J A L A N D H A R    E D I T I O N

Town stinks as sewer line lies blocked for fourth day
Phagwara, October 9
Thousands of residents belonging to several localities, including Model Town, Industrial Area, Tibbi, Rattanpura, JCT Mills, Onkar Nagar, and even of Phagwara Nagar Council and SP office, have been left to wade through knee-deep dirty water as the main sewer line of the town has been lying blocked since Wednesday night due to blocking caused by garbage during piling of pillars by the staff of a construction company engaged in six-laning of the national highway in Phagwara.

Arrest of YC leaders
Bittu to verify Henry’s role
Jalandhar, October 9
Punjab Youth Congress President Ravneet Singh Bittu will verify the role of former minister Avtar Henry behind the recent arrest of some local Youth Congress (YC) leaders. Stating this during his visit here today, Bittu said he would take up the matter with Punjab Congress President Mohinder Singh Kaypee regarding Henry’s alleged involvement in getting Jalandhar (Urban) Youth Congress vice-president Anil Dhal Bobby and its general secretary Manpreet Singh Soni arrested in the Gopal Nagar firing case.

No procurement till purchased paddy lifted from mandis: Panel
Nawanshahr, October 9
The district unit of the Punjab State Foodgrain Agencies Coordination Committee, at a press meeting here on Friday announced to stop paddy procurement till the start of the process of lifting of purchased paddy from mandis.

Girl stops marriage of ‘fiance’
Amritsar, October 9
High drama was witnessed when a girl stopped marriage of her “fiance” with another girl at a gurdwara in the Sultanwind area here today. The Dhariwal (Gurdaspur)-based fatherless girl, who swooped down with a police party, claimed that she had been engaged with the boy, identified as Avtar Singh, a resident of Indira Colony here, for the last more than two years.

Get ‘our’ dress off waiters, says lawyer
Hoshiarpur, October 9
Local lawyer Naveen Jairath served a legal notice on the managing directors of all hotels and marriage palaces of the district today to immediately withdraw the white shirt, black trouser, black necktie and coat dress of waiters, etc. working in their hotels and marriage palaces within 15 days, failing which he and many of his colleagues would initiate legal proceedings against them.

Train driver injured as DMU hits truck
Nawanshahr, October 9
The engine driver of DMU-11079 Jalandhar 2JRJ, Bal Krishan was injured when the train collided with a truck (PJI- 4721) crossing the rail track after loading fertilisers at the railway station here on Saturday morning.

2 killed in road mishaps
Phagwara, October 9
Two persons, including a child, were killed in two different road mishaps in Phagwara and Phillaur last night. In the first incident, six-year-old Sonu was hit by a vehicle and killed on the spot near Apra village in Phillaur subdivision last night. The vehicle driver fled after hitting the child, the police said.

Town stinks as sewer line lies blocked for fourth day
Ashok Kaura

Phagwara, October 9
Thousands of residents belonging to several localities, including Model Town, Industrial Area, Tibbi, Rattanpura, JCT Mills, Onkar Nagar, and even of Phagwara Nagar Council and SP office, have been left to wade through knee-deep dirty water as the main sewer line of the town has been lying blocked since Wednesday night due to blocking caused by garbage during piling of pillars by the staff of a construction company engaged in six-laning of the national highway in Phagwara.

When this correspondent visited some affected areas, entire localities were seen in dirty water which emanated a foul smell at several places, causing inconvenience to citizens who apprehend spread of water-borne diseases.

SDM Amarjit Paul said the required equipment was being brought to drain out the dirty water.

On the other hand, Nagar Council President Balbhadhar Sein Duggal said the exact place of blockade could not be located yet, but Executive Officer Sandeep Tiwari claimed that though it was a typical complication, the point of the problem had been located and NC employees were trying to clear the blocked sewer lines.

If they did not succeed, then the line would be punctured to locate and flush out the blocked garbage.

Arrest of YC leaders
Bittu to verify Henry’s role
Dharmendra Joshi/TNS

Jalandhar, October 9
Punjab Youth Congress President Ravneet Singh Bittu will verify the role of former minister Avtar Henry behind the recent arrest of some local Youth Congress (YC) leaders.

Stating this during his visit here today, Bittu said he would take up the matter with Punjab Congress President Mohinder Singh Kaypee regarding Henry’s alleged involvement in getting Jalandhar (Urban) Youth Congress vice-president Anil Dhal Bobby and its general secretary Manpreet Singh Soni arrested in the Gopal Nagar firing case.

Yesterday Congress councillor Dinesh Dhal Kali alleged that local YC leaders had been arrested at the behest of Henry and Local Bodies Minister Manoranjan Kalia.

Reiterating his allegations, Bittu accused Kalia for falsely implicating some local YC leaders in the firing case due to his alleged closeness with Manoj Nanha, also an accused in the firing case.

Ashok Gop, an eyewitnesses of the firing incident, which occurred at Gopal Nagar on September 26, 2009, alleged that the firing had been initiated by Manoj Nanha-led group, without any instigation from Anil Dhal and his men.

Also chairman of the Flower Market at Gopal Nagar and president of Sarv Dharam Gop Samaj, Ashok Gop said Dhal and his men were taking cold drinks at his shop at Gopal Nagar where they had come to invite him to a Dasehra function. On seeing them, Nanha-led group started firing at them without any provocation.

Meanwhile, Congress leader Shiv Kanwar Singh Sandhu threatened to gherao the offices of the Commissioner and Deputy Commissioner if the local Youth Congress leaders were not released after the withdrawal of “false” cases against them within 10 days.

