EDUCATION

Bandh in boys’ colleges
From Our Correspondent

LUDHIANA, Oct 18 — Following the call for bandh in private colleges by the Punjab and Chandigarh College Teachers’ Union (PCCTU), most of the boys’ colleges of the city remained closed today. However, several women’s colleges of the city remained open.

Several teachers of private colleges went to Chandigarh to stage a rally in front of the office of the DPI (Colleges). They want the implementation of the Pension-cum-Gratuity Act of 1999. They also want to be paid for the period of the 26-day nationwide strike of teachers. They said teachers in all other states, except Punjab, had received their salaries for that period.

Talent hunt contests
From Our Correspondent

LUDHIANA, Oct 18 — Folk songs, ghazals, mono-acting and poetry recitation competition marked Rangla Punjab, a talent hunt competition, at S.D. Government College here today.

The talent of undergraduate and postgraduate students was adjudged separately. Among the undergraduates, Baljinder and Hapreet stood first and second, respectively, in the folk dance competition. In ghazals, Munish was declared first and Mandeep second. In mono-acting, Rajeev and Jaswant were declared first and second, respectively.

Among postgarduates, Neelu was given the first prize and Kuldeep Singh second. In ghazals, Jaswinder was declared first and Gagandeep second. In the poetry recitation contest, Aarti Sharma was declared the best poet.

Mr S.K. Vashisht, Mr Ajmer Singh and Mr Bhupinder, all professors from the same college, pronounced the judgement.

While stating the importance of the event, Mr H.K.Grewal, coordinator of the programme, said that the function was organised every year to make the students aware of the rich Punjabi culture. 

Seminar on story book
From Our Correspondent

LUDHIANA, Oct 18 — Dr Surinder Singh Narula, eminent Punjabi Novelist, advised the Punjabi writers not to follow the beaten track in literature, but set new trends in order to portray internal emotions of the mankind.

He was speaking at a seminar organised by the PAU Young Writers Association on the short stories book, “Sunn Saran” written by Mr Ninder Gill.

Dr Waryam Singh Sandhu, who presided over the seminar, said that Ninder Gill had presented a true picture of the life of scandinavian countries in his book.

Mr Amarjit Singh Grewal, Editor, Panj Darya while speaking on the book, said that short stories of Ninder Gill basically depicted identity crisis in the modern life.

COURTS

Two cases dismissed
Tribune News Service

LUDHIANA, Oct 18 — The District Consumer Redressal Forum, today, dismissed two cases where complainants were seeking compensation from the Punjab Government for failed tubectomy operations.

Ms Jeewan Jyoti, a resident of the city, and Mr Baldev Singh, a resident a village near here, had sought Rs 4 lakh and Rs 10,000, respectively, as compensation. However, the plea was dismissed as the operations had been done free of cost.

Ms Jeewan Jyoti had alleged that she had undergone the operation in an ESI hospital, but had become pregnant afterwards and delivered a child recently. She asked for a Rs 4 lakh compensation for undue harassment from the Medical Officer of the hospital, the Director Punjab Health Systems Corporation and the Punjab Government through its Health Secretary. The forum, however, said the complainant was not a consumer as the operation had been done free of cost.

A similar complaint filed by Mr Baldev Singh against the Health Secretary of Punjab, the SMO of the Public Health Dispensary Sudhar and a specialist surgeon of the hospital was also dismissed on similar grounds.

Mr Baldev Singh did not want another child and had made his wife undergo a family-planning operation in the hospital for this purpose. He was assured that the operation was foolproof, but he found that his wife was pregnant again afterwards.

Finance co. told to pay Rs 1.63 lakh
Tribune News Service

LUDHIANA, Oct 18 — The District Consumers Redressal Forum today issued a conditional direction to the local branch of Lloyds Finance Ltd. and its head office in Mumbai to pay Rs 1,63,582 along with interest at 18 per cent per annum to a Malerkotla-based consumer.

The forum said the company should pay the amount, agreed to be refunded to the complainant, Twinkle Papers Ltd., Malerkotla, in Sangrur district, which had financed a truck from the finance company, subject to an order passed by the company law board, if any, as claimed by the company.

Giving the ex parte decision, the forum noted that on behalf of the responding company, an executive had appeared only once before the forum and produced a copy of the orders passed by the board. However, the forum said it was not satisfied with the orders as the copy produced was incomplete.

Mr Deepak Goyal, who was authorised by the aggrieved party of Malerkotla, had pleaded before the forum that the complainant got a loan of Rs 4,18,786 from the finance company for the purchase of a truck. The loan amount was to be repaid in 24 monthly instalments.

He said as per the condition of the hire-purchase agreement, he deposited Rs 1,04,699 as security with the company and the said amount was to be refunded along with interest.

However, the opposite party did not refund the amount. Even a legal notice was served to it, but no reply was given.

The forum said that as an executive of the company appeared only once, it would treat the finance company as ex parte.

CULTURE

A traditional touch to Divali
From Our Correspondent

LUDHIANA, Oct 18 — The beautiful, well decorated and delicately designed colourful hatri remains one of the major attractions of the Divali season. Capitalising on the faith of the people who worship Goddess Lakshmi and Ganesha, the traditional potters decorate these hatris with different colours to make them attractive and also expensive. People put in them candles, diyas, and some mithai which is subsequently eaten as ‘prasad’.

Several families of potters in Gumhar Mandi, are involved in making these beautiful artifacts. Sheela, has been making these pieces for the last three years. To her it is more a hobby than a profession, although she belongs to a family of potters. “I do not make these for profit. I love to do this. My whole family makes these hartis in the Divali season”, she says.

The clay is brought in a horse cart and costs about Rs 300 per cart load, which is enough for making 300 hartis. It is a long process which starts in August. The clay is made into a paste which is put into moulds and left to dry in the sun for two or three days. When the hartis have dried, these are coloured, generally with water colours. The hartis look beautiful in shapes of pink, red, green and yellow.

Santosh Kumar, a potter says: “These will be available in the market at least seven days before Divali. In spite of all the modern influence, people remain tradition-bound at heart. They believe that ‘puja’ is incomplete without these hartis”.

Harti making is not always a profitable proposition. It is not always that all the hartis they prepare are sold. Last year more than 600 pieces Murari, a potters ad made remained unsold. These had to be preserved for a full year to be sold at Divali time again. This year he has not made hartis in bulk.