Thursday, July 15, 1999
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Thursday, July 15, 1999 |
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Cong, SAD leaders clash
at bhog JALANDHAR, July 14 — The Chief Minister, Mr Parkash Singh Badal, has stated that the SAD-BJP combine will announce its candidates for 13 Lok Sabha seats in the state within a week. Mass transfers raise eyebrows CHANDIGARH, July 14 — Large-scale transfers in Punjab's Excise and Taxation Department have raised eyebrows. The government transferred 54 officers of various ranks in this revenue-earning department held by the Chief Minister. |
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Power bills on average basis |
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Tardy shifting of
polluting units LUDHIANA, July 14 — While people are suffering, the Punjab Government continues to dither on implementing its decision to shift polluting industrial units from important cities and towns of the state. Punjab
set deadline on probe Govt
college faces closure 4
PAU students die in mishap Panel
to infuse new blood into police 7
BJP councillors quit party Moga
district gets 150 villages Tributes
paid to BSF Dy Commandant |
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| Power cuts irk residents Expelled mission staffer returns |
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Medal for cop recommended 80,000 HIV positive cases in Punjab |
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Cong,
SAD
leaders clash at bhog JALANDHAR, July 14 — The Chief Minister, Mr Parkash Singh Badal, has stated that the SAD-BJP combine will announce its candidates for 13 Lok Sabha seats in the state within a week. Speaking to media persons here today at a "shardhanjli samaroh" in memory of martyr Maj Kanwar Gulzar Singh, the Chief Minister hinted that "some changes" in the nomination of candidates were expected. However, he said not all former Members of Parliament would be ignored. Answering a question that whether the Kargil issue would be made a poll plank, Mr Badal decline to comment. Earlier, while addressing a largely attended bhog ceremony, the Chief Minister hailed the sacrifices made by martyrs in defending the motherland. The Chief Minister said the Punjab Government had decided to raise suitable memorial to commemorate sacrifices of Kargil martyrs and distinguished architects and designers had been entrusted with the job of preparing designs for these memorials. He said the state government would provide a job each to family members of the martyrs and qualifications had been relaxed to adjust them. Mr Badal presented a cheque of Rs 2 lakh to the widow of the Major. SGPC Chief Bibi Jagir Kaur also presented a cheque of Rs 1 lakh to the widow of the martyr. Unfortunately, the solemn occasion was turned into a forum for partisan politics when state Congress Vice-President Santosh Chaudhary and SGPC President Jagir Kaur clashed over the issue of families of poor martyrs allegedly being ignored. Even as the Chief Minister looked on, the Congress leader alleged that the family of a particular martyr in Sri Hargobindpur in Gurdaspur was ignored, "because it was poor". "Not a single representative of the government went to console the family, Ms Chaudhary, a former MP, alleged and urged Mr Badal to ensure that martyrs’ families were not ignored because of their economic backwardness or "lack of connections". An enraged Bibi Jagir Kaur, countered Ms Chaudhary’s remarks saying "political leaders should refrain from such statements". She claimed that top
representatives of the party and the government had gone
to the martyr’s family and a cheque for Rs 2 lakh
was handed over to the martyr’s widow as ex gratia. |
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Mass transfers raise eyebrows CHANDIGARH, July 14 — Large-scale transfers in Punjab's Excise and Taxation Department have raised eyebrows. The government transferred 54 officers of various ranks in this revenue-earning department held by the Chief Minister. While the dates mentioned on these orders are July 8 and 9 as per the notification, the transfers were effected only yesterday, reliable sources here said. These are key middle level officers who enjoy a lot of clout and politicians compete with each other to have officers of their choice in the department. Sources also pointed out that officials are being asked to accept the orders in the backdate. It is also learnt that some senior officers advised against the transfers and thus avoided the wrath of the Election Commission which is keeping a critical eye on the state. In fact, confusion prevails in the government on this issue. The Police Department had prepared the list of transfers. It included one district police chief of Tarn Taran and 19 others, mostly SPs. But the Chief Secretary, Mr Rupinder Singh Mann, intervened and advised the Home Department to approach the Election Commission in this regard and transfer officers only after permission had been obtained. Consequently, the police would write to the EC. According to Mr N.S. Aulukh Inspector-General of Police (administration): "We would go by the directions of the CEC. In fact, some officers were to be posted against vacant position like Tarn Taran." But there is lot of
