Jalandhar, December 6
The anger displayed by parents of students studying at a local school yesterday hints at a much wider crisis of staff shortage across schools in the district.

While the dearth of teachers in the district government schools (especially those in remote areas) has robbed students of their right to education already, the education department has aggravated the crisis by picking up teachers from schools and employing them for official jobs at the DEO office etc.

The schools in the district would have been about 160 teachers stronger had the education department not deputed educators from many schools and deputed them for field or clerical jobs.

Over 100 block resource persons in the primary and senior secondary sectors and many others working for the Parvesh Project have left the respective schools, from where these teachers have been picked up, clamouring for staff.

There are teachers who have been deputed at the DEO office or as resource persons since the 90s and others, more recently, whose respective schools have been adversely affected and in some cases destabilised due to their absence.

While there are three DRPs (district resource persons) - for maths, English and social studies - for upper primary education in the district, for primary education, there is one DRP and two assistant DRPs.

The number of BRPs (block resource persons) for both primary and upper primary education in the district varies from block to block.

With the number of BRPs varying per block (there are 19 blocks in the district) the number of BRPs for primary and secondary education alone reaches a little over 100.

These BRPs and DRPs are posted as per various subjects and components like textbooks, SMC (school management committee), IED (inclusive education), RTE, among others. The teachers posted as resource persons include ETT and master cadre teachers.

Except these, a host of other teachers have been posted as PBCs (Parvesh Block Coordinators) under the Parvesh Project, started to give a fillip to education.

Sixty teachers have been employed as Parvesh Coordinators.

While sources also claim a strong political backing also causes many teachers to voluntarily secure positions as resource persons, there are others who say the education department itself doesn't intend to send these teachers back to the jobs they were initially hired for.

District science teacher Sanjiwan Dadwal says, "A number of jobs do not require any dedicated personnel. Works like DISE reports and textbook distribution are wound up in 15 days to one month. Teachers can be deputed for 15 days for that. But in gross violation of the RTE Act, they are employed all through the year on hefty salaries as their schools suffer, even if it means they just have to sit idle. A number of these also include people who never visit schools on a regular basis even if it is their job. This practice should have been stopped long ago."

Many schools have also written to DEOs time and again but have not received any response or staff in teachers on deputation.

DEO (secondary) Neelam Kumari says, "While the issue of BRPs not going to the field, if that is true shall be looked into, I generally believe the department has profited from these resource persons. Schools are scared about doing their jobs due to these field workers and it helps in constant review of the grassroots level situation."

Jalandhar, December 6
With the new Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act coming into effect from January 1, 2014, the two pending acquisition works in the district have all of a sudden been expedited.

Apprehending that the amount to be paid as compensation for displacement would get doubled and seeking consent from the land holders could be a problem, the pending acquisition works for the construction of Chandan Nagar RUB and six-laning project of National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) from Bidhipur to Dhilwan have all of a sudden gained momentum.

Jalandhar, December 6
The first hurdle in the construction of the Chandan Nagar railway under bridge (RUB) is likely to be cleared soon as most of the owners of the properties to be acquired for the purpose have agreed to get a hiked compensation for the same.

BJP councillor Ravi Mohindru said all concerned persons had agreed to allow their land to be acquired with the hiked compensation.

As many as 239 marlas of several persons will be acquired for the construction of the Chandan Nagar RUB. They will be provided nearly Rs 7 lakh per marla compensation, Mohindru said. “The acquisition of the land will be a first step in the direction of the construction of the Chandan Nagar RUB.”

Residents of the area have been demanding the construction of the RUB for over a decade. Chief Parliamentary Secretary (CPS) for Cooperation and Jalandhar (North) MLA Krishan Dev Bhandari also made it a poll promise during the last two Assembly elections held in 2007 and 2012.

Over 150 trains pass through the Sodal level crossing, where the Jalandhar-Amritsar-Ferozepur track is situated. Thousands of residents of these localities have to suffer a lot to cross the crossing, as, on an average, a train passes from the level crossing every 10 minute and the crossing remains closed for normal traffic most of the time.An RUB is badly required at the Sodal level crossing. That is why, thousands of persons residing across the Sodal level crossing have been demanding an ROB or RUB here for over a decade.Keeping in mind the problem, the BJP MLA from Jalandhar (North) Krishan Dev Bhandari had promised during campaigning in the previous Assembly elections that he would get an RUB constructed here.

Wastage of time, money, petrol and diesel of thousands of school-going children and the working class are the main problems. Besides, health of these residents is also adversely affected due to the air and noise pollution caused by vehicles stranded at the level crossing during the passing of trains.

Besides, several persons have been crushed under different trains when they tried to cross the tracks. The welfare societies of Shiv Nagar, Mathura Nagar, Ashok Vihar, Kot Baba Deep Singh Nagar, Preet Nagar, Dada Colony, Aman Nagar, Kamal Park, Kailash Nagar, Sanjay Gandhi Nagar, Sodal Nagar, Royal Club Ram Nagar, Globe Colony and Gobind Nagar have put up a hoarding here demanding the construction of an ROB or RUBs at Sodal level crossing without any further delay.

Jalandhar, December 6
Work in 52 government departments was affected as the clerical staff remained on a pen-down strike for the second consecutive day today.

No registries were done today. The transport department did not open any of its counters for issuing licences and registration certificates. The staff of the offices of the SDMs where atta-dal scheme applications are being received also did not process any files.

The members also held a protest in the complex during which district president Sukhjit Singh said, "The protest will be intensify if demand for revision of pay scales and conducting regular appointments are not conceded to."

The members of the Punjab State Suwidha Employees' Union too held a protest in their lunch time, demanding regularisation of their jobs. The employees said they had planned to go on mass casual leave on December 16 and would hold a protest outside the office of the Information and Technology Department, Punjab, at Chandigarh in support of their demands.

Kapurthala, December 6
Congress workers under the leadership of MLA Rana Gurjit Singh held a demonstration against the SAD-BJP government for the imposition of property tax.

The workers also took part in the demonstration that passed from Jallow Khana Chowk, Sadar Bazar, Shri Satya Narain Bazar, Kasaban Bazar, Shaheed Bhagat Singh Chowk and finally converged at Court Chowk, where the protestors burnt the effigy of state government. Rana Gurjit Singh, while addressing the gathering, flayed the SAD-BJP government for its anti-people policies. He said, "The SAD-BJP government is completely ignoring the genuine issues of the people. All sections of the society, including the business and trade community is at the receiving end because of the flawed government policies. Common people are reeling under heavy burden of taxes, traders are suffering due to imposition of advance tax and non-refund of VAT, employees from various departments are not getting their salaries regularly and industrialists are migrating to other states." Senior Congress leaders, Rajinder Aggarwal, Vinod Aggarwal, Anoop Kalhan and Manmohan Singh Bajwa, were present on the ocassion. — OC

Jalandhar, December 6
The 138th Harivallabh Sangeet Sammelan will be held from December 20 to 22.

The classical music festival is being ushered in amid two major concerns - the pending grant allocated in the budget two years ago and the incomplete Harivallabh Bhawan.