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Sewage woes plague the gateway to city
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MC collects Rs 40 lakh as tax
2 booked on rape charge
Woman commits suicide
Kashmir problem a hurdle in corridor to Pak gurdwara: Wadala
Awareness only means to prevent AIDS: Expert
Seminar discusses harassment of special kids
from schools & colleges
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Sewage woes plague the gateway to city
Jalandhar, November 30 A local Congress leader, Sudesh Vij, whose bakery shop is located on the road, said, “Commuters and shopkeepers of the area, in particular, have been facing problem due to the overflowing sewer for about past two decades.” The representatives of the Shopkeepers’ Associations, Lajpat Rai Mehta, Joginder Singh, Gurbaksh Singh Bakshi, Vijay Sharma and Mukesh Chawla said: “Actually, sewerage pipes were laid on the road about two decades ago. But these pipes could not be connected with the main pipes as the work of laying sewer pipes had been left midway near Hari Palace. That is why the sewer keeps on overflowing every now and then, creating a lot of inconvenience to the commuters and shopkeepers. The situation is further aggravated during the rainy season.” Interestingly, the shopkeepers have met several Municipal Corporation Jalandhar (MCJ) officials from time to time. But nothing has been done on ground to solve the problem so far. That is why the shopkeepers on Railway road and New Railway road observed a bandh on November 18 to protest against leaving the
work midway. The agitated shopkeepers also staged a dharna on the road under the aegis of the Railway Road Shop Keepers Association and the New Railway Road Shopkeepers Association. The Jalandhar Tribune had carried a news item in this regard on November 19. Meanwhile, several feet high sewerage accumulated near the Hari Palace on the Railway road even on Saturday. Fed up with neglectful attitude of the MCJ officials, the shopkeepers today decided to observe a strike in the area again and to besiege the MCJ office on Wednesday to put pressure on them to solve their problem without any further delay. |
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Getting to zero, a challenge for state
Rachna Khaira
“I was one of the best football players. During one of the football matches in 2002 my leg got hurt. My coach without informing me gave a morphine injection to reduce the pain. I had a nausea sensation for some time but later experienced some kind of stimulus. My pain was completely gone and I played with a different force. Later, I was also adjudged the best player in the tournament. But, later, I started consuming it on regular basis,” said Gurjeet Singh (name changed) who instead of being a bright player was left to struggle as a drug addict by his coach. Due to the lack of awareness he even went ahead and got married to a non-infected girl without revealing his real status to her. Later, he even had a child from the marriage but fortunately both the mother and child are normal due to the precautions taken by his literate wife.Interestingly, Jalandhar district is holding the maximum population vulnerable to HIV. Jalandhar is known as the education hub with the maximum number of international students from African. Jalandhar is also the favourite place for drug peddlers as it is considered as the golden gate to sell drugs in the international market. The consumption of drugs in Punjab is low as compared to its sale from here in the international market. It is very difficult for the local youth to consume heroine which cost 5 crores per kg. The youth initially get lured to drug peddling and then slowly become habitual to it at one point of time. Due to the inefficiency of the local anganwadi workers, Satwant Kaur (name changed) , a five-month pregnant HIV positive lady only knew about her status two days ago . “I didn’t get any of my tests done after I came to know about my pregnancy. It was only now that I approached the Civil Hospital for first anti-natal check up and I came to know about my status,” said Satwant Kaur from Raipur Village. In the absence of an able counsellor, she is confused about whether to carry forward her pregnancy or abort it through illegal means. The government is also caught on wrong foot on removing the social stigma related to HIV positive patients. Jagdish Lal (name changed), a 56-year labourer from Rasoolpur and his wife are HIV positive couple. They have five children and 13 grandchildren. The couple came to know about their status seven years ago. But fearing social stigma, they didn’t reveal it to their children. Meanwhile, the number of their grandchildren grew from four to 13. Surprisingly, no one in the family knows about their HIV status. The lackadaisical approach of the local counselling centre is to be blamed for putting 18 lives of a single family into danger.
