Jalandhar, August 24
Members of the Punjab Polytechnic Staff Association today demanded that the Punjab must stop privatising the 18 government polytechnics in the state. They also threatened to launch a major stir across the state on the issue.

Addressing a press conference here, the association’s president, Mr Gurbakhsish Singh, blamed the government for shirking its responsibility by planning to hand over the functioning of polytechnics to industrialists and political leaders through societies.

They claimed the privatisation move would affect the job security of over 1,200 polytechnic employees.

The association members alleged that the government officials were moving on with proposal without taking them into confidence and clarifying any staff rules.

They alleged that the move was gaining momentum at a polytechnic at Lehragaga where majority of the staff members were being transferred since the last one year.

They said the remaining 15 to 20 staff members had now been issued letters asking them to avail transfer to other institutions by September 1.

Mr Jasvir Singh, the association’s general secretary, claimed that the polytechnic at Khunimjara near Kharar was also being given out to Quark.

He said the government was doing this on the pretext of financial loss.

He claimed that each polytechnic that was levying fee to the tune of Rs 13,500 per semester was earning a profit of Rs 11 lakh for the government per annum.

The members said the fact that the polytechnics were profitable was evident with as many as 90 such private institutes spring up in the state in the last few years.

They said despite this, seats in government polytechnics were getting filled up faster.

The association said an appointment with the Secretary, Technical Education, had been fixed on September 4 and in case the government took any “anti-staff” decision in its cabinet meeting on August 29, they would boycott it.

The members added that they would hold a state-level protest on August 28 at Chandigarh or Patiala.

They said black batch protests had become a routine outside all polytechnics and in case their demand was not conceded, they would stage gate rallies. 

Kapurthala, August 24
About two dozen trees have been felled on the premises of Nawab Jassa Singh Ahluwalia Government College here.

Interestingly, the trees have been axed at the time when several Non-Government Organisations (NGOs) are planting saplings in different parts of the district to make environment clean and green.

When contacted, the Principal of the college, Dr Om Kumari Patial, admitted that several trees had been felled in the college. However, she was unable to tell the exact number of the axed trees, as according to her she could tell the exact number of those trees only after seeing the papers.

She said the trees were causing hindrance to the view of the main building of the college, and there were not enough sweepers to clean the college campus when leaves kept falling on the ground. She claimed that the trees were very old, and one of them had also fallen on the building.

Justifying her decision, she said that the trees had been felled after getting the due permission from the Forest Department. She also claimed that saplings had been planted in place of the axed trees.

However, Kapurthala Forest Range Officer, Mr Ram Sharan, could not be contacted despite repeated attempts. 

Jalandhar, August 24
Policemen along with traffic constables today rounded up three women and the two children accompanying them on the basis of a verbal complaint by a Machhiwara resident. The women were let off after a “verification” at the Division No. 4 police station.

The complainant had claimed that the women had tried to pick his pocket near Hotel Sky Lark. The women, natives of MP, denied that they had made any such attempt.

Strangely, no written complaint had been filed against the women.

When contacted, SHO Mangat Ram said he did not know about the antecedents of the women as their addresses were not noted down.

Jalandhar, August 24
Punjab Government has sought approval from the Centre for development projects worth Rs 350 crore meant for the city.

Punjab Local Bodies Minister Chaudhary Jagjit Singh today claimed that “full-scale” efforts were underway to improve the condition of the roundabouts for which the government was doling out liberal grants.

“We hope that the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, will take personal interest in clearing all of the projects pertaining to the city,” he said in a statement.

He added that modern facilities had been provided to dairy owners at the Jamsher Dairy Complex and an underground parking lot adjoining the Nehru Garden Chowk was nearing its completion.

“Jalandhar district has received Rs 5893 lakh under the Punjab Nirman Programme. The amount is being spent on all cities and villages of the district,” he said.

Jalandhar, August 24
Deputy Commissioner A. Venu Parsad today directed Patwaris to ensure presence in their respective offices and not to roam about here and there. He said it would lessen the inconvenience to common people in revenue offices.

The DC also sought to streamline the working of the revenue offices. He told the Tehsildar and Naib-Tehsildars that one of them should remain present in the office.

“Patwaris should do their best to make it sure that people do not face any inconvenience. For this, they should remain present in their offices,” he said.

“Revenue Department official have been asked to make prior verification of documents like ‘farads’ before registering sale deeds to minimise error,” he added.

The DC also instructed the officials to collect information about those Nambardars, who had passed away, for appointment of new people in their place.

Mr Parsad also directed the administration and revenue officials to earmark those pieces of government land that had been encroached upon. “Officials have been asked to take possession of these lands. Lower courts too have given decisions against those possessing such lands,” he said.

Jalandhar, August 24
As many as 10 of the 177 samples of fertilisers and pesticides have failed in quality tests. The Agriculture Department collected the samples to check the quality farm inputs being supplied to farmers of the district.

Deputy Commissioner A. Venu Parsad said this during a meeting of the Agriculture Production Committee at the District Administrative Complex here today.

“As many as 84 samples of fertilisers, 93 of pesticides and 66 of seeds were taken. The department has already initiated legal proceedings against the erring persons,” he said.

The DC adding that 298 vermi-compsting units had been set up in the district to spread the culture of bio-farming.

“Improved paddy has been sown in 1,48,500 hectares, maize on 12,800 hectares, sugarcane on 12,400 hectares and pulses on 1465 hectares,” he said. There was no shortage of fertilisers in the district, he added. 

Jalandhar, August 24
Arvind Ranjan has taken over as the new Inspector General, BSF, Punjab Frontier.

An IPS officer of the 1977 batch from the Kerala cadre, he was in the elite Special Protection Group, New Delhi, for four years. Mr Rajan also served in the CISF and was awarded the DG’s Commendation Disc in 1997.

He also commanded the tough Tripura Frontier of the BSF and was awarded the Police (Special Duty) Medal.

He even won the Police Medal for meritorious service in 1997 and the President Police Medal for Distinguished Service in 2006.

He has held a sensitive assignment as Inspector General at Headquarters, DG, BSF. 

Jalandhar, August 24
Heroin worth Rs one crore was seized by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) and the Jalandhar police in a joint operation at Kartarpur bus stand today.

SSP Ishwar Singh said the operation was carried out on a tip-off that said a narcotics consignment from Amritsar was on its way to Kartarpur.

Acting on the information, a team led by the NCB Inspector Balwinder Kumar, SP, City, Pritam Singh, Inspector Balkar Singh and Sub-Inspector Pritam Singh nabbed one Talwinder Singh, a resident of Kawan near Lopoke in Amritsar district as he alighted from a bus. A search led to the recovery of one kg of heroin.