Jalandhar, September 21
Despite the rigorous awareness campaigns launched by both the state and the Central government, the National Health Insurance Scheme has yet to deliver fruitful results in the district.

In spite of the fact that around 6,862 BPL families have been enrolled under the scheme across the district until now, only eight such individuals have been benefited under the scheme in the district since the commencement of the scheme in July this year.

The Central Government in collaboration with the state governments has introduced the scheme, which envisaged of providing totally free treatment up to Rs 30,000 per member to all the below poverty line (BPL) families.

Maximum five members of a family are eligible to avail themselves of treatment in all government-run hospitals and health centres and earmarked private hospitals. The only catch was that the patient has to be admitted to the hospital at least for one night.

The scheme is sponsored by the Central Government as 75 per cent share for the purpose is contributed by the Central Government and rest 25 per cent share is to be borne by the state governments.

Asked regarding the low turnout of the patients, Dr Ajay Sahni, District Medical Commissioner, who is also serving as a district nodal officer for the scheme, said even after the registration, the patients needed encouragement to avail themselves of the benefits of the scheme.

“We are organising camps in villages in this regard to remove the hurdles, if any, faced by the patients while getting treatment under the scheme,” he added.

Ironically, there are 18,494 BPL families in the district and the health authorities have succeeded to register only one-third of them.

Jalandhar, September 21
President of the NRI Sabha, Kamaljit Singh Hayre, today expressed concern over the unnecessary interference of bureaucrats and politicians in the functioning of the NRI Sabha Punjab and emphasised that the sabha should remain an independent body. Hayre, along with Ealing Southall MP, Virendra Sharma, was here at the local NRI Sabha to address a press conference.

He raised the issue of police verification of the Central Executive Committee (CEC) and office bearers and pointed out how redundant interference by politicians and bureaucrats is taking its toll on the functioning of the sabha.

The formation of the CEC has been lingering since the re-election of the president of the NRI Sabha this year. The Jalandhar Divisional Commissioner-cum-Chairman of the NRI Sabha, SR Ladhar had asked for immediate police verification of all 26 members of the committee, which drew flak from all quarters. Ladhar sent a letter to the president of the sabha last week (September 17) last week, in this regard.

The list of the members of CEC was put on its website by the president of the NRI Sabha, Kamaljit Singh Hayre, after the office received no objection and change from the chairman. However, the list had to be deleted after the chairman pointed out towards police verification and maintained that no one can become a member of the CEC until notified by the sabha.

Hayre said he would soon take up the issue with Chief Minister Prakash Singh Badal, who is also the chief patron of the sabha. “We would also discuss this issue during the annual general meeting of the sabha in January”, he added.

Jalandhar Divisional Commissioner and chairman of the NRI Sabha, SR Ladhar said police verification is necessary as many NRIs face charges of smuggling and drug mafia. “The office bearers of the Central Executive Committee should be free of any such serious charges”, he maintained. Meanwhile, Ealing Southall MP, Virendra Sharma was given the membership of the NRI Sabha today. The MP expressed concern over NRIs not investing in Punjab. “Despite the rising growth of India as a superpower, NRIs do not wish to invest in Punjab”, he added.

Jalandhar, September 21
Placement drive by Wipro at KMV: A placement drive was conducted by Wipro BPO at the KMV college. It was a joint placement drive in which students from other colleges were also given an opportunity to get themselves placed in a renowned MNC. Members of the Wipro team comprising Nelakshi Shukla, Meenakshi and Jonish Kalia, Campus relationship managers, were welcomed by principal Dr Atima Sharma and the in charge of the placement team KMV- Suman Khurana and Anshu Oberoi. More than 200 students participated in the drive.

