10102018-JTR-01.qxd 10/10/2018 1:31 AM Page 1 c m y b WEDNESDAY | 10 OCTOBER 2018 | JALANDHAR JALANDHAR TRIBUNE Principals’ Meet Actor accused of rape Fight it out The Tribune brings together principals of 51 schools for an interaction on dealing with value crises among students. P2 Vinta Nanda has accused actor Alok Nath of sexually violating her almost two decades ago. P3 Popular television actors believe one should not succumb to depression. P4 FORECAST MAINLY CLEAR SKY | MAX 29.4°C MIN 18.9°C | YESTERDAY MAX 31°C MIN 20°C | SUNSET WEDNESDAY 6.02 PM SUNRISE THURSDAY 6.28 AM Dustbins installed by MC Teachers hold candlelight march, flay government... found missing or damaged Avneet Kaur Bins found at only five of 30 spots Ajay Joshi Tribune News Service Jalandhar, October 9 Three years ago under the Swachh Bharat Mission, the Municipal Corporation (MC) had installed 450 dustbins, with an expenditure of Rs 55 lakh, at various locations of the city, however these expensive dustbins are either missing or have been damaged at many spots. The small bins were installed for the disposal of garbage in and around city areas. But due to lack of maintenance, open garbage dumping still exists in many places. Garbage is seen strewn on roads at various points. MC official Varinder Kumar Rattan, while showing a list of areas where these dustbins were installed, claimed that these were still available. Whereas when the correspondent visited these places, the dustbins were found missing at various points. Of the five locations near Shastri Chowk, only a dustbin was spotted near the Bridge Steno shop. Contrary to the MC claims, an owner of a tyre shop, near a SBI ATM said, he had never seen any dustbin at the spot, On a visit to the city, dustbins were found missing at various points. Of the five locations near Shastri Chowk, only a dustbin was spotted near the Bridge Steno shop. Bins were found only at five of the 30 spots visited by the correspondent. Garbage lying near a dustbin near Namdev Chowk in Jalandhar. instead people were throwing the trash openly. Dustbins were found only at five of the 30 places visited by the correspondent. A shopkeeper near Sekhon Grand hotel said though a dustbin was installed in front of the hotel, it was stolen within months. There were many other locations as well from where these were stolen. Meanwhile, residents have also been raising questions over the high prices at which the dustbins were purchased by the MC. The dustbins were of small size as garbage could always be found scattered near them, said Vijay Kumar at Namdev Chowk. Dustbins placed haphazardly at several spots have been damaged by stray cattle. A vendor near the BMC chowk said these bins were of small size due to which it used to get filled fast. Also, garbage lifting was not conducted on a regular basis. MC Commissioner Diprava Lakra, however said, now under the new roadmap, no new bins would be installed and if placed, local residents would be held responsible for any damages to them. Whereas Health Officer Krishan Kumar said proposals to install huge dustbins had been submitted to the government. Nawanshahr, October 9 Members of the 5178 Master Cadre Union, SSA/RMSA Teachers’ Union, SC/BC Teachers’ Union and Computer Teachers’ Union organised a candlelight march from Baradari Garden, passing through Sloh Chowk, to Kothi Road here on Tuesday. They were demanding regularisation of their jobs on full-pay scale and condemned the Punjab government’s decision to reduce their salaries and suspending five protesting teachers at Patiala on Monday. They raised slogans against the government and said their agitation would continue despite suspension orders and they would hold protests across the state in every district until their demands were not fulfilled. Harminder Singh Uppal, district president, Master Cadre Union, said the Education Department had asked them to spell out their demands in November last year, but nothing had been done so far. He said, 5178 teachers were posted as masters at government schools and earning Rs 6,000 per month. “The teachers are well qualified and have also cleared the Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) after which they were recruited as masters in 2014,” he added. The teachers, who were present in the march, said they had completed three years’ service but till now, nothing had been done for regularisation of their jobs. Terming the state government’s ignorance towards their demand of regularisation as unconstitutional and then reducing the salaries in the name of regularisation, Ram Krishan, president SC/BC Union said: “The constitution stressed on equal pay for equal work, while the state government had been cheating us by availing full service and paying less. If the government did not accept our demand of regularisation and full-scale pay, we would escalate our protest.” Members of SSA/RMSA Union said every time we meet the Chief Minister and Education Minister we were assured that employees would be regularised soon, but we never expected that our regularisation would be done on the condition of reduced salaries. The move is unacceptable and we would continue to protest until it withdraws its decision.” Leave Parho Punjab WhatsApp groups Our Correspondent Jalandhar, October 9 Fumed over the Punjab Cabinet decision of regularising services of teachers on Rs 15,000 monthly salary, teachers under the banner of the Sanjha Adhyapak Morcha, Punjab, in the state are holding protests across the state in various districts and 11 teachers are sitting on a fastunto-death in Patiala. While with no intention to stop the stir, the teachers have now left their WhatsApp groups made under the Parho Punjab Parhao project. Terming the project a threat for the state and Punjabi sabhyachar, an activist of the manch, Kuldip Singh Daurka, alleged that the government had a lot of money to waste on the project and its activities, while it was offering the teachers regularisation on the condition of reducing their salaries to just Rs 15,000. “We will not accept this condition of the government and have decided to boycott every programme or activity designed under the project,” he said, adding that the project has created confusion among teachers about what to teach and what not, Daurka said: “The project is simply copying the functioning of private schools, while stu- RSS chief in city Teachers hold a protest march outside the residence of MLA Pargat Singh in Jalandhar. TRIBUNE PHOTO dents are forgetting their own rich culture and are heading towards westernisation.” He alleged that the aim of the government was to bring privatisation in government schools through the project, but it was fooling people of the state in the name of revamping government schools. When asked about the suspension of five protesting teachers