B A T H I N D A    E D I T I O N

Staff shortage staggers implementation of RTS Act
Faridkot, December 28
The members of the Punjab Right to Service Commission (PRSC) are on a whirlwind tour of various districts to inform the government officials of the increasing ambit of the Right to Service Act (RTS). 

Wildlife officials mull installing CCTV cameras to catch leopard
Abohar, December 28
Even as the wildlife officials installed a second iron grill box with goats to attract the leopard that devoured two dogs and killed a blue bull near the inter-state border village Gumjal, efforts to catch the animal yielded no results till Friday afternoon. The officials clarified that the animal might not attack the goats as they were safely positioned.

Valecha re-appointed as Fazilka DPC chief
Fazilka, December 28
The state government has re-appointed the chairman of the District Planning Committee yesterday. Senior BJP leader Prem Valecha, considered close to Badal family, has been re-appointed the chairman of the committee.

Dr Taneja elected as president of IMA, F’pur
Ferozepur, December 28
Dr RL Taneja was unanimously elected as the president of the local chapter of the Indian Medical Association (IMA) at the annual general body meeting held here today.

Dr RL Taneja

Helpline for Fazilka women
Fazilka, December 28
Fazilka district police has also opened a helpline to assist women. This was disclosed by Fazilka SSP Amar Singh Chahal at a press conference held here today.

3 Abohar firms penalised
Fazilka, December 28
Additional Deputy Commissioner-cum-Safety Officer Charandev Singh Maan penalised three Abohar-based firms for violating the Food Safety Act this evening.

Staff shortage staggers implementation of RTS Act
Balwant Garg
Tribune News Service

Faridkot, December 28
The members of the Punjab Right to Service Commission (PRSC) are on a whirlwind tour of various districts to inform the government officials of the increasing ambit of the Right to Service Act (RTS). As many as 51 more services would soon come under the Act, thus increasing the total services to 120.

But the members of the commission, during their meetings with government officials, are receiving complaints of government departments being short-staffed. While the RTS demands time-bound delivery of various services, the government officials at the district level say the shortage of staff is creating problems in the implementation of the RTS Act.

Dr Dalbir Singh Verka, commissioner, RTS Commission, today reached Faridkot to hold meetings with various departments.

During the meeting, the CDPO, Faridkot, said she was looking after three departments that were facing a shortage of junior staff. Similar was the complaint of the District Social Security Officer who has the additional charge of Moga.

"We are getting similar complaints from various places. The PRSC is time and again raising the issue with the state government. Unless there is sufficient manpower and infrastructure, the proper implementation of the RTS Act is not possible," said Dr Dalbir Singh Verka.

The chairman of the PRSC also said that in the coming days, there would be hyper-linking of various departments to access all the information online.

Not only at the junior level but also at senior level, there has been an acute shortage of officials in Faridkot. Two SDMs and one ADC have been re-employed after their retirement in Faridkot and their service contract will end on March 31. These re-employed officers also hold additional charges.

At the junior level, many patwaris have engaged unemployed youths as assistants in the revenue department because of heavy workload and additional charges.

The issue was raised some days back at a meeting held by the Commissioner, Faridkot Division.

Similar is the situation in the transport department where the clerks have further engaged unemployed youths as assistants. "Engaging a private assistant is illegal but it is an open secret," said a senior official in Faridkot.

Punjab government has re-employed 37 retired PCS officials in the state.

Straight stats

As per the latest data, 5,189,205 persons benefited from the RTS Act so far

The PRSC has taken suo moto notice of 39 complaints so far

A total of 402 appeals were filed with first appellate authority when the complainants did not get the information on time

A total of six appeals were filed before the second appellate authority and there have been seven revisions under the RTS Act so far

An SDM, a CDPO and a Tehsildar have so far been fined for the violation of the Act

Wildlife officials mull installing CCTV cameras to catch leopard
Our Correspondent

Abohar, December 28
Even as the wildlife officials installed a second iron grill box with goats to attract the leopard that devoured two dogs and killed a blue bull near the inter-state border village Gumjal, efforts to catch the animal yielded no results till Friday afternoon. The officials clarified that the animal might not attack the goats as they were safely positioned.

