Jalandhar, June 25
Absence of traffic management in the city continues to give nightmares to residents and vehicle users alike. The chaos seems to be everywhere but the PAP T-Point, Rama Mandi Chowk and the Vidhipur Railwa crossing on the city outskirts and the BMC Chowk, Guru Nanak Mission Chowk, Football Chowk, Kapurthala Chowk, and Grain Market T-Point within the city limits are the worst affected.

Traffic cops also play their part in this sorry state of affairs. They are deputed at all these problem places for most hours of the day, but their primary objective seems to be not to manage traffic but to eye and challan vehicles, particularly from other states.

The PAP T-Point is the worst affected. The traffic cops posted there turn a blind eye to illegal parking and stopping of private buses at the traffic lights itself. The PAP T-Point is one of the busiest traffic points of the city. Illegal parking and stopping of private buses at this place and at nearby Rama Mandi Chowk — coupled with long-standing apathy of traffic policemen — leads to traffic snarls with long queues of vehicles. It throws the entire traffic lights system out of gear. The only party gaining and profiting in this game are the private bus operators, who manage to pick passengers from the PAP T-Point by parking their buses illegally right under the nose of otherwise, ‘active’ traffic cops.

The situation is more or less the same at the Rama Mandi Chowk, which is marred by traffic bottle-necks most of the time, thanks to policemen turning a blind eye to illegal parking of buses all around the chowk. Here again, traffic policemen are present most of time but they hardly ever act against violators. Travelling from Rama Mandi to PAP T-Point and from there to BMC Chowk stretch is a ghastly experience for vehicle users.

Taking note of the traffic congestion, the Deputy Commissioner, Mr Anurag Verma, has directed the Municipal Corporation, Jalandhar, (MC) and the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) to install automatic traffic signals at certain points on the National Highway stretch from the PAP Chowk to Vidhipur Railway Crossing.

The Project Director, NHAI, has agreed to install automatic traffic control signals at the Chugitti Bye-pass, Pathankot Chowk and Maqsudan Junction, Mr Verma said.

He has also given a no objection to install blinkers at Industrial Focal Point, Lidhran, and Vidhipur Railway Crossing. The MC authorities have agreed to install blinkers at Industrial Focal Point, Lidhran and Vidhipur Railway Crossing and at Chugitti Bye-pass, Pathankot Chowk and Maqsudan Junction by August 10. 

Kapurthala, June 25
The Punjab and Haryana High Court has directed the Kapurthala police to file an affidavit regarding the status of the complaint submitted to it against Harjinder Singh Khalsa, Chairman of Zila Parishad, Kapurthala.

In the complaint lodged with the district police on May 8, Jaswant Singh from Haibatpur village and others had requested for the registration of an FIR against Mr Khalsa for allegedly taking Rs 5.20 lakh from them as “bribe” in two installments in November, last year.

 Justice Virender Singh directed the Kapurthala police to file an affidavit on July 11, fixed as the next date of hearing the application filed by Jaswant Singh and others praying issuance of a direction for the registration of the FIR against the chairman.

When contacted, SSP Mr Rajiv Ahir told The Tribune that the high court had directed the police to apprise it of the facts regarding the case.

To a query, Mr Ahir said that Bholath DSP was looking into the complaint. After the completion of the inquiry, appropriate action would be taken accordingly, he added.

However, the petitioners have prayed in their application to the High Court to hand over their case to the Vigilance Department or any other independent agency, as they expressed apprehensions that the local authorities would not be fair in taking appropriate action as Mr Khalsa “enjoyed the patronage of an MP”.

Jaswant Singh and others have alleged in the complaint to the police that they had given Rs 5.20 lakh to Zila Parishad Chairman in the presence of his PA Mr Jaimal Singh, Ibrahimwal village sarpanch Ms Sarabjit Kaur, and one Ranjit Singh from Ibrahimwal.

The “bribe” was given to him after Mr Khalsa had promised them that their case would be decided again in their favour by the court of ADC (Development) cum Collector, Panchayat Lands, Kapurthala, the petitioners alleged.

But on persistent queries, Mr Khalsa had flatly told them on May 5 that neither their work would be done nor their money would be returned, they alleged in their complaint.

The petitioners had requested for the registration of an FIR against Mr Khalsa, Ms Sarabjit Kaur and Mr Jaimal Singh.

They have stated in their complaint that the call details of the mobile phones of Mr Khalsa, Ms Sarabjit Kaur, Mr Ranjit Singh and one of the complainants Jaswant Singh would corroborate their allegations.

Mr Khalsa could not be contacted despite repeated attempts for seeking his version in the case. 

Langroa (Nawanshahr), June 25
Unprecedented shortage of labour has delayed sowing of paddy crop in a number of state villages. With lesser number of migrant labour from parts of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh coming to Punjab this season, the sowing has been delayed by about 10 days. The delay could mean lower yields, resulting in huge losses to farmers.

A visit to about six villages in Nawanshahr revealed that though the farmers had kept their paddy fields ready and flooded, they had not been able to find labour to transplant paddy.

Mahender Singh, a farmer from Langroa village, said, “My fields are ready for sowing, but migrant labour is not available. Usually, sowing starts by the second week of June as migrant labour comes to Punjab in hordes.”

“This problem has cropped up for the first time. In the past, whenever sowing got delayed it was due to unfavourable weather conditions or shortage of power supply. But this year, when the weather is in our favour and the power situation is also fine, the migrant labour has played a spoilsport, he added.

Mahender Singh said he had planned to have Pusa-50 variety of superfine variety of paddy but had shifted over to another variety because he could not get manual labour to transplant the saplings. “This variety has to be sown latest by June 10, now I will have to sow either PR-114 or PR-116, which are not very good options,” he added.

Two farmers of the same village — Gurdial Singh, whose 20 acres are also ready for sowing, and Pritam Singh — also expressed their worry over the delay in transplantation.

Meanwhile, Kesar Singh of Karimpur village said he had to flood the ready fields regularly without the crop being transplanted, resulting in precious loss of water.

“If we don’t irrigate the fields, we will have to again plough the fields when the paddy has to be sown,” he said. Gurmail from Jandla village said farmers could not even put fertilizers in the otherwise-ready fields, as it could harm the labour later.

The situation is same in adjoining Sona, Barnala and Majara villages, besides many others.