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Half of govt colleges sans principals
Power situation turns grimmer
Cancer Therapy |
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Kaypee: Roll back power tariff hike
Census may throw up data on foreigners’ influx
Sahit Rattan Award for Jaggi
Naval academy to be set up
Docs’ Selection
Now, foodgrain payment details
on cellphone
DC inspects breach points of rivers
IIT profs study pollution level in steel town
Badal opens incomplete complex
Rs 40 lakh hawala money recovered
Govt to train rural IIT
aspirants: Badal
Got wrong info under RTI Act: Entrepreneur
12 booked for ragging, assault
MCI Chief’s Arrest
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Half of govt colleges sans principals
Jalandhar, April 24 In the absence of regular principals in 27 of the 54 government colleges affiliated to Panjab, Punjabi and Guru Nanak Dev Universities, academic work, including the starting of new courses, is being hampered. Some regular principals had been given additional charge of a few of such colleges, but they were unable to do justice to the work with their “double duty”, sources in the Higher Education Department said. Posts of over 30 per cent lecturers in these colleges had also been lying vacant for many months, they added. Further, the post of DPI (Colleges) has also been vacant since the retirement of Sohan Lal over three weeks ago. Students of these colleges and their parents said studies were being adversely affected due to the vacant posts. Karamjeet Kaur Chaudhary, Principal of Government Arts and Sports College, Jalandhar, admitted that studies were suffering because of the vacant posts. Chaudhary, who is also the general secretary of the Punjab Government College Principals Association, demanded that the state government should speed up the process of filling the posts. Further, in some of the colleges that were without principals, she said, members of the teaching and non-teaching staff were facing problems in getting their salaries in time. Chaudhary said a delegation of the association would meet the minister and the education secretary concerned for requesting them to fill the posts at the earliest.
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Power situation turns grimmer
Jalandhar, April 24 What was troubling the people most is two to three power cuts during night. The first power cut is imposed at around 9 pm and second at 11 pm and third early in the morning. “We can tolerate the power cuts during the day but it is difficult to bear the same during night”, said Ashwani Kumar, a local shopkeeper. Power cuts at night are in addition to scheduled cuts during the daytime. The industry is already reeling under power cuts. From the two-day compulsory weekly off, the power cut in the industrial sector has been increased to 58 hours in a week. It has affected the industry most in the region. “Production has come down by 30 per cent in big industries. Moreover, the production cost has also gone up because in the absence of power, generator sets have to be run on diesel, cost of which is high as compared to power”, said SS Bhogal, Deputy Chairman of the Engineering Export Promotion Council, Northern Region. He said those who had made commitments to export goods were facing problems for the same. He said the material, which was supposed to be supplied for export in April would be supplied in May, causing a delay of one month. “We have been badly hit by power cuts. Moreover, there is no pattern on imposing power cuts which has also been affecting the industry”, he added. “Power cuts have affected the tiny industrial units most”, said Narinder Singh Saggu, convenor, North Chamber of Small and Medium Industry. Saggu said the production of micro units had come down by 50 per cent. Tiny industries work only for 4 days in a week because of power cuts. “Small units cannot operate generators because of high operational cost. The cost of productions goes up to the extent that their product face difficulty in competing in the market”, said Saggu. “Other problem faced by tiny units is of the labour. Owing to power cuts, units remain shut for three days and because of this reason, the casual labour also turn away from such units”, he added.
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Moga scientists design new molecule
Kulwinder Sandhu Tribune News Service
Moga, April 24 Claiming this, Parveen Garg, chairman of the managing committee of the college, said the success had been achieved under the guidance of eminent scientists, Dr KL Dhar and Dr OP Suri, in the ongoing work of research in the college for the last three years. Acknowledging the research work, the National Cancer Institute of America has signed a bond with the college to work further on the molecule designed by the college, he said. Dr Dhar said the anti-cancer medicine made with the help of this molecule would be very helpful for the cancer patients. It would have lesser side effects on the human body. “Research work will continue in our college for developing the new drug hopefully with the help of nanotechnology, while the work on the human cell lines will be done after the research work on drug formulation is completed,” he said. ‘Combretum caffrum’ is a South African bush-willow tree. An extract from the bark was used as poison by Zulu warriors. Besides some parts of the plant were used as a general tonic but of late it has shown promise for cancer treatment. Dr Dhar said some of the anti-cancer medicines like Itophide and Tirophide that were at present available in the market had also been synthesised from the compounds obtained from this plant.
