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| Sunday, June 25, 2000, Chandigarh, India    |
5 YAD leaders expelled Power-starved farmers plough in paddy BJP unhappy
with tariff hike plan Notice issued to Punjab Advocate-General
Leftists to hold
convention Parties
protest exclusion from meeting
Human rights body to adopt village |
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PEDA spots 130 falls for power generation Unskilled workers’
wages increased Reconstitution of
Tripri sought VHP blames
Church for “hate campaign” Major Bajwa cremated with honours
From poppy husk to smack Racket in meter tampering busted
Where students also teach
Rice millers
urge CM to intervene IT assessees face hardship
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5 YAD leaders expelled LUDHIANA, June 24 (PTI) — The Chief Minister of Punjab, Mr Parkash Singh Badal, who is also the president of the SAD today received a setback in his party when a clash between two of his close associates and office bearers of the Youth Akali Dal (YAD) took a new turn. In a joint meeting of the district presidents, office bearers and members of the working committee of the YAD held here today five leaders namely, Nidhark Singh Brar, senior vice-president of the YAD, Sharnjit Singh Dhillon, General Secretary, Jarnail Singh Dogarwala, Vice-President, Parminderpal Singh Khalsa, president of the Jalandhar (City) unit of the YAD, and Gurlabh Singh Jhandeayana, district president, Moga unit, were expelled from the YAD. The Secretary General of the YAD, Mr Kulwant Singh Jaiton, told mediapersons after the meeting that the decision which had been taken unanimously was a result of the anti-party activities of these leaders. The meeting was presided over by Mr Amrik Singh Aliwal president of the YAD. |
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Power-starved farmers plough in paddy RAMPURA PHUL, June 24 — Farmers in Punjab seem to be doubly unblessed. On the one side they face flak for getting free power from certain sections of society. On the other they get little or no power. Several farmers in this part of the state told TNS that they get power for their tubewells for hardly five hours although the PSEB authorities claim that power is being supplied for 8 to 10 hours daily. In fact, several farmers in Jhanduke village, near here, have ploughed in their standing crop of paddy for want of water. Mithu Singh, a farmer of Jhanduke village told TNS that he had ploughed in five acres of paddy as water was not available in sufficient quantity. Other farmers including Sukhdev Singh, Janta Singh, Bhan Singh, Bakshi Singh, Natha Singh and Gurjant Singh too have ploughed in their standing crop of paddy. Mithu Singh said he had transplanted “Sathi” variety of paddy which matures in the 60 days. It was transplanted in May. But as there was not enough rains and water available from other sources, he had to plough it in. He said that with the monsoon due to arrive, farmers who had ploughed in their wilting paddy would transplant it again after the rains. Farmers said that they get power from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. in Jhanduke village for running power tubewells. During this period of six hours, they have to bear with three to four power interruptions. The village has no access to canal water to irrigate rice paddies and by and large depend-on power to run tubewells or use diesel engines and tractors. Mr Charan Singh, son of a former sarpanch, Mr Baldev Singh told TNS that he had transplanted 25 acres of paddy. Mostly he runs his tubewells with the help of his tractor to irrigate them. Since the beginning of transplantation of paddy around three weeks ago Mr Charan Singh has run through seven drums, (1400 litres) of diesel to operate the tubewell. Each drum costs Rs 2802. The labour charge for transplantation is Rs 400 per acre. There will be no saving from the paddy crop asserts Mr Charan Singh. In these areas the yield from paddy is
usually lower other areas, seldom crossing 16 quintals per acre says, Mr Mithu Singh. Another farmer, Gurtej Singh, seconded his views. He said he had transplanted paddy in 10 acres and so far bought two drums of diesel to operate his diesel engine based tubewells. Similar views were expressed by farmers belonging to Harkishanpura and Dikh village. They said they get power supply for 4 to 5 hours on average. A resident of the Baina Bulanda village in Fatehgarh Sahib said farmers were facing an acute power crisis and power break downs had become frequent. Average power supply was below 6 hours a day. Ruling party activists admit in private that farmers are not getting adequate power supply but are not