The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

A deserved break: Staff of Shri Guru Harkrishan Public School perform giddha during the Teacher’s Day function at the school in Amritsar on Monday. A Tribune Photograph.

It’s a black day
Amritsar, September 5
The ETT teachers working under the Zila Parishad today observed Teacher’s Day as a black day and observed 24-hour hunger strike in the wake of the government’s apathy towards their demand of regularising their services in the mainstream Education Department. Representative of the ETT Teachers Union Jaswinder Singh Jahangir rued that thought the government had formulated a policy to transfer the Zila Parishad teachers in the rural sector to urban schools governed by the state Education Department, but the ground realities were different.

Civil Hospital holds health camp ‘sans’ doctors
Amritsar, September 5
Patients wait for doctors at the Orthopaedic Department in the Civil Hospital, Amritsar. Long queues and absence of doctors from the OPD rooms. This is the scenario at the Civil Hospital where the authorities had launched a camp under the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) here today.
Patients wait for doctors at the Orthopaedic Department in the Civil Hospital, Amritsar. Photo: Vishal Kumar

Holy city has no heart for art & artists
Amritsar, September 5
What does art thrive on? What makes any Arty affair: A view of GS Thakur SIngh Art Gallery and (right) visitors at an exhibition of the works of artist KT Kala in Amritsar artist good or bad? What is the single most important thing that raises the bar of a culturally rich city? The answer is simple, a good audience. The holy city seems unable to ask such questions, let alone find answers. Call it injustice or ignorance, but Amritsar, with a history of producing some of the country’s finest visual artists, has reached a point of stagnation and art’s cause has been lost.
Arty affair: A view of GS Thakur SIngh Art Gallery and (right) visitors at an exhibition of the works of artist KT Kala in Amritsar. Photo: Vishal Kumar

Dates of submission of forms for semester exams announced
Amritsar, September 5
The Guru Nanak Dev University has announced the dates of submission of examination forms for the students appearing in all postgraduate regular and private examinations that fall under the semester system, commencing from the current academic session 2011-12. This decision was taken by the university to strengthen and upgrade the teaching programmes and introduce the semester system in all the postgraduate courses for regular students in colleges, distance-education programmes and private students from this academic session (2011-12). Dr. R.K. Mahajan, Professor in charge (Examinations) said that the students could submit their admission forms for December semester 2011 Examinations without late fee till September 10. The admission forms can be downloaded from the University website(www.gndu.ac.in).

Field day on IPM in Basmati at Veeram village
Amritsar, September 5
The field day and the farmer’s training camp on Integrated Pest Management in Basmati rice was organised by the Farm Advisory Service Scheme KVK, Amritsar, and PAU, Ludhiana at village Veeram near Majitha, here today.

Gang of vehicle-lifters busted; 17 SUVs, cars, recovered
Amritsar, September 5
The Amritsar (Rural) police today claimed to have busted an interstate gang of vehicle lifters and recovered 17 vehicles from them.
Members of the gang of vehicle-lifters in police custody in Amritsar
Members of the gang of vehicle-lifters in police custody in Amritsar on Monday. Photo: Vishal Kumar

One booked in gang war incident
Amritsar, September 5
The police has booked Jagtar Singh, a resident of police quarter colony and two of his accomplices Balwinder Kumar alias Billa of Kot Khalsa and Sukhwinder Singh alias Babbi of Pandori Waraich village in connection with the gang war incident in Ranjit Avenue area a couple of days back.

Jewellery, cash stolen from house in Bagh Ramanand
Amritsar, September 5
A police team takes fingerprints at the house where burglars decamped with jewellery and cash in Amritsar Several burglars decamped with jewellery worth lakhs of rupees and cash from a residence in the Bagh Ramanand area here last night. The family members were not present in the house as they were shifting to a new house in the cantonment area.

A police team takes fingerprints at the house where burglars decamped with jewellery and cash in Amritsar on Monday photo Sameer Sehgal

President’s Cup cricket kicks off
Amritsar, September 5
The inaugural edition of the Amritsar Games Association (AGA), the President’s Cup kicked off in style at the Gandhi grounds here today.

