Jalandhar, September 18
It has taken the Local Bodies Department 10 months to serve a chargesheet on five municipal corporation (MC) employees, who had been indicted in an inquiry conducted in the death of a five-year-old Nepalese boy who had fallen in an open manhole at the Basti Peer Daad locality here.

While the tragic incident had taken place way back on November 25 last year, the chargesheet was served just last week. Those who have been asked to reply include Satnam Singh, who retired as Executive Engineer (O&M) a few months back, Ravinder Singh, SDO, Rajesh Puri, JE of the same department, and Banwari Lal and Hira Lal, sewer supervisors. MC Commissioner Vinay Bublani confirmed having received a communiqué in this regard.

Despite the fact that the inquiry had been initiated the very next day after the incident, the Local Bodies officials kept on sitting over the matter, taking no further action. Chief Vigilance Officer VP Singh had visited the city a day after the incident, took statements of the MC employees on the issue and sent his report within a month after the incident.

The officer had also reportedly recommended action against the SDO and the JE of the B&R Department who had laid a road in the Kutcha Kot locality there, ignoring the report of the breaking of the manhole cover during the work. The names of the B&R officials, however, do not figure in the list of the employees who have been chargesheeted.

It is perhaps because the victim Sagar was the son of a daily labourer that no social body or welfare organisation ever raised a voice on the matter to ensure justice for the poor family. Director Local Bodies Ashok Kumar Gupta said he had joined the post just two months ago and could not comment on the matter. Bublani, too, had a similar reply.

The family that resides at Maharaja Garden, however, had got Rs 2 lakh as compensation, Rs 1 lakh from the DC and Rs 1 lakh from the Municipal Corporation. Sonia, victim's mother, said she had bought a small agricultural land in Ferozepur in the name of her son using the compensation amount.

Jalandhar, September 18
Taking notice of the death by electrocution of Anil Rail, a youth working as a helper at a moulding factory, a city-based NGO Bachpan Bachao Andolan (BBA) today met the DC, demanding action against the factory owners.

Anil had been working at the factory Sham Sunder Enterprises on the night of September 15 (Saturday) when he died due to electrocution from an electric fan.

In their letter submitted to the DC, BBA activists demanded that the medical report of Anil be made available to determine his actual age.

Notably, even as factory owner Sham had insisted that Anil was 20 years old, activists of the NGO Purvanchal Mahasabha had alleged that Anil was 14-year-old and it was on their insistence that the factory owner agreed to get a post-mortem conducted.

Talking to The Tribune, BBA activist Dinesh Kumar revealed that during his conversation with the factory owner today, factory owner Sham told him that Anil had been working at the factory and staying there as well.

“It is clear that since he was alone here, he was putting up at the factory. Hence, we have demanded action against the owner as per the Child Labour Act (after medical examination), Bonded Labour Act and the JJ Act and requisite sections of the IPC,” Kumar said.

The BBA has also demanded that compensation for the family of the labourer be awarded by the factory owner.

“We also demand that the trafficker who brought the child here be found and requisite action be taken against him,” Kumar said.

Copies of the demand letter have also been forwarded to Chief Secretary Punjab, National Human Rights Commission and the Chairman of BBA, Delhi.

“Interestingly, when we asked the factory owner why his parents were not called when Anil died, he told us the parents were informed about Anil’s death but they did not come,” Kumar said.

Deputy Commissioner Priyank Bharti said he had asked the Assistant Labour Commissioner and Deputy Director, Factories, to look into the case.

Talking to The Tribune, Assistant Labour Conmmissioner responsible for the area, said, “I have talked to the owner and an FIR has been registered against him. The FIR mentions 19 as the age of the labourer. But we are looking into the case and if any other shortcoming is found in the way things were managed at the factory, we will take the requisite action.”

Jalandhar, September 18
Two days after the electrocution of photojournalist Akhilesh Kumar, Municipal Corporation officials seem to be on a cover-up mode trying to protect their skin as well as that of streetlight contractor of the Maqsudan area where the tragedy took place.

Narinder Singh, officiating Superintending Engineer (O&M) of the area, said he could not personally check each and every point. “There are as many as 20,000 points in my area. It is not practically possible for me to go around and check each and every point,” he said.

Vinay Bublani, Commissioner, said the enquiry had been started by Joint Commissioner Anupam Kler. “We will take action as per her report which she is expected to file in a week’s time,” he said. Asked as to what action was likely to be taken against contractor Inderjit Bajaj, he said: “We will wait for a report from the Joint Commissioner on this issue, too”.

Asked as to what preventive measures were being taken to ensure no similar mishaps in future, the Commissioner said he had asked his O&M staff to work day in and day out to ensure covering of all bare wire ends and joints hanging loose from streetlight poles.

Balvir Singh, SHO Police Station Division No. 1, said an FIR had now been lodged by name against Inderjit Bajaj under Section 304. He said his team was on a lookout for him to make the arrest.

Meanwhile, Akhilesh was cremated at Harnamdasspura ground. Members of the media fraternity and politicians attended his funeral. Mediapersons also gathered at the Punjab Press Club to offer their condolences.

