Amritsar, August 30
The Punjab government has cleared various road projects, estimated to cost Rs 20.63 crore, for the overall development of the Majitha constituency. The projects would be inaugurated by SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal in the first week of September.

Revealing this at the inauguration of a pucca yard constructed at a cost of Rs 60 lakh in the constituency here today, information and public relations minister Bikram Singh Majithia said the government was committed to providing an ultra modern road network for the smooth functioning of transport.

Giving details of the projects, he said an 11-km road from Majitha to Kathunangal via Beguwal Haria would be relaid at a cost of Rs 5.88 crore and a bridge and road from Chachowali to Gujarpura would be constructed at a cost of Rs 1.5 crore.

He said a 2-km bypass road would be built at Chawinda Devi at a cost of Rs 1 crore. The minister added the roads from Boparai to Tahli Sahib and Tahli Sahib to Mehmoodpura would be widened by spending Rs 3.75 crore and Rs 2.25 crore, respectively.

Later, during a sangat darshan programme, Majithia said he gave away Rs 10 lakh to the Majitha nagar council for various development works and addressed public grievances.

Hoshiarpur, August 30
Additional sessions judge S.K. Arora today convicted four persons under sections 302 and 201 of the IPC. Arora sentenced Sanjiv Kumar, alias Sheeh, Narinder Singh, Satpal, alias Satta, all of Hariana town, and Mohan Singh, alias Mohna, of Bassi Kale Khan to life imprisonment, 13 years after they committed the murder of Raman Kumar. Arora also fined them Rs 5,000 each.

According to the prosecution, a laboratory assistant of local GGDSD College, Raman Kumar of Kanungo Mohalla of Hariana town, who also ran a scooter repair shop, took off from his house on June 5, 1995, at 6 am, but did not return.

Later, his brother Munish Kumar lodged a complaint with the police and suspected the kidnapping of his brother. An FIR under section 364 of the IPC had been registered in this connection. Search by family members and the police had proved futile.

During investigation, Sanjiv Kumar and Narinder Singh, who were friendly with Raman Kumar, emerged as the main suspects. The police interrogated the duo who revealed that on June 5, 1995, they, along with Raman Kumar, Satpal and Mohan Singh, consumed liquor at Dhakki Road, Hariana.

Later, they had a quarrel on some issue with Raman and they assaulted the latter with a sharp-edged weapon. After killing him, they buried his body in the adjoining choe bed. On their demarcation, the police also recovered the skeleton of Raman Kumar. The deceased’s mother Rajeshwari Devi and brother Manish Kumar, while talking to mediapersons, said though very late, but finally they had got justice.

Jalandhar, August 30
A claim of Rs 1.07 crore was settled in a single case at the special lok adalat (SLA) held in the district court complex here on Saturday.

A heavy recovery of claim was settled in some cases at the lok adalat organised under the aegis of the district legal services authority (DLSA). While a claim of Rs 1.07 crore was settled in the court of civil judge (senior division), another claim of Rs 30 lakh was settled in the court of additional civil judge (senior division) Raj Kumar Garg.

As many as 7,829 of the 10,482 cases were settled and Rs 6.11 crore was awarded in claims and compensation.

District and sessions judge-cum-DLSA chairman Gurdev Singh said efforts were made to dispose of the maximum number of cases through compromise and conciliation. The number of cases being settled through conciliation was showing a rising trend which proved that the lok adalats were becoming popular, he added.

Civil judge (senior division)-cum-DLSA secretary Virinder Aggarwal said that 23 benches were constituted for the purpose of special lok adalat held here today. These benches disposed of civil cases, rent petitions, matrimonial disputes, motor accident claim cases, compoundable criminal cases, recovery cases, traffic challans, other summary cases, cases regarding security proceedings under sections 107/151 of CrPC and mutation cases.

Aggarwal further said pre-litigation cases of banks and telecom companies were also taken up and settled at the lok adalat. Pre-litigation cases are such cases where dispute between the parties are not before the court, rather claimant applies to the legal services authority on a plain paper regarding his claim and notice is given to the other party and efforts are made to get the disputes settled by way of compromise and if the parties arrive at a compromise, claim is disposed of in the lok adalat by settling such pre-litigation cases.

Punjab legal services authority member secretary Gurpreet Singh Bakshi was also present on the occasion. He said special lok adalats were being held at different districts to reduce pending cases.

Batala, August 30
The law of the land was subjected to ridicule here when three persons, Gurwinder Sharma, Neeraj Sharma and Vishal Sharma, all residents of local Bhandari Mohalla, accused of the non-bailable offence of assaulting a public servant (under section 332 of the IPC) were released on bail here on Saturday immediately after their arrest.

A team of the Punjab State Electricity Board employees of south subdivision, Batala, was assaulted by the accused when it entered their marriage palace to check the electricity load.

Subdivisional officer Jagtar Singh, who is still in the local civil hospital, was injured by the owners of the marriage palace. A case was registered against six persons under sections 332, 295, 353, 186, 323, 148 and 149 of the IPC.

The offences under section 332/295-A of the IPC are non-bailable but the local police released the arrested accused for reasons best known to it.

The police did not even recover the weapons of offence nor did it wait for the injured to be discharged from the civil hospital. Great resentment prevails among the PSEB employees against the unethical and illegal action of the police. Three more persons are yet to be arrested. When contacted, City police station SHO Kapil Kaushal said the investigating officer was responsible for it.

Nawanshahr, August 30
Deputy commissioner Nilkanth S. Avhad accompanied by ADC Amarpal Singh, district education officer P.C. Gupta, district science supervisor Balihar Singh Bains, district SSA coordinator Ashok Mehta and district coordinator of “Parho Punjab” programme Kulwaran Singh visited Government Primary School, Bhangal Kalan, to take stock of the progress of the programme on Saturday. The DC examined the categorisation of the students and methodology of teaching. He also interacted with students and teachers.

Besides, the DC also visited Government High School, Karyam. To take stock of the actual classroom teaching, he asked questions from students related to science subject.

“The main objective of the ‘Parho Punjab’ programme is to bring in qualitative improvement in the primary education. Under it, the weak students have been identified and they are to be taught the basics of languages, mathematics, science, etc. with the help of play way method so that they could be familiarised with the basic concepts,” said Nilkanth while exhorting the teachers to implement the programme honestly.

While sharing his view with The Tribune, the deputy commissioner stressed the need to check manipulated survey of the weak students to make the “Parho Punjab” programme a success in real sense. Manipulations in categorisation of students for showing exaggerated progress would not be tolerated, warned the DC.