Jalandhar, March 26
The city police has busted an inter-state gang of robbers with the arrest of three persons. The police has also recovered a large chunk of looted items and a .12 bore pistol from their possession.

The accused have been identified as Dhunash Maseeh, a resident of Sunder Nagar in Nakodar, Rajinder Singh, alias Guggu, of Kangana village, Nakodar, and Rajan Kumar, a resident of Makhdumpuara locality in the city.

They were arrested during a ‘naka’ set up by the Crime Investigation Agency, Urban. The police has recovered a .12 bore pistol, a sharp-edged weapon, mobile recharge coupons of Rs 60,000 and five gold chains of abour Rs 2.5 lakh from their possession.

The other members of the gang, including Samuel Maseeh, a resident of Sharakpur locality, Deepak Kumar, Paramjit Singh, alias Duggi, both residents of Sherpur Mohalla, Nakodar, Anil Kumar of Makhdumpura locality and Tota, a resident of Malsian near Shahkot, are still at large.

The kingpin of the gang, Samuel Maseeh, was a hardcore criminal and was wanted in a number of criminal cases by the Punjab Police, said the police.

The arrested members of the gang have confessed to have committed 33 crimes, including robbery, highway robberies, loot, snatchings, murder and burglaries.

The gang members had allegedly murdered an employee of a petrol pump at Kala Sanghian in December last year. The miscreants confessed to have looted a number of petrol pumps in Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Jagroan, Nakodar and Kartarpur.

Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police, Crime, HPS Khakh and CIA in charge Inderjit Singh said the gang members had their links with criminals in Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh and they might had been involved in robberies in other states, too.

Interestingly, a majority of the gang members used to work as DJs and waiters in wedding functions, ADCP said. He said one of the accused, Rajan Kumar, was working at Connect company’s office at Model Town in the city. While in service, he in connivance with other gang members looted mobile recharge coupons worth Rs 60,000 from the brother of the company’s proprietor and also snatched Rs 50,000 and Rs 80,000 from his colleagues.

The accused used to sell snatched goald chains to a jewellers in Nakodar and Jalandhar.

Jalandhar, March 26
The security in the district has been beefed up in view of the hanging of convict in the Beant Singh assassination case Balwant Singh Rajoana.

Two companies of the Border Security Force (BSF) and around 300 personnel of the Punjab Armed Police (PAP) and the Police Training Academy, Phillaur, have been deployed in the district to maintain law and order.

Besides, 50 special commandos of the Quick Reaction Team (QRT) have been deployed, said Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (Headquarters) Navjot Singh Mahal. The police has given six vehicles and a bus to the commandos to keep strict vigil on anti-social elements. Mahal said teams of the local police would also coordinate with the security forces.

"The police will do its best to maintain peace. The forces will be distributed in the district in an equal ratio and special 'nakas' in and around the city will be set up," said Mahal. He said the police also conducted a flag march in various parts of the city today.

On Sunday, the police conducted a search operation at inter-state bus terminal with the help of bomb disposal and dog squads.

Jalandhar, March 26
Even as the bylaws laid as per the MC Act, 1997, don’t permit offices or commercial establishments in residential accommodations, several government offices, including that of the Deputy Director, Local Bodies, are in residential areas.

The bylaws of the Act stipulate that there are just a few categories of professions, including professional consultants, doctors, architects, advocates and supervisors, who are allowed to use 10 per cent of the covered area of their houses for consultancy purposes. There is no provision which allows the complete house to be used as a public office. Offices in residential buildings not only disturb the peace but also create traffic problem. The non-discreet location of such offices within colonies also tends to cause problem to visitors who have to hunt around for the exact site. Most of these offices are also evading house tax.

Ever since the Jalandhar Improvement Trust (JIT) started renovation of Guru Gobind Singh Stadium last year, the office of the Deputy Director, Local Bodies, which was housed in the complex, has shifted to a JIT-owned house in Master Tara Singh Nagar. Likewise, the office of the Deputy Excise and Taxation Commissioner is also being run from a residential building in New Jawahar Nagar.

Both the Deputy Director, Local Bodies, and the Deputy Excise and Taxation Commissioner were also the returning officers for two Assembly constituencies, owing to which their offices witnessed much activity for the last two months.

