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Is district chasing false targets under NPCB?
Librarian attempts to rape schoolgirl
Murder case: Six accused still at large
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Plants go waste in forgotten land of corporation
Two crushed to death
Markfed to set up modern cannery plant
Sabzi mandi vendors lodge protest
Award ceremony of GNA-IMT held
Two held with intoxicant powder
Police DAV students keep the innovation going
Migrants from UP, Bihar celebrate Chhat Puja
Labourer’s wife, son missing since Oct 8
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Is district chasing false targets under
NPCB?
Jalandhar, November 19 The collective (urban and rural) target provided to the School Health Clinic staff, for the number of spectacles to be distributed among school children is a mere 5,019 spectacles per year. This, while the total (government) school students in the district are more than 2 lakh (both rural and urban). While experts say there is a high incidence of eye problems among schoolchildren in the district, the number of total schoolchildren in need of spectacles is way higher than the target set. Clearly, a big amount of students are not being provided with spectacles. Notably, even the humble target is not being met. Till the end of September this year, 1,280 spectacles had been distributed in the district as per the school health staff's own figures. As per NPCB's nodal officer, until last month, a target of about 2,200 was achieved. District Nodal Officer, NPCB, Shamsher Singh Mann said, "We had identified about 2,400 students with eye defects until October, of whom, about 2,200 were provided spectacles." However, insiders disagree. Sources say the target of the opthalmologists in rural PHCs alone covers 5,000 spectacles, so clearly, the school health programme has left the urban targets unaccounted for. There are about 10 to 12 rural PHCs (Primary Health Centres) in the district, each of which has been given a target of 50 to 100 spectacles (depending on their area needs) to be made every one-and-a-half months. In the end of October, a list of 105 spectacles (for the students of Arya Girls Senior Secondary School) had been sent to the CS Office, from the School Health Dispensary, but the staff was told that it will take a month for the order to be ready. While most of the rural doctors are working sincerely, school sources also told The Tribune that in some institutions, health checks were a mere formality. Principals were asked to sign documents okaying checks even as proper check ups had not been conducted. Also, many doctors had been asked to conduct sight tests in rural set ups or schools whereas they do not even have adequate equipment to conduct an accurate eye sight test, which can even adversely affect a child's eyesight. Dr Mann, who is also the District Programme Officer of the District Blindness Control Society (DBCS), said, "We are working to address the issues which have been raised about the NPCB. Although in the three months that I have been posted here, we have made many advancements and more shall be made in the future." Speaking about the miniscule target of about 5,000 spectacles for over 2 lakh schoolchildren in the district, he said, "We work on the targets that we get. These are target set by the higher ups. Our task is to achieve them. However, this target is not as unrealistic as some people are keen to claim. Not more than three to five per cent schoolchildren have eyesight defects." Medical Officer, School Health Clinic, Dr Anirudh also said, "We have been asked to meet this target and we are doing our job. We are working hard to better the targets from the ones met last year." There are more than l.5 lakh students in Classes VI to XII across government schools in the district. There are about 86,000 students in the primary schools in the district. Other than that, schools or students under the National Child Labour Project, the underprivileged students being taught at special training centres and those being taught in special classrooms across the district are also substantial in number. The conservative government estimates put the (average) incidence of eye defects among schoolchildren at 10 to 15 per cent. In some of the backward and slum areas the incidence of eye problems is even as high as 25 per cent. Even as only 10 per cent of 2 lakh children (way less than the total schoolchildren count) is calculated, it adds up to at least 20,000. But the target of the NPCB has been set at just 5,019 schoolchildren across the district. "The target of 5,019 spectacles is mere an eyewash. Often rural targets are included among urban figures to claim false credit for the work of rural doctors. The rural machinery is in fact working faster because they get spectacles made from local opticians. Urban centres, on the other hand, have to wait for months to get spectacles made from the civil surgeon's office. While rural opticians hand over spectacles to doctors in a week at the most, orders of spectacles sent to the CS office take at least a month to be met," said a health department ophthalmologist, on condition of anonymity.
