Jalandhar, October 24
The age-old tradition of celebrating the victory of good over evil was observed with a lot of aplomb in the district for yet another year today.

Effigies of Ravana were burnt across the district in the ceremonies celebrated with aplomb.

While there were apprehensions that the sudden showers last night might play a spoilsport for some Dasehra festivities today, the foresight of the committees, which loaded their Ravanas with a fresh batch of firecrackers, gave the city crackling, booming firecracker displays and a smoky evening sky during various Dasehra celebrations across the city on Wednesday evening.

Some Ravanas bore the brunt of the rain which lashed the city last evening and suffered a slightly dampened firecracker display.

It was also the last day of Durga Puja celebrations.

Observed by the Bengali community in the city, ‘Bijoya Dashami’ celebrations began today with the ‘Shindoor Bharon’ ceremony in the morning, during which married women smear each other’s face with vermillion.

Pradeep Banerji, president of the Kali Bari Association, said: “Vermillion signifies the celebration of womanhood and being Sadhva (married) among women”.

General secretary Arun Ganguly and cultural secretary Manas Datta Roy said: “The Durga idol was then taken to the Beas where it was immersed in the Visarjan ceremony, which marks the culmination of the 10-day-long Durga Puja.”

The ‘vidaai’ (or the final farewell) to the Durga idol signifies a mother bidding adieu to her married daughter, heading to her in-laws,” they added.

“Since the Jalandhar Bengali community is essentially a migrant community, Durga Puja celebrations in the city begin on the Shashti day. But back in Bengal, some people begin celebrating the Durga Puja as early as the end of the Navratras or from the Panchami,” said the puja purohit (priest).

The celebrations beginning on Shashti were followed by Saptami, Ashtami, Navami and finally the glorious Bijoya Dashami.

Meanwhile, the Dasehra celebrations were also observed with a lot of panache in the city. People flocked to Dasehra grounds and made the most of the festivities.

Taking the corruption discourse a bit further, one of the Dasehra Committees in the city insisted that the Ravana effigy will be set on fire only by a person who hasn’t ever indulged in corruption. A child set the effigy on fire.

Many mohalla and gully Ravanas were also set up across the city by little kids not wanting to miss out on the celebrations. Some residents, while talking to The Tribune, said: “Since it is sometimes unsafe to step into the crowded Dasehra gatherings, we have provided Ravana effigies to the children of the locality to burn them in the nearby parks. This way, we got rid of worries and our children also had a happy Dasehra”. Some residents even blocked streets, burning Ravana effigies in the middle of the roads.

Jalandhar, October 24
Traffic scene on Dasehra went worse in the city today. Traffic snarl-up and long queues of vehicles were noticed at various places in the city. Though the police had erected various nakas and even resorted to barricading at strategic locations to keep the traffic in order, the situation was worse at several points.

The traffic on the city roads was in a gridlock, especially on the roads outside the venues of Dasehra celebrations. Serpentine queues of vehicles and traffic jams were witnessed on Ladowali Road, Garha area, Burlton Park and Adarsh Nagar. Dasehra is celebrated every year with huge fervour at all these places. People throng these places in large numbers.

Parking always remained the issue at these places. Though policemen were deployed at such places, traffic mismanagement came to the fore.

“What is the fun of deploying hundreds of policemen and even CRPF personnel in the city, if the state of traffic management is still worse, especially on the occasion of Dasehra,” said Poonam Arora, who remained stuck in the traffic jam for about half an hour on Garha Road.

Due to a huge jam on Garha Road, the police was unable to keep traffic in order. It also ignored the chaos on the road, she said.

Surinder Singh, a traffic police official, said policemen had been deployed at various strategic locations to control the traffic and special nakas were installed outside the venues where Dasehra was being celebrated.

Sources said the traffic police also challaned various vehicles found wrongly parked and also issued warnings to a number of motorists.

Jalandhar, October 24
Perhaps owing to environment-friendly approach adopted by the residents or the escalating prices of firecrackers, there has so far been no buyer for crackers in the temporary market set up at Burlton Park here.

Shopkeepers of as many as 107 shops have been awaiting customers for the past 10 days. However, none, except a few families having marriage functions at place, have placed any order.

Bhod Raj, who has got a shop allotted in the market, says, “The prices of crackers have gone up by 20 per cent. The prices of more attractive crackers such as multiple shot flower pots and rockets are as high as Rs 10,000. We came here on the first day of Navratras. Since then, there has been hardly any buyer. We hope that there will be some customers after Dasehra or Karva Chauth”.

