It’s true: Zirakpur yet to get power connections
From Our Correspondent

ZIRAKPUR, Oct 11 — In spite of the Chief Minister's directions to release power connections in Zirakpur, the Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB) has not released even a single connection.

Thousands of residents here are forced to light kerosene lamps. They are still waiting for the day when they would get power connections.

A survey of the Dera Bassi and Zirakpur areas revealed that hundreds of residents who were given temporary power connections for construction purposes have been refused regular connections by the PSEB on grounds that they have to get no objection certificates (NOC) from Punjab Urban Development Authority (PUDA). After visiting the PUDA authorities, they return home empty handed as their constructions are declared unauthorised as per the Punjab New Capital (Periphery) Control Act, 1952, and Punjab Apartment and Property Regulation Act, 1995.

Those seeking power connections are turned back by the authorities who say that they have not got any written directions either from the government or PUDA.

The residents feel betrayed. They allege that the government had cheated them by making false promises. they add that the it has not done its paper work regarding their problem.

Some residents who have spent a lot of money in constructing houses in the colonies, have got illegal power connections from their neighbours.

In this scenario, it is not surprising that people are resorting to kundi connections.

Mr Yadwinder Kumar of Lohgarh village said that in spite of demand notice issued by the PSEB authorities, he was refused the electricity connection. "The government has made Zirakpur a nagar panchayat, yet the board authorities have refused me a power connection," he said.

Mr Surinder Kumar of Lohgarh said the PSEB was not considering NOCs issued by the nagar panchayat authorities.

However, the PSEB authorities disclosed that they had not received any such direction had been by the board. The board would release power connections to the villages and colonies only after getting written directions. The NOCs issued by the municipalities and nagar panchayats concerned would be considered as per the written directions of the government, they added.

Preparing ragpickers for exams
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Oct 11 — Picture this, children busy learning by rote various letters of the alphabet, or the mathematical multiplication tables, and then getting together sometimes to stage a play which highlights the issues of health and hygiene. A routine scene from any school? Not when the students happen to be daily-wage earners, and mostly rag-pickers.

This scene is from a project called the child labour education centre (CLEC) being run at the Janata Colony, Sector 25. The Aruna Asif Ali Memorial Trust, Chandigarh, in an endeavour to educate the child labour and to provide them with better avenues started this project in May this year. The CLEC today has a strength of about 15 children of the colony, all of whom are engaged in daily-wage labour.

The project is currently being run in a two-room set in the colony, which formerly housed a government primary school. Incidentally, this project started off in collaboration with another local oraganisation, Yuvasatta.

The children in this centre are in the age group of eight to 12, and in order to give them incentive to attend classes regularly the trust provides them with a stipend of Rs 100 per month.

According to the trust, these children would be prepared for the class V examination of the school education board in two years.

Another project which is running parallel to the CLEC in this colony is a crafts centre for young girls and women, which teaches stitching and embroidery. Catering to about 15 students at present, it also tries to work towards the empowerment of women.

Both the centres have employed teachers from the colony itself. The crafts teacher is a woman trained in the crafts of stitching and embroidery, while the teacher employed for the CLEC project is another resident of the colony, whose husband happens to be the local registered medical practitioner here.

The teacher at the CLEC is being paid Rs 50 per child, while the crafts teacher is bing paid Rs 500 per month by the trust.

The Aruna Asif Ali Trust also started a similar CLEC project at Azad Model School, Panchkula, in August this year.

Meanwhile, according to Mrs Oshima Raikhy, managing trustee of this trust, a donor scheme for the adoption of all those children not going to school has also been started, in which the donors would not only be providing for the basic education of the child but would also act as the ''in charge'' of the child's education.

Also, in order to protect children of poorer sections from becoming school dropouts, 10 children from a government primary school have been selected and are being paid a stipend of Rs 100 per month. This is being done at a village near SAS Nagar.

One teacher for 5 classes
From Our Correspondent

CHANDIGARH, Oct 11 — Government Primary School in Karaundianwala, near here, has been without a permanently-posted teacher for the past several years.

