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Turning garbage into ‘gold’ a distant dream for MC
Hawala racket: ED seizes cash, property worth Rs 1 crore from forex dealer in Nawanshahr
Better
jalandhar: Road mishaps—I |
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Disability activist writes to CM on therapy for special children
Snatcher nabbed by police
Tributes paid to martyrs
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Turning garbage into ‘gold’ a distant dream for MC
Health and environmental implications associated with garbage disposal have also changed. Although with the growth of the solid-waste market, increasing resource scarcity and the availability of new technologies, the idea of turning garbage into gold still seems to be a distant reality for the Municipal Corporation. Why waste management is important for city?
Due to the presence of the largest hospital and nursing home chain in Asia (around 315), one out of the only two main sports industries of India (the other one being Meerut), more than five major universities in its vicinity and also the presence of one of the largest leather and handtool industries in India, the amount of waste disposal here is very high. Also, with the urban population increasing in recent years, the cash-starved MC, although with the highest number of sanitation workers (2100) than any other Corporation in Punjab, is finding it difficult to handle it efficiently due to the shortage of requisite infrastructure and the political motives of the state government. More seriously, with no option of electronic waste management in the state, it is presently the most serious concern for the city residents. With the presence of the massive scrap market on the Ladowaali road and many other places in the city, there are concerns over medical consequences like cancer, mortality, birth defects and low birth weight. Also, ozone-depleting substances released from discarded electronic appliances and building materials (e.g. foams) as well as industrial waste practices contribute to ozone-layer depletion. Current scenario of waste disposal
According to the latest arrangement between the solid waste management company and sanitation workers of the corporation, the former will lift the garbage from the secondary dumping sites and major institutions, while the latter will do the door-to-door lifting of the garbage. However, both companies are facing problem in their operations due to the lack of back-up support by the MC and the people. While Punjab Grow-More Company, a waste to Compost processing company having a plant is Wariana, is facing the problem of getting non-segregated garbage comprising organic matter mixed with silt, the other is not able to begin the processing operation due to the non-availability of the land to set up the plant. Also, unlike foreign countries, people here are not yet aware of the process of segregating the garbage from plastics, glass, paper and metals. Will MC succeed in turning garbage into ‘gold’?
The increased scarcity of natural resources and the consequent rise in commodity prices have influenced the demand for recycled products. The resource value of waste has become an important driver in many developing countries today and provides a livelihood for the urban poor. According to Rajiv Behl, a Delhi-based waste management expert, organic waste constitutes as much as 70% of the total waste stream. “Selected organic waste can either be reduced or transformed into organically beneficial products like energy, organic fertilisers, and animal feed. This will ultimately create new methods for improving the quality of life of the people,” said Behl. Satish Sharma of the JIT feels that with the presence of a large number of hospitals, educational institutions and industries, the city has got a huge potential of turning garbage into gold. Now with the required government support, the only requirement left is the will and awareness of the people so that the city can be turned into a safe place for living,” said Sharma. Highlighting the importance of garbage segregation, he said till the time the processing plants become operational in the city, it is very important for the people to do proper segregation of the garbage before disposing it. “While most of the households segregate plastic by selling it separately, they forget to dispose of milk packets, book covers etc which later mixes with organic waste and reduces the quality of its processed product,” said Sharma. Now, with the MC making strenuous efforts to effectively implement the SWM project in the city, the responsibility now lies on the shoulders of the city residents to make their contribution by segregating the garbage, especially at the home level to begin the process of turning garbage into “gold” till the time city gets its own waste management plant that could automatically segregate garbage to produce diversified products. |
