Hoshiarpur, December 16
Even after passing of two and a half months, the Municipal Council (MC) authorities, Dasuya, have failed in complying with the instructions of the Chief Vigilance Officer (CVO) of the Vigilance Cell, Local Government, to recover excess payments made for various development works to the contractors who had done works below the specified measurements. If the contractors did not deposit the same, it should be recovered from the Executive Officer concerned, accountant and sectional head of the MC. The instructions had been issued by the CVO on the order dated September 8, 2010, of the Punjab Government.

This information was provided by the Public Information Officer-cum-Senior Vigilance Officer to complainant Kailash Bassi, general secretary, All-India Human Rights Association, Hoshiarpur circle, on October 29, 2010.

Kailash Bassi, Pradeep Chaudhary and Krishan Gopal in their joint complaint to the Director, Local Bodies, and Chief Minister, stated that the MC officials got constructed a nullah in Wards 9 and 10 of Dasuya town at a cost of Rs 23.22 lakh, got done interlocking tile flooring in Kirpal Colony, Ward 7, at a cost of Rs 16.80 lakh and got reconstruction of a street and drain at a cost of Rs 12.50 lakh for which substandard material was allegedly used.

The Technical Adviser to Chief Minister and the Director, Local Bodies, Lieut-Gen B.S. Dhaliwal (retd), made verification of the works in the presence of junior engineers of the MC on June 11, 2010.

In his letter of June 15, 2010, the Technical Adviser wrote to the Principal Secretary of Local Government, a copy of which is available with this correspondent, that after physical verification, it was found that the quality of the works was very poor and the record entries were not as per the work done and there were major discrepancies in the works. He stated that scrutiny of records revealed that rules had been violated while making payments. Major defaults in this regard were non-recording of name of work, date of commencement and date of completion, etc.

He suggested to constitute a committee of technical officials to conduct investigation into the entire works carried out by the MC. The defaulting cooperative labour and construction societies might be considered for blacklisting, he suggested.

After an inquiry, the CVO had written these instructions to the MC.

Besides; the CVO has mentioned discrepancies in other 13 development works, including tile flooring in the office of the president of the MC. Excess measurements had been recorded in the measurement book and the executing agency had been made excess payment.

MC Executive Officer Hardev Singh told The Tribune that he had sought permission from the Director, Local Government, for the recovery of amount from the accountant and sectional officer of the council responsible for the excess payments.

Regarding blacklisting of the executing contractors, he had forwarded the case to the MC president to get passed a resolution at the meeting of the MC so that they could be blacklisted.

Meanwhile, Kailash Chander and Kishan Gopal met the Deputy Commissioner and the SSP of Hoshiarpur for getting registered a case against the responsible officials of the MC and executing contractors.

Earlier, The Tribune had highlighted the above said discrepancies in its edition of May 26, 2010.

Nawanshahr, December 16
Members of the Wildlife Conservation Society here saved the live of a sambar at Sajjon village, near here, two days ago.Almost 20 people, including Nikhil Sangar, founder of the society, and his men struggled for over six hours to safely extricate the male sambar that had fell into a 45-foot-deep well in the village.

The villagers noticed the animal in the well and subsequently informed the society members. The ill-equipped members of the society reached the village and with the consent of the villagers cast a net (made of plastic ropes).

Sangar said as the animal got trapped in the net, the men outside pulled up the ropes and rescued the animal safely. The antler was later released in the Kotmera village forest in the presence of wildlife guards Ramsharn and Gurdev Singh, he said.

Jalandhar, December 16
With just two days left for the elections to the post of president of the local unit of the Indian Medical Association, a neck-and-neck fight is expected as only two candidates are left in the fray.

The election will be held on December 19.

Dr Avnish Bahgat, who had earlier filed nomination papers to contest the election, yesterday decided to withdraw his papers, leaving Dr Raman Gupta and Dr Navjot Dahia in 
the field.

While lobbying among 600 registered voters has already begun, a lot of in-service doctors of the Punjab Civil Medical Services (PCMS) and the advisory board of senior doctors and former presidents of the unit are expected to play a decisive role in the election.

The successful tenure of Dr Navjot Dahia as secretary of both the local and state units of the IMA can provide him a plank to drift voters to his side.

On the other hand, the active participation of Dr Raman Gupta while compiling a thorough dictionary of over 1,000 members of the IMA in the past over one and a half years is a feather in his cap.

Hoshiarpur, December 16
City Congress Committee president Rajnish Tandon, along with other office-bearers, including Ankush Sud, Surinder Sodhi and Dharamvir Trehan, opposed and condemned the proposed selling of the old tehsil complex by the Municipal Council (MC), Hoshiarpur.

In a press release here today, Tandon said the old tehsil complex, situated in about 29 kanal, is a prime land of the MC and is located in the heart of the town on Railway Road. Presently, the MC has its fire brigade office in it.

The Central Government had formulated a plan of Rs 102.75 crore for providing water supply and sewerage facilities to the people of the town. Seventy per cent of the cost would be provided by the Central Government and the remaining by the state government.

Instead of asking the state government to provide 30 per cent of its share for the scheme, the MC has proposed to sell its prime and costly land for reasons best known to it.

They urged the Congress Municipal Councillors to oppose this proposal for saving the land where the MC could construct its commercial market to generate a regular income.

If the proposal was not withdrawn, activists of the City Congress Committee would launch an agitation.

MC Executive Officer Romesh Kumar told The Tribune that though it was proposed to sell the land, it had yet to be resolved by the council at its meeting.