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NEIGHBOURHOOD

Jor Mela
VIP visits harass devotees
Gurdeep Singh Mann
Tribune News Service

A VIP vehicle passes through a sea of devotees near Gurdwara Fatehgarh Sahib. A Tribune photograph

Fatehgarh Sahib, December 25
A large number of devotees, who thronged the Fatehgarh Sahib gurdwara and Jyoti Swarup gurdwara to pay their obeisance to the younger sahibzada of Guru Gobind Singh, were harassed as the VIP vehicles moved at a high speed on their way to the gurdwaras.

The devotees were forced to stand off-roads for around an hour during the visit of chief minister Parkash Singh Badal.

“Everytime a VIP’s motorcade passes through these roads, the cops start wielding their baton to make a way for special vehicles,” Avtar Singh, a visitor from Landran, said.

Cursing the authorities concerned and politicians for not allowing devotees to move in a sequence, devotees alleged the rules were flouted for the influential people at such occasions. An elder visitor from Morinda said the drivers of these vehicles should atleast take care of the elderly and drive safely. The movement of these vehicles should be banned during occasions.

Manvinder Singh, a resident of Barnala, was hit by a police gypsy, escorting a VIP, near Baba Banda Singh Bahadur Engineering College.

He was going towards the gurudwara Fatehgarh Sahib, when the gypsy hit and he got injured.

Ban on plastic proves futile
Tribune News Service

Fatehgarh Sahib, December 25
Plastic today littered the roads leading to Fatehgarh Sahib in view of Shaheedi Jor Mela. Large number of community kitchens were organised by the area residents, wherein commuters were served food, tea and snacks in disposable glasses and plates.

After enjoying meals, commuters threw disposable items alongside the road. The plastic material was littered upto many kilometres and at many places garbage entered in agricultural fields as well.

"It is the duty of administration to look into the matter. The government should initiate steps to educate people against the use of plastic and ban the same effectively", said Harbhajan Singh, a resident of Chandigarh.

He said the use of plastic is completely banned in Chandigarh, however, in Punjab people could use plastics with prescribed thickness. Commuters, especially those who were riding two wheelers, faced problem.

The organisers of these langars sitting along roads should not use plastic and if they have no other option, then they should properly dump it in a dustbin instead. People should be encouraged to keep the surroundings clean during such occasions, said Jeet Singh, a resident of Patiala.

Fatehgarh Sahib Deputy Commissioner Surjit Singh Dhillon, said the administration usually ban the use of hard plastic. "We have been issuing orders of banning plastic under the District Magistrate orders", he said.

Mother clobbers twins to death
Tribune News Service

Patiala, December 25
In a gruesome incident, a young woman killed her two sons at Sahib Nagar, near Urban Estate, here this morning.

According to police officials, Amarjit (30) clobbered her sons, Rakesh and Ramesh, both twins and aged eight years, with a rod. Earlier, she had tried to kill the two by strangulating them with a piece of cloth but could not succeed.

The police sources claimed that the woman took the step due to financial reasons.

Amarjit, a native of Orissa, committed the crime after her husband, who works as a gardener, left for work. The couple had three children.

Incidentally, Amarjit Singh, the husband of the woman, came back after sometime and found the bodies of the two boys.

According to the sources, Amarjit was finding it hard to provide her children with two square meals a day and the situation had been getting desperate with each passing day.

The family is now left with a 10-year-old son, who is the eldest of the three siblings.

A case under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code has been registered against Amarjit at the Sadar police station.

Birinder Singh, the investigating officer in the case, said the woman was reportedly mentally unstable and had killed her sons out of sheer frustration.

He said the bodies of the two boys were handed over to their relatives after a post-mortem examination, which was conducted at the Government Rajindra Hospital.

Seven shops burgled at Kharar
Two situated near police stations
Tribune News Service

Kharar, December 25
Thieves struck at seven commercial ventures here right under the nose of the police on Wednesday night.

Two leading departmental stores, situated at opposite to the sadar and city police stations, were also struck. In their complaint to the police, the shop-owners, Basant Lal and Pawan Kumar, told the police that the thieves had laid their hands only on the cash box. Cash worth Rs 1 lakh was missing from both the shops.

The thieves had entered the shops by breaking its locks. All other goods were left untouched.

Similarly, mobile store on Arya College road was also plundered. The owner of the shop reported that several mobile phone sets and cash had been missing from the shop. In Gandhi bazaar, a readymade garments' shop owner too has reported that garments and cash have been missing from his shop. Also, three shops on Landran road have been struck.

The shopkeepers rued that there was no night patrolling by the police. People in residential areas and markets have hired private watchmen, who are inefficient and not properly equipped to meet with any kind of urgency or situations like theft.

"All these watchmen can do is alert people. They neither have any authority nor any expertise to deal with thieves. The police should strengthen its patrolling," said Hemant Kumar, an area resident.

The situation becomes grim in winters due to fog and biting cold, when cops prefer to stay indoors, said another resident.

