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SMCs violate spirit of RTE Act
Finally, MC restores afternoon water supply
Factory workers had died due to poisoning
Dr JS Cheema is new MS of Civil Hospital
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Government fails to implement NRI grant scheme
MC issues notice to junk dealers
Suwidha Centre to be expanded
Doctor, police enter into scuffle
FROM schools & colleges
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SMCs violate spirit of RTE Act
Jalandhar, July 20 In most of the schools, where anomalies regarding the misuse of funds or mid-day meal rations surface, SMCs are being constituted in a blatant violation of the RTE Act guidelines, allocating chief posts to puppet chiefs or members who unquestioningly submit to the school principal or head master diktats, even though they might harm children. These anomalies abound both in government and government-aided schools. The SMCs of Government Primary School, Daroli Khurd, and Mandi Fentonganj Girls Senior Secondary School, the shady workings of which The Tribune highlighted, are cases in point. At Mandi Fentonganj School, a clerk has been made the cashier of the school SMC, even though the RTE guidelines do not permit that. Even though the chairperson of the SMC should be a parent of a school student, the said SMC chairman has retained the post even though he does not have a single child of his in the school. Barring this, the SMC has only three parents as its members even as the RTE guidelines say that at least 75 per cent of the SMC members should be parents. Sources said favourable SMC members help the school authorities and principals misuse funds for mid-day meals, donations and other grants without questioning the harm it would cause to students. To this date, the mid-day meal made in the school is way below the ideal standard, as The Tribune also observed during a visit yesterday. Notably, the school has also been in the news for charging hefty admission fees from poor students (most of whom are from the BPL families) again, in blatant violation of the RTE guidelines. RTI queries regarding the use of the mid-day meal funds at the school, remain pending with the education department. At Daroli Khurd school, too, the SMC anomalies abound. Despite the presence of nine well-read retired teachers in the school, a little-read panch has been made the SMC’s "sikhiya mahir" (education expert). The chairman of the SMC is a woman holding dual SMC posts (she is the vice-chairman of the SMC of another school in the same village). Some other members also hold dual posts. Many of the SMC’s member-parents are people who are illiterate or live out of station (allegedly to ensure that no one questions the shady decisions). Sources connected with both the schools say donations are often used by the schools for various works even as government money and grants often stay unaccounted for (or vice versa). Notably, willing volunteers and other school members are often left out of pivotal decisions, as the prime SMC members take calls on most issues concerning the fund use. Villagers say even the appointment of the SMC members was done without a formal announcement. All these factors have time and again been brought to the notice of the education department. Barring these schools, a number of village and city schools in the district suffer from a similar crisis. Panches, instead of parents, are made chairmen, staff relatives, friends and politically sound people, who do not meet RTE guidelines are made members, illiterate parents are preferred and educated, outspoken residents or villagers often ignored. Blatant violation
In most of the schools, where anomalies regarding the misuse of funds or mid-day meal rations surface, SMCs are being constituted in a blatant violation of the RTE Act
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Finally, MC restores afternoon water supply
Jalandhar, July 20 Now, the water will be supplied for 10 hours a day instead of 12 hours a day ,which was earlier done. Now the water will be supplied from 5 am to 9 am, 12 noon to 2 pm and 5 pm to 9 pm, whereas earlier it was supplied for 12 hours from 5 am to 10 am, 12 noon to 2 pm and 5 pm to 10 pm. The afternoon supply has been restored from Saturday itself. The Tribune also carried a detailed story highlighting the problems faced by residents on July 17. Residents, especially housewives, were annoyed with the MC for reducing the water supply hours in the name of water conservation, as it is almost next to impossible to get proper supply in a majority of the localities of the city without using "tullu" pumps. The opposition Congress also demanded to restore the earlier water supply, especially during the afternoon, to facilitate the general public in getting their routine works done without any difficulty. |
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Factory workers had died due to poisoning
