Jalandhar, September 15
The Director, Rural Development and Panchayat, has placed the sarpanch of Nahlan village, falling in Jalandhar West block, under suspension on the charges of colluding with encroachers and not taking possession of land despite issuance of possession warrant. The sarpanch has also been barred from participating in any activities of the panchayat.

Director of the department Balwinder Singh has passed the orders against sarpanch Tarsem Singh under Section 20 (4) of the Punjab Panchayati Raj Act. The sarpanch, who represents the Congress, has termed the action as politically motivated.

The orders come in the wake of a recommendation to this effect made by the District Development and Panchayat Officer Sarabjit Singh on June 26, 2012, wherein he had stated that sarpanch was conniving with encroachers by not evicting them from 17 marlas of land that they had occupied in the heart of village.

It is learnt that the dispute over the land dates back to 1995. Passing the orders, the director has quoted an operative part of judgment in CWP 3196 of 2000 titled Charan Singh v/s government and others, “It has been submitted that the petitioner is willing to pay the price of land. He may approach the appropriate authority, which if it considers appropriate, should assess the price and give an opportunity to petitioner to make the payment.”

The DDPO, however, replied that the petitioner had not offered to pay the price of the land within a reasonable time after the high court order, owing to which eviction order had been passed. Under the Act, the Estate Officer is bound to evict the persons from an unauthorised possession. 

Jalandhar, September 15
Deputy Commissioner Priyank Bharti in a meeting of review of the Right to Service Act held yesterday asked all departments to ensure that the boards depicting the details regarding enlisted services, time frame, designated officers and appellate officers be properly displayed at the entrance of the offices.

Taking cognisance of a report ‘RTS Act implementation not a priority here’ which appeared in the Jalandhar Tribune on September 13, he especially pulled up the officials of the Municipal Corporation and Jalandhar Improvement Trust as the former had displayed wrong information, while the latter had dumped the board in a store. He told them to make the required corrections in the board and display it prominently outside the office for the information of visitors. He even asked the officials to properly display RTI boards.

Jalandhar, September 15
A day after the BJP demanded withdrawal of land given to the Congress for constructing it office in 1970s by the Jalandhar Improvement Trust (JIT), the Congress demanded that the four-kanal land allotted to the BJP at one-fourth of the reserve price at Surya Enclave for building its office should be withdrawn.

Claiming that the JIT allotted the four-kanal land at Surya Enclave for a net amount of nearly Rs 56 lakh (Rs 70,000 a marla), the District Congress (Urban) president Arun Walia said the land had been allotted to the BJP at a throwaway price as the rate of one marla is over Rs five lakh at Surya Enclave.

Walia said the land allotted to the BJP should be taken back and should be given to the family of any soldier who sacrificed his life for the country.

Arun Walia denied the charges levelled by the BJP district president advocate Subash Sood, who had held a press conference on Friday alleging that the Congress had not deposited the amount with the JIT in lieu of the land allotted to it and it was using a portion of the land for commercial purposes after constructing several shops and giving them on rent.

District Congress senior vice-president Kanwal Sachdeva said, “The Congress had deposited the entire amount of Rs 16,915 in lieu of 28-marla plot located at Rajendra Nagar allotted to it in 1970s and submitted a site-plan for constructing shops on a portion of the land to the JIT.”

Sachdeva said, “The 28-marla land at Rajendra Nagar was allotted 36 years ago to the Congress in lieu of Rs 16,195 years ago in 1974, but the allotment was cancelled in 1976 as the money could not be deposited.”

Later in 1980, the land was re-allotted to the Congress at the same price payable in four installment of Rs 4,229 each and the same was deposited, he said, adding that a site-plan was also submitted to JIT for constructing shops later.

He said “According to rules, if no response is given to a site plan within 90 years, it is deemed the same was approved.”

He said he went to the JIT office to see the file, but he was not shown the file.

He said, “Even if the money was not deposited, the JIT may issue a notice and the same might be re-deposited. The question of taking back the land allotted to Congress 36 years ago does not arise.” 

Jalandhar, September 15
As rain lashed the city today, a welfare meeting held to hear the grievances of the city police personnel had to be organised at a hall of Police Lines, which provided not enough space to accommodate all policemen and officials.