confusion regarding transfers. The government is not
clear who can be transferred and who cannot be. The code
of ethics, now in operation, says that those officers
cannot be transferred whose work is related to election
work. By some logic this also means all officers as they
are connected with the poll in one way or the other. Even
school teachers and patwaris are connected with election
work. But there is another argument that only those who
are directly connected with the poll should not be
transferred. |
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Power bills on average basis PATIALA, July 14 — Power consumers of the state are in for a "Bonanza". Anyone having a variation of more than 25 per cent vis a vis the last bill is being charged on average basis. Sundry charges are also not being taken by the board. The Engineers Association of the Board had claimed that verbal instructions had been issued in this regard apparently to ensure increased bills do not become an issue during the ensuing Lok Sabha elections. The bi-monthly bills released by the PSEB prove that a large number of consumers have been billed on an average basis. For instance Mr Narang Singh with serial number SR 30/0473 has been billed Rs 269 whereas he should have been billed Rs 479 if the 270 units consumed by him were taken into consideration. Similarly Mr Lal Chand with serial number SR 30/0484 has been billed Rs 341 against an actual billing amount of Rs 1057 if his 534 units were taken into consideration. There are many such cases in the city where bills have been taken prepared on average basis. Also surprisingly sundry charges due to change of meter wrong metering and theft besides other reasons are also not being charged in the bill. Sources responsible for distribution of bills within the PSEB disclosed that nearly 65 per cent of the bills had been distributed on average basis this time. The PSEB Engineers Association has objected to this unofficial "bonanza" saying consumers would be saddled with huge bills as they would have to pay accumulated arrears. This, the engineers say, would increase defaults and possibly force the board to give further concessions by way of instalments leading to further losses. Association general secretary H.S. Bedi told The Tribune that according to the verbal instructions if the current bill in the summer months exceeded the earlier bill by 25 per cent the extra billing was not to be done and billing was to be contained on minimum basis. He said a temporary concession of nearly Rs 120 crore would be given by this move. Sources dealing with bills in the board told The Tribune that the number of bills distributed on average were likely to reduce by the next bimonthly bill as fresh instructions had been issued that only bills varying more than 300 per cent vis a vis the previous bill should be charged on average basis. The sources however, disclosed that sundry charges would still not be included in the forthcoming bills. The Engineers Association has demanded genuine billing so that the board can earn revenue. Mr Bedi said by keeping the billing artificially low the board would face a revenue squeeze as it had to meet its revenue expenses on a month to month basis. Board member,
(Operations) Kirpal Singh Gill when contacted in the
absence of the Chairman, said no instructions had been
given to keep billing artificially low. He discounted
claims of the Engineer Association in this regard as
average bills received by people, saying there might have
been some such cases. |
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Tardy shifting of polluting
units LUDHIANA, July 14 — While people are suffering, the Punjab Government continues to dither on implementing its decision to shift polluting industrial units from important cities and towns of the state. About two and half years ago, a decision was taken to shift all the polluting units from densely populated localities of Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Amritsar, Bathinda and other cities. A survey to identify polluting units was conducted by the Punjab Pollution Control Board. Informed sources say in Ludhiana city alone there are hundreds of polluting industries units in the densely populated areas. The most polluting units are dyeing and electroplating. Likewise, number of such units in Amritsar and Jalandhar cities is also very high. The Punjab Government had taken the decision to allot land in the Phase-8 on the Samrala road to shift these polluting units there. As many as 2,000 owners of such units had