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Scorching sun takes toll on state ITI athletics meet
Ludhiana, May 3 Some of the participants who could not afford a pair of sports shoes ran barefoot, others wore socks to beat the stifling heat on the first day of the event. The day was marred by complaints and counter complaints. While several participants alleged the athletic meet was held in “inhuman conditions”, the organizers thought otherwise and blamed the “poor show” on the “declining physical standards” of the youngsters. Many girls and boys were seen slipping and falling due to exhaustion as the searing weather took its toll. Those who ran barefoot on the stadium’s synthetic floor suffered injuries with some breaking their nails. The paramedic staff, which administered first aid, said most of those who sustained injuries did so because they ran barefoot.
Refusing to participate in the 800m race, a group of students from an ITI accused the event’s organizers of making them run in the torrid heat. They claimed their request to hold the event in the evening was declined by officials. “Are they insane? Look at the soaring temperature - they’re holding the event under the scorching sun. Are they waiting for the participants die of heat stroke?” asked retired basketball coach Brij Bihari, while flaying the organizers for conducting the athletic meet in the afternoon.
The event began at 9:30 am and continued till 4 pm with no one questioning the reason behind conducting the games in the afternoon. “Our repeated requests to conduct the competition for girl students in the morning session and the boys’ competition in the evening session were simply given a deaf ear by the organizers. We are human, how can we play under such a scorching heat,” complained a group of students from ITI, Bakala near Amritsar. “We saw in the morning also, candidates were pushing and knocking each other in order to win the race. Many boys sustained injuries on their legs and arms during the race event. We are here to play, not to sustain injury,” said a student from ITI, Gidder Baha. The candidates complained that the hot and humid weather was to be blames for their poor performance. “It’s nearly impossible to run barefoot on an astroturf track as it’s burning hot. I couldn’t afford running shoes so had no other option,” said an ITI student before heading back home. On the other hand the event’s organizers refused to comment on this issue. An official of one the participating ITI teams, showing a copy the games schedule, said, “We’re holding the athletic meet according to the schedule issued to us by officials. If you have any query please ask state technical education minister Swarna Ram.”
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No power cuts this summer: PSPCL chief
Ludhiana, May 3 Choudhry said this while interacting with senior PSPCL officials, the Mayor and a few councillors on the issue of power scenario at the central zone headquarters here last evening. Denying that comparatively comfortable power situation had anything to do with the coming Assembly poll, due early next year, he said it was solely due to efficient management, power saved during the winter season under power banking and timely agreements on purchasing of power. “The PSPCL has saved additional 13 million units of electricity under power banking arrangements, which will be made available to the state during the summer season. The hydle-power projects are generating power to their optimum capacity and adequate power purchase agreements have already been signed to meet hike in demand during the summer and paddy season,” Choudhry added. He further maintained that consumers would get immense relief from unscheduled power cuts and load shedding, earlier necessitated due to overloading of distribution network. Almost 60 per cent of the present distribution network has been blow the load, new sub-stations and transformers have been installed and several existing sub- stations upgraded. This will improve the quality of power supply. Even though the PSPCL chief has painted a rosy picture of the power scenario with claims of having surplus power, sources in the PSPCL pointed out that if the situation was not that grim, it was definitely not very promising either. “If the state has enough power as the top brass of the power utility claims then why has the permission of Punjab State Electricity Regulatory Commission been sought to impose power cuts,” they asked.
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New I-T return forms issued
Ludhiana, May 3 In addition to this new form, Sugam ITR-IVS has been introduced. This form is for those who have income from business or profession and have not maintained account books and show 8 per cent net profit of the turnover. If the profit shown by the person is less than 8 per cent of the turnover, the person will have to go for tax audit and will be required to fill the ITR-IV. Tax professional Jatinder Khurana said the new forms introduced by the department were pink in colour and easy to fill. “The department has made it mandatory to fill the bank account number even if the refund is not due. Sahaj is a two-page form,” he said. |
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‘PAU can’t be run by remote control’
Ludhiana, May 3 Kang’s appointment is considered a stopgap arrangement until the university gets a regular Vice-Chancellor (VC). There has been mixed response by the faculty and employees over the appointment of a bureaucrat as the acting VC. Some feel that the PAU cannot run by “remote control” while others maintain that the Financial Commissioner will be in a better position to understand the “plight of the university reeling under financial crises”. Most faculty members felt that the appointment had been made for a short period and so they were not expecting many changes. A faculty member disclosed on the condition of anonymity that this was not new. Earlier, GS Sandhu, an IAS officer, was appointed acting VC before Dr MS Kang joined the PAU as the Vice-Chancellor. “The government has made the appointment so that routine matters of the university do not suffer. But most of the times, bureaucrats remain in Chandigarh as they have to look after the affairs of their own department. They do not bother much and just clear important documents. A majority of work will be done by the second in command, who is the Registrar,” he said. An office-bearer of the PAU Employees Association said the new VC could visit once or twice a week. “We do not expect him to sit in the VC’s office on all working days. There will be some important events in days to come and we expect him to spare some time to attend these. The process to appoint a regular VC is on and we hope to get one by the end of this month.”
