Buses defy ban on black films
Jalandhar, June 17
Despite the Supreme Court’s ban on the use of black films on all vehicles, the majority of buses in the city are still flouting the traffic norm and managing to escape the challans by the traffic police

Despite the Supreme Court’s ban on the use of black films in vehicles, buses are still using them without getting challaned in Jalandhar. Photo: Sarabjit Singh

Bihari migrant landowner murdered by friends
Phagwara, June 17
A Bihari migrant landowner, Ragunath (42), resident of Lagana village in Sitamarrhi district, Bihar, but presently residing in Matiarpura Mohalla here, was reportedly murdered with a sharp-edged “tawa” by his friends and nephew Rajiv at Guru Nanak Nagari here this afternoon.

A teacher with a heart of gold Jalandhar, June 17 Last year, when Government Girls Senior Secondary School, Nehru Garden, was facing acute water shortage in scorching heat of summers, drinking water in the school had indeed become luxury! Darshana Rani (right) along with Principal Gurinderjit Kaur at Government Girls Senior Secondary School, Nehru Garden, in Jalandhar. Photo: Sarabjit Singh

Suwidha Centre helps govt earn Rs 5.4 lakh a month Jalandhar, June 17 Providing 26 services to the residents, Suwidha Centre is helping the government make an average monthly income of Rs 5.4 lakh. While Rs 4.95 lakh are earned on account of service charges levied on the applicants, the additional income comes as monthly rental from canteen and a bank counter on its premises.

A view of Suwidha Centre in Jalandhar. Photo: Sarabjit Singh

Roads in poor health; Monsoon fear grips residents Jalandhar June 17 The expected arrival of the monsoons in July has left residents of several localities worried. Potholed roads in these localities are the primary reason for their anxiety. They fear that if not repaired in time, these roads would again become pools causing enormous problems for them. The Ladowali road in a poor condition in Jalandhar. Photo: Sarabjit Singh

Fire-hit vendors of sabzi mandi have high hopes on MLA
Jalandhar, June 17 Pargat Singh, MLA, Jalandhar Cantonment, would meet vegetable and fruit vendors, who suffered losses in the tragic fire incident at Azad Sabzi Mandi at cantonment. He would also take part in a hawan ceremony in the evening, which has been organised by the vendors at the site of the market. A View of Burnt Sabzi Mandi Jalandhar Cantonment. Photo: Sarabjit Singh

‘Punjab Government should extend aid to Kailash Mansarovar pilgrims’ Jalandhar, June 17 A city resident, who went to Kailash Mansarovar in China on a pilgrimage in 2010, has urged the state government to extend a financial aid to those who want to pay obeisance at one of the toughest pilgrim sites. Roshan Lal during his visit to Kailash Mansarovar in 2010

An infant is being administered polio drops in Jalandhar on Sunday. Photo : Sarabjit Singh

Two killed in accidents
Jalandhar June 17
Two persons were killed in different roads accidents late last evening at Adampur and Shahkot. A youth, identified as Happy from Ferozawala village at Moga, died after his motorcycle was hit by some a tractor-trailer from behind on the Malsian-Nakodar road.

From Schools and Colleges
HMV student tops BA-III exams
Jalandhar, June 17
Arupriya Seen of Hans Raj Mahila Maha Vidyalaya has got first position in BA-III exams conducted by Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar. Radhika and Reema Gandhi got third and sixth position in the university, respectively.

Buses defy ban on black films
Nikhil Bhardwaj

Despite the Supreme Court’s ban on the use of black films in vehicles, buses are still using them without getting challaned in Jalandhar. Photo: Sarabjit Singh

Jalandhar, June 17
Despite the Supreme Court’s ban on the use of black films on all vehicles, the majority of buses in the city are still flouting the traffic norm and managing to escape the challans by the traffic police

On April 27, the apex court had prohibited the use of black films of any VLT percentage or any other material on the windscreens (front and rear) and side glasses of all vehicles throughout the country.

