Jalandhar, June 6
The Punjab Technical University’s plans to start full-fledged operations from its newly-constructed campus on the Kapurthala road, have hit a roadblock, at
least for now.

The shifting of the varsity to the new location has been put on hold. According to the information, the power supply to the new campus is yet to be sanctioned and the approval may stuck up for another few months.

Sources said the administration did not take requisite approvals from the forest department and the ministry for environment of the central government before getting power connection.

Interestingly, most of the electricity poles outside the building have been installed and only a few of them were left to be erected when the objections came in.

Since high voltage wires are passing across the trees posing a risk to them, the forest departments have objected to it, the sources revealed.

When the matter was discussed at the higher levels, it was found that the construction of the university campus was a mega project and the sanction was to come from the ministry for environment, government of India.

Now, when the secrecy department has moved to the new campus and table paper checking is on, the university officials are still in the process of moving documents for getting power supply.

The university has already installed a high power generator but since the fuel prices have gone up they have resorted to a small generator.

According to an estimate, the daily cost of lighting up the campus is said to be near to Rs 1,000.

The sources said the other departments were already busy packing their bags to shift to the new location to provide more space for conducting CET counselling.

Meanwhile, PTU registrar Sarojini Gautam Sharda said the office would be now shifted only after the problem of power supply was resolved.

Batala, June 6
The Punjab and Haryana High Court has given directions to all local bodies and the district administrations in the state to remove encroachments and hoardings from the roads of the cities but the encroachers find an easy way through their political bosses to raise encroachments on the main roads, which create hindrance in the free flow of traffic.

A few months ago, the municipal council with the help of the traffic police removed encroachments from the city roads, Gandhi Chowk, Leek Wala Talab and outside bus stand but finding the authorities in slumber, the encroachers have again made encroachments, which many a times cause traffic jams besides making these points accident prone.

The encroachers have put up stalls as long as 10-20 feet on the roads leaving roads only 15 feet wide for the commuters.

They even use loudspeakers causing noise pollution. Some shop owners raise canopies, besides displaying their goods on the berms of the road.

The hoardings have been put up on the national highway and other city roads without paying any taxes to the government.

The central public works department has not acted to remove encroachments and hoardings on the Amritsar-Pathankot highway.

The raising of berms along the roads causes the collection of the rain and sewerage water, which creates potholes on the roads.

When contacted, the municipal council’s executive officer showed helplessness because of the laxity on the part of the traffic police and the political interference.

Jalandhar, June 6
Condemning the price hike of petroleum products, CPM secretary Mangat Ram Pasla said the decision came at the time when the people are already groaning under the burden of inflation.

He said the rise of petrol price by Rs 5 per litre, Rs 3 per litre for diesel and Rs 50 per gas cylinder were unprecedented and would have a cascading effect on the household budgets across the country.

“Though the fuel price hike has drawn widespread protest from every section of the society, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh still terms it as minimum,” Pasla added.

Rebutting the logic of financial bindings behind the decision, Pasla said 52 per cent of the taxes paid by the consumers on petroleum products goes to the exchequer and the private petroleum companies were earning thousands of crores without paying a single penny as tax.

Demanding a rollback, he asked the state government to cut taxes to provide some respite to the common people.

The party also condemned the lathi charge by the police on protesters demanding arrests in the Sandeep murder case, Balachaur.

Meanwhile, the district unit of the BJP burnt the effigy of the UPA government for the fuel price hike and raised slogans against them.

Jalandhar, June 6
The police recovered the body of Baldev Singh, who had been missing for the past few days, from the Beas river today. Baldev was working as a driver at Mehar Chand Polytechnic College.

According to the police, Baldev was killed by three persons, including two tantriks. One of the accused Paramjeet was arrested today, whereas the other two are still at large.

Talking to mediapersons here today, SSP (city-I) M.K. Kalia said Baldev had been missing since May 8 and his wife Inderjeet Kaur had got a complaint registered in this regard.

During investigations, Paramjeet revealed that Baldev had gone to the tantriks at their dera in Buda Kheh village to perform rituals.

There the tantriks, Baldev and he had drinks, after which they strangled Baldev to death with an aim to loot him.

They threw his body in the Beas after tying it with a stone so that the body do not surface. The police said the body of Baldev Singh was identified from an injury mark on his forehead.

Talking to mediapersons, SSP Batala Dr Naresh Arora said the accused, identified as Sarabjit Singh of Sarray Khas village in Jalandhar, was on a motorcycle (bearing registration number PB-02-Z-4039) when he was signaled to stop at a special naka. His search yielded the contraband.

The SSP further said during interrogation the accused revealed that he used to buy smack from another Jalandhar resident and sell it to the youth in the nearby villages. A case has been registered.