The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Paramilitary forces arriving for poll duty
Varinder Singh

Tribune News Service
Apart from the Punjab Police, paramilitary forces would also be deployed in Jalandhar for strengthening the security arrangements during polls.

At the same time, the District Administration has directed liquor vend operators to not to sell liquor in large quantities to people so that misuse of liquor in polls could be curtailed.

Addressing a joint press conference here today, Mr. A.Venu Parsad, the Deputy Commissioner-cum-district electoral officer, Mr. Naunihal Singh, SSP, Mr. S.S. Marar and Mr. Rahul Gupta, both Additional Deputy Commissioners, said that four companies of each of the CRPF, the RPF, and the Tamil Nadu Police would be deployed in Jalandhar district during the polls.

“A total of 18 companies of paramilitary forces have been allotted to Jalandhar. A total of 5968 security officials would be deployed in the district. Elaborate arrangements have been made to ensure that nobody breaks the law ,” said Mr. A.Venu Parsad and Mr. Naunihal Singh.

Elaborating details of preventing steps taken by the district administration and the police, Mr. Parsad and Mr. Naunihal Singh said that as many as 32 cases have been registered for electoral offences, while, preventive action has been taken against 231 persons under sections 107/151 of the Cr. P.C. Action has been taken against 32 persons under Section 110 of the Cr. P.C “Besides, 519 arms of people have been deposited in police stations and 40 proclaimed offenders have been arrested. History -sheets and dossiers of 26 persons have been opened. People having valid arms licences can, however, retain their weapons at their homes, but, they cannot carry their arms in public,”said Mr. Naunihal Singh.

Mr. A. Venu Parsad said violation of the Model Code of Conduct would not be tolerated at any cost. He also informed that the Punjab Minister for Local Bodies,Chaudhary Jagjit Singh, has filed his reply with the Returning Officer concerned regarding allegations of violation of poll code against him. “Jalandhar has a population of 12-13 lakhs, but, what we can say is that no effort is being spared in implementing the poll code,” said Mr. Parsad. He said special teams, comprising officials of excise and taxation and police have been formed to check misuse of liquor by candidates and their supporters.

Defacement continues

With the Election Commission acting with post haste against political parties and candidates violating the Defacement of Properties Act, several religious and educational organisations, business houses and shopkeepers are brazenly defying the Act, reports Dharmendra Joshi Barring stray violations of the Defacement of Properties Act, political parties and their candidates are adhering to the terms of the Act. The Deputy Commissioner and District Election Officer, Mr A.Venu Prasad, is taking special pains to get the Model Election Code of Conduct implemented.

Public is also appreciating the Election Commission for its strictness in implementing the Code and saving the public and private properties from electon time assaults. However, the Act is being violated in different parts of the city by certain oraganisations.

The Tribune team found during a round of the city that business houses, small shop-keepers, religious and educational institutions had put upelection related hoardings and banners.

Banners and hoardings can be seen at Phagwara Gate, Mai Hiran Gate, Model Town, Preet Nagar, Chandan Nagar, Deen Dayal Upadhaya Nagar, Gopal Nagar, Patel Chowk, Ram Nagar, Ladowali road, Sodal road, Tanda road, Hoshiarpur Adda, Nakodar road and localities around Pratap Bagh.

However, the staff of the Jalandhar Municipal Corporation is the least enthusiastic to pull down unauthorised banners and hoardings .Interestingly, a banner about Harballabh Sangeet Sammelan is still tied with electric poles on Railway Road even after a month of the Sammelan.

Meanwhile, appreciating the Election Commission for the strict implementation of Model Code of Conduct, the president of Nyay Morcha, Punjab, Mr Arun Sharma Pappu, says that the expenditure of political parties and candidates of the city on advertising material has reduced significantly during the ongoing Assembly electioneering.

What authorities say

When contacted, DC Mr. A.Venu Prasad claims that the district authorities keep on checking and removing randomly the banners and hoardings of all the organisations throughout the year. On further probing, he admits that the district administration does not have so much time to concentrate on implementation of Defacement of Properties Act in normal days, whereas during elections its main responsibility is to ensure free and fair polls by strict implementation of Code of Conduct.

Similarly, MC Commissioner Mr. Satwant Singh Johal candidly admits slackness of the law enforcing agencies in strict implementation of the defacement of properties act during normal days. He says that he wrote DO letter to police authorities recommending registration of cases over a dozen persons for violating the act much before the Model Code of Conduct came into force but no action has been taken so for. He says that its not only defacement but also encroachment done by the shopkeepers of almost all the bazaars is major concern for the MC. Public should also take care of the laws and abide by them.

Young World
Students win space competition

Tribune News Service
Students of Police DAV Public School who had been selected for the NASA’s Asian Regional Space Settlement Design competition have now cleared the semi-final round held at Gurgaon. The 12-member team of the school along with their partners Team Force, Patiala, were given the project “Earth Mass Fusion Propulsion Settlement”. They along with other four teams were given a 21-hour deadline for preparation and 35 minutes for a power point presentation. The 12 team members who had designed this project are Saumya Vij, Navdeep Kaur, Pawan Gambhir, Puneet Kumar, Sargam Badyal, Harneet Kaur, Shray Jain, Bhavneet Sharma, Bhawandeep Singh, Sagar Bhardwaj, Devshuni Chauhan and Milan Singh Solanki. The team has been guided by Mr Navdeep Sharma and Mr Karminder Singh.

