Jalandhar, June 29
Panic gripped the Kartarpur town as a man fired several shots from his pistol in the air at the crowded bus stand located on the Jalandhar-Amritsar national highway this afternoon.

The SHO, Kartarpur, Inspector Surinderpal Singh, said, “Jarnail Singh of Chak Sandook village, falling under the Bhogpur police station, who was travelling in a car, fired some shots in the air after a minor scuffle with a truck driver at the Kartarpur bus stand."

No one was hurt in the incident. Jarnail Singh was taken into custody soon after the incident. An case under Sections 336 and 188 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Sections 25, 27 and 54 of the Arms Act was registered against him.

To a query, the SHO said Jarnail Singh could not produce the licence of the pistol till the registration of the FIR. The FIR was registered on the statement of a head constable.

Kapurthala, June 29
Paucity of funds, shortage of raw material and delay in the acquisition of land have plagued the work of construction of new mini-secretariat and court complex buildings, which started two years ago. While the deadline for completion of work of the court complex has lapsed twice and going to lapse once again tomorrow, the deadline for the completion of the mini-secretariat building expired on April 17 and only 40 per cent of the work has been carried out.

It was seven years ago in 2006 that it was decided to shift court complex and district administration offices to the new buildings to be constructed at Nurpur Dona village, 6 km away from the town. As of now the court complex and Deputy Commissioner's office are housed in the heritage buiding of Darbar Hall, built in 1889.

In order to vacate the heritage building and provide better facilities to the judiciary and other officials as well as visitors it was decided to construct a new building for courts with a budget of Rs 56.17 crore. While its foundation stone was laid on April 4, 2008, by the then Punjab and Haryana High Court Chief Justice Vijender Jain, the work on the site actually started two years later on April 11, 2010. The completion period of the work was fixed at two years with deadline set at April 10, 2012. When the construction work could not be completed by that time, the deadline was extended two times up to June 30, 2013, which is set to expire tomorrow. The officials concerned said it would take nearly another six months to complete the work.

The Executive Engineer, PWD, Varinder Kumar, when contacted, said that the shortage of raw material, including sand and gravel, due to ban on mining in the state, had hit the construction work badly.

Moreover, the building had no proper connectivity with the main road, which required laying of more than 1 km of road. While compensation amount of Rs 7.5 crore against the land acquisition for the purpose had already been deposited with the Land Acquisition Collector, the land could not be transferred to the PWD due to technical issues till now, he said.

Same remained the fate of seven-storey mini-secretariat building, completion period of two years of which expired two months ago on April 16. As funds were not released by executing agency PUDA as per the requirement, only 40 per cent work on the building could be carried out in the last two years and now the deadline for completing the work had been extended to April 16 next year. Rs 52 crore were required for the construction of the seven-storey building. Till now only Rs 16 crore had been released by PUDA, said sources.

Chief Administrator, PUDA, MS Sidhu, however, could not be contacted as his phone remained switched off.

Jalandhar, June 29
The Congress has accused the police of adopting a high-handed attitude towards its supporters to provide benefit to the ruling SAD-BJP candidates in the panchayat elections scheduled to be held on July 3.

Talking to The Tribune, former Punjab minister Santokh Chaudhary has levelled serious allegations of putting pressure on Congress workers against Sub-Inspector Pushap Bali, in charge of the Apra police post, falling under the Phillaur police station.

Jalandhar, June 29
The residents of Doaba region comprising Jalandhar, Hoshiarpur, Kapurthala and Nawanshahr districts are joyous over the decision of the UPA government to construct airport in Jalandhar. The decision of constructing 50 low-cost airports in various parts of the country, including Jalandhar, Ludhiana and Ferozepur districts of Punjab was taken at a high-level meeting held in New Delhi on Friday. The meeting was attended by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Finance Minister P Chidambaram and vice-chairman of the Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia.

Welcoming the decision of constructing airport in Jalandhar, former Punjab minister Manmohan Kalia said: “It would have been better, if the Union government had taken the decision of opening Adampur air force station for civil flights. The construction of new airport will not take so much time but it will be very difficult to find a suitable place for the proposed new airport as no proper land is currently available in Jalandhar.”

