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Leaders march for God’s sake
Jalandhar, March 27 The shobha yatra , organised by the Ram Navmi Utsav Committee, headed by Vijay Chopra, brought likes of Rajinder Kaur Bhattal (Congress), Sukhbir Badal (SAD), Avtaar Henry (Congress) together on the Hind Samachar Ground for the sake of Lord Rama. They put aside their public postures and rivaliries and chatted with their adversaries. For a moment, they gave an impression that Punjab was all about political harmony . If Sukhbir indulged himself in a freewheeling chat with his “opponents”, Bhattal responded with equal ease. The Shobha Yatra started at noon from the Sri Ram Chowk after Pooja and concluded at the Company Bagh Chowk in the evening. Nearly, 200 fully bedecked tableaux on various aspects Ram leela moved along with thousands of followers in the city. What added a tinge of harmony to the event was presence of a large number of Muslims, led by Sayeed Yakub Hussain Naqbi, and Sikhs. Followers of Lord Rama chanted hymns as they moved ahead with “jhaankis”. Shopkeepers and others organised nearly 200 langars en-route. The procession passed through Patel Chowk, Adda Hoshiarpur, and Mandi Road. A group of Ahmadiya Muslims from Quadian also participated. Earlier, a similar Shobha Yatra was organised from Sri Devi Talaab Temple on Monday by the Sri Devi Talaab Temple Committee, headed by Shital Vij. Apart from Vijay Chopra and Avinash Chopra, others who, participated in today’s Shobha Yatra included, the Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, Captain Kanwaljit Singh, Ajit Singh Kohar, Manoranjan Kalia, Jagbir Brar, Sarbjit Makkar, Avinash Chander, Gurdeep Singh Bhullar, all three MLAs, Rana Gurjit Singh, MP, former minister Avtaar Henry, former MLA Chaudhary Santokh Singh, former minister Dr. Baldev Raj Chawla, Jagadguru Sankracharya Divyananda Sarswati, Baba Kashmira Singh and Kumar Swami.
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Mayor speak
The Municipal Corporation led by Mayor Surinder Mahey has completed its five- year term.
Deepkamal Kaur quizzed the mayor on the role of the civic body in improving street lights, roads, water supply, sewerage, garbage removal and removing
encroachments. This is what he had to say; How far have you improved civic amenities? We have been able to provide clean drinking water in 95 per cent of the total area by installing 171 tubewells. Sewerage work was 50 per cent done at the time we took over .It is now 68 per cent complete. We began constructing a flyover on the Domoria Bridge which is nearing completion. Railway over bridges (ROBs) on the DAV College railway line and on the Maqsudan line have also begun . We have laid bricks in slum lanes. Residents complain that there are not enough street lights. If at all they are there, these remain on in the day and do not light up in the night. Many also complain that these have been installed in front of the houses of VIPs. A. You can come to my place and see that there is no street light in front of my house. If you find street lights on in the day, it is because of repair work being done. The corporation has, in fact, installed 4200 new points in the city, nearly double the number that was there till the previous term. Water supply is still a problem . In summers, most areas remain parched. What do you say to that? Population is increasing and the city is expanding. The demand has clearly shot up but not the supply. People here lack civic sense. Even when they know that water is in short supply, they would keep on wasting it indiscriminately. When I took over , there were just 118 tubewells in the city, many of which were not even working. But I got as many as 171 more new tubewells dug up. New roads were laid in most parts of the city just a year back ,but most of these have cracked and sunk at many places . Why so? It has rained heavily throughout March. Since the city does not have a storm sewer system for immediate draining out of rain water, the roads tend to get washed out. The storm sewer has been laid along Mahavir Marg and few other places only. In case, we are back to power, he would get the system installed everywhere. A much-publicised solid waste treatment plant put up on contract at Wariana village for disposal of organic waste has been a total failure. What went wrong ? We asked the Panjab University authorities to test and approve the organic manure prepared at the plant so that it could be certified and sold out. But they have said that this would take at least three years which is too long a time. Now we have proposed to the Central government to fund the project which would roughly cost Rs 45 crore. Till a new plant comes up, we are forced to dump the untreated waste at Wariana or Chogitti. Unauthorised colonies and encroachments
have mushroomed in the city. Vendors and squatters too have been a problem. Why have you not been able to check it out? There is no policy on regulating unauthorised colonies, so we cannot help it. We had launched a massive demolition drive to remove a sizable number of encroachments. But the moment we turn our attention to other emerging issues, new encroachments take place. Even ramps outside houses are an encroachment. We have time and again moved the vendors out but they return to business. A lot of manpower is required to check the problem. A large number of unipoles have been erected which are a serious traffic hazard. The opposition has raised the issue time and again. Why don’t you pull them down? Unipoles have been the largest source of income for the MCJ. These will help the corporation earn Rs 32 crore in due course of time ,generating an annual income of Rs 5 crore. When I joined this office, the total annual income was barely Rs 3 lakh per annum.
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Students attend night camps
Tribune News Service
Jalandhar, March 27 The thrill of spending the night together and sharing an informal atmosphere with their teachers was an altogether different experience for the students. Session
An effective English language teaching workshop was organised at Innocent Hearts School. Neerja Jain from Chandigarh was the resource person. She stressed on organising group activities for children and conducting lessons in networks for class I to VIII. Workshop
The postgraduate department of commerce of Hans Raj Mahila Maha Vidyalaya organised a workshop on research methodology. Harmeet Kaur Soch, senior lecturer, department of commerce and business management, Guru Nanak Dev University, talked about various methods of research such as those using scales and reliabilities, true score model, factor analysis and attitudinal and advertising research. Lecture
The department of mathematics of Kanya Maha Vidyalaya organised a lecture on “Nuggets of vedic mathematics”. Ashish Arora, a lecturer of the department, said methods given in veda could solve present day problems related to mathematics. Farewell
Hans Raj Mahila Maha Vidyalaya organised a farewell party for over 300 postgraduate students. A cultural programme was organised. Various games were played. Contest
Fancy dress competition was organised at Sant Baba Bhag Singh International School, Padhiana. Over 100 students participated in various themes, including environment, child labour and patriotism.
