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mid-day meal scheme
Admn’s e-monitoring system goes defunct
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Waiter gets life term for rape
Staff shortage hits Railway services
Marriage bureau owner booked for making porn CD
Sikh Light Infantry to observe Raising Day on October 1
College organises seminar on female foeticide
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Most schools have insanitary conditions
Aparna Banerji Tribune News Service
Jalandhar, July 19
Many of the schools visited by The Tribune in the district today were found to be suffering from insanitary conditions. The greatest and most common problem in the schools was the bad state of water and thin gravies being served to students, making a mockery of the purpose for which the mid-day meal was started. At Government Co-education Senior Secondary School, Ladowali Road, one of the kitchen doors opened right into a weed-infested backyard, flies hovered over the cooked chapattis and ration was stored in a dingy room full of cobwebs. Staff admitted that mosquitoes and insects posed a daily ordeal. "It's been ages since fogging was done in the area. While schools are always blamed for bad meals, the area and surroundings cause insects to come in even though we keep the kitchen clean," they said. The school water coolers were fitted with water purifiers some time ago, but these were later removed due to some problems encountered. At Government Primary and Middle Schools Garha, housed on the same premises, ration was found to be infested with little bugs even as the school said it was just a seasonal problem. While the primary school had water purifiers in the kitchen, there were none by the water taps for the children, which were found to be in a very insanitary condition. Near the kitchen and water taps at the primary school were dumps of garbage which haven't been removed, as it is reportedly a disputed land, causing children to make do in insanitary conditions. The inside of the kitchen was clean. Due to the dearth of space, many of the grain packets were stacked in the school class almirahs. At Government Girls Primary School, Garha, too, the water taps (without any purifiers) were right next to the toilets and a mound of garbage greeted visitors. Due to little space, the ration at the school was stacked in three different rooms - in the back of a classroom, in a store and in the kitchen itself. Locked drums at the schools were not opened despite requests, with the school authorities claiming that the keys had been lost and locks would have to be broken. The school also did not have any flour in it. Staff claimed they were daily getting fresh "atta" from a mill nearby. At both government primary and the one middle school in Garha, students were being fed food on the dusty verandah floors without any rugs. The kitchen of Government Senior Secondary School, however, was found to be cleanest of the lot and the ration was also stacked properly. In most of the schools, problems like space shortage, lack of repair and fund crunch have been found to play a major role in the problems witnessed in the mid-day meal scheme. DEO visits schools DEO (secondary) Neelam Kumari today visited various schools in the district. Speaking on the poor condition of kitchens and drinking water in schools, she said, "Purifiers are not being provided by the government so far, so the schools get these on their own. But the DEO office had issued instructions to schools to keep their kitchens clean and tanks were also being cleaned regularly." The DEO said checks would be regularly conducted in schools from now on. She visited six schools today to check the mid-day meal arrangements, which she said were found to be satisfactory. The schools visited were Government Senior Secondary schools at Uggi, Partapura, Udhopur and Khambra and Government High School Jagral.
