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Drug dealers' assets frozen
46 more realtors get notices from JDA
Gandhi Camp dispensary in need of more operating space
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Vehicle number plates violate norms
Continuous heavy rains make city roads go from bad to worse
Marriage Palace owner shooting case
Does police have soft corner for women accused?
Khaira dares Majithia to lead rally against corrupt ministers
Aided schools' teachers threaten stir
From colleges
Nepalese youth held for trying to fool police
Three held for threatening family for extortion
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Drug dealers' assets frozen
Jalandhar September 19 Making use of Section 68(A) of the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS), the rural police has frozen movable and immovable assets of these smugglers. The smugglers were identified as Swaran Singh, his son Sukhpreet Singh, Dibag Singh, alias Bagha, and Kulwant Singh, alias Kanti (both brothers), Varinder Pal Singh and Jaswinder Singh, alias Shinder. The rural police had sent their case to the Central Government for approval to attach their property in 2008, which has now been approved by the competent authority. Superintendent of Police (Detective) Rajinder Singh told The Tribune that out of this frozen property, the said smugglers had owned land worth about Rs 28 crore, a farmhouse of Rs 50 lakh, residential property worth Rs 1.5 crore, a car (Rs 4 lakh), two SUVs (Tata Safari valued at Rs 16 lakh), a Tata Sumo (Rs 1.50 lakh), four motorcycles (Rs 1.15 lakh), a scooter (Rs 5,000), three trucks (Rs 9 lakh), one Combine (Rs 5 lakh) and six tractors (Rs 16 lakh). He added that the police had alerted the Revenue Department and District Transport Office (DTO) about the frozen property just to prevent its sale. Six cases under the NDPS Act were registered against Swaran, followed by seven each against the other five drug dealers during the past few years. Police had also made huge recovery of narcotics from these smugglers. The SP said that only those smugglers against whom several cases of drug peddling got registered and huge quantity of narcotics got recovered, were made to bear the brunt of Section 68 (A) of the NDPS Act. “The assets of smugglers are being frozen because it is assumed that the assets are proceeds from the drug trade or from ill-gotten money,” the SP said. He claimed that before initiating the process of asset freezing, the police thoroughly inquires the source of the assets so that genuine assets, which are made from legal means, are not attached” Apart from these six cases, the SP revealed that the process to freeze the assets of 31 other notorious smugglers of the districts was already on. In the recent past, five cases of asset freezing, which were put before the competent authority, were dropped, while in one of the cases, smugglers had managed to get frozen assets back. Experts feel that the move would serve as a deterrent to drug peddlers at large in the state, as nabbing drug peddlers and then putting them behind bars is not enough. Loopholes in the judicial system are enough to make efforts of the police futile. |
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46 more realtors get notices from JDA
Jalandhar, September 19 In all, 65 developers have been served notices for not paying up dues worth lakhs of rupees on account of "Change of land use and external development charges". Venus Builders has been asked to make a payment of Rs 2.1 crore on account of the CLU and Rs 50.97 lakh for the EDC for Ramneek Avenue developed in Nurpur village in an area of 38.51 acres. The same builders have also been served another notice for defaulting an amount of Rs 2.93 lakh for South City-1 at Dasuya. South City-II, developed at Dasuya in the name of Jalandhar Construction Co. Ltd, too, has come up without the payment of dues to the tune of Rs 1.86 lakh. Another payment of Rs 2.14 lakh is also due for South City-III, coming up in the name of Venus Builders. Arora and Chopra Builders and Land Developers have defaulted an amount of Rs 94.61 lakh for 29.6 acre area developed as Jalandhar Prime Enclave at Basti Bawa Khel and Basti Peer Daad. Prominent realtor Rajan Chopra has dues worth Rs 4.79 lakh to be cleared for Rajan Enclave at Wariana, Rs 3.99 lakh for Highway Enclave at Khurampur village in Phagwara and Rs 2.28 lakh for Jalandhar Residence Villas at Wariana. The same family has dues worth Rs 2.75 lakh pending for Prince Enclave at Wariana, Rs 2.47 lakh for PPR Associates, Rs 1.25 lakh at Jalandhar Vihar Extension-II, Rs 51,681 for Jalandhar Vihar Extension-III, Rs 42,508 for Jalandhar Kunj Extension-II. Besides, Chopras had been served four notices earlier on August 30.
