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Solid Waste Management Project
CHC languishes, PAP Hospital comes alive
Dr Balwinder Singh, chairman, PAP Medical Board, examines patients at the PAP Hospital on Punjab Armed Police campus.
Tribune photographs |
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Extension to contractors
Tension in city area after Tuesday night murder
Arjun who had been murdered at Ali Mohalla in Jalandhar; and (right) Rahul, an accomplice of deceased Arjun, being treated at Civil Hospital in Jalandhar on Wednesday. Photo: Sarabjit Singh
DEOs unsafe? Working in same space even after roof of adjoining office fell
Bid to loot ATM
Bhagat Puran Singh Sehat Bima Yojna
Defence Welfare Office conducts coaching classes
Vigilance Bureau collects samples of road material
Admission to Meritorious school evokes lukewarm response
Five more buses under km scheme likely
NRI Sabha to launch campaign against fake members
from schools & colleges
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Solid Waste Management Project Tribune News Service
While Hans claimed that most issues had been resolved and the project might be launched by the company in the coming days, members of the Safai Mazdur Union claimed that their major issues still stood unresolved and they would oppose any such move till their demands were met. Municipal Corporation Commissioner Manpreet Singh Chattwal, too, said that he was not clear on what had been finalised and that he would go to Chandigarh tomorrow to get further instructions on the issue. Hans said a meeting with the Deputy CM had been held late last evening. “There was another meeting at 10 am today with the Local Bodies officials today. The talks went very peacefully. There was some kind of a communication gap. The safai karamcharis, perhaps, could not convey their sentiment properly, for which I acted as a mediator. I told the leaders and the officials that it would not be good to start the project forcibly, as it would send out a wrong signal to the downtrodden sections.” He further elaborated, “Officials and the leaders were a bit disappointed over the frequent calls of strike by the union and the use of bad words against them. But they have been assured that the project would bring about more jobs for people from the community, as it was to be run in as many as 27 Urban Local Bodies falling in the Jalandhar cluster alone. The union members have also been assured that they would get salary payment by cheques from the company and there would be no exploitation.” Hans clearly said that he and the union members had been told that the project would be outsourced and run by JITF Urban Infrastructure Ltd only. President of the Safai Mazdur Union Chandan Grewal, however, maintained that he was yet to decide on the stand which he said would be revealed only after consultation with the state union leaders. “There was one-two major issues concerning us for which no solution has been reached,” he said. Asked what these issues were, he said he could not disclose these. When asked if the union was now ready to work under the company, he replied, “Not at all”. Senior functionaries of the department when contacted hinted that the issue was likely to linger on for a while as more meetings would perhaps be held on the matter to arrive at some unanimity.
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CHC languishes, PAP Hospital comes alive
Jalandhar, June 18 PAP Hospital is offering state-of the art facilities and clinical examinations under one roof. The CHC that was built at a whopping cost of 5.75 crore becomes deserted after 2 pm and puts the load of patients on PAP Hospital that was forced to work 24x7 with the help of the pharmacists. When The Tribune team visited the CHC on Tuesday at around 1 pm, the complex was found deserted with just one staff nurse wandering alone, with not even a single patient. On being asked about the whereabouts of the doctors, she informed that most of them had left in the afternoon. As there were no patients today, all of them had left early. “We have an OPD of around 80 to 100 patients every day. The OPD timings are till 2 pm and later the doctors are available only on call,” said Navjot Kaur, the staff nurse at CHC. She said presently, the CHC does not offer any medical examination facilities like X-ray and ultrasound and the patients have to get their medical examinations done at PAP Hospital only. “This is totally insane and a sheer wastage of money and resources. How can the state government run two different full-fledged medical institutions at one place only? What was the need to establish a CHC inside the PAP campus? PAP Hospital is taking care of the PAP employees and their families. The CHC, being located inside the PAP campus, has become totally inaccessible to the general public. It should be shifted outside the campus area so that more people could utilise its services,” said SK Kapoor of the NGO Chitra who is working on various health projects with PAP. He said despite the existence of a full-fledged hospital and CHC running inside the campus, there are no night emergency services inside the campus. “ PAP Hospital is pulling up its pharmacists on night duties as the CHC conveniently goes deserted after 2 pm. Till date, the patients have to rush to various private hospitals located at Rama Mandi area or near BMC Chowk as they feel scared to report to a pharmacist during any medical exigency,” said Kapoor. Presently, there are four dispensaries of different PAP battalions that because of being located in the same premises, are jointly being run as a hospital by the PAP Hospital. The PAP authorities have recently upgraded these dispensaries to that of a hospital. Dr Balwinder Singh, Chairman, PAP Medical Board, said the hospital is capable of taking complete care of the PAP staff living inside the campus. When contacted, Dr Karanjit Singh, Director, Punjab Health Department, accepted the lapses and confirmed that soon steps would be taken to rectify the blunder being committed by the Health Department. He said he would also investigate the absence of doctors at the CHC as the CHC has to run as a 24x7 medical institution with emergency services in the night as well.
