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HC for removal of encroachments
Strike leaves AIDS patients without medicines
CT students, staff shocked at student’s suicide
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Pushpa Gujral Science City organises Energy Olympiad
SC bodies plan NRI meet on February 17
Traders protest outside minister’s house
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HC for removal of encroachments
Jalandhar, February 3 The interim order comes on a Civil Writ Petition filed in this regard by one Shashi Sharma on the matter in 2010. Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Judge Sanjay Palli have asked both Commissioner MC and Commissioner of Police to file a compliance report on the matter. The petition pertains to the removal of encroachments on the GT road from Jyoti Chowk to the Division Number 4 police station and on the street in Sudama Market near the police station. The MC Commissioner has placed on record that all formalities for taking action on the GT road from Jyoti Chowk to Division Number 4 police station had been completed by issuing of notices which had so far evinced no result. He had mentioned that the police assistance had been sought to carry out the necessary action to remove encroachments. The court orders read, “We direct the Commissioner of Police Jalandhar to make available adequate police force to ensure that the Corporation carries out its statutory duty of removing the unauthorised construction/encroachments within one month. This order will be brought to the notice of the Commissioner of Police.” The orders pertaining to Sudama Market further read, “As far as encroachments on the street in Sudama Market, near the Division Number 4 police station are concerned, apparently even notices have not been issued as it is stated that the process for issuing notices is going on. The exercise on this behalf, as assured by counsel for Municipal Corporation on instructions from the Commissioner of Municipal Corporation, will also be completed within two months and if there is non-compliance, necessary action for removal shall be carried out within one month thereafter for which also, if requisitioned, the Commissioner of Police will make available adequate police force. The case has been listed for compliance on April 4, 2014. Month’s notice given The Punjab and Haryana High Court has asked the Commissioner of Police to provide adequate force to the authorities to remove the unauthorised constructions falling along Jyoti Chowk to Division Number 4 police station within a month
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Strike leaves AIDS patients without medicines
Jalandhar, February 3 Along with local patients, the centre sees a considerable footfall from patients from outside the district. The staff strike has robbed patients of tests and treatment. At the ART centre in the city, patients have been coming from far away villages like Khira, Boparai, Khakhrain, Majadpur (Kapurthala); Saleti (Kangra), Maunan, Mehndipur, Patti, Pabbowal (Una), Hoshiarpur; Budd Majra, Harripan, Mehli, Sodhiyan (Nawanshahr) and villages like Farwala and Kala Sanghian in Jalandhar for treatment. Two women patients whose husbands’ lives were lost to AIDS, started crying at the ART Centre today, demanding they be provided money as they could not afford to come back again. Rita (name changed), coming from a remote village in Hoshiarpur, said she came on Friday as
well and on both days, she had asked for money from her relatives so that she could make the journey to Jalandhar. Another local patient who also lost her husband to AIDS has two children to take care of and was turned back for the second day today, as medicines could not be given. She cried and asked who would answer her
mother-in-law who doesn’t let her go out. Meanwhile, some pregnant women are not even able to get tests conducted due to the strike even though immediate tests are very important for them to determine the status of their babies and save them. While the Senior Medical Officer at the local ART Centre is among the few doctors who is still prescribing medicines to patients despite the strike, it is not possible to prescribe medicines to patients who need to be diagnosed afresh or
those who need to undergo tests. With the contractual staff on strike, neither tests are being conducted, nor reports made. So far, no alternative arrangements have been made by the Civil Hospital authorities to address these issues. While a number of these patients have been calling the PSACS
office, a number of calls made to the office today got no response. Hussan Lal, project director, Punjab State AIDS Control Society, said, “We have had a word with staff at the Ludhiana centre and told them that their demands would be considered. But if the strike is still on and is causing inconvenience to patients at Jalandhar, I will ask the Civil Surgeon to make alternative staff arrangements.” |
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CT students, staff shocked at student’s suicide
Jalandhar, February 3 A hostel resident at the institute and a resident of Talwara, the 20-year-old youth had been missing since January 23. His body was found by the police in the Mukerian canal yesterday. His class had a very thin attendance today, as most of the students preferred to either to go to Talwara or stay away from the campus. Most worrisome for his friends and staff is that fact is that before taking the step, he had left the suicide note at his place, blaming two of his classmates for his action. Vice-principal of the institute Vikrant said he was unaware about the missing boy till his parents came to meet him from Talwara along with an ASI on Saturday. “We had told his father, who is working as a patwari, that Hemant had last marked his attendance with us on January 18 and then taken leave for five days. Ever since he had not returned to the campus. The parents then showed me the suicide note, which the boy had left on the campus, saying he was unhappy with the way his friend Akshay had befriended a girl from the same class, whom he considered to be his sister. They had come to take the numbers of the two of his classmates which we provided,” he said. Vikrant stated that on Saturday when the parents had come the college, it was was an off day. “On Monday, I called both students and asked them about the episode, telling them about the suicide note that the parents had brought along." He added that Akshay and the girl were staying in paying guest accommodations. “It was an incident about which the staff was completely unaware. We are also planning to hold counselling sessions for the students on the matter,” he said. |
