Jalandhar, March 9
The pending change of land use (CLU) cases are causing a loss to the Municipal Corporation.The issue came to light at the recent budget meeting of the corporation here.While such cases were expected to bring revenue of Rs 6 crore last year, it remained just the half since as many as 44 pending cases, which could fetch Rs 4 crore, have been lying unresolved.

While 33 cases lie pending at the government level, there are seven new cases with the Municipal Corporation and four others, which have been referred back by the local bodies’ ministry.

Senior Deputy Mayor Kamaljit Bhatia raised the issue saying that there was no point in delaying the issues for so long.

“These should either be cleared or dropped”, he proposed.

Bharatiya Janata Party councillor Shiv Dyal Chugh raised the issue related to road cutting by various telecom companies.

He said most of these roads were left dug up with neither the companies nor the MC getting these repaired again.

He pointed out that more labourers, including masons, be appointed by the MC for the execution of such works.

Earlier, Mayor Rakesh Rathour listed various achievements of the MC during the completion of the first half of his tenure.

He talked of starting the city bus service, sewage treatment plant at Pholariwal, starting a new administrative complex and regularisation of 1,000 safai karamcharis.

He announced that 150 new gensets were being brought to be attached with tube wells to ensure regular water supply even during power cuts in summers.

The corporation passed a budget with the allocation of Rs 392.80 crore for expenditure and Rs 386.45 crore as revenue. 

Jalandhar, March 9
The All-India Railway Men’s Union (AIRMU) has favoured the need of following the Chinese model for laying tracks in India for the overall development of the nation.Stating this, AIRMU general secretary Shivgopal Misra said, “India is laying only 150 km track every year, which is very less as compared to our neighbouring China which has planned to lay as much as 3,000 km new lines per annum.”

Misra, who was here on Sunday to attend the farewell party of union member Gurdial Dass, said the Indian Railways was lagging in laying new tracks as the Union government was not providing as much money for doing so, whereas the Chinese government earmarked a huge amount for laying new rail lines there.

Instead of adopting the public-private participation (PPP) model, the Union government should earmark the required amount for developing infrastructure as the PPP system was not only against the interests of the employees but also not in favour of the general public as it was not fully secure.

Demanding immediate filling the four lakh vacancies lying vacant in the Railways, Misra condemned the so-called backdoor privatisation of the department by outsourcing different projects.

Out of the four lakh vacancies, no appointment was made against two lakh employees who retired in the past, whereas two lakh new employees were required due to the extension of the facilities.

Misra, accompanied by Northern Railway Men’s Union president Harbhajan Singh Sidhu and its Ferozepore divisional secretary Daljit Singh, said the security of the employees should also be ensured, especially in the light of attacks on them in different parts of the country.

The AIRMU General Secretary said the Railways should obtain the latest electronic gadgets for minimising accidents.

He also demanded that service tax imposed on freight should be rolled back as it would further increase the rates of different commodities.

Jalandhar, March 9
The PTC Punjabi Music Awards 2010 were organised at the PAP Grounds, Jalandhar, on March 6 as a PTC Network initiative.The function felicitated the best of work produced in the year 2009 by the Punjabi music and film industry.

There were total of 27 award categories, besides the Lifetime Achievement Award and Special Recognition Award.

The show was anchored by Bollywood actors Gulshan Grover and Mona Singh.

Udita Goswami gave a sizzling performance on the occasion.

Adil bagged the award for Best Photographer, the Best Sound Recording award went to Honey Singh.

Bhai Harjinder Singh’s Naad bagged the prize for Best Religious Album (traditional) while Jag Vich Nahion Reesan by Baddowal Walian Bibian got the prize for Best Religious Album (non-traditional).

Best Music Video for a Religious Song (traditional) went to Ek Onkaar by Monica Bedi while Best Music Video for a Religious Song (non-traditional) was won by Son of Sardar by Tiger Style.

