Jalandhar, February 1
Following temporary closure of British visa centres in the region, Lok Bhalai Party President Balwant Singh Ramoowalia today expressed his apprehension over the trend spreading to Europe and Canada and doors shutting even for genuine students.

In view of a large number of students of Punjab being exploited and looted by travel agents, the LBP chief today announced that he had shot off a missive to the Chief Minister of Punjab urging him to treat the issue as urgent and take firm lawful measures for saving the lives and properties of lakhs of Punjabi youth and their families.

“The way travel agents have sullied the image of Punjabis in the eyes of foreign governments and foreign missions, the possibility of some sections of the Punjabis getting declared as unwanted immigrants by Canada and other developed countries is quite high. The British High Commissioner in Delhi has already said that most of the applications filed through agents were found containing forged and fabricated documents resulting in their straightaway rejection,” he read from his three-page letter.

He said he had met the CM on the issue and was assured that an additional DGP would oversee the activities of fraudulent agents but nothing had been done so far.

Ramoowalia has thrown a volley of questions through his communiqué. “Has any travel agent been ever booked for inserting false advertisements in newspapers? Has any fraudulent travel agent, booked by the police, been punished by the court? Has ever the police recovered money from travel agents and re-imbursed to the victim family? While unscrupulous travel agents have displayed more than 20,000 hoardings all over the state to dupe and trap unsuspecting people and youth, is there any single public hoarding or media awareness message giving exact information how to go abroad legally? Is any data available with the government about fake air-hostess academies, hospitality centres, nanny care-giver institutions, marriage bureaux, immigration consultants, etc.”

Jalandhar, February 1
On the orders of Health Minister Laxmi Kanta Chawla, a team of the Health Department inspected the Prem Nagar area of the city today.

Residents had written to the Health Minsiter regarding the inhuman living conditions in the locality due to high pollution levels. Copies of the complaint were also sent to the offices of the Prime Minister and Chief Minister.

Residents had alleged that a factory used to melt heavy metals was being run in the already congested area of Prem Nagar and was a major source of pollution.

In the letter written to the Health Minister, residents had alleged that the factory was located in the vicinity of an educational institute and a hospital. Residents had also alleged that they were left with no other option but to live in a highly polluted environment as there was no facility to properly drain out polluting waste generated by the factory.

Meanwhile, District Epidemiologist Dr T.P. Singh confirmed that the five-member team, including three Sanitary Inspectors, of the Health Department had found high prevalence of air, water and noise pollution in the locality.

“The complaint of residents was quite genuine. We will submit our report to the Deputy Commissioner and Punjab Pollution Control Board at the earliest,” Dr T.P. Singh said.

Jalandhar, February 1
The District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum has directed the Sub-Postmaster of the Ladhewali Post Office and the Senior Superintendent of Posts, Head Post Office, Jalandhar, to release a payment of Rs 1 lakh with interest under the deposit scheme to a widow and pay Rs 3,000 as the cost of litigation.

Presenting her case before the forum, Santosh Kaur of Ladhewali had said her husband Parminder Singh had deposited the amount under the time deposit scheme for one year (account number 30257) on January 25, 2008, with the maturity date as January 25, 2009.

Her husband died on March 9, 2008, and its intimation was given to the post office to get the refund of the deposited amount with full interest at the time of maturity.

She said she was asked to submit the death certificate with a claim form which she did. She even attached the consent letter of son Harpreet Singh and daughter Paramjit Kaur. She was again asked by the officials to produce the succession certificate. She said she had produced the ration card containing names of the family members but the same was ignored.

The forum said insistence for the production of the succession certificate by the post office officials, in the absence of any dispute among legal heirs, was not justified and it amounted to deficiency in service. The forum has passed directions for the release of payment with permissible interest from the date of maturity within one month.

“In case of default of payment of amount within a month, the complainant will be entitled to 9 per cent interest on the awarded amount till its payment,” the copy of judgement reads.

Phagwara, February 1
Punjab Youth Congress President Ravneet Singh Bittu launched “Aam Aadmi Ka Sipahi” programme (inspired by Rahul Gandhi) at Phillaur yesterday.

While 1.40 lakh youth activists would be enrolled in Punjab by March 31, 6,500 would be recruited by the District Youth Congress, Jalandhar (Rural), said DYC (R) President Vikramjit Singh Chaudhary in the presence of Bittu and former minister Chaudhary Santokh Singh .

Later talking to mediapersons, Bittu said the youth activists recruited under the scheme would always be available to “aam aadmi” for solving his problems and educating people about the achievements of the UPA government.

