Jalandhar, July 16
Taking serious note of the atrocities on Dalits at Muridpur village, the Punjab State Scheduled Castes Commission, headed by Naranjan Singh, has sought a report on the matter from Chief Secretary S.C. Aggarwal.

Commission member Parkash Singh Gardiwala said that the commission had sought a report in this matter on the basis of a news item published in The Tribune in this regard today.

Gardiwala said the commission asked the Chief Secretary to reply as to how the huts of Dalits were burnt by Jats in the presence of civil and police officials.

Following the orders of the commission to file a report in this regard, Deputy Commissioner Ajit Singh Pannu deputed his PA-cum-Shahkot SDM Jasbir Singh to inquire into the matter and submit a report within a week.

Jasbir Singh today visited the spot and recorded the statements of some of the victims.

When contacted, Jasbir Singh said he would submit his report at the earliest after recording the statements of both the parties, the Naib-Tehsildar, the DSP and the SHO.

Jasbir Singh said if anybody wanted to provide any evidence in this regard, he might contact him.

Meanwhile, cross FIRs have been registered against several members of the Dalit and Jat communities.

State president of the Pendu Mazdoor Union (PMU) Tarsem Peter said Dalits would stage a dharna outside the District Administrative Complex (DAC) after carrying out a procession from Desh Bhagat Yaadgar Hall on Friday to protest against the atrocities on the Dalits.

Peter said a deputation of the Dalits met the Deputy Commissioner on Tuesday to ask him to direct the DDPO to withdraw the decision of getting the land vacated by the Dalits.

Five persons were injured in a clash between members of the Dalit and Jat communities at Muridpur village in the presence of the police yesterday. The clash took place as members of the Jat community and their supporters tried to vacate shamlat land from Dalits. 

Jalandhar, July 16
Close on the heels of the Gujarat hooch tragedy, excise and taxation officials here averted a similar incident.

In a late evening operation, officials of the Excise and Taxation Department unearthed a spurious liquor cartel. While the 28-member police team was still on the lookout of the kingpin, two persons were arrested and 78 cases of spurious liquor seized from them.

On a tip-off, the excise officials raided a house near Wadala Chowk on Nakodar Road where the mafia was engaged in making, bottling and cap-sealing spurious liquor in branded empty bottles, mainly of United Breweries Group.

The officials also managed to lay hands on empty pots, cans and sophisticated machines meant for cap sealing and packaging liquor in plastic pouches. Assistant Excise and Taxation Officer Harbir Singh said the whole operation was executed in a planned way. 

Hoshiarpur, July 16
The Indian Railways has neither provided any new facility to the passengers at Hoshiarpur railway station nor has it laid a single inch of track on this last terminus, set up by the British in 1905, for its expansion.

This was stated by Santosh Chaudhary, MP, in the ongoing session of Parliament yesterday.

Talking to this correspondent on phone from Delhi, Chaudhary said she had not only presented the case about the plight of rail passengers at Hoshiarpur railway station in the Lok Sabha but had also taken up the issue with Railway Minister Mamta Banerjee.

She told Banerjee that instead of providing modern amenities to the passengers, the authorities had withdrawn the existing facilities which were being provided to the passengers since the station’s establishment in 1905 for reasons best known to them.

Before 1947, a train used to run between Hoshiarpur and Peshawar with 16 coaches.

Presently, the only track is to Jalandhar and passengers have been facing a lot of inconvenience in reaching their destinations through the rail route.

Chaudhary demanded inclusion of Hoshiarpur in the list of adarsh railway stations.

It should be connected with Una railway station in Himachal Pradesh, she said.

New trains on the Hoshiarpur-Amritsar, Pathankot-Amritsar and Hoshiarpur-Jalandhar-Ferozepore should be introduced, she further demanded.

Tarn Taran, July 16
The transfer of the possession of panchayat land in Kang village today led to firing, leaving one injured, while the police had to resort to lathi charge to disperse and control the violent mob of farmers.

Pooran Singh, a close relative of village sarpanch Ranjit Kaur, was rushed to hospital where his condition was stated to be serious after a group of farmers, who already possessed the land, opened fire.

They were protesting against the panchayat department’s move to hand over the land to the new lessees.

The 72-acre panchayat land was being tilled by a section of farmers for the past more than 30 years. Now the panchayat department tried to vacate the land, the auction for which was made on July 2, in the presence of heavy police force against the wishes of the farmers who possessed the land.

The administration went to the spot with heavy police force to give possession of the land to the new lessees.

However, the farmers who had been tilling the land till now did not want the land to be given to the new lessees. The farmers having the possession of the land opened fire on Pooran Singh who had been initiating the proceedings, resulting in injuries to him.

When Pooran was shot at, his supporters tried to attack the opposite party, causing the police to intervene and resort to a heavy lathi charge.

A case under sections 307, 324 and 326 of the IPC and sections 25, 27, 54 and 59 of the Arms Act has been registered.