Jalandhar, January 20
The modern-day need for the railway overbridge across the Lyallpur Khalsa College crossing is leading to the squeezing up of the prestigious Punjab State War Memorial which stands up as an epitome of sacrifices laid down by the valiant soldiers of the region.

While earlier it was being proposed that only a few square metres of the vacant front portion of the memorial would be taken to widen the road in front of it, now its side wall from the Police Lines road side is also being pushed inwards. The 27-metre long tapering wall of the triangular building is being taken a metre inwards to widen the stretch of the road from where one of the arms of the ROB will take the buses and other traffic upwards across the railway lines.

The wall of the building is now being demolished to be replaced with cement sheets till the time of construction. The 16 Ashoka trees lined up along the wall are also being uprooted for the same purpose.

Ever since the construction began, there have been endless troubles for the memorial which was otherwise being maintained so well. “Time and again, we have been told to completely shift the memorial but we have resisted the move. We know that once we vacate it, it will take years to rebuild the memorial elsewhere,” said Lieut-Col Manmohan Singh, deputy director, Sainik Welfare.

Currently, massive re-construction work is on in the compound. A new tubewell is being installed and the front portion measuring 10 metres will be withdrawn. The symbolic statue of a soldier is also being removed, for it falls in the same area which is being given off for the widening of the road coming from the bus stand side. A library and a washroom are also being displaced towards the tapering side. The authorities, however, have been lucky to retain the hall of fame which displays memoirs of wars fought by the soldiers. Several meetings for the review of the design of the ROB have been held with the PWD officials to save as much portion of the structure as possible.Terming the move as an insult to the martyrs, the ex-servicemen had shot off missives to top-rung PWD officials asking them to redesign the ROB with minimum alterations in the prestigious monument.

Major-Gen G.S. Sohi (retd) had suggested, “This war memorial is the pride of Punjab and it was not built in a day. It took 26 years to bring it to this level. These things cannot be recreated. So instead of disturbing the memorial, the PWD should look out for some engineering alternatives.”

The plan to set up the Punjab State War Memorial was conceived in 1976 and it was raised in 1982. Though the site belongs to the Jalandhar improvement trust, its maintenance was handed over to the sainik welfare office in 1991 due to poor upkeep by the trust.

However, PWD SE Ram Pal said, “No alternative plan is possible in this case. A portion of memorial has to be covered in the project.”

Jalandhar, January 20
To incorporate suggestions from the city’s intelligentsia in the draft of the master plan, the Jalandhar Development Authority (JDA) has set up a panel of 25 persons drawn from different walks of life asking them to put forth their ideas for the same.

The panel, which will be headed by deputy commissioner Ajeet Singh Pannu, also has the names of Mayor Rakesh Rathour, principal Dr Sucharita of the Apeejay College of Fine Arts, Lakhbir Singh of NGO Pahal and Anoop Watts of the Jalandhar Consumers Welfare Association, builders, presidents of housing societies and officials from the Municipal Corporation and the Punjab State Electricity Board.

Divulging these details, JDA chief administrator Parveen Kumar said the city’s think-tank had been asked to put forth their suggestions and to hold meetings for discussions on the same. He said since the drafting was in the preliminary stage, certain valuable ideas could be inked at this stage.

The chief administrator said after the plan would be finalised, it would be printed in newspapers to seek feedback and critical view on it from the general public. “Any major flaws indicated by the readers would then be rectified before we finally get it notified from the government. Once the plan gets covered under the Punjab Regional and Town Planning and Development Act, 1995, its violation by anyone could invite legal wrangles,” he pointed out.

The town planning department has designed master plans earlier as well but without a notification, these were being violated with impunity. Once notified, the various civic bodies would be able to demolish any illegal construction, said the chief administrator.

The officer said that other areas falling under its jurisdiction, including Alawalpur, Adampur, Kartarpur, Phagwara and surrounding 260 villages, would also be covered in the plan.

He added that the current haphazard growth could not be undone but the development of remaining uncovered areas could be planned for future growth. He said sites would be specifically marked for commercial, industrial, residential, institutional and agricultural development.

Parveen Kumar said the district town planners of Jalandhar and Kapurthala were already working to prepare the master plan with the help of satellite remote sensing centre, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana.

Jalandhar, January 20
In what may be termed as some relief for Congress councillor Sukhmeet Singh Deputy, a city court discharged him in an attempt-to-suicide case registered against him on September 9 last year.

Judicial magistrate (Ist class) Punit Mohan Sharma discharged him in the attempt-to-suicide case after hearing the arguments of the defence counsel.

An FIR of attempt to suicide was lodged against him under section 309 of the IPC at the police station number two.