‘Need to re-document Indian history’
Our Correspondent

Ambala, December 25
Union Minister Selja released a book "Haryana the torchbearer of 1857" written by Tejinder Singh Walia in a function organised in Ambala City here today.

The author disclosed that the first war of India's independence of 1857 was in fact started from Ambala Cantonment and then its sparks were spread to the various stations of the Army and that of Merrut Cantonment too. The Army revolt started at Ambala Cantonment parade ground by Indian soldiers much before May 10, 1857.

He mentioned that English historians had named it the Army revolt to favour the British imperialism.

He said there was a great need to re-document the Indian history from Indian angle.

The stories can be written imaginatively but history should always be written on the basis of solid evidences, the book mentioned.

A number of dignitaries, including senior IAS officer Ramender Jakhu, IS officer OP Langian, former MLA Anil Vij, district and sessions judge, Kurukshetra, RC Bansal, additional sessions judge Neelima Sangla and presiding judge of Ambala Lok Adalat RK Gupta, were also present on the occasion. Anil Vij demanded the Haryana government that a memorial in memory of the war heroes of 1857 should be constructed at Ambala Cantonment.

Bir asks DCs to check encroachments
Tribune News Service

Patiala, December 25
Patiala Divisional Commissioner Jasbir Singh Bir recently asserted that in an attempt to stop people from encroaching upon the government land, the administration had deputed certain officials to determine the encroachers.

Bir urged all officials concerned to maintain computerised records in order to prevent encroachments and asked all seven deputy commissioners of Patiala division to see that no encroachments are made on public land.

He also ordered the Deputy Commissioners of the division to see records of revenue department, mandi board, rural development department, forest department and irrigation department within a week and identify illegal encroachments made on lands falling under their respective jurisdictions.

Bir also asked the Deputy Commissioners to be in their offices from 12 pm to 1 pm from Mondays to Thursdays to listen to the grievances of the people.

Prominent among those who were present were DC (Barnala) RL Mehta, DC (Sangrur) BK Ohri, DC (Fatehgarh Sahib) Surjit Singh, DC (Mohali) Rahul Bhandari, DC (Patiala) Vikas Garg, DC (Ludhiana) Sumer Singh, SDM (Ropar) Basant Garg and MC Commissioner (Patiala) Harkesh Singh Sidhu.

PUDA intalls gates at Urban Estate
Attar Singh
Tribune News Service

Patiala, December 25
The Punjab Urban Planning and Development Authority has built imposing gates in the three phases of the Urban Estate here to lend architectural beauty to the posh residential area of this once princely city.

Two gates have been built by PUDA, one at the entry to Phases I and III of the Urban Estate and the second at the entry to Phase II. The gates are located on 80-feet-wide roads and have modern architecture.

Assistant Chief Administrator of PUDA (Patiala) Manjit Singh Narang told The Tribune here today that PUDA got the idea of building the gates from private colonisers who built beautiful gates at the colonies developed by them. The two gates were completed within three months at a cost of Rs 12 lakh each. While the cost of construction was Rs 10.5 lakh each gate, another Rs 1.5 lakh was spent on each of the two gates for lighting. The gates stand out distinctively during night.

The 24-feet high gates have a modern architecture. PUDA took the public opinion about the idea before getting down to work on building the gates. Narang said PUDA had left 40 per cent of the total area in the market of the Urban Estate, Phase II, for parking purposes and had also built slip roads. The main artery was 80-feet wide. As a result there was no chance of any traffic bottleneck being caused by the gates.

Elaborating on the amenities provided by PUDA to the residents of the Urban Estate, Narang said a novel scheme of sanitation has been launched in the Urban Estate. PUDA had given a contract to a private party for maintenance of sanitation in the area.

Two killed in auto-truck collision
Our Correspondent

Ambala, December 25
Two persons were killed and nine others injured when a three-wheeler collided with a truck on Ambala-Hisar road, near here today morning.

The deceased were identified as Karam Chand and Kulbir Singh, residents of Mahmoodpur village.

The injured, Pala Ram, Amrik Singh, Jaspal, Kanta Rani, Balkar Singh, Ajay, Parbhu Dayal, Paramjit and Gurmeet were admitted to the civil hospital here. The condition of one of the injured is stated to be serious.

According to the information, 11 persons were travelling in the three- wheeler, which collided head-on with the truck. The truck driver managed to flee from the site.

The police registered a case against the truck driver. It is said that the accident occurred due to the dense fog on the road.

Engg teacher awarded
Tribune News Service

Banur, December 25
Prof Manavjot Kaur, assistant professor, the department of biotechnology, Shaheed Udham Singh College of Engineering and Technology, Tangori, has been awarded the best engineering college teacher award for Punjab state for the year 2008 by the Indian Society for Technical Education, New Delhi.

Manavjot was awarded at the 38th annual motional convention of ISTE at Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology, Bhubaneswar.

She has been awarded for her contribution to academic community and the students. The award includes a medallion, citation and cash award.