Jalandhar, July 25
All three major political parties were unable to come up with the final list of 
candidates for the forthcoming municipal corporation elections.

The parties, which have been holding screening meetings at the local level for the past few days, have submitted their tentative lists to the party high commands, from where the final announcements are yet to come.

Still, the SAD and BJP reportedly have not been able to resolve the confusion over ward number 41 and 47. The final decision has been left to the heads of both parties.

Moreover, there have been reports coming of increase bitterness among the workers within the party, especially the BJP, over the issue of allotment of seats from various wards.

Majority of the workers are said to have turned rebellious against district party president Shiv Dyal Chugh, who too has been reportedly keen to get a seat from ward number 33. The situation has turned averse ever since state BJP president Rajinder Bhandari visited the party office last evening where the workers had lodged a massive protest. The infighting ahead of the polls is being seen as a major dent for the party. The BJP workers here said they were trying to catch up with the latest developments at Chandigarh where a meeting to finalise the names for candidates for all four MCs was on. “We expect an outcome late night today or tomorrow morning,” was the common reply.

Akali leaders too have been trying to zero in on to developments taking place at Chandigarh or in Delhi where Sukhbir Badal has been camping for the last few days.

“We have been kept out of it at this stage,” said the leaders from the Akali camp. The local MLAs and senior party leaders, however, remained busy with a meeting held back here to plan various poll strategies. Most of them hoped for results late night or tomorrow.

Congress district president Arun Walia said the final meeting was on at Chandigarh where local issues were being projected by former minister Tej Prakash. He too said the results would be declared late night or tomorrow. The Congress party is said to have tentatively cleared a list of 35 candidates and the issues over the remaining 25 is under scrutiny. Meanwhile, all those who are confident of getting a seat or have no party rivals in their wards are making optimum use of the time which others have been forced to waste.

These candidates have said that they were going door-to-door and meeting people 
on regular basis to strike a chord with them and have an upper edge. 

Chandigarh, July 25
The attack on district development and panchayat officer (DDPO) of Gurdaspur Ranbir Singh Mudal while he was on duty on July 21, today sparked off major agitations across Punjab.

Leading the protesters in the state were 300 employees of the Chandigarh-based headquarters of the Rural Development and Panchayat Department. They demanded immediate action against conspirators of the assault in which Mudal was critically injured. His arm and leg were fractured and left ear was chopped off. 
In support of the DDPO, recuperating at Amandeep Hospital, Amritsar, employees observed a statewide strike and dharna, threatening that they would not resume work unless perpetrators of the act were arrested. The strike was observed in all the 141 blocks of 20 district headquarters. Only two arrests have been made in the case.

Association member J.S. Ahluwalia, who was part of the protest in Chandigarh’s Sector 17 today, told The Tribune: “The incident is an attack on the Punjab government. It is an attempt to prevent well-meaning officers from performing their official duty. If this is how our officers are treated, who will dare to fix land encroachers?”

Mudal was returning after auctioning 210 acres of common village land in Khuaja Wardik in the Dera Baba Nanak area. It is alleged that the attack was engineered by supporters of local block development and panchayat officer Harjinder Singh with the support of relatives of a local politician. The bone of contention was the auctioned land, which the assailants wanted for themselves.

SSP Batala R.N. Dhoke, when contacted, said prime accused Harjinder Singh had absconded. “We have registered an FIR for an attempt to murder and arrested two persons, Sukhwinder Singh and Mohan Singh, who allegedly attacked the DDPO with sharpedged weapons and baseball bats.”

The striking employees said they were highly dissatisfied with police action in the matter. In a memorandum submitted today to Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and Punjab DGP N.P.S. Aulakh, they demanded that the FIR should be properly framed to include section 120-B. The police has, meanwhile, posted two security guards for the protection of Mudal.

Jalandhar, July 25
Within 12 hours of kidnapping, city brick-kiln owner Manohar Lal Bhardwaj was released by the abductors on Wednesday. The kiln owner was kidnapped from his residence in Guru Gobind Singh Enclave on Tuesday at around 9 pm.

Unfolding the events, Bhardwaj said the abductors left him at Tanda bus stand in the morning from where he boarded a bus for Jalandhar and later informed the police about his release on his return to the city. He said the abductors used the same car to drop him at Tanda bus stand in which he was kidnapped. Bhardwaj said he was first taken to Hoshiarpur, then to Gurdaspur and finally to the house of alleged kidnapper Harjit where he was kept for a night. Bhardwaj claimed that he was kidnapped as he could not repay Rs 1.6 lakh borrowed from one of the kidnappers some time back.

SSP Arpit Shukla said there were four persons behind the kidnapping. Two of them had been identified as Harjit Singh and Gurcharan Singh. — TNS 

Kapurthala, July 25
A 137-year-old bridge, built on the holy Bein, near Kanjli, collapsed early this morning.

However, no one was injured in the incident.

The bridge was built in 1870 by the Britishers. Deputy commissioner J.M. Balamurugan said the bridge was declared unsafe for vehicular traffic, but was open for the pedestrians.

“A parallel bridge was also constructed in 1985 on the Bein,” he added.

Meanwhile, several persons said no steps were taken to tell the public that the bridge had been declared unsafe.

Phagwara, July 25
Though the Supreme Court has instructed former Hindi film starlet Monica Bedi to stay at her native Chabbewal 
village in Hoshiarpur, the police has not made any arrangements for her security.

When contacted, IG Zonal Sanjeev Kalra told this correspondent this evening that he had not yet received any instructions either from the Supreme Court or from the Punjab DGP.

When asked whether any of the family members of Bedi had approached the police for security cover for Monica Bedi, Kalra said no one had approached the police so far. But the police could consider providing a security cover if demanded by the Bedi’s family. The IG said the police would assess the situation to maintain law and order.