Jalandhar, May 2
Since the rounds of transfers of PCS officials is coinciding with the announcement of the MC elections, officials on almost all posts declared for appointment as returning officers (RO) have changed.

District Election Officer Priyank Bharti had appointed the Deputy Director, Local Government, as RO for wards 1 to 10 where retired PCS officer Pritam Singh has taken charge in place of his predecessor Karnail Singh.

The charge of RO for wards 11 to 20, too, has been handed over to District Development Panchayat Officer Sarabjit Singh Walia since PCS officer PS Gill, who was posted as the District Transport Officer, has been transferred and the new incumbent is a non-PCS. Walia was appointed as an assistant RO in recent Assembly polls.

There has been no change for the RO of wards 21 to 30. SDM-1 Iqbal Singh Sandhu has, however, come up with a list of 10 sites, one in each ward, wherein ward-wise objections would be received by the staff (see box).

Since SDM-2 Rajiv Prashar has been transferred to Bathinda, the post is lying vacant. However, Deputy Commissioner Priyank Bharti said Tehsildar-2 would act as the RO for wards 31 to 40.

PCS officer and Deputy Excise and Taxation Commissioner Kanwalpreet Kaur Brar, who had been appointed as the RO of wards 41 to 50, has also been transferred to Ludhiana. The new incumbent is yet to take charge.

The work for wards 51 to 60 continues to be with the Secretary, Regional Transport Authority, Jaskiran Singh.

Voter list out after 5 pm
Even as the voter list for all wards was to get published and made available for objections today, it was out after 5 pm when the offices were closed. Councillors of all political parties who continued to make rounds all through the day to get the copies of the list had to return disappointed. The DC-cum-DEO said the list was out in the evening and would be made available to all ROs for seeking objections. The councillors were also seen getting copies of forms for voters for the inclusion of names and getting the corrections done.

BJP meeting today
In charge of the local bodies cell of Punjab Balramji Dass Tandon is scheduled to be in city on Thursday to hold a meeting of BJP leaders in connection with the MC elections. All BJP MLAs, the Mayor, councillors and ticket aspirants are expected to meet him. 

Check the voter list
Providing a facility to the voters of wards 21 to 30, SDM-1 Iqbal Singh Sandhu said that they would not be required to come to his office for raising any objection and could go to the following centre in their vicinity for checking voter list, filling up forms and submitting the same. The timing has been fixed from 9 am to 3 pm.

Ward No. Site
21 DSD Girls, Sr. Sec. School
22 DSD Girls, Sr. Sec. School
23 Govt. Sr. Sec. School Gandhi Camp
24 Gandhi Vanita Ashram Kpt. Chowk
25 Market Committe, New Dana Mandi
26 Sai Dass AS Sr. Sec. School, Patel Chowk
27 SD Model School Mitha Bazaar
28 Sai Dass AS Pry, Bansanwali Bazaar
29 Govt Girls Sr Sec School, Nehru Garden
30 Govt Girls Sr Sec School, Ladowali Road

A confirmation in this regard came in the form of a press release issued by the BJP district president Subhash Chander Sood. Bhandari had lodged a formal complaint and had even given scientific proof, including call details regarding Chopra's conversation with Bhandari's Congress rival Avtar Henry during Vidhan Sabha polls. — TNS

Jalandhar, May 2
Frail Taravanti’s face is a criss-cross of wrinkles. She sits rubbing her reddened wrists, saying someone pulled them hard. Over 80 years old, Taravanti had kept the police on toes all through last night as they tried to find her a shelter. But couldn’t until afternoon. She was first spotted roaming in the streets of a colony near Surya Enclave late last night, following which some colony residents took her to the Surya Enclave police station.

The police in turn took her to various shelters and old-age homes through the night, but no one accepted her. While the cops spent a sleepless night finding a place for the haggard, frail woman, the response from the city do-gooders was wasn’t half as inspiring. At least that is what the cops and the colony welfare members who took her around the city, say.

It was only today afternoon that the cops were relieved of their duty after the Pingla Ghar authorities volunteered to accept her.

Though the night, she was taken to three city NGOs, but they all refused to let her stay.

