Jalandhar, November 10
The broad daylight bank robbery has instilled a fear-psychosis among residents of Jalandhar, who feel insecure in the wake of the sensational incident.

Most of the residents say that the blame could be pegged on poor surveillance system and inadequate crime prevention measures in the city.

They contend that the security of the banks should be beefed up without any delay.

“How can a single old or retired guard armed with an outdated gun prevent a group of determined criminals?” questions Mr D. C. Roy, a retired Joint Commissioner of Income Tax and resident of Phase–1 of the Urban Estate locality here.

He added that the PCR team deployment should be strengthened and PCR officials should be checked frequently to ascertain whether they were doing their duty properly.

After today’s robbery, senior citizens are particularly feeling insecure. Ms Nirmal Kaur, a 70-year-old resident of Model Town locality, said the incident was not the first one in the city. “But it is an indications that the law and order machinery is crumbling all over the state,” she observed.

Another senior citizen said it was shameful that the security of the banks was being neglected. “Why do the authorities have such a cavalier attitude towards those matters that are very important?” was the question of an octogenarian.

Similar were the views of Mr Kiranjit Singh, an advocate and resident of Garden Colony, and Mr Mandip Maan, a manager with an insurance company.

They said such crimes could be prevented if surveillance around commercial and other busy establishments was enhanced by the police authorities.

“I was shocked at learning that three armed persons walked away with ease in broad daylight after robbing a bank. This means that such criminals could barge into the homes of people anytime and anywhere in the city. As a mother of two small children, I find this worrisome,” said Ms Diamond Sodhi, a resident of New Jawahar Nagar locality.

Mr Maninder Singh Sikka, who runs a finance company, said the incident exhibited laxity on the part of the police and other authorities.

“Security network should be strengthened around financial institutions. Residents, too, should come out with courage and fight against criminal elements,” he said.

A large number of residents advocated the need to strengthen the PCR network.

“The police can deploy more officials in residential and commercial areas of the city. This will not only ward off the fear element among the residents, but would also keep criminals at bay,” said Dr Balraj Gupta, a cardiologist.

Nitin, a college student, suggested that the police should involve more youngsters, particularly those volunteering for social service, in crime prevention activities.

He said that frequent shifting of lower-rung police officials from police stations here could make a big difference as the officials would then avoid laxity in their duty.

“Though top police officials participate in night surveillance quite often, this should be made a routine affair,” he added.

Bholath (Kapurthala), November 10
A 22-year-old pregnant woman reportedly killed herself following a tiff with her husband here this morning.

The deceased Daljit Kaur, a resident of Fatehpur village near here, had got married to Mohinder Pal Sahbi in November last year.

According to the police, Daljit’s mother Salvinder Kaur, a resident of Kherea Bet, alleged that Mohinder used to torture her daughter for dowry since they got married. Mohinder wanted her to get Rs two lakhs so that he could migrate to UK like his two brothers, alleged Salvinder Kaur in her complaint.

Salwinder further said that they recently bought a motorcycle for Mohinder on his demand.

Early this morning, Daljit allegedly swallowed celphos after some argument with her husband, according to the police.

The police has arrested Daljit’s husband and in-laws after registering a case under Section 304B of the CrPC.

The father of the deceased Mr Malkit Singh is an army personnel and posted at Bangalore.

Jalandhar, November 10
The multi-crore project for the construction of a modern jail on Kapurthala Road to replace the existing 138-year-old unsafe Central Jail building seems to be in the doldrums after the Punjab Urban Development Authority (PUDA) has been divested of the plan.

Even though the proposed project was mooted more than three years ago, no headway has been made yet in this regard. The project has now been handed over to a Malaysian company. However, the architects of the firm are yet to visit the city and finalise the plan.

The proposal to set up a new high-security jail was mooted in view of the overcrowding in the existing jail. Originally designed to house 525 inmates, the jail presently has more than 1200 prisoners. The building itself is in poor condition. Five barracks, main gate of the jail, kitchen and some portion of the women’s cell have already been declared unsafe by the state PWD (B&R) Department.