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MC collects over Rs 3 crore on single day
Jalandhar, November 30 Talking to The Tribune, MCJ assistant commissioner Gurbinder Randhawa said, “With 3.35 crore collection on Saturday , Rs 13 crores has been collected as property tax till November 30.” According to sources, MCJ managed to collect only Rs 24 lakh property tax from October 14 to November 5. Thereafter, the MCJ collected 12.76 crore as property tax in 25 days. Meanwhile, holding a meeting at Nauhariya Mandir in Gur Mandi, various shopkeeper associations have decided to restart their agitation against the imposition of property tax. Their meeting was attended by local Congress leaders Rajinder Beri, Jagdish Raja, Pawan Kumar Butmandi and Manoj Arora. The representatives of shopkeepers' associations demanded that residential premises and vacant plots be exempted and property tax on commercial buildings should be imposed on the basis of their measurement as square feet or marla instead of collector rates. "The collector rates will keep on increasing at regular intervals and so will the property tax," they added. Meanwhile, to a query about depositing property tax by a number of citizens, Beri said “ Majority of deposits have been made against disputed properties. Some citizens also deposited it as who they wanted a no objection certificates (NOCs) from MCJ to sell their properties.” The shopkeepers have decided to hold another meeting against property tax at Phagwara Gate on Monday. — TNS
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MC collects Rs 40 lakh as tax
Phagwara, November 30 A total of 4,100 property owners have so far deposited their property tax, out of which 600 stakeholders deposited their dues today. Kapurthala Municipal Council today collected Rs 5 lakh as against the total collection of Rs 40 lakh made by the Municipal Council office so far, said Sandeep Tiwari, Executive Officer, Municipal Council, Kapurthala. As per Municipal Council office data, there were nearly 40,000 property units, of which only 4,100 stakeholders approached the Municipal Council. More than 50 per cent property tax depositors rushed to deposit their tax dues during the last week. The Municipal Council had made proper arrangements by opening six booths for their convenience. Four additional booths were setup today to facilitate property owners, the Executive Officer added. With the last date with rebate extending for another 10 days, Kapurthala MC was expecting its collection figure to reach in crores, said the Executive Officer. He appealed to residents to deposit their property tax up to the last day after which he said the tax would be charged with a penalty of 25 per cent by March 31 and 50 per cent penalty afterwards. |
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2 booked on rape charge
Kapurthala, November 30 She named the two accused as Dara, a resident of Lohian, and Kala of Kapurthala. The victim along with her husband, contacted the president of the Class IV Government Employees' Union, Jaswinder Singh, who took up the matter with the SSP, Kapurthala. The police then conducted a medical test on Friday and Balwinder Singh Sekhon, DSP, Kapurthala, along with the SHO, sadar police station, recorded her statement. The DSP said police parties had been on a lookout for the accused. Illicit liquor seized
The district police today arrested two persons in separate incidents and seized 15 litre of illicit liquor and 25 gm of intoxicant powder from them. In the first incident, a police party near the power station of Nangal village nabbed a man recovered the illicit liquor from him. He was identified as Dharma, a resident of Hothian village, and the police registered a case against the accused under the Punjab Excise Act. Another drug peddler was arrested from near Dhilwan T point and 25 gm of intoxicant powder was recovered from him. He has been identified as Paramjit Singh, a resident of Patti Ramu village. The police has registered a case against him under the NDPS Act. |
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Woman commits suicide
Phagwara, November 30 Cyclist killed
A man, identified as Pargat Ram of Rawalpindi village, was killed on the spot when a speeding motorcycle hit his cycle near Khatti village on the Phagwara-Hoshiarpur road last night. The
two motorcyclists identified as Balbir Dass and Rakesh Kumar also sustained injuries. The police have registered a case and sent the body for autopsy to the local Civil Hospital. Ear rings snatched
Some unidentified car-borne persons snatched gold ear rings from an old woman, identified as Baksho, near Sangatpur village, last night. The snatchers fled from the spot after committing the crime. The police have registered case. |
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Kashmir problem a hurdle in corridor to Pak gurdwara: Wadala
Jalandhar, November 30 The sanstha has been seeking construction of the corridor on the border from Dera Baba Nanak in India to Kartarpur Sahib gurdwara in Pakistan since 2001. It held first ardas on Baisakhi, twelve years back, at Dera Baba Nanak gurdwara, for the corridor. Since then, it has been organising ardas at Dera Baba Nanak every month on “amavasya”. Wadala, a veteran Akali leader, said Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, had assured to take up the matter of the construction of the corridor during his meeting with the delegation of the sanstha on December 31, 2004. Wadala said he had met then Pakistan Prime Minister Yousaf Reza Gilani and other authorities during his visits to Pakistan some time back.
