The Tribune, Chandigarh, India - Chandigarh Stories

EDUCATION

Budding architects to design war memorial
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, September 20
Students of the College of Architecture have been invited to submit their conceptual plans for the upcoming war memorial in the city within two months.

This came up after the UT Administrator, Lieut-Gen J.F.R. Jacob (retd), visited the college this morning. General Jacob wanted the students of Architecture to design war memorial as they have fresh minds and fresh ideas. Giving them an assignment to make a conceptual plan, General Jacob desired that they should completely study various famous war memorials in Russia, USA and other countries.

General Jacob said the war memorial should be simple and austere, reflecting the sanctity of sacrifice of members of the armed forces. He said granite slabs would carry the name of 6000 martyrs who had laid down their lives while safeguarding the honour of our country.

General Jacob appreciated the suggestions of the students that war memorial should be built in the southern sectors to enliven that part of Chandigarh. The Administrator said he was open to suggestions and students should submit the conceptual plan of various sites within two months.

The General had started his day by exploring the various sites to set up a war memorial in the city. Accompanied by the Finance Secretary, Mr Karan A. Singh, General Jacob reached the Leisure Valley opposite Government Museum.

The Finance Secretary informed the Administrator that two more sites have been shortlisted for the war memorial, one is in rear part of Bougainvillaea Garden and another was a small portion of a Rajendra Garden. The Administrator also visited these two sites.

St Anne’s to stage opera on Oct 1
Our Correspondent

Chandigarh, September 20
The month-long silver jubilee celebrations of St Anne’s School, Sector 32, will conclude with a function on October 1 and October 2, with the senior-wing students presenting a musical opera at the school premises.

More then 70 students, under the guidance of George Pulinkala, the producer-director of the opera “Fiddler on the Roof, will take part in one of the most extravagant shows in the 25 year-old-school history.

The opera, a two-act musical show, revolves around Jewish community in a poor village in the midst of the Russian Revolution. It shows the inner conflict of the community as they desperately cling to their tradition and social norms when the whole country is undergoing a sea change in the social and political set up.

The final show promises to be a unique entertainer. Sources said professionals had been hired to train the students. A hi-tech revolving stage and costumes would be brought from Delhi.

Mohali school bags maximum prizes
Our Correspondent

SAS Nagar, September 20
Sant Isher Singh Model Senior Secondary School, Phase VII, has won the maximum prizes in Ropar district in the primary-level educational competitions organised by the Punjab School Education Board.

According to a press note issued by the school here today, Gagandeep Kaur stood first in speech competition in Ropar district, while Gurinder Kaur got the first position in on-the-spot painting competition. Simarjeet Kaur stood second in folk song competition. Var Gayan team of the school bagged the first position in Ropar district, while the shabad gayan team was ranked second.

The winners would now represent Ropar district in the Zonal Education Competitions to be held at Nawanshahr from September 26.

Counselling lectures
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, September 20
Government Model Senior Secondary School, Sector 33-D, held a series of counselling lectures for students of classes XI and XII on aptitude testing, adolescent problems and choice of career.

Experienced persons invited for the lectures included Dr Sharan Sharma, Reader, Department of Psychology, Correspondence Studies, PU, Major P. Sharma, a psychologist, Dr Vinod Sharma, District Employment Officer, PU, Mr Krishan Kumar and Mr Surinder Pal, councillors from the State Institute of Education, Sector 32.

The sessions also evoked keen interest among the students.

COURTS

Court reserves order on suspects’ bail plea
Our Correspondent

Chandigarh, September 20
Acting on the anticipatory bail plea moved by the Shimla-based victim in a rape case, a local court today directed the UT police to issue seven day’s prior notice to the victim girl whenever her presence is required in the case. Meanwhile, the court today reserved the order on the bail plea moved by the suspects, — M.K Jain, Ram Lal, Baldev and Surinder Sharma — in the case for tomorrow. The bail plea moved by the four suspects in the case came up for hearing before the UT Additional and Sessions Judge, Mr Balbir Singh, in the morning. The court room was jampacked when the arguments in the case were heard for more than an hour. The police also stated that the arrest of the victim girl and M.K Jain was not required at this stage of the case.

Counsel for Ram Lal, Surinder Sharma and Baldev argued that the three were falsely implicated in the case and they had nothing to do with the case. Stating that they were not involved, counsel said that the police had framed rape charge against them only to make it difficult for them to get bail. He added that as per the FIR registered on the complaint of the victim there were no allegations levelled against the three. Counsel added that if the police version were to be accepted, then the three could be booked under bailable offences.

Counsel further said that the victim girl had given a clean chit to two other persons — Surinder Sharma and Ram Lal — in her plea. The victim girl stated that she had not been subjected to any sexual intercourse by Surinder Kumar Sharma or Ram Lal in her anticipatory plea.

Claiming that the suspect, M.K Jain, had nothing to do with case, his counsel argued that number of persons involved in the rape case had cooked up a story against M.K Jain, only with a motive to extract money from him. Stating that he was falsely implicated in the case counsel added that the main conspirator in the case of was one Bureaucrat from Haryana as reported in newspapers. Therefore M.K Jain deserved the concession of bail.

He further added that M.K Jain is ready to join police investigations whenever required. Counsel also cited the order passed by the High Court on the petition moved by the victim girl. He said that the girl had been provided police protection after High Court directions.

Counsel for the victim girl said that under the garb of providing, police protection, her liberty and freedom had been totally curtailed and she was being illegally detained at her place by the UT police. Counsel also stated that she had no objection to the transfer of the case to the CBI for fair investigation and then a fair trial on the basis of such investigation. Counsel also alleged that former Haryana minister came to her house at her native village and offered substantial amount of money to allure and force her to withdraw the charges of rape against the main suspect in the case. She added that she apprehended serious threats to her life.

