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Contempt notice to DCs
MC simply issues show-cause notice
Wedding function at school as staff, students watch on
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Prolonged use of mobile phone linked to hearing loss, finds study
A year later, Civil Hospital still haunted by ‘dirty’ trouble
Missing woman, girl found in Maharashtra
KMV celebrates Basant Panchami
Dog Show in city on February 17
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Contempt notice to DCs
Chandigarh, February 14 The High Court, in August last year, had told the DC concerned to pass a speaking order after going through the record, and hearing the committee and petitioners Maint Malhotra and Ajay Joshi. In their petition against Jalandhar Deputy Commissioner, the Improvement Trust, the Municipal Corporation, the District Congress Committee and other respondents, the petitioners had earlier contended that as many as 13 illegal shops had been constructed in the houseline. Counsel Deipa Asdhir Dubey had asserted that the shops were constructed without the passing of building plans, and were not even in the map. Moreover, record was not available with the Improvement Trust regarding the handing over of the possession, she contended on the basis of information obtained under the Right to Information Act. Describing it as a case of commercialisation by a social institution, Dubey further argued that neither the sale deed was registered nor conveyance deed executed for more than 1-kanal, 8-marla plot. Going into the background, she said the land was allotted on July 24, 1974, by the Jalandhar Improvement Trust for no profit, no loss purposes. But the allocation was cancelled due to the non-payment of approximately Rs 16,000 sale amount. It was reallocated on April 7, 1980, after a resolution was passed to waive off penalty and interest on the amount, as it was a “social institution”. “The then DC, Priyank Bharti, never held a hearing and no verification of original plan had been brought on record. I was never called by the JIT authorities and the DC to record my statement,” said Malhotra. He added that on December 2 last year, his legal counsel had served notice on the then DC Priyank Bharti, telling him to comply with the orders within 15 days, but there was no response. On December 31, Shruti Singh took the charge as the DC. |
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MC simply issues show-cause notice
Jalandhar, February 14 The violation amounted to the straightaway sealing of the occupied floor till the completion or at least part completion of the ongoing six-storeyed mall. The owners were also bound to take completion and occupany certificates before using the premises. Asked about the same, Mayor Sunil Jyoti said he would look into the matter tomorrow and get the action done. Unmindful of the risk involved owing to concrete being lifted and used on upper floors, Commissioner Viney Bublani, too, perhaps took the issue very lightly. “I had asked the Joint Commissioner to get a show-cause issued on the matter,” he replied. Joint Commissioner Anupam Kler, who heads the building branch, too, showed little concern on the matter. “I have got a notice issued today,” calling it to be the only action taken so far. The building branch officials, however, today sealed another building on the first floor of 5-B Model Town on the top of the shop Cash n Carry. While the first floor had been approved for residential purpose, the
owner had, perhaps, started construction for commercial use. The MC staff said the building had been sealed about nine months ago, but was opened after the occupant produced an affidavit that he would not indulge in any construction for other purpose. Today, when construction for the shop was again started, it was again sealed. The MC team also took action, pulling down shutters erected within the premises of Bhatia Hospital. The owner of the building was converting a room on the frontal part for bank ATM without taking permission for the same, said officials. |
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Wedding function at school as staff, students watch on
Jalandhar, February 14
