Jalandhar, June 13
While a pre-monsoon rain has provided relief to the residents from extreme heat, but it has worsened the condition of the majority of city roads causing a lot of inconvenience to commuters.

As much as 23.6 mm rain was recorded today, the Meteorological Department stated.

Residents faced inconvenience as several feet-high water accumulated on the majority of roads in the city due to pre-monsoon rain today.

While pedestrians and two-wheeler-borne commuters took shelter under various buildings on the roads to protect themselves from the rain, those travelling in four-wheelers, especially cars, enjoyed the rain.

However their enjoyment lasted only for a few minutes as several feet-high water accumulated on the majority of roads in the city and surrounding areas. As a result, the vehicles were forced to move at a snail’s pace, which resulted in traffic jams on most of the city roads.

The condition of the roads was already bad due to lack of repair for the past several months because of lack of funds, their condition further worsened with the accumulation of rainwater on them.

The commuters are facing inconvenience due to dilapidated condition of roads. Potholes and pits already existed on a number of roads. Now, they have grown in size and started emerging on several other roads after the rains.

So much so, the pits located near the District Administrative Complex from Kacheheri Chowk to Ladowali Road Chowk and from Alaska Chowk to Ladowali Road Chowk have grown bigger.

While the MC authorities have been claiming for several months that they would soon reconstruct or repair the roads, but nothing has been done in this regard so far. Thanks to the acute paucity of funds with the MC.

Meanwhile, a number of potholes on the roads between Kapurthala Chowk and Workshop Chowk, near Jyoti Chowk, Mai Hiran Gate, Garha Road, near Maqsoodan flyover and Transport Nagar flyover were noticed during the round of the city.

Potholes and pits on the Preet Nagar Sodal road, Gujja Peer road, Kapurthala Road and Nakodar Road have also grown in size after the rain.

Sandeep of Krishan Nagar 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 road by rainwater.”

“At least potholes and pits should be filled immediately until the repair or reconstruction of the dilapidated roads is done," he added.

Jalandhar, June 13
The detection of wrongful registration of 31 conveyance deeds of government land, in which three persons, including a Naib Tehsildar of Lohian, were arrested, is perhaps just a tip of the iceberg and may turn out to be a major scam in the Revenue Department.

The administration has found that instead of allotting the provincial land to the deserving landless tillers, the accused Naib Tehsildar, Inderjit Singh Dhanoa, illegally sold off 155 acres of provincial land to undeserving people forgoing the eligibility criterion and without taking requisite documents and a nominal fee of Rs 5,000 from them. Each one of the 31 beneficiaries were gifted 5 acres of agricultural land, of course for some kickbacks.

By doing so, the accused reportedly misused the Punjab Package Deal Properties (Disposal) Amendment Act-2009 for his personal gains in connivance with the 31 persons, whose list, too, has been handed over to the police for verification. The DSP, Shahkot, Harpreet Singh has been appointed inquiry officer in the case.

Deputy Commissioner (DC) Shruti Singh said she had written to the Financial Commissioner (Revenue) to get an inquiry done into all such deeds conducted under the Act in other tehsils of the district, including Shahkot, Phillaur and Nakodar. “The possibility of the misuse of the Act at other tehsils cannot be ruled out,” she said.

While any revenue official confined to more than 48 hours of arrest is considered to be suspended, Dhanoa’s formal suspension orders are yet to be passed as Divisional Commissioner SR Ladhar is on leave these days. Dhanoa was posted at Lopoke sub-tehsil, falling in Amritsar, these days.

Action against all wrong-doers in such cases is imminent. I will look into the recommendations put forth by the DC and do whatever is needful. No one will be spared.
— NS Kang, Financial Commissioner (Revenue)

A thorough investigation will be held into the matter. The documents pertaining to each of the 31 fake deeds would be sought so as to nail the bogus beneficiaries as well. We have also started hunt for the absconding sales clerk, Angrej Singh, booked in the case. He is a resident of Shahkot and was working in Amritsar.
— Yurinder Singh Hayre, SSP (Rural)

I have written to the Financial Commissioner (Revenue) to get an inquiry done into all such deeds conducted under the Act in other tehsils of the district, including Shahkot, Phillaur and Nakodar. The possibility of misuse of the Act at other tehsils cannot be ruled out.
— Shruti Singh, DC

Jalandhar, June 13
If the details posted on the official site of the Member of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme (MPLADS) are to be believed, the Jalandhar MP ranks 12th among his 13 Lok Sabha counterparts from the state in terms of the utilisation of funds.

