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Woman set on fire, dies
Direct subsidy transfer fails to attract LPG consumers
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Beautification work: Told to vacate shops, traders demand justice from SGPC
Huge rush to apply for Blue Cards
Applicants for Blue Cards throng the Suwidha Centre inside the District Court Complex in Amritsar. Photo: Vishal Kumar
23 private BEd colleges have no principals
District tops the list in providing monetary help to cancer patients
Gender sensitive committee: Panel to curb sexual harassment at workplace
Bhandari Bridge collapse: Truck driver arrested
A view of the damaged Bhandari Bridge in Amritsar. Photo: Vishal Kumar
Khalsa College organises seminar on environmental awareness
Slum dwellers more prone to TB
One held for bootlegging
The mangled remains of a truck that collided with another truck near Vallah in Amritsar on Wednesday. A Tribune photograph
One killed as trucks collide
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Woman set on fire, dies
Amritsar, December 11 Following a complaint of her father, Balkar Singh, a resident of Mohkampura, the police have booked the accused Tarsem Masih and his mother, Bir Kaur, who originally hailed from Naag Kalan village. Tarsem and Sonia were living in rented accommodation in Indira Colony, Majitha road, at present. The police have registered a case under Sections 302 and 34, IPC, in this connection. Balkar Singh stated to the police that the deceased, identified as Sonia, was married to Gurmeet Singh of Naag Kalan village. However, he used to beat her and due to this the couple did not enjoy cordial relations. Investigating Officer Harjit Singh said Tarsem Singh, who is a native of the same village and reportedly a relative of Gurmeet Singh, developed a relationship with Sonia. They had been living separately for the past one and a half years. Tarsem Singh was also already married and had children from his marriage. He said a few days later, Tarsem Singh and Sonia started quarrelling with each other, according to a statement of her father. Balkar Singh alleged in his statement that Tarsem and his mother poured kerosene on his daughter and set her on fire. She was taken to GNDH hospital with critical burns and succumbed to her injuries on December 8. Harjit Singh said raids were being conducted to arrest Bir Kaur who was on the run.
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Direct subsidy transfer fails to attract LPG consumers
Amritsar, December 11 The District Food and Civil Supply Department said that only 20 per cent of the LPG consumers have succeeded in linking their Aadhar cards to their bank accounts. For the abysmal figure, the department blames lack of enthusiasm on the part of consumers. However, the consumers blame the government and its agencies for inadequate publicity to inform the public. A resident, Krishan Kakkar of Katra Dullo area inside Lohgarh Gate, said he had been an LPG consumer for the past over three decades and was associated with a single company. However, he was neither informed by the agency nor the dealer about filing up the form for availing the subsidy. Another consumer Jasbir Singh of Puttalighar area said he learnt about the limited period to avail the direct benefit transfer of subsidy for LPG consumers from word of mouth rather than receiving any formal information. DFSC Tarwinder Singh Chopra said the number would go up as all the gas agencies have been asked to inform and pursue the consumers to get their Aadhar card numbers linked with the bank accounts and gas connection numbers. Officials of the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), which has maximum 90 per cent of consumers here, said each gas agency in the district had been provided two forms to get them filled from the consumers. One of the forms was to be submitted to the gas agency and the other at the concerned branch of the bank, they added Besides, drop boxes have also been installed at gas agencies to collect the forms. A mechanism has been evolved under which the forms for banks are submitted within three days. They claimed that they were also intimating the consumers about the process through SMS service as mobile numbers of about 80 per cent of the consumers are with the gas agencies.
