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‘Invest pennies, earn pounds’
Jalandhar, January 6 All you need to do is to construct a few small sheds alongside the boundary walls. You need not even get basic facilities, including power connection or even construct kitchen and toilets. You can easily earn up to Rs 10,000 a month if you get 10 sheds constructed and make 10 migrant labourers sleep in each of these sheds. That is the amount you will get even if each tenant pays up Rs 100 only. You may not even be able to get that amount if you construct a palatial house investing several lakhs in those lanes and rent it out to a family. This is why such an idea is a big hit in almost every colony of the city. Since such houses are located at inside corners of the colonies, the owners also manage to evade house tax. A peep into these sheds brought into light the shoddy living conditions that the migrants are forced to live in. A city-based chemist has constructed a few sheds on Ladowali Road right across the Suwidha Centre. Four to 10 Bihari and UP migrants doing labour here have been putting up in unventilated rooms of small dimensions. There are eight to 10 sheds wherein at least 40 men sleep at any given point of time. Forget kitchen, there is not even a single toilet for these men who tell that they use public toilets near the DC office, at least 500 metre away from their sheds. Kamlesh, who works as a daily-wage labourer, said he was paying Rs 100 every month as rent to a co-tenant who was the caretaker and collecting the amount on the owner’s behalf. He said the accommodation was suitable only to those migrants who were here without their families. Little ahead in Mohalla Gobindgarh, there is a double-storey accommodation with small rooms of 6 by 10 feet on either side of the corridor. Kavita, whose husband runs a tikki and chat stall, said she was putting up with her five children in the small accommodation and paying Rs 750 to the owner. “There is hardly any ventilation inside the rooms and roofs start leaking on days it rains,” she revealed. There are five to six toilets for nearly 40 families putting up in the complex. Across the road another narrow passage leads to a similar accommodation. Here too there are some 20 families putting up. The ground floor has larger rooms with power connection and come for Rs 1,500 per room. Those upstairs are small of barely 6 by 8 feet and monthly rental is Rs 1,000 for rooms that have a connection for light, TV and a fan. Sunita, who earns by washing utensils in various houses, said her house owner was very strict about getting money in time. “In case we do not pay by due date, he gets our room locked and does not allow us in till we make the payment,” she disclosed.
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Soon: 4-laning of Kapurthala road
Jalandhar, January 6 While the Jalandhar branch will four-lane 4.60-km road from the Variana turn to Addi Khui village, the Kapurthala branch will four-lane 8-km stretch from Addi Khui village to the Sultanpur Lodhi turn. Jalandhar PWD (B&R) executive engineer Ajmer Singh told The Tribune that his branch had already invited tenders and the work would be allotted within the next few weeks. To a query, Ajmer Singh said he was trying to get clearance from the forest department as several trees would be felled for four-laning of the road. Similarly, Kapurthala PWD branch executive engineer Varinder Kumar said tenders would be opened on January 15 and work allotted within the next few months. Meanwhile, Pushpa Gujral Science City director-general R.S. Khandpur has welcomed the government decision to four-lane the Jalandhar-Kapurthala road. Khandpur said he had been demanding four-laning of the road since long as it would facilitate more tourists not only to the science city but also to the erstwhile princely state of Kapurthala to visit several heritage and religious places.
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Residential Plot
Jalandhar, January 6 Complainant Rajinder Kaur Deol had contended that she wanted to construct a house for herself and her family but she could not do so as there were two electricity poles in front of her plot where from the wires pass across to the backside of her plot. She said owing to delay in construction because of obstruction from the wires, she was being forced to live on rent by paying up Rs 6,000 per month. Deol wrote that Baljit Kaur, her mother and original allottee of the plot, wrote many letters to PUDA for removing of poles from the front but the officials did not give her any positive response. She said she had even visited the office to make a request but in vain. She alleged that it was the duty of PUDA to provide a vacant plot to the owner. PUDA contested the case saying that they had already displaced the poles and there was no pole which could cause any obstruction in construction. The electricity wires had already been changed from the earlier position. However, the complainant put on record certain photographs taken from the site. The forum presided over by Surinder Mittal took cognizance of the evidence that proved that two electricity poles were in front of the plot causing obstruction in the front portion. The poles and their stays had clearly covered most of the area in front of the plot, it observed. The complainant also put on record a report submitted by the subdivisional officer to the Estate Officer, PUDA, which said that the work regarding removal of the electricity wires was in process and that he would be informed about completion of the work. The forum found that no completion certificate or information regarding work completion had been placed on record. The complainant also produced a letter in which she had requested the Estate Officer that she had started construction of the ground floor and electricity wires were causing obstruction in laying lintel on the ground floor. She had even written that the wires were touching the building and PUDA would be responsible for any untoward incident. The forum found that the permission to raise the construction was given to the complainant in November 2007 and that PUDA was duty bound to give three years’ time for construction after giving possession of the plot to the allottee. It asked PUDA not to charge any extension fee and pay up compensation and cost of litigation.
