Jalandhar, June 14
Even as a continuous spell of rain brought relief by bringing down the temperature today, it wreaked havoc on the residents who had to wade through the deluged roads to reach their destinations.

The entrances to all prominent public places in the city, including bus stand, district administrative complex, Police Lines and Niku Park, were inundated with rainwater. The pedestrians had to pass through knee-deep water to reach these places.

Roads of all major colonies, including Model Town, Defence Colony, Ranjit Nagar, Rama Mandi and Basti Gujan, were filled with rainwater. All prominent city roads, including Nakodar Road, Kapurthala Road and Ladowali Road and even Domoria Pull, were inundated with the motorists finding it difficult to pass through.

Narinder Sharma, a resident of Adarsh Nagar, said even as there had been a provision of storm water on Kapurthala Road, it did not work owing to wrong re-carpeting of the road, covering at least 25 of the total 32 drain outlets.

Mayor Rakesh Rathore said the solution to the problem lay with the proper laying of the storm water system. He said works for laying of the system in the city had been sanctioned by the central government and funds to the tune of Rs 49 crore were expected in another three weeks. He said the amount would be transferred to the sewage board for the execution of the project.

Regarding rainwater harvesting system, which is to be started along roads at six to seven low-lying areas, the mayor said owing to imposition of the election code, the work could not be allotted. He said the work would be assigned in the first week of July.

HOSHIARPUR: The town and its surrounding areas experienced a moderate rainfall for more than seven hours since Friday midnight. The rain brought the mercury down and provided relief to the people from the scorching heat.

However, chocked drains, especially the Ganda nullah crossing the town, gave a harrowing time to the residents. The rainwater inundated almost all lanes and markets. Besides, it entered houses and shops located in the low-lying areas. The Bhangi choe was flooded after a long time.

Batala, June 14
The Punjab state election commission has issued directions to all the district election officers-cum-deputy commissioners and additional district electoral officers in the state that in lieu of a no-objection certificate from the municipal authorities - with respect to not having a defaulter for non payment of dues - the candidates may file an affidavit to this effect.

There were many complaints that the municipal authorities were not issuing no-dues certificates to many candidates.

Thereby the state election commission passed an order and circulated it to all the electoral officers of the state, whereby they were directed to accept an affidavit to the effect that they are not defaulters on account of non-payment of dues to the municipal council/nagar panchayat.

The returning officer shall accept the nomination and forward the affidavit to the concerned municipal councillor with the direction to report within 24 hours, failing which it shall be presumed that he is a defaulter in terms of Punjab Municipal Act.

Ashok Modgil, president, Batala BJP unit stated here today that the Akali-BJP government will contest the municipal elections on democratic values and will not accept the under hand method to get the nomination papers rejected. 

Nawanshahr, June 14
Rana Gurjit Singh, Congress MP from Jalandhar, joined the members of the Sandeep murder action committee here today. The MP’s visit to the house of the victim at village Malewal Kolian express to condolence with the family of the deceased, boosted the morale of the members, who have been observing hunger strike at Balachaur since Friday demanding the immediate arrest of the accused in the murder case.

Addressing the gathering at Balachaur, Rana condemned the police for it’s’ "dilly dallying” approach in nabbing the accused. Instead, the police has been registering cases against the members of the action committee at the behest of the SAD-BJP leaders, alleged the MP.

He also criticised the SAD MLA from Balachaur and chief parliamentary secretary Nand Lal, for his failure to echo the aspirations of the people. He should have used his political clout to expedite the police action against the accused and thus securing justice for the aggrieved family, he further said.

Lal, when contacted on phone, denied the allegations as baseless. Instead, the Congress and CPM leaders have been politicising the whole issue. “I have been working sincerely with the sole aim of seeking justice for the aggrieved family and do not want to indulge in politics on the issue. Besides, I do not want be a part of 'wrong acts' of the action committee," said Lal adding that he constituted a 'monitoring committee' headed by Bimal Kumar, to constantly take stock of the progress of the police action. 

Jalandhar, June 14
Gursimran Kaur of Guru Arjan Dev Senior Secondary School, Kartarpur, has topped the district in the class X examination conducted by the Punjab School Education Board. She secured 593 marks out of 650 and got the 38th rank in the state.

Similarly, six students of the city bagged positions in the list of top 100 students in the state. Harleen Kaur of New St Soldier School came second in the district and got 47th position in Punjab, while Navpreet Kaur, who got just one mark less than Harleen, managed third position in the district. Navpreet is a student of St Mary Convent High School. She got 591 marks.

The remaining three students, Yogesh Prabhaskar of Tagore Model Senior Secondary School and Nidhi and Nikita of Shiv Devi Girls High School have obtained 589 marks each. However, their merit positions in the state are 64th, 66th and 71st, respectively.

Hoshiarpur, June 14
World Blood Donors’ Day was observed under the presidentship of district health officer Dr M.L. Puri here today on the directions of the Punjab State AIDS Control Society.

The day was observed by the health and family welfare department in association with the Indian Society of Blood Transfusion and Immunohaematology (ISBTI).

Patron of the state chapter of ISBTI Dr D.B. Kapoor, who was the chief guest, inaugurated an exhibition and gave green signal to a students’ rally organised to popularise voluntary blood donation.

In his presidential address Puri stated that every year Indian hospitals needed one crore units of blood but less than 60 lakh units were collected through voluntary donation.

He said in Punjab about 25per cent and in Hoshiarpur less than 35 per cent blood was collected through voluntary donation. Secretary of the Punjab chapter of ISBTI Dr Ajay Bagga said if all healthy Indians between 18 and 60 years of age having weight more than 45 kg donated blood after every three months, India could become a country of voluntary blood donors. — OC