Freshers’ party: A freshers’ party “Mahfil-E-Aghaz” was organised on September 18, 2010, for the GNA-IMT students of MBA, BBA, BCA Semester-I. The party was organised to welcome new students. Gurdeep Sihra, president, GNA-IMT, Dr SK Singla, director, GNA-IMT, Shelly Rekhi Sharma, Principal, GNA-IMT and all other faculty members attended the function. Kaveri Sharma and Gurminder were chosen as Miss and Mr. Fresher. Ginny Bhalla and Gagandeep Bagla were chosen as Miss Charming and Mr. Handsome. Gurdeep Sihra, president, GNA-IMT, distributed trophies and gifts to students along with scholarships to meritorious students of the institute, who have secured university positions, or those who obtained more than 70 per cent marks in their qualifying exams. As many as 32 students were given certificates for the successful completion of MSME course offered by the Government of India.

KMV badminton team: The Badminton (girls) team of the KMV Collegiate Senior Secondary School stood first in the school state championship. Out of these girls, Rupinder has been selected for the national tournament. Principal Dr Atima Sharma congratulated the girls. She averred that KMV will continue to excel under the guidance of Ashu Bajaj, head of the department pf physical education.

Commerce forum set up: A commerce and economics forum was set up at Apeejay School, Rama Mandi, Jalandhar. Sukhrajvir Kaur, a student of commerce, has been appointed the head of the forum and Gursimranjot Kaur amd Avinash have been selected as the assistant heads.

The programme included lectures by students on topics - customer awareness, unemployment, privatisation - followed by a questionnaire.

A parable was also presented to make students aware on social issues like unemployment, poverty, inequality, population explosion and inflation, and how to overcome these evils.

Principal Madhu Sharma, in her speech, congratulated the forum for taking up the issues.

Story-writing contest: KMV’s English Literary Society organised a story writing and poem writing competition. The topics for poem writing and stories were: “Mother Earth”, “The Rainbow in my life”, “If winter comes can spring be for behind?”, and “The Honour Killing.”

Phagwara, September 21
Congress MP from Hoshiarpur parliamentary constituency Santosh Chaudhary has alleged that the civil and police administration is being pressurised and misused by the ruling SAD-BJP government, which is adopting “policy of pressure” only for the vested interests of SAD and BJP.

Talking to newsmen here today, she alleged that MLAs and ministers, including the Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister of Punjab, are politicising the administration.

While describing the SAD-BJP government as a non-serious government, Chaudhary alleged that though the UPA-led Union Government is sending huge funds to Punjab for various schemes, the Badal government has failed to utilise these funds properly. Most of the times these funds were being diverted, she said.

The funds sent by the Union Government under NREGA, Sarav Shiksha Abhiyaan, and rural development schemes could not be utilised by the SAD-BJP Government.

She also urged the Union Government to monitor the proper utilisation of funds sent to the state government and check before issuing new installments of these funds.

Leveling serious corruption charges on the present government, she alleged that MLAs of ruling alliances in Punjab are running their commercial establishments for corrupt practices and even SHOs are working as their agents.

She also alleged that Congress sarpanches are being harassed and false cases are being registered against them. The Congress MP even alleged that different officers did not reply to the correspondence of Congress MPs also.

The Congress MP from Hoshiarpur expressed her apprehensions that terrorism could see a revival in Punjab due to the increasing lawlessness. She said the SAD-BJP government is claiming its works in the name of development, but in the real sense, development projects are initiated only with the efforts and financial help of the Union Government.

Jalandhar, September 21
Students of Dr BR Ambedkar National Institute of Technology (NIT), Jalandhar, bagged the first position in India’s biggest civil engineering quiz competition titled ‘bending moments’ held at IIT, Delhi, on September 17 last week.

It is for the first time that NIT bagged the first position in this annual quiz competition.

The students are now preparing for the national-level quiz competition scheduled to be held at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, soon.

The team comprised two students of civil engineering from NIT Jalandhar, namely Mohit Jindal and Sumit Mahajan. Students were given a cash award of Rs 5,000, certificates and prizes.

