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40-min rain has many areas deluged
Only 845 of 20,000 food joints registered in district
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Management colleges woo students
Department yet to table report
Dr Jaspal Singh, professor of physical education.
Retired teachers of aided schools
to get pension
Kade Shah Chowk residents hold dharna
Four killed in mishaps
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40-min rain has many areas deluged
Jalandhar, July 10 Though the downpour brought mercury down to 35.1 degrees Celsius, it submerged most of the low-lying areas, posh localities and public offices of the city, forcing people to wade through knee-deep water. Leave the low-lying areas, even the Company Bagh Chowk road leading to the MC office, District Administrative Complex (DAC), Shaheed-E-Azam ISBT, police lines and the PAP road were completely submerged. Even many roads of the old city areas, including Ali Mohalla, Nehru Garden Road, Basti Adda Chowk, Sheikhan Bazaar, Garha Road and Ladowali Road, were completely water-logged and gave a tough time to people to commute. The condition of the bus-stand road was worse, as it was flooded with rainwater and the constant flow of buses to and fro from the bus-stand was leading to a complete blockade of the road. “We have been standing outside the bus stand to board a bus, as it is very difficult to go inside with luggage. To add to the problems, the roads are also badly broken and one can easily fall,” said a passenger. On the Garha road, leading towards the Punjab Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS), people were left wading through sludge. Since the road had huge potholes, the MC authorities got them filled with mud this morning and no sooner they completed the task, it started raining, leading to a troublesome time for the commuters. “We did not know that the road was filled with mud and were left trapped. Not only driving, even stepping somewhere on this stretch turned out to be risky. The MC should have got this patchwork done ahead of the monsoons, as any such work at this moment, would be completely washed away, adding to the problems of the residents,” said a group of college students, who commuted through that road. While most of the localities were completely submerged in rainwater, there were many, which were left dry with increased levels of humidity. Especially, the outskirts of city towards the Jalandhar-Amritsar highway, Pathankot highway, parts of cantonment and the villages on the outskirts witnessed moderate to no rainfall.
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Only 845 of 20,000 food joints registered in district
Jalandhar, July 10 Conservative health department estimates put the total number of eateries, food vends etc in the district at more than 20,000, but a mere 845 out of these have actually got themselves registered/licensed under the Food Standard and Safety Act (2006), so far. The health department has issued only about 375 licenses and only about 470 eateries in the district are presently registered. With the final deadline for getting themselves licensed being scheduled on August 4, 2012, the health department laments that despite spreading awareness, people are not turning up for registration. The Food Standard and Safety Act (2006) has a huge number of proprietors under its ambit. It covers food vends, canteens, restaurants, milkmen, food retailers, wholesalers and even distributors and transporters in the food business. The only trouble is that many of the proprietors themselves claim they are not aware about it. A food vendor says, “None of the health department teams ever came to us informing us about these formalities. I wasn’t aware that I am supposed to get registered.” A dhaba owner says, “I have got the licensing formalities from the municipal corporation completed. I While many vendors claimed that they were not aware of licensing, some said the system was designed to extract money out of them while no one was bothered about the law. A city-based eatery owner said, “We are supposed to get ourselves licensed with the municipal corporation, the labour department and the health department. If we have to pay Rs 100, we are charged Rs 1,000. Money is extracted by creating scare that samples from eateries will be rejected. While the big guns pay money, the smaller vendors sometimes do not opt for licensing for fear of formalities and bribery. Handling one department is difficult and we are supposed to deal with three. If the departments did our work on time and did not charge extra money, all the eateries in Jalandhar would have been licensed by now.” Civil Surgeon Dr RL Bassan says, “It is very important for all food proprietors/operators to get themselves registered/licensed before the due date. Licensing is a time-consuming procedure and if they do not start now, the procedure will get too late. Those not licensed by August 4, would be penalised with fine of Rs 5 lakh and/or imprisonment for six months.” Commenting on allegations of bribery, the CS said, “Right now we are literally urging people to get themselves registered, the question of bribery doesn’t arise. But if anyone