COME, WITNESS A BYGONE ERA

ON CANVAS AT THAKAR GALLERY

Jalandhar TRIBUNE PAGE 2 ACTOR RANVEER SINGH HOSTS
BIRTHDAY LUNCH FOR HIS MOM
PAGE 3 JAY SONI, RAJ SINGH ARORA TO BE
SEEN IN WEB SERIES PRATIKSHA
PAGE 4

Tribune takes you to SG Thakar Gallery, Ranveer Singh made his mother Anju ULLU is back again with a story revolving
which houses paintings of not just Bhavnani’s birthday special as he around aspirations of a small-town
Thakar but of other contemporaries. hosted lunch with Deepika Padukone. girl, who makes it big in the tinsel world.
FORECAST PARTLY CLOUDY SKY MAX 35°C | MIN 25°C | YESTERDAY MAX 33°C | MIN 26°C SUNSET TUESDAY 7:01 PM SUNRISE WEDNESDAY 5:59 AM TUESDAY | 24 AUGUST 2021 | JALANDHAR

INBRIEF
STATE-LEVEL MEGA
JOB FAIR IN SEPT
Kapurthala: With an aim to
provide the employment
opportunities to the youth as
well as to facilitate them for
setting up the own units, the
Punjab Government will
organise the mega state-level
job fair in Kapurthala district on
September 23. Selected
candidates from the state will
get appointment letters during
this job fair. The Kapurthala
district administration has
started the preparations for
this mega event as ADC G
Aditya Uppal and ADC (D) SP
Angra have presided over a
meeting of officials from
various departments. They both
asked the officials to submit
the availability of vacancies at
various commercial and
industrial units till August 27 so
that the interviews can be
arranged for the applicants.
They added that the district
would also organise four job
fairs next month — on
September 9, 14, 16 and 17. TNS
~19.56L FINE FOR
POWER THEFTS
Jalandhar: After conducting a
raid and checking nearly
1,498 connections in the city,
the Punjab State Power
Corporation Limited (PSPCL)
on Saturday issued Rs 19.56-
Alternate routes posing big trouble for commuters
FARMERS’ PROTEST Dhina village stretch, Deep Nagar road add tothe woes of travellers Candidates miss
Deepkamal Kaur
Tribune News Service
Jalandhar, August 23
The commuters shuttling
between Jalandhar and
Phagwara since the farmers’
protest at Dhanowali for the
past four days are a harassed
lot, especially those following
the Dhina village stretch or
the main Deep Nagar road.
Both roads, which can be used
to reach Jalandhar via Canton-
ment, are completely tattered.
The rainfall since yesterday has
made both the stretches com-
pletely muddy and marshy
making the drive risky. While
the main Deep Nagar road has
not been relaid for the past
many years, work of laying
sewerage pipes is on at Dhina
village ahead of Sansarpur,
owing to which half of the road
is lying dug up to create under-
ground septic tanks.
A government official posted
in Jalandhar said: “I was com-
ing to work from Nawanshahr
this morning and chose Dhina
route instead of Deep Nagar
route. But to my horror, it was
worse. There was bumper to
bumper traffic and muck due
to yesterday’s rain flying all
Poor condition of alternate roads is troubling commuters travelling from Jalandhar to other towns.
around. There were no sign
boards or danger signals
installed around the deep
trenches dug up for laying sew-
erage. Covering just 2km dis-
tance was a hell for me. Reach-
ing office, I immediately
sounded the city police and
asked the officials concerned to
at least dissuade the people
from using this route as an
alternate passage”.
Sachin Sharma, a city-
based youth who had gone to
Delhi to appear for a job inter-
view and returned today, also
shared his experience of
using this route, “I had a train
■ During the ongoing farmers'
■ The congestion on the Hoshiarpur-
ticket for last evening but the
train arrival time got put off
by four hours. I immediately
rushed to the ISBT. The bus
halted at Phagwara bus stand
in the wee hours today. I
asked my father in Jalandhar
to pick me by his car. He start-
ed from home via Sansarpur-
HOSHIARPUR ROUTE TO
ASR ALSO CONGESTED
protest, the commuters
travelling to Jalandhar to holy
city Amritsar from Chandigarh
are preferring to use the
Hoshiarpur route, but this
passage, too, is besieged with
various difficulties. This route is
additionally 35 km longer than
the normal direct route via
Nawanshahr and Phagwara
Jalandhar highway has become so
much that the traffic movement
remains halted for long. The
stretch across Adampur is the
most affected as a flyover is
under-construction and only a
narrow passage is available for
the to-and-fro movement. The
commuters keep on honking the
horns out of frustration, but this
only aggravates the situation.
Dhina route. His car broke on
the way and he got stuck up
there. I managed a taxi from
Phagwara to reach him and it
took me 40 minutes to reach
him from Phagwara. We final-
ly tied up the car with the taxi
and reached home at 5 am
today. It was such a horren-
dous time. A barely 20 min-
utes of distance became a
nightmare for our family as
everyone remained tense and
was up the whole night.”
While the farmers had yes-
terday announced that the
service lane along the main
dharna site had been kept
open, the commuters said
the barricades kept by the
Punjab Police along all fly-
overs on the stretch between
Jalandhar and Phagwara
prevented them from closing
in near the dharna site.
“It was so annoying to see
the barricades being installed
on all flyovers for no reason.
While the stretch from atop
the flyovers could be covered
in one to 1.5 minutes, the
same distance was being cov-
ered via the congested service
lanes in 10-15 minutes. The
only reason I could figure out
of keeping the flyovers closed
was to encourage the com-
muters to start taking alter-
nate routes available on the
left and right sides of the serv-
ice lane so as to reduce the
traffic flow towards Jaland-
har,” said Arshdeep Singh, a
city-based businessman.
SSC exam due
to traffic jam
Jalandhar, August 23
At least seven to eight stu-
dents were unable to appear
for their Staff Selection Com-
mission (SSC) exam this
morning due to traffic jam on
the Jalandhar-Phagwara
highway, owing to the farm-
ers’ protest here.
Students said the staff did-
n’t let them enter the centre
despite a delay of only few
minutes in reaching the ven-
ue. While the exam was to
take place at a mall on the
highway, they remained
stuck in traffic for hours and
were not allowed entry once
they reached.
Meanwhile, ASI Gurwinder
Singh who was present on the
spot, said: “The reporting time
was from 10.30 to 11.30 am.
and the gates were closed at
11.30 am. The staff did every-
thing while abiding by the
rules. There is an exam tomor-
row as well. We have asked the
candidates to write to the SSC
and let them appear for the
exam on Tuesday.” — TNS

