Jalandhar, August 5
A two-hour-long spell of rain in the city this morning inundated various city areas, inconveniencing commuters and residents.

The momentary relief it brought was reduced to a naught, as water-filled sreeets gave a hard time to residents.

While it remained humid during the rest of the day, the morning spell threw life out of gear in various low-lying areas or those with faulty sewerage systems.

The Pathankot bypass, Rama Mandi approach road, Railway Road, 120-foot road, Basti Bawa Khel, parts of Basti Peerdad and Basti Sheikh, Kapurthala Road, Ladowali Road and areas near Cantt like Deep Nagar, Golden Colony, Mehnga Singh Colony, among others remained flooded with water.

Talking to The Tribune, Karishma Bhatia, a Deep Nagar resident, said, “Due to the ongoing sewerage work in the area, roads have been dug up, leading to water accumulation in the streets. Leave alone cycles or scooters, even cars have been getting stuck up in the area.”

On the Ladowali road, commuters had a hard time wading through the waters.

A resident of one of the colonies near the area said, “Even a bit of rain throws life out of gear in the area and there isn’t even an alternative route which we can take to escape the ankle deep waters.”

Jalandhar, August 5
With a view to plugging stamp duty evasion, the revenue authorities have directed the sub-registrars to get a new pro forma of transactions filled from all applicants coming for getting the power of attorneys done.

The sub-registrars have also been directed to register the documents which reflect the transaction, take details of the bank account of the buyer and seller, get copies of bank statement, amount paid and received and PAN number of buyer and seller to verify the mentioned details.

The details thus furnished would also be passed onto the Income Tax department for checking further evasion of the taxes. Director Income Tax (intelligence and criminal investigation) had in a recent communiqué also sought the details of all such transactions through the circle revenue officers concerned.

Deputy Commissioner Priyank Bharti had yesterday passed on the instructions to the revenue department officials after a meeting on the issue. At the meeting, the officials had said that the number of registries done in a month were almost equivalent to the number of power of attorneys, which meant that there were very few genuine buyers.

“On most of the occasions, the land was just changing hands between property dealers, who were not just avoiding stamp duty but also evading income tax. All those documents, including power of attorney which falls under the provisions of the Indian Registration Act 1908, have to be registered in time as per the law. Wherever there has been a transaction involved, stamp duty has to be levied as per the Indian Stamp Act 1899,” SDM-1 Iqbal Singh Sandhu clarified.

The officials have further directed the revenue officials to register only those transactions which they find genuine and initiate relevant inquiry in all suspicious cases.

Jalandhar, August 5
The cadets of NCC-1 Punjab Air Squadron, who are part of the Annual Training Camp (ATC) being held at the Dogra Ground in the cantonment, had to participate in para-sailing in the civil dress here yesterday.

The two-day long para-sailing adventure which began on Saturday morning at the Army helipad witnessed majority of the cadets, especially fresh recruits, dressed in civil dresses. Hardly a handful of the cadets were seen in NCC Air Wing uniform. Clad in civil dresses with sports shoes on, the cadets were seen having flying experience.

“We have been told that the uniforms would be supplied shortly. But we don’t know how long it would take to get the uniforms,” said some of the cadets.

Even during the Independence Day and Republic Day parades, the cadets are seen arranging uniforms from fellow cadets. “It has almost become a practice to see the fresh cadets borrowing uniforms from their seniors or those who are not participating in event. This problem has been going on for the past three or four years,” said an officer.

A group of cadets maintained that ever since they joined the NCC Air Wing, they had been eagerly waiting for their uniforms. “Donning the Air Wing uniform is a charm. Even today, many cadets got their pictures clicked while para-sailing at the helipad but we were dressed in civvies,” the cadets added.

Recently NCC Director General Lt Gen PS Bhalla during his visit to the NCC 1 Punjab Air Squadron had maintained the delay in the supply and the shortage of uniforms would be solved soon.

Around 320 cadets from Jalandhar, Nawashahr and Hoshiarpur are taking part in the camp out of which ten cadets would be taken to the Amritsar International Airport for flying in micro-light aircrafts.

Commanding Officer, NCC-1 Punjab Air Squadron, Wing Commander Randhir Singh, said the para-sailing event was focused at providing flying exposure to the cadets. “Today’s event is part of the ATC which is focused on making the cadets aware of flying. While some cadets have joined the NCC for adventure, there are others who are serious about pursuing a career in the Air Force. We will be take select ten cadets, including five girls, for flying to Amritsar on August 10,” Singh said.

