The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Demolition squad stopped in tracks
Kuldip Bhatia

Ludhiana, March 13
An attempt by the Municipal Corporation authorities to demolish a portion of a commercial complex in Kochar Market turned out to be a show of strength between the MC administration and a group of independent councillors, opposed to the ruling SAD-BJP combine in the civic body. After hectic parleys, heated exchanges between the two groups and police intervention, the MC authorities however, did not demolish the structures as office-bearers of the residents association offered to demolish one of the vacant shops, out of a total of eight such shops constructed in the complex, raise a wall in front of the shops and to stop further construction work till a final decision on the change of land use and violation of building bylaws was taken.

The MC demolition squad, led by Joint Commissioners Mr Harjinder Singh and Mr Jasbir Singh Heer, along with officials of the building branch and a large number of bulldozers and MC trucks, carrying labour, descended on the site in the morning and surrounded the complex. The SDM (West) Mr Manjit Brar, and a large contingent of police were also accompanying the MC team.

Before the MC employees could begin the actual work of demolition of shops, the area councillor, Mr Bharat Bhushan Ashu, and a large number of residents of the locality got together and objected to the MC bid to demolish the complex, which comprises a community centre and a library block, with eight shops, built on the main Kochar Market Road. In the meantime, some other councillors — Dr Jai Parkash, Mr Madan Lal Bagga and Giani Baldev Singh also arrived on the spot and voiced their protest against the demolition orders, which they termed as being unjust.

A large number of residents of the locality got together and rallied round the councillor, who spearheaded the vociferous opposition to the MC action. Mr Ashu told Ludhiana Tribune that the ownership of the land was not disputed and successive court decisions had ruled in favour of the Model Gram Residents’ Association and the Model Gram Charitable Trust formed by the residents in 1987. He claimed that building plan for a portion of the complex had been approved by the MC, when the work for construction was taken in hand.

He further said the area was declared commercial in 1997 by the state government and the Trust had submitted another building plan in September 2000, for construction of shops on the outer boundary of the 4,000 square yards plot, so that a recurring income could accrue for running the community centre and the library complex. The MC authorities had been sitting over the building plan during the intervening period and it was rejected only during this month, whereas the building plans are deemed to be approved if decision to the contrary is not taken within 60 days of the submission of the same.

The councillor claimed that no violation of the house line had been committed in construction of the shops and the “change of land use”, alleged by the MC administration was compoundable after the payment of a stipulated composition fee. Mr Ashu also attributed the MC orders for demolition of the complex to “political differences” but refused to elaborate further.

The MC officials, heading the demolition squad, were camping at the police post in Kochar Market till late afternoon. The MC Joint Commissioner, Mr Jasbir Singh Heer, said the MC team would remain at the site till one shop, being constructed now, was demolished and a wall was erected in front of the remaining shops.

Rail electrification project work started
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, March 13
The work on Rs 97 crore electrification project of Ludhiana-Jalandhar-Amritsar rail track was started laid by Mr Tejinder Singh Kalra, Principal Chief Engineer, Railways, here today. The electrification of the 150 km rail track would be completed in two years.

Talking to the Ludhiana Tribune after laying the foundation stone, Mr Kalra said with the electrification of 24 per cent of the railway track, the traffic efficiency had increased by 60 per cent, while the general traffic has increased by 48 per cent.

The electrification of this line will connect the region with other major stations, including Howrah, Mumbai and Delhi. Allaying the apprehensions of some employees, he clarified that the electrification will not hit any one of them but would instead generate employment opportunities for more people as more manpower would be required. The diesel engine drivers have been given training to drive the electric engine at Kanpur. Moreover, the electrification of the track would reduce the traffic problem at the Ludhiana railway station, he added.

Mr N.K. Singhal, Chief Project Manager, said the main control of the line would be situated at Ferozepore. He informed, “we have to elevate three bridges on the line situated at Beas, Ladowal and one near Jalandhar”.