Pakistan had started constructing a road leading to Kartarpur Sahib gurdwara, he added. Despite positive response from political leaders of both the countries, the corridor has not been built as Kashmir problem was creating a big hurdle in its construction, he added. |
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Awareness only means to prevent AIDS: Expert
Jalandhar, November 30 He said this year the theme for World AIDS Day across the world was “Getting to zero, zero new HIV infection, zero discrimination, zero AIDS related death”. He said it was important that rather than hiding it, its treatment was started at the local ART Centre at an early stage to get good results and for prolonging the life span of patients. As many as 2.08 lakh people were affected from the disease in the country,
he added. Dr Alfred from the Intergrated Counselling and Testing Centre said safe sex, safe blood procured only from government or recognised hospitals, use of sterilised needles and HIV/AIDS tests during pregnancy were important to prevent the HIV/AIDS disease. He said these tests were available at government hospitals. It was important that youth stayed away from drugs for the effective prevention of the disease, he added. Dr Baljinder Kaur gave a presentation on AIDS during the occasion. A rangoli and poster making contest was also held for students of the nursing school during the event. |
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Seminar discusses harassment of special kids
Jalandhar, November 30 Special educators, teachers from Vajra AWWA Asha Special School, Prayas Special School and St Joseph Special School as well as parents including businessmen, activists, advocates etc participated in the seminar. Tanu Bedi, an advocate of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, was the key resource person on the occasion. While speaking on the occasion, Prof Lakhbir Singh said an inclusive approach was very important on the issue. He said despite many achievements and great feats of the special children, they had difficulty in finding suitable jobs because of the fixed attitude of society towards them. Activist Raja Singh Said the religious vacuum in society and lack of the fear of the Almighty was largely responsible for the moral degeneration in society. |
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Lawyer activist bats for the rights and privileges of differently abled
Jalandhar, November 30 A vehement supporter of the view that the special are ‘differently-abled’ and not ‘disabled’ as they are usually referred to, she quotes several examples to prove that their abilities often surpass those of the so called ‘normal’ ones like us. Speaking about the historic Chandigarh case which set a precedent, Bedi said, “Back then, I had no idea it would hold such a monumental importance in my life and career. I had been appointed amicus curiae in the case of a mentally-challenged woman whose baby was going to be aborted (without her consent) and my first, instinctive reaction was-the mother’s got to have a say.” “Then, I conducted a lot of research on the issue and realised that the law has protected the differently-abled. It did not discriminate with them and supported the view I held,” Bedi said. Having taken the issue to the SC when things didn’t work out on the HC level, Bedi’s poignant and respectful-to-the-victim arguments won the bench over and a life was born on December 3-World Disability Day. Bedi still smiles at the coincidence. Four years on, the lives of the mother-daughter duo are proof for everyone that her instincts were true. “She is brilliantly bringing her daughter up and in many ways better than normal people. The mother is mentally-challenged to a minor degree and the two are having a great life. We are now looking for a job for
her,” she said. Having deeply studied the laws during the case, Bedi has visited many shelter homes in the UT since then and has also visited the National Trust. While she has been known to make efforts in improving many shelter homes as well as old-age homes, she says, “It is important for all to replace pity for the differently-abled with dignity and self-respect. I saw two boys at the Bhava Vidyalaya in Chandigarh-both of them geniuses with a lot of knowledge.” Incidentally, while she was here to speak on the issue of violence and sexual assault with the disabled, she stressed that it was very important for shelter homes to adopt a more transparent approach. “I have personally been prevented from entering shelter homes on the pretext of privacy. As long as arrangements at the home are proper there shouldn’t be a need to hide anything. While the laws don’t support it, it seems like more of a state-backed prohibition.” While Bedi believes that the new rape amendment following the Nirbhaya case last year would act as a deterrent for the culprits, she says things on the front will not see a major change until people’s mindsets undergo a sea change. |
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3,000 students attend cultural event
