J A L A N D H A R

PSEB ‘snaps’ free supply to Dalits
Kapurthala, October 13
Contrary to the policy of the state government of providing free power up to 200 units per month to Dalits having connections of less than 1 KW, the Punjab State Electricity Board allegedly disconnected the power connections of about 10 Dalits falling under this category in Mehatpur subdivision.

Booming MNCs
Poor paying the price: Dasgupta
Jalandhar, October 13
“It is an irony that MNCs have been given a free run in the country to start projects on their own terms and conditions but not a word has been said about the poor or the social responsibility of the government and such companies,” said Gurudas Dasgupta, general secretary of the All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC), who was in the city to inaugurate the 18th state-level conference of the outfit at the Desh Bhagat Yadgar Hall here on Saturday afternoon. 

Bomb hoax: Panic grips city market
Jalandhar, October 13
Panic gripped the busy market in the Bhagat Singh Chowk area here today when the rumour of the presence of a live bomb was spread by an anonymous caller to the police.

3 die, 2 hurt in twin accidents
Phagwara, October 13
Three women, including a girl, were killed and two others sustained serious injuries in two separate incidents here today. Sharan Kaur and her daughter-in-law Mandaip Kaur were killed on the spot, while her son Dr Kamalpreet Singh sustained serious injuries when the car in which they were going to Amritsar from Patiala was hit by a tractor-trailer near Chachrarri village on the national highway.

• Suffocation deaths
  
  

PSEB ‘snaps’ free supply to Dalits 
Dharmendra Joshi
Tribune News Service

Kapurthala, October 13
Contrary to the policy of the state government of providing free power up to 200 units per month to Dalits having connections of less than 1 KW, the Punjab State Electricity Board allegedly disconnected the power connections of about 10 Dalits falling under this category in Mehatpur subdivision.

Talking to The Tribune, state president of the Pendu Mazdoor Union Punjab, Tarsem Peter, said nearly 10 power connections of Dalits were disconnected a couple of days ago in School Wala Mohalla in Mehatpur.

“Buta, Jagar, Des Raj and Baksho were among those 10 Dalits whose power connections were disconnected,” he said, adding that in May this year, the head office of the PSEB had directed all the circles to reconnect the disconnected connections of the Dalits having connections of less than 1 KW. However, instead of doing so, it started disconnecting more power connections of Dalits, he said.

On the contrary, when contacted, SE (operations), Kapurthala circle, T.S. Thind, claimed that no power connection of any Dalit had been disconnected in the area falling under his jurisdiction.

“All those Dalits who have got power connections of up to 1 KW in their names and whose per month consumption is below 200 units, have been provided free power for the past several months,” he added.

“However, now some other persons were trying to get the same benefit under the garb of Dalits falling under this category,” he alleged.

Meanwhile, several Dalits under the banner of the Pendu Mazdoor Union gheraoed the residence of Mehatpur PSEB JE Surendra Nath under whose supervision the power supply was disconnected.

The gherao started at around 7 am and continued for several hours till the police intervened and assured the protesters that no such incident would recur.

Thind, while criticising the union for gheraoing the residence of the JE, said the JE was doing his duty and he should have been contacted at his office.

Booming MNCs
Poor paying the price: Dasgupta
Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, October 13
“It is an irony that MNCs have been given a free run in the country to start projects on their own terms and conditions but not a word has been said about the poor or the social responsibility of the government and such companies,” said Gurudas Dasgupta, general secretary of the All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC), who was in the city to inaugurate the 18th state-level conference of the outfit at the Desh Bhagat Yadgar Hall here on Saturday afternoon. “None of the governments have ever pondered over the reasons why a labourer and his family cannot have two square meals a day even after putting in more than 10 hours of back breaking work. As per the latest survey of the Labour Ministry, the population of the country has crossed the 110 crore mark out of which 84 crore families are still living below the poverty line,” he added.

The figures are so shocking that the government had tried its best to keep the report under wraps but we somehow got a copy. The latest figures have proved the tall claims of progress by the government are hollow and all governments since independence have initiated no concrete measures to improve the lot of the people, he alleged. Only about 30-35 percent of the people have benefited from the various programmes of the Centre and are still doing so, he added.

CPI secretary Jagroop Singh said the education policy has been totally  privatised with the result that the common man cannot dream of sending his children to private schools.

Bomb hoax: Panic grips city market

Jalandhar, October 13
Panic gripped the busy market in the Bhagat Singh Chowk area here today when the rumour of the presence of a live bomb was spread by an anonymous caller to the police.

A call was received by the police control room that a bag containing a live bomb was lying near the chowk, said police. The cops swung into action and vacated the area. A bag was noticed lying abandoned and after cordoning off the area the bag was searched but nothing explosive was found in it, the police said. The area was declared safe and the bomb call was termed as hoax. A couple of days back also an anonymous call was received regarding the presence of a bomb in the district administrative complex and later the call was proved as hoax, the police said. — TNS

3 die, 2 hurt in twin accidents

Phagwara, October 13
Three women, including a girl, were killed and two others sustained serious injuries in two separate incidents here today. Sharan Kaur and her daughter-in-law Mandaip Kaur were killed on the spot, while her son Dr Kamalpreet Singh sustained serious injuries when the car in which they were going to Amritsar from Patiala was hit by a tractor-trailer near Chachrarri village on the national highway.

In the second mishap, a girl, Daljit Kaur, of Bhagatpura was run over by the Delhi-bound 2920DN Malwa Express train near Phagwara railway station. Her friend, Jyoti, was also injured in the incident. She has been hospitalised.— OC

Suffocation deaths

Jalandhar: Bechain Mehta and Pooran Chand were suffocated to death at Basti Baba Khel on Friday. The duo had entered a 10-foot-deep gutter to retrieve a plate that had fallen into it. Due to the presence of some poisonous gas in the gutter, they were suffocated to death. — TNS