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Librarian attempts to rape schoolgirl
Phagwara, November 19 Rajwinder Kaur, mother of the victim, alleged in her written complaint lodged before the Goraya police that the accused was warned many times to stop eve-teasing, but he continued doing so. Sarabjit Rai, SHO, Goraya, said the police had registered a case under Sections 376/511 of the IPC and arrested the accused, who would be produced before the judicial magistrate, Phillaur, tomorrow.
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Murder case: Six accused still at large
Jalandhar, November 19 Till date, only two arrests in this case were made by the police, including the main accused, Jarnail Singh, alias Jaila, and Aman. The accused at large were identified as Mandip, Deepu, Sunny, Rinku, Bunty, all of Basti Mithu and Ajay of Basti Peerdass. Assistant Commissioner of Police (West) RPS Sandhu said the police had already launched a manhunt to nab the remaining accused. It had even conducted raids at the suspected hideouts of the accused, but all in vain. The main accused, Jaila, was arrested by the police two days after the murder. On November 17, the second accused, Aman, was also nabbed from a house at Basti Mithu locality. The Assistant Commissioner of Police said the postmortem report of the deceased had not arrived yet. Satpal Singh, alias Bunty, of Basti Mithu was attacked by certain youths on November 13 night, while he was eating a burger in the market.
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Plants go waste in forgotten land of corporation
Jalandhar, November 19 Even as the rainy season is long over and the winter has set in, the plants are still lying stocked in polybags since the day they arrived. Only a few date palms, phycus trees and shrubs have been planted along some greenbelt area along the college campus, while the other plants which were to be transferred underneath the flyovers from BSF Chowk to BMC Chowk are lying stacked in one corner. As per the plan, the stretch of the road falling underneath the pillars of the flyover is to be used intermittently for parking and plantation. The project had been launched by former Mayor Rakesh Rathour about a year and a half back. In fact, some of the plants including those of palm have already started withering. Mayor Sunil Jyoti, when asked about the same, said he would look into the matter. He, however, seemed quite casual about it claiming that such plants were sturdy and could be planted in any season.
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Two crushed to death
Jalandhar, November 19 The first incident occurred near Suranassi, where a mutilated body of a turbaned man was found on railway tracks. The police is investigating whether the deceased had committed suicide or had crushed to death accidentally. The second incident took place near Nagra manned railway crossing, where the body of a youth was found on railway tracks. According to the police, the deceased was a Nepalese youth. The GRP has sent the bodies for the postmortem examinations. —
OC |
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Markfed to set up modern cannery plant
Jalandhar, November 19 Stating this while talking to mediapersons on the sidelines of a function organised here to mark the 59th Cooperative Week, Markfed MD Dr Karamjit Singh Sra, accompanied by its GM Sachin Garg, said the plant would be set up on a 12-acre land. He said the process for purchasing the land had already been started by paying the earnest amount to the sellers. Sra said there was a huge scope for exporting potatoes to European countries and farmers of the area were being trained by Markfed for fulfilling the specification of the potato set by European countries. The Markfed MD said various potato growers associations were already exporting potatoes to various Gulf countries. Over 300 farmers attended the cooperative function. A state-level seminar on potato was also organised by Markfed in collaboration with the National Horticulture Mission, Punjab, on the occasion. Various departments and self-help group societies organised their exhibitions by putting up their stalls near the function site. Addressing the farmers, Markfed executive director BM Sharma appreciated the role of potato growers in making Punjab a leading state for the supply of potatoes to other states of the country.
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Sabzi mandi vendors lodge protest
Jalandhar, November 19 Around 200 vendors were present in the mandi with their carts parked along a kilometer stretch of the road when the MC team arrived. As they took off some carts, the remaining vendors held a protest and reached the MC office to meet the Commissioner in this regard. Subedar Yadav, president of the mandi and district secretary of the BSP, led the protest saying, “It was grave injustice with the vendors who have been holding mandi for the past several years.” Commissioner Vinay Bublani heard the vendors and told them to put off their carts away from the road. He also directed them to ensure that no cloth or utensil sellers participate in the mandi. After the talks, their produce and carts were left off.
