Jalandhar, November 19
All their stuff is tagged with a cloth reading ‘Thank-you India’. With the winters arriving, the Tibetans living in exile, who come to the city to sell seasonal clothes every year, have a special message this time.

This year, Tibetans around the world are commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Tibetan Diaspora, the flight into exile of around 140,000 Tibetans and their spiritual leader Dalai Lama. And how can they forget the India’s role.

Dressed in colourful Chuba and Pantan (traditional attire), Tolma, who walked across the Himalayas some decades ago, said: “We wanted to thank our adopted country for providing us with shelter and an opportunity to live a respectable life.”

Every year, for over a decade, they camp in the city for three months and put up their stalls selling winter-wear at the pavement adjoining Lal Rattan Cinema.

Ranging from jackets, sweaters, pullovers, shawls, gloves, scarves, mufflers and biker’s jackets, the market has every product, manufactured in Ludhiana.

The Tibetan Refugee Market is most frequented by poor and lower middle class people for cheap products. The market also attracts hordes of students who want to add colour to their lives, without spending much money. If popularity was to be determined by the sheer number of people thronging the stalls, each one boasts of around 3-4 visitors at any time of the day.

They have taken the permission of the Municipal Corporation and the local police station to put up stalls at the pavement and have shelled out a hefty Rs 96,000 for the purpose. When asked about their margin rate, Tenzin said with a wide smile: “Our leader is against keeping huge margins. So, the rates are quite reasonable.”

This time, around 16 families have come to the city from Dharamshala, known as ‘little Lhasa’ because of its large population of Tibetan refugees. Here, they live in rented accommodation on the Makdoompura road and the surrounding areas. Some of them have been coming to the city for over 12 years.

Here for three months, they spend the rest of the time in Dharmshala where they engage in different occupations. Most of the women are employed in factories manufacturing Tibetan handicrafts. Their children study in Tibetan Children School Village, a subsidised initiative of the Tibetan government-in-exile.

Kapurthala, November 19
The Rail Coach Factory (RCF) rolled out 16 new designed air-conditioned (AC) coaches capable of running up to 160 kilometer per hour for Duronto Train to be run on Sealdah-New Delhi section. These coaches were flagged off by Parveen Kumar, Member, Mechanical Railway Board, in a simple ceremony at RCF on Tuesday.

He also inaugurated the Railway Heritage Park in which old coaches had been placed. He also inaugurated cricket stadium and basketball ground in the RCF complex.

Parveen Kumar accompanied by Additional Member (Production Unit) A.K. Nigam visited the factory for inspection and to discuss the production target for the next financial year.

The first AC Duronto Train on Delhi-Sealdah section is likely to be flagged off by Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee within a month according to railway sources.

The first rake of 16 air-conditioned coaches which include first, second and three tier air-conditioned coaches besides pantry and power cars would replace the old coaches for the Duronto Train.

Parveen Kumar asked the RCF officials to design and develop high speed coaches capable of running at a speed of 200 kmph to enhance the speed of trains in future. He also directed the RCF management to enhance the production of stainless coaches by 25 per cent every year.

On the occasion, RCF GM Pradeep Kumar said RCF was ready to accept any challenge and would not only meet the target, rather surpass it on all fronts.

Jalandhar, November 19
The viral strains of poliomyelitis have rendered lakhs of children disabled. Though government is leaving no stone unturned to eradicate even the last strain of the virus, the task may seem unachievable without the relentless contribution of some noble organisations. “Roshni” is one of those organisations which are contributing to this noble cause. The organisation inaugurated its branch office in the city today.

Roshni was started in 1988 by Father K.J. Thomas. He adopted many crawling children and brought them up to join the main stream of life. Roshni organised first polio operation camp in Amritsar in 1993 in Vijay Hospital. Eleven children were operated upon in the camp. Its main task is to identify polio patients and then motivate them to get surgical treatment to get rid of deformity of extremities. The organisation works on the principle of community-based rehabilitation, which includes treatment of corrective disorder, studies and then formal and practical training to individuals to make them self-sustainable.

At present, Roshni is catering to 170 cases spread out in Punjab, Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir. All these children were suffering from polio and Roshni is taking care of them at all three levels of rehabilitation.

