Tarn Taran Diary
Election of MC office-bearers all set to take interesting turn
Election for the post of president and other officer-bears of the Municipal Council in Tarn Taran is expected to take place any time. Things are slated to take an interesting turn as no political party, including the ruling AAP, could get a clear majority in elections for the 25-member House. The notification for the election is yet to be issued after the completion of the election procedure on March 4. It is a fact that the ruling AAP could win only from eight wards out of the total 25. Still, it is the single largest party with the maximum numbers. The winners include 14 independents and three of the Congress party. It is the newly formed ‘Azad Group’ (AG) led by some Sarpanches and other influential persons of the area which asserts that most of these independent candidates could win the election because of their backing. One leader of the AG said that most of these 14 municipal councillors must act as per the instructions of the top leaders of the Azad Group, claiming that some of them were also funded by them. The support of 14 councillors is required to get the prestigious post of the president as the Tarn Taran MLA too is eligible to cast his vote in the election for the president and other office-bearers. An AAP councillor asserted that three independent councillors have extended their support to the ruling AAP. He added that there are some independent councillors who were demanding posts, including that of the office of president. The ruling AAP in no way would leave any stone unturned to win the post of the president as the party has already received a severe blow with the defeat of Navjot Kaur Hundal, wife of the party’s Tarn Taran MLA Dr Kashmir Singh Sohal. The election to this House was held after a gap of 10 years and the ruling AAP leadership is keeping a close watch on the movement of all the elected councillors. There are reports that the eight members of the AAP in the House are not united as two of these eight have never taken part in any joint meeting of AAP councillors. One minister was not only taking keen interest in the elections but is in touch with the activities of the elected councillors. Three Congress councillors too are adopting a wait- and-watch attitude as the party high command has deputed no one as in-charge of this Vidhan Sabha seat.
Young poet’s maiden book of poems released
The maiden book of poems by a young poet, Amar Chahal of Tarn Taran, was released at an impressive gathering of literary personalities. The book ‘Kirnan da Kafla’ was released in the gathering organised at Preet Nagar in Amritsar district under the aegis of “Gurbax Singh Preetlari and Nanak Singh Novelist Foundation”. Preet Nagar is famously known as the “Mecca of Punjabi writers” as it was established by a well known writer Gurbax Singh Preetlari. He was the founder-editor of the well known monthly magazine ‘Preetlari’, which was the first choice of the youth with a leftist leaning in those days (till 35 years back). At the time of the release of ‘Kirnan da Kafla’, known Punjabi writers Balbir Parwana, story writer Mukhtar Gill, Jas Mand of Nawan Zaman, Kulbir Singh Suri (son of Nanak Singh, the known Punjabi novelist), Kavita Vidrohi, Karam Singh Lalpura, Jaswinder Singh Manochahal and others addressed the gathering on the occasion and took a serious note of the decreasing number of book readers, particularly literary books. The speakers appreciated the collection of poems by the young poet Aman Chahal and expressed their satisfaction that the writings talked of rural youth, women, farmers and other sections of the working class and called upon the deprived sections to be aware of their rights thorough his poetry. The speakers urged the youth to adopt writing as their hobby as it is the only medium through which one can express oneself freely. They also prayed for the bright literary future of Aman Chahal and advised him to carry on his writing journey.
Progressive farmer honoured
Progressive farmer Gurpreet Singh of Tur village (Tarn Taran) brought laurels to this border district through his work to promote natural methods in farming. He was honoured at the state-level ‘Kisan Mela’ organised by the Punjab Agriculture University (PAU), Ludhiana, held at Bathinda recently. Gurmit Singh Khudian, Punjab Agriculture Minister, was the chief guest at the Mela and Dr Satbir Singh Gosal, vice-chancellor, PAU, presided over it. Dr Parwinder Singh, in-charge of the Farmer Advisor Seva Kender (PAU), Tarn Taran, said that progressive farmer Gurpreet Singh was honoured with the ‘Jathedar Gurdita Singh Memorial Prize’ for his work on adopting all natural methods for farming
including water conservation and crop diversification besides using agricultural land for horticulture purposes. contributed by Gurbaxpuri
