Jalandhar February 20
Three persons were killed and two others injured in three road accidents in the city. Dharamvir (65), a resident of Kishanpura locality here, was crushed to death by a speeding Tata 407 near Khalsa College ROB.

The victim was traveling on a scooter when he was hit by a speeding car from behind. He lost control and fell down. Another speeding Tata 407, which was coming from behind, hit Dharamvir killing him on the spot. The deceased was a priest.

Though the driver of Tata 407 fled from the spot, the car driver has been arrested.

Cases under relevant sections of the IPC have been registered against the arrested, identified as Yaspal, and the absconding driver.

In another accident, an NRI lost control over his motorcycle and rammed into the road divider in Lidhara village road near here this afternoon. He was declared brought dead by doctors.

The deceased was identified as Jatinder Singh, a resident of Kahlawan village near here. Major Singh who was riding pillion sustained injuries in the accident.

In third accident, a motorcycle-borne youth died after he lost control over his speeding bike and rammed into an electricity pole near Workshop Chowk last night.

The deceased was identified as Rajman Tiawari, a resident of Shaheed Babu Labh Singh Nagar. He originally hailed from Uttar Pradesh. Ishwar Nepali riding pillion was injured. The youths were reportedly drunk.

Jalandhar, February 20
Burglars struck at a jewellery shop situated at Gadyeepur village last night and decamped with cash, gold and silver ornaments.

Gulshan, owner of Gulshan Jewelers and a resident of Ashok Vihar, said another shopkeeper informed him about the burglary.

On reaching the spot, he found the whole shop ransacked. Thieves took away 2.5 kg of silver, 100 gm gold and Rs 6,000 cash. Gulshan said prized metals would be worth Rs 5 lakh.

He said though he had informed the police at 7 am, the police arrived quite late.

In another burglary at a house at Nagra village near here, thieves decamped with Rs 21,000 cash, gold ornaments, a passport and documents.

Karnail Ram, owner of the house, said last night burglars might have entered the house after scaling the outer wall. They managed to open the locks of the almirah which contained the cash and ornaments. The family didn’t know of the burglary as they slept in another room. The police has been informed.

Kapurthala: Thieves struck at a house located on Circular road and decamped with gold and cash. The house owner, identified as Subash, along with his family members had gone to Dera Beas. Thieves decamped with 17 tola gold and Rs 70,000 in cash. The matter has been reported to the police.

Jalandhar, February 20
A provision introduced by the Punjab Technical University for allowing applicants under the RTI Act to take photocopies of the evaluated copies of answersheets has come as a big tool in the hands of the parents who have their wards studying in affiliated colleges.

Ever since the university gave the provision about five months back, more than 100 applications of the sort have been received by the university in response to which the copies have been dispatched at the address of the students.

The university officials said in most cases, the applicants were the parents whom their wards had been befooling saying that they had attempted the paper well but somehow did not get the score they deserved. “More and more parents are using the Act as a tool to assess the actual performance of the students. With answersheets in their hands, they could themselves judge the real situation,” said Balkar Singh from the examination branch.

Interestingly, none of the 100 applicants have yet challenged the evaluation of the university or returned with an application to the Vice Chancellor or any other authority against any wrong marking. In any case, the university also does not have any legal provision for the applicants to contest for more marks other than by applying for re-evaluation or re-appearing for the examination. Dr Nachhatar Singh, adviser to VC, said, “We are mulling on whether we could set up some neutral board of examiners to handle any complaints. The teachers of a subject could be called on particular days to answer queries and handle complaints.”

The authorities feel that the Act had also come as a check on their examiners. His identity, however, is not divulged to the RTI applicants.

The university had been earlier following the challenge evaluation system under which a student desiring of see his result could see his paper in front of the examiner after paying a fee of Rs 2,500. If he was able to prove to the examiner that he deserved more marks on any account, the fee was refunded to the student. The scheme, however, has been dropped now.

Shahkot, February 20
The Shahkot Municipal Committee has not hired contractors for various services at Shahkot bus stand for years now. Fund crunch is said to be the main reason behind the poor condition of the bus stand.

Services such as ‘adda fees’ (entry and exit fee of vehicles in bus stand), canteen, toilets have no takers for over five years, said sources. Infrastructure at the bus stand is in a dilapidated state while the civic amenities are shattered. Instead of travellers, drug addicts could be spotted inside the premises.

One of the officials of the Committee said the authority has fixed the huge contract fees and contractors do not consider it lucrative option.

Since there are no contractors for ‘adda fees’ for the last five years, the Committee has deployed its own representatives to collect the fees. A few years back, contract of ‘adda fees’ was given to a private contractor. “I had taken the contract of “adda fees” four years back at Rs 7.65 lakh per year,” said Raj, a contractor, adding that the contract did not prove to be lucrative enough and hence he discontinued it.

