Jalandhar, December 18
A dense blanket of fog continued to engulf the region, throwing normal life out of gear, besides hitting rail and road traffic for the second consecutive day here today.

The visibility was recorded as 800m in the morning, while it increased from 1 km to 2 km during the daytime. However, in late evening, the visibility was almost nil.

In the city and countryside, the minimum temperature was recorded as 9.3 degrees Celsius against the maximum of 12.7 degrees Celsius today.

According to the meteorological department, fog will prevail tomorrow. It said the fog and mist would prevail during the morning and night in Punjab.

Various trains and long-route buses were delayed by one to two hours in the morning, while vehicles plied with headlights on on different roads, including the busy GT Road.

Government offices and schools also recorded a thin attendance due to the cold weather.

Those who had to take flights from airports in Amritsar and Delhi were also delayed for hours, as the vehicles moved at a snail’s pace due to the fog on the highways.

Residents used woollen coats, caps and gloves through the day.

While the common man was seen basking in the mild sun, roadside vendors and rickshaw-pullers beat the chill by burning dry weeds and leaves. The sale of groundnut and “gachak” picked up a lot.

Tipplers had a gala time, as there were long queues outside liquor shops, while taverns were packed to capacity.

City roads wore a deserted look in the night, as residents preferred to be indoors after 6 pm.

On Tuesday, Adampur turned out to be the coldest place in the region, recording a minimum temperature of 2.2 degrees Celsius. 

Jalandhar, December 18
The District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum has directed a Bikrampura-based resident to pay back an amount of Rs 10.5 lakh to a Gurjaipal Nagar resident taken for sending his son to Canada.

In his complaint against Chetan Chopra, Bhupinder Singh had said that he had approached him for sending his son Parminder Singh abroad. He said that he met Chetan through Paramjit Singh of Qadianwali village at his office near Narinder Cinema.

He said his son could be sent to Canada for an amount of Rs 13 lakh, for which an amount of Rs 2 lakh was sought in advance. He said he paid the advance on August 12, 2011.

He said he was given a photocopy of the invitation letter and demanded a sum of Rs 11 lakh, which was given through different cheques. However, the two parties entered into a dispute and the matter reached the office of the Commissioner of Police on October 14, 2011, and a compromise was reached on January 5, 2012. From the compromise amount paid through two cheques, two cheques got dishonoured, forcing the plaintiff to knock the door of the forum.

Upon notice, Chetan said that was not in this business and was rather engaged in the processing of computer data. He said the consumer approached him on his own and told him that his son had returned from the US after living there for about 15 to 16 years. He told him that he had got arranged a forged passport for his son from one MP from South India. He said it was on the rejection of his Canadian tourist visa that the the complainant, along with his son, approached him with a business proposal for a joint business investment in Georgia. They produced their bank certificate from the State Bank of Patiala in their respective savings account to show their seriousness for the said joint business investment to arrange the business visa for the son of the complainant for Georgia and he approached Crown Immigration Consultancy Services Pvt. Ltd., Urban Estate Phase-I, Jalandhar.

On September 9, 2011, Crown Immigration Consultancy Services Pvt Ltd received a permission letter from Georgia. He said he got four cheques for Rs 11.75 lakh to discharge his financial obligation for his joint business venture at Georgia. He never issued a receipt on stamp paper. The complainant also filed a complaint before the Commissioner of Police, Jalandhar, against him and a compromise deed was executed between them and he issued three cheques for Rs 10 lakh in all. He denied that the total amount of two cheques, amounting to Rs 7 lakh, was payable.

The forum checked the documents and found that an amount of Rs 13 lakh had been received for sending the son of the complainant to Canada. It also found that a compromise was arrived at between the parties and in pursuance of this, three cheques for Rs 10 lakh in total were received. However, only one cheque for Rs 3 lakh was honoured and the remaining two cheques were dishonoured for insufficient funds. So this compromise was never acted upon. Since the compromise was not acted upon by the opposite party, as such, he could not derive any benefit from the same, the forum concluded.

