Jalandhar, February 19
Bringing the city road beautification project to its final stages, the consultants of the World Bank, the ministry of urban development and Australian design company Dickson Rothschild visited the city yesterday.

The consultants conducted a seminar for officials of the engineering wings of the municipal corporation to discuss the proposals and drawings being put up in the detailed project report (DPR) of the Global Environment Project (GEF).

Prior to the seminar, the consultants held a press conference defining their primary aim as offering separate lanes to non-motorised vehicles and pedestrians on major roads.

They said they were also working on the design of urban street furniture and infrastructure, including footpaths, cycle tracks, parking facility, public utilities, bus base, bus shelters, pedestrian crossings, street lighting, railings and landscape.

World Bank consultant Michael Ronkin said an effort would be made to retain the street food culture in the city. “We have lost it in the USA. We do not want that to happen here. We are planning to give the vendors some space to put up their stalls wherever possible,” he said.

Urban planning ministry consultant Mugdha Shekhar said Jalandhar was in the second phase of the plan. She said the project would be executed in phases, getting finally completed in five to 10 years.

Mayor Rakesh Rathour and commissioner Vinay Bublani said Jalandhar would be one out of the 10 cities in the country to be selected as the model cities on the basis of its project report. He added that 26 roads stretching up to 70 km would be covered in the project.

Jalandhar, February 19
The district consumer disputes redressal forum has asked managers of the State Bank of India (SBI) to pay up Rs 1 lakh to a local businessman for not returning the sale deed of his house which he had deposited as a collateral security at the time of taking a loan. The forum has also asked the bank to return the deed within a month.

The owner of R.K. Plastic, Ram Lubhaya, had lodged a complaint with the forum saying that he had repaid the entire loan amount since May 19, 2006, but was yet to get his deed back. He said he was suffering a lot of mental pressure for he had entered an agreement to sell his house with Subhash Chander Jain for Rs 20 lakh, for which he had accepted Rs 2 lakh as earnest money.

He said while the execution of fresh deed had been fixed for June 15, 2006, it was extended to October 15, 2006, and again to April 15, 2007, but to no avail. He said the bank had neither returned the deed, nor replied to his letter.

Counsel for the manager of the SBI’s New Grain Market branch here, area general manager of the zonal office, Civil Lines here, and chief general manager of Sector 17 office, Chandigarh, appeared and said the matter had been brought to the notice of the higher officials of the bank and was being inquired into by them.

They alleged that the complainant had been a defaulter and the bank had to file a recovery suit against him for getting the outstanding amount. He said the deed was handed over to the counsel of the bank for submitting the same in the court as evidence. Later, the matter was settled between the parties in the court and the complainant paid the dues finally in May, 2006.

The bank managers alleged that they were never approached by the complainant for settlement of the grievance. Since the complainant required the captioned title deed only to show the genuineness of the same to the buyer for executing the fresh sale deed in his favour, the bank officials said they were ready to supply the certified copy of the original title deed along with a certificate of genuineness.

The forum represented by Surinder Mittal and Rakesh Kumari observed that despite depositing the entire loan amount, the bank officials had failed to return the original sale deed to Ram Lubhaya, which was a clear-cut case of deficiency in service. It quoted a judgement passed in a case - Lucknow Development Authority vs M.K. Gupta, 1993.

The forum asked the bank officials to pay Rs 1 lakh as compensation for deficiency in service and gross negligence to Ram Lubhaya. It said the officials would be at liberty to recover the amount of compensation from the erring officials after due inquiry.

Phagwara, February 19
Residents of the Bhagatpura locality on the Bhanoki road submitted a memorandum to Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal during his visit to the town on February 16 demanding starting the Seth Colony sewer treatment plant at the earliest. The residents were led by Dr Raman Sharma, president of the Market Action Committee of the area.