Mohinder Singh Kaypee, MP, has spent only 44.78 per cent of the Rs 11.5 crore amount released by the Union Government for his discretionary funds to him so far. Faridkot MP Paramjit Kaur Gulshan stands out among all Lok Sabha members from the state with the highest percentage utilisation of the funds at 98.93 per cent.

Kaypee has so far got Rs 11.5 crore, which with interest now cumulates to Rs 12.06 crore. The expenditure incurred on some 50 odd projects so far stands at just Rs 5.15 crore, with Rs 6.91 crore still lying unused in the account. There are as many as 429 projects in the “not yet started” category.

Representing an SC seat, most of the works that the MP has got completed are of dharamshalas for the Dalit communities as in Haripur, Ghug, Pholariwal, Pattar Kalan, Bal Hukmi, Billi Chuharmi, Chanian, Chuheki, Dhandwar, Sanghwal, Puranpur, Bhagwanpur, Raowali and Uggi villages and in Mehatpur and Shahkot towns. The MP has spent Rs 1 lakh on each of these 16 community centres.

A sizable amount has also been allocated for separate Harijan cremation grounds as has been the trend in several villages of this constituency. Such cremation grounds have been set up using the MPLAD Scheme funds in Dhaliwal and Khurdpur villages. The remaining few works pertain to the installation of solar lights as in Haripur Khalsa village of Phillaur, Rs 1 lakh grant for the purchase of sports goods in Atta, Khiwa and Billi Chaoue villages and one-room health club at Daroli Kalan villages.

Even the projects listed in the “not yet started” list mostly include works related to the construction of community centres, cremation grounds and panchayat ghars. There of course are some youth-oriented projects such as construction of stadiums at a cost of Rs 2 lakh each at Pholariwal and Kukar villages.

Mohinder Singh Kaypee, when contacted, said there was no hindrance in the utilisation of grants from his side. “It is the various departments concerned, which have not been timely finishing the projects and giving back utilisation certificates,” he said.

Score card

Rank in terms of utilisation of funds 12th (2nd lowest)

Percentage utilization of funds 44.78 %

Amount released Rs 11.5 crore

Amount with interest Rs 12.6 crore

Amount used Rs 5.15 crore

Amount unspent Rs 6.91 crore

Projects completed 50

Projects not yet started 429 

Jalandhar, June 13
The BJP state general secretary Tarun Chugh today termed the newly appointed Election Committee Chief and Gujarat CM Narinder Modi as "a messiah for the party".

Eulogising him during an interaction with the media here today, the party general secretary also called him as one of the most-liked political figures in the country. Maintaining a balancing act between the two warring top leaders, he said that the former Deputy Prime Minister LK Advani was a fatherly figure who helped Modi and other senior leaders rise to a higher stature.

Chugh avoided any questions related to the upheaval at the top level. "These are national issues being appropriately addressed by our national leaders", he said adding that he hoped that none of the allies would leave the NDA and more parties would be willing to join in coming days.

He said that the party had chalked out a comprehensive plan to gear up the workers for the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections. He said that jail bharo andolans would soon be started across the state and district-wise programmes would be charted out.

He said that the state leaders of the party would tour across the state by June 30, energizing the cadre for the purpose. He said that pending appointments of district president for Jalandhar and Mukerian would be filled in a week's time. 

Jalandhar, June 13
The MC and Health Departments have adopted a very serious, and timely, approach in countering the disease trouble across the district this year.

But the first heavy rain of the season, for the past two days (which were rightly termed as a trial run by senior officials), have made it clear that things are not going to be easy.

Despite ongoing cleaning and desilting efforts, the sewerage systems of various areas proved ill-equipped to handle the heavy bout of pre monsoon showers.

On the health front, the residents of some areas complained that their area did not see any activity which could be categorised as disease prevention or preparedness measures.

While the water threat was evident in most of the low lying areas, it is the concern for the diseases threatened by areas being inundated with dirty water that reigned supreme on the minds of residents.

