Nawanshahr, June 18
This government school was revamped to be one of the most prestigious institutes in the state. A school which everyone would look forward to for taking admission. A school which would offer the best faculty and house the best of the facilities without levying any charges on the students.

But all dreams have turned sour, especially after the recent declaration of the results of the Punjab School Education Board (PSEB). PSEB Adarsh Senior Secondary School at Khatkar Kalan, which was re-christened as Shaheed-e-Azam S. Bhagat Singh Adarsh Senior Secondary School, has failed to live up to the expectations of the people.

Leave aside getting the name of any of the students in the merit list, none of the board classes have got a 100 per cent result. Of the total 41 students of the middle level, nine have failed, while three have remained absent.

The class X students have also shown a rather dismal performance. Seven of the 29 students have flunked and five of them have re-appeared in two subjects each.

English seems to have been an Achilles’ heel for them for as many as 16 students have failed in the subject. Nine students have failed in mathematics and social studies each at the matriculation level.

There was a provision of only the humanities stream for plus two classes in which again there is a failure. Three students have got a compartment, surprisingly two of them in Punjabi and one in English. No one has managed to attain a percentage that anyone could feel proud of.

On the other hand, many other government schools in the district have faired far better than this school. But principal Renu Bhatti feels otherwise, “Our results have been better than the previous years. We have got more staff and laboratory assistants. Our new block that will house science laboratories and classes XI and XII in medical, non-medical and commerce streams is also ready and we have started taking admissions for the plus one level. We have been given new furniture,” she says.

“The only problem that we are currently facing is that we are not getting good stuff. Our school is far from the city. Even approaching it is difficult as one has to walk in more than 2 km from the main road to reach the school.

But we have started advertising about our school. We have also introduced a bus for getting bright students from far-off places. We are charging a minimal amount from the students for that. We are planning to have another bus so as to pick more students from far-off places,” she revealed.

Jalandhar, June 18
The alleged undemocratic practices adopted by the ruling alliance during the recently concluded Panchayati Raj elections were condemned by delegates at the “Save Democracy” convention held by the CPM at the Desh Bhagat Yadgaar Hall here today.

A presidium, comprising Rattan Singh Randhawa, Kulwant Singh Sandhu, Amarjit Singh Kular and Bhim Singh Alampur, listened in detail the atrocities and electoral malpractices resorted to by the government in securing victory in the elections.

Bodh Singh Ghuman presented a resolution highlighting the grave violations of constitutional provisions by the ruling combine for narrow electoral gains. In most of the villages people were incited to settle personal scores in the garb of poll violence that witnessed several deaths across the state during the elections, he said.

He said the government had undermined the mandate of the masses by changing the seats meant for Scheduled Castes and women.

Never in the history of the state had nomination papers been rejected on frivolous grounds and it was a telling comment that the opposition was releasing a list of civil servants who had actively been a part of the campaign to target political opponents, he pointed out.

The delay in the election of sarpanches, too, was a serious anomaly, which had encouraged horse trading and allowed the government to browbeat elected representatives to elect a person of their choice, he added.

Stalwarts like Mangat Ram Pasla, Jagroop Singh, Mehar Singh, Dr Sewa Singh, Raghvir Singh Chhina and Harkanwal Singh were of the view that the elections were a political farce and were akin to hijacking the political process. What was the rationale of holding the elections if such a large scale irregularities were to be held? they pointed out.

The need of the hour was for people to come together to save democracy in the country and defeat the designs of the ruling alliance as well as the Congress.

Earlier, those present took out a procession highlighting the galloping inflation.

Batala, June 18
In all there are 263 candidates in the field to contest the 33 seats of the local municipal council, the elections to which will be held on June 30.

