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City gears up for Janmashtami functions
SSA/RMSA activists hold rally outside DC complex
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Interrogation of terrorists gives vital leads
Better Jalandhar: Faulty planning-I
Paddy farmers worried over weak monsoon
SP tells cops to be disciplined Shiv sainiks burn picture of Omar Abdullah Confusion over Janmashtami in Phagwara
I- Day celebrated Feedback
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City gears up for Janmashtami functions
Jalandhar, August 17 Shobha yatras (religious processions) have been organised in the city on this occasion by the various religious organizations, including the Devi Talab Mandir Parbandak Committee. Different clubs and bodies were seen participating in langars and other food distribution. The procession started from Devi Talab Mandir that visited all prominent places of the city, including Bhagat Singh Chowk, Adda Tanda, Adda Hoshiarpur, Company Bagh, Jyoti Chowk, Basti Sheikh, Mai Heeran Gate etc. The festival will be celebrated in famous temples like Devi Talab Mandir, Laxmi Narayan Mandir, Mahabir Mandir, Sodal Mandir, and Geeta Mandir. Expert story tellers have been arranged by the Devi Talab Mandir Parbandhak Committee from Vrindavan. Besides, make-up artistes have come from Uttar Pradesh, Uttrakhand and Delhi to decorate local artistes for the festival. Speaking to Jalandhar Tribune, Tarsem Kapoor said he, along with other members, was going to celebrate Janmashtami with differently abled people at Apahaz Asharim Mandir. The purpose was to make them realise that they were also part of society. However, it would be not be a lavish celebration. Meanwhile, the festival of Janamashtami was celebrated with fervour at CT Kindergarten. Children enacted a play related to the life of Lord Krishna. Dandiya dance was also performed by the children. The highlight of a week-long celebration was the “matki-breaking” ceremony. The school was decorated with flowers, bells, buntings, balloons and Rangoli to welcome Lord Krishna. Students sang devotional songs. The kids formed a human pyramid to reach the pot of curd and tried to break it. A tableaux depicting the life of Lord Krishna was also displayed. Students also performed garbha, dandiya dance. Children came dressed as Radha, Krishna and other characters. At the end, “aarti” was sung and butter offered to Lord Krishna and sweets distributed. During the week-long celebrations, a notice was sent to the parents and the students about Janamashtmi, the colouring competition and the special assembly in which the significance of this day was told to the students which led to the final celebration of “matki fod” ceremony on August 16. The children left everyone spell-bound with their captivating performance. Ranjana Rajput, principal of the school, apprised the students of the relevance and importance of celebrating this day. Parminder Kaur Channi urged the students to imbibe the teachings of Lord Krishna.
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SSA/RMSA activists hold rally outside DC complex
Jalandhar, August 17 The teachers were finally pacified after SDM Mandeep Singh Gill met them and accepted their demand letter addressed to the Chief Minister (CM). The SDM also assured them that he would arrange a meeting of the union’s delegation with the CM or the Education Minister between August 25 and 30. Headed by leaders Didar Singh Mudaki and Rambhajan Chaudhary, the rally saw the participation of scores of SSA/RMSA teachers working in the state. While the teachers have been hired as per the departmental rules and have been working for the past over five years under the Education Department, their services had still not been regularised. The teachers said they had been kept under the SSA Authority and not directly under the Education Department due to which they were constantly being shifted between the central and state governments as the SSA and RMSA were primarily Centre-sponsored (65 per cent by the Centre) schemes. Leader Didar Singh Maduki said while the government had brought about the policy to regularise contractual teachers hired in the state after working for five years, step-motherly treatment was being meted out to teachers of the SSA/RMSA Union who were still awaiting regularisation. He said while they had provided dedicated services to the state schools and the Education Department rather than honouring their contribution with regularisation of services, the government was planning to impose the condition of passing of Teachers Ability Test on the teachers to oust them from the jobs from March 31, 2015. Activists said the documents released by the Human Resource Development Ministry and the Project Approval Board from time to time proved that the state government had unnecessarily created a separate SSA/RMSA cadre in Punjab. Union leaders demanded that the SSA/RMSA members should be regularised and the condition of passing the TET test be removed. They also demanded that the ETT teachers of the 1273 SSA should be trained at the departmental level and they be granted facilities and benefits on a par with other teachers. They also demanded the cases registered against the teachers of the union in the past be withdrawn. Rajvir Singh Mushkabad, Hardeep Todarour and leaders, teachers, district and state office bearers of the SSA/RMSA union from across the state were present on the occasion. Teachers arrived in the city in special buses and held a huge rally which aimed at getting their demands across to the state government.
