Jalandhar, August 2
During his visit to the city today, Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal held a meeting with Mayor Sunil Jyoti and Municipal Corporation officials giving a green light to development projects worth Rs 279 crore which had been hanging fire for long.

The fund-starved MC, which has not been able to conceive any development plans for the past more than two years, has finally got some relief with the clearance of some major projects, including the laying of stormwater sewage system in the city for Rs 172 crore, a flyover at Basti Bawa Khel for Rs 38 crore, a railway overbridge at Chugitti Chowk for Rs 32 crore and the six-laning of part of Old GT Road from Patel Chowk to Bidhipur level crossing at Rs 30 crore.

Funds to the tune of Rs 80 crore have been proposed for Urban Estate Phase-II for various development works like water supply, sewage and road laying at Rs 80 crore. The colony developed by PUDA had been handed over to the MC a few months ago.

A development grant of Rs 50 crore is to be divided for works in 60 wards of the city and another Rs 24 crore only for the strengthening of roads in various colonies of these wards.

The other works cleared include those for the strengthening of Hoshiarpur Road to Lamma Pind Road at Rs 3.5 crore, from Urban Estate to Dairy Complex at Rs 2 crore and PAP Chowk to BSF Chowk at Rs 1.87 crore. Clearance has also come for the construction of the Town Hall building in the MC at Rs 3 crore and lining of Kala Sanghian drain for Rs 14.64 crore. 

Jalandhar, August 2
Two unknown youths made a murderous attack on a lecturer of Doaba College with sharp-edged weapons near Kishanpura Chowk here this morning.

Working as a lecturer in the commerce department on an ad hoc basis, Bharat Bhushan was reportedly on his way to the college around 9 am when he was attacked around his neck, leaving him badly wounded. He received injuries on his head, face and throat area and was taken to his place, where he fell unconscious.

His family then rushed him to Janta Hospital, where he underwent a surgery of the lower jaw.

Eyewitnesses said the assailants had covered their faces with handkerchieves. Some onlookers tried to chase the youths, who managed to flee from the place using narrow lanes.

The lecturer's brother Rakesh Kumar suspected some students behind the act. SHO Division Number 3 Jatinder Pal, too, said the same thing. He, however, said the exact picture would be clear only after the victim was able to give his statement. "My inquiry officer is at the hospital and will record statement as soon as doctors declare him fit for the same," he added.

Dr Naresh Dhiman, principal, Doaba College, said Bharat Bhushan was a student of the college since class XI level and took job about five years ago. "I went to see him at the hospital, but he was in the operation theatre at that time. I met his wife and brother, who said the victim did not have any animosity with anyone. Only he will be able to tell who the attackers could be," he said.

Jalandhar, August 2
It was six years ago on the occasion of the Valmiki Jayanti function here when Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal had first announced the setting up of an Adarsh School in Jalandhar for the poor and meritorious children.

The promise remained forgotten for his entire previous tenure. But a year after forming the government again, the CM perhaps now, all of a sudden, realised that he was yet to execute a project he had promised way back on October 26, 2007.

The Chief Minister, along with Deputy Commissioner Shruti Singh, had last evening visited the dilapidated campus of Government Arts and Sports College and announced that a 10-acre part of it would be utilised as Adarsh School with 1,000 students scoring above 80 per cent marks in class X for taking free education at class XI and class XII level with a provision for free lodging and food.

He has announced that separate hostels would be constructed for girls and boys.

This morning, Badal held a meeting with the local officials at Circuit House, pulled them up for not paying heed to such a potentially significant site. Eventually, the plans became even bigger. The CM directed his officials to prepare a master plan for an "integrated education hub" for optimally using the total 43-acre site on Kapurthala Road which currently is in a dire state. Barring a swimming pool and a gymnastics practice room which is in good condition, the entire campus has wild growth all around. The entrance area of the campus, too, has remained in a bad shape all these years.

Badal laid thrust that that the institute would be equipped with ultra-modern sports facilities to ensure the best training facilities for the budding players. He laid out certain specifications, "The hostels in the hub should be double-storeyed with the provision of expansion. Astro turf must be installed on the hockey field so that the national game could be given an impetus."

Badal further said that the officers should complete the task of planning the whole project at the earliest so that funds could be issued to the agencies concerned for executing the work soon.

Prominent among those present at the meeting included Special Principal Secretary to CM Gurkirat Kirpal Singh, Chief Administrator PUDA Manvesh Singh Sidhu, Chief Architect Punjab Swapna besides the principals of Sports College and School Jalandhar. Those who had visited the site with CM yesterday were Divisional Commissioner R. Venkatratnam, Police Commissioner Gaurav Yadav, SSP Rural Yurinder Singh Hayre, District Sports Officer Rakesh Kaushal, SDM-II Paramjit Singh Jassal and Tehsildar-II Aman Pal. 

