Jalandhar, August 20
Two backdated notifications from the Local Bodies Department has put the officials of the Municipal Corporation here in a fix. While one of these is with regard to amnesty on illegal water supply connections, the other is about the waiver of interest and penalty on arrears of house tax as well as water and sewer user charges from the residents. Though the date of issue on the notification cited with the memorandum number has been smartly mentioned as July 28 (the day on which the code of conduct owing to SGPC elections came into effect), the dispatch dates have been mentioned as August 8 and 11.

The copies have been sent to the commissioners in MCs of all six cities and six regional deputy directors across the state. The officials of the local MC said that they had got the copy on August 17, but they were not in a position to even give a public notice in this regard, owing to the code of conduct. “We are still in the process of seeking permission in this regard from Chandigarh”, said an official.

The notification mentions that the residents living in houses of upto 250 sq yard would have to pay Rs 500, while those between 250 to 1000 sq yard would have to pay Rs 1000. The commercial houses in an area of 125 sq yards of plot would have to pay Rs 1000 for every illegal connection. This would be besides the charges for a new connection fee and road-cutting charges, the notification reads.

The notifications has come in the wake of the recent meeting on local bodies reforms made by Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal in Jalandhar on July 22.

The sources in the Operations and Maintenance Department revealed that there are as many as 35 to 40 per cent illegal water connections in the city. “We have no data base of the legal and illegal connections. But we already in the process of conducting a door-to-door survey. If the residents come up with a voluntary disclosure of their illegal connection, they will have to pay just 10 per cent of what they would have to pay otherwise”, revealed the Superintending Engineer (Operations and Maintenance), MC, AS Dhaliwal.

Jalandhar, August 20
The state government hurriedly introduced the free baby delivery and incentive schemes without providing additional manpower and infrastructure at health centres, the staff deployed at the obstetrics wing of the civil hospital is jostling to deal with the sudden increase in the delivery cases rushing towards the hospital.

Given the fact that the number of patients is increasing with each passing day, the team of gynaecologists claimed that they have to struggle to provide even the minimal quality care while conducting deliveries.

The increase in volume of expectant mothers reporting to the gynaecology unit of the hospital is so sudden that the patients have outnumbered the beds available in the gynaecology wards.

“Nowadays, we have to admit 75-80 patients in the wards against the available accommodation of 50 patients at one go. To compensate this load, we had to order 20 additional folding beds to accommodate the patients in adjacent wards,” said a senior staff nurse, on the condition of anonymity.

The staff was handing over the folding beds to the patients when The Tribune team visited the wards. “The extent of scarcity can be guaged from the fact that some patients had to share their beds for a few hours during these days,” added another nursing sister.

The staffers of the department said that the hurriedly implemented Mata Kaushalya scheme is the root cause of this situation. Free of cost treatment and incentive is given to delivery cases conducted in the government run health centers.

“Although the volume of delivery cases has been doubled since May, this year, we are still working with the same staff strength of five doctors, eight staff nurses and four Class IV employees”, said a gynaecologist.

“Only 2 doctors, three staff nurses and two class IV employees have to bear the load during each of the three shifts, every day”, she added.

Incentives

n Free of cost delivery irrespective of cast, creed and economic status

n Incentive of Rs 1,000 per delivery

n Rs 200 for patient transportation

Staff strength

Jalandhar, August 20
Bahadur Singh, headmaster of Government Elementary School, Khurla Kingar, near here, was arrested for using obscene language with girl students.

Parents of these girl students have lodged a complaint against the headmaster. Acting under pressure from the villagers, the police, in a hurry, registered a case under Sections 354 and 509 of the IPC against Bahadur Singh and arrested him. The headmaster was later released on bail.

Bahadur Singh, however, denied the allegations saying a teacher-lobby is against him, which had been using the innocent girls as a tool so that they could shift me from the school. “The lobby is trying to tarnish my image. I am teaching for the last 15 years but not even a single student objected to my style of teaching. The incidents had shattered me,” he added.

