The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

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The Amritsar Municipal Corporation launches a special cleaniness drive ahead of the birth anniversary of
Guru Nanak Dev in Amritsar on Wednesday. Tribune photo: Sameer Sehgal

Warring Congress leaders aim to make Nov 3 rally a success
Jalandhar, November 2
Warring Congress leaders of Doaba region have sunk their differences for the time being only to make the November 3 Jalandhar rally of the Punjab Congress a big success. A truce was struck by senior Congress leader and PPCC coordinator Ashwani Sekhri.

All set for Congress’ Punjab Bachao rally today
Jalandhar, November 2
Arrangements for the Punjab Bachao rally in city are nearly complete. The rally is being organised by the district unit of the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee at Burton Park on Thursday.

Amritsar first city to join Italy’s Green Pilgrim Network
Amritsar, November 2
The inaugural conference of Green Pilgrim Network (GPN) organised by the Alliance of Religions and Conservation (ARC) opened in Assisi in Italy on Tuesday. As per a release issued here today, the ARC has brought together major faiths of the world to form a Green network of pilgrimage cities across the globe. In this inaugural conference, 11 world pilgrim cities of different faiths are participating, including Amritsar represented by Sikhs at Assisi.

1,060 girl students get bicycles
Nawanshahr, November 2
The Chief Parliamentary Secretary, Nand Lal, and MLA Mohan Lal at two separate functions held at Government Girls senior Secondary School,Balachaur, and Government senior Secondary School, Aur, here in the district today distributed bicycles to as many as 751 and 309 girl students, respectively. Addressing the gathering, Nand Lal and

Dowry claims woman’s life
Pathankot, November 2
Dowry claimed life of a 28-year-old woman, identified as Suman Lata, at Sujanpur town on Tuesday. The police, today, arrested Vijay Kumar, the husband of the deceased. Mangat Ram, the father-in-law, Krishna Devi, the mother-in-law and four other accused are absconding.

