Jalandhar, November 21
The previous time both Health and Education departments conducted aggressive drives across schools in the district was after the unfortunate Bihar mid-day meal tragedy, which claimed 22 lives.

Though three months after the incident serious allegations have been levelled against many of the district schools ranging from pilfering or bungling of mid day meal funds to selling off ration while feeding substandard meals to children, there is a total lack of action being initiated against any of these schools by the district education officers so far.

While mid-day meal related complaints regarding schools in Jalandhar remain pending with the DGSE, DPI (primary), and the Punjab State Human Rights Commission among others, the DEOs total silence on the issue and lack of even initiating probes in the more serious allegations regarding stealing of ration, send all wrong signals.

While mid-day meal fund or ration frauds have been alleged from time to time at the Mandi Fentonganj Girls’ Senior Secondary School (aided school), Government Primary School, Daroli Khurd and Government Senior Secondary School, Nakodar, so far a comprehensive probe or punitive action against any of these schools has not been initiated by the respective DEOs.

Of these, the only school fraud into which a probe has been initiated by the DGSE is the fraud at Government Senior Secondary School, Nakodar.

A number of government (and private) schools were inspected in the Bihar incident’s aftermath and some unkempt defaulting schools were let off with warnings and instructions to keep their kitchens clean. But there has not been a single review of these schools, either, since then.

Even sampling of mid-day meals was conducted for the first time in the district by health teams on July 18.

Barring this, a number of schools where the quality of the mid-day meals hint at unreported but potential frauds in the meals, due to extremely low amount of ration being used in the same or insect-infestation in grains found during visits, have also not been taken to task. Sources said after some initial days of caution after the Bihar incident, the quality in the mid-day meals had gone back to its same old self.

Over 25 schools have been checked by the DEOs, Health Department or district administration in July alone. Schools at Bhargo Camp, Ladowali Road, Kot Sadiq, Dhaliwal, Gakhal, Uggi, Partapura, Udhopur and Khambra, Alowal, Nangal Jeewan, Mudh, Sanghowal, Sandan, Bahopur, Khanpur, Eenowal, Bara Pind and Bilga among others have been inspected. But the teams did not find anything untoward at any of these places.

Even at those places where arrangements were not proper schools have been let off with warnings.

Discrepancies reported in other schools, not visited by departments, take the number way higher.

Kapurthala, November 21
A private minibus crushed three labourers to death near Jammu Palace, here this morning.

According to police officials, the incident took place about 7 am when three labourers, working at the FCI godowns, were going on a scooter for duty.

As the trio reached near Jammu Palace, suddenly a fast-moving minibus (PB-09-9198), while overtaking a truck rammed into their scooter.

The three victims were rushed to the local Civil Hospital but succumbed to their injuries.

The deceased have been identified as Balbir of Nawanpind Bhatte village, Mukesh and Shatrughan, both native of Nand village in Bihar, at present residing in Nawanpind Bhatte village.

According to the eyewitnesses, after the incident the driver of the minibus, identified as Jagtar Singh of Padde village, left the bus and managed to flee the scene.

Kapurthala, November 21
A government schoolteacher was slapped by the parents of a student here today.

As per information, the incident occurred at the local government elementary school situated in the industrial area. It is learnt that Kamaljeet Kaur’s three children were studying in Class III. Yesterday, the trio had some verbal scuffle with their classmate Madhu.

Eyewitnesses said Kamaljeet Kaur, along with her husband Prem Pal, reached the school premises today and tried to take Madhu out of the school premises.

When the schoolteacher, Nancy, tried to prevent the duo from doing so, the latter allegedly slapped her. The matter was reported to the police.

The city police station in charge Bharat Massih Ladhar, said: “We have received a complaint from the school employees and necessary action will be taken against the accused in the matter.”

Jalandhar, November 21
Amidst a cold war between Mayor Sunil Jyoti and Senior Deputy Mayor Kamaljit Singh Bhatia, Gurcharan Singh Makkar, a local builder, has levelled serious allegations against Bhatia for demanding Rs 2 lakh from him as bribe.

Submitting an affidavit in support of his allegations to the Mayor and the Municipal Corporation Commissioner, Manpreet Singh Chhatwal, the builder alleged that Bhatia had demanded Rs 2 lakh from him in December 2011 for ensuring clearance to him for constructing a staircase at building No. 5 B, Model Town.