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Interrogation of terrorists gives vital leads
Jalandhar, August 17 One of the terrorists, Harpreet Singh, alias Pintu, whose police remand was extended by four days, was today produced in the District Courts, which sent him to judicial custody. Two of his counterparts were already sent in judicial custody after a nine-day interrogation. A police team had arrested the three Jammu-based accused in Jammu on August 4. Harpreet Singh, alias Harmeet, alias Pintu, of Simbal Camp, Karanjit Singh, alias Pamma, of Basti Gobind Puri and Sarwan Singh Shabba of Narri, all places in Jammu, were working for two Pakistan-based outfits, Khalistan Zindabad Force (KZF) and the Khalistan Liberation Force (KLF). The interrogation of the trio had made startling revelations regarding their plans to spread terrorist activities in Punjab. The terrorists had admitted that they had held series of secret meetings in Punjab in Gurdaspur and Dali village in Bhogpur near Jalandhar, where they reportedly finalised their anti-national plans to orchestrate bomb blasts at Anandpur Sahib in Punjab and at Sunday Market, the busiest place at Jyoti chowk in Jalandhar. Sources said five of the terrorists, who had now been named by the Jalandhar rural police in a fresh case of conspiracy to strike terrorist acts in Punjab, were also involved in plotting a conspiracy to assassinate Jograj Sharma, state president of the Shiv Sena (Bal Thakrey) in September last year. It is learnt that these five terrorists, namely Narinder Pal Singh, Sukhwinder Singh, Surinder Singh, Harpreet Singh and Manpreet Singh, were arrested by the Gurdaspur police on September 15, 2013, on the charges of striking terrorist acts in Punjab. Out of these five, four have been granted bail by court, while Manpreet was declared a proclaimed offender (PO) The interrogation of the trio also revealed that two women were deputed as sleeper cells in Ropar to materialise their plans to strike in Punjab. Now police teams are reportedly camping at various places in Punjab and Jammu to arrest these suspected women. Since the arrested terrorists belong to Jammu, so we are also in touch with the Jammu police to fetch as much information from them. Our cops are also paying frequent visits to Jammu to further break the nexus of terrorists, a senior police official said. Notably, following the arrest of these three terrorists, sources said representatives of national security agencies, including Intelligence Bureau (IB), the Directorate of Military Intelligence (MI) and Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) were also in touch with the rural police and their officials had also reportedly participated in the interrogation of the terrorists. Funding
As per the police, the terrorists were being funded by a Jammu-based terrorist Ranjit Singh (member of banned outfits), who is presently based in Spain and is in contact with persons in Punjab who are in possession of lethal firearms. The police are now making efforts to inquire about the flow of illegal money to various sleeper cells in Punjab
and the location of lethal weapons. |
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Better Jalandhar: Faulty planning-I Rachna Khaira Tribune News Service
Jalandhar, August 17
2) A view of the abandoned Domoria Flyover. 3) Zebra crossings made behind the centre verge. 4) An encroached service lane near the Hansraj Stadium. 5) An elevated manhole above the ground level . 6) People take a shortcut by the Domoria rail underbridge. From faulty road engineering to flawed designs of the overhead bridges and from a railway station with no gates to oversized roundabouts are sufficating the city residents. Colonies sans garbage disposal system
Colonies like Urban Estate and Choti Baradari Phase I and II do not even have a proper garbage disposal system. Many colonies that were handed over to the Municipal Corporation by the Jalandhar Improvement Trust (JIT) long ago, did not have allocated garbage disposal place till date. The JIT, while planning these colonies didn’t want to ‘waste’ even a small chunk of land for this purpose, thinking about the implementation of the Solid Waste Management Project in the city. Despite repeated attempts by the MC and the residents, the project cannot see the light of the day due to varied political interests and the residents are forced to throw the litter either in some vacant plot nearby or by littering around the roads away from their house. Issue of Illegal ramps
Due to the repeated carpeting and hence the gradual level rising of the city roads, the residents are now constructing their houses way higher than the ground level and making a huge edgy ramp extending up to 10 to 15 feet outside their houses. According to Wing Commander (retd) Alfred Chauhan, a resident of Adarsh Nagar, he cannot walk freely outside his house as the houses on both sides of the roads have made huge ramps thus forcing the traffic to move in between the road that could hit him anytime. “The situation gets worst at night as residents having more than one vehicle park their vehicles on the left over area, blocking the road completely. What would happen in case of medical emergency in the night? It would take hours to clear the road,” said Wing Commander (retd) Chauhan. Faded zebra crossings
As all the main roads are completely sealed with the central verge, none of the intersection in the city has a provision for the pedestrians to cross the roads except to jump in between the fast moving traffic. Although there are zebra lines on most of the roads but most of them are faded. “It is so scary to cross the road from the moving traffic! Everyday, I have to cross the BMC intersection to go to my office in front of the Courts Complex. There is no under pass or over-bridge to cross the busiest intersection in the city,” said Charu Ahuja working in the hotel industry. Commuters avoid flyovers