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Kaypee: Roll back power tariff hike
Chandigarh, April 24 He said the irony was that the power tariff had been increased at the time when the state remains powerless for hours everyday with the exception of the highly privileged Badal village. He also demanded that the Dalit households should be restored the facility of 200 units of free power every month which had now been brought down to 100 units by the state government, which claims itself to be pro-people. “All actions of the Badal government reinforce the fact that it is anti-people and insensitive to their needs. The BJP, the alliance partner of the Akali Dal, was also in the habit of shedding crocodile tears on this issue as after registering its symbolic protest, the party just falls in line, he said. Parminder Singh, PPCC general secretary and media in charge, questioned the logic of the power tariff hike every year as there was no such steep hike in the generation cost. Meanwhile, Punjab CLP Leader Rajinder Kaur Bhattal expressing resentment over the power tariff hike averaging 7.5 per cent effected by the state government said this would break the backbone of all sections of society, especially Dalits, farmers and industrial units. She urged the Chief Minister to roll back the tariff hike.
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Census may throw up data on foreigners’ influx
Jalandhar, April 24 For the past several years, the influx of foreigners from neighbouring countries especially from Bangladesh has remained a big issue. The BJP has been raising this issue repeatedly and demanding to identify the illegal entrants into the country. With the collection of details about every individual during the Census, the government will have information with regard to his or her background. From the detail of each individual’s parents, the government will be able to make out whether the person is of Indian origin or belonged to a foreign country. “The current Census is not confined to only listing of the houses and number of family members but it will also focus on collecting the full details about each individual,” said KS Bhatnagar, Joint Director, Census Operations, Punjab. For the first time, the government has decided to prepare and maintain a national population register on the basis of the current Census. On the basis of that register, people may be issued ID cards in the country. “We have given two schedules to each enumerator. The first schedule is about the enlisting of houses, number of family members and other details such as important household information like whether one is having a jeep, motorcycle, usage of house. The other schedule is about gathering full details about each individual,” said Bhatnagar. A uniform pattern of Census is being followed all over the country. The other significant feature of the current Census is that it will throw up the exact data with regard to the use of modern electric gadgets such as laptops, computers, mobiles and other such gadgets. “We have introduced three new columns in the Census form this time. These were to collect information with regard to the use of modern technology by people in the country,” said Bhatnagar. At present, there is no exact data with regard to the use of laptops, computers and mobiles in the country. However, the current Census will throw light on this. Earlier, before the 2001 census, it was felt that the bi-cycle had become obsolete in the country. However, the 2001 Census had thrown up the fact that several crore people had been using the cycle as the main mode of conveyance then. The officials handling the Census operations have found a new method to count the nomads (wandering tribes). “We have decided to enlist the nomads on the last day of the Census, that is February 28. We have already identified the places where nomads were camping at present. On February 28, our teams will visit them in the evening to ensure that all are counted in one day. Otherwise, their moving from one place to another could lead to duplication in the Census.
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Sahit Rattan Award for Jaggi
Ludhiana, April 24 Jaggi has written over 100 books in Hindi, Punjabi and English. He has been awarded several fellowships, awards and honours.
