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Shifting of chemical unit sought
Youth found dead in Gulmarg Colony
Man commits suicide
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Only 198 injectable drug users at Civil Hospital
Man confesses to killing wife
Missing labourer’s family to move HC
Competitions held at Science City
Fire breaks out in house
Teachers against new rationalisation policy
Congress leaders pay homage to Rajiv Gandhi
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Shifting of chemical unit sought
Jalandhar, August 20 The factory, which is situated in a dingy and congested lane, has been inviting the wrath of the residents following the stench of chemicals emanating from the house and the constant problem of itching in their eyes. Although the factory has been functioning in the locality for the past around three years, but the problem of excessive use of chemicals by the factory owners enraged the residents. Sharing their problem, the residents said firstly there were no fixed work timings of the factory and secondly the smell of chemicals emanating from the house had made their lives miserable. “The owner of the house silently started the chemicals work from the house and we have been bearing the consequences of air pollution,” said Shyam Sunder, an elderly resident. “Since our houses are situated adjacent to the factory and that too in a narrow lane, our lives have been badly affected. We are forced to keep the doors of our houses closed even during the daytime, as at times the smell of the chemicals is very strong and hard to bear,” said Prem Kumar Chakravarty. The residents maintained that they pursued the matter with the Municipal Corporation (MC), district administration and Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) but to no avail. “It seems that all the functionaries have turned a blind eye towards our problem. There have been occasions when some officials came and visited the site, but no action was taken, hence the problem,” said Neeraj, another resident. “We tried approaching the owners of the house and they assured that they would shift the unit soon, but nothing has been done so far. Recently, they even assured that they would install a chimney atop the house to reduce the problem of air pollution and nothing is in sight as of now,” the residents added. The residents demanded immediate stopping of the chemicals work in the locality, failing which they would be forced to hold protests. “Not just the entire street, but the whole locality has been suffering due to the constant smell of the chemicals and some action should be taken at the earliest,” they added.
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Youth found dead in Gulmarg Colony
Jalandhar, August 20 The deceased’s family said last night Ravinder had gone to purchase medicine for his nephew and did not return home. On Sunday early morning, some persons informed Ravinder’s family that they had noticed a youth lying unconscious at Gulmarg Colony. On reaching the spot, Ravinder’s family members found him dead and informed the police. Bimal Kant Sharma, SHO, Division No 8 police station, said the police had not noticed any injury marks on the deceased’s body and it seemed that Ravinder might have consumed poison. As of now, inquest proceedings under Section 174 of the CrPc were initiated and the exact cause of death would be known after the arrival of the postmortem report only. |
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Jalandhar, August 20 Investigating officer Manjit Singh said the deceased’s wife Kiran Bala alleged that her husband committed suicide because his (deceased) brother was not giving him equal share from their parents properties and due to that he was living in tension. This morning, when he was alone at home, he committed suicide by hanging himself from a roof girder. The police said no case was registered yet. — OC
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Only 198 injectable drug users at Civil Hospital
Jalandhar, August 20 Organisations and activists condemn inaction and the government announces enthusiastic anti-addiction campaigns, but the aggression never goes past the fiery microphone speeches. A look at the number of IDUs (injectable drug users) in the district and the lack of seriousness of government efforts to get them treated is reflective of this very trend. While the OST (Opioid Substituion Therapy) centre at the local Civil Hospital was set up with the very intention of getting vulnerable youths off the fatal addiction of injectable drugs, very few IDU patients make it to the centre. The alarmingly high drop-out rate of patients is also indicative of the seriousness of the IDU situation. The OST centre currently has 198 IDUs registered with it, out which 131 have dropped out of treatment, which leaves only 67 patients. Staff at the OST centre said out of these 67, eight are in jails and four have expired. Of the 55, thus, left, 39 patients are regular and 16 are irregular. Notably, continuity is of key importance in pursuing a proper and effective treatment of addiction, but out of the hordes of IDUs in the district, only 39 are regularly visiting the Civil