Jalandhar, October 13
Provisions of the Persons with Disability Act, 1995’ are being violated on the premises of some important offices of the state and the central government in Jalandhar. The act aims at providing equal opportunities, protection of rights and full participation of disabled persons in every aspect of social life.

No special arrangements have been made for disabled persons in the office complexes of the Deputy Commissioner, District Consumer Forum, Employment Exchange, District Transport Office and office of the SDM-II. Offices of the departments of income tax and sales tax have also been running without providing any such facility to the disabled.

This came to the fore with a representation filed by advocate Ashok Kumar Sharma, who himself suffers 80 per cent permanent disability, to the officials ranging from the Principal Secretary of PWD (B&R), the Chief Commissioner for Persons with Disability up to Director of Ministry of Social Empowerment and Justice.

As per the representation, proper parking facility, provision of drinking water, public lavatories, cleanliness and non-operational lifts are key issues regarding the needs of disabled persons which have not been addressed by the administration.

“Due to non-operational lifts, old and disabled persons are unable to easily access offices of the Consumer Forum, Employment Exchange, the DTO, the SDM-II and other public-dealing offices situated on the first, second and third floors, which is in violation of the Persons with Disability Act,” wrote Sharma, who himself uses crutches and clippers to walk, in his representation.

“Architects and building managements should be made aware of this aspect so that they become sensitive to the needs of disabled persons while constructing public buildings. It is important to take persons with disabilities into consideration in the design of public buildings,” said the advocate who forwarded a copy of the representation to the Chief Architect of Punjab too.

Earlier, in 2005, Ashok Sharma had filed a writ petition on the issue against the state of Punjab, the Deputy Commissioner, the District and Sessions Judge and the Chief Engineer (PWD), Jalandhar in the Punjab and Haryana High Court.

While giving directions in May and August, 2005, the High Court directed senior officials of PWD (B&R) to cater to the grievances highlighted by the petitioner and also directed that one expert, not below the rank of Superintending Engineer, should always be present in the judicial complex where the petitioner works as an advocate, to address the grievances of the disabled, regarding stated problems.

Jalandhar, October 13
The air is thick with excitement of anticipation even through the hushed silence of the jam-packed auditorium. Crowned with ruffled grey, the maestro tunes his stringed delight and issues instructions at the sound system.

As soon as the basics have been taken care of, the magic begins - walnut sticks glide along a hundred strings and the crowd steps into the world of meandering rivers and heavenly valleys.

Pt Shiv Kumar Sharma, the man who gifted the santoor its genuine claim to fame in Indian classical music, was in the city for a recital at Kanya Maha Vidyalaya by Spic Macay.

As much a master with words as the instrument he is known for, his award lists being spoken out loud, drove him anxious. Reason: every performance is a new test for an artiste, forget awards for the time being and just listen.

Phagwara, October 13
More than 5,000 tonnes of paddy, out of the total 20,927 tonnes purchased in the local mandis by different government agencies, was lifted yesterday.

The paddy-lifting work could be restored only after a meeting of SDM Amarjeet Paul with Phagwara Market Committee Chairman Sarwan Singh Kular and Arhtiyas Association president Kulwant Rai Pabbi.

The SDM told mediapersons that paddy lifting could be started after the ending of the strike of rice millers, which was called off on Saturday. He said PUNGRAIN had purchased 5,810 tonnes of paddy, FCI 2,346 tonnes, Markfed 3,527 tonnes, PUNSUP 3,544 tonnes and private traders 544 tonnes paddy till last evening. The SDM assured that the entire paddy purchased by different agencies would be lifted within the next three days. — OC

Jalandhar, October 13
Usually shinning marble floors, expensive plaster of Paris work, Gothic architecture of houses and buildings, rooms with flooring of classy carpets and cost and design of woodwork are regarded as parameters to measure the extent of urbanisation of any city.

And in the rulebooks of today’s urban societies urbanization is synonym of civilized society. But it seems that in this urge of designating itself as an urban, responsibility of human towards its surroundings have receded at far end. A rough picture of production of trash in our own city can depict the whole picture of our civilised character.

In one day, residents of Jalandhar produce nearly 400 metric tonne of garbage or in layman’s words this 400 metric tonnes are equal to 4000 quintlas or 400000 kilograms of garbage. This garbage consists of refused material, which ranges from refuse of shops, slum areas, posh urban centres and even the rated hotels and shopping malls, which are considered as icons of modern civilized society.

Glimpse of infrastructure, which is involved to manage this large amount of garbage, can further reveal the extent of ‘cleanliness’ of our surroundings. Everyday, Jalandhar needs a work force of 2,638 workers to keep the city clean.

Out of these 2,638, 1,213 are working with the Municipal Corporation Jalandhar on temporary basis and performing their jobs under Mohalla Sanitation Committees. To keep city clean, MCJ uses fleet of, 31 three wheelers, 10 dumper bins, 4 JCV machines, 2 chain machines, 16 teepers, 8 tractors, 5 loaders, 10 trolleys and 2 water sprinklers everyday.

Within the limits of the corporation, number of both open and closed dumps ranges from 70-80. Out of these dumps, 44 dumps are open dumps where garbage is lying in the open spaces alongside roads, streets and in the open grounds of under-developed colonies. There are only 41 dumps in the city where garbage is enclosed by the walls or lying in containers.10 dumps are of kind from where corporation needs to lift garbage twice a day.

