Jalandhar, August 7
At the first meeting with school heads after the tragic incident involving the death of a schoolboy some days ago, Deputy Commissioner (DC) KK Yadav today issued a deadline up to August 15 to the schools to complete all formalities regarding their affidavits and to submit these soon.

The meeting within the municipal limits summoned today saw a heavy presence of principals from across the city. Heads of about 100 schools gathered on the occasion.

Representatives of the Education Department reported that about 90 per cent of the affidavits of schools had already arrived and a few were awaited.

While Deputy Commissioner of Police Naveen Singla held a presentation informing the schools about the High Court guidelines on the issue, the Deputy Commissioner called for strict adherence to traffic laws by all schools.

The primary points raised on the occasion were the presence of grills on the buses of school vehicles, presence of first-aid boxes and speed governors in vehicles, mandatory counselling of drivers and conductors at least twice a year, presence of lady wardens in vehicles ferrying girl students, traffic wardens at all schools to ensure the safe alighting and getting down from vehicles of students on leaving and reaching the school.

The schools were also reminded that the maximum limit on a school vehicle shouldn’t exceed 25 km.

They were also told that the vehicles should be parked inside the school limits and any vehicle outside the school limits should carry the school zone board.

District Education officer (Secondary Education) Harinder Pal said, “Almost all schools have fulfilled formalities regarding their affidavits and the deadline for them is August 15. Schools shall also be required to update information regarding change in vehicles or buying of new ones etc by the 5th day of every month.”

District guidance councillor Surjit Lal said, “While so far the meet of only schools within the MC limits had been conducted, soon a meet of schools outside the MC limits shall also be held.”

Meanwhile, the Education Department has also been asked to conduct regular meets with school administrators to sensitise them about the traffic requirements and to spread awarenss about the traffic rules.

During the meeting today it was also declared that phase-wise checking of school drivers across the district will be started within a few days. Sub-divisional teams constituted by the District Transport Officer shall also be providing school-wise training to drivers regarding regular requirements and maintenance of their equipment.

Jalandhar, August 7
Thousands of residents visiting the bus stand and commuting on the Garha road daily are completely distraught with the functioning of the Municipal Corporation (MC).

Even as it has been over a year since the road is in a very bad shape, no effort is being made to re-carpet it. The road has been completely washed away in front of the Hotel Residency, with several 1-foot deep craters there.

Not just the commuters, school buses, autorickshaws and other vehicles pass from the road daily, with prayers on their lips that they move past safely. Since the road has several banks, commercial buildings and connects to various colonies including Green Park, Radio Colony, Narinder Cinema market and other areas, most commuters cannot avoid it completely.

The worst-affected are those who commute on auto-rickshaws as these tilt to a 45 degree angle on the up and down stretch of the road. Since the autos as prone to turning topsy turvy, the commuters have been daily risking their lives while moving past here.

What is most annoying for the residents is that even as the Rs 99 lakh work for the road had been sanctioned in February ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, not an inch of road work has been done on it. The contractor has only constructed dividers for the past five months and not proceeded doing any work. Even as the monsoon season has so far primarily gone dry and the MC had reasonable time to get the work done, there has been no headway.

Ajay Sharma, a visitor to a bank on Garha Road, said, “I really wonder when the MC has got done work on several internal roads of the colony, why this main road which has a heavy movement has been left? Instead it should have been on the priority list for the authorities.”

Mayor Sunil Jyoti, when asked about the road, replied that the work was in progress. “It will get done in due course of time,” he said.

Jalandhar, August 7
Mayor Sunil Jyoti is in the thick of criticism from political quarters and even residents here after he attended a party hosted by the Municipal Corporation (MC) contractors late last evening at a hotel near here.

The Mayor, accompanied by Chief Parliamentary Secretary KD Bhandari and Senior Deputy Mayor Kamaljit Bhatia, had yesterday gone to attend a party that, too, at a time when he had himself last week levelled allegations against a contractor for doing poor quality road work at Gulmarg Colony, had talked of blacklisting certain contractors and getting inquiries done from the Chief Vigilance Officer.

The contractors had clearly hosted the party to improve their relations with the mayor so that they continued to get their payments cleared timely and thwart any action and inquiries against them over which there has been widespread reaction from all quarters, including from within the alliance.

Deputy mayor to report to party high command

Even as the Congress councillors have criticised the mayor for attending the party, the biggest revolt has come from Deputy Mayor Arvinder Kaur Oberoi. “I really wonder how the mayor has been changing his stand each day and what he is up to. One day he is criticising them and showing his annoyance for bad quality work and the next day he is accepting a dinner invite from them.

