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Stony tale of city’s development told twice over
Lawyers observe a ‘no work day’
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Residents demand for Duronto halt in city
Construction of NIFT building gets underway
INTUC Labour Council threatens stir
14 fined for smoking in public
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Stony tale of city’s development told twice over
Jalandhar, August 24 Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal laid the foundation stone for commencement of work on the over bridge on August 17, 2008, while Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal laid the second foundation stone on the opening of the bridge after completion on August 24, 2010. In another interesting episode of two foundation stones laid in Rail Vihar in Ladhewali for the same project and on the same day by the same group of people. The distance between the two stones was a mere 300 metres. Both were for the launch of L-type drains and roads in the colony on October 13, 2010, and bear the names of former minister Manoranjan Kalia, Mayor Rakesh Rathour and Councillor Gurmeet Chand. ‘Congress-regime’ stones disappear
Interestingly, two stones laid for Dr BR Ambedkar Bhavan falling within the District Administrative Complex compound are another case in point. While the one dating back to May 9, 1999, still stands and has now been fitted in the frontal walls of the under-construction building, another one laid by Congress leader MS Kaypee during his tenure as the Social Welfare Minister in December 2006 is nowhere to be seen. Kaypee did not know where the stone had vanished. “I will get it checked. It was me who gave a practical shape to the project which had been lying defunct,” he claimed. He alleged the project had been hanging fire under the present state government. In case of Dr BR Ambedkar MC Administrative Complex, Congress councillor Rajinder Beri claimed that the work for the complex had been initiated at the time of former Local Bodies Minister Chaudhry Jagjit Singh in 2005. “The stone laid for the project is nowhere to be seen now. The ruling government played smart and has the new stone of opening of complex in 2009 put in front of the entrance,” he rued. No headway in major projects
Former minister Manoranjan Kalia laid several stones for slum development projects in various areas separately. One at Kot Sadiq stands as it is with no headway on the project. No headway has been made in the projects of renovation of Nehru Garden and upgradation of Burlton Park for past more than two years. Majority of stones in Ward 9, 45
Almost every lane of Karol Bagh, Gulmarg Marg and Maan Singh Nagar, falling in Ward 9 near Ladhewali, has separate foundation stones for works like sewerage and water supply, road laying, tubewell installation and parks. The stones have been laid by former Local Bodies Minister Manoranjan Kalia, who represents this assembly segment, Mayor Rakesh Rathour and Councillor Gurmit Chand Duggal. While works have been completed in other areas, the plight of Karol Bagh area is the worst. Even roads are not visible here despite the foundation stone which was laid on November 26, 2010. A stone was laid for sewage work as well but it has been partly commissioned. In case of the 120-feet road in Ward 45 where five stones have been laid along the stretch. Senior Deputy Mayor Kamaljit Bhatia who represents the area has laid stones for two parks, fancy lights and development of the green belt. Bhatia claims that former Local Bodies Minister and former Mayor Surinder Mahey had also laid stones of these projects under the Congress regime but it was him who got the projects approved. Congress leader Rajinder Kaur Bhattal had also laid a stone for development of the City Centre project on the adjoining Chhevin Patshahi road, which is yet to take off. Stone bears the ire
These stones have to bear the ire of the residents and not the residents. There was a foundation stone breaking episode about a month back in Neelamahal Colony here. The residents broke the stone claiming that their area was being neglected with no works being completed. MLA KD Bhandari had to intervene to pacify the residents. SGPC polls -a dampener
Imposition of the code of conduct for the SGPC poll on July 28 may have hampered further plans of the leaders in this regard till September 18. The leaders are said to be busy these days quietly completing file work for more such works in their respective areas. Tell-tale stones
Certain stones laid in the Congress regime in the city have a unique characteristic. Former local bodies minister Ch Jagjit Singh had got statues of freedom fighters erected in the city with his own name etched in bold letters and those of the iconic figures in smaller letters. A statue of Pt Kishori Lal at Press Club intersection stands as a befitting example. |
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Lawyers observe a ‘no work day’
Jalandhar, August 24 Actually Mamta and Ajay Vashisth’s cases are not isolated ones. Hundreds of litigants had to suffer a lot as the District Bar Association (DBA) decided to observe a “no work day” to facilitate lawyers to take part in the cremation of its senior member Chaudhary Darshan Singh, also a veteran Congress leader. Earlier, the DBA decided to observe “no work day” for only the first half on Tuesday but it was later extended to full day. However, some lawyers were seen attending the courts in connection with their cases. Another litigant Rajiv Sharma said he had filed a civil case against Raj Kiran a few years ago. While the decision to the cases has already been delayed due to a huge backlog of cases, however, observing “no work day” had further adversely affected the litigants, he added. Interestingly, the advocates had also observed a strike a few weeks ago to express solidarity with their counterparts from Gurdaspur whose chambers had allegedly been destroyed by the administration. Even at that time, hundreds of litigants had to suffer. DBA secretary Baldev Singh Ralh said, “The DBA had decided to observe “no work day” for the first half of the day so that the lawyers could attend the cremation of senior advocate Chaudhary Darshan Singh. Later, the DBA decided to extend the “no work