Phagwara, May 10
A man and a woman were arrested here today on charges of luring local youths into marrying girls of other nationalities and later on fleecing them.

The Phagwara police has taken a serious view of such marriages in which brides disappear with the belongings of their husbands days after the wedding.

According to information, a three-member gang of such brides, hailing from Bangladesh, was active in Phagwara.

Its kingpin, reportedly known as “Aunty”, had been to Bangladesh many a times to bring in girls to run the racket. She allegedly either sold these girls here or got them married to local youths.

As per reports, Aunty would marry off these girls after finding suitable matches for them among the local residents. A few days after the marriages, these girls would return to Aunty’s residence. When the husbands would ask their wives to return, they would refuse.

These girls reportedly also forced their husbands to stay with them at Aunty’s house to make them aware that they were running a flesh trade from the place.

But by that time, the husbands had lost everything they had and found it too shameful to disclose it to anyone.

When contacted, Phagwara ASP Sukhchain Singh Gill said it was a case of cheating. “Fake advertisements were given in newspapers by one marriage bureau to lure youths into marrying girls of other nationalities,” he added.

The ASP claimed that the said marriage bureau had no office in the town. “The interested person was taken to a particular place and was asked to fill in the form and was charged Rs 2,000,” he added.

The ASP said that on the complaint of a resident of Aur village, the police raided the particular place and arrested one Sukhwinder Singh and one Anita, both residents of Phagwara.

A case under Section 420 of the IPC has been registered against the duo.

Jalandhar, May 10
In a bid to evade the arrest of its Estate Officer, the Punjab Urban Development Authority (PUDA) today paid an amount of Rs 93,786 to a complainant in the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum.

The forum had on April 28 passed orders for issuing conditional warrant against the Estate Officer on June 5 owing to a non-compliance of its orders.

The case pertained to a demand for a refund by one Mr Prem Singh, a resident of New Jawahar Nagar, regarding the charging of an excess extension fee for a plot (number 612) in Urban Estate, Phase-II, and the non-issuance of an NOC for the same.

The forum, on September 5 last year, had decided the case in favour of the complainant asking the PUDA officials to issue a fresh demand notice, refund the excess fee and issue an NOC in one month’s time.

On February 9 this year, the PUDA’s counsel had appeared and the case was adjourned till March 27 for filing a reply and making payments for the excess charging to the tune of Rs 98,535. An appeal to adjourn the case was made several times and payment too was being delayed.

Finally, orders of issuing an arrest warrant had been issued by the forum’s president, Mr M.M. Bhalla, on April 28.

The orders were passed as the forum felt that its directions were not being followed since September last year.

In the meantime, the PUDA officials had challenged the decision of the forum with the State Commission where they lost the case.

The PUDA’s counsel had, at that time, filed a reply stating, “PUDA is going to file the appeal against the order of the State Commission, Punjab, before the National Commission and necessary sanction for the same has been obtained and request for adjournment for 15 days is made.”

However, today the counsel for PUDA appeared in the forum premises and handed over the cheque to the complainant’s counsel.

The amount in the cheque was lesser than the calculation made earlier and a decision on the balance amount is likely to be taken by June 5, the next date of hearing. 

Kapurthala, May 10
Preparations to revamp the Kali Bein ahead of the President’s visit is in full swing.

After inspecting the state of the rivulet, the Kapurthala Deputy Commissioner, Mr Raminder Singh, today convened a “high-profile” meeting of officers to discuss the matter. Baba Balbir Singh Seechewal, the environmentalist looking after the rivulet’s well-being, was also invited to present his views. It was the Baba who had invited the President, Mr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, to Sultanpur Lodhi to take look at the Kali Bein.

During the meeting, the DC asked all the executive and panchayat officers to prepare a strategy to protect the Bein from pollution.

The officers were asked to draw long-term plans, like setting up of sewage treatment plants at Nadala, Bholath and Begowal.

The DC also issued “strict” instructions to all the SDMs, Executive officers of Municipal Councils and officials of the Nagar Panchayats to make “necessary” arrangements to avoid the throwing the sewage water from towns and villages into the rivulet.

The officers concerned were also ordered to make alternative arrangements for the disposal of the sewage. They were also directed to submit the plans to the Additional Deputy Commissioner (Development) by tomorrow.

All the SDMs, Executive officers, XEN (Drainage), SDO (Sewerage Board) and Panchayat officers of the district were present in the meeting. The DC told the officers, “I shall prepare a project report on the Kali Bein. Baba Seechewal will discuss the report with the Chief Minister, Captain Amarinder Singh, in Chandigarh on May 16”.

Jalandhar, May 10
The Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar), led by Mr Simranjit Singh Mann, and the All India Shiromani Akali Dal (AISAD), headed by Mr Jaswant Singh Mann, have started working on the modalities for effecting a merger of the two parties.

The modalities for giving a final shape to the proposed merger would, however, be finalised at a meeting of top leaders, including district presidents and working committee members, next week.

Top leaders of the two parties, including Mr Anoop Singh Minhas, Giani Ram Singh, Mr Jagir Singh Wadal of SAD (A) and Mr Jaswant Singh Maan, Mr Ajaib Singh Sangha, and Mr Bharpoor Singh Balbir of the AISAD, who held a meeting here today, have decided about the proposed merger of the two parties in principle.

“Apart from merger, the policy, plans and election strategy would also be discussed in our next meeting that is to be held within three or four days. Both sides have agreed in principle for the merger,” Mr Jaswant Singh Maan said.

He added that after the merger, the SAD (A) and the AISAD would be work as a unified force and leave “no stone upturned” to revive the All India Sikh Students’ Federation (AISSF) in its “true sense”.

“Our goal will be to hit the Congress and to unseat the Badals from Akali politics.” 

Tibba (Sultanpur Lodhi), May 10
President of the SAD(B) Parkash Singh Badal today said there was nothing wrong in appointing “near and dear ones” to the prominent party posts because they were “more efficient” for the job since they grown up in the political atmosphere in their families.

Replying to a query, he added that the trend among children following the path of their parents was common in other professions too. The Akali leader was here to attend a party conference on the occasion of a religious congregation devoted to Baba Bir Singh Naurangabadi at Thhathha village.

On the issue of the office of profit, the Mr Badal said his party would stake claim to form the government in the state in case the 34 MLAs of the ruling party were disqualified on this basis.

Commenting on the sale of land to Reliance by the state government at a cheaper rate, Mr Badal asked, “Why can’t the state government with the help of Punjab Agriculture University do the things that Reliance is doing in the state?”

Blaming the policies of the Congress party for the depletion in the buffer stocks of food grains, the SAD President said the government had sold wheat stocks to other countries at a rate of Rs 420 per quintal, and thereafter imported “poor quality” wheat at a price of over Rs 1,000 per quintal.

Contradicting the statement of the Chief Minister, Captain Amarinder Singh, that Trident Group had acquired the land of farmers by their consent, Mr Badal alleged that the consent of the farmers was taken forcibly.