Jalandhar, August 30
Having strongly pursued its case with the Punjab State Electricity Regulatory Commission, the Local Bodies Department will get a big relief by getting a 30 per cent cut in its power bills on account of lighting of hundreds of streetlight points in all the municipal corporations (MCs) and committees across Punjab.

In its recent decision passed by the Commission, it has been decided that the annual minimum charges will be calculated on the basis of 70 per cent of the sanctioned load from this year onwards. Giving details, Chief Engineer (O&M) AS Dhaliwal said he had put up a case, saying the lights were not working to the full capacity for eight hours, as these went faulty at times or there was disruption in power supply. He said he had sought a relaxation which had now been granted by the commission.

The Chief Engineer said while the annual minimum charges levied earlier were Rs 1580 per KW of load per month, these would now come down to Rs 1,124 per KW per month, which would imply a huge saving of urban local bodies across the state.

He, however, said that the commission had only partly accepted their plea. He said he had demanded that the PSPCL should charge on the basis of the Haryana pattern where only an amount of Rs 180 per KW per month was being levied.

Dhaliwal said he would further pursue the case for more relaxation by telling the Commission not to impose 10 paisa per unit octroi on their bill, as the collection would be coming back to it. He added that with this exemption, the 10 per cent octroi collection being levied by the PSPCL could also be saved. 

Kapurthala, August 30
An orthopaedic surgeon at Civil Hospital, Kapurthala, was arrested by the Vigilance Bureau for allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs 10,000 from an under-treatment jail inmate.

The police arrested Dr Desraj this morning and recovered Rs 10,000 from him which he had accepted from jail inmate Surinder Kumar for recommending that he should be allowed to continue his treatment from the hospital.

A resident of Mohalla Sherian, Surinder Kumar, had been booked under the NDPS Act and had come here for taking treatment of his leg injury from Modern Jail Kapurthala. Since the accused is to appear before the court on September 5, he reportedly wanted to stay put in the hospital. He had requested the doctor not to put his name in the discharge list till then.

The doctor allegedly demanded an amount of Rs 20,000 and the deal was struck for Rs 15,000. In the meantime, Ravijot, son of the accused, lodged a complaint with the Vigilance Bureau.

He said the doctor had already received an amount of Rs 5,000 and would receive the remaining part today. By the time the team reached there, the doctor had reportedly already accepted the amount which the Vigilance sleuths recovered from his possession.

The doctor has been arrested under the Prevention of Corruption Act. 

Jalandhar, August 30
The city police today arrested two youths who had faked their identity as sub-inspectors and had even managed to make a forged NOC for visa application of the Police Department to go abroad.

The cops from the New Baradari police station, however, were arrested during an investigation in the matter. Palwinder Singh, SHO, said the two youths had been identified as Kulwinder of Mukerian and Satwant of Mehtiana in Hoshiarpur.

The SHO said he was asked for a verification report regarding the two youths on July 30. He said during investigation, he found that it was the handiwork of some impostors who had even put their address as Police Lines, Jalandhar. He said an FIR had been lodged against the duo under Sections 420, 465, 468 and 479 of the IPC. — TNS

Jalandhar, August 30
As many as 302 out of 421 judicial matters were resolved at the monthly Lok Adalat organised by the Punjab Legal Services Authority at the District Courts here today.

An amount of Rs 2.39 crore was paid as compensation to the beneficiaries during the resolving of matrimonial, domestic violence, cheque bounce matters and traffic challans. As many as 10 benches in Jalandhar, three in Phillaur and two in Nakodar heard the cases. — TNS

Jalandhar, August 30
A visit by the Jalandhar Tribune team to check the condition of libraries in various government schools in the last few days has brough to light the sorry state of affairs in these schools as most of the libraries were either found to be locked or maintained in a shabby condition.

