Jalandhar, April 4
While the matter pertaining to the orders of the Punjab and Haryana High Court regarding construction of illegal shops in the dera of Baba Shavinder Jit Cheema and also at Congress Bhawan has still not settled down, yet another controversy pertaining to the construction of as many as 54 illegal shops by Dera Satkartar has now cropped up.

Even as the dera has got only 18 shops falling on prime land in Model Town partly regularised making a payment of Rs 50.7 lakh as the change of land use (CLU) and composition fee, it has gone ahead to construct 36 more shops on upper floors in a completely unauthorised way.

Neither have the dera authorities submitted any detailed plans regarding the construction, nor have they made adequate parking provision as required under the MC bylaws. In fact, it is a small stretch of the ground floor shops which has been put on record from the dera side.

The dera, which is constructed on nearly 14 acres, has allocated 13, 484 square feet of the space for the shops. Of this land, it has shown nearly 6,700 square feet for parking. The sources in the building branch of the MC have confided that had the dera confined its commercial activity just to the ground floor and not gone vertically upwards, the parking area would have been 50 per cent and adequate as per the norms.

"Now, while the FAR of the constructed area has multiplied three times, the parking area remains the same, making the construction non-compoundable at this stage," an official of the branch elaborated.

Enquiry from the shopkeepers who have already taken space revealed that the dera had rented out almost all shops on the ground floor for an amount as high as Rs 40,000 to Rs 50,000 per month. Those on the first floor had gone for an amount ranging between Rs 25,000 to Rs 35,000 and the proposed rent for the second floor was Rs 20,000 to Rs 25,000. Provision for an elevator, too, had been made for the sellers of top brands, who had set up their outlets here.

The MC officials also confided that it was at the intervention of the former Deputy Commissioner (DC) Priyank Bharti that the matter pertaining to the regularisation of shops was taken up a few months back. The dera had in fact constructed the shops on the ground floor long back showing them as rooms for the visitors and later got the front wall removed to allow direct approach from the outside.

Dera secretary Karnail Singh, when contacted, said he had got the compounding done from the MC believing it to be valid even for the upper floors. "I am not aware of any violation on our side," he said. He added that there were other religious institutions, including Guru Nanak Mission Gurdwara, which had committed a similar violation but were being spared.

I have been told that the shops on the ground floor have already been compounded. It has now been brought to my notice that some construction has been done on upper floors, for which due action will follow.
— Anupam Kler, Joint Commissioner, MC

Jalandhar, April 4
The traffic police today impounded eight school buses — six of St Joseph’s Convent School, Cantonment Road, and two of St Joseph’s Senior Secondary School, Defence Colony — for various alleged violations under the Motor Vehicles Act.

Mohinder Singh, ACP (Traffic), said the bus operators had committed various violations. “Some did not have fitness certificate. There were others without other relevant documents, including permits, RCs and licence from the Transport Department. A few were also wrongly parked and thus lifted,” he said.

Seeing the crackdown, many auto-rickshaw operators did not ply their vehicles for fear of being challaned for overloading. As a result, most of the students were left behind in school, waiting for their parents to pick them up. Many parents claimed that the impounded vehicles should have been at least used to drop back the children to their respective places rather than creating a panic all of a sudden. The teachers and parents of fellow students got into action immediately to call up parents and inform them about the matter.

Vinod Sharma, a parent, said he was in office when he got a call from the van driver asking him to take his daughter from school. The ACP (Traffic) said the administration had been duly informed of the action and asked to make due arrangements for the children. He said similar action would continue for the next few weeks.

He added that one Punjab Roadways bus was also impounded for using black film on the windowpanes.

Jalandhar, April 4
Perhaps taking into account the fact that those who killed the ASI in Phagwara were all drug traffickers, the city police conducted one of the biggest crackdown ever in the state and arrested as many as 155 persons in 48 hours under the NDPS Act. While 115 persons were arrested yesterday, nearly 40 more, including drug addicts and peddlers, were picked today.

The police has also recovered intoxicants from all the arrested persons.

The operation, which is said to have been conducted on the orders of the DGP, had police officials of all 14 police stations involved. Diljinder Singh Dhillon, ADCP (Special Branch) said on an average 10 persons were rounded up by policemen from each police station.

