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Shot Shock
Army Vs Civilians
Boozed-up kids: Women up in arms against liquor vend
Field day: Take diversification of crops seriously, farmers told
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‘Do not care about interests of govt, just watch your own’
Hit by car, blue bull suffers serious injuries
Woman kills self
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Shot Shock
Jalandhar, April 2 While at least one bullet hit Ghumman in the neck, his friends Davinder Singh and Sandeep escaped unhurt. One of the assailants has been identified as Punjab police head constable’s son Manvir Cheema of Garha. Eyewitnesses Davinder and Sandeep told mediapersons that they had gone to the Model Town market for some work when a Maruti car overtook their Tata Safari vehicle near police station number six and stopped in front of it at around 6 pm. Suddenly a couple of more cars came and stopped around their vehicle. At least eight youths alighted from these vehicles. They attacked Ghumman and his friends with sharp-edged weapons. Meanwhile, some of them opened fire at them. They fired several rounds, a bullet hit Ghumman in the neck, whereas Davinder and Sandeep saved themselves by ducking, they said, adding that all this continued for several minutes. Davinder and Sandeep said they identified one of the attackers as Manvir Cheema, son of head constable Lakhwant Singh Cheema. Ghumman was taken to Oxford Hospital from where he was shifted to the civil hospital. Bhagwant’s father Bhupinder Singh Ghumman said the attack on his son was part of a conspiracy to kill his son. Bhupinder Singh claimed that his son had not been involved in any fight for the past about two years. Earlier also several false cases had been registered against him, he said. SHO Gurmeet Singh said two empty cartridges were recovered from the spot. He admitted that the victim’s friends had named Manvir Cheema as one of the attackers. At the same time, he said, it was yet to be verified whether he was a son of a head constable or not. Replying to a query, the SHO said Bhagwant’s statement was yet to be recorded as he was receiving treatment. He said some cases had been registered against Bhagwant some time back but he had not been involved in any case for the past about one year. Answering a question, he said the motive behind the attack was reportedly some old enmity. |
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Army Vs Civilians
Jalandhar, April 2 It has been a hidden agenda in the past too, but this time civil contestants have openly started raising their voice against the force, especially after they found that more than 60 per cent of the nearly 2,300 fresh applicants for inclusion of names in supplementary voting lists are army personnel. “We do not mind their inclusion in the list. But we believe that it has been done with an ulterior motive to get such persons elected in the board who are mere pawns,” alleged sitting members and contestants. “The army already has an adequate representation in the board with sub-area commander as its president. Also, there are five nominated members, including those from military hospital and garrison engineers. We suspect that they want to sway polls in favour of their men. The army personnel intend to get ex-servicemen elected to the board,” said former councillor Suresh Kumar Shashi, whose wife is contesting this time from ward number 2 which is reserved for women. Dr Madan Lal Sharma, former vice-president of the board and a contestant from ward number 5, pointed towards the supplementary list pasted on the walls of the cantonment board office. The list includes applicants from 28 AD regiment, postal unit, 402 SAT regiment EME and 154 Med regiment. Sharma said, “Nearly 732 applications of army personnel have come from my ward. It seems as if they have got some directions from their seniors to apply for inclusion of their names in voter lists. Since tomorrow is the last day of filing objections, I need to make a note of all the names so that I can make my representation before the board CEO.” Says Vinay Goel, a lawyer and cantonment resident: “The whole scenario has further led to straining of civil-military relations. There’s already a discord between the two groups over the issue of not allowing construction or renovation of houses in the area. Interestingly, the Army has been carrying out massive construction projects, including four-storey quarters, schools and mess. Civilians already face a lot of restrictions, including movement on certain roads and entry into some parks.” However, board member Rajinder Kumar differs as he sides with army officials on most matters. “They do this all because of security reasons and it’s valid”, he said. Cantonment board CEO Sumitra Mishra said, “We cannot refuse any one residing in cantonment - for the past six months - from applying for inclusion of name in the voter-list. It’s a different matter though that most of the applicants failed to fill the forms properly and got disqualified. Objections too are being filed in this regard and if found valid, more name could get struck off.” |
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Boozed-up kids: Women up in arms against liquor vend
