17052022-JTR-01.qxd 5/16/2022 11:56 PM Page 1 c m y b Jalandhar TRIBUNE DENGUE AWARENESS POSTERS RELEASED BY CIVIL SURGEON On the occasion of National Dengue Day, the Jalandhar Civil Surgeon released dengue awareness posters. FORECAST PARTLY CLOUDY SKY INBRIEF ENVIRONMENT PANEL MEETING Jalandhar: A meeting of the District Environment Committee was held on Monday under the chairmanship of Kapurthala DC Vishesh Sarangal in which he directed officials of the departments concerned to ensure strict adherence to the guidelines issued by the National Green Tribunal on environment and water conservation. He also reviewed the operation of solid waste management in the district, management of plastic waste, disposal of bio-medical waste and operation of sewage treatment plants at full capacity. He said the work on STP projects to use water for irrigation purpose should be expedited. He also issued guidelines to officials of the Sewerage Board and Pollution Control Board for achieving targets for the seven water treatment plants in the district. Besides, officials of the Drainage Department were also directed to expedite the work to clean Kali Bein. TNS MAN HELD FOR CAUSING DEATH Shahkot: The Shahkot police have arrested a man on the charges of causing death by negligence and rash driving. Investigating officer Kashmir Singh said the accused had been identified as Raja Ram Bishnoi, a resident of Bikaner district in Rajasthan. Karan Kumar, a resident of Begum Pur village in Kapurthala, has complained to the police that the unidentified accused was driving his heavy-duty tractor trailer (bearing registration No. RJ 07 GE 0643) on May 13 on national highways and hit a Mahindra Bolero vehicle and killed an unidentified person near Bajwa Kalan village. Investigating officer Kashmir Singh said a case under Sections 304-A , 279 337, 338 and 427 of the IPC was registered against the accused who was released on bail. OC THREE BOOKED ON THEFT CHARGE Nakodar: The Nakodar sadar police have booked three persons on the charge of stealing cash and jewellery from a house. Investigating officer (IO) in the case Chaman Lal said the accused had been identified as Tina, a resident of Eeda village, Pala of Mehmud Pur village and their unidentified accomplice. Rannjit Singh, a resident of Nawan Pind Mallian village, complained to the police that thieves barged into her house on May 15 night and stole cash, gold jewellery and a smartphone. The IO said a case under Sections 457 and 380 of the IPC had been registered against the accused. OC RED CROSS DAY CELEBRATED Jalandhar: World Red Cross Day was celebrated on Monday by the Indian Red Cross Society, Kapurthala, with the theme ‘BeHumankind’ under the guidance of Dr Preet Kanwal, chairperson, Indian Red Cross Society, Kapurthala. Addressing representatives of various NGOs, Dr Preet Kanwal said the day was celebrated to mark the birth anniversary of Henry Dunant, the founder of the Red Cross. She said Red Cross would pay special attention to activities related to public welfare, especially girls’ education and health. Free vocational training courses for girls would be started soon. TNS PAGE 2 BILLBOARD MUSIC AWARDS RETURN TO LAS VEGAS PAGE 3 The Billboard Music Awards delivered a star-studded evening in celebration of music’s most chart-topping artistes. MAX 42°C | MIN 27°C | YESTERDAY MAX 39°C | MIN 27°C SUNSET TUESDAY 7:18 PM Deepkamal Kaur Tribune News Service DIST ADMN PROPOSES SEWA KENDRAS AS SITES ■ The district administration had proposed that the vacant, closed buildings of Sewa Kendras should be used for the purpose ■ As many as 2,147 Sewa Kendras had been set up in Punjab by the SAD-BJP government. Of these, 1,758 are in rural areas ■ While only 500 of the total kendras are functional as of today, the remaining nearly 1,600 are lying vacant. Nearly 90 Sewa Kendras are lying shut in Jalandhar across the district already been proposed, Nakodar MLA Inderjit Kaur Mann has said she has suggested that a building available on rent should be taken in Mohalla Sran and Bajigar Basti that have a slum popu- lation of 5000-7000 people. “We have already identified a building on rental means. In the meantime, we have also written to the Municipal Committee, Nakodar, to help us identify a government prop- PAGE 4 The Sharma sisters, Neha and Aisha, are set to shine bright with their new project titled Shining with the Sharmas. SUNRISE WEDNESDAY 5:30 AM COMING SOON: A mohalla clinic in every constituency Jalandhar, May 16 Even as two months of the AAP government are over and there is a continuous pressure on it to perform and fulfil all promises that it had assured to the people, a plan is on the anvil to open a mohalla clinic in every constituency in a month’s time. Sites for the same have been identified and proposals for the same have been mooted to the government via the civil administration. Since there are nine Assembly segments in Jalandhar district, nine mohalla clinics will be opened in the first phase. Even though the district administration had proposed that the vacant, closed buildings of Sewa Kendras should be used for the purpose, the area MLAs and Aam Aadmi Party representatives have shown