Jalandhar, May 29
In the ongoing campaign against drug smuggling, the Jalandhar Commissionerate police have nabbed 78 drug peddlers in a week. These drug peddlers have been arrested after the registration of 70 cases under the NDPS Act against them.

A city police official said the campaign against drugs was initiated on May 16. Although the police had made only meagre recoveries from their arrest, efforts were on to reach out to the main suppliers.

Till date, with the arrest of 78 drug peddlers, the city police have recovered 180 gm of smack, 126 gm of charas, 125 gm of heroin, 20.800 kg of poppy husk, 1,235 gm of intoxicant powder, 1,220 capsules, 1.4 kg of ganja and 303 injections from the accused.

Sources said DGP Sumedh Singh Saini had also paid a secret visit to the city a few days ago. The purpose of the visit was to direct the police officials to intensify the campaign against drug smuggling. He had reportedly categorically told the city police officials that instead of apprehending the small drug peddlers, they should tighten noose around the big drug peddlers.

A police official said that although the DGP was happy that the city police had nabbed so many smugglers, he was annoyed over the meagre recoveries of drugs.

Jalandhar, May 29
As part of the annual formation level training, the Vajra Corps today launched a three-day exercise "Vajra Prahar". The exercise is being conducted alongside the Sutluj in the region.

It will validate and showcase the integration of modern force multipliers, including the Air Force, aerial surveillance platforms and networked data transfer systems, a defence press release stated.

The exercise includes the movement of formations to the tactical battle areas and launching an offensive. Troops from infantry, armoured, artillery, air defence, engineers, signals and logistics units are participating in this exercise. In addition, UAVs and surveillance and target acquisition resources as also all battle components seamlessly integrated towards a cohesive offensive. It involves the capability to mobilise fast and hit hard with self-contained and highly mobile combat forces in an obstacle-ridden terrain.

The exercise will also see unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), attack helicopters and frontline fighter aircraft of the Western Air Command (WAC) carrying out battle drills in synergy with the Army. Certain types of new equipment and high technology systems are fielded, which exponentially enhance the offensive operational effectiveness of the Vajra Corps.

It further stated that Punjab has traditionally been home to the warrior class - symbolising valour, sacrifice and bravery. Fortitude and fighting resilience has manifested itself in all battles fought by them.

The Corps proved its mettle during the famous battles of Dograi, Barki, Dera Baba Nanak and Khemkaran. Vajra Corps has, thus, transformed into a modern war machine through a series of exercises over the years.

Jalandhar, May 29
Having got transferred to Patiala on the same post, Varun Roojam today relinquished his charge as the Deputy Commissioner of the district.

His successor, KK Yadav, is expected to take charge on Monday.

Claiming that his over eight-month tenure in the district was too short, he said he only got the time to sense the problems and plan the solutions, with no time left for their execution. Since three months of the tenure of Roojam went for the Lok Sabha election preparation, he said he practically worked only for five months.

The IAS officer had last week announced his plan to open four Suwidha Centres in the city's four sides so that the applicants could take s. For the same reason, he said he had enhanced the application charges, which saw much opposition from various quarters.

Roojam said, "People would have realised the value of having paid more when they would have enjoyed the convenience five months from now."

The officer said he had many more plans on his agenda, including the completion of setting up of workstations for patwaris in the peripheral towns of Nakodar, Nurmahal and Shahkot. I had in my mind ensuring the delivery of services by patwaris from their workstations, he added.

He added, "I had decided to take the bad condition of roads of Jalandhar hands on, but that could not be. There were other civic issues including, Chandan Nagar RUB, for which I would have been after the MC authorities. There were some rural development works pending." He rued that lack of administrative officials under him was the biggest problem he faced during his tenure.

Jalandhar, May 29
Even though the Punjab Government is planning to establish the Sports Authority of Punjab that will establish around 10 sports excellence centres in various cities, the Sports Department has failed to provide even basic equipment to the swimming department in the district.

Although the district boasts of running the most influential sports school in Punjab, the Sports Department has failed to provide them even a suction sweeper for the past one year, in the absence of which the authorities are left with no choice but to clean the pool by overflowing it with water for at least two to three hours every day.

"We are left with no choice. The suction sweeper of the pool is not working for the past one year. We sent a request for a new sweeper to the Sports Department last year. Although the department sanctioned it nine months ago, it has failed to purchase it till date. We have to actually run the motor for long durations to overflow the pool for at least five to six hours to take the dirt out of the pool that settles down every day at the bottom," said Om Prakash, swimming coach.

He said that around 100 to 150 people, including children, were coming to the pool everyday and the number was going to swell after June 2 when the summer vacations would begin in the district.

Suction sweepers are used to clean a pool.

Jalandhar, May 29
The passing-out parade of 413 recruits of batch no. 162 of the district police was held at Punjab Armed Police Training Centre in Jalandhar Cantonment today.

Chief guest S K Sharma, DGP, HRD, took salute from the jawans on this occasion and wished them good luck.

The jawans had been training in outdoor aspects such as use of automatic and semi-automatic weapons, field craft, field tactics, VIP security, implanting ambush, obstacle crossing and information regarding various arms and ammunition used by the terrorists.

