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LS elections impede implementation of Atta-Dal Scheme
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Swindlers posing as bank employees dupe ATM card holders of
Rs 40,000
Strike by contractual staff hits Revised National TB Control Project hard
YAD activists hold anti-Congress protest
Members of the Youth Akali Dal burn an effigy of AICC vice president Rahul Gandhi in Jalandhar on Friday. Tribune photo: Sarajit Singh
Contractual staff members of AIDS Employees Assn demand regular jobs
Move to cancel driving licences of rash drivers fails
Misbehaviour with employee: Ministerial staff hold protest
MC hands over Rs 8.46 crore cheque to Railways for RuB
Travel agent nabbed for fraud
Woman looted at gun point Feedback
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LS elections impede implementation of Atta-Dal Scheme
Jalandhar, January 31 At present, the district administration is a little behind schedule to compile the final list of beneficiaries under the scheme. In addition to this, the implementation of the allocation and distribution phase of the scheme have also become uncertain as most of the staff from the Food and Civil Supplies Department is engaged in the election works. However, the district administration has assured that the work related to the Atta-Dal Scheme would be on during the election time also. "The work for the forthcoming elections and the implementation of the Atta-Dal Scheme is going hand in hand. We are already in the process of making the list of beneficiaries for the scheme. Whether the government announces the carrying of the allocation and distribution work before or after the elections, we will implement it on time," said Varun Roojam, Deputy Commissioner. However, sources at the Food and Civil Supplies Department have shown uncertainty about the public distribution work of the scheme to start before election time as most of their staff has already got involved in the election work. "The department is overburdened with pressure of the issuing of new ration cards, scrutinising Aadhaar cards and the newly-made BPL cards, besides election work. Even if the district administration succeeds in making the beneficiary list on time, we may not be able to carry the allocation and the distribution work efficiently," said an officer from the Food and Civil Supply Department. The district administration has missed the deadline of January 21 to make the list of claimants of the second phase of the enrollment that began in December last year. Presently, five SDMs from Jalandhar I and II, Nakodar, Shahkot and Phillaur along with the Municipal Corporation are carrying out the verification work of over 2 lakh claimants in the district. Once the list is prepared, it will be sent to the DFCS for making blue cards for the new beneficiaries. Only after the preparation of Blue cards, the distribution work of food grains to the beneficiaries will begin. On the other hand, elections are expected to be announced anytime in the first week of February along with the code of conduct coming into force. Even during the enforcement of the code of conduct, the government can continue the implementation of the Atta-Dal Scheme but for that a lot of manpower is required which it may not get due to the elections. "The elections are likely to announce in first week of March and will take place in five to seven phases. It is still not clear as to which phase, elections in Punjab will happen. But, the initial preparations have already started and most of the departments have been assigned duties for the same. Elections may happen anytime but the entire process will end on June 1 with the oath taking ceremony by the new Prime Minister," said Reminder Singh, Chief Electoral Officer, Punjab. |
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Swindlers posing as bank employees dupe ATM card holders of
Rs 40,000
Jalandhar January 31 In the first case reported at the New Baradari police station, the caller, claiming to be a bank employee, after getting ATM card details, allegedly withdrew Rs 21,500 from the account of a city-based person. The victim, Santok Singh, a resident of Qazi Mandi, complained to the police that after few minutes of getting call from some unknown mobile number, he received a message of cash withdrawal transaction. Navdeep Singh, station house officer, New Baradari police station, said complainant was called by a person, who claimed to be the employee of the State Bank of India and started inquiring about the details of his bank account. "I was asked by the caller to provide ATM card number and pin on the pretext of upgrading my ATM card. Swayed by the talks of the caller, I provided him details of my ATM card along with the pin," said the victim. In the second incident, reported at the police division number one, the swindler duped a person with the same modus operandi. The victim, Sanjiv of Urban Estate Phase I, said yesterday he received a call from some mobile number and caller claimed to the employee of the PNB from Delhi. "He asked me to provide details of the ATM card on the pretext that my ATM card is getting expired in a day and it will freeze if not upgraded today. I provided him all details regarding my ATM." The victim said few minutes later, he received messages of five cash withdrawal transactions of RS 15,000 on his mobile. The victim said he had also given detail of his other ATM card of the State Bank of Patiala from which the swindler had withdrawn Rs 2, 500. ADCP Naresh Dogra said, "During the investigation, the location of the caller was traced in Bihar. the investigation is still under way." The Appeal
The city police have appealed to public not to entertain calls in which callers are posing as bank employees. ADCP Naresh Dogra said police has confirmed from all the banks that no such system was in force in which bank employees make such calls to inquire about ATM card details. |
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Strike by contractual staff hits Revised National TB Control Project hard
