Moga, July 8
With the assembly elections only a few months away, unauthorized colonies have started mushrooming in the Moga district on private agricultural lands indicating a nexus between the politicians, real estate developers and the bureaucracy.

Karnail Singh, an executive engineer working in the Punjab Urban Development Authority (PUDA) at Ludhiana has lodged an FIR under sections 420 of the IPC and sections 3, 6, 9, 15, 18, 21 and 36 (I) of the Punjab Apartment and Property Regulation Act, 1995 against seven persons including two women for developing an unauthorized colony — Baba Farid Complex (Block-B) at Duneke on the outskirts of Moga town.

The SHO of the police station (rural) Jasbinder Singh, while talking to The Tribune, revealed that a complaint was made by the PUDA authorities to the Moga SSP Sneh Deep Sharma on June 11 this year. On its basis, the police has registered case last night. "We have begun investigations and will soon arrest all the persons named in the complaint,” he said.

Meanwhile, investigations made by The Tribune revealed that more than 30 unauthorized colonies were being developed on various locations at Sant Nagar in Moga, Ajitwal, Baghapurana, Dharamkot and Nihalsinghwala in the Moga district on private agricultural land.

Some existing colonies had also expanded in the last few years within the municipal limits at the district headquarters without the approval of the PUDA or Municipal Council.

In Rajendra Estate, the MC has given sewerage connection to only one house but hundreds of other houses that came up in recent years managed to get ‘illegal’ sewerage connections.

The vice-president of the Municipal Council Anil Bansal, while confirming that the sewerage connections in the colony were illegal, said the MC has recently laid sewerage line through the colony.

Similarly, flats have also come up on some locations in Moga town without the approval of PUDA and the local body. Fresh constructions were also going on at some other locations in the town.

Dimple Chadda, a real estate baron, claimed that he has got approvals from the PUDA to develop colonies in the Moga district but the PUDA authorities say that only one colony, New Delhi Enclave, being developed by him on the outskirts of the Moga town has been approved by the urban development authority.

However, it was learnt that some other colonies at Sant Nagar and Ajitwal being developed by him and his associates on agricultural land were unauthorized and were not approved by the urban development authority.

It may be mentioned that the local Congress MLA Joginder Pal Jain, his wife Swaran Lata Jain and a son are also facing legal proceedings in a Faridkot court for developing an illegal colony in Moga town.

Ferozpur, July 8
In a bizarre incident, a new- born girl child was found abandoned in near the sewerage manhole inside Kasuri Gate area in the city in the early hours today.

The girl was found by Praveen Mehta, a local businessman and social worker who immediately informed the police and took the infant girl to a children’s hospital where she is currently undergoing treatment.

Mehta said he was going to the temple in the morning when he spotted the baby girl near a sewerage manhole in Gali Hansraj near Kasuri Gate locality. Mehta said he immediately rushed the child to the hospital as her condition seemed to be critical.

Dr Sheel Sethi, a child specialist, said the newly-born girl child was brought to his hospital around 6:30 am and her condition was quite serious. "She is a premature baby, just a few hours old, and it seems that the girl was delivered at home as the placenta and the umbilical cord were also not cut when she was brought to my hospital," disclosed Dr Sethi, adding that the child is still recovering and nothing can be said about her chances of survival at this stage.

The infant girl also had injury marks on her body and was without any clothes or blanket.

Meanwhile, Mehta has volunteered to take care of the child himself. He said that last year also, a newly born girl child was found abandoned near the Amritsari Gate on the rooftop of a house. The baby could not survive despite the best of efforts.

Meanwhile, the police has registered a case against unidentified persons on the basis of the statement of Mehta and other persons residing in the locality and investigations were being made to identify the parents of the baby girl.

The police is also collecting information about the expectant women in the area.

Sources in the health department said that though a record of expectant women is maintained by the local health authorities, the record is never complete and up-to-date as a lot of people and even some private nursing homes, being run by unqualified doctors in the rural areas, do not provide the correct data and conceal the information about the pregnancy.

Ashok Behal, secretary, Red Cross, said the matter has been brought to the notice of the Deputy Commissioner who has instructed that the cost of the treatment of the child will be borne by the Red Cross society.

