Phagwara, December 31
Last night’s firing incident took an ugly turn when activists of the BJP and Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha, along with the Shiv Sena, blocked traffic on the Phagwara-Banga road by sitting on dharna in the middle of the road before the city police station in protest against booking of Sunny Batta, a supporter of the BJP, by the police in connection with the incident.

The protesters were demanding a high-level probe and deletion of the name of Batta from the FIR. They raised slogans against the police. Later the dharna was lifted and the road traffic restored after the intervention and assurances of justice by DSP Harkamalpreet Singh Khakh.

The DSP, while talking to newsmen this evening, said that city police SHO Amrik Singh Chahal had been appointed enquiry officer to investigate the case.

Earlier Block Youth Congress Committee President Rajan Sharma, who escaped unhurt during firing by a few assailants in his property advisory office in Old Dana Mandi on Wednesday night, has identified the assailants and the police has registered a case under sections 307 and 34, IPC, and 25/54/59 of the Arms Act against three accused, Sunny Batta of Shivpuri, Phagwara, and Sonu, alias Amli, and Sumit, both residents of nearby Rurrki village on the charge of attempt to murder, said Khakh.

Meanwhile, the injured minor employee, Sunil, alias Chhotu, was out of danger, said doctors of the Civil Hospital.

It may be mentioned here that two armed motorcycle-borne assailants struck at the office of the BYC President last night and opened fire, creating panic in the locality, while their two accomplices waited for them on motorcycles outside the office, alleged Sharma in his complaint lodged with the police. Several Congress leaders, including former minister Joginder Singh Maan and Block Congress Committee President Pawan Sharma Pappi have condemned the attack on the BYC President.

Nawanshahr, December 31
During 2010, priority would be given to ensuring transparency as well as accountability of the district administration in the delivery of public utility services relating to different departments by ensuring empowerment of the common man and making the masses aware of the proper use of the Right to Information Act.

This was stated by Deputy Commissioner Gukirat Kirpal Singh while interacting with

The Tribune here on New Year Eve.

The district administration has already organised a workshop for officials of the different departments to train them for dissemination of information under the RTI. Besides, a booklet in Punjabi had been published to make the people aware of the procedure of seeking information from different departments. The booklet also contained the list of public information officers, the appellate authority of different departments along with their telephone numbers, said the Deputy Commissioner, adding that now a “Right to Information Act mela” would soon be organised in the district to achieve the twin aim of creating awareness as well as speedy disposal of 
the applications.

The mela would be organised in two phases. In the first phase, counters of different departments would be set up where the people could submit their applications for seeking particular information. The formalities regarding applying for procuring information would be completed on the spot. The second phase of the mela would be held after one week. The counters of the different departments would be set up again and the applicants would be provided the requisite information on the spot, said the DC.

Besides, to ensure transparency in the revenue department, the district is going to launch an innovative scheme under which the status report of the complaints/cases pending in connection with mutation would be made available on the website, said Gurkirat Kirpal Singh, adding that the scheme would prove a boon for the people, especially NRIs.

“As Nawanshahr is known as the NRI belt of Punjab, there are a lot of cases where the NRIs are not aware of the status report of their land records. Sometimes, some complaints/cases are filed in the revenue department in connection with the mutation of the land belonging to the NRIs. The NRIs have to depend on their relatives or friends for the information, but now they would be able to keep an eye on the status report by just visiting the website,” said the DC.

In 2010, delivery of services at Suvidha Centre would also be extended. A new building of Suvidha Centre would be constructed in the District Administrative Complex.

Besides, a central school and a college would be set up in Balachaur and a polytechnic at Behram for providing better education facilities to the youth, said the DC.

Nawanshahr, December 31
Ravneet Singh Bittu, MP and state Youth Congress President, has accused the Punjab government of diverting Central funds meant for development and welfare schemes like NREGS.

Interacting with mediapersons here yesterday, he said Youth Congress workers at the grass-roots level were being galvanised into “aam admi ka sipahi” to keep vigil on the use of Central funds given to the state government as well as to launch a crusade against drug abuse.

The Congress MP said the Youth Congress had prepared an action plan to use the Right to Information Act for exposing the “misappropriation” of funds by the SAD-BJP government.

