Jalandhar, October 21
With National Health Rural Mission employees remaining on strike, Mata Kaushalaya Yojna of the state government in which every woman, who undergoes delivery at a government hospital in the state gets a cheque of Rs 1,000, has come to a standstill.

The bank accounts, meant for the scheme, of some government hospitals have not been updated, which can be done only by the NHRM staff.

Aimed at providing relief to the poor and to institutionalise child delivery mechanism in the state, the scheme has become a poor joke on the beneficiaries as they could not encash cheques issued to them due to the lack of funds in the scheme.

District medical authorities said due to the ongoing strike of National Health Rural Mission (NHRM) employees, banks accounts of the scheme were not being updated because NHRM employees were the real authorised officers to maintain balance in these accounts.

Sources confirmed that district hospital in Jalandhar, Community Health Centre (CHC) of Kala Bakra village and Community Health Centre (CHC) of Noormahal have now been running short of funds. Respective bank accounts have balance below Rs 1,000 since September, sources confirmed.

Women who have undergone deliveries at above said three hospitals have not been able to encash cheques of Rs 1000. Some women beneficiaries, on the condition of anonymity, quipped that if government had no funds, why it is making mockery of women by issuing cheques.

Sanjeev Kumar, accountant of NHRM, while confirming the same, told The Tribune that the strike had affected the work. They (NHRM employees) are only authorised to update the bank account of the said scheme. Things will be normal once their demands are met, he added.

The Civil Surgeon, Jalandhar, Civil Hospital, HK Singla, said, “Yes it is a serious problem. Due to lack of funds, beneficiaries of some of the government hospitals are suffering and we will try to arrange alternate arrangement of funds through government loan account.”

He said the scheme would suffer till the strike of NHRM employees is on.

From October 13 to October 20, all women who underwent delivery at local Civil Hospital of Shahkot had not been able to enchash their cheques due to lack of funds in the bank account of “Mata Kaushlya Scheme” of the state, sources confirmed.

A cross section of women who availed of the services at Shahkot said when their husbands went to encash the cheques at the State Bank of Patiala, they were told that the relevant account did not have the requisite balance.

Ironically, the said account has a balance of only Rs 500 since October 13.

District Health Officer (DHO), R L Bassan, said problem had arisen on account of the ongoing strike of the NHRM employees. The NHRM employees coordinate all the banking work as they have been authorised to update the account of this scheme but the strike has hindered all work, he pointed out.

“The problem has been brought to my notice and I will notify some official from my office to see that the beneficiaries do not suffer. We are committed to implement this scheme,” he explained.

Jalandhar, October 23
The implementation of the recently enacted Right to Service Act is likely to go in for a toss, as the ministerial staff would remain on a two-day long pen-down strike beginning tomorrow.

While the strike would conclude on October 25, it would be followed by two holidays- Diwali on October 26 and Vishwakarma Day on October 27.

This would affect hundreds of people from the district who would throng the offices in the District Administrative Complex and various other departments regarding works like marriage registration, registration of land, registration of birth and death, getting copies of farad and land mutations. Even works related to Right to Information Act would also be affected.

A decision on strike was taken by the members of Punjab State Ministerial Services Union after the state government failed to address their long-pending demand of increasing their pay scales.

Acting president of the union, Sukhjeet Singh said that people from the district would remain at a receiving end, as it is a week of holidays. “The state government departments are already witnessing acute shortage of staff and to add upon it we have decided to go ahead with our pen-down strike. We would be present in the office but there would be no work at all”, he added.

He said the clerk cadre in all state owned departments was the most neglected as they were being paid a pay band of Rs 5190-20,200+2400 while other categories equal to the clerk cadre were getting Rs 10,300-34,800+5000 pay scale. “This is sheer harassment. We have the maximum workload, as clerks are the backbone of any department but were ignored”, he said.

In fact, during this is the time when a large number of NRIs fly back home and throng the District Administrative offices for various pending works, especially those related land records and marriage registration.

Earlier in the month of May, the members of Punjab State Ministerial Services Union had gone on an 11-day long strike following which the work in various departments across the state was badly affected. 