There were no chairs available for policemen and were made to sit on the ground in the meeting hall.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Sarabjit Singh addressed the meeting, which was attended by various ADCP rank officers, ACPs, Inspectors and constables. About 250 police personnel took part in the meeting.

The DCP said the meeting was thoroughly planned in the open ground at Police Lines, but rain played a spoilsport. “We have done all arrangements in the police ground, but we had to shift the meeting venue in the hall due to rain,” the DCP. He admitted that space was not enough to adjust hundreds of police personnel, but they had no other option.

About the proceedings of the meeting, the DCP said the sole purpose was to listen to the problems of the police personnel and also to provide immediate solution.

Many personnel raised issues of lack of facilities in accommodation, delay in routine medical checkup and seepage in roofs in some of the old constructed police buildings. The DCP said some issues were sorted out on the spot.

The DCP said some of his colleagues raised the issue of lack of medical treatment and demanded that private hospitals should be earmarked by the government, where policemen could get direct medical aid free of cost.

“We will send a proposal to the state government to earmark certain hospitals from where the police personnel can get treatment. If the proposal gets clearance, the hospital authorities will directly send medical treatment bills to the state government for clearance,” the DCP maintained.

Jalandhar, September 15
It has been an unusually three-month-long wait for the newly elected councillors to actually take charge of their new assignments.

Having won on June 10, it will be on September 20 that the 60 councillors will be able to take oath and officially assume work in their respective wards.

The occasion may not be very big for those who have been repeatedly getting elected or whose another family member is to join the House, but it indeed will be a big time for those who will make it for the first time.

The Jalandhar Tribune interacted with such first timers asking them as to how they spent the three-month gap period.

Amit Dhall, a councillor, who has won as Independent from Ward 19, said, “Since the previous BJP councillor Anita Dhir had passed away about two years back, the residents of my ward had no one to look after them. Her widower Satish Dhir was doing his bit. But ever since he lost to me, he had stopped taking care of the civic work.

“Since polls, I have officially not got any charge but residents had themselves started flocking at my place complaining to me about various problems related to water supply shortage, rainwater accumulation and traffic congestion. Some people even came to ask me to attest their papers like residence certificates, SC certificates or marriage registration documents. Since I was not yet authorised and did not have any stamp, I had to explain it to them that it could not be possible till the time I took oath. So, I am actually waiting for the D-day”.

Winner from BJP Suman Sehgal from Ward 18 too is anxiously counting her days to take the charge. “I used this gap period to make a list of the concerned officials of my ward including SDOs and XENs. I have been giving around my contact number to the residents of my ward telling them as to how I could be of help to them. Since then, people have been calling me up regarding their day-to-day problems,” she shared.

Suman claims that she had learnt a lot about the functioning of the MC from her brother-in-law Suresh Sehgal who had been the Mayor from 1997-2002. “Even my father-in-law late Raj Kumar Sehgal had been a councillor for 20 years from 1976 to 1991 when Jalandhar was a municipal committee,” she said.

Congress councillor Amanpreet Kaur from Ward 48 too is upbeat about her new assignment. Having remained confined to home earlier, she is of late seen at functions in her neighbourhood. Her husband Major Singh has already started making rounds to the MC office for getting various works done.

Jalandhar, September 15
He’s been tickling people’s funny bone for his past few cinema outings but even as he has had truckloads of fun in his comic avatars, at heart he is still a lover of realistic cinema.

Talking to mediapersons on a promotional gig for his upcoming film Kamaal Dhamaal Malamaal (KDM), at the Lovely Professional University today, Bollywood actor Shreyas Talpade spilled the beans on his cinematic journey so far and his love for fooling people.

The down-to-earth actor, who grabbed eyeballs in Bollywood with his debut Iqbal, today said he was totally at home with his genre and the kind of actor he has become.

Accompanied by co-actor Madhurima, Shreyas said his recent film also reminded him of his character in Iqbal.

“In Kamaal Dhamaal Malamaal I play a good-for-nothing coward who gets beat up time and again by the villagers because he never beats them back. He is laidback and dreams of winning a lottery. But she (Madhurima) actually could be called the hero in the film as she is the one who keeps confronting others in my character’s behalf,” Shreyas said.

