NEIGHBOURHOOD

Lakhowal visits grain markets; warns shellers
Our Correspondent

Dera Bassi, October 18
One person was killed, while five others were injured in two separate road accidents, which took place in Dera Bassi in the past 24 hours.

Satpal Singh, a resident of Rampur Sainiya village, lost his life while he was crossing the Dera Bassi-Barwala road yesterday.

The incident left Satpal and the two motorcyclists seriously injured. They were immediately rushed to the civil hospital, Dera Bassi, by passersby where Satpal was declared brought dead while Gurcharan and his friend were referred to GMCH-32 after giving first aid.

In another incident, three persons got severely injured when a Santro car rammed into a motorcycle near the Dera Bassi bus stand yesterday. Three were rushed to the civil hospital, Dera Bassi, from where they were referred to GMCH-32.

The police has impounded the Santro car and investigations into the case are on.

Ambala, October 18
Diwali turned out to be a costly affair for a few in Ambala Cantonment. There were four fire incidents, three major and one minor, in the district.

The first incident was reported from the house of Nasib Singh of Ramgarh Majra village near the army firing range.

Sources said that he had solemnised marriages of both sons in the last six months and the dowry from the marriages had been placed in a hut which caught fire.

The complete hut and the belongings therein, which included household goods and jewellery, were gutted. He estimated the losses to be Rs 1.75 lakh approximately.

The second incident occurred in the house of Kuldeep Singh, who had a tea stall. He had purchased household items for his daughter’s dowry and kept them in his house.

He said that his house and all his belongings, including his daughter’s dowry, were completely burnt in the fire.

The third incident occurred at Bhola Pan Bhandar in the Rai market. The fire was a minor one and was brought under control by the fire brigade personnel, checking the spread of the fire to nearby shops.

Another incident of fire was reported at the Barah Khamba chowk in Ambala City, where bales of cotton caught fire.

As per reports, four fire tenders were pressed into service to extinguish the fire, but due to the nature of the fire, little could be done to bring the fire under control and heavy losses to property were reported.

Sirhind/Banur, October 18
An ASI with the Punjab police and an octogenarian were killed in different accidents here.

ASI Sikandar Singh was coming from Patiala in his Maruti car with havildar Sukhminder Singh on Saturday night.

When they neared Naulakha village, an unidentified truck hit the car, killing Sikandar.

Sukhminder sustained injuries. Sikandar was posted at Mandi Gobindgarh.

The police registered a case against the driver of the unidentified truck.

Meanwhile, 85-year-old Prem Pal, a resident of Patiala, was killed in another accident.

Prem Pal, along with his son Dharminderjit Singh and granddaughters Gurneet Kaur and Navneet Kaur, were going to Patiala in a car after meeting a relative at Mohali.

When they neared Jansla village, a truck coming from the opposite direction hit the car head on.

The injured were admitted to the Gian Sagar Hospital, Rajpura. The driver of the truck was absconding.

Patiala, October 18
Representatives of the Non-Teaching Staff Union of private colleges have threatened to boycott work in case the government fails to implement new UGC scales for the non-teaching staff of various private colleges.

Criticising the state government for not revising the salary of non-teaching staff of various non-government colleges, union president Shamsher Singh said that the Punjab government had meted out injustice to the non-teaching staff by not extending benefits of new UGC scales to them.

The non-teaching staff and other office staff in government establishments had been given new UGC scales, but the government had not implemented the same in private colleges so far, he said.

The union would stage demonstrations in front of offices of government departments in case the government failed to accept their demand, he asserted.

Panchkula, October 18
Finding no satisfactory reply from the district police in the last more than four months, members of the family of missing realtor Deepak Rai Sagar have now moved the Punjab and Haryana High Court.

The high court has issued a notice to the Haryana DGP, the Panchkula SP and the SHO of sector 5, Panchkula, asking them to file their reply on October 19.

Sagar’s son Sameer, in his petition, which was heard before a single bench headed by Mr Justice L.N. Mittal, said that the Panchkula police could have taken action on the matter, but had failed to trace the missing person even after four months.

Praying to issue directions for the fair and expeditious investigation to trace his missing father, Sameer stated that precious time had been wasted due to the poor investigation by the police.

The petitioner also sought directions for a status report on the entire case from the Panchkula police.

Sagar was missing since June 1, when he went to meet one of his friends in his black Skoda car.

Members of the family had pointed a finger of accusation at two of his business partners and the police conducted lie-detector tests on them, but without success.

Later, the application of the police in the district courts to conduct narco-analysis tests on the suspects was rejected.

Chandigarh, October 18
A resident of Indira Colony was caught red-handed while snatching a purse of a woman near Fun Republic.

Monika Singh of Sector 4, Panchkula, reported that Som Nath of Indra Colony, Mani Majra, was caught red-handed while snatching her gold chain from near Fun Republic in Mani Majra on October 16.

Patiala, October 18
Seventysix traffic police personnel deployed across the city to maintain traffic flow are proving insufficient, with traffic snarls becoming the order of the day in most busy markets here.

The problem has become alarming in the walled city and the worst affected are Adalat Bazaar, Dharampura Bazaar, Sheranwala Gate, Lahori Gate, Arya Samaj, Arna Barna Chowk and Gur Mandi.

With the volume of traffic having recorded a phenomenal increase in the last couple of years, traffic bottlenecks have become common in Leela Bhawan market, New Leela Bhawan market, Model Town and City Centre.

