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ANM and LHV union strike hits pulse polio campaign
hard
Chief Minister proposes, JIT Chairman disposes
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108 doesn’t ring a bell
A new car being unveiled at a car showroom in
Jalandhar. A Tribune photograph
Upgrade of Burlton Park a distant dream
Demolished viewers' gallery of the old cricket stadium of Burlton Park in Jalandhar. Tribune Photo: Malkiat Singh
Love for the National
Game
Jalandhar Tigers and Hoshiarpur Rangers in action on the
inaugural match of Punjab Hockey League at PAP Hockey Stadium in Jalandhar on Sunday. Tribune photo: Sarabjit Singh
Mohinder Munshi club beat Tracer club
From Colleges
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ANM and LHV union strike hits pulse polio campaign
hard
Jalandhar, September 25 As some of the workers on duty themselves admitted, only 50 per cent of the children as compared to the previous Pulse Polio campaigns could be immunised this time. While the immunisation programme at the Basti Bawa Khel, Model Town, Industrial Area, Bhargo Camp, Gandhi Camp and around the Civil Hospital areas was hit hardest, other areas too suffered due to lack of supervisors and experienced workers well versed with their respective areas. The gap left by the strike was mostly filled by inexperienced nursing students and contractual ANMs. Out of the total 1,150 teams (2,300 workers in all) deputed for the campaign today, about 1,500 to 1,600 were nursing students. Sources said there were plenty of these workers who administered less or more than two drops to children. There are many unlikely sites, like factories and godowns, where families of migrant labourers put up with their little children. The hired workers had no clue about these locations, hence left them out. Many parents, especially migrant labourers, were unwilling to trust these workers, so they gave the campaign a miss. Even as a poker-faced administration maintained that things went on smoothly, except supervision, some on-duty workers spilled the beans. A worker deputed at the city railway station said, “The strike has hit the campaign and only 50 per cent children could be covered. We could have used at least six more staff members. Due to the lack of staff and supervisors, we didn’t know which team to depute for the station and which one to send to the residential area nearby. Also the ANMs are well-versed with the population, but our team members were clearly hunting for kids going from house to house, which consumed a lot of extra time. It was the same story for most of the teams across the city (and villages). What is more bothersome is that every kid that couldn’t be immunised can pass on the infection to 100 more children. If 150 children were immunised earlier in this area, this time we could only administer drops to about 100.” Rajvinder Kaur, district head of the ANM and LHV Union, said, “The campaign has suffered a great setback.” Pulse Polio
Official speak I agree that things on the supervision front could have been better, but barring that, there were no major glitches during the campaign today. We covered 32 per cent of our total target. Of the 1,49,370 children we had to immunise, we covered 47,623 (35,744 urban and 11,879 rural). We have been trying to pacify the workers too. In places like Kapurthala they also worked during the campaign but the Jalandhar union members stuck to the strike. — Rita
Jairath, District Immunisation Officer
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Chief Minister proposes, JIT Chairman disposes
Jalandhar, September 25 Following the announcement by Local Bodies Minister Tikshan Sud almost a fortnight back of doling out of just Rs 317 crore, that too for only 109 municipal councils, the hopes of the three Jalandhar MLAs, who have a huge chunk of their constituencies falling in city areas, had dashed. The MLAs had earlier been pinning high hopes on getting a handsome share from the Rs 1,100 crore urban development funds, which had been promised to them almost a year and a half back. An announcement to slash down the amount to Rs 800 crore was made later in August, 2010, which kept them on tenterhooks for almost a year.
