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Lecturers of private colleges up in arms against Sekhwan
Woman Cong leader booked for murder
Kidnappers’ gang busted, 6 held
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Leaders cutting across party lines voice concern for rain-hit farmers
Coop bank employees hold protest
Lajwanti murder case: 10 rounded up
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Lecturers of private colleges up in arms against Sekhwan
Jalandhar, April 20 At present there are 873 vacant posts in government colleges across the state. Lecturers in the government colleges are working on ad hoc, guest faculty, part-time and contractual basis. A majority of the lecturers working in private colleges are UGC-NET qualified and M.Phil and PhD degree holders. Some of them have also written books on their respective subjects. According to the data available with the UGC-Qualified Unemployed College Lecturers Union, Punjab, nearly 600 lecturers are employed with the government colleges, out of which only 200 are UGC qualified. Talking to mediapersons, Dr Hira Singh, a union member, said if the Education Minister went ahead with the decision, the union would sit on a fast unto death. “The Education Minister will have to reconsider his decision. The lecturers should be employed through an open recruitment and on merit basis so that all those who are eligible and presently working in various private colleges can apply. We will not let this happen,” he added. He highlighted the state of affairs of government colleges in the state and said Government College, Kala Bakana village in Gurdaspur, was one such institution where all lecturers were on ad hoc basis. “This college has no permanent lecturer and ironically the government claims to uplift the standard of education in the state,” he quipped. Another lecturer, Dr Kuldeep Kaur, said as temporary lecturers they were being paid Rs 10,000 per month. “It is a pity that permanent lecturers in government colleges are getting Rs 80,000 per month, while they are forced to work on meagre wages. As ad hoc lecturers, we have been employed for eight months only and that too with no guarantee that we would be retained in the next academic session. There are many others who are even working on Rs 6,000 per month in smaller colleges in the state,” she said, adding that even a class IV employee in a government college was better paid. The union also demanded the support from the Punjab Chandigarh College Teachers Union (PCCTU), Government College Lecturers Union, guest faculty, part-time lecturers and other college unions in this regard. “The government should also lift the ban on fresh recruitments from the government-aided colleges in the states and make recruitment open to upgrade the standard of higher education in the state,” the union member added. However, when contacted, DPI (Colleges) Karmjit Kaur Chaudhary said the issue of vacant posts of lecturer in government colleges was raised during an all-state principals’ meet with the Education Minister on April 6. “Any eligible ad hoc lecturer can apply for the post of lecturer in government colleges. We will advertise the posts soon and it is obvious that anybody can apply. Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal as well as the Education Minister seriously considered the need to fill the vacant posts,” she said, adding that the qualification of the lecturers would be the main criteria for the selection of lecturers. |
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Woman Cong leader booked for murder
Jalandhar, April 20 A resident of Jalandhar Cantonment area, Kamal Kishore, who was brother-in-law of the women, was allegedly hacked to death by Uma along with her henchmen late last night. Additional Commissioner of Police (ACP), JS Saroya said the woman and her men barged into Kamal Kishore’s house last night and assaulted him mercilessly leaving him critically injured. The injured was later rushed to a private hospital where he succumbed to injuries, he added. The ACP said the police had arrested four accomplices --- Bhole Nath and Avinash of Mohalla 21 and Ashwani Kumar and Vinod Kumar, residents of Deep Nagar. Sources in the police revealed following a property dispute with her in-laws, Uma along with her men reached Kamal Kishore’s house and indulged into a scuffle with her brother-in-law. Uma was married to Kamal Kishore’s younger brother but the couple separated after a divorce, the police said. In a complaint to the city police at the cantonment police station, deceased’s wife Janak Dulari alleged that Uma along with her henchmen dragged her husband out of the house and thrashed him mercilessly. The assailants fled from the scene when her sons, who were at the first floor of the house, hearing the shrieks rushed to save their father. The police has registered a case of murder against the five at the Jalandhar cantonment police station on her complaint.
