Jalandhar, May 26
The law and order situation in the city has gone from bad to worse as the civil and police administration failed to control the situation during the initial hours of protests.

The incidents of constant violence in the city and its surrounding areas shows the entire scene which goes unchecked by the administration. Kapurthala Deputy Commissioner Raj Kamal Chaudhury saved his life by running from the spot leaving his vehicles behind in the attack by protesters at Kartarpur and Bidhipur railway crossing in Jalandhar on Sunday midnight.

The district administration left most of the stranded persons at different places in the city.

A businessman Vijay Kumar of Shivaji Park near Central Town is one of those among 200 persons who remained stuck at Haveli for nearly five and a half hour but no help from the administration was provided to them despite repeated calls were made to the senior police and civil officers.

Vijay Kumar said he along with his wife Radhika, their daughter Adhiay (2 years) and son Ragav (7) had gone to Ansal Plaza when they came to know about the ongoing violence at Buta Mandi.

Some stranded persons made repeated calls to the senior police and civil officials but not even a single cop reached there to rescue them.

Vijay Kumar said when the police did not reach even after 5.30 hours by 1.15 pm, the stranded persons gathered courage to come out of Haveli and drove to their respected houses.

The businessman said they saw several vehicles burning on their return. Not even a single policeman was seen till Rama Mandi. A few policemen were standing at Rama Mandi, whereas a large number of security forces were seen near PAP headquarter. 

Jalandhar, May 26
Vajra Corps today reached out to the passengers who had been stranded at the city railway station and bus stand and offered them food, drinking water and tea. 

The Army also arranged milk for the children who had been stranded there since yesterday.

The passengers, especially the women, were a happy lot as the Army personnel came out to help the people in distress. The gesture selfless of the troops in difficult times was appreciated by the passengers and the civil administration.

Jalandhar, May 26
The protests over the Vienna attack, which have almost gripped the entire state, have left the students, who were to appear for their final exams, in lurch. The exams were postponed on the spot owing to the tense situation but this in turn led to utter chaos for them.

Though some of the students were lucky enough to get the details pertaining to the exams well on time, others were left stranded.

While a majority of them remained stranded at the railway stations and bus stands, the rest faced difficulty in communication owing to low battery in their mobiles. Almost all the universities including the Guru Nanak Dev University (GNDU), Amritsar, Punjab Technical University (PTU), Jalandhar, and Lovely Professional University (LPU), Phagwara, are conducting the exams of the postgraduate classes these days.

Among the sufferers was Sumeet Saini, a student of Journalism and Mass Communication-II year of GNDU, Regional Campus, Ladhewali, who was stranded at the city railway station since morning and reached the university hostel here in the evening.

“It was virtually a difficult time. There was no source of information and neither any way out to go back home. After waiting for more than seven hours I managed to reach the university hostel along with one of my friend. The mob kept on creating ruckus outside the hostel till late at night,” she added.

However, some of the students of BTech, Law and other disciplines, who were also coming from far off places, were informed in advance and hence managed to escape. A majority of the students who came for the exams at the local Khalsa College had to take shelter in the college hostel.

Even the local students maintained that the sudden violence in the city left them mentally disturbed. “At home instead of studying I was glued to TV and mobile phone to get the latest information about the city. We are not able to concentrate properly,” said Amandeep Kaur, a student of Khalsa College.

Jaspal Singh Randhawa, principal, Lyallpur Khalsa College, said, “Owing to the protests, we had to postpone the exams of PG and Diploma classes which were scheduled to be held on May 25, 26 and 27. 

This time we were already late in conducting the exams due to the Lok Sabha elections and now the protests have created problem. In the hostel we made sure that the students do not face any scarcity of food.”

Saurabh Sharma, another student of Journalism and Mass Communication-II year of Regional Campus from Amritsar, faced difficult time. “I was stranded at the city railway station for more than eight hours and somehow managed to reach my friend’s home late night.

Had the university informed us well on time even we could have safely landed home. Though the time spent at the railway station was virtually scary with news of rampage coming from every where but the police on duty helped us in time of distress,” he maintained.

Dr Kamlesh Singh Duggal, HoD, Journalism and Mass Communication, GNDU, Regional Campus, Ladhewali, said, “As soon as the situation comes under control, we will inform the students and conduct the rest of the exams”.

Jalandhar, May 26
Prabal Pratap Singh, a student of Apeejay School, Jalandhar, has become all India topper in class X CBSE exams getting 98.2 per cent marks.

Several other city students have done exceedingly well in the exams. Kamal Kochhar of Innocent Hearts Public School with 98 per cent marks. Kiranpreet Kaur of the local MGN Public School stood third in the district with 96.8 per cent marks.

Shitika Batra of Innocent Heart School and Benika Aggarwal of Apeejay School jointly achieved the fourth position in the district with an aggregate of 96.6 per cent marks. Shreyank Sharma of Apeejay School and Nishant Dania and Mohak bagged fifth position in the district with 96.4 per cent marks.

At the local Police DAV Public School, Harpreet Kaur got the highest marks (95.4 per cent). The second position was bagged by Saurav Kalra with an aggregate of 94.2 per cent marks followed by Priyanka who scored 92.8 per cent marks and stood third in the school. Ashima and Navpreet jointly bagged 92.4 per cent marks.

In St Soldier Group of Schools, the first position was bagged by Isha Charak with 93.8 per cent marks followed by Sakshi Saini with 92 per cent marks. Deepika Lamba bagged the third position with 91 per cent marks. The school achieved 100 per cent result at its various campuses.

In the city-based Seth Hukum Chand S.D. Public School, Himanshu Sharma secured 91.2 pc marks in aggregate and stood first in his school followed by Mohit Bhandari who came to a close position with a score of 91 pc. 