The full name of the school being Sardar Darshan Singh Kaypee Memorial Government Primary School (boys), Abadpura, the wedding bhog function was held at the school in blatant violation of rules. The pandal for the wedding covered almost the entire ground of the school. The sounds from the loudspeaker were loud enough to obstruct normal class lessons. The "daris" (rugs), utensils and other paraphernalia of the wedding also lay scattered on the premises of the school. Talking to The Tribune, Dalbir Kaur, the headmistress of the school, said, “We were unsure whether they were going to conduct the function inside the school, but this morning when we came, the tents had already been erected on the school premises.” Kaur said the school authorities had heard rumours that the function would be conducted at the school. “So I, along with a teacher of the school, approached the family, which happens to be our next door neighbours, on February 12. We told them that we couldn’t allow it and asked them to seek permission from the BEO, who would forward their application to the DEO. We made clear that a wedding function could not be conducted in the school in the morning hours during a working day. They had even agreed to conduct it elsewhere.” “But yesterday, they submitted a written permission signed by the former area councillor Swaran Singh to us. They said the councillor would himself talk to the DEO (primary). After this, we again told them that the former councillor could not allow this because it was a matter of the education department. Some of their relatives even agreed and we thought they would hold the function on the road,” she added. “But this morning when we came, the tents had already been pegged up. We could not do anything,” she said. The brother of the groom, who refused to divulge his name to The Tribune, said, “We have taken due permission from the councillor for the function. The teachers had approached us regarding the issue and had told us that only a permission by the councillor and the BEO could enable us to perform a function here. So we sought a written permission from the councillor, which was submitted to the school authorities yesterday.” In the said letter, Gurmel Singh, groom's father, had sought permission from the councillor Swaran Singh to use the school premises to conduct his son's wedding. The letter was marked with the former councillor Swaran Singh’s stamp and signatures. Former area councillor of the Congress Swaran Singh, when contacted, said, “I did not give any permission for the function. The family approached me saying “mohar lavani hai” (they need me to a stamp a document). And I stamped it. They just held a bhog function at the school. I accept I stamped the document. But they carried out the function without disturbing the school proceedings,” he said. “This school is very close to me and I have been working for it. The said family has also donated money to the school. They did not mean any harm,” Swaran Singh added. “Some unruly elements of the area also create undue problems for the school. They have blown the present issue out of proportion,” he said. District Education Officer, Primary, Kuldeep Sharma, said, “I was not aware that a wedding was being conducted inside the school. We shall order an investigation into the matter.”Speaking on the larger issue of helplessness of the school staff due to misdemeanour by area residents across city schools, the DEO (primary) also said, “One of the problems is also the dearth of post of chowkidars in the schools in the district. Sometimes due to the dearth of chowkidars, people have easy access to a school. We shall be looking to check this problem.”
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Prolonged use of mobile phone linked to hearing loss, finds study
Jalandhar, February 14 Dr Lakwinder Pal Singh, assistant professor in the Department of Industrial and Production Engineering at Dr BR Ambedkar National Institute of Technology (NIT), and Dr Kishore Kumar Deepak, professor in the Department of Physiology at AIIMS, New Delhi, conducted a joint research on 112 engineering students on the campus for two to three years. They have concluded that while noise-induced hearing loss had been recognised as a worldwide problem, significant hearing loss was observed among the healthy engineering graduates addicted to listening music at heavy decibels on mobile and long phone calls. Audiometric tests were conducted on them at 0.25 KHz to 8.0 KHz frequencies. The study included two groups of population. The experimental group was randomly selected. As many as 112 engineering graduates who were habitual of listening to music on mobile and attending long calls. Another control group was selected from those who were not using much of mobile for calls and music. The students were invited to conduct pure tone audiometry at the institute laboratory. The threshold level of both ears was checked. Significant hearing loss was observed among subjects in experimental group compared to those in the control group.