Answering a question, Bittu said the youth activists would work as watchdogs to protect the rights of the people. He alleged that the increasing unemployment was forcing the state youth to adopt the path of either suicide or drugs, which was spoiling the future generation of the country due to wrong, selfish, and corrupt policies of the Badal government. Bittu held Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal and BJP minister Manoranjan Kalia responsible for this menace.

Later, Bittu along with Chaudhary Vikramjit Singh and Santokh Singh attended a rural sports tournament at nearby Lassarra village and inspired the youth to adopt sports and leave the drugs.

Jalandhar, February 1
Congress legislator Sukhpal Singh Khaira has written to Punjab Governor Shivraj Patil pointing out gross irregularities in the liquor trade, which is a drain on the exchequer due to the tailor-made policies which benefit the ruling family of the state.

He said a comparison of the ex-distillery prices of country liquor (exclusive all taxes) between Punjab and Chandigarh clearly indicated the involvement of a powerful liquor mafia in Punjab, controlling the trade to their advantage, thereby causing loss to the state.

The Bholath MLA alleged that the irrational and exorbitant prices in the state vis-a-vis Chandigarh had been fixed in connivance with the political-bureaucrat-mafia nexus and the biggest gainers of an increase of Rs 52 per case of country liquor are none other than the close relatives of the Badals.

Similarly, he said the India-made foreign liquor (IMFL) trade had also been virtually taken over by a relative of the Badals who, along with his associates, had been operating wholesale licences across the state.

Citing an instance, he said the licence of Ghio Mal and Sons of Amritsar district had not been renewed this year even though the firm had been in the liquor business since 1908.

Khaira said this coterie was minting money by charging their own rates and were not passing the trade rebate given by the manufacturers to retailers which ranged from Rs 100 to Rs 1,000 per case.

The landing cost of liquor at retail shops was much higher as compared to Chandigarh due to this reason, he added.

He also drew the attention of the Governor towards the statement of Finance Minister Manpreet Badal, pointing out incidents of large-scale smuggling of liquor from Chandigarh to Punjab, causing a huge loss to the state.

Jalandhar, February 1
The District Sainik Welfare Office (DSWO) will conduct pre-coaching classes for the PCS and allied services from February 3 onwards. The six-week-long pre-coaching classes will be run in the evening.

Deputy Commissioner Ajeet Singh Pannu will inaugurate the classes on February 3. Plans are afoot to invite IAS and PCS officers for guest lectures. The DSWO will conduct preparatory classes for general studies and a few optional subjects like history, political science, economics, psychology, sociology, law, public administration and commerce.

Apart from this, the DSWO has hired trained faculty for various subjects, including Director of DSWO Major-Gen G.S. Sohi, former Principal of Lyallpur Khalsa College Dr Satish Kapoor, Principal of GND University College, Basti Nau, Dr Usha Kapoor and Dr Jasbir Kaur from Hans Raj Mahila Maha Vidyalaya.

Talking to The Tribune, Deputy Director of the DSWO Lt-Col Manmohan Singh said they had received applications from 40 students for the pre-coaching classes. “We are expecting the number of candidates to rise up to 50 before the beginning of the classes,” he added.

The applicants include lawyers, lecturers, teachers and even ex-servicemen. “Keeping in mind the working hours of the candidates we have decided to conduct the classes in the evening. As majority of the candidates are working, the classes would be held in the evening hours,” he added.

The PCS exams in the state are being held after a gap of 11 years. It was in 1999 that the exams were held last time.

Phagwara, February 1
In a major achievement, the police today burst an inter-state gang of vehicle thieves and arrested its four members near Ekta Palace, Hadibad, today.

Addressing a press conference here on Monday afternoon, DSP Harkamalpreet Singh Khakh said the police had recovered 14 motorcycles from them which had been 
stolen from Chintpurni (Himachal Pardesh), Phagwara, Kapurthala, Jalandhar and Sultanpur Lodhi.

Khakh said the accused were identified as Mandeep Singh of nearby Khalwara village, Ravi Shankar of Bhularai Colony, Rahul of Lamian Mohalla, Phagwara, and Jagdeep, alias Johny, of nearby Khotrra village.

While narrating their modus operandi, the DSP told newsmen that the gang members were operating in several parts of the state, besides religious place of Chintpurni, and were selling the stolen vehicles after preparing fake documents.

On a tip-off, the police nabbed four vehicle thieves when they were waiting for some customers to sell the vehicles, said DSP.

Khakh said much more disclosures were expected from the arrested vehicles thieves during further interrogation. All the four accused would be produced before the Judicial Magistrate on Tuesday, the DSP added.