Jalandhar, December 9
The first dense fog of the season showed its effect on road and rail traffic in this part of the region today. While vehicles moved at a snail’s pace around the city till 11 am due to poor visibility, a majority of Amritsar and Jammu bound trains were also running behind schedule.

Normal life was thrown out of gear due to the thick fog during the first half of the day. However, the road users did not face much difficulty in various parts of the internal city, as the impact of the fog was not as much there compared to the highways. Moreover, "cat's eyes", fixed on most of the roads in the city, facilitated road users even during the fog.

With no "cat's eye" fixed on most of the highways around the city, including the National Highway-I from PAP Chowk to Maqsoodan railway over bridge (ROB), state highways from Nakodar Chowk to Wadala village and Kapurthala Chowk to Science City, road users had to face a tough time in driving their vehicles.

Dr Purshotam Singh, who is a daily commuter from his residence in Kalia Colony, adjoining Verka Milk Plant on NH-1 to Sodal road, told The Tribune: “The authorities should install 'cat's eye' on highways, especially on those stretches which are within the 2 km radius of the city. It will reduce mishaps which usually occur during the foggy weather.”

The traffic wing of the City Commissionarate has advised road users to take some necessary steps to avoid any untoward incident.

A traffic police official said, “Emergency blinkers at the front and rear of vehicles should be used during the fog. Low-beam lights should be used, as high-beam lights hamper visibility.”

Meanwhile, a municipal corporation (MC) official said “Cat's eyes have already been fixed on most of the internal roads of the city, which work as a marker on the road and save commuters from collision.” 

Haze likely today

According to the meteorological department, mist and haze may be experienced even on Tuesday. However, the sky is expected to remain clear. The minimum temperature was recorded at 3.5 degrees Celsius, whereas the maximum temperature was recorded at 21.9 degrees Celsius on Monday. 

Jalandhar, December 9
Hundreds of shopkeepers of Phagwara Gate have decided to observe a half-day strike on Friday in support of their demand of rationalising and simplifying property tax on commercial buildings.

A decision in this regard was taken at an emergent meeting of the representatives of the Joint Action Committee (JAC) of Industrialists and Traders held at Geeta Mandir near Football Chowk this evening.

JAC members, including Gursharan Singh, Ravindra Dhir, Pritam Singh Arora, Sukhwinder Singh Bagga and Gurmeet Singh Bittu, said, “Local Bodies Minister Anil Joshi is paying not any heed to their demand of simplifying the property tax on commercial buildings, so they are left with no option but to restart their agitation."

“As part of their agitation, the shopkeepers of Phagwara Gate and nearby markets, whereas hundreds of electric and electronics shops are located, will keep their shops closed from 9 am to 12 noon on December 13 in support of their demands. Subsequently, the decision of intensifying their stir will be taken on that day itself,” they added.

Earlier on Saturday, JAC members met Joshi at Chief Parliamentary Secretary (CPS) for Cooperation Krishan Dev Bhandari’s residence in the presence of Municipal Corporation (MC) Commissioner Manpreet Singh Chhatwal. Joshi had come to the city in connection with the marriage of Mayor Sunil Jyoti’s son.

On this occasion, state president of the Vayapar Sena Ravindra Dhir questioned Joshi as to why the Parkash Singh Badal-led Akali-BJP government was imposing new taxes every other day on urbanites, whereas power worth Rs 6,000 crore was provided free of cost to farmers. He also asked why the Badal government was not withdrawing the policy of free power to farmers to increase its revenue?”

Another JAC member Gursharan Singh got agitated when Anil Joshi did not give any assurance regarding reducing property tax on commercial buildings. CPS and Jalandhar (North) MLA KD Bhandari and MC Commissioner Manpreet Singh Chhatwal pacified Gursharan Singh.

The traders made two main demands during their meeting with Joshi. Firstly, reduce property tax on commercial buildings from current 3 per cent to 1.5 per cent, property tax should be charged according to the measurement of land and rationalise collector rates where they are higher than the market rates. Secondly, they demanded to extend the last date for depositing property tax with 10 per cent rebate from current December 10 to December 31.

Jalandhar, December 9
The Punjab Pensioners Welfare Association Jalandhar will celebrate the fourth Pension Day at Guru Nanak District Library on December 14. A decision regarding this was taken at a meeting held here today.

The association president Pyara Singh said pensioners over 80 years of age would be honoured at the library. Jalandhar DC will be the chief guest on the occasion. The meeting will be headed by state president of the Punjab State Pensioners Confederation.

