Jalandhar, June 8
A recent order passed by the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum, Jalandhar, has come out as a deterrent for many new institutes offering short courses without any formal agreement or assuring job guarantee.

Asha Jyoti, a resident of Maqsudan, said while she was searching for some job oriented courses, she came across an advertisement in the local cable TV in which franchisees of Clara International, a beauty therapy institute, had claimed that they were running professional courses with job guarantees.

She said she approached the office where she was assured of being provided with study material of international quality.

She said she joined the diploma in professional beauty therapy for a period of six months. She was told that there was a change of policy of the company as a result of which there would be no job guarantee for courses with duration of less than one year.

Asha said she was convinced to join diploma in aesthetics and hair designing on August 22, 2008, for one year.

She said she was not provided with any original book or study material as per a prior assurance. She said she had paid Rs 35,000 out of a total fee of Rs 70,000 and was forced to pay Rs 10,000 more on January 7, 2009 to facilitate delivery of original books and study material.

She alleged that when she repeatedly asked for study material, she was threatened of being declared an unsuccessful candidate. At this, she called her brother to the institute.

On January 9, 2009, she was not allowed to enter the class and the next day she was placed under suspension by the General Manager.

She alleged that she felt that she was misguided to extort money. She even claimed that at that time, the institute did not have a valid franchise. She called for refund of the fee paid, Rs 15,000 for expenses she incurred during the course and a compensation for the seven months wasted.

The owners of the institute contested the case saying that the student joined the course as per her own choice.

They said she never paid actual dues as monthly fee in time and Rs 11,000 were pending from her side since January 2009. Since she had not paid her dues, they said she was stopped by the staff from attending classes. They even leveled charges against her for misbehaving with the staff. They denied charges of not having provided her with original books.

The forum, represented by President AK Sharma and members Rakesh Kumari and Darshan Singh, found that the complainant could not prove her point regarding non-supply of books. However, they said they could not ignore the major lapse on the part of the Clara team for not executing any written agreement between the parties governing terms and conditions, mode of payment of Rs 70,000 or eventuality in the event of non-fulfillment of bilateral obligations.

They even pointed out that they could not ignore the misrepresentation of assuring aspirants of a job guarantee after the completion of diploma courses. The forum called for an award of Rs 30,000 and compensation of Rs 5,000 to the complainant from Clara International. 

Jalandhar, June 8
Having got admission to the Lovely Professional University, if you thought that you had graduated out of the school-kind of restrictions, you could be wrong. There still is no scope for bunking classes or fudging the result to appease your parents.

The tech-savvy university is using a software for providing regular online update of all your activities including attendance, payment of fee and result directly to the parents leaving no chance of misleading them.

The authorities have devised a Relationship Management System (RMS) using which the parents just need to type the student’s registration number and a password to get day-to-day updates or even cumulative attendance or result.

Further, these updates are also available on SMS. The parents just need to type attendance-registration number on a specific mobile number of the LPU to get the day’s attendance of their ward. Even the result can also be had on the phones by sending SMS on the same format.

Explained Aman Mittal, assistant director, LPU, “The attendance of the students is taken by the staff on their laptops. Once the teacher enters the attendance of his class, it automatically gets registered into the system and can be immediately accessed by anyone who logs on to the system.”

LPU has also devised a University Management System (UMS) by way of which the students can download their day’s lecture which the teacher enters into the system after he delivers it in the class. So, even if the students are absent or away to their home for some reason, they still can note down their day’s work and stay tuned regarding any forthcoming events including seminars or conferences.

The students can even log on for any complaints on any issue. “If unattended in a fortnight or so, it automatically goes to the higher official and finally to the dean who then takes care of the matter”, Mittal added.

The system is of use for the staff as well as they too can use it to know their cumulative attendance, pending leaves, salary issues, bank account updates, HR policies and announcements. The teachers have been daily marking their attendance using the biometric machines, the data of which gets incorporated into the same system.

Jalandhar, June 8
It’s celebration time for the family of Ritika Aggarwal, a student of Dayanand Model Senior Secondary School, who has topped the city in the recently-declared Pre-medical Entrance Test-2010.

Along with the first slot in the city, she has also bagged the sixth rank in the state.

Born and brought up in a family of businessmen, Ritika is the first in her family who dreamt of becoming a doctor.

“Ours is a joint family of three brothers, whose families are into business. There is no doctor in our family, even in distant relations,” said her father Rakesh Aggarwal, who is a law graduate and runs a factory of oil drums.

“Since the day Ritika joined the school, we never heard of her wanting to become anything other than a doctor. From LKG to class XI, she stood first in every standard,” Rakesh added. Though she has secured the 638th rank in CBSE PMT (mains), 163rd rank in Manipal University, she wants to pursue her studies in her home state and wants to become a gynaecologist.

