Jalandhar, October 3
With festive days around the corner, the civic bodies authorities have started selling their properties to avail maximum opportunity out of the people's general tendency to make purchases these days, often considering them auspicious for making investments.

While the Jalandhar Development Authority had this week sold shop-cum-flats in Phillaur as a part of OUVGL scheme and earned Rs 4.75 crore during the auction, the Jalandhar Improvement Trust too had auctioned its posh residential property in the well-developed scheme area of Master Tara Singh Nagar for Rs 85 lakh and sold other commercial sites in Surya Enclave and Maharaja Ranjit Singh Avenue for a total amount of Rs 2.25 crore.

The JDA chairman Gurpreet Singh Khehra said that he had made a list of several other saleable properties and had even got revised the reserve price of some properties in Urban Estate, Phase-II, for sales in the next few days. He said that he intended to sell properties in Kapurthala, Mukerian and Sultanpur Lodhi for an amount of Rs 60-70 crore in the coming days so that the department comes in a position to plan some new residential or a commercial scheme in and around Jalandhar.

"We intend to offer 80:20 land pool scheme to the farmers, hold a meeting with them and tell them to develop residential schemes in partnership with us as 80 per cent stake holders and earn a better income", he said.

Chairman Jalandhar Improvement Trust Vinay Bublani too said that he was planning sell more properties for which he had even planned to hold a meeting of the Trust on October 7. He said that the 198 sq yard house in Master Tara Singh Nagar had gone under hammer but the buyer failed to deposit the 10 per cent earnest money on the day, owing to which his application fee of Rs 1 lakh had been forfeited.

He said that his staff had been assigned the task of looking for such properties in developed scheme areas which had not been sold. He said, "It was earlier due to some litigations that some commercial properties could not be sold but we now intend to maintain a momentum by selling some properties in the last week of every month. Festive season, of course, gives us an added advantage because of people's psyche."

He added, "We are also delving into the facts as to why some sites are not being sold such as a 0.93 acre school site in Surya Enclave. We would look into various angles and try to make these properties more saleable for improving the overall income of the Trust". 

Jalandhar, October 3
A bundh (embankment) which had been built on the Kala Sanghian drain with the efforts of Environmentalist Sant Balbir Singh Seechewal to prevent dirty industrial wastes and water from the Kala Sangian drain, from reaching a number of villages in the area, broke amidst mysterious circumstances few days ago.

This caused the urban industrial wastes from the drain—which were being held back and routed into to pipe to the Basti Peerdaad STP—being routed back to the villages.

Speaking on the issue, the environmentalist said, "It is extremely unfortunate that the bundh waters are making it back to the affected villages again. The waters are extremely toxic and wreak havoc on the sanitation and well being of the villages." Notably, MC officials hold that the bundh broke owing to the rains in the past few months, however, not many are buying the statement. Superintending Engineer of the board Nazar Singh said the work to reconstruct the bundh would start soon. — TNS

Jalandhar, October 3
Barely 24 hours after the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the much hyped 'Swacch India' campaign and sworn the general public as well as its government officials to keep their surroundings neat and clean, the Dasehra celebrations had blazed the entire campaign with the burning of hundreds of effigies and the spectators littering around the area with empty packs of eatables, used paper plates and empty bottles of packaged drinking water across the district.

Hundreds of big and small celebrations across the district left huge pile of dust and litter on the roads, school grounds and even in local parks. Incidentally, Modi in his Independence Day speech has specially highlighted these areas to be made clean on priority basis. Ironically, just a day before, the government officials and the political leaders 'manned' the cleanliness drive in front of media at these venues with the help of local area residents in these places. When contacted, people informed that in the absence of eco-friendly ways to celebrate the festival in the city, they do not have any option but to celebrate in the same old traditional way causing lot of litter and pollution at the venue.

