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Community policing need of hour: IG (Border Range)
Police tightens noose around drug peddlers in Gandhi Camp area in Batala
Gurdaspur, March 9
The Batala police has tightened the noose around the drug peddlers in the notorious Gandhi Camp area in Batala, which over the years has gained an infamy for producing illegal hooch and other drugs, following reports that hundreds of youth were allegedly procuring their daily dose of dope from that area.

Case of bonded labour: Brick-kiln owner booked
Phagwara, March 9
DSP Sandip Sharma told The Tribune here today that while implementing the instructions of the National Human Rights Commission, the Rawalpindi police has registered a case against Rajinder Singh, owner of Lakshmi Bricks Bhaghana, under Section 16 of the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act, 1976.

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TERCENTENARY CELEBRATIONS

Working in MC offices remains suspended
Hoshiarpur, March 9
The entire working in the municipal office remained suspended on account of the complete strike of all the municipal employees, which entered the third day today. The employees, including women, led by the Chairman of the Ministerial Staff

Weapons seized from murder accused
Nakodar, March 9
The Shahkot police today recovered weapons from four miscreants, who were arrested for an attempt to murder Pawan Kumar, resident of Dhandwal village (Phillaur) a few days ago.

Habit-forming drugs seized from chemist shops
Jalandhar, March 9
The drug authorities today raided two chemist shops located in the Basti Bawa Khel locality of the city and seized a large quantity of habit-forming drugs. Drug Inspector Kulwinder Singh said the shops were allegedly selling such drugs without physician’s prescription.

Punjab urges Centre to hike MNREGA wages
Phagwara, March 9
The Punjab Government has urged the Centre to increase the daily wages of labourers working under the Mahatma Gandhi National Employment Guarantee Scheme from present Rs 123 daily per person.

Plea to Canadian citizens
Jalandhar, March 9
Consul Pierre Bois from the Consulate General of Canada, Chandigarh, and Consul Assistant Harleen Sharma today appealed to the Canadian citizens coming to Punjab to get themselves registered with them so that they could be of help to them in time of need.

Foreman found murdered
Hoshiarpur, March 9
A foreman, Keshav Chander (52) of Sandair of Kangra district in Himachal Pradesh, was found murdered under mysterious circumstances in Malwa Workshop at Darapur Tanda yesterday.

One killed in mishap
Phagwara, March 9
Janak Rai of nearby Chachoki village was killed on the spot after being hit by a speeding vehicle near Urban Estate here on Tuesday. He was returning from his job.

