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Money lender shot dead
poll code
violations |
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tribune impact
Making merry in adversity
Police control room or misinformation centre?
3 years on, govt yet to ‘pay’ dues to tempo union
Man arrested with 22 kg poppy husk
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Money lender shot dead
Jalandhar, January 2 The deceased was a small money lender and is also a nephew of former councillor Jagidish of the Dakoha locality. Eyewitnesses claimed that the incident occurred at 2 pm when Suresh along with his friend Manish was going home on his motorcycle. Both stopped outside a taxi stand near Rama Mandi and Manish went to buy cigarettes from a nearby vendor. Five motorycles-borne armed youths stopped their bikes near Suresh and attacked him with sharp-edged weapons. One of the youths also took out a gun and fired two shots at Suresh. One bullet hit Suresh in the chest and he fell down. Passersby called an ambulance of the National Highway Authority, which rushed Suresh to a nearby private hospital. The victim was declared brought dead by doctors at the hospital. Sources said Manish recognised one of the assailants. Manish said a few days back Suresh had a brawl with the same youths. Meanwhile, the body was taken to the mortuary of the Civil Hospital. |
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poll code
violations
Jalandhar, January 2 It has been over a week since the model code of conduct came into force on December 24. The election authorities have been making tall claims of curbing any poll code violations, but the cantonment reveals a picture in contrast. The extent of defacement is so much that most of the public walls, residences and intersections have been flooded with posters of political leaders. As if the public places for defacement was not enough, posters of the BSP and Congress were found displayed on the school board of Cantonment Board Girls Senior Secondary School, situated near the auto-rickshaw stand. In the main market of Sadar Bazaar, hoardings of SAD ticket aspirant from cantonment Iqbal Singh Dhindsa were found displayed with the message of “New Year greetings” at various places. The hoarding also bears the pictures of Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, Deputy CM Sukhbir Singh Badal, Tikshan Sud and Youth Akali Dal president Bikramjit Singh Majithia. A small hoarding of Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi was found displayed at the auto-rickshaw stand seeking vote and support for a local candidate in Youth Congress elections. Posters of PPP chief Manpreet Singh Badal and Congress posters bearing the pictures of PPCC chief Capt Amarinder Singh were found displayed in abundance at every nook and corner of the cantonment. Posters of Manpreet Singh Badal were found displayed on the back of an Army billboard inside the entrance of the Vajra Corps gate from Rama Mandi Chowk. District Electoral Officer Priyank Bharti claimed that almost all the political hoardings, banners, posters and buntings were removed by the static surveillance teams under the respective Returning Officers. |
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tribune impact
Jalandhar, January 2 A copy of the news clipping has been sent to Jalandhar (North) Returning Officer Karnail Singh for taking necessary action. The Returning Officer-cum-Deputy Director, Local Bodies, said requisite action would be taken on the matter tomorrow. |
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Smuggler held with 5 kg opium
Jalandhar, January 2 Senior Superintendent of Police (Rural) Yurinder Singh Hayer told mediapersons that a sub-inspector of the Special Staff during patrolling near Alawalpur Chowk intercepted a person and asked him to stop for checking, but the person tried to flee. Policemen caught him and on search recovered the contraband. The smuggler was heading towards the Kishangarh area from Alawalpur. The smuggler was identified as Gobind Ram, resident of Kanwani village of Rajasthan, the SSP said. A case under Sections 18, 61 and 85 of the IPC was registered against him at the Adampur police station. During preliminary investigation it came to light that Gobind Ram used to smuggle around 10 kg of opium every month from Rajasthan to various districts, including Jalandhar, Hoshiarpur, Amritsar and Ludhiana. Gobind Ram had also been arrested in Hoshiarpur in January last year with 1.5 kg of opium and he was recently released from Amritsar Central Jail, the SSP said. |
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Making merry in adversity
Jalandhar, January 2 But a look at their little makeshift “basti” and one realises that even in the face of gruelling adversities, a spirit of entertainment stays alive. The encampment has no electric connection and the residents’ monthly incomes are barely enough to make both ends meet, but one look down the road and you see rusted, ramshackle plates and dish connections peeking out from among the huts. A good number of shanties in the basti have personal dish connections and even through the mounting inflation and meagre incomes, they squeeze out money to pay monthly rentals to keep their daily dozes of movies and saas-bahu fare (for the women) going. People like daily wagers, rag-pickers and modest traders have dish connections installed and no matter what, they make sure they earn enough to keep the idiot box screaming out loud from within the shanties. A settlement of Maharashtrian migrants, the basti was established about 12 years ago and the kids there have grown up playing by the dry, dusty Nakodar Road and bathing in the toxin-laden Bein. Vijay, a daily wager, is one of the men who have dish connections at their homes. He says, “Yes, I have meagre earnings, but it’s important to keep the TV playing. I earn about Rs 5,000 and manage the money for the monthly rentals from within it.” Suresh, another daily wager, doesn’t earn more than Rs 3,000 per month, but his friends say he is one of the major TV buffs in the area. “He just has to keep his TV on all day. He can’t do without it.” Dharam, who runs a modest poultry shed for a living, says, “A couple of us got a connection at first. The rest liked the idea a lot and soon, there was this chain of people applying for connections. Right now there are 12 to 15 huts with dishes and more will be getting it soon. People here love the action on TV.”
