J A L A N D H A R

Village Land
Dalits thwart admn’s auction attempt
Jalandhar, October 17
Dalits of Muridpur village today thwarted an attempt by the authorities to auction the village common land that has been in their possession for the past many decades.

Atrocities Act being misused, say doctors
Phagwara, October 17
The medical fraternity along with the activists of General Samaj Manch Punjab today came out in support of Dr Rajeev Aggarwal, who was accused of misbehaviour with a Dalit patient and was forced to apologise.

PNDT violation: First conviction in district
Jalandhar, October 17
In the district’s first conviction in a sex determination case, a city court today sentenced a nursing home owner in Adampur to two years of imprisonment and a imposed a fine of Rs 5,000 on him. CJM Varinder Aggarwal pronounced the sentence in the case that had been registered under the PNDT Act, 1994, against Jagdish Singh Aulakh of Aulakh Hospital, Adampur.

It’s degree time for NITians Jalandhar, October 17 As many as 244 graduates and scores of postgraduate students from Dr B.R. Ambedkar National Institute of Technology (NIT) were awarded degrees at the institute’s fourth annual convocation here today. The graduates included those from the various streams of engineering in chemical, civil, computer science, electronics and communication, industrial, leather, mechanical and textile technology. Engineers savour the moment.— Photo by S.S. Chopra

PIO gets SFC notice for ‘not providing’ info
Jalandhar, October 17
State Information Commission Punjab has issued a notice to public information officer at Gurdaspur deputy commissioner’s office on the complaint of Gauree Dayal Sharma of Kotha Bhim Sain in Dina Nagar of Gurdaspur district.

NRI’s purse snatched
Hoshiarpur, October 17
Two unidentified motorcycle-borne youths snatched a purse containing Rs 3,500 cash, 3 gold finger rings, a wrist watch and 3 pairs of gold clip-on earrings from Sandip Kaur, an NRI, while she was returning to her parental house near a temple at Fatehgarh here on Tuesday night.

Delimitation ‘may delay’ NC poll
Phagwara, October 17
Constitution of a delimitation committee to review ‘Wardbandi’ in towns by the state government can well delay elections to municipal committees in the state. Till the time the committee submits its report to the government, time to conduct polls for local bodies due in the next few months will be past. 

Domestic Quarrel
Woman sets herself ablaze
Batala, October 17
SSP R.N. Dhoke told mediapersons here today that a married woman, Gurmeet Kaur, committed suicide by setting herself ablaze after pouring kerosene on herself. 

One dies in bike-car crash
Kapurthala, October 17
Nachattar Singh of Dhariwal Bet village was killed when his motorcycle collided with a car near Dhilwan bus stand on the Beas road last evening. A pillion rider on the motorcycle, Paramjit Singh of Dharilwal Bet, and car driver Avtar Singh of Delhi were injured in the collision. 

Bhangra, skits enthral audience
Youth fest gets off to flying start

Nawanshahr, October 17  The Youth Festival (Zone B Men) of Guru Nanak Dev University got off to a colourful start at Amardeep Singh Shergill Memorial College, Mukandpur in Nawanshahr district. The competitions were held at three different places on the campus. The program started with a bhangra.  Students perform a skit during the festival.— Tribune photo by Pawan Sharma

Village Land
Dalits thwart admn’s auction attempt 
Amarjit Thind
Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, October 17
Dalits of Muridpur village today thwarted an attempt by the authorities to auction the village common land that has been in their possession for the past many decades.

Members of the 27 families of the village along with scores of union activists, sat on a Dharna here on Wednesday to prevent the entry of the block development and panchayat officials (BDPO) and the police, after coming to know that the officials alongwith the police would reach the village and auction the land despite a status quo granted by a city court in 2005.

Kashmir Singh Ghugh Shor, state secretary of the Pendu Mazdoor Union, said certain influential familes have been at loggerheads with the landless dalits who have been using the land for tying their cattle, storing fodder, manure and other activities, for the past many years.

“Both parties have also had many altercations in the past but this time the landlords connived with officials of the BDPO office and the police to take possession of the land on the pretext of auctioning it,” he alleged.

He said officials of the administration waited at the Bhogpur police station with a strong posse of police and a fire brigade till late in the evening, in the hope that the dharna would be lifted and they would carry out the auction.

“We called up the MLA who too expressed his inabilility to come to our rescue, in face of strong political pressure. We have brought the matter to the notice of the Punjab human rights commission and will also file a contempt petition in the courts,” Kashmir Singh added.

Singh said the atrocities on dalits have increased ever since this government came to power. The landlords have been bent upon driving us out and staking claim to hundreds of acres of government and common village land in the state, he pointed out.

The regime seems to have forgotten that they had promised us free land for houses, loans and other concessions that are nowhere to be seen now, he alleged.