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Beautification work: Told to vacate shops, traders demand justice from SGPC
Amritsar, December 11 Addressing a press conference here today, the Golden Temple Complex Shopkeepers Association President, Gurdip Singh Bawa, said they welcomed the beautification of the shrine’s entrance, but the manner in which they were being evicted from the Golden Temple Complex, without giving them any alternative, is highly unjust. “Not only the shopkeepers but hundreds of families dependent on these shops either directly or indirectly will lose their livelihood if the shopkeepers were evicted. We have already suffered a lot during the dark days of militancy.” He said they had always cooperated with the SGPC and the government authorities and were still ready to help in every possible manner to make the project successful. He said they had also brought uniformity in signage of the shops on the directions of the SGPC, adding that they were willing to make further modifications in the structure of the shops to make the front elevation of the area more attractive. For almost five decades these shops are engaged in selling religious and cultural items like ‘kirpans, ‘kara’, ‘kangha’, religious literature, music, ‘rumala sahib’ etc. The traders said the closure of shops would not only hit the cottage industry but also cause inconvenience to the thousands of devotees visiting the holy shrine daily. “Most of the goods sold at these shops are locally manufactured by artisans who in turn buy their raw material such as steel, wood and fabric from local vendors. Similarly, books relating to Sikh religion and history are printed in the city. Even Rumala Sahibs are manufactured locally.” The photographs of Sikh gurus and gurdwaras sold at these shops are also manufactured locally and a large section of people are engaged in printing, laminating and framing of the photographs. Therefore, removing these shops will cast doom on the economy of the large number of residents who earn their livelihood through these shops, they added. They appealed to the SGPC and the state government to take a sympathetic and a humanitarian view of the situation and not to remove these shops from the complex.
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Huge rush to apply for Blue Cards
Amritsar, December 11 53- year-old Swaran Singh said that high prices of essential commodities were eating out a big chunk of the family income and the supply of subsidised food would work as a balm. Similar views were echoed by other applicants who were desperately waiting in serpentine queues for their turn. Meanwhile, the additional deputy commissioner (general) held a meeting regarding the management of rush of the applicants at the Suwidha Centre as other services at the centre were being hampered. Directions have been issued to all 12 zones of the Municipal Corporation (MC) to accept applications for Blue Cards. The MC will make requisite arrangements to deploy adequate staff to accept forms. The Amritsar Improvement Trust (AIT) will establish collective counters for all the wards to accept forms for Blue Cards. Offices of executive officers (EO) of as many as six Municipal Committees in the district will also accept the application forms. For the rural areas of the district, offices of block development panchayat officers (BDPO) have been permitted to accept the application forms. The rural area of the district has been administratively divided into 9 blocks. These blocks are namely Attari, Chogawan, Ajnala, Harsha Chhina, Verka, Majitha, Tarsikka, Raiyan and Jandiala Guru. For allotting Blue Cards in the district, EOs, AIT, Municipal Committees, BDPOs and assistant commissioner of MC have been made designated officers.
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23 private BEd colleges have no principals
Amritsar, December 11 In both scenarios, the management of a private college becomes the de facto principal. The teachers working in these colleges said the college management was making profit in both cases as they do not have to pay the salary of a principal according to the NCTE and UGC norms. The teachers alleged that Guru Nanak Dev University had laid norms for the appointment of principals beyond the National Council of Teachers Education (NCTE) norms. The NCTE norms state that a person with a PhD and 10 years of experience, including five years in a college, is eligible for appointment as a principal. However, the GNDU insists on mandatory UGC and NET along with 10 years' approved experience as a lecturer. "The university has even made it mandatory for the candidates above 60 years of age to have UGC and NET," said a senior teacher on condition of anonymity. He said as the college managements did not want to pay to a regular principal, they often took the plea that they were not finding suitable candidates, adding that the managements were running the institutes merely with an acting principal, who is in most of
the cases a lecturer and not even a PhD as per the NCTE norms. "The quality of education of BEd colleges can be assessed from the fact that only 8-9 per cent of the candidates managed to clear the previous Teachers Eligibility Test (TET). And the quality cannot be improved unless posts as important as that of principal are filled," said another faculty member. The GNDU has over 40 B Ed colleges affiliated with it in eight districts of the state: Amritsar, Tarn Taran, Gurdaspur, Pathankot, Jalandhar, Kapurthala, Phagwara and Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar. The Dean Colleges of GNDU, Dr Rajinder Pawar, said, "The university follows the same eligibility criteria as set by the NCTE and there is no question of stricter conditions for eligibility." She said the university conducted regular inspections at these colleges and instructs them sternly to appoint principals where the posts were lying vacant.