Aarush Pasricha of APJ School bagged second rank in the city and secured 17th position across the state. Kajol Taneja of Swami Sant Dass Public School bagged the third position in the city and 28th overall state rank.

Others city medical aspirants, who secured the positions in the list of first 150 rank, are Ishan Kapur (rank 31), Rohan Beri (rank 69), Sanwal Mehta (rank 116) and Sargun Singh (rank 143).

Jalandhar, June 8
One may come across hundreds of philanthropists who serve the society by pouring in precious charity, and sometimes their lives too, to serve old age homes, slums, localities of sex workers and health centres.

While evolving his own way, Vipin Saini does charity by saving lives of farmers, not through financing money with lower interest rates or by imparting knowledge regarding newer agricultural practices, but by giving them tips about the dos and don’ts in pesticide or insecticide poisoning, through his NGO “Sunrakshan”, which literally means protection.

Post-graduate in Zoology and specialist of Entomology (study of insects), Vipin was in the city on the occasion of World Environment Day and celebrated the first anniversary of “Sunrakshan” by holding a workshop of agricultural officers at Jalandhar.

“I have worked in the department of toxicology of reputed firms like Shriram Laboratories and United Phosphorus Ltd. There I felt that farmers, agricultural development officers and health workers posted at primary health centers know little regarding post-poisoning management. As I am an expert in both medico legal and technical aspects of such cases, I found it better to render my service for the betterment of farmers”, said Vipin.

“I simply want to disseminate my expertise to farmers. I cannot communicate with farmers in their local dialect. So I start my work by co-ordinating with the Department of Agriculture, Centre for Pest Management, Jalandhar and Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana. I facilitate technical training of Agricultural Development Officers (ADO) regarding poisoning and they further sensitise farmers”, he added.

With the help of a network of the agricultural department, we are making people aware regarding the guidelines provided by the “National Poison Information Center” an offshoot of the United Nations Organisation.

It charts symptomology and treatment options for laymen and doctors in case of insecticide or pesticide poisoning, he claimed.

He said the NGO publishes literature, shoots documentaries and holds meetings of ADOs in various districts. He said the organisation is shortly going to establish “Regioanl Sunrakshan Foundation Knowledge Centers” in Hoshiarpur, Jalandhar, Kapurthala, Amritsar and Roopnagar.

Phagwara, June 8
Mystery shrouded the arrest of a bomb hoax-caller, booked on the charges of making a threatening call to the Ludhiana Police Control Room - to blow up the Ludhiana Railway Station and eight persons had entered the Ludhiana Railway Station - on May 19.

It is yet unclear whether the accused was arrested from Phagwara or Ludhiana. Though the Government Railway Police claims that the accused was nabbed from the Ludhiana Railway Station when he was going to board the UP-bound Flying Mail on June 5, The Tribune has learnt that the GRP had picked up the accused from his residence in Gali Number 1 at Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar, Phagwara on June 3, two days before GRP’s claim.

The GRP team struck his house and picked up the accused Santosh Kumar, a UP migrant, and his brother Anil Kumar and impounded two mobile phones (having numbers of 9814844913 and 9041839263) from the accused.

Both the accused were employees at the local JCT Mills, but were residing outside the mill premises. This was confirmed by JCT Mills General Manager SS Jassal, while talking to The Tribune, here today. Jassal disclosed that Anil Kumar, brother of the accused, was freed by GRP after interrogation.

Santosh Kumar was formally arrested under section 420, 467, 471, 120-B, 182, 268, 379 and 411 of the IPC by the railway police. GRP sources told The Tribune that Santosh Kumar made the call from the sim of a stolen mobile (number 9814844913) which the accused used in his own mobile the sim (number 90418-39263) of which he placed in the stolen mobile.

The accused stole the mobile of a co-passenger Shankar Paswan of Madhya Pardesh in an MP bound train near Gorakhpur last month.

GRP sources said the police searched the phone call made from the stolen sim and succeeded to trace the whereabouts of the accused with the help of a mobile company. It was learnt that the mobile phone connections were being frequently issued by several dealers on fake identities.

The Tribune has learnt that the stolen mobile connection was issued first in the name of Aisho Paswan, which was sold to Shankar Paswan, Suresh Paswan and Gurwinder Singh and was issued by two different dealers.

Now police is searching out the details of the issuing of the mobile connections. The Tribune has learnt that the arrested accused has confessed his crime, but disclosed that conspiracy was not the motive behind the call and it was just a joke, a statement which the police doesn’t buy at least as yet.

Meanwhile, the arrested accused, Santosh Kumar, who was in police remand till Tuesday, was sent to judicial jail today.

Phillaur, June 8
Ajit Singh, an old villager, was abducted and murdered by his own grandsons in the nearby Dhack Bansian village and the dead body of the deceased was found from Garcha village, last night.