ready to say anything on record. During a meeting with the industrialists this week, a senior Akali Minister was candid enough to tell all those present including the Chief Minister that the claim farmers get power supply for 10 hours was the official version. Actually they got power for 7 hours on average. However, a senior PSEB functionary, who deals with system operations maintained farmers were getting power for 8 to 10 hours. Giving details, he said that three-phased power connection holders got power supply for tubewells for 8 hours for the night shift yesterday. Day time supply was for 10 hours for this category. For single phase connection holders power supply for night shift was 10 hours and 30 minutes yesterday and for day shift it was for 11 hours and 30 minutes. For the border belt it was about for 10 hours and 30 minutes. However, PSEB officials in the field contradict this saying they had to cut power supply in case the load factor went 25 per cent over the approved load, to comply with instructions from the top brass of the PSEB. An increase in load beyond the permissible limit is a common feature in the paddy planting season, hence the repeated power cuts and break downs. Other problem farmers face relate to complaints regarding faults in transformers. A farmer of Jhanduke village told TNS that the transformer from which power was supplied to his tubewell remained out of order for a week or so. He submitted the complaint to officials concerned but no one turned up to remove the fault. During the paddy season, the number of transformer burn out shoots up. Most farmers pool money and get faults removed through private ‘mechanics’. The official process of getting the transformers replaced takes a several days. |
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BJP unhappy
with tariff hike plan AMRITSAR, June 24 — Mr Brij Lal Rinwa, newly elected BJP state unit president today expressed his displeasure over the proposed hike in power tariff for urban areas while rural areas got free power. Talking to this reporter he said “electricity concessions to rural areas cannot be continued for long. Already the Punjab State Electricity Board is incurring a loss of over Rs 1300 crore and this cannot be overlooked”. He claimed that Mr Badal had given an assurance to recover Rs 200 crore in the power losses by the year end and as a result an eight percent hike was levied on electricity consumption by industry. Mr Rinwa said that in a meeting with on June 21 in Chandigarh where Mr Balramji Das Tandon (Minister for Local Bodies) and Mr Sakinder Singh Maluka, Minister for Irrigation and Power were also present the agreement was reached for a four per cent
hike in tariff. Other steps such as heavy penalties on PSEB officials found conniving in power theft were to be taken to reduce losses. On the recent debacle of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) in nagar panchayat elections, the BJP chief said a coordination committee (talmel committee) of both coalition partners would be formed. Asked about SAD members voting against BJP candidates he admitted that in some areas like Nangal and Patran the party’s chances of winning were marred by SAD members”. The matter has been taken up with the Chief Minister and meeting of the coordination committee has been called in 15 days to resolve the issue, he said. |
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Notice issued to Punjab Advocate-General CHANDIGARH, June 24 — Issuing notice to the Punjab Advocate General for August 2, the Punjab and Haryana High Court today directed that the petitioners shall be admitted to bail, to the satisfaction of the arresting officer, if they were arrested in connection with their marriage. Pronouncing the orders in the open court, Mr Justice V.K. Bali also directed “the petitioners to join the investigations as and when directed”. Mr Justice Bali further directed them against “leaving the country without the court’s permission”. Claiming to have been married in May, the petitioners — Rashpal Singh and Devinder Kaur of Jalandhar district — had earlier expressed apprehension regarding their being implicated in false cases. Alleging harassment, the petitioners had added that their parents were annoyed with their love affair. They had added that the girl’s father, being village Lambardar wielding political power, was getting the husband’s house raided by the police. Her parents, he had added, were “continuously threatening and interfering in their lives”. Counsel for the petitioners had added that the girl’s father “might even kidnap Devinder Kaur”. Date of hearing
