Jalandhar, August 18
It was a hellish experience for the residents of the city as garbage piled up, overflowed and its stench pervaded the air. The Nigam Safai Mazdoor Union today went on an indefinite strike and refused to lift garbage. They are demanding that the upcoming Solid Waste Management Project should be cancelled.

President of the union, Chandan Grewal said that the members had given an 11-day notice to the MC officials claiming that in case the project is not rolled back, they would go on strike. “The officials did not pay any heed and had to bear the brunt today”, he said adding that the strike would continue till their demand is not conceded to.

The members say that their services could be at risk after the project came in. The members have said that after almost 12 years of fighting against the contractual employment system, they had managed to get their services regularised but they again are apprehensive now.

Today, there was no garbage lifting from any part of the city. The garbage vehicles did not ply and the heaps remained where they were. The worst-affected localities were the old market areas of the city, including Rainak Bazaar, Sheikhan Bazar, Atari Bazaar, Mai Hiran Gate and Khingran Gate, which have are most frequented.

It was a hellish experience for the commuters to the market today as they walked past heaps of stinking waste. Subhash Puri, a shopkeeper in Khingran Gate, said: “We were in a sorry state as the visitors have been coming to us and asking as to why we did not get the lanes cleaned today. My biggest problem is that my house is also in the market area which has got littered badly.”

Kuldip S. Oberoi, SAD councillor who represents the Rainak Bazaar area, said, “It was after a lot of persuasion that I managed to get two safai karamcharis who only cleared a small lane. The rest of the area stands as it is and I am helpless”.

A meeting of the union and officials was held this evening but an amicable solution could not be reached. The MC Assistant Commissioner DP Bhardwaj said that the union members had been given an assurance that their services would continue even after the waste management project starts. But the union president argues, “We have come to know of certain lacunae in the project details which have sent us into a tizzy”. 

Jalandhar, August 18
Harassment to farmers in courts may come to an end soon and precious time of bankers and revenue officials across the state will be saved, as the state government is likely to do away with the task of compulsory registration of mortgage deeds for loans taken by farmers.

Anurag Verma, Divisional Commissioner, Jalandhar, has urged the Punjab Government to do away with the compulsory registration of mortgage deeds for loans taken by farmers to reduce their harassment in tehsils of the state.

At present, for taking a loan for agricultural and allied activities, a farmer first has to get the mortgage deed registered before the tehsildar. Thereafter, he has to get an entry in this regard made in the Jamabandi and then the loan is disbursed. 

Jalandhar, August 18
The claims of the Municipal Corporation employees and the Opposition on use of low-grade material in the two-year-old MC Administrative Complex came true today with a 20-feet long false ceiling slab in the corridor falling right in front of the office of Commissioner this morning.

Luckily, the incident happened before 9 am, owing to which there were no employees or visitors in the otherwise busy area.

There had been complaints by the staff that the rainwater had started seeping inside the building. A false ceiling slab of 5-feet length had given way even in the councillor’s hall as well sometime back. There has been a complaint of loose false ceiling fittings even in the audit and the house tax branches.

The incident has left the employees scared. “We were in for a shock when we came to the office this morning. The coming down of false ceiling has also exposed the haphazard way in which the electrical fittings have been done. There is a wire mesh hanging up there which is now visible. Our officials need to take up action against the contractor who did the false ceiling job in view of our safety concern while getting the entire fittings redone”, they demanded adding that even the elevator was not working since the past three months.

Gurcharan Singh, XEN (B&R) MC, who was in charge of the building construction, termed it as a simple mishap. “The administration may think of penalising the contractor who designed false ceiling in the office,” he added. 

Jalandhar, August 18
Traffic jams have become a routine problem at most of the places in the city. Mai Hiran Gate, Jail Road, Tanda Railway Crossing, PAP Chowk, Rama Mandi Chowk and Nakodar Chowk are the areas that have been affected the most, thanks to inadequate parking lots and a negligible number of traffic cops deployed for effective handling of the situation.

There are only three proper parking lots near Narinder Cinema, PNB Chowk and Milap Chowk in the city. Further, the Municipal Corporation Jalandhar (MCJ) has declared eight roadsides as parking lots but all these are not sufficient for the Jalandhar residents to park their vehicles.

As a result, they were left with no option but to park their vehicles haphazardly, which creates a hinderance in smooth flow of traffic due to which all the vehicles move at a snail’s pace.

The negligible number of traffic policemen, as compared to the current population of the city that has been pegged at 12 lakh, is aggravating the problem of traffic jams. Currently, there are only 142 traffic cops in the Jalandhar commissionerate, that too less than the sanctioned posts of 146. The 146 posts were sanctioned in 1982, when the city population was only seven lakh.

Admitting that the number of traffic cops should be increased three to four-fold in view of the current population and number of vehicles in the city, Assistant Commissioner of Police Traffic Diljinder Singh Dhillon said “The traffic police is doing its best to tackle the snarls-up despite lesser number of cops.”

Dhillon said, “Several steps have been taken to check the snarl-up problems at Mai Hiran Gate and Jail Road. Entry of vehicles bigger than the size of a jeep has been banned during day time at Mai Hiran Gate.”

Similarly, two special beats with two Sub-Inspectors, one Assistant Sub-Inspector and 24 constables have been deployed at the Mai Hiran Gate and Jail Road to control the traffic jam, he said adding, that yellow line has been drawn on Jail Road for proper parking vehicles while it was not possible to mark at Mai Hiran Gate as it is a congested area.