Jalandhar, July 20 The reports say that aluminum phosphide content was found in the bodies and the victims had died after consuming food containing the poison. Three workers, including a supervisor, a cook and a worker had died and over 30 workers had fallen ill after consuming the lunch at the canteen of Chinar Forge Limited, located in Industrial Focal Point on April 11. The unit is a sister concern of Shital Group, run by Shital Vij, a leading industrialist of the region. Civil Surgeon Dr RL Bassan revealed that the reports of pathological examinations had confirmed contents of aluminum phosphide, a poison used to store grains and kill rats. The examination of food samples, however, had negated the presence of any chemical, he added. The report would be sent to the police authorities tomorrow and the police would act accordingly, said Bassan. Davinder Sharma, a resident of Dakoha village serving as a supervisor with the factory, had died due to acute food poisoning on April 11, while Nirmala Rani, a resident of Khurla Kinger village who was serving as a cook with the canteen and had consumed the food herself, and Roshan Kumar, a resident of Bhattian village in Ludhiana, died the next day. Those who showed similar symptoms were rushed to different city hospitals, including Shree Devi Talab Hospital on that very night. A team of health officials, including the Civil Surgeon and the districy health officer, had reached the canteen and collected samples of food from the mess and the canteen of the industrial unit. The health teams had also visited Khurla Kinger village and raided the shanty where the canteen contractor used to cook the food and the premises of the traders supplying food items to the contractor near Wadala Chowk, collected samples and sent these for examinations. |
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Dr JS Cheema is new MS of Civil Hospital
Jalandhar, July 20 Even as the hospital is one of the biggest and most prestigious civil hospitals of the region, it also is one of the most controversial ones. The post of the MS, in this scenario, seems like nothing short of a bed of thorns. The recent victim to fall prey to controversy has been MS Dr Bhagmal who was shifted before the hospital could even get used to him. Shifted to the ESI Hospital at Amritsar, following the recent baby death controversy, Dr JS Cheema has taken his place. Notably, he has been preceded by four medical superintendents before him this year. Dr Iqbal Singh (who fell prey to similar circumstances), Dr Gurinder Brar, and Dr Renu. The sad part is that the health authorities seem to have missed the point that the changing of the medical superintendents are not helping the hospital provide better service. The biggest snag in the provision of proper medical services is the dearth of staff and nurses and doctors being overburdened in almost all key wards like the maternity, paediatrics, psychiatry, surgical and general wards. |
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Police inaction alleged against travel agents
Jalandhar, July 20 The complainants, Manjit Lal Mehmi of Gohawar village, Baldev Singh of Takhar village and Baltej Singh of Amritsar, had got an FIR lodged against Manjit Singh of Gohawar village and Mandeep Singh of Chachrari village on January 3. He said the trio was, instead, made to board a plane to Bangkok on September 26, 2012, and lodged in a hotel room there with an assurance that they would be moved to Singapore soon. They have complained that whenever they asked about them being shifted to the next destination or their job status, they were snubbed. They said they were even beaten up. They said they finally had no way but to return after much problem and after paying a huge sum for the hotel lodging. The youths said they had quit their jobs in India, spent their familys' savings and even their assets, including gold, FDs and properties. They said they had not been able to restart their lives again just because of the huge financial loss and mental harassment. The youths said they were fed up as the police was not taking any action in the case even as the accused were roaming free and duping more people. The youths alleged that their inquiries had been conducted twice on the orders of the SSP (Rural) with in charge anti-human trafficking cell and then with another DSP, but it had not yielded results. SSP (Rural) Yurinder Singh Hayre said he would look into the matter. |
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Bomb shells spread scare in Kishanpura area
Jalandhar, July 20 Senior police officials reached the spot in heavy rain around 3pm and even called for a bomb-disposal squad. It was later found that of the 20 shells, 14 were dead and the remaining six were unused, but around 10-year-old. The officials said that these seemed to have been dumped by some scrap dealer. |
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Heavy rain disrupts normal life
Jalandhar, July 20 Heavy rain, which started at around 8.30 am, continued throughout the day. It brought smile on the faces of city residents as it provided relief from unbearable temperature. As much as 44.8 mm rainfall was recorded in the city today. The minimum and maximum temperatures were recorded at 25.1°C and 27.2°, respectively. While sun shined in the evening for a few minutes, the Meteorological Department made a forecast of cloudy sky with intermittent rain with thunder on Sunday. Meanwhile, normal life was thrown out of gear due to poor drainage system as the majority of city roads were under several feet of water. The rainwater also entered a number of houses located in several low-lying localities, including Kishan Pura and Preet Nagar on Sodal Road, Gopal Nagar and Basti areas. A majority of roads in the Basti areas, Neelamahal, Gopal Nagar, Preet Nagar on Sodal Road, Domoria Pull,
Ikahari Pulli, Makhdum Pura, Nakodar Road, Kacheheri Road and Gujja Peer Road were flooded with several feet of water due to heavy rain. The pre existing pits and potholes have further widened, increasing chances of mishaps. The condition of roads was already very bad and now it has became worse. Commuters passing through the Jalandhar-Amritsar national highway faced a lot of inconvenience as traffic remained jammed due to accumulation of water on the highway, especially near Chugitti. Several two-wheeler riders fell on the swamped roads as they were unable to notice pits and potholes. The four-wheelers and cars were also seen stuck at various places in the city. Traffic remained jam on various inner roads and highway for several hours due to the rain. |