Pointing out the safety efficiency of electricity driven trains, Mr Singhal disclosed that in case of any emergency the trains could be stopped by immediate power cut. This project would help to start the inter-city commuting service.

Six injured in clash
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, March 13
A heated exchange between two shopkeepers in Field Ganj locality over a petty issue, took an ugly turn when one of the shopkeepers called for his supporters and other shopkeepers also joined the free-for-all, creating panic in the entire locality. Six persons, including four of a group were injured and admitted to local hospitals, while the police were investigating the matter. No case had been registered till the filing of this report.

According to the information gathered from the spot, the quarrel started when a threewheeler, carrying goods for a shoe store, arrived in the market.

Another trader, who owned one of the adjoining shops, started some conversation with the threewheeler driver, to which the owner of the shoe store objected.

The exchange of hot words led to fist fighting, which was put to an end with the intervention of fellow shopkeepers.

In the afternoon, about half-a-dozen persons, allegedly called in by one of the shopkeepers, involved in the brawl, arrived in the market and thrashed the other shopkeeper.

Several other shopkeepers in the market responded to the alarm raised by the victims and the assailants were challenged and beaten up by the mob.

According to eye witnesses, glass bottles, base ball bats and swords were used by the two sides and some of the bystanders and customers also received injuries.

Even when the police arrived at the spot and those injured were being taken to the hospital, some miscreants threw bottles towards them, but the police chased them away.

According to police, the matter was being investigated and a case would be registered against the guilty immediately after preliminary investigation was over.

BOTTOMLINE
Liquor contractor’s arrest: notice to state, officials
Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, March 13
A Division Bench of the Punjab and Haryana High Court comprising Mr Justice Jawahar Lal Gupta and Mr Justice N.K. Sud has granted time to the state of Punjab and various officials of the Excise and Taxation Department for filing reply. The case adjourned to March 22, was filed by Rakesh Kumar of Ludhiana seeking the quashing of arrest of his father, Mr Roop Lal, wine contractor of Ludhiana, by the Excise and Taxation Officer, Ludhiana-II under the provisions of the Punjab Land Revenue Act.

The liquor shop was allotted to the petitioner, a partner of M/s Roop Lal and Co. wine contractors, Chet Singh Nagar group, Ludhiana from April 1, 2000 to March 31, 2001, for licence fee of Rs 9.47 crore. Out of the said amount, it had paid more than Rs 7.70 crore on February 11, 2001.

The Assistant Excise and Taxation Commissioner, Ludhiana, along with the Excise and Taxation Officer, arrested Mr Roop Lal, father of the petitioner, on February 14, without notice. In spite of the telegrams to the authorities, neither the father of the petitioner was released nor any documents/orders were supplied. However, the department supplied certain documents in pursuance to the orders passed by the high court on February 19 on an earlier plea of the petitioner.

Thereafter, the present amended writ petition was filed challenging the action of detention on the ground that one officer — Deputy Excise and Taxation Commissioner, Ludhiana acting as collector, Ludhiana division, had approved the action for recovery of amount of licence fee under the Land Revenue Act, who was not authorised to act as such as no notification had been issued by the government appointing him to be the collector of Ludhiana division. Secondly, no opportunity had been granted before determining the amount of default so as to effect recovery under the Punjab Land Revenue Act as arrears of land revenue, the warrants of arrest had been issued in the absence of the petitioner and other licencees.

It was further pleaded that although there were five partners of M/s Roop Lal & Co. yet only one licencee — Mr Roop Lal was arrested,which was discriminatory and also, in spite of the fact there were many other licencees in Ludhiana itself, who had not paid licence fee.

It was contended that the AETC, Mr D.A. Khan, made it clear to the father of the petitioner either to pay the instalments or he would put him behind the bars. Mr Roop Lal had informed him that he had already made huge investment and as on that date, about 45 days were still left and the licencee had lifted the proportionate quota till 10th and requested that the lifting of quota be linked with the payment. On this Mr Khan demanded Rs 10 lakh as gratification for not arresting him, which was refused by Mr Roop Lal.

