Rain brings respite
Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, July 13
A sudden monsoon rain brought cheers to the people in the region this evening. It rained for almost half an hour, giving respite from the sweltering heat.

The region recorded a rainfall of 24.8 mm. The temperature declined to 35.7 degrees Celsius. Earlier the region witnessed a duststorm, which lasted for 15 minutes, giving tough time to commuters.

The Met Department at Adampur Air Force Station predicted partly cloudy to cloudy sky in the next 24 hours.

“The region may witness a thunderstorm and a slight rain in the next 24 hours,” said a defence spokesperson.

Amritsar: After several days of the sultry summer, residents of the holy city heaved a sigh of relief as strong winds accompanied with a heavy rain lashed the region here on Monday.

The impact of the strong winds was such that many walls, including the boundary wall near the boys’ hostel of Khalsa College, collapsed.

Huge billboards and trees also fell down in various parts of the city. However, no loss of life and property was reported from any part of the district.

Jalandhar, July 13
Scores of CET candidates and their parents reached the PTU campus today claiming that they were being denied a seat in the college which had been allocated to them in the online counselling.

The parents said the problem arose as various participating universities, including Guru Nanak Dev University, Punjabi University, Punjab Technical University and Punjab Agricultural University, and affiliated colleges followed different sets of rules.

Rakesh Kumar, father of Rupali (rank 1,865), said his daughter had been allotted a seat in the border area category at Gurdaspur-based Regional Campus of Guru Nanak Dev University.

He said when he went to the campus to deposit the fee, he was told that this could not be done because he had come from the city which did not fall in the ambit of the border area.

The disillusioned father said he showed them his border area certificate provided by the Subdivisional Magistrate but the authorities concerned failed to budge as they had their own admission rules.

He said career of his daughter was at stake as she had not got admission anywhere as of now. He said he met Vice-Chancellor at PTU who assured him of improvising the system during the second counselling.

Another Gurdaspur-based parent, Ashok Sharma, said that his son Sahil (rank 3,669) had been trying for admission in the category of rural area on the Guru Nanak Dev University campus.

He said since merit did not allow him a seat on the Guru Nanak Dev University campus, he got a seat in Guru Nanak Dev Engineering College, Ludhiana.

The father had a grievance that when he had gone there to deposit fee, he was told that his son was ineligible, for he should have had done schooling for at least five years in a rural school.

He said his son had studied for the last two years in a rural school and even possessed a certificate from the SDM for the same, but he was told that a proof of five-year schooling from the rural area was a pre-requisite without which admission was not possible.

There were other similar cases, including those from the defence personnel, claiming that the wards of PVC awardees had been left out while those with Sena Medals had been given a seat.

The parents rued that they were not getting any response through helpline numbers and e-mail addresses given to them on counselling website and prospectus copies.

VC Dr Rajneesh Arora, when contacted, said parents were at fault in most of such cases for not having clearly gone through the copies of prospectus and the government notifications on the reservation policies.

He said each university and campus had its own policy which must be studied by the parents carefully before filling preferences.

They have unfortunately got to know about the same during the eligibility check that follows seat allotment this time.

But he said most such students still had a good chance in the second counselling during which they simply needed to be a bit more careful.

Jalandhar, July 13
Aggrieved parents of students of the MGN Public School today sought the intervention of Deputy Commissioner Ajeet Singh Pannu on the fee hike issue.

The school management increased the fee by Rs 200 per month per child in the wake of the implementation of Sixth Pay Commission.

Earlier in the morning the agitated parents took to streets and staged dharna outside the school. They even blocked the vehicular traffic in protest.

The parents had gathered to meet the school management in this regard but the authorities concerned did not let them go inside.

“We were not allowed to meet the school management authorities as the gate was bolted from inside,” the parents said.

Later in the day, the parents held a meeting in which a decision was taken to submit a memorandum to the Deputy Commissioner.

“We would submit a memorandum to the Deputy Commissioner tomorrow morning. The management does not seem to be voicing our concern. And we are left with no option but to approach the DC,” said Vikas Jain, a parent.

Kanwaljit Singh, one of the parents, said, “This is the second fee hike in the past two months. Earlier the management increased the fee by Rs 150 and now they are forcing us to accept another fee hike of Rs 200 per month per child,” he said, adding that the sudden increase in the fee would badly affect their monthly budget.

The management, on the other hand, maintained that the likely increase in the fee structure had already been in the notice of the parents as an undertaking was signed for the same.

The management also said the parents were told in advance about the expected fee hike before the start of the session.

However, the parents refuted these justifications. “We are not aware of any such undertaking signed by us before the beginning of the academic session. The school management is forcing to accept their demands of fee hike which is virtually beyond our limits,” said Manjeet Singh, another concerned parent.

Meanwhile, the parents also decided to hold similar protests in front of the MGN Public, Urban Estate, and other branches as well.

Jalandhar, July 13
Claiming to have busted a gang of tractor thieves with the arrest of four members of the gang, the CIA staff of the district police said that it had recovered 10 stolen tractors from them.

Talking to mediapersons, DSP (Detective) Inderjit Verma said the four thieves were caught from Bholath Maur on the GT Road in Bhogpur after a tip-off. At the time of their arrest, they were driving four stolen tractors.

The arrested thieves had been identified as Amrik Singh, Baldev Singh of Chakoki village in Kapurthala, Dilbagh Singh of Dinnewal village in Tarn Taran and Balbir Singh of Bhaghibandar village in Bathinda.

Their three accomplices Balbir Singh of Rara village in Hoshiarpur, Lakhbir Singh of Budha Theh and Gurmeet Singh of Cheema Bath in Beas were absconding.

Kapurthala, July 13
The commission agents carried out a march here today to protest against the notification issued by the state government regarding the direct payment to the farmers for their produce.

The agitating agents said the issuance of notification would affect their recovery of the advance payment made to the farmers.

Amritsar: The commission agents of local Bhagtanwala grain market today took to streets and held a dharna at the busy Hall Gate and Bhandari Bridge here.

They were protesting against the state government’s decision to make direct payments to farmers through cheques.

Meanwhile, no auction of foodgrains has been held since the strike announced by arhtiyas from July 1 in protest against the notification issued by Punjab government.

Narender Behl, president of commission agents association of Bhagtawala grain market, said payments worth Rs 10-20 crore of agents for previous paddy crops were still pending with the rice millers and recent draught like conditions have compounded the problems for the farmers who had taken lakhs of rupees from them for installing submersible pumps.

Meanwhile, the commission agents who had extended their strike till July 19, threatened that if the government failed to take any positive steps to resolve the issue, they would resort to two hours chaka jam at Phagwara on July 18.

Later, the arhtiyas gave a memorandum to DC Kahan Singh Pannu to be forwarded to the government demanded repealing of the notification.

Nawanshahr: The members of the District Arhtiya Association also today took out a protest march, blocked traffic and held a dharna.

A deputation of the association also submitted a memorandum to the Deputy Commissioner to be forwarded to the Chief Minister demanding the immediate withdrawal of the decision.