|
|
|
|
|
Amritsar mourns its son
He voiced people’s concerns Power Cut actors hospitalised
OBITUARY
Killer Roads: State has 300 ‘black spots’
Shruti refuses to meet her parents
Govt issues warning to Faridkot protesters
Langah doled out money to the ‘sick’ just before poll code
Premis ‘gift’ land to dera
Awareness drive carried out in Patiala to check dengue
70-yr-old man dies in Morinda
Can’t challenge town master plan: HC
Yet another heroin haul
|
Hundreds pay tribute to king of satire
Chandigarh, October 25 Bhatti’s wife Savita and daughter Rabia were extremely inconsolable and left the pyre soon after it was assigned to flames. People from all walks of life, including politicians, artists, fans, relatives and family friends bit their last adieu to the king of comedy. Prominent among those who attended his funeral included Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Anandpur Sahib MP Ravneet Bittu, Puspa Gujaral Science City, Kapurthala, chairman RS Khandpur, Olympian Pargat Singh, singer Jasbir Jassi, comedian-actor Gurpreet Singh Ghuggi, Bhagwant Maan and several other artistes, folk singers, comedians, besides a number of bureaucrats and colleagues of Jaspal from the Punjab State Electricity Board. Several remembered their association with Bhatti. His close friend Tajinder Singh said they knew each other for over 30 years and it was commendable that he attained so much with his hard work and dedication.— TNS
|
|
Amritsar mourns its son
Amritsar, October 25 Bhatti was born in Amritsar at the ancestral home of his maternal grandmother at Chowk Karori. “We had shared a room just hours before the accident. He had talked of the irony that Yash Chopra’s last directorial film is titled ‘Jab Tak Hai Jaan’. And today he is dead when his film, now his last, is to be released tomorrow,” said a tearful Arvinder Bhatti. “I was with him while promoting the film in Ludhiana a few days ago. I was to join him in Chandigarh later. We were planning more promotional strategies. He was like a father-figure to me,” said Amritsar-based artiste Chandan Prabhakar, who has a role in “Power Cut”. Playwright Jaswant Jas described him as one of the pioneers in ‘black comedy’. Though Bhatti spent most of his early years in Nangal and Chandigarh, he briefly studied at DAV College, Amritsar. “He spent a year at the college and later shifted to Chandigarh. In 2003, we honoured him as a prominent alumnus of the college,” said KN Kaul, Principal, DAV College.
|
||
|
He voiced people’s concerns
Bathinda, October 25 Asked about his future projects, Bhatti had replied: “I live in the present. My present is to promote ‘Power Cut’ that will add a new dimension to the people’s knowledge about the power sector in the state.” Bhatti, a retired senior Executive Engineer (XEN) with the erstwhile Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB), was working on three scripts
simultaneously. The “Ulta-Pulta” man, called himself a crusader of people’s causes. “As an actor, I am fulfilling my duty to society with my satires. When I provoke a chuckle in the audience, my work is done. The onus then lies on the people whether or not to react to a situation,”
|
||
|
Power Cut actors hospitalised Ludhiana, October 25 Jasraj, who was driving the vehicle, escaped with minor injuries as the air bag saved him. Surilie sustained a hip dislocation. She also had injuries on her leg. Navneet sustained injuries on the head. He was said to be out of danger. A shocked Zafar Khan, who has an important role in “Power Cut” said: “We had reached Jalandhar when we learnt of the accident. I am devastated. Eberything was going on so well...” Jasraj was inconsolable when told about his father’s death. He refused to meet anybody. Seat belt may have saved Bhatti “Had Bhatti worn a seat belt, he may have been saved,” said a doctor at the hospital. Bhatti, who was on the rear seat, died of multiple skull fractures.
|
||
|
OBITUARY
Jaspal Bhatti, the very mention of whose name would bring an involuntary smile to one’s lips, today evokes a heartfelt emotion of deep loss. Satirist, comedian, actor, director and columnist with The Tribune, Bhatti’s untimely demise in a road accident in the wee hours of Thursday morning leaves behind a void that would be hard to fill.
