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Cancellation of Tenders
Paramedics occupy officer quarters as docs languish
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City gets to view the architects’ world
Bad preservation of bodies irks kin
18-yr-old launches brand new Paintball hangout in city
A session in progress at the paintball arena near Guru Gobind Singh Avenue in
Jalandhar. Tribune photo: Malkiat Singh
Science City celebrates Ozone Day
'Develop indigenous research to boost food production'
Industrialists get a lesson in ethics from Seechewal
'Consumer awareness need of the hour’
Woman dead, another hurt in kitchen mishaps
Video conferencing programme for pensioners
DAVIET Prof attends Singapore conference
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Contractors up in arms against Irrigation Dept authorities
Amaninder Pal Tribune News Service
Jalandhar, October 5 Due to harassment at the hands of senior officials of the department in this regard, over 426 registered private contractors, which constitute a major chunk of irrigation contractors, have decided to boycott the fresh tenders, recently floated by the department. October 6 is the closing date to submit such tenders. As the filing of a single tender cost around Rs 5,500 to each contractor, the contractors are facing huge financial losses as they have to file the tenders in a bulk every time the tenders were invited by the department after cancellation. Separate tenders have to be submitted against the various works included in the contract. In this particular case, the tenders were invited to execute 120 various works. Naresh Kumar Duggal, president, Punjab Irrigation Contractors Association, said the contractors had already made payments of material and labour much before the commencement of works and due to repeated cancellation of the tenders, contractors had to bear the double burden of delayed start of works and blocked money with supplier of materials and labourers. “Every contractor files 10-15 tenders in one go. In this way, contractors have suffered loss of lakhs of rupees due to repeated cancellation of tenders by the department,” he added. Totally boycotting the fresh tender process, the association is demanding that only those tenders submitted during the initial phase of the tendering process should be considered. Ajay Kumar Singla, general secretary of the association, said even if the tenders materialised, as the contractors had earlier filed the tenders according to the prices of raw material at the time when tenders were called on the very first occasion, they had to suffer another major financial loss as the prices of raw materials had witnessed a significant increase since then.
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Paramedics occupy officer quarters as docs languish
Jalandhar, October 5 As per sources, eight out of total 11 such quarters have been occupied, against the department rules, by the Class III employees, posted at the Civil Hospital, Jalandhar. Ironically, the doctors, who need accommodation in such quarters, are left with no other option but to stay elsewhere in the city or to commute daily from their native cities and are waiting for quarter allotment even over 4 to 6 months. Despite the fact that the matter was in knowledge of the senior officials of the department, including the Principal Secretary and Director of Health Services, the occupants are giving dark corner to the notices issued umpteen times by local heath authorities. Such occupants are incurring loss to the state revenue as instead of paying house rent equal to that of medical officers, which is 20 per cent of total of non-practicing allowance, basic pay and dearness pay, they are paying the rent meant for Class III employees, which is 20 per cent of their basic pay only. Surprisingly, although all such quarters have been occupied since long time, no penal rent has been imposed over such occupants. Health Minister Laxmi Kanta Chawla could not be contacted despite repeated attempts. Dr J.P. Singh, Director, Health Services, said the issue was in the notice of state authorities and the quarters have been allotted against the department rules. “We have ordered the Medical Superintendent to inquire into the matter. The issue will soon be resolved”, he added. However, Medical Superintendent, Dr Chander Mohan, said the department was busy to control fever outbreak and they don’t want to invite any agitation at his hour by forcing such occupants to vacate the quarters. “Moreover, as the number of doctors, who want accommodation, is less than the quarters in question. Even if we manage to vacate them, few of them will remain unoccupied and eventually deteriorate”, he added.
