Jalandhar, September 2
Thousands of students of various government schools in the district are face a serious threat to their lives as most of the schools are not following fire safety norms and also the proper laying of electric cables on their premises.

Loose electricity wires jutting out of poles, hanging power cables, mangled webs of wires on school premises and open electrical switch boards inside various classrooms are ubiquitous. These are there for all to see, but curiously, these seemed to have escaped the attention of the authorities. The lack of alacrity by the authorities in fixing these is astonishing. They can hurt and kill anybody as these keep on lying loose hanging on the children passing under them.

“So many times we have written to the higher authorities but they have not taken any action to fix the issue. We had a fire outbreak in our school two years ago that destroyed some of our school records. Despite that the administration has not done anything to fix the problem,” said a principal of a government school on the Ladowaali road.

“Most of the schools buildings in the district are too old and require fresh electrical wiring. Since we do not have money in our PTA fund, we are unable to do so. We do get around Rs 75,000 every year from the building maintenance, but that gets utilised in clearing the pending dues of the hefty electricity and telephone bills of the school,” said another principal of a government school at Maqsudan.

Harinderpal Singh, District Education Officer (Secondary), showed ignorance about the matter. “I am not aware about the problem so far, but will get it checked immediately. The schools have to be a free zone for the children to study fearlessly and without any worry.”

Many school authorities have expressed their opinion to the electric wiring to make the wiring invisible and underground on the school premises. 

Jalandhar, September 2
Taking strict cognisance of the scam exposed at the Regional Passport Office (RPO) in the city recently pertaining to irregularities in the birth and death certificates issued by the Punjab Health Department, the district Health Department today issued directions to its officials to take utmost care while making these certificates.

RL Bassan, Civil Surgeon, said that while the birth certificate was a very important document while taking admission in various educational institutes or getting jobs and even while applying for passport, the death certificate was important in various property disputes. It was very important to make these certificates after verifying the details available in the original record available in our office, said Bassan.

The RPO at Jalandhar, catering to nine districts of the stat, had filed criminal cases in various districts against 14 people on Monday for submitting wrong information pertaining to their birth/death records while applying for passport at the RPO in Jalandhar. Though the certificates submitted by these people were found to be originally issued by the Punjab Health Department, the dates mentioned on these pertaining to the birth and death of the applicants were found to be incorrect.

While pulling up the Punjab Health Department last week, the Punjab Government had issued directions to them to issue various genuineness certificates pertaining to birth/death for the passport applicants within a stipulated period of 72 hours only.

The decision came following the intervention of the Ministry of External Affairs, as the state Health Department was delaying the certificates of the passport applicants for months, causing huge backlog in the two regional passport offices of Jalandhar and Amritsar in Punjab. It may have happened that to meet the deadline set by the Punjab Government, officials of the Health Department might have issued these certificates without verifying the facts from the original records mentioned in their office. 

Jalandhar, September 2
With the solid waste management project hanging fire all across Punjab, the National Green Tribunal, based in New Delhi, has told the state to represent the case pertaining to all clusters of the urban local bodies on September 29.

MC Commissioner Manpreet Singh Chattwal said Secretary, Local Bodies, would make a representation on that day and explain why the work had not been started yet. The matter pertaining to clusters other than Jalandhar, including those in Bathinda, Mohali and Pathankot, too, would be decided on the same day.

The complainant in the case, Gaurav Jain of Nakodar, had in the last hearing, produced certain photographs showing indiscriminate and unscientific dumping of municipal waste. He had submitted that this was causing serious health hazards, public nuisance and odour to an extent that it was difficult to live in the vicinity.

The tribunal had then said, “We are convinced that Punjab is failing to discharge its statutory function and has disobeyed the orders of the tribunal. Before we initiate any proceedings against the government and the corporation, we would grant one week’s time as prayed for by the respondents to ensure the compliance of the order. They will also ensure that in future, the dumping is strictly done in accordance with the MSW rules and the orders of the tribunal. We make it clear that in the event of default, we will be compelled to issue contempt against the concerned Secretary of the state and the Corporation also under the provision of Section 28 of the NGT Act. We make it clear to all the parties appearing in this case that we would finally hear this matter and pass judgment in relation to Bathinda cluster, including objections of the applicant in relation to collection site.”

The MSW rules stipulate that the compaction of the waste must be done by way of scientific methods and it also must be capped with vegetative growth. Even the trucks carrying waste have to be covered by net to prevent the waste from flying off and falling on road or disturbing other commuters. However, nothing of the sort is being done in Jalandhar. Most garbage vehicles move uncovered and no compaction of garbage has been done at the site. 

Jalandhar, September 2
Parking woes at the District Courts complex here are causing a lot of inconvenience to daily visitors to the place, including lawyers.

Due to less parking space at the District Courts, daily visitors are forced to park their vehicles outside the courts.

