J A L A N D H A R

Cops among 15 hurt in attack on dera
Jalandhar, July 29
At least 15 persons, including six policemen, were injured in an attack on Surja Devi’s dera at Jalbhai village, falling under Adampur police station, this evening.

Blind protest govt apathy 

Jalandhar/Phagwara, July 29 More than 100 visually-impaired persons carried out a protest march from Rashtriaya Andh Vidhyalaya here to the residence of Punjab social security minister  Swarna Ram in Phagwara on Sunday.

Visually-impaired march for demands in Jalandhar. — Tribune photo by Pawan Sharma

Disappearance of NRI: Son seeks govt help
Phillaur, July 29
Avtar Chand, son of an NRI Joginder Singh has urged the Punjab government to look into the mysterious disappearance of his father. Talking to mediapersons here on Sunday, Avatar said his father went missing from Amritsar airport on June 22. 

Cave-in Deaths ‘Plot owner did not take consent’  Construction against bye-laws: Neighbours  Jalandhar, July 29 A day after four labourers were buried alive when huge volume of earth caved in while digging basement of a plot in the Civil Lines locality of the city, the owners of plots adjacent to the site alleged that the construction was being carried out against the building bye-laws.

The retention wall constructed to protect the nearby buildings is also alleged to be not up to the mark. — A Tribune photograph

IT training for govt teachers
Nawanshahr, July 29
The Punjab Integrated Computer Training Education Society (PICTES) in collaboration with Intel Education organised a district-level “Intel teacher to future” training programme at Government Senior Secondary School  here.

2 arrested for kerosene black marketing
Batala, July 29
A police team under inspector Kirpal Singh conducted raids and seized a large amount of kerosene from shops owned by Rakesh Kumar and Kuldeep Singh. The accused were black marketing kerosene which was to be distributed under public distribution system. This was disclosed by SSP R.N. Dhoke while talking to the media persons here.

Poll Pourri
JD (U) to venture out all alone
Jalandhar, July 29
The Janata Dal (United) will contest MC elections on its own, party’s state general secretary Om Prakash Khemkarani said in a press note here today.

Teachers to hold dharna on Aug 8
Nawanshahr, July 29
In the name of bringing in qualitative improvement in the functioning of the government schools, the successive governments in the state have just been experimenting with declaring Saturdays as “half days” or “full days” or closing schools on the second Saturday of every month, said Sucha Singh Khatra and Shiv Kumar Vashisht, state general secretary and district president of the Government Teachers Union (GTU), respectively, while talking to media persons here.

Cops among 15 hurt in attack on dera
Dharmendra Joshi
Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, July 29
At least 15 persons, including six policemen, were injured in an attack on Surja Devi’s dera at Jalbhai village, falling under Adampur police station, this evening.

The dera was attacked by over 60 armed Nihangs and some villagers after an altercation between a villager and a sewadar of the dera took place, Aadampur SHO Jasbir Singh Randhawa told The Tribune. The Nihangs were reportedly called by the villagers after the alteraction took place.

Randhawa said the head of the dera, Surja Devi, and at least her eight sewadars were seriously injured in the attack.

The assailants, armed with swords and other sharp-edged weapons, did not even spare the policemen, said Randhawa, adding that at least six policemen received injuries in the attack.

The attackers also tore the uniforms of several policemen, including that of the SHO, and took the turban of a sub-inspector with them while fleeing after the attack, Randhawa added.

The injured were admitted to various hospitals of Jalandhar and Aadampur, said the SHO, adding that some of the seriously injured persons were referred to some hospitals in Ludhiana.

When contacted, SSP Arpit Shukla said senior police officers, including SP (city II) Sarabjeet Singh, rushed to the spot after the incident.

Meanwhile, president of the cultural wing of the Jalandhar unit of the Taraksheel Society Raju Soni said the society had already asked the district administration to close the dera as its head had allegedly been exploiting gullible persons in the name of curing  their diseases.

No FIR was registered till the filing of the news. The situation in and around the village was tense.

Blind protest govt apathy 
Tribune Reporters

Jalandhar/Phagwara, July 29
More than 100 visually-impaired persons carried out a protest march from Rashtriaya Andh Vidhyalaya here to the residence of Punjab social security minister 
Swarna Ram in Phagwara on Sunday.

The protesters assembled under the banner of National Federation of the Blind (NFB) to raise their voice against the non-implementation of one per cent quota for blind in government jobs and education sector.

The agitators covered a distance of about 25 kms on foot to reach Phagwara. However, the minister was not at his residence. He is reportedly recovering from typhoid in Chandigarh. A memorandum of demands was handed over to Satnampura SHO Param Sunil Randhawa.

NFB general secretary Rajesh Mohan said the quota for the blind was not being implemented properly due to lack of coordination and commitment in social security department. He alleged the state government was not paying any attention to the privately- managed institutions for the visually impaired. Such institutions are deteriorating fast and just being used for receiving donations, he said. Rajesh also alleged that the Punjab government had failed to implement the Disability Act. He said two panels, state coordination committee and state executive committee, were set up for the purpose but nothing concrete has been achieved so far.

Regarding the inconvenience faced by the disabled, he said the government departments first announce interviews for the jobs and later withdraw them without citing any proper reason. Three protesters had to be hospitalised after they complained of not ‘feeling well’ during the march. They were treated at Guru Nanak Neterheen Vridh Ashram at Nangal Saprodd, near Phagwara. Among others who attended the rally included Bharat Neterheen Sewak Samaj Punjab president Davinder Singh, Akhil Bhartiya Neterheen Karamchari Sangh president Harbans Singh, chief of Punjab Sports Asssociation for Blinds Gurpreet Singh and Rashtriya Neterheen Sangarsh Samiti vice-president Iqbal Singh. 