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City gets to view the architects’ world
Jalandhar, October 5 A stall on cutting of various materials for designs of doors, grills, mirrors, gates, name plates, floors, plaques and logos was a crowd puller. The Solan-based company put up on display intricate designs of various materials like wood, granites and tiles made by water jet cutting. On the last day of the exhibition, a seminar on ‘Green Architecture’ was the highlight where eminent speakers, including Surinder Bahga, chairman of the Chandigarh-Punjab chapter of the IIA, Jit Kumar Gupta and Jasmine Kaur, stressed upon the role of eco-friendly construction technologies. Noted environmentalist and a member of the Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB), Balbir Singh Seechwal was the chief guest on the occasion. On the second day, Minister for Industries and Local Bodies Manoranjan Kalia inaugurated an exhibition titled ‘A Dream Realised’, showcasing work done by world famous French Architect Le Corbusier in Chandigarh and other places in India and abroad. Meanwhile, Bahga demanded the strict implementation of the Architects Act, 1972, which implied that only qualified architects who were registered with the Council of Architecture were eligible to work. Illegal practitioners doing private practice are doing a great damage to the society and IIA was working relentlessly to create awareness on the issue, he added.
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Bad preservation of bodies irks kin
Phagwara, October 5 When this correspondent visited the mortuary, the villagers were seen expressing resentment and alleged that no arrangement of ice to preserve the bodies was made either by the police or by hospital staff. But both the police and hospital staff blamed each other for it. When contacted, Senior Medical Officer Dr Rajiv Gupta said the control of the mortuary was given to the police after keeping bodies in it, which was locked by the police and it was for the police to make arrangements, while the police officers were saying otherwise. Meanwhile, Congress MP Santosh Chaudhary visited the Civil Hospital and met family members of the deceased to condole them. Some villagers told Chaudhary about the bad condition of the Civil Hospital, specially its mortuary. Chaudhary announced a grant of Rs 5 lakh from her discretionary funds to purchase the required refrigerators and other equipment for the hospital mortuary. The SP, Kamaljit Singh Dhillon, when contacted, said the police arranged two buses to send the assembled villagers to their respective villages. One deceased girl Jyoti Heer was cremated at nearby Ranipur village, while the other Kulwinder Kaur was cremated at her village Palahai in the presence of hundreds of political, social and religious leaders today. The funeral of the other three deceased - Jaswinder Kaur, her sister-in-law Baljinder Kaur of Palahai village and student Rajbir Kaur of Jagpalpur village - would be held after some days in their respective
villages after the arrival of some NRI relatives from abroad. Meanwhile, Kamla Nehru College remained closed today due to the death of its students. A condolence meeting was also held in the college today. |
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18-yr-old launches brand new Paintball hangout in city Deepkamal Kaur/TNS
Jalandhar, October 5 That’s how this game has acquired its name - paintball. As the bullet hits the enemy, it leaves the paint on his hopper after which the player has to leave the warfield at least till the completion of that round. The object of the game in each round is to capture the other team’s flag while securing one’s own. There is a referee within the play field who explains the rules of the game at each point. In fact, paintball has become the newest outdoor venture for the teenyboppers and college-goers. Located just a few kilometers away from PAP Chowk, near Guru Gobind Singh Avenue, young boys and girls have found it to be a new getaway rather than going to water parks, go-carting course or freaking out at malls and multiplexes. Even more interesting is the fact that the shooting zone has been opened by a young 18-year-old schoolboy, Jaskaranjit Singh Hayre. Studying in 10+2 commerce at Mayor World School, he has already started his venture, of course with the support of his father, Kamaljit Hayre, president of the NRI Sabha. Jaskaranjit tells, “The idea of opening paintball came during one of my recent visits to England. It is a popular adventure game there. There are a few private shooting ranges in Delhi. In Punjab, we have it on the outskirts of Chandigarh, but the approach is bad. So, it just clicked that such a venture could be a good attraction in Jalandhar. We purchased some CO2-powered guns and made a beginning last month. So far the response has been good. We have been getting three to four groups of boys and girls daily.” Talking about the game, he said 20 persons could play at a time. “They form two teams. Donning their helmets, hoppers and chest guards, they set their areas and flags before launching the attack. Even a lone person can come and play. We have three trained men who can play with him,” he explained while adding a word of caution. “We do not allow children below 12 years to play the game. Their skin is sensitive and a bullet attack may cause injury,” he added.
