25112022-JTR-01.qxd 25-11-2022 00:12 Page 1 c m y b Jalandhar TRIBUNE IN PICS: RURKA KALAN VILLAGE MAKING A BIG DIFFERENCE Rurka Kalan has set a perfect example of what a community can do when it comes together for a better tomorrow. FORECAST MAINLY CLEAR SKY PAGE 2 APARSHAKTI KHURANA FLIES TO TURKEY TO SHOOT NEENDRAN PAGE 3 EVELYN SHARMA CELEBRATES DAUGHTER’S FIRST BIRTHDAY Actor-singer Aparshakti Khurana has taken a quick trip to Turkey to shoot his next music single Neendran. MAX 25°C | MIN 8°C | YESTERDAY MAX 25°C | MIN 7°C SUNSET FRIDAY 5:23 PM Evelyn Sharma along with daughter and husband had flown to Sydney to celebrate little one’s first birthday. SUNRISE SATURDAY 6:57 AM TWO HELD WITH STOLEN BIKES ONE FLAUNTS ARMS, BOOKED Jalandhar: The Jalandhar Rural Police have on Thursday booked a Hindu activist, Abhishek Bakshi, for reportedly flaunting his pistol and posting a video of the same on social media. Even as the state government has been going stringent against any such acts and had booked a popular couple for putting a video of toyguns on their social media accounts on Wednesday, a similar video was put up by another youth leader. While he was driving his car, he had a pistol in his hand. A case has been lodged against him under Section 188 of the CrPC. TNS MAN BOOKED FOR MURDER ATTEMPT Hohiarpur: The Tanda police station have registered a case against a person on the charge of firing with the intention of murder. Amritpal Singh, a resident of Buddi Pind told the police that he was having dinner with his friend at a hotel. His friend called him and said his car had been hit by some vehicle on the roadside. On it, he reached the said place. He said when he was coming back, Ashwani Kumar, a resident of Jahura, shot at him after an altercation. oc Tactor trolley union members hold a dharna outside the Smart City office in Jalandhar on Thursday. They demanded that their pay should be released at the earliest. MALKIAT SINGH. 2 days on, tractor trolleys lifting city waste off road over non-payment Tribune News Service Jalandhar, November 24 The city is looking to head into a mess, literally, with 24 tractor-trolleys meant to lift garbage going off road. These tractor trolleys lift waste from the dumps and road sides in 80 wards. For the past two days, tractor trolleys have been off road MC YET TO PAY ~2 CRORE TO CONTRACTOR; 24 VEHICLES OPERATIONAL IN 80 WARDS as the contractor, who has been assigned the job, decided to stop the work over nonpayment of dues. The contractor was not being able to give salaries to the staff. Today, workers held protest outside the Smart City Office VB arrests patwari taking bribe of ~10K Hoshiarpur, November 24 The Vigilance Bureau (VB) nabbed a patwari, Lakhbir Singh, posted at Dasuya, red handed accepting a bribe of Rs 10,000 on Thursday. Also Girdawar Tejinder Singh Goldy has been booked, although he’s yet to be arrested. In a complaint filed with the VB, Jugraj Singh, a resident of Usman Shahud village in Dasuya Sub-Division, had alleged that the said patwari and girdawar were demanding a bribe of Rs 10,000 for implementing division and demarcation of his ancestral agriculture land. Acting on the complaint, a VB team laid a trap and the patwari was caught red-handed accepting Rs 10,000. The money received as bribe was recovered from him in the presence of two witnesses. — OC ‘Extend pension scheme to employees of all sectors’ Tribune News Service OPS ENTAILS 50% OF LAST SALARY AS PENSION Jalandhar, November 24 “Why only government employees? All professions, including the private sector, should have a provision for the pension scheme,” says Anmol Bali, 23, a postgraduate in clinical psychology from Lovely professional University (LPU), Jalandhar, reacting to the Punjab Government notifying the Old Pension Scheme in place of the National Pension Scheme. Narinder Singh, a postgraduate from Hoshiarpur, feels “The governments always work out the welfare scheme keeping in mind the financial implications.” A school teacher from Nawan Shehr, Kamal Kumar, says: “The pension debt sustainability in wake of an increasing ageing population would also mean burden on future generation”. Angadjit Singh, a law graduate and student of masters FRIDAY | 25 NOVEMBER 2022 | JALANDHAR MGN teachers move court over leave entitlement INBRIEF Jalandhar: The city police have arrested two persons involved in two-wheeler thefts in the city and recovered two stolen bikes from their possession. The police said following