“Now that he has taken an obligation from them, how can anyone expect any action against them? What answer will he give to the residents who have lodged complaints against the contractors for their respective areas? Now where is that piece of road which he had held and flashed to the media on July 29 showing his dissatisfaction with the road work in Gulmarg Colony? I am really very annoyed and would report it to the party high command, informing them as to what all had been happening in Jalandhar,” said Oberoi who represents the SAD.

Further, she also criticised CPS Bhandari for getting the patch-up done between the mayor and contractors after their war of words against one another. “What was the need for Bhandari to pitch in? Why did he attend the party? Now he too must reply to the city residents who have been daily facing trouble in commuting on roads which are in a bad condition either due to delay in work or poor quality work done?” she went on to say.

Raja says mayor proved his stand

Leader of the Opposition Jagdish Raj Raja minced no words as he said that after having taken a treat from the contractors, the mayor had proven his stand giving us enough indication that he was not going to act against the contractors. “Our mayor has broken the decorum, shunned the ethics and crossed all limits. He is not going to blacklist any one despite the fact that there have been complaints even going to the Vigilance Bureau. You have already seen the kind of work being done on Old and New Railway Roads. He has made us stand in shame before the people,” he said.

How equations changed in a week

The mayor and contractors had remained on loggerheads for about a week as Avtar Singh, president of the contractors’ union, and Prem Malhotra, who had done the work there, had levelled allegations against Jyoti for being abusive when they had gone at his place to extend a marriage invite and seek some payments. A day after on July 29, Jyoti had taken a tough stand and shot back, giving copies of the complaint filed by the residents against the contractor for poor quality work to the media. Two days later, CPS Bhandari intervened in the matter, got a meeting of the mayor and contractors arranged and engineered a patch-up between them. Last night, they together had a ball.

Jalandhar, August 7
The Punjab Government has constituted vigilance committees for the district and its sub-divisions to abolish the practice of bonded labour. A notification in this regard has already been issued.

An official spokesperson of the state government said vigilance committees had been constituted under the sub-section (1) of Section 13 of the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Rules, 1976.

The committees have been constituted for the Jalandhar district and its sub-divisions, including Jalandhar Sub-division 1, Jalandhar Sub-division 2, Nakodar, Phillaur and Shahkot sub-divisions.

The District Vigilance Committee will comprise a chairman and nine members. The District Magistrate will be the chairman of the district-level committee while Paramjeet Singh Reru, Darshan Lal, Daulat Ram (all Municipal Councillors, Jalandhar), Kartar Singh, president, Bhartiya Mazdoor Sangh, Dilkushan Market, Suman Sareen, VK Sareen, advocates, district development and panchayat officer, Jalandhar, district welfare officer, Jalandhar, deputy registrar, corporative societies, Jalandhar and manager, Lead Bank, Jalandhar, will be inducted as members.

The spokesperson said for Jalandhar Sub-division 1 Vigilance Committee, Sub Divisional Magistrate (SDM), Jalandhar 1, would be the chairman while Raghvir Singh Bhatti. Sohan Lal, Surinder Pal Singh, president, Welfare Society, Ram Dass, general secretary, Hind Mazdoor Sabha, Narinder Kaur, president, Charda Suraj Sewa Society, block development and panchayat officer (West), Jalandhar, block development and panchayat officer (East), Abadpura, Jalandhar, chairman, Block Samiti, Bhogpur, Tehsildar, Jalandhar-1 and chairman, Agricultural Corporative Bank, would be the members of the committee.

The spokesperson added that for Jalandhar Sub-division 2 Vigilance Committee, District Magistrate, Jalandhar-2, would be the chairman.

He said Phillaur Sub-Division Vigilance Committee would comprise of Sub Divisional Magistrate (SDM), Phillaur as chairman while Ram Sharan Singh Regewal, Sarup Singh, Paramjeet Kaur, Prem Kumar, Rachhpal Singh, Tehsildar, Phillour, block development and panchayat officer, Phillour, labour and conciliation officer, Circle-3, naib tehsildar, Phillour and manager, Co-operative Bank would be members of the committee.

Similarly, the Shahkot Sub-Division Vigilance Committee will comprise of Sub Divisional Magistrate (SDM), Shahkot as chairman and Dalbir Singh, Sabbarwal, Jagtar Singh, sarpanch, Chak Chela village, Harjinder Singh, former sarpanch, Budhanwal village, Palwinder Singh, Turna, Baldev Chatha, block development and panchayat officer, Shahkot, block development and panchayat officer, Lohian, panchayat officer, Lohian, tehsildar, Shahkot and manager, State Bank of Patiala, Shahkot will be the members of the committee.

