Jalandhar, November 6
Clearly explaining his stand that he was not against the launching of the solid waste management project, vice chairman of National Commission for SCs, Dr Raj Kumar Verka, today said that he would issue a seven-day notice to Commissioner of Municipal Corporation, Deputy Commissioner and Police Commissioner asking them to reply on a complaint lodged against them by the safai karamcharis of the Municipal Corporation.

The safai karamcharis led by union leader Chandan Grewal met him at the Circuit House this evening and demanded that an FIR be lodged against the officials for trying to “intimidate them by showing guns yesterday, unnecessarily trying to create a scene similar to the days of militancy and even provoking them to react against members of a community who had been hired by a private firm for door-to-door collection of waste.”

Grewal, who reportedly met ACP Jasvir Rai during the day to lodge his protest with the officer for taking his gun out of holster during the garbage bin distribution at Pucca Bagh locality yesterday, said that such an action was uncalled for.

Dr Verka said he had called the three officers just to check a few points — the jobs of the existing safai karamcharis were secure, that there would be no exploitation against anyone, their interests were being protected and they are given due respect.

“In case, I feel that the administration is watchful on all these points and gives me an assurance regarding the same, I have no problem. However, if I get a report otherwise, I will get an FIR lodged against them under Prevention of Atrocities Act 1989,” he said.

The safai karamcharis continued their day-long dharna in front of the MC office. Meanwhile, in view of the Gurpurb celebrations today, the Municipal Corporation did not go ahead with bin distribution or door-to-door collection of waste today. Satish Sharma of the JITF Infrastructure Limited said, “We were told that there would be no untoward incident today. We could not even get enough security for the purpose. So we only lifted the garbage from the dumping sites and got it transported to Wariana under police protection.”

Jalandhar, November 6
The Nakodar city police have failed to make any arrest in a rape case even after four months of lodging an FIR. The victim is a 22-year-old Muslim Gujjar girl.

The victim, along with her brother Muhammad Yusi, today lodged a complaint in this regard with Vice Chairman of National Commission of SCs, Dr Raj Kumar Verka, during the latter’s visit to the city.

The victim’s brother alleged in the complaint that the accused had come to his place at Malri village on July 9, threatened him and took away his sister to an undisclosed location.

He said it was after he approached the police that he was able to locate his sister in an unconscious state and got her admitted to the Civil Hospital.

The brother said even after four months of the barbaric incident and lodging of FIR number 308, the accused were still at large and they were being told that investigations were on.

Dr Verka assured them that he would look into the matter.

Jalandhar, November 6
The District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum issued non-bailable warrants against the manager of a firm named Nitishree Infrastructure Limited on November 3, 2014 following the failure of the firm to comply with the forum orders.

Earlier, the forum had asked the chairman and directors of the company on August 14, 2013 to pay Rs 9,725 per month as compensation from April, 2008 till the completion and delivery of the possession of the flat to the complainants.

Members of a Bikrampura-based family, PN Dhir, his son Puneet Dhir and daughter-in-law Manika Dhir had filed a complaint stating that the company had called applications for the sale of flats at Shourya Greens Apartments in Surya Enclave in 2007.

The chairman and directors of the company had committed in the agreement that they had got the license to develop the flats.

As per the agreement, the complainants deposited Rs 3.5 lakh vide two different cheques and thereafter, the applicants were to deposit the payments in instalments as per the construction of the project (slab wise).

It was duly stipulated in the agreement that the opposite parties were bound to complete the construction and handover the complete flat to the complainants by December 2007.

Speaking to Jalandhar Tribune, Punit Dhir said his family got the financial assistance from HDFC Limited and paid Rs 15.6 lakh in one shot to the opposite party. Not only this, before getting the loan, the complainants paid a huge amount to the opposite parties.

He said they had also paid interest on the loan amount taken from the HDFC Limited but failed to get rebate on the income tax.

