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Disability shouldn’t slow you down on match finding now
SAD councillor joins echo against MC working
Finding back a long lost dream |
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Jatinder Pal Singh gets a warm reception from
his relatives on his return from Tokyo. A Tribune photo
Forum orders JIT to pay up
Young World
Sodal Level Crossing
Colleges hail CM’s decision on arrears
School authorities draw flak
Children of police personnel pose for a picture at Pushpa Gujral Science City in Kaputhala. A Tribune photo
3 cars recovered, one nabbed
2,000 students attend Wipro job fest
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Disability shouldn’t slow you down on match finding now
Jalandhar, August 25 Advocate Ashok Sharma, a physically disabled person, has installed Viklang Marriage Bureau (VMB) for facilitating handicapped persons in finding suitable life partners, Though a girl without any disability came forward to marry him in 2002, he had earlier faced several difficulties during the process of selecting a proper match as he was rejected, sometimes even by several disabled girls, on the basis that he was more disabled as compared to them. Talking to The Tribune, advocate Ashok Sharma said he had set up the VMB where the data of disabled persons would be collected. Information of those normal persons was also gathered who would voluntarily express the willingness to marry disabled people. The motto of the VMB will be “Your best match at no cost.” Also a former senior vice president of the District Bar Association (DBA), advocate Ashok Sharma said the interested persons might contact at their head office 289/6A, Central Town in Jalandhar or might also e-mail their information at ashoksharma1331@yahoo.in. Answering a query, he said a website of the VMB would also be created within a next few months. Ashok Sharma is suffering from post-polio paralysis in both is lower limbs and has a permanent disability, but he is fully self-dependent also helps others out too. Thirty-seven year-old Ashok is an advocate by profession and has been independently practicing for over
a decade. Recalling his infancy, Ashok says he was a very active child till the age of 11 months but thereafter he had a severe polio attack and both his legs were affected. His poor parents left no stone unturned to get him treated but he became permanently disabled. Choosing advocacy as a profession, after passing LLB with 71 percent marks, he has now been independently practicing for over a decade
and earns Rs 15,000 per month on an average. A resident of the Rasta Mohalla locality, he got married to Seema Sharma in 2002. They now have two sons Daksh (7) and Hiten (4). Now Ashok not only looks after his wife, two sons and mother Susheela but also helps the needy members of the society, under the aegis of the NGO Helpline, founded by him in 1997. Seema Sharma feels proud of being his wife. Disability is not a curse for him, she adds. |
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SAD councillor joins echo against MC working
Jalandhar, August 25 Even basic facilities elude the city residents. The roads are in a bad state. Encroachments dot the city everywhere. No effort is being made to remove them. There are no proper parking areas. Two basement parking lots have been constructed but these remain underutilised. No action is being taken along tow away zones. The work on railway overbridges is getting delayed far behind their schedule and these do not have proper service lanes, causing much inconvenience to the passers-by. In fact, there has been criticism from all quarters. The councillors of the ruling as well as the opposition parties have been crying foul. A third-time SAD councillor asked, “What do we do of our ‘Mr Clean Mayor’ when he has failed to make any effort to do any development for the city.” “It is all-talks and no work in sight. We have been losers when our own alliance is in power. No contractor found guilty of poor work has been blacklisted. Even the recent tree plantation drive has been an eyewash. While each ward was to get 500 saplings, we have got just a few that too with no gardener to plant them and no tree guards for their protection.” Darshan Singh, a former Congress councilor, rued, “The officials do not visit our wards. They seem to have left the town in lurch. The maintenance is going from bad to worse. There seems to be no financial crisis at the moment but still no progress work-wise. The contractors are not coming forward to take work. There are hardly any contractors doing quality work. The top officials have failed to take harsh decisions. “The officials have not been able to get the basement parking in front of Narinder Cinema completely readied even in three years. To add to the woes of the owners and visitors of the commercial hub on either side of the old GT Road in the area, an under-construction railway overbridge with no service lane has been causing inconvenience. Since the patch falls right in front of the bus stand, hundreds of commuters face the daily harassment, especially on days it rains.” While the rulebook says there should be a House meeting every month but there have been just six such meetings in the past two years ever since the new House came into power in August 2007. The last meeting was actually a budget meeting and was held on February 27. Mayor Rakesh Rathour confronted all allegations saying, “People may have been forced to think that way because of the ongoing rainy season. The breakage of roads gets common. Once the season is over, people will start realising that enough of development is on.” Regarding refusal of contractors to take work, he said they already have excess work. “The MC normally allots work to the tune of Rs 7 crore to 10 crore. This year we have already given them projects worth Rs 40 crore. We are trying to rope in more contractors and encourage the existing ones to take more”, he said. He added that the House meeting was in the offing. “Estimates are being prepared and once we are through, we will hold a meeting,” he said.