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Admn’s e-monitoring system goes defunct
Jalandhar, July 19 The system, developed by former Deputy Commissioner Priyank Bharti two and a half years ago for e-monitoring, has gone defunct ever since the tech-savvy IAS officer left the station. Under the scheme, executive officers of all municipal committees in Shahkot, Lohian, Nurmahal, Bhogpur, Goraya, Phillaur, Adampur and Kartarpur, all 12 Block Development and Panchayat Officers (BDPOs) of the district, District Education Officers, XENs of PWD and Mandi Board, Chief Agriculture Officer, and Animal Husbandary officials had been asked to constantly upload the status of various ongoing projects under MNREGA, MPLADS or other schemes of their areas. Since officials were aware that they were under the continuous surveillance of the DC who amply used his laptop and smartphones, they used to be extra-cautious about the progress of works in their areas, especially ahead of any meeting. Bharti used to cross-check their claims on web right in front of them. Since the system no longer operates, the officials, too, have also been enjoying a free hand these days. In the system, various schemes used to be updated, including the list of various works approved, their estimated cost, inauguration, tentative date of completion of work and percentage of work completed. The officials concerned were often asked if they had done the updation on the administration’s official web portal www.jalandhar.nic.in. The link still exists on the portal, but the status of work has not been uploaded for the past over seven months ever since Bharti had left Jalandhar to take over as Director, Local Bodies. Bharti had chosen the mode as he said that it was impossible for him to personally visit all areas. He would pick up problem areas through system and choose to visit such sites on a priority basis. The officials earlier used to be even asked to upload photographs of works from their mobile phones to prove their point. However, none of them seem to be using the technology any longer and the link in the website has gone defunct. A click on the various departments for progress report generates the message “No record found”. In other cases, the status of projects has clearly not been updated. Deputy Commissioner Shruti Singh is away to the US on vacation. The staff of National Informatics Centre confirmed that there had been no updation on the site for the past few months. Brainchild of ex-DC The system, developed by former Deputy Commissioner Priyank Bharti two and a half years ago for e-monitoring, has gone defunct ever since the tech-savvy IAS officer left the station. In the system, various schemes used to be updated, including the list of various works approved, their estimated cost, inauguration, tentative date of completion of work and percentage of work completed. The officials concerned were often asked if they had done the updation on the administration’s official web portal
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Waiter gets life term for rape
Jalandhar, July 19 The accused, Manni, of Maqsudan has been sentenced to four years' imprisonment under Section 363 of the IPC, four years under Section 366 of the IPC and life imprisonment under Section 376 (2) (g) of the IPC. Manni had been arrested and booked by the Division Number 1 police on December 6, 2012. Another co-accused Ajay Pal Singh of Gandhi Camp, too, had been apprehended, but he is being tried in the Juvenile Justice Court. The complaint had been registered by the victim's mother, who worked as a maid in the house of Pankaj Mehta in New Colony Gopal Nagar. The complainant said Mehta had organised a Jagrata at his place on December 1, 2012, where she had gone for work with her daughter. She said around 1 am, she realised that her daughter was nowhere to be seen. She said she told about the same to the owners of the house who, too, kept on looking for her till the next day. She said she finally reported the matter to the policeon December 3, 2012. The complainant said she had been suspecting some waiters, hired at the jagran programme, behind the incident. On insistence by Pankaj, she sought a video recording of the function for clues from RK Studio, got a CD made and viewed it on TV at home. Watching the CD which showed waiters taking away the girl, the complainant said she was convinced that two boys had committed the crime. After this, she contacted the catering contractor Billa, showed him the CD and took the addresses of the boys. The boys were then arrested. They confessed to having committed the crime by taking the girl behind a truck park outside the venue. They said they then took the girl to Mehta village in Majithia and dropped her in front of a house. On the directions given by the accused, the police had managed to rescue the girl from the house of Pritpal Singh.
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Staff shortage hits Railway services
Jalandhar, July 19 The condition of a shed made for the porters, so that they could rest during the day, was also deplorable. “Stray dogs keep roaming around the inquiry and ticket-booking counters. Apart from this, the signboards mentioning the location of the dustbins on the railway platforms are there but dustbins are nowhere to be seen,” said Geetika Sharma, a passenger. As far as cleanliness is concerned, railway tracks were littered with garbage. People were found sitting on the floor everywhere as the condition of the waiting rooms was quite wretched. Metal detectors at the entrance gate were not working and no alternate arrangement for security check was found at any of the gates. Inquiries revealed that there is staff crunch at the railway station. Almost 50 per cent of the vacancies are lying vacant in different wings of the station. Only two out of five windows were open at the reservation counter because of the staff shortage. “Because of the staff scarcity at the railway ticket booking and inquiry counters, the passengers have to face lot of inconvenience,” said Jugal Sharma, a frequent traveller. When contacted, Senior Divisional Commercial Manager, Ferozepur Division, Northern Railways, Upjeet Singh, said: “I agree that the shortage of staff is there but the situation is not that grim. However, I will still check and do the needful.” He said because of open entry from all sides, they were facing problem of stray dogs and garbage at the railway station, adding that, “All the problems will be addressed shortly.”
