Jalandhar, July 3
It has not even been a week since the panchayati raj and municipal council elections concluded, but power cuts are already back making life difficult for residents in the hot and humid weather.

Residents of rural as well as urban areas have been facing power cuts for six to 10 hours a day in the scorching heat since the elections concluded on June 30.

While the residents living in the city have been bearing the brunt of power cuts for at least six hours a day, the condition of the villagers is worse as they face power cuts for nearly 10 hours a day.

The residents of Jalandhar got power supply for only six hours (from 6 am to 6 pm) during day time on Thursday. They had to face power cuts from 6 am to 7 am, 10 am to 12.30 pm and 2.30 pm to 5 pm.

Dr. Anita Kalia, a resident of Sheetal Apartments, near Pathankot Chowk, said there was a power cut for only an hour or so during the past three months but suddenly they had to face power cuts for at least six hours a day in last three days, making life hell for them.

Sandeep of the Krishan Nagar locality said the water supply was also being adversely affected during power cuts, which was a cause for great inconvenience, especially because water was usually unavailable at the time he had to get ready to leave for his workplace.

JP Nagar resident D.P. Kaushal said most of the residents who could not install either generators or inverters on their premises were left with no option but to bear the brunt of power cuts, he said, adding even the generators and inverters were rendered ineffective due to prolonged power cuts.

A cause of concern for the residents is the fact that there is almost no possibility of respite from the acute power cuts in the near future except torrential rains in the catchment areas of the dams, said PSEB SE, Jalandhar circle, K.P.S. Kler.

Denying general perception that power cuts were back soon after elections, Kler said the power cuts were being imposed only because of a huge gap in the demand and supply of electricity.

Answering a question, he said, “As far as power cuts are concerned, the condition could become worse if it does not rain shortly.” Kler claimed power cuts were being imposed for five hours in the urban and six hours in the rural areas.

Jalandhar, July 3
Taking a cue from cities gripped with the obsession of a fast-paced routine, accentuated by racing cars, hi-tech gadgets and an aggressively modern lifestyle, Jalandhar too is following suit and is fast heading towards being converted into a modernised avatar of the quiet, peaceful, complacent town that it once used to be.

But this so-called modernisation, in turn, comes with a price of its own. Things seem to be happening too much too soon for the city which in the process has landed itself into a situation ridden by utter chaos and confusion.

From the posh markets to narrow, congested lanes, almost all the key areas are blotted with traffic bottlenecks which slow down the pace of a city that otherwise seems in a hurry to be one of the keenest contenders to the list of “speed personified” towns.

Those who bear most of the brunt of the traffic chaos are none other than the pedestrians, who have no option but to make way for themselves by actually violating traffic rules.

The city has completely failed in managing the rights of the pedestrians. With no traffic signal working properly and nearly half of the footpaths encroached upon by vendors, the situation has become rather grim over the past couple of years.

Nearly half of the traffic signals are either non-functional or are running out of order, thereby adding to the woes of the pedestrians.

Above all, the absence of zebra crossings is again a big snag for the city residents.

Says Shefali Kapoor, a housewife, “The traffic police, it seems, has turned a blind eye towards the rights of the pedestrians. Unlike the A-grade cities like Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore, not even a single road in Jalandhar has a zebra crossing. To add to all this, there is an increasing number of vendors on the footpaths, which further create a problem for us.”

Whether it is the posh areas of the city like Model Town market, Lajpat Nagar market, Guru Teg Bahadur Nagar, the busy narrow streets of Rainak Bazaar or the lanes of BMC Chowk or Ladowali Road, almost every area is crowded with traffic leaving no space for the pedestrians at all.

At present, the city has a population of nearly 10 lakh, of which more than seven lakh people own motor vehicles, which clearly indicates the traffic chaos faced by the pedestrians.

According to information available from the District Transport Office (DTO), almost 1,200 four-wheelers and 2,400 two-wheelers are bought by Jalandharites every month.

Recently the municipal corporation (MC) initiated a fierce campaign against tehbazaari and dismantled a lot of shops to create more space. The MC also maintained a regular check on the encroachers but things have not improved so far.

“Our traffic system needs a revamp. The traffic police does not take much care of the pedestrians which at times leads to fatal accidents. It is just because of the poor traffic management that commuting in the city has virtually become a menace. Moreover, nearly half of the roads are always crowded by cars on either side of the road. The traffic police should not rule out the rights of the pedestrians,” said Preeti, a youngster.

When contacted, assistant commissioner D.P. Bharadwaj said, “We are trying our best to bring an end to this problem through every possible way. Recently we earmarked ‘tow-away zones’ to manage the increasing traffic chaos. But so far as the zebra crossings for pedestrians are concerned, it depends upon the availability of space on roads. We are planning to address the traffic of the city by earmarking zebra crossings very soon.” 

Jalandhar, July 3
The CIA staff of the local police claim to have arrested three members of a gang involved in murder, dacoity, auto-lifting, snatching and other petty crimes in this part of the region. The police has also recovered a stolen Zen car from the gangsters which was being used by them for the past couple of days.

Inspector Kulwinder Singh, in charge, CIA staff, claimed that the three members of the gang - Jagjit Singh, alias Sunny, of Samrala Chowk, Ludhiana, Tirath Singh, alias Lovely, and Harjinder Singh, alias Jinda, both residents of Ali Chak village - were nabbed from Chagwana.

The suspects were using the Zen car stolen from Kirti Nagar, Ludhiana, nearly three months ago, by displaying a fictitious registration number (PB-03A-9152).

Main suspect Jagjit Singh disclosed that he was involved in the Hira Lal murder case in Khanna. A case had been registered against him at Koomkalan police station. Besides, he was also wanted in over six other criminal cases.

Kulwinder Singh claimed that Harjinder Singh was involved in a snatching case in Lambra village. Harjinder Singh and Sukha, one of his accomplices, had looted a junior engineer in Lambra village some time back. Sukha is still at large. 

Kapurthala, July 3
Three persons were killed and 25 others injured in two separate accidents in Phagwara and Sultanpur Lodhi subdivisions of Kapurthala on Thursday.

Gurdev Kaur (55) of Ghurka village died and 25 others were injured when a private mini-bus collided with a parked truck near Chachoki in Phagwara on Thursday evening.

In another incident at Dalla village in Sultanpur Lodhi, a head-on collision between two motorcycles led to the death of two persons identified as Harpal Singh (15) of Karah Ram Singh village and Gurpreet Singh (25) of Jafarpur village. — TNS

Jalandhar, July 3
The Deaf Cricket Team of Pakistan, which is on a 10-day visit to Punjab for a friendly Twenty20 deaf and dumb series between Pakistan and Punjab, would be in the city tomorrow for a match.

The series is being organised by the Deaf Cricket Federation of Punjab.

The first match of the series was played in Amritsar on July 2, while the last match would be on July 6 in Ludhiana.