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Gandhi Camp dispensary in need of more operating space
Jalandhar, September 19 Situated in the Ram Nagar area, the Gandhi Camp dispensary is housed in one of the rooms in the home of former councillor Gyan Chand. The reason: the dispensary could not find an accommodation in the entire Gandhi Camp area (or its neighborhood). Interestingly, the Ram Nagar area (which falls under the jurisdiction of the Industrial Area dispensary) isn’t even catered to by the Gandhi Camp dispensary. Due to the unavailability of space in other areas, it had to be housed there. Despite the fact that the dispensary has been running from this visibly cramped space for the past more than a decade, neither the MC authorities nor the health department have bothered to make provisions for a more open and decent space for the dispensary. Area
The staff claims that the dispensary covers a population of 10,000 people and caters to the Gandhi Camp, Aman Nagar, Satnam Nagar and BSF Colony areas. Patients from the Ram Nagar area (since it is situated in it) and the Gazigullah and Dana Mandi areas also pour in despite the fact that these areas are not covered under the dispensary’s various drives. Staff
There are only four staff members at the dispensary - one MO, one pharmacist, one ANM and one class IV employee. OPD
The dispensary OPD comprises 800 to 900 people per month. Patients from Ram Nagar are common visitors to the dispensary because they stay in the neighbourhood. Infrastructure
The single room that the dispensary is housed in was given by former councillor Gyan Chand to the dispensary when efforts to arrange land elsewhere failed. While the councillor has changed, the dispensary stays on, based on the goodwill that the staff shares with the former-councillor who, staff say, has been extremely supportive. A good part of the room is occupied by the stairs that lead up from it. The dispensary barely has space to keep two tables and some chairs. There is no separate space for patients to wait. A little space behind some huge almirhas is being used to store supplies, wash utensils (make tea etc.), keep the examination table etc. Even the examination table almost doubles as a make-shift storeroom. Some spare chairs are stacked on the stairs since there is no other place to store these. Staff says for things to run smoothly, they would need at least two rooms, but so far they are making do with the cramped single one. Even waiting TB patients sit very close to the doctor because they have no other place where they can wait. Since the dispensary has no wash basin or toilet either, the staff use the ones in the councillor’s house. Diseases
The most common diseases in the area are skin problems, bronchitis, asthma, scabies and some water-borne problems due to lack of hygiene. TB, too, is common. Presently the staff is treating 12 to 13 new patients. Every month there are two to three new TB cases. Addiction is also rampant in the area. Staff says nearly 50 per cent of their women patients complain that their husbands are alcoholics and regularly beat them up. With alcoholic fathers, in some of the homes, women or children have to take to labour. Homes in the Gandhi Camp area are situated very close to each other. Most of the houses have out-of-home bathrooms almost encroaching roads. Staff says congested, haphazard homes and rampant encroachments, old pipelines (in the area) and slum-like state of affairs even in localities with pucca homes have led to many hygiene issues. Infections, TB, water-borne diseases and skin problems, thus, spread quickly. JSSY
Per month, the dispensary facilitates about seven to eight mothers as per the JSSY scheme. Most of these are institutional deliveries. BPL watch
Most of the population in the area is below the poverty line. While the staff says 60 to 70 per cent people possess BPL cards, very few have smart cards as per the RSBY scheme. |
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Vehicle number plates violate norms
Jalandhar, September 19 Of late, the plates bearing words like 'sarpanch', 'lambardar' and 'councillor' have become quite common. The use of surnames like 'Sandhu', 'Gill', 'Saini' and 'Grewal' are also often seen on vehicles. Many use words like president or secretary or vice-president of some anti-crime or anti-corruption or human rights societies. The use of portfolios like those with some safai unions or Purvanchali sabhas or panchayat associations is also rampant. If one takes a round of any parking lot in the city, the use of words like 'Kabaddi', 'Army' and 'Advocate' can be easily spotted on vehicles. Even government employees use plates like 'tehsildar' and 'police' in bold letters. Parminder Singh Bhandal, ACP Traffic, said the use of any words on vehicles other than number plates was a violation. He said, "One needs to have a permission to use any such plates. We have recently challaned many vehicles in this regard."