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Hawala racket: ED seizes cash, property worth Rs 1 crore from forex dealer in Nawanshahr
Jalandhar, November 16 The ED sources said they had recovered around Rs 70 lakh and confiscated property worth Rs 28 lakh, situated in Bajwara in Hoshiarpur, which was bought by the forex dealer Pal Pabla allegedly through hawala money in the name of its company WWF. Interestingly, the forex dealer, during the course of questioning, also named a retired senior ED official who allegedly helped him in encashing the FDRs worth Rs 1 crore, seized by the ED during a raid at his office in Nawanshahr, said a senior ED official. “Pabla in his interrogation revealed that an ED official, retired from a senior post, had helped him in encashing FDRs, already seized by the ED, from banks fraudulently. The retired ED official had then assured Pabla that if he (Pabla) would encash these FDRs, the ED officials could not do anything to recover the amount in future,” a senior ED official told The Tribune. Notably, the ED had raided Pabla’s house and office premises in Nawashahr on September 5 from where the ED had seized 15 fixed deposit receipts (FDRs) for Rs 1.05 crore, but Pabla had fraudulently withdrawn the money from banks by submitting false affidavits to the banks, following which on the complaint of the ED, the Nawanshahr police had registered a case under Section 120-B, 420 of the IPC. Considering the FDs as proceeds from the crime, the ED had also registered another case against Pabla under the PMLA (Prevention of Money-Laundering Act). Sources in the ED confirmed that they had collected enough evidence against Pal Pabla for establishing his role in the hawala transaction. Penalties worth lakhs have been levied on several other dealers and exporters who were in touch with Pabla for doing hawala transactions. In February 2013, the role of Pabla dealer had come to the fore after the ED had raided Happy Forex in Jalandhar and recovered Rs 1.35 crore where it had exposed hawala business of over Rs 1,000 crore with countries like Canada, Germany, the UK and USA. “We have found Pabla had made hawala transaction worth Rs 2 crore in three months and had sent hawala money, particularly to Canada, through Happy Forex,” ED sources said. Happy Forex dealer to be summoned again
ED sources said hawala operator Jeewan Kumar, owner of Happy Forex, had not been joining investigation despite being summoned repeatedly. The ED will soon issue him fresh summons. Fact file
Retired ED officer allegedly aided dealer in encashing FDRs seized by the directorate |
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Better
jalandhar: Road mishaps—I Nikhil Bhardwaj Tribune News Service
Though in terms of severity of road accidents, Punjab comes third after two hill states, it stands first in the severity of road mishaps among states located in the plains. Since September, around 20 fatal accidents have been reported in the state. Traffic experts feel that mere challaning of vehicles or erecting nakas will not bring discipline on the road until or unless traffic cops do not show the will to improve traffic engineering. Several traffic cops said they were told by their seniors to issue maximum challans so that they could win accolades of their bosses. Cops sans speed radars, no challan for years
Overspeeding is said to be main cause of road accidents. Since the city police have no speed radar to check overspeeding, they failed to penalise the violators. Transport Minister Ajit Singh Kohar said he was aware of the issue and the Transport Department would provide speed radars to the police soon. Sources said in 2010, the police had received 17 breathalysers and a speed radar. A speed radar was given to the police for demonstration only but it was taken back in a few days. On an average, the city police is challaning around 100 persons for drunken driving. Road safety panel’s recommendations yet to take off
After the special committee formulated by the Deputy Commissioner, to look into the traffic violations by school buses banned ferrying of children in auto-rickshaws, these still ferry schoolchildren. The committee had recently held a meeting with school principals, auto-rickshaw drivers and representatives of the Transport Department over the safety of schoolchildren. Though the High Court has banned the use of three-wheelers for ferrying schoolchildren, the committee gave two to three months relaxation to auto-rickshaws. “It was decided at the meeting that three-wheelers ferrying school kids will be replaced with four-wheelers, especially designed for the purpose. Even a four-wheeler manufacturing company had agreed to provide new vehicles to auto-rickshaw drivers at affordable installments. The company had also agreed to buy old three-wheelers at genuine rates. Over 150 auto-rickshaw drivers had agreed to the committee’s suggestions. SC guidelines on school buses not followed