As most librarians in these schools have retired long ago, the state Education Department has failed to fill the vacant post for the last few years. According to sources in the Education Department, around 80 per cent of the total posts of librarians are lying vacant in these schools in the entire district for the last many years. As the teachers who have been given the charge by the school authorities are busy taking various classes, the libraries are kept locked most of the time.

Also, the books in most of the schools were found to be outdated, torn with a thick cover of dust over them.

"The library is too small and the books are too old. As the syllabus has changed many times in the last few years, most of the books inside our library are outdated and of no use to us. Also, since we do not have any librarian for the last few years, most of the time the library is closed. We informed the school authorities so many times in the past but as they themselves are facing staff shortage, they are unable to address our concern," said a student from a government school on Ladowaali road.

Also, Government (Girls) Senior Secondary School, Nehru Garden, one of the most prominent schools in the city which has around 2,360 students, is also without a librarian for the last few years.

The school has made makeshift arrangements by giving additional charge to another teacher who is unable to open the school library most of the time due to her busy teaching schedule.

"We have written to the higher authorities and are expecting to get the vacant post filled soon. Although, we are facing difficulty but we are somehow managing by giving additional charge to another teacher," said Gurinderjeet Kaur, national awardee and the Principal, Nehru Garden School.

Similarly, many government schools in Model Town Area, Adarsh Nagar, Lajpat Nagar and Rainik Bazaar area were all found to be without librarians with the so-called 'libraries' tucked in a small store located in a corner of the school.

When contacted, the school authorities cited shortage of funds for the pathetic condition.

"We just get Rs 10,000 from the Sarva Siksha Abhiana and Rs 10,000 from the Rashtriya Madhaymik Siksha Abhiyan (RMSA) as library fund but even that too does not come every year.

The Punjab Government has not constituted any library fund till date.

Also, they never bother to fill the post of librarians lying vacant for the last so many years," said a government school principal. She also informed that while the government is spending crores on World Kabaddi Cup, it has failed to provide even the basic educational facilities to its children till date.

When contacted, Harinder Singh, District Education Officer (Secondary), switched off his phone after refusing to provide any information on the number of vacant post of librarians in the district. 

Jalandhar, August 30
A week after reports came of arch political rivals CPS KD Bhandari and former minister Manoranjan Kalia hugging one another at the latter's residence, Mayor Sunil Jyoti, who till date has been siding with the former, also visited Kalia's residence at Central Town.

The BJP's top trio sat together in Kalia's drawing room as got their pictures clicked holding their hands together. A day ahead of the visit of the BJP top leaders including Punjab in-charge Shanta Kumar and Chhattisgarh Governor Balram Ji Dass Tandon for a social function, the local leaders gave a good photo opportunity to the media so that the reports of their relations improving can be there in the media.

Kalia, who perhaps felt triumphant and honoured at the second quick visit by Bhandari to his place, could not control his excitement as he kept uttering, "Hum saath saath hain, hum ek hain. (We are together, we are one)."

The Mayor, however, was not comfortable with the flashes of cameras on him. Having been earlier quite open about his bitter relationship with former Local Bodies Minister Kalia, he said, "I really wonder what makes you so excited about my visit here. I keep coming here to discuss the development issues especially concerned with Jalandhar Central constituency (represented by Kalia)".

The differences between Kalia and Bhandari had led to the creation of two power centres in Jalandhar. The differences between the two BJP leaders had become more pronounced during the Mayoral elections in September 2012.

While Bhandari wanted Jyoti to take over, Kalia had been supporting Ravi Mahendru. Even during the district BJP president’s elections, Kalia's aide Ravi had been announced the winner. However, a technical error later led to the denouncing of the election.

The differences between Kalia and Bhandari could also be clearly noted earlier during the visit of senior party leaders. The duo even while sitting on adjoining seats hardly used to exchange any salutations.

Things, however, changed all of a sudden when the duo came together last week, making everyone guess as to how arch political rivals have come together. There has been a buzz that directions to this effect have come from the top Central leadership. 

