Jalandhar, July 15
Expressing their resentment against the state government's new policy for regularising the illegal colonies, Congress leaders today demanded that the residences of the leaders of the SAD-BJP combine in such localities be sealed first to recover licence fee and development charges.

Congress councilors, former MLA Jagbir Brar and party leaders Rajinder Beri, Jagdish Raj Raja during a press conference demanded that the residences of BJP MLA KD Bhandari, SAD MLA Pargat Singh and former chairman of Jalandhar Improvement Trust Baljit Singh Neelamahal be sealed as they were located in illegal colonies.

They said with leaders themselves residing in unauthorised colonies, the unapproved colonisers further got a boost in indulging in illegal activities.

Bhandari resides in Seth Hukum Chand Colony near DAV College and Pargat Singh has his house in Dashmesh Avenue locality on Mithapur Road, both of which have been declared as illegal.

Neelamahal resides in "unauthorized" Kalia Colony along GT Road.

Brar said while the policy stipulates that the colonisers pay licence fee to the tune of Rs 2.5 lakh-Rs 15 lakh per acre, most of them (colonisers) have disappeared after selling the plots leaving the residents in a fix.

He said the residents would also have to shell Rs 400 per square yard as development charges, in addition to pooling for licence fee which would be too taxing on them.

Brar said some of the localities such as Parkash Nagar near Model Town are over 30 years old and should have been spared. He said more than 65 per cent residents of the city were affected by the move. 

Jalandhar, July 15
The district administration today completed the process of demarcation for the physical acquisition for 120-foot wide road near PPR Market here.

After identifying around 10 houses and two shops which fall fully or partly on the road length, the Punjab Urban development Authority (PUDA) is now in the process of issuing a public notice to owners asking them to produce the copy of stay orders from any court, if any, against the acquisition.

SDM-1 Iqbal Singh Sandhu said, "Once we find that there is no response to the notice, we will paste the acquisition orders on the walls of each house or shop, the portion of which is to be acquired. There is one house in the area which is to be fully acquired," he said.

Iqbal Sandhu added that the demolition would be executed on the orders of PUDA Chief Administrator Vinay Bublani.

Sandhu said the Jalandhar Improvement Trust was also to acquire some land on the portion near Green Model Town after which the road will get linked with Guru Ravi Dass Chowk and further towards Babrik Chowk and other areas.

The administration is also eyeing to reclaim the allegedly encroached site which is currently occupied by Rashtriya Andh Vidyalaya.

The affected residents of the Green Avenue and Green Model Town localities, who have their properties falling on the stretch, today met ADC Praneet Bhardwaj and PUDA Estate Officer Amarjit Singh Bains pleading their case.

The residents have also formed an association on the issue. Ram Singh, a resident, said they did not understand as why the PUDA had taken no action for nearly 30 years and have now immediately swung into action.

He said a compensation of Rs 12 lakh had been announced by the PUDA over which the residents had approached the Supreme Court and have still not taken compensation amount.

"If the administration was to continue with acquisition, its revenue officials should have stopped all registries on the stretch which it kept doing wrongfully," he claimed. 

If the administration was to continue with acquisition, its revenue officials should have stopped all registries on the stretch which they kept doing wrongfully
— RAm singh, a resident

Jalandhar, July 15
Seven months after her marriage, Money Chhabra (21) has got the shock of her life as her husband has gone missing all of a sudden.

Money got married against the wishes of her in-laws' family and was leading an apparently happy life.

A resident of Dasuya, Money said she and her Jalandhar-based husband Rohit Chhabra (24) had gone to her parents' place after holidaying in Himachal Pradesh on June 24.

"Around 8 pm, he told me and my mother that he was going to get his cell phone repaired but did not come back," said the girl.

"I have not heard from him ever since. His phone is switched off. I have been searching for him at all places but to no avail. He was preparing to migrate to Malaysia and I apprehend that he might have deserted me and he has gone abroad on his parents' advice. My in-laws too are not responding or helping me," an apparently distraught Money says.

She said she came in contact with Rohit when she was pursuing a diploma in the city. The two got married on December 7 last year and was putting up in the city.

Rohit had been working as an accountant with a private firm while Money was pursuing her BA. Rohit's parents, who are based in Sodal Area, had reportedly snapped all relations with their son due to the marriage.

Showing the copy of missing report registered with the Dasuya police, Money said she got no help from anyone so far.

"There is a big question mark that haunts me. There was no reason why he should run away like that. We have had such a lovely time holidaying together," she said while seeking some help from the NRI Sabha officials on the matter.

The Sabha officials, however, expressed helplessness on the issue as no party, including their families, was NRIs.

Money's father-in-law Sham Lal runs a cycle spare parts shop.

