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Administration pulls down two ‘mazaars’ on national highways
Two DAV College students commit suicide
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3,540 child labourers in the district less than 9 years of age
“Thanks to govt, ‘Sadda Haq’will see bigger release now”
Doc booked for letting pet dog loose on policeman
Oberoi honoured
Meeting on Zila Parishad elections
Senior State Women Boxing Championship begins
‘Cheekh — Fight Rape Culture’ book released
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Administration pulls down two ‘mazaars’ on national highways
Jalandhar, April 26 Armed with a heavy posse of the police, SDM-1 Iqbal Singh Sandhu took the lead during the action that started at Durgah Sharif Khawaja Peer Haji Shah Qutab on GT Road around 12:45 pm. ADCP Parminder Singh Bhandal, ACP Cantonment Manpreet Singh and SHOs Bimal Kant and Ram Pal were at the spot along with scores of women police officials and constables. While the custodians of the "dargah" refused to cooperate and stood as mute spectators, it was the staff of the PWD which took out various sacred items from inside it and handed over the same to the family of Ashiq Hussain. As the JCB machine started pulling down a one-side wall, Hussain’s daughter-in-law Baby went inside the durgah to lodge her protest. The administration had to deploy women police force to pull her back. The machine took about more than a hour to pull down the frontal building. As the family of Ashiq Hussain saw that the administration was gearing up to even pull down their residence at the back, they pleaded for more time from the SDM. The official refused their demand, saying they already had been granted more than two and a half months. At this, the PWD staff went on to remove their household items safely and brought it out on the road. Finding no way out, they also pitched in to themselves take off their goods. Clearing the entire structure, the police and the administration moved onto the next "mazaar" on the Jalandhar-Hoshiarpur road, where, too, the operation was carried out without any opposition. Done to pave way
for NHAI project
The100-year-old "dargah" at Rama Mandi had to be removed as it fell in the way of the construction work of the ongoing six-laning project of the NHAI. Having lost a civil writ petition against Deputy Commissioner Jalandhar earlier in July 2012, Ashiq Hussain, the custodian of the "durgah", had filed a letters patent appeal (LPA) in the Punjab and Haryana High Court seeking its restoration in original form. His appeal got rejected by the court in February this year with the orders, “It appears that there is no possibility of protecting any part of Dargah Sharif as a part of the structure falls in the main carriageway or the right of way of the national highway. A religious structure cannot be permitted to stall projects of national importance, particularly, national highways. The appellant may, however, shift that particular part of the Dargah Sharif falling in the way on his own.” The matter regarding the eviction of the dargah, however, was being raked up by the administration since 2001 by the Central Works Division of PWD (B&R). Carelessness
A major carelessness surfaced during the demolition exercise. Even as mediapersons had alerted officials regarding an electricity wire running atop the "mazaar", which was connected with a streetlight pole along the divider of the GT Road, they did not pay much heed. Snapping it only partly, they went on to get the pulled down durgah. During the process, the streetlight pole was about to come down with a jolt as it swayed for a long time. A wire from the pole fell on a vehicle passing by which applied brakes all of a sudden. The heavy traffic that was following remained halted for sometime. Time of action
The time to pull down the "dargah" was specifically chosen to be 12:45 pm so that the Lahore-bound bus passed across the chowk without any disturbance around 12:30 pm. |
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Two DAV College students commit suicide
Jalandhar, April 26 Both Raghav Sharma, who hailed from a business family of Ferozepur, and Manjot Kaur, daughter of an SI at PAP Jalandhar, were MA-I (English) students of the college. Eyewitnesses said the two had a cold drink at a shop closeby at 9:30 am and seemed to be in a light mood just minutes before they rushed towards the track and stood in front of the train.
