Sang Dhesian (Jalandhar), December 13
Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal has denied that technical education in the state would be “saffronised” if an RSS person is appointed the next vice-chancellor of Punjab Technical University.

The hunt for the new VC has been going on ever since the previous incumbent Dr S.K. Salwan put in his papers in August.

Badal, who was here today to preside over the convocation of Guru Nanak Khalsa Girls College, said the file of shortlisted candidates for the post was pending with 
Chancellor-cum-Governor Gen S.F. Rodrigues (retd) for approval.

The Chancellor will select the suitable person any day now, he revealed.

There had been media reports that Badal had asked the state BJP leadership to suggest a candidate for this post and the name of a senior RSS functionary and principal of an engineering college had been doing the rounds as the front-runner.

About the delay in the selection of the suitable candidate, Badal chose to pass the buck on to the search committee by saying that the latter took its time to recommend a panel of candidates.

Reacting to the snub to the organisers of the NRI Sabha convention yesterday, he said he had apologised to the organisers since he had to attend the swearing-in ceremony of the Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister. When his attention was drawn towards SAD chief Sukhbir Badal, who was present in the city and yet chose to give the event a miss, he said the query should be directed to the latter.

Commenting on former Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh’s challenge to the Badals to contest from the Bathinda Lok Sabha seat, he said these were “hollow challenges aimed at playing to the galleries.”

“Amarinder should learn to conduct himself in a more dignified and mature manner. It is for the party to decide the candidate for a particular constituency. How can I join issue with him when the Congress is yet to decide on Bathinda nominee?” the CM questioned.

Taking a dig at the former CM, he said that it seemed that Amarinder nowadays “only dreams about Pakistan and our family”.

Amarinder has spread political hatred in Punjab which was an unhealthy trend. It’s not in the interest of the state and should be avoided by all,” he added.

Elaborating his developmental agenda, Badal said the government was presently working on establishing world-class universities at Amritsar and Bathinda.

Earlier, he gave away degrees to 328 postgraduates and graduates at a ceremony in the presence of college management committee president Kuldeep Singh Wadala. Badal also announced a grant of Rs 25 lakh for the college.

He presented the college colour, a roll of honour and a merit certificate to Kanwaljit Kaur who had stood first in the inter-college pistol shooting championship of Guru Nanak Dev University.

Phagwara, December 13
Panic gripped the residents of six villages after they suffered giddiness, itching and eye irritation due to vapours and toxic gas that escaped after a blast in a vacuum pump in the Dhudhadhari Exports factory, preparing refined glycerine.

Over 2,000 villagers, especially women and children, in Khajurala, Kotkalan, Semi, Paragpur and surrounding areas of the national highway between Chaheru and Jalandhar cantonment complained of allergy-like symptoms as toxic gas or vapours of the glycerine enveloped the area, spreading panic among inhabitants of nearby areas.

Five labourers of the factory, which processed glycerine for making soaps, rubbers, leather, etc. in Khajurala village, were worst-affected from the 
gas leakage.

They said they were on their job when they suddenly heard a loud blast and felt giddiness and 
itching in the eyes.

Fire engines from Phagwara were immediately pressed into the service, said SDM Amarjit Paul who rushed to the spot along with DSP Harkamalpreet Singh Khakh and other officials.

Medical teams have been sent to the villages to treat the victims.

A probe has been ordered to find out the causes of the mishap and safety lapses. Meanwhile, officials of the factory were not available to respond to media queries regarding the mishap. Khakh said that the broken vacuum pump had been seized for further investigations. — UNI

Jalandhar, December 13
A keen contest is in the offing for the Youth Congress elections to the post of the rural district chief (reserved) with the candidature of Vikramjit Chaudhary and Rajesh Kumar.

While the former is a son of former minister Santokh Chaudhary, the latter is a protégé of former minister Chaudhary Jagjit Singh. Incidentally, the Chaudharys are brothers but have no love lost between them.

Accompanied by their supporters, both the candidates filed their nominations at Congress Bhavan this noon. Voting will take place on December 16 while the date for withdrawal is tomorrow.

The first-ever elections are being held in Punjab as part of a pilot project by the party high command to ensure that only grass-root activists occupy senior positions in the Youth Congress unlike in the past when unilateral inductions were the order of the day. Former Chief Election Commissioner J.L. Lyndogh has designed the new process.

According to party sources, a total of 116 elected delegates will vote to choose the president and the scales were presently tilted in the favour of Vikramjit who was accompanied by all the 10 block presidents, besides 90 delegates at the time of filing his nomination. PYC general secretary Monty Sehgal was also present on the occasion.

Rajesh too was accompanied by a few delegates and his supporters while others have chosen to be fence sitters for the time being.

Besides this, seven other members have filed their nominations for the five DYC committee posts - one vice-president and four general secretaries.

Under the present system, all the office-bearers have to be elected and the president has the authority to appoint four secretaries only.

Nawanshahr, December 13
Merely 15 per cent Youth Congress workers participated in the polling for the organisational poll of the Youth Congress held here last Sunday, displaying lack of enthusiasm among them. But senior Congress leaders in the district could be seen more enthusiastic in playing their cards for getting the candidate of their choice elected to the post of the District Youth Congress president.