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Civic body yet to clear encroachments
Jalandhar, July 20 Interestingly, when contacted Assistant Commissioner, JMC Ved Vyas, said since he had recently taken over the charge of the Tehbazaari Wing, he could not recall the court orders, adding that he would check the orders and take necessary action within a day. Municipal Commissioner Vinay Bublani accepted he was aware about the pending high court order. He, however, failed to give a satisfactory reply as to why the orders had not been implemented. Notably, the kiosk owners had pleaded before the high court for their rehabilitation but their plea was turned down. In its orders, the high court had mentioned: “There does not exist any legal concept, which confers a legal right upon encroacher to be rehabilitated. The directions cannot be issued to the municipal corporation as the framing of such schemes is exclusive to the domain of the authorities. The court can only order the execution/implementation of such schemes. However, in future as and when any rehabilitation scheme for encroacher's is framed by the corporation, then the members of the shopkeepers association will be considered in accordance with the provisions of that scheme even after their eviction from the present site.” |
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Government fails to implement NRI grant scheme
Jalandhar, July 20 The government has taken over a year to decide on one proposal, which, too, is being either turned down or the costs of projects being reduced drastically. Sample this, an NRI from Doohre village in Adampur, proposed a 2.52 crore scheme for setting up a sewage and disposal unit, solid waste management unit, laying of concrete roads, rainwater harvesting system and solar street lighting. The proposal came in June 2011 with cost of project getting restricted to Rs 1.17 crore (Rs 28.88 lakh share of NRI and Rs 88.84 lakh share of government). Another proposal of Rs 3.81 crore project at Beas Pind in Adarmpur for setting up park, streetlights, water supply, road laying and underground sewage, too, was cut down to Rs 2.91 crore. This project too got through 11 months after it was proposed in December 2011. An NRI, from Samsabad village in Nurmahal, had come forth with Rs 4 crore project for construction of a hospital in September 2011. This project could not see the light of the day owing to some stringent policies of the government. A Rs 1.3 crore project for up gradation of the school building at Khiala village in Adampur was also rejected by the Punjab committee. A project of laying sewer at Bath Kalan village in Nakodar under the scheme at a cost of Rs 27.95 lakh has not been cleared owing to some objections by the BDPO concerned. projects on hold
As per a report available from the district administration, the NRIs have for the past two years proposed 21 projects, none of which have been completed so far. As many as six proposals have not been cleared by the government owing to various objections raised by the officials concerned. The total cost of 15 ongoing projects comes to Rs 15,46,66,334. |
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MC issues notice to junk dealers
Jalandhar, July 20 The department issued a warning to the junk-dealers by making announcements through public address system in the area to remove their encroachments by Monday or get ready to face the action. The junk dealers keep on encroaching upon the footpath and the road by dumping old cars and their parts, which creates hindrance in smooth flow of traffic and causes a lot of inconvenience to the commuters. The area councillor of ward number 31, Raminder Kaur Dhindsa, wrote on October 15 to the MCJ authorities for taking appropriate action for removing the encroachments by the junk dealers but to no avail so far. Now it seems that the Tehbazari Department has woken up from its deep slumber and issued warning to them. Jalandhar Tribune also carried various news-items in this regard highlighting the nuisance caused to the passersby, pedestrians due to unchecked encroachments by the junk dealers on Ladowali Road. |
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Suwidha Centre to be expanded
Jalandhar, July 20 The counter for tokens gets a lot of rush. With little space on this side, the applicants are forced to stand in a serpentine queue. Since this side of the centre has counters for the delivery of documents and stamp papers, there are a lot of space constraints. There is also no scope to have additional counters to handle the rush for tokens as there are a few windows. The administration is also mulling the addition of more services at the
centre, which is not possible in the available space. There are also plans to have counters for the provision of blank forms and help desks for the convenience of visitors finding problems in filling forms. ADC (G) Praneet Bhardwaj said a plan to expand the existing building was on the anvil. “We have held a few meetings for the purpose. We are also thinking on a proposal to utilise the space likely to be available after the shifting of the tehsil complex to the newly constructed building in front of Suwidha
Centre,” he said. |
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Doctor, police enter into scuffle
Jalandhar, July 20 As the police reached Rattan Hospital to arrest the owner Dr Balraj Gupta in connection with a case registered against him under Sections 420 and 120-B of the
IPC, the doctor and his staff reportedly panicked and entered into a scuffle with the police. During manhandling, a nameplate of a policeman fell off at which his colleagues felt offended. In a tussle, the doctor even tried to flee in his car but was apprehended by the police.