“Our organisation works on the principle of service for disabled by the disabled. Ashok Philamn is an example justifying this slogan. He got rid of deformed extremities in one of the camps organised by us and then dedicated his life to the cause. Presently he is serving through Roshni in challenging environment of Kargil,” said Father Thomas.

The organisation also campaigns to sensitise students regarding the needs of the disabled. “Wherever we find appropriate support, we invite students of nearby schools and let them interact with these children,” said Father Thomas.Move to open office in the city is welcomed by quarters involved in the drive to sensitise schoolchildren about needs of children suffering from disabilities. “Presence of these kinds of centres is essential to impart moral values to children of their age.

Usually in big schools of cities, you find students hailing from elite and rich families. If they get a chance to interact with sufferers, only then they can understand that they are blessed ones and get everything right from birth whatever a human being needs to live a happy life. Simultaneously, these interactions help disabled children to get rid of inferiority complexes, which they usually develop due to insensitive approach of the society towards them,” said Dr Sukhwinder Kaur of APJ Institute, who has been running “Interact Group” for the last 18 years.

Jalandhar, November 19
All lanes leading to the local Partap Bagh today witnessed a complete blockade as scores of youngsters virtually jostled and hopped to have a glimpse of Dalip Singh Rana better known as ‘the Great Khali’ of World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) fame.

Khali was here as the chief guest at Punjab Classic Body Building Championship, which kicked off today. He was given a warm welcome by a group of local dholies.

Young brigade comprising youth and children was over excited to see the WWE champ. The jam-packed hall echoed with the slogans of “Khali-Khali” and “Khali zindabad”.

Thrilled at having seen Khali from a close quarter, schoolboy Sanjeev said it was a dream come true for him. “I didn’t go to school today as I wanted to see Khali. I have been waiting since morning to have his glimpse,” he added.

Extremely overwhelmed at the thumping response of his fans, Khali said: “I have decided the site for a world-class gym at Jalandhar-Hoshiarpur road. The budding bodybuilders of the state would get a chance to receive training from foreign-based fitness experts and coaches selected by me. If things go as per plans the construction work would begin soon,” he added.

Khali maintained that his gym would be one of its kind in the entire country. Responding to a query pertaining to threats by militants of Lashker-e-Taiba, he said, “I have not received any threats from the militant outfit. And in case any militant outfit dared to do so, I will teach them a lesson.” Khali responded by showing martial art sign through his hands.

Earlier, Khali along with his mentor former Punjab DGP M.S. Bhullar inaugurated the championship. It was DGP Bhullar who brought Khali from the rustic lanes of his village to the PAP and later helped him in becoming a top WWE champ. “If you will work hard even you can also reach such great heights in your career”, he said while patting the back of Khali in his message to the youth.

Meanwhile, a group of nearly 40 boys on motorbikes went to receive the cavalcade of Khali. The members of Asian Body Building Fitness Federation honoured Khali and congratulated him for bringing laurels to PAP his home cadre as well as the country.

The World Heavyweight Champion made his WWE debut in April 2006. After making news in the WWE fights he is ventured into Hollywood as well. His first film was “The Longest Yard” released in 2005 and the other was “Get Smart” released in the year 2008. Khali has also been looking forward to work in some Bollywood films.

Jalandhar, November 19
Broken chairs and sofas, covered with thick layers of dirt and grease, have been welcoming guests at the local circuit house for the past many years. Thanks to the local administration for turning a blind-eye towards the condition of the infrastructure that has been crying for care since long.

It happens only in the circuit house that top brass politicians, bureaucrats and other VVIPs, including foreigners and even the Chief Minister of Punjab, who often visits the city, have no issues about sitting on broken, filthy sofas.

Strangely enough, they haven’t noticed the pitiable condition of the building and if they have, haven’t bothered to do anything about it. Poor maintenance of the guest house puts the administration and the state government under the scanner.

Everything is crying for repair and maintenance.

The hospitality department, which supervises the house, has many a times informed the concerned authorities but to no avail. Meetings are held and the committees formed, but all have failed to find any solution.

Inspection is conducted and approximate budgets are formed but nothing follows.

“We had formed a budget of around Rs 1 crore to revamp the circuit house. It was sent to the government about a year back. We are waiting for the orders,” said SR Ladhar, Commissioner, Jalandhar division.

There are only 40 chairs in the conference hall and all are in desperate need of repair. If you want to organise any meeting of people exceeding 40, shell out some bucks and hire chairs from outside.

