Hoshiarpur, August 17
Activists of the BJP, including woman, led by Minister for Medical Education and Research, Forest, Parliamentary Affairs and Labour Tikshan Sud and Som Parkash, who unsuccessfully contested the last Lok Sabha elections on the BJP ticket, staged a dharna and rally in front of the municipal library here today in protest against the failure of the UPA government in controlling the rising prices of essential commodities. They raised slogans against the UPA government for not taking any concrete step to control the price rise.

Speakers, including Tiskhan Sud and Som Parkash, condemned the Union government for its failure on all fronts, especially controlling the prices of essential nutrients which had broken all previous records.

Later, they went in a procession to Clock Tower Chowk and after demonstrating there burnt the effigy of the UPA government. They demanded stern action against the hoarders and black marketeers to bring down the prices of essential goods.

Meanwhile, Chief Parliamentary Secretary Des Raj Dhugga condemned the UPA government for making the life of the aam adami hell. All the tall claims of the UPA government regarding relief to the common man within 100 days of their regime proved futile. Instead of decreasing the rates of commodities, the government had allowed them to touch the new heights due to lack of proper policy. Black marketeers and hoarders were charging rates of essential commodities without any fear of the law, claimed Dhugga.

Jalandhar: Lambasting the UPA government against the steep price hike of the essential commodities the district BJP workers on Monday held a protest demonstration at the local Nehru Garden Chowk. Women BJP workers maintained that the government had failed in controlling the price hike.

President of the district unit of the BJP Ravi Mahendru said the wrong policies of the UPA government had dwindled the budget of the common man. The hike in prices of vegetables, pulses, flour and fruits had made things worse for everybody.

The workers demanded that the government should take timely action in controlling the prices of essential commodities. “The government should ensure welfare of the common man,” Mahendru said.

Kapurthala: The district unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) burnt the effigy of Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh outside Kachehari Chowk on Monday. They were protesting against the steep hike in the rates of essential commodities.

Several BJP workers, led by district president Sham Sunder Aggarwal, gathered at Jallaokhana Chowk and proceeded towards the district administrative offices at Kachehari Chowk passing through Sadar Bazaar protesting against the steep hike in the rates of essential commodities.

Chairman of the Improvement Trust Hira Lal Dhir and district general secretary of the BJP Umesh Sharda also participated in the protest march.

BJP workers shouted slogans against Dr Manmohan Singh-led UPA government as they held it responsible for the skyrocketing prices of essential commodities.

Nawanshahr: The district unit of the BJP, led by president Sudesh Sharma and general secretary Dr Shiv Kumar Tejpal, on Monday presented a memorandum to the Deputy Commissioner for onward submission to the President of India to protest against the unprecedented rise in prices of essential commodities. The BJP held the wrong policies of the Congress-led UPA government responsible for making the life of the common man miserable.

Nawanshahr, August 17
It is still pitch dark. The dawn is yet to break. A group of men, women and children move out on streets singing on the beats of “dholkis” and “chimtas”. You guessed it right. It is a “parbhat pheri” but with more emphasis on spreading a social message than a religious one.

A choir chants ahead as the rest repeat

“Dhiyan rab diyan ruhan loko na maro,

Dhiyan sansar diyan neehan loko na maro,

Je dhee jaman nahin deni,

Putt tere jamu amli.’’

An initiative of the Upkar Coordination Society, at least six such “parbhat pheris” have been taken out on Sunday mornings at various villages across the district to awaken the masses against the evil of female foeticide. Having taken similar initiatives like organising Lohri for girls at the administrative level, sending greeting cards through DC to parents of newborn girls, holding night plays and rallies, the members feel that the new effort in the direction is yielding a good response.

Claims Jaspal Singh Gidda, general secretary of the society, “We already have eight advance bookings from various villages. People welcome us with open doors and some even insist on taking donations for the cause. We start from Nawanshahr at 3.30 am, reach the village around 4 am, take a round for about an hour, hold discussions with village folk for sometime, form new members in the area and are back home by 6.30 am.”

