The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

	Problem of Plenty 36 pc pharmacy seats go abegging Deepkamal Kaur Tribune News Service Jalandhar, July 17 Even as more pharmacy colleges are being given approval by the Punjab government, filling of seats has been a major problem in these institutions in the PTU-CET counselling. While 1,605 students had appeared in the pharmacy entrance test, only 361 of the 563 seats in B. Pharma have been filled in the first counselling for the general quota. Nearly 36 per cent of the total seats remained vacant. Three of the 32 colleges of pharmacy have not been even able to fill a single seat of the total 18 general seats. These include the Baba Isher Singh College of Pharmacy, Moga, the Sachdeva College of Pharmacy, Kharar, and the newly opened Soldier Institute of Pharmacy, Jalandhar. The Malwa College of Pharmacy, Bathinda, has been able to fill just one seat. Only two of the 18 seats have been filled in the Guru Nanak Institute of Pharmacy, Hoshiarpur. Shaheed Bhagat Singh Pharmacy College, Patti, has been able to fill only three seats, while the GHG College of Pharmacy, Raikot, and the SD College of Pharmacy, Barnala, have been able to fill only four seats each. Only 50 per cent of the total colleges have managed to get all their seats filled. These 16 colleges are the Amar Shaheed Baba Ajit Singh Jujhar Singh Memorial College of Pharmacy, Ropar, the Chandigarh College of Pharmacy, Landran, the Chitkara College of Pharmacy, Rajpura, the Doaba College of Pharmacy, Kharar, the GHG Khalsa College, Gurusar Sadhar, Government Polytechnics at Amritsar, Hoshiarpur and Patiala, Indo-Soviet Friendship Pharmacy College, Moga, the Punjab College of Technical Education, Ludhiana, the Rayat and Bahra College of Pharmacy, Kharar, the Rayat Institute of Pharmacy, Railmajra, the Sai Institute of Pharmaceutical Education, Amritsar, the Swami Vivekanand College of Pharmacy, Banur, the Shaheed Udham Singh College of Pharmacy, Mohali, and the Shivalik College of Pharmacy, Nangal. Dr V.K. Arora, dean, academics, and chief coordinator of CET counselling, said more seats were likely to be filled in the second counselling to be held from August 13 onwards. Meanwhile, 5,467 seats in B.Tech got filled till today after counselling for 12,000 candidates was complete. Only 192 of the 800 candidates who had been called today have taken admission.
	Kar Sewa Anniversary Kalam to revisit Kali Bein Dharmendra Joshi/TNS Kapurthala, July 17 Former president Dr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam will visit Kali Bein again on July 27 to participate in the concluding function to mark the eighth anniversary of kar sewa of the holy Kali Bein. Confirming this, Ek Onkar Charitable Trust chairman Baba Balbir Singh Seechewal told The Tribune that Dr Kalam had confirmed to revisit the Kali Bein. Earlier recognising Baba Seechewal’s relentless work, Dr Kalam had visited the holy Bein on August 17 two years back during his tenure as President. Apart from Dr Kalam, Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and Chief Justice of Punjab and Haryana High Court Vijender Jain would also attend the anniversary celebrations on July 24 and 26, respectively, Seechewal added. Baba Seechewal said several MPs from England were also expected to participate in the week-long functions from July 20. The Baba further said painting, poem and declamation contests would be organised for students of different schools during the function to spread awareness among them against water pollution. Meanwhile, Seechewal hoped a day after his meeting with Badal that sewage treatment plants (STPs) would be set up at the earliest at Bholath and Begowal in Kapurthala district and Dasuya and Mukerian in Hoshiarpur district along the Kali Bein. These are already working at Kapurthala and Sultanpur Lodhi. It may be recalled that Baba Seechewal along with several other devotees had started the herculean task of reviving the Bein, sacred to the Sikhs for its association with Guru Nanak Dev, on July 16, 2000. The Bein had turned into a virtual sewer as several drains from Kapurthala and Hoshiarpur flowed into it. Baba Seechewal, who hails from Seechewal village in Jalandhar district, and his followers first began pulling out the weeds manually. Gradually the number of followers grew and villagers joined in the cleaning operation with tractors and mechanical equipment. During the kar sewa, not only was the Bein cleaned, but a wide road was also built on its banks.
