Kapurthala, June 9
In what may be termed as another feather in its cap, the Rail Coach Factory (RCF) rolled out its first rake of low-cost stainless steel coaches for the Shaheed Express train yesterday. 

The Railways Department has planned to switch over the entire production of coaches to stainless steel coaches in future.

The rake, comprising 28 coaches, has six variants. Besides the general class, sleeper class and AC-3 tier coaches, it has also been provided with AC-2 tier-cum-AC-3 tier coaches for optimal utilisation of passenger-carrying capacity.

RCF General Manager Pradeep Kumar flagged off the rake at a simple function. Pradeep Kumar said this would start an era of stainless steel coaches for all mail and express trains, which were limited to only Rajdhani and Shatabadi trains till now. The RCF would manufacture 369 such coaches during this financial year.

The RCF started manufacturing stainless steel coaches from 2001-02 with transfer of technology from M/s LHB of Germany. These coaches have inherent design features like superior aesthetics, much better ride quality and low-maintenance cost.

These coaches were so far introduced only in high-end trains like Shatabdi and Rajdhani expresses due to cost limitations. In order to introduce these superior features in other mail and express trains also, the RCF has developed an innovative low-cost variant of stainless steel LHB coaches, cutting the cost further by about 40 per cent of the stainless steel coach.

These coaches have exterior similar to Rajdhani trains and they have been provided with air-spring suspension for better ride quality. These coaches also have 12 per cent enhanced sitting capacity and require lesser maintenance.

Jalandhar, June 9
If you own a house in an unapproved colony and you have not paid up development charges, it may not be easy getting away with it after a few months. The local Municipal Corporation has plans to go tough and get the job outsourced to a private company. 

The proposal comes after the officials found that the door-to-door campaign and distribution of pamphlets for public awareness in such colonies have failed to reap any result. A few collection camps that the town planning section of the MC organised on Sundays in Bank Enclave and other adjoining colonies also got only a feeble response.

As per the new proposal, the company that gets the contract for the job will derive anything between 1 to 2 per cent of the total collection that it will be able to make. Most believe that since it will be a commission-based arrangement, the company officials will have their targets and work overtime convincing the residents and raising the total collection.

While the officials need to seek an approval from the MC House before going ahead with it, many councillors, including Mayor Rakesh Rathour, already vouch for it. “I personally believe that this is the best way to extract development charges from the residents. Once the charges from a colony would be paid by 75 per cent of the residents, we will get it authorised and ensure that the residents get all requisite facilities.

“With lack of work culture, a blanket ban on fresh recruitment and promotion of unqualified employees up to the JE level, it is not easy to get such works done from our own staff. Even if we pay up 1 per cent commission to a company, we still will be gainer for the overall collection is bound to increase,” Mayor gave his logic behind the move.

Many town planning officials also believe that their effort to collect the funds from the residents failed to yield any positive result because most people have a habit to bank upon the MLAs of their areas to get the civic works done.

“All Jalandhar MLAs boast of having got roads laid or sewage works done in unapproved colonies by getting the estimates prepared and seeking funds for the same from the government. 

When people see work being done in their area without the need to pay up, they further desist from making the contribution. The move also encourages illegal colonisers who reap all profits and get away without any penalties,” they said.

But MLA from Jalandhar (North) K.D. Bhandari defends, “Sometimes, only 50 per cent owners are putting up in a colony while the rest are not approachable or have not got the construction done. In such a case, getting 75 per cent of collection is not possible. 

Further, when we go in such areas and meet our voters, especially around election time, we need to respond to their basic problems. Since funds for such colonies cannot come from the MC, we need to get these arranged.”

He bragged about having got started a sewage work worth 
Rs 4.56 crore in unauthorised colonies of his constituency, including Anand Nagar, New Anand Nagar, Ravi Dass Nagar and Janta Colony.

“The road work is on in other such colonies, including Moti Nagar, Kalia Colony, Sanjay Gandhi Nagar, Boharanwala Mohalla, New Kailash Nagar and New Shankar Garden,” he claimed.

Jalandhar, June 9
Certain assailants struck at the office of a security company on the Garha road and strangled its guard on Monday night. The assailants disconnected the CCTV cameras before entering the office of the company from the backdoor.

According to the police, unidentified assailants must have indulged in a scuffle with guard Desh Raj, a resident of Daulatpur, in Kishangarh, before killing him. They tied his hands and put a piece of cloth in his mouth before strangling him.

Company manager Vikash Sharma found the body on the terrace when he opened the office. He informed the police and the body was sent to the Civil Hospital for a post-mortem examination.

The police has rounded up certain employees of the company and started investigating. A team of forensic experts was pressed into service. The body was handed over to the family and a case has been registered.

The police, however, claimed that CCTV cameras had captured certain images of the assailants. — TNS

Jalandhar, June 9
The district administration would soon get legally empowered to check any haphazard growth in and around Jalandhar. The Jalandhar Development Authority (JDA) is in the process of finalising its master plan in a few days and coming up with its draft for inviting a feedback and critical view from the public by June 30.

A public notice to this effect would be given around that time after which the draft would be put on the official website and would be available for the public view at the local office opposite the District Administrative Complex for a month. Any major flaws in the draft would be rectified which would then be forwarded to the state government for a final nod. 