To sort out the issue, even members of the District Bar Association have been raising a hue and cry over the matter. They have been demanding for long that the government should construct separate parking space for them so that they could not face any problem.

Surinder Singh, a shopkeeper, said, “It becomes tough to reach the court due to the massive problem of parking outside the court. He further rued that the parking for advocates was also inside the court, which aggravates the problem. There should be a designated parking for the visitors, he added.

Kamaljit Kaur a school teacher, said the road in front of the court remains chaotic during daytime, resulting in traffic jams on the road. She said vehicles should be parked properly so as to overcome any problem. 

Jalandhar, September 2
Despite the fact that there has been a heavy rush at the District Transport Office for the installation of the high security registration plates (HSRPs), the deadline of August 31 to install these plates has not been met.

There has been speculation among people and media reports also suggested that the date to install the HSRPs had been extended once again, slowing down the flow of applications for the time being. However, the District Transport Office has not confirmed such reports.

Speaking to Jalandhar Tribune, DTO, RP Singh, said 1.60 lakh vehicles had been installed with the HSRPs so far. Around 35,000 HSRPs had been prepared and left uninstalled at the office, as the people had not turned up to get these installed.

The DTO refused to comment whether the deadline had been extended. Yet he said directions had been given not to issue challans to the vehicles that did not have HSRPs. Applicants said there were six counters available to deposit the money to have HSRPs. However, there is only one place, where the number plates are installed, which may be one of the reasons that 35,000 HSRPs are still lying uninstalled.

Arjun Singh Angral, zonal operations manager, Agros Impex (I) Private Limited, the company that has the contract to install the HSRPs, said over the past year, they had received around 2 lakh applications from Jalandhar. There are around 5 lakh vehicles that have yet to apply for the same. However, the process has been speeded up, as people had become more aware about the HSRPs. 

Jalandhar, September 2
Despite repeated orders under Section 144 of the CrPC by the city police, residents seem least bothered to obey the order.

The police had recently also strictly said that if orders were not abided by the residents, strict action would be taken against the violators, but nothing has happened.

It has been learnt that the DCP, in his capacity and power vested to him under Section 144 of the CrPC, has been issuing repeated orders on public issues. However, these orders are falling on deaf ears. It is learnt that one of the reasons why the police orders are being taken lightly by residents is that people are not aware of such instructions.

Notably, the police had recently issued several orders, including on sound pollution, ban on stubble burning, sale and purchase of mobile phones and registration of tenants, but a random survey in the city revealed that the police orders are gathering dust.

Recently, the police had directed the mobiles shop owners to keep a complete record of the sale and purchase of old mobiles, but hardly any shopkeeper adhered to the instructions. “How could we follow the orders when we have not received the same? The police should send copies of orders to each and every mobile shop owner so that he can adhere to the same. The police should not take any action against us until we will receive any written instructions,” a shopkeeper said.

The police had issued the order due to the use of mobile phones in committing various crimes. 

Kapurthala, September 2
The nearly month-long strike by the safai karamcharis of the Nagar Council, Kapurthala, ended today with the intervention of the Chairman of District Planning Committee Sarabjit Singh Makkar.

Heaps of garbage had started piling up all across the town making the lives of the residents extremely difficult. Makkar today told the staff to get DDT sprayed at all those sites so that the threat of epidemic gets eliminated.

The safai karamcharis began with the cleaning of the Sabzi Mandi. All JCB machines available with the Nagar Council were taken out and deployed for the purpose. Makkar also sought the support of the NGOs and residents for cleaning of the city. He said he had held a meeting with the staff on strike, former president and ex-councillors for the betterment of the residents.

The staff of the MC had been on strike against a decision of the Local Bodies Department of making their jobs transferable to other Municipal Corporations and Councils. Makkar said the decision on the matter had already been withdrawn by the government.

The areas which were cleaned till this evening were those around Panch Mandir, Sat Narayan Mandir, Courts Chowk, Devi Talab, bus stand and Seenpur Mohalla etc. 

Jalandhar, September 2
Small Farmers’ Agribusiness Consortium (SFAC) will bring its awareness camps on Venture Capital Assistance Scheme (VCAS) which will offer assistance to agriculturists in Punjab.

As part of the ninth phase of its awareness camp, the SFAC will conduct camps in Punjab, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Jammu and Kashmir. The scheme offers venture capital to set up agribusiness projects and Project Development Facility (PDF) to assist producers, producer groups/organisations, and units in agri-export zones and agriculture graduates in preparation of economically viable detailed project report (DPR).

These camps will be conducted in five districts of Punjab, Ferozepur, Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Kapurthala and Hoshiarpur. The camps are being attended by the Department of Agriculture officials, Department of Horticulture officials, NGOs and SHG members, entrepreneurs, officials from the Department of Fisheries and Department of Forest; LDM, including bankers, NABARD, Krishi Upaj Mandi Samiti, Finance Corporations, SFAC and AFC.

