The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

	Teenager abducted; woman among 4 booked Tribune Reporters Tarn Taran, May 20 Four persons, including a woman, of Mohalla Jaswant Singh have been booked for abducting a teenager girl living in the same locality. According to the information collected, the accused have been identified as Sahib Singh, Angrej Singh, Darsho (Angrej’s mother), and Rambo. The mother of the abducted girl in her statement to the city police alleged that Sahib and Rambo in connivance with Darsho and Angrej abducted her daughter luring to marry her with Sahib on May 7. The mother of the abducted girl claimed that her daughter was just 16 years old. 2 held with 10 kg of poppy husk Pathankot: The police today arrested two persons and seized 10 kg of poppy husk during a naka at Madhopur, 13 km from here, on the Jalandhar-Jammu national highway. The SP, Bhupinderjit Singh Virk, said on a tip-off that some contraband was coming from Jammu and Kashmir in a truck, a special naka was laid by a police party, headed by Karam Chand, DSP (Rural). When the truck (PB-32-F-1205) was signalled to stop at the naka, the driver of the vehicle and his accomplice tried to flee leaving the vehicle behind, but caught by the police. During search of the vehicle 10 kg of poppy husk, wrapped in a gunny bag, was seized. The driver and his accomplice have been identified as Abdul Rashid Mir and Iktfaq Ahmed, both resident of Kupwara, Jammu and Kashmir. A case under the NDPS Act has been registered against them at Sujanpur police station. 7 members of looters’ gangs arrested Tarn Taran: The district police has busted two gangs of looters working in the border belt and arrested seven members and seized two pistols and a double-barrel gun, besides live cartridges. Police sources today identified the looters as Jagroop Singh, Gurjant Singh, Sukhchain Singh, Manga Singh, Ranjit Singh, Satnam Singh, Manjit Singh, Manpreet Singh and Bittu. The remaining four were yet to be identified. A .12-bore pistol and two live cartridges were seized from Gurjant Singh, while one double-barrel .12-bore gun with five cartridges was seized from Manga Singh and one country made pistol and one live cartridge from Manjit Singh. Cases under sections 399 and 420, IPC, and 25, 54 and 59 of the Arms Act have been registered against the accused. Chandigarh man drugged, looted Phagwara: Chandigarh-resident Gurjit Singh was drugged and robbed of his valuables, including two mobile phones, one bag, Rs 5,000 and an ATM card, near Phagwara last night. He was admitted in the local Civil Hospital in an unconscious condition. After regaining consciousness, he told newsmen that he was waiting for a bus at Rama Mandi Chowk, Jalandhar, last night when a taxi stopped there and the taxi driver demanded Rs 100 per head. He agreed and boarded the taxi. He said that suddenly he felt giddy and fell unconscious, and found himself in a semi-conscious state at a secluded place near Phagwara. He found his valuables missing. The police has registered a case. Dowry torture: mother of 2 commits suicide Hoshiarpur: Continuous torture and harassment by her husband and mother-in-law for more dowry compelled a housewife to commit suicide at Depur village here last evening. According to police sources, the Talwara police arrested Vijay Kumar, son of Mohinder Singh, and his mother Maya Devi, residents of Depur village, under section 306 of the IPC. In a complaint, Ashwani Kumar, son of Sarwan Kumar of Takhni village, under Hariana police station, stated that his sister Rita Rani was married to Vijay Kumar of Depur in 2006. Soon after the marriage, Vijay Kumar and his mother started torturing and maltreating Rita for more dowry. Yesterday, on being severely tortured, Rita consumed some poisonous substance due to which she died. The couple had two children. Attempt to rape 16-yr-old, 1 booked Hoshiarpur: The Dasuya police arrested Dalbir Singh, son of Jagdish Singh of Sarhala, under sections 376, 511 and 341 of the IPC for attempting to rape a 16-year-old girl of Mohalla Kaherwali (Ward 8) yesterday. According to police sources, Dalbir entered the house of the girl at 8.30 pm yesterday when she was alone there. He tried to rape her.
	Fill continuation proforma before formal admission, says PSEB Our Correspondent Nawanshahr, May 20 Even though the Punjab School Education Board has not declared the results of the matriculation examination held in March and the summer vacation are approaching, it has put the senior secondary schools of the state into a dilemma by issuing instructions to send the registration continuation fee of students of Class XI up to June 18. “It seems that the education board has not taken into consideration its own convention of declaring the matriculation results in June. Moreover, it is a known fact that during June, schools remain closed on account of summer vacation which usually start in the end of May,” lamented some senior secondary school teachers, wondering how it would be possible to complete the registration continuation proformas of students of Class XI by June 18 without knowing the results of their previous class, as well as the exact number of students admitted in the class in a particular school. “The matriculation results are usually declared during summer vacation and formal admission is done in Class XI on the basis of the matriculation results when the schools reopen, then how is it possible for the schools to start filling registration continuation proformas without admitting students formally?” The teachers urged the authorities to be logical while making such policy decisions.
