Jalandhar, June 23
While a number of BJP leaders and workers from here went to Madhopur in Pathankot to participate in the newly appointed party’s election campaign committee chairman Narendra Modi’s rally today, its several local leaders put up hoardings regarding the public meeting, apparently in a bid to take political mileage out of the event.

The hoardings were put up at different places in and around the city in open violation of the Prevention of Defacement of Property Act. Interestingly, the hoardings carried photos of none other than the first citizen of Jalandhar, Mayor Sunil Jyoti, whose duty is to implement the provisions of the Act.

The hoardings, tied with electric poles, were put up at various public places, including a footpath near Workshop Chowk and in the middle of the road near Patel Chowk.

Residents have been urged through the hoardings to reach Madhopur to attend Modi’s rally. Apart from Mayor Sunil Jyoti’s photographs, the pictures of former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, Gujarat CM Narendra Modi, BJP national president Rajnath Singh, state BJP in charge Shanta Kumar, chief parliamentary secretary for cooperation and Jalandhar (North) MLA Krishan Dev Bhandari, state BJP president Kamal Sharma and its district chief Subash Sood have been carried in the hoardings.

Interestingly, none of the hoardings carried photographs of senior BJP leader and former Deputy Prime Minister Lal Krishan Advani, who had initially expressed his resentment over Modi’s elevation.

Meanwhile, taking a serious note of the blatant violation of the Prevention of Defacement of Property Act, Punjab Youth Congress (PYC) president Vikramjit Singh Chaudhary said “The ruling Akali-BJP alliance leaders have been openly flouting the directions of not only the Act, but also of the directions issued by the Punjab and Haryana High Court in this regard for several years.”

Stating that the violations of the court directions will be brought to the notice of the HC for taking appropriate action, the PYC chief further stated: “The ruling alliance leaders keep on putting up hoardings at national and state highways and in various parts of different cities of Punjab from time to time. The Parkash Singh Badal-led SAD-BJP government is turning a blind eye towards the blatant defiance of the court directions by the ruling party leaders, whereas if a Congressman is found putting up any hoarding, he is booked and a challan is presented against him.”

Thus, the Badal government was adopting double standard on the issue of the defacement of government and private properties, he added.

Jalandhar, June 23
While the damaged layer of bitumen at various places on the "killer" GT Road here has been landing motorists in trouble for a long time, the uncovered trenches and storm water drains, too, have been proving a death trap for them for almost two years.

The worst affected is the Pathankot bypass-Cheheru village stretch of the busy road, where accidents have witnessed a sharp increase in the past.

The negligent attitude of the police, district administration and the road authorities has once again put the lives of motorists and pedestrians at risk.

Though the construction company to whom the work for the six-laning of the road was allocated has temporarily suspended the work, no steps have been taken to prevent the loss of human lives in road accidents.

The authorities seem to have not learnt any lesson from the accident in which a vegetable vendor had died after falling in an uncovered storm water drain near the Pathankot bypass last September, said Surinder Mittal, a Green Model Town resident.

Mittal, who commutes to Phagwara, complained that uncovered storm water drains along the GT road had been proving a death trap at various places. The absence of streetlights along the road further puts pedestrians to a great hardship, as the open drains are a great risk.

This is not the only spot where the drains have been posing a threat. The entire stretch on the GT road, starting from the Pathankot bypass till Phillaur, has been proving a death trap for motorists and pedestrians for the past over two years, said Ashok Kumar, a resident of Phagwara.

A random survey revealed that the company had left the storm water drains uncovered at a number of places. The company had not even put any signboards to caution the motorists and road users.

A senior official of the National Highways Authority of India, however, said that the storm water drain had been covered at many places, but covering the entire drain was not possible due to some technical reasons.

Jalandhar, June 23
A quick glance at the crime data of the past three years, available with the Commissionerate Police, points out to increasing incidences of murder and abduction this year.

While there were 14 cases of murder reported last year, seven cases were reported in just four months (till April) this year. The most gruesome, so far perhaps, has been the stabbing of a woman by her paramour, near New Baradari Police Station. Similarly, there were 40 incidents of abduction which came to light in 2011 and 28 in 2012 but as many as 21 cases have been registered in 2013 till now. This clearly indicates that, at an average, more than five cases of abduction are registered in a month.

On the contrary, the incidents of theft and snatchings have been relatively low vis-a-vis previous years. While 45 cases have been registered on this account in four months, there were as many as 188 FIRs lodged under Section 382 last year and 174 in 2011. At least three incidents have been reported in this month alone, including booking of 21 LPU students of Congo and snatching of jewellery of two women in separate cases, at police station division No. 8 and Basti Bawa Khel police station.

Rape cases reported from the city too have somewhat gone down so far. While six cases had been reported this year till April, there were as many as 33 cases in 2012 and 15 in 2011.

ADCP (headquarters) Navjot Mahal said more deployment of constables at almost all prominent places had helped police keep a check on the crimes. He said the Commissionerate Police had been quite successful in tracing majority of cases reported so far.

Jalandhar, June 23
The Jalandhar (Rural) police yet again failed to destroy huge amount of narcotics seized in the last five years with a government owned incinerator at Kapurthala developing a snag. The incinerator set up in Kapurthala is nonfunctional for the past some time following which the police authorities are in a quandary as it does not have adequate storage capacity any more, the police sources revealed.