Shrey Gupta stuns Upamanyu Suntra
Amritsar, September 5
Shrey Gupta of Haryana kept on improving with each point to stun seeded Upamanyu Suntra of Gujarat 6-0, 6-1 in the under-16 category of the AITA ranking tennis tournament played at the Ram Bagh courts here today. Shrey kept on increasing his first service percentage to deliver the knockout punch to his rival. So commanding was Shrey’s performance that he barely had to strain a muscle as he comprehensively won the first set 6-0.

A player in action during AITA ranking Tennis Championship in Amritsar on Monday. Photo: Sameer Sehgal

	No celebrations, but protests by these teachers on their day 7,654 teachers, recruited under NABARD in 351 schools in the state, have not been paid salaries since April GS Paul Tribune News Service Amritsar, September 5 It was a gloomy Teacher’s Day for 7,654 teachers, recruited under the National Board of Rural Development (NABARD) in 351 schools located in different parts of the state as they have not been paid salaries from April. Hundreds of teachers from Amritsar and Tarn Taran districts today assembled at Company Bagh here today to register their protest against the government. Worried over their payment of salaries, the teachers stated that the day was not far when they would have to move to streets with a bowl to beg. There are over 450 full-time teachers deputed in about 30 schools along with thousands of non-teaching staff in the district, which included Harsha Chhina, Khalchian, Timmiwal, Sathiala. These teachers under different categories of masters, lecturers, vocational courses and non-teaching employees, like librarians, were recruited by the state government through an advertisement published in 2009, promising the pay scales that varied between Rs 3,200 and Rs 6,400, which further got increased from Rs 6,900 to 10,790, following the recommendations of the Sixth Pay Commission. The teachers rued that earlier it took the government two years to complete the recruitment procedure and now they had been waiting to have their pay packets. What do teachers say? Till date, I am dying to see my first pay packet. How can we educate children to concentrate seriously on studies when we, after scoring merit in M.Phil, are running from pillar to post to get our salaries —Amandeep Kaur, Harsha Chhina Senior Secondary School Now even the karyana merchants have stopped giving us daily-use items on credit. Even the regular teachers ask us to do extra work like substituting in their positions in their absence —Nirmal Singh, Government Senior Secondary School(Boys), I am a qualified mathematics teacher and I had quit my earlier SSA job just in anticipation that I would be benefited under the NABARD —Jagroop Kaur, Government High School, Boparai Kalan Even the Class IV employee is hired on a much higher salary than ours —Gurpreet Singh, Government Senior Secondary School, Katra, Tarn Taran We are ashamed of telling others that we are teachers who have not been paid salaries. Even the students taunt us by calling us just contractual teachers who can be thrown out of job anytime — Ranjeet Gill, Government Senior Secondary School, Khalchian
	Ad hoc teachers run the show Tribune News Service Amritsar, September 5 While the teachers of GND University and most of the city colleges went on a mass casual leave on Teacher’s Day today to be part of the state rally scheduled to be held at Chandigarh to express their anguish against the indifferent attitude of the government towards their long-standing demands, yet the ad hoc lot compensated the academic damage in their absence. Colleges’ authorities viewed that a day’s academic dent would not be much as the teachers who had sought leave were only the regular ones who were members of either the Punjab and Chandigarh College Teachers Union or the Punjab Federation of University and College Teachers Organisation. Principal Daljit Singh of Khalsa College viewed that though the damage to students’ studies was there, but prior arrangement were already made by the management to control the damage. “As a teacher I support the cause for which the teachers have been fighting, but as far as our college is concerned, we have over 50 per cent of the staff, who are on ad hoc basis. We had already redesigned our timetable in such a way that ad hoc staff was deputed to take the classes,” he said. At DAV College, Hathigate, Prof HS Walia, Vice-Principal, advocated that since Teachers’ Day was dedicated to the cause of the teaching community, it would not have been advisable to shun those who wanted to be part of the mass rally. “In our college, over 40 per cent of the staff is on ad hoc and had hardly anything to do with the cause. They were all on the job, so question does not arise about the academic loss. Moreover, we would be compensating the students by taking extra classes on Sundays,” he said. Endorsing the views, GND University Registrar Inderjit Singh said, “The university’s academic as well as official work suffered for the day due to the mass casual leave by teachers, but we had a good lot of ad hoc staff, which came to our rescue. It is true that work was hit for a day, but it was a common cause of teachers.”
