Jalandhar, July 22
A man,Charanjit Singh, stabbed his wife, Sonia, to death outside their house at Bhogpur late last night. Charanjit Singh, who had fled from the spot and had been hiding at his relative’s place, was arrested this evening.

Karamvir Singh, 17-year-old son of the couple, in his complaint to the police said last night he was watching TV with his grandparents and younger brother when he heard his parents quarrelling near the gate of the house. He said his mother had been stopping his father from going out and getting some intoxicants, which he was addicted to.

As the matter between the two flared up, Charanjit Singh took out a knife, stabbed Sonia in her stomach and ran off. The family immediately raised an alarm at which the neighbours, too, came out of their houses. They took Sonia to Johal Hospital in Bhogpur, where she was declared brought dead.

While Charanjit has a battery repair workshop, Sonia ran a beauty parlour and a boutique. The couple was married for 18 years,but often indulged in spats. The SHO, Bhogpur police station, Parminder Singh, said the panchayat had often pitched in to resolve their domestic issues. He said the accused had been arrested and would be produced in the court tomorrow morning.

Jalandhar, July 22
A woman employee (dresser), who had accused a Medical Officer (MO), posted at a dispensary of the Dr BR Ambedkar National Institute of Technology (NIT) here, of sexual harassment and uttering objectionable words to her, is likely to face action as the police found her allegation false and fabricated.

The dresser, Baljit Kaur, in a complaint to the Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of Police, had alleged that Dr Tarun Sehgal of the dispensary had misbehaved, sexually harassed her and spoke disrespectfully.

On the complaint, the DIG had marked an inquiry to the Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Jalandhar (Rural), who constituted a special investigating team (SIT), comprising Rajinder Singh SP (D), Jasbir Singh Rai, DSP, Kartarpur, and Avtar Kaur, in charge, Women Cell, to investigate the case.

Taking a serious note of the incident, Dr Samir Kumar Das, Director of the NIT, also constituted a fact-finding committee at the institute level to investigate the incident in depth. He revealed that the committee found that Baljit Kaur implicated Dr Sehgal in a false and frivolous case for vested interests. The finding of the SIT revealed that Dr Tarun had himself taken over the charge of the medical store of the dispensary from Baljit Kaur, following which they exchanged arguments.

The report of the SIT says that Baljit Kaur could not produce any witnesses out of the staff present in the dispensary at that time.

Moreover, a witness (Ranjit Singh of Sant Vohar Colony, Lidhran) that the complainant had produced was a fake one as there was no entry of his name in the register at main gate of the institute on that particular day.

The police found that the allegations were false and said no further action was required against Dr Sehgal.

While talking to The Tribune, Dr Das revealed that legal action could be initiated against Baljit Kaur.

He, however, revealed that the Board of Governors of the NIT had decided to give the increments and non-practice allowances (that were stopped after the incident) to Dr Tarun Sehgal soon.

Jalandhar, July 22
The Fire Department of the Municipal Corporation (MC), which is supposed to be fully equipped to deal with any exigency, is in fact having very less staff, outdated firefighting vehicles and only two fire stations for the whole city.

The department is also not having the hydraulic platform, which is very important for a city like Jalandhar having high-rise buildings. Due to shortage of staff and lack of equipment, the firefighters apply their own raw methods to tackle any fire incident in the serpentine lanes of the city putting their and the victims' lives at risk.

According to the population figures, the Fire Department requires 16 fire stations, but presently only two sub-stations are operational with staff strength of 50. Considering the required strength of 30 persons in each station, the department requires at least 480 persons. What is shocking is that the last recruitment was done way back in 1978. Inquiries brought to light that the firemen don't even have fire masks.

"Firemen are not provided any uniform by the Municipal Corporation. The risk allowance of these brave men is only Rs 150 a month. In these fusty working conditions, it becomes very difficult to perform such a daring task in any major outbreak," said some staff members of the fire wing.

Inquiries revealed that out of the 17 fire tenders, only nine are in working conditions and these too are old vehicles. Recently seven fire tenders were declared unfit for use because the civic body is not able to get them repaired, for which about Rs 30,000 are required. "We have stopped the vehicle maintenance work recently as we have not received any payment for the last two years from the MC," said Rajan Sharma of Raju Auto, who is the vehicle maintenance contractor for the Fire Department.

What is surprising is that the MC recently passed a resolution to buy 10 new firefighting vehicles, which will cost them around RS 2 crore, whereas the civic body is not paying a meagre amount of Rs 30,000 for the maintenance of its seven vehicles. When contacted, Assistant Commissioner, MC, Gurbinder Randhawa, who is also the in charge of the Fire Department, said, "I am not aware of the entire issue and will look into the matter."

Jalandhar, July 22
Just two days after a police party from Patti raided city-based Rattan Hospital to nab its proprietor Dr Balraj Gupta for his alleged involvement in a criminal case, the Chief Vigilance Officer of the Punjab Health Department today raided the same hospital and sealed a scanning machine beside confiscating medicines in bulk.