While the boy’s head got badly crushed, the girl’s body got dragged for more than 500 m along the track with her body parts getting scattered all the way through. The boy, who seemed to be from a well-off family, was donning a red T-shirt and Puma shoes. The GRP police reached the spot and identified the boy from the college ID card in his pocket. The card mentioned him as a hostel resident with room number 64. The police checked the girl’s purse in which the police found a book with her name mentioned on it, but no other details since she was not carrying the card. SHO GRP Baldev Singh Randhawa said prima facie, it appeared to be a love affair, but the families of both the boy and girl claimed to have not known of any relation between the two. However, enquiries from the college revealed that both the boy as well as the girl had come close about a month or two ago. But the news came as a shock to all of them. Requesting anonymity, they divulged that both Raghav and Manjot were often seen sitting together on the campus and even bunked classes together. Even circumstantial evidences pointed towards it being a planned suicide. While the college was off on account of the forthcoming second semester examination, both chose to see each other near the campus today. Though the railway track passes adjoining the college, which has a halt station closeby, they specifically went to a spot about 1.5 km away from the campus where they knew that the train would pick a good speed. |
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3,540 child labourers in the district less than 9 years of age
Jalandhar, April 26 While a total of as many as 9,710 children in the district have been found to be involved in child labour, most of them are below the age of nine. About 3,540 child labourers in the district are less than nine years of age, 3,324 of these children are below in the age group of nine to 11 years. As many as 2,846 of these children are between the ages of 11 to 14 years. While barely 10 children in the entire district have been up able to make it to rehabilitation, most of the child labourers continue to indulge in the same professions, labouring for the past many years. While a big number of these children have been hired as domestic helps (2,116), a very large number of these children also work for the sports industry (1,616) as well as working as rag pickers (788). Notably, a staggering amount of these children are illiterate. As many as 9,130 of these children have never been to school, 560 of them have studied till the 5th standard while only 20 of these have studied till the 6th standard. While illiteracy and labour are clearly linked, lack of efforts by the district administration to get these children to schools is one of the factors while labour refuses to subside. The district labour department, child welfare council, police as well as education department machinery has been unable to get these students merged with the mainstream.
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“Thanks to govt, ‘Sadda Haq’will see bigger release now”
Jalandhar, April 26 It is probably the only Punjabi film which has been a part of such a long drawn out battle for release. But what matters is that its makers have finally won it. The makers of the banned film Sada Haq won the historic fight for its release today, as the ban on the film, enforced by the Punjab Government (as well as the governments of MP, Haryana and UP), was lifted by the Supreme Court. The government had banned it on the eve of its release (on April 5), based on apprehensions that it might cause tensions in the state. An elated producer (and lead actor) of the film, Kuljinder Sidhu, while talking to The Tribune, said, “We are very happy. Our freedom of expression has finally been upheld and it is a big achievement.” While the film couldn’t see the light of the day on April 5, Sidhu said, “Thanks to the government, the film will now get a much bigger and better release than earlier. It would earlier have been restricted to Punjab, but now we are planning a nationwide release.” “While it will first be released in the state, we are working on the Hindi dubbing of the film, after which it will be released across the nation,” he added. “We have also been approached by channels asking for the satellite rights of the film (dubbed in Hindi) in the event of its ban being lifted by the SC,” Sidhu said. He said the crew has plans to release the film in Punjab immediately. “It will be released on the coming Friday or the one after it.” Sidhu said the film’s banning, in a way, acted as a blessing in disguise because it was upheld in places where it might not have been noticed. “The film is running for the second consecutive week at a multiplex in Mumbai. I believe it’s the first Punjabi film to run so long in Mumbai. It has already become the highest grossing Punjabi film in the UK and the USA,” he said. While Sidhu says he has been flooded with calls from India and abroad, he is, now, tight-lipped about the government. “I did receive calls from people in the Punjab Government. They now congratulate me and tell me what they did, had to be done. Now that my film is going to see the light of the day, I have no qualms with the government,” Sidhu said.
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Cast of ‘Ashiqui 2’ comes to town
Jalandhar, April 26 The film went on to become a cult hit and gave Bollywood some of its most haunting, poignant tracks ever. About two decades later, the opening guitar strains of the song ‘sanson ki zaroorat hai jaise’ still pop up in our minds when someone says the word Ashiqui. The starcast of the film Ashiqui 2 was in the city here. The young new faces of Bhatt camp’s today shared how their film will recreate the old magic. While Ashiqui 2 premiered across the country today, its lead pair Aditya Roy Kapoor and Shraddha Kapoor, accompanied by director Mohit Suri, addressed a press at conference here. Speaking on the pressures of making the sequel of a film which has been one of the greatest romantic hits of all times, director Mohit Suri said, “Ashiqui was a legend and a classic. There is a general feeling that the love stories being made these days are romcoms which do not celebrate love and its eternal appeal. But Ashiqui 2 will be looking to recreate that old magic. It upholds the traditional values of love. However, it does not necessarily borrow from Ashiqui (1990).” Aditya Roy Kapoor, the debuting male lead actor of the film, said he was happy to be a part of the project. “My character is of a guy who is a musician who has seen a lot which most people of his age have not. It is about how he is so successful but things change when love happens and how he evolves as a person,” Kapoor said. Answering questions on what it felt like coming from a family where both his brothers (producer Siddharth Roy Kapoor and actor Kunal Roy Kapoor) and his sister-in-law (actor Vidya Balan) were from Bollywood, Kapoor said, “We are just a family who share the passion for similar things. For our family, films are something relatively new because we did not grow up in a film family. All of us share our passions and projects with each other. When in doubt, I often take the advice of family,” he said. “We held all India auditions to shortlist the lead actor of the film. Boys came dressed in tights and with muscular bodies. But something was not clicking. When Aditya stepped in for the audition in chappals and shorts, there was something different about him. Then I saw him revolving on a chair oblivious of his surroundings and totally himself. I felt he fitted the bill and I’m glad I made the choice,” Suri said. Speaking about her character as the female lead, petite Shraddha Kapoor said, “I play a Marathi mulgi in the film with a beautiful voice. It was a great experience to be a part of the Bhatt camp. Mahesh Bhatt is one of the coolest people I have ever met.” While Aditya will next be seen in Yeh Jawani hai Deewani (releasing on May 31), Sharddha’s upcoming film is Gori Tere Pyaar Mein.
