Nawanshahr, April 16
On the second day of the strike by PSEB employees, different farmers and labour organisations under the aegis of Left parties joined them and resented the government move on unbundling the board. The police resorted to mild lathi charge and arrested about 100 agitating activists when they tried to block traffic at Chandigarh Chowk here today. While the activists of the CPI and the CPM held their dharna at Kulam Road, activists of the CPI (ML) and CPM (Pasla), carrying black flags and raising slogans against the government, reached Chandigarh Chowk in the form of a procession. When they tried to block traffic at the chowk, the police swung into action and thwarted their attempt to disrupt traffic.

With the police action, the situation became tense for some time and the agitating organisations started raising the demand of immediate release of the arrested activists. They even warned to intensify the agitation. JALANDHAR: The CPI and the Kirti Kisan Union flayed the police cane charge on peaceful activists who were protesting against the unbundling of the PSEB at Nawanshahr and Tarn Taran on Friday.

CPI state secretary Darshan Singh Khatkar termed the decision to bifurcate the board into two separate entities an anti-people and the first step towards privatisation of the companies in the near future.

This was also the first step towards retrenchment of the employees on a large scale. The government was indulging in propaganda by claiming that this decision had been taken to improve the health of the board and that the people would benefit in the coming months in terms of better power supply at no extra cost, he added.

On the other hand, he said the state had enacted a black ordinance on punishing those who destroyed public property. This reminded one of the colonial rule where harsher punishments were meted out to teach organised dissenters a lesson.

Similarly, H.S. Sandhu, Nirbhay Singh Dhudike and Tarsem Peter, leaders of various kisan unions, said the workers and leaders, including women, were not spared by the police and were beaten up for protesting against the unbundling decision.

They warned of a statewide agitation in case their demands were not met.

Phagwara: The striking employees of the PSEB held a demonstration and a protest march here on Friday. Later they burnt the effigy of the state government at Goal Chowk. However, power supply remained normal.

Nakodar: Representatives of 22 agitating farmer unions and PSEB employees blocked vehicular traffic on the Nakodar-Jalandhar road for more than two hours in protest against the government’s indifferent policies here.

Though the police diverted the traffic via Malarri Gate and DAV College, normal traffic remained disrupted badly. A protest rally was also held at the dharna site, which was addressed by union leaders Gurnam Sangherra, Darshan Nahar, Makhan Pehalwan and Tersem Peter, who alleged that making the PSEB a corporate was the first step towards privatisation of the board and the government was deceiving the people by keeping them in the dark. Adequate security arrangements had been made. Meanwhile, PSEB employees sat on dharna and demonstrated before the Mehatpur electricity office. However, power supply remained normal in Nakodar and Mehatpur.

Hoshiarpur: The PSEB employees continued their strike on the second day today. Superintending Engineer of the PSEB Circle, Hoshiarpur, Jagmohan Singh said the strike was completely peaceful and the power supply was being made as usual. Only two power cuts from 10 am to 12 noon and 2 pm to 4 pm were imposed. No untoward incident or power breakdown was reported so far.

Meanwhile some of the employees assembled before their circle office and staged a rally to lodge their protest against the bifurcation of the board.

Activists of the CPM led, by their state committee member Darshan Singh Mattoo, district secretary Harbhajan Atwal and joint secretary of the CPM Janwadi Istri Sabha blocked vehicular traffic from 12.30 pm to 2.15 pm opposite PWD Rest House, Garhshankar, to protest against the dissolving of the PSEB. They also staged a rally and demonstration there.

Activists of CPM, led by Gurmesh Singh, burnt an effigy of the Punjab Government at Adda Chabewal in support of the demands of the employees of the PSEB.

Jalandhar, April 16
Depressed over rejection by her parents her wish to marry a boy of her own choice, Sonia (30), a resident of the Kandwala locality in Amritsar, committed self-immolation in a public park in JP Nagar here this afternoon.

Sonia, set herself ablaze after pouring kerosene in the park. It was a surprise for the people present there when they heard her shrieks.

A vegetable vendor put a jute bag on her in an attempt to save Sonia. however, she succumbed to burns on the spot.

Baba Basti Khel SHO Davinderjit Singh said Sonia was in love with a boy and her proposal to marry him was rejected by her parents.

]She had come to her maternal grandparents’ house in Basti Nau.

The police found a suicide note from the site in which Sonia had held her parents responsible for the step she took.