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Malawi delegation meets PAU officials
Ludhiana, May 3 Welcoming the delegation, Dr RK Mahey, registrar, PAU, assured the members of cooperation from the university in the identified critical areas of collaboration. The joint venture between the two institutes in the areas of research and training would be useful for the researchers, students and academicians. The process could be taken forward through the signing of memorandum of understanding in mutually beneficial areas like student exchange programme, said Dr Mahey. Prof Moses B Kwapata, principal, Bunda College of Agriculture, leading the delegation, said the objective of their visit was to hold discussions with universities and research institutes and learn experiences of dealing with the issues of transformation and integration of education, research and extension institutes into the university structure and programmes. Referring to the PAU as an esteemed university, Professor Kwapata said: “We look forward to the education exchange, research collaboration in agriculture and allied fields, institutional development and capacity building and the exchange of visiting faculty, staff and students between the academic units.” Dr MS Gill, director of extension education, PAU, said the agricultural university had a strong extension network. Transferring successful technology to farmers, organising workshops, group discussions, training programmes in the field of agriculture and its allied sectors were some of the extension activities, he said, adding that farmers trusted and utilised the expertise of PAU scientists.
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Tips on cracking interview
Ludhiana, May 3 At least 60 undergraduate students attended the workshop. Harpreet Singh, area manager, Bancassurance, Max New York Life Insurance and Simmi Singh, centre head, Anitoons Villa, were the guest speakers. Alumni of UBS, Chandigarh, Harpreet Singh has a rich experience working with many MNCs. He said: “No matter where and in which school or college you have studied, it doesn’t matter how much experience you have, and whom you know in the Industry if you can answer the interview questions successfully.” He highlighted the importance of non-verbal messages, body language and voice modulations during the interview. He added: “Non-verbal language speaks more than words. As you walk in the interview room, you must start it like a winner.” He made his presentation interesting and interactive by asking questions form the audience and involving them in role playing. Manjit Singh Chhabra, co-ordinator of the institute said: “With the global financial crises having a cascading impact on the global economy, the job market, too, has been gloomy. In such an environment, it is even more important for aspirants to do well in interviews and to grab the jobs they desire.” — TNS
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Settling personal scores a priority
But for almost three days, the Mayor and other civic officials did not perform their official duties and spent entire time in portraying Bains as a demon. However, even if the Mayor had scored in the first round, it was Bains who had the last laugh. To everybody’s surprise, and a lot of heartburns within the party ranks, the SAD supremo and Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal visited the residence of Bains and spent considerable time with him as if to show that whatever Giaspura did, Bains has an important role to play in party affairs. A husband’s plight
The royal wedding of Prince William (now Dutch of Cambridge) and Catherine Middleton (now Duchess of Cambridge) on April 29 has been the talk of the town. While the hype around the wedding faded as soon as the wedding vows were taken and news reports published the next day, discussions continued. One such discussion took place at a friendly gathering of a few middle-aged couples where a man made an interesting observation: “William arrived in a Bentley and left in a horse-drawn cart. See, what marriage does to a man!” The remark evoked laughter from all present. Blessing in disguise
The younger generation blindly follows the western traditions and love to eat, drink and think the western way. In this scenario schools are doing their bit to teach the traditions and culture to the students. Annual functions and extra-curricular activities carried out in the school help in making students learn traditional dances of which they are hardly aware. Traditional dances like giddha, bhangra, Rajasthani, Oddissi and kathak are usually a part of the annual functions (see picture). Aakriti, a class III student got so fascinated by kathak, which she performed during the annual function of the school, that she decided to learn this dance. Now, she regularly attends classes to learn kathak. Concerned over ‘money wastage’
