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Financial crunch in MC, JIT hits politicians hard
Gang of swindlers busted, 3 held
World Kabaddi Cup coming closer, stadium construction yet not over
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Black Diwali for thousands of teachers
Army recruitment rally: Hundreds of candidates spend night on roads
Congress extends support to agitating MNREGs employees
Diploma engineers’ protest enters second day
Farmer commits suicide
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Financial crunch in MC, JIT hits politicians hard
Jalandhar, October 19 The politicians had planned a series of inauguration functions in the city to woo the voters, but their hopes have now dashed. Officials in the MC have been awaiting some aid from the JIT after the latter held an auction of commercial sites on Friday last, but to no avail. Official of the JIT claim that they have managed to get just one-fourth of the amount of Rs 4.5 crore of the auction price of commercial booths, which they say is peanuts with regards to the demand of Rs 15 crore. The trust has even put off the date of draw of plots at Surya Enclave Extension with JIT Executive Officer Jatinder Singh saying that they are yet to get a formal possession of the acquired land. The trustees had earlier fixed October 21 as the tentative date for draw. The MC contractors, who have got the tenders postponed demanding payment of old dues ahead of Diwali, too, have aggravated the situation. They even claim that they have slowed down the pace of work since Rs 15 crore have been due since mid-May. Chief Parliamentary Secretary and MLA from Jalandhar (North) KD Bhandari said he was on his way to Chandigarh to hold a meeting with the Chief Minister on the issue of getting grants. “We hardly have any time left. The Amritsar Improvement Trust has taken a lead by issuing tenders for getting development works in the city. We too need to hurry up,” he said. BJP councillor Ravi Mahendru, said the MC had been earlier conveniently managing development works in the city owing to Rs 100 crore grants received twice by former Local Bodies Minister Manoranjan Kalia. The situation was really grim and residents had been after them for getting works done. The situation has given enough chance to the Congress councillors to hit the ruling party for not being able to get works done. Leader of the Opposition Jagdish Raj Raja said the councillors were upset as the works in all wards had come to a near standstill owing to non-payment to contractors. The MC got to manage funds quickly. Mayor Rakesh Rathour, who had been hoping of arrangement of funds through the sale of shops in the MC complex, too is a bit disillusioned ever since the MC House decided to defer the matter owing to a court case. The MC Commissioner, BS Dhaliwal, said all efforts were being made for the arrangement of funds at the earliest. Yesterday, they somehow managed to clear May and June payments of contractors by paying them Rs 1.5 crore.
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Gang of swindlers busted, 3 held
Jalandhar, October 19 The miscreants used to rob train passengers of their belongings after offering them eatables laced with sedatives. The police said the trio was allegedly planning a robbery in a waiting room at the Jalandhar City railway station this noon when they were nabbed. The local unit of the GRP swung action following a tip-off and nabbed Samru Lakhana of Orissa and Damodar Nian and Sapna Tinga of Jharkhand. ASI Mukhtiyar Singh revealed that the accused were members of the gang and were active in this part of the region. They used to travel on the Delhi-Ludhiana-Jalandhar-Amritsar section and target labourers. They used to befriend with passengers and then offer them sedative-laced eatables and soft drinks. After the victims fell unconscious, they used to rob them of their jewellery and other belongings. Sapna was used as a bait to attract the victims, the ASI revealed. The police has also recovered a bottle of poisonous liquid from their possession. A case under Sections 328 and 34 of the IPC has been registered against the accused at the railway police station. The trio was later produced in a local court and were remanded to police custody for a day. Meanwhile, the railway police, Ludhiana, has also arrested four members of the same gang at the Ludhiana railway station this afternoon. The accused have been identified as Bunty, Salahudhin, Badri Nath and Sonu. The GRP has recovered a knife, a poisonous paste and a mobile phone from their possession. Gurnam Singh, SHO (GRP), Ludhiana, said the accused were remanded in police custody till
October 22. |
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World Kabaddi Cup coming closer, stadium construction yet not over
Jalandhar, October 19 This despite the fact that the Jalandhar Improvement Trust (JIT), which is renovating the multi-discipline sports stadium, had claimed that the work would be over by September 30. And going by the pace of development of the work, there is still less hope of its completion well in time. Jalandhar would witness kabaddi matches on November 16, when international teams - Pakistan, Spain, Italy, Germany, America and Norway - would reach the city for matches. The kabaddi tournament would be held from November 1 to 20. While the major work of the Rs 23-crore project has been done, the reconstruction work of two pavilions, facing each other and comprising 17 rooms for the players, is yet to be completed. Even the work on the spectators’ stairs with a refurbished look is lying incomplete. The work on the VIP lounge, hi-tech media centre, commentary box and an open coffee shop on the terrace is also incomplete. During this phase of development, the stadium would also get 5,000 steel chairs with a stone canopy across the entire circumference of the stadium. Apart from this the stadium is yet to get state-of-the-art modern floodlights for night matches of football, kabaddi and athletic events. However, the stadium has not been equipped with any synthetic track as Government Arts and Sports College, Jalandhar, already has one. It needs to be mentioned here that earlier the kabbadi matches in the stadium were scheduled for November 3, but the date had to be changed owing to the incomplete work. Sources said it was due to this reason that November 16 was declared as the final date of the matches. Even the Independence Day programme, which is held in this stadium every year, had to be conducted at the Punjab Armed Police grounds due to this reason.
