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Councillors ‘grill’ Mayor at House meeting
Only 15 NRI voters in 9 constituencies
Joy turns into tragedy
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Four generations of military service
Govt offices lie 'handicapped'
Fund crunch hits Mata Kaushalya Scheme
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Councillors ‘grill’ Mayor at House meeting
Jalandhar, December 2 All questions were put to him were loaded with satire. The first question shot at him was regarding extensions being given to retired officials without giving a chance to those next in the line or fresh appointments. “Why don’t you declare it that whosoever retires in your tenure gets an extension?” asked Jagdish Raj Raja, leader of the Opposition, during the zero hour. The Mayor replied that since new appointments were not being done, giving extensions had come handy. The next question posed to him was regarding the poor financial condition of the MC. “Where is the money to construct the sports hub and Nehru Garden as being announced? Are you getting some fixed deposits withdrawn to pay up for pensions?” all eyes were on the Mayor who claimed that the situation was being tackled with. He feigned ignorance on the second question and forwarded it to the finance officer who replied in the negative. The next attack came from councillors of the ruling party who demanded that the officials held responsible for the death of the child in the manhole be suspended within 24 hours. All the councillors claimed it to be a highly unfortunate incident and expected better vigil from the staff. In major decisions, MC granted five carts to lift garbage per ward. The controversial point regarding extension of O&M XEN Satnam Singh was also passed amid allegations from the Opposition of having taken bribe for the same. Another debated issue regarding declaring of two roads for commercial purpose was also cleared with objections from councillor Joginder Singh Tony.Issues raised time and again
Need for better dog squads Cleanliness of plots which have become dumps Speedy procedure for old-age pension Laughing points
The lone BSP
councillor, Hans Raj Rana, made everyone laugh as he said the Opposition was not defiant enough and seemed to be playing a friendly match with the Mayor The mayor addressed Congress councillor Nirmal Singh Nimma as ‘table-wale’ councillor and asked Rana sitting next to him to ensure that he did not stand up on table unlike the previous meeting Rana claimed that the Centre be issued a thanks letter for huge grants. At this, the Mayor asked the councillor to issue him a thanks letter for getting works done on which he got the reply that it was with his own effort that the development works had been done in his ward Tony made everyone had a hearty laugh as he said the reply to his RTI application indicated that the officials would be a failure in any examination
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Only 15 NRI voters in 9 constituencies
Jalandhar, December 2 This despite the fact that the election office claims that they have held meetings with the members of the NRI Sabha and tried to disseminate the information through the overseas journals printed through its office. While 13 of the total electors have got enrolled themselves by appearing before the returning officers personally, the two NRI voters based at Birmingham enrolled with Jalandhar Cantonment who have applied through the Indian Embassies there. Election tehsildar Jagtar Singh cited the details claiming that the Indian Passport and local ration card were considered as the prerequisites for the same. He said that many NRIs did not have either of the two owing to which they were unable to get enlisted as voters. The staff of the office said those applying through embassies were not being issued voter cards and they would have to come to India to show the original passport and get the copy of their card. “Even if they are not The office said the NRIs would still have time between January 3 and the date of nominations to be announced by the Commission to get enrolled for the polls. NRI Sabha member Pritam Singh Narangpuri when asked about the same claimed that ration card asked as a requirement as per instructions from ECI was coming as a hurdle. “Only those NRIs will have ration cards who have some family members back in India. The rest won’t.” He cited the second reason: “NRIs working abroad do not have much time from their jobs to visit embassies on any working day. I blame it on the Indian societies abroad who have not taken much interest and organised any camps on Sundays in gurdwaras or community halls with the Embassies to get the work done. Not much publicity has been done there through popular radios which are a popular media there.”
