Jalandhar, September 1
The recent orders of the Punjab and Haryana High Court regarding information sought on the marriage palaces has come as an eye opener for the administration as well as the civic authorities in the district. Barely three out of the 156 palaces possess change of land use (CLU) certificates and only 23 of these had sought permission or approvals of their building plan.

The figures clearly imply that at least 133 palaces had been running in an unauthorised manner. Hardly 15 of these palaces are complying with the much important parking norms which state that 60 per cent of total area has to be left for the purpose.

The whole exercise, which the heads of the various civic bodies failed to do at their own end for years, has been made possible in five days only after the intervention of the court.

The facts also indicate that the officials concerned including inspectors and Assistant Town Planners of the building branches had been sheltering the big fish and crème-de-la of the district, who had been allowed to run their business briskly without giving two hoots to the norms laid down for the purpose.

Deputy Commissioner Priyank Bharti had asked the officials including Joint Commissioner of the Municipal Corporation and SDMs of all sub-divisions to give the details on the matter in a 13-column format by forenoon today. Till that time, the office of SDM-II only had sent the report. The report culled by the patwaris concerned had indicated that none of the 18 palaces falling in Kartarpur, Bhogpur and Jalandhar-2 sub-tehsils had CLU certificate or any permission. Further, none of the 18 palaces had 60 per cent area left for parking.

As per the report from Nakodar, two of the 16 palaces have left no parking space at all. These did not even have any alternate parking arrangement. None of the palaces have taken any CLU certificate or any permission. Two palaces here, however, had more than 60 per cent parking space.

Similarly, Phillaur and Shahkot sub-divisions also have all 30 and 14 palaces, respectively, running without due permission of the Municipal Committees concerned.

In Jalandhar-1 tehsil, there are three palaces --- Bath Castle, Manila Resorts and Nandini Resorts --- which claim to possess CLU certificates. The column regarding details of official concerned from whom the sanction had been taken had relevant details missing. The report put forth by the patwari concerned for Manila Resorts read that the CLU documents had been kept in lockers by the owners and he could not get hold of the same to verify the name of the official.

Owners of Maharaja Palace in Adampur and Vrindavan Palace on Hoshiarpur Road too had claimed to have taken permission from MC Adampur and PUDA, respectively.

Only 15 of the 55 marriage palaces falling in the limits of the MC Jalandhar have due approvals, said Tejpreet Singh, Municipal Town Planner. He said none of these palaces had a CLU certificate as none of these came up after 2009, since orders on getting CLU were passed. He said the remaining 30 palaces would have to get their building plans approved now. “The owners of these palaces would also have to pay CLU charges in case they apply for sanction of maps at this stage,” he said adding that only 20 palaces complied with parking norms with the rest having earmarked space less than 60 per cent.

The owners of these palaces, which did not take approvals of their building plan will also have to pay CLU charges in case they apply for sanction of maps at this stageRs

— Tejpreet Singh, Municipal Town Planner

Jalandhar, September 1
The Prem Chand Markanda SD College for Women mourned the death of its student, Shivali, who committed suicide after being harassed by the police and some photojournalists on Thursday.

The atmosphere in the college was pretty different in comparison to any other day at the college.

A poster, reading ‘I want Justice; RIP (rest in peace) Shivali; Shame on Punjab police and press media’ was hung outside the main gate of the college today.

Later in the day, however, it was observed that the ‘press media’ part of the poster was mysteriously torn off. A mourning session was held during the morning assembly and tributes were paid to Shivali.

Sources said the mood in the college was pensive.

While Friday was declared a holiday owing to Shivali’s suicide, the college closed at 1 pm earlier than its usual schedule today. Throughout the day, Shivali’s suicide remained the topic of discussion among students, who were angry over the role of the police and media in Shivali’s suicide.

College principal Kiran Arora, said, “The posters outside the college were hanged by the family members of Shivali who came to the college this morning. Students were upset about the entire episode.”

Talking about the recent spate of suicides among the youth, Arora said, “What happens to a student when he or she leaves the college is not in our hands. The life of a student outside the college is their choice and their own decisions. But above all, respecting the gift of life is very important. Various pressures seem to be weighing heavier on students these days than the value for their lives. This is a sorry trend that needs to be curbed. We also plan to talk to college students on Monday to urge them to be stronger in the face of adversity.”

