NEIGHBOURHOOD

Wadali brothers weave magic
Tribune News Service

Patiala, March 10
The director Punjab Land Records A.S. Bains said the entire record pertaining to land deals taking place in the state would be computerised by December 2009. Bains was addressing a press conference after holding a meeting with the district administration officials at the mini secretariat here today.

Bains said the process would be completed at a cost of Rs 100 crore. The computerisation process was almost complete and in some districts like Patiala 90 % work had already been done. The process would make it easier for people to lay their hands on ‘fards’ (copy of land revenue record) and other vital documents, he said. Bains added that the government had opened 153 centres all over the state to enable people to collect land records and the entire computerisation process was being completed in phases.

Bassi Pathana, March 10
The Punjab minister for co-operation Capt Kanwaljit today criticised the faulty export policy of the Union government and held it responsible for the rise in prices of essential commodities. He was in town to attend the bhog ceremony of ‘Shri Akhand Path’ organised by the local Truck Operators’ Union.

“The Union government is exporting iron scrap, which has caused a steep rise in ironprices. The scrap of ship-cutting at Bhavnagar in Gujarat, earlier utilised in Mandi Gobindgarh, is now being exported. This has caused a great loss to transporters in Punjab,” said Capt Kanwaljit..

Fatehgarh Sahib, March 10
Lovejeet Singh from DAV, Jalandhar, and Jassica of RIET, Phagwara, were adjudged the best athletes of the 11th athletics meet of Punjab Technical University (PTU), Jalandhar, which concluded on the premises of the Baba Banda Singh Engineering College (BBSEC) here yesterday.

The boys of Guru Nanak Dev Engineering College, Ludhiana, bagged the title of best athletics team and the girls of RIET, Phagwara, secured the top slot at the meet. While giving away the prizes to the winners, the SGPC chief Avtar Singh Makkar said inter-college athletic meets provided a platform for the students to prove their talent and also paved way for their selection to represent the country in the international arena.

On the second day of the meet, cabinet minister Captain Kanwaljit Singh was the chief guest while ‘Flying Sikh’ and Padam Shri Malika Singh was the guest of honour. College Principal Dr M.S. Grewal said 600 athletes of 60 colleges participated in the meet.

Other results: 1500 m (boys): 1 Lovejeet Singh, DAVIET, Jalandhar, 2 Sunil Saini, SVCP, Banuringh, 3 Sunil Kumar, GGSCET, Talwandi Sabho.

Shot put: 1 Rahul, BCET, Ludhiana, 2 Gagandeep Singh, CEC Landran, 3 Manmohan Singh, GNDEC, Ludhiana.

Long Jump final: 1 Ranjeet Singh, GNDEC, Ludhiana, 2 Taranjeet Singh, GTBIMT, Dhakha, 3 Ravinder Singh, GNDEC, Ludhiana.

100 m: 1st Daljit Singh GZSCE, Bhaddal, 2nd Uinder Singh St soldier Jalandhar, 3rd Sandeep Singh GNDEC Ludhiana. Girls (400 m): 1 Jassica, RIET, Phagwara, 2 Suratitiman GJSEC, Bhaddal, 3 Kiranveer Kaur, RIMT; 800 m: 1 Jassica Parmar, RIET, Phagwara, 2 Ranjodh Kaur, GNDEC, Ludhiana, 3 Seetal Devi, RIMT-IMCT, Mandi Gobindgarh.

Long jump: 1 Jassica Parmar, RIET, Phagwara, 2 Sawneet Kaur, IET, Bhaddal, 3 Swati Kaur, GZSCET; 100 m: 1 Jyotsama Sharma, RIET, Phagwara, 2 Parminder Kumar, CEC, Landran, 3 Sumanda, DBC, Mandi Gobindgarh.

Shot put: 1 Mandeep Kaur, DBEC, Gobindgarh, 2 Avneet Kaur, RIET, Ropar, 3 Archpriest Kaur, LLRIET, Moga. 

Ambala, March 10
A couple of days after International Women’s Day was celebrated, Anita Misra, a resident of Baldev Nagar, Ambala City, has stood up against the evil of dowry. Anita refused to marry Pardeep Kumar just a few minutes before the wedding was to be solemnized today morning.

Her decision came in the wake of the groom’s family demanding more dowry. The groom, his uncle Satyanaryan Jha and his son Rajiv Jha were later handed over to the police after the respective families failed to reach a compromise. According to police officials the groom’s family had already taken dowry, however, just before the wedding at around 5 am they demanded another one lakh rupees.

ASI Kulwant Singh said a FIR has been lodged against the three persons and a case of manhandling and demanding dowry under sections 406/498-A/504 of IPC has been registered at the Baldev Nagar police station. The trio will be produced in court tomorrow.