Jalandhar, August 2
The Aided Schools and Other Employees Union has decided to protest against the government on the issue of merger from August 5 to 8.

While they had earlier issued July 31 as ultimatum to the government on the issue of allowing their merger with government schools, due to lack of government action, schools declared they would observe a strike from August 5 at a meeting held here today.

Thirty one aided school teachers will hold protests from August 5 to 8 at the district headquarters and the rest of the teachers would go about their duties at schools wearing black badges.

While the Aided School Employees Union said the government's reaction would decide the future of employees and students at various aided schools in the district, the government's refusal to take into account their demands even after August 8 shall force them to decide the future course of protest. 

Jalandhar, August 2
A private bus crushed a security guard of a showroom to death near the bus stand here this morning.

Darshan Lal (47) was leaving for his home in Sansarpur village on his bicycle when the accident occurred. Deployed at a mobile phone showroom on Cool Road, he did his night duty and was leaving for home when a bus, bearing number PB-08-AR-1608, hit him, leaving him dead on the spot.

The police from the bus stand post sent the body to Civil Hospital for postmortem. The bus driver, meanwhile, fled from the spot. 

Jalandhar, August 2
Litigants coming to the judicial courts complex in the city are a harassed lot in these rainy days, as there is no shed for them to protect them during a downpour.

People coming from far-flung villages can be seen sitting in the open in the parking area or under the shades of trees.

Hundreds of visitors to the complex include senior citizens, women with their children and families of those lodged in jails waiting to meet them during hearings.

The condition inside the main complex area is also gloomy. Water points in the entire building have no purifiers and disposable glasses. Also the seating arrangement inside the complex is inadequate. A huge rush of litigants, lawyers and police staff can be seen standing and conversing loudly in the narrow corridors just outside the courtrooms.

The parking space for cars inside the complex too is inadequate and gets filled with two-wheelers, forcing car owners to park along the road in front of the offices of Divisional Commissioner or NRI Sabha. Although there is a separate area for police parking, some police officers often park their vehicles inside the area meant for the public.

As there is no canteen in the complex, the litigiants keep on shuttling between the courts and the lawyers’ chambers across the road carrying heavy bags filled with home-cooked food.

The lawyers tell that around 30 acres of land area is required to accommodate the judicial complex along with the lawyers’ chambers. Since no such area is present in the city as of now, the lawyers operate from chambers across the road, causing a lot of problem to the litigants.

“A new building inside the complex was constructed to make canteen and shed for the litigants, but due to heavy rush of cases, the entire building has been converted into courtrooms. Presently, six courts are running from this building. However, we have taken the matter with the authorities concerned and they have assured us of speedy action,” said Mandeep Singh Sachdev, president, District Bar Association, Jalandhar.

Jalandhar, August 2
In a big relief to residents, safai karamcharis started lifting garbage from various parts of the city on Friday after one-day strike against setting up of solid waste management project on Thursday. Though the work of lifting garbage started today, heaps of garbage were still lying in different localities. It may take a few days more to normalise the things. Meanwhile Safai Karamcharis Union may agitate over CM Badal’s statement in Jalandhar today, in which he stated that government would go ahead with solid waste management project. The Union may restart their deferred agitation after CM's statement on the project.

Safai karamcharis decided to defer their strike on Thursday till August 12 following a assurance by chief parliamentary secretary, Krishan Dev Bhandari, for arranging their meeting either with CM PS Badal or deputy CM SS Badal regarding their demands.

Bhandari accompanied with Mayor Sunil Jyoti and, deputy mayor Kamaljit Singh Bhatia assured the safai karamcharis during their state level rally at Company Bagh against setting up of solid waste management project in all major cities of Punjab. 

Jalandhar, August 2
The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) staged dharna outside Maqsudan police station in protest against a allegedly fake case registered against its workers in Bidhpur village.

BSP workers led by state general secretary Rajinder Rehal, district general secretary Kamal Dev Jandusingha and city president Kewal Bhatti gheroed the Maqsudan police station on Friday morning.

Alleging that a fake FIR under various sections had been registered against its Bidhpur workers Fakir Chand, his wife Binder Kaur, Banarsi Dass, his mother Ram Piyari and Joginder Ram at Maqsudan police staton on July 27, BSP leaders said there was a dispute between two families over construction of a wall but Maqsudan police falsely implicated its workers.

BSP leaders said “In fact the complainant and his associates attacked Ram Piyari on July 24 but despite submitting a complaint to the police in this regard, no FIR was registered against them. On the contrary, a fake FIR was lodged against BSP workers.”

