Jalandhar, January 29
Following the course of various other mega projects, including sports hub at Burlton Park and renovation of Nehru Garden, another ambitious project of the Municipal Corporation (MC) has got mired in legal tangles.

After a notice of the termination of the contract was issued by the MC officials for allegedly not having started the project by the extended deadline of November 15, the company, Jindal Infrastructure, has taken the matter to the Punjab and Haryana High Court, apprehending that a bank guarantee to the tune of Rs 5 crore could be encashed by the officials. The company has also alleged that the MC had not fulfilled the pre-requisites of the relaying of the road towards the dumping site, vacating a part of the dairy complex at Jamsher village and the installation of streetlights on the passage.

Confirming the same, SE (O&M) PS Jaggi said the court had asked the MC not to encash bank guarantee for 21 days and that arbitration be held on the matter between the MC and the company in the local court on February 6. The MC officials, however, have been contending that the company was only to start the door-to-door collection in the first phase for which the pre-conditions were not mandatory. 

Jalandhar, January 29
The ongoing financial crunch in the Municipal Corporation (MC) has come as a big cropper for Mayor Sunil Jyoti, as so far he has been unable to arrange funds for executing any major project for the city.

Contractors have been daily making rounds in his office, asking for their pending payments. Even councillors have been daily following up with him for their pending works, including those of road relaying, putting up new streetlight points and tubewell installation.

Clearly, without funds and payment of the pending dues, many works have been delayed. Major projects in the city, including Chandan Nagar Railway Underbridge, are also hanging fire for the same reason.

Sunil Jyoti, however, claims that he has been expecting an amount of Rs 40 crore by the end of the next month from various sources, including the clearance of some 20 change of land use (CLU) cases, pending payment from a Phillippines-based company for the clearance of its plans for a fish aquarium, additional excise and VAT. “If we are able to get that much amount, we will be pretty comfortable,” he said.

Jalandhar, January 29
"Stupid 7" is a new Punjabi film which has a lot more to it than just another Punjabi film where young girls raise their voice against female foeticide as they come to know that their family members tried to kill them before birth.

Director of the film, well-known theatre personality Pali Bhupinder Singh, stated this during his visit to the city for the promotion of his film along with the all new and young star cast of the film.

The director stated that various teen issues, including adolescent love, confusion, generation gap and volatile behaviour, were portrayed in the film. He said, "Stupid 7 is perhaps the first-ever Punjabi film to address teenagers and their issues. The movie is a youth-centric family drama blended with comic moments. The story revolves around generation gap among parents and children in terms of attitude and approach towards life and issues related to it.”

Interestingly, director Pali also wrote the screenplay of the film, which is based on his play “Me and My Life”. The film also stars Guggu Gill, Ashok Masti and Jaswinder Bhalla alongside the young guns.

Responding to various queries, Pali said, “We have made a sincere effort to talk about both generations in an attempt to deal with life and its problems in their respective ways.”

Pali auditioned hard for the characters as he wanted the film to be real. The film has seven fresh faces, all of whom become part of seven intertwining stories with a clash of conventions and contemporary. Not taking the commercial aspect to rule his judgement, he auditioned across Punjab to pick up the best talent.

Sixteen-year-old Chandigarh-based actor Guneet Kaur plays one of the seven characters in the film. “I play a character called Divya, a girl who falls in love with her teacher,” she said.

The young theatre actor was picked up by the director through Facebook. “Pali sir called me for an audition after seeing my Facebook profile,” she added.

Various teen issues, including adolescent love, confusion, generation gap and volatile behaviour, have been portrayed in the film. "Stupid 7” is perhaps the first-ever Punjabi film to address teenagers and their issues. The movie is a youth-centric family drama blended with comic moments. The story revolves around generation gap among parents and children in terms of attitude and approach towards life and issues related to it.

Jalandhar, January 29
To provide platform to the hotel management students for exhibiting culinary and hospitality skills, the CT Institute of Hotel Management and Punjab Tourism Department are jointly organising "Journey-2013" - a food and cultural festival - at Royal Kings Resorts on February 2 evening.

Rohit Sarin, Principal of the college, said Sarwan Singh Phillaur, Punjab Tourism Minister, would inaugurate the programme. The major attraction of the food festival would be different mouth-watering cuisines, including Kashmiri, Punjabi, oriental and continental, in which various varieties of vegetarian and non-vegetarian food would be available. Spicy soups, various types of mocktails, beverages and desserts would also be in the menu. All the cuisines would be prepared and served by students of the CT Institute's team of chefs, headed by Arun Trikha, who had been with the Taj and Oberoi group of hotels.