School buses should be painted yellow. “School bus” must be written at the rear and front of the bus. If it is a hired bus, “On school duty” should be clearly indicated. The bus should have a first-aid box. The bus should be fitted with a speed governor of a specified standard. Windows of the bus should be fitted with horizontal grills. There should be a fire extinguisher in the bus. The name of the school and telephone number must be written on the bus. Doors of the bus should be fitted with reliable locks. To keep the school bags safely, there should be a space fitted under the seats. There must be a qualified attendant in the bus to attend to children. Any parent/guardian or a teacher may also travel in the bus to ensure these safety norms. The driver should have at least 5 years of experience of driving heavy vehicles. A driver who has been challaned more than twice in a year for offences like red light jumping, violation of lane discipline or allowing unauthorised person to driver cannot be employed. A driver who has been challaned even once for the offence of
overspeeding, drunken driving and dangerous driving, cannot be employed. As per Section 2(47) of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, an educational institution’s bus is a transport vehicle and therefore requires a permit to ply on the road. No lessons learnt
On November 14, 25 students of St Soldier Public School at Chabewal in Hoshiarpur had a miraculous escape after the tyre of the school bus burst on the road near Adampur. Several students had sustained minor injuries. As per the Supreme Court guidelines, a school bus must have speed governors installed in it but the Adampur police had not paid heed to check if the guidelines were followed by the bus or not. When contacted, Adampur ASP Vivek Sheel Soni said it was the duty of the DTO to check if the school bus had followed the guidelines and the police had no role in it. Similarly on November 7, 24 school children of BST Public School had a miraculous escape after the bus in which they were travelling was hit by a speedy car. Aarush (4), a student of Innocent Hearts School, had died after he fell from the running school bus due to the negligence of the driver on August 1. Here too, speed governors were not installed. NGO spreading awareness on road safety
Harman Sidhu, would have been living a healthy and prosperous life in Canada if he had not met with a road mishap while en route to Renuka Lake in Himachal
Pardesh. His life came to a standstill as his body was crippled but he didn’t give up and contributed to lessening road mishaps. He started an NGO,
ArriveSAFE, in 2003. The NGO is spreading awareness among the masses about the traffic norms in collaboration with the district administration and the traffic police. He also acted in two documentaries: “Collision Course” and “India’s Motoring Revolution”, by the BBC. “I am living in constant pain since my accident in October 1996. The sudden emptiness and a strong desire to save others from such a fate forced me to think about road safety. I met my mentor Amitabh Dhillon whose motivational talk is the driving force behind my pledge,” he said on the sidelines of a function to observe World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims at the Police Lines today. City residents feel unsafe on road: Survey
The ArriveSAFE had conducted the survey “Mobility and Safety – Your Say” to know the residents’ views. In the survey, 85 per cent of the respondents said as a pedestrian or cyclist, they did not feel safe on the city roads and 72 per cent feel use vehicles instead of walking because of safety concerns. About 77 per cent said they would prefer public transport to personal vehicles if an organised and efficient public transport system was made available to them. Presently, footpaths are being used for the parking of vehicles. There are no designated paths for NMVs (non-motorised vehicles like cycles and rickshaws) Around 82 per cent of the respondents are against the widening of the roads as this would mean more traffic and pollution. About 90 per cent of the respondents do not want to see the increase in the traffic. Sudhir Gota, transport specialist at Clean Air Initiative Asia Centre, Philippines, said that the traffic engineers had realised that the building of roads did not reduce congestion but only served to increase it. National Urban Transport Policy
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Police observe World Remembrance Day for Road Traffic Victims
