“The Chairman is said to have been admitted at Fortis, Mohali, and may take 10 to 15 days to recover. We need to wait till then,” he said.

He came to know about the theft on Wednesday morning. He lodged a complaint with Bhargo Camp police post under Division 6 in this regard.

Jalandhar, July 15
An auction of five commercial sites by the Jalandhar Development Authority (JDA) today fetched the authority a 10 per cent earnest money of Rs 1.45 crore.

The JDA had put up 11 sites for auction, of which five went for a price double or triple the reserve price. Auction was also simultaneously held for 12 sites of the Punjab Urban Planning and Development Authority (PUDA), none of which received even a single bid.

The highest bid came for booth number 23 C, falling in Urban Estate-II, which went for Rs 94,200 per sq yard. The reserve price for the same had been kept at Rs 28,900 per sq yard.

Booth number 51 C, 74 C and 93 C, all of which had the same reserve price, went for Rs 54,000, Rs 54,500 and Rs 53,200 per sq yard. Another booth in the area measuring 33.3 sq yards went for Rs 31.39 lakh.

The properties of the JDA that could not be auctioned include 135 C, 127 C, 33 to 36 C and SCO 140.

Amritsar, July 15
The Kirti Kisan Union (KKU) and Pendu Mazdoor Union (PMU) held a protest in front of the office of the Deputy Commissioner to protest against handing over the panchayat land at Awan village, near Ramdas town, to a private solar power company and eviction of Dalit families from the panchayat land at Majhupura village.

Addressing the protesters, state president of the KKU Nirbhay Singh Dhudike alleged that the governments had become agents of private companies and the trend was not confined to Punjab only but could be noticed in the rest of the country. He favoured that the companies must procure land direct from farmers.

Dhudike demanded that lands belonging to the panchayats must be reserved for landless and economically weaker farmers.

He said if the government did not take a serious view of the demands of farmers then they would launch an agitation in the assembly segments going for byelections.

District president of the PMU Paramjit Vichhoa said houses of Dalip Singh, Bir Singh, Chanchal Singh, Amrik Singh and Jeet Singh, all residents of Majhupura village, were demolished on June 23 last year.

He claimed that these families were part of the 36 Dalit families given five marla plots about 20 years ago by the panchayat of Majhupura.

He said, however, their houses were demolished while leaving the others untouched. He said the demolition of selected houses conveyed a deep-rooted conspiracy.

Batala, July 15
SSP Naresh Arora told mediapersons here today that the Batala police had solved the blind murder case of Varinder Kumar, alias Bablu (24), whose body was recovered from near Government School, Choudharywal, on May 28 this year.

Jagtar Singh, who is a member of the Choudharywal panchayat, recorded his statement before the SHO of Rangar Nangal that when he was going to attend the call of nature on the evening of May 28, he saw the body of an unidentified youth (aged about 25 years) with injuries near Government School, Choudharywal.

A case under section 302 of the IPC was registered at Rangar Nangal police station in this regard.

During investigation, the body was identified as that of Varinder Kumar, son of Madan Gopal of Mohalla Faizpura, Batala.

A Bajaj Pulsar motorcycle (PB-58E-3684) and one air gun were found near the body. A wallet, a UAE health card and an ATM card of Sukhjinder Singh were recovered from the pocket of the pants worn by the deceased.

On further investigation, Sukhjinder Singh of Mann Nagar, Batala, revealed that these were snatched by the deceased and another person riding the motorcycle on the Dera Baba Nanak road on the evening of May 27. A case under section 382 of the IPC had been registered in this regard.

In the meantime, during investigation, Gurpinderjit Singh, alias Lalli, of Choudharywal, was named as an accused in the case as he was seen to be present near Government School on May 27.

At about 11.30 pm, Varinder Kumar, along with an unidentified person came to him (on the same motorcycle) and asked him the whereabouts of Santokh Singh.

When Lalli failed to provide any information, both Varinder and his accomplice put the air gun on his forehead and started threatening him.

In the scuffle that followed, Lalli gave a severe blow to Varinder who, in turn, attacked Lalli with a “kirch”.

Lalli snatched the weapon and stabbed Varinder in his chest. Varinder’s accomplice fled. Lalli fled along with the “kirch”, leaving Varinder behind in a critical condition.

Lalli, who confessed to have committed the crime, has been arrested. He has been remanded in police custody by the Illaqa Magistrate up to July 16.

Hoshiarpur, July 15
On account of sky-rocketed prices and a fall in this year’s mango crop in the district, its sweetness has become bitter for the poor.

King of fruits which was earlier within the reach of everyone now has failed to attract the common man due to its high prices.

Hoshiarpur is known for its various desi seedling and dusehri varieties of mango. People used to enjoy jams, pickles and jellies prepared from mangoes. But due to the limited availability of unripe mangoes and that too at exorbitant rates, a majority of the families could not prepare mango pickle this time.

Social activist Harish Saini told The Tribune that many mango orchards in the Hariana and Bhunga belts had been chopped off on account of disappearance of many varieties of desi seedling. Unripe mangoes were being sold between Rs 40 and Rs 50 per kg.

The high cost of spices and mustard oil was another factor that forced the common man not to prepare pickles.

Another social activist Amrjit Singh said he had not witnessed any type of desi seedling mango in the market so far.

Some varieties of mango like langra, dusehri, chausa, sanduri and safeda were being sold between Rs 40 and Rs 60 per kg. Some varieties of mangoes, brought from other states, were being sold here.

Horticulture Department Deputy Director Gurkamal Singh said high temperature during April was the reason behind the poor mango crop.

Although a majority of the mango orchards had been removed due to low returns, even then 1,500 hectares were still under mango crop.

To save the desi seedling varieties of mango, the department should take some affective steps, said Harish Saini.