Jalandhar, July 3
No major untoward incident was reported in the elections in the 751 panchayats of the 11 blocks of Jalandhar district where nearly 75 per cent voting was recorded here today.

A large turnout of female voters for the panchayat elections at Puranpur village near Jalandhar on Wednesday

A female voter casts her vote for the panchayat election at Parsrampur village near Jalandhar on Wednesday. Photos: Sarabjit Singh

Voters exercised their right to franchise enthusiastically as was evident from the long queues seen outside polling booths.

The elections were held to elect panches and sarpanches in 751 of the total 899 panchayats in the district. While 137 panchayats were elected unanimously, elections could not be held for 11 panchayats due to various reasons.

Elections could not be held for five posts of panches and one sarpanch post in each of Bara Jagir and Khayala Panchayats of Lohian and Adampur blocks as surprisingly no one filed their nomination papers here.

Similarly, the polls could not be conducted at six panchayats of Talhan and Jandiali villages of the Jalandhar East block, Chacholwal village of Lohian Khas block, Fakhruwal village of Shahkot block, Pawar and Rasulpur villages of Jalandhar West blocks as their terms were not completed.

In the same way, elections were not held at Bath Kalan as it has been created as a new village from Bath Khurd village recently. Similarly, the Bilga gram Panchayat has recently been converted into Municipal Panchayat, so the panchayat elections could not be held here.

Meanwhile, there were reports of interruption for some time in voting at Pholriwal allegedly due to some mistake in printing a candidate’s name in the ballot paper. However, the voting was resumed after some time after the error was rectified.

A total of 178 sarpanches and 2,225 panches were elected unopposed, whereas 1,236 polling booths were set up for conducting elections for the 751 panchayats.

Ballot papers reached a number of polling booths of several blocks just a few hours before the start of the voting at 8 pm due to delay in printing the same. The delay occurred as the work of printing ballot papers of four districts, including Jalandhar, Amritsar, Hoshiarpur and Kapurthala, was assigned to Jalandhar-based private printers.

They kept on printing their ballot papers at the PS Garden marriage palace on the Jalandhar-Hoshiarpur road till a few hours before the commencement of the polling at 8 am on Wednesday.

According to information gathered by this correspondent, a total of 75, 75, 71, 74, 85 and 80 per cent polling was recorded in Jalandhar (East), Phillaur, Nakodar, Rurka Kalan, Shahkot and Mehatpur blocks respectively. The poll percentage at other five blocks of Jalandhar (East), Lohian Khas, Nurmahal, Adampur and Bhogpur was being compiled till the filing of this news-item.

Earlier, 47.23 per cent voters exercised their right to franchise in Jalandhar district by 1 pm, that is in the first five hours of the starting of voting at 8 am. According to information gathered by this correspondent, 46, 52, 52, 42.5, 37, 48, 54, 45, 47, 50 and 45 per cent polling was recorded in Jalandhar (East), Jalandhar West, Lohian Khas, Nurmahal, Phillaur, Adampur, Bhogpur, Nakodar, Rurka Kalan, Shahkot and Mehatpur blocks by 1 pm.

Jalandhar, July 3
Giving a burial to the warning “Consumption of alcohol is injurious to heath” and prohibition of drinking and smoking within the premises of the local Civil Hospital, tipplers have been "enjoying" their nights right under the nose of the hospital authorities.

Empty bottles of liquor dumped beside an underground water tank by tipplers, adjacent to a parking lot in front of the Emergency Ward of the Civil Hospital, Jalandhar. Photo: Sarabjit Singh

A parking lot in front of the Emergency Ward of the hospital has been proving a safe hideout for boozers, as they often drink and dine here and leave the refuse atop an underground water reservoir, besides dumping the containers along its sides.

The miscreants have not only been using the hospital premises for drinking purposes but also adding to the pollution by dumping empty (plastic and glass) bottles of liquor, glasses and wrappers of "namkeen", creat`ing environmental degradation.

Sources in the hospital revealed that the practice had been going on for decades here and the authorities had been turning a blind eye towards this.

A visit by The Tribune team to the hospital premises revealed that nearly eight empty bottles (quarters) of different brands of countrymade liquor were dumped on the sides of the water tank, while many were found broken.

Some daring boozers had recently even placed an empty bottle of liquor along with a plastic glass atop the water tank.