fixed Directing the issuance of a five- day notice, before arrest, if any case was registered against a Ludhiana district resident allegedly harassed by a Deputy Superintendent of Police and other police officials, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has fixed July 7 as the next date of hearing. In his petition against the state of Punjab, Khanna DSP, a Station House Officer and two other Assistant Sub Inspectors, besides six others, Ajit Singh of Khanna tehsil had earlier alleged that his house was being raided “to pressurise him into withdrawing a civil suit filed against certain respondents”. The civil suit, he had added, was filed following a dispute regarding a tractor trolley he had purchased from a respondent before selling it to another person. The police, he had added, were harassing him at the instance of the respondents. Pronouncing the orders, Mr Justice K.S. Garewal of the High Court observed: “If any case is registered against the petitioner, he shall be given five-day notice before his arrest. Put up before Bench on July 7”. |
Leftists to hold
convention CHANDIGARH, June 24 — The Marxist Communist Party of India (MCPI), the CPI (ML) Liberation and the CPI (ML) New Democracy will organise a joint a joint convention in Punjabi Bhavan in Ludhiana on July 9. Mr Prem Singh Bhangu, a central committee member of the MCPI, said the main focus during the convention would be on the “anti-people and anti-national” policies and the enactment of SEMA. He said the BJP-led government and the Akali government in Punjab were pretending to be swadeshi and nationalist but implementing anti-people and anti-national policies. |
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Parties
protest exclusion from meeting PHAGWARA, June 24 — Representatives of five political parties including the Bharatiya Janata Party today stayed away from a meeting convened by the SSP Kapurthala, Mr Iqbal Singh in protest against the latter holding a meeting with SAD leaders from which they were excluded. Those who left the local Guru Nanak Library the venue of the meeting in a huff included BJP councillors Ram Saroop Arora, Khyal Chand, Avtar Singh Saini, Congress councillors Pawittar Singh, Miss Kusam Sharma, Bahujan Samaj Party district and block presidents Ashok Sandhu & Harbhajan Balalon , SHSAD block president Harbel Singh Pahwa and Amritsar Akali Dal representative Rajinder Singh. The BJP’s boycott has brought to the fore the widening rift between the ruling allies who virtually parted company here two months ago on the issue of nominations to the local improvement trust in which only BJP activists were nominated. |
Human rights body to adopt village PATIALA, June 24 — The Punjab State Human Rights Commission has decided to adopt a village and develop it into a ‘model village’ in the field of removal of illiteracy and providing basic rights to the people. This was disclosed by Justice
V.K. Khanna, Chairman Punjab human rights commission at the SOS day function held at `bal village’ in Rajpura, near here today. Mr Khanna said that the SOS organisation was active in nearly 132 countries and 32 ‘bal villages’ were
successfully functioning in India. In these ‘bal villages’ special care is taken of destitute children, orphans and children who are victims of different types of accidents. Speaking on the occasion, Mr
A.P. Bhatnagar, ADGP, Punjab Police, said that the SOS was doing a great service for humanity by setting up such ‘villages’. Mr Jagdeep Singh, Director of the Rajpura ‘bal village’ said the ‘bal village’ came into
existence in June 1996 with 31 children. Now the number had swelled to144. Of these children, who are in the age group of 5 months to 14 years, 75 are girls and 69 boys. Besides family houses, there are facilities like playgrounds, dispensary, kindergarten and a library. He said that a sum of Rs 30 Lakh had been earmarked for the construction of a youth hostel in the ‘village’. Mr Jagdeep Singh said two children of the village, Manpreet Singh and Gurshamsheer Kaur would be representing Punjab in this year yoga nationals. |
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Patiala