Sandeep Sharma was declared the Best Music Video Director for the song Jinday Ni Jinday. Best Music Video Award went to Tere Ishq for the album Tere Ishq Nachaya.

Family 425 by Gurchet Chittarkar won Best Comedy Album award. Best Debut (female) went to Rajni Jain for the song Mehendian while Best Debut (male) was won by Barry Cheema, for the song Chan Diya Rataan.

Romy was declared the Best Lyricist for the song Bhaichara and Honey Singh the Best Music Director for the song Desi Daroo.

Best Punjabi-based song in Hindi Film was Aahun Aahun from the movie Love Aajkal while the Best Punjabi Song in Punjabi Feature Film was Ek Tu Hi Gavah Sada from the movie Heera Ranjha.

Sukhshinder Shinda was announced the Best NRI Punjabi Music Director for the song Gum Sum. Best NRI Album was Collaboration by Jazzy B and Sukhinder Shinda.

Best NRI Punjabi Vocalist was Kamal Heer for the song Jindey Ni Jindey.

Sukhshinder Shinda and Jazzy B were declared the Best Duet Vocalists for the song Yaarian.

Best Folk Oriented Vocalist (female) award went to Miss Pooja for the song Punjaban.

Satti Savinder bagged the prize for Best Folk Oriented Vocalist (male) for the song Vaar-Gabbru De Punjab.

Best Folk Oriented Album was Punjabi Virsa Live (Vancouver) by Manmohan Waris, Kamal Heer and Sangtar.

Hoor by Harjit Harman was declared the Best Folk Pop Album, Mangi Mahal for the Song Yaar Velly was announced the Best Folk Pop Vocalist. Best Pop Album award went to The Next Level by Diljit, Best Pop Vocalist (female) award was bagged by Miss Pooja for the song Pyar Ho Gaya and Best Pop Vocalist (male) award went to Nachattar Gill for the song Hasdi Ne Dil Mangya.

Babu Singh Maan won the Lifetime Achiever Award while Special Recognition Award went to Satinder Satti. 

Jalandhar, March 9
The Navijivan Charitable Society organised a seminar at Chugutti to apprise women of laws on domestic violence and female foeticide in the wake of International Women’s day yesterday.

As per a recent survey by the United Nation Population Fund, around 70 per cent of the women in India between the age of 15 and 49 have at some point in their lives been a victim of domestic violence, rape or coerced sex. In most cases, men justify the abuse for reasons like refusing to have sex, talking to other men, going out without husband’s permission or arguing with him, etc.

Advocate Gurinder Arora of Jalandhar spoke in detail about the laws on domestic violence. He said domestic violence was recognised as a specific criminal offence in 1983 by the introduction of section 498-A in the Indian Penal Code.

The section deals with cruelty by the husband or his family towards a married woman and the punishment is imprisonment for up to three years and a fine, he said.

The gathering was told about various ways a woman can use to prevent domestic violence.

“One option is to get the husband to execute a ‘bond to keep peace’ or a ‘bond of good behaviour’ through the Executive Magistrate, who can then order the husband to put a stop to domestic violence. The husband can also be asked to deposit money or some property as security amount that would be fortified if he continues to act violently,” advocate Anjlina Brar said.

Among others who participated in the discussion were advocate Anita, Jyoti, Baldina, Father Donmic and Sister Amla from Delhi. They raised the point that even though domestic violence law 2005 was enacted to put an end to the violence, difficult procedures and uncooperative administrative system acted as a big hindrance. The panel advised that special courts should be set up to deal with women’s cases.

They also expressed concern over the growing incidents of discrimination against girl children and said it was high time to take stringent measures to check such abuse. They blamed the present system, which promotes dowry and has reduced women to mere commodities as the root-cause of this social evil. Women from surrounding villages presented a cultural programme dealing with the same issues.

Jalandhar, March 9
The Punjab Minibus Operators Association postponed its proposed demonstration of March 10. The association has decided to postpone the demonstration after receiving assurance from the higher authorities that their demands will be conceded to at the earliest.