The family members said they had been burdened with the interest amount of Rs 6,72,545. They alleged that the company officials were manipulating the accounts and never submitted the correct statement of accounts, nor supplied the correct accounts to the complainants.

While the family claims that it has nothing to pay now but the owners of the company had demanded Rs l,02,945 in May 2008 and had been charging the interest illegally on this amount till now.

“Rather, the opposite parties are liable to pay the penal amount of Rs 5 per sq ft per month till the completion of the construction of the flat from December 2007. The total area of the flat is 1955 sq feet. So, the penalty amount per month is Rs 9,775 and the total calculation shows the total amount recoverable is Rs 5,66,950 and this amount will go further up as the construction has not been complete yet,” said the family members.

Following a thorough review of the case, the forum reached on a conclusion that it was evident that the flats had not been completed till date. The company has already delayed the construction of the flat and delivery of its possession to the complainants by five years.

The forum observed, “When the opposite parties are not completing the construction of the flat, they are not entitled to receive any interest or penal interest on the ground that complainants have failed to make the entire payment of the flat.

The payment by the allottees is construction-linked. When the opposite parties are themselves defaulters and have delayed the construction of the flat by five years, they are stopped from charging any interest or penal interest on the ground of delayed payment.”

Jalandhar, November 6
With the DPI (S) instructing all the DEOs to submit the statistics on all primary schools with less than 30 students, the speculation on merger of primary schools are rife yet again.

The DPI (S) in a meeting with the DEOs held yesterday instructed the DEOs to submit the statistics regarding the schools and the number of teachers in these schools.

Notably, while the department is keeping it low profile this time, and calling the move just a proposal, insiders say some block primary education officers (BPEOs) have already instructed teachers in their blocks to consider as to which schools with little strength of teachers can be merged with other schools.

Another reason for the department keeping it quiet this time could be the strong reaction to mergers, which were seen in the district the last time such a declaration was made, with various villages openly coming out in protest against them.

While the department is yet to formally release information regarding the number of schools in the district, which have to be merged, parents and villagers at some of the blocks are already apprehensive about its outcome.

While there are a number of schools – especially in the district’s border or rural areas – which have less than 30 students, all the 19 blocks in the district have at least two (in many cases more) schools, which have less than 30 students.

Cases in point being Government Primary Schools (GPS) at Kotla Bhagu (28 students), Wara Sidhpur (14), Bal Hukmi (22 students), which are likely to be merged with Government Primary Schools at Noorpur Chattha, Bhodipur and Ladhran, respectively.

GPS in the Shahkot block include Farjian, Baopur Khurd (14 students), Dharniwal (25 to 26 students) among others, GPS in the Goraya block with less than 30 students include Kala Nano Majra and Lidher Khurd and those in the Phillaur block include Sagnewal and Lidher Khurd Government Primary School.

Interestingly, while many other blocks also have a number of schools with less than 30 students and two teachers, some of the schools with more than 100 and 200 schools in the district have only one teacher.

Staff members at many of the schools say while the merger would balance the teacher-student ratio, the real problem lies in the way the mergers happen.

“Just a DEO and his support staff are not enough to delegate mergers properly. Often the schools which don’t have sound infrastructure have more students assigned to them during mergers, due

to which, the staff have difficulty in doing the jobs. Also, students at various villages face inconvenience in terms of transportation from their homes to new schools, which is the main issue that leads to protests. The government seldom pays attention to the transportation problem,” said sources.

Commenting on the issue of mergers, DEO (Elementary) Jaswant Singh said, “We are not yet aware of the schools, which have been shortlisted in the district, though the details will come out in a few days. My teams surveyed some of the schools yesterday.”

Meanwhile, the official version of the Education Department still maintains that the information is not being sought for mergers but for collecting statistics of teachers with respect to the implementation of the RTE Act in schools.

Jalandhar, November 6
On the occasion of the Parkash Utsav of Guru Nanak Dev, a nagar kirtan led by the Panj Piaras started from Nirmal Kutia. During the Gurpurb celebrations today, devotees partook of langar arranged by various religious groups.