Hospital to be treated. So, in a city teeming with IDUs, only 39 are regularly getting themselves treated at the local Civil Hospital. Talking to The Tribune, Prof Lakhbir Singh, president of the NGO Pahal, said, “Sixty per cent of the district’s total population comprise youngsters. As per a recent survey conducted by Guru Nanak Dev University, 73 per cent of the district youths are drug users. Out of these, 30 to 40 per cent are injectable drug users. But clearly the measures to tackle the drug demon are dismal and IDUs are languishing due to lack of proper care and aid from families and societal establishments.” Dr Sanjay, psychiatrist at the local Civil Hospital, when asked the reason for the meagre number of IDUs reporting at the civil hospital and a large number of dropouts, said, “The problem is big and the patients sometimes require to be tackled like little children. Patients are getting treatment free of cost at the Civil Hospital, but they refuse to visit us regularly. Many say they want medicines for an entire week to be given to them beforehand. These are costly medicines and supervised dosage is important. Regular visits to the doctor are necessary. But patients do not listen.” Here, the lack of an outreach programme plays a major stumbling block for the treatment of IDUs. While the OST centre itself has only one counsellor (who goes for outreach work only once a week), for the entire district, there are only two more area coordinators. All these counsellors and coordinators (a coordinator has a counsellor and an ANM working for him) have been designated a particular area beyond which they are not supposed to go unless there are orders from the top. So, at the most, only three or four localities of the entire district are being catered to by the OST centre. Talking to The Tribune, a resident of the Qazi Mandi area, where one of these coordinators works, said, “The coordinators have been working with many addicts but the recurring problem is that while these addicts are gotten off IDUs, they mostly develop a long-term addiction for the drug which is used to turn them away from injectable drugs. In most cases, addicts just flit from one addiction to another and a very few people have been able to attain sobriety.” Factors at play |
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Man confesses to killing wife
Shahkot, August 20 Interestingly, the accused had married the woman three months ago only, “but age factor between the couple played a spoilsport”. With the arrest of the accused, the Shahkot police today claimed to have solved the murder case within two days of the occurrence of the crime. The accused had earlier concocted a story of loot before the police, but in the police investigation, the truth came to fore. It may be recalled that on August 17, 2012, Mandeep Kaur (21) was allegedly done to death by almost chopping off her throat at Bhadma village here and the police had also found her blood-bathed body with sharp-edged weapon still clinging to the woman’s neck. Notably, the victim’s parents had also suspected the role of her husband behind the murder and they had also hindered the cremation, demanding the registration of a case against her husband Harwinder(19). Mukhwinder Singh Bhullar, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), Shahkot said while investigating the case, the police realised that if the murder was engineered with the motive of loot, why robbers had not robbed any valuables from the victims and had left the man uninjured. Even the occurrence of the crime at a secluded place and then also leaving the weapon near the body were some of the clues, which cleared that loot was not the motive behind the killing, the DSP held. The DSP said the police had also questioned scores of villagers about the crime, but everybody was tight-lipped, adding that the police was able to get vital clues from a minor child, who witnessed the crime. While talking to the The Tribune, the accused Harwinder Singh, a resident of Parjian Kalan village, admitted that after two days of his marriage, he came to know that his wife was two years older than him, which dejected him and he later even forced her to give divorce, but she refused, “As I felt cheated, I decided to kill my wife and was looking for the opportunity to murder her. On Friday, when I was to take Mandeep from her in-laws home, I bought a ‘datar’ (weapon) and hid it in the bushes at a secluded place in Bhadma village. While riding to home, I stopped the bike near the village and suddenly pushed Mandeep down and chopped off her throat,” the accused admitted. Then he concocted a story of loot before the police. SHO, Prem Kumar, said the police still suspected the involvement of other persons in the crime. Sources said the accused also had a love affair with a Phagwara-based girl and he wanted to marry her, but his parents forcibly solemnised his marriage with Mandeep. Furious over the parents’ move, he killed her. |
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Missing labourer’s family to move HC