Jalandhar, August 30
Pushpa Gujral Science City (PGSC), Kapurthala, organised a two-day seminar and workshop on microorganisms.

Over 50 students of various schools of Malwa region participated in this workshop. The orientation workshop was organised at the PGSC in collaboration with the National Council of Science Technology and Communications (NCSTC), Government of India.

Speaking on the concluding day of the event, Dr SK Soni of Microbiology Department, Panjab University, Chandigarh, said: "Micro-organisms have generally been considered harmful for a long time out of fear by the society as these cause number of diseases. In fact the microorganisms are beneficial for human body. These organisms are helpful in preparation of various foods items also. These micro-organisms are indispensable to human life. The routine kitchen products such as vinegar, which is used in pickles, is also prepared using micro-organisms. One cannot think of human life without the micro-organisms."

Dr Soni while emphasising on the role of micro-organisms said, "These organisms play an important role in the digestive system of our body and also maintain a balance by degrading pollutants. These days water is also being purified with the help of these organisms."

Dr Rajesh Grover, director, Pushpa Gujral Science City, said: "The main objective is to motivate young students and generate interest in the field of microbiology so that they could pursue their career in this field." 

Jalandhar, August 30
The Kul Hind Khet Mazdoor Union, Punjab, in a meeting, has decided to stage protests in front of the offices of Block Development and Panchayat Officer (BDPO) from September 22 to 26 in order to get their demands fulfilled.

Joint Secretary of the union, Sunit Chopra, who recently attended the eighth national-level conference related to agricultural labourers held at Telangana, participated in the meeting.

Gurmesh Singh, in his address, said their demands include land reforms, distribution of surplus land to landless agricultural labourer, providing 10 marla plots and Rs 3-lakh grant to homeless labourers to build houses, providing work to labourers throughout the year with Rs 350 daily wages under the MGNREGA scheme and fixing Rs 2,000 per month as disability and old-age pension. 

Jalandhar, August 30
The President of Principals' Association of Government Aided Private Colleges, principal BB Sharma, general secretary Dr Sarita Verma, vice-president Dr Naresh Dhiman and Dr Dharam Singh have condemned the move of the higher education department to reduce the grant from 95 per cent grant to 80 per cent to the government-aided colleges, affiliated to Guru Nanak Dev University (GNDU), Amritsar.

A meeting on higher education was held in which Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, Education Minister Dr Daljit Singh Cheema, Education Secretary, Finance Secretary, Chief Secretary, DPI colleges, and other members participated and proposed to reduce grant from 95 per cent to 80 per cent to the government aided colleges.

The association’s representatives said, "It is quite ironical that in 1979, the Badal-led Punjab Government brought the private aided colleges under 95 per cent grant for the betterment of higher education and further social development. Now, with this proposal, the government is again making the prospects of higher education dark, increasing the social and psychological trauma of the teaching and non-teaching staff. Therefore, the move will be to set higher education on the path of privatisation and its downfall. In an ideal state budget, 6 per cent of the GDP should be sanctioned to higher education. However, in the current scenario, it is quite low in the case of Punjab. The principals' association feels that for the uplift of higher education, the government should lift the ban on the grant-in-aid posts, continue with its 95 per cent grant and drop the idea of clearing this proposal."

Jalandhar, August 30
Bollywood film production company- — 'UVI Filmz' is holding three-day auditions at Lovely Professional University to select lead and supporting female actress for a forthcoming film.

The auditions will continue up to September. Over 1,500 girl students from all streams have registered to showcase their talent for selection. Director Saket Behl, producer Sanyukta Ghosh, story writer Yash Kapoor and screenplay writer Sanjeev Vig are on LPU campus. Vipul Roy and Harish Verma are the lead stars of the film which is expected to premier this year. Students from the School of Journalism and Film Production are helping the selection team.—TNS