Two mowed down by Speeding truck
The truck driver had hit a motorcycle before killing a minor along with a 35-year-old
Bipin Bhardwaj
Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, August 25
Two motorcyclists were crushed to death after a speeding truck ran over them on the Jalandhar-Jammu highway in wee hours today.

The mishap occurred at about 12.30 am on the highway near Pathankot bypass when the truck heading towards Jalandhar rammed into a motorcycle from behind leaving its riders Chintu Sharma (35) and Nitin (17) dead on the spot.

Before this accident, the truck had also knocked down another motorcycle injuring its riders - Satish Kumar and his son Rahul, residents of Karar Khan Mohalla. The father-son duo had a miraculous escape in the accident.

According to Satish, the impact was so strong that they were tossed five feet in the air. Satish claimed to have noticed the driver speeding away from the scene.

While speeding away, the truck driver further hit a motorcycle, Chintu and Nitin rising it, from behind and dragged the vehicle and its riders for a long distance, he recalled.

Satish, a scrap dealer and relative of the deceased, revealed that while trying to chase the truck, he found that the motorcyclists, who were mowed down, were Chintu and Nitin. They had just left for their respective homes at Brij Nagar Colony in Gazi Gulla area and Lawan Mohalla in Meetha Bazaar after finishing their job at a godown located in Nurpur village.

He raised an alarm and subsequently informed the family members. He said the police did not respond to his repeated calls that he made to the police control room (100).

As the police failed to turn up for over two hours and even refused to chase the truck due to confusion over jurisdiction, the irate neighbours and family members of victims blocked the highway for over three hours keeping both the bodies on the highway.

Receiving information, senior police personnel, including Gurmit Singh, SP (Detective) of Jalandhar (Rural) police, reached with forced and an ambulance at the spot.

To lodge their protest against the police authorities, the mob not only restrained the police from removing the bodies from the highway but also pelted stones at cops. Certain agitators even had a scuffle with police personnel, revealed Bunti, a neighbour of Nitin.

The protest on the highway also caused inconvenience to hundreds of commuters for over three hours. Traffic on the highway was restored only after the police pacified the protesters assuring action against the erring cops and arrest of the truck driver.

The police has registered a case of rash and negligent driving against an unidentified truck driver at Maqsudan police station and launched a hunt to nab the driver. The SP, however, claimed that an inquiry had been initiated to find out why the cops at the nearest police post did not act to nab the truck driver.

A pall of gloom envelopes Nitin and Chintu’s homes
Bipin Bhardwaj
Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, August 25
A pall of gloom descended on the houses in Brij Nagar Colony in Gazi Gulla area and the Lawan Mohalla in Meetha Bazar when the news of the two deceased: Chintu Sharma (35) and Nitin (17) in a road accident in the wee hours on Thursday reached their families.

As the news spread, relatives and neighbours of both the families started assembling at the houses of the bereaved. While the male members rushed to the accident spot, the womenfolk were inconsolable. Shrieks of the women continued to rent the air till late in the evening.

One of the deceased, Nitin (17), a scrap dealer, was the only bread-earner of the family. His father Kala Ram, also a scrap dealer, has gone under depression after the death of his only son. Nitin was an associate with his uncle Satish Kumar, a scrap trader, just a month ago, to earn his livelihood. The family is living in a single-room accommodation which is in a pitiable condition.

His mother Darshana Devi and three sisters, Monica, Sonia and Bhawana, were waiting for Nitin so that they could all have dinner together but a phone call from their relative left them shell-shocked.

There was a heart-rending scene at the house when the body, after a postmortem examination at the Civil Hospital, Jalandhar, arrived for the last rites. The mother, sisters and the father hugged the body and their loud cries rent the air. The residents of the locality also bid adieu with tearful eyes to Nitin.

A resident of Brij Nagar Colony, Chintu was in the business of scrap dealing for the last many years, while Nitin the only son of Kala Ram Lawan Meetha Bazar, had taken up the trade over a month ago and was a beginner. The news was like a bolt from the blue for Chintu’s wife Mamta who was waiting for her husband. As the news of the tragedy came, Mamta was under great shock which rendered her motionless.