In the last two months, immediately after receiving the instructions from the Supreme Court, the traffic police intensified its drive against the use of black films and challaned hundreds of vehicles for the violation. But when it comes to challan buses, including of Punjab Roadways and private transports, the city traffic police is turning a blind eye to the quite visible violation.

When contacted, Assistant Commissioner of Police, Traffic, Jasbir Rai said he would study the apex court’s instructions and if buses were not allowed to use black films, strict action would be initiated against the violators.

When Additional Director-General of Police (ADGP), Traffic, Punjab, RP Singh was contacted for his comments on the issue, he replied rudely, “This is not the right time to talk. I am on leave, call me later.”

What has been irritating city residents is that if black films are being removed from their vehicles, why the buses are being spared.

“We are happy that the city traffic police has launched a strict drive against the use black films and has not even spared the vehicles of high-rank police officials, political bosses and the local leaders, but still action needs to be taken against buses as well,” Surinder Mohan, a student, said.

The driver of a private bus when asked whether he was aware of the ban on using black films on vehicles, he said, “I am not aware of the ban. Ask the owner of our bus.” He said despite using a black film of zero visibility on his bus, he was never stopped by traffic police for checking.

Buses lack safety features

Scores of bus drivers are found driving without using a seat belt. Tying a seat belt while driving a bus is mandatory for the drivers, but only a few drivers do this. Interestingly, many buses do not even has in-built seat belts attached with the driver’s seat. Many buses are found lacking fire extinguishers, other important safety equipment. One of the Punjab Roadways bus driver said, “I have been driving this bus for the past several years without using a seat belt, but I was never challaned by the traffic police so far.

Bihari migrant landowner murdered by friends
Ashok Kaura

Phagwara, June 17
A Bihari migrant landowner, Ragunath (42), resident of Lagana village in Sitamarrhi district, Bihar, but presently residing in Matiarpura Mohalla here, was reportedly murdered with a sharp-edged “tawa” by his friends and nephew Rajiv at Guru Nanak Nagari here this afternoon.

The SP, Harkamalpreet Singh Khakh, said the killers placed the body in a room and locked it from outside. They also took away the motorcycle of the deceased.

The SP said Ragunath and his killers went to the room, situated near his 15 acres of flower fields, and had drinks together last night.

Nandhni, brother of the deceased, told the police that the drink party continued till this afternoon.

Vinod, their another friend, who went to the flowers fields, found the room locked from outside. After breaking open the lock of the room, the body of Ragunath was found lying in a pool of blood. A “tawa”, bottle of liquor and cooked meat were found near the body.

A brawl between Ragunath and the killers while drinking was said to be the cause of murder.

The SP said the police had registered a case under Sections 302, 34 and 120B of the IPC and sent the body to the Civil Hospital for postmortem.

The SP said Nandhini alleged one Vijay Kumar was shot dead in their Bihar village during a marriage party last month and a brother of the deceased, Shankar Dass, was suspecting that Raj Mangal, a brother of Ragunath, was the killer of his brother.

Nandhini said Shankar Dass had made their family in Bihar hostage and was asking them to come to Bihar soon on telephone. Nandhini suspected that Shankar Dass had sent Rajiv and two others to eliminate Raghunath, who was earning well in Phagwara.

The SP said police parties were sent to different places to nab the killers.

City girl Avneet performing in ‘Jhalak Dikhla Ja’
Kusum Arora
Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, June 17
After making waves in the television as the lead actor in serial “Meri Maa” aired on the Life Ok channel, city girl Avneet Kaur is grabbing attention by her entry into “Jhalak Dikhla Ja- Season 5” - a dance show, which started on the Colors channel on Saturday.

A rising child artiste in the tinsel town, Avneet has been paired opposite Darsheel Safari, the “Taare Zameen Par” fame actor in the show. Both Avneet and Darsheel are the youngest artistes to perform in the show.

Avneet made her foray in the television world with the “Dance India Dance Little Masters” show on Zee TV. As dancing has been her passion, the little girl from Jalandhar is busy rehearsing for the show and performing before her favourite actress and judge Madhuri Dixit.