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Swimmers strike gold
Tribune News Service
Jalandhar, October 5 Acting workshop
The GNA Institute of Management and Technology, Phagwara, organised a two-day workshop on October 1 and 2 on “acting for animation and filmmaking”. The workshop was held to give practical training about filmmaking to students. Paresh Parekh, a graduate from the National School of Drama and industry professional from Mumbai, gave practical training to students on filmmaking, acting, animation, video ad making and much more. Various interactive activities were given to students to provide them with an in-depth knowledge of acting for animation. Seminar
The department of biotechnology and bioinformatics organised a two-day UGC-sponsored national seminar on ‘emerging trends in biotechnology and bioinformatics’ on September 29 and 30. Dr Kaiser Jamil, president of the third world of women in science, research director Indo-American Cancer Institute and Research Centre, head of the department of genetics BMRC, Hyderabad gave the keynote address. She highlighted the role of women scientists in the world scenario. During the I and II technical session, PK Patti from GND University, Amritsar, Dr RK Malik, NDRI, Karnal, Dr UC Banerjee, NIPER, Chandigarh spoke on the widespread applications of biotechnology and bioinformatics and its emergence in recent years as an important solution for various problems. In the III and IV sessions held on September 30, Dr RK Tewari from Punjab University, Chandigarh, Dheeraj, (AD, Chandigarh) and Dr P Balgir (Punjabi University, Patiala) discussed the present times as the age of biotechnology. While Dr BS Sohal from PAU, Ludhiana, gave a presentation on biotechnology. Meanwhile, the biotechnology department also released a souvenir on this occasion. Quiz team
The quiz team of the local Hans Raj Maha Vidyalaya made a hat-trick by winning the zonal quiz competition in the youth festival organised by GND University, Amritsar, at Regional Campus, Ladhewali, Jalandhar, last week. The team members include Shubham Harish, Komal and Richa. Principal of the college, Dr Rekha Kalia Bhardwaj congratulated team members for their consecutive third victory at the zonal level and encouraged students to win inter-zonal and national competitions. Workshop held
The local CT Institute of Engineering and Management and Technology (CTIEMT) organised a two-day workshop on “low power embedded system using MSP430” on September 28 and 29. The institute, in collaboration with Texas Instruments, has set up a “Texas Instruments Embedded Systems Lab” at its premises. All the equipment for establishing the lab at CTIEMT has been donated to the institute by Texas Instruments. Dr Manoj Kumar (group director) informed that an MoU was signed between the CT Institutions and Texas Instruments with the help of Cranes Software International Ltd. to establish a research and training lab facility in the area of Embedded Systems. The workshop held would help the faculty members of CTIEMT and affiliated institutes of PTU in broadening their vision and would give an impetus to research and training activities at the CT Group and other PTU colleges. M Gnanaguru, from Cranes Software International limited (Bangalore) conducted the workshop. NCC cadets selected
Two NCC cadets of the Kamla Nehru College for Women, Phagwara, have been selected for Thal Sena Camp (TSC) to be held at Jamnagar, Haryana. Cadet Rajinder Kaur and Cadet Abhijot Kaur were selected for TSC during a 10-day annual NCC training camp. Installation ceremony
The Installation Ceremony of the student council (sankalp diwas) was organised on September 30, during which Amneet of BA III was declared the head girl of the college, while six other girls became joint head girls. During the function, office bearers of the student council pledged to abide by the rules and regulations of the college. In all, 194 students were adorned with badges. Founder’s Day
Apeejay School celebrated Founder’s Day on October 4, 2010 during the special morning assembly by offering soulful tribute to its founders father late Seth Stya Paul, chairman, Apeejay Education Society,
who passed away in June this year. Students spoke at length about the realisation of his dreams into a huge family of 29 schools and colleges across the country, dedicated to the cause of value based education. Officiating Principal Meera Javed gave away the Seth Stya Paul Awards for human values instituted by the Apeejay Education Society. The Founder’s Day was also celebrated at the Apeejay School of Management. To commemorate the spirit of Apeejay’s motto “Soaring High is My Nature”, special talks were delivered by Kanika Jain of MBA III (B), Bhawna of MBA I (A) and Neha of MCA V (B). The day was observed at Apeejay School, Rama Mandi, too. A skit on the life of Dr Stya Paul was presented by the students highlighting his initial struggle to success. The local Apeejay Institute of Management celebrated the founder’s day on October 4 and paid rich tributes to Dr Stya Paul, founder of the Apeejay Education Society. On the occasion, Ramneet Kaur, a student of MCA-VA, was given the Dr Stya Paul Award for Human Values, for being the best student of the institute. Director of the institute, Dr Balram Dogra, announced the award, which also includes a one-time scholarship of Rs 5,000. Blood donation