Only one student, Anurag Singh, from the district had cleared the examination last year. He too was from the same school, he added.

Hoshiarpur, May 26
With a view to enhancing leadership skills through sports and physical education amongst teachers and students, the Punjab Education Department has nominated Government Girls Senior Secondary School, Railway Mandi, to participate in the “Dreams + Teams programme”.

The nomination has been made under an India-UK sports exchange programme on behalf of the Ministry of Human Resource Development.

A team of the British High Commission, comprising Shanti Dahal, Project Officer of International Inspiration, British High Commission, and Meera Balachandran, visited the school on Saturday and interacted with students and their teachers.

Talking to The Tribune, school principal Kuldeep Chaudhary said under the exchange programme, a group of school students along with her and a support teacher would go to England and attend a leadership training programme for a week.

A group of students along with their school principal and a supporting teacher will also come to Hoshiarpur for the same purpose.

Shanti Dahal while interacting with the students said such programmes would prove helpful in enhancing international understanding among the school communities, besides promoting inter-cultural understanding among different countries.

Dahal revealed that the programme was currently being run in 43 countries and 25 schools in India.

Jalandhar, May 26
Co-founder of IT-based company Mobero Systems Puneet Vatsayan shared his views and provided an insight on current placement scenario around the globe with about 500 students of Lovely Professional University in an event named “Let’s Talk”. 

The event was supported by TIE Chandigarh. The highlights of the programme included interactive sessions on themes like guidance on current placement scenario, options beyond software development and becoming an entrepreneur and creating employment". 

Jalandhar, May 26
The success of Punjabi singers Gurdas Maan and Harbhajan Mann is not just inspiring many youngsters towards singing but also instilling a feeling to take to acting world in Punjabi cinema.

Since Roshan Prince of Jalandhar won a music reality show award “Awwaj Punjab De”, he has become a famous singer in the state. The good-looking singer has turned his attention to acting. 

He has got his first break in Narinder Syaal’s romantic Punjabi film “Lagda Ishq Ho Gaya” in which he plays the lead role.

Punjabi film producers now prefer popular singers as actors as the films stand to gain from their fan following.

“Producers believe that the singers already have many fans and their presence in the film in lead role will make the film a hit. They are correct to an extent but I feel the new actors should enter Punjabi cinema after having proper training in acting. 

Then they will be very good actors. Singers like Harbhajan Mann and Gurdas Maan are already famous the world-over for their singing and they have got recognition as actors because of their hard work,” said singer-turned-actor Roshan Prince. The 6,00,000-dollar budget film “Lagda Ishq Ho Gaya” will soon hit the screens the world-over.

In the film, Roshan Prince has sung most of the songs much like Gurdas Maan and Harbhajan Mann who sing their own songs in their films.

Since taking interest in acting in various music videos, the upcoming Punjabi singers have familiarised themselves with cameras. They say it’s helping them in their new roles as actors. “The reason for taking singers in the film is not only because of their profession but it also depends on the characters in the film.

I was making a romantic film and when I saw Roshan Prince’s music video on MH1 channel, I felt he suited the role of a lover boy in my film. Moreover, he is a singer, so it’s an extra benefit for us that he is known. And also having done lots of videos, the singer is no longer camera shy,” said film director Sukhminder Dhanjal.

The Punjabi film industry has received a huge boost with almost all leading Punjabi singers and comedians also acting. Comedians Gurpreet Ghuggi, Jaspal Bhatti and Vivek Shauq have not only made a mark in Punjbai films but in Hindi cinema as well.

“Every good-looking and handsome boy goes to Mumbai first to struggle and doesn’t focus on the Punjabi cinema. But it’s not his fault because earlier the Punjabi cinema was not good enough to fascinate the young generation. Now it is slowly progressing.

The Punjabi film industry is not yet ready to give chance to new actors, but if Punjabi singers enter the industry, it will be a great help to uplift the industry,” said comedian-turned-actor Ghuggi.

With the success of Punjabi films in India as well as abroad, Bollywood directors like Manmohan Singh are now producing Punjabi films. His recent film is “Munde UK De”. — ANI

Jalandhar, May 26
On the birth anniversary of Guru Amar Dass, students of Guru Amar Dass Public School hosted the 21st inter-school shabad gayan competition on May 23. Twenty teams from across the state participated in the competition.

The function started with shabad recited by the host school. It was followed by recitation of shabads by students of different schools. Students sang shabads glorifying Guru Amar Dass.

Results: In the senior section, GGN Public School, Ludhiana, clinched the first prize, Guru Nanak International Senior Secondary Public School, Ludhiana, stood second, while Akal Academy, Baru Sahib, won the third prize. The consolation prize was won by Swami Sant Dass Public School, Phagwara.

In the junior section, Guru Nanak International Senior Secondary School, Model Town, Ludhiana, won the first prize, Guru Nanak Public Senior Secondary School, Preet Nagar, Jalandhar, and Akal Academy, Baru Sahib, won the second and third positions, respectively.

The consolation prize was given to Guru Nanak Public School, Sarabha Nagar, Ludhiana. The running trophy was lifted by Guru Nanak International Senior Secondary Public School, Ludhiana.

A special prize was given to Sangatren Singh of Guru Nanak International Senior Secondary Public School, Model Town, Ludhiana, for playing best tanpura. Harjot Singh of Spring Dales Senior Secondary School, Amritsar, bagged a special prize for best alap in the junior category.

In the senior category, St Soldier Divine Public School, Jalandhar, secured a prize for mool mantra in sri raag and Taranjit Singh of GGN Public School for best tabla player.

The prizes were given by chief guest Darbar Sahib head granthi Giani Jaswinder Singh.