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Living under the threat of 11 KV wires
This tongawala loves his profession
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Budget: MC proposes to spend
Rs 689.03 crore
Retired constable killed in mishap
Two women die of burns
Judicious use of water is need of the hour, says expert
Bharat Nirman campaign from tomorrow
Railways’ women hockey tourney from tomorrow
Young World
Bull injures ex-serviceman
NRI’s murder: Wife, 2 paramours remanded
Cong hails HC decision
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Living under the threat of 11 KV wires
Nakodar, March 22 Parveen Kumari, resident of the colony, alleged that once she was drying clothes on the roof and wet clothes got in touch with the wires and she fainted due to electrocution. “I stayed in a hospital for two days and it was really a haunting experience of life I ever had,” she said, alleging that they brought the matter to the knowledge of the authorities and instead of taking steps to prevent the occurrence of any such incident in future, she was consoled by saying that, “Thank God mam you are alive, otherwise you might have died.” “We always prevent children from playing on the roof due to the fear of electrocution,” she said. Kamal, another resident, recalled that during the construction of their house, a plumber accidentally came in contact with wires and died on the spot. They sold their property at a low price. “Is the Powercom department waiting for another human being to sacrifice his life?” he quipped. Babbu, another resident, rued that due to electric wires over the house, it is not possible for them to construct another floor. “When residents of the colony approached the authorities, instead of extending any help, they told them to bear all the cost of transferring wires to a safer place and it was estimated at around Rs 70,000,” he said. “For safety, we have put plastic pipes over these wires but it is only a temporary solution,” he said, while expressing the fear of wires falling on the roof during rains or storms endangering their lives. When asked Paramjit Goggia, SDO, Nakodar, replied, “If the residents want to get rid of electric wires, they have to bear the cost of transferring wires to a safe place and even must provide space for the same”. He also claimed that the wires had been laid before the construction of the houses and if people had any problem, they could have stopped the authorities to lay wires at that time. |
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This tongawala loves his profession
Nakodar, March 22 The oldest tongawala of Shahkot, Hakumat Rai, has felt the trend as a jerk to his livelihood. Being the sole breadwinner of his family, he has been plying a tonga for the last 50 years. He used to ply the tonga from the railway station to the adjoining village of Shahkot. Though he believes that today’s generation is no longer interested in the profession, but he convinced his son Kala to venture into the profession. “From a few days, my health is not well. I requested my son to ply the tonga till I attains fitness,” Hakumat said, adding that he would like to continue the profession with full zeal and energy till his last breath. “When I was just 12-year-old, I used to learn riding tonga from my father, who was a well-known tongawala in the town. At that time before Independence, Muslims had a monopoly over the profession and after Independence, Hindus ventured into the profession,” Hakumat said. “Tonga is more than a profession to me as I have preserved this hereditary ride of my father, but I can’t expect same from my son because of meagre income in this profession,” he said. “Despite the availability of fast means of transport like auto-rickshaws, he still sticks to the tonga. Firstly because it is a pollution-free ride, and secondly every day seems incomplete, if I do not listen the ‘tak tak’ of my Dhano (name of his mare), he said. He said many people might think that keeping a horse or mare for commercial use like tonga was cheap, but reality was different. “In earlier times, we just need to shell out Rs 2,000 to Rs 2,500 to buy a horse, but now a days to buy a healthy animal, we need to shell out more than Rs 20,000,” he said, adding that due to this many of his counterparts left the profession. “The cost of feeding a horse has also went up these days, because a few decades ago the surroundings were greener, which made availability of grass and natural food easy and free of cost, but now, they have to buy fodder,” he said, adding that due to the extinction of the joint family system and division of property between brothers, he faced difficulty in keeping an animal at home. Rai said, “Whenever he go to carry passengers from the railway station, youngsters always feel shy to sit in the tonga. They rather prefer to walk. They only sit in the tonga with a condition that I must choose an isolated way rather than the main market, so that their friends may not see them taking ride in a tonga,” he rued. He, while going down the memory lane, recalled that due to the status of a “royal swari” to the tonga, the profession always gathered respect and dignity, “My tonga used to remain booked for the whole marriage season to ferry baraatis from railway stations. Even during my marriage, we booked more than 20 tongas to ferry baraatis,” he revealed. “I have no grudges against the emerging means of transportation, but I feel proud to ride a pollution-free mean of transportation and the tinkling sound of ghungroos always sound sweet to my ears,” he said. |
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Budget: MC proposes to spend
Rs 689.03 crore
