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Residents flock markets on Dhanteras
Unoccupied dilapidated govt houses cause huge revenue losses to state exchequer
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Criminalisation of politics
Nursing institute owner commits suicide
Prisoners booked for attacking
ex-councillor
crime file
Woman killed in mishap
‘Dance of life’ portrays existence of dying AIDS patient
Seechewal inaugurates Avtar Radio
Udaan School holds exhibition of candles, diyas, paper bags made by special children
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Residents flock markets on Dhanteras
Jalandhar, November 11 Dhanteras shoppers lapped up fancy gift items, electronic devices the newest styles in gold ornaments, silver, steel and crockery items in the markets. Gold coins and imported crockery remained favourites. Raman Jain from Gujranwala Jewellers said, "The response from customers this festival season has been very enthusiastic. Since it is considered auspicious to shop on Divali, people have been flocking markets to buy gold jewellery." "Among jewellery, gold pendant sets and diamond sets were a hit with people this Divali. Gold coins are also much in vogue. Polki and coloured jewellery ranges have been quite a hit with shoppers on Dhanteras," he said. Ajay Kumar, showroom manager, Tanishq, said, "This year, the markets are looking very bright on Divali. Tanishq's bangle collection and Mia collection for working women are a hit with the city folk." In electronics, too, city shoppers certainly showed a higher interest than last year. Ashu Kumar, owner of JJ Aracade, said, "Compared to last year, customers this year showed a heightened interest in high value appliances. Most interest was shown in LCDs and LEDs. Prices of LCD and LED products range from Rs 9,000 to Rs 7 lakh." "We are also offering scratch cards and 0 per cent finance scheme for credit card holders till Divali," he said. While Dhanteras has seen people flocking to the Divali bazaar, the offers are expected to go on in many of the showrooms till Divali. Sahil Mahendru from the Mitur Paul Exclusive outlet said, "While steel utensils are pretty much in vogue this season, crockery from across the world is finding many takers in the local market this year. We have crockery from Turkey, Italy, Taiwan and Czechoslovakia." "Cake platters, fluted glasses, Swarovski and crystal dinner sets are a hit with people this year. The range of our kitchen goodies spans from Rs 200 to Rs 20,000. While the basic range is from Rs 200 to Rs 2,000, intricate crystal ware or elegant Swarovski set as well as gold-plated kitchenware costs go up to Rs 20,000," he said. "We are offering special offers of 50 per cent off on cook tops on Dhanteras just for today. We are also offering special discounts on many other appliances," he added. |
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Unoccupied dilapidated govt houses cause huge revenue losses to state exchequer
Jalandhar, November 11 Located in the posh localities of the city, the district administration has failed to renovate a majority of the government houses thus forcing the occupants to live in damaged and dingy buildings. While the higher-ups from the police, civil administration and judiciary are able to get the repair works of houses done by using their influence, it is the middle class occupants that are forced to live in dilapidated quarters. As per the official records, there are 406 government houses and out of which 70 are lying vacant. Due to the non-occupancy of these houses, the district administration has been losing rent of near Rs 25 lakh annually. Moreover, there are some officials who have been retaining the government houses despite their outstation postings. Some of these occupants have even been served notices by the authorities for not paying the rent, sources revealed. It is learnt that S.R. Ladhar, Divisional Commissioner, Jalandhar, who is also the chief of the house allotment committee, Jalandhar, has sent a letter to the Principal Secretary, Punjab, seeking funds for the repair and renovation of the damaged houses. Ladhar, whoever, was not available for comments. A survey by The Tribune team to Old Baradari, Chotti Baradari and other areas having government houses revealed that the majority of the houses were giving ugly look in the absence of whitewash and due to wild growth in their surroundings. The potholes on internal roads, loose and open naked electricity wires have been posing threats to human lives. Moreover, heaps of garbage are doting every nook and corner of these residential areas. Wild growth in the vacant houses have virtually ruined these buildings and a majority of these are proving hideouts for criminals and anti-social elements, claimed Sanjiv Sharma, a resident of Chhoti Baradari.
