Jalandhar, September 7
Over 50 call centre employees of Connect, a telephone company, who had been allegedly asked to quit the zonal office at the GT road here, sat on a dharna outside the office building jamming the traffic on the highway for a short while this morning.

The employees said they had been waiting for their promotions and hike in salaries as promised to them earlier but it was not done.

They said the call centre team had then been assured that supervisors and team leader trainers would be chosen among them and their growth in the company was certain but they could not see their growth in the company.

They said when they tried to discuss the matter with the top officials, they were asked to quit.

In a signed statement, they have said they are ready to join back in case they are given in writing that their demands will be accepted.

The comments of Naresh Bhatia, AVP, could not be sought as he did not answer the phone call.

Phagwara, September 7
The Punjab Legal Services Authority (PLSA) has announced the schedule of quarterly lok adalats and labour courts to be held in various districts of Punjab from October to December.

Disclosing this here today, a spokesman of the PLSA said in order to provide free legal services to the downtrodden all efforts would be made to spread awareness about various schemes of the authority through seminars, awareness campaigns and legal literacy camps.

He added that for the convenience of public and to provide them speedy justice at their doorstep, sixty-nine lok adalats would be organised on Saturdays at the subdivisional level and six labour courts on Fridays at various headquarters. He said six lok adalats would be held on October 6 at Sangrur, Moonak, Barnala, Malerkotla, Dhuri and Sunam.

Four lok adalats would be held on October 13 at Ropar, Mohali, Anandpur Sahib and Kharar, five on October 20 at Amritsar, Patti, Ajnala, Baba Bakala and Tarn Taran and six lok adalats would be organised on November 3 at Mansa, Sardulgarh, Budhlada, Bathinda, Talwandi Sabo and Rampura Phul.

“Twelve lok adalats would be held on November 17 at Ludhiana, Jagraon, Khanna, Samrala, Gurdaspur, Batala, Pathankot, Ferozepore, Abhar, Fazilka, Zira and Jalalabad West, while eight adalats on December 1 at Jalandhar, Nawanshahr, Nakodar, Phillaur, Balachaur, Kapurthala, Sultanpur Lodhi and Phagwara, whereas 11 lok adalats on December 8 at Patiala, Rajpura, Nabha, Samana, Fatehgarh Sahib, Amloh, Faridkot, Moga, Muktsar, Malout, Gidderbaha and three lok adalats would be organised on December 15 at Hoshiarpur, Garshankar and Dasuya,” he added.

“Six labour courts would be organised at various district headquarters on Fridays during the period,” he said.

Phillaur, September 7
The Punjab government is all set to fill vacant posts of drug inspector by appointing medical officers, having qualifications of MD microbiology, as drug inspectors.

They will also have additional charge of drug inspectors, besides their existing duties. Civil surgeon Ashok Nayyar stated this while talking to newsmen here today. He said the government had given additional charge of drug inspectors to the following 15 medical officers of the state: Dr Mukesh Kumar, MO, Nakodar (Kapurthala), Dr Indu Bhushan, assistant civil surgeon (Bathinda), Dr Inderdeep Singh, MO, Bathinda (Mansa), Dr Suresh Kumar(Barnala), Dr Sushil Kumar, MO, Ferozepore (Muktsar), Dr Supwinder Singh, MO, Abohar (Sangrur), Dr Subhash Dhuria, MO, Khulkheran, Ferozepore (Tarn Taran), Dr Chaman Lal, MO, Dalewali 
(Ludhiana), Dr Baljit Singh (Fatehgarh Sahib), Dr Shashi Kant, MO, Khamano (Mohali), Dr Chaman Lal (Hoshiarpur), Dr Davinder Singh, MO, Phillaur (Nawanshahr), Dr Roop Lal, MO, Shankar (Amritsar), Dr Gurmail Singh, MO, Dhudhekein (Moga), and 
Dr Om Parkash, MO, Nangal (Ropar). — OC

Jalandhar, September 7
The Amritsar Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum has asked the Northern Railway’s general manager to refund the amount spent on tickets, compensation of Rs 2,000 each and litigation expenses of Rs 1,000 to the three complainants who suffered due to the Railway’s negligence.