	It’s a black day Tribune News Service Amritsar, September 5 The ETT teachers working under the Zila Parishad today observed Teacher’s Day as a black day and observed 24-hour hunger strike in the wake of the government’s apathy towards their demand of regularising their services in the mainstream Education Department. Representative of the ETT Teachers Union Jaswinder Singh Jahangir rued that thought the government had formulated a policy to transfer the Zila Parishad teachers in the rural sector to urban schools governed by the state Education Department, but the ground realities were different. “As many as 6,000 rural teachers were to be shifted to the urban schools to replace those who either got retired or left the job, but it remained only on the papers,” said Jahangir. Meanwhile, the staff of Police DAV Public School wore black badges today to mark their protest against the non-implementation of the scales recommended by the Sixth Pay Commission.
	Civil Hospital holds health camp ‘sans’ doctors Tribune News Service Amritsar, September 5 Long queues and absence of doctors from the OPD rooms. This is the scenario at the Civil Hospital where the authorities had launched a camp under the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) here today. A visit by Amritsar Tribune team at the hospital revealed that doctors at the orthopaedic and ENT departments were not at the seats, while the patients were becoming restless. The same scenario persisted at the X-Ray Department and blood sample-collecting rooms. While there was no assistant present in the ENT Department, but an assistant in the Orthopaedic Department said both the doctors had gone to see some machine in the hospital. However, the doctors did not return to the room even after half an hour. Senior Medical Officer (SMO) Baljit Singh Dhillon said one of the orthopaedic machines was out of order and a team of the company had come to the hospital to inspect the same. He said the doctors might have gone there to give information about the defects in the machine. Ranjit Singh, an attendants of a patient, said he had accompanied his father to the hospital for his knee problem. They had come at 10 am after taking a short leave from his office and he would have to submit full day leave as there was no doctor to attend to his father. Rakesh Kumar, who had come to get his son’s ear checked, said doctors left the room about one hour ago without telling them when they would return to their seats. He suggested that one of the doctors should have stayed back so that the patients did not have to wait for long. Meanwhile, the SMO said 46 persons had registered under the NHIS and 26 patients were directed to undergo various tests, including blood and urine. He said five patients were admitted to the hospital as they required to undergo surgery.
	Holy city has no heart for art & artists Neha Saini Tribune News Service Amritsar, September 5 What does art thrive on? What makes any artist good or bad? What is the single most important thing that raises the bar of a culturally rich city? The answer is simple, a good audience. The holy city seems unable to ask such questions, let alone find answers. Call it injustice or ignorance, but Amritsar, with a history of producing some of the country’s finest visual artists, has reached a point of stagnation and art’s cause has been lost. The region’s cultural hub finds no space for its artists, lacks facilities and quality promotional tools for visual art. Rescue calls are falling on deaf ears. “It’s a sad state of affairs for city-based artists as the spaces created for purpose of art are not providing adequate support,” shares Neeta Mohindra, a prominent artist from Amritsar. “The only art gallery we have is the SG Thakur Singh Art Gallery and even that doesn’t materialise its resources to channelise art to the masses,” she adds. And the reason for such laxity is, “Insensitivity towards art,” says Mohindra. “If the only institution of art can earn money by holding saree and suit exhibitions why not organise promotional programmes for city artists. And that’s