Phagwara November 8
Though just one day more to celeberate Divali when lakhs of people will burst crackers and display lights and the administration could be seen working hard to maintain normalcy, the arrangements of the Fire Brigade were not sufficient in the area as most of the towns of Doaba were still deprived of this service.

Though Phagwara town, having a population of three lakhs, has its own Fire Brigade service with two fire engines of 2,700 litres and 4,500 litres capacity, several neighouring towns have no Fire Brigade service.

Enquiries reveal that important towns like Nakodar, Phillaur, Banga, Sultanpur Lodhi, Noormahal, Nadhala, Begowal, Bholath, Goraya, Adampur, Shahkot, Bhogpur, Lohian, Dhilwan, Tanda, Mekerian, Dasuya, Rahon, Balachaur, Jejon, Hariana, Mahilpur, Garhshankar and Sham Chaurasi have no facility of the Fire Brigade service.

Only five of the total 29 municipal committees of Jalandhar region - Phagwara, Kapurthala, Hoshiarpur, Nawanshahr and Kartarpur - have this facility, while the remaining 24 towns have to be dependent on the neighbouring A-class municipal committees.

When contacted, Deputy Director Local Bodies Vinay Bublani said no such problem was being faced by any municipal committee as the service was being provided to these municipal committees on demand.

Meanwhile, Bublani said that all the necessary arrangements had been made to prevent any untoward incident and the municipal committees had been put on alert and leave of all Fire Brigade employees cancelled. 

Jalandhar, November 8
The District Consumers Disputes Redressal Forum today issued notice for issuing warrants for attachment of car of the municipal corporation commissioner for non-compliance of its order relating to solving of the sewage problem on the 120-foot road and compensating the complainant with Rs 2 lakh.

The forum, comprising president M.M. Bhalla and member Surinder Mittal, issued the notice for attachment of car (PB-08-AY-3496) under sections 25 and 7 of the Consumers Protection Act for non-compliance of the order passed on July 31.

The complaint pertained to the problem of the residents of Basti Guzan and Bagh Ahluwalia where lanes and houses often got deluged with sewage water owing to backflow from pipes underneath the 120-foot road. Filed by 78-year-old Manmohan Singh who retired as head constable from the Punjab police and resident of Basti Guzan, the complaint had been supported by various documents and over a dozen photographs depicting the problems of the residents of the area.

Explaining the problem, the complainant had said that a sewage pipe with a diameter of 69 inches for disposal of waste from the adjoining Ram Nagar locality was running underneath the 120-foot road. He had pointed out that width of the pipe was far too low as compared to the volume of the sewage water. Owing to pressure on the pipe, it started choking or making a backflow into their houses, he had pointed out.

Manmohan Singh had said that instead of making proper arrangement and increasing the size of the pipes, the MC employees had devised a wrong technique by breaking one of the chambers of the sewage pipe. He added that because of this the entire residential colonies of Basti Guzan and Bagh Ahluwali were getting swamped with filthy water.

The plaintiff had pointed out that his house too was often getting flooded making life of his family miserable. He had said that the sullage was finding way to his house since July 2005 and the problem assumed serious proportions in the rainy season when the water remained stagnant in his house for three days at a stretch.

Complaining about the deteriorating condition of his house, he had written that the walls had sunk and dirty water often percolated from the floor of his house. 

Jalandhar, November 8
A city-based NGO Helpline has decided to file a public interest litigation (PIL) writ in Punjab and Haryana High Court requesting ban on indecent scenes in films and advertisements.

Talking to The Tribune, state president of the NGO Dr Ravi Verma and the chief of its anti-corruption wing Pankaj Sarpal said the Union government had passed The Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act in 1986 to prohibit obscene scenes in films and advertisements but the provisions of this act were being blatantly violated.

Verma and Sarpal said such obscene scenes adversely affect the entire public in general and adolescents in particular. Displaying of such indecent scenes is one of the main reasons for the spurt in crime against women including rape, murder and molestation.

Alleging that the censor board also failed to perform its duty sincerely in checking the indecent scenes, the representatives of the NGO said that there was provision of two years imprisonment and fine up to Rs 2,000, if some one held guilty under the IRW Act for the first time and the imprisonment increases to five years with fine up to Rs one lakh if the person repeats the act.

The representatives of the NGO including its district president Ashok Sharma, its senior vice president Rohit Vij and its general secretary Sukhjit Singh submitted a memorandum on Wednesday to deputy commissioner in the name of union information and broadcasting minister for strict implementation of the act.

They said if indecent scenes were not checked within 30 days, they would be left with no option but to knock at the door of the high-court in the shape of filing of the PIL writ.

Hoshiarpur, November 8
The ongoing campaign against the supply of synthetic dairy products being launched by the district health department, Hoshiarpur, has adversely hit the business of Halwais in the festival season of Divali this year.

The seizure of as many as 13 samples of khoya, cheese, curd and milk by the district health authorities during the first week of November this year has created panic among the halwais as a result of which majority of them have reduced the production of sweets and milk by-products.

Moreover with the recent propaganda by the print and electronic media about the preparation of synthetic milk and its by-products by some of the halwais and dairy owners has created awareness among the general public about the sweet poison.

The halwais, who had previously displayed a huge quantity of sweets, especially those made of milk, have exhibited only a small quantity of them which failed to attract the general public this Divali.

However, the bakery owners and gift item sellers have had a roaring business this time.

President of the Halwais Union Bhim Sen told this correspondent here on Wednesday that on account of the ongoing campaign of the health authorities to check the supply of synthetic dairy products had reduced more than 50 per cent business of the Halwais in the district during this Divali festival. They had stopped the import of khoya and cheese from the other states of the country and had showed less interest in preparing sweets made of dairy products.

However, on the assurance of anonymity, many of the marginal halwais criticised the health authorities for taking samples of Khoya and cheese from their shops by ignoring the big and leading Halwais of the city for reasons best known to them.

Meanwhile, on a tip-off, a team of doctors led by district health officer, M. L. Puri raided the shop of Bunti Confectioner of Sudhir Sharma at local Central Town and seized 1.90 quintal cheese, 1.50 quintal each of Khoya and curd, 12.5 quintal milk (6 quintal milk in containers and 6.5 quintal in pouches) in the morning today.

Civil surgeon, Hoshiarpur, Dr Kamaljit Kaur said the owner of the said shop Sudhir Sharma claimed that the above said articles belonged to Metro Milk Products, Jalandhar. The said firm used to supply the dairy products to him regularly. Samples of the seized milk and its by-products had been sent to the government laboratory, Chandigarh.

Keeping in view the Divali festival, a team of health employees led by the district food inspector also inspected the premises of a number of halwais in the city where they checked the manufacture of sweets, sanitation and hygienic conditions. Notices to as many as 7 halwais had been served for improving the sanitary and hygienic conditions in and around their respective complexes, she claimed.

Results of 3 samples taken during last month had been received from the state laboratory, of which two samples of milk and khoya of one sample were found to be substandard, she added.

Amritsar, November 8
The foundation stone for widening and cementing of the road in the residential area of Lawrence Road from Dr Muni Lal Chopra Hospital to Joshi Colony was laid by mayor Shawet Malik. V.K. Mehta, an architect and executive member of the Service Club, who is a resident of the area, said it had been a long-standing demand of the people of the locality that the road be widened and cemented.

The BJP’s district president Bakshi Ram Arora, who is the councillor from ward 50, and MLA Anil Joshi were present on the occasion. Arora said now that the municipal corporation was led by the BJP-SAD, he was hopeful that the development work, especially in the posh areas like Lawrence Road, would be taken up on priority.— TNS