Jalandhar, October 20
Jubilation prevails among the employees of the aided schools of the state following a recent High Court ruling which grants revised grade pay to the lecturers, lab attendants and class IV employees of the aided schools, a demand which they had been struggling for a long time.

Members of the Aided Schools and Other Employees Union Punjab Arvind Bains and Manish Aggarwal said the Punjab and Haryana High Court gave a judgment in favour of the aided school employees.

They said the HC ruled that the said employees should be given revised grade pay within a span of three months.

The ruling has affected 1,000 employees in 484 aided schools of the state.

Employees today demanded that the Education Department should implement the ruling of the HC soon and grant them salaries as per the revised grade pay.

According to this decision, lecturers shall now be getting grade pay of Rs 5,400, revised from Rs 5,000 which they were formerly getting; class IV employees will be getting grade pay of Rs 1,650 revised from former pay of Rs 1,300 and lab attendants will be getting grade pay of Rs 2,400 revised from Rs 1,900.

Even as the aided school employees get similar salaries as government school employees, but time and again step-motherly treatment towards aided schools by the government has been alleged. Even as there were revisions in the grade pays of the lecturers, lab attendants and class IV employees working in government schools as early as December 2011, the grade pays of the lecturers, lab attendants and class IV employees working in aided schools were left out of the revisions, causing great resentment among them.

Following this, these employees made rounds both of the Education Department and financial departments of the government, but did not receive their due.

When all other options were exhausted, the employees knocked the doors of the Punjab and Haryana High Court. 

Jalandhar, October 20
With the kicking off of the NRI season in the city, the district health department has enhanced surveillance on the NRIs coming to the district with suspected Ebola cases.

Although not fully equipped, it is scrutinsing the suspected cases coming from countries like Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Nigeria. Also it is carefully monitoring any unusual health pattern amongst the NRIs coming from Kuwait, Yemen, United Arab Emirates, the USA, the UK and Spain .

“So far, we have received only two suspected cases of Ebola but after the quarantine period of one month, they have now been cleared of any infection. One was from Bhakhu Nangal vllage who came from Nigeria and the other one was from the defence services who recently came back from a UN peacekeeping mission in an African country,” said Dr Satish Sood, district epidemiologist, Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP), running under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. He further said that the department had received the personal protection equipment (PPE) from the Union Government to fight any Ebola outbreak in the district.

The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare recently issued an advisory for the travellers coming to India. In-flight announcements regarding the disease prior to landing are being done by airlines. Mandatory reporting of passengers from the affected countries had been put in place at all major airports since August 10. The surveillance system at airports and ports is being strengthened and the IDSP has been put on alert.

“With the arrival of NRIs from various parts of the world to the district this season, the Ebola threat has indeed increased manifold, but we are keeping a strict vigilance on them. We regularly receive health update on the NRIs coming to the district through the IDSP updates that thoroughly conduct the medical examination of the passengers arriving in India,” said Dr RL Bassan, Civil Surgeon.

While the health department claimed that it was all prepared to tackle any Ebola outbreak in the district, in reality, it has so far not conducted any mock decontamination drill to tackle any exigency. Also, no isolation ward or special lab facility has been planned to handle an Ebola patient if one arrives here. Also, no awareness drive has been conducted so far in the city on the deadly disease.

Jalandhar, October 20
Two unidentified armed miscreants looted a woman of gold ornaments at her residence in the Model Town locality here this afternoon. The incident occurred when the woman was alone at home. Daljinder Kaur said her husband was away to work, while her children were at school when the incident took place.

The main door of the house was open. Suddenly two men, carrying weapons, entered our house and threatened me at gun point. They looted gold ornaments worth several lakhs. They took away four gold bangles, two gold chains and two gold rings, the woman told the police.

She said when she tried to raise an alarm, the miscreants threatened to kill her.

Jalandhar, October 20
While residents flood the markets before Diwali, the fear of adulterated food items is one that drives many to abandon sweets and milk products altogether before Diwali. Some question when tonnes of food and milk products are being consumed, do a couple of seizures enough in a city which is famous for its love for sweets.

While many say the health department and the police seizures mean a lot of hectic activity on the ground level, sceptics say the work is too little given the amount of adulterated food actually landing in the city right before Diwali.

Residents and citizens speak up on the extent to which adulteration has tormented them in the district and whether they think the measures taken by the officials are enough.

