Jalandhar, October 19
The Municipal Corporation is soon in the process of introducing e-tendering for all such projects where estimated cost is Rs 10 lakh or more. Since the project is aimed at maintaining secrecy and ruling out any chance of pooling among the contractors as is common with the current manual system, the officials are hopeful of making big savings through the new digital venture.

The officials are in the process of getting digital signatures for the purpose through Punjab Infotech. The four officials whose signatures are being digitised for the purpose are Kulwinder Singh, SE (B&R), A.S. Dhaliwal, SE (O&M), Chaman Lal, Executive Engineer (B&R), and Lakhwinder Singh, Executive Engineer (O&M).

Even as the scheme has a major advantage of allowing the contractors to fill in tenders while sitting anywhere, they have been opposing it tooth and nail. Their contention is that they are being forced to pay more for e-tendering.

As per the new norms, the contractors would have to pay an additional 0.1 per cent of the estimated cost of the project as processing charges (which cannot be less than Rs 500 and more than Rs 5,000), while filing their tenders. This amount will be in addition to the existing charges of Rs 2,236 as annual registration fee, Rs 100 for tender form and 5 per cent of the estimated cost as the earnest money.

Varinder Sharma, a contractor, opined, “This is like penalising us unnecessarily. If this is to be done, the officials must also start considering single tenders. If they still disagree, the officials should allow the person to apply during re-tendering free of cost.” He, however, agreed that this would ensure more transparency and less mix-up. He insisted that the government must also initiate online payment system or else the procedure would still remain as cumbersome.

SE Dhaliwal informed, “The software for the purpose has been created by the ITI, an undertaking of the Union Ministry of Communication and Information Technology. The company will charge nothing from the MC for running it for five years during which it will earn revenue by taking processing fee from the contractors.”

Meanwhile, the officials and the staff concerned has been trained for the purpose. Now they are just a bit apprehensive that they would need to be more specific, skillful and factually correct in calling online tenders.

Jalandhar, October 19
Bugs and moths hover over floodlights mounted on a beam that light up the makeshift stage set up in a maidan in Railway Colony. “Bhai sahab Ayodhya ke do rajkumaron ne Saroopnakha ki naak kaat di,” an infuriated, Punjabi-accented Ravana screams to his brother.

A bathed-in-powder Kumbhakarna ardently listens to his legendary bhratashree and discreetly scratches a mosquito bite on his leg as a crowd of about 200 kids (not counting the elders) sitting cross-legged on the grass laughs, talks and watches open-mouthed

The Ram Leela in question is the one held by the Jai Jagdambay Maa Railway Dramatic and Welafre Society. Set up as the Railway Dramatic Club, it is being organised in Railway Colony for the past 26 years. But it has an interesting story behind it. A bunch of guys who used to play cricket in these maidans, suddenly got religious one fine day in 1984.

Gulshan, the first director and the first one to play Lord Rama in the Ram Leela, says they went with the gut feeling. “We just used to play cricket, when one day, out of the blue, we had this idea to do Ram Leela. No one took us seriously at first but we still collected a little amount of money going from home to home. That’s how it started.” Since it started in 1984, he says they used to hold shows even during the peak terrorism days. “We had strict instructions not to start before 9 pm and not to stretch the show beyond 10.30 pm. Now we have floodights but during the initial days we used to rehearse in the light of a candle.”

A production manager with a private firm, Gulshan moved to Sonepat after he was posted there, but the Ram Leela troupe has made it a point that the shows don’t suffer. Gulshan makes it a point to come to Jalandhar every year when it is being staged.

Interestingly, none of the actors of the Ram Leela troupe has ever been associated with theatre and they say religion and their belief in the Ramayana are the only reasons that they do the Ram Leela. Arun Sharma (Lord Rama) runs a general store, Chandan Sharma (Lakshmana) works with a money exchange firm, Yashpal (Angad) works at a garment store and Gopal Krishna (Sugreev) works with a bank.

Sanjay Sharma, a medical representative, who plays Meghnatha, says he has been associated with the Ram Leela for 19 years. “We rehearse for two months before the first show,” he says. Varinder Varma, who now plays Ravana, used to play Lakshmana earlier and has been associated with the troupe for 17 years. Though they made a modest beginning, the troupe is now a big hit with the local crowd.

Jalandhar, October 19
From “Little India” to India, Air Asia-Malaysia, the hockey team from Kuala Lumpur, seems to have fallen in love with the rich tradition, cuisines, Bollywood and the Punjabi hospitality.

This is the maiden visit of the team to Jalandhar. The team is here to participate in the ongoing Surjit Hockey tournament.

Already in complete awe of the country, the team members shared their plans about shopping in local markets, buying souvenirs and paying obeisance at the Golden Temple, Amritsar, later.

