Amritsar, September 17
The marriage of a minor is an offence in the eyes of law, but 17-year-old Rajan Dutta has a “wife”, courtesy passport authorities in Jalandhar which made this major discrepancy in the highly sensitive document.

Not only this, the passport office made another blunder by fixing the photograph of another person named Avtar Singh on the passport. The lackadaisical approach of the department has baffled the family which has been facing harassment at the hands of the officials. The passport office has mentioned the name of Manjit Kaur as his wife.

However, despite repeated attempts, Jalandhar passport officer A.K. Mahajan could not be contacted for his views as he did not attend the call.

Vijay Kumar Sharma, a relative of Dutta residing in Amritsar, while talking to The Tribune said the most unfortunate thing was that the regional passport office at Jalandhar even did not bother to attend to their complaint although they visited the office several times.

He claimed that the agents sitting outside the office were “assuring” them that they could get the mistake rectified within no time but they would have to shell out more than Rs 2,000 for the purpose. The victims of this blunder also tried to contact the regional passport officer but in vain.

Vijay said they had received the passport (G 9570317) in August this year and since then they were running from pillar to post for getting the mistake corrected. The appearing of such mistakes after a lot of verifications from so many departments puts a question mark on the efficiency of the department.

He claimed that Rajan, a resident of Mahilpur village in Hoshiarpur district, was a talented football player of his school and was likely to participate in important tournaments in the country and abroad. But this blunder could prevent him from participating in various international competitions.

Jalandhar, September 17
The police sealed two industrial units and seized the stock for allegedly manufacturing spurious cement under the brand name of Birla White in the Ghas Mandi area on the Kala Sanghia road here this evening.

The police arrested the owner of one unit while that of the other managed to elude the police party that conducted surprise raids.

Acting on a complaint of Javed, an executive officer of Torque Security Private Limited, authorised by the Aditya Birla Group, a police party, led by SP (city-I) S.K. Kalia, conducted surprise raids on Narang Paints and Chemicals and Nippon Paints and Chemicals and seized spurious cement being manufactured under the name and logo of Birla While Cement.

The police has arrested Mohit Narang, owner of Narang Paints and Chemicals, while Luxmi Narayan Sharma, owner of Nippon Paints and Chemicals, managed to give the police a slip.

In his complaint to the district police, Javed had alleged that the industrial units were manufacturing spurious cement and selling it using the name of Birla While Cement causing huge losses to the company.

Talking to The Tribune, S.P. Kalia revealed that during the raids hundreds of bags of spurious cement were seized. Both industrial units were sealed.

The police took samples of cement for further investigations. Cases have been registered under the provisions of the Copyright Act and under section 420 of the IPC.

Jalandhar, September 17
The three-day visit of AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi to Punjab will rejuvenate the rank and file of the party besides ensuring a huge response to the ongoing recruitment drive of the Youth Congress.

Stating this, Indian Youth Congress (IYC) president Ashok Tanwar, who was in the city to oversee arrangements for the visit, said Gandhi would visit almost all districts of Punjab and address a youth rally at Bhatinda on September 23 apart from addressing a scheduled caste convention and girls’ convention in Jalandhar and Gurdaspur, respectively.

Regarding the issue of expulsion of former Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh from the assembly, Tanwar said apart from political vendetta with the former Chief Minister, Rahul would also rake up the issue of atrocities on hundreds of Congress workers by the ruling alliance.

On the first day of his visit, Gandhi would start his programme from Mohali before visiting the districts of Ropar, Fatehgarh Sahib, Patiala, Sangrur, Mansa and on the second day he would address a youth rally at Bhatinda in the morning before visiting the districts of Muktsar, Faridkot, Ferozepore, Tarn Taran, Amritsar and Gurdaspur on September 23, Tanwar revealed.

On the third day of his visit, Rahul would interact with Dalit youths in Jalandhar and then proceed to the districts of Nawanshahr, Kapurthala and Ludhiana, Tanwar said, adding that in Jalandhar, Rahul would address the media also.

Tanwar said a special sports meet would be organised at Kharar on September 22, where Gandhi would interact with the sports persons of Punjab and seek their suggestions to strengthen the sports policy of the country.

The IYC chief said as a pilot project, aggressive membership drive for the Youth Congress had been launched in Punjab and would continue up to September 30.

After the completion of the process of membership drive, Foundation for Advance Management of Election (FAME), headed by former chief election commissioner J.M. Lyngdoh, would audit the process to ensure that youths with good track record only join the organisation, he said, adding that the Youth Congress would be turned into a strong cadre-based organisation.

Tanwar was accompanied by Mohinder Singh Kay Pee, state Congress chief, former Punjab minister Avtar Henry and Sheikh Mastan Wali, general secretary, IYC.

Jalandhar, September 17
Exactly a month after the launch of the city bus service, the municipal corporation authorities today claimed that the facility has caught fancy of city residents and more than 3,500 persons were taking advantage of it daily. MC commissioner Vinay Bublani said voice announcement system would be introduced in the buses which would be especially beneficial to passengers from outside the city.

He added that public information system would also be installed at bus queue shelters. He added that in less than two weeks a survey would be conducted by an advisory company which would submit a report on new viable routes.

The buses are currently plying on four routes. The new bus shelters are likely to come up in three months. There are currently two modern shelters in the city between BMC Chowk and Namdev Chowk.

Bublani said monthly bus passes are available at different places 

Jalandhar, September 17
The district police today arrested a patwari of Lidhran halqa for his involvement in a land fraud case. His three accomplices are still at large.

Acting on a complaint of NRI Jeet Ram of Nussi village, in which he had alleged that patwari Sukhdev Singh along with Dharminder Kaur, her husband Sukhpal Singh, residents of Doordarshan Enclave, Jalandhar, and Maninder Singh of Guru Nanak Nagar, cheated him by selling a plot owned by some third party.

The complaint also said that the patwari in connivance with the three persons made fake documents of the plot and sold it to him for Rs 21 lakh.

After arresting Sukhdev Singh, the police has registered a case of forgery and cheating against him at Maksudan police station. — TNS