Amritsar, December 26
The meeting of the GNDU Syndicate today primarily focused on defending promotions of teachers and countering the claim of the teachers’ association, which has launched a protest accusing the university authorities of violating the UGC norms over promotion policy of teachers.

GNDU Vice Chancellor AS Brar said it would be the prime agenda of the university to set high parameters for the faculty in order to provide leadership qualities in terms of research and teaching.

“Only then, the university can do justice to the coveted title of ‘Potential for Excellence’ accorded by the UGC. As we conform to the UGC norms, out vision is to promote excellence in teaching, research and innovation. That’s why we have endeavoured to get a faculty which has excelled in research and has published papers in renowned journals,” he said.

In today’s meeting, the Syndicate approved certain appointments. Gagandeep Kaur Gahlay from the University of Wyoming, USA, has been appointed as Assistant Professor in the Department of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry. She has to her credit seven international publications out of which one was published in 'Science', a top journal in the world.

Similarly, Dr Sanjana Mehrotra has been appointed Assistant Professor in Genetics. A graduate from Banaras Hindu University, she worked in Department of Genetics and Health, Telethon Institute for Child Health Research, Perth, Australia and she has to her credit six international publications, the most important publication being 'Nature Genetics'.

Dr Anup Kumar Kesavan from the School of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, USA, has been appointed as Assistant Professor in the Department of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry. He has 13 publications to his credit.

Dr Prabpreet Singh, post doctoral fellow from Friedrich Alexander University Erlangen Nurnberg, Germany, with 12 international publications has been appointed Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemistry. Previously, Dr Singh worked as post doctoral fellow in the University of Strasboroug, France. He has been Alexander von Humboldt Fellow in Germany.

Dr Harpreet Kaur Mangat, who is Fulbright-Nehru Postdoctoral Fellow, and was working in the Institute for the Study of Societal Issues, University of California, Berkley has been appointed as Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science. Most of her work is on Sikh Diaspora on which she has published 10 papers.

Dr Tejwant Singh Kang, JSPS Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Kyushu University Japan, who has 28 publications to his credit, has been appointed Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemistry.

Teachers hold protest

Continuing their agitation, Guru Nanak Dev University Teachers Association (GNDUTA) today came out to reveal “gross irregularities” in the promotion policy for teachers.

Ahead of the Syndicate meeting today, they ‘sensitised’ the Syndicate members about their cause.

Showing copies of two selection proceedings, obtained under the RTI Act, the teachers claimed that the proceedings were altered by the authorities to pave way for its ‘pick and choose’ policy.

The information which was denied otherwise was sought under the RTI Act and the selection proceedings were found to be tampered with, the teachers said. The agitating teachers alleged that promotion was denied to at least four teachers and dates of eligibility of five teachers were tampered with, which was unfair and illegal.

Dr Davinder Singh, president of GNDUTA, said the information under RTI Act was sought about dates and circulars through which applications were invited for the promotion criteria under Career Advancement Scheme (CAS).

“Upon receiving the information, it was revealed that the sanctity of the Board of Control (BoC), the relevant statutory body for approving the panel of experts for taking interviews for promotion, was willfully being ignored by the authorities. The authorities’ version that the VC has been authorised for selecting the experts’ panel, is a total misstatement and is a severe violation of UGC norms,” he said.

The GNDUTA has been demanding the formation of modality committee before processing the cases of promotion under CAS as per the UGC guidelines, yet the authorities have been overlooking this aspect on frivolous grounds, he said.

Similarly, no well defined criterion was worked out to calculate the assessment of domain knowledge and teaching practices (which carries 30 per cent weightage). There is no information whether the criterion used to calculate the contribution to research and assessment of domain knowledge has been applied uniformly or not, said teachers.

Dr Lakhwinder Singh, Secretary of GNDUTA, said teachers, who have got 50 or more marks after considering all the three components (contribution to research + assessment of domain knowledge and teaching practices + interview performance), were sidetracked by altering their dates of eligibility.

The certified copies of API scores calculated and duly signed by the members of the selection committee, sought under the RTI Act, too were not provided by the university, he alleged.

The GNDUTA has been consistently making efforts to get these irregularities rectified for the past two years, but the authorities have not paid heed to the demand, they said.

“If the university fails to respond to our genuine demand, we will be compelled to approach the Chancellor and the State Government to conduct a full-fledged inquiry into this promotion scam,” he said.

As fog clears up, residents throng markets in Amritsar on Wednesday. Photo: Sameer Sehgal

Amritsar, December 26
City residents got some respite as fog subsided after three days. There was a rush of vehicles on the city roads and people visited markets in good numbers.

Though no flight was delayed to the international airport, three trains arrived late.

Tata Moori (Delhi-Jammu Tawi) was running 11 hours behind its schedule, Amarpali Express was late by eight hours and Dadar Express was late by one-and-a-half hours.

Amritsar, December 26
The District Food and Civil Supplies Department has embarked upon a unique project of integrating ration cards with unique identification number (UID card) which would not only help in maintaining complete transparency, but also increase the efficiency of the department.

