Jalandhar, August 11
Despite having 4 sewer cleansing and jetting machines-cum-suction machines and 10 bucket type machines, nearly 180 sewermen with the Municipal Corporation Jalandhar (MCJ) clean most of the sewers manually and that too without wearing any safety equipment.

The Tribune team found six sewermen cleaning manually one of sewers located near Master Tara Singh Nagar on Tuesday. Surprisingly, none of them had worn any of the safety gears, including masks, gloves and special clothing.

A sewerman, Pankaj, went inside the 10-feet deep manhole. While he filled the bucket with silt inside the manhole, five other sewermen --- Bobby, Rajan, Amit, Subash and Vijay --- pulled the bucket up and threw the silt on the road near the sewer itself.

The sewermen said they had not been provided any safety equipment. The view was seconded by an MCJ supervisor, Pawan Kumar.

The sewermen said the machines were used only for cleaning big sewers, whereas they had to manually clean all the narrow sewers located in most parts of the city. They suffer many problems due to inhaling of poisonous gases emerging from the sewer. Itching and other skin problems were common to them, the men added.

The sewermen have been working for MCJ for the past three years and they were being paid only Rs 5,000 per month since then, they said.

When contacted, MCJ Superintending Engineer (Operation and Maintenance) AS Dhaliwal claimed that sewermen had been provided the required safety equipment, including mask and gloves. On further queries, he said the sewermen working near Master Tara Singh Nagar might have not worn those safety gears.

Dhaliwal said the sewermen had been temporary engaged and they were being paid minimum wages as fixed by the government from time to time.

Jalandhar, August 11
A meeting to review the preparations for the celebration of Independence Day was held at District Administrative Complex here today. Additional Deputy Commissioner (General) Gurpreet Singh Khaira said all arrangements pertaining to the district-level Independence Day celebrations were going on in full swing.

He was accompanied by Additional Deputy Commissioner (Development) Sarojini Gautam Sharda during the meeting. Khaira said the final rehearsal of the parade and PT show would be held on August 14. He said earlier the final rehearsal was scheduled for August 13, but owing to Raksha Bandhan on that day it was postponed. “We have made three entry gates at PAP, out of which Gate No 4 has been made for the entry of VVIPs and VIPs. The route for the entry of general public would soon be published in newspapers,” he added. — TNS

Jalandhar, August 11
Cities that see serious music concerts rarely, graciously welcome when they happen.

The rare combination of the surbahar and pakhawaj in the performance of maestros Pandit Pushpraj Koshti and Pandit Udhav Shinde, respectively, at a concert organised at the Police DAV Public School by Spic Macay, here on Wednesday, gave the audience a blessed afternoon.

The duo’s visit, as some at the event said, was being awaited by city music lovers for the past many years.

Beginning with a brief introduction of the surbahar --- how it is bigger and characterised by more ‘gambhir naads’ (solemn intonations) as compared to the sitar --- Pandit Koshti, who is a disciple of legendary Dhrupad exponent Ustad Zia Fariduddin Dagar, presented a Dhrupad recital in Raga Bilawal to the accompaniment of the Chautal Gat on the pakhawaj.

As buzzing murmurs of restless, talkative schoolchildren rose and fell with the early-August breeze pouring in through the open windows of the hall, Pandit Koshti’s beguiling alaaps gave way to masterful layakaris.

As he later explained to children, the alaaps are meant to elaborate on the swaras of a raga and present a clear picture of the raga form.

He even shared an incident wherein an attempt to quieten two talkative and ignorant old men during the alaap of the Gundecha Brothers had got him the response, “But the concert has not started yet.”

Pandit Koshti’s alaaps, for the elders at least, were much more than just that. He took his time playing with the swar combinations and making effortless transitions from one swara to another deftly employing the meendh.

His graceful meendhs and gamaks made people nod and wince.

As his raga picked up speed, the layakaris --- with their flowing-river feel, brought in a different sort of charm to the concert. Soon, Pandit Udhav Shinde joined in with the pakhawaj.