The act came to light after certain girls reported the incidents to their parents two days ago. Taking a note of the headmaster’s behaviour with the girl students, the parents assembled at the school and thrashed the headmaster.

Eyewitnesses revealed that a police party reached the school after receiving the information and took Bahadur Singh to the police station. The complainants --- Satnam Singh, Sunny, Deepak Satpal Jagdish, Lovely, Sandeep and some others --- in the complained alleged that Bahadur Singh while teaching students had been using obscene language putting the girls in an embarrassing situation. The complainants also alleged that the teacher had been talking about pornographic films while giving reference to a chapter in their course.

Sukhwinder Singh, SHO, Police Station Division No 7, said though a case has been registered in this regard but the police is verifying the facts in depth.

“Bahadur Singh in teaching in the same school for the last 15 years and no such case is reported against him earlier. We will very the actual facts from the school management committees and then act accordingly,” the SHO added.

The Circle Education Officer (CEO), Joginder Singh, expressed his ignorance about the incident. He, however, said that the incident would be probed if the DEO, elementary, or the victims complain to him through a proper channel. 

Jalandhar, August 20
The CIA staff of the Jalandhar (Rural) police today nabbed two drug peddlers and recovered 1 kg of heroin from their possession. The contraband is worth Rs 5 crore in the international market. This is the third major catch made by the CIA staff in the past seven months.

The drug peddlers have been identified as Jaswant Singh, a resident of Jania village near Lohian in Jalandhar, and Harpal Singh of Pati Mana-Ki under the Bhikhipind police station in the Taran Tarn district.

The police laid a trap at Rampur Lallian village near Lambra and intercepted two persons who were traveling on a motorcycle (PB-07A-6660).

Gurmit Singh, SP (Detective), said two plastic bags containing 500 gram of the contraband each were seized from their possession.

During interrogation, the accused revealed that they had procured the drug from Srai Amanat Khan in the Taran Tarn district on the Indo-Pak border.

The duo was planning to sell the drug on retail basis in Jalandhar and Nakodar, Sahakot, Lohian, Mehatpur and other areas. The drug traffickers are novices and were active in the trade for the past a few months.

Harpal used to accompany his friend Sukhdev to bring the consignment from Srai Amanat Khan, DSP Amrik Singh Dhami said.

The police has launched a manhunt to nab the remaining accused. A case under various sections of the NDPS Act has been registered against the accused. The duo was sent to the joint interrogation centre (JIC) in Amritsar, this evening.

The police had, on July 2, nabbed a city-based property dealer along with his sister and recovered 1.5 kg of ice (refined heroin worth Rs 15 crore in the international market) from their possession.

With the arrest of the two, the police claims to have busted an international gang of drug traffickers linked with Punjabi NRIs involved in the drug trade in European countries.

The CIA staff has recovered 16-kg heroin, 13-kg opium and 3 quintals of poppy in the past eight months.

The Counter Intelligence, Jalandhar Zone, had on July 9 arrested three notorious smugglers and recovered 8 kilogram of heroin from them. The contraband was worth Rs 50 crore in the international market.

The drug was smuggled from Pakistan by three members of a gang comprising Bhag Singh of Amritsar and Jaskaran Singh and Gurwant Singh of smugglers belonging to the Tarn Taran district. 

Jalandhar, August 20
While Chandigarh police has already arrested the owner of Healthyway Immigration Company (HIC), Amit Kakkar, after the registration of several criminal cases of cheating against him and its other employees, a family of Jalandhar City has also come forward claiming that it is also a victim of the alleged fraudulent activities of this Chandigarh-based company.

A couple of Dashmesh Nagar locality near Defence Colony, along with their minor daughter, have applied for a visa to the UK through the immigration company but they were denied visa by the authorities of the UK embassy as the company reportedly had prepared inaccurate documents.

Though the family managed to get back their passports and other relevant documents but the immigration company did not pay them Rs 2.75 lakh taken from them to provide them the visa.