“It was also the first time I worked with Priyadarshan and Nana Patekar,” he said.

When asked whether he had been deliberately choosing comedy recently after earlier acting in films like Iqbal and Dor, Shreyas said, “Certain decisions in my career have been deliberate. After Iqbal as senior person told me I should stick to arty stuff as I would not be able to do comedy. I wanted to prove them wrong so I started out with comic roles. I did Golmaal Returns to prove them wrong.”

So had he liked his comedy outings, and does he miss the arty side? “Majority of the recent films are being made in the comedy genre. People like comedy. It is fun to do it. I have no regrets doing the kind of roles I have done. If anything, I consider myself wiser today. I love comedy.”

“But yes given a choice I would say I prefer drama a lot. Something that gives me a chance to emote. I do have a love for realistic cinema and like it more. I wouldn’t mind doing a Barfi. And somewhere in the future I would also love to do a horror or a thriller,” Shreyas said.

Are you comfortable with the position you enjoy in Bollywood today? “I’m here to act and I‘m making the choices that seem right to me. I think I am doing good and I would say, as an actor I feel lucky with where I am today.”

What do you think about the kind of competition that the Khans and Kapoors offer in Bolyywod today. Is it difficult competing with the pressure? “I do not believe there is any point competing with them. I my future I would like to be like Bacchhan (Amitabh) Sahab. Right now I am happy with what I am doing. I have just one simple philosophy that I wanna keep batting.”

On Priyadarshan: He’s a wonderful director and a hard taskmaster. One can keep doing takes without realizing what’s going on in his mind. Finally when he is happy, he doesn’t express it in words. When the take’s okayed, only them you realize he liked it.

On Nana: People say Nana Patekar is moody, temperamental, difficult to work with. I found him the complete opposite of what is usually said. He was really a wonderful actor to work with. He made mutton curry and chicken biryani for us, pulled people’s legs.

Pranks: Talking about the pranks they played on co-stars Shreyas and Madhurima hsaid they had a lot of fun with a bitter gourd on the sets. While Shreyas fed bitter gourd juice to the crew calling it something else, Madhurima fed fruit-coloured bitter gourd laddoos to the crew stuffed with chillies on the last day of the shoot.

Talking to the media, Madhurima said she was chosen through Precept by Priyadhrshan. Orignally a singer she said she is enjoying her film outing and will do better in future.

The lead dup also later interacted with students of LPU in a concert in which students enjoyed the duo’s foot tapping performances.

Jalandhar, September 15
The ongoing art exhibition and workshop currently being held at the Virsa Vihar has loads of firsts to its credit.

One of the prime reasons why Jalandhar lags way behind in the field of contemporary art is that the city does not have any common space where people might come together and experiment with art.

As veterans’ handing over of age-old formulas to the newer generation in the name of experience, has always been the norm; the chance of an aggressive artistic debate where everyone gets to speak, has always eluded the city art circles.

But thanks to a fresh initiative, the art circles, the administration and the public have been brought together.

For the first time the city’s artists (young and old), administration and art afficionados have ganged up to revive the dormant art scene and ease up the gloom in a activity-starved Virsa Vihar.

An interactive exhibition-cum-workshop in which about 100 artists from the city and the neighbouring districts are participating began at the Virsa Vihar yesterday.

Artists across age groups and schools of thought, put in their precious contribution to the workshop.

Works, new and old, both made an appearance, as (the organisers themselves said) inclusion and participation of all was the main goal of the initiative.

The exhibition will go on till September 18 and during this time workshops involving children, artists and the general public will be held during the day wherein people will be encouraged to give vent to their artistic ideas on canvas and through sculptures.

During the day workshop for children, today, too, a painting contest for children was held and later a workshop was conducted. Children painted on the canvas and created little sculptures that lay displayed for visitors to see.

About 50 children participated.

While the first day saw an interactive session with children, a workshop with artists’ families and friends will be held tomorrow and a session with senior citizens, the day after.

The exhibition saw the coming together of some fresh perspectives and some bold new ideas even as some oft-seen works also made another appearance.

