Jalandhar, June 3
For yet another year, not a single student of a government school in the district has been able to make it to the class X state merit positions. Of the 440 high/senior secondary schools in the district, none of the noted government schools in the district have been able to feature in the state merit list.

While schools like Nehru Garden and Junior and Senior Model have been known to produce toppers in the district, even they have not contributed any topper to the state merit list, although Nehru Garden's students have made some mark in the 12th standard results.

While the school (Nehru Garden) gave two toppers in the class 12th results this year — (school students got 11th and 22nd rank in state and 3rd and 7th in district), another student from the obscure Government Senior Secondary School, Bara Pind, also bagged the 24th position in the state and ninth in the district, but in class 10, their students lagged behind.

Gurinderjit Kaur, principal of the Nehru Garden Girls Senior Secondary School said, "While it is important for government schools to give toppers on merit, I can't comment on all schools but only my own. Our students are being left behind by thin margins in class X exams for the past few years. While in 2012, our student bagged 92 per cent marks, in 2013, our school topper bagged 87 per cent and this year, she was left behind by just a few points as she grabbed 89 per cent marks," she said.

"We are working hard, but I guess we will try harder the next year," the principal quipped.

Some district teachers, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said the onus is on the district head. During the time of DGSE Kishan Kumar, the education department used to get formal letters that the onus for bad results as well as cheating cases in te districts shall lie with the DEO. Now no such responsibility is fixed. The department has thus become a bit relaxed.

The district also had a pass percentage of mere 66.04 per cent this year in Class X.

"Even if the state toppers are from private or aided schools, it is the duty of the DEO to release at least a list of government school toppers of the district to boost the morale of high scoring government schools students. Even that is not being done. There is a total lack of debate on school results," a teacher said.

DEO Kuldeep Sharma, interestingly said, "We had been very strict during the exams this year. As many as 19 flying squads and 11 observers were deputed to look into cheating. Cheating does affect results. For example, Tarn Taran, a district known for its dearth of teachers, has fared well and Mohali, where there aren't many teachers, has not shown such good results. Strictness on students has certainly 
played its role. Moreover, the cut- off percentage for students for making it to the state merit list was also very high. So that affected the entire performance."

While the DEO did not presently have the results for the class X topper in government schools in the district, he said the information shall be released within a few days. 

Jalandhar June 3
Following the arrest of a BJP worker, Harpal Mintu, on the charges of taking protection money, the city police officials are now conducting raids at the suspected hideouts of his accomplice Dheeraj Baba, who is still at large.

The police claimed that Mintu was just the tip of an iceberg but Baba was the kingpin, running the racket of protection money.

As per the police, once Baba gets arrested, the police would be able to nab many other such persons in the trade. The police had nabbed Mintu two days back for taking Rs 20,000 from the father of the nabbed thief on the pretext that he had a say in the police department and would help him get his son released from the police custody. After the thief’s father complained to the police that Mintu had withdrawn cash from ATM, the police started considering the allegations.

Following his arrest, supporters of Mintu had also levelled allegations on the police for beating them up. They had demanded suspension of ACP Somanth for engineering the lathicharge. Even BJP MLA Manoranjan Kalia had released a statement in which he had alleged that the police had arrested Mintu without inquiring into the CCTV footage of the ATM.

However, Police Commissioner Kunwar Vijay Pratap has said that the police had enough evidence against Mintu and his accomplice Dheeraj Baba.—TNS

Jalandhar, June 3
Teachers of the EGS/AIE and STR teachers held a meeting outside the Guru Nanak District Library, Jalandhar, protesting against the Punjab government's decision to hold a survey of school dropout students and start study centres for these children in government schools during the summer holidays.

The said teachers' bodies declared that they would collectively boycott the said survey as well as the study centres.

In a joint front of the three teachers' unions, under the banner of the the Shaheed Kiranjit Kaur Action Committee, Punjab, the teacher leaders warned the state government that if the government tried to reverse the former compromise which it had arrived at with the teachers, they would be forced to take to the streets again.

They said the Punjab government's decision to employ volunteers for conducting surveys during the summer holidays had caused much angst among them.

They said as long as the June 9 meet with the state government did not take place, they will boycott all the work.

They also warned that if any inconvenience is meted out to the survey employees, then the administrative officials would face the music.

Over 300 teachers condemned the government and said the government should release their pending salaries, rather than releasing new orders time and again.

The teachers also demanded that the father of a girl, Ruth, who died in one of the strikes in Bathinda, be given a job.

