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MID-DAYMEAL
Sampling done for first time in 6 yrs
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Three city youths don the mantle of saviours on road
Power cuts make industry, farmers suffer
Industries centre operating from dilapidated building
President urged to hold back ordinance
5 persons get stay orders from court
17-yr-old raped, 1 arrested
Clash between rival groups leaves one injured
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10 schools inspected; 23 samples taken
Aparna Banerji Tribune News Service
Jalandhar, July 18 Twenty-three food and water samples were taken from the schools. Two health teams, headed by District health Officer Dr Balwinder Singh and Assistant Food Health Officer Dr Aruna (accompanied by District Food Safety Officers Dr Sukhrao Singh and Dr Harjot Pal Singh), raided the schools on the directions of Civil Surgeon Dr RL Bassan. The teams raided Government Primary School, Bhargo Camp; Government Girls High School, Bhargo Camp; Government Boys Senior Secondary School, Bhargo Camp; Government Girls Senior Secondary School, Nehru Garden; Government Girls High School Ladowali Road; Government Senior Co-ed School Ladowali Road; Government High School, Kot Sadiq; Government Secondary School, Dhaliwal; Government Elementary School, Gakhal and Government Elementary School, Kot Sadiq. While the health teams tasted mid-day meals at all these schools, samples of stored wheat, flour and rice were taken. Bewildered school authorities at most of the schools made the last-ditch attempts of making their ramshackle kitchens look presentable. The health teams took a total of 23 samples from the schools - 16 samples of flour, grain, rice, dal, ghee and mustard oil, four samples of cooked food (karhi-rice, dal etc) and three water samples. At Government Primary School, Bhargo Camp, minutes after the teams left, a damp kitchen in total disarray was cleared by two mid-day meal staff members. The school was found to have no water supply either. While the kitchen at Government Girls Senior Secondary School, Nehru Garden, was relatively well kept, the health authorities found some food vends (candy and snack) running from the school, which the school authorities were asked to do away with. At the Government Girls Senior Secondary School, Ladowali Road, some of the rice stored in the kitchen was found to be bug-infested (as was also the case at Kot Sadiq). Right outside the kitchen was a huge ground full of Congress grass which, given the weather, seemed like an open invitation to insects and reptiles. School authorities blamed the weather for the infested rice. Regarding the weeds, they said since the school hadn’t received repair funds, the grass could not be cut. Both stored grains and the cooked food at the Bhargo Camp schools (girls and boys) was not found to be up to the mark by the health teams. The teams also said there was lack of cleanliness in the mid-day meal kitchens of the schools on Ladowali Road. However, the teams were satisfied with the conditions of kitchens at Nehru Garden and Gakhal schools. DHO Dr Balwinder Singh said the arrangements at most of the schools were found to be satisfactory and at some the standard of grains were found a bit lacking, especially in the bug-infested grains. He said the checking would be a regular feature among district schools in the coming days. Civil Surgeon Dr RL Bassan said, “After the Bihar incident, the mid-day meal arrangements warrant added attention. The raids are a message to the schools that carelessness will not be tolerated. The results of samples will be out within a week and erring schools will be issued warnings. In case of serious discrepancies, action will be initiated.Grey areas
Insanitary conditions in many schools Some schools without wateray Grains found to be bug-infested |
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Sampling done for first time in 6 yrs
Jalandhar, July 18 An ambitious scheme running across about 1,500 schools in the district with over 2,700 staff members, the authorities probably never found it important enough to check the food which lakhs of district students were being fed. And if Bihar didn't happen, things might still have been the same. The only inspections of the mid-day meal food were being carried out by the school health clinic staff and those, too, were not sampled ever (except water samples). Sources in the health department disclosed that While there have been ample reports regarding substandard meals, mid-day meal frauds and schools selling away surplus sacks of grains at the cost of the standard of food and students' health, the lack of punitive action against any of the offenders has caused added carelessness at schools, sources say. Damp, unkempt kitchens, food being cooked in the open using wood, paper (and even the more toxic paper-plastic elements as fuel) and dirty tank water being consumed by students are common problems in a majority of the district schools, many of these factors were witnessed in the raids today as well. One of the schools also complained that it was regularly being provided grains in excess due to which there was danger of rot setting in and they did not have any repair or extension or repair funds for the kitchen or its surrounding despite being in dire need. To add to the problem, the delayed provision of mid-day meal funds is also