day” to the entire day on the request of its members as the lawyers remained at the crematorium till around 1.30 pm.” Ralh said the litigants suffered due to observing “no work day”. At the same time, he said “The advocates have to go to attend the cremation, if any DBA member passes away as anyone in other profession does. There is no other option available.” Former chairman of the Punjab Mandi Board and veteran Congress leader Chaudhary Darshan Singh (90) was cremated at Model Town crematorium on Wednesday afternoon. He passed away on Sunday afternoon at Chawla Hospital where he was admitted three days ago. He is survived by two sons and a daughter. Born on April 17, 1921, at Jadwal village in Faisalabad district now in Pakistan, he became MLA for the first time from Nakodar in 1962. Subsequently, he won from Aadampur in 1967 and then from Noormahal in 1971. He also remained the chairman of Punjab Mandi Board from 1982 to 1985. Condoling his death, Punjab Congress President Capt Amarinder Singh said his death was a great loss to the party. |
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Gang of auto-snatchers busted, 3 held
Jalandhar, August 24 During verification of the documents of the vehicle, the police found that the trio, travelling in the
car, had snatched the vehicle from Ramesh Bhanot, a resident of New Jawahar Nagar area, on July 14. The thieves have been identified as Jagdip Singh, alias Jassi, resident of Sarhali in Taran Tarn, Kamaljit Singh, alias Kamal, resident of Jandiayala Guru, and Sukhbaj Singh, alias Baja, resident of Padhari Kaklan, both in Amritsar district. The modus operandi of the gang was that the members used to sell the vehicle in Amritsar after snatching them from people in Jalandhar and surrounding areas. Talking to The Tribune, Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (City-II) Gagan Ajit Singh revealed that the gang had snatched the car (PB-08-BK-5511) from Bhanot at a gunpoint. They were wanted in nearly six cases of snatching and theft by the city police. The police was hunting them in the Swift car snatching incident after registering a case under Sections 382, 342 and 34 of the IPC and Arms Act at the Division No 8 police station, he added. The ADCP revealed that Jagdip Singh was wanted in almost 10 cases of theft, snatching and robbery by the Jalandhar and the Amritsar police. |
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road to death
Jalandhar, August 24 On an average nearly 15,000 to 20,000 vehicles pass on the road, leave alone thousands of students who travel daily on the stretch to study in a number of educational institutions located virtually on the side of the road. As the police often refuses to register cases on the pretext of jurisdiction, the accident victims run from pillar to post for the registration of cases. The reckless driving of heavy vehicles, including trucks and buses, is to be blamed for the rise in number of accidents on the national highway. Residents accuse the administration and the police for their callous attitude in curbing the menace. “The lack of traffic sense and increasing number of SUVs on the roads is also adding to the menace. The drivers of these heavy vehicles drive them at a breakneck speed, which has resulted in fatal accidents,” Vice-Chairman of the Punjab State Road Safety Council Dr Kamaljit Soi said. The commuters allege that lack of traffic police deployment on the roads is also responsible for the increasing number of fatalities. “Most of the times, the traffic is streamlined only when a VIP commutes on the road. All traffic police officials are forced to rush to a particular stretch from where these VIPs have to travel, but when an accident victim needs help hardly any cop or ambulance service is available to rescue him,” Soi said. The study conducted by Dr Kamaljit Soi and his team points that most of deaths occurred on roads due to the engineering faults and human errors.
Killer stretch
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Residents demand for Duronto halt in city
Jalandhar, August 24 Taking a strong note, the state president of Vyapar Sena Ravindra Dhir said “Both the MPs at Jalandhar (Mohinder Singh Kaypee) and Ludhiana (Manish Tiwari) are from the Congress, in power at the Centre. Had they raised the issue of stopping the train at Jalandhar, Phagwara and Ludhiana effectively much earlier, it would have easily done.” When he was told that Kaypee said he had written a letter to the Railway Minister in this regard, Dhir questioned “What is the question of just writing the letter that too at this juncture. He should have taken up the matter with the Railways much earlier. As they had not done so, they have no proper vision for the benefits of the residents of this city.” Dhir said a meeting of Vyapar Sena would soon be convened to chalk out to start an impressive agitation to put pressure on the Union Government to make its stoppages at Jalandhar, Phagwara and Ludhiana. Echoing his sentiments, the president of Federation of Jalandhar Industrial and Traders Association, Gursharan Singh, said “What is the fun of running this train from Amritsar to Chandigarh without having any stoppage on the way? Most of its coaches will remain empty, if it is not stopped at Jalandhar. The city railway station should be made its stoppage without any further
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An experiment in apathy - Govt school science labs