in Patiala, Kuldip said: “Let the government take its stand but teachers have declared to continue the protest until their demands are met. Eleven teachers are sitting on fast-unto-death near Dukhniwaran Sahib Gurdwara, Patiala. Teachers are upset over the decision of reducing their salaries from Rs 42,800 to Rs 15,000 per month.” Divulging more details, another member of the union, Sukhjeet Singh, said: “The protesting teachers were hired in 2008 on a salary of Rs 13,500 and since then they had been struggling for regularisation of their services.” “During the Assembly poll, the teachers’ fraternity had voted the Congress to power in the state on the only condition that Chief MInister Capt Amarinder Singh promised to regularise our services after coming to power. We are demanding regularisation since the SAD regime, in 2011, the state government had raised the teacher’s salary to Rs 16,500. At present, they were drawing Rs 42,800 monthly salary, while again reducing it to Rs 15,000 is completely illogical,” he said. PM favouring private telecom firms: Aujla Tribune News Service RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat during a visit to the city; and (right) Youth Congress workers burn an effigy of the leader in Jalandhar on Tuesday. TRIBUNE PHOTOS: MALKIAT SINGH Amritsar, October 9 MP Gurjeet Singh Aujla has announced that he would raise the issue of decrease in revenue and subscription base of the BSNL in comparison to private telecommunication companies in Parliament. He made the announcement after visiting the BSNL office on the Albert road, opposite the district Congress committee (Rural) office. He accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of benefiting a few industrial houses and telecommunication companies. The MP said private telecommunication companies had subscribers in lakhs in the district, but the BSNL had customer base of around 1 lakh. The MP said he would take up the matter of reconstruction of the building with senior officials of the BSNL in New Delhi. Biker on a mission to spread health awareness Ladowali Road govt boys’ 60-yr-old former editor of an English daily reaches city after covering 25 states, 3 UTs Covered 88% of 28,000-km ride Deepkamal Kaur Tribune News Service Jalandhar, October 9 On a mission to spread awareness of the importance of keeping fit and precautions required for road safety, Sharat Sharma, a 60-year-old retired journalist from Delhi, today reached Jalandhar covering 25 states and three union territories. Having spent 37 years in the print media and retiring as the editor of an English Daily, Sharma set on a solo bike ride from Delhi on March 18 this year to cover all states and four UTs. He has already covered almost 88 per cent of his 28,000-km ride. From Jalandhar, he will be going to Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Chandigarh. “In Punjab, I have covered Ferozepur, where I went to the Husssainiwala border and Amritsar where I visited the Wagah border. In Jalandhar, I had a stopover at the Jang-eAzadi memorial. I am likely to conclude my trip by November 10 in Delhi,” he said. Having spent 37 years in the print media and retiring as the editor of an English Daily, Sharat Sharma set on a solo bike ride from Delhi on March 18 this year to cover all states and four UTs. He has already covered almost 88 per cent of his 28,000-km ride. From Jalandhar, he will be going to Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh, HP, Uttarakhand and Chandigarh. Sharat Sharma in Jalandhar on Tuesday. TRIBUNE PHOTO: MALKIAT SINGH Sharma said: “I am riding to spread the message of staying fit in life to enjoy the post-retirement life which is the third innings of one’s life cycle. This is the time to enjoy and live one’s dreams as well as give something back to society. For this to come true, a fitness regime must be followed throughout one’s life to avoid spending the third innings in hospitals. Most journalists have a sedentary lifestyle but I maintained my regularity at gym, owing to which I have been able to travel so long at this age.” Showing health concerns, he said: “Unfortunately India has become a diabetic capital of the world and is set to be the world’s capital of cholesterol diseases as well. This is happening as we have stopped taking care of our health.” He went on say: “My second message is for young bike riders in the country. In 2016-17, 1,50,785 persons died in accidents. Of these, 52,500 were bikers and 18.3 per cent c m y b of these were without helmets. Of the total victims, 46.3 per cent were between the age of 18 and 35 years. I want youngsters to follow traffic discipline and enjoy bike rides as part of life’s journey and not waste their life by dying in accidents”. Sharma said: “Roads are for enjoying life’s journey and must not be turned into racing tracks. There has also been an alarming increase in accidents due to usage of mobile phones. I ride without using a mobile phone, GPS and navigation tools and want to prove that bike rides can be managed and enjoyed without these.” school gets digitised library Government Model Senior Secondary School for boys, Ladowali Road, has become the first school in the region to have a digitised library. TRIBUNE PHOTO Ajay Joshi Tribune News Service Jalandhar, October 9 Government Model Senior Secondary School for Boys, Ladowali Road, here, has become the first school in the region to have a digitised library. Now, students can easily locate books of their choice without searching them manually. Books of any subject, or author, can be spotted with a single mouse click. After toiling for three years, librarian Manjit Maini has found an easy way by installing the e-Granthalaya software that keeps the record of every book. He said for twoand-a-half years, he made a list Books just a click away Books of any subjects, or of any author, can be spotted with a single mouse click only. After toiling for three years, librarian Manjit Maini has discovered the easy way by installing the eGranthalaya software that keeps the record of every book. of books and categorised them as per their subjects, besides assigning a code to books and preparing their data with all particulars. Subsequently, the prepared data was uploaded on the software. There are around 13,000 books in the library and students will only have to enter the name of a book in the system and it will display the details and its physical location in cupboards. The principal said before installing the software, all books were rearranged and the librarian, with the help of staff members, prepared the data of the books. Owing to the shortage of computers, the principal has provided her computer for the task. Claiming it as his dream project, Manjit said it was necessary to keep a record of all books for the convenience of students.