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dengue Threat looms large over city
Holy city cries for sports infrastructure
Varsity teachers to be on mass leave today
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Drug peddler nabbed with heroin
Help desk for senior citizens set up
Eye donation
fortnight
Passport Sewa Kendra to open in October
40 buffaloes rescued
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dengue Threat looms large over city
Amritsar, September 4 Hostels and Trauma Centre at Government Medical College, workshop of the roadways and the localities of Green Avenue, Basant Avenue and Mustfabad have been found with the presence of dengue larvae. District Epidemiologist Dr Charanjit Singh said rainwater getting accumulated in flower pots, junk items as tyres, etc, thrown in the open, and the air coolers were the main places where larvae were detected. Fumigation is the only way to kill dengue mosquitoes after the larvae stage, said Dr Charanjit Singh, adding that people must take due care that rainwater is properly drained out from the places where it gets accumulated. Along with apprising the MC officials, Deputy Commissioner, General Manager, Roadways, and Principal Government Medical College, have also been told about the reports. The health authorities have asked people to drain out water from all places where it has accumulated in rains to destroy the larvae. “People must ensure that no junk items that can hold water are thrown in open. Further the water in air coolers must be changed after a few days,” said Charanjit Singh. The Civil Hospital has set up an isolation ward at the hospital for dengue patients. Senior Medical Officer at the Civil Hospital Balbir Singh Dhillon said, “The isolation ward with 24 beds has already been set up for dengue patients.” He said the hospital was fully equipped to take on the situation. However, Dhillon said so far no dengue case had been reported in the hospital. “The tests for dengue fever are available with the hospital and people can get these tests conducted if symptoms of headache and retro-orbital pain exits,” the SMO said.
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Holy city cries for sports infrastructure
Amritsar, September 4 The District Sports Department, responsible for providing proper sports equipment and infrastructure, has just one centre - the archaic Guru Nanak Dev (GND) stadium - under its direct supervision, where its coaches impart training to the youth in a variety of disciplines. Apart from this, there is no other centre in the city controlled by the department, which over the last one year has been just holding some “World Cup” kabaddi matches, which neither brought in any revenue nor served their purpose of eradicating dope from amongst the youth. A visit to various centres revealed that the city is indeed bereft of top-class infrastructure as compared to other prominent cities of Punjab. Apart from from the GND stadium, where training is imparted in hockey, volleyball, football, athletics and weightlifting, there is no infrastructure where youngsters can train for gymnastics, wrestling, cricket, swimming, badminton and basketball. “Activity at the GND stadium is at a low key due to some construction work going on at the Malviya road end. The Archaeological Survey of India has stopped the construction midway, following which sports activity has gone for a six. Moreover, we are not sure whether we can actually train at the stadium in future because of a court case slapped on us by the Amritsar Games Association (AGA),” said Sukhbir Kaur, District Sports Officer. Sources reveal that there are four gymnastic coaches, but they have no centre and as a result they are shifted to schools, where they impart training. “Similarly we have enough coaches in all other disciplines, but we are unable to utilise their potential,” admitted Sukhbir Kaur. The department has swimming coaches, but has no pool of it own, following which trainees are sent to the Khalsa College for Boys’ pool. Likewise, there are no basketball courts in the city which the department can call its own. Sanjay Verma, a senior badminton player, said, “There is just one badminton hall in the city. Why cannot we rope in NRIs who are keen to build infrastructure in Punjab? Our shuttlers recently played in the inter- district tournament at Makandpur, a small village in Nawashahar district, where NRIs of the area have constructed a state-of- the-art badminton complex. Why cannot the district administration and the Sports Department talk to NRIs of the Majha area to improve infrastructure in the city?” The worst hit are the hockey players who have to train on grass at the GND stadium, but later are caught unawares once they step on to the astroturf. The GND University has a turf but it has imposed restrictions on outsiders for using their synthetic surface. “Trainees bend more on grass and once they graduate to the turf where they have to keep their body erect, they are caught in a dilemma,” revealed B.S. Randhawa, a hockey coach at the GND stadium. Disquiet may be prevailing among the officials of the helpless Sports Department, but it is the sports fans who are fighting a loosing battle. Said Ravneet Kaur, a young hockey player, “I want to excel in the sport but where do I play? Moreover, there is no astroturf in the city where I can hone my skills.”
