Jalandhar, September 12
Babita Heer (23) was killed on the spot while her friend Meena Kumari (22) was injured in an accident here today. The two students of DAV College of Education, Hoshiarpur, and residents of Kot Ramdasspur Abadi of the Cantonment area of the city, met with the accident when an Army truck hit the scooter on which they were travelling at the busy Rama Mandi Chowk today.

The mishap occurred at about 6.45 am this morning when the girls were going to park their scooter in a scooter stand at Rama Mandi.

Meena, who was driving the scooter, was admitted to a hospital and is stated to be in a critical condition.

The two girls were on their way to Rama Mandi at the time of the mishap.

Meena lost control over the scooter and fell towards her left side while Babita, who was riding pillion, collapsed on the road on her right side and was crushed under the wheels of the truck. The girls were regular students and used to board a government bus to Hoshiapur after parking their vehicle at Rama Mandi.

According to the eyewitnesses, local residents and passersby gathered at the spot and informed the families of the victims. After receiving information about the accident, a police team from the Cantonment Police station reached the spot and removed the body from the road.

The traffic on the road was also disrupted for almost an hour as residents gheraoed the truck and lodged a protest against the Army authorities.

The body of Babita was handed over to the family after a postmortem examination conducted at local Civil Hospital, this afternoon. Meena is in a trauma and was shifted to the Oxford Hospital after being given preliminary medical care at Johal Hospital in Rama Mandi.

Army authorities also reached the spot.

The police has arrested Lovejit Singh from the Bomb Disposal Squad (202) of the Indian Army, the driver of the truck. He was on his way from Hoshiarpur in the morning, according to Jaswinder Singh, the Investigating Officer (IO) in the case.

A case of rash and negligent driving has been registered against him at the Cantonment police station, the IO added.

A pall of gloom descended on Kot Ramdasspur Abadi soon after the news spread. Inconsolable wails filled the air in the area where the two families lived. Babita’s father Varinder Kumar Heer, an employee of the PNB, is posted at Laddowali road branch of the bank. The two families are in a state of shock.

Jalandhar, September 12
Two persons fell prey to negligence. An aged man was crushed under a train while crossing a railway track and a youth, standing on the door of a running train, died on the spot after colliding with a girder.

According to Government Railway Police (GRP) sources, Mohinder Pal (55) was crossing the tracks between Surnussi and Kartarpur, when caught between two passing trains. Probably he did notice the second train approaching, they added.

A resident of Tahli Sahib locality, he was going to fetch milk in the morning when the incident happened.

Mohinder Pal crushed under the running train.

The GRP got the information at around 9.30 am and deputed head constable Purshotam to remove the body from the site.

In another incident, an unknown youth was killed as he reportedly hit a girder of a bridge between Dhilwan and Beas, the GRP sources added.

Jalandhar, September 12
It’s one of the oldest monuments in the city to have survived through the good and bad times.

The tall white Imam Nasir Mosque, with its four white minarets gloriously standing tall over the winding streets of the old city bazaars, is one of the well-kept secrets of the city.

While most people think of it as yet another landmark in the busy bazaars, very few know about its historic importance.

The inner dargah - which houses the tomb of Imam Nasir (the Sufi after whom the mosque is named) and his disciple, who everyone only remembers as the Kafan Chor - is its oldest portion, 1,100 years old, and the rest of the complex was built around it, later.

The huge gate - says Peerzada Nasiruddin, the present Imam at the mosque - was built recently, in 1941.

Talking about the Sufi saint, Nasiruddin says, “He was born Imam Nasruddin Abu Yusuf Chishti in Iran in Hijri 252 (Arabic calendar) and came to India when he was 30. He was first found at Nakodar by some milkmen who brought him here because he had miraculously saved them from a demon who extorted milk from them. Once in Jalandhar, he regularly stayed here.”

Talking about the tomb of his disciple, he said, “It belongs to a Kafan Chor who used to steal shrouds from graves. He stayed Imam Sahib’s disciple for 12 years after being reformed by him. Imam Sahib had asked that his disciple be buried next to him.”

The old dargah is also famous for a room which served as Baba Farid’s Chilla Kothri for 40 days during which he stayed and prayed here.