Chandigarh, March 10
Pakistan fast bowler Mohammad Sami, who had joined the rebel Indian Cricket League (ICL) bandwagon, apprehended that the cancellation of Pakistan tour by Australia team would also affected the forthcoming Asia Cup to be held at Pakistan.

Sami, who is now a part of ICL’s newly formed team Lahore Badshah, reached here today afternoon with his teammates.

“The refusal of Australian team to tour Pakistan is a great setback for the game as well as the Pakistani cricketers. I am afraid that it (the cancellation) could also affect the Asia Cup tournament, which is scheduled to be held in the country in June”, said Sami.

The Australians called off the tour on the pretext of security threat. Any team can also raise the issue after two months, added Sami while maintaining that the home team lost the chance to play with the top team, which was a loss to the cricketers as well as the Pakistani cricket lovers.

However, the former Pakistani bowler was of the view that the team was unnecessarily scared to visit Pakistan. “When the government had assured the security of the visitors, they should have faith on it”, Sami said.

On the forming of new team by ICL officials comprising all Pakistani players, the 24-year-old player said it would add zing to the tournament.

“One can’t ignore the fact that the match involving India and Pakistan teams, attract the attentions of the whole world. With coming up of the Pakistani team in the league, definitely the game would become more competitive. All Pakistani players are ready for the challenge as we had toiled hard together on nets for over a week at Hyderabad”, said Sami.

With a number of Pakistani players joining the rebel league, Sami feels that the current Pakistan team has suffered. “But, we all are hoping that Pakistan Cricket Board would again give us chance to play for the country as we have did nothing wrong as professional cricketers”. 

Chandigarh, March 10
Come summer and the greens of the Chandigarh Golf Club once again beckon the 6 to 14 kids to learn the basics of the game from the EGTF certified coach Ajay Gujral.

The first EGTF junior golf-coaching programme for 2008 will be conducted on the driving range of the club from March 29 to June 29.

The three-month programme will see the kids converge on the range on Saturdays and Sundays from 4.30 pm to 5.30 pm to learn the basics and hone their skills on the greens.

The training programme will include driving off the tee, iron play, short game shots, playing from the bunkers and putting. Golf rules and etiquette will also be taught to inculcate discipline among the kids which will give them the confidence to play on any golf course in the country.

Ajay Gujral said once the kids learn the basics they would participate in putting and chipping competitions which will carry prizes of golf caps, golf balls, golf gloves etc worth Rs 10,000.

Talking about the benefits of such junior camps, Ajay Gujral said: “Once the youngsters develop the basic golf skills, those skills last a lifetime. It is not just golf but also the bond that develops among juniors at such camps”.

Girls and boys in the age group of 6 to 14 years can attend the three-month summer camp and contact Ajay Gujral at the Chandigarh Golf Club.

Chandigarh, March 10
A multi-speciality health camp was held at E.S.I. dispensary, Sector 29, on Saturday. The camp inaugurated by Krishan Mohan, UT health-cum-home secretary, was organised by the health department, Chandigarh administration, in collaboration with the ESI corporation, Chandigarh.

On the occasion, director health services Manjit Singh Bains stressed upon the need for prevention of physical, mental and occupational hazards amongst industrial workers. Doctors from medicine, surgery, orthopaedics, paediatrics, skin, eye, ENT and dental departments examined around 700 insured persons and their dependents.

Earlier, during the ESI services fortnight celebrations, doctors from the ESI dispensary delivered talks on the importance of health to industrial workers at their work places and distributed health education pamphlets.

Chandigarh, March 10
Two motorcyclist robbed a man of his belongings after assaulting him in Sector 22, last night.

Deepak Kaith of Sector 22-A, a superintendent in the office in the SDM (East), reported to the police alleging that two unidentified motorcyclists waylaid him near Sector 22 and 23 Traffic Lights Point in the wee hours today. He told the police that he disembarked from the bus and was on his way back home.

The youngsters, in their early twenties, demanded biri from him, which he did not have. He moved ahead, but they hit him on the back of his head with some object following which he fell and suffered an injury on his shoulder. The assailants snatched his bag containing Rs 1300, a mobile phone and some document. He was later admitted to the hospital.

Chandigarh, March 10
The police today arrested three persons, accused of murdering a Mauli Jagran resident in the wee hours of Monday. Interestingly, the police said the victim and one of the accused, Lakhan Muradabadi, were distant relatives.

According to the SHO of the Manimajra police station, inspector Hari Kumar, the police received information last night that the trio, Lakhan Muradabadi, Papu, alias Papuya, and Sanjay, alias Gunga, were hiding in the jungle area near Saketri village. The police conducted raids in the area, but could not trace them. This morning, the police again received a tip-off that the trio was hiding in the jungle area following which raids were conducted there. The police finally managed to nab the accused at around 2:30 pm.