Besides setting up the Seth Colony sewer treatment plant under the Sutlej Action Plan, Part II, the residents demanded to make proper arrangements for the disposal of sewage water of the area. They also demanded to start a “pin stop” for stopping flow of sewage of Satnampura into the Bhagatpura locality.

Meanwhile two residents of a locality near Bhanoki Road, Darshan Lal and Dr Raman Sharma said, “Being low-lying area, the sewage keeps on overflowing as it several times moves backwards.”

Showing a pile of used polythene bags in an open chamber near Hadiabad disposal to pump out sewage water of the Bhanoki road and Bhagatpura areas, the president of Bhagatpura Bhanoki Market Action Committee, Dr Raman Sharma, said the sewerage system in the area several times remained choked as MC men did not remove polythene and other unwanted material from sewerage regularly. Meanwhile, MC sources said the problem of overflowing sewage at the Bhanoki road and Bhagatpura areas would be solved after the setting up of the treatment plant at Seth Colony.

The sources said the work for treatment plant at Seth Colony would be restarted after getting special funds for the purpose from the state government. — TNS

Inclusive education is based on the belief that all can learn and should learn together. It is about creating classrooms where educational needs of the able as well as disabled children are met. Inclusion is mainstreaming the disabled children in regular schools.

The concept is not acceptable to most of us, even to those who are concerned with attaining the objectives of real education. It seems a problem to respond to the diversity of the learners in overcrowded classrooms. We have yet to attain the aim of universal enrolment.

In Punjab, especially in Jalandhar, 79,60,820 children go to school in the age group 6 to 14, where 81,900 are children with special need. The reason may be physical deformity, social exclusion, mental retardation, etc. The government of India is fully committed to the goal of universalisation of elementary education which cannot be achieved without including children with special needs. Under the circumstances inclusion has to be taken as a challenge rather than a problem.

The concept of inclusion and equal opportunities incorporates victims of human rights and a call for education for all (EFA). Free and compulsory elementary education is a fundamental right for all children in the age group of 6 to 14 years (86th amendment). The government has adopted a zero rejection policy so that no child is left out of the education system. A multifaced model is suggested for this policy.

In this model the first option is that every child with special needs is encouraged to join regular schools. Various national and international documents have highlighted the importance of inclusion in general schools. The most landmark legislation in the history of individualised special education is the Persons With Disability Act, 1995 (equal opportunities, protection of rights and full participation). This Act covers seven disabilities, blindness, low vision, hearing impaired, mental retardation, leprosy (cured) and mental illness.

Secondly, special schools to serve as resource centres for children whose disabilities are severe, profound and who require additional therapy and counselling. These schools will develop educational material, modules and will hold workshops to support the mainstream schools.

Thirdly, home-based education is being given to children with severe disabilities. Parental training to educate the parents for their attitudinal change and equip them with certain skills in handling their children after school hours is proposed.

The Sarv Shiksha Abhiyan is contributing towards the mission of inclusive education through its scheme “to reach the unreached”. They cover children going to school, out of school and children with disability. The SSA is also organising a series of camps to identify the children with special needs. In various blocks there are 12,968 blinds, 20,387 deaf, 3,788 leprosy (cured), 25,441 orthopaedically handicapped, 13,808 mental and 5,508 others in total enrolment. In 2007-08 in India a total of 26,21,077 children were identified as CWSN, 21,58,034 were enrolled in regular schools, 94,987 in special schools and 1,11,598 were given home-based education.

It is proposed to provide training to teachers to handle the children with special needs in regular schools with available infrastructure, curriculum and the existing system. They will work as resource teachers. Resource centres are established which have Braille kits, MR kits, audio meters with hearing aids and repair kits, ortho repair tool kits, physiotherapy, etc.

All these schemes, policies and programmes will not be effective unless there is an attitudinal change in the community. Special provisions in the examination system, evaluation, modified curriculum, scholarships, and vocational training of these children may meet the needs and potential of disabled children. The administrators, practitioners, teachers and experts from special schools along with the community will have to join hands to meet the challenge of inclusion.

