Jalandhar, December 27
It was a day of history and expanding horizons at the Shree Baba Harivallabh Sangeet Sammelan.Guru Gobind Singh’s loved taus made a debut at the 134-year old festival and for the first time in its history, folk singers shared stage with a classical music maestro (something unthinkable even a decade ago).

As the lights came on the brilliantly decked up premises of the Devi Talab Mandir, the madness of the third day of the Shree Baba Harivallabh Sangeet Sammelan began.

Vijay Kumar Patil, the winner of last year’s competition, kick-started the evening with his soothing vocals.

The renderings of Barna Maitra, known for her forte, the Gourbahaari style, came next.

The sammelan was then steeped into the glory of the music of the gurus as the melancholy strains of S. Surjit Singh Aulakh’s sarangi met the peacock sounds of the taus, played by Amandeep Singh, a disciple of Aulakh.

Though the absence of Bhai Ranbir Singh (who, according to the schedule, was roped in for the taus) was a bit of a disappointment, Amandeep did as good a job as he could.

After the Raag Bihag and Asa Kafi renderings of the Sarangi-Taus jugalbandi, the evening moved on to the honeyed vocals of Shaunak Abhisheki.

Known for his beautiful combination of the Agra and Jaipur styles of Hindustani classical music, Abhisheki presented Raag Kaushi Kanhara and Raag Hindal Bahaar, ending his performance with an amalgamation of various Raag Malas.

Then came electricity and a sense of deja vu. Rakesh Chaurasia (flute), the talented nephew of Pt. Hariprasad Chaurasia, accompanied by Vijay Ghate on the tabla and Pt. Bhavani Shankar on the Pakhawaj reminded the audience of the Shashank, Ghate and Karnatic Pakhawaj trio they had witnessed last year.

Chaurasia started with Raag Brichaspati and Raag Des, and with Pt. Shankar chipping in with the Ghungroos for that perfect ambience, Raag Pahari (their third presentation) never got better. Ghate, of-course, has a thing with lighting up the performances he’s a part of. The flute flowed, could be compared to a river. There wasn’t an inch of vacant space and the hands of the audience just wouldn’t go down during the performance.

After the powerhouse performers, Raka Mukherji stepped in with her calm and tranquil vocals.

The last performance of the evening was more of a show stealer than initially expected.

Pt. Vishwa Mohan Bhatt, his Mohan Veena and the flavour of Rajasthan woke Punjab up to the Desert Slide as temperatures dipped and Jalandhar stood on the threshold of dawn.

The Grammy Award winner’s own soft, dreamy voice joined the magnificence of his Mohan Veena, the booming desert voice of Anwar Khan, the deftness of Ghazi Khan’s Khadtaal and the Khamaicha (roughly a folk twin of the sarangi), played by Ghewar Khan, to give the audience the experience of a lifetime.

Pt. Bhatt started off with the conventional Raag Gawati and moved on to folk treats in Kesariya Balama another folk composition based on Raag Des.

To sum it up, it was the classical stuff that makes histories rich.

Amritsar, December 27
About 300 agriculture families of the Kot Mohammad Khan village in Tarn Taran are not getting adequate supply of manure, pesticide and seeds released through the Kot Mohammad Khan Co-operative Agriculture Service Society (CASS), thanks to political bickering and infighting.

Opportunistic politics has postponed its election not once but thrice, even prompting some leaders and officials to file and counter file cases against each other.

Firstly, the election of its nine-member committee was to be held on August 28. However, the inability of its members to gather for holding an election had it postponed to September.

However, the election was also put off for the second time, after Returning Officer, Circle Khadoor Sahib, Gupteshwar Dass filed a complaint with the police that Baldev Singh Sarpanch Kot Mohammad had threatened to kill him.

The next date was on December 11. This time Baldev Singh filed a complaint with the area police that Secretary of the CASS Joginder Singh misbehaved with him, prompting the abrogation of election.

When contacted, Deputy Registrar, Co-operative Society, Balwant Singh said he was aware that polls had been postponed thrice and added that he would soon issue instructions to hold elections. He assured that the polls would be held before the start of the next crop season.

Insiders said the members were divided on political lines and were not ready 
to see the committee headed by a member of the other group.

A progressive farmer of the village, on the condition of anonymity, said eventual loss was being borne by the farmers in general and marginal farmers in particular. He said the farmers had to take seeds, pesticides and manures in the Rabi from private shopkeepers at higher costs and some have to take credit.

Those farmers who get these agriculture commodities from the CASS are to deposit the money after the sale of that crop and that too without interest.

