Jalandhar, May 17
An accident of a bus of Innocent Hearts School, Green Model Town, with an Innova car at Nakodar Chowk today led to much inconvenience for the students on board, who had to wait for over an hour in the melee.

As this happened, the car driver and the school bus driver entered into a confrontation. Policemen from Division Number 4 police station reached the spot and asked the driver to turn the bus towards the police station.

While the drama continued, the innocent children, who instead of going homeward in the scorching heat, got punished for no mistake of theirs. Realising this, the police staff was kind enough to serve cold water to the children.

After this, the SHO said the policemen and a co-driver took the bus dropping the children to their places.

The police had to face the wrath of some parents as the parents, who had been waiting for their children at their places and got to know of the incident, reached the police station. They argued with the policemen for putting their wards into so much inconvenience.

Jalandhar, May 17
The Indian leather industry is among the top 10 foreign exchange earners of the country and is also one of the largest employment provider to economically weaker section of the society. The export of leather and leather products from India has increased from $ 2752.50 million in 2005-06 to $ 4996.91 million in 2012-13, it is learnt.

The industry is aiming to double its export performance in the next five years. The export of leather and leather products from Punjab has also increased from about Rs 240 crore in 2010-11 to about Rs 303 crore in 2011-12, sources in the Council for Leather Exports said.

Jalandhar is a major production centre for finished leather, leather goods, footwear and leather garments, contributing a share of more than 80 per cent of the exports from Punjab. The leather and leather product units in Jalandhar, who are predominantly in the micro and small sector, need the support in core areas, namely marketing (both direct and virtual), market information, policy and procedures of the government so that tanners can make use of the various programmes and schemes of the government to the maximum extent and achieve sustainable growth in the coming years.

Considering this, the Council for Leather Exports (an autonomous organisation under the Union Ministry of Commerce and Industry) is establishing a Common Facility Centre (CFC) located at Leather Complex here.

This CFC is being constructed with the financial support of the Department of Commerce, Union Ministry of Commerce and Industry, under the assistance to states for infrastructure development of exports (ASIDE) scheme. Punjab Small Industries and Export Corporation Limited, Chandigarh, has already earmarked 9,100 sq feet land for the purpose.

The CFC will have three floors, with total built-up area of 7,500 sq ft, that is 2,500 sq ft on each floor. The proposed facilities at the CFC will be product display hall (1,550 sq ft), conference hall (1,150 sq ft), resource centre (500 sq ft) and the extension office of the Council for Leather Exports (1,000 sq ft).

The foundation stone for the Jalandhar project of the CFC was laid by Rajendra Kumar Jalan, Chairman, Council for Leather Exports today at the project site in the presence of R Ramesh Kumar, Executive Director, Council for Leather Exports. The CFC project is expected to be completed in a period of six months.

On this occasion, Parveen Kumar, convener, Punjab chapter, Council for Leather Exports, said, “It is a historical moment as it is for the first time during the last 50 years that such a investment has been made by Union Government to establish a Common Facility Centre in Jalandhar. In the coming time we are planning to have a world-class multiple skill-training centre, product designing centre and testing lab facility. The proposal for these products will be sent by June 30.”

BS Narang

The performance, which will be held at the India International Centre in New Delhi, will see the participation of Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit as chief guest and Prof Kiran Walia, Minister of Education, Languages, Social Welfare, Child and Women Development, as the guest of honour.

Narang, who has provided his unmatched services as professor and Head of the Department of Music, DAV College, Jalandhar, is noted across Punjab for his mellifluous voice.

He will be joined by artistes Balwant Singh Namdhari, Nivedita Singh, Badar-uz-Zaman and Qamar-uz-Zaman during the two-day festival, dedicated to the music of Punjab, in the Capital.

Jalandhar, May 17
Despite the best infrastructural and manpower facilities, the city police, it seems, lags far behind in terms of timely updation of various details, including FIRs registered, e-filing of complaints and NRI complaints, on its official website.

In contrast, the official website of the Kapurthala police, www.kapurthalapolice.com, is much more user-friendly with the FIR details available police station wise. A click on any of the police station name brings forth the complete list of FIRs registered with it with details, including dates on which they were lodged, sections imposed, name of the complainant and that of the accused in a tabular form. A click on download button immediately provides the details of a particular case.