Kheto Devi, a resident of Indira Colony, said, "Our homes are inundated and our belongings floating in water. There are just two roads in the area and both are inundated. No one can go out and no one can come in."

Speaking on awareness drives regarding preparedness for diseases, she said, "Except for polio teams coming in every month, the residents haven't received any directions regarding disease preparedness. While about 15 to 20 days ago, a team came in spraying medicines in the area for the prevention of diseases, no verbal instructions or awareness drives regarding disease prevention have come to the area."

While the Domoriah bridge and other areas adjoining the city railway station are the worst hit during the rains, residents there said nothing in the name of disease prevention drives or efforts to create awareness about sanitation has happened in the area so far.

While the two-day rains turned Domoriah under bridge into a virtual pool with stray vehicles which forayed into the area, literally floating on it, the residents alleged that neither MC nor health department teams had bothered to take a look into the area.

A resident from Qazi Mandi area, adjoining Domoriah under bridge said, "The area basically comprises huge scrap yards where, one might say, refuse from the entire city makes way to. This also happens to be the most polluted area. While MC men create dumps near the railway station, scrap dealers make it difficult inside. In the rains especially, the area becomes a breeding ground for diseases and infections. But leave alone cleanliness efforts, so far, this year, none of the MC or health teams have even bothered sensitising people about diseases."

The inclement weather also caused inundation and thus the risk infections in areas like Basti Gujan, Dansihmanda, Basti Bawa Khel, Basti Peerdaad, Gandhi Camp, Model House, 12- foot road, the inside bazaar areas among others.

While residents' prime demand includes removal of garbage dumps from their respective areas (because in the event of inundation, these pose a risk of infection) they say better drainage is the only possible solution to avoid disease risk.

Meanwhile, the health authorities today called a meeting of the anti-larva and malaria staff asking them to sensitise residents about various diseases and their prevention. 

Jalandhar, June 13
The five episodes of breaking of lockers and ATMs using the same modus operandi of deploying gas cutters in a quick succession in Doaba region is giving sleepless nights to the Punjab Police cops who have not been able to crack any of these cases so far.

Yesterday's incident of breaking of an ATM of Punjab National Bank in a remote location of Hoshiarpur on Bhogpur-Bulhowal road with a theft of Rs 21 lakh from the machine, points to several similarities to the previous four episodes.

In three of the five episodes, cash has been withdrawn from ATMs in semi-rural areas. In all such cases, the miscreants have first sprayed a black paint on the CCTVs to ensure that there were no clues left. The miscreants have also not left any clear fingerprints behind. All the five banks where the crime has occurred were those that did not have theft alarms functional and were without night security provisions. The branches of Punjab National Bank have been the target in three of the five cases.

So far, the only clues on which the police is relying is taking the mobile phone dumps from all the sites within the time range and comparing them for any common numbers. A very long drawn exercise manually, the police is using certain softwares to cross-check the same. As of now, any similarities in numbers at two same locations have come up to be a sheer chance, said ADCP Crime Harpreet Singh Mander.

Mander said he had today contacted SP (D), Hoshiarpur, to cross-check any similarities. "They have picked all possible clues and are also taking phone dumps. We will discuss any commonality in the incident with previous episodes tomorrow," he said.

Occurrence of such incidents repeatedly also points to continuous serious security lapses on the part of the managements of the bank. The police has held meetings with the bank officials time and again telling them to maintain record of registers of all visitors properly, ensuring working of various alarms and having night security personnel. 

Jalandhar, June 13
Dr Amandeep Singh Bains, assistant professor in Physics at the CT Institute of Engineering Management and Technology (CTIEMT) Jalandhar, has bagged a coveted position at the University of Alaska.

Dr Bains has been offered the post-doctoral position at the Geophysical Institute, University of Alaska Fairbanks, USA. The offer will mean Dr Bains working with Prof CS Ng on the project, “Nonlinear wave structures in space plasmas”.

The project — based on both theoretical as well as numerical computation — is vital for the understanding of the basic physics and satellite propagation in space.

More than 30 candidates across the world had applied for the position which was advertised openly by the university, but only a few candidates have been chosen and Dr Bains is one of the prominent figures to have made it.

The annual salary for the position is $59,000 per annum. In addition to the above position, Dr Bains has also been offered the position of scientist at Institute of Space Science, University of Shandong, China in April 2013 for two years.