Kuldip Singh Pabla, Sumit Kaushal, Jarnail Jalandhari, Amandeep Singh Mehatpur, Harpreet Kaur Maqsoodan were among those present on the occasion.

Jalandhar, June 3
Newly appointed Commissioner of Police, Jalandhar, Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh, a police officer of the 1998 batch of the premier Indian Police Service (IPS), has been credited with setting up the cyber crime cell of the Punjab Police in Mohali as its founder SSP.

He believes in action and not in making tall claims. He said corruption in the police department would not be tolerated and strict action would be taken against the corrupt police officers. He also hinted at setting up a cyber crime wing in Jalandhar to tackle rising cases of cyber crime. This is Kunwar's first posting in Jalandhar.

When asked about his priorities and focus areas as the chief of city Commissionerate, he said: "My entire focus will be on crime prevention, pro-active policing, and community oriented policing. I even define COP as Community Oriented Policing. Now, Jalandhar police will do policing for the sake of the community. If unfortunately any crime occurs, the police will ensure that criminals are put behind the bars in no time."

"I believe policing is not possible without the participation of public at large. We consider every citizen as a cop. We will mould the working of police in such a way that every citizen will consider himself/herself as a cop and will help us in detecting crime. We will change the concept of policing to make it pro-public. In a nutshell, now 'aam admi' (layman) will do policing to tighten the noose around the criminals and drug peddlers," he said while explaining the role of the public in detecting crime.

"At this moment, it is not possible for me to give any blueprint on how police will take on drug-hit areas but we will devise a method to eradicate this menace. We will seek positive feedback from the public to thwart the attempt of drug peddlers. We will continue raiding such suspected places and I hope our efforts will yield results," he said.

On plan for traffic regulation in Jalandhar, he said: "I have categorically told my officials that don't cut challan just for the sake of achieving the target of issuing maximum challans. Our challans will be only quality challans. Maximum care will be paid to issue drunken driving challan which always becomes the cause of fatal accident."

When quizzed about his sense to curb rising cases of snatching, Kunwar Vijay Pratap said: "Snatching is a serious issue and we have to tackle it. Special care will be paid to utilise the available force in such a way that a snatcher finds no place to commit crime in the city. Even on a closed day like Sunday, police deployment will be sufficient in the suspected areas of crime. Legal action will also be taken against buyers who buy valuables from snatchers."

"I will also ensure that the traffic police check the buses using black or tinted films and the defaulters are challaned accordingly," he said.

On blind cases and high profile robbery cases like Punjab and Sindh Bank dacoity, GPO robbery, he said: "All blind murder cases and high profile robbery cases will be reviewed soon. After knowing the status of investigation, effort will be made to detect the crime."

"I am planning to set up full fledged cyber crime wing in Jalandhar to solve all cases pertaining to cyber crime. Since I have joined a few days back only, still I will ensure that cyber wing will start functioning soon. Soon the process will be started to bring infrastructure for the same, he said.

"The day I joined in Jalandhar, I held a meeting with my team and categorically told them to stay away from corrupt activities. After receiving any such complaint, stern and immediate action will be taken against corrupt cops. If any traffic cop is found taking bribe for sparing traffic flouters, the guilty have to bear the consequences," he said.

About the Police Commissioner

* Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh is a police officer of the 1998 batch of the premier Indian Police Service (IPS).

* He did MA in Sanskrit with specialisation in Indian Philosophy from Patna University.

* In 2006, he completed PG Diploma in Human Resource Management from the IGNOU. He has done PhD on Human Rights of Prisoners from the GNDU, Amritsar, in 2010.

* He completed LLB from Panjab University in 2013.

* He served as SSP, Amritsar, SSP, Ferozepur, SSP, Gurdsapur, and SSP, Batala.

* He also worked as the DIG Prisons of Amritsar Central Jail.

* He has written three books, including Universal Teachings of Kabir and Cyber Laws and Investigations.

Jalandhar, June 3
Kirti Kisan Union has threatened to stage a protest dharna in front of the office of Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) on June 18 to exert pressure to have at least 16-hour power supply for paddy transplantation in this season and 24-hour power supply for domestic use.

Union representative Santokh Singh Tagar said the government had failed to deliver its promise to supply 24-hour power supply.

Highlighting the other demands, he said the new power connections for tubewells should be provided at government’s expenditures.

Jalandhar, June 3
The placement process for the graduate batch of Lovely Professional University has been successfully completed with students being placed across various sectors of their choice. This year, more than 150 top global and Indian companies recruited students, taking the total number of recruiters to more than 300.

