Jalandhar, January 20
Theatre and documentary filmmaking are luxuries in Punjab for those who watch them. And for those who pursue them, they are vocations, which do not promise many dividends.

The Desh Bhagat Yaadgar Hall, hub of leftist activity in Jalandhar, is one such place that recognises the importance of both.

The hall library is abound in literature - print and otherwise - that sells like hotcakes during the Mela Ghadari Babeyan Da. But it’s comparatively meagre, yet important. The collection in audio-visual segment is a revelation for all who have seen or heard about it.

The library has ample recordings for the first screenings of many plays by Punjabi masters, which debuted at the hall, but later went on to become huge hits throughout the state. These plays are picked up and staged at theatre and youth festivals year after year.

Amolak Singh, the convener of the cultural wing of the Desh Bhagat Yaadgar Hall, said 10 documentaries in their collection are of the path-breaking kind that are significant reflections of the people’s movements and issues influencing the state.

The documentaries are mostly screened during the mela and in industrial set-ups or villages for the benefit of labourers or rural folk, who highly appreciate them.

“Labourers at the industrial screenings love these and take keen interest. This is stuff for the people at the grassroots level. Urbane crowds are not as much interested in them as the labourers. At the festivals, too, we notice people coming in from far and wide but those from Jalandhar are relatively few in number. It’s a strange city. Seems like it doesn’t want to get sensitised of the ground realities in the countryside,” said Singh.

Talking about the documentaries in the hall’s collection, he mentioned Daljit Ami’s Aman Aur Zulm, Har Mitti Kutteyan Nai Bhurdi; Ajay Bhardwaj’s Ek Minute Ka Maun; Rajiv’s Apna Paash and Harvinder Diwana’s Khetan De Putt Jaag Paye.

‘Ek Minute Ka Maun’ talks about the 1994 movement by the students in Bihar against increase in fees. The documentary is a hit with the migrant labourers.

‘Har Mitti Kutteyan Nai Bhurdi’ talks about the two-and-a-half-year-long people’s movement, which happened when Kiranjit Kaur of Mahal Kalan village was raped by the son of the village big shot.

“It was a historic movement. Women blocked traffic. As many as people from 50 villages participated in the protests. Thousands of people used to gather. The protesting crowds cooked food themselves and fought on till the accused were punished,” Singh elaborated.

The documentary ‘Apna Paash’ talks about the revolutionary poet and is the only documentary to have been made on Paash in Punjab so far. With Paash as its basic thought, the documentary voices the opinion that the state and Khalistan are two sides of the same coin.

It features interviews with Paash’s mother, father, sister, brother-in-law, aunt and historians Gursharan Singh and Bhai Manna Singh.

‘Khetan De Putt Jaag Paye’ is a documentary on the one-and-a-half-year-long struggle of the peasants of the Channan, Dhaula and Sanghera villages near Barnala, where a land of 365 acres was acquired without the consent of the farmers.

“False fards were made. Standing crops were destroyed just to ensure the acquisition of the land. Children couldn’t study because schools were closed. But the farmers fought on. Three people were killed but finally they got justice. The peasants were given Rs 20 lakh for an acre of land,” Singh said.

Among the plays, he mentioned Kewal Dhaliwal’s ‘Lal Batti’, ‘Dharmguru’, ‘Kudesan’, the controversial ‘Medhni’, ‘Itihaas De Safe Te’; Pali Bhupinder Singh’s ‘Main Bhagat Singh Haan’; Prof Ajmer Aulakh’s ‘Lohe Da Putt’, ‘Aise Jan Virle Sansaare’, ‘Begaane Bohr Di Chaan’, ‘Nikke Nikke Surjan Di Larayi’; Rajbir’s ‘Pyasa Kaan’ and Madiha Gauhar’s ‘Bulla’.

Talking about Medhni, he says, “The play was a huge risk but thankfully it went peacefully.” It talked about the black episode where an eminent politician allegedly got her daughter killed for honour.

The play ‘Kudesan’ is the story of a truck driver who buys a migrant woman and brings her home when her wife is not able to bear him a son.

So how popular are the plays among the festival crowds? “During 2010’s Mela Ghadri Babeyan Da, we sold CDs worth Rs 22,000. People love them. Take them to homes. Show them to their families,” Amolak Singh said.

Jalandhar, January 20
Having observed inaction on the part of the officials against unauthorised colonisers, the members of RTI Activists’ Federation once again resorted to an hour-long dharna in front of the office of the Commissioner of Municipal Corporation here yesterday.

The federation, led by general secretary, Punjab, Anil Vashisht, had held a protest last Tuesday during which he said that the members had been given an assurance that the unabated growth of illegal colonies would be checked in a week’s time.

