The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

	Anti-encroachment drive continues Admn unfazed by Bar’s strike Varinder Walia Tribune News Service Amritsar, December 3 Unfazed by the indefinite strike by the District Bar Association following demolition of the chambers, Amritsar DC Kahan Singh Pannu today directed the authorities to launch a comprehensive anti-encroachment drive on the government as well as public properties throughout the district to implement the orders of the Punjab and Haryana High Court in letter and spirit. It may be mentioned here that the high court while pronouncing its verdict in civil writ petition of 2003 pointed out that “any public spirited person who notices that any encroachments is not being removed or being allowed to take place, shall be at liberty to institute contempt of court proceedings against the municipal authorities for their act of willful disobedience of the directions”. Presiding over a meeting to remove encroachments, both permanent and temporary, Pannu categorically said no complacency on the part of any authority concerned would be tolerated while removing the encroachments. He asked them to follow proper procedure while initiating the anti-encroachment drive and not to bow down in face of the hindrances created by the influential and persons having vested interests. He directed them to submit a detailed list of all the encroachments whether permanent or temporary within a stipulated time frame of seven days so that it could be displayed outside the DC office besides putting it on the official website of the district administration. He informed that the enforcement and monitoring committees comprising representatives of departments concerned constituted for this purpose should initiate the action with immediate effect. He directed them that in case any illegal occupant of such properties creates any obstacle in the smooth run of this drive, he should be prosecuted under the relevant provisions of the Indian Penal Code. He further said the managements of the religious places constructed illegally on such land should also be issued notices to remove their illegal construction. He also asked the PUDA authorities to display public notices in front of unauthorised colonies, to create awareness amongst general public against buying any property. He also asked them to involve public spirited persons as well as representatives of various social and non government organisations for the smooth implementation of the above anti encroachment drive in a result oriented manner. The meeting was attended by the representatives of Municipal Corporation, Improvement Trust, PUDA and municipal committees of the district.
	Hoshiarpur, Nawanshahr Bars observe strike Our Correspondent Hoshiarpur/Nawanshahr, December 3 The District Bar Association, Hoshiarpur, observed complete strike today in response to the call given by their Amritsar counterpart. R.P. Dhir, president of DBA, Hoshiarpur, strongly condemned the action of Amritsar deputy commissioner Kahan Singh Pannu in demolishing 70 chambers of advocates. Dhir demanded from Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal to put Pannu under suspension immediately, otherwise the entire advocate community in Punjab would take it as a challenge. The Nawanshahr District Bar Association also observed a complete strike here on Wednesday to express solidarity with the District Bar Association, Amritsar. The members of the DBA also observed a demonstration here to protest against the alleged highhandedness of the Amritsar district administration.
	World Disabled Day observed Jalandhar, December 3 The district Red Cross Society today celebrated World Disabled Day at Deaf and Dumb School, Maqsudan. Chief guest, commissioner of Jalandhar division, S.R. Ladhar said there are more than one lakh physically challenged children in Punjab. He urged the representatives of various NGOs to work in coordination with the state government and create awareness pertaining to their rights among the disabled people. On this occasion, the physically challenged students presented a cultural programme and participated in various sports activities. — TNS
	Mika’s Message To Terrorists ‘We are not scared of you’ Deepkamal Kaur Tribune News Service Jalandhar, December 3 In town today to perform for a musical nite “Maujan hi maujan,” pop singer Mika said he had been advised against doing the show owing to Mumbai terror attacks but he decided against it. “We all need to collectively send a message across to the terrorists that we are not scared of them,” he said as he started the show at Guru Gobind Singh Stadium asking everyone to observe silence praying for the innocent people who died in Mumbai and then beginning with the patriotic number “Mere desh ki dharti.” Mika soon made the crowds sway to his popular numbers “Oye Lucky,” “Singh is King,” “Gabru” and even the title song of the nite from movie “Jab we met.” Prior to the event, Mika addressed a press conference discussing his acting roles in his three upcoming movies. “I have in hand three movies, including a Punjabi film ‘Mitti’ that is based on the life of Punjab farmers. Unlike recent Punjabi movies based on NRIs, this will be a different stuff. The movie has been shot in Chandigarh and also some new locales in the entire Punjab belt up to Phagwara,” he said, adding that the time of release was being planned around the festival of farmers, Baisakhi. “My other films are ‘Tom, Dick and Harry’ and ‘Loot’ with Govinda, Sunil Shetty and Javed Jaffri. Another movie ‘Love.com’ that I was shooting for has been stuck in between,” he said as he expressed his opinion that the trend of cutting private albums was gone and singing with acting in movies was the new buzz. Most believe that he had been copying Sonu Nigam, Himesh Reshmiya and Harbhajan Mann, knowing little that their similar experiments had failed to click with the audiences. Asked about excessive use of abusive language in Bollywood numbers, he replied, “It is better that we learn abuses in our own languages rather than singing English songs and speaking all that trash that they use.” About the success of his latest song “Oye Lucky, Lucky oye,” he said he was proud to have sung that. “People had been telling me that I was mixing Punjabi with Hindi but that is not the case in this number. Even the music is typical Punjabi style,” he said.
