Jalandhar, July 22
The Special Police officers (SPOs) recruited by the state government are a harried lot as they have been running from pillar to post to get hike in their monthly emoluments. It has been over a month since they had been waiting for their monthly salary.

While the SPOs have been working on a meager amount, the salary of Home Guards was enhanced recently. The SPOs are drawing Rs 3,410 per month while the Home Guards are availing an enhanced monthly salary of Rs 9,500. Earlier the Home Guards have been drawing Rs 4,500 per month.

This despite the fact that the SPOs are employed with the Jalandhar Police, Police Lines and Nawanshahr for the past many years and have been rending their services at par with any other government employee.

The SPOs perform petty duties; some are working with the traffic police while others are working as assistants with the senior IPS officials.

“It has been more than a month and we are yet to get our salary. And nearly 15 years have passed ever since we have been employed with the district authorities but till date we are drawing meager wages,” said an SPO on the condition of anonymity.

The SPOs maintained that they raised their issue with the ministers and departments concerned many a time but to no avail. “We kept on raising our demands with the state government but to no avail. It seems that the authorities have turned a blind eye towards our genuine demand,” said another SPO.

And owing to their meagre wages a majority of them had not been able to get married too. “I joined this service in 1995 and till date could not get married as my salary is very less. With a meager amount of Rs 3410 one cannot manage the monthly home budget. And as a result a majority of us are still unmarried. Though we work 24X7 and perform special duties too but nobody ever expressed concern towards our problem”, added another.

A majority of the SPOs also said as the prices of the essential commodities had gone up and their financial condition had become worse. “Every month we end up borrowing money from here and there. And at times our salaries get delayed, adding to our woes,” he added.

When contacted, Police Commissioner Gaurav Yadav said they discussed the matter with the DGP and hopeful of a likely action soon. “The SPOs are recruited as daily wagers and their salary would be sanctioned by the Finance Department soon”, he added.

Jalandhar, July 22
Efforts of the Punjab Education Department to equip educated youth with basic computer skills are receiving cold response in the district.

With just three working days to go before the last date to apply, till date not even a single student has opted to take admission in a certificate course, launched by the education authorities in association with the Punjab Information and Communication Technology Educational Society (PICTES). July 26 is the last date for submitting applications for the course.

The course is aimed at imparting basic computer skills to only those students who have cleared Class XII. The duration of course is three months and classes are scheduled for two hours everyday in the evening.

District Coordinator of the programme Harish Kumar said no student had submitted the admission applications for the course and owing to the lukewarm response, it is likely that the authorities might extend the last date for the submission of applications.

The course was introduced in 2008 and the graph of admissions in the course is declining every year. “Thirty students took admission in 2008 and the number dipped to 10 in 2009,” revealed Harish.

The insiders feel that the high fee of Rs 2,000 for the course is the major factor behind the tepid response. “Had the fee been near to nominal, the response could have been encouraging. Although the department is rigorously advertising the course, the response is still not as per our expectations,” admitted Joginder Dass, DEO (Secondary).

Jalandhar, July 22
Along with the pleasant weather, the monsoons have marked their entry on the health front, with simultaneous diarrhoea incidents in two different parts of the district.

The death of two children and about 100 people falling sick in Shamshabad and Chak Thothra areas has exposed the extent of alertness of the Health Department. Though every year the monsoons arrive along with a range of diseases like dengue, gastroenteritis, hepatitis, jaundice, viral fever, allergic skin, etc., an awareness campaign regarding prevention of such diseases is still not visible across the district.

It seems that the authorities are waiting for an outbreak before flagging off an awareness campaign, as a range of health officials maintain that a “good number” of cases of hepatitis, jaundice and dengue have not been reported in the district yet. There is no sight of billboards, banners, pamphlets or leaflets highlighting the signs, symptoms, consequences and preventive measures of the deadly disease like dengue anywhere.

District Health Officer Dr Roop Lal said the Health Department, in association with the district administration, has chalked out an action plan to deal with a situation arising both due to floods and monsoons.

“We have formed 88 teams of doctors and paramedical staff in the district. Such teams will start a door-to-door campaign regarding water and vector-borne diseases in their respective areas,” he said. The department had also established a 24-hour control room at the Civil Hospital, Jalandhar, to provide rapid care to patients of swine flu and dengue, he added.

MC Health Officer Dr Rajinder Singh said a campaign to minimise the incidence of dengue would start only once the rains subside.

“Teams will start anti-larva fogging during an interval between the rain spells as fogging will serve no purpose during heavy rains. Campaigns in schools will also be introduced in the first week of August,” he added.

Jalandhar, July 22
Almost 13 years after its inception, Punjab Technical University is making efforts to cull the database of all its passouts and getting closely allied with them to form its alumni association.

