22072026-JTR-01.qxd 7/21/2026 11:04 PM Page 1 c m y b Jalandhar tribune 4 JALANDHAR PLAYERS IN INDIA SQUAD FOR HOCKEY WORLD CUP K’THALA, HOSHIARPUR SCHOOL HEADS IN PAY DELAY CROSSHAIRS ‘MERE TE ANTI-NATIONALIST TAG BAUT VAAR LAGG CHUKA...’ Eight players from Punjab have been named in the Indian men’s hockey squad for the FIH Hockey World Cup 2026. P2 Notices served on 68 employees; teacher bodies allege principals being made scapegoat for administrative failures. P3 Diljit Dosanjh has urged the authorities on social media to listen to the demands of protesting students. P4 » » » FORECAST CLOUDY MAX 26°C | MIN 26°C YESTERDAY MAX 26°C | MIN 25°C SUNSET WEDNESDAY 7.30 PM SUNRISE THURSDAY 5:38 AM WEDNESDAY | 22 JULY 2026 | JALANDHAR Hundreds of farmers from Doaba join march to Delhi Left for Capital over US trade deal concerns, halted at Shambhu Aakanksha N Bhardwaj Tribune News Service Jalandhar, July 21 Farmer organisations from the Doaba region began their journey to Delhi in the early hours of Tuesday to participate in the mahapanchayat protesting the proposed India-US trade deal. Convoys of farmers started leaving between 1.30 am and 3 am on Tuesday. Davinder Singh Sandhwan, vice-president of the Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU-Doaba), said farmers from the Doaba region left their paddy fields for a day to raise their concerns over the proposed trade agreement. The farmers were stopped at the Shambhu border. Barricades were installed and the police prevented the farmers from proceeding to the national capital, denying them permission to continue their march to Delhi. “We had been stopped at the Shambhu border. Is this a democracy? Can’t we raise our voice? Why cannot we go to our own capital?” Sandhwan asked, alleging that farmers were being prevent- Farmers stopped on the Shambhu border on Tuesday . TRIBUNE PHOTOGRAPH ed from proceeding towards Delhi. BKU (Doaba) president Manjit Rai said the organisation members had joined the march to register their protest against the proposed trade deal and support the call for the mahapanchayat in Delhi. “Hundreds of farmers were participating in the March from Doaba,” he said. Salwinder Singh, Jalandhar district president of the Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee, said, “Nearly 400 farmers from our organisation had joined the march,” Singh said. The government must listen to the demands of the farmers who just want to have a peaceful dialogue with them. “I was also ready, but couldn’t go due to some personal problem, but my heart is with the farmers,” farmer from Uggi village Tarsem Singh said. Farmers present on the Shambhu border said although the protest was just for a day, some of them were prepared that, if need be, they would sleep in their tractors. “It was a peaceful march and we wanted the government to listen to our concerns as well,” they said. In the evening, the farmer organisations returned to their villages. c m y b PSPCL operations hit as staff go on mass leave Demand OPS, release of pending 18% DA Rishika Kriti Tribune News Service Jalandhar, July 21 Routine services of the PSPCL came under severe strain in Jalandhar as regular employees joined a statewide mass leave protest from midnight on Monday after talks with Power Minister Tarunpreet Singh Sond failed to resolve their long pending demands. Several PSPCL offices wore a deserted look as a large number of employees stayed away from work. While the corporation managed to maintain uninterrupted power supply by deploying available staff and outsourced workers, routine public services such as processing applications, releasing new electricity connections and electricity bills related work remained largely suspended. The protest call has been given by several employee and pensioner organisations. The employees are demanding the release of the pending 18 per cent dearness allowance, enhancement of the promotion quota from Assistant Assistant Engineer to Assistant Engineer, revision of pay scales for employ- SERVICES DISRUPTED While the corporation managed to maintain uninterrupted power supply by deploying available staff and outsourced workers, routine public services such as processing applications, releasing new electricity connections and electricity bills related work remained largely suspended. ees recruited after July 17, 2020, payment of full salary during the probation period, and release of arrears pending since January 1, 2016. They are also seeking the fast-track filling of vacant posts and restoration of the old pension scheme. In Jalandhar, a large number of junior engineers, regular linemen and clerical employees participated in the mass leave protest. According to PSPCL employees, the Model Town division was the worst-affected with nearly 75 per cent of its staff participating in the mass leave protest. It was followed by the Circle office where around 60 per cent of the staff were on mass leave, and the Phagwara division where the figure stood at nearly 50 per cent. The situation was comparatively better in the Jalandhar East, Jalandhar West and Jalandhar Cantt divisions where around 20 to 40 per cent of the staff participated in the mass leave protest. Bhupinder Singh, president and Mukul Sharma, general secretary of the Association of Junior Engineers, Jalandhar Circle, said regular employees were participating in the statewide protest from July 21 to 22. “Most of the clerical staff at PSPCL offices were on leave. While power supply is being managed with the help of outsourced workers, complaint redressal, especially for power related faults and outages, has slowed,” they said. Gulshan Chutani, Deputy Chief Engineer, PSPCL, Jalandhar Circle, said, “Around 52 per cent of the regular employees, excluding those posted at substations, were on the mass leave protest in the circle.” “There had not been much interruption in power supply as we were managing the situation with the help of outsourced linemen. However, due to the absence of regular staff at offices, public dealing had been affected,” he said. Teacher bodies form national front against mandatory TET Jalandhar, July 21 Representatives of teacher organisations from several states formed the Joint Teachers Front of India (JTF) at a national meeting in New Delhi on Monday to oppose the mandatory implementation of the Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) for in-service teachers. The meeting was held to discuss the problems faced by lakhs of teachers following the implementation of TET in the wake of what the participants described as an unjust decision of the Supreme Court. The teacher organisations opposed the imposition of TET on teachers appointed before the implementation of the Right to Education (RTE) Act, 2009, as well as teachers of exempted subjects. They demanded that the Centre amend the RTE Act to exempt such teachers from the mandatory TET requirement. The JTF will also work as a national platform to oppose privatisation-oriented education policies and raise other issues concerning teachers and public education. The meeting decided to organise a nationwide protest at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi on September 5, on the occasion of Teacher’s Day. — TNS