SHO Division Number 2 Manmohan Singh said since the doctor and his staff had apologised
for their conduct, no action was being contemplated against them. Asked as to why the doctor had not been taken into custody, he said the doctor had told the police that he was not feeling well and his ECG report was also not good. “He has been taking a glucose drip. So, it was finally decided that the Patti police will come again on Wednesday to arrest him,” the SHO said. |
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FROM schools & colleges
Jalandhar, July 20 The problem of increasing debris in low earth orbit (LEO) is the burning topic in the field of space as a large number of satellites and labs are being launched by many countries across the world. These satellites have their specific time period after which they remain in the space and keep revolving at different inclinations and altitudes. Scientists apprehend traffic jam in space because of these debris in future. Now the scientist are thinking about the problem of debris. The projects were about how to collect 75 per cent of the debris from 200 to 2,000 km from surface of earth in low earth orbit (LEO) by 2075, how to collect it and recycle it in the LEO itself. Both junior and senior teams had designed space craft to collect debris with different techniques. The junior team used electro adhesive cuboids, laser techniques and robotic arm for this purpose and the senior team used multiple techniques like robotic arm, tether nets, gravity-well modules to capture the debris. The capturing unit collects the debris from the space which is then taken by the space craft that is in the capturing unit itself from debris collection unit to recycling unit. Junior team comprised of Anukriti Randev, Sehaj Jolly, Heena Jain, Navdeep Kaur, Kanupriya - all students of Class VIII to X. The senior team comprised of Kanika, Rupali, Akhilesh, Megha - all students of Class XI and XII along with their guides Navdeep Sharma and Karam Inder Singh. Both the teams bagged first prize for their best exhibits. The senior team bagged first prize in ‘On the spot roller coaster activity’ in both senior and junior categories. Police DAV Public School, Jalandhar, was the only school to participate in competition from the
country. Hat Day
Hat Day was celebrated by the tiny tots of the DIPS Suranussi. Children wore hats of various colours which were made creatively. Different messages were displayed on the hats like save trees, save animals and save water. In pre nursery, Divyanshi stood first, and Anvi second while in nursery Gurasis stood first and Anmol second. In KG Rudral stood first and Tarushi second and in prep, Yuvraj stood first, and Ritika
second. DAV girl tops biotech exam Shivani Malhotra of BSc III (Biotechnology) of DAV College, Jalandhar, has topped the Guru Nanak Dev University by scoring 1,530 marks out of 1,800. Principal BB Sharma has congratulated Shivani on her success. Renuka Malhotra, head of the biotechnology department and other faculty members blessed the student. They said Shivani always did her best in every house exam. Bakery inaugurated
CT Institute of Hotel Management and Hospitality Administration established a hi-end bakery at the premises of Shahpur Campus. Aryana, daughter of managing director of CT Group of Institutions inaugurated the bakery at CTIHM, Shahpur. The amount earned from the sale of the bakery items would be shared among students, who would prepare and serve hot and cold coffee, tea, frosteas, chocoholicas, friuteazers, lemon drinks, sandwich, puffs, brownie, desserts, pastries, Indo-Chinese snacks and cakes of varied
flavours. The decor of the bakery would give the look of the cafeteria and all the eatables would be available at the reasonable rates. The endeavour is also aimed at ensuring better practical prowess for the students of CT hospitality
students. St Soldier bags first
ten positions
Students of St Soldier College of Education got first 10 positions in final results of B.Ped declared by GNDU, Amritsar. Chaitnya got first position in university while Jagdeesh, Davinder, Maninder, Sachin, Rajni, Manpreet, Bhupindra, Neha, Gurpreet were placed at second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth and tenth positions respectively. |
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