Enquiries revealed that besides attendants of patients and their visitors, certain drivers of ambulance (on night duty) and those ferrying patients from countryside also have drinks and dump the waste at various places on the hospital premises.

In the absence of any night guard and permanent security personnel, the situation has gone from bad to worse in the past couple of years, claimed a shopkeeper of the area on the condition of anonymity.

Jalandhar, July 3
A destitute nine-year-old girl was admitted to the local Gandhi Vanita Ashram on the orders of SDM I Iqbal Singh Sandhu after a local NGO sought the intervention of the district authorities in the matter. The request to provide shelter to the girl was made by NGO Chitra after the girl's mother approached the NGO for help.

Talking to The Tribune, Kulwant Nagra, activist of the NGO, said Laxmi, the girl's mother, had approached a volunteer Raj Kumar in this regard.

“Laxmi told the volunteer that her husband had deserted her for the past five years, and his whereabouts were not known. While Laxmi has two children - one nine year old and another six year old - the NGO undertook to get her nine-year-old daughter to a shelter after Laxmi said she was having trouble bringing up both of them owing to financial constraints,” Nagra said.

Following the NGO’s request in this regard made on June 21, the SDM ordered that the little girl should be admitted to Gandhi Vanita Ashram.

While she was handed over to the ashram on the same day, NGO activists said they would also be looking to provide monetary help to the woman since her financial means were too limited for her to take proper care of her other daughter as well.

Jalandhar, July 3
Up in arms against the Punjab government’s policy relating to regularisation of unauthorised colonies across the state, members of the Punjab Colonisers and Property Dealer Association have warned of a statewide protest if their demands were not met. The association has decided to submit memorandums of their demands to the respective deputy commissioners at the district level thereby giving the government 15 days’ ultimatum. Addressing media persons, Kultar Singh Jogi, president of the association, claimed that the policy had come as a bolt from the blue for the colonisers and property dealers. He said the SAD-BJP combine was attempting to deceive them even after making a promise in its poll manifesto before the assembly elections. Jogi said the government before previous assembly elections had assured them of unconditional regularisation of the unauthorised colonies. He said the present regularisation policy of the government was anti-colonisers. Jogi said his dozens of meeting with the Chief Minister, Deputy Chief Minister and senior bureaucrats of the government had failed to yield any result. During past seven years of the SAD-BJP regime, the real estate was adversely affected and was reeling under acute crises.

He said the government had adopted a killer procedure to regularise such colonies which would virtually drag the land developers, colonisers and property dealers into a debt trap.

Interestingly, contradicting his own statements, Jogi admitted to have spent the money they earned in the real estate business in buying expensive vehicles, palatial bungalows, sprawling farm houses, land and other items of luxury. “We do not have any money to fulfil the government’s requirement now,” he said.

Jogi said over 20,000 unauthorised colonies had come up across the state in past nearly two decades providing roof to lakhs of people. The government, however, claimed that there were only 5,300 such colonies in the state.

Phagwara, July 3
“It will be a matter of pride for the Bharatiya Janata Party and Punjab, if Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, is elected convenor of National Democratic Alliance, which will be an alternative of the unsuccessful UPA government at the Centre.” This was stated by Punjab BJP president Kamal Sharma while talking to newsmen here this afternoon, who said though final decision would be taken by all the alliance partners of the NDA, but Badal must be acceptable to all.

When asked about the serious allegations of former Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee president Partap Singh Bajwa, Sharma asked the Congress high command to clarify its stand on the issue as Amarinder Singh had not categorically denied his allega- tions yet.

When asked whether Punjab was leaving its claim on Chandigarh as it was now going to set up “New Chandigarh” on the Chandigarh-Kurali road, Sharma reiterated the claim of Punjab on Chandigarh. He said Chandigarh would remain the capital of Punjab.

Replying to a question on the delayed appointments of state-level chairpersons of various boards, corporations and even of improvement trusts, Sharma said the matter would be taken up shortly as the BJP was busy in preparations for the scheduled visit of national president Raj Nath Singh to strengthen the party.

Commenting on the panchayat elections, Sharma asked the Congress leaders to watch the defeat and future of the Congress party in the mirror as the people of the state were fed up with the wrong policies of the Congress government. About the SAD—BJP alliance, Kamal Sharma said the SAD-BJP alliance was rock solid as it was based on principles and not for power lust.