J A L A N D H A R    E D I T I O N

Intense winter comes, so do miseries for them
Jalandhar, January 7
Some petite, dishevelled men sit huddled around a fire which burns longer into the day, waiting for someone to hire them. Times are trying; there are a very few takers for daily-wage labourers.

Some dailywagers sit huddled around a fire to keep themselves warm, in Jalandhar. Photo by writer

Godman sees life in the dead, family holds corpse
Jalandhar, January 7
In a case of superstition, the family of an old man did not cremate his body following an assurance by a self-styled godman who claims to bring him back to life. Speaking on the condition of anonymity, a resident of Kalra village, near Adampur, told The Tribune that an 85-year-old man died in their village nearly 10 days ago.

Non-payment of bonus on paddy of 2008
Farmers gherao District Food Controller’s office
Tarn Taran, January 7
A large number of farmers under the banner of the Kissan Sangharsh Committee (KSC) today gheraoed the office of the District Food Controller to lodge their protest against the non-payment of bonus on paddy of 2008 season.

Crime: Mother of 3 nabbed for murdering husband
Jalandhar, January 7
Rajani, mother of three, murdered her husband Satpal allegedly in connivance with her paramour in Guru Sant Nagar, near Basti Danishmanda, here last evening. The couple were not sharing a cordial relationship for the past many years as Rajani reportedly was having an extra-marital affair with Jatinder Bhatia of the same locality.

Man rescued within 2 hours of kidnapping; abductors give a slip
Jalandhar, January 7
The district police claims to have rescued a Lamba Pind resident in less than two hours of his kidnapping for ransom last evening. ut the two police parties that conducted the operation under the leadership of two DSPs failed to nab the kidnappers.

Four held for killing sambar
Nawanshahr, January 7
The Wildlife Department has registered a case against five youths, Manjinder Singh, Kuljit Singh of Panam village in Hoshiarpur district, Joginder Singh of Neelowal village, Sunder of Bheen village and Ikwinder Singh, alias Honey, of Mahalon village, under sections 9, 39, 49, 50 and 51 of the Wild Life Act for allegedly killing a female sambar at nearby Mahalon village yesterday.

Man crushed to death
Pathankot, January 7
Bishan Dass, resident of Pratap Nagar locality, was crushed to death by a super fast train here this morning. The police said the accident was caused due to dense fog as the deceased could not see the speeding train running from Varanasi to Jammu Tawi while he was crossing the track.

Citrus fruit show at Hoshiarpur
Hoshiarpur, January 7
A state-level citrus fruit show, held at Hoshiarpur, saw horticulturist Jasbir Singh Dannewal of Abohar creating a record in kinnow production in the world. He was honoured at the event for producing 132 tonnes of kinnow in an acre at his farm.

Employees demand 60 as retirement age
Jalandhar, January 7
Official organisations of the Punjab Government employees today demanded parity of the retirement age with that of the Central government staff. The employees maintained that the age bar of the state government employees should be raised from 58 to 60 years.

Shamsher Singh Verka dies at 85
Amritsar, January 7
Shamsher Singh Verka (85), freedom fighter and veteran Communist leader, died of cardiac arrest at Guru Nanak Dev Hospital here on Tuesday. He was cremated at Verka yesterday. He was survived by his wife and three children, including two sons. He was honoured with “Tamar Pattra” by the government for his contribution in the freedom struggle.

Intense winter comes, so do miseries for them
Riva/Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, January 7
Some petite, dishevelled men sit huddled around a fire which burns longer into the day, waiting for someone to hire them. Times are trying; there are a very few takers for daily-wage labourers. Overall economic activity lies dampened with the cold.

Time goes on and as the clock strikes one in the afternoon, the hope for a client (for a day’s contract work) dies down.

That is the everyday story for the guy on the road whether he is in construction work, palledari or works as daily hand as an artisan.

While the work in the construction sector has almost come to a standstill, workers face hard times. Unable to work in the extreme weather conditions, they face the brunt of the price rise too.