‘Irreplaceable’ is the word well-known comedian Gurpreet Ghuggi uses to describe Bhatti’s place in the world of laughter. He goes on to state that with him Punjab saw the advent of a new era of comedy that was a far cry from buffoonery. He says: “For here was a man who made people double up in laughter with his wry one-liners and not silly antics.” Undeniably, Bhatti, who put Chandigarh on the laughter map of India and whose dead pan expression held millions in a thrall, set new refreshing standards of satire. He had the singular ability to infuse humour in everyday situations and address the common man’s problems through wit and jibes. Sarcasm was his forte and he knew how to use it effectively and purposefully. The man who mocked at one and all had the cheek to poke fun at himself too. Samples of this are ample on his official website. Even the credit of his films, including the latest “Power Cut” that hits the cinema on Friday and marks the debut of his son Jasraj Bhatti reads - (mis)directed by Jaspal Bhatti. Today Punjabi films might be ruling the roost but remember it was way back in 1998 that his Punjabi film “Mahaul Theek Hai” broke records and ran for over 13 weeks. If in his last feature film he spoofed the police force, “Power Cut” is a satire on the state’s power situation. Incidentally, this Punjab Engineering College graduate had got his first job in the Punjab State Electricity Board. Ironically, the man who dared to call spade a spade was an incredibly well-liked person “for people understood that he had no axe to grind,” said his close associate and actor of many serials Vinod Sharma. If his uncanny sense of humour pulsated in his works right from his popular serials like “Ulta-Pulta”, “Flop Show” and the DVD film “Jija Ji” and much more, in person too he brimmed with it. Sharma recalls how Bhatti created a bouquet out of recycled products when he went to congratulate Rock Garden creator Nek Chand. The Nonsense Club that he founded in 1980s as a student of PEC was yet another testimony to his wacky ideas. But his barbs were not misplaced or misdirected. Not loud or vulgar either. No wonder Ghuggi says: “He never hurt anybody and even if he did lampoon them, I bet his subjects too would not have been able to resist a hearty laugh.” In fact, Ghuggi views him as someone who not only showed the way to many comedians of Punjab but also how to walk en route that path. One person who has walked along with Bhatti shoulder to shoulder is his wife Savita Bhatti. She has played an integral and stellar role in his work. Acting in his serials, she has been involved in his projects right from the stage of genesis, together creating work of consequence. Four years ago, to hone the talent of the region, they set up MadArts Jaspal Bhatti Film School. Though Bhatti may not have got the credit for it, the fact remains that he was instrumental in carving a niche for the turbaned image of Sikhs, both on the television and in popular Hindi cinema. An actor of many Bollywood films like “Fanaa” and “Aa Ab Laut Chalen”, he sincerely believed that the unflattering portrayal of Sikhs in the Hindi cinema was a thing of the past. The son of Punjab born in Amritsar in 1955 aspired to make a Hindi film too. On the anvil was also the mission to set up India’s first comedy school. But dreams die young. In his case much was achieved, yet there were many more miles to go. Alas, at 57, he has fallen asleep forever.
|
||
|
Killer Roads: State has 300 ‘black spots’
Chandigarh, October 25 In terms of the Accident Security Index , “ black spots” are areas that see “very frequent” accidents. These spots have a score of more than 30 points calculated on account of the nature of accident, its severity (death 6 points, non fatal 3 and minor1), frequency of accidents and other factors. Importantly, at least 350 such spots existed more than five years back as pointed out in the Road Safety Audit carried out in 2007. Sources said not more than 50 such spots had been rectified till date. At least 40 more had been rendered “satisfactory”. Of the total, at least 125 were located on national highways and the remaining on state and district highways. The Punjab Police has prepared a list of at least 200 trouble spots based on ground accident data. The state list has in all 200 accident-prone spots. Amritsar district has at least 30 crucial points( among them Maqboolpura Chowk, Sangam Chowk, Sikandri Gate, Sadar Chowk and Ram Bagh Chowk), Batala has 36 , including the Jalandhar bypass, Shastri Nagar Mod, Beeko Mod, Amritsar Chowk, Dhir Mor Bypass, Simble Chowk and Maur Pind Kandial, and Gurdaspur has 20, including Bus stand Parmanand, Sekhupur Paper Mill, NFL Colony crossing and Nattan Wali Puli. Certain road portions near the state capital have witnessed serious accidents in the past and continue posing problems to drivers. These include a portion of the road near Sunny Enclave in Ropar, the Blind T-Point near Landran that has no traffic lights, the Maur Bharopur T-Point and the old Rail Bridge in Sirhind.
