The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Candidates with promise(s)

The main candidates from the four constituencies of the city promise the moon to their voters as they kickstart their campaign for the forthcoming Assembly poll, reports Dharmendra Joshi

The Congress and the SAD-BJP candidates from the four constituencies of the city are raising state-level issues of `development’ and `corruption’ during their election meetings. At the same time, they do not forget to give a prominent place to local issues in their speeches.

Jalandhar North

Congress candidate and sitting MLA Avtar Henry claims that he has already provided basic amenities like sewerage and water facilities in 90 per cent of the undeclared colonies of his constituency. The same will be provided to the remaining ten per cent colonies on a priority basis if he is reelected.

Having made a hat-trick of his victory, Mr Henry says that the work on fly-over/ROBs has either already started or cleared or about to complete at Damoria underbridge, DAV and Maqsoodan rail-crossings. Similar ROBs will be made on Hoshiarpur Adda, Tanda road and Ram Nagar rail crossings to provide relief to the people. Similarly most of the industrialists located in residential areas of the constituency have already shifted their units, the remaining factory owners will be encourage to do so to provide relief to the residents from air, water, soil and noise pollution, he says.

Blaming sitting MLA Avtar Henry for doing `nothing’, the BJP candidate, Mr Krishan Dev Bhandari says that he will provide all basic facilities, including sewer, water and street lights in the colonies.

Krishan Dev Bhandari Mr Bhandari says that Focal Point is the most-ignored area of the constituency despite the fact it provides maximum revenue. He promises to make roads and provide lights in the Focal Point. He further says that ROBs will be built on Sodal, Ram Nagar, Tanda road and Hoshiarpur road rail crossings.

The BJP candidate says that the youth, especially of this constituency, have been addicted to smack and drinking and special efforts will be made with the help of the administration to bring them to the mainstream.

Jalandhar Central

Contesting for the first time, Congress candidate Tejinder Singh Bittu says that special efforts will be made to provide jobs to the unemployed Dalit and general category youth of the constituency.

Mr Bittu, also the Improvement Trust Chairman, further says that several fly-overs and elevated roads will be constructed to ease the traffic problem in different areas. Besides, the business community will be provided tax relaxations and their problems will also be addressed.

BJP candidate Manoranjan Kalia says that people lost their faith in the Congress government due to Amarinder Singh’s autocratic style of working. If elected, he will get the work of the Medical College and Damoria fly-over completed which was started during the previous SAD-BJP government but could not be completed during the Congress rule. Besides, deemed and summary assessment for filing sales tax return will be restored to provide relief to the business community, he says, adding that the deemed and summary assessment was started by the previous SAD-BJP government but discontinued by the Congress government.

Basic facilities, like water and sewer facilities, will also be provided in various colonies where the Congress government did not pay any attention, he adds.

Jalandhar South

Congress candidate Mohinder Singh Kaypee says that clean water will be provided in the remaining three of the total 40 villages falling under his constituency. He claimed to have provided such facility in 37 villages.

Claiming that he has already done maximum development in his constituency, he says, if re-elected, he will provide basic amenities like sewerage and water facilities in the remaining unauthorised colonies. Bhagat Chunni Lal

On the other hand, the BJP candidate, Bhagat Chunni Lal, alleges that Mr Amarinder Singh-led Congress government has not provided the benefit of old-age pension and shagun-scheme started during the previous SAD-BJP government to the needy people. The pension and shagun scheme will be regularise, he says.

Development of unauthorized colonies will also be his priority if elected from this constituency, he adds.

Gurkanwal Kaur Jalandhar Cantonment

Congress candidate Gurkanwal Kaur says that the ongoing development works will be completed if she is re-elected.

Saying that she has spent as much as Rs 36 crore on the development of her constituency, she promises to work for the upliftment of the women and to curb female foeticide. Jagbir Singh Brar

SAD candidate Jagbir Singh Brar says he will abolish octroi from Jalandhar cantonment, if elected. He further said that according to a survey, this constituency has the maximum number of unemployed youth in Punjab and so special efforts will be made to generate jobs for the youths of this constituency.

Local issues hold the key
Vishal Gulati
Tribune News Service

Issues like corruption, rising unemployment, increasing prices of essential commodities and deteriorating standard of education and healthcare are the dominant issues in the Assembly elections. Local issues like damaged roads, faulty streetlights, choked sewerage and haphazard parking are also talked about by candidates and voters alike.

However, voters are more keen to know about the credentials of new candidates. Their usual questions are: Is he a local or an outsider? Can he highlight the local issues? Is he clean? and What is his political background?

This time three candidates of the main parties are trying their luck for the first time in Jalandhar.

“Who bothers about the agenda of the party? I will vote for the candidate who off-and-on visited the area and redressed our grievances,” said Mr K.B. Sharma of Adarsh Nagar.

“No party comes out with constituency-wise agenda. So there is no need to discuss the manifesto of the party. The area-specific issues like the maintenance of green belts and cleanliness never find space in the manifesto,” he added.