However, the Jalandhar Police Commissionerate website, www.jalandharpolice.com, has certain restrictions. A visitor to the site has to know the details, including FIR number, complainant name and the accused name, it is only then that one can know the details of a particular case. Further, since the data available is not date wise, unlike the Kapurthala Police website, a person cannot check the filing of cases by using dates with different police stations or check cases on day-to-day basis.

Ensuring a much more transparency, the Kapurthala police website has enlisted as many as 424 NRI cases, with the names of complainants, addresses, summaries of complaints and even the status in each one of them. It has even put on display the list of 348 proclaimed offenders (POs) with their complete details, including the cases in which they have been declared POs.

Asked about the same, Kapurthala SSP Inderbir Singh said the FIR was getting uploaded in virtual time. “We are even updating the FIRs whenever the status of a case changes,” he replied, adding that he was getting a very good response, especially from the NRIs.

On the issue, ADCP (Headquarters) Navjot Mahal, said, “Since the Kapurthala police is less occupied, they might have been able to do it in a better way. The number of cases registered with us are far more high and so much updating is a bit difficult.”

Jalandhar, May 17
While a number of visionary programmes for English enhancement and English skill development have been started by the government to brush up the English language abilities of students in the district, the dearth of skilled English teachers is proving to be a major dampener in upping the English skills of schools students.

In more than 300 upper primary schools of the district, English classes are being taken by teachers essentially hired for doling out social studies lessons.

The district has 440 upper primary schools, but the number of skilled English teachers is only 105. While there are only 71 sanctioned posts of English teachers in upper primary schools in the district, the number of English teachers working under the Sarv Shikhsha Abhiyan is 60. About 55 more skilled English teachers are working under the Education Department.

Barring the classes being taken by 105 English teachers, all other English classes are being taken by social studies teachers in the district.

While most of these teachers are those who had opted for an English and social studies during BEd, none of these social studies teachers have had any special degree in the English subject.

Talking to The Tribune, a teacher said, "While the lack of specialisation in English among these teachers has a very bad affect on students, who are exposed to bad pronunciation and grammar since the teacher is not well read, in a few cases, however, good results by social studies teachers have also been reported, where teachers have taken extra pain to keep themselves well versed with the subject to provide good coaching to students. But such cases are very rare. So it is safe to say that the district is facing crisis of English teachers."

Teachers say while till Class V students in government schools are just being taught the alphabets, in Class VI, all of a sudden, they are overburdened with 18 to 19 chapters plus a lot of grammar, which they find difficult to cope with.

The English language syllabus in government schools has also remained unchanged since 2005.

Notably, one of the prime concerns among teachers is that since government schoolchildren spend all their initial years with little exposure to the subject, they are full of inhibitions when they go looking for jobs later, because they are not well versed with the subject. Very few of the students are able to shed the inhibitions and be at par with other children.

Teachers say while special skill lessons and enhancement classes are doing a lot of good in schools with skilled teachers, the classes will be more effective in the rest of the schools when skilled English language teachers are hired.

Sandeep Sharma, president, English Masters Association, Punjab, says, "There is dire need of good English teachers in government schools, because only skilled teachers can provide effective coaching. Since most of the students studying in government schools come from poor families, they need special attention from teachers who are well versed with the subject."

Kapurthala, May 17
Even after more than six weeks of ASI Gurdev Singh's murder on the national highway in Phagwara in Kapurthala district on March 31, two accused are still absconding.

While the Punjab Police succeeded in nabbing two of the four accused, NRI Tarwinder Singh and Pushpinder Singh, a few days after the murder, two other accused Palwinder Singh, alias Pinda, and Rajinder Singh, alias Mintoo, are still at large.

Though the police of Kapurthala district and surrounding areas, especially that of Jalandhar (Rural) district, is doing every possible effort to nab the absconding accused, yet they are not being caught.

Expressing hope that the absconding accused will soon be put behind bars, a senior police official said, "We are leaving no stone unturned to nab them. The police is conducting raids on their possible hideouts."

The police had already taken adequate steps, including issuing "lookout notices" for them, to prevent them from leaving the country from any airport, he added.

Meanwhile, police sources said photos of the absconding accused had already been provided to all patrol parties to nab them. Further, important information regarding their possible whereabouts had also been collected on the interrogation of the arrested accused, NRI Tarwinder Singh and Pushpinder Singh.

A first information report (FIR) number 38 was registered under Sections 302, 307, 392 and 34 of the IPC and Section 25 of the Arms Act at the Sadar police station in Phagwara on head constable Balkar's statement in this connection. — TNS