Situated 11 km from Chandigarh, the village has not received the attention of the authorities concerned. Teaching work is handled by one teacher who looks after five classes.

Students sit in the open in the absence of rooms. A panch of the village says a person from nearby Kasoli village, who has passed the class XII examination, teaches students.

Mr Dayal Chand is worried about the future of children in the absence of qualified teachers. Sources say students from this village go to Kasoli, about 4 km away.

Villagers say their wards face difficulties in the absence of a metalled road. They have to wade through seasonal rivulets to reach the school, which becomes dangerous in the rainy season, they complain.

2 rooms and trees for 5 classes
From Our Correspondent

DAIRI (Sohana), Oct 11 — Students of all classes in Government Primary School, Dairi, are forced to sit together for want of sufficient of space and teachers.

This school has two classrooms for 38 students. Often the classes are held in the open.

When this correspondent visited the school, there was only one teacher present. The other teacher was said to have gone out on some official work. In the absence non-teaching staff, the teachers have to run all the errands.

Students sit under a tree on bare ground. A student pointed out that the rainy season was the most difficult when all classes had to be conducted in the two rooms. Even in normal times, all the five classes are taught by the two teachers and when one of them goes on leave the other takes care of the entire school.

There is no boundary wall and children flock to a hand pump in a nearby dhaba on the main road for water, running the risk of accidents.

A former panch of the village said that several schools in the area were without sufficient teachers. Instead of opening more primary school without facilities, such as teachers, buildings, etc, the authorities should combine some of these schools and provide better facilities there.

Kids to be taught to respect elders
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Oct 11 — The UT Education Department has decided to organise special lectures in schools to emphasise the responsibility of the young generation towards proper care and due respect to elders.

The DPI (Schools), Mr D.S. Saroya, in a circular issued to the heads of all government schools, privately-managed and aided government schools, and recognised schools, asked them to ensure that such lectures were arranged at the time of morning assembly, where they were supposed to teach fundamental duties enshrined in the Constitution of India. He also asked them to send their plan of action in this regard at the earliest.

The Secretary, Finance and Social Welfare, UT Administration, had earlier announced this as one of the additional facilities to be extended to senior citizens. Highlighting the importance of these lectures, Mr Saroya said there was a growing feeling that senior citizens and elders were not being extended the respect they deserved. The growing western influences through television channels was one of the reasons. Remedial measures were needed to ensure that fundamental duties were performed in right earnest.

He added that emphasis must be placed on two fundamental duties, which were 'to promote harmony and the spirit of common brotherhood amongst all the people of India, transcending religious, linguistic and regional or sectional diversities and to renounce practices derogatory to the dignity of women' and 'to value and preserve the rich heritage of our composite culture'. As part of another exercise, boards displaying fundamental duties had been put up in some schools.

Rice millers face payment problem
From Our Correspondent

KHARAR, Oct 11 — Rice millers of Kharar subdivision are facing a financial crisis as the Punjab Food and Civil Supplies Department has allegedly failed to make payment to them for the levy rice given to the central pool.

Mr Jaswinder Singh Jassi, executive member of the Punjab Rice Millers Association, said here that whenevery they approached the department for payment they got the reply that it had not yet received payment from the FCI.

He said if the payment was not made early, they would not be in a position to make the payment to commission agents who, in turn, would find it difficult to make payment to farmers. He demanded that the payment should be made immediately.

Mr Nagar Singh Dhadak, Chairman, Market Committee, Kharar, meanwhile, has urged the Punjab Government to take the necessary steps in the matter.

Problems galore in Sector 42
By Pradeep Sharma
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Oct 11 — Sector 42, perhaps the least-developed sector in Phases I and II of City Beautiful, is a study in contrast. While a portion of the sector has been developed, residents of a major portion of the sector are forced to live with problems galore.

Open spaces have become a nightmare for the residents of this sector as wild growth has become an ideal breeding ground for snakes and other dangerous animals.

A visit to the sector revealed today that the areas of All India Radio (AIR) Colony, the market, flats of Food Craft Institute (FCI) and the banks are the most neglected ones. The open spaces in the area have not been developed by the authorities concerned for several years, putting the residents to much inconvenience.