Graffiti no more adding to city’s beauty

lakh penalty to defaulters. The
PSPCL Jalandhar Distribution
Circle Deputy Chief Engineer
said during the checking, 30
violations were detected and a
penalty of ~19.56 lakh was
imposed. “The PSPCL has also
appealed to all consumers to
help it control the menace of
power theft by providing it with
the info about the defaulters.
Anyone can give feedback
about it on WhatsApp no.
96461-75770. The PSPCL
assures its consumers that
their identity won’t be disclosed,”
said the official. TNS
District reports
four new cases
Jalandhar, August 23
The district today reported
four fresh Covid cases taking
the total tally to 63,200. One of
these belongs to another dis-
trict. No Covid-related death
was reported in the district on
Monday. The district toll
remained at 1,491. A total of
Members of the Satkar Committee in the Jalandhar SSP’s office. 61,682 persons have recov-
ered from Covid in the dis-
DIRTY PICTURE Illegal banners cover these pieces of art
Tribune News Service person of the Khatri-Arora
Welfare Board. The city resi-
Jalandhar, August 23 dents have raised strong
Done very tastefully to objection to the MC’s inac-
enhance the beauty of the tion over such illegal banners
city’s best intersections, the and hoardings, especially
graffiti work in the city is those covering the graffiti.
being covered by illegal ban- “What is the whole idea of
ners put up by various political putting up the graffiti when