It would also help provide a correct data which would further facilitate the state government in extending various government facilities to the rightful persons.

The project would also help in verification of ration cards currently registered with the department, besides identifying the bogus entries which would be subsequently deleted from the record.

For this pilot project, the department has selected two villages --- Dhayanpur and Chhapyawali --- in Rayya block. Two urban areas would be selected in the later stages.

Dr Rakesh Kumar Singla, District Food and Civil Supply Controller, said under this project the staff members are visiting every house in two villages for verifying information regarding the ration cards of inhabitants of the area. This helps in updating the record available with the department. The officials visiting the houses made immediate necessary amendments in the ration cards such as including addition of names of family members, deleting the names of deceased persons, recommending necessary amendment in case a family has shifted to some other place besides reporting the birth cases. The officials would also issue on the spot new ration cards to the beneficiaries if required. The staff also seeks the certain other details such as gas agency numbers and bank account number.

“The linking of UID number with ration cards means that government would have all the information of a person. The major advantage of this project is that the government can use this record to provide the subsidies and cash security to the rightful persons,” said Singla.

Amritsar, December 26
The Community Police Service Centres or Saanjh Kendras, established by the government to provide efficient services to the people, have been hit due to the limited capacity of server located in Chandigarh.

The police recently organised a visitors’ week to create awareness about these centres, but now it has been caught on the wrong foot as a majority of services, available at these centres, have been hit due to the server problem.

These centres have been limited to provide copies of FIRs and DDRs. And forms for police clearance certificate, passport verification, registration of hired employees or servants cannot be uploaded.

These centres are linked with the police headquarters in Chandigarh through an online system.

There are five CPSCs in Amritsar --- Civil Lines, B-Division, C-Division, D-Division and Cantonment.

Police officials, who acted as centre in charge, said the server hired by the government was inadequate to upload the data related to these services from all over Punjab.

“As the server installed at Chandigarh cannot bear the quantum of load, it remains defunct most of the times. As a result, we are unable to upload the forms for various essential services,” he said.

He said computers at CPSCs get message of ‘server being out of service’ from Chandigarh.

Echoing identical views, another police official said in order to meet the stationery expenses, they charge nominal fee of Rs 5 per page for obtaining the copy of FIR or DDR. For other services, beneficiaries are forced to go to privately-run institutes, who charge them a hefty price.

The end result is that the footfall in these centres has been negligible. Normally, on an average less than 10 people pay visit to these centres and the majority of them were those who seek copies of FIRs or DDRs registered at various police stations.

Another problem with the centres is that these do not possess any record of FIRs or DDRs registered before 2007.

Another in charge of one of these centres confirmed that the record is not uploaded in the system. “We can only give copies of FIRs registered after 2007. This is also a major constraint”, he said.

Inaugurated in October 2011, these centres were set up to provide all the services under the Right to Service Act from a single window in a time-bound manner.

Services included verification of tenants, registration and verification of servants, passport verification, police clearance certificate, verification of vehicles, character verification for service, payment of traffic challans, information of impounded vehicles, receiving complaints on traffic problems, permission for political/sports/religious functions, NOC for armed licences, permission for use of public address systems etc.

“Call it a lack of awareness or facilities, the centres have failed to get desired response. Except getting copies of FIRs and DDRs, people prefer to visit police stations or the SSP office to avail other services, which are easily available at these kendras,” said another official.

No proper information is displayed even at the police stations which could help spread awareness about the centres and their services.

Police Commissioner Ram Singh: Besides spreading awareness, we have been adopting a number of steps to improve the functioning of Saanjh Kendras, but I have to inquire into if there was any deficiency in the server. Our aim is to facilitate residents in getting their applications, pertaining to anything which comes under the Right to Service Act in any police station or office, processed through Saanjh Kendras.

In trouble zone The police recently organised a visitors’ week to create awareness about these centres, but now it has been caught on the wrong foot as a majority of services, available at these centres, have been hit due to the server problem. These centres have been limited to provide copies of FIRs and DDRs. And forms for police clearance certificate, passport verification, registration of hired employees or servants cannot be uploaded

Amritsar, December 26
Caring two hoots about hygiene, residents have turned the greenbelt outside the District Tourism Office into a toilet.

The greenbelt, which has been in a pathetic condition, sends wrong message to thousands of tourists when they come out of the railway station, located just near the tourism office.

A resident of Railway Link road, AS Gabaria said tourists coming from various parts of the country and the world get to see the worst side of Amritsar.

He said because of open urination, the wall near the office has developed permanent marks. “The stink has become unbearable. For this reason, commuters avoid walking on the footpath along the greenbelt,” he added.

A stone installed on the greenbelt informed that it was inaugurated some years back. Apparently, casual approach and lack of maintenance had reduced the place to a stinking spot.

A resident of the area, Sheetal Seth said it was ironic that the area, which is located so close to the railway station, had not maintained.