The counsel appearing for the petitioner contended that the action of the responders was illegal, discriminatory, mala fide with extraneous considerations and by putting the father of the petitioner behind the bars, they have caused loss, humiliation and lowered the reputation of the family.

CRIME FILE
Patwari caught taking bribe
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, March 13
A team of Vigilance Department officials today caught Mr Joginder Singh, a patwari, while taking a bribe of Rs 1000 in his office from Nahar Singh, a resident of Bhatha Dhua village in the district.

According to Mr R.P.S. Bajwa, S.P., Vigilance Bureau, the accused had demanded money for providing a copy of the relevant revenue record of the land, owned by the complainant and a police party, headed by Mr Saroop Singh Chauhan, caught the patwari red-handed.

A case under relevant Sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act has been registered against the accused and he has been remanded in judicial custody.

Sodomy case
The local police has registered a case of sodomy under Sections 377 and 34 of the IPC against Keshi alias Geshi, son of Mr Balwinder Singh, a resident of Azad Nagar and another boy, said to be the son of Mr Harbans Singh, a resident of Manjit Nagar.

According to the victim, 9-year-old Devinder Singh, on Sunday at 8 p.m., he was called by Keshi to his house where both the accused sodomised him. None of the accused has been arrested so far.

Three cases of fraud
The Division Number 5 police has registered two cases of fraud during the past twenty four hours.

In the first case registered under Section 406 of the IPC, four complainants, namely Arshbir Kaur, Rajwinder Kaur, Ajit Pal Singh and Gurdeep Singh, had alleged that Taranbir Singh, son of Mr Surjit Singh, a resident of the Urban Estate, Dugri Road, had been running the business of "finance committees". He did not return the money to the complaints as was promised by him earlier. No arrest has been made so far.

The other case was registered under Sections 420, 468, 471 and 120-B of the IPC after an application by Harbhajan Kaur, daughter of Mr Jagjit Singh, a resident of Kundan Nagar, at the weekly Sangat Darshan programme.

The complainant stated that Joginder Singh, son of Mr Sarwan Singh and Gurjit Singh, son of Mr Jagjit Singh, played a fraud on her by preparing false sale deeds of a kothi. In this case also, no arrest has been made so far.

The Division Number 6 police has registered a case of fraud against Naresh Kumar, son of Mr Ram Nath, a resident of New Janta Nagar. A case under Sections 420, 467, 468 and 471 of the IPC was registered against the accused on the statement of Mr Mohinder Singh, son of Mr Joginder Singh, a resident of Preet Nagar, New Shimla Puri. The accused allegedly prepared a forged bank draft for Rs 50,000 and cheated the complainant.

All the case have been entrusted to the Economic Offences Wing of the city police.

Liquor seized
The police of Division Number 2 has arrested Deepak, son of Mr Ram Lal, a resident of Manohar Nagar mohalla, Model Town, for the possession of 10 bottles of illicit liquor.

A case has been registered against the accused under Sections 61, 1, and 14 of the Excise Act.

Knife recovered
The Division Number 5 police has arrested Parminder Singh alias Narinder Singh alias Nehru, son of Mr Nishan Singh, a resident of Manjit Nagar, and seized from him a kamanidar knife.

A case under Sections 25, 54 and 59 of the Arms Act has been registered against the accused.

Cop manhandles journalist
Tarsem Deogun, city crime reporter of Dainik Jagran here, was roughed up by police ASI Ajaib Singh, who also snatched the camera from the reporter in a bid to prevent him from taking a picture of agitating demonstrators outside the Sarabha Nagar police station.

Angry residents of the locality had been sitting in dharna outside the police station since early morning yesterday to protest against the ‘ inefficiency’ of the police as it had failed to nab a person against whom a case had been registered yesterday under sections 452,323,325 and 506 of the IPC . The accused had allegedly entered the house of Mr Ramandeep Singh, son of Mr Harbans Singh in Bhai Randhir Singh Nagar, and beaten and threatened him. The area residents were angry that the accused was still roaming about freely.