“No work means no food, and inflation has made things worse. How can we afford a diet when we cannot even ensure three cups of tea a day? We have taken to drinking hot water as sugar (at Rs 47 a kg) has become a luxury. Hot water helps keep the inside warm and protects us from the adversities of the climate,” said Ram Lal, a construction worker.

There are people who live on the roadside and have no roof to shelter them from rain and cold. “We all huddle together for warmth, but the chill and wind make it impossible for us to sleep at night. We are accustomed to facing such adversities but it is a testing time for children and the elderly,” said Kanchamma, a rag-picker.

“Last year, I had delivered an underweight baby in mid-December, who couldn’t survive even for a month. … gave in to cold and malnutrition,” added her co-worker Sukamma.

The condition of workers in the unorganised sector is almost the same everywhere. With the brick-making work almost halted due to the weather conditions, workers are eating on their savings.

“Bricks don’t dry up this season. So work has stopped. We are surviving on our meagre savings which might not last as long as the winters,” said Gurwinder Singh, a brick-kiln worker.

“Our huts have no door or window shutters to protect us from the chill. We are somehow managing with polythene shacks and gunny bags to stop the winds from blowing us apart. In the evening we lit a fire out of cow dung and coal to provide us some warmth at night.”

Godman sees life in the dead, family holds corpse
Amaninder Pal/Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, January 7
In a case of superstition, the family of an old man did not cremate his body following an assurance by a self-styled godman who claims to bring him back to life. Speaking on the condition of anonymity, a resident of Kalra village, near Adampur, told The Tribune that an 85-year-old man died in their village nearly 10 days ago.

But his family did not opt to cremate the body on the advice of a godman, who assured them that he possessed miraculous powers which could bring the dead to life.

Following this, the family of the deceased locked the body in a room and is waiting for him to come to life after 40 days.

“The family members clean the body everyday but do not allow anyone to see it. The family also rebukes anyone who goes to their house to express their condolences. Many villagers have tried to reason with the family to cremate the body, but to no avail. Now the villagers are planning to bring the matter to the notice of the district administration and the police,” the villager said.

However, the family members of the deceased refused to comment on the issue.

Meanwhile, the SHO of Adampur police station also confirmed that the matter came to his notice today. “A resident of the village informed me about the issue. I told them to personally inspect the site and confirm the incident in the morning,” said SHO Sukha Singh.

Non-payment of bonus on paddy of 2008
Farmers gherao District Food Controller’s office
Our Correspondent

Tarn Taran, January 7
A large number of farmers under the banner of the Kissan Sangharsh Committee (KSC) today gheraoed the office of the District Food Controller to lodge their protest against the non-payment of bonus on paddy of 2008 season.

The gherao, which lasted for more than six hours, caused great inconvenience to the general public as the normal traffic remained disrupted and there was jam-like situation in the town.

Satnam Singh Pannu, state president of the KSC, while addressing the farmers alleged that the district authorities of the Food and Civil Supplies Department had not given the bonus on paddy of 2008 to the farmers. He said the bonus amounted to Rs 14 lakh and the KSC had been demanding for the release of the amount.

As no official of the department reached the office since morning, the farmers kept on sitting on the road. When an Assistant Food Supply Officer (AFSO) came to the farmers and received the memorandum, the gherao was lifted at 6 pm.

The AFSO assured the farmers of the payment of the bonus and a meeting with the farmer leaders had been called for discussing their other demands tomorrow with the District Food Controller.

Crime: Mother of 3 nabbed for murdering husband
Tribune Reporters

Jalandhar, January 7
Rajani, mother of three, murdered her husband Satpal allegedly in connivance with her paramour in Guru Sant Nagar, near Basti Danishmanda, here last evening. The couple were not sharing a cordial relationship for the past many years as Rajani reportedly was having an extra-marital affair with Jatinder Bhatia of the same locality.