Jalandhar, February 19
The continuous crash and oversupply of potato crop has finally resulted in huge loss to the traders.

Despite spending huge amount on the potato seed, the growers are not getting anything in return. The bumper production of potato coupled with low prices at the wholesale and retail has further added to the woes of the traders.

Rajiv Damija, commission agent of potatoes, said for the last four days, the prices of potato have gone down drastically. “At present potato is available at a price of Rs 2.50 to Rs 4 per kg. Though there was an increase in the prices of seed potato like Pukhraj and Jyoti during last week but now even that is available at reasonable price of Rs 300 per quintal and Rs 400 per quintal, respectively. The glut in the crop has virtually ruined the potato business.”

It is pertinent to mention here that Punjab has 4 per cent shares in country’s potato production. The traders are exporting the crop to Pakistan, Malaysia, Singapore and Middle East.

On the other hand the onion prices have witnessed an increase of Rs 2 as compared to its previous rates. Onion prices varied at a price of Rs 11 to 14 till last week whereas the same is now available at a price of Rs 14 to 16 per kg. Similarly other vegetables like carrot, which was available at a price of Rs 1 per kg till some days back is now available at Rs 3 per kg. Even peas also witnessed a sharp hike of Rs 5 as compared to its previous rates. Peas are now available at an increased price of Rs 13 per kg whereas the same was available at Rs 8 per kg last week.

Vegetable commission agent, Gurdeep Singh Nagra said since the vegetables are being brought from other parts of the country like Uttarakhand, Delhi and Nasik therefore there is a sharp increase in the prices of the vegetables.

“Even tomatoes are available at an increased price of Rs 6 per kg whereas the previous rate was Rs 4. The situation will remain same this until the local supply of these vegetables increase”, he added.

Jalandhar, February 19
“Badli ban sagar te vardi en
Phul ban kandeyan te chaldi en…
…Sadi ki keemat payengi
Tennu apni keemat pata nahi...”

Dressed in jeans and a sweatshirt, he whisks his freshly washed, shoulder-length hair off his face. A far cry from the Sufi image that one takes along when visiting him, he has all the makings of a Punjabi singer.

A heavy booming voice which rumbles even as he speaks through a runny nose, sharp, watchful, nobody-messes-with-me eyes, an I’m-the-boss-around-here demeanour and oh those amazing tresses (the inspiration for them is our very own Ranjha or good-old Michael Jackson, only he can tell). OK. He is Sabar Koti, the guy half the Punjabi industry goes ga ga about.

Born at Kot Karar Khan village into a family of musicians, Sabar’s father was also a singer. “He wasn’t a famous singer but those who had heard him respected him. He also had a band business.

“My elder brother tabla nawaz Master Harbans Lal was the one who really helped me in making my musical journey a success. He even sold his tabla to buy me a harmonium.

“As a kid I was very fond of Sufi shayari and that’s how I took to singing at the age of nine. At that time Sufi kafis were aired in the voices of great singers like Barkat Ali, Mehndi Hasan and Sadiq Iqbal from AIR Jalandhar and Radio Lahore. The first song that I sang in front of an audience at school was ‘Damadam mast kalandar’,” says the singer.

“I used to attend qawwali programmes with my brother who noticed in me keen interest for music and took me to Bakshi Ram Ji. I became his disciple at 
the age of about 14 years,” he says.

“After a while my guru started staying ill and he took me to Ustad Puran Shahkoti from whom I learned music for about 10-12 years. I also learnt a lot from poet Nirdar Kartarpuri.

“There were many who praised me for my voice but others told me I don’t hold any promise. Nobody was ready to invest in me. It was in 1991 that poet Madan Jalandhari gave me my big break in the album ‘Rangle Punjab diyan jattiyuan”.