Even a general view of the old building gives one an idea of the poor state of the structure and the lack of basic facilities for the visitors. To seek permission to meet prisoners, the family members and friends of the prisoners have to wait for hours in a makeshift shed built on the busy jail road. The small shed gives little protection from the vagaries of nature. And there is no provision for drinking water either.

The Punjab Government had, thus, decided to construct a modern jail in another piece of land and sell 22 acres of the prime land under the existing Central Jail to recover the cost for its construction. During a telephonic conversation today, Mr Malkiat Singh Birmi, Chief Parliamentary Secretary, Jails, said around Rs 300 crore, that would be earned from the sale of the land, would be used for the construction of two high-security triple storey jails in Jalandhar and Nabha, each with a capacity to house 5000 inmates. He said that the jails would be equipped with tight security close-circuit cameras in all the barracks and towers. These would also be equipped with facilities such as a separate cell with attached toilet for two prisoners, television set and a fan, he added.

Mr Birmi said that there would be four sections with separate boundary walls within each jail complex, one for women, another for convicts and two others for the under trials. “The boundary walls would be 20-feet high and 8-feet deep and the entire complex would have one outer wall and the floors would be made up of steel and concrete. Each jail would also have a community centre, a gurdwara, mosque, temple and church”, Mr Birmi revealed.

When asked as to why the project was not entrusted with the PUDA as per the previous plan, Mr Birmi said, “They had themselves declined to go ahead with it. They were not ready to bear 30 per cent of the cost. So, we had to look for other options.”

Mr Raghunath Sahay Puri, Minister for Housing and Urban Development, Punjab, when contacted, did not clearly spell out any reasons for not going ahead with the earlier project. 

Kapurthala, November 10
Over Rs 13 crore have been awarded as compensation under the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal while 7780 cases were disposed off by the 113 Lok Adalats in the district since October 1996 when Punjab Legal Service Authorities came into existence.

Stating this, Kapurthala District and Sessions Judge Shyam Sunder Gupta told media persons yesterday after taking part in a seminar on National Legal Literacy Day here that 2636 people had been provided legal help by the District Legal Service Authority (DLSA), Kapurthala.

Besides, over 100 seminars and legal literacy camps were organized to make the masses aware of the facilities being provided by the DLSA, he added.

Earlier, while addressing the seminar, which was attended by lawyers, students and teachers from the local colleges, Justice Gupta stressed upon the need to avail the opportunity of settling the disputes through the Lok Adalats which not only delivered the judgments quickly but also encouraged litigants to resolve the disputes by mutual consents.

There was no appeal against the judgments of Lok Adalats, he said, adding that any type of civil and criminal case, except heinous crimes like murder and rape, could be heard in these courts.

Jalandhar, November 10
The team from Hansraj Mahila Maha Vidyalaya (HMV) College won the quiz contest held on the third day of the four-day Zonal Youth Festival (for girls) organised by Guru Nanak Dev University at its regional campus, Ladhewali, here today.

The students from Apeejay College were placed second, while those from B.D. Arya Girls College and the host team of the regional campus shared the third rank.

The fest began with religious chants and melodies that were rendered during the group shabad competition. Later during the Indian group song competition, the musical notes changed to patriotism. The day concluded with vaar singing and folk orchestra.

Contests for landscape and still-life painting were also organised. In cartoon contest, the subject was politics, and the wit and satire of the participants could be seen in their interpretations of corruption in politics and caricatures of prominent leaders. Indian heritage was beautifully portrayed through poster-making. Sketching and collage-making contests were also held. The festival is scheduled to conclude tomorrow when prizes for all events would be announced.

Kapurthala, November 10
The Kapurthala Municipal Committee has planned to cover the whole area of the town under its much-publicised Solid Waste Management Scheme by the month-end.

The Committee has launched the scheme on August 18 despite objections from some quarters including the local sweepers, who collect garbage from the houses and other establishments in the city on individual level.

