Dyalpur (Jalandhar, Kapurthala), January 31
Dyalpur is a non-descript village on the border of Jalandhar and Kapurthala districts falling on the National Highway No 1. But what makes it unique is that it stands divided between the two districts.

In fact, the village has two panchayats, one under the Jalandhar administration and the other under the control of Kapurthala. These panchayats fall under separate blocks - Dhilwan and Kartarpur - and separate police stations - Subhanpur and Kartarpur.

Further, the village is sandwiched between two Assembly segments - Kartarpur, represented by SAD MLA Avinash Chander, and Bholath, represented by Congress MLA Sukhpal Khaira. Further, this village is split between two parliamentary constituencies - Jalandhar and Hoshiarpur. The one on the Jalandhar side has about 1,600 votes, while that on the Kapurthala side has more population with 2,471 votes.

The elderly in the village tell that the village stands split since the very beginning. Since there is no distinct dividing line between the two parts of the village, there even is a myth associated with it. The villagers believe that the horse of Maharaja Ranjit Singh once trekked through Dyalpur, the path which it followed ultimately became the dividing line.

Such a division has been both a blessing and problem for the residents. Some of the villagers who are residing in the Jalandhar part of it have their agricultural land on Kapurthala side as is the case with one Santokh Singh Dhah. He explains his problem, “The major issue is that I have to go to Jalandhar (which is about 22 km from the village) for my domestic works, like getting ration card, etc, but have to visit the tehsil office of Kapurthala (9 km away) for problems related to my farm land.”

The segregation has also yielded a healthy competition among the sarpanches of the either side. Paramjit Singh Padda, sarpanch of the Kapurthala side representing SAD, says, “We feel like making our own side of the village more prosperous and better equipped”. But it also sometimes results in duplication of facilities. “Both sides of the village have their own water tanks,” laughs Dalbir Kaur, sarpanch of the Jalandhar side from the Congress, adding that there is an advantage too for even the amount of grants gets doubled.

The villagers have been holding common functions, like they recently held a kabaddi match on Republic Day. They, however, feel that the village should not be separated like this and should come under same district. But then there is a problem. “Those on the Jalandhar side want the whole of it to come under Jalandhar, while those on the Kapurthala side want it to be clubbed under their district. There have been moves in this direction many a times, but have always fallen flat,” said Ranjit Singh, an elderly man.

Gurdaspur, January 31
The Gurdaspur District Bar Association (GDBA) got a shot in the arm when Punjab Agriculture Minister Sucha Singh Langah today said he was not in favour of converting Pathankot tehsil into a full-fledged district.

Even as the Sukhbir-Kalia committee is yet to come out with its report on the formation of new districts in the state, Langah made it amply clear that he backed the lawyers, who are vehemently opposing the proposed plan of creating adjoining towns of Pathankot and Batala as new districts.

Langah was addressing lawyers in the court complex and later announced a grant of Rs 5 lakh for the upgradation of infrastructure of the district courts.

The advocates have also found the support of the local MLA, Gurbachan Singh Babbehali, who, a few days earlier, had assured the GDBA that Gurdaspur would be retained as a single district. He had also offered to talk to the Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal about the issue on behalf of the GDBA.

President of the GDBA Pushkar Nanda said although lawyers had decided to start work, but they would do so by wearing black badges. Today, lawyers wore black badges when they attended the courts.

The GDBA has also initiated a “non cooperation movement” against the lawyers of Pathankot and Batala. They will not attend courts this Wednesday, while next week they have decided to strike work on Thursday.

Interestingly, these two days have been earmarked by the judiciary to listen to cases of Pathankot and Batala lawyers. Pathankot advocates come to Gurdaspur courts on every Wednesday while Thursdays have been set apart for lawyers coming from Batala.

By deciding to strike work on Wednesdays and Thursdays every alternative week, the GDBA has ensured that the work of their colleagues coming from Pathankot and Batala will suffer.

Pathankot, January 31
An unmanned railway level crossing claimed a life near Tobra village, about 25 km from here, on the Pathankot-Amritsar track today.According to information, Satnam Singh, an auto-rickshaw driver, resident of Bharial Lahri, was heading to Dinanagar on his auto-rickshaw at around 5 am when he could not notice the approaching train (Passenger train 54611) running from Amritsar to Pathankot while crossing the unmanned railway level crossing near Tobra village.

Jalandhar, January 31
The route of Delhi-Lahore buses had to be diverted due to severe traffic jam from Milk Bar Chowk to PAP Chowk on the National Highway No 1 here today.Assistant Commissioner of Police (Traffic) Diljinder Singh Dhillon said both Delhi and Lahore buses were diverted at around 12.30 pm to the Bidhipur railway crossing, Workshop Chowk, Football Chowk and BSF Chowk from its normal route of Milkbar Chowk to PAP Chowk.

The traffic remained jammed for several hours on the busy highway as a big container overturned near Transport Nagar at around 11 am. The container was so big that five heavy duty cranes were pressed into service to straighten it and it took about four hours to do so.

Dhillon said the ongoing work for the six-laning of the highway and construction of a flyover near Transport Nagar further aggravated the traffic jam problem.