As Avneet has been keeping busy with her shooting schedules, her mother Harpreet Kaur spoke to Jalandhar Tribune over phone from Mumbai. She said, “It has been around a year since she could not practice her dance sessions. She remained busy with shooting for the tele serial, but now that she is back on ‘Jhalak Dikhla Ja’, she is very excited. Further, her partner Darsheel Safari is also working hard to ensure an impressive performance.”

Harpreet Kaur said, “What could be more exciting for her than the fact that she would be performing in front of Madhuri Dixit, who is name to reckon with in Bollywood. This is indeed a golden chance for Avneet, who often says that dance is her only passion in life.”

The child artistes had been given a choreographer, Jai Kumar Nair of Zee TV’s “Dance India Dance” show, to teach them grooving dance moves. Avneet and Darsheel had been picking their dance lessons from Nair for the show, she said.

Harpreet Kaur said, “Considering the interest of my daughter, we shifted to Mumbai some years ago. This was post Avneet’s entry to ‘Dance India Dance’. Since, then there has been no looking back. It is a pleasant journey and Avneet is treading a new path everyday.”

A teacher with a heart of gold
Kusum Arora
Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, June 17
Last year, when Government Girls Senior Secondary School, Nehru Garden, was facing acute water shortage in scorching heat of summers, drinking water in the school had indeed become luxury!

But, thankfully, before the matter had gone in the hands of government departments and delayed further, a teacher of the school acted as a good Samaritan and came to the aid of the institution and the students.

And within no time, the school was equipped with a new submersible pump, which ensured a regular potable water supply to the school. This initiative cost her Rs 1.20 lakh, but she was happy to have worked for a noble cause.

Meet Darshana Rani, a Hindi teacher, who has been providing providing basic facilities to the school and the students through monetary assistance from her extended Canada-based NRI family.

She has been constantly helping her school from time to time. Not only she, even her family members have been helping the school with monetary assistance as they wish to provide good education facilities to the girls from financially weaker section of the school.

Talking to Jalandhar Tribune, she said, “It was my school principal Gurinderjit Kaur who once suggested me to provide monetary help for upgrading the school. “Last year when the drinking water facility was disrupted, I sought help from my NRI family, hence the new submersible pump was installed,” she added.

Recently, she also spent Rs 25,000 on providing spectacles to poor students. “During one of the lectures, I realised that some of the students were finding it difficult to read anything written on the blackboard. Sadly, when I asked them to wear spectacles, they replied that their parents had no money to buy them. Then, I decided to provide them spectacles,” she said.

No sooner did Darshana learn about the problem, she organised a free eye check-up camp for the students and provided them free spectacles. Further, just before the summer vacations, she distributed school uniforms and shoes worth Rs 52,000 and 25,000, respectively, among the students.

“Till date there are many students in government schools who cannot afford to buy school uniforms, shoes, bags and even stationery. As we teach these students, we get to learn about their family status, too. I really feel that people should help such students,” Darshana said.

Darshana will be leaving for Canada tomorrow and the school hopes to see more help coming from her. She said, “Though I have been arranging and giving funds to the school, but I will remain thankful to our school Principal for suggesting us to help these students. As I have a sound NRI family to help me, it is a wonderful experience to help such students.”

Principal Gurinderjit Kaur said the primary aim was to raise the standard of facilities for the students. “Of course, we cannot provide air-conditioners to our students, but we are glad that all the teachers of the school have been working very hard to help the students. This year the strength of the school has crossed 2,000 mark, which is a big achievement for us,” she said.

“In 2010, the strength of the school was 1,400 girls and we wish to take it to around 3,000. In fact, there was a time, when our school had 3,000 plus strength. We are committed to provide best facilities to our students and give them good education,” Gurinderjit Kaur added.

The school Principal is now looking forward to construct eight new rooms on the school campus for the students. “The strength has increased manifold and we are facing shortage of classrooms. I have asked Darshana and many other colleagues as well as NGOs, NRIs and good Samaritans to contribute for the education of the girls,” she added.

