Jalandhar, March 26
It was after 13 days of the pursuance of the case and lodging a protest that a Shahkot-based family, who has a young photographer son missing, today managed to get a case registered against a budding model and her brother.

Manjinder Singh (23) of Pandher village had reportedly gone missing on March 13, two days before the couple had decided to go in for a court marriage. The two had been reportedly going along for about a year, after which their parents had given consent to the inter-caste marriage.

Jalandhar, March 26
In an effort to make the festival of colours ' Holi' public and environment- friendly and avoid any untoward incident, the district health authorities have constituted teams of health officials for tightening the noose around shopkeepers selling toxic and fast colours across the district.

On the eve of the festival of colours, college students celebrate Holi in Jalandhar. Photo: Sarabjit Singh

The health authorities have also decided to collect samples of suspected toxic colours being sold at different shops, especially in slum areas and "bastis "in the district.

District health officer (DHO), Dr Ashwani Sondhi said the teams would inspect the suspected shops on their own or on the complaints from public and collect the samples of colours.

He added that the action against the defaulters would surely be taken only after the colour samples fail in the tests and confirm the toxicity level.

Dr Sondhi advised the general public to go for a Holi of flowers or use soft and dry colours to avoid chances of any skin allergy or damage to the eyes.

Cautioning people of the consequences of the use of fast colours, paints, chemicals and water-filled balloons, Dr Sondhi said fast colours, paints and water-filled balloons cause damage to skin, eyes and ears.

Since the fast colours have contents of toxic material so it's use may cause skin cancer and damage to the eyes. He also appealed to the general public, especially children and their parents to avoid throwing balloons at each other, as these may cause blindness and loss of hearing ability.

Dos

Wear clothes that you can discard easily; prefer dark clothes with long sleeves to cover your skin from sun and harmful colours

Apply oil or protective lotion on your skin and hair before playing with colours. It makes it easy to remove them later on and also protects against the side-effects of chemicals

Avoid colours from getting into eyes and ears when playing wet Holi and make sure to wear ear plugs or cap to avoid coloured water from getting inside ears. Wear sunglasses to avoid misfired coloured darts or water guns

Keep windows of your car closed while travelling during the celebrations

Play Holi with herbal or natural colours and be careful of the sweets made of bhang  Make clear if you do not want to play with colours and recognise the difference between playfulness and harassment

Don'ts

Do not apply colours forcibly or let people be rude with you. Stop people from doing so and give them the reasons

Do not use metallic, harmful colours or lob balloons at unsuspecting people

Discourage playing Holi with eggs, mud or gutter water. Never turn a blind eye to such ways of celebration

Avoid loud and rowdy Holi parties which might spoil the atmosphere around

Do not walk alone on the streets on the Holi day, especially women since you could be targeted by miscreants

Play Holi only with a group of close friends and relatives and avoid strangers

Do not bump into some frenzied group if you walk into street

45 nakas in city

To check hooliganism during the Holi celebrations tomorrow, the police has stepped up security by deciding to hold 45 nakas across the city. Top police officials, including ADCPs and ACPs, will be themselves moving around in their respective areas to ensure that no untoward incident takes place.

ADCP Naresh Dogra said nakas would be put up in Model Town, Guru Nanak Mission Chowk, BMC Chowk, Jyoti Chowk, Company Bagh, Nakodar Chowk, Kapurthala Chowk and other important intersections. Separate teams of traffic police and foot beat constables would also be on watch to check any incidents of rowydism.

Jalandhar, March 26
The Jalandhar Municipal Corporation has given just one day to hundreds of residents from various localities of the city to deposit their water and sewerage (W&S) bills.

A copy of a water supply bill. A Tribune photograph

Interestingly, the computerised bills bearing the issue date of March 25 were delivered to many consumers today at many localities such as Industrial Area, Dada Colony, Globe Colony, Shashi Nagar falling under the Ward 22 and adjacent wards.

The last date of depositing the bill is mentioned as March 28 in the bill. Thus, hundreds of residents have been given one day for depositing their bills as March 27 is a public holiday.

