The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

	Super-50 departs as meritorious school comes up Neeraj Bagga Tribune News Service Amritsar, August 10 Super-50 classes, which were started at Khalsa College Public School (KCPS) in 2010 to prepare students for top engineering institutes of the country, will be discontinued. This year, Super-50 has not admitted any student to Class XI. The last batch of 43 students of Class XII has been taking classes for the session 2014-2015. KCPS principal Dr Sarvjit Kaur Brar, who is looking after the Super-50, informed that the concept was a pilot project and a precursor to six senior secondary residential schools for meritorious students coming up in various parts of the state. She said the decision to discontinue Super-50 was taken after the starting of the meritorious school at Guru Nanak Dev University this session. She said Principal Secretary, Higher Education, Ravneet Kaur, headed a two-member committee that visited the Super-50 School last year and studied it intensively. The committee endorsed the new concept and advocated its implementation at macro level in the state, she added. After the ratification by the Cabinet, these schools are now being set up as senior secondary residential schools for meritorious students in Amritsar (GNDU campus), Patiala (Punjabi University), Bathinda (Giani Zail Singh Engineering and Technology College), Ludhiana (Government College for Boys), Jalandhar (Sports School) and Mohali (Sector 70, opposite Mataur village). Super-50 was registered under Society for Promotion of Quality Education for Poor and Meritorious Students of Punjab. The students of government schools affiliated with the Punjab School Education Board, who attained 80 per cent marks or above in Class X were admitted to Super-50. It was opened with the financial assistance of the state government. Under the project, these students are being provided free schooling, boarding, lodging and other facilities like uniform and books. Apart from regular studies, sports and cultural activities, these schools aim for the holistic development of students. The project was a brainchild of GNDU Vice Chancellor Prof AS Brar.
	Congress flays move to cut trees for BRTS project Tribune News Service Amritsar, August 10 Congress councillors have questioned the Municipal Corporations’ move of giving no objection certificate (NOC) to cut trees for widening of roads for the BRTS project. Addressing a press conference here today, Congress councillor Rajkanwal Preetpal Singh Lucky said, “Hundreds of trees have already been cut. Now, the MC plans to give NOC for cutting 398 on McLeod Road.” Lucky said the mayor should make it clear whether the trees that were cut earlier, had the house’s permission. Ahead of the MC house meeting tomorrow, Lucky today criticised the drive that was started three days ago to plant 10,000 saplings with the support of Local Bodies Minister Anil Joshi and CPS Dr Navjot Kaur Sidhu as the authorities were now expected to give NOC for cutting of trees. “Thousands of trees have been cut to pave way for BRTS buses but the MC is not concerned about the already started City Bus Service. Of the proposed fleet of 150 buses, so far only 40 buses have started plying on roads,” Lucky said. He said 20 buses were still waiting at the bus stand to join the service. The MC had failed to purchase 90 more buses, he added. Lucky said instead of creating an impression that development was going on at a fast pace, the MC and the state government should focus on strengthening the existing services. He said the MC should also make its policy clear on regularisation of illegal hotels.
	Resident wins law suit; forum orders clothing firm to pay compensation Manmeet Singh Gill Tribune News Service Amritsar, August 10 The District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum has directed a clothing retailer to refund the amount charged as VAT, after deducting a cash discount of 50 per cent on some merchandise, as it was clearly stated that the price tag (MRP) included all taxes. The forum has also directed the firm to pay a compensation of Rs 1,000 along with another Rs 1,000 as litigation expenses. Earlier, Shabeer Sehgal, a resident of Katra Baghian, had filed a complaint against Life Style India Private Limited from where he had purchased clothes. The complainant stated that as per the price tag on the clothing items, the sale price was inclusive of all taxes. He said the shop charged Rs 124 extra, which is 6.05 percent of the total price, as tax on the purchase bill. In its written reply, Life Style India stated that at the time of that particular sale, all the advertisements by the company had clearly and specifically mentioned that the discount would be subject to conditions and Value Added Tax would be charged after deduction of discount on the MRP. The firm stated that they were entitled to charge VAT after deducting the cash discount from the printed MRP, which would be the ‘sale price’. The forum observed that the firm had admitted that they had given about 50 per cent sale discount on these garments. The forum stated that the tag attached to these garments fully proved that the original price of the garments included all the taxes and as such, the purchaser of these garments was entitled to get these garments at 50 per cent of the price amount mentioned on the tag, which included all the taxes. The forum further stated that the firm couldn’t charge taxes after deducting 50 per cent discount on the original price written on the tags as the MRP.