Jalandhar, March 22 The MC could spend just half the amount out of the proposed figures in the last financial year. While it had approved an expenditure of Rs 386.92 crore, it could spend only Rs 174.57 crore till January, 2011. This left the councillors in the opposition telling the Mayor, Commissioner and officials that they should have at least given realistic figures. Of the total expenditure proposed, 87 per cent have been kept for development projects, 18 per cent for disbursement of salaries and 3 per cent for unplanned purposes. The total income figures that have been projected are of Rs 635.09 crore, much up from the revenue of Rs 170.99 crore incurred till January, 2011. The development projects planned for the year include construction of sports hub at a cost of Rs 110 crore, construction of Chandan Nagar ROB at Rs 20 crore, Rs 110 crore for road laying, Rs 30 crore for road maintenance, Rs 1 crore for slum development, Rs 2.25 crore for public utilities, Rs 4 crore for sewage treatment plants and pumping stations, Rs 5 crore for the purchase of land, Rs 1.5 crore for the construction of a dairy complex and Rs 2 crore for the construction of the residences of Mayor, Commissioner and staff. The income heads for the MC include Rs 110 crore from 10 per cent share from VAT collection, Rs 12 crore from building application fee and CLU, Rs 4 crore from advertisement revenue, Rs 50 crore from the sale of property (including shops beneath administrative complex), Rs 1 crore from licence fee, Rs 19 crore from house tax and Rs 25 crore as water supply and sewage charges. During the zero hour, Leader of the Opposition Jagdish Raja challenged the Mayor to hold a debate on dealing with the issue of delay in the amendment to advertisement bylaws and hence loss of income. “In case you are still able to prove your honesty, I will provide you a certificate. I will also not attend any House meeting in future,” he declared. The Mayor told him to settle down replying back that it was the Congress that had passed a wrong advertisement contract. The House also approved the appointment of more JEs, SDOs, masons and baildars in the departments of B&R, horticulture and O&M, for which there will be an additional burden of Rs 2.75 crore a year. |
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Retired constable killed in mishap
Jalandhar, March 22 Constable (retd) Kishan Singh was riding a motorcycles when the bus, heading towards Jalandhar, rammed into the bike from behind crushing him on the spot. The police said the bus ran over Kishan’s head, which led to his instant death. The body was handed over to the family after postmortem at the Civil Hospital this evening. The police has rounded up the bus driver and impounded the bus. A case of rash and negligent driving has been registered against him at Division No 8 police station. |
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Two women die of burns
Jalandhar, March 22 Domestic disputes are said to be the reasons that drove the victims to extremities. Satwinder Kaur was allegedly fed up with her mother-in-law Naseeb Kaur’s , who, according to Satwinder’s statement, used to lock horns with her and held her responsible for hefty electricity bill. Satwinder attempted suicide on February 16. She was rushed to a private hospital with severe burn injuries, where she recorded her statement to Duty Magistrate Jasbir Kaur. Niranjan Singh, Additional SHO, Police Station Maksoodaan, said Satwinder alleged that her mother-in-law harassed on the issue on hefty electricity bill even though she had installed a separate electricity metre for herself. Niranjan Singh informed that earlier a case was registered against the victim for attempt to suicide. However, after her death, a case of for abetment to suicide has been registered against Naseeb Kaur. In an another incident, Bhola of Dhogri village committed suicide by setting herself ablaze under mysterious conditions on Thursday. Although immediate cause behind the suicide is yet to be ascertained, in his complaint victim’s brother Manohar Ram alleged that her in-laws might have forced her to take the extreme step. Pushap Bali, in charge, police post, Jandu Singha said postmortem examination was conducted on the request of the family. Viscera have been sent for examination to ascertain whether the victim committed suicide or she was set ablaze after being murdered, said Bali. |
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Judicious use of water is need of the hour, says expert
Kapurthala, March 22 Dr R Kohli, Professor and chairman of the Department of Botany at Panjab University, Chandigarh, stated this while addressing a gathering at the Pushpa Gujral Science City (PGSC) during a function held to mark the World Water Day today. Dr Kohli said water conservation did not mean holding it or not using it but it should be judiciously used by making proper plans otherwise the future generation would have to suffer. He said, “India conserves only 10 per cent of rainfall it receives whereas the US recharges 79 to 80 per cent of rainfall. India is full of natural resources but we are poor manager. In north India 42-45 per cent of our population does not get even three litres of drinking water in a day that a person needs to survive. The ground water table is depleting three feets in the state every year.” Drama and painting competitions with theme of water conservation were also organised on this occasion. Aishwarya Verma of Virsa Vihar School, Kapurthala; Aanchal Sharma of Sacred Heart Senior Secondary School, Ludhiana; Kamna and Nishant of Darshan Academy, Jalandhar; bagged first, second, third and fourth position, respectively in category I in painting competition. Similarly, Sheenu Diwan of Spring Dale Senior Secondary School, Ludhiana; Gursimran Singh of MGN School, Jalandhar; Gitanshu Chohan of SD Collegiate School, Jalandhar; and Kirti of Guru Ram Dass School, Jalandhar; got first, second, third and fourth place, respectively in category II in painting competition. In the same way, Sacred Heart Senior Secondary Schoo,l Ludhiana, and KMV Sanskriti School, Jalandhar, bagged first and second position, respectively in category I of drama competition. Similarly, Spring Dale School, PCT Collegiate School, Ludhiana, and Holy Heart Paradise School, Jalandhar, bagged first, second and third place, respectively in category II of drama competition. |
