Vet officers hold meeting
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, July 29
A meeting of the state central body of the Punjab State Veterinary Officers Association was held here. Dr Gurcharan Singh, Patron of the association, presided over the meeting

Dr Paramjit Singh, press secretary said, newly elected office-bearers from all districts of Punjab participated in the meeting. Members alleged that they had to undergo a lot of hardships for over three years, due to the autocratic attitude of former Director, Animal Husbandry Punjab, Dr G.S.Chahal.

The elections to the state executive of the association were also held on the occasion. Dr Rajinder Singh was re-elected state unit president .Dr Nirmaljit Singh and Dr Prithi Sharma were elected general secretaries, while Dr Santokh Singh and Dr M.P.Pathak organising secretaries. Dr T.P.Saini and Dr Sukhdev Singh were elected senior vice-presidents of the association.

100 district schools sans principals
Deepkamal Kaur

Ludhiana, July 29
Administrative functioning of senior secondary schools of the district seems to be in a dire strait as nearly 100 out of 138 schools are functioning without principals. Principals from such ‘‘headless schools’’ have either retired or have been transferred over the past three years. These posts have not been filled by the state government by the way of promotions or otherwise.

It is not just the schools in villages or towns that have been affected, the situation is grim even in the city. Barring three schools — Government Model Senior Secondary School, PAU, Government Boys’ Senior Secondary School and Government Girls’ Senior Secondary School, both at Jawahar Nagar — all other schools are functioning without principals.

The Government Multi-purpose Senior Secondary School, Cinema Road, is functioning without a principal for over six months. Its Principal, Mr C.H. Puri, became the District Education Officer (Elementary). He, however, is currently posted as senior lecturer in In-service Training Centre here. With Ms Sudesh Bajaj, Principal Government Girls’ Senior Secondary School, Bharat Nagar, being posted as the Deputy DEO in the secondary wing of the department, her post is now lying vacant.

All other senior secondary schools in the city, including those under Jagraon Bridge, at Kundan Puri, Basti Jodhewal, Model Town, Millerganj and Cemetery Road are functioning without permanent principals. Even the schools in rural areas such as Katani and villages like Lalton are being run by officiating principals.

Nearly 60 out of 191 higher secondary schools of the district are functioning without headmasters. With very schools of the city functioning at high-school level, most of the headless schools are in villages. In city, these include three schools in Brahmapuri, Ambedkar Nagar and on the College Road.

In the absence of any principal or headmaster, the seniormost teachers of the school have been burdened with the extra administrative work, besides routine teaching work. An officiating principal, on the condition of anonymity, said at times the administrative job become too heavy and he finds difficulty in preparing his lectures. He said his students had to bear the brunt of missing their classes when he was busy with official work.

Another officiating teacher said his problem were the teachers who took the liberty in the absence of any permanent principal. He said since they knew that he was working on temporary basis, they don’t give heed to his directions. And it is not just the staff, even students try to take advantage of the situation, he added.

Mr Bachitar Singh, District Education Officer (Secondary), said the district was facing an acute shortage of administrators. He said even though the state government and state education departments were well aware of it, nothing was being done. He said every time the meeting of promotion commission was scheduled, it was deferred. He said even the last meeting that was scheduled on May 23 was postponed. No such meetings meant for promotion of lecturers, to the post of principal, have been held in the past one year, he said.

School kids told to save resources
Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, July 29
“Greed of a few persons coupled with irresponsible behaviour of some, had degraded the environment to such an extent that not only our health but the entire flora and fauna has been threatened.” These were the views of Col. Jagdish Singh Gill, the chief guest at a function organised to mark vanamahotsava at Government Middle School, Bihla village, near here today.

The function was organised by the Department of Forests, Punjab, in coordination with the Bharat Jan Gyan Vigyan Jatha (BJGVJ). Addressing the function, Col Gill, called upon the people, particularly students and youth, to realise their duties towards promotion of healthy environment.

In his presidential remarks Maj Sher Singh Aulakh, president of the jatha, said the city was so polluted that it was difficult to breathe in fresh air. “Large part of our population does not get clean drinking water and sewerage facilities; there is lot of noise around us and we are facing the problem of solid waste disposal. Excess use of pesticides and burning of paddy straw has added to the pollution in agriculture sector. These problems have to be addressed jointly by the efforts of people and various administrative agencies.”

“We are losing our green cover, our soil is getting eroded and out wetlands are drying up. Our bio-diversity is also threatened and there are several examples where people have been uprooted in the name of development causing loss of human resource at the cost of capital generation for the benefit of multi-national corporations.”

Expressing concern over the events, Dr Rajinder Pal Singh Aulakh, secretary, BJGVJ, said due to the unchecked and non-sustainable industrialisation by the West there had been an increase in the level of greenhouse gases leading to global warming and depletion of the ozone layer. Ironically, when the world is demanding control on these emissions by the West, USA, the biggest polluter, is backing out from Kyoto protocol and now from Johannesburg. He said there was need for a mass movement to preserve our beautiful planet.

The Deputy Conservator of Forests, Punjab, Dr Mewa Singh Chhiber, expressed concern over the continued deforestation. He called upon the people to make plantation a part of their life and said awareness should be generated on environment protection.

Speaking about the conservation of natural water resources, Dr Daler Singh, District Agriculture Information Officer, Ludhiana, shared his views on the new technique developed by him 

Students get tips on entrance tests
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, July 29
The Sidhartha Academy of Competitions in association with the Rotary Club Midtown organised a lecture for the students of Bhartiya Vidya Mandir, Kitchlu Nagar, here today.

Dr Dinesh Badyal, lecturer of pharmacology, Christian Medical College, was the resource person. He gave the students various tips on preparing themselves for competitive examinations for admission to medical and engineering colleges.

Giving various examples, Dr Badyal told the students now to attempt multiple choice questions. He said time management was very important as it was often seen that many students were not able to attempt the last easy questions due to the shortage of time.