Jalandhar, August 5
It was a harrowing experience for hundreds of commuters who were entering and moving out of the city from morning till noon today.

Since there was an unusual heavy inflow of vehicles from satellite towns and cities because of Rakhi, there was a bumper-to-bumper traffic at the main entry point near Lyallpur Khalsa College.

As the railway crossing ahead has been closed for the past nearly one month due to construction of railway overbridge, all vehicles, including buses and cars, had to pass through the congested Defence Colony main road and then take a detour through the single Garha Road railway crossing where traffic moved at a snail’s pace.

Due to construction of the flyover, the road stretch around it is badly worn out with several huge, deep craters filled with mud. Since it had rained heavily early this morning, the situation turned even worse.

The vehicles coming from the bus stand side and other adjoining colonies, including Defence Colony, Green Park, Mota Singh Nagar, Urban Estate and Chhoti Baradari, also had to use the same stretch to move out of the city.

Amritsar-based Sachin Gupta said it took him more than an hour from BSF Chowk to reach his sister’s house in Model Town in the hot, humid weather. “Normally, I used to drive down the same patch in 15 minutes,” he said.

Vinay Mahajan, who was on his way to Hoshiarpur with his family, said he wondered why the bus traffic was not being diverted via BMC Chowk-Ladowali Road-BSF Chowk side to reduce the chaos. “The crossing that side had been doubled sometime back, especially for the same purpose,” he pointed out.

Most commuters on the stretch lamented that the traffic problem across the road had become more of a routine, especially during hours when the crossing was closed for passage of a DMU. DSP Traffic Kulwant Singh could not be contacted for comments.

Jalandhar, August 5
The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Bill, 2009, passed by the Lok Sabha, seems to have ushered in a new hope of reforms in free elementary education, with the teaching community hailing the bill. A majority of education officials as well as teachers maintained that the bill should have been passed quite earlier. The bill would certainly help in bridging the social gap between the rich and the poor, teachers said.

Talking to The Tribune, a senior official, requesting anonymity, said the bill was a historic step in the interest of the country. “India has a huge population and until we equip the children with quality education we cannot develop in the real sense. Today, India is a pioneer in the IT sector but how many children are able to realise their dreams of pursuing higher education. We have got an answer in the form of this bill and it should be implemented in letter and spirit,” he added. He said another unique feature of the bill was the “quality and equity” in it. Another commendable feature of the bill, lauded by many teachers, was the reservation of 25 per cent seats in all private schools for the disadvantaged sections.

Police DAV Public School Principal Rashmi Vij claimed that her school was providing subsidised education to nearly 550 financially weak students. “This is a commendable initiative of the Central government but it somehow does not seem viable. I personally feel that instead of allotting 25 per cent seats for the disadvantaged groups, the Centre should focus on providing 25 per cent profit of the private institutions in providing free education to the disadvantaged sections,” she said. Retired social science teacher from SD Senior Secondary School S.S. Randhawa said, “Whether it will be implemented successfully is to be seen. Earlier too, consecutive Central and state governments have made many such landmark decisions but the standard of education at the grassroots level remained the same,” he added.

Hoshiarpur, August 5
NREGA is doing a commendable job not only in providing 100-day guaranteed employment to the rural folk but is also proving to be a boon for the overall development of villages in the district.

This was stated by Deputy Commissioner Megh Raj here today. He said to make NREGA’s implementation more effective, training to the government officials and sarpanches concerned was being imparted. Meetings with sarpanches of Hajipur, Mukerian, Bhunga and Dasuya blocks had already been held. As a result, as many as 7,000 job cards had been prepared in July and their total number increased to 52,000 in the district.

Guide bundhs on Mehngorwal and Sherpur Katcha choes had been prepared. As a result, there was no loss of life and property during the recent floods. A guide bundh was being constructed at Mahala village in Mahilpur block where 400 labourers were working under NREGA. A labour budget of Rs 107 crore had been prepared for 2009-10, of which 43 per cent had been spent so far. 

Batala, August 5
The secret over the firm, dealing in Cadbury and Parle products, getting a scrutiny memo from the Excise and Taxation Department for the sale of cast iron is finally out.

Inquiry into the case, lodged by Rohit Trading Company, has led to two transport companies, which used duplicate bills of the former to evade sales tax.

Giving out case details, Batala SSP Naresh Arora said the companies found cheating were Masharda Transport Company and Golden Goods Carrier, which supplied cast iron to outer states. According to sources in the Excise and Taxation Department, this might be a tip of the iceberg. They said these two companies for the last two years might have been using duplicate bills of more than 20 firms, amounting to crores of rupees, to evade massive sales tax. Meanwhile, the Rohit Trading Company in the received memo was surprised to know that the company sold cast iron to tune of Rs 1,13,44,807 during February 7 to March 22, 2009 whereas the central sales tax filed by the company showed no mention of it. Nand Lal, proprietor, Rohit Trading Company, brought the matter to the notice of Excise and Taxation Officer Harpreet Singh, who made an inquiry into the case.

The proprietor said he never dealt in cast iron and the bills were got printed by Masharda Transport Company at its own. He also gave his affidavit on July 23 and said the transport company had used these bills for the purpose of cheating and evading sales tax. A case has been registered against the owners of Masharda Transport Company and Golden Goods Carrier.