Listening to both the instruments, at their aroused best, was a treat. Both the exponents responded to the cues left by each other, with the final spells being the most electrifying moments of the event.

A question and answer session with the students in the end saw Pandit Koshti answering children’s queries (many prompted by the teachers, even making the maestro demand that he wanted no help from teachers for kids).

Jalandhar, August 11
Ever since Guru Nanak Dev University changed the eligibility criteria for admission to MSc (IT) and MSc (computer science), Postgraduate Diploma in Computer Applications (PGDCA), which was earlier being taken as a stepping stone to such programmes, lost its sheen.

Most of the city colleges have reported 50 to 80 per cent decline in admissions in the course since the past one year on account of low scope ahead. The course had remained quite a hit for almost eight to 10 years in all colleges across the state.

Earlier, any PGDCA passout student with graduation in any stream could opt for MSc either in IT or computer science, but last year Guru Nanak Dev University changed the criterion.

As per the new admission norms, the applicant should either have computer science or IT or computer maintenance as a subject in graduation or have cleared PGDCA after completing graduation with mathematics as an elective subject to take admission in any of the two MSc courses. Earlier, mathematics in graduation was not a condition.

The admission staff at Doaba College said PGDCA admissions were down by 80 per cent. “The response this year has been very poor. No one is ready to spend Rs 40,000 on a course which does not offer a better opportunity ahead,” they claimed.

Manohar Singh, head of computer science from Lyallpur Khalsa College, said ever since new courses such as BCA and BBA have come up, the trend for PGDCA is over. “While earlier students realised the need to shift to professional courses after graduation, now the students have become conscious after Class XII level,” he added.

Jaspal Singh Randhawa, Principal, Lyallpur Khalsa College, said admission was down by at least 50 per cent. He said the courses such as PG diplomas in IT and e-commerce and internet applications, met the same fate and closed down some time back.

He added that the easy admission norms at Punjab Technical University and Lovely Professional University was another reason for downfall of the course with GND University.

Jalandhar, August 11
A year after the Jalandhar Cantonment Board laid Rs 2-crore sewerage system at Bhoor Mandi, its residents have refused to take sewerage connections.

The board constructed the sewerage, which was one of the long-pending demands of the residents.

The board authorities have taken to public announcements to inform and motivate residents to take up sewerage connection but the residents paid least interest. Bhoor Mandi has an approximate population of 5,000 people with majority people running their own butcheries.

While the residents said the sewerage is not functional yet and as a result they didn’t take the connection, the cantonment board authorities said the system became functional last year.

The board authorities have fixed Rs 430 as security and sewerage connection charges and a meagre amount of Rs 40 as monthly charges.

Sudesh Sonkar, a locality resident, said, “The sewerage is yet to become functional and people have apprehensions regarding its operations. Till date, pools of water can be seen during rainy days and the cantonment board claims that the sewerage is functioning.”

Talking to The Tribune, the Cantonment Executive Officer (CEO), Vibha Sharma, said it was surprising that after laying the sewerage, the residents were not willing to take up connection. “We have now decided to make it compulsory for the residents to take up the connection. They throw garbage and the leftover of the butcheries in the open, which is a complete eyesore and unhygienic,” she added.

The CEO maintained that the residents of this locality had always been blaming the consecutive state governments for not laying the sewerage system till date. “However, when this facility is provided, they are not ready to pay the charges,” she added.

Last year the sewerage was under ‘testing stage’ and it was made fully operational after a few rectifications made by a committee of the Punjab Water Supply and Sewerage Board. The committee had also conducted certain minor rectifications after which the sewerage became operational for public use.

It is pertinent to mention here that the cantonment board had received a grant of Rs 2 crore for laying the sewerage system at Bhoor Mandi.

The sewerage line of Bhoor Mandi has been directly linked with the mainline of the Municipal Corporation, Jalandhar, near BSF Chowk. Earlier, the sewage coming out of Bhoor Mandi was utilised by the cantonment board authorities for irrigation of Army areas as a temporary option.