Jalandhar, September 22
Instances of wide gaps between words ornamented in the rulebook of NREGA and its implementation on the ground level which have surfaced here, lead us to believe that all is not well as far as the implementation of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act goes, in the district.

Some troubles were also exposed at the extended meeting conducted by Adviser to the Ministry of Rural Development Neela Ranjan.

As per the rulebook of NREGA, only those programmes can be inducted into the scheme which suffice a 40:60 ratio (of the total cost) between unskilled labour and machine/material/skilled labour.

But some departments have been expressing their inability to implement these projects and have been unable to submit the project plan for the year 2010-2011 till now.

As per reports, there is no project, on the diaries of the Soil Conservation Department which can be inducted into the project plan as per the 60:40 ratio criterion. The Soil Conservation Department is running projects like drip irrigation, sprinkler irrigation, laser levelling, bulldozer levelling and underground pipeline irrigation in which the cost of required labour is only 5 to 10 per cent of the total cost.

There is another project to control soil erosion through the establishment of structures. As soil erosion is not predominant in the region, this project is not viable here.

Similarly, some departments included in the convergence plan - like irrigation and drainage, are unable to get funds directly under NREGA.

As per information, all transactions related to this department are made through the state Treasury and the department abides by the state government’s rule not to open its private account.

Moreover, financial powers defined for technical sanction are too meagre to run mega projects like NREGA. Financial powers defined for irrigation and drainage are as low as Rs 2,500 for the executive engineer and Rs 4 lakh to senior engineer. Their counterparts in the Panchyati Raj can sanction Rs 20,000 and Rs 20 to 40 lakh.

Otherwise, files need to toe a long course up to the chair of the Chief Engineer who is only able to sanction technical estimates of above Rs 4 lakh.

Another complication in the project is the cleaning of canals which can only be done during lean periods which usually coincide with post-harvesting periods. Here again, the availability of manpower is not up to the mark as labour is involved in crop harvesting.

Similarly, labour from areas adjoining urban centres prefers to work in cities owing to higher wages.

Different departments like forest, irrigation, drainage, soil conservation, agriculture and horticulture have been embraced in NREGA through the convergence plan, according to which manpower and half of the expenditure - for the projects of departments concerned - will be provided by the Department of Rural Development. Recently, Scheduled Castes and marginal farmers have also been included in the project under which individuals from these categories can optimally use NREGA for some minor works in their farms.

Despite relentless efforts by the district administration to implement NREGA projects dynamically, these gross technical complications make the task difficult.

Jalandhar, September 22
Security guards and cops foiled another attempt to smuggle narcotic substances inside Central Jail here today.

This time the cops on duty have caught a teenager girl for smuggling intoxicated capsule inside the jail in talcum power tins.

Jeeto, a resident of Goraya, had stuffed 750 capsules in two tins of talcum powder that she was smuggling in for his parents, Pyara Singh and his wife, sentenced to rigorous imprisonment in cases registered against them under the NDPS Act.

More than 65 such incidents have occurred inside the jail over the past more than six months. The drug traffickers have been frequently coming up with new ideas for smuggling narcotic substances inside the jail premises.

The drugs are being supplied to the undertrial prisoners lodged in the jail by their family members, friends and other sources. The paddlers have been using toxicants in beard packs, biscuits, tins of desi ghee, soles of shoes and certain other eatables and goods.

This is not for the first time that the security guards deployed here have caught drug paddlers and visitors smuggling narcotics inside the jail.

Jail Superintendent M.P. Singh claimed that supply of two tins of talcum powder by the girl to her parents from outside raised suspicion following which the cops conducted a through check. During checking the cops found that the tins were stuffed with intoxicated capsules.

He admitted that the incidents of smuggling drugs inside the jail premises have shown an increase over the last couple of months.

The girl was handed over to the police and a case under the NDPS Ac has been registered against her.

Jalandhar, September 22
Continuing their strike on day 2, the students of Dr B.R. Ambedkar National Institute of Technology (NIT), Jalandhar, today boycotted their classes and observed a peaceful protest.

The agitated students gathered in front of the auditorium this morning to meet the administration pertaining to the slapping incident which took place yesterday. “Though we had tried to have an interaction with the administration, things did not work. We would meet the administration today,” said a student.

Earlier, the students distributed pamphlets mentioning their demands. They demanded to be involved in the decision-making process while framing discipline rules for them.

Registrar Dr. A.L. Sangal, on behalf of the administration, urged them to maintain decorum on the campus.

Pathankot, September 22
The police has busted a gang of cheats and burglars involved in looting people on the pretext of cleaning gold ornaments, here today.

SP (City) Bhupinderjit Singh Virk said that six members, Amit, Ranjit, Niranjan, Pankaj, Vimal Shah and Chetan, all from Bihar, had been arrested from near the Kath bridge on the Pathankot-Amritsar road.

He said the modus operandi of the gang was to knock at the doors in the day to lure housewives to get their gold ornaments cleaned on nominal charges. They made the efforts only when male members were not at home. To clean the gold ornaments they used a bowl of chemicals.

The SP said on a tip-off a police party raided the hideout of the gang and arrested six of them under sections 379 and 420 of the IPC.

He claimed that gold ornaments worth Rs 60,000 had also been recovered from the possession of the members of the gang.