illegal colonies
Registries go unchecked
Jalandhar, February 11
Even as the Deputy Commissioner had last week ordered that no registries of illegal colonies would be done by revenue officials, specifically carved after July 25 last year, officials, on the other hand, claim that no such orders had come to them in writing as of now.

Civic body demolishes illegal construction in Rajinder Nagar
Jalandhar, February 11
The Municipal Corporation Jalandhar today demolished a new illegal construction at a house in Rajinder Nagar. The Municipal Town Planner said the house owner was going beyond the 5-foot permissible height of a wall and, perhaps, wanted to construct a kitchen shed for the paying guest (PG) accommodation, which he had provided.

MC staff demolish an illegal construction at Rajinder Nagar in Jalandhar on Monday. Photo: Sarabjit Singh

Industrialists rue non-availability of C-forms, VAT refund
Jalandhar, February 11
Members of the Jalandhar Chamber of Industries and Commerce have sent a memorandum to the Punjab Chief Minister, seeking the redress of their demands regarding the easy availability of the C-forms and timely VAT refund.

rain impact
Condition of roads goes from bad to worse
Jalandhar, February 11
The condition of most of the city roads has gone from bad to worse, causing great inconvenience to commuters, thanks to recent rains that lashed the city. Potholes and pits already existed on a number of roads. Now, they have emerged on several other roads after the recent rains.

The road connecting Domoria Bridge with the railway station in a bad condition; and (below) the damaged road leading to Guru Nanakpura level crossing from Ladowali in Jalandhar. Tribune photos: Malkiat Singh

Biting cold on at night; cloudy weather forecast
Jalandhar, February 11
While the bright sun provided relief during the day to the residents of Jalandhar city and surrounding areas from the ongoing bone-chilling cold, biting cold continued during night, as minimum temperature recorded was 3.6 degrees Celsius in Adampur of Jalandhar district on Monday.

Removal of hoardings leads to traffic blockade Phagwara, February 11 Phagwara Municipal Corporation employees, headed by Commissioner Kuldip Singh, had to face a tough time and resentment of different Dalit and Hindu organisations, when after getting instructions of Chief Parliamentary Secretary Local Bodies Som Parkash, the corporation staff removed religious hoardings of these organisations installed on the national highway here this afternoon.

A long queue of vehicles and commuters stranded on the national highway near Phagwara on Monday. Photo by the writer

Job sought for late cameraman’s wife
Jalandhar, February 11 City photographers have demanded A government job for deceased cameraman Naresh Kumar Bhutto’s wife. Bhutto was shot dead when a person had fired at him during a marriage celebration a few days ago. Members of the Jalandhar Professional Photographers Association present a memorandum to ADC Praneet Bhardwaj. Photo: Sarabjit Singh

Clinic Raid
I was not informed: ayurvedic officer
Jalandhar, February 11
Three days ago, a team of the district health officials, including the district health officer, food inspectors and drug inspector, raided the establishment of an ayurvedic medical practitioner on the complaint of his brother, another medical practitioner in the same area.

APJ team wins laurels at national fest

Jalandhar, February 11 A team of Apeejay College of Fine Arts, which has represented Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, at the National Youth Festival held at Kalyani University, West Bengal, has brought laurels to the university by bagging the first runners-up trophy. Students of Apeejay College of Fine Arts show their trophies which they recently won at a national-level youth festival. Photo: Sarabjit Singh

Local professors’ book released
Jalandhar, February 11
Simulation-The Need of the Day, a book written by Dr Ashu Gupta, assistant professor of Apeejay Institute of Management, Dr Rajesh Verma, professor of Lovely Professional University and Dr Kawaljeet Singh, Director, University Computer Centre, Punjabi University, has been recently released.

Second spot for Guru Nanak Dev University College
Jalandhar, February 11
Guru Nanak Dev University College stood second in IT-Fest Plasma-2013 organised at Lyallpur Khalsa College. MCA students of the college participated in many activities. College principal MJ Kalra and staff members congratulated the students on their success.

college notes
Creative-writing contest held
Jalandhar, February 11
The department of Journalism and Mass Communication, GND varsity regional campus, Ladhewali, organised an inter-college creative writing competition here today. As many as 70 students from 10 colleges participated in four activities, short story writing, poetry writing, essay writing and news report writing.