The players also made a special mention of mouth-watering Indian cuisines.

Mohammad Sabri Bin, a player, said they were looking forward to explore the local markets.

“Many players in our team have plans to buy traditional salwar-kameez, sarees and bangles here,” he added.

The young hockey players enjoyed typical Indian food too - from stuffed paranthas to aloo-poori, butter chicken, pulao and chapattis, they welcome everything “Indian”.

“We have an Indian market in Malaysia known as ‘Little India’ which remains crowded, especially for a variety of Indian cuisines. And we love to hang around this place,” said Fariq Evadon. Talking about the craze of Bollywood movies and actors in Malaysia, the players said Aishwarya Rai, Kareena Kapoor, Manisha Koirala, Shahrukh Khan and Hrithik Roshan were hot favourites of everybody.

“We ensure that none of Aishwarya Rai movies are missed. People in Malaysia just love to watch her movies,” said another player.

Jalandhar, October 19
Frequent deployment of defence forces in civil works will adversely affect their exercise against the enemy. The Union Government, state governments and even the district administrations have been seeking help from the defence forces in such routine cases which could be solved at their own levels.

Expressing his concern, Brig Kuldip Singh Kahlon (retd), Punjab president of the All-India Defence Brotherhood, said India should modernise its forces by providing advanced weapons to meet any challenge from across the border.

The defence forces should be deployed in civil works only in case the situation goes beyond control of the civil administration.

Former Deputy Director of the Sainik Welfare Board, Punjab, Brig Kahlon advocated the deployment of additional army on the Indo-Chinese border and stressed on the need for them to be vigilant so that a situation like 1962 may not arise again.

Kahlon pointed out that the collapse of a foot over-bridge adjacent to Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Delhi and scams in the preparation of Commonwealth Games (CWG) have exposed the level of corruption among politicians and bureaucrats.

The civil administration, which embroiled in controversies over the leakage of ceilings of newly-constructed stadiums and various other works relating to the games have brought a bad name to the country, he added.

Brig Kahlon claimed that the Army reconstructed the bridge in less than a week and that too at a lower cost than the one at which the Delhi Government had been working for the last many years.

He thanked MLA Balbir Singh Baath for taking up the “one rank, one pension” issue in the Vidhan Sabha. He said Haryana and other neighbouring states had already passed resolutions in this regard. He gave a call to all MPs to raise the issue and to pressurise the Union Government to implement the “one rank, one pension” scheme.

Phagwara, October 19
Encroachments near the posh localities of local Hargobind Nagar and Patel Nagar have been causing much inconvenience to the residents of these localities. Commuters, especially the vehicles entering the town from the Banga side, have to undergo a lot of problem due to hazards in normal traffic flow, caused by large heaps of “rori” (broken bricks) meant for supply for the construction of residential and commercial buildings lying on the road.

A dozen labourers, engaged by contractors, can be seen busy breaking old bricks into “rori”. Resident Ravi Kumar said these heaps of broken bricks are creating trouble for commuters, whereas residents are hounded by noise and dust raised in the process.

Another resident Sunita has urged SDM Amarjit Paul to initiate action in this regard and order removal of these encroachments. Even several house owners have allowed these elements to use the space outside their buildings by charging a huge amount from them. Similarly, several shopkeepers have allowed dozens of rehriwalas to park rehris outside their shops and illegally charge daily rent from them.

The SDM said he had instructed the officials of the Nagar Council to remove the encroachments from government lands in the town soon.

Jalandhar, October 19
The educated elite women of the city have had a chance to explore their skills in entrepreneurship during a two-day shopping exhibition, Fashion Villas 2010, which began at Hotel Radisson, here today.

There were stalls of ladies’ designer wear, purses, belts, footwear, woollens from Kullu and Jammu and gift items, including perfumed candles, jazzy lighting lamps, garden accessories, chocolates, shagun cards, wooden cutlery and crystal show pieces. The stalls for on-the-spot nail art and tarot card reading were a big hit.

While some of the stalls were put up by women from New Delhi and Chandigarh, there were quite a few local young women as well, who had just begun with their ventures. Akshita, a young entrepreneur from Lajpat Nagar here, had put up a stall of chocolates called Chocolicous.

She said she had started the business of manufacturing and packing chocolates in different shapes and flavours for occasions like birthdays, marriages and festivals from home and had come here trying her luck at the exhibition.

Tarini Malhotra, who just launched her venture in gift wrapping and packing in the name of Sitara, from her home at Urban Estate, said her items like candles, shagun envelops, gift boxes and other stuff was getting a good response. “I have been able to reach out to a wider clientele in this exhibition”, she said.

