Jagraon, June 23
The local police has booked 92 persons under three separate cases of illegal sand mining from Satluj river near Sidhwan Bet. From the total 92 persons booked by the police for illegal sand mining, four have been identified, while the remaining are yet to be identified. However, no arrest has been made in this regard so far.

As per the information, the action was taken by the Jagraon Sadar police following the complaint given by the Mining Department officials to the police. The mining department officials have also given the registration number of some vehicles used by these persons for transporting sand excavated from the river to the police.

The police has identified four persons on the basis of the registration number of the vehicles provided by the mining department officials. Out of the 92 persons booked, two have been identified as residents of Madhepur village and two have been identified as residents of Walipur village, while the remaining 88 are yet to be identified.

Confirming the development, Jagraon Sadar police SHO Rachpal Singh informed that the police has registered three cases against 88 unidentified and 4 identified persons under appropriate sections. "We are conducting raids to nab the accused who have been identified. The efforts to identify the remaining accused are also on," added Rachpal Singh.

It is pertinent to mention here that The Tribune had exposed the practice of illegal sand mining from Satluj river near Sidhwan Bet area some time back, following which the administration had launched a massive drive to curb the practice and arrested many persons apart from impounding several machines being used for excavating sand from the river illegally. After this the Mining Department officials and the local police had increased vigil in the area. But despite the strict monitoring to stop the illegal sand mining from Satluj river near Sidhwan Bet area, many persons are still involved in illegal sand mining.

Ludhiana, June 23
In different shocking incidents, three rape cases were repored to the police during the past 24 hours here. In one heinous incident, a father raped her minor daughter in Hargobindnagar. A case was registered against Abdul Malik under Section 376-354 of the IPC at Police Division Number 4.

According to information, Sajida (name changed), the nine-year-old daughter of Malik complained to the police that her mother Rehana Begam had died and her father used to rape her. On June 7, while the man tried to molest his minor daughter, the neighbours saw him and rescued the minor girl. The matter was reported to the police. The accused has been arrested.

In another incident, a gymnast Bharti (name changed), aged 15, was raped by Nitish Kumar, a resident of Railway Colony here. Police Division Number 8 has registered a complaint against the accused on the basis of the statement made by the victim's father Govardhan.

According to information, on June 15 at around 1 pm, the father of the girl got a call from phone number 73551-59157 and the caller said that she was his daughter's gymnastics teacher. The caller asked the father to send his daughter to her as a team of girls was going to Shimla for 10 days. Later, the father came to know that no such team had gone to Shimla and Nitish Kumar had forcibly taken his daughter on the pretext of getting married to her. The accused has been arrested and a case under Section 363-366 has been registered against Nitish Kumar.

In another separate incident, Raavi (name changed), a 17-year-old class X student was raped by Sunil Kumar, a resident of Anandpuri, Basti Jodhewal, a married man having two kids. The girl was recovered by the police today and the medical examination was conducted at the Civil Hospital. The hospital authorities cofirmed the rape. Basti Jodhewal Police has registered a case under Section 376 against Sunil Kumar, who has been arrested.

Ludhiana, June 23
The police has registered a case under Sections 353-186-148-149 of the IPC against about 40 unidentified persons who tried to disrupt the drive of the Municipal Corporation and Traffic Police of closing the cuts on the Hambran road here yesterday.

The police maintained that the case was registered against the unidentified persons, as they reportedly manhandled Surinder Singh, an SDO with the Municipal Corporation, who accompanied the police while closing the cuts. The police added that these persons against whom the case had been registered had obstructed the duty of the police and MC officials.

Deputy Commissioner Police Ashish Chaudhry said anyone who tried to disrupt the working of the police would not be spared. "We are doing everything to provide relief to the general public and any kind of obstruction in our duty will not be tolerated," said Chaudhry, adding that this was certainly not any political issue.

Congress MLA Bharat Bhushan Ashu, however, said that he was with the residents and would submit a memorandum against the erring officials to the Commissioner of Police Ishwar Singh on Monday. 

"Lathi-charge was not the solution, which the police adopted. Now to save its skin, the police made Surinder Singh a scapegoat. The police could have given a patient hearing to the residents before cracking its whip," said Ashu. Meanwhile, the four councillors along with over 200 residents staged a dharna here today against the "inhumane" attitude of the police towards the Congress councillors and Rishi Nagar residents yesterday over the closing of the cuts on Hambran Road opposite Kali Maa temple. The agitated residents raised slogans against the police. Gurpreet Bassi, a Congress councillor, said the residents had no option but to show their anger towards the police, so they adopted this protest move today. "We are with the public who supported us during the Municipal Corporation elections. Their problems are our own problems and we need to find the solutions," said Gogi.