Dhillon said that the police had already collected a secret information regarding the peddlers, many of whom were also involved in snatching and other cases. He said while half of them had been already sent to judicial custody, the remaining would be remanded tomorrow.

Jalandhar, April 4
In an effort to provide education to working youths and students who are unable to afford the high cost of education, the Guru Nanak Dev University (GNDU) has decided to introduce more courses in its college in Jalandhar.

Dr Jaspal Singh Randhawa, college principal, said admissions to courses in M.Com, B.Com and B.Com (professional) had started for the next academic year.

The timings of the classes would be scheduled according to the convenience of the students in the afternoon and evening. The fee for the courses in M.Com, B.Com and B.Com (professional) will be Rs 18,210, Rs 11,050 and Rs 17,610, respectively.

Moreover, the students seeking admission to the courses would have to submit the fee in instalments, claimed Dr. Randhawa.

Dr Randhwara, who recently took over as the principal of the college, disclosed that the new building of the college would come up at a cost of Rs 5 crore on 10 acres.

More courses would be introduced in the college after the completion of the campus building, he added.

Jalandhar, April 4
While the shopkeepers of different markets continue their agitation by observing token strike and staging dharna by turns in their areas, the Congress has now asked the representatives of housing societies to come forward and join the ongoing protest against the imposition of property tax as it will not only affect shopkeepers, but also them.

Meanwhile, as part of ongoing agitation, the shopkeepers of various markets located in and around Lamba Pind Chowk observed strike for three hours from 9 am to 12 noon.

The protesters, accompanied by Congress leaders Jagbir Brar, Rajinder Beri and former area councillor Nirmal Singh Nimma, also staged a dharna at Lamba Pind Chowk located on Hoshiapur Road.

Speaking on the occasion, Brar asked the residents of the city and the representatives of various housing societies to come forward and join the ongoing agitation against the imposition of property tax it would not only affect shopkeepers, but also residents.

Addressing the protesters, Jagbir Brar said, “Instead of putting extra burden on common man in the shape of property tax, the Badal government should judiciously use its funds as the CAG in its report stated that Rs 3,100 crore were misused.”

Brar said “Punjabis in general and Jalandharities in particular are agitated over the imposition of property tax as the shopkeepers of various markets have been observing strike by turns to lodge their protest. The shopkeepers of almost all areas of the city and cantonment have observed token strike turn by turn to show their resentment against the imposition of property tax.”

Brar said, “If the decision of imposing property tax is not withdrawn, the agitation will be intensified.”

The shopkeepers demanded that the SAD-BJP government should immediately withdraw its decision of levying property tax in public interest.

Official speak

Jalandhar, April 4
Over 200 students of various faculties of the Lovely Professional University (LPU) were honoured for their outstanding performance in academics and other co-curricular activities in the 4th University Honouring Ceremony, here today.

Besides certificates of University Roll of Honour, cash prizes worth Rs 18 lakh were also distributed among the students who had made outstanding achievements in academics, research, cultural and sports activities during he last session (2012-13).

Cash prizes were distributed for excellence in academics (80) research (3) Cultural (26) and sports supremacies (100).

Munny Kumar (Bachelors in Physical Education Programme) from Punjab was honoured with Rs 47,500 for six achievements in cultural activities.

Congratulating all the students and their parents, LPU Chancellor Ashok Mittal said, "I personally feel that it is the responsibility of the university to find out the hidden talent of the students and to shape them well. I am pleased to see that the students have proven their worth in diverse fields, not only at the state level but at the national level also. ”

Jalandhar, April 4
Students of Police DAV Public School won the first position in the International Space Design Contest, organised by the National Space Society (NSS) and co-sponsored by the NASA Ames Research Center for the sixth consecutive year.

The objective of the project, titled "Columbiat", was to design a settlement for 22,000 persons at L5 liberation point, which could act as a business and banking hub in space, consisting of residential, agricultural, industrial and research areas.

The team comprised Abhijeet Singh, Anirudh Aggarwal, Gobind Marwaha, Vishavjeet Singh, Geetanjali Verma, Saniya Verma, Jessica Brar and Jessica, all students of Class VIII, and their mentors Navdeep Sharma and Karam Inder Singh.