preference for other sites to suit the area needs. While a site of ayurvedic centre at Nijjra village for Kartarpur Assembly seat has NEHA AND AISHA TO GIVE A SNEAK-PEEK INTO THEIR LIVES erty around the area so that the poor population which is far away from the town and has no means to visit a medical institute should get the first priority,” she said. Mann said once the first clinic would take off properly, she would start identifying more such sites in her area. Jalandhar West MLA Sheetal Angural, too, has given his preference. “I am for any government site in Basti areas. We have given some fards to the government for finalising a good location. Once we are able to set up the first mohalla clinic, we have to work to set up a mohalla clinic in each of the 80 wards of the city.” DC Ghanshyam Thori said: “Use of defunct Sewa Kendra buildings for the purpose of setting up Mohalla Clinics is already on the agenda of the state government. All these are government sites with a building structure already available. A good use of the building will also ensure their proper upkeep or else these could crumble in coming years”. TUESDAY | 17 MAY 2022 | JALANDHAR Booksarrivingatsnail’s pace, teachers share problems Tribune News Service Jalandhar, May 16 It has been days and still teachers have been making rounds of Block Primary Education Officers. Reason: Even if session was started a month ago, all the books have still not arrived. Apart from this problem, the teachers shared other problems too. The teachers have been complaining that either they arrange three-wheeler to go to take the books, or go by their own conveyance. “Prices of petrol and diesel are skyrocketing, and we are forced to visit the offices number of times,” a teacher from Nakodar said. Another teacher from Nawanshahr said they get call from the BPEOs office whenever books arrive, but books are coming in small number. “I have gone to the office six times now. Whenever I go, I take some books and come back. This is what our routine is now,” he said adding that he would go again tomorrow. Another teacher from Jadla village said he had been coming from the village to the It is not for the first time that books have arrived late, but teachers making rounds of offices again and again is something that has angered them Nawanshahr BPEO office on his own, which was very tiring. “Also there are only two teachers in my school. You can imagine if one teacher goes out, how would other take care of every kid,” he said. Another teacher from Lohian block in Jalandhar said he had been teaching the students by downloading the books from the internet. “I know that students would never understand if they don’t have the books. Who teaches using internet to the students, but what else can we do,” he said. The teacher added that how the Educa- tion Department could expect good results from them if there are no books. It is not for the first time that the books have arrived late, but teachers making rounds of the offices again and again is something that has angered them. A government school teacher from Jalandhar shared that he was single teacher in the school and after taking classes, he go to the BPEO office to collect books. “I think we will have to go to the office again. I don’t know when this problem will be resolved,” he rued. City-based lecturer rules the pool Seechewal: Use 1,452 cusecs water Wins three gold, one silver in National Masters Games of Bist Doab for irrigation purposes Tribune News Service Jalandhar, May 16 Regwinder Bhatia, citybased physical education lecturer at Government Senior Secondary School, Mand, has brought laurels to the district by clinching three gold and a silver medal in the 100 m butterfly stroke, 200 m race, 450 m medley relay and in 200 m freestyle relay, respectively, in the First Pan India National Masters Games 2022 held at Bengaluru from May 11 to 15. People in the age group 25-80 years were allowed to participate in different sports events, including badminton, tennis, swimming, weightlifting, football, handball, kabaddi and in Regwinder Bhatia athletics the participation was open for all age groups. Talking to Jalandhar Tribune, Bhatia said this national-level sports meet was the selection trial for the forthcoming World Masters Games 2022 and Japan and Asia-Pacific Masters Games2023, which will be held in South Korea. He said seven different swimming events were held under various categories like 50 m, 100 m, 200 m etc and around 500 swimmers, both men and women, from across the country participated in it. He further said he has remained a swimming coach in the Education Department and was titled as best water polo player of Punjab in 1997. Earlier, he had registered a record by winning 15 medals in various swimming tournaments and remained among the top most swimmers in the state. Tribune News Service Jalandhar, May 16 During a recent protest that farmers held outside the DC office here, one of their demands was the routing of treated surface water for irrigation purposes. Environmentalist Balbir Singh Seechewal also raised the same concern today. Seechewal questioned the government, administrative officials, Drainage