He said in case the administration went ahead with the auction they would be forced to take matters in their own hands.

Singh also alleged that an officer-police-politician-land mafia network was openly operating in the state and was targeting disputed properties, thumbing a nose at the law. 

Atrocities Act being misused, say doctors 
Our Correspondent

Phagwara, October 17
The medical fraternity along with the activists of General Samaj Manch Punjab today came out in support of Dr Rajeev Aggarwal, who was accused of misbehaviour with a Dalit patient and was forced to apologise.

The activists and doctors first assembled in local Hargobind Nagar ground, then held a protest march in the town. A protest rally was also organised before Phagwara SDM office, which was addressed by manch state president Fateh Singh, general secretary Girish Sharma, Phagwara president Dr Ashok Sharma, Dr Satnam Singh Parmar, General Category Employees Welfare Federation Punjab President Nirmal Singh, Dr RPS Virk, Dr Raman Aggarwal and Dr Punit Galhotra.

They urged the administration to initiate steps to prevent misuse of the Atrocity Act and nab the mischievous persons trying to spoil the communal harmony in the town.

The protestors alleged that Dr Rajeev Aggarwal was forced to apologise for nothing and his own father had a cardiac arrest on hearing the news of the humiliation of his son. They also mentioned incidents in which the residents belonging to general category were falsely implicated in caste-based cases and became victims of Atrocities Act. The protestors demanded high level impartial enquiries in all such cases. Later the demonstrators submitted a detailed memorandum to Phagwara SDM Amarjeet Paul.

Trouble began on October 13 when hundreds of the activists belonging to Dalit organisations hold demonstration and sat on dharna in front of local Aggarwal Hospital alleging misbehaviour and caste-based abuses by Dr Rajeev Aggarwal with a dalit patient. Though peace was restored after the apology by the doctor then, but it was strongly opposed by several organisations belonging to general categories.

PNDT violation: First conviction in district

Jalandhar, October 17
In the district’s first conviction in a sex determination case, a city court today sentenced a nursing home owner in Adampur to two years of imprisonment and a imposed a fine of Rs 5,000 on him. CJM Varinder Aggarwal pronounced the sentence in the case that had been registered under the PNDT Act, 1994, against Jagdish Singh Aulakh of Aulakh Hospital, Adampur.

Civil surgeon Dr J P Singh confirmed that Aulakh was the first one to convicted under the act. “Five more such cases were under trial,” he added. He said the accused had distributed pamphlets claiming that couples who undergo the treatment offered by him would be blessed with sons. — TNS

It’s degree time for NITians 
Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, October 17
As many as 244 graduates and scores of postgraduate students from Dr B.R. Ambedkar National Institute of Technology (NIT) were awarded degrees at the institute’s fourth annual convocation here today.

The graduates included those from the various streams of engineering in chemical, civil, computer science, electronics and communication, industrial, leather, mechanical and textile technology. Those who got M.Tech degrees included 10 from industrial engineering, three from material engineering, 14 from structural engineering and three from textile engineering.

Vice-chancellor of Jamia Millia Islamia University Prof Mushirul Hassan awarded degrees to the students. He said the students now had ample opportunities to further go in for specialisation in India or abroad or take up jobs as per their calibre. Chairperson of the board of governors of the institute Sushma Berlia presided over the function.

PIO gets SFC notice for ‘not providing’ info
Dharmendra Joshi
Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, October 17
State Information Commission Punjab has issued a notice to public information officer at Gurdaspur deputy commissioner’s office on the complaint of Gauree Dayal Sharma of Kotha Bhim Sain in Dina Nagar of Gurdaspur district.

In the notice, a copy of which is procured by The Tribune, the commission directed the PIO that either he personally or through an authorised officer not below the rank of assistant PIO should appear during the next hearing on the complaint on November 6 at 10 am in the bench constituted by state information commissioner Rupan Deol Bajaj.

Sending a copy of three-page complaint along with the notice to PIO, the state information commission stated in case the information to the applicant was already supplied, a copy of the same might be sent for record along with a receipt from the complainant and a copy thereof should be brought on the date of hearing.

In his complaint to the commission, the complainant Gauree Dayal Sharma stated that he had submitted an application at DC’s office on February 22, this year under Right to Information Act, 2005 to get information about action taken on his complaint submitted to DC on July 16, 2005 against municipal committee Dina Nagar executive officer Manjinder Singh and junior engineer Rajesh Sahni.

The complainant further said in his complaint to the commission that under the RTI Act, he should have been provided required information by March 29 this year but the PIO failed to do so even till date.

Gauree Dayal Sharma alleged in his complaint to DC that in violation of rules and regulations, Dinanagar municipal committee had constructed a nullah in May-June 2005 from old Nanonangal road to left side of Kothey Bhim Sain for the outlet of waste water.