parandi now limited to weddings PATIALA, June 24 — The pride of Patiala and a former must for its matyars (belles), the ‘parandi’ today seems to have become an item used exclusively in weddings or as a souvenir being bought by expatriates or being gifted to them. The craft has come a long way from its hey day before partition when there were more than forty shops selling parandis as well as nalas in the Kila Chowk Bazaar here. Today though 14 to 15 shops in the Kila Bazaar keep both the goods, there are only some shops which cater exclusively to only the two items. Most shops have branched off into keeping cosmetics and other beauty aids for women. This is because the demand for parandis starts only during the marriage season after August and carries on for most of the winter. There is very little demand for parandis from the local girls otherwise due to which the shopkeepers are catering mainly to goods which can be brought for marriages or picked up as souvenir pieces. Seventyfive-year-old Om Prakash Khanne of Khanne Di Hatti says though there were a large number of shops catering to both parandis and naalas in Patiala before partition, they had been declining steadily since. He said the main reason for this was the large scale migration of Muslims from the town who were both users of both products as well as versatile karigars. He said the sale of naalas was the first to suffer with the advent of modern equivalents which were available at a fraction of the earlier price. Mr Khanne said there had been a drastic reduction in the sale of parandis as they were no longer part of the customary dress of youngsters even though punjabi women continued to wear them. He said presently parandis were mostly brought as gift items to be presented to people from outside the state. He said they were also bought by Non-Resident Indians to be taken abroad regardless of the fact whether they eventually wore them or not. The shopskeepers who are doing good business are those who have adjusted to the new scenario and are basically catering to only these two categories to earn their bread and butter. This has resulted in today’s parandis being very ornate with silk thread, zari, false pearls and tilla being used in their production. Shop keeper Nand Kishore said there was profit only in making ornate parandis. He said while the basic parandi which had only cotton threads could be purchased for Rs 5, ornate ones cost as much as Rs 350 each. ‘’It is on the latter that we derive our profit’’ , he added . Though the established shopkeepers are still doing well, the same cannot be said for the karigars who prepare the product. The ‘ karigars ‘ who consist of mainly women and children, are able to earn around Rs 50 per day making parandis. Presently there is a demand for parandis from Amritsar , Jalandhar , Ludhiana, Bhatinda and Sri Ganganagar. The product also goes to Uttar Pradesh where it is used by Muslim women. Artisans engaged in the trade feel there should be exemption of the product from sales tax. They said presently 8.8 per cent sales tax was being charged on the product despite it being a handicraft item. They feel the tax should be withdrawn immediately. Artisans feel efforts should also be made to export the product to Middle East countries where there was a market for it.
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Mattewal appreciates council efforts CHANDIGARH, June 24 — Dr Sukhdev Singh, a member of the committee constituted by the Punjab Government to represent the case of Sikhs before the Constitution Review Committee formed by the Centre, today said that by making the states money-starved, they had been virtually made beggars and totally dependent on the Centre. Reading out a paper on GATT, he stated that one of the new areas covered by the Uruguay round of GATT was agriculture. The agreement on agriculture established a new set of rules regarding international agriculture policy development. Speaking at a seminar organised by the committee to do spade work for representing the case of the Sikhs before the Constitution Review Committee, Mr H.S. Mattewal, Advocate General of Punjab, appreciated the efforts of the World Sikh Intellectual Council for mobilising the public opinion. Speaking at the seminar pointed out that federal structure of the Constitution had been done away with. And in its place an unitary form of the government was being set up. The status and power of the states was being reduced to the level of municipal committees and municipal corporations. The seminar passed certain resolutions urging the Centre to release the detainees languishing in jails. The warring groups in the Akali Dal were called upon to sink their differences and the Centre was requested to hand over the valuable and rare documents taken away from the Sikh Reference Library at the time of Bluestar operation. The seminar resolved that the states of Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chandigarh should accord befitting place to the Punjabi language. Prominent among those who took part in the seminar were Dr H.S. Shan, Mr Karam Singh Raju, Dr Sukhdev Singh, Mr K.S Badowalia, Col S.S. Nishan, Mr J.S. Lohgarh, Mr A.S. Bhangal, Mr P.S. Bhupal, Dr M.S. Majithia, Mr Karam Chand Sanmar, Maj Jagdev Singh, Maj Jaswant Singh and Mr B.S.
