J A L A N D H A R

Lessons In Neglect
Reality bites: Govt school in a mess

Jalandhar, July 13 The tall claims made by the government regarding improvisation of infrastructure in the Government schools appear to have fallen flat especially at the Government Elementary School situated at Bhargawa Nagar, which is in shambles. Mangled fan and crumbling walls of a classroom at Government Elementary School at Bhargawa Nagar in Jalandhar say it all. — Tribune photo by Pawan Sharma

Train-truck collision leaves 10 injured 
Hoshiarpur, July 13
A collision between Ahmedabad-bound Somnath Express and a truck left nearly 10 persons, including seven train passengers, injured near Pawar village, here on Friday.

Cops come to couple’s rescue
Batala, July 13
The Batala police today dissuaded the Uttar Pradesh police to arrest a couple who recently got married against the wishes of their parents.

SI suspended for ‘links’ with drug smuggler
Jalandhar, July 13
A sub inspector has been put under suspension because of his alleged relations with a drug smuggler. Stating this SSP Arpit Shukla said the a poppy husk smuggler, Bakhshinder Singh, alias Bhinda, a resident of Ghag, Kapurthala, was arrested from outside the residence of the SI Sukha Singh, from outside his residence in Jalandhar by the Narcotics Cell, Amritsar, under Sections 15, 25, 29 of the NDPS Act.

Noorpur: 17 more cases surface
Jalandhar, July 13
As many as 17 patients having gastroenteritis like symptoms from Noorpur village were admitted at civil hospital, here today.

Patwaris stage dharna
Hoshiarpur, July 13
Members of Revenue Patwari Union (RPU), Dasuya, led by their president, Rajinder Singh, staged a dharna at the Tehsil complex Dasuya on Friday.

Lessons In Neglect
Reality bites: Govt school in a mess
Deepkamal Kaur
Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, July 13
The tall claims made by the government regarding improvisation of infrastructure in the Government schools appear to have fallen flat especially at the Government Elementary School situated at Bhargawa Nagar, which is in shambles.

Even though the school has 10 rooms, yet not even one is clean, safe and ventilated. With the onset of the monsoons, the situation has worsened with rainwater seeping in from the roof.

While certain rooms are devoid of any fan, in others the fans are completely broken. The roof tops of some rooms have already collapsed.

A few rooms are also being used to dump old furniture and other waste, which can be sold or disposed off easily.

The appearance of these rooms is far away, from what a classroom looks like. Rather they appear like cells for prisoners, needing fresh coats of paints.

Besides, a lot of work is required to be done, especially to make them appealing for the little ones.

Even the playground is in bad shape. With no proper drainage system for water disposal the ground remains covered with rain water, thereby making it impossible for any outdoor sports.

Further, there is hardly any vegetation or tree plantation to impart some aesthetic sense among the school-goers.

The toilets are broken. The taps and manhole covers, just outside the toilets, are missing as these were stolen during summer break last month.

Ironically, the poor infrastructure has not affected the admission in the school. There are 88 students in the school, including 16 new admissions in class I. The students sit in two classrooms, which are dark and dingy.

With the dearth of furniture, majority of the students, with no option left, sit on mattresses.

The class V students, however, are privileged as they have benches to sit upon.

There are five classes and three staff members who club the classes and impart lessons simultaneously. The staff, when asked about the problem, said there was no fund crunch as the school has already received an amount of Rs 1.2 lakh under the Sarb Sikhya Abhiyan scheme.

“Since the Public Works Department has already declared certain rooms in the building as unsafe, we do not want to repair them. We have written to the Sarb Sikhya Abhiyan team to select the rooms, which need to be re-constructed. However, they have not replied back yet even as the grant is lapsing”, said the staff members. 

Train-truck collision leaves 10 injured 
Our Correspondent

Hoshiarpur, July 13
A collision between Ahmedabad-bound Somnath Express and a truck left nearly 10 persons, including seven train passengers, injured near Pawar village, here on Friday.

The incident took place at around 12 pm at an unmanned crossing on Jalandhar-Pathankot 
section.

According to sources, the train, which was coming from Jammu, was slowing down as it was nearing Mukerian station. Suddenly a truck appeared at the crossing. The train driver saw the vehicle and applied the emergency brakes as a result the impact of the crash was considerably reduced.

The injured truck occupants have been identified as driver Rakesh Kumar (Himachal Pradesh), Balkar Singh (Jammu) and Ashok Kumar (Udhampur).

The passengers who were hurt include Ram Nivas (Rajasthan), Swarn Singh (Jammu), Roshan (Fazilka), Gopal (Fazilka), Dauarka (Gurdaspur), Sukhdev (Jodhpur) and Charan Dass (Tarn Taran).

The injured were admitted to Mukerian civil hospital. Five persons were discharged after first aid. The track was cleared of the wreckage at around 2:50 pm.

Cops come to couple’s rescue
Our Correspondent

Batala, July 13
The Batala police today dissuaded the Uttar Pradesh police to arrest a couple who recently got married against the wishes of their parents.

Addressing media persons, SSP R.N. Dhoke said Veena Malik (19), a resident of village Kokrali in Uttar Pradesh, got married to Sunny Sharma (21), a resident of Batala in the Punjab and Haryana High Court against the wishes of their parents.

Veena and Sunny wer having an affair from past some time. Veena had come all the way from Uttar Pradesh to get married to The couple also submitted a petition in the court demanding security.

“On Thursday, the UP police came to arrest the couple. However, since there was no arrest warrant against them, we refused to hand over the couple. We have even posted a copy of the petition and documents certifying their marriage to the SHO of the Kokrali village,” said SSP.

“The couple is presently under hiding,” he added. 

SI suspended for ‘links’ with drug smuggler

Jalandhar, July 13
A sub inspector has been put under suspension because of his alleged relations with a drug smuggler. Stating this SSP Arpit Shukla said the a poppy husk smuggler, Bakhshinder Singh, alias Bhinda, a resident of Ghag, Kapurthala, was arrested from outside the residence of the SI Sukha Singh, from outside his residence in Jalandhar by the Narcotics Cell, Amritsar, under Sections 15, 25, 29 of the NDPS Act.

Sukha Singh, station house officer, Bhogpur, has been put under suspension and a departmenatal enquiry has also been initiated and strict action will be taken, said SSP Shukla. — TNS

Noorpur: 17 more cases surface

Jalandhar, July 13
As many as 17 patients having gastroenteritis like symptoms from Noorpur village were admitted at civil hospital, here today.

Civil Surgeon Dr J.P. Singh took a round of the village. Four health teams went with him that examined families in 265 houses. The mobile dispensary found 52 patients ill, of whom 17 were sent to the civil hospital for treatment.

Sarpanch Gopi Chand said the technical fault was still not found. He said the water supply lines were still disconnected.— TNS 

Patwaris stage dharna
Our Correspondent

Hoshiarpur, July 13
Members of Revenue Patwari Union (RPU), Dasuya, led by their president, Rajinder Singh, staged a dharna at the Tehsil complex Dasuya on Friday.

They were protesting against the arrest of one of the members, Harpartap Singh by the vigilance department on June 29, 2007.

General secretary, RPU, Tajinder Singh alleged that the vigilance department had implicated Harpartap Singh in a false case of corruption.