“Barring the chair for the VVIP of the day, all others are in a miserable condition. The sofas have lost their race against time and lie there without proper foam, rubber or cloth. Nobody cares,” said an employee on the condition of anonymity.

The house needs renovation, doors need paint. The windows need repair and almirahs need to be replaced.

The age-old false ceiling of the rooms needs maintenance and geysers and room heaters need to be fixed. There are only three fire-extinguishers in the house and they haven’t been refilled for the past 6-7 years.

The telephone exchange, being quite old, goes dead in the rainy season. The curtains are very old and have turned ugly.

TVs in some rooms need to be changed. Window-ACs are required in some others. Only one unit, out of the three, installed by the Public Health department is in a working condition and that too collapses when the load increases.

The annexe to the circuit house is in a really bad shape and needs to be demolished. The faulty water supply pipes need repair.

The list is never-ending but the requests are all pending.

Not just that, the house is short of staff too. According to the Hospitality Department, there are 10 posts and none are vacant, but the employees tell a different story.

There is no receptionist. The post has been called off. The supervisor does the job of the receptionist too. There are two watchmen. When one goes on leave, the other has to take up the charge. Watchmen serve as dish-washers also.

Sometimes they don’t get to sleep for days together. One reportedly died of heart attack some time back while on duty. Be there two visitors or 20 or 200, there is only one cook and one waiter on duty at a time.

What’s more, employees don’t get any additional monetary benefits for extra services.

Another problem is that different departments look into different issues of the circuit house.

While, services are provided by the Hospitality Department, landscaping is looked after by the Horticulture Department and ACs are maintained by the Public Health Department. To bring all of them into line is a tough task and the job lies with the Chief Secretary of the State.

Staying charges are minimum, though people who visit the place are pretty well-heeled. A Punjab government official has to pay a meager Rs 30 per day, while a private employee needs to shell out Rs 60. Other state government employees are charged Rs 105 per day while high ranking people from private firms need to pay Rs 255.

Charges are nominal, so are the facilities.

Perhaps that’s the reason why the political gentry prefer to stay at grand hotels. 

Jalandhar, November 19
The District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum, Kapurthala camp at Jalandhar, directed Punjab National Bank (PNB) and Indian Overseas Bank (IOB) to pay Rs 20,000 with interest for deficiency of service to a consumer whose cheque was lost in transit.

In the four-page decision pronounced on November 11, president of the forum Paramjit Singh and its member Gulshan Prashar ordered BMC Chowk branch of the PNB and Cantonment branch of the IOB to pay Narinder Pal Arora of Rama Mandi Rs 20,000 jointly with 7 per cent interest per annum from September 23 last year when the PNB informed him that the cheque presented by him had been lost in transit.

In the complaint filed before the forum on September 2, Narinder Pal Arora stated that one Rajendra Kumar had taken a loan of Rs 80,000 from him and gave him a post-dated cheque, dated June 11 last year of the IOB for Rs 80,000.

Narinder Pal presented the cheque to the PNB, which forwarded it to IOB for cashing it.

The complainant said the cheque along with the memo was lost by the banks, which was not only negligence on their part but also accounted for deficiency in service.

The complainant was thus deprived of filing a complaint under section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act as well as a suit for the recovery of the amount against Rajendra Kumar. Narinder Pal said he served a legal notice to the banks, but to no avail.

PNB advocate Manmohan Sharma argued that the cheque was misplaced and the bank made considerable efforts to locate the same at the request of the complainant so that the same be provided to him before the expiry of the stipulated period, so there was no deficiency in service on the part of the bank.

However, after hearing the arguments of the complainant’s advocate Sanjiv Gupta, the forum held both the banks guilty of deficiency in service.

Jalandhar, November 19
With a lot of it happening in the surrounding cities and culture hubs, and given the fact that in comparison, the city’s theatre activities are restricted only to the youth festivals, Gadari Babeyan Da Mela and rare theatre productions that get showcased once in a while in its under-equipped auditoriums and halls; the art circles of Jalandhar often worry about the fate of the art in the city.

In this scenario, small initiatives make a whole lot of difference.

The city has found its teeny-weeny claim to the promotion of theatre in a collaboration which has been struck between city-based Eklavya School and internationally acclaimed Sangeet Natak Akademi Award winning dramatist Probir Guha.