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Cong takes on Mayor again
Tribune News Service
Jalandhar, June 18 The councillors said that instead of penalising the contractors for not completing the work even three years after they had been issued work orders, the Mayor had allowed them to take 25 per cent enhancement in estimates, which was leading to a loss of Rs 2 crore to the MC. Leader of the Opposition Jagdish Raj Raja said 33 works, which were earlier pegged at Rs 7.25 crore, had not been accomplished by the contractors since the tenders were cleared in 2011. They further alleged that most of these works were of a particular contractor, for whom the Mayor, perhaps, was going out of the way. The councillors said the step taken by the Mayor was illegal, as he could not take the decision of the revision of the estimates and extension of the contract period at the F&CC meeting. Raja said that a meeting of the MC House had been held in January 2014 in which resolution No. 97 had been passed giving the Finance and Contracts Committee members the power to change the estimates at their own end. The councillors showed a communication from the Local Bodies Department, dated March 4, 2014, saying the resolution had been rejected, as it required more discussion and detailed justification to do it. They alleged that the Mayor should have routed the matter through the House again and could not take it up through the F&CC. Notably, Senior Deputy Mayor Kamaljit Bhatia, too, had opposed the decision of giving the contractors an extension period to the completed old works. He had rather demanded the blacklisting of the contractors for not completing work. The Mayor, however, has been maintaining that the extension had been granted as the MC was not earlier in a position to make payments to contractors owing to the civic body's poor financial health. The Congress councillors, however, have been arguing that the contractors should not have opted to take tenders had they not been in a sound financial position to take the delay in the disbursement of the payments from the MC. The councillors are also asking when Rs 36 crore payment had been made to the contractors last year, why did they not resume these works in 2013?
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Tension in city area after Tuesday night murder
Jalandhar, June 18 The deceased and his injured friend Rahul hail from the Ali Mohalla locality, falling on the GT road, and so do a bunch of eight to 10 attackers, who are at large after the incident. All shops, primarily of automobile parts and hardware, on the GT road which fall in the vicinity of the Ali Mohalla, remained closed today. Heavy police force remained deployed in the colony, on the main GT road and even at the Civil Hospital, where the postmortem was conducted around noon today. Even the funeral was held under tight security to check any incident of backlash. The family of the deceased youth had gathered at Balmiki Mandir, just 50m from the spot of the attack. The kith and kin of the youth were seen gathering around the divider of the road, which still bore the blood stains. Arjun reportedly used to sell vegetables on a cart. A member of a gang, he was unarmed when he was attacked with swords last night. Residents of the Mohalla had immediately rushed him on a rickshaw to the Civil Hospital, which, too, falls just 50 m from the spot, but he succumbed to his head and neck injuries. Meanwhile, an accomplice of the deceased Rahul is taking treatment at the Trauma Centre of the Civil Hospital. Having severe head, facial, arm and leg injuries, he was being treated at the ICU ward there. Rahul said he was with Arjun and they were casually standing by the road when four persons, Sukhdev Kalyan, alias Chiri, and his son Shiv Kalyan and nephews Sikander Kalyan and Suraj, attacked him. “Soon six-seven more youth alighted from a vehicle and attacked us. Residents of the area got alerted and they all ran away with weapons, leaving us badly injured in the middle of the road,” he said. Asked about the motive of the attack, “He said he was completely clueless.” Asked if there had been a similar incident in which Sukhdev Kalyan had been attacked by members of his group on July 16 last year at the same spot and if it could be an attempt to take revenge, he said he had no idea. “I had been lodged in jail at that time. I was behind bars for two years,” he said. Rahul’s mother Kiran is employed with the Municipal Corporation Jalandhar. Cops of Police Station Division Number 2 and 4 said both sides had been on a collision course for long with cases registered against either side. An FIR No. 98 has been registered against the four under Sections 302, 307 and 34 of the IPC at Division Number 2 on the statement of the brother of the deceased Ashwini Kumar. Ashwini alleged in his statement that he had just come out of his place when he saw his brother and his friend being scolded by the assailants, who had been warning them on complaining against them with the police over their drug trade. He said he saw them attacking the two with sharp-edged weapons and fleeing from the spot. ACP (Central) Dev Dutt Sharma said the police was on the lookout to nab the culprits. He said a search had been on in the area since the last night. Police Commissioner Kunwar Vijay Partap, too, had visited the spot yesterday where over 400 cops had been deployed all night. Political patronage?
