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Surplus city Teachers up in arms
Couple arrested for bigamy
Minor raped
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Encroached upon by police station, dispensary makes do in cramped space
Scheme gets delayed
Cong flays Badal govt for imposing fresh taxes
Vyapar Sena lambasts state govt
Counsellors participate in training session
“Sada Haq”: Film dwells on systemic flaws during militancy days
All-India NCC Inter-Directorate Hockey Meet u-17
Surjit hockey tourney poster released
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Surplus city Teachers up in arms
Jalandhar, August 30 Teachers, who were declared surplus across the district as per the rationlisation policy, protested against the thriving anomalies and unfair treatment meted out to them in the name of rationalisation. During a counselling session held for the allotment of stations to teachers declared surplus, they raised slogans against the government and even burnt the lists announcing surplus teachers. A whopping 250 to 300 teachers have been declared surplus across the district. Talking to The Tribune, a lecturer who had been working at a local school for the past 12 years, said she had been wrongly categorised as surplus even as a teacher much junior to her had been given her post at her school. She said the junior teacher was sent on deputation this year. “Our school had only one maths lecturer all these years, but this July, she was brought on deputation. She was deputed even though our principal wrote to the education department that the school did not need any additional teacher,” she said. “The new teacher received a permanent order to join the school just a few days before I got to know that my post is surplus. I was kept in the dark all this time. For all these years, I work at a school and suddenly I am the surplus teacher. This does not make sense,” she said. Another lecturer from a district school, who was posted to the school just sometime ago, and had even begun gathering students to the new school faced a similar crisis. Teachers complained that in some schools senior teachers were being declared surplus by posting new ones, in others, senior teachers were wrongly given bigger classes allotted to junior teachers, and the junior ones, hence, declared surplus. Notably, while a section comprises not more than 30 students as per the education policy, sections were being stretched to 40 and 45 students just so that teachers may be declared surplus, they said. The present rationisation was a blatant violation of the RTE Act and the government was going out of the way to facilitate certain teachers, while massively harming the majority, teachers said. Joginder Singh Ajaib, from the Government Lecturer Union, said, “The rationsalisation process ideally involves a process wherein first there are promotions, then rationalisation and transfers according to need. But this government has totally altered the process by transferring teachers first. This is totally unfair behaviour and is based more on political whims rather than betterment of education, teachers or students in the state.” |
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Couple arrested for bigamy
Jalandhar, August 30 The couple was later produced before a local court where they were remanded to one-day police custody. Acting on a complaint filed by the first wife, Kuldeep Kaur, of the suspect, Amritpal Singh, a resident of the Ladhewali locality, the police today nabbed the man and his second wife Barjinder Kaur, the so-called BJP leader. Earlier, Kuldeep had lodged a complaint with the women police station against Amritpal and Barjinder, alleging that her husband married the woman without divorcing her. The duo had even thrashed her when she objected to their illicit relation. Taking a note of the allegations, a case under Sections 498, 323, 324, 494 and 34 of the IPC was registered against the duo in August. The police, however, arrested Amritpal and Barjinder today. Station house officer (women police station) Preveen Kaur could not be contacted till late this evening. BJP (women wing) chief Urmil Vaid, however, claimed that Barjinder, who was Congress leader, had joined the BJP during the previous Assembly poll. “I have brought the case to the knowledge of the higher command and action will definitely be taken against her shortly,” she added.
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Minor raped
Nurmahal, August 30 The victim was a 16-year-old student of class IX at government school in Jandiala. As per the police, in the preliminary medical examination of the girl, the crime was almost confirmed, but the final report would arrive in a day or two from Chandigarh. The accused have been identified as Billa (26) and Sodhi (24), also residents of the girl’s village. The Nurmahal police registered a case under Section 376 of the IPC and reportedly rounded up the accused for questioning. The victim alleged to the police that she had got a notebook from her classmate on Wednesday to complete some school homework and this afternoon, when she called her friend to return her notebook, the former asked the latter to visit her home to take back the given book. “When I visited my friend’s house, she was alone at the home and within few minutes, two youths, who might have been following me, also entered the house. They later forcibly pushed my friend out of the house and even threatened her not to reveal anything to anybody. Later, the accused physically assaulted me, the girl alleged to the police.