“Only 30-35 per cent residents of the city have a tendency to put bags full of garbage into bins provided by the corporation. Moreover, nobody wants that permanent enclosed bin should be constructed near his/her house or colony. This approach of residents ultimately leads to transformation of vacant lying spaces into open garbage dumps,” said senior official of MCJ.

Residents of some posh areas have arranged private workers for door-to-door collect of garbage. These private workers hardly put garbage bags in bins. Moreover, cut away residue of plants is another major trouble for or workers to collect owners of houses never bother to collect this cut away residue and put it in bins, he added. “To control collection of garbage in open spaces, we are initiating door-to-door collection of garbage.

This collection will eventually be used in treatment plant to generate useful bioproducts. Four other municipality committees are also included in this programme,” said Commissioner MCJ.

Magnitude of amount of garbage must be much than this calculated amount as there can areas where garbage collection teams of MCJ never reached to collect trash. 

Jalandhar, October 13
“Streets of Fire”, a fashion show, organised at Cabbana Orchid on the Jalandhar-Ludhiana road, failed to enthuse the audience since it was a sloppily managed affair.

That it was a poor show can be gauged from the fact that many from the audience walked out during the first half of the show. The models on the ramp were below average and seemed to be non-professionals as they could not even execute the basics of the catwalk on the ramp.

The crowd that had descended on the venue with high expectations had to return disappointed. Even the fireworks failed to impress the gathering.

Scores of visitors had to purchase entry tickets at the main entrance while others sifted restlessly for want of tombola tickets.

The anchor made repeated announcements asking the contestants to purchase tombola tickets at a corner of the main entrance to the hotel.

Item girls Julia and Sabina, however, regaled the audience with their dances. The Jalandhar Divisional Commissioner, the Deputy Commissioner of Kapurthala and certain other prominent personalities, however, were present with their families to watch the show.

Jalandhar, October 13
The members of the Government-Aided Private Colleges Non-Teaching Employees Union, Punjab and Chandigarh, yesterday lambasted the state government for not implementing the recommendations of the Sixth Pay Commission.

They demanded that the government should lift the ban on the recruitment of lecturers in the government-aided colleges. It was also demanded that the lecturers should be brought under the ambit of pension and gratuity scheme.

Press secretary of the union Rachhpal Katal said the government had failed in fulfilling their long-pending demands. Agitated at the indifferent attitude of the government, Katal said despite meeting Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and Education Minister Upinderjit Kaur a number of time, nothing had been done so far. “If the government failed in accepting our demands, the union would intensify its stir,” he added.

Jalandhar, October 13
Lovely Professional University (LPU) is organising an “IT/BPO” joint campus placement on October 14 for engineers (CSE/IT/CS), MCAs, graduates and postgraduates (BSc, B.Com, BA, BBA, BCA, MA, MSc, M. Com, etc) to jobs in the IT, ITES, Telecom and BPO sectors.

A host of companies, including Contact Bridge ITES Pvt Ltd, KDMS (Kinerk Direct Marketing Solutions), JST Soft Solutions Pvt Ltd, Genpact India, Tata Business Support Services Ltd, are likely to visit the campus.

This career fair is not only for LPU students but participation of students from other colleges and universities is allowed. However, there are certain job profiles which have been kept exclusively for LPU students.

LPU Chancellor Ashok Mittal said, "There is a huge demand for IT services on the domestic front. The only thing the students should bear in mind is that they must perform to the best of their employers' expectations.”

Jalandhar, October 13
Aaj bande nu ik hi khatra, Ik goli da, ta ik boli da…

Time came to a standstill with the moving description of the rise and downfall of Punjab - the vicious circle of drug addiction and rising suicides among farmers.

It was an eye-opening experience for the city youth who gathered to know the story of contemporary Punjab as told through the play “Main Punjab Bolda Haan” on October 9.

The event was the National Art Fair being held in association with the Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi, at the local Apeejay College of Fine Arts. Attempting to bring the core issues of present Punjab to the fore, play director Kewal Dhaliwal of Manch-Rangmanch fame brought alive the subtleties of the poetry of Harvinder on whose book the play is based.

It dealt with the core issues which weigh heavy on the minds of the masses of Punjab - the partition era, drug mafia, rise in the number of migrant labourers and decreasing water table.

Adding meaning to the play was the vivid use of colours through the medium of curtains, dupattas, lights and sounds.

The actors said:

Laggi nazar Punjab nu, Ehdi nazar utaro, Sar ton mircha vaaro, Ehdi nazar utaro…

The highlight of the play was the moderator, Pritpal Pali, an elderly man who depicted the story of the state of five rivers. The most moving part of the play was the factual mention of the farmers’ suicides. Actors Veerpal Kaur, Abid, Barkat and others came up with fine performances.

The play was a success as it conveyed the message that although basic comforts related to development have increased, the state has lost its sheen. Interestingly, although the play opened to a thin audience, yet as the story gathered momentum, the auditorium reverberated with the loud echo of claps. Asking for more, the youngsters gave a rousing applause to the theme of the play, which managed to serve the purpose of creating awareness among the youth to save the rich heritage of Punjab.

The play is based on the book “Panj Nadian da geet” authored by Harvinder.