In a press note, president of the association Harinder Sharma and senior vice-president Jarnail Singh Garhdiwala said the representatives of minibus operators met Principal Secretary D.S. Jaspal and state Transport Commissioner and they assured that demands of the operators would be met soon.

They said the policy framing for the issuance of minibus permits, exemption of fine for indebted transporters, issuance of special permits to ply buses for marriage parties and religious places and to increase the limit of wheel base of minibuses were part of the demand charter of the association. They said the authorities had agreed to meet these demands, therefore the demonstration was postponed.

Jalandhar, March 9
Marvelously crafted flowerpots, dolls, idols of Lord Ganesha and Saraswati adorn the road leading from the bus-stand to Model Town.The exquisiteness of earthen-wares corresponds to the loveliness of their makers. Hailing from Rajasthan, these artisans are famous for their exquisite skills, passed on from one generation to another.Leela, who ekes out a living from mud, claims she is 27. An undernourished, yet beautiful, mother of four, she looks 18.

Born and brought up in a poor family, Leela doesn’t know what it is like to live in a pucca house. She has spent her life living in tarpaulin tents ever since she was born.

Leela belongs to the Rajput community, which literally means ‘son of a king’.

Although they are the descendants of kings and emperors, they lead really difficult lives today.

Trapped in the quagmire of poverty and illiteracy, these Rajputs have known only the seamier side of life.

“We basically hail from an agricultural family as my grandparents had land-hoardings. Once a famine had struck the arid and barren land of Jodhpur and farmers started dying of hunger. The land yielded nothing and my ancestors shifted base in search of food. Some years later, my father migrated to Chandigarh and then to Jalandhar… it’s been 25 years now.”

Theirs is a big family. They have taken an empty plot near Ravidass Chowk on rent and have set up tents. “I stay in one with my husband and two kids,” she says.

Leela gave birth to four children. While two died in infancy, rest of them struggle for survival.

A cloth hangs down a rope tied to an electric pole to provide some relief from the scorching sun. Leela tries to put her malnourished daughter Indira to sleep and strains to quieten her cries of hunger with a water-dipped biscuit.

“My milk has dried up and the one from the market is not viable as it gets spoiled in the harsh sun,” she provides an excuse, wondering if she is being fair to her baby.

“We earn anything from Rs 40-80 per piece. Making a furnished one is a really challenging job and takes a lot of time. But it’s not paying much. And with the prices of food items on a hysterical rise, running a family in a meager earning is getting more difficult by the day,” she shares.

“Is there any provision by which we can get some land on rent or some accommodation of our own on subsidised rates? Since we live in tents, we cannot afford to leave our belongings without someone to guard them… if only we had a house we could lock them up,” she asks innocently.

Despite having struggled all her life, she is hopeful of a good future. She is determined to send her children to school and wants to get them out of the mesh of poverty.

Jalandhar, March 9
The World Wide Immigration Consultancy Services (WWICS) has been directed by the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum to refund Rs 36,640 and pay Rs 7,000 as compensation to a client. A resident of Sant Nagar, Onkar Singh, said he had entered into a contract with the WWICS for availing himself of their services on June 11, 2008, by depositing Rs 25,000 and another sum of Rs 11,640. He said he was assured that his claim would be finalised within six to eight months but the same was not completed despite his several visits to the office.

He said he came to know later that the company had stopped work permit business on new and pending cases and his case stood cancelled. He said he was told that he could apply for the refund of the deposited amount and he had applied for the same on March 20, 2009, but to no avail.

Jalandhar,. March 9
The city unit of he Medical Association (IMA) and local chapter of the Federation of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists Societies of India (FOGSI) jointly organised a poem recitation and declamation contest on the occasion of 100th International Women Day.

Chairperson of the Punjab Women Commission Gurdev Kaur Sangha was the chief guest. She applauded the efforts of the IMA and FOGSI in organising such debates and discussions on sensitive issues of gender discrimination and female foeticide.