Pyara Singh said a joint decision condemning the Punjab government’s stand on pensioners would be passed at the meeting and it would be sent to the Chief Minister. Meanwhile, the Punjab State Pensioners Confederation has given a call to gherao the home of the finance minister in protest against their long-pending demands not being met. General secretary of the association Pyara Singh said the Punjab Government had adopted a very disparaging stance towards the pensioners. They said a rally by Punjab Pensioners Association would be held at Sangrur on December 22, after which they would gherao the residence of the finance minister. The confederation has demanded that the 8 per cent DA instalment issued on July 1, 2013, should be issued on the Central pattern from January 1, 2013. They demanded that orders should be issued to make up for the decrease in the pension of those who retired before January 1, 2006, and they should be given medical allowance of Rs 1,000 per month. They also demanded that the 10 per cent instalment of the DA be released from July 1, 2013.It was also demanded that the letters issued against pensioners should be cancelled. 

Jalandhar, December 9
Seven months after the deadline (March 2013) of the implementation of the Right to Education Act passed, the education department is planning to spread Right to Education awareness regarding the schools and parents regarding the same.

The first meeting of the District Samvaad Committee, constituted to ensure the implementation of the Right to Education Act and protection of child rights, was held today.

The primary aim of the committee is to apprise parents and unaware schools of the guidelines of the Right to Education Act so that its quick and strict implementation is ensured, said a committee member.

“We will be taking into account cases of parents who want to admit their wards into private schools, schools which are lagging behind due to lack of awareness of the Right to Education Act among other issues,” he said.

Notably back in May 2013, closure notices were issued to 41 (private) schools for the non-implementation of the Right to Education Act. Eight more were added by September 2009 and a list was sent to the DGSE.

While department sources said only 600 of the total 884 schools had answered the department with form one (details of their schools), the forms from the rest of the schools never came, in clear violation of the Right to Education Act. But still, only 49 schools have been closed since then.

Committee members, however, maintain that all 835 private schools sent the forms.

While the deadline for the appointment of the TET teachers in the affiliated schools has been extended to March 2015, on rest all issues like school area, construction, blueprint, facilities etc, the deadline was supposed to be met by March 2013 as per the centre guidelines.

In the past six months, the department has been unable to gather the details of the remaining 835 schools, many of which just sent an affidavit to the department asking for an extension of the deadline.

DEO (Elementary) Kuldeep Sharma, commenting on the delay in awareness measures regarding the Right to Education implementation and collection of details of these (835 remain) schools, said, “We have been conducting regular surveys all through the year and the data so far has painstakingly been collected. If the students presently in schools are moved during mid term, there will be a loss of studies, so we are waiting for the term to end before closure notices to the rest of the schools are issued.”

The department sources said delayed implementation of the Right to Education Act in the state (March 2010), strike by ministerial staff delaying other pending departmental work like the DISE reports etc and lack of clear instructions from the top, are factors which have added to the delay in the proper survey of the 835 private schools in the district.

Inside sources have reported that about 40 to 50 per cent of these schools are running in clear violation of the Right to Education Act. 

Defaulter schools

835 private schools in the city yet to be surveyed even as RTE deadline passed in March 2013. Sources say many of these are RTE defaulters.

Phagwara, December 9
A girl student, identified as Anjali of Hadiabad and studying in BA-I at the Kamla Nehru College for Women here, was killed on the spot, while her friend Sarabjit Singh sustained injuries when the Swift car (PB-09T-2024) they were travelling in dashed against the wall of a godown near Wazidowal village near here today.

The accident occurred when Sarabjit, who was driving the car, was on his mobile and lost control over the vehicle, the police said.

The police said though the injured Sarabjit was admitted to Civil Hospital, Phagwara, he escaped from the hospital.

The police has registered a case under Section 304A/279 of the Indian Penal Code against Sarabjit, who is at large.

Phagwara, December 9
Five persons, including a bus driver, sustained serious injuries during a head on collision between Hamirpur-bound Himachal roadway bus and a sugarcane loaded tractor trolley near Dharamkot on Phagwara-Hoshiarpur road today.

The injured, Ashok Kumar (bus driver), Surinder Pal (trolley driver), and passengers Hariant, Kavita and Bindu, were admitted to the local civil hospital. A case has been registered in this regard at a local police station.

Jalandhar, December 9
Three children, including two differently abled made the city proud after winning bronze medal in various international events held across the world.

Preeti of HMV College has won a bronze medal in the 48 kg category in the Commonwealth Championship held in South Africa recently. Two differently abled children, Ishvinder Singh and Vivek Aggarwal, won the bronze medal in Asia-Pacific Regional Games which was held in Newcastle, Australia, from November 29 to December 7.

