Kapurthala, January 13
The district administration has decided to launch a special drive to track pregnant women till the delivery of their child, by deputing anganwaris workers and ANMs.

Deputy Commissioner Kavita Singh disclosed this here at a function organised by the district administration to celebrate the Lohri festival, by giving special gifts to the mothers of 625 new born girls.

The DC initiated the Lohri celebrations of new born girls after shocking reports of 3,000 female foeticides in the district, according to a recent survey conducted by an agency.

Addressing a function at the Sant Hira Dass Kanya Mahavidyalaya at Kala Sanghia village, the DC said a recent survey conducted by an agency in Punjab disclosed that of 9,000 pregnant women, only 6,000 women gave birth to children, while the fate of the remaining 3,000 pregnancies remains a mystery, as per the report of the survey.

Kavita Singh said the district administration decided to launch a special drive to track pregnant woman till the delivery of their child, by deputing anganwaris workers and ANMs.

The DC further stated that the Health Department had already developed a software which would track the record of pregnant women till the delivery of their child. College Principal Dr Surjit Kaur also addressed the function.

Jalandhar, January 13
Roshni, an NGO for the disabled, has become the life and soul of the disabled children adopted by it. The NGO, with its aim of providing a dignified life to the disabled in the region, has brought smiles on the faces of many.

Today was a special day for the NGO as its members celebrated the Lohri of Ashok Philamon’s marriage.

A polio victim, Ashok was adopted by the NGO when he was a kid and helped him tide over his disability. Ashok got married on January 9 and this Lohri became a special occasion for the celebration of the joy of the newly married couple.

A visibly happy Ashok, along with his wife Kamaljit Kaur, was the cynosure of all eyes as they received blessings from Father Peter and executive director of the NGO Father Thomas KJ.

Roshni also honoured some other physically challenged children from the nearby areas.

Talking to The Tribune, 27-year-old Ashok said, “It feels great to receive blessings from the man who has shaped our lives. The memories of this day will remain etched in my mind forever,” he added.

A resident of Adraman village in Nakodar, Ashok got married to Kamaljit Kaur, who loves the dignified life that her husband leads and is happy to have married him.

From a disgruntled child with a polio infection, to a happily married man, Ashok’s story reflects the very meaning of the NGO Roshni. At present, he teaches children from financially weaker backgrounds at Kargil, free of cost, with the help of the army authorities.

“Thankful for the way Roshni shaped up my life, I decided to teach poor children at Kargil. It was a small beginning, which flourished into a big step. The army authorities at Kargil read the news about our NGO in a newspaper and came to help us in this noble cause,” he said.

It all started in the year 2007, when Father Thomas paid a visit to Kargil for a survey on the status of physically challenged children, some years ago. At present, he has more than 60 children in his classes, who are taught in two separate batches twice a day. The army authorities have given him a room to carry out this noble cause.

Elated to see Ashok happily married, Father Thomas said, “This is what I want to achieve, a dignified life for the poor disabled children, who are left at the mercy of the almighty. If, in this small life, I am able to make somebody stand on his or her feet, I think the purpose of starting the NGO is achieved,” he maintained.

Jalandhar, January 13
Following a survey by a team of senior officials of the Income Tax Department, two firms have surrendered Rs 4 crore as additional income. On the direction of Rakesh Suri, Commissioner of Income Tax, Jalandhar, the survey was conducted on the premises of Deepak Heritage at Saffron Mall, Jalandhar, and New Deepak Textiles, Phagwara.

The survey, which started yesterday, continued till this morning. Suri said it was a big success and perhaps, the biggest disclosure of additional income by the two firms.

The commissioner said such surveys were carried out keeping many aspects in view. Less advance tax paid by the assessee as compared to earlier years without any valid reason was one important factor, he said, adding that the department was also keeping an eye on huge investments being made by people in commercial as well as residential buildings, huge money being exchanged in the purchase and sale of shops, land and properties etc. He said the approach and methods of detecting and knowing about tax evaders had become professional. The department had many ways to detect the secret deals with regard to the prosperities and other deals involving huge money. “No one can hoodwink the income tax department,” said Suri. More such surveys would be conducted in the days to come, it is learnt.

Jalandhar, January 13
The Punjab Technical University is mooting the idea to set up solar panels to light up both its building blocks on the campus.

Vice-Chancellor Dr Rajneesh Arora made the announcement on the arrival of Rashtriya Urja Yatra, as a part of Rashtriya Jan Jagriti Abhiyaan, started by Vigyan Bharti in the Ministry of Renewable Energy Resources on the campus this afternoon.

The VC proposed that since the blocks were housed in a 30,000 sq feet area, the entire roof top could be used to trap solar power.

He said the university would promote research related to developing the techniques of energy renewal in its colleges.

