Jalandhar, May 28
Curfew imposed by the district administration owing to the Vienna attack on Sunday led to a sudden increase in the prices of essential commodities. As the demand was more than the supply, the people were left with no option but to buy the essential commodities at high prices.

Right from vegetables to fruits and milk, every item witnessed an increase of Rs 10 to Rs 15. Onion which was available at Rs 10 was sold at Rs 15 per kg. Potato witnessed a hike of Rs 10 and was sold at Rs 20 per kg at certain places in the city. “As soon as the relaxation in curfew was given, we rushed to the nearby market to buy necessary commodities and had to buy them at increased prices,” said Sandeep Kaur, a housewife.

Retailers said since the stock was less, therefore whenever the curfew was relaxed, the people turned out in large numbers to buy things. “On the second day of curfew, we were forced to buy a local brand of milk at Rs 20 per litre. There was an acute shortage of milk at various shops,” said Kuldeep Sharma, a local resident. Vegetables like bottleguard, bittergourd and lady’s finger were available at increased prices of Rs 30 to Rs 35 per kg. A local vendor said though they made a quick buck, it also led to the rotting of their stock. “Especially the sale of fruits witnessed an all-time low demand during curfew days,” he added.

Jalandhar, May 28
A yearlong delay in the construction work of DAV College railway overbridge has become much of a hassle for the residents of the area who have to commute across the track number of times a day.

The ROB project that got started in September 2006 was to be ready for use in November 2008. The deadline was later extended to June 2009 but now the MC officials, in reply to an RTI application filed by a resident, have said that the construction of only the approaches of the bridge would be over by December 2009. They have not given any clue on time to be taken for construction of span by the railway authorities.

The applicant Dr Rakesh Madaan rues that the bridge would be of no use to the residents until it is fully complete. He added that he had to shoot off three RTIs to the MC and another to the railways to find out the reason for the delay of the project.

Dr Madaan showed copies of the replies given by the MC’s assistant public information officer who had said the progress remained hampered owing to delay on the part of the Forest Department in uprooting trees and Punjab State Electricity Board employees in pulling down poles coming in way of the site meant for construction of service lanes.

Taking officials to task, he asked the MC officials if the PWD norms had been followed by keeping the funds ready, designs fully approved and making alternative arrangements for smooth movement of the traffic. The reply came in the positive but subsequent answers proved otherwise.

The officials replied that five trees in way on the stretch meant for service trees were uprooted after December 2007 while construction had begun more than a year earlier. They also admitted to delay in approval of designs throwing the blame on the railways for the same.

To check the claim, Dr Madaan shot off an RTI application to Neeraj Bhandari, deputy chief engineer (B&R), Northern Railways, Delhi, asking whether there had been a delay. The CE replied that there had been no delay and designs had been approved in September 2004.

He then quizzed the MC officials on the basis of the RTI reply of the railways official, who responded saying that only the general drawings had been approved but those of the span portion still had not been passed.

Mayor Rakesh Rathour, when contacted, claimed that the bridge, including the span portion, would be ready by February 2010. He disclosed that earlier there was some problem in payment. He said that the design for the span was being prepared by RITES which were yet to be sent for approval. He added that the pillars to be used for the approaches were being cast in the workshops and it would take just a few months to erect them at the site.

The Mayor said the main issue ahead was the doubling of the alternative railway crossing being constructed right adjacent to the existing one. “We made a mistake by creating provision of a single crossing. Going by the volume of the traffic passing through the track, we now realise that its doubling is a must. We have now rolled out a fresh proposal to the railways in this regard”, he said.

Bholath, May 28
In what may be termed as warning bells for Congress MLA Sukhpal Singh Khaira, his arch rival former SGPC chief Bibi Jagir Kaur has made a strong comeback by securing a considerable lead from Bholath for SAD-BJP candidate for the Hoshiarpur (SC) parliamentary seat Som Prakash .

While the SAD-BJP secured 40,734 votes, Congress got just 30,618 votes in Bholath. Thus, SAD-BJP candidate got lead of 10,116 votes. This lead is very important for Bibi as Khaira (48,072 votes) had defeated her (39,208 votes) by 8,864 votes in the 2007 assembly elections.

The SAD-BJP alliance was able to make lead in only four assembly segments of Bholath in Kapurthala district, Shahkot (15,948 votes) and Nakodar (6,120) in Jalandhar and Garhshankar (2,816 votes) in Hoshiarpur district.

When contacted, Bibi Jagir Kaur said, “Bholath has always been a SAD bastion and it was so even in the assembly elections, but some electors were misguided.”

Bibi claimed that she was not satisfied with the margin of 10,116 votes and would at least double it in the next assembly elections.

On the other hand, Khaira said, “This was vote for Congress candidate from the Hoshiarpur (SC) parliamentary seat Santosh Chaudhury and it was not any reflection on him. I have done enough work for my constituency and I will continue to do so.”

He further said the voters had different tendencies to vote for the assembly, parliamentary, block samiti and panchayat elections.

Bibi and Khaira have contested thrice against each other from Bholath. Bibi secured 53,168 votes and Khaira only 25,141 in 1997. Similarly, Bibi got 41,937 votes and Khaira 30,559 in 2002.

However in 2007, Khaira defeated the former SGPCchief.

Jalandhar, May 28
The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has changed the evaluation pattern of social science paper of class X, allocating equal weightage of 20 marks each to the four components of history, geography, political science and economics. It will be effective from 2010 exams.

A circular in this regard was issued to concerned schools last year.

Consequent upon this, the eight marks allocated to disaster management (project work and assignment) were reallocated to the four components of social science making the unit totals as 22, 22, 18, 18 marks respectively. However, now the every component is of twenty marks each.

As per the changed syllabus the students would now get more options in history. The students can now choose any one theme out of three namely nationalism in Europe, nationalist movement in Indo-China and nationalism in India from unit II. Earlier the students had to choose two options. However, now theme three is compulsory while the students can choose any one theme out of first and second.

On the other hand, the syllabus of history, political science and economics will remain the same. However, in geography, the topic on ‘Forest and Wildlife Resources’ has been included for the board examination to be held in 2010 and onwards. The sub-topics given in chapter 4 of the NCERT’s geography text book- Contemporary India part II, namely ‘Food Security’ and ‘Impact of Globalisation on Agriculture’ have been deleted.

Educationists from various schools affiliated to the CBSE has commended the initiative of the board and termed it as student friendly.

K.S. Randhawa, a teacher from the local MGN Public School, said this step would definitely help in easing the burden of the students. “The students will be able to concentrate equally on various components of the subject”, he added.

Jalandhar, May 28
The Congress said the SAD-BJP combine got the Nurmahal byelection postponed as it was staring defeat in the face.

Dr Ram Lal Jassi, Secretary of the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee, yesterday said the SAD-BJP government was looking for an opportunity to get the byelection postponed and it got the same owing to the unfortunate Vienna incident.

Dr Jassi said the Election Commission should have got the independent report from its observers before taking a decision with regard to the postponing of the polling in Nurmahal. Dr Jassi said the SAD-BJP government got a severe drubbing during the Lok Sabha elections and should be prepared to face the same in the byelection.

Instead of May 28, polling would now be held on June 12 and result would be declared three days later.