Jalandhar, January 8
Municipal corporation authorities today sealed two shopping complexes on Mall Road here for not adhering to the sanctioned plan and not providing adequate basement parking space, despite repeated reminders.

Corporation authorities sealed CMS Bazaar and another yet-to-be-opened complex adjoining it. The officials said they had issued many reminders to the building owners, but they latter failed to comply with norms. So the corporation decided to seal the buildings.

The initiative of the corporation officials has come up as an exemplary action for owners of various malls and multi-storey buildings who are going ahead with the construction work without making proper arrangements for parking space which leads to major bottlenecks.

As many as 25 building owners had been issued notice last month for not leaving enough space for creating parking lots.

In yet another action, the corporation officials today partly demolished an under construction multi-storey commercial building near BSF Chowk.

The building owner is said to have not maintained the proper floor area ratio and covering the front, back and side portion more than the permitted limit.  

Amritsar, January 8
The city has a reason to rejoice as the Punjab government conducted a successful pre-trial of the 200-bed Guru Nanak Super Speciality Hospital today. Tikshan Sud, medical education and research minister today said this prestigious project was lying dormant for the past five years as the Congress regime did not provide any funds for this life saving project.

He said the SAD-BJP government took steps to ensure time bound completion of this project and within ten months Rs 80 crore-project is now ready for inauguration.

Sud said in the pre-trial all operation theaters of the super specialty hospital had begun functioning and surgeries were conducted in the new operation theaters.

The minister said the Chief Minister would soon inaugurate this hospital formally thus fulfilling the long pending demands of residents of the border districts.

The deputy chairman of State Planning Commission, Dr J.S. Bajaj played a dominant role in clearing the project. Two senior doctors, Vikram Gupta and Dr Kuldip Singh were specially sent to the prestigious hospitals of Mumbai to learn latest treatment of burn cases.

Dr Adarsh Kumar and Dr Kuldip Singh Sidhu were sent to PGI to receive necessary training relating to heart cases.

Sources said the local super-specialty hospital would begin heart operations within three months after acquiring latest machinery. 

Hoshiarpur, January 8
The infighting within the district Congress committee (DCC), Hoshiarpur, came to the fore when various local Congress leaders, including some former Punjab ministers abstained from the panel meeting here on Tuesday, to protest against the president of the DCC, Dharm Pal Sabharwal, who is also a member of the Rajya Sabha, for allegedly promoting their rivals in the party and ignoring them.

The protesting former ministers included Romesh Chander Dogra and Naresh Thakur, MLA, Garhshankar, Lov Kumar Goldy, general secretary, PPCC, Kuldip Nanda and former chairman of the improvement trust, Hoshiarpur, Pawan Kumar Adia.

According to the party sources, a meeting was convened by the DCC to finalise the proposed rally of the party to be organised at Hoshiarpur for making people aware about the grants and funds provided by Union Minister for Tourism Ambika Soni for various development works in the Hoshiarpur parliamentary constituency. Ambika Soni is expected to participate in the proposed rally.

Naresh Thakur strongly criticised Sabharwal for allegedly promoting a person who had worked against the official nominees of Congress during the general state assembly elections in 2002 and 2007.

Lov Kumar Goldy also leveled the same charge against the DCC president and said he was the party MLA from Garhshankar and Sabharwal was allegedly elevating his rivals in his constituency.Lov Kumar Goldy, Naresh Thakur and Kuldip Nanda demanded that Sabharwal be sacked from the post of the president of the DCC and to appoint a senior and true Congressman in his place.

On the assurance of anonymity, a senior Congressman said a joint meeting of all the above said Congress leaders was held at a farm house of a prominent Congressman on last Sunday where they decided to abstain from the meeting of the DCC on January 8, 2008 as a mark of their protest.

Only a group headed by Sabharwal and former chairman of the Market Committee, Hoshiarpur, Sunder Sham Arora was present in the meeting. In the meeting it was decided that a rally of Congress workers would be organised on January 16, 2008 at Hoshiarpur and Ambika Soni would be requested to participate in it. 