While the Punjab Wrestling association has awarded Preeti at the District Sports Office, the Down Syndrome Association of Punjab has awarded both the differently abled children in a press conference held at its office on Monday.

"I wanted to win world over," said the 15-year-old Ishwinder Singh, who has won a bronze medal in the 100m athletic championship in the category of 16 to 20 years. Vivek Aggarwal from Nakodar has won the bronze in 100m (category- 12 to 15 years). This is the first time that these games were being organised for differently abled children across the globe.

Ishwinder Singh and Vivek Aggarwal are the first ever participants from the city. Around 2,500 athletes from 29 different countries participated in the tournament.

"The win has indeed raised the confidence level of our children which is a must for a down syndrome child," said Amarjit Singh Anand, President, Down Syndrome Association of Punjab. However, the families of these two children spoke strongly on the shortage of special coaches and the lackadaisical attitude of the government towards the special children and their families. Both the families had bore the entire cost of their participation into the Asia-Pacific games and had spent around Rs 3 lakh each to get their child participate in the championship.

Also, in the absence of any special coach, the parents had themselves provided coaching to their children. "We as parents are doing our bit, our children are also putting up their best efforts but what has the government done?" said Sukham, mother of Ishwinder. She said, "We are encouraging our child but are concerned about many other children like Ishwinder who are still hidden inside their houses by their parents due to social stigma or lack of awareness."

"Not even a single time, the district administration has held any felicitation ceremony for the special children. There is not even a single rehabilitation centre for them. What's more? There is not even a single special educator in the entire district! Also, there is not even a single course run by the district administration for the rehabilitation of our special children. What will happen to our children after us?" said Amarjeet Singh Anand, chairman of the Channan Association for Mentally Retarded Children, Jalandhar. 

Jalandhar, December 9
Priya Rani from Haryana zone clinched the gold in pistol shooting while Khushbupreet Kaur of Punjab bagged the gold medal in rifle shooting on the second day of the DAV National Sports for Girls being organised at the DAV University today.

In kho-kho, AP zone beat Haryana 10-5; in handball, team of JK and Punjab beat Bihar.

In volleyball, Haryana beat Delhi 10-5; in basketball, Maharastra and Gujarat zone beat JK and Punjab zone while in TT, Delhi beat Punjab zone 10-5.

In yoga, the first position was clinched by JK and Punjab zone. The second position was bagged by Bihar zone and third position was clinched by Delhi.

In badminton, AP zone beat Punjab zone and in archery, the first position was bagged by Punjab and runners-up were Haryana. In gymnastics, first position was bagged by Delhi; second position was grabbed by JK and Punjab zone while Haryana was on the third position.

In lawn tennis, the first position went to Punjab, second to Maharashtra and Gujarat zone while in Judo, the girls from UP and UK zone got the first position. The second position was bagged by Punjab and third position went to Haryana zone.

In swimming Punjab beat Maharashtra and Gujarat 10-5; in roller skating, Punjab and JK stood first while Haryana was on the second position. UP and UK zone ended up at the third position in skating.

Jalandhar, December 9
A multi-disciplinary seminar on ‘Contextualising and Reorienting Violence and its Spaces in a Postmodern, Globalised World Order’ brought together scholars and researchers from different disciplines to enter into a dialogue for subject related issues at the Lovely Professional University today.

Over, 50 scholars from Indian universities like BHU, Varanasi; IIT, Roorkee; Allahabad University and Aligarh Muslim University participated in the seminar that comprised of inaugural and eight business sessions.

Prof Dr Ramesh Kanwar, Vice-Chancellor of the host university, presided over the seminar while Prof J S Jha, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, delivered a key note address. Prof Jha emphasised that the acts of oppression operate through different outlets. Inherent prejudices, hostilities and suspicions affect daily life in such a manner that the world seems frightening. He suggested that tolerance, compassion and developing bonds of understanding can make world a better place to live in. Prof Sonjoy Dutta Roy from University of Allahabad took literary narratives from famous writers WB Yeats, TS Eliot and others and questioned “Is violence intrinsic to human nature”.In answer, he embarked into probing Mahatma Gandhi’s concept of “Ahimsa”. Eminent Researcher Dr Amitranjan Basu from Shimla talked about complex nature and multiplication of violence. He stressed to explore the culture that makes to disentangle the omnipotence of violence.

Prof Banibrata Mahanta from BHU, Varanasi, outlined violence faced by people with disabilities. Similarly, Prof Elham Fatma from Aligarh Muslim University pointed out that there has been violence throughout human history, and can be controlled with mutual love.