According to the prosecution story, Deputy hit his head against the gate in the corridor of the Central Jail in Jalandhar in an attempt to commit suicide when he had been brought back by the police from Nehru Garden Chowk on September 9.

On the other hand, the defence counsel argued that the nature of Deputy’s injury did not suggest that he had tried to commit suicide. Further, had he tried to commit suicide, he would have hit his head against the gate more than once which he had not done according to the prosecution story, he pleaded.

Expressing satisfaction over the court’s order, Deputy’s uncle Avtar Singh alleged that the district police had falsely implicated Deputy in the attempt-to-suicide case just to harass him at the behest of some politicians of the ruling alliance.

Instead of taking him to the MC house meeting on the court’s order on September 9, Deputy was brought back from Nehru Garden Chowk and later the FIR of attempt to suicide was registered against him, he added.

Deputy has been lodged in the Central Jail since his arrest in January last year on the charges of kidnapping of city youth Gagan Mahendru, alias Micky, in an FIR registered at Nurmahal police station.

Jalandhar, January 20
Bringing a ray of hope for thousands of villagers living along the Kala Sanghian drain, the work on the construction of a second module of the common effluent treatment plant, with a capacity of treating 5 MLD (million litres per day) of discharge, has finally been commissioned in the leather complex here.

The much-needed project was being delayed endlessly because of marathon rounds of calling technical and financial bids and documentation. The other hiccup in the project was cost escalation.

While the project was originally sanctioned for Rs 16 crore on 50:50 sharing between the central and state governments, the cost was increased by Rs 2 crore with the state industries department finally agreeing to pay the amount.

The ongoing litigation also propelled the government to speed up the project. The deadline has now been fixed for the last week of November 2009, which will be 10 months from now.

While the first module of the 1.5-MLD capacity had started functioning in October 2007, its capacity wasn’t adequate as the volume of toxic chromium-laden discharge flowing out was far too high.

The flow of carcinogenic elements into the drain was playing havoc with the lives of the residents of 70 villagers causing skin ailments, breathing diseases and renal problems.

The discharge finally went down to Chitti Bein, the Sutlej and the Harike headworks from where the drinking water is supplied to the Malwa region and Rajasthan.

Baba Balbir Singh Seechewal too had led a major campaign outside the tanneries at adjoining Nahal village there last year by blocking the exit point of discharge.

Director-cum-secretary of the Punjab Effluent Treatment Society (PETS) Ajay Sharma said the tanners were promised setting up of two modules of the plant in 1980s at the time of setting up of complex.

The first module of the plant had become operative after a cost of Rs 65 lakh on its upgradation, in addition to Rs 40 lakh, was spent by the Punjab Small Industries and Export Corporation (PSIEC).

He said after rounds of screening of consultative and financial bidders were conducted, the project was awarded to Ramky Infrastructure Ltd. Hyderabad.

Jalandhar, January 20
Two Punjab police personnel were crushed under a transit mixture (truck) when they were patrolling on their PCR vehicle on the Jalandhar-Amritsar highway at Chugitti village late last night.

The truck, heading towards Amritsar, reportedly went out of control, crossed a road divider and mowed down a motorcycle being ridden by head constable Jaswant Singh and constable Ram Twinkle, leaving them dead on the spot.

After crushing the cops, the truck rammed into the gate of a body building workshop on the other side of the road.

The truck driver reportedly fled from the scene soon after the accident.

Senior police officials and a police party from police station division 8 reached the spot and removed the bodies. The bodies were sent to the civil hospital for a post-mortem examination.

Area SHO Balbir Singh said the bodies were handed over to the families today afternoon. The police has arrested truck driver Jagtar Singh, a resident of Patiala. 
— TNS

Jalandhar, January 20
As many as 37 students of the final-year graduation and postgraduation of B.Com, B.Com (prof), BBA, BSc and M. Com of HMV College secured placements with Genpact, a multinational company. Students were selected for banking, finance, investment, management and insurance sectors.

Jalandhar, January 20
An awareness rally against use of polythene and to spread message to save environment and motherland was organised by the St Soldier group of institutions here today. Punjabi pop singer Master Saleem, St Soldier group chairman Anil Chopra and Punjab Press Club president R.N. Singh led the rally.

About 500 students of St Soldier Divine Public Schools of Mithu Basti, Mandi Road and Model House branches participated in the rally. Students carried banners and placards in their hands with slogans like “Say no to polythene”, “Don’t use polythene bags, “Keep the promise and save earth” and “Aao mil ke kadam uthayen, polythene na ghar leayen”.

The rally started from Partap Bagh and culminated at Company Bagh. Master Saleem asked the students to destroy polythene bags. Chopra urged the administration to take steps to stop the sale of polythene bags in the city.