“All parties make tall promises and forget about them once the elections are over. This happened in our area also. When Ms Gurkanwal Kaur was elected last time from this area she promised that the sewerage would be laid soon. Till date, only the foundation stone has been laid,” said Mr Subhash Vij, president, Shopkeeper Association, Rama Mandi.

“Whenever we met her and apprised her of our problems, she always replied this would be done. But sadly nothing has been done,” he added.

Similar is the condition in the Bhoor Mandi area.

“We are living in hell. The politicians usually come during the elections. Once the elections are over, they disappear,” said Mr Sumeet Jindal, a shopkeeper in Bhoor Mandi.

“This time the residents of the area have a grouse against the sitting MLA,” he added.

“The rising prices of essential commodities are hitting the common man hard. During the past few months prices have steadily gone up,” said Ms Neelam Rahi, a housewife.

“At today’s prices, one cannot gather one’s daily needs in the vegetable market even with a hundred-rupee note.

The most disappointing thing is that the government is unaware of the plight of the citizens. The government seems to be doing nothing against the hoarders,” she rued.

“Has the Prime Minister ever thought about the unemployed youths? What would they earn? How can they make both ends meet?” asked Shivani Singh, a student of Lyallpur Khalsa College.

Shortage of drinking water has hit residents of a number of colonies.

“For us getting a bucket of water has become more or less a luxury. The water pressure is very low in the morning and evening. So we have no interest in elections,” said Mr Ram Singh of Darjian Mohalla.

Kila Mohalla and Mohalla Karar Khan are also facing acute shortage of water.

Surprisingly, residents of BSF colony were satisfied with the working of the sitting MLA.

“From time to time, we apprised the MLA regarding our problems that vary from faulty streetlights to water shortage. All problems were redressed, but this happened only due to unity among area residents,” said Mr Rajesh Chaddha of the BSF Residential Welfare Association.

Political observers, however, pointed out that the election campaigning is yet to pick up. During this period, voters would be wooed by the politicians. Which issue and sentiment would prevail till the voting is anybody’s guess.

Nine voters go ‘missing’ during revision
Dharmendra Joshi
Tribune News Service

Instead of increase in the voters, their number has surprisingly reduced by nine during the revision of electoral rolls in Kapurthala district between January 3 and January 18.

Actually the tentative electoral roll was published on January 3. Following which, the electorates were provided an opportunity till January 18 to get their names included or excluded as the case might be.

Following this, seven votes reduced as the number of voters removed from the roll was higher than that of new voters registered.

According to the DC-cum-DRO, Mr Raminder Singh, there were 4,96,103 voters for the four constituencies of the district as per the electoral rolls published on January 3.

Actually 1,517 new voters were registered whereas the names of 1,526 voters were removed from the list between January 3 and 18.

As many as 2,069 applications had been received for preparing new votes. However, during verification 1,517 applications were found correct and accordingly they were included in the electoral roll. On the other hand, 1,531 applications from several individuals and different political parties were received to remove their names from the electoral roll as either they had been died or shifted to some other place. As many as 1,526 application for removing the names from the list were found proper and subsequently their names were deleted from the list.

Faux pas keeps candidate on toes
Deepkamal Kaur
Tribune News Service

Filing a nomination proved to be too cumbersome a task for a low profile candidate of the CPI (ML) New Democracy on Tuesday. A first-time candidate and a representative of rural labourers from Kartarpur, Mr Kashmir Singh Ghugshore, said when he came to the district administrative complex on Monday to get a copy of voter list that was to be attached with his nomination papers, he found that his name had been struck off from the voter list.

Mr Ghugshore said he met staff of the Returning Officer-cum-SDM-II, Mr D.P.S. Kharbanda, he was told that his name was omitted as they were informed that he had shifted out. He said it took him very long to convince that while the name of his family members having vote numbers 740, 741, 743, 744 and 745 in booth number 60 had been retained, his name too should have been there on 742 voter number as he had not shifted out anywhere.

Owing to official formalities and various processes involved, he said his name could be incorporated after 11.30 am on Tuesday. He said then he had to take a copy of the new voter list by which his name appeared on 1051 number.

After a hectic morning, Mr Ghugshore went back and then came on his bicycle from Pattarkhurd village in Kartarpur after getting a complete file of papers from his home. He said by the time he reached the Returning Officer’s office at 3.10 pm, the time of filing nomination was over and he was told to come again tomorrow.

Talking to The Tribune, the candidate said his main aim of fighting poll was to fight for the rights of downtrodden, to bring into light the increasing disparity between the rich and the poor and to project the problems of residents in under-developed areas of his constituency.

“So far politicians of all hues have only given us false promises. I was fed up with their attitude. So, I decided to wage a battle this time and contest as an independent,” he said.

“And with the total assets of Rs 10,000, I also want to give a fight to people like Ch Jagjit Singh who has failed to solve the problems of the poor in our areas.

“He talks of development and our constituency is full of trenches were toilets were to be constructed. Villages like Narpur Jhugian here have not got cemented roads for the last 60 years”, he pointed out.