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Continuous heavy rains make city roads go from bad to worse
Jalandhar, September 19 Potholes and pits already existed on a number of roads. Now, they have emerged on several other roads after the recent rains. While the authorities in the Municipal Corporation said they would reconstruct or repair the roads as the case might be only after the end of the monsoon season, the city residents demanded that at least patchwork should be done to fill potholes and pits to avoid inconvenience to commuters. A number of potholes on the road between Kapurthala Chowk and Workshop Chowk, near Jyoti Chowk, Mai Hiran Gate, Garha Road, near Maqsoodan flyover and Transport Nagar flyover have been noticed during the visit of the city. Potholes and pits on the Ladowali road near the District Administrative Complex (DAC), Preet Nagar Sodal road, Gujja Peer road, Kapurthala road and Nakodar road have been widened after the recent rains. Jatinder Sharma of Kishan Pura locality said: “It has become difficult to drive on such dilapidated roads, especially during rains. It gets difficult to judge the potholes and pits due to inundation of rain water.”
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Marriage Palace owner shooting case
Jalandhar, September 19 Relatives of Kala Batra, while lambasting Bhandari, alleged that the minister had interfered in the functioning of the police and used his political clout in getting the case registered. "As my son was a Congress leader and had helped part candidate in the recent Assembly elections, due to this the minister had resorted to political vendetta," Kartar Kaur, mother of Kala Batra, said, adding that soon after the incident, the minister grabbed the opportunity to indict the Congress leader in a false case. When the incident took place, Kala Batra was sitting at home and if he had shot at the palace owner, he could have fled from home to escape police arrest, Kartar Kaur said. She demanded that the case registered against his son should be dropped and a high-level probe be ordered in the incident. When contacted, Bhandari said he had not resorted to political vendetta and used his influence to indict Batra and his brother in the case. Soon after the incident, Harbans Lal (victim) gave a statement to the police in which he named Batra and his brother Heera. When he reached the hospital, the police had already initiated the proceeding of registration of an attempt-to-murder case. "I am being blamed just because I had gone to see the victim at the hospital," the minister said. Bhandari revealed that he had even assured the relatives of Batra of help in conducting an impartial inquiry in the case. "If the relatives want, I can even help them in shifting the inquiry to the officer of their choice," the minister added. Harbans Lal’s relatives hold dharna at Workshop Chowk
Hundreds of supporters and relatives of Harbans Lal, who sustained serious bullet injury on his back, today laid a siege to Workshop Chowk protesting against the police for delaying the arrest of the remaining accused Heera in an attempt-to-murder case. Traffic was disrupted for an hour and it was only after the assurance by senior police officers that the dharna was lifted. Ashwani Narula, brother of the victim, alleged that even after several days of the registration of a case, the police was not arresting the remaining accused Heera. He said senior Congress leader Avtar Henry was supporting the accused, who had shot at his brother. "We have been assured by the Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police, Navjot Singh Mahal, that the police will soon arrest Heera," he said. |
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Does police have soft corner for women accused?
Jalandhar, September 19 Even though they are accused of separate criminal offences and FIRs have been lodged against them at different police stations, the authorities have hardly dared to nab them. In certain cases, the police seemed to be helpless due to the political patronage they have been enjoying either being close associated with political leaders from Jalandhar or their personal links with bureaucrats. The perfect examples are of three women, who are employees of the state government and are facing serious charges of corruption and abetment to suicide. Though the trio was placed under suspension after their involvement in the case, their files are gathering dust. The police authorities were tight-lipped and avoided queries. Sucheta Kalia, manager of a book depot of the Punjab School Education Board, was booked by the police on June 27. The woman, allegedly having connection with a local MLA, was found indulged in an examination fee scam worth lakhs of rupees. The second woman official is Kanta Devi, a clerk of the District Transport Office, who was booked under Section 409 of the IPC by the city police. She is accused of embezzling government funds worth lakhs of rupees and was placed under suspension. Despite raids conducted by the city police at their respective houses, the whereabouts of the duo were not known as yet. The third one is a woman police inspector Balwinder Kaur, an accused in the Shivali suicide case, who was booked for abetment to suicide and a case under Section 306 of the IPC was registered against her. She was also placed under suspension by the government.