Once notified, it would get covered under the Punjab Regional and Town Planning and Development Act, 1995, any violation of which could lead to huge penalties. To incorporate suggestions and ideas from the city’s intelligentsia in the draft of the master plan, the JDA had set up a panel of 20 persons drawn from different walks of life. 

The panel was headed by Deputy Commissioner Ajeet Singh Pannu. Divulging the details, JDA Chief Administrator Parveen Kumar said the satellite remote sensing centre of Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, had helped in preparing the existing plan. He hinted that now the District Town Planner and his team were working on designing the plan of future network of roads, including a ring road, sites for commercial, industrial, residential, institutional and agricultural development. 

He said being armed with a notified master plan, the various civic bodies would be able to demolish any illegal construction. The officer said other areas falling under its jurisdiction, including Alawalpur, Adampur, Kartarpur, Phagwara and surrounding 260 villages, would be covered in the plan. 

He added that the current haphazard growth could not be undone but the development of remaining uncovered areas could be planned. It is learnt that there were over three times unauthorised colonies than the authorised ones in Jalandhar. The JDA officials partially admit it to some extent. 

While the number of approved colonies falling under the ambit of the JDA is 86, the illegal colonies double at 179. The officials claimed that they had initiated action against the owners of 82 illegal colonies in different courts. 

Jalandhar, June 9
Aiming at improving the economic ties between India and Pakistan, members of the Pak-India farmers exchange programme, led by Green Circle Organisation (GCO), a Pakistan-based NGO, yesterday said they were committed to promote peace and cooperation among the farming community between the two countries.

Addressing a press conference, delegation leader Rana Shafiq-Ur-Rehman said they were looking forward to the promotion of agri-business between both the nations through exchange of seeds, vegetables, fruits and other agricultural products.

In India, the delegation is working in association with the Potato Growers Association, Jalandhar. “Through this initiative, we aim at improving upon the farming sector. If trade ties improve between the two nations in the coming days we can provide potato seeds at cheaper rates to the Indian farmers here,” he said.

Highlighting the advancement in Indian farming community, the delegation said they would be implementing the tissue culture of banana seed in Pakistan as well. “We learnt this method from our Indian counterparts and would implement it for the betterment of the agri-business in Pakistan,” he added.

Jalandhar, June 9
Apeejay School is holding a multiple intelligence summer camp by India’s first MI-based company Kay Tree Global from June 1 to 15. The camp has become a craze among students in the four to 16 year age group.

Jalandhar, June 9
Habib Tanvir, the mainstay of Indian theatre was the name of an institution who painted the face of the Indian theatre with local colours. A considerate persona, he experimented with the traditional forms of theatre and gave it a modern look. He was credited with the propagation of theatre culture in the country.

The enormous contribution of Habib Tanvir to the world of theatre will continue to inspire generations of sincere theatre workers in the years to come. Theatre lovers who saw some of his plays maintain that he had gone to the roots of Indian theatre with his plays.

As a popular Hindi playwright, a theatre director, poet and actor, he penned some highly admired plays such as ‘Agra Bazaar’ (1954) and ‘Charandas Chor’ (1975). 

Theatre lovers who got a chance to see this masterpieces swear by his sense of modernism and local flavours. Sree Nivas, a lecturer in theatre from Lovely Professional University, who got a chance to see Charandas Chor in Hyderabad, said, “This play created a new history in the Indian theatre.

The good thing with this play was that it brought to the fore the folk actors of Chhattisgarh and rejuvenated the spirit of Indian theatre”. He added that another milestone in his theatre works was the launching of ‘Naya Theatre’, a theatre company in the year 1959.

“I also got a chance to see his another play ‘Sacrifice by Rabindranath Tagore’ during ‘Bharatiya Rang Mahotsav’, a theatre festival which is held at National School of Drama, Delhi. And it had this impeccable substance which was related to the contemporary world”, he added. Habib was associated with the left theatre movement and also remained a patron of Indian People Theatre Association (IPTA).

Chief coordinator of Spic Macay in Jalandhar, Chaitanya Kochhar who gathered at the local Desh Bhagat Yadgaar Hall yesterday evening to pay tributes to Habeeb Tanveer too expressed similar sentiments. “His plays echoed the emotions and feelings of a common man.

Through his plays he spoke about people who came from grass root level and dealt with the sufferings of the poor coupled with a message for the society”, he said. “Even we also conducted his world acclaimed play ‘Charandas Chor’ at Lovely Professional University a year ago and got a tremendous response. It was a wonderful performance by the ‘Naya Theatre’ troupe of Habib Tanvir in Jalandhar,” added Chaitanya.

Apart from his classy plays Habib had a successful stint in film industry as well. Among his acclaimed works is Richard Attenborough’s ‘Gandhi’ and Hindi film ‘Prahar’. Habib Ahmed Khan 'Tanvir' was born on September 1, 1923 in Raipur, Chattisgarh to Hafiz Ahmed Khan, who originally hailed from Peshawar. During his early life, he started writing poetry under his pen name ‘Tanvir’, and became famous as Habib Tanvir, the doyen of Indian theatre.