The song “Kargai ai sauda sada” written by Nirdar is loved by people to this very date.

He has sung for 11 Punjabi song albums with hits like “Kargai ai sauda sada”, “Oh mausam wangu badal gaye”, “Asin dhur andar tak leera hoi baithe aan”, “Aaye haaye gulabo”, “Saun da mahina hove” and “Peengh hulare laindi” along with a couple of religious albums.

His showcase strewn with trophies ranging from patriotic to Sufi societies and religious societies bearing Hindu, Muslim and Christian logos, he seems like the truly secular artiste, we pop the question, “I don’t know it’s just people’s love I guess. I have sung Punjabi songs and zamoors (Christian choir songs) with equal ease and passion.”

He says he is really disappointed with the kind of videos and poetry that is prevalent in Punjabi songs these days.

His favorite singers?

People on the street. There is great talent in the beggars and sadhus. Among famed artistes I like Shaukat Ali and Ghulam Ali.

Favourite music director?

Charanjit Ahuja

Offers from Bollywood?

Have got some but I would accept only when I think it’s an immortal song not the regular ones that artistes keep on singing for these days.

What’s your next project?

An album called “Farmaish” which will be released on February 22.

Sabar presently stays at Jalandhar with his wife Rita and children Alexander, William, Raageshwari and Danish.

Jalandhar, February 19
After repeatedly knocking the doors of PUDA officials for getting the basic civic amenities, residents of Chhoti Baradari-II have finally got some reprieve from the district consumer disputes redressal forum.

The forum has directed PUDA to complete the pending development works, such as construction of a community hall, relaying of roads, upgradation of power supply and straightening of road along the railway crossing, within a span of eight months. The members of the welfare society, led by president Ashok Kumar Sharma, have also been awarded Rs 7,000 as compensation for deficiency in service in respect of development works.

The members had lodged a complaint against the PUDA chief administrator, Mohali, and additional chief administrator, Jalandhar, on August 10, 2007.

They pointed out that the construction of the community hall as per the zonal plan had not been initiated till today and the land was covered with wild shrubs and insects creating inconvenience to the residents. They alleged that the PUDA authorities were planning to convert the hall into a commercial complex and auction it to achieve the purpose.

The colony residents said a road in the colony, which provided a shortcut to the Mota Singh Nagar and Model Town areas through Gurjaipal Nagar railway crossing, was shown as straight in the plan but it had a bend posing traffic hazards.

The residents alleged that poor-quality material had been used for providing basic amenities. “There is a sewer blockage at various points each day while at another site water pipes start bursting. The arrangement of power supply is worst as connecting wires of poor quality have been used leading to breakage of links. The required amount of load has not been taken owing to which power network often breaks down each day,” they said.

They further rued, “As per the plan, the greenbelts have not been maintained properly. No plantation of trees has been done. Streetlights have not been working properly. Parks are in a deplorable condition.”

The estate officer, PUDA, controverted the allegations saying, “The community hall is not being converted into commercial complex. The material being used is as per the ISI mark. The leakage of pipes may have occurred occasionally due to less consumption of water for occupancy rate is just meagre. Blockage of sewer line may be due to throwing of waste, grinding waste of marble flooring and plastic by residents.” He denied other allegations such as no plantation, streetlights not functioning properly and dilapidated condition of parks.

The counsel for PUDA, however, failed to produce any evidence. They even failed to provide any documentary record for providing straight road along the railway line as per the zonal plan despite a resolution in June, 2007, by the welfare society members. The forum also found certain discrepancies in the certificate provided by the divisional engineer of PUDA as per which the water supply work had not been completed despite allotment to the contractor in November, 2007.

The forum gave eight-month time to the PUDA for providing amenities. “Visualising some practical and procedural difficulties being faced by PUDA to accomplish the task of providing a straight road along the crossing, the eight-month period is extensible to one year with directions to expedite the matter with the railway authorities,” it said in the judgement.