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Khaira dares Majithia to lead rally against corrupt ministers
Jalandhar, September 19 Former Congress MLA Sukhpal Singh Khaira said, “Instead of leading a cycle rally to Raj Bhawan for protesting against increase in diesel prices, Majithia should lead a rally to the Chief Minister's residence and demand safety of public exchequer, presently under threat from its very custodians.” Khaira said, “As we are aware that three ministers of the present government have been indicted for corruption and criminal offences. The latest episode of Gulzar Singh Ranike embezzling central funds is an unparalleled one, where the minister gulped down 100 per cent of government grants. Earlier, we had heard of pilferage in government funds with poor material being used for works, but in this case the minister chose to gulp down the entire grant.” So far Majithia's protest against diesel price hike is concerned, Khaira urged the Badal government to reduce VAT on petrol and diesel, which is the highest in the country. "Petrol is Rs 6-7 costlier in Punjab than our neighbouring states, so if VAT is reduced a major relief can be provided to people in the state," he added.
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Aided schools' teachers threaten stir
Jalandhar, September 19 Teachers have threatened to hold a dharna if their salaries are not released by September 25. More than 500 teachers of the 61 government-aided schools (53 middle and secondary schools and eight primary schools) in the district have been without salary for the past seven months. A delegation of the Punjab State Aided School Teachers Union today met the District Treasury Officer in this regard and requested the officer to release their long overdue salaries for the month of March this year. Teachers said while their salaries had been released by the DPI office, it was the Jalandhar Treasury Department, which was not releasing them. Spokesperson for the union Manish Aggarwal said, "The district treasury officer told us that after July 23, payments under the grant-in-aid scheme have been stalled. But despite the fact that our salaries have come under the salary grants, the treasury office hasn't paid heed." "Salaries of aided schools' teachers in Amritsar, Hoshiarpur, etc, have been released, but we are yet to see ours," he said. "While we had only asked for the salary of March, the salaries of the remaining months will be cleared once this is cleared. The festival season is approaching and we are not able to meet the basic family needs due to the delay in the release of salaries," he added. "If our salaries are not released by September 25 (Tuesday), we will be forced to hold a dharna outside the District Treasury Office on Wednesday," Aggarwal said. |
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Talent hunt held at Paradise College of Education
Tribune News Service
Jalandhar, September 19 A skit based on the education system in Punjab was appreciated by all. Paramjit Singh was declared best actor. In poetry, Anil got the first prize, while Ruchira came second. In modelling, Suraj and Sunny got the first position and Harpreet and Bhavneet came second. Baljit and Manjit were declared best dancers. Principal Dr Alka Gupta honoured the winners and appreciated their talent. Bar training workshop
A one-day bar training workshop was held at the St Soldier Institute of Hotel Management and Catering Technology. In a live demo students were told by experts about different types of cocktails, like Bloody Mary, Kinakolanda, Tom Collins and Side Car, and mocktails like Mango, Kiwi, Mint, Kiwi Blue, Mint Julit, Coconut Fantasy, Fruit Beers and their base and how to make them presentable in different colours. Students were also told about creativity in mocktails and the progress of the wine industry in the Indian market. |
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Nepalese youth held for trying to fool police
Jalandhar, September 19 The youth has been identified as Rudar Partap, a cook. Last evening, he along with his family members had gone to attend some function at his relative's house, where he indulged in heated arguments with one of his relatives. In a furious mode, he complained at the Division No 7 police station that his mobile phone was snatched by his relative, with whom he had exchanged heated arguments. When the police reached the spot and made a phone call at his mobile phone, the drama unfolded as the mobile phone, which the Rudar complained of having been snatched, was found ringing in his pocket. A case under Section 377 of the IPC was registered against him.
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Three held for threatening family for extortion
Jalandhar, September 19 Geeta Rani had complained to the police that she had been receiving threatening calls from the three persons asking for extortion money. The trio had even threatened her with kidnapping her child. After searching the call details of the callers, the police nabbed the trio.
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