It was for the first time that celebrations were marked with special facilities, which included large-scale parking and temporary toilet arrangements, to facilitate the devotees.

There was special deputation of sewadars by environmentalist Balbir Singh Seechewal.

Seechewal expressed his concern on the issue of water in the state as well as the Kala Sanghian Drain, which is being polluted.

Performing the kar sewa at the Bein for the past many years, Seechewal said while the Bein was being polluted on the one hand, on the other hand, rampant burning of paddy was polluting the air.

Seechewal appealed to the devotees to pick up all polythene bags falling on the way while walking along the banks of the Bein. The procession of devotees paid obeisance at Gurdwara Ber Sahib, Gurdwara Hatt Sahib, Gurdwara Bebe Nanki, Gurdwara Sant Ghat and finally reached Nirmal Kutia.

Gurpurb celebrations in the city were also marked with great fervour.

Grand celebrations were seen at the Model Town Gurdwara where more than 20,000 people partook the langar.

While Shri Guru Singh Sabha Gurdwara at Model Town was decked up in colourful lights, the sewa for the sangat was performed by students and staff of Guru Amar Das Public school as well as the gurdwara sewadars.

The gurdwara organised special kirtan by Hazoori ragis of Shri Darabar Sahib Amritsar – Bhai Sulakhan Singh and Bhai Sukhbir Singh along with Bhai Chatar Singh Jalandhar Vale and Bhai Surinder Singh Ramta Jalandhar Vale among others.

Eminent personalities also attended the Gurpurb celebrations, including Baljit Singh Neelamahal, former chairman of the Improvement Trust, Tejinder Bittu, chairman of the Improvement Trust, Gurcharan Singh Channi, SAD (urban) president, Jalandhar, Yurinder Hayer, Commissioner of Police, Chaudhary Santokh Singh, Congress MP, Jagbir Brar and former MLA among others.

With the city decked up throughout the day and lights gleaming in the streets in the evening, the fervour of Gurpurb was well visible in the town even as most buildings and gurdwaras were decorated with colourful lights.

Jalandhar, November 6
In order to maintain depleting water table and to save the input costs of wheat sowing, the Agriculture Department, Jalandhar, has asked farmers to adopt ‘bed sowing technique’.

Besides saving the input cost, the technique will increase the production by three to four per cent. As per officials in the Agriculture Department , they are set to launch a block-level campaign to apprise the farmer about the same.

Around 1.71 lakh hectare wheat is expected to be sown in all 10 blocks of the Jalandhar district.

“During the campaign, farmers will be told about the benefits of the scheme through demonstrations,” said Dr Naresh Gulati, Agriculture Development Officer.

”Farmers will be able to save expenditure on, seeds, fertilisers and herbicides. We are expecting to finish the demonstration around November 15,” added Gulati.

“The department is also promoting the ‘zero till machine’ and ‘happy seeders’ for wheat sowing. With these machines, a sum of Rs 1,200 to Rs 2,000 can be saved. With the use these machines, farmers don’t need to burn the paddy residue before sowing the wheat that cause environmental pollution,” said Manmohan Kalia, Agriculture Engineer.

“The zero till machine costs between Rs 45,000 to Rs 50,000 and happy seeder costs between Rs 1 lakh to 1.25 lakh. The government has made these machines available at cooperative societies alternatively, so that farmers can hire them on rent,” added Kalia.

“With the usage of these machines, the soil fertility improves a lot,” he said. 

Jalandhar, November 6
The city police have recovered a Swift Dzire (PB-08-BP-0136), which was robbed of from the house of a sugar trader Rajiv Munjal, locasted at Shaheed Udham Singh Nagar at gunpoint on the night of November 2.

The car was found lying abandoned at Income Tax Colony here. A caller had informed the police about the car lying parked in the colony last evening.