President of city unit of the IMA Dr Sanjeev Sharma said the stand of the association always remained firm on female foeticide. He said the IMA was continually organising meets and programmes to sensitise not only masses, but also professionals against female foeticide.

The IMA felicitated eminent women of the city with the “Pride of Jalandhar” award for their relentless contribution in different fields. The IMA felicitated Dr Malwinderwant Kaur and Dr S.K. Mangat with the award for their contribution in the field of medicine, ADC Sarojini Gautam Sharda for her contribution in the field of administrative services and Rajinder Kaur for her contribution in the field of social services.

Jalandhar, March 9
It might sound like a miniscule effort but it can light up the lives of those who have known only one colour in their life - black. The initiative - a baby step in the direction of empowering the visually impaired - would add more meaning to their lives.

The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment has become the first website of the ministry of the Government of India to fulfil accessibility norms for persons with disabilities.

As the website carries information pertaining to Centre-sponsored welfare schemes for the disabled, it would indeed serve their needs.

The user-friendly website, which also opens in Hindi, carries the unique feature of learning about accessibility features, accessibility options and speech recognition support.

Lauding the initiative, Rajesh, a visually impaired music teacher at Rashtriya Andh Vidyalaya, Jalandhar, said, “Thanks to the ministry for acknowledging our problems. It is a good initiative and would indeed help people with disability, especially the visually impaired.”

However, he was quick to add that many a time the welfare schemes ended up being confined to papers only. “The end beneficiaries like us never get to know about such initiatives. At least we would be able to avail the benefits of these grants,” he added.

Rajeev, another visually-impaired from the same institution, said “The government should take pain to inform the end users through some medium. Else the very purpose of making the website accessible for people with disabilities would not be fulfilled,” he maintained.

The website of the ministry has been recently redesigned so as to enable people with visual impairments access the website using assistive technologies, such as screen readers. With this, disabled persons can access the website with different screen readers, like JAWS, NVDA, SAFA, Supernova and Window-Eyes. The website carries the related links for this purpose.

It needs to be mentioned here that the website of the ministry fulfils the guidelines for the Indian Government websites. 

Jalandhar, March 9
To press for an end to victimisation of employees, the Punjab State Electricity Board Employees Federation and the Technical Services Union (TSU) have decided to hold a state-level protest in front of the PSEB head office in Patiala on March 26.

The unions condemned the reluctance of the board management to pay balances to employees since March 2006.

In a press statement released by TSU general secretary Sukhwant Singh, the unions have announced that, in addition to a state-level protest, all employees will show black flags to members of the board in field offices.

It is also stated that a two-day strike will be observed in the second week of April.

The unions have extended their full support to the farmer and labour organisations which are going to hold a protest against the recommendations of the Sukhbir-Kalia committee report in Jagraon on March 15.

Students of Kamla Nehru College for Women, Phagwara, are all smiles after receiving degrees. Tribune photo: Malkiat Singh

The students learnt the nuances and accent of French language and about French culture. Literature pertaining to the French civilisation and various career options in the French language was also taught.

Sports meet

The MGN College of Education organised its 50th annual sports meet on March 5 and 6. The closing ceremony was presided over by Transport Minister Master Mohan Lal.

He announced a prize of Rs 2,100 and a certificate from the Punjab government to the best boy and girl athletes each. A grant of Rs 2 lakh was also announced by the minister.

Athletic meet

The Sant Baba Bhag Singh Institute of Engineering and Technology organised its annual athletic meet on March 5. Students participated in different sports events during which winners were awarded.

Campus placement

As many as six students of MBA of the Apeejay College of Management have bagged placements with SBI Life Insurance at an annual package of Rs 2.5 lakh. The selected students are Sushanta Swain, Chetan Sharma, Shail Sidana, Pankaj Salgotar, Rohit Seth and Ashwani Kapila.