J A L A N D H A R    E D I T I O N

20-yr-old rescued from kidnappers
Amritsar, July 20
Several persons in a vehicle bearing blue bacon light allegedly kidnapped a 20-year-old youth here today. The incident took place just a few metres away from the Cantonment police station and office of Deputy Commissioner of Police.


The car which was allegedly used by the kidnappers. Photos: Sameer Sehgal

JE suspended for installing stolen transformer
Tarn Taran, July 20
Jagjit Singh Suchu, Deputy Chief Engineer of the local circle, Powercom (Distribution), has put under suspension the services of JE Raj Kumar for allegedly installing a stolen 6.3-kva transformer in the fields of Gurdeep Singh of Rurre Assal village.

Villagers block traffic over erratic power supply
Phagwara, July 20
Hundreds of villagers blocked the traffic on the Phagwara-Hoshiarpur and Phagwara-Banga roads and held noisy demonstrations before Phagwara and Rihana-Jattan Powercom offices in protest against the irregular power supply to their villages.

20-yr-old rescued from kidnappers
PK Jaiswar
Tribune News Service

Police Commissioner briefs the media about the kidnapping case.

Amritsar, July 20
Several persons in a vehicle bearing blue bacon light allegedly kidnapped a 20-year-old youth here today. The incident took place just a few metres away from the Cantonment police station and office of Deputy Commissioner of Police.

Atul Sharma, the victim, was rescued by the police while tracking the movement of a youth who was known to the family.

Baljinder Sharma, victim’s father, alleged that his son was kidnapped by the accused from his tuition centre at gunpoint. He was allegedly thrashed by the accused, who is allegedly a senior official in the Block Development and Panchayat Department. He alleged Atul was receiving messages from a girl, a relative of the alleged kidnappers. He said Atul did not respond to the girl’s messages.

Vikram Singh, alias Vicky, an eyewitness of the incident, said he received a call from Atul that he was being beaten up by the accused. He said he immediately reached the spot and tried to intervene. However, he alleged the accused took out a gun and bundled Atul in a car (PB-O2-AU-2171). He said he chased the vehicle and tried to convince the abductors to release him. However, he was repeatedly threatened by the accused not to follow them. He said when he reached the Attari road, he informed the police who later rescued the boy.

RP Mittal, Police Commissioner, said a case has been registered in this connection and further investigations were under progress. He however preferred not to name the accused who kidnapped the boy while pointing out that the case was under investigation. 

JE suspended for installing stolen transformer
Our Correspondent

Tarn Taran, July 20
Jagjit Singh Suchu, Deputy Chief Engineer of the local circle, Powercom (Distribution), has put under suspension the services of JE Raj Kumar for allegedly installing a stolen 6.3-kva transformer in the fields of Gurdeep Singh of Rurre Assal village.

Suchu, in a written press statement here yesterday, said Raj Kumar had stolen the transformer from the Powercom store here and installed it in the fields of Gurdeep Singh. The Deputy Chief Engineer said he had brought the stolen transformer here to deposit in the store, but as the in charge of the transformer Sarwan Singh Dhillon had gone on leave, junior engineer Raj Kumar stole it and installed it in the fields of Gurdeep Singh.

Villagers block traffic over erratic power supply
Our Correspondent

Phagwara, July 20
Hundreds of villagers blocked the traffic on the Phagwara-Hoshiarpur and Phagwara-Banga roads and held noisy demonstrations before Phagwara and Rihana-Jattan Powercom offices in protest against the irregular power supply to their villages.

Though Powercom officials, including Senior XEN Sanjeev Kumar assured them to forward their problems to the higher authorities to redress their problems as early as possible, the irate villagers expressed their deep resentment and raised slogans against Powercom officials.

Keep check on expenses, depts told
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, July 20
The Punjab Government today launched a special drive to ensure financial management in all departments for 2012-13. By issuing directions to all the departments, the Finance Department asked them to spend less money and that too with utmost care and restraint and to provide better services to the people.

Disclosing this here today, Finance Minister Parminder Singh Dhindsa said all departmental heads, commissioners of divisions and deputy commissioners had been asked to pursue austerity measures while spending money from their allocated budget. He said these departments/officers had also been asked to provide quality services to the people.