As many as 120 teams from the northern part of the country participated in the competition, out of which only six teams, namely - IIT Delhi, IIT Kanpur, IIT Roorkee, Jamia Milia Islamia Delhi, HBPI Kanpur and NIT Jalandhar were selected for the final round of the quiz. The NIT Jalandhar team won the first position, beating other teams.

Talking to The Tribune, a jubilant Mohit Jindal said before the quiz competition, they appeared in a written exam in which students of all the 120 teams participated and six final teams were selected.

“We were getting a constant lead right from the first round and this gave us a boost. Although the questions were a bit difficult but we ensured our victory”, he added.

Director of NIT, Dr Moin-uddin said it is matter of pride that our students won the first position in this prestigious quiz competition.

“The students defeated the technocrats of various IITs, which is a rare achievement. We are hopeful that our students will emerge with flying colours in the national level contest too”, he added.

Dr Partap Singh, professor and head of the civil engineering department, said both the students participated voluntarily in the quiz. “The quiz was based on the basics of civil engineering”, he maintained.

Jalandhar, September 21
The State Information Commission has issued a notice to the Punjab Information Officer (PIO) of the Punjab Urban Planning and Development Authority, Mohali, on the issue of appointing the same person as the PIO as well as the First Appellate Authority of the Jalandhar Development Authority.

The PIO or his authorised representative has been asked to appear before the commission on September 30 before Lt-Gen P.K. Grover, State Information Commissioner. A complaint on the matter has been filed by a city-based counsel and RTI activist Rajinder Bhatia.

The reference on the matter came from a news report “JDA has the same person as PIO and appellate authority”, which appeared in the columns of the Jalandhar Plus on August 13. Both the posts have been held by Harbir Singh, a PCS officer. Since Harbir Singh, who is the Estate Officer, also holds the charge of Additional Chief Administrator, JDA, this piquant situation had emerged.

In his complaint, Bhatia has mentioned the portion from the Act which clearly outline that the First Appellate Authority (picked up from within the same public office) has to be an officer who is one rank senior to the PIO.

Bhatia has called for initiation of departmental action against the erring officer for defiance of law, dereliction of duties and infringement of the fundamental rights of the common Indians under Section 20 of the Act.

Jalandhar, September 21
A joint delegation of the representatives of 17 peasants and workers unions today met the Deputy Commissioner Priyank Bharti and demanded immediate cancellation of the false case of attempt to murder under which district secretary of the Pendu Mazdoor Union Kashmir Singh Ghugshor and another worker Veer Kumar was arrested by the Kartarpur police.

A press statement released by Tarsem Peter, state president of the union, said the DC had agreed to hold magisterial inquiry of the matter and also assured to seek details of the case from senior police officials concerned.

The members of the delegation have demanded that instead of arresting union leaders, the administration should take legal action against police officials concerned. The delegation also demanded the immediate transfer of police officials to pave the way for the smooth investigation of the case.

The delegation was led by Hardev Singh Sandhu, national president, All India Kisan-Mazdoor Sabha, Sukhdev Singh Kokri Kalan, state president, Bhartiya Kisan Union (Ugrahaan), Darshan Nahar of Dehati Mazdoor Sabha, Gurbachan Singh Chaba of Kirti Kisan Union, Nirmal Singh Bhupal of BKU (Ekta) and Tarsem Peter, president, PMU.

Phillaur, September 21
A migrant labourer Ram Ishwar reportedly committed suicide by hanging himself with the ceiling fan at the Sabzi Mandi locality, Phillaur, last night.

Depression was said to be the cause of the suicide. Police has registered a case and handed over the dead body of the deceased after conducting post-mortem examination at the local Civil Hospital.

Meanwhile, Gytri Devi, wife of the deceased, also attempted suicide by jumping from the roof of her house after the suicide of her husband. She was admitted to the Phillaur Civil Hospital in a serious condition. Police is investigating the case.