Fazilka, July 8
Following delay in the construction of a temporary bridge over the seepage drain in nearby Ladhuka Mandi, thousands of residents have been facing great hardship as the connectivity of more than half a dozen villages to the main Fazilka-Ferozepur road has been cut off.

The temporary bridge on the drain was washed away five days back following an increase in the inflow of water in the seepage drain due to heavy rain in the last few days.

Notably, the authorities had dismantled the old dilapidated unsafe permanent bridge and decided to construct a new one. The work for construction of a permanent bridge is in progress and is likely to be completed by September this year.

Hence, as a provisional measure, a temporary bridge was constructed on the drain. “The villagers have to cover an additional distance of more than 10 km by road to reach Ladhuka Mandi after passing through other villages,” said a prominent resident Tejwant Singh.

There are more than a hundred shopkeepers running their business across the bridge in the market. "We are virtually facing starvation as the customers do not reach our shops,” said Brahma Nand Chawla, a cement dealer.

The mandi and residents living nearby had also staged a dharna on July 5 demanding the construction of bridge without further delay.

On the other hand, Deputy Commissioner, Ferozepur, Kamal Kishore Yadav told this correspondent that the inflow of water from the Abohar branch canal has been reduced and the administration would be able to provide a "workable solution" within a day.

The DC, however, said that the civil administration has provided a boat for ferrying the pedestrians.

Bathinda, July 8
The Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar) led by its president Simranjit Singh Mann will hold a demonstration in New Delhi on July 11 in protest against the death sentences awarded to Prof Devinder Pal Singh Bhullar and Balwant Singh Rajoana (the late CM Beant Singh’s killing case).

Mann said here today his party had also sought time from Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh for holding talks with him on the issue of Prof Bhullar and Rajoana and submitting a memorandum in this regard.

Mann said though CM Parkash Singh Badal and Punjab Congress president Captain Amarinder Singh were demanding that the death sentence of Bhullar and Rajoana should not be executed, the Indian National Congress and the BJP (an alliance partner of the SAD in Punjab) were in favour of it.

This was why nobody was hearing their pleas, he added.

He said the youth wing of the SAD (A) would be constituted on August 28 at Moga where the president of the wing and other office-bearers would be elected.

Bathinda, July 8
After four-year long proceedings in a corruption case, district and sessions judge SK Aggarwal today sentenced the then in-charge of the Women Cell, Bathinda, sub-inspector Gurcharan Kaur, to one and half years of imprisonment along with a fine of Rs 2,500.

Giving details, Khushi Mohammad, SSP, Vigilance Bureau (VB), Bathinda, said the accused had received Rs 5,000 as bribe from one Hans Raj of Mansa to favour him in a complaint of dowry lodged against him by his wife.

Claiming that she could ignore the registration of a criminal case against him, the sub-inspector demanded a sum of Rs 5,000 from him. However, finding the demand unjustified, Hans Raj approached the Vigilance Bureau.

Acting upon the complaint, VB sleuths led by DSP Onkar Singh laid a trap and nabbed Gurcharan Kaur while she received the amount from Hans Raj in the presence of his mother Kanta Rani (co-accused in the complaint). During the search, the VB sleuths could recover Rs 3,000 from her possession while the remaining amount was recovered from one Lakhvir Chand, a shopkeeper on the Hazi Rattan road here.

The VB officials had booked both of them but during the trial, district and sessions judge SK Aggarwal found Lakhvir Chand not guilty as he had come to collect the amount that the accused cop had owed him.

However, the sessions judge today awarded imprisonment and imposed fine on sub-inspector Gurcharan Kaur under different sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988.

Barnala, July 8
A local court today sent 13 of the accused in the sex racket, including the owner of the hotel, a senior ruling Akali Dal leader and state president of ex-serviceman wing, Gurjinder Singh Sidhu, and an agriculture department official, to 14 days of judicial remand. This comes after the police busted a sex racket and arrested six couples from a hotel owned by the Akali leader. The hotel owner was arrested last night.

Immediately after the accused were produced in the court of first class judicial magistrate Amandeep Kaur, the judge sentenced them to 14 days of judicial remand till July 22. The court ordered that the minor girl, arrested during the raid, be sent to the Nari Niketan in Jalandhar.

Police had a tough time producing the accused in the court as the supporters of the Akali leader and the agriculture department official tried to prevent the media from covering the incident.

