04022019-JTR-01.qxd 2/4/2019 1:35 AM Page 1 c m y b Jalandhar TRIBUNE OVER 3K STUDENTS TAKE PSTSE EXAM IN DISTRICT PAGE 2 As many as 3,019 students appeared for Punjab State Talent Search Exam in district on Sunday. FORECAST PARTLY CLOUDY INBRIEF MIGRANT FOUND DEAD Phagwara: An unidentified migrant was found dead in mysterious circumstances on Saturday evening. His cycle was lying near him. He was immediately brought to the local Civil Hospital where he was declared brought dead. The police have registered a case and kept his body for identification after autopsy at the hospital. OC LIQUOR SMUGGLER ARRESTED Phagwara: The police have arrested a liquor smuggler, Sohan Lal of the Rattanpura locality, and seized 68 boxes of illicit liquor from him on Saturday evening. A case has been registered. OC FUEL PRICES PETROL ~75.56 DIESEL ~65.50 WHAT’S ON JALANDHAR DEATH ANNIVERSARY: First death anniversary of former minister Ajit S Kohar; Shahkot Grain Market; 11:30 am FREE OPD: Free cancer screening OPD; Patel Hospital; 9 am Jalandhar, February 3 After suspending DEO Satnam Singh on the grounds of ‘unjust behaviour’, as he remained absent from a district-level review meeting, Harinder Pal Singh has been appointed as the new District Education Officer (DEO) of the district. He took over the charge of the DEO on Friday. Till now, after the suspension of Satnam on January 7 by the Education Minister, DEO (primary) Rampal Singh was given the additional charge of the DEO. Before being appointed as the Jalandhar District Education Officer, Harinder was serving as SUNSET MONDAY 6:04 PM YEH RISHTA KYA KEHLATA HAI COMPLETES A DECADE PAGE 4 The long-running Star Plus’ show Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai achieves the feat of completing 10 years. SUNRISE TUESDAY 7:18 AM Cane farmers still await dues MONDAY | 4 FEBRUARY 2019 | JALANDHAR Face difficulties in absence of money; meetings, protests fail to help them 2 months on, Punbus entry to IGI airport remains disrupted Aakanksha N Bhardwaj ‘Govt in no mood to take up matter with airport authorities’ Tribune News Service Jalandhar, February 3 “We have heard umpteen promises, held plenty of meetings and scores of protests, but still are empty handed, awaiting our own money,” this is how cane growers express their misery. Cane growers last year in December had held a massive protest and the protesting sugarcane farmers were left with no option but to leave their families and hold dharnas. After the government had promised to give their dues till January 15, the farmers had lifted the protest but the farmers are still awaiting their payments. Some of the marginal farmers, who have not got their dues of the last season, while talking to The Tribune said they had suffered a lot and would now stop growing sugarcane in their fields in the future. Gurmukh Singh, a farmer from Sahni village said he had taken loan up to Rs 34 lakh just to run his family and make both ends meet. “A sugar mill owe Rs 2 lakh to me. You can well imagine the kind of situation we are going through,” Singh said. He added that his two chil- the DEO in Kapurthala for the past four months. However, he still has the additional charge of Kapurthala and after the recent controversy that had evoked at the Meritorious School due to poor quality food being served to students in the mess and students were beaten up with a wiper, he was also given the extra charge of the school. Prior to this, he had also served as the DEO in the district for over two years between 2014-17 and afterwards, he was appointed as the Mansa District Education Officer for a few months and then served as the Deputy DEO in Jalandhar. Meanwhile, Satnam still remain suspension. Avneet Kaur Sugarcane farmers protest in support of their demands at Mukerian in Hoshiarpur. FILE PHOTO TALE OF WOES Another farmer from Lakhpur village Santokh Singh said he was a marginal farmer with less land and he had yet to get nearly Rs 5 lakh from the mills. “I have a daughter who is currently pursuing a course in nursing. Her course requires a lot of money. My father is old and his health is not good. I have a lot of responsibility but in the absence of money, we do not know how to continue further in this situation,” he said. dren were studying. “If I would not submit the fees on time, the school authorities would not let my children sit in the school,” Singh said. Another farmer from Lakhpur village Santokh Singh said he was a marginal farmer with less land and he had yet to get nearly Rs 5 lakh from the mills. “I have a daughter who is currently pursuing a course in nursing. Her course requires a lot of money. My father is old and his health is not good. I have a lot of responsibility but in the absence of money, we do not PSEB chief holds surprise checks at regional office Our Correspondent Hoshiarpur, February 3 Chairman of Punjab School Education Board (PSEB), Manohar Kant Kalohia, conducted a surprise check at the regional office of the Board as well as the textbook depot in Hoshiarpur today. Reviewing the ongoing works, he issued orders about the next academic year. Kalohia said new textbooks have already been sent for the academic year 201920. The supply of additional demand for textbooks for the year 2018-19 in 19 blocks under the Hoshiarpur Regional Office has been completed. Now, for the next year, more than 2.5 lakh new textbooks have already reached the Hoshiarpur depot. Manager, regional office, Lalit Kumar said more than 1,60,000 books have arrived for sale and about 1,20,000 books have been received for free of cost