ADCP-1 Paramjit Singh, said the recovery could help nail the assailants as well.

Armed miscreants had looted cash, valuables and the car. The incident had taken place when Munjal left for a walk in the nearby park. They robbers had taken Munjal’s mother Sudarshna, wife Nidhi, cook Sonu and servant Chhotu as captive at the gunpoint.

The police had been conducting investigations since the past four days and enquiring the footage of CCTV cameras installed at several adjoining houses.. Following the incident, Police Commissioner Yurinder Singh Hayer, along with DCP Naveen Singla, had also reached the spot for investigation.

Jalandhar, November 6
As many as 700 students were made aware of different vocational courses by 10 experts of different fields at Bhogpur under a vocational courses programme organised by the District Bureau of Employment Generation and Training Department in collaboration with the District Administration as per the directions of the Principal Secretary, Employment Generation and Training Department, Punjab.

The purpose of the programme was to make students of classes X, XI and XII aware about of courses, including hotel management, medical, paramedical, defence services, short-term courses of the Punjab Government and PDT scheme of the Employment Department.

Deputy Director, District Bureau of Employment Generation and Training Department, Jalandhar, Sanjida Berry, appealed to teachers to ensure that their students attend such programmes.

Jalandhar, November 6
CT Institute of Engineering, Management and Technology bagged the runners-up trophy of PTU Inter-Zonal Youth Fest, that concluded today.

The event was hosted by CT Group of Institutions on its Shahpur Campus. The overall trophy of the youth fest was won by BBSBEC, Fatehgarh Sahib. The CTIEMT teams got 63 points and BBSBEC, Fatehgarh Sahib earn 74 points to won the trophy.

The concuding day witnessed the extraordinary performances in western solo, western group song, giddha, international group dance and the final prize distribution function of the youth fest.Students also presented classical dance, international group dance and Indian folk dance.

Dr Rajneesh Arora, Vice- Chancellor, Punjab Technical University (PTU) was the chief guest for the day. He appreciated the PTU and the CT Group of Institutions for organising the youth festival successfully. He congratulated the management of CT Group of Institutions for providing assistance to the PTU to host this mega event.

Charanjit Singh Channi (chairman, CT Group of Institutions), Manbir Singh (managing director, CT Group of Institutions), Dr Manoj Kumar (group director, CT Institutions) and Harpreet Singh (vice chairman, CT Group of Institutions) felicitated Dr Rajneesh Arora, Vice-Chancellor, PTU, and other dignitaries for gracing the occasion.

Other dignitaries including Dr Rajneesh Sachdeva ,Registrar, PTU, Dr SM Kant (advisor, youth and cultural affairs, PTU) and Dr MS Grewal, principal, SUSCET, were also present on the occasion.

Jalandhar, November 6
India Centre for Migration (ICM) and Management Institute of Population and Development (a Unit of Parivar Seva Sansthan) are planning to start a project to spread awareness about ‘safe and legal migration’ in the state from January next year. The centres have successfully completed a pilot project in the Doaba region.

The purpose of the project is to stop illegal migration from the state and make the rural folk understand its consequences, preventions taken at the time of migration, setting of helplines, registered agents and schemes for immigrants etc. “Following the successful completition of the pilot project in four districts of Doaba including Jalandhar, Kapurthala, Hoshiarpur, and Nawanshahar and one Majha district Gurdaspur, the project will be started across the state in collaboration with the European Union,” said Dr PRC Patnaik, project co-ordinator while talking to Jalandhar Tribune.

“From the pilot project launched in Doaba , we came to know that people don’t know that there is any government agency to help them on the issue of illegal agents. There are some government agencies including Protector of Immigrants in Chandigarh, Protector General of Emigrants New Delhi and Migration Resource Centre in Panchkula working to help people on immigration issues,” added Dr Patnaik .

“Street playsand puppet shows will be organised. The project will also be conducted in Andhra Pradesh,” he said.