Jalandhar, October 23
Shuttler Jivesh Khanna brought laurels to the city by winning the Punjab Sub-Junior (Under-10) Badminton Championship held at Sangrur. In doubles, he paired with Namanbir Singh to clinch the title while in the singles, he defeated his rival Priyanshu Madaan from Ludhiana by 20-22, 21-15 and 21-17.

The five-day long badminton championship was conducted by the Punjab Badminton Association in association with the Sangrur Badminton Association from October 17 to 21.

Talking to the Jalandhar Tribune, Jivesh said the finals of the championship was actually tough and that brought out the best out of him. “This was my maiden attempt at state sub-junior championship. It was a big exposure as I competed with my counterparts from Ropar, Ludhiana, Moga and Sangrur”, he said.

A student of the local Apeejay School, he took up badminton around two years ago. He has been taking coaching from Ratti Badminton Academy, where he spends nearly three-hours both in the morning and evening to pursue his passion.

Jivesh said prior to taking badminton professionally, he picked up his basic lessons in the sport from his family. “My grandfather, father and paternal uncle are excellent badminton players. They used to take me along to the badminton stadium during the practice sessions. Early exposure to the game helped me in learning it fast,” he said.

Further talking about his passion for the game, the little champ said he gets up early in the morning and heads for the stadium. “Every day I get up at 4.30 am and practise badminton with my coach Gagan Ratti till 6.30 am. Later, I go to the school and once back I again go to the stadium at 2.30 pm and practice till 5 pm. I enjoy playing badminton and wish to make it big someday”, he signed off.

Jalandhar, October 23
As state-of-the-art lamps, diyas and electric (de)lights increasingly make their presence felt in the Diwali market, the lifestyle Diwali goodies slowly nudge out the more earthy and primitive elements associated with the festival.

While the mall culture takes precedence over everything else, the conservative, religious Diwali celebrators worry for the fate of the forgotten (almost) potter’s novelties that lie stacked on the poor-vendor’s glum, unlit, street-side stalls borrowing light from the mall-walas’ gargantuan glass palaces.

One of the on-the-verge-of-extinction goodies that tops this list are the traditional earthen ‘Diwalis’ or ‘Hatoris’.

Named ‘Diwali’ after the festival itself, these coloured clay huts, once considered an integral part of the festival pooja, are finding lesser and lesser takers with every passing Diwali.

While diyas have found plastic and wax avatars, Hatoris still come in their primitive, earthen form.

A little clay house, painted with colourful walls and staircases and little golden (clay) bells, the Hatori has traditionally been considered one of the most essential elements of the festival.

It signifies shagun and it is said a lit Hatori on festival night is a sign for a warm welcome to Laxmi, the Goddess of wealth and well being. Though many people from various other religions also buy it for the love of its sheer form and charm, that too has been affected with the advent of many designer offerings in the market.

But as lesser people carry out the Diwali pooja, the convention of buying a Hatori is also fast diminishing.

Geeta, a local vendor, who has been selling diyas and Diwalis at a local square for the past 15 to 16 years, says, “My in-laws have been into this business for the past few generations. I joined them. The business was better in the previous days but now the customers have greatly diminished. We are poor. I can’t even afford to teach all my children because I need help with the business. There is no Diwali for us. We will sit here selling diyas and Diwalis on festival night.”

Resham Lal, a city ‘Diwali’ seller who has been in the trade for the past 20 to 25 years, since his forefathers were also into it, says, “It is bought by everyone - Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs. It is an inseparable element of Diwali. We get them from potters at Sofi Pind. That’s where they are made in huge quantities.”

“While some people place diyas in them some people just place them at a pure place in the house and keep them burning all through the night.”

There is also a section that places money in it during the pooja and later distribute it among the children of the house when the pooja ends.

The vendors say the total number of ‘Diwali’ sellers in the city have also diminished, “The upscale markets no more sell it because there no one buys it. There are limited places in the city where people buy it because it doesn’t have many takers.”

‘Diwalis’, made out of coloured sugar (chashni) are also not seen much in the bazaars while earlier there were scores of them available. Though Chashni toys can still be traced at some places, sugar ‘Diwalis’ have almost disappeared from the market.

