The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Eco lessons are best learnt here
Kusum Arora
Tribune News Service

Ucha (Jalandhar), March 4
Students of Government High School, Ucha, situated near Jalandhar, have set a precedent in conserving environment through innovative techniques. The school is known for maintaining the best “Eco-Club” out of 250 government schools in the district.

Started under the name of Lotus Eco-Club two years back, the project is part of the national environment awareness campaign (NEAC), 2007-08, sponsored by the Punjab state council for science and technology, Chandigarh, and the ministry of environment and forest, Government of India. The students, along with in charge of the eco-club Charanjeet Singh, a science teacher, have pioneered in not one but many ways as they have planted medicinal plants, herbs, shrubs and petro plants along with a vermi-compost unit and a state-of-the-art rainwater harvesting project for collecting water.

The school has no gardener or a peon and the students water the plants voluntarily. The vermi-compost and rainwater harvesting projects have become eye catchers for all in the village. For making the vermi-compost unit, situated at the back of the school, Charanjeet bought special kind of earthworms “iseniafoetida” from the Punjab Agricultural University (PAU), Ludhiana.

Says Charanjeet, “It was very easy to begin with the concept of starting a vermi-compost unit as all it required was hay, cow dung, dry leaves and earthworms.”

Interestingly, even the villagers have now started expressing their desire to adopt the vermi-compost and rainwater harvesting projects. “Recently three farmers from our village approached us for starting a vermi-compost unit in their fields too.

The farmers have started attending our school level environment-related functions as well,” he added.

Rainwater harvesting is also being taught by the school authorities through seminars and debates. Another attraction in the school is a variety of trees planted on the school premises. These include acacia, kachnar, jamun, bottlebrush, harad, aloe vera, peppermint, tahli and ashwagandha to name a few. “It has almost become a tradition in our school to plant trees on every occasion,” maintained Charanjeet. Headmistress Amarjeet Kaur said, “It is due to lack of awareness among people that we are not able to save our environment. Now we have made it a point to include villagers in our functions as well.” Recently the school received Rs 57 lakh from the state government.

MC park becomes school playground, residents fret
Deepkamal Kaur
Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, March 4
This is one park that has remained mired in one controversy or the other time and again. Controversies have been erupting despite the fact that this MC park, popularly known as Dasehra ground, Model Town, on the back of Gurdwara Sri Guru Singh Sabha, is devoid of most facilities and is not even very well-kept.

While earlier two groups in Model Town had been on loggerheads with one opposing and other in favour of holding Dasehra mela here, but of late the major issue has been regarding allowing two adjoining schools to use the ground during school hours.

Residents of the area have lodged a complaint with the municipal corporation against Guru Amar Dass Public School and Dayanand Model School that fall on either sides of the park and got orders issued to the schools over the use of the park. The schools have even been asked to permanently lock their gates connecting the campuses with the park. Since the park continues to be used by students during school hours till today against the directions of corporation, Mamta Goel, chairman of the Model Town Park Road, has even inquired into the matter by getting a copy of the orders by filing an RTI application before the executive engineer, horticulture, MC.

The executive engineer, horticulture, in his reply, has stated that meetings have been held with the authorities of both schools and they have been asked not to send their students to the park. Atam Parkash Singh, media coordinator of Guru Amar Dass Public School, however, said the school had not received any directions of the sort.

Even Rahul Gupta, joint commissioner, MC, said the schools could use public parks for picnics but not in their daily routine. “In case the schools have been using parks as the extension of their own buildings taking it as their legitimate right, it needs to be stopped.”

Residents have pointed out that only half portion of the park had been developed keeping in view Dasehra celebrations in the remaining portion. A concrete stage set up in that portion for the event is also lying dismantled for the past few weeks as it reportedly caused obstruction in the passage created for morning and evening walkers.

Euphoria at Bhajji’s place
Kusum Arora
Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, March 4
It was feast and festivities at off-spinner Harbhajan Singh’s home when he took the decisive wicket of all rounder Australian cricketer Andrew Symonds. No sooner did India win the match that friends and well wishers of Harbhajan thronged his place with sweets.

The jubilant family members and close friends danced to the tunes of the Bhangra on the victory of Harbhajan against the rival team. On this occasion, former district Congress committee (DCC) president Tejinder Singh Bittu, accompanied by Congress workers, especially went to congratulate Avtar Kaur, mother of Harbhajan Singh, and offered sweets to the family.

Talking to The Tribune over phone, he said, “This is the triumph of Harbhajan Singh. By taking the wicket of Symonds in this crucial match against Australia, he proved his mettle once again and at the same time has given a befitting reply to the ongoing controversy of racial hatred as well”. On the other hand an extremely elated Avtar Kaur said, “I am feeling contented over the victory of India and the performance of Harbhajan in particular. It seems the match is not only the win of India but that of Harbhajan as well”.

Bittu was accompanied by DCC, vice president, Sanjay Sehgal, and working Congress workers including Pawan Talwar and Daljeet Singh Kalhon.