Jalandhar, September 2
An inspection officer of the Governance Reforms Department today visited the Suwidha Centre and checked its working throughout the day.

Officer Dharam Singh visited the centre at 8 am and continued working till 6 pm. He checked the attendance of the staff, cleanliness, accounts records and pendency of services.

During his visit, he found that the Web Suwidha service had abruptly stopped working. He called up the server room in Chandigarh to get the problem rectified. Even after the calls, the system started functioning only after half an hour during which he saw that the visitors had to unnecessarily keep waiting. The officer asked as to why the seven new services including issuing of birth and death certificates, pension and small savings had not been started. He was told that because of space shortage and there was no scope for starting new counters. "Already the marriage registration service is being run from the sub-registrar’s office,” he was told. — TNS

Jalandhar, September 2
A large numbers of girls today appeared in the ongoing recruitment for the post of sub-inspectors in the Punjab Police at the PAP Complex.

Girls were enthusiastic to become a part of the law enforcement agency. Today, a physical efficiency test (PET) was held and whosoever will clear it, will then qualify for the written test. It is learnt that simultaneous recruitment is going on at various places in Punjab, including Jalandhar, Fatehgarh Sahib and Ferozepur. Sources said over 23,000 applicants from across the Punjab had applied for the post of sub-inspectors.

Girl candidates, who today appeared for the test at Jalandhar, were mainly from Amritsar. Despite graduation being the mandatory requirement for the candidates, those who have done their post-graduation or double PGs, had also applied for the posts.

Meenu from Amritsar, who is an MA in English, said, “I have been nurturing the dream to become a police officer. Now, the time has come, and hopefully, I will clear the test.”

Another Amritsar-based girl Amandeep Kaur said despite completing her post-graduation in MA English, she couldn’t get a suitable job for over two years. Now, she was also pursuing a degree in Law and hoped to clear the test.

Shivani, a BCA graduate, who looked quite enthusiastic, said although she was not interested in the police job, unemployment had forced her to try for it.

SSP Kapurthala Dhanpreet Kaur was overseeing the recruitment process.

Kapurthala, September 2
Coming as a big honour for Sainik School, Kapurthala, two teachers from this school would be receiving the national award on Teacher’s Day function from President Pranab Mukherjee.

Malkinder Singh Bajwa, mathematics teacher and an alumnus of the same school, and Mriginder Singh, English teacher, will get the awards for their distinguished services.

Bajwa had also been awarded ‘Kunjshree’ by the Governor of Haryana for his distinguished services in Sainik School, Kunjpura, Karnal, where he was posted earlier. He has been house master for about 20 years and his house won the trophy for sending the maximum number of students to the NDA many times. He has also been in-charge of the school hockey team, which has won the north zone and the inter-zone hockey tournament. The team will now participate in the Nehru Cup Hockey Tournament at New Delhi.

He has been in charge of the annual athletics meet for the last 15 years and has been appreciated by the Member of Parliament, Khadur Sahib, for organising an excellent sports meet. He is an active participant in all school activities and looks after the Old Boys’ Alumni Association of the school. He is also credited with the construction of a War Memorial in the school for which he was honoured by the association.

Mriginder Singh has been given the National ICT Award 2013 for innovative use of information and communication technology in education. With this, he has become the first teacher from any school under the Ministry of Defence to win this award. He is the second teacher from Punjab to win this award. Only 12 teachers were selected by the MHRD across the country for this prestigious award for the year 2013.

The teacher is also credited with setting up a smart class, junior computer laboratory and language laboratory in the school. He had also developed the website of the school. He has conducted over 25 quiz contests using ICT. He further has been using ICT tools to experiment in music and for preparation of cultural programmes. With his efforts, the school has won two consecutive trophies in the Inter-Sainik School North-Zone Sports Festivals.

Mriginder Singh had been appointed by the Central Institute of Educational Technology, NCERT, for the development of the course content for its upcoming ICT course on education. He has also been invited by the NCERT to be a mentor for 21 Jawaharlal Navodaya Vidyalaya in the Jalandhar cluster. Recently, he was invited by the NCERT as a resource person for a workshop for PGT computer science teachers of JNVs. Principal Col Sudhanshu Arya, lauded their role in school. 

Jalandhar, September 2
Lovely Professional University organised a ‘Walk against Drug Abuse’. Hundreds of students actively participated in the 5-km-long walk on the campus. Carrying placards and banners with slogans describing the ills of the drugs, students sought to awaken people by urging them to say no to drugs. Most students also had their faces painted depicting the havoc that could be caused through drug use. On this occasion, a drug abuse eradication programme ‘Bodh’ was also organised.

LPU executive dean Dr Sanjay Modi flagged off the walk and asked the youth to do away with social nuisance caused through drugs.

Students also took a pledge to always remain away from the life-ruining effects of the drugs