Ballaura. |
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PEDA spots 130 falls for power generation CHANDIGARH, June 24 — The Punjab Development Agency (PEDA), responsible for promotion and development of small hydro projects, has identified 130 falls on various canal systems of Punjab. A spokesman for PEDA said here today these falls have a total estimated potential of 130 MW . These were being exploited for the first time in the country He said the State and Central Governments have given priority to the development of small hydro projects in Punjab because mini hydel plants (MHPs) are environment friendly, having short gestation period, requiring small investment and generating decentralised power with minimum transmission and distribution losses, he added. He said no doubt Punjab had led the country in green, blue and white revolutions in the present energy scenario, Punjab was on the threshold of bringing revolution in the area of green energy. PEDA had taken up the execution of eight mini hydel plants (MPH), four each at Abohar and Bathinda Branch Canal, with total installed capacity of 9.8 MW as technology demonstration projects to encourage and attract the private developers for taking up similar projects. Further he said PEDA had allotted 38 hydel sites, having an estimated potential of 43 MW, to five private developers for setting up small hydro projects on a built, operate own (BOO) basis and a memorandum of understanding (MOU) had been signed with them. Further, remaining clusters of 80 hydel sites having an estimated potential of 81.3 MW are being advertised for private developers so as to exploit the available potential. |
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Unskilled workers’
wages increased CHANDIGARH, June 24 — The Punjab Government today increased the minimum wages of unskilled workers from Rs 1796 per month to Rs 1950. This decision was taken at a meeting of the State Minimum Wages Advisory Board under the chairmanship of Mr Parkash Singh Badal, Chief Minister. Mr Balramji Das Tandon, State Labour and Employment Minister, said the increase in the wages of the low paid workers would provide them the much-needed relief against the rising price index. The Labour and Employment Minister further said the rates of the minimum wages were last revised in 1995. |
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Reconstitution of
Tripri sought PATIALA, June 24 — The Citizen’s Welfare Society has demanded reconstitution of Tripri township. The area falls under Samana constituency and has a population of more than one lakh. The MLA of Samana constituency, who makes rare visits to Tripri, has proved to be inadequate to represent the grievance of the people, a press release of the society claims. The society has alleged that the Municipal Corporation of imposing illegal development charges. The press release, signed by the society’s General Secretary, Mr Ashok Chawla, said Tripri was developed by the PEPSU Township Development Board and hence the Municipal Corporation had no right to change any development changes. Over the years, the town has developed to a large extent, but still remains attached to the Samana constituency, which is about 30 km from Patiala. Due to lack of proper representation in the assembly, the residents were being deprived of the basic amenities like water supply, the release said. |
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VHP blames Church for “hate campaign” JALANDHAR June 24 — The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) accused the Church of initiating a “hate campaign” in the country against Hindus. Addressing a press conference here yesterday, Dr Praveen Bhai Togadia, International General Secretary of the VHP, alleged that the Church was hatching a conspiracy to defame the Bajrang Dal in particular, and Hindus in general, by levelling various allegations like the killing of priests and rape of nuns against it. He said on its part, the VHP was against any killing whether it was of a Hindu or of a Christian and was not sheltering killers, who, should be dealt with strictly like any other criminal. While alleging that Christian missionaries were poor tribesmen to Christianity, Dr Togadia said any such conversion was illegal and according to the Indian Constitution nobody had right to do it. He, however, denied to say anything about the reconversion of people who had embraced Christianity into Hindu fold by the VHP and other Hindu organisations. Talking about Jammu and Kashmir, Dr Togadia said the National Conference government which had come to power with mere 10 per cent of votes had no right to discuss the issue of greater autonomy, which already had failed to elicit any support from Laddakhis, Bakkarwals and people of the Jammu region. He said what Mr Farooq Abdullah should do was to initiate a debate on the decade long turmoil and why his government failed to contain it in the state wherein militancy had already gobbled up lives of 30000 innocent people of the valley. He said if Mr Abdullah continued with his autonomy rhetoric the VHP would launch a nationwide agitation to protest against it. |
