J A L A N D H A R

Tender to lift wheat
Khaira, 54 others arrested, sent to jail

Kapurthala, April 19 The matter of issuance of tender for lifting wheat from the Lahan Ke Padde grain market was politicised as the Congress MLA from Bholath held a demonstration along with his supporters today.

Congress MLA from Bholath Sukhpal Khaira and his supporters express their resentment against allotment of tender for lifting wheat from the Lahan Ke Padde grain market in Kapurthala district on Thursday. The protesters, including Khaira, were later arrested by the police. —Tribune photo by Pawan Sharma

Villages of Army veterans cries for help
Hoshiarpur, April 19
Even after 60 years of the Independence, inhabitants of Kukanet village and its adjoining villages, having more than 50 per cent population of ex-servicemen, are still deprived of basic facilities despite the assurances by the government and the district administration.

Schools gear up for Earth Day functions
Nawanshahr, April 19
With a view to focusing attention on environment-related issues, Earth Day will be celebrated in schools on April 22.

Biggest-ever seizure of charas in Jalandhar
Jalandhar, April 19
The district police succeeded in seizing the biggest-ever quantity of charas in the city on Wednesday night.

Excise dept nets in increased revenue
Nawanshahr, April 19
The local excise and taxation department has witnessed a marked increase in the revenue collection for the past three months.

Tender to lift wheat
Khaira, 54 others arrested, sent to jail
Dharmendra Joshi
Tribune News Service

Kapurthala, April 19
The matter of issuance of tender for lifting wheat from the Lahan Ke Padde grain market was politicised as the Congress MLA from Bholath held a demonstration along with his supporters today, demanding that the tender should have been issued to any member of the Truck Union of Nadala and not to any outsider.

In order to avoid any untoward incident, the district police arrested Sukhpal Khaira and his 54 supporters under sections 107 and 151 of the Criminal Procedure Code as a preventive measure.

Instead of opting for bail, Khaira and his supporters preferred to go to jail in protest against the issuance of the tender in favour of Ranjit Singh Rana of Bholath.

Subsequently, they were produced in a city court and later sent to the district jail.

Meanwhile, Deputy Commissioner J.M. Balamurugan said that the tender had been issued in favour of Rana as he had offered the lowest rate of Rs 18.57 per quintal for lifting wheat from the grain market.

Balamurugan said that the tender had been issued by an authorised committee of the state government. Last time the tender was issued at Rs 20.57 per quintal.

Earlier on Wednesday, an FIR under sections 341, 427, 148, 149 and 382 of IPC was lodged against Khaira and some others on the statement of a driver of a Rana’s truck at Subhanpur police station.

However the Bholath DSP said that Khaira had not been arrested in connection with the FIR lodged on Wednesday as the matter was still under investigation.

The truck driver alleged in his statement that Khaira and his supporters had damaged his truck in an attempt to stop him from lifting wheat from the grain market.

The Deputy Commissioner said that the wheat was being purchased at the grain market since April 15 and as much as 20,000 quintals of the commodity had been accumulated at the market in the absence of any lifting.

Villages of Army veterans cries for help
Our Correspondent

Hoshiarpur, April 19
Even after 60 years of the Independence, inhabitants of Kukanet village and its adjoining villages, having more than 50 per cent population of ex-servicemen, are still deprived of basic facilities despite the assurances by the government and the district administration.

Kukanet is an isolated village located in the range of Shivalik hills adjoining the border of Himachal Pradesh in Kandi area of Hoshiarpur district.

Capt Hans Raj (retd), resident of the village, told The Tribune here today that more than 50 per cent youths of this area had served in the Indian Army. Colonel Tejwant Singh, recipient of Paramvir Chakra, also belonged to this village.

Instead of giving special facilities to the inhabitants of the area, the district administration had left them on the mercy of god.

No civil dispensary, doctor or hakim is available in the radius of 10 km-range of the village. The village has a population of about 3,500 inhabitants.

On account of non-existence of any government medical institution, the old and young suffering from various ailments could not get themselves regularly treated.

He demanded immediate setting up of a civil dispensary having at least a doctor and nurse to meet any emergency.

In the absence of proper link roads in the area, the village residents have to travel long to reach even their neighbouring villages.

The inhabitants had made several representations to the authorities concerned to link up Kukanet village with Talwara-Una road at Marwari.

The government had to metal only 5 km of existing ‘katcha’ road and with its construction thousands of inhabitants of the area would be benefited.

The people of the area are living a hard life and were mainly depended on their forest income. But they have to face a lot of difficulties due to the imposition of Section 4 and 5 of the Forest Act which should be removed immediately.

The Beshram booty (Congress Grass) has badly effected the growth of plants, bagar and grass in the area and the forest department had not made any effort to destroy it.

On account of free movement of wild animals, including Sambhar (antelope), wild boar, monkeys and stray animals in the fields, the standing crops were being damaged badly.

Schools gear up for Earth Day functions
Our Correspondent

Nawanshahr, April 19
With a view to focusing attention on environment-related issues, Earth Day will be celebrated in schools on April 22.

This was stated by district education officer Joginder Singh Aulakh and district science supervisor Balihar Singh Bains at a press release here yesterday.

As many as 250 schools in the district have been covered under the national green corps programme as per the directions of the Ministry of Environment and Forests, New Delhi, and the Punjab State Council for Science and Technology.

Eco clubs have been set up in these schools to mobilise students to create awareness among the people regarding hazards of environment pollution. The schools have been given instructions to organise various activities like cleaning up of school premises, ponds, drains, etc, conducting awareness campaigns, rallies, padayatras, exhibitions, quiz contests, poster making, painting, essay writing competitions and donating unwanted but usable items to observe Earth Day.

Biggest-ever seizure of charas in Jalandhar
Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, April 19
The district police succeeded in seizing the biggest-ever quantity of charas in the city on Wednesday night.

Talking to media persons here today, Superintendent of police (city-II) Amar Singh Chahal and DSP (city-II) Rajeswar Singh said as much as 35 kg of charas was seized from two Himachal Pradesh residents near Sutlej cinema under police division number six.

The Himachal residents were identified as Tilak Raj of Gandial Morh village and Om Prakash of Aryash village in Chamba district. They were carrying the charas in their car and were nabbed after a tip-off.

During preliminary interrogation, they said they had been supplying charas to different parts of the city and in Amritsar and Ludhiana, he added.

Chahal said they would further be interrogated to know the names of persons whom they were supplying the charas and they would also be nabbed after getting information about them.

The SP and the DSP said they were also supplying charas to Vikramjeet and Sandeep who had been nabbed with 9 kg of charas last week.

Chahal said they would be taken to the joint interrogation centre in Amritsar as they were inter-state suppliers of charas.

Excise dept nets in increased revenue

Nawanshahr, April 19
The local excise and taxation department has witnessed a marked increase in the revenue collection for the past three months.

Assistant excise and taxation commissioner H.P.S. Ghotra said Rs 7 lakh was recovered by imposing penalties for violations of various sections of the VAT Act during inspections and raids. The revenue earned was 25 per cent higher than that of the corresponding period of the previous year. — OC