The main accused had reportedly been taken into the SAD in the Deputy Chief Minister's presence. There have been reports of Akali patronage to the assailants. It is learnt that it was on SAD leader Subhash Sondhi’s recommendation that Deputy CM Sukhbir Badal had recently made Sukhdev Kalyan join the party. While Akali district president Gurcharan Singh Channi has gone abroad, the party’s media in charge Charanjiv Lally said he had sent the report to the party leadership demanding his expulsion. He said it was unfortunate that such a man had been inducted into the party. He denied giving him any political patronage. |
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DEOs unsafe? Working in same space even after roof of adjoining office fell
He wrote to the DC, who conveyed the matter to the education secretary, but even with an imminent threat now, the government still says the DEO shall be shifted to a new place "shortly". Housed in a rented, unsafe building for the past 15 years, the education officers of the district have spent the last over a decade in the building, portions of which have been caving in or developing new threatening cracks and crevasses every year. Finally, following the collapse of the roof last week, the district (and state) administrations seriously considered the shifting of officials to another building for the first time in ages. While the roof collapsed at a time when no one was in the office, the staff seated in that room have now been adjusted in the elementary DEO’s larger office enclosure even as he continues to attend to his duties in the same office which leaks like a sieve in the rains. Sources even said that district education officials had been asked to look for a new rented accommodation on their own since no government office was available. While the DEO (Elementary) sits on the first floor, the office of the DEO (Secondary) is on the ground floor, right below the DEO (E)’s. DEO (Elementary), Anil Awasthi said, “I wrote to the DC on the issue and we have been told that we shall be shifted soon. We could be shifted to the In-Service Training Institute on the Ladowali road or elsewhere according to availability. There is no government space or office available at the DC complex to house us, but new arrangement shall be made soon. Currently, I’m operating from the same office and the staff whose room roof fell have been adjusted with me.” DEO (Senior Secondary) Kuldeep Sharma said, “For a long time, requests are being made to shift us to a new building. While I am on the ground floor, the urgent need to shift is for first floor officials because a roof caved in and space is also less there. At a meeting held in Chandigarh yesterday, the education secretary said we will be shfited soon. Possibly, arrangements will be made for both the DEOs and the CEO (Circle Education Officer) in a new building. It all depends on the space available.” Deputy Commissioner KK Yadav said, “We received a proposal from the DEO (E) to shift him to the Government In-Service Training Centre. I have brought the matter to the Education Secretary and they also visited Chandigarh yesterday regarding the issue. Since no government building is presently empty, we are on the lookout for an appropriate office space. We presently await the orders of the education secretary.” Education Secretary Anjali Bhawra said, “The DEOs shall be shifted to an alternative place shortly.” When asked in approximately how many days the shift will take place, she said, “Shortly.”
'Well of death'
Spread in an 8-kanal area, some employees have nicknamed the DEO office "maut da khooh" (well of death), especially during rains when it drips badly. The entire roof of the building drips during rains which also poses danger to documents. In the past, when girders of another office fell, they were fixed with wooden planks. About 50 to 60 staff work at the office. In 2013, the stairs leading to the first floor had been rendered unusable and a wooden ladder was being used to go to the first floor. They have now been repaired. But the officials dread the rains.