Jalandhar, August 5
Barely had patients been moved to the new ward of the local Civil Hospital that the wing has become home to many troubles.

Call these infrastructural blues, heavy dependence of regional medical units on the local Civil Hospital or plain negligence, patients at the maternity ward are yet again a miserable lot.

Sample this: A family sat with their day-old baby on a cot near the polluted parking lot as it was too hot inside the maternity ward.

Naresh Kumar (from Jaitewali) and Sunny (Dheena village near Jamsher), whose wives are currently getting treated at the ward, said they themselves cleaned the bathroom of the new maternity wing yesterday because “it was horribly dirty and filled with water. You couldn’t use it without getting wet”.

Manjinder and Baljinder, two patients from Dayalpur and Roopnagar, respectively, lay on the same beds until this morning.

While Manjinder had had an abortion, Baljinder shared a bed with her even as she was in labour!

On Friday night, 103 women were laid in less than 50 beds at the maternity ward.

There are only two nurses, one sweeper and one ward attendant for patients across the new wing and the two old maternity wards.

Even as the Civil Hospital maternity wing is said to be 100-bedded (in records), the old and new wing, in total, have not more than 50 beds.

Due to a huge inflow of cases, the hospital maternity ward is currently packed with patients. The situation is so bad that some beds in the ward are being shared by two women.

One of the smelly old wings of the maternity ward, which had been closed down due to unhygienic conditions and patient outrage earlier, has been reopened to accommodate patients.

A patient also said that while his wife would have had a normal delivery (she was recommended delivery within 48 hours), she had to be operated upon as her delivery got delayed by more than 48 hours (she was recommended from the Adampur civil hospital).

The staff, which itself seemed irked, said, “We are helpless. We have written about the shortage of beds to the authorities, but nothing has been done so far. Patients are meant to stay in the recovery room for 48 hours, but we are forced to immediately shift them to the smelly old maternity ward due to lack of beds in the recovery room (which has only eight beds). Some do not even get to stay in the air-conditioned recovery room.”

Despite media reports, better facilities have also not been ensured for the visitors waiting room, where attendants from outside stations lie on the floor at night.

People also lie down in the outer courtyard, lined by garbage on one side and standing water on the other.

The hospital suffers from another peculiar problem, “We have patients coming in from Kapurthala, Adampur, Shahkot and Hoshiarpur. All these places have their own civil hospitals. But during an emergency, we can’t deny medical care to patients.”

Two families told The Tribune that their cases had been referred to the civil hospital Jalandhar from the Shahkot and Adampur civil hospitals as doctors there said they could not handle a complicated and/or operation case.

The labour room in the new maternity wing has already begun reminding staff of the old one.

“The entire building has only eight ACs (four for the recovery room and as many for the OT). But it is closed on all sides by walls or glass. The labour room has a boiler and a refrigerator. It stinks enough that some of the nurses have felt dizzy and nauseous while delivering babies. It doesn’t even have an AC or exhaust fan, another of our requests that stays unaddressed,” the staff said.

Jalandhar, August 5
The CIA staff of the Jalandhar police (Rural) has nabbed two members of an interstate gang of highway robbers and also seized five luxury cars, a pistol and two live cartridges from their possession.

With the arrest of these two, the police claims to have solved 14 incidents of robbery and snatching on various highways in Punjab and neighbouring Haryana.

In a press release, SSP (Rural), Yurinder Singh Hayer, said the police acting on a tip-off laid a trap and nabbed Vikramjit Singh, a resident of Satiawal in Ferozepure and his aide Tarsem Singh of Abohar. Six others members of the gang-- Amandeep Singh of Satiawal, Inderpreet Singh of Chandigarh, Nitish of Dharmsala (HP), Sonu of Ludhiana, Lorance Bakshi of Abohar and Jaggu of Yamunanagar-- are still absconding, he said.

The SSP, however, did not reveal the site from where the accused were nabbed but said the gang was active in Ludhiana, Bhathinda, Panchkula Naraingarh, Doraha, Sirsa, Yamunanagar apart from several places in Chandigarh and Himachal Pradesh.

The SSP said the gang stopped luxury cars on highways during night and rob their owners at gunpoint. Thereafter, they would change the registration plates of the snatched vehicles, he added.