|
|
Shruti refuses to meet her parents
Jalandhar, October 25 Shruti’s parents Ashwini Sachdeva and Seema Sachdeva reached the heavily guarded shelter home here this morning. A message regarding their arrival was sent to Shruti. But she refused to meet them. The parents insisted that they wanted Shruti to appear before them and say “no”. Police officials conceded to their demand. Shruti was brought before her parents but she expressed her unwillingness to talk to them. She stood there for a minute and went off. “Even we wanted Shruti to come face-to-face with her parents,” said Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police Navjot Mahal. Meanwhile, no special counselling was provided to Shruti today. Mahal said: “I think she is fine. It will be okay even if the regular counsellor, who visits the shelter, sees her ”. Member of the Advisory Board Surinder Saini said he could not meet Shruti as he was told that neither the trustees nor the board members were allowed to see her. “Trustee Gurjot Kaur, who had met Shruti yesterday along with former BJP minister Laxmi Kanta Chawla, refused to comment.
|
||
|
Govt issues warning to Faridkot protesters
Chandigarh, October 25 It seems the government has hardened its stand after the action committee formed on the issue burnt an effigy of Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal yesterday. The government feels that a deliberate attempt is being made by the opposition to tarnish the Chief Minister’s image in Faridkot where the Badal family has considerable hold. Bains said it appeared that certain elements, including the Congress, painted a wrong picture of the entire case and even described it a case of rape on loud speakers. He said directions had been given to the police chief to see if those who misled the law could be booked under the appropriate law. Asserting that most people in Faridkot knew that 15-year-old Shruti had eloped with 19-year-old Nishan Singh, he said now the entire state knew the “real story”. The official even attacked state Congress President Capt Amarinder Singh, saying it was very unbecoming of him to engage himself with a police officer. He requested Amarinder not to interfere in the functioning of the police.
|
||
|
Langah doled out money to the ‘sick’ just before poll code
Dera Baba Nanak, October 25 Apart from disbursing grants to these ‘patients’ from his discretionary fund, Langah also distributed lakhs of rupees to village youth clubs. The presidents of most of these clubs enjoyed close ties with the former minister. In violation of norms, the former minister disbursed grants ranging between Rs 5,000 and Rs 30,000 to more than 500 ‘patients’. A minister gets Rs 2 crore for his or her discretionary fund and 50 per cent of the amount is to be spent on the Vidhan Sabha seat represented by the minister. Langah was a minister in the Parkash Singh Badal Cabinet from 2007 to 2012 before he lost the assembly elections to Congress’ Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa. “Langah, by giving money to one ‘patient’ managed to garner at least a dozen votes. By doling out monetary favours to 500 persons, he managed to influence at least 6,000-odd voters,” claimed an official while pleading anonymity. Langah had lost the tightly contested elections from the Dera Baba Nanak Vidhan Sabha seat by a mere 2,950 votes. Officials point out that the issue would not have taken a political hue had the former minister, who is SAD’s Gurdaspur district unit president, distributed the money through the Red Cross Society or given the same directly to hospitals. “The Red Cross Society and Hospitals were kept out of the loop as Langah wanted to hand over the money directly to the voters,” said an official. Although the cheques were distributed before the poll code came into force in December, these were encashed after the elections. Cheques given to Youth Clubs before the elections have also come under a cloud. Legislator Sukhjinder Randhawa said two cheques of Rs 5 lakh each were given to Shaheed Bhagat Singh Club, Khanowal and Sher-e-Punjab Youth Club, Dostpur. Both Khanowal and Dostpur fall in the Dera Baba Nanak segment. “No work has been done by these two clubs,” claimed Randhawa. Langah could not be contacted despite repeated attempts.
|
||
|
Premis ‘gift’ land to dera
Bathinda, October 25 As many as 41 sale deeds were executed at the tehsil office here in favour of “Shah Satnam Ji, Green S Welfare Force Wing, Dera Sacha Sauda, Sirsa.” Another 21 sale deeds were executed in Talwandi Sabo. The process went on till late into the evening. Tehsil sources said they did not recall such a large number of sale deeds ever being executed in favour of a party in one day. The deeds were executed legally in the presence of legal experts and the requisite revenue was paid to the government. Most of the sale deeds were of Baluana and Rai Singh Wala villages. Pawan Insan, dera spokesperson, said the dera head had not issued any instructions for registering the followers’ property in the name of the dera. “The followers may have given the land for setting up a dera centre,” he added.