The process of filing nomination papers and scrutiny were completed today.

According to district returning officer (DRO) B.D. Tripathi, appointed by the party high command, 14 nominations were filed for the election of the District Youth Congress.

While four nomination papers by Rajwinder Singh Lucky, Satish Rana, Kamaljit Kanwar and Rajwant Kaur were filed for the post of the district president, 10 nomination papers by Karan Khosla, Rajvinder Kaur, Mandeep Singh, Rakesh Kumar, Ram Kumar, Angad Singh, Balwinder Kumar, Amandeep Singh, Rajinder Kaur and Rinku Chaudhary have been filed for the post of vice-president.

As many as 67 delegates would participate in the polling. From the present scenario, it appears that there would be a direct contest between sitting District Youth Congress president Rajwinder Singh Lucky and Kamaljit Kanwar for the post of the president.

Nawanshahr, December 13
Though the incidents of road accident are on the rise, nothing, except lip service, is being done to streamline the traffic on the main roads in the district.

As per available information, as many as 92 persons have died and 130 injured in the 120 road accidents which have taken place during the current year so far.

The sharp increase in the number of vehicles, lack of traffic sense among people as well as the apathy of the authorities in enforcing road safety measures, encroachments on the main roads and chowks, etc., are the main causes of the prevailing chaos on the roads.

Besides, with the construction of the Rahon-Machhiwara bridge across the Sutlej, the volume of heavy traffic has increased manifold in the town as it happens to be the shorter route for the vehicles running from adjoining states of Jammu and Kashmir 
and Himachal Pradesh to New Delhi.

But the main roads and chowks in the town are plagued by encroachments and are not capable of bearing the pressure of heavy traffic.

The construction of a bypass is the need of the hour. For the past more than 10 years, laying of two foundation stones by two former Congress Chief Ministers - Harcharan Singh Brar in 1996 and Capt Amarinder Singh in 2006 - is all that has been done in the name of the construction of a bypass.

But on both occasions with the change of government, the scheme of constructing the Nawanshahr bypass to ease the traffic congestion had been put in cold storage.

Last year, after assuming power, Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, while addressing a gathering at Khatkar Kalan, had mooted the idea of constructing an elevated road at Banga and Nawanshahr for solving the problem of traffic congestion. But nothing concrete has been done so far either to revive the scheme of a bypass or conducting a survey for the proposed elevated road.

Consistent traffic chaos can be witnessed on Banga Road, Garhshankar Road, Ambedkar Chowk, Chandigarh Chowk, Chandigarh Road, Rotary Chowk, Rahon Road and Railway Road areas of the town.

A few months ago, SSP Shashi Prabha Dwivedi, in collaboration with a Khanna-based NGO, Society for Traffic Aid and Traffic Help (SAATH), had started efforts to streamline traffic. Under the drive, the traffic lights were redesigned and temporary traffic lanes, with the help of traffic cones, were prepared at Chandigarh Chowk and Ambedkar Chowk for the purpose. But the traffic police seems indifferent in properly and practically implementing it.

The police has launched a drive to make students aware of road safety measures. Under the drive lectures are being delivered at educational institutions and driving of motorcycles and mopeds, etc. by students without driving licences has been prohibited.

A drive to fix reflectors on the tractor-trailers has also been launched. But the question is what concrete steps are being taken to convert the traffic awareness drives into a consistent and concerted programme so as to ensure strict implementation of road safety measures.

Jalandhar, December 13
The police today claimed to have busted a gang of auto-lifters with the arrest of four members of the gang and recovery of three stolen cars from their possession.

Acting on a specific information, cops of the Sadar police station nabbed two persons identified as Mehtab and Kuljeet, resident of Kapurthala district, after registering a case under sections 399 and 402 of the Indian Penal Code on December 8, police sources said.

During preliminary interrogation, the accused revealed that they were members of an auto-lifters’ gang and named two persons identified as Mangal Singh and Nirvail Singh as their accomplices, the police said, adding that the duo were also arrested today and three stolen cars were recovered from their 
possession.

About the modus operandi of the gang, the accused revealed that Mehtab and Kuljeet used to steal vehicles and hand these over to other two accused who used to sell these on forged documents.

A fresh case has been registered against the accused in the Sadar police station and efforts were on to identify and nab the other members of the gang, the sources added. — PTI

Batala, December 13
City police station SHO Kapil Kaushal was injured in a brick-batting incident between two groups outside Khajuri Gate here today.

A group of about 50 armed persons tried to take possession of a piece of disputed land outside Khajuri Gate at about noon which was resisted by Pawan Kumar Khosla of Khosla Palace. The latter claimed to have won a court case in his favour, while the other party allegedly purchased the land from Vijay Kumar Bakshi who had 
lost the civil case.

When the armed group of the land grabbers reached the spot, information was given to the SHO. When he tried to intervene, the mob gathered and started to throw stones and a brickbat hit him in the head. The police had to resort to a minor lathi charge to disperse the mob. Some persons, on condition of anonymity, however, disclosed that the group was having political patronage that was why the police did not arrest any of the culprits. A case has been registered. — OC