He said he did not know where his son was as he had separated from them him legally.

Jalandhar, July 15
Seventeen teachers of eight primary schools falling under the Jalandhar Municipal Corporation have been incurring the expenses of the Mid Day Meal Scheme being run in their schools as the Punjab government has not released any funds since April this year.

The government, sources say, has not released the salaries of these teachers for the last four months.

These teachers are bearing the expenses of meal to around 1,500 students in the city every day from their own pocket.

“Funds are not being released every month. Children need midday meal on daily basis. This creates problem and we are left with no choice but to spend from our own pocket,” said one of the teachers.

It has been learnt that almost all midday meal accounts in the city schools are having nil balance.

“We have sent numerous reminders to the government for the release of their salaries but nothing has been done so far. The government was in a process to change its policy so there was delay in the salaries. We are hopeful that it would be released soon,” said an employee of the School Branch of the Jalandhar Municipal Corporation.

Earlier, the Punjab government was releasing funds to Municipal Corporation for paying salaries to these teachers.

Now, the civic body will only makes salary bills and sends them to the office of the Regional Deputy Director, Local Government. The salary will now be credited directly to the bank accounts of the teachers.

Jalandhar, July 15
A gang of six persons involved in stealing transformers and robbing people were held by the Kartarpur police here.

The accused were arrested from a cremation ground at Sarai Khas village where they had assembled to plan another crime. The accused have been identified as Vinod Kumar of UP, Raj Kishore of Bihar, Sandeep, Nolias Kumar, Vijay Mahato and Bhola Kumar, all residents of Sanjay Gandhi Colony here.

DSP Jasvir Rai said two pistols were recovered from Sandeep and Raj Kishore. A sharp-edged weapon was found in the possession of Vijay Mahato. Besides, a Santro car was impounded from them. He said the accused during interrogation had confessed to have stolen 40 to 50 transformers. A case has been registered under Sections 399 and 402 of the IPC against them. —TNS

Jalandhar, July 15
Up in arms against the state government for introducing the policy for regularisation of unapproved colonies, members of the Punjab Colonisers and Property Dealers Association today assembled in the district administrative complex and lodged a protest here.

The association members also forced the vendors handling property-related works to close their work and join hands with them.

Led by Kultar Singh Jogi, president of the association, a delegation later also submitted their memorandum of demands to the Chief Administrator.

The association has been demanding the revision of the policy formulated by the state government for the regularisation of unauthorised colonies across the state.

It says the composition fee and regularisation charges fixed by the government to regularise the unauthorised colonies are very high and should be slashed.

It is also demanding its representation in the committee constituted for the formulation of the policy and single-window system for getting the licences and other formalities for the regularisation of unauthorised colonies.

Jalandhar, July 15
The skyrocketing prices of vegetables have not only upset the kitchen budget of common man but also forced general public to change their menu for daily meals. The worst affected are the house wives, who are forced to shift to alternate supporting vegetables like tomatoes and onions as food ingredients to make the cooking more delicious and keep the monthly budget within the limits.

Heavy rains that lashed the region have hit the local crops of tomatoes and onions, besides destroying the crop of ladyfinger, cauliflower, cabbage, cucumber, brinjal, capsicum and even ginger.

Ferrying of onion from Nasik in Maharashtra has further shot up the onion prices in the local market. Onions, which were selling for Rs 8 to 10 about a fortnight ago, are now being sold at Rs 25 to 30 per kg. Tomatoes, available at Rs 15 to 20 per kg 15 days ago, are being sold at Rs 60 to 80 per kg, depending upon their freshness and quality.

Similarly, the rates of ginger have gone up from Rs 50 to Rs 150 to 180 per kg, while garlic and lemon are also selling at double market price. Potatoes are available at Rs 18 to 30 as against Rs 6 to 10 per kg just a month ago. Similar is the case of other vegetables like cabbage, cauliflower and capsicum, which are selling nearly at three times original prices.

House wives have replaced tomatoes with curd, lemon and dry-mango powder to cook vegetables, while ginger and onions are missing from the list of food ingredients, claimed Shilpa, a resident of Gurunanakpura.

Rohit, a vegetable vendor at Apani Mandi on the Ladowali-Gurunanakpura road, said his sale had declined by almost 45 per cent in a fortnight. Apprehending a fall in the prices, the customer, who earlier used to purchase vegetables for a week, is now purchasing vegetable stock for two or three days, he added.

The rise in the prices of vegetables has not only hit the common man but the vegetable traders also, claimed Ravi Kumar, another vendor.

Jalandhar, July 15
With monsoon eluding Punjab, the state continues to reel under severe power crisis. The power situation in Jalandhar was bad with several-hour power cuts being imposed in the domestic sector. Not only the domestic and industrial power consumers, even the farmers are complaining about not getting 8-hour power supply as promised by the authorities of the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL).