The St. Soldier Group of institutions organised a blood donation camp on National Voluntary Blood Donation Day in its campus near NIT, Jalandhar. About a 100 students of hotel management, college of education and Law College, donated their blood. President of the institutions Shanta Chopra inaugurated the camp. Chairman of the group Anil Chopra, vice-chairperson Sangeeta Chopra, director, Alka Gupta, principal of the Law College, Subhash Sharma, were also present during the camp. They also thanked the blood donors and Lakhvir Singh, president, Pahal, an NGO, for their co-operation. Students and staff of the Sanskriti KMV School paid rich tributes to Mahatma Gandhi on his birth anniversary. Role of Gandhi in India’s freedom struggle, and his values, were focused on, in a special talk held in the school assembly. Students marched with self-made slogans and banners and visited the Gandhian Study Centre at the Kanya Maha Vidyalaya, to have a closer and deep insight in Gandhiji’s life. Swimming contests
The CBSE cluster North Zone- II swimming championship 2010 was hosted by CT Public School from September 26 to 29. Swimming teams from different CBSE schools from the states of Haryana, Punjab and around Delhi, participated with great zeal and fervour. About 172 events of 100 m, 200 m, and 400 m backstrokes breast stroke, free style, butterfly stroke medley and 800 m and 1500 m individual medley relay races were contested. Prizes to winners were distributed by chief guest Charanjit Singh Channi, chairman CT Group of Institutions. The overall trophy was won by Police DAV School, Jalandhar, and the runners-up trophy was bagged by Gernal Gurnam Singh Public School, Sangrur. Principal of the school Lakhwinder Kaur congratulated winners as well as runners-up. International Girl’s Day
Saffron Public School, Phagwara, celebrated the International Girl’s Day with Nanhi Chhaan last week by conducting a tree plantation ceremony in the school premises. Wing Commander Sukhjit Singh, Ajay Cheema from Impact Group, Sanjay Joshi, Nanhi Chhaan Foundation, Sandeep Sood, Principal Saffron Public School along with teachers, planted trees and pledged to fight against global warming and female foeticide. A plant distribution ceremony was conducted by distributing around 1,600 saplings to students to follow the theme of ‘Go Green’. Manmohan Singh, chairman, Saffron Public School, motivated students to make initiatives to save mother Earth by planting more trees. |
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Science City celebrates Ozone Day
Kapurthala, October 5 He said the UV radiation penetrates earth atmosphere and cause several direct and indirect harmful effects on man as well as on other
living beings. The most severe and serious effect of UV radiation on man is cancer threat particularly the skin cancer melanoma. The other health disorders of UV radiation are cataract of eyes mutations and loss of immunity. The effects of UV radiation on leaves are more because they are more subjected to environmental stress. He said Molina and Roland in 1974 proposed a theory indicating CFCs to be cause of ozone depletion. He talked about substitutes for CFCs like hydro fluorocarbons, hydro chlorofluorocarbons, helium gas and propane. He further explained their advantages and disadvantages. While talking about CFCs, he said life span of CFCs is 75-100 years. On this occasion, Dr R. Grover, Acting Director, Science City, said that though it was responsibility of each one of us to protect the ozone layer, however, the students and youth in particular can play an important role to bring awareness about ozone depletion, its consequences and protection for a better and safe future. On this day competitions like poster display and slogan writing contest were organised in which students from different education institutions participated. |
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'Develop indigenous research to boost food production'
Jalandhar, October 5 And to accomplish the target of food security, the government must start the practice of announcing minimum support price (MSP) for all farm produce including vegetables and fruit to offer a sense of security to the farming community. Passing several resolution on the second day of its three-day national conference at Doaba College here on Sunday, the manch sought a ban on BT technology without giving any scope to the transnational companies like Monsanto to manipulate the traditional seeding pattern suggesting that the country should develop indigenous research and development (R&D) to boost food production. Also, it noted with serious concern that the contribution of the farm sector to GDP has virtually been reduced from halved to 14.6 percent from more than 30 per cent in early 1990s. In a resolution named as “Save farm, Save country” adopted at its 10th annual convention here today, the SJM also warned against the proposed “Land Acquisition Bill-2010” in its present form and sought complete ban on acquiring fertile agriculture land anywhere in the country for setting of special economic zone (SEZ) or any non-agriculture usage. Expressing concern over the nefarious activities of land mafia in the country, the SJM urged the government to ban re-sale of farm land and put stringent condition making it near impossible to change the land use (CLU) from agriculture to non-agriculture purpose. For boosting the farm production, the SJM urged the government to declare all irrigation project- small and medium that render infertile into fertile land or reclaiming of saline land and turning it fertile, setting up cold stores or cold chain or silos etc as “Infrastructure projects” and hence entitled to relevant concessions.