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Kidnappers’ gang busted, 6 held
Phagwara, April 20
The arrested gang members have been identified as Baljinder Singh, alias Jatt, Pawan Kumar, alias Happy, Honey Sharma, all residents of Malsian, Balbir Singh Sandhu, alias Bir (granthi in Gurdwara Kala Sangha), Sandeep Singh, alias Sona, both of Alikhelan village in Jalandhar district, and Palwinder Singh of Kang village in Tarn Taran district. Sandeep Sharma, DSP, said today that the police recovered two .312-bore pistols, air pistol, two swords, daatar (sharp-edged weapon), car (with fake number plates) and a motorcycle from the gang members. A case under Sections 420, 482, 384 and 160 of the IPC and Sections 25, 54 and 59 of the Arms Act was registered against the gangsters. The DSP said on a tip-off a police party, headed by SHO (City) Amrik Singh Chahal, raided the local Varinder Park and arrested the gangsters, who were hatching a conspiracy of kidnapping a property dealer or a money exchanger in the town. The DSP said the arrested gang members had confessed to their involvement in a kidnapping case of a farmer, Mahinder Singh, of Murar village, under Subhanpur police station in Kapurthala district. Mahinder Singh was kidnapped on March 30 by the gang and a ransom of Rs 50 lakh was demanded from the family for his release. But on April 1 he was released because of mounting police vigilance. Later, in a press note SSP Sukhminder Singh Maan disclosed that Mahinder Singh was kidnapped from his village by three gang members and the remaining gang members met them near Kartarpur Railway station. Mahinder Singh was injected a intoxicant and the kidnappers gagged him with a tape and brought him to the dera of Baljinder Singh on Isewal Road. He was tied with ropes. Due to increasing vigilance of the police, the kidnappers preferred to release Mahinder Singh in semi-conscious condition on the night of April 1. The SSP appreciated the role of police officers and recommended awards for the brave cops.
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Leaders cutting across party lines voice concern for rain-hit farmers
Fatehgarh Churian (Gurdaspur), April 20 Lodhinangal, in a statement, said middle rung officials of the administration were not following the instructions of Gurdaspur Deputy Commissioner Pirthi Chand in letter and spirit. He claimed that the DC had sent a fax to revenue officials of all 16 blocks of this district in which he has asked to prepare assessment reports of the damage. However, the MLA claimed that some tehsildars and patwaris were not doing proper girdawari putting farmers to inconvenience. He claimed small and marginal farmers were worst hit and it was at this time they needed the help of revenue officials the most. Thousands of acres of wheat crop has been damaged with the damage being particularly severe in Tehsils of Fatehgarh Churian, Batala, Kanhuwan, Gurdaspur, Dinanagar and Sujanpur where kandi area falls. The Batala SDM Rahul Chaba said that he had formed several teams to assess the damage. He admitted that he had received instructions from the DC to prepare assessment reports as soon as possible so that timely and adequate compensation could be paid to the farmers. Panchayats of various villages of Batala tehsil met the SDM and Tehsildar Subash Padam today and urged them to prepare proper assessment reports. Former AICC member Chowdhury Rajbir said he had written a letter to the Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal seeking his intervention in the issue. He added that hundreds of acres of wheat had been destroyed in Kandi area of Sujanpur block.
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Coop bank employees hold protest
Hoshiarpur, April 20 Twenty employees of various bank branches observed fast and staged a dharna from 10 am to 5 pm today. According to a press note issued by the president of the Hoshiarpur Central Cooperative Bank Employees Union Faqir Singh Sahota, all employees of the Cooperative Banks of Punjab would take mass casual leave on May 4 and stage a protest demonstration in front of the State Cooperative Bank, Chandigarh. — OC |
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Lajwanti murder case: 10 rounded up
Jalandhar, April 20 Pritam Singh, SHO, Division No III, said investigations were on to nab the unidentified assailants who killed the woman. “We have rounded up 10 suspected persons in this case while raids are on to nab the two expelled factory workers namely Dinesh and Deepak,” he said. It might be noted that Lajwanti, wife of a pickle factory owner, was found murdered after her husband Joginder Pal left for the factory on Monday. The complaint in this case was filed by Lajwanti’s son Surinder Kumar who after reaching home saw his mother strangled with a piece of cloth and her arms and legs tied with a rope. |
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