Reena Sharma, a housewife and religious Diwali worshipper, says, “It is sad what consumerism is stealing away from the people. ‘Diwalis’ are considered very pious and essential for the well being of homes. People have money to buy LCDs and costly gifts but consider it a shame to display these traditional huts in their homes. They think such things are downmarket. It is bothersome both for culture and for the hordes of vendors who depend on us to earn their livelihood. Without ‘Diwalis’, the festival would never be the same.”

Jalandhar, October 23
It’s that ultimate pre-Diwali treat that city art aficianados could ask for at the moment. Especially, when it involves some of the chosen persons who top the list when it comes to art gyan in the region.

Artists from Jalandhar, Hoshiarpur and Delhi have teamed up for a unique three-day visual art exhibition of paintings, photographs and sculptures at the Virsa Vihar here.

Inaugurated by acclaimed artiste and thinker Imroz (note: there were no sarkari guests) on Saturday, what makes the exhibition special is the fact that is the first joint effort by faculty members of different institutes (LPU, Apeejay) in the city and involves people who have been acclaimed for their visual genius an unique perception both in India and abroad.

While the Virsa Vihar has seen the delightful works by artists Basudeb Biswas and Sukhwinder Singh earlier, catchy fare from artists Mohinder Mastana, Jaspal, SK Sarkar, Mamta Marshal, Anil Gupta, Shailendra, Prasad S Shankar, Arjun Kumar Singh, Shatarupa Chatterjee, Noshima Verma and Abid Hadi were also a treat for the eyes.

Biswas’ and Mastana’s sculptures and the rugged yet stylised women were masterstrokes that the visitors fell in love with.

Jaspal’s Dali-themed multi-layers takes on desire which have been displayed in places like Mexico, Jakarta, Italy etc., made an art-lover happy because they seemed to think and go beyond the boundaries of art perception in the region.

Suhwinder’s dark and pretty works signified much growth and beauty through jumbles images.

SK Sarkar’s super bright as well as under-toned fare got to the senses, Anil Gupta’s animals with monochromatic backgrounds caught ones eye in a pretty similar fashion.

Mamta’s low toned, sly black dreaming woman told you the woman who made it certainly had the imagination to travel to another world, the way painters should.

The talented Anil Gupta, whose brilliant rustic paintings have also been appreciated by Virsa Vihar audiences, this time talked through his photographs in which simple images like chairs umbrellas and bright orange village mandir idols said much deeper things.

Prasad S Shankar talked about our rural men, making statements about poor men through sleeping figures (the man sleeping with the sheep and red bull did touch hearts).

Arjun Kumar Singh’s talked through characters ‘In search of hope’, geometrical shapes and dancing images.

Noshima Verma’s laughing flowers and Shatrupa’s bright palettes were pretty.

Abid Hadi’s soul stirring visuals explored a sense of mystery and darkness beneath a surface which seemed calm.

The exhibition will be on till October 24. 

Jalandhar, October 23
Even as the Municipal Corporation is reeling through a financial crunch, the Local Bodies Department has failed to clear as many as 36 cases of Change of Land Use (CLU) which can fetch it an immediate income of over Rs 5 crore.

The officials seem to be sitting over the issue awaiting a notification for clearance of all such cases at the local level in line with an announcement in this regard by the Deputy Chief Minister, Sukhbir Badal, during a function held on local bodies reforms here on July 22.

The delay has further affected the work for officials of the building branch. Sources revealed that all realtors were awaiting an easy clearance of the matter at the local level and no fresh application for CLU from residential to commercial use had been received by them since the past three months. The MC had cleared a budget putting revenue through CLU, building application fee and building composition fee at Rs 14 crore.

The changes had been proposed as the realtors had been demanding that the prolonged process of getting cases cleared via meetings and signatures of top functionaries of the department was leading to much problem. The local builders had even alleged a pick-and-choose policy for clearance of the cases.

The MC has declared 14 roads for the purpose including Mahavir Marg, Cool Road, Mall Road, Bhagwan Parsuram Marg, Rainbow Road, Basti Adda to Basti Sheikh Road and Guru Ravidass Marg to Model Town Road. The office has been charging an amount of Rs 3,868 per sq feet as the fee.

Senior Deputy Mayor Kamaljit Bhatia too has raised the issue time and again in the MC House meeting claiming that there was no point in hanging the cases for two years or so. The current pendency list also includes some cases dating back to 2009.