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Tenants in their own houses
Jalandhar, July 25
Though the Jalandhar Cantonment authorities claim to have addressed scores of problems of the residents, going by the grievances of the civil population in the cantonment, injustice towards the allottees of properties, by the rehabilitation department, still prevails.

Day after protest, NC starts nullah clean-up drive
Phagwara, July 25
A day after protest by residents of Mansa Devi Nagar, the Phagwara Nagar Council today started draining out sewage from the ganda nullah and strengthening its embankment.

New judicial complex: HC team inspects sites
Gurdaspur, July 25
The present judicial complex, cramped for space and crisscrossed with Byzantine lanes, may soon get a new address, giving a much-needed breather to advocates and litigants. A high-level delegation of the building committee of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, comprising Justice T.P.S. Mann, Justice M.M. Singh Bedi and Justice Ajay Tiwari, visited the town yesterday and inspected two of the proposed sites.


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TERCENTENARY CELEBRATIONS


Project for rural students caught up in controversy
Amritsar, July 25
The ambitious project of providing free quality education and special IIT level training to students belonging to rural strata today caught up in a controversy.

Post 2 bike robberies, trickster flees with Indica
Nawanshahr, July 25
In a bizarre case of duping, a trickster today decamped with an Indica car from a showroom after stealing two motorcycles in a same fashion.

Two women found murdered
Kapurthala, July 25
The decomposed body of a woman was recovered from a bed-box at her house located at Mohalla Malkhana here on Sunday. Sakuntala Dhir (56) had been living alone at her house after the death of her husband.






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Tenants in their own houses
Kusum Arora
Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, July 25
Though the Jalandhar Cantonment authorities claim to have addressed scores of problems of the residents, going by the grievances of the civil population in the cantonment, injustice towards the allottees of properties, by the rehabilitation department, still prevails.

This, despite the fact that residents received allotment letters from the Rehabilitation Department, Government of India, years back and had cleared all the payments. Despite having fulfilled all the formalities, about 60,000 civil population in Cantonment has not been granted any ownership rights of their houses.

Agitated cantonment residents write to sonia gandhi

The Cantonment Board authorities do not recognise the right of the civil population to repair or renovate their houses. They don’t even recognise the land policy of 1995 of the Government of India, whereby construction has been made compoundable. — Shiv Kanwar Singh Sandhu, former member, Dr. Ambedkar Foundation

While nothing is due from residents, they can neither construct their houses nor divide and maintain them.

Taking up this issue, Shiv Kanwar Singh Sandhu, a former member of Dr. Ambedkar Foundation, wrote a letter (a copy of which is with The Tribune) to AICC President Sonia Gandhi.

He also met Union Defence Minister AK Antony, Union State Minister of Defence Dr MM Pallam Raju and Defence Secretary Pardeep Kumar in this regard.

Talking to The Tribune, Sandhu said till date these residents can neither sell nor avail loan against their houses.

“The cantonment board authorities do not recognise the right of the civil population to repair or renovate their houses. And they don’t even recognise the land policy of 1995 of the Government of India, whereby construction has been made compoundable,” he added.

“This is gross injustice as the cantonment board authorities do not recognise the allottees as owners of their houses and treat them as tenants. However, they are the absolute owners of these properties which they had purchased under a valid statute - The Displaced Persons Act, 1954”, added Sandhu.

Sandhu maintained that he is hopeful of a positive outcome in this regard as the ministers concerned, gave a patient hearing to all the problems of the cantonment board. Apart from this, residents also face restriction on repair, renovation and construction of their houses from the cantonment board authorities. “As civilians in the cantonment, we are not allowed to even repair or renovate our old and dilapidated houses. And fresh construction is simply out of question”, said a resident.

It might be noted that even the councilors during the Jalandhar Cantonment Board elections had vowed to take up these issues on priority. However, nearly two years have passed and nothing has been done in this regard.

Sandhu also highlighted the case of Paramjit Kaur, a resident of Dhina village in Jalandhar Cantonment. The road leading towards Paramjit’s house was closed from pillar number 22 towards pillar number 23 by the army authorities last year.

“Such barbaric attitude by the army authorities adds to the chaos of the civil population. The authorities should provide an at least 22 feet-wide road to the affected residents”, Sandhu demanded.

CEO of Cantonment board, Rakesh Kumar Mittal said the land where the civil population resides belongs to the Ministry of Defence. The ministry is the landlord and the residents can’t violate the terms of grant of land. Hence they face this problem.”

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Day after protest, NC starts nullah clean-up drive
Our Correspondent

Phagwara, July 25
A day after protest by residents of Mansa Devi Nagar, the Phagwara Nagar Council today started draining out sewage from the ganda nullah and strengthening its embankment.

NC Executive Officer Adarsh Sharma said two JCB machines were been put into use during the cleanliness drive launched today.

However, the JCB machines could not be operated on the muddy roads because of rain. Hence the operation would be completed on Monday.

It may be recalled that hundreds of residents belonging to Mansa Devi Nagar, Phagwara, blocked traffic on the Phagwara-Nakodar Road in protest against the opening of sewerage disposal.

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New judicial complex: HC team inspects sites

Gurdaspur, July 25
The present judicial complex, cramped for space and crisscrossed with Byzantine lanes, may soon get a new address, giving a much-needed breather to advocates and litigants.

