Jalandhar, November 2
With Divali around the corner, all markets in the city have been decked up for the purpose.

Markets are abuzz with customers. Everyone, including those selling sweets, dry fruits, fresh fruits, juice packets, chocolates, bakery and confectionery items, kitchenware, handicrafts, handlooms, lamps and designer lights, decoration items, crystal items, electronic goods, jewellery and readymade garments, seem to be making big money.

Almost all shopkeepers in Model Town, Rainak Bazaar, Sheikhan Bazaar and other markets have extended their counters to display more stuff.

Municipal Corporation officials, too, have given the liberty to all shopkeepers.

Gift shop owners have a variety of stuff, including colourful “torans” meant for decorating door entrances and perfumed designer candles, floating candles, candle stands, gold plated images of Lord Ganesha and Goddess Saraswati. Those selling kitchenware have newer range to offer in dinner sets, tea sets, cutlery stands, glassware, serving dishes, chapatti makers, tandoors, casseroles and other stuff.

Sanjana, a buyer at a shop in Model Town, said she was looking for newer stuff to buy for her home. “I really liked glass dishes with steel stands and spirit lamps underneath. I am just looking for a better option.”

Microwaves, LCD TV sets, cameras and food processors are hot items among electronic stuff.

Almost all branded jewellery showrooms and banks have come up with gold coins, especially for the purpose.

Bed sheets, blankets and other stuff are also popular gift items. Various companies like Dairy Milk, Cadbury’s, Britannia and Nestle have come up with gift packs especially for the festival.

In fact, there is a gift available in every range.

Various departmental stores, including Big Bazaar, have come up with various offers on almost every item, including laptops, soft toys, watches and snack sets.

Jalandhar, November 2
As people are busy decorating their houses for Divali, one thing that can add on to that festive touch is rangoli. And mind you, it is no longer as difficult as it was till a few years ago.

Everything comes packed. There are scores of easy-to-make rangoli kits available in the market which even the children can use and come out with very neat, colourful, pre-defined patterns.

All they need to do is to select a small place near the entrance of the house. The kits include screens of small and big sizes which have perforations only at certain points so that when the colour is poured onto them from the nozzles of bottles, the colours fall down in the form of rangoli patterns. If done a bit more with innovation, different colours can be used one after the other to form more colourful patterns.

The rangoli kits are also available in the Model Town market in the form of cardboard stencils. The stencils have cuts in such a way that when colours fall through the spaces down on the floor, these do not mix and arcs and lines in the pattern come very neatly. Of course care has to be taken while picking up the stencil from the floor.

In case one is interested in making a pattern of his own choice directly without using any such tool, there are ready-to-pick sets of colours available in the market. These contain four packets of coloured saw dust, a packet of glitters, mirrors and a painted “diya” to adorn the rangoli.

There is yet another form of rangoli kit for smaller children wherein the colours have to be pasted on sheets by applying fevicol. These sheets can be later cut and kept at the entrance of the doors giving almost the same effect. The advantage with such kits is that these can be reused or even hung up with a thread. These sheets come in various patterns such as that of Ganesha, flower or other geometrical shapes.

Amardip, a mother, opined, “My seven-year old daughter has found the screen kit very handy. These are even cheap and very much affordable and reusable.”

Jalandhar, November 2
The week-long Divali celebrations concluded on the premises of Guru Amar Dass Public School. Various competitions were organised during the week to mark Divali.

Students exhibited their talent in diya and candle decoration, rangoli, card making, collage making, thali and pot decoration and gift wrapping competitions.

Phillaur, November 2
Former minister Santokh Singh Chaudhary has blamed the SAD-BJP government of first halting a sewerage project launched by the previous Congress regime and then launching the same in its name to gain political mileage.

He said the project in Goraya, on which Rs 26 crore would be spent, was supposed to be completed in just Rs 11 crore by the Congress regime.

He alleged that the current government deprived the Goraya residents of the sewerage facility for four years, but now seeing the coming elections, the SAD-BJP combine announced the scheme only to get political benefits.

Santokh Singh alleged that several schemes of the previous Congress government had been dropped by the Badal government but the same were being revived only for political reasons.