Jalandhar, August 5
Rain brought misery to a migrant family following the death of its only bread-earner at a rubber industry in the Gautam Nagar area in Basti Bawa Kel here this morning.

Hailing from Uttar Pradesh, Arvind Kumar Jaiswal was employed with Amar Rubbers for the past over six years and used to stay at the factory complex with his wife and a son.

According to information, rainwater entered the factory premises this morning, submerging electric motors inside a room attached to Arvind’s room.

Unaware of the fact that rainwater must be electrically charged, Arvind started flushing out the water and reportedly got a major electric shock.

Hearing the shrieks of his wife who rushed to his rescue, labourers of nearby industrial units assembled at the spot. Subsequently, the factory owner, who resides in Amritsar, was informed about the incident.

The body was later handed over to the family after the postmortem examination at the Civil Hospital.

The police initiated investigation, but the case was settled after the affected family and the factory owners reached a compromise in the evening.

Jalandhar, August 5
City youth today made the most of the Friendship Day celebrating the occasion with outings, watching movies, exchanging gifts and sharing their feelings on social networking sites such as Facebook.

Since it was Sunday, the youngsters got enough time to celebrate in the company of their friends. While exchanging of flowers started early morning, a large number of youngsters thronged multiplexes to watch the latest releases.

Almost all shopping malls witnessed a huge rush of youngsters in the city. Jalandhar Tribune spoke to a cross-section of youngsters to know what friendship meant to them and why they felt the day was so special to them.

Ashwini Kumar, a college pass out, went to watch a movie with his friends. He said, “Probably this is one relation where you are free from any kind of obligations. It is simply a selfless relationship which if nurtured with care can make a person’s life truly amazing. All that a friend needs is a little love, care and support.”

“There are times in life when only a friend can support and understand us. I feel proud that I have three such friends who have always stood by me through thick and thin. They have helped me personally as well as professionally. At times, I really feel blessed,” said Jyoti, a boutique owner.

Many youngsters also sent flowers to their friends to make them feel special on this day. Jyoti Sharma who sent a bouquet to her friend, said, “Although there are no necessary give-and-take in friendship but my friend has been a pillar of support for me and I cherish this bond. In fact, I feel it is a lifelong investment. Friends in one’s life are real treasures.”

Those youngsters who had their friends abroad remained confined to Facebook to share their feelings. “I sent my friendship message through Facebook. I also posted friendship pictures and quotes to express how much I missed my friends on this day. Friends are God-sent apostles and one should never let their best friends go,” said another youngster.

Even in the evening, city markets were flooded with youths at various shopping malls. Eating joints remained flooded. “We exchanged some small gifts to celebrate this day. This is the day to salute the eternal bond of friendship and we had a wonderful time together,” a group of girls said.

Jalandhar, August 5
Ram Kakkar and Suraj Kakkar, twin brothers from the city, have brought laurels to their institution by bagging the first two positions in the civil engineering final year examination in the state. The examination was conducted by the Punjab State Technical Board.

The brothers, who are from Mehr Chand Polytechnic College, stood first and second respectively in the state by scoring 85 and 84 per cent aggregate marks.

Suraj has already got placement with ACC Cement. However, the duo has decided to pursue B.Tech from Guru Nanak Dev Engineering College, Ludhiana.

“Our teachers guided us to pursue B.Tech in civil engineering as it would get us better paid jobs,” they quipped. An elated Ram Kakkar, who stood first in the state, said that it was a thrilling news for them.

“We had secured first and second positions during the last semester too. Even in Class X Punjab School Education Board examination, I had scored 82 per cent marks while Suraj had scored 81 per cent. We are sure to continue the success story in B.Tech as well,” Ram said.

About their study regimen, the brothers said they were guide, tutor, friends and critic for each other.

“It was a joint effort. Every day, we would study what was taught in the class and make notes without fail. We would study to ensure no topic was left untouched,” they said.

The twins also thanked their lecturers Sanjay Mahajan and Rajeev Bhatia for their success. “We did not took tuition till date. Ultimately, it is self study which makes a difference.”

Since they used to bag first and second positions in earlier classes also, they got scholarships from the Punjab State Technical Board.

“Our father has a private job and the scholarships were a great help for us,” they remarked.

The brothers were felicitated by their principal Dr Jagroop Singh along with faculty of the Civil Engineering Department today.