Jalandhar, August 7
A day after the city traders had levelled serious allegations of misbehaviour against Excise and Taxation Officer Amit Sareen, and had also lodged a strong protest at the ETO office, Additional Excise and Taxation Commissioner (AETC), Punjab, Shiv Dular Singh Dhillon, today initiated an inquiry into the matter. He recorded the statement of traders at Circuit House.

AETC was not able to record the statement of ETO Sareen. He is now expected to record his statement tomorrow.

Traders, who had already given a deadline to the Excise Department to suspend ETO Sareen, were adamant on their stand and warned that if the department didn’t relieve them of the ‘illogical’ penalties that were imposed upon them by the ETO, then they would launch a strong protest.

Statements of iron trader Hanuman Singla, Gursharan Singh, Ravi Mahinderu and some others were recorded by the AETC in the afternoon.

Although the traders sticked to their allegations that the penalties levied on them were not genuine, Excise Department officials continued contradicting them saying that only those traders who had been nailed in the inquiries were protesting. The officials said the traders had been using the ploy of levelling bogus complaints against them.

Yesterday, during the protest at the ETO office, traders had claimed that the department had wrongly penalised the owner of Ghanaiya Lal Jai Narain Company, Hanuman Singla while the Excise Department officials, on the other hand, alleged that they had unearthed his bogus billing scam of Rs 14.61 lakh.

The officials have alleged that Gursharan Singh and Ravi Mahendru, had been found to be involved in unethical practices. They said they had locked the TIN number of Prestige Metal Works, owned by BJP councillor Mahendru, his brother Rakesh Mahendru and nephew Dinesh Mahendru.

Jalandhar, August 7
An organic kitchen garden workshop was organised here today by NGO Kheti Virasat Mission (KVM). The participants, most of them housewives, were trained to grow winter vegetable organically, without using any chemical or fertiliser, since the winter vegetable season starts in mid September.

Apart from growing vegetable, the participants were also trained to make dung compost, preparing plant growth promoter solution, preparation of land and pest and insect control.

Theoretical information and practical demonstrations were a vital part of the workshop.

The participants learned to grow vegetables for a family of 5 to 10 members in 1 to 3 marla plots. Nearly 25 persons attended the workshop.

Talking to Jalandhar Tribune, KVM representative Umendra Dutt said the purpose of the workshop was to connect urban consumers with organic farming. The other motive was to let urban people know how tiresome farming is.

“This is our first workshop in the city. Before this, we have organised more than 20 workshops in other cities of Punjab, including Patiala, Ludhiana, Chandigarh and Bathinda. Besides this, we have also organised workshops in villages to encourage farmers towards organic farming,” added Dutt.

He said it was a sort of awareness campaign to educate people about the negative effects of chemicals in farming. “At present, the government policies are not pro-organic. We would like to connect people with us to argue vigorously with the government to change the policy in favour of organic farming,” he added.

One of the hosts of the workshop, Sunaina Walia, said, “It has been a wonderful experience to learn to grow organic vegetables at home. I have been connected with KVM for the past three years. The idea of consuming food grown chemically perturbs a lot. Therefore, if people living in urban areas can grow organic food at home, why not give it try. As I am against chemical farming, we have started making people aware of the same. I would like to call upon people to get rid of the lavish lawns and start growing organic vegetables.”

Jalandhar, August 7
Government Senior Secondary School, Jandiala, has organised a state-level National Cadet Core camp, which has witnessed the participation of women cadets from across the state. As many as 365 woman cadets are participating in the camp.

Starting from August 1, the camp has witnessed the participation of students from 11 to 12 districts, including Jalandhar, Kapurthala, Nawnahshar among others. The female cadets have been receiving training in the field of health, education and defence.

Principal of the school, Jeet Singh, said, “We are playing hosts to students from a number of schools and colleges. Usually colleges play hosts to such events, but we, being a government school, have hosted it this time and the initiative and arrangements have been lauded.”

Deputy Camp Commandant Captain Avinash Patwal said, “It is a military subject core camp and is being run by as many as 45 unit staff who include school and military staff. It has witnessed activities such as debate, painting, solo song, group song and group dance among others. Unity and discipline is the motto of the camp.”

As many as 15 colleges and six schools participated in the camp. Captain Patwal said the camp had mobilised woman cadets to opt for military, paramilitary or police service.

