Jalandhar, May 31
Creativity has no limits. For Kuldeep Singh Nagla, a lecturer in the department of instrumentation and control engineering at Dr B.R. Ambedkar national institute of technology, being creative is not limited to a particular field.

After carving a niche for him by engineering low-budget robots, Nagla, also in charge of the robotics department at the institute, took a step ahead by chiseling out unique designs of wooden sculptures.

Nagla possesses a large collection of drift wood pieces that resemble dragons, pythons, swans, parrots and other living objects.

His residence, situated in the staff colony of the institute, is nothing less then an art gallery.

Rare, well-finished wooden sculptures hanging on the walls, placed on a corner stand, showcases and even walls of the verandah are present there.

But it is a huge sculpture depicting a man offering prayers by bending on his knees that catches the attention.

Not only the sculpture has perfect clean cuts and apt curves but also created on a single block of sheesham wood.

Despite all the perfections, this sculpture is not the one, which is dearest to Nagla.

“There is another sculpture of a human figure, the design of which I am getting patented. I have already applied for it and hope it gets through”, he shows the sculpture requesting it not to be clicked until it is protected.

There is yet another unique structure, which the amateur artist displays. “This is a scrap sculpture made out of five different parts of a truck, including its axle and oil pipes which I collected from a scrap dealer”, he points out to a helmeted frail man’s figure, which he calls ‘drug addict’.

In fact, Nagla has given very interesting names to all his sculptures. A pair of swans is christened “Jhuki jhuki si nazar” after one of the swan with its head bend down. There is another sculpture titled ‘Jago’ with a woman carrying a pitcher, with lights around its edges, on her head.

“Since my school days I was interested in making sculptures. While roaming in my village near Dasuya, I used to collect wooden pieces.

“Later I would carve them into different shapes. Now I have a huge collection of wood cutting and finishing tools which help in creating a perfect sculpture,” he said.

Nagla has a unique story for each crafted piece of wood. “Most of these are parts of roots of various trees which I found trekking at hill stations. Some of them have also been picked up from wood cutters at Kartarpur”, he said adding that a number of time he had taken their help in learning the art.

For Nagla the craft of sculpturing is a form stress buster coupled with passion. “At times when I come home tired of my job, I relieve myself by doing sculpturing work. Even my wife and two children join me in finishing the structures with sand papers”.

However, one thing that hurts Nagla the most is the short shelf life of these sculptures.

“Many of these get infested despite care and use of medicines”, he points out to a damaged figure ‘Union is strength’ that shows a Muslim and a Hindu standing hand in hand.

Phagwara, May 31
With ever-swelling population and vehicular traffic, residents of the town have started feeling the need for early completion of the Satnampura rail overbridge to avoid traffic congestion and risk to human life, especially at level crossings adjoining railway station.

Lack of traffic sense and undue haste have already resulted in many fatal accidents here. Three lives have been lost in the past one week at different level crossings in the town.

The Tribune found that the congestions at the level crossings were a routine. As the two level crossings were situated in the proximity of the railway station, they often remained closed.

Sources in the railway say the authorities have recently made it necessary that all level crossings adjoining a railway station should be closed during the arrival of a train.

Vehicular traffic here has ever been swelling as the two roads joined the town with surrounding villages and towns, including Satnampura and Hadiabad.

It becomes more hazardous when vehicle owners try to cross the level crossing hurriedly even when some train might be approaching.

Vehicle owners choose to take risk by pushing their vehicles under the stop bars, even ignoring the train which is fast approaching at times.

This happens more on occasions when the crossing is opened for a brief interval after the train has stopped at the station and is about to leave. Courtesy some elements, who have broken wires meant to hinder the traffic, some two-wheelers have been dragged by the speeding trains leaving the drivers dead.

Besides, these local level crossings, there are some others which are still unmanned.

Two persons, Kashmir Singh of Jalandhar and an unidentified farmer, died in two separate accidents on May 27 when they were crossing the rail track at Saprod and Mauli villages, respectively, last week.

The level crossing that is supposed to be opened on request had been left open some time by the gateman at the time of arrival of the train.

The residents have urged the local administration and the railway authorities for an early completion of the Satnampura railway overbridge, which has been hanging fire for the past five years, so that the traffic congestion can be checked.

Phagwara, May 31
Rajpal, a Bollywood actor and Phagwara resident, died of cardiac arrest in Mumbai on Tuesday night. He had worked as villain in “The Train” starring Rajesh Khanna, “Tere Mere Sapne” of Dev Anand, “Geeta Mera Naam” starring Sadhna, “Chirag” of Sunil Dutt, “Ulfat” of Raj Kumar, “Beiman” and “Sanyasi” of Manoj Kumar. He had a great combination with renowned film director R.K. Nayyar, husband of actress Sadhna, who gave him opportunity in several films.