Member of Parliament, Canada, and an aluminus of the Guru Nanak Dev Engineering (GNE) College Ludhiana, Sukh Dhaliwal, said “After going back, I would work on building an alumni chapter of GNE and PTU. I will send the copies of syllabi covered in engineering colleges there, to PTU. This would enable the board of studies to draw a comparison and make up for most of the difference in syllabi, so that students moving there after the completion of studies in India do not have to face so much of a gap while trying to meet their standards.”

Two of the four vehicles which were a part of the yatra, were driven on bio-diesel processed out of the Jatropha plant. The demonstration was made with the use of renewable energies, including wind energy and hydroelectric power.

Dr Som Dev Bhardwaj, national secretary of Vigyan Bharti, said four groups had simultaneously begun the yatra from four directions and this one had started from Jammu, covering Pathankot and Amritsar on the way. The next destination will be Ludhiana, he said, adding that the stress of the yatra was to ensure energy conservation and its optimum utilisation.

Dr NP Singh, coordinator of the event, said the urja yatra aimed at creating mass awakening on energy conservation, energy efficiency resources and renewable energy systems.

Jalandhar, January 13
The Federation of Associations of College Principals, Punjab and Chandigarh, regretted the fact that the state government had failed to review the grant-in-aid posts since November 1, 1981 (except 229 posts in the subject of Punjabi), despite the fact that the student strength in higher education had increased substantially.

It has been owing to this that the posts of teachers in 139 non-government aided, affiliated colleges in the state have been lying vacant. All the posts had been put outside the purview of the 95 per cent grant-in-aid scheme.

While new subjects and courses had been introduced in the past, the embargo on filling of posts by the state government in the year 2005 had further added to the problems of colleges.

Dr VK Tewari, president and Dr Gurdeep Sharma, general secretary of the federation, denounced the approach of the state government to reduce the grant-in-aid posts to zero, in the next six to seven years.

“Ever since the issuance of government orders in 2005, as many as 1,288 posts of teachers and 229 posts of non-teaching staff, had been vacated by way of retirement till 2011-12. While 154 teaching and 43 non-teaching posts fell vacant in 2005-06, the government did not allow colleges to fill these posts,” they added.

In the subsequent years, on an average, 189 posts of teachers and 31 posts of non-teaching staff had been vacated due to superannuation at the age of 60 years. All the 1,288 posts of teachers and 229 posts of non-teaching staff had been put outside the grant-in-aid scheme.

The association said as per the record available, more than 3,500 teaching posts would be placed beyond the grant-in-aid scheme.

“The most shocking fact is that the state government had been fast withdrawing itself from the 95 percent grant-in-aid scheme and had thus reduced it to around 50 per cent. The government policy had shifted the burden to students and their parents, as a result of which higher education had become unaffordable,” the association members added.

Punjab had not added adequate numbers to the national pool and the enrollment had remained frozen around 12 percent in the whole sector of higher education of the state. A large number of self-financing courses had been started in colleges but the cost of the courses was beyond the reach of the people, the association members highlighted.

Asking for immediate lifting of ban on the filling of posts, the federation leadership demanded that all the posts of teachers and non-teaching staff should be brought within the purview of the 95 per cent grant-in-aid scheme by way of lifting the ban on recruitment and updating all the existing posts.

“The non-filling of posts has had a detrimental and negative effect on the standards of higher education in the state, as a result of which our youngsters are lagging behind,” said Dr Tewari.

The federation leadership welcomed the decision of the state government to fill 873 posts of teachers in government colleges.

“This policy decision of the SAD-BJP government is extremely progressive and should be extended to 139 non-government aided, affiliated colleges as well,” the association demanded.

Dr VK Tewari and Dr Gurdeep Sharma also urged the government to release all the grants for the year 2010-11 on a priority basis as the grant for only the first quarter had been released so far. The federation also demanded the release of arrears for pay revision from January 1, 2006.

Jalandhar, January 13
The inability of the government to popularise welfare schemes for disabled persons has resulted in a situation where only a few complaints reach the office of the Commissioner, Disabilities - an authority which enjoys judicial powers equal to those of civil courts and was specially set up to deal with issues pertaining to the violation of the rights of disabled persons in the state.

The office was set up in 1996, under the Persons with Disability (equal opportunities, protection of rights and full participation) Act, 1995.

Very few complaints make it to the Commissioner’s office, despite the fact that the violation of such laws by various departments and private bodies has been on the rise for the past many years.

TR Sarangal, Principal Secretary, Department of Social Security, revealed this in an address during a state-level function organised here a few days ago.

Though he said he was not in a position to divulge the exact number of complaints or petitions received by the Commissioner.

The act states that the Commissioner, of his own or acting on a complaint, can summon the violator in case of deprivation of rights of a disabled person, non-implementation of laws, rules, bye-laws, regulations, executive orders, guidelines or instructions made or issued for the welfare and protection of the rights of disabled persons.

In addition to this, the Commissioner also holds the authority to monitor the utilisation of funds disbursed by the State Government for the welfare of disabled persons.

