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Punjab bandh throws life out of gear in city
Auto operators have a field day as buses remain off road
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Excise dept gets richer by
Rs 207 crore
world Theatre day
Town-Twining Programme: MC, UK council exchange agreement copies
HC gives relief to aided schools’ teachers
NIT-Jalandhar fare well in tournament
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Punjab bandh throws life out of gear in city
Jalandhar, March 28 The bandh evoked a total response and sporadic incidents of violence were also reported in parts of the city. Armed activists of various Sikh organisations virtually took to the city roads. The police had to use mild force to disperse the protesters who tried to block the GT Road at the PAP Chowk, said Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (Headquarters) Navjot Singh Mahal.
"The city police had already made elaborated security arrangements to prevent any untoward incident. There was no major tragedy except three minor incidents of scuffle between the police and the activists," said RK Sharma, ADCP (City- 1). The business also suffered a blow. The mob ransacked some shops at Attari bazaar, the hub of wholesale business, and a bank situated at Bhagat Singh Chowk. Holding saffron flags and brandishing naked swards, activists marched into the bazaars and forced the shopkeepers, vendors, to pull down the shutters. The unruly mob smashed the shutters of closed shops and also resorted to hooliganism to create panic while the police remained a mute spectator. The traffic rules were violated by the activist being escorted by the police vehicles throughout the day. Petrol Pump owners kept their filling stations closed by barricading their entry points. The protesters did not spared the essential service, including banks, eating joints, chemist shops at some places. Some of them even barged into the office of a Hindi daily located on the Laddowali Road twice in less than three hours and raised slogans.
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Auto operators have a field day as buses remain off road
Jalandhar, March 28 As all commercial establishments and other business houses remained closed, the city witnessed a few commuters. Still, scores of passengers, who were unaware of the impact of the bandh, were seen stranded at the ISBT here. Some passengers kept on waiting for buses for hours.
Auto-rickshaw operators grabbed the opportunity and started ferrying passengers to Nakodar, Shahkot and Phagwara and charged fives times the normal fare. However, the passengers didn't mind paying extra bucks to avail the facility. The normal bus fare to Nakodar from Jalandhar is Rs 17, but the auto operators charged Rs 70 per commuter. Similarly, the fare to Shahkot from the city is Rs 30, but passengers had to pay Rs 100 to the auto operators. Sonu Kumar, an auto driver, said: "We provided facility to the stranded commuters and ferried them to the nearby destinations." "Not even a single passenger objected to overcharging. Instead, they thanked us for coming to their rescue," Ravi Kumar, another auto driver. Kusum Arora adds from Jalandhar: Public transport, including Punjab Roadways buses, city bus service and mini-buses remained off the road in the city today following the Punjab bandh call given by various Sikh organisations in the state.The Shaheed-e-Azam Inter State Bus Terminal and city roads wore a deserted look throughout the day. At some places, buses were seen ferrying a handful of passengers as city residents preferred to remain indoors. But, even those who had to commute to different places had a tough time as buses were stopped en route by protesters. A large posse of police remained on duty at the ISBT to thwart any untoward incident. Sources at the ISBT said the passenger turnout was less today. Talking to Jalandhar Tribune, general manager of Punjab Roadways-I Parneet Minhas said: “We had given instructions to drivers to continue services, but the passengers did not turn up, following which almost all buses were left parked at the ISBT.” He said a Jammu-bound Punjab Roadways bus was stopped en route by protesters in Pathankot in the morning. “This was the first bus with only 20 passengers on board that left from the ISBT at 4.45 am. Another Punjab Roadways bus going to Hoshiarpur was also stopped by protesters. Even if we got a few passengers to a destination, the bus services were made available,” he added.
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Excise dept gets richer by
Rs 207 crore
Jalandhar, March 28 The department has earned a net revenue of Rs 207.34 crore after the draw of 523 of the 573 liquor vends in the district. Ravinder Kumar, said to be a Kanpur-based liquor baron, had filed a few applications. But he neither appeared for the draw today nor was represented by anyone for depositing the security amount. There were no other applicants from where he had applied, and hence no allotments could be done. District Excise and Taxation Commissioner Kanwalpreet Kaur Brar announced inviting fresh applications from Phillaur, Lohian, Goraya, Uggi and Bhogpur for the conduct of draw of lots till 5 pm today. Since there were no applications till that time, Brar said she would sent the case to the Excise and Taxation Commissioner who would suggest the future course of action. There were only 20 applicants for the 14 zones within the MC limits for which the non-refundable application fee was Rs 55,000 and Rs 10 lakh was to be deposited as the security amount after the draw. The allottees were also told to deposit 15 per cent of Rs 10.5 crore licence fee latest by March 31. Most of the allottees paid the security amount in cash. Various groups, including SKB Traders, KD Wines, Krishan Singla-Prem Singla and Bharat Traders dominated in the rural areas as they had filed multiple applications. They all managed to get one circle each. Gautam Malhotra was lucky to get two adjoining circles - Adampur and Alawalpur. Interestingly, the allottees had the names of women, including Kanchan from Basti Nau, Dimpi Malhotra from Chhoti Baradari and Narinder Kaur from Adda Shankar. The maximum response came from Adda Mehatpur where 110 applications were received. Kala Bakra got 97 applications and Parjian got 70 applications. There were many cases with a single application in Mahedipur, Bundala and other places. |
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Of hungry men, chilly night and ghost of angry mother
Aparna Banerji Tribune News Service
Jalandhar, March 28 The first play "Hawalat" directed by Prof Ankur Sharma of YUVA, was about wronged, option-less youths mocking their miserable lives.