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Doc booked for letting pet dog loose on policeman
Amritsar, April 26 A complaint was given to the Assistant Commissioner of Police (West) in this regard and it was decided that the dog would be handed over to some organisation. However, Dr Mahajan did not shift his dog and a couple of days back the dog again attacked his son, who was playing outside the house in the Labha Nagar area. Sarabjit Singh when went to lodge a complaint to Dr Mahajan, he let his dog loose on him and he got injured. A case has been registered— TNS |
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Oberoi honoured
Amritsar, April 26 Afterwards, they all reached Central Khalsa Yatimkhana. Management members honoured Oberoi for his tireless efforts for the noble cause.
— TNS |
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Meeting on Zila Parishad elections
Jalandhar, April 26 He said a notification regarding the same would be issued on May 3, after which the code of conduct would be implemented in the rural areas where elections were to be conducted. He said as per the revised schedule, nominations would be held from May 3 to 7. He added that the limit for the expenditure would be fixed at Rs 1.56 lakh for the ZP candidates, Rs 65,000 for block samiti candidates, Rs 23,500 for sarpanch candidates and Rs 16,000 for the panchayat member candidates. |
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Senior State Women Boxing Championship begins
Jalandhar, April 26 The championship will feature 70 Punjab women boxers from 19 districts of the state. Around 54 bouts will be fought in 10 weight categories ranging from 48 kg to 81+ kg. Being organised by the District Boxing Association, Kapurthala, under the aegis of the Punjab Boxing Association (PBA), the event has support from the Sardar Bawa Singh Johal Boxing Academy, Phagwara, an organisation devoted towards the development of sports in the state. Organising secretary of the championship Jasbir Singh Shergill informed that the state championship provided a platform to emerging boxers to display their skills and excel at the national arena. The event assumes an added importance as 10 gold medalists from here will be able to show their worth at the 14th Senior Women National Boxing Championships to be held in Khatima, Uttrakhand from May18-23. LPU Pro-Chancellor Rashmi Mittal accorded best wishes to all women combatants.
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‘Cheekh — Fight Rape Culture’ book released
Jalandhar, April 26 In times when Punjab (women) have been unusually quiet even in the wake of several cases from the state being on the forefront as shameful examples of atrocities against women, ventures like this are important and needed. In his book, Dr Sidhu discusses the cases of brutal and vicious assaults on women across the world through the Delhi rape incident, Aruna Shanbaug case, Saumya murder case, Bhanwri Devi case as well as the Ohio rape incident. Speaking on the occasion, Dr Sidhu said, “In our society, rape has been spreading like an infectious disease, the spread of which, if not stopped soon, will acquire pandemic proportions.” Talking about the solution to the ill, Dr Sidhu said ostracising women and letting the culprits go scot-free or delayed justice were the greatest snags in overcoming ills. Justice needs to be swift, otherwise it doesn’t serve a purpose. He said people need to fight against the problem and be more vocal about injustice meted out to them. While Dr Sidhu’s book gives a tragic peek into the various stories of women who were at the receiving end of brutal sexual assaults, it also discusses the origins and causes of the spread of the “now widely evident” rape culture from social and economic points of view. On the occasion, Dr Sidhu was accompanied by eminent voices in women empowerment in the city like Dr Atima Sharma, principal KMV College, Jalandhar and Dr Sushma Chawla, gynaecologist as well as Dr Sidhu’s wife Dr Satpal Kaur Sidhu. Various women voices from the city stressed on the fact that it was very important not to treat women as the culprit for the crimes which they are bearing, which unfortunately, has also been
the norm. They stressed that women need to speak out against trends like pressure by police or criminals to keep quiet and women at large also needed to fight out and be more vocal against crimes that they see being committed against other women.
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The district administration managed to get two "mazaars" pulled down along national highways near Rama Mandi in quite a peaceful manner this afternoon.
Two classmates of DAV College here allegedly committed suicide by jumping before a speeding train near New Amar Nagar here this morning.
The district administration managed to get two "mazaars" pulled down along national highways near Rama Mandi in quite a peaceful manner this afternoon.