Meanwhile, ACP Traffic Navin said the police had a word with the councillors today, too. "We will visit the site tomorrow. Residents do not want the closure of the cuts on the road. Out of the three cuts, we will close two, while one will remain open for public's convenience. The residents will tell us tomorrow, which cut they want to remain open," said Singla.

Ludhiana, June 23
Health and Family & Social Welfare Minister Madan Mohan Mittal was in the city today. The minister attended about half of dozen functions and despite it being a holiday on Saturday, officers of health department were also accompanying him.

The minister started at 11:00 am with the inauguration of a medical mobile dispensary at Viklang Sahayata Kender and Polio Surgery Camp organised by NGO Bharat Vikas Parishad Charitable Trust and Jago. Suraj Jyoti, president of the trust, said that the mobile dispensary will be visiting slum areas of Ludhiana. Madan Mohan Mittal appreciated the NGOs for their efforts and also distributed artificial limbs to 60 handicapped persons. He also visited 11 patients who were operated with polio corrective surgery.

In the afternoon, the minister participated in a seminar on "Food Safety and Standard Act" at Gujjaranwala Guru Nanak Institute of Management and Technology, Civil Lines. He spoke about different plans being implemenetd by the state government for better helath facilities to the people. Health minister also visited Mediways Hospital and congratulated the new management of the hospital.

The minister also participated in functions at Punarjot Eye Centre, BRS Nagar, and Rama Charitable Hospital Trust, Prabhat Nagar, in the evening. The visit ended with a meeting with the Chemist Association.

Jagraon, June 23
Despite the tall claims of the Punjab State Power Corporation to provide uninterrupted power supply to all during the summer season, the residents of Jagraon and surrounding areas continue to grapple with long unscheduled power cuts.

Not only the domestic sector, even people employed in the the agricultural sector are not getting the eight-hour power supply as assured. The domestic power supply in rural areas has been affected the worst.

In Jagraon, power cuts varying from seven to nine hours are being imposed everyday. According to sources, the situation is more grave in rural areas where power cuts are imposed for more than ten hours daily.

The farmers have complained that they are not getting enough power supply, as assured by the PowerCom authorities before start of the paddy season. Joginder Singh, a farmer from the nearby Ramghar village rued, "We have been witnessing prolonged and unscheduled power cuts because of which we have been facing a lot of problems. The sowing of paddy crop has also been getting delayed due to power cuts.

In absence of electricity we have to depend on generator sets to water our fields for sowing paddy which costs much more than the electricity. If the situation does not improve in the coming days, we are bound to face heavy losses," he said.

Sukhdev Singh, district president of Bhartiya Kissan Union, said, "We were told by the Power Corporation authorities that they would provide at least six-hour power supply everyday. But they have failed to provide even six-hour power supply."

According to sources, the state was reeling under power crisis due to low levels of hydro-generation and a sudden spurt in power demand for last some days. Besides this, there are regular technical snags due to overload.

When contacted, Xen PowerCom, Jagraon, said that there has been a shortage of power supply from the power generation plants due to the difference in demand and supply which is the main reason behind the power cuts.

Ludhiana, June 23
The Punjab Industry will be hit hard by the proposed increase in electricity duty and levy of property tax, says Avtar Singh, general secretary, Chamber of Industrial and Commercial Undertakings (CICU).

He said that on the one hand the PSPCL has not been able to give uninterrupted power supply to the industry for the last 7-8 years and on the other hand the Punjab Government is considering increasing the electricity duty from 13% to 17%. Already there is an entry tax of 12.5% on diesel generating sets and 5% electricity duty from captive consumption from any source, and the power tariff is being hiked almost every year by the PSPCL.

With all taxes and duties in place, it is beyond imagination how the industry in Punjab will survive and compete in the national and international market, he said. All the policies framed by the PSPCL are anti-industry and the industrialists of Punjab are being supplied power at exorbitant rates as compared to all other Northern states. One cannot hope that any new industry will come up in the state.

Upkar Singh, joint secretary, CICU, said that MSMEs are at a cross road and the main issue of concern is how to survive in this competitive market. Soon after a tax free budget, the Punjab Government is set to levy hefty property tax on industrial, commercial and residential properties. He added that house tax is already imposed on industrial plots and therefore the proposed property tax will be an additional burden on the industry. This will adversely affect the already reeling MSME sector in this economic scenario, he said.

