28042024-LT-01.qxd 4/28/2024 12:48 AM Page 1 c m y b Ludhiana tribune NUKKAD NATAK SPREADS AWARENESS AMONG VOTERS SHAKIRA HASN’T LOST HOPE DESPITE HER SPLIT FROM PIQUE BRITNEY SPEARS SETTLES LEGAL DISPUTE WITH DAD Artistes stress on importance of voting and power of individual votes through nukkad natak. P2 The pop singer, who split from Gerard Pique in 2022, has expressed her continued belief in love. P4 The pop icon was embroiled in lengthy legal battle with her father, Jamie Spears, over financial issues. P4 » » » FORECAST GENERALLY CLOUDY MAX 35°C | MIN 20°C YESTERDAY MAX 36°C | MIN 21°C SUNSET SUNDAY 6.58 PM SUNRISE MONDAY 5:41 AM SUNDAY | 28 APRIL 2024 | LUDHIANA CIVIL HOSPITAL Over 1,200 schools undertake safety of pupils travelling in buses 37 employees found absent Heads submit declarations of over 2,600 school vehicles conforming to guidelines during surprise Nitin Jain with sternly to ensure safety of the children travelling in checking Ludhiana, April 27 the buses across the district. Tribune News Service Tribune News Service Ludhiana, April 27 Cracking a whip on absentees and latecomers, Civil Surgeon Jasbir Singh Aulakh today made a surprise visit to the Civil Hospital in the morning and found 37 employees absent from duty. Dr Aulakh today reached the hospital around 8:15 am and went to Senior Medical Officer’s (SMO) room and started seeing the attendance register. SMO Mandeep Kaur Sidhu was on leave today but SMO Deepika reached hospital late. Besides, 37 employees were found absent, including doctors and paramedical staff. The Civil Surgeon stayed in the hospital till 9 am. After the hospital, he went to the Urban Community Health Centre (UPHC) in Giaspura and it was found locked around 9:15 am. He kept waiting for staff to arrive till 9:30 am but nobody came and later, he left the UPHC after a recording video of the place. “Staff are required to reach their workplace at 8 am but I found many absent from duty today due to which patients had to face a difficult time. The employees arriving late will be questioned,” Dr Aulakh said. Those who were found absent from duty at the Civil Hospital include seven doctors, two radiographers, five from ICTC staff, two staff nurses, two staffers from Dental Department, one lab technician, two pharmacy officer, one psycho social worker, six computer operators, one Multi task worker, one plumber , one pump operator and six other staff members. Over 1,200 private and government-aided schools have undertaken the safety of children travelling in buses arranged for their transportation in the district, the Transport Department has claimed. Heads of the educational institutions have submitted self-declarations to the Regional Transport Authority (RTA) here that over 2,600 buses attached to their schools were conforming to safety guidelines for the transportation of the students as mandated in guidelines of the Safe School Vahan Scheme. It was done after Deputy Commissioner Sakshi Sawhney had recently held a meeting with heads of all 1,292 private and government-aided schools in Ludhiana district and had asked them to ensure strict compliance of the Safe School Vahan Scheme for the safety of the students travelling in the school vehicles. Taking cue of recent incidents involving school buses lacking various mandatory requisites and posing danger to the safety of children, the DC had warned of strict action against school heads and the transporters concerned in case any shortcomings were found and violations were made by the buses in the district. According to official information available with The Tribune, the heads of as many as 1,292 governmentaided and private schools were called for the meeting with the DC here on April 16 following which they were asked to submit the self-declarations in the prescribed proforma, undertaking the safety of the children travelling in the buses attached to RTA Secretary Randeep Singh Heer issues a challan to a school bus driver for violating rules in Ludhiana on Saturday. TRIBUNE PHOTO TELLING NUMBERS ■ Total schools: 1,292 1,200 ■ School buses undertaken as safe: 2,607 ■ School buses checked: 1,125 ■ School buses challaned: 258 ■ Undertaking submitted: (SOURCE: TRANSPORT DEPT, FIGURES TILL APRIL 27) their schools. Acting on the DC’s directions, the heads of almost 1,200 schools have so far submitted their self-declarations, undertaking that the buses transporting the students of their schools were complying with all mandatory guidelines. The school heads have undertaken in the self-declarations that all 2,607 buses attached to their schools were possessing valid fitness certificates, the vehicles carry the children as per the registered seating capacity, these were fitted with speed governor in a working condition, bus drivers possess valid driving licenses and the buses were plying while conforming in letter and