Jalandhar, April 12
While various political groups have erected hoardings across the city to garner political mileage from Ambedkar Jayanti, none of them have genuinely made any effort to give an impetus to the ongoing project for the construction of a bhavan in the name of the Dalit icon.

The project was approved about 16 years ago, but the work for the construction of Bharat Ratna Dr B.R. Ambedkar Bhavan in the compound of the District Administrative Complex still lies pending owing to paucity of funds.

The bhavan, which is to serve as the venue for dispensing benefits under various SC welfare schemes and providing free coaching to poor, bright kids for entrance examination to professional colleges, lies as it is with its basic structure with no headway in the past nearly two years.

The delay seems odd going by the fact that the city has a sizeable number of SC leaders from the ruling as well as the opposition parties. But none of them have voiced their concern publicly over the inordinate delay in the completion of the project, the foundation stone of which was laid by Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal in 1999 and about seven years later by former Congress MLA Mahinder Singh Kaypee.

Sukhwinder Kotli, state general secretary, BSP, slammed both the parties saying, “Both the SAD and Congress during their rule in the state have miserably failed to fulfil this single commitment to the large SC population. We were promised a library where from the youth could find an extensive literature about the life of the architect of the Indian Constitution.

“The halls that are coming up in the complex could have also been used as venues for holding marriage functions, meetings and other programmes. By doing so, the governments would have earned goodwill of thousands of families, but they have not paid a heed to it.”

Parliamentary Secretary Avinash Chander, when asked about the delay, said, “The delay must have been because of the funds’ shortage. I am trying to sort out the problem.”

Jalandhar, April 12
Two of the four Scheduled Caste (SC) lecturers sitting on fast unto death at the District Administrative Complex (DAC) today had to be hospitalised owing to deteriorating health conditions. The agitation of the Scheduled Caste Employees Joint Action Committee, Punjab, today entered the seventh day.

Kartar Singh Libra, one of the lecturers sitting on fast unto death, was immediately rushed to the emergency ward of the Civil Hospital, while Das Ram, another lecturer, was admitted yesterday. The SC lecturers have been agitating against the flawed list of principals released by the state education authorities as lecturers junior to them were elevated to the posts of principal recently.

Gyan Sultanpuri, a member of the committee, said as the condition of both the lecturers turned critical, the district administration authorities forced them to be admitted to the hospital. He added that the committee members had decided that two other lecturers would sit on fast unto death from tomorrow in support of their demands. “We will continue our agitation until we receive a formal assurance from the education authorities. This is sheer injustice and the government will have to accept our demand,” he said.

Lambasting the state education authorities for not responding to their agitation, Jinder Singh, one of the lecturers, said it was a matter of shame that while two of the lecturers had to be hospitalised, not even a single education official or minister gave them any assurance till date. “The state education authorities seem to have turned a blind eye towards our genuine demands. If this continued for long we would intensify our stir and boycott our duties,” he added.

Meanwhile, the committee has decided to gherao the Scheduled Caste leaders in the region to register their protest. The members would gherao the residence of Punjab Minister for Technical Education and Industrial Training Chaudhary Swarna Ram at Phagwara and some local SC leaders.

The SC lecturers also vent their ire against the upcoming DPC on April 15.

“The state government will have to bear serious consequences in case the education authorities went ahead with the release of new list of principals without fulfilling their demands on April 15,” added Harnek Singh.

Amritsar, April 12
Some trees, which may have been a witness to the massacre at the Jallianwala Bagh in 1919, fell prey to the callous attitude of Jallianwala Bagh National Trust and Indian Tourism Development Corporation.

These fully grown trees were axed for the proposed light and sound programme at the memorial site. These trees were being chopped off when the Tribune team visited the site. Similarly, the remains of another tree, which was pruned, was found near the historic wall which has got the marks of bullet shots.

This act has raised questions over the functioning of Jallianwala Bagh Trust, which is headed by none other than Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

Nevertheless, the officials concerned tried to stay away from speaking on the issue. Instead of shouldering the responsibility for overlooking this serious blunder, they preferred to pass the buck.

SK Mukherjee, Secretary, Jallianwala Bagh Memorial Trust, said no chopping only pruning of the trees was done.

When told that two fully grown trees have been axed on the site and its pictures are with The Tribune, he said, “Then, ask the ITDC officials. Whatever is being done, here, is as per their plans because they have undertaken the job of executing the light and sound show at the bagh. As far as I know, it was only ‘slight’ pruning which was being done,” he said.

It is evident to mention that ITDC, New Delhi, has undertaken the task of sprucing up the Jallianwala Bagh Memorial site.

RL Bhatia, chairperson, local managing committee, showed absolute ignorance about the lapse, “It was not in my knowledge if any tree was chopped off? I will go in the evening and check,” he said.

Meanwhile, the show, recorded in the voice of Big B Amitabh Bachchan, would be inaugurated tomorrow at the historic site on the occasion of Baisakhi, the anniversary of the massacre.

