Amritsar, March 30
As many as six labourers were injured, three of them seriously, in a clash between activists of the Bhattha Mazdoor Union (brick-kiln labour union) and bhattha owners late this evening near Umranangal village falling under Beas police station in Amritsar (Rural) district.

The injured were rushed to a hospital from where they were referred to Guru Nanak Dev Hospital here. One of the victims suffered a bullet injury allegedly fired by the owners. The injured were identified as Maan Singh, Sobha Singh, Harjeet Singh, Ram Singh, Heera Singh and Balbir Singh.

Maan Singh sustained a bullet injury in his stomach and Harjeet’s hand was chopped off by some sharp-edged weapon, while Sobha Singh suffered a head injury.

A case under section 307 of the IPC was registered against the brick-kiln owners, confirmed Amritsar (Rural) SSP Gurmeet Singh Chouhan.

According to the information, a large number of labourers under the banner of the Bhattha Mazdoor Union, along with the Nirman Mazdoor Sabha and the Jamhoori Kisan Sabha, had been sitting on a protest dharna outside the brick-kiln of the Bal Gramin Udyog Samiti owned by Gurbinder Singh Bal at Umranangal for the past three days. Nirman Mazdoor Sabha president Ganga Parshad said the labourers had been protesting peacefully against the owners of the bhattha for raising the rate of labour as per the notification of the government.

However, today evening, he alleged the brick-kiln owners came and damaged the speakers and started hurling abuses on the labourers. He said when labourers resisted the move, they started firing first in the air and then at them in which a number of labourers were injured.

However, Amritsar Bhattha Union president Inderjit Verma and Bhatha Union Tarn Taran chief Jasbir Singh Dhillon refuted the allegations, adding that they had to fire in self-defence as the labourers had started throwing stones at them that injured a number of persons. They alleged that they were holding a meeting of owners of various bhatthas to solve the problem raised after the protest launched by labourers.

Jalandhar, March 30
Two migrant labourers died after inhaling poisonous gas, from a container inside a tannery in Leather Complex here last night. Another person Ram Dhani is struggling for his life in a private hospital.

The deceased have been identified as Sohan Kumar and Vijay Kumar of Bihar. The victims were employed by the tannery owner two weeks ago.

The incident occurred in ABC Tannery on Sunday when the three persons were working on the tannery premises and were treating raw leather with certain chemicals in a huge container.

An eyewitness, also a victim of the tragedy, Jagdish Rao, revealed that Sohan and Vijay while opening the cover of the container called Ram Dhani for help. As they managed to open the cover, all the three collapsed on the ground.

“I rushed to pick them up but fell unconscious on the ground. I regained senses after two hours,” he recalled while talking to The Tribune.

Gatekeeper Tilak Raj raised the alarm and subsequently the three were rushed to Vasal Hospital, near Kapurthala Chowk. The badly affected Sohan and Vijay killed in the hospital last night, while Ram Dhani was still undergoing treatment in the ICU.

Meanwhile, a team of the Labour Department, led by a labour inspector, visited the spot and recorded statements of the eyewitnesses.

The DSP (rural-II) Balkar Singh said the bodies had been handed over to the family members after a post-mortem examination at the Civil Hospital. The police has registered a case under 304-A of the IPC against tannery owner Sanjiv Mahajan. The tannery owner was not available for comments.

Jalandhar, March 30
The special branch of the district police has unearthed a major scam of selling wheat on the black market by a Lohian-based firm, run by two commission agents, allegedly in connivance with employees of Punsup.

The police has recovered 553 bags containing 277 quintals of wheat stored by the commission agents in their godown. Acting on a tip-off, a team the special branch of the police, led by DSP Navjot Singh, conducted a raid on the godown owned by commission agents Pawan Kumar, alias Pappu, and Surinder Kumar, residents of Lohian, and sized the foodgrains stored illegally. The police has arrested Punsup clerk Yogesh Ravi and driver working with the firm Swaroop Lal for their alleged involvement in the black-marketing, while main suspects Pawan Kumar and Surinder Kumar have absconded.

Talking to The Tribune, the DSP said the commission agents had stored the wheat meant for distribution under the atta-dal and mid-day meal schemes with the connivance of Yogesh Ravi.

The suspects, reportedly hand in glove with employees of the Punsup and certain other procurement agencies, were lifting the foodgrains from various fair price shops and selling at higher prices to customer, including general store owners, in the vicinity.

Meanwhile, the police has registered cases under various provisions of the Essential Commodities Act and sections 379 of the IPC against the four persons. A hunt has been launched to nab Pawan Kumar, alias Pappu, and Surinder Kumar. The raids were still on till the filing of the report.

Hoshiarpur, March 30
The SAD yesterday suffered a major setback and the election campaign of the SAD-BJP alliance candidate Som Parkash received a big jolt when Political Advisory Committee member Bhupinder Singh Ghuman and a former Joint Secretary of the SAD unit Joginder Singh Bhanna, along with hundreds of supporters, resigned from the primary membership of the Shiromani Akali Dal today. They had sent their resignations to the party president.