	Irregular power supply hits services at Ajnala hospital Tribune News Service Amritsar, August 10 Irregular power supply and shortage of trained hands at sub-divisional Civil Hospital, Ajnala, is adversely affecting health services. The ultra-sound machine at the hospital is lying unused for a long time. Sources said the Health Department is short of radiologists to run ultra-sound machines. “Even if a radiologist is present at the hospital, he would not be able to provide his services due to the abrupt power supply. So, it won’t be of much use to appoint a radiologist at the hospital. He should better be posted at some other place,” said a department official. Though the sub-divisional hospital also has a blood bank, it is unable to start the service because of sporadic power supply. In the absence of services, patients requiring blood transfusion have to be referred to other hospitals. Department officials said the process to procure electricity hotline had been started. “A part of the money, for securing hotline service to end frequent blackouts, has been paid and hopefully, the power corporation would provide a hotline soon,” said Civil Surgeon Dr Rajib Bhalla. Fact file The ultra-sound machine at the hospital is lying unused for a long time Sources said the Health Department is short of radiologists to run the ultra-sound machines In the absence of services, patients requiring blood transfusion have to be referred to other hospitals Department officials said the process to procure electricity hotline had been started
	Stray animal menace continues unabated MC teams formed to catch stray cattle hardly offer enduring solution Neeraj Bagga Tribune News Service Amritsar, August 10 The menace of stray animals continues unabated on city roads. Areas such as Lohgarh in the Walled City, Cantonement and densely populated Majitha Road are witnessing a rise in the number of stray cattle and dogs. Though, at times, the MC claimed to have deputed teams to catch stray animals, the problem has been a constant threat for commuters and requires urgent solution. Abandoned animals can be spotted almost everywhere in the city. Most of the time, they are found sitting on dividers. Though most of the stray cattle come to the city from nearby rural areas, many families have secretly domesticated cattle for dairy products. After the cattle are abandoned by owners, they loiter freely on city roads. The areas that are worst affected with the problem of stray cattle are parts of Walled City, Tehsilpura, Hussainpura, Rambagh, Sikandari Gate, Hathi Gate and Cantonment among others. To take stray animals outside the city limits, the MC has designated a place at Fatahpur. But the cattle, caught by the MC staff, are released after being kept at the designated place for a maximum of four days. The reason is that the cost of their maintenance is very high and the funds-starved MC has little money to spare for the purpose. One of the employees working with the MC cattle catching team said the MC had ignored the problem. “The team needs more staff and funds at its disposal,” he added. The High Court has directed all Municipal Corporations and committees to curb the menace of stray cattle on roads. The court has said the menace is a violation of Right to Life guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution. The court has directed the MC authorities to take effective steps to prevent the cattle from coming on the roads. Meanwhile, there are some NGOs who are working in the field for the past many years. The 109-year-old Pinjrapol Gaushala is running as many as three shelters for cows at Ghee Mandi, Focal Point and Manawala. All these centres have around 1,300 cows. Advisor to Pinjrapol Gaushala, Kamal Dalmia, said out of all the cows, only 190 were giving milk, which was given free of cost to the All India Pingalwara Charitable Society, Kusht Ashram at the Chabal Road and other needy families. He said people bring injured and stray cows at these shelters. Dalmia said Pinjrapol incurs Rs 75,000 daily for the upkeep of the cows. These expenses were met by donations and interest of deposits, he added.
