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Parking Woes
Banking remains paralysed
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Admn on its toes for
CM’s visit today
Staff resent non-payment of salaries
Admn fails to repair faulty streetlights
Diagnostic centre at Martyrs Memorial Civil Hospital delayed
Workshop on research methodology, statistics
Safai sewaks seek insurance cover
20 lakh suffer from TB annually: Red Cross
University college shines in Intech Utsav
College’s sports festival concludes
Two booked for murder
Thief kills temple's caretaker |
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Police to put locks on erring vehicles
Neeraj Bagga Tribune News Service
Amritsar, February 11 Wrong parking of vehicles is rampant on Mall Road, Lawrence Road, Crystal Chowk, Ranjit Avenue, Court Road and Hall gate road, Town Hall and other areas of the city. Keeping in view the traffic violations, Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal aired his opinion about the introduction of robotic parking in various cities. The efforts of the administration to tow away wrongly parked vehicles had limited impact on violators. A few months ago, when the Police Department had conceptualised the idea of engaging private players for towing away the wrongly parked vehicles, residents were a delighted lot as such a move was the need of the hour to check parking woes. But after a while, it proved to be a temporary relief for residents. The city police has engaged eight privately-owned hydraulic tow-away vehicles that are hardly spotted performing their job. The on-duty police personnel avoid calling these vehicles thinking that the job had been outsourced by the department. In main commercial areas like Mall road, Queens Road and Hall Bazaar, there is no provision of organised parking spaces. Though the city has designated parking lots in posh areas like Lawrence road and the Nehru Shopping Complex, the situation has not been improved. Though proper parking facility is available near the Golden Temple and Gurdwara Shaheedan, people avoid using these to save parking charges. They prefer to park their vehicles on roadsides and nearby sub-lanes. Traffic congestion is more visible at fish, iron and furniture markets at Katra Sher Singh and Bagh Akalian, iron and steel market at Cheel Mandi, timber market at Bakarwala-Ghee Mandi as people start loading and unloading vehicles on the sides of roads. In the absence of parking lots, people visiting government offices in the city are forced to park their vehicles on roadsides. The District Courts Complex and the Deputy Commissioner's office complex, where most of the public offices are located, are also facing the issue.
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Banking remains paralysed
Amritsar, February 11 On the call of the United Forum of Bank Union (UFBU), members of the local chapter held a demonstration outside the State Bank of India, Town Hall. Leaders of various unions affiliated to the UFBU and different banks addressed the gathering and lambasted the adamant attitude of the Indian Banks Association (IBA). Members of the union raised slogans and made speeches. They claimed that the Ministry of Finance under vote-bank politics of the UPA government constituted the 7th Pay Commission for central state govt employees which is due with effect from January 1, 2016 where as wage revision of the Public Sector Bank employees is due since November 2012 but no sincere efforts have been made by the government. They said a rather meagre 5 per cent to 10 per cent increase was extended against 32 to 35 per cent wage increase demanded by bank employees. The number of Union and state government employees is 1.25 crore whereas the bank employees are only eight lakh. Subsequently, the agitating employees proceeded to Jailianwala Bagh.
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Admn on its toes for
CM’s visit today
Amritsar, February 11 Deputy Commissioner Ravi Bhagat said a large number of people from all parts of the state would attend the function. He said besides Chief Minister many other dignitaries would be reaching the city. Bhagat said the decision of holiday in schools had been taken to save students from harassment. The police have also deployed extra force in the city to tackle the traffic on the roads. As the venue of the inaugural function is close to the Airport Road, the general public is expected to face a problem. However, general public may take the bypass road to reach Gumtala instead of using the Court Road to reach Airport. Bhagat said the police have been deployed to suggest alternative route to vehicle users. Arrangement has been made for parking of vehicles alongside the venue. Meanwhile, the workers were seen busy giving final touches to the preparations at the venue through out the day as senior officials of the government, including Principal Secretary SK Sandhu, held meetings to review the arrangements. Sidhu said arrangements had been made to ensure that residents do not face any problem because of the heavy rush of people visiting the city.
