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Dy Commissioner’s office says yes to higher parking charges
8 injured as vehicle overturns
Both DCFAs, accounts officer on leave
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Girl's uncle, too, dies; accused arrested
Property zoning: More objections pour in
Sacrifices go unnoticed as ex-spy battles penury
PSEB to act tough against copycats from next year, says chairperson
Lifestyle change cause of kidney problems: Expert
Youth Festival
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Dy Commissioner’s office says yes to higher parking charges
Jalandhar, March 14 From April 1, the charges to be levied for scooter parking have been increased from Rs 5 to Rs 10 and of car from Rs 10 to Rs 20. In fact, these were the charges already being levied by the contractor for the past two years despite the actual charges fixed at half the amount. After the media repeatedly reported the matter regarding overcharging at the complex, previous Deputy Commissioner Priyank Bharti had twice made an effort to instal boards regarding parking rates, but these disappeared within a few days. The contractor, who had paid Rs 30 lakh for parking last year, Rs 11 lakh more than in year 2011-12, kept on blaming it on losses and the non-payment of charges by employees and politicians. The reserve price for this year’s auction has been fixed at Rs 30 lakh. The charges to be levied by the canteen for a meal too have been raised from Rs 25 to Rs 30 per plate which includes four "chapattis" with dal or vegetable. The price for lemonade, too, has been officially been increased from Rs 8 per glass to Rs 10 per glass. Interestingly, even the canteen contractor has been openly fleecing the visitors by levying Rs 20 for a cold drink bottle with an MRP of just Rs 12. The DC rate list mentions that the canteen contractor can only levy Re 1 more than the print price that, too, for cooling bottles in summers. The vendor for printed forms, too, has been taking triple the amount mentioned in the rate list. While the rate list puts price for one-side printed form at Re 1 per page, the vendor in the DC office has been taking Rs 3 per page, again for the reason that there is no rate list put up at the counter. GA to DC Sanjeev Sharma said after the auction of fresh contractors, he would ensure that there would be no overcharging.
What needs to be done The visitors to DC complex have suggested that the DC must ensure that all contractors, be it of parking, canteen, photography and printed forms, must display a rate list. They have also suggested that Nazir and other DC office employees must ensure that no one visiting the office for his work is fleeced. They have also suggested that the office must instal CCTV cameras at the earliest, especially in parking area, where incidents of theft are high. Two days ago, Karam Singh Bhambra (79), a retired government official, lost his Bajaj Classic scooter, which was parked in the complex. Since there were no cameras installed, even the police was helpless in the matter.
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8 injured as vehicle overturns
Phagwara, March 14 The police said the occupants were pilgrims who were returning from Anandpur Sahib, when the vehicle driver Ram Singh fell asleep and lost his control over the vehicle which fell into a ditch. The injured included Ram Singh, posted as a police driver with Commandant Shiv Dev Singh in PAP, Jalandhar, Ram Singh’s wife Ravinder Kaur, son Manpreet Singh, two neighours Gurwinder Singh and Manjit Kaur. Besides three migrant labourers from Bihar, Sandip, Rohit and Santosh, were admitted to Phagwara Civil Hospital, where the condition of all injured was stated to be stable, said the police.