	Community policing need of hour: IG (Border Range) Police tightens noose around drug peddlers in Gandhi Camp area in Batala Ravi Dhaliwal Tribune News Service Gurdaspur, March 9 The Batala police has tightened the noose around the drug peddlers in the notorious Gandhi Camp area in Batala, which over the years has gained an infamy for producing illegal hooch and other drugs, following reports that hundreds of youth were allegedly procuring their daily dose of dope from that area. This was stated by Batala SSP Gurdeep Singh, who was speaking on the sidelines of a function held by IG (Border Range) I.P.S. Sahota and DIG (Border Range) Ram Singh to listen to the grievances of residents. The IG listened to complaints of 242 residents, belonging to both Batala and Gurdaspur police districts, at the Police lines here today and redressed a majority of them on the spot. Batala’s Gandhi Camp area has become so infamous for supplying drugs to the youth in Batala that a majority of addicts, who turn up at the Red Cross Drug De-addiction Centre at Gurdaspur for treatment, are from that area. Reacting to a Punjab and Haryana High Court report that every third household in Majha is addicted to an assortment of drugs, the Batala SSP said special teams had been constituted to check the activities of anti-social elements engaged in the drug business at the Gandhi Camp. He denied that the police acted under political pressure whenever they nabbed people engaged in producing illicit hooch. In an attempt to check drug infiltration from across the border, Gurdeep Singh claimed that the Batiala police district had a 33 km stretch with the border and various measures had been initiated along with BSF personnel to check the infiltration of drugs. Later, addressing a press conference, the IG said community policing, which involved the participation of residents in policing, had become the need of the hour. “This system can be very effective in the reduction of crime as the strength of persons fighting crime increases significantly. On the other hand there is a fear of the uniform in the criminals, due to which they easily identify the police personnel. When there will be community policing the criminals will be acting under stress because they will be knowing that anyone from the public can be reporting their crime to the police,” added the IG.
	Case of bonded labour: Brick-kiln owner booked Our Correspondent Phagwara, March 9 DSP Sandip Sharma told The Tribune here today that while implementing the instructions of the National Human Rights Commission, the Rawalpindi police has registered a case against Rajinder Singh, owner of Lakshmi Bricks Bhaghana, under Section 16 of the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act, 1976. UP migrant labourer Jalinder of Saadpur village in Muzaffarnagar district filed a case with the commission against Lakshmi Bricks Bhaghana in Phagwara sub-division on October 5, 2009. Now, the local administration came to action and Kapurthala Deputy Commissioner Kavita Singh instructed the Phagwara SDM to act firmly. When contacted, Phagwara SDM Amarjit Paul said here that after getting a complaint, he along with other officials concerned visited the brick-kiln in November 2009 and seven families of the labourers were found who were sent to their native state UP. The Tribune learnt that Jalinder in his complaint lodged before the National Human Rights Commission alleged that 30 UP migrants, including seven women and 15 minor girls and boys, were kept bonded by the brick-kiln owner for the last five years and were being tortured by the accused. He alleged in his complaint that the brick-kiln owner was neither paying them well according to the Minimum Wages Act nor providing any facility according to rules. He also alleged that owner has still to pay a balance of Rs 10 lakhs to these labourers. He appealed to the commission to book the brick-kiln owner under the SC/ST Atrocities Act, Child Labour Act 1989 and Bonded Labour Act 1976. He said the bonded labourers included Rekha(32), Amar(12), Amita(9), Ashish(7), Rakhi(5), Gajey Singh(55), Ramesho (50), Pankaj(22), Azad(18), Nakul(8), Ramesh(45), Murti (42), Bimal(22), Kavita (21), Vikas (19), Manisha (9), Shyam Sunder(7), Kajal (5), Bhopal(35), Kaushal(32), Preeti (10), Ashwini (9), Pinki (3), Gowardhan (5), Munni (3), Subhash (35), Angoori (32), Sharbati (30), Raman(5), and Pooja (3). When contacted, the Deputy Commissioner said a detailed report of the registration of the case and action taken by the administration would be sent to the National Human Rights Commission before the next hearing on March 15. She said all sub-divisional magistrates of the district had been instructed to monitor the implementation of the rules.
	Working in MC offices remains suspended Our Correspondent Hoshiarpur, March 9 The entire working in the municipal office remained suspended on account of the complete strike of all the municipal employees, which entered the third day today. The employees, including women, led by the Chairman of the Ministerial Staff Union, Ravinder Thakur, assembled before the municipal office and staged a protest rally and demonstrated against the state government for not accepting their genuine demands. Employee leaders Ravinder Thakur, Nachhater Singh, Rajinder Shastri Amarjit Khosla and Vijay Kumar warned the state government to regularise the services of ad hoc employees and make fresh recruitments of the employees to fill all the vacant posts of municipal corporations and councils in the state, failing which they would further intensify their agitation. Nakoder: The indefinite statewide strike of MC employees today entered the second day. The employees staged a dharna in front of the office of the president of the Nagar Council. Surinder Kumar, president of the Safai Karamchari Union, demanded that temporary employees should be regularised, amendments should be made to pay commission report to increase the salaries of C and D grade employees, contract system should be abolished and adequate wages should be given to employees for collecting city’s garbage rather than spending a huge amount on giving the work on contract to outside contractors.
	Weapons seized from murder accused Our Correspondent Nakodar, March 9 The Shahkot police today recovered weapons from four miscreants, who were arrested for an attempt to murder Pawan Kumar, resident of Dhandwal village (Phillaur) a few days ago. Onkar Singh Brar, SHO Shahkot police station, said the police seized two .315 bore pistols from accused — Jagtar Singh, alias Jagga, of Meda village and Jashanpreet, alias Dimpa, of Saliacha village — while iron rods were recovered from Jasveer Singh of Meda village and Gurmej Singh, alias Geja, a resident of Jania village. Brar said the police had also recovered a Maruti car, used in the incident adding the police had taken remand of all accused for interrogation. On March 4, Pawan Kumar was assaulted by the accused with sharp-edged weapons when he was returning after paying obeisance at a religious place at Punia village. There after he was thrown into the river near Essewal village. A case under Sections 307, 325 and 323 of the IPC and under various sections of the Arms Act was registered against the accused. In another incident of burglary in Khera Farm in Shahkot, the police arrested Nachatar Singh of Bili Chahram village while other accomplices namely Balkar Singh and Avtar Singh were still at large.
	Habit-forming drugs seized from chemist shops Tribune News Service Jalandhar, March 9 The drug authorities today raided two chemist shops located in the Basti Bawa Khel locality of the city and seized a large quantity of habit-forming drugs. Drug Inspector Kulwinder Singh said the shops were allegedly selling such drugs without physician’s prescription. He said the raids were conducted on Tushar Medicos and Anand Medical Store. He said 1,842 capsules, 380 tablets, 250 injections and a syrup containing habit-forming formulations were sized from Tushar Medicos. Similarly, 600 tablets and 66 capsules were seized from Anand Medical Store, the Drug inspector added. During the raid, the chemists failed to produce the sale and purchase bills of the medicine stock. “We have forwarded our recommendations to cancel the licences of the chemists to the higher authorities,” he said.