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3 former councillors in jail for various crimes
Dharmendra Joshi Tribune News Service
While one of them Sukhmeet Deputy is a convict in the kidnapping of the son of a local businessman, Prince Makkar is facing trial in a murder case. Dinesh Dhall has been remanded in judicial custody after his arrest in an attempt-to-murder case. Former Congress councillor from Ward 26, Sukhmeet Deputy, is lodged in Modern Jail at Theh Kanjla in Kapurthala, whereas former Akali councillor from Ward 60 Prince Makkar is in the Gurdaspur jail. Similarly former Congress councillor Dinesh Dhall was lodged in Kapurthala jail on Saturday after being remanded in a 14-day judicial custody by a city court in connection with a case of attempt to murder and hurting religious sentiments. However, he was shifted to the prisoners' ward at the Kapurthala Civil Hospital after sustaining injures in an attack by some prisoners belonging to the Noni gang in the jail due to some old enmity. Sukhmeet Deputy is undergoing life imprisonment for the kidnapping for ransom of Gagan Mickey, son of local businessman Subash Mahindru, in January, 2008. A case under Sections 364-A and 34 of the IPC and Sections 25, 27, 54 and 59 of the Arms Act was registered against him and his accomplices in this regard. He has filed an appeal against his sentence. Akali councillor Prince Makkar is facing a trial in the murder case of his childhood friend Gurkirat Sekhon, son of a city hotellier. Gurkirat, alias Gikki, was allegedly shot dead by the then Akali councillor Prince and others on April 21, 2011. Dinesh Dhall was arrested a few days ago in connection with a clash between two groups on Cool Road. A case was registered in this regard. The names of former councillor Dinesh and his cousin Amit Dhall, sitting councillor from Ward, were included in the FIR registered under the attempt to murder (Section 307) and hurting religious sentiments (Section 295 A of the IPC) after supplementary statement by the complainant in the case. While Dinesh was arrested and remanded in judicial custody after one-day police remand, independent councillor Amit is still at large. However Dinesh Dhall’s supporters claimed that he and his cousin had nothing to do with the clash as he had been bringing his daughter to his house from school at the time of the clash. They claimed that they had been falsely implicated in the case due to political reasons.
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Nursing institute owner commits suicide
Jalandhar, November 11 The deceased, Kulbushan Jain (60), resident of Gurjaipal Nagar here, was running a nursing institute near Vidhipur. He committed suicide at his office, when he was alone there. The deceased’s son, Manav Jain, who was also helping his father in running the institute, told the police that his father was undergoing depression due to some pending dispute of the institute in the court and he might have committed suicide due to that. He said his father shot himself dead when he was alone in his office and it was only after he visited the office that he found him lying dead in a pool of blood. Subash Chandar, SHO, Division No 6 police station, said on reaching the spot the weapon was found lying by the side of the body of Kulbushan Jain, who was lying in a pool of blood. Kulbushan Jain had shot himself on the right side of the temple and had reportedly died on the spot. The SHO said inquest proceedings under Section 174 of the CrPC were initiated and further investigation was on into the case. The deceased’s body was also sent for postmortem.
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Prisoners booked for attacking
ex-councillor
Kapurthala, November 11 An FIR has been registered at the Kotwali police station against prisoners Surinder, Noni and several unknown prisoners under Sections 307, 323 and 324 of the IPC on the statement of Dhall. In his statement, Dhall told the police that Surinder, Noni and several other prisoners attacked him when he was standing outside barrack number 2. Meanwhile, Dhall has been shifted to the prisoners' ward of the Civil Hospital for his treatment as he sustained injuries in the attack. |
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Cashier held for fraud
Our Correspondent
Jalandhar, November 11 The cashier has been identified as Anita Sharma, resident of Guru Amar Das Enclave here. Anita Sharma, who was cashier at Lawrence International School, GT Road here, had already been suspended by the school for the fraud. Inspector Balwinder Singh Kahlon said in July chairman of the school Jodh Raj Gupta had complained to the police that Anita had defrauded the school management of about Rs 13 lakh. About the modus operandi of Anita, he said after receiving school fees from the students, she used to issue receipts of less cash to them. Acting on the complaint, Commissioner of Police Gaurav Yadav had entrusted the inquiry to Superintendent of Police (Traffic) Sukhdev Singh, who ordered the registration of a case of fraud against the cashier under Sections 408, 420, 465, 467 and 506 of the IPC. Sources said Anita had also filed a bail petition in the Punjab and Haryana High Court, but the same was recently rejected by the court, following which she was arrested in Mand Pander village, near Hoshiarpur. Brass factory burgled
