Jalandhar, February 4
Six years have passed after the Punjab Urban Planning and Development Authority (PUDA) collected application money to the tune of lakhs of rupees as a part of its demand survey for customised housing across the state, but the authorities have failed to pay back the refunds.

Having started in January, 2003, the scheme had been shelved off about a year and a half back but the applicants who paid Rs 2,000 to Rs 5,000 depending on the plot size are still awaiting refund from the department.

Even shocking is the fact that the drafts sealed in envelopes and bearing the names and addresses of the applicants have been lying dumped in a sack kept in an almirah in the basement of HDFC Bank (earlier Centurion Bank of Punjab) branch in the Urban Estate, Phase-1, market.

When this correspondent posing as an acquaintance of four applicants from Nawanshahr with a copy of the receipts visited the bank for collecting the draft, employees of the bank took her to the basement and asked her to manually trace out the required envelopes from the bundles kept in the sack.

Tired of going through more than 1,000 envelopes, she asked an employee if she could check it on computer. While the data showed two names, the other two names were not even in the consolidated list. Asked why the drafts had been kept like that and were not being dispatched, the employees said they had sent them across through a courier that returned these envelopes saying that the applicants were not traceable at the given addresses.

Asked how could so many applicants give wrong addresses or shift away from the given addresses, they could not give a valid reason. “Perhaps the courier men could not go from village to village searching for the applicants,” the employees shot back a vague reply.

When the matter was brought to the notice of estate officer of PUDA Harbir Singh he showed copies of six letters he had issued to the bank in the last few months calling for a quick refund and a reply for the delay on the matter.

Told about the whole episode, he immediately called up a senior bank official reprimanding him for the wrongs done to the people and not giving any reply in writing to his previous letters. He also called up his steno and asked him to shoot off another letter warning the bank of getting blacklisted for all PUDA matters in future in case they did not act within three days.

Jaspal Singh, general secretary of Upkar, an NGO based at Nawanshahr, said he was awaiting refund of his wife Rajinder Kaur and brother Paramjit Singh. Fed up, he said he had sought the information regarding refund under the RTI Act from PUDA in which he was told on November 25, 2008, that there were 2,151 applications and refunds had already been made by the bank. He rued that the reply came after a couple of reminders and much later after the stipulated time of one month.

Joti Rai, another Nawanshahr-based resident, said she was yet to get refund in the name of her husband Surjit Singh Rai and father Dilbara Singh. “It has been six years ever since PUDA has kept the money with themselves,” she lamented as she showed a copy of an advertisement given by the PUDA on January 21, 2003, mentioning that “the applications shall be retained for a maximum period of two years.”

PUDA had conducted demand survey in almost all parts of Punjab for residential and built-up houses in different categories. Applicants were assured that half the plots would be reserved for them during allotment.

Jalandhar, February 4
With no fresh recruitments of lecturers being conducted by the Punjab government, the fate of part-time lecturers and guest faculty lecturers working with government colleges hangs in balance. It has been more than seven years since the lecturers are working on ad hoc or part time basis on meager amounts.

According to information available with The Tribune, there are 326 part-time lecturers in the state and almost same number of guest faculty lecturers as well. The part-time lecturers have now decided to hand over a memorandum to Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal on Friday. The Chief Minister is coming to Government College, Talwara, for an inauguration function.

A majority of the part-time lecturers working in these government colleges are highly educated with additional degrees of PhD, M.Phil and UGC-NET. One of the lecturer on the terms of anonymity revealed that they were not entitled for sick leave as well. “The part-time lecturers are getting a monthly salary of Rs 12,000, whereas the guest faculty lecturers are receiving Rs 7,000 per month. We have raised this issue time and again but to no avail.”

The status of the guest faculty lecturers is all the more worse as the colleges have appointed two lecturers against one sanctioned post. “This system leaves us nowhere. With two lecturers working against one post due to excessive workload, we hardly get Rs 3,500 per month. Despite being highly educated we are being exploited by the state government,” maintained another lecturer.

The part-time lecturers have been working at par with the regular lecturers and perform various duties, including election, exam, invigilation, during sports meet and youth festivals as well. “Even if the state government now conducts fresh recruitments, nearly half of the lecturers will not be able to apply as they have become overage. The government should take some decisive steps in helping the people responsible for the development of the society,” said a lecturer requesting anonymity.

Hoshiarpur, February 4
To detect cardiac diseases among students of classes I to XII of government and recognised schools, the Punjab government has launched a special medical check-up campaign under the school health programme for free medical treatment at the PGI, Chandigarh, of those students who suffered from cardiac diseases.

Disclosing this after inspecting 11 schools around the city here last evening, Punjab assistant director, school health programme, Dr K.S. Dhillon, said 18 students were found suffering from cardiac diseases in the district and cardiography on 15 of them was conducted. During the check-up camp, three of them were found healthy and the remaining 12 students were being sent to the PGI for treatment.

He advised the parents to check their wards carefully and in case any symptom like frequent throat infection, low physical growth, fast heart beat, drowsiness, high temperature and general weakness was found in them, they should contact the district in charge of school health programme Dr Ajay Bagga.

He also inspected the medical check-up camp at Government Elementary School, Balmiki Nagar, where a team of experts had examined the students.

Free medicines for deworming of students and to raise the hemoglobin level were distributed among the needy.

Amritsar, February 4
Nature aficionados, bird lovers, experts and citizens celebrated World Wetlands Day by participating in a seminar organised by the department of zoology of Guru Nanak Dev University in association with the Nature Care Society (NCS) here today.

Expert on birds and wildlife Dr Rajiv Kalsi said there were 310 species of wetland birds found in the wetlands of Punjab. Of these, 34 had been declared globally endangered due to the degradation of wetlands.

He said the day was celebrated to generate awareness among the public, particularly the students, for the conservation of wetlands.

Dr Kalsi said generally migratory birds from other countries reached these wetlands during winters and to save these birds, protection of wetlands was of immense importance.

Umendra Dutt of the Kheti Virasat Mission said water was important for survival and wetlands were the prime source of fresh water. According to him, spreading of deadly pesticides near the wetlands was adversely affecting them. He suggested that farmers of the areas around the wetlands be educated and encouraged to adopt organic farming.

Vice-chancellor Dr Jai Rup Singh, who presided over the seminar, said safety of wetlands must be made foolproof for the survival of flora and fauna and eventually of human beings.

Amritsar, February 4
Deputy commissioner Kahan Singh Pannu, who has recently been awarded with Excellence Award for NREGA administration, has been transferred to Chandigarh as special secretary to Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal.

He had joined as deputy commissioner here in March, 2007.

Pannu remained at the helm of affairs and initiated a number of major projects in the city. He was instrumental in starting the preservation work in heritage buildings of the city, especially Gurdwara Baba Atal and Bunga Ramgarhia.

Earlier, the heritage buildings were used to be “preserved” by babas of various karsewa sects. However, he was instrumental in appointing conservation experts for preserving the invaluable heritage work of the historic buildings.

As deputy commissioner of the holy city, he was instrumental in acquiring 128 acres of land for the integrated check post at Attari-Wagah border. Amritsar was the only district in Punjab, Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir, which was selected for the NREGA award during his stint in the city.