	Better amritsar: begging menace—I Begging continues unabated in city PK Jaiswar Tribune News Service Amritsar, August 10 The holy city is famous for its religious and heritage value and because of this, a huge number of devotees and tourists throng the city daily, making it one of the most visited destinations in the world. However, this is also one of the reasons behind the begging menace in the city. Despite repeated attempts by the district administration to eliminate the problem, the beggars continue to haunt the city residents. These efforts by the administration proved deficient and failed to yield desirable results so far. From minor children with tattered clothes and unkempt hair to women and old age persons, all could be seen seeking alms from the visitors to various religious shrines, including Golden Temple, Durgiana Temple, Jallianwala Bagh, railway station, bus stand, cinema halls and parking places in posh localities. Traffic signals at various chowks in the city such as Lawrence Road are among their favourite destinations. Ironically, the cops could be seen deployed at the busy Lawrence Road chowk, but they hardly bother to take any action against them. Deepak Kumar, a shopkeeper at Lawrence Road, said as soon as a vehicle stopped at the traffic lights, the children rush towards them and start cleaning their cars. “They repeatedly knock at the windows of the cars until its owner hands over some cash to them. They become active during the evening hours, which is the peak time for the residents to shop. The residents said the presence of a begging racket could not be ruled out. “The police has never tried to look into this aspect while they remain busy in protecting VIPs during their visit to the Golden Temple or Durgiana Temple,” the resident said A majority of the beggars are outsiders who arrive in the city in search of food. The implementation of the Prevention of Begging Act is still a far cry. Interestingly, not even a single case has been registered by the police under the law till now. Randhir Thakur, an official of the Red Cross Society, which runs Raain Basera (shelter home) for the destitute and beggars said many of the inhabitants of the shelter home were from outside Punjab. Though a number of them were sent back to their native places but they returned to the holy city after some time. The shelter home aimed at providing shelter to beggars and help them in their rehabilitation by providing vocational training besides providing education to their children. Ravi Bhagat, Deputy Commissioner, said the administration could only try to weed out the problem. We have launched special drives to pick them from roadsides and put them in the shelter home at the Old Karam Singh ward building. We even tried to provide them vocational training in order to bring them to the mainstream. “I had written to various religious organisations to discourage begging on their premises and even asked the police department to look into it. We have also taken the help of various NGOs in this connection. We can only try and repeated efforts are being made to make the city beggar free,” the Deputy Commissioner said.
	Poor monsoon hits farmers hard Demand some districts be declared as drought-affected Sukhmeet Bhasin Tribune News Service Bathinda, August 10 While the rest of the state may have received a plenty of rainfall, the monsoon appear to have been poor over the Malwa region and farmers here are now demanding that the some districts in the region should be declared drought-affected. The failure of the South-West monsoon in the region has had a disastrous effect on the kharif crop and farmers are worried about the delay in sowing rabi crop that could spell further doom. The Meteorological Department, Bathinda, said there is 60 to 70 per cent of monsoon deficient this year till now as compared to last year so far. The poor rainfall has increased the worries of farmers as it has started affecting paddy and cotton crop in the region. On an average, Punjab receives an annul rainfall of 580 mm and 80 per cent of the rainfall is confined to June, July, August and September. Wheat and rice the main summer crops (kharif crops), are normally planted with the first flush of rains in June or early July. They need about 120 days in the soil to soak up nutrients, and tending with fertiliser and water. If any part of the process is compromised, there are consequences and now even ten days of August has been passed. It has already missed the golden period of sowing cotton, from June 15 to July 15. Even if it rains now, yields of cotton in non-irrigated tracts are expected to be very low, while some farmers will have to be resowed. A large number of farmers will have to skip the kharif crop entirely and go for the rabi ones. Sources maintained that scanty rainfall in the key areas of cotton and groundnut has not only affected the sowing but also likely to affect the yield. Poor monsoon has also hurt crop outputs, increased food prices and threatened a fragile economic recovery besides spurring increasingly urgent calls for the government action. Adding to the woes, the authorities have failed to provide eight-hour power supply to the farmers. The farmers claimed that the drought-like situation had hit them hard as they had been forced to irrigate their field with the help of generators. Sukhdev Singh, a farmer from Tungwali village, said condition for the cotton and paddy crop was quite bad. Due to no rain so far, the fields have been dried up as it is not possible to fully water the crop without rain. The Agriculture Department officials also admitted that poor monsoon had hit the farmers and there are reports that some farmers had ploughed back their fields in the areas with poor water supply. They added that situation will be worsened if it doesn’t rain in the coming week, as the paddy needs to remain submerged under water thoroughly and the cotton crop should not face intense heat. It is worth mentioning that the situation in many states is grim, but the Centre is hesitant in declaring the area as drought-hit as of yet.
