J A L A N D H A R    E D I T I O N

Violation of Akal Takht edict
Makkar, Hans should be brought to book
Jalandhar, April 14
The violation of the edict of Akal Takht forbidding the parkash of Guru Granth Sahib at places other than gurdwaras by senior Akali leaders has taken a new turn with the aggrieved persons submitting a complaint to Akal Takht Jathedar Gurbachan Singh today.

Our grudge will show through votes, not protests: Bishop
Jalandhar, April 14
Bishop Franco Mulakkal of the Archdiocese of Delhi said today that while the Sikhs in Punjab had managed to get the candidature of 1984 riots-accused Jagdish Tytler and Sajjan Kumar cancelled, those responsible for the atrocities against the Christians in the riot-scalded Kandhamal were still in fray to contest the Lok Sabha polls.

Baba’s drive has takers worldwide
Painting the town green
Tarn Taran, April 14
Baba Sewa Singh, head of the Kar Sewa Sect, Khadoor Sahib, who has launched a movement to plant trees to save the environment, has started planting saplings on the Tarn Taran-Goindwal road. A 14-km stretch of this road has already been covered under this movement by planting saplings and the remaining 10 km part is going to be covered now.

121 cardiac cases found in govt schools
Hoshiarpur, April 14
As many as 121 students from classes I to XI of government-aided schools in Punjab have been found suffering from various cardiac diseases at a medical check-up camp conducted by the state Health Department under a rheumatic and congenital heart diseases campaign launched by Health Minister Lakshmi Kanta Chawla on November 5, 2008.

Body of drowned student found
Jalandhar, April 14
It was a bunch of four MBA first-year students from Lovely Professional University who had gone on an adventurous trip to attend a Baisakhi fair at Dharamsala. But their adventure turned into a remorseful incident as two of them drowned as they strayed deeper into the Beas taking a holy dip and got washed away with its strong currents.

2 bodies fished out of Sutlej
Nawanshahr, April 14
The bodies of Parminder Kumar and Naresh Kumar of Tonsa village, who had drowned in the Sutlej near Gurdwara Tibbi Sahib on Tuesday, have been fished out. Three boys of the district were drowned while taking a dip in the Sutlej.

Padiala emerges star campaigner for Bittu
Nawanshahr, April 14
Rajbir Singh Padiala, who recently quit the SAD and joined the Congress, it seems has been emerging as a “star campaigner” for Congress nominee from Anandpur Sahib Ravneet Singh Bittu, given the response he received at poll rallies in the Balachaur and Nawanshahr segments in favour of Bittu.

Violation of Akal Takht edict
Makkar, Hans should be brought to book
Amarjit Thind
Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, April 14
The violation of the edict of Akal Takht forbidding the parkash of Guru Granth Sahib at places other than gurdwaras by senior Akali leaders has taken a new turn with the aggrieved persons submitting a complaint to Akal Takht Jathedar Gurbachan Singh today.

According to Kanwaljit Singh Lally, a former Adampur MLA, they met the jathedar and drew his attention to a function organised by Darshan Singh Karwal after being elected as president of the Adampur Nagar Council on April 7.

In violation of the March 1998 directive, the parkash of Guru Granth Sahib was done at Karwal Resorts. Those who attended the function included Adampur legislator Sarabjit Singh Makkar and SAD Jalandhar parliamentary candidate Hans Raj Hans.

He said although every Sikh was aware of the Akal Takht directive, Makkar not only turned a blind eye to the ban but also asked those gathered to vote for Hans.

This has hurt the religious feelings of the community and strict action should be taken against the accused as per the Sikh maryada.

Makkar should be asked to resign immediately and the SAD should also scrap the party ticket to Hans. Otherwise, the Akalis would be exposed as hypocrites in front of the community, he pointed out.

Our grudge will show through votes, not protests: Bishop
Deepkamal Kaur/TNS

Jalandhar, April 14
Bishop Franco Mulakkal of the Archdiocese of Delhi said today that while the Sikhs in Punjab had managed to get the candidature of 1984 riots-accused Jagdish Tytler and Sajjan Kumar cancelled, those responsible for the atrocities against the Christians in the riot-scalded Kandhamal were still in fray to contest the Lok Sabha polls.

The auxiliary bishop of the Delhi Archdiocese, under which the diocese of Jalandhar, Simla, Chandigarh and J&K fall, said, “The Christians are a peace-loving community. So, we had decided not to hold protests against the riot-accused BJP candidates Ashok Sahu from Kandhamal and Manoj Pradhan from Udayagiri seats in Orissa. We only can express our grievance in a peaceful manner.”

The bishop, who before his elevation represented the Jalandhar diocese as its spokesperson, said this while addressing a press conference at Bishop House here this evening. He said the Delhi-based centre of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India had appealed to the electorate not to vote for tainted persons and those with a non-secular bent of mind.

Bishop Franco said, “We plan to hold a prayer at Sacred Heart Church in Delhi on April 18 wishing to get a good, secular government. Such prayers have already begun in the churches and houses of Punjab”. Alleging that there could be no free and fair elections in Kandhamal, he said that as many as 50,000 Christians had been rendered homeless and had taken refuge on the outskirts of the district for they were not being allowed to re-enter without getting converted. “All these people might not be able to exercise their right to vote if they don’t go home,” he said.

