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Response to regularisation remains low
PCR staff members attached to respective police stations
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Residents suffer as Krishana Nagar gets no water supply
Exhibits, shows at science city disappoint visitors
Pushpa Gujral Science City in Kapurthala. A Tribune photograph
Confusion over Marriage Act
Deputy Commissioner reviews paddy procurement arrangements
NRI accuses husband of looting
Lions Club to organise service week
Civil Hospital employees hold protest
from schools & colleges
Girls of government schools participate in a kabaddi match during schools games in Jalandhar
on Tuesday. Tribune photo: Sarabjit Singh
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Response to regularisation remains low
Jalandhar, October 1 The response from the colonisers, however, remains very low. Even as there are officially 323 illegal colonies falling in the area of the Municipal Corporation and 433 in the Jalandhar Development Authority, only one coloniser has so far moved his case in the MC and 14 in JDA. The JDA has already issued 303 certificates to residents, while the MC has processed 1,576 certificates. But going by the fact that nearly 60 per cent of the population of the district is living in illegal colonies, there could be at least 1 lakh houses which need to be regularised and the response is dismal from this view point. While there are just six days left for the deadline, only 5 per cent of residents have turned up for the purpose so far. Also the number of unauthorised colonies mentioned in the list of the MC and JDA is reportedly lower than the actual number. Besides, there is no list of irregular colonies available from Municipal Committees. Lot many confusions prevail in the mind of the residents, many of whom say that the names of their colonies is nowhere mentioned in the list. Ashok Kumar, a retired government official from Avtar Nagar, said he had been told by JDA officials that his house was in illegal colony. “I checked the PUDA site on the web. The list does not mention its name. But officials have been asking me to deposit money. I consulted residents of my locality. None of them is ready to pay up. I do not know what to do,” he said. Staff members of the MC and the JDA have been claiming that there are over a 1,000 visitors coming daily for queries and submission of files and a team of just 10 persons to handle them all. “We have been working overtime with no weekly break for the past over a month. It has been really taxing. We have been demanding that we get some additional staff from government schools or bankers to help us, but to no avail,” they rued. |
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PCR staff members attached to respective police stations
Jalandhar, October 1 The first change that he has done is to attach the Police Control Room (PCR) staff to the respective police stations, making them report to the SHOs of their areas daily about day-to-day functioning. The SHOs had been long complaining that the PCR staff had started a parallel system in the district and had been operating independently resolving several issues pertaining to crime at their own end, without passing on the information to the area Inspectors and Sub-Inspectors. The city police is equipped with 51 bikes and 14 Xylo vehicles. While two policemen ride a bike, four to five personnel move about in cars. A contingent of nearly 300 PCR personnel is now attached to the police stations concerned, with SHO of each of the 14 police stations empowered with an additional staff of five policemen to get information from their area. Deputy Commissioner of Police Jaspreet Singh Sidhu said the change had helped the SHOs get more staff and at the same time maintain more vigil in their area. "Still the priority of the PCR constables would be to first receive the calls directed to them via control room and reach the spot. Till the time there is no spot, they can do whatever work is assigned to them by the SHO concerned." Police Commissioner Ram Singh said he, too, was satisfied as just a small administrative change had started clicking well. Apprehending own staff a challenge
Apprehending own police staff involved in crime has become a major issue with the city police. Head constable Rakesh Kumar, posted in the Anti-Gangster Wing, booked for the murder of a poor horse cart owner at the Kucha Kot locality here on August 18, has been on the run for the past nearly a month and a half. ASI Som Lal of the Basti Bawa Khel police station, too, has been on the run since September 14 when a case was registered against him for extorting money from a poor man at Katehra Mohalla, who had allegedly sold off his baby to a Delhi-based businessman. |
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Residents suffer as Krishana Nagar gets no water supply
Jalandhar, october 1
While instead of either repairing the motor or sinking a new tubewell in the area for ensuring uninterrupted water supply to the area, the Municipal Corporation (MC) has made temporary arrangement of supplying water through tankers, but that supply is inadequate and several times water thus supplied is unclean. As a result a number of residents of the area, especially children and aged persons, have been suffering from diarrhoea for the last some days, residents told The Tribune team during its visit to the area today. A resident of the area, Kamal, said, “My adolescent daughter Aanchal is suffering from diarrhoea and is being treated at a private hospital.” Similar is the case with several other residents, including aged Nirmala and Jyoti Soni’s daughter Anmol Soni. Another resident Reeta said, “We are left with no option but to either buy mineral water bottles for drinking purposes or to fetch water from the taps set up at Adarsh Nagar and JP Nagar parks, which are located about half a km away from their locality.” The residents had to queue up and wait for several minutes to get water for non-drinking purposes from tankers provided in the locality by the MC. Sometimes they even quarrelled with one another for their turn to get water. Physically challenged couple Dimple and his wife Suman and aged Asha Rani, who had undergone a surgery a few days ago, faced more difficulty in fetching water from tankers. While the entire Krishana Nagar, falling under Ward 43, is facing the problem of non-supply of water, street numbers one to four and 18 are the worst affected. As the temporary arrangement by the MC of supplying water through tankers is not sufficient, the area residents have also taken services of private water suppliers by paying them Rs 700 per tanker from their own pockets. Normal life of the inhabitants has been thrown out of gear due to acute paucity of water as most of the residents could not even take bath regularly. Kamal said he had not taken bath for the last three days and could not even go to his work due to that. Residents brought their problem to the notice of area councillor Pritam Singh several times, but they got mere assurances, which are yet to be given practical shape. Fed up with the fake promises, residents also blocked traffic at Kapurthala Chowk on Saturday evening to put pressure on the administration to restore their basic need of getting proper water supply without any further delay. A police team, led by SHO of the Division No 2 police station Manmohan Singh also assured the agitating protesters after talking to Mayor Sunil Jyoti that their problem would be resolved by Monday, said residents. Though the residents lifted the dharna on his assurance, yet the water supply to there area has not been restored so far. The agitated residents now again threatened to block Kapurthala Chowk. Area councillor Pritam Singh and Mayor Sunil Jyoti could not be contacted for comments, despite repeated attempts. Even the messages sent to their official mobile numbers failed to evoke any response from them.
