Jalandhar, December 17
The authorities have been unable to remove the encroachments inside the district administrative complex here.

Four families from Allahabad have built their tenements inside the complex and are staying here for the past three to four years without any probe from senior officials working inside the complex.

What’s more, the entire office of the Deputy Commissioner has been defaced with posters, graffiti and hoardings displayed in every nook and corner of the office.

“We came here a few years ago. My husband Dharmender works for the tehsildaar and his other three brothers run a tea stall inside the DC office. All four families stay inside the complex only and nobody has asked us till date to vacate the place. All of us do small jobs for various officials inside the complex,” said Reshma, holding her two-year-old daughter Sandhya in her arms who was born inside the complex only.

In another shocking laxity, the administration has been charging an annual rent of Rs 15,600 from a person running an STD booth inside the DC complex without allotting him any specific space for the past 15 years. Although he is paying full rent like other booth owners for the past so many years, he is getting regularly harassed by the police, media and other neighbourhood stall owners for allegedly running the stall illegally.

“I was allotted this space once this complex was built by the administration. They invited tenders for the allotment of commercial booths inside the complex, but nobody showed interest at that time. I was the first one to respond. Since the whole area was empty, I was told to occupy any area. But later, when people started pouring in and they made the final allotment, they didn’t allocate me another space and told me to work from the earlier area only. Although, I am paying the annual rent regularly,still I have not been allotted any space by the administration so far,” said Vipin Kumar, the booth owner. Unconfirmed sources informed that the rent charged from him was, in fact, not going to the treasury itself, but was being taken as a bribe to allow him to operate from the illegal area.

Meanwhile, the Municipal Corporation (MC) is planning to deal strictly with the violators of the Public Property Defacement Act in the city. The most defaced government office was incidentally found to be is of the Deputy Commissioner’s where illegal posters have found their way even in front of the Additional Deputy Commissioner (General) Office. To target the large number of visitors to the administrative Complex everyday, various companies have pasted all sorts of posters from kisan melas to spiritual unions to hair oil advertisements in every nook and corner of the complex.

Pritam Singh, Additional Deputy Commissioner (General), showed ignorance about the matter, but assured speedy action into the reported violations.

Jalandhar, December 17
Blame it on the indiscriminate issuing of new arms licences by the police and the administration, there has been a spurt in shootout cases in the district in the recent past.

There were incidents of firing at Shakti Nagar on December 11, at Mehatpur on December 12 and at Urban Estate earlier on November 20. The incident of exchange of fire between two gangs at the busy Football Chowk about three months ago had also terrorised residents a lot.

It is not uncommon to hear people using their arms in a fit of rage. An incident in which a property dealer based at Kapurthala had gunned down his wife and two children before killing himself could have been easily avoided had he not got the weapon in his quick reach.

The Jalandhar Police Commissionerate has issued as many as 224 arms licences till date this year, which means that an average of 20 new licences are given out in the city in just one month. There are 5,500 arms licence holders in the city. Since three weapons can be taken on one licence, the number of licenced weapons in the city would certainly be far higher.

There are about 7,000 arms licence holders in rural areas where administration issues weapons. As many as 110 licences had been issued just till April this year. In fact as many as 50 weapons had been issued just in April this year when IAS officer Shruti Singh held the charge as DC Jalandhar and perhaps succumbed to political pressure for the issuing of licences. Soon after she relinquished the charge and passed it on to ADC (G). It is common to see politicians appeasing their votebank by getting them an arms licence issued using their pressure on the bureaucrats. Arms licence applicants are often seen accompanied by MLAs or their agents to the offices of the police and administration to get their work done.

ADCP (Headquarters) LPS Khaira said enough restraint was being exercised during issuing of arms licences. The report of the SHO concerned was taken and the antecedents of the applicants were being verified before issuing a licence.

While 179 licences were issued in 2011, nearly 254 licences were given in 2012 and 277 in 2013 by the Police Commissionerate, the cops.

The cops have arrested two persons in the Mehatpur shootout case, six in the Urban Estate case, but none in the Shakti Nagar shootout case as youths from high-profile families are said to be behind the incident. ADCP-1 Naresh Dogra said investigation was on in the Shakti Nagar firing case at the house of a businessman. 

Phagwara, December 17
Two persons were killed in two different mishaps around Phagwara last night.

One Rattan Lal of Haripur village was killed on the spot when a speeding vehicle hit him near Bhaini village. The police has registered case, arrested the vehicle driver and impounded the vehicle.

In another mishap, a villager, identified as Sat Paul, of Jamalpur village was run over under a train when he was going to ease himself in the fields and was crossing the railway tracks.

The Government Railway Police has registered a case and sent the body to Civil Hospital Phagwara for post-mortem.

Jalandhar, December 17
Problems for applicants at Suwidha Centre here magnified, with the strike of the employees continuing for the second consecutive day today.

The gates of the centre remained closed, with visitors returning without getting their work done. The administration failed to depute any staff at the Suwidha Centre to guide the applicants to directly reach the officials concerned in their departments. Only a few of those who themselves made an effort to directly get to the officials concerned managed to get their work done.