faces any such difficulty, they are free to bring the matter to my notice and strict action will be taken against the erring official.” The vend owners were supposed to get themselves licensed since 1954 (as per the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act, 1954), but stats say very few had done so. In 2006, the Food Standard and Safety Act repealed the 1954 Act and some of the regulations were changed. As per the 2006 Act, eateries and food proprietors earning less than Rs 12 lakh per annum have to get registration done by submitting a form, two photographs and submitting a meagre fee of Rs 100 per annum. Those earning more than Rs 12 lakh per annum have to get themselves licensed with a fee of Rs 1,000 to Rs 5,000 per annum (depending on the annual turnover). For licensing, the health authorities also carry out inspections at the eatery/vend premises and take food and water samples. Restaurant owners, retailers, distributors, caterers with a turnover of more than Rs 20 crore per annum and wholesalers and transporters (with more than 100 vehicles/wagons for transporting food) with a turnover of more than Rs 30 crore per annum are supposed to get themselves licensed from the central government. |
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Management colleges woo students
Jalandhar, July 10 Even worse is the fact that only 7,982 candidates had appeared for the management entrance test (MET) conducted by Punjab Technical University (PTU) for five participating universities, including Punjabi University Patiala, Guru Nanak Dev University Amritsar, Sri Guru Granth Sahib Sikh World University Fatehgarh Sahib and Punjab Agricultural University Ludhiana. Even as all private colleges are trying all means to woo students, the government colleges too have not lagged behind. Punjab Technical University, which is to introduce the MBA course for the first time in its constituent college Punjab Institute of Technology (PIT) Kapurthala, also has some interesting offers - 30 per cent fee concession for students with rank up to 250 in MET and free laptops to all students for the course duration. To make it more lucrative, PIT is also claiming that visiting faculty from IIMs would be delivering lectures to the students off and on. Landran-based Chandigarh Group of Colleges offering PG in business administration, on the other hand, has chosen to use a tagline ‘Harvard Business School-level case studies’ in its publicity material to attract the youth. Mandi Gobindgarh-based Desh Bhagat Group has insertions in dailies, claiming, “There will be academic activities with IIM Ahmedabad for MBA and MCA students”. Almost all colleges are also claiming high-end IT companies, including HCL, Oracle and Microsoft being their associate partners while also using logos of banks, automobile and other companies putting them as their placement partners. The lock-in time to fill choices for the first round of online counselling fell today. The seat allotment status is likely to be declared on July 15. The second round will begin in a few days thereafter. University No of Colleges
PTU 135 GNDU 6 Pbi varsity 27 PAU 1 SGGSWU 1 Total 170 |
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Department yet to table report
Jalandhar, July 10 Though the entire data had been fed directly on the PC tablets for a quick addition into the old inputs gathered by the Census Department and a faster analysis, the authorities have not been able to generate a report even five months after data collection by the enumerators. The department is still contemplating ways to overcome certain discrepancies that surfaced in the data collection. A proposal is being mooted to depute supervisors to get certain corrections or cross verifications done before bringing these in public domain and inviting objections. Director Rural Development and Panchayats Balwinder Singh said there were certain points that needed to be clarified which could not be foreseen such as those on tribal groups. “Our supervisors will go to such households between July 16 to 30 and incorporate the required changes. We will them come up with printed draft of the report which will be put up at panchayat ghars or any common place in each village. For urban areas, the lists displaying caste, religion and other economic angles would be released to the Municipal Corporation commissioners so that anyone could raise objections on the matter. After clarifying the objections, the lists would be sent for final publication.” Earlier, the data collection had also got delayed owing to delay in the issuing of hardware to the enumerators, delay on the part of the government departments in releasing the old data and subsequently time taken to feed the data into the machines. The data culled included several questions based on the socio-economic status such as number of rooms, the kind of ceiling, number of fans, TV sets and so on. It also included data on the count of cancer, leprosy and other chronic The receipts will carry stamped numbers with the code for state, district and village. These will also bear the names of the family members, which will eventually also figure in the NPR cards to be issued in the names of the heads of the families. |