He urged Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal to issue a detailed White Paper on the all development schemes launched during the Congress regime and later dropped by the Badal government to apprise the people of the actual facts.

Jalandhar, November 2
Rules have not been  properly followed while preparing votes for the  ensuing Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) elections.

Stating this, leaders of the Akali Dal (1920) demanded that the date for lodging complaints in respect of reported bogus votes should be extended by November 30.

Talking to mediapersons after its executive meeting here on Tuesday, its senior vice-president Darshan Singh Ishapur alleged that several ineligible votes had been prepared for the SGPC poll. The house numbers of voters had not been included in the voters’ lists which was not accurate according to the rules, he added.

Interestingly several persons were made voters who were not even residents of those villages which had been mentioned in the lists, he said, adding that the Gurdwara Election Commission should take action to correct these irregularities.

Meanwhile, the Akali Dal (1920) has decided to field its leader Bhajan Singh Shergill for the election of the post of SGPC President.

Jalandhar, November 2
The rigorous campaign against food adulteration sounds like a futile exercise as despite the raids and sample collection done by the health authorities the chances of the sale of adulterated milk products still remain bright, especially during the festival season.

Reason: In routine, the state government-run quality testing laboratory takes around 30 to 40 days to test samples and give results.

By the time results come out, the shop owners have already sold the entire stock of questionable quality.

During routine exercise, the samples of the questionable items are collected and sent to the laboratory.

However, during the long interval of 30 to 40 days, when the demand of sweets remained obviously high, the authorities possess no right to put check on the sale of such items.

In general practice, the health authorities hardly seize the whole amount of substandard items and seal the shop. It rarely happens that shops are being sealed and are allowed to sell the items only after the results come out.

For instance, 87 samples of consumable items have been taken during the ongoing festival season. However, as yet results of only one sample have been declared by the laboratory. The rest 86 are still awaited.

“We have the power to seal the shop. Such cases are special and the laboratory gives results within 48 hours of the seizure. However, sealing can only be done only when we are certain that the food product in question is surely adulterated,” said District Health Officer of Jalandhar Dr R.L. Bassan.

What about the items regarding which experts are not sure?

Ironically, both the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act and the health authorities are silent over the issue.

“Definitely, this is a major loophole in the act. Every questionable item and shop can be sealed. However, before that we need to set up laboratories at every district headquarters,” said another health official, pleading anonymity.

On the other hand, the idea of the total seizure and sealing of the shop is also opposed by other quarters. Harjinderjit Singh, state committee member of Dodhi Dairy Union, Punjab, said in case the laboratory results come positive, even in 48 hours, who will compensate for the loss incurred by the owner during the period for which the shop remained sealed.

But the question which remains unaddressed is that how the consumers would be compensated, if results of the already consumed food items come negative that too after 40 days.

Phagwara, November 2
The family of JBT Government School Teacher Daljit Kaur, who was killed in a road mishap on March 25, 2008, is being deprived of the revision of pensionary benefits due to the mysterious missing of the entire case of revision of pensionary benefits along with her service book from the office of the Accountant-General, Chandigarh.

Hari Mittar Bilga, husband of the deceased teacher, told newsmen here today that the case was sent by the Block Primary Education Officer to the office of Accountant-General, Chandigarh. After of 19 months, the BPEO, Phagwara, sent a reminder on October 23, 2009. He alleged that some objections were raised on the papers of his deceased wife by the AG office. But the objection papers along with other documents and the service book were wrongly sent to the BPEO, Kapurthala.

Bilga alleged that despite several requests sent to the AG office, nothing could be done as neither the documents could be received in the BPEO office, Phagwara, nor these could be located in the BPEO office, Kapurthala. He said he also contacted District Education Officer Kamal Kant Aery who instructed the BPEO, Phagwara, to enquire and locate the documents, but the record could not be located.

Bilga has threatened to knock the doors of the judicial courts and the Human Rights Commission if he did not receive the “revised pensionary benefits” and entire record along with the service book of his deceased Wife. — OC

Jalandhar, November 2
It’s not everyday that that they get to meet a Sangeet Natak Akademi award winning dramatist. But months of works under the tutelage of a theatre legend has taught the students of Eklavya School a very timely and unforgettable lesson in life and arts. Director Seema Handa’s zeal to ensure a first-rate professional experience for them in theatre has enriched their lives.

