Jalandhar, September 4
Incessant downpour here since last night put life to a halt the whole day today, as several city roads and public places got deluged with water.

There was knee-deep water on various main roads, the worst of them being Sodal Road near Preet Nagar, 120-feet road, Kapurthala Road, Police Lines Road and Garha Road. Various intersections, including PAP and Rama Mandi tri-junctions and BMC Chowk, too, remained inundated with water. The roads around the bus-stand and railway station, too, remained flooded, posing a lot of problems to commuters.

Several colonies, including Rajinder Nagar, Neelamahal and Defence Colony, had deep water that plagueded the area till evening.

Owing to no proper drainage of rainwater, the accumulated water was seen flowing above the bonnet level of several cars on Kapurthala Road. Since the road links various colonies on it, including Basti Peer Daad, Basti Sheikh, Basti Bawa Khel and Vasant Vihar, it affected hundreds of people today, many of whose vehicles broke down midway. The common entrance to the Deputy Commissioner’s office, too, had water all around and people had to wade through or hop on the encroached footpaths to get entry to the place.

The rain last night came with a thunderstorm and lightning. Since it kept drizzling the whole day today, the temperatures came down all of a sudden. The Meteorological Department of the Adampur Airforce station reported a rainfall of 26.3 mm. The minimum temperature recorded today was 24.4 C and the maximum 30.8 C. Owing to the thunder and stormy winds, the power supply in some areas, including Chhoti Baradari, Defence Colony and Model Town, got snapped.

Jalandhar, September 4
While the Punjab Government has chosen 34 teachers for the 2014 state-level Teacher’s awards, ironically Jalandhar, known to be the education hub of the state having the maximum number of universities in the state, could not get one award.

While teachers blame the lack of infrastructure and government’s sloppy approach towards improving the education sector, the District Education Officer (DEO) feels that as the teachers were not able to fill the nomination forms “impressively”, they were left behind in the race to win the state-level education awards.

“There are many teachers in the district who could have left many chosen ones behind if they had filled their nomination forms properly and more impressively. Despite repeated requests, only one had come forward and filled her nomination for the award this year.

The department is soon planning to provide training to these teachers for filing their nominations for various state and national-level awards,” said Harinder Singh, District Education Officer (DEO) for Secondary Schools.

Contrary to this, many teachers feel that except for one or two odd schools, the teachers cannot think about winning a state-level award. “How can we get an award? We do not have any infrastructure or funds to upgrade the quality of education in our respective schools. We are dealing with an all-season cash crunch for the past many years. Even the government does not send us timely grants for the upgradation or maintenance of schools,” revealed one of the principals of a government school.

Many others feel that since most of the schools have got only one or two odd streams due to the aging infrastructure, they get very few donors who would like to donate something to the school.

While the lucky 34 teachers from across the state will be getting the awards tomorrow at the state-level function to be held at DAV Engineering College, the district’s own teachers will be sitting in the crowd applauding their feat.

Jalandhar, September 4
A day ahead of the Teachers’ Day function, SSA/RMSA Teacher’s Union Punjab, Jalandhar unit today held a protest demonstration near General Post Office against the “indifferent attitude” of the government towards their issues and demands. The protesters were wearing the black badges.

Addressing the gathering, union president Sonali Sharma said the government had been spending a huge amount on the Teachers’ Day function that would be addressed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Meanwhile, the services of the SSA/RMSA teachers are not being regularised despite the fact that they fulfilled all the required formalities.

She said the services of the 7,654 teachers had already been regularised, who had been recruited after them. “We are going observe the Teacher’s Day as a black day tomorrow by wearing black badges,” she added.

Jalandhar, September 4
More than a month after the City Buses came to a halt, Municipal Corporation Commissioner Manpreet Singh Chattwal today attended a Central Monitoring Committee meeting on Urban Development and Transport in New Delhi today and apprised the GoI officials of the present status of these buses.

The City Buses are off roads since July 31, as their condition had deteriorated, profits had fallen and no new buses were being purchased, as a CNG pump is yet to come up in the city. As per the Punjab and Haryana High Court directions, any new public transport vehicle has to run on the CNG or else they cannot be given permits. Since GAIL and Jay Madhok company are fighting a legal battle on the issue for the past three years, the supply of CNG has not yet started in the city. No new autorickshaws are being permitted as these can no longer run on diesel.

Returning from the national capital after attending the meeting, the Commissioner said the officials asked him to make the purchase of buses and avail the grant, but pointed out that the issue on the CNG was a state matter and should be dealt by the Local Bodies officials here. The Commissioner said he would approach the Secretary, Local Bodies, in this regard and wait till further orders. No such problem was currently being faced in Ludhiana as the orders had been placed before the court directions. The contract of Amritsar, too, was running as per the old norms and buses are plying on diesel. Chattwal said he would discuss with the Secretary if it was okay with Jay Madhok supplying them fuel through tankers till a pump was permanently set up.

The bus service, which was to be renewed on August 16 last year, had been continued with buses in extremely bad condition plying passengers primarily on two routes in the city. The condition of some of the buses, which were over five years old, had become so pathetic that their broken parts had started to hang around, giving them an extremely shabby look while making them look unsafe too.

The Jalandhar MC had floated a plan in March to introduce 128 new buses on 13 routes on a DPR of Rs 53 crore under Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission, but the issue had been whether these buses should run on diesel or CNG or only a few buses should be purchased for the time being.