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MC to set up integrated solid waste treatment plant
Jalandhar, January 6 While the MC already is operating an organic waste treatment plant at Wariana village along Kapurthala Road, the volume of waste is so much that the dumping site there is already stretching out of its boundaries. The proposed plant will also include a 10-acre dug-up space for land filling by all those materials. The plant will include yet another site for generation of fuel derived from refuse, including tattered clothing, wooden material, paper and other products of high calorific value. Even as similar projects will be started in other districts as well, Jalandhar will be leading them all, claimed SE (O&M) V.P. Singh. He said the Infrastructure Leasing and Finance Services (ILFS) Ltd had been hired as a consulting agency for planning of proposals of waste management. He said since the satellite towns, including Kapurthala, Kartarpur, Nakodar and Phagwara, could not have their own solid waste plants, the one in Jalandhar would cater to their needs as well. As per the proposal, the constructing and executing agency will be responsible for lifting of garbage from door-to-door. Employees dressed in uniforms and wearing gloves will visit every household to pick up waste, collect it at a common place and transfer it to the plant. The execution agency, which will be finalised only after issuing of tenders, will be earning not just by selling manure but also collection of payment from each household. The SE revealed that the volume of solid waste that the city residents were producing was close to 350 metric tones per day. After collection from various nearby towns, the volume of waste coming to the site would be close to 600 metric tones
per day, he revealed, adding that it was generally believed that a person was leaving on an average 500 gm of waste per day. While the MC already owns 25 acres of land for the purpose at the designated site, a notification for acquiring another 22 acres of land has already been issued. The officials are also planning to acquire yet another 20 acres of land around the area for which a proposal will be mooted in the House meeting scheduled for January 8.
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CPI (ML ND) to protest detention of Maoist
Jalandhar, January 6 CPI (ML ND) state leader Ajmer Singh told The Tribune that members of his organisation and several other like-minded outfits would gather at Desh Bhagat Yadgaar Hall tomorrow morning and proceed towards the District Administration Complex to protest against the “illegal” detention of the Maoist from December 19 to January 5. The CPI (ML ND) leader alleged that the CIA staff of the Jalandhar police picked up Anupam of Jharkhand and Dharmendra Saathi from the latter’s house at Mehsampur village falling under Phillaur police station on December 19 and kept them in illegal custody till January 5. The police showed him arrested in a case, he added. Interestingly, denying the allegations levelled by the CPI (ML ND), Phillaur DSP Rajinder Singh Sohal claimed that Jai Prakash Dubey, alias Kamdev, alias Sunial, alias Anupam, was arrested on January 6 itself after registration of a first information report (FIR) against him under sections 8 and 9 of the Prevention of Unlawful Activities Act. It is pertinent to mention here that representatives of the CPI (ML ND) and several other liked-minded groups, including the Lok Morcha, the Pendu Mazdoor Union, the Inkalabi Kendra Punjab and the Lok Sangram Manch Punjab, met Jalandhar SSP P.K. Rai on January 1 to bring the matter of Anupam’s illegal police custody to his
notice. At that time, Ajmer Singh had demanded that if Anupam had committed any crime, he should be produced before a competent court after registration of a case, otherwise he should be immediately released. The CPI (ML ND) leader further alleged that the police had also detained several other persons from time to time in this case. Meanwhile, the DSP said the Maoist had been produced in the court of illaqa magistrate of Phillaur who remanded him in five-day police custody. Several cases of murder, dacoity and arsoning had already been registered in different parts of Jharkhand against him, he added.
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Youth body starts peace campaign
Jalandhar, January 6 Expressing concern over the reports on Punjabi youths taking to drugs, the NYKS vice-chairman said there was a dire need of spreading awareness among youths against the ill- effects of drugs and providing alternative sources of education and employment. Cheema said the NYKS would start exchange programmes for its members with the youths of foreign countries for setting more cottage industries and for the promotion of rural sports. The NYKS vice-chairman further said nearly 5,000 youths from 28 states of the country would participate in the national youth festival being held at GNDU from January 12 to 16. While Vice-President Hamid Ansari will inaugurate the festival, Union sports minister Dr Manohar Singh Gill would preside over the concluding function, he added.
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Young World
Jalandhar, January 6 Meanwhile, the institute also started a five-day-long nurturance programme for national talent search awardees on January 5. Officiating director of the institute R. Jha encouraged the participants to work hard so that India could join the league of developed countries by the year 2020. Workshops
Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, in collaboration with NCTE-Intel Technology India, is organising workshops for training two teacher educators as “master trainers” for integrating information communication technology (ICT) in teacher education from each college of education. The workshop began
here at the local MGN College of Education and would conclude on January 11. This workshop would be conducted once again from February 4 to 9. Vice-chancellor Dr Jai Rup Singh inaugurated the workshop in which 40 colleges of education affiliated to the varsity would be participating. Peace March
Students of CJS Public School, Jalandhar, organised a march to propagate world peace. On this
occasion, the students lit candles and held banners and flags in silent protest against widespread terror.
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