The industry, which is already suffering losses, would be unable to bear the proposed property tax. Instead of hiking the electricity duty, emphasis should be laid on reducing the transit loss of coal, T and D losses. He said that power theft should be made a punishable offence. 

Ludhiana, June 23
Not just the offices of Ludhiana Municipal Corporation, even the fire brigade department is ailing. With poor infrastructure and only 65 employees in the fire brigade, the department is ill equipped to tackle any major fire incident in the city.

The fire department, which should be one of the most advanced and up to date departments of the city, is sadly one of the most neglected departments of Ludhiana Municipal Corporation.

For a city having a population of 16,13,878, there are just 65 fire department employees, including drivers. Besides this, the employees are ill equipped to the extent that they don't even have masks to cover their faces, leave aside any other safety equipment.

Even the firefighting vehicles, which are about 33 in number, are very old and the civic body gets them repaired regularly to ensure there is no shortage of vehicles. According to experts, the life of a fire engine is only ten years and the fire department is still working with the 1980s models. Only ten new models have been inducted into the fleet since 2002.

Not only drivers of fire engines, there is an acute shortage of firemen in the department. The department needs around 40 employees immediately. Presently, the department is working with just three leading firemen and 42 firemen.

Employees say that the MC had got the green signal to employ staff in the fire department, but due to political reasons, the matter got delayed. "Instead of an eight hour shift, we are working for 12 hours everyday for the last many years. I wonder why no official is giving preference to fire fighting arrangements for our city," rued a fire brigade official.

Due to the shortage of staff, there is a resentment amongst the employees who rue that they are forced to work overtime which is affecting their personal life. While the MC has been 'preaching' for a long time that they are in a process of recruiting new employees in the department, no fresh appointments have been made yet.

Firefighters say that sometimes the extent of smoke in buildings is so much that they are forced to use cloth to cover their faces. "Even in such conditions, we operate without hesitation because its our duty and we know that we would be saving someone's life. We have been told that the fire fighters in the western countries are highly paid and get the best of facilities. While in Ludhiana, all we get are assurances and false promises," a fire fighter said.

Senior Deputy Mayor Parveen Bansal claims that the process of recruiting firemen is already under process. "Very soon we would recruit firemen and the entire department would be modernised with the best of fire fighting facilities and safety equipment," he claimed.

Ludhiana, June 23
The Civil Surgeon Office Complex, housing many important offices relating to the health department had witnessed a fire accident about 16 years ago which destroyed several records. The fire safety arrangements in this premises are yet to see the light of day.

During a visit to the Civil Surgeon's Office premises, naked electricity wires were found hanging from the electricity panels. The narrow and dingy corridors posed a serious challenge for evacuating people in case of an emergency. As one enters the narrow corridor of the office, one feels suffocated with iron almiras kept on both sides, which of course makes the passage more dark and dingy. Naveen Chand, a visitor said, "More than half the people will die of suffocation in case a fire breaks out here as there is only one entry and exit point of the corridor."

One does not come across any fire fighting equipment except a defunct dry chemical powder-type fire extinguisher cylinder. Even basic equipments, like sand buckets, are also not available on the premises.

When asked about fire fighting arrangements, a staff member said, "This building was declared unsafe about 16 years ago, but still we are working here. You talk about fire fighting arrangements, but tell us what will we do if the roof comes down or a wall collapses?"

Mandi Ahmedgarh, June 23
Casual approach towards maintaining secrecy of password for operating the ATM cards issued by various commercial banks has emerged as most common factor behind incidences of swindling of money through automated teller machines.

Pickpockets putting their hands on credit and debit cards from pockets of educated men and women turned lucky as in majority of cases the password for operating these cards is either written on the cover or on a slip kept in side pockets of the purses.

Interestingly, some people, instead of destroying letter communicating the secret number, preserve the same in purse along with the card.

Bank officials, cops and businesspersons are no exception to the tendency as they maintain accounts in more than one bank and have equal number of the ATM cards.

Investigations revealed that incidences of swindling of money from saving accounts of depositors through unauthorised use of the ATM cards had increased during past times.

Contrary to earlier trend when only illiterate and elderly persons were duped by cheaters, by first knowing their password on pretext of helping them withdraw money for them and then replacing their ATM card with some stolen ones; members of elite class too are also at receiving end these days.

Baljit Singh, a school lecturer said some of his colleagues had asked him to help them get operation of their saving accounts stopped at odd hours as they had lost their purses, containing both the ATM card and password as well.

