Friday, June 4, 1999
|
N E W S Friday, June 4, 1999 |
|
| weather n
spotlight today's calendar |
Pvt college teachers given
UGC scales CHANDIGARH, June 3 — The Chandigarh Administration has granted revised University Grants Commission (UGC) pay scales to the teachers and principals of seven privately affiliated aided colleges in the city. The notification in this regard issued today, ratifies and adopts the Punjab Government's notification issued earlier on March 24, 1999. The revised pay scales which will bring as many as 450 lecturers on a par with their counterparts in government colleges will be released with effect from January 1, 1996. The DPI ( Colleges), Mr D.S. Mangat, specified that they would follow the Punjab Government notification while revising the pay scales. In a letter issued to the principals of all such colleges in the city, he has directed them to furnish details of the additional financial requirement for implementing the revised UGC pay scales, so that the Finance Department can get it sanctioned from the central government. He further said that arrears would not be paid till additional finances are sanctioned by the central government. A deputation of the representatives of the private aided colleges had apprised the new Adviser to the Administrator, Mrs Vineeta Rai, yesterday about the growing discontentment among teachers on account of the non-release of pay scales to them. As per the revised pay scales, the lecturers who were in the pay scale Rs 3,700 to Rs 5,700 have been put in the scale of Rs 12,000 to Rs 18300, those who were in the pay scale of Rs 3,000 to Rs 5,000 will now be in the Rs 10,000 to Rs 15,200 scale and the ones working in the scale of Rs 2,200 to Rs 4,000 will now be put in the scale of Rs 8,000 to Rs 13,500. Those in the Rs 3,700 to Rs 5,700 pre-revised scales with five years of service on January 1, 1996, would be fixed at the minimum of Rs 14,940 basic pay. The former president of the Punjab and Chandigarh College Teachers Union(PCCTU), Prof Charanjit Chawla, said that it is a welcome decision even though it has been notified nearly three months after Punjab. While expressing their gratitude to Mrs Vineeta Rai, Dr Jagwant Singh and Dr Labh Singh Kheeva, President and Secretary of the Chandigarh district council of the PCCTU, respectively, have urged her to convene an early meeting with the teachers' representatives to solve a few of their other problems. They have also decided not to boycott the evaluation work at the Panjab University evaluation centre tomorrow, the call for which had been given earlier to protest the non-release of the notification. Dr M Rajiv Lochan,
General Secretary of the Punjab University Teachers
Association, has also hailed this step of the
Administration and observed that this will definitely
boost the morale of the teaching community. Among others
who have welcomed the decision are Prof N.P. Manocha,
Finance Secretary of the PCCTU, and Dr Rabindra Nath
Sharma. |
Arts student tops with 88 pc CHANDIGARH, June 3 — The top three positions of the CBSE examination for the arts stream in the city have been bagged by Shailja Sundriyal, Ojasvi Vardhan and Aditi Gupta, respectively. While Shailja is a student of Ishwar Singh Dev Samaj Senior Secondary School, Sector 21, the other two students are products of Government Senior Secondary School, Sector 16. Having scored 88 per cent in the examination, Shailja is modest about her achievement. She says, "I'm not at all hard working and started studying only a fortnight before the examination. I put in five to six hours daily and went to take my examinations. However, once through, I was sure of getting good marks but topping was never on the agenda or in my mind.'' Recalling the day of the result, she said that she was actually disappointed on seeing "only 88 per cent'' against her name in the list put up on the notice board, least suspecting that she would top in the faculty of arts in the city. "It was only regularity in attending school and concentrating on the teachers' explanation of the lesson, besides the faith of my parents in my ability to do well that helped me in coming through the examination with such distinction,'' she says. With 87.8 per cent, Ojasvi Vardhan can't help smiling at the way things have worked out for her. "When I started studying for the examination, a month prior to the scheduled date, I did so only to make sure that my parents did not have to cut a sorry figure after the result was declared but this is unbelievable,'' she contends. Aditi Gupta, of the same school, is not satisfied with her result, though the happiness of her family is infectious enough to brighten her up. "I was thinking of topping since I have done exceptionally well in my examinations ever since I came into Class XI. I put in seven to eight hours regularly to ensure that I made it to the top. Anyway, I have reconciled to the fact and am happy with my score even if not elated with my performance,'' she states. Aditi scored 86 per cent in the arts stream. Nitika Garg, with a score of 91 per cent, says that she missed topping the CBSE examination in Class X by a very narrow margin and that is what kept her going while she was studying for the Class XII examination. "During my 10-hour study schedule, I would take a break once in a while and watch television. Day in and day out, a voice inside me kept telling me that I could do it and was instrumental in making me study that extra bit,'' she adds. Appreciative