Kapurthala November 9
Renowned Pakistani ghazal singer Ghulam Ali will be the main attraction at the Kapurthala Heritage Festival this year.

The eighth edition of the festival will be held at Jagatjit Palace here on November 12 and 13.

Ghulam Ali of the Patiala Gharana belongs to a musical family as his father was a vocalist and a sarangi player who initiated him to music from his childhood.

Ghulam Ali will enthral the audience on the first day of the festival - held in the memory of Baba Jassa Singh Ahluwalia, founder of the erstwhile Kapurthala state - which will begin at 5.30 pm on November 12.

Deputy Commissioner Raj Kamal Chaudhary stated here today that Ghulam Ali and sitarist Budhaditya Mukherjee would mesmerise the gathering on November 12 whereas vocalist Baldev Sharan Narang, santoorist Tarun Bhattacharya and sufi singers Wadali brothers would enthral the audience on November 13.

The heritage festival will begin with Gurbani recital by Bhai Gurnam Singh.

The district administration received a grant of Rs 17 lakh from the state government to hold the festival whereas it has demanded Rs 12 lakh more to organise the festival.

Answering a query, the DC said the state government had not released the grant last year which forced the administration to abandon the festival in 2009.

Answering another question regarding the curtailing of one day from the earlier three-day festival, Chaudhary said it was difficult for people to be present on all three days so the administration had decided to make it a two-day event. The Kapurthala Heritage Festival started in 2002 and became an annual event for music lovers.

Initially, the festival was called Baba Jassa Singh Sharad Utsav. Later it was converted into Kapurthala Heritage Festival. The festival was earlier organised by the Kapurthala Heritage Trust headed by Maharaja Brig Sukhjit Singh Ahluwalia (retd) as its chairman and the Deputy Commissioner the ex-officio secretary of the trust. Interestingly, the festival is being organised by the Virsa Vihar Training and Development Society instead of the Kapurthala Heritage Trust, for reasons best known to the administration.

When the attention of the DC was drawn towards the absence of the Kapurthala Heritage Trust in the function, the DC said it was a defunct body, adding that the Virsa Vihar Training and Development Society looked after the cultural activities in Virsa Vihar Kendra and the administration decided to hold the festival through the Virsa Vihar Society.

Keshopur Chamb, November 9
Punjab’s famous wetland Keshopur Chamb, known for attracting migratory birds from as far as Central Asia and Siberia, is all set to be declared an ecologically tourist friendly area by the state government.

Efforts in this direction are being made by the state government’s ministry of tourism and culture and funding for this purpose will be made by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), whose team of officials regularly tours the wetland to work out the details.

Sources reveal that once the wetland gets the ecotourism (ecological tourism) area status, the region will attract tourists who can study the flora and fauna at the wetland.

The wetland has already been declared a Community Reserve and is protected under the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972.

A team of the ADB recently visited the area and urged the authorities to set up a check post for security purposes, a children’s park, a parking area, guard huts, presentation centre, watch towers and fish ponds.

Scores of fish ponds already exist and have been leased out for a period of 10 years to villagers of the area.

The efforts to make the area an ecologically tourism viable area are being co-ordinated by Gurdaspur Deputy Commissioner Pirthi Chand and SDM JP Singh.

Wildlife range officer Mangu Ram is also taking an avid interest to ensure that the area is declared an eco-tourism spot.

“The wetland earlier extended to an area of 1,000 acres. However, due to the development of fish ponds, the creation of a drain and reclamation of a part of the area to agriculture, the total area has now shrunk to 850 acres.

Panchayats of five villages - Keshopur, Dalla, Malwa, Magar Mundian and Maini - have leased land to the community reserve,” revealed Mangu Ram.

At one stage, the wetland was on the verge of extinction with panchayats refusing to lease out land to the administration and with village elders refusing to co-operate with the authorities to save the area, which has been used by birds from as far as Siberia, as their winter home, since centuries.

However, after much effort by the wildlife authorities, the panchayats saw reason and finally decided to lease out land with a promise that they would not resort to draining out water.

Mangu Ram disclosed, “Wetlands are considered to be the most productive aquatic ecosystems. Punjab is home to three internationally famous wetlands - Harike, Kanjli and Ropar and three of state importance, including the Keshopur wetland. It is an important site and has a profound impact on the economy of the rural areas surrounding it.”

Sources reveal that the forest department has recorded 434 bird species in the Keshopur wetland. Out of this, 45 species of migratory birds, numbering about 40,000, visit the area during the winter season, which extends from October to March.

The most common migratory birds found in the wetland are Gadwal, Pintail, Common Teal, Wigeon, Mallard, Shoveler, Black Headed Gull, Brown Headed Gull, Booted Eagle, Marsh Harrier, Ruff and Reeve, Garganey Teal and Ruddy Shelduck.

