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Twin historic villages sinking into oblivion Trader’s Kidnapping |
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Illegal Amendments 60 lakh for cleaning ponds
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Twin historic villages sinking into oblivion Nawanshahr, July 19 While Gunachaur belonged to Raja Gopi Chand, his nephew Raja Bharthari ruled the nearby Heon. Raja Bharthari was so famous that a temple has been constructed at the site where his idol lies adjacent to Baba Balak Nath. The place is of great religious significance as devotees come here every year to attend a fair held in the month of March/April. When viewed from a distance, the historic villages look alike as both have settlements around huge mounds of soil. While a bit of history is still visible in Gunachaur, Heon has underwent a drastic change with concrete houses springing up like mushrooms. The only monument, reviving the memory of Raja Bharthari is a small broken tower. At Gunachaur, one can see two deep wells and one of the four entrances to the fort. The crumbling structure, made up of small bricks, has very primitive architectural design. The entrance, which looks more like a room with a dome ceiling, is now allegedly being used by miscreants for wrong purposes. Atop the mound, there’s a mosque and some old houses belonging to one Bedi family. The members of the family moved out in search of better avaneues and the houses were occupied by other village residents. Even deliberate attempts to destroy these old constructions can be seen. Says Joginder Kaur, a villager: “I have seen people removing bricks from the mosque, unoccupied houses on the mound and selling them off.” Though most of the villagers know about it, no one has come forward to inform the administration about the same. A few years back, the Gunachaur mound was disturbed as heaps of soil were removed from the areas surrounding the fort. The soil used to fill up a village pond. The pond has now been converted into a sports stadium, said a local shopkeeper Surinder Kumar. “A large number of old utensils and metal pieces were recovered
during the digging work”, added Joginder Kaur. Deedar Singh Shetra, retired government school teacher from Nawanshahr, who has been assigned the work to collect information about the monuments said, “So far, we have been unable to find new historical details here.” |
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Trader’s Kidnapping Jalandhar, July 19 In his statement on Wednesday, Ashok Madaan’s driver Surinder, had told police that his employer was kidnapped by three persons near Jandusingha village on Tuesday night. He said the speed of their Skoda car was around 100 km per hour when the alleged kidnappers hit them with their Indica car. Sources say had the car been hit at such a high speed, the occupants would have received some injuries but apparently no one was hurt. Further, the driver said he was dumped into Indica car after being blindfolded. While two of the accused drove the Skoda, their accomplice followed them in Indica. Interestingly, Surinder told cops that he had tried to draw attention of the police at a naka. When asked how could he see the police with his eyes covered, the driver said he had tried to remove the cloth. According to the driver he was thrown out of the running car in Tarn Taran and he had dinner and a cold drink at a roadside dhaba there. Sources said the dhaba has a 24-hour PCO but the driver neither did inform the police nor Ashok’s wife about the incident. Also the driver’ statement that he first boarded a bus to Amritsar instead of returning to Jalandhar is further complicating investigations, add sources. Even after coming back to Jalandhar, he did not go to his employer’s house in Urban Estate to tell his family about the abduction but directly reached his residence. It was Ashok’s wife Indira who went to the driver’s house enquiring about her husband. Meanwhile, Indira told The Tribune that she had not received any ransom calls so far. SSP Arpit Shukla said Surinder has been detained for further questioning. Neighbouring districts have been also alerted, he added. |
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Illegal Amendments Jalandhar, July 19 Citing the change of power in the state as the reason for the decision, former NRI Sabha president and Akali activist Pritam Singh Narangpuri said, “I had filed a case in December 2005 during the reign of Congress government.” He alleged that the Congress party leaders had distorted the constitution to a large extent depriving the members of their rights. He said, “We opposed the amendments as they have been made without taking the consent of any of its members.” “We are planning to backtrack as we see hope for the sabha now. We have been assured that the amendments made would be discussed in the annual general body meeting and reverted if the majority thinks our way,” former president said. |
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60 lakh for cleaning ponds
Batala, July 19 |
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