Another activist Charanjit Singh Bheen believes that the cool, serene mornings have a deeper impact on the minds of the listeners. “This is the time that our Gurus have recommended to us for meditation and recital of hymns. There is no disturbance. Any phrase that we hum is better understood and remembered. There have been instances in every village where even the addicts in the village have got off their beds and have joined us in the procession,” he said.

The members have held programmes in Palli Jhikki, Paili, Haitpur Rurki, Garcha and other villages. They have even once woken up Deputy Commissioner Neelkanth Avadh and SSP Rakesh Aggarwal seeking their involvement in the programme.

Kapurthala, August 17
Head Constable Gurdev Singh, nabbed in connection with a sex scandal on Saturday, has named several other police personnel for their connivance in blackmailing several persons, it is learnt.

However, the police has not taken any action against these cops.

When contacted, Kapurthala DSP Bahadur Singh, who has been entrusted with investigation in the case by SSP Ram Singh, said stern action would be taken after collecting evidence if the names of some other police personnel cropped up during the inquiry.

Meanwhile, police sources said Gurdev Singh also confessed during preliminary interrogation that they had not only blackmailed Jalandhar-based potato grower Sukhwinder Singh but also several other persons.

In the meantime, the district police failed to get police custody of Gurdev Singh and Sukhwinder Kaur. Both the accused were produced in the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate R.K. Garg today, who remanded them to 14-day judicial custody.

Other accused HC Kuldip Singh is still absconding. City SHO Daljit Singh said raids were being conducted to nab him.

The two HCs in connivance with the woman were running a racket to blackmail gullible persons threatening them to lodge FIRs against them for their alleged involvement in prostitution.

Gurdaspur, August 17
The tall claims by Punjab Health Minister Laxmi Kant Chawla that the best health services are being given to the people in the state, proved hollow here today when a section of the activists of the labour welfare federation, patients and their attendants staged a dharna and held a rally on the premises of the Civil Hospital to protest against the poor services given to them by authorities concerned.

A few dozen activists of the State Poor Labourers Welfare Federation, led by its president Parveen Kumar, along with a large number of patients and their attendants raised slogans against the hospital authorities.

They alleged that the Civil Hospital had become an “out-of-bound” area for the poor people as they were not being given medical facilities for treatment. Instead, they were being maltreated and forced to go to private doctors for getting expensive treatment from them.

The protesters alleged that most of time they were forced to go to private laboratories for getting clinical tests despite the fact that a full-fledged laboratory existed in the hospital. Not only this, they had to wait for hours together to get physically examined by the doctors in the OPD.

They said that poor patients were not being given medicines free of cost despite the fact that the SAD-BJP government had been claiming that enough medicines were being supplied to the state-run hospitals for distribution among those patients who did not afford to buy them in the open market.

The protesters lifted the dharna only after they were given assurance by Dr Mohinder Singh Jassal, Senior Medical Officer (SMO), that their grievances would be redressed without any delay and efforts would be made to provide them all kinds of medical facilities.

However, Parveen Kumar said that if the functioning of the hospital was not improved, the federation would intensify its agitation.

Jassal, when contacted, said that most of the protesters were from Batala subdivisional as they were fed up with the deficit services in the Batala-based Civil Hospital.

Civil Surgeon Dr H.S. Batra, when contacted, said as he had joined the hospital about two days ago, he was studying the functioning of the hospital. He added that his priority was to equip the hospital with all facilities and to get all the vacancies of paramedical staff filled.

Hoshiarpur, August 17
The gastroenteritis has claimed three lives, including one woman and a child, in different parts of the district during the past week.

Disclosing this while talking to The Tribune here this afternoon, Civil Surgeon Dr S.K. Gupta said that the deceased were identified as Raksha Devi (60), wife of Mohan Lal, Charna (75), a sevadar of a gurdwara, both of Kot Fatuhi village, and 12-year-old boy of Akka village.