	PPCC secy caught on fraud charge Tribune News Service Phagwara, July 17 Newly appointed PPCC secretary Darshan Lal Dharamshod has been arrested here on the charge of getting prepared his two passports in different names. Phagwara DSP H.P.S. Khakh said he had got prepared his two passports in different names of Paramjit Singh and Darshan Lal. He had also used these passports to visit Canada and the USA, he added. Besides, he stated his name as Darshan Lal in the affidavit submitted to the returning officer concerned on June 16 this year to contest the recently concluded municipal council elections in Phagwara. Khakh said an FIR had been registered against him under sections 218, 420,465, 467, 468 and 471 of the IPC and section 12 of the Passports Act at the city police station on July 10 and he was arrested on Thursday in this case. He said further investigation in the case was on.
	Granthi found murdered in gurdwara Our Correspondent Nawanshahr, July 17 Granthi Rajinder Singh of gurdwara Taposthan Sant Bazid Singh at Garh Padhana village was found brutally murdered at gurdwara premises today. According to information, the granthi had slept on the roof of gurdwara last night and did not open the doors of gurdwara on Thursday morning. When the village residents didn’t heard gurbani from gurdwara today morning they became suspicious and put up a bamboo stair to enter the premises. They found Rajinder’s body lying in the courtyard. Police officials suspect miscreants hand and said the victim was attacked with sharp-edged weapons. They said keeping in view the brutality, it appears that it could be a case of personal enmity but the incidence of breaking golak creates a doubt of being an attempt to burglary.
	Aviation club gets new lease of life Sanjay Bumbroo/TNS Amritsar, July 17 The Amritsar Aviation Club (AAC), one of the oldest flying clubs in Punjab, established in 1962, today got a new lease of life with the induction of the new Cessna 172R aircraft allotted by the Aero Club of India for training youths of the border belt of Amritsar. Amritsar deputy commissioner Kahan Singh Pannu, who is also the chairman of the club, said the aircraft had been financed by the Civil Aviation Department, Government of India, for flying training for issuing of pilot licences. He said the club would be inducting one more new aircraft within a month and the flying training would start by this month-end. Pannu said the club had been non-functional for the past one and a half years as there was no aircraft to train student pilots. He said the club was already carrying out ground classes for the student pilots under the DGCA approved chief ground instructor, an ex-wing commander of the Indian Air Force. The chairman said that already various private institutions were providing ground training to the youths of the border district in the aviation field and with the restarting of the club they would be able to give practical training to the students. Chief flying instructor Capt Rachpal Singh has brought the modern aircraft to Amritsar from Mumbai by making a refuelling halt at Ahmedabad and Hissar. He said one more pilot would be employed by the club to give training to the students in his absence. He said the admissions to the new batch were open and for the time being enrolment would be restricted only to 20 students. Talking about the security concerns Capt Singh said only class XII students (with physics and maths) would be allowed to fly the aircraft whose antecedents had been verified by the district police chief and cleared by the Union Home Ministry.
	UNIDO to help Pb in its industrial policy: Sukhbir Tribune News Service Jalandhar, July 17 The new industrial policy for Punjab is being prepared in consultation with the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO). In a press statement released here, SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal said the policy would keep interests of the entrepreneurs in mind and would be discussed with businessmen before adoption. He said the UNIDO was chosen since it a specialised organisation that aimed at promotion and acceleration of industrial development in developing countries and a draft had already been submitted to the government by the agency. Badal said it was due to the efforts of the government that the turnover of industrial goods exported from Punjab had risen to Rs 14,000 crore in the 2007-08 financial year as compared to Rs 11,797 during 2006-07. As on March 31, 2008, Rs 5,700 crore had been invested in setting up of over two lakh industrial units that were providing jobs to over 10 lakh people across the state. These units had produced goods worth Rs 38,000 crore, he added. He said the government had cleared 19 mega and super mega projects totalling Rs 16,825 crore and 18 other projects were under consideration.