RC seized: In a case which reflects laxity, the transport department here failed to immediately return the registration certificate (RC) of the vehicle to its owner even after accepting the challan amount.

The complainant Taranjeet Singh said he was challaned on July 4 near LBS College by the transport department authorities while riding his motorbike with three persons on. He added that he deposited the challan amount on the scheduled date of July 7 in the District Transport Officer.

Taranjeet Singh said he deposited Rs 300 as the challan amount and was handed receipt bearing number 942962 by the dealing clerk, who asked him to collect the receipt next week. DTO Barnala, SS Brar said he will enquire into the case.

Abohar, July 8
The appointment of station superintendents, assistant station superintendents along with 120 other members of the staff at five new railway stations developed on the Abohar-Fazilka section had kindled hopes of on early functioning of the long awaited link but a visit to one of the railway stations in village Choohriwala Dhanna comes as a setback.

Such railway stations had also been developed in village Burjmuhar, Ghallu, Khuikhera and Jandwala Kharta on the 42.15 km route.

The railways had asked the new staff to join by July 1 but none was found at Choohriwala Dhanna when the media team visited the railway complex.

The platform as well as the shed at the railway station was found damaged. While the village residents explained that hail storm had recently damaged a part of the shed, the floor had caved visibly due to sub-standard construction.

The total cost of the project as on March 31 this year has officially been put at 214.80 crore.

The officials in the divisional railway offices at Ambala and Ferozepur were waiting for clearance from the railway safety office, Lucknow. An official in the Lucknow office indicated over the phone that inbspection was expected by the end of this month. The speed for the trains will be decided as per the report to be submitted by the engineers. The final clearance will be then given by the commercial railway officers at New Delhi. The officials said since the physical charge of the recently constructed five railway stations was yet to be handed over to the authorities concerned, the damaged portions will be repaired before that.

Notably, the railways had already announced the Bathinda-Abohar-Fazilka passenger train for this section. The decision on the Abohar-Fazilka DMU trains is still awaited.

Bathinda, July 8
Out of the total 126 seats of the three-year BSc course in Hospitality and Hotel Administration of the local Institute of Hotel Management, Catering Technology and Applied Nutrition (Department of Tourism, Government of Punjab) about 45 seats (17 for SCs, 9 for STs and about 20 for open category) are still lying unoccupied as the institute has not found requisite number of students for this session, which is going to start from July 18.

Principal of the institute Kamal Piyush said here today that due to lack of awareness and its job prospects, students were not coming. He said the institute would now give direct admissions to the students of the area and would not take any capitation fee as it wanted to fill the vacant seats.

On the occasion, president of the Bathinda Hotel, Restaurant and Resorts Association Satish Arora said that with the amount of Rs 3.43 crore, provided by the Centre, works on Bathinda fort (Rs 1.34 crore), Maisarkhana (Rs 87 lakh), Jaipalgarh, Bathinda (Rs 50 lakh) and Zoo (Rs 71 lakh) were going to start. He said a Tourist Information Centre, near the Mini-Secretariat here, was also being opened for the tourists. He hopes it would prove fruitful for the hotel industry of Bathinda. Arora also disclosed that about six months ago, there was 70 per cent occupancy in the local hotels which had now reduced by 20 per cent due to completion of the Bathinda Refinery. He said this was a big loss as the industry was expecting that the work on refinery would continue for at least five years. He also sought tourism police to maintain law security of the tourists. — TNS

Bathinda, July 8
Shortage of some fresh milk products, especially butter, being manufactured by the local Verka Milk Plant came to notice today when some consumers told this reporter that they could not get butter or lassi when they went to the market to purchase the same. They said in these circumstances, they had to buy products of other companies.

A dhaba owner said they were facing shortage of Verka butter (100 gram packing) as they got a limited supply from the dealer.

He also complained that sometimes the cheese changed its taste when kept in the open for just about two hours.

A consumer said he went to some shops the previous day to buy Verka butter, but it was not available.

On the other hand, the authorities of the Verka Milk Plant claimed that there was no shortage of fresh products as they supplied the same to the dealers as per their demand.

The in-charge of the marketing and quality control wings of the plant, Sanjiv Goyal, said the vehicles of the plant supplied fresh milk products twice a day — in the morning and in the evening.

Regarding complaint about the change in the taste of cheese, he said the cheese did not change its taste if it was kept with care and in a proper temperature. — TNS