Phagwara, August 12
Traffic on the Jalandhar-Chandigarh and Jalandhar-Ludhiana highways remained disrupted for more than three hours and thousands of commuters travelling in hundreds of vehicles remained stranded from 10.30 am to 1.30 pm today as hundreds of activists belonging to the Damdami Taksal, Sant Samaj and Doaba Samaj Sudhar Youth Wing, Punjab, blocked traffic near Konica Resorts.

They sat on a dharna in the middle of the road in protest against the alleged attack on the car of Bhai Manjit Singh Duggan of the Damdami Taksal by some miscreants on the night of August 7 after an agitation of the Guru Ravi Dass Force near Mehli bypass.

Long queues of hundreds of vehicles were seen stranded during the blockade. A special bus of “Bharat-Pakistan Shanti Karwan”, which started on July 28 from Mumbai and will reach Karachi in Pakistan via Wagha Border on August 14 was also seen stranded in the blockade.

Meanwhile, the buses to and from Delhi and Lahore were diverted via Jalandhar-Nakodar-Noormahal-Bilga-Phillaur-Ludhiana route due to the long traffic jam. Heavy police force was deployed on the blockade site to prevent any untoward incident and SP Kamaljit Singh Dhillon monitored the situation on the site.

Addressing a protest rally, several leaders, including Bhai Harnam Singh Khalsa, Charanjit Singh Jassowal, Sant Hari Singh UK, Santokh Singh, Kewal Singh and Baba Tara Singh, alleged that some miscreants pelted the car of Bhai Manjit Singh Duggan with stones and damaged it. Even turbans of some occupants of the car were thrown off, which was disrespect to the Sikhism and could not be tolerated.

They disclosed that they met Kapurthala Deputy Commissioner Raj Kamal Chaudhary on August 9 to apprise him of the situation, but nothing was done till now. The protesters threatened to intensify their struggle if miscreants were not booked soon.

On the other hand, when contacted, the Phagwara SP said no complaint had been lodged by anybody against anyone till now. However, the dharna was lifted and the normal vehicular traffic was restored only when the Kapurthala Deputy Commissioner alongwith Phagwara SDM Amarjeet Paul arrived at the dharna site and assured the protesters of justice and received a memorandum from them.

Gurdaspur, August 12
The Gurdaspur Zila Parishad has terminated the services of 43 elementary teacher training (ETT) teachers following the directions of the Punjab and Haryana High Court.

The Zila Parishad had recruited 90 ETT teachers in 2006. An advertisement was placed in various newspapers following which these teachers were appointed for elementary and primary schools. However, following complaints that many of these teachers had forged certificates or had done their ETT diplomas from derecognised institutions, the Zila Parishad authorities set up an inquiry panel.

The panel gave its report in which many teachers were found to be having fake ETT diplomas. The authorities sacked all the 90 teachers.

The harried teachers moved the High Court and managed to procure a stay order against their termination.

At the same time, the court asked the Zila Parishad to conduct a time-bound inquiry and submit the report to the court. The authorities set up a three-member committee which has now submitted its report to the court.

During the probe, 43 teachers were found to have done their diplomas from an unrecognised institute in Uttar Pradesh. Moreover, their diplomas did not match the norms of the National Council of Teacher Education (NCTE).

Zila Parishad chairman Tarlok Singh Bath confirmed the termination orders and said that a fresh advertisement would soon be placed in newspapers to fill the vacancies.

A senior officer of the Zila Parishad remarked, “Studies are bound to suffer in schools where these teachers used to teach. However, it is good that they have now been indicted as they had blocked the chance of meritorious candidates. Actually, police cases should be registered against all the 43 teachers who hoodwinked the Zila Parishad.”

Hoshiarpur, August 12
Abandoned by her in-laws months after the death of her husband, Meenakshi Sood, a 40-year-old widow, is struggling for justice.

The district police is not entertaining her complaint in which she has alleged that her in-laws threw her out of the house and took possession of a portion of the house in which she was living with her husband late Ashwani Sood. The police was forced to register an FIR against the accused only after the Punjab and Haryana High Court directed the Hoshiarpur SSP for taking the necessary action.

Meenakshi, a resident of Ropar, was married to a Solan-based (in Himachal Pradesh) software developer and had a son from the wedlock. After a couple of years, her husband died and Meenakshi’s parents married her to Ashwani of Hoshiarpur, who was also having three children from his first wife. Meenakshi again got a big blow when Ashwani died of dengue in September 2009. After Ashwani’s death, she allegedly fell a victim to the in-laws’ wrath.

Struggling for justice and rights, Meenakshi has been living on the mercy of her relatives for the past over two months. Her representations to the Director-General of Police and the SSP of Hoshiarpur have failed to get her justice. She has alleged that her in-laws are closely associated to a local MLA and minister who has influenced the police.

