B A T H I N D A    E D I T I O N

IIT-JEE Mass Copying Case
Probe holds GZSCET principal, exam coordinator guilty
Faridkot, September 24
Five months after the IIT-JEE copying case in the Giani Zail Singh College of Engineering and Technology (GZSCET) in Bathinda came to the fore and the IIT-Kanpur blacklisted the college barring it from conducting an examination pertaining to the IITs in future, the Principal Secretary, Punjab Technical Education Department, has demanded that Technical Education Minister Surjit Kumar Jiyani should take necessary action against the college principal, TS Sidhu, and the  IIT-JEE exam coordinator in the  college, BS Sidhu.

BJP councillor attacked in Abohar
Abohar, September 24
BJP councillor Kamal Nagpal was attacked by car-borne miscreants near the Maharana Pratap market while he was returning home after attending a dharna at the residence of Municipal Council president Shiv Raj Goyal, here today. The information gathered from different sources indicated that Kamal Nagpal along with another BJP councillor Geeta Chaudhary had led the dharna to express resentment over non-availability of potable water supply to the Nai Abadi area for the past fortnight.

Ministry keeps four-laning of NH-95 on hold
Ferozepur, September 24
The project for four-laning the national highway (NH-95), from Ferozepur to Hussainiwala (201 to 211.97 km), which had earlier been approved by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highway (MORT&H) in its annual plan for the current year, has now been shelved in the revised plan causing disappointment among the local residents.

Clarification
Apropos the story “City reels under severe drinking water crisis” published in the Bathinda Tribune dated September 24, residents of Guru Nanakpura area of Bathinda city have objected to the usage of the old name of their locality in the report. It was done inadvertently and there was no intention to hurt any sentiments.

IIT-JEE Mass Copying Case
Probe holds GZSCET principal, exam coordinator guilty
Principal Secretary seeks action against the culprits
Balwant Garg
Tribune News Service

Faridkot, September 24
Five months after the IIT-JEE copying case in the Giani Zail Singh College of Engineering and Technology (GZSCET) in Bathinda came to the fore and the IIT-Kanpur blacklisted the college barring it from conducting an examination pertaining to the IITs in future, the Principal Secretary, Punjab Technical Education Department, has demanded that Technical Education Minister Surjit Kumar Jiyani should take necessary action against the college principal, TS Sidhu, and the 
IIT-JEE exam coordinator in the 
college, BS Sidhu.

Principal Secretary Suresh Kumar demanded the action following an inquiry by Vivek Partap Singh, director, Technical Education and Industrial Training, nailed TS Sidhu and BS Sidhu for their dubious role in the copying case. The inquiry relied on the circumstantial evidence.

In his inquiry report submitted to the principal secretary, Vivek Partap stated that the case was indirectly pointing towards some senior functionaries of the college otherwise the copying was not possible.

As the IIT-Kanpur has already got an FIR registered in the case, the name of real culprits would surface during a detailed investigation, stated Vivek Partap in his inquiry report.

Relying on this inquiry report, the Principal Secretary has sought that Technical Education Minister Surjit Jiyani takes necessary action against the GZSCET principal and the IIT-JEE exam coordinator.

Suresh Kumar declined to make any comment on the scam saying that the case file and the inquiry report had been sent to the minister. "We are awaiting the next action as per the minister's recommendations," he said.

Vivek Partap had started inquiry in the case after a probe by the IIT-Kanpur held many teachers of the GZSCET and faculty members of the IIT Roorkee guilty of facilitating the copying.

The inquiry revealed that besides mass copying in an examination hall of the GZSCET to favour the daughter of a college superintendent, the JEE question paper was leaked in the office of a senior functionary of the college to favour his son, who was appearing in the JEE at an examination centre in another college in the town. Perhaps, it resulted in boy getting a high rank, close to 1300, in the JEE-2011. However, his performance in the AIEEE was not that good. He was ranked at around 1.15 lakh in the AIEEE test.

So far, some teaching staff on contract basis and a superintendent in the engineering college were placed under suspension after they were found guilty of helping some students indulge in copying during the IIT-JEE exam.

Vivek Partap reported that it was quite amazing that some contractual teachers were given the supervisory duty in the IIT-JEE exam.

Surjit Jiyani said he was yet to go through the inquiry report.

BJP councillor attacked in Abohar

Abohar, September 24
BJP councillor Kamal Nagpal was attacked by car-borne miscreants near the Maharana Pratap market while he was returning home after attending a dharna at the residence of Municipal Council president Shiv Raj Goyal, here today.

The information gathered from different sources indicated that Kamal Nagpal along with another BJP councillor Geeta Chaudhary had led the dharna to express resentment over non-availability of potable water supply to the Nai Abadi area for the past fortnight.

The protesters were reportedly forced to disperse by the city police. As Nagpal and his brother were returning home on a bike, they were intercepted near Maharana Pratap market. The miscreants attacked him with sticks and sharp-edged weapons. Nagpal was admitted to the Civil Hospital later. SAD councillor Vijay Nagpal along with BJP councillors Geeta Chaudhary, Manjit Kaur, Kaushal Pihwal and Ravi Makkar condemned the incident and demanded the arrest of the miscreants.

The car used by the miscreants has reportedly been identified. — OC

Ministry keeps four-laning of NH-95 on hold
Anirudh Gupta

Ferozepur, September 24
The project for four-laning the national highway (NH-95), from Ferozepur to Hussainiwala (201 to 211.97 km), which had earlier been approved by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highway (MORT&H) in its annual plan for the current year, has now been shelved in the revised plan causing disappointment among the local residents.

As per the information, the four-lane project has been approved only from Ludhiana up to Talwandi Bhai, work on which is likely to start soon.

Project director, National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), SR Tholia, said an amount of Rs 479 crore was likely to be spent on the project which is being executed on build, operaete, transfer (BOT) basis. “The final clearance from the forest department is awaited following which the work shall begin,” he added.

Earlier, keeping in view the historical importance of Hussainiwala where the National Martyrs Memorial is situated, the state government had approached the ministry to extend the project up to the Zero Line. Even the officials from MORT&H had a meeting with the district administration following which it was agreed to extend the project till Hussainiwala on which an amount of Rs 25 crore was to be spent.

Confirming the development, Neeraj Bhandari, Executive Engineer, Central Works Division (CWD), said apparently due to shortage of funds, the project has been left out in the revised plan.

Manpritam Singh, SDO, PWD (CWD), said the four-laning had been approved after a lot of persuasion.

“Every day, thousands of people from far and wide including dignitaries come to Hussainiwala to pay respects to the gallant martyrs and watch the Indo-Pakistan retreat ceremony. Festivals like Baisakhi and Shahidi Mela on the martyrdom day of Shaheed Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev are also held here with much fanfare. However, the government has no funds to even construct a proper road here,” lamented Ashok Baja (retd) ITO, who runs an NGO here.

Subhash Tuli, chairman, Beopar Mandal said the road on the other side of the Hussainiwala border in Pakistan, from Gandasinghwala to Lahore has been made a four-lane a long time back. However, it does seem to be on the priority list of the authorities here. Tuli demanded that the state government should take up this matter with the ministry again so that a good road can be constructed till the memorial where the gallant sons of the soil were unceremoniously cremated by the British.