The SHO said the accused during preliminary interrogation admitted that they had assaulted Papu and Satpal. However, they claimed that only three of them were there when the incident took place. They told the police that a minor altercation was the immediate provocation.

They would be produced before a local court tomorrow. The police handed over the body to the family after the postmortem. 

Chandigarh, March 10
How long should it take for a cash-rich public sector behemoth like BSNL to release payment for the work given on contract by it? You might say three to six months.

Well, ask Tejinder Tuli, who has been running from pillar to post to get his payments released from BSNL for the past two years. His software-solution firm was allotted various works between May 2005 and November 2006, but even after the work was finished by his firm, he is awaiting the release of his payments worth over Rs 1 lakh by BSNL.

Though officials in BSNL contend that in one case, his payment has been held back because he failed to finish the work allotted to his company, they fail to clarify why the payments for the remaining works had not been released. M K Singh, DGM, BSNL said it was routine that the payments were delayed in the case of discrepancies in work done by the contractor. “This contractor had left the work allotted to him unfinished. However, I have asked the officer concerned to expedite Tuli’s case and release the dues for the work that he has done,” he says.

Tuli, on the other hand, says that it is only because he failed to toe the officers’ line that he is being harassed. He says that though he left the work in between because of the harassment meted out to him, he has been asking BSNL for payment of his earlier contract. “A senior official had asked me to do some work in another central government office in Sector 31, free of cost. That work was time-consuming and required a lot of manpower. When I refused to do the work, he started putting objections on my file,” he rues.

Denying that Tuli was being victimised, M K Singh said that he had already asked the officer concerned to release payment for the work that had been done by him.

Tuli was allotted work for making data entry for the mobile numbers of BSNL in May 2005. “This work was completed in five months, but I was given payment for only three months. Since August 2005, I have been regularly giving reminders, but to no avail. Next year, in 2006, I was again allotted work for making CCN entry of mobile numbers - working mobile numbers (at the rate of Rs 2.10 per entry) and non-working numbers (at the rate of Rs 1.60 per entry). This work was allotted on the basis of quotations invited from different vendors. By November 2006, we finished making the entry for all working mobile numbers and asked the officer to release part payment, when he asked me for the favour. When I expressed my helplessness to do the work, he started harassing me,” he alleges.

Chandigarh, March 10
Employees of various public sector banks today renewed their threat to go on an indefinite strike if the Indian Banks Association (IBA) failed to accept their demands by May 31.

"If the IBA does not come out with a solution with regard to our demands within three months, ending on May 31, we will be left with no option but to adopt an agitational path. And this time, we will observe an indefinite strike," All-India Bank Officers' Confederation general secretary Amar Pal said here today during the 8th Triennial General Council meeting.

Agitating bank employees had abandoned their two-day strike called on February 25-26 following an agreement between the apex bankers' body IBA and United Forum of Bank Unions. Bank employees have been demanding one more option for pension to provident fund optionees, besides opposing merger of SBI associate banks with itself. They are also seeking appointments on compassionate grounds, besides protesting outsourcing. Highlighting major demands, Pal said, "We strongly demand from the government to allow one more option to employees for opting for pension. As per our assessment, the total expenditure on allowing one more option for pension would entail just Rs 5,000 crore which will benefit 2.5 lakh employees," he said.

Chandigarh, March 10
Remember Ayushman Khurana, the local lad who always made news for his multi-talents, be it his acting prowess, his singing style or his triumph in the MTV Roadies. Now, three years later, his younger brother, Aparshakti, needless to say, in his brother’s footsteps, is all set to be a “Campus Star”.

A student of five-year law at the Rayat and Bahra College near Ropar, Aparshakti is the only one to have qualified from the region as one of the ten finalists in the Channel V’s reality show, Campus star. The show, which goes on air from March 11, had students across the country audition for the show, online as well as in their own campus. The criterion was simple. One who has the maximum talents qualifies. So, our city boy, send a video to the channel showing playing a guitar, singing, beating the dhol, mimicking. He was instantly short-listed among the 24 qualifying students from different colleges in the country. So what does it mean to be the campus star, we ask? “ Being a campus star, one is supposed to be a jack of all traits”, he laughs.

What followed was a series of quiz competitions, brain games, dancing, acting and even dating competitions between the contestants to win the title. After all, the winner walks with Rs five lakh in cash and the college gets a make over done. No wonder, his college is all out in his support, what’s’ with attendance and lectures. To top it all, to garner votes for him, that would ultimately make him the winner, the college notice boards and bulletins are all full of his voting details.

Giving a lowdown on the show, he says, the set of the show is in the form of a campus and the principal is none other than the famous VJ, ‘Lola Kutty’, he says. So, here’s wishing him success.