of classwork, Nitika says that attending school was a priority with her and whatever she learnt in class was supplemented by her own effort. A student of the commerce stream, Divya Gupta, a student of Bhavan Vidyalaya, has scored 90.2 per cent in the aggregate though she was expecting to do better. "My elder sister had done very well during her boards and as a result expectations were very high when I took the exam. My family was consistently motivating me and wanted me to surpass her percentage which I have done even though with a narrow margin,'' she says. She says time management was crucial and she did not waste any time on frivolous activities but did not cut down on watching television which is her favourite pastime. She opines that tuitions are a waste of time and that they add to the confusion of the students and that studying in a good school suffices for tuitions. Her friend, Neha Gupta, marginally behind, says, "In school, Divya would be ahead of me by a mark or two only and in the boards too, she is ahead by just one mark. However, I am happy and surprised at doing so well in spite of having started studying after my pre-boards.'' Accustomed to working under pressure only, she explains, "Only strict teachers can make me work. With the lenient ones, if they give me an inch, I take a mile, and so it doesn't work out.'' Rashi Singal, a student of DAV School, Sector 15, has secured 90.4 per cent in the medical stream. She is an enthusiastic learner and a quick one at that, her teachers contend. In Panchkula, Raman
Verma of Manav Mangal School has topped the CBSE
examination with 89 per cent in the non-medical stream.
"I studied for five to six hours during the session
and want to become an engineer,'' he remarks. Keen on
participating in co-curricular activities, Raman
attributes his success to his parents and teachers. |
Faulty printers hit work Chandigarh, June 3 — The frequent breakdown of printers at the Registration and Licensing Branch of the Sector 17 Estate Office have posed a lot of problems, besides leading to harassment of the general public. The branch, which has been a "problematic" one despite efforts by officials to streamline its functioning, has been the object of several public interest litigation in the past. The courts had to intervene in many cases to get the documents of the public prepared at the earliest. Privatisation of a part of the preparation of the documents also seem to have been only moderately successful. The offices of this department, earlier located in a portion of the Municipal Corporation building, were shifted back to the Estate Office as one section of the department was already functioning from the latter, for efficient functioning. Work suffered some months ago as a row about payments between the previous contractor and the department broke out. After some delay, the work was taken up by the department itself. Sources said that in the present instance, the delay had been caused by the faulty printers. The department had three printers, two of which are used for printing the documents, one each for licenses and registration slips, while the remaining one prints copies for their record. The printers have been giving them problems ever since they were installed, but the breakdowns have been more pronounced since February. As one or the other printer kept developing a snag, the load on the other increased. As such, work began to accumulate and at present they have a backlog of more then 15,000 to 20,000 files. The problem has also been aggravated as most of the staff members employed at the branch are not computer professionals and in case of a major breakdown, they cannot rectify the fault. They have to rely on staff of the NIC for the repair of computers or outside help in case of the printers, they added. To deal with the backlog, the services of a private firm were hired and all documents have been prepared and fed into the computers. As the printers were repaired today, the printouts would be available from tomorrow. Sources added that the
entire process would be back on rails by June 15 as
things will revert to the old system of "get your
license in a week". |
50 full-grown trees to be
transplanted CHANDIGARH, June 3 — More than 50 fully- grown up trees on Dakshan Marg, which were once ordered to be axed to make room for slip roads, may get a reprieve. The Chandigarh Administration is now toying with the idea of physically shifting these trees — transplant them — along the roadside at the nearest available open spaces. The Horticulture Wing of the Engineering Department is reportedly gathering information about a similar exercise which has already been successfully undertaken on the Pune-Mumbai National Highway. A similar experiment has also been successfully carried out in the Union Capital. Though the newly introduced concept of transplantation of grown up trees is a little expensive, it has shown very good results. The survival of transplanted trees has been reported to be between 70 per cent and 80 per cent. According to initial estimates, the cost of transplantation works out to be around Rs 10,000 a tree. Once the Administration takes a policy decision for shifting of grown up trees, a number of trees, facing the axe all over the city, may be saved. Those facing the axe are mainly at the intersections or are positioned in between the proposed or under construction slip roads. More than 50 of these grown up trees on Dakshan Marg were ordered to