Prominent citizens of Phagwara, including the Aman Committee president M.L. Kaura, a close associate of Rajpal, paid a visit to Rajpal’s ancestral house in Phagwara.

He said Rajpal (whose real name was Dharampal Khurana) was popularly known as “Pal Painter” in the town as he was also a painter by profession. And during his tough days, the actor had served as godown keeper in Punjab National Bank.

The actor had played roles of “Kekayi” and “Sharupnakha” in Ram Lila organised in Phagwara for several years.

Phagwara, May 31
The Phagwara police on Wednesday arrested three proclaimed offenders, Vinod Kumar, Ashok Kumar and Vipin Kumar, against whom a case of dowry harassment was registered in the year 2005. The trio was arrested from Amritsar.

The Phagwara police registered a case following a complaint of Kapil Dev Nayyar, father of the dowry victim Dipika and resident of Mehli gate colony. In his complaint, Nayyar stated that his daughter got married to Vinod Kumar in October 2003.

“At the time of marriage we had given the couple a motorcycle, gold jewellery and some household articles. Around Rs 3.5 lakh was spent on solemnising the marriage along with catering to the demands of the groom’s side,” said the complainant.

“However, immediately after the marriage Vinod started forcing Dipika to bring in more dowry. Often provoked by his father Ashok and brother Vipin, he used to beat Dipika.

The beatings grew after she refused to bring a car demanded by the in-laws. When the condition grew worse we brought her to Phagwara with us,” said Nayyar.

They had been evading arrest since 2005 and were declared proclaimed offenders by the local court on November 21, 2006. 

Phagwara, May 31
Five members of a family at Lakhpur village were hospitalised here on Wednesday with suspected food poisoning after they had dinner at their home on Tuesday night.

A doctor at the local civil hospital said that every patient was out of danger and the cases were suspected to be of food poisoning.

Members, identified as Gurmit Kaur, Manjinder Kaur, Mandeep Kaur, Jatinder Kaur and Rupinder Kaur, were taken to the hospital by their neighbours.

Besides vomiting and loose motion, patients complained of drowsiness.

Jalandhar, May 31
To mark World No Tobacco Day, school and nursing institute students took out rally here today.

The rally proceeded from ITI near Red Cross Bhawan and passed through various streets to finally conclude at the same venue.

Students were holding placards that had pictures showing harmful effects of tobacco products.

Addressing the students, deputy commissioner Ajit Singh Pannu referred to a WHO report and said 25 lakh people dye every year due to consumption of tobacco.

He pointed out, “70 per cent of these people were dying after acquiring mouth and lung cancer.”

The deputy commissioner said more than 20 to 25 per cent of people who have heart trouble were tobacco consumers thus establishing a co-relation.

The DC also called for a strict implementation of a law prohibiting smoking of cigarettes at public places. Dr J.P. Singh, civil surgeon, and Dr G.S. Nagi, assistant civil surgeon, also addressed the students.

Meanwhile, with a view to creating awareness about the harmful effects of tobacco, Sofi Pind-based State Public School organised a function to mark World No-Tobacco Day on its campus on Thursday. 

Phagwara, May 31
Alarmed over increasing incidents of passengers being drugged and looted in the trains, the Railway Protection Force (RPF) has initiated steps to ensure safety of the passengers. Addressing passengers at Phagwara railway station, S.K. Rana, assistant commandant, RPF, asked them to not accept any eatables from unidentified persons and be vigilant while travelling.

"We have also decided to screen tickets of passengers and keep a complete record, including their addresses, phone numbers, if any, and other details,” said Rana. Also special check would be kept at important and vulnerable stations. The number of sniffer dogs will be increased. Training centres are also being upgraded to improve quality of training to RPF personnel. The Railway Protection Force Academy at Lucknow has already been upgraded as a centralised training institute.

It has also launched intensive public awareness campaign alerting and educating all passengers to be cautious of any unidentified, unclaimed suspicious objects lying on platforms and in coaches. 

Phagwara May 31
Are the people satisfied with the working of the civil and police administration? It seemed from a subdivisional-level sangat darshan held by Phagwara SDM Amarjit Paul here on Tuesday.

Although more than 10 officers belonging to various departments were present at the sangat darshan, only three persons came with their complaints and all three complaints were solved on the spot.

The SDM while talking to newsmen said here this evening that the administration usually solved the people’s grievances daily and this was the reason that people were feeling satisfied. He said that now a district-level sangat darshan programme would be organised at Bholath on June 5, Sultanpur Lodhi on June 7 and Phagwara on June 14.