While there are just 15 large-size buses being run on four routes that were plying in the city till last month, in the new plan, buses of three sizes would run on 13 routes ensuring that a commuter does not have to wait for 10 minutes to catch a bus on a particular route. The 128 buses would include 40 AC and 88 non-AC buses. There would be 25 big buses, including 13 AC and 12 non-AC buses, 62 medium-size buses, including 16 AC and 46 non-AC, 41 mini-buses, including 11 AC and 30 non-AC buses. All the buses would be of medium floor so that these can easily ply even on broken stretches.

The 13 routes on which the buses would ply include Rama Mandi to Kartarpur (20 km), Railway Station to Rama Mandi (8.5 km), ring route (28 km) from bus stand to Garha Road, bus stand to Kishangarh (15 km), bus stand to Kartarpur (17 km), bus stand to Verka Milk Plant (12 km), bus stand to Jandu Singha (13 km), bus stand to LPU (15 km), bus stand to Jamsher (14 km), bus stand to Lambra (10 km), bus stand to St Soldier College (10 km) Basti Danishmandan, bus stand to LPU via Paragpur (10 km) via Lyallpur Khalsa College and Rama Mandi to Jalandhar Kunj (15 km).

Jalandhar, September 4
The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) has trusted the existing local leadership with various organisational portfolios which were announced by the party last evening.

While the party has retained its district presidents, Gurcharan Singh Channi (Urban) and Transport Minister Ajit Singh Kohar (rural), despite the defiance shown by Hans Raj Hans during the recent Lok Sabha polls against the party candidate Pawan Tinu, he retains the post of the vice president. Hans has great following among the Valmiki community.

The party perhaps thought that it would find the going tough by annoying the Valmiki votebank and hundreds of safai karamcharis who follow the Sufi singer.

None of the new party leaders including MLA Jalandhar Cantonment Pargat Singh, MLA Nakodar Gurpartap Singh Wadala and CPS Avinash Chander have been entrusted with any new party post.

Former Jalandhar Improvement Trust chairman Baljit Singh Neelamahal, who has for long been trying to regain his foothold in the SAD, too has not availed of any such chance.

None of the Municipal Corporation leaders including Senior Deputy Mayor Kamaljit Bhatia or Kuldeep Oberoi, husband of Deputy Mayor Arvinder Oberoi, have been able to get the post of any office-bearer.

Pawan Tinu, MLA Adampur, who had recently lost the Lok Sabha polls, has been given the post of party joint secretary.

However, Channi's supporters have expressed jubilation on his re-election. The supporters were seen greeting him with sweets, bouquets and garlands throughout the day.

Channi is also the chairman of the District Planning Committee.

Jalandhar, September 4
Local Congress councillors and workers today approached the District Food and Civil Supplies Department against the bias in the distribution of blue cards for families that are below poverty line (BPL).

They submitted a memorandum to the Assistant District Food and Civil Supply Controller, Surjit Kaur Parmar under the leadership of the District Congress Committee (Urban) president Rajinder Berry.

In the memorandum, they alleged that blue cards were not being distributed fairly and the wards represented by Congress councillors are being discriminated against.

Rajinder Berry said if this attitude continues, they will be forced to organize an agitation.

Jalandhar, September 4
The issue of six shops, a showroom and a residential accommodation coming up illegally as a single unit in the prime area of the main Model Town market has led to controversy which even the town planning officials of the Municipal Corporation have failed to resolve for the last one week.

The shops have come up right in the main market near Shivani Sharma Memorial Park. The site had eateries selling non-vegetarian food items and liquor from under a temporary construction till the last few months. A new double-storey construction has started coming up at the place now. The Municipal Corporation had issued a notice to the owner, who is said to be close to a former BJP minister, but no action has been taken.

After the MC notice, the building owner replied back saying he is ready to pay compounding charges. But the MC officials had then sought the details of the approved plan from the District Town Planner (DTP) asking him for the standard plan for the site which had been originally passed as per the Rehabilitation Scheme. The building owner has said that the shops were there since 1971 and his plan was in accordance with the standard design of which there is now no record either with the DTP or the MTP. The Rehabilitation Department too has been abolished since 1998-99.

The MC had, however, cleared a plan last year with six shops on the ground floor and a residential building on the first floor. However, the owner has covered a 20x30 feet area of open space from the rear and a 10x30 feet verandah on the front, of which he is now seeking compounding by the MC staff.

Municipal Commissioner Manpreet Singh Chattwal said he was in Delhi today. "I need to check the replies of the owner, DTP and other officials to take a final call in the matter," he said.

Jalandhar, September 4
A young man allegedly committed suicide by jumping in front of Katihaar Express near Guru Nanak Pura Colony today.

The train hit him so badly that his head was chopped off immediately after coming in contact with it. The body kept on lying on the tracks for many hours, and only after the Government Railway Police (GRP) reached the spot, it was removed from there. The identity of the man had not yet been established by the police.

According to eye-witnesses, the man was standing near the tracks at around 12 noon and the moment the train reached the spot, he suddenly jumped in front of the engine and died on the spot.

Jalandhar, September 4
The Punjab Institute of Management, Kapurthala, today organised an expert talk on 'Monetary policy of India: Issues and challenges' by Prof Charan Singh, Reserve Bank of India chair professor from the IIM Bangalore, on the main campus of Punjab Technical University (PTU).

The faculty, research scholars and students of the main campus of PTU attended the lecture. Prof Singh threw light on the key macro-economic issues governing the challenges in the monetary policy. He detailed the audience about the conventional and unconventional methods of ensuring price stability and economic growth.

PTU Vice-Chancellor Dr Rajneesh Arora said, "Such meaningful talks are the need of the hour. Students should be aware of the national as well as global economy in order to be adept at handling the challenges they will be facing in the corporate world."