He had also sent a reminder to all concerned authorities including DC on August 31, 2005 about his complaint.

NRI’s purse snatched
Our correspondent

Hoshiarpur, October 17
Two unidentified motorcycle-borne youths snatched a purse containing Rs 3,500 cash, 3 gold finger rings, a wrist watch and 3 pairs of gold clip-on earrings from Sandip Kaur, an NRI, while she was returning to her parental house near a temple at Fatehgarh here on Tuesday night.

According to police sources, Sandip came from Italy just ten days ago and visited her parents’ house here on October 15.

After making some purchases in the local market, Sandip, alongwith her sister-in-law Balwinder Kaur, was returning to back on a rickshaw, when a motorcycle-borne youth suddenly snatched her purse which carried the aforementioned items including the keys of her house in Italy. — OC

Delimitation ‘may delay’ NC poll
Our correspondent

Phagwara, October 17
Constitution of a delimitation committee to review ‘Wardbandi’ in towns by the state government can well delay elections to municipal committees in the state. Till the time the committee submits its report to the government, time to conduct polls for local bodies due in the next few months will be past. Administrators for the municipal committees will have to be appointed immediately after the expiry of the terms of the present ones. Decision on holding elections for local bodies will be taken only after new wardbandi is decided upon which could delay these elections by a few months, according to sources.

A circular to this effect has been issued by director local bodies to different municipal committees. According to the circular received today, SDM Amarjeet Paul, has been appointed chairman of the Delimitation Committee while MLA Ch Swarana Ram, a representative of DC Kapurthala, Nagar Council, president Malkiat Singh Ragbotra, executive officer, Paramjit Singh, Block BJP president Tejaswi Bhardwaj, councilors Inderjit Sonker (SAD), Surinder Singh (BJP), Brij Bhushan Parbhakar and Pawan Sharma Pappi (Congress) and Surinder Kaur (BSP) will be members of this committee.

SDM Amarjeet Paul has called the first meeting of the committee for delimitation of wards on October 22 at the council office to discuss matters related to the delimitation of wards of the town in details.

Domestic Quarrel
Woman sets herself ablaze 
Our Corresponent

Batala, October 17
SSP R.N. Dhoke told mediapersons here today that a married woman, Gurmeet Kaur, committed suicide by setting herself ablaze after pouring kerosene on herself. On the statement of Mangal Singh, deceased’s brother, the police had registered a case against her husband Amar Singh, mother-in-law Tripta and father-in-law.

The body of the deceased had been sent to the local civil hospital for post-mortem. The accused had been absconding.

SSP Dhoke said Amar Singh, resident of Simble Chowk, got married to Gurmeet Kaur about 20 years ago. They used to quarrel with each other on one pretext or the other.

About four days ago they had a quarrel on an issue of attending a function. Gurmeet Kaur poured kerosene on her clothes and set herself ablaze. She got seriously burnt. Gurmeet’s in-laws, instead of admitting her to a hospital, tried to treat her at home. But, she succumbed to her injuries last night.

One dies in bike-car crash

Kapurthala, October 17
Nachattar Singh of Dhariwal Bet village was killed when his motorcycle collided with a car near Dhilwan bus stand on the Beas road last evening. A pillion rider on the motorcycle, Paramjit Singh of Dharilwal Bet, and car driver Avtar Singh of Delhi were injured in the collision. Both injured were admitted to Radha Swami hospital in Beas. Nachattar and Paramjit were going to their fields from the Miani Adda side when the collision took place. — TNS

Bhangra, skits enthral audience
Youth fest gets off to flying start
Our Correspondent

Nawanshahr, October 17 
The Youth Festival (Zone B Men) of Guru Nanak Dev University got off to a colourful start at Amardeep Singh Shergill Memorial College, Mukandpur in Nawanshahr district. The competitions were held at three different places on the campus. The program started with a bhangra. The participants from different colleges like DAV Jalandhar, Lyallpur Khalsa, Guru Nanak and APJ set the stage on fire with their power-packed performances.

Famous Punjabi singers Nachhatar Gill and Inderjit Nikku were the chief guests. Gill, while addressing the students, said such kind of functions give students a perfect platform to showcase their talent. Inderjit Nikku, who has been trained by Shamshad Ali, head of the music department of the host college, donated a handsome amount for promotion of music and artistes. At the second venue, audience were mesmerised by a rich classical music feast. The third venue saw students taking part in various contests including rangoli, flower arrangement and phulkari. The principal Dr Atamjit Singh motivated students to participate in extra-curricular activities to ensure overall personality development. In skit contest, the teams focused on social problems like femicide, corruption and growing influence of western culture.