applied for plots. Of 1400 applicants 600, got plots. Mr Harish Khanna, President of the Ludhiana Small Scale Manufacturers Association, said the plots were allotted by draw of lots. Mostly those persons got the plots whose units were in "green" category. He said the government had acquired land to allot clear the remaining applications. The guidelines for land allotment have yet to be formulated. Mr Khanna said, in fact, a large part of the land acquired for shifting the polluting units were allotted to six big industrial houses violating the Central government's instructions that large-scale units should not be allowed to be set up at least within 25 km radius of cities and towns. Mr Khanna said while owners of polluting units were prepared to shift their industries, the delay on the part of officials concerned to allot sites for this purpose was causing problems. He said on the one side government says that it was committed for minimising pollution in big cities, on the other it was not bothered to implement its decision with regard to polluting units. Mr Khanna said the
allotment of plots to big units had been challenged in
the Punjab and Haryana High Court. The high court
cancelled the allotment and the Supreme Court upheld the
decision. He said the court had directed the authorities
to make allotments and withdraw possessions of land from
the big industrial houses. |
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Punjab set deadline on probe CHANDIGARH, July 14 — In a pending writ petition against the People’s Commission which had collected evidence into the alleged police excesses during the days of terrorism in Punjab, a Division Bench comprising Mr Justice G.S. Singhvi and Mr Justice Amar Datt, today directed the state of Punjab to inform the court by July 30 whether it was prepared to appoint a commission under the Commission of inquiry Act or not? This Direction was given in the writ petition against the people’s Commission by Mr Sudarshan Goel, who alleged that the commission was trying to usurp the powers of court and to encourage militancy in the state by issuing notices to police officials for their alleged role in committing excesses while fighting militancy in the state. The Bench had directed the Punjab Government on April 21 to tell the court whether it was prepared to appoint a commission under the Commission of Inquiry Act. Instead, the state government filed an application with an affidavit by the Principal Secretary asking for two to three months’ time to persuade the Union Government to amend the Protection of Human Rights Act to enable the Human Rights Commission to take cognisance of alleged human rights violations. The Central government had earlier rejected the plea of the state. But it persisted in writing to the Centre. The Bench today declined the plea of the Punjab government in this regard for giving more time. Life convict’s plea rejected TNS adds: The High Court today turned down a writ petition preferred by Capt P.S. Gill, a life convict lodged at the Burail Jail, seeking directions to the Army authorities to permit him to go to Kargil for taking part in Operation Vijay. Mr Justice THB Chalapathi, before whom the petition camp up for hearing, observed that the petitioner, who had been sentenced to life imprisonment, was seeking directions to the Army to utilise his services. Counsel for state told the court that his services were not needed at any of the fronts. Moreover, the court could not compel to deploy him at any operational ground or front. Therefore, the petition was dismissed. Earlier, Captain Gill
had shot off a letter to the Army Headquarters making a
similar request. The authorities had declined his prayer. |
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Govt college faces closure AMRITSAR, July 14 — The first ever government college (boys), opened in this 422-year-old holy city last year amid fanfare has been facing closure as Guru Nanak Dev University has directed the college authorities not to make fresh admissions of B.Com (part I) and B.A. (part one), scheduled from tomorrow, till requirements are fulfilled. On the basis of the Inspection Committee Report, the university has directed the college authorities to remove the "shortcomings" immediately before making fresh admissions of commerce and arts. The Inspection Committee comprising of Mr Kanwaljit Singh, Director Sports, Dr Subhash Chander, a professor in commerce and Dr Harish Sharma of history department of the Guru Nanak Dev University have pointed out that the college has not enough space to accommodate the fresh students. It may be mentioned here that the college was opened with the efforts of Mr Manjit Singh Calcutta — the then Education Minister and a confidant of Mr Gurcharan Singh Tohra though the move was opposed by Mr Kanwaljit Singh Finance Minister. The college was opened in the deaf and dumb school building, owned by the District