Talking to The Tribune, Baldev Raj Sharma, head of the Surya Enclave Welfare Society, said: “We spotted her at the Thakur Singh Colony at Bashirpura and called the PCR. They took her to the Surya Enclave police station from where she was taken to the Rama Mandi police station.”

“We contacted the Nari Niketan authorities, but they said she should be brought in the morning. She was also taken to the Vridh Ashram near DAV College, but the staff there also said no,” he added.

In agreement with what Baldev Raj said, Bhagwant Singh Bhullar, ASI in charge, Surya Enclave police station, expressed dissatisfaction at the treatment Taravanti received.

He said: “It is sad that people put up hoardings with vriddh ashram or shelter for old written on them, but when it comes to providing shelter, they do not respond.”

“We took the woman to Nari Niketan on Nakodar Road, to Aphaj Ashram, which houses an old age home, near DAV College and to Guru Nanak Anath Ashram at Rama Mandi in the morning, but everywhere we received a big no, said a policeman.

“At Nari Niketan, the person on duty told us to bring the woman in the morning with photos and an authentication from someone. She was not taken in and we were told to come in the morning. At Apahaj Ashram and Guru Nanak Anath Ashrma, there were similar problems. Everyone said she couldn’t be taken in until morning. It was only about 1:30 pm today that the Pingla Ghar authorities took her in after we contacted them,” said the policeman.

Bhagwant Bhullar, however, said Nari Niketan authorities never offered to take in Taravanti even until morning.

Jalandhar, May 2
Jalandhar Vikas Manch (JVM), an NGO, has requested Union Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas Jaipal Reddy to restore quota for kerosene in Punjab. In the two-page letter, JVM president advocate RK Bhalla stated that not only the APL families but also the 26,000 depot holders and 225 wholesale kerosene dealers of the state were adversely affected due to the reduction in kerosene quota.

Bhalla has also sent a copy of the letter to Punjab Food and Civil Supply Minister Adesh Partap Singh Kairon.

Meanwhile, the ongoing chain hunger strike by Jalandhar district unit of Depot Holders’ Association has entered the third day on Wednesday. The are protesting outside the district administration complex (DAC) against reduction in kerosene quota by 63 per cent.

Depot holders Gurminder Singh, Ashwani Sikka, Pritam Singh, Vinod Kumar, Rajesh Chopra, Mohinder Pal and Kewal Krishan sat on hunger strike today.

The association president Anoop Sareen said the chain hunger strike would continue till Saturday in support of their demand of restoring the earlier quota.

Further, the association would hold a protest march in Jalandhar on Friday. The Friday protest will be a part of state-level protest at each district headquarters on the call of the president of Punjab Depot Holders Union, Gurjinder Singh Sidhu.

The Union Ministry of Petroleum allocated quarterly quota of kerosene oil from April to June as only 24,936 kl in Punjab as compared to 67,500 kl allocated in the first quarter, January 2012 to March 2012. 

Jalandhar, May 2
The commuters are experiencing bumpy rides from the city railway station to Domoria railway overbridge. The authority concerned is, however, in a deep slumber. Since the opening of the Domoria railway over bridge, the authority did pay any heed to the potholed road at the starting of the bridge. The road has been in a bad shape for past several years, residents said.

During rains the road usually turns into a pool of water and commuting on the road becomes near impossible. Shopkeepers of the locality alleged that traffic always runs at a snails pace due to the sorry state of road here.

Samriti, a resident, said the Domoria bridge was opened to relief the commuters from traffic congestion. But this rough road has totally marred the importance of the bridge.

“If the authority concerned is not in a mood to lay fresh roads, they should at least initiate mending works here,” she said. The concerned MLA KD Bhandari didn’t received calls despite repeated attempts. 

Phagwara, May 2
Two youths, identified as Vijay Kumar Gupta and Sanjay Kumar, were killed after their motorcycle collided with a truck near Lovely Professional University here today. They were returning to their village, Dakoha, near Jalandhar.

The Chiherru police in-charge, Sat Paul, said that the two injured brothers were admitted to Johal Hospital, Jalandhar Cantonment, where they breathed their last.

