Jalandhar, August 13
Had the hotel owner, where ULFA militants Hemanta Roy and Jagdish Das were working as waiters, informed the police about their antecedents before employing them, the two ultras could have been nabbed much earlier.

SSP Arpit Shukla told The Tribune that the district police has been asking the residents to furnish details of their tenants and servants.

The exercise is aimed at checking entry of criminals in the city in the garb of a tenant or an employee. However, most of the residents do not pay any heed towards these requests. The district police chief appealed to the residents to be more responsible and approach the concerned thanas with details of their tenants.

“Whenever such an information comes to us, we send the entire data of the individual along with the photographs to the cops at his/her native place to verify the antecedents. Generally, the police verification works as a deterrent for migrant criminals who are looking for new hideouts,” said Shukla.

The SSP said no action would be taken against the hotel owner for not informing the police before employing the two ‘waiters’ as it did not amount to any crime under the existing laws. At the same time, he said the district magistrate keeps on issuing instructions from time to time using his powers provided to him under section 144 of CrPC . If any such instructions prevail now, legal action could be taken against the hotel owner, he added. 

Jalandhar, August 13
A worker was burnt alive and at least eight others were injured when a major fire broke out this evening at VK Rubber Industry at Sports Surgical and Leather Complex on the Kapurthala road.

The deceased has been identified as Mukesh, a resident of Chhapra village in Bihar. The injured are also reported to be migrant workers from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.

The injured were rushed to the civil hospital. However, the condition of some of the injured workers is reported to be serious.

The fire broke out at around 5.50 in the evening, reportedly due to a short-circuit. It took about two hours for eight fire tenders to extinguish the fire.

Hoshiarpur, August 13
The Hoshiarpur district consumer forum, headed by P.D. Goel, has directed the ICICI Lombard General Insurance Company to pay Rs 57,644 with interest at the rate of 9 per cent per annum along with Rs 1,000 litigation expenses to complainant Hari Krishan Sharma of Deep Nagar.

Sharma in his complaint had stated that he got his Indica car insured through Gaurav Sharma of ICICI Lombard General Insurance Company after paying a premium of Rs 13,191. The car met with an accident on June 27, 2006, and the insurance company repudiated his claim on the grounds that Gaurav had not deposited the premium with them. The firm pleaded that the policy was not in operation as the cheque given by the complainant had bounced. Gaurav claimed that the premium amount was not paid to him.

The forum observed that the ICICI authorities have not produced the bounced cheque. Since the company has withheld the material information pertaining to the cheque, adverse inference has been drawn against it. Subsequently, the forum observed that the firm has illegally cancelled the policy. Also by producing receipts worth Rs 57,644, the complainant proved on record that he had got the car repaired.

The forum further said Gaurav had also failed to prove that payment of Rs 13,191 had not been made by Hari Krishan towards the premium.

Jalandhar, August 13
The Punjab Nirman Mazdoor Union has urged the Punjab government to implement the Building and Other Construction Workers (Regulation of Employment and Condition of Service) Act, 1996, for the welfare of the daily wagers.

Addressing a convention here today, union general secretary Harinder Randhawa said the Act was already implemented in the neighbouring state of Haryana.

“In Punjab more than eight lakh daily wagers are working. In the absence of any Act to safeguard their interests the labourers have to suffer a lot in case they become victim in any mishap,” said Randhawa.

The members of the union demanded stringent action against those factory owners who deduct their wages on one or the other pretext. The union said in case the Act was not implemented by December they would intensify their agitation. 

Jalandhar, August 13
A day after the death of a woman patient after delivering a baby at RB Sewak Ram Charitable Hospital at Kapurthala Chowk here, the district police has booked gynaecologist Dr Amita Mahajan for her alleged negligence in properly treating the patient.

Confirming this, superintendent of police (city I) S.K. Kalia said an FIR under section 304-A (death due to negligence) of the IPC was registered at police station No 1 against the doctor on the statement of deceased Kanchan’s husband Rakesh Kumar Happy of the Harnam Dass Pura locality.

Meanwhile, SHO of the police station Rajendra Sharma said the FIR had been lodged on the basis of the report of a four-member panel of doctors, which stated that negligence in treatment might be the cause of the death. The accused would be arrested soon, he added.

Kanchan’s viscera has been sent to a forensic lab in Patiala for a histo-pathology test to know the exact cause of the death.

Earlier, Kanchan was cremated at the Harnam Dass Pura crematorium after a post-mortem examination.aAgitated relatives and friends of the deceased continued their protest today also outside the hospital, seeking strict action against the doctor.

Jalandhar, August 13
A district-level science seminar on global warming was organised by the education department at DSSD Senior Secondary School, Basti Nau, here on Monday.

Around 190 tehsil-level winners from 127 schools participated in the event. Sarita from Government Senior Secondary School, Bundala, bagged the first prize in the competition. The second prize was shared by Parminder Kaur and Sandeep Kumar, both from Government Senior Secondary School, Cheema Kalan. Ramandeep of SD Phularwal Senior Secondary stood third, while consolation prizes went to Neeti from Dev Raj Girls Senior Secondary School and Arzoo from Government Girls Senior Secondary School, Fantom Ganj. The prizes were distributed by district education officer (secondary) Harinder Pal Sahni and district science supervisor K.P. Sharma.