Jalandhar, July 2
With an addition of nearly 2,550 seats for B.Tech in 10 new engineering colleges of the state, taking admission to the course through PTU-CET will be a cakewalk for almost every aspirant.

While 21,450 candidates had appeared in the entrance test, there are more than 18,015 seats in various streams of engineering courses. Since three more engineering colleges are likely to get the Punjab government notification in a day or two, another 720 seats are likely to be added up.

A few hundred candidates who have managed to get seats through other entrance tests have not appeared in the counselling, thus leaving even a better chance for the other PTU applicants. Of the total 1,117 top candidates who had been called till half time, only 613 candidates turned up.

PTU sources informed that while the attendance now was close to 55 per cent, it was likely to go down with a fall of ranks as most students low on merit would already have taken seats in 33 per cent management quota.

Since PTU counselling has preceded the AIEEE counselling this year, which is scheduled to start from July 4 for 510 seats at Dr B.R. Ambedkar National Institute of Technology (NIT), Jalandhar, many top rank candidates who have got their seats reserved here will leave vacancies in PTU to join a more prestigious institute, it is being said.

All such seats which will fall vacant will then be filled in the second counselling to be held later by the PTU during which the candidates will get an opportunity to upgrade their seat into a more sought-after college and a more preferred stream, of course by paying Rs 2,500 counselling fee again.

Meanwhile, all computer science engineering and electronics engineering general category seats had got filled up in Guru Nanak Dev University, regional campus, at Ladhewali, Punjabi University, Chitkara Institute of Engineering and Technology and DAV Institute of Engineering and Technology (DAVIET). Even the IT seats at DAVIET were full before half time.

Jalandhar, July 2
Coming to the rescue of Ravinder Pal Singh alias Rinku, the Punjab Youth Congress (PYC) on Wednesday sought re-investigation into the criminal case slapped on the former by the police.

General secretary of the youth wing Monty Gurmeet Sehgal met DIG Jalandhar and gave him a representation, seeking re-investigation into the case registered against Rinku, who is the chief of district youth Congress (Urban), at Division No III police station.

Sehgal claimed that Rinku has been falsely implicated in the case by his political rivals. He also urged the DIG to entrust the responsibility of reinvestigation to some senior police officer.

Notably, Rinku was arressted by the police on the charge of murderous assault on a station house officer Rajendra Nath on June 28.

The cops and supporters of Sethi had clashed near the railway station. The SHO had sustained serious injuries, while two head constables received minor injuries in the incident. 

Hoshiarpur, July 2
A day after the completion of municipal elections, the local authorities of the Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB) have restarted the imposition of unscheduled prolonged power cuts in this muggy weather, causing great inconvenience to the public and badly affecting industrial growth.

During the recent municipal council, zila parishad, block samiti and panchayat elections, only minor power cuts were being imposed to give an impression that there was no power shortage in the state and they would get regular power supply in future. But all this was being done only to win over the voters, alleged social activist Amarjit Singh Amar today. A majority of the people who favoured the SAD-BJP alliance, felt cheated as the prolonged power cuts resurfaced soon after the elections were over, he added. — OC

Hoshiarpur, July 2
The decision of the Jammu and Kashmir government to revoke the order of the allotment of land to the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board for developing facilities for the pilgrims is a complete surrender to fundamentalist and separatist forces. By revoking the allotment of the land, the Congress has demonstrated that it is one with fundamentalists in creating a theocratic environment in the Kashmir valley.

This was alleged by Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) president Manu Sharma in a press release here this afternoon.

“It is for the Amarnath Shrine Board to develop facilities for the pilgrims and not for the tourism department to use this land for the limited purpose of tourism on a commercial basis.

Today, democracy, secularism and civility are under serious threat in Jammu and Kashmir. It is a result of the Congress’ approach and policies since Independence that the Hindu minority has been thrown out of the valley. Temples have been destroyed and desecrated. Even the innocuous act of providing land for sheds and toilet facilities for the pilgrims has been withdrawn,” said Manu Sharma.