The area BJP councillor Kanwaljit Singh Bedi got his water and sewerage bill on March 26 evening, with the last date of depositing the same as March 28.

Bedi said, “Probably the last date for depositing the bill might have been misprinted. I will take the matter with Mayor Sunil Jyoti and Commissioner Vinay Bublani to provide at least a fortnight to the public for depositing the bill and no extra charges should be charged from them 
for depositing the same after March 28.”€�

MC Additional Commissioner PS Jaggi said after checking, the bills had been delivered in some localities as the current financial year was ending on March 31.

“I have issued verbal direction to my staff that no extra charges will be charged from any resident even if the bill is deposited within ten days after the last date (March 28).”

Jalandhar, March 26
In a complaint which points towards the alleged misuse of impounded vehicles by the police, a Model Town-based resident today lodged a complaint, claiming that he had spotted his bike being illegally used by the police, 17 days after it was in police possession.

Rashpal Singh, the complainant, said his bike was impounded from him on March 9 by the police since he was not in possession of the documents. He said that today he was surprised to see it driven by two foot beat constables in the Model Town area. He said he was even more shocked to see that the bike had a changed registration number on the plate and a "police" sticker on it. He has complained that it had dents on its entire body.

He said that by the time he protested, the two cops quietly sped off. He said he managed to click some photographs of the bike with his phone. He said he had no option but to lodge a complaint with the police. ASI Balwinder Singh said he had noted the complaint. — TNS

Jalandhar, March 26
The Municipal Corporation(MC) Jalandhar will take up the matter of the illegal plying of tractor-trailers for commercial purposes with the Commissioner of Police (CP) and District Transport Officer (DTO).`

To a query regarding raising this issue by senior deputy mayor Kamaljit Singh Bhatia at the MCJ house meeting on Monday, Mayor Sunil Jyoti said, “Though the illegal plying of tractor- trailers does not fall directly under the jurisdiction of MC, being representatives of the public, we will raise the matter with Commissioner of Police Gaurav Yadav and the DTO for checking the illegal plying of tractor- trailers in public interest.”

Commissioner Vinay Bublani stated that the MC had already taken up the issue with the authorities concerned and now 
they would send it in writing to them.

Raising the public interest issue at MC house meeting on Monday, Kamaljit Singh Bhatia said the illegal practice should be strictly stopped as a number of persons had already lost their lives due to road mishaps involving tractor-trailers.

Bhatia's only son Charanpreet Singh Bhatia, aka Channi, became a victim of one such illegally plying tractor-trailer, loaded with sand, in the Avtar Nagar area a few months ago.

Besides in a recent mishap involving an illegally plying tractor-trailer and an underage driver near the Sodal level crossing on Friday, two students, Anmol (17) and her cousin Saksham (12), lost their lives. So, fatal accidents due to the illegal plying of tractor-trailers for commercial purposes are occurring every now and then.

A number of tractor-trailers loaded with sand, soil, gravel and other material continue to ply illegally in busy areas, including Guru Nanak Mission Chowk, Model Town, Namdev Chowk, from PAP Chowk to Maqsoodan on the National Highway 1, Nakodar Road, Sodal Road, Devi Talab Mandir Road, Avtar Nagar Road, back of the TV centre and Domoria Pull road.

These tractor-trailers continue to move on roads carrying all sorts of 
goods despite the ruling of the Punjab and Haryana High Court.

The court ordered over a decade ago that the tractor-trailers would not be used for commercial purposes and their use would be restricted to agricultural purposes only. While no exact figure about the accidents caused by the trailers is available, rough estimates by traffic officials indicated that over half of the total accidents were caused by them.

According to set norms, tractor-trailers are registered with the Transport Department for agricultural purposes only. If any person wants to use a tractor-trailer for commercial purposes, he requires a permit for it. Special modifications, including installing hydraulic brake system, are done before the issuance of permit by the Motor Vehicle Inspector (MVI) for its use for commercial purposes. Usually, no tractor-trailer owner applies for getting permit for using it for commercial purposes as its fees is very high but their misuse for commercial purpose continues unabatedly, putting the life of the general public at risk.