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Joy turns into tragedy
Shahkot, December 2 The family was planning a grand celebration on the first birthday of their son. However, the happiness of the family turned into a tragedy on the birthday of their son. Pranya’s parents had organised a ‘parbhat pheri’ in the wee hours of today on the occasion of his birthday. They also organised a Ramayana path at their residence. However, the moment the path was to start, their child was not with them. The hapless family then had to cancel the path. The family had also invited their ‘gurudev’ to shower blessings on the first birthday of their son. The bereaved and inconsolable Grandfather, Ved Parkash, said he had bought a bicycle and many other gifts for his grandson and he was to gift him today on his first birthday. “When I came to meet my grandson this morning, I didn’t find him in any of the rooms. I asked my daughter, but she was also unaware. The moment we started searching for the kid, we suddenly noticed some sound from the bathroom. When we went inside the bathroom, we were shattered to see him drowned in the bucket full of water.” They immediately rushed Praney to a nearby private hospital, from where he was referred to another private hospital and then again to the third hospital, but doctors declared the kid brought dead, said the shattered grandfather. One of the relatives of the deceased toddler said: “We had planned to celebrate his birthday at 4.pm, but God had something else in store for us. Instead of celebrating his birthday, we had to take his body for list rites.” The deceased’s father, Gautam Dhawan, runs a mobile phone shop while his mother runs a beauty parlour in Shahkot. Pranya was the younger son while his elder brother is five -year- old. Heart-rending scenes were witnessed at the local cremation ground where the deceased boy was buried. Hundreds of residents also reached to console the family members. Relatives of the family said they had performed the mundan ceremony of Pranya a few days ago. |
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4 lives snuffed out in road mishaps
Jalandhar, December 2 Two occupants of a car and a cyclist were killed near Adda Kishangarh Chowk late last night. One of the car occupants, however, sustained serious injuries in the accident. The mishap took place when Parminder Singh of Aman Nagar, Vicky Mallhi of Sarabha Nagar and Ravinder Pal were on their way to Jalandhar in an Alto Car after attending a wedding function near Bhogpur last night. The car driver lost control over the vehicle while overtaking a truck after a cyclist suddenly in front of the vehicle. The car, said to be in high speed, mowed down cyclist Kulwinder Singh, a resident of Kishangarh, and rammed into a tree on the roadside, killing Parminder Singh and Vicky Mallhi. The third occupant of the car, Ravinder Pal, however, had a miraculous escape. He was rushed to a hospital where his condition is said to be stable. The bodies were handed over to the families after post-mortem at the local Civil Hospital this afternoon. Serving as a lecturer at a Phagwara-based educational institution, Parminder Singh was recently married and had gone to attend a wedding function of a relative of his wife Manpreet Kaur. He friend Vicky, a trader, and brother-in-law Ravinder Pal were with him when the tragedy struck.In another incident, a girl was crushed to death while her cousin sustained serious injuries when the motorcycle that they were riding pillion met with an accident at the busy PAP Chowk this morning. The motorcycle rider, however, had a narrow escape. A resident of Charke village near Bhogpur, Pooja and her cousin Gurdeep Kaur were riding pillion of a motorcycle of their relative Sodhi Ram. They were on their way to the city when an oil tanker heading towards Amritsar hit their bike. The girls fell on the road and Pooja was crushed under the rear tyres of the taker. Gurpreet sustained serious injuries and was rushed to a private hospital. Her condition is said to be out of danger. The police has registered a case of rash and negligent driving against the tanker driver, Gulzar Singh, at the Rama Mandi police station. The body of the girl was handed over to the family after the post-mortem examination at the local Civil Hospital.
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Legacy of serving armed forces Kusum Arora Tribune News Service
Jalandhar, December 2 The success saga does not end here as they are possibly the only family to have served the Corps of Engineers for four generations. Meet the family of Lt Col JS Lakhman (retd) whose grandfather Lance Naik Achhar Singh had joined the Sikh Pioneers, which later became the Royal Sappers, then Miners and then came to be known as Bombay Engineers. He participated in the World War-I in North Africa and was killed in action in 1915. Col Lakhman’s father, Honorary Captain Man Singh followed in the footsteps of his father and joined as a sapper (survey trade) in Bengal Engineers in 1940. The family had to bear the adversaries of the Partition in 1947 and shifted to their present ancestral house at Ibrahimwal village in Kapurthala. Continuing the rich family legacy, Col Lakhman joined the Corps of Engineers as Bombay Sapper in 1969. At present, his son Col Vijay Paul Singh is posted in Mumbai as Commander Works Engineer (Naval Works). Talking to Jalandhar Tribune about the family tradition, he said: “It was a choice and a chance that all the four generations happened to join the Corps of Engineers consecutively. While my son took parental claim and joined the Bombay Sappers, my father chose Bengal Engineers and continued the legacy.” During his stint in the Army, Col Lakhman served with the glorious 102 Engineer Regiment, which remained at the forefront in the Indo-Pak war for the liberation of Bangladesh in 1971. “The regiment gave us the replica of the insignia of 10 Pakistan Engineer Battalion inscribed on a shield which was captured by 102 Regiment during the battle of Jessore and Khulna sector. My name was mentioned in the dispatches during this war,” he added. Discussing about the decision of his son to join the Army, he said: “We never forced him to join the armed forces. It was his decision to take this proud legacy ahead and I am glad that he also served with 105 and 267 Engineer Regiments before commanding 269 Engineer Regiment, thereby reaching the Unit Commander’s perch.”His was the only family from the village to have successively joined the Army. But Col Lakhman expressed concern over the decline in the number of youth joining the armed forces these days. “Even I too keep on motivating and guiding the youth to join the armed forces as no other profession in this world can give you such an honour and pride. But sadly, the youth is more inclined towards an easy life and good packages,” Col Lakhman said. “We need youth who can join the armed forces and create such glorious histories so the coming generations can feel motivated,” Col Lakhman signed off.
