Pathankot, October 19
Serving as a gateway to Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir, and developing as a tourist halt, Pathankot, which is the fifth largest city of Punjab in terms of population, has failed to attract the attention of the government as far as basic amenities are concerned.

With a population of about 2.6 lakh, the town has underground sewerage facilities in just about 65 percent of the populated areas.

The rest of the inhabited colonies are without sewerage facilities, thus forcing the residents to face continuous problems despite the fact that the town has an 'A' class municipal council and has an annual budget of Rs 15 crores.

The residents alleged that though Pathankot has been contributing a lot to the economy of the state in the shape of the production of fruits, especially litchi, the authorities concerned have failed to bring up the issue of its development and provision of basic amenities.

Information gathered by TNS revealed that city had not been equipped with sewerage treatment plant (STP) and in the absence of same, the untreated sewerage water had been flowing into the Nalwa Khad of the Chakki river, thus polluting its water.

Many localities of the city have problems of sewerage blockage. Amritpal Bansal, executive officer (EO), said a project worth Rs 48 crore had been prepared to cover the 100 percent populated areas with sewerage facilities.

The project included the setting up of STP at the cost of about Rs 21 crore and the rest of the amount would be spent on laying down the sewerage system.

He added that the main disposal site of the sewerage was located at Dolatpur village. Some new colonies had come up around the existing city, which had not been taken into its municipal limits.

As the municipal council limit was expected to expand, these new colonies would have to be given sewerage and potable water facilities also.

He said use of polythene bags had become the major cause of blockage of underground sewerage at many places.

Rachpal Singh, executive engineer, Punjab Water Supply and Sewerage Board (PWSSB), said the entire project of this city would cost around Rs 60 crore.

He added that under this project, some old sewerage pipes would also be replaced.

Sultanpur Lodhi, October 19
Robbers struck twice in a span of 10 hours in two areas of Sultanpur Lodhi creating panic in the  holy city.

While a farmer, Mukhtiar Singh of Maniala village was robbed of Rs 4.51 lakh by three motorcycle-borne youths near Amarjitpur village on Saturday afternoon, Surjit Singh of Nawan Donewal village was robbed of Rs 2,300 cash and a mobile phone by six unknown robbers on Dalla road on Saturday night.

Both the places where the robberies occurred are located at a distance of just about four kilometers from each other.

In the robbery on Dalla road, the victim Surjit Singh was returning to his house located in Nawan Pind Donewal village from Sultanpur Lodhi when six robbers suddenly appeared on Dalla road on their three motorcycles on Saturday evening.

The robbers stopped his motorcycle, beat him, snatched away the cash and
the mobile phone from him and managed to flee from the spot under the garb
of darkness.

The victim said it was too dark to notice whether they had a weapon or not.

The three motorcycle-borne youths had apparently been following the victim Mukhtiar Singh of Manila village since morning as he withdrew money from two banks of Sultanpur Lodhi to pay labourers working at his farm.

However, the robbers robbed him of cash when he reached a secluded place near Amarjitpur village.

Talking to The Tribune, Sultanpur Lodhi SHO Piara Singh said the youths responsible for the two robberies were suspected to belong to different gang as the robbery near Amarjitpur village seemed pre-planned whereas the one on Dalla road seemed unplanned and sudden.

Meanwhile, separate FIRs, under sections 382 and 34 of the IPC in the robbery near Amarjitpur village and under sections 382, 148 and 149 of the IPC in the robbery on Dalla road, have been registered.

Jalandhar, October 19
In an effort to curb corruption, Jalandhar Improvement Trust (JIT) chairman Baljit Singh Neelamehal has decided to introduce the single-window system.

Talking to The Tribune, Neelamehal said the single-window system would help in curtailing corruption, besides providing relief to the visitors who presently had to approach many officials and face harassment.

Employees working in the houses of certain officers would soon be withdrawn and deputed at other places where required, he claimed.

“To provide houses to the poor at reasonable prices is my dream and I will do my best to fulfil it. Profit generation for the trust will be priority,” he said.

New schemes and projects would be taken up shortly, plans for which were in the pipeline, he said.

Neelamehal claimed that the trust had restricted powers that had been proving to be hindrance in different development works.

The trust would approach the state government to seek delegation of certain powers (which they presently don’t have) to officials, he added.

He said the trust would be clear about its jurisdiction and there would be no compromise on development works.

Hoshiarpur, October 19
After 43 days of his death at Lebanon, finally the body of Manjinder Singh (18), son of a retired police constable Sarwan Singh of local police lines, was consigned to flames at the cremation ground here today.

Hundreds of men and women, including MP Avinash Rai Khanna, and relatives of the deceased participated in the funeral of Manjinder.

A pall of gloom descended on the local Police Lines area last night when his body reached here from the Indira Gandhi International Airport, New Delhi.

Manjinder left his home for Syria to earn his livelihood there about 7 months ago. But the travel agent who took him to Syria duped him and left him at Lebanon.

The family members came to know about his stay at Lebanon when he contacted them. During his stay at Lebanon, he called his family only once.

The news of his death had reached the family on September 6, 2008. The caller told them that he had been pushed off from the roof of some building.

The boy's family tried its level best to bring the body of Manjinder Singh from Lebanon for performing the last rites but could not succeed.

They approached MP Avinash Rai Khanna, with whose effort body was recovered.

Amritsar, October 19
Dr Ashu Shokeen, professor and head of the department of library and information science, Kurukshetra University, while delivering lecture at GNDU said the scientific principles of management are important in library parlance as library was an organisation where physical, financial and human resources have to be managed to provide the best services.

She acquainted the students with the basic concepts and traits that a library manager should possess.

She stressed the need for motivation and incentives for optimum efficiency of staff.

Another speaker, Dr HR Chopra, a retired professor of library and information science at Panjab University, Chandigarh, delivered a talk on e-journals, how they were useful for the literature search, resource sharing.

He also dwelt on e-journals vis-a-vis the journals in analogue form. The time is not far away when e-journals would replace the print journals, he added.

Amritsar, October 19
There is need to organise more cultural fairs in the name of renowned writers as they connect people besides spreading awareness on literature.

This was stated by Dr Rattan Singh Ajnala, MP, while presiding over the second day proceedings of Prof Mohan Singh Yadgaari Mela at Sangatpura here today.

He also announced a grant of Rs five lakh and Rs three lakh for the development of the village and school, respectively.

Meanwhile, a seminar on contribution of women towards the society was organised which was presided over by Dr Avtar Kaur Ajnala.

Various speakers emphasised on the need for urgent steps to curb female foeticide.

Another seminar on natural farming was also held in which various farm leaders lashed out at the use of pesticides, insecticides and chemical fertilisers.

They also criticised the practice of burning of stubble and agriculture residue by farmers. Gatka parties also performed on the occasion.

Kapurthala, October 19
Punjab advocate general HS Mattewal lauded the achievements of Sainik School while addressing the gathering during the closing ceremony of the 47th annual athletics meet of the school here on Sunday.

Participating in the closing ceremony of the annual athletics meet as chief guest, Mattewal said it was a matter of great pride that as many as 16 students of the school had been selected by the NDA for the year 2008-09.

An alumnus of the school, Mattewal gave away prizes to the winners of the meet.

The advocate general announced to create a corpus fund of Rs 10 lakh by the
old boys association of the school for the promotion of sports, educational and
cultural activities.

He also announced a grant of Rs 5 lakh on behalf of the state government.

CM Parkash Singh Badal had already announced Rs 1 crore financial aid to the school for constructing the boundary wall, he added.