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Major Bajwa cremated with honours GURDASPUR, June 24 — Maj B.S. Bajwa, who sacrificed his life while fighting militants at Khulhama village near Tangmarg in Baramula district of Jammu and Kashmir on June 22 was cremated with full military honours at his native village, Pindi, Batala subdivision in the district today. A large number of people were present at the cremation. Maj P.S. Bajwa of 5 Guards, brother of the deceased, who is posted in Jammu these days, said his brother was leading a company which got a message that some militants were hiding in the area and laid a naka to check vehicles. When they checked one particular bus, four terrorists from inside lobbed a grenade on the Major, who was standing in front of the bus. All four terrorists were killed in retaliation. The Major was killed on the spot. Maj B.S. Bajwa was commissioned in the artillery division in June, 1987, and was posted in Siachen area in J&K. In March, last year, he was sent on deputation to the 34 Rashtriya Rifles. Major Bajwa was to go on leave from June 15 to July 15, but he volunteered to get his leave cancelled because his Commanding Officer recently joined his battalion. Mrs Rajwinder Kaur, wife of the deceased said she was proud of the supreme sacrifice made by her husband. She said when her children grow up and become eligible to join the Army she would support them. A large number of serving and retired Army personnel, including Col Rajinder Kumar, Commanding Officer, 13 Sikh LI, political leaders, including Mr Sucha Singh Langah, PWD Minister, and Mr Rajinder Singh Bajwa, a former minister, visited the family to pay their condolence. The cremation was planned to be held at 11 a.m. before noon but was delayed because the body could not reach in time. |
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Preparation of
voters’ I-cards on NAWANSHAHR, June 24 — The Deputy Commissioner cum District Electoral Officer, Dr Roshan Sunkaria in a press note here on yesterday said that the process of preparing voters’ identity cards in the district would start from July 1 to July 23. Photographs of the voters for preparing identity cards of Balachaur, Nawanshahr and Banga Assembly segments of the district would be taken from July 1 to July 7, July 8 to July 15 and from July 15 to July 23, respectively. Arrangements for receiving photographs had been completed and voters were being educated about it by district officials panches, sarpanches and Municipal Councillors. |
From poppy husk to smack BATHINDA, June 24 — With the availability of smack becoming easier in the state, more and more farmers have started shifting from poppy husk and opium to smack. Though the price of smack is very high in the market, still farmers are buying their daily doses. Even farmers who have been reeling under heavy debts have been paying through their nose to buy the drug. Official sources said the easy availability of smack was the main reason for the fact that farmers had been adopting it as a mode of addiction from poppy husk and opium. The phenomena was more prominent in Ferozepore district, which shares its border with Pakistan, and Muktsar district of Punjab. During the year, six persons from Ferozepore district have been treated at the local Red Cross De-addiction Centre. Except one, all were farmers. Surinder Singh (name changed), who resides in one of the villages of Ferozepore district, told TNS that he had been taking opium and poppy husk. But six years back he was given smack by his friend, and now he was addicted to it. He added that now he was undergoing treatment. Farmers have been buying smack ranging from Rs 300 to Rs 600 daily, while smack was being sold at Rs 300 per gram. Official sources said of the 16 cases of smack addicts, which were reported at the local de-addiction centre, in the past two-and-half months, most were below 30 years. Dr Mehboob Singh Sran, Project Officer, Red Cross De-addiction Centre, when contacted said the centre was well equipped with all facilities to treat addicts. He added that the success rate was also encouraging among the smack addicts. He, however, said what was more alarming was the fact that the number of smack addicts was increasing day by day. He added that the centre had treated six smack addicts so far in this year. While the number of addicts which reported at the centre for treatment in 1998 was only four. He pointed out that most of the smack addicts, who were agriculturists, were owning good land holdings and this was one of the main factors which led to their shifting to smack.  |
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Racket in meter tampering busted AMRITSAR, June 24 — The Enforcement Wing of Punjab State electricity Board today unearthed a major scandal in tampering of power meters and putting fake seals on them. The Superintending Engineer, Mr D S Kamboj, in a press note issued here today said acting on a tip off the enforcement wing raided a workshop at Sultanwind Gate last night and detected in manufacturing seals, and tampering with power meters brought to it for changing the reading. Mr Kamboj said the board now had conclusive evidence of certain persons clandestinely tampering with the meters by opening the meters by cutting original seals, cutting the glass cover and altering the reading. The police was informed of the raid and an FIR lodged with the police station B Division. Large quantities of lead seals, glass cutting equipment, dyes, paper numbering machines and spot welding equipment was seized. However, a senior officer of the board stationed here on condition of anonymity said the police had let off the owner of the workshop and claimed this would not only hamper the investigation but make it difficult to trace the gang behind the racket. He said last year too, the local police had helped the accused evade action. |
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4
booked for dowry death JALANDHAR, June 24 — The Nakodar police has booked
four persons in a dowry death case. In a complaint to the police,
Kuldip Rai, a resident of Batala, alleged that his daughter Anita was
forced to commit suicide due to harassment at the hands of her
in-laws. Anita had consumed some poisonous substance on June 23 and
had died on her way to hospital. Her husband Jogesh Kumar,
father-in-law Vijay Kumar and mother-in-law Santosh Rani have been
