Jalandhar, June 4
One person died due to sunstroke here today.

According to Civil Hospital doctors, Ramesh Lal (51) of PNT Colony, who was admitted to the hospital on Monday after he had fallen unconscious due to excessive exposure to the sun, died in the hospital.

Meanwhile, the heat wave intensified in the region as the maximum temperature was recorded in Jalandhar as 42.4 degrees Celsius. The minimum temperature also rose to 26.4 degrees Celsius in the city on Tuesday.

The residents are likely to get some relief from the extreme heat as, according to the forecast by the meteorological department, the sky will likely remain partly cloudy with thunder on Wednesday. There is a remote possibility of rain.

Jalandhar, June 4
The District Bar Association has plans to soon replace the 465 temporary, existing chambers in the 4-acre leased-out land near the District Courts with a new multi-storeyed building housing 621 plush chambers.

The association today passed a resolution in this regard deciding to carry out construction in three phases and dividing the building cost equally among all members. It has been decided to levy an estimated amount of Rs 20,000 per annum for five years for advance booking for 9.5 feet by 12 feet chamber to be started in the coming months, which would increase for those applying in the subsequent years.

President of the association Mandeep Singh Sachdev said the proposal was being sent to the Punjab and Haryana High Court for final approval. It would be up to the court to decide as to whether the construction was to be carried out by the PWD or some private agency, he pointed out.

Sachdev said the members whose chambers got demolished in the first phase would be allotted the chamber in that phase on a priority basis, and in the meantime they would be adjusted in the library hall or other common halls of the DBA.

The DBA has also decided to form a five-member committee to keep a check on the use of funds, with president as the chairman, secretary as the vice-chairman, one senior member from the Income Tax Bar and the remaining two members from among the executive. The committee would keep a tab on the collections and the amount being spent by the construction agency, maintaining accounts on a monthly basis and pasting the same on the notice board.

The bank account would be operated by three members jointly, with the president and secretary as compulsory signatories.

The resolution on the allotment reads, “After the construction is complete, a decision on the allotment would be taken by the then executive committee of the DBA, with preference to those applying at an earlier stage. The chambers can be taken exclusively or on a sharing basis. The allottees would have to be a DBA members and would not be able to sublet the same for any commercial purpose.”

The DBA has also decided to levy Rs 500 per month per chamber for maintenance.

Jalandhar, June 4
Chairperson of the Punjab SC Commission Rajesh Bagha today said he had recommended action against 162 colleges not offering the benefit of SC Postmatric Scholarship Scheme to the students.

Bagha said despite an effort to create awareness through seminars in colleges, authorities of several institutes were not extending the fee waiver to the deserving students. He said he had even directed the colleges to put up information boards regarding the scheme in their respective admission cells.

The commission chairperson said nearly 1.4 lakh students had taken the benefit of the scheme and he aimed at helping nearly 2.5 lakh more students in the coming session.

While the Right to Service Act has mentioned the timeframe for the delivery of SC certificates as 15 days and the same had been fixed by the Suwidha Centre, from where the service began about a month ago, the applicants had sought that the timeframe be reduced in the wake of the ongoing admissions.

Bagha today went to the Suwidha Centre and intervened in the matter, asking the administration to reduce the timeframe to 48 hours. The rush for the SC certificates can be gauged from the fact that Jalandhar-1 tehsil received as many as 900 applications in one day yesterday, which were all being processed today for delivery. Bagha also demanded that more counters be set up for the purpose till the rush of the applicants prevails.

Jalandhar, June 4
In an attempt to curb the sale of eatables from unhygienic places, the district health authorities today conducted surprise checks at various eating joints, dhabas, refreshment rooms and sweetmeat shops in the city.

A team of doctors, led by Dr Balwinder Singh and Dr Navjot, visited the eateries adjacent to Jyoti Chowk and Red Cross Market, besides certain places around the Inter-state Bus Terminus and checked the quality and freshness of the eatables at the business establishments.

The team directed the owners to keep the eatables covered.

The health authorities also directed the shopkeepers to keep the area around their outlets clean and sanitised to maintain hygienic conditions.

Jalandhar, June 4
Even as the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) is said to be adopting delaying tactics on the appointment of the chairman and vice-chairman for the Zila Parishad (ZP) owing to the delay in the conduct of the Panchayati Raj polls, there are at least four candidates in the fray for the purpose.

While Rajinder Singh Nagra, winner of the ZP poll from the Wariana zone, circle president of the party and brother-in-law of MC councillor Jaspal Kaur Nagra, is the one whose prospects for the chairmanship are said to be very high, there are at least three other candidates in the fray. These include Tarshinder Singh Raunta from the Bajwa Kalan zone, former MC councillor Paramjit Singh Reru from the Naugaja zone and Sukhwinder Singh from the Jamsher zone.

While Nagra is being supported by Minister for Jails Sarwan Singh Phillaur, Raunta enjoys the support of Transport Minister Ajit Singh Kohar. Since Kohar has had his say in the previous term for the appointment of his then candidate Mahla Singh, it is being said that Phillaur may now have his way. The seat, which was reserved for SCs in the last term, has been unreserved this time, giving the party more choices.