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Finding back a
long lost dream
The SSA authorities, under the inclusive education for disabled (IED) have ushered in a new lease of life for five other children like her. The children were operated upon in a batch of three each on August 18 and 20. The free surgery had virtually rekindled the hopes of her parents who had been running from pillar to post to get their daughter treated. “It was a sudden attack at the age of three which left her right leg crippled. The attack had an adverse affect on her speaking ability as well. She is not able to speak properly. Above all, poverty restricted our way and we were left helpless. We are indebted to the SSA for the gesture,” said Satish Kumar, father of the girl. Even her relatives at Salempur village, near here, are in for a surprise with the scheme of the SSA, which has made their daughter’s life normal. The SSA authorities had earlier conducted a household survey (HHS) to find disabled cases in the district. Talking to The Tribune, SSA district coordinator Rajeev Joshi said they had conducted an assessment camp at the physiotherapy department of Lovely Professional University, Phagwara, and the local DAV College for this purpose. “The entire cost of the treatment, including the lodging, travel and medicines of the children, were borne by the SSA. Under the IED, the SSA authorities aim to treat the disabled children and provide them education,” he added. Among other beneficiaries is Twinkle (10), a student of Government Elementary School, Phillaur, who had problem in her right foot and arm. A prolonged fever during her early childhood left her disabled. “We had given up all hopes as the doctors said this was a serious case. And money was a problem too. However, our repeated prayers were heard as the SSA got the surgery done free of cost. The doctors have assured us that our daughter would be able to lead a normal life,” said Ravi Kumar, father of the girl. The other children who have been operated include local student Shubham, Kamaljeet Singh, Jaskirat Singh and Harpreet. Joshi maintained that the children would be taken for further examination on August 28 and 29. “The HHS survey for the IED is still going and we hope to provide this facility to the maximum disabled children,” he added.
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Waterpolo champion makes city proud
Jalandhar, August 25 A first year student of B.Sc computer science at the Lyallpur Khalsa College, he has attained the rare honour for the state after a gap of 27 years. Another Punjabi boy Jeetinder Singh, from Sangrur, was also a part of the 13-member contingent. It has been raining medals for the freestyle swimmer, Jatinder Pal Singh, for the past more than two years. He was a part of the Punjab waterpolo team in 2007 which had then brought a silver medal for the state for the first time in the National School Games. In 2008, he got a bronze medal in the Junior National Waterpolo Championship held at Amritsar. He had then gone to Pune for school games winning back a bronze medal. Jatinder recalls that it was quite tough being a part of an India camp held at Gandhinagar that preceded the Junior Asian Championship. “Our championship was organised from August 7 to 14. The one-month camp continued right till the last day here. We had to be at the pool at 5:30 am. The practice continued for hours at a stretch. At times, it became so tiring that we would immediately crash into our beds as soon as we returned to our rooms,” he narrated. The champion says that he felt exhausted despite the fact that he was used to swimming for four hours in the morning and three in the evening at the Sports College here as a routine. “I have been swimming ever since I was in Class II. I started bagging medals since 2002 when I had won silver in relay at the district-level. From then on, for two consecutive years, I had won gold medals in senior state relay swimming,” he remembers his school days. The ace swimmer said he derived inspiration from his elder brothers Gagandeep Singh and Harmohan Singh, both of whom were national swimming champions. He also gives credit to his coach at Sports and Arts College Om Parkash Nagi, his previous trainers Arvinder Singh Kochhar, Om Parkash Bhatia and Sushil Kohli of the Jalandhar Swimming Association. |
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Forum orders JIT to pay up
Jalandhar, August 25 A resident of Lamma Pind, Paramjit Kaur, said she had applied for allotment of plot measuring 150 sq yard, in response to JIT’s 170 acre Surya Enclave scheme. She said she deposited the amount of Rs 30,000 through cheque on December 1, 2003. She said she had completed all the formalities for the allotment of the plot. She enquired about its allotment from the opposite party but no intimation was sent to her. She said the JIT retained the amount till date without allotment of the plot which amounted to deficiency of service. She said since the JIT officials had failed to intimate the status to the complainant since December 2, 2003, she was entitled to relief. The counsel for the JIT replied that the complainant could not succeed in getting the plot as her name stood in the waiting list at serial number one. “Unless the waiting list matured, the complainant was not entitled to any allotment”, he said. The forum, represented by AK Sharma, president, and Surinder Mittal, member, found that the names of six candidates were declared as successful in the draw of lots on February 7, 2004 in the SC and BC category and the complainant was put in the waiting list at serial number one. The forum also observed that the grievance of the complainant started on account of the silent conduct of the opposite party when she made every effort to get information about allotment of plot to her kept in waiting list. “She suspected that some miscreant filed a fake application in her name for the withdrawal of earnest money deposited by her. Finding no reply from JIT, she had to file an application under RTI,” it found. The forum also went through a letter dated April 15, 2009 by JIT to the counsel during the pendency of the litigation that no plot in the SC category had been allotted to the persons of the waiting list. It found that the letter did not disclose anything about withdrawal of the application by the successful persons in the SC category. It found that the conduct of the JIT had not been transparent and the applicant had been kept in waiting list since February 2004. |