According to the information, Anu Kakkar applied for a students’ UK visa through the company while her husband Gaurav Kakkar and their daughter Yashika had also applied for a visa along with her.

Giving details, Gaurav said, “My wife Anu is an MSc in chemistry but the company got her visa documents prepared saying that she would pursue her higher education in commerce. So much so, they attached a letter of a UK university in this regard with the visa documents despite our objection. This became the basis of the denial of the visa by the UK embassy.”

Gaurav said they had contacted the company after an advertisement of the immigration appeared in a vernacular daily published from Jalandhar in November last year. Subsequently, they gave 5,000 to the company in cash, whereas Rs 70,000 was deposited in the ICICI account of the firm. Following which, the firm took Rs two lakh more cash from them but did not give them any receipt, he added.

Gaurav said when their visa was rejected by the UK embassy, they kept on contacting the Company representatives Charu and Aarti time and again for getting back their passports, other documents and the money.

Though the company returned their passports and other documents after putting pressure on its representatives, not even a single paisa was returned, he added.

He has submitted a complaint to the Chandigarh police in this regard on August 19. Gaurav said he went to the Sector 36 police station for registering a case against the owner of the firm and other employees but the cops present there asked him to contact the police headquarters in Sector 9. The police official Harjit Kaur received his complaint there and assured him that appropriate legal action in this regard would be taken.

Jalandhar, August 20
Broken approach roads, filthy toilets, dirty tracks and unclean drinking water - these are the attributes that best describe the Jalandhar Railway Station.

The most common complain with regular commuters here is of bad sanitation facilities.

The stinking wet slime on the tracks between the platforms number one and two has become a breeding ground for mosquitoes and the benches at the general waiting room are a storehouse of litter and grime.

The unkempt shelter for coolies and dirty toilets (a major cause of ire among commuters) are the other problem areas.

Sukhwinder Singh Ahluwalia, a daily commuter, says, "They just constructed new bathrooms at the general waiting room but the toilets are already very dirty and are never cleaned it seems. Sweepers should be hired to clean them regularly. The tracks are also dirty and since they banned cylinders at the platform, the food is not fresh."

Meenakshi, a student at a local university and a regular visitor, says, "The stench outside the old toilets at platform one is horrible. The station doesn't have adequate dustbins either, so people end up throwing waste on the tracks."

Chitwinder Singh, a regular traveller, says, "The dirt on the tracks and unclean water at the railway station are the biggest problems. Toilets are also very dirty. Basically, all these things are inter-connected. You can't trust what you eat or drink on the platform and the constant stench from the tracks only aggravates the problem."

The parking lots right outside the station are hideous garbage sites, even medical waste (like bandages and smeared cotton) is found here. Auto drivers regularly park autos here say at times they have had to clean them on their own.

Divisional Railway manager (DRM) Vishvesh Chaube could not be contacted despite repeated calls.

Station superintendent, RK Behl refused to comment on the state of the railway station.

He said he was not authorized to speak to the media. The Divisional Railway Manager (Ferozepur Division) was not available for comments.

Jalandhar, August 20
After just two days of his arrest in an auto theft case, the city police recovered four more vehicles from the granthi of a local gurdwara today. The police also recovered a tractor and three motorcycles from his possession.

Hailing from Dagarpur area in Uttar Pradesh, Jaiveer Singh, was a granthi with Jyoti Nagar Gurdwara near Model Town for last couple of months. He allegedly stole a scooter (Honda Activa) from Little Blossom School, Urban Estate Phase-II.

The police had identified him in CCTV footage and had arrested him while taking the stolen vehicle from a parking lot in the ISBT, Jalandhar, on Thursday.

Naresh Joshi, in-charge of police post, said during interrogation Jaibvir Singh admitted to have been involved in the some other auto-thefts and used to commit the crime along with his aides -K P Singh, Kishan Pal Singh and Satbir Singh- all hailing from Bihar.