"Before Diwali, most of the adulteration is in the paneer (cheese). The adulterated cheese is made from a substance which is almost a crude form of a rubber and highly dangerous for the body. The problem with the existing system is that unless a big wig finds something wrong with his meal or food product, an establishment is not raided. The health of a common man is not a matter of urgency for the administration. But that of regular person — without money or political connections — suffering every day, is not even taken into account. Before Diwali, a citizen cannot trust any sweet or food item made with a milk product. We have given up on sweets in the festive season and have been relying on biscuits this time because sweets can't be trusted," said professor Sandeep Chahal.

"There is not a single food item today which is safe for consumption. Everything has a trail of adulteration and the menace takes it most intense form around the festive season. There are vendors who put ammonia in food items, vegetables are coloured, cold drinks are diluted and milk products are the worst affected. Even as health teams have certainly managed to put a scare into people's mind. There is a lot of work which still needs to be done. There is also need that the big and small establishments are raided on an equal basis. Many times, there is a feeling that bigger houses are not on the agenda of the administration or health department," said activist Surinder Saini.

"Adulteration is rampant in the district. There is no doubt about that but the main problem is one never hears anyone from the big sweet houses being nailed. It is always the small fish who are being inspected. While majority of the adulterated milk products and materials, especially khoya, come from Muzaffarnagar in UP, one has never heard of a drive at the station or special inspection at routes from where there is a possibility of such materials being ferried. As a common man, I've heard that such materials do come in the city, but I have never heard the administration taking action. As far as the health department is concerned, the drives should start way earlier. Around Diwali there should be such strictness that no shady vehicle is allowed into the city. The health department should be pro-active. While they are doing inspections, clearly much more works needs to be done. Moreover, given the lack of staff, the Health Department should have deputed extra staff for inspections but there has been no such move," said SK Kapoor, activist, CHITRA, an NGO.

“If there was enough action by the administration then such activities would have already stopped in the city. But clearly there is lack of fearlessness among offenders. Around Diwali most of the food items can't be trusted. There have been major hauls of sweets and desi ghee and the like. People are not scared of the law. If some moves are made which are strict with offenders, then they will start being scared. But for that people are needed who have the ability to take tough stands for law enforcement. Shopkeepers play with people's health for little profits. Citizen's participation, in turn, is very essential. People should be careful about what not to consume. Laymen don't even get to know about the amount of bad food they end up consuming," said Jaswinder Singh, activist, Yaad Foundation.

“The adulteration of food items, in a way, is also a big curb on the freedom to eat the kind of food we prefer. We can't trust shops, foods and our milk. Even though it is clear that despite staff shortage and problems at homes many health officials work tirelessly to counter this menace in the district, another sorry fact is that there is lack of stern willingness to tackle the menace. A few days ago some persons found a big worm in their cold drink bottle. People develop all kinds of ailments at all times. We have lost our freedom to be healthy because the food we eat isn't trustworthy anymore. When they can even play with branded food items like cold drinks, how can one trust non-branded food? For any citizen, it is clear that many food establishments are being shielded. Stern measures are the only way in which offenders can be tackled," said Gurdarshan Singh, a resident.

"Although one can't say adulteration has totally been eradicated from the face of the city, but for the past few years, the efforts made by the health department have clearly increased manifold. The number of vendors and shopkeepers who are scared to indulge in such practices has certainly increase because to some extent they know if a raid happens they won't be spared. While health teams are doing their bid to deal with the problem, the efforts need to be greatly increased so that no one suffers. The health of citizens should be of utmost importance to the administration and health authorities," said Sukhwinder Singh, a businessman.

"The pre-Diwali shopping largely consists of gifts - which are mostly edible. While the beautiful packaged and decorated stuff burns a big hole in our pockets, it is a major turn off to know that this stuff is actually fake. We shell out loads of money only to be duped. On top of it, this generation is falling prey to diseases and sickness never heard of before. There should be a total stop to adulterated food items in the market and the punishment should be so strict that no one dares to dupe customers in future. These things are certainly not to be taken lightly. All ones hopes is that the administration safeguards their health rather than becoming a part of that very system," said Shilpa Sharma, lecturer.

"While administration is certainly responsible for enforcing laws, people can also put in substantial contributions to end the menace. If they stop buying stuff for which they even have the slightest doubt about, stop taking fast food and only stick to branded and good quality items, then the loot can be countered. Especially sweet shops which charge thousands of rupees for exotic sweets have a lot of responsibility on their shoulders. Another very important thing is the establishment of independent big labs in the district itself, from where people can get foods checked. If all this is done, there is still a possibility for improvement of our food quality," said Vicky Sharma, another businessman.