The members said that the officials had been adopting double standards. While at one time they had stopped giving power connection to unapproved colonies, on the other they were doing nothing to check any unregulated growth.

The activists also lamented that they were getting threats from the land mafia for not resorting to any demonstration. They, however, said that they would not stop here and would take the campaign further.

The members said they had come up with pamphlets which they would be distributed among the residents warning them against consequences of buying land in an unauthorised colony.

“While actually it is the responsible of authorities to spread awareness on the matter, we are ready to do their job. Ideally, the authorities including the PUDA and MC should have even got warning boards put up at the site and got registered cases against such fraudulent persons”, they claimed.

Jalandhar, January 20
The intense cold wave has made life miserable for the “sadhus” who live on the footpaths near the city railway station. As the cold winds blow, they look for shelter to protect their semi-covered bodies.

The Tribune team interacted with some of them to get a peep into their lives.

Almost all of them sport saffron turbans and some even wear hordes of beaded necklaces like Sufi fakirs. Most of them have lived on the streets throughout their lives, but there are a substantial number of those who left their homes and families later in life.

Take the case of Rajinder Pal Singh. He is from Balachaur and claims that he had served in the Punjab Police for 25 years. Unable to bear the loss, he took to streets after the death of his wife 20 years ago. He has never thought of going home since then. It’s been five years since he came to Jalandhar. He lives on the footpaths and eats what he gets. He left three brothers and a son back at home. “They do keep calling me. But the thought to go back home never crossed my mind.”

Rajinder Pal Singh is a rarity since he sticks to his name. Many of the others have suffixed their names with tags such as “Nath” or “Baba”, to fit into the sadhu mould.

Vijay Baba says he has been on the street since childhood. His friend, who refused to divulge his name, says he’s been out of home for the last eight to 10 years. Both of them came to Jalandhar a few months back.

“Why do you ask all this? Are you going to give us something?,” they questioned us.

“They all just come, ask questions and then mistreat us. At Amritsar (where they were before coming to Jalandhar) certain people told us they would give us a place to live. They took us to an isolated place and locked us up. Nothing was given to eat. We managed to escape from there.”

There are some sadhus who, it seems, feign that they are mutes. They signal to their friends who then tell us, “Ye gunga hai.”

Pipan Nath, a Patna native, who is popular among the shelterless sadhus of the railway station, says he came to Jalandhar a few months ago. “I have been on the streets since I was a child. We are not scared of anything. We go wherever we get something to eat. We mostly get food from bhandaras, which keep on happening in the city.”

The sadhus gather around Pipan as he speaks. How do they manage to stay warm? “Shradhalu aate hain (devotees come). They give us blankets and warm coverings. Many of the sadhus even sell the blankets to earn bread. You have to do something to fill your stomach after all,” says Pipan.

Where do they sleep at night? “Platform number 5 at the railway station. That’s their haven on cold nights.”

Doesn’t anyone stop them? “No.”

Pipan gets candid. “Why should I lie, there are some among us who dress up as fakirs just to earn a livelihood. Sadhus always get something to eat. They have no work to do. This is convenient for them,” he says.

Has the government ever brought something for them or ensured shelters? “No. It’s just some city people who come in cars. No government.” The sadhus huddled around him nod their heads in unison to that.

Prem Nath, a turbaned woman who travels with Pipan, is almost like a mother to him. She left her family at Kanpur about three years ago.

Other members of this congregation of sadhus are Dadu, who has been on the street for six years and came to Jalandhar six months ago; Sanju Babu from Madhya Pradesh, who left home 19 years ago and came to Jalandhar about four months ago; Brij Mohan, who left his home in Madhya Pradesh in 1992 and has been in Jalandhar for the last nine years, and Mahesh, who has been in Jalandhar for the last 12 months. A Ganganagar native, he has left home 30 to 35 years.

“There are people like Dharmoo among them, who sits wrapped up in stinking blankets smeared with his body wastes. Dharmoo can’t move. He urinates at the place where he sits. We feed him. There’s no medical help for him from anywhere,” one of them says.

Many of them carry identity cards, which they claim the police got made for them, and have been regulars to the Amarnath Yatra.

Jalandhar, January 20
The competence of the city police once again came under scanner with the snatching of an AK-47 rifle from a policeman by some miscreants late last night.

Thought the police had tightened security at all entry and exit points of the city soon after the incident, yet it has failed to make any headway in this “daring” crime case even after 24 hours of the incident.

The incident occurred at about 10.30 pm on the busy Cool road on Wednesday when some motorcyclists snatched the AK-47 rifle from Surinder Kumar, a security guard of Tajinder Singh Bittu, a former Chairman of the Improvement Trust, Jalandhar.