not all. There is no audience, no buyers, no critics. Why would any artist be interested when art is not being valued?” she asks. Not to mention that the art gallery doesn’t even have its own studio, which explains a lot. Navdeep Sandhu, a budding artist from Amritsar agrees wholeheartedly: “Not much is done to promote visual art. We lack art festivals, good exhibits and a strong platform. To top it all, there is a huge communication gap between established names and young artists.” Creativity is not missing, but the push is: “Any young artist has to get hundreds of permissions and recommendations before holding an exhibition at the only art gallery present. The redtapism just defeats the whole purpose of art,” she says. The reason she had to move to Chandigarh to hold her first solo exhibition at the Government Art Gallery and Museum. “I have had two exhibitions now, both in Chandigarh. And there are more like me who have to travel to Chandigarh or Delhi to have their works valued.” While the effect seems missing, the effort does find its mention in the likes of Virsa Vihar and the recently opened private art gallery KT: Kala. Virsa Vihar’s Amrita Shergill Sadan does its bit by holding exhibitions and workshops at regular intervals. “We have over 200 paintings by senior and young artists on display and are trying to plan more interactive sessions for artists,” says Kewal Dhaliwal, president, Virsa Vihar. Another welcome addition has been KT Kala, with patron Ravi Razdan himself being an avid art collector. “We have displayed over 50 paintings from Ravi’s personal collection that has works of artists like Souza, D Vithal, D Prabha and more. It is a mix of paintings, sculptures, art pieces and books,” says Brijesh Jolly, director, KT Kala. What remains a problem is the “limited audience” phenomenon. “There were times when we had to postpone shows as we couldn’t find enough audience. Even on a best day, the footfall at an art exhibition is lesser than below average. Artists too avoided holding exhibitions for the same reason,” says Brijesh. So should the emphasis be on bridging the gap between artists and their audience? “It’s necessary. That’s the only way we could have a thriving art interaction,” says Mohindra. “The only hope comes in the way of the annual art exhibition at the SG Thakur Singh art gallery which brings in national-level artists. But that’s just not enough.” Brijesh suggests artist promotions as the solution, “We have offered our space to be used as a workshop studio for artists free of cost. This will encourage young talent and give them a much-needed platform. May be then we can get to the next level, i.e. playing around with different art forms.”
	Dates of submission of forms for semester exams announced September 10 the last date for submission of forms for Guru Nank Dev University’s December semester exams Tribune News service Amritsar, September 5 The Guru Nanak Dev University has announced the dates of submission of examination forms for the students appearing in all postgraduate regular and private examinations that fall under the semester system, commencing from the current academic session 2011-12. This decision was taken by the university to strengthen and upgrade the teaching programmes and introduce the semester system in all the postgraduate courses for regular students in colleges, distance-education programmes and private students from this academic session (2011-12). Dr. R.K. Mahajan, Professor in charge (Examinations) said that the students could submit their admission forms for December semester 2011 Examinations without late fee till September 10. The admission forms can be downloaded from the University website(www.gndu.ac.in). The examination admission forms could also be submitted with a late fee of Rs 250, 500, 1000 and 2000 by September 20, September 30, October 10 and October 20, respectively. Dr Mahajan said that for the May 2012 semester examinations, students could submit their examination forms without late fee upto February 10. They could also deposit their examination form for the May semester examinations with a late fee of Rs 250 (by February 20), with a late fee of Rs 500 (by February 28), with a late fee of Rs 1000 (by March 10) and with a late fee of Rs 2,000 (by March 20). Besides these prescribed dates, the candidates by paying a late fee of Rs 1000 per day could submit their admission forms for semester examinations for May as well as December, he added.