Jalandhar gang-rape again shames society: Dal Khalsa
Jalandhar, February 11
Expressing a concern over the continuous incidents of sexual assaults against women, Dal Khalsa general secretary Dr Manjinder Singh and youth wing head Ranvir Singh said the Jalandhar incident, in which a 14-year-old girl was reportedly gang-raped, has once again shamed the society.

Strike by bank employees   Members of the State Federation of Cooperative Bank Employees Union hold a dharna in Jalandhar Central Cooperative Bank; and (right) the bank wears a deserted look on Monday. Photos: Sarabjit Singh

illegal colonies
Registries go unchecked
Deepkamal Kaur
Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, February 11
Even as the Deputy Commissioner had last week ordered that no registries of illegal colonies would be done by revenue officials, specifically carved after July 25 last year, officials, on the other hand, claim that no such orders had come to them in writing as of now.

The tehsildars have said that all what they know of such orders is only by means of verbal directions issued by DC Shruti Singh at the monthly revenue meeting on February 7 or through reports in media. They have said that they were even told that a list of illegal colonies, found to be developed after the date, would be provided to them, but nothing had come to them till now.

As a result, the registries are being done in the same manner for all illegal colonies as was being done earlier. “We need to have a list of colonies which came into being after the High Court order against SDMs on July 25, 2012, or else we cannot distinguish between colonies which came up before or after this date. We need to have a list both from PUDA and MC,” tehsildars have said.

The orders of the Deputy Commissioner against illegal colonies had created quite a furore among the property dealers who had met MLA KD Bhandari the next day. Bhandari had then insisted that the order be confined only for new colonies, as there was no point in passing orders against previously established unapproved colonies as these had already changed so many hands.

Shruti Singh said she had passed orders only against the registries of new colonies and that her orders had just been misinterpreted and not properly conveyed by the public relations office. Regarding orders not received by tehsildars, she said, “The orders will go as part of the proceedings of the monthly meeting. Since there were so many points discussed that day which need to be recorded, it has taken a few days. The proceedings will reach them in a day or two along with the lists of illegal colonies.”

Civic body demolishes illegal construction in Rajinder Nagar
Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, February 11
The Municipal Corporation Jalandhar today demolished a new illegal construction at a house in Rajinder Nagar. The Municipal Town Planner said the house owner was going beyond the 5-foot permissible height of a wall and, perhaps, wanted to construct a kitchen shed for the paying guest (PG) accommodation, which he had provided. As per the building bylaws, he could not cover his frontal setbacks, he said.

The tehbazari department of the MC also went around Nakodar Road and area around Jyoti Chowk where the authorities had last month held a flag march to clear temporary encroachments along either side of the road. This happened after Mayor Sunil Jyoti reprimanded superintendent Vikrant Verma for not repeating action in the encroachment-prone market area. The superintendent, along with his staff, then went on, lifting more than 10 vends.

The tehbazari department also got cleared Madan Flour Mill Chowk where vendors had come up in a park. Vikrant said several trucks were also found to be stranded there, which too were made to push off. The department also got done sixth and the last announcement at congested Rama Mandi Chowk area, where the authorities intend to act by surprise any time before next week.

Industrialists rue non-availability of C-forms, VAT refund
Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, February 11
Members of the Jalandhar Chamber of Industries and Commerce have sent a memorandum to the Punjab Chief Minister, seeking the redress of their demands regarding the easy availability of the C-forms and timely VAT refund.

Claiming that both issues were apparently minor but serious roadblocks in the industrial progress in the state, general secretary of the association Charanjit Singh Maingi has demanded his immediate intervention in the matter.

