Lengthy award list the prevailing sentiment on I-Day

For JT

(Deepkamal/spot)

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, August 14

With the administration choosing to pay tributes to as many as 108 persons, rather than a selected lot of 25-30 persons, most are of the opinion that the sanctity of the coveted Independence Day award has not remained as such.

Many people attending the event were surprised over such a long list of awardees. The list included cops who were awarded for nabbing drug addicts, which is actually a part of their duty. The list included anybody and everybody whose name was perhaps proposed to the district administration without any screening done for it. The list in fact also included government employees helping in organising I-Day functions.

Interestingly, even as the city is a hub of sports activities and there have been numerous sportspersons shining at the international level, there was no recommendation from the District Sports Officer. Instead of the players, awards were given to a head master and a lecturer of Physical Education on the recommendations of the DEO (Secondary).

The administration ignored the feats of a visually impaired girl Gurleen Kaur, who had attained 88.7 per cent marks in Plus Two and has now taken admission in a college. The administration also ignored the achievements of Anurag, who has made it to IIT Mumbai, despite the odds. His father irons clothes while his mother works as a domestic help.

Similar was the feelings of many in the administration.