Jalandhar, January 31 While the disease has been seeing a steady rise in the district for the past few years, the ongoing strike of the contractual staff in the district has also added to the problem, stalling tests and speedy diagnosis and identification of patients in the rural areas. Indefinite strike by the contractual staff in the district has caused the RNTCP (Revised National TB Control Project) services to be hit with the overburdened regular staff making up for the loss. Until December 2011, there were 3,415 TB patients in the district, in December 2013, the number of patients decreased to 3,182 and in December 2013, the number rose to 3,559 in the district. The number of TB patients is marginally more in the rural areas than in the city areas. As per the 2013 annual figures, about 1,400 patients were from the urban areas and the rest were from the rural areas. The patients suffering from the MDR (multi-drug resistant TB) in the district has further added on to the problem. In December 2013, 45 MDR patients were identified in the district. The total number of general TB patients as well as MDR patients is said to be much higher. While five TB units were supposed to be started in the district this year, the ones at Shahkot and Kala Bakra units have yet to get staff while those at Phillaur, Nakodar and Jamsher are making do with makeshift staff. Except these TB units, the many of the TB laboratories and infrastructure in dispensaries also need upgrade. The protest
Currently about 37 contractual staff members in the district including lab technicians, TB health visitors, senior treatment supervisors and lab supervisors are on strike, for not having been paid their salaries for the past three months. These employees have also not been paid their increased salaries from last year. While these employees had not been paid their TA allowances until July 2013, since July last year, their TA allowances have also been stopped while their pending TA allowances have also not been paid so far. They now demand that their pending salaries be paid until February 5 or they will intensify their agitation. The work in the department has massively suffered due to the strike. From tests to compilation of quarterly reports, everything is stalled presently. The disconnect
A health worker in a rural area said, "There is disconnect between patients and the Health Department. There are hundreds of suspects in the villages who go undetected and unchecked. Majority of the patients do not take TB symptoms seriously. A number of them also allege lack of coordination by the health staff. Lack of staff at major centres is also a problem." Official speak
District TB officer Rajeev Sharma said despite the odds, the district has had a fair success in tackling TB cases and with the smooth functioning of all the seven TB units envisioned for the district, the TB programme will receive a fillip in the district. While demand for the two new units started in Januray has been sent, the rest will also be upgraded soon. Fact file
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YAD activists hold anti-Congress protest
Jalandhar, January 31 “They have again rubbed the wounds of thousands of riot affected families. The Congress should apologise and come out with the names of those who were involved in the riots,” said Harinder Singh Dhindsa, district president, Youth Akali Dal. They later burnt the effigy of Rahul Gandhi in front of the District Administration Office. Another protest was also held by Khalra Mission demanding the constitution of a special investigation team (SIT) to probe the role of Congress leaders in the massacre. A press conference was also planned at the Press Club, which was later postponed to Sunday. Many Sikh organisations have planned to gherao the house of Member of Parliament from Jalandhar, Mohinder Singh Kaypee, demanding his support in the agitation against the Congress party. Rahul had accepted in an interview to a private news channel that some Congressmen were involved in the 1984 riots. He, however, had refused to apologise for the massacre saying that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had already done so. Some radical Sikh groups led by the US-based Sikhs for Justice (SFJ) had also petitioned the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva last year seeking an international investigation into the riots and the council’s recognition of the killings as ‘genocide’ under Article 2 of the UN Convention on Genocide. The petition stresses that successive governments in India have deliberately misled the world community into believing that the 1984 killings were ‘riots’ confined to Delhi, when “there is ample evidence to the contrary”. The petition titled, “1984: Yes, it’s genocide”, was filed under 1503 procedure of the United Nations on Friday and carries the required 10 lakh signatures from Sikhs across the world. It is spearheaded by the SFJ, several other Sikh human rights NGOs and management committees of Sikh gurudwaras across Europe, America and Canada. |
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Contractual staff members of AIDS Employees Assn demand regular jobs
Jalandhar, January 31 While they started the dharna on January 30, their pen-down strike entered second day today. Their demanded regularisation, same salary and benefits (insurance, medical, maternity leave, provident fund, dearness allowance, patient-care allowance and nursing allowance) as other employees working in the Health Department. They also demanded arrears with effect from April 2012. The employees are on an indefinite strike and said they would continue until their demands were met. In the absence of the employees the doctors at the various anti-addiction and AIDS units are handling bustling OPDs on their own causing services to be hit. While the work at the ART centre, ICTC (integrated counselling and testing centre) centre, OST (Opioid Substitution Therapy) and STI units and the blood bank are largely dependent on these employees, their demands have been left unattended for years. The senior employees had joined the department in 2006.
