Gurdaspur, August 4
The police has decided to move a formal complaint against Darshan Singh, Presiding Officer of booth 13 in Kale Kalan village of the Kahnuwan assembly constituency as he was found in a drunkard state while on poll duty.

Police sources said Darshan was in an inebriated condition when a police party reached there and the matter was brought to the notice of police officials by RO-cum-SDM J. P. Singh on August 2.

Jasdeep Singh, DSP, Gurdaspur, said a complaint under section 510 of the IPC would be moved against Darshan for creating hooliganism at public place. He added that a new person was put on poll duty after replacing Darshan.

In another case, Joginder Singh and Navtej Singh of Tugalwal village were booked under section 134 of the Representation of People’s Act and sections 171-D and 511 of the IPC for indulging in poll violations. The accused indulged in a scuffle in the polling booth and had caused interruption in polling for 20 minutes. The case was registered on the complaint of Presiding Officer Satpal. The accused were yet to be arrested.

Five Congressmen, identified as Narian Chand, Kulwant Singh, Malooka Singh, Heera and Paramjit Singh, all resident of Pasnawal village, were booked under sections 295, 171-F and 506 of the IPC for stopping Hardial Singh from exercising his right to franchise. Apart from it, the accused also pulled the beard of Hardial and thus hurt his religious sentiments.

No arrest had been made in this connection so far. 

Hoshiarpur, August 4
Providing relief to the owner of Yashpal Paint and Ply Store (YPPS), Adda Saran, the District Consumers Forum ordered Oriental Insurance Company Limited (OICL) to pay Rs 2,17,179 to the former with interest at 9 per cent per annum, along with litigation expenses of Rs 2,000 within one month.

The owner of the YPPS had filed a complaint against Punjab National Bank (PNB) branch at Kandhala Jattan village, and the OICL, on the ground that he obtained the cash credit facility from PNB, which got insured the articles lying in the store with the OICL. On the night of July 21, 2008, the iron/steel lying on the premises of his shop was stolen by some persons. When he asked for the claim from the insurance company, it was repudiated on the ground that the iron/steel, alleged to have been stolen, was not covered under the policy.

The forum, headed by President P.D. Goel, held that the close scrutiny of the cover note made it clear that other goods linked with the trade were covered by the cover note, therefore, this court could take judicial notice that iron/steel was very much linked with the trade of the owner of the YPPS as he dealt in hardware.

Besides, in the cover note 203791 valid from November 1, 2006, to October 31, 2007, the word iron, etc. had been specifically mentioned.

Later, the complainant got the insurance policy renewed from November 2, 2007, to November 1, 2008, therefore, it can be inferred that the word iron/steel had been inadvertently omitted from the cover note.

It was also observed by the forum that the complainant had lodged the claim with the OICL to the tune of Rs 2,69,596, whereas the surveyor of the insurance company had assessed the loss to the tune of Rs 2,17,179. The owner of the YPPS has only placed on record the stock statement to the tune of Rs 20,31,160.

The mere submission of the stock statement is not sufficient to prove that the complainant has suffered a loss to the extent of Rs 20,31,160.

Therefore, the report of the surveyor is accepted.

Hoshiarpur, August 4
Punjab has only 3.5 per cent area under forest and it would be extended by planting the maximum number of tree saplings in vacant lands of panchayats, on guide bundhs of choes, along roads and in fields.

This was stated by Punjab Minister for Medical Education and Research, Forest, Labour and Parliamentary Affairs Tikshan Sud after planting a sapling during Vanamahotsava at Police Lines yesterday. He said a campaign had already been started to plant saplings in government schools, other institutions and barren lands to enhance the area under green cover to at least 6.7 per cent. The government had fixed a target to increase the forest area in the state to 15 per cent 
by 2017.

He appreciated the police for starting the plantation drive in the vacant land of Police Lines. About 1,000 saplings of trees would be planted, of which 225 had been planted. The Forest Department was providing saplings of trees on subsidised rates.

The bamboo mission had been started in the Kandi area to increase the forest cover. The Maximum number of farmers of Kandi were being encouraged to grow bamboo in their land.

Hoshiarpur, August 4
A peculiar situation arose at Government College here today when some anonymous persons made a hoax call to the police control room in the afternoon that a group of at least 60 youths, equipped with lathis and sharp-edged weapons, would make an attack on Government College.

As soon as the message was passed by the police control room, the entire police staff, including Senior Superintendent of Police Parmod Ban, SPs Opinderjit Singh Ghuman and Sushil Kumar, along with a heavy force swung into action and rushed to the college premises.

But after discovering that peace prevailed in and around the college and classes were functioning normally, the police force was surprised and returned.

However, some police personnel were deployed around the vicinity to avert any mishap.

Senior Superintendent of Police Parmod Ban said that after receiving the information, PCR teams were also directed to locate the group, but after roaming through the entire town and its periphery, none of the suspicious youths was found.

Jalandhar, August 4
Educon-2009, a three-day conference on emerging trends in higher education began at Lovely Professional University on Monday.

Luminaries from the academic world who are attending the conference include Prof B.K. Passi, patron, All-India Association of Education Reforms, Prof Field Christopher, Dean of the School of Education at University of Wolverhampton, UK, and Prof S.S. Johal, former Vice-Chancellor, Punjabi University, Patiala.

A series of thoughtful addresses marked the opening day as Dr Passi who is also termed as father of micro-teaching, said, “Apart from ensuring the quantitative and qualitative expansion of higher education in India, there should be a drastic change in the way education is imparted.”

Prof Christopher called for greater autonomy for private education providers. A cultural evening was organised wherein Rabindranath Tagore’s one-act play was enacted by “Naatya”, a faculty theatre club. Bhangra and giddha also coloured up the evening.

The second day had plenary speakers, including Prof Vasudha Kamat, joint director, CIET, NCERT, New Delhi, and Prof Daniela Piffer from South Africa. Prof Kamat spoke on goals of higher education and its role in developing a higher order of thinking, responsible citizens and sense of ethics. She laid stress on high calibre research.