a tip-off, a team of Division Number 1 arrested Mohit Bapar, a resident of Kishanpura, at Bhagat Singh Colony. They said a stolen bike (PB07 BL 3041) was found from his possession. “Mohit is a habital offender and was involved in a number of vehicle theft and drug smuggling cases in the city. Three cases under various sections of the IPC and NDPS Act are registered against him in Jalandhar and Phagwara,” they said. In another case, a team of Division Number 2 arrested Deepak, a resident of Gandhi Camp, near Workshop Chowk. A stolen bike (PB08 DK 5994) was found from his possession. TNS PAGE 4 ■ Old Pension Scheme (OPS) entails 50% of the last basic salary drawn, along with other benefits like DA, as pension. New Pension Scheme (NPS) is a contribution based pension scheme introduced in January 2004 by the Centre ■ Under NPS, an employee contributes at least 10% of his pay, which is matched by the govtcontribution of 14%. The employee is allotted a Permanent Retirement Account Number in journalism and mass communication, stresses: “The Punjab Government has notified the Old Pension Scheme but till now has not given the exact details and the impact it will have on the state’s Budget”. He further says as Punjab is already a debt-ridden state, thus, it’s important for the government to give a clear picture. Divyanshi, a political sci- ■ The fund then is invested by fund managers. After retirement, employee can withdraw 60% of the corpus and the remaining 40% is paid to purchase an annuity or annual payment from a registered insurance firm ence student of DAV University, Jalandhar, says the old pension scheme was discontinued keeping in mind the financial burden. “The political parties for their benefits revive the scrapped schemes, without realising its longterm repercussions,” she adds, stressing for the government that will be in power after 2035, the OPS would prove to be a big burden. and demanded the release of payment. As per the information, nearly Rs 2 crore is pending with the MC. The protesters approached former Safai Karamchari leader Chandan Grewal after which they gathered outside the office. They wanted to meet the MC Commissioner, but couldn’t. The protesters urged the authorities to release the contractor’s pending dues so that they could receive their salaries. “If we are not paid, how would we run our homes?” the protesters said, adding it was unfortunate that they had to hit the streets to get themselves heard. The problems of the authorities seem to be compounding with residents of localities near the dumps at STP Pholariwal and Model Town already up in arms against the Municipal Corporation. With the tractor-trolleys also not lifting the waste, the problem for the city residents are bound to increase. Jalandhar, November 24 The MGN Educational Trust has got mired in a fresh controversy as teachers’ association from all three branches of the school have moved a petition in the local court against the authorities seeking restoration of grant of accumulation of medical leave up to 30 days. The plaintiff teachers’ association has also sought the intervention of the court for restraining of termination of their jobs. Association president Krantipal Singh said Major Charanjit Singh Rai (retd), chairman of the school trust, is managing three schools in Adarsh Nagar, Urban Estate and Kapurthala. “All three schools are affiliated to CBSE, and as such, the appointment of teachers of the schools is governed by the CBSE rules and regulations. As per the CBSE rules, the teachers are liable to be given encashment leave or accumulation of leave as per the government rules and as per the corresponding status in the government schools,” the petition reads. The association has mentioned that the schools have stopped giving accumulated medical leave to the teachers from April, 2022. There are about 150 teachers in Adarsh Nagar branch, 100 teachers in Urban Estate and 80 teachers in Kapurthala. They said no ❝ All trust scools are affiliated to CBSE. The appointment of teachers is therefore governed by the CBSE rules and regulations. As per CBSE rules, teachers are entitled to leave encashment or accumulation. ❞ Petition by MGN teachers’ association NO SUCH PROVISION teachers of ❝The are unawarethe schools of the rights of a private enterprise. The CBSE only issues guidelines for academic standards. They have no such rule on leave matters of the teachers. ❞ Major Charanjit S Rai (retd), MGN HEAD such step has been initiated