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Bid to loot ATM
Jalandhar, June 18 Even as residents of the area had employed a watchman, the bank had not appointed any security guard specifically for the ATM. It was this morning that residents got to know about the attempt and they informed the Rama Mandi police about the same. A team of cops visited the spot and managed to get some clues from the CCTV footage. Perhaps being inexperienced, the youths did not realise that their videos were being captured on cameras installed there. They had also come unarmed with gas-cutters. SHO Rama Mandi Balwinder Singh said the footage revealed that the youths had entered the premises and fiddled with the ATM. He said efforts were being made to identify the two and nab them. He said the attempt took place around 4 am today. The cops also interrogated the watchman of the area Ram Lalla Chaudhary who told them that he was in the area till 3:30 am. He said he suspected three youths riding a bike and taking a tour in the colony last night. But he said that till the time he was on duty, no such attempt had been made.
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Bhagat Puran Singh Sehat Bima Yojna Deepkamal Kaur Tribune News Service
Kapurthala, June 18 DS Mangat, Deputy Commissioner, Kapurthala, said a family comprising five members could avail free medical treatment by paying just Rs 30 per annum. He said the facility had been extended in all government hospitals, primary health centres and empanelled private hospitals. He said the benefits of the scheme would be extended to the new-born babies also. Mangat said ASHA workers of the Health Department handed over the cards to each beneficiary family. He informed that 173 BPL families got the cards in Kapurthala, 1,007 in Phagwara, 480 in Sultanpur Lodhi, 4,401 in block Kala Sanghian, 4,573 in block Tibba, 4,165 in block Panchhta and 296 in block Dhilwan. Besides, 5,171 such families have been issued these smart cards online.
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Defence Welfare Office conducts coaching classes
Jalandhar, June 18 The Deputy Commissioner, Jalandhar, has always extended whole-hearted support to run these classes every year. Brig IJS Chauhan, SM, Commander, 91 Sub Area, also visited the campus on Wednesday and motivated the students. He wished the candidates success in the examinations. Lt Col Harvinder Pal Singh, District Defence Services Welfare Officer, also expressed his views and guided the candidates. Sh Baljinder Singh, Science Supervisor, Sh Dharampal Singh, NDA Coordinator and faculty staff were also present on the occasion.
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Vigilance Bureau collects samples of road material
Jalandhar, June 18 Reportedly, Senior Deputy Mayor Kamaljit Bhatia and Deputy Mayor Arvinder Kaur Oberoi gave a memorandum to the Vigilance Bureau two weeks ago, seeking a probe into the alleged corruption in the road patch work worth Rs 13 crore undertaken by the Municipal Corporation, Jalandhar, last year. These roads were constructed under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojna (PMGSY) six and four months ago, respectively. A spokesperson of the Bureau said the first stretch of the road was laid down at a cost of Rs 345.85 lakh by the Jalandhar Cantonment wing of Punjab Works Department and was completed in December last year. As per the agreement, work on this road was started on November 21, 2012 and was completed by May 25, 2013. But within one month of its upgrade, the road was broken at different places. He said the second stretch of village Nagar-Apra-Mukandpur Road was completed four months ago but it was also damaged at different places. “The joint checking of these roads was conducted by a technical team of the Vigilance Bureau, Chandigarh, and officers of the PWD, Mohali, under the leadership of Jalandhar Vigilance Bureau wing DSP Bhupinder Singh. After the examination report, action would be taken against the erring officials.” said the spokesman.