be felled early this year when Chandigarh Tribune carried a story ( on February 15 this year). The trees were to be axed to make room for slip roads to ease congestion on this busy dual carriageway. The felling was approved in principle by the Chandigarh Administration. After the Chandigarh Tribune story, the felling was deferred and work on completion of these slip roads was also held up. Though one of the slip roads at The Tribune intersection was completed, but both trees which figured in the alignment of the new road were not felled. They were pruned and still stand in the middle of the road. This may perhaps be the first time that such large-scale felling after approval has not been carried out and alternatives have been considered . The last major felling was at the intersection of Sectors 27 and 28 where more than 30 trees were felled late last year. Earlier to that, a group of trees were felled on Himalaya Marg near the intersection of Sectors 17 and 18. Similar large-scale feelings were undertaken in Sector 20 to make room for day stalls in place of old rehri markets in the sector. To facilitate felling of trees that come in the way of roads, roundabouts and other developmental activities, the Administration had earlier this year set up its own sub-committee to assess the value of trees to be felled so that these could be auctioned. Previously, the Administration, after grant of permission for felling of trees, used to refer the matter to the Punjab Forest Corporation, to assess the value of the trees on the basis of their species and age. The corporation used to take a long time to do the work. therefore, this sub-committee was set up by the Administration.The sub-committee consists of representative of the Forest and Engineering Departments. Under the new policy the trees are now to be auctioned before they are felled. Fully grown trees at the intersection of Sectors 21,22, 34 and 35; The Tribune intersection (junction number 38) and Loha Chowk (junction number 37) had been approved for felling. The number of trees at these two intersections is about 40. Similarly, the Sectors 21,22,34 and 35 intersection (junction number 34) and the Sectors 22,23,35 and 36 intersection also have a number of trees that actually stand at these intersections. Since the work on development of Sector 34 has been given to the Chandigarh Housing Board, a number of grown up trees have also been shortlisted for felling. The only alternative considered earlier was to reduce the width of the proposed slip roads. Environmentalists and others had raised objections to these proposed "fellings" in the name of development of the city. "If in a city like Chandigarh, they have to fell 20 to 30 trees each time they want to restructure a traffic rotary, one wonders at the planning. I do not know how long avenues identified with special varieties of trees grown in the city would survive this onslaught in the name of development," says a horticulturist-turned-environmentalist. Others corroborate his viewpoint. They maintain that every time a group of trees are felled, the Administration promises to replace them with double the number of plants. "But this has not been done in any of the previous cases. They felled trees at two places to make room for booths in Sector 20. Then they cut trees on Himalaya Marg followed by another major felling at the intersection of Sectors 27 and 28 . But not a single new tree has been planted at any of these places," laments Mr S.K. Sharma, President, Environment Society. The work on tree count,
as envisaged in the Trees Preservation Order, is yet to
be undertaken by the Chandigarh Administration. The
problem, according to sources, is a formal decision to
set up a Tree Authority on the pattern of the Union
Capital. |
KV road project abandoned
midway CHANDIGARH, June 3 — Students and teachers of the Sector 29 Kendriya Vidyalaya are at the receiving end as a project for the construction of an approach road to the school is hanging fire for about six months. The work for the construction of road, the responsibility of which lay with the local Municipal Corporation, had started in March this year, was allegedly abandoned midway due to reasons best known to the authorities. "Following a number of requests, MC officials had initiated the process of construction by levelling the ground and laying a layer of stone on the proposed road, but nothing has moved beyond that point, which has further worsened the situation," said Mr S.K. Gupta, the Principal of the school. According to officials and students of the school, the half-done patch of the road becomes a nightmare for them, particularly after slight showers, when it provides a look of a cesspool as rain water accumulates there. "Sometimes, when there is a slight drizzle, even access to the school becomes difficult as it remains blocked with water and slush for days together," lamented a teacher, adding that a student even received injuries as he slipped from heaps of sand lined up along both sides of the incomplete patch of road. The proposed road was to be constructed along the the entire about 1000 feet long front part of the school building and had to be linked with another road from the OCF Colony to the school. But the work had started on a small patch of the proposed road, but work started on just a patch measuring about 200 feet of the proposed road and that too, was left half done. Mr Gupta said that the construction work on the road had failed to start