Jalandhar, January 4
The Municipal Commissioner today said that the files containing building plans of the city that were gutted in yesterday night’s fire in a part of the Corporation building were insignificant, and added that the fire incident would have no bearing on the functioning of the branch. But many remain skeptical of his claims.

The exact reason behind the incident that broke out all of a sudden in a part of the building, also housing the record room, was yet to be ascertained, the officials in the Corporation maintained that it might have been caused by a short-circuit in the cables.

The fire also ate into the MC’s record room filled with old files and as such, curiosity has risen from last night’s ashes.

Here’s the catch: A large number of commercial buildings, their owners and certain officials from the MC itself have been under the scanner for the mushrooming of illegal buildings in the city. The Vigilance Bureau has been entrusted with the job of examining the circumstances under which illegal buildings had sprung up in posh localities.

Certain quarters of councillors, including some opposition leaders in the MC house, apprehended that the files pertaining to these controversial buildings, owned by some influential people, acted as a fuel the behind the fire. And going by these fears, local BJP leader K.D. Bhandari has reportedly demanded a thorough probe into the incident.

Sources in the Corporation said files belonging to 1936, 1971, 1972, 1986, 1990 and 1992 have been damaged in the fire.

Mr. S.S. Johl, the Municipal Commissioner, on the contrary, said the damaged record belonged to the period between 1960 and 1989. “Actually, the problem is that the process of “Talaf” (burning of old and irrelevant record) had never been resorted to despite instructions from the government that old records could be destroyed once a year after due permission of the authorities concerned was taken. That is why huge piles of irrelevant records had gathered in the record room and got damaged in the fire.”

He said that all the important files were safe.

Kapurthala, January 4
Thousands of devotees, including Rana Gurjit Singh, MP, and Ms Sukhwinder Kaur Rana and Bibi Jagir Kaur, MLAs from Kapurthala and Bholath, respectively, participated in the nagar kirtans taken out in Kapurthala and Begowal to mark the birth anniversary of Guru Gobind Singh here today.

The procession at Kapurthala started at 1 pm from State Gurdwara following Panj Piaras who were leading the specially decorated palanquin carrying Guru Granth Sahib. With kirtan jathas, students and devotees chanting the hymns from Gurbani, the procession proceeded towards Sabji Mandi, Jalao Khana Chowk, Sat Narain Bazar and Shalimar Bagh area before converging at the State Gurdwara in the evening.

Rana Gurjit Singh and Ms Sukhwinder Kaur greeted the procession on the way.

At Begowal, the nagar kirtan procession started from Dera Sant Baba Prem Singh at 11 am and after passing through the main bazaars of the town moved towards Bholath. The procession also passed through Fatehgarh Sikri, Nangal Lubana, Ibrahimwal, Nadala, Lakan Ke Padde, Dayalpur, and Kartarpur villages.

Bibi Jagir Kaur accompanied the procession here.

Gatka parties and band were accompanying the processions, which were greeted by the devotees on the way with langars of tea and snacks.

The town was decorated and illuminated with lights and ‘deepmala’ in the evening.

Meanwhile, Gurdwara Singh Sabha, Mohalla Sikhan at Sultanpur Lodhi, has chalked out a three-day celebrations on the occasion. The programme would start with the nagar kirtan at 11 am tomorrow, which would be followed by a kirtan darbar on the night of Saturday, informed Sardar Swaran Singh, President of Parbandhak committee.

A kirtan darbar at 6 pm would be organised at Gurdwara Guru ka Bagh Sahib on Friday, he added.

Jalandhar, January 4
Striving to compete with private courier companies, the Department of Posts has launched a new delivery service by way of which parcels up to a quintal of weight can now be sent throughout Punjab, Haryana, Jammu and New Delhi.

While the department had been dispatching consignments of fixed dimensions up to 35 kgs so far through its “Express Mail”, but now the parcels of any size weighing up to a quintal can be delivered through “Logistic Post”.

The service has already been started on trial basis for the last two months and the response has been quite good, according to department officials.

Mr Nitish Kashyap, Manager, Speed Post, Jalandhar, said the service had been started for all stations of the region falling on the main railway lines.

He said the delivery service was yet to be started in rural areas and interior parts of the region that were not properly connected through railways.

The Speed Post manager said the service could be availed from four Speed Post centres of Punjab Circle that were in Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Amritsar and Chandigarh.

Tracking of the parcels was being done over the phone and the customers were being updated about the status of their parcel over the phone so that they could lift the consignments on time, he added.

Mr Kashyap further said the delivery of the Logistic Post would be quite fast. “We will dispatch the goods via the very next train that leaves the station, which means that the consignment reaches the destination in this region in a day’s time.”