distribution through the welfare department. Kalohia hoped that till March, the Punjab School Education Board would send 80 per cent of the textbooks to its regional depots by mid-March and by March 31, 2019, the textbooks will be made available to blocklevel centres for regular distribution among students. He expressed satisfaction over the performance of the Regional Office. Addressing the media, he said the Board has made unique arrangements for the coming examinations and hoped that the students, parents and teachers of Punjab would cooperate in putting a check on the menace of copying. OOAT centres help youths dependent on drugs to lead a normal life Jalandhar, February 3 Outpatient Opioid Assisted Treatment (OOAT) centres are changing lives of youths dependent on drugs as the treatment is being offered here is helping them to get rid of drug abuse and it has given a new lease of life to them and their families. Narrating about his story, Ravi (name changed), a resident of Avtar Nagar here, said he was once passionate about bodybuilding but after he fall prey to the menace, he forgot about the passion and became a slave to drugs. He said his family members were in distress and they had lost all hope. He said his sister motivated him consis- PAGE 3 Company offers singer Ariana Grande $1.5 million if she opts for their company for her new tattoo removal. MAX 21°C | MIN 9°C | YESTERDAY MAX 20°C | MIN 5°C Harinder Pal takes charge as DEO Tribune News Service ARIANA GRANDE OFFERED OVER MILLION FOR TATTOO REMOVAL tently for quitting drugs and took him to the OOAT centre from where he continued his medicine regularly and now, he has again started going to the gym and leading a normal life like others. Sham (name changed) was working as a driver in Kuwait and four months ago, when he came back to home and became a victim of the bad company, he started taking drugs. He said a month ago, he was brought to the OOAT centre by his family members and was put on treatment. “Now, I am feeling relieved as now, I do not think about drugs and take medicines daily and leading a normal life,” Sham said, adding he was now doing his driving job comfortably here. Reports from OOAT centres say that there was a surge in drug dependents youths coming for treatment to these OOAT centres and long queues could be spotted at the OOAT centres daily. Deputy Commissioner Varinder Kumar Sharma said the state government had created mass awareness of the menace and successfully convinced people about illeffects of the peril. He said owing to these efforts, a large number of youths were shunning the menace and visiting the centres for treatment. He said these centres were the result of the commitment of the state government to wean away from the evil from the state through proper treatment and diagnosis of the drug addicts. — TNS c m y b know how to continue further in this situation,” he said. Earlier, while protesting against the government, the farmers had said the government could not pay their dues and had failed to give dues for their sugarcane crops even after a lapse of over a year. It should not keep bragging about the crop diversification scheme in speeches and also it (government) must stop showing ‘fake sympathy’ towards them. The farmers said the agrarian crisis was getting grimmer in the state. The issue was being deepened with every coming day. Jalandhar, February 3 Even after two months of the announcement made by the state Transport Department that the luxury bus services to the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport in New Delhi will be resumed shortly, the services remain off track and disrupted by the airport authorities. No bus of Punbus till date is allowed to enter the airport premises or dropping passengers near the airport. As per Baljit Singh, vicepresident, Punjab Roadways Employees Union, due to the lackadaisical approach of the state government in taking up the issue with the airport authorities, the state-owned Punbus are not allowed to enter the airport. He alleged that despite being in power, the government had failed to resume its own transport services while private buses without any hindrance were allowed to take the passengers to the airport. He said, “The roadways employees have taken up the matter with the General Manager, Roadways, and the Transport Minister a number of times, but to no avail.” Even after having three national tourist permits, the Punbus buses had been restricted from deporting passengers to anywhere near the Delhi airport. FILE PHOTO He said: “Other than the previous losses, Punbus at present is facing a loss of around Rs 40-50 lakh per month. Besides with the suspension of the services, passengers had also been reduced.” Only 12-15 passengers are been taken to the Delhi ISBT Kashmiri Gate in the 43-seater buses. However, in the past, there used to be bookings of over 35 passengers going to the airport, he added. The GM, Roadways, Parneet Singh, who in the past few weeks had several meetings with the Delhi Airport Transportation Authori- ties, said: “The airport authorities were adamant on dismissing the luxury Punjab Roadways bus services from Jalandhar to the IGI airport on baseless grounds.” He said even after having three national tourist permits, the Punbus buses had been restricted from deporting passengers to anywhere near the airport.” On being asked why only Punbus was not allowed to ferry passengers to the airport, he said, only the state government might answer to this, as the matter is now between the central authorities and the Punjab Government.”