Jalandhar, May 1
Even as the city traffic police has drawn up a list of over 900 traffic rules violators who have been challaned for over five times and handed over the same to the District Transport Officer (DTO)recommending cancellation of their licences, the matter has been lying pending for over four months now.

Claiming that the habitual offenders must be given an exemplary punishment in the interest of road safety for other commuters, the traffic police officials have been adamant on their stand and have been persistently following up the matter with the DTO since January this year. The DTO, however, is unwilling to pursue the case citing that habitual violators of compoundable offences could only be imposed fine repetitively.

Ever since the Traffic Police Department got the system of challaning computerised a few years back, the entries are being made for the violators with all the details regarding names and father names of the offenders, date, time, location of challaning, vehicle registration number, licence and inspectors who were on duty at the spot.

The ADCP (Traffic), Sukhdev Singh, said the matter was being pursued by ACP (Traffic) Mahinder Singh. The traffic police is levying Rs 300 on the first-time challan and Rs 600 on subsequent challans. The DTO, Dalwinder Jit Singh, said repeated challaning on the grounds of red light jumping, not wearing helmet or seat belt cannot be the basis of cancellation of licences. “Only if a driver is found to be driving in such a manner that it can be dangerous for the lives of other persons on the road can his licence be cancelled under Section 184 of the Motor Vehicles Act,” he said.

14-time offender

A city-based resident, Manoj Thakur, got the tag of being the top traffic rules offender having been challaned as many as 14 times by the traffic police. Manoj, who drives his vehicle bearing registration number PB-02-AM-4125, has been challaned at various intersections of the city, including BMC Chowk, PAP Chowk, BSF Chowk, GPO Chowk, outside Grand Mall, Defence Colony, Pathankot Chowk, Chugitti Chowk and Ladowali Road, by the police on various occasions.

Jasdeep Singh, owning vehicle PB-08-AZ-5603, has been challaned as many as 12 times. Domel Taneja is an 11-time offender having been challaned at various points, including Model Town, Babreek Chowk, Cool Road, Bus Stand, PAP Chowk and Courts Road.

Sandeep Yadav, who drives his vehicle PB-08-BV-0309, too, has been challaned as many as 11 times at various points, including Narinder Cinema, Namdev Chowk, Rama Mandi and Chugitti Chowk. There are scores of 10-time offenders in the list, including Sangram Singh, Romy Kumar, Sumeet Pal Singh and Amandeep Singh.

Jalandhar, May 1
Following the reported threatening letters received by the Divisional Regional Manager from a terrorist outfit, the city railway station has been put on a high alert.

Special checking was held last evening and anti-sabotage teams had been reportedly deputed. Security, too, has been somewhat beefed up with the deployment of 20 personnel in three shifts round the clock.

The SHO, GRP, Baldev Singh Randhawa, said, “While usually we have 12 men in a shift at the station, we now have eight more personnel on the vigil. Even the SHO, New Baradari, has been providing us with additional security.”

The threat has reminded the GRP regarding the non-functional CCTV cameras, which the SHO claims would be made functional in another three days. “The boosters of the TV screens have been out of order and we are getting them repaired at the earliest,” said Randhawa

Jalandhar, May 1
Notwithstanding the tall claims of the Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) of taking stringent measures to ensure the compliance of the pollution control norms, several tanneries operational in the Leather Complex in the city are discharging untreated waste into the Kala Sanghian drain. While the pollution norms are being flouted by the tanneries with impunity, the PPCB authorities have miserably failed to take necessary action against the violators.

A visit to the Leather Complex area on the Kapurthala Road brought to light the fact that out of about 60 tanneries, many were discharging the untreated hazardous waste into the Kala Sanghian drain through underground pipelines. Though it is difficult to physically spot the underground pipelines, but the discharge of the untreated waste on a several kilometre-long stretch of the Kala Sanghian drain could easily be noticed with jet black water flowing at different points of the drain.

The Tribune team also spotted a confluence of open channels on the backyard of the treatment plant through which untreated waste waters was being discharged into the Kala Sanghian drain.

It is pertinent to mention that from time to time Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal had directed the PPCB to monitor the inflow of the toxic effluents and domestic waste in the Kala Sanghian drain. It has been noticed that to comply with the directions of Badal, the local officials of the board swing into action for a few days, but then things are back to square one.