Sharma urged the jawans to do their duty with honesty and dedication. The jawans pledged to serve the nation.

The jawans who performed well during the training were also honoured by the police. Harprit Singh of Bathinda was declared all-round first and Baljinder Singh of Mukatsar Sahib was declared all-round second.

Gurvinder Singh of Mukatsar Sahib was declared first for indoor shooting and Inderjit Singh of Mansa was declared best in indoor drill.

Pawan Kumar Uppal, Commandant, PAP Training Centre, read the annual report. Meanwhile, a cultural programme was performed by the jawans.

Commandants of various battalions, senior police officials and retired police officers were present on the occasion. Special demonstration in weapon handling was also given by jawans at the end of the programme.

The DGP, HRD, said the Finance Commission had okayed Rs 200 crore for the modernisation of Punjab police training centres adding that first instalment of Rs 50 crore had already been released. With this initiative, the capacity of training centres will be increased and these would be equipped with latest equipment.

Jalandhar, May 29
Chaudhary Charan Singh Nayaya Morcha, Punjab, today paid tributes to former Prime Minister Chaudhary Charan Singh on his death anniversary. Chaudhary Charan Singh had died on May 29, 1987. Addressing the meeting, Virochan, general secretary of the Morcha, said Charan Singh was of the view that unemployment in the country could be checked only by promoting cottage and small-scale industry.

For this, the former Prime Minister wanted large-scale industries to be be banned from manufacturing essential commodities, including flour (atta), salt and edible oil, etc, he said.

Jalandhar, May 29
Sanmeet Kaur today assumed charge as the Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), SBS Nagar. She has replaced Dhanpreet Kaur, who has been transferred to Kapurthala as SSP. Earlier, Sanmeet Kaur was AIG (Personnel), Punjab Police, at Chandigarh.

An engineering graduate in electronics from Thapar College of Engineering and Technology, Kaur was given a warm welcome and a guard of honour. DSP Gurpal Singh Pannu, DSP Nawanshahr, Sarbjit Singh Bahia, DSP, Banga, Hans Raj and DSP Alam Vijay Singh were among those present.

Sanmeet Kaur, a Nagaland cadre IPS officer, presently on inter-state deputation to Punjab, said she would take action against drug peddlers and smugglers to curb the drug menace.

The new Jalandhar Police Commissioner Kunwar Vijay Partap also assumed charge today. — TNS

Jalandhar, May 29
Just ahead of the FIFA World Cup scheduled to be held from June 12 to July 13 in Brazil, Sunil Chetri, captain of the Indian football team, on Thursday visited the Youth Football Club at Rurka Kalan.

This was his second visit to the academy. After meeting the players, he motivated them to become professionals of the highest quality. The children were delighted to get a chance to catch up with him here in Rurka Kalan.

Earlier, Chetri was given an overview of the academy. He also visited the mini-stadium in Rurka Kalan which has a gymnasium and rooms. He also saw the residential and mess facilities at the academy.

The Indian football team captain met the players selected through national trials at the academy. Lauding the efforts of Gurmangal Daas, he said the academy had really undergone changes since his last visit a few years ago.

"I think it is a great initiative. I just hope it keeps improving. I wish you guys all the best, keep working hard and kudos to you," said SunilChetri.

Gurmangal Dass, president, YFC, was delighted to meet the Bengaluru FC striker and thanked him for taking out precious time from his schedule to come and motivate the players at the academy.

Jalandhar, May 29
With summer vacations round the corner, the city is all set to go in a holiday mood with most residents planning to chill out with their family at some tourist destination. And those who are not going anywhere have also planned to spend their time by learning various skills. From salsa, hip-hop and jazz to learning calligraphy, foreign languages, storytelling, sculpting and scripture reading - the choice at their disposal is endless. While some children are learning Western dances, others have been encouraged by their parents to undertake professional hobby courses. In fact, some religious places have even come forward and announced spiritual summer camps this season where the kids would be taught Gurbani and the recitation of religious verses.

“The summer camps are a healthy way to unplug the children from technology, gain resilience and also to develop new life skills to make them independent at an early stage of their life. Going to the camp provides the children with an opportunity to try new things and participate in human-powered activities,” said Archie Sehgal of Cynosure International preparatory School. The school is organizing a summer camp from June 2 to June 17 and would have activities like sand play, splash pool and personality development etc. Almost all the schools in the city have planned summer camps pertaining to various talent enhancing skills among their students.

According to Amarjeet Singh Anand, chairperson, Chanan Association, the children could not practice early morning prayers due to their hectic school timings. Summers vacations are the best time to get them into the habit of offering morning prayers. He is organizing a Gurbani recitation camp from June 2 to June 29 from 4 am to 6:30 am. Till date, he has provided training to around 800 children in the last six years.

For those who want to break free from their monotonous life with a peppy dance to the accompaniment of music beats, many dance studios in the city have announced camps for various age-groups. According to Manpreet Singh of the Dance Factory, the camps have been planned differently for adults and children according to their interest in a specific dance style. Vivek of Vivek Aggarwal Dance Institute said around 38 batches would be run on daily basis to entertain the heavy rush of enthusiasts who like to learn dance, artwork and various life training skills in a short span.

Many other training camps related to physical fitness and games will be organised in the city.