ROADWAYS STAFF
FORM NEW PANEL
Jalandhar: A state-level
meeting of the Punjab
Roadways Ministerial Staff was
organised at the district
roadways depot-1 office on
Monday. Organised under the
chairman of Gurcharan Singh
Dugga, staff of 13 roadways
depot from across the state
participated in the meeting.
Apart from withdrawing the old
State Roadways Committee,
the members formed a new
committee and appointed its
members, which include state
president Gurjit Singh Gill, senior
vice-president Gurkirpal Singh,
vice-president Harmandeep ,
joint secretary Angrej Singh,
general secretary Gurtej Singh,
legal adviser Harwinder Singh,
Gurdas Maan lands
in fresh controversy
Jalandhar, August 23
Popular Punjabi singer Gur-
das Maan landed in a new
controversy as members of
the Satkar Committee lodged
a police complaint after his
video went viral wherein he is
heard saying that the chief of
a dera and Nakodar Sain Lad-
di Shah is from the descen-
dants of third Sikh guru
Guru Amar Dass.
Earlier, the committee
members lodged a complaint
with Nakodar police and later
in the evening with the SSP,
Jalandhar. The committee
demanded a case be lodged
against the singer or else they
would lodge a demonstration
on the issue across Punjab.
The members raised slogans
against the singer outside the
SSP office and threatened to
even gherao the SSP office if
the officials did not take
action against Maan.
The singer had reportedly
made the statement during
an ongoing mela at Nakodar.
The members of the commit-
tee alleged that the speech of
Maan could be a part of his
pre-planned strategy and
aimed at hurting the senti-
ments of the Sikh. — TNS
trict, while the number of
active cases in Jalandhar is 27.
Kapurthala sees one case
Kapurthala district on Mon-
day reported one fresh case
and no new Covid-related
casualty. The district tally has
increased to 17,795. The per-
son who tested positive for
the virus today has been
identified as a 40-year-old
person from Kapurthala.
3 test +ve in Hoshiarpur
With three fresh Covid cases,
the Hoshiarpur district tally
increased to 30,700 on Mon-
day. The district did not
report any casualty today.
The number of active cases in
the district is nine, while the
number of recovered patients
is 29,711. — TNS/OC
and social groups in the city.
The worst affected are the
pillars of the BMC Chowk fly-
over, all of which also carry a
message for the residents. A
painted graffiti depicting two
messages of ‘Beti Bachao,
Beti Padhao’ and ‘Conserv-
ing nature’ which was put up
by the administration
through the Jalandhar Wel-
fare Council, too, is lying cov-
ered with a congratulatory
message for Navjot Singh
Sidhu upon his appointment
as the PPCC chief.
Likewise, the graffiti on the
other side of the pillar which
carries the caricatures of the
popular musicians and
singers from Jalandhar has
also been covered by another
congratulatory hoarding of
appointment of vice-chair-
such banners are to be allowed
to be put up over them and
cover them completely? The
graffiti had been put up with a
purpose to dissuade people
from indulging in the deface-
ment of the walls of the pillars
MC sleeps as illegal banners deface city’s graffiti. SARABJIT SINGH of the flyover and also to beau-
tify the city’s intersections
and send across good mes-
sages to anyone entering the
city through these areas. But
the MC by not acting against
such wrong doers has defeat-
ed the whole purpose,” said
Sahib Singh, a collegiate.
Deputy Mayor Harsimranjit
Singh Banti said he would ask
the teams of the MC to remove
all such banners and hoard-
ings from around the BMC
Chowk. “This issue is coming
to us repeatedly. We need to act
upon it properly”, he said.