	RGKSKs to come up at 63 villages, 10 block headquarters Tribune News Service Jalandhar, May 20 Rajiv Gandhi Kalyan Seva Kendras (RGKSK) will be set up at all the 63 villages and 10 block headquarters under the MGNREGA scheme. Deputy Commissioner Priyank Bharti said Rs 7.54 crore would be spent for the purpose. A sum of Rs 25 lakh has been earmarked for centres at the block level, while Rs 8 lakh would be spent at the village level. The kendras would be used for panchayat meetings and other social activities. To provide a green and clean environment in the country, 266 hectares will be rendered green by planting saplings during the current fiscal year. Care would be taken to ensure that saplings do not wilt or wither. For this, Rs 1.66 lakh would be spent and employment to 800 unskilled workers provided for at least 100 days, he added. He directed the officials involved in implementing the scheme to draw up new projects so that more and more unskilled workers could be provided employment. Bharti asked officials to either spend or return the money released under the scheme so that it could be used for other villages. Efforts should be made to get a social audit for all the works in the villages. The DC said instead of releasing the money to the panchayats, the sum would now be routed through the BDPOs so that the unspent money could be used by the BDPOs in other villages.
	Crossing Issue Railway team visits affected villages Tribune News Service Pathankot, May 20 As Gurdaspur MP Partap Singh Bajwa wrote a letter demanding a level crossing at Nalunga village, just off the Pathankot-Jalandhar highway, 12 km from here, to facilitate a smooth flow of traffic, a railway team from Ferozepore Division, led by Superintending Engineer Naveen Aggarwal, visited the area. Aggarwal was accompanied by Neeraj Salhotra, member, Divisional Railway Consultative Committee (Northern Railway), and sarpanches and panches of the nearby villages. Bajwa in his letter to Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee has said the flow of traffic to a cluster of 30 villages is being affected as people had to take a long detour across the Army area to reach their villages. Bajwa said that opening of a level crossing had been a long-standing demand of the residents of the area.
	Two killed as bikes collide Our Correspondent Nawanshahr, May 20 Two persons, Sham Singh of Garle Bet and Balram of Neelewara village, were killed when their motorcycle collided head on on the Garhshankar-Balachaur road in the district today. Renu and Simran, daughters of Sham Singh, who were riding pillion on the motorcycle, received injuries. Sham Singh, an ex-serviceman, accompanied by his daughters, was coming from Garhshankar side after paying obeisance at a religious place. When they reached near Balachaur, a motorcycle coming from the opposite direction collided with their motorcycle. Both the injured were brought to a private hospital at Balachaur where Balram succumbed to his injuries. The other victim, Sham Singh, was referred to Nawanshahr but died on the way to hospital.
	Airtel Digital TV firm asked to pay up Our Correspondent Hoshiarpur, May 20 The District Consumer Forum, headed by P.D. Goel, has ordered Bharti Telemedia Limited to pay Rs 5,000 as compensation along with Rs 1,000 as litigation expenses to Jasvir Singh Bhalla of the local Kanak Mandi Chowk. Jasvir Singh had filed a complaint against Dev Raj Verma and Sons, a local authorised service centre of Airtel Digital TV, local TV Care Centre and Bharti Telemedia Limited, Aravali Crescent, 1, Nelson Mandela Road, New Delhi, on the ground that he had purchased an Airtel Digital TV connection from TV Care Centre, which was valid up to October, 2009, but was interrupted on August 31, 2009. After lodging a complaint, the TV services were activated. It was the grouse of Jasvir Singh that on September 16, 2009, he was surprised to receive a message for recharging his digital TV connection, though it was valid up to October, 2009. When he contacted the firm, he came to know that Rs 100 were charged in lieu of visiting charges of service engineer, though no service engineer visited his premises. He also lodged complaints (Nos 1066671 and 1080956). Jasvir Singh was angry that the opposite parties illegally disconnected his connection twice without any sufficient cause. He got recharged his connection on November 4, 2009. The owners of Dev Raj Verma and Sons raised the plea that Jasvir Singh had unnecessarily dragged their firm into litigation. The account of the customer and recharge of the digital TV connection was directly done by Bharti Telemedia Limited. Their firm was only service franchisee. The owners of TV Care Centre raised the defence that Bhalla was not a consumer as no Airtel Digital TV was sold by them to him. The consumer forum observed that Jasvir Singh Bhalla had sent two e-mails with regard to illegal disconnection of his digital TV and Bharti Telemedia Limited replied that the department concerned was working for resolving the issue and the department would also contact him. It was established on record that Bharti Telemedia Limited had illegally disconnected the digital TV connection of Jasvir Singh. Bharti Telemedia Limited although gave an assurance that the department concerned was working for resolving the issue, but the controversy had not been resolved, which amounted to deficiency in service, the forum observed.