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A year later, Civil Hospital still haunted by ‘dirty’ trouble
Jalandhar, February 14 Even as the commission has recently again issued directions to the Deputy Commissioner (DC) to answer on the matter of compensating patients who suffered in November, 2011, due to the condition of the ward, what is ironic is that the situation at the hospital is still pretty much similar. Even as it has been more than six months since the new maternity ward of the Civil Hospital started functioning, the unsanitary conditions still remain one of the top grouse of patients. Notably, one wing of the old ward is still functioning. And like always, it is still in a deplorable condition. The corridor outside the ward also houses at least 10 to 15 beds and currently stays exposed to the dust emanated due to construction work in the nearby corridor. Patient beds laid in corridors (outside the old maternity ward), piles of days-old, unwashed, linens kept near the bathrooms, stagnating water in the (still-in-use portion of the old maternity) ward and garbage strewn outside the new maternity ward bear testimony to the fact that hygiene certainly isn't the top priority at the Civil Hospital, still. The major problem areas begin with the issues which have been left unaddressed for the past many years. No bed sheets The more than 400-bedded Civil Hospital has one post for the washerman and it has been lying vacant for years. Bed sheets from the wards are washed by a "dhobi" on contract. Staff members of various wards say once they send the hospital linens to be washed, it takes days (sometimes weeks) for the linen to arrive back. Until that time, the patients have to make do on sheets which have been dirty for days. These are used by different patients with different ailments (or even infections). One washing machine The present hospital authorities have not yet worked on the lapses pointed out in the former Medical Superintendent's report (forwarded to the commission by the Director, Health and Family Welfare, Punjab) last year. The Medical Superintendent's report clearly stated that the hospital has only one washing machine which washes only 50 sheets in one batch. The work takes place in three shifts. It is anybody's guess, how much time this machine would take to wash sheets for the 400-bedded hospital. The Medical Superintendent's report also stated that patients are also responsible for littering the hospital premises with waste, which is not disposed of properly. Drinking water supply Only at two places is there proper drinking water for the patients at the hospital - near the OPD and the trauma centre. Patients in all the wards rely on these two drinking water sources (also causing inconvenience to far-flung ward patients). There have been times when these do not work either. Patients then have to go to places outside the hospital. Staff shortage The ever-existent problem of the shortage of staff has also not been handled so far. While the Medical Superintendent's report stated that the shortage of safai sewaks and staff nurses at the Civil Hospital had also caused many problems at the hospital, this problem, too, still persists. In some wards the safai sewaks are working as ward attendants due to staff shortage. In the morning shift there are two ward attendants and in the evening there is one each. Staff at one of the wards said there were no safai sewaks available for the evening shift with them. Unkempt, unclean and at places defunct bathrooms (many across the hospital with missing or stolen taps) are also a regular feature. At the maternity ward, still two to three pots are dysfunctional. Patients said a pipe-less wash basin had been fixed by a patient's relative by fixing a polythene at the base so that people do not get wet. The hospital staff had, however, just watched. Clogged bathrooms were blamed to the dearth of safai sewaks by patients and to irresponsible patients by staff. |
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Missing woman, girl found in Maharashtra
Phagwara, February 14 The police said here this evening that the duo had been missing since January 26 and the police had registered a case on the complaint lodged by Saroj's father Jagan Nath. After detailed investigations and the searching of their locations with the help of their mobile phones, the police could reached Maharashtra and traced them. Both girls told the police that Saroj had matrimonial dispute with her husband Pappu and did not want to live with him and left the house along with her cousin and boarded a Mumbai-bound train. Both got down from the train at the Kurla railway station, where they came in the contact of another woman Rani, who brought them to her village, Kunkali, 630 km from Mumbai. Saro and her cousin Maya were handed over to their families today.
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KMV celebrates Basant Panchami
Tribune News Service
Jalandhar, February 14 The students and staff enjoyed the day and welcomed the best season of the year. Most of the students and faculty members were clad in yellow clothes. The competitions were organised in collaboration with the JCI, which sponsored the prizes for various events. Priyanka got the first prize in kite flying, while Manpreet and Anita jointly won the second position. Bandize won the third prize. In the spoon race, Neha stood first, while Kamaljeet and Jaspreet got the second and third positions, respectively. The hopping race was won by Barinder, while Kamaljeet and Baldeep came second and third, respectively. The skipping race was won by Kamaljeet, while Nitasha and Deepika stood second and third, respectively. Geetika and Smiledeep won the first prize in the three-legged race, while Chanpreet and Shefali came second. The KMV Principal, Dr Atima Sharma, congratulated everybody on this festive occasion and said such festivals brought them closer and helped in building a better community, which improved everybody’s social life and contributed to the general welfare and happiness. She also lauded HoD of the Philosophy Department Rashmi Randev for organising the events.
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Dog Show in city on February 17
Jalandhar, February 14 Dog breeders from Punjab, Delhi, Kolkata, Bangalore, Chennai, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Chandigarh and other neighbouring states would participate in the show with their pets. The show would be judged by Mario Magsaysay from Phillippines and Shyam Mehta from India. Dr SS Bhatti also revealed that the dogs with ears chopped and tails docked had been barred from participating in the show. The club had made elaborated arrangements for the animals and their keepers and breeders at the venue.
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