Some two weeks back, renowned environmentalist and PPCB member Balbir Singh Seechewal had paid a surprise visit to the Kala Sanghian drain and found that untreated water was being discharged by some of the tanneries in the drain stretch near Gurdwara Tahli Sahib. It also came to light that many tanneries were violating the provisions of the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974.

When contacted, Seechewal said, "The treatment plant having capacity of treating 5 million litres a day (MLD) has been set up at the Leather Complex. But unfortunately, instead of treating the water, the hazardous waste water is bypassed into the Kala Sanghian drain through the pumping system without treating it."

Seechewal claimed that apart from this, many of the tanneries were discharging the toxic waste into the Kala Sanghian drain through underground pipelines. "Since some of the tanneries are owned by politically influential persons, I feel that till the time the PPCB continues to work under political pressure, things are not going to improve," he asserted.

The discharge of the Kala Sanghian drain goes down to the Chitti Bein, Sutlej and Harike headworks, from where the drinking water is supplied to the Malwa region via feeders from the Harike headworks. This poses a serious risk not just to the aquatic flora and fauna, but also to the human lives as well.

When contacted, PPCB member secretary Dr Babu Ram claimed that they have got all the underground pipeline, laid for the discharge of untreated waste by tanneries, removed. "I will ask the PPCB officials in Jalandhar to pay a visit to the Leather Complex and ensure the removal of underground pipeline (if any)," he said, while denying that the board was working under any sort of political pressure. Meanwhile, despite repeated attempts the director-cum-secretary of the Punjab Effluent Treatment Society (PETS), Ajay Sharma, was not available for comments.

Jalandhar, May 1
With the heatwave gradually intensifying, the district health authorities have started tightening noose around vendors selling cut-fruits in the district.

The authorities launched the drive from Jalandhar Cantonment on Tuesday and warned dozens of vendors of action who were selling cut-fruits under unhygienic conditions.

Following directions of the Civil Surgeon, Dr RL Bassan, a team of health officials conducted surprise inspections of various roadside vendors in the cantonment area and found them selling eatable,s including cut-fruits, at dingy sites.

Talking to The Tribune, Dr Bassan said a drive had been launched to educate the vendors that the eatables should be not kept directly exposed in open. They have been asked to keep the eatables covered and their surroundings neat and clean.

The roadside and vendors have been advised to sprinkle insecticides on their surroundings to get rid of flies, mosquitoes and other insects, the Civil Surgeon added. The vendors have also been advised to maintain hygiene so that there should be no outbreak of any disease.

After the completion of the drive in the Cantonment area, health teams would be visiting different places in the city and the countryside to caution the vendors and appeal general public to avoid eating at vends located in unhygienic surroundings, said Dr Bassan.

He also warned the offenders of legal action if they failed to follow the guidelines and found selling eatables at dirty places.

A survey by The Tribune team of different places, especially outside educational institutions and congested streets, of the city, however, revealed that rehri vendors were selling cut-fruit, chaat, gol gappas and other eatables in unhygienic conditions.

The surroundings of these vendors were stinking and swarms of flies and mosquitoes were present. The situation was worst at various places in the congested city streets where vendors sold cane juice.

Jalandhar, May 1
The earthquake tremors felt by city residents today have once again brought into light the utter slackness on the part of the administration in setting up an emergency operation centre (EOC) for disaster management.

The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), which had held its workshop on January 22 in the city, had specifically highlighted the need for setting up such a centre in the city.

However, setting up of the centre is nowhere in sight.

BB Gadnayak, Senior Specialist, NDMA, had then emphasised on the setting up of a centre, which could act as a command centre to coordinate for response, recovery actions and resources. He had suggested that the centre could be used for trainings and meetings in routine, while it could be a big help for optimising communication by effective information management.

The EOC, he had suggested, should have various facilities in place, including telephones, intercom units, police wireless, civil wireless, VSAT connection to the Divisional Commissioners and collectors with video-conferencing facilities, hotline, generator sets, television unit, satellite phone and computers with networking.

The expert had also held dummy discussion sessions highlighting the need to form structural organisation for the purpose. He had suggested the various participating officers in the workshop to designate staff pre-hand for formation of three teams for controlling works for operation section, planning section and logistics section under one commander. The logistics team would have people taking care of food, communication, compensation/claims, cost, procurement and other aspects.

The ADC (G) Praneet Bhardwaj said the District Revenue Officer had been assigned the job of preparedness for disaster management.

