Jalandhar, April 13
Four motorcycle borne “robbers” struck the Shakti Nagar locality this morning, attacked a jeweller and fled with his bag, containing Rs 2.60 lakh and two gold chains.

Tarsem Lal, a city based jeweller was heading for his shop in the Bhatta wali street on his motorcycle at about 10.30 a.m. when four youngsters, who, were riding two motorcycles waylaid him in Shakti Nagar locality.

After cornering him, they thrashed him mercilessly and snatched his bag.

Tarsem Lal has told the police that possibly he could identify one of the robbers, who, is running a shop in a local market and with whom he had entered into a verbal dual over money matters.

He has alleged that had also been threatened by the said person in the past.

Police officials reached the spot while an injured Tarsem was admitted to the civil hospital.

Police sources said that the matter was being investigated in detail so as to determine whether it was a robbery or merely an incident of beating of the complainant in a sort of group clash.

Meanwhile, the Jalandhar Police has arrested five members of an inter-state gang allegedly responsible for a robbery at Khara Majha village.

Cash worth Rs 1.44 lakh has been recovered from him apart from seizure of a Toyota Innova and a Hyundail Santro car.

The accused, according to SSP Arpit Shukla, have been identified as Mohan Singh, Harpreet Singh, Avtaar Singh, Sarabjit Singh and Joga Singh.

They had robbed an amount of Rs 3.39 lakh from Dalbir Kaur, a resident of Khaira Majha at gunpoint on April 10.

Jalandhar, April 13
In what can be termed as a historical event taking place after a gap of 35 years for Christians of North India, the ‘august ceremony’ of the installation of Anil Jose Thomas Couto as the new bishop of Diocese of Jalandhar will take place at St Mary’s Cathedral in Jalandhar Cantonment here on April 15.

Anil Jose Thomas Couto, who has been especially chosen as the Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Jalandhar, replaces former Bishop Symphorian Keeprath, whose consecration had taken place here in 1972.

Prior to his appointment here, Anil Jose Thomas Couto held the important position of an auxiliar bishop of Delhi. Though, Couto’s appointment was with effect from February 24, but his installation as the new Bishop will take place on April 15.

As the new Bishop of the Jalandhar diocese, Couto would be deciding the policies of the diocese, which comprises most of Punjab and four districts of Himachal Pradesh, including Mandi, Hamirpur and Una, said Dr Franco Mulakkal, the spokesman for the diocese of Jalandhar.

The fate of a large number of Christians of Punjab and Himachal Pradesh is linked with the diocese of Jalandhar as it carries forward its rich legacy of human service through its educational and healthcare institutions in the region.

Symphorian Keeprath was the first bishop of Jalandhar as the prefecture at Jalandhar was upgraded as a Diocese in 1972. The 35-year-long hard labour of bishop Symphorian Keeprath brought more and more people closer to the diocese.

Bishop Couto was born on September 22, 1954, and brought up in Pomburpa area of state of Goa. His God-fearing parents motivated him to dedicate his life to human service and he eventually joined the seminary in 1967.

He was ordained a priest for the arch diocese of Delhi in 1981 and was appointed the rector of the Prathiksha seminary in 1989. Later in 1991, he went to Rome for higher religious studies.

Upon his return from Rome, he was ordained as the auxiliary bishop of Delhi. He is also known for his flavour for fine arts.

Hoshiarpur, April 13
To prepare the master plan for beautification of the local ‘Bhangi Choe’ (a seasonal rivulet) and its proper maintenance, a meeting of officers of the departments concerned was convened at the PWD Rest House here.

Tikshan Sud, minister for medical education and research, parliamentary affairs and forests, Punjab, said the forest department had been made a nodal agency for preparing the master plan of the project.

A special type of pond would be constructed in the choe bed to store sullage water of the city. Channelisation of this water would be done to ensure its proper utilisation.

In the first phase, the project would be constructed from the bridge of Nasrala Choe to Bassi Gulam Hussain and later it would be extended up to Hardokhanpur village.

Saplings of fruits and various trees would be planted on the road constructed on the guide bandh from by-pass bridge towards Dhobi Ghat.

A new road would also be constructed on the opposite side of the bandh which would also be beautified by planting ornamental and fruit trees. The revenue department would identify land of six villages falling under this project.

As many as four government departments under the supervision of nodal department would prepare this project.

Help of non-governmental organisations, National Service Scheme and National Cadet Corps volunteers would also be sought for the completion of this project.

The main aim of the project was to beautify the city, improve its environment and cleaning of Bhangi Choe bed where garbage was being dumped and was posing a serious threat to the health of the inhabitants residing adjoining to its banks, he added.

He instructed the government officers to ensure the complete stoppage of illegal digging of sand from the choe bed, its levelling and not to allow anyone to throw garbage there.

Phagwara, April 13
With the onset of summer, water shortage is being reported from most parts of the city.

Drinking water is a precious commodity for the ever-increasing population of this town and with summers coming, it would become a rarity.

Residents keep a night-long vigil on the taps installed in their houses so as to fill their buckets before the pressure becomes low.

Inderjit Singh, a resident of Guru Teg Bahadur Nagar locality, said for the past 15 days, the residents of this area had been waiting to get water supply through pipes. The residents rued that the water supply was irregular in their locality.

Sat Pal, a resident, pointed out that in the absence of adequate water supply, they were compelled to purchase bottles of so-called mineral water.

Hence, they were doubly cursed as on one hand they paid monthly water charges to the government department without getting a single drop of water and on the other hand they had to quench their thirst by arranging bottled water from private suppliers.

Information gathered by the TNS revealed that due to inadequate number of tube-well stations, the Phagwara nagar council authorities had failed to maintain adequate pressure in the pipes so as to take the water up to the last point of supply.

The boosters installed by the residents on the supply lines have further worsened the situation.

A senior MC official admitted that the problem of water shortage was gripping the locality.

He said this was due to some technical fault in the tube-well installed in the area. However, the supply would become regular in the next 2-3 days, he added.

By adopting the tender system this time, the board has succeeded in gaining higher rate of interest, he added.