Young World
Rollicking start to “Iti Bharatam Week”
Tribune News Service

State-level competitions were held at Mayor World School to mark the beginning of “Iti Bharatam week” as part of the Republic Day celebrations on Tuesday. Teams from Ludhiana, Beas, Kapurthala, Amritsar, Jalandhar and Phagwara participated in various categories, including poetry recitation, quiz and art.

The day ended with prize distribution function and a vote of thanks by Principal G. Bindra.

Annual function

Darshan Academy celebrated its annual function at Red Cross Bhawan. Mr A. Venu Prasad, Deputy Commissioner, inaugurated the function.

Principal Yogendra Singh and manager Rakesh Rana presented bouquets to Mr Prasad. The theme of the show, “Colour me peaceful”, was conveyed through various events, including fusion dance, Irish dance, Kashmiri dance, Pakistani dance, dandiya, peacock dance and bhangra.

The chief guest gave Sant Kirpal Singh Scholarships to Garima Duggal of Class II, Nitin Sarangal of Class III, Raghav Mahajan of Class IV, Ankush Babbar of Class V, Anisha Babbar of Class VI and Abhinav Arora of Class VII. Sant Darshan Singh Scholarship was given to Manisha Ludhra of Class VII. For regularity, Anchal Wadhwa of Class II and Anu Chauhan of Class VI received prizes.

Sports day

Eklavya School organised sports day on Saturday. Class I students opened the show with synchronization of base drum. Class II, III and IV students performed rhythmic gymnastics and floor exercises such as front roll, back roll and cart wheel. They also performed zig-zag skating and double snake using indicators. Middle-section students showed their skill in karate as they performed tile breaking.

Nursery, LKG and UKG kids participated in ring collecting, balloon bursting. For other classes, there were events like 100m race, 200m sack race, javelin throw, hammer throw and kho-kho.

Seminar

A seminar of “Socio-cultural concerns in Punjabi short stories” was organised by the Department of Punjabi of Trinity College. The keynote address was given by Dr Maninder Singh Kang of the Department of Punjabi, Guru Nanak Dev University Regional Campus.

Dr Deepak Manmohan Singh, Dean (Languages), Panjab University, was the chief guest. The participants expressed their logical and creative thoughts on men-women relationships in Punjabi society, changing cultural patterns in Punajbi diaspora and other basic social issues.

The Principal, Father Simon, released a book “Prem Parkash di katha samvedna” by Dr Kirandeep Singh, head of the department of the college.

NTSE exam

Four students of Police DAV Public School have cleared NTSE at the state level. Saumya Vij and Satnam Singh, both from Class X, and Rupinder Kaur and Sukhbir Singh, both from Class VIII, have cleared the test.

Visit

A team from the University of Colorado States under a project of NASA visited Police DAV Public School. Headed by Dr Nandini McClurg and Dr Anand Gupta, coordinator of the State Institute of Science Education, Dr Ravleen Kaur, scientist officer of the Punjab State Council for Science and Technology, interacted with students who are working on Cloud Sat programme based on watching the clouds from earth’s surface.

Students have been collecting data from their place and the place is identified by longitude and latitude.

While in all 109 countries have been participating in the programme, 10 schools have been selected from India. The students were assigned the project last year and they have been continuously in touch with NASA through the Internet. Gadgets were also given to them to promote better scientific research.

The school team comprises Suamya Vij, Raghav Vadhera, Prabhleen and Santosh. Mr Raj Kumar and Mr Navdeep Sharma have been their advisers.

Basant Panchmi

Basant Panchmi was celebrated at Seth Hukum Chand SD Public Senior Secondary School. Decorations were done in yellow which was also the dress code for students and children.

Students were told to bring yellow rice or any other food related to the festival.

Ms Manju Arora, Principal, told the students about the importance of the day.

Science expo

Hans Raj Mahila Maha Vidyalya organised a science fair, “Science Expo”, based on the theme of harnessing sciences to augment quality of life.

Dr C.S. Dey from NIPER, Mohali, inaugurated the event. In his address, he laid stress on interaction of biological sciences and introduction of systems biology approach as a subject in curriculum.

Prof A.S. Sudhan, Head, Botanical and Environmental Sciences, Guru Nanak Dev University, said that awareness must not end and understanding must lead to technology.

Charts and models on applied biotechnology and bio-informatics for human welfare and techniques for pollution control were displayed. Papers were presented on breast cancer and pre-natal diagnosis.

Sikh history

An exhibition on Sikh history at MGN Public School will conclude on Wednesday. The exhibition features 900 pictures based on the glory of Shaheedi Saka, ten Gurus, lives of Banda Bahadur, Maharaja Ranjit Singh and other Sikh warriors. Pictures have also been depicted signifying the grace of langar, sewa, kirtan, ardaas, hukumnana and kadah parshad.

Workshop

The Department of Physiotherapy from Lyallpur Khalsa College is organising a three-day workshop which will conclude on Wednesday.

Prof S. Jaysrikanth, resource person, talked about the techniques which could help in regaining functional abilities in people suffering from neuromuscular problems. Working clinical physiotherapists from various hospitals have been attending the programme.

Workshop on stress management was organised at Lovely Professional University.