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Regional potpourri

Giving a LIFT
Zest enabled
Khakee English

PUNJAB

ABOHAR
Three killed: Three persons were killed and six others injured as a Haryana Roadways bus hit a three-wheeler in which they were travelling in the neighbouring Hanumangarh area on Saturday evening. The victims were identified as Darshan Singh Rohranwali (30), his nephew Gurbachan Singh Makkasar (17) and Jagtar Singh Dabli (50). The injured were referred to the divisional hospital as their condition was not stable.

Five arrested: Murad Ali, his father Mushtak Khan, mother Shakura, elder brother Nazir Khan and neighbour Taplesh, residents of Dhannasar village, in the neighbouring Sriganganagar area, have been booked under various sections of the Indian Penal Code for poisoning Gulzara, Murad’s wife, to death. Sources said Gulzara had told the police on Saturday that her husband wanted to marry Taplesh, a widow.

Smack seized: The city police arrested Bunty, a resident at Johri Mandir road, on recovery of 10 gm smack from his possession on Saturday evening. Parduman Kumar and Ramesh Kumar were arrested under Section 13/23/67 of the Gambling Act and Section 420 of the IPC for cricket betting on the one-day match during a raid in Street No.6 near Patel Park here, sources said.

Unanimously elected: Krishan Nagpal was unanimously elected president of the Dusehra Committee during the annual meeting held at Sanatan Dharam Mandir here on Saturday night. The old team led by Suresh Bansal left the premises after getting an annual balance sheet passed by voice vote as pandemonium prevailed over expediting the election process. Pramil Kalani, president of the Arhtia Association, presided over the meeting.

Two flee: The in charge of the EGS (education guaranteed scheme) centre allegedly fled with a woman in charge of the Anganwari Kendra located in a dharamshala on the Fazilka road here on Saturday. Their parents had no information about them but friends revealed that they had fled to marry. Meanwhile, a complaint received from Burjmuhar village stated that a woman had fled with an unmarried youth of the same village leaving behind two minor children with her bed-ridden mother-in-law.

Youth commits suicide: A young boy committed suicide on Saturday after his release on bail in an alleged theft case, sources said. A woman who had rushed him to the hospital in a serious condition disappeared after learning that he had died. His parents had not claimed the body yet. The youth had been nabbed in a case of theft of mobile phones a few weeks back and was jailed. He was released on bail and it is believed that social disgrace prompted him to commit suicide.

Batala
Martyrs: The Dainik Prarthana Sabha organised a function to commemorate the 150th year of the first independence war of India at the community hall here on Sunday. Health minister Laxmi Kanta Chawla was the chief guest. She highlighted the role of martyrs to achieve “swaraj”.

Medical camp: A free medical check-up camp was organised at Agyawati Marhawha DAV Senior Secondary School for Girls, Chander Nagar, here on Sunday by the Rotary Club International District-3070. SDM Sandeep Rishi inaugurated the camp. Medicines were given to 1,000 patients free of cost.

Pressure horns: In a press note issued here on Thursday the SSP stated that on a complaint by senior citizens, a police team removed pressure horns from about 206 buses, trucks and mini-buses.

BATHINDA
Boy dies: Kushdev, a youth residing in the Model Town area of this city, died after a speeding train hit him in the wee hours here on Sunday, while he was taking his morning walk alongside the track of the Bathinda-Patiala rail section. Volunteers of Sahara Jan Sewa, an NGO, took the body to the Civil Hospital after informing the general railway police station.

GURDASPUR
Litigations settled: As many as 50 litigations were settled at a Lok Adalat organised under the guidance of District and Session Judge S.K. Goel here on Saturday. Litigants involved in 189 cases, criminal, civic and matrimonial, turned up at the Lok Adalat. Compensations worth Rs 49 lakh were also distributed among beneficiaries.

HOSHIARPUR
Special drive: The district police of Hoshiarpur has launched a special drive against the kabootarbazs. Anita Punj, SSP, Hoshiarpur, disclosed that 913 applications against fake travel agents had been received during last year, of which 882 had been disposed of and an amount of Rs 2,34,57,080 had got refunded. As many as 101 cases against 190 fake travel agents had been registered and 77 were arrested and later, all were granted bail. Eleven travel agents had been declared proclaimed offenders, two cases were under trial and two had been cancelled. Besides, 49 cases were under investigation.