	Mid-Day meal cooks accuse cops of harassment Tribune News Service Bathinda, August 10 The Mid-Day Meal Cooks’ Union activists who were arrested by the Bathinda police in Talwandi Sabo yesterday, have accused the police and the state government of harassing the arrested women. “We were detained by the police for our bid to highlight the plight of mid-day meal cooks across the state and instead of listening to our grievances, the government manhandled us through policemen,” said the state president of the Mid-Day Meal Cook Workers’ Union, Harjinder Kaur. She stated that around 70 workers were taken to the Kotfatta police station from Talwandi Sabo when they were on way to submit a memorandum to the government representatives yesterday around 12 noon. “Amidst unbearable hot weather, we all were squeezed in the private buses ‘hired’ from the educational institutes by police and were taken to the Kotfatta police station,” said the state president. She said the police refused to answer any of their queries and the women remain lodged behind the bars at police station till 6.30 in the evening. “Since majority of the union members were from far off districts other than Bathinda, they failed to get any public transportation in the evening and reached their respective abode late night,” she said adding that if the women were at fault, the police would have registered a case or entered their names into the police log book. But if they were innocent, then an action should be taken against the police for wrongful detention. She lamented that most of the women arrested by the police yesterday were above 40 years of age group and could not bear the unbearable heat and humidity and fell sick due to the irresponsible behavior of the policemen. She pointed out that if the public does something wrong then the government deals with an iron hand. But when the government does blunders no action is taken. The workers are demanding hike in their monthly perks on the lines of the monetary benefits released in Haryana and Chandigarh. The workers said the Haryana Government pays Rs 2,500 per month to the mid day meal cooks, Chandigarh give Rs 2,600 per month while the Punjab government give mere Rs 1,200 per month.
	RCC frames more environment friendly PK Jaiswar Tribune News Service Amritsar, August 10 At a time when environmentalists have expressed concern over dwindling forest cover and mindless chopping of trees, the reinforced cement-concrete (RCC) frames have added a new chapter in the field of construction. After iron frames, RCC frames are slowly becoming a craze, claims Sukhbir Singh, a manufacturer of RCC frames. It can be an alternative to wood. He said cement frames were more economical and durable than wooden and iron frames. He said the frames were mostly used in the Malwa belt. Sukhbir said he hired labour from Malwa for the manufacturing of RCC frames. He pointed out that these were environment-friendly. The cement-concrete frames are heavier than the wooden and iron frames due to which their use is discouraged. He said the government had been desisting from the use of wooden material in government buildings by replacing it with iron, aluminium or steel frames. “It’s cheap, safe from termites and resists moisture. It is easily available in the market. It is more structurally sound than other frames,” said Sukhbir’s companion Kulwinder Singh.