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Banks yet to take measures to combat ATM lootings
Jalandhar, February 3 Earlier, an ATM of Punjab National Bank was broken open in Tarn Taran. The list of such incidents is long. Despite this, not many banks in the state have taken the matter seriously and adopted measures to control the crime. Punjab National Bank has around 60 ATMs in Jalandhar, but only 15 of them are being guarded by security personnel. Interestingly, most of such incidents have taken place at PNB ATMs only. Recently, an incident of breaking an ATM of the PNB with a gas-cutter took place at Roawali village on the Jalandhar-Pathankot road. Navjinder Singh, IT section manager, PNB, said they had around 60 ATMs in the city and cantonment, but only 15 of them were being guarded by security personnel. In order to combat the ATM burglaries, caretaker security agencies were being asked to beef up the security at the ATMs. ‘‘We have already installed CCTVs at every cash point and keep checking these from time to time,’’ Navjinder added. ‘‘We are going to launch an e-surveillance system by February 15 at all ATMs, which would help a lot to stop such crimes,’’ he said, adding that the security issues at ATMs had been taken up with the Jalandhar
police on various occasions. The police had been told to increase patrolling on the ATMs vulnerable
to looting. Deputy Commissioner of Police, Jalandhar, Rahul S said despite repeated instructions and letters to all banks in the city to take measures to control such crimes, many banks had not complied with the police instructions. ‘‘We have surveyed ATMs and held meetings with various bank managers on the issue. The security at the ATMs had been outsourced by a majority of the banks,’’ he added. Channel manager of the State Bank of India Roop Kamal claimed that their ATMs were highly secure in the state. They had around 70 ATMs in Jalandhar and all of these were guarded by security personnel. Besides, the auto-lock shutter system had been introduced to check such crime. Past incidents
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Better jalandhar road Infrastructure—II The indifferent attitude of the government towards providing basic civic amenities, lack of planning and politcian-bureaucrat-contractor nexus has resulted in abysmal road network. The Jalandhar Tribune asks residents about the problem and their suggestions on it Bipin Bhardwaj Tribune News Service
Jalandhar, February 3 Different agencies and government officials, executing various development works are going scot free even after misappropriating huge public money from these projects, giving a silent burial to public convenience. The road laying and re-carpeting works, involving crores of rupees, are considered major money spinning projects and the mafia leaves no stone unturned to grab these projects. A random survey by The Tribune team reveals that the state government, instead of providing basic civic amenities to the general public, is providing monetary benefits to the mafia. Instead of fixing the responsibly of officials and executing agencies, the government has been overlooking the malpractices that go on through these projects. Experts are of the view that the government think-tanks in the Planning Department lack foresightedness, which is evident from different road projects that either fail to take off in time or complicate public problems instead of solving them. This is due to massive pilferage of money at every level of a project and widespread corruption from the top to bottom, the experts claim. They say that the government should be at least 25 years ahead in its planning and execute the projects only after assessing their viability in a transparent manner. The officials concerned and the executing agencies must be made accountable and held responsible for the failed projects. Talking to The Tribune, senior general manager, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL), Jalandhar, SK Nigam, said the authorities concerned should make proper provisions for storm water drains before re-carpeting the roads with proper pre-mix (bitumen). “I have not seen proper provision for storm water drainage on the roads in the city. The bitumen peels off from the road surface where there is a problem of water-logging. Since water and bitumen are rivals, the condition of roads in water-logged areas is pathetic,” said Nigam. Manjit Singh, owner of PM Medical Agencies, a Dilkusha Market-based wholesaler of vaccines, laments that the poor condition of city roads have hit business adversely. Customers avoid visiting the city due to damaged roads. The count of container- breakage has been going high for the past two decades. Moreover, the potholes, especially on roads with no streetlights or defunct lights, often prove fatal for medicine dealers and distributors. “My delivery boy met with a fatal accident while he was on his way to supply a life-saving drug to a city hospital. He was badly injured in the accident. The drug consignment he carried was also destroyed,” said Manjit Singh. “We pay taxes to the government as well as to the local bodies. It is the duty of the Municipal Corporation (MC) to provide us all basic civic amenities,” he said. Ramesh Bali, a resident of Ekta Vihar, Phase-II, Meethapur locality, said the government should involve the general public in various developmental works. The government must seek public opinions, suggestions, plans and alternative ways to execute projects in their respective areas, he said. “There should be a regular check on construction works (in progress) for better results,” said Bali. Surinder Kumar Mittal, a resident of Green Mode Town, alleged that widespread corruption is prevalent in the allocation of road projects. Not only the politicians but also the bureaucrats and contractors create a nexus to hijack these projects. The projects executed by the contractors/mafia are short-lived due to the use of substandard material without any careful planning. “The rampant corruption from top to bottom in government departments has been a major reason behind the failure to provide basic amenities to the common man,” said Mittal.
