Kapurthala, May 5
The police has registered a criminal case against four Rail Coach Factory (RCF) employees for allegedly thrashing and injuring ENT specialist Dr Sandeep Mehta, who was accused of molesting a daughter of a RCF employee.

Meanwhile, the RCF has constituted two fact finding committees in this regard.

According to police sources, the case has been registered under Sections 452, 323, 148 and 149 of IPC against Darshan Lal, Bachittar Singh, Narinder and MP Sharma and some unknown persons for assaulting and wounding the doctor after forcibly entering into his official residence in the RCF colony on Tuesday morning.

Tasking serious notice of both the incidents, RCF General Manager KK Saxena formed two fact finding committees to look into the incidents. A three-member committee, which includes two women officers, will probe the molestation case of the girl and a four-member committee of senior officers will inquire into the thrashing case of the doctor.

SSP SS Mann has ordered an inquiry into the alleged molestation case of the girl by RCF doctor on the complaint of the girl. He directed Sultanpur Lodhi DSP Gurmit Singh to inquire into the case and submit his report soon.

In his complaint, the daughter of an RCF employee alleged that Dr Mehta had misbehaved with her on Monday when she visited the hospital for medical examination.

On the other hand, Dr Mehta in his statement to the police alleged that one staff council member had sought an undue favour from him to pass a medical reimbursement bill which was beyond his powers and when he refused to oblige, the employee threatened him to teach a lesson.

A spokesman of RCF said Dr Mehta was under transfer and would be relieved when he was discharged from a private hospital in Jalandhar.

In the meantime, RCF employees today held a gate rally in protest against the indecent behaviour of Dr Mehta. 

Nawanshahr, May 5
Agitated over the notices issued under the PUDA Act by the Municipal Council to demolish their business establishments situated on Chandigarh Road, Rahon and Banga Road here in the town, hundreds of shopkeepers today held a massive protest and dharna under the aegis of the Nawanshahr Welfare Association to register their protest against the proposed move of the government to demolish their shops for widening the roads.

In the morning, the shopkeepers held a dharna in front of the office of the Municipal Council. Member of the PPCC Gur Iqbal Babli, district Congress chief Rana Kuldip Singh, former MC chief Lalit Mohan Pathak Ballu, Satvir Singh Palli Jhikki, Raj Kumar Narang, Pardep Singh Chandla, SAD leader, H.K. Puri, among others, while addressing the gathering said though the local SAD MLA, Jatinder Singh Kariha, had assured the local shopkeepers that the shops would not be demolished and he had pursuaded the Chief Minister, Parkash Singh Badal, to construct a bypass for solving the problem of the traffic congestion, but nothing concrete had been done so far and still the threat of losing their livelihood looms large on the shopkeepers.

Later, the protesting shopkeepers marched towards the District Administrative Complex, where the PWD Minister, Parminder Singh Dhindsa, was presiding over the meeting of the District Grievances Committee, to submit a memorandum to him.

The protesters were prohibited from entering the District Administrative Complex by the civil and police administration and the irate protesters started raising anti-government slogans. An altercation was also held between the administrative officials and the irate shopkeepers as they were pressing upon the administration that they would together go to submit the memorandum to the minister.

Finally, the PWD minister came out of the meeting hall to meet the protesters. The minister gave a patient hearing to the protesting leaders and assured them justice as per law.

Batala/Gurdaspur, May 5
Gurdaspur Deputy Commissioner Pirthi Chand has announced a series of measures to check the menace of wheat stubble burning in the region, including registration of criminal cases against erring farmers and severance of their power supply connections.

However, all these efforts have come to a naught as environmentalists have questioned the very efficacy of implementing such “rules which have no teeth” and have rubbished such regulations by saying that “the authorities are not focusing on the real issue. Banning wheat residue burning is going to take the issue nowhere and more practical measures are the need of the hour.”

Farm scientists of the region rigidly maintain that filing criminal cases against erring farmers is not a solution to the problem whose tentacles have now spread deep and wide. The common refrain among environmentalists was that “bringing in special legislations or enacting special laws to deal with the problem, which over the years has assumed gigantic proportions, will be of no value till the farmers themselves are educated on the ill effects of paddy residue burning.”

State Awardee for Agriculture and noted environmentalist Vikram Ahuja said the authorities have their hands tied to their backs when it comes to fighting the scourge. He disclosed, “Burning of wheat straw ironically does not come under the purview of the Air Pollution act 1981. Legal experts are of the view that action can be taken against the erring farmers under the Public Nuisance act.”

Interestingly, the farmers care two hoots for the administrations warnings. Reason: Last year, after the paddy season, the Gurdaspur police failed to book even a single farmer for setting ablaze farm residue. It has also come to light that whenever farmers get trapped in the police quagmire, they rush to local politicians who then influence the cops to let off the farmers.

Many wonder why, in the first place, farmers resort to straw burning. Director, PAU Research Centre, PS Bagga said, “The reason why most of the farmers burn off the straw, be it of paddy or wheat, is the lack of a market for the resource. Currently, rice straw has no commercial value. Its disposal rather constitutes an extra cost. Ploughing it into soil is time and energy consuming and the residues take a long time to decompose. Burning the straw on the field is the most economic and easiest way to get rid of it.” 

Jalandhar, May 5
Infighting within the BJP has come to fore with the party MLA K.D. Bhandari and Mayor Rakesh Rathour coming with strong reactions against state secretary and BJP councillor Ravi Mahendru.

The matter had initially flared up when Ravi Mahendru, also a staunch Local Bodies Minister’s loyalist, had opposed the setting up of a hand tools cluster during a meeting of the Finance and Contracts Audit Committee. Mahendru had argued that the matter could not be passed without adequate clarifications on certain points.

The Mayor, who is quite anxious over the project, had then passed the agenda and sent it to the state government for further approval claiming that the majority had agreed over the matter. He, however, got a setback after Mahendru went further and got the project cancelled from the state government and reacted openly calling it “sheer dictatorship”.

Bhandari has also crossed swords with Mahendru and has been siding with Mayor on the matter. Bhandari and Mahendru are at loggerheads over the issue of a project related to the construction of Chandan Nagar underbridge as both want to take credit on the issue.

The Municipal Corporation (MC) is in the process of acquiring five godowns and a playground of a school for the purpose of construction of the bridge. One of these godowns is also owned by Ravi Mahendru. While Bhandari has been all out to get the project started, Mahendru is said to have held a separate meetings with the affected persons yesterday to gain supremacy. And Bhandari came out with strong words saying that he did not expect undue interference from within the party.

Mahendru did not take phone call despite repeated attempts.