Amritsar, August 23
The district administration has undertaken repair and protection work of the embankment of the Ravi at Dariya Musa in view of the threats of flood.

Deputy Commissioner Kahan Singh Pannu said the civil authorities swung into action following reports of rising water level. He today visited the site to assess the situation. He also called on the BSF authorities for assistance.

Meanwhile, the Army authorities had also been cautioned to be ready for providing assistance in case of any eventuality. He said in case the breach occurred in the embankment, it was likely to submerge about 400 acres of agricultural land.

He said there was no threat to human life as the embankment was at a considerable distance from the main bundh. He said the administrative officials would camp at the site till complete protection of the embankment was ensured.

About 1.70 lakh cusec water was released in the Ravi from the Ujh river in Jammu yesterday, which resulted in this situation. However, now only about 70,000 cusec water was flowing in the river. About 500 labourers were working for the protection of the embankment.

The Deputy Commissioner also called the meeting of the sarpanches of the villages around the site and asked them to remain vigilant. He, however, assured that there was no flood-like situation in the area.

Nawanshahr, August 23
Deputy Commissioner Shruti Singh, accompanied by Tehsildar Barjinder Singh and SDO (Drainage) Balwinder Singh, today visited the sensitive sites of the Dhussi bundh along the Satlej falling in Balachaur and Nawanshahr subdivisions to take stock of the situation arising after an increase in the flow of water due to release of water from the Bhakhra dam.

The DC visited sites near Dhangerpur, Auliapur, Paragpur, Mandala and Tajowal, and interacted with villagers to listen to their grievances. Shruti Singh directed the officials of the Drainage Department to take steps against any possible breach in the Dhussi bundh.

She also exhorted the villagers to remain vigilant and provide immediate information at the Flood Control Room so that the necessary preventive steps could be taken. She said that Rs 30 lakh and Rs 15 lakh had been released for the anti-flood measures for Balachaur and Nawanshahr subdivisions, respectively.

Amritsar, August 23
The contractors associated with the Punjab Hotmix Plant Owners Association have alleged that payments for the works, valuing nearly Rs 230 crore, carried out under the Centre’s Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojna, had not been reimbursed for the past nearly two years.

They held the state government responsible for their plight. The inordinate delay in releasing the payment for the work done was owing to indifferent attitude of the state government.

They said as the Punjab Government did not release its share of Rs 30 crore, the Centre withheld its share of Rs 200 crore.

As per the established norms, the Centre releases its share of capital over a joint project until the state government releases the matching grant.

They rued that the firms from whom the material was procured for carrying out the given contracts have been pressurising them to clear the dues. “Since majority of the contractors do not have surplus money they were not able to clear the dues of the material suppliers. Thus, suffering from embarrassing situation in the business circle and staring at the chances of being blacklisted,” said Balwinder Singh, President, Punjab Hotmix Plant Owners Association.

On the other hand, further works under the scheme was suffering because of non-availability of more funds. The works under the scheme were vital in the respect that it involved upgradation of existing link roads in the state. However, the stalled work did not portend well over the network of roads in Punjab, which are its lifeline.

The association was of the view that the state’s share be released to enable the Centre to release its share to the extent of Rs 200 crore, so that the overdue huge payments could be made to the concerned agencies.

Amritsar, August 23
Seeking formation of a permanent commission for recommending a raise in the salary of members of Parliament from time to time, Dr Joginder Dyal, member, national executive committee of the Communist Party of India, yesterday criticised the recent unprecedented hike in the salary of MPs.

“They are elected representatives of the people and not employees of Parliament and a majority of them belong to very rich and affluent families,” he pointed out while adding that the commission should recommend a salary hike (of MPs) only after keeping in view the economic conditions of the people and the country.

Taking a dig at Mulayam Singh Yadav of the Samajwadi Party and Lalu Parsad Yadav of the Rashtriya Janata Dal, he said, “It is unfortunate that the leaders, who call themselves as socialists, were upfront in expressing their unhappiness over the ‘inadequate’ hike and even stalled the proceedings in the Lok Sabha.”

In the times when the country was reeling under high inflation with more than 40 per cent of its people living below the poverty line, more than 300 per cent hike in the salary is unjustified, Dyal added. He said the Cabinet okayed the decision under pressure from MPs for getting the same.

Speaking on the conditions in Jammu and Kashmir and threat to the Sikh community in the valley, he said his party opposed any kind of forcible conversion. He said India was a secular country and everyone had the right to follow his religion. He said the government should take stringent possible action against the forces which have threatened the community there. Dyal said the armed forces there should also work with restraint. He said terrorism could be tackled only with the help of the people and that was possible only if the forces exercised restraint.

On the issue of Punjab accord between the then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and Sant Harchand Singh Longowal, he said the CPI totally supported the accord and rated the sacrifice of Sant Longowal in high esteem. He said it was for the first time that a Prime Minister made an accord with a state to bring normalcy at that time.

Amritsar, August 23
High drama prevailed in the premises of Amandeep Hospital, here, today when the Municipal Corporation’s demolition squad suddenly barged into the premises to raise objections over the alleged encroachment made by the management.