Rousing welcome greets hockey stars at RCF

propoganda secretary
Sukhwinder Singh and cashier
Amarjot Singh. TNS
COMPUTER COURSE
AT SAINIK INSTITUTE
Hoshiarpur: District Defence
Services Welfare Officer
Colonel (retd) Dalwinder Singh
said the Sainik Institute of
Management and Technology
was starting a short-term
computer course. He said in
this course, basic knowledge
of computer and Internet
would be imparted to the
students. Children of ex-
servicemen, paramilitary, SC,
economically weaker sections,
dependants of soldiers and
civilians will be given training
under the course. He said for
admission, candidates should
contact the District Sainik
Welfare Office with their
original certificates from
Tuesday to Thursday between
10 am to 3 pm. OC
Tribune News Service
Kapurthala, August 23
Three women hockey players of Rail
Coach Factory — Olympian Navjot
Kaur, Lalresiami and Reena Khokhar
— who represented India at Tokyo
Olympics, and goalkeeper Krishan
Pathak, who was raised and trained at
RCF and was a part of the bronze
medal winning men’s hockey team,
were given a rousing welcome on
their return to RCF today.
On reaching RCF, they were garland-
ed at the Maharaja Ranjit Singh Stadi-
um by principal chief mechanical
engineer and RCF Sports Association
president RK Mangla, principal chief
engineer and association vice-presi-
dent SC Meena, chief project manager
and association honorary general sec-
retary Nitin Choudhary, and other offi-
cials of the RCF Sports Association.
RCF General Manager Ravinder
Gupta met the three women players
at his office and honoured them.
from the RCF will represent India in
the coming international fixtures.
The Tokyo Olympic star players
were welcomed on their way to the
hockey stadium by the players of
men’s hockey, football, athletics, bas-
ketball and wrestling teams.
All three women hockey players are
regular members of the RCF and
Indian Railways team. Navjot has
played 180 matches for Indian team
so far while Lalresiami has played 72
matches with the national team and
Reena Khokhar has played 45 match-
es. Reena was with the team as a
standby. Krishna Pathak, who was
born in Kapurthala, lives with his
uncle, who works in RCF. He received
training in goalkeeping from Yogita
Hockey players who represented India at Tokyo Olympics being welcomed at the RCF. Bali, a senior goal keeper of the RCF.
Pathak was a part of the Indian junior
Navjot and Lalresiami were promot- Olympics was no less than a gold hockey team that won the Men’s
ed as gazetted officers. Each player medal and he hoped that the players Hockey Junior World Cup in 2016,
shared their experiences at the Tokyo would work hard to give the team a since then has been a regular mem-
Olympics. Congratulating them, gold medal in the upcoming Hockey ber of the Indian team and has played
Gupta said their performance in the World Cup and many more players 50 matches with the Indian team.
Green cover boost: 16,000
saplings to be planted today
Tribune News Service
Jalandhar, August 23
The district administration will
observe Van Mahotsav on
Tuesday by planting 16,140
saplings. Deputy Commission-
er Ghanshyam Thori said
while the Chief Minister would
launch the mega plantation
drive during state-level events,
similar drives would be started
in the districts simultaneously.
He added that the Forest
Department had selected 30
locations in the district, where
over 16,000 saplings would be
planted in a single day. These
places include Muthada Kalan
village, Phillaur city, Goraya,
Punjab Police Academy,
Phillaur, Phillaur Civil Hospi-
tal, Phillaur DAV Public
School, Noormahal Police Sta-
tion, Noormahal city, KV-II, KV-
III, Jodhe village, Eidgah,
Phase 1 Urban Estate and Dhi-
na, CRPF campus, 91 Sub-Area
in Cantt, ITBP, various schools
and parks in the city, PAP
Ground, area opposite Jaland-
har DAV College, NIT campus,
Adampur, Bhogpur and Bir-
pind Sidhwa station.
The DC said the drive
would be carried out with the
help of local NGOs and gov-
ernment establishments.
Divisional Forest Officer
Vikram Kundra said under
the drive, trees of native
species such as shisham,
arjuna, drek, neem, kadam,
ornamental species, flower-
ing plants and others would
be planted. The DFO said the
main thrust of the drive was
to make younger generations
an active partner of the cam-
paign for planting more trees.
IN PICS JALANDHAR TRIBUNE
JALANDHAR | TUESDAY | 24 AUGUST 2021
02
Art galleries are known to give a glimpse into the era gone-by. These not only feature eminent works by several artists but also serve as a cultural space for art enthusiasts.
Tribunecorrespondent Neha Saini& lensman Sunil Kumarvisit SG Thakar Gallery in Amritsar that houses artworks of not just Thakar but of his contemporaries as well

The exhibition hall dedicated to the work of SG Thakar Singh was set up in 1996 and has 146 of his works on display. It has A sculpture in red stone by artist Shivdev Singh sculpted in 1980. It is an Beautifully-crafted embossed sculptures at the entrance of the gallery,
the original paintings and lithographs of his famous works that are on display in museums and galleries around the world. abstract depiction of nature and balance using geometrical patterns. made by artists Avtar Singh and Radha Krishna in early 1970s.