Insects like butterflies, grasshoppers and frogs often found in gardens, carved out of aluminium sheets, pottery or ceramics put up in the exhibition, by Deepika Sehgal, too, remained a major attraction, especially for children.

Her designer garden furniture and other stuff was pretty inviting.

Heavily studded multi-coloured designer suits in nets, silks, chiffons and velvette were seen in many stalls. The exhibition has been put up by event managers Reeti Singh and Nikku.

Jalandhar, October 19
It was a memorable experience for over 500 students of various schools who got an opportunity to visit all 14 police stations falling under the jurisdiction of Jalandhar City Commissionerate on Tuesday.

The police has invited them to pay a visit to police stations as it was observing visitors’ week from October 18 to narrow the gap between the police and the public. Interestingly, it was the first visit of any police station by most of the students.

During interaction with cops, students asked various interesting, including how a person could become a police official. ADCP SK Kalia was himself present at police station number four to inform the students of Doaba Khalsa School located at Nakodar chowk regarding working of the police.

“Police station is like any other government department but it is more important as compared to other departments because it’s main duty to maintain law and order in its area,” Kalia told them.

The ADCP advised the students if they saw anything illegal happening in any part of the city, they were not required to visit any police station to inform about that crime but they might just dial 100 to inform police control room regarding such activity.

Kalia motivated students to be friends of the police to minimise the crime in the city. He also advised the students to refrain from drug addiction.

The ADCP also advised the students to concentrate on their studies to become a good citizen as their parents had pinned their various hopes on them.

After their visit, several students said, “Earlier they were scared of the police but now they realised that the cops are our friends.”

Jalandhar, October 19
With a view to providing better career opportunities to meritorious students belonging to the Scheduled Castes, Backward Classes and minority communities, the Department of Welfare of Scheduled Castes and Backward Classes, Punjab, has invited applications for the Centre-sponsored free coaching for the civil services (preliminary) 2011.

The scheme is funded by the Union Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment. Under the scheme candidates would get free coaching, hostel accommodation and financial assistance.

The students would be selected through an interview to be held on November 10. And the selected outstation students would get a stipend of Rs 1,500 per month, while the local students would get Rs 750.

The last date for submitting applications is November 11 and the course would begin from November 15 at Ambedkar Institute of Careers and Courses, Mohali.

The candidates who have already received coaching twice under this scheme from any state or Government of India institute are not eligible to take admission.

Pendu Mazdoor Union district president Tarsem Peter said they would create awareness among the students to avail the scheme.

Meanwhile, District Social Welfare Officer Karnail Singh was not available for comments. However, the authorities concerned said the official had gone on month-long leave and no officiating person had been appointed till date.

Kapurthala, October 19
Activists of Ravan Sena protested in front of a school located on the Shalamar Bagh road for introducing a Hindi book which allegedly contains derogatory remarks against Bhagwan Valmiki.

The protesters demanded immediate withdrawal of the book and registration of a case against the principal of the school and the publisher.

When City SHO Lakhwinder Singh assured the protesters to register a case against the guilty persons, they agreed to end the protest.

Meanwhile, police sources said that comics in the Hindi language were lying in the library of the school which contained derogatory remarks against Bhagwan Valmiki and the police had seized all the copies of the book.

In the meantime, the district police chief reportedly directed the SHO to register a criminal case under section 295-A, IPC, against the school principal and the publisher for hurting the religious sentiments of a community.

Jalandhar, October 19
The Trans India Territorial Army Cycle Expedition, organised by 112 Infantry Battalion (TA) Dogra under the aegis of Territorial Army Group Headquarters, Western Command, and Territorial Army Directorate, was flagged off by Brig Anil Sharma, Commander of the local Infantry Brigade, in Jalandhar Cantonment on Monday.

The cycle expedition team comprised one officer, JCO and 10 other ranks. During the expedition the soldiers would spread awareness about the Territorial Army.

The team will cover a distance of 1,000 km in Punjab, touching important cities and towns of Hoshiarpur, Gurdaspur, Dera Baba Nanak, Khasa, Amritsar, Tarn Taran, Zira, Ferozepur, Fazilka, Bathinda, Mansa, Sangrur and Patiala and culminate at Territorial Army Group Headquarters, Western Command, Chandigarh, on November 1. — TNS

Phagwara, October 19
Though overloading of vehicles has been banned by the Transport Department to prevent road mishaps, rules are being violated by several vehicle drivers, including those of buses, trucks and tempos.

Several overloaded vehicles violate rules despite the recent road mishap of a mini-bus carrying more than 70 passengers in which five of them had to lose their lives near Phagwara last week.

SDM Amarjit Paul said here today the administration had taken serious notice about overloaded vehicles and asked SP Kamaljeet Singh Dhillon to check the violation. The SP said the traffic police had been instructed to book the violators.