Jalandhar, September 30
Even two days after an unscrupulous element hacked the mobile phone of Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police-II Parminder Singh Bhandal and made several calls from his number, the police is still clueless on the issue.

The Cyber Crime Cell of the Punjab Police at Mohali, which is investigating the matter, has so far only been able to find that the caller did not use the services of Idea, which provides service to the ADCP’s official phone. Instead, he used certain illegal softwares available on the web, which further took the services of another service provider to make the call.

On Saturday, an imposter claiming himself to be ADCP reportedly called up at the offices of the DGP, other senior police officials and the office of a TV channel directing them all to reach a fake crime spot regarding drug haul near Haveli and creating a lot of confusion. While the call recipients read the number as "9592914104" and thought that it actually was Bhandal making the call, the ADCP had not actually made the calls. The calls were also not reflected in the list of his dialled numbers.

One of the recipients of the call, Kumar Sanjeev, a TV channel reporter, said there was +1 sign before the number he received a call from, which meant that the caller had routed it via the USA. But that the deceitful caller perhaps did to mislead the police, it is being believed.

While Commissioner of Police Ram Singh was away to Chandigarh for some day-long meetings, Deputy Commissioner of Police Jaspreet Singh Sidhu said the matter was still under investigation. “It is taking little time as the call had been routed through some software. But we will definitely be able to find the hacker,” he said.

Bhandal, who is himself getting the matter investigated, said, “It has been established that the caller did not use my service provider which is Idea. We have already asked the head office of another telecom company based in Mumbai, whose services we suspect have been used, to submit it in writing as to how it all happened and why it went unchecked. We are awaiting the reply and expect some details to flow in soon.”

Jalandhar, September 30
The District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum has directed Sahara India, Lucknow, and its office manager in the city to refund an amount of Rs 1.35 lakh, deposited as membership fee for a township scheme with 12 per cent interest from February 2005 onwards, to a retired Air Force officer. The forum has also asked the company to pay Rs 10,000 as compensation.

In his complaint, Wing Commander (retd) Tara Singh Dhami, a resident of Deep Nagar here, said he read an advertisement regarding Sahara City Homes Township at Zirakpur, near Chandigarh, under the scheme called Swaran/Rajat Yojana.

He said provisional membership was to be allotted to the applicants for the flats by March 1, 2005, on the first come, first serve basis. He had applied for a housing unit consisting of three bedroom in Type C for which the provisional membership fee was deposited by him through a demand draft of Rs 1,35,350 on February 26, 2005.

He said he was issued provisional membership and assured that the allotment would be done by March 1, 2005, and the physical possession of the flat would be handed over to the members as soon as the flats were constructed.

However, neither the draw of flats was held, nor the construction of flats started. The complainant said after waiting for long period for the allotment of the housing unit, he visited the office of Sahara number of times, but all in vain. He said no information was given to him and rather given one excuse after the other with the assurance that the flat would be allotted very soon.

The complainant again visited the office and was told that the construction project was not started as they had filed a writ petition before the high court against the decision of the Punjab Government of levying development charges, which had been increased by the government.

The complainant said he came to know that the writ petition had been dismissed by the court. The complainant said he wrote a letter on April 16, 2010, for the refund of the booking amount, which was duly received by Ajit Kumar Singh of the Financial Division, Sahara India Parivar office at Jalandhar.

Upon notice, company officials said the project could not be completed as the litigation was pending before the Punjab and Haryana High Court. They said 200 acres of agricultural land had been acquired for the project and further the change of land use (CLU) certificate had also been procured for 147 acres of land. They further submitted that the competent authority had issued the Letter of Intent (LOl) on November 16, 2006, for Sahara City Homes, Chandigarh. In the said LOl, instead of charging Rs 2.5 lakh per acre, the competent authority had raised a demand of Rs 15.9 lakh per acre towards the external development charges, for which the company had moved the court. The same was disposed of by the court vide its judgement on September 10, 2008.

The forum observed, "The construction of the project had not started even after seven to eight years for one reason or another. It constitutes to deficiency in service. It is also not disputed that builders are also service providers. So the complainant is fully justified in demanding refund of the amount deposited by him."

The forum accepted the complaint and directed Sahara India to refund the amount of Rs 1,35,350 along with interest at the rate of 12 per cent per annum thereon with effect from February 24, 2005, till the date of actual payment. The complainant was also awarded Rs 10,000 in lump sum on account of compensation and litigation expenses.

Jalandhar, September 30
A labourer working at a factory in the Industrial Area died after he got hit by heavy machinery on his head this morning.

The labourer, Bobby (37), a resident of Gopal Nagar, was rushed to the Civil Hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries. The Station House Officer (SHO) of the Division Number 1 police station, Balbir Singh said there had been no complaint from the family of the worker, who had perhaps reached a compromise with the owner of the factory. "We have initiated proceedings under Section 174 of the Criminal Procedure Code," he said.

