R E G I O N A L   B R I E F S

Regional potpourri

• It’s banned, butt who cares!

• Brush with history

PUNJAB

Phagwara
‘Callous’ cops: The body of an unidentified person, crushed to death by a vehicle on Saturday night, kept lying on the Phagwara - Chandigarh highway for more than 12 hours right in front of the CIA staff office. The cops ‘made no efforts’ to lift the body lying right in middle of the road. It was only on Sunday that the body was taken to the civil hospital for postmortem. SSP Kapurthla Rakesh Aggarwal said the matter would be probed.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

SHIMLA
Condemned: State committee of the Himachal Kisan Sabha has condemned the killing of eight persons in a police firing at Khammam in Andhra Pradesh. It has decided to stage state-wide dharnas and rallies to protest against the police action on July 30. Leaders of the left parties, including B.V. Raghavulu from the CPI (M) Polit Bureau, P. Madhu, member of the Central Committee and K. Narayana, secretary of state council of the CPI, who were on an indefinite hunger strike were forcibly arrested at midnight on Friday. It has urged upon the government of Andhra Pradesh to immediately take action against the police officers responsible for the firing, besides payment of adequate compensation to those killed.

Regional potpourri

It’s banned, butt who cares!

POWER PUFF BOYS: Residents take a puff right outside the office of the Medical Superintendent in Jammu despite a ban on smoking.

The ban on smoking in public places and use of recycled polythene bags ordered by the Jammu and Kashmir Government many years ago is observed more in defiance, not only by the common man but also by law makers and policy planners. In fact, ministers, legislators and bureaucrats flout the ban on smoking inside that very secretariat and legislature where the law was framed or passed. A former chief minister used to smoke in his office chamber in the secretariat.

Smoking was banned in public places about five years ago, on March 3, 2002. But it has so far remained on paper and is more of a formality to implement the orders of the Supreme Court.

Visitors smoking in the medical college hospitals and district hospitals throughout the state are a common sight. At times, the police personnel who’re supposed to book the defaulters are themselves seen taking a puff.

Jammu and Kashmir is perhaps one of the highest cigarette consuming states in the country. The habit is also prevalent among schoolchildren and women, particularly in the rural areas. Although smoking is also banned at the railway station complex, several cigarette stalls have mushroomed around the place.

The authorities have also failed to implement the ban on recycled polythene bags that was ordered about nine years ago. Certain eating establishments have been using recycled plastic bags for packing eatables. The banned carry bags are openly available in the vegetable and fruit markets.

Plastic bags have badly affected the civic conditions as these choke drains, particularly in the old city. Most of the water bodies in and around the towns, particularly Jammu and Srinagar, are polluted with plastic bags.

The ban on the entry of polythene bags is being observed strictly only in a few places, including the tourist spot of Patnitop on the Jammu-Srinagar highway.

Brush with history

Moga-based artist Iqbal Singh Gill at work on a bust. — Photo by the writer

Iqbal Singh Gill, a young artist born to a middle-class peasant family of Manuke village in Moga district, is known in the area for showcasing history with his brush and chisel.

Having depicted the life of various martyrs and deities in more than 300 paintings and 50 statues, besides recreating scenes and episodes from Sikh history pertaining to Guru Gobind Singh, he now plans to diversify his craft.

The preservation of our cultural heritage and social customs is his next priority.

Maintaining that an intensive study of the background of the themes is a prerequisite for an artist, Gill says that he goes into minute details before setting out on a project.

“In case of historical events, I depend on books, pictures and stories narrated by Baba Zora Singh, founder of Gurdwara Mehdiana, while for making a statue or bust, I study pictures and interact with members of the subject’s family,” says Gill, adding that the character and personality of the subject should be reflected in the work.

Though Gill considers his skill as God’s gift, he wants to spread the art through training. “My guru, Anile Rattan of Kerala, wants me to spread the art among the desirous. But, unfortunately, very few students come forward to learn the basics of this art,” he laments. He fears that commercialisation might make this art extinct.

Though Gill has been felicitated at many functions organised by the civil administration, none of the Sikh organisations, including the SGPC, have recognised his efforts to recreate historical events at Gurdwara Mehdiana, a place that has become a centre of attraction for art lovers and Sikh devotees.

Contributed by S.P. Sharma and Mahesh Sharma