Jalandhar, April 26
It was expected to finish by November 2008, but it took two and half years more to complete the DAV College railway overbridge. In total, it took four years and eight months for the Jalandhar Municipal Corporation to get the work of DAV College railway overbridge completed.

Started in September 2006, it is slated to open sometime next month. The exact date, as usual, depends upon the availability of the Chief Minister or the Deputy Chief Minister for a formal inauguration.

Only a minor paving work in the span part is pending as of now, said MC Commissioner Viney Bublani.

Mayor Rakesh Rathour said Local Bodies Minister Manoranjan Kalia was trying to get the date from the Chief Minister.

While the deadline for the project was November 2008, it was extended time and again owing to one reason or the other. Each time that a new deadline was announced, the officials cited one reason or the other.

They attributed it to the delay on the part of the Forest Department in uprooting trees or the Punjab State Electricity Board employees in pulling down poles coming in way of the site meant for construction of service lanes or problems in making payments and even the railway officials in taking time for approving the designs.

Owing to the delay, commuters especially students of DAV College, HMV, Dayanand Model School, DAV Institute of Engineering and Technology, MGN Public School, DAV Institute of Nursing, Mehr Chand Polytechnic, CJS Public School, CT Public School and Dayanand Ayurvedic College situated on either sides of the railway crossing have been a harried lot.

All this while, the commuters faced a tough time owing to bad service lanes, heavy flow of traffic and delay in doubling of the alternative railway crossing. Social activists including Dr Rakesh Madaan had filed several RTI complaints seeking answers on the delay from MC as well as the railway authorities.

He had even pointed out that the construction procedure followed was against the PWD norms for the officials were supposed to keep the funds ready, designs fully approved and make alternative arrangements for smooth movement of the traffic before proceeding with the construction work so that the commuters did not have to face problems later.

Jalandhar, April 26
After the high-profile murder of hotelier Gurkirat Singh Sekhon, residents expressed serious concern over the rising crime rate in the city.

Nine murders have taken place in a month (from March 18 to April 21).

However, the police claimed to have controlled the soaring crime rate in the city.

The Tribune spoke to a cross section of people in the city, including the Police Commissioner, on this issue.

Harwinder Negi, Principal of Red Cross School for the Deaf: “This murder has weakened my faith on the working of the commissionerate system. Right from petty crime to loots and murders the crime rate is soaring. It is hard to believe that the Model Town area, which is usually thronged by police teams for routine checks, can be unsafe. If such is the condition of such posh localities, what one can say about the remote areas?”

She also highlighted that about a fortnight back a motorcycle borne youth snatched her purse right outside her house. “I lost cash, mobile, bank ATMs and house keys. Though we lodged a complaint with the police but there is no clue as of now,” she said, adding that after this incident I have stopped wearing gold ornaments fearing such incident again.

Sandeep Singh, a local financer: He said the hotelier’s murder is an indication of the failure of the efficacy of police in controlling crime in the city. He said the police needs to learn round-the-clock vigil and monitoring tactics from the Army.

Kamlesh Kaur, resident: She said there is no point in roaming in big SUVs if the police can’t control such murders. “It is unfortunate that a young hotelier was killed but more unfortunate is the fact that the police was nowhere on patrol duty at midnight in that area. This shows the lackadaisical attitude of the police authorities,” she maintained.

Gaurav Yadav, Commissioner of Police: He said that the murder was the result of personal animosity between two friends. “No amount of policing can prevent a fight between friends. It was personal animosity which unfortunately turned violent. It was due to efficient police raids that all the four accused surrendered in the court within 24 hours of the murder,” he added.

Jalandhar, April 26
Claiming that a zero tolerance level would be observed by the BJP Human Rights Cell towards any incident of inhuman treatment, MP Rajya Sabha and convener of the national committee of the cell Avinash Rai Khanna on Saturday said his team had started working actively and had been taking note of every such instance reported from anywhere.

Khanna held a meeting with the state members of the cell and asked them to daily scan the media reports and take a suitable step in the form of a dharna or protest against any social evil affecting the residents.

He said the members had planned to hold a protest on April 29 across all the districts of Punjab against the atrocities meted out to girls from minority communities in Pakistan. He said copies of memorandum would be given to the respective Deputy Commissioners. He quoted a report from Pakistan Human Rights’ Commission wherein members had cited such episodes.

The MP also talked about the issue of denial of the right to vote to nearly 25,000 families from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. He also claimed that as many as 222 cases of rape and kidnapping had been reported from Doda district alone in a year’s time which again was a major issue being taken up by the cell.

Khanna also claimed that his members were also looking into another incident of 200 women being subject to wrong surgical treatments in Rajasthan rendering them infertile.

Asked if his teams would also look into matters in BJP-ruled states, he assured that any complaint concerning any political party would be taken up to ensure justice. On his reaction over the incident related to shooting of an hotelier in Jalandhar by the councillor nephew of SAD MLA and his three friends, he said after all they have been pressured to surrender before the court.

Nakodar, April 26
State Public School, Shahkot, today celebrated its ninth Founder’s Day. An inter-house dance competition was organised for students of classes III to XI . Students of four houses presented a spectrum of dances. Students presented solo, duet and group dances on the tunes of classical and old songs.