	Meeting to review I-Day celebrations Tribune News Service Amritsar, August 10 A meeting of senior officials of the district administration was held to discuss preparedness for the Independence Day celebrations at Gandhi Ground. The meeting was presided over by Additional Deputy Commissioner Bhupinder Singh. During the meeting duties were assigned to heads of the various departments to make arrangements for the event. Bhupinder Singh said a full dress rehearsal of all events would be performed on August 13. He instructed the officials concerned to get the participants ready for their performances. He said governments schools were preparing to celebrate the event for the past two weeks. He said concerned teachers had been holding regular rehearsal sessions with participants to synchronize their movements.
	Six held with narcotics, liquor Tribune news Service Amritsar, August 10 The city police nabbed six persons for allegedly possessing narcotics and illicit liquor. The accused have been identified as Shankar Mattu of Katra Sher Singh, Gurpreet Singh of Bhai Vir Singh Colony, Mule Chak, Shekhar Singh of Indira Colony, Jhabal Road, Harpal Singh of Chhota Haripura, Davinder Singh and Kulwant Singh of Sultanwind village. While Shankar Mattu was nabbed with 115 gms of narcotic powder, the police confiscated seven gms of heroin from Shekhar and Harpal Singh each. Davinder and Kulwant was arrested with 110 and 120 intoxicant capsules, respectively. Gupreet Singh was arrested with 25 bottles of illicit liquor.
	8-year-old raped Tribune News Service Bathinda, August 10 Another shameful and shocking incident of raping an 8-year-old girl has been reported in Jujhar Singh Nagar of the city.According to the complaint lodged by the victim’s mother, she (the mother) had gone out for some work, while her daughter was alone at home. The accused, who lives near their house, raped her daughter in her absence. The Cantonment police station has registered a case under Section 376 of the IPC and the Protection of Children Act 2012 against Raman Kumar Paswan, a resident of Jujhar Singh Nagar.
	campus notes Essay writing on Sri Pingali Venkayya Meher Grewal and Tanya Sharma of The Senior Study II has been selected winners on the basis of their essays chosen amongst the best 68 essays on “writing series” on the life of Sri Pingali Venkayya. CBSE announced the writing series from August 5 to August 11. The activity is being conducted in both online and offline modes. A fresh topic on Sri Pingali Venkayya is announced every day and the best 68 entries win a prize of Rs 5,000 each. Principal Vijay Mehra said the initiative of CBSE was laudable, as very few people know that Sri Pingali Venkayya designed our National Flag. Workshop on vulnerability assessment Department of Computer Applications of Amritsar College of Engineering and Technology (ACET) conducted a one-day workshop on “Vulnerability Assessment and Computer Audit” on its campus. The workshop was inaugurated by Dr Anup Girdhar, Founder and CEO Sedulity Solutions Pvt Ltd, New Delhi, along with Group Director Dr OK Harsh. Dr Anup Girdhar highlighted the importance of vulnerability assessment. Group Director Dr Om Kumar Harsh said conduct of such workshops would promote research and development work among the students. Chairman and CEO of ACET Amit Sharma and Director Finance Ragini Sharma appreciated the efforts of the members of MCA Department. Principal VK Banga, Registrar, Manoj Kumar and Deans and heads of various departments were also present on the occasion. Raksha Bandhan celebrated Raksha Bandhan was celebrated at DAV Public School. Students sang songs and prayed for the long life, happiness and prosperity of their families. Rakhi and card making competitions were also conducted. Dr Neera Sharma, Principal, blessed the students and advised them to celebrate the festival in its true spirit. — TNS
	FEEDBACK Amritsar Tribune invites feedback from its readers on issues of public concern relating to Amritsar city and the nearby areas. Readers can email their views to feedback.asr@gmail.com They can also send their views to: Feedback, Amritsar Tribune, Sector 29, Chandigarh - 160029. Letters sent by post must mention 'Feedback for Amritsar Tribune' on the envelope and it should be signed and must contain contact details of the sender. It should not be more than 150 words.