Husband, in-laws booked: The Garhdiwala police has registered a case against Ravinder Singh, his father Paramjit Singh, mother Kamaljit Kaur, sister Ravinder Kaur, brothers Ram Singh, alias Rana and Rajinder Singh, all of Darapur (Tanda). Sukhwinder Kaur, daughter of Mohan Singh of Rupowal, stated that she was married to Ravinder Singh. Soon after the marriage she was allegedly tortured and maltreated for more dowry.

Jalandhar
Awareness rally: The district police and the Citizens Welfare and Protection Council organised a rally on Friday to spread awareness against drug-addiction.

Pathankot
Protest: Residents of ward 31 of Khadian mohalla held a protest demonstration against the supply of contaminated water mixed with sewerage filth, on Sunday. Amrik Singh, president of the mohalla, alleged that the municipal council authorities have deliberately been ignoring the locality on account of providing civic amenities.

Lok Adalat: A Lok Adalat was held at the court complex Gurdaspur on Saturday under the supervision of SK Goel,chairperson of district legal services authority. 189 cases of different categories were presented before the seven benches of adalat out of which 50 were settled.

PHAGWARA
Smack seized: Daljit Singh of Shaheed Udham Singh Nagar here was arrested at a naka put up at the nearby Manawali village on the Phagwara-Nakodar road here on Thursday. The police seized 20 gm of smack from him. A case has been registered under Sections 21, 61 and 85 of the NDPS Act.

PHILLAUR
Grants given: Punjab chief parliamentary secretary Sarwan Singh Phillaur on Friday distributed grants worth Rs 48 lakh from the rural development fund among various village panchayats of Phillaur subdivision at a function held here. He also distributed Rs 7 lakh under the “shagun” scheme. Sangat darshan programme was also organised.

SANGRUR
16 get appointment letters: Sixteen students got appointment letters as software engineers with an annual package of Rs 2.75 lakh during a joint campus placement drive, organised by the Bhai Gurdas Institute of Engineering and Technology. Software-based firm Sasken Communication Technologies, Bangalore, visited the campus for placement. About 500 students from 30 different engineering institutes participated in the drive.

CHANDIGARH

OFFICE-BEARERS: Mahavir Singh Narang has been elected as president of the All-India Postal Employees Union. Following are the other office-bearers of the union: Kanwar Phool Rana - vice-president; Sunil Kumar Narota - secretary; Parveen Sharma - assistant divisional secretary; Rakesh Chander Sahi - cashier; H.S. Verka - organising secretary and Bhuvnesh Phawa - assistant organising secretary.

Regional potpourri

Giving a LIFT

Students of Vaish College of Engineering, Rohtak, give a demonstration of the electrostatic levitator that they have developed.

Three enterprising students of Vaish College of Engineering, Rohtak, have certainly lived up to the old adage, “where there is a will, there is a way.”

The trio — Nikhil Nigam, Yogesh Hooda and Satya Vrat Sharma — claim to have achieved a rare feat by making an object fly using the electrostatic phenomenon. After putting in dedicated efforts for a year, these electrical engineering students have come up with a working model of an “electrostatic levitator”, which can lift itself up in the air solely with the help of electricity. Electricity is thus used to generate propulsion in the levitator.

These innovative students assert that electrostatic levitation can be a milestone in aviation technology. “In future, this technology can be applied to the propulsion of rockets and for making defence aircraft more efficient.”

The youngsters point out that in this energy-saving technology, electric energy is used in place of costly fuel, which makes the flying of aircraft much faster, cheaper and safer.

“It can be used for making the vertical take-off and landing of planes possible on uneven surfaces. Moreover, it is noiseless and can be utilised in airplanes for stealth operations.”