Suwidha Centre helps govt earn Rs 5.4 lakh a month
Deepkamal Kaur
Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, June 17
Providing 26 services to the residents, Suwidha Centre is helping the government make an average monthly income of Rs 5.4 lakh. While Rs 4.95 lakh are earned on account of service charges levied on the applicants, the additional income comes as monthly rental from canteen and a bank counter on its premises.

Since the society is also incurring a huge expenditure of Rs 4.9 lakh on account of salaries, power bills and maintenance heads, it still has come out as a profitable venture by earning a profit of Rs 50,000 a month. The administrative officers, however, call it a no-profit, no-loss system claiming that the amount saved is being reinvested for expansion and purchase of new systems.

Coming as the biggest source of income is the new service for “Nativity Certificate”. The service is being used by the NRIs wanting dual citizenship. “The charges levied on the service are Rs 1,000 and the time period fixed for the same is a month since it involves police and magisterial verification. It has been a week when we started the new service. The response so far has been low,” said Sandeep Sharma, manager of the centre.

The next most expensive service is issuance of marriage certificate. The fee for the same is Rs 560, which includes 12.3 per cent service tax. The service, however, has not been made “single window” for the couples are required to be present in the centre and then even depose before the Tehsildar. KC Malhotra, a city-based lawyer, claimed that the service needs to be overhauled to make it more convenient for the public. “What is the idea of levying Rs 560 when the applicant has to himself keep on running around in various departments?” he asks claiming it to be more of an “asuwidha” (inconvenience).

Some services, however, are very cheap as is for getting a ration card made for which the charges are as low as Rs 12. “Since it is one service which is availed by everyone, including very poor people, the charges have been kept minimal,” adds Sharma.

The centre is also offering various services like the issuance of learning driving licence for which it does not charge any amount in accordance with a government directive. But there again are services like the issuance of arms licence, renewal, etc, for which charges vary between Rs 200 to Rs 500. The staff claims that there is a season for every kind of application. “There is relatively more rush on marriage counters from October to March, further even depending on “mahurat” days. The arms licence renewal is not done in poll time, after which there usually is a spurt,” the staff tells.

Roads in poor health; Monsoon fear grips residents
Our Correspondent

Jalandhar June 17
The expected arrival of the monsoons in July has left residents of several localities worried. Potholed roads in these localities are the primary reason for their anxiety. They fear that if not repaired in time, these roads would again become pools causing enormous problems for them.

Residents have started approaching their area councilors to demand immediate repair of the broken roads to prevent water-logging.

The city has 60 wards and roads in most of the wards are in a sorry state and needs urgent repair.

They felt that when the elections were round the corner, contenders claimed that they would get the dilapidated roads repaired in case they were voted to power.

“We have performed our duties and have voted the candidate of our liking to power, now it’s the duty of the area councillor to pay attention towards the roads and initiate urgent repair” Sunil Verma, a resident of Deol Nagar said.

Residents will again face trouble of water-logging. There would be a threat of water-borne diseases and accidents, said Amita Kochar, a resident of Ladowali road.

Sources revealed that work orders of re-carpeting of roads and patch work of roads in some localities were passed before the MC election. But the work could not start due to the enforcement of election code of conduct.

‘Pool’ of trouble

• They fear that if not repaired in time, these roads would again become pools causing enormous problems for them
• Residents have started approaching their area councilors to demand immediate repair of the broken roads

Fire-hit vendors of sabzi mandi have high hopes on MLA
Kusum Arora
Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, June 17
Pargat Singh, MLA, Jalandhar Cantonment, would meet vegetable and fruit vendors, who suffered losses in the tragic fire incident at Azad Sabzi Mandi at cantonment. He would also take part in a hawan ceremony in the evening, which has been organised by the vendors at the site of the market. The mandi was reduced to ashes due to a massive fire on June 12 night.

Ravi Kumar Sahota, president of Azad Sabzi Mandi, said after witnessing a net loss of Rs 60 lakh, they are depending on Pargat Singh for monetary help. “We will hand over a memorandum highlighting our demands and a copy of the budget to him. The fire incident has left us helpless. It has been over a week since the vendors earned a single penny,” he added.

