J A L A N D H A R    E D I T I O N

Pvt school managements escape gratuity responsibility, teachers unaware
Jalandhar, September 22
The reluctance of the state labour authorities to enforce the Payment of Gratuity Act for private schools has rendered thousands of teachers in such schools without the facility of gratuity benefits after retirement.

CM accepts vets’ NPA demand, sends for Finance Department approval
Nawanshahr, September 22
The SAD-BJP government is quite sympathetic towards the genuine demands, including granting of the NPA, of the veterinary doctors, said Animal Husbandry Minister Gulzar Singh Ranike, while interacting with mediapersons here today.

Suspicious movement: BSF, police conduct search
Amritsar, September 22
The teams of the BSF and Amritsar Rural Police, after suspecting some uncalled-for activities, conducted a special search operation in the Labbe-Daria village in the Ajnala sector, bordering Pakistan, late last night.

Mystery fire razes education office records
Accused of fund embezzlement, a clerk is suspected to be behind the incident
Batala, September 22
Service and other records of teachers at the Block Primary Education Office, Srihargobindpur, were destroyed in a mystery fire on Tuesday.

Overloading of vehicle leaves 1 dead, 20 hurt
Jalandhar, September 22
One pilgrim died and 20 others injured, eight of them seriously, when a Tata-407 in which they were traveling overturned on the Nakodar-Lohian Road in Tashpur village this evening.

Murder of woman, daughter shocks Hoshiarpur
Hoshiarpur, September 22
A murder of mother-daughter duo shook Hoshiarpur on Tuesday. In a broad daylight incident, Purnima Devi (45) and her daughter Rohni Puri (24) were brutally murdered at their residence, owned by her husband and brick kiln owner Rakesh Mohan Puri, on the Mall Road by suspected robbers, who decamped with Rs 20 lakh from the house.

Pvt school managements escape gratuity responsibility, teachers unaware
Amaninder Pal
Tribune news Service

Jalandhar, September 22
The reluctance of the state labour authorities to enforce the Payment of Gratuity Act for private schools has rendered thousands of teachers in such schools without the facility of gratuity benefits after retirement.

Under the Act, the managements of all private schools are legally bound to pay gratuity to teachers, who have retired after providing satisfactory services to their respective institutions since 1997.

However, the managements of nearly all private schools in the state are reluctant to implement the Act.

Lack of awareness among teachers about the provisions of the Act is another prime reason behind its non-implementation.

Although the Act was framed in 1972, teachers were included in it on April 3, 1997. However, after filing of writ petitions by school managements across the country, various high courts have ruled that teachers should not be covered under the law. The courts declared that the definition of an employee, mentioned in the Act, did not cover the teaching community.

However, in 2009, teachers again came under the ambit of the Act, as Parliament amended it by changing the definition of an employee.

Ironically, for the past nearly one year, since the amendment, the Labour Department has failed to enforce the law in private schools.

“The department is overburdened with campaigns to implement labour laws at brick kilns and to check child labour. Such campaigns don’t leave us with time to inspect schools in this regard,” said an Assistant Labour Commissioner requesting anonymity.

Sources in the department confirmed that only a handful of teachers knew about the Act. The total number of teachers, who filed a complaint in this regard, did not even cross the two-digit figure.

When asked regarding such complaints, for instance, in Jalandhar district alone, which has a large number of private schools, Inderjit Singh, Assistant Labour Commissioner, Jalandhar, revealed that only six teachers have filed a complaint in this regard since the amendment.

Tikshan Sood, Labour Minister, could not be contacted despite repeated attempts.

Harish Nayyar, Additional Labour Commissioner, Punjab, said the department could take action against schools only if teachers lodged complaint regarding the non-payment of gratuity.

When asked about the number of such complaints, he said, “I cannot give details in this regard. The record pertaining to such complaints is only maintained at the district level.”

CM accepts vets’ NPA demand, sends for Finance Department approval
Parmod Bharti

Nawanshahr, September 22
The SAD-BJP government is quite sympathetic towards the genuine demands, including granting of the NPA, of the veterinary doctors, said Animal Husbandry Minister Gulzar Singh Ranike, while interacting with mediapersons here today.

Ranike was here to preside over a district-level meeting of the party workers in connection with constituting the SC wing of the SAD.

The Animal Husbandry Department as well as Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal had accepted the demand of granting NPA to veterinary doctors and the file has been sent for approval of the Finance Department, the minister said, while terming the protest of the veterinary doctors totally unjustified.

While claiming that the SAD-BJP government has been introducing revolutionary improvements in the functioning of the Animal Husbandry Department, Ranike said it was for the first time that Rs 31 crore had been released for the repair of the veterinary hospitals, dispensaries, etc.

Besides, a unique initiative of organising championship of milk-producing cattle had been mooted in the state to motivate the farmers for adopting dairy farming. Rs 4 crore would be spent on organising competitions at the district headquarters and a national-level competition would be held on the occasion of Maghi Mela, he added.