“Tiffs were routine between them over the issue,” said Yashpal, brother of the deceased.

Acting on Yashpal’s complaint, the police questioned Rajani who admitted to have committed the crime with the help of Bhatia.

SHO Nirmal Singh of police station Division 5 said Rajani and her paramour strangled Satpal with a steel wire. The duo committed the crime when the victim was in an inebriated condition. In an attempt to mislead the police, Rajani concealed the facts and concocted a story claiming that some robbers had killed Satpal and robbed him of Rs 4,000, the SHO said.

The police has arrested the woman and a case of murder has been registered against her. Bhatia has absconded.

The body was handed over to the family after a post-mortem examination conducted at the Civil Hospital this evening. The police launched a hunt to nab Jatinder Bhatia for his alleged involvement in the murder.

Ishfaque murder case solved, 2 held

Batala: The Batala police claims to have solved the murder case of Ishfaque Bhatt who was killed at Fatehgarh Churian and arrested two persons in this connection, here today.

Addressing mediapersons, SSP D.P. Singh said an FIR was sregistered on December 21, 2009, under sections 302, 120-B, 148 and 149, IPC, at Fatehgarh Churian police station by the SHO when he found the body of Ishfaque Bhatt, a resident of Sopore (Jammu and Kashmir), who had solemnised love marriage with Rupinder Kaur, daughter of Iqbal Singh Nagra of Fatehgarh Churian, in 1999. The couple have a son.

But they have a matrimonial dispute since 2008. Both have separated since then. Ishfaque has obtained legal guardianship of the child but Rupinder Kaur and her family members were against this. Hence the accused, Iqbal Singh, his son Manjinder Singh, wife Balbir Kaur, daughter Rupinder Kaur and servant Sawinder Singh hatched a conspiracy to kill Ishfaque Bhatt. On December 21 when Ishfaque came to meet his son at Fatehgarh Churian, he was killed by the accused. Manjinder Singh and servant Sawinder Singh have been arrested and they have confessed to the crime. The other accused have absconded.

Man rescued within 2 hours of kidnapping; abductors give a slip
Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, January 7
The district police claims to have rescued a Lamba Pind resident in less than two hours of his kidnapping for ransom last evening. But the two police parties that conducted the operation under the leadership of two DSPs failed to nab the kidnappers.

Addressing mediapersons, Satish Agnihotri, SP, Traffic, said Abhisek, a resident of Lamba Pind, was kidnapped for a ransom of Rs 50,000 by his friends Sonu and Happy, residents of Geeta Colony. In their early twenties, Sonu and Happy are brothers. They took Abhisek to Rama Mandi for some work on a motorcycle. The SP said the duo, after reaching Rama Mandi, made a phone call from victim’s mobile to his wife Marti demanding ransom. They first asked her to come to Ganesh Sweet Shop in Rama Mandi with the sum and later changed the “meeting point”.

Receiving a phone call for ransom, Marti informed the police control room, following which DSP Parminder Singh and DSP Gagan Ajit Singh pressed their men in rescue operation. As the kidnappers changed their place of meeting from Rama Mandi to Railway Line, adjacent PAP complex, the police surrounded the area, the SP claimed.

Sensing trouble, the kidnappers let Abhisek go and slipped away from the locality, he added. As the victim revealed that the duo were know to him and were resident of Geeta Colony, the police raided their house but found it locked. The police launched a hunt to nab them. A case under sections 364, 506 and 34 of the IPC was registered.

Four held for killing sambar
Our Correspondent

Nawanshahr, January 7
The Wildlife Department has registered a case against five youths, Manjinder Singh, Kuljit Singh of Panam village in Hoshiarpur district, Joginder Singh of Neelowal village, Sunder of Bheen village and Ikwinder Singh, alias Honey, of Mahalon village, under sections 9, 39, 49, 50 and 51 of the Wild Life Act for allegedly killing a female sambar at nearby Mahalon village yesterday.

