The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

	Two killed, 12 hurt in mishaps Tribune News Service Amritsar, November 13 Two women were killed while six others, including children injured during a road mishap on Ram Tirath road here in the afternoon today. The victims were on their way to pay obeisance at the ancient Ram Tirath temple in an autorickshaw at the time of the incident. A speeding truck hit the autorickshaw. The deceased have been identified as Dhanni Devi and her daughter Sita, both residents of Anngarh and Lohgarh areas, respectively. Sita’s husband Puran Chand was following them on his motorcycle. Those injured include Seema Devi, Geeta, Aarti, Rajni and Muskan (6) and Chandni (2) who were rushed to the Guru Nanak Dev hospital. Investigating officer Jaimal Singh said Sita died on way to the hospital while Dhanno succumbed to her injuries at the hospital. He said the accused fled from the spot and a case has been registered against him on the basis of the statement of Puran Chand. “The impact was of the collision was so intense that the autorickshaw turned turtle and broke into three parts. Dhanno and Sita were sitting on the front seat,” said Jaimal Singh. The driver of the autorickshaw fled from the spot. As many as six persons were injured in another accident on Ram Tirath road when they were hit by a car driven by Charanjit Singh. Charanjit was going towards Ram Tirath temple after attending a function. He was allegedly in an inebriated condition at the time of the incident. His car hit six persons who were coming on two motorcycles. Those injured include Vishal, Ajay, Mangat, Hardev Singh, Malkiat Singh and Gurpreet Singh. The police has arrested Charanjit Singh and registered a case against him.
	Pathankot Improvement Trust caught on the wrong foot Money spent by Trust on Syama Parsad Mookerjee’s statue is beyond its jurisdiction, says RTI activist Ravi Dhaliwal Tribune News Service Pathankot, November 13 The Pathankot Improvement Trust has been caught on the wrong foot with an RTI activist alleging use of funds beyond its jurisdiction. The activist claimed that the money spent by the Trust on the installation of founder president of Bhartiya Jan Sangh, Syama Parsad Mookerjee’s statue at Madhopur and on the subsequent function held to unveil it in March, 2010, was not spent in a ‘transparent manner’. He said it had no jurisdiction to spend money on an event held outside the city’s municipal limits. According to contents of an RTI filed by Kailash Kumar, considered to be close to former Pathankot MLA Ashok Sharma, it is being claimed that Rs 1.26 crore was spent on construction of the statue, its installation and on laying of a concrete road leading to the venue of the statue, 3 km off the Pathankot-Jammu highway. Apprehending that they would fall short of funds, the Trust with the permission of the state government asked the Mandi Gobindgarh Municipal Council (MC) to send some funds, which, the latter obliged by giving Rs 80 lakh allegedly on the recommendations of the then Local Bodies Minister Manoranjan Kalia. Moreover, the function was observed as a ‘state level’ function so that the state government could also chip in with the requisite funds. The contents of the RTI reveal that an amount of Rs 1.26 core was spent on the statue and it’s subsequent unveiling. Out of this amount, Rs 29.86 lakh was spent on the construction of the statue, Rs 14.55 lakh on a parking lot, Rs 26 lakh on beautification of the area adjoining the statue while Rs 5 lakh was spent on fixing of lights. However, chairman of the Trust, Anil Vasudeva claimed that under Section 69A of the Punjab Town and Improvement Trust Act, 1992, the Trust can construct anything outside the municipal limits of the town. “Syama Prasad Mookerjee was a national hero. We have done nothing wrong and I also have a permission to expand the premises around where the statue has been installed which I will do in near future,” said Vasudeva. He said the entire amount was spent with the permission of a committee headed by the then Gurdaspur Deputy Commissioner. Meanwhile, addressing a press conference, Vasudeva said former MLA Ashok Sharma was playing a political game. “Why was Sharma quiet for the past three years when work on the statue had started and why was the matter being flared up now when the elections are round the corner?” he asked.
	Patiala Dy Mayor quits Umesh Dewan Tribune News Service Patiala, November 13 In a shocker to the SAD-BJP, Patiala Deputy Mayor Sonia Devi of the BJP has resigned accusing Mayor Ajit Pal Singh Kohli and Senior Deputy Mayor Anil Bajaj of indulging in financial irregularities in the Patiala Municipal Corporation. Sonia has sent her resignation to Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, state BJP president Ashwani Sharma, Municipal Commissioner GS Sidhu and senior BJP leaders. A copy of the resignation released to the media on Sunday evening reads that Anil Bajaj was not only acting in a "dictatorial" manner but was deliberately creating unnecessary hurdles in the development works in ward number 34, represented by Sonia. Sonia alleged that Kohli and Bajaj were hand in glove and were committing financial irregularities. "Before the General House meeting as well as the meeting of the Finance and Contracts Committee (F&CC), both Kohli and Bajaj never consulted me on any of the issues related to the civic body", she alleged adding that because of the autocratic self-styled approach of the Mayor and Senior Deputy Mayor, the people of Patiala, particularly ward number 34 were suffering a lot. In second week of October this year, BJP Councillor from Ward Number 7 Sarita Gera had also resigned from the primary membership of the BJP alleging that she was being humiliated and harassed by Mayor Ajit Pal Singh Kohli just because she was exposing the alleged corruption prevalent in the MC. Another BJP councillor from ward number 25, Navneet Kaur had also put in her papers earlier. Despite repeated attempts, Mayor Ajit Pal Singh Kohli was not available for comments. However, speaking to TNS, Senior Deputy Mayor Anil Bajaj said he had not received any resignation so far. "It is not possible to comment on the matter until I get the copy of the resignation. But, still I can assure that everything in MC was being done as per the rules in a transparent manner", he said.
