Jalandhar, July 6
NRI grooms who believe "holiday marriages" are an easy way to make some money can think again. In just two months, the regional passport office (RPO) here has confiscated passports of 48 men who married, allegedly got dowry, dumped their wives and attempted to flee the country.

In Punjab's Doaba area, an NRI groom is a prize catch. But many women have had a bitter experience. There have been numerous instances of men settled abroad coming back to marry and abandoning their wives after taking away their money and valuables.

To stem this exploitation, the RPO, which functions under the Ministry of External Affairs, initiated a women's grievance cell in February.

"We have established the cell to hear complaints from women who have been duped by their NRI husbands. So far, we have confiscated 48 passports of errant husbands by invoking a legal provision of the Passport Act, 1967," Parneet Singh, the passport officer of the Jalandhar RPO, said.

The complainant has to submit the marriage certificate, copy of the first information report (FIR) filed with the police and documents detailing husband's name, date of birth and address.

"Over 100 complaints are still under our scrutiny and we would soon take appropriate action," the official said.

Once the complaint is received, he said, a show-cause notice is issued. If there is no response to the notice, the passport is confiscated when the NRI shows it at the airport.

"Then he cannot leave the country until the matter is resolved, either legally or through mutual consent," he added.

"However, if he manages to flee, then we inform the Indian embassy in that country and he would be immediately deported to India, depending on the merits of the case," Parneet Singh said.

According to the passport office officials, Section 10 (3) of the Passport Act says the issuing authority can impound the passport in the public interest after giving a show-cause notice.

The Jalandhar RPO caters to Jalandhar, Hoshiarpur, Nawanshahr and Kapurthala districts.

According to an RPO official, around 15,000 girls from Doaba region, consisting of Jalandhar, Hoshiarpur and Kapurthala districts, were duped by their NRI husbands during the last few years.

Jalandhar has the maximum number of such cases.

The officials have also directed district marriage officers to provide details about marriages involving NRI grooms so that their wives' names can be added to the passports.

The initiative has encouraged women to come out and voice their grievances.

"Manjit Singh had married me in October 2009 and left for Italy after two months. He had promised to call me to Italy in another three months. But since then he has snapped all relations with us and does not answer our calls," a 28-year-old from Jalandhar said.

"My parents had given expensive gifts and huge dowry to him. I have filed a complaint against him at the RPO office. I hope that my husband will be deported to India and strict punishment will be given to him," said the woman, who did not want her name to be made public.

Other women have also been encouraged to come forward.

Kirpal Kaur, another victim from Jalandhar, said, "A Canada-based man deceived me last year. He married me and took me to various places in India and disappeared with my cash and jewellery. Now I am also planning to approach the RPO against him." — IANS 

Jalandhar, July 7
Migration is one of the most influential factors affecting socio-economic, ethnic and demographic aspects of the world in this modern age of information technology.

This was the key point discussed during the release function of “Parvasi Sahit Chintan” book, published by the Punjab Centre of Migration Studies of Lyallpur Khalsa College, at a brief function held on the college campus today.

Authored by Dr Harjinder Singh Atwal, coordinator of the centre, the book was released by Satnam Manak, a noted mediaperson.

Throwing light on the book, noted critic Dr Akal Amrit Kaur said the book containing essays on migrant psychology, ethos and literature had a realistic portraiture of the things.

Addressing the gathering, Principal of the college Dr Jaspal Singh Randhawa said a migration study was an emerging field that required intensive research. Keeping this in mind the college had established a research centre exclusively for migration studies. The centre focused on issues regarding migration in context of Punjab, he added.

He informed that the college was successfully running three other research centres, namely Centre for Sri Guru Granth Sahib Studies, Centre for Historical Studies and Sardar Balbir Singh Centre for Sciences. The research findings of these centres would soon be published in a book form, said Dr Randhawa.

