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Rural areas to get better roads Baba Balbir Singh Seechewal along with others during a function
to lay the foundation stone of a road upgradation project in Jalandhar on Saturday. A Tribune photo
Guru Gobind Singh’s Birth Anniversary |
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Pvt colleges to seek fee hike for various courses
Residents shiver as fog engulfs city
With temperature dipping in the region, migrants sit beside a bonfire to beat the chill on Saturday. Tribune photo: Pawan Sharma
Wife, paramour among 4 held for man’s murder
Acres of govt land under illegal possession
‘Govt will clear dues of sugarcane farmers soon’
Foundation stone of language lab laid
Shopkeepers protest authorities’ move
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Rural areas to get better roads
Jalandhar, January 3 He said this stretch of 21.65 km would be raised to 18 feet from the existing 10 feet at a cost of Rs 8.69 crore and that the work would be completed by February 2009. After completion the commuting distance for those using this road from Jalandhar to Ferozepour would be reduced by over 15 km. The road has been named as Sant Avtar Singh Marg and had been included in the schedule of plan roads, he said. The minister also lauded the efforts of Baba Balbir Singh Seechewal who had taken it upon himself to keep this roadworthy since 1994. Residents of more than 60 villages along the road would be benefited from this move, he added. Others present on the occasion were revenue minister Ajit Singh Kohar, Lok Sabha candidate from Jalandhar Hans Raj Hans besides senior party leaders of the region.
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Guru Gobind Singh’s Birth Anniversary Tribune News Service
Jalandhar, January 3 The procession, led by the Panj Pyaras, took a round of SD College chowk, Mandi Fantom Ganj, Gurdwara Dewan Asthan of Central Town, Milap Chowk, Saidan Gate, Rainak Bazaar, Patel Chowk, Mai Hiran Gate and Bhagat Singh Chowk culminating at Gurdwara Dewan Asthan. Kirtan jathas chanted hymns as they passed through the route. The shopkeepers of various market associations arranged stalls for langar and tea through the passage. Despite cold weather, the devotees participated in good numbers. Pathankot: A colourful procession, headed by “Panj Piaras” and Guru Granth Sahib, was taken out here today on the eve of the Parkash Utsav of Guru Gobind Singh. The procession started from Gurdwara Singh Sabha, Sarai Mohalla, and passed through the main markets of the city. Schoolchildren and a large number of other devotees, including Punjab transport minister Master Mohan Lal and jathedar Dilbag Singh, member SGPC, participated in the procession.
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Pvt colleges to seek fee hike for various courses
Jalandhar, January 3 The college directors have pointed out that the fee revision of any of the courses, including those of engineering, management, pharmacy and architecture, has not been effected since 2003. Six years on, the DA being paid to the college staff has doubled and pay commission recommendations also would have to be implemented soon for which the fees needs to be increased, they have pointed out. Giving his logic for the same, director of the Apeejay Institute of Management Dr Balram Dogra said, “All universities of the state, including Guru Nanak Dev University, Panjab University and Punjabi University, which have introduced self-financed MBA courses, have raised the fee to Rs 1 lakh or Rs 1.5 lakh per annum, that too when they are functioning on the government land.” “We, too, have been running self-financed institutes on our private lands for which the cost of inputs is even higher. We cannot arbitrarily increase our fee and are dependent on the university for the same. Our annual tuition fee is Rs 45,000 with additional Rs 14,000 as development charges. If the PTU fails to raise the fee this year, we may not be able to retain a good faculty and the standards are likely to fall,” he said. Director of the Punjab College for Technical Education (PCTE), Ludhiana, Dr K.N.S. Kang, too, said the university authorities must calculate the salary component from the fee structure and pass a proposal of fee hike. He said when other universities of the state had already done it, the PTU should not desist from taking the step. Even the owners of distance education centres of the PTU pointed out that they too had been demanding a raise in fee structure. “There has been no increase in fee ever since the distance education programmes were started in 2001. Look at the inflation, the cost of sending dispatches and running offices. A BCA student pays only Rs 6,500 as tuition fee per semester. The average fee for other courses is also around Rs 7,000 per semester with which we may not be able to sustain,” said a learning centre owner. There are other issues that the colleges want to propose. Charanjit Singh Channi of CT Institutes says, “The syllabus revision is of utmost importance going by the market needs.” Dr Dogra hopes, “The university must plan new courses based on economy and industry requirements.” Punjab Technical University’s examination wing officials wish to moot their point as well. “The reappear chances that a student gets in the PTU must be reduced. A student who flunks a course in the first semester gets 15 chances for reappear in the same subject for he can write the examination in all subsequent semesters till he completes the degree in eight years. Other universities offer just two to three more chances for each subject which is better option if one wishes to overhaul the standards,” they said. |
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Residents shiver as fog engulfs city
Jalandhar, January 3 Fetching copies of newspapers dropped in the verandah or going out to get milk from the milkman also proved to be a Herculean task for many. People who dared to venture out were seen wrapped in jackets, mufflers, caps and gloves. People continued to feel the chill through the day as sunrays failed to penetrate through the dense cover of clouds and fog even in the afternoon. All government offices were closed on account of Saturday but those working in private offices warmed themselves up using blowers. The vendors and hawkers were seen warming themselves up by lighting up coal and dry twigs along roadsides. Those running stalls of tea, boiled eggs, hot sweet potato