In the meantime, crime reporters of various newspapers have decided to ask for an unconditional apology from the ASI, failing which they would boycott all police briefings .

Senior police officers have been informed about the incident.

DORAHA

One arrested
The Payal police has claimed to have arrested a man carrying illicit liquor from Bhadewal Pull in Payal. In a police naka , Hawaldar Ranjit Singh nabbed Mohkam Singh of Bhattian in Khanna with eight bottles of liquor. a case has been registered against him under Sections 61,1 and 14 of the Excise Act.

One crushed to Death
An unidentified man was crushed to death by an unidentified truck while the man was standing at the bus stand of Ghudani Kalan. According to the statement of Sikander Singh of Ghaloti village, an unidentified young Hindu gentleman died on the spot while he was crushed by a speeding truck when he was waiting for a bus at the bus stand. A case has been registered at the Payal police station under Sections 279 and 304-A of the IPC by ASI Karnail Singh, who after the postmortem cremated the body.

Injured in accident
Three persons are reported to have been injured after these scooters collided with each other, late last evening. According to reports, Resham Singh and Gurdev Singh of Manki (Jagraon), travelling on one scooter and Anil of Doraha on another scooter, got injured after both the scooters collided on the Gurthalipull.

Resham Singh and Gurdev Singh were admitted to the Sidhu Hospital at Doraha while Anil ,seriously injured, had been admitted in the DMC Hospital.

BSP to go it alone in Punjab
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, March 13
The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) will contest the forthcoming elections to the Punjab Assembly on its own and will play a decisive role in the formation of the next government in the state. “Even if we are not able to form the government, the balance of power would be weilded by the BSP legislators.”

Addressing a news conference at Circuit House here today, the senior vice-president of the party, Ms Mayawati, made it clear that the BSP will not forge any alliance or coalition with any other party. “Our past experience of coalition has not been very pleasant due to the fact that the BSP votes were cast earnestly in favour of the allies but in turn the alliance partners did not do so.”

Ms Mayawati, who along with the BSP supremo, Mr Kanshi Ram, is conducting an intensive tour of Punjab to mobilise support, declared that after Uttar Pradesh the party had selected Punjab to consolidate its organisational base and to make a serious bid to secure power in the next elections, which were barely a year away, if held on schedule. She said after making a good start in the political scenario in Punjab, the BSP had not fared well for quite some time for the simple reason that we could not concentrate here. “The party is being reactivated in Punjab and we shall make our presence felt,” she asserted.

The party would, in a way, be launching its political campaign in a public rally, being convened here on March 15. Ms Mayawati disclosed that the BSP was banking on the support of migrant population from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, settled in the city. “We have had a series of meetings with the representatives of migrant workers and the response has been enthusiastic.” She, however, added that BSP would not pursue caste politics and would carry on its struggle for creation of an equal society, with no discrimination on the basis of caste, creed and religion.

Replying to a question on discrimination against the migrant population here and growing demand for denial of voting rights and other facilities, like ration cards to the migrants, Ms Mayawati strongly opposed the move, saying it would be tantamount to violation of Fundamental Rights of the citizens. She said the administration could check the antecedents of migrant workers, as a matter of routine since it was duty-bound to maintain law and order but it would be absolutely wrong and unjust to ‘brand’ the entire migrant population as ‘anti-social’ or ‘criminal’.

On the issue of rigging of successive byelections by the ruling SAD-BJP alliance through ‘manipulation’ of electronic voting machines (EVMs), the BSP leader agreed with the Congress assertion that free and fair elections were not possible through the use of EVMs, which could be fixed to their advantage by the ruling party. She said her party would take up the matter with the Chief Election Commissioner.