The journey to brush up the theatre skills of the little ones started with the Calcutta-based dramatist’s week-long visit to the city in November, along with Delhi-based Kathak dancer Sushmita Ghosh, to polish the act of the students for the annual function of the school, which took place on November 14.

Talking to The Tribune, Seema Handa, Director of the school, said, “I had seen the rehearsals and the final act for the play Hum when he came last time and expressed a desire for him to teach our students. Fortunately, he agreed and it was decided that the annual function of the school would be a good time to start things.”

Talking about the experience of working with the kids, Guha said, “The annual function was a kind of warm up session. The scripts and acts had all been set and my part was working as a consultant to the school to supervise and polish up the kids in the few days that I could give to them.”

The results were pretty dramatic.

Clichés were done away with. The narrator in the Cinderella play, who was earlier supposed to look like a suited-booted gentleman, was turned into a joker.

Costumes and props were discarded. Kids, who were supposed to be dressed as mice dogs or horses, would now convey with gestures what earlier costumes were supposed to.

Even the role of a cardboard chariot was now designated to students themselves.

Plus sound changed, drums and human voices took in the portions which earlier pre-arranged music was filling up.

Meanwhile, Sushmita worked at fine-tuning their dancing skills along with everything else.

Talking about the kids’ reaction to Guha’s freedom-oriented theatre, Sushmita said, “At first they were a bit reluctant because this was something new for them but slowly they started enjoying their parts.”

“Mr Guha totally set them free and told them to be themselves which meant breaking away from the scripts, rules, tones and stage behaviour which they had previously been told to religiously stick to. Senior students took some time, owing to the conditioning, initially some even protested, but gradually understood. The little ones, however, were quicker at it and had a ball.”

The school plans many more and longer sessions from the dramatist in the near future.

“I want to start with the teachers so that they can pass it on to the students even when I am not around,” quipped Guha.

So we can gear up for some workshops and sessions from the dramatist who is known to break away from rules, and theatre in Jalandhar can heave a sigh of relief, at least for the time being. 

Jalandhar, November 19
Prices of tomato, potato and capsicum witnessed a significant increase this week. Tomato which was available at Rs 20-22 per kg last week, shot up to Rs 40 per kg this week. Similarly, prices of potato increased from Rs 16 to Rs 20 per kg. Capsicum saw an increase of Rs 5 per kg in its prices as compared to last week. Capsicum is now available at Rs 45 per kg.

Except one or two varieties, prices of pulses also remained same. All varieties of pulses witnessed marked increase in prices last week.

Prices of onion, ginger and lemon remained nearly same as that of last week. Onion and ginger remained at Rs 25 and Rs 60 per kg, respectively. Lemon remained at Rs 46 per kg.

Due to increase in supplement usage of garlic, its prices are already around Rs 100 per kg. In addition to this, prices of peas around Rs 90-100 per kg are leaving frowns on the faces of most of the buyers. On the contrary, coriander prices fell from Rs 60 last week to Rs 15 per kg this week.

Prices of non-vegetarian stuff also vary as compared to last week. Prices of chicken, which ranged between Rs 138-143 per kg, slashed to Rs 125-130 per kg. Prices of mutton remained nearly the same. Price of fish and eggs saw substantial increase.

Jalandhar, November 19
Canada is accepting highest ever number of immigrants from across the globe this year keeping in view of an aging population and an impending labour problem in the past 15 years.

This was stated by Lt-Col B.S. Sandhu, Chairman & Managing Director, World Wide Immigration Consultancy Services (WWICS).

He said with the introduction of fast-track immigration, the entire procedure has grown simpler for immigrants who can seek immigration under different categories of skilled worker category, federal investor category and Quebec investor category.

He said in the past few months, 74 immigrants have received their immigration papers from them. “Realizing its need to have young and talented people, the Canadian government has implemented major changes to ease the influx of talented and hard working immigrants,” he said.

The Canadian and Australian economy depends heavily on immigrants to fill shortages in its labor market, therefore, applicants falling under Canada’s 38 priority occupation list (POL) and Australia’s critical skill list (CSL) are processed on fast-track system and aspiring candidates gets decision within a short span of 6-12 months.

Col Sandhu said besides providing opportunity to the business class, Canada is an attractive destination for students pursuing quality education. WWICS has been helping students study at the world -renowned colleges and universities of not only Canada but that of Australia and New Zealand as well.