a common grouse of many schools. Speaking on why no sampling of the mid-day meal ration and food had been done before today, Civil Surgeon, Dr RL Bassan said, "Inspections of mid-day meal food have regularly been carried out by the school health clinic staff. But since food was mostly found to be up to the mark, the need for sampling hadn?t been felt until now. The inspections and sampling today have been carried out to make sure schools do not get complacent. This trend will continue in future as well." Notably, the sampling of road vends, dhabas and shops was regularly being done. Assistant health officer Dr Aruna, who is also the in charge of the school health clinic, said, "We have been checking food regularly at school. Three water samples were taken about two months ago, but their results are awaited. Food samples haven't been taken so far and in this year, it was the first time such raids have been conducted." District Food Safety Officer Harjot Pal Singh said once-a-week surprise checks would be a regular feature now and schools wouldn't be given any chance to slip into a convenient slumber. The education department confirmed that it was the first instance of sampling being done in schools. |
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Three city youths don the mantle of saviours on road
Jalandhar, July 18 Childhood chums Amrit Pal Singh Aulakh (29), Partap Kataria (26) and Ankit Pahuja (26) have started erecting reflecting boards and radium plates along accident-prone sites in the city to alert night drivers. The trio has put up one board at the BMC Chowk flyover, starting in front of Apeejay School. Poles leading to the flyover have been plated with radium sheets so that the commuters get to know about a flyover ahead in time and accordingly decide which way to go. The threesome, who are running different businesses in the city, explain, “We saw a car with an outside state number plate getting damaged from one side as the driver could not see the iron bars leading to the BMC Chowk flyover. We realised that since he was a first-time visitor to the city and was travelling in the night at a good speed, he could not foresee flyover and took a decision to go upwards at the last moment. While he himself had a miraculous escape, his car got badly damaged. "We saw the sight and felt that something had to be done. We had ourselves met with a similar accident at Kapurthala in the night. Our car had bumped into a divider, which we could not see from far, but we somehow did not get hurt.” At this, the youths sat down and decided to instal reflectors at various accident-prone sites that they could find. “We have even given our mobile phone numbers on reflectors, as passersby could contact us for the installation of more such signages wherever required,” said the youth, who all are friends since they studied at CT Public School. |
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Power cuts make industry, farmers suffer
Jalandhar, July 18 According to the latest figures, after imposing the cuts, the the power demand in the state is about 2,100 LU, whereas the availability is 1,950 LU. Speaking to The Tribune, the Federation of Punjab Small Industries Association of India president Badish K Jindal said: “The water level in the dams is good and there is no unprecedented increase in the power demand as was the case last year. It is extremely unfortunate that still power regulatory measures have been imposed on the industry. If the situation continues like this, the day is not far away when the entire industry from Punjab will migrate to other states. The PSPCL has miserably failed to handle the power demand of the different sectors.” Expressing their resentment over the weekly-off, the industrialists pointed out that weekly off disturbed the entire schedule of the labour planned for the month. They said a three-day weekly off reduced the total production by about 33 per cent, causing heavy financial loss to the industry. “The exporters have to stick to the schedule for the delivery of the goods but because of power cuts, the production is not meeting the targets,” said Jalandhar-based sports good exporter Rajesh Mayor. Expressing similar views, president of the Induction Furnaces Association, Mandi Gobindgarh, Mahinder Gupta, said: “It is ridiculous that after announcing the industrial policy for the state, the Punjab Government is claiming that it is committed to the growth of industry. When the industrial units have to remain closed for three and four days in a week, how can it survive.” Meanwhile, farmers are extremely unhappy with the PSPCL for its utter failure to provide eight-hour power supply. Venting ire against the PSPCL functionaries, Consortium of Indian Farmers Associations (CIFA) leader Satnam Singh Behru said the power corporation was providing just five-hour power supply to the agricultural pumpsets, adding that, “The PSPCL has betrayed the farming community. Despite assurances of providing uninterrupted eight-hour power during paddy, the PSPCL has miserably failed to keep its promise.” Apart from the farm and industrial sector, the power scenario in the domestic sector is quite bad with Jalandhar facing power cuts varying from two to three hours. Though the PSPCL CMD KD Chaudhri was not available for comments yet one of the spokesperson said the problem of the power shortage would end once the state received rainfall.
