Jalandhar, January 10
Four Left parties, including Mr Mangat Ram Pasla’s led CPM (Punjab), have forged an alliance for the Assembly elections and decided to contest on 29 seats in different districts.

The four left parties CMP Punjab, CPI (ML) Liberation, RSP and All India Forward Block have reached at an election alliance, said the representatives of these parties while talking to mediapersons here today.The CPM (Punjab) will field its candidates on nine seats, CPI (ML) on ten, RSP on eight and Forward Block on two seats.

The CPM (Punjab) secretary, Mr Mangat Ram Pasla, said the alliance had invited other two Left parties - CPI and CPM - to join them in order to defeat the Congress and the SAD-BJP alliance. The secretary of Punjab unit of CPI (ML) Liberation, Mr Rajwinder Singh Rana, the chief of state unit of Forward Block Mr V.P Saini, and secretary of state RSP, Mr Avtar Singh Janjua, supported the proposal.

The CPM (Punjab) announced its candidates: Amrik Singh Daud (Beas), Chaman Lal Darajke (Patti), Lal Chand Kataru Chak (Narot Mehra), Makhan Lal Palhan (Noor Mahal), Darshan Lal Nahar (Nakodar), Kulwant Singh Kirti (Abohar), Bala Singh (Shutrana) and Labh Singh Namol (Sunam). Mr Pasla said the candidate for the Banga seat would be declared later.

The CPI (ML) candidates are: Rajwinder Singh Rana (Mansa), Bhagwant Singh Samao (Buddhlada), Satpal Singh Behniwal (Sardulgarh), Gurjant Singh (Joga), Harwinder Singh (Nathana), Labh Singh (Dhanaula), Tarsem Jodhan (Raikot), Shinder Singh Jabaddi (Qila Raipur) and Harbhagwan Bhikhi (Dirba). It will announce candidate for the Dakha seat later.

RSP contestantsare: Naresh Jaggi (Patiala), Rajesh Kumar Chaturbedi (Sirhind), Ranjit Singh Rana (Khanna), Avtar Singh Janjua (Samrala), Gurmel Singh Udhowal (Koom Kalan), Rajinder Raja (Amritsar South) and Harjit Singh Sihora (Payal). Candidate for the Rajpura seat would be declared later.

Forward Block candidates are VP Saini (Anandpur Sahib) and Varinder Bhatti (Amritsar Central).

Jalandhar, January 10
Bright sun in the morning, no fog at night but intense cold wave conditions continued to prevail in the region. Mercury slipped to sub-zero level again in Adampur today after recording 1°C yesterday.

The temperature in Adampur was minus 0.6°C. The record lowest was in 2000 when it had hit minus 5°C.

The rest of the region also continued to reel under the cold wave. Amritsar recorded the lowest temperature in the region at minus 1.1°C, while Pathankot and Halwara recorded 4.2°C and 1.8°C, respectively.

A white sheet of frost over grass and in the fields is a common sight before the sun rise these days on the outskirts of Jalandhar and other areas.

An official of the Adampur Meteorology Department said similar conditions would persist in the next 24 hours and the minimum temperature was likely to dip further. Regarding the absence of fog in the region, the official said it was due to the high pressure area in the region.

“Due to snowfall in Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh and western disturbance in the north is temperatures are dipping,” said a Met official in Chandigarh. The days will be sunny in the region with less fog in the next 24 hours.

Doctors have advised residents not to venture out without proper clothing. As the weather is changing fast, it’s better to take necessary precautions like wearing monkey caps and thermal wears, they warned.

More chill means more business for tea vendors. “For me it’s a good time. Earlier, I used to sell nearly 100 cups of tea but these days I sold more than 200 cups,” said a vendor at Shastri Market.

Comparatively, the temperature in the hill stations of Shimla, Chamba and Dalhousie has more bearable temperature.

“The sale of sweaters and jackets has one again picked up with the dip in temperature.

Now, the customers are more labourers and migrants,” said Ram Singh, a garments shop owner here.

Jalandhar, January 10
Now, you need not make rounds for receiving your certificates and other documents from Suvidha Centre here.

All you need to do is to leave your mobile number while applying for any service and you will get intimation through SMS as soon as the document is ready. SMS will also be sent to the applicants in case the documents remain pending on the due date.

Not just that the applicants can also forward their query about their applications by sending SMS to Suvidha Centre on the number 9915429456 in the format SU <token number> <year> which will be SU 123456 2007 in case the token number is 123456 and the year of filing application is 2007.

A helpline has also been introduced at the centre where one can make call to know about the status of the application. The two numbers are 2453200 and 2453300.

These details were made public after the Deputy Commissioner, Mr A.Venu Prasad, today inaugurated a private cafeteria at the centre. 

Hoshiarpur, January 10
As many as 10,20,592 electorates have been registered in the eight segments of the Vidhan Sabha in Hoshiarpur district. This was stated by Mr D.K. Tiwari, District Election Officer, today. He said 1,18,572 electorates had been registered in 45-Garhshankar segment, 1,00,401 in 46-Mahilpur, 1,49,646 in 47-Hoshiarpur, 1,27,693 in 48-Shamchaursi, 1,15,149 in 49-Tanda, 1,23,582 in 50-Garhdiwala, 1,32,322 in 51-Dasuya and 1,53,227 in 52-Mukerian segment of the district.

As many as 89.32 per cent voter identity cards have been issued in Garhshankar, 89.51 in Mahilpur, 90.64 in Hoshiarpur, 91.80 in Shamchaursi, 92.88 in Tanda, 86.41 in Garhdiwala, 90.53 in Dasuya and 90.02 in Mukerian segment. He said 117 polling booths had been set up in Garhshankar, 99 in Mahilpur, 132 in Hoshiarpur, 143 in Shamchaursi, 127 in Tanda, 129 in Garhdiwala, 128 in Dasuya and 150 in Mukerian segments. 

Hoshiarpur, January 10
Three persons were killed in two accidents in the district last night.

Phagwara, January 10
College students today thrashed a private bus conductor when he asked them to purchase tickets.

When the 43-year-old conductor was beaten up nobody came to his rescue. The incident took place at nearby Dhahan Kaleran village when Devinder Kumar asked the students to buy tickets. The conductor, who was admitted to a private hospital, told The Tribune: “On Monday when some students refused to purchase tickets, I objected and insisted that they should buy tickets. Following this they threatened me. The same students thrashed me with sticks.”