Jalandhar, October 20
In the mysterious death case of an 85-year-old NRI, who was found dead at his residence in Dhaliwal Kadia village, Lambra, on October 15, the Lambra police have registered a murder case against unidentified miscreants.

Although the police have not received any vital clue about the killers, but investigation into the mysterious death, which was earlier considered as natural death, is now being focused on the murder angle.Yesterday, a post-mortem of the deceased was conducted in the presence of his kin. The deceased Hakam Singh, who had recently returned from the USA, died under mysterious circumstances.

Sources said a murder case was registered by the Lambra police after the deceased’s kin alleged to the police that it was a murder not a natural death.The deceased’s kin asked the police to get vital clue about the killers and apprehend them. The police had already sent the viscera samples to the chemical laboratory in Kharar to inquire the exact cause of death.—TNS

Jalandhar, October 20
The Corps of Military Police (CMP) celebrated its platinum jubilee on Sunday. Lt Gen NPS Hira, General Officer Commanding, Vajra Corps, was the chief guest on the occasion. He interacted with jawans and applauded their role in maintaining good order and military discipline. The celebration was attended by serving and retired Army officers, junior commissioned officers and jawans.

The Corps of Military Police was initially raised in 1939 at Secunderabad as Force Four Pro Unit.—TNS

Jalandhar, October 20
District Transport Department, Jalandhar, is planning to open High Security Registration Plate (HSRP) installation centres at the subdivision level to speed up the installation process seem to have been hanging fire as the land for the same has still not been allotted.

In order to ease out the district residents in installing High Security Registration Plates, the District Transport Office had planned to open payment counters and fitment centres at all sub divisions in Jalandhar including Phillaur, Nalodar and Shahkot.

As per their plan the centres should have been opened as of now. However, the Phillaur subdivision was to get payment and fitment centre on priority bases. Yet due to unavailability of land the same has been delayed.

Meanwhile, Arjun Singh Angral, Zonal Operations Manager, Agros Impex (I) Private Limited, has the contract to install HSRP said State Transport Commissioner had yet to approve the same.

As soon as the approval is provided to open up payment and fitment centres at sub division level, the process for the same will be started.

District Transport Officer RP Singh said Sub Divisional Magistrates (SDM) to respective subdivisions had been asked to provide the land in this regard.

He said the process for the same was started a few months ago and the SDMs of the respective areas were asked for the land. Yet for the past one month the course of actions to get the land have been speeded up.

"The land in Phillaur Sub Division has been selected at BDPO office, local SDM has yet to provide permission," he said.

Prior to this, the DTO has already said the directions have been made not to issue the challans to vehicles that do not have the HSRP. Apart from this the numbers of visitors at the payment and installation centre in Jalandhar have been reduced.

Arjun Singh Angral said that out 8 lakh vehicles in Jalandhar district 2.5 lakh vehicles have been installed with HSRP. 

Jalandhar, October 20
The 31st edition of the Surjit Hockey Tournament will be held at the local Olympian Surjit Astro Turf Hockey Stadium, Burlton Park, from October 29 to November 9. Dr Daljit Singh Cheema, Minister for Education, Punjab, will inaugurate the tournament.

KK Yadav, Deputy Commissioner, Jalandhar, and ex-officio president of the society, said the tournament would be played on knockout-cum-league basis. "Around 20 top ranking teams in men's section will take part in this 12 days hockey bonanza. So far 9 teams have been placed in knockout-cum-qualifying round, while 11 teams, including the team from Pakistan have been seeded directly into League Stage. One team will qualify for league from the knock out-cum-qualifying round matches," said Yadav.

The knockout-cum-qualifying round matches will be held on October 29 and 30 and league stage matches will be from October 1 to November 6. Also, both the semi finals of the tournament will be played on November 8 and the finals of women and men section will be held on November 7 and 9, respectively. There will be two matches daily in men section and one match in women section. The last two matches of the tournament will be played mostly under flood lights.

Pargat Singh, Padamshree, and working president of the society informed that the tournament is organised every year by the society to keep the name of Sardar Surjit Singh Randhawa, ex-Olympian alive, who lost his life in a fatal car accident near Jalandhar on January 7, 1984 while fighting hard for upliftment of the hockey in our country.