LUDHIANA CALLING

THE die has finally been cast. The results of the annual general elections to the Satluj Club have been declared with the penal led by incumbent general secretary A.S. Chawla. Satluj Club is the oldest club in Ludhiana established by the British. The club has maintained its elite character and is very selective in granting membership. Probably that explains the reason why the membership has been restricted at less than 2,500 in a city of 30 lakh people. The members of the club are mostly the elite of the city representing different sections of society, be they businessmen, doctors or professionals from different trades. This makes the annual general election to the club quite a keenly contested one with the rival groups doing their level best to claim maximum number of votes. In fact in the previous year also there was a contest between Mr Chawla and Mr Jeevan Dhawan. Last time, however, it was a nail-biting finish with Mr Chawla taking a lead of only four votes which went up to eight in the recounting. However, this time he managed to maintain a comfortable lead of 68 votes over Mr Dhawan. Interestingly, Mr Dhawan was supported by the ‘brother’ of a senior minister in the Badal government, who wields considerable clout and influence in ruling circles. The ‘brother’ was understood to have had more reasons in putting everything at stake for the Satluj Club as Mr Dhawan’s rival, Mr Chawla, and he had some common interests which have started to clash and are likely to clash yet again in the near future. For the time being Mr Chawla seems to have scored over the ‘brother’, quite an unusual thing to happen.

Rules... for whom?

The Punjab and Haryana High Court had instructed the states of Punjab and Haryana last year to strictly implement the traffic rules in the states. Among the rules, the court asked to ensure that while driving scooterists and pillion riders wear helmets, and car drivers and the persons sitting on the front seats have seat belts. However, like most of the people, the traffic police does not seem to find utility of these rules in the city limits. They say the speed of the vehicles within the old cities is too low due to congestion and there is no utility of these rules. Consequently, the public is confused whether to follow the rules or not. Sometimes, trafficmen let them go and sometimes they demand money for violating these rules. An official in the SP (Traffic) office when contacted, said: “Officially we are following the instructions of the court. However unofficially, the field staff has been told to ignore the violation of these useless rules in the city limits.’’

Do your own things

At the PAU campus in the morning the different kind of people from different kind of backgrounds from different walks of life are all busy doing their own things. It is an amusing sight to witness a group of elderly people laughing their guts out, for, everyone knows laughter is the best medicine. After laughing lustily, they walk away clapping their hands as clapping is a form of accupressure and it helps the circulation of the blood. The youngsters are busy skating. It is quite safe to skate as no vehicles are allowed to enter. Some enthusiasts are jogging away, whereas heavy housewives with the latest brand of equipment are trying their best to shed off some pounds. Their respective husbands also are trying very hard to maintain a brisk pace to fight the battle of the bulge. Many are performing “yogic kriyas” to cope up with stress and strain of daily life. In fact, the whole PAU campus is buzzing with activity of sporty nature in the cool hours of the morning.

Festival spirit

The commuters who travelled by trains passing from Ludhiana had a nightmarish journey on the festival of colours. Much to their disgust, they had to face the horrid style of slum dwellers of playing Holi. As the trains crossed the engine sheds near the railway station, the slum dwellers living alongside the track threw stones, cowdung and mud from nearby drain on the moving trains. Many train passengers had a close shave when the missiles just brushed past them. A few unlucky passengers sustained injuries. Is it a festival spirit or hooligan spirit?

Paper leakage

It all seemed to be an annual affair. Leakage of maths paper of Class V and its cancellation was nothing amazing either for the officers of the District Education Department or the teaching staff of the Punjab School Education Board. Every year paper leakages occur, some formal investigation is done and the reports are sent to the higher authorities at SAS Nagar. And this year too, the investigating officers here could neither identify the culprits, nor were they able to find the centre from where the paper was leaked.

However, the officers in the primary wing of the department seemed little more worried, at least for two days after the paper leakage. Despite a holiday the next day, the officers in the primary wing of the department came to the office and were busy checking the bundles of question papers for getting any clue to the leakage. Alas! All efforts went futile.