Further, Dhillon said: “The traffic jam problem at PAP and Rama Mandi chowks occur as buses stop there for getting boarding and deboarding the passengers there. The issue of construction of a proper bus halt at PAP chowk has already been taken up with MCJ.”

MCJ Assistant Commissioner DP Bhardwaj said “The Corporation has identified 15 more parking lots on various roadsides for providing more space to Jalandharities to park their vehicles. The auction of these parking lots will be done soon.”

To a query about constructing bus halt at PAP chowk, he said he did not know whether the Jalandhar commissionerate police had taken up the issue with MCJ or not.

Jalandhar, August 18
As many as 60 per cent of the kids driving their two-wheelers to school park their vehicles outside their school premises, a convenient option for defaulters and a parking nightmare. School kids, rashly driving their bikes and scooters around the city, have been a consistent cause for concern for parents, schools as well as the administration.

Despite the fact that the traffic police launched a drive a year and a half ago to nab these violators, they continue to be a headache for the traffic police and their schools.

From March to December 2010, the traffic police challaned as many as 842 underage violators and this year, till date, it has challaned 347 violators.

ACP Traffic Diljinder Singh Dhillon said, "Every week we target two or more schools and underage drivers without licenses are intercepted. Though there has been a decrease in violators since the time the drive was started, still, as many as 60 per cent children driving vehicles, park outside schools. We suspect many of them are violators. Parents of all the kids challaned are charged but rule-breakers abound."

"Almost every school faces problems but Apeejay School, Guru Amar Dass Public School, St Soldier Public School (Guru Tegh Bahadur Nagar) and Police DAV School have the most amount of violators," he adds.

"It's mostly the parents who are negligent. Kids are pampered and given vehicles at young ages."

Rashmi Vij, principal of Police DAV School, says, "We have issued strict instructions to students and sent written notes to parents on the issue. We don't let defaulters park vehicles inside the school but the PAP Complex is huge and children continue to park at new places. Parents say their children don't listen to them. We are strict but it's a tricky task."

Meera Javed, principal of Apeejay School, agrees, "We haven't permitted children to park vehicles inside the school but they find places in the market. The police is also largely responsible. If they start towing away vehicles, violation will stop."

Satwant Gakhal, principal MGN public School, says, "We have issued instructions to students regarding the issue. Students without licenses are not given permit passes to park in school. But students are deceitful and park at remote street corners. Parents, especially working mothers, complain that their children need independent transportation for tuitions. It's an ugly problem."

Schools like Eklavya, though, might just have found the solution to the problem, Seema Handa, director of the school, says, "All our students travel by bus. Even students from the nearby areas are ferried by bus so there is no scope for defaulters."

Jalandhar, August 18
The segment of luxury cars parked in the parking facility of the Civil Hospital, Jalandhar, makes one think that the hospital services aren’t availed by the poor and lower middle class families, but by those from the elite strata of the city.

Flouting all norms, the parking lots of the hospital, which are meant to park ambulances and vehicles of attendants of patients and doctors, are being used by hundreds of shopkeepers and shoppers, who everyday visit cluster of congested markets situated all around the civil hospital.

The wrongful use of parking by the commuters put the patients and emergency care services at the receiving end.

“Due to these vehicles, the entry and exit points of the hospital remain choked round the clock. Therefore, ambulances take a lot of time to reach the hospital during an emergency,” said Dr Shivdayal Mali, president, hospital unit of the Punjab Civil Services Medical Association.

“Besides, the frequent movement of such vehicles alongside the indoor hospital wards makes the environment noisy and polluted,” he added.

Admitting that the parking is frequently used by the customers visiting markets, Gurmej Singh, whose daughter-in-law is the contractor of the hospital cycle stand, said, “If we do not allow parking of such vehicles in the hospital premises, we will not be in a position to meet even the contract amount of Rs 12 lakh per annum, which we have paid to the hospital authorities.”

“There are two other parking facilities set up by the municipal corporation in the vicinity of the markets. However, few people use these facilities due to the high parking fee charged there,” he added.

Another doctor said the parking space was already squeezed as over 200 hospital employees and 500 patients come to the hospital on their vehicles.

“Entry of other vehicles should be banned as the parking space hardly meets the demand of hospital employees and attendants of patients,” he added.

Dr Avtar Chand, Medical Superintendent of the hospital, could not be contacted for his version.

'Felicitations', an award ceremony for meritorious students of the Prem Chand Markanda SD College for Women was held today.

Jalandhar, August 18
The Jalandhar (Rural) police arrested three members of a robbers’ gang near from Canal Rest House near Adampur here late last night.

Acting on a tip-off, the police laid a trap and nabbed Amandeep Singh, a resident of Mohalla Sheharian, Kapurthala; Tarun Vaid of Jalandhar Cantonment and Tarunveer Singh of Model House in Jalandhar.

Meanwhile, two other gang members, identified as Vipin and Pintoo, managed to escape.

Inderjit Singh, in charge of the special staff of the police, informed that the gang was hatching a conspiracy to conduct a robbery in a nearby located colony when they were overpowered by the cops.

The police also recovered two country-made revolvers, a motorcycle and a dagger from their possession. Sippy and Tarunveer are notorious robbers and are wanted in over a dozen of criminal cases registered against them in Jalandhar and Kapurthala districts.

The police has launched a hunt to nab absconders, Vipin and Pintoo, both residents of Basti Shekh locality in Jalandhar. The duo is said to have joined the gang a couple of months ago and were undergoing ‘training’ from their kingpin Amandeep Singh, the police said.