Amritsar, August 10
Dejected by the administration’s failure to move the garbage dumping site from their area and following the death of two women yesterday, apparently due to gastroenteritis, the aggressive mob today set a garbage tractor trolley ablaze, thrashed its driver and disrupted traffic causing inconvenience to general public.

It has been learnt that the administration has suspended the driver of the tractor trolley and booked several persons including the area councillor of the Congress Navdeep Singh Goldy.

The police has registered a case under sections 188 and 290 of the IPC, for leading the residents in protest march yesterday, allegedly following the two deaths reported in their area.

Apart from this, about 30 persons, including three women, have been booked under sections 307, 353, 186 for damaging the government machinery and assaulting a government servant.

It is pertinent to mention that due to filthy conditions prevailing in the area, there has been over seven deaths reported and above 12 patients admitted to the local Civil Hospital.

Yesterday, when the two women died, the agitating residents took to streets and blocked traffic in protest against the apathetic attitude of the civic authorities.

Following this, the authorities had assured to shift the dumping site to some other place. However, when the residents today spotted a tractor trolley proceeding towards their area for dumping the city garbage, they got furious and set ablaze the garbage vehicle. The driver, Vijay Kumar, the authorities say, has been put under suspension as the site was temporarily discarded and instructions were given not to dump garbage at the site.

It has been learnt that the mob did not even allow the pesticide team to enter their area in protest today.

Confirming this, MC Commissioner DPS Kharbanda said six teams of pest control were sent to the area but it had to come back due to non cooperative attitude of the residents. “The driver of the garbage vehicle was suspended for being negligent in performing his duties. Despite clear instructions of not dumping the garbage at the said spot, he did it. I appeal to the residents of the area to drink only the water supplied online by the authorities and not use the water being extracted from tubewells or hand pumps for drinking purposes”, he said.

Gurdaspur, August 10
Employees of the Gurdaspur Municipal Council staged a protest rally for the 13th successive day. And residents could well feel the pinch if the powerful employees unions of the council decide to prolong the strike any further.

As many as 216 employees of the council have virtually been boycotting work affecting the water supply, street lighting, sanitation and overall cleanliness of the town. The only service which has not been boycotted is the smooth functioning of the fire brigade, as it falls under the Essential Services Maintenance Act.

The employees are protesting against the government’s decision to outsource the collection of dues pertaining to house tax, water supply (billing and recovery) and building fees to private players.

The striking employees feel that once these services are privatised they may well loose their jobs. Moreover, they are also protesting against the government for not paying their salaries on time.

“A major part of our salaries comes from the state government which pays us through the revenue it generates through VAT collections while the other part is managed through local income avenues like house tax, water supply charges and building fees. The government does not have money to pay our salaries and that is the reason why we have struck work,” said Ramesh Gupta, president of the Municipal Council Employees Union.

The union is being backed by the Zila Safai Karamchari Union. Raju Gill, president of the Zila Safai Karamchari Union, said, “The MC has passed a resolution seeking to outsource the work of the council. We want the council to take the resolution back immediately otherwise we will be forced to intensify our agitation.”

A senior MC official, on the condition of anonymity, said, “The demands of the unions are genuine. However, the government is turning a blind eye to the employees’ claims. Some concrete steps are needed to be taken otherwise the residents will be hurt if the unions resort to a complete strike.”

On the other hand another, an MC official disclosed, “Even if some services are outsourced, not a single employee will be dislocated. The government unbundled the PSEB which has more than 80,000 employees on its rolls. Before the unbundling, various PSEB employees unions were crying hoarse that employees would loose their jobs. However, not a single employee was dislocated. Similarly, here in the MC not a single employee will loose his or her job if the outsourcing is done.”

MC President Santosh Riar and the Executive Officer Manjinder Singh, who interestingly holds additional charge of Dera Baba Nanak, Dinanagar and Pathankot Municipal Councils, could not be contacted.

Jalandhar, August 10
Four persons have died in various incidents in the city and its vicinity in the past 24 hours.

Ajay Kumar, a resident of Ladhewali, was found dead at Lithran village this morning. The family members, however, alleged that Ajay was done to death. Ajay had been to a local hospital to see a patient, but did not return, claimed Harmesh Kumar, father of the deceased. The Maqsudan police, however, found Ajay’s body along a road at Lithran village this morning and informed the family about it. The police has sent the body to the Civil Hospital for post-mortem examination.