Jalandhar, September 30
A young woman committed suicide by hanging herself from a ceiling fan at her in-laws house at Fauji Wali Gali, near Rama Mandi, this afternoon.

The deceased, Sunita Rani, married to auto-rickshaw driver Nirmal, alias Sonu, for five years, did not leave any suicide note. Her mother Kailash Kaur has lodged a complaint with the police that her husband and in-laws had been allegedly pressuring her with a demand of a new auto-rickshaw.

On the complaint, the police has registered a case against Nirmal and his mother Joginder Kaur and arrested the two. The father of the woman, Inder Lal, is said to be earning his livelihood in Doha. Sunita Rani was reportedly alone at home with her three-year-old son when she took the extreme step.

Jalandhar, September 30
Thieves struck at a house in Sant Nagar and decamped with jewellery, cash and two gas cylinders.

The owner of the house Kuldeep Singh said he had gone to his brother's place at Raja Garden for a function. He said when he returned this morning, he found the locks of his house and almirahs broken and the whole house ransacked.

Jalandhar, September 30
A couple was killed as the Swift Dzire car they were travelling hit a stationary tractor-trailer on the Malsian-Shahkot road here early this morning.

The couple has been identified as Sarabjit Singh Sabi (35) and Manjeet Kaur of Malsian. They had been reportedly returning from Shahkot after expressing condolences to their relative when the accident occurred. — TNS

Jalandhar, September 30
A protest by followers of Guru Ravi Dass against a TV channel for the telecast of a programme hurting their religious sentiment today kept the police busy with almost all ADCPs, ACPs and SHOs of the city deployed to maintain law and order there.

Over 1,000 protesters started a demonstration from near Chaheru and entered the city via Guru Ravi Dass Dham on Nakodar Chowk, passing through busy Jyoti Chowk and PNB Chowk and finally assembling in front of the DC office, where they raised slogans and submitted a memorandum. — TNS

Jalandhar, September 30
Computer teachers across the state have threatened to go on a series of protests - constituency wise - starting from October 12, in support of their demands for regularisation and provision of allowances meant for regularised teachers.

The decision was taken during a meeting of the Computer Teachers Union held under Head, Pawan Sharma and general secretary, Harjinder Mehasampur, here on Sunday.

Union leaders said, to oppose government’s dilly-dallying attitude towards their genuine demands, a series of protests will be held across the Lok Sabha constituencies of the state turn by turn. The protests will start on October 12 and a huge protest rally will be held in the state.

The union leaders said the Education Department is playing with the future and services of thousands of computer teachers and the silence of the state government only means it does not intend to keep its promises. While the SAD-BJP government had agreed to regularise the services of the computer teachers as per an agreement with the union, the government had agreed to provide the computer teachers all facilities on par with vocational masters.

Thousands of teachers working on contractual basis from 2005 had been issued appointment letters for regular services on July 7, 2011 under the Education Department.

But the Education Department did not provide any additional facility to the computer teachers even two years after the regularisation. Rather the authorities are presently on the denial mode even regarding the regularisation of their services, members said.

The Computer Teachers Union warned that if the government doesn’t regularise their services and continues to deny them the allowances which are availed by regular teachers, like annual increments, CPF, medical reimbursement, departmental promotions and CSR then they will take the protest path.

Jalandhar, September 30
Despite rampant child abuse (in the form of labour and other cases involving children in distress) complaints piling up in the city, the District Child Welfare Council has failed to step up and exercise its authority.

Crippled with the lack of infrastructure and will, the District Child Welfare Committee (CWC) has been unable to address many complaints which are being faced by children in the city.

While the CWC is supposed to carry out regular meetings and checks regarding the working of various children homes and child help organisations in the district, among a host of other functions, the members of the Jalandhar CWC are not carrying out any checks and are not even keeping up with NGOs working with children.

Barely three to four NGOs attend the monthly meetings organised by it (some of them, too, allege they go voluntarily and the CWC doesn’t call them), others have never even been approached.

Activists Anoop Vatts and Surinder Saini say that despite the fact that they work with children, the CWC has never approached them. Nor have they been asked about the kind of cases they are getting. “It’s not known whether any meeting takes place or not. One could provide details or discuss concerns 
regarding children, but the CWC has never taken us in the loop.”

Activist of another local NGO said, “We had submitted a complaint regarding a local child home to the CWC over six months ago. The said home submitted an affidavit to the CWC sometime later, stating the problem had been fixed. Till date, no CWC member has even visited the said site to check for themselves.”

A former CWC member said, “While I have involved the police and conducted even late night raids during my tenure (in a matter of attempts to sell a girl), it is important for a CWC to be assertive. Child rights are a sensitive matter and if the CWC does not step up to the cause, precious lives suffer”.

