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Clerks forged ADM’s signatures on 14 files
Illegally plying tractor-trailers pose danger in city
Braving odds, Phagwara couple back from Uttarakhand
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Date faux pas in posting orders of govt officials
City students shine in IIT-JEE results
Man booked for posting remarks on Facebook
SAD-BJP govt flayed for ‘failing’ to rescue pilgrims in Uttarakhand
Purse, cash snatched
Heat wave intensifies
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Clerks forged ADM’s signatures on 14 files
Jalandhar, June 21 While the officer, had on May 10, got arrested two clerks of the Arms Licencing Department for forging his signatures on one application, the inquiry has revealed that there were as many as 14 such documents on which his documents had been faked. The report also points that the clerks had also forged the signatures of another superintendent of the branch on all these files. The inquiry is now being conducted to check the connivance of other staff to cross-check whether all these files which are received through Suwidha Centre had been cleared ahead of the stipulated time. "If that be the case, there will be more grounds for suspicion and more heads will roll," officials revealed. SDM-I Iqbal Singh Sandhu said during his inquiry, he had found that there were 17 such files wherein he felt that the signatures of the Additional District Magistrate had been forged. "These files were shown to the officer, who has reverted, saying three signatures were his, while the rest were forged." It is also learnt that most such cases were dubious wherein the applicant apprehended rejection on some grounds like delay in taking the renewal of licences or a person already having a licensed weapon pursuing his case for permission to have another weapon in his name. The case
The two clerks Gopal Singh and Balwinder Singh were arrested from the office on May 10 by the Nawi Baradari police and booked under Sections 420, 467 and 120-B of the IPC. The duo had forged the signatures of the ADM on a file for the renewal of licence of one Ravinder Singh of Adampur and the case was brought into notice by the staff of Suwidha Centre. Having had his arms licence from a pistol expired for 10 months, the applicant had sought renewal on February 6 this year. Bhardwaj had issued the applicant a showcause notice on March 18 to explain why his licence be not suspended for he had kept the weapon in his illegal possession for so long. Apprehensive of a denial, the three had reportedly connived to get the case cleared by faking the signatures of the officer. |
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Illegally plying tractor-trailers pose danger in city
Jalandhar, June 21 The death of an underage driver Anmol (17) and her cousin Saksham (12) after they were crushed under an illegally plying tractor-trailer near the Sodal level crossing in March this year and several such incidents have apparently failed to wake up the city police and the district transport authorities from their slumber. Though the transport and police authorities keep on challaning such illegal plying vehicles frequently, it is probably not adequate, as this correspondent noticed unabated plying of such vehicles in various areas, including Guru Nanak Mission Chowk, Jyoti Chowk, Basti areas, Railway Road, Sodal area, Nakodar Road, Kapurthala Road, Panthankot Road and Transport Nagar. The mishap that occurred in March was not an isolated incident. Fatal accidents due to the illegal plying of the tractor-trailers for commercial purposes are occurring every now and then. Senior Deputy Mayor Kamaljit Singh Bhatia’s son Charanpreet Singh Bhatia, aka Channi, became the victim of one such illegally plying tactor-trailer loaded with sand in the Avtar Nagar area a few months ago. A number of tractor-trailers loaded with sand, soil, gravel and other material keep on illegally plying at busy areas of the city, giving open invitation to mishaps. 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. A HC division bench, headed by Justice RS Mongia and comprising Justice KC Gupta, had observed in its order in November 2000, while disposing of a petition of the Mazda Mini-Truck Operators Society, in this regard, “We are quite hopeful that the authorities concerned would see to it that the tractor-trailers are not used for commercial purposes in violation of law and such persons who violate the law would be dealt with in accordance with the law.” It further added, “It will be appreciated if more vigil is kept on such violations by the drivers of tractor-trailers for commercial purposes. It will be further appreciated if the authorities concerned monitor this aspect and review the situation every month.” While no exact figure about the accidents caused by the trailers is available, rough estimates by the traffic officials indicate that over half of the total accidents are caused by the trailers. The officials have listed several reasons for the mishaps. Most of these are driven primarily by the people who do not possess driving licences. The trailers neither have indicators nor reflectors, which make it difficult for the vehicles coming from behind to see them during night. Moreover, due to the extra noise, the drivers of the trailers seldom hear the horns of the vehicles coming from behind. While senior deputy mayor Kamaljit Singh Bhatia and social activist Rajat Mohindru demanded strict action against the persons responsible for illegally plying tractor-trailers for commercial purposes without taking the proper permit, the authorities in the transport and police departments said they kept on challaning such vehicles every now and then. An official in the transport department said, “Tractor-trailers are registered with the transport department for using them only for agricultural purposes. If any person wants to use a tractor-trailer for commercial purpose, he or she requires to get a permit for the same. Special modifications, including installing hydraulic break system, are done before the issuance of the 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."