The university organised a meeting with alumni coordinators of all colleges and distance education regional centres on its campus on July 20 and asked them to come up with the maximum number of contacts of the alumni of their respective colleges.

As the alumni have moved out of their hometowns or colleges and are settled elsewhere depending on job opportunities, the alumni coordinators have been asked to collate the data and form various alumni chapters on the basis of city, country, batch and stream.

Since nine officials of the PTU have planned to visit Hyderabad in connection with the e-India awards being organised by the Ministry of Communication and IT and the Ministry of Labour and Employment, the university has plans to hold its first alumni meet on the sidelines of the event on August 6.

“There will be 5,000 IT professionals at the awards function, for which we are higher education sponsors. Some of the participants will also be our passouts. In addition, alumni from our affiliated colleges are working with MNCs in Hyderabad whom we are trying to contact for a re-union,” Vice-Chancellor Dr Rajneesh Arora said.

The VC said such a meeting for pharmacy passouts was being planned from September 19 to 21 at Manipal where the Pharmacy Council is scheduled to hold its meeting. “Over 25,000 pharmacy graduates and postgraduates often assemble and we are getting a stall booked. Our alumni will be easily able to spot us and later join in for the meeting. This is the pattern most other universities, including the BHU and Panjab University have been following,” he said.

PTU placement officer Navdeepak Sandhu sees immense scope in terms of having better institute-industry liaison, getting industry-oriented projects on campuses, training and placement.

Jalandhar, July 22
Coming up with a new housing scheme, the Jalandhar Development Authority (JDA) has done away with the forcible land acquisition process. The lengthy process, which often gets mired in legal nitty-gritty over less land price being offered, is now being replaced by a new mechanism.

The department is in the process of setting up Urban Estate, Phase-3, in Jalandhar for which it is mulling on inviting financial and technical bids from a cluster of farmers in the district, who would want to sell off their land for the purpose.

The urban authority would not exactly specify the land but give a rough idea of some sites along highways or even in-lanes which it is interested in acquiring. The department will then scruitinise the bids depending on the accessibility, market value of the land, prices being offered by farmers and its location, keeping in view future developments. JDA has plans to develop Urban Estate in 100 to 150 acres of land. The office also has plans to have similar schemes in Dasuya and Tanda in 50 acres each.

JDA had reportedly started acquiring land near Nangal Shama for the proposed Urban Estate-3 around four years back but that too was shelved after several farmers created hue and cry. The department is planning to make an announcement of opening of schemes in a week’s time, confirmed Harbir Singh, additional chief administrator, JDA.

In yet another move, the Jalandhar Improvement Trust has plans to have biometric attendance system in its office. This is being done to ensure timely entry of employees and their presence in the office till the day is over. JDA will be the second government office in the city after Jalandhar Improvement Trust (JIT) to have set up the system. 

Kapurthala, July 22
The Parkash Singh Badal-led SAD-BJP government has issued a show-cause notice to Congress councillor Manjeet Kaur, asking her to explain as to why she should not be removed from her post.

It has been stated in the show-cause notice, issued by the Principal Secretary of the Local Bodies Department on July 14, that she had encroached upon a piece of government land.

“So it is recommended to take action against you under section 16 of the Punjab Municipal Act, 1911, (as amended in 1994) to remove you from the post of councillor of Ward 7 of th Kapurthala Municipal Council.”

The notice stated that Kapurthala MC chief Paramjit Singh had submitted a complaint against her in November last year. The Local Bodies Department sent the complaint in January this year to its Deputy Director at Jalandhar for his comments on it.

The Deputy Director, in turn, asked the Executive Officer of the MC to send his comments.

In his report submitted on March 8, the EO stated, “A shop on the encroached land is in the name of councillor Manjeet Kaur’s husband Surinder Singh and two rooms have been built behind the shop after constructing a boundary wall on a piece of land which belongs to the government school according to mutation of the Revenue Department.”

The Principal Secretary has directed the councillor to submit her reply within three weeks of the issuance of the notice.

While the councillor could not be contacted, her brother-in-law Parminder Singh claimed, “The 12 marla land is in my name and I had purchased it a few decades ago. Both my sister-in-law Manjeet Kaur and her husband Surinder Singh have nothing to do with this land.”

Parminder Singh alleged that the SAD-BJP government had been harassing Manjeet Kaur as she belonged to the Congress.

Jalandhar, July 22
A close peep into the fast changing world may virtually shake one for a while as the little joys of wonder in life have been taken over by materialistic charms. Even the blissful innocence of childhood has been eclipsed.

“Urban Child Hood”- a painting on display by artist Sapna reveals how urban children in the rat race to enjoy the electronic world are short of time to play. The painting, displaying a lonely teddy bear on the stairs, depicts how even toys have no relevance in a child’s life.