For a change, it was on the order of City Mayor Shwet Malik, instead of Municipal Corporation Commissioner, that this demolition plan was conceptualised. After interrogating the whole development, it was found that the doctors at the hospital, reportedly, did not entertain one of the employees of the Mayor “as per expectations”.

However, the Mayor refrained from speaking on the issue saying he was busy in a meeting.

Terming this action as sheer vindictiveness on the part of the authorities, Dr Avtaar Singh, Chief Orthopaedic Surgeon and proprietor of the hospital, said the MC men did not have any written orders to remove the objectionable structure which included a kiosk in the parking area.

“There has been no illegal construction in the premises and the alleged “objectionable” portion of construction in the hospital premises has been prevailing there since its inception, 10 years ago,” he said.

It has been learnt that Mayor’s cook Tarsem Singh went to the hospital this morning, who in turn was asked to make his OPD card and undergo some basic tests before operating upon. This infuriated Singh and he allegedly, started shouting at the reception of the hospital. He appeared within 10 minutes and without bothering to talk to the hospital proprietor Dr Avtar Singh, he too, reportedly, used ‘derogatory’ language against the management of the hospital.

Meanwhile, the hospital staff raised slogans against the MC and blocked the GT Road in protest. Amidst allegations and counter allegations, the demolition squad had to return without getting into action.

On the other hand, the MC officials claimed that the hospital management has encroached upon the parking space, whereas the prevailing parking lot has been in the possession of MC and put on auction on regular basis. However, the management has been “verbally” warned and given a week’s time to remove the objectionable structure.

Hospital spokesperson Dr Arun Mehra said, “The demolition squad did not have any written notice or document regarding their action. This shows arrogant behaviour on the part of the City Mayor, who got annoyed because, as per norms, his man was just asked to get his OPD card made and undergo pre treatment mandatory tests. Why did they wake up all of a sudden? Moreover, there has always been a democratic procedure, if they had any objection over any part of the structure, they could have served us a notice as per law? Why the need arose all of a sudden to disrupt the working of a hospital? he questioned.

Jalandhar, August 23
The decision of the state education authorities to shift almost the entire staff of the Government In-Service Training Centres (GISTC) across the state has left the employees apprehensive.

As per the letter issued recently by the office of Director General School Education (DGSE), it was directed that the entire staff of such centres, except Principal, a clerk and a junior most faculty member, should be moved out of the centres and deployed either at District Institutes of Elementary Training (DIET) or at senior secondary schools, struggling with staff crunch.

There are 10 GISTCs across the state, which were originally meant to provide regular training to in-service BEd teachers, which run through out the academic session, and to monitor the academic performance of schools.

However, teacher’s training work in such centres squeezed to few-weeks training in the past few years. Moreover, with the initiation of several projects like “Parho Punjab”, the monitoring exercises have also shifted to other hands in the past years. To rebuff the decision of the authorities in unison, the faculty members posted in various centres have constituted an action committee.

“In addition to staff shortage in secondary schools, the authorities are citing low work to employee ratio in GISTCs behind the move. Contrary to this rationale, approximately 40 school teachers of subjects like English and mathematics in each district are employed as Block Master Trainers (BMT), Cluster Master Trainers (CMT) and Block Resource Persons (BRP) and all of them are assigned to perform just technical works like monitoring and inspection of schools,” said Dr Devinder Singh Chhina and Dr Shashi Kiran, representatives of GISTC Lecturer’s Union, Punjab, from Ludhiana.

“We are demanding that instead of forcing the staff out, the work originally assigned to such centers should be rewarded back,” said Harpal Singh, President, GISTC, Moga.

Jalandhar, August 23
The local Transport Department has become computerised with the information regarding registration certificates (RC) of all vehicles getting available online.

Even the availability of fancy numbers in various series from PB-08-AU onwards has been put up on the website www.jalandhar.nic.in. All forms, including those for application of RCs, temporary and permanent driving licence are also available on the website in the ‘Download’ column.

By just clicking on the column on the website indicating ‘Online Vaahan status’ and entering a vehicle number, anyone can know the complete detail of the vehicle, including the name of its owner, type of the vehicle, its model, its colour and its chasis number.

Since the systems installed in the DTO office and the Vaahan software used for the purpose has been connected to the servers at Chandigarh and New Delhi, the information can be accessible from anywhere proving a boon especially in the hit-and-run cases.

The staff of the National Informatics Centre (NIC) disclosed that through Sarathi software the maintenance of records of driving licence holders in the area was also being done. They said the departments did not have to pay up for the purpose as the funding for the hardware and software had been done by the Ministry of Roads and Highways.

They said they were now working on providing the requisite infrastructure for transport offices of Shahkot and Nakodar which fall in the ambit of the SDMs there.

“Since no request in this regard has come from SDM Phillaur, no initiative has been taken for uploading the data of the area”, they said.

At a meeting held under the banner of the PSEB Engineers Association, they alleged that despite the clearcut instructions from Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, the government machinery, especially the bureaucratic lords of Powercom and Transco, was denying the genuine rights to the engineers and other employees. — TNS