Nawanshahr, December 27
A number of investors, belonging to Aur, Malla Bedian, Urapar and adjoining villages, who had allegedly been duped of Rs 1.03 crore by a post office agent, Rajesh Kumar, of Lasra village (Jalandhar district), may get some relief as the police moots steps to auction the property of the fraudulent agent to ensure recovery.

A scam of issuing fake post office passbooks under various small saving schemes to the investors by the agent at Aur Post Office came to light about two months back.

The investors, who had been depositing money through Rajesh Kumar for the past about a decade, had lodged a complaint with the police that they had been duped by the agent as no records of their deposits were found in the post office.

The police registered a case against five persons, including Rajesh Kumar, his wife Babita and post office employee Paramjit. Rajesh Kumar was nabbed at the New Delhi airport when he was trying to flee abroad.

Giving details about the present status of the case, SHO Kewl Krishan said, “The police has initiated proceedings to assess the market value of the property, owned by the agent, so that the orders for its auction could be sought for providing relief to the victims.”

The SHO said the agent had built a kothi, had Rhino and Tavera vehicles and conducted more than 10 foreign tours in the recent past.

Meanwhile, an inquiry into the scam is also being conducted by the post office department.

N.R. Meena, Senior Superintendent of Posts, Jalandhar, said the passbooks issued by the agent were being scrutinised and so far no record of the deposits in accordance with the passbooks issued by him, had been found. The department would take stern action if the involvement of any post office employee in the scam was proved, he added.

Batala, December 27
Four people were killed and as many injured in three different road accidents in Batala, Nawanshahr and Phagwara districts.

Two young women, identified as Jagroop Kaur (20) and another friend Manpreet Kaur (22), residents of Dhupsadi village, died on the spot and another girl Kirandeep Kaur (18) was injured when their moped was hit by a truck yesterday.

All three were coming to Batala on their moped when the mishap happened near the Kahnuwan road. The police has registered a case against the driver, who fled the spot after the incident.

In Nawanshahr, another woman Mindo of Rasulpur village was killed on the spot and three others, identified as Asha, Lovely and Dyal Kaur, were injured when a speeding car coming from Nawanshahr side hit them, when they were waiting for the bus at Bakapur Guru village here on Saturday. The driver of the car is absconding.

In Phagwara, Lakhwinder Singh was killed in a road mishap near Chachoki village on national highway late last night. The deceased was crossing the road when an some vehicle hit him. The police has registered a case against the driver of the unknown vehicle.

Amritsar, December 27
Senior Congress leader Rana Gurjit Singh has termed the Tarn Taran police as a SAD ‘force’. He said around 108 cases have been registered against their party workers on flimsy grounds in the Akali Dal’s stronghold areas, especially in Patti.

A group of senior Congress leaders recently gathered in the city to blow a whistle against the atrocities being meted out to their party activists due to political vendetta.

“These tactics are being adopted to discourage our activists and force them to join the Akali sect. The police, right from the SSP to an SHO, has been puppets in the hands of Akali leaders,” he said.

The MLA announced that a dharna would be held outside the office of the SSP, Tarn Taran, on December 30.

Citing a few cases, Rana said due to harassment by the police, their activists and even their family members had been compelled to leave their houses. Rana also reiterated that they have been fighting for over three years to get these false cases withdrawn, but in vain. Rana said all the false cases registered against Congress workers and activists would be withdrawn after the Congress gets back into power and warned the police officers that they should desist from taking orders from the SAD government, only to harass their party men.

Answering a media query with regard to atrocities and hardships faced by the common man due to the lack of basic civic amenities and state lagging behind in other developmental projects, under the present regime, Rana said the party would take up these issues after getting their party men secure.

“Exercising powers under the RTI Act, we have already obtained information for deteriorating development scenario in the district during Akali period, now we are going to knock at the doors of the court,” he said. Among those present on the occasion included Jasbir Singh Dimpi, Sawinder Kathunangal, Sukhjinder Sukhsarkaia, Harpratap Ajnala, Dr. Dharamvir Agnihotri, Dr. Tarsem Singh and Gurminder Rataul. 

Hoshiarpur: In a function organised in the memory of the youths who lost their lives in the Malta boat tragedy on December 25, 1996, the kin of the victims of this tragedy, activists of Malta Boat Tragedy Probe Mission (MBTPM), social activists and local political leaders lighted candles at Gurdwara Kalgidhar, in connection with the 14th anniversary of this tragedy on Friday.

 Advocate Jatinderjit Kaur, legal advisor of the MBTPM and Col Chandok (Retd.) were honoured by the officials of the MBTPM for rendering tireless services to bring the culprits of this tragedy to book. Chairman of MBTPM, Balwant Singh Khera, highlighted the ongoing proceedings of the case in various courts of the country and Italy. — OC