Accompanied by district Health and Family Welfare Officer Dr Shiv Dyal Mali, district Drug Inspector and their team, Chief Vigilance Officer of the Punjab Health Department Dr Vijay Sharma, who is also Deputy Director, Punjab Health Department, conducted a surprise checking of the hospital this morning.

Sources in the Health Department revealed that the raid was conducted following complaints from the Vigilance Bureau of the Punjab Police regarding illegal sex determination practice and sale of illegal medicines at the hospital.

Taking a serious note of the complaint, the Health Department asked Dr Sharma to visit the hospital and take a stock of the situation, sources revealed.

Talking to The Tribune, Dr Mali revealed that the scanning machine was operational and lying unattended at the hospital, while the sale of medicines was going on illegally. There was no one to own the scanning machine and the medicines in the hospital pharmacy, he added.

There was no one who could produce bills of the medicines and licence of the pharmacy after Dr Balraj Gupta was hospitalised.

Meanwhile, a show-cause notice had been served on the hospital management under the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PCPNDT) Act, 1994, and under the provisions of the Drug and Cosmetic Act, Dr Mali said.

Jalandhar, July 22
A 27-year-old youth died under mysterious circumstances late last night.

The body of the deceased, Harpreet Singh Sodhi, working as a bus driver with a dera, was found from a vacant plot near railway track in Maqsudan.

While the police has initiated inquest proceedings on the matter under Section 174 of the CrPC, the family has alleged a foul play and blamed two brothers for his murder.

The SHO, Division No 1 police station, Balbir Singh, said at 11.30 pm he had got an information about a body found from the site. He said a missing person report had been lodged by the father of the deceased, Jaswinder Singh, who identified him. He said since the body did not bear any injury mark, the exact cause of death would be known only after he got the postmortem report, which was done this morning.

The family, however, has alleged that the youth had got a call at 8.30 pm. “Our son kept on talking over phone for about half an hour and left home saying that he would return soon but he did not return,” the aggrieved parents said. They suspect two youths, who had taken Rs 1,000 loan from Harpreet Singh after placing their bike with the deceased, which he had returned and had been asking them for returning money.

The SHO said he had interrogated the two youths against whom the allegations were being levelled. He said since there were no injuries on the body indicating it to be a case of murder, he could not book them till some poisoning or strangulation was established in the postmortem. He said he had also sought call details from a telecom company to solve the case.

Jalandhar, July 22
Annual training camp of the second Punjab Girls Battalion, located at Mithapur, got underway in Jalandhar Cantonment today.

The camp will conclude on July 29. The camp is being conducted under the guidance of Col R Yadav, who is being assisted by the associate NCC Officers, Army instructors and the civil staff.

As many as 286 NCC cadets from 27 colleges and schools of the Doaba region are participating in the camp. According to the defence spokesperson, the camp curriculum has been designed to inculcate leadership qualities among the participants and to motivate them to join the Army.

In the camp, the cadets will be made to fire rifles, do weapon handling, parade in squads and learn the basics of first aid, map reading and military craft. The cadets will also be participating in various competitions and cultural events specifically planned for the camp. Besides military learning, a blood donation camp and tree plantation drive will aslo be held. 

Jalandhar, July 22
Dr Ashu Gupta, currently serving as an assistant professor in school of information technology, Apeejay Institute of Management Technical Campus, in continuation of his research efforts, has been appointed as an editorial board member of the International Journal of Scientific and Engineering Research (IJSER), ISSN: 2229-5518, published in the USA.

The journal is an open access peer-reviewed international forum for scientists and engineers involved in research. It publishes high quality and refereed papers. Papers reporting original research or extended versions of already published conference/journal papers are all welcome. Papers for publication are selected through peer review to ensure originality, relevance and readability. The journal ensures a wide indexing policy to make published papers highly visible to the scientific community. The impact factor of IJSER is 1.4. Dr Kawaljeet Singh, director, University Computer Centre, Patiala, and Dr Chanderkant, professor, Kurukshetra University, congratulated Ashu Gupta. They said: “This journal will truly benefit from his deep technical expertise and prior experience with publications.”

Jalandhar, July 22
In a special initiative to bind the viewers with Punjab’s rich cultural legacy, Doodarshan Jalandhar organised a gala event celebrating the folk art of Punjab. Savan Utsav was held at the Doordrashan Kendra on Saturday, in which acclaimed folk artistes and vocalists of the state enthralled viewers. The event - held from 7 to 10 pm, on the evening of July 20th, was telecast live on the Doordarshan Bharti channel.

All the performances in the unique event were based on folk songs and instruments. The event threw light on the importance of the rainy season in Punjabi culture and arts. It also emphasised on the significance and history of the sweet and charming folk songs and instruments of the state.

