J A L A N D H A R    E D I T I O N

Punjab Assembly Elections
Manepur shows interest in Congress ticket from Gurdaspur
Gurdaspur, May 7
Major Amardeep Singh Manepur, Officer on Special Duty (OSD) to Panjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) chief and former Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh, has ruffled many a feathers in the local Congress by announcing that he is a ticket aspirant from Gurdaspur town for the next Assembly elections “provided the PPCC forwards his name to the AICC”.

Five fake travel agents booked
Batala, May 7
The Qadian police has booked five fake travel agents. While talking to mediapersons here today, SSP Gurdeep Singh said the Qadian police had registered a case of cheating against Bikramjit Singh of Faizpura village, Bikramjit Singh of Sarupwali village, Gaurav Kapoor of Mohali, Vaneet, alias Vimal, resident of Mohali, and Soni, wife of Vaneet and resident of Mohali. The complainant, Bhupinder Singh and Sandeep Singh, had alleged that the accused promised them of sending them to Argentina by getting them visas.

Drive for identifying flaccid paralysis cases to be strengthened
Hoshiarpur, May 7
The Health and Family Welfare Department will further strengthen the surveillance system for the identification of acute flaccid paralysis (AFP) cases. Disclosing it here today, Civil Surgeon Dr S.L. Mahajan stated that all the Senior Medical Officers in the district had been directed to launch a vigorous campaign in their respective areas, especially among the migrants, to ensure identification of AFP cases at the earliest.

Land records association organises protest
Jalandhar, May 7
Members of the Computerisation of the Land Records Employees Welfare Association held protest in the office of the Land Records on Kapurthala Road here yesterday. President of the association Shivraj and vice-president Harpreet said the services of nearly 397 employees, who had been appointed for maintenance of records since 2006, were being terminated.

Punjab Assembly Elections
Manepur shows interest in Congress ticket from Gurdaspur
Ravi Dhaliwal/TNS

Gurdaspur, May 7
Major Amardeep Singh Manepur, Officer on Special Duty (OSD) to Panjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) chief and former Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh, has ruffled many a feathers in the local Congress by announcing that he is a ticket aspirant from Gurdaspur town for the next Assembly elections “provided the PPCC forwards his name to the AICC”.

Manepur, whose proximity to Capt Amarinder Singh, is well-known and who was in London recently to research for the PPCC chief’s new book on the role of Sikhs in the First World War, did not directly stake his claim for the Congress ticket, but made a veiled statement stating his intentions. This was enough to alter the political scene in this Assembly segment, which during the last time saw SAD candidate Gurbachan Singh Babbehali defeating his Congress rival Pritam Singh Bhinder by nearly 4,000 votes.

Manepur was in the town in connection with workers’ meetings to be held in Pathankot and Gurdaspur on May 25 and 27, respectively.

However, Manepur’s assertions runs counter to Capt Amarinder Singh’s recent statement that Gurdaspur being predominantly a Hindu Assembly segment, a Hindu face would serve the Congress in a better way.

By indicating his preference for a Hindu face, Capt Amarinder Singh had thrown a broad hint that the ticket may well be given to senior leader and member of the PPCC Raman Bahl, who is also the son of former Education Minister Kushal Bahl.

Other serious Hindu Congress leader hopeful in the fray are Ajay Verma, a former Chairman of the Punjab State Land Reclamation Board and whose strength lays in rural areas heavily pocketed by Hindu voters, and Kamal Bakshi, former member of the Punjab Subordinate Services Selection Board.

Another aspirant is Christian leader Salamat Masih.

Sources reveal that P.S. Bhinder, a Jat Sikh and husband of former Union minister Sukhbans Kaur Bhinder, will be no pushover and insiders reveal that had Bhinder kick-started his campaign in the last elections a bit earlier than he did, he would well have emerged triumphant over Babbehali.

Bhinder enjoys a clean image among urban voters. Former minister Sucha Singh Chottepur is also in the fray for the party ticket from Gurdaspur, although his favoured seat is nearby Dhariwal. He is eyeing Gurdaspur after the delimitation of Assembly segments, following which the number of segments in Gurdaspur Parliamentary constituency has been reduced to 10 from 11.

At present, all the 11 seats are represented by either Akali or BJP MLAs.