The deceased had addressed the suicide note to the parental grandfather.

In the note Sonia had defended her parental grandfather by writing “mere nana ko kuchh mat kehna”.

The police recovered some goods, including a can of kerosene, from the park. The body has been sent to the local Civil Hospital and her father, Ramji, informed about the incident.

The police has initiated inquest proceedings in the case. The police has also initiated search of the boy whom she was willing to marry.

Besides, other aspects are also being looked into which forced Sonia to take the extreme step.

Nakodar, April 16
Villager Jasbir Singh (36) was allegedly strangled by his wife Ranjit Kaur and her paramour Shamsher Singh, alias Shera, in nearby Umarewal village in Nakodar subdivision on Thursday night. DSP Rajinder Singh said here today that the police had registered a case under section 302, IPC, and arrested the accused.

Mehatpur SHO Bimal Kant said Ranjit Kaur, mother of two minor sons, had extra-marital relations with Shera. On Thursday night, she called Shera to her house after giving sleeping pills to her husband Jasbir Singh. The SHO said that when Shera came to her house, Jasbir woke up and was shocked to see them in compromising position.

Jalandhar, April 16
The Municipal Corporation is yet to toe any line to bring about reforms for urban development as outlined under the Jawahar Lal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission.

Almost all projects, which have begun in the city and are a part of the reforms suggested by the mission for availing further grants, have been more of a failure. The slum development scheme has not been able to start since the past more than two years.

The tie-up with a contractor for solid waste treatment plant at Wariana is on the verge of being snapped. A new arrangement with another contractor at another site is yet to be made.

No effort has yet been made to change the accounting system into accrual-based double entry pattern. Arrears to the tune of Rs 40 crore are yet to be recovered by the MC for water supply dues. There is no provision for metered water supply in domestic areas.

The house tax recovery for which the mission stipulates 90 per cent as the collection efficiency rate is low by 5 per cent. The recovery this year was Rs 16.31 crore against an outstanding amount of Rs 17 crore. The e-governance project is yet to take off. A consultant for the job, who has been selected by the state government, is yet to start work in the city.

Financial bid to carry out door-to-door survey for noting down water connections is yet to be finalised.

In fact, all the five cities of Punjab lag far behind in terms of status of the implementation of various schemes. Amritsar is the only city which has updated the status of various schemes online. It has also reportedly led way in solid waste management scheme.

An online report of the same at the national level indicates that the cities like Hyderabad, Vijaywada and Pune have not just completed all major objectives under the scheme, but also set examples by starting energy-saving technologies and income-generation means.

An objective that has been achieved as of now is making rainwater harvesting mandatory.

Nawanshahr, April 16
Maharaj Chetnanand Bhuriwale, patron of Maharaj Bhuriwale Garib Dassi Education Trust, has come forward with an innovative idea for the welfare of wild animals in the forest area falling under Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar, Ropar and Hoshiarpur districts.

Earlier, the saint launched a campaign “Each one, adopt one” and mobilised people to adopt stray cows with a view to protecting them as well as saving residents, especially farmers, of the Kandi and Bet areas from the menace of animals which used to play havoc with their crops.

Now he has started a unique project to provide a permanent solution to the problem of water scarcity, especially during summers, for the wild animals.

Trust general secretary Tirath Ram Bhumbla told The Tribune that under the project, it had been decided to construct waterholes at a distance of every 1.5 km in the forest areas falling in the Bhaddi-Nurpur Bedi, Tibba Nangal-Kular, Singhpur-Kumbla, Pojewal-Nainwan, Jejjon-Nangal, Tibba Tapparian-Ropar and Garhshankar-Anandpur Sahib areas for providing water to the wild animals in their natural habitat.

“Construction of waterholes has been started. About 50 waterholes would be constructed at a cost of about Rs 8,000 per waterhole. Besides, to ensure regular filling of the waterholes, a water tank would be purchased and pressed into service exclusively for filling water in the waterholes regularly,” said Bhumbla. He added that with the help of Chief Parliamentary Secretary Chaudhary Nand Lal , the trust had got a project of laying underground pipelines at Achalpur village sanctioned.

This would not only help nearby residents to get water for drinking and irrigation purposes but would also help the trust in getting its water tank filled for supplying water to the waterholes. Owing to lack of water sources in the forest areas, wild animals came out of their natural habitat to quench their thirst, which sometimes proved fatal for them, said Bhumbla.