Jalandhar, October 18
The Municipal Corporation (MC) has been turning a blind eye towards the broken dividers existing on various roads in the city for long.

As MC pays no heed towards keeping the dividers intact, these dividers are giving an open invitation to mishaps. Almost every divider in the city is broken at a number of places.

The dividers have reportedly been broken by some city residents, mostly shopkeepers, themselves for their convenience, ignoring the fact that these may cause fatal mishaps.

The broken dividers are causing accidents, as a majority of pedestrians prefer using these dividers to cross the roads instead of using a proper passage.

While dividers on almost every road in the city have been broken, this reporter found these broken at several places on the road between Workshop Chowk and Football Chowk, between Ladowali Road level crossing and BSF Chowk and between Doaba Chowk and JMP Chowk, in Preet Nagar, on Sodal Road during a round of the city.

Talking to this correspondent, a number of persons, working in various markets, said the dividers had been demolished by shopkeepers in a bid to be more “inviting”.

Pedestrians are making the most of the arrangement without caring for their safety. As vehicles pass the roads at a high speed, the risk to the pedestrians is also high.

Flaying the act of breaking the verges, Ajay Sharma of Madhuban Colony said several people had met with accidents while crossing the roads through these vents. “The authorities concerned should get the broken verges repaired at the earliest to avoid more mishaps,” he added.

When this reported contacted MC Commissioner Manpreet Singh Chhatwal on his mobile to get his version on the issue of the broken dividers, his voice was inaudible, as he was attending a function where a loudspeaker was installed.

Jalandhar, October 18
Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal was at his satirical best while addressing the spectators at the final match of Surjit Hockey Tournament at Olympian Surjit Hockey Stadium here.

Organisers of the event had in a speech ahead of the CM’s address had put forth their demand for allotment of land to the organising body, even suggesting a few options. Badal, who is well aware of the fact that the Surjit Hockey Society has SDM-1 Iqbal Singh Sandhu as the organising secretary, said, “I do not think you need to ask me for land. You people involved in revenue work can do it on your own by twisting your pen a bit.”

He went on as he said, “I am told that you have already started looking for various options on land availability in and around the city and you will be able to do the official work for the purpose on your own.”

As he said this, everyone among the spectators had a hearty laugh.

He, however, offered to give Rs 10 lakh grant to the society, besides Rs 1 lakh to the winning team and Rs 51,000 to the second team.

He was introduced to the Punjab XI (Pakistan) women team in the grounds besides the two teams in the final round. Punjabi singer Diljit Dosanjh regaled the audience with his music before the match as the students of Lyallpur Khalsa College performed to his tunes.

Jalandhar, October 18
A city-based woman has alleged that she was physically and sexually assaulted near the Hoshiarpur bus stand on Friday. She alleged that she was beaten in an ambulance by a man and two of his women accomplices.

Sita (45) (name changed), a resident of the Qazi Mandi area, who begs for a living, alleged that she was near the Hoshiarpur bus stand yesterday, where a man picked her up - levelling charges of theft against her. She said he took her in an ambulance and kept beating her up for hours along with two women, after which she was also sexually assaulted.

“I was walking on the road near the Hoshiarpur bus stand. A shopkeeper pointed at me and said ‘she is the one who took it’. A man came hurriedly to me and started beating me. He then put me in a van, where there were two more women. All three of them kept beating me all afternoon. After that they took me to a house near the Hoshiarpur court, where another old man and a younger man with him, assaulted me sexually. Two women were also present at the house, who instigated them to violate me,” Sita alleged, lying in the emergency ward of the local Civil Hospital.

With her hands and arms swollen and blue-black marks on her shoulders, thighs and back, Sita further alleged, “The man continually told me that I had taken his papers and was asking me to give them back to him. But I have no papers. I showed him my bag. It had nothing except some money.”

Dr Parvinder SingH, MD, forensic medicine, at the Civil Hospital, Jalandhar, said since the incident took place between the Hoshiarpur civil hospital and bus stand, a complaint of physical and sexual assault had been made to the Hoshiarpur PCR based on the charges levelled by Sita and an FIR is expected to be lodged shortly.