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Industrialists get a lesson in ethics from Seechewal
Jalandhar, October 5 Addressing a strong contingent of 800 delegates of the SJM, from Kashmir to Kerala, Seechewal urged industrialists to produce better products, keeping in mind the interests of consumers and to follow the best business ethics by keeping minimum profits. If the products are of international quality, not only Indian consumers but international markets, too, would readily accept them. He also urged Indian entrepreneurs to make massive investments in agro industries, to ensure that perishable farm produce could be preserved. In his presidential address, industrialist Sharad Aggarwal said “It is unfortunate that the Indian economy is still dubbed a developing economy, though we have made rapid strides in the recent past and have been a self-sustained economy since ages, from the times of the Indus Valley civilisation.” Recounting the achievements of the SJM in the recent past, its national convener Arun Ojha said the government was forced to change its stance on BT Brinjal, while its organising secretary Kashmiri Lal warned of the sinister designs of the WTO and multi-national companies to enter the Indian retail market through the backdoor. — TNS
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'Consumer awareness need of the hour’
Phagwara, October 5 He said, “Importance of consumers was changing globally in the wake of globalisation as developing and poor countries were constituted the biggest market. The companies which started operations in poorer markets put up a good show telling the world that even the poor wanted quality goods”. He outlined the genesis of the consumer movement and its various dimensions and gave a brief account of the Consumer
Protection Act. Sensitising the students about the need to take up research studies in the area of consumer protection and welfare, Kusum Verma, Principal, Kamla Nehru College for Women, said education should begin even at the early stage. “Substandard products and fake products were playing havoc with the consumers in the absence of awareness among consumers about their rights”, she added. Meanwhile, Prof Sandeep Kaur of the Commerce Department announced the formation of Consumer Club with 120 students and 3 teachers as its members. |
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Woman dead, another hurt in kitchen mishaps
Phagwara, October 5 In another incident, Kamaljit Kaur sustained serious burn injuries while working on a stove in her kitchen in her Akalgarh village residence here today. She was admitted to the local civil hospital.
— OC |
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Video conferencing programme for pensioners
Jalandhar, October 5 The video-conferencing training-cum-workshop was organised by the central pensions ministry on an all India level. Eighteen recognised pension associations
participated. President of the association, VS Jolly said the training was held with an aim to provide information about the operational aspect of the pensioner’s portal and the grievances redressal mechanism. “The training was held through video-conferencing between Delhi-based NICstudios and NIC studios at Pune”, he added.
— TNS |
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DAVIET Prof attends Singapore conference
Jalandhar, October 5 The conference was
held at Singapore Institute of Electronics from September 10 to 12. Researchers and scientists from across the world, including the US, Europe, China, India and many others attended the conference. The conference was organised in association with International Society of Computer Applications and Information Technology. |
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It gives you a thrill of being in a virtual warfield. Armed men target their enemies while hiding themselves behind piles of sacks or other obstacles. But what makes this game different is that the bullets used for the purpose are made of two plastic cups filled with organic paints.
