The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Three washed away in flash floods; huge loss to property
Rain gods go into overdrive, drench Doaba
Tribune Reporters

Hoshiarpur, August 13
The people of the town today woke up to witness one of the heaviest rainfalls in the past many years.

Today’s downpour, which lashed the entire region from 5.50 am to 3 pm, resulted in flash floods in many rivulets, including Nasrala, Mehngrowal and Mehalnwali choes.

Flash floods damaged some portion of the Kandi canal near Bassi Gulam Hussain village and guide bandh of the Nasrala choe at two places between Dhobi Ghat and Bassi Gulam Hussian village, resulting in inundating of the local Mohalla Chand Nagar, Dhobi Ghat, S.D. Sanskrit College, Nai Abadi, Gobindgarh, Sukhi Choie and some area of Bahadurpur. The roofs of two houses at the local Kamalpur and Balmik Nagar mohallas, Afghan Road, collapsed.

The foundations of some of the houses and shops were also damaged in the city due to entry of rainwater in them. All mohallas and main roads were flooded with the rainwater and water entered most of the houses and shops. The rainwater deposited mud in the lanes and bazars and all city roads developed potholes.

The Bajwara bypass was damaged as trees and electric poles on the sides fell on it. Electricity to the area has been disrupted. The Chandigarh road near mini secretariat, opposite Basant Vihar, and the Una road were badly damaged.

The city witnessed little business activity as most of the shops remained closed due to incessant rain.

Deputy commissioner N.K. Wadhawan and SSP Dr Sukhchain Singh Gill along with a team of government officials visited the affected areas and monitored the flood-control operation.

Wadhawan said 278 mm rainfall was recorded from 5.50 am to 3 pm at the tehsil complex here. The entire city and abadies of villages located adjoining the Nasrala Choe, including Dagana, Chhota Dagana, Hardo Khanpur, Taragarh, Hargarh and Bassi Gulam Hussain, were inundated with the flood water.

Keeping in view the seriousness of flood, he had instructed to get vacated the abadies of these villages and localities and ordered to shift inhabitants to safer places. A flood relief camp had been set up at the local Government College. Entire government machinery had been engaged to drain out the flood water from the affected areas of the city and the villages. The power in the entire district was switched off as a precautionary measure at 10 am and restored at 3.30 pm.

A youth of Dhamian Kalan village, Harpreet (22), was washed away in the flood water while he and his friends were bathing in the village choe last evening. His body had not been recovered so far, said the deputy commissioner.

Lakhvinder Singh (18), student of BA I and resident of Dhadian, drowned in the Patti choe while saving two children. Raman Kumar (16), student of class IX and resident of Badiala, drowned in the Boothgarh choe.

Executive engineer of the drainage division D.P.S. Brar said 42,000 cusec water passed from the Bhangi Choe and 26,000 cusec from the Mehngorwal choe.

Executive engineer, kandi area dam maintenance division, Sohan Lal Sidhu said the reservoirs of Dholbaha, Janauri, Damsal and Chohal dams had been filled and the excess water was flowing from the spillway.

Not going down the drains

Jalandhar: The continuous rain spells for the past two days has exposed the drainage system of the city as the residents had to suffer once again.

Interestingly, the downpour virtually cut off the old areas for more than two hours on Wednesday afternoon. Even access to the old areas from the new city via 120-foot road and Domoria Bridge were cut off for the whole day as there was no system for water to drain off. All basti areas remained deluged with water and there were reports of rainwater mixing with sullage and entering houses and shops at Basti Sheikh, Basti Peer Daad and Basti Bawa Khel.

Almost every road in the city, including those in posh areas like Model Town, Cool Road, Ladowali Road, Mahavir Marg, Mota Singh Nagar, Master Tara Singh Nagar, Defence Colony and Ranjit Nagar, were inundated with one to two feet deep water.

The stagnant water made it extremely difficult for the two-wheelers to move and several bikers were found stuck up with their vehicles in the rainwater.

Even the entry to the administrative complex was deluged with knee-deep water making it nearly impossible to enter the premises. The newly constructed bus stand too turned into a huge swimming pool giving a hint that even it lacks a proper drainage system.

However, the day proved to be lucky for the rickshaw-pullers. A rickshaw-puller at the Government Polytechnic for Women, Ladowali Road, found a novel way of making money by charging Rs 5 for crossing a 20-foot distance from the gate till the tents where PTU-CET counselling had been going on in the polytechnic.

Low-lying areas bear the brunt

Jalandhar, August 13
Incessant rain since Tuesday evening has brought misery to dozens of villages in and around the district. Rainwater inundated houses in eight villages near Adampur after the Daroli choe developed a breach last evening. The muddy water entered villages Kadiana, Fatehpur, Ram Nagar, Jawaharpur, Daroli, Dolike Arjanwal, Khurdpur and certain other places.

Heavy rain in the catchment areas of lower Shivalik Hills in Himachal Pradesh has significantly upped the volume of water in Beas and Satluj rivers. The villages along the banks have been alerted.

The rainwater also entered the hutments of Gujjars and migrants labourers, besides residential areas and commercial establishments located in low-lying areas of the city, submerging household and other belongings. A visit by the Tribune team to the villages in the vicinity of the city saw the farmers busy in stuffing sand bags to divert the course of flooding seasonal choes and rivulets. Villagers were also seen shifting their milch cattle to safer places.