He has said that the non-availability of the C-forms poses a great deal of difficulty to them in dealing with their outstation clients or suppliers. “It is simply beyond our comprehension as to why the simple step of ensuring abundant supply of the C-forms has not been put into practice for six years. The forms are not provided free of cost, still these are not available on demand. A lot of precious time and energy of an industrialist or a trader is wasted in procuring this ordinary but vital document. While such forms are available online in other states, Punjab lags far behind,” he has written.

Maingi said that while there was a provision to have VAT refunds executed in 60 days, the businessmen of the state had to deal with a lot of harassment to get their dues back. “We have no hesitation to write that an unaccountable fee (bribe) is being openly demanded for the realisation of such cases. The story does not end here. After a prolonged and a tedious process when orders are issued for the payment, the district treasury office expresses its helplessness over releasing refund, telling the applicant of some orders of government on not allowing these payments,” he has mentioned.

rain impact
Condition of roads goes from bad to worse
Dharmendra Joshi
Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, February 11
The condition of most of the city roads has gone from bad to worse, causing great inconvenience to commuters, thanks to recent rains that lashed the city. Potholes and pits already existed on a number of roads. Now, they have emerged on several other roads after the recent rains.

While the authorities in the Municipal Corporation had claimed a few months ago that they would reconstruct or repair the roads as the case might be only after the end of the monsoon season, a majority of the roads were left without any repair.

A number of potholes on the road between Kapurthala Chowk and Workshop Chowk, near Jyoti Chowk, Mai Hiran Gate, Garha Road, near Maqsoodan flyover and Transport Nagar flyover have been noticed during the visit of the city.

Potholes and pits on the Ladowali road near the District Administrative Complex (DAC), Preet Nagar Sodal road, Gujja Peer road, Kapurthala road and Nakodar road have got widened after the recent rains.

Sahil Sharma of Mai Hiran Gate locality said: “It has become difficult to drive on such dilapidated roads, especially during rains. It gets difficult to judge the potholes and pits here.”

“At least potholes and pits should be filled immediately until the repair or reconstruction of the dilapidated roads," he added.

Biting cold on at night; cloudy weather forecast
Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, February 11
While the bright sun provided relief during the day to the residents of Jalandhar city and surrounding areas from the ongoing bone-chilling cold, biting cold continued during night, as minimum temperature recorded was 3.6 degrees Celsius in Adampur of Jalandhar district on Monday.

However, the maximum temperature increased a bit, as as sun shone during the day. The maximum temperature was recorded as 21.7 degrees Celsius in Adampur today.

The meteorological department made a forecast of cloudy to party cloudy sky during the next 24 hours.

In the meantime, the lowest temperature was recorded in Halwara as 3.5 degrees Celsius, whereas the maximum was recorded as 22.2 degrees Celsius, in Pathankot these were 7.5 degrees Celsius and 21.3 degrees Celsius, respectively, whereas in Bathinda the minimum temperature was recorded as 6 degrees Celsius and the maximum 21.4 degrees Celsius.

Removal of hoardings leads to traffic blockade
Had to be reinstalled following protests by Dalit and Hindu organisations
Our Correspondent

Phagwara, February 11
Phagwara Municipal Corporation employees, headed by Commissioner Kuldip Singh, had to face a tough time and resentment of different Dalit and Hindu organisations, when after getting instructions of Chief Parliamentary Secretary Local Bodies Som Parkash, the corporation staff removed religious hoardings of these organisations installed on the national highway here this afternoon.

The situation became tense when the protesters blocked road traffic near local sugar mills and a long queue of vehicles was seen for more than an hour, causing inconvenience to commuters.

SHO (City) Sarwan Singh Bal and Executive Officer Adarsh Sharma rushed to the site to defuse the tension. The protesters forced the corporation staff to reinstall the hoardings at the same sites removed earlier by them.

Kuldip Singh said on the blockade site that he would solve the problems within a week and the hoardings, except religious ones, would soon be removed and the decision regarding religious hoardings would be taken with the consent of representatives of all religious organisations. The blockade could be lifted after the reinstallation of the religious hoardings.