	MCs start video conferencing Local Bodies Minister misses the first one Deepkamal Kaur Tribune News Service Jalandhar, November 2 Coming as a major boon for the residents who have been complaining of MC officials not available owing to meetings in Chandigarh, the Local Bodies Department today inaugurated the video-conferencing project wherein the office has been connected with six MC offices and the Deputy Director, Regional, Ferozepur. According to the proposal, the Mayors, Commissioners, SEs and other officials would be personally called to Chandigarh for meetings on very rare occasions with most discussions to be held through video-conferencing from now onwards. The use of technology is aimed not just to cut down on fuel expenditure and save time spent on frequent trips, but also to make the officials more commonly available to the public. Mayor Rakesh Rathour along with Commissioner BS Dhaliwal and other officials assembled in the meeting hall. The officials in other seven centres also came online at 3 pm, the scheduled time. They kept on waiting for about 20 minutes for Local Bodies Minister Tikshan Sud to join from Chandigarh, but he failed to turn up. Satish Chandra, Principal Secretary, Local Bodies, chaired the meeting and announced that the minister had to leave for a Cabinet session. It was announced that monthly meetings would be held at the Mayor level. The MC Jalandhar has paid an amount of Rs 65,792 as quarterly instalment of Rs 4,60,547, the expenditure involved in the project. While an amount of Rs 4,42,834 will go to contractor Tulip Telecom Ltd, Rs 17,713 will be paid to Punjab Infotech for its implementation. Divisional Commissioner already using video-conferencing Jalandhar Divisional Commissioner Anurag Verma has been using video-conferencing room of the National Informatics Centre (NIC) in the Tehsil Complex almost every week to reach out to the DCs from the eight districts falling in the division on various issues. He has been regularly corresponding for issues related to the implementation of the Right to Service Act and digitisation of land records. “A circular is issued to all DCs in Hoshiarpur, Kapurthala, Nawanshahr, Amritsar, Tarn Taran, Pathankot and Gurdaspur on their emails regarding the agenda prior to the meetings. The meeting lasts for less than an hour and the officials resume work in their respective offices in the next 15 minutes,” he added. The official said he was using technology for getting reports on development works by asking the officials concerned to click pictures of the sites on their mobile phones and mail it to him. “Recently, I did this for getting proofs of putting up of boards on the Right to Service Act”, he added. RTI complainants also using the facility The video-conferencing room of the NIC in the Tehsil Complex is quite busy these days. The room is also used almost every other day by the RTI complainants and responding parties having their cases with the National Information Commission in New Delhi. A lot many counsels have found the conferencing to be of much use for them as they can also appear for hearing in local courts on the same day. Election Commission holds meeting with DCs using the technology The meetings of the Election Commission with the DCs are also held through video-conferencing. The work for review of voter lists, changes in booths and other issues are taken during meetings held almost every Tuesday.
	Warring Congress leaders aim to make Nov 3 rally a success Varinder Singh Tribune News Service Jalandhar, November 2 Warring Congress leaders of Doaba region have sunk their differences for the time being only to make the November 3 Jalandhar rally of the Punjab Congress a big success. A truce was struck by senior Congress leader and PPCC coordinator Ashwani Sekhri. As the PPCC chief Captain Amarinder Singh has already blown up the poll bugle by kick-starting his “Punjab Bachao Yatra” from Talwandi Sabo on November 1, the November 3 Jalandhar rally was being projected by the PPCC as the ‘biggest rally’ of Doaba region. The Congress leaders are expecting more than 30,000 workers and leaders from Doaba region in the rally, particularly, from all the four Assembly segments of Jalandhar city and from the nearby Adampur Assembly constituency. “There are no differences among party leaders or ticket aspirants as of now. All of them have resolved their differences and are working hard to make the rally a big success,” said Ashwani Sekhri while talking to The Tribune here today. Factionalism has gripped the Jalandhar unit of the Congress largely due to the multiplicity of party ticket aspirants from key constituencies of Jalandhar, particularly Jalandhar (central) and Jalandhar (cantonment). Former Improvement Trust Chairman Tejinder Bittu, hotelier-turned-politician Gautam Kapoor and veteran Congress leader Raj Kumar Gupta are vying for the Congress ticket from the Jalandhar (central) seat, currently retained by senior BJP leader Manoranjan Kalia. On the other hand, former Punjab minister Gurkanwal Kaur, Kanwaljit Lalli and Manjinder Singh Chaudhary are flexing their muscles to contest from the Jalandhar (cantonment) seat. Sekhri held a series of meeting with senior Congress leaders, including MP Mohinder Singh Kaypee and former minister Avtar Henry, during the past three days. He, it was learnt, also managed to bring warring leaders like DCC (Urban) Chief Arun Walia and Kamal Sachdeva and two main aspirants from Jalandhar (central), Tejinder Bittu and Gautam Kapoor, on one platform for the sake of the rally. “There is no factionalism in Jalandhar Congress or among Congress leaders of Doaba region,” said Sekhri.
	All set for Congress’ Punjab Bachao rally today Tribune News Service Jalandhar, November 2 Arrangements for the Punjab Bachao rally in city are nearly complete. The rally is being organised by the district unit of the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee at Burton Park on Thursday. The city will witness a gathering of nearly 30,000 people at the venue where top leaders of the Congress party, under the leadership of former Chief Minister and PPCC president Capt Amarinder Singh will address the rally. Arun Walia, president of District Congress Committee, said besides Capt Amarinder Singh, Rajinder Kaur Bhattal, leader of the opposition, Gulchian Singh Charak, in charge of the Punjab Congress affairs, Mohinder Singh Kaypee, MP Jalandhar, and MLA the assembly constituencies, Jalandhar North, Jalandhar Central, Jalandhar West, Jalandhar Cantonment and Adampur in the district will take part. The Union Minister for Broadcasting Ambika Soni is also likely to join the rally, he said. The organisers have also set up separate stages of the senior congress leaders, MLAs and the media persons at the venue. To keep the gathering busy, a special stage has also been decked up for a musical troop that will entertain the visitors.
	Amritsar first city to join Italy’s Green Pilgrim Network Tribune News Service Amritsar, November 2 The inaugural conference of Green Pilgrim Network (GPN) organised by the Alliance of Religions and Conservation (ARC) opened in Assisi in Italy on Tuesday. As per a release issued here today, the ARC has brought together major faiths of the world to form a Green network of pilgrimage cities across the globe. In this inaugural conference, 11 world pilgrim cities of different faiths are participating, including Amritsar represented by Sikhs at Assisi. The conference began with procession from Basilica of St Francis, Assisi led by Royal Princess Michael, Duke of Kent. In addition, religious leaders of major faiths in their traditional robes and attires joined the procession. Representatives of faiths included Sikhs, Baha’is, Muslims, Hindus, Christians, Dao of China, Mongolian Buddhist, Church of Armenian, St Albans, Anglican Church, Jews, Shinto from Japan and Muslims representing cities of their faiths in the inaugural gathering. High-school children from Assisi carried the flags containing symbols of different religions. Sikh religion was represented in the procession by Dalmegh Singh, Secretary SGPC, along with Kahan Singh Pannu, Chairman Punjab Pollution Control Board, and Dr Rajwant Singh, President EcoSikh.
	1,060 girl students get bicycles Our Correspondent Nawanshahr, November 2 The Chief Parliamentary Secretary, Nand Lal, and MLA Mohan Lal at two separate functions held at Government Girls senior Secondary School,Balachaur, and Government senior Secondary School, Aur, here in the district today distributed bicycles to as many as 751 and 309 girl students, respectively. Addressing the gathering, Nand Lal and Mohan Lal said the bicycles were being distributed under Mai Bhago Vidhya Scheme launched by the SAD-BJP government to boost education of girls in the state.
	Dowry claims woman’s life Our Correspondent Pathankot, November 2 Dowry claimed life of a 28-year-old woman, identified as Suman Lata, at Sujanpur town on Tuesday. The police, today, arrested Vijay Kumar, the husband of the deceased. Mangat Ram, the father-in-law, Krishna Devi, the mother-in-law and four other accused are absconding. Mukesh Kumar, the brother of the deceased, lodged a complaint alleging that her sister was tortured since her marriage with Vijay Kumar in 2009 for more dowry. He further said he received the information about her sister’s sickness and he went to visit her at her in-laws’ house where he found her dead. He was told that Suman Lata had committed suicide by hanging herself. The DSP, Manoj Kumar, said the accused would be arrested soon.