However, the list of the candidates of the main political parties, as supplied by SDM-cum-assistant returning officer J.S. Grewal, is: Ward 1 - Sandeep Kaur (Cong), Sukhwinder Kaur (SAD); Ward 2 - Roshan Singh (Cong), Pyara Lal (BJP); Ward 3 - Ramesh Verma (Cong), Raj Kumar Kali (BJP); Ward 4 - Darshana Devi (Cong), Gurpinder Kaur (BJP); Ward 5 - Kulwant Singh (Cong), Joginder Pal (SAD); Ward 6 - Ayadwinder Singh (Cong), Sucha Singh (SAD); Ward 7 - Suman (Cong), Keemto (BJP); Ward 8 - Sukhdev Singh (Cong), Baljinder Singh (SAD); Ward 9 - Raminderjit Singh (Cong), and Kulwant Singh Tony (SAD); Ward 10 - Harpreet Kaur (Cong), Ambika Khanna (BJP); Ward 11 - Janak Raj (Cong), Lal Chand (BJP); Ward 12 - Ramandeep Singh (Cong), Rajbir Singh Bhullar (BJP); Ward 13 - Monika Sekhri (Cong), Saroj (BJP); Ward 14 - Anil Kumar (Cong), Dharamvir Seth (BJP); Ward 15 - Tarlochan Chanda (Cong), Rajeev Modgil (BJP); Ward 16 - Geeta (Cong), Neelam Mahajan (BJP); Ward 17 - Jatinder Singh (Cong), Randhir Singh (SAD); Ward 18 - Manmohan Singh (Cong), Harinder Singh (BJP); Ward 19 - Darshdeep Kaur (Cong), Paramjit Kaur (SAD); Ward 20 - Kahan Chand (Cong), Jatinder Kalyan (BJP); Ward 21 - Pardeep Luthra (Cong), Tarlok Chand (BJP); Ward 22 - Manorama Khullar (Cong), Promila (BJP); Ward 23 - Pawan Kumar (Cong), Harjit Singh (BJP); Ward 24 - Sunil Sareen (Cong), Kulwinder Sareen (BJP); Ward 25 - Aruna Sharma (Cong), Suman Handa (BJP); Ward 26 - Narinder Kumar (Cong), Kundan Lal Kansra (BJP); Ward 27 - Parvesh Sanan (Cong), Ram Saran Bhatia (BJP); Ward 28 - Sudarshna (Cong), Kamlesh Seth ( BJP); Ward 29 - Shiv Chopra (Cong), Harbans Lal Mahajan (BJP); Ward 30 - Sham Lal (Cong), Suresh Kumar (BJP); Ward 31 - Nirmala (Cong), Neelam (BJP); Ward 32 - Charan Das (Cong), Gurbax Singh Malhi (BJP); and Ward 33 - Darshan Lal (Cong), Vijay Kumar Thapar (BJP).

Amritsar, June 18
A man killed his father over the dispute of the second marriage of his younger brother, who did not have any issue from his first marriage.

The incident took place on June 4. However, the case was registered today when Raj Singh of Dhaul Kalan village, an eyewitness to the incident, gave his statement to the police.

Accused Surinder Singh of Dhaul Kalan had already cremated his father Kartar Singh to destroy any proof of murder.

Raj said he along with Kartar Singh and his two sons Surinder Singh and Dharminder Singh had been working at a brick-kiln as a labourer for the past eight years. He said the deceased wanted to get his younger son Dharminder married again as he did not have any child from his first marriage. But Surinder objected stating that his brother had already adopted his daughter.

An altercation followed and Surinder reportedly attacked his father on his head and neck with a wooden stick. — OC

Jalandhar, June 18
An agitated mob blocked traffic near Rama Mandi roundabout here in protest against the mysterious death of a youth, Parveen Kumar, on Tuesday night.

The agitators alleged that a woman and her two brothers of Dakoha village served him illicit liquor when he had visited their house on Tuesday.

Later, two youths dropped him in a drunken state at his residence in a Rama Mandi locality. His family members found him dead on his bed.

The protesters were demanding registration of a case against the woman and her two brothers.

They threw several tyres after setting them on fire on the road to block the traffic. The traffic remained disrupted for about one and a half hour.

The police tried to persuade them to lift the dharna but to no avail. Later, they were assured that an FIR would be registered against the woman and her two brothers. At this, they lifted the dharna. Following which, an FIR was registered against the woman and her two brothers at Sadar police station.