Talking to The Tribune, Makkar said: “My wife Baljit Kaur is the owner of the first floor and a portion of the ground floor of the building located in the posh Model Town market, whereas one of the shop located on the ground floor is owned by Harjit Singh Bhatia’s relative."

Makkar alleged that “Bhatia and his relative put pressure on me directly and indirectly to sell the first floor and portion of the ground floor owned by my wife to Harjit at just less than the half of the market value. They asked me to sell it to them at Rs 70 lakh whereas its market value is around Rs 1.5 crore. When I refused to do so, Bhatia used his influence and got my building sealed by stopping the ongoing construction work of the staircase.”

The builder said: “The seals were opened on the direction of the court sometime ago and I applied to the MC for getting permission for constructing the staircase on October 7. But MC officials are not giving him permission to construct the same at Bhatia’s behest.”

While the Mayor could not be contacted despite repeated attempts, the MC Commissioner said he would get a legal opinion on the affidavit submitted by Makkar.

“Since I have joined the MC a few weeks ago, I will ask my staff to provide me the entire information regarding the case,” the Commisioner added.

Jalandhar, November 21
In a third decision against Nitishree Infrastructures Limited this year, the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum has asked the UP-based company to pay Rs 3.56 lakh to a complainant, along with Rs 5,000 as compensation, for late delivery of flat, not providing them preferred location and not giving amenities promised to them during allotment.

In their complaint, ex-serviceman Brigadier Kailash Chand and his wife Anita Kumari, said they came to know about the launching of Shourya Greens Scheme in Jalandhar for construction of flats in 2005 through an advertisement.

“Allured by a promise to complete the construction and delivery of flats to the intended purchasers within a period of 24 months, they said they got booked a three-bedroom deluxe flat, comprising 1955 sq feet area.

They said they paid an amount of Rs 4 lakh as an advance amount towards the booking of the flat in December 2005 and consequently, flat A-I, 203 was allotted to them on December 31, 2005. A 20-page agreement was executed between both parties on January 20, 2006, and a down payment of Rs 20 lakh was made in May 2006 and another Rs 20 lakh in June 2006.

On December 1, 2007, the MD of the company had made a commitment that was published in some newspapers to pay liquidated damages at the rate of Rs 5 per sq ft per month to allottees of the flats on account of delay in delivery of possession of the same. Further, as per the agreement, complainants were to make a balance payment of Rs 1,61,094 at the time of its possession.

They said they finally got th possession on August 19, 2011. Since the complainant, who was then posted as Brigadier, was to superannuate on October 31, 2011, and settle in Jalandhar, they had to accept the possession of the flat at that time.

Soon after taking the possession of the flat, the complainants noted that the locality Shourya Greens Towers and the flat neither gave the look as promised nor it provided amenities and facilities of like a developed colony or shopping complex as advertised.

At the time of taking the possession of the flat, the complainants had demanded the payment of the balance amount after adjusting the amount of liquidated damages of Rs 5 per sq feet per month due to the delay in delivery of the possession of the flat. But the company expressed its inability to refund. To avoid any complications in taking the delivery of possession of the flat, the complainants had accepted the additional amenities such as additional electricity load of 3 kW worth Rs 60,000 and a covered motor garage for Rs 50,000. The company adjusted charges of these additional facilities and Rs 1,61,094 (balance amount payable by the complainant at the time of delivery of possession) totaling to Rs 2,71,094, leaving a balance amount of Rs. 1,58,906 out of the liquidated charges of Rs 4.3 lakh.

Upon notice, the opposite party appeared and said the dispute regarding some payments was duly compromised at the time of giving possession. They also denied that they had failed to provide lushgreen park or exclusive shopping centre or parking. In this case, a local commissioner had also been appointed whose report was taken into account. The forum found that there was a delay of 40 months in delivering the possession and the penalty amount came to Rs 3,99,000 against a wrong calculation of Rs 2,47,633 for 28 months done by the company. As per the demand letter, the opposite parties have charged Rs 68,425 on account of preferential location, which the forum found was not justified. The local commissioner also reported that there were no streetlights and facilities like seven-star superlative club.

It decided a lump sum compensation of Rs 50,000 on such accounts. So in this way, the total compensation payable to the complainants comes to Rs 3,56,331.

Jalandhar, November 21
Chander Bahadur (24), A native of Nepal, committed suicide late last night by hanging himself from ceiling in his room at New Shaheed Babu Labh Singh Nagar.

