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August 22, 2001, Chandigarh, India
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LAND SCAM Ludhiana, August 21 Dr R.K. Batra and Dr R.S. Brar, former president and secretary of the PAUTA, have said that the investigation conducted by Mr R.N. Gupta, the then Financial Commissioner Development (FCD) Punjab, at the instance of the Governor in 1997, had established that there were glaring irregularities in the exchange deal signed between the PAU and the Punjab Wakf Board authorities on March 14, 1995. The Khasra numbers which were envisaged by the board of management for exchange of area on 24-7-90 were changed to give the private builder access to the area from Kitchlu Nagar through a 60 foot wide road. Besides, the area transferred was 18 marlas in excess of the agreed area of 16 kanals. In addition, nearly 700 trees standing on the piece of land were felled without seeking permission of the forest and environment department authorities of the state and central government. Mr Gupta had also revealed that the trees which could have fetched a better return through auction were sold off to the builder for just Rs 87,000. According to the two teachers, Mr Gupta had categorically recommended in his inquiry report that the CBI should be asked to investigate the scam further and determine the criminal liability of the officials of the PAU and the Wakf Board involved in it. Even a Division Bench of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, comprising Justice K. Sridharan and Justice Swatantar Kumar, while disposing of writ petition (No, 5650/96(PAUTA v/s Dr A.S. Khehra) in August, 1997, had ordered that upon and others) recommendations of the competent authorities a “case would be registered against erring persons, including respondent no.4”, i.e., Dr A.S. Khehra, then Vice-Chancellor. The judges had also added in the order,” We also grant liberty to the independent investigating agency of the state police that, if they deem of it, during registration of the case, the investigation may also be conducted against others in accordance with the observations of the Supreme Court in the case of Director of Enforcement V. MCTM Corporation Pvt. Ltd. (J.T. 1996) (I) S.C. 79.” However, instead of handing over the case to the CBI, the board of management of the PAU had then thought it more appropriate to get the scam re-investigated by an officer holding the rank of Commissioner in the Punjab Government. The recent decision of the board, which is in consonance with the recommendation of the Gupta Commission of inquiry and the order of the High Court, will certainly help in identifying the persons who were involved in the land scam, the two teachers have emphasised. Dr Batra and Dr Brar have also drawn attention to the fact that the PAU Board had agreed to transfer the piece of land to the Wakf Board to enable the latter to set up a religious institution there. However, the land was instead given away to a builder. Though it was known to the then PAU VC that the area exchanged would be used for commercial exploitation, he did not raise any objection, the teachers have alleged. Besides, the PAU board had resolved at a meeting held on 18.1.96 that the Wakf Board (lessee) should not be allowed to change the use of the land in order to maintain the ecology of the area yet the VC of the university accepted a cheque of Rs 87000 from the builder as the cost of the 700- odd trees on 6.2.96, thus giving approval to uproot them. In complete disregard of the board’s decision, the PAU authorities allowed the builder to develop the land for residential buildings, allege Dr Batra and Dr Brar.  |
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Agitating students threaten statewide protests Ludhiana, August 21 The students who are aggressively agitating against the Punjab government for not implementing their “just” demands seem to be in no mood to call off the agitation unless their demands of advertising the posts of teacher of agriculture in government schools are implemented. The postponement of meeting of the students and the Chief Minister which was scheduled for yesterday at Chandigarh has added fuel to the fire. The meeting could not be held as the Chief Minister was reportedly too busy to meet the students who had gone all the way to Chandigarh to meet him. The Punjab Agriculture Students Association (PASA) today boycotted their classes and staged a demonstration in front of their college. A spokesman of PASA, Harcharan Singh Kang, in a press statement said that the postponement of the meeting had annoyed the students all the more and if the meeting was further postponed, then they would intensify the agitation further. He said that at this point of time only PAU was involved, but if the problem was not solved soon, they would ask for the help of other students’ unions active all over the state to intensify the agitation that would take the form of statewide protests. Kang said that while the Chief Minister had already accepted the demand of advertising 330 posts of agriculture teachers, the promise was not fulfilled as yet. He said that even though they had been boycotting their classes for the last 21 days, the authorities were not seriously taking up the matter. He said that after talking to some officials in the Education Department, the student leaders had come to know that the government and the Education Department had got no hassles for advertising the posts and only a nod by required by the Chief Minister. During their 21-day-long agitation the students had resorted to all kinds of protests, including the dharnas, boycotting of classes, closing of PAU gates, lock-up of CoA and even the lock-up of Thapar Hall, the administrative branch of PAU, including the VC’s office. The