Jalandhar, August 17
After doing a sea-saw by shifting loyalty, an independent councillor from Ward 1, Paramjit Jassal, finally joined SAD today. Having first ditched SAD by announcing her support to the BJP, she took another U-turn by joining the SAD.

Apparently pressurised by Akalis for joining SAD, councillor and her husband Des Raj Jassal were presented before mediapersons today.

Cheering SAD leaders who had been trying to equalise with the BJP with a 20:20 score, it once again brought to the fore possible rift between the two coalition partners, at least at the local level.

Asked why he did not appear for a similar ceremony that had been planned on Monday evening, Des Raj Jassal said he was not aware of the event. “I had no idea about the ceremony,” he said. He also denied having asked for the deputy mayor’s post as had been alleged by former Akali minister, Sewa Singh Sekhwan, on Monday.

It was time for Sekhwan too to backtrack from his statement today. He said, “I did not have any direct contact with the Jassals. The whole dialogue was through a mediator which resulted in a communication gap between us.”

Sekhwan also remained evasive on a number of statements made by him earlier, including his demand for a SAD candidate for the post of mayor instead of the BJP in view of a better performance. “You all must have read today in newspapers that the CM had asked us to remain mum on such issues,” he said.

Asked why he wanted to increase the number when the party had already attained a majority, he replied, “It is always good to be in a stronger position. Such moves are always helpful in the long run.”

Des Raj Jassal said, “Both the parties are coalition partners. I had earlier taken a stand that I would remain independent but will support the BJP. Since BJP and SAD are hand in hand in the state, I do not think there is any harm in joining either of the two parties till they help me improve the condition of our ward.”

Councillor Paramjit Jassal again arrived late in the conference casting aspersions till the very end.

Gurcharan Singh Channi, district president SAD, said it was a proud moment for the party as earlier it had never crossed the mark attained by the Congress. “This is for the first time that the SAD has been one up on the Congress which now lags behind with 19 councillors.”

Meanwhile, SAD leaders are reportedly pestering Hans Raj Rana, BSP councillor from Ward 6, to join their party, so as to be ahead of the BJP by one more mark. 

Jalandhar, August 17
The district police claimed to have arrested three out of four persons, including a police head constable, for robbing a professor of Rs 3.2 lakh this Tuesday. The police has also recovered Rs 2.7 lakh while the remaining amount is said to be with the fourth accomplice.

Addressing mediapersons here today, Dr Surinder Kumar Kalia, SP City-I and M.S. Bhullar, DSP City-I, said community support had helped them identify two of the four accused. The two accused Yog Raj, a resident of Gurbachan Nagar, and head constable, Lakhbir Singh, alias Billa, a resident of Nagra, had been seen by witnesses when the complainant Prof Devi Dayal Arora was accepting money from Bimla Devi, the SP said.

The incident occurred when professor Arora was on his way back in his car with the amount he had received after the of sale of his school Kundan Vidya Mandir, situated in Sanjay Gandhi colony. Two motorcyclists robbed him of the money after stopping his car.

The SP said Yog Raj and Lakhbir allegedly conspired with the other two accomplices, Lakhwinder Singh Lakha and Sukhwinder Singh, both residents of Maqsudan. “After Prof Arora left the place in his car along with the money, Yog Raj and Lakhbir informed Sukwhinder and Lakhwinder. The duo then intercepted the professor and looted the money,” said SP Dr Kalia.

After interrogation it was discovered that Yog Raj and Lakhbir kept Rs 1.1 lakh each of the amount while Sukhwinder and Lakhwinder were given Rs 50,000 each. .Yog Raj and Lakhbir were arrested with their share of Rs 2.2 lakh.Another raid was conducted to nab the other two from Maqsudan on Thursday night. While Sukhwinder fell into the police trap, Lakhwinder managed to escape, SP Dr Kalia said. Amount of Rs 50,000 has also been made.