Baba’s drive has takers worldwide
Painting the town green
Gurbaxpuri

Tarn Taran, April 14
Baba Sewa Singh, head of the Kar Sewa Sect, Khadoor Sahib, who has launched a movement to plant trees to save the environment, has started planting saplings on the Tarn Taran-Goindwal road.

A 14-km stretch of this road has already been covered under this movement by planting saplings and the remaining 10 km part is going to be covered now.

On the occasion of starting the move to plant trees on this road, a function was organised which was attended by representatives of the civil administration and officials of the Forest Department.

Baba Sewa Singh, while talking to newsmen, said the volunteers of the sect looked after the plantation work and watered the saplings. The baba, who is known as an international environmentalist, started this move of growing trees about 10 years back.

Till now, all the roads leading to the township of Khadoor Sahib have been covered under this move.

Nearly 173 km area has been covered where saplings have been planted on both the sides of the road with tree-guards. Besides, some parts of the Sikh shrines in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh have also been covered.

The sect has succeeded in planting about 30,000 trees till now while on the motivation of Baba Sewa Singh nearly 200 acres of land has been covered under the horticulture work.

Mango, guava, peach, kinnow, pear, etc. have been planted in this area while on the road sides, trees like pipal, bohar, neem, jamun, tun, amaltas, chowni, kaner, sarru, etc. have been grown.

Devotees from all over the world and the state government contributed to this noble cause. Some devotees offered their services for donating tree-guards. Each tree-guard costs Rs 400.

The sect has decided to carry on the move to make the area clean, green and pollution-free.

121 cardiac cases found in govt schools
Our Correspondent

Hoshiarpur, April 14
As many as 121 students from classes I to XI of government-aided schools in Punjab have been found suffering from various cardiac diseases at a medical check-up camp conducted by the state Health Department under a rheumatic and congenital heart diseases campaign launched by Health Minister Lakshmi Kanta Chawla on November 5, 2008.

According to Health Education Assistant Director and Punjab School Health Programme in charge Dr K.S. Dhillon, all the suffering patients had been referred to the PGI for treatment, including heart surgery, for which the expenditure had been incurred by the Union Government under the National Rural Health Mission.

Dr Dhillon said surgery of 20 patients had already been done at the PGI. About 16 cases were in the pipeline and surgery of the remaining would be done before April 30.

Civil Surgeon Dr S.K. Gupta said 22 cardiac cases, 15 male and 7 female, had been detected. Free echo cardiography test of all the students was done by Dr Ram Chawla and Dr Raj Kumar.

Under the mission, parents would get free treatment for their children.

In case of any complaint like repeated joint pains, swelling in joints, palpitations and dyspnoea, they should immediately consult the experts, he added.

Body of drowned student found
Deepkamal Kaur
Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, April 14
It was a bunch of four MBA first-year students from Lovely Professional University who had gone on an adventurous trip to attend a Baisakhi fair at Dharamsala.

But their adventure turned into a remorseful incident as two of them drowned as they strayed deeper into the Beas taking a holy dip and got washed away with its strong currents.

One of the deceased, Karan Dua, was a resident of Basti Guzan here.

The other boy who met with the tragedy, Anil, hailed from Delhi and was putting up at a hostel in Phagwara here

While Anil’s parents managed to recover the body of their son, Karan’s body could not be found even till late this evening.

Yogesh Dua, Karan’s cousin, said 10 family members had already gone to the accident site since the last evening to bring back the body.

“Everyone has been in great distress for the administration there failed in the day-long pursuit to get his body fished out. Now three of our members are on their way back”, he informed.

One of the other two friends who survived in the incident is from Patna, said Yogesh, adding that he had no clue about the fourth boy. Karan was about to complete his first-year MBA studies and was aiming to immigrate to Australia after the completion of the course the next year. Son of a wholesale fruit dealer Ramesh Dua, Karan had done his Bachelors in Commerce from the St Soldier College here.

2 bodies fished out of Sutlej
Tribune Reporters

Nawanshahr, April 14
The bodies of Parminder Kumar and Naresh Kumar of Tonsa village, who had drowned in the Sutlej near Gurdwara Tibbi Sahib on Tuesday, have been fished out. Three boys of the district were drowned while taking a dip in the Sutlej. Efforts were on to find the bodies of other boys, Bhag Ram, alias Gholi, of Tonsa village and Bikramjit of Fatehpur village. Deputy Commissioner Gurkirat Kirpal Singh announced an ex gratia grant of Rs 1 lakh each for them.

JALANDHAR: Just 24 hours after two bodies were found in separate parts of the city, an unidentified body was recovered near the railway station here on Tuesday. It was found near Railway Colony.

Padiala emerges star campaigner for Bittu

Nawanshahr, April 14
Rajbir Singh Padiala, who recently quit the SAD and joined the Congress, it seems has been emerging as a “star campaigner” for Congress nominee from Anandpur Sahib Ravneet Singh Bittu, given the response he received at poll rallies in the Balachaur and Nawanshahr segments in favour of Bittu. If the rhetorics by Padiala for making a scathing attack on the functioning of CM Parkash Singh Badal and Deputy CM Sukhbir Singh Badal has been making the Congress supporters quite cheerful, the slogans of “Jo bole, so nihal” at the Congress poll rallies, it seems, are quite satisfying for the former SAD leader. — OC