even as a number of letters were shot off by the school authorities to the Municipal Corporation. "I don't know why they have not initiated work on the patch even as full development charges were paid to the MC authorities by us, much before we shifted to this new building of the school," he added. He said that in absence of a proper road, the biggest problem was being faced by the students coming from OCF Colony as they have to pass through a patch of barren land filled with sarkanda and wild vegetation. "Moreover, in such a situation we cannot use the gate in the backyard of the school, which, if the road is constructed will reduce the distance for children coming from the colony," he added. Mr S.M. Bhatnagar, Assistant Commissioner of the Kendriya Vidyalaya, demanded that to save the children and teachers from any problem, not only the small patch to the entrance of the school, but also the entire road should be constructed before the onset of monsoons. Though Mr Puranjit
Singh, Chief Engineer of the MC, was not available for
comments, a senior official of the civic body said the
construction on the road would start within a day or two
as it had already been cleared by the MC. |
Govt schools’ results up CHANDIGARH, June 3—Government schools have emerged on top, bagging the first positions in the two faculties of science and commerce in the CBSE Class XII results which were declared yesterday. Also, the pass percentage of all government schools, model schools and non-model schools, taken together, has gone up to 79.01 from 75.4 for the year 1997-98. Now, these schools are almost at par with private schools which have attained a pass percentage of 79.48 this year. A total of 8,321 students appeared in the examination out of which 6,592 students came out successful. The total pass percentage of the city remained static at 79.22 for the second year in a row. Girls have outshone boys in the region with a pass percentage of of 86.7 as compared to 82.2 for boys. While the pass percentage for government model schools has shown an improvement from 82.12 last year to 84.84 this year, in the ordinary schools the pass percentage has risen from 65.22 to 68.49 As many as 3,002 students and 1,663 students appeared in the two categories, respectively. The highest pass percentage among model schools is that of GMSSS-16 which stands at 98.61 while GMSSS-46 has the lowest pass percentage of 68.48 . GMSSS-32 has shown a marked improvement of about 21 per cent along with GMSSS-10 whose pass percentage has gone up by 14 from last year though that of GMSSS-46 has gone down by five In the ordinary schools category, the highest pass percentage of 93.41 has been recorded by GSSS-18 while GSSS-19 (Evening) has secured a measly 16.67 per cent as against 44.44 per cent last year. In 1997-98 also, GSSS-18 had topped the pass percentage list with 91.26 to its credit. This year, two schools which have shown dismal performance are GSSS-38 (west) whose pass percentage has made a nosedive to 34.48 from 71.43 last year along with GSSS-47 which has shown a decline of around 14 per cent besides GSSS-19 (evening). However, GSSS-19 has improved its pass percentage by about 20 while GSSS-27 is placed second with an improvement of about 16 per cent. Among private schools, Bhawan Vidyalaya, Sector 27, and Kendriya Vidyalaya, Sector 29, has the distinction of achieving a pass percentage of 100 , followed by Carmel Convent, Sector 9, with a pass percentage of 98.7 with Vivek High School, Sector 38, a close third with a pass percentage of 98.08 Saint Soldier School,
Sector 28, fared badly with a a pass percentage of only
37.5 to its credit while Guru Nanak School, Sector 30,
secured a pass percentage of 46.59 . Besides SGGS
College, Sector 26, which has a pass percentage of 52.3 ,
the pass percentage of all others varies between 60 and
95. |
CITCO bans recruitment CHANDIGARH, June 3 — The Chandigarh Industrial and Tourism Development Corporation (CITCO), while shelving the plan to privatise Hotel Mountview, has decided to ban fresh recruitments. The decision has reportedly been taken after the recent renovations carried out in Hotel Mountview started showing good results. Now, the corporation was toying with the idea of privatising its individual units which would improve services to customers. Sources said the management had decided to privatise certain services like sanitation, housekeeping and the roof-top restaurant at Hotel Mountview. This would help the management in two ways. One, there would be healthy competition between the employees of the corporation and those of the contractor . This would lead to better services. Two, the ban on the recruitment of fresh staff would help CITCO reduce the room-staff ratio from the current 1:4.32. This would pose certain problems for the management as even after commissioning of the new block, the ratio would be well above the prescribed hotel norms, the sources pointed out. In may be recalled that CITCO had invited consultancy bids for helping it to lease out the hotel last year in the teeth of opposition from the employees' unions. As many as 27 bids had been received of which five were shortlisted. Now the private parties were being apprised of the latest move to shelve the privatisation plan. The Managing Director of CITCO, Mr Satish Chandra, when contacted confirmed that the privatisation move had been shelved. The decision would come up at the next meeting of the Board of Directors, he said. Regarding the ban on