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Residents of Kot Ram Dass Colony hold protest
Jalandhar, January 31 Prem Kumar, Parkasho Devi, Jasbir Kaur, Nimmo and other residents of the area said several of them had pulled down their 'kucha' construction after a commitment from the MC officials that they would be included in the list of beneficiaries. They said that they now were deprived of whatever simple accommodation they had, that too in winters, forcing them to take shelter in the houses of their relatives or some neighbours. The matter had been taken up by the ward 9 councillor Sudesh Rani in the MC House meeting when Mayor Sunil Jyoti assured her of setting up a committee to inquire into the matter. Sources in the MC revealed that the cheques had been delayed as a JE of B&R wing who had been handling the case had retired and no other engineer had been put on duty. The Jalandhar Tribune had highlighted the problem of the residents in its January 26 edition. Chairman SC Commission Punjab Rajesh Bagha has now taken a note of the matter. He said that he had called the officials of the MC to report to him at Circuit House at 11 am to submit reasons for the lapses. |
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Move to cancel driving licences of rash drivers fails
Jalandhar January 31 Notably, in August last year, it was the first of its kind punitive measures adopted by the Jalandhar police in which it recommended cancellation of driving licences of over 150 rash drivers. Sources said the District Transport Department had not cancelled even a single driving licence since then. The cases came under Sections 304 A (causing death by negligence), 279 (rash driving or riding on a public way), 337 (causing hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others) and 338 (causing grievous hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others) of the IPC. Dalwinderjit Singh, former District Transport Officer, said the Jalandhar Police Commissioner had sent a list of more than 150 driving licences of rash drivers who caused death on roads due to negligence. “I had also sent notices to such drivers and also conducted hearing of more than fifteen such drivers, but licence of not even a single person was suspended due to lack of certain information,” Singh said. There were two reasons due to which the Transport Department couldn’t go ahead in suspending licences. The first was that all matters were sub-judiced and the booked persons were not declared guilty. Under such conditions, the department couldn’t suspend driving licence. The second reason was that in majority of cases, FIRs registered by the police had not figured licence details such as address of the rash driver, due to which the Transport Department faced problems in tracing the accused. “When we don’t have addresses of the rash drivers, how can we proceed with suspending their driving licences,” When contacted, Deputy Commissioner of Police Rahul S said he would instruct all the police station heads to add proper details about the accused driver in FIR so that licence cancellation proceedings could be carried out without any delay. It must be mentioned here that under this pilot project, the Punjab Police had decided to recommend driving licence cancellation of all those rash drivers against whom a charge sheet for causing injuries or death due to negligence was submitted in local courts. The licences were to be cancelled for a specified period only. |
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Misbehaviour with employee: Ministerial staff hold protest
Jalandhar, January 31 The employees have been protesting against the inaction on the issue for the past many days. As the minister did not meet the members, they could only be persuaded to move after the police reached the spot. ADCP-I Naresh Dogra among other officials have assured the members that the police would act on the issue within a week. The members have thus been pacified to withdraw their strike for the time being. Members Sr Sukhjit Singh and Sr Rajinder Singh said they had demanded that the official in question should be immediately transferred, failing which, they
would hold a dharna on February 8. The district ministerial staff had also taken mass casual leave to lodge protest on January 22, 23 and 24. While the woman employee was transferred from her station, the circle education officer is still there. They have been alleging that the enquiry into the issue was getting affected due to it. The ministerial staff had also burnt an effigy of the officer on January 17. |
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MC hands over Rs 8.46 crore cheque to Railways for RuB
Jalandhar, January 31 The cheque was handed over by Chief Parliamentary Secretary KD Bhandari and Mayor Sunil Jyoti to Deputy Chief Engineer, Constructions (North), Railways Department, Rakesh Kumar Sabbarwal at the Mayor House this evening. The Mayor said while the Railways Department had already given a feasibility report, it would begin its process of issuing tenders and soil testing at the site after the payment. XEN Constructions, GK Nayyar and Senior Section Engineer from the Railways, Rattan Singh, had also come for a discussion on the issue. Officials of the B&R Department said the PWD, which would get the work of the RUB done, would start the tendering process six months later after the Railways did the preliminary job. The PWD has, however, already made estimates for the remaining part of the bridge at Rs 12.76 crore. The project has been a prestige issue for CPS KD Bhandari for he made a promise on the issue to the residents of the area during the last two Assembly elections. With Lok Sabha elections approaching, he wants to expedite the work to take credit for the same. |
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Travel agent nabbed for fraud
Jalandhar January 31 Acting on the complaint of Sukhwinder Singh of Gazigula Mohalla, the police had recently registered a case of fraud against Kirandeep. The accused had been escaping arrest since then, the police sources said. The police had today received a tip off, following which, an immediate raid was conducted to nab him, the police officials added. The complainant alleged that the accused had taken Rs 7 lakh to send him to Canada, but he didn’t fulfill his promise. “I also requested the accused to return my money, but he didn’t do so,” the complainant said. |
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Members of the Youth Akali Dal held anti-Congress protest here today and burnt effigies of Rahul Gandhi while demanding a probe into the killing of more than 3,000 Sikhs in the Delhi Sikh riots in 1984.
Demanding an apology from the Congress for making careless remarks on the carnage, the protestors sought the revelation of names of the Congress leaders who were involved in the riots.