booked under Sections 304-B and 498 of the IPC. |
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Blackmailing cops
sent to police lines PHAGWARA, June 24 — Two police constables Parshotam Lal and Lakhwinder Lakha held for blackmail have been sent to the police lines. The two were arrested last week for harassing an unmarried young couple coming out of a restaurant forcing them to pose in objectionable photographs and demanding Rs 10,000 from them for the film. The couple paid Rs 1500 at the time and promised to pay the rest later. A journalist brought this to the notice of the DSP and a trap was set and the two cops walked into it. |
Where students also teach AMRITSAR: From outward appearance this school in Maqboolpura looks like any other nondescript school in a ramshakle colony. But a close look at the classrooms reveals a different story. In the junior classes you find teenagers, themselves students of higher classes, teaching the children. This experiment of having student teachers has been launched by the Citizen Forum which runs this school with the help of voluntary donations. Maqboolpura has earned the dubious distinction of being a ‘‘locality of widows’’ because drug abuse has claimed the lives of several residents of this area. The plight of the widows and orphans attracted the attention of a number of philanthropists who formed a citizens’ forum to take care of the orphans. These children get free education at this school, which functions in a rented building and has been aptly named Citizens’ Forum Vidya Mandir. Mr Brij Bedi, president of the Citizens’ Forum, hit upon the novel idea of asking the senior students to teach the primary classes. This enables them to repay to some extent, the debt of gratitude to the school for giving them free education. Besides, the student-teachers are also paid a token amount of Rs 500 a month and free clothes, books and stationary, as are the other students of the school. According to Master Ajit Singh, one of the managers of the school, it already has 147 children on its rolls and he hopes to take the number to 500. The Citizens’ Forum also helps the students of this school when they seek admission to higher classes. At present the school conducts classes up to the matriculation level. The eight teachers in this school are all its former students. |
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PMET results
today AMRITSAR, June 24 — The result of Punjab Medical Entrance Test (PMET) — 2000 conducted by Guru Nanak Dev University on behalf of Baba Farid University of Health Sciences, Faridkot, on June 18 will be declared on June 25. This has been disclosed here today by Dr R S Bawa, Coordinator and Registrar of the university. Dr Bawa said the result gazette will be available at 5 pm the same day. He said prospective buyers can get this gazette by depositing Rs 1000 by cash in the entrance cell by 4 p.m |
Rice millers
urge CM to intervene PATIALA, June 24 — The Punjab Rice Millers Association today asked the Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and Food and Supplies Minister Madan Mohan Mittal to urge the Central government to ensure that more than eleven lakh tonnes of paddy lying with millers could be milled. The Association today claimed that 10 lakh metric tonnes of paddy of the state agencies and 1 lakh metric tonnes of the Food Corporation of India (FCI) would remain unmilled due to the space crunch being faced by the FCI. Mr Tarsem Lal Saini, President, Punjab Rice Millers Association in a press release said that milling of entire paddy and subsequently the delivery of rice would not be completed by June 30, the deadline fixed by the Union Government. Mr Saini, said that the responsibility to provide space for stocking rice lay with the union government, which had failed to arrange it. Thus the responsibility for 11 lakh metric tonnes of paddy lying unmilled lay with the Food Corporation of India. He warned that the monsoon would aggravate the problem and paddy stored in CAP storage would deteriorate. He said reduction of driage allowance from 2 per cent to 1 per cent would breed resentment among farmers. The association appealed to the Union minister of Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution, Mr Shanta Kumar, to release the balance due to Punjab for the losses incurred by millers due to distress sale of paddy during the 1994-95 season. |
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IT assessees face hardship AMRITSAR, June 24 — Even as Income Tax authorities have made it mandatory the mention of PAN (permanent account number) on Income Tax returns many assessees have not so far received the PAN cards. Situation has become confusing with dead line for the filing of Income Tax returns — June 30 drawing near. Income Tax returns are not being accepted in the absence of PAN numbers. Mr B.R. Preenja, general secretary, of the Punjab Employees Rights Protection and Welfare Union, has raised the issue of non-receipt of PAN cards from the Income Tax authorities and demanded an alternative arrangement to redress grievances of assessees especially those who had not received PAN cards and facing harassment at the hands of Income Tax officials. The IT authorities had announced that all PAN cards were despatched to assessees by June 30 last year. Assessees who have not received the PAN cards are unable to file returns. Mr Preenja said that IT authorities have computerised their set-up to expedite despatch and processing of PAN cards but even this has not been of use. He also complained that refund vouchers by the Income Tax Department have not paid interest payable on the amount in some cases which should also be dealt with by the authorities concerned. |
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