Jalandhar, June 28
The MC authorities were caught napping again. Jaundice and diarrhoea cases have been reported from Basti Peerdad in Ward No. 42 due to mixing of sewage water with the main line supplying potable water.

Residents say five cases of jaundice and at least 10 cases of diarrhoea have been reported in the area. Residents complain that they have been receiving contaminated water for the past over two months, but the problem aggravated since the past few days. Many residents of the area, including children, are suffering from water borne diseases.

Residents say they have approached former councillor Kirpal Singh Buti and the present councillor Baldev Singh a number of times, but to no avail. Dejected, residents of the area today submitted a written complaint to Municipal Commissioner Vinay Bublani.

Gurdev Kaur, a resident of the area, said: "We have been getting muddy water in our taps. My son Jaspreet has been suffering from jaundice for the past few days. Every member of my family complains of bad stomach or nausea."

(From the top) Kulwinder Kaur with her son Jaspreet, Surinder Singh with his daughter Navdeep Kaur and Gurvinder Kaur with her daughter Gursheen Kaur, who have been suffering from jaundice. Photos: Sarabjit Singh

Surinder Singh, another resident, said: "It's been a persistent problem for the past five to six years. We are now getting water from a relative's submersible pump because both my children are down with jaundice."

Rajesh Agnihotri, vice-president of the Youth Congress and a resident of the area, said: "The fault lies with the MC. A special motor has been designated to pump sewage water from unapproved colonies. The road outside the Singh Sabha Gurdwara in Basti Peer Daad lies constantly clogged. Sewage water also clogs toilets of some residents of the area. The excess sewage water on the road is mixing with the drinking water."

"Earlier, a MC team dug up pits all along the main road to ensure proper sewerage system. But the pits have added to the problem, leading to clogging. Four days ago, I filed a complaint with the MC regarding sewage water. I have its registration number. We went to meet the MC Commissioner yesterday again, but he wasn't available, so we submitted our complaint today. Even as the health teams visited the area today, the MC authorities never provided us with an alternative drinking water arrangement," added Rajesh Agnihotri.

Meanwhile, a team of health officials, including multi-purpose supervisor Dr Sansar Chand and epidemiologist Dr Satish Kumar visited the area today and collected water samples. Dr RL Bassan, District Health Officer, said: "We have reports of five jaundice and 10 diarrhoea cases in the area. The cause of the outbreak is the mixing of sewage water with the drinking water supply. We have written to the MC to take adequate measures in this regard to stop the seepage."

The authorities also distributed 4,000 chlorine tablets among residents of the area, 792 people were checked and 302 houses of the area were visited. Health officials also asked the residents to boil water before consuming.

The president of the Youth Congress Kaku Ahluwalia visited the Basti Peerdad area today and later met MC Commissioner Vinay Bublani to urge him to make arrangements to ensure supply of clean drinking water in the area.

Jalandhar, June 28
The police has booked a resident of Mujaffar Nagar, Narinder Singh, on the charges of killing a woman, identified as Anita, a mother of two.

The police said Narinder Singh, alias Raju, had developed illicit relations with Anita. He allegedly eliminated her at his rented accommodation at Chandan Nagar in Kartarpur.

The incident took place last evening when Anita and her friend Meena had gone to get milk from a nearby village. Narinder Singh took Anita to his place and allegedly killed her. The accused then informed Anita's daughter on phone that he had killed her mother, the police said.

Talking to the Tribune, Som Nath, sub-inspector, Kartarpur, revealed that Anita's husband Ashok was a small-time shopkeeper in Mujaffar Nagar.

Ashok came to know about his wife's illicit relations with Narinder and shifted his family to Amritsar and then to Lehragaga, but this did not deter Anita and Narinder.

Anita even left her family and spent nearly one-and-a-half-year with Narinder. She then rejoined Ashok in Lehragaga and later the family migrated to the Arya Nagar area in Kartarpur, the SI revealed.

Narinder again shifted to Kartarpur almost two months ago and the duo again started spending time together in and around the Chandan Nagar area, the SI revealed.

He said that preliminary investigations revealed that Anita was poisoned to death as her body had turned blue and blood was oozing from her nostrils and an eye. The exact cause of the death could be known after post-mortem, the SI added. The police has registered a case under Section 302 of the IPC against Narinder Singh who is still at large. The police has launched a hunt to nab him.

