Phagwara, January 16
The police was forced to resort to lathi-charge to disburse demonstrators belonging to Chachoki village, who blocked vehicular traffic for more than one hour near Chachoki Canal on the national highway between Phagwara and Goraya today.

Long queues of hundreds of vehicles, including cars, buses, tractor-trailers, trucks and even few ambulances, were seen stranded during the blockade.

The demonstrators, who sat on a dharma in the middle of the national highway, were demanding adequate compensation from Soma Company engaged in the six-laning of national highways, for a Chachoki resident and a Dalit mason Dharam Paul, who was hit and killed by a speeding truck of the company near vegetable market on the Phagwara-Hoshiarpur road on December 25.

Surti Ram, father of the deceased, alleged that his mother expired yesterday due to shock of the death of her grandson, but nothing could be initiated by the company even after 22 days of the incident and assurances given by the company official to provide financial help to the family of the deceased.

When this correspondent visited the blockade site, most of the commuters were seen cursing the nuisance of blockade. One Jai Ram said he was going to admit his ailing brother Sunil to a Ludhiana hospital in an ambulance, but the blockade kept him detained in the jam. Both SHOs of the Sadar and City police stations, along with tehsildar Harminder Singh rushed to the spot.

The commuters could heaved a sigh of relief when the police, led by SHO (City) Amrik Singh Chahal and SHO (Sadar) Ravinder Singh, resorted to a lathi-charge to disburse the mob and removed the blockade.

Scuffle between the police and the demonstrators was also witnessed after long altercations between the both sides.

The demonstrators also attempted to damage some vehicles, but the police intervened and foiled their bids.

SHO Chahal said the police had registered a case against more than two dozens trouble creators on the charges of blocking vehicular traffic on the national highway today. The police had already arrested the truck driver, Jasbir Singh, under Section 304A of the IPC and the vehicle had been impounded.

The police rounded up half a dozen miscreants in this connection.

The SDM, Amarjit Paul, when contacted, said he had already asked the victim’s family and SOMA Company officers to come to his office on Monday, but the protesters could not wait for one day.

It may be recalled that Chachoki resident Dharma Paul (20) was going for his job on a cycle when a Soma Company truck hit his cycle and he died on the spot.

Though a scooterist, Chanchal Kaur, succeeded in nabbing the truck driver, Jasbir Singh, but he managed to escape from the site. Later, the police impounded the truck and arrested Jasbir Singh under Section 304 A of the IPC.

Amritsar, January 16
The hoarding of sugar, misuse and hoarding of domestic LPG cylinders and illegal sale of medicines are rampant in the Amritsar district. To tighten the noose around the defaulters, the district administration has constituted a special raiding squad to be vigilant round the clock and the Intelligence Department has been roped in to garner information about the defaulters.

Amritsar is the only district in Punjab where maximum quantity (nearly 12,000 quintals) of illegally hoarded sugar was confiscated from the black marketers. Confirming this, Deputy Commissioner K.S. Pannu said the confiscated sugar was auctioned and made available to people at affordable prices.

The DC said in view of escalating prices of onions, the District Mandi Officer along with his staff had been directed to keep an eye on the bulk sale and purchase of onions so that any attempt to hoard and black market onions might be foiled. Simultaneously, a team under the Executive Magistrate had been deputed to raid all possible places where onions might be hoarded.

“The raids conducted in the past two months in collaboration with various district departments have borne positive results. “At the onset of winters, a large number of complaints regarding faulty supply of LPG gas and kerosene were received. So, teams of officers of the Civil Supplies Department were constituted for raiding the gas agencies so as to check the black marketing of LPG cylinders. In this bid more than 200 cylinders were confiscated from various gas agencies and FIRs were lodged against them,” he said.

The process of door-to-door verification of LPG gas connections had also been started and the connections issued by six gas agencies were being verified in the first phase so as to check the bogus connections. The officials of the Food and Supplies Department had been asked to personally oversee the supply of gas cylinders from the agencies.

Similarly, till date 91 depots had been checked to see the status of kerosene oil supply and irregularities were observed in as many as 20 depots. “We have issued show-cause notices to the defaulters and the licences of around eight depot holders have been suspended,” the DC said.

Further, in a joint operation with the District Transport Department, the Civil Supplies Office had chalked out special drives for challaning the vehicles wherein illegal LPG kits had been installed.

“We have confiscated machines that were being used by the shopkeepers to transfer LPG from domestic cylinders into the LPG gas tank of vehicles. Besides that, the marriage palaces and resorts are being constantly raided to check the misuse of domestic gas cylinders. The wrongdoers have been issued warnings and are being continually checked to prevent the usage of domestic cylinders for commercial purposes,” the Deputy Commissioner said.

“We have also launched a massive campaign to curb the illegal sale of medicines, which can be used as drugs. There are four teams with the Executive Magistrate and drugs inspectors from four neighbouring districts for the purpose. Due to this action, we could grab medicines worth Rs 2 lakh approximately being sold illegally in a single-day raid,” he added.

Jalandhar, January 16
Ninety-four-year-old Karam Singh is a source of inspiration for the people of his village. The former sarpanch of Bundala, a village that has produced eminent politicians, including late comrade Harkishan Singh Surjeet, recently donated Rs 5 lakh to the Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund for helping the flood and other natural calamities affected people in various parts of the country.

“I wanted to give money to help Leh cloud burst victims. However, I could not send it on time. Now, I have contributed Rs 5 lakh to the PM’s relief fund to help the needy persons affected by various natural calamities,” said Karam Singh, who lives alone in the village. He family members, including his son and grandsons, live abroad.

Besides, he has set up a trust in memory of his son late Darshan Singh, for which he has contributed Rs 18 lakh. Money earned as interest is spent on books and clothes to needy students. As a sarpanch, he contributed to provide toilets and other facilities in the village. “I also got replaced the worn-out wooden roofs of a school in my village,” he adds.

“I have my own sources of income. I earn money by giving land on lease and by renting out some properties and try to help poor people,” said Karam Singh, who has also served in the Army for a few years.

Amritsar, January 16
Canadian MP Kevin Lamoureux felt that there was a tremendous scope for bilateral relations between India and his country scaling new heights in the second decade of this century.

He was here today to pay obeisance at the Golden Temple. He said there were many aspects like trade, technology transfer, education and many others on which organisations and people of both countries should work together.

The MP from Winnipeg North, which falls in Manitoba province of Canada, said he wanted to pay obeisance at the Golden Temple in the early weeks of the New Year to seek blessings from the Almighty. He said it was his second visit to the holy city and he wished to visit the shrine regularly.

Kevin said Sikh population of his constituency had supported him immensely in his political career and their steadfast support led him to victories.

Amritsar, January 16
Even as the district police and the administration have announced to impose a blanket ban on the sale and purchase of lethal plastic kite string under Section 188 of the IPC, yet scant measures are being taken to implement the ban.