Samastpur (Jalandhar), July 19
Tragedy struck a group of four school-going boys riding bicycles early in morning as a truck crushed two of them to death and left one seriously injured at Samastpur village on the Pathankot Road.

Later the villagers jammed the highway for over seven hours. They clashed with the police and beat up a constable as they perceived that efforts were on to hush up the case.

The four boys were students of Class VIII at the Devi Sahai Sanatan Dharam High School, Ballan village. Hardeep and Sukhdev Chand Aheer were crushed to death while Sonu, was been admitted to Janta Hospital on Pathankot bypass in a critical condition. He was later shifted to Oxford Hospital. Jagdeep had a miraculous escape.

An alert bus driver of the Jammu and Kashmir Transport Corporation managed to stop the truck but the trailer driver, fled the spot on foot.

The impact of the accident was so much that one of the cycles got entangled with front bumper and was dragged on. The villagers gathered on the spot and blocked the highway.

Trouble erupted when the police officials tried to take away the truck-trailer from the site. Villagers stopped it and enraged youth beat up Constable Manjit Singh, who was driving the truck. They also clashed with PCR cops and the DSP (rural), Mr Jagmohan Singh, who tried to intervene.

The situation worsened as Mr Surinder Chaudhary, president, Zila Parishad and son of the Local Bodies Minister, Ch Jagjit Singh, MLA from the constituency, arrived on the spot and announced a compensation of Rs 1.5 lakh for the families of Sukhdev, Hardeep and Sonu. He said Rs 1 lakh would come from the state government and Rs 50,000 from the administration.

The villagers got enraged as they said the amount was too low. They started throwing the goods in the truck on the road as the entire police force, including SPs and DSPs, stood mute spectators.

The Market Committee president, Mr Rana Randhawa, too reached the spot. Finally at 3 pm, compensation of Rs 3 lakh was announced for the families of Sukhdev and Hardeep with a word that the government would bear expenses for Sonu’s treatment.

Later it was announced that Rs 5 lakh had been announced from the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund and the Red Cross Society.

Dr G.S. Gill, surgeon who was supervising Sonu’s treatment, said the boy had been operated upon for internal injuries but he was still in a critical state.

A case has been registered under Section 304 at Police Station, Kartarpur, against the absconding driver.

Kapurthala, July 19
Five workers’ unions of the Rail Coach Factory (RCF), Kapurthala, have alleged that some local leaders of the ruling Congress were trying to scuttle the election process for the Karamchari Co-Operative and Thrift and Credit Society, as the two Returning Officers (ROs) failed to reach the venue to issue voter slips, here today.

Talking to The Tribune, Mr Sarabjeet Singh, zonal president of the Technical Employees’ Union, one of the five unions, said that neither of the two Returning Officers (ROs), appointed to hold the elections, did reach at Sahibzada Ajit Singh Institute (Workers’ Club) at the RCF to issue voter slips to over 4,000 members of the society.

Mr Sarabjeet Singh alleged that they had not reached the venue at the behest of a local Congress leader, as the sixth union, RCF Mazdoor Union, close to the INTUC, a frontal organisation of the party, was not in a position to win the elections.

He further alleged that a conspiracy was hatched in an attempt to appoint an administrator to run the affairs of the society, having transactions of over Rs 14 crore annually, he alleged.

According to notification issued on June 30 by Assistant Registrar (AR), Cooperative Societies, Kapurthala, the voter slips were to be issued on July 19, whereas the elections were scheduled to be held on July 21.

Mr Sarabjeet Singh said that hundreds of members of the society kept on standing in queues from 8 am to 11 am, but neither of the two appointed ROs reached the venue to issue voter slips.

Later, when nearly 200 workers reached the AR’s office, none but a lady clerk was present there, he said, adding that thereafter they went to the office of the Deputy Registrar, Mr Daljeet Sharma, but there, too, no body was present.

Following this, they formed a procession and went to the office of the Deputy Commission, Mr Raminder Singh and brought the entire matter to his notice.

While the AR could not be contacted, the DC told The Tribune that he had already asked the local SDM to look into the matter.

To a query, he said that he would ensure free and fair election for the co-operative society on a new date, which would be announced shortly.

Jalandhar, July 19
Despite putting in hours of hard, painstaking work, Ms Neelam Salwaan, remains an unsung protagonist. Serving people without a hankering for the limelight, she has helped scores of hapless women of the Doaba region change their lot.

Ms Salwan, in her fifties, has rendered a yeoman’s service to the society for over 10 years, making poor women stand on their feet. Her work has neither been recognised by the administration nor by any politician of Jalandhar.

This has been no deterrent for an enthusiastic Ms Salwaan from following her heart in efforts to uplift the poor. Going ahead full steam, serving the society is her personal mission.

“So what if nobody recognises my work. I had resolved on my own to opt for social work and so it is my responsibility to pursue my passion without looking for material gains. No one is to be blamed for that as I have hardly told anybody about my work. How would people learn about it on their own?” is her straightforward, logical statement.

She admits in a discreet and reluctant manner that her work has been overlooked by the district administration and political leaders, besides others. Yet she has no grouse against anyone.

“Why should I go begging for recognition? I am satisfied as I have been doing my part of the job.”

Ms Salwaan has been runnning the Shanta Salwaan Welfare Society in the local Guru Nanak Pural (West) locality for the past nine years. With the help of the society she has train poor and helpless women in acquiring skills in embroidery, tailoring and painting. After a one-year certificate course from her institute scores of such women have become self-reliant.

“We train between 20 to 25 women every year without charging anything from them. My husband, Col S.K. Salwaan, (retd), who, is currently in-charge of the Army Placement Cell at the Army headquarters here, has been helping in my venture,” she reveals.

Apart from the sewing and embroidery centre, Ms Salwaan had organised free medical camps for poor and needy people of the area between 1996 and 2003. “Now I have left that as my age do not allow me to carry on with that much of work load,” said Ms Salwaan.

Phagwara, July 19
Deep factionalism was witnessed in Phagwara Congress last evening, when several senior Congressmen, including former Improvement Trust Chairman, Harjit Singh Parmar, and the present Improvement Trust Chairman, Balbir Raja Sodhi, a close confidant of Punjab Local Bodies Minister, Chaudhary Jagjit Singh, remained absent from the reception function of the newly-appointed District Congress Committee president Sukhpaul Singh Khera held at Shrinath Palace here.

When contacted, Mr Parmar and Mr Sodhi both expressed their ignorance about any such function and openly said that they were not invited at all. Tension prevailed before the function, when the Block Youth Congress Committee President, Mr Ashok Wadhwa, came out of the function hall when he saw the sticker of his chair missing. However, later he agreed to attend the function.

Meanwhile, all journalists of Phagwara boycotted the function due to indifferent attitude of the organisers. Though the print and electronics media persons went to attend the news conference of DCC President at 5 pm. But when none of the Congress organisers was seen even after 50 minutes, the journalists again announced to boycott and left the venue.