The police and the transport authorities kept on challaning these illegal plying tractor -trailers now and then but probably it is not sufficient. Bhatia demanded that these i tractor- trailers should be impounded to avoid any further loss of life caused due to them.

Jalandhar, March 26
Chief Parliamentary Secretary (CPS) for Cooperation and Jalandhar (North) MLA Krishan Dev Bhandari has urged residents to stop protesting against the current property tax.

Talking to The Tribune soon after a delegation of the Mahanagar Sanghrash Committee (MSC), led by its convener Ravindra Dhir, met him at his residence at Seth Hukam Chand Colony on Tuesday, Bhandari said, “The residents should first of all stop protesting, as we are equally worried over the current property tax and we have already taken up the issue at the appropriate level. Protesting is the right of the citizens in a democracy, but they should do so only when we are not doing anything on the issue.”

Elaborating, Bhandari assured the residents that the current system of complicated and exorbitant property tax would definitely be changed to simple and nominal property tax.

The CPS said, “State BJP leaders, including its state president Kamal Sharma and 10 MLAs, including me, held a meeting at Local Bodies Minister Bhagat Chunni Lal’s Chandigarh residence after the Assembly session on Monday. After studying the property tax imposed in several other states, we supported the Haryana pattern, as property tax there is simple and nominal.”

Bhandari said, “The state BJP president asked the CPS for Local Bodies Department Som Prakash, who is heading a four-member review committee for property tax, to submit a report within two-three days regarding the amount of property tax on different categories of houses would be levied in Punjab as per the Haryana pattern.”

The CPS said, “Subsequently, we will recommend Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal to impose a simple and nominal property tax.”

To a query, he said “The property tax is being levied on the direction of getting grant from the Centre for various development projects in urban areas.”

When asked the Centre had also asked the Punjab Government to stop providing free power to farmers, but the state government did not follow the same, Bhandari said, “Both issues are entirely different.”

Earlier a number of MSC representatives, headed by its convener Ravindra Dhir and including industrialists Gursharan Singh, Tejinder Singh Bhasin, traders Satpal Gumber, Arun Kalia and Naresh Gupta met Bhandari and apprised him 
of the anger of citizens against the imposition of the property tax.

At a meeting on Sunday, the MSC decided to meet all four city MLAs by turn to do the needful at the earliest in connection with the complicated and exorbitant property tax.

Amritsar, March 26
Sur Saanjh in association with Amritsar College of Engineering and Technology announced the sixth Punjabi Film and Music Festival which honours the best in Punjabi entertainment industry.

Celebrating the talent and glamour of Punjabi entertainment industry, the awards are an annual feature and honour various artists chosen for the year under different categories.

“This year, we have dedicated the event to album Satrangi Peengh 2 and will have many new artists being awarded for their work in Punjabi cinema,” said Navtej Sandhu, organiser of the event.

Popular honours will include Lifetime Achievement Award for actor Prem Chopra, Living Legend Award for veteran Punjabi actor Guggu Gill, Balraj Sahni Honour for actor Gurleen Chopra and Aryan Babbar, popular awards for Gippy Grewal and Mandy Takkar and best debut awards for actors Jasraj Bhatti and Surielly gautam.

“A special honour will be conferred on late Jaspal Bhatti for his contribution to the Punjabi entertainment industry,” said Navtej Sandhu.

Lakhwinder Wadali, who will be given special honour on the day, gave out the list of honours in music categories. Charanjit Ahuja will receive Living Legend of Punjabi Music honour while the Wadali Brothers will get Lifetime Achievement honour. Popular singers Satinder Sartaj, Nachattar Gill, Manpreet Akhtar and composer Sachin

Ahuja too will be awarded. The event will be held on April 6 at Amritsar Engineering College and performances will be given by Harbhajan Mann, Gursewak Mann, Gippy Grewal, Sarbjit Cheema, Lakhwinder Wadali, Satinder Sartaj, Rana Ranbir and Yuvraj Hans.