|
||
|
Awareness drive carried out in Patiala to check dengue
Patiala, October 25 A team of health officials, including District Health Officer Dr Daljeet Singh, District Epidemiologist Gurmanjot Kaur, District BCC Facilitator Sarabjeet Singh and anti larvae staff members visited Tripri area today. The team visited lane number 5, 6 and 7 to conduct the survey and sprayed the medicine. They met Geeta’s family members. She had recently died due to dengue at PGI, Chandigarh. Her family members said, “Geeta had high fever and severe stomach ache. We took her to Sector 32, Chandigarh, and later shifted her to PGI, where she succumbed to the disease.” Civil Surgeon Dr Usha Bansal said people should not panic if they had fever since seasonal flu was widespread these days. She suggested the patients should get the Maclisa test done to find out if they had dengue. She said the tests conducted by private laboratories were not accurate and should be avoided. The Microbiology Department at Government Rajindra Hospital also carried out the test, she added.
|
||
|
70-yr-old man dies in Morinda
Morinda, October 25 His grandson Gagan Kumar said Babu Lal was suffering from fever. A local private practitioner was treating him earlier but he could not control the fever, so we took him to Fortis hospital in Mohali where he died today, he added. A high number of patients have been treated for dengue at private and government hospitals in the district. Last week, 10 patients with symptoms of dengue were reported in Ropar. Only three of them were confirmed after their blood samples were sent to Mohali Civil Hospital. Health authorities claimed that the tests conducted by private laboratories were not reliable. Dr Gagandeep Singh, State Epidemiologist, said only five confirmed cases had been reported in the state so far. A camp to raise awareness among medicos and the general public will be held in Ropar on Sunday, he said.
|
|
Can’t challenge town master plan: HC
Chandigarh, October 25 The decision by a Division Bench of the High Court came on a public interest litigation filed by Dharamvir Goyal against the State of Punjab and other respondents. The Division Benc\h minced no words to say a master plan acquires “statutory character” after it is prepared following a complete procedure. As such, a public interest litigation cannot be considered an apt tool to dispute its validity. The judgment assumes significance as the Punjab government has already approved the master plans for the planned development of at least 25 towns across the State. The towns include, Fatehgarh Sahib, Banur, Mullanpur, Mohali, Zirakpur, Mandigobindgarh, Kharar, Jagraon City, Khanna, Ludhiana, Baghapurana, Abohar, Bathinda, Raman Mandi, Kotakpura, Amritsar, Sri Hargobindpur, Goindwal, Tarn Taran, Nawanshahr City, Jalandhar, Hoshiarpur, Sultanpur Lodhi, Patiala and Sangrur. In this writ petition, Dharamvir Goyal had earlier challenged the provisions contained in a master plan. Refusing to entertain the petition, the Division Bench of Chief Justice Arjan Kumar Sikri and Justice Rakesh Kumar Jain categorically asserted: “A master plan is a statutory document, which is framed after following the procedure contained in the Punjab Regional and Town Planning Development Act, 2006”. In its detailed judgment, the Bench added: “A full procedure is provided for preparing such master plans, which includes calling objections from the concerned persons. After the procedure is followed and master plan is prepared, it acquires statutory character. “The validity of such a master plan cannot be challenged by means of public interest litigation. If any person is affected by the provisions of master plan, he has the remedy to challenge it in accordance with law. “The petitioner herein is not even an aggrieved person. We are, therefore, not inclined to entertain this writ petition as public interest litigation and is accordingly dismissed”.
|
|
Yet another heroin haul
Amritsar, October 25 Rashpal Singh, AIG, Counter Intelligence, said following a tip-off, the accused were intercepted on the Ram Tirath Road where they were waiting for a party to deliver the consignment. He claimed the duo had been into this illegal trade for some time now. He said the accused used to deliver the contraband and fake currency at different designated places in Amritsar and Delhi. Preliminary investigations revealed that the accused had delivered two consignments of heroin at various places. Rashpal said investigations were on to unearth the entire network of this gang.
|
|
| HOME PAGE | |
Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir |
Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs |
Nation | Opinions | | Business | Sports | World | Letters | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | Delhi | | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | E-mail | |
The car of Giani Zail Singh, former President, met with an accident in 1994. Capt Kanwaljit, former Finance Minister of Punjab, was killed in an accident near the accident prone T-point near Kharar in March 2009.