Notably, genuine infrastructural problems also cloud the CWC’s working. The CWC does not have any counsellor of its own. Two of its members are never known to visit CWC meetings and even the children’s court is held in a regular office. Sources also say the CWC does not have adequate backing by the government.

While trafficking has been alleged in a number of cases concerned with child labour and abuse, the CWC has never even probed the matter independently or held any raids in the city.

It is also said since the lobby of some of the erring homes or NGOs would be adversely affected by an empowered CWC, there is also pressure to keep things quiet.

Sandeep Singh member of the CWC when asked why no action has been taken regarding the recent labour raids, said, “As far as the recent cases are concerned, we have to follow up with cases from the labour department. When the cases come to our knowledge we take adequate action. We were not aware about these cases. It has also been a common that the labour department doesn’t inform us before conducting raids.”On child trafficking complaints, Singh said the CWC hasn’t come across any.

On allegations that the CWC doesn’t regularly visit homes, Singh said, “We do carry out visits from time to time and have evolved a mechanism to make sure action is taken.”

Jalandhar, September 30
A lecture and competitions for students marked the International day for Preservation of Ozone at Pushpa Gujral Science City here today.

Dr RS Khandpur, Director General, said due to the fast depletion of stratospheric ozone layer, the harmful UV radiation penetrated the atmosphere of the Earth causing several direct and indirect harmful effects on human being as well as on other living beings.

“The most severe and serious effect of UV radiation on human being particularly the skin cancer. The other health disorders of UV radiation are cataract of eyes, mutations and loss of immunity. There is no second opinion that alleviation of public awareness on every aspect including environmental protection can play a significant role in checking the depletion of the Earth’s Ozone layer due to chemicals such as chlorofluorocarbons or CFCs, produced in refrigeration and airconditioning industries.

Dr Khandpur urged the students to protect and save ozone layer by planting more trees, use public transport and also emphasised on the use of renewable sources of energy.

A lecture was delivered by Biman Basu, a retired scientist from CISR, New Delhi. He said, “In the past 30 years, it has been discovered that stratospheric ozone is depleting due to action of man-made pollutants. There are a number of chemical reactions that can deplete stratospheric ozone, but the most significant depletion is the result of the catalytic destruction of ozone by free halogen radicals like chlorine and bromine. Chlorofluorocarbon or CFC molecules are made up of chlorine, fluorine and carbon atoms and are extremely stable. This extreme stability allows CFCs to slowly make their way into the stratosphere. This prolonged life in the atmosphere allows them to reach great altitudes where photons are more energetic. When the CFCs come into contact with these high-energy photons, their individual components are freed from the whole, leading to destruction of ozone.”

Basu further mentioned that since depletion of ozone in the stratosphere allows dangerous UV-B rays to reach the ground, exposing people to skin cancer, cataract, and other health problems. “An international agreement known as Montreal Protocol was signed in 1989 to stop manufacture and use of ozone depleting substances like CFCs throughout the world.”

On this day, competitions for caption writing, painting, slogan writing and model making contest were organised in which 300 students from different schools participated.

Jalandhar, September 30
In an attempt to prepare students for competitive engineering and medical examinations, Lovely Academy (LAC) has started a programme of ‘Scholars Hunt’-LASH to search scholars of the city.

The programme will also honour top schools nurturing the young talent ed students on its premises.

Aman Mittal, Director, LAC, said, “In order to facilitate more and more capable students, we have chalked out this programme to find the best minds in the city and adjoining areas to groom them so that they can perform well at national-level competitive examinations”.

Jalandhar, September 30
As a part of the theatre series being held as a tribute to the Ghadar centenary, two plays were held on the brith anniversary of Bhagat Singh ‘Aa Ke Rahegi Basant’ and ‘Main Fer Avanga’. ‘Aa ke rahegi Basant’ staged by Styke Arts Association.

The plays depicted the dilemmas of the present generation plagued by unemployment and lack of direction burdened with the meance of drug. Punjab Kala Manch’s director Pali Bhupinder Singh who presented the play ‘Main Fer Avanga’ depicts the complex interplay of every generation’s tendency to eulogise and exploit (for their own interests) the legend of martyrs by turns.

However, the play concludes that the Bhagat Singh who has given new thought and ideals as a living and struggling youth leader is more entrenched in the social consciousness as opposed to his statue avatar which is not more than a fixture. 

Jalandhar, September 30
The Entrepreneurship Development Cell (EDC) of Apeejay Institute of Management Technical Campus organised a case study competition 'Insight' in order to provide students with a platform to exhibit their skills of working in a team to solve real business problems. As many as 18 teams (comprising three students, each) participated in the competition. The team of Sakshi, Ankur and Aayush of MBA I bagged the first position. The second position was bagged by the team comprising Naveen Chopra, Puneet Kaur and Navdeep Kaur. All the prize winners were awarded a certificate of appreciation by the Director, Dr Rajesh Bagga.