Hoshiarpur, November 7
In what came as a relief to Lalit Sharma of Garhdiwala, the district consumers forum, headed by its president P.K. Goel, has quashed the demand of Rs 81,437 raised by the Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB) through bills, and further burdened it with a litigation cost of Rs 1,000.

Lalit Sharma had filed a complaint against the PSEB with the district consumers forum alleging that he had received a bill for Rs 51,784 from it on April 3, 2005. He again received a bill for Rs 66,586 qua in which the PSEB demanded Rs 52,503 as arrears and Rs 4,652 as sundry charges. Sharma went to the office of the PSEB with a request for correction, but neither the PSEB supplied the details of the bills nor corrected the demand of arrears as well as sundry charges. Sharma filed a complaint with the forum, which was decided on August 18, 2006, with a direction to the PSEB to withdraw the demand of Rs 57,155 raised qua bill dated February 4, 2006, with a further direction to get the meter tested in the lab in the presence of the complainant. The forum also allowed Lalit Sharma to file an application for checking of the meter to the chief electrical inspector.

But instead of getting the meter checked, the PSEB authorities disconnected the electricity supply to Sharma’s premises, following which he filed another complaint with the district consumers forum.

The authorities of the PSEB pleaded that Sharma had failed to come to the lab.

The consumers forum held that a specific order had been passed that the meter be tested in the lab in the presence of the complainant, but the PSEB had failed to test the meter in the lab. The PSEB had not placed a lab report on record. Thus, without checking the report it could not be concluded that the meter had been found defective. Further, the PSEB was also found guilty of violating circulars Nos. 45/967 and 10/2001.

Chandigarh, November 7
Tejinder Walia, a former drug addict, who created hell for his family for over 23 years, is on a unique mission to help the drug addicts come out of the deadly dragnet of drugs.

In fact, an Amritsar-based businessman’s wisdom group has been spearheading a silent revolution against the drug abuse in the holy city by making the scores of former drug addicts sober “one day at a time”. The tale of Tejinder, who started with beer to get that kick in early 1970s, is heart-rending. “From beer and whisky I soon graduated to drugs and became their slave,” Tejinder told The Tribune on the sidelines of the screening of Reema Anand’s documentary on drug abuse “Punjab: The enemy within” here recently.

Before Tejinder could realise the gravity of dual use problem - drugs and alcohol - it was too late. Loss in the business and reputation could not deter him. “With shortage of money staring me in the face, I once even thought of selling my daughter to get my stuff for the daily kick,” he said with a choked voice.

“I mentally raped my family for 23 years. Daily torture forced my wife to pray for my death. I wanted to leave drugs but there seemed to be no way out,” he said.

However, a stint at a drug de-addiction centre changed his life for the better. Now clean for over eight years, Tejinder’s only aim is to help the still-suffering drug addicts and enjoy every moment of life.

Acknowledging the role of his wife in his sobriety, Tejinder is now preparing for his daughter’s marriage. It is God’s grace and my wife’s rock solid support, which saw me through in those turbulent days, Tejinder added.

Hoshiarpur, November 7
The Indian Society of Blood Transfusion and Immunohaematology (ISBTI), the only national organisation working in the field of blood transfusion medicine, blood banking and donor motivation, presented the best chapter award-2007 to Punjab for its valuable role in the field of voluntary blood donation movement and for creating a bright image of the ISBTI.

President and general secretary of the Punjab chapter of ISBTI Dr Kulbir Kaur and Dr Ajay Bagga, respectively, received the award on behalf of the Punjab chapter from Madhya Pradesh Governor Balram Jakhar at the 32nd ISBTI national conference held at Noor-us-Sabah Palace, Bhopal, from November 2 to 5. Bagga, in a press release here on Wednesday, said Punjab got the best chapter award as it distributed about one lakh leaflets on safe blood for safe motherhood, held a number of seminars and lectures in different parts of the state and a workshop on rational use of blood was organised in collaboration with Lovely Professional University. Bagga further stated that the ISBTI institutional award was presented to the department of transfusion medicines, All-India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi. The J.R. Jolly award, meant for individuals who had introduced innovative ideas in research work, went to Dr Rajendra Chaudhary.

The A.N. Kashyap award for the social worker who has demonstrated his brilliance in the motivational aspect of voluntary donation programme was presented to Nilima Ghatiwala. The ISBTI oration award was given to Dr R.K. Sarand of New Delhi and the H. D. Shoure award to S. Alexander.

Nawanshahr, November 7
Hundreds of dried trees along roads and canal banks here are awaiting a nod from the forest department for legal cutting. Due to the alleged delay in granting sanction to cut the withered trees, these are causing apprehension of road accidents and damage to electricity cable, according to sources. During strong winds, these trees were likely to fall and pose a danger to human life, sources add.

Moreover, the delay was also causing loss of revenue to the department as some unscrupulous elements had allegedly been stealing the costly sheesham wood from here. With the onset of winters increase in illegal cutting of wood from such trees was likely to go up, sources add.

Divisional forest officer Satnam Singh, when contacted, said a list of dried trees were being prepared for the purpose.

He said he would also ask the range officer concerned to submit a report in this regard.

Hoshiarpur, November 7
The legal services authority, Hoshiarpur, organised a seminar at Swami Sarvanand Gir Panjab University Regional Centre, Bajwara, here last evening in connection with the celebration of national legal literacy fortnight being celebrated from November 6 to 18 in the country.

While presiding over the seminar, district and sessions judge-cum-chairman of the district legal services authority S.K. Goel explained the preamble of the Indian Constitution in the background of which the legal mission was launched by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on November 6.

Provisions regarding fundamental rights and provision from the Legal Services Authority Act were also explained.

Law College director Dr Dayanand, lecturer of the college Saruchi Kohli and president of the bar association also expressed their views.

Additional district and sessions judge Jaspal Singh, assistant district attorney (legal cell) Reetu Jain and many other lawyers also participated in the seminar.

Phagwara, November 7
The Railways has cancelled the leave of all its officers and employees in view of an increasing rush of rail passengers because of the festival season.

Railway sources said here today that only in emergency cases any railway officer or employee could be provided leave after his medical examination by railway doctors.

The sources said the Railways had introduced a few new trains to cope with the passengers’ rush, while additional railway ticket booking counters had been opened at various railway stations, including Amritsar and Jammu Tawi. — OC

Jalandhar, November 7
The Punjab unit of the All-India Lawyers Union, in a resolution passed at a meeting held under the chairmanship of Ram Pal Singh Gill here today, condemned the arrest and violence against the lawyers in Pakistan. The resolution described the incident as unfortunate and regrettable. The removal of judges was a blow to democracy in Pakistan. The resolution said general public would now be hard put to get justice in courts.

The resistance by Pakistan lawyers against suppression was exemplary and unprecedented. The lawyers expressed solidarity with their counterparts in the neighbouring country. — TNS