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District tops the list in providing monetary help to cancer patients
Amritsar, December 11 The district Health Department forwarded a total of 1,064 cases and got them approved from the government. In the year 2012, a total of 593 cancer patients were able to avail benefits of Rs 7,26,02,137 and in the first five months of the current year, a total of 471 cancer patients availed a benefit of Rs 5,20,90,565. These figures were released by the State Health and Family Welfare Department recently. District health officer Dr Shivkaran Singh Kahlon, who is also the district nodal officer for Chief Minister’s Cancer Rahat Fund said, “The district Health Department has helped a maximum number of patients avail the benefits of the scheme.” Under the Chief Ministers Cancer Rahat Fund, each cancer patient is given a monetary help of Rs 1.5 lakh. In the year 2012, Gurdaspur district had stood second in helping patients avail this fund as a total of Rs 6,65,89,706 was disbursed to all the beneficiaries, followed by Ludhiana, which had disbursed a total of Rs 6,15,04,134. In the current year, Jalandhar’s Health Department managed to help 485 cancer patients avail Rs 5,09,36,513 followed by Ludhiana, which helped 433 cancer patients in getting a total of Rs 4,36,06,440. Dr Kahlon said that the cancer patients could avail the facilities by getting treatment from two hospitals empanelled on the list. The government has empanelled Guru Nanak Dev Hospital associated with Government Medical College and Sri Guru Ram Das Institute of Research and Medical Education. Earlier, the government had empanelled nine hospitals including seven private hospitals, but they were later taken of the list. Kahlon said, “We don’t keep a case pending. The files are forwarded as soon as we get the applications. The delay in providing help to cancer patients is not tolerated as the treatment cannot wait.”
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Gender sensitive committee: Panel to curb sexual harassment at workplace
Amritsar, December 11 Amandeep said the rules wouldbe implemented sternly in private hospitals, Shopping Malls, factories and other private establishments. She said wherever 10 women were working a sub-committee must be constituted to resolve women issues and problems. In case of non-resolution of the problem, it should be taken up at the district-level Gender-Sensitive Committee. She instructed private establishments, where women were working till late night, to make arrangements to drop them safely at their houses. Deputy Commissioner Ravi Bhagat had constituted the committee to deal with issues like sexual harassment at workplace besides directing all departments to form such committees on December 3. The committee has 10 women officials as its members. Besides, other departments were directed to form committees to curb instances like sexual harassment at work place. Taking a cue from the infamous Tehelka case of Tarun Tejpal who allegedly assaulted his subordinate woman journalist, the district administration moved into action. It stated that in the light of the Supreme Court judgement delivered in the case Vishakha versus Rajasthan governemnt 1997 and on the directions of the Finance Commissioner Vigilance Inquiry and Nodal Officer (women employees) Sujata Dass, a 10-member committee was formed. Other members of the Gender-Sensitive Committee are Anjana Mahajan, Superintendent at the DC's office, who is its secretary. Other office-bearers of the committee are Ruchi Kalra, Gurinder Jeet Kaur Grewal (Programme Officer), Vinay Sharma (secretary, Red Cross), Sunita Kiran, DEO (Elementary), Prabhjit Kaur, Kanwaljeet Kaur, Assistant Commissioner Police, and Prabhdeep Kaur, SHO, Women Cell.
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Bhandari Bridge collapse: Truck driver arrested
Amritsar, December 11 “He told that he saw an auto-rickshaw in the extended lane of the bridge and unknowingly, he also entered the same lane. As the extension was meant only for pedestrians, which was used for lighter vehicles in view of heavy rush of vehicles, the bridge could not bear the burden of the sand-laden truck and therefore collapsed and fell down on the railway track,” said Kashmir Singh, investigating officer. He said as the truck fell upside down, Ajay Kumar narrowly escaped in the incident and managed to flee away from the spot. It is pertinent to mention here that the accident has led to an extensive loss for the Railway Department as power cables were badly damaged in the accident, which also led to cancellation of a number of trains. The police identified the owner of the truck with the help of registration number and later caught the driver.