recruitment, he added that though no complete ban had
been imposed, yet the corporation would try to avoid
fresh recruitment. |
Effigy of Pak Army Chief hanged Chandigarh, June 3 — Activists of the local unit of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM), hanged the effigy of Gen Parvez Musharraf, Pakistan Army Chief, to protest against the infiltration of mercenaries and Army regulars in the Dras-Kargil sector, here today. The protesters assembled at Kamlam, the BJP headquarters in Sector 35, in the evening and raised slogans against Pakistan for violating the sovereignty of a friendly neighbouring country by openly supporting and abetting infiltration and intrusions. The speakers on the occasion condemned the Congress and other parties which were making capital out of the matter instead of endorsing the bold stand taken by the present government to protect our borders. The good work and the sacrifices of the brave soldiers of the Army were lauded by all present. They also criticised the Congress President and alleged that the party was in the hands of foreigners and as such open to machination of foreign power which were bent on destabilising the country. Following this, a brief people’s verdict condemning General Musharraf was read out and his body was hanged on the makeshift gallows. A large number of passers- by also stopped to witness the hanging. Those who addressed the
gathering included the local BJP chief, Mr Dharam Pal
Gupta, a former Mayor, Mr Gian Chand Gupta, the BJYM
chief, Mr Satinder Singh and Mr Sanjeev Chadha and Mr
S.P. Devshali, Vice-President and General-Secretary,
respectively. |
Police functioning to be
computerised Chandigarh, June 3 — After having launched an informative Internet site, the Chandigarh police is on the threshold of having total computerised functioning, including connectivity of police stations and having complete record of all its employees on another computer that will be based at the Police Headquarters in Sector 9. The website of the Chandigarh police that details almost all possible information is usually accessed by those in foreign countries and those living in far away states of India. The messages received on the e-mail are typical. People give suggestions and each person is replied through e-mail, says Mr C.S.R. Reddy, SSP. Now the police has allocated Rs 16 lakh to have a local area network (LAN) to provide inter-connectivity between police stations and the Police Headquarters, thus going a step further. This will make the functioning faster and reliable, besides providing an easy access to records for senior officials. Under this scheme a study was conducted by two experts last month to launch a pilot study of the National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB). Its report is expected soon. The aim is to connect all police stations through a computer network, says Mr Ajay Kashyap, SSP, Headquarters. It was the Chandigarh police that requested the NCRB to start the project to prove that computer connectivity of police stations was possible and would work, Mr Kashyap added. However, the police is going in for the total automation of the functioning of the Police Headquarters. This will mean all records, personal data, service matters and known details of private lives of policemen will be available on the computer. The immediate programme is to have a computerised stolen vehicles’ record that can be screened before buying a second-hand vehicle. Meanwhile, the success of the Internet site of the Chandigarh police is due to the net browsers seeking information. The site has all information about crime, murders, number of road accidents, thefts, etc. All records have been updated. Information is provided even about the location of patrol Gypsies and motor cycles. The annual crime chart, having details of each possible crime, is remarkably updated and is also on the site. A list of all proclaimed
offenders and all missing persons is provided with their
photos for easy identification. There is even information
for foreigners visiting India. Next in line is to put the
records of all stolen vehicles on the web site so that
people can access it as and when they want, says Mr
Reddy. |
Exhibition with howlers CHANDIGARH, June 3 — The exhibition, 'The Sikh Heritage', on the occasion of the tercentenary of the birth of the Khalsa, which is at present continuing at the Sector 10 Government Museum and Art Gallery here, is not without many howlers. Presented by the Anandpur Sahib Foundation, the Chandigarh Administration and the National Museum, New Delhi, the exhibits reflect the Sikh heritage through an amalgamated 200 sacred artefacts, paintings of the Gurus by both medieval and modern artists and manuscripts relating to the Sikh history. Though the Chandigarh Museum is seeing scores of visitors everyday to get a feel of the 300-year-old Sikh history and culture, not many have expressed their satisfaction at the display of the exhibits. While miniature paintings, manuscripts, decorative arts and textiles from the National Museum, New Delhi, are on display in a newly constructed air-conditioned room, the rest of the exhibits, most put up with white chits attached alongside without adequate details, are languishing in a haphazardly displayed manner in the warm halls of the museum. With howlers like 'Mata Gujri Ji with her grandsons in a tower at Sirhind' or certain exhibits that had chits attached alongside with information