A high-level delegation of the building committee of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, comprising Justice T.P.S. Mann, Justice M.M. Singh Bedi and Justice Ajay Tiwari, visited the town yesterday and inspected two of the proposed sites.

The delegation was accompanied by Justice R.K. Garg, Administrative Judge of Sessions Division, Gurdaspur, and District and Sessions Judge K.K. Garg.

The delegation first visited the present complex, which many feel is cramped. Later, it visited the TV tower area near the Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) Research Station. Interestingly, the foundation stone of the judicial complex was laid by former Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh a few years ago in the TV tower area.

However, it could not be constructed as the matter got entangled in the political exigencies of the politicians of the area.

Gurdaspur District Bar Association president Pushkar Nanda made an appeal to keep the judicial complex at the present place. He said the present complex was not only near the bus stand but was also located in the central area of the town.

However, Deputy Commissioner Pirthi Chand and SSP Lok Nath Angra opposed this plea.

The DC said the present complex was cramped and the administration was thinking of shifting the bus stand to a more spacious place on the outskirts of the town.

The judges gave a patient hearing to all concerned in the bar room. The District and Sessions Judge presented a map to the judges of the proposed site in the TV tower area. The members said they would be presenting their report to the Chief Justice of the high court. — TNS

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Project for rural students caught up in controversy
PK Jaiswar
Tribune News Service

Amritsar, July 25
The ambitious project of providing free quality education and special IIT level training to students belonging to rural strata today caught up in a controversy.

Several parents of the wards, who took the state-level entrance test for the project held at Guru Nanak Dev University here today, alleged that about 50 per cent of the candidates belonged to the city instead of rural areas.

Angrej Singh of Kaonke village in Attari alleged, “I personally know a number of people, whose children appeared in the test, live in the city and the kids go to good schools. But to avail any such facility, they show their voter identity cards of the villages.”

“This would defeat the very purpose of the project,” said Gurjant Singh of Pulli village in Bathinda, adding, that the government should consider only those candidates who had done matriculation from a village school.

Similar views were echoed by Hetram of Panjola Mand village (Abohar) and Karamjit Singh of Merhi village in Sangrur whose children took the test.

The project was launched by the Progressive Educational Society (PES), headed by Dr A.S. Brar, Vice-Chancellor, GND University, in collaboration with the state government.

As many as 549 candidates out of total 582 enrolled appeared for the test conducted at Maharaja Ranjit Singh Bhawan of the university.

The 50 selected candidates would be provided quality education at 10+1 and 10+2 classes under All-India Senior School Certificate Examination (AISSCE) and would be simultaneously given special training in order to crack IIT-JEE in the specially chalked out evening schedule under the project.

The students would get free boarding, lodging, books, study material and other requisite facilities during this period.

Dr M.P.S. Ishar, Dean, Students Welfare, who is also the secretary of the society, rebutted the allegations saying the society took all the steps to ensure that students, who took the test, belonged to underprivileged rural areas.

When asked about matriculation from rural schools as a possible eligibility, Ishar said the society deliberated on this particular issue before exempting this condition. He pointed out that a number of students who lived in villages used to go to schools situated in neighbouring cities.

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Post 2 bike robberies, trickster flees with Indica
Parmod Bharti

Nawanshahr, July 25
In a bizarre case of duping, a trickster today decamped with an Indica car from a showroom after stealing two motorcycles in a same fashion.

In a complaint lodged with the police here, Brijesh, a worker of car bazaar, said a youth came there on a new Pulsar bike and wished to buy a car. He chose a Gypsy run on LPG and wanted to take a test drive. But at that time, an LPG cylinder was not available.

Then he pretended to make a phone call and told Brijesh that he had talked to the car bazaar owner who had allowed him to take another car to bring the LPG cylinder, said Brijesh. Then he, along with the trickster, went in an Indica car to bring the LPG cylinder. The trickster drove the car towards Rahon and on the way he slapped him and deserted him and fled with the car. The matter was reported to the city police.

The police, with the help of the Pulsar motorcycle left at the car bazaar by the trickster, tried to get some clue. Much to their surprise, they came to know that the motorcycle was also stolen by him from Ropar by playing the same trick.

At Ropar, he had left his old motorcycle, which he had stolen from Garhshankar.

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Two women found murdered
Tribune News Service

Kapurthala, July 25
The decomposed body of a woman was recovered from a bed-box at her house located at Mohalla Malkhana here on Sunday. Sakuntala Dhir (56) had been living alone at her house after the death of her husband.

Her neighbours last saw her on Friday evening when she had come home after paying obeisance at a nearby temple. They said she had never gone without informing them, the police sources said.

At this, her neighbours rang her brother-in-law Karambir, residing at Sultanpur Lodhi. After coming here, he broke open the door of the house with the help of neighbours, the police said. The search finally led them to a bed-box and they were shocked to see Sakuntala’s decomposed body lying inside it. The police is investigating the matter. Officials suspect an insider’s hand in the murder.

Amritsar: An unidentified body of a woman was found in a jute bag near Bhoma village canal here. The woman wearing a pink suit was strangulated before being dumped in the canal. The Majitha police has registered a case under sections 302 and 201 of the IPC. The police authorities said the body had scars which indicated she was beaten up with blunt weapon before strangulation. The investigation is on.

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