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Encroached upon by police station, dispensary makes do in cramped space
Jalandhar, August 30 But this one is marked by a greater irony. While other dispensaries lack space, this one has ample land available to it, but sadly, it has been encroached upon. A narrow passage by the Maqsudan police station leads to the tiny, two-room Maqsudan civil dispensary. Away from public view, the dispensary building is so perfectly hidden behind the police station that a passerby can never think there might be a dispensary at the spot. The faded sign above the narrow passage, which announces the dispensary, is also illegible enough to be missed. Battling encroachment While the dispensary was earlier housed on the land right opposite to it (which belongs to the health department), that land was encroached upon by the police during the terrorism days, the staff says. The present dispensary functions from a Red Cross land, on which the NGO Manav Sewa Sanstha built a two-room accommodation to house a clinic, after the previous one was encroached upon. A half-demolished building and a staircase presently stand on the said land. While the staff say there was previously a talk about correspondence of between the health authorities and police authorities regarding taking back the possession of the encroached land, the move currently seems stalled. Currently housed in two cramped rooms, the dispensary is suffering due to lack of space. The staff make their best efforts to liven up the available rooms, but the furniture and supplies eat up a majority of the space, with very little room left for waiting patients. The dispensary, presently, has one doctor, one pharmacist, a ward attendant, two ANMs and a lady health visitor working in it. Fund issues Since it is housed on a Red Cross land and in a building made by an NGO, the dispensary does not receive any funds for repairs from the health department. The supplies also keep fluctuating (depending upon the availability of medicines at the civil hospital), so the staff often buys its own medicines or arranges them through donations. Majority of BPL families Catering to a population of about 45,000 people, the Maqsudan dispensary is situated in an area where a majority of the patients are labourers or migrants belonging to the BPL families. A majority of patients coming to the dispensary comprise children, women and aged people. While many have BPL cards, sadly, out of the population, only four BPL families have been known to hold smart cards as per the RSBY yojna. While they are charged a mere Re 1 for the OPD slip, the staff does not charge even that much from these families. The staff says many patients, otherwise, have been seen to struggle with diseases due to lack of finances. Poor patients with big families and complicated health conditions have sometimes also been helped by dispensary staff by putting in money for their aid. JSSY scheme Every month about 15 to 16 JSSY beneficiaries are delivered money from the dispensary. The beneficiaries have no pending dues from the dispensary currently. Lack of awareness Dr Sapna says the area has a lot of unaware people and the major emphasis of the dispensary is on spreading awareness about the various immunisation drives etc among these patients. While seasonal diseases and infections are the common diseases among the population, health awareness is the more challenging part. Family planning, immunisation drives and reproductive health drives are especially challenging in this part of the district because people are largely uneducated and it takes a lot of time and hardwork to convince them. While the area abounds in addicts, staff say they do not get too many addict patients.
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Scheme gets delayed
Jalandhar, August 30 Even as the work on the policy started more than six months back and drafts for the purpose were reportedly readied around April, the policy is awaiting the nod from the new MC Houses of Punjab. Though the MC elections had been held on June 10 and result declared on the same day, the old Houses continue to function as these have not been dissolved as yet. The tenure of the House is till September 9. While Local Bodies Secretary Suresh Kumar had visited the city in connection with the tabling of the policy before the old House last month, the newly elected councillors had created a furore owing to which the meeting was cancelled at the 11th hour. Nodal officer for the scheme AS Dhaliwal, Chief Engineer (O&M), said drafts of the policy had to be approved by the Houses before further processing and implementation. Flat rate system for water is being followed across Punjab with exemption to those living in houses measuring five marlas or less. The new policy is aimed at recovering bill from all such exempted households while also preventing indiscriminate use of water. As per the plan, there would be an increasing slab system for levying water charges as is being done in Chandigarh. The rate of water in the minimum slab of up to 10 kilo litre would likely be Rs 2 per kl. The rates would increase for upper slabs including 10 to 25 kl, 25 to 50 kl and 50 kl and above. Also, there is a proposal to exempt only those people owning a house in 1.5 marla, as against the existing rule of exempting even those living in houses of up to 5 marla. As per the findings of the department officials, as much as 58 per cent of water supply area gets covered under this extensive exemption. The department officials are of the opinion that the expenditure incurred on water supply in corporations and committees should come as 100 per cent returns. Sources in the Jalandhar MC said the percentage of recovery is nearly 50 per cent since the annual expenditure incurred is Rs 39 crore against a recovery of just Rs 20 crore per annum for water supply and sewage disposal.
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Cong flays Badal govt for imposing fresh taxes
Jalandhar, August 30 A former minister Santokh Singh Chaudhary said the true face of the Badal government had been exposed before the public of Punjab with the imposition of new taxes, including property tax, increase in VAT by 0.5 per cent and hike in luxury tax on hotels, marriage palaces from 4 to 8 per cent. Chaudhary said it would load the public of Punjab with extra burden of Rs 900 crore. PPCC secretary Virendra Sharma, DCC president Arun Walia and its senior vice-president advocate Kanwal Sachdeva urged the BJP to clear its stand on the imposition of new taxes. They said, “The BJP should withdraw its support to the Badal government if it was watching the interests of the urbanities in the real sense.”
