Jalandhar, June 25
The Punjab government seems to have learnt no lesson from the Giddarpindi floods which brought misery to thousands of human lives, their property and livestock in Jalandhar, Kapurthala, Moga, Ferozepore and certain other districts last year.

Even as the weather is on the threshold of the month in which the region was hit by floods last year, the Punjab government has not initiated any flood control measures in Jalandhar and Kapurthala districts as yet. Officially every work and flood control measure should have been completed by June-end.

A meeting of the flood control committee held under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal at Chandigarh on June 10 reviewed the plans for flood-hit areas and sanctioned funds for various works to be carried out before the rainy season, sources revealed.

Sources said nearly Rs 4.6 crore had been sanctioned for the various works to be carried out at sensitive points on bundhs along the Sutlej and the Beas, apart from East Bein and West Bein in Jalandhar and Kapurthala.

Interestingly, the meeting was held just before setting in of rainy season, leaving hardly a few days to carry out various preventive steps, including strengthening of the embankments of the Sutlej and the Beas, besides the beins, in these districts.

The department has declared Giddarpindi village, where a breach had developed last year, a hyper-sensitive spot this year too.

Besides this, certain spots at Thamwal, near Shahkot, Rajewal, Pipali Niani, Darewal, Ismailpur and other villages of Jalandhar have figured in the list of sensitive places.

The department apprehends main floods at Dera Harinsingh and Baguana villages in Kapurthala, besides some other places.

The Drainage Department has also identified some sensitive points on the banks of East and West Beins where strengthening work is required to be done.

Strangely, the department received 50 bids for over 12 works to be carried out in Jalandhar and Kapurthala districts this year. The bids were received by contractors in the office of the department in Jalandhar on Tuesday.

When contacted, Gurdial Singh, Executive Engineer of the Drainage Department, Jalandhar, claimed that the process of short-listing the bids was on.

Hoshiarpur, June 25
Criticising the Social Security Department of Punjab for its failure to make adequate arrangements for the smooth and effective running of the juvenile home-cum-Bal Sudhar Ghar and for making the juvenile delinquents responsible citizens, Hoshiarpur MP Santosh Chaudhary alleged that though the name of juvenile home had been changed to Bal Sudhar Ghar, it had failed in creating patriotic spirit among inmates.

Chaudhary was talking to mediapersons at Bal Sudhar Ghar, Ram Colony Camp, after interacting with its inmates.

Chaudhary lamented that all the 87 inmates had been stuffed in two small dormitories having a capacity to house 54 juvenile delinquents. No arrangements had been made to provide counselling and education.

They had been living in unhygienic conditions. There was no arrangement for their entertainment. Even the supply of drinking water was not available.

The entire campus was in a dilapidated condition and there was no qualified adequate staff to run Bal Sudhar Ghar.

Referring to three Muslim brothers of Burma lodged in Bal Sudhar Ghar, she said the youngest was only six year old.

They were five brothers and one sister. All of them, along with their parents, were arrested while crossing the Indo-Pak border.

Their two brothers, a sister and the parents had been lodged in some other jails of Punjab. The trio was eager to join their parents.

The government should unite them on humanitarian grounds, said Chaudhary and added that she would take up this issue with the officials concerned.

She would provide the inmates of Bal Sudhar Ghar with sports kits and a water cooler from her MPLAD fund.

She urged the state government to improve living conditions and make arrangements for their education and counselling. She would also raise the issue in Parliament.

He ordered the SDM to get age of all the inmates ascertained so that adults could be transferred to jails. Swarna Ram was accompanied by local government officials.

The local branch of Plant Doctor’s Services Association Punjab also condemned the attack on the Tehsildar.

Paniar (Gurdaspur), June 25
Three of the four cousins of this village, who were killed yesterday at an unmanned level crossing, were cremated at the local cremation ground here today.

Thousands of people belonging to the village and its surrounding areas were present at the cremation ground when the bodies of three cousins, Balwinder Singh, Mani and Raju, were consigned to the flames.

The cremation of the fourth victim, Iqbal Singh, who was married, will take place tomorrow as his father is away to Rajasthan where he is working with the BSF.

Joginder Singh, an uncle of the deceased, had lost his life at the same level crossing about 10 days ago when he was hit by a train. The bhog of Joginder Singh was also performed at the village today.

Though, a section of the residents of the area gave monetary help to kin of the deceased as they are not well off, no official from the district administration attended the cremation. The police authorities has registered a case under section 174 of the CrPC in this regard.

The villagers alleged that though they had been demanding that the unmanned level crossing should be converted into a manned one as the volume of traffic on the Gurdaspur-Dinanagar road via Paniar was heavy and the area surrounding it was densely populated, no one had bothered to solve the problems so far.