Farewell fever

It is farewell fever in Ludhiana. Almost all the city colleges, without a single exception are rushing through the process of organising farewell functions for various classes. The trend seems to be more prevailing among the girls’ colleges. For about a month now, almost on every alternate day there is a farewell function in one college or the other. In fact the trend seems to have percolated down to the secondary and senior secondary schools also. These farewell functions ultimately turn out to be fashion shows with girls trying to present themselves in the best possible manner to get the title of Miss Farewell. However, these competitions are not organised as usual fashion contests, but have some amount of tradition and innovation in them (see picture). This also provides a chance to the participating girls to exploit their creativity although in a limited manner.

Unreliable tests

A majority of patients are advised various bio-chemical and microbiological tests before they can start with the treatment. Different doctors patronise different diagnostic laboratories. The patient is in a fix when he changes the doctor and is advised tests from a different laboratory. The readings of the same tests like blood sugar, cretnine, haemoglobin, cholesterol is always different. Sometimes, the difference is very big, like a lab can give cholesterol reading as 250mg whereas the other lab gives it to be 320mg. This surely leads to the wrong diagnosis by the doctor and he can start medication which can prove to be fatal. Going by the laws each diagnostic lab requires a biochemist, a pathologist and a microbiologist, but hardly any private diagnostic lab has all these three technicians employed by them. Moreover, no license is required for starting a diagnostic laboratory. So these labs are mushrooming in the city and doing brisk business at the cost of the health of the patient. Doctors also get a cut, so the sufferer is the patient, who has to pay huge amount of money for the tests.

Women’s plight

All the hype relating to International Women’s Day is over. But the problems of working women remain as they were. The biggest problem they face in the offices is of the ‘toilets’. In most of the offices, there are no separate toilets for women and this can cause great embarrassment for them at times, for, the toilets are littered with cigarette butts of male colleagues. For the working women on the roadside, the problem is worse, for, they have hardly any place to go relieve themselves. Moreover, at workplaces women have to hear many unsavoury comments both if they dress well or shabbily. The day any girl dresses well she has to hear a lot of comments, and in case, she talks to her colleagues sweetly, she is branded a ‘flirt’. If she keeps her distance, she is called an aggressive and a snooty female. There is no equality. Gender bias still prevails.

Sentinel

COMMUNITY

Varied views of Sarabha’s kin
Kanchan Vasdev
Tribune News Service

Sarabha (Ludhiana), March 13
With the work for the preservation of residence of martyr Kartar Singh Sarabha in progress, a contest is being witnessed between two relatives of the martyr for taking credit for getting it preserved.

While Bibi Jagdish Kaur was hogging limelight in the recent past as she had threatened to renounce the “Mother of Punjab” honour conferred upon her by the state government, Mr Narsher Singh, a nephew of the martyr has put up a board on the premises conveying that the portion of the house was given to the government by him for constructing a memorial.

A visit to the place revealed that the board was put up recently in one of the two rooms given to the government which reads that this accommodation was provided to the government by Mr Narsher Singh, the nephew of the martyr. The residence was handed over for erecting a memorial by Bibi Jagdish Kaur and Mr Narsher Singh in 1996.

The two relatives also differ in their opinions on the room where the birth of Kartar Singh Sarabha took place. While Bibi Jagdish Kaur insists that the martyr was born in the room handed over by her, Mr Narsher Singh claims that he was born in one of the rooms provided by him for the memorial. Bibi supports her claims on the basis that her aunt, who was of great help in upbringing the martyr, told her that he was born in this room. “When we were very young, we used to listen to his stories from our aunt. She used to tell us that he was born in this room. Why would she lie?” says Bibi Jagdish Kaur.

While Mr Narsher Singh says that the rooms which he handed over were constructed by using smaller bricks and the other room was constructed with bigger bricks. So that room was older and Sarabha was born in that room.

Meanwhile the lost glory of the Sarabha’s residence is being restored. The work in one of the rooms on the ground floor has almost been completed. The doors have been cleaned and the roofs are being restored. The Deputy Commissioner, Mr S.K. Sandhu, had declared that the work on the ground floor would be completed by March 31 and after that it would be handed over to the Punjab Government.