The deceased was abducted by his two grandsons and their accomplices on June 5. Land dispute is said to be the cause of murder, police said.

The Phillaur police has registered a case under sections 364, 506, 148 and 149 of the IPC against six 
persons, including Ajit Singh’s two grandsons Harninder Singh and Gurpinder Singh. The dead body of the deceased has been handed over to the family members after postmortem examination was conducted at the Phillaur civil hospital today.

Phagwara, June 8
An unidentified motorcyclist, along with a woman, riding pillion, as his accomplice, snatched a five-tola gold chain from the neck of a woman, Sudha Rani, who was going to her home on a rickshaw near the SP office here, late on Monday evening.

Sudha fell down from the rickshaw, sustained injuries, and was taken to a hospital. The motorcyclist managed to escape after committing the crime near a police control room set up in the SP office.

Later, just two hours after the first incident, the accused snatched a mobile phone from another woman Lavleen Kaur, who was taking an evening walk near the local railway station. — OC

Jalandhar, June 8
The Lovely Professional University has signed an MoU with Synkrom Healthcare Pvt. Ltd. for commercialisation of pharmaceutical research conducted by the students. LPU will provide the company commercially viable research oriented products to be manufactured as market drugs.

In this regard, at first instance, the company will get an international patent for Joshanda Lozenges, researched and developed out of traditional poly-herbal mixture Joshanda, by the Pharmaceutical Department of LPU.

Under this MOU, from now onwards, LPU and Synkrom will constantly strive to create a harmonious environment for manufacture of products that are innovative, better than existing ones and affordable in all respects. This is likely to reduce the internal cost of producing new medicines.

Dr Monica Gulati, Dean, School of Applied Medical Sciences of LPU said, “It will be very satisfying for a researcher to see a product coming out of a thesis. However, a lack of industrial collaboration always resulted in keeping the best of theses untapped and unused products lying waste on the shelves only.”

Dr. Gulati further added: “Joshanda, a poly-herbal mixture, did not enjoy worldwide popularity as it involves cumbersome boiling process. We worked and converted the mixture into cough drops as ‘Joshanda lozenges’, having a long lasting effect with remarkable inhibitory activity on the bacteria. These lozenges act as effective drugs against other prescribed cough suppressants and also with no side effects.”

Satyakam Rahul, Managing Director of Synkrom is of the opinion: “Recognising an immediate need for development support to an academic research, we have founded a development company, exclusively for nurturing innovations.” 

Jalandhar, June 8
Girls of Hans Raj Mahila Maha Vidyalaya (HMV) brought laurels to the institution by bagging the top positions in Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, examinations. Last year, too, the college bagged the top positions in the varsity examinations.

This year the college girls bagged first position in BA-III, B.Sc (economics)-III, B.Sc (non-medical)-III and B.Sc (medical)-III. The toppers said a wonderful ambiance of the college, coupled with the dedication of the lecturers, had resulted in their success.

Mamta, a student B.Sc (economics)-III, bagged the first position in the university and scored 1,885 marks out of 2,400. The topper completed her hat-trick with this top position. Heena Kochher of the same college scored 1,851 out of 2,400, securing second position in the varsity.

Talking to The Tribune, jubilant Mamta said she aimed to become an IAS officer. “It was a teacher of mine in Class XII who motivated me to take up a career in civil services after my graduation. And I am working hard to realise my dream. I read newspapers, magazines and Competition Success Reviews regularly to remain abreast of the current affairs,” she added.

Apart from this, the topper has already taken up admission in MA (economics) in the local DAV College. “My motto of success is the film, ‘3 Idiots’. The film has a clear message that do what you like and you will enjoy life,” she maintained.

Kamaljeet Kaur of BA-III also made a hat-trick by securing first position in the varsity. The topper scored 1,983 marks out of 2,400 and plans to pursue MA (music vocal). “I want to take up a career in academics,” she added.

In the B.Sc (non-medical)-III, Shikha Karir clinched the first position in the university and secured 1,970 marks out of 2,400. The topper, who completed her hat-trick, has her goals set. Shikha has joined M.Sc (physics) at Dr B.R Ambedkar National Institute of Technology (NIT), Jalandhar, and plans to pursue research in physics.

The topper said her success was the result of regular studies. “My professors Bhupinder, Jyoti Kaul and Neelam Sharma were of immense help to me. I worked hard and followed my daily notes,” she maintained.

Among other toppers is Rajni Vashisht, who bagged the first position in B.Sc (medical)-III and secured 1,861 marks out of 2,400. An extremely happy Rajni said she was preparing for the entrance of M.Sc (chemistry) at Panjab University, Chandigarh, and Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar. Apart from this, the topper is also planning to take up a career in civil services. “It is all because of my lecturers that I have secured first position in the varsity,” she added. 