Red Cross Society. The report of the committee pointed out that the college was still being run from a rented building which did not have enough space to accommodate more students in future. The committee has also recommended that the college had no proper space for library, playground, classrooms and furniture etc. The inspection committee has also recommended that the posts of lecturers and staff should be regularised. To run the college properly, there is urgent need to make immediate arrangements for new and proper building. In his separate report, Mr Kanwaljit Singh, Director Sports, Guru Nanak Dev University has said that college authorities be directed not to offer the subject of physical education to any student seeking admission to B.A. part I from the academic session 1999-2000 in the absence of proper playground. However, in the interests of the old students, the university has allowed the college to carry on the old classes. Dr Kuldip Kalpana, principal of the college, however has assured the university to fulfil all requirements at the earliest. She has urged the Deputy Commissioner-cum-Chairman District Red Cross Society to allot at least two rooms more from the Deaf and Dumb building for accommodating fresh students. She said at least 150 new students were to be admitted for B.Com (part I) and B.A. (part I). She claimed that books of all subjects had already been purchased as directed by the university, Dr Kalpana also an eminent Punjabi poetess said that there was great rush of admission seekers. The opening to the first ever government college (for boys) in the 422-year-old city had come as blessing for the lower middle and middle class who could not afford the exorbitant fee structure of private colleges. She added that she had already written to the state government to fill all vacancies of lecturer. It may be mentioned here
that there are only three boys' colleges in the city. All
in private sector. These are Khalsa College, DAV College
and Hindu College. All MLAs from Amritsar had promised to
people to open a government college for boys. |
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4
PAU
students die in mishap LUDHIANA, July 14 — Four students of Punjab Agriculture University were killed in an accident near Joshimath in Uttar Pradesh, according to reports here today. Mr Harmanjit Singh, President of the PAU Students Association, said the deceased had been identified as Harpreet Singh (Hoshiarpur), Kanwaljit Singh (Ropar), Navtej Singh (Gurdaspur) and Sukhraj Singh (Amritsar). Harpreet Singh was a student in the Pomology Department, Mr Navtej Singh was in the Department of Soil, Kanwaljit Singh in the Extension Education Department and Sukhraj Singh was in M. Tech (Processing). Another student, Jaswinder Singh Bains was critically injured in the accident. As many as eight students, five from PAU and three from Khalsa College, Amritsar, had gone to Hemkunt Sahib. They had gone on a train up to Hardwar and hired a vehicle from there. Sukhraj Singh was a budding writer and office-bearer of the Young Writers Association of the PAU. He was also an international bhangra dancer. Mr Gurbhajan Gill, a Punjabi writer and office-bearer of the association has expressed grief over the death of PAU students. Meanwhile, Dr Venu
Prasad, officiating Vice-Chancellor of the university,
said a team of university officials, including Student
Welfare Officer, had been sent to Joshimath to collect
the exact information about the accident. |
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Panel
to
infuse new blood into police CHANDIGARH, July 14 — The Punjab Police Director-General, Mr Sarbjit Singh, has constituted a committee to study and revise the existing police rules to infuse new blood into the organisation. According to committee member-secretary Lalit Bhatia, the members detailed for revision of the six-decade-old rules are four ADGPs, namely, Mr J.S. Chahal (Government Railway Police), Mr M.S. Bhullar (Punjab Armed Police), Mr S.V. Singh (Crime) and Mr S.K. Verma (Computerisation and Wireless); and three IGs. Mr Bhatia (Rules) Mr N.P.S. Aulkah (Headquarters) and Mr Bakhshi Ram (Provisioning). The committee, Mr Bhatia told TNS, had already submitted two volumes on "mounted police" and "rewards". The committee had held deliberations on "training and examination" and on "inspections and supervision". For the former, training and examination, the committee sought basic framework from the National Police Commission report, central committee on police training report and from the discussions on police training at a conference held recently at Phillaur at the DGP's initiative. The major stress in
"inspection and supervision" is on
"village touring", making it obligatory for
gazetted officers to spend at least 120 days in the
villages, annually. The idea behind this being to
incorporate the guidelines of the Chief Minister, Mr
