Bollywood actress Achala Sachdev passes away

Yesteryear actress Achala Sachdev, who featured in the popular song 'Ae Meri Zohra Jabeen' from the film " Waqt", has died following a prolonged illness. She was 88.

For the last seven months, the actress was bed-ridden at the Poona Hospital and Research Centre (PHRC), Pune.

"She passed away due to respiratory failure at 5.30pm yesterday. She was bed-ridden for about six months after she suffered a cerebrovascular (brain attack)," said Sachdev's physician Vinod Shah, who tended to her for more than seven months, told PTI.

Sachdev is survived by son Jytoin, who is in the US and would be going to Pune for the last rites, Shah said.

Sachdev, who was staying in Pune for several years, had broken her leg after she fell down in her house about six months ago.

She was treated but four days later she suffered a brain infarction in which she lost her vision and movements of upper and lower limbs. Since then, she was being treated at the Poona Hospital and Research Centre, Shah said.

Born in Peshawar, Sachdev, who acted in around 150 films, made her film debut with "Fashionable Wife" (1938). Her most memorable role was as Balraj Sahani's wife in the 1965 blockbuster "Waqt", where she was part of the legendary song " Ae Meri Zohra Jabeen".

She was also a part of films like "Prem Pujari", "Mera Naam Joker", "Hare Rama Hare Krishna" and "Andaz".

More recently, she played Kajol's grandmother in "Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge" and Amitabh Bachchan's mother in " Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham". She was last seen in Hrithik Roshan starrer " Na Tum Jaano Na Hum" (2002).

4 burnt alive, several hurt in Indo-Swift factory fire in Lalru

LALRU(SAS NAGAR) - Four people were burnt alive and several others injured in a major fire caused by a boiler blast in a chemical factory near Lalru in this subdivision of Mohali district today.

Police said the fire started in the Dashmesh Medicare factory this morning after a boiler exploded in a reacter on the first floor of the building. Several fire tenders, which were pressed into service, battled for many hours to extiguish the blaze.

The bodies of four people, who were burnt alive in the fire were taken out of the debris. The deceased were yet to be identified. Two persons were still stated to be missing from the factory premises. Several people who sustained burn injuries in the fire were taken to local civil hospital, various private hospitals in the town and Government Medical College hospital in Sector 32 in Chandigarh.

Shimla DC summons principal on turban row

A missionary school, St Edwards School, has been caught in a religious row for allegedly banning Sikh students from wearing turban during school hours.
Parents of a Class XII student, Gurleen Singh, complained to the district administration that their son was not allowed to wear turban within the school premises. Instead, the school authorities asked him to put on a patka- a small headgear. The alleged incident as per the family occurred on March 2.
Deputy Commissioner Shimla, Onkar Singh, has summoned the school principal, John Bosco, and members of Gurdwara Singh Sabha (GSS) on Saturday to sort out the issue. Besides, Singh said necessary action would be taken against any one found guilty for hurting religious sentiments of a particular community.
Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal also condemned the alleged order and said no one was allowed to hurt the religious sentiments of any particular community.
He said that district administration will look into the matter. The school’s move led the parents of the Sikh students of the school to approach the district administration demanding action against school authorities.
The student’s father, Jaspal Singh, said, “My son came home crying and told us he was not allowed to wear a turban in the school.”
However, Bosco, denied the charges. He claimed that he never ordered a ban but just asked the boy to wear patka instead of turban like other Sikh school boys were doing.
“Sikh students in the school wear patka and not turban, so the boy in question was asked why he was doing so. There is no blanket ban on turban,” Bosco said.
On the first day of session the boy was asked about the turban but the matter ended on March 5. His parents came to the school on same day and the boy was later allowed to wear whatever he wished as per the religion, he said.
The principal’s clarification had, however, failed to satisfy the people of the community. The GSS of Shimla is now up in arms over the alleged ban order on turban.
The Sabha had requested Deputy Commissioner to take suitable action against the principal. Members even threatened to launch protest if such a draconian order was not “revoked.”
GSS chief Jaswinder Singh said Sikh community would not tolerate such an order by any school. It hurts the sentiments of Sikhs and would not be tolerated at any cost, he said.

New immigration policy of Canada draws flak

Chandigarh, April 29
More than one lakh Punjabis are likely to be affected by a controversial decision of the Canadian government to close the files of candidates who had applied for immigration under the federal skilled workers (FSW) category before February 28, 2008.
A protest will be launched against the move in Chandigarh on April 30.
The Conservative government in Canada has decided to create, what it terms, a fast and flexible immigration system and which will eliminate backlog in the federal economic immigration programme. The new policy aims at recruiting skilled labour that addresses the country’s immediate labour market needs.
The proposal, which was put in the Canadian budget on March 29, will be implemented soon. The government plans to refund fees and return applications of all those who applied before February 28, 2008.
The Conservative government feels that it should not be bogged down with the backlog created by the erstwhile Labour government. The move will affect three lakh people worldwide, most of whom are Indian and Chinese. Thousands of Punjabis have been waiting for immigration for the past eight years and will now stand no chance of immigration under the new format, which will fast-track immigration of 29 categories of skilled workers.
Advocate Rakesh Garg, who is also an applicant for permanent immigration and heads the Pre-2008 Canadian Back-loggers Association, said candidates from across the state would hold a rally in Chandigarh on April 30.
Garg said the association would also take up the matter with Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and urge him to seek Prime Minister’s intervention in the matter as more than one lakh Punjabis would be affected by the move. Other aggrieved applicants, including Lajwant Bains and Jagminder Singh, claimed the decision was a repetition of the Komagata Maru incident and against the Continuous Journey Act, 2008, as it “goes against the first come, first serve principle. They said family reunification cases would also be delayed under the new policy.
The immigration hopefuls have established a prospective Canadian immigrations Facebook page. Garg said he was also in coordination with prospective immigrants from China, Pakistan and Sri Lanka to launch a worldwide protest against the move.

Mr. B.S.Ghuman, President of the NRI Association of Canada and NRI Law Group, a Canada based law group, assured them of the full support, of any kind, to fight for their cause and press the Canadian government to give a second thought to it's decision.

B.C. Gangster Gunned Down In Nuevo Vallarta, Mexico

SURREY, B.C. - A British Columbia gangster who police say had criminal connections across Canada and the world has been shot dead in Mexico.
RCMP Chief Supt. Dan Malo said Thomas Gisby was killed in a Starbucks in Nuevo Vallarta on Friday night.
He said police are now concerned about retaliation against enemies of the 50-year-old man who was from the Fraser Valley, east of Vancouver.
"We wanted to get our message to the community that this wasn't an individual who was simply on holidays," Malo said Saturday. "This is a well-known target, a well-known organized crime figure here in British Columbia."
Gisby led what police called the Gisby Crime Group, which was well connected to other criminal organizations, although Malo declined to name them.
"He has networks internationally to be able to bring illegal commodities into Canada for distribution," Malo said, adding guns and drugs were among the goods Gisby traded.
Mounties were aware that Gisby had travelled to Mexico, said Malo, who is in charge of the Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit.
"Even though Thomas Gisby, in his own right, thought that he was at a high-enough level in organized crime that he would be isolated from violence, it's clearly not the case."

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