One of my colleagues was perturbed, as he had to spend a lot of money for getting birthday presents for his seven-year-old son’s friends. The son, quite popular in his class, had already been invited on six birthdays in the past two months. And it was another birthday invitation. Obviously, the boy was scared to ask whether he could go or not as he knew that his father would get disturbed if asked to spend more money on a birthday gift! The father also knew about the invitation, but he preferred to keep quiet this time. The son asked the father to drop him to the venue. When the father asked about the present, the son replied, “Remember you had given me a pencil-box worth Rs 255 last week. I did not use it and kept it safely thinking I would use it later. I have packed it nicely; so don’t bother about the gift. You need not buy me another one. Just leave me to the party so that I can enjoy.” The father was elated over his son’s concern for his money. Contributed by: Kuldip Bhatia, Shivani Bhakoo, Charu Chhibber and Manav Mander
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Work mere eyewash
Jagraon, May 3 Langah had inspected the work following instructions of Assembly Speaker Nirmal Singh Kahlon after local Congress MLA Gurdeep Singh Bhaini raised the issue in the Assembly. Iqbal Singh Rasoolpur, general secretary, Universal Human Rights Organisation, which had filed a public interest litigation in the Punjab and Haryana High Court some time back, said it was shameful on the part of the government as well as the authorities concerned to cheat people like this. “Appearing in court, the Punjab Mandi Board had given an undertaking in writing to complete the work within a given time frame, but the work had not been completed yet,” he said. He said representatives of the organisation, along with some villagers, would meet Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal during the ‘sangat darshan’ here tomorrow to raise the issue and demand action against the authorities. The organisation was also mulling to file a contempt-of-court case against the authorities, he added. The link road, connecting more than 20,000 residents of five villages with Jagraon, was last repaired more than eight years back. Villagers were now feeling cheated by the authorities. “We were happy when the work started last week. We thought that this long-pending demand would finally be met. We did not know that this would prove a mere eyewash,” said a villager. Another villager rued, “We were shocked to see that the work was stopped the very next day. Later on, we learnt that the work was merely part of a drama staged to show the minister that the work was being carried out. We are now feeling cheated.” When contacted, Jagraon Mandi Board SDO Gurmel Singh Koli said, “The construction work has been delayed because as per rules, villagers have to lay the soil on both sides of the road.” As it had not been done yet, the work could not go on, he clarified.
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Sterilisation of stray dogs
Ludhiana, May 3 Municipal Commissioner AK Sinha and a few senior officials took stock of the slow pace of work done by the company so far. Out of an estimated 18,000 dogs in the city, only 2,000 had so far been sterilised. The Municipal Commissioner said the civic body was favourably considering an offer made by a Bangalore-based company in this regard. “We have invited officials of the company to make a formal offer as per the terms and conditions laid down in the bid document. The civic body will take a decision after receiving the offer.” He reiterated that in the wake of increasing incidents of dog bites all over the city, the Municipal Corporation was keen to sterilize the dogs in order to effectively curb the menace. The Municipal Commissioner termed the reports of financial constraints, which were affecting the sterilisation drive, as mere speculations and figments of imagination. “We are paying Doggie Lane for work done by it on regular basis. There is no fund crunch for carrying out this task,” he added.
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Vet varsity interns worried as govt fails to advertise posts
Ludhiana, May 3 The students maintained that since more than 90 of them would complete their internship in July 2011, the state government must advertise the posts to accommodate them as veterinary doctors in rural areas. Talking to The Tribune, Hardip Kaur, an intern, said a delegation of students had on April 6 met Ranjit Singh Brahampura, minister in charge of the department of rural development and panchayats, and requested him to take care of veterinary doctors’ future. The minister had assured to advertise the posts within 10 days. “Almost a month has passed, the post of rural veterinary officers has not been advertised by the department of rural development. Whether the state government absorbs us or not remains to be seen. The students had once again met Jatinder Singh Tung, deputy director, head office, department of rural development and panchayats and Brahmpura on April 26. Tung had revealed that all rural veterinary officers would remain under probation for three years. Their term could be extended to five years. During this period, they would get Rs 15, 000 as basic pay. But, the government has failed to act so far,” said Jatinderpreet, another student. Sore over “dilly-dallying” attitude adopted by authorities, these interns have started wearing black badges as a mark of protest. We have completed our study after paying a hefty amount, but our future is in dark in absence of interest shown by the state government. “There are 92 students in 2006 batch and most of them belong to the general category. We have been told that only 38 seats are vacant for general category students. We are worried and frustrated. Adequate arrangements must be made to absorb the entire batch,” Hardip Kaur added.