Department, among others, as to why the Bist Doab’s ample waters were being allowed to go waste. The environmentalist questioned where was the water of the Bist Doab going ? (which was six times more as compared to the Kali Bein), He questioned that while 250 cusecs of water was being released into the Kali Bein, the Bist Doab had 1,452 cusecs of water. Balbir Singh Seechewal said if the 1,452 cusecs water of Doaba was repurposed for irrigation purposes, it would solve all woes of farmers He said there was no answers as to where this water was being routed. He said government records stated that the Doaba’s water share was 1,452 cusecs. Seechewal posted these questions while speaking in a Facebook live session. Citing a report, he said at present, of the 147 blocks in the state, 108 had been declared to be in the dark zone. Almost all zones in Doaba were in the dark zones. Seechewal said Doaba was witnessing the fastest receding-groundwater scenario in the state. He said in such conditions, it was questionable where was the 1,452 cusecs of water share of Doaba (as per government records), which was meant for irrigation, going? Seechewal said neither the government nor departments or farmers had the answer to this question. He said as per a survey conducted by the Centre, the state was left with only 17 years of water. But governments were paying no attention to the impending crisis. Mannie Sadhra: Meet the man ‘Go for fruit crops to save behind the brand ‘Kalikwest’ depleting groundwater’ Horticulture Dept urges farmers to adopt diversification Tribune News Service Jalandhar, May 16 “I was just 19-year-old, when I started this company called Kalikwest, which was initially a clothing line. But I had this quest of finding talent and promoting their work. So the company changed from being a clothing line to a media group,” said Mannie Sadhra, who was born and brought up in California, but originally hails from Nawanshahr. He says he has worked with many famed artistes like Pitbull, Lil Jon, Akon and Punjab’s stars Diljit Dosanjh, Jazzy B, Sukhshinder Shinda, Honey Singh, Sharry Mann, Gippy Grewal, Vinaypal Buttar and Neeru Bajwa. He said he had also recently launched new artistes like Harnoor, Bob Randhawa and Indrr Bajwa, whose debut EP ‘ Take One’ is all over YouTube and is making people groove. Besides, the new single, “Allah Ve”, sung by D Harp and After handling the promotion work of music giants, including Pitbull, Lil Jon, Akon, Diljit Dosanjh, Kalikwest is now all set to promote budding talents directed by Mohit Sharma, which is also launched by Kalikwest, is among the top Punjabi hits on playlists on Spotify and iTunes, he added. Talking to Jalandhar Tribune over call, Mannie Sadhra said his life changed when his family decided to move to California in 1988. “Travelling to c m y b different nations enabled me to understand diverse cultures, gain experience and grow with an optimistic intellect. But my love for Punjabi folk music and an exceptional taste in western vibes forced me to change my profession. After that a new era of my life started, which I named the ‘Cali Quest’,” he added. He said Punjabi MC and Jay Z came up with a new song ‘Beware of the Boys’ in 2003 and his company Kalikwest with his crew fused it with hip hop leading to the first Bhangra-Hiphop Mixtape. He further added that his success story includes an endless list of record labels like Jive Records, Virgin Records, Warner Brothers and many more. Believing in the power of dreams and hard work, now Kalikwest is all set to provide a platform to budding talents and expand their horizons and take their passion for music to a whole new level. Tribune News Service Nawanshahr, May 16 The peach growers in Balachaur sub-division have been earning well per acre and contributing widely in saving the depleting groundwater. During a visit to the peach and plum farms in Balachaur and adjoining areas, a team of the Horticulture Department led by Director Horticulture Shailender Kaur said since it was a mountainous land, the climate of the Balachaur and Saroya is more conducive to peach farming. She said area under peach and plum was continuously increasing in Nawanshahr and with peach farmers are earning handsome income from the fruit crops. According to the Director, the fruit crops would not only save the depleting ground water level, but would also bring more farmers out of cycle of traditional wheat and paddy crops. The Horticulture Director during a visit to a peach farm in Balachaur. Horticulture Development Officer Dr Rajesh Kumar said that soil in Balachaur was most favourable to grow peach. “More farmers have now been coming forward to adopt fruit crop,” he said. Assistant Director Dr Jagdish Singh said under the National Horticulture Mission, 50-per cent subsidy was being offered to the farmers for setting up garden, shed net, and poly house. He added that the increasing trend towards crop diversification is the need of the hour. Deputy Director Dr Danesh Kumar appealed to the farmers that the Horticulture Department had brought several schemes for the farmers and they must take maximum advantage of these schemes to promote diversification of crop.