Jalandhar, July 20
Panic gripped the area following a hoax bomb call in an industrial unit located on the Ladowali road near Alaska Chowk this morning.

An unidentified person made a phone call on the mobile phone of the Director of the unit, Brijesh Gupta, at 9.30 am claiming that a bomb had been planted inside the unit and would go off shortly. The panicky management of the unit evacuated the premises and informed the police.

Receiving information, senior police officials, including the SP, (City-I), G.S. Toor, reached the spot and a dog squad was pressed into service. Vehicular traffic on the Ladowali road was also restricted.

After a complete search of the unit for almost three hours, the police and dog squad failed to detect any explosive on the premises of the industrial unit.

The police is trying to locate the caller as he made the call from his mobile phone and his phone number appeared on the screen of the receiver’s mobile phone. The SP said the police had succeeded in finding clues about his location with the help of telecommunication companies. Meanwhile, the police had also asked the management of the industrial unit to submit the details of their employees who left the unit in the last couple of years.

Jalandhar, July 20
The Punjab government does not seem to be willing to encourage the book reading habits among the students and residents. The indication comes from the fact that out of 98 posts of librarian in government colleges and district libraries, 54 are lying vacant.

In government colleges, there are 70 posts of librarian, of which less than half, i.e. 33 posts are filled. There are 47 government colleges, of which 22 do not have a librarian at all. These include colleges at Ajnala, Bholath, Fazilka, Faridkot (education college), Guru Teg Bahadurgarh, Jandiala, Kala Afghana, Karamsar, Kotkapura, Pojewal, Patti, Patran, Sardargarh, Sidhsar, Sunam, Talwara and Zira.

Even more disturbing is the fact that none of the two posts of librarian in each of the government colleges at Hoshiarpur, Malerkotla, Muktsar, Sangrur and Jagraon has been filled over the past few years. The Government College for Women, Ludhiana, and SCD Government College, Ludhiana, are a better lot, for both have three filled posts of librarian. Mohindra College, Patiala, Government Girls College, Patiala, Government College, Ropar, and the Government College for Girls, Amritsar, also have two posts filled in each of the libraries.

Taking a glance at the vacancies in district libraries, there are just 28 sanctioned positions, of which only one-third, i.e. nine seats are occupied as of now. There are no librarians in the district libraries of Bathinda, Ferozepore, Fatehgarh Sahib, Faridkot, Gurdaspur, Hoshiarpur, Kapurthala, Mansa, Nabha and Sangrur.

The plight of MM Central State Library, Patiala, is no better. Of the total seven sanctioned posts, three are lying vacant. Two more posts are likely to fall vacant soon. Librarian Raminder Kaur would retire this month, while Nirmaljit Singh is scheduled to superannuate by December this year.

Barjinder Pal Dhiman, general secretary, Punjab College Librarians Association, revealed that if there were 44 posts of librarians filled as of today, 21 more were likely to fall vacant by December 2014, for as many persons were scheduled to retire by that time.

Calling for an immediate need to start the recruitment process, he said the vacancies would be filled with regular staff selected through the Punjab Public Services Commission at the earliest.

Hoshiarpur, July 20
Inhabitants of Mohalla Sunder Nagar have filed a complaint before the Chairman of the Punjab State Human Rights Commission (PSHRC) against the district administration, Executive Officer of the Hoshiarpur Municipal Council (MC) and employees of PSEB under suburban division at Hoshiarpur.

They alleged that the above said parties attempted to bulldoze their dwelling houses at the behest of some local politicians and their musclemen.

There are more than 400 families,  mainly migrants, residing in the mohalla since 25 years and have been provided electricity connection, ration cards and voter identity cards.

They alleged that since the last general elections, local politicians have been angry with them as the results did not go their way. “Hence, the politicians in collusion with the bureaucracy and government officers, threatened to demolish our houses under the garb of avoiding the menace of floods,” said mohalla residents Rajesh Kumar, Raghunand, Kedarnath and Sanjay.

They urged the Chairman of the PSHRC to intervene in the matter and direct the officers of the above said departments not to flatten their dwelling houses.