Jalandhar, July 7
Civil engineers from across the country who have gathered at Dr BR Ambedkar National Institute of Technology here have been discussing several recent advances in earthquake resistant designs in building structures. The four-day course titled “Earthquake Resistant Design of Reinforced Concrete and Masonry Structures” will conclude tomorrow.

About 75 persons from academic institutes and industry are participating in the course being organised in the newly-constructed IT Park of the institute. The experts from IITs, NITs and other institutes of Orissa, Bhopal, Karnataka, Pune and Baroda have delivered lectures on the various aspects of the quake resistant designs.

Professor SP Singh and Dr Rizwan A Khan, coordinators of the course, said that the topics discussed included lessons learnt from past earthquakes, damages to structures during quakes, engineering seismology, structural dynamics being introduced, geotechnical aspects to be taken into account during construction, BIS code design procedures for analysis, non-destructive ways of testing building against seismic forces and software applications.

In his lecture, Dr Umesh Sharma from IIT Roorkee discussed techniques for repairing and reinforcing quake damaged buildings. Dr Bhupinder Singh, also from IIT Roorkee, took the case studies of bridges damaged during quakes and ways to strengthen them for safety in the event of similar mishaps ahead. 

Jalandhar, July 7
KMV has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Chatham University, Pittsburgh, USA. In a press statement released here, Atima Sharma, Principal, KMV College, said the MoU would lead to new avenues for the students and faculty of both the institutions.

“KMV tie-up with Chatham University will facilitate various international exchange programmes in all areas of academics. The MoU will further enhance collaboration for academic programmes, various projects, training of students, conferences and many other programmes in near future,” reads the statement released by Atima Sharma and Donno Sabrero of Chatham University.

BCA result

Students at the GNA-Institute of Management and Technology (GNAIMT), Phagwara, secured 100 per cent result in BCA (sixth semester) exam held by Punjab Technical University in May, 2011. Rajwinder Kaur with 94.1 per cent, Gurpreet Batra with 94 per cent, Heena Garg with 93.7 per cent are among the toppers. Overall 16 students secured more than 90 per cent and 52 students got more than 80 per cent marks.

Jalandhar, July 7
Congress workers of Bholath held a protest in front of the office of SDM against the posting of PCS officer TK Goel on Wednesday.

Led by Congress MLA Sukhpal Khaira, the workers alleged that since the officer during his tenure as joint secretary, Department of Welfare of SCs and BCs, had been earlier caught taking bribe from a Begowal-based resident, he should not be posted in Bholath.

Khaira said, “Goel was arrested by vigilance sleuths but now on the recommendations of Akali leader Bibi Jagir Kaur, he had been sent here.”

While addressing protesters, he said that the CM had indulged in double speak on corruption. “On one hand, the CM has been suggesting capital punishment to corrupt politicians and officers, on the other hand he was purposely posting corrupt officers,” he said.

Khaira has also demanded from the Election Commission to immediately transfer out Goel, as he claimed that there was no possibility of free and fair elections under a tainted officer. He said Goel was also the returning officer of his constituency by virtue of being SDM. Among others who protested was Ved Prakash, ex-president, Nagar Panchayat, Bholath. The protestors were carrying placards with slogans of, “Corrupt SDM go back” and “Stop Corruption” inscribed on them. They marched through the market areas before staging the dharna.

Jalandhar, July 7
Residents of Prem Nagar held a protest at the Lamma Pind chowk to press the Powercom authorities to disconnect the power supply of pollution-causing units in the locality today.

Maan Singh, resident of the locality, alleged that despite the recent recommendations made by the Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) at various points to time, the authorities of Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) did not disconnect the power supply to such erring units.

He said the residents had taken up the mater with authorities of the Municipal Corporation, PSPCL and PPCB, but to no avail. Despite the assurances given by the Powercom authorities, nobody had come to disconnect the power to such factories, he added.

The residents also gave a memorandum to the PSPCL authorities.