Jalandhar, September 1
The Crime Investigation Agency (CIA) nabbed three persons with 500 grams of heroin, worth Rs 3 crore in the international market, in two different incidents.

The accused were on their way to supply the contraband to their clients in the city. The accused were identified as Joga Singh of Kurali village, Amarjit Singh of Abadaan village and Surjit Kumar of Bajuhakhurd village.

Naresh Kumar, Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime), said acting on a tip-off, the CIA in charge Kewal Krishan along with a police party intercepted Joga Singh and Amarjit Singh at a naka near the Punjab Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS).

The police seized 250 grams of heroin from their possession. The ADCP said during preliminary investigation, the accused told the police that they had brought the contraband from Sonu of Mehtabgarh village near Kapurthala.

A case under relevant sections of the NDPS Act has been registered. In the second incident, the police seized another consignment of heroin weighing 250 gram from Surjit. The accused revealed that he had procured the contraband from Harshipinder Singh of Bajuha Khurd village.

Jalandhar, September 1
Demanding registration of criminal cases against the woman police inspector Balwinder Kaur and photojournalists who forced a student of the SD College to commit suicide, the District Youth Congress Committee submitted a memorandum to the Inspector General of Police, Jalandhar Zone, Gurpreet Deo.

Human rights activists also staged a protest outside the office of the Assistant Commissioner of Police (Traffic) here today.

In a memorandum, Paramjit Singh Bal, president of the DYC committee, said the traffic police personnel, led by Inspector Balwinder Kaur, and photojournalists harassed the girl so much that she took the extreme step.

The committee also alleged that the woman cop had the habit of calling photojournalists and getting herself clicked when she “harassed” youths and ‘lovebirds’ in public view.

Meanwhile, certain human rights activists, associated with the BJP, also gheraoed the traffic police station in protest against the inhuman treatment meted out to the college girl.

They also raised slogans against the traffic police and demanded registration of a case against woman inspector under Section 306 (abetment of suicide) of the IPC. The protestors dispersed after the ADCP (Traffic) Sukhdev Singh reached the spot and accepted a memorandum of their demands.

Jalandhar, September 1
A 10-month-old baby died of electrocution in the wee hours after he accidentally came in contact with an electrical appliance at his residence in New Shivaji Nagar.

The infant, identified as Samar, was sleeping with his mother on a cot in the courtyard. The family had placed a standing fan near the cot to beat the heat.

When the infant woke up, his hand accidentally came in contact with the standing fan and he received electric shock.

His mother woke up to shrieks of the child.

The victim’s mother raised an alarm and apprised other family members about the incident. The child was immediately rushed to the Civil Hospital in Jalandhar where doctors declared him brought dead.

Jalandhar, September 1
There is something about government dispensaries housed on the premises of religious institutions, which makes them work better than their counterparts.

While the rest grapple with irregular supplies, lack of repair funds and unkempt infrastructure; dispensaries located inside premises of religious institutions stay afloat probably due to a congenial atmosphere and regular charitable support.

The civil dispensary in Basti Gujan, housed on the premises of a gurdwara in the area, is one such dispensary. The dispensary has been known to provide fairly good medical services, thanks to the joint efforts of the staff, community, the gurdwara and the administrative head of the area that it is situated in.

Jalandhar, September 1
Allegedly tortured by her in-laws over dowry, a woman committed suicide at her residence near Nakodar Chowk on Saturday. The deceased was identified as Kamaljit Kaur.

On the basis of a statement given by deceased’s parents, the police had arrested Kamaljit’s father-in-law Harnam Singh, mother-in-law Amarjit Kaur, brother-in-law Bunty and sister-in-law Beero. A case under Section 304 B (dowry death) of the IPC has been registered against them.

Earlier, Amarjit Kaur told the police that Kamaljit was alone at home and when she came back in the afternoon, she found her daughter-in-law hanging from the ceiling fan.

She also claimed that Kamaljit was planning to go Germany, but she was dejected when her papers were rejected a few days ago. SHO Surinder Pal Singh said no suicide note was recovered from the spot and further investigation was going on.

Jalandhar, September 1
The Robotics and Intelligent System Community of Lovely Professional University (RISC-LPU) organised second annual ‘Tech-o-Vision’ to guide the university’s first-year engineering students regarding working with robots.