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Marriage bureau owner booked for making porn CD
Jalandhar, July 19 Vikrant Sharma, the complainant, said his wife had been working with the bureau since the past seven months. She left work about a week back. He said the owner of the bureau, Rajiv Bansal, had been pressurising the woman to rejoin the bureau. Bansal had also reportedly been running a property dealing business at another office in Surya Enclave, where he is said to have committed the act. Sharma said when he went to convince his wife’s employer that she cannot join, the accused tried blackmailing him by showing the objectionable video. When Sharma raised much hue and cry, women from the colony and surrounding market areas gathered at the site. Jatinder Pal, SHO from police station Division No 3, too, reached the spot and asked Sharma to lodge a complaint in writing. Later, however, the case was transferred to Rama Mandi police station. SHO Vimal Kant said a case had been registered under Sections 292 and 506 of the IPC. He said more sections were likely to be added during further investigations. The statement of the woman would be vital in the case but she had gone to her parent’s place in Karnal, he added.
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Sikh Light Infantry to observe Raising Day on October 1
Jalandhar, July 19 The arduous task of contacting each one of the 2,760 ex-servicemen and the war widows, commenced with multiple teams led by Junior Commissioned Officers reaching out to the retired personnel and their families at various villages in Punjab, since March this year. After collating and listening to the problems being faced by them, efforts were made to settle the issues by approaching the authorities concerned. The “Reach out programme” will culminate in an “Ex-servicemen contact meet” to be held by the battalion at Ferozepur, Jalandhar and Pathankot on July 20, 22 and 24, respectively. During the meet, all ex-servicemen will also be educated on various benefits and assistance available through the state and central governments. Pamphlets in Punjabi published by the Sikh Light Infantry Regimental Centre on “Post retirement and death benefits” have also been distributed to increase awareness among ex-servicemen. Notably, the battalion was raised by Lt Col (Brig retd) PK Nandgopal, at Meerut, on October 1, 1963. Immediately after its raising, the unit played a major role in thwarting the Pakistani juggernaut in the Chhamb sector in 1965. Having suffered heavy causalities while denting the Pakistani offensive, the battalion re-grouped immediately and was tasked with the recapture of Kalidhar feature. The daring assault on the feature and the successful completion of the task, against all odds, earned the battalion the battle honour of ‘Kalidhar’. The Sikh LI, after having earned glory in 1965 and 1971 wars, contributed immensely in combating insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir. The unit was awarded with the prestigious J&K Governors’ Silver Salver and unit citations by the GOC-in-C Northern Command and Chief of Army Staff in 1997 and 1998, respectively. Considering the excellent operational record, the battalion was nominated to serve under the UN flag in United Nations Mission in Democratic Republic of Congo. Due to its commendable efforts, the unit was awarded with unit citations by the force commander.
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College organises seminar on female foeticide
Jalandhar, July 19 Dr RL Bassan, Civil Surgeon, Jalandhar, was the chief guest. Dr Shiv Dyal Malhi, District Family Planning Officer, presided over the function. BB Sharma, principal, DAV College, Jalandhar, referred to the long standing women empowerment tradition of the DAV movement in India. He said hundreds of educational institutions were adding to the glory of women and giving them a golden chance to come out of illiteracy, to be empowered and be proud women of developed India. Dr Bassan said empowered woman is the strong base of society. He gave details about the PC-PNDT Act and its legal implications. Dr Malhi shed light on the complications of ill-effects of female feticide. Prof Lakhbir Singh said only enlightened young girls can save the humanity, especially Punjab, from the brutal act of female foeticide. A film on the subject was shown to young girls students of the college.
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Jalandhar, July 19
