Jalandhar, January 15
Utter chaos prevailed on city roads as the youth wings of both the SAD and Congress held their protests on the issue of revelations made in the Jagdish Bhola drug racket case.

Various nakas were put up near the tehsil complex where the Youth Congress (YC) leaders were to gather to march to the DC complex to present their memorandum seeking a CBI probe into the revelations made by Bhola against Bikram Singh Majithia on his alleged involvement in the case.

A heavy posse of police had laid barricades on all sides, stopping the commuters from coming towards the tehsil side. Police buses, riot control vehicles and police vans had been used to stop the commuters from coming towards the tehsil side.

As a result, hundreds of people who were to visit the complex for their work with the administration officials or at Suwidha Centre during the peak working hours had to make long detours to make a backdoor entry. Many chose to park their vehicles at some distance and walked down to the complex for the purpose. Even after the barricading was lifted after about an hour and a half, the commuters had to bear with the bumper-to-bumper traffic to reach their destinations.

Similar was the situation near BMC Chowk and Guru Nanak Mission Chowk where too the Youth Akali Dal burnt three effigies of PPCC chief Partap Singh Bajwa, Jagdish Bhola and Congress spokesperson Sukhpal Singh Khaira. Here too the commuters had a harrowing experience and were diverted to other roads.

Jalandhar, January 15
Diptesh Kalia, student of B.Com (professional) III of the Apeejay College of Fine Arts, Jalandhar, has cleared the CAT (Common Admission Test) for entrance to the MBA programmes with a percentage of 95.67.

About two lakh students appeared this year in the all-India level entrance examination. This score will entitle him to enter top business schools of India such as the IIMs.

He credits his success to the hard work and effort with total commitment and dedication which was made possible by the guidance of his teachers.

Another city boy Narinderpal Singh has scored high in the CAT exam in Punjab by scoring 94.93 marks in the exam, the results of which were declared yesterday.

Born and brought up here, Narinder studied a few classes in the beginning at Sacred Heart School in Dalhousie and continued studies at Swami Sant Dass School, Jalandhar, where he scored good marks in classes IX and X.

Starting with engineering, the dreams of a fatter pay package and his ambitious streak - which he was popular for, right since his childhood - he was always known for his great scores.

Having cleared the AIEEE exam with rank 21, Narinderpal is presently pursuing electrical engineering at IIT Ropar and will clear the course in the next two months. But hunt for something more ambitious and closer to this ultimate calling led him to aspire for the IIMs.

His father Arjun Singh, a retired officer from the electricity board, says, “Both my kids have been studying together and were known for their good grades throughout high school. My daughter also cleared the MBBS exam and is now working at the DMC Ludhiana.”

Jalandhar, January 15
To provide timely relief to the victims of various tragedies, the district administration has come up with a new District Relief Fund Society which could readily release funds at the time of any exigency.

While the Deputy Commissioner will be the chairman of the committee, all SDMs, GA to DC, Public Grievances Officer and some businessmen, too, have been roped in for the cause. The society has already been registered with its constitution and purpose of giving grants clearly chalked out.

To begin with, many officials in the administration have voluntarily donated their one day salary. Owners of various groups like Lovely Professional University too have been engaged for creating the corpus.

Outlining the agenda, Deputy Commissioner Varun Roojam said there were several cases such as the recent death of six labourers at Pathankot Chowk in an accident or some incident of fire in some shanties or poor patients requiring treatment wherein such funds could be diverted at the discretion of the society members.

The DC said such societies were functioning actively in various other cities where he had worked earlier like Hoshiarpur and Muktsar and funds were being given to the needy in no time. "We, as of now, have such provision only by way of getting CM Relief Fund, which at times gets little delayed. Timely financial aid becomes a problem which cannot even be pressed through the Red Cross Society which only provides medical aid and medicines," said Roojam.

The DC said all such donations coming via NRIs or other ways will be non-taxable. He said the society would be extremely choosy and would pass on the grant only to only those in dire need of funds.

Jalandhar, January 15
Red, yellow, blue, tailed, tasselled, vibrant and flowing, while the winter skies have traditionally been dotted with kites of myriad shades and colours, the lingering trail of controversy this year has, to some extent, rendered the kite season relatively lacklustre.

Even as the city police issued a ban on the sale of the Chinese string "gattu", as it is popularly known as in the region, the small-time kite and string retailers allege that while the cop-scare pushes them to stop the sale of the string, well-heeled retailers in the bazaar areas continue to sell it with impunity and those arrested continue to be let off.

The string made with a mix of glass, iron and chemicals has claimed countless lives cutting into people's fingers, arms and necks. Yesterday alone, there were four deaths across the country owing to the string.

Claiming that his shiny string was all cotton, one shopkeeper that correspondent talked to, promised that he would get the Chinese string if needed. Others were more discreet.