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Both DCFAs, accounts officer on leave
Jalandhar, March 14 As a result, the authorities have had to set up an all-new team today to prepare the budget. All accounts officials, including those who have served earlier with the department including superintendent property tax, have been put on job, said Commissioner MC Vinay Bublani. He added that even the private CAs on the MC panel for the first time had been roped in for budget. Bublani said, “A preliminary budget meeting would be held tomorrow wherein tentative budget will be cleared by Mayor Sunil Jyoti, me and HoDs of all departments. The members will also finalise the date of budget meeting of the MC
House”. A streetlight committee set up by the MC House under the chairmanship of Senior Deputy Mayor Kamaljit Bhatia has asked the officials of the O&M wing to submit a detailed report regarding a recent survey conducted on streetlight points on PAP to Paragpur stretch, Rama Mandi to Nangal Shama stretch and Master Gurbanta Singh Marg by March 19. The officials have been asked to give complete details with regard to how many points were not working, how many did not have glass covers, box panels, paint on poles and other required details. The committee members have said that a detailed report would be submitted before the House at the next meeting. |
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Girl's uncle, too, dies; accused arrested
Jalandhar, March 14 Pamma (40), who worked as a rickshaw-puller, had been brought to Civil Hospital last night. He died this morning. The police also arrested the accused, Billa, during raids conducted late last night. The police said that Billa revealed that while earlier Neha, her mother and brother had been putting up in his accommodation as tenants, they shifted to another accommodation, where Billa also joined them. Billa has even claimed to have developed relations with the girl, who was uneducated and working as a labourer at a potato store, and had even been giving her some money to meet her day-to-day expenses. Of late, Neha had objected to the relations and had thrown Billa out of the house. The accused also claimed to have been in an inebriated condition when he committed the double murder. ASI manhandled
In another incident, the Division Number 5 police arrested one Inderjit of Basti Sheikh for allegedly manhandling ASI Surinderpal Singh today. One Pankaj Chawla of Basti Sheikh had given a complaint that Inderjit had slapped his six-year-old daughter. When the ASI went to enquire the matter, he was manhandled, said the police. An FIR has been registered against him under Sections 332, 353, 186 and 506 of the IPC. |
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Property zoning: More objections pour in
Jalandhar, March 14 Former BJP councillor Shiv Dyal Chugh, too, has raised an objection for his area. He has made a point for shifting Garha to zone H instead of zone E. He writes, “It is very surprising that Garha, mostly inhabited by labourers and downtrodden in houses less than 4 marlas and those, too, unfinished, has been kept in zone E with adjoining colonies like Gurjit Nagar and Golden Avenue.” He has also objected to keeping Chhoti Baradari in zone C instead of D. “When colonies like Defence Colony and Dashmesh Nagar have been kept in zone D, why has Chhoti Baradari been placed in zone C?” he has questioned. One objection raised by the members of the Rishi Nagar Welfare Society pertains to putting the colony in zone F instead of D. Citing reasons for the same, president JS Bhatia has written, “There are about 50 houses, mostly habited by retirees and middle income group. Nearly 90 per cent of these are of just 6 marlas. The roads are narrow and in bad condition. In rainy season, it remains heavily inundated. The sewer often remains blocked. No safai karamchari has been provided.” The SCO owners on new court chowk to new tehsil road have demanded that their zones be converted to zone D instead of A. SCO owners Manjit Singh, Michael Ohri and Yashpal Malhotra have written, “As many as 75 per cent buildings in the market are lying vacant. The rent of this area is Rs 40 to Rs 50 per sq feet on ground floor and Rs 20 to Rs 25 per sq feet on upper floors. This zone has been equated with shops in Model Town and Mahavir Marg where rent is as high as Rs 85 to Rs 125 per sq feet.” |
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Sacrifices go unnoticed as ex-spy battles penury
Jalandhar, March 14 Born and brought up at the Mirzapur village in Pathankot, Dass said he was roped in to work as a spy for an Indian intelligence agency. But despite spending 10 years in a Pakistan jail for the love of his country and undergoing one year of severe torture there, his sacrifice is yet to be given its due. A supervisor at a local sweet store, his meagre income of Rs 5,000 is not enough to keep his family afloat. In 1973, a conversation with an intelligence official at a park in Kathua changed his life. “I was 24 and was just sitting at a park in Kathua where I had gone to meet my brother. Replying to the official’s queries, I told him I was looking for a job, had completed my matriculation exam and was well versed in Urdu, which I had learnt from my father,” Bishan Dass said. “He asked me to meet him the next day at an office where he would give me a job. That meeting changed my life. They