Jalandhar, March 24
Despite the Revised National Tuberculosis Control Programme (RNTCP), government guidelines and number of efforts to counter TB, the statistics reveal that the situation is really grim in the district.

While rough government estimates say there might be about 6,000 TB patients in the city, but if the cases with private hospitals are also taken into account, the number of cases would be much higher.

On World TB Day today, the figures are a cause of worry for those concerned with the growing threat from TB.

As many as 4,000 TB cases were registered under the RNTCP in the district in 2011. Around 1,000 tuberculosis cases have been registered under the programme in 2012.

While the government has more than 700 directly observed therapy (DOT) providers in the city under the RNTCP and awareness drives are also regular, the unaccounted cases are certainly a threat. Incidentally, this year no TB drives (wherein DOTs are administered) have been carried out so far in the district.

Talking to The Tribune on the TB scenario in the city, District TB Officer Dr Rajiv Sharma said, "I have been associated with the TB project since 1988. The threat is certainly great. I get six to seven people in my OPD every day."

Talking about other threats, he said, "People who discontinue their medicines are a big threat. They are like a ticking time bomb, because they pass the infection to other people without knowing it," he added.

There's a lot of work to be done, but the brighter side of the story is that awareness campaigns under the RNTCP are also on in the district. On World TB Day, four programmes were held across the district in four days.

While TB awareness seminars were held at CHC Adampur and Shahkot, awareness drives were also held at Tuberculosis Centres in the Civil Hospital, Phillaur, and Mehr Chand Polytechnic College today.

There are four centres in Jalandhar.

Shahkot, March 24
An unidentified youth allegedly looted eight shopkeepers at gunpoint last night and decamped with huge amount of cash.

However, shopkeepers have not approached the police fearing for their lives.

Meanwhile, the shopkeepers today came out against these looting incidents and staged a protest on National Highway 703.

Traffic was hit for half an hour till the police authorities assured to take action against the culprits. Shopkeepers also kept their shops closed for one and half hour.

Sources also said the robber also barged into the house of Tilak Raj and injured him with sharp-edged weapons. He also allegedly pushed Raj’s wife.

In the past few days, the town has witnessed five snatching incidents.

It is also learnt that shopkeepers don’t dare to file a written complaint with the police as the robber, who looted the shopkeepers, has a clout in the area.

Deputy Superintendent of Police Bimal Sharma said though no complaint has been received from residents, but the police would make efforts to arrest the ‘culprit’.

Jalandhar, March 24
Four months after the Jalandhar Tribune carried a news-item highlighting the poor infrastructural facilities at Government Elementary School at Basti Peer Daad, the education department finally launched an inquiry.

The District Education Officer\has marked an inquiry into the matter with Anil Kumar, principal of Government Senior Secondary School, Gandhi Camp, who today visited the school run by the Municipal Corporation and looked into the shortcomings. In the news-item that appeared on November 17, the problem of insanitary condition of toilets, broken floors, broken blackboards, drinking water facility, leakage of overhead water tanks and lack of furniture was highlighted.

The inquiry officer noted that the toilets, floors and blackboards had been repaired. A new water tank and taps had been installed. “There is foul smell at the entrance area”, he remarked as he inquired and found that the smell was emanating from a sewage disposal unit constructed just outside the school.

The principal said the furniture problem had not been resolved and the teachers had bought new rugs to ensure that the children did not have to sit on floors.

Jalandhar, March 24
In an initiative aimed at providing free education to poor children, the Headquarters Western Command has given the green signal to Jalandhar Cantonment Board to implement the Right to Education Act (RTE) at Silver Oak Public School.

The Western Command would bear the expenses of the school in implementing the Act. The cantonment board authorities would send an estimate of expected funds required for the same.

Following this decision, fees of all students in the school would be waived off.

The councillor of cantonment board, Avinash Chander Sharma, said, “At present around 300 students are studying in this school. The cantonment board will soon chalk out a programme with the faculty of the school to include more students and popularise the RTE Act.” 

Jalandhar, March 24
Stolen fans, hordes of broken locks and doors, floors marked with hideous desi obscenities, verandah ceilings marked with thousands of dirt spots, uprooted switch boards and a staff that feels threatened - the Government High and Primary School Kishanpura is troubled by problems which are certainly not its own making.

Standing on land which, once upon a time, used to be the Ramlila grounds of the mohalla, the residents clearly still deem it their right to lay claim to the land, once the school is over.

Boys from the locality come in hordes to play cricket (and whatever else they feel like doing there) at the school ground very evening.

While the school doesn’t mind boys playing, the problem is the consistent damage to school property, attempts to break in through doors and windows, stealing school belongings, threats issued to school staff when stopped and the school turning into a den for addicts in the evening.

A majority of the boys are school students. The staff that have stayed back report that these miscreants take drugs on verndah corners and even bring in syringes.

Some of the staff is so scared they refuse to talk about it.

Some staff peons and members who have stayed back have even been threatened when they tried to stop the boys.

Teachers talking on the issue on the condition of anonymity said the boys when stopped get all the more pushy. “We have had countless locks broken. There have been innumerous attempts by them to barge into locked classrooms by breaking doors or windows. We can’t close or lock the school gate, because they either break the locks or scale the walls to get in.”

None of the sockets on the high school verandahs have switchboards as these have fallen prey to rogue elements. They have written obscene comments on a cement platform near the parking. A big concrete slab (which they use as a wicket) keeps lying right near the parking. Due to inconvenience in parking, the school staff have tried moving it many times but it come back to the initial spot in the morning. The countless ball marks (the staff say they seem deliberate) on the verandah ceilings also increase with every passing day.

Some of the class four staff who have stayed back to oversee things during school holidays even say they have been threatened. The boys tell them to let them be in the school if they loved their families.

One of the senior teachers say the previous principal of the high school had even complained to the police and made sure that PCR teams carry out regular supervision of the school in the evenings. “Even now when they get too aggressive, we inform the PCR, but otherwise, we are falling short of solutions. The education department officials who visit the school know about the problem, but there is no way out to our predicament.”

School staff also say they have seen many of the school boys also playing cricket with others after school though they say none of the schoolchildren are addicts.

The schoolchildren are also accustomed to the hooliganism. Whenever any obscene writing, broken lock, door or window surfaces, they know who’s responsible.

The primary school headmistress says. “We keep our cylinders etc. also under locked doors. Now we are planning to get iron doors so that there is added protection. Wooden doors are easy to break.”

Jalandhar, March 24
The facility of good parks eludes the families of officials and government employees residing in New Baradari locality near the PUDA office in the city.

Even as there are three parks in the locality, housing about 150 families, these have either broken benches or swings. The green cover also faces neglect in two of these parks.

A small park just to the adjacent to the lane having accommodations for PCS officials has cement benches under a central canopy, all of which have developed cracks or have broken legs.

Another park is bigger, but the swings are missing under the rods.

The third park in front of the officers’ hostel is well-kept, but its approaches are bad.

There are wild shrubs around two of the four sides. The gate of the third side is kept close. Also a basketball post in this park is without a basket.

Additional Chief Administrator Jalandhar Development Authority SK Singla said he would get the repair work done.

Jalandhar, March 24
Jhuggi dwellers supported by Isti Jagriti Manch today continued their protest outside the residence of Local Bodies Minister Bhagat Chunni Lal.

The demonstrators held their protest for over an hour. They claimed that while the government was popularising its slum development scheme, those settled for over 40 years had been forcibly evicted. Jasvir Jassi, a representative of the manch, said many of them had lost their precious belongings as they were not given enough time to shift. The members demanded that those evicted be rehabilitated elsewhere.