A bygone era
canvas
on
OLD WORLD CHARM
A decorative sculpture at
the entrance with the
facade of the SG
Thakar Singh Art
Gallery in the
backdrop.

T
HE holy city is known for its old
world charm. Apart form being a
spiritual hub, it is also a focal point of
art and culture. Bearing testimony to
this fact is the SG Thakar Singh Art
Gallery situated in the heart of Amrit-
sar. Run by the Indian Academy of Fine Arts
Amritsar (IAFA), it is one of the oldest and
the most prestigious art institutions of
India. Established in 1928 by Thakar Singh
other members, including Master Gurdit
Singh, another eminent artist of that time
with the help of other artists, the academy
initially also ran the Thakar Singh School of
Arts. Started from one room, the gallery
now has three exhibition halls, an auditori-
um and several workshops and demonstra-
tion rooms. Works of eminent artists from
Amritsar and the region, including Sobha
Singh, Phulan Kaur, Arpana Caur, OP Ver-
ma, Baldev Gambhir, Shivdev Singh and
others also find place here.
SG Thakar Singh, one of the most celebrat-
ed artists from the region, was born in Verka,
in 1899. He became the state artist for more
than 10 princely states at the time when
India was under the British Raj. His first
commercial work got him ~500 when he was
only 18 years of age. Most of his portraits of
royals and dignitaries adorn places such as
Pataudi Palace, Parliament House and
Kolkata Museum. Among his most celebrat-
ed works is his painting ‘After Bath’ that
won the second prize of £800 at the British
Empire Exhibition in London in 1924. It was
later owned by the Maharaja of Patiala.

A rare pencil sketch by artist AB BRUSH-WIELDING STAR A painting by actor and artist Dipti Naval adorns A BRUSH WITH TAJ SG Thakar’s one of the eminent works is a Taj Mahal
Nazir. The untitled sketch was the gallery. Painted using knife and brush technique and inspired by the painting of 1968. A unique thing about the painting is that it depicts the Mughal
made way back in 1939. theme of Goddess Kali and the hills, Naval made this in 2004. piece of architecture’s rear view which existed during that period of time.

A recent addition to the art gallery’s collection is a painting of

Guru Nanak Dev by Arpana Caur. Painted in 2018, she gave the
painting to the gallery on the Guru’s 550th birth anniversary.

A lithograph on the Golden Temple made way back in 1949 by

artist SG Thakar Singh is one of his most celebrated artworks.
Artist SG Thakar Singh’s portrait of the
A portrait of Mahatma immortal and renowned poet Mirza
An abstract Gandhi by artist Sobha Ghalib painted in 1961.
design by Singh made in 1953. He
Pakistani artist painted this after his
Mahmoodul assassination in 1948.
Hassan Jafri.
Known for
working with gold
and silver in his
composition, he
made this in
2004.

One of the untitled paintings by SG Thakar Singh, An intricate thread artwork by Bibi Ranjit Kaur, wife of SG
similar to his most celebrated work ‘Afterbath’. Thakar Singh in 1935. It depicts Prithviraj Chauhan writing a
The artist came up with this work in 1950. letter to Maharana Pratap on his surrender to Akbar.

AESTHETIC DELIGHT Medals received by Thakar

A self portrait by artist An untitled portrait of a from several dignitaries in
Phulan Rani, considered woman with peacocks in the past for his art work
among the most the background, painted have also been displayed
celebrated artists in the by Phulan Rani in 1954. at the gallery.
region and the country.