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Black Diwali for thousands of teachers
Jalandhar, October 19 While life is a hell for the sole bread winners of their families, there are many groups among these, who don’t even bear allegiance to a regular group, like NCLP, RMSA, NABARD, etc, which could rally in favour of their demands. As some quietly languish, others have declared formal ‘kali Diwali’ protests. A look at the various techer groups who have not been paid salaries for many months: NCLP (National Child Labour Project) Schools
Without salary for 3 months to a year: Running under various NGOs, the teachers in some of these schools are the worst-hit. The NCLP schools at Garha and Model House are the worst sufferers, since INTUC (Indian National Trade Union Congress), the NGO that is responsible for both these schools, is not responsive. The teachers at Model House and Garha have been languishing without salaries for the past one year. One of the teachers at one of these two schools, said, “We got our salaries pending from March, 2010, to September, 2010, in May this year. Our salaries for the period from October, 2010, till now have still not been released.” Mandeep, a teacher at the Model House NCLP school, is the sole bread earner for a house that comprises her father, mother and school-going brother. Sans salary for 10 months, it can well be imagined what Diwali at her home would be like if the salaries are not released soon. The teachers in other NCLP schools in the city have also been without salary for the past many months. Gurpreet, a teacher working at the Basti Peer Daad school, says they have not received their salaries for the past six months. “Its almost the same for all the 27 district NCLP schools. Our field officer says we will get them within a couple of days. Only time will tell what happens.” Without salary for 10 months: About a month ago they started saying that they were being denied their dues despite the fact that they had reached the treasurer’s office here. They held a dharna outside the treasurer’s office demanding the same yesterday, but have not received any response as yet. Teachers in about 15 Jalandhar schools have been without salaries for the past 10 months. Kulwarn Singh, president of the Punjab Aided Schools Association, says, “We have asked the district treasurer’s office to receive our salaries. This time, they tell us it will be done within a week.” If not, they plan to go on a permanent strike outside the treasurer’s office. Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan schools’ teachers
Without salary for five months: There are total 10RMSA schools in the district with about 600 teachers. Kuldip Saini, a Principal at Government Senior Secondary School, Kot Matti, who just joined on July 21 this year, says, “While I haven’t got the salary for even a single month since I joined, there are other teachers who haven’t received the salary of a single month since they joined. The teachers have only received their salaries for March, April and May and have been without money since June.” Without salary for five months: There are 251 NABARD schools in Punjab. Jalandhar has 11 NABARD schools and teachers in almost all of these have not received their salaries for the past five months. Massa Singh, Principal of the NABARD School at Athaula, says, “Two of my teachers also haven’t got their salaries for the past some months.” The schoolteachers last got their salaries for March, April and May and they have not received any salaries since June. Some teachers say they
were better off when they were working as high school teachers, before the schools being upgraded to NABARD. “We at least used to get our salaried back then. Since the schools have been upgraded to NABARD schools, our salaries are getting delayed.” ‘7,654’ schoolteachers
Without salary for five months: They are a unique group, since they have been devoid of salaries on basis of their appointment dates. They do not bear allegiance to almost any other group and are a pretty ignored and angry group of teachers. There are 100 to 150 teachers of the union in Jalandhar and almost all are languishing without salries. District president of the union Vijay Kumar says, “As if it wasn’t enough that we were appointed late and have low pay scales, we have not been getting our salaries for the past five months. We haven’t received our salaries since June. “We held our last rally on Monday (with the CM’s PA) and have been told that we will get our salaries before Diwali. Our teachers were beaten and there were false rumours that the government has agreed to our demands, there is nothing of that sort and if the government doesn’t accept our requests soon we plan to hold more rallies shortly,” Vijay Kumar added. Computer teachers
Without salary for three months: There are about 8,000 computer teachers in Punjab. About 7,000 of them are regular. Jalandhar has 250 to 300 computer teachers. General secretary of the Computer Teachers Union CS Manhas says not a single one of these teachers have got their salaries for the past three months. “We have been regularised since July 1. We got our salaries for July but after that no one got their salaries. Most of us are sole bread earners for our families and we don’t know what to tell our kids when they ask us for gifts. The teachers have also been demanding regularisation. If their demands are not fulfilled, they plan to hold a state-level rally against the government on October 23 calling it a “kali Diwali protest.” Without salary for three months There are 216 blocks in the district and only 13 Assistant Block Managers (ABM). The ABM, Adampur, Dawinder Singh, says the rest left because they were disillusioned by the government’s treatment. “The cooks are the worst hit. With a salary of just Rs 1,000 a month they are expected to undertake tedious tasks,” he said. There is one cook for schools having 25 kids and three for schools having above 100 kids. All these employees haven’t received their salaries since July this year and plan to hold a dharna regarding these and many other demands on October 25 outside the DC office here.