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Naval academy to be set up
Jalandhar, April 24 Finance Minister Manpreet Badal said the proposal would be cleared in the coming days and financial allocations would be made soon. The academy would come up either at Ropar or Bathinda both of which have the requisite water bodies and allied infrastructure, he said. “At present, Bihar topped the list of naval personnel while Punjab only has a small percentage of officers and men in the Navy,” he pointed out. Badal was in the city to oversee the preparations by the Jalandhar Sainik Welfare Board to help 104 aspirants get into the armed forces. Jalandhar Cantonment MLA Jagbir Brar accompanied him. Another step taken by the government in this context was setting up of the Maharaja Ranjit Singh Armed Forces Preparatory Academy in SAS Nagar at a cost of Rs 8 crore. The financial allocation had been made in the Budget and construction would start on the 40-acre plot soon, he added. “Similarly, decks have also been cleared for setting up of a second sainik school in Gurdaspur. The land required for the purpose has been selected and the proposal has also been forwarded to the Centre. Haryana already has two such schools and we are certain that the nod would be given to us in the coming days,” he said. The Finance Minister said the government was committed to set up more such institutes in the future so that a certain number of youth inducted into the armed forces every year. Earlier, he lauded the efforts being made by Lt Col Manmohan Singh (retd), deputy director, Sainik Welfare, for preparing youngsters to get into the armed forces and said the latter had also been given the mandate to ensure that the state should sent the maximum number of officers to the armed forces. He also assured that he would release the funds for a new National Defence Academy Block, which would come up on the premises of the board, in the next week. Other problems being faced by the board would be resolved soon, he said.
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Docs’ Selection
Chandigarh, April 24 In an application filed before the Punjab and Haryana High Court, Sinha asserted: “He has already filed a petition for a probe into the matter either by an independent agency like the CBI or by a sitting or a retired HC judge. But the fact has not been brought to the HC’s notice by Gill in his petition.” The application for impleading Sinha as a party, filed through Bar-at-Law Himmat Singh Shergill, says Gill has either been misled or is not aware of the petition in which the applicant has taken a high moral ground and offered himself for “agni pariksha” or the test of fire. The HC has fixed up the petition for hearing on Monday. The Division Bench of Chief Justice Mukul Mudgal and Justice Jasbir Singh will take it up on that date. Going into the background of the controversy, Sinha has asserted: “Ever since the present government headed by CM Parkash Singh Badal was formed, he has been desperate to dislodge the present commission and appoint a commission of his choice so that he could get candidates of his choice selected in the state services.” “Immediately after taking over as the CM, he in 2007, withdrew selection to posts to state services, including those of deputy superintendents of police, tehsildars, excise and taxation officers etc. from the PPSC, while the selection process had started for these posts,” he said. “The Union Public Service was asked to make the selections, which it subsequently refused to do so. This was for the first time in history such an unconstitutional attempt was made by a government and shows that how desperate the CM has been all through,” he maintained. Sinha added he was the Home Secretary and Principal Secretary to former Congress Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh, when cases under the Prevention of Corruption Act were registered against the present CM and his family. Before parting with the plea, Shergill asserted on Sinha’s behalf: “The applicant be arrayed as a respondent in the case so as to bring forward before court the true facts and specifically the fact that a civil writ petition was filed by him on April 9.”
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Now, foodgrain payment details
on cellphone
Chandigarh, April 24 The system will also be available to farmers at a later stage by way of screens put up at prominent places or by simply accessing the department website. In its present avatar, the system is available to all senior department officials, state Food and Civil Supplies Minister Adesh Partap Singh Kairon stated here today to TNS. The minister said by having access to the latest payment schedule, officials would also by inference come to know about the paddy purchased. “This information will be available for each and every mandi in the state allowing for easy management as well as quick reaction to solve any problem,” he added. The system, which was two years in the making until made operational now, follows in the footsteps of earlier technological initiatives taken by department. It initiated e-tendering two years ago to bring in transparency in award of contracts.
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DC inspects breach points of rivers
Patiala, April 24 The DC also said the Drainage Department had sent an estimate of the total cost that would be incurred for repairing these breaches and cleaning the rivers that amounts to Rs 6.23 lakh. He said after going through the proposal, a report would be prepared and presented to the Irrigation Department. He further said the people working under the NREGA Scheme had already started the repairs and once the funds were released, the work would be carried on at a faster pace.