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Bharat Nirman campaign from tomorrow
Jalandhar/Nakodar, March 22 PK Sharma, deputy director of the Press Information Bureau (PIB), northern region, Chandigarh, informed that the campaign would be organised for three days starting from March 24 to 26. Sharma said the PIB had organised the 18 such PIC's and it would be 19th in the series. He informed that the campaign would be focused on the major programmes - the MNREGA, PM’s new 15-point prorgamme for the welfare of minorities, National Rural Health Mission, Right to Information Act, Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission, Right to Education, women empowerment, Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, the mid-day meal scheme and others of the state and the Centre. The ministry has also roped-in the Directorate of Field Publicity, Directorate of Advertising and Visual Publicity, All India Radio, Doordarshan and the district administration in the campaign. During the campaign, eminent experts, bureaucrats and other resource persons will deliver lectures on various flagship programmes of the Centre and major programmes of the state government and an exclusive photo exhibition will also be organised by the DAVP on the Bhart Nirman, he said adding the Deputy Commissioner Priyank Bhart would inaugurate the campaign and Revenue Minister (Punjab) Ajit Singh Kohar would be the chief guest on the closing day. |
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Railways’ women hockey tourney from tomorrow
Jalandhar March 22 Gurdev Singh, president, Rail Coach Factory Sports Association, said here today that eight teams would participate and they would be divided into two pools. Pool A would comprise Western Railway, Mumbai, Central Railway, Mumbai, Southern Eastern Railway, Kolkata, and Eastern Central Railway, Hajipur. In Pool B, last year’s runners-up Rail Coach Factory, Kapurthala, Northern Railway, New Delhi, Western Central Railway, Jabalpur, and Northern Eastern Railway, Gorakhpur, would be there. The matches would be played on the league-cum-knockout basis. International hockey umpire R.S. Sodhi would be the tournament director. E. Nelson, Rakha Bhinde, Prem Maya, Sita Mehta, S. Porthi, Ashok Diwan would be the members of the committee. International star Manjinder Kaur and Amandeep Kaur had been nominated as observers. |
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Young World
Jalandhar, March 22 The exhibition is featuring more than 2,000 art works related to charcoal drawings, sculpting, clay-modelling, poster-making, sketching, card-making, print-making, photography, typography, 3-D modelling, graphic designs, canvas paintings, paper-cutting pasting and animation TV works. The exhibition will be on till March 26. Placement
As many as 28 students of the DAV Institute of Engineering and Technology (DAVIET) were selected by Ericsson in a campus placement drive last week. The selected students would join Ericsson in July. Varsity topper
Manjeet of the PCM S.D. College for Women stood first in the first semester of the M.Sc (computer science) examination of GND University securing 441 marks out of 600. Principal Kiran Arora congratulated the student and her parents. Homage paid
The CT Institute of Advance Management Studies paid homage to Shaheed Bhagat Singh a day before his martyrdom day on the Maqsudan campus of the institute. Events like choreography on the life of Bhagat Singh, patriotic songs competition, Bhagat Singh’s photo exhibition and painting competition were some of the main attractions of the day. The songs like “Mera rang de basanti chola”, “Kar chale ham fida jaano tan sathio, ab tumhare hawale watan sathio” reverberated the environment with patriotic colour and fragrance. Dr Ashwani Kansra, Director of the CT Group of Institutions, delivered a special lecture highlighting the various aspects of Bhagat Singh’s life. |
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Bull injures ex-serviceman
Jalandhar, March 22 Eyewitnesses revealed that Jaswant Singh, a resident of Talwandi Dungra in
Amritsar, was walking along the roadside when the incident occurred. The bull, that had gone wild, pounced upon Jaswant Singh from behind, tossed him almost 4 feet into the air and then he collapsed on the road. Residents assembled at the spot and rushed the injured to the Civil Hospital. The doctor after giving his first aid referred him to the Army Hospital in
Amritsar. Jaswant Singh got his one leg fractured and received injuries on other parts of his body. |
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NRI’s murder: Wife, 2 paramours remanded
Phagwara, March 22 They were sent to police remand till March 24 for further interrogation, Phillaur DSP Raj Balwinder Singh said. The body of the Rakesh was found in fields just behind his house in Lassarra village on Sunday morning. The DSP said the police was searching for three more accused involved in the killing of NRI Rakesh. |
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Cong hails HC decision
Jalandhar, March 22 In a press note issued here today, a former general secretary of the Punjab Youth Congress, Abhay Singh, said he along with several senior citizens had already lodged a strong protest against the move. — TNS |
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