“Who has assaulted my Papa? When will he be coming back? Whey are you all are crying and naming may papa?”were certain unanswered queries of Chintu’s five-year-old daughter Versa.

His daughter was shattered when the body reached Chintu’s home and she was allowed to take a glimpse of his face. The family later shifted her to a neighour’s house.

A retired employee from the Railways, Raj Kumar Sharma, the father of the deceased was seen consoling his wife Santosh Rani, who is a paralytic. The bodies were cremated in the evening.

Snatchers leave man critically hurt
Robbed of Rs 57,000

Jalandhar, August 25
A gang of armed youths critically injured a shopkeeper of Mohan Das Nagar with baseball bats and sharp-edged weapons and fled on after snatching his bag containing Rs 57,000 in cash. The incident occurred at a petrol pump located in Kalia Colony when Suraj Kumar was coming out after refilling the fuel tank of his scooter.

Deepak Sharma, brother of the victim, said Suraj was on his way to the market for purchasing certain grocery items when the assailants attacked him. They later sped away on three motorcycles, he alleged. SHO police station division No 1 Nirmal Singh attributed the clash to an old dispute over money between Kaka, a resident of Jinda village, and Suraj. Suraj allegedly had to return a sum of Rs 3,400 to Kaka, he said adding that there had been an altercation between the two a couple of days earlier. The police has registered a case under Sections 324 and 34 of the IPC against Kaka and his four accomplices on the complaint of the victim. — TNS

Woman robbed in broad daylight
Looted of cash, valuables worth thousands at gunpoint
Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, August 25
Close on the heels of a robbery in a house, located in Mahan Singh Nagar in Ladhewali area where two muffled miscreants robbed a woman of cash and other valuables at gunpoint in broad daylight on August 23, robbers struck again at a house in Takwian Mohalla in Basti Sekh locality and robbed another woman of cash and valuables worth thousands of rupees today.

Two youth entered a house and robbed its owner, Sonia, of valuables this morning. The thieves targeted the house when Sonia was alone at home at about 11 am. In a complaint to the police station division No 5, the victim Sonia alleged that the youth barged into her house at about 10 am and put a knife at her temple. The duo then directed her to hand over the keys of the almirah where the valuables were kept, Sonia alleged.

The thieves took away cash and gold jewellery and even ransacked the entire house before fleeing, she complained. Receiving information, Station House Officer (SHO), Satwinder Singh and his team visited the house and recorded the statement of the victim.

The SHO, when contacted, admitted to have received a complaint from Sonia. The police is verifying the facts and a trap has already been laid to nab the criminals. A case has also been registered in this regard, he added.

Councillors want issue discussed; Cantt board budget meeting adjourned
Kusum Arora
Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, Au3gust 25
The annual budget meeting of Jalandhar Cantonment Board scheduled for this morning was adjourned following yesterday’s issue of ‘Army stopping civilian residents from entering the Cantt’. The budget meeting was to begin at 10 am.

As there was a huge public outcry regarding the autocratic behaviour of the Army, the councillors had decided to discuss the issue before proceeding for the meeting. The cantonment residents were stopped by the Army at the entrance of Jalandhar Cantt gate from the GT Road late yesterday evening. This, despite the fact that The Mall Road now stands open for the public.

The councillors insisted that the president of Cantonment Board-cum-sub-area Commander, Brigadier Arup Sen should address the issue of the ‘permanent opening of The Mall Road’ for the civilians before the meeting. However, before it could have been discussed the meeting was declared adjourned till tomorrow.

Nishtha Goel, councillor of Ward number 3 said that while Brigadier Sen was going inside the boardroom for the meeting, we kept on sitting in the office of Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Cantonment Board, Vibha Sharma.

“We informed Brig Sen that this issue should be discussed first and that budget will be decided later. Brig Sen asked all of us to come to the boardroom but we didn’t go under protest. He was seemingly not interested in discussing this issue. But as this was a public issue and we wanted to solve it for the welfare of the cantonment residents”, she added.

