Jalandhar, April 26
Things seemed to have normalised at Gandhi Vanita Ashram where girls were in a protest mode till last evening. Sources, however, said the girls were awaiting action from the district administration officials who had promised to fulfil their demands soon.

Demanding that they should be allowed to meet their boyfriends and sent to their "in-laws place", inmates of the ashram, an observation home here, had gone berserk, holding the District and Sessions Judge, Joint Director of Social Security Department, SDM, senior police officials and media captive for nearly two hours last evening.

Even the Deputy Commissioner Varun Roojam who too had reached the spot sensing trouble was not allowed in by the girls. Women cops had to be rushed in large numbers to his aid.

The ashram has over 15 minor girls who had reportedly eloped from their places with their boyfriends. They had been caught later and shifted to the observation home in the ashram.

Interestingly, the whole district administration and judicial officials were on their toes yesterday, as the girls had virtually gone berserk inside the ashram. Apart from raising slogan against the state government and district administration, the exasperated minor girls had raised slogans against the judicial officials who had come to inquire the matter. The girls had also announced to go on hunger strike, which they didn’t continue after the officials promised them to fulfil their demands.

“You guys keep coming here to ask about our condition and do nothing. First, fulfil our demands of allowing us to meet our boyfriends and provide us the basic amenities, including proper food and good clothing,” girls had alleged.

Sources said the lawyers attached with the DLSA had recorded the statements of nearly 25 girls, who had alleged maltreatment at the hands of the ashram management. “We have recorded the statements of the girls and the same have already been submitted to the DLSA secretary Rana Kanwar Deep Kaur for preparing a complete report. The final report will be submitted to the district and sessions judge, which will be further sent to high court for further perusal,” sources added.

After the Secretary of the District Legal Services Authority Rana Kanwar Deep Kaur had last evening gone to the observation home and found that the over 24 of the 96 girls were confined in just one room and were not being properly fed and kept under the vigil of the CCTV cameras, the District and Sessions Judge Raj Shekhar Atri, Joint Director of the Department of Social Security and Development of Women and Children Lilly Chaudhary, SDM-1 Neeraj Gupta, Assistant Commissioner of Police Dev Dutt Sharma, Child Development Programme Officer (CDPO) Inderjeet Kaur and some lawyers had gone there to look into the matter.

DC Varun Roojam had entrusted the inquiry to SDM Neeraj Kumar Gupta and had asked him to submit report in three to four days.

Jalandhar, April 26
The hitherto (perceived to be) weak campaign for Jalandhar candidate Jyoti Mann Akshara today received a shot in the arm with the visit of the AAP’s Gurgaon candidate and one of the funding members Yogendra Yadav stopping in to campaign for Mann in Jalandhar here today.

After the announcement of Mann’s candidature, for the first time, people turned out in large numbers to back the party. It was the first time that a senior member of the national executive of the party took questions over the controversy surrounding the local candidate Jyoti Mann and also had a candid discussion with people of the city over the party’s agenda and plans for the constituency, state and the nation.

Many overwhelmed supporters lined up to make donations for the party since morning and they included children and the elderly.

While at a morning meet with intellectuals, an elderly supporter was seen making a donation to the party, Yadav’s road show started with a little (10-year-old) girl donating the entire savings from her piggy bank to the leader.

A letter addressed by her to Yadav was later circulated by the him in the afternoon.

Kamalpreet, a student of class IV, donated over Rs 4,000 to the AAP, wishing for the success of the party in what she called "second battle of freedom" in her letter to Yadav. Candidate Mann, while addressing the press, also spoke about the most moving donations coming from labourers.

“The greatest compliment is when a safai karmchari toiling day and might provides you his entire earning for the day Rs 100. That is the most precious donation,” she said.

While there hasn’t been a show of strength like the one witnessed in support of the party, ever since she was made candidate, Yadav’s visit has made clear that the presence of a proper campaign and channelising of voter support can mobilise better voter support for the party.