Ranike said district-level meetings were being held with the party workers for giving due representation to them in the SC wing of the SAD on merit. Fifty per cent representation would be given to the elected representatives of the Panchayati Raj institutions and 50 per cent representation would be given to dedicated party workers in the various committees of the SC wing. The bio-data of the party workers was being collected at the district-level meetings, he added.

Dr Harjinder Jakhu, general secretary, SAD’s SC wing, Mohinder Singh Hussainpur, district SAD president, Dildar Singh Babbar Mazara, Chairman, Market Committee, Davinderpal Kaur, Vice-Chairperson, Zila Parishad, Malwinder Singh Mahalon and Mohinder Singh Bajaj also addressed the meeting.

Suspicious movement: BSF, police conduct search

Amritsar, September 22
The teams of the BSF and Amritsar Rural Police, after suspecting some uncalled-for activities, conducted a special search operation in the Labbe-Daria village in the Ajnala sector, bordering Pakistan, late last night.

Though, neither the BSF nor the police confirmed any encounter with suspicious persons or recovery of any objectionable material, sources said that the search team had found the presence of as many as three persons near the fencing and an unsuccessful encounter had also taken place between them, but they managed to cross the fencing and escape towards Pakistan side.

The search team has also reportedly found two pet bottles, with a capacity of two litres each, filled with IMFL (Indian made foreign liquor) and four packets of tea leaves from the spot. SSP rural Gurmeet Singh Chauhan, said, “The BSF had suspected some activity close to the border area and after getting information, we too, instantly sent our team to carry out the search operation, but nothing objectionable was found.” — TNS

Mystery fire razes education office records
Accused of fund embezzlement, a clerk is suspected to be behind the incident
Balraj Mahajan

Batala, September 22
Service and other records of teachers at the Block Primary Education Office, Srihargobindpur, were destroyed in a mystery fire on Tuesday. According to information provided by the SSP office here today, the records included account books of teachers.

The fire was first noticed by a safai sewak, who noticed the smoke coming out of the office when she came to sweep the rooms.

A report has been lodged with the police and a case under sections 436 and 427 of the IPC has been registered at Srihargobindpur police station against unknown persons.

Meanwhile, the teachers’ union, led by Sukhraj Singh Kahlon, has alleged that office clerk Charanjit Singh was behind the burning of the records. The clerk had been absconding since yesterday, they claimed.

The teachers have formed a 12-member team to inquire into the matter. They suspect that the clerk was involved in the embezzlement of funds, worth crores of rupees, encashing fake salary and retirement bills of the non-existent teachers.

The teachers have decided to gherao the BPEO and the police station if the clerk was not arrested.

The police investigation is on.

Overloading of vehicle leaves 1 dead, 20 hurt
Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, September 22
One pilgrim died and 20 others injured, eight of them seriously, when a Tata-407 in which they were traveling overturned on the Nakodar-Lohian Road in Tashpur village this evening.

Hailing from Nanakmalta in Uttar Pradesh, the pilgrims were on their way to attend a fair in Govindwal when the tragedy struck. The accident occurred at about 6.30 pm.

According to eyewitnesses, the overloaded vehicle was carrying 50 people. It is learnt that the liver of the vehicle gave way leading to the accident.

The deceased has been identified as Balraj Singh, a resident of Navidia village in Pillibhit, Uttar Pradesh.

Locals and pilgrims in two other vehicles started the rescue operation. The injured were hospitalised at the Lohian Civil Hospital. The doctors referred the serious patients to other private and government hospitals.

The body has been sent to the local civil hospital. The police has initiated investigations in this regard.

Murder of woman, daughter shocks Hoshiarpur
Our Correspondent

Hoshiarpur, September 22
A murder of mother-daughter duo shook Hoshiarpur on Tuesday. In a broad daylight incident, Purnima Devi (45) and her daughter Rohni Puri (24) were brutally murdered at their residence, owned by her husband and brick kiln owner Rakesh Mohan Puri, on the Mall Road by suspected robbers, who decamped with Rs 20 lakh from the house.

The police today raided some suspected hideouts of anti-social elements but got no success. After the post-mortem examination, mother-daughter duo was cremated at local cremation ground today.

The robbers also took away other valuables articles. The news of murders and robbery spread like a wild fire in the town attracting hundreds of persons near the house.

Puri said he left the house at about 10:30 am on Tuesday for the kiln and his wife Purnima Devi (45) and daughter Rohni Puri (24), a student who had come from Bangalore for holidays, were there at the house.

He repeatedly tried to contact his wife and daughter on her mobile phone at about 1:30 pm, but got no response.

When he returned to the house, he found its gates locked from inside. With the help of his neighbours, he somehow entered the house and found daughter and wife murdered.

Lock of all the almirahs were found broken and goods scattered.

Before leaving the house, robbers decamped with more than Rs 20 lakh cash and other valuables, including jewellery. SSP Rakesh Aggarwal said the preliminary investigation revealed that it was a case of murders for looting. The police, however, was also investigating on other theories.