	DEMOLITION DRIVE Mayor seeks shopkeepers’ help Tribune News Service Jalandhar, December 3 After the MC’s demolition exercise carried out in the Rama Mandi area, the shopkeepers today shut down their premises and set out towards the residence of the mayor to lodge their protest. They even tried to block the traffic on the Hoshiarpur highway but the dharna was lifted after the intervention of the police. At the mayor’s residence, Rakesh Rathour tried to convince them urging them to support them for the cause. “They told me that they were not served notices in time. I told them no prior intimation is required for removing encroachments and the MC was bound to follow the High Court orders. I have given them some more days so that they could wind up their remaining encroachments on their own. I have also asked them to give a written representation of their demands,” he said after the meeting. The residents and the passersby of the area have heaved a sigh of relief after the area was vacated. The shopkeepers had extended their counters several feet outside creating problems for the commuters. The area down the bridge often remained jammed because of encroachments from all sides.
	Mumbai attack: Terrorism’s effigy burnt Our Correspondent Hoshiarpur, December 3 Activists of Shiv Sena (Bal Thackeray), led by their state committee member Ranjit Rana, today took a protest march from the local Town Hall to Phagwara Chowk and burnt the effigy of terrorism there to show their resentment against the recent massacre of more than 180 innocent persons in Mumbai by terrorists. They also held Pakistan responsible for the Mumbai terrorist attack and raised slogans against it. Members of Parshuram Sena, led by their president Harish Pandit, also burnt the effigy of the central government for its failure in controlling terrorism in the country, at Darapur Bypass, Tanda, 32 km from here today. Batala: Teachers, students and staff of Baring Union Christian College (BUCC) paid tributes to those killed in Mumbai terrorist attack by lighting candles at College Chapel here today. BUCC staff secretary Itty Benjamin read a resolution condemning the terror attack and described it as brutal and inhuman act aimed at destroying the secular fabric of the world’s largest democracy and an upcoming global economy. The resolution also criticised the “lethargic and power mongering attitude of bureaucrats and politicians, which helped the terrorist to succeed in their nefarious designs.”
	Teachers protest against poll duties Our Correspondent Batala, December 3 In spite of reminder by the Punjab chief election officer for not assigning the duties of block level officers (BLO) to the teachers, the district administration issued the orders of their appointments as BLOs for the preparation of coming parliamentary elections. To show their resentment, the Elementary Teachers Union (ETU), Punjab, protested at Sati Lakshmi Smadh here today by holding a rally and raising slogans against the government. Harpreet Singh Parmar, an ETU leader, alleged that many single-teacher schools also got the letters for such duties, which would waste the precious teaching days of students. According to another leader of the union Ravinder Singh, the district administration was careless about the teaching condition and quality of education at the elementary level. Union leaders asked the district commissioner to immediately withdraw the contradictory orders from all schools of the district.