A team led by HS Grewal, Conservator of Forests, Ferozepur circle, arrived last evening and installed the second iron box in the jungle that forms a part of Asia's largest open wildlife sanctuary. But both the boxes had to be shifted today as footprints were spotted on the bank of the canal at a distance of 2 km from the village.

The officials indicated that CCTV cameras might be installed if the animal is not caught by today evening through traditional methods.

The experts are surprised as such animals are not known to exist in the sanctuary area. The sanctuary largely had herds of black bucks, deer and blue bulls.

Divisional Wildlife Officer Dr M Sudhagar was of the view that their number too might have declined as the farmers had encircled their fields and farm houses by barbed wire fencing. 

Valecha re-appointed as Fazilka DPC chief
Our Correspondent

Fazilka, December 28
The state government has re-appointed the chairman of the District Planning Committee yesterday. Senior BJP leader Prem Valecha, considered close to Badal family, has been re-appointed the chairman of the committee.

Valecha was earlier appointed the Chairman of the District Planning Committee last year. He had assumed charge as the chairman at that time.

Only a formal introductory meeting with other district level officials was held. Since then, no meeting has been held and the District Planning Committee is yet to crystallize.

As per official sources, a room in the Block Development and Panchayat Office (BDPO) complex was temporarily allotted for the office of the District Planning Committee, that too without deploying any employee there.

A car with a red beacon and a driver was also provided to Valecha during his first tenure, but he had returned the vehicle to the government after some time.

As per sources in the Deputy Economic and Statistical Advisor's office here, no funds have been released by the government for the District Planning Committee so far.

"Because of the assembly elections held after my appointment as the chairman, the office of the District Planning Committee could not be set up properly. I have spoken to the Deputy Chief Minister about setting up a full-fledged office of the District Planning Committee office. He has assured it would be set up within three months," said Valecha.

He added that a fund of Rs 2 crore would also be sanctioned for the development of the border district which would be spent through the District Planning Committee.

Dr Taneja elected as president of IMA, F’pur
Our Correspondent

Ferozepur, December 28
Dr RL Taneja was unanimously elected as the president of the local chapter of the Indian Medical Association (IMA) at the annual general body meeting held here today.

Dr Taneja has been elected for the sixth consecutive time.

Giving details, about Dr Harsh Bhola said Dr BR Arora and Dr Pradeep Aggarwal had also been elected as senior vice-presidents whereas Dr Awtar Singh and Dr Sandeep Asija had been elected as the general secretary and finance secretary, respectively.

Earlier this year, the Punjab IMA had honoured Dr RL Taneja as the best president of the IMA chapter in the state. 

Helpline for Fazilka women

Fazilka, December 28
Fazilka district police has also opened a helpline to assist women. This was disclosed by Fazilka SSP Amar Singh Chahal at a press conference held here today.

"The helpline number 01638-264000 is available round-the-clock for the convenience of women where they can lodge complaints and action shall be taken immediately," disclosed the SSP.

SP (Detective) Balbir Singh has been appointed the nodal officer to redress the grievances of the women. Only women constables have been deployed so that callers could narrate their grievances in a forthright manner.

The SSP said awareness camps for girl students would be arranged in schools with the cooperation of the NGOs after the winter holidays. The women police squad shall patrol outside the schools, colleges, main markets and other sensitive places to check the crime against women, the SSP added. — OC

3 Abohar firms penalised
Our Correspondent

Fazilka, December 28
Additional Deputy Commissioner-cum-Safety Officer Charandev Singh Maan penalised three Abohar-based firms for violating the Food Safety Act this evening.

As per officials sources, Food Inspector Kamalpreet Singh took two samples of cheese and flour from Lotus Resort and Restaurant and Hotel Heaven View in Abohar some time back. The result of the samples was produced before the ADC this evening.

The result suggested that the samples of cheese and flour taken failed to qualify the standard tests. After listening to the arguments from the representatives of the hotel and the restaurant, the ADC imposed a penalty to the tune of Rs 5,000 on Heaven View authorities and Rs 10,000 on Lotus Resort and Restaurant.

The ADC also imposed a fine of Rs 10,000 on the wholesale grocery firm, Arjun Dass Nathu Ram, from where the Lotus Resort and Restaurant had reportedly purchased the flour. The ADC warned the firms to sell quality food items by adhering to the Food Safety Act failing which they would be dealt with sternly.