Jalandhar, June 2
Even before the onset of monsoon, gastroenteritis and food poisoning have already raised head in various areas of the city.

According to information received by The Tribune, 55 students of an academy located in Green Park Colony fell ill after consuming eatables from a popular restaurant located in New Jawahar Nagar.

Scores of residents of Basti Danishmandan have complained symptoms of gastroenteritis due to contaminated supply of potable water for the past two days.

The district health authorities, however, are ignorant about the suspected outbreak of the diseases.

Students of New Beauty Image Academy allegedly complained vomiting and diarrhoea after consuming eatable, including burgers and french-fries on Sunday.

The victims were admitted to various private hospitals in the city and neighbouring towns, including Phagwara, Kapurthala, Hoshiarpur, Amritsar and Gurdaspur.

Talking to The Tribune, Pooja, managing director of the academy, revealed that
she had called 55 meals from the restaurant to celebrate a birthday party at her
academy on Sunday.

Pooja said, “The day-time enjoyment for the academy students, including my own children, Ishant (9) and Aamisha (3), turned sour when they complained vomiting and diarrhoea in the evening.”

She also claimed to have received similar complaints from parents from Phagwara, Hoshiarpur, Amritsar and other stations.

She alleged that the restaurant men served her stale eatables which they had stocked during curfew days.

Restaurant owner Rajan Sidhu, however, denied the allegations, saying that academy MD Pooja had been trying to tarnish the image of his restaurant.

“We have served hundreds of meals on Sunday but did not receive any complaint. The academy management might have consumed something else stale than the food served by the restaurant,” claimed Sidhu.

Sidhu also warned Pooja, saying that he would sue her for tarnishing the image
of his restaurant.

Over two dozen residents of Katra Mohalla and Chandigarh Mohalla in Basti Danishmandan have been ailing for the past two days.

The residents complained that their taps were drawing contaminated water for the past two days that had caused outbreak of the disease.

Meanwhile, the affected families have given complaints in writing to the municipal councillor in this pretext.

Admitting supply of contaminated water to Basti Danishmandan, V.P. Singh, Superintending Engineer, Operation and Maintenance wing of the Jalandhar Municipal Corporation, said sewage had mixed with portable water.

He added that some residents had been drawing water from the main water-line by putting illegally pipelines, thus causing seepage of sewage into the main water-line.

The department has collected water samples from the affected areas and sent them for testing. The necessary action would be taken against the defaulters, he warned.

District Health Officer Dr Roop Lal, however, expressed his ignorance about the alleged outbreak of the gastroenteritis and cases of food poisoning in the city.

Jalandhar, June 2
The Punjab police claims to have made elaborate arrangements in and around the city to prevent any untoward incident on the arrival of the body of Sant Ramanand of Dera Sachkhand, located at Ballan village, near here.

The district police has deployed additional police force to regulate traffic smoothly.

Entry points to the city, including highways and internal roads, besides other links to the city, especially Ballan village, have been barricaded.

Sources in the police revealed that senior police officers from neighbouring police districts would look after the security arrangements of the dera and Ballan village, while arrangements on the outskirts of the city would be made by the district police.

A platform for cremating the body has been raised adjacent to the dera complex. Sources said owing to the space constraint, a limited number of dignitaries and devotees would be allowed to the venue while the rest will watch from separate enclosures nearby in view of security considerations.

The district administration has also constituted medical teams to provide medical assistance in case of any emergency at the venue.

Separate arrangements have been made for media coverage of the cremation.

Nawanshahr, June 2
Rajiv Kumar, a shopkeeper, was booked by the police under sections 9, 39, 44, 4-B, 50 and 51-B of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, on Tuesday.

As many as 450 paint brushes made of mongoose hair were seized from him. Saurav Gupta and Gaurav Gupta, volunteers of the People For Animals (PFA) with the help of the police conducted raid on the shop.

Brothers Saurav and Gaurav, while divulging details to The Tribune, said they had got a specific information that the illegal sale of the brushes made of mongoose hair was reaching at some shops in Nawanshahr.

The matter was brought to the notice of the district police by the PFA. Dummy customers were sent at the suspected shops and only after the information was got confirmed that the shopkeepers were involved in the illegal sale, the PFA conducted a raid to recover the brushes.

