EDUCATION

‘Political parties need to mend ways’
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, May 6
Students of the Institute of New Media and Corporate Communication, Delhi, along with their teacher, Prof Avinash Singh, were in Ludhiana to assess the popularity and preference of the people of Punjab for various political parties. The survey was a part of their practical studies. The students were to cover 13 Parliamentary constituencies of Punjab with the help of a special performa to find out the political preferences of the people.

While 10 students were covering Ludhiana, the other 11 were covering other areas of Punjab. The students went to rural as well as urban areas to get the questionnaire completed. The questionnaire was comprehensive. It asked questions like, ‘How do you rate Badal’s government, his performance as the Chief Minister? What was the position of Congress party and its chances of coming back into power? and many more.

Parminder Singh, Shruti Setia, Pratima, Bhalinder Singh were enthusiastic about the inputs they had received from rural folks. Bhalinder said, “The people were very disillusioned as there were many programmes listed for the welfare of the people, but most of these were not carried out. This was the common complaint by most of the ruralites.”

Parminder Singh said, “We are overwhelmed by the hospitality offered by the Punjabis. We found out that the ruralites are supporting Badal government as they were happy that their wheat was being lifted from the markets. They wanted his government to stay till they harvested paddy and got the price”.

Shruti Setia said labourers were annoyed with the Badal government. They were angry as the farmers were given free electricity, whereas, they had to pay an electricity bill of Rs 500 every month.

Prof Avinash Singh said that according to their findings, the transporters were the unhappiest lot. Most of them said that the transport business was in a shambles. The transporters alleged that the cops, DTO, RTO all demand money from the transporters. One Bachittar Singh said many transporters were selling their trucks and establishing other businesses as they feel that they were fed up of the corruption.

Interestingly, a farmer suggested to Parminder Singh that government should establish a fund for students from where they could get loans for their studies and when they start earning they could pay back the loans. The students felt that people were not happy with either the Congress or the Akali Dal. They also seemed concerned about the fragmentation of the Akali Dal.

The masses also seemed disillusioned with the Congress because of its infighting. Congress leaders were seen fighting on the podium while addressing public meetings. Among the educated people, many were not even aware of the local MLAs. Their total indifference was resulting in the election of incapable candidates to power.

On the whole, the students doing the survey found out that people were basically dissatisfied with the ruling party, but they could not think of any alternative. They wanted fresh bloods to take up the reins of power in the coming elections.

Spirited performance by college students
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, May 6
Students of College of Basic Sciences and Humanities presented a colourful cultural programme as part of the annual function of the college yesterday evening.

The programme titled “Jashn-e-baharan” was full of colour, music, and dance. It comprised various folk and solo dance performances. A hilarious skit based on the life of a hostler also created a lot of mirth. A well choreographed ‘Dharti Punjab di’, depicted the barbarism of the English on Indians till Partition. Vigorous bhangra performance marked the grand finale of the function as it made everyone tap their feet to the beats of drum.

The Society for the Advancement of Academy, Sports and Cultural Activities (SAASCA) presented gold medals to Vineet Inder Kaur for excellence in cultural activities and Surinder Singh was awarded the SAASCA gold medal for excellence in academics.

Dr K.S. Sekhon, Dean, Postgraduate Studies and Director, Students Welfare, PAU, gave away the gold medals to Surinder Pal Singh (cultural activities) and Vineet Inder Kaur (academics). Besides, 18 other students were also honoured for excellence in academics, performing arts, representing university at the national level during the past three years.

The students, Harmeet Singh, Narinder Pal Singh, Inderjit Singh, Raman, Randip Chahal, Trehan, Pankaj Tagra, Ruchita Saini, Kanwaljit Kaur, Bimmy Singh, Balbir Kaur, Bhavna Maheshwari and Ramneek Kaur were also given awards for achievements in different fields.

Dr M.A. Zahir, Dean, College of Basic Sciences and Humanities, while addressing the students and the faculty members, said the college was not only providing education in basic sciences but was also serving as a solution provider in research in basic sciences as well as genetics and biotechnology.