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Braving odds, Phagwara couple back from Uttarakhand
Phagwara, June 21 The couple, who was in a group of 35 pilgrims, had gone to pay their obeisance at Char Dham in two vehicles, including a tempo traveller and a bus on June 8. After visiting Yamnotri, Gangotri and Kedarnath, they were stranded in long jams near Rampur while on way to Badrinath on June 15 and had to spend whole night in the vehicles. Next day, they all decided to turn back, seeing heavy floods and land slides at various places caused by cloud bursts. Girish said eight members of their group were forced to live in a single room of a hotel near Chamoli for which they paid a rent of Rs 7,000 for a single night. He said as soon as they crossed a small bridge on Chamoli on June 17 on way to Rishikesh, the bridge collapsed. They reached Karan Prayag after traversing bad roads and long jams and paid Rs 2,000 per night for staying in a hotel. He said except the Army neither the Uttarakhand Police nor its administration took any interest to help the pilgrims. The couple said a bread loaf was sold for Rs 100 and a Bislery water bottle for Rs 70, while ordinary meal was being provided by small dhabha owners at Rs 200 per head. Girish said they spent nights fearing death and uncertainty. He said on June 18, they proceeded towards Ranital from Karan Paryag and again stayed there paying exorbitant rates for various items. They were unable to contact their relatives as their mobile phone batteries were completely drained and no facility was available to charge them due to power blackout on the entire route. After spending a night in Ranital in terror, they proceeded for Khokhran on June 19 and stayed there for a night. On June 20, they proceeded for Phagwara via Dehradun-Paonta Sahib-Chandigarh, as the roads near Saharanpur and Jaghadhari were also flooded. Girish said they could hardly travel 50 km in a day due to bad roads caused by floods and land slides. The couple said: “We have decided not to go for pilgrimage in such conditions in future. Our daughters in Bangalore and UK remained terrified during this week-long episode.”
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Date faux pas in posting orders of govt officials
Jalandhar, June 21 While such a glaring mistake is unheard of in government orders, the political lobby was seemingly in much hurry which resulted in the problem. The orders included the transfers of IAS officer Supreet Gulati, Chief Administrator, Jalandhar Development Authority (JDA), and Chairman of Jalandhar Improvement Trust (JIT), as AETC Patiala and both his charges going to PCS officer Vinay Bublani, who already was holding dual posts of Commissioner Municipal Corporation and Chief Executive Officer of the Jang-e-Azadi Memorial Foundation. Bublani, who already had his hands full, has not been able to join any of his two new offices even though it has been four days since he received the orders. It being peak summers and monsoons already having arrived, the MC is already reeling under the problems of shortage of water supply in localities, inundation of roads due to rains and lately even the breakage of roads. On the other hand, Supreet Gulati’s stay in Jalandhar was of less than three months, having joined on April 21. During his last fortnight, the officer had taken a number of daring steps, including the sealing of eight marriage palaces, termination of some contractual appointments at the JIT and suspension of two persons in the clerical staff. The Executive Officer of the JIT, too, had got transferred during his tenure. While the JDA, which was created some six years ago, has not been able to come up with even a single scheme, Gulati had started work on the project planning some residential schemes in Nakodar and Hoshiarpur. On four charges going to Bublani, Congress MLA Rana Gurjit Singh chose to make a rather sarcastic remark, “This arrangement probably would have been done, as our Local Bodies Minister cannot handle so many officers of various departments in one go and he decided to give all portfolios to one man and take a single report.”