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Power engineers protest recruitment on contract
Ludhiana, May 3 According to PSEBEA regional secretary Sukhbir Singh, at a meeting of the body here last evening, the unanimous view was that needs of the power sector were different from other government departments and employing technical staff on a contract basis would compromise on quality and delivery of essential services of the power sector. The protesting power engineers were sore that despite assurance by Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal to this effect, no announcement had, till now, been made to set up a least one thermal power generation plant under the state sector. Similarly, no remedial measures seemed to be in place for the revival of the financial health of the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited and the Punjab State Power Transmission Limited, companies set up with the unbundling of the Punjab State Electricity Board. “There is widespread resentment over the inordinate delay in the implementation of the promised tripartite agreement, non-compliance of directions regarding charge sheets and show-cause notices issued on flimsy grounds, non-creation of HOD accounts, non-payment of arrears and pending pay related issues,” the engineers asserted. Sukhbir said delegations of power engineers would meet their local MLAs, ministers and other public representatives to apprise them of the serious repercussions of recruiting power engineers on a contract basis. “In case the government fails to review and revoke the decision, power engineers will intensify their agitation by holding protests at zonal headquarters on May 20,” PSEBEA functionaries announced.
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Insurance firm told to pay Rs 74,625 to consumer
Ludhiana, May 3 The order came on a petition moved by Ranjit Singh of Jeewan Nagar, Focal Point. He had submitted that his Indica car was damaged in an accident on November 29, 2009, near Pipli in Kurukshetra. The car was badly damaged. He informed the insurance company as the vehicle was fully insured. A surveyor deputed by the company inspected the vehicle. But later, the company declined to pay the claim. All this caused him a lot of harassment and mental torture, added the complainant. On the other hand, the insurance company submitted that the complainant had concealed material facts at the time of taking the insurance policy. In order to defraud the company, he took a no-claim bonus, whereas he had already taken a claim in the previous year from another insurance company. After appreciating the evidence on record, the permanent lok adalat ordered the company to pay 75 per cent of the claim on a non-standard basis.
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Teachers get lessons in English language
Ludhiana, May 3 The workshop is being conducted by English trainer Uma Raman from The British Council of India. Aimed at helping the participants build confidence in English speaking and teaching, the workshop is being attended by English master trainers and teachers of classes IX-XII. The workshop was inaugurated by district education officer Harbhajan Ram. After completing the course, these participants will mentor the English teachers in their own schools as well as other government schools in Punjab. On the first day of the workshop, participants were acquainted with the mentor-teacher relationship and its importance in the classroom teaching. Uma Raman said: “The aim of was to make the master trainers adopt best practices in teaching and to be able to become good mentors to teachers.” She added that her emphasis was to ensure that through this training session, master trainers learn to make teaching more effective, interactive and more children-friendly. Expressing happiness at the participants’ enthusiasm about learning, Raman said each one of them was very enthusiastic to learn. “They are all eager to learn and pass on the best to their students,” she said. Raman told teachers that present academic system was exam-oriented, wherein emphasis was laid on exam-related preparation. “Children are made to learn the syllabus, but not taught how to use the language, whereas for effective learning of any language, a lot more than just theoretical teaching is needed,” she said. According to Raman, the real challenge is to give children the right kind of environment in schools to encourage them to speak in English. “In rural India, English-speaking persons are scoffed at or made fun of for wrong pronunciation or faulty usage of the language, which in turn makes the speaker lose confidence. The students should be encouraged and corrected,” she advised. Raman said master trainers were acquainted with the term “mentor” and his roles and responsibilities. It is pertinent to mention that the education department has been organising English workshops in order to uplift the status of English teaching across government schools in the state.