A brass factory at Sehgal Tower Colony was burgled last night. The miscreants were reportedly caught on a close circuit television (CCTV) installed on the factory premises. Factory owner Vikas Sehgal said this morning they were informed by some acquaintance that locks of the factory were lying broken and on reaching the spot they found the whole factory ransacked. He said the miscreant decamped with brass worth several lakhs of rupees. He claimed that in the CCTV footage five miscreants were seen making off with the brass. The Division No 8 police is inspecting the footage to identify the miscreants. |
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Woman killed in mishap
Jalandhar, November 11 The deceased was identified as Harbhajan Kaur, resident of Vinay Nagar. Police source said the deceased along with her husband Balkar Chand was riding a scooter when they had a head-on collision with the truck. Harbhajan, who was riding pillion, sustained serious head injuries and died on the spot. The truck driver was arrested by the police. — OC |
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‘Dance of life’ portrays existence of dying AIDS patient
Jalandhar, November 11 Hens and their cages being mere metaphors, these seemingly ridiculous questions sum up the existence of thousands of "real" unfortunate men whom the play "Dance of life" talked about, through the portrayal of a bunch of Mumbai addicts. Staged at Desh Bhagat Yadgaar Hall on Friday night, the play directed by Ankur Sharma, carried many firsts on its shoulders and dealt with issues which have never featured with such brazen intensity on the Jalandhar stage. Addiction, AIDS, homosexuality and loads of "desi" abuses made an unabashed appearance on the Jalandhar stage. But the idea was not to generate cheap shocks or thrills. Quite the opposite, it was to give society a peek into the baneful existence of men hooked to slow poison - whose tales go unheard even as agitated political speeches (on the very same issues) hog the limelight. Though scripted by NSD stalwart Chetan Datar about a few men eking out a troubled existence in Mumbai's underbelly, the play's uncanny relevance to Punjab in the present context, lent it amazing topicality and credibility. The men in Datar's tale could quite possibly be men from the dark, dusty hinterland of Punjab (read: Jalandhar). The plot was about a man (Damu played by Harish Dogra) dying of AIDS, constantly voicing out his fears, insecurities, wishes and (read: sick) fantasies to his mate Murli (played by Sarvpreet). One of his fantasies included having a beautiful daughter and discussing teenage problems with her when she grew up. To cheer a dying Damu, Murli told him tales about Gopinath (played by Ankur Sharma) - the Bhau (big brother) - on a shady street side of Mumbai who added a bit of joy to the dark lives of his doting addict brethren by narrating spicy tales from his scandalous, youthful days (young Gopi played by Vishesh Arora). The sessions, popular in the neighbourhood as "Gopinath ki katha", aged and with them aged Gopi. Heading towards his dark end, Gopi slowly lost his most precious peers to the disease. And finally, he lost himself. The dark wit of the play silently outraged a mum audience. AIDS was a "bimari jo hafta vasool rahi hai", life of a man dying of AIDS was "broiler murgiyon jaisi zindagi" and self-stimulation was "swayamsewa". If the context was a bit different, people would have laughed and hooted. But the somber portrayal only called for a solemn silence from the bunch of theatre lovers that saw the play. The play ended with one of the most poignant tragic ends. Murli soothed, caressed and fondled a dying Damu in a poetic man-to-man embrace. The duo had more chemistry than any of the man-woman couples recently featuring on the Jalandhar stage. There were no tears, only the sound of the bare feet of a fresh corpse dragging across the floor to an empty hospital cot. Gopinath used to say "Bewre saale moot moot ke marenge" (damn drunkards will pee themselves to death). There were impressive performances by Damu (who is almost turning out to be the mouthpiece of Anku Sharma), young Gopi, Pandari (played by Govind Verma), Mahesh (played by Punit Mishra). Karan Singh as the hollow-faced man, said quite a lot with his silence. Vikas Anand, Gagan, Vikram Thakur, Shashi, Anjali Mishra, Mandeep and Manpreet Kaur were also impressive. The director along with his friends Manu Sharma gave the music of the play, which was perfectly executed by the sweet-voiced Punit Mishra. Ankur Sharma's cast showed considerable maturity and strength. The only let down was the pace which slowed at places and the surfacing of melodrama at times in an overall disciplined and real act. While the cast had approached many educational institutes in the city, none of them supported their endeavour. Many also denied them sponsorship. The cast researched addicts by meeting AIDS victims at the local Civil Hospital's AIDS section.