Students and staff of DIPS School, Karol Bagh, Ladhewali, celebrated Republic Day.
Students of Police DAV Public School, Jalandhar Cantt, have reached the final round of the NASA's Asian Regional Space Settlement Design competition. — Photo by S. S. Chopra

Youth festival

Students of Apeejay College of Fine Arts have been declared champions in the National Youth Festival held at Chennai. The college represented Guru Nanak Dev University and has won the championship for the seventh consecutive year in a row. Apeejay students participated in all nine music items and won first prizes in six events ,including Indian group song, classical vocal, semi-classical vocal, ghazal, classical instrumental ,non-percussion and folk orchestra. Second prize came in two categories - Western group song and Western solo. Third prize was won in classical instrumental percussion.Their skit presented won the third prize. Mimicry by Ms Sugandha Mishra was placed first. On the spot collage by Ms Lalita was declared third.

Participants from various colleges in bridal dresses during an inter college 'Beauty Gala' at BD Arya Girls College, Jalandhar Cantt, on Tuesday. —Photo by S.S. Chopra

Students of Mayor World School Jalandhar, perform a Kashmiri dance during a fete on the school campus. —Photo by S.S. Chopra

Beauty contest

The Department of Cosmetology of BD Arya Girls’ College organised an inter-college beauty contest on Tuesday.Over 130 students from 12 colleges participated. The beauty gala consisted of five rounds of sari draping, hair styling, traditional and Arabic mehndi, nail art and bridal make-up. In mehndi, Sweety of Hindu Kanya College, Kapurthala, and Nancy Nagpal of PCM SD College, Jalandhar ,won prizes. Anjana of Lyallpur Khalsa College for Women and Disha of BD Arya Girls’ College were declared winners in saree draping. For hair styling, Amanpreet of KMV and Jaswinder of Guru Nanak College for Women received prizes. In nail art, Rajinder of KMV and Sukhpreet of PCM SD College were winners. Isha of PCM SD College and Sheetal of Guru Nanak College ,Nakodar, won prizes in bridal make-up.

Republic Day

Students and staff of DIPS School, Karol Bagh, Ladhewali, celebrated Republic Day. Students sang patriotic songs and dances on patriotic numbers. Ms Sarvesh Deol told the students about the importance of the day. Chairman, Mr Gurbachan Singh, and MD, Mr Tarwinder Singh felicitated the students.

Aptitude test

NIIT Ltd organised a national -level test at the CT Group of Institutes for assessing aptitude, analytical skills and IT knowledge of students. The pre-placement evaluation test was attempted by 418 students. The skills that were tested included knowledge of skills, C, C++, Java, Networking, SQL Networking, NET and Fundamentals. Nearly 50 per cent students are learnt to have cleared the test with good scores.

Inter-college fest

Lyallpur Khalsa College organised inter-college academic and cultural contest. Students of 18 colleges participated in quiz, extempore speech, choreography and group discussion. In quiz, Lyallpur Khalsa College stood first, followed by Apeejay and BBK DAV College. Extempore speech contest was won by Ambika of Hindu Kanya College, Kapurthala, Manik of BBK DAV College, Amritsar, and Gaurav of DAV College, Jalandhar. In group discussion, Arleen of the host team won the first prize while Arshpreet of Lyallpur Khalsa College for Women and Swinki of HMV College stood second and third, respectively. In choreography again, the host team clinched the first prize followed by those from KRM DAV College, Nakodar, and Guru Nanak College, Phagwara.

Placement

Lovely institutes will hold a joint campus placement on January 29 in which officials from Infosys will conduct interviews of 1800 short-listed candidates from all states. In a press conference, Mr Ashok Mittal, managing partner, said that candidates from as far as Calcutta and Hyderabad will visit the campus for a screening test. He said that 20 other companies will also hold joint campus interviews of candidates doing engineering, law and education courses.

Sports meet

Annual sports meet was organsied at MGN Public School, Urban Estate, which concluded on Tuesday. As many as 18 events were organised in which children from four houses participated and won medals. Karate show was presented by the students. Marchpast was done by the KG wing students and PT show was put up by senior children.

Republic Day

Students of Ambika Modern School held Republic Day celebrations on Thursday. An inter-house patriotic solo song competition and group song competitions were held. Sweets were distributed among the children.

Athletics championship

Two students of Police DAV Public have got medals in the CBSE National Athletics Championship held at Jamshedpur recently. Chanpreet Kaur of Police DAV Public School has won gold medal in long jump in under-16 category and Kultej Singh has won silver medal in discuss throw . In another junior open national athletics championship held at Haridwar, Kultej Singh has won gold medal in discuss throw with new national record of 41.6 mts. Chanpreet won bronze in long jump.

Six students of Police DAV Public School represented Punjab in a 12-member team that participated in national roller skating championship held at Jaipur and won third position. The team members were Harpreet Singh, Lovepreet Singh, Karanbir, Puneet Kumar, Gurpreet and Rupesh Sharma.

Extempore A Punjabi extempore competition was held for Classes VI and VIII at Police DAV Public School. Nearly 32 children participated in the contest and expressed their views on topic related to drug addiction, joint family, mother tongue Punjabi, student-teacher relationship and TV a menace. First position was bagged by Amritpal followed by Navdeep Kaur. Third rank went to Priya and Rajandeep.