The offices of the District Education Officers (elementary and secondary), both of which have many visitors, are being run from an old and dingy house owned by an NRI in Adarsh Nagar.

The main office of the Punjab Pollution Control Board, too, is functioning from a residential building in Guru Teg Bahadur Nagar. The XEN and his staff function from a house in the inner lanes of the colony.

Even the offices of the NCC are located in residential buildings in Defence Colony and Chhoti Baradari, Phase-II. Recently, an NRI managed to get the possession of his house in the posh Mall Road after years of litigation.

Deputy Director, Local Bodies, Karnail Singh said he would be shifting to the stadium after the completion of the renovation work. Municipal Town Planner Tejpreet Singh confirmed that there was no provision to run an office from a residential building.

Jalandhar, March 26
The Police Division No. 6 has arrested two snatchers and recovered 42 grams of gold and three mobile phones from their possession.

The accused have been identified as Ramesh Kumar, alias Kaka, a resident of Basti Sheikh, and Jatinder Kumar, alias Aman, of Gobindpura.

A police party led by inspector Kewal Krishan had set up a 'naka' at the Manbro Chowk. The police signalled motorcycle-borne youths to stop for checking.

During search, the police recovered 42 grams of gold ornaments including, a necklace, a pair of earrings and nose rings from their possession. Besides, the police also recovered three stolen mobile phones from the accused.

The police has also recovered a motorcycle (PB-08AQ-9954) used in the crime.

PHAGWARA: The Phagwara police has booked two fake travel agents, including a Singapore-based NRI, on the charges of duping youths of Rs 42 lakh on the pretext of sending them abroad. The accused have been identified as Mukul Kumar Rohit Kumar. They have been booked under Sections 420 and 406 of the IPC.

In his complaint to the police, Rupesh Kumar said that Rohit assured to send them to Singapore and also arrange a permanent job for them at a hotel there where his brother Mukul was working. However, when they went to Singapore, they were treated badly and were denied job.

Both accused were still at large.

Jalandhar, March 26
Many achievers take the help of coaching institutes to fulfil their dreams, but Sachal Babbar has achieved the feat of clearing the Punjab Civil services (Judicial) exam all by himself in his second attempt.

The young achiever, who bagged 43rd rank in the general category, has proved his willpower through sustained self study and hard work.

A former student of Guru Nanak Dev University, regional campus, Ladhewali, Sachal was practicing law at the district and sessions court. After the court proceedings, he used to prepare for the exam at the courts library and the GND University regional campus library for six hours daily.

Talking to Jalandhar Tribune, Sachal said: “It was self study which paved the way for my success. I had appeared for this exam last year, too, but my name was in the waiting list and I failed to make it. This year, I remained more focused to achieve my aim and I made it,” he added.

“Law is one profession where one cannot expect results from the day one. It requires patience and practice to rise in this field,” he said.

At present, he is pursuing postgraduate degree in human rights from the Indian Institute of Human Rights, Delhi. His father is also a lawyer and is his biggest source of motivation.

Another achiever, Indu Bala, a lecturer of family law and property law from the local St Soldier Law College, who not only cleared the Haryana Judicial Services in February this year, but the Punjab PCS (Judicial), too. She was teaching and undergoing training at the PCS coaching institute of the college.

Indu, who bagged 13th rank in the general category, is presently pursuing her PhD in NRI deserted wives from GND University, Amritsar. She said: “It is determination to achieve your aim that matters the most.”

Similarly, for 28-year-old Nirmala Devi, a lecturer of law of evidence at St Soldier Law College, teaching and training yielded the desired results. One among her seven sisters, Nirmala bagged the 11th rank in the reserved category and owed her success to her parents. “I am proud to share that my parents gave the best of education to all my sisters. All of us are well settled in life,” she said.

Another achiever from St Soldier Law College, Manu Mittu, also a lawyer at the district and sessions court, cracked the PCS (Judicial) exam in the second attempt. “I had joined the PCS Judicial coaching centre at St Soldier College last year. A focused approach coupled with good training ensured my success,” he said.

Manu added that it was an achievement as he was the first from his family to crack the PCS (Judicial) exam. “I am also a firm believer of destiny too. I feel that the almighty has destined me to achieve this goal,” he added.