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Exhibits, shows at science city disappoint visitors
Jalandhar, October 1 Visitors have mainly complained of suffocation inside the flight simulator. Many get out of the simulator moments before it starts. "I was so excited to get into the flight simulator as I had never experienced it before. But, the moment I got inside the little replica of the plane, I was so suffocated that I couldn't breathe for a while. There was a lot of rush and surprisingly in the absence of the AC, no windows or fans were provided inside the simulator. It was complete dark inside. I was so scared that I just got out of the simulator at the last minute," said Archi Khanna, a visitor from Ludhiana. "The flight simulator has been imported from the USA and does not have an inbuilt air-conditioning unit. It is manufactured according to the climate of the USA and not India. Since there is a lot of temperature difference between the two countries, so some visitors do feel suffocated sometimes inside the simulator," said Dr Rajesh Grover, Director, Pushpa Gujral Science City. Visitors are also facing disappointment over the non-working of the earthquake simulator for the last few days due to some technical snag, which would be rectified only by an expert team. "The simulator is not functioning as some parts need replacements, which have to be imported from the USA," revealed a staff member on duty. However, the science city management showed complete ignorance about the fact and confirmed that the earthquake simulator was functioning properly. Also, some regular visitors revealed that in case of fewer visitors the staff falsely claims that the simulator is non-functional. Lots of complaints were also received against the science guides, who have been hired by the science city to felicitate the visitors and to help them understand the various exhibits displayed inside the various halls. During the visit by The Tribune team, most of them were found to be absent from their duty place. The visitors were trying to understand some complicated exhibits by reading the information written on the nearby wall. In the most shocking incident, the attendant of the "Transparent body theatre" refused to start the show due to fewer visitors. Only after much persuasion, he started the show. "Some prominent shows, like laser, 3D and space exploration, have specified timings, but the picture quality was not very good. The laser show theatre and the climate change theatre were stinking badly. Also the 3D glasses provided at the 3D show were of very inferior quality. There is actually a lot of difference between the science city on the website and the real one," said Sheena Kalra, a visitor from Delhi. Visitors are also getting harassed due to the wrong printing of a show venue on the tickets. Instead of the Dome theatre, the tickets are showing Digital Planetarium as the venue for movie shows. This is also causing lot of problem to the visitors. Due to their late arrival, most of them have to wait for the next show. "I was not aware of all this. We have a complaint register at the main gate. If somebody had faced some inconvenience during their visit, they should have mentioned it in the register. We regularly check the log entry, but so far nobody has made any such entry. But we will thoroughly investigate the matter as we are committed to providing a continuous and enthralling world-class experience of science city to our visitors," Grover said. The mega project, proudly given the status of the "Emblem of pride for Punjab" has been set up on 72 acres of land with a whooping budget of Rs 100 crore. A joint project of the Centre and the Punjab Government, the Central Government contributed Rs 70 crore for capital expenses (buildings and exhibits), whereas the Punjab Government provided Rs 30 core in terms of land and other infrastructural facilities.
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Confusion over Marriage Act
Jalandhar, October 1 While on Wednesday last, the tehsildars and officials had started registering marriages on the basis of the new Punjab Compulsory Registration of Marriages Act 2012, the Deputy Commissioner office received a fresh communication from FCR, NS Kang, on Friday that since the Act had not been notified, the marriages be registered as per Hindu Marriage Act following the old procedure. After that the marriages were again registered as per the Hindu Marriage Act on Monday with the staff from the FCR office verbally communicating to the officials that his Friday message be withdrawn and that the new Act be followed again. However, since there was no written word on withdrawal of the order, the marriages were again registered as per the Hindu Marriage Act today. The orders of FCR on September 26 read, “I have checked up the position from the Department of Home Affairs that the Punjab Compulsory Registration of Marriages Act has not come into force, since the necessary notification has not been issued. The Home Department is taking necessary action on this behalf. Since the parent Act has not come to force, the rules made under there cannot be enforced as of now. The Home Department is also amending rules. It may be mentioned that the Act is prospective in nature. It will apply to marriages that are solemnised after it comes into operation. Marriages prior to it have to be dealt as per existing rules.” The officials said nearly 25 marriages had been solemnised as per the new Act for three days including Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. Deputy Commissioner Varun Roojam said there was little confusion. “I was away to Chandigarh for a meeting today. I will seek clarity on the matter and do whatever be the orders of the officials.” Financial Commmissioner, Revenue, NS Kang confirmed that his September 26 orders were wrong and had been withdrawn.
