NEIGHBOURHOOD

Two honoured on Women’s Day
Tribune News Service

Patiala, March 9
The Jasdev Singh Sandhu Group of Institutes celebrated International Woman Day on the college premises.

Dr Dalip Kaur Tiwana, iconic figure of Punjabi Literature, was awarded ‘Jasdev Kaur Sandhu Life Time Achievement Award’ and Satinder Bitti was awarded ‘Jasdev Kaur Sandhu Woman of the Year Award’ by Jasdev Singh Sandhu Foundation.

In his keynote address, Tejinder Pal Singh Sandhu, chairman of the foundation, apprised the audience that the awards were instituted in the memory of his late mother Jasdev Kaur Sandhu, who had been an MLA of Punjab three times. Sandhu highlighted the work done by his mother for the uplift of the society in general and women in particular.

College principal Dr Harjit Kaur welcomed the guests. Dr Kum Kum Bajaj, Prof communication skills, Jasdev Singh Sandhu Institute of Engineering and Technology, while elaborating the importance of International Women Day said such occasions played an important role in sensitising the society and generating awareness about gender discrimination. She also read the citations of both dignitaries.

Dr Dalip Kaur Tiwana said Women’s Day should not be celebrated merely as a ritual. This occasion should be used to awaken the society to the evils and atrocities which are meted out against women under the patriarchal set ups. Women had to realise their potential and become key players in the social change.

Bitti expressed her thanks to the foundation for honouring her on this auspicious day and enthralled the audience with her emotion filled lyrics while celebrating womanhood. 

Patiala, March 9
The sixth Gurmat Sangeet Utsav got underway at Bebe Nanki Musical Park on the Punjabi University Campus here today.

Chieg guest Avtar Singh Makkar, chairman of SGPC, said: “The SGPC will launch a drug de-addiction campaign from April 1 to save the younger generation from falling prey to drugs.

The committee has reserved Rs 1 crore for this. It will also spend Rs 1 crore to organise Gurmat Sangeet competition to reconnect the Sikh youth with the holy tradition of Gurmat Sangeet.

Punjabi University Vice-Chancellor Dr Jaspal Singh said the university would continue to promote gurubani, based on the prescribed ragas in the Guru Granth Sahib.

He promised to hold programmes related to Gurmat Sangeet on a regular. Head of Gurmat Sangeet department Dr Gurnam Singh said the winners of musical programmes on various TV channels, including Diwakar Sharma, Rohanpreet Singh and Sumangal Arora were also honoured.

Jathedar of Keshgarh Sahib, Giani Tarlochan Singh, chairperson of the Guru Gian Parkash Foundation, Bibi Jasbir Kaur Khalsa, former Jathedar of Akal Takht and Joginder Singh Vedanti also spoke.

Fatehgarh Sahib, March 9
The District Programme Management Cell of the Punjab Rural Water Supply and Sanitation today celebrated International Women’s Day by holding a meeting to empower women at Lohar Majra village of Khamano block.

The role of women in society was discussed at the meeting, wherein rural women and leading farmers of the area participated.

It was also discussed as to how women participation in social governance could be fruitful for the society, especially in the field of water conservation and water-related hygiene measures.

Sangeeta Tripathi, IEC (Information Education and Communication Specialist) said the role of women, must be recognised and the department had reserved 1/3 seats for women in various rural schemes. 

Fatehgarh Sahib, March 9
Expecting to get high price for turmeric crop, some farmers from here and adjoining Khanna villages are busy preparing their fields for turmeric cultivation by mid April.

Agriculture Department officials at Khanna point out that they have got queries from nearby farmers seeking information on turmeric cultivation. Even those farmers, who are already into this business, are busy responding to queries of their colleagues.

“I decided to grow turmeric in 11 acre of land few days ago. Now, having gone through the information and the kind of dividend turmeric brings, I have decided grow this crop in my entire 60 acre land”, said Ravi, farmer in Amloh.

“All of us may together grow turmeric in nearly 200 acre. Dialogues are on with various companies for direct sale of processed turmeric”, Ravi added.

Farmers, however, face problem of getting good quality seeds. A group of farmers have already visited Hoshiarpur, Jalandhar and Punjab Agricultural University in Ludhiana to purchase seeds but are not able to get the same.

Some persons are charging exorbitantly and selling turmeric at a price of Rs 30 per kg, while same seeds are available at a price of just Rs 18 in southern states.