However, there has appeared a fresh ray of hope for the local MLAs as K.D. Bhandari, representing Jalandhar North, today claimed that Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal during his visit to the city yesterday had committed that a grant of Rs 50 crore would be handed over immediately by the Jalandhar Improvement Trust (JIT) to the three local MLAs. “The CM told us that even the works with the grant would be executed by the Jalandhar Improvement Trust. Badal Sahib said he was getting grants for all cities, including Amritsar and Ludhiana, from the respective trusts or development authorities. So, once again we have our fingers crossed,” he said, adding that certain undeveloped areas, including Reru falling in Ward 3, would be his priorities. However, the other two MLAs, former minister Manoranjan Kalia, who represents Jalandhar Central, and Deputy Speaker Bhagat Chunni Lal, representing Jalandhar West, claim that even as an assurance had been given, it still was to be seen whether the funds would percolate or not. Bhagat Chunni Lal commented, “Only time will tell whether the grants would be made available or not. I understand that the Jalandhar Improvement Trust is soon expected to make a good income from the proposed Surya Enclave Extension scheme and the MC is likely to get a handsome deal in shops, which it plans to sell off soon. Let’s see whether the funds can be diverted.” Manoranjan Kalia, too, seemed little hopeful. “Time is too short for us to wait for a grant and get the works started.” Chairman of the Jalandhar Improvement Trust Baljit Singh Neelamahal, however, said, “Where is the money with the trust? Rs 50 crore is too big an amount. I don’t think the trust can pay that much.”
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A few takers for the much-touted ambulance service
Aparna Banerji Tribune News Service
Jalandhar, September 25 But there’s a bigger worry for the moment - lack of awareness regarding the service. Though health officials claim that a lot has been done to spread awareness about the 108 ambulance service in the city and its periphery, not many people know about the service, especially in the rural areas. Health Department officials themselves say they have spread awareness on the issue in about 200 to 250 villages in the district so far, whereas there are a total of over 900 villages in Jalandhar. Balbir Kumar from Nangal Karar Khan village, says, “As my wife was admitted to the Civil Hospital about a month ago, I got to know about the service from a doctor. But nobody knows about it in our village. Many people constantly need medical facilities and have nowhere to go in case of an emergency. We need active advertisement campaigns regarding the service by the Health Department to avail ourselves of its benefits.” Varinder from Malsian says, “There is just one ambulance from a local hospital that works in our village. There’s a hospital right near our house, but people can’t go there because it is too costly and notorious for carelessness. We are in a dire need of medical facilities. But people in our village mostly don’t know about the 108 service. Their lives will be so much easier if they do. Because we often hear about emergency cases here. We need to have awareness campaigns in the village regarding it.” Despite the fact that a team of visiting health officers from Delhi pointed out the issue to the district authorities a couple of days ago, they maintain that enough has been done on the front. Gurmandeep Singh, the district in charge for the ambulance service, says, “We have spread awareness through rallies, etc, in about 200 villages so far. We also visited fairs to spread word about the ambulances and stickers and leaflets have also been distributed. We plan to do 200 more villages in the near future. The response to the service has been very good. On an average we receive three calls per day. So far, there are 11 locations for 11 ambulances. An area of 20 km around every location is catered to by that ambulance. By October end we expect five to six more ambulances in the fleet.” Speaking on the issue, Civil Surgeon H.K. Singla says, “We run campaigns regarding the ambulances in 200 to 250 villages so far. Workers have gone door to door to tell people about it. Word has also been spread through SMS and FM. We plan to run more campaigns regarding the ambulance service, though.”