Disappearance of NRI: Son seeks govt help

Phillaur, July 29
Avtar Chand, son of an NRI Joginder Singh has urged the Punjab government to look into the mysterious disappearance of his father. Talking to mediapersons here on Sunday, Avatar said his father went missing from Amritsar airport on June 22. Joginder, who belongs to Dosanjh Kalan, was working in Dubai for the last 31 years and frequently visited his village. Avtar said his father landed at Amritsar airport on June 22 but did not reach his village. “I made a phone call to Dubai in the first week of July to know about my father’s whereabouts. However, his colleagues informed me that that he had gone to India on June 22,” he said.

Later we learnt that my father had come to India with one of his friends from Mallan village, added Avtar. Joginder reportedly told his friend that he would be staying at Amritsar for some shopping. No one heard from him since then.

Avtar also urged the Punjab police to trace his father at the earliest. — OC 

Cave-in Deaths
‘Plot owner did not take consent’ 
Construction against bye-laws: Neighbours 
Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, July 29
A day after four labourers were buried alive when huge volume of earth caved in while digging basement of a plot in the Civil Lines locality of the city, the owners of plots adjacent to the site alleged that the construction was being carried out against the building bye-laws.

Talking to The Tribune, Sandeep Sandhu, neighbour of Jugal Kishore — owner of the plot where the incident took place — alleged that the latter had not sought any consent from them for the construction work.

“According to the rules, a permission from neighbours is mandatory for such constructions. But the owner did not bother. As a result, my house developed several cracks. We raised objections with the authorities but they paid no heed. Therefore, we decided to file a case in the court,” said Sandhu.

MC commissioner C.S. Talwar admitted that approval of neighbours was required for constructing a basement. “In case the neighbours don’t give their consent, basement can still be constructed if a retaining wall is erected to prevent any damage to the nearby structures,” he added. Interestingly, the retaining wall, which has been constructed here, doesn’t seem to be a proper one.

The distance between the wall and that of the building on the backside of the plot was very less. The earthen wall was covered with a rough cloth in an attempt to give an appearance of entire wall being cemented.

Meanwhile, the district police has registered a case against four persons including the owner of the plot Jugal Kishore, his brother Nawal Kishore, architect Pramod Bharadwaj and contractor Surinder Shinda. While Nawal has been arrested, the other three accused are still absconding. According to the police, an FIR was lodged following the report of Naib Tehsildar Manjinder Singh Sidhu which stated that the owner had violated bye-laws by constructing basement beyond 20 feet while he had permission for just four feet. 

IT training for govt teachers
Our Correspondent

Nawanshahr, July 29
The Punjab Integrated Computer Training Education Society (PICTES) in collaboration with Intel Education organised a district-level “Intel teacher to future” training programme at Government Senior Secondary School 
here.

Pankaj Jamwal from Intel imparted training to 20 school principals under the programme, with a view to equipping them with the latest technology skills.

District education officer Balbir Singh Saini exhorted the principals and teachers to learn the latest skills in information technology. The programme focused on student-centred education through innovative methods.

Saini said the principals and teachers, with the technology, could shape the vision and mission of school education in the present scenario. The selected school teachers would also be imparted training under this programme and they would act as master trainers (MTs). Each MT would impart training to at least five teachers, said the DEO.

2 arrested for kerosene black marketing
Our Correspondent

Batala, July 29
A police team under inspector Kirpal Singh conducted raids and seized a large amount of kerosene from shops owned by Rakesh Kumar and Kuldeep Singh. The accused were black marketing kerosene which was to be distributed under public distribution system. This was disclosed by SSP R.N. Dhoke while talking to the media persons here.

On a tip-off, the police, along with the district food supply officer, raided the shop of Rakesh Kumar and seized 61 drums of kerosene measuring 12,200 litres. The police also seized 15 empty drums and arrested salesman Bikramjit Singh.

Similarly, the police also seized seven filled drums and six half-filled drums, measuring 2000 litres of kerosene along with one drum of mobile oil of 200 litres from the shop owned by Kuldeep Singh. An empty drum was also seized during the raid.

During interrogation, Bikramjit Singh said that he was employed by Rakesh Kumar as a salesman in his shop. Rakesh Kumar was running a government fair price shop and he used to sell kerosene in black to the mini-bus owners and truck mechanics at Rs 25 per litre. However, Rakesh Kumar fled from the shop. 

Poll Pourri
JD (U) to venture out all alone
Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, July 29
The Janata Dal (United) will contest MC elections on its own, party’s state general secretary Om Prakash Khemkarani said in a press note here today.

The party general secretary said party president Inderjeet Saini had appealed to the ruling SAD-BJP alliance to leave some seats for the Janata Dal (U) for the MC poll, but the alliance did not gave any positive response.

So the JD (U) decided to either field its own candidates or support like-minded candidates in the MC elections, he added.

Teachers to hold dharna on Aug 8
Our Correspondent

Nawanshahr, July 29
In the name of bringing in qualitative improvement in the functioning of the government schools, the successive governments in the state have just been experimenting with declaring Saturdays as “half days” or “full days” or closing schools on the second Saturday of every month, said Sucha Singh Khatra and Shiv Kumar Vashisht, state general secretary and district president of the Government Teachers Union (GTU), respectively, while talking to media persons here.

The real issues like filling of vacant posts of teachers in schools and stopping the convention of assigning non-academic duties, like conducting of various field surveys, elections, revision of voters’ lists, etc were not being paid any heed by the authorities concerned, lamented the GTU leaders. The GTU had decided to hold a dharna at Kapurthala in front of the residence of the education minister, Dr Upinderjit Kaur, on August 8 to oppose government’s education policy.