"The administration should have given permission to only those Dasehra Committees who could have organized the festival in an eco-friendly way. In neighboring states like Haryana and Delhi, many places have celebrated the Ravan -dahan event with laser shows only," said Gaurav Jain, an environmentalist from Nakodar. He also informed that besides giving a much gala feeling and experience, the laser show does not have real burning of effigies and hence prevents noise and air pollution. In many places, organisers used LED bulbs and candles instead of the regular incandescent lights in the event areas to save much on electricity. Also, instead of the regular fire cracker show, many people have used recorded version of cracker explosions clubbed with laser lighting to gave a real 'boom ' feeling to the spectators. If they can practice such norms, why can't us," said Simranpreet Kaur, a student of HMV College. She feels that the festival although has been celebrated with much gaiety and usual fervor, if blazed the 'Swacch India' campaign completely into ashes. Brijesh Chopra, Chief Organiser of the Upkaar Dasehra Committee said that due to non-availability of eco-friendly options in the state leads to high cost of such materials. "Presently, these options are available only in places like Meerut, Goa and Delhi and bringing such technology here will increase the cost manifolds," said Chopra. Manpreet Singh Chatwaal, Municipal Commissioner also accepted the lapse for the failure of the 'Swacch India' campaign in the city within 24 hours of its launch and feels that the administration cannot run the campaign alone without the willingness of the general public. 

Jalandhar, October 3
The District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum has directed a Sonepat-based income generation company to refund Rs 1.3 lakh to a complainant and pay Rs 10,000 as compensation.

Gaurav Goyal, a resident of Mohalla Gobindgarh, said he learnt that the company Kings India Shopee Private Limited was engaged in running various income generation schemes, plans and investment plans for general public like recurring deposits, monthly income plans, travel packages etc throughout the country for consideration through their various Independent Business Associates (IDA). He said that in Jalandhar the company had roped in Kishanpura-based Ashwini Kumar.

He said that on assurances, he had agreed to invest in the income generating savings schemes. He said that he was to invest in multiples of Rs11, 000 each. Thereafter, the company was to refund an amount of Rs 2,000 each per month for 10 months against one investment of Rs11,000 and charge Rs 1,000 as registration charges. He was also prevailed upon to expand his circle and get other persons involved and attached in the same business for which complainant would get extra level income depending upon the number of persons who would invest in the scheme through the complainant.

He was also assured that all of the investors, including complainant would also provide a tour package worth Rs 5,000 for free. They were promised that as per the plan the amount of Rs 2,000 per month plus other benefits, level income etc shall be credited into e-wallet account of complainant maintained by the company by the seventh of each month. After fifteenth of every month whenever complainant required, complainant could make request and opposite parties would credit and transfer the amount in e-wallet into the bank account of complainant.

The company had assured it would deposit the monthly installments of Rs 2,000 each against one investment of Rs 11,000 directly in the bank. The opposite parties deposited few installments Rs 2,000 each for some time but later on failed and intentionally stopped depositing installments of Rs 2,000 each in the account of complainant. Opposite parties kept assuring complainant that the installments of Rs 2,000 each per month for each investment of Rs.11,000 has been credited and shown as credit in e-wallet of complainant created by opposite parties on the site of opposite parties on the website www.kisolonline.com.

The company also supplied one computer generated copy of the e-wallet account of complainant maintained by opposite parties. But whenever complainant requested to transfer the amount from e-wallet to the bank account of complainant, the opposite parties started issuing false and fabricated accounts statements of complainant through computer. Relying on the promises of the company, complainant had deposited an amount of Rs 1.65 lakh in as many as 14 IDs of Rs 11,000 each including first one. As per the assurances and promises of opposite parties, opposite parties were to refund and make the payment of Rs 3,00,000 to complainant alongwith 15 travel vouchers of Rs 5,000 each but opposite parties have been unfair in making the payment to complainant.

Jalandhar, October 3
A 27-year-old, who, months ago had been looking forward to being a doctor, lost her faith in life and the profession so completely that she chose death over waiting for her final year studies to be complete.

With no one booked so far for the unfortunate suicide of Dr Supriya - final year MD student at the Dayanand Medical College, Ludhiana; it seems now her colleagues, associates and friends have taken it upon themselves to raise awareness about the injustice meted out to her.

Her father -District Health Officer of Jalandhar Dr Balwinder Singh has also not stopped pointing out the fact that even though the death was allegedly due to harassment, four days after her death, not a single name has surfaced.

The internet and Facebook is rife with people expressing angst over the way Dr Supriya (27) met her end.

A community 'We Want Justice for Dr. Supriya' has been created on Facebook to support the cause. Doctors, colleagues and her family shall also be holding a candle light march for her at her native village Bhogpur on Sunday to raise awareness.

Supriya's father DHO, Jalandhar, Dr. Balwinder Singh said, "Even the fact that our daughter was no more came to our notice when some students informed us. Till date there hasn't been a formal condolence from the college. Supriya also had a personal diary which hasn't been found so far. The suicide note was also on lose papers - the Photostat copy of which handed over to us. Our prime concern is that the case is followed up and investigated properly and the guilty be booked immediately. We have lost a daughter we shall be fighting until she gets justice."