Feroz Khan, vocalist sisters Jyoti Nooran and Sultana Nooran, as well as talented husky-voiced vocalist Saeeda Beghum, performed during the show. Winner of DD’s music reality show ‘Sur Sirtaj’, Mandeep Kaur, also performed during the show. Artistes from the Malwa Art and Cultural Society, Chandigarh, presented Malwai Giddha and students of the BBK DAV College, Amritsar, presented folk orchestra.

Folk singer Mohammed Sadiq presented the folk song ‘Malki Keema’ with artiste Sukhjit Kaur and folk performer Des Raj Lichkani presented the traditional unique ‘Dhadd Sarangi’ folk performance. On the occasion, ace comedians Ghulle Shah and Bhajna Amli, gave the primarily musical show a comic edge.

Balkar Singh, Amarjeet Singh and Gurwinder Singh Narula were the producers of the show. Other key crew members were Baljit Singh and Monica Dutt. Ramandeep Rimpy and Kamaljeet Mananwala were the conveners. 

Jalandhar, July 22
The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), Department of Science and Technology (DST) and Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) have sanctioned funds amounting to Rs 88.4 lakh for the research and development projects of the Lovely Professional University (LPU). LPU is the first institution in the region to have received funds from government agencies. The funding will give a major boost to the five projects in the advanced areas of different disciplines of the university.

The DRDO has sanctioned Rs 9.8 lakh for bio-technology project - ‘Study of micro-fauna in the rhizosphere of hppophae rhamnoides L (sea-buckthorns) growing at different altitudes of Himalayan Region’.

While DST has funded Rs 27.60 lakh for pharmacy project ‘self nano emulsifying drug delivery systems (SNEDDS) for oral delivery of polypeptide-k for effective management of diabetes mellitus: design and optimisation’.

The CSIR has sanctioned Rs 20.5 lakh for physics project - ‘Self-focusing of ultra-short laser pulses in plasmas under density transition’.

A press note issued by the university revealed that the DST has also come forward for other two projects in separate fields of physics and bio-technology with Rs 13.5 lakh and Rs 20.5 lakh, respectively. These projects are ‘Investigation of H2CS and H2CC molecules in interstellar space’ and ‘Molecular mechanism of mycorrhizal symbiosis during the drought in finger millet: Eleusine coracana (L) Gaertn’. 

Jalandhar, July 22
Punjab Chief Parliamentary Secretary (CPS) for Cooperation Krishan Dev Bhandari will soon arrange a meeting of industrialists with Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal to apprise him about the problems being faced by them and to find their possible solution.

Bhandari assured the industrialists in a meeting organised by city businessmen under the aegis of Federation of Jalandhar Industrial and Traders Associations here today evening that he would also raise the issues of VAT refund, e-trip of the invoice amounting to Rs 50,000 or more on the Sales Tax Department website and imposition of three days off for general industry and four days off for induction furnaces by the PSPCL with the BJP state president Kamal Sharma.

Bhandari, also a BJP MLA from Jalandhar north constituency, assured the industrialists that their genuine demands would definitely be fulfilled. “If I fail to keep my promise, I will join industrialists for agitation in support for their genuine demands as I am also a trader,” he added.

The federation had invited all the local four MLAs, including Local Bodies Minister Bhagat Chunni Lal, former minister Manoranjan Kalia, CPS for Cooperation Krishan Dev Bhandari and Pargat Singh, Akali Dal district president GS Channi and BJP district chief Subash Sood to their meeting today to apprise them about their problems, but only Bhandari and Sood turned up in the meeting.

Speaking on the occasion, Sood said he and Bhandari would also bring their issues to the notice of senior leadership of the BJP to raise the same with its alliance partner SAD for possible solutions.

Earlier, the representatives of the industrialists, including federation president Gursharan Singh, Vayapar Sena chief Ravindra Dhir, Raj Kumar Sharma and Gurmukh Singh Juneja spoke in detail about the problems faced by them due to “anti businessmen” policies of Parkash Singh Badal led SAD-BJP government and demanded their immediate solution.

The representatives of the industrialists said: “Some of them are also thinking of shifting their units to neighbouring Himachal Pradesh as it has become very difficult for them to continue their units in Punjab due to anti-industry policies.” The industrialists said if their genuine demands were not met at the earliest, they would be left with no option but to start an agitation. A number of businessmen, including Subash Dhir, Naveen Chopra, SS Nanda, Satyapal Sharma, Sukhjinder Singh Bagga, Gurdeep Kalra Charanjeet Makkar and Ravinder Singh Manchanada were present on the occasion.

A few weeks ago, the main businessmen associations of Jalandhar formed a joint action committee (JAC) to spearhead a movement against the Punjab Excise and Taxation Department on the issue of VAT refund and other related problems being faced by the industrialists and traders.

The representatives of over a dozen industrialists and traders associations formed the JAC for solidly pursuing their long-pending demand of refunding VAT to businessmen without submitting C-forms and withdrawing of unauthentic target given to each excise and taxation officer (ETO) of collecting Rs 25 lakh per month as revenue.