While Manjinder Singh, Kuljit Singh, Joginder Ram have been rounded up and the killed sambar recovered from their possession, Sunder has absconded. Ikwinder Singh was rounded up as the incident was happened in his field, wild life guard Ram Sharan said and added that action would be taken against them after a thorough investigation into the incident.

Nikhil Sangar, President of the Wild Life Conservation Society, said on receiving the information he rang up Ram Sharan, Block Forestor Vijay Kumar and City SHO Raj Kumar. A raid was conducted and the accused rounded up and the killed sambar recovered.

About one-and-a-half-year-old female sambar was allegedly hunted and killed by the accused, he added.

Man crushed to death

Pathankot, January 7
Bishan Dass, resident of Pratap Nagar locality, was crushed to death by a super fast train here this morning. The police said the accident was caused due to dense fog as the deceased could not see the speeding train running from Varanasi to Jammu Tawi while he was crossing the track.

His father Jagdish Raj said his son had gone to bring fodder for the cattle in the morning. The railway police has completed formalities under sections of 174, CrPc, and sent the body for a post-mortem examination. — OC

Citrus fruit show at Hoshiarpur
Our Correspondent

Hoshiarpur, January 7
A state-level citrus fruit show, held at Hoshiarpur, saw horticulturist Jasbir Singh Dannewal of Abohar creating a record in kinnow production in the world. He was honoured at the event for producing 132 tonnes of kinnow in an acre at his farm.

Meanwhile, Abohar and Hoshiarpur bagged first and second position in the show.

Providing some light on the government initiatives, Punjab Agriculture Minister Sucha Singh Langah said the state had 39,000 hectares under citrus fruit crop with a yield of 7.53 lakh tonnes per year.

“As many as 16 districts had been brought under the national horticulture plan to further promote horticulture and diversify pattern of traditional crops. Five grading and waxing units had been set up in the state to improve the quality of kinnows for better marketing,” he observed.

Four screening houses at Chhowni Kalan and Bhunga in this district, Attari and Gobindgarh had been set up to provide virus free kinnow plants to the horticulturists. Besides, nurseries had also been established to provide disease-free fruit plants.

A fruit processing plant of the Punjab Agro Industrial Corporation at Jahan Khelan in this district would start processing of kinnows to extract juice and other fruit items for a multi-national company from January 15 this year.

It was observed the intensive cold had been making kinnows sweeter.

Employees demand 60 as retirement age
Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, January 7
Official organisations of the Punjab Government employees today demanded parity of the retirement age with that of the Central government staff. The employees maintained that the age bar of the state government employees should be raised from 58 to 60 years.

In a joint statement issued to the press here, agitated government employees said despite recommendations by the Fifth Punjab Pay Commission and making it a poll promise by mentioning it in the SAD-BJP election manifesto, nothing had been done so far. Jagir Singh Kahlon, one of the protesters, said the government employees had been demanding filling of vacant posts in different departments and had also taken up the issue of due promotions and stop-contract system of employment.

However, it seemed that repeated attempts to make the demands heard fell on deaf ears as no assurances had come till date. A meeting in this regard would be held at Desh Bhagat Yadgaar Hall on January 10.

Shamsher Singh Verka dies at 85

Amritsar, January 7
Shamsher Singh Verka (85), freedom fighter and veteran Communist leader, died of cardiac arrest at Guru Nanak Dev Hospital here on Tuesday. He was cremated at Verka yesterday. He was survived by his wife and three children, including two sons. He was honoured with “Tamar Pattra” by the government for his contribution in the freedom struggle.

Tributes were paid to him by the district administration.

He was admitted to Guru Nanak Dev Hospital with hipbone fracture. However, on Tuesday evening he suffered a heart attack.

Shamsher Singh first went to jail at the age of 15 during the Harsha-Chhina-Moga morcha. Born in November 1924, he joined the CPI in 1941 and also remained member of the Punjab Kisan Sabha member. He was instrumental in establishing Istri Sabha at Verka in 1975. — TNS