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Govt offices lie 'handicapped'
Jalandhar, December 2 Majority of government offices are without special toilets and parking lots for differently abled persons. Interestingly, the District Administrative Complex (DAC) has one special toilet for special persons, but it remains locked most part of the year. A class IV employee at DAC said, "The special toilet for handicapped persons adjoining normal toilets located on the ground floor near the lift is used by the DAC employees and they lock it after using them." Meanwhile, Advocate Ashok Sharma, who has been recently honoured by the state government with a social services award for helping differently abled persons, said there are no proper ramps in the District Administrative Complex (DAC) and Municipal Corporation Jalandhar (MCJ). Most of the city offices of Punjab government are located in the DAC complex, whereas people visit MCJ office for depositing water, sewerage and house tax bills apart from meeting other officials including MCJ Commissioner and Mayor. Interestingly, lift at the newly-built multi storey MCJ building usually remains out of order. There have been two incidents of the lift getting stuck in November. So much so, there is no lift at City Police Commissionerate's multi storey building. The offices of the majority of police officials in the city police commissionerate building are located in the DAC complex. Also president of an NGO Helpline, Advocate Ashok Sharma said the District and Sessions Courts and MCJ have no special toilets and parking lots for special persons as required under the Persons with Disability (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act 1995. Himself a differently abled, advocate Ashok Sharma, said, "He faces difficulty as and when he goes to appear in connection with a case listed at the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum, located on the third floor of the District Administrative Complex. The lift is not equipped for differently abled people as it is two steps high from the ground. The lift is also located 60-70 steps away from the entrance whereas it should be near the entrance to facilitate the disabled persons. Special toilet for differently abled remains locked at the District Administrative Complex No proper ramps in DAC, Municipal Corporation No lift at City Police Commissionerate's building Lift at multi-storeyed MCJ building usually remains out of order District and Sessions Courts and MCJ have no special toilets and parking places for disabled persons as required under the Persons With Disability (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act Official speak All offices located in the DAC complex give an easy access to the differently abled persons. I have already directed to remove the chain fixed at the iron gate at the entrance. As far as special toilets and special parking lots are concerned, efforts will be made at the earliest. — Priyank Bharti, Deputy CommissionerUsually, the lift remains in a working condition. I will ensure to provide special toilets and parking lots for the disabled on the MCJ premises after consulting with MCJ Commissioner BS
Dhaliwal — Rakesh Rathour, Mayor
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Fund crunch hits Mata Kaushalya Scheme
Jalandhar, December 2 As many as 605 women who got their babies delivered since October 6 at the hospital (till today), did not get Rs 1,000, an amount promised under the scheme. On an average, Jalandhar Civil Hospital witnesses 400 deliveries per month. The hospital has also been falling short of surgical equipment meant for maternity surgeries (which also depends on funds sent by the state government) from time to time. The hospital authorities have reportedly been falling short of vicryl (threads used during surgeries) euro bags (catheters) and fluids. Patients are angry about not getting their money since a lot of patients who come to the Civil Hospital belong to poor families. The scheme is one of the major reasons that people from far flung areas also come here for child birth. Sources also attribute the heavy inflow of patients at the Civil Hospital due to the scheme. Gursewak Singh from Khanna says, "What is the use of starting the scheme if they are not going to give us the promised amount. We are poor and we need the money. This money will mark the very first phase of our child's life." The staff at the hospital says, "Patients come and fight with us about not getting the money. If there is no money coming from the top, how can we be held responsible for that?" Civil hospital owes dues of over Rs 6 lakh to the women 605 women delivered from the first week of October till now Hospital also short of (state govt funded) surgical equipment Not enough vicryl (threads used during surgeries) euro bags (catheters) and fluids, anti-biotics at the CH Scheme on of the prime reasons for patient inflow Lack of money has angered patients Highest delivery rate at the Jalandhar CH with 400 deliveries per month Official speak We have not received any money under the Mata Kaushalya Scheme for some time now. The budget for the purpose has not been allocated. We have written to the principal secretary about it. They said they have been trying to divert funds, but the number of deliveries at the Jalandhar Civil Hospital is so high (highest) that we need a substantial amount to pay all the mothers. As far as surgical equipment for delivery cases is concerned, we do keep falling short of it from time to time. Much of these are required during caesarean sections. These include thread, antibiotics, euro bags etc. — Avtar Chand, Medical Superintendent
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Jalandhar, December 2
Differently abled residents of Jalandhar face a tough time while visiting the district courts, MC and government offices. These complexes have little facilities for people with special needs, though it's a different matter that the law makes it mandatory for these offices to have every facility for them.
The family’s legacy of joining the armed forced began with Lance Naik Achhar Singh joining the Sikh Pioneers. His son Honorary Captain Man Singh followed in his footsteps and joined as a Sapper with Bengal Engineers in 1940. Continuing the rich family legacy, Man Singh’s son Col Lakhman joined the Corps of Engineers as a Bombay Sapper in 1969. At present, Col Lakhman’s son Col Vijay Paul Singh is posted in Mumbai as Commander Works Engineer (Naval Works).