Jalandhar, January 16
If you visit the PTU website to retrieve some information, you are bound to get confused. While the site should have served as a ready reckoner, even the basic facts put up under various subheads in the site are a total mismatch.

For instance, if one is looking for total number of affiliated colleges with the PTU, each section of the site gives a varied answer.

The ‘Home’ page mentions that the university has under its affiliation 40 engineering colleges, 56 management colleges, 17 pharmacy colleges, six for architecture, two for hotel management and 13 colleges imparting courses in medical lab technology and IT disciplines.

However, if one clicks on another section ‘Affiliated colleges’, the list shows 42 engineering, 47 management, four hotel management, 26 pharmacy and five architecture colleges. Clearly, none of these numbers are matching.

At the same time, if one clicks one of the appendices for the list of new colleges, there are additional 22 engineering, one hotel management, six pharmacy and 23 management colleges.

“Perhaps the number of colleges with the PTU has increased so much that the university is not able to even correctly count them up,” director of an affiliated college said in a lighter vein. Another college owner commented, “That is the height of technical advancement. The only technical university of the state is not able to maintain its updates online.”

But certainly the site surely leaves a visitor in a quandary as to on which section should he actually rely.

The count of the learning centres is also variable in each section. While the officials of the distance education cell tell that there are nearly 1,000 learning centres, the Home page reads, “Presently, various courses are being offered in more than 350 learning centres across the country”.

The “distance education” section, however, gives another figure, “Punjab Technical University has set up more than 200 state-of-the-art study centres”. Further in the same section with a sub-head ‘number of new and old LCs’ a list of 346 centres is given. Again, none of the these figures are even close to the actual number.

It is not that the PTU website is not being updated. In fact, many new sections including those of online registration, agenda items for academic council meeting, distance education news, job placements, datesheets and result column have been added very recently. In fact the real problem is that some old sections, especially the Home or the Welcome page which are not being touched at all for updates. The Home page for instance again reads, “The University has an intake of more than 12700 and total strength of more than 60,000 approx.” But the fact is that there are more than 3 lakh students on rolls now, which is almost five times the figure mentioned on the site.

The ‘Administration’ column has a correct list of the names of the officers, their new contact numbers in Kapurthala campus but once again the ‘Contact us’ column is totally confusing with the address mentioned as Ladowali Road Jalandhar. There is yet another major anomaly. The ‘FAQs’ section has question answers about relay of distance programmes through VSAT, a provision that is not at all available with the university.

Phagwara, January 16
Coming down heavily on leaders of different political parties and organisations, super cop and former director-general of Punjab police K.P.S. Gill said political interference in defence matters should be completely banned. The politicians exploit the defence issues for their vested interest keeping the national security on the back foot.

The super cop was addressing a gathering at a seminar, “Terrorism - A challenge to nation,” organised by the Punjab Young Peace Council here today. He expressed his concern over the present scenario, in which political interference in the defence and paramilitary forces has overpowered patriotism.

Giving reference of cine star Sanjay Dutt, who is a suspect in Mumbai serial blasts and other criminal cases, Gill said political parties had been projecting him as a candidate of member of parliament without considering the gravity of charges against him and that, too, in cases pertaining to threat to nation security.

Talking on terrorism, Gill opined that the Indian government should send over 50,000 defence personnel to Afghanistan and other countries, sharing their borders with Pakistan, so that Pakistan’s focus be diverted from the Indian side. He also stressed on the need for proper training and providing high-tech weapons to the defence personnel for countering the enemy.

Earlier, Sanjiv Kalra, IGP (Jalandhar zone), said situation was not so peaceful on the international border. He also stressed on the need for thinking on peace and law and order parameters in the country.

Tributes were paid to policemen who were killed in Mumbai terror attack on November 26 last year by observing a two-minute silence.

A skit depicting terrorist attack in Mumbai in November, 2008, was also presented by school students. Dr Yesh Chopra and Surinderjit Singh, a retired assistant director, employment, Punjab, also spoke on the topic.

Nawanshahr, January 16
In a bizarre incident, Gurpreet, who allegedly attempted a theft in a house at Alachaur village, was allegedly beaten up and detained by the house owners on Wednesday night.

The owners of the house, however, have been claiming that the matter was reported to the sarpanch who, in turn, rang up the police control room but were told that the police could not reach at that time so they themselves should hand the “thief” over at the police station.

The matter came to light yesterday when some mediapersons got information about the incident and rushed to the village. Manjit Kaur, wife of Dalwinder Singh, owner of the house, told mediapersons that on Wednesday when they returned home from their bakery at about 9.30 pm they found the back door of the house open and all the lights in the house switched on.

Manjit said they saw a youth running from there whom they recognised as Gurpreet. “When we entered the house, we found Rs 21,000 and 2,000 euros missing from the almirah.” They immediately informed village sarpanch Chaman Lal and went to the house of Gurpreet and during the search they found their bag and Rs 3,700 from there.

Gurpreet, while denying his involvement in the incident, said he was beaten up and kept in illegal custody by Dalwinder and Manjit.

Chaman Lal said he had made a call to the police control room but got the reply that they should themselves bring the suspect to the police station. “As the house owners continued to question the suspect till midnight and no positive response was received from the police, I came back home suggesting them to inform the police in the morning,” added the sarpanch. The police, after getting information from mediapersons, came into action on Thursday. SP (HQ) J.S. Gill, when contacted, said an inquiry into the incident was on.

Jalandhar, January 16
The Majha and Doaba regions experienced moderate rainfall bringing an end not only to the dry cold spell, but also brought cheers to the farmers who were anxiously awaiting the rains. People awoke to overcast skies in the morning and the rain, which started at noon, continued till late in the evening. There was also a slight drop in the temperature.

The rains are godsend for the wheat and potato farmers since it is very beneficial for the crop at this point of time. Normally, there are rains in the last week of December, but the weather gods played truant this time.

Met official are of the view that more such spells will be witnessed in the coming days.

Nawanshahr, January 16
The District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum in a decision has directed the RK International Courier and Cargo services to refund Rs 20 taken as the booking charges and to pay Rs 2,000 to Prof Amar Bhadwal for the deficiency in service as well as the mental agony caused to him.

Bhadwal, in a complaint filed before forum president SMS Mahal had accused the courier company of failing in delivering the packet containing important documents and a cheque for Rs 15,000, which he had got booked on August 4 last year for Jalandhar. Besides, the enquiries regarding non-delivery of the packet at the offices of the courier company situated here and Jalandhar were treated rudely.