Amritsar, April 12
The Council of Junior Engineers of the Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB) has joined the chorus against the proposed unbundling and has decided to extend its support to the two-day strike from April 15.

Swarn Lal and Davinder Singh, President and General Secretary of the Council, respectively, said the move would be suicidal keeping in mind the earlier experiments in many states. Wherever the electricity boards were unbundled, most of them failed to achieve commercial viability despite huge financial support at the time of unbundling and thereafter, they said.

The subsidy burden has increased after unbundling of distribution companies in Rajasthan, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. They felt that outside interference in the department would increase after unbundling.

They said unbundling of the PSEB was a high risk, low return and irreversible process which was not desirable in a state where there was a peak power shortage of 40 per cent and no new project was likely to be commissioned before a period of at least three years.

Members of the Council also made it clear that the Junior Engineers and employees were not struggling for their own demands rather they were fighting the cause of various stake holders such as farmers and poor consumers and feared that they would suffer the most.

They sought the support of consumers in making their agitation successful and urged them to bear the inconvenience due to the agitation.

Jalandhar, April 12
In a first instance of its kind, the district police registered a criminal case against a person who had submitted a fake driving licence to cops when he was challaned for violating traffic norms.

Taking strict action against Hari Pandit of Urban Estate Phase two in Jalandhar, an FIR, under various sections, including 420, 465, 467, 468, 471 and 120 B has been registered at police division number seven on Friday. Talking to The Tribune, ACP Traffic Diljinder Singh Dhillon said there a trend was prevalent among some persons that they submit fake licences whenever they are challaned for one or the other reason for violating traffic rules.

The police, in routine, sends these licences to the concerned court but the violators do not bother to appear as their licences are fake and thus they make a fool not only of the police but also the existing system of teaching a lesson to traffic rule violators. Dhillon said strict instructions were issued to cops to check the licence minutely before submitting it to the court in the light of the prevalent trend.

Elaborating on the matter, ACP traffic said Hari Pandit was caught by SHO police station seven at a check post at Urban Estate phase two as he had not even tied the seat belt of his car and was also found smoking while driving. The police confiscated his driving licence (number R-10809) presented to the cops in lieu of his challan on March 28.

Such types of challans are sent to the office of the traffic police to keep a record before sending them to the competent court.

However, during its minute study, the licence appeared to be fake one. Later the District Transport Officer also confirmed that the licence was not genuine.

The ACP traffic said such types of fake licences could not be made without the connivance of a well organised gang and efforts were being made to bust the gang after further investigation of the matter

Nakodar, April 12
The police busted an inter-state gang of robbers and supari killers by arresting its two members, including the kingpin, last night.

The DSP, Rajinder Singh, said here today that the arrested gang members were identified as kingpin of the gang Amarjit, alias Mandal, alias MD, resident of Udhowal village near Lambrra, and Surinder of Jalandhar. The police had recovered a .32-bore revolver with five live cartridges, .315-bore revolver eith two live cartridges from the robbers and impounded their two motorcycles, the DSP said.

The DSP said on a tip-off that some anti-social elements were planning to strike at the area to commit robberies, a police party, headed by SHO Surinderpal Singh, was sent to nearby Bajuha Kalan village and found these two robbers, who were waiting there for three more accomplices Hans Raj, alias Kaka, of Jalandhar, Gabbar of Loharan village and Balbir Singh, alias Bacha, of Hoshiarpur.

The DSP said the gang was operating in parts of Punjab, Haryana and Delhi. The arrested gang members were wanted by the Ludhiana police in 18 criminal cases and by Jalandhar police in five cases. The Delhi and Karnal police wanted them in one case each.

The DSP said the gang members often misused police uniforms and red light beacons on luxury vehicles while committing crime. The arrested robbers were produced before the Judicial Magistrate who sent them in police remand till Tuesday.

Phagwara, April 12
As many as 10 supporters of the six arrested persons, accused of murdering BJP leader Sudarshan Dhillon, have been sent to the judicial remand till April 24.They were arrested under sections 307, 511 and 341 of the IPC and Arms Act on the charges of attacking the supporters of Dhillon on Saturday near Phagwara Rest House. The attackers were produced before the Phagwara Judicial Magistrate on Sunday. Though the police arrested 11 youths, one person was found innocent and was later released.

The accused in the Dhillon murder case were brought from Kapurthala to appear before the Phagwara judicial court where the supporters of both groups had heated exchanges. Though they were dispersed by the police, the groups clashed again near the rest house.

Those arrested were identified as Jatinder Singh, Rahul Gupta, Paraminder Singh, Prabhjot Singh, Daljit Singh, Tirthpal Singh, Vikul Kumar, Dalbir Singh, Gagandeep Singh, Tejinderpal Singh, Avtar Singh. The police had recovered one .315 bore country made pistol and impounded one Zen car and one Toyota Qualis. The murder accused were also sent in the judicial custody till April 24 and would be lodged in Kapurthala jail.