Jalandhar, September 12
Dilly-dallying on the part of the authorities of the Lovely Institute of Technology (LIT) in paying a fine to the tune of Rs 5 lakh to Punjab Technical University (PTU) is costing four B. Tech students dearly.

The four students had taken admission in B. Tech in the college in August 2004 and passed out after completing all the eight semesters, but the university has withheld their detailed marks result as their college authorities have not paid the fine, they were asked to, since December 2006.

The PTU authorities have blamed the college officials for upgrading the streams of the foursome, after one year, against the stipulated norms. The norms clearly suggest that the students cannot be given an upper stream if they are unable to clear all subjects in the first year. But the streams of all the four students were upgraded even as they had failed in one or the other examination, university sources disclosed.

Sandeep Singh had got his stream upgraded from electronics and electrical engineering to mechanical engineering. Jaspreet Singh was admitted to mechanical engineering and later shifted to electronics and communication engineering. Amitojpal Singh was taken in mechanical and later upgraded to B. Tech (IT). Navtoj Kaur moved from computer science engineering to IT.

There was yet another student, Karan Singh, who shifted from electronics and communication engineering to computer science. But the student dropped the course midway and moved abroad.

The university had, in 2006, imposed a penalty to the tune of Rs 1 lakh per student on the LIT for violating the norms and in lieu of regularising the students.

The LIT authorities, in a recent communication, told the PTU officials that they were ready to pay the money but as funds for the staff development programme rather than any penalty.

The university authorities, however, claim that a fine is a fine. “The LIT people need to accept that they have committed a mistake by violating our rules. Rules cannot be bent like this at their own discretion”, argued an officer, saying there could be no relaxation and the college authorities need to be taught a lesson.

PTU dean (academics) Dr V.K. Arora said that he had sent reminders to the LIT authorities to pay up the penalties. “Now we are preparing a balance sheet of dues that we are to pay, including their share of counselling fee and the amount that they need to hand over to us. We will calculate and settle down the matter,” he said.

The students, however, have been saying that they are caught in the fight between the college and the university.

Sandeep said he was planning to move abroad for higher studies for which he required his detail marks certificates (DMC). Jaspreet, who is currently recuperating from his injury after having met with an accident, said he would be soon looking for a job.

Aman Mittal, director, corporate communications, Lovely Professional University, claimed that the LIT was not at fault. “There has been some miscommunication between us and the university and we would get it sorted out soon,” he said.

Jalandhar, September 12
A migrant labourer was found dead under mysterious circumstances in a building under construction in Urban Estate Phase-II early this morning. The body of Ram Bahadur, hailing from Uttar Pradesh, was found in the courtyard of the house by his family members. While a brother of the deceased apprehended that his brother was pushed to death from the third floor of the house, the police claimed the man was under the influence of liquor and accidentally fell from the building to death.

According to the police, Ram Bahadur had been putting up in the building along with his family. In her statement to the police, his wife said that Ram Bahadur came home drunk and went upstairs to sleep. She also claimed that some neigbourers informed her about Ram Bahadur’s body in the court yard of the house.

On the other hand, brother of the deceased Man Bahadur alleged that Ram Bahadur was murdered by his wife and her accomplice woman who was staying with them for the past some time. DSP (city-II) Rajeshwar Singh Sidhu, however, denied any foul play behind the death of Ram Bahadur.

The police has sent the body for a post-mortem examination at the civil hospital. A case has been registered in this pretext at police station 7.

Jalandhar, September 12
The district police arrested Pinki Pandit from the Bhargav Camp locality here today. He was wanted in the Joginder Pal murder case. He had been eluding the police and was declared a proclaimed offender by the court in the murder case. A police party, led by Bhargav Camp police post in charge Pushp Bali, conducted a raid and nabbed Pinki. The suspect had been putting up in Bhogpur after the murder of Joginder Pal.

The police claimed that Pinki, along with his four accomplices, Ajay Gopi, alias Ghoki, Vijay Kumar, Deepak Bhai and Gora, had chased Joginder Singh, alias Gogi, and murdered him with sharp-edged weapons because of some old rivalry in full public view in June 2007. Besides the murder case, he has been charged with a number of criminal cases, like snatching, robbery and burglary.

Jalandhar, September 12
In a bid to give new orientation to the programmes of Doordarshan (DD) Kendra Jalandhar, the authorities concerned have formulated a new fixed point chart which would come into force from September 15. The new chart has been introduced so as to bring the various problems of Punjab under one umbrella.

Addressing the media, Doordarshan senior director Daljit Singh said under this new chart emphasis had been laid on audience participation.

He said, “At present our society is witnessing many problems pertaining to female foeticide, unemployment, population, diminishing returns in agriculture, emigration of Punjabi youth to foreign shores and declining education and health services. “Keeping these social problems in mind, we have given new orientation to our programmes to help out the masses,” said Singh.

Under the new chart, DD Jalandhar is going to start some new programmes like “Aasa Di Vaar”, “Sachi Bani”, “Tandrusti”, “Itihas De Panne”, “Lok Gatha”, “Sadi Vi Suno”, “Bhawan Nirman”, “Samachar Patrika”, reality shows (folk songs and debate). “Apart from this, we are also going to change the formats of some other programmes like “Merian Yadan Mere Anubhav”, “Prashan Uttar”, “Sahit Dhara”, “Adab”, “Raabta”, “Charde Suraj”, “Punjabi Bioscope” and “Sahit Sirjan”, Singh added.

On being asked about the reasons of declining viewership of DD programmes, he maintained, “It would be wrong to say that DD has less viewership. Though there is a stiff competition in the market and other channels like Mh1, ETC Punjabi, PTC News and Zee Punjabi have wide viewership, it can’t be ruled out that DD has a distinct fan following.”

He said according to the recent TAM Media Report for the programmes broadcast during the weekend from August 28 to 30, it was found that as many as 27 DD Punjabi programmes were the ones which had the maximum viewership. He also said DD Jalandhar had played a key role in achieving the “Green Revolution” in the farm sector and establishing Punjabi music in Bollywood and at the international level.

Hoshiarpur, September 12
Gurwinder Kaur, a student of MA English (part I), of the local Government College has not only brought laurels to her parents but also her institution by winning 13 gold medals in different events of swimming in the inter-college swimming championship of Panjab University, concluded at Chandigarh last evening.

According to the college principal, Gurwinder Kaur secured gold medals in 50m, 100m, 200m, 400m, 800m freestyle, 50m, 100m and 200m back stroke, 50m, 100m and 200m butterfly and two in other events.

Principal Desbir Sharma, along with other staff members of the college, went to the house of Gurwinder and honoured her today.