“It is a hard fact. In urban homes, parents remain busy with mundane works and they hardly find any time to play with their children for a while. Struck with these thoughts, I painted them on the canvas”, she added.

This painting is a part of ‘Desire 2010’ a five-day-long exhibition by artists of the city, which started today at the Satya Paul Art Gallery, Virsa Vihar.

The exhibition would conclude on July 26, while art lovers can enjoy the art works daily from 11 noon to 5.30 pm. The exhibition was inaugurated by Additional Deputy Commissioner (Development), Sarojini Gautam Sharda amidst a lot of fanfare.

Art lovers enjoyed watching paintings, sculptures, photographs and prints of more than 32 artists of the city. Among other works of wonder was Landscape by Rimpi- depicting the soft shades of nature. The water colour painting expressed the beauty of nature with a lifelike feeling of God’s creation.

While another painting ‘In the lap of Nature’ by Ashwani Verma was nothing short of a sojourn in the hills on a misty morning. The artist with his watercolour paintings virtually brought the beauty of hills to life. With hills in the backdrop covered with tall pine trees, the painting clearly shows life on a hill station.

However, thin audience on the inauguration of the exhibition irked the artists. A majority of them felt that the city lacks an aesthetic sense. “Those who come to watch the paintings are artists and their children. The city residents do not enjoy any work of art. But, we are still trying to build a culture in the city,” said Amit G, an artist from Easlz Academy of Fine Arts.

Among other artists who put their works on display were - HS Bhatti, Surjit Kaur, Amit G, Guranjan Pal, Varinder Kaur, Abhinash Dass, Amit Gupta, Harish Verma and many others. 

Jalandhar, July 22
ORRA - the diamond destination - launched its first store in Model Town here today, which was inaugurated by ORRA CEO and director Vijay Jain.

At ORRA, the customers can look for the best “handpicked diamonds cut to perfection” with Belgian legacy dating back to 1888. 

They can choose from a vast array of both lightweight and heavy designs in 22 carat, BIS hallmarked trendy gold jewellery, Calcutta work, Bombay work, antique work and machine made earrings, necklaces, bangles, mangulsutras and much more. 

Jain said, “The customers can look for a variety of gold and platinum jewellery along with diamonds. As part of our inaugural celebrations, we have introduced 10 per cent off on diamond jewellery and flat 50 per cent off on making charges of gold jewellery.” — TNS

Phillaur, July 22
Three persons, including a eunuch, were run over by different trains in and around Phillaur last night.

According to the reports received here today, a eunuch, identified as Rekha as per a tattoo found on the arm of the deceased, was run over by a train near railway station. The deceased was brought to Phillaur hospital where the eunuch succumbed to the injuries. Varinder Kumar of Goraya was run over by a train near Noormahal level crossing. He was crossing the railway lines.

Sukhdev (22) of nearby Kanna Dhesian village was crushed to death under the wheels of a train between Goraya and Phillaur.

The bodies of all three victims were sent to the Phillaur Civil Hospital for a post-mortem examination.

Jalandhar, July 22
The effect of the rains has started showing on the prices of essential items. The prices of vegetable and kitchen items have been on the rise for the past few days. However, the prices of items like lemon have come down.

Capsicum and lady’s finger witnessed a huge increase in prices and were sold at around Rs 45 and Rs 32 per kg, registering a hike of Rs 9 and Rs 12 per kg, respectively, this week.

Cucumber, pumpkin and cauliflower also saw a significant increase in prices this week and hovered around Rs 34, Rs 30 and Rs 40 per kg this week.

Consumers still bear the heat of the unusually high prices of tomato which remained at around Rs 45-47 per kg, the same as last week. 

Phagwara, July 22
The Gau Sewa Board, Punjab, has decided to actively work in order to protect more than one lakh stray cows in Punjab. A formal letter has been written to all Deputy Commissioners in the state in this regard.

Talking to mediapersons at Khatti village yesterday, Board Vice-Chairman Devi Dayal Prashar said a state-level gaushala would soon be set up at a cost of Rs 2 crore in 70 bighas of land in Kurali. Several other gaushalas would also be set up in important towns of the state.

He said a state-level meeting would be held on August 22 in Rurrki village in Nawanshahr in which important social organisations and representatives of various gaushalas would be attending the meeting to chalk out a long-term plan to save cows in the state.

He said the board would also work to stop the menace of cow slaughtering. Earlier Prashar along with ADC Kapurthala Gurmail Singh, Phagwara SDM Amarjit Paul, Brahmin Sabha representatives Sunil Prashar, and Kusum Sharma laid the foundation stone of Rs 1.17 crore langar hall at Bhagwan Purshuram Mandir in Khatti village.