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Varsity teachers to be on mass leave today
Amritsar, September 4 Showing solidarity with them, the university authorities too were ready to bear one day’s academic and official loss, despite the fact that the Teacher’s Day is dedicated exclusively to the spirit of teaching. This move is the outcome of the agitation call made by the Punjab Federation of University and College Teachers’ Organisations (PFUCTO), which in its recent meeting held at Ludhiana, raised their pending demands of release of UGC pay scale arrears, pension for staff of aided colleges, enhancement of retirement age, greater state funding for teaching and research in university system, early promotions under the Career Advancement Scheme and filling up of vacant teaching posts. The GNDU Teachers Association, in its meeting on September 1, 2011, unanimously endorsed the
decision of PFUCTO and rededicated itself to the movement. The members agreed to be part of the protest by deciding on a mass casual leave on Teachers’ Day and enthusiastic participation in mass rally at Chandigarh. Reflecting on the gravity of the issue, Dr. Balwinder Singh, president, GNDU Teachers’ Association expressed the intentions of the teaching community to intensify the movement, if the government did not soften its stance and arrived at a workable solution to end the deadlock. The GNDU Registrar Inderjit Singh said though 40 per cent of the university work would suffer for a day or two in the wake of teachers’ decision to go on mass leave, yet the damage is bearable.
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Teacher’s Day: Saluting these city educationists for their noble work
The name, Master Ajit Singh, popularly known as Masterji, has become a synonym to a movement, A movement to combat the scourge of drug addiction that has plagued the society, especially in the border areas, in a novel way.
A government teacher by profession, Masterji took the cudgels to fight this menace through education. He along with his wife set up a school in Maqboolpura, a locality infamous for bootlegging and drug addiction, situated on the outskirts of the holy city. Started with just 21 children, the school is providing quality education to more than 500 children, all belonging to families who are victim of the drug menace. Apart from their job as teachers, he and his wife Satpal Kaur, who is also a government teacher, are providing education to
the children at Maqboolpura school in the evening. They were also conferred upon with a special award by Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal during the Republic Day function in 2009. With tireless efforts of Masterji and industrialist-turned-social activist Brij Bedi, the children of Maqboolpura school are now studying in higher classes and recently joined various technical institutes after clearing the Joint Entrance Test. “This is just a beginning. We have dreamt to start a new movement to form a group from these young lads who would further guide, train and help in educating more and more children of the locality,” said Ajit Singh. “We want every child joining higher studies to contribute an hour or two for the society and the tiny tots of the locality and become torchbearers of the future generations,” he pointed out. On how they inclined towards serving this deprived section of the society, Ajit Singh said a lot of NGOs, socialites and administration were keen on helping the drug addicts by establishing de-addiction centres, but seldom did they spare thought for their families, who were constant sufferers, for no fault of
theirs. — PK Jaiswar Sardara Singh Their journey from scavenging the city garbage to the keyboard of a computer was the outcome of Sardara Singh, who has shown guts to transform the lives of ragpickers’ children in the holy city. A retired FCI employee, Sardara Singh, now 64, took the initiative to teach these underprivileged children from the ragpickers’ colony. Now, 15 years down the line, there exists Nishkaam Sewa Public School, being run from a temporary shed in the Ram Bagh area. With the initial strength of 10 children in 1996, the school today has over 175 children, from nursery to Class X. It is affiliated with the Punjab School Education Board and children are taught by a small group of “paid” teachers. After his repeated efforts, he was able to convince the district administration and was allotted a portion of the Civil Surgeon’s office building, just adjacent to the original location of this school. Elated to see his students grow, Sardara Singh said he was determined to change the course of their destiny, despite all odds in initial days. Despite being a man having limited sources and family responsibilities, he took voluntarily retirement and pumped in the part of money he got as retirement benefits to his mission. Sardara Singh then approached the ragpickers to face another tough challenge “to convince them that how far education could help change their children’s fate”. “They used to throw stones at me. But I continued holding classes in their colony and gradually they started sending their children to my class. Isn’t it a success,” he quips. It is all due to his endeavour that the daily schedule of the likes of nine-year-old Luxmi and her two-year-old brother Karan has changed. Their morning destination has now been changed from the railway lines to attending morning classes at Sardara Singh’s classroom. “I want to be a teacher,” said Luxmi. Yet, Akash (15), has somewhat different priorities. Due to acute financial crunch back home, he still has to rummage the garbage bins of the city, yet his vision is clear. “I want to be a doctor and for that matter, I make it a point not to miss my classes,” he said while searching reference material for a science project, he is working on.