Jalandhar, August 20 A city-based law firm, Democratic Lawyers Association, has decided to fight the case of Radhe Mohan, who was neither found dead nor alive from under the debris of the factory, which had collapsed like a pack of cards on the ill-fated night of April 15. Fellow workers of Radhe Mohan had claimed that on the night of April 15, he was working as a helper on machine number 1 along with two other workers Rankaj Kumar and Anil. His mobile phone had gone switched off since the night this tragedy Talking to Jalandhar Tribune, an inconsolable Malti, the wife of Radhe Mohan, said, “Ever since this tragedy took place, I visited Jalandhar many a time, hoping to receive some assistance from the police as well as the district administration, but everything seems to be a farce. Finally, we decided to take a legal course.” Malti, who was accompanied by her brother Heera Chand, maintained that earlier she had visited Jalandhar on May 24 and appeared before the Jalandhar Divisional Commissioner, SR Ladhar, for recording her statements in this case. “As soon as the statements were recorded, we were approached by some factory functionaries, who handed us a cash amount of Rs 50,000 and asked us to leave the city. They told us bluntly that nothing was possible now and that we should return home forever”, she said, with tears rolling down her cheeks. Her brother Heera Chand maintained that after recording their statementsbefore the Divisional Commissioner, two people from the factory took them to a remote park in the city and handed over the cash. “We took the money. Probably, the factory owners wanted to bring an end to this issue forever and struck a compromise,” he added. “It is not a matter of money, but assistance from the police to ascertain how my husband went missing. This is a serious lapse on part of the factory owners. Even if he died, how come his body was never traced?” she rued. Pendu Mazdoor Union general secretary Kashmir Singh Ghugshore, who took up the matter, said he lodged a complaint with the Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), Sarabjit Singh, who forwarded it to the Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) North, Balkar Singh, on May 25, but nothing was done till date. “Recently, I also filed an RTI to find out the status of the investigation being conducted and was surprised to know that the investigation was still pending,” he added. Ghugshore maintained that following the dilly-dallying tactics in this case, we decided to file a writ in this case. “How can a poor person seek justice if the police authorities also turn a blind eye to such a serious problem,” he said. Radhe Mohan’s wife also said that her husband used to call back home everyday. “He was the sole bread winner of the family and now it is a life of penury for us. Recently, I shifted to my parents’ home in Bihar, as my in-laws also refused to provide me shelter. It is such a curse, living a life with hope against hope,” she added. Incidentally, Radhe Mohan was a graduate and had appeared for a teachers’ examination in Bihar in March this year. “That was the only time we saw him. We were looking forward to see him back home and become a teacher one day, but everything came to a tragic end,” she said sobbing.
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Competitions held at Science City
Kapurthala, August 20 In the competition in plays on science, Guru Harkishan Public School, Rail Coach Factory (RCF), Kapurthala, bagged the first prize, Police DAV Public School, Jalandhar, second, and DIPS School, Suranussi, third. In the model-display competition, SVN School, Jagadhari, secured the first prize for energy saver chulla, AMS Public School second for EM generator and Army Public School, Gurdaspur, third for the air cooling and heating system.
In the painting competition, Vandana of SRT DAV Public School, Phillaur, got the first prize, Harmandeep Kaur of APJ School, Rama Mandi, Jalandhar, second and Anmol Preet Kaur of DIPS School, Suranussi, Jalandhar, third. Speaking on the occasion, PGSC Director-General Dr RS Khandpur said, “India is currently the world’s fifth largest energy consumer country and will move up to third place by 2030, behind only the USA and China. The extensive use of fossil fuel-based energy systems has resulted in the emission of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases in the upper atmosphere. As a result, it traps solar radiations, which normally will be radiated into the space. This is the major cause of global warming, which has catastrophic implications for India as well as the entire world. Simple measures of the conservation of energy can help reduce global warming.” Stressing the importance of renewable energy resources, Khandpur said, “The development of a country will heavily rely on the use of these resources in the times to come. The PGSC has taken a number of measures in spreading awareness on renewable energy resources. A 120 KW solar power station has been set up here as a demonstration model.” Dr Khandpur thanked the Union Ministry of New and Renewable Energy and Punjab Energy Development Agency (PEDA) for setting up the Energy Park, which is playing a vital role in this direction. On the occasion, Sukhmeet Singh, research engineer, School of Energy Studies for Agriculture, PAU, Ludhiana, delivered a special lecture.