More than 600 students of mechanical, electrical, electronics and computer engineering put on tremendous competitive efforts. Students participated enthusiastically in interesting competitions like Robo-soccer, Mantle-Dismantle, Steady Hand, Tech-o-Freak and others.

During Robo-soccer, participants scored goals by operating the robots, in Mantle-Dismantle, they competed by dismantling and assembled a bicycle in just 15 minutes and Steady Hand saw a ring followed through a wire with no touching.

Ekant, Prem and Debapriya were declared winners for both Robo-Soccer and Steady Hands; Narendra, Deepesh, Vikas Raman for Mantle-Dismantle and Rahul, Kapil, Deepak for Techno Freak.

Two of the winners of the competitions, Debapriya and Deepesh said, “We are happy that we participated and won the competitions. We learnt more of technical skills in a practical form.”

Jalandhar, September 1
The District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum, Jalandhar, has asked a Bangalore-based doctor to refund Rs 1 lakh advanced to him by the daughter of a cancer patient, who died in 2010, on account of medicines not received by her during the course of her mother’s treatment.

In her complaint, Sonali Baboota, a resident of New Railway Colony here, said her mother Poonam Baboota had fought a long battle against gall bladder cancer and succumbed on July 20, 2010.

She said her mother had been detected with advanced stage cancer in June 2009.

Sonali said her mother had taken treatment from Nasik (in Maharashtra); Batra Hospital, New Delhi; PGI Chandigarh; Patel Hospital, Jalandhar and medicines were also taken from Dr Irfana Akhtar of Bangalore.

For the same purpose, the complainant came across a US-based website www.essence-of-life.com, which claimed to be treating the disease of cancer for more than three decades and prescribed treatment course as instructed on the website. The complainant communicated with the opposite party, Dr. Irfana Akhtar, who was the Indian counterpart of the website and started dealing with him. The doctor prescribed cancer therapy and regularly issued directions for the same vide various emails suggesting the mode of treatment and the medicines which were to be taken by her mother.

The complainant said she acted as per the directions of the doctor and with an endeavour to save her ailing mother, she deposited an amount of Rs11,706 in the account of opposite party having account no.13001000011512 on May 15, 2010, which was credited to the account of opposite party. The medicines were also received within a fortnight of the date of payment made by the complainant.

Consequently, another batch of medicines was ordered on June 17, 2010, and amount of Rs 23,500 was deposited in the same account on that day. The medicines were delivered within a fortnight, the complainant said.

Thereafter yet another batch of medicines were ordered by her and amount of Rs1 lakh was deposited directly to the same account from the account of the complainant vide RTGS which was duly debited in the account of the complainant. The medicines of this consignment were to be delivered to the complainant by July 8, 2010 making time an essence of the contract.

The doctor, however, failed to deliver the above ordered medicines and ultimately the ailing mother of the complainant succumbed to cancer and expired on July 20, 2010. The medicines which were to be delivered corresponding to the payment of Rs 1 lakh were never received by the complainant or her ailing mother either on due date or thereafter and the opposite party failed to deliver the medicines as it was incumbent upon them. The complainant informed the opposite party not to dispatch the medicines in wake of death of her mother, but it was informed that the medicines have already been dispatched.

However, till date she said that she had not received any medicines. Even otherwise, the very purpose of these medicines had become redundant in view of the death of her mother. She thus demanded compensation and litigation expenses.

Upon notice, the opposite party did not appear and as such was proceeded against exparte. The forum stated, “It appears that he has nothing to say in the matter. Non-sending of medicines even after receipt of Rs 1 lakh constitutes deficiency in service and unfair trade practice. The opposite party is directed to pay Rs 1 lakh along with 9 per cent per annum interest from the date of filing of the complaint till payment to the complainant within one month from the receipt of copy of this order.”

Jalandhar, September 1
Martial arts players of La Blossoms School have been selected in the Sub-Junior Punjab Sqay Martial Arts Team and participated in the 13th Sub-Junior National Sqay Championship held at Kurukshetra in Haryana organised by the Haryana Association under the banner of the Sqay Federation of India from August 24 to 26.

They won 15 medals comprising five gold, one silver and nine bronze medals in the loba and khawankey events.