Dinning Den
Sweet tooth, indulge
Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, March 4
When it comes to Indian sweet “jalebi”, this place masters the recipe. So if you are a foodie and prefer Indian cuisines like “chana bhatura”, “dhokla”, “gol gappe” then perhaps “Jalebi Junction” is one of the good options. The joint is also popular for its appetising “pithi wali jalebi”, “amrati” and “paneer jalebi”.

The cooks working here are not amateurs but have been specially brought from different districts of Rajasthan, including Barmar, Jaisalmer and Jaipur, to give people the real taste. Well, it seems that this is one reason why this eating joint has managed to hook not only city residents but even people from far-flung places. Started three years ago, the owners said, “Initially we started with a pub “Glassy Junction” six years ago and it was later that we thought of starting a pure vegetarian restaurant.”

Talking to The Tribune, general manager Manoj Sharma said, “Jalebi Junction was in sync with Glassy Junction and therefore we chose this name. Above all the place specialises in pure ghee Jalebis”.

The place not only provides lip-smacking Indian cuisines but also keeps youth in mind. For youngsters Chinese and Italian dishes are a part of menu. Rajinder Singh, administration manager, said, “Keeping commuters and college students in mind, we have special ‘desi ghee poori with chana aloo’ till 11.30 in the morning.” Another notable feature of the joint is a special range of sugar-free sweets, including sumptuous “burfi kesar”, “kalakand”, “rasmalai”, “malai roll” and much more.

Young World
IG gives tips to MBA students
Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, March 4
Sanjeev Kalra, IG Jalandhar zone, interacted with the MBA second and fourth semester students of GNA-IMT Phagwara. He urged the students to be determined and adopt a goal-oriented approach for being successful in their lives. He corroborated his ideas by narrating success stories of individuals who have made a mark in their lives. President of GNA-IMT Gurdeep Sihra, principal Shelly Rekhi and other faculty members were present on the occasion.

Science Olympiad

Students of Apeejay School, Tanda Road, Aayush Gupta of class VIII and Simran Matharu of class VI have topped in the National Science Olympiad. They have secured 23rd and 44th rank, respectively, at the national level. Few months back, Rishabh Sharma, a student of class VII of the school had won a web camera as he stood first in Punjab and 10th at the international level.

Budget contest

The team of Lovely School of Business, Lovely Professional University, won the second runners up trophy in an inter-college competition on budget affairs organised at the PHD Chamber of Commerce, Chandigarh. Seven business schools of the northern region participated on the contest. Vandana Jaswal and Shilpi Bajaj were a part of the team.

Sports day

An annual sports meet of Guru Nanak Dev University College was organised at Batsi Nau. Students participated in long jump, high jump, shot put, javelin, discus throw, tug of war, matki race, sack race and musical chairs. The winners of the events were Stuti Mahajan, Benica, Navpreet, Monica, Bhavneet, Natinder, Jobanjit, Devroop, Randhir and Kamaljit.

Inter-college meet

MK College of Education, owned by the CT group, organised its first inter-college athletic meet. The athletes of eight B.Ed colleges participated in the event. The overall winners among girls were the teams of Om Parkash Memorial College of Education, Paradise College of Education and St. Soldier College of Education. Among boys, the host team won the prize followed by those of Sant Baba Bhag Singh College of Education and Lord Krishna College of Education.

Exhibition on AIDS

An interactive session and exhibition on AIDS awareness was organised at Kendriya Vidyalaya, Suranussi, by NGO Citizens’ Welfare and Protection Council and the adolescent education cell of the school. Anoop Vatts, general secretary, cautioned the students against the sources leading to the spread of the HIV virus. Principal G S Sethi gave the students tips on a positive and healthy life style. A similar lecture was also organised at KV 1 in which Vatts, D K Joshi from Doaba College and Sabina Bhasin of Jaycees Club delivered lectures on topics like drug awareness, drug abuse, mental development and communication skills.

Campus placements

Students of Frankfinn Institute of air hostess training have been placed as cabin crew with top airline companies. Karamjit Kaur has been selected with Jet Airways, Jaspreet Kaur with Kingfisher Airlines and Sandhya with Spicejet Airways.

Science seminar

The faculty of science of Kanya Maha Vidyalaya organised a seminar on ‘Planet Earth’. Three lectures were delivered on the occasion. Parminder Cheema talked about importance of water, depletion of the water table and ways to conserve water. She emphasized on re-using kitchen water for watering plants, mopping floors instead of washing and rainwater harvesting.

Letters

MC’s recovery drive

This refers to news item “MC seals beer bar building” published in these on February 29, 2008. This is perhaps for the first time that a vigorous campaign to recover arrears of house tax and to get building bylaws enforced by the owners of hotels, restaurants, beer bars, etc, has been launched by the municipal corporation in Jalandhar. What is pertinent to mention about the campaign is that the legal process is strictly being followed and brought to its logical end; and all officers of the MC, including the commissioner, are working as a devoted administrative team. It is very encouraging that the local body minister and the mayor are not only encouraging the officials but also defending them. Needless to say that all this is being done in the interest of the city and the public.

— G.S. Bal, Jalandhar

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