Rajinder Nagra had enjoyed much support from the SAD when he and his former councillor brother Gurdeep Singh Nagra had got embroiled in the wealth tax issue. Reru has fewer chances as he happens to be the second choice of Phillaur. Meanwhile, Pargat Singh, too, is said to be vouching for his candidate Sukhwinder Singh.

Three of the 21 zones of the ZP had gone to the SAD unopposed. Even in the remaining 18 zones where the elections were held, 14 had gone to the SAD and only four are with the Congress.

The contest for the post of the vice-chairman is learnt to be between two candidates, Baljit Kaur elected unopposed from Pholariwal and being supported by CPS Pawan Tinu. The second candidate Dharampal from Ganna Pind zone is the choice of CPS Avinash Chander. 

Jalandhar, June 4
The employees of six cooperative sugar mills in the state have formed their union to launch an agitation for regularisation of daily wage workers.In state, there are nine functional cooperative sugar mills.

At a special meeting held at CPI office, the union president Mohinder Singh Kler and its general secretary Ashwani Kumar accompanied by CPI (ML Liberation), leader Gurmeet Singh Bakhtapur said “Nearly 10 per cent of the total 3,000 employees in sugar mills are working as daily wagers.They should be regularised without any further delay.” The Union leaders also demanded implementation of 10,300 grade for clerical and skilled staff.

Seeking implementation of the promotion scheme of 4-9-14, they further said the seasoned workers should also be retained and allowances should also be provided to them. The Union leader said if their genuine demands were not met, they would be left with no other option but to launch a state wide agitation. 

Jalandhar, June 4
Veterinary inspectors have decided to boycott extra departmental work.The decision has been taken in an emergency meeting held under the chief of Punjab State Veterinary Inspectors Association, Barinderpal Singh Kairon, here today.

The extra departmental work comprises gathering information about sarpanches, MCs, ex-sarpanches, Namberdars, panches, SGPC members, Zila Parishad members and Panchayat Samiti members.

The association press secretary, Kishan Chandra Mahajan said, “The veterinary inspectors will do work pertaining to their own department.” 

Jalandhar, June 4
A seven-day Youth Leadership Camp was organised by GNDU Amritsar in which the students of Hans Raj Mahila Maha Vidyalaya participated and won many prizes. During the camp, the students participated in extempore, poem recitation, debate, singing and dance competitions. 

Kiranjeet Kaur won the first prize in singing, whereas Pratibha bagged the prize of commendable best camper and the first prize in poem recitation. Arupriya won the first prize in singing and Neelam bagged the prize of best yoga performer. Principal Dr Rekha Kalia Bhardwaj congratulated the winning students. 

Kapurthala, June 4
Jagga of Thekriwal village was sent to a two-day police custody in a gang rape case here today.

The other two accused in the case are absconding.

Jagga will again be produced in the court on Wednesday.

Informing that the other two accused are still absconding, Fatudhinga SHO Sukhwinder Singh said, “The absconding accused were not identified earlier but now they have been identified. Efforts are on to nab them and raids are being conducting at different places to nab them,” said the SHO.

He said the identity of the absconding accused could not be made public at this juncture, as it might hamper the 
efforts of the police to nab them.

He said one of the absconding accused was a resident Kolianwal village, whereas the other was from a nearby village.

Jagga had come to Kolianwal village for attending a religious function and reportedly already knew the victim.

The 14-year-old girl was allegedly raped at Kolianwal village by three men at the house of one of her friends at around 12.30 am on Sunday when a majority of the villagers were attending a religious function organised at the village.

An FIR under Section 376 of the IPC has been registered at the Fattudhinga police station.

Jalandhar, June 4
On the second day, of the 31st Junior National Softball Championship, being organised at the Lovely Profession University (LPU), Andhra Pradesh boys beat Gujarat 10-0, while Haryana girls beat Rajasthan by a score of 12-2 . Girls from Manipur beat Gujarat (10-0) in an other match.

In the Boys section, Madhya Pradesh beat Haryana (5-3), Delhi beat Puducherry (15-0), Chhatisgarh beat Indian Oil Corporation Ltd (IOCL) (15-2), Punjab beat Uttar Pradesh (16-0), Maharashtra beat Himachal Pradesh (16-2) and Goa beat Tamil 
Nadu (10-0).

Rajasthan defeated Tamil Nadu by a score of 11-0, Kerala beat Bihar (12-0), Chandigarh beat Gujarat (12-2), and Rajasthan beat Assam (10-0).

The matches were also played to watch the individual performances. As bats flashed and balls kept jumping off, the infielders, especially pitchers and the hot-corner men and other players exhibited the best of softball skills.

Joint Secretary Punjab Softball Association, Ms Daljeet Kaur said the remaining key league matches that would be played tomorrow include:

(Under girls category): Puducherry vs Jharkhand, Chandigarh vs Assam, Jammu and Kashmir vs Meghalaya, Himachal Pradesh vs Tripura and Karnatka vs Nagaland.

(Under boys category) Goa vs Assam, Odisha vs Meghalaya, Chandigarh vs Jharkhand, Jammu and Kashmir vs Tripura, Manipur vs Nagaland, and Maharashtra vs West Bengal.