Parkash Singh Badal, who is keen that the police
"reaches out" to the people at their door-step
in villages and mitigate their problems through
interaction and building bridges of understanding. |
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7
BJP
councillors quit party FAZILKA, July 14 — Rift between the BJP factions in the town has widened as Mr Mohinder Pratap Dhingra, municipal councillor and president of the BJP block unit and six other municipal councillors of the party have resigned from the primary membership of party giving a jolt to Mr Bajrang Lal Gupta, president of the BJP-dominated local civic body. The municipal councillors who resigned along with Mr Dhingra yesterday are Mrs Veena Verma, senior vice-president of the municipal council, Mrs Shanta Verma, Mr Krishan Lal Bansal, Mr Ghisa Ram, Mr Rattan Lal and Mr Lachhman Dost. They submitted their resignations to Mr Faqir Chand Goyal, president of the Ferozepore district unit of the party, at Abohar for forwarding it to Mr Daya Singh Sodhi, chief of the state unit of the BJP. It is pertinent to mention that the civic body had remained vertically split between two rival factions since the last civic poll. Due to factionalism, Mr Dhingra, who was earlier elected president of the civic body, had to resign following pressure from within the party.
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Moga dist gets 150 villages MOGA, July 14 — The Punjab Government has met the long-standing demand of the people of Moga district with inclusion of Dharamkot town along with 150 villages in the district. The Deputy Commissioner, Mr K.B.S.Sidhu, said here today a notification to this effect had already been issued. He said the records of all cases were being brought here for this purpose. The Deputy Commissioner said the Dharamkot region was previously in Ferozepore district. The people of Dharamkot region had earlier made the demand during former Chief Minister Beant Singh’s tenure that their region should be merged in Moga district. Lawyers of Moga had
earlier staged demonstrations and blocked road traffic
last month in support of their demand for inclusion of
the Dharamkot region in this district. |
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Power cuts irk residents MOGA, July 14 — Frustrated over the acute shortage of power resulting in daily power cuts and power breakdowns, residents of this town have decided to launch an agitation against the Punjab State Electricity Board in protest against its failure to supply uninterrupted power to them. According to reports, several areas in this town have not received power for the past several days and have been spending restless night. Residents of these areas complained that the transformers installed in their respected areas remained unrepaired for weeks together. This had also affected the water supply system. According to an official spokesman of the PSEB, the department has not received new transformers. Meanwhile, Union
Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal who is touring the region
has assured that uninterrupted power supply would be
available to people. |
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Medal for cop recommended FEROZEPORE, July 14 — The local Deputy Commissioner has reportedly recommended the award of a medal for meritorious services to Mr Rajpal, a head constable of the Punjab Police. According to sources, the DC in a letter addressed to the Chief Secretary has stated that on December 31, 1995, a fire broke out in Dhingra Restaurant here in which Mr Rajpal had saved the lives of 12 persons putting his life into danger. It is learnt that he was
earlier awarded a commendation certificate (Class-I) with
a cash reward of Rs 1,000 by the DGP on the
recommendation of the then Frezepore police Range DIG, Mr
S.S. Bhullar. |
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Tributes paid to BSF Dy
Commandant KAPURTHALA, July 14 — This town paid tributes to the valour of its son Mahinder Raj, who was killed by the Pakistani intruders, in Bandipore in the Baramula sector of Jammu and Kashmir on July 12. Only son of a middle class family, hailing from here, Mahinder Raj, was a brilliant student, won a gold medal in his B.A. examination. He did his masters from Panjab University with distinction later he did his M.phil. For a while he worked as lecturer in the DAV college Jalandhar and in 1993, he was selected Deputy Commandant in the Border Security Force. Born in 1968 on December 12, Mahinder Raj married on December 12 last year, and achieved martyrdom on July 12. The town gathered to express sympathy with the bereaved family. The martyr's father Mr Mohan Lal said that he was informed about his sons demise in Chandigarh on July 12 night, where he works with the Punjab Scheduled Caste Corporation. A visit to the martyr's house, here today revealed thousands of people waiting for the body to arrive for cremation.