	Field day on IPM in Basmati at Veeram village G S Paul Tribune News Service Amritsar, September 5 The field day and the farmer’s training camp on Integrated Pest Management in Basmati rice was organised by the Farm Advisory Service Scheme KVK, Amritsar, and PAU, Ludhiana at village Veeram near Majitha, here today. The Vice-Chancellor of the Punjab Agricultural University Dr BS Dhillon was the chief guest of the Basmati field day and Dr M.S. Gill, Director of Extension Education, PAU, Ludhiana presided over the function. The esteemed guests were welcomed by Dr Paramjit Singh. In this field day, the team of scientists of PAU Ludhiana, comprising Dr Paramjit Singh, Dr Narinderpal Singh, Dr Meharban Singh, Dr Rajni and Dr Bhupinder Singh etc, created an awareness among the farmers of Punjab regarding the importance of Integrated Pest Management in Basmati rice. It was highlighted that the Basmati is a high-value crop which is attacked by a large number of pests and diseases and many farmers are using non-recommended chemicals/ technology to get a high yield of Basmati by ignoring the related aspect of the quality of the basmati rice. A conducive environment for the benefits of the farming community and the future of agriculture in Punjab, was created with the help of a series of lectures, an impressive exhibition, field demonstration, open-house discussion and a brain-storming session in which the Vice-Chancellor, DEE & officers of PAU, the officers of Agriculture Department, Horticulture Department, Tata Trust, Cooperatives, local leaders and state awardees’ progressive farmers participated. Various issues related to the environment degradation, depletion of natural resources mainly water and soil, rational distribution of subsidised inputs among the farmers, and availability of high-quality seed to the farmers living in the remote areas were discussed in detail. Dr Bhupinder Singh, Deputy Director (Training), KVK, Amritsar delivered the vote of thanks to the esteemed gathering and Dr Narinderpal Singh, DES (Farm Management) acted as the anchor of the function.
	Gang of vehicle-lifters busted; 17 SUVs, cars, recovered Staff of District Transport Office found involved in the crime PK Jaiswar Tribune News Service Amritsar, September 5 The Amritsar (Rural) police today claimed to have busted an interstate gang of vehicle lifters and recovered 17 vehicles from them. The seizure also brought the District Transport Office (DTO) under scanner as it came to the light that some of the staff members used to procure fake registration numbers for stolen vehicles for the gang members. Gurmeet Singh Chauhan, district police chief, said the seizure was made after the investigations carried out after the arrest of Rashpal Singh, alias Kalu, resident of Phule Chak village, Ajnala. He was caught with a Tavera car having registration number PB-02-Y-0323 on August 22 during a naka. However, his accomplice Rashpal Singh, alias Raja, residing at the back of Power House, Khandwala (Chheharta), had managed to escape at that time. A case under Sections 379, 411, 420, 467, 468, 471, 473 and 120-B of the IPC was registered against them at the Ajnala police station. “A special investigation team was formed and manhunt was launched to nab the absconding accused. During the investigation, the police succeeded in arresting absconding Rashpal Singh and their accomplice Sonu, a resident of Waryam Nangal,” said Chauhan. One of their accomplices, identified as Harpreet Singh, alias Happy, of Salempur but now at Ajnala, had gone to Germany, added Chauhan. He said the police was also looking into his antecedents and details how he managed to go to Germany. About the modus operandi of the gang, Chauhan said the gang used to steal vehicles from New Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Gurgaon and sell them in Punjab. “The gang used to steal new vehicles and prepare their forged bills and documents. After this they used to approach their links in the transport office and procure fake registration number from the department,” said Chauhan, while pointing a finger towards a woman clerk and another staff members of the DTO office. He said the record of the DTO office was being verified and necessary legal action would be initiated against the persons found involved in the racket. The police recovered one Pajero, four Innova, six Indigo, two Scorpio, two Tavera, one Esteem car and one tractor from their possession. The total value of the vehicles recovered was Rs 2 crore. He said a number of cases had been registered against the gang members in various states and efforts were being made to contact the owners of the vehicles. More recoveries were likely to be made in future, he said.
