Hoshiarpur, August 16
Providing relief to Satwinder Singh of Chinota village, the District Consumers Forum headed by P.D. Goel has ordered the Oriental Insurance Company (OIC) to pay Rs 59,500 to the former.

The company has also been asked to pay the amount with an interest of 9 per cent per annum from the date of complaint and Rs 1,000 as litigation expenses.

In his complaint, Satwinder stated that the Jalandhar-based GT Road branch of the OIC had repudiated the accident claim of his Maruti car which met with an accident at Jaja Chowk in Tanda on the pretext of concealment of facts regarding the no-claim bonus.

However, the insurance company took the plea that Satwinder Singh had availed the no-claim bonus and concealed the fact at the time of obtaining the previous insurance policy.

Satwinder replied that he executed a consent letter duly attested by the notary public that in the event of grant of claim, he agreed to settle the claim by way of a full and final settlement to the tune of Rs 60,000 on cash loss basis.

The consumer forum held that it was proved on record that Satwinder gave an undertaking to the effect that the rate of no-claim bonus of 20 per cent claimed by him was correct and no-claim had arisen in the expiring policy period.

To this, the insurance company produced a document on record to prove that the complainant got the claim for his previous year’s policy and had concealed the fact and got no-claim bonus to which he was not otherwise entitled.

The consumer forum held that though complainant Satwinder had given an undertaking even then the insurance company had no legal right to repudiate the claim on this solitary ground.

Nawanshahr, August 16
The parents of victims of the school bus tragedy, which occurred on January 25 this year, are still awaiting compensation announced by technical education minister Chaudhary Swarna Ram while presiding over the district-level Republic Day function here.

Three tiny tots were killed and two seriously injured when a van of St Joseph Convent School, Mallpur, collided with a truck on the Banga road on January 25.

The tragedy was not only mourned at the Republic Day function the next day but chief guest Chaudhary Swarna Ram had also announced a compensation of Rs 1 lakh each to the parents of the deceased and Rs 50,000 each to the parents of the seriously injured children.

Rakesh Chopra, father of Parteek, who was seriously injured in the accident, told The Tribune that he had made several representations to the district administration in this regard but had got nothing except hollow assurances. Chopra said that he recently submitted an application to the deputy commissioner at the weekly “sangat darshan”. While narrating his tale of woes, Chopra said in his application that he had been making both ends meet by working as a salesman at a private shop and he had to take money on interest to meet the expenses on the treatment of his son.

“When the minister made the announcement of compensation, he had hoped that he would be able to pay back the loan. Since then he has been running from pillar to post but in vain,” rued Chopra, adding that neither the school management nor any NGO had come forward to extend help to the victim families. He has urged deputy commissioner Nilkanth S. Avhad and local MLA Jatinder Singh Kariha to take up the issue with the authorities concerned to expedite the process of sanctioning the compensation amount.

Hoshiarpur, August 16
Dal Khalsa has described the Punjab government’s move of handing over Panjab University (PU) to the Union government as a “disaster” as the decision would jeopardise the career of students studying in PU-affiliated colleges.

In a communiqué to the Punjab Chief Minister, the party’s newly elected president Harcharanjit Singh Dhami said the campaign was a mastermind of some teachers who were attracted to the Union government’s offer. He pointed out that barring a few teachers, no one from the non-teaching staff was interested in the central university status.

Dhami said, “For the past four decades we have been asking that the university control should be handed over to Punjab, but to no avail.” He alleged that after coming to power Parkash Singh Badal surrendered before the Arya Samaj lobby and gave his consent to hand over the university to the central government.

He said 40 per cent grant for the university came from the Punjab government, yet it had no “say” in its affairs.

Blaming the Akali government for neglecting PU, he said the incompetence of Badal was a reason why inimical forces had a field day in Punjab.

Jalandhar, August 16
The Sikh Regimental Centre, Ramgarh cantonment (Jharkhand), will organise a rally for re-enrolment of ex-servicemen into the DSC from August 21. Only those ex-servicemen are entitled for re-enrolment who have retired or are discharged from the Sikh Regiment only.

Stating this in a press release here today, defence spokesman Naresh Vig said the medical examination of candidates would be held on August 24. The candidates should report at the Sikh Regimental Centre, Ramgarh, by August 20.

The age of the candidates should be below 45 years and the gap between discharge from former service and the re-enrolment must be five years. The candidates should not have more than two red ink entries during the entire service period. They would have to pass the physical proficiency test. The selected candidates would be sent directly to the DSC Training Centre, Cannanore, Vig added.

Jalandhar, August 16
The Punjab People Party (PPP) will submit a memorandum to Jalandhar mayor Rakesh Rathour next week demanding an answer for the projects which had been hanging fire for the past few years.

A decision to this effect was taken at a party meeting held under the chairmanship of state convener Jatinder Pal Singh Dhillon.

Party spokesman Baljit Rai said in a press release here today that three major flyovers - Damoria Bridge, DAV College railway overbridge and Sadar police station - were under construction and had been giving a tough time to the commuters. The party wanted to know specific date and time when the projects would be completed. Besides, the new railway overbridge, near the bus stand, too had become a source of nuisance and the party wanted the municipal authorities to chalk out an alternative route till the work was completed.

Rai said the other important issues to be included in the memorandum would be the functioning of the medical college on Garha Road, rainwater disposal and implementation of laws.

Phagwara, August 16
The decision on possible alliances in Punjab for the forthcoming parliamentary elections would be made by UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi. This was stated by former Chief Minister and Congress election campaign committee chairman Capt Amarinder Singh here on Saturday.

The Congress leader interacted with mediapersons while he was on his way to Baba Bakala. He said presently no talks were going on with any political party for an alliance.

To a query about Sukhbir Badal’s statement that his presence won’t affect the Congress results in the Lok Sabha (LS) elections, he said wait for poll and the picture would be clear. Besides, he claimed that the ruling SAD-BJP alliance would be completely wiped out from Punjab in the upcoming elections.

Talking about dera row, he said everyone knew who was behind the whole episode. He said instead of issuing statements, sincere efforts were required to solve the dispute for bringing normalcy in the state.

Jalandhar, August 16
The Army authorities agreed to open the road for civilian public by lifting the naka at Sofipind in the cantonment area here on Saturday.

The road was opened following the efforts put in by former minister Gurkanwal Kaur.

She spoke to Commanding Officer P.M. Hariz and listed the difficulties being faced by residents of at least 10 villages.

Gurkanwal Kaur said in a statement here today that the naka had been put up on the road for the past six months and no autorickshaw, tractor-trailer, bus or any other vehicle of the civilian public were allowed to move on the road, causing a lot of inconvenience to the villagers

Phagwara, August 16
An 18-year-old youth, identified as Gopal of Pragpur village was drowned in the Chaheru bein on Saturday evening.

According to the information received here, Gopal fell into the water accidentally when he, along with some other villages, had gone to watch the flooded bein.

His body was recovered around 8 pm after four hours of rescue operations.