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Fire breaks out in house
Jalandhar, August 20 Two persons present inside the house had a providential escape. A short-circuit is said to be cause of fire. House owner Deepak Aggarwal said he was informed by his grandmother about the fire and he then immediately informed the Fire Department. Meanwhile, a fire tender reached the spot and managed to douse the flames in half an hour.
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Teachers against new rationalisation policy
Jalandhar, August 20 Teachers believe the government’s inability to fill vacant posts has been the cause of this policy. As many as 15,000 posts of master cadre teacher across the state might be declared surplus if the government goes ahead with the policy. Talking to The Tribune, Sanjiwan Dadwal, a science master and member of the Master Cadre Union, said, “The education code says the number of children in one section should not exceed 30, but this year the government has declared that one section can have 40 to 45 children, thus, blatantly defying both the education code and the Right to Education Act. Due to this flawed policy, at many places, the two sections will be shown as one in a false manner.” “The increased section strength and the increased number of periods being given to teachers seem to be a ploy by the government to show that there is an excess number of teachers,” he added. “The number of periods allocated to very teacher as per the education code are 24 theory periods (plus three practicals). But the government has increased these from 34 to 36. Till last year master (teachers) were supposed to take not more than 30 to 33 periods in a week. But this year they have been increased to 36. However, there has been no increase in the number of periods taken by classical and vernacular teachers. They teach
36 periods like earlier,” Dadwal said. Interestingly, teachers say even as the students from class VI to X are supposed to have three practicals per class per week, there isn’t even a mention of practical periods in the time tables. Teachers say the lack of laboratory infrastructure in schools is the cause for this omission in the time table. So while students are still devoid of the much-needed laboratory infrastructure, teachers are being burdened with more periods. Lecturer Sukhdev Lal says, “We are supposed to take only 27 to 30 classes and we are being burdened with 27 to 30. This will be an unnecessary burden on teachers and will also affect the quality of education. We also need that the size of classes be reduced. The master cadre will be badly hit by the move and the lecturers will be overburdened.” Teachers say the rationalisation policy, if implemented, will not leave room for additional tasks among teachers. Tasks like copy checking, tests, postal work, mid day meal chores to be looked into by teachers will be hit and so will be the studies. Teachers have also condemned the fact that this rationlisation has been announced after the recent postings of teachers across the state, while the move should have been made before that. Gurpret Singh Riar, state president of the Master Cadre Union, has said that owing to widespread anger, the Master Cadre Union shall be meeting the DGSE, Punjab, regarding the issue on August 23. |
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Congress leaders pay homage to Rajiv Gandhi
Jalandhar, August 20 Several other functions were organised to mark Rajiv Gandhi’s birth anniversary. |
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Residents of Krishna Nagar, near Adarsh Chowk, in the city have been up in arms against the owners of a chemical factory functioning from one of the residences of the locality.
What may be termed as a strange confession by a murder accused in a recent murder case here, the accused, who is none other than her husband, confessed that he killed his wife just because she was two years older than him and hence was an unsuitable match.
Jalandhar, August 20
Late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi’s birth anniversary was observed by the District Congress Committee
(DCC) at the Congress Bhawan here today.
Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) secretary Virendra Sharma, DCC president Arun Walia and Rajinder Beri recalled Rajiv Gandhi’s contribution to the nation.
