Jalandhar, January 8
While the truckers’ indefinite strike entered the fourth day, it has started casting its shadow on the day-to-day life of the people.

As the news of the reported shortage of petroleum products spread in the city, mainly due to a strike by officers of oil companies, the vehicle owners started thronging different petrol stations. Soon long queues of vehicles were seen at almost every petrol station in the city.

A car owner, Parveen Sharma, told The Tribune while waiting at a petrol station near Patel Chowk for diesel that he wanted to get the oil tank filled because of the possible scarcity of the commodity due to the ongoing strike.

Similarly, industrialists are also being adversely affected by the truckers’ strike. They had already borne losses worth several crores of rupees as neither they have been getting any supply of raw material nor their products are being sent to their destinations since January 5.

A representative of the All-India Valves and Cocks Manufactures Association, Ashwani Diwan, told The Tribune that the turnover of each of nearly 300 valves and cocks units located in Jalandhar itself was approximately Rs 1 lakh to Rs 10 lakh daily and the truckers strike had cast its shadow on it.

Meanwhile the rates of vegetables and fruits have also shot up.

Jalandhar, January 8
State security for 80 per cent of the VIPS in this district would be withdrawn after they were found to be having “zero threat perception” during a security review carried out after the Mumbai attacks, a top police officer said here today.

“A review operation was conducted and the list of all persons, who were provided with security guards, was scrutinised and it was found that a majority of them were no longer facing any threat to their lives,” senior superintendent of police (SSP) P.K. Rai said.

Threat perception of around 85 persons, who were having Punjab police security, was reviewed and threat perception of 70 such “protected persons” was found to be zero, the SSP said.

“We have sent the revised list to the additional director-general of police (security) and the personnel guarding them would be called back according to the directions of the ADGP,” Rai said.

Seventy police personnel in the district have already been recalled during the 25 per cent curtailment of security cover of the VIPs as directed by Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal.

During the process, several “influential persons”, including politicians, scribes, industrialists and religious leaders, would have to lose their security cover, the SSP added.

Asked whether any industrial house had demanded security from the district police, especially after the Mumbai attacks, the SSP said the owner of a major hotel had asked for security. The hotel was informed that it would be charged for the security cover, he said. — PTI

Nawanshahr, January 8
The Guru Nanak Mission Medical and Educational Trust, Dhahan Kaleran, an NRI-sponsored NGO, organised an NRI samman samaroh on Thursday and honoured as many as 60 NRIs belonging to the USA, the UK, Canada, Australia, Norway, Singapore, etc.

NRI Sabha, Punjab, president Kamaljit Singh Hayer was the chief guest. Issues regarding completion of the construction work of a trauma centre and setting up of a medical college and university were discussed on the occasion.

Trust president Dr Budh Singh Dhahan, while welcoming the NRIs, lauded their cooperation and financial assistance in enabling the trust to provide better health and education facilities to the rural people in the state for the past about three decades.

With the cooperation of the NRI philanthropists, the trust has been running a 250-bed hospital, a nursing college, a senior secondary school and a drug de-addiction centre. The NRIs have not only been providing funds but also the latest medical equipment and technology to provide better healthcare facilities.

In 2005, the trust started the construction work of a trauma centre, a project worth Rs 15 crore. The trust has already spent Rs 5 crore on the project but the work has come to a halt due to some problems within the trust.

Hayer lauded the contribution of Dhahan, affectionately called “babaji” for his relentless efforts in mobilising donations from here and abroad for community service projects.

“The younger generation of the NRIs is far more desirous of making contributions towards their motherland but the rotten system here has been causing hindrances in their plans,” lamented Hayer while stressing on the need for immediate improvement in the administrative system here.

Jalandhar, January 8
In what may be termed as flouting court orders, an undertrial Congress councillor Sukhmeet Singh, alias Deputy, could not attend the meeting of the municipal corporation on Thursday despite the courts’ directions. Thanks to the district police which did not take Deputy to the MC building from the central jail here where he has been lodged in a kidnapping case.

Deputy’s father Jarnail Singh and Congress councillor Dinesh Dhall Kaali alleged that the district police intentionally did not take him to the meeting at the behest of some politicians belonging to the ruling alliance.

They said he was not taken to the MC house meeting despite the fact that the required amount of Rs 47,359 had also been deposited with the jail authorities by his father, they added.