The ABVP demands that the land for development of facilities be restored to the ASB.

The ABVP fully supported the RSS, the BJP, the VHP and Bajrang Dal for a nationwide strike tomorrow to protest against this monstrous act of revoking the order to allot land to the ASB, added Sharma.

Kapurthala, July 2
The Sultanpur Lodhi police has been accused of putting pressure on Pendu Mazdoor Union (PMU) leaders to reach a compromise with the accused in a property-grab case. When the police failed to achieve the target it falsely implicated them in a criminal case, alleged state president of PMU Tarsem Peter, while talking to The Tribune on Wednesday.

“Pressure tactics were being used by police to reach a compromise with the accused, including Sultanpur Lodhi DSP’s reader Karnail Singh and constable Jaswant Singh, who along with two other persons were booked on kidnapping, forgery and house-grab charges on April 3,” said Peter. The FIR was registered against the after the intervention of the SSP.

Peter claimed that the possession of the house, which belonged to one Inderjeet Kaur of Ahmedpur Channa village, was still with the accused.

The PMU decided to pursue the case and reached the village on June 3. “On June 4, the leaders were called to thana to hold the talks. However, when they did not succumb to the pressure, the police slapped a false criminal case on them,” alleged Peter, adding that some of the PMU men, including state committee member Balwinder Singh Bhullar and Shahkot leader Gurbaksh Kaur, booked were not even present in Kapurthala at that time.

On the other hand, rubbishing the allegation of pressuring PMU leaders, Sultanpur Lodhi DSP Tarlochan Singh said the accused have been booked under sections 452, 380, 427, 506, 448, 511, 148, 149, 120 B of IPC as they were trying to get the possession of the house forcibly.

On PMU’s claim that some of their leaders named in the FIR were not even present at the spot, he said the entire matter was now being inquired by Kapurthala SP HQ Chaman Lal.

Interestingly, two simultaneous inquiries are being conducted into the entire case.

While Kapurthala SP HQ Chaman Lal was looking into the registration of FIR against PMU leaders, Jalandhar SP traffic Rakesh Kaushal was probing the matter regarding the case registered against the accused, including 
two cops.

When contacted, both the SPs told The Tribune that probes were on and everything would be clear after their completion.

Jalandhar, July 2
Harassed pensioners will no longer run from pillar to post for the redressal of their grievances since the government has chosen the All-India Central Pensioners Association for the implementation of the Pensioners Portal, a mission mode project under the national e-governance plan.

As many as 18 pensioners’ associations have been selected by the ministry of personnel, public grievances and pensions for the project, which envisages the welfare of central pensioners across the country by providing them information and guidance on pension and retirement-related matters.

V.S. Jolly, secretary-general of the association, said the news had brought cheer to hundreds of pensioners living in this region. “Now we can be assured of speedy redressal of our grievances for which we had to face red tape and callous officials,” he added.

“So far we had to wait for a long time for a reply from the ministry for cases referred by us for removal of anomalies or other such issues.

In many cases the complainants are elderly people who are at the fag end of their lives where even a little delay could prove too late,” he pointed out.

“The association has 12 chapters across the state and Ambala with over 7,000 members.

With everything online, we can keep track of the complaints and the action being taken by the ministry,” he added.

He said the department had already accorded sanction for the procurement and installation of necessary hardware/software on their premises by the National Informatics Centre (NIC). All expenses would be borne by the ministry, he informed.

“Officials from the ministry are in touch with us and have assured us that the necessary setup would be in place within a fortnight. They have also asked us to keep them informed if the systems were functioning satisfactorily,” he said.

The associations selected in the region include the Association of Retired Officers of IA&AD, Chandigarh, the Indian Ex-services League, New Delhi, and the Retired Railway Employees Welfare Association, Jagadhari.