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IIT profs study pollution level in steel town
Mandi Gobindgarh, April 24 The professors, Dr VK Tiwari and two junior professors, from the metallurgy department of IIT, analysed the industrial units based on data provided by the PPCB. Visiting various sensitive areas of the city, the professors demanded more data related to temperature, meteorology and pollution of the past few years. “The professors had been invited to get some suggestions to control the increasing pollution which is posing danger to the health of people,” said an official of the PPCB. Officials said the professors suggested some measures that were discussed with some local industrialists. The board officials revealed that the level of pollution reduced during the past few months after a ban on setting up of new industrial units was imposed. No one has got an NOC (no objection certificate) from the central pollution control board to set up industry in Mandi Gobindgarh. Industrialists have also been sensitised about the rise in pollution. “Notices have been issued to those industries which are not using the already installed pollution control devices,” said Environment Engineer of PPCB Samrajeet Goyal. He said out of 400 different industrial units nearly 20 per cent of the steel re-rolling mills, furnace industry and other are situated in residential areas. Efforts had been made to shift these industries in Focal Point but it will take some time. As per health department officials in Fatehgarh Sahib, people suffering from respiratory diseases, skin, eyes, ENT and tuberculosis are treated in large number in Mandi Gobindgarh. Lack of upgraded medical facilities and availability of good doctors here has forced the people to get treatment from nearby Patiala and Ludhiana towns. Health officials said though there had been a decrease to some extent in number of patients suffering from asthama and other disorders, there was a steep increase in people complaining of problem in eyes.
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Badal opens incomplete complex
Mohali, April 24 In the five oval-shaped towers’ complex, only one block has been made ready for the department to move in. In the rest of the blocks, work was still going on and will take another few more months for completion. Justifying the apparently hasty inauguration, Punjab Forest Minister Tikshan Sud said the forest department did not want to spend Rs 75 lakh as rent per month for its offices at Chandigarh and Mohali, hence, it had furnished a block of the building to accommodate its various wings. The other towers, on being completed, would be rented out in order to recover the cost of construction and running maintenance of the high-tech building. The state-of-the-art Rs 54-crore complex seems to be a blessing for various government offices that are being run from rented and insufficient accommodation in Chandigarh and Mohali. Now, such offices would be accommodated at the complex. The Punjab Government is also contemplating to accommodate the Mohali district administrative complex in the building. Badal said he had asked his Principal Secretary to find out the offices that could be accommodated in the complex. While addressing the gathering on the occasion, the Chief Minister called upon architects, builders and contractors to opt for green buildings on the pattern of the complex. Such green buildings not only provided a congenial atmosphere to work but also increased efficiency manifold, he added. Earlier, Financial Commissioner of Forests and Wildlife Preservation RC Nayyar explained the principles and salient features of modern green building designs, and that of the complex in particular. Others present on the occasion were Chairman of Punjab State Forests Development Corporation Satya Pal Saini, Director General of Police PS Gill, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests BC Bala and Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forests HS
Gujral.
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Rs 40 lakh hawala money recovered
Patiala, April 24 Those arrested are Haqiqat Rai alias Muna of Ludhiana and Surinder Singh alias Kaku of Hamirpur in Himachal Pradesh. Khatra said the arrests had disclosed that money for terrorist activities came through hawala and Western Union. The money was used to buy explosives that were planted at the Nabha gas plant, Sudhar and Ambala. Three accused in the case - Jasbir Singh alias Jassa, Pargat Singh Bhalwan and Harjant Singh - have already being arrested while others - Bakshish Singh, Pargat Singh Bhalwan, Harminder Singh alias Dali and Baldev Singh - are absconding. Khatra further said Haqiqat Rai and Surinder Singh had earlier supplied money to the accused so that they could fight their cases. Cases under the Explosives Act, Unlawful Activities (Prevention Act), have been registered.
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Govt to train rural IIT aspirants: Badal
Mohali, April 24 While talking to the media after the convocation of Army Institute of Law here, the CM said the state government in collaboration with the Guru Nanak Dev University had opened a training centre at Amritsar to prepare rural students for the IITs from academic session 2010-11. He said the state government would soon establish security-training institutes in all districts on the pattern of security-training institute Jahan Khelan in Hoshiarpur district. Referring to skill development centres, Badal said the state government had set up Department of Employment Generation. It has also launched skill development programme for the youth of the state, in collaboration with renowned Bharti Wal Mart to impart training in retailing, logistics and supply chain management and L&T for construction skills. All districts would soon be covered under this unique programme in a phased manner, he added. Dean of College Development Council, Punjabi University, Manjit Singh conferred degrees upon nearly 100 students.