Though companies from multiple sectors, including consultancy, banking, finance, engineering, fashion and e-commerce recruited LPU students, the IT sector remained the major employer.

In terms of number of offers, IT giant Cognizant was the top recruiter across all the sectors and clusters. It recruited 939 students in this session.

As part of the corporate social responsibility, LPU also invited many students from other colleges and universities to participate in the campus placement drives.

The second biggest recruiter remained HCL, which recruited 98 students.

LPU Chancellor Ashok Mittal said, “This year, our students were also offered international placements by top companies, including Adnani Wilmar of the US and Al Rakha from Dubai. The successful completion of the recruitment cycle for the batch graduating in 2014 is a strong testament to the high quality of students at the university and the robust nature of the placement process.” — TNS

Jalandhar, June 3
The public transport system in the city seems to be deteriorating with each passing day. The modes of transport, including city bus service, mini buses and auto-rickshaws are unable to provide comfortable and satisfying service.

It is the responsibility of the local bodies and the government to overhaul the transport system.

However, they seem to be least bothered about the issue. People, who opt for public transport, are fed up with the current state of affairs. Torn and decayed seats covers in buses, broken windowpanes and rude language of the transport employees are some major features that disenchant the commuters.

While speaking to Jalandhar Tribune, residents said that the authorities concerned must be made accountable to the public and rules and regulations must be enforced strictly to improve the condition of the public transport system in the city.

Lax attitude

The reason behind the miserable condition of the transport system is the lax attitude of the local bodies and district transport office. The contract to operate city bus service has been given to a private company, which is in fact responsible for this pathetic condition of city buses. The local bodies should make them answerable as to why these buses had not been repaired for a long time. Besides, auto-rickshaw drivers have no sense of traffic rules. They just stop their vehicles wherever they want, which increases the chances of accidents.

People should be conscious of their rights and exert some pressure on the government in this regard.

Dinesh Kumar

People responsible

I think the people themselves are responsible for the kind of facilities they get from the government in return of the taxes they pay. They don’t raise their voice against the sorry state of affairs. Each time we go out, we are stuck in one or the other issue related to basic amenities. The public transport system has failed miserably. The condition of buses is so pitiable that one cannot even imagine travelling in them. Moreover, no one is trying to improve the condition.

It seems that the officials concerned don’t think they are public servants and are answerable to the public. People should raise their voice against such things and make the officials work strictly as per the rules and regulations.

Saruchi, businesswoman

Travelling in auto-rickshaws

Lack of proper bus service in the city leads residents to travel in auto-rickshaws, which is a horrible experience. Auto-rickshaw drivers charge whatever they want as there are no fixed rates for them. Auto-rickshaw drivers have the least driving sense.

There are hardly any residents who want to travel in city buses. The reason behind this is that the Municipal Corporation has no vision to develop the city properly. They are just selling out everything in private hands through outsourcing, without making them responsible. They must act firmly to implement the laws.

Gurpreet Singh

Metro rail project

The government often fails to implement its own schemes when it comes to the public transport system. As the population is increasing drastically, the government should make plans for the future, especially in this regard. I personally feel that there should be a metro rail project in the city to solve the problem. The condition of buses should be improved. People won’t mind paying more fare if the services are improved.

We pay a huge amount in taxes and the government must pay that back to the public through basic amenities.

Sanjiv Kumar, private bank manager

Pollution and congestion

It is because of the failure of the public transport system that people feel it safe and convenient to use their own vehicles. This not only costs more, but also increases pollution and causes traffic congestion. To an extent, people are forced to buy vehicles due to lack of proper bus service in the city. There are only few routes that are covered by the city bus service. Mini buses have also failed to attract commuters. JMC must come up with a plan to improve the city bus service.

Munish Kumar

Trouble for commuters

Lack of public transport system causes plenty of troubles for commuters. They have to opt for auto-rickshaws that charge higher fares. The project of the city bus service was brought for the convenience of the residents but it seems to have failed. Mini buses are in such a miserable condition that residents take them only as a last resort.

I believe the government must implement rules and regulations strictly. People must also come together to raise their voice. The departments concerned should be held responsible to the public.

Jagbir Singh

New ideas needed

I personally feel that law enforcement agencies have failed in India. That is why the situation has aggravated. The only reason behind the dilapidated condition of the public transport system is that the bureaucracy is least bothered to act responsibly. Private bus operators have been making things worse as they don’t follow any law.

People must be conscious of their rights and act together to make a difference. The government must come up with new ideas such as introducing more air-conditioned buses in the summer season to attract commuters.

Sukhwider Bajwa