CPS Som Parkash had earlier instructed the corporation staff today to remove all hoardings installed around national highways.

Job sought for late cameraman’s wife
Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, February 11
City photographers have demanded A government job for deceased cameraman Naresh Kumar Bhutto’s wife. Bhutto was shot dead when a person had fired at him during a marriage celebration a few days ago.

A delegation of the Jalandhar Professional Photographers Association, led by its president Ramesh Happy, also submitted a memorandum to ADC Parneet Bhardwaj in this regard. It has been demanded in the memorandum addressed to the Chief Minister that either a government job should be provided to Bhutto’s wife or at least Rs 10 lakh should be given as financial help to her.

The delegation comprising Surendra Beri, Ramesh Gaba and Rajesh Thapa also stated that steps should be taken to prevent the recurrence of such incidents during various celebrations. Instructions should be issued to palace owners that no armed civilian should be allowed inside their premises to avoid such mishaps.

Clinic Raid
I was not informed: ayurvedic officer
Aparna Banerji
Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, February 11
Three days ago, a team of the district health officials, including the district health officer, food inspectors and drug inspector, raided the establishment of an ayurvedic medical practitioner on the complaint of his brother, another medical practitioner in the same area.

The brothers were found to be doing practice in the name of their father, who had died four years ago.

Even three days after the raid, the health authorities are yet to initiate any action against the erring doctor, but the act is clouded in procedural issues.

While lack of further action is one aspect of the case, what is surprising is that the raid also exposes procedural lacunae and lack of coordination in the working of the ayurvedic and allopathic disciplines of the health authorities.

While officially an ayurvedic officer is authorised to raid the establishment of an ayurvedic medical practioner, in this case, the ayurvedic officer wasn't even informed about the raid.

Talking to The Tribune, District Ayurvedic and Unani Officer Dr Prem Khetana said, "I was out of station for the past few days and it is only now that I have come to know about any such raid."

Dr Khetana also stated that in a previous case, the courts had questioned the ayurvedic department for some raids conducted on some ayurvedic practitioners, "even when we did not conduct them".

"The former civil surgeon's office had then clarified to the courts that the raids had been conducted by his own officials and not the ayurvedic department. In this case too, neither was I aware of the raid, nor was I informed," Dr Khetana added.

He said from time to time, communications received from the Director, Ayurveda or the Board of Ayurvedic and Unani System of Medicine, Punjab, directs them to take action against quackery among Ayurvedic doctors.

District Health officer Dr Ashwini Sondhi, when asked why the health authorities did not apprise the ayurvedic officer, said, "Eighty per cent of the drugs are food-related, so we could have raided the establishment."

When asked why further action had not been initiated in the case so far said, "We are getting the degree of the said doctor verified from the university. The next procedure will only be conducted once that is done."

APJ team wins laurels at national fest
Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, February 11
A team of Apeejay College of Fine Arts, which has represented Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, at the National Youth Festival held at Kalyani University, West Bengal, has brought laurels to the university by bagging the first runners-up trophy.

Students of the college bagged positions in all 15 events in which they participated. The team was given a warm reception by the college authorities at Jalandhar railway station today.

The university, however, bagged positions in 17 events of the total 22 in which it qualified to participate. The college competed with 71 universities at the national level and bagged the overall music trophy after five years.

College principal Dr Sucharita congratulated the winners. She said “The triumph is a huge honour for not just the university but also for the region which boasts of the best talent in the country.”

The college team has won positions in classical vocal, Indian group song, Western vocal (solo), non-percussion and folk orchestra. The second prize has come to it in light vocal (gazal), play and on-the-spot painting. The third prize has been won by the college in percussion (table), Western group song and mime. The college team has stood fourth in four events, mimicry, cartooning, clay modeling and folk dance.

Local professors’ book released
Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, February 11
Simulation-The Need of the Day, a book written by Dr Ashu Gupta, assistant professor of Apeejay Institute of Management, Dr Rajesh Verma, professor of Lovely Professional University and Dr Kawaljeet Singh, Director, University Computer Centre, Punjabi University, has been recently released.