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Vyapar Sena lambasts state govt
Jalandhar, August 30 The industrialists maintained that the state was already witnessing an exodus of industry to Uttar Pradesh and such a move post the announcement of the budget had come up as a big shock for the trade market. President of the Vyapar Sena Ravinder Dheer said the fresh taxes, including luxury tax on hotels from 4 to 8 per cent, increase in the VAT percentage, property tax, increased electricity tariff had proved that the industrialists in the state could not have a secure future. “Even the silence of the alliance partner BJP on the issue of fresh taxes is an indicator that the fiscal state of the state government is in doldrums and nothing can be expected in the name of flourishing and upgrading the industry,” he added. The Vyapar Sena members further maintained that the BJP, too, had failed to prove its stand as a party of urban masses and growth. “The SAD-BJP government sought votes and support from the industrialists with an assurance of ‘Raj Nahi Seva’, but given the spate of fresh taxes, the government’s anti-industry and anti-people policies are out in the open,” they added. Dheer said under such circumstances, the industrialists would be forced to hold statewide protests. — TNS
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Counsellors participate in training session
Jalandhar, August 30 Speaking on the organisation of valuable sessions, Ashok Mittal, Chancellor of LPU, said: “Our Directorate of Distance Education maintains that such training programmes are essential and are in the interest of the present as well as would-be distance education students. Study centres, being the points of contact on behalf of the university, must be equipped with complete know-how about the university, its programmes, curriculum, rules and regulations, various systems and beliefs of the university.” Resource persons from the Directorate of Distance Education trained the participants with new counselling techniques and oriented them towards the use of LPU e-Connect, an online portal for students and study centres, academic terminologies and examination patterns. “With 24X7 accessibility, LPU e-connect is a boon for the students as they can learn as per their convenience, even with their other commitments and occupations. Students enrolled under LPU distance education programme are allotted a user ID and password through which they can access various interactive and dynamic features like e-Resources which provide easy access to scheme, syllabi, e-Books, schedules, e-communication for interactive two-way communication to get various information, updates and notices through e-announcements, e-messages, e-tests, which evaluate students online and provide on-the-spot result,” said Ashok.
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“Sada Haq”: Film dwells on systemic flaws during militancy days
Jalandhar, August 30 Partners in the production house, OXL Films, Dinesh Sood and Kuljinder Sidhu, who have jointly produced the film “Sada Haq”, plan something different for Punjabi cinema with this fresh new film outing of theirs. While they also produced the Gurdas Mann-starrer “Mini Punjab”, they are all starry-eyed about this one because it is their own concept. A take on the militancy days of Punjab, the film is based on the life of Jagtar Singh Hawara. “It is a fictionalised take on the life of Hawara (played by Sidhu). We have tried to be neither too solemn about the issue nor take it too lightly. It will be a contemporary and entertaining way of pointing out the systemic flaws during the militancy days,” says Dinesh Sood, who has acted in the film and directed it as well. Talking about the pre-production stage, Sood says: “We wanted to make sure that we do not leave out getting acquainted with any facet of life in those days. We ransacked many books and tried to grasp as much information as we could about what happened during those times,” says Sood. Interestingly, Hawara’s advocate, who earlier was a great source of information for the crew, will also be handling the Legal Department of the film. The film has also had the privilege of having been shot at the historic Jalandhar Jail. “It was a nice experience. Just before the jail was demolished, we got to shoot in it. Once we were done with an area, it was razed and we moved onto the next. So our “While the film is basically being made with the youth as a target, the crew has paid the utmost attention to detail and shoot in the areas, which are closest to the locations of the actual militancy days,” says Sood. The movie is set to release worldwide in October. It will be released in India, UK, Canada, Australia and Italy.
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All-India NCC Inter-Directorate Hockey Meet u-17 Kusum Arora Tribune News Service
Jalandhar, August 30 The U-15 category also saw the NCC Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Chandigarh directorate taking the lead and thrashing rivals NCC North Eastern Region by 5-3 goals. The tournament started on August 22 and saw a tough competition between six NCC directorates. Earlier in the one-sided match of the day, the NCC Punjab directorate started the game on a fast note and opened its account in the 11th minute of the game as Lawrence fielded a goal taking the score to 1-0. Three minutes later, Ajit Singh posted a goal to make it 2-0. The third goal for the NCC Punjab directorate came from the stick of Vishal in the 17th minute of the game (3-0). For NCC Jharkhand and Bihar directorate, the lone goal came at the 22nd minute when Sanika Suren posted a goal (3-1). Till half time, the winners were leading by 3-1. In the second half of the match, once again the NCC Punjab directorate took the lead, which culminated with the victory of the team. Mathew scored a goal in the 7th minute taking the score to 4-1 followed by another goal in the 12th minute also from the stick of Lawrence (5-1). In the 19th minute, once again Mathew scored a goal (6-1), which was followed by another goal in the 26th minute of the game by Ajit (7-1). The 31st minute of the game saw another goal from Vishal steering the score to 8-1. Additional Director General, NCC Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Chandigarh directorate, Major General PS Mandher gave away prizes to the winners. Commanding officer of the 2 Punjab NCC Battalion Boys, Col KJS Mundi said the winning teams in the U-15 and U-17 category would now compete in the All-India Jawahar Lal Nehru National Hockey Tournament which would be held in Delhi. “The boys in both the categories were given coaching and training under the NCC Punjab directorate,” he added.
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Surjit hockey tourney poster released
Jalandhar, August 30 Earlier in the day, the Surjit Hockey Society organised an exhibition match, which was held between Surjit XI and Punjab XI (Under-19). The event was graced by District Sports officer, Rakesh Kaushal, SDM-I, Iqbal Singh Sandhu and various sports persons. DC Bharti also distributed free sports kits and equipment in different sports disciplines among village panchayats. — TNS
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Jalandhar, August 30
