The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Rush in offices as work resumes after 15-day strike
Applicants of driving licences and registration certificates stand in a long queue as the windows opened after 15 days after the strike of the clerical staff in Jalandhar on Friday. Jalandhar, March 7
With the 15-day strike of the clerical staff of all state government offices ending today, long queues of applicants were witnessed at the counters of these offices. Hundreds of applicants, who had been waiting to get their licences and registration certificates made at the counters of the District Transport Office, finally got a chance to get their work done.
Applicants of driving licences and registration certificates stand in a long queue as the windows opened after 15 days after the strike of the clerical staff in Jalandhar on Friday. Tribune Photo: Malkiat Singh

Women cops all set to take on tough tasks
Under-training IPS officer Amneet Kondal (L) and probationary PPS officer Dr Richa Agnihotri with constables of the WASPS at the Police Commissioner’s office in Jalandhar. Jalandhar, March 7
Donning the police uniform and holding their heads high, these young women enjoy being a part of the male-dominated force. Having accepted the challenge to enter a job that demands long, strenuous and odd working hours with a few days of rest, they say all such problems are adequately compensated once they are out in the field and take commanding positions.
Under-training IPS officer Amneet Kondal (L) and probationary PPS officer Dr Richa Agnihotri with constables of the WASPS at the Police Commissioner’s office in Jalandhar. Tribune photo: Malkiat Singh

From schools & colleges
Engineering students attend workshop
Students and staff of St Soldier Group of Institutions hold an awareness programme to celebrate International Women’s Day in Jalandhar on Friday. Jalandhar, March 7
First year engineering students of Lyallpur Khalsa College attended a technical workshop on basic concepts and knowledge of their subject.

Students and staff of St Soldier Group of Institutions hold an awareness programme to celebrate International Women’s Day in Jalandhar on Friday. A Tribune photograph

Admn plans to woo first-time voters
Amritsar, March 7
The district administration is working on a proposal with hotel and restaurant associations to grant considerable rebate on food to the first-time voters. Deputy Commissioner Ravi Bhagat said the offer would be limited to the first-time voters in the age group of 18 to 19. He said they would be issued appreciation certificates at the polling booths on exercising their franchise in the Lok Sabha poll.

Policemen seize Rs 30 lakh from NRI in city
Policemen count cash recovered from an NRI at Wadala Chowk in Jalandhar on Friday. Jalandhar, March 7
With the implementation of the election code of conduct and restriction on carrying unaccounted cash exceeding Rs 1 lakh coming into effect, the Bhargo Camp police today seized Rs 19.5 lakh and 11,000 pounds from an NRI at Wadala Chowk this evening. The total value of the money was Rs 30 lakh.

Policemen count cash recovered from an NRI at Wadala Chowk in Jalandhar on Friday. A Tribune photograph

Arms depots checked for records
Jalandhar, March 7
In view of the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections, the Commissionerate Police today conducted raids to check the maintenance of records of the ammunition shops in the city.

Pharmaceutical conference
Jalandhar, March 7
Scientists of national and international fame will share their experiences in the 3rd Annual Conference on Pharmaceutical Education and Research to be held at Lovely Professional University (LPU) near here on Saturday. A press note issued by the university said the theme of the conference is ‘Recent Trends in Pharma Industry: Bridging the Gaps in Pharmaceutical Education’.

2 dog shows to be held on March 9
Jalandhar, March 7
Two dog shows will be held simultaneously at Guru Gobind Singh Stadium and Lyallpur Khalsa Senior Secondary School on March 9 from 10 am to 6 pm. The shows are being organised by Kohinoor Kennel Club. Around 250 dogs of 36 breeds from all over the country are expected to take part in the shows. The shows will be judged by Roberto Tesoro from Phillipines and Lu Chi Gwo from Taiwan. — TNS

Department distributes 40,000 priority ration cards in a day!
Rachna Khaira
Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, March 7
The Department of Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs seemed to have used some magic wand to distribute around 40,000 priority ration cards (PRCs) to the beneficiaries of the new "atta-dal" scheme in the district in just one day.

Even on Thursday, the first day of the implementation of the code of conduct in the state, many employees from various departments of the district administration were seen making priority cards at various places in the city. However, on Friday, the Department of Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs claimed to have distributed them all by its handful of inspectors after visiting each beneficiary individually.