— GS Paul Pearl Jasra
In her mid-20s, Pearl Jasra is a “self-made” teacher, who has turned her residence into a school to facilitate education to children from economically weaker sections of society. At present, she is teaching over 120 children aged between four to 16 years. Most of them come from slum areas located near her house on Majitha Road. She has converted rooms of her house into classrooms. Her school also has children who have been abandoned by their mothers. Pearl’s own tragic background has taught her to help the downtrodden. She lost her mother when she was 12 and her father soon after. She experienced the emotional pangs at a very tender age, which made her strong mentally to face the challenges of life with guts. At that tragic time her family maid, Krishnaji, lent her emotional support. Once she returned with Kamini, an adopted child, who was only a piece of “starved flesh”. Little Pearl tended to, fed and caressed Kamini with love, who eventually returned to life. Subsequently, Kamini brought with her many of her friends, who would land at Pearl’s house everyday for a bit of education and fun. Thus, it led Pearl to start teaching and taking care of these students. It has been seven years since then and today from a bunch of about 20 children the strength at her school has now crossed 120. With her limited resources, she has successfully persuaded some affluent families of the city to financially support children’s education. She was denied monetary assistance under the Sarv Shiksha Abhiyan, despite fulfilling all criteria nearly three years ago. However, it did not deter her from going ahead. Under the abhiyan she was eligible for annual grant of Rs 14 lakh. Over the years, Pearl has moved ahead as she now also grooms her students, drawn from economically weaker sections of the society like construction labourers, dish washers, rickshaw pullers and others, to become financially self-sufficient. Children’s love for animals is well-known. However, she has turned this liking into a vocation. Her students go to houses to take care of pets and earn monthly Rs 200 per pet. Her organisation, Initiative for Viable Education (IVE), is holding exhibition of products like phulkari, paper bags, show pieces and others prepared by her students and their mothers, who are working as maids. At present, her stress is on developing communication skills among her students to employ them in avenues like hospitality and retail
sectors. — Neeraj Bagga
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Drug peddler nabbed with heroin
Amritsar, September 4 The police authorities revealed that earlier Dilbagh used to sell intoxicants in the area before he came in contact with heroin smugglers based at the Indo-Pak border and later starting selling heroin. A case under has been registered at the Chheharta police station against him.
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Help desk for senior citizens set up
Amritsar, September 4 SDMs have been appointed as designated authorities to deal with such complaints. Rajat Agarwal, deputy commissioner, Amritsar, said senior citizens can file their applications every Friday which would be considered an appeal and no separate appeal through any advocate would be required. He said acting on their complaints, the SDMs would issue immediate notices to their children who would have to be present before them during the hearing. “These designated authorities would have the powers to fix their monthly remuneration which their wards would be bound to give to them for their proper care. Their wards would also be given a fair chance to present their side before the SDM. Later on, he could, fix the monthly payment up to Rs 10,000 depending upon the economic conditions and other respective factors brought forward during the hearing of the appeal,” Agarwal said. He, however, clarified that no property disputes would be taken up by the designated authorities under this Act and people should refrain from filing such complaints. Under Section 23 of the Act, parents who transferred their cash and property in the name of their wards so that they would take good care of them can claim their property back if their children fail to do so, he said.