Jalandhar, June 28
The Jalandhar Municipal Corporation has planned to construct multi-tier parking lots at 15 sites in the city in the next few years.

The proposal has been mooted following a comprehensive mobility plan submitted by a private company - Egis India - during a recent survey of civic amenities of the city. The MC already has two basement parking lots, including outside its own office at PNB Chowk and another near Narinder Cinema. The civic body now plans to start work at Jyoti Chowk. The MC plans to acquire a vacant site of the provincial government near the police station division no. 4 and convert it into a multi-level parking lot which will be used by visitors to Rainak Bazaar, Civil Hospital, Red Cross Market and several commercial buildings in the vicinity.

The MC also has plans to have double basement parking near Shastri Chowk at its old workshop site which has been demolished now. There is a proposal to have a multi-tier parking lot near the DC office, said SE (B&R) Kulwinder Singh.

The MC has eight earmarked parking sites along roadsides, including one at Police Lines near passport office, outside Hotel Leo, DC office, outside SBI near Namdev Chowk and another near Satnam Motors at BMC Chowk.

All busy areas, including Model Town, Mai Hiran Gate, Dilkhusha Market, the Civil Hospital area and sites in front of hospitals, hotels and restaurants remain jam-packed with cars owing to lack of parking space.

Jalandhar, June 28
Somali Vij, a student of Police DAV Public School, Jalandhar, visited Japan under JENESYS (Japan East-Asia Network of Exchange of Students and Youths) - an initiative of the Japanese government to invite students from East-Asian countries to visit Japan and to know its people, culture, education and technology.

The Human Resource Development Ministry initiated the exchange from the Indian side. A nine-day visit funded by the Japanese government comprised 92 students and eight teachers of various schools across India. Students were divided into four groups with 23 students and two teachers in each group.

An orientation session was held at Delhi before the visit. The first two days and the last two days were spent in Yokohama - a city near Tokyo. Each group was allotted four different cities to study Japanese culture, technology and disaster prevention.

The name of Somali's group was Kobe, named after a popular city of Japan. The student visited places like Minatogawa Shrine, Edo-Tokyo Museum, SPRing 8 Facility Research Centre and Disaster Reduction Institution and the Kobe Senior High School.

The visit also included a homestay programme where the student stayed with an old Japanese couple for two days.

The Indian group was clubbed with Japanese students for the high school visit. They interacted with Japanese students and made them aware of Indian culture, traditions and education system.

On the concluding day they had a farewell party and presented their dances etc. The students also presented their findings about Japan at the YokoHama National University.

Speaking about her experience in Japan, Somali said, "Family ties are very strong and the Japanese are deeply rooted in culture and traditions, like India. They repel Western influences and communicate in Japanese only. Although they study English language for three years in high school, but almost all of them cannot communicate in English. So there was a lot of problem in communicating."

"Their greetings are special. They greet with bows which have different degrees, according to whether they are welcoming a person or feeling sorry," she added.

"They are worshippers of nature, their dressing and food changes with seasons. Kimonos - the loved traditional Japanese dress - changes with the age and marital status of the wearer. Like India, they prepare sweets according to the seasons. They have a large number of festivals like India," Somali quipped.

Jalandhar, June 28
The Punjab Sports Department is all set to hold trials in different sports wings of colleges affiliated to Guru Nanak Dev University for talented players (both boys and girls) on July 3 and July 4.

The trials of girls would be held on July 3 and for boys on July 4 at State Sports College, Kapurthala Road, Jalandhar.

District sports officer Rakesh Kaushal said as many as 17 games would be covered under these trials. "Interested players may report at venues at 7 am on both the days. The selected players will be admitted in different colleges with facility of diet amounting Rs 200 and free sports equipment. The day scholars will get a diet amounting Rs 60 per day," he added.

Kaushal said the trials for athletics, basketball, handball, gymnastics, kabaddi, kho-kho, swimming and volleyball would be held at State Sports College while the trials for judo, boxing and football would be conducted at Lyallpur Khalsa College.

The trials of weightlifting would be held at Guru Gobind Singh stadium and the trials of table-tennis, badminton and wrestling would be held at Hans Raj Stadium. The trials of hockey and lawn tennis would be conducted at the Olympian Surjit Hockey stadium.