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Lucrative offers keep car sales high during Shraadhs
Jalandhar, September 25 From the SUVs to the swanky luxury cars and the cars for the economy class, people have availed the offers like anything. Surprisingly some of the customers took away the cars home without any second thought, but a larger section deferred the delivery of their dream cars till the Navratras. City-based Lally Motors announced a special Shraadh discount of Rs 50,000 and free car insurance. This automobile agency is also launching ‘Brio car’ on September 27, the day on which Shraadhs are concluding. The agency announced offers on Honda Civic, Honda Accord and Honda City. General Manager of Lally Motors Anoop Mehra said, “Though there is a dip of 10-15 per cent in the sale of the cars as compared to our peak season, but the customers responded well to the scheme. We made a lot of car bookings during the Shraadhs, despite the fact that largely people count this period as the most inauspicious. In fact, many customers even took away the cars home. This indeed signifies a change in the mindset of the people.” Another car dealer, Dada Motors, which sells Nissan cars and Bajaj two-wheelers, also maintained that the sales were good even during Shraadhs. Managing Director of Dada Motors Nitin Dada said a lot of bookings were held during this period. “But we didn’t find even a single customer who preferred to take away the car. We are going to remain busy with the delivery of the cars with the onset of Navratras,” he added. Further talking about the sales of the cars, he said, “Punjab is an agrarian economy and the state has been witnessing better dividends. Even the service class has also been doing good so there is such a change, else last year we had witnessed a complete slump during Shraadhs,” he quipped. Similarly even the jewellers also didn’t witness any slump in their sales. Tanishq showroom manager Ajay Kumar said they didn’t give any discount on jewellery. He, however, said there was no decline in their sales. “It is business as usual,” he said. But somehow the same dictum does not apply to property and electrical appliances. This sector was hard hit with Shraadhs. The sale of both property and the electrical appliances witnessed around 60 per cent of dip, leading to losses. The AGM (Marketing) of Naveena Builders in the city, Brigesh Bhardwaj, said there was a 60 to 70 per cent decline in the sales of flats and plots. “As far as buying a dream home is concerned, people tread cautiously and why not? After all it involves a huge amount of hard-earned money. However the queries have been popping up,” he said. Meanwhile, Shraadhs brought the profits of the electrical appliances market to a complete standstill. Managing Director of J.J. Arcade, a showroom of electronic appliances, jewellery and branded watches, Ashu Kumar said he is eagerly waiting for September 28 when Navratras would begin. “Shraadh period is one of the dull season of the year and there was no sale at all. Thank God it is a matter of another two days now,” he said.
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Upgrade of Burlton Park a distant dream
Jalandhar, September 25 While HUDCO had agreed to fund Rs 130 crore, the situation seems dicey especially after the MC Jalandhar has failed to arrange for its Rs 72 crore share of the total project. It rather got a resolution passed recently to reduce the project cost by bifurcating the first phase of the project into Rs 141 crore and Rs 61 crore. The decision of the MC has further led to problems as vital components of the project including installation of necklace lighting for day and night matches and multi-level parking have been put off. Even the roofing of the spectator stands has been cancelled for the time being. There are technical wrangles as well. The original cost of the project had been put at Rs 175 crore about three years back. Owing to delays in approvals for the same, it got escalated to Rs 202 crore. The HUDCO’s sanction came on the basis of the original cost with the debt equity ratio fixed at 70:30. However, in a meeting held on July 4, 2011 with the local bodies department, the MC had asked HUDCO to reduce the debt equity ratio from 70:30 to 90:10. A reply from the HUDCO is yet to be received on this front but sources in the MC feel that such a major change was unlikely. Interestingly, during a recent state-level function of the Local Bodies department in Jalandhar on July 22, Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal did not mention a word about the sports complex of Burlton Park even as he made announcements regarding upgradation of stadiums in Punjab. As per the original plan, the sports complex will have a cricket stadium with a sitting capacity of 35,000, a multi-level parking of 3,000 cars, an international swimming pool, a club house, an upgraded hockey stadium, a squash stadium and a tennis court. Nearly eight to 10 acre land had been reserved for a shopping arcade and three acre for a five-star