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Deputy Commissioner reviews paddy procurement arrangements
Jalandhar, October 1 Orders were issued to ensure lifting of produce procured by various agencies within 72 hours of procurement. It was informed in the meeting that the 24-hour district control room has been set up to solve any problem of the district and the farmers have been advised to contact control room on phone number 0181-2223986 in case of any difficulty. Meanwhile, raiding teams have been constituted to check the weights and measures in various mandis to check short or extra weighing. It was informed in the meeting that Mandi Board has made proper arrangements for the farmers coming in mandis and concerned authorities are monitoring the arrangements. The Deputy Commissioner said the district administration has made suitable arrangements for gunny bags and would ensure smooth lifting of produce from the mandis so that farmers do not face any problem. The officers were asked to ensure that farmers should get minimum support price of paddy (Rs 1,250) per quintal for ordinary variety and Rs 1,280 for A grade variety.He appealed to the farmers to bring dry paddy to the mandis so that there should not be any problem of moisture content and they should be able to get full price of the produce. Meanwhile, the District Magistrate through two separate orders under Section 144 banned the operation of harvesters combines from 7 pm to 10 am to check any mishap besides banning the burning of paddy straw and paddy residue in the fields. These both orders would be in operation till November 30, 2013
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NRI accuses husband of looting
Jalandhar, October 1 Reporting the case from UK, Manvir Kaur of Dyalpur village said she had visited Punjab recently. She said she got introduced to one Malkiat Singh alias Jassi of Sarai Khas village. She has alleged that the man used to drug her with the support of his friends. She said she was taken to a gurdwara in Mohali and even got procured a marriage certificate from the court. She said her gold ornaments had been taken away by the man. She has got a case registered against her legal husband and his friends Gurpreet Singh and Jaswinder Singh under Sections 420 and 120-B of the IPC. The accused have not been arrested so far, said SHO Kartarpur Surinder Pal Singh.
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Lions Club to organise service week
Phagwara, October 1 The club president,Lion Surinder Mittal said there will be a series of events for the public welfare during the week.The club will celebrate Gandhi Jayanti at Town Hall in Phagwara besides organising traffic awareness, anaemia check up camp, dental check up camp, ration distribution, tree plantation, pollution check up, talk on consumer rights, painting competition, talk on AIDS awareness, blood donation camp and distribution of fruits and milk at different places during the week. The club will also extend necessary help to needy patients and students and aware them of the consequences of tobacco, said Lion Rajan Dhawan, general secretary of the club.
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Civil Hospital employees hold protest
Jalandhar, October 1 The employees were protesting against the Punjab government for not releasing their salaries and other benefits that employees attached with trauma centres at other civil hospitals are availing.
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St Soldier celebrates Gandhi Jayanti
Jalandhar, october 1 Song competition Patriotic group song competition was organised by the Bharat Vikas Parishad ‘Astha’ at St Soldier College to inculcate a sense of patriotic fervour among youth.The students of Sanskriti KMV School ,Rajveer, Mayank, Mridul, Pranjul, Arshdeep, Arshjot, Mankirat of class eighth emerged as the winners for the third consecutive year. The school is now the lifetime custodian of the trophy. Certificates and trophies were presented to the winner team. Principal Rachna Monga congratulated the winning team. Apeejay students shine Students of Psychology Hons of BA III year of Apeejay College of Fine Arts have secured second and third positions in the GNDU examinations. Gagandeep Kaur Arora got 565 marks out of 800, whereas Gurpriya Waraich secured 564 marks out of 800. Merit holders were congratulated by the principal Sucharita. The students credited the teachers for their performance in the examinations. — TNS
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Thousands of visitors flocking Pushpa Gujral Science City everyday are a harassed lot as most of the high-tech exhibits imported from the USA are not working efficiently due to the temperature difference between the two countries. Visitors have also complained of suffocation, stinking theatres, poor quality 3D shows and non-functioning of the earthquake simulator for the last few days.
With the start of the paddy procurement in the district Deputy Commissioner Varun Roojam today reviewed the preparatory arrangements for paddy procurement. It was informed at a meeting that the district administration has set up 79 procurement centres in the district and Jalandhar district was targeting to procure 8.78 lakh metric tonne of paddy this year.
Gandhi Jayanti was celebrated by the students of St Soldier Management and Technical Institute and St Soldier Divine Public Schools. Students came in attire of Mahatma Gandhi, Kasturba Gandhi, Bharat Mata, Jawhar Lal Nehru. Students performed many items including dance, action songs and drama.