Hoshiarpur, January 8
Three persons were killed in two different road accidents. According to the police, Paramjit Singh and Joginder Singh died on the spot, while Manjit Singh was injured when the Maruti car in which they were travelling rammed into a tree near Dausarka on Tuesday morning. 

The police revealed that Paramjit Singh and his friend Manjit Singh, along with servant Joginder, were on their way to Bhunga from Dausarka. Near a marriage palace the car was hit by a truck due to which it rammed into a tree. Meanwhile, a case has been registered.

In another accident, Charanjit Singh succumbed to his injuries on Monday night in the Mukerian civil hospital. According to the police, Charanjit Singh and Mohinder Singh were injured when an unidentified vehicle hit their motorcycle near a gurdwara at Gera village on Monday night.  

Hoshiarpur, January 8
On the recommendation of the SSP, the police booked Naresh Rani, her
husband Vipan Kumar, residents of Bajwara village, and Vijay Kumar of South Africa under the sections 406, 420 and 506 of the IPC and section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act.

The accused have been booked on the charge of duping a person of Rs 10 lakh on the pretext of sending him to the UK.

In his complaint, Rajiv Kumar alleged that the aforesaid persons demanded Rs 10 lakh from him for sending him to England.

According to their verbal agreement, the complainant paid Rs 6.50 lakh in advance to the accused and assured them to pay the balance after reaching the UK.

However, instead of sending Rajiv to the UK, the accused took him to South Africa in September, 2004, and made him hostage in a room.

When the complainant resisted, the accused told him to pay Rs 3.50 lakh for sending him to England. Even after paying the requisite amount, the accused did not send him to the UK.

The victim finally managed to escape but was caught by the police in South Africa and returned to India on January 3, 2005. 

Tarn Taran, January 8
The health department in collaboration with Pushpa Gujral Science city, Kapurthala, organised a seminar on AIDS at Khadoor Sahib here.

The event was attended by the students of Sri Guru Angad Dev College, Sri Guru Angad Dev College of Education and the residents of the area.

Addressing the gathering, Dr Raghbir Singh Bains said more than four crore people have been affected by the dreaded disease across the world and about 70,000 persons were affected in the state alone.

Civil surgeon Dr Amrit Kaur explained about facilities being provided by the health department for the prevention of the disease. She emphasised on creating awareness. — OC 

Kapurthala, January 8
Bholath Congress MLA and District Congress Committee president Sukhpal Singh Khaira has expressed concern over the deteriorating law and order situation 
in Punjab.

Talking to mediapersons here today, Khaira said the two glaring incidents at Jalandhar in which the KMV principal was murdered and unrest and chaos in the jail had exposed the administrative control of the SAD-BJP combine in the state. He said Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and his son Sukhbir Singh Badal used to raise hue and cry on every small incident while in the opposition during the regime of the Congress.

He said Badal adopted vindictive attitude against the teachers who were beaten up on Teachers’ Day at Kapurthala, students were beaten up in Bathinda, anganwari workers were languishing in jails and unrest was prevailing among employees during the 10 months rule of SAD-BJP combine government. Khaira said the government had failed to recruit teachers as promised in their manifesto. — PTI  

Hoshiarpur, January 8
Residents of Khuda and its adjoining villages staged a dharna and blocked traffic on the Jalandhar-Pathankot highway for more than one hour on Tuesday morning to protest against the Indian Gas Agency, Tanda, for irregular supply of LPG cylinders in their areas.

The protesters were led by Tirath Singh and Jaswinder Singh, sarpanchs of Rawa and Khun-Khuna villages, respectively.

According to sources, the agency use to supply LPG cylinders through a vehicle at Khuda village to facilitate the customers. However, the villagers got infuriated today when the driver of the vehicle carrying LPG cylinders, instead of stopping at Khuda village, speeded up towards Dasuya side. The protesters lifted the dharna only when the police authorities reached the site and pacified them with the assurance that LPG cylinders would be made available to them.