Jalandhar, March 1
The city police has failed to make any headway in the robbery case in which an elderly woman Usha Khanna was killed.

Though the police apprehended the involvement of certain insiders in the gruesome crime, policemen are groping in the dark.

Sources in the police said certain suspects were rounded up for questioning, but the policed was unable to get any lead in this regard.

A gang of robbers had struck at a house in Mandir Wali Gali in Kishanpur Mohalla on February 26 and suffocated an elderly woman -Usha Khanna- to death with a pillow. The assailants had decamped with cash and valuables worth lakhs of rupees from the house.

The victim Usha Khanna (65) was alone at her home when the robbers entered the house by scaling its boundary wall.

Her husband, Prem Khanna, who runs a provision store near a hospital, was at his shop at the time of the crime.

Jalandhar, March 1
A four-day Indo-Pak Trade Expo (IPEX) will be organised from Thursday under the aegis of PHD Chamber here.

PHD Chamber regional director, Dalip Sharma, said, “This will be for the first time that PHD Chamber is going to organise IPEX at Jalandhar from March 7 to March 11.”

Interestingly, PHD Chamber has already organised nine such trade fairs in various parts of Punjab. One such IPEX was organised in Ludhiana in the last month from February 15 to 18.

Meanwhile, terming the bilateral trade to be the most promising factor and the most potent instrument for having better bilateral relations between India and Pakistan and facilitate progress in actualising their strategic partnership for the future, Rajiv Bali, Chairman, Punjab Committee, PHD Chamber said, “There is a lot of trade potential with Pakistan. If trade takes a front seat, other issues shall get pushed to the back seat.”

“Booming bilateral trade may well be the strongest pillar of Indo-Pak rapprochement so much so that it shall not only overtake the pace of general confidence-building but also have a substantial impact on each other’s mutual perceptions.” He said, “With the cross border trade especially being brought in for a noticeable transformation, it will contribute to overall tranquility and peace in the area and facilitate progress in the border areas.”

Bali said, “As per a recently released US report, the Indo- Pak trade could jump 10 times the current amount. Removal of tariff and non-tariff barriers could result in an expansion of trade between the two countries from its current $ 2 to $2.5 billion to estimates ranging from $20 to $50 billion.”

Reiterating PHD Chamber’s firm resolve to boost bilateral trade ties, he said, “PHD Chamber has been undertaking many initiatives aimed at confidence building in trading communities on the either side of the border since its maiden show in 2005, wherein only a few exhibitors from Pakistan participated. The recently held Punjab International Trade Expo, PITEX, 2012 in Amritsar, saw the participation of more than 800 Pakistani industrialists, including delegations from six Pakistani chambers of commerce and industry and traders, besides 100 exhibitors.”

“It is very satisfying that the vision with which PHD Chamber started the series of international trade expos in Amritsar in 2005, facilitating the industry and business on both sides of the border with a common platform to boost trade across border, has met befitting rewards,” he added.

In the meantime, Sharma said, “The potential gains from the increased bilateral co operation between India and Pakistan are immense. More flexible issuing of visas, rupee trade and better customs procedures can enhance the scope for trade.”

Jalandhar, March 1
Former Punjab minister Manoranjan Kalia has flayed the steep hike in the price of petrol by Rs 1.40 per litre that too soon after the presentation of the Union Budget by Finance Minister PChidambaram.

In a press statement, Kalia stated,“It is strange that Chidambaram presented the Budget in Parliament on Thursday and the steep hike in petrol price has been made on Friday.” Demanding a rollback the hike, Kalia said, “The vehicles are now not items of luxury but they have become necessity and the common man is already suffering from the spiralling prices of essential commodities.”

Dr Sudhanshu Bhushan from Delhi awards degree to a student of the SD College for Women during the 38th annual convocation held in Jalandhar on Friday. Photo: Sarabjit Singh

Jalandhar, March 1
The 38th convocation function was held in PCM SD College for Women, Jalandhar. Dr Sudhanshu Bhushan, professor from the Department of Higher Professional Education, Delhi, formely Additional Director Siment Patna was the chief guest. Pritam Chand Budhia, member, Managing Committee, Principal Dr Kiran Arora, Neera Seth the function In-charge, Head Girl Km. Pallavi, Km. Noor president, Youth Club, gave a floral welcome to the chief guest. Dr Kiran Arora welcomed the guests and 410 students of different streams were conferred degrees. Eight students will be given degrees on March 8. The chief guest congratulated students. Avtar Kaur winning 2nd position in GND University and Intervarsity Youth Festival and Hariballabh Sangeet Sammelan entertained the audience with semi-classical vocal. Pritam Chand Budhia presented a souvenir to the chief guest. The stage was conducted by Geeta Kahol. On this occasion, management members Naresh Budhia, Mohini Markanda and Rakesh Dada were present. Vinod Dada, joint secretary, managing committee, thanked the chief guest and guests.

