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July 7, 2001, Chandigarh, India
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A school plagued with problems Ludhiana, July 6 The school which was to begin its new annual session in a two-storey complex under a novel project launched with much fanfare in November last by the Education Minister, continues to be run in two dingy rooms as the construction is yet not complete. Puddles of rainwater, slush and heaps of stones, wooden logs and other construction material outside the gate and in the open space greet the students and teachers every morning. Even the boundary wall of the school fell off partially during heavy rains last week. Shortage of staff has further aggravated the problem in this session as six teachers from the school were shifted to Government Middle School, Dugri, which got upgraded this year. The school which was without any staff got two teachers from Government Model Senior School, Miller Ganj, with which the school would be merged after the project gets completed. Two more teachers were later sent on deputation from Government Middle School, Haibowal. However, duty of one of these two teachers has been cancelled as she was transferred to Government Middle School, Haibowal. The other teacher is also away on a 10-day in-service training being held at mini secretariat. In such a situation, only two teachers, one of science and other of social studies is controlling the three classes. The teachers, while talking to Ludhiana Tribune, said that it was very difficult to teach students of all the three classes simultaneously. They said that they had been complaining to the district Education Department for the past three months to adjust more teachers in the school from other schools with surplus staff, but no action had been taken so far. “Even today, I have personally delivered an application in the department for solving the problem of staff inadequacy,” said Mr Avtar Singh Sohal, science teacher and secretary of the Parents Teachers Association. Regarding the delay in completion of the project, the contractor at the school said that the new complex would take another 45 days. He said that earlier the project had been assigned to another contractor who died in March and the construction had to be closed for two months. “Later when the work was assigned to us, we started the construction. While the ground floor with seven classrooms would be ready in a fortnight, the second floor with seven more rooms would take another month to be fit for use,” he said. The contractor further said that the construction had been slow this month due to the rainy season. “No work is possible on rainy days as the school gets deluged due to low ground level. During rains last week, the basement of the new complex was full of water and the next day was wasted in draining that water out of it,” he said. |
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PCCTU delegation meets DPI Ludhiana, July 6 Giving this information, Prof K.B.S. Sodhi, president of the union, said he was told that the scheme was getting delayed due to slow inflow of information from colleges regarding the CPF due to the staff till date. He said the DPI informed that only 53 colleges out of the total 138 colleges had sent the revised information till Wednesday. Out of these, information sent by 28 colleges had been framed in order and draft for salary was being issued to them, he said. Prof Sodhi also said he was told that while earlier the DPI office had got information regarding the generation of Rs 58 crore against their estimate of Rs 100 crore, now there had been 35 to 40 per cent increase in the revised CPF information sent by the colleges. It may be mentioned that the scheme would be self-financed and replace CPF. As per the scheme, the share of the government and managements in PF with interest since the confirmation or joining of the employees had to be deposited with the government. For this purpose, the DPI had issued notice to all colleges of Punjab on May 23 to send information regarding the estimated CPF of its staff falling under the scheme within a week. While earlier the colleges had sent information regarding the CPF from November 1, 1977, when grant-in-aid scheme was introduced, the colleges were later told to calculate the CPF from the date of joining or confirmation of the employees. Moreover, they were told to calculate CPF from January 1, 1996, onwards as per the new grades as earlier the information had been calculated on old grades. Prof Sodhi said the increase in the estimates of CPF generated from the colleges had given the staff of colleges a ray of hope as now the estimates were likely to touch the target of Rs 100 crore set by the government. He has appealed to the college managements and principals to send the correct and revised information at the earliest to facilitate implementation of the scheme which is likely to benefit 3,903 teachers and 2,561 non-teaching employees of the private colleges. |
Forum quashes PSEB demand Ludhiana, July 6 According to the complaint lodged by Mr Verma at the forum, he received an additional bill of Rs 8,572 on account of power theft by him, falsely alleged in the ME Laboratory Report. Due to the fear of disconnection, he deposited the whole amount on September 6, 2000. Earlier, he had been getting bills between Rs 300 and Rs 400 at regular intervals, which he used to pay in time. He said he had written two letters to the PSEB, complaining about the matter. The PSEB pleaded that the complainant had concealed the fact that his meter was changed, through meter change order, on July 17, 2000. The board stated that the removed meter was sent to the ME Laboratory for examination on August 14, which reported that all the seals had been tampered with, and the meter was recording 54.46 per cent less than the actual consumption. Alleging that it was a clear case of power theft, the PSEB justified its demand of collecting Rs 8,572 from Mr Verma. The respondent, however, claimed that there was no deficiency in services provided by it, and the complaint was liable to be dismissed. The forum observed that there was no evidence to prove that the meter was sealed and packed properly at the time of its removal, which was necessary as per rules. The forum further stated that no notice had been issued to the complainant so that he could be present at the time of checking of the meter in the laboratory, which was also mandatory. The forum held that the said demand was not raised as per rules of the PSEB, and as such it was liable to be quashed.  |
Banker with a soulful voice Ludhiana, July 6 He is working as a manager in a bank. Music, he says, is an instinct in him. He started singing ghazals as an amateur about two decades back. In the beginning, he would sing to himself. As the interest developed into a habit, his friends also noted his quality. He started singing in small parties and functions. Now he performs at least once in a week. Kanwal has graduated to singing ghazals from studying literature. He says he is a man of literary tastes. This is despite the fact that he has done his M Phil in economics from the Panjab University. He manages to draw a balance between music and his job. He has been influenced most by ghazal legends like Mehdi Hassan, Ghulam Ali and Jagjit Singh. Yesterday, he presented several ghazals of these singers. The poets who has been influenced him the most is Sahir Ludhianvi. He had to perform with not so great instrumental support. He played the harmonium himself and was supported on tabla and synthesizer. Kanwal admits, “I neither have any formal education in music, nor do I have any guru. I have learnt it by myself and am continuously in the process of learning”. He believes that artistic perfection comes with dedication and commitment to the art, irrespective of the returns. Although he is offered handsome remuneration for his performances, he refuses it all, saying music is as pious to him as religion. |
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