Paramjit Singh, on whom the charges have been leveled by Sita, in turn, alleged,

“The woman stole vehicle papers from a satchel hanging on my bike parked at a shop. Some shopkeepers told me about this and I found the papers missing. We traced her and three more people (two old men and a woman with her) and asked her to give all the papers. We got the RC from her bag, but none of the other papers were found even though she took us to many scrap dealers’ shops. There were a couple of RCs, an ATM card along with other documents in the satchel.”

While Paramjit is a transporter, he acknowledges that he owns an ambulance used by the Civil Hospital, Hoshiarpur, and another hospital. He, however, denied that he took Sita in an ambulance, saying it was just an Omni van. He also denied allegations that she was raped.

Regarding physical assault allegations, Singh said he and two women from the market at Hoshiarpur mildly beat her.

He also said that he complained at the Model Town police station in Hoshiarpur regarding the incident.

SI Baljit Singh from the Model Town police station in Hoshiarpur confirmed that a complaint had been received from Civil Hospital Jalandhar this evening and he had sent his men to look into the matter.

He also said that he had just received a complaint regarding a theft by a beggar woman yesterday, but his men found nothing at the spot.

Jalandhar, October 18
Miscreants broke the glass doors of two ATMs in the Basti Danishmanda locality late last night. The two ATMs are separated by a distance of about 300 m.

Since there were no guards outside the ATMs of Axis Bank and the Union Bank of India, the police got the information about the incident this morning. SHO Division Number 5 Rajinder Kumar said he suspected some youths on bikes were behind the incident.

The SHO said since the staff of both banks was off today on account of Valmiki Jayanti, not much follow-up on the incident could be done today. He said that the recordings of the CCTV cameras would be sought tomorrow from the staff to nab the accused.

The banks had also reportedly not deployed any guards outside the ATMs despite repeated instructions issued by the administration and the police. The police said the incident brought to light negligence on part of the bank officials on security front.

Jalandhar, October 18
A family books an entire resort for a three-day party for their son's birthday. The celebration includes lavish plate charges, customised, expensive presents (return gifts) for the kids and even wrapping paper matching the party themes.

Another family provides special horse-riding sessions during the cow-boy-themed party they plan for their daughter, since she likes horses.

Call it the bite the western bug, too much money to splurge (not to mention being a resident of the privileged NRI belt of Doaba) or a robust display of the pure Punjabi spirit, people are going to extraordinary lengths in the region to make their party occasions to remember.

Unexplored concepts and themes like prates, princess, cowboy, casino, mustache, disco and the upcoming favourite Halloween are finding many takers.

While Dasehra, Diwali and Karvachauth have been the festivals on the list for the age-old autumn celebrations for Indians, an increasing number of people are now going western, making Halloween or wicked party themes borrowed from popular media or western party circuits.

For the super rich, party budgets are skyrocketing to never-before reached (read: wedding budget) heights but even the upper-middle class is leaving no stone unturned to make their parties the envy of everyone in town.

Ruchi Chopra, who organised a pirate themed birthday for her son Samarth, is now planning a Halloween kitty with her girlfriends for Halloween. Happy with her choices, she says, "It is great fun to watch children have a laugh in a memorable birthday. Earlier we saw stuff on TV and wished we could do it, but the new outlets make it possible for us to hold good parties with choicest themes.

She has already made wicked Halloween plans with devilish horn headbands, blood, bones, skeletons and a black theme for her girlfriends to scare everyone off this Halloween.

"Now parties are fun," she quips.

Ritika Arora, who threw a cowboy-themed bash for her daughter Reet's 10th birthday recently, says, "Until a couple of years ago we couldn't envision these sort of parties but things have massively changed now. One can?t explain the happiness that lights up the children's faces when they have parties which mean business. Earlier we were stuck up with old, boring themes due to lack of options. I think parents shouldn't shy away from going the extra mile for their kid's birthday."

Smiling at horse-riding sessions her kid enjoyed during her birthday, she says, "I'm so glad. We will never forget this birthday."