Five fake travel agents booked
Our Correspondents

Batala, May 7
The Qadian police has booked five fake travel agents. While talking to mediapersons here today, SSP Gurdeep Singh said the Qadian police had registered a case of cheating against Bikramjit Singh of Faizpura village, Bikramjit Singh of Sarupwali village, Gaurav Kapoor of Mohali, Vaneet, alias Vimal, resident of Mohali, and Soni, wife of Vaneet and resident of Mohali.

The complainant, Bhupinder Singh and Sandeep Singh, had alleged that the accused promised them of sending them to Argentina by getting them visas. The deal was struck at Rs 13 lakh, which was paid to them.

In November last year, the agents called them to the IGI Airport, New Delhi, for sending them to Argentina, but the immigration authorities refused them entry.

The agents then assured them of sending them to Argentina in January, 2011.

In January, when they reached the airport, the authorities told them that their documents were fake, at which they demanded their money back from the agents. When the agents refused to pay the amount back, they lodged a complaint with the police.

After an inquiry, a case was registered under Section 420 of the IPC.

3 booked under NDPS Act

Batala: Three persons were booked for possessing 650 gm of narcotic powder and 200 bottles of Corex cough syrup.

While talking to mediapersons here today, Gurdeep Singh, SSP, stated Pawan Kumar and Baldev were booked by the Kotli Surat Malli police as they were found with 650 gm of narcotic powder.

In another case, 200 bottles of Corex cough syrup were recovered by the police from Sonu.

Three cases were registered under Section 22 of the NDPS Act.

2 booked for murder

Hoshiarpur: On the complaint of Harbilas of Mahal Baltohian, the Chabbewal police station has booked Raja Ram of Sarhala and Deepa of Mahal Baltohian under Sections 302, 120-B and 34 of the IPC for allegedly killing his son Surjit Pal (25).

According to police sources, Harbilas alleged that both Raja Ram and Deepa assaulted his son on the night of May 5 while he was coming from Sarhala to his village.

His son was seriously wounded and was admitted to a private hospital at Mohali, where he succumbed to his injuries last night.

Newborn found abandoned

Hoshiarpur: A newborn baby, wrapped in a cloth, was found under a tree in a field at Bajwara village last evening.

According to police sources, some unmarried mother might have abandoned her illegitimate baby.

The Sadar police has registered a case under Section 317 of the IPC and after taking the baby in its custody kept it at the Civil Hospital.

Drive for identifying flaccid paralysis cases to be strengthened
Our Correspondent

Hoshiarpur, May 7
The Health and Family Welfare Department will further strengthen the surveillance system for the identification of acute flaccid paralysis (AFP) cases. Disclosing it here today, Civil Surgeon Dr S.L. Mahajan stated that all the Senior Medical Officers in the district had been directed to launch a vigorous campaign in their respective areas, especially among the migrants, to ensure identification of AFP cases at the earliest.

All such cases should be reported immediately to the District Immunisation Officer (DIO), stated Dr Mahajan. He said vigorous campaign was being launched as the consequences of missing a polio case were more serious. Sometimes paralysis which seemed clinically polio might be non-polio and vice versa.

Dr Ajay Bagga, DIO, stated that epidemiologic, genetic and technical evidence had shown that India was on the right path to achieve polio eradication. However, vigilance and strong sustained efforts during this year were critical. He said under the polio surveillance project a child below 15 years of age having sudden acute onset of rapid progression of weakness, floppiness, paresis or paralysis in any part of body in the last six months be considered a case of AFP. Immediate reporting was important so that child was traced, investigated and stool specimen collection was done at the earliest.

Dr Bagga said the department apart from its own employees would seek the help of ayurvedic and homeopathic doctors and NGOs working in collecting information about AFP cases.

Land records association organises protest
Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, May 7
Members of the Computerisation of the Land Records Employees Welfare Association held protest in the office of the Land Records on Kapurthala Road here yesterday. President of the association Shivraj and vice-president Harpreet said the services of nearly 397 employees, who had been appointed for maintenance of records since 2006, were being terminated.

Shivraj and Harpreet said they had approached Revenue Secretary Anurag Verma in this context a number of times but to no avail.

Shivraj and Harpreet said a private company had been hired to computerise the data related to the land records.