Congress councillor Aruna Arora shows a model of Mayor house while protesting against the sale of properties by the Municipal Corporation during the House meeting in Jalandhar on Tuesday. Photo: Sarabjit Singh

SAD councillor Pritam Singh said he felt that his Mithu Basti area, especially along the Bist Doab Canal, was the most affected, perhaps even more than Kedarnath Temple. “The residents of the area have had three to four feet water entering into their houses. I demand that the storm water sewerage be laid on priority basis in my area or else I will bring residents to gherao the officials concerned,” he threatened.

BJP councillor Manjit Kaur said while the MC had coined such an endearing name for the road from BSF Chowk towards Alaska Chowk as Ladowali Road, it had not been maintained with as much care. She also raised her voice over pitiable condition of Guru Nanak Pura Road.

Independent councillor Raminder Kaur Dhindsa said a deep crater had formed on the road in front of house number 18 in Defence Colony after rains. “Repair work be done on priority as the crater filled with water could invite some tragedy,” she said.

Congress councillor Balraj Thakur sought probe into missing signboards at important intersections and chowks.

Senior Deputy Mayor Kamaljit Singh Bhatia raised the issue of corruption prevalent in the Building Branch, which had been allowing construction without sanctioning plans. He said FIRs be lodged against officials found indulging in misdeeds. He demanded that DPRs for laying of storm water sewerage system should be given priority, while all major projects, including sports hub, should be taken up at a later stage.

Leader of Opposition Jagdish Raj Raja also raised the issue that he had been informed through the RTI Act that there were 16 out of 31 fountains in working condition in the city, which he felt was a wrongly filed reply. He sought inspection of the sites by the B&R staff in 15 days to which the Mayor agreed. He said an amount of Rs 4.6 lakh was being annually paid by the MC as electricity bills for operating fountains, which he alleged he had never seen in working condition.

Jalandhar, July 9
Even as this is seventh month since Shruti Singh took over as the Deputy Commissioner (DC) of Jalandhar, she has so far convened just one monthly meeting of officials of various departments to assess their working.

The only meeting which she has convened was on April 23, after which she has held no such meeting with the officials. With no review of works by the top administrator of the district, the various officials concerned seem to have been on a rather easy mode since there is no one to pull them up or make them accountable for any lapses.

While no such meeting was planned at all in May, a meeting was convened last month, but it was cancelled owing to non-availability of the Deputy Commissioner. Since the DC did not authorise Additional Deputy Commissioner (ADC) Praneet Bhardwaj to convene a meeting as she did earlier on March 21, it could not be held later. With panchayat elections announced in the meantime, it was postponed with no next date announced.

With elections now over, the DC is on leave till July 21. She has reportedly gone the USA four days back. Amritsar Deputy Commissioner Rajat Aggarwal has now been given additional charge of Jalandhar till she is back. While Aggarwal had yesterday attended the office here and taken a meeting on flood control, he is unlikely to take any monthly meeting.

Officials of various departments, including health, revenue and education, BDPOs, PWD, Municipal Corporation, PUDA and Improvement Trust are called in for a meeting every month to assess their functioning, know the problems being faced by them and to suggest improvements. The DC has also so far failed to put in place a committee for the Grievances Cell.

Jalandhar, July 9
Already restricted from handling complaints pertaining to medical negligence or those against telecom companies, the consumer forum has been further divested of powers following recent orders passed by the Supreme Court of India.

The court set aside nine judgements passed by the National Commission for Consumers and has said any complaint such as those pertaining to unauthorized use of electricity€� by a person do not come within the meaning of service€� as defined under section 2(1)(o) or €complaint€� as defined under section 2(1)(c) of the Consumer Protection Act, 1986.

In its orders passed a week ago, the apex court has said Consumer Forum do not have the power to redress any dispute with the Power Corporation other than those pertaining to unfair trade practice€� or €restrictive trade practice€� or €deficiency in service€� or €when service provider has charged a price in excess of the price fixed by or under any law€�.

In 2009, the Supreme Court had said section 7-B of the Indian Telegraph Act, 1885 provided that a dispute between a telegraph authority and a service user can only be resolved through arbitration and consumer forum do not have the jurisdiction to hear such matters.

Earlier, the Supreme Court had also restrained consumer forum from issuing notices to doctors for any alleged medical negligence without seeking an opinion from experts. A bench of the court assigned a reason that the number of frivolous complaints against the doctors had increased by leaps and bounds ever since the medical profession had been placed under the purview of the Consumer Protection Act. 

PHAGWARA, JULY 9
The Police has booked Sneh Mohan (22), for allegedly attempting rape on an 8-year-old girl in Khatti village. The victim was alone at her home when the alleged accused lured her to a secluded place and tried to sexually assault her.

Snatchers’ victim dies

Kamaljit Kaur, victim of motorcycle-borne snatchers, who was injured after falling down from a bike when three robbers snatched her gold ear rings on Saturday, succumbed to her injuries in a hospital in Jalandhar yesterday. Hundreds of residents attended her funeral in village crematorium last evening.