The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

FORGED SIGNATURE CASE
Verification of birth, death certificates begins
Kanchan Vasdev
Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, December 20
The district administration today started the verification of around 45 birth and death certificates, which were prepared by forging the signatures of SDM (East) Bhawna Garg besides violating rules. The administration has also issued notices to the bearers of the 45 certificates to show the documents on which they got these.

Certain employees of the SDM (East) office conspired with employees of the office of the Registrar, Birth and Death Certificates, Municipal Corporation, to issue certificates on forged signatures of the SDM.

They also violated the rules by not conducting an inquiry before issuing the certificates.

Ms Garg told TNS here today that the beneficiaries of the alleged scandal had been directed to submit their documents. If the documents are proved wrong, the certificates would be declared illegal.

So far, no case has been registered on the recommendation of the administration against the guilty. Even two days after Deputy Commissioner Anurag Aggarwal had directed the district police chief to register a case against 15 employees of office of SDM (East) and local Registrar (Birth and Death) of the Municipal Corporation for allegedly forging signatures of the SDM, no case has been registered as yet.

Ms Garg said the registration of a case was in the progress as the police had sought original documents from the SDM office. She said she had sent copies of the documents, but the police wanted the original ones. She said her staff would provide the original documents.

She said it was taking time as the record was elaborate and the staff had to go through every paper before submitting it to the police.

She said at this point of time she could not say whether the certificates issued were fake or genuine adding that she could only say that the accused staff members had not followed the proper procedure before issuing the certificates.

Elaborating on the procedure, Ms Garg said the application for the certificate is submitted with the MC, which checks up with the Civil Surgeon’s office about the date of birth.

If the office does not have the record, then the MC writes to the SDM office to inquire into the date of birth. Then, the date of birth is got verified by school, Councillor of the area or some reputed persons.

After this the inquiry is sent to the MC after being signed by the SDM. In this case the inquiry was not conducted and in some cases, even the signatures of the SDM were forged.

Four-year-old crushed to death
Mob blocks traffic, injures driver of truck
Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, December 20
Tension gripped Kheri Jhameri village today morning when hundreds of residents blocked traffic over the death of a child, who was crushed under a truck near main chowk on the Jhameri-Alamgir road. The incident took place at about 10 a.m. when Sunny (4), son of a Punjabi labourer, Zora Singh, was crossing the road. He died on the spot. After being hit by the truck. Sunny was coming out of the shop of a relative and was heading towards his father who was standing across the road. The shell-shocked father could not do anything other than witnessing the tragic end of the child.

Contrary to the normal practice, the truck driver, Narinder Singh, stopped the vehicle himself and did not make any attempt to run away. He was, however, held responsible for the incident and was given a good thrashing. His plea that he was innocent and the child had come in front of his vehicle suddenly proved futile. A large number of people gathered on the spot and accused the driver, Narinder Singh, a resident of Urban Estate, Phase-II Ludhiana, of negligence. He was rescued by a team from Sadar police station. The police was called by some concerned residents of the area.

The driver was admitted to a city hospital by the police as he had received multiple fractures in his ribs and other parts of the body. The police has, however, booked him for causing the death of the minor child. Traffic was blocked for over an hour by the agitated residents. They complained that heavy vehicles were causing such accidents in the past also and should be banned from taking the route. The residents wanted the police to immediately register a case against the driver. The police had to struggle hard to rescue the badly battered driver from the mob’s ire. All this while the body of the child remained on the road only. The angry residents were not even allowing the police or any one else to shift the body to road side. Police sources said no case had been registered so far against the persons blocking the traffic on the road or for beating up the truck driver.

MC Junior Engineer suspended
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, December 20
The Punjab Government has placed Mr Surinder Sharma, a Junior Engineer in the horticulture wing of the Municipal Corporation, under suspension. According to orders issued by the Directorate of Local Government, Punjab, the suspended official has been directed to report at the Amritsar headquarters during the period of suspension.