“Even CEO Vibha Sharma also spoke on our behalf to Brig Sen but there was no response. Brigadier Sen strictly asked us to discuss the agenda of the board meeting and refused to listen anything concerning yesterday’s dharna”, she said.

Avinash Sharma, councillor of ward number 3 said, “As the quorum for conducting the meeting was not complete, it was adjourned. We have total 14 members in the Cantonment Board and two-thirds of them were required to conduct the meeting”, he added.

Later the councillors also gave a ‘Point of Order’ to the CEO, stating that the resolution passed in the previous board meeting regarding ‘Permanent opening of The Mall Road’ should be amended. “During the previous board meeting it was announced that the road is opened but when the resolution was written they stated that the army was just regulating the traffic in the cantonment, which is not acceptable to us”, he added.

Earlier yesterday the cantonment residents had continued their dharna till 10 pm. The residents had also lodged a complaint with the Jalandhar Cantonment Police against the Army as they violated the Cantonment Act 2006.

The angry residents ended the protest only when cantonment councillors Usha Bhardwaj, Avinash Sharma, Raghunandan and Rajinder Kumar Raju assured them that the issue would be taken up in the annual budget meeting.

Meanwhile, the cantonment residents have now decided that if an amicable result is not gained, they would close the Sadar Bazar in protest tomorrow. “The board meeting will be held only if this problem is sorted first”, said Harwinder Pappu, a councillor.

School of Nursing sees good turnout of admission seekers
Amaninder Pal
Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, August 25
The state’s oldest nursing institute has been witnessing a good turnout of admission seekers since its reopening in 2010.

The state government had closed down the institute in 2003 citing less students. Located on the premises of Shaheed Babu Labh Singh Civil Hospital, Jalandhar, School of Nursing is the oldest institute in Punjab offering three-and-a-half year General Nursing and Midwifery (GNM) course since 1952.

Admissions of the fresh candidates into the institute were discontinued in 1982 and the institute was confined to give admissions only to the in-service Auxiliary Nursing and Midwifery (ANM) staffers, seeking to get promotion after doing GNM course. Later, in 2003, the admissions even to the in-service candidates were also discontinued.

Principal Gurbaksh Kaur said the school had received around 180 applications of fresh candidates against 45 seats in GNM course.

“We can’t say that the response is overwhelming. However, given the fact that the institute has been reopened after a gap of seven years, the response is neither disappointing,” added Gurbaksh Kaur.

Until last year, the institute was the only state-run nursing institute, offering GNM course. “It was during the current year only that the state government has opened two new state-run GNM training institutes at Amrtisar and Paitala,” said Gurbaksh Kaur.

Jaswant Virli, general secretary, Joint Front of Civil Hospital Employees, said the response of the candidates was more than satisfactory, if we compared it with the private institutes, which have to struggle each year even to meet their total intake capacity.

“Besides staff shortage and inadequate infrastructure, the government has cited scarcity of fresh candidates seeking admission in GNM course as a reason behind the closure. However, the response of students has negated the claims made by the then authorities,” added Virli.

Already facing crisis, 29 principals likely to be shifted soon
Assembly poll to hit school education
Dharmendra Joshi
Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, August 25
At a time when 54 of the total 114 Government Senior Secondary Schools (GSSS) of the district are without regular principals for past some time, education of thousands of students studying in these schools may further suffer with 29 regular principals likely to be shifted soon.

According to the information, Deputy Commissioner-cum-District Returning Officer (DRO) Priyank Bharti sought a list from DEO (Secondary) KK Aeri of the GSSS principals who were posted in their home district.

The sources said the information had been sought on the directions of state Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) in view of the forthcoming Assembly elections scheduled to be held in February next year.

Though the GSSS principals had not been shifted from their home districts during elections earlier, it is understood that they may be shifted out of their home district in view of the forthcoming Assembly elections as they were also involved in the election related works, the sources added.

According to the information, the DEO (Secondary) has already furnished a detailed list in this regard to the DRO.

