Jalandhar, August 14
Blame it on the laidback attitude of the administration, there has been no list of awardees for the district-level Independence Day function to be held here tomorrow.

The administration failed to invite any recommendations from social activists, opinion leaders and other well-connected people for seeking any suggestions or references for bestowing awards on those who have done some exemplary work in any field round the year.

As such, no nomination came for any eminent personality and the administration has no plans to award anyone tomorrow during the function to be held at Guru Gobind Singh Stadium.

There, of course, were five names doing the rounds such as those of an MC employee who has penned various books and a nambardar, but these, too, did not get any clearance till this evening.

Various social activists have said that the administration should ideally give a public notice inviting suggestions from the public for such nominations, get references and then verify the facts through officials before screening any names. They said none of the officials have taken any initiative in this direction.

Commenting on the situation, Anoop Watts, Professor at DAV College, said, “It is not possible that there is not even a single person in the entire district who has undertaken any good social service project or made any contribution towards promoting art and culture or even done some good work in his own department. There, at least, will be people who have donated generously for Uttrakhand or those who have donated blood several times who could have been awarded or any Suwidha Centre employee who has done a good job.”

Lakhbir Singh of NGO Pahal said, “An initiative on giving awards should definitely come from the administration. An award on I-Day becomes a big motivating factor not only for the recipient and also for the people around him.

Deputy Commissioner Shruti Singh was not available for comments. Officials in the administration and the DC’s staff was groping in the dark till late this evening, as they said they were waiting for any clearance of names from the DC. They hinted at the names of two children likely to get through.

Jalandhar, August 14
Tight security arrangements have been made in the city for the Independence Day function.

The police has been on a vigil at all entry and exit points of the city. Sniffer dogs have been deployed and random checking of luggage of passengers is being done since the past few days to check any untoward incident.

Besides, the police is also checking registers of all hotels, inns and guest houses and ID proofs of all visitors from the receptions to rule out the presence of any anti-social elements in the city. Even the rooms of the hotels of any suspicious persons are being checked by the police, said Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Jaspreet Singh Sidhu.

The DCP said 20 nakas would be laid out across the city, with an action team on five to six vehicles on standby in the event of any eventuality. At the Guru Gobind Singh Stadium, he said there would be an outer cordon to be managed by an ADCP rank officer and an inner cordon which, too, would be handled by another ADCP. There would be an ADCP to take care of arrangements at the VIP guest entrance. Within the stadium, there would be van mounted CCTVs installed and two units of the BSF to keep a vigil, Sidhu added.

Jalandhar, August 14
Punjab Education Minister Sikander Singh Maluka, staying the transfers of 117 science and commerce teachers posted in government schools across the state, has yet again raised questions on the reliability of the state government’s rationalisation policy.

While the education department authorities said the transfers were withheld, as some teachers expressed problem in moving to far-flung areas, insiders don’t rule out a political angle to the decision. Some even say it facilitated a few who enjoyed political support.

On August 8, the education department shifted (empty and filled) posts of 316 science and commerce lecturers - which included the transfers of 117 science and commerce lecturers across 20 districts in the state. While the district education officers (DEOs) were directed to implement the shifting within a week, three days later, on Monday evening, the minister issued instructions, staying the August 8 orders. Insiders say the list was actually a faux pas that the department hurriedly covered up by stalling the transfers.

Reasons: The list was announced eight days after the final date of admissions in government schools was over (July 30) and students had settled in respective groups. It recommended the lifting (and thus total suspension) of science streams in 20 senior secondary schools and commerce streams in 47 schools across the state, shifting them to others. That meant the students who had taken admissions till July 31, would be left without any recourse if the streams shifted from their schools. Moreover, the DEOs had sent school details on May 15, but it took the department three months to announce the transfers.

Late in the evening on Monday, after the DEOs received stalling orders after some had already endorsed the rationalisation lists. With offices closed, departments had to telephonically inform lecturers of the new development. Fed up of the perpetual state of confusion, lecturers say it’s high time the department stops tormenting them with the sword of flawed rationalisations. A district science lecturer said, “First the government starts science streams in schools without checking ground realities and then imposes transfers without checking the fate of students already studying. Rationalisation is only a phantom created by the state government to cover up the issue of the lack of staff.”

“Many senior secondary schools rest on the shoulders of lone science teachers, who are expected to admit students in schools without adequate staff, failing which government ire is directed at them in the form of transfers. Why don’t they fill posts first?” the lecturer added. Commenting on the cause of stopping transfers within days, Education Secretary, Punjab, Anjali Bhawra said, “Some teachers were encountering great difficulties in being transferred to distant places. The decision was halted in the best interest of lecturers and schools.” When asked why the department was shuffling around empty posts instead of recruiting new staff, she said she couldn’t comment on every individual post.