The students say though studies on the topic had been going on since 1920s, it is perhaps for the first time that it has been successfully given shape. They give all credit for their achievement to the college principal, Dr Suresh Kumar Gupta, the in charge of the Electrical Department, Ankit Bansal, besides their teachers Jitender Malik, Munish Gupta and Rajiv Sharma.

On their part, the college principal and faculty have appreciated the innovation as “one of the best works accomplished by their students.”

Zest enabled

B.K. Jethi
— Photo by Inderjeet Verma

He got afflicted with polio when he was an infant. But the disability could not afflict his spirit.

In fact, it gave B.K. Jethi, a 61-year-old resident of Khanna, the mission of his life—to help scores of people like him who are neglected by the so-called healthy.

Starting out in his 30s, he has spent three decades of his life fighting for the rights of the physically challenged.

Having remained single, Jethi has devoted himself to helping the differently abled get their due. He has been taking up their issues at several platforms. His organisation, Disabled Welfare Society, has ensured artificial limbs for some and disability pensions for others.

However, he laments, though the state government has made rules to help the differently abled, nothing has changed on the ground.

There are not many schools with infrastructure required for educating the disabled. The Braille facility is not available in most of the schools and many visually challenged persons cannot get educated, he rues.

Even many public offices do not have ramps, making it difficult for others like him to reach the upper storeys to get their work done.

“We are, in fact, a dejected people. The rules might have changed over the years. But we are still treated indifferently. Fellow beings in Haryana are treated better by that state government, but our prosperous state has never spared a thought for us,” he feels.

What an irony, says Jethi, that the Physically Challenged Cell in Punjab’s Social Security Directorate at Chandigarh is located on the fourth floor. And the lift never works!

“Is this not insensitivity towards the differently abled?” he asks.

Contributed by Sunit Dhawan and Kanchan Vasdev

Khakee English

Looks like the Haryana Police could do with a crash course in English.

That is, if one were to go by the contents of the daily crime and arrest report that the Hisar district police circulates among mediapersons as part of its initiative to maintain transparency in its functioning.

The report is in English and its copies are forwarded to the Inspector-General of Police, Hisar range, and the office of the Additional Director-General of Police (CID) at Chandigarh.

The texts make for interesting reading for reasons other than chronicling crime. Obviously drafted by low-ranking officials, they’re punctuated liberally with bloomers, such that would make even the likes of Shakespeare turn in their graves.

The following excerpt from the report of May 9, 2007, pertains to the registration of a case against several villagers who had blocked NH10 at Sorkhi village in protest against what they termed as “inadequate compensation for crop losses caused by hailstorms.” Here goes the police description: “The above accuseds blocked the G. T. Road NH 10 near bus stand Sorkhi with the optical of stone and the peoples traveling in HR bus and their personal vehicles are feeling difficulty due to the blockage of NH 10. Cause of blockage of NH 10 is wrong distribution of stone fall money by the patwari”.

“Optical of stone” in this quotable passage obviously refers to the ‘obstacles’ in the form of ‘boulders’ put up by the villagers on the highway. The term “stone fall’ money means the amount of compensation sanctioned by the patwari following loss to the standing crop by hailstorms.

Here’s another literary gem from the men in khakee. This one’s also from the crime report of May 9, 2007. A case was registered at Sadar police station, Hansi, on the complaint of a married woman, who had alleged that her husband and his relatives slapped her, showered her with fisticuffs and also used a stick to hit her for bringing insufficient dowry. This is how the police describes it: “The accuseds beaten the complaint with lathi, danda and boxing, snapped. They also threatned to kill the complainant for more dowry and embezzled dowery ornaments and other luggage of complainant….”.

On the same day, another case was registered at Sadar police station Hisar. It pertained to a complaint against a neighbour who allegedly threatened a villager brandishing a country-made pistol.

Savour the police narration of the events: “The above accused climb up the roof of complainant house and above to complainant and reprimand to complainant by countrymade pistal .315 bore. And but in the mean while police party reached at this spot. The accused through the pistal on ground and run away. The complainant took the pistal .315 bore with one cartridge alive and handed over to police. Cause of quarel on children dispute…”

Now, if that isn’t twisting the language by the scruff of its neck, inspector ishtyle!

— Raman Mohan