Meanwhile, the only ray of hope in the case at present is that Vice Chairman of National Commission of Scheduled Caste, Rajkumar Verka has, on Friday, issued a notice to Ludhiana Police Commissioner Pramod Ban and Deputy Commissioner Rajat Aggarwal to file a report regarding the matter in 15 days.

Jalandhar, October 3
In a world where people veer increasingly towards the idiot box and its associates - computers and smart phones, he fights for books and has made it his life's work to bring lost (imagination wise) students fund themselves with reading.

Jalandhar-based author Rahul Saini who already has three books to his credit, has been going from school to school for the past few years, inspiring students to understand the joys of reading and make it an essential part of their daily schedules.

He is equally intrigued by the scriptures (from all religions) and belongs to the school of thought which calls for a revival of the texts and arts of the yore.

Starting off as an architect (he studied architecture at the Sushant School of Art and Architecture in Gurgaon), Rahul changed course when he couldn't find the creative (or moral) satisfaction he was looking for, in his first profession of choice. With a natural love for literature and writing, he wrote his first work to vent out his feelings.

With the release of his first book Just Like In Movies (2009) (publisher Srishti) he tasted success and also a sombre insight into the publishing world, which he was going to share in future works. He continued engaging with his readers with his subsequent works The Orange Hangover (2011) (Jaico), Paperback Dreams (2013) (Penguin) and Just for You (Penguin) which was released this year.

Despite the fact that he has found firm grounding as an author with his first few books, his ultimate motive is to introduce students to the joy of reading books.

He has been to a number of local schools and while he has been received a positive response at some, at other he says the point he was trying to make was completely lost. "But if reading and the concept of book clubs picks up at some schools, I am sure others will follow suit."

The list of plans Rahul has — to engage students in book reading—are both big and interesting.

The ideas include setting up a book club for students in schools and colleges, holding a short story writing contest with a tie up with a publishing biggie as well as a radio channel, holding Google hangouts with students when he is not in city and adapting old stories into short films to trigger students' interest in literature.

Jalandhar, October 3
Junior shuttler Kuhoo Garg (16) has made the country proud by winning the title of the Yonex Belgian Junior International Badminton Tournament - Herstal by defeating top-seeded German pair Bjarne Geiss and Li Yvonne, recently.

Kuhoo gives credit of her success to her father Ashok Kumar, IG BSF Punjab Frontier, and mother Alaknanda Ashok, a professor at Pantnagar University.

She has vowed to make the country proud like the Indian badminton stars Saina Nehwal and Pullela Gopichand.

Kuhoo, who started playing badminton at the age of nine, is presently being coached by Pullela Gopichand, a former Indian badminton player, who had won the All England Open Badminton Championships in 2001 becoming the second Indian to achieve this feat after Prakash Padukone.

Kuhoo, wants to win Olympics and the Commonwealth medal for the country. “My father inspired me to play badminton at the age of nine. Since I saw Saina Nehwal in action in Dehradun, I decided to make my family and the country proud by earning fame in badminton. Whenever I met Saina, she always gave me tips to improve the game” said Kuhoo.

Kuhoo’s latest achievements include gold medal in U-19 in Sushant Chipalkatti Junior International Championship, Pune, gold medal in U-19 in Yonex Belgian Junior International Tournament, bronze medal in U-19 in Swiss Junior International, Basel, Switzerland. She also represented the country in the World Junior Championship-2013 and 2014. Kuhoo has also won the gold medals in the state championships in 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014 respectively. 

Jalandhar, October 3
Cast and crew of the film Yoddha the Warrior came to the city today. The film is based on areal story.

Speaking today the film crew said it is a story of a young boy who fights against promoting drugs and undesirable elements in the community. A story of Punjab in the present times, Yoddha takes a dig at the vandalism and rampant drug business prevalent in the state.

The music of the film is given by Gurmeet Singh and the lyrics of four songs are by Amardeep Singh Gill, and rest by Raj Ranjod and Daksh Ajit. Jazzy B, Daler Mehndi, Nirmal Sidhu, Raja Ranjod, Sonu Kakkar, Tarannum malik and others shall be seen doing play back numbers of the film.

With Sidhu in the lead, Mandep Benipal is the director of the film.—TNS