Jalandhar, August 14
With barely five days after its relaunch, emergency number 102 within the city is facing trouble due to "accidental" calls. This emergency number is for availing ambulance services within the city in case of an accident. The operators are receiving more than 300 "chance" calls everyday. Since people are not making it intentionally, the authorities are in a fix whether to report this to the police.

“Most of the time, these are misdials or hang-up calls. On picking, they inform that they have dialled the number by chance. Some say children have dialled it by mistake. Some regret for dialling it out of curiosity," said Dr Maninder Kaur, in charge of the 102 service in the city.

The number is very old and is operating since the British times. Earlier, it was with the Civil Hospital, but recently it has been transferred to the Jalandhar Welfare Society (JWS), a local NGO, which is operating two ambulances within the city. One is operating on the National Highway 1 from Paragpur to Pathankot Chowk and the other is operating from Ajit Saini Chowk to provide services within the municipal limits of the city.

“Many emergency numbers are operating in the city for years and this number 102 is also very old, but we have never received any such complaint before. Since these are all unintentional calls and not fake ones, neither we nor the police can do anything. Only by spreading awareness among the people, we can tackle this problem. As far as BSNL is concerned, we have already provided a caller identification facility with the number free of cost,” said Sanjeev Kumar Nigam, senior general manager, BSNL, Jalandhar.

The emergency telephone number is a special case in the country's telephone number plan. In the past, calls to the emergency telephone number were often routed over special dedicated circuits. Though with the advent of electronic exchanges these calls are now often mixed with ordinary telephone traffic, these still may be able to access circuits that other traffic cannot. Often the system is set up so that once a call is made to an emergency telephone number, it must be answered. Should the

caller abandon the call, the line may still be held until the emergency service answers and releases the call.

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India is kick-starting a process to have a single emergency helpline where a centralised call centre will receive all sorts of distress calls from all over India and then alert the departments concerned accordingly. But presently, lot of time will be taken to streamline this process, as there are various government departments involved in handling different types of emergencies on state and national level. But there are challenges in its implementation, especially when there are various government departments involved in handling different types of emergencies.

Jalandhar, August 14
Sixty six years ago, when Vijay Kumar Kedia took out the first "colourful looking thing" from the dustbin near his house, he never thought that it was going to be the beginning of a commemorative journey ahead.

Now, at the age of 74, he proudly possesses 1,500 unique stamps, most of them commemorative ones. He also has a rare set of four stamps of Mahatma Gandhi, out of the 100 printed in 1948 by the then Governor General of India C. Rajagopalachari, which is now worth Rs 10 lakh in the international market.

“I started collecting stamps at the age of seven from dustbins of the old Hindustan Sugar Mill in Lakhimpur Kheri in Uttar Pradesh, which was at that time very near to my house. In the beginning, I didn’t know that they are postal stamps. I was just attracted to their colourful design. Later, when I came to know about their use, I started preserving them,” said Kedia, a businessman, now settled in the Deep Nagar area in Jalandhar.

His international collection from that time is mostly from the USA and the Netherlands, as most of the employees in the sugar mill at that time were from these two countries.

Kedia also boasts of the biggest collection of commemorative stamps in the city. All commemorative stamps of the postal, railways and telegraph fields from 1946 to 1957 are there in his collection. Later, he shifted his interest to preserving stamps which are either very old or wrongly printed. “Although, I started it as a hobby, in between, I got so involved in this collection that I even bought some very rare stamps from abroad. It includes various rare stamps of Indian conventional states, a set of 16 memorial buildings of India collection released in 1948 and also a few stamps from Pakistan in which their national flag is wrongly printed,” he added.

But Kedia feels sad for people losing interest in such an informative hobby. According to him, stamp collection is the most economical and interesting way to let children know about a country and its valuable past. He has passed on the same habit in his grandson also. “My grandson Sabar is already showing keen interest in this hobby. I am just waiting for the right time to hand over my princely possession to him,” said Kedia.

But why he has never planned an exhibition or sold some of his rare collection for a princely amount? “We hold our valuables in the bank lockers away from the prying eyes of others. Same is the case with my stamp collection. This is my personal possession and is very close to my heart. It grew with me. When I started collecting it, it was purely out of pleasure. Later, it started giving me a feel of personal belonging and so I don’t showcase it. This is for me and my future generations to cherish," he signs off.

Jalandhar, August 14
The city police today arrested a man accused in the last year’s sensational murder of a shopkeeper at Raj Nagar here.

While there were three persons of a gang accused in the shooting of Prince (23) on May 8 last year, just one of them had been arrested, while the other two had been declared proclaimed offenders (POs).

ACP (West) Ravinder Pal Singh Sandhu said today that Lucky Ghuman had been arrested from his residence at Wariana village. Ranvir Sandhu, also an accused, had been arrested, while Daljit Singh Bhana, too, is a PO. Prince ran a mobile shop on the link road near Basti Peer Daad, where the trio had allegedly gunnedhim down.