To bring people closer to their cultural roots, an exhibition of handicrafts would be organised. Apart from this, there would be the performances on Western music, Sufi songs, bhangra, gidda, live band, juggling, fireworks and other cultural events.

The principal said the purpose of holding a mega food festival was to promote tourism in Punjab. “This is the first food festival of the series as we are intending to organise many such programmes in different cities across Punjab,” the principal said

Charanjit Singh Channi, Chairman of the CT Group of Institutions, said, “After participating in such mega events, students will become industry-ready.”

Jalandhar, January 29
A seminar on “Early detection of cancer” was organised here. Dr Rupinder Bhargav, an oncosurgeon, was the chief guest and guest speaker on the occasion.

He said early detection of cancer greatly increased the chances for its successful treatment. There are two major components for the early detection of cancer: education to promote early diagnosis and screening.

Recognising possible warning signs of cancer and taking prompt action leads to the early diagnosis, he said.

Some early signs of cancer include lumps, sores that fail to heal, abnormal bleeding, persistent indigestion and chronic hoarseness. Early diagnosis is particularly relevant for cancers of breast, cervix, mouth, larynx, colon and rectum and skin. Increased awareness of possible warning signs of cancer, among physicians, nurses and other health care providers as well as among the general public can have a great impact on the disease, he said.

At least one-third of all cancer cases are preventable. Prevention offers the most cost-effective long-term strategy for cancer control, he added.

On the occasion, it was also discussed that tobacco use is the single greatest avoidable risk factor for cancer mortality worldwide, causing an estimated 22 per cent of cancer deaths per year. Tobacco smoking causes many types of cancer, including cancers of lung, oesophagus, larynx (voice box), mouth, throat, kidney, bladder, pancreas, stomach and cervix.

About 70 per cent of the lung cancer burden can be attributed to smoking alone, he added.

Second-hand smoke (SHS), also known as environmental tobacco smoke, has been proven to cause lung cancer in non-smoking adults. Smokeless tobacco (also called oral tobacco, chewing tobacco or snuff) causes oral, oesophagal and pancreatic cancer.

Dietary modification is another important approach to cancer control.

There is a link between obesity and many types of cancers such as oesophagus, colorectum, breast, endometrium and kidney.

Diets high in fruits and vegetables may have a protective effect against many cancers.

Conversely, excess consumption of red and preserved meat may be associated with an increased risk of colorectal cancer. In addition, healthy eating habits that prevent the development of diet-associated cancers will also lower the risk of cardiovascular disease. Regular physical activity and the maintenance of a healthy body weight, along with a healthy diet, will considerably reduce cancer risk. National policies and programmes should be implemented to raise awareness and reduce exposure to cancer risk factors and to ensure that people are provided the information and support they need to adopt healthy lifestyles.

Gynaecologist Dr Ruchi Bhargav also delivered a lecture on menopause management.

The seminar, under the presidentship of Dr Rakesh Sharma, president, All India Integrated Medical Association, was attended by Dr Joginder Arora, Dr Surinder Sharma, Dr Harish Sehgal, Dr PC Chauhan, Dr Naresh Sharma, Dr JN Chawla, Dr Anu Rampal, Dr Mukesh Khanna and other members of the association.

Jalandhar, January 29
The Ramgarhia College of Education, Phagwara, organised a workshop on "Innovative practice to awaken collective consciousness" to reflect upon various social issues and evils on the college campus today.

The workshop, with a focus on social evils and issues, was divided into three sessions. The first session was based on students’ activity in which student members of the Sanchetana - the women empowerment club of the college - presented a mime and choreography based on the theme of “Evolution, social degradation and spiritualism”.

The next was “Mind storming and contemplative Session” in which Dr Neelam Sharma, in charge of the Art of Living Club gave a presentation on “Kahan aa gaye hum - a wakeup call”. The workshop was dedicated to the 150th birth anniversary of renowned educationist , philosopher and social reformer Swami Vivekananda.

Students interacted with senior officials of the police and administration and made them answer their queries regarding police, law, education, morality and spiritualism.

Gurpreet Deo, IG, Jalandhar Zone, who was the chief guest, said the youth of the country could play an important role in the eradication of various crimes. “It is need of the hour to collectively build society, which is worth living”.

Inderbir Singh, SSP, Kapurthala, HS Khakh, SP, Phagwara, and Kamnaraj Aggarwala, Senate member, National Institute of Technology, Jalandhar, were present on the occasion.