in spirit to the guidelines. While the majority of the heads of major schools, having the bus transportation facility, have already submitted the undertaking, the few left-out school heads have been asked again to submit the undertaking without any further delay. “Also, if they have no buses attached to their schools, they have been asked to submit the nil report,” a district official said. Meanwhile, the Transport Department has also launched a special checking and challaning drive to act against school buses found violating the guidelines of the Safe School Vahan Scheme and other road safety rules in the district. Confirming the development, RTA Secretary Randeep Singh Heer told The Tribune here on Saturday that as many as 1,125 school buses had been checked under the special drive during the past almost 10 days and 258 of them had been challaned for various offences. “Expired fitness certificate, buses without name of school, carrying children over registered seating capacity, plying without woman attendant, expired fire extinguisher, without first-aid kit and driver without uniform were among major offences for which the challans were issued,” the RTA Secretary divulged. He said the drive would continue in future as well and the violators would be dealt Chairing the meeting of the school heads, the DC had stressed that the safety of students was utmost priority and the district administration would not allow any negligence/excuse on the part of schools or transporters in this regard. “The schools will have to implement the Safe School Vahan Scheme in letter and in spirit to avoid action by the administration in the near future,” Sakshi had said while asking the RTA Secretary and the traffic police to ensure compliance and take strict action against the schools violating the norms. Directing the school managements to form committees at the school level for implementation of the Safe School Vahan Scheme, the DC had said it was the moral responsibility of the schools to ensure students’ safety. Pointing out unsafe modes of transportation such as overloaded e-rickshaws, the DC had appealed to school managements to sensitise parents to the safety of the students and to ask them to send their children to schools in safe transportation modes only. “If the school comes to know about the parents opting for unsafe modes of transportation for students, then the former should apprise the administration of the same too and requisite action will be taken by the authorities concerned,” Sakshi had stated. The DC also cleared various doubts pertaining to the scheme among school managements. During the meeting, the school heads were apprised of the norms provided under the scheme. Continued on page 2 Contractor’s staff ‘overcharging’ Year on, woman among visitors at bus stand parking lot six booked for trying to Ludhiana, April 27 Visitors are allegedly being forced to pay more than the prescribed parking fees for two-wheelers at Amar Shaheed Sukhdev Interstate Bus Terminal, here. Against the fixed parking fee of Rs 17.70 for parking a two-wheeler for 12 hours, individuals deployed by the contractor have been allegedly demanding Rs 20 from visitors as parking fees in the absence of any checks by the authorities. On Friday, a visitor to the bus stand stated that Rs 20 was demanded for parking a two-wheeler at the bus stand. However, the computerised slip issued for the twowheeler parking mentioned a fee of Rs 17.70. Initially, he was also charged Rs 20 but when he asked the parking lot employee to return the remaining balance, Rs 2 was returned to him. Meanwhile, two women riding a scooter entered the bus stand and they were asked to pay Rs 20 as parking fees. Another visitor, Jagjeet Singh, said: “When the fee mentioned on the notice board is Rs 17.70 for a two-wheeler, the staff deployed by the contractor should not demand Rs 20. They should only demand the actual parking fee. Many visitors don’t see the rate mentioned on the slip and pay whatever amount is demanded. The authorities must take the matter seriously.” Meanwhile, an employee deployed by the contractor said they don’t charge more than the prescribed parking fee. He said they return Rs 2 to visitors, if they hand over Rs 20 for parking of a twowheeler. Nobody was overcharging the visitors. A manager at the bus stand, Ranjeet Singh, said he would look into the matter. — TNS Two-wheelers parked at the bus stand parking lot in Ludhiana. PHOTO: ASHWANI DHIMAN Machines worth lakhs of rupees guttedas fire breaks out in shop Ludhiana, April 27 A major fire broke out in a machine tool showroom opposite the Military Camp, Dholewal, on Saturday morning. Over 12 heavy duty machines were said to be gutted in the fire. Jagtar Singh, owner of Atlas Machine Tools Corporation, said on Friday night, he locked the showroom. This morning around 4 am, a security