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Award ceremony of GNA-IMT held
Jalandhar, November 19 Sachit Jain, MD of Vardhaman Special Steel, was the chief guest on the occasion, along with PTC University delegates. He guided CAD/CAM students to work hard and keep a positive attitude towards learning, as it was continuous process throughout the life. He laid stress on the need for using technology for meeting the present challenges of growth and development of industry and Indian economy. Sajith Parambil, business head, PTC Academic Programme, presented the awards of academic excellence of PTC University, US, to the position holders. Gursaran Singh, MD, GNA Group, in his message to the students, explained the initiative of GNA-IMT in developing skills matching with the modern technology to meet the future challenges of globalisation and economic development. Gurdeep Sihra, president, GNA-IMT, congratulated the winners.
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Two held with intoxicant powder
Jalandhar, November 19 Police sources said Ravinder was nabbed from Ravidas Chowk with 520 gram of intoxicant powder. He was wanted in three cases of loot and snatching. The other accused, Dharminder, was nabbed from Deol Nagar with 510 gram of intoxicant powder. He was wanted in as many as 15 criminal cases. A case under Section 22-61-85 of the NDPS Act has been registered against the accused. — OC
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Police DAV students keep the innovation going
Jalandhar, November 19 The competition is organised by the National Innovation Foundation run by the Department of Science and Innovation (Government of India) in partnership with CBSE, Navodaya Vidyala Samiti and Society for Research and Initiatives in Sustainable Technologies and Institutions (SRISTI). The students --- Shweta Sharma, Ankita Arora of Class X and Ektapreet Kaur of Class IX --- have been awarded certificates and a trophy by Dr APJ Abdul Kalam, former President of India, on November 10 at IIM, Ahmedabad. In total, 14,890 entries were sent from across India which ranged from sectors like energy, environment, transport, general household utility items and many even discussed societal problems. Nineteen ideas were awarded IGNITE award. The three students of Police DAV Public School are the only students selected from Punjab. Principal Rashmi Vij said, “The ideas of Police DAV students were given a wide coverage in the national magazine ‘Honey Bee’ published by NIF. The Department of Science and Innovation hands over the selected ideas to companies in the private sector. If the ideas are found to be feasible, then the production work starts and the child gets a percentage out of the profit thus made. The organisation applies for patent of ideas of the students.” The idea of Shweta Sharma is to make a Device to Relocate Clouds. She chose the idea as in India there are many parts where there is excessive rainfall in one area and water shortage in the other. Through this device the clouds can be sent from one area to another. Ankita Arora got the idea of making a device to monitor mental stress in students and others. Ektapreet Kaur thought of the idea of a modified painting brush in which she can carry different numbers of brush instead of carrying the whole lot. Police DAV students have bagged this award for the fourth year consecutively. In 2011 Shweta Sharma, Jaskiran Kaur and Chhavi bagged this award. In 2010 Mayank Walia and Shruti Tyagi both Class XII students won this award. In 2009 Anurag and Pallavi of Police DAV won the award.
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Migrants from UP, Bihar celebrate Chhat Puja
Fasting since morning, men and women reached water bodies at various locations including Sutlej river, religious pond in Devi Talab Mandir and DAV Canal to offer their prayers to Sun around evening. They stood around a canopy of sugarcane sticks and diya thali as they prayed. The past few days have seen a good sale of sugarcane, bamboo winnows and other items used in prayers in pockets around focal point and temples. The puja will conclude tomorrow morning.
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Labourer’s wife, son missing since Oct 8
Jalandhar, November 19 The complainant told the police that on October 8, his wife, along with his son, had gone to meet her parents at Baja Chak village near Dasuya, but did not return home later. He suspected the role of Ajay because many a times in the past, he (the accused) used to call her wife and pressurise her for marriage. He said the accused had even called him on phone and claimed that his wife and son were living with him. The concerned police has initiated an investigation into the case. —
OC
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Jalandhar, November 19
Jalandhar, November 19
Jalandhar, November 19
Jalandhar, November 19