Jalandhar, May 3
Even as the Municipal Corporation spent Rs 19.5 crore for 100 per cent sewerage connections in different localities of Ward No. 1, residents of Issa Nagar and Guru Nanak Nagar have been constantly facing the problem of sewage overflow.

Reason: Both these localities are low-lying. This is a perpetual problem and residents end up wading through the stagnant water as the sewerage system is faulty.

Independent councillor of the ward Paramjit Kaur Jassal maintained that he had been pursuing the matter with the Punjab Water Supply and Sewerage Board, but to no avail. “Owing to a defect in its laying plan and the low-lying area, we have pump out sewage water towards the treatment plant channel. When the pumps are not used, the water starts flowing backwards,” she added.

Jalandhar Tribune visited the affected localities and found stagnant sewerage water in the lanes adding to the woes of residents. “Initially, we used to face the problem of stagnant water in the locality in the absence of drainage system. However, after the sewerage system was laid, it has become a perpetual problem for us,” said Seema Rani, a resident.

“The stagnant sewage water in the streets emanates foul smell and is a prefect breeding ground for mosquitoes,” said Gyan Chand, resident of the area.

While most of the colonies in the ward have got sewerage connection, streetlights and road connectivity, the sewerage project worth Rs 13.7 crore of Indra Colony is yet to begin. “We will start the project any time now,” the area councillor said.

Talking about the much-publicised Centre-sponsored Integrated Housing Slum Development Scheme (IHSD) in Jinda Pind, she said owing to the apathy of the Municipal Corporation, the project could not see the light of the day. A majority of the labourers alleged that the MC, after having given two instalments for the construction of the houses, did not pay the dues.

“There are 26 beneficiaries under this scheme in Jinda Pind. The Central government had even sent its 80 per cent share of Rs 42.4 crore by the end of the 2007. The delay is due to the MC,” the councillor added.

Under the scheme, beneficiaries were to get pucca houses with kitchens, toilets, sewerage, roads and streetlights. But, they have been running from pillar to post without any ray of hope. 

Jalandhar, May 3
Following strong opposition by representatives of the Real Estate Dealers and Builders Association, city industrialists and residents to increase collector rates from 40 per cent to 800 per cent in the district, Deputy Commissioner-cum-District Collector Priyank Bharti has revised the rates.

The DC revised the rates after a meeting with revenue officials late this evening. Confirming the development, Priyank Bharti said the revised rates would come into force from Friday.

To a query on the revised rates, the DC said: "All shortcomings in collector rates have been removed after considering objections raised by various groups. The final list of the revised collector rates will be available on Friday."

The DC added: "Collector rates in some localities have been slashed and in other areas, the rates have bee increased."

Welcoming the revision of collector rates, president and general secretary of the Jalandhar Real Estate Dealers and Builders Association Bhupinder Singh and Rupinder Singh Gill, respectively, said they would issue their final statement on revision of rates only after seeing the list on Friday.

"If the collector rates are not reduced to their expectation, they may restart their agitation." They added.

The number of sale deed registries declined in the district since the implementation of the new collector rates from April 9.

The Jalandhar Real Estate Dealers and Builders Association and representatives of various industrialists' associations also demanded a rollback over 100 per cent hike in collector rates of the land located in Focal Point, Focal Point Extension, Industrial Area and Sports and Surgical Complex and Dhogri.

Demanding roll back in the collector rates, they had also submitted a memorandum to Bhagat Chunni Lal.

An RTI activist Sanjay Sehgal also sought information from the PIO of DC Priyank Bharti about the basis of steep hiking collector rates for revaluation of residential, commercial, industrial and agricultural land in the district.

Jalandhar, May 3
With petrol prices skyrocketing, guess if one gets to ride a diesel powered motorcycle. Sounds impossible? But students of the CT Group of Institutions have made it a reality.

Final year students of CT Polytechnic have designed a motorcycle with a 525cc diesel turbo powered air-cooling engine. This motorcycle gives stability at a high speed with comfort of a cruiser.

The proud inventors of this wonder bike are Baljinder Kumar, Gurinder Singh, Harjit Singh Syan, Parmvir Singh, Jaskirat Singh, Arwinderjit Singh and Lakhvir Singh.

Sharing their experience, they said: "The first task was to find a diesel engine of symmetric shape and size that could be mounted on existing frame and gearbox of a bullet standard motorcycle."

After procuring the engine and suitable alteration of crankshaft and bore and stroke lengths, the engine was then paired with the gearbox. "The fuel injection system has also been redesigned. To utilise the full power of D-engine, a turbo procured from TATA Indica V2 did a wonderful job while the bhp was increased up to 18ps," they added.

"The bike gives a mileage of over 70 kms on highways. The multi-reflector headlamp adds to the safety by producing wide beam of light in the dark. The maximum speed of the motorbike is around 75-80 km per hour," they added. 

Jalandhar, May 3
Having lost the Assembly elections due to its reported delayed campaigning and selection of its candidates and other reasons, the Punjab Congress seemingly does not want to take the forthcoming Municipal Corporation (MC) elections in the state lightly as it has constituted the state and MC-level campaign and selection committees for the polls.

Punjab Congress president Amarinder Singh will be the Chairman of the state committee with Congress Legislative Party (CLP) leader Sunil Jakhar and former Chief Minister Rajinder Kaur Bhattal as members.

Besides, an 18-member committee, including MLAs Ashwani Sekhri, Rana Gurjit Singh, DCC president Arun Walia, former minister Avtar Henry, councillor Rajinder Beri, former MLA Jagbir Brar, former Improvement Trust Chariman Tejinder Bittu, former Mayor Surendra Mahay, Leader of Opposition in MC Jagdish Raja, PCC member Manoj Arora, Seth Satpal Mal, Sushma Gautam, Daljit Singh Ahluwalia, Rajesh Bhatti, Amrit Khosla, Saradari Lal Bhagat, DMC president Dr Jasleen Sethi and DYC president Gagandeep Singh, as its members has been constituted for the Jalandhar MC elections.

