Ludhiana, September 13
With Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal inside Punjab Agricultural University, where he had come to inaugurate the annual Kisan Mela, the Ferozepur Road remained clogged for about three hours. The commuters, particularly those travelling from Jagaraon, Moga and Ferozepur, had a harrowing experience. Even those living in outskirts of the city were caught unaware as it more than an hour for them to cover a distance that would ordinarily take not more than 10 to 15 minutes.

A large number of people have come from different parts of the state for attending the mela organised by the university. The gate No.2 was meant for VIP entry only. The only entry point for commoners was through the gate No 1. With a large number of vehicles converging there, the traffic got blocked and the blockade ran for more than 1 km.

Residents of BRS Nagar, Aggar Nagar, Raj Guru Nagar and even a few outer blocks of Sarabha Nagar were caught unawares. They could never imagine that the four-lane Ferozepur Road could get blocked for so long. Vikrant Sharma, a BRS Nagar resident, said, “Once I am in, there is no way out.”

Those travelling to and from the distant towns were the worst sufferers. They were held up for more than an hour, thanks to the total mismanagement of the traffic apparently due to security overdrive.

Gurdial Singh, another passenger, asked the logic of closing one of the gates when the Chief Minister’s chopper directly landed inside the university. 

Ludhiana, September 13
A large number of farmers from all over Punjab and neighbouring states thronged the 40th Kisan Mela organised at Punjab Agricultural University here today. The two-day mela has always been an attraction to the farming community to update their knowledge on agriculture, farming policies, production and procurement of crops, latest agricultural equipment and manure. But this time, majority of them looked disappointed over the non-availability of newly-introduced wheat seeds.

Coming from far-off places like Barnala, Amritsar, Bathinda, Moga, Karnal, Muktsar, Patiala and Sunam, the farmers said seeds had always been their priority but when those were not made available to them, there was no fun in enjoying such melas. Farmers said they had been coming here for the past few decades for getting latest and variety of seeds. But, the non-availability of wheat (PBW 550) seeds disappointed them.

Narinder Singh, a farmer from Moga, said except for modern farming vehicles, there was not much attraction for the farmers. There was no change in seeds. “The wheat seeds, which experts claim to be competing with international standards, are not available for us. The main farming in the state depends on wheat only”, he said.

Another farmer from Malerkotla said they were not getting even the other seeds as well. He said they were told to wait in the queues for getting sufficient amount of seeds. “It’s been an hour; I am waiting for my turn. We are worried as we are not getting the seeds easily. I feel that mela is losing its sheen as better quality is available in the market at same rates these days”, he said alleging that a few influential persons were getting the newly-introduced wheat seeds easily.

The farmers said they had spent huge amount of money on coming here to get latest seeds but hardly found much variety. “The authorities or the state government should come up to the expectations of farmers, if they want to make such events popular. Our problems remain the same and no one seems to have an answer for that”, said another farmer Avtar Singh from Barnala.

Mandi Ahmedgarh, September 13
Amarjit Singh, principal, in-service training institute, Sangrur, called upon the teachers of state-run schools, to inculcate reading habit, in order to fulfil expectations of student’s parents. He said updating of knowledge was a prerequisite for tailoring students according to needs of modern society,

While addressing a group of seminarians at the local MGMN Senior Secondary School, Amarjit Singh showed concern over decline in devotion and dedication of a section of government school teachers. Singh grieved that students failed to find their role model in their educators. “We expect our students to exhibit exemplary performance in studies and extra curricular activities but fail to realise from where they will imbibe moral values and trait of sincerity,” said Singh.

Jawahar Lal, a lecturer, and Pardeep Sharda, a principal, explained various aspects of teaching profession.

The camps were inaugurated as part of the seminar programme at Government Senior Secondary School, Dehlon, and Shahid Kartar Singh Dukki Government Senior Secondary School, Latala. 

Mandi Gobindgarh, September 13
A two-day workshop on "Embedded systems design and development using microcontrollers" organised by ECE Department of RIMT-IET in collaboration with EEAST, a Chandigarh based company, for the faculty and final year ECE students concluded here yesterday.

Hukam Chand Bansal, chairman of the college, congratulated Rajneesh Talwar, head, ECE Department, for arranging the workshop.

Dr S.K. Goyal, director of the institute inaugurated the workshop and emphasised on the need for such workshops to enhance the practical knowledge of students.

Dr Pritpal Singh, principal of the college, said that such workshops were the need of the hour because students have theoretical knowledge but are not able to implement it practically.

Gurmeet Sharma from EEAST explained the basics of embedded systems and microcontrollers.

Rajneesh Talwar, HOD ECE, thanked the engineers from EEAST for providing technical and practical knowledge to students.

Ludhiana, September 13
District and sessions judge Harbans Lal today stressed on the need for settling pending cases through lok adalats. Claiming it to be a beneficial mechanism, he said that once the dispute is resolved through lok adalats, it ends forever.

Both parties are winners in the case, as it was settled with their consent through negotiations, he said. It helps in ending the prevailing bitterness among the parties.

He was presiding over a joint meeting of judicial officers, insurance company officials, lawyers and bank officers. The meeting was organised in order to chalk out the strategy for the state-level lok adalat scheduled to be held on November 17.

Talking to Ludhiana Tribune, Harbans Lal said that cases involving matrimonial disputes, cheque bounce cases, civil suits, civil appeals, criminal cases of compoundable nature, disputes between bankers and loanees, disputes between labourers and employers, consumer forum cases, traffic challans, pre-litigative cases etc would be taken up in the lok adalat.

In order to reduce maximum pendency of cases, pre-lok adalats would be held shortly. During the pre-lok adalats, people would be persuaded to settle their disputes through amicable settlement, added the sessions judge.

Additional sessions judges-M.S. Virdi and Sanjeev Berry, fast track court judges- Roshan Lal Ahuja, A.S. Garewal, P.S. Dhanoa, secretary of District Legal Services Authority - K.S. Cheema (Civil Judge Senior Division), chief judicial magistrate - Rajinder Aggarwal, senior divisional manager of Oriental Insurance Company-Milap Chand, Parveen Talwar, assistant district attorney-Arvind Markan were among the persons present at the occasion.

Ludhiana, September 13
A traditional food festival from one of the most ancient part of China - the Sichuan region - began today at the Majestic Park Plaza. The food festival will be on till September 23.

Sichuan food is hot, sour, sweet and salty using fish sauce which has a strange and pleasant taste. The food promises to be more Indian in spice and taste than Chinese.

According to the hotel general manager, Arun Jaie, these flavors were introduced only during the last 100 years. These tastes were claimed to be popular among the lower strata of society. Hot pepper, an important flavouring, was introduced into China only 200 to 300 years ago.

Sichuan is known as the land of plenty since ancient times. While it did not have seafood, it produced abundant domestic animals, poultry and fresh water fish and cray fish. Sichuan cuisine is well known for its cooking of fish.

Jaie said that as the winter season is about to set in Punjab, it was time to treat Ludhianvis to this "wonderful culinary festival". He said that master chef C. Gugtyal with his 30 years of experience is all set to amaze the Ludhianvis.

The menu is as varied as it is spicy. It will be mostly non vegetarian with fish, chicken and mutton. There are some pure vegetarian dishes as well.

The food looks more North Indian than Chinese, particularly when it comes to the abundance of hot spices.