Jalandhar, November 16 It was organised by the Transport and Education Department of Punjab along with NGO ArriveSAFE, Punjab State Road Safety Council with the Jalandhar police. “This is the first time that the day was observed at a government-level function in Jalandhar. It has never been observed in such a way either in Punjab or India in the past,” Manmohan Luthra, coordinator, Punjab State Road Safety Council (PSRSC) said. Ajit Singh Kohar, Transport Minister, Punjab, and chairman, Punjab State Road Safety Council, was the chief guest. He paid floral tributes at the memorial to remember those who lost their lives on roads in Punjab. Two minutes’ silence was also observed, while the Punjab Police sounded bugles in the remembrance. Balloons were also released on the occasion. On this day, a 45-minute awareness message on rash and negligence driving was also displayed at toll plazas and cinemas. The minister honoured Kulvir Singh Chattha of Sangrur who risked his life to save 17 school children from a burning school bus that had caught fire after ramming into a high-voltage electricity pole. Rajan Kohli, father of Sareh Kohli who lost his life along with two other youngsters when their speeding car hit a tree, was also present. On the sidelines of the function, jawans of the Punjab Police donated their blood. Commissioner of Police, Jalandhar Yurinder Singh Hayer also donated blood. Yurinder Singh said the police alone could not enforce the traffic rules on the city roads. Residents should also understand their duty towards traffic management. We will do our maximum to prevent road crashes on city roads and also seek the cooperation of residents for disciplining traffic, he added. |
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Disability activist writes to CM on therapy for special children
Jalandhar, November 16 While there are lakhs of special children in the state — 2.5 per cent of the total population of the state — unfortunately there are no centres for promoting awareness on how to deal with or provide special therapy to the special children in the state. An EIC is a centre which spreads awareness and assistance among parents of special children — covering everything from a parent willing for an abortion (of a special child) to therapy, counselling, treatment and lessons on care of a special child. However, due to absence of such infrastructure in the state, many parents and children are languishing. Anand said, "There are parents who are not informed properly by doctors regarding the birth of a special child and there are those who do not welcome them when they are born. There are also parents who are willing to take utmost care of a special child but do not know how to do it. In all such cases, EICs come to their rescue." Anand says many states like Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu, among others, have started EICs successfully where parents receive information on various aspects of their child and the job of parenting is rendered easy for them. However, he said, in Punjab, the same hasn't been started so far. "There are states where the government even pays for the abortion of special children and also for the therapy, insurance and treatment of special children. But in Punjab, the government has to start everything from the scratch. While the government has all the means to start the centres, they just require the will." “Our state has the potential for preliminary infrastructure of healthcare centres and hospitals, but a go-ahead is required from the office of the CM to start the opening of EICs at general hospitals, municipal corporations, zila parishads, zila panchayats and gram panchyats etc,” Anand added. He has also sent a copy of the request to the Minister for Social Security, Women and Child Development, Minister of Health and Family Welfare, Minister Local Government and to the
DCs in all the states. — TNS |
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Snatcher nabbed by police
Jalandhar, November 16 Neeru, a resident of Banga, had come for shopping in Jalandhar. While she was walking near Bhagat Singh Chowk, the bike-borne snatcher pounced on her and snatched her purse containing cash and valuables. Neeru immediately raised an alarm and informed the police about the incident. After a few minutes, the snatcher was nabbed near the Madan Floor Mill chowk and her purse was recovered. The snatcher was identified as Hitesh, a resident of Quilla Mohalla. |
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Tributes paid to martyrs
Jalandhar, November 16 Yadgar Hall general secretary Dr Raghbir Kaur and cultural wing convener, Amolak Singh, said the true tribute to the martyrs would be by following the path shown by
them. — TNS |
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Jalandhar Tribune invites feedback from its readers on issues of public concern relating to Jalandhar, Phagwara, Kapurthala and the nearby areas. Readers can email their views to They can also send their views to: Feedback, Jalandhar Tribune, Sector 29, Chandigarh - 160029. Letters sent by post must mention 'Feedback for Jalandhar Tribune' on the envelope and it should be signed and must contain the address and telephone number of the sender.
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Jalandhar, November 16
Jalandhar, November 16