Jalandhar, August 1
Agitated over the alleged killing of a 30-year-old youth, an angry mob from Santokhpura Mohalla and surrounding localities went berserk this evening and resorted to violent protests on the Delhi-Amritsar national highway and Lamma Pind-Santokhpura link road.

Putting around 300 police personnel and battery of senior police officials on tenterhooks, hundreds of the residents of the area resorted to stone hurling, setting tyres on fire, forcing the shopkeepers to roll the shutters down and blocking the roads.

Alleging that the deceased had been given electric shocks before being killed by some persons having some local politicians’ patronage, the protesters, including women, refused to cremate the body and organised a protest while keeping the body on the middle of the road.

It all started around 4 pm when Sonu Giri, resident of Santokhpura Mohalla, was found injured in a residential plot in the Deep Nagar locality. He was rushed to a private hospital, where doctors declared him “brought dead”. Within no time, hundreds of the residents organised themselves into a mob and caused riot-like situation in the entire locality.

A relative of the deceased alleged that the body of Sonu bore injury marks that clearly indicate that Sonu was given electric shocks before being killed.

“Sonu had picked up quarrel with some persons around 15 days ago, who,having the patronage of local politicians, killed him this morning,” he alleged.

Rajpal Singh Sandhu, ADCP (Crime), and the SHO of Police Division VIII could not be contacted despite repeated attempts.

Investigating officer Mulkh Raj said a case under Section 302 of the IPC was registered against BSP councillor from Ward 6 Hans Raj Rana and his accomplices Shammi and Sunil.

Jalandhar, August 1
The tall claims of Education Minister Sewa Singh Sekhwan of raising the standard of higher education seem to have gone for a toss as 38 government colleges in the state are functioning without regular principals.

This despite the fact that soon after becoming the Education Minister, Sekhwan had assured of filling the vacant posts of principal in government colleges on priority.

At present there are 55 government colleges and two directorates, which take the total number of posts of principal to 57. Scores of government colleges affiliated to Guru Nanak Dev (GND) University, Amritsar, namely Government College, Mathiala, Ajnala, Kala Afghana, Tarn Taran, Patti, Sujanpur and Bholath, Training College, Jalandhar, Government Arts and Sports College, Jalandhar, and Government B. Ed College, Jalandhar, have no regular principal for a long time.

Talking to The Tribune, senior vice-president of the Government Colleges Teachers’ Association Dr Ajit Singh Shahi said they had met the Education Minister in November, 2010, in this regard, but all that came their way was assurances.

“No fresh recruitments of principals could be done following the PPSC scam. Even no meeting of Departmental Promotion Committee (DPC) was conducted after January, 2009, which took a toll on the quality of education,” he said, adding that government colleges were the only institutions which catered to the educational needs of the financially weak students in the state and hence they should be upgraded.

The association also highlighted that since 1994 there had been no recruitment of permanent lecturers in the government colleges. “75 per cent of the recruitment of the principals is done through promotions and the rest 25 per cent are recruited through the PPSC. Sadly both the ways of promotion have been lying defunct bringing the standard of education down,” he stated.

Shahi also highlighted that many associate professors teaching in government colleges across the state had retired awaiting a golden chance of promotion and hence becoming principals. “Many senior professors have retired and there are others who are on the verge of retirement,” he lamented.

When contacted, Education Minister Sewa Singh Sekhwan said, “We are about to conduct a DPC within a month or two, which will surely bring the problem of lack of regular principals in government colleges to an end. Decks have been cleared for the appointment of permanent lecturers as well. Firstly we will appoint the UGC-NET qualified lecturers; secondly we will appoint those candidates who completed their M. Phil before 2009; and thirdly the guest faculty with around eight to 10 years of experience will also be appointed on priority.”

The minister stated that he was committed to appointing new principals soon. “All the recruitments will be made as per the seniority list,” he added.

Phagwara, August 1
The police has busted an inter-district gang of drug smugglers and arrested its three members, identified as Mohan Lal of Langodia village in SBS Nagar district and Ramesh Kumar and Surjit Singh of Hadiabad in Phagwara subdivision.

Amritsar, August 1
A youth, Ashish Kumar, resident of Rajesh Nagar area situated on the Batala road, was killed as he accidentally touched a high-voltage wire passing over the roof of his house today.

Agitated over this, residents of the area, led by Harpal Singh Bhatia, Congress delegate from east, held a protest dharna outside the Powercom office on the Batala road. They blocked the traffic on both sides of the road for over three hours.

They raised slogans against the Powercom authorities and the state government for its failure to remove the high-voltage wire from the residential area.

Bhatia claimed that about 20 days back a girl also came in contact with the high-voltage wire. She had been undergoing treatment at a local private hospital. He said there was a constant threat to the lives of a large number of residents of the area and the authorities concerned had miserably failed to remove these wires even after repeated requests.

They lifted the dharna only after an assurance from the high officials of the department who reached the spot and promised to remove the high-voltage wires from the area as soon as possible. They also assured to give the victim’s family a suitable compensation, claimed Bhatia.

Jalandhar, August 1
Even as the AICTE had placed the DAV Institute of Engineering and Technology in the “no admission category” over objections on the appointment of principal and staff, the college today inaugurated its session with much fanfare.

Vice-Chancellor of Punjab Technical University (PTU) Dr Rajneesh Arora was the chief guest. During the function, Dr A.L. Sangal, Registrar of the Dr B.R. Ambedkar National Institute of Technology, was introduced to the staff and students as the designate principal. It was announced that Dr Sangal would soon join the DAVIET. The PRO of the institute, Gaurav Dhuria, explained that the function was organised as the institute had removed all objections raised by the AICTE and was expecting a clearance soon.

AICTE officials could not be contacted, despite repeated attempts. — TNS