Kapurthala, June 25
Two women were killed and two others sustained injuries when a speedy vehicle collided with a rickshaw in the wee hours today.

The deceased have been identified as Shanti (45) and Raashi Devi (40), residents of a locality near Shekhupur in Kapurthala.

The wounded persons --- Kamo Devi of the same locality and rickshaw-puller Ram Iqbal — have been admitted to the Civil Hospital.

According to the information, the three women were permanent residents of Rajasthan and were going to Kapurthala railway station on a rickshaw for boarding the Jammu Tawi train to go their native state when a speedy vehicle collided with their rickshaw on the Sultanpur Lodhi road.

Amritsar, June 25
The border range police has sent cases of 22 drug peddlers to department concerned at the Centre recommending confiscation of their properties, which were made through this illegal trade.

Revealing this, Gurpreet Deo, DIG Border Range, said the police was waiting for a reply and as soon as we get one, we would seal the properties gathered by these drug peddlers in the last six years.

Meanwhile, to mark International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking falling on June 26, a drug disposal committee headed by the DIG today burnt the narcotics worth crores of rupees seized from various districts.

Various police officials from Amritsar, Amritsar rural, Gurdaspur, Tarn Taran and Batala were also present on the occasion.

She said narcotics burnt today were pertaining to 200 cases, which were disposed of by the courts. The narcotics destroyed today include 1,700 kg of poppy husk, 1.5 kg of smack, 13 kg of charas and 1.95 kg of cocaine.

She said a special action plan had been formed to celebrate International Day
against Drug Abuse during which a state-level function would be organised at
Patti tomorrow.

The programme, which would be presided over by health minister Laxmi Kanta Chawla, would be organised by Punjab Police, Department of Health and Department of Social Security. Two plays ‘Arman’ and ‘Jaan Leva’ would be staged to reflect the reality associated with the drug menace.

R P Meena, IG Anti Narcotics Task Force, Patiala, I P S Sahota, IG Border range, DIG Gurpreet Deo, besides Rakhi Bhandari, Director Social Security Department, would also participate in the function.

She said seminars would be organised in the next three months in every sub-division of the border range in order to spread awareness against the drug abuse in which besides senior police officials, MPs, MLAs and other politicians would take part.

She said meetings were being held in local Chemist Associations and Citizen Groups and NGOs to identify the peddlers involved in selling drugs and intoxicants.

She said special cash awards would be presented to the officials seizing huge quantity of narcotics. She said rallies and debates were also planned to aware the students and youth.

Amritsar, June 25
The industrial associations in this border region have demanded 50 per cent subsidy on diesel and furnace oil for running the generator sets to keep the wheels of the industry moving.

H.S. Makhni, honorary general secretary of the Textile Manufacturers Association, in a missive to Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal said long and unscheduled power cuts have virtually paralysed the entire industrial activity in this border district.

He said the units running on gensets are unable to meet the high cost of power and was becoming economically unviable.

Makhni urged the CM to ensure regular power supply for specific hours for the industry failing which the industry would collapse leaving large number of people unemployed and upsetting the socio-economic fabric of the region.

And as the industry is incurring huge losses, residents are losing sleep due to
the grim power situation. About 10 to 12-hour power cuts have also rendered the
invertors useless.

Meanwhile, the demand for gensets of small and large denominators has also shown tremendous increase and the manufacturers were demanding premium for the supply of gensets. The people doing the leasing business in gensets have also shot up the daily rentals.

Amritsar, June 25
A resident of Patti subdivision of Tarn Taran district, Rajan Kumar, 36, has been running from pillar to post to know about the details of candidates selected under the reserved categories for the posts of Tehsil Welfare Officer, conducted by the Subordinate Services Selection Board (SSSB), Punjab, in 1998.

In order to know the exact number of candidates hired under the reserved categories, Rajan had filed an application in the office of Lokpal, Punjab, in 2002.

However, the Punjab Government took a long time to appoint the Lokpal. Hence, his application elicited response on October 10, 2007 when the Lokpal instituted an enquiry under section 13 of the Punjab Lokpal Act, 1996, for application number 336.

On December 15, 2008, he received a communication from the office of Lokpal, Punjab, vide number 1145/RLP that the final report under the Punjab Lokpal Act, 1996, has been sent to the competent authority - Governor of Punjab.

After clearing written entrance test, he had appeared in the interview on June 18, 1999. Although his roll number did not appear in final selection list, he was amazed the board did not provide breakup of candidates hired under reserved categories.

“The candidates have been facing a lot of inconvenience in getting the requisite certificate issued during the short period and that too marred by holidays and strike by the revenue staff in the wake of the Ludhiana episode.”