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College felicitates varsity toppers, their parents
Tribune News Service
Jalandhar, August 25 Extension lecture
DAV College held an extension lecture on “film making and radio jockeying” as an introductory function for the students of bachelor in journalism and mass communication. RJ Roop of Radio Mirchi and assistant director from Bollywood Sartaj Joshi shared their experiences and career avenues in media. An interaction session was also held. Traffic awareness
Students of Saffron School, Phagwara, participated in a traffic awareness drive and managed the traffic on the GT Road under the supervision of Sukhwinder Singh, deputy traffic police in charge, Phagwara. He taught the students traffic management, city traffic administration, traffic signs, road designs and much more. The students were given multimedia educational CDs on traffic rules. Young talent
A solo dance competition for the nursery wing was organised at St Soldier Divine Public School, Kapurthala Road. Students danced to famous Bollywood numbers. Urvashi, Riya and Jasleen bagged the first, second and third positions, respectively. Career advancement
DAV College under the aegis of the Devi Dayal Mathematical Society organised a career advancement programme on Monday. Two students of the college, Mohit Tewari and Shifali, who cleared the Civil Services examination this year and secured 160th and 541st ranks, respectively, shared their experiences with the MSc students. Meanwhile, an extension lecture on “How to compete and succeed” was also delivered by Mohit Tewari. He urged the students to make it a habit to read newspapers and magazines daily along with good books. Seminar on AIDS
A seminar on AIDS awareness was held at BD Arya Girls College, Jalandhar cantonment, in association with the Jalandhar-based NGO “Pahal” run by Dr Lakhbir Singh. The key speakers, who came from different countries like France, Poland, Indonesia, Russia and Hong Kong, were part of an international organisation, AISEC. The members interacted with the students on key issues concerning AIDS and its various aspects. Talent hunt
The Home Science Department of Kanya Maha Vidyalaya held a talent hunt on Monday. The students participated in fresh flower arrangement, dry flower arrangement and rangoli. In flower arrangement, Ruchi and Mehga jointly stood first followed by Rashmika and Harleen. In the rangoli competition, Jassi bagged the first prize, while Taran stood second followed by Kamal. Plantation drive
The NSS camp of BD Arya Girls Collegiate School, Jalandhar cantonment, held a plantation drive in which students planted as many as 50 saplings on the campus. Principal Sarita Verma highlighted the need to plant trees and maintain ecological balance. Extempore contest
Sagaru Handa of class X of Eklavya School bagged the first position in the Sahodaya international English extempore competition held at CT Public School. |
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Sodal Level Crossing
Jalandhar, August 25 The 11-member committee of the Chamber of Jalandhar Welfare Societies, a conglomerate of 22 welfare associations of residents, met Deputy Commissioner Ajeet Singh Pannu, Mayor Rakesh Rathod and MC Commissioner Vinay Bublani to demand a green signal to constructing an ROB or RUB at Sodal railway crossing at the earliest. Talking to The Tribune, representative of the chamber Raj Kumar Sharma said they had already met Jalandhar North MLA Krishan Dev Bhandari and Mayor Rakesh Rathod several times in this regard but to no avail. If the decision regarding the long-pending demand of constructing an ROB or RUB at the Sodal crossing was not taken at the earliest, they would intensify their stir for which the entire responsibility would lie on the administration, he added. Over 150 trains pass through the Sodal railway crossing where the Jalandhar-Amritsar-Ferozepur track is situated. Thousands of residents of these localities had to suffer a lot to cross the crossing as on an average a train passes from the railway crossing every 10 minute and the crossing remains closed for normal traffic most of the time. Interestingly while the Domoria ROB is being constructed, an ROB or RUB is badly required at Sodal level crossing. Actually people do not feel much difficulty to go from one side to the other from Kishanpura to railway road and vice versa as the Domoria RUB already exist and people face problem for about a fortnight on an average in a year as water accumulates there during rains. Thousands of persons residing across Sodal railway crossing have been demanding an ROB or RUB here for several years. Keeping in mind the problem, the BJP MLA from Jalandhar North had promised during campaigning in the previous Assembly elections that he would get an ROB constructed here but nothing has been done so far. Wastage of time, money, petrol and diesel of thousands of school-going children and the working class are the main problems. Besides, health of these residents is also adversely affected due to air and noise pollution caused by vehicles stranded at the railway crossing during passage of trains. Besides, several persons have been crushed under different trains when they tried to cross the track. The Welfare Societies of Shiv Nagar, Mathura Nagar, Ashok Vihar, Kot Baba Deep Singh Nagar, Preet Nagar, Dada Colony, Aman Nagar, Kamal Park, Kailash Nagar, Sanjay Gandhi Nagar, Sodal Nagar, Royal Club Ram Nagar, Globe Colony and Gobind Nagar have put up a hoarding here demanding construction of an ROB or RUBs at Sodal railway crossing.