No procurement till purchased paddy lifted from mandis: Panel

Nawanshahr, October 9
The district unit of the Punjab State Foodgrain Agencies Coordination Committee, at a press meeting here on Friday announced to stop paddy procurement till the start of the process of lifting of purchased paddy from mandis.

Addressing mediapersons, Rajesh Sharma (Punsup), Dev Raj (Pungrain), Jassa Singh (Markfed) and Pritam Singh (Warehouse Corporation) said though the paddy procurement season was at its peak till now no proper arrangements had been started for lifting the purchased paddy.

The authorities concerned have been issuing verbal orders to allow rice millers to lift the purchased paddy, but keeping in view the scam at the Majhoor Rice Mills in the district last year, the inspectors of the different procurement agencies were not ready to take any risk of allowing rice millers to lift the purchased paddy without the execution of any written agreement and depositing security.

Due to the decision of the inspectors of procurement agencies, the District Arhtiyas Association convened a press meeting here in the evening. Bakhtawar Singh, president of the association, issued an appeal to farmers not to bring paddy in the mandis. — OC

Girl stops marriage of ‘fiance’
P.K. Jaiswar
Tribune News Service

Amritsar, October 9
High drama was witnessed when a girl stopped marriage of her “fiance” with another girl at a gurdwara in the Sultanwind area here today. The Dhariwal (Gurdaspur)-based fatherless girl, who swooped down with a police party, claimed that she had been engaged with the boy, identified as Avtar Singh, a resident of Indira Colony here, for the last more than two years.

Avtar ran away from the gurdwara after seeing the girl, while the police caught Jaspal Singh, father of the boy.

Talking to The Tribune, the victim alleged that Avtar, who used to come to her house regularly, developed physical relations with her. She said the family of Jaspal Singh knew everything about their relations. She alleged that about two months ago, Avtar’s family demanded Rs 2 lakh from her for solemnising the marriage. As she belonged to a poor family, she expressed her inability, after which Avtar refused to marry him, she alleged.

Disappointed over this, she filed a complaint with the police and an inquiry was assigned to the Station House Officer of Mohkampura police station. Balbir Singh, SHO, B-division police station, who has been appointed as an inquiry officer after today’s incident, said both the parties had been asked to hand over whatever proofs they had to support their allegations.

Jaspal Singh, father of the boy denied to comment on the issue saying that inquiry was on. “I do not want to comment at this time when the police was probing the allegations,” he said.

Get ‘our’ dress off waiters, says lawyer
Our Correspondent

Hoshiarpur, October 9
Local lawyer Naveen Jairath served a legal notice on the managing directors of all hotels and marriage palaces of the district today to immediately withdraw the white shirt, black trouser, black necktie and coat dress of waiters, etc. working in their hotels and marriage palaces within 15 days, failing which he and many of his colleagues would initiate legal proceedings against them.

Jairath stated in the notice that it was observed that hotel and marriage palace owners had been intentionally engaging waiters dressed like lawyers for service during functions in hotels or marriage palaces.

As per rules framed by the Bar Council of India, in Chapter IV, under sections 49 (1) of the Advocates Act, 1961, advocates appearing in the Supreme Court, the High Court, subordinate courts, tribunals or authorities shall be in sober and dignified dress i.e. a black buttoned-up coat, chapkan, achkan, black sherwani and white bands with advocates’ gowns for male advocates and black and full or half-sleeve jacket or blouse, white collar stiff or soft and white bands with advocates gowns for female advocates.

This dress code is compulsory for advocates and even as per the instructions of the apex court as well as various high courts, the dress code of the judges is almost the same.

Allowing waiters to wear the same dress is not only harming the reputation of lawyers and judges in the estimation of the general public but also showing great disrespect to the whole legal fraternity.

He called upon them to immediately withdraw the dress of the waiters, etc., working in their establishments within 15 days, failing which he would start legal proceedings against them.

Train driver injured as DMU hits truck
Our Correspondent

Nawanshahr, October 9
The engine driver of DMU-11079 Jalandhar 2JRJ, Bal Krishan was injured when the train collided with a truck (PJI- 4721) crossing the rail track after loading fertilisers at the railway station here on Saturday morning.

As per information available, when the Rahon-Nawanshahr-Jejjon train reached Nawanshahr railway station, it hit the truck crossing the track.

In the collision, the front glass of the engine was also damaged and the engine driver received injuries. However, the truck driver escaped. A case under sections 279 and 427, IPC, has been registered at the railway police station.

Passengers had to face a lot of inconvenience. After the accident, the train was stopped and a technical team from the railway department, Jalandhar, reached here to assess faults which occurred due to the accident.

Then the engine was taken to Jalandhar, leaving passengers to face inconvenience for a couple of hours following which they themselves had to make alternative arrangements to reach their respective destinations.

2 killed in road mishaps
Our Correspondent

Phagwara, October 9
Two persons, including a child, were killed in two different road mishaps in Phagwara and Phillaur last night. In the first incident, six-year-old Sonu was hit by a vehicle and killed on the spot near Apra village in Phillaur subdivision last night. The vehicle driver fled after hitting the child, the police said.

In the second incident, motorcyclist Binder Singh was killed when his bike collided with a tractor-trailer near Rawalpindi village on the Phagwara-Hoshiarpur road. The police has impounded the tractor-trailer and arrested the owner.

The bodies of the deceased were handed over to their family members after post-mortem examinations.

Car snatched

Two unidentified motorcyclists snatched a Swift car from Nakodar trader Surinder Pal Ahuja on the Nakodar-Shankar road last night. He was going towards Shankar village when the robbers snatched the Swift car and sped away.