The BJP centre executive member Kalia said: “Several studies have already been undertaken for finding suitable place in Jalandhar. So much so, 72 acres of land was also acquired in the 90s in Kapurthala for airport but later it was decided to construct Science City. So instead of wasting so much time for finding a suitable place for constructing airport, Adampur airforce station should be opened for civil flights without any delay as airport is immediately required for Doaba residents in Jalandhar.”

On the other hand expressing gratitude to the UPA government, Congress MP Mohinder Singh Kaypee said there was requirement of airport at Jalandhar. The airport would be constructed after finding a suitable land at the earliest, he added. Congress leaders Chaudhary Jagjit Singh, Sanotkha Chaudhary and Rajinder Beri also thanked the UPA government for its initiative to construct airport in Jalandhar.

Jalandhar district Congress (urban) president Arun Walia, general secretary Kunal Sharma and vice-president Manjit Singh Saroya also held a “gratitude expressing meeting” at the Congress Bhawan after the announcement of construction of airport here.

Welcoming the decision, Vyapar Sena president Ravindra Dhir said industrialist had been demanding the construction of airport for a long time. However, the centre should not construct domestic but an international airport, he added.

Meanwhile, Punjab NRI Sabha president Jasvir Singh Gill said he was pursuing constructing airport in Jalandhar as it was a hub of Doaba known as NRIs region.

Jalandhar, June 29
With the district administration failing to take action against the defacement of private and public property in city under the provisions of Punjab Prevention of Defacement of Property Act, 1997, many city areas and markets in Jalandhar depict a shabby look. Establishments, including private and government buildings remain covered either with posters or wall writings as the authorities watch the situation like a mute spectator.

According to the Punjab Prevention of Defacement of Property Act, 1997, nobody could deface any public or private property by pasting posters, writing on the walls, wall paintings or putting up banners etc without the prior written permission from the owner of the concerned property. But contrary to this, in many city areas, including New Anand Nagar, Jyoti Chowk, Gobind Nagar, Preet Nagar, Kishan Pura, Upkar Nagar, BMC Chowk, Bus Stand and Railway Station present a neglected look because of the defacement. Even the walls of the Jalandhar Municipal Corporation building and the General Post Office have not been spared.

According to the information gathered by The Tribune in majority of the cases, it is the members of the religious, social organisations and political parties, who deface the walls with posters of religious congregation, political rallies, sports tournament and cultural function etc. Besides, the posters of the movies could also be spotted on the walls of both public and private buildings.

Notably, the defacement of the property, as specified in the Act, includes interfering with the appearance or beauty, damaging, disfiguring, spoiling or injuring in any other way what so ever and the property include any land, building, hut structure, wall, tree, fence, post, pole or any other erections.

The gravity of the situation could be gauged from the fact that even the traffic signboards have been covered with such posters in some parts of the city. Despite repeated attempts, Jalandhar DC Shruti Singh could not be contacted for comments. 

Jalandhar, June 29
Chandigarh area has won the overall championship and bagged the rolling trophy of Western Air Command Inter Area Volleyball Championship 2013-14, played here today at the Air Force Station, Adampur. Chandigarh defeated Adampur area with a score of 25-14, 25-22, 16-25 and 25-23 in the final match.

Third position was bagged by Jammu area, who defeated Hindon area in a closely contested match with a score of 23-25, 25-18 and 25-22. The first semifinal of the championship was played between Chandigarh and Jammu area, in which Chandigarh beat Jammu by 22-25, 25-14 and 25-17 scores. The second semifinal was played between Adampur and Hindon area, in which Adampur defeated Hindon area by 25-12, 25-15 and 25-17 scores.

In a glittering closing ceremony, Air Commodore SK Mohlah, Air Officer Commanding, Air Force Station Adampur, congratulated the winning team. He appreciated the players for exhibiting sportsmanship and camaraderie throughout the championship. Air Officer Commanding awarded the trophy to the winning team. The best players selected in the championship will represent Western Air Command in the forthcoming Air Force Volleyball Championship.