"We had deputed around 40 food inspectors who had finished the entire distribution of the PRCs on time. They had visited the household of each beneficiary and handed over the card individually after verifying the beneficiary's details at the venue," claimed Dr Rakesh Singla, District Controller, Food and Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs. However, on being asked about distributing the PRCs without registering them on the D-4 register, the official record of the ration card, he replied that the photo-copies of the PRCs had been preserved before distributing them to the beneficiaries and the remaining work of the D-4 register would be done simultaneously. On being asked to provide the final list of beneficiaries in the district, he said the list had already been handed over to the Deputy Commissioner.

Deputy Commissioner Varun Roojam confirmed that the final list of the beneficiaries was in place and the PRCs had been distributed accordingly. "The list is available in my office as well as in all the SDMs of their respective sub division. Anyone can enquire about their status under the new scheme," said Roojam.

However, according to the official records of the District Administration, around 63,000 cards were left to be made on February 27. While Cantonment has 9,700 cards left, Adampur and Jalandhar City were left with 6,850 and 14,500 cards, respectively. While Phillaur sub-division, comprising Phillaur, Noormahal and Goraya, had 18,253 cards left to be made, Nakodar was left with 8,866 cards. Shahkot has around 12,095 cards under the new scheme. Jalandhar II was left with around 16,000 cards. Following this, the District Administration underwent a mammoth exercise to make them before the implementation of the code of conduct in the state by engaging around 1,000 employees from various departments. They were even called on weekends to complete the target on time.

"I made around 700 cards in five days. Although, examination time was round the corner and our students appearing in board exams suffered a lot, we were left with no option but to finish the job assigned in the stipulated time," said a government teacher who made PRCs at the Red Cross Bhawan.

She also said that apart from making the PRCs, the team members also filled the D-4 registers, the official record of the ration card issued to the beneficiary.

Now, with the State Election Commission imposing a ban on the further distribution of the PRCs on Friday due to the code of conduct being imposed in the state, the department has claimed to have already distributed the PRCs to all the new beneficiaries.