This ultimate reference and learning guide has been published by one of the largest international publishers LAMBERT Academic Publishing, Germany. The book was published in Germany about three months ago.

Today simulation has become an integral part of the research and development across many fields of study and academics. The authors have explained in detail various applications of simulation science in various fields like medical science, automobile industry, aerospace industry, telecommunications industry, military services etc.

Starting with the basic terminology, the book covers all aspects of simulation. Suitable examples are given to demonstrate each topic. In addition, Monte Carlo simulation, continuous simulation, and discrete event simulation are thoroughly discussed, all of which are significant to a complete understanding of modeling and simulation.

Offering a comprehensive treatment of the various simulation topics, the book includes definitions, paradigms, and applications to equip readers with the skills needed to work successfully as in simulation.

Encompassing a comprehensive study of the discipline, it comes in handy for simulation courses at the graduate and postgraduate levels. It is also a valuable reference for researchers and practitioners in the fields of computational statistics, engineering, and computer science.

Second spot for Guru Nanak Dev University College
IT-Fest Plasma-2013 at Layallpur Khalsa College
Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, February 11
Guru Nanak Dev University College stood second in IT-Fest Plasma-2013 organised at Lyallpur Khalsa College. MCA students of the college participated in many activities. College principal MJ Kalra and staff members congratulated the students on their success.

Winners

First Position

Vinod Kumar, Ravi Kumar Logic Whirlpool

Sahil, Atamjeet Singh Net Savy

Rimaljit Kaur Test Your Technical Skills

Yashu Sharma IT in Colours

Second Position

Sahil, Vinod Kumar Website Development

Simarpreet, Mohit Kumar Debugging

Third Position

Vishaldeep, Rohit Bhatia Logo Designing

Gursimran Tech-GD

Mehak IT-extempore

college notes
Creative-writing contest held
Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, February 11
The department of Journalism and Mass Communication, GND varsity regional campus, Ladhewali, organised an inter-college creative writing competition here today. As many as 70 students from 10 colleges participated in four activities, short story writing, poetry writing, essay writing and news report writing.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr KS Duggal, head of the department of journalism and mass communication, said students should develop reading and writing skills to improve their language. Dr Namrata Joshi, Chaman Kamal Walia, Rubal Kanozia and other faculty members were present at the event.

Results:

Story writing: 1. Jigarpreet Singh DAV College, Jalandhar, 2. Mehak Chouhan Doaba College, Jalandhar

Poetry writing: 1. Major Singh MK College of Education, 2. Vishal Kumar, DAV College, Jalandhar

Essay writing: 1. Atul Kumar Doaba College, Jalandhar 2. Anshita Bawa DAV College, Jalandhar

Consolation prize: Sukhmani Kaur DAV College, Jalandhar.

Seminar on career guidance

Mehr Chand Polytechnic College has organised a seminar on career guidance on Saturday.

Vishu Grover, CEO, Innovation Research & Development, Jalandhar, conducted it.

Students were made aware of the latest technologies in electronics and about the value of time and hard work.

College principal S Jagroop Singh wished students best of luck for their future endeavour.

Jalandhar gang-rape again shames society: Dal Khalsa
Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, February 11
Expressing a concern over the continuous incidents of sexual assaults against women, Dal Khalsa general secretary Dr Manjinder Singh and youth wing head Ranvir Singh said the Jalandhar incident, in which a 14-year-old girl was reportedly gang-raped, has once again shamed the society.

They said such brutal incidents were reflection of degradation that has crept into our society.

They said despite reports of fast track courts, stringent laws and raising the quantum of punishment to rapists, the incidents of rape continue to hit the headlines. The root cause being the deteriorating social situation in the country.

They urged the SAD-led Punjab government to ensure that such incidents should not occur again. Amid the nationwide debate over giving death penalty to rapists, leaders said they were not in favour of capital punishment, saying it does not serve as a "deterrent" and "preventive measure". However, they said theirs group were not against "severe punishment" in critical or extreme cases like life-imprisonment without parole.