As many as 14 cases of gastroenteritis had been reported from Akka, of which 2 had been referred to the Civil Hospital, Mukerian. A team of doctors had been sent to the village which treated the remaining gastroenteritis patients there. Most of the sufferers used contaminated water from a public hand pump. All villagers had been advised to use boiled water and use chlorine tablets for purifying water which were being distributed among the inhabitants. Chlorination of all the water sources was being done, said Dr Gupta.

Dr Gupta said five gastroenteritis patients had been reported in private hospital at Kot Fatuhi. All were discharged after improvement in their health. Advising people not to use over-ripe or rotten fruits and vegetables and use boiled or chlorinated water, Dr Gupta said water samples were being seized from various supply sources to check its purity. — OC

Jalandhar, August 17
The Jalandhar Improvement Trust (JIT) held a draw of lots for 276 low-income group (LIG) flats on the name of Bibi Bhani Complex in the local Guru Amar Dass Nagar on 51.5-acre premises of the trust land here at Red Cross Bhavan here yesterday.

Local Bodies Minister Manoranjan Kalia along with Improvement Trust Chairman Baljeet Singh Neelamahal started the draw of lots under self-financing scheme. Neelamahal said as many as 276 flats were allotted to the eligible applicants out of the 1,515 applications.

Deputy Director, Local Bodies, Yash Inder, Executive Officer R.L. Bhagat, Deputy Controller Inder Mohan Narula and Engineer Kewal Singh were also present on the occasion. — PTI

Phagwara, August 17
Complete bandh was observed here today on the call of general strike given by the General Samaj Manch, Punjab, to protest against a Dalit woman Kamlesh Ahir’s CD in which derogatory remarks have reportedly been passed against several religions.

The protesters, led by state president of the manch Fateh Singh, reached the SDM office after passing through several areas in the form of a protest march. President of the local unit of the manch Dr Ashok Sharma and its general secretary Girish Sharma also participated in the protest.

They demanded registration of an FIR against Kamlesh for hurting religious sentiments of people and the banning of such CDs immediately. They gave a memorandum in this regard to the SDM addressed to the Governor.

Several Hindu and Sikh organisations also supported the bandh. The manch demanded registration of cases against those responsible for post-Vienna incident violence here.

Amritsar, August 17
Allegedly being harassed by her husband, Narinder Kaur, a resident of Chak Aul village, committed suicide by hanging herself with her “dupatta” last night.

The Ajnala police has booked Gurmit Singh, 
husband of the deceased, for forcing her to commit suicide under section 306, IPC.

According to information received here, Gurmit used to sell wood in partnership with Jagir Singh of the same area. However, he separated from Jagir Singh after a dispute.

Meanwhile, Puran Singh, father of deceased, engaged his second daughter with the son of Jagir Singh. This infuriated Gurmit and he started harassing Narinder Kaur and pressurised her to force her father to break the engagement. Fed up and unable to bear the harassment, she committed suicide by hanging herself. The police handed over the body to the family after a post-mortem examination.

Jalandhar, August 17
Jalandhar clinched the overall trophy in the two-day-long Punjab Weightlifting Championship held at Ramgarhia College, Phagwara, which concluded here today. The district weightlifters won five gold, two silver and one bronze medals in the championship.

As many as 160 weightlifters from 20 districts of the state participated in the championship. S.R. Ladhar, Divisional Commissioner, was the chief guest on the occasion. He was accompanied by Captain Tara Singh, general secretary of the Weightlifting Association.

Pathankot, August 17
The railway police found the dead of a youth on the Pathankot-Amritsar rail track here today.

The police identified the body as that of Deepak Kumar (17) of the local Bazri Company Mohalla. Some domestic dispute was stated to be the cause behind the death. The police has registered a case.