guard staying on the first floor of the showroom noticed smoke billowing out from the shop. After the guard gave information, he called the fire brigade and reached the spot. “After reaching the showroom, when I opened the main door and took out a scooter and a motorcycle parked in the showroom, the fire intensified and spread to The showroom owner shows the losses in Ludhiana. ASHWANI DHIMAN the entire showroom. The fire brigade reached around 5 am and managed to douse the flames. However, over 12 heavy duty machines and the entire office block, where over decade-old records were kept, destroyed in the fire. The estimated loss could be around Rs 40 lakh,” the owner said. He said the fire started from the office block due to a shortcircuit and later, engulfed the entire showroom. When asked if the damaged machines were insured, the owner said these were insured and the insurance company was given information about the mishap. — TNS Announce paddy sowing schedule to make arrangements, govt urged Manav Mander Tribune News Service Ludhiana, April 27 Farmers had to face inconvenience after the government announced a ban on PUSA-44 variety of paddy and now, they have urged the government to announce the sowing schedule at the earliest as they need to make arrangement of labour. Majority of the labourers has gone back home due to elections and searching the workers for paddy transplantation can be a tedious job now. “Farming needs meticulous planning and forethought and the government needs to understand the same. Paddy transplantation starts in June but planning for the same begins in March. Since the paddy sowing is done at present in phases in the state, the government should announce dates so that farmers can plan their tasks,” said Harinder Singh Lakhowal, president of the Bharatiya Kisan Union (Lakhowal). Shortage of labour is being faced during wheat procurement and the same will continue during paddy sowing as majority of the labourers has gone back home due to elections. “Last year paddy sowing was done in four phases in the state, starting from June 10, and in Ludhiana, it was in the third phase. Sometimes, we need to call the labourers early so that they should not go to other districts. We need the sowing schedule as wheat has been harvested,” said farmer Jagtar Singh from Khanna. Gurkirat Singh, a farmer who sold his wheat produce at a grain market, said labour was an integral part of farming. “The government should make the announcement on time so that farmers do not face any inconvenience. Now, we are ready for the next crop but the authorities are yet to take decisions regarding the Kharif crop,” he said. Scholarships O ered Upto usurp property of doc Nikhil Bhardwaj Tribune News Service Ludhiana, April 27 The Sadar police station yesterday registered a case against six persons, including a woman, for making an attempt to usurp a property worth crores of rupees. The property belongs to Dr Sumit Sofat. Interestingly, the police took over one year to register a case in the matter. The complainant had also knocked the door of court to get justice. A case was registered on several charges, including cheating, criminal conspiracy, criminal trespass, forgery of valuable security or will, forgery for the purpose of cheating and using as genuine a forged document. The suspects have been identified as Arjinder Singh of Rajguru Nagar, Gurmel Singh Dhaliwal of Ludhiana, Nirmal Singh of Ludhiana, Ashwani Jolly of Haibowal, Harwinder Singh of Ludhiana and Ramandeep Kaur, a resident of BRS Nagar, Sunet, and wife of Arjinder. The complainant, Dr Sumit Sofat, a resident of the Heera c m y b Singh road area, in a complaint submitted to the police stated that he owns a plot at Sunet village, which he had bought in 2000. In 2022, the suspects created fake documents of the property and attempted to take illegal possession of the same. After he got to know about the same, he had lodged a police complaint in 2023 and after months of long probe, the police registered a case against the suspects. The complainant said by forging the documents, the suspects had even got the registration of property done in their name and later, they sold the same to somebody. However, the property’s possession had been with him and he did not let the suspects to take the same from him. “I had been struggling to get the case registered and after over a year, finally, the police registered a case on Friday. I did not lose hope and continued to fight against them. Now, I hope that the police will nab the suspects and put them behind bars,” Dr Sofat said. and many more... From Foundation to Pinnacle: Unlocking Opportunities offering Certification, Diploma, UG, PG & Ph.D Programme Contact: +91 99145-11016 | 1800-137-7777 www.ctuniversity.in CT UNIVERSITY, FEROZEPUR ROAD, LUDHIANA
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