students are feeling cheated as the government had accepted their demands two months ago when they were agitating. The students at that time were sitting on a chain hunger strike in front of Thapar Hall, PAU. Meanwhile, the Punjab Agricultural University Teachers Association (PAUTA) has supported the students in their agitation and has submitted a written request with the Chief Minister for implementing the students demands. Terming their demands as “genuine” the president and secretary of PAUTA, Dr H.S. Brar and Dr M.L. Gupta, have asked the Chief Minister to give some time to these students. Stating that the Minister of Education, Mr Tota Singh had agreed in principle to advertise 350 posts of teacher, PAUTA said that these posts were not advertised alongwith the other posts recently advertised by the government. PAUTA further said that these students who were exposed to theory and practical aspect of agriculture were better suited for school teaching. PAUTA said that they were also studying various branches of science, including biology, chemistry, physics, maths, crop production, animal science and fruit and vegetable production. The students who had gone to meet the Chief Minister at Chandigarh had not returned till this report was filed. |
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Mom I don’t want to go to school! Ludhiana, August 21 Yes! modern life has lowered the age of those being afflicted by this mental disorder to those under 10. At least this is the conclusion one arrives at going by the scores of pre-teen children that show these kind of mood swings, forcing some educated parents who can identify these symptoms to visit a psychiatrist. Ritika, (not her real name) a sixth standard student of a leading school in the city, refused to go to school, sitting and crying all the time without any particular reason. The parents got worried and approached a family doctor, who referred them to a psychiatrist. Dr Rajiv Gupta, a city-based psychiatrist, when contacted said that this was not an isolated case. He received two to four such children everyday. He said,‘‘Children have become the innocent victims of rising levels of stress now-a-days. The schoolchildren are over-burdened with studies. Majority of them fail to cope up with this pressure and suffer from severe anxiety, irritability, violence, depression and even drug addiction,’’ he added. Amandeep Singh, a 12-year-old boy from Rampuraphul visited another city-based psychiatrist. The father complained that his son was reluctant to go to school. ‘‘He keeps on crying all the time and says I don’t want to live’’, added the worried father. The doctor diagnosed that the child was under severe depression as his parents had forced him to change his medium of studies from Punjabi to English recently and he was unable to cope up with this extra burden and pressure and became aggressive, disobedient and withdrawn. Sukhjinder’s father brought him to the psychiatrist from Samrala. The child, studying in eighth standard complained,‘‘I want to leave studies because I can not learn’’. Sukhjinder’s father said that they had approached the school authorities and discussed the problem with the officials but they refused to help the child and said,‘‘if he can not cope up with the studies here, he should get admission in some government school’’. Dr Gupta said that present system of education put emphasis on cramming of subjects which hardly stimulated a child’s mental faculties. He said that schools provided the theoretical knowledge to children and no practical training was given to them.‘‘The children’s capacity is less but they bear the burden of so many subjects. Then there is an additional burden of tuitions and the high expectations of parents add salt to their wounds. Majority of children become mentally disturbed,’’said Dr Gupta. Dr R.L.Narang, Head of the Psychiatry Department of Dayanand Medical College and Hospital, while talking to Ludhiana Tribune agreed that there was a spurt in the number of cases of depression among school-going children. He said that on an average, he received over 30 such children in a month.
‘‘Lack of parental attention, lot of pressure of studies and a feeling of competitiveness are some of the main factors that cause stress and frustration among the children between 6-15 years of age,’’ informed Dr Narang. Dr Narang said that unfortunately, parents were unable to recognise their children’s problems. ‘‘The disturbed children complain of stomach ache, restlessness and lethargic attitude. Parents think that it can be some medical problem and take them to ordinary doctors. But due to improper treatment, the problem of depression gets deteriorated and they become aggressive, violent or even feel like committing suicide,’’ said Dr Narang. He said that during a survey in different city schools, it was found that over 25 per cent of schoolchildren were suffering from stress-induced psychiatric problems. Dr Rajiv Gupta suggested that parents should not focus their attention on what their child had not done, they should rather encourage him/her for what had been done. |
Murder accused acquitted Ludhiana, August 21 According to prosecution, the accused accompanied terrorist Jagroop Singh Joopa on the said date and opened indiscriminate fire, killing four persons and injuring many others. An FIR was lodged against four accused, including Manjinder Singh Issi, who was also alleged to be involved in a number of terrorist activities. Out of the four accused, two were killed in encounters and one was declared a proclaimed offender. During his trial, Manjinder Singh had been lodged in Nabha Jail. The judge acquitted the alleged terrorist as Baboo Lal, the prime witness, failed to identify him. |
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