While Yadav’s road show was backed by massive support from the electorate today, it had been awaited ever since AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal gave the city a miss during his own visit to Punjab. Kejriwal had visited Bhagat Singh’s Memorial at Khatkar Kalan but had given Jalandhar a miss. Yadav’s visit was preceded by the visit of AAP leader Rakhi Bidlan some days ago.

Yogendra Yadav gave an interesting perspective on various issues. A peek at some:

On AAP: Ours is just a little movement and we came in at the right time when people wanted change. People saw a hope, we became the vehicle and instrument. It's a huge responsibility. History seems to have chosen us for it.

Gujarat model: Gujarat lags behind in education, health, child mortality. It might top in income, but in the aforementioned factors, it is at the bottom. He stands for the majoritarian views and has devised plans to oust Punjabi and Haryana farmers from his state. That is where the Modi lie is nailed.

Punjab: Punjab has crossed limits in the abuse of power. At other places, politicians will at least be ashamed. But here - the 'koi-farak-nai-painda' attitude works. People are scared of the agents of the ruling combine.

Drugs: I simply ask people in meetings : Who is behind the drug trade? Only one name resounds. Even children say it.

Politics of change: Media dismissed us before Delhi as well. Said two or four seats maybe. But they have old glasses on. When the conscience and voice of the voter awakens, caste, sects, money, liquor, don’t work.

Jyoti Mann candidature controversy: People said a lot of things about the Jalandhar candidate. A girl associated with social work has been brought here. People may not recognise her, but we do. And Jalandhar is not the first place - at about 60 to 70 places AAP fielded totally unknown faces. Mann has been selected through due process.

Modi wave: It's one of the biggest PR exercises ever. Positive, negative publicity are involved. Rumours are started, negative news is created about opponents. A lot of money is being pooled into the media campaign.

Badal wave: Punjab has an anti-Badal wave. People have also lost faith in the combine.

On Valmiki Samaj: Big movements start small. A man called Darshan Rattan Ravan is putting up great work for people. This movement is rescuing people from addiction and educating girls. Ravan ji has worked for the uplift of these people. I know him for the past 10 years and he has been actively associated with the revolutionary work. Country will change when Valmiki samaj girls will study and come up.

AAP nation plan: Our principle role is not speculating on PM candidature. We are considering ourselves out of it right now. We will root for change. Will try to build our base in which the AAP works and try to build base in a number of states in the coming years. Maybe in five years, seven-10 states would be on agenda.

Polarisation: It's everywhere. Modi’s politics is that of polarisation. There are polarisation attempts at many places. I feel there has been a systematic plan to polarise UP. Bringing in Amit Shah was part of it. I even witnessed communal polarisation in Gurgaon in the past 72 hours before polls. My family and friends refer to me as Mohammed Salim. It was popularised that I had changed my name only for Muslim areas. AAP party is against such attempts.

On Arvind Kejriwal visiting Muslim clerics in Varanasi: When he visits Muslims, why only then it is seen as communal and not when he visits Hindu or Sikh shrines. 

Jalandhar April 26
As the General Elections are round the corner, the city and the rural police have managed to deposit over 90 per cent licensed weapons in its malkhanas. Only those weapon holders have been exempted by the police, who have any threat perception or don’t want to surrender weapons for other security issues.

Sources said the city police had issued 6,083 licensed weapons to the city residents out of which 5,300 have deposited their weapons with the police. The remaining 700 weapon holders have been exempted as they cited security issues for not surrendering the weapons.

The rural police had issued arms licence to as many as 6,333 residents, out of which 6,295 licence holders are men while 38 are women. Apart from this, 930 multiple weapons were also taken by the above licence holders. “Around 98 per cent licence holders have already deposited their weapons while the remaining two per cent, who have not deposited their weapons are those in the security profession or have cited threat perception,” said HPS Khakh, SP (Detective).

Khakh had taken the initiative of going door to door to convince weapon holders to deposit their arms before elections. After this initiative, SHOs heading police stations in the rural belt had formed teams, which had visited door to door to collect licensed arms.

