Jalandhar, June 23
The projects of construction of three railway overbridges in the city, all of which started at different time, have got stuck at the same point of time. The construction of approaches of all three of them is complete but is without spans atop the crossings connecting the two sides.

While the project of Domoria overbridge, which started nearly five years back, has been lying stalled for the past two years, the construction of span of the DAV College overbridge (that began in 2006 end) has yet to be taken over by railways officials.

Similarly, the Maqsudan overbridge across the Amritsar-Delhi railway line, that had begun almost a year back, is also awaiting the laying of slabs for the span portion. The inordinate delay has led to much inconvenience to the residents living on either side of the construction area owing to traffic congestion, pot-holed side lanes and too much of dust. With the monsoons almost near, the trouble has increased as the areas remain waterlogged during rains.

Since another overbridge is coming up atop the Nakodar railway line near Lyallpur Khalsa College, the residents around the area are worried about its fate as well.

However, there seems to be a ray of hope for the Domoria overbridge, that connects the old city with the new areas, as local officials, alongwith MP Naresh Gujral, met the railway officials in Delhi recently. Mayor Rakesh Rathour has assured completion of the project by March 2009.

The construction of the DAV College overbridge took off at a good pace. It had then remained stalled for some time owing to the forest department approvals. Now it is stuck again owing to some queries by the railways officials.

The municipal corporation officials from the B&R department have said there are chances of the work getting resumed since the proposals forwarded to the RITES have been approved and tenders are likely to be floated in a week’s time. The Maqsudan overbridge is getting constructed by the PWD department. The work is lying pending owing to delay in the issuance of tenders by the railways authorities.

B.S. Tuli, XEN, said the approaches had come up in just one year and only bitumen work was left to be done. He said once the railways complete the span, the overbridge would be ready for use.

Jalandhar, June 23
Though the Punjab government claims success in maintaining law and order in the state, the situation is not good at the grassroots level. There has been a significant increase in the number of human rights violation cases in the state for the past couple of years. In an application filed under the Right to Information Act, city residents Iqbal Singh Brar and Manvir Singh asked the State Information Commission to give details about the number of cases of human rights violation in various districts of Punjab.

According to the information revealed by the Punjab State Human Rights Commission (PSHRC) there were 57 cases of human rights violation against the Punjab Police in 1997 and the number increased to 492 in 1998. In 1999 the number reached 1,094 which further rose to 2,401 complaints in 2000.

The trend continued in 2001 too. The PSHRC received 3,642 complaints in 2001 and the number increased to 4,344 cases in 2002. Even 2003 witnessed a growing pattern and 6,422 complaints were filed.

Interestingly, the figures reached astonishing number of 9,661 in 2004. In 2005 there was a marginal increase of 174 cases against the Punjab Police and the number reached to 9,835. However, 2006 saw a decline and only 8,852 cases were registered.

But year 2007 again witnessed an increase and 9,410 complaints of human rights violation were received by the PSHRC.

Similarly, complaints pertaining to the violation of human rights of women too saw an increasing trend. While PSHRC got only one complaint in 1997, 1998 and 1999 reported 27 and 64 cases, respectively. The number crossed the 100 mark in 2000 and a total of 236 cases were registered. In 2001 the number rose to 311, which declined to 190 in 2002. But the following years once again saw an increase with 219 cases being registered in 2003, 501 cases in 2004 and 523 cases in 2005. However, 2006 reported just 472 cases while the number again increased to 510 in 2007.

Even the cases of violation of human rights of children have increased as they were four in 1998 and reached 12 in 2007.

Maximum numbers of these cases have been reported from the border districts of Punjab, including Amritsar and Ferozepore. While Amritsar reported the highest number of 1,771, Ferozepore saw a total of 1,518 cases. However, Ropar and Barnala registered only 152 and 157 cases, respectively.

Talking to The Tribune, human rights ADGP J.P. Virdi said, “The increasing number of cases shows a positive trend as a large number of people are becoming aware of their rights.” It was due to this fact that various departments in Punjab had been receiving a lot of applications every day, he added.

Nawanshahr, June 23
Following a complaint by an ex-serviceman against an SHO and other staff of a police station, SSP Shashi Prabha Dwivedi has placed the SHO under suspension and asked DSP Narinder Bedi to inquire into the episode.

Complainant Capt (retd) Kundan Lal of Katwara village has accused SHO Prem Singh and other policemen of allegedly committing atrocities and implicating him in a fabricated case and keeping him in “illegal” police custody.

Narrating his tale of woes, Capt Lal (62) said on June 18, when he went to the Pojewal police station to lodge a complaint against SDO, PSEB, Saroya, for not paying heed to his complaint regarding an electric pole, which had been posing a great threat to the people of the area, the SHO said it was not the duty of the police to set electricity poles right.

Instead of lodging the complaint, the SHO started abusing and threatening to kill Lal on the pretext of a complaint against another police employee Kailash Chand (also a neighbour of Lal), which had earlier been filed by Lal regarding the drainage of sullage water at Katwara village.

Although he clarified that he had not come there to complain against Chand this time, the SHO did not relent and beat him. “I became unconscious and found myself in a cell when I regained consciousness,” said Lal.

The SHO then called Kamala, wife of Kailash, at the police station and got a complaint against Lal registered.

“The SHO did not even let anyone to inform my wife about the incident. But some persons got the news about the incident and got my bail sanctioned from the Balachaur tehsidar,” Lal said.

Lal was admitted to the Civil Hospital, Saroya, on June 19. The doctors found 17 injuries inflicted on his body. Prem Singh, when contacted, tried to evade calls. A large number of ex-servicemen , led by deputy director, Sainik welfare, Major Yashpal Singh, rallied for the victim today and met the SSP. — OC

Tarn Taran, June 23
The municipal committee elections to be held on June 30 in the district are giving a tough time to the district police chief as candidates and leaders of various political parties are hiring “services” of Amritsar-based gangsters to win the elections.

According to information, district police chief H.S. Chahal has asked Amritsar SSP Kunwar Vijay Partap Singh to send him the details, including photographs, of various gangs operational in the holy city.

The information would be used to keep a close watch on these gangs which include Jagtar boxer gang, Lekhari gang and Kobra gang.

Talking to The Tribune, Chahal said the police had received information that the candidates had contacted these gangsters to work for them to rig the elections by pressurising public to cast in their favour.

However, he added that the police was taking all possible measures to thwart any such attempts.

He said after receiving information from the Amritsar SSP, the police would aware people about them so that these anti-social elements could be nabbed.

Besides, the police had been also trying to identify the candidates and political leaders who had been seeking support of these hardcore criminals.

Hoshiarpur, June 23
Out of 181 polling booths set up for the upcoming municipal elections of Hoshiarpur, Garhshankar, Shamchaurasi, Hariana, Tanda, Garhdiwala, Dasuya and Mukerian municipalities in the district, as many as 94 of them have been identified as sensitive.

Hoshiarpur SSP Sukhchain Singh Gill said measures were being taken to ensure peaceful poll on June 30. He said two police constables (each) would be deputed at non-sensitive polling booths whereas the number would be doubled at sensitive booths. Three platoons of constables at the district headquarters and one each at the sub-divisional head quarter would be kept on reserve. — OC