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Khalsa College organises seminar on environmental awareness
Amritsar, December 11 He also batted for proper disposal of garbage and segregation of organic waste and how it could be made useful by adopting new technology. He also stressed on the need to nourish gardens, houseplants, parks and kitchen gardens. He also signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with College principal Dr Surinderpal Kaur Dhillon who said the college was committed to create awareness about the degradation of environment and ways to protect the ecology. Dr Dhillon welcomed Gunbir Singh, calling him an environmental activist who had been spearheading the movement to make Nagar Kirtan (religious procession) ‘green’. Others present included Professor of Bio-Technology at IIT Roorki, Dr.Gursharan Singh, EcoSikh administrator Tarundeep Singh, WWF representative Puneet Vatts, KCGC deputy dircetor DS Rataul, teachers and students in large number.
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Slum dwellers more prone to TB
Amritsar, December 11 The other most TB prone areas include Guru Nanak
Pura, Basti Hindustan, Mustafabad and Haripura. District TB officer, Dr Naresh
Chawla, said, “The relation between unhygienic conditions and TB is direct and well established.” He said more cases of TB were reported from slums and semi-slums compared to posh residential areas like Ranjit Avenue and Green Avenue. He added that in slums, where people tend to ignore their illness, often result in communicating it to others before they finally reach a hospital. “The chances of infection are more in areas where people live in single room houses,” said Chawla adding that due to being in close contact with others, the disease was communicated easily. He said that a new DOT centre in Sultanwind area was recently opened with a motive to reach out to the area residents. He added that such centres were already running at Maqboolpura and other areas. Dr Chawla said that people must visit the nearest government health institute in case they were suffering from cough for more than two weeks. He said that the treatment for TB was provided free of cost at government health institutions.
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One held for bootlegging
Amritsar, December 11 The residents had urged the CPS to intervene as illegal sale of liquor had made their life hell and it had become difficult for women to venture outside their homes. According to information, following a tip-off, the police laid a naka and intercepted an auto-rickshaw and seized a huge quantity of liquor packed in polythene bags. The police have arrested Jagroop Singh, a resident of New Gurnam Nagar, and the driver of the auto-rickshaw. Following their interrogation, the police booked Nimma, alias Model, of Sudarshan Nagar. The police team recovered 96 bottles of English whisky and 100 bottles of illicit liquor from his possession and also impounded the vehicle.
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One killed as trucks collide
Amritsar, December 11 According to information, both trucks were going towards Jalandhar. Police authorities said a truck numbering PB-06-G-7649 was parked on the roadside after it developed a technical snag. Karamjit Singh, who
was driving a truck numbering PB-46-H-6177, came from behind and collided with the stationary truck. Satnam Singh, investigating officer and in charge Vallah police chowki, said the family of the deceased was yet to give their statements. He said further action would be taken following the written complaint submitted by the deceased’s family. He added that they were yet to identify the driver of the truck who had parked the vehicle on
the roadside.
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With the state and Union government announcing more subsidies on ration, the rush to apply for Blue Cards has tremendously increased in the city with more and more residents flocking to the counters of Suwidha Centre at the district court complex. Eager to submit their application forms, the residents throng the office, hours before its opening.
The Government Railway Police have arrested the driver of the truck which had fallen on the railway track after a portion of the Bhandari Bridge caved in a few days ago. The accused has been identified as Ajay Kumar, a resident of Kattowal village,
Gurdaspur, while the owner of the truck is Sukhwinder Singh of Pathankot. The investigations revealed that the accused entered the pedestrian way, which was being used for three-wheelers or two-wheelers.
Amritsar, December 11
