Jalandhar, March 25
Three persons were killed in a road accident near Paragpur here on the Jalandhar-Phagwara road on Tuesday morning.

The deceased, who were the residents of different parts of Uttar Pradesh, were coming from Phagwara towards Jalandhar in a goods carrier. The accident took place when their speedy vehicle hit a parked container carrier in the rear.

The deceased have been identified as Bablu and Mahavir, both brothers and residents of Aligarh and Ravinder of Bulandshahar (UP). They died on the spot.

Amritsar, March 25
The Vigilance Bureau of Ludhiana today arrested municipal town planner (MTP) Shakti Sagar Bhatia and his two colleagues in connection with an old case of a “missing file”.

Bhatia, who holds dual charge of Amritsar and Ludhiana, has been facing a number of complaints in both the cities. Recently, he was in the web of controversies following selective demolition of “illegal portions” on The Mall in Amritsar.

The VB Ludhiana had also arrested two draftsmen Nirmal Singh and Mohinder Paul who along with MTP were “indicted” for converting a residential building into a commercial site by compounding a lane in 1999.

According to sources, a resident had made a number of complaints against the MTP and the draftsmen but to no avail. Finally the complainant filed a petition in the Punjab and Haryana High court which summoned the records pertaining to usurping of the lane.

After the scrutiny of record, it was found that one of the important files relating to the compounding of the building was missing. The Vigilance Bureau, Ludhiana, registered a case under various sections, including 420, 65, 67 and 120-B of the Indian Penal Code and started investigation.

Bhatia had sought station leave from municipal commissioner D.P.S. Kharbanda today and had gone to Ludhiana from where he was arrested by the vigilance sleuths.

Hoshiarpur, March 25
Enraged with the unfair action of the Hoshiarpur Improvement Trust (HIT), around 250 inhabitants of Mohalla Shri Hari Krishan Nagar (under scheme No. 2 of HIT), led by general secretary of the BSP state unit Bhagwan Singh Chohan, staged a dharna and blocked traffic on the Hoshiarpur-Phagwara road for more than an hour on Tuesday.

They protested against the demolition of the houses of Ram Parkash and Harbhajan Dass by the HIT.

The agitators lifted the dharna only when naib-tehsildar Manjit Singh and DSP (special branch) Joginder Pal gave an assurance that justice would be given to both the aggrieved persons.

It is reported that executive officer Surinder Kumari and SDO Rakesh Sharma, with the help of the police, got the houses of Ram Parkash and Harbhajan Dass demolished in scheme of No. 2 on the pretext that these were illegally constructed.

Parkash and Dass told mediapersons that prior to the demolition the HIT had neither served them any notice regarding illegal construction of their houses nor informed them about the proposed demolition.

Ram Parkash bemoaned that he had purchased the 10-marla plot in 1973 and had constructed a house. Later, the HIT notified scheme No. 2 consisting of 68 acres 7 Marla land and their colony was also to come under the scheme. After notification, the authorities of the HIT declared the construction of the existing houses illegal.

Earlier, his house was demolished by the HIT in 2005 and later given a fresh demarcation of 7 marla land to him. In July last year, he again constructed his house in the fresh demarcation. During construction, the authorities of the HIT never raised any objection or stopped him to construct the house.

Nawanshahr, March 25
Acting on a complaint regarding alleged black marketing of LPG cylinders, district food and supplies controller (DFSC) Parveen Vij sent a team, led by assistant food and supplies officer (AFSO) Ashwani Kumar Sharda, to conduct a raid on a shop situated at nearby Langroya village. The team seized a total of 18 LPG cylinders from the shop.

The district food and supplies controller said while 14 LPG cylinders were meant for domestic use, four were commercial ones. Out of the 14 domestic LPG cylinders, 10 were filled with LPG.

Shop owner Nitin Bassi could not give any satisfactory explanation regarding possession of these cylinders, further revealed the DFSC. More such raids would be conducted in the future, he added.

Hoshiarpur, March 25
The Punjab government has appointed subdivisional magistrates (SDMs) as special officers of municipalities across the state. In addition to their prior duties, the SDMs would govern these municipalities in their respective subdivisions. This decision has been taken keeping in view the fact that elections would not be held in these municipalities within the expiry of their term. The SDM of Hoshiarpur has been assigned control of Hoshiarpur, Shamchaurasi, Garhdiwala and Hariana municipalities. — OC