There is no contractor for the canteen as well since past eight years. “Previously, canteen contract was auctioned at Rs 1.50 lakhs approximately for a year,” said an official.“We publish auction information every year. We spend huge money on advertisement in newspapers and other media. But there is no taker,” the official added.

Sources said there is not even a single safai karmachari to clean the bus stand. During monsoon rainwater gets accumulated inside the bus stand. Dirty and shabby toilets are nothing but an eyesore for the travellers.

Committee official said development of the bus stand is the sole responsibility of the Committee but due shortage of funds and lack of contractors they cannot do much to help the situation. “We are not getting salaries for the last two months. Where will we get the money to develop the bus stand?” official added.

Jalandhar, February 20
A worn out piece of cloth lying in the storeroom might be of no use to you, but it can definitely provide clothing to an underprivileged somewhere in India. All it requires is an effort to donate old clothes or any kind of usable material to a national-level NGO Goonj, which has its processing centre in the city.

NGO Goonj, which collects old and new clothes, utensils, footwear, dry ration, newspapers and much more for the poor people, is all set to hold a two-day long ‘Vastra Samman’ camp. The collection of the material would be held from 7 am to 10 pm on February 23 and 24 at Gold's Gym in Model Town.

The material collected from the cities would be used to motivate villagers to work for their villages under the ‘cloth for work’ initiative.

Daljeet Kaur, heading the Jalandhar Processing Centre of Goonj said, “The material collected through this camp is recycled before it is passed on to the underprivileged.

The underprivileged are given clothes in lieu of some work like cleaning the streets, repairing roads and digging wells.” The NGO gives new shape to old clothes at the processing centre, located at Nakodar Chowk. The NGO also gets donations from the people. 

Jalandhar, February 20
The local St Soldier Group of Institutions today organised its fourth annual charity show “Sanjhan Pyaar Diyan” on the campus, during which donation worth Rs 2.5 lakh was collected.

On this occasion children from the Apahaj Ashram, Pingla Ghar, District Anti Leprosy Association and Rashtriya Andh Vidyalaya were the special guests. The donations have been made to these organisations.

During the function a cultural programme was held in which Punjabi singer Jassi Sohal, Bollywood singer Arvind, Laughter Challenge show fame comedian Umang, Surinder and Vikas Mongia performed.

Vice chairperson of the institution Sangeeta Chopra said the aim of the show was to inculcate the spirit of charity for the mentally and physically handicapped, abandoned and socially discarded people.

Jalandhar, February 20
Two students of the local Innocent Hearts cleared the prestigious state-level National Talent Search Examination (NTSE).

The students, Aarush Mittal and Vasudha, are among the few students in Jalandhar who have cleared the examination.

Talking to The Tribune, the students said a strict work regimen got them through the examination. Vasudha studied for about a fortnight and was success.

Harbouring the notion that she didn’t fill her form right, she gave up preparing for the exam thinking that she wouldn’t get a roll number.

“But when I got the roll number on November 3, I was overjoyed and felt immense pressure. I had just 14 to 15 days to study,” she said.

Vasudha likes fine arts and spends a lot of time painting.

Her mother Renu, who has been teaching her, said she has time reserved for many other things except studies. She just studies for a couple of hours at home and sleeps early since she loves sleeping.

Aarush Mittal, on the other hand, wants to become a doctor like his parents Dr Atul Mittal and Dr Anu Mittal. Talking to The Tribune, Aarush said he believes in hard work and perseverance. He studies for at least three hours a day and spends a good amount on his various tuitions.

Both these students have now geared up for the NTSE nationals to be held on May.

Phagwara, February 20
Punjab State Power Corporation Limited has introduced spot billing system throughout the state.

Sr XEN Sanjeev Kumar said the contract for the distribution and collecting payment on the spot has been allotted to a private company.

He said the computerised bill would be provided to the consumer having power connections below 20 kv. The payment below Rs 1000 could be paid to the bill reader-cum-preperator on the spot. He said more than 55,000 consumers of Phagwara sub-division would benefit from the scheme.

Jalandhar, February 20
The police has not been able to arrest the accused in the abetment to suicide case of a woman.

The accused, Rajesh Kumar, was the owner of the house at Ram Nagar where the deceased was staying as tenant. The woman was found dead in a factory at Gopal Nagar on February 18.

Rajesh was booked after the police found that the woman took the extreme step fearing her landlord.

Sources said that the deceased had not paid the rent for the past four months and the landlord was pressurising her for the same. The police sources said raids were being conducted to nab the accused.