About the charges that would be levied for the service, Mr Kashyap said these would be quite low as compared to any private courier company.

Giving details, he said, “Charges would vary with destinations. A passenger’s ticket to that station would be charged per consignment weighing up to 50 kgs and there would be slabs for heavier parcels. Delivery charges would be fixed at Rs 100. Besides this, there would be loading, unloading and transportation charges too.”

The manager added a new service called “Direct Post” too had been introduced in the GPO. He said through this service, a specific class of society could be catered to through an unaddressed mail. “Our clientele can reach a specific group of people such as doctors, university professors and manufacturers of a specific product. Owners of pharmaceutical companies, research centres and businessmen have been contacting us to send their pamphlets, brochures and greetings through us.”

However, Mr Kashyap added, “The clients can only specify the area that has to be covered. They cannot dictate us a list of specific doctors or any other group of people. It will be our discretion as to whom we send the mail. Our postmen know about such group of people falling in their areas and hence we do not face any problem.”

“Since it is a bulk mail, the postal charges too are low. We charge Rs 1.5 for delivering mail within the city and Rs 2 for inter-city distribution anywhere in the country,” he added.

Jalandhar, January 4
Indian hockey star Dhanraj Pillai, known for his stand against the authorities of the Indian Hockey Federation (IHF), on Monday questioned the selection of the team for the recently held Champions Trophy.

Pillai, in city to take part in the 22nd Indian Oil Surjit Hockey, attacked the team selectors. “If I was side-lined on the pretext of being overage, then why were young players like Deepak Thakur, Daljit Dhillon, Pramod Trikey, Baljit Dhillon and Bimal Lakra not included in the team.”

“The IHF is under the total control of Mr K.P.S. Gill, and nothing can be done about the game by any other agency. Even the Prime Minister put hands up saying he could not do anything about changing the IHF reigns.”

Pillai said that till the time a permanent coach for the team was not appointed and given the right to select the team, the scene of Indian hockey could not change.

He said the selectors who had played on grass as per the old version of the game were now in charge of selecting a team that played on astroturf.

Pillai said the they must select those who can score goals. “Even stars in a team cannot do anything if they do not have players like me who can make the moves for the strikers to score.”

Pillai said strikers like Gagan Ajit Singh couldn’t score goals if they didn’t have the support of a good midfield as a link between the forward and half-line. “Earlier me and Baljit Dhillon used to play that part. It was this lack of support that let down the Indian forward line in scoring goals in the Champions Trophy.”

On coaches, the midfielder said the team was hanging between the European style of laptop hockey and the Indian style of skill-based hockey. “But due to the lack of a proper strategy, the game belong to neither of the two. But skill-based hockey must be promoted, as it has achieved laurels for the country in the past and established the distinct identity for the country.”

He termed the Premiere Hockey League as a good step but added that the authorities must cash in on the same, as it could be good nursery for fresh blood in the game.

Pillai also questioned the seriousness of the hockey authorities in holding regular tournaments. 

Jalandhar, January 4
The Citizen’s Welfare and Protection Council, an NGO, organised a social awareness programme in Jalandhar Cantonment last evening.

More than 100 sponsored prizes were distributed to those who answered the quiz based on social issues related to environment, AIDS, female foeticide, blood donation, consumer protection, thalassaemia and other ailments. Mr Anoop Vats, general secretary of the NGO, outlined the objective of the programme as spreading social awareness about pressing problems rampant in the society.

Sarita Tewari, prominent TV artiste and a renowned anchor, steered the programme and kept the audience hooked. Gurpreet Ghuggi, comedian, enthralled everyone with interesting anecdotes narrating in his own particular style.

Ms Gurkanwal Kaur, Minister for Social Security, Brig B.B. Patil, Mr M.S. Kainth, ADC, Mr Rahul Gupta, GA to DC, Col A.K. Sharma, Col Pushkar Singh and Mr Rajpal Singh Sandhu, SP, PAP, were also present on the occasion.

Phagwara, January 4
Granthi Paramjit Singh alias Pamma, who was arrested by the Phagwara police for allegedly murdering Parampreet Singh alias Sukha on December 22, was today produced before the Judicial Magistrate, Phagwara, who remanded him into police custody for two days for further interrogation.

It may be mentioned here that Sukha was done to death by the granthi after luring him into a trap in order to teach Sukha’s father, Surinder Singh, a lesson for having an eye on his young wife with bad intention and wanted to have relationship with his wife.

On December 22, Pamma made a telephone call to Sukha and asked him to meet. He took Sukha to an unoccupied room in a secluded place near Bhullarai village canal near Phagwara bypass and hit him with a brick and then slit his throat.