Jalandhar, July 6
At an age when she should be enjoying a carefree life, Jamuna has already experienced pains of a lifetime. The 14-year old tribal girl from Jharkhand, who was brought to Jalandhar as a domestic help, ended up working extremely long hours for two months without being paid any wages.

After two months of back-breaking labour, she was thrown out of the house and left on the streets to fend for herself. After the harrowing experience, she eventually found shelter in the house of Kashim Mohammad, a gujjar from Badala village on Nakodar Road.

The administration finally heard her plight today and ordered that she be shifted to a government’s rescue cell on 120-ft road.

Jamuna had come to support her family in Jharkhand. The middlemen who brought her here however, made a handsome amount. He was paid Rs 8,500 by a woman who sent her to a house in DD Enclave, Nakodar Road.

The girl said her brother left her in Delhi with a man called Sunil, who also hailed from Jharkhand.

“Sunil Bhai then brought me to Surinder Yadav, a Delhi-based agent. Yadav dropped me with a madam who runs a maid service agency in Jawahar Nagar here. Madam paid him Rs 8,500 which included Rs 1,500 as my wages which I never got”, she said.

Mr Tarsem Peter, president, Pendu Mazdoor Union, on whose tip-off the police rescued Jamuna, showed a receipt that indicated that Rs 6,000 had also gone as commission for supplying the girl and Rs 1,000 as her cost of transportation.

Jamuna said she had come along with six other girls. “Alma Khesu, one of my accomplices, worked with me in the same house and was thrown out before me. I continued cooking food for them, cleaning up the house and utensils believing that I will be paid but they instead threw me out one evening”, she said adding that she had no information about the other four girls.

Narrating her experience further, she said, “It was dark at that time. When I went out on the road, a few truck drivers started coming towards me with a bad intention. I had nowhere to go. I saw a few girls of my age group feeding their cattle outside their home. I told them about the incident and they immediately gave me shelter. I lived with their family for few days,” she said.

Another tribal saw Jamuna. He contacted the authorities at Sacred Heart Church, from where Mr Peter was asked to rescue the girl with the help of the administration. Mr Peter said, “I contacted the police officials at Lambran.” Along with Head Constable Sukhdev Singh and a woman Constable they brought the girl

Mr Peter said it was not first case of its kind as he had recently got two girls, Sarita and Munni, rescued in Ludhiana.

He demanded that the practice of bringing minor, tribal girls from Jharkhand, Assa, Orissa and Madhya Pradesh must be stopped before the racket got stronger.

The district police are yet to register a case. Orders to ensure her safety at rescue home have been passed by Mr Mahinder Singh, SDM-II. 

Phagwara, July 6
The forum set up by the Punjab government to revive the sick Small Scale Industries (SSIs) has not yet taken off.

The revival forum was created three years ago as part of the Industrial Policy, 2003. But it has not yet met even once. There are around 1,500-2,000 sick SSIs in the state. Out of the total 2 lakh SSIs in the state, around 1 per cent are officially sick.

Punjab’s Principal Secretary, Industry and Commerce, S.C. Aggarwal told The Tribune that the forum was notified but it had not met till date. “There were one or two cases, but they did not fit the bill of sick units. They did not legally qualify as per the definition of sickness. It’s for an unit to submit a revival plan to us and show its means of finances,” he said.

Sources, however, claimed that the forum, set up to offer rehabilitation plans to sick units on the lines of the Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction (BIFR), had no legislative command. They added that the Punjab State Industries and Export Corporation (PSIEC)and Punjab Financial Corporation (PFC) had only been recovering their dues from these sick units.

No revival plans were present for the small and sick units and the entire focus was shifting to mega projects, sources added.

Regional Director of PHDCCI, P.K. Verma, said small industries faced the problem of getting finance from the banks, as they could not pay up collaterals.

“What adds to their problem is that there is no agency to provide them consultancy, as they are unable to hire experts,” Mr Verma added.

Although industrial sickness is an inherent part of the process of development, its side effects include unemployment, non-payment of state and Central government dues, blocked institutional finance and non-utilisation of productive assets.

Realising all this, the state’s Industrial Policy agreed that the small scale industry formed an important and crucial segment of the industrial sector.

With globalisation, there had been considerable pressure on the SSIs resulting in a number of sick units.

Hence the policy envisaged setting up of a revival forum to assist such industries in 2003. 

Jalandhar, July 6
Holding the UPA and the Congress responsible for the recent increase in prices, the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) said if the Captain Amarinder Singh led government in the state removed all state-level taxes on diesel, it would only cost Rs 23.14 per litre.

The BJP leadership termed the recent announcement about abolition of octroi by Captain Amarinder Singh a travesty with the trading community and the common people.

“The hike in diesel prices have put an extra burden of Rs 220 crore on the people of Punjab and this has pushed up agricultural inputs by Rs 1,700 crore.

“The petrol and diesel price increase has resulted in an unprecedented increase in prices of all essential goods,” said Mr Avinash Khanna, and Mr Harjeet Singh Grewal, president and general secretary of the state BJP.

They led a cycle rally from Ludhiana to Amritsar along with Mr Vineet Joshi and Mr Vijay Sampla, two other senior leaders.

“Why have Captain (the CM) and company suddenly become soft towards traders in the election year is to be judged by the people. The Congress has already harmed their interests by burdening them with the VAT regime.”

“Can Captain Amarinder Singh tell people which industry he and his government been able to bring to Punjab?

“ Though, he claims that he would give jobs to 16 lakh people, but has he been able to give a single unemployed youth a government job during his tenure?” questioned Mr Khanna. 

Kapurthala, July 6
A 22-year-old youth from Dhapai village received serious injuries after two persons stabbed him here today. The reason behind the attack was an old enmity, the police said.

Charanjit Singh and his brother Inderjeet Singh were going to Kapurthala to get ice cubes for a chabeel at an annual mela at Wadala Kalan village on Kapurthala-Jalandhar road.

On their way, they were allegedly attacked by one Jagga of the same village and his companion Sandeep Sibba with sharp-edged weapons and knives and fled from the spot.

Charanjit was taken to the civil hospital with injuries on his stomach and back. But terming his condition to be serious, the doctors referred him to the civil hospital at Jalandhar. An FIR was registered against the accused.