“To keep the town garbage-free, the municipal committee has signed a contract with a contractor fixing the responsibility to collect the garbage from homes and other commercial buildings and dump it at a dumping site on the outskirts of the town for which 10 acres of land has been earmarked,” said Mr R.K Mittal, Executive Officer of Committee.

Following the launching of the scheme, the complaints of choking sewerage pipelines in the city have been reduced to the 30 per cent, claimed Mr Mittal.

“The polythene bags thrown by the residents choke sewers in the city,” said Mr Mittal adding that, “Now after fixing the responsibility on the contractor of segregating the polythene bags after collecting the garbage from the city, the problem is expected to be solved”.

The beneficiaries will have to pay Rs 15 every month to avail the service while the municipal committee will pay Rs 14 to the contractor against every unit per month. Before dumping the garbage, the contractor will have to segregate the biodegradable and non-degradable materials for which the committee has plan to introduce two dustbins for every unit from where the garbage will be collected. The residents of the city would be encouraged to use these bins for keeping the biodegradable waste in the green coloured bin while the red colour bin would be used for the remaining material, it was learnt.

“The municipal committee shall undertake phased programme to ensure community participation in waste segregation. For this purpose regular meetings at quarterly intervals are planned to be arranged by the municipal authorities with representatives of local resident welfare associations and NGOs,” said Mr Mittal.

The Municipal Solid Wastes (Management and Handling) Rules, 2000, fix the responsibility on municipal committee for collection, segregation, storage, transportation, processing and disposal of municipal solid wastes.

“We have taken the initiative to ensure cleanliness in this Paris of Punjab with a budget of Rs 25 lakh,” said Mr Mittal.

Phagwara, November 10
Following the phased launch of BSNL’s broadband services under the brand name ‘Data One Broadband’ in Jalandhar early this year, the company now aims to cover the areas surrounding the city.

Speaking to The Tribune, Mr S.K. Chownk, General Manager, BSNL, said that following its launch in prime locations in Jalandhar, they would be rolling out Data One in Phagwara soon. “We already have 1200 applications and installation process for both commercial and household use only depends upon arrival of the required equipment.

The company, he said, has given connections to about 150 customers in Jalandhar till date. “We will now offer connections having a download speed of 256 kbps to 2mbps.”

“Ours is the cheapest broadband service in the market with various plans ranging from domestic account of Rs 250 to Rs 3,000, to corporate account ranging from Rs 1,200 to 9,000.”

Data One services comprise video streaming, video on demand, high-speed, video conferencing using IP, games and e-learning, an official said.

He said that a set-top box or customer premises equipment would be also made available with various options like cash-down payment, monthly installment, and financing scheme.

There are even plans to allow PCO operators to convert their booths into multimedia centres with Internet surfing, conferencing and printing facilities.

Phagwara, November 10
Cane-growers, under the banner of the Sugarcane Growers’ Cooperative Society, today began an indefinite round-the-clock dharna in front of the local Wahid-Sandhars Sugars Ltd in protest against the decision of the mill management to have the supply of cane directly from farmers, bypassing the cooperative society.

The dharna follows a traffic blockade by cane-growers on the GT Road earlier on November 8.   A heavy police force, headed by Inspector Nirmal Singh, SHO, City Police Station, was deployed to prevent any untoward incident.

The society members claimed that the society was over five decades old and had 20,000 cane-growers of 432 villages as its members.

When contacted, Mr Jarnail Singh Wahid and Mr Sukhbir Singh Sandhar, CMD and JMD, respectively, of Wahid-Sandhars Sugars Ltd, alleged that only some of their detractors and the directors of the society were staging the dharna.

Phagwara, November 10
One person was killed when a car hit him on the GT Road here today.

According to police sources, the deceased, who was identified as Shiv Ram, a resident of Kanshi Nagar here, was crossing the road when a speeding Indica car (PB-07J-6700) coming from Jalandhar hit him. He was taken to the local Civil Hospital where he succumbed to his injuries.

The driver of the car was taken into the police custody. Later, he was let off at the request of villagers and family members of the deceased, according to the police.

The deceased’s body was handed over to his family after a postmortem.