After stealing the vehicles the gang used to sell them in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, Joshi said. Meanwhile, the police has added the names of Jaivir's aides in the FIR registered under Section 379 and 411 of the IPC.

Jalandhar, August 20
Those desirous of going abroad need not wait months and years on end as they would be able to get the coveted passport within the stipulated time.

The Regional Passport Authority, Jalandhar, has fast tracked 2,162 applications out of the 4,524 requests that had been pending with them for the period from 1994 to 2008 at a mega passport adalat held from August 12-17.

Those applicants, who had earlier been denied passports due to various technical and security reasons, would now be getting their travel documents following clearance of their applications at the adalat. The lucky ones would be getting their passports through post during the next week.

Following this the applicants from Jalandhar, Hoshiarpur, Kapurthala and Nawashahr districts have heaved a sigh of relief.

The adalat, a brainchild of Parneet Singh, Regional Passport Officer, saw clearance of some complicated cases that had been pending since 1994.

We dispatched letters to 4169 applicants out of which 2736 turned up for the adalat. The applications of 2162 were cleared today. The travel documents to all these applicants were granted and they will be getting their passports shortly,” he informed.

Besides, the RPO has also closed the files of 335 individuals who had been barred by the Ministry of External Affairs from getting travel documents. Such persons had sought political asylum or had traveled on forged or tempered documents, he added. However, they could re- apply afresh once the ban is lifted by the MEA, he clarified.

Parneet said two such adalats would be organized in October and December to clear all the pending applications, about 3000, till 2009. Those willing to avail of this opportunity can get in touch with them once they receive letters from the RPO in the coming days, he added.

Jalandhar, August 20
The Post Graduate department of Journalism and Mass Communication of Doaba College organised a photography competition-cum- exhibition on the 'World Photography Day' today on the college premises on Friday.

During the competition, students from the graduation and post graduation classes took part and displayed photographs related to themes like nature, environment and social life.

Principal of the college, Dr Naresh Kumar Dhiman, inaugurated the exhibition and urged the students to learn the technical, artistic and news aspects of clicking pictures.

Jalandhar, August 20
On Gulzar’s 75th birthday, on Thursday, the members of the Jalandhar-based theatre group Yuva were busy distributing cards for what is probably going to be the best birthday present Jalandhar has ever given to the poet.

The group plans to stage Gulzar’s play Kharaashein at the Red Cross Bhawan this Sunday, becoming the first theatre group, except Essay Communications, to stage the play in India.

A soulful amalgamation of the poetry and four stories (Hilsa, Ravi Raar, Khaff and Khuda Hawiz) of Gulzar - whose love for Punjab and pain for its tragedies has always shown in his writings, films and interviews - the play talks about the turbulent times India has seen in its 64 years of Independence --- from the Partition to the Godhra riots.

Penned by the poet, Yuva got formal access to Kharaashein’s script through special permissions from Salim Arif (the acclaimed playwright famous for doing Gulzar’s plays) who originally conceived Kharaashein.

Ankur Sharma, who heads Yuva, says, “Mr Arif’s group Essay Communications has been doing the play across India with big actors like Atul Kulkarni, Lubna Salim and Vaishali (of Uttran fame). He is the one who got us Gulzar Sahib’s approval. However, there were two conditions the play should not be staged outside Punjab and we have to stick to the original script. We agreed and the pleasure is ours.”

The group members spent months digging data about the Godhra and Mumbai (1992) riots and ransacking history at the Library of the Desh Bhagat Yadgaar Hall because we wanted to make sure we feel what they portray. Ankur’s friend Daood Alam helped artistes on the pronunciation bit.

“I was invited to Kharaashein’s staging at Delhi in May this year but I didn’t go because there was a risk I would end up aping Arif’s work. Big crowds poured in to buy the play’s ticket (Rs 2,500) at Delhi but the mood of Jalandhar is different. We were planning on a Rs 25 ticket here but changed our mind thinking no one would buy it,” Ankur laughs.

Of course the way the city reacts, might open or close windows for future experimentation.