The Tribune team had difficulty in locating the AIR and FCI colonies in the absence of any signboards. The road leading to the AIR colony has potholes at regular intervals and gravel is coming off the road. This narrow road was carpeted in 1994 and since then nobody has bothered to recarpet it, alleged Mr Vijay Vashishth, a resident.

The absence of the streetlights coupled with the wild growth on the two sides of the colony virtually made it difficult for the residents to venture out of their home particularly during the night time, complained another resident, Mr Ashok Pandita. The children are at the receiving end since there is no place for them to play, he added

Mr Vashishth added that the ill-maintained open spaces, including the VIP parking lot opposite the Hockey Stadium, had become breeding grounds for snakes.The problem was compounded in the monsoon season. The parking lot was only cleared of the wild growth and levelled when a match was held at the stadium. The contractor was not regular in cutting it, he rued.

Besides, the residents highlighted that there was only one garbage bin, with the result that garbage remained scattered in the open for days together opposite the stadium. The problem was compounded as the sweepers rarely visited the colony, alleged residents.

The parking lot of the market was constructed only after shopkeepers protested during the visit of the UT Administrator, Lieut-Gen B.K.N. Chhibber (retd) to the area last year.

The problems in the area housing flats of various banks are no different. It seems that the parks in the area are no body's baby and certain roads were in a bad shape.

The residents of Sector 42-B adjoining Attawa village, have their own share of problems. The President of the Residents Welfare Association, Mr R.K. Singla, conceded that the association had been receiving regular complaints from the residents regarding insanitary conditions created by the villagers. Stray cattle menace was also a problem in the sector.

He informed that following repeated efforts by the association the problems of the roads and streetlights and the construction of the roundabout had only been solved recently. The construction of the community centre in the sector, the land and grant for which had reportedly been been sanctioned, was also hanging fire, he added.

Fall in paddy arrivals
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Oct 11 — Staying away of private traders and a uniform support price offered by procurement agencies have adversely affected the arrival of paddy, particularly from the surrounding areas, in the local grain market.

Though more than a week has passed since the onset of the process of procurement of paddy, arrivals have trickled down to about half compared to last year. The crop has been good but about 8,000 to 10,000 bags of paddy have been arriving in the market daily. These are brought mostly by farmers of nearby villages or those who are in debt. About 15,000 bags came to the market daily during the corresponding period last year, sources said.

The procurement process started mora then a week ago but, according to sources in the market, privates traders initially indulged in procurement for two to three days. They lost interest as they found it non-lucrative, particularly when good quality produce was being purchased by the Food Corporation of India at a support price of Rs 520 a quintal.

Mr Kanhayia Lal, President of the local Arhtias Association, said private traders were not interested in buying paddy as the support price of paddy was good and the price of superfine rice had been fixed at Rs 930, due to which the profit margin was not so good. "Due to this, most of them are going in for milling of paddy instead of purchasing it," he added. He agreed that arrivals were less, for which late sowing was partly responsible.

Mr Kamal, a 'munim', said less arrivals had affected trade. His firm was getting 1,000 bags this year against 3,000 last year.

When private traders were in the fray, farmers were offered up to Rs 540 a quintal but now they were getting Rs 520 for the same quantity. Due to this, a lot of farmers were selling their produce in the nearest markets.

Mr Gurnam Singh, a farmer from Gaduan village in Fatehgarh Sahib district, said this time he preferred to bring about 400 bags of paddy to the market as compared to about 1,000 last year, as there was no difference of price. "I did so because I had borrowed money from the commission agent, otherwise I would have preferred to sell my produce only at Fathegarh Sahib," he said.

Mr Balwinder Singh, a farmer from a village near Kharar, said, "Last time private traders were offering more money if quality of the produce was good." He admitted that he had borrowed money from the commission agent, for which he had brought his produce to the market.

No market committee official was available to provide the exact figures of the produce received. Farmers and commission agents agreed that there was no delay by the purchasing agency in payment. Neither of them were facing any problem.