The incident came to light this morning when Tulsi, the mother of the victim who is living separately, went to his place this morning to give him breakfast. The deceased hung himself to a groove meant for installing a ceiling fan using a long piece of cloth meant for covering head.

Chander was married just about three months ago and his wife Amita had gone to his parents' place at Arya Nagar here. He was working as a painter and was reportedly having a low income owing to which he was finding it difficult to run the family. SHO, Basti Bawa Khel, Gurpreet Singh, said there was no complaint by any family member and no suicide note has been recovered. "We are proceeding in the case," he added.

Jalandhar, November 21
During the regional conference on uniformity in the implementation of the PC & PNDT Act held in the city on Thursday, the state health authorities slammed the District Health Department for adopting a lackadaisical attitude, resulting in failure to effectively implement the Pre Conception (PC) and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques Act (PNDT) in the district. The local health department was also flayed for conducting fewer inspections, filing no court case in the last year and sealing fewer sonography machines despite registering the highest number of scanning centres in the entire state.

While pinning down the district health authorities, the Director, Health Services and Family Welfare, Punjab, Dr Karanjit Singh said the local authorities need to gear up the surveillance network at the 251 registered centres to improve the child sex ratio (0-6 years) in the district. “Surprisingly, the district health department, with the highest number of registered centres in the state, has conducted the lowest number of inspections as compared to other districts in the state. Since April this year, it has conducted only 164 inspections whereby looking at the number of the centres, there should have been around 700 inspections by now,” he said.

Dr Karanjit Singh added that the main aim behind organising the workshop here in Jalandhar was to wake up the district health department and make them work efficiently towards curbing female foeticide in the district, thereby improving the sex ratio in Punjab. Presently, Punjab is in the bottom five states of the country in child sex ratio (0-6 years) which is 895 (girls) per 1000 (boys) according to the latest census of 2011.

Varun Roozam, Deputy Commissioner, Jalandhar, while taking a pledge along with the people present there, assured the state health authorities of effectively curbing female foeticide in the district with the help of a task force specially formed for this.

According to the data provided by the state health department, with the maximum number of health centres registered in the district, only 17 notices have been served so far since April this year. Also, despite numerous complaints with the police, none of the licence has been cancelled and not even a single court case under the Act has been filed so far. “This is something unbelievable. Numerous cases of female foeticide are happening right under the nose of the district health department everyday in connivance with the doctors and the patients. They should have to be more vigilant and strict to curb the female foeticide menace,” said Surinder Saini, a social activist from Jalandhar.

Along with awareness in society, issues like the strict implementation of legal provisions, providing more teeth to the existing PC & PNDT Act and the close monitoring and surveillance of health centres were also discussed at the workshop. Trainee nurses of Babu Labh Singh Nursing Institute, Jalandhar, presented a heart warming skit on female foeticide. Upkaar NGO from Nawanshahr was also awarded for its contribution in checking female foeticide. Many other doctors, social activists and NGOs were also awarded at the workshop.

Jalandhar, November 21
To press for the acceptance of their long-pending demands by the management of their respective institutions, the non-teaching staff of DAV College have decided to stage protest.

At a meeting held here today, employees announced that in December, they will gherao the principals of their institutions and hold demonstrations outside their offices in support of their demands.

Their prime demands include provision of salaries to non-teaching and contractual employees as per the labour rates, implementation of new grade pay from 1.12.2011, pardoning of fees of the daughters of non-teaching employees in DAV institutions, provision of regular grade jobs to the kin of employees in the eventuality of their death during service, giving representation to non-teaching employees in local committees and regularisation of temporary employees.

A meeting of the representatives of the DAV College Coordination Committee, Punjab, which is under the Private College Non-Teaching Employees Union, Punjab and Chandigarh, was held with the representatives of the DAV Managing Committee, New Delhi, at the DAV College in Jalandhar on September 23.

Director of the DAV College managing Committee and principals of the DAV College, HMV College, Jalandhar, DAV College, Abohar, and DAV College, Amritsar, were also present.They had listed their aforementioned demands on the occasion.

But even two months after the meeting, the non-redressal of demands has caused resentment among the non-teaching employees due to which they have taken the decision to hold protests in December. Convener, coordination committee, Jagdeep Singh and co-convenver Madan Lal Khullar said even after getting letters from the management, the college principals were not paying heed to their demands.

Taking a serious note of this, the coordination committee has decided to stage a protest.