“The issue of illegal sale of brushes in various districts of Punjab came into light after a factory was busted in New Delhi a few months ago, further said the Gupta brothers, adding that 30,000 brushes were recovered from the factory in New Delhi and two persons were arrested.”

The PFA volunteers further revealed that for making one brush at least three or four animals were killed and to procure hair for the brushes, mongoose was boiled at a temperature of 100 degree Celsius after which the hair were removed with a razor from the body of the animal.

A large number of mongoose were killed in Muradabad, Meerut and other parts of Uttar Pradesh, they added.

Earlier, chaotic scene prevailed at the local market, near MC office, when the news of the raid spread in the vicinity.

A number of political leaders and wildlife conservation activists were called to defuse the situation. Some of them indulged in an altercation with the PFA activists, but to no avail.

Both the PFA activists were seemingly well prepared in conducting the raid and were quite eloquent in interpreting various clauses of the Wildlife Protection Act.

Hoshiarpur, June 2
Providing relief to Vas Dev Singh, son of Harnam Singh of Jian village, the District Consumers Forum ordered New India Assurance Company to pay Rs 3.5 lakh to the former with interest at the rate of 9 per cent per annum from the date of complaint till realisation, along with litigation expenses of Rs 1,000, within one month.

Vas Dev Singh had filed a complaint before the forum on the ground that his truck,
insured with the Nawanshahr branch of the company, was stolen on the night of
June 22, 2007.

When he lodged a claim with New India Assurance Company, it repudiated his claim on false grounds.

The authorities of the company took the plea that Vas Dev had sold the truck in question to Karnail Singh, son of Beli Ram of local New Fatehgarh, prior to the alleged theft, thus, he was not the consumer of their company.

The FIR with regard to alleged theft was lodged by Karnail Singh and the claim was also lodged by him being owner of the truck.

The consumer forum, headed by President P.D. Goel, after going through the evidence on the record in their order, held that New India Assurance has failed to prove that Karnail Singh was the owner of the truck (PB07-H-4651).

The registration certificate and insurance of the said truck are in the name of Vas
Dev Singh.

The law is settled that the person in whose name a vehicle stands registered is its owner for the purpose of insurance of the said vehicle.

The entire cash lying in the bank branch was saved. The loss to the computers will be assessed after the restoration of electric supply in the area.

Pathankot, June 2
The police booked seven persons for rioting and setting on fire the house of Vijay Kumar of Chaura village under Kahnuwan police station, 50 km from here, yesterday.

Gurdaspur SSP Lok Nath Angra said a group of seven to eight persons attacked the house of Vijay Kumar and set it on fire in which three rooms of the house were gutted. A contingent of 25 police personnel was sent to the venue.

Meanwhile, villagers gathered there and started extinguishing the fire with water.
Two fire engines from Gurdaspur also reached the spot and controlled the fire
after two hours.

On the other hand, the assailants alleged that Vijay Kumar had abducted a young
girl, Baljinder.

A case has been registered against the rioters, Raja, Jasbir Singh, Jinder, Lovely, Dilbag, Rimpa, Shamsher and Kuldip, under sections 436, 354, 452, 427, 341, 148 and 149 of the IPC.

Amritsar, June 2
Close on the heels of Sarabjit Kaur of Galwali Kulian village committing suicide yesterday after being harassed by her addict husband, another woman Rajinder Kaur, alias Bholan (28), a resident of Mollowal village, allegedly committed suicide by consuming some poisonous substance at her residence after she was harassed by her drunk husband.

The Jandiala Guru police has registered a case against the deceased’s husband Dala Singh and her mother-in-law Satwant Kaur, wife of Buta Singh, resident of Molawal village, under sections 306 and 34 of the IPC.

The police has handed over the body of Rajinder Kaur to her brother Resham Singh, resident of Khalchian village.

Resham Singh, in his statement to the police, said the deceased was married to the accused about two years ago and had a seven-month-old child.

He alleged that his brother-in-law was a daily drinker and used to beat his sister up. Fed up with his behaviour, Rajinder took the extreme step and committed suicide.