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Staff resent non-payment of salaries
Amritsar, February 11 Staff at a majority of government schools have not been paid salaries since December. It is affecting academic and other routine work at these schools. Though the mid-day meal for the schools situated in the municipal corporation limit has been outsourced to one NGO but its working has been affected in rural areas, said office-bearers of the Democratic Teachers Front (DTF). They said teachers were forced to arrange eatables and other articles on their own to continue providing meals to students. They said it would have been nice that the state government had cleared pending dues before holding a mega event. Similar views were echoed by the Government-Aided School Teachers Union. Government-Aided School Teachers have not been paid salary for the past nearly four months. They received their last salary in September. Ajay Chauhan, spokesperson of the union, said irregular release of 95 per cent grant-in aid by the state government continuously delayed their salaries. There are about 4,200 employees working in 484 aided schools in the state as they had been without salary for the past three months. Earlier, they were issued salary after a gap of six months in September. The teachers of these schools were complaining of being overburdened as 60 per cent posts were lying vacant. Education at a vital organ of state education system is in stress and the government needed to cure it first. “We respect our martyrs, but at the same time it was wise to raise a nation with rightly educated and groomed youngsters who would guard and develop the nation”, he commented. A resident of Rani Ka Bagh, Gurbhej Singh, said, the government declared holiday in all city schools whether government or private on account of foundation laying ceremony on February 12. He said the step was taken while ignoring the fact that the final examination of all education boards were about to conclude. He alleged that the announcement was made to utilise the private school transport to ferry supporters to the venue of the ceremony.
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Admn fails to repair faulty streetlights
Amritsar, February 11 Lucky said despite his repeated pleas in the House meeting and numerous e-mails to the City Mayor and the MC Commissioner about the defunct streetlights in the city, they failed to give any response. The residents have themselves engaged two electricians who attend to complaints of faulty streetlights of the Guru Nanak Nagar, Shastri Nagar, Friends Colony, Gopal Nagar and Nehru Colony, which fall in this area. Around 200 tube lights, 105 chokes and other items have been replaced by the residents. “There are around 900 streetlight points out of which 150 are still out of order. It would take another four days to repair them. I have been spending money from my own pocket for rectifying the faulty streetlights in my area (Ward No. 10) for the past one week. The reason is that I am answerable to residents who approached me for voicing their concern. The area falls under the jurisdiction of Local Bodies Minister Anil Joshi. Perhaps, political rivalry might be the reason behind the lack of action by the authorities in the matter,” he said. “Cases of thefts and snatching incidents in the area are on the rise as the thieves and robbers take the advantage of darkness and leave the place after committing the crime. Though the maintenance contract has already expired, there is nobody to take care of the streetlights lying defunct for quite some time. Lucky said the contractors seldom pay heed to these issues as the MC owes over Rs 1.5 crore to them. “Unless the MC clears its dues, the contractors are not inclined to do their job and it was a justified answer I suppose. The MC on its part has been doing nothing to resolve the matter and never cared to frame a policy for the same. There are no streetlights at prime locations," he said. Mayor Bakshi Ram Arora said the matter had come to his notice and efforts would be made to engage the maintenance staff to resolve the issue.
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Diagnostic centre at Martyrs Memorial Civil Hospital delayed
Amritsar, February 11 The building was completed around two months ago and ever since a lock is hanging outside it. The sources in the Punjab Health Systems Corporation (PHSC) said as per the terms of the engagement, the PHSC was to build the building and hand it over to the firm. The sources added that next stage of the project would begin only after the firm conducts inspections and approves it. The upcoming centre would be run under the public private partnership (PPP) and patients would be provided services at subsidised rates. The centre would provide facilities as CT Scan, MRI Scan, Digital X-Ray and many others. The work on the mother and child care centre at the hospital, too, has been delayed. As per the original plans the construction was to be completed by the month of March. However, sources at the hospital said at the present speed, it would at least take six more months. The roof of the building has been built but the workers are yet to finish the cement coating on the walls. When contacted, Senior Medical Officer Dr Balbir Singh Dhillon said, “The matter of the diagnostic centre is already with the higher authorities.” He said the PHSC was looking after the construction work but as per his knowledge the work may get delayed by a month or so.