So it accepted the complaint and directed Chetan to pay Rs 10 lakh to the complainant along with 9 per cent per annum interest from the date of filing of the present complaint till payment. The complainant is also awarded Rs 50,000 in lump sum on account of compensation and litigation expenses. 

Jalandhar, December 18
Over 4,000 bank employees, working in as many as 670 branches across the district, today remained on strike on a call by the United Forum of Bank Unions.

The bank branches remained closed and locked as the managers and supervisory staff also joined the strike. The clearing of an estimated 18,000 cheques worth Rs 200 crore remained suspended. A business amounting to Rs 800 crore was affected on account of the strike.

The union has been seeking the revision of wages since November 1, 2012. Amril Lal, convener, and RK Dhawan, an activist, said the high rate of inflation was further compounding their problems.

The bank employees gathered in front of their branches and raised slogans against the policies of the government. Later, they assembled in the city and marched towards the SBI main branch from where they moved in a huge procession towards PNB Chowk. 

Jalandhar, December 18
After laying the foundation stone of a Adarsh School at a Government Arts and Sports College here today, CM Parkash Singh Badal’s speech aimed at the 2014 LS polls.

Starting with the Modi-for-PM pitch, he recounted various tragedies faced by Punjab. He said despite the Partition and the the industrial exodus to neighbouring states, the Punjabis had a tendency to lead from the front and the state government was providing the best facilities to its people.

"One of our government’s prime achievement is that we have always ensured communal harmony," he said. “The biggest industrialists of the country have now signed MoCs with the state government. Our tie-up with the Tata group will ensure a big cancer hospital at Mullanpur," he said.

While talking about Adarsh Schools, he said these kinds of projects would take education to the underprivileged meritorious students and the government had already opened nine universities and 17 new colleges in the state, he added .

Lashing out at the Congress-led UPA government, the Chief Minister said there was hardly any government in the country due to which the woes of people had accentuated. Highlighting the significance of special schools, the CM said the six schools to be set up by the state government across the state would provide free boarding and lodging facilities to meritorious students who secured more than 80 per cent marks.

He said with the starting of these schools, quality education would be made available to the disadvantaged sections of society. The Chief Minister was accompanied by Cabinet Ministers Chunni Lal Bhagat, Sarwan Singh Phillaur, Sikander Singh Maluka and Ajit Singh Kohar, Rajya Sabha MP Balwinder Singh Bhunder, Chief Parliamentary Secretaries KD Bhandari and Manoranjan Kalia. 

Jalandhar, December 18
Protesting against higher slab of property tax on commercial buildings, the traders continued their protest. Shopkeepers of Sehdev Market and Ladowali Road market kept their shutters down as a mark of protest.

They assembled outside their shops and held a dharna. Former MLA and Congress leader Jagbir Brar participated in the dharna, showing solidarity with the traders.

Congress councillors, including the leader of opposition in the MC House Jagdish Raj Raja, too, came in support of the traders.

Leading the protest, Ravinder Dhir, a trader, said the policies of the state government had brought a lot of problems for traders, who were being forced to move to other states. 

Jalandhar, December 18
More than 150 pre-final year engineering students (male) from 10 institutes affiliated to Punjab Technical University (PTU) participated in a special campus recruitment drive organised by the Indian Army at the university.

The students were from Amritsar and Kapurthala based institutes, a press note issued by the university stated. Dr Rajneesh Arora, Vice-Chancellor of the university, said, “It is a matter of immense pride for us that we are participating in the nation building. I am sure that our engineers would prove their mettle .”— TNS 

Jalandhar, December 18
As the strike of the Suwidha Centre employees continued for the third consecutive day, the problems of people got aggravated. Unlike the previous two days, few people came to the centre for enquiries. The applicants, who were perhaps aware of the ongoing strike, were seen tracking their files to get their work done.

The strike, however, has troubles the staff of tehsildars, SDMs, DTO and other officials. Deputy Commissioner Varun Roojam, however, said he had asked three employees of his staff to sit in the centre. He said the people with fresh applications would continue to approach the officials concerned, bypassing Suwidha Centre. 