Even the Commissioner, Disabilities, Harjit Singh admitted the fact that the number of complaints which made it to him, were disturbingly low.

“It is true that the volume of complaints is unexpectedly low. On an average, we receive only one to two petitions per month. Most of the complaints filed are regarding policy matters, settlement of which is beyond our jurisdiction,” he said.

“Leave alone the knowledge on how to approach us, people are not even aware of the existence of such an authority in the state. Admittedly, there is dire need of an awareness drive across the state to disseminate information about the functioning and powers of our office,” he added.

Jalandhar, January 13
Various social and religious organisations of the city have decided to post letters from the families of those killed in the 1984 Delhi ‘genocide’ to the Supreme Court so that suo moto action could be initiated in the case by the court.

It has also been decided that an Insaf Lehar March would be taken out in the city on January 15 as the perpetrators of the dastardly have gone unpunished for over 25 years. Although efforts have been made by the community and lawyers to fight the cases in the courts, only a handful of convictions have taken place while the main culprits were roaming free.

Addressing mediapersons, SGPC member Kulwant Singh Manan and SAD (Urban) President Gurcharan Singh Channi questioned that if the SC could take suo moto notice in lesser crimes, then what was preventing it from taking such action in the Sikh genocide that was still bleeding the Sikh psyche.

In the recent years we have seen that the Apex court reopened the cases of Jessica Lall and the Priyadarshni Mattoo but the massacre of the Sikhs failed to draw the attention of the SC. Ironically, all the mayhem in 1984 happened within a radius of just 30 km from the court, he pointed out.

It is also a matter of shame that everyone has tried to scale down the magnitude of the crime by terming it a riot whereas it is a matter of record that not even a single person from outside the community was killed in the country at that time, he added.

He appealed to all the people to assemble at Company Bagh Chowk so that the issue could be again highlighted. A letter signed by all the protesters would be sent to the SC for immediate action in this matter, he said.

Jalandhar, January 13
Members of the RTI Activists Federation, on Wednesday, held an hour-long dharna in front of the office of the MC Commissioner here, demanding action against illegal colonisers.

The members, led by general secretary, Punjab, Anil Vashisht, said several new illegal colonies were beginning to come up around the Ladhewali area, Reru Chowk, Mithapur Chowk and Leather Complex areas in the past few months.

They said since the colonisers had a strong political backing, no official dared to take any action.

The members sat in the office corridor, carrying placards of their demands. They gave a copy to Commissioner Viney Bublani, suggesting that residents be made aware of the risks involved in buying a house in an unauthorised colony, by putting up signboards at such sites. The members also demanded that various government housing schemes be introduced and authorised colonisers be encouraged to develop new residential areas.

They further demanded that the existing unauthorised colonies should be given the necessary facilities. They also called for better garbage lifting measures, increase in the number of safai karamcharis for densely populated wards, quick renovation at Nehru Garden, laying of storm water sewage and computerisation of all the records of the various MC departments.

Jalandhar, January 13
The Lovely Professional University (LPU) hosted an initiative for an interaction among hand-tool industrialists and senior academicians imparting engineering education in different universities of Punjab.

Three vice chancellors, including Dr Rajneesh Arora from PTU, Dr Abhijeet Mukherjee from Thapar University and Dr Vijay Gupta from LPU, met representatives from top industry export houses in the hand tools industry.

Prominent among those present were the CEOs and MDs of companies like Oay Kay Tools, EEPC India, Ambika Forgings, Ajay Industry, Gripwell, Victor and Horizon Tools. Suresh Kumar, Principal Secretary, Technical Education, Punjab, also attended the meet. Kumar talked about an ‘Innovation Group’ established by him.

“Its focus will be on creating a platform where the problems faced by the industry can be addressed by local academicians involved in research and development. The prime objective of this meet is to initiate a dialogue by understanding the need of the industry and to carve a localised roadmap of problem solving. This will not only generate faith in both industrialists and academicians, but will also pave the way towards quicker and less taxing solutions,” he said.

Sharad Aggarwal from Oay Kay Tools discussed the immediate and prime inputs needed from local academicians for modernisation of equipments, product designs, process refurbishing layout etc. Opinder Singh, assistant director, Engineering Export Promotion Council (EEPC) promised that he and his team will take solid initiatives in balancing the endeavours of both the sides.

Vijay Gupta of LPU said, “We have asked the industry to prepare a list of problems which can be handled by students and the faculty. This will help students gain more by working on real time projects, rather than virtual ones and enhance their understanding. There will be no exchange of money as of now. Currently, the effort is to have student projects and develop mutual faith.”

Kapurthala, January 13
In a daylight robbery, two motorcycle-borne youths looted a purse containing Rs 45,000 from Shinder Kaur, a resident of Aujla village, at local bus stand.

According to police sources, the victim withdrew the money from the local branch of State Bank of Patiala and was boarding a bus at the stand when the incident took place. A case has been registered in this regard.