“In each village, at least five Youth Congress workers are being imparted training to serve society as ‘aam admi ka sipahi’. They would seek information regarding the funds received under various schemes and their utilisation so that the truth could be brought before the public,” said Bittu, adding the training workshops for the Youth Congress workers were being organised in different districts for the purpose.

Lamenting the sluggishness of the SAD-BJP government, Bittu said the Centre had sanctioned mega projects for the development of infrastructure as well as revamping education system in the state but the Punjab government had not been implementing the projects.

Citing examples of sanctioning of an IIT at Ropar and a college at Balachaur, Bittu said the state government had been adopting dilly-dallying attitude in implementing the projects, virtually denying the people the benefits.

On drug abuse, he said the YC workers would expose the drug traders and mobilise public for the social boycott of those who had been indulging in drug trade. The workers would organise demonstrations in front of the shops where drugs were being sold to save the Punjabi youth from ruin.

Bittu said he would raise the issue of change in the course of Kandi canal with the Centre. The people of the Kandi area in the state had been demanding that the design of the canal should be changed and it should be dug up along the Shivalik hills rather than the plain fertile areas. Besides, he had raised the demand for linking Rahon and Khanna with a rail link.

Batala, December 31
The NSS unit of BUC College organised a seven-day special camp at Government Primary School, Nathwal, here on Tuesday. V.M. Goel, secretary, Batala Industries Association and Senate member of Guru Nanak Dev University, was the chief guest.

Principal Dr Edward Masih emphasised that NSS volunteers should stand against social evils such as drug addiction, female foeticide and corruption. NSS programme officers Lalit Kumar and Sushma Sharma organised a medical camp for villagers, in which 150 patients were treated by Dr. Gurcharan Singh of the Civil Hospital for different diseases. Free medicines were given to the patients. NSS volunteers planted more than 200 saplings, cleaned government school and its surrounding areas. Goel gave away certificates to students.

Tarn Taran, December 31
The district police has provided an ambulance service at five different points in the district for the assistance of needy people.

District Police Chief Sukhdev Singh Brar told newsmen here today that the points are Gohalwar, Kapurthala crossing Goindwal Sahib, Patti, Bhikhiwind, Thathian Mahantan and Chabal police station. The SSP added that two policemen have been deputed with every ambulance as drivers and they have also been provided with cell phones to be contacted with.

The SSP said the Women Cell of the district police disposed of 180 domestic disputes in the year of 2009. The SSP appealed the people to be co-operative with the police to bring better services by the police. 

Hoshiarpur, December 31
The increasing number of deaths in road accidents has caused worry to the common man in the district. Despite the best efforts by the district police to control the vehicular traffic, rash driving under the influence of liquor and use of mobile phones while driving are the major reasons of road accidents.

Instead of enforcing the traffic rules, the traffic police generally prefers to issue challans to vehicle drivers for various offences to achieve its targets only.

SSP Parmod Ban told The Tribune that 259 persons had been killed and 263 were wounded in 313 road accidents in 2009 as compared to 216 killed and 257 injured in 273 road accidents last year.

The Jalandhar-Pathankot National Highway from Tanda to Mukerian and the Hoshiarpur-Chandigarh road from here to Garhshankar were the most vulnerable sites for road accidents. Eighty-six accidents and 77 deaths had been reported at Tanda, Dasuya and Mukerian police stations, whereas 122 deaths in 146 accidents had taken place under Sadar, Mahilpur and Garhshankar police stations during the year. To provide immediate relief to the persons injured in road accidents, four highway patrol parties had been formed. These parties had provided first aid to 532 wounded persons and shifted them to the nearest hospitals from the accident places.

Emphasising on the need of creating awareness among the people about traffic and road safety rules, Parmod Ban said the district police had organised 113 seminars in schools, 26 at taxi stands, 24 at tractor-trailer stands and 29 in different parts of the town.

The traffic police had made 13,715 challans for various offences under the Motor Vehicles Act, including 3,975 for driving without helmets, 50 for no reflectors, 31 for driving under the influence of liquor, four for rash driving and 132 for using mobile phones while driving, etc. A penalty of Rs 33,39,150 had been realised from the violators. The SSP appealed to the drivers of all types of vehicles to follow the traffic and road safety rules to save their precious lives.