She said over the years, footpaths have become an ideal place for parking of rickshaws and auto-rickshaws.

The District Tourism Office is located near the exit gate of the railway station. She said despite this the authorities have paid scant regard to the unhygienic conditions.

District Tourism Officer Balraj Singh said the matter had been taken up with the authorities. “People should stop urinating in the open. I will write to the Municipal Corporation authorities to construct toilets on roadsides so as to maintain the park,” he added.

Amritsar, December 26
A eight-day multi-category training for resource teachers under the Inclusive Education for Disabled Children (IEDC) of Sarv Sikhya Abhiyan started today at Khalsa College Senior Secondary School.

As many as 54 IEDC teachers from four districts, Tarn Taran, Gurdaspur, Pathankot and Amritsar participated in the training. The teachers brushed up and updated their information regarding teaching techniques for special children.

Banaras Hindu University's Assistant Professor Dr Joginder Prashad addressed on the vision impaired. He gave tips for using Brail language and ways to prepare lessons to assess vision impaired students.

Among the others present on the occasion were Dharminder Singh, District Coordinator, SSA IE for disabled children.

Amritsar, December 26
Trade in the holy city witnessed various ups and downs during 2012. The opening up of the Integrated Check Post (ICP) at Attari, cement import from Pakistan coming to halt and bilateral trade via the rail route hitting the roadblock at the end of the year.

After around 10 months of delay in setting up the country’s first ICP, Union Home Minister P Chidambaram inaugurated it on April 13, which was anticipated to re-establish the centuries old trade links between the holy city and the Central Asia. India has raised a massive Rs 150 crore ICP spread over 118 acres of land in Attari.

The cement, which was imported from Pakistan via the rail route, came to grinding halts twice this year.

Earlier, in August, it was the Indian importers, who had suspended cement import due to the same reason. They resumed it a month later after the Pakistan authorities started the use of metallic seals in wagons. In November, the Pakistan traders stopped sending consignments to India in view of repeated instances of heroin seizure in the rail cargo. There were around 2,400 wagon loads of goods, including 1,600 wagonloads of soyabean, waiting to be exported to the neighbouring country in November.

All India Cement Importers President MPS Chatha said the Pak traders had clearly informed their authorities that they would not be exporting cement to India via the rail route until they were given a guarantee that there would be no more smuggling of contraband in the rail cargo. As far as the impact on cement prices in the domestic market was concerned, he said there had been no affect on it, as the construction activity had already touched nadir due to the non-availability of sand.

A city-based importer and exporter Rajan Bedi said the exports from the Attari border, which stood at Rs 1,375 crore in fiscal 2011-12, was expected to grow many folds in the near future. He said at least 40 per cent increase was expected in the current fiscal.

“Had the supply of sand in the market been regular, the cement prices would have shot up considerably by now,” he said. According to him, he had imported 1.25 lakh bags of cement per month from Pakistan, but now he was importing merely 30,000 cement bags per month via road route, Bedi said.

The suspension of the cement import from Pakistan had taken a toll on the export of Indian goods via the rail route, as no trains with goods were arriving from Pakistan while traders alleged that Indian railways had failed to provide them wagons. Prominent exporter Rajesh Setia said Indian goods worth Rs 600 crore were awaiting export to Pakistan via the rail route. Earlier, the cement was exported from Pakistan on daily basis and the same train was used to import the goods to Pakistan, he said.

Bedi felt that India needs to install more scanners and machines to digitise its working while Pakistan needs to augment infrastructure. Dubbing the trade as a great driving force, he said it would revive trade links with the countries falling in Central Asia.

However, repeated heroin seizures in the goods trains coming from Pakistan played a spoilsport as traders from Pakistan stopped the export of cement while the Indian railway authorities held back the releasing of wagons. Even then traders were upbeat and felt that these differences would be ironed out with the passage of time and trade would flourish in the time to come.

Decades old indigenous textile industry spinning out suiting-shirting, blankets, tweeds, shawls, stoles and others have been battling with high rates of raw material and electricity. A proprietor of textile unit Pyara Lal Seth said all kinds of yarns, including, cotton, wool, manmade like polyster and acrylic, and wiscose were increased many times this year.

He said the reason of hike in the cotton prices was held to fall in its production while polyster and acrylic had been monopolised by a private industry house in the country.

He said all the major suppliers of raw material for the textile industry hiked the rates resulting in about 20 per cent rise in the input cost.

He said hike in power and charging these retrospectively was another hard hit to the industry. On the other hand, textile manufacturers in the city increase the rates once a year.

Amritsar Hotel and Restaurant Association (AHRA) president APS Chatha said the year gave moderate returns to the hospitality industry. He held the rise in number of rooms, high investment cost as rates of diesel and electricity were increased while inflation of essential items like grocery and vegetables prick the budget. Besides, luxury and service taxes were also increased.

He said the flow of tourists rose moderately and room rents were also increased to counter the rising investment cost but short stay of tourists defy the benefits.