Jalandhar, March 26
The auction for the parking lot at the District Administration Complex (DAC) was today put off as the authorities refused to accept the demand from the bidders to include an existing parking site on the road towards a side gate in the auction.

The 12 bidders, who had come to attend the auction, sought clarity on sites from GA to DC Karnail Singh, who was the presiding officer. The official clarified that they would be allowed to park vehicles only within the DC complex and not on roads around, as had been the case for the past one year.

The official said the Municipal Corporation (MC) authorities would hold a separate auction for the parking lot along the road near the side gate as they had claimed that it was their site. At this, the bidders demanded that either the reserve price, which was equal to last year’s auction price, be slashed from Rs 19.16 lakh or they be allowed to use parking outside gates through oral orders.

The bidders said last year, too, they had been allowed the same additional parking site through oral orders of the then GA to DC. Claiming that the reserve price was too high going by the given sites, they refused to offer any bid. The official then asked them to express their grievances in writing.

The administration, however, proceeded with the auction for printed forms, canteen and digital photography. Subhash Chander, who till last year was the final bidder as printed form vendor, became bidder for digital photography. The final bidder today for printed forms was Surinder Pal and that of canteen was Mohammad Kalim Azad.

The three auctions have fetched the administration Rs 3.44 lakh more than the reserve price. The maximum profit came from the canteen bid, which fetched Rs 2.24 lakh more than the reserve price. There were eight bidders for the contract. Digital photography, which fetched just Rs 14,000 more than the reserve price, too, had eight bidders. The maximum of 14 bidders came for form vending, which fetched Rs 1.06 lakh more than the reserve price.

District Nazir Mahinder said the auction for the parking site would be held in this week again as the allowed time period for the last year’s bidder expired on March 31.

Jalandhar, March 26
The traffic police has been issuing more than 2,000 sticker challans every month to the violators for haphazard parking in the city.

Sources revealed that since the launch of the sticker challaning drive in January last year, the traffic police has pasted 32,756 sticker challans on wrongly parked vehicles in the city.

On an average, 2,183 sticker challans are being issued every month and around 73 challans per day.

In last year alone, the traffic police has issued 27,216 sticker challans for wrongly parked vehicles, while in the running year, till date, total 5,540 sticker challans have been issued.

In January, 1,259 sticker chalans were issued and the number went to 2,299 in February. Traffic police sources said in March, till date, around 1,982 sticker challans had already been issued to the violators for wrong parking on the roads.

The policemen paste sticker challans on the wrongly parked vehicles, including two-wheelers. The offenders are being penalised Rs 100, Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 for repeated offences, besides the wrongly parked vehicles are being towed away.

In case the vehicle owner fails to deposit he fine amount at the traffic fine collection centre, the traffic police after tracing the details of the owner, file a challan before the court.

A few days after filling a challan, the court issues summons to the violators and then it becomes compulsory for the offender to present himself before the court, a traffic police official said.

Jalandhar, March 26
Taj Films Productions premiered its Punjabi film “Ik Kuri Ik Supna” at an amusement park here today.

The film has been directed by Jas Heer and produced by Bobby Badhan.

The film portrays the plight of Punjabi girls wedded to NRIs who are shown a rosy picture before being subjected to hellish conditions abroad.

The social, mental and physical torture borne by such girls is depicted through the one-and-a-half-hour long movie.

The story has been written by Ajmer Rodey, an NRI based in Canada.

Jas Heer, Sukhi Rodey and Daraspreet play the role of protagonists in the movie. The music in the film has been given by Kanth Kler. Eminent persons from the city watched its premiere.

Jalandhar, March 26
A state-level meeting of ayurvedic and homoeopathic doctors and dispensers working in the Ayush Wings was held recently.

In the meeting, the doctors and dispensers under Ayush submitted a demand letter to the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) state chief Inderjit Rana.

They said even after three years of service they were getting meagre salaries. Unlike other states, the Punjab Government was not providing them permanent posts as per their experiences, they alleged. The other employees in the Health Department were made permanent after three years of service.

Submitting a letter on these lines to the president of the NRHM Employees Association, the doctors and dispensers demanded that their concerns be forwarded to the Health Minister, Health Secretary and Director of the mission.