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Expelled mission staffer returns AMRITSAR, July 14 — Mr Yograj Vij, the Indian High Commission staffer in Pakistan who was asked by Islamabad to leave the country within a week on July 7 today reached the Wagah joint checkpost by road along with his wife. Later, the couple left for New Delhi. It may be mentioned here that in a tit-for-tat action, Mr Vij was expelled by Pakistan. Before being expelled, Mr Vij was kidnapped and beaten up by Pakistani officials on charges of spying. However, the Indian High Commission had rejected outright the charges against Mr Vij who was working with the visa section of the mission. Mr Vij expulsion came a
week after India expelled Pakistani high commission
staffer. Dil Fayaaz on charges of spying. Mr Vij had been
kidnapped from near his house by Pakistani intelligence
personnel and released after four hours in detention
during which he was interrogated and beaten up. |
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80,000 HIV positive cases in
Punjab LUDHIANA, July 14 — There are over 80,000 HIV positive cases in Punjab, 7,000 of these in the advanced stages of the disease, Dr Harjit Kaur Ghuman, Professor and Head of the Department of Microbiology, Christian Medical College, said in a press statement issued here yesterday. Dr Ghuman pointed out that the number of HIV positive cases were growing unchecked. Dr Ghuman said that in
the CMC alone, 157 blood donors (115 male and 42 female)
were found to be HIV positive and the majority of these
males were truck drivers. The CMC had now installed an
alert culture machine, which would help speed up the
process of pathological investigations in such cases, she
added. |
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Marks card to have student’s photo AMRITSAR, July 14 (UNI) — Guru Nanak Dev University (GNDU) has decided to print the photographs of its students on the detailed marks cards (DMC's) to be issued by the university from the current academic session onwards. Announcing this here today, university Vice-Chancellor H.S. Soch said this was being done to check duplication or fabrication of the mark sheets. For the time being the mark sheets of first year students of all courses of the university would contain computer printed photographs, he stated. The Vice-Chancellor said
GNDU would be the first university in the country to
print photographs on mark sheets. 3 nominated GND University Syndics AMRITSAR, July 13 —
The Punjab Governor has nominated Mr Daya Singh Sodhi,
President of the Punjab BJP. Mr Tarlochan Singh, Chairman
of the Tourism Corporation, New Delhi, and Prof Jagir
Singh Bhullar, MLA from Valtoha, to the syndicate of Guru
Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, one year from July 1,
according to a notification issued by Punjab Raj Bhawan,
Chandigarh. |
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14
held
for gambling LUDHIANA, July 14 — The police arrested as many as 14 persons in a local hotel, today under the Gambling Act. Mr Kuldeep Singh, SSP, said acting on a tip-off the police raided the hide-out. The police seized Rs
3.21 lakh, a dice and playing cards. A case was
registered against them. Spurious pesticides plant
unearthed LUDHIANA, July 14 — Mr Gurdev Singh Badal, Punjab Agriculture Minister, said here today that a factory producing spurious pesticides had been detected by the local police. He said that a large number of packets of spurious pesticides and as many as 400 empty bins had been recovered from a factory located in the Shimlapuri area, here. The factory was
preparing spurious pesticides which was banned in Punjab
in 1997. A case has been registered against the owners of
the factory. |
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Roll nos sent for PGET AMRITSAR, July 14 — The roll numbers to all eligible candidates for the PGET-1999 to be conducted by Guru Nanak Dev University on July 18 have been despatched through registered post. This was stated here today by Dr Satinder Singh, coordinator of this test. The coordinator said
those candidates who had not received their roll numbers
should collect duplicate roll numbers from the PGET cell
in the administrative block of the university. Candidates
have also been advised to bring an attested photograph
along with a letter in case of any discrepancy. |
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