Both the prime rooms of the Virsa Vihar lay decked for the first time for a single exhibition. Students and veterans got an equal chance to speak out their mind though their art. 

Administration support leaves artists beaming

While the Virsa Vihar has been languishing for years due to lack of adequate activity, the right approach and administration backing might bring some life to it. Interestingly, a few days ago the Deputy Commissioner approved funds for a potters’ wheel at the Virsa Vihar. While artists had made the said demand (potters’ wheel) to previous administrative heads of the city years ago, it took all these years for it to be fulfilled. This new addition to the Virsa Vihar has facilitated future pottery and sculpture workshops and activities at the Virsa Vihar. While the DC also inaugurated the exhibition yesterday, active participation by SDM II Isha Kalia and SDM Nakodar Dr Sumit was also witnessed yesterday and today. They also stopped by to add in some brush strokes at the ongoing workshop today. Exhibition coordinator Basudeb Biswas said, “Jalandhar needs to wake up to contemporary art and that will happen only with the strong backing of the administration. The support of officials was much needed and is most welcome.” 

Jalandhar, September 15
Smart Chip, a private company deployed by the state transport department perhaps for online maintenance of vehicle details, is not working in sync with the National Informatics Centre.

Even as the company staff is expected to regularly update the details of each vehicle registered on the Online Vaahan link available through www.jalandhar.nic.in, the last time the records were updated was on May 17, 2012, the web link itself specifies.

On typing the registration number of vehicle, the column instantly gives details of the vehicle type, model, colour, chassis number, name of owner and his address. The link is of much help to the police in solving various cases. The link also helps the owners of newly registered vehicles to doubly ensure that their details are properly recorded by the DTO office.

Asked on the matter, the staff of the NIC said they had been constantly telling the Smart Chip employees to make regular updates on the website as it was to be done at their end. The staff of the company, however, contradicted saying, “We are not directly linked with NIC server. We upload registration details once a series is closed. This normally takes one and a half month. Even if there are no updates through jalandhar.nic.in, one can use the other website - vaahan.nic.in.”

Incidentally, vaahan.nic.in which is a national website also asks for the last five digits from the chassis number, which sometimes is not available to crack a case. DCP Sarabjit Singh said the website was of immense help especially for sticker challan system used by the traffic police. “In case, some number are not available on the web, we have to send someone to the DTO office, which becomes little cumbersome”.

DTO Jalandhar Dalwinderjit Singh said since he had recently joined and was yet to understand the online system, he would have to check the matter.

Records were updated last was on May 17, 2012

The company is not working in sync with the National Informatics Centre

Jalandhar, September 15
Apeejay College of Fine Arts organised a week-long art workshop on the theme ‘Design for Social Change’, which concluded in the form of an exhibition, here today.

The workshop was held under the tutelage of Prof Maarten JM Regouin from Netherlands who has been actively involved in art projects all over the world. He brought his more than 40 years of experience and international exposure to the students of the college. The event was an endeavour to create sustainable and eco-friendly designs which are aesthetically pleasing and promote harmonious living.

Prof Maarten said, “Art must be used to deal with sensitive issues like the need to preserve the dying culture, themes like environment, sustainability of goods, drug abuse, health care and care for people with mental and physical limitations and literacy.”

As many as 40 teams comprising 260 students from the departments of design, fine arts and multimedia worked on the various themes such as preparing suggestive designing of a street, tools for the blind, designing buildings for physically challenged, using plastic pet bottles, rolls of foil wraps and rubber tyres for making sofa sets, decorative flowers from waste CDs, lamp shades from cut out cardboards, plastic pipes, crowns of cold drink bottles for making table mats etc.

The presentations by teams were adjudged by jury comprising Prof Maarten, Dr Sucharita, Principal, and Anil Gupta, Head of Applied Arts Department. Speaking on the occasion Dr Sucharita observed, “This design week has shown that our students have an immense potential and ability to come up with workable solutions to the problems that afflict the society and Jalandhar City in general. These solutions to the problems of safety for women, disposal of waste, designing buildings for the physically challenged etc, which have been presented through 3D models and digital presentations, if implemented by the authorities, would bring about a revolution of social change.”

The three best designs were judged on the basis of design concept, utility, contribution to the society and presentation.