Phillaur, November 26
The District Youth Congress (Rural), Jalandhar, organised a peace march, led by District Youth Congress (R) chief Vikramjit Singh Chaudhary here today.

A large number of Youth Congress activists participated by holding candles to pay homage to the people who lost their lives in the Mumbai carnage on this day last year.

The Youth Congress workers also saluted the officers who sacrificed their lives while combating terrorism in various parts of Mumbai

The march passed through the main bazaar of the town. Youth Congress activists took oath to fight all anti-national forces, work for peace and national integration. The march was flagged off by former minister Chaudhary Santokh Singh.

Batala: Students and staff, led by Dr Edward Masih, Principal, of Baring Union Christian College (BUCC) paid homage to brave soldiers, policemen and people who were killed in the terrorist attack in Mumbai this last year by lighting candles in the college chapel today.

Late, a prayer service was organised in the chapel for the peace of the departed souls. In a resolution, the staff and Principal of the BUCC expressed their solidarity and sympathy with the families of victims. The gathering took a pledge to maintain unity and integrity in the nation.

Jalandhar, November 26
Though the time frame given by the state Local Bodies Department to make a list of schools running without or ill-prepared fire-fighting capacity is on the verge of completion, the Municipal Corporation of Jalandhar is still in its primary phase to implement the directions.

It is important to mention here that in the beginning of this month the department, after receiving directions from the Supreme Court, had instructed all five Municipal Corporation of the state to submit fire safety reports of schools falling in their limits within 15 days.

According to the directions, the Fire Department of the civic bodies has been asked to inspect schools in their cities, prepare a report and submit it directly to the Punjab Education Director with a copy to the Local Bodies Department.

However, as per sources the corporation is still in the process of preparing the list of the private schools in the city.

“We have held a meeting in which representatives of the PWD, the Education Department and corporation officials were present. It is learnt that some kind of fire-fighting exercise and training are already going in government schools. So far as the private schools are concerned, the corporation is preparing a list of schools. After finalisation, we will intimate the managements of these schools and inspect the buildings,” said Joint Commissioner Rahul Gupta.

On the other side, it seems that even the government and aided schools are still waiting to see any fire expert to inspect the buildings.

“We have given them the list of all primary government and aided schools in the district. But we didn’t receive any information regarding inspection in any school,” said DEO (Primary) Kamal Kanta.

“Inspections have not started yet, but we will start it shortly,” said a senior fire official of the corporation.

In its five-point agenda, the corporations were directed to inspect that every school building should have a certificate of fulfilling the safety norms according to the National Building Code before getting affiliation.

The corporations were directed to make it mandatory that every school should install fire extinguishers within six months and there should be no storage of inflammable substances in the building. The necessary training should also be given to the staff.

Pathankot, November 26
Three motorcycle-borne youths looted a petrol station and decamped with Rs 17,000 and two cans of lubricants after injuring the staff at petrol station located at Nangal Bhur town, 15 km from here, on the Pathankot-Jalandhar National Highway late last night.

Narinder Parmar, owner of Jhelum petrol station and younger brother of ex-MP Kirpal Parmar of Himachal Pradesh, in a complaint lodged with the Sadar police station said that three youths on a motorcycle came to get petrol. After an attendant filled the tank of the motorcycle, the trio attacked all the four members of the staff with sharp-edged weapons. One of the youths also took out his pistol to threaten them. After injuring the employees of the petrol station, the robbers fled on their motorcycle with the booty.

SP Bhupinderjit Singh Virk said the police had obtained the picture of the suspected robbers from the CCTV cameras installed at the petrol station. He claimed the robbers would be nabbed soon.

The injured, Dalip Singh, Balwan Singh, Romesh Singh and Bakhshish Singh, have been admitted in the Civil Hospital here. The police has registered a case under sections 382 and 34 of the IPC and sections 25, 54 and 59 of the Arms Act.