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District goes ‘smoke-free’, needs awareness to maintain new status
Jalandhar, February 3 The department has also planned to conduct awareness programmes at various educational institutions and public places. It is the 17th district to get the status of ‘smoke-free’ on the basis of compliance study done by the School of Public Health, PGIMER, Chandigarh, last month. “Besides visiting the bus stand and the railway station, our teams also visited places like Chitti, Uggi, Malian Kalan, Nakodar, Melatpur and Noormahal. Apart from checking the compliance status, we also made people aware about the diseases caused by active and passive smoking,” said RL Bassan, Civil Surgeon, Jalandhar. With the implementation of the COTPA Act, smoking has been banned at public places. A fine of up to Rs 200 could be imposed on the violaters. The administration has made various task forces in the Police, Judicial and Health Departments for the implementation of the act. Many NGOs and food inspectors have been given powers to issue challans to the violators. Section 4 of the COTPA and subsequent rules notified (The Prohibition of Smoking in Public Places Rules, 2008) prohibit smoking at public places with the aim of protecting people from passive smoking, which can cause serious health problems, including heart diseases, lung cancer, severe asthma attacks and sudden infant death syndrome. Under the act, smoking is banned at any place to which the public has access, including hospitals, railway waiting rooms, amusement centres, restaurants, public offices, court buildings, educational institutions, libraries, public conveyances and auditoriums. The law also mandates the vendors to put up boards that mention that only those above 18 years can buy cigarettes. There is also a ban on the sale of tobacco products within 100 yards of religious places and educational institutes. |
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Pushpa Gujral Science City organises Energy Olympiad
Jalandhar, February 3 Various competitions such as project/model display, poster making, slogan writing and science drama were organised in which more than 300 students participated from different schools across Punjab. The winners were given cash prizes and certificates. Director general, Science City, Dr RS Khandpur, said Pushpa Gujral Science City was awarded the second prize (General Category) in the National Energy Conservation Award - 2013 function held at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi on December 16, 2013. The award was given by President Pranab Mukherjee. Dr Khandpur added the Science City received this award in recognition of its achievement to reduce the energy consumption while enhancing its performance with improved energy efficiency. The annual saving by the Science City by adopting such measures is more than Rs 12 lakh per year. ‘‘The energy conservation measures adopted by the Science City include improvements in HVAC system such as setting the temperature of the air-conditioning units at 26 degree, use of limited lights at night, improvement in power factor by adding capacitors and electronic chokes, use of CFL and star-rated devices, auto-cut water pumps, auto-cut lighting system and installation of solar power generating system of 100 KW & 20 KW in the Science City,’’ said Dr Khandpur. |
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SC bodies plan NRI meet on February 17
Jalandhar, February 3 Bagha added that the community had been into different businesses all these years such as leather and footwear manufacturing at Buta Mandi. But owing to lack of awareness on incentives given by the government, the members of the community had failed to expand further. “With fewer employment chances available now, we aim to encourage good entrepreneurial works in Punjab for which we would also seek NRI investment from people of our community who have settled abroad. The officials from the Industry Department and the SC Corporation would also make them aware of various loan advancement and subsidy schemes available for the purpose”, he said. District manager, SC Corporation, Mehar Chand and general manager, Industry, Bhinder Singh, have also confirmed the participation of their departments. |
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Traders protest outside minister’s house
Jalandhar, February 3 The protesters, led by Ravinder Dhir and Gursharan Singh, raised slogans against the government and the minister, flaying them for resorting to policies "which were harming the interests of the traders". The minister and his son Mahinder Bhagat, however, are in the UK for the past few days. The traders said the government policies had led to the destabilisation of their businesses, forcing them to agitate on roads. They said their next bigg protest would be outside the residence of Chief Parliamentary Secretary KD Bhandari on Saturday. |
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Lecture delivered on applied chemistry
Tribune News Service
Jalandhar, February 3 Director Dr HS Johal thanked Prof Kaith for his valuable time and sharing his expertise with the students. Director, academic affairs, Prof SS Chatha appreciated the efforts of the management to bring experts from academics and industry on campus for the all-round intellectual development of students. Farewell celebrations
The valedictory function ‘ADIEU’ for Class XII was organised at Apeejay School, Rama Mandi, Jalandhar, under the guidance of principal Madhu Sharma. The Class XI students presented a colourful and memorable function for their seniors. The programme began with lighting of the ceremonial lamp by the principal, a welcome song by students of Class XI, followed by a group song and interesting games. Various dance performances on famous punjabi numbers enthralled the audience. Parminder Singh Bhullar was chosen Mr Apeejay, Aneet Bajwa was chosen Ms Apeejay, Aman Kapoor was chosen Mr Handsome and Kiranjit Kaur was chosen Ms
Elegant. Achievers’ Day
KMV celebrated Achievers’ Day to honour meritorious students of the session 2012-13. It was organised by Student Welfare Club of KMV. The girls who secured top positions in the university were given trophies. About 227 merit holders were honoured by principal Dr Atima Sharma. Dean Students Welfare Dr Madhumeet was the in-charge of this event. |
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