Jalandhar, January 31
Mr. Kanwaljit Singh Lalli, the Congress candidate from Adampur, got a fillip in his poll campaign today as Mr. Bir Singh, a prominent Akali leader of the area and a former SGPC member, joined the Congress in presence of the Chief Minister, Captain Amarinder Singh, here today.

Welcoming Mr. Bir Singh into the party fold, Captain Amarinder Singh said the former would prove to be an asset for the Congress party.

An elated Mr. Bir Singh, who, is said to have considerable following in the Adampur constituency, said he was joining party at the fag end of the five-year term of the Congress only because he was not interested in attaining power. “People jump parties at the time of onset of their term but I am doing otherwise. I am satisfied with the performance of the Congress.”

Mr. Bir Singh appreciated the Chief Minister’s stance on the issue of river waters. “No other chief minister, including, Mr. Badal, could ever take such a bold step. During my 30-year-long stay in the SAD, I have seen money driving everything and grassroot workers ignored,” Mr Bir Singh said.

Jalandhar, January 31
Mr. Bahadur Singh Shadipur, a leader of the Phule Bharti Party, joined the Congress at Nurmahl yesterday.

Mr. Shadipur had contested the 2002 elections and is said to have a considerable influence in the area. — TNS

Phagwara, January 31
The Phagwara BJP-SAD alliance got a boost when the Phagwara circle president of Punjab State Dalit Action Committee, Mr Vipan Karwal, announced he was leaving the DAC to join the Shiromani Youth Akali Dal (Badal) here yesterday. The announcement was made in the presence of Mr Parkash Singh Badal, SAD chief. Mr Badal also appointed Mr Vipan Karwal as general secretary of the District Youth Akali Dal. Mr Jarnail Singh Wahid, member SGPC, Gurcharan Singh Natti, Lakhwinder Singh Tuli and Jaswinder Singh Bhagatpura, were also present.

Jalandhar, January 31
The house of a SAD supporter, Manju Bala, was allegedly attacked by some Congressmen at Ambedkar Nagar on Garha Road in Phillaur on Sunday evening.

The house was allegedly attacked within a few minutes after a meeting of the SAD candidate, Mr. Sarwan Singh Phillaur, at Manju Bala’s house. A pregnant woman Lakhsmi and her husband Labba Masih were injured in the attack.

Phillaur and Manju Bala alleged at a press conference here today that the Congress candidate and sitting MLA Santokh Singh’s son,Vikramjeet Sunny, was among the assailants. Demanding that the arrest of Sunny, they said that only one assailant had been nabbed so far.

However, the district police gave clean chit to Sunny. When contacted, DSP Gursharandeep Singh and SHO Inderjeet Singh said it had been found that only two persons Shaka and his brother Jai had attacked Manju Bala’s house.

The police officers further said that Section 307 (attempt to murder) had also been removed from the FIR after getting medical report in this regard. 

Nawanshahr, January 31
Taking lead from Ms. Gur Iqbal Kaur, wife of the sitting Congress MLA, Mr. Parkash Singh, who spearheaded the election campaign of her husband during the last Assembly elections, this time, Ms. Maninder Kaur, daughter-in-law of SAD-BJP nominee, Jathedar Jatinder Singh Kariha, is leading the election campaign of her father-in-law, here.

Though Jathedar Kariha is in electoral politics for the past three decades, interestingly, it is for the first time that his family members accompanied by the women activists of the SAD-BJP alliance are actively participating in the election campaign. The credit for this goes to Ms. Maninder Kaur, a daughter of the SAD stalwart late Darbara Singh. Accompanied by her mother -in- law, Ms. Satinder Kaur and SAD-BJP activists, Maninder Kaur is going door-to-door to woo the voters.

She has been raising the issues of price hike of essential household commodities, old age pension and shagun scheme, inflated sewerage and water supply bills. Besides, the wives of Congress and BSP nominees - Ms. Babli (wife of Mr. Parkash Singh) and Ms. Anju (wife of Mr. Vinod Kumar) are also canvassing for their respective husbands

Ludhiana, January 31
A Jalandhar-based travel agency, M/s Sondhi Travels, has been directed by the Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum, Ludhiana, to pay Rs 25,000 as compensation to a consumer for their negligent services.

The orders were pronounced by Mr A.S Narula, president, and Mr Daljit Singh Bakshi, member of the forum, while deciding the complaint filed by an NRI Jaspreet Singh Makkar. It was submitted by the complainant through his special attorney, Mr Harpreet Singh Makkar, that he was to go to Canada with his family as he had got a job there.

He booked four tickets through M/s Chopsun Travels and Tours, The Mall, Ludhiana. A payment of Rs 1,18,800 was made to the travel agency.

Thereafter, the tickets were issued by M/s Sondhi Travels, Civil Lines, Jalandhar. It was mentioned on the tickets that the tickets were confirmed for September 2, 2007. As per the confirmation, they started prepration for the journey.

A day before the flight, he recieved a telephonic call from M/s Sondhi Travels that two of his tickets had been cancelled. It was informed that only his children could travel on the flight scheduled for September 2, 2005, added the complainant.

But the children could not have entered Canada without him, as he was the principal applicant for immigration. Despite requests, he could not go on the day fixed. He was to join the job on Septemeber 7, 2005. Resultantly, he lost the job. He got another job after a month. The illegal act of cancelling the confirmed air tickets amounted to unfair trade practice, further added the complainant.

However, the travel agency refuted the allegations levelled by the consumer. It was pleaded by officials of the Sondhi Travels before the Forum that they had no authority to cancel the booking of any person.

The tickets were issued subject to the re-confirmation before 72 hours of scheduled flight. The consumer and his family members traveled after some days.

But after appreciating the eviedence on record, the consumer forum observed, ''There is no explanantion forthcoming as to how it happened that two tickets were confirmed and two were cancelled. There is no rule or regulation showing that these tickets should have been got re-confirmed 72 hours prior to the flight''.

Kapurthala, January 31
As many as eight FIRs have been registered for violating the model code of conduct in Kapurthala district. This was stated by the DC cum DRO, Mr. Raminder Singh and SSP Rajiv Ahir while talking to mediapersons here yesterday.

Two FIRs were registered against the SAD candidate from Kapurthala, Mr. Raghubir Singh , and the sitting MLA, Mr Sukhjinder Kaur Rana, whose papers as Congress candidate were rejected due to discrepancies, for violating Section 144 while filing their nomination papers.

Besides two FIRs were filed under the Defacement of Properties Act against different political parties and four FIRs were lodged for putting up buntings and flags on private buildings without taking consent from their owners.