Sandeep Tiwari, Executive Officer of the MC, said there were 451 jhuggies in the area of which 176 were pacca, 98 partially pacca and remaining katcha. The inhabitants who were migrated labourers had constructed these jhuggies illegally majority in the choe bed passing through the area and in the land of Nagar Parishad.

He said they somehow got electric connections, prepared ration cards and voter I-cards etc. Many of them illegally took water connections from the sources of the MC but now many connections have been discontinued, he added.

MC’s executive officer said he had asked for police force and appointment of a duty magistrate. “As soon as the force is provided and duty magistrate is appointed, all the jhuggis would be demolished,” he added.

Amritsar, July 20
The police today chased away the auto-rickshaw drivers, who had gathered at the Company Bagh in protest against the challaning of auto-rickshaws for want of necessary documents. Tirath Singh Kohali, president of the auto-rickshaw union, alleged that the police manhandled them and beat them up.

However, the police authorities said there was a ban on such rallies by district administration as section 144 of the CrPC had already been imposed in the holy city.

The union gave a list of demands, which included release of auto-rickshaws impounded by the traffic police without any fine, do away with the limits of passengers on auto-rickshaws, issuing of new permits of 50 km, easy way for issuing of license etc. Kohali alleged the police arrested their activists. He said they were holding peaceful rally when the police arrived at the scene and started beating them up. They also protested outside the office of the SSP. — TNS

Amritsar, July 20
With the arrest of six persons, the police today claimed to have busted a gang of robbers and snatchers and recovered stolen vehicles, gold jewellery and seized weapons from them. According to police sources, on a tip-off, the police conducted a raid near tubewell at East Mohan Nagar and nabbed the accused.

The accused were identified as Gurpal Singh, Didar Singh, Shamsher Singh, Sandip Singh, and Amandip Singh, all residents of New Gurnam Nagar, and Kawaljit Singh of New Kapoor Nagar.

A case under sections 399, 402, 379 and 411 of the IPC and 25, 54 and 59 of the Arms Act has been registered.

The police seized two .12-bore pistols with three live cartridges, two daggers, one knife and one sickle, besides three motorcycles without number plates, a gold chain and Rs 9,000 from them.

Gurdaspur, July 20
The police today arrested four persons, including a girl, allegedly for committing fraud on unemployed youths on the pretext of recruiting them as meter reader in the Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB) on contract basis.

The accused, identified as Amanpreet Kaur, Joginder Singh, Keshav Sharma and Ruby Sharma, had been interviewing candidates in a private house in the town when they were arrested by a police party. The police raided the house after receiving a tip-off.

Police sources said two accused, identified as Mukhwinder Singh and Hardeep Singh, who were also involved in the fraud, escaped. All the arrested accused belonged to Ludhiana and were running a company under the name of Carrier Point Consultants based in Jalandhar.

The sources added that the modus operandi of the accused was that they used to invite applications for the post of meter reader in the PSEB on contract basis. According to sources, they were selling application forms at Rs 200 per copy. They were taking Rs 1,100 from each applicant at the time of interview. Apart from it, they were taking Rs 15,000 from each applicant at the time of giving him the appointment letter as security money.

The sources said after the police came to know of this development, it carried out the verification of antecedents of the company being run by the accused. During verification, the company was found to be fake.

When the raid was conducted on the house where the interview was being held, more than 1,000 youths, who had applied for the post of meter reader, were standing outside the house on the road.

A case was registered under sections 420 and 120-B of the IPC.

Nawanshahr, July 20
DSP Satinder Pal Singh, while addressing mediapersons here today, claimed to have busted an inter-state gang of narcotic smugglers by arresting Bhup Singh and Naresh Kumar, alias Nikku, at a naka at Bhaura village, near Banga. Both are residents of Mandi (Himachal Pradesh). The police seized 3.24 quintals of poppy husk and 500 gm of opium from their possession.

The DSP said that on a tip-off, the in charge of CIA staff, along with a police party, put up a naka at Bhaura on the Banga-Garhshankar road. When the police intercepted a Mahindra jeep coming from Garhshankar, its driver Bhup Singh fled. The police nabbed Naresh Kumar, alias Nikku, and seized poppy husk and opium from the vehicle. However, the police nabbed Bhup Singh from the Banga bus stand. A case under sections 15, 18, 61 and 85, NDPS Act, has been registered at Banga police station. — OC