	One booked in gang war incident Tribune News Service Amritsar, September 5 The police has booked Jagtar Singh, a resident of police quarter colony and two of his accomplices Balwinder Kumar alias Billa of Kot Khalsa and Sukhwinder Singh alias Babbi of Pandori Waraich village in connection with the gang war incident in Ranjit Avenue area a couple of days back. A case under Section 307, 323 and 34 of the IPC and 25, 27, 54, 59 of the Arms Act has been registered against the accused on the basis of a statement of Amandeep Singh alias Aman Mota. Mota was alleged to be associated with Ankur Likhari gang and was injured in the clash. Aman in his statement to the police had alleged that he along with his accomplices were having a cold drink in Ranjit Avenue area when members of the boxer gang led by Jagtar Singh reached there in an Indica car and fired at them. One of the bullets hit Sukhbir Singh in his arm while another shot hit him in his leg. Investigating officer, Naresh Kumar, ADCP City-II, said the police registered the FIR after receiving a medical report. No arrest has been made so far.
	Jewellery, cash stolen from house in Bagh Ramanand Tribune News Service Amritsar, September 5 Several burglars decamped with jewellery worth lakhs of rupees and cash from a residence in the Bagh Ramanand area here last night. The family members were not present in the house as they were shifting to a new house in the cantonment area. While detailing, Ranvir Malhotra, owner of the house, said as the family had gone to their new house when the incident took place. The burglars gained entry in the house by breaking open the locks of the house at the gate and rooms on the first floor. They then broke open an almirah having cash and jewellery. “I came to know about the incident only this morning when I came to the house at about 9 am. They took away gold and diamond jewellery, besides cash, all worth Rs 2.50 lakh,” said Ranvir. A police team, headed by Prithvi Raj, SHO, Kotwali police station, reached the house after receiving the information. They took the fingerprints and gathered first hand information from the family members. The police was in the process of registering a case till the filing of report.
	President’s Cup cricket kicks off Ravi Dhaliwal Tribune News Service Amritsar, September 5 The inaugural edition of the Amritsar Games Association (AGA), the President’s Cup kicked off in style at the Gandhi grounds here today. Top cricketers of Punjab will be taking part in the tourney which will serve as practice matches ahead of the prestigious Ranji and Duleep Trophy matches. The four teams that are taking part in the contest are Punjab Ranji team, Tripura Ranji team, Amritsar Games Association and Jalandhar District Cricket Association. Former India one-day cricketer Reetinder Sodhi will be leading Tripura and he has decided to turn up for the North-Eastern state in the forthcoming Ranji Trophy. The Punjab Cricket Association (PCA) had cold-shouldered the Patiala youngster after he took part in the controversial ICC tournament held a few years ago. Once a regular in the Ranji team, Sodhi was not considered for selection by the Punjab Cricket Association following which the cricketer decided to turn out for Tripura. Sodhi was a member of the India under-15 team that won the ICCI Lombard cricket tournament in England in 1996.
	Shrey Gupta stuns Upamanyu Suntra Ravi Dhaliwal Tribune News Service Amritsar, September 5 Shrey Gupta of Haryana kept on improving with each point to stun seeded Upamanyu Suntra of Gujarat 6-0, 6-1 in the under-16 category of the AITA ranking tennis tournament played at the Ram Bagh courts here today. Shrey kept on increasing his first service percentage to deliver the knockout punch to his rival. So commanding was Shrey’s performance that he barely had to strain a muscle as he comprehensively won the first set 6-0. In the second set Suntra showed glimpses of making a fight back, but whatever plans he had of returning into the match were quickly dashed by Shrey as he walloped his rival 6-1. Other results: Boys (U-16): Allen Johnson (Kerala) beat Yugal Bansal (Haryana) 6-3,6-2; Conrad Rohan (Punjab) beat Amrit Bhinder 6-0, 6-0; Aryan Govas (Maharashtra) beat Akhil Bansal (Punjab) 7-5, 4-6, 6-4; V.R Kunal (Maharashtra) beat Adhyan (Chandigarh) 6-1, 6-4; Bijay Mohanty (Assam) beat Abhinav Mahajan (Punjab) 6-4,7-6; Dushyant (UP) beat Mohit Dahiya (Delhi) 6-7, 6-1, 6-0; Divyansh Khatri (Delhi) beat Amarnath Arora (Delhi) 6-1, 6-2; Shrey Gupta (Haryana) beat Upamanyu Suntra 6-0, 6-1; Paramveer Singh (Chandigarh) beat S.Dhawan (Delhi) 7-6, 6-2; N.Rawal (Chandigarh) beat Harshbir Gupta (Delhi) 6-2, 6-2; Anushdheer Singh Bhatti (Chandigarh) beat Sultan Singh Atwal (Punjab) 6-2, 6-1.