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122 government schools sans playgrounds
Promoting Aquatic Biodiversity
Lying defunct for 15 years, society for animals reconstituted
No salary for 10 months |
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Patwari dismissed for graft, sent to jail
Brothers booked for duping man of Rs 12 lakh
Girl’s murder cracked
Bus catches fire after accident, passengers escape unhurt
Wheat crop in 3 acres burnt
Motorcyclist killed
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122 government schools sans playgrounds
Jalandhar, April 25 A host of such schools fall in the Lamma Pind area, including the one in Bulandpur, Saipur, Nawan Santokhpura and Roza Saifal areas. There are several in the congested Model House area, including those in Wadala, Abadpura, Buta Mandi and Sabuwal localities, where there is no space for playgrounds. There are quite a few schools falling in Adarsh Nagar, including the one in the Gandhi Camp, Harnamdaspura, Kazi Mohalla, Kabir Nagar, Ravidass Nagar and Panj Peer areas, where the students do not have the basic facility of a ground on the campus. Government schools in the Bhargo Camp, Basti Sheikh, Jallowal, Basesharpur, Babu Labh Singh Nagar and Basti Danishmandan areas are also without any playground. The details have been provided by the office of the District Education Officer (Secondary) in reply to a query raised by a local RTI activist, Rajinder Bhatia. In fact, while some of the schools manage to take the students to some open grounds near the campuses, there are others like those in the Model House and Panj Peer areas where there are no private or public playgrounds in the vicinity. Residents of certain colonies in which these schools are located do not allow the students to use the public parks as this leads to uprooting of saplings and flowering plants there. Ajay Awasthi of the Government Master Union, Punjab, said the government must ensure that schools were opened at sites where there was ample space for setting up playgrounds. “Opening schools just to appease the political masters is unwise. Students just don’t need plain education, but proper grooming lessons as well. We need youth with a healthy body and a sound mind.” |
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Promoting Aquatic Biodiversity
Jalandhar, April 25 Lotus plants procured for the purpose from Sultanpur were today immersed in a round, cemented pond constructed recently at Government Girls Senior Secondary School, Ladowali Road, here. District Project Coordinator of the National Environment Awareness Campaign Sanjiwan Singh Dadhwal said organic manure had been added to the pond and the flowers were expected to bloom in a month’s time. He explained the process, “Once that happens, we will put in some other aquatic plants like hydrilla. After the vegetation spreads around, we will then add in some fish eggs so as to balance the flora-fauna cycle. The school project in charges will take care of the ponds”. The project is being sponsored by the Ministry of Environment and Forests and Punjab State Council for Science and Technology. Dadhwal said a grant of Rs 2.92 lakh had been sent under the project to 23 schools, five of which will get lotus ponds, eight will get medicinal plants and the rest will have potted plants. He said Rs 14,000 had come for senior secondary schools and Rs 12,000 for high and middle schools. He said the students of these schools would also maintain a biodiversity register, under which they would note down the types of various trees, shrubs, herbs and aquatic plants on the campus, their growth and their numbers. |
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Lying defunct for 15 years, society for animals reconstituted
Amritsar, April 25 The new management committee, headed by Deputy Commissioner Kahan Singh Pannu, has members of various government departments and NGOs. The committee members in its first meeting visited the SPCA building. It expressed shock over the pathetic conditions of the building, which had turned into a marriage palace. The animal lovers had expressed their deep concern over the conditions of the SPCA to the district administration. “Our foremost priority would be to generate funds and resources from various government bodies, local philanthropists and NGOs for creating suitable infrastructure and carrying out various activities of society,” said Pannu. He said the society would endeavor to recruit staff including veterinary doctors for rendering medical aid for treatment of sick, injured and disabled animals. Other members of the committee included Commissioner, Municipal Corporation, Deputy Director, Animal Husbandry, SDM Amritsar-II, Deputy Director, Dairy Development, Health Officer, Municipal Corporation and two members from NGOs working for the welfare of sick animals. It is pertinent to mention here that old committee, comprising prominent political leaders as members, held no meeting in the last 15 years. Sadly, the compound of SPCA was being used for marriage functions. On the repeated requests of the animal lovers, the administration shot a communiqué to the Punjab Government to disband the earlier committee and reconstitute it. Following the approval from the state government, a due notification for constituting new SPCA committee was issued. Welcoming the move, Nitesh Singla, an animal lover, said thankfully sick and injured animals, found in every nook and corner of the city, would get some care. |
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No salary for 10 months
