliberately not taking it.

Jalandhar, March 31
Eminent academicians from Doaba region have urged the state government to open government colleges and other educational institutions in the region.

Autar Dhesi, eminent educationist, said the state government was to open 17 new government colleges in the next few months. Some of these colleges should be set up in Doaba region. He said there were many freedom fighters from the Nakodar-Phagwara belt. Colleges should be named after them. At least one government college should be opened in the Bundala area along the Phagwara-Nakodar road. He said there was no government college in that entire belt.

Moreover, the Nakodar belt has a high percentage of poor population. To make the education available at affordable rates, there was a need to open a government college in the Nakodar belt. Besides it, the state government had planned to open four new Punjab State Institutes of Technology. One such institute should be opened in the Nakodar belt.

Jalandhar, March 31
The Unemployed Physical Training Instructors (PTI) Union is upset over the attitude of the police as three of their members have been booked under harsh sections of the IPC by the Phagwara police.

Three members, Manpreet, Rakesh and Gurpreet (all from Ferozepur), who had raised slogans against MP Harsimrat Badal during a religious meet held at Lovely Professional University were rounded up by the police on March 28.

The members were demanding jobs from the government but they were sent to judicial remand after having been booked under Sections 295-A, 419, 420, 504 and 120-B of the IPC. The members of the union said they met police officials today and demanded withdrawal of cases against them.

They said the authorities refused to accept their plea claiming that nothing could be done since there had been directions in this regard from the higher authorities. They said they would wait for a day or two. “If the case continues to hang on, we will lodge a protest,” the members said.

The SP, Kamaljit Singh Dhillon, when contacted, said the union member had met him. “We have asked them to submit their application if they want a probe into the matter,” he added. 

Jalandhar, March 31
Alleging ill-treatment at the hands of the District Education Officer (Elementary), scores of ETT teachers today held a protest in front of the Sarv Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) office, here and submitted a complaint to the Additional Deputy Commissioner (Development) demanding action against the DEO (Elementary).

In the complaint given to the ADC (Development), the ETT teachers alleged that during the ongoing counselling process, meant for the shifting of ETT teachers from the Zila Parishad to the Education Department, the candidates had to bear rude and bureaucratic behaviour of the DEO (Elementary), Balbir Kaur.

When the candidates registered their grievances in this regard to the DEO (Elementary), she, at once, ordered to suspend the entire counselling, they alleged, following which teachers started a protest in front of her office, they alleged.

Jalandhar, March 31
A group of five students of diploma in mechanical engineering (final year) from the CT Institute of Engineering and Technology has come up with a motorcycle which can take a turn even at a high speed.

While normally the bike driver has to balance himself at the turns, this bike has a powerful suspension system owing to which the driver need not adjust himself and the wheels do the job as he sits comfortably.

The bike has been named SKADS Leaning Bike taking the initials from the student designers - Sarwan Singh, Kamaljit Singh, Atma Singh, Daljit Singh and Sehajdeep Singh.

Explaining its utility, the students said it was an all-terrain bike and best suited for travelling across hilly tracks. “It is a rear-wheel drive bike and does not skid at all. The two front wheels are able to make a turn at a speed of 30-40 km per hour with a turning radius of 3 m, less than that of a car, which needs a radius of 3.6 to 4 m. There is no wobbling either,” they highlighted the specifications.

Lecturers from the Mechanical Engineering Department Jaspal Singh Basr and Amandeep Singh Virdi said the bike was most suited for the handicapped persons who find it difficult to balance while taking a turn. The bike has a reasonable mileage of 45 km per litre.

The students said they spent nearly two and a half months on developing the concept and design of the bike. They said they used the engine of a 150cc four-stroke Pulsar bike, which they further modified using spare parts from the market. “The cost of developing the bike came to about Rs 50,000 for which the college management has given full support”, they added. The students are the proud recipients of the third prize in Innotech, a competition organised by Pushpa Gujral Science City and Punjab Technical University, in the polytechnic category in which 70 teams from across the state participated. The event was held on March 18.

Jalandhar, March 31
The Youth Congress has flayed the state Home Minister for not taking strict action against two senior cops who allegedly removed the turban of a protesting pharmacist in Mohali on Thursday.

“It is a matter of shame that the incident occurred during the regime of the SAD which takes pride in espousing the cause of Punjab, Punjabi and Punjabiat besides the panth,” alleged District Youth Congress president Vikramjit Singh Chaudhry here today.

“Suspending the officers is just an eyewash as it is common knowledge that such wrongdoers are quietly reinstated within days,” he claimed. Had this incident happened during the Congress rule, the Akalis would have wasted no time in demanding the resignation of the Home Minister and raising a hue and cry in the entire state, Chaudhry claimed.

“It’s a shame that this deplorable act has happened in Punjab and that too when the SAD government is in power,” he said, adding that the CM should intervene in the matter, dismiss the cops involved in the incident and appoint a new Home Minister. — TNS

Jalandhar, March 31
The BKU has alleged that the Centre was discriminating against Punjab by hiking the procurement price of wheat by just Rs 20 in the season.

The BKU chief, B.S. Rajewal, said the hike was a cruel joke on the farmers and comes at a time when the inflation rate was over 12 per cent. The farmers are already finding agriculture a not viable vocation and such announcements further compound their miseries.

The price was Rs 1,100 in the last season, he added. “To register our protest, we will be submitting a petition signed by five lakh farmers of the state to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh through Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal next week. The signatures are being collected on computer-generated sheets by our district committees,” he added.

Ironically, while Haryana Chief Minister B.S. Hooda had been crying hoarse on the issue for the past many days, the silence of Badal on such a burning issue was intriguing, he pointed out. The CM should personally impress upon the PM to hike the price and should in fact seek the support of the politicians and CMs of wheat-producing states in this context, he added.

Jalandhar, March 31
The residents fully rejoiced the victory of the Team Indian in the semifinal match of the Cricket World Cup that concluded late last night.

Young boys and girls started bursting crackers as soon as it became clear that India was near its victory point. As soon as the Indian cricket team registered its win, people were immediately out on roads. Not just the youth, even the families came out in cars and assembled in market areas around their colonies.

People were seen carrying the Tricolour with them. They danced on the beats of the music played on full volume on the stereos of their cars. The streets of the Model Town area became the most happening point till midnight. People came out with drummers in open jeeps and performed bhangra.

There were celebrations near Bhajji’s house in Chhoti Baradari, Phase-I. The eateries and ice-cream parlours that were open till late night had a brisk business.

Bhajji’s family members, including his mother, sister and niece, said they really enjoyed watching the match at home.

They said they later even congratulated Harbhajan over the phone.