Dr D.S. Bhatia, Chairman, SAASCA, informed that the society had also instituted a biennial best teacher award for the teachers of the college and SAASCA was also providing financial assistance to deserving students.

Sukhmani best speaker
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, May 6
Students of the Guru Nanak Institute of Management and Technology held a farewell function yesterday.

The programme, Yaadein-2001, showcased Punjabi culture. Dresses, songs and themes were totally Indian. The programme started with students dancing on different songs in a programme titled Chitrahar.

An interesting item titled Ek voh thi ek yeh hain presented the famous romantic legends, Laila Majnoo, Heer Ranjha and Romeo Juliet. The presentation was excellent. Besides this, students presented old traditional songs.

In the morning, an annual prize distribution function was held. The prize for the best speaker was bagged by Sukhmani, whereas the best dancer was Ruhi. Jaspreet was awarded the best singer prize and Shweta Bali got the award for best all-round student.

COURTS

More courts in subdivisions sought
Our Correspondent

Samrala, May 6
On a call given by the local Bar Association, representatives of subdivisional units of Punjab held a meeting in the local Community Centre Club here today and formed a five-member committee.

They demanded that in view of concentration of judicial work at the district headquarters and with a view to provide speedy and low-cost justice to the public, the subdivisions in Punjab should have courts of Additional District and Sessions Judges and of the Consumer Forum.

They also wanted the High Court to delegate the powers of hearing cases related to accident claims to the courts of the Additional Civil Judges at the subdivisions and the state to provide infrastructure for such posts.

They demanded delegation of powers of Commissioners related to revenue matters to the Deputy Commissioners at the district headquarters by the state government.

The government had recently decided to set up courts of Additional District and Sessions Judges at Abohar, Fazilka and Batala, while a court had been functioning at Barnala for the past more than 25 years.

SPORT

Sports hall spruced up for National Games
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, May 6
With the announcement of the schedule for the National Games, the construction work at the Multipurpose Hall in Guru Nanak Dev Stadium has picked up. The games will be held here from September 18 to 29 for which the Municipal Corporation of Ludhiana wants to complete the work before June 15.

The Sports Department is also prepared for the mega event. But the cracks, which could be seen in the wooden floor tiles of the hall, put a question mark on the possibility of the holding of various events in the hall.

The hall was constructed in 1989 for the National Games, but unfortunately the games had to be postponed due to some reasons. The hall was made mainly for the indoor events of volleyball, basketball and handball. But in the absence of proper care, the place virtually turned into ruins.

No attention was paid towards the maintenance of the hall which resulted in heavy damages to it. Players were not provided any facility to practise here which resulted in wastage of the money spent on the hall.

Now the schedule for the 46th National Games has been announced, the city has again got a chance to host the basketball, handball and volleyball events. This time a separate hall has been constructed for basketball events while the remaining two events will be held in old hall. The municipal corporation is looking after the maintenance of the hall.

The conditions of the new wooden floor is not satisfactory. The wooden tiles of the floor have already started coming out. Some of the tiles have developed cracks, which are being filled by sow dust. The level of the floor, too, is uneven.

Mr P.L. Sharma, XEN from the MC and in charge of the work, said, ‘‘The work at the hall would be completed very soon. The total cost of the project is about 1.7 crore. I have noticed that some sub-standards tiles have been used and level of the wooden floor is also not proper. I have already given instructions to my subordinates to get all the things in order.’’

Harminder wins chess gold
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, May 6
Harminder Singh clinched gold in the District Chess Championship which concluded here today by defeating Daljit Singh in the final round.

Sanjiv Sood and Ashwani Soni bagged silver and bronze by scoring four-and-half point each and defeating Kunal Kapila and Rohit Kumar in the final round, respectively. On the basis of the performance of players in the championship, seven players have been selected to represent the district in the Punjab B Chess Championship to be held in June. The members of team are: Harminder Singh, Sanjiv Sood, Ashwani Soni, Daljit Singh, Kunal Kapila, Rohit Kumar and Ajay Baba.