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Army recruitment rally: Hundreds of candidates spend night on roads
Jalandhar, October 19 While some of them, including Rajwinder Singh of Dhamian village in Mukerian of Hoshiarpur district, were lucky as they spent the night at a gurdwara, however, a majority of the 9,500 candidates who took part in the three-day physical fitness test and physical measurement tests were left with no option but to spend night on various roads of Kapurthala. The army officials and the district administration are busy passing the buck on the issue. Deputy Director General (Recruiting), Brigadier Vinod Raizada, said it was not the duty of the army to provide night shelter to the candidates. He said his staff had met the Deputy Commissioner and Additional Deputy Commissioner a fortnight ago requesting them to provide night shelter to the candidates as the district administration of Sangrur and Ferozepur had done so during the past rallies. To the contrary, DC Harkesh Singh Sidhu said, “No army official contacted me to provide night shelter to the candidates taking part in the rally.” He said when he woke up on Sunday he was surprised to see hundreds of youth sleeping on the city roads after which, the district administration extended all possible help to the candidates. Meanwhile the three-day physical fitness test (PFT) and physical measurement test (PMT) of the candidates for Soldier General Duty, soldier nursing assistant, solider clerk and soldier tradesmen concluded on Wednesday. The medical examination of the successful candidates will continue till October 21, whereas the common entrance examination (CEE) will be held at the Stadium on November 27.
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Congress extends support to agitating MNREGs employees
Jalandhar, October 19 A former Jalandhar District Youth Congress (Rural) president Vikramjeet Singh Chaudhary blamed Parkash Singh Badal led SAD-BJP government in the state for not regularising the contractual MNREGS employees as he did not want to properly implement the Centre-sponsored MNREGS. The state president of MNREGS contractual government employees union, Shamsher Singh Bhoewal, and its Jalandhar district president Talwinder Singh said they had met CM Parkash Singh Badal and other government representatives several times only to get verbal assurances. As many as 1,262 MREGS employees were appointed on contract in 2007 and 788 of them are gram sewaks and are paid only Rs 2,500 per month. Bhoewal and Talwinder said all the employees should be regularised and they should be paid their salaries according to their grades. Vikramjeet Singh Chaudhary said, “There are 12,825 gram panchayats in Punjab and according to MNREGS rules, at least one gram sewak should be appointed at each gram panchayat to properly implement the scheme.” He said, “According to Clause 18 (1) chapter four of MNREGS Act, 2005, six per cent of the total amount provided by the Centre under this scheme should be spent on the employees who are responsible for its proper implementation.” Chaudhary said he would meet the Union Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh along with a deputation of the employees after getting their memorandum recommended by Punjab Congress president Amarinder Singh.
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Diploma engineers’ protest enters second day
Jalandhar, October 19 The protesters raised slogans against the state government and the Chief Minister for not fulfilling the promises made to them. Convener of the council Sukhwinder Vir Singh Walia said it had been over two years since the Chief Minister had declared publicly that after eight years of service, junior engineers would get a pay scale of Rs 7,880-Rs 13,500. He said: “A majority of the diploma holder engineers have reached on the verge of their retirement after putting in more than 30 years of service, but no one has been promoted. The state government has left us in lurch,” he added.
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Farmer commits suicide
Jalandhar October 19 The deceased has been identified as Balwinder Singh. He was immediately rushed to the Civil Hospital, where he died. The police after initiating proceedings under Section 174 of the CrPc has sent the body for postmortem.
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Jalandhar, October 19
Even as the second World Kabaddi Cup is to be organised in November, the renovation work of the local Guru Gobind Singh Stadium, where matches are to be held, is still halfway through.
Jalandhar, October 19