One of the team members, Saniya, highlighted the importance of human factors in space. Speaking about her experience, Saniya said, “It is difficult to convince humans to leave the comforts of the Earth and settle in an alien space environment for the rest of their lives. So our objective was to provide conditions on space settlement that would lure humans to permanently shift their habitat.”

The team spent a lot of time performing calculations as they had to comply with areas specified by the NASA Summer Studies. They also provided assortment of facilities like enhanced food production using "deep flow" technique, air revitalisation system for thermal and humidity control and accurate management of waste within the settlement to let the residents believe in its incomparability.

Recreational amenities like micro-gravity games, observatories, discotheques can take care of human appetite of living in an ideal environment.

The Columbiat team has provided unique I-homes for each resident. These I-homes consist of various sensors, including for temperature, movement and other automated systems like gardening and internal security cameras.

What is worth mentioning is semi-autonomous robot, named Homorobo, which apart from performing routine kitchen work and serving, has an ability to detect liquid or dirt on floor and automatically cleans it. The pathogenic sensors of a robot will also detect and clean any germs in air ensuring healthy environment for residents.

Dr Rashmi Vij, principal of the school, lauded the efforts of the team and their mentors.

The team will be leaving for San Diego on May 23 to participate in the International Space Development Conference, where they will be presenting their ideas.

Jalandhar, April 4
To increase the standard of sports and to motivate sportsmen, the state government has announced scholarships for 134 players in the district.

Scholarships worth Rs 10,000 (per player) for senior players, with rankings at the Shaheed-e-Azam Bhagat Singh Games, which were held in the district from February 28, 2011 to April 6, 2011 have been announced.

District Sports Officer Rakesh Kaushal said the sportspersons included 15 athletes, 15 basketball players, 9 boxers, 8 footballers, 13 kabaddi players, 20 shooters, 15 wrestlers, 9 weightlifters, 13 volley ball players and 18 players of tug-of-war.

These scholarships would be distributed in the memory of Sahibzada Ajit Singh.

Apart from this, junior-level players, who won ranks at the Punjab 

State Rural Games (boys) held at Hoshiarpur (from November 6, 2012 to November 8, 2012) and Punjab State Rural Games (girls) held at Bathinda (from November 18, 2012 to November 20, 2012) would be earning scholarships of Rs 5,000 each.

A function in this regard will be held at the Hans Raj Stadium on April 6 in which cheques will be distributed to the 134 players.

Jalandhar, April 4
In an apparent attempt to revive its lost base in the Dalit-dominated Jalandhar district, newly appointed Punjab Congress president Partap Singh Bajwa has chosen as April 14 as his maiden public meeting here as Dr BR Ambedkar’s birth anniversary is also on the same day.

That is why Punjab Congress has dedicated his first rally in Jalandhar to Dr BR Ambedkar.

While Punjab Congress vice-president Tarlochan Singh Soondh claimed that his party had never lost its base in the Doaba region in general and Jalandhar in particular, but the outcome of last two Assembly elections had another story to tell.

While Congress had to satisfy with just one out of then total 10 seats in Assembly election held in 2007, it could not win even a single seat out of total nine seats after delimitation in Jalandhar district in 2012 Assembly elections.

However Soondh claimed, “Loosing all the seats does not mean the party has lost its base as some of its candidates, including former minister Santokh Chaudhary and Rajinder Beri, lost to their rival candidates with a very thin margin.”

At the same time, he said every possible step would be taken to strengthen the party in the Doaba region and of course Jalandhar district too. Being in charge of party affairs in the Doaba region, he would try to bring all the leaders to a single platform burying the differences among them if any.

Meanwhile Soondh held a meeting with party leaders of the district at Congress Bhawan here in connection with preparation of Bajwa’s proposed rally at Desh Bhagat Yadgaar Hall on April 14 at 11 am.

Former ministers Santokh Chuadhary, Avtar Henery and Gurkanwal Kaur, former MLA Jagbir Brar, Kanwaljeet Singh Lally, DCC (Rural) president, and other Congress leaders Rajanbir, Rajinder Beri, Virendra Sharma, Anil Dutta, Arun Walia, Surendra Chaudhary, Kanwal Sachdeva and Satnam Bitta were present on the occasion.

Soondh claimed that at least 20,000 persons would participate in Bajwa’s maiden rally in Jalandhar.