Jalandhar, August 24 The primary, elementary schools and most of the middle schools do not have any labs at all. Out of the senior secondary and high schools, only those with the regular science stream subjects have labs. Some students even in schools with dedicated lab infrastructure suffer because the labs are not being maintained well. In February 2010, as many as 27 schools received funds of Rs 6.10 lakh each for their science labs. Work for the creation and/or upgrade of these labs in many of these schools has not begun so far. The condition of the science labs in schools which did not manage hefty grants is worse. Government Boys Senior Secondary School, Bhargo Camp, has all three science labs for chemistry, physics and biology but require upkeep. The unkempt chemistry lab has broken basins, inadequate equipment as well as dirt-ridden floors. The unused biology lab here has science models covered with dust. In the physics lab, dirt has settled on both the empty broad tables but the employees here claim the almirahs have all the important equipment needed for the lab. The chemistry lab’s attendant retired a year ago and no one has been hired since. The physics and biology labs both have senior lab attendants (SLAs) but since there are no biology classes at present, the lab attendant for the biology lab doubles up as a clerk and attendant for other labs. School’s science teacher Baljit Kaur agrees that the equipment in the labs is inadequate. At Government Girls Senior Secondary School, Ladowali Road, the science lab of the school is in a dark room with damp walls. The structure is old and school principal Kamaljot Kaur says things are worse during the monsoon. The lab has very limited science equipment. In the absence of wash basins experiments are not possible to be conducted here. There is little in the name of equipment for the biology and physics labs too. Sources say the school earlier had a good lab which was shifted to make room for the SSA (Sarv Sikhiya Abhiyan) cell. The principal, who joined in May this year, says she is not aware about the same. At Government Girls High School, Kot Sadiq, on the outskirts of the city, has one lab for the maths and science subjects. The lab has mostly charts and models made by children. There’s little in the name of equipment. Ironically, it’s one of the high schools that is doing good - equipment wise-because most of the high schools do not even have this much. Sanjiwan Singh Dadwal, general secretary, Science Teacher’s Association, says, “The government is doing everything to ridicule science education. Students need science labs from the Class III because that’s when they get the subject of environmental studies. A majority of the schools do not have science labs because they are short of space. Those in the senior secondary level have it but many don’t bother about their upkeep. Lack of teachers also creates problems. Teacher-less labs have maintenance problems. Also 90 per cent of district schools running science streams do not have lab attendants.” KK Aeri, DEO, Secondary said, “Most of the senior secondary schools have labs. I agree there are problems of upkeep in some of the schools. We are planning to send a report about the problem schools to the district science supervisor.” Lab stats The district has only 13 lab attendants for 134 high schools and 87 lab attendants for 126 senior secondary schools. Of the total 126 senior secondary schools, 27 schools teach science streams so they need 81 lab attendants (three for every science subject). So whereas the district needs 314 lab attendants, it has only 100.
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Construction of NIFT building gets underway
Jalandhar, August 24 Being built at the cost of Rs 16.36 crore, the building being designed by a Chandigarh-based architect is said to be very distinct. The outer profile of the building is in the shape of heeled boots. As per the plan, the building will house the classrooms and an auditorium. In between the heel and the toe, there will be a porch, the plan shows. Giving details of the concept, architect Renu Khanna explained, “The first floor will be at a height. Then there will be receding terraces. There will be a lot of space for students to hang around.” She said, “We all know that Italy is the fashion centre of the world. The shape of the country is like a boot.” On how she got the idea, she said, “During a visit at a fashion technology institute, I saw a student depicting a high-rise building on a pair of jeans. I thought if he could have a piece of architect on fashion wear, why I could not have a sample of fashion as an architectural design.” It was perhaps for the want of a building that the institute, running at the transit campus of Government Tanning Institute on Nakodar Road, that it has so far failed to attract students. While there were just 19 students in the first semester, there was no admission in the second one (owing to some problem in a tie-up with Delhi-based firm). As many as 23 students have registered for the third semester, which began after an entrance test conducted by the Department of Industry on June 10 at Ludhiana. Besides, there are three lateral entry students at the institute. Offering a single course in three-year Diploma in Fashion Technology, the institute has been charging a fee of Rs 35,000 for the first semester and Rs 30,000 for the next five semesters. The institute is in the process of appointing adequate number of teachers. There are only four teachers, those too working on a contract basis. It is managing with guest lecturers for the time being. According to BS Brar, who has served as GM Industries in Jalandhar and has been recently shifted to Mohali, said he hoped that the new building would come up by December. He said people take time to develop faith in a new institute. Regarding a relatively higher fee structure, he said cost of the raw material used for practical classes and consumption of power for computerized machinery was quite high. |
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INTUC Labour Council threatens stir
Jalandhar, August 24 They submitted a memorandum through Deputy Commissioner Priyank Bharti to the Principal Secretary, Chandigarh. They demanded that the daily wages of the industrial and agricultural labourers should be increased and the contract system in various government departments should be abolished. It was also demanded that the privatisation of public sector units should be stopped as this in turn is leading to the exploitation of the workers. Council chief Amrik Singh Gill said the state government should abolish the draconian Act against the trade unions. “We demand that the non-teaching staff of MGN Public School and Dayanand Model School working for the past three years be regularised,” he added. |
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14 fined for smoking in public
Jalandhar, August 24 Similarly, a fine was imposed on three individuals for the alleged violation of the provision of the Act each at the district administrative complex and bus stand.
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