Jalandhar, March 13
Pre-empting a low turnout of candidates for admission to professional courses because of the prevailing economic conditions, Punjab Technical University officials have geared up to find solutions to the seemingly impending problem.

The PTU authorities have coined a admission slogan, “Go Global, Go Rural”. The officials believe that there could not be a major let-up in admissions from urban areas, for many city students look forward to go to top colleges of the country through AIEEE or even try moving abroad.

But the students from relatively untapped and conservative countryside or those from somewhat under-developed countries could play a pivotal role in raising the admission tally of the university substantially.

Taking a first major leap in this direction, the university has formed a new international cell to be headed by Deputy Dean (Examination) Sarabjit Singh. The cell will help the university attract foreign students and act as a facilitation centre for them as they come up with their queries or look for guidance on taking admission in affiliated colleges of the university.

The cell will hold its first major programme on March 24 at the Punjab College of Technical Education (PCTE), Ludhiana, a PTU-affiliated college that has nearly 40 African students, the maximum strength of foreign students in any affiliated college.

“The idea will be to encourage them to bring their siblings, cousins and friends to PTU colleges by ensuring requisite facilities for them on campus, in hostels and canteens,” said Sarabjit Singh.

“There are other colleges as well that have one or two students from Nepal, Kenya and other countries. Most such colleges fall in the periphery of Chandigarh. We will try to reach out to them as well to get new admissions in this session,” he added.

Meanwhile, the PTU officials have also been looking into proposals to start offshore campuses and run them on distance-education mode. However, no clear-cut mechanism has been worked out on it till date.

Amritsar, March 13
Government Medical College Principal Dr Jagdish Gargi today asked the authorities to forward the complaint to the police for the registration of a case against one of the students in the yesterday’s clash between two groups.

Confirming this, Dr Gargi said Ramveer, an old final-year student (intern) and classmate of Bhupen, was found prima facie guilty of thrashing and beating up Jagroop, a student of new final year. He said the enquiry conducted by Dr R.S. Sharma pointed out that the eve-teasing was the main cause of dispute between the two groups.

Bhupen and Jagroop were left after strict warning, while Rohit, Prateek and Mehtab, the three main accused of alleged eve-teasing, tendered written apology, said the principal. He said they were warned of taking strict action that included expulsion and rustication from the college in case of such incident in future.

It may be recalled that on the Holi night two groups of students allegedly quarrelled, resulting in blunt injuries to Jagroop. He had alleged that he was kidnapped by members of the other group last midnight and thrashed brutally.

According to details. Rohit, the classmate of Jagroop, had a dispute with Bhupen on an alleged eve-teasing incident. However, the matter was solved after a written compromise. According to information gathered, the girl, who was Bhupen’s cousin, had complained against Rohit, Parteek and Mahtab of eve-teasing which resulted in the dispute.

However, as per Jagroop, Bhupen kept this grudge and made him the target. He said he was kidnapped by Ramveer, classmate of Bhupen, and several other persons from his hostel yesterday midnight and brutally thrashed.

Nawanshahr, March 13
Eyeing the youth vote bank in the ensuing Lok Sabha poll, the district units of the BJP and Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha have started organising functions to honour the newly registered voters who are going to exercise their franchise for the first time.

Recently, a function was organised here wherein first-time voters were given membership certificates of Bhartiya Janata Yuva Morcha and were made aware of the importance of the right to use the right to vote.

The BJYM has planned a similar function at Banga soon which SAD-BJP nominee Dr Daljit Singh Cheema would preside over.

Besides, the political parties, with a view to wooing young voters, have been trying to introduce young faces in their organisations to strengthen its basis among the youth.

PPCC President Mohinder Singh Kaypee recently appointed Vipin Taneja as president of the District Congress (Urban).

Besides being the youngest-ever district president, Vipin Taneja is also a son of former municipal council president and chairman improvement trust late Sita Ram Taneja, who had a considerable base among the urban voters here.

Similarly, the SAD has appointed Maninderjit Kaur Kariha, daughter-in-law of the local SAD MLA as the district president of the SAD Mahila wing (urban) to woo the youth as well as women voters.

Maninder, who is the daughter of former Rajasthan Governor late Darbara Singh, had played a vital role in ensuring the win of her father-in-law by exhibiting her skill in the poll campaign management during the past assembly segment.

The youth Congress activists of the district, led by president Rajwinder Singh Lucky, were seen actively and enthusiastically involved in making the rally of Union Tourism Minister Ambika Soni (probable Congress nominee from the Anandpur Sahib parliamentary constituency) held recently at Balachaur in the district a success.

More than 300 youth activists, riding on their motorcycles, escorted Soni from the Railmajra village on the Nawanshahr-Chandigarh highway to the venue of the rally.

Impressed with the enthusiasm shown by the Youth Congress workers, Ambika Soni, while sharing her experiences as Youth Congress president with the audience, said the prevailing enthusiasm among the youth would play a vital role in bringing the Congress back to power at the Centre.

Hoshiarpur, March 13
Keeping in view the parliamentary elections, those Congressmen of Hoshiarpur who are being ignored by the District Congress Committee, have mobilised old party men and formed ward-level coordination committees in all 31 wards of the town to strengthen the party at the grass-roots level to ensure the victory of the Congress candidates.

In a press release here today, coordination committee convener Surinder Sodhi stated that ward-wise meetings of the Congressmen were being organised to mobilise the party workers and bring the maximum number of people into its fold so that they could campaign in favour of the party candidates. — OC

Jalandhar, March 13
Three persons were reportedly injured during a group clash between members of the Self-Employed Taxi Union and the Drivers’ Union near BMC Chowk here this afternoon.

The tempo group led by Kuldip Bhola and Kishan Bhola and the Drivers’ Union by Raju and Gurmit Singh, had been on loggerheads on some payment issues for quite some time and had reportedly met at Gurdwara Talhan Sahib early in the day to reach a compromise.

Around 2.45 pm, the two groups opened a fight using swords, rods and bats as the weapons. Raju and Gurmit Singh, both from the Drivers’ Union and Kuldip Bhola suffered minor bruises.

A case has been registered under section 324 of the IPC against Sanjay, Jasvir Rai and Kuldip Bhola, said SHO Nirmal Singh.

Nawanshahr, March 13
With the arrest of Rakesh Kumar of Panchkula and Jai Parkash of Rampur Seori, near Pinjore (Haryana), SSP Rakesh Aggarwal claims to have busted an inter-state gang involved in printing and circulating fake currency at a police naka near Mukandpur bus stand in the district.

“The police had got a specific information about the modus operandi of the accused and nabbed both of them at Mukandpur on March 10 and seized fake currency worth Rs 5 lakh from them,” said the SSP, adding that the fake currency notes were of the denomination of Rs 1,000 and Rs 500. A case under sections 489 A, B, C, D and 420 of the IPC has been registered.

During interrogation, it was revealed that the gang members had been preparing and circulating fake currency notes for the past three years and they had developed a technique to prepare “foolproof” fake currency notes, said the SSP.

The police has also seized a monitor, a printer, a computer, paper and other material being used by them for preparing fake currency notes, said the SSP. — OC