WWICS with Global Placement Services (GPS) and its post-landing services has provided placement and settlement to 70, 000 aspirants from across world. Both companies interact with more than 5000 North American companies to meet their human resource needs.

Punyaa Dewan, head girl of Apeejay School, welcomes Ravneet Brar, wife of Jagbir Singh Brar (MLA), at the school’s annual function in Jalandhar. Students along with their parents throng the Baal Mela organised by Manav Sehyog School. A Tribune photo

Jalandhar, November 19
Students of the St Soldier Group of Institutions held a candlelight march against female foeticide on the birth anniversary of Indira Gandhi today. As many as 400 students participated in the march. The students carried placards depicting social messages against the evil practice in the state.

Youth festival

Students of Lovely Institutes bagged the best performance award in three events and secured second position in four contests in the recently concluded PTU Inter-Zonal Youth Festival. Sakshi Minhas won the first gold for the Lovely Institute of Management. She was adjudged the best performer in western vocal solo contest, while Jaskaran Singh Bedi of LIM and Puneet Kumar of LIT got first position in mimicry and folk song contest.

Samvedna of LIM and Rajat Chawla of LIT stood second in cartooning and clay modelling competitions, respectively. Teams of Lovely Institutes were adjudged second in group song and mime contests.

Annual function

The third annual prize distribution function of State Public School, Shahkot, was held on Wednesday. The meritorious students in the field of academics and co-curricular activities were awarded. A cultural programme was presented by students.

Panorama board

A news panorama board was inaugurated at Kanya Maha Vidyalaya on Tuesday with an aim to motivate the students to read and write the daily news on the board. Principal of the college Dr Atima Sharma inaugurated the news panorama.

Brain Drain Storm

Students of Guru Nanak Dev University College, Basti Nau, won the overall trophy in the “Brain Drain Storm-2009” organised by the Department of Commerce of Kanya Maha Vidyalaya (KMV). The college team won first prize in “Ad Mad show”, whereas Vaibhav secured second prize in an extempore.

‘Virasat’ organised

Annual function of Joy House School was organised at the Red Cross Bhawan today. The function named ‘Virasat-Our Sanskriti, Our Pride’, had the theme of Indian weddings. In the opening ceremony, chief guest Sharmila Attri lighted the candle.

The fest had items like Miss-Master competition round of nursery and LKG students where the children wore wedding dresses of different states and students of pre-nursery class presented a ring ceremony.

Dance on mehandi songs and a haldi ceremony was also held. A quiz on traditional of Indian weddings was also organized for the students of nursery and LKG classes. Then the bide of the day Rusham, accompanied by school chairman Rajeev Ghai and Principal Nidhi Ghai completed the Jaimala ceremony with Ujthe, the bridegroom of the day.

Tech fest

The IT Forum of the Apeejay College of Fine Arts organised a “Tech fest” on November 13. Students participated in quiz, poster making, oral presentation on “India 2050” and theme-based photography. A team from DAV College bagged the first position in the quiz competition. Apeejay College bagged first prize in poster making and KMV got first prize in choreography.

CBSE meet

Navjot Kaur, a student of Class IX of Doaba Public Senior Secondary School, Parowal, brought laurels to her school by bagging two gold medals in 800 metre and 1,500-metre race in inter-school cluster XV Athletics Meet 2009-10, organised by the CBSE, New Delhi.

Lecture held

An extension lecture on “Nari Atteet Arvacheen aur Anagat” was organised in Kanya Maha Vidyalaya (KMV) on Thursday. Former Principal of Government College, Hoshiarpur, Dr Umesh Sharma, was the chief guest.

University topper

Samrata Sachdeva, a student of the KCL Institute of Laws, bagged first position in the LLB (TYC) part-I examination of Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar.

Nine get placements

Nine students of DAV Institute of Engineering and Technology (DAVIET) secured placements in Blue Star Technologies. The company provides telephone and data cabling, network installation, troubleshooting and repair services for both commercial and residential customers.

Out of nine students, five belong to MBA, two belong to B.Tech (electronics and communication engineering) and two belong to computer science and engineering discipline. The company has offered a starting package of Rs 2.4 lakh per annum to selected students, who will join the company in July, 2010, after the completion of their degree.

Sanjeev Bhalla, Assistant Professor (Training and Placement), and Principal Dr A.S. Arora congratulated the selected candidates.