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Industries centre operating from dilapidated building
Jalandhar, July 18 All roads leading to the DIC are in bad shape with knee deep potholes and no sign of the bitumen on them. Heaps of solid industrial waste, trash and garbage dot the link roads leading to the centre. A visit by the Tribune team to the DIC revealed that the condition of the main entrance to the building was pitiable. The plaster on the walls and the floors of the building had peeled off. The important files in the record room were gathering dust, while rain water dripping from the roof had virtually made the building stink. The fungi on the walls of the record room and conference hall had made the structure dirty. The ceiling fans were outdated and non functional, while a water filter installed at the centre had been lying defunct for the past fortnight. “The official land line telephones and fax machines are out of order and the authorities are receiving their fax communication at the machines of the neighbouring industries,” said an employee of the centre. The DIC employees lamented that the heavy machinery operating in their surrounding industrial units were endangering the edifice. DIC General Manager Bhupinder Singh was not available for comments as he was away to Chandigarh.
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President urged to hold back ordinance
Phagwara, July 18 Khera said the government accommodations were being provided to different political parties on nominal rates in national as well as in state capitals. He said these parties were also being given sufficient time for broadcasting their manifestos on national and regional Radio Stations and Doodarshan channels. He said the CIC in its decision announced on June 3 this year ordered the six main national political parties - the BJP, Congress, BSP, CPI, CPM and SP - to appoint Public Information Officers within six weeks.
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5 persons get stay orders from court
Jalandhar, July 18 After issuing a 48-hour notice which lapsed this morning, announcements were being made at the site for vacating the premises when reports of the stay orders came. Teams of PUDA, administration and the police, which had been contemplating action, settled down waiting for the copy of the orders which reached this afternoon. The copy of the orders passed by a double bench of Ajay Kumar Mittal and Jaspal Singh read, “ The notice of motion was issued for July 30. In the meantime, status quo be maintained till the next date of hearing. It is clarified that it shall be the responsibility of the petitioners to serve the respondents for the said date, failing which the interim order shall stand vacated. It is further clarified that unless the interim order is specifically extended on the next date, the same shall cease to operate thereafter.” All five petitioners, including Balbir Chand Malhan, Umesh Kumar Arora, Bal Mukand Rai, Preet Inder Kaur and Madhu, are residents of the Green Avenue locality. The petition has been filed against the State of Punjab through Principal Secretary, Department of Housing and Urban Development, Deputy Commissioner Jalandhar, Jalandhar Development Authority through its Chief Administrator and Chief Administrator PUDA. Panic over accountability
With the issue of negligence on part of PUDA officials not getting the 6.53-acre land transferred in its name for 18 years getting flared up, there has been much panic over accountability likely to be fixed that, too, especially after the matter going to the court. Even those who were owners of the land at the time of the acquisition and illegally sold off the properties have got panicky, as they, too, have started apprehending action against them. Most of the occupants have alleged that they were unaware of the land being acquired for road, as there was no signage indicating the same and no such entries made in the land records, owing to which the land kept on changing hands ever since. The names of various Additional Chief Administrators-cum-Land Acquisition Officers who had been posted ever since is also under scrutiny. |
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17-yr-old raped, 1 arrested
Jalandhar, July 18 The girl, who works as a packer at Old Grain Market, was alone at her rented place as her parents had gone to Uttar Pradesh three days ago. The victim has complained that she was about to leave her house and was stepping down the stairs of her quarters when another co-tenant Arjan Singh and her three friends came and forced her back to room. She alleged that while Arjan Singh raped her, the other three co-accused, Money, Sunny and Ranjit Singh, bolted the door from outside and stood there. The girl said she raised an alarm, at which two aunts came up and saw three boys standing outside the room. She has complained that the boys ran off and He said the boy's medical examination had been got done. He added that the girl was also being examined with tests being done to establish her age as well. He said the police was on the lookout to nab the other three co-accused, all of whom are BA-I students. |
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Clash between rival groups leaves one injured
Jalandhar, July 18 Five persons, who are on the run, have been booked at police station, Division Number 2, under Section 307 of the IPC. One of the accused is already booked in another criminal case and was out on bail. A large number of police personnel have been deployed in the area to prevent any further clashes between both the rival groups. — TNS
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Having themselves met with an accident due to the poor visibility of dividers at night, three youths from the city have come together to ensure that no one else meets the same fate.
With Punjab still facing a shortfall of about 160 lakh unit (LU) of power on daily basis, there has been no respite from the power cuts in the industrial, agricultural and domestic sector. While industry is the worst sufferer with the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited
(PSPCL) imposing a three-day weekly off on the general category/rolling mills and a four-day weekly off on arc/induction furnace. 
facilitate the industries and industrialists of the district, has been working from a dingy and unsafe building located at the Industrial Focal Point for the past many years. Thanks to the state government, especially the Department of Industries, which is considered to be a milch cow of the state, has turned a blind eye toward the upkeep of the centre apart from giving any consideration to the inconvenience faced by the investors visiting the
centre.