A shopkeeper in the Gurunankpura area says, "The business is bad this year. The sales have been reduced to 2-0 per cent owing to the absence of gattu in the market. Kids come and ask for it. They won't buy the Bareilly (cotton) string. The shop is stacked with cotton string, but all the young ones want is gattu. Now, we comply because the police will raid our shops, but the more moneyed shopkeepers continue to sell it with impunity. What do we do? If the police has to stop its sale, stop the supply chain. I have stuff worth Rs 10,000 with me, but it won't sell, I know, the market is cold."

Another shopkeeper says, "Three people were caught in the main market area for selling gattu and then let off. I don't have money to pay to cops so I don't sell it. But people continue to buy it across the city. Kids smirk at the name of the desi Bareilly thread."

There is a reason "gattu" is finding so many takers. "You buy it once and can forget about buying any more. It lasts for years, doesn't melt, doesn't break, is great for kite flying. But Bareilly thread breaks easy. On the other hand, 'gattu' is very toxic. It has a thin iron string in it due to which it clings easily to electricity wires and it has glass and chemicals so its cut is very dangerous. Very few sensible people realise this. Even officers' kids come in and ask for 'gattu'. The market for honest shopkeepers is dead," says a retailer at Ladowali Road.

Shopkeepers say big retailers and wholesalers continue to sell Chinese string (one brand is also available from Delhi) at the Gurunanakpura, Milap Chowk, Jyoti Chowk and Attari Bazaar areas.

While Gattu is about Rs 100 costlier than the Bareilly thread, it sells like hot cakes because of its longevity.

Deputy Commissioner of Police, Rahul S, who had issued the ban on Chinese string on January 10, reacting to shopkeepers' complaint about a partial and unsuccessful ban, and the three shopkeepers who were let off, said, "I have just today issued orders that strict action will be taken against those disregarding the ban."

"I have issued orders that an FIR will be lodged under Section 188 of the IPC and strict action initiated against those found indulging in the practice."

When asked what measures the police had taken to stop the supply of "gattu" to the city, the DCP said, "The police shall also be working on that."

Strings Gattu is about Rs 100 costlier than Bareilly string Price of gattu ranges from Rs 500 to Rs 700 Price of Bareilly string is up to Rs 500 Gattu brand - Monophil common Bareilly brands - BPL, Prince, Silver, Golden Discovery Kite varieties on offer Bhoot, Tiranga, star, chess, macchi, note (dollar), chajji, tandey, Taipuri, Lucknawi Range: Rs 10 (per packet of mini kites) to Rs 1,600 for big kites

Jalandhar, January 15
The call for strike given by safai sewaks of the Municipal Corporation against the implementation of the solid waste management project and other employees-related issues got only a partial response.

Since the union of the safai karamcharis remained divided with one faction led by the Congress-supported leaders and the second by SAD-supported leaders, some areas of the city were cleaned while the others were not. The door-to-door collection of garbage was only partially affected as most of the areas had safai sewaks on the job today.

Jalandhar, January 15
Subhash Joshi, Director-General, Border Security Force (BSF), appreciated and encouraged programmes like cycle rally that promotes de-addiction, civic action programmes and drug de-addiction drive targeting the youth in villages by the BSF.

The Director-General after a two-day visit of the Punjab frontier was interacting with mediapersons in the frontier headquarter of the BSF in Jalandhar today. Ajay Kumar Tomar (IPS), Inspector-General, BSF, Punjab Frontier, briefed him about various operational and administrative activities being undertaken in the frontier.

Joshi also inaugurated a blood donation camp organised at Composite Hospital. As many as 75 BSF personnel donated blood during the camp. He also visited the "Model Fitness Point" and experienced the use of it.

In his address to the officers, subordinate officers and other ranks during the Sanik Sammelan, the DG appreciated the efforts of the BSF personnel for containing trans-border smuggling, especially that of heroin, which has a serious socio-economic impact.

He cautioned them against the threat emanating from the forces inimical to the country and directed the BSF jawans to perform their duty with commitment. He briefed them about the welfare activities and other projects being undertaken for the better border management and improvement of infrastructure. — TNS 

Jalandhar, January 15
Coming to the aid of hundreds of Aadhaar card holders who somehow required corrections in their documents, the Suwidha Centre started a free service for the same. Rajbir Singh, in charge of the centre, said nearly 75 such applications were coming to him daily with corrections required in spellings of name, father's name, address or any other detail. He said the original ID card substantiating the same such as PAN Card, driving licence, voter ID card or ration card was being taken and the change was being entered.

He said even as the applicants could do the same on web, the Suwidha Centre was simply assisting those who were not able to do it on their own. He said a copy of the acknowledgement slip was also being given to the applicants, which they could use further with the banks or LPG service centres to seek their claims.

The Suwidha Centre is also offering e-Aadhaar service on the basis of the slips issued to them at centres on the basis of which provisional printouts of the same were being given to the applicants whose cards were yet to be received.

The Food and Civil Supplies department is also in the process of setting up 14 permanent Aadhaar card centres at the places like DC office and New Grain Market. 

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