In Jalandhar (rural belt), there are 764 licence holders followed by Shahkot with 646, who are registered at Sadar Nakodar police station. Some of the police stations, including Patara and Bilga, have only 131 and 188 licensed weapon holders.

The sources said, in the city police jurisdiction, out of 5,334 licensed weapon holders, 5,256 were men and 78 women. Interestingly, over 2,800 weapons are of .32 bore, which are reportedly owned some local political leaders followed by 2,700 weapons, which are .12 bore guns. There are only a few pistol and rifle licence holders.

Jalandhar, April 26
Veterinary inspectors risk their lives while treating animals suffering from contagious diseases, yet no risk allowance is paid to them.

A veterinary inspector from the city speaking on the condition of anonymity, said there were 1,835 veterinary inspectors in Punjab.

While treating animals, they often get infected by diseases. Some of them like rabies are deadly. However, no compensation or stipend was paid to them.

He said there were two types of rabies, one was furious and the other was dumb rabies. “One can easily observe the symptoms of furious rabies as the infected animal becomes violent and aggressive in this type. But in dumb rabies, it is difficult to make out which animal is infected as its behavior is not aggressive. Therefore, while treating animals affected with dumb rabies, the veterinary inspector has a chance of getting infected. This cannot be cured,” said the inspector.

“Apart from this, the other disease that we get easily infected from is ‘brucellosis’. However, it is not a deadly disease. Yet it takes a lot of time and money to get treated,” added the inspector.

He said they had been asking for a 25 per cent risk allowance from the government for the past several years. Their representatives had taken up the issue with Gulzar Singh Ranike, Minister for Animal Husbandry and Dairy Farming.

However, nothing had been done in this regard so far. “There is no clinic where a veterinary inspector can get himself checked regularly. No medical camp is organised in this regard. Once an inspector gets infected, he has to spend money from his own pocket for the treatment,” said the inspector.

When contacted, Deputy Director of Animal Husbandry, Dr Jaspal Singh Ghuman, said all veterinary inspectors were provided training before they were given a job. They should take all the precautionary measures before they assist the doctor.

“There is risk in all the jobs. Army person-nel always put their lives at stake, but never ask for a risk allowance. Moreover, there is no need for medical camp or clinic. These demands are not practical as they are created by the union,” added Ghuman. 

Jalandhar, April 26
The Co-operative Sugar Mills Worker’s Federation, Punjab, has been demanding benefits of the Fifth Pay Commission for the past five years, yet nothing has been done by officials of the co-operative mills to meet their demands.

In a meeting, Kabal Singh Chheena, state general secretary of the federation, said as per the written agreement between Sugarfed officials and the federation office-bearers, all the employees of co-operative sugar mills would get benefits of the Fifth Pay Commission. However, certain corrupt officials of the Sugarfed had been creating hurdles in the implementation of the agreement, added Chheena.

He said all the Sugarfed officials belonging to the common cadre had been getting benefits of the Fifth Pay Commission. The employees were being meted out step motherly treatment, added the state general secretary.

“The federation’s long-pending demands include stipend at par with mill officers, uniforms for technical workers, reimbursement of medical bills, leave during season, regularisation of workers and recruitment of employees,” said Chheena.

They were planning a state-wide protest after the lifting of the election code of conduct for the fulfillment of their demands, added Chheena.

Prominent members from all co-operative sugar mills, who participated in the meeting decided to intensify their protest. 

Jalandhar, April 26
In response to a report on the failure on the part of the politicians to rake up the issue of murders of Punjabis in the Philippines, the NRI Sabha president, Jasvir Singh Gill, said he had written letters in this regard to the higher ups.

Gill said he had sent copies of the memorandum to Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh, All India Congress Committee president Sonia Gandhi, BJP national leaders Sushma Swaraj and LK Advani. He said Manmohan Singh had shot off a missive to the Foreign Ministry on the matter for suitable action.