The complainants had booked seats in the sleeper coach, but the railway authorities forgot to attach the coach to the train.

Complainants Madan Lal Aneja, his wife Pushp Lata Aneja and son Atul Aneja, then residents of Jalandhar, had complained against the Indian Railways. The family said they had reserved seats on January 17, 2006, for undertaking a journey through train number 2 ALH Amritsar-Hisar on January 21, 2006. But when they went to board the train on January 21, they were surprised to see that the sleeper coach allotted to them was not attached to the train.

The family said that they had gone to attend a wedding at Hisar on January 22, 2006, but they could not attend it properly as they suffered mental and physical trauma dueto inconvenience caused by the railway authorities.

Initially the railway authorities tried to deny allegations levelled by the complaints, but later admitted that due to a technical fault the sleeper coach could not be attached to the train.

The forum observed that the railway authorities could not assign any reason for the glaring deficiency in service on their part and considered their reply as vague. It found that the complainants could not be provided a service for which they had paid the amount well in advance.

The forum asked the opposite parties, including the Indian Railways GM, the railway station superintendents at Amritsar, Hisar and Jalandhar and the chief commercial manager, New Delhi, to refund the amount paid for the tickets.

It has also asked the authorities to pay Rs 2,000 as compensation to each of the three complainants along with Rs 1,000 litigation expenses.

Hoshiarpur, September 7
The District Consumers Forum, headed by president P.D. Goel, has directed Hoshiarpur Central Cooperative Bank, Hariana branch, to pay either 1,000 Australian dollars or its equivalent in the Indian currency prevalent on May 5, 2000, along with interest at 9 per cent per annum from the date of deposit till realisation to Aroor Singh of Niajian (Bikhowal).

The forum further directed the bank to pay a compensation amounting to Rs 3,000 for mental agony and harassment caused due to non-encashment of the cheque along with litigation cost of Rs 1,000 within a month.

Aroor Singh had field a complaint under section 12 of the Consumers Protection Act in which he had stated that the cheque for 1000 Australian dollars deposited by him with the bank was not encashed despite his repeated enquiries. The bank in its reply admitted that the cheque deposited by Aroor was sent through Allahabad Bank, Jalandhar, for collection which was lost in transit. Allahabad Bank filed a separate reply and also admitted that the cheque was sent to Australian Bank for collection, but the same got lost in transit. The forum made it clear that since Aroor was not a consumer of Allahabad Bank, the complaint against it was not maintainable. However, the cooperative bank could stake claim of the amount which was to be paid to the complainant from Allahabad Bank as per law.

Phagwara, September 7
Hundreds of the PSEB subscribers belonging to Mehli Gate, Nigaha Mohalla and Hoshiarpur Road had to face inconvenience as they have not received their electricity bills until the last date of payment, which was today.

Alleging carelessness on the part of the board officials, Shiv Sena Punjab vice-president Pawan Parbhakar said several subscribers were seen rushing to the board offices to procure their bills, but in vain. “These subscribers will now have to deposit their electricity bills along with a late fee,” he added. When contacted, Phagwara senior executive engineer Sanjeev Kumar said the delay was due to a staff shortage. “One of the three bill distributors retired a few days back, while the post of another one has been lying vacant for the past few months. The remaining one could not distribute the entire bills since he was not aware of subscribers’ addresses,” he added.

Kumar said the department had deputed an employee from the technical branch to distribute the bills. — OC

Phagwara, September 7
The Phagwara police has booked three residents of Pandhwa for allegedly abducting a young girl of the same village. The accused have been identified as Sandeep Kumar, Ravi Kumar and Prem Chand.

In another case, the police has booked six persons on the charge of assaulting Gurmit Singh, a resident of Mehtan village.Meanwhile PO Sukhbir, alias Bobby, arrested by the Phagwara police, was produced before the judicial magistrate today who sent him in judicial remand for 14 days. — OC