When contacted, jail superintendent Gursharan Singh Sidhu told The Tribune that cops of the district police had taken Deputy’s custody from the jail to take him to the house meeting. Later, the policemen handed him back to the jail authorities, he said, adding he did not know where they had taken him.

However, SSP P.K. Rai could not be contacted . It is for the second time that the councillor from Ward 26 could not attend the meeting of the MC house despite court orders. A few months back, a team of the district police had taken him from jail to an MC house meeting but he could not be taken there due to his alleged clash with some policemen.

Jalandhar, January 8
Issues pertaining to theft of lids of the manholes, change in the timings of water supply, development works in various wards and implementation of new routes of the City Bus Service were the highlights of the Jalandhar Municipal Corporation (MC) meeting held here today under the chairmanship of Mayor Rakesh Rathore.

Ajeet Nagar councillors Gurmail Singh and Sunil Jyoti demanded implementation of new routes of the City Bus Service from Kishanpura Chowk, Doaba Chowk, Pathankot Chowk, Lamba Pind Chowk. The mayor said that they could intimate the MC about their routes so that the bus service could be extended in the coming days.

Meanwhile, a majority of the councillors raised their voice against the “tehbazari” department. They maintained that the MC authorities were charging Rs 500 each from the kiosks and rehris.

Jalandhar, January 8
Members of the Muslim National Front Punjab today observed Moharram and held a procession at various places in the city. Scores of people took part in the march.

The procession started from Dargah Baba Kadri and went on to Nakodar Chowk, Jyoti Chowk, Company Gate, Milap Chowk, Phagwara Gate, Bhagat Singh Chowk, Khingra Gate, Adda Hoshiarpur, Mai Hira Gate, Patel Chowk, Adarsh Nagar Chwok and culminated at Nakodar Chowk. 

Jalandhar, January 8
With a view to giving an impetus to girl education in the district, the Sarv Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) authorities have come up with initiatives whereby the girl students would be given additional facilities apart from providing quality education.

Hoshiarpur, January 8
Resentment prevails among the parents of those students who have recently left the Government Senior Secondary School, Dholbaha, in the district against the school’s authorities for not paying the small savings amount contributed by them during the study of their wards up to secondary and senior secondary classes.

In a joint representation to the director-general (secondary) of the education department, Punjab, president of the village welfare development society Jagrup Singh, Satinder Nath, Romesh Chand, Balwinder Singh, Dilbag Singh and more than two dozen inhabitants of Dholbaha stated that according to their information about Rs 2 lakh collected by the school authorities under the small savings scheme from the students with their fee was lying undistributed.

They further pointed out that the school authorities were also charging monthly cycle fund from students for parking their cycles in the shed. But there was no cycle shed on the school premises and the students were parking their cycles in the markets and adjoining lanes. This amount is also lying unspent in the school. — OC

Amritsar, January 8
Twenty-five teachers from Karnataka and Punjab participated in a three-week refresher course in environmental studies organised by Academic Staff College (ASC) of Guru Nanak Dev University in collaboration with the department of botanical and environmental sciences.

While delivering the valedictory address, former dean of life sciences and senior professor of zoology Dr Pushpinder Kaur said the conservation of wildlife and environment-friendly programmes for the sustainable eco-system should be promoted at the institutional level. She presented participation certificates and books to the participants.

While urging the need of such awareness and training programmes on environmental sciences, she advised participants of the course to take back the messages of the renowned persons to educate students, fellow colleagues and the public in general.

The refresher course was an opportunity where one got the new ideas and the information about the new fields which could be implemented later, she added.

Amritsar, January 8
A seven-year-old girl has been forced to beg in the streets for the past one year. The matter came to light when relatives of the girl recognised her when she was begging at a temple in Model Town.

The girl, Priya, was missing from Gurdwara Shaheed Baba Deep Singh where she had gone to pay obeisance with her aunt. In the crowd, she got separated and later was abducted by Jeeto, a resident of slums, near Mahavir Bridge.

According to information, the relatives of girl called her mother Raj Rani.

The police said further investigations were on after taking Jeeto in two-day remand.

A case under sections 363-A and 365 of the IPC and 41, 42 of the Juvenile Justice Act, 1986, has been registered.