He also said the truck driver sped away after hitting the two brothers and that a case has been registered under Sections 304A and 279 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) against the unidentified truck driver.

The bodies were kept in the mortuary of local civil hospital for postmortem examinations.

Jalandhar, May 2
Punjab Civil Medical Services Association (PCMSA) has described state government’s decision to deny due retirement age of 60 years to its employees as ill advised, arbitrary and “anti-poor”, besides an arrogant onslaught against legitimate rights of employees.

Dr MS Randhawa, patron for life of Doctors Association, urged CM Parkash Singh Badal to review his decision forthwith, because it was bound to result in much “more harm than good” to the public.

The PCMSA patron cautioned Badal that private sector was manipulating all such decisions to “push out for catch” the most experienced doctors and teachers serving in public sector.

He ridiculed the argument of blocking opportunities for youth as a mere “ploy” to play the mischief with un-suspecting poor people.

Quoting statistical figures, he disclosed that new talented meritorious doctors and teachers were not coming forward to join government hospitals and colleges due to unattractive avenues in spite of repeated advertisements for recruitment. Still the Punjab government was pushing out most experienced and qualified from the services to worsen the persisting shortage of doctors and teachers in public sector, he added.

Dr Randhawa further said, “The state governments of Madhya Pardesh, Uttrakhand, Jharkhand and Gujarat already increased the retirement age of all state service doctors and college teachers not only 60 but to 65 years for coping up with the situation, whereas the Punjab government is insisting on 58 years as the retirement age for doctors and teachers. That too when the age for its medical teachers stands raised to 62 years by the same government.” 

Jalandhar, May 2
The Democratic Bharatiya Samaj Party released a list of its new presidents appointed at different headquarters. The party also announced party's new units across the state here today.

Vijay Hans, national president of the Democratic Bharatiya Samaj Party, said the new units have been announced to strengthen the present party set up.

Deploring the tendency of the SAD-BJP government for using police to safeguard the interests of the SAD leadership, Hans said that it would not pay in the long run.

He urged Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal to suspend the practice of posting deputy superintendents of police and station house officers on the recommendation of ministers and MLAs of the ruling combine.

Jalandhar, May 2
No power cuts will be imposed, especially on the industry, in Punjab if adequate monsoon occur this season. The Chairman-cum-Managing Director (CMD) of Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL), KD Chaudhary, assured this to the representatives of the industrialists of the city after listening to their grievances in a meeting held at circuit house yesterday.

Earlier, the representatives, including president of Federation of Jalandhar Industrial and Traders Associations Gursharan Singh, President of Focal Point Extension Association Narinder Singh Saggoo, Tejinder Singh Bhasin and Raj Kumar Sharma, spoke about various problems faced by them.

They requested KD Chaudhary to work in the direction to solve the problems. KD Chaudhary assured the industrialists that he would consider their demands sympathetically. 

Jalandhar, May 2
Two bike-borne youths snatched a gold chain and earrings from two women at gunpoint near the Neelamahal locality this afternoon. The miscreants also fired in the air before fleeing. However, the victims did not come forward to lodge a complaint fearing another attack by the miscreants even as the police party reached the spot after receiving the information.

When contacted, the person attending the phone at the police station concerned: "We have not received any complaint from the victims, so the question of taking action doesn't arise. The police only registers case after receiving a written complaint from the complaint. The police had gone to the spot, but the victims had already left."

Police fails to rein in snatchers
The city police seem to be lagging behind in solving snatching cases in the city. In April, the city witnessed as many as 15 snatching cases where women were the only target. The last Sunday of April was virtually ‘the day for snatchers’ as from the morning till late evening, bike-borne miscreants engineered eight snatchings at various places in the city. They snatched four gold chains, two purses and a pair of earrings from women. The police, however, managed to solve this case by arresting Sushil, Vishal and Naseeb, who carried out the snatching while riding a bike on April’s last Sunday. The police has also recovered Rs 84,000, a mobile phone, five passports from them. Now, the police has been interrogating the accused to get further lead in snatchings occurred in the past. Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police, City I, RK Sharma, when asked about the pace of investigation in the recent snatching incidents, said, the police had paced up the investigations and a hunt had already been launched. Soon the accused would be behind the bars, he said.