While no charge-sheet has been issued to the suspended JE by the Department of Local Government, it is reliably learnt that the action has been taken on the basis of an inquiry conducted by the Chief Vigilance Officer (CVO) of the Local Bodies, which had prima facie established that Mr Sharma has undergone a one-year training course on horticulture in Punjab Agricultural University here about two decades ago without permission from his seniors, while at the same time drawing salary from the civic body.

According to reliable sources in the MC, the then MC Commissioner had permitted the employees of the horticulture wing to undergo training for one year, after which the employees were assured of one-step promotion. During the period of training, the employees were extended the facility of night duty. However, Mr Sharma is alleged to have joined the training course without mandatory permission from the senior officials and further, in connivance with certain fellow employees, continued to draw the salary for the period while he was undergoing training at PAU.

In the wake of allegations of rampant corruption against officials of the horticulture wing of the MC like “non-existent” workers, who were regularly drawing salary, bungling in the purchase of plants and “beldars” being deployed as domestic help, the Vigilance Bureau had conducted raids on the horticulture wing in August last year, and according to officials of the Vigilance Bureau, a large number of incriminating documents and official records had been seized. However, till date, no charge-sheet had been filed against any MC official and the status of the case could not be known despite of repeated attempts made by this correspondent.

HIKE IN TAXES
Furnace units close for indefinite period
Our Correspondent

Mandi Gobindgarh, December 20
At a meeting of the local induction furnace industry chaired by its president Mahinder Paul Gupta in Gymkhana Club here on Thursday, it was decided to extend the ongoing three-day strike for indefinite period till the demands of the industry were met, said Mr Gupta while talking with the mediapersons here today.

He said the steel industry, all over the world had been facing financial crisis but the policies adopted by the Excise and Taxation Department and the Punjab State Electricity Board had broken the backbone of the industry in the state. He further held that the PSEB had hiked the power tariff with retrospective effect whereas the industrial units had brought down their capacity up to half, and some industries had already closed down.

Contrary to the policies to provide relief to the industry, the Excise and Customs Department had begun to tighten its grip to increase tax collection at such a time when the production has come down. . Being a border state, the state had to incur higher costs of production due hiked carriage charges for import of raw material from far off states.

Mr Kuldeep Goyal, general secretary, Mr Raj Bansal, and Mr Hukam Chand,Bansal, organising secretary, have urged the Chief Minister Punjab, Capt Amarinder Singh, to take up the matter with the Central Government's Finance Department else the PSEB would face a loss of 1.5 crore and 15,000 to 20,000 labourers would go out of job in the state.

Spate of thefts in factories
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, December 20
The Focal Point police has registered a case of theft on the statement of Mr Vipan Chhabra, a resident of Tagore Nagar, who alleged that some burglars broke open the lock of his factory and took away electricity cable and aluminum scrap.

On the complaint of Mr Vinod Kumar, a resident of Partap Nagar, the Division No. 6 police has registered a case of theft against unknown persons who allegedly broke open the lock of his factory and took away goods.

In another case, Shimla Puri police has registered a case of theft on the statement of Mr Bhupinder Pal, a resident of Lohara village, who alleged that some persons took away iron scrap worth about Rs 10 lakh from his factory in Janta Nagar.

Gang busted: The CIA staff on Thursday claimed to have busted an inter-state gang of vehicle lifters with the arrest of Channa, who is stated to be the leader of the gang. The police said four stolen cars were also recovered. These cars had recently been stolen from various cities of Punjab and Haryana. According to the police, the gang used to steal cars from Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh and sell these off in Jammu and Kashmir after preparing forged papers. Some forged documents have also been seized from the possession of Channa.

Woman succumbs to burns: Ms Gurinder Kaur, a 30-year-old housewife living in Tibba village, near Sahnewal, who was admitted to the CMC Hospital yesterday with burn injuries, succumbed to her here today. According to information, the woman had received burns after she accidentally fell on a kerosene container while preparing tea on an electric heater. The kerosene allegedly caught fire and the victim was engulfed by flames. The body has been handed over to her relatives after autopsy.