	Rush in offices as work resumes after 15-day strike More than 5,000 applications stuck up due to stir of the state government clerical staff Deepkamal Kaur Tribune News Service Jalandhar, March 7 With the 15-day strike of the clerical staff of all state government offices ending today, long queues of applicants were witnessed at the counters of these offices. Hundreds of applicants, who had been waiting to get their licences and registration certificates made at the counters of the District Transport Office, finally got a chance to get their work done. But it remained a Herculean task for them to wait for their turn at three counters to complete various formalities. Vishal, a resident of Railway Road who had come to apply for his licence, said he had to stand at the cash counter for an hour to pay the fee. "Again there was a long waiting at the photography counter. My entire first half of the day has got lost in the process," he said. Even the offices of sub-registrars had a lot of rush, with scores of applicants coming for getting their land record entries done. There was a huge rush outside the office of Tehsildar-I Seema Singh, with applicants waiting for more than two hours to get their work done. The Tehsildar said since her staff had resumed work after 15 days today, the rush was more and the waiting period had gone extra long. Similarly, the Suwidha Centre, too, has a backlog of more than 5,000 files which have not even been accepted by the staff of revenue, transport and other departments for processing. Consequently, a number of applicants are returning without getting copies of their documents even as the date of delivery has lapsed. Umesh Kumar, an applicant from Bashirpura, said he had come to get a copy of his duplicate ration card. "The document was to be delivered by yesterday, but it still is not ready and I have been asked to come again," he said, showing the receipt indicating the scheduled delivery date of the documents. Kulwinder Singh, another applicant, had come from Rasoolpur village, to get the copy of his marriage certificate. He too fumed, "The date of delivery of the file was yesterday, but the staff says that they even do not know its status. I have been asked to contact the back-end offices to check as to where my file was lying stuck." Rajbir Singh, system manager, Suwidha Centre, said, "We are expecting more rush on Monday. The strike has badly affected the delivery of documents. We are likely to face problems in the clearing of backlog for the next 15 days." New token-dispensing machine To resolve the problem in the delay of the issuance of tokens for various works at the Suwidha Centre, the district administration has purchased a touch-screen token-dispensing machine. The machine, which has been bought at a cost of Rs 1 lakh, is likely to be installed in a week's time. The machine has an in-built computer system and a software for the purpose. The software is being currently customised to cater to the specific needs of the centre. The administration has plans to buy two more token machines, if the trial with the first one is successful. The administration which had about five years ago purchased a touch-screen kiosk for knowing the status of applications has had a bad experience with the device which hardly remained in use. People used to press the screen so hard and fiddle with its buttons that it often remained out of order. For the same reason, the administration plans to deploy an employee of Suwidha Centre with the new token machine.
	Women cops all set to take on tough tasks Deepkamal Kaur Tribune News Service Jalandhar, March 7 Donning the police uniform and holding their heads high, these young women enjoy being a part of the male-dominated force. Having accepted the challenge to enter a job that demands long, strenuous and odd working hours with a few days of rest, they say all such problems are adequately compensated once they are out in the field and take commanding positions. Two young women from the city - under-training IPS officer Amneet Kondal and probationary PPS officer Dr Richa Agnihotri - can be seen at almost all major crime spots these days. Both of them passed out from Apeejay School here, got into some other jobs and finally landed up taking training together. While Kondal earlier worked as a probationary officer in a bank, Dr Agnihotri had been a dentist. Amneet Kondal appeared for the UPSC examination in 2012. She is the daughter of Mohinder Singh, retired IRS officer of the 1977 batch, who served as Commissioner of Income Tax. Her mother is currently working as an AGM with the State Bank of India at Mohali. Having passing out Class XII with commerce from Apeejay School, she graduated in Arts from St Bede’s College, Shimla, and did post graduation in psychology from Panjab University, Chandigarh, in 2007. Thereafter she cleared the bank examination and took to the job of a probationary officer with the SBI. “But in my heart of hearts, my desire was to become a civil officer. In fact, I fulfilled my dad’s dream by becoming an IPS officer. He kept on propelling me to prepare for the examination and this is how I reached here. But it certainly has been a highly rewarding experience so far. Having got my home cadre Punjab, I am likely to join as an ASP by September”, Kondal said. The 30-year-old woman has already done her training with Deputy Commissioner of Police Rahul S. She is now attached with the District and Sessions Judge, RS Attri, and by the next week, she will be seen in the office of the Deputy Commissioner. For Dr Agnihotri, who has been taking training for the past six months in the city, there has been a lot of learning experiences. Daughter of senior cop SK Agnihotri, who is currently serving as Commandant at the In-service Training Centre, Kapurthala, she was already well acquainted with the functioning of the force. She did her BDS from Sunam before appearing for the examinations and joining the force. Regarding the toughest assignment she faced so far, she said, “It was the recent kidnapping of a six-year-old girl near the cantonment area. We returned at 4 am that day.” She added, “The most ceremonious, however, has been leading the Republic Day parade.” While the officers get all the facilities that they demand, the job is much tougher for women constables who get just a day’s rest after 15 days of grind. Being on the run all day chasing eve-teasers on their Activa scooters, listening to and noting down the information from control rooms on their walkie-talkies, tracking various complaints received on 1091 helpline from women in trouble, it is indeed a rigorous job for these women who are a part of the Punjab Police Women Armed Special Protection Squad (WASPS). Much rewarding for them is the fact that they have been chosen on account of their agility and qualification. Manita (24) of Gurdaspur has done MSc (IT) while Kawaldeep Kaur (23) of the same place has done MA in political science. Navneet is a footballer and an athlete. Sandeep (21) of Hoshiarpur, who too is a part of the squad, said her talent in judo karate, use of weapons and knowledge of law had been nurtured during their training held at Phillaur before her posting in April last year.