Later senior police officials reportedly assured BSP leaders to cancel the FIR registered against its workers. Following which, the BSP workers lifted the dharna.

Jalandhar, August 2
Members of the District Bar Association (DBA) met the inspecting judge of Jalandhar Division in Chandigarh today. Apart from discussing the construction of 500 new chambers for lawyers, they also discussed about the construction of a litigant shed and canteen.

“We had earlier submitted the drawings to the building committee of the Punjab and Haryana High court. The work of canteen and the chambers will start soon but litigant shed will take some more time as there is no space available for the same”, said Mandeep Singh Sachdeva, president, District Bar Association.

Presently, the New Courts area where the chambers are built was given on lease to the District Bar Association in 1947. The lawyers went on constructing chambers in the small area with their own money. Since the area was less, small chambers were made to accommodate more lawyers every year. Some of the chambers are presently being shared by two or more lawyers. Since the chambers were made in a very haphazard manner with no sequence and uniformity, litigants face problem to locate their lawyer’s chamber.

“I came here to register a case. My brother gave me the number of his lawyer practicing here in the court. It took me 3 hours to locate his chamber from the 450 odd ones. It was really disgusting to waste lots of time”, said Mahal Singh from Kohala village in Kartarpur.

Presently out of the 1,750 lawyers in the city, 500 are practicing in the court. “Every year around 25 new lawyers joins in. It is getting very difficult for us to keep on accommodating new lawyers in such a small place”, revealed Satnam Singh, Secretary, District Bar Association of Jalandhar. Also, there is no proper drainage system in the chambers area. The area is flooded with water during rainy season. It becomes difficult for the lawyers and the people to reach the chambers from the parking area. 

Jalandhar, August 2
In view of celebrating the world breastfeeding week from August 1 to August 8, a seminar was held at the district training centre of the local civil hospital today.

Speaking on the occasion, civil surgeon Dr RL Bassan said mother’s milk is best for the baby as it keeps them free from many diseases. He said within half an hour of the birth, a baby should be fed with the mother’s milk.

He said mother’s milk is rich in vitamin A and keeps the stomach and intestines free of infections. He also added that children who are fed mother’s milk are emotionally closer to their mothers. On the occasion, it was also deliberated upon that mother’s milk is good for a child’s bones and also for the intelligence and development of a child.

He said mothers ought to be discouraged from the practice of feeding ‘gurti’ (first eatable substance being fed to children by their relatives) and were asked to stick to the practice of feeding breast milk to children for at least six months of their birth for their proper growth and development.

It was also emphasized that there was no need to feed water to new-born because the mother’s milk had enough water contents. It was only after six months that a baby should be fed soft foods, he added. He said babies kept devoid of mother’s milk were more likely to suffer from malnourishment. He said one third of the baby deaths were due to malnourishment. In India, 43 per cent of the babies aged up to five years old, were underweight.

A baby should be fed with mother’s milk up to two years of age.

Addressing the seminar, Dr Aruna, assistant health officer said, a sudden decrease had been observed in mothers’ tendency to breast feed their babies and they are preferring to bottle feed their babies. She said lack of mother’s milk was likely to cause many problems for a baby. She said mothers’ milk made a baby stronger and increases immunity. Both for the mothers and their babies, breastfeeding ensures good health.

On the occasion, Dr Gurmeet Kaur district family welfare officer, Dr Harpreet Mann district immunisation officer, Dr Surinder, medical officer, Deepak Dogra MVEIO and LHVs and ANMs were present.

Jalandhar, August 2
The MGN College of Education, Jalandhar, under the enrichment programme organised extension lectures. In this series, the first speaker was Prof RS Yadav, chairman, Department of Education, Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra, who inaugurated the M.Ed session 2013-14 and elaborated upon “Spirtual Basis of Life and Role of Teacher”. He communicated the realities of life imbibed with the spirituality. Dr Meenakshi Sharma, Department of Education, Punjabi University, Patiala, spoke on the topic “Conceptual Framework of Guidance and Counselling”, she elaborated the concept and nature of guidance as a continuous process. She also explained that counseling is one of the techniques of guidance which leads to self realization, self actualization and self help. This lecture was organized by career and couseling cell of the college.

Kapurthala, August 2
The parents of students studying in Bawa-Lalvani School today held a dharna and jammed traffic on Jalandhar-Kapurthala Road protesting against a hike in transportation fee. Since CM Parkash Singh Badal was to visit Kapurthala today for the oath ceremony of sarpanchs and panchs, SP headquarters Kulwant Singh and DSP Paramjit Singh reached the spot.

The DSP said the parents had been protesting against a hike of Rs 300 for transportation. “The parents had been opposing it. We got a meeting arranged between the principal and parents so that they could reach some consensus”, he said. — TNS