SSP Rakesh Aggarwal said over 12 members of her in-laws’ family, including her three step-children, have been booked on Meenakshi’s complaint filed under the Domestic Violence Act and the court had not given its verdict as yet. The office of the DGP has marked an enquiry to the crime wing and an SP-level officer is investigating the case, he claimed.

Hoshiarpur, August 12
The Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB), Hoshiarpur, has recommended action against the Municipal Council (MC), Hoshiarpur, for not complying with Municipal Solid Waste (management and handling) Rules, 2000, despite its repeated notices to the council, according to Executive Engineer of the Punjab Pollution Control Board Hoshiarpur GS Gill here today.

Following the complaint of the president of Social Democratic Party (India) Jai Gopal Dhiman, the Punjab Pollution Control Board, Hoshiarpur, had served notices under the Municipal Solid Waste (management and handling) Rules, 2000, to the Municipal Councils Hoshiarpur, Tanda, Dasuya, Mukerian, Hariana, Garhdiwala, Shamchaurasi, Mahilpur and Garhshankar towns of the district on 28th April this year to stop the burning of solid waste to avoid pollution in their respective areas.

Dhiman alleged in his complaint that storage of garbage in towns and villages, by the Municipal Councils and panchayats was not done in a scientific manner. Garbage was being burnt, causing air pollution in the area.

Similar notices had been issued to the District Development and Panchayat Officers by the board to instruct all the Block Development and Panchayat Officers in the district to direct the panchayats of their respective blocks to strictly follow the solid waste (management and handling) Rules, 2000, to make the environment pollution free.

Er. GS Gill said many notices had been served to the Municipal Council, Hoshiarpur, to improve the working condition for storage of solid waste and not to burn it, but it had not followed the above said rules, due to which action against it had been recommended to the state headquarter of the Pollution Control Board.

Executive Officer of the MC Ramesh Kumar said solid waste garbage of the city was being dumped at Khuaspur village near Piplanwala, located on the periphery of the city. He refuted the charge of burning of solid waste and said efforts were being done to dispose of the solid waste at the treatment plant of the Municipal Corporation Jalandhar, which would be finalised very shortly.

Hoshiarpur, August 12
Members of the Christian Front, Punjab, staged a dharna in front of the mini-secretariat here yesterday in protest against the state government for not getting the financial help under the Centre-sponsored pre-matric scholarship scheme to the students of minority communities for 2009-10.

Later they presented a memorandum to the Prime Minister of India through the Additional Deputy Commissioner, Hoshiarpur, in which they demanded directions to the Punjab Government to disburse Rs 35 crore sent by the Union Government as scholarships for the session of 2009-10, extension in the date of filing of forms for session of 2010-11 from August 31 to September 30, 2010, depute district education officers for providing scholarship forms, send scholarship money directly to the schools, colleges or the parent accounts of the students and inclusion of students of non-affiliated schools in this scheme. — OC

Hoshiarpur, August 12
With the arrest of four persons, the police claimed to have solved the attempt-to-murder case of local lawyer Lashkar Singh who was seriously wounded when some unidentified assailants attacked him on July 13 near the Phagwara ring road, Purhiran.

SSP Rakesh Aggarwal said the arrested members, hailing from Ludhiana, had been identified as Jatinder Singh, alias Bhap, of Shahbana, Narinder Singh, alias Monti, of Mundian, Assistant Junior Engineers, Powercom, Ludhiana, Narinder Singh, alias Babbu, of Guru Nanak Nagar, and Surinder Dass of Nandpur.

The SSP said following the attack on Lashkar Singh, the Model Town police had registered an FIR under sections 307, 324, 323, 427 and 120-B of the IPC on July 14.

Lashkar Singh suspected that a local lawyer and three police officials were behind the attack for which they had paid supari to kill him. He had a dispute with them for which a case was pending in the court.

The district police was tipped off that some persons were hatching a plot to commit a dacoity at Tanuali village, near a marriage palace. On the night of August 10, the police raided the hideout and arrested Jatinder Singh, Monti and Babbu, while their four accomplices, Rinku, Shanti, Lucky and Jaspal, escaped.

The police recovered an Indica car, a sword, a dagger and a sickle from them. The accused have been booked under sections 399 and 402 of the IPC and sections 25, 54 and 59 of the Arms Act. During preliminary interrogation, all the accused admitted that they attempted to murder advocate Laskhar Singh for which they allegedly took a supari of Rs 40,000 from NRI Amarjit Singh of local Ajit Nagar, presently working in Kuwait. NRI Amarjit Singh had paid Rs 10,000 as advance money to them. It is alleged that the NRI had a grudge against the lawyer for influencing the former’s ex-wife not to withdraw cases against him in the Model Town police station. To teach Lashkar Singh a lesson, Amarjit Singh conspired with his friend Surinder Dass of Nandpur. Later, Surinder helped struck a deal between Amarjit Singh and the supari killers.