The police said Surinder Kumar was on his way to Bittu’s house in Model Town in a rickshaw and carrying the weapon in his lap. Some motorcyclists, who were chasing him, snatched the weapon and sped away, the police said.

The cop and Bittu had arrived at the city railway station from New Delhi last night. Bittu asked Surinder Kumar to hire a rickshaw to his house as he had to go to some other place with his friends.

Deputy Commissioner of Police Arun Pal Singh said they had launch a hunt for the snatchers and a case was registered at Model Town police station on a complaint of Surinder Kumar.

Phagwara, January 20
The nagar council, which saw many tug of wars among the councillors, today witnessed a rare unity in the general meeting of the council.

The councillors unanimously passed a resolution regarding an increase in their monthly honorarium.

The NC president would now get Rs 7,500, which was earlier Rs 5,000, while the councilors would get Rs 4,000 in place of Rs 2,500. The meeting allowance for the councilors was increased from Rs 200 to Rs 300.

For the first time, the NC decided to provide Rs 500 for the phone bills of the councillors. The president would get Rs 750.

After this, the councillors passed all other 15 resolutions unanimously.

Jalandhar, January 20
Elaborate arrangements are being made for the state-level Republic Day function to be held next week at Guru Gobind Singh Stadium here.

Several events, such as horse show, tent pegging and motorcycle show by platoons of the armed forces, are expected to be showcased on the occasion. As many as 20 tableaux by various government departments, including Municipal Corporation, Punjab Health Systems Corporation. Powercom and traffic police, are being made.

Various government institutes, including Dr BR Ambedkar National Institute of Technology, are also being roped in to demonstrate the use of technology and robots for various purposes.

Jalandhar, January 20
A two-day photography workshop is being held at the Department of Journalism and Mass Communication of Guru Nanak Dev University, Regional Campus in Jalandhar.

The workshop is aimed at giving students an in-depth account of the intricacies of photography and camera handling. The first session of the first day of the workshop was held by prominent photographer Janmeja Johal, while renowned photojournalist Karamveer Sandhu held the second session.

As many as 40 students of the journalism department of the regional campus as well as DAV College attended the first day of the workshop.

Jalandhar, January 20
Sukhmanjeet Kaur of the Rail Coach Factory, Kapurthala, would lead the Punjab senior women hockey team in the Senior National Women Hockey Championship, scheduled to be held at Sonepat from January 21 to 30. The team left for Sonepat today.

This was stated by the secretary, Hockey, Punjab-cum-Director Sports, Punjab, Pargat Singh, in a press note issued here on Wednesday. The team was selected after a coaching camp held at the Rail Coach Factory, Kapurthala.

The selected players are Gursharan Singh, Harmanjeet Kaur, Rajbeer Kaur, Anita, Sukhmanjeet Kaur, Sandeep Kaur, Manbir Kaur, Amandeep Kaur, Vartika Singh, Anuradha Devi, Lalremurati, Kamini Mishra, Baljinder Kaur, Shikha, Kirandeep Kaur and Pardeep Kaur.

The coach of the team will be Harjit Kaur and manager Baljeet Kaur.

Jalandhar, January 20
Sports School, Jalandhar, and Government Raj Senior Secondary School, Sangrur, entered the league stage during the inaugural day of the seventh All-India Balwant Singh Kapur Hockey Tournament at Olympian Surjit Hockey Stadium here today.

The tournament was inaugurated by three times Asian Games gold medallist athlete Olympian Manjit Kaur.

In the first match of the knockout stage, Sports School, Jalandhar, displayed good game against Baba Gurmukh Singh Uttam Singh School, Khadoor Sahib. Sports School won the match by 4-1.

During the sixth minute, Khadoor Sahib boys took a lead through the stick of Lovepreet Singh. After that Sports School scored four goals in a row. The scorers were Navdeep Singh (34, 55 minute), Gurpreet Singh (8 minute) and Partik Singh (26 minute).

In the second knockout-stage match, Government Raj Senior Secondary School, Sangrur, beat Government School, Sundernagar (Himachal Pradesh), via sudden death by 5-4.

Both teams locked at 0-0 at the end of the stipulated time. For Sangrur- Baltej Singh, Amandeep Singh, Harpreet Singh, Malkeet Singh and Harwinder Singh scored the goals, while in the Sundernagar team, Jatinder Singh, Kamal, Sonu and Sandeep scored the goals.

The inaugural match was witnessed by members of Kapur Family, Olympian Ajit Pal Singh, his wife Kiran Ajitpal Singh and Arjuna awardee Rajbir Kaur.