scratched, rubbed off, re-written and overwritten, it was not surprising to find many visitors unhappy with the shoddy display. Reportedly, the exhibits in the air-conditioned rooms did have a curator for these from Delhi who had brought "proper labels", but after her contract was over, she did not hand over these to the museum. Though the Museum has brought out a catalogue, it is not easy for a common man to take a round of the exhibition and understand the Sikh history in the right perspective. "What is the intention behind the exhibition? Simply to celebrate the 300 years of the birth of the Khalsa, because everyone else seems to be doing the same? How would I or anyone else understand the significance of a painting which is labelled 'Battle of Dhilwan'?" asked a local artist. Contemporary art, like various cracking Sobha Singhs, were displayed alongside miniature paintings, without allowing visitors to understand the significance of the miniatures, representative more of the spill-over of the Pahadi, Rajasthani or the Kashmiri style of art. "For a student of history, there is not much to look around or gather. The exhibition seems to be put up for only those who want to cover their heads and move around the place barefoot and revere the Sikh Gurus," said Manjri, a history student from Delhi. For those not interested
in understanding the significance of the Khalsa, it is
enough to visit the exhibition and bow their heads in
front of a painting like "Guru Nanak's encounter
with kaljug" or the Adi Granth with signatures of
Guru Hargobind or even a 'kataar' with Gurbani
inscription in gold, but simple visual representations
are not enough to communicate the contribution of the
Sikh community to the modern Indian nation. |
|
Quota for Punjab
students flayed A number of parents hailing from the city and towns around Chandigarh, who did not wish to be identified, said the decision had adversely affected the prospects of their wards as they had been rendered ineligible for admission. This is because though they were residing in SAS Nagar and other parts of Punjab, they had been studying in schools of the UT. "Moreover, the decision shows that the Punjab Government did not consider Chandigarh, which was the state capital, as a part of the state," a parent said. German, French exams Students should collect
their roll numbers from the office concerned and see the
notice-board for details, a press note issued by Mr J.K.
Sharma, Chairman of the Department of German, said here
today. Make PRTC viable, say
employees The employees raised slogans and alleged that the corporation was being deliberately allowed to go in the red and the employees who raised their voice against the wrong policies being pursued by the management were being victimised. The protesters demanded the scrapping of the policy of contract labour, filling vacant posts by promoting employees, implementation of the revised pay scales following the recommendations of the Fifth Pay Commission, grant of promotion scale after eight, 16, 24 and 32 years of service and encashment of leave for 300 days. They criticised the attempts to privatise the corporation and said that the government should pump in more money to make the PRTC viable. Fast by medical practitioners The protesters condemned the government for not calling them to the negotiating table even though their agitation entered the 11th day today. The major demand of the agitators is allowing them to get registered with the state medical authorities and practise in villages. The decision of the government not to allow them to do so had virtually brought more then 1. 5 lakh families in the state on the road. Societies appreciate Admn action Mr A.P. Sanwaria, Chairman of the Action Committee, has placed the societies’ problems at the highest policy-making meeting of the Chandigarh Administration. Dharna by Forest Dept staff The daily wagers squatted in front of the office of the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (PCCF) demanding regularisation of the workers who had been employed by the department for 240 days. The General Secretary of the Van Mazdoor Union, Mr Anand Sharma, alleged that the department had started to retrench the daily wagers who had completed 240 days at a stretch. He said the State Government had issued a letter in March this year instructing the PCCF not to allow the daily paid labourers to work continuously for more than 240 days. Strict action had been recommended against the officials who engaged workers for more than 240 days. It was also communicated that the government had decided to set up Village Forest Protection Committees on a pilot basis in 30 villages in the state. The committees would employ villagers to execute the work of plantation. The leaders of the Mazdoor Union also alleged that cases of illegal felling of trees, being done at the behest of certain forest officials, were being ignored by the department. The workers, who brought such cases to light were instead being punished, they alleged. Hectic parleys between the leaders of the union and senior officials of the Forest Department over the issues continued till late this evening. The union has submitted a nine-point charter of demands to the PCCF. Fellowship granted |
 |
 |
| Nation
| Punjab | Haryana | Himachal Pradesh | Jammu & Kashmir | | Editorial | Business | Sport | | Mailbag | Spotlight | World | 50 years of Independence | Weather | | Search | Subscribe | Archive | Suggestion | Home | E-mail | |