Harvinder Singh Gora, a wholesaler, says: “We are relatively less affected as unlike others we are not into retail. The retailers have already lifted stuff from us. We are here for the sale of the remaining articles left with us”.

The temporary cracker market is an annual feature in the city, especially since most cracker sellers had been earlier running their business from the much congested lanes of Attari Bazaar and other old market areas.

Apart from the sale of crackers, Burlton Park has stalls of other items as well such as fancy lights, masks of characters portrayed in the Ramayana and other colourful gift items exchanged on Diwali.

Jalandhar, October 24
With the chill sweeping the region, the influence of the season is evident on vegetables.

Even as some vegetables saw a minimal increase in prices, it was mostly about good news this week as prices of most of the vegetables went down. The prices of just a few vegetables remained steady.

Onion, ginger and French beans were a few vegetables, which saw an increase in prices this week.

The prices of onion went up to Rs 18 per kg this week from Rs 15 per kg last week.

The prices of ginger went up to Rs 40 per kg this week from td 35 per kg last week.

The prices of French bean witnessed a substantial increase by Rs 10. They were priced at Rs 25 per kg last week, but this week their price went up to Rs 35 per kg.

The prices of potatoes, okra and radish went down by a minimal Rs 2 this week.

Potato prices went down to Rs 12 from Rs 15 per kg last week, okra prices to Rs 18 per kg this week from Rs 20 last week and radish prices to Rs 6 per kg this week from Rs 8 per kg last week.

Eggplant prices also went down by Rs 4. Eggplant was priced at Rs 8 this week, while it was priced at Rs 12 per kg last week.

The prices of cauliflowers and peas went down by a substantial Rs 10 and Rs 20, respectively.

Cauliflower came down to Rs 15 this week from the Rs 25 per kg last week and peas came down to Rs 55 per kg from the Rs 75 per kg last week.

The prices of tomatoes, capsicum and bitter gourd remained more or less the same as last week at Rs 15, Rs 40 and Rs 20 per kg, respectively.

Jalandhar, October 24
Two months after the laying of the foundation stone for the 3G aquarium-cum-food court at the Nehru Garden compound, the drawings for the purpose were submitted by Philippines-based company Manila Oceanics.

Municipal Corporation (MC) officials would not forward the drawings to the Local Bodies Department for approval. The MC would later give clearance to the drawings from its own side after consulting the structural engineers.

Commissioner, MC, Viney Bublani said a bar chart defining time frame for all steps had been finalised as per which the company would get 60 days to initiate work from its own side once the MC granted approval. By that account, the work would start on ground by January end and get complete by March, 2014.

As per the plans, the 3G aquarium would have four large fish, 150 exotic species from international waters and 50 species from Indian waters. There would also be double basement parking facility, 4D gaming zone, food court, aqua theme-based high-end dining restaurant, feeding-cum-demonstration training hall for schoolchildren, interactive zone and touch pools, where children would be able to touch and feel small fish.

All the facilities would be developed in an area of 0.95 acre. The project, being developed on the built, operate, transfer (BOT) basis, would cost Rs 30 crore, to be spent by the company. The developer would be given operational rights for a period of 47 years, including construction duration. The Municipal Corporation will not invest any amount in the project and get Rs 11 lakh per annum, escalated at 10 per cent year on year bringing in revenue of Rs 96 crore in the due period of time. After the period, the facility would get transferred to the MC. 

Jalandhar, October 24
Aakash, a budding hockey player, who dreamt of playing for the Indian hockey team one day, would have never imagined such a tragic end of his career. Aakash, U-14 hockey player of Harbans Nagar, lost both his legs in a train mishap while he was attempting to alight from the running train near Choggiti here.

Sadly, Aakash’s birthday falls on October 24 and yesterday, he was coming to his hometown to throw a party for his friends. But, God had his own plans for the young buddy, who met with the accident. Now, his family members, apart from seeking financial help, have also appealed to the Punjab Chief Minister to provide a government job to Aakash.

Aakash, a class VIII student, is the youngest in the family and has two brothers, Aman and Azad, and one sister, Simmy. Financial position of his family is not very sound. Sadly, his father is mentally upset and his mother, Geeta Rani, who is a domestic help, runs the affairs of the family. Along with feeding the family members, she has also been bearing the expenses of Akash’s training in the game from her scanty income.

Akash, who is undergoing treatment at the trauma ward in the local Civil Hospital, is still unawares of the fact that he has lost his both legs. “My son only knows that he met with an accident and sustained injuries on his legs. But, he was yet not told about the amputation of his legs,” Aakash’s inconsolable mother said.