Jalandhar, August 5
Protesting against the anti-trader policies of the Punjab government, members of the Metal Merchant Shopkeepers’ Association, Jalandhar, has threatened to join hands with the Punjab Beopar Mandal to launch a statewide stir if the government failed to withdraw its decision of filing online billing for over Rs 2 lakh per day that had been made mandatory for steel traders.

Coming down heavily on the SAD-BJP government, association members said the Badals had promised round-the-clock electricity and other facilities to the trader community before the Assembly elections but failed to keep their promise after coming to power.

If the government continues harassing the common man with wrong policies they would not come to power again, said Satish Gupta, chairman of the association.

Traders said the government’s decision on online billing would adversely affect over 500 members of the association, which they feel would revive the days of ‘inspector raj’. The members are small-scale traders who are unable to appoint fulltime accountants to maintain their computerised records, Gupta said.

In addition to online billing, the association feels the present electricity tariff hike will ruin the industry. Unreasonable rate of taxes by the Income Tax Department has forced the association members to come to streets, said Ponty Rajpal, association president.

Jalandhar, August 5
The Operation Green Hunt Opposition Front held a state-level convention at the local Desh Bhagat Yadgaar Hall yesterday. On the occasion, intellectuals gave a call to seek out new means for the struggle against corporate and government “atrocities”, which were causing hapless tribals and farmers to lose their precious lands.

Intellectuals like Dr BD Sharma and Himashu Kumar, who have been front-runners in raising a voice against the alleged atrocities being meted out to tribals, gave a call for a struggle against “government callousness”.

They urged the gathering, including intellectuals, comrades and farmers, to raise a voice against the constant government efforts to snatch livelihood and cultural diversity from the poor by robbing them of their land.

Himanshu Kumar brought forth the plight of the 19 Adivasis killed in the Bijapur massacre at Chattisgarh. Since the place where the event took place was a key point through which one had to pass to reach the Beladola mountains, which were home to rich minerals, it had become a coveted spot for the who’s who of the corporate world like the Tatas, Mittals, Ambanis and the like.

Jalandhar, August 5
A washerman employed with the Border Security Force (BSF) has gone missing under mysterious circumstances while he was travelling from Delhi to Jalandhar by a Punjab Roadways bus on August 1.

Mukesh, a resident of Green Model Town, was on his way to celebrate Rakhi at his native place but has not rejoined his family so far. He was posted in Bangalore.

Reports said that Mukesh’s wife Meenu received a phone call from Rakesh Singh, a Punjab Roadways conductor on the night of August 1. The conductor asked the family to collect Mukesh’s luggage he had forgotten in the bus from the former’s residence at Meerthal village near Pathankot.

Surprisingly enough, Mukesh’s mobile phone, ATM card, PAN card and identify card were found in his bag. He had reached Delhi from Bangalore by Kranti Express and subsequently boarded a Punjab Roadways bus (PB-35-1788) from the New Delhi ISBT to Pathankot in the evening that day.

The bus conductor informed the family that Mukesh and other passengers had dinner at a dhaba in Mandi Gobindgarh that night. The conductor, however, claimed he came to know about the missing passenger only after he found the luggage inside the bus at Pathankot.

Mukesh’s wife said the BSF officials shrugged off their responsibility saying he was on leave. They instead asked her to take up the issue with the Punjab police.

The family brought the issue to the notice of the area Councillor Balraj Singh and they today met Jalandhar Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Sarbjit Singh regarding this.

The DCP advised the family to file a complaint with the Mandi Gobindgarh police since the area where Mukesh disappeared from falls under the jurisdiction of the Mandi Gobindgarh police station. 

Jalandhar, August 4
Around 18 budding boxers will be selected from the ongoing 28th State Sub Junior Boxing Championship for the national boxing championship to be held in August last week in Maharastra.

This was revealed by Jails and Cultural Affairs Minister, Sarwan Singh Phillaur, on the second day of the championship at the DAV Institute of Engineering and Technology (DAVIET) here. Phillaur also announced a grant of Rs 1 lakh for the championship.

The minister said India has become a name to reckon with at the international level in this sport. He added the state government had formed a sports policy under which the non-government organisations had also been roped in for the promotion of sports.

Further, the chairman of New Generation Youth Academy, Vijay Sampla, said the academy was started from village level and it would soon produce good boxers for the Asiad and the Olympics. As many as 495 boxers from across the state are participating in this championship.