At present, there are only two varieties grown in Punjab, Selam and Rajapur. Retired Brigadier, KS Dhillon from Sanaura village of Jalandhar, who has been growing turmeric for the past many years, said the area under turmeric cultivation would increase this time as this crop needed less water, lesser pesticides and even less hard work.

“Market price of turmeric is around Rs 200 per kg and it gives good return as compared to conventional crops, including rice and wheat. If a farmer works hard, he could get 125 quintal from one acre and 18 to 20 per cent powder out of this after processing”, he said.

He added that the soil on which potato and sugarcane is sown is good for turmeric, whereas alkaline and sandy soil does not favor turmeric growth.

“PAU has limited varieties of Punjab-I and Punjab-II and not many farmers buy this seed due to low availability. Now with the setting up of processing plant in Hoshiarpur the problem of marketing has also been solved,” he said. 

Bassi Pathana, March 9
More than 8,000 teachers of government-aided schools in the state have not received their salaries from the past six months.

The indifferent attitude of the state government had forced them to live a miserable life, said Ravinder Joshi, president of government-aided schools. He said affected teachers were finding it difficult to meet their ends.

He said in times of inflation no one would give any commodity on credit and certain teachers had even gone in depression. He said it also affected the working of the teachers, as starved persons could not teach in a satisfactory manner.

He said they had been struggling since long to get their genuine demands like restoration of pension scheme, implementation of new pay scales as per the Fifth Pay Commission report, permission to fill the vacant posts of principals and teachers in aided chools accepted.

Meanwhile, Nakesh Jindal, president of Private Aided School Managements Association said due to non-release of government grant as well as vacant posts of teachers, the school managements were finding it difficult to run the schools.

Ambala, March 9
As many as 50 candidates have got appointment letters after getting 15 days training, at a special function organised at the Instruments Design Development and Facilities Centre (IDDC), here today.

The training was given at the IDDC, which was an R and D project of the Haryana State Electronics Development Corporation (HARTRON). Sources said the centre was providing design and development consultancy, test and calibration, batch fabrication and specialised training in the field of optics, mechanical and electricals as per the need and requirement of the local industries.

Most of these training programme were sponsored by the Central and state government, including the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India, New Delhi, he added.

The candidates after training in production techniques have been appointed by M/s Winkel Engineering Works and M/s Techno Sabharwal of Mohali. 

Chandigarh, March 9
The District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum has directed SBI Cards and Payment Services Pvt Ltd to withdraw the illegal demand of Rs 39,100, which was being wrongly debited in the credit card account of Devinder Singh.

It has also been asked to pay Rs 25,000 as compensation for causing physical harassment, mental agony and pain to the complainant on account of making illegal demands without following proper procedure in the case of credit card transactions.

Devinder Singh has submitted before the forum that he was holding SBI credit card issued by the company having credit limit of Rs 60,000 and has been using it since the last eight-nine years and had never defaulted in making payment as and when raised by the company from time to time. He alleged that the company raised a demand of Rs 46,000 on account of purchase of nine air tickets on August 29, 2006, on his card. He immediately protested the said demand and lodged a complaint with the company.

He said the credit card was blocked on October 20, 2006, so that it could not be misused in future. However, the company levied interest of Rs 1767.99 on the disputed transaction. Finally, acting on his complaint, the company, after investigating the matter, withdrew the illegal demand.

Subsequently, they made a request to reverse the interest charges also. However, the company again reversed the temporary credit of seven tickets out of nine tickets.

The complainant again lodged a protest with the company, after which he was assured that the matter would be considered. However, the company had charged Rs 1396.26 as interest. Thereafter, the complainant took up the matter with the company through telephone, e-mails, but every time he was told that the dispute would be sorted out, but nothing happened.

Finally, he received a legal notice from the company on December 17, 2008, demanding a sum of Rs 87,284.88 as outstanding dues in respect of the transaction of airlines along with interest.

The company, in its written statement, admitted the factual matrix of the case/reply. It said the complainant had used the credit card for the purchase of air tickets, for which they had sent the bill, describing the transaction made by him through his card. He was legally bound to make the payments against the purchases made through his credit card and they were legally entitled for the same. It was denied that the demand notice had been sent wrongly. Since the complainant did not make the payment against the purchases made by him, therefore, they had rightly imposed interest.

Chandigarh, March 9
The District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum has directed Bajaj Allianz General Insurance Co Ltd and Aditya Jha, authorised agent and manager of south city Ford workshop, to pay Rs 5 lakh as the insured declared value (IDV) to Vikar Ahmad for the loss suffered by him on account of the theft of the car.