Davinder Pal Singh, a resident of Bambianwala village, near Sansarpur, was electrocuted to death here today. The incident occurred when Davinder Pal Singh was spreading a plastic sheet on a truck, parked underneath high-tension electricity wires.

He accidentally touched the electricity cables, which lead to his death. The police has initiated inquest proceeding in this regard. A ragpicker lost his life while picking rags on the Amritsar-Delhi railway line in the Ekta Nagar colony, near Rama Mandi, this morning.

The father of the deceased, in a complaint to the police said his son Lal Chand was collecting rags when the Delhi-bound Shatabdi Express mowed him down. The mutilated body was removed from the site and the Railway Police has initiated inquest proceedings. An unidentified body was recovered from the local fish market. The body was sent to the morgue in the Civil Hospital after no one turned up for its identification.

Hoshiarpur: Two motorcyclists were killed in separate road accidents in the Hoshiarpur district. According to police sources, Balwinder Singh of Neknama village was killed on the spot when a speeding bus (No. PB-32A-5174) hit his motorcycle (no. PB-21D-5295) while he was going to his village yesterday.

In another accident, Manpreet Singh, son of Gurnam Singh of Khun Khun Khurd, died on the spot and pillion rider Harmanjit Singh, son of Yashpal Singh of Riva, was seriously wounded when a speeding canter (no. PB-07Q-7094) hit their motorcycle (no. PB-18G-2327). Harmanjit Singh was admitted to civil hospital Dasuya. The Dasuya police has registered two separate cases against the drivers of the bus and canter under sections 279, 304 A and 427 of the IPC.

Nawanshahr, August 10
With a view to enabling the less educated and school dropouts to tap job avenues, the Punjab government has planned to start tourism and hospitality courses in as many as 11 industrial training institutes ( ITIs) in Kharar, Nawanshahr, Bathinda, Patiala, Ludhiana, Sunam, Mohali, Amritsar, Pathankot, Phagwara and Jalandhar.

In the first phase, construction work of separate tourism and hospitality departments on the existing premises of the ITIs at Nawanshahr and Mohali has been started. Restaurants would also be set up to achieve the twin aim of providing practical training to the trainees as well as to use it for commercial purposes to ensure internal revenue generation.

Principal Jaspal Singh Gidda of the local ITI said the new courses, food production (one year), steward (one year), front office assistant (six months), domestic house keeping (six months) would be started. — OC

Nawanshahr, August 10
The police claimed to have cracked the murder of Ajit Jha on July 26. Addressing mediapersons here on today, SSP Narinder Bhargav said Sandip Singh, alias Chirhi, an accused in the case, was arrested near Chakdana from whom a country made .32 bore pistol was recovered. Sandip, belonging to Mauli village near Phagwara in Kapurthala, is one of three accused who had gone to G.B. Boring & Sanitary Store, Aur, to commit burglary and in the process killed Ajit Jha.

Giving details, Bhargav said a team comprising Banga DSP Jagdip Singh Sidhu, CIA In charge Rakesh Kumar and Mukandpur SHO Anil Bhanot was constituted to investigate the case registered under sections 458 and 460 of the IPC and 25, 27, 54, 59 of the Arms Act. During investigation, the police got some clues about the involvement of Sandip Singh and his accomplices Jatinder Singh of Mauli village and Harpreet Singh of Jagatpur Jatta village (Kapurthala).

Hoshiarpur: Two people were arrested regarding a case registered on 26th July this year (under sections 365 and 34 of the IPC by the Mukerian police station of the Hoshiarpur district) by Balwinder Kaur, wife of Inderjit Singh of Bhatian Rajputa village, who went missing some months earlier. According to police, Balwinder Kaur stated in her complaint that her husband Inderjit Singh set out from the house on 17th May for work but did not return.

Later it emerged that Parveen Kumar of the same village took him to Rajasthan on his truck. After 2-3 days, Inderjit met Balkar Singh and Karan Singh of his village there, who were coming back to home.

Inderjit left Parveen Kumar and joined Balkar Singh and Karan Singh and he has been missing since then. On Balwinder’s complaint, the police registered the above said case and started searching for Inderjit Singh. Sources said during investigations it emerged that on the way back home, Balkar and Karan had a quarrel with Inderjit on some issue due to which they killed him and disposed of his dead body. Investigation officer ASI Ashwani Kumar said both the accused confessed the crime following which sections 302 and 201 of the IPC were added to the case and Balkar Singh and Karan Singh were arrested.