Once known as one of the best educational and sports centres, also having heritage buildings, traffic jams have become a routine feature here due to encroachments.

The smooth flow of traffic is hampered by encroachments, both temporary and permanent, by shopkeepers in most markets.

Haphazardly parked vehicles and rehris parked along busy roads, besides autorickshaws parked along the mall road, have aggravated the problem.

The traffic problem has become acute around the bus stand, where traffic is held up almost throughout the day.

Everybody seems to be aware of the problem except the municipal authorities and the traffic police personnel.

The Pepsu Road Transport Corporation authorities also look the other way when it comes to ensuring the removal of encroachments around the bus stand.

Kiosks set up around the boundary wall of the bus stand have become a major traffic problem and the municipal corporation has done little to solve the problem.

With the increase in the number of vehicles and the width of a major section of roads remaining the same, the smooth flow of traffic has become a thing of the past.

The situation has become so grave that 76 personnel (14 NGOs, 50 HC, 12 constables), who have been deployed to manage the flow of traffic, have been finding it difficult to produce results.

The main causes for traffic congestion are vendors having makeshift tea stalls or those selling fruit juice and other eatables on rehris, who claim that they have permission to park push carts and sell goods.

Chandigarh, October 18
A group of armed miscreants created ruckus in a Sector 35-A locality on Diwali night and smashed windowpanes of a house.

Area resident accused that the police failed to take action against the accused. Manohar Lal, president of the locality, said one of the miscreants, Gagandeep, had been creating nuisance in the locality and was also arrested by the police earlier. In order to take revenge, he along with others, came in a Maruti Alto car (CH-04-K-5344) and broke windowpanes of his house.

The SHO of the Sector 36 police station said they had arrested four youngsters, including a minor, in the incident. The police has also impounded a car and a scooter of the accused.

The SHO said the accused were a pack of notorious youngsters and were booked earlier also. Gagandeep had been arrested in a case of snatching. He said Ganagdeep was not involved in the incident as his mother had died of cancer at the PGI yesterday. The accused had been sent to judicial custody. 

Chandigarh, October 18
A dispute following an altercation on Diwali night turned violent when a group of four minor boys armed with knives, rods and other weapons stabbed a 22-year-old youth in Mauli Jagran this morning. The police said the victim’s younger brother was also injured in the brawl.

The victim, Roshan Lal, a Mohali-based mechanic, was admitted to the Government Multi Specialty Hospital, Sector 32, where his condition was stated to be stable. His brother Abhey was discharged after administering the first aid, said the police. Sources said last night Abhey had a heated argument with the accused of the same colony following some ongoing rivalry between them. The accused thrashed Abhey and fled. This morning Abhey spotted one of his assailants and caught hold of him. He, along with his brother, bashed up the boy.

Later the boy informed his friends who came to the house of Roshan, armed with weapons. They had an argument which turned violent following which one of the accused picked up a bottle from the street and hit it on Roshan’s head. Subsequently, another accused pulled out a knife and stabbed Roshan in his belly. They also assaulted Abhey, who escaped with minor injuries. Both brothers were rushed to the hospital and the accused fled before the police could reach there.

The police said a case of attempt to murder, assault, trespassing and common intention had been registered against the accused who were at large.

Panchkula, October 18
The suicide by Damyanti and Sandeep, a woman-son duo at Jind on Thursday, has once again brought under scanner the working of the police at the district level as well as the DGP office. The incident has also put a question mark on the behaviour of the Panchkula police towards the aggrieved, who protest against the police inaction in front of the police headquarters.

It was on August 11 when the local police forcibly removed Damyanti along with her husband Ramdia, who were sitting on hunger strike in front of the DGP office. Later, a case under Section 309 of the IPC (attempt to suicide) was registered against the couple.

Eyewitnesses said Ramdia was even slapped by police officials as they were not willing to go with the police.

Ramdia alleged that Damyanti and Sandeep committed suicide, as the police instead of arresting the accused booked them following which they were appearing in the court of Panchkula.

On July 21, while narrating his grievances, Ramdia alleged that the police was shielding the accused involved in the murder of their son Manjit Kundu under pressure from a highly placed official.

The parents protesting in front of the police headquarters here along with their other relatives said they would not eat anything until the accused of the murder were not brought to justice.

Manjit, a teacher in Sharda High School of Jind, was missing since January 28. He left home at 8 am for school but did not return since then, said Ramdia.

The school authorities informed that he left the school at 9 am. Later, his bicycle was found parked at a railway station next day, he said.

Later, on February 7 they were informed that the Narnaund police has found a body from Petwaad minor. When the family members reached Narnaund they were told that the body was traced on February 5 and as nobody could identify the deceased the body was cremated by the police, said the hapless father.

“We just could see the pictures and belongings of Manjit,” he said. We suspected the hand of family members of the girl to whom Manjit was betrothed, but he refused to marry her, he said.

Despite the fact that we met the DGP twice, no action was taken against the accused as they were related to a high ranking police official posted in the region, alleged Damyanti, the mother of Manjit.

The DIG (crime), MS Malik, tried to console the family but they did not budge from their decision and kept on sitting on hunger strike before they were allegedly thrashed and removed on August 11.

This was, however, not the only case when local police used force on people who reached here to protest against the police inaction.

On June 11, the police had picked up the family members and relatives of Pankaj, a youth from Naraingarh, and forcibly put them in the police vehicles even before they could reach the police headquarters to protest.

The family was protesting against the suicide by Pankaj alleging that the Naraingarh MLA was harassing the youth.