The operation of the police against the drug peddlers has also been adversely hit as the authorities are going slow on this front for the past couple of months, the sources disclosed. Even after getting a go-ahead from the high-ups, the police had decided to destroy the drugs in a scientific way last year. Though the authorities had earlier decided to destroy the contraband in an incinerator owned by a private firm in Amritsar, the decision was withheld as the incinerator owner demanded a huge sum which the police was not ready to pay. The narcotics seized by the police since 2007 in cases registered under the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act pending in various courts (pre-trial and post-trial) are to be destroyed on the permission of the courts of concerned areas.

A senior police official said the district (rural) police had already completed all the legal formalities in this regard and had got permission from the top brass. They also had received go-ahead from the Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) officials.

When contacted, Superintendent of Police (Detective) Rajinder Singh said the narcotics seized by the police would soon be destroyed in a Kapurthala-based incinerator. “The narcotics could not be destroyed earlier as the plant developed some snag. We will soon form a committee of prominent persons from different related departments and the narcotics will be destroyed in their presence,” he added.

Jalandhar, June 23
Heaps of garbage and damaged roads outside Jalandhar city railway station are welcoming visitors to the city. Thanks to Municipal Corporation, Jalandhar (MCJ) which has turned a blind eye toward the plight of entrance to the city.

The garbage dump right in front of the city railway station is not only creating a lot of inconvenience to the visitors but it is also an open invitation to diseases as mosquitoes are breeding here in the monsoon season. The visitors’ cross this road while covering their face with handkerchiefs or “dupattas” to avoid stinking garbage.The broken roads on all the three sides of the station have further aggravated the trouble for the visitors.

Ishwar Singh Dost, who came from Bhopal to meet his friend in the city, was surprised at the dismal attitude of the authorities concerned towards cleanliness of the entrance to the city. Citizens passing from this road, students and teachers of adjoining SD Phularwan at Mandi Fantonganj are also facing garbage nuisance.

Several persons use the school wall facing railway station for urinating which creates problem especially for girl students and lady teachers. The school authorities have brought the matter to the notice of authorities concerned several times but to no avail so far.

Meanwhile, a social activist Rajat Mohindru said: “The MCJ should pay special attention toward cleanliness and maintaining proper roads leading toward the railway station so that the visitors may get a positive message from this place.”

Jalandhar, June 23
Knee deep potholes, defunct street lights, piles of garbage, frequently closed railway level crossing and attacks of snatchers are certain issues that have been haunting people commuting on a stretch between the Ladowali Road and the Gurunanakpura for the past almost one decade.

While the knee-deep potholes are open invitation for accidents to happen, the snatchers have been making the best out of the defunct street lights. They leave no opportunity to snatch goods and jewellery from the passersby.

The light showers are enough to fill the potholes which further aggravate the problem of the commuters. Shockingly, the administration and the municipal corporation have turned a blind eye toward these problems faced by the residents of the area and the daily commuters.

The area councillor, who used to cross from this road almost daily, had reportedly been using the alternate road avoiding this stretch, said Surinder Singh, a resident of Gurunanakpura.

Residents of the area lament that riding two-wheelers is a test of courage especially in summers when the stretch virtually converts into a canal. Anil Sharma, a resident of Chuggitti, said a few months ago the authorities had done patch work on the road but the pre-monsoon showers were enough to damage the road again.

The area residents have demanded the construction of cemented road with a raised level for a permanent solution to the problem. 

Jalandhar, June 23
Though decks have been cleared for the setting up of proposed Hand Tool Cluster here with the deposition of money demanded by the Industries Department from two groups of the board of directors of the cluster yet the ongoing "tussle for control over the cluster" between them still continues.

Some city-based industrialists, however, said the fate of the cluster would be similar to that of a hand tool training institute lying abandoned adjacent to the Maqsudan overbridge along the GT Road.

A group of directors (which had already deposited Rs 6.05 crore) had been staking its claim on the cluster but the rival groups following pressure from the Industry Minister Anil Joshi deposited Rs 6.25 crore last month.

This group, which is advocating setting up of the cluster for the entire industry, however, deposited Rs 6.25 crore against the demanded Rs 6.05 crore, has tilted the table in its favour.

The ongoing tug-of-war between the two groups of the industrialists was virtually over the ‘control’ of the cluster which had delayed this Union 
government-sponsored Rs 79 crore project for a 
long time.

Apprehending uncertainty over the launching of the project, certain industrialists said the project could not be started due to a ‘power tussle’ between the two groups. Moreover, the Industry Department has been forcibly collecting huge amounts from the industrialists against the guidelines of the Union government.

The fate of the cluster could be well imagined from the fact that it started with 10 directors in 2010 and now was left with only four, said RAS Bhatia, a member of the hand tool cluster panel. Directors of the cluster include Jyoti Praksh, Gian Bhandari, Suresh Sharma and MK Bhandari.

The first two are having their group of industrialists while the rest two are also having support of some others.

Vipan Mahajan, a member of the panel, said the cluster should be for the whole industry (macro and micro) and not for the individuals. “The memorandum of article (MoA) on the cluster should be made public and transparent. To rope-in majority of the industrialists in the cluster and for its betterment, separate committees of experts should be formed to deal with different sections,” Vipin said.

Taking to the Tribune, Suresh Sharma said: “We don’t want to loose this project and efforts are being made to rope-in more and more industrialists (contributors) so that they could avail the facility of the cluster.”