Although, the much-hyped ‘Domoria Pull’, city’s first flyover was constructed in a span of 15 years with an estimated cost of around 30 crores, it failed to attract commuters till date. While the administration dedicated the flyover to the commuters moving around the city railway station and Mai Heera Gate up to the GT Road, it failed to close down the old underpass going under the railway line. Commuters finding it more short and convenient avoid the long roller-coaster ride of the technically-flawed flyover and prefer the old underpass from the GT Road to railway station through Doaba Chowk and the Kishan Pura area. Nevertheless, the BMC flyover is known to cast magic spell on the city commuters. Most of the time, in the absence of any signage on the flyover, people who want to enter the city through the Namdev Chowk felling into the spell takes the flyover route only to return back after taking a U-turn from the Apeejay College. “The BMC flyover is the biggest example of flawed engineering. Till date, the JDA has failed to convince the public as to why it was made and how it has helped the city commuters? Even after constructing the flyover at an estimated cost of around 42 crores, it failed to relieve congestion at the BMC intersection,” said Mohan Lal Sood, a retired Superintending Engineer from the Public Works department. Problem of roundabouts
The MC has failed to bother about the roundabouts constructed in the middle of the prominent roads causing traffic chaos. While the MC feels that demolishing some of the roundabouts may hurt the religious sentiments of some religious groups, some of them feels that it could be done if the corporation do it in a planned way. “We ourselves reduced the width of Maharishi Valmiki Chowk few years ago, once we felt that it was causing traffic chaos. The roundabouts could be demolished but then the MC has to erase all the roundabouts and not just the chosen ones,” said Amrit Khosla, President Balmiki Sabha, Jalandhar. He also informed that the MC has failed to demolish many encroachments that have come up recently in and around the city roads. No gate at railway halt
A railway halt near Lyallpur Khalsa College situated in the middle of the city has no entrance or exit gate from the past 20 years. The railway halt is located beneath the Khalsa College flyover. It is being used by 500 passengers every day, including milkmen from nearby villages and students. They could be noticed walking on the railway track while entering or coming out of the railway station. Earlier, there was a gate from the platform’s side of the station. But the railway authorities closed it around 20 years ago after the alleged connivance with the residents of the Defence Colony. The railway authorities locked the gate with heavy metal barricades. They also constructed an extensive wall covering the entire station without leaving any entry or exit way from the side of the platform.” said SK Kapoor of Chitra, a Centre for Human Rights initiative in the city. Bus stand parking area
The district administration has failed to notice four oversized parking areas that are available inside Shaheed Bhagat Singh Bus Terminal that could be converted into multi-level parking areas. “The district administration should forward a proposal to the state government to develop these areas into multi- level parking. The whole area and the Garha Road going up till the BMC Chowk belongs to the Punjab Roadways. If the government approves the project, it will definitely end the traffic chaos to an extent,” said VK Sharma, Senior Manager, Welspun, the company managing the city bus stand. He said like the bus stand, the multi-level parking can also be made to run on the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model and could improve the financial position of the ailing Punjab Roadways. Footpaths: Encroachers’ delight
With the MC announcing the commercialisation of major city roads, residents have encroached upon the footpaths after making illegal openings facing towards the roads. The pedestrians are compelled to walk on the road, causing accidents and incidents of crime in the recent past. In case of Sudama Market near Jyoti Chowk, the entire footpath was encroached upon that took years for the MC to get it vacated to reduce congestion from the old GT Road. Water supply and sewerage network
The damaged sewerage system has not only clogged the arteries of the city residents but has also proved hazardous across the adjoining states of Rajasthan and Haryana. The sewage lines of the city, which were laid long ago, have not been upgraded. Due to this, the trunk sewers are heavily-silted while the peripheral ones are mostly damaged and inadequate to cope with the increasing load. According to a rough estimate, almost 45 per cent of the city is not linked to the drainage network since
its installation. Also, unlike foreign countries, the water supply and sewerage system in the city is laid underground and not above the
ground to make it easy for the MC to repair or replace it. Did wrongly constructed speed-breaker claim young Aarush’s life?
For Chandan Arora, a resident of Kailash Nagar, faulty planning resulted in a major tragedy when his four-year-old son, Aarush Arora, died in a recent accident after falling from school bus when it crossed a speed-breaker near the Ramgarhia Gurudwara near Patel Chowk on August 5. Surprisingly, the district administration and the police started tightening the noose around the school authorities and the private bus contractors, but none of them ever thought of checking the speed-breaker that could have been constructed wrongly or illegally by some local residents there. Nowadays, with the laid–back approach of the MC, one can find illegal speed-breakers in front of every house on the main road, obstructing the fast moving vehicles. |
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Paddy farmers worried over weak monsoon
Jalandhar, August 17 A paddy farmer, Sulakhan Singh, from Chak Ckela village said he was worried what to do next. Since there had been less than average rainfall and power crisis had been looming large, it was really difficult to bring up the crop this season. He said fortunately his crop had not caught any disease or faced pest attack. However, he had not got any assistance or suggestions from the Agriculture Department lately. “The fact is that due to the lack of proper rainfall, the crop is prone to several diseases and pest attacks like leaf folder,” he added. Speaking to Jalandhar Tribune, Dr Suttantar Kumar said they had been organising camps in villages to educate the farmers like what to do next and how to deal with the water crisis. He said they had hired farmers in the villages under “Farmer Friend Programme”, who are provided information to spread among farmers. He said after a few days of paddy transplantation, it doesn’t need water every day. The paddy fields need to be filled with water only twice or thrice a week or before cracks come up. There is no need to water the paddy every day. He said there had been a leaf folder attack a few days ago, which had been washed out with a timely rain shower. The farmers are updated on the treatment for insects. |
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