Nawanshahr, November 9
The District Legal Services Authority organised a function here to mark the National Legal Services Day here at the judicial complex on Tuesday. District and Sessions Judge G.S. Sra in his presidential address highlighted the importance of the day for the underprivileged section of the society in having access to the justice.

Giving details, he said the free legal aid had been provided in as many as 316 cases in the district so far. Besides, as many as 21 seminars had been organised by the authority during the current year for making the target section of the society aware about the facility. As many as 6 lok adalats had been organised in which 427 cases were decided and compensations amounting to Rs 1.72 crore were given during the current year in the district to ensure speedy and amicable disposal of the cases. The District and Sessions Judge also inaugurated voluntary blood donation camp organised by Blood Donors Council on the occasion.

Hoshiarpur: The All-Punjab Rehri-Farhi Union demanded the adoption of national policy for street vendors - 2009 as per the orders of the Union Government and Supreme Court.

A deputation of the union, led by their state president Raj Kumar Sareen, district president and district vice-president Vijay Kumar and Kala, respectively, met the Deputy Commissioner here on Monday evening and submitted him the copies of the policy and demanded immediate implementation of the policy, which would directly affect more than 15 lakh rehri vendors of Punjab.

They also demanded formation of a town vending committees on the pattern of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation, in which 40 per cent representation be given to rehri and farhi vendors and all benefits be provided as per the national policy. — OC

Hoshiarpur, November 9
The district consumer court has ordered United India Insurance Company Limited (UIICL), Hoshiarpur, to pay Rs 4.84 lakh to Gupta Agencies with interest at 9 per cent per annum from the date of filing the complaint till payment, along with litigation expenses of Rs 1,000 within one month.

The owner of Gupta Agencies filed a complaint against UIICL and the local branch of Punjab National Bank (PNB) on the ground that the latter got his goods insured (disposable crockery and packing containers, etc.) from the said insurance company as per the stock statement submitted by him and debited the amount of premium to his account.

Due to heavy rain on August 13, 2008, rainwater entered the house and commercial establishments of the complainant and the goods (stock) lying in his godown at Nai Abadi were badly damaged. The surveyor assessed the loss to the tune of Rs 4.84 lakh.

Despite this, the insurance company repudiated his claim on the plea that the godown situated at Nai Abadi was not insured on the alleged date of loss.

As per the insurance policy, the goods were insured in the PNB account of Gupta Agencies, hence the complainant alone is not competent to file the present complaint without arraying the bank as a party to the list. However, it was admitted that the material goods lying in the insured shop situated at the local Bahadurpur road were covered under the policy.

The insurance company admitted that the loss was caused on August 13, 2008, due to rain. As per the estimate supplied by the complainant, the estimated loss was of Rs 4.84 lakh and as per the survey report of Vikas Associates of December 17, 2008, the loss was of Rs 98,300 after applying the excess clause.

The authorities of the PNB raised the defence that initially the complainant had taken a cash credit limit of Rs 1.50 lakh on January 2, 2001, which was enhanced from time to time. The complainant also executed loan documents with terms and conditions contained therein.

As per the terms and conditions of the loan agreement, the owner of Gupta Agencies was to get his hypothecated goods insured on his own and if he fails to do so, the bank had the option to get the same insured from the insurance company at his instance and the premium so paid by the bank was to be debited to the account of the complainant.

It was further said in the present case, the bank, of its own, got the hypothecated goods insured from UIICL on May 15, 2008, and paid a premium of Rs 7,298 after debiting the same to his account.

The consumer court, headed by president P.D. Goel, held that as per the insurance policy, stock of all kinds was insured with the insurance company as per the bank record. Vide column No 1 B of the insurance policy, it has been clearly stated that stock of all kinds, as per bank record, is insured. There is no rebuttal from the side of the insurance company to the stock statements sent by the complainant to the bank.

More so, the bank had categorically admitted that it, on its own, got insured the dispensable items lying in the shop and godown with the insurance company on May 15, 2008.

Therefore, it is concluded that the material lying in the godown of Gupta Agencies on the day of incident was covered under the policy.

Vikas Associates (surveyor and loss assessors) had assessed the loss to the tune of Rs 98,300. The careful scrutiny of the report makes it clear that the loss to the stock has been assessed as per physical verification of the quantity.

The complainant had sent the stock statements from April 30, 2008, to August 2008 to the bank, with regard to the value of the goods and in the stock statement for the month of August 2008, the loss to the stock has been shown as Rs 5,50,300.

The court was of the opinion that as per the bank record, there was a loss of Rs 5,50,300 as the report of the surveyor, qua which the loss has been assessed to the extent of Rs 98,300 stands rebutted.