Notice on parking issue
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, September 20
Acting on a public interest litigation filed by the Samadhaan — a “pressure group for social justice” — seeking directions to the Chandigarh Administration and other respondents for streamlining the parking system by preventing haphazard leaving behind of vehicles, a Division Bench of the Punjab and Haryana High Court today issued notice of motion for November 25.

In its petition taken up by the Bench, comprising Mr Justice S.S. Nijjar and Ms Justice Kiran Anand Lall, the Samadhaan — through president R.P. Malhotra and other members — also sought directions to the respondents for providing distinctly identifiable parking sites. Directions for checking parking at unauthorised places.

DISTRICT COURTS
Man sentenced to 6-month RI
Our Correspondent

Chandigarh, September 20
A resident of Ropar, Jai Kumar, was today sentenced to six months rigorous imprisonment in a case under the Food Adulteration Act by a local court. The accused was convicted by the UT Chief Judicial Magistrate, Mr C.L. Mohal, who also fined the accused Rs 1,000.

As per the prosecution, on September 25, 1991 at around 9 am a food inspector intercepted the accused and found him having in his possession about 20 litres of milk in Sector-44. After disclosing his identity, the inspector purchased 750 ml of mixed milk by paying Rs 5. The sample collected from the accused was divided into three parts and one part was sent to the public analyst. The sample was not found fit for human consumption.

The CJM said in his order that such type of food articles could adversely affect the health of humans. Accordingly, the convict was sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for a period of six months and pay a fine of Rs 1,000. In case of default, the accused will have to undergo another two months of rigorous imprisonment.

Beant Singh case

One of the witnesses in the Beant Singh assassination case today identified the photograph of Dilawar Singh who is suspected to have been the human bomb in the assassination of the late Chief Minister of Punjab, Beant Singh. The witness also identified the photograph of one of the accused in the case, Lakhwinder Singh, but failed to identify him at the special court room before the UT District and Sessions Judge, Mr H.S. Bhalla, in Burail Jail.

The witness, who ran a tea shop outside the Secretariat, said Lakhwinder along with Dilawar Singh and others used to come to his shop for a cup of tea. He added that the accused Lakhwinder Singh used to stay at Kansal village.

He also stated that the Lakhwinder Singh along with Dilawar Singh had come to his shop on August 30, 1995. And on August 31, 1995, Dilawar Singh had visited the shop and had enquired about Lakhwinder Singh.

CULTURE

NZCC painting workshop
Our Correspondent

Chandigarh, September 20
To popularise the art of painting among children and to give people a chance to interact with artists, the North Zone Cultural Centre (NZCC) has organised a seven-day painting workshop at Kalagram in Manimajra.

About 15 young and old artists are demonstrating their style of painting in front of the visitors coming to the cultural centre. Besides this, these artists are also teaching the visitors about the nuances of water colour oil and glass paintings.

Giving information about the workshop, Mr Yashwinder Sharma, programme officer, NZCC, said the workshop was a step to popularise art among children. “The NZCC plans to continue this type of interactive and participatory workshop in the near future,” he added.

The workshop will conclude on Sunday. The NZCC is planning to organise an exhibition based on those works in the Kalagram and later at the headquarters of the NZCC in Patiala.

‘Sakharam Binder’ mesmerises again
Our Correspondent

Chandigarh, September 20
The third day of the National Natya Festival being organised by the North Central Zone Cultural Centre in collaboration with Haryana Public Relations and Cultural Affairs at Tagore Theatre brought out the best of women power in a most gripping manner as local play director Umesh Kant presented his play “Sakharam Binder”. The play though had been staged many times earlier in the region, it still managed to pull the maximum crowd, as the auditorium was packed to capacity.

It may be the 11th show for Umesh Kant but the powerful aggressive character of Sakharam and subtle yet confident Laxmi still hold the same amount of fascination as they did when the play was staged for the first time two years back. “Sakharam is a crude yet honest character who has the guts to sneer at his own sex for treating women shabbily and Laxmi is a docile woman who finally proves that women hold the power of performing miracles and can make or break a man’s life,” says Umesh Kant.

The story of Sakharam Binder revolves around the main character Sakharam who is full of vices - alcohol, women and abuses but what sets him apart from the rest is his honesty, the courage to own up his own weaknesses. Always full of control of himself and others involved with him, it takes the courage of a meek woman who stands by him during darkest of hours, to put him on the path of reform.

Written by famous playwright Vijay Tendulkar, the play takes you to the highly explosive scenes, juxtaposing the good and bad elements in human character at the same time. However, the most gripping scene when Sakharam hands over his ‘mridang’ to Laxmi symbolically giving the reins of his life to her was an addition by Umesh Kant himself.

“The original end was that Sakharam kills his mistress for cheating him and Laxmi who comes back to his life helps him to get rid of the body,” says Umesh Kant. “I wanted to give some message to the audience so I added the last scene where Sakharam hands over his prize possession the ‘mridang’ to Laxmi to beat it and chase problems away from his life,” says Umesh Kant.

Umesh Kant who was in the very first batch of the Department of Indian Theatre way back in 1973 has been directing a number of plays under the banner of “Theatre Lab”. His directed play “Balde Tibbe” an adaptation of Balwant Gargi’s play got him the Natya Shiromani Award in 1989. Eversince Umesh Kant has been experimenting with a number of themes but the most favourite theme still remains women related issues. Even his next production which he is currently working on will be focussed on women. The cast of “Sakharam Binder” included Yogesh Arora in the role of Sakharam, a refined actor who portrayed the character of Sakharam to perfection. He was accompanied by Ranjana Sharma in the role of Laxmi and Taniya Tandon as Champa.