	From schools & colleges Engineering students attend workshop Jalandhar, March 7 First year engineering students of Lyallpur Khalsa College attended a technical workshop on basic concepts and knowledge of their subject. The students were taken to Centre Institutes of Hand Tools, Jalandhar, under the guidance of Prof Sartaj Singh Cheema and Prof Gagandeep Singh. The students learned about various aspects of production; starting from production, management, maintenance, foundry, research and development. Rally for clean and green city KMV’s NSS Department and Saplings of Life Club organised an awareness rally. Carrying placards and banners, as many as 175 KMVites took out the rally exhorting people to keep the city clean and green. Principal Dr Atima Sharma averred that KMV was fully awake to noble causes pertaining to environment and the KMVites make perpetual efforts to create awareness on issues regarding such as cleanliness and green environment. Dr Madhumeet, Sadhana, Anupam, Dr Sonik Bhatia, Sachin and Varinder were present on the occasion. KMV students bag top positions Kanya Maha Vidyalaya students bagged top positions in the recently declared results of BA Honours School in English (first semester). Dixa Thakur got the first position in the university by securing 289 out of 400 marks. Harpreet Kaur and Taranveer Kaur were jointly placed at second position. Both of them secured 276 out of 400 marks. Jasmin Bharaj bagged the fourth position and Hardeep Kaur was placed fifth in the merit list. Principal Dr Atima Sharma congratulated the head, Department of English, Seema Jain, students and the faculty for the excellent academic performance. Healthy Snacks Day at DIPS The Pre-primary Wing of DIPS, Urban Estate-1, organised an activity ‘Healthy Snacks Day’. Children were asked to bring their favourite fruit. The teachers mixed them in different ways and served variety of salads to the students. The tiny tots not only enjoyed the varied tastes, but also learned to appreciate a variety of flavours, tastes, colours and physical appearance of each fruit and its nutritious value. The teachers told them about the care they need to take while cutting fresh fruits and benefits of eating fresh fruits. During the event, Principal Meenakshi Mehta appreciated the joint efforts of the teachers and students. International Women’s Day celebrated International Women’s Day was celebrated by St Soldier Group of Institutions and Paradise College of Education in association with JCI, Jalandhar City. The day was dedicated to the education of girls. As many as 550 girl students from different colleges of St Soldier Group and Paradise College of Education attended the function. Teachers performed modelling, giddha and dance and gave the message of women’s empowerment through their performances. Kulwinder Kaur Butter and Pankaj Chopra were conferred with the Women Idol Award 2014 by Paradise College of Education. Meanwhile, JCI, Jalandhar team, honoured vice chairperson of St Soldier Group of Institutions, Sangeeta Chopra, with Women Idol Award 2014 for her contribution in the field of education and social services. Extension lecture An extension lecture on ‘Fundamental Group and its Applications’ was organised by Bansi Lal Mathematical Society, DAV College, Jalandhar, under the guidance of Principal Dr BB Sharma. Prof MR Adhikari, a mathematician from University of Calcutta, delivered a lecture to post graduate students of mathematics. Prof Adhikari explained many applications using the Fundamental Group. During the interaction session, Prof Adhikari answered queries of students and teachers. DAV students top BSc exams Students of the Department of Food Science and Technology of DAV College, Jalandhar, got top positions in BSc Food Science and Technology, third semester examinations, conducted by Guru Nanak Dev University. Ritika got the first position with 356 marks out of 400, Tanu got second and Navreet got the third position with 352 and 337 marks respectively. Principal Dr BB Sharma, Prof Bhartendu Singla (HOD, Department of Food Science and Technology), Prof Preetika Bhatia and Prof Rajraani congratulated the students. — TNS
	Admn plans to woo first-time voters Amritsar, March 7 The district administration is working on a proposal with hotel and restaurant associations to grant considerable rebate on food to the first-time voters. Deputy Commissioner Ravi Bhagat said the offer would be limited to the first-time voters in the age group of 18 to 19. He said they would be issued appreciation certificates at the polling booths on exercising their franchise in the Lok Sabha poll. The quantum of rebate would be decided in consultation with hotel and restaurant owners and a meeting in this regard would be held soon, the DC said. Meanwhile, Amritsar Hotel and Restaurant Association (AHARA) president APS Chatha said keeping in view the high inflation and tax rate, it was not possible to offer discount on food without government support. He added that they were already paying about 26 per cent tax on food and beverages. There are about 35,548 voters the age group of 18 to 19 in the district. Amritsar has the second highest number of first- time voters after Ludhiana, which has about 53,527 voters in the age group of 18 to 19 years. About 66 per cent voters in the district had exercised their franchise in the previous Lok Sabha elections. The administration wants to touch the magic figure of 80 per cent this time. In the last Assembly elections, about 73 per cent voters in Amritsar had exercised their franchise. A van fitted with an audio-visual projector is being prepared to attract electorates. The van will cover the rural areas. A Punjabi song has also been composed to encourage voters to exercise their franchise. Caps and T-shirts will also be distributed among the electorates. — TNS
	Policemen seize Rs 30 lakh from NRI in city Tribune News Service Jalandhar, March 7 With the implementation of the election code of conduct and restriction on carrying unaccounted cash exceeding Rs 1 lakh coming into effect, the Bhargo Camp police today seized Rs 19.5 lakh and 11,000 pounds from an NRI at Wadala Chowk this evening. The total value of the money was Rs 30 lakh. The cash was recovered in the presence of Tehsildar-1 Seema Singh and Income Tax Officer Kuldeep Sharma. SHO, Bhargo Camp, inspector Rashpal Singh said the recovery was made from Tarsem Singh of Railway Road while he was on his way from Nakodar to Jalandhar on his Liva car. He was stopped by the police at a naka laid at Wadala Chowk. The NRI said the reason behind carrying this huge amount was that he was getting his house constructed for which he needed it. “Since he could not provide any documents to support his claim, the money was confiscated. In case, he is able to authenticate the source and accounts in which he will deposit the cash, the amount will be returned to him”, the SHO said.