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Admission to Meritorious school evokes lukewarm response
Jalandhar, June 18 With the estimated merit (number of government school students in the district getting more than 80 per cent marks) being assumed to be about 300 from the district alone, the number of forms received so far, reflects either a disconnect or lack of exposure about the scheme among students and the schools. The personnel responsible for collection of the forms said, “It would be a bit early to deduce that the scheme is receiving a lukewarm response. The majority of forms are expected on Friday and Saturday. We are expecting to meet the 200 to 250 mark in the coming three days.” The highest number of forms deposited are from local and Goraya-based schools. While those from areas like Shahkot, Nakodar, Lohian and Phillaur were the lowest, sources said. Sources said the prime reason seems lack of awareness about the scheme because the key declarations about the submission of forms have been made during the holidays. However, it was said a number of meritorious students were themselves bringing in the forms. DEO (Secondary) Kuldeep Sharma said, “We are positive that the submission of forms from the district would be high. There are reports that principals are getting The forms shall be submitted to officials at the DEO’s office until June 21. On June 22, data from the district and neighbouring regions will be consolidated and sent by the respective DEOs to the state government. The final instructions and admissions to the meritorious schools will be held based on further orders from the senior officials.
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Five more buses under km scheme likely
Jalandhar, May 18 Presently, seven buses run under the scheme, for which the contract between JCBL and Punjab Roadways is going to expire in August. Since it is still unclear about the renewal of the contract and the Punjab Roadways has floated a the proposal. “We are getting good response under the kilometre scheme. However, we are not sure about the continuation of the contract, so we have sent a proposal to the state government to allow the buses,” said Ranjit Singh Bagga, Works Manager, Punjab Roadways, Jalandhar.
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NRI Sabha to launch campaign against fake members
Jalandhar, June 18 The Executive Council (EC) of the sabha will send letters to all the Deputy Commissioners, asking them to provide the membership details, along with the documentary proof of the respective NRI members in their area. The sabha took the decision after Pritam Singh Narangpur, former president of the sabha, who held the office for almost two years, failed to provide any proof of his NRI status as demanded by the sabha recently. Even 500 members from Kapurthala also failed to provide any documentary proof of their NRI status to the sabha. Till date, 25,000 members are enrolled with the sabha. “For long, we have been receiving complaints about membership being given to illegible persons. Even, Pritam Singh Naurangpur, who held the office for two years, failed to provide a copy of his passport despite sending an official notice many times. So, we have taken the decision to scrutinise the record of all the members,” said Jasvir Singh Gill, president, NRI Sabha, Punjab. He said around 500 NRI members from Kapurthala also failed to provide any documentary evidence till date about their NRI status despite sending repeated reminders to them. “We would revoke the membership of those members, whose documents were found to be fake and incomplete, with immediate effect,” said Gill. The NRI Sabha will check the fake memberships by scrutinising the documents of all the 25,000 members enrolled since its inception in 1996
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from schools & colleges
St Soldier Group of Institutions, Jalandhar, announced Young Scholars Reward Scheme. Addressing the mediapersons Anil Chopra, chairman, said the scheme was specifically introduced to provide higher education to all deserving students. Hundreds of students from the region will be selected under the scheme. Vice-chairperson Sangeeta Chopra said, “St. Soldier Group will give absolutely free education to 10 students, 75 per cent to 20 students, 50 per cent to 30 students and 25 per cent to 40 students. The deserving students from all categories including general, SC/ST, BC/OBC can avail of the scheme by applying online at the website www.stsoldiergroup.in
The scheme is applicable for the MBA,MCA, BTech and polytechnic only. For the rest of the courses, the Master Raj Kanwar Chopra Scholarships is already being offered. More than 3,000 students have already availed these scholarships and are successfully pursuing education. The Young Scholars Reward Scheme is available for all the students aspiring to get education in St Soldier Group of Institutions. NGO, Social Welfare Societies, parents and students were asked to apply online at website www.stsoldiergroup.in or send their request at stsoldierinstitute@gmail.com or call 09814003681. The last date of the scholarships and YSR Scheme is June 30. Merit certificate from Harvard Medical School
Principal of Hans Raj Mahila Maha Vidyalaya, Dr Rekha Khalia Bhardwaj, presented a paper on the topic “Spiritualism in Education”, a research article based on the theoretical and practical perspective of eminent Indian thinkers, at Harvard Medical School, Boston, at an international conference held from May 26 to May 30. Rekha received a merit certificate for her research presentation. Staff members congratulated her on the achievement. — TNS
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Jalandhar, June 18
Jalandhar, June 18
Jalandhar, June 18
Jalandhar, June 18
Jalandhar, June 18
Jalandhar, June 18