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Workshop on research methodology, statistics
Amritsar, February 11 Around 92 research scholars and teachers from various colleges and universities participated in the workshop that was inaugurated by Vice-Chancellor AS Brar. Prof RM Pandey, Head, Department of Biostatistics, All-India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi, briefed the participants about the thrust of the programme.Prof Jaspal Singh Sandhu, Director, Academic Staff College, welcomed the chief guest and other dignitaries. Dr Mohan Kumar proposed a vote of thanks. Prof Nalin Mehta from AIIMS was among others present.Professor Brar in his inaugural address exhorted the teachers and young research scholars to dedicate themselves in the pursuit of research in their respective disciplines. He also expressed concern over the declining quality of research in the country. “Most of our universities have simply come to be known as postgraduate degree colleges, which is not a healthy trend for the growth of higher education in any country,” he said. He told budding researchers to work with utmost dedication, discipline, sincerity and honesty in order to realise the hidden potential within them. He said the researchers should make optimum use of costly scientific equipment in universities, he said. "The GNDU is perhaps the sole university across the country, which is offering scholarships to all PhD students, including those students who have not even qualified the UGC (NET),” he said. Results declared: Dr RK Mahajan, professor, in charge (examinations), said the results would also be available on the university website - www.gndu.ac.in
— TNS
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Safai sewaks seek insurance cover
Amritsar, February 11 About the insurance cover scheme, secretary of Safai Mazdoor Union Ravinder said a delegation consisting of representatives of various municipal corporations and committees of several districts met Local Bodies Minister and apprised him about the problems being faced by sewer and sanitation staff. "We have submitted a memorandum to the minister about covering sewer men and safai sewaks under the health insurance scheme as the staff of both the departments work under adverse conditions. To cover that risk, we have requested the minister to frame a policy to provide free medical aid if an employee gets hurt while on duty. Similarly, on duty death of an employee, the compensation should be given to the next of kin of the deceased," he said. This representation was on behalf of around 45,000 employees, associated with sewer and sanitation wings of various corporations and committees. Sanjay Khosla, president of the union said the minister had assured them of sympathetic consideration of the demands. "We have also asked the minister to constitute a welfare committee which should be empowered to scrutinise the mishap cases and endorse the case before releasing the benefit to the beneficiary or his survivors," he said. Meanwhile, the minister issued immediate orders to shift Varinderjit Singh, posted as dispenser with the Birth and Death Certification Department, to the Health Department. There were complaints against the said employee for harassing the public by posting late entries in the official records before issuing them this most important official document.
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20 lakh suffer from TB annually: Red Cross
Amritsar, February 11 Speaking on the occasion, Maude Froberg said the IFRC was managing project for the treatment of category 2 tuberculosis in seven states in India. She said the project to ensure that 100 per cent of category 2 patients complete their medication was being run in Amritsar and Jalandhar since 2009. The project was introduced in Ludhiana in 2013, she said. Maude said around 20 lakh people in India suffer from TB annually. Around 17 per cent of these patients discontinue the medication course of six months mid-way and thus their disease shifts to category 2. If any category 2 patient leave the medication mid-way, there are chances of him or her acquiring Multi Drug Resistant Tuberculosis. She lauded the role of the district health department and District TB Officer Dr Naresh Chawla for ensuring success of the project in the district.
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University college shines in Intech Utsav
Amritsar, February 11 Students of the college were also among the top five teams in 'Colour Your Vision' event. Dr GS Virk, director of the college congratulated students of the computer science for their excellent performance. He said it was a learning experience for students that motivated them in the right direction to achieve more. Students gave a strong competition to the participating teams from various colleges of the Punjab.
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College’s sports festival concludes
Amritsar, February 11 The college organised various fun games for the students and faculty which witnessed massive participation. Speaking on the occasion, Dr Sikri encouraged the students to excel in other activities along with studies. He said sports and cultural programmes were a great stress buster for students, especially enrolled in medical sciences. Dr Sikri said the college would continue to work for developing overall personalities of the students. He said the aim of the college was not to produce good doctors but also good human beings. Dr Kusum
Dutta, Dr Renu Saroa, Dr Jeevan Lata, Dr Sukhwinder Pal Singh, Dr Puneet
Girdhar, Dr Nitin Verma and many other faculty and non-teaching employees were also present on the occasion.
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Two booked for murder
Amritsar, February 11 The Gharinda Police registered a case under Section 302 of the IPC against the two accused. The mother of the deceased also died due to shock as soon as his body reached his native village. According to reports, an altercation had erupted between Karundeep Singh and Ranjit Singh Rana and heated arguments were exchanged during the marriage. Rana allegedly challenged him outside the marriage resort and shot at him leaving him critically injured. Karundeep died of excessive blood loss before he reached the hospital. The police authorities said the raids were being conducted to nab the culprits.
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The city Traffic Police Department is all set to get about 900 locks to immobilise erring vehicles to check haphazard parking on city roads.
The issue has become a nuisance and is contributing to frequent traffic jams.
Amritsar, February 11
The annual sports festival of Government Dental College and Hospital concluded on its campus here today. College Principal Dr Vimal Kant Sikri took salute of honour from the march past.
The college organised various fun games for the students and faculty which witnessed massive participation. Speaking on the occasion, Dr Sikri encouraged the students to excel in other activities along with studies.