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Colleges hail CM’s decision on arrears
Jalandhar, August 25 In a press note issued here today, president of the federation, VK Tewari urged the CM to order the immediate release of Rs 230.8 crore, the claims of which had been admitted over the years but the amount had not been paid. General Secretary of the federation, Dr. Gurdeep Sharma said as a result of non-payment, all the aided colleges, which are providing quality education, have been facing serious financial crunch. The issue of release of the grant had been taken up with the higher education department and the finance department and the plea had been accepted. “The early release of the grant to 139 aided colleges would certainly help solve the crises,” he maintained. |
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School authorities draw flak
Jalandhar, August 25 The members appealed to Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and Education Minister Upinderjit Kaur to gather a report regarding such private English medium schools, which often punish students for speaking Punjabi in the campus. Manch General Secretary Satnam Singh Manak, also a senior journalist, said this was a shocking change in the society, which will have serious repercussions in the times to come. “We are not against the use of English as a global language but Punjabi as a mother tongue should get its due. The society is heading towards a great disaster and we need to join hands against this rising phenomenon,” he added. Now, the Manch has decided to conduct a Punjabi jagriti lehar at the district-level across the state from next month. “We would form a committee comprising politicians, farmer unions, trade unions and the youth to inculcate Punjabi in our work culture,” he said. — TNS
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Cops’ kids enjoy trip to Science City
Kapurthala, August 25 As many as 45 children of different police personnel were taken to PGSC under the supervision of sub-inspector Raghbir Singh posted at Police Lines here. Senior superintendent of police (SSP) Ram Singh
said the entire trip had been spent for by the Police Welfare Fund. “Police personnel usually find it difficult to spare some time for their family and children due to their almost 24-hour duty.” The SSP said. “That was why he decided to arrange this tour of their children to PGSC.” PGSC public relation officer Ashwani said different attractive items installed here played a vital role in popularising science among visiting children. A new health gallery installed a few months back was a special attraction for the children. |
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3 cars recovered, one nabbed
Jalandhar, August 25 According to the information, Satnam Singh of Chitti village was caught with a stolen car at a naka laid by the Sadar police at Diwali village on the Jandiala road. During preliminary interrogation, he disclosed that he along with his two accomplices had stolen several other cars from different states. They used to sell these cars after preparing fake documents, the police added. Two more stolen cars were recovered on his disclosure. Meanwhile, an FIR under sections 379, 420, 465, 467 and 468 of the Indian Penal Code has been registered |
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2,000 students attend Wipro job fest
Jalandhar, August 25 More than 50 candidates were shortlisted through the rigorous selection procedure of group discussion and telephonic interview, which was followed by a technical test and HR interview. Out of these, 10 candidates were selected as process associates for their customer contact centres at an annual package of Rs 1.54 lakh. Director of corporate relations and placements Manhar Arora said the students were given offer letters on the spot. As many as 2,000 students from Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir gathered during the job fest. The job fest was open for the final-year students of the current academic year and the other pass-outs. Polytechnic diploma holders of 2009 and 2010 batches were also invited for placement.
— TNS
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Acting principal, teacher killed in collision
Jalandhar: Two persons, including a woman, were killed when their scooter was hit by a Maruti Swift car at Chuhe Ki village on the Nurmahal road on Tuesday. The deceased have been identified as acting principal of Government Senior Secondary School at Talwan, Abhinesh Rani, and its teacher Iqbal Thapar. While Abinesh Rani died on the spot, Iqbal succumbed to his injuries on the waya to a Ludhiana hospital. Taking Surjit Singh who was driving the car into its custody, the Nurmahal police has registered an FIR against him.
— TNS |
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PNB replaces soiled currency notes
Jalandhar: Punjab National Bank, Old Railway Road, organised a function here yesterday for distribution of coins and replacing soiled and non-issuable currency notes. Deputy General Manager
P.K. Sharma said the needy persons would be issued coins and the soiled notes owned by them would be replaced. Coins were distributed among over
200 persons, according to Chief Manager of the branch M.L. Jassal. — TNS |
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Jalandhar, August 25
Jalandhar, August 25