against the Class-IV employees and non-teaching staff of the same schools. The teachers have also said association members were being threatened with termination of services for raising their voice. Major Rai said: “The teachers of the schools are unaware of the rights of a private enterprise.” — TNS Passport office asks Nov 22 applicants to come tomorrow 33 more Aam Aadmi Clinics in Hoshiarpur soon: Minister Hoshiarpur, November 24 To provide better health services to the people in entire Hoshiarpur district, 33 new Aam Aadmi Clinics will be be opened in the district soon. While 31 clinics will be opened in rural areas, two will come up in urban areas. Hoshiarpur MLA and Cabinet Minister Bram Shanker Jimpa said many people had benefitted from the eight such clinics already running in the district. Now the state government wanted to extend such state-of-the-art health facilities in other areas of the district as well. He said after the opening of these clinics, the number of Aam Aadmi Clinics in the district will increase to 41. The Cabinet Minister said preparations were going on at the administrative level on a large scale to prepare the Aam Aadmi Clinics. — OC CBSE RULES IGNORED Jalandhar, November 24 Giving much-needed relief to passport applicants who had missed their appointments on account of a technical snag in the server on November 22, the Regional Passport Office, Jalandhar, has rescheduled all such appointments to DC Jaspreet Singh honours teachers and students during the Spark mela in Jalandhar. MALKIAT SINGH Career guidance mela concludes Jalandhar, November 24 The seventh Spark career guidance mela ended today with a commitment to making concerted efforts for transforming the destiny of the students in the coming days. Presiding over the event, Deputy Commissioner Jaspreet Singh said Spark aimed to give students, especially from rural areas, access to quality career guidance to pave way for their bright future. He expressed hope that the event would act as a catalyst in making the youth an active partner in economic and social growth of the state. In his address, Additional Deputy Commissioner Amit Mahajan called upon the students to fix their targets and then make whole-hearted efforts for attaining it. He stressed there was no scope for lagging behind in this highly competitive era. The DC also felicitated the officers and other dignitaries for making the event a huge success. The representatives of GNA Group, HDFC Bank, IVY World School and St Soldier Group, besides others, were felicitated. Experts discussed about career options in artificial intelligence, robotics, hand tools manufacturing and others. —TNS APPOINTMENTS WERE CANCELLED DUE TO SNAG November 26 (Saturday). Regional Passport Officer Yashpal said several appointments for processing of passport application were scheduled for November 22 at different Passport Seva Kendra falling under the jurisdiction of RPO, Jalandhar. At the request of the Passport Officer Jalandhar, the Ministry of External Affairs, New Delhi, had decided to facilitate affected passport applicants by rescheduling their appointment to November 26 at the same locations. —TNS Book exchange event gets a good response Tribune News Service Jalandhar, November 24 A novel initiative of book exchange to promote reading culture among all age groups organised on Thursday by a group Page Turners got a good response. The event titled ‘Pick a book, leave a book’ was organised at a cafe by Avkirat DC, who leads the Page Turners group. Visitors to the event mostly included the youth and the collegegoers c m y b YOUTH SHOW KEEN INTEREST IN PROGRAMME but there were several professionals, schoolchildren and some elderly people too who got to know about it. Tables were laid out where books had been displayed. Anyone could come, leave a book and pick any of his choice. There of course were some rules for it as Avkirat listed out, “We did not allow any pirated, torn or tattered books. No drawing or colouring books were allowed. We allowed exchange of books in English, Punjabi and Hindi.” She added, “The event led to a healthy discussion on books among the people who reached the venue. The book lovers got to know each other and exchanged their contacts for similar future pursuits. We assured them that we will hold more such events shortly.” The group has earlier organised book launches, book-reading sessions and discussions too. People at the ‘Pick a book, leave a book’ event in Jalandhar. SARABJIT SINGH