Abhinav Budhiraja from Party Hunters is one of the topmost providers and organisers for special parties to people across the city. "Different and unique are the keywords every client searches for on special occasions. We get calls for every occasion ranging from bridal showers to baby showers to birthday parties or kitty bashes. People are sick of the old and they want something new. It is amazing how a little bit extra can add a special edge to one?s party. And we have got options for every budget."

Speaking on the latest fads, he says, Big Boss-style devil and angel themes, upcoming Halloween bashes and casino party calls for Diwali are the most popular themes this season.

• Sky's the limit

Jalandhar, October 18
Following the challenging of the promotion of Satish Chander to the post of Deputy Director (Rural Development) Jalandhar in the handicapped quota, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has asked the Financial Commissioner (Rural Development and Panchayats) to take a final decision on the matter within three months.

Pronouncing his decision, judge Tejinder Singh Dhindsa has directed the Financial Commissioner-cum-Secretary of the department "to consider the claim of the writ petition as regards regular promotion to the cadre of Deputy Director based upon the proceedings of the Department Promotion Committee (DPC) and Review DPC held on May 24, whereby Deputy Director Satish Chander has been held to be wrongfully promoted against the handicapped quota".

The copy further reads, "It would be open for the petitioner to submit a detailed representation in such regard. Keeping in view the fact that the petitioner is currently on the extension of service, it would be appropriate for a final decision to be taken on the matter within a period of three months."

The petition had been filed by Karanjit Singh Grewal, Deputy CEO Zila Parishad Jalandhar, Sucha Singh, Deputy CEO Zila Parishad Hoshiarpur, and Sarabjit Singh Walia, District Development and Panchayat Officer, Hoshiarpur, all of whom are in the promotion line.

Seeking reversion of Satish Chander's promotion, they had raised a grievance that even though the decision, in principle, had been taken on August 2 by the Financial Commissioner, the consequential orders had not been passed. Counsel for the petitioners had said that in the light of seniority at serial number 28, Grewal should be vested with a right for consideration for promotion to the post of Deputy Director.

They had even put on record a copy of the proceedings of the August 2 meeting convened by Mandeep Singh Sandhu, Financial Commissioner-cum-Secretary Rural Development, wherein the members had taken into account that Satish Chander did not fit in into the handicapped category for promotion.

At the meeting, members had also pointed out that the reversion of Satish Chander and Rakesh Kumar as Deputy Director (Panchayats) was under consideration and that in lieu of these two posts, Lakhwinder Singh Dhaliwal and Daljit Singh Virk should be promoted following the departmental procedure. The duo, too, had earlier filed a CWP which, too, was decided by judge Tejinder Singh Dhindsa on December 21, 2012.

Jalandhar, October 18
The Corps of Military Police (CMP) celebrated its 74th Raising Day here today. Major General Binoy Poonnen, Chief of Staff of Vajra Corps, was the chief guest on the occasion. The Chief of Staff interacted with jawans and applauded their role in maintaining military discipline. The celebrations were attended by serving and retired army officers, JCOs and jawans.

In the traditions of ‘Seva Tatha Sahayta’, the Corps of Military Police is instrumental in controlling the traffic and allied disciplinary measures of Jalandhar Cantonment. The Jalandhar Garrison is policed round the clock by the CMP. Besides this, Corps of Military Police personnel are also deployed for sudden surprise checks at various places to control any malpractice.

The Chief of Staff said, “The joint checks with the civil police inside the cantonment to control rash and negligent driving have reduced the number of accidents. He said the smooth conduct of rail-bound passengers at railway stations has almost nullified the drugging and theft cases.”

Jalandhar, October 18
An art exhibition is being organised at the Virsa Vihar Jalandhar from October 19 to 23.

More than 28 veteran artists from the city and its periphery shall be coming together for this exhibition, which shall be witnessing senior as well as budding artists from Punjab coming together for an artistic collaboration after a long time.

While a collaboration of young and old artists would be the specialty of the exhibition, it shall also witness the coming together of many veterans on a single platform after a long time.

Renowned contemporary artist Basudeb Biswas’ artistic takes on the female body forms and their existence, photographer Anil Gupta’s works are nature-inspired comments on present day lives and Vikram Singh who comes from the hills, shall showcase art speaking of life and customs which prevail in the hills.