Their synchronised performances and elegant costumes mesmerised everyone. The aim of organising the competition was to make the students aware of the culture and different styles of dance.

Kapurthala, April 26
There is dire need to use geo-thermal energy to reduce global warming as it has brought climate changes causing various types of natural disastrous.

The Head of the Hazard Assessment and Forecasting Division in the Snow and Avalanche Study Establishment (SASE), Chandigarh, Dr M.R. Bhutiyani, stated this while talking to The Tribune on the sidelines of a function organised by the Pushpa Gujral Science City (PGSC) to mark World Earth Day on Thursday.

Dr Bhutiyani stated that Norway was already using geo-thermal energy to produce electricity and India should also use the energy as it was also available in the country in tremendous amounts in the Himalayas.

The scientist said his department was checking feasibility of using geo-thermal energy at Manali on the directions of the Central Government.

Dr Bhutiyani stated that the North Western Himalayan had warmed alarmingly than global average of warming resulting in sudden climatic changes, which could prove dangerous to the earth.

The geologist said there was change in the temperature of .74 degree Celsius in the global warming, but as far as the North Western Himalayan were concerned it witnessed a change in temperature of 1.7 degree Celsius, which was almost double than the average global warming and as a result of which glaciers were melting at a fast speed.

Dr Bhutiyani said all the nations should think seriously to work for low-carbon emissions, less tourism promotion on the glaciers and take all necessary steps to check the melting of glaciers.

Dr Bhutiyani said the effect of global warming was evident from the fact that winter season had decreased.

The receding glaciers in the Himalayas seemed to have affected the discharge pattern of the Himalayan rivers.

Jalandhar, April 26
Leaders of the Scheduled Caste Employees Joint Action Committee, Punjab, in a joint statement issued to the press here on Friday criticised the dilly-dallying approach of the government towards the promotion of school lecturers as principals.

They said the inordinate delay in holding the Departmental Promotion Committee (DPC) meeting, regarding the promotion of employees, had generated anger among the SC employees against the government.

They said while 600 posts of principal were still lying vacant, every month lecturers who had served for as many as 25 years got retired without a promotion. This was a gross injustice on the part of the government, they added.

In the absence of a suitable action by the government on the issue in the near future, it should be ready to face the music, they added.

Jalandhar, April 26
Owing to the dilly-dallying approach of the bureaucracy, decisions regarding the enforcement of pension and new grades for employees of aided schools have not been implemented even six months after they were taken at a meeting on the matter, alleged Gurcharan Singh Chahal, district president, and NN Saini, general secretary, Punjab State Aided School Teachers.

Chahal and Saini along with the members of other employees’ unions held a meeting at Ramgarhia Senior Secondary School, Phagwara.

They said decisions regarding the restoration of pension and enforcement of new grades were taken at a meeting with Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal in November 2010. But these decisions have not been implemented, even though a file on the matter has been lying with the Finance Department for the past one month.

They said if the government does not issue a notification regarding the enforcement of grades within one week, they would devise a plan for future action at the union’s action committee meeting on May 1.

They said the union’s members had also met Finance Minister Upinderjit Kaur and Education Minister Sewa Singh Sekhwan on the issue.

They claimed despite instructions from the Chief Minister, the Finance Department hadn’t cleared their file.

Phagwara, April 26
The factionalism in the BJP came to fore during the “Padyatra” of the BJP Mahila Morcha, Punjab, here on Monday evening as local BJP minister Chaudhary Swarana Ram and four out of five women BJP councillors did not attend the yatra, led by Punjab BJP Mahila Morcha president Renu Thapar.

Thapar alleged that the UPA-led Union Government is responsible for most of the problems in the country and, moreover, the Union Government could not control the menace of increasing corruption and problems like price rise of essential commodities, unemployment and deteriorating law and order situation.

Factionalism again was witnessed this morning, when BJP block president Arun Khosla invited mediapersons for a press conference of Mahila Morcha leaders at a hotel hre at 10.30 am, but only after a few minutes, he informed the media about the cancellation of the press conference giving an excuse that the morcha leaders had to leave the town at 10 am.

It has been learnt that the ongoing factionalism within the BJP was the main cause of the cancellation of the press conference as several BJP women leaders stayed away from the programme.

Jalandhar, April 26
Members of the Punjab Small Industries and Export Corporation Staff Association held a state-level rally at Desh Bhagat Yadgar Hall here on Friday.

The members said they had been working as daily wagers or work charge employees for the past 25 to 30 years.

Some of them were already on the verge of retirement, but the government decisions issued from time to time for the regularisation of their services had not been implemented.

The members passed on a memorandum for Local Bodies Minister Manoranjan Kalia demanding regularisation of their services without any condition and implementation of labour laws.

Jalandhar, April 26
Students of paramedical sciences of Lovely Professional University have bagged the bronze medal in the national-level techno-quiz organised by the All-India Medical Laboratory Technologists Association at Government Medical College and Hospital, Sector-32, Chandigarh.

The event was organised to celebrate World Biomedical Laboratory Science Day. Many teams from different institutes across Uttrakhand, Chandigarh and Punjab had participated. The quiz had three rounds comprising technical questions, visual display and rapid fire.

Director-General of the university H.R. Singla congratulated the students, Jasmine Shrivastav, Rahul Raina and Surbhi from MSc (clinical microbiology).