An idea that changed their lives
With no electricity supply to the basti, arranging for it was one of the major challenges for the residents. But now they have found a solution to the problem. Almost all of them own inverters. They get their batteries charged from a shop in the vicinity daily. The shopkeeper charges Rs 40 for big batteries and Rs 30 for the smaller ones. The shopkeeper has made quite a bustling business out if it. Until they get an electricity connection, it’s happy battery-charging for them.
No electricity connection, no vote for Samra
They have urged Amarjit Singh Samra, the sitting MLA from Nakodar, time and again for an electricity connection. They say around elections he makes loads of promises (including the one to provide them with an electric connection) enticing them into voting for him, but till date, they never saw any being fulfilled. “We give him votes but haven’t got our electricity connection as yet. If he dupes us this year too, we won’t vote for him,” they say. |
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Police control room or misinformation centre?
Jalandhar January 2 A toll-free control room number ‘100’ was launched with a notion to improve interaction between the public and police. The control room was given the status of ‘one-stop centre’ to help residents get any information about the district police. But the control room has not updated the information since long and representatives of the centre provide wrong information about the chiefs of police stations to the public. Despite transfers of some of police officers, control room record still maintains old records. As per control room records, Angrej Singh still heads the Adampur police station, but in reality he has been shifted to some other station. Even as DSP Jasvir Singh and SHO Gurmit Singh have been shifted to Lohian Khas, the control room says they still are in Shahkot. In reality, DSP Vimal Sharma and SHO Lakhwinder Singh head the Shahkot police station. The SHO at Nakodar police station Sadar is Harpreet Singh, but control room record says it’s Surinder Pal Singh. Interestingly, Surinder Pal has been shifted transferred twice in between. First he was shifted to Noormahal police station and then to Phillaur. In Noormahal also, though the head of the police station is Subash Bath, the police records says it’s Harpreet Singh, who has been recently shifted to Nakodar police station as SHO. Similarly, Surinder Pal heads Phillaur police station, but the control room claims Sulakhan is the in charge. Interestingly, when Jalandhar Tribune called on another control room number (99157-16100) and asked him about the anomalies, the centre representative replied, “The record is updated. Tell me which name and contact number is incorrect?” When asked about the name of the SHO at Phillaur thana, the cop replied Sulakhan Singh. But in reality, Sulakhan Singh has already been promoted as DSP in Ferozepur. Inspector, Control Room, Ravinder Singh, also said, “We have updated the record”. |
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Birth certificates go bilingual
Jalandhar, January 2 The computerised certificates have come as a boon for NRIs or those migrating abroad with families as the Embassies finding the writing illegible often asked the applicants to get additional, cleaner copies from the MC. Achieving another milestone, the birth and death section of the MC has also got its records of year 2010 scanned on the computer. Giving advantages of the same, the Birth and Death Registrar, Dr Varinder Kalia, said, “Any birth or death certificate of this period now bears a strip of scanned copy of the manual record on the back side which validates its authenticity. Further, there is a unique code at the top of the certificate which would help us easily locate the same copy, whenever the applicant wants another copy of it.” Dr Kalia said the scanned records could now be easily assessed on the computer through the name, father’s name and mother’s name. He said the new format of application was also in printed format with a column for mobile phone of the applicant. “We have plans for SMS alerts for applicants in future”, he added. Chief Engineer AS Dhaliwal, who is also in charge of e-governance projects, said the records up to year 2004 had been scanned, but is being verified by the staff. “Once verified, we would start digital prints for certificates of these years also. Also the record for year 2011 which is now closed would also be scanned by the private contractor for its digitisation”, he added. Meanwhile, the Local Bodies Department has also enhanced the fee for applicants from Rs 7 to Rs 15. |
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3 years on, govt yet to ‘pay’ dues to tempo union
Jalandhar, January 2 Buta Singh, union chairman, said during gram panchayat and zila parishad election in 2008, the Jalandhar Deputy Commissioner had hired 105 vehicles of the union for patrolling. The said number of vehicles were used for two days and the total rent of the said vehicles was Rs 3,38,220. He said, “We have been running from pillar to post to clear our bills, but in vain.” The union members recently forwarded a memorandum to the Chief Minister through the Jalandhar Deputy Commissioner seeking immediate clearance of their long-pending dues. Union members alleged that when the deal was stuck, the authority had promised to pay the rent of hired vehicles immediately, but now nobody even listen to them. “Whenever we visit the district administration’s office to know about the delay in clearing the dues, we always get the same silly reply that dues would be cleared soon as the case has already been forwarded to the higher authorities in Chandigarh,” he said. Union members threatened that if their bills were not cleared in the coming few days, they would boycott the Assembly elections and would not rent our vehicles to the government in the ensuing elections. |
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Man arrested with 22 kg poppy husk
Jalandhar January 2 On suspicion, they asked one of the pedestrian to stop for checking who was carrying a bag on his shoulder. The police said on search 22 kg of poppy husk was recovered. The police said the accused has been identified as Gurpreet Singh, a resident of Shimla Puri locality in Ludhiana. The accused was on the way to sell the stuff in the city. A case under Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act has been registered against the accused. |
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