Hoshiarpur, April 2 It is reported that the village women flew into a fury when on March 31 some of the children reached their houses under the influence of liquor as the rates of various liquor brands were slashed that date by the contractor. Bimla Devi, Janak Dulari and Sheela Devi expressed grief over the use of liquor by their children. They told the panchayat that their children used to purchase liquor from the village vend with the money meant for school fee or for purchasing notebooks, etc. and consumed it in the nearby khud. But on the alleged poor response from the panchayat they started the agitation. The agitation would continue till the liquor vend is shifted. Assistant excise and taxation commissioner Ram Lal said here this evening that the liquor vend was being run at the present place for the past so many years. However, he had deputed the excise inspector to go to the spot and after inquiring the matter, submit his report to him. “If the shifting of the vend is necessitated, we will shift it to another place to save the future of the village children,” added Ram Lal. — OC |
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Field day: Take diversification of crops seriously, farmers told
Hoshiarpur, April 2 Addressing hundreds of farmers on the occasion, PAU vice-chancellor Dr Manjit Singh Kang disclosed that the PBW 550 variety of wheat was resistant to wheat diseases in addition to having high production potential and could replace the already existing wheat variety PBW 343. The university had collaborated with various international organisations for wheat research. Appreciating the role of farmers for diversifying agriculture, Dr Kang stressed on the diversification of varieties of crops also. Presiding over the function, member of the PAU board Spinder Kaur Cheema asked the farmers to campaign against use of drugs and female foeticide and emphasised on development of work culture. |
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‘Do not care about interests of govt, just watch your own’
Jalandhar, April 2 Gunny bags to the mandis are dispatched from Jalandhar range office only and tenders are fiercely contested. Talking on behalf of the affected parties, Vijay Kumar, a contractor, told TNS that when they held a protest outside the secretariat yesterday, deputy commissioner A.S. Pannu assured them that he would do the needful and deputed ADC Kulbir Singh to sort out the matter. “When we went to the latter’s office today, we were told that the deputy director and district food and supplies officer had not turned up despite being called to discuss and redress the issue,” he pointed out. Elaborating on the alleged favouritism shown to certain contractors, he said the officers told them that tenders were being invited only for the transportation of wheat and not for transporting empty gunny bags. But on March 25, contractors Gurmukh Singh Malhi, Subash Chander and Jaspal Singh went to Chandigarh and somehow managed to send their bids from there. When the tender box, dispatched from Chandigarh, was opened here, their tenders were found.On their objection that they had not been informed about the process, the senior food and supplies department officers declared that since the tenders had not been called, these were being rejected, he added. Surprisingly, on March 1, the cancelled tenders were passed with an increase of 4.60 per cent for transporting the gunny bags for Punjgrain, Punsup and Markfed, three among the five agencies that are procuring wheat in Punjab this season. When they protested again, the officers said they would allot them the job for the remaining two agencies - Punjab Warehousing Corporation and Punjab Agro - at the same percentage so that every contractor had some work, he added. “We refused to do so and insisted that the work for all agencies should be allotted to us at 4 per cent hike as this will mean more savings for the state. On this, they said we all should look after our interests and not think about the losses to the government by their decision,” he alleged.Jaswant Singh Johal, another contractor, urged the deputy commissioner to cancel the tenders and call them afresh. The tenders should be opened and allotted in a transparent manner, preferably, at an open house in the secretariat, he said. |
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Hit by car, blue bull suffers serious injuries
Nawanshahr, April 2 It was struck by a car at a curve which led to fracture in its left front leg. The blue bull was pregnant and luckily the baby is safe as forest range officer Amarjit Singh and Wildlife Conservation Society president Nikhl Sengar reached the site and provided timely medical treatment to the injured animal. Sengar, while talking to The Tribune, lamented that such accidents had been on the rise in the Balachaur and Garhshankar areas falling in the vicinity of forests. He stressed on the need for creating awareness among the masses regarding the protection of wild animals. Boards, cautioning the vehicles to drive slow at the “animal crossing points” in the vicinity of the forest area should be installed, suggested Nikhil. The WildlifeConservation Society was going to install such boards at some places soon, he added. |
Woman kills self
Hoshiarpur, April 2 Darshana’s husband Manjinder Singh alleged that Satya Devi, wife of Dilbag Singh, of the same village, used to harass his wife. A case has been registered against Satya. — OC |
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