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Eye donation
fortnight
Amritsar, September 4 The department has got a meagre Rs 15,000 grant to run the 15-day show. Lack of sufficient funds has proved to be a deterrent in the way of designing the policy to be adopted. With only four days left in the conclusion of the programme, the local health department is yet to begin work in this regard. A proposal has been sent to the team of doctors designated to run the show just two days ago. However, the team is yet to plan any activity as per the proposal. As per the proposal, the health department plans to reach people through their children by making them aware of the cause of eye donation first. Reaching out to students in schools and colleges would be more economical than planning awareness camps for the general public in various localities. The department also plans to educate patients and their attendants at hospitals. Private hospitals in the city are also being aimed under the plan as most of the critically-injured patients are admitted here. Assistant Civil Surgeon, Arjun Kumar Dhawan said, “Targeting schools, colleges and hospitals is more convenient and appropriate”. |
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Resentment brews in Virsa Vihar Society
Amritsar, September 4 The faction, headed by the Shiromani Award-winning poet and founder-member Parminderjit Singh, also levelled allegations of corruption and non-transparency against the President Kewal Dhaliwal. “The functioning of Virsa Vihar Society is marred by a lot of unwanted issues and this year’s elections are a fine example. Some of the deserving names were played down because of favouritism and petty politics. The general body has 216 members but only one-third were considered before electing the committee,” alleged Parminderjit. The members of the committee have been increased from 11 to 15, and include eminent names from the field of art and literature. Parminderjit Singh has further criticised the “administrative lapses” in the functioning of Virsa Vihar. “There is no transparency and all the decisions rest in a single person’s hand, which is unconstitutional.” It is noteworthy that Parminderjit Singh resigned from the post of general secretary due to difference of opinion with president Dhaliwal. “There has always been a lobby that worked against me and criticised my involvement with the society. That’s why I was bluntly ignored and not given my due,” claimed the eminent poet. On the other hand, president Dhaliwal dismissed the situation as “nothing but a minor misunderstanding”. “There are no problems whatsoever with Parminderjit. He is a senior and respected member of the Society. He himself proposed some of the names at the annual founder- members meeting and everybody’s opinion was taken into consideration at the general body meeting. I have no idea why such claims are being made unless some vested interests are being harboured.” He cleared the doubts over the competence of the elected committee as well, “Some of the known international and national artistes have been selected. To raise question on their credibility is not fair,” he said. He also rubbished the claims of not having enough transparency, “While the names of the elected members were being announced on stage, I asked all the general body members about any objections being made. Things can’t be more open than this.” He also proposed the idea of expanding the committee in the near future, “Parminderjit Singh is an honoured member and we plan to bring him in with due respect. There will always be issues and I cannot please everybody but everything has been done amicably and under the rules,”said Dhaliwal.
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Cong to work for traders: Amarinder
Amritsar, September 4 He said this during an interaction held with Capt Amarinder Singh and the Punjab Pradesh Beopar Mandal (PPBM), which represented around 35 traders and industrial associations belonging to the state. Reacting over PPBM’s demand to establish a better, transparent and Inspector raj- free trade practices in the state, he said, “After coming to power, the Congress party would form a Chief Minister Advisory Council for Trade and Industry to bridge the gap between traders and the state government. The ground work for the same would be laid well in advance. After a dialogue between the panel of traders and our expert panel, we would include it in our manifesto for the upcoming elections to see when and how it should be
executed.” Recommending upliftment of trade and industries, Capt Amarinder Singh said rationalization of the taxation system to boost the trade sector should be part of the party’s policy, instead of the agriculture sector. He said the gap between the supply and the subsidised price of key agriculture produce like wheat and rice cannot bring out reforms. “Instead of the agriculture sector, it is the trade sector which would support the depleting economic growth of the state which stood at about 1.6 per cent at present. Therefore, it is a necessary step for the survival of the state,” he said. Capt Amarinder Singh said industry not only creates revenue but generates jobs as well. He said his government would address both the problems of unemployment and resource crunch. He condemned the Akali-BJP government for the lack of will and vision to attract or retain the existing industry. Earlier, traders from different districts apprised him about their problems.
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Passport Sewa Kendra to open in October
Amritsar, September 4 “The application and police verification process would be made online with this centre,” said Regional Passport Officer, JS Sodhi. He said the centre would cater to the needs of Amritsar, Gurdaspur, Tarn Taran, Fazilika, Pathankot, Ferozepur, Faridkot and Mukatsar districts. After the verification process is completed, Sewa Kendra would send the file to regional passport officer for issuance of passport. “With this new system in place, the public would take an appointment online. This way they need not stand in queues for long time,” said Sodhi adding that system of taking paper applications would be done away with. To check the duplicity of passports and frauds, the bio-metric imaging system that would be in place at the new centre. The ministry also plans to open 77 passport sewa kendra’s in the country. Of these 16, including one each at Ludhiana, Chandigarh and Ambala have already been made functional.
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40 buffaloes rescued
Amritsar, September 4 The CIA staff authorities revealed that they got the information that two trucks loaded with the buffaloes from Naag Kalan village were being taken to UP. Activists of the Hindu Suraksha Samiti intercepted the two trucks near the Verka-Majitha bypass and informed the police authorities.
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