chat, hot pakoras, sizzling soups and roasted groundnuts had a brisk business. The meteorology department at Adampur Air Force station recorded temperature at 2.8 degree Celsius at 5.30 am. As per information, Amritsar and Bathinda shivered at 1.8 degree Celsius. Halwara recorded 4.8 degree
Celsius, Chandigarh 6.8 degree Celsius, Pathankot 5.6 degree Celsius, Ambala 6.4 degree Celsius, Jammu 6.8 degree Celsius and Udhampur 5 degree Celsius. Temperature in Srinagar remained at freezing point. The meteorology department has predicted fog,
haze and mist. |
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Wife, paramour among 4 held for man’s murder
Hoshiarpur, January 3 The Tanda police has registered a case under sections 302 and 34 of the IPC and has arrested all accused. According to police sources, Nek Ram, resident of Navipur in Aligarh district, Uttar Pradesh, but presently residing at Jhawan village, stated to the police that Harbir Singh of Aligarh district had been working with him for the past about 12 year. Harbir was married to Vanita. Mukesh, Tinku and Bura Ram, who also hailed from the same district, came here sometime ago and started living with Harbir Singh at his residence. Meanwhile, Vanita allegedly developed illicit relations with one of them. When Harbir Singh came to know about the illicit relations of his wife, Vanita along with Mukesh, Tinku and Bura Ram hatched a conspiracy to eliminate him. On the night intervening January 1 and 2, they allegedly assaulted Harbir Singh with an axe and after seriously injuring him fled from the scene. At about 4.30 am yesterday, when he noticed Harbir in a critical condition, he along with others shifted Harbir Singh to a nearby hospital where the latter succumbed to his injuries. |
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Acres of govt land under illegal possession
Jalandhar, January 3 The information sought by lawyer Rajinder Bhatia through the deputy commissioner’s office has revealed that land measuring 7,904 acres 7 kanals and 15 marlas owned by the state government and another area measuring 291 acres 6 kanals and 13 marlas owned by the Central government is under illegal possession. DC Ajeet Singh Pannu, however, said that a major chunk of this land included the one under cultivation by farmers along bet areas. He said since the information was not directly routed through him and was provided to him by the Revenue Department, he needed to check it up. Meanwhile, in a yet another RTI application filed by the lawyer for Lt-Col S.S. Sohi, a Model Town resident, yesterday, he has sought information regarding the legal status of the land in which the Jullunder Gymkhana Club is functioning as per revenue records. He has also asked whether the land was in illegal possession of the club and as to what action was being taken by the district administration to restore it. He has also asked as to what extent was commissioner Jalandhar division liable under the law being an ex-officio president of the club. |
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‘Govt will clear dues of sugarcane farmers soon’
Jalandhar, January 3 Punjab cooperation minister Capt Kanwaljit Singh said a sum of Rs 37 crore owed to such farmers would be paid soon. Efforts were also afoot to modernise the functioning of the cooperative mills in the state, he said. The minister was in the city to preside over the first meeting of the district grievances committee here today. Capt Kanwaljit Singh instructed the officials to be present for three hours on the first three working days of the week. This would ensure that the people did not have to make the rounds of the offices. Taking a note of the shortage of bricks for development works, he asked the DDPO and BDPO to get in touch with the brick kiln owners and ensure that the ongoing works were not affected in any way. Dealing with an application complaining about the shortage of canal water in the district, he asked the executive engineer, irrigation, to present a detailed report in this context at the next meeting. The minister also instructed the pollution control board and civil surgeon to present a report on what steps had been taken by the board to stop polluting industries from discharging their effluents in the Chitti Bein and if any health camps had been organised in any of the affected villages along the highly polluted Bein. All local MLAs and
senior civil servants were present. |
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Foundation stone of language lab laid
Phagwara, January 3 This hi-tech, modern lab will impart latest training to students, particularly of rural areas, in spoken English and skills like reading, listening, learning and writing. There is a plan to spend Rs 12 lakh on the lab to be equipped with audio-visual aids, headphones and other technological gadgets required to prepare students for the ILETS. Atwal underlined the primacy of education. He asserted that educated children were the real strength of a strong nation. “They constitute bricks and mortar of the solid edifice and foundation of a nation,” he continued. Atwal also distributed Rs 25 lakh to 13 parent teacher associations (PTA) of schools and panchayats as development grants. He inspected the progress of the work of the wooden railway foot overbridge for the pedestrians near the railway station. —
TNS |
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Shopkeepers protest authorities’ move
Amritsar, January 3 Terming the move as a gross violation of their rights, the shopkeepers alleged it was done without prior intimation. The shopkeepers, including Amarjeet Singh, Surinder Singh, Pritam Singh and Mahinder Singh, said some of the friendly shopkeepers rang them up to inform about
the development. The affected shopkeepers attempted to convince the employees not to go ahead with the task since some of the shops contained goods. It resulted in altercation between the officials and shopkeepers.
— TNS |
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To upgrade the infrastructure in the rural areas, the state would construct 1,680 km of roads in the countryside at a cost Rs 269 crore.
The city residents woke up in the morning finding themselves caught up in an envelope of thick fog that persisted through the day.
Fetching copies of newspapers dropped in the verandah or going out to get milk from the milkman also proved to be a Herculean task for many. People who dared to venture out were seen wrapped in jackets, mufflers, caps and gloves.