Man dead: Sikandar Singh, a resident of Mullanpur, who had been injured in a road accident on December 16 and admitted to the Guru Tegh Bahadur Hospital, succumbed to his injuries yesterday. He was hit by a speeding vehicle while returning home on a bicycle on the fateful day.

Porter held: The Railway Protection Force has arrested a porter, Mahinder Singh, and booked him on the charge of stealing from the railway parcels. The porter was caught red-handed while he was opening a parcel containing woollen jerseys. Thirteen jerseys were later recovered from his possession. The police said the porter had earlier been caught stealing in 1995.

Body found: The railway police found the body of an unidentified man in his mid-60s along the railway track, near Dhandari railway station, yesterday. The deceased had apparently been killed by a running train, according to the police.

Fraud alleged: The Sarabha Nagar police has registered a case of alleged fraud on the statement of Mr Ajit Singh, a resident of Model Town, against Neeraj Malhotra and another person. The complainant had alleged that he had bought a house from the accused but had not been transferred it in his name.

Cases of beating: The Division No. 7 police has registered a case of beating and snatching on the statement of Mr Jagir Singh, a resident of Guru Arjan Dev Nagar, against Nirmal Singh and four other persons. The complainant had alleged that the accused had beaten him up on the night of December 3 and also snatched away his gold chain.

The Jodhewal police has registered a case of alleged beating on the statement of Mr Som Nath, a resident of Manjit Colony on the Rahon Road, against Suresh Kumar, Alok, Manoj Kumar and Angad. The complainant had alleged that the accused had beaten him up and threatened to kill him.

On the complaint of Ms Baljinder Kaur, a resident of Lalton Kalan village, the Sadar police has registered a case of alleged beating against Rupinder Kaur of the same village. The woman had alleged that the accused had intercepted her on the road on Wednesday evening and beaten her up as a result of which she got injured.

Eight held for gambling: The Focal Point police has registered a case of gambling at public place against eight gamblers of the area. The booked men have been identified as Ashok Kumar, Sanjay Kumar, Sukhdev Singh, Chander Parkash, Subhash Kumar, Anup Kumar, Surinder Kumar and Kishan Kumar.

Liquor seized: On a tip-off, the Division No. 6 police conducted a raid and arrested Harbans Singh and Kailash Singh, residents of Manjit Nagar, and seized 30 bottles of illicit liquor from their possession. The accused have been booked under the Excise Act.

3 cinema-owners booked for defacing property
Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, December 20
The district police has decided to take action against cinema-owners for pasting posters of films on public or private property. In some cases, posters were found to be pasted even on the walls of religious places.

The police has booked three cinema owners under the property Defacement Act, in this connection. The cases have been registered at the Division No 6 police station. Owners of Chand Cinema and Lakshmi Cinema have been booked under the Prevention of Defacement of Property Act for sticking bills and posters on Dholewal bridge.

Owners of the Surjit Cinema have also been booked for pasting posters on the walls of the Gurdwara Shahidaan. According to sources the drive was being extended to all parts of the city.

Expo to focus on city
Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, December 20
The knitwear hub of India — Ludhiana — has been selected as the focus town for the Garment Technology Expo2003, to be held in Delhi from January 17 to 20. More than 600 companies from over 20 countries, including Japan, Germany, Italy, Spain, France, UK, Canada, USA , Korea and China, will participate in the event and showcase the latest state-of -the-art garment machinery.

The four-day event will offer a platform to the local knitwear industry to get acquainted with the latest technology in the international garment market. The products and services on offer include cutting and sewing machines, steam finishing, fusing, laundry, embroidery, CAD/CAM systems, software solutions, testing equipment, knitting, packaging, fabrics, dyes and chemicals, trimmings, accessories and allied services.