The company has also been asked to pay Rs 30,000 as compensation for causing harassment, agony and pain to the complainant on account of non-settlement, payment of the insurance claim filed by him with the company.

In his complaint, Ahmad had submitted that he got his Mahindra Scorpio insured from Aditya Jha by paying a requisite premium of Rs 24,800 for the period from November 29, 2007, to November 28, 2008, who issued a insurance cover note after valuing the market price of vehicle at Rs 5.5 lakh.

On April 7, 2008, the vehicle was stolen while it was parked in the parking area of Swastik Vihar, Delhi. The complainant lodged an FIR with the Preet Vihar police station on April 9, 2008. Thereafter, intimation was given to the company.

However, the company did nothing to pass his claim and were dilly-dallying the matter on one pretext or the other, which forced him to serve legal notice, but that, too, could not fetch the desired result.

The company, in its written statement, admitted the factual matrix of the case/reply, and said that the cover note issued to the complainant was forged, issued by an individual. So, the question of payment under the claim was not tenable. 

Chandigarh, March 9
The CBI special court today held Rajeev Kundra, station superintendent, Chandigarh railway station, guilty of accepting Rs 5,000 bribe from taxi operators. The quantum of the sentence will be pronounced tomorrow.

A team of the CBI had caught Kundra red-handed on June 15, 2005, while he was allegedly accepting Rs 5,000 from taxi operators. Kulwant Singh, a taxi owner, had alleged that Kundra had demanded Rs 10,000 per month from taxi operators and asked them to give him Rs 30,000 for three months. He had then forcibly removed a board of the taxi operators on the station premises and kept it under lock in his office.

Fed up of his behaviour, taxi operators approached the CBI.

Kulwant Singh reportedly made a phone call to Kundra from the CBI office in which Kundra had asked them to come with Rs 5,000 as advance to his office in the evening after the departure of the Shatabdi Express from the station.

The CBI team recorded their conversation and a trap was laid to nab him. The CBI sent a member of the team along with the complainant. When the complainant handed over the money to Kundra, the officer swooped on him. 

Chandigarh, March 9
Two women were injured in different road accidents in the city.

The police said an unidentified woman was seriously injured when a scooter (CH-01-Z-7019) rammed into her on Madhya Marg in Sector 27 today. She was admitted to the PGI. The police has arrested the scooterist, Rajesh Verma, a resident of Sector 28.

In another mishap, Garima of Universal Enclave, Sector 49, reported that a car driven by one SK Nehrotra of Kendriya Vihar, Sector 48, rammed into a rickshaw she was travelling in near the BSNL Chowk on February 27.

Chandigarh, March 9
Sri Lankan players Kumar Sangakara and Mahila Jayawardene arrived in the city today to join the Kings XI Punjab squad for the IPL match to be held at PCA, Mohali, on March 13.

Most players have arrived here to practice for the match at the PCA stadium.

Earlier, former Kings XI captain Yuvraj Singh and S Srisaanth had arrived yesterday and joined the team members for the practice session at the nets late last night.

Special lighting arrangements have been made at the nets. The players at the PCA have been practicing daily in the evening as the matches are to be held under the floodlights.

The IPL championship will start in Mumbai from March 12, however, the Kings XI Punjab would meet Delhi Daredevils at the PCA on March 13.

Yuvraj Singh, whose performance has been dismal in the recently concluded one-day matches between India and South Africa, has turned up at the nets one week in advance to concentrate on all aspects of the game.

Though out of the test series due to injuries, Yuvraj now seems fit. Bollywood actor and owner of the Kings XI team, Preity Zinta, also arrived in the city, along with Sangakara and Mahila Jayawardene and was seen jogging with Yuvraj and Brett Lee at the PCA Stadium to cheer up her team members.

Brett Lee who has recovered from the elbow injury also bowled extensively at the nets. Yousuf Abdullah, VRV Singh, Sreesaanth and R Powar, Irfan Pathan, P Chalwa and Reetinder Singh Sodhi were among those who practiced at the nets today.

Chandigarh, March 9
Desh Prem Azad Cricket Academy will hold U-16 Cricket Tournament for St Stephen’s School Cricket Tournament from March 20.

DP Azad said the matches would be of 50 overs a side and would be played on league-cum-knockout basis. He said St Stephen’s School, Guru Nanak Public School, Sector 36, Mohali Cricket Association and DAV Senior Secondary School, Sector 8, have confirmed their participation.

Azad said the matches would be held at different grounds in the tri-city to give local players match practice.

Mohinder Singh, Monish Aggarwal and Bhupinder Singh have been appointed members of the technical committee to check any disputes.