The worst affected were those whose documents were ready, but could not get these as they were in the custody of the agitating employees. Ajit Singh of Shaheed Babu Labh Singh Nagar said he had come to get a set of his countersignature documents required by a foreign agency but to no avail. "The timeframe for getting the documents has lapsed, but I cannot get them till the staff gets back and gets me the papers," he said.

Kartar Singh, who had come from Jandiala, said he had come to get the copy of his ration card but to no avail. "My ration card would have been ready and lying inside. I just need to get the delivery of it. The administration must appoint someone to at least disburse the documents kept ready inside the Centre. We cannot daily come from so far and keep on waiting for the card just like that," he fumed.

An estimated 400 documents, including learner's driving licences, marriage certificates, ration card copies etc, are daily readied and handed over to the applicants. Since the strike has already run into two days, nearly 800 people have not been able to get their documents.

Deputy Commissioner Varun Roojam had yesterday announced that the work would be done bypassing the Suwidha Centre as it used to be done earlier. He had asked the applicants to directly reach the officials to get their work done. The Suwidha staff from across the state is on strike and protesting in Chandigarh, demanding the regularisation of their jobs.

Meanwhile, even as the last date for filing claims for the revised "atta-dal" scheme lapsed yesterday, the applicants continued to turn up at the Suwidha Centre till the evening today to submit their claims. The claimants returned, as they found no one to receive their files.

Further, even as the Suwidha staff is on an indefinite strike, the Punjab Ministerial Services Union, too, would be on mass casual leave on December 24 and leading a protest to Bathinda over the non-implementation of the pay commission and pendency in the payment of the DA. 

Phagwara, December 17
The Sadar police, Phagwara, has booked Surjit Lal of Jafal Jhingarr village under Sections 498A and 406 of the IPC on the charge of torturing his wife physically and mentally for dowry.

The victim told the police that she was married to the accused on March 15 in 2009 and was being tortured for dowry. She stated though her parents had given Rs 3 lakh in cash to Surjit, his demands were increasing day by day.

Jalandhar, December 17
With Christmas holidays round the corner, hollies and joysticks are up, and candles and Santa Claus masks are intensifying the shopping experience. Christmas is already making its presence felt in busy market places, with eager shoppers making thoughtful buyings.

Shining bells, mini disco balls, snow sticks, stars, triangles, candy bars and an assortment of items are being picked up in bulk to deck up that quintessential Christmas tree. Ranging from Rs 10 to Rs 1,000, these decorations are available in an array of colours, textures, shapes and sizes in various markets and even department stores. Preparations are on in full swing in the city for the celebration of Christmas.

Churches across the city are being decked up for the festivity, while markets are flooded with Christmas trees, stars, jingle bells, stars, lights, music, various types of cakes and bakery items.

Illumination, carol singing and Santa Claus will be the centre of attractions at the churches during the celebration.

Be it the real one or fake, Christmas trees, too, are being ordered in hordes by families. Adding the element of fun and creativity, the tree has many a spirited reveller decorating it innovatively. "Christmas trees are available between 4 and 6 ft, ranging from Rs 1,000-15,000," said a worker at a city based nursery.Items for the Nativity, too, are a must-have on any shopper's list. Baby Jesus in a crib, Mother Mary and the other paraphernalia required to set up the manger are available in sizes, both big and small. "I make an effort to set up the Nativity at home every Christmas. It creates the much-needed festive mood at home," says Carol, a student, busy with her Christmas shopping in the Cantt area.

Those wanting to further slip into the festive mood are booking themselves Santa Claus costumes. Not to forget the huge red Santa caps being sold at signals across the city. 

Kapurthala, December 17
Following an alleged lapse on the part of Modern Jail Kapurthala authorities in not mentioning the HIV positive status of the undertrial, brought to the Civil Hospital yesterday, the Civil Surgeon said that he had written to the jail superintendent today pointing to the issue.

Sukhjinder Singh (22) was brought to the hospital in a serious condition. The doctors treated him for about 15 minutes but he died. Unaware of his HIV positive status, a board of doctors intervened by conducting his postmortem without following the standard procedure.

Civil Surgeon Dr Balvir Singh said if the jail officials had informed him of his condition, he would have instructed the staff to wear a special gown and two pairs of gloves. “Though I hope nothing went wrong as the doctors had worn a single pair of gloves and they did not have any external injury, still proper information should have be provided," he said. — TNS 

The two-day national conference, “Recent Advancements in Mechanical Engineering (RAME-2013)”, was organised at the seminar hall of CT Institute of Engineering, Management & Technology (CTIEMT), Jalandhar.

Jalandhar, December 17
The Pushpa Gujral Science City was awarded the second prize (general category) in the National Energy Conservation Award—2013 function at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi, on December 16. The award was received by Director General Dr RS Khandpur from President of India Pranab Mukherjee in the presence of Minister of Power Jyotiraditya M Scindia.

The science city has been honoured with this award in recognition of its achievement in reducing energy consumption while enhancing its performance with the improved energy efficiency. The annual savings achieved due to energy conservation are to the tune of Rs 12 lakh.

The energy audit was done by the consultancy group of the Punjab State Council for Science and Technology.