The city had a rare treat on October 31. About 300-400 kids staged the 
final performance of their play “The Roaring Night” at Eklavya School.

Veteran dramatist Probir Guha, in his two earlier visits (in March and July) had taught the teachers, then the kids and this time he built on the strong foundation created by him.

Kids dressed as lions, cubs, hyenas, butterflies and flowers took to the stage.

It was a one-and-a-half-hour-long play which the involved audience patiently sat through.

Bougainvillea flowers brought in some colour and pots covered with Hefian cloth filled in for the brown hues of the jungle.

Guha says, “I had taught them the basics in the previous visit. During the July visit I had given them the basic structure to work on. This time I just built on it. Their confidence level, how they had to cover the stage, how to make use of their bodies, this was all I worked on this time. ”

Guha’s son Shubhadeep Guha, who runs his own music band, did the music for the play. He is also responsible for arranging and conceptualising the recorded track of the play. “We worked on a lot many animal sounds. Every character had different music to go with it. Things got really funny at times as some kids had heavy Punjabi accents which gave a fun element to their performance,” Shubhadeep says.

Talking about the sound tracks, Dierctor Seema Handa says, “The tracks written by our teachers and arranged by Shubhadeep were liked by all. The Sambhavna hai song, which was played to go with the danger scenes depicted in the play, was especially considered intense and evil by all.”

Talking about the general impact on the students, Handa says, “Students have learnt from the experience. The entire school bonded when the play was under production. Students who were thought of as irresponsible suddenly got very mature and started helping out their juniors as never before.”

Talking about the dance sequences of the play, Handa says they were choreographed by Kathak dancer Sushmita Ghosh. She made them pick up the dream sequence where Simba meets Nala.

The lighting done by Varun was especially laudable. The stage lighting changed with the mood of the play.

So, when is Guha getting back again? Handa says, “There are no fixed plans as yet but our kids having more workshops with him would be really fruitful for them. Maybe in March or June next year.”

Phagwara, November 2
The Punjab Government would soon computerise the entire Local Bodies Department, informed Local Bodies Minister Manoranjan Kalia while talking to newsmen here on Sunday.

He said all panchayats and nagar councils would be online connected with the Deputy Directors concerned of the region, all offices of Deputy Directors would be connected with Director and Secretary, Local Bodies Department offices, which would also be directly connected with the Local Bodies Minister, Chief Secretary and Chief Minister to accelerate the official works.

He said 13 industrial focal points would soon be upgraded in the state. He said eight clusters had been selected for solid waste management programmes as the lands for five clusters had been acquired.

Kalia said the Manpreet episode won’t cause any damage to the SAD-BJP alliance. He said a politician gets recognition with his/her organisation only but Manpreet perhaps miscalculated himself.

When asked about SAD-BJP alliance, Kalia claimed that the alliance was as strong as rock and it could not be affected by anyone. When his attention was drawn towards the Congress strength after the return of former Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh, Kalia said that people of the state had outrightly rejected the Congress and it could not return to power in future.

Jalandhar, November 2
The anti-gangster staff of the district police claimed to have nabbed two brothers  with charas at Sikka Chowk behind the Civil Hospital here today.

A case under the NDPS Act has been registered against the duo at Division No 3  Police Station.

The duo have been identified as Rajinder Singh, alias Rana, and Varinder Kumar, alias Raju, residents of Bhadurpur village in Hoshiarpur district. The police has also seized 5.5 kg of charas worth thousands of rupees from their possession.

ASI Sukhwinder Singh said that Rajinder was carrying 3 kg of charas, while Varinder was carrying 2.5 kg of charas in an Indica car (CH03-A2412). “We nabbed the duo during a routine naka this afternoon,” he added.

The police claimed that initial investigations had revealed that the accused used to bring charas from Manali at an approximate price of Rs 18,000 and sell it in Punjab at Rs 25,000 to Rs 30,000 per kg.