According of the list, 29 of total 60 regular GSSS principals are recently posted in their home districts. Most of these principals are posted in the schools located in the city. They are likely to be shifted outside Jalandhar in the coming weeks.

Meanwhile, the senior vice-president of Government Teachers Union Punjab, Sulinder Singh Johal, said the principals should not be shifted as they had nothing to do with the politics. If any decision of transferring the principals outside their home districts was going to be taken, it should be reconsidered, he demanded.

Johal said it would not only adversely affect the study of thousands of students but would also cause undue harassment to the principals, he added.

From Schools

Stoppage of Duronto sought at Jalandhar
Vyapar Sena convenes meeting to initiate agitation
Dharmendra Joshi
Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, August 25
Agitated over not making Jalandhar city railway station a stoppage for the Amritsar-Chandigarh Duronto train, the Vyapar Sena has convened a meeting of various city organisations to chalk out a programme for initiating an agitation in this regard.

State president of the Vyapar Sena Ravindra Dhir said a meeting of various trader and industrial associations of the city would be held at Basti Nau on Saturday.

Flaying Jalandhar and Ludhiana MPs Mohinder Singh Kaypee and Manish Tiwari, respectively, for not raising the issue of stopping the train at Jalandhar, Phagwara and Ludhiana effectively, Dhir said the agitation would be launched after the proposed meeting on Saturday.

Dhir said, ”If the train is stopped at Jalandhar and Ludhiana, at least 10 per cent road traffic on the Jalandhar-Nawanshahr and Ludhiana-Mohali stretches of the national highway will be reduced, the accidents will be minimised due to less flow of traffic and thus several precious lives will be saved.”

Meanwhile, Jalandhar district attorney RS Bajwa also demanded that a stoppage for the train should be immediate made at Jalandhar. He said, “He goes to Chandigarh several times a month due to official work. If the train has a stoppage at Jalandhar, he will definitely board the train to reach Chandigarh and return to Jalandhar.”

Meanwhile, state media convener of the BJP Rajat Mohindru said “The railways will also have to bear a huge loss if it does not decide to make a stoppage at Jalandhar city railway station as only 110 passengers boarded the train against the total capacity of 1,428 passengers yesterday.”

From colleges

Audio-video lab opened at DAV College

The Department of Journalism and Mass Communication of DAV College inaugurated its audio-video lab on Wednesday. Secretary of Dthe AV College Management Committee, New Delhi, M.L. Sekhri along with other dignitaries inaugurated the lab.

Principal Dr Satish K. Sharma said now the students would be able to understand the practical use of cameras, recording, using audio and video consoles, making short films and learn camera operating.

Civil engineering toppers

Three students of civil engineering of Mehr Chand Polytechnic College, namely Akshey Kaushal, Ram Kakkar and Suraj Kakkar, have brought laurels to their institution by bagging first three positions in the State Technical Education Board examination. Principal of the college, Dr Jagroop Singh, honoured the toppers during a function held in the college.

Career counselling

The PG Department of Commerce and Business Administration at KMV today organised a seminar on “Career counselling” in collaboration with NIIT Limited. Dr Debojyoti Bhattacharya, training manager, NIIT, was the main speaker. He informed the students about various career options available for the commerce students in IT, banking, insurance and MNCs.

Talent hunt

A talent hunt competition was held at St Soldier Degree College during which the students participated in debates, poetry recitation, choreography, skit, bhangra, declamation and various other events. Palwinder Singh stood first in declamation. Sonia and Vimal jointly bagged the first position in debate. Ramandeep and Jyoti stood first in poetry. Best acting award for choreography and skit was given to Satbir Singh, while Jyoti and Jagjit Singh were declared “Punjaban Gabroo” and “Punjaban Mutiyar”, respectively.

Jalandhar, August 25
The Jalandhar Central Cooperative Bank Employees Union today demanded that their pay scales should be revised with effect from January 1, 2006.

President of the union Gurnek Singh Dhillon said if their demand was not met, the union members would be forced to stage dharnas at all the district headquarters in the state.

“The union will also observe strike in 72 branches of the cooperative bank on September 12,” Gurnek Singh Dhillon added.