Talking about a marble-enclosed circle, Peerzada Nasiruddin says, “This is the place where he planted a Neem. It has dried up now.”

The Shahnama Islam (religious Musilm text) was also written at Imam Nasir, Peerzada Nasiruddin adds.

While for years after Imam Nasir’s death at age 83, his family served at the place; after 1947, his descendants left it and it was abandoned, “And even encroached upon for many months. My father came to Jalandhar in 1952. He was made custodian of the mosque by the then CM Partap Singh Kairon,” The present Imam says.

“Before partition, Jalandhar had 360 mosques. Almost every Muslim community had one. This mosque was visited by pehalwans (wrestlers) and Sheikhs. In those days, landlords would not take their cattle to the fields until they made them drink water from the well here (which too, sadly has dried up).

It was all surrounded by water back then and the neighbouring areas had little population. There used to be an annual fair in 14 -15 Rajab (Arabic calendar, English September or October). The Majauras (performing artists) from the neighbouring mohallas used to come.

The Majaura Mohalla still exists. “Now too, we carry on with the urs (fair) but of course the old glory is lost. The mosque is still filled with people during those days, though. We have had singers like Hans Raj Hans and famous qawwals visit us,” he says. The mosque authorities also run a Madarssa which presently has 100 students. It is a charitable unit and students are taught Urdu, Arabic and English along with lessons in the Quran.

Peerzada Nasiruddin says, “Soon, we plan to give lessons in Hindi and mathematics to students too. There is one thing for which I feel a lot of need. Many people from UP, Saharanpur, have been visiting us from time to time. But I had been getting a lot many letters from people from Pakistan who want to come here but are denied visas.” 

Jalandhar, September 12
These are not isolated incidents in which different persons lost precious lives due to their negligence. The Government Railway Police (GRP) has requested the general public to be careful while crossing unmanned crossings on their vehicle or by foot to avoid the recurrence of any such incident.

According to information compiled, as many as 15 persons, including a woman and three schoolgoing children died this month on the tracks in and around the city.

They were killed when either the vehicles they were travelling in collided with trains at an unmanned railway crossing or they were crushed under the train while trying to cross the track on foot, unaware of the approaching train.

The GRP, SHO, Inspector Gurnam Singh has requested the public to be careful while crossing the track. He said: “The concerned person should use the message of “Stop, look and go,” while crossing the track. The driver of the vehicle or the person crossing the track on foot should see on both the sides before crossing the track. Sometimes, two and even three trains pass the track at a single place, so utmost care is required to avoid the mishap.”

Gurnam Singh said: “The GRP personnel have already spread an awareness among the students of several educational institutions located near unmanned crossings to use utmost care while crossing these crossings. The GRP personnel also met the heads of these educational institutions to ask their students to be careful while passing these crossings. Similarly, the sarpanches of the villages situated near these crossings have also been asked to make the villagers aware of this.”

Jalandhar, September 12
The tall claims of Municipal Corporation Jalandhar (MCJ) proved hollow as it failed to clear the rain water even after a day from the Domoria and Ikaheri Railway Under Bridges (RUBs), which connect two parts of the city.

Thousands of residents of the city had to suffer a lot due to several feet high water at Domoria and nearby Ikaheri RUBs. A local journalist Shiv Sharma, resident of a locality near Devi Talab Mandir, said he could not attend his morning meeting as he reached one hour late in his office located on the railway road.

Shiv Sharma said that when he reached near Domoria RUB on his scooter, he was left with no option but to go to a nearby Ikaheri RUB to reach the other side but that too was inundated with several feet high water. At this, he went to nearby Hoshiarpur Adda railway crossing but there too long queues of vehicles on both sides of the road forced him to reach nearby Tanda railway crossing. There also a huge traffic jam blocked the road. Somehow he managed to get his scooter out of the jam and reached Panthakot Chowk to reach his office via national highway through PAP and BSP chowks covering a huge distance.

MCJ Commissioner, BS Dhaliwal said, “The Superintendent Engineer (SE) concerned is probably already aware of the inundation of Domoria and Ikaheri RUBs. I will ensure the problem is solved as early as possible.”