Jalandhar, May 1
A complaint by a schoolteacher asking the Education Department to initiate action against a principal, who did not issue arrears to the staff of the Government Girls Senior Secondary School, Nakodar, is yet to be addressed by the department.

The Education Secretary has recommended the payment of the arrears (announced as early as 2008 and 2009) on the condition that the responsibility of the officials concerned for the delay in payment will be fixed, but the same has not been done so far. The complaint by the teacher asking for DA arrears for the staff of the Government Girls Senior Secondary School, Nakodar, and action against the principal who had denied the same, kicked up a trail of correspondence involving the DEO (secondary), Education Secretary, State Information Commission and the DPI (secondary education).

But while the staff got the much awaited arrears this February, action against the erring officials is yet to be initiated.

On August 13, 2011, schoolteacher Kanwaljit Singh first complained about the delay in payment of DA arrears to the Education Secretary.

On June 21, 2012, a report on the matter, submitted to the DEO by an enquiry committee constituted by the DEO (secondary), was sent to the Education Secretary by the DEO (s).

Following a string of correspondence on the matter, including an appeal (from complainant Kanwaljit Singh) to the State Information Commission, a letter to the Director Public Instruction (secondary education) from the office of the Governor, finally the arrears were granted to the teachers.

The letter sent to the Director (secondary education) from the governor’s office stated, “The state governor states that as per the PFR rule 2.25 (B), the payment of Rs 3,91,639 worth of time barred DA arrears to Government Senior Secondary School, Jalandhar, is granted on the condition that the responsibility of officials or employees responsible for the delay be fixed in the matter and action be initiated against them as per applicable rules, about which the government be duly informed.”

A copy of the said letter was also marked to the DEO (secondary), Jalandhar, among other officials.

Two months after the letter was sent, the staff now hopes of getting the arrears, but rues the lack of any action against the ‘officials or employees responsible for the delay’, despite instructions from the education secretary, a trend they say, which is often witnessed.

Jalandhar, May 1
Members of the Jalandhar Cable Operators Welfare Society today condemned the recent hike in cable fares. They say the constant increase in the connection fares without any notice was proving costly for them. They alleged that it was due to the monopoly of companies like Fastway.

Speaking to the press here today, Jalandhar Cable Operators Welfare Society president Vikas Bhargav said, “The Fastway Cable Network is behaving unreasonable with cable operators for the past some years. The prime reason for this is the monopoly of the cable mafia.”

“Despite the fact that the Competition Commission of India (CCI) levied a fine of Rs 8.4 crore on Fastway Cable, Siti Cable and Hathaway Sukh Amrit, the cable operators have still not received any reprieve,” he said.

Bhargav said a rent of Rs 30 was earlier charged for the set top boxes (which are given to the cable operators after paying Rs 600 to the firm), and now the rent has been increased to Rs 35. Moreover, neither a bill nor a receipt was given to the operators.

“A hike of Rs 10 was already witnessed this month. As we have to pay to the company, so we have asked the customers to pay extra,” he said.

Members of the society said they would write a letter to the government regarding the deputation of an agency to investigate the matter.

If the firm is not ready to provide any bill, including monthly rent, set top box charge or the fare to cable operators, then they would hold a demonstration in this regard, he said.

Vikas Bhargav, Ranjit Singh, Jagdeep Chander, and Happy Chadha were also present at the press meet.

Jalandhar, May 1
Staff members of Punjab Technical University (PTU) gave a warm sendoff to Dr Nachhattar Singh, an adviser to the Vice-Chancellor of the university, here on Tuesday.

He has completed his tenure of three-and-a-half years and rendered his services at different administrative posts in the university. He joined the university as the adviser to the VC on September 16, 2009.

A press note issued by the university stated that he was given additional charge of Punjab Institute of Management (PIM) in April, 2011. He also offered his services as Dean Development and Planning in the university besides officiating Registrar, Officiating Controller Examinations.

Currently, he was holding the positions of Director, Punjab Institute of Technology, Kapurthala, and Punjab Institute of Technical Teachers Training and Research (PITTTR), Jalandhar.

Those who were present at the farewell function include Rajneesh Arora Vice-Chancellor; Buta Singh Sidhu, Dean; AP Singh, Dean; HS Bains, Registrar, Balkar Singh, Dean; and various other staff members.

Nachhattar Singh was also honoured with a shawl and memento.