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Got wrong info under RTI Act: Entrepreneur
Kiratpur Sahib, April 24 Sondh said that he had sought information from corporation under the RTI Act pertaining to its minutes of meeting conducted seven years ago wherein the entrepreneur Sondh was asked to submit loan lent to him. “Instead of levying industrial loan’s rate of interest, the PFC asked me to pay as per personal loan rate of interest,” he said. Sondh added that the PFC has mentally tortured him by not adopting procedure of industrial policy and are not taking the instalment he is trying to submit with the corporation. He said that despite repeated RTI applications to the PFC he did not get exact information and was forced to approach the State Information Commission, Punjab. “The commission has now directed the PFC to provide entire information as well as accept the instalment I am trying to submit,” he said.
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12 booked for ragging, assault
Malout (Muktsar), April 24 The incident came to light, when a second-year student of diploma in computer engineering, Jeewanjot Singh of Gidderbaha, lodged a complaint with the police that two final year students of the same college,
namely Dipanshu and Sandeep, along with a pass out student Gosha, intercepted him on
the college premises on Thursday. Besides seeking money, they asked him to remove the clothes, in the name of ragging as he had joined the college only this year. Irked over his denial to do so, they hurled abuses and manhandled him. Finding some security guards rushing to the spot, the accused boys fled away and Jeewanjot went to the principal of the college and lodged a verbal complaint with him. But the principal sought the complaint in writing to initiate action against them. Speaking to The Tribune at his house in Gidderbaha, the injured Jeewanjot said: “I came out of the office and called up my father, who suggested me to come straightway to home. I took one of my friends along and
moved my motorcycle towards Malout.” Narrating the incident, he said, “Meanwhile, a group of students including the three, who were ragging me, intercepted me near a fuel station at the Danewala chowk and tore off my shirt. Then, they captured my video on the road and challenged to avoid the ragging. Finding myself outnumbered, I had no option than to follow their directions.” “I tender apology for visiting the principal with their complaint but paying no heed they
attacked me with some sharp-edged weapons. They also damaged my mobile phone,
Jeewanjot alleged. Showing wounds and stitches at lips and arms, he further said, “Witnessing the mob assembling there they left me in a pool of blood and fled away. Later, my friends reached the spot and rushed me to the
civil hospital”. Recording his statement, the police has booked five boys by name, Dipanshu, Sandeep, Gosha, Beeta and Gora and seven unidentified under sections 341, 323, 324,
355, 148, 149. Mukhminder Singh, DSP, Malout, said, “Though all accused are absconding till now, efforts are on to put them behind the bars”. On the other hand, Gurmeet Singh Smagh, principal, said: “As of the investigation, it was not a case of ragging still we have formed a three-member probe committee. Meanwhile, two of the accused students, Dipanshu and Sandeep, have been suspended.”
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MCI Chief’s Arrest
Ludhiana, April 24 Chairman of the in-service wing of the IMA, Punjab, Dr DS Bhullar, alleged that Desai’s arrest should have come long ago. “A person like him should not be spared at any cost. He has jeopardised the future of a large number of students by giving accreditation to medical colleges that did not fulfill the requisite conditions,” Dr Bhullar said. State president of the PCMSA Dr Hardeep Singh, said the deteriorating standard of medical colleges opened during Desai’s tenure was evident from their poor infrastructure and negligible attendance of the faculty. “Many colleges in the state will not qualify the criteria in one way or the other if each one of them is reinspected. It is the right time to put an end to malpractices that are weakening the quality of medical education,”
said Dr Hardeep. State chief of the RMSA Dr Aslam Parvez said all assets of Desai should be confiscated and his bank balance should be sealed. He added that the association would soon give a representation to Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad for giving maximum representation to doctors below 40 years of age.
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Ludhiana, April 24
Mohali, April 24