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City students shine in IIT-JEE results
Jalandhar, June 21 A computer science engineering aspirant and a resident of Basti Bawa Khel, Ayush has secured 885th all-India rank. “Regular studies for 10 hours daily helped me attain a good rank,” Ayush said. He gave credit to his father, who runs a pipe-fitting goods factory and his mother, who is a homemaker. Ayush had secured 96.2 per cent in Class XII CBSE examination. Abhay Khosla, who has got 1,044th rank, aims to grab a seat in computer science at IIT New Delhi. “I have my fingers crossed and will wait for counselling to begin on June 24. I had been hoping of getting close to 500th rank for I had checked the keys of the question paper. I regret having made a few silly mistakes. Perhaps out of shortage of time, I had solved one question but forgot to mark the right option,” he said. A resident of New Railway Road, Abhay’s father runs electronics goods shop. The boy had secured 92.6 per cent marks in plus two exams. About his plans of a bash he said: “Tonight I will be dining out with my family. Day after, I have plans to give a sumptuous treat to my friends.” A Phagwara-based girl Surbhi, who studied at Delhi Public School in Jalandhar, has got 921st rank. Daughter of a businessman, she intends to take up civil engineering or mathematics in computing in IIT Delhi or Kanpur. She had scored 96 per cent in plus two exams. Akshay Kharbanda, a student of MGN Public School, has got 4,370 rank. Another student of the same school, Ramandeep Kaur, got 4,093 rank in the reserved category.
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Man booked for posting remarks on Facebook
Jalandhar, June 21 Nearly 100 activists of Sikh Talmel Committee today reached the office of the ADCP (Headquarters) Navjot Singh Mahal and filed a complaint The activists later held a protest at Company Bagh Chowk and burnt an effigy. A case has been registered under Sections 295-A, 120-B of the IPC and Section 66 A of the IT Act.
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SAD-BJP govt flayed for ‘failing’ to rescue pilgrims in Uttarakhand
Jalandhar, June 21 Congress spokesman Sukhpal Singh Khaira said: “It is extremely saddening that the SAD-BJP has utterly failed to rescue over 3,000 stranded pilgrims from Govind Dham for the last many days. In order to deflect and avoid public criticism over its inefficiency, the Badals who are holidaying in London further indulged in lip service and political gimmicks.” He said: “The Badal duo has deputed KS Pannu, IAS, to immediately arrange for helicopters and rescue stranded pilgrims. The SAD-BJP government has been making false claims for the last two days of evacuating 300 pilgrims by making helicopter sorties to Govind Dham through its official press release.” Khaira, a former MLA, said: “It has now come to light that the so called helicopter arranged by the government is itself stranded at Jolly Grant Airport at Dehradun and has not made even a single sortie to rescue pilgrims. These allegations have come from none less than the vice-chairman of Shri Hemkunt Sahib Management Trust, Narinderjit Singh Bindra.” Making false claims for political gains is nothing but betrayal of pilgrims by the CM and the Deputy CM, he added. Khaira asked: “It is also ironic that why the state government had to wait for many days to arrange for helicopter when two helicopters of the Punjab government were parked idle at Chandigarh. Now that the CM and Deputy CM are in London with their family, could they not have spared the two government helicopters for the pilgrims?” “If the state government can continue to pay Rs 1.40 lakh per hour for a hired helicopter despite purchasing their own helicopter for Rs 38 crore, why were not the helicopters used to rescue ordinary Punjabi’s from Hemkunt Sahib?” he questioned. He said: “Similarly, the SGPC too has faltered in its sacred duty to help and rescue thousands of Sikh pilgrims stranded at Hemkunt Sahib. The SGPC has a budget of hundreds of crore at its disposal and if it cannot utilise its money for the safety of ‘sangat’, it is futile to call itself the representative body of the Sikhs.” Urging the Badal duo to tender an unconditional apology to the Punjabis for their gross failure to rescue the stranded pilgrims, Khaira said the CM must direct his government to immediately send both its helicopters for rescue of thousands of people stuck in Uttarakhand.
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Purse, cash snatched
Phagwara, June 21 In the second incident two unidentified motorcyclist snatched gold ear rings from a woman Kulwinder Kaur in a posh locality of Hargobind Nagar, near Tehsil Complex, here on Wednesday noon. The accused managed to flee leaving the victim behind in an injured condition.
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Heat wave intensifies
Jalandhar, June 21 The sky is likely to remain fine, fair and partly cloudy on Saturday.
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Jalandhar, June 21