Ghuman, who is President of the Dasuya Bar Association and sarpanch of the Khairabad gram panchayat, was an asset for the SAD-BJP alliance candidate.

At a joint press conference here, Ghuman and Bhanna alleged that Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal had promoted his family rule by ignoring all the loyal and sincere party workers.

The style of functioning of Badal and his son Sukhbir Singh had allegedly been promoting the undesirable elements in the party and the old and traditional party workers were feeling isolated. It had adversely affected the law and order situation in the state. Under these circumstances, it was very difficult for them to continue in the SAD, said Ghuman and Joginder Singh.

Answering a question they said negotiations with the Congress Election Campaign in charge, Punjab, Capt Amarinder Singh, through Bholath MLA Sukhpal Singh Khaira were in progress about their joining the Congress.

A final decision to join the Congress or not would be made after consulting their supporters. PPCC Secretary Vipan Ghambir, who hailed from Dasuya, was present at the press conference.

Amritsar, March 30
The posters of cricketer-turned-politician Navjot Singh Sidhu with folded hands have again mushroomed on the Bhandari bridge even as he himself had launched a cleanliness drive in the holy city by removing his own posters on January 24.

While removing the posters, Sidhu accompanied by ration Mayor Shavet Malik, had announced that no individual had the moral right to put up his poster in the city.

Now, huge hoardings put up in blatant violations on the high buildings may earn the wrath of the Election Commission.

Earlier, the Municipal Corporation had taken the initiative to remove the “lotus chowk” put up by the BJP after the matter was highlighted in The Tribune regarding saffronisation of the Amritsar-Attari road.

The Punjab and Haryana High Court had imposed a blanket ban on such hoardings on the rail track and roads within the Municipal Corporation limits as it distracted the attention of drivers and caused accidents.

When contacted, MC Assistant Commissioner D.P. Bhardwaj said a hoarding of Navjot Singh Sidhu was installed on the Bhandari bridge by a private company which had the advertisement rights in the corporation limit.

Nawanshahr, March 30
Calling upon various political parties and their candidates to specify their stand on female foeticide and drug addiction, 35 NGOs based in the district under the umbrella of the Upkar Coordination Society was planning to hold a public interface with them.

The members said they had decided to vote for the candidate who would show interest for contribution towards the social issues, has a more well-outlined agenda, comes out with fresh ideas for them and has already made some contribution towards philanthropic works.

Even though all the NGOs working under Upkar had varied objectives such as eye donation, blood donation and helping people through the RTI Act, they all were collectively leading a crusade against female foeticide and drug addiction.

Upkar’s general secretary Jaspal Singh Gidda said the interface was being planned around mid-April after getting a consent from Deputy Commissioner-cum-chief patron of the federation Gurkirat Kirpal Singh.

Parvinder Singh Kittna of the Human Empowerment League of Punjab (HELP), an NGO highlighting issues by way of the RTI Act, said in case the public would feel unconvinced with the performance of the candidates even after the interaction, he would urge them to make use of section 49 (O) of the Conduct of Election Rules, 1961.

“Instead of deciding not to cast any vote for any candidate and sit back at home, we will tell them that they could exercise their right to fill form 17-A, not press any button of the EVM and still make use of their vote. By doing so, they would be able to express their dissatisfaction against the choice of candidates, while urging them to choose a more capable candidate the next time,” he suggested.

The DC, when contacted, said he could not deny or permit the NGOs to hold any such programme. Giving a logic for the same, he said. 

Hoshiarpur, March 30
The police claims to have arrested one member of a supari killers gang and seized one .315-bore pistol and two live cartridges, and solved the murder case of Rimpi Bala, wife of Paramjit of Khurampur under Mehatpur police station of Jalandhar last evening. The accused had been identified as Satnam Singh, alias Jhama, of Jagral under Lambra police station, Jalandhar. An FIR was registered against him on March 19.

During interrogation, Satnam Singh revealed that Piara Lal of Khurampur in the presence of Lakhwinder Singh of the same village allegedly gave a supari of Rs 2 lakh to him for abducting his daughter-in-law Rimpi Bala. Acting on his plan, Satnam Singh developed a relationship with Rimpi. Later, he took Rimpi to Peer Nigaha in Una in June, 2008, and on the way he forced her to accompany him to a secluded place and strangled her. He hid her body in the bushes.

Satnam Singh further confessed that he also took a supari from Umesh jeweller of Shahkot for killing his wife for which the latter paid him Rs 15,000 and a cheque for Rs 2 lakh. He along with Jaspreet Singh, alias Jassa, of Sapranwa, Soni of Chachreri and Rinku of Shahkot, failed in their attempt to kill the wife of Umesh due to the presence of her children in the house.

Jaspreet Singh had already been arrested and a case registered against him. The search of other accused was in progress.

The police recovered a jeep, a tempo and a motorcycle, which they stole from Amritsar, Ludhiana and Jalandhar, respectively.