Phagwara, December 18
Former Congress Minister Joginder Singh Maan said Narender Modi's rally, which was scheduled to be held on December 21 in Jagraon, was postponed due to the Congress' stand to oppose the rally. Maan said resentment was prevailing among the Punjabis due to the displacement of the Punjabi farmers in Gujarat.

Meanwhile, various Congress leaders, including Satnam Singh Kainth, Joginder Singh Maan, Balbir Raja Sodhi,Santokh Singh Chaudhary and Tirlochan Singh Soond, welcomed the passage of the Lokpal Bill in the Parliament. 

Amritsar, December 18
Renu Puri from the Meeting Branch has been elected as the president of the Officer's Association of Guru Nanak Dev University, the elections of which were held last evening. Dr Jaspal Singh from the Law Department was the returning officer.

Tirath Singh from the Computer Centre has been elected as vice-president, Rajesh Kalia from the Conduct Branch as secretary, Mokesh Sharma from the Engineering Department as joint secretary and Sham Mohan from the Examination Branch-I as treasurer.

Harwant Kaur, Naresh Nandan, Piara Singh, Surinderjit Singh, Kanchan Kohli and Dr Pawan Sharma from the Health Centre have been elected as executive members. — TNS

Jalandhar, December 18
While the demand for strict action against the perpetrators of acid attacks and help for victims gets intense with every passing day, in Jalandhar, an acid attack victim’s plea for protection and justice remains unheard for the past six years.

A supporter to root out female infanticide, he was brutally assaulted on April 18, 2007, by a group of people who hurled acid at his face and body, causing him to lose his eyesight and (former) appearance forever.

Allegedly attacked by goons sent by a godman based in Pehowa (Haryana) (allegedly for not agreeing to abort the female foetuses of patients at the hospital, as asked by the godman), Dr Sukhjinder Khaira has, since then, been running from pillar to post to find justice and protection for himself.

The skin on his head has been rendered sensitive and his eyelids have closed in due to the attack, robbing him of his eyesight. Since the perpetrators of the crime walk free, he is stuck in a difficult situation, which includes maintaining aliases so that he isn’t detected.

Within days of the attack (April 25, when he was still in hospital) his home in Dhina village was also burnt in an alleged arson attack by same perpetrators who were allegedly behind the first attack. His family had a narrow escape.

The following legal battle and lack of security and job have rendered him very weak financially as well.

Presently putting up at a rented accommodation in Jalandhar, all he has in the name of security (ensured owing to an HC ruling following a petition) is a lone gunman, which he says isn’t enough to protect him from the threats.

Talking to The Tribune he said, “I am still forced to live in a rented accommodation and am scared to go back to my home for the fear of being attacked.”

While his eyesight is lost and his eyes have closed up due to the attack, tears still trickle down from his cheeks as he recounts the past incidents. A request for a CBI enquiry into the attack also remains pending even as the men responsible for the attack walk free.

While he has submitted memorandums both to the DC and the Police Commissioner, so far added security hasn’t arrived for him.

Police Commissioner Ishwar Singh said, “The man does not have any threat posed to him at present. It’s been a considerable time since the incident. However, an inquiry will be ordered into the incident or a naka will be placed outside the house of the man.”

Jalandhar, December 18
The city police have booked four persons for allegedly killing a German Shepherd dog of their neighbours at the Kot Kishan Chand locality late last night.

The police have registered Kamal Kishore, his sons Sandeep and Ishu and their cousin Samra on a complaint filed by their neighbour Banaraso Sondhi. The complainant and her two sisters had last night taken the carcass of her pet Tiger to the police station and alleged that it had been brutally beaten with rods by her neighbours.

SHO Division Number 3 police contacted ADCP Naresh Dogra who got in touch with the Police Commissioner and finally lodged the complaint. He said the postmortem of the dog was conducted at Garha Veterinary Hospital. “The dog had blood on its nose. The other injuries were seemingly internal. We are awaiting the report and will accordingly pursue the case,” he said.