“Though one can afford to wait for the next working day in case only the ATM card is lost, it becomes necessary when the password in written form, is available in the purse,” said Singh, added he himself had kept his password in pocket for a long time. Now he has saved his password and account number in his mobile phone.

A retired security guard of a nationalised bank said that a large number of people used to seek his help in operation of their ATM cards, but then he had to decline to their requests, as the card might be stolen one.

Leaders and high profile officers too show casual approach towards maintaining secrecy of the password. In majority of the cases, when they want to withdraw money from accounts through ATM cards their personal aides are asked to operate the card.

Investigations further revealed that the ATMs issued to account holders are frequently used by their friends and relatives including spouses and kin.

Transporters and businesspersons normally give their ATMs and password to their employees when they go on touring assignments.

Acknowledging the tendency, officials of various branches of nationalised banks of the area maintained that in majority of complaints regarding unauthorised withdrawal through the automated teller machine, the account holder declined to get the matter probed as later on it was found that the money had been withdrawn by one of his or her relatives or friends.

Ludhiana, June 23
The fact that the RBI has allowed more inward remittances to increase the inflow of dollars in a bid to help the sagging rupee has come as matter of relief to residents who get money regularly from abroad. The number of such transactions has been increased from 12 to 30 in a year now. An official said the customers can avail this facility from post offices, as the postal department has a tie up with Money Gram.

Jaswant Kaur, a resident, said she gets money from her son living abroad, she said she was relieved with the RBI move. Insiders, however, say that people who would want used to get money, were in any case violate the rule, by getting money by giving multiple proofs of identity or getting money on the names of various family members. But it would certainly cut down on the procedures and problems of having to submit different documents, and would certainly encourage more such transactions, a resident said. — TNS

Ludhiana, June 23
Feed Foundation, a local NGO, has today come out in open against colonisers who are developing illegal residential colonies without taking permission from the government departments. The NGO members today demanded from the state government that if any coloniser is found developing an illegal residential colony, the authorities concerned should register an FIR against him and the concerned department fine them.

For the past few days, the Greater Ludhiana Area Development Authority (GLADA) has tightened the noose around colonisers, who are developing unapproved or illegal colonies. GLADA has recently razed several such colonies.

While addressing a press conference here today, Jaspreet Singh, president of Feed Foundation, said that the NGO welcomes the step taken by the state government against illegal residential colonies as well as the colonisers developing such colonies.

“Few days back, the state government had issued orders that the colonisers, who have developed illegal colonies, would not be able to sell their plots. People invest their hard earned money in such colonies, after which the coloniser leaves them on the mercy of god. Once all plots are sold, the coloniser spends a lavish life while people suffer due to demolition drives of the government departments. It is the coloniser who is at fault and the state government has every right to take strict action against such colonisers,” said Jaspreet Singh.

Phillaur, June 23
A car mechanic Ranjit Singh (25) of the nearby Garha village reportedly committed suicide just two days before his marriage by jumping before a 12446 Jammu-Delhi Rajdhani Express train near Phillaur Railway Station late last night.

The Government Railway Police incharge Vijay Kumar told this correspondent here today that deep mental depression was said to be the cause of suicide as Kuldip Singh, elder brother of the deceased was levanter of few persons who were repeatedly insisting him to returned back their loan amount of Rs 1.10 lakh and the deceased was in deep depression and took the extreme step. The GRP has registered a case and has sent the body for the postmortem examination to the Civil Hospital, Phillaur.

In a second mishap, Kamaljit Singh of Ali Mohalla, Jalandhar, fell down from a running train near Ladhowal between Phillaur and Ludhiana last night.

Kamaljit died on the spot. The victim was standing in the middle of the opened door of the train and fell down from the train due to sudden jerks.

Jagraon, June 23,
The Jagraon Sadar police has arrested one person and seized a huge quantity of habit forming drugs from his possession. The accused has been identified as Balvir Singh, a resident of Mehal Kalan town near Barnala.

As per the information, the accused was arrested by a police team from Hathur police chowki near Lamme village. Hathur police post incharge Nidhan Singh revealed that a police party had set up a Naka near Lamme village and saw a person coming from the Hathur side. "On seeing the police party, the accused got afraid. On searching him, the police recovered 700 tablets of phinotol and 14 bottles of cough syrup from his possession," stated Nidhan Singh.

During the initial investigation, the accused has confessed of being involved in supply drugs for last many months. The police has registered a case against the accused Balvir Singh at Hathur police chowki and started the investigation.