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Tridents celebrates silver jubilee
Jalandhar, March 27 The Squadron Commodore Commandant, Air Marshal SC Mukul, presided over the celebrations. Several senior serving and retired personnel of Tridents also attended the functions. A number of welfare programmes were organised during the silver jubilee celebrations.
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Sukhbir seeks aid for
farmers from PM
Jalandhar March 27 Sukhbir Singh Badal, the working president of the SAD ,said that the state government has already announced a compensation of Rs. 5000 for an acre to hailstorm -hit farmers. The SAD has also taken up the matter relating to introduction of the proposed crop insurance scheme in Punjab to save farmers from natural disasters. “As an MP, I have already written a letter to the Prime Minister about
it," said Sukhbir Badal.
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Schools woo students
Jalandhar, March 27 While the concept of foreign collaborations for imparting dual degree or certification has of late been tried by several colleges and universities, it has now transcended down to the lower levels with some nursery schools too catching it up for using it as a gimmick. Kapurthala road-based Ambika Modern School has been advertising that any child of the age two to five years taking admission to their ABC Montessori would get an American certification. The school authorities have been telling that they had collaborated with Academy of Brilliant Child, Florida, the certification of which would be recognised globally. “Because of such a wide recognition, the child will be more confident”, claims principal Navita Puri. “Our methodology is based on foreign lines for we believe in clearing the concepts. We have bought equipments worth Rs 2 lakh. “It includes bars for understanding the idea of 10s, 20s and 30s, help the children differentiate between hot and cold, tie laces and dig out alphabets hidden under the sand. There is no pressure and no books but just activities using work sheets”, she said. The principal also plans to extend the certification to classes I and II next year as she tells that this collaboration had been done upto the UKG level as of now. Cambridge International School for Girls at Urban Estate too has been selling the idea that it had tied up with the University of Cambridge. The authorities have been claiming that the students taking admission in the school would not have to clear IELTS or any other examination to move abroad.
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Biswas gets award
Jalandhar, March 27 The artist’s entry ‘Expression-2007’ was one of the 11 sculptures awarded from a total of 480 pieces. Biswas is the only artist from Punjab whose work has received this recognition. His work was adjudged by prominent art critic Keshav Malik, sculptor Ram V. Sutar, graphic print designer Paramjit Singh and Padma Vibhushan Satish Gujral, who also presented him the award Using the technique of metal casting, the Bengal-based sculptor used scrap iron, brass and waste crucibles to design his 3-feet tall piece. “I found two pieces of the waste material which had some exaggeration that made for lips. Eyes were cast out of waste and so was the hand. Iron nails were then embedded into the head to further enhance it”, he explained its making as he mentioned that conceptualisation was a much longer process. Biswas has received a cash prize of Rs 15,000. He is now awaiting the declaration of winners’ list in drawing section which is expected to be out tomorrow. Four years back, he had won prize in the drawing section and is pinning hopes on getting it again this time.
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Satti sings
Jalandhar, March 27 The cassette titled “Pingh da Swing” has eight songs based on poetry. Addressing the press conference, she said that her album mirrored her mind and spirit. “Neither am I an artist nor a singer. Destiny had always wanted me to stay close to the stage and amuse the listeners with my poetry. This time I have tried to come out with a music album and I hope that the audiences will like it”, she said. “My music director Gaurav Dyal has tried to help me perfect in certain nuances and get the best out of me. The songs have been penned by lyricists Shamsher Sandhu, Satta Kotli Wala, Pali Raipur, Deep Allachorian, Sharanjit Fidda and Nek Barang”, she said.
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Army teams improve game at Sansarpur
Sansarpur, Jalandhar, March 27 Apart from 20 Lancers, the teams of Sikh Centre, 3 JAK Rif and 16 Sikh also practice with the players of the Karam Chand Thappar Academy here. The teams are here to prepare for the brigade tournaments beginning next month . Interestingly, the visitors are playing under-14 members of the academy. On an average the visitors lose to the academy by4-5 goals. Sepoy Girrabbha of 20 Lancers says, “We are learning a lot about the game from them. Even though we are defeated everyday but our confidence is up.” “Bache bahut tez hai khelne mein, pata hi nahi chalta kab ball leke nikal jaate hai,” said Sub Raju Gurum of 3 JAK Rif. “We had come to Jalandhar as some members of our team had to be taken from this station. We were told that we should practice with these children if we wish to improve our game,” he said. Interestingly, the team that loses everyday to the children had won the brigade tournament last year. Major Vikram Rai, of 20 Lancers, who hails from Jalandhar ,said “This small village has produced innumerable hockey players of international standard. I had specially requested my commanding officer to send us to this place so that we can take lessons from the players, both kids and seniors, to improve our game. Here everyone is a coach in his own way,” added Rai with a chuckle. parvinder@tribunemail.com
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Jalandhar, March 27 “Though the shortage of electricity is there, the wrong planning of the previous government has led to surging of loan of the PSEB to a whopping Rs 10,500 crore.” — TNS
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