“The camp also gives students an insight into military and paramilitary services. Activities held specifically in this regard include firing, map reading, field-craft, battle-craft, drills, military history and career counselling for students intending to join the military field. Students selected through the inter-school contests during the course of the camp shall be selected for the national and state-level competitions to be held further.”

The camp will conclude on August 10.

Jalandhar, August 7
YUVA theatre group will organise Summer Theatre Festival in collaboration with Desh Bhagat Yadgar Hall Committee at Desh Bhagat Yadgar Hall. Plays based on social issues will be performed on August 8, 9, and 10.

Renowned theatre personality and president, Punjab Sangeet Natak Academy, Kewal Dhaliwal, will inaugurate the festival. Ek Hadsa, Ishaq Remix and Museum among other plays will be performed during the festival.

Talking to Jalandhar Tribune, YUVA representative Dr Ankur Sharma said the purpose behind the event was to bring a healthy alternative entertainment medium to the city.

The theatre art has been dying gradually in the city, whereas in other cities, including Amritsar, Patiala and Chandigarh, the art has been flourishing rapidly. “I would love to bring theatre art in Jalandhar that will be at par with other cities,” he added. — TNS

Jalandhar, August 7
Sainik School, Kapurthala, added yet another feather in its cap by winning the All-India Inter-Zone Hockey Championship that was held at Sainik School, Balachadi, Gujarat, recently.

The team had earlier played brilliantly in the north zone at Sainik School, Kunjpura. The team won three matches with one draw. The team defeated Sainik School, Goorakhal, Uttrakhand, with a record margin of 12 goals to nil (12-0).

The team scored a total of 27 goals, out of which cadet Humraj scored 12 goals. He was declared the best player of the meet. The team then proceeded to participate in the All India-Inter Zone Hockey Tournament.

The team won all the league matches to become the inter-zone champion. The team scored a total of 19 goals, out of which Humraj Singh scored 10 goals.

Humraj Singh was again declared the best player of the meet. Headmistress of the school Lt Col Smita Misra complimented the team and applauded the efforts made by the manager and the coach.

Col Sudhanshu Arya, principal, said the boys had worked very hard. The manager of the team, MS Bajwa, an alumnus of the school, has credited the win to the indomitable attitude of the cadets and the efforts put in by head constable Ripudaman Sharma, the coach of the team, who had been preparing the boys for the past some years.

Jalandhar, August 7
The efforts Youth Football Club (YFC), Rurka Kalan, in bringing about development of underprivileged children are now being recognised at the international level.

The United Nations has invited their two representatives — Prateek Chawla and Ramanjot Sandhu — to attend the United Nations on Sports for Development and Peace (UNOSDP) youth leadership camps, which are being held in Stockholm, Sweden and Gwangju in South Korea from August 3 to 14 and August 22 to September 23, respectively.

Both the camps will have 28 to 30 participants in the age group of 18 to 25 years. Manager of the club, Gurmangal Dass, said, “The purpose of these camps is to bring youth together, who are working in disadvantaged areas on sports for development projects and who have the potential to be community leaders in the field of sports for development and peace. The camp offers an invaluable chance to learn practical leadership skills to inspire and invoke changes in the society.”

The Rurka Kalan club, with its attempt to divert the village youth away from drugs, has spread its efforts to 15 villages, working with more than 2,000 children in four districts across the state.

Started in 2001, the club now has social centres of excellence to bring about the all-round development of rural underprivileged children and youngsters.

It was in 2,000 that the village community members set up football fields and formed the Youth Football Club. Recounting the efforts of the villagers, 300 trolleys of fertile sand were unloaded on the ground in just three days.

YFC collected money by winning youth football tournaments and deposited it in the bank to further develop the academy.

Since its inception, YFC has touched the lives of more than 12,000 rural underprivileged children. The academy has now 40 paid staff and volunteers. The academy’s budget has now been expanded to Rs 1 crore.

Currently, around 2,000 boys and 1,000 girls are under training programmes of the academy and 26 special talented boys have been selected to stay in the hostel, provided with all facilities such as boarding, lodging, education, football training, kits and exposure trips.

Currently, YFC has built a Youth and Sports Complex where two football fields of 110 mtr x 80 mtr have been were set up along with the dressing rooms facility and one kabaddi field. The stadium has a seating capacity of 5,000 people with CCTV surveillance.

There is a hostel in the administration complex where the 26 selected boys stay. YFC has also built a newly constructed administration office where the management staff work.

The club is the first-ever NGO in India who has won Street Child World Cup Soccer Tournament held in Durban, South Africa, in March 2010.

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