Bharat Shiksha Rattan

Gurdeep Singh, president, GNA Institute of Management and Technology, has been honoured with the Bharat Shiksha Rattan Award by Global Achievers Foundation for individual contribution for social & economic growth at Constitution Club, New Delhi. The award was presented by former ambassador Dr V B Soni, retired from the Indian Foreign Services, Haripal Rawat, secretary, Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee, and Jaspal Rana, president of the Jaspal Rana Institute of Education and Technology.

Lecture organised

An extension lecture was organised on the life and teachings of Swami Vivekanand by the Alumini Association, DAV College, Jalandhar, at the college seminar hall. Principal Dr B.B. Sharma, while welcoming chief guest IAS C.S. Talwar, an illustrious alumnus of the college, lauded the association for organising a function on his teachings. The chief guest spoke about various key issues of Vivekanand’s philosophy and stressed upon its need among the youth for ensuring a successful life. He emphasised that his universally-acclaimed slogan of working incessantly till accomplishment of one’s goal is of immediate importance to the present-day young generation. In the interactive session that followed a large number of queries were raised by the audience and they were successfully answered by the chief guest. Dean, Alumni Association, Dr Poonam Kumar, Prof Ashok Kapoor, Dr RB Singh, Prof Ajay Aggarwal, Prof Pankaj Gupta were also present on this occasion.

Inaugural ceremony

An inaugural ceremony of Fashion Week was organised at the Apeejay College of Fine Arts. Gurpreet Kaur Deo, IPS, inaugurated the ceremony as chief guest. Vinay Raj Aggarwal, secretary, Apeejay Education Society, and principal Dr Sucharita Sharma extended a floral welcome to the chief guest. Students of the interior design department presented fascinating items of furniture and decorative material in the exhibition “Deco Trendz”. The occasion was attended by famed personality architect Sangeet Sharma from SD Sharma and Associates, Chandigarh, architect Jeet Kumar Gupta, chief town planner from Sahara City Homes, Chandigarh, Archana Chowdhary, chief architect of Housing Board, Haryana, architect Dinesh Bhagat from the Architecture Department of Government Polytechnical College, architect Aman Makol, architect JJt. On March 2, Tana-Bana-A Display of Textile and Foundation Products will be organised and on March 3, Lavanya-2013 - A renowned Fashion Show is going to be held. On March 4, the college is organising a display of garments of Fashion Show. On March 5 and 6, a workshop on hand-on design will be organised.

Student granted scholarship

‘Inspire World Project’ working under the Department of Science and Technology, New Delhi, encourages five students from every school to exhibit their talent. Under this project, Liza Verma of Class VII has got a scholarship of Rs 5,000. Using her innovative skills, she can utilise this amount in making models relating to any subject like science, maths or social sciences. Tarlochan Singh, principal of the school, congratulated her.

Mahila Club

The Mahila Club of DAV College, Jalandhar, organiszed a function under the aegis of Principal Dr. B.B. Sharma and Prof. Seema Sharma, In-charge Mahila Club, to honour women, the agents of change. Former health minister Laxmi Kanta Chawla was the chief guest and social activist Parminder Beri was the guest of honour. Laxmi Kanta Chawla enlightened the students. Parminder Beri addressed the students. Girl students of the college presented a cultural programme. All the lady staff, including Prof Asha, Prof Archana, Prof Jeevan Asha, Prof Surinder and Dr Kiranjeet, were present on the occasion.

Counselling organised

A counselling session was held for the students of class 2013. Old students were invited to school to do the counselling. Dr Apoorva Bowry, CA Anirudh Sareen, DS Alisha Nakra, architect Thakur Udhayveer, Saurab Gupta LLB, marketing executive Kanav Chawla, Innocent College’s Alisha Jain (MBA), Hotel Management’s students Aanshul Jain and Palak were called for the session. All the queries raised by students were discussed in the counselling session. Principal Dheeraj Banati welcomed all the students by presenting a bouquet to them. Prof Sharma blessed all students.

Class contests

The cutting table classes (I-III), spell IQ class (IV-V) and map skill class (VI-VIII) competitions were organised on the premises of DIPS Gilzian under the observation of Principal Arvinder Kaur. The cutting table contest was judged by Baljinder Singh and Jyoti. In spell IQ competition, Puneet Manrai and Seema Bhardwaj were the judges. Map skill contest was judged by Manjinder Kaur and Parvez Sharma. In cutting tables, the first, second and third positions were bagged by Jaspreet Kaur (I), Ronak Verma (II) and SukhmeetKaur (II), respectively. In spell IQ contest, the first, second and third positions were bagged by Manpreet Kaur (IV), Pawanpreet Kaur (V) and Palakpreet Kaur (IV), respectively, and in map skill contest, the first, second and third positions were bagged by Ramandeep Kaur (VII), Manpeet Kaur(VIII) and Bhawninder (VI), respectively.