They raised a demand of Rs 5 lakh as compensation from the government and a job for the wife of the deceased. They demanded the arrest of the contractor, while seeking action against Powercomm and MC officials responsible for the laxity.

They also decided to meet the Deputy Commissioner and the Police Commissioner in this regard tomorrow while holding a candle march over the issue.

Jalandhar, September 18
Two days ahead of the mayoral elections, the BJP today again held an exercise to seek opinion from its core committee members over the issue of the candidature for the top post in the Jalandhar municipal corporation (MC).

A dozen-odd members of the core committee, including MLAs Bhagat Chunni Lal and KD Bhandari, former Mayor Rakesh Rathour, party office-bearers Subhash Sud, Saroj Malhotra, Anil Sachar and Mahinder Bhagat, attended a meeting in Chandigarh. Former minister Manoranjan Kalia, however, could not make it to the meeting.

Jalandhar, September 18
A delegation of Pakistan-passport-holding Hindu families today met Jalandhar Deputy Commissioner Priyank Bharti, asking for Indian citizenship to 75 Pakistan Hindu persons staying in the district.

While there are a total of about 200 Pakistan Hindu families in Jalandhar, the affidavits for the citizenship of 125 of these families were recently cleared for the Indian citizenship from the state and forwarded to the Central Government. The request regarding 75 more individuals, whose cases for citizenship are yet to be forwarded, was made today.

Led by Surinder Kumar Billa, chairman, All India Hindu Shiv Sena, these families, which returned from Pakistan and have been staying in India for the past 10 to 20 years, claimed that their day-to-day lives and socio-economic status had been hit because of their lack of an Indian citizenship. The affidavits of the 125 persons (which have been cleared) were submitted to Jalandhar Deputy Commissioner Priyank Bharti, who forwarded these to the Punjab Home Department after due verification. From there, they were advanced to the Union Home Ministry.

The remaining families rued that due to the lack of citizenship, after every couple of years, they were supposed to get their passports renewed, failing which they would be considered illegal.

Most of the men, who have returned from Pakistan, have been working as labourers.

Talking about the trouble that Indian Hindu families have undergone in Pakistan, Surinder Kumar Billa said, "Of the 175 families that recently came from Pakistan to Jodhpur, one of the men was denied any land in Pakistan to cremate his father. He was told their land will get dirty if they let him cremate his father there."

"Families told me their homes were raided and their girls were taken away. Some of the families, when they sought recourse through Pakistan courts in such situations, in turn, had the Balsphemy Act slapped on them,” Billa added.

Banarsi Lal (54), who came to India in 1980, said, "Nobody wants to give us jobs. The same crisis looms large over the future of our children."

Shakuntala, who stays at Kabir Nagar here, said, "Until we get our citizenship cleared, we cannot hope for a happy future. Until the status of their father's citizenship in the country is clear, no one will give jobs to our children."

The families are not happy with the promise of a long-term visa as announced recently by the government. "What will we do with a long-term visa? Even if we get a visa for 10 years, after the term ends, we will again be back to scurrying for a renewal and moving in and out of offices. That will not work for us. We want citizenship," said Swarna, a resident of Bhargo Camp here. While some of these families even claimed they had got ration cards and voter I cards made, they said until they get a citizenship, they would be continue to feel out of place in the country and their children would not have a secure future.

Members of the Mini-Bus Operators Association, Punjab, address mediapersons in Jalandhar on Tuesday. Photo: Sarabjit Singh

Jalandhar, September 18
Thousands of passengers travelling in mini-buses plying on various link routes of Punjab should get ready for bearing the brunt of steep hike in the diesel price. The state transport department may increase the fare of nearly 5,500 mini-buses plying on various link routes.

According to information, currently 66 paise per km is charged for travelling in the mini-bus. This fare was fixed two years ago.

Now after the Rs 5.56-increase in the diesel price per litre in the state after adding VAT, the Punjab Mini Bus Operators Association has demanded from the state transport department to increase at least 40 per cent fare of the mini buses.

Justifying their demand, association president Jasbinder Singh Grewal, and its general secretary Tarlok Singh Batala said, “The price of the diesel has been increased by Rs 8.10 per litre since the mini bus fares were revised in 2010. Besides the rates of chassis, spare parts, maintenance expenditure and taxes have been increased from 35 to 50 per cent during the past two years.”

Grewal and Batala also demanded from Manmohan Singh-led UPA government to roll back the steep hike in the diesel price. They said, “If the diesel price is not rolled back soon, the mini-bus operators will observe a one-day strike on Thursday.”

The association representatives further stated, “If the state transport department did not increase at least 40 per cent fare of mini buses, they would start an indefinite strike.”

They also demanded that the minimum fare of the mini-buses should be increased from Rs 5 to Rs 10, the single-length of mini buses should be increased from 25 km to 31 km, adda fees should be charged only once daily and annual motor vehicle tax of Rs 30,000 should be waived off to the mini-bus operators on the lines of normal bus operators.

The association representatives also demanded, “The roads in the rural areas should be reconstructed and repaired as the case may be, as their condition is very bad compared to the main roads due to which the maintenance expenditure of mini-buses increases a lot.”