asked me if I was willing to do anything for my country. I said yes and was hired,” he added, but added with a smile, “I got trapped.” He was trained for a year, starting 1974, taught the Koran and to offer prayers. Then, named Mohammed Saleem, he started making regular visits to Pakistan (first time with a guide and on subsequent visits on his own) from where he would give some information back home to the agency every time he arrived back. “My family, however, was told I was a telephone operator,” he said. “In 1978, while going across the border for about the 30th time, I was captured by some rangers and taken to the Shakargarh station, then to Sialkot prison,” he added. “At the prison I was beaten, tied and given electric shocks till I fainted. After a year of imprisonment, the punishment was over but I was still sent to the New Central Jail where I stayed for the next 10 years,” he added. “In 1988, I along with 110 others, was freed from the jail with the efforts of the Rajiv Gandhi government,” Das said. “After coming back, I have been writing to the government since 1992, but so far my requests have gone unheeded,” he added. Das got married in 1992. He has written to various Prime Ministers, including Manmohan Singh, and the state Chief Ministers, but so far he has only been directed to other departments. “When I wrote back home, that I had been captured in Pakistan, that was the first time my family got to know the nature of my job. The trauma caused my father’s death. Now my wife and my children could have a much better life if I earned better. But so far no government help has come, even though other people who have A Maharashtrian do-gooder’s help let him fix the crumbling roof of his home once, but Das is in need of help to fight the poverty his life is steeped in. One of his daughters is engaged and another is yet to be married. The family can hardly make ends meet with his salary. Das demands that the government should recognise his efforts and compensate him for the sacrifices he has made, a sacrifice that presently awaits gratitude from a country which survives on the selfless services of many like him and conveniently forgotten when it’s time to repay. |
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PSEB to act tough against copycats from next year, says chairperson
Jalandhar, March 14 This was stated by Dr Tejinder Kaur Dhaliwal, chairperson of the Punjab School Education Board, during a visit to the local Lyallpur Khalsa College for Women here today. While she has spent her initial days in the office amidst high reportage of cheating cases at government schools and also the cancellation of examinations at a number of centres across the state, owing to the same reason, Dr Dhaliwal today said the board’s strict stance on cheating this year shall result in a much-cleansed system during the exams next year. Speaking on the presence of a cheating mafia, she said, “There are a number of schools where school owners and principals have been arranging for cheating by charging money from students. Even as the board arranges for the examination of lakhs of students, the cheating mafia has been ruining the efforts of sincere employees.” “This is, in fact, the very first issue that I witnessed after joining the office. We have been receiving at least 10 to 20 complaints per day in this regard. Although some of them were anonymous, we have taken a serious note of the complaints. We shall be initiating strict action against the offenders,” she added. Speaking on what will be foremost on her agenda as the chairperson of the board, Dr Dhaliwal said, “The major objective is an overhaul in the curriculum and the standard of textbooks. Comparative studies will be made with the text and curriculum of other boards after which the best content will be included for the PSEB text books. Qualitative upgrades both on the front of both content and illustration of books shall be made for a better curriculum.” “Secondly, it shall also be ensured that books reach students well in time. We are constituting teams which will tie up with publishers and make sure that books get to children of various classes in time so that they are available to them right at the time of admission,” Dr Dhaliwal added. While an online overhaul is being talked about for a long time, Dr Dhaliwal stressed that technological changes would also be made in the board and talks were on to move board information online. Speaking about the steps being planned to prevent cheating in the remaining board examinations, she said, “It’s rare to hear of as many as 100 to 150 students being caught cheating. It is the result of the concerted efforts by staff and flying squads that such an unprecedented amount of offenders have been caught this year. The recent staff suspensions are also the result of stricter stance to weed out the bad elements. Both DEOs and school staffs are now conscious of the fact that indiscipline won’t be tolerated. Such strict action will be continued in the future,” she said. When asked what would be her plan to deal with the trouble of addiction and the resultant hooliganism in various schools owing to that, she said, “That is a problem happening across the country and the onus can’t fall only on schools to deal with an issue which is much bigger.” However, she did say that the board is planning to introduce books on human values from the next session.