Jalandhar, November 30 Actors Karnvir Bohra and Teejay Sidhu also enthralled students through their special performances on the occasion. As many as 3,000 students from over 200 schools from across the state exhibited their talent in a three-day function. Results of contests: For Class IX to XII Calligraphy competition: Lovepreet from Government Girls Sr. Sec School, Gobindgarh, stood first; Anmolpreet Kaur from Baba Farid Public Sr Sec School, Bathinda, stood second and Manpreet Kaur from Government Sr Sec School, Jagraon, Ludhiana, was placed third. Shabd gayan competition: Harbag Singh and party stood first, Mani Kaur and Bharatdeep party second and Amritpal Singh, Kulvir Kaur and party stood third. Gidha competition: Puneet Sharma and party from Government Sr Sec School, Nabha, Patiala, stood first; Navreet Kaur and party from Pioneer Public Sr Sec School, Sangrur, were place second and Daljeet Kaur and party from Government Sr Sec School, Punjabi University campus, Patiala, got third position. Declamation competition: Gurinder Kaur from Shahed Baba Khushal Singh Sr Sec Memorial, Lambra, Jalandhar, stood first; Navneet Kaur from Ramgarhia Sr Secondary School, Ludhiana, stood second and Navroop Kaur Sidhu from Baba Farid Public Sr Sec School, Bathinda, was placed third. War gayan competition: Jaspreet Singh stood first, Gurwinder Singh second and Upinder Kaur was placed third in the competition. GK competition: Kamaldeep Singh from GTB Khalsa Sr Sec Memorial, Malout, stood first; Palwinder Kaur from Baba Farid Public Sr Sec School, Bhema, stood second and Komal Rani from Sunflower Model High School, Patiala, was placed third. Malwai gidha competition: Amandeep Singh and party stood first; Prem Prakash and party stood second; Gurpyar Singh and party stood third. Kavishari competition: Kamaldeep Kaur stood first, Jobanbir Kaur second and Gurpratap Singh was placed third. Poetry competition: Kirandeep Kaur from S Baldev Singh Sr Sec School, Fatehgarh Sahib, stood first; Amrita Singh from Government Sr Sec School, Nangal, stood second and Anureet Kaur from Baba Farid Public Sr Sec School, Bathinda, was placed third. |
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Two-day sports meet concludes
Jalandhar, November 30 Delhi Cantonment Board won the overall trophy for the best team in the junior group whereas the Jalandhar Cantonment Board won the overall trophy in the senior group. Shilpa and Rajneet Kaur from Jalandhar Cantt were adjudged the best athletes in the junior and senior group of girls respectively. Mohit Kumar from Delhi and Sukhdev Murmmur from Jalandhar Cantt won the best athlete titles in the junior and senior boys category respectively. Dr Ashok Gupta, Principal Director, Western Command and Vibha Sharma, CEO, Jalandhar Cantt, along with Brig IJS Chauhan, Sub Area Commander, gave away prizes and trophies to the winners. |
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Army Public School gets best performance trophy
Tribune News Service
Jalandhar, November 30 He also handed over the prize cheque of Rs 75,000 to the principal and teachers. The trophy was awarded to the school by the AWES for attaining 18th rank among Army Public Schools from all over the country. Previously, Army Public School, Jalandhar, was ranked 57th in the field of academic excellence. The chairman complimented teachers for their untiring efforts and exhorted them to strive harder. Parametric Technology award ceremony
Parametric Technology Corporation University, USA certificate award ceremony was held on the GNA-IMT campus here yesterday. Mahesh Chander Munjal, chairman and managing director, Majestic Auto Limited, was the chief guest on the occasion. Gursharan Singh, MD, GNA Group, Gurdeep Singh, president of the GNA-IMT, Sajith Parambil, director of the PTC academic programme, were also present among others during the function. A quiz competition was held for students during the event. GNA-IMT is the only institute in the region, which conducts such award ceremony every year. As many as 400 students attended the event. Ivy School launches riding academy
Ivy World School has started a riding academy to teach equestrian expertise and techniques to students. Riders will learn how to handle horses, command and control their movement from trot to canter to gallop and prepare for show jumping. Enthusiastic riders took to the horses eagerly. They started learning to develop a proper seat for the saddle as well as the proper posture to ride. Six-day robotics workshop
Kamla Nehru Public School (KNPS), Phagwara, organised a six-day robotics workshop in association with Riscin Technologies, Jalandhar. As many as 71 students from Classes VIII to XI participated in the workshop. Students learnt about robotics and designed various robots like line follower robot, obstacle avoider robot and also learnt to apply these concepts in everyday life. Excellence certificates were awarded to 10 outstanding students. These students have been given the life-time facility of attending Ruscin Technologies Robotics workshop free of cost. Principal PK Dhillon said KNPS always embraced new ideas. Seeing the tremendous response of Robotics Club headed by Vijay Sood, a Riscin Technology Junior Robotic Club would be formed in the school. Symposium on women’s safety
Kanya Maha Vidyalaya’s Women Studies Centre and the Department of Political Science organised a symposium on “Women safety concerns of women: the current scenario”. Abha Nagara, an eminent advocate, was the guest speaker. She apprised the participants of the legal rights of women. She said women must take collective steps to ensure their safety and security and also that of their sorority. |
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Jalandhar, November 30