In the second play "Apna apna hissa" penned by professor Varyam Singh Sandhu and directed by professor Ajmer Singh Aulakh, the ghost mother of a rustic, dutiful, village youth fretted and fumed about her elder, stinking-rich sons robbing the youngest (rustic) one in the name of tired customs. In YUVA's play, the basic script was remarkable and the presentation by the actors, though laboured, was binding. The lead protagonists, led by a helpless cop through the city, held their hopes high for a night's stay in the jail to save them from a chilly night, but ditched by the cop, because they didn't have any 'maal', they resorted to a night-long session of kabaddi to keep themselves warm. They cocked a snook at the establishment, pulled off punches at their poverty and at times even mouthed gibberish. But the sardonic humour of the three hungry men was as funny as it was sad. A little less melodrama would have made it into a masterpiece but it fell a few steps short. Aulakh's "Apna apna hissa", a much lauded Varyam Sandhu story, saw a balanced act by all characters. Though the play was a generously cut version of the original, the black-robed ghost mother, played by Mandeep Aulakh, put up an endearing act. All for her younger son, she let out a string of profanities, unheard by the other characters of course since she was a ghost, every time her affluent sons tried to take advantage of Ghujju, her youngest son. The presence of some displaced slum dwellers from Gujral Nagar and activists of the Istri Jagriti Manch, which had sought action in favour of the former, who came to watch the event, was notable. At the Saigal Memorial Hall, the plays - "Panj Ishq" penned by Simarat Gagan and directed by Mandeep as well as "Kanjoos", originally a French play penned by Maulier, translated by Krishan Dwivedi and directed by Rajesh Sharma were staged.
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Town-Twining Programme: MC, UK council exchange agreement copies
Jalandhar, March 28 The agreement that was signed by Mayor Rakesh Rathour and Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi, Mayor of the Gravesham Borough Council, UK, last year under the Town-Twining Programme, was formally exchanged at a formal function here today. The function was attended by councillors of the local MC and a delegation of officials of the Gravesham Council. The council claims to have come up with excellent opportunities for organisations and businesses in Jalandhar, which would be benefited from the ties through cooperation, import and export. The delegation comprised John Burden, Executive Leader of the Gravesham Council, Kevin Burbidge, Director for Business, Melanie Norris, Director for Communities, Barry Rowbotham, Town Twinning Officer and Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi, Mayor of Gravesham. Hailing from Raipur village in Jalandhar, Dhesi is the youngest Mayor of Punjabi origin outside India. Talking to the mediapersons, Dhesi claimed that the agreement between the Gravesham Council and Municipal Corporation of Jalandhar would not only provide an opportunity to the both sides to do business, but also help the common man to understand and study the other fields of both the countries through the officials of both the civic bodies.
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Sant Baljeet Singh Daduwal held
Nakodar, March 28 Sant Baljeet Singh Daduwal along with hundreds of activists from various Sikh organisations took out a protest march in the Shahkot, Malsian and Nakodar areas. He was followed by a long cavalcade of vehicles with saffron flags atop them. They raised slogans favouring Rajoana. Superintendent of Police, Operation, Rajinder Singh said Daduwal also held public meetings with local Sikh organisations and delivered provoking speeches at different places thus threatening law and order in the area. Sources said Daduwal was instigating public to join the protest and save Rajoana from gallows. He was asking public to join a protest march likely to be held outside Central Jail in Patiala. The Deputy Superintendent of Police, Nakodar, took him under preventive custody. Soon after his arrest, scores of his followers along with local Sikh organisations staged a dharna in front of the Shahkot police station and demanded his immediate release.
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HC gives relief to aided schools’ teachers
Jalandhar, March 28 While on May 20, 2011, the Punjab and Haryana High Court had asked the Punjab Government to take a decision regarding the disbursal of arrears (for the period from January 1, 2006, to March 31, 2011) to all aided schools’ teachers, the same was not done.Arrears between Rs 1 lakh to Rs 4 lakh per teacher had been lying pending with the government. A contempt of court petition was then filed which had its first hearing on February 17. While during the February hearing there was no representation from the government’s side, the court in the very next hearing today gave decision in favour of the teachers. A Bench of Judges, headed by Justice Suryakant, acting on the contempt of court proceedings - Prem Sagar and others vs State of Punjab and others - ruled that the arrears of the teachers be released. While the court has directed the government to pay the first instalment, 40 per cent of the total amount, to the teachers this year in August, the government has been directed to pay the two successive instalments of 30 per cent each in August, 2013, and 2014. |
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Jalandhar Patisserie competition: Workshop for teachers: Sports trials: PCS (Judicial) candidates: CBSE affiliation: Management committee: |
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NIT-Jalandhar fare well in tournament
Jalandhar, March 28 Dr Gurmej Singh Dhaliwal, Head of the Physical Education and Sports Department, said in the tournament competitions were held in different disciplines of sports like badminton, chess, table tennis, lawn tennis, cricket, football and basketball. The local NIT won the inter-technology badminton (women) championship, bagged second runners-up position in badminton (men) tourney, first runners-up position in chess (men) and (women) event, second runners-up position in lawn tennis (men), first runners-up position in lawn tennis (women), first runners-up in cricket (men), winner in table tennis (men) & (women), fourth in volleyball (men), winner in football (men) tourney, third position in basketball (men) and second position in basketball (women).
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Jalandhar, March 28
