Jalandhar, July 31
Contrary to tall claims of DC-cum-District Election Officer (DEO) Priyank Bharti, several people failed to get themselves registered in the electoral rolls despite their repeated efforts. Thanks to most of the Booth Level Officers (BLOs) who were not present at their respective booths even on the last day of registering people on Saturday.

Most of the eligible voters who have not been included in the electoral rolls are migrant factory workers. Interestingly they have been making rounds of their booths concerned for the past few days.

As they failed to find any BLO in most of the booths, they brought the entire matter to the notice of SDM (two) Anupam Kler on Friday following a protest by them under the aegis of the Pendu Mazdoor Union (PMU).

PMU state president Tarsem Peter told The Tribune Kler had assured them that BLOs would be present at their respective booth till 3 pm on Saturday, the last day of registering themselves as voters.

Dominik (33) and Raju (22) said they had been kept on waiting for the BLO at their respective booth at Government School Variyana for the entire day but to no avail. They also tried to call the BLO at his mobile number they got from SDM’s office on Friday but it was switched off, they added.

They were among hundreds of eligible voters residing in different parts of the district including Variyana, Guru Nanak Pura (West), Kirti Nagar, Dakoha, Santokh Pura, Nurpur Colony and Industrial Area which could not included in the electoral roils.

While DC Priyank Bharti could not be contacted as he was on leave, Anupam Kler did not pick up his mobile phone.

Amritsar, July 31
In a follow-up action in the money embezzlement case pertaining to Kotak Mahindra bank on the Mall Road in Amritsar, the police registered a case against two bank employees for fraudulently transacting the money from the accounts of their clients.

A case has been registered against Yogesh Kundra of local Medical Enclave and Sourabh Kakkar of Basti Blocha Gali, Thekedara, Ferozepur. Police Commissioner Varinder Kumar said the investigation had been expedited in the case.

Complainant Ranjit Singh had alleged that his money to the tune of Rs 1.37 crore has been invested with the Kotak Mahindra Life Insurance Company, without taking him into confidence.

Ranjit Singh, a resident of Chheharta, said he along with other account holders were cheated by some of bank employees. “When I came to know about his manipulations, I was given an affidavit by Yogesh that an amount of Rs 1.14 crore has been invested in Kotak Mahindra Life Insurance scheme. But the receipts he issued were later found to be fake,” alleged Ranjit Singh, who had deposited the money with the bank after getting compensation in lieu of his land acquired by National Highway Authority of India in 2008.

It is to mention that the alleged fraud came to light on July 14, when about 20 account holders alleged the bank employees duped them of Rs 5 crore.

It has been learnt that some of the bank employees themselves siphoned off a large sum of money from the accounts of the aggrieved clients and later invested in fake schemes or deposited elsewhere in the unnamed persons.

These account holders alleged that when they questioned the transfer of the money from their account without their consent, they were issued “fake” investment policy documents.

Navjot, a student at Australia on his return, was shocked to see that about Rs 60,000 were transferred from his account to two accounts belonging to one Surjit Singh and Monica Kakkar while about Rs 3.6 lakh were transferred from his father’s account to the same account numbers. “An FIR to this respect has already been lodged with the Civil Lines police station and upon inquiry, the bank staff was prima facie held guilty, but no further action was taken by the police”, he said.

Jalandhar, July 31
Raising their voice against the dangerous nexus between the corrupt officials, politicians and mafia to stifle the voices of whistleblowers, members of the RTI Activists’ Federation urged Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh to enact a special law to ensure the protection of the whistleblowers. They sent postcards to the PM in this regard today.

The president of the district unit of the federation, Sanjay Sehgal, said RTI activist and whistleblower Amit Jethwa’s recent murder outside the Gujarat High Court in Ahmedabad had driven them to urge the PM to enact a special law.

The federation general secretary, Anil Vashisht, expressed concern over the dangerous nexus between the corrupt officials, politicians and mafia to stifle the voices of whistleblowers as eight RTI activists had been killed in this year alone.

The RTI activists gathered at General Post Officer (GPO) near Namdev Chowk here this morning and dropped the postcards addressed to the PM in a letter box. They also demanded that the CBI should be asked to look into the murder case of Amit Jethwa.

The federation asked the PM to intervene to stop the appointment of rape convict Ashok Rai, alias Amit, as an IAS officer. The representatives of the federation stated that the government should reject the recommendations of the UPSC to stop the appointment of such a person who had been convicted in such a heinous crime as an IAS officer.

Nawanshahr: The federation also launched the drive to send post cards to PM from Nawanshahr.

Amritsar, July 31
The arrested rural pharmacists were granted bail today after a delegation of agitating rural pharmacists accompanied by the activists of the Punjab Subordinate Services Federation and various other organisations met Amritsar Police Commissioner Varinder Kumar to absolve their colleagues of the charges framed against them. Police Commissioner Varinder Kumar said the arrested had been granted bail on the condition that they would not repeat their unlawful act.

Meanwhile, it has been learnt that a dialogue at the secretary level has been in progress to settle the issue of pharmacists, who took to streets over the alleged exploitation by contractual rural doctors.

Shamsher Singh Kohri, President of the Rural Health Pharmacists Association, Punjab, said the secretary had assured us to take the charge of the rural dispensaries under the Punjab Health and Family Welfare Department and the matter would be tabled in the Cabinet meeting.

“They have been told that under the democratic set up they have all rights to protest for their genuine cause, but in a peaceful manner and after taking the authorities into confidence. The cases registered against the violators would stand but if their approach change, even lenient view can be considered after taking the higher authorities into confidence”, the Commissioner said. “Even I tried to pursue their talks with the Rural Development and Panchayat Minister Ranjit Singh Brahmpura, but due to their adamant behaviour the meeting did not yield result,” he said.

It is evident to mention that on July 25, following their attempt to block the passage leading to the house of Brahmpura, the police had booked three key office-bearers of the pharmacists association and 12 others for violating law and order situation and Section 144. On July 26, the police arrested Amritsar district president of the association Kamaljeet Singh Chauhan from his residence in wee hours, state president Satpal Cheema from Sangrur when on duty at a dispensary and Gurvinder Singh from Majitha.

Later, the police booked 12 other pharmacists under Section 353, 342, 186, 342, 294, 506 and 349 for violating peace, causing inconvenience to general public and restrain the police from doing its duties. It has been learnt that the police has also registered cases against other 250 unidentified persons for violating Section 144, which prevent assembly of more than five persons on one spot. The delegation comprising over 800 pharmacists and Class IV health employees from all over Punjab assembled in Amritsar on July 26 to protest against their alleged exploitation by the contractual rural doctors.