As per the information, presently the power corporation is facing shortfall of about 150-170 lakh unit (LU) of power on daily basis because of which power cuts have become inevitable.

Presently, the Punjab State Power Corporation is imposing a three-day weekly off on general industry consumers and rolling mills and four-day weekly off on arc/induction furnaces. According to the reports in the Jalandhar district, three to four hour power cuts are being imposed in the urban areas, whereas people in rural areas are having sleepless nights because of five-hour power cuts.

Attributing the present power crisis to the prolonged dry spell, the PSPCL officials said so far there had been light rainfall in some parts of the Punjab. The power corporation authorities have also appealed to all industrial, commercial and domestic consumers to restrict the use of air conditioners or at least cut down usage by 50 per cent till the arrival of the monsoon. "We are hopeful that as soon as the monsoon arrives, the power scenario in the state will improve,” said PSPCL director (generation) GS Chhabra.

Meanwhile, learning no lessons from the last year tripping of the northern grid due to huge overdrawing by the northern states, the PSPCL is again drawing power beyond its available transfer capacity (ATC) of 5,300 MW. According to the documents of the “schedule vs actual drawl for Punjab” in possession of The Tribune, at about 3.20 pm today, the power corporation drew slightly more than 5,500 MW.

Highly placed sources have disclosed that the authorities of the Northern Regional Load Dispatch Centre (NRLDC) have already cautioned power corporation to make sure that the drawl should remain within the ATC limits.

Here, it is pertinent to mention that last year the ATC of Punjab was 5,100 MW. However, on account of the severe power crisis in the state, the PSPCL had indulged in huge over-drawl of power beyond 6,000-MW in July 2012. At that time, the NRLDC and the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) had issued instructions to the PSPCL to strictly comply with the provisions of grid code. This year the ATC limit of the PSPCL was increased by 200 MW and drawl limit now stands at 5,300 MW. 

Jalandhar, July 15
The Jalandhar Municipal Corporation (JMC) will launch a major anti-encroachement drive from Wednesday onwards. The Tehbazaari Department has constituted seven teams to remove illegal encroachments from various roads and bazaars of the city. They had previously issued notices to the shopkeepers and vendors, giving them time to remove items in front of their shops that were congesting the road. Now, after passing of the notice deadline, they have planned the encroachment drive with the help of the local police.

“Hundreds of vendors and squatters will be removed from roadsides, pavements and other assets to facilitate smooth movement of traffic and pedestrians in the city during this mega drive,” said Ved Vyas, Assistant Commissioner, Municipal Corporation, who recently took charge of the Tehbazaari Department.

The department will remove encroachments from Model Town area, scrap market on the Ladowali road, Mai Hiran Gate, Jyoti Chowk to Nakodar Chowk, Babu Jagjeevan Ram Chowk and street vendors outside city’s bus stand.

“This was a necessary step. With these illegal encroachments, city roads are getting narrower day by day causing hindrance for the traffic movement. It led to huge traffic jams and chaos among the commuters. City seems to be in a complete mess,” said Vikrant Verma, superintendent, Tehbazaari Department.

“We will confiscate the movable items like items for sale and carts etc and the traffic police will impound the vehicles parked in non-parking areas. Two gypsies, two trucks with 15 to 20 people along with police will be there in each team,” he revealed.

Encroachment in the city has become a huge concern for the past few years. Illiterate migrants of other states, who are residing in the city, have encroached upon the corporation land. Large-scale migration from states like Bihar and Uttar Pradesh and also from other urban and rural areas coupled with industrial development has led to a steep rise in the city’s population. In the absence of any job openings, migrants start selling things on carts and makeshift shops in highly populated areas. This not only tarnishes the image of the city in front of people, who are coming from far off places, but also creates health hazard as most of them sell uncovered and stale eatables. Interestingly, most of these intrusions are found to be in front of schools and hospitals, where the health risks goes up manifolds. Also, it leads to huge traffic chaos in the city, especially in highly colonised areas. 

Jalandhar, July 15
Riju Vashisht, a student of MCA, from the CT Group of Institutions, has been selected on an annual salary package of $ 40,000 by a Toronto-based IT company “New Wave Software”. Vashisht had graduated from CT Institute of Management and IT Maqsudan in BCA (2007-2010). Thereafter he did his post graduation in MCA (2010-2012) from the same institute. Congratulating the selected student, Charanjit Singh Channi, chairman of the CT Group of Institutions, said: “I am extremely pleased to know about the selection of student on a high-salary package in the initial phase of his career. Many students of the present MCA batch of the institution have got placements in well reputed multi-national companies.”