	Vodafone told to pay Rs 15,000 as compensation Our Correspondent Nawanshahr, November 13 The District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum in a decision has directed Vodafone, a mobile phone company, to pay a sum of Rs 10,000 as compensation along with a sum of Rs 5,000 as litigation expenses for harassing Nobel Sareen of Teachers Colony here. In his complaint, Sareen had accused the Vodafone Company for mental harassment. He said he had purchased two Vodafone connections from Harpreet, Lahore Stationary, Hall Bazaar, Amritsar on May 14. He deposited Rs 2,000 in bank account of Harpreet and sent the copies of ID proofs and photograph to him. He was told by the seller that his two new connections will have Rs 850 balance each and will get one more connection free. However, he got only Rs 598 in total. The seller confirmed him that he will get the remaining amount soon. After few days, one of his phone numbers was deactivated by the Vodafone Company. Upon his enquiry, Harpreet said he had to submit his ID proof and photograph to Vodafone Store, which is the authorised office of the company at Nawanshahr. Sareen did what he was asked to yet nothing constructive happened in the coming days. The Vodafone Company in its reply had denied the charges of deficiency in service and any promise to provide talk time of Rs 850 stating there was no such scheme. The company held the complainant responsible for the suspension of connections from May 20 to June 8 for want of the requisite documents. LN Sharma and Sudha Sharma, president and member of the Forum, heard the pleas given by Gaurav Sareen and Pushpinder Kataria, advocates for the complainant and the opposite parties respectively. After the perusal of the documentary evidence, they said that the stand taken by the company that the phone connections were deactivated for want of requisite documents could not be believed as no connection could be sold without obtaining the ID proof. Besides, the company had also failed to prove that the complainant had not supplied the requisite ID proof at the time of purchasing the phone connections.
	Cycle yatra aims to promote literature Our Correspondent Hoshiarpur, November 13 A Chandigarh-based sociology lecturer Dr Pandit Rao Dharennavar carried on with his cycle yatra here from Government College to Chohal village, 8 km from here, on Hoshiarpur-Dharamsala road. This yatra aims to promote Punjabi literature. He has started his cycle yatra from Sri Fatehgarh Saheb six months back and has already visited Gurudaspur. Dr Pandit Rao Dharennavar plans to visit all the districts of Punjab in order to promote Punjabi literature. He visits different places, especially rural areas of Punjab, to create awareness about literature and to mobilise the masses against female foeticide. Dr Pandit Rao Dharennavar has written eight books in Punjabi. Two of which were released by Governor Shivraj Patil. The Governor has also given him ‘Srimad Bhagwadgeeta’ to translate it in Punjabi and Kannada.
	Unions burn govt effigy, demand pay hike Tribune News Service Amritsar, November 13 Ram Bagh, which houses Maharaja Ranjit Singh’s historic summer palace, today became the venue of protest by two organisations. The agitating unions were Part Time Sewing Teachers Union and Mid-Day Meal Workers Union. Members of the Part Time Sewing Teachers Union alleged that the state government was exploiting them by paying just Rs 750 per month for their services. They said keeping in view the high inflation and skyrocketing prices the salary was a pittance. Baljit Kaur Sekhon of the union said no effort was made to reduce their plight. She said vacant posts in the schools should be filled and all teachers must be regularised. She demanded that they must be given a salary of Rs 10,000 per month. The Mid-Day Meal Workers Union demanded their salary must be raised from present Rs 1,000 to Rs 6,500 per month. Gurmeet Kaur of the union said each worker must be insured for Rs 2 lakh each. Members of both the organisations burnt an effigy of Punjab Government.
	58,717 kids administered polio drops Jalandhar, November 13 The pulse polio campaign was kicked off in the district today. Drops were administered to 58,717 children and 1,05,081 houses were visited on the first day of the drive today. Civil surgeon Dr HK Singla flagged off a rickshaw rally to different parts of the city on the first day of the three-day drive. The Civil surgeon said 1,138 health teams are working across the district for the drive. Meanwhile, the presence of auxillary nursing midwives and lady health visitors helped the campaign get off to a good start. Dr Gur Amritpal Singh from Subsidiary Health Centre (Wariana) said, “Indeed the success rate of the campaign has been higher this time.” — TNS
	Bar association gets digital library Our Correspondent Phagwara, November 13 First computerised library was set up in Phagwara Bar Association’s Bar room with the hard efforts of Bar Council of Punjab and Haryana. Bar Council General Secretary Amrik Singh Kalra provided a computer along with a printer. He inaugurated the computerised library. Advocates including SN Chopra, Varinder Sharma, Lokesh Narang and Lalit Chopra were also present. Lalit Chopra said that now data from the year 1940 could be accessed through online system.