DSP Bhullar said Yog Raj, a carpenter was not facing any financial crunch at home and had returned from Dubai some time back. Sukhwinder, he said was probably a drug addict and the four met at a health club.

Phagwara, August 17
The police cracked a nexus between drug smugglers and employees of Pepsu Road Transport Corporation here today and arrested four persons including a PRTC driver and conductor. Four kilogram of opium was recovered from their possession.

Providing details, Phagwara DSP H.P.S. Khakh said one of the accused Shera of Sirsa came into contact with PRTC driver Avtar Singh of Bhatinda and bus conductor Gurmit Singh of Pakho village in Barnala three months ago and started selling opium to PRTC employees at Rs 16,000 per kg. The driver and conductor were currently deployed on Barnala-Mansa-Sirsa-Beas route.

After this the employees made a deal with two persons Jasbir Singh, a dismissed police constable and Gurnam Singh, both residents of Rayyia Mandi near Beas, and sold opium to them at Rs 40,000 per kg. The DSP said the drug peddler joined hands with the PRTC employees because they had less chances of being nabbed. The employees took the chance in order to earn easy money, he added.

“The employees brought a consignment of four kg of opium, but they were detained in a traffic jam due to heavy rains in Phagwara and Jalandhar on August 16 due to a technical snag in their bus near Jalandhar on their way to Beas. They parked the bus at Jalandhar and called the other two gang members from Beas to Jalandhar. All four of them came to Phagwara to sell the consignment today, but were nabbed by a police party near village Jagjitpur,” said Khakh.

The accused have been arrested under the NDPS act.

Nawanshahr, August 17
The government’s plan to shift the vegetable market from the heart of the city to a site adjoining new grain market situated on Karyam Road has left the local vendors worried a lot.

The auction date for the booths at the proposed site has been fixed as September 29. Almost two decades ago, a plan was prepared to shift the grain and vegetable market at Karyam Road. The grain market was shifted under the plan, however, vegetable market could not be shifted.

The Sabzi Mandi Arhtiyas Association under the leadership of Keshav Narayan Bhucher met the local MLA Jatinder Singh Kariha and apprised him with the problems, which would be faced by the vegetable traders and public if the vegetable market is shifted.

Talking to the Tribune, Keshav Bhucher said, “We received a letter in which the auction of the booths at the proposed site was mentioned as September 29.” Complaining about the proposed site for grain market he said, “The place is not fit for setting up of vegetable market because the trading activities would be hampered. The hustle and bustle during the procurement season of various crops like wheat, maize, paddy, sun flower, sarson etc would interrupt with our activities.”

“The pollution created by the cleaning of crops during the procurement season would also have adverse effect on fruit and vegetables,” Keshav added. Moreover, the shifting of vegetable market at the proposed site would further aggravate the problem of traffic congestion in 
the town.

He added, presently the vegetable market is situated on the Jalandhar-Chandigarh road and is wide enough for the movement of vehicles.

“Incase the market is shifted to the proposed site, the vehicles have to pass through the interior roads like Old Court Road, Rotary Chowk, Railway Road, Railway Station Chowk, Pandora Mohalla, Karyam Road, creating traffic chaos in the areas,” he argued.

Besides, the proposed site lacks adequate space as it spreads over 7 acres of land. The association is of view that the government should shift the vegetable market to a site where at least 10 acres of land is available.

Hoshiarpur, August 17
Following the complaint of Jasbir Kaur, a resident of Bassi Kikran, the Bulhowal police has booked booked her husband Sukhdev Singh, father-in-law Kehru Ram, mother-in-law Rajo Rani and brother-in-law Raunqi Ram of village Lahora Kangana for demanding dowry from her.

Jasbir stated that she got married to Sukhdev around 14 years ago. “Since marriage my in-laws along with my husband started demanding more dowry. I brought cash from her parents on various occasions to meet their demand, but they continued to demand more dowry. In July my in-laws again demanded Rs 50,000 from my parents, which I refused to bring. On the refusal they started beating me and also chopped of my hair,” added the victim.