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Knitwear Club welcomes revocation of TUFS policy
Ludhiana, May 3 The benefit for units falling in SME sector has been increased. However, the units, which got a loan sanctioned after June 28, 2010, to April 27, 2011, have been excluded from the benefit of the policy. This is unjustified as the policy was introduced for a period of five years (till March 31, 2012). Denying these units, the benefits of the scheme might invite prolonged unwanted litigations. “The club has urged the ministry of textile to implement the benefits of the scheme at the earliest,” said Vinod Thapar. — TNS
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Youth arrested for raping Ranchi-based girl
Ludhiana, M.ay 3 The girl, who filed a case with the Division No 5 police last evening, after Deepak refused to marry her alleged that the boy had got physical after promising to marry her. They first met in July while they were returning from Chandigarh. The girl who belongs to Ranchi was visiting her relatives in the city after staying for a few days in Chandigarh. Both of them exchanged mobile phone numbers and started chatting through SMSs. Later they started visiting each other profiles on a social networking website. Both stayed in a hotel in November 2010 and drank prior to getting physical. Deepak, who is a high school dropout and working in a private company, again invited her to the city in December. They met also met in January, February and March. Deepak used to flaunt about his relationship among his friends. The girl visited the city once again in the last week of April and told the boy to marry her. Deepak rebuffed the proposal and categorically told the girl that he never wanted to marry her and had befriended her to establish relationship, said the girl’s relative. The girl filed a complaint against Deepak. Division No 5 police led by SHO Sandeep Wadhera swooped into action and arrested him on the charges of rape. SHO Sandeep Wadhera said: “Yes, we have arrested the suspect. Victim’s hide-n-seek with cop The victim is playing hide-n-seek with cops following registration of a case. The accused did not appear before police to answer the posers. The victim was asked to get herself medically examined but she has failed to appear before the cops so far
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Four mobike thieves held
Ludhiana, May 3 The accused, identified as Johny, Jassi, Bunty and Bobby, residents of Partap Singh Wala colony and surrounding areas, were nabbed from inside PAU, while they were planning to execute a theft. One accused, Mithan of the Haibowal area, fled. Division No. 4 SHO Davinder Kumar said the police received a tip-off. They laid a trap at the PAU and nabbed the accused. ACP Raj Kumar said the accused had developed a master key and were experts in breaking motorcycle locks. They were drug addicts and sold the stolen motorcycles in small towns at throwaway prices. They were produced in court, which sent them to two-day police remand. — TNS
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LBA lads bag basketball title
Ludhiana, May 3 Nineteen teams in the boys section and 13 outfits in the girls section competed in the championship. Ludhiana Basketball Academy boys retained the championship title for the fifth year in succession. In this knockout-cum-league tournament, Ludhiana Academy, Mansa, Ferozepur and Faridkot districts in the boys section and Amritsar, Jalandhar, Mansa and Ludhiana districts in the girls category reached the semi-final super league. In the semi-final league, in girls section, Mansa defeated Jalandhar 27-13, Jalandhar beat Ludhiana 54-40, Amritsar punched Ludhiana 24-8 and Mansa outperformed Ludhiana 32-6. Amritsar emerged winners and Mansa secured second position. In the boys section, hosts Ferozepur defeated Faridkot 37-30, Ferozepur overpowered Mansa 51-43, Mansa beat Faridkot 58-29 and Ludhiana Basketball Academy outplayed Faridkot 62-25. Ludhiana Basketball Academy secured first position, followed by hosts Ferozepur. The winners in both sections were given a cash prize of Rs 11,000 each, besides trophies.
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Ludhiana take on Chandigarh today
Ludhiana, May 3 Out of five fixtures, Ludhiana will play four matches at Ludhiana while one tie is scheduled to be played at Mohali. Each team will be allotted 95 overs in the first innings while the second innings will be open. Ludhiana team will be finalised from those probables who were selected by the Ludhiana District Cricket Association during the trials last month. The probables are: Nimit Malhan, Nikhil Chaudhary, Rajat Arora, Mayank Bhagria, Devdeep, Vishwanath, Khushwinder, Jai Sharma, Hartejaswi, Parul, Saurabh, Manny Pandey, Anirudh, Gurbir Hara, Prabhtaj, Kunwar Makkar, Jagdip Singh, Manan Jain, Deepin, Nipun, Ramandip, Arman, Pranav, Nishant, Arshdeep and Viren Singh.
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Member of the Gidderwaha team argues with the games organisers. Tribune photos: Himanshu
Mahajan
It looks that under the present regime settling personal scores is getting precedence over constitutional duties that elected civic representatives are supposed to perform. During the ongoing spat between Mayor Hakam Singh Giaspura and another firebrand SAD councillor Simarjit Singh Bains, the former did score marginal victory if taking away a room allotted to Bains in zone C of the Municipal Corporation was any indication.