The vendors also raised the key issue of erecting a boundary wall in the market and shifting three transmitters situated at the site. “All the three transmitters should also be shifted from this site as these pose a major threat to the safety of the vendors as well as the market. Even on the night of June 12, it was fire from the transmitters, which proved fatal for our businesses. At the same time, the market should also have a boundary wall”, Sahota added.

Hapless vendors maintained that even buying a new cart would prove to be a costly affair. “This incident has left us in the lurch and only a timely monetary assistance can assure us some help. We are hopeful that the Pargat Singh does justice with us and addresses our grievances at the earliest,” the vendors added.

‘Punjab Government should extend aid to Kailash Mansarovar pilgrims’
Dharmendra Joshi
Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, June 17
A city resident, who went to Kailash Mansarovar in China on a pilgrimage in 2010, has urged the state government to extend a financial aid to those who want to pay obeisance at one of the toughest pilgrim sites.

Roshan Lal said Kailash Mansarovar is located at 19,600 feet above the sea level in China. “As many as 960 Indian devotees visit Kailash Mansarovar every year after getting proper permission following medical fitness tests. They are allowed to go in 16 batches of 60 pilgrims each.”

He said, “As many as 12 states including Uttarakhand, Bihar, Gujarat, Jharkhand and Karnataka pay financial help of Rs 25,000 to each pilgrim belonging to their states.”

Roshan Lal demanded that the Punjab Government should also encourage pilgrims and extend financial aid to pilgrims of the state on the lines of other states. He also met former local bodies minister Manoranjan Kalia in this regard a few days ago who assured him to take up the issue with the Chief Minister.

He said, “Apart from these 12 states, the Delhi government also provides a kit containing several valuable items required for pilgrimage each to 960 pilgrims.”

He had applied to external affairs ministry to visit Kailash Mansarovar this year and his name has been cleared. He will go to Kailash Mansarovar in the eighth batch in July if he is found medically fit.

Two killed in accidents
Our Correspondent

Jalandhar June 17
Two persons were killed in different roads accidents late last evening at Adampur and Shahkot. A youth, identified as Happy from Ferozawala village at Moga, died after his motorcycle was hit by some a tractor-trailer from behind on the Malsian-Nakodar road. Manjit, riding pillion, also sustained serious injuries.

Police sources said happy died on the spot. A case of negligent driving had been registered against the driver of tractor-trailer who is absconding.

In the second accident, near Adampur, a scooter-borne youth had a head-on collision with the tractor-trailer. Sukhjit Singh alias Sukhi, resident of Haripur village died on the spot.

The police has sent the body for the postmortem examination. A case had been registered against the errant tractor-trailer driver who is absconding.

From Schools and Colleges
HMV student tops BA-III exams
Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, June 17
Arupriya Seen of Hans Raj Mahila Maha Vidyalaya has got first position in BA-III exams conducted by Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar. Radhika and Reema Gandhi got third and sixth position in the university, respectively.

Father’s Day celebrated

On the occasion of Father’s Day, Eklavya School in association with ‘The Third Vision Studio’ organised “Baby’s Day Out” here today.

World Father’s Day was celebrated by St Soldier Group Of Institutions during which fathers of meritorious students were honoured. A cake cutting ceremony was also held on the campus.

Alumni meet

The DAV Institute of Engineering and Technology organised its 6th alumni meet on Saturday. On this occasion, former students settled in different parts of the country and the world were honoured. This occasion coincided with the foundation day of the institute too.

Gurcharan Singh Channi, chairman, District Planning Committee, Jalandhar, was the chief guest while Dr SBS Mishra, former Director of NIT, Jalandhar, and Dr Kiran Chadhha, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Women and Child Welfare, Government of India, were the guests of honour.

On this occasion, students were taken down the memory lane with a visual slide show of the institute. The alumni shared their stay with the present students and the staff.

KMV topper

Gurvarinder Kaur, a student of MA-II (music instrumental) of Kanya Maha Vidyalaya, stood first in GND University. Principal Dr Atima Sharma congratulated the achiever on her victory.