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City prof to present paper on football
Jalandhar, July 10 The gathering, comprising around 400 delegates from across the world, would also see the presence of Dr Jaspal Singh, a professor of physical education from the local Lyallpur Khalsa College. He would present his paper on “Technological interventions and referral system in football: An exposition” during the “Pre-Olympic Congress-2012 of Sports Science and Engineering” to be held at Liverpool in UK from July 24 to 25. Later Dr Jaspal would also be invited to witness the London Olympics as a spectator. Talking to Jalandhar Tribune, Prof Jaspal, who has been giving coaching to football players, said his paper would deal with the role of technology in the officiating system of football. “The Pre-Olympic Congress is being held to deliberate upon different aspects of various games and football is one of the most popular games and a craze the world over. But, it lacks a good refereeing system. My paper would explore the role of referees, judges and umpires in football and highlight the necessary changes required,” he added. Dr Jaspal maintained that football lacks the system of appeal, which is available in only three games namely- cricket, hockey and tennis. “There are three systems - hawk eye technique, video replay and goal line technique - which can ensure bringing transparency in the game. Since, video replay is an easy method, it can give a chance to the umpires to counter-check the complaints of the rivals, leading to a healthy competition in the game,” he added. “The paper primarily deals with the refereeing system in football and bring to the fore certain facts, which have been debated world over in the previous football matches. “Since, technology has a vast role to play, there is a dire need of a good refereeing system so that timely and accurate decisions could be taken in the game,” he added. Earlier, Dr Jaspal has presented around 20 research papers on different facets of games, which have been published in various national and international journals. Recently, he also published a book “Khed Chintan” in Punjabi, which brought to the fore certain debatable issues related to different games.
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Retired teachers of aided schools
to get pension
Jalandhar, July 10 The government released a CPF/BT order in this regard today, declaring the release of the teachers’ pensions. State secretary NN Saini, in a press release issued today in this regard, said, “All retired aided school teachers who had been awaiting their pension since June 1, 2003, will finally send their respective case letters to the DEO’s office.” About 3,500 aided school teachers will be receiving their pensions. Sadly, more than 100 teachers have died waiting for their pensions. Notably, the Punjab and Haryana High Court had passed the first judgment in this regard in the year 2006, asking the Punjab Government to release the teachers’ pensions. Following this, the government had filed a contempt petition in the Supreme Court, asking that the order be revoked. The Punjab government’s writ petition, however, was dismissed by the Supreme Court on September 2011. |
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Kade Shah Chowk residents hold dharna
Jalandhar, July 10 The residents demanded that proper water supply be restored to them through some alternative arrangement as the tubewell in their area had turned dry. The agitating residents, who included women in large numbers, were pacified by the area councillor Kuldeep Singh Oberoi. He said a new tubewell had been installed, which would become operational in the next 10 days. Commissioner Viney Bublani ensured quick action in the matter. |
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1 arrested with stolen bikes
Jalandhar, July 10 The accused was identified as Sarvan Kumar, a resident of the New Model House locality. Acting on a tip-off, police personnel laid a naka at Manbro Chowk and after intercepting the accused, nabbed him. During questioning, the bike-borne revealed that he had stolen this bike a few days ago only. Police sources said later the police also recovered another stolen bike (PB-37 D-0643), which the accused had kept at a house in the Basti Danishmanda locality. A case under Section 379 of the IPC had been registered against the accused, the police added.
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Four killed in mishaps
Jalandhar, July 10 The deceased were identified as Ranjit Singh (23), a resident of Padhyana village near here, and Paramjit Singh (24), a resident of Kartarpur. The accident occurred at 11.30 pm on Tuesday night, when the duo was heading to their hometown. When they reached near Chuhrawali village, they had a head-on-collision with the truck coming from the opposite side. Both victims sustained severe head injuries and died on the spot. Police sources said the truck driver, who had fled from the spot immediately after the accident, was later arrested by the police. After impounding the truck, a case under Section 304-A of the IPC had been registered, the police added.
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