Jalandhar, June 8
On the occasion of World Environment Day, a meet of agricultural technocrats, agricultural scientists and progressive farmers was organised here yesterday by Sanraksha, a non-governmental organisation.

Dr Manjit Singh Kang, Vice-Chancellor, Punjab Agricultural University, said injudicious use of pesticides and insecticides was going simultaneously along with increasing crop production. He said the farmers overusing pesticides that eventually polluted the environment. He said major threat to ecosystem in state was from rapidly depleting water table.

Applauding the efforts of NGO Sanraksha, Dr K.S. Deol, Chief Agricultural Officer, said that such efforts were essential to smoothen the flow of messages, regarding adoption of environment friendly techniques, to the farmers.

“Sanrakshan has given training not only to farmers but even to our officers regarding the judicious use of pesticides and management of during their poisoning. Association of such NGOs with the government departments can sensitise the society to save environment in a big way,” he said. Vipin Saini from Sanrakhsa assured coordination between the Agricultural Department, PAU, and Sanraksha would be strengthened to implement such programme across wider areas. 

Jalandhar, June 8
In its campaign to spread awareness among the masses regarding important days and dates, the IMA, Jalandhar, in association with the District Legal Services Authority, celebrated the World Environment Day at the Kalyanpur village near Lambra.

The function was organised in a village high school and was attended by approximately 300 persons from nearby villages. Dr Sanjiv Sharma, President IMA, said Kalyanpur, near Lambra, now figures in an International Campaign “A Billion Trees” of United Nations Environment Campaign (UNEP), through which the United Nations has given a slogan to plant 12 billion trees in the year 2010.

He said the IMA planted 30 neem trees in and around the Government High School, Kalyanpur and another 250 neem trees would be planted in the coming rainy season.

Lalit Mohan, Assistant District Attorney, Paramjit Singh, BDO, Jalandhar (west), Dr TS Randhawa Secretary, IMA, Jalandhar, Dr Rajiv Sharma, Finance Secretary, Iqbal Singh sarpanch, Kalyanpur, also addressed the gathering. Continuing the campaign, another 30 neem trees were planted by both associations at the Master Tara Singh Nagar with the help of Netaji Park, Master Tara Singh Nagar Wefare Society.

Another 250 neem trees would be planted in the 1st week of July. Iqbal Dhindsa, Member Zila Parishad, Dr Harjinder Singh, President of Society, Kulbir Singh, Secretary, were present.

Jalandhar, June 8
Scores of retired Army personnel demanded that vacant 158 posts of Food and Civil Supply Inspector, reserved for ex-servicemen, should be filled at the earliest.

In a press statement released by Surinder Kumar, general secretary of the Ex-Servicemen League, said keeping in view the services rendered by retired Army personnel during their serving years, criteria of minimum eligibility marks should be relaxed for them.

“We have sacrificed glorious years of life in the service of nation. We are demanding the relaxation on the basis of that service. Moreover, the syllabus has changed altogether in these years. An ex-serviceman, who had completed his studies 20-25 years back, cannot compete with fresh students. It is in the light of these facts that we are demanding that condition of securing 35 per cent marks in entrance test should be relaxed for us,” Surinder Kumar added. 

Jalandhar, June 8
Aakriti World, authorised dealer of Chevrolet India, organised a road show to showcase its Beat model here today.

The event was flagged off by MD Atul Sehgal and the cavalcade of cars passed through BMC Chowk, Mission Chowk, Nakodar Chowk, Football Chowk, Kapurthala Chowk, Guru Ravidass Chowk, Model Town Market, Defence Colony and Urban Estate. Beat is now available in Jalandhar in seven colours and four variants. The price ranges between Rs 3.5 lakh to Rs 4.5 lakh. Sehgal said Beat was a big hit with the customers for its 11 unbeatable features and an impressive average of 18.6 km/litre. 

Jalandhar, June 8
Every 1000th new born in the world suffers from hearing impairment. Hearing loss of a child could be detected in the initial stage, claimed Dr M Reddy Sivaprasad, Chief Audiologist of Widex India Private Limited, a hearing aid manufacturing company.

Dr Sivaprasad claimed this while addressing nearly 50 ENT doctors and audiologists at a workshop in the city last night.

Digital hearing aids do not depend only on a patient’s specific hearing loss but also on the lifestyle and circumstances in which the aids are supposed to be used, said Dr Sivaprasad. Before prescribing hearing aids, doctors must know about the daily life of a patient.

“The audible requirements of an old man, a lawyer, a policeman and a student are altogether different from one another. So they cannot be prescribed similar kinds of hearing aids,” claimed TS Anand, Managing Director of the company.

He said the company is offering advanced hearing care services with state-of-the-art hearing and speech therapy at Senso Hearing Centre, a clinic in the city.