Nakodar, April 25 Traffic remained disrupted for two hours. Balwinder Singh, convener, Sugar Mill Action Committee, alleged that due to lackadaisical attitude of the government they had not been paid salaries from the last 10 months. “Now, it’s time to intensify our protest,” he said. “From tomorrow onwards, five members of the union will sit on an indefinite hunger strike from 10 am to 1 pm while the remaining employees will observe a pen-down/tool-down strike” Balwinder Singh said. “Around 700 employees, including regular, seasonal and daily wagers, were forced to live in utter penury due to non-payment of salary,” he added. The Sub-Divisional Magistrate of Nakodar, who was present at the spot, assured the protesting employees to take up the issue with the higher authorities and promised to deliver an amicable solution within two days, the committee convenor claimed. Committee representatives Gurdev Singh and Baljinder Singh said for the past 15 days, employees had been organising a dharna in front of the office of the mill general manger without their work getting affected. They warned the government if their demands weren’t met, employees along with family members would sit on an indefinite hunger strike at Jalandhar bypass here and would halt the main traffic. |
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Patwari dismissed for graft, sent to jail
Amritsar, April 25 Satnam Singh was caught and subsequently booked by the Vigilance Bureau under the Prevention of Corruption Act-1988 for demanding and accepting bribe of Rs 3,000 from the complainant for issuing the copy of “inteqal” of their property in 2005. Convicting him, the court in its verdict on March 31 sent him to jail. Kahan Singh Pannu, Deputy Commissioner, said as per the orders from the Department of Personnel and Administrative Reforms the convicted government employee could not be retained in the government services. Therefore, Satnam was dismissed from his service with immediate effect under Section 5 (9) of the Punjab Civil Services Rules-1970. |
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Brothers booked for duping man of Rs 12 lakh
Hoshiarpur, April 25 According to police sources, Rakesh Kumar stated in his complaint that both the brothers, who used to visit the house of his cousin Santosh Rani at Dasuya, met him at her house. Sanjiv Kumar and Ravinder Kumar promised him of providing work visa for Australia and demanded Rs 15 lakh for the task. His father mortgaged his land to arrange the money for sending him to Australia. He gave Rs 12 lakh to Sanjiv Kumar and Ravinder Kumar in three installments and on May 20, 2010, they provided him a visitor visa along with hotel booking and sponsorship documents and told him that Ravinder Kumar would meet him at Melbourne Airport. On May 22, 2010, he left the country and after reaching Melbourne, he searched for Ravinder Kumar at the airport but he did not find him. Later, he went to the immigration counter for clearance where he was told that his sponsorship and hotel booking documents were not genuine. He was harassed by the staff there and after arranging money through his relative, he cleared the fine and purchased air ticket to India. On the way at a Thailand airport, he was again fined Rs 10,000 and was confined to a room for a day. After reaching India, Rakesh Kumar contacted Sanjiv Kumar and Ravinder Kumar and demanded his money back. Instead of returning the money, the brothers threatened him of dire consequences if he reported the matter to
the police. |
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Girl’s murder cracked
Amritsar, April 25 The police has caught a self-styled godman, Deepak Verma (23) of Ludhiana, in this connection. He was sent to two-day police remand by the court. It is pertinent to mention here that though a suicide note was found near the body of the victim, the police after preliminary investigations suspected it to be a murder case. Subsequently, a case under Section 302 of the IPC had been registered against unidentified person. According to information, the accused had been nursing a grudge against the deceased and her family. He strangled her to death and threw her body near the bridge before fleeing back to Ludhiana on April 19. “The culprit had homosexual relations with the victim’s brother. When the family came to know about this, they cursed him in full public view for this act. Agitated over this he started nursing a grudge against the family,” revealed Sanjiv Kumar, investigating officer, and SHO, Civil Line Police Station. As per the investigation, the family of the girl, a divorcee, remarried her in Shariyewal village in Bathinda. They also took her brother there. However, Deepak remained in touch with the girl and her brother. As the girl was unhappy with her second marriage, she sought the help of Deepak to teach her in-laws a lesson. Finding this an opportunity to avenge his insult, Deepak hatched a conspiracy to eliminate her. “As per the plan, he first took her to Pathankot. But he could not find any opportunity to kill her there. He then brought her to Amritsar where he first convinced her to write a suicide note in order to teach a lesson to her in-laws and later strangled her to death,” said Sanjiv. |
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Bus catches fire after accident, passengers escape unhurt
Batala, April 25 The bus caught fire, but all the passengers got down from the bus in time. The bus and passengers’ belongings were completely burnt. Two fire engines brought the fire under control. The police reached the spot and recorded the statement of Brij Mohan, driver of the bus. A case under Section 279 and 427 of the IPC was registered against the truck driver, who had fled from the spot. |
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Wheat crop in 3 acres burnt
Batala, April 25 Wheat crop in 2.5 acres of Baldev singh, 2 kanals of Partap Singh and 2 kanals of Gurmej Singh was completely burnt, but timely action by residents of the nearby deras and passersby saved the crop in adjoining fields. By the time fire brigade vehicles reached the spot, the fire was already brought under control. |
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Motorcyclist killed
Nawanshahr, April 25 Manish Kumar was going towards Ropar on his motorcycle and Baljit Kaur was crossing the road on foot when the motorcycle hit her. Manish fell down and died on the spot. Baljit Kaur was admitted to the Civil Hospital. |
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