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Lifestyle change cause of kidney problems: Expert
Jalandhar, March 14 There is a rise in the number of patients suffering from kidney problems and it is because of the change in our lifestyle. Diabetes and blood pressure together give rise to many kidney problems. If any of these problem is persistent for more than 10 years then it increases the chances of severe kidney trouble. Also, there is rise in consumption of junk food and a total disregard for exercise. Decrease in the intake of junk food and carbohydrates itself will be effective to bring down the incidence of kidney diseases. Dr Grover also emphasised that treatment for kidney problems was very costly. If one is on dialysis, it easily costs between Rs 12,000 to Rs 15,000 a month. So it is a disease that a man from the middle class can not even afford to pay for. He said early detection of kidney failure was possible by a simple routine urine examination. If one is passing more than the normal amount of proteins in urine, one must get tests done. Nephrologist Dr Raghuvendra Singh from the India Kidney Hospital, who has been practising in the city for the last 12 years said, “The incidence of kidney disease has risen sharply. One in 10 people suffer from it. While around 20 years ago kidney infections were not that common. Now, kidney disease is commonly manifested through diabetes, hypertension and stone problems as well as infections.” He further said, "Junk food or even things like sausages cause serious kidney trouble. Azino moto which is commonly found in food items today contains harmful chemicals prove detrimental to the kidney’s health. But sadly junk food and sausages come without such warnings”. He said staying active and completely avoiding food from outside, are two key ways in which one can avoid kidney disease. Homemade food is the best option to stay fit. Dr Singh also held free checkup camp with free investigations and medicines at his hospital today. As many as 183 patients were checked and free medicines were given to them. He also released a book ‘Kidney Da Uda Aida’, on Monday which is free for distribution.
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from colleges JALANDHAR: A two-day Inter-College Youth Festival being organised by the Directorate of Youth Services began at DAV College here today. Some of the competitions included items such as folk orchestra in which all traditional Punjabi music instruments, including Mugdu and Damru were played. The host team won the prize in the contest. Another contest for display of traditional costumes was held in which KMV College bagged the first prize. In vaar singing, DAVIET won the prize while DAV College got the prize for kavishri. KMV College team won the gidha contest. The event registered a low participation as it coincided with examination days. Capt IS Dhami, assistant director, Youth Services, said that from next time onwards the event would be held in October-November. The function was today inaugurated by Mayor Sunil Jyoti. Sarojini Gautam Sharda, ACA, PUDA, and Rajesh Bagha, chairman, SC Commission, Punjab, presided over. The contest for bhangra, folk singing, elocution and mono-acting will be held tomorrow. Prize distribution
Nealy 760 students who had excelled in academics, sports and other co-curricualr activities were honoured at the Apeejay College of Fine Arts in its annual prize distribution function. Kamal Sharma, President, BJP, Punjab was the chief guest. For his splendid achievements in sports, most notably in judo, Sohim Takkar of B Com III was awarded the best student of the year. Hitesh Gulati of B Com III was presented with Seth Stya Paul Award for his marvelous achievements in various academic and cultural activities. Principal Dr Sucharita presented the annual report of the college. The college also awarded its faculty members Dr Sunit Kaur, Dr Navjot Deol, Mr Basudeb Biswas, Dr Amita Pandey, Monika Anand and Jeevan for their research-oriented works and teaching duties. Kamal Sharma addressed the audience and shared his views that a nation’s success depended on the strength of its youth and India’s 40 per cent of the population was youth. The function ended with the performance of Rajasthani folk dance. The audience was intoxicated with the performance. Placements
Larsen & Toubro Limited (L&T), largest construction company, conducted campus drive for BTech students at CT Group of Institutions. Students of polytechnic (civil/mechanical engineering/electrical engineering and architecture) of passing out batch participated. Nearly 225 students from polytechnic colleges of Punjab CT Polytechnic College, Mehr Chand Polytechnic and Government Polytechnic, Amritsar, participated in the drive. After successful completion of training, the students will be given the salary package of Rs 3.7 lakh per annum. Apart form this they would receive performance based incentives
—TNS |
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Jalandhar, March 14
Bishan Dass carries around letters that he sent to his home at Mirzapur village from a jail in Pakistan, and the ones he received from his elder brother Karam
Chand.
It’s been 24 years since he came back to India after being freed from the New Central Jain in Multan but so far “he has not received his due from the Government of India”.
On the occasion of World Kidney day today, city doctors expressed their concern over the rising kidney problems. Medical specialist (MD medicine), Dr SPS Grover who runs a dialysis centre said, "we get about 15 to 20 patients with kidney diseases at our OPD daily".