Gujjars camping on the bed of a seasonal rivulet near Chaheru village along the GT Road in Phagwara were trapped after the water-level swelled during the night. They were able to shift their belonging and cattle to safer place only after help from the residents of nearby villages. Normal life was also affected in villages of Kapurthala, Sultanpur Lodhi, Kartarpur, Nakodar and Mehatpur due to heavy rains. Roads and streets virtually turned into canals and people were forced to trudge in knee-deep muddy water till afternoon. According to the weatherman, Jalandhar and its surrounding areas received 120 mm rains on Wednesday against 144 mm on Tuesday. The met department has predicted overcast conditions with scattered rainfall in the next 24 hours. — TNS

UPA mulls loan waiver for SCs, STs & landless
Dharmendra Joshi/TNS

Jalandhar, August 13
While the next general election is due within a few months, Dr Manmohan Singh-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government is considering a proposal to waive off the loans provided to members of the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and landless labourers advanced by banks, cooperative societies and the central and state governments.

UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi has forwarded to the finance minister the letter by National Commission for Safai Karamcharis chairperson Santosh Chowdhary in which she had requested Sonia Gandhi to waive off the loans of the SCs, STs and landless persons.

In her reply sent to Chowdhary on August 4, the UPA Chairperson stated that her letter of July 29 along with the enclosures regarding waiving the loans of the SCs, STs and landless persons had been forwarded to the finance minister to look into the matter.Earlier in her letters to Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Chowdhary had requested them to consider waiving off the loans as these sections were not in a position to repay the loans advanced to them for a variety of purposes like construction of houses and starting business.

Shrine land row: Rail, road traffic blocked at several places

Jalandhar, August 13
In response to the nationwide call for “chakka jam” given by the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Vishav Hindu Parishad over the Amarnath land row, road and rail traffic was today blocked at several places in the district, including the national highway, for two hours. Protesters gathered at PAP Chowk and Rama Mandi Chowk and blocked the traffic even during a heavy rain, causing inconvenience to the travellers who had to stay for at least two hours inside their vehicles.

Workers of the Hindu organisations even stopped the local Jalandhar-Ferozepore DMU at Tanda level crossing and other rail traffic was also affected due to the blockade at several places in the state, sources said. Although a large posse of the police was deployed to avoid any untoward incident, cops remained mute spectators and allowed peaceful blockade of the traffic.

District BJP president Ravi Mahindru, while addressing the protesters, said that the two-hour “chakka jam” was just a symbol of protest and if the land was not immediately given back to the Amarnath shrine board, the Union government would have to face the consequences for the same.

At 11 am, the protesters voluntarily lifted the blockage and allowed traffic to move. — PTI

Protesters brave rain

Hoshiarpur, August 13
Despite heavy rains, activists of various Hindu organisations, including Vishav Hindu Parishad (VHP), BJP, Bharti Mahavir Dal, etc, blocked vehicular traffic from 9 am to 11 am today in response to the call of two-hour-long chakka jam by the VHP and BJP in support of the demand to hand over proposed land at Baltal to the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board (SASB).

The activists blocked vehicular traffic at various points, including Tanda bypass, Singriwala, Nasrala, Nangal Shaheedan, etc, in the city.

Reports of blocking vehicular traffic from all subdivisions, including Mukerian, Dasuya, Tanda and Garhshankar, were also received. — OC

Second Round
Rule row postpones PTU counselling on day one
Deepkamal Kaur
Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, August 13
The CET counselling for admission to B. Tech at Punjab Technical University was postponed to Thursday when parents of the candidates objected to certain rules in the counselling process.

Today was the first day of the second counselling for which candidates with ranks from 1 to 1,600 had been called.

According to candidates, the university authorities earlier insisted that a candidate who had already got admission in a particular college would not be allowed to shift to another college after the second counselling to the college that he is seeking admission in, has been closed.

However, candidates and their parents put forth the demand that a seat, as and when falling vacant by a candidate looking for an upgradation of his admission, be declared open for the next candidate.

Since there was no dean to clarify the stance and explain the position clearly to the candidates and their parents, the situation got out of control after the counselling of nearly 48 students up to 590 rank had taken place around 2 pm.

Registrar Sarojini Gautam Sharda reached the spot to pacify the parents but they continued sloganeering against the university and gheraoed senior functionaries.

Sharda then asked the parents’ representatives to join for a meeting. She discussed the matter with officiating PTU VC and the principal secretary who talked to the parents.

The parents gave their representation in writing after which it was decided that the counselling would be put off today. It was decided that the 48 candidates who had left would be contacted again and asked to retry tomorrow with the new rules according to which the university complied with the demand of the students.

Candidates with ranks from 1 to 1,600 will now appear for counselling tomorrow up to 2 pm. Those whose turn was otherwise scheduled for tomorrow morning would be called after 2 pm. The schedule after tomorrow would remain unaltered.

Explaining the change in rule, the registrar said, “Supposing a student of college ‘B’ found a chance to take admission in college ‘A’, he would be allowed to do so. A seat in college ‘A’ would get filled and another one in college ‘B’ would get vacant. The addition and subtraction would go on and seats would continue to get upgraded till vacant seats in college ‘A’ become zero.” Earlier, the parents had believed that the vacant seats would go back to the colleges to be filled by them directly. They alleged that the university and the colleges were hand in glove.

Sharda said the 48 candidates had been informed of the new rule. A notice in this regard had been put up. “We have announced this on the public address system and we are also going to put it in newspapers and website,” she said.

Man booked for killing father
Our Correspondent

Hoshiarpur, August 13
A man killed his father for money at Nangal Kalan village, Mahilpur, today. According to police sources, Ravinder Singh, who used to quarrel with his father Shingara Singh, demanded some money from the latter.

When Shingara Singh refused to give him money, he hit him with an axe on his head. After murdering his father, Ravinder Singh fled.

The Mahilpur police has registered a case under section 302 of the IPC against Ravinder Singh.