With this the party has formally started the process of selecting the candidates for the MC elections in the four MCs of Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Amritsar and Patiala. All the aspiring candidates have been asked to submit their applications to the respective district presidents or the committee itself on May 8 at Jalandhar, Ludhiana and Amritsar and on May 9 at Patiala.

While the campaign committees of the Jalandhar, Ludhiana and Amritsar will meet on May 8, the Patiala committee will meet on May 9.

Besides the members listed in the committees, the MPs from Ludhiana, Jalandhar and Patiala will be the ex-officio members of the selection and campaign committees.

In case of any of the member in the committee desiring to contest the election he or she will automatically cease to be the member of the committee.

Jalandhar, May 3
All the 1,375 Public Distribution System (PDS) depot holders of Jalandhar district will sat on a hunger strike on Friday in support of their demand of restoring Punjab quota of the oil.

Representatives of the Jalandhar district unit of Depot Holders Association Anoop Sareen and Ashok Nayyar said all the depot holders would gather outside the District Administration Complex (DAC) on Friday morning and would sit on fast till the evening.

Meanwhile, the ongoing chain hunger strike by the association outside the DAC against the reduction in Punjab quota of kerosene oil by 63 per cent has entered the fourth day today. The association started a chain hunger strike on Monday to lodge its protest.

Depot holders Davinder Sharma, Hardeep Singh, Rakesh Bathla, Vinod Arora, Iqbal Singh, Vinod Sehgal, Manjit Singh, Tikka Singh, Pawan Bhalla, Jai Pal Aggarwal, Harvinder Singh, Surendra Kumar and Amandeep sat on a hunger strike today.

The Union Ministry of Petroleum allocated quarterly quota of kerosene oil from April to June as only 24,936 KL to Punjab as compared to 67,500 KL allocated in the first quarter of January, 2012, to March, 2012. This means a cut of 63 per cent in the allocation of kerosene to Punjab was made.

Jalandhar, May 3
Following complaint of indecent behaviour with the family of the Superintending Engineer (SE) of the Municipal Corporation by two employees on Sunday, the Commissioner has ordered their suspension.

Commissioner BS Dhaliwal confirmed having passed orders against Somnath Mehatpuri and Subhash Sood, both of whom have been working as gardeners-cum-watchmen.

In a complaint filed by Superintending Engineer (B&R and Horticulture) Kulwinder Singh, he had said while he was away from home on that day, the twosome came to his place at Green Model Town and started creating ruckus while asking his wife and children to produce the officer in front of them. The officer said the duo were also rude to him over phone.

Sood and Mehatpuri had been long pressing for expediting of the regularisation case of 301 gardeners, the file work for which, the SE said, was already over. But Kulwinder Singh said there should have been some decorum in pursuing the case which was completely missing. “Instead, their attitude has led to problems in the progress of their work, which was almost done,” he added.

Following the incident and a subsequent complaint on the matter filed to Commissioner BS Dhaliwal on Monday afternoon, the MC Engineers Association had gone on a pen-down strike.

Gurcharan Singh, Executive Engineer (B&R), said the members resumed work post lunch today and had been demanding that the two employees be not reinstated, till the inquiry was complete.

Jalandhar, May 3
Even as most of the sitting councillors, who have their wards reserved for women, are planning to field their wives or daughters-in-law, members of mahila morchas of various political parties have now started raising their voice staking their claim on such seats.

The representatives of women wings of various parties have taken the stand that the first right of ticket in a ward reserved for women should be of their members rather than any councillor keeping it a family affair and passing it onto his wife. “If the party feels that the member of the mahila jatha cannot win, then of course they can pass the ticket to a female member of the councillor or ex-councillor’s family,” they have been saying.

The issue was today openly raked up by the women wing of the BJP during a district-level meeting of the party convened under the leadership of Balram Dass Tandon, in charge, Local Government Cell of the BJP, Punjab.

Led by Parveen Sharma, member of the Punjab unit of the BJP, and Urmil Vaid, district Mahila Morcha president, the women party leaders took up the issue. The women leaders of the party have even been claiming ticket from general wards.

Sharma has been vying with state leader and sitting councillor of the party Ravi Mahindru from Ward 38 (general). The leader, who is MA in political science, put forth points in her support, “I too have been working for the party for the past over two decades. After all, the party needs to recognise the work put in by me. I understand the working of the MC. I have recently supported KD Bhandari, MLA from Jalandhar (North), in which my ward falls, going for door-to-door campaign with him.”

Sukhraj Kaur, another Mahila Morcha member, said she was trying to seek ticket from Ward 2 (reserved for women) where from sitting BJP councillor Ved Kumar Vashisht is trying ticket for his wife. “I have been actively participating in various programmes of the party taking along hundreds of women from my ward for campaigns against the Centre Government on price rise and other issues,” she tried to throw weight.

Jalandhar, May 3
Appreciating the role and efforts of the Surjit Hockey Society in promoting the national game of the country at the grass-roots level, a Canadian NRI gave a grant of Rs 4 lakh to it.

Canadian sports promoter Gurprit Singh Johl handed over a cheque for Rs 4 lakh to president of the society-cum-Deputy Commissioner Priyank Bharti and lauded the society members for holding prestigious hockey tournaments, including the annual Olympian Surjit Hockey Tournament.

Bharti thanked Johl for his financial help, which he said would help the society in grooming budding hockey players in the game.