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Seechewal inaugurates Avtar Radio
Jalandhar, November 11 Called "Avtar Radio", the community service was the environemtalist’s gift to the people of Punjab on the occasion of Divali. Addressing a gathering on the occasion, Seechewal exorted people to celebrate a green Divali this year. He urged them to gift plants to each other as Divali gifts rather than squandering their money on crackers. Seechewal said this would be the first radio dedicated to environment and provide environment awareness to people through its 24-hour service. Notably, this is also the first effort in the telecommunications sphere to spread awareness on the environment. Addressing the gathering during the radio’s inaugural function, MP Avinash Rai Khanna announced a grant of Rs 5 lakh to Sant Avtar Singh Memorial College. Transport Minister Ajit Singh Kohar also lauded the effort. Sant Seechewal said for about one month the radio was running on test signal. He said Avtar Radio would be available on FM band 90.4 within a 15 km radius of Seechewal village and the radio station. Teachers and students of Sant Avtar Singh Memorial College would be operating the radio, he added.
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Udaan School holds exhibition of candles, diyas, paper bags made by special children
Jalandhar, November 11 This year, they have gone a step further.The Udaan School on Saturday day put up an exhibition of candles, diyas, paper (carry) bags and other beautiful Divali goodies right before the festival of lights made by the special students of the school. While the school's pre-Divali exhibitions are an attempt to encourage children to indulge in creative pursuits, the ultimate object, as the school authorities to put it, is to make these children self-dependent, and in the long run, earn their own bread. A cursory glance at the exhibition table told one that children who are capable of making such beautiful creations certainly possess a beautiful, fertile mind. School authorities told The Tribune that many of the children who have created the candles were cry babies and restless kids when they first came to the organisation, but art certainly had a positive impact on their minds, calming them down. Made by a total of about 25 special children, the makers also include children who started taking vocational training at the school which started in the school from September 23 this year. School principal Meenu Shahi said, "The very aim of the vocational classes is that those who can become self-dependent, be encouraged to do so. We have begun giving special children classes in carry-bag making, shagun envelopes making, decorative candle making and along with it also computer education for those who can handle it". "While now they are beginners, we ultimately aim that this work of ours might be expanded so that we take the children's creations eventually to a broader clientele. We want to generate employment for these children and some of them have shown startling improvement from the time they came into the school to now," said Shahi. One such child, Vivek (9), while talking to The Tribune, said, "I painted candles and I liked it a lot." Shahi said Vivek came to the school at the age of 5 and a half and since then he has shown a lot of improvement. The Divali goodies on display included rose shaped candles, matka (pot) diyas, pyramid candles, pooja thalis (with bamboo plates, on which two to three diyas were permanently fixed), wood textured candles, file holders, carry bags, candle casts (for a little candle to be placed in the middle) and a couple of paintings. Incidentally, the Shagun envelopes made by the students were sold within an hour or so of the start of the exhibition. While the things on display were priced between Rs 20 to Rs 300, Shahi said, "Our Divali goodies are a tad bit higher in price than the regular stuff you get in the market but then I guess it is very essential for people to come forward to support the cause. Since the stuff is made by special children, wastage is also a little bit more. But their work is certainly better than previous times and it will improve furthermore next year." The exhibition is currently on at the Udaan School in Jalandhar.
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A huge rush was witnessed in the city bazaars today as people flocked markets on the auspicious occasion of Dhanteras ahead of
Divali.
The non-occupancy of nearly 70 government quarters that are in a deplorable state for the past couple of years has not only been adding to the shortage of residential accommodation for government
employees.
The non-occupancy of nearly 70 government quarters that are in a deplorable state for the past couple of years has not only been adding to the shortage of residential accommodation for government employees, but also causing huge revenue losses to the state exchequer.
Jalandhar, November 11