hotel. CR Narayana Rao of Chennai had been selected as the architect of the first phase of sports hub. The process for technical qualification of the companies for construction of the complex had also been completed. Six companies include Larsen and Toubro Ltd, Nagarjuna Construction Co. Ltd, Unity Infraprojects Ltd, Shapoorji Pallonji and Co. Ltd, Ahluwalia Contracts (India) Ltd and Simplex Infrastructure Ltd. The period of completion had been fixed at 18 months. Meanwhile, the delay has been causing much inconvenience to hundreds of players who practice here all through the day. The boundary walls of the old stadium have been razed owing which hawkers and even stray animals barge in causing them much disturbance. Former Local Bodies Minister Manoranjan Kalia, whose dream project it is said to be, claimed that he was trying his best to ensure that the construction of the project begins shortly. SE (B&R) MC Kulwinder Singh too seemed hopeful as he said that the HUDCO meeting was expected in the coming weeks and the problem would get sorted out. He said that the MC would go ahead phase-wise on the basis of bifurcated DPR as proposed by the House. Project hanging fire
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Jalandhar’s heart knows nothing but hockey
Maiden Punjab Hockey League begins at PAP; Veterans’ hockey league too going strong Kusum Arora Tribune News Service
Jalandhar, September 25 The players from various teams will vie for Bassi Bodhi Trophy- 2011, which would conclude on November 24. The inaugural day of the tournament saw senior hockey players and enthusiasts making it to the newly constructed stadium to cheer the U-21 players. As many as five teams --- Mohali Deers, Amritsar Eagles, Jalandhar Tigers, Hoshiarpur Rangers and Ludhiana Lions --- would participate in this tourney. The winning team will be awarded Rs 31,000, the first runners-up will get Rs 21,000 and the second runners-up Rs 18,000. Talking to The Tribune, DIG (Administration) PAP, Surinder Singh Sodhi said they had been planning since last year to organise the Punjab Hockey League and finally it began today. “This is an attempt to promote hockey. We have joined hands to bring back the lost glory of the national game and this tournament is just a small attempt. Moreover, PAP has the necessary infrastructure and a newly laid turf to work on these lines,” he added. The tournament was attended by Chief guest, Sant Baba Surinder Singh Babla, Chairman of Helpage Hockey, Sukhwinder Singh Lally, Nitin Kohli from Tracer shoes and many others hockey lovers from the city. Today’s Results
The first match between Ludhiana Lions and Amritsar Eagles ended in draw 2-2 goals. In the second match Jalandhar Tigers beat Hoshiarpur by 11-1 goals. Money matters
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Mohinder Munshi club beat Tracer club
Shamsher Singh Shera bagged the limelight in the ongoing Gold Gym Punjab Veteran Six-a-Side Hockey League. He scored four goals to lead his team Mohinder Munshi Club to victory at Olympian Surjit Hockey Stadium here today.
Olympian Mohinder Munshi Club defeated Tracer Club by 12-10 goals. An initiative of the veterans and hockey lovers, this tournament is held on Sunday mornings. The Tracer Club scored the first goal of the match. For Tracer club, Olympian Gaganajit Singh made a hat-trick while Olympian Rajinder Singh netted two goals. Kulbir Singh also scored two goals followed by Mohan Singh, Kuldeep Singh and Mahipal Singh who scored one goal each. Till half time, Tracer Club was leading 7-6 goals. |
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Turban contest at CT Group of Institutions
Tribune News Service
Jalandhar, September 25 Results: Ishnoor Singh was adjudged as best performer followed by Jaskaran and Maninder Pal in the age group of 12-16 years. Two consolation prizes were also awarded in this category to Manvir and Inderpreet. Amanpreet was declared the best performer in the age group of 17-25 years, followed by Damanjeet and Damanpreet. Two consolation prizes were also given to Gurpreet and Jaskaran in the second category. Tug of War
B.D. Arya Girls College's team stood second in Tug of War Inter-College competition held at Guru Nanak Dev University Amritsar. Hostel Night
The local St Soldier Group of Institutions organised hostel night, ‘Parwaaz 2011’ for the hostellers. On this occasion the students presented a colourful cultural programme and modeling event was also held for the students. Navdeep Singh and Pooja were declared Mr and Miss Fresher respectively. Softball
The softball team of the local KMV Collegiate Senior Secondary School got second position in state tournament. |
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Jalandhar, September 25
Jalandhar, September 25
Jalandhar, September 25
During his visit to the city on Saturday, Chief Minister
Badal committed that a grant of Rs 50 crore would be handed over immediately by the Jalandhar Improvement Trust to the three local MLAs
Chairman of the Jalandhar Improvement Trust (JIT)