Jalandhar, August 17
A 30-year-old youth was killed in a brawl between two Dalit groups of Dhilwan here late last night.

It is learnt that Vicky, a painter, and his friend Raj Kumar were returning home after dining out when their bike hit the one which Nathpal (45), his son Amit Kumar (17) and their neighbour Rakesh Kumar were riding. The accident took place in front of Sandhu Dairy on Dhilwan Road.

A scuffle ensued leaving Vicky and Raj Kumar seriously injured. Both were rushed to the Civil Hospital. While Vicky could not survive his injuries, Raj Kumar, who was allegedly hit with stones, was battling his head injuries.

In the meantime, Nathpal, Amit and Rakesh left the spot and reached home. Later, Nathpal called up the police to lodge a complaint, unmindful of the fact that Vicky had succumbed to the injuries he had received in the brawl.

The police reached their home and nabbed the father-son duo while the third accused had fled by then.

The Rama Mandi police lodged a complaint against the three following Raj Kumar's statement.

Rama Mandi Station House Officer (SHO) Vimal Kant said while Nathpal and Amit were arrested after the incident, the third accused was on the run. He said a case had been registered against the trio under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

The accused, Nathpal, was produced in the court of Judicial Magistrate First Class Anuradha and sent to police remand for a day. Amit, being a minor, has been sent to the Juvenile Home in Hoshiarpur.

ADCP-I Naresh Dogra visited the spot and later, met the victim at the Civil Hospital.

Meanwhile, BSP leader Kamal Dev Jandu Singha has claimed that Nathpal was being falsely blamed for the murder and that it was a planned attack to nail him for complaining against Bittu in the shoot-out case.

He said that while Bittu had not been arrested, Nathpal and his son were arrested without being allowed to put forth their side of the story.

Sangha said that on a number of occasions, Nathpal had submitted an application to the Police Commissioner that he was under threat and could be implicated in a case.

Jalandhar, August 17
The district administration has cancelled 31 bogus conveyance deeds executed in the Lohian sub-tehsil. Two months ago, a Naib Tehsildar was arrested for the crime following a complaint by the Deputy Commissioner.

Deputy Commissioner Shruti Singh said while the forged deeds had been cancelled by the Revenue Department, the process of recovery of nearly 155 acres of provincial land from the illegal occupants too had started.

The move of the administration will check any further resale of the allotted land.

District Revenue Officer (DRO) Sanjeev Sharma said eviction of the families had not yet started. "It is a tedious process. Most of them had been in illegal possession of the land even before execution of the land deed."

The DRO has been asked to check the records of other sub-tehsils as well so as to locate similar violations, if any. An order to this effect was passed by former Divisional Commissioner SR Ladhar.

Sharma said he had started verification of other sub-tehsils but it was a very lengthy process and would take time.

The administration had found that instead of allotting the provincial land to the deserving landless tillers, the accused, Naib Tehsildar Inderjit Singh Dhanoa, illegally sold the land to undeserving people forgoing the eligibility criterion, without receiving requisite documents and a nominal fee of Rs 5,000 from them. Each one of the 31 beneficiaries was 'gifted' five acres of agricultural land.

Kapurthala, August 17
With close to 1,800 people in 18 villages of Sultanpur Lodhi, situated along the Beas, stranded in floodwaters for the past few days, the Commissioner, Jalandhar Division, R Venkat Ratnam, today took a round of the affected area today.

Paddy, maize, fodder and other crops sown on several acres of agricultural land within an Advance Bundh have been lying submerged in floodwaters for nearly a week now. After the visit, the Divisional Commissioner said the crop under two to four-foot-deep water had got destroyed. He assured that the affected farmers would be adequately compensated after a special girdawari was conducted at the site.

The Divisional Commissioner asked Deputy Commissioner DS Mangat, Senior Superintendent of Police Inderbir Singh, ADC Gurpreet Singh Khehra, Kapurthala Sub-divisional Magistrate Darbara Singh and Sultanpur Lodhi SDM Kuldeep Singh Chandi to ensure that proper provisions of food and medicines were made for the affected residents of Baupur Mand, Sangra and surrounding villages.

FACT FILE Paddy, maize, fodder and other crops sown on several acres of agricultural land in 18 villages situated along the Beas have been lying submerged in floodwaters for nearly a week now . The Divisional Commissioner, Jalandhar Division, R Venkat Ratnam, said the crop under two to four-foot-deep water had got destroyed. A special girdawari to be conducted at the site.

Jalandhar, August 17
Ten days into the murder of a tonga-puller in Kucha Kot locality here, the city police is still clueless about the whereabouts of the three accused, including a Head Constable deployed with the Anti-Gangster Staff.

On the intervening night of August 7 and 8, Head Constable Rakesh Kumar along with moneylenders Vishal and Sabi of the same locality had thrashed Bagga Ram (50) to death after he had reportedly expressed his helplessness in paying back a borrowed sum of Rs 20,000. The trio were booked under Section 302 of the IPC following the complaint of the deceased's son, Ajay Kumar.

ACP (West) Ravinder Pal Sandhu said the Head Constable was on the run ever since the killing took place. "He has even switched off his phone. We have been approaching his family members. They said he might come in a day or two," he said, adding that the moneylenders too were at large.

On the other hand, the Station House Officer of the Basti Bawa Khel, Gurpreet Singh, said, "We have been making rounds of the place of the accused cop at Kucha Kot locality. Now, his family is also on the run."

Police Commissioner Gaurav Yadav said he had already suspended Rakesh Kumar, adding that if found guilty during the course of trial, he would even be dismissed.

Jalandhar, August 17
Bad roads and traffic bottlenecks at the PAP Chowk harassed commuters for another day.

Even as the traffic police commissioned trolleys of material to fill the potholes on the troublesome stretch leading to the PAP Chowk and the MC promised that the problem would be fixed in a nocturnal operation, things were back to square one around noon today. Buses, transport vehicles, four-wheelers, two-wheelers had a tough time crossing the stretch.

The road from Rama Mandi to the PAP Chowk is ridden with deep potholes and by early afternoon, the potholes that were filled up to prevent inconvenience to the commuters had turned into sludgy pits, posing hazards to the vehicles, both big and small, plying on the stretch.

Though the traffic police blocked the way towards the BSF Chowk from the Ladowali Road, which prevented bottlenecks at the BSF Chowk to a certain extent, there was no respite from traffic snarls at the PAP Chowk. Situation was no different from yesterday.

Satnam Singh, a commuter between Chugitti and the PAP Chowk area, said, “While the incomplete PAP flyover had been a source of trouble for commuters since long, the potholes added to their woes. This has been going on for months while commuters are prone to risks. But officials are indifferent. Roads are full of sludge and commuters face hardships in negotiating the deep pits. Due to its location, commuters have to use the hazardous chowk.”

ACP (Traffic) Mahinder Singh said, “We have been at the spot throughout the day and have been regulating traffic more effectively. Movement of traffic was not as troublesome as yesterday. However, the MC has assured us of action and the Mayor has reviewed the spot as well. MC teams shall be working overnight to fix the potholes today as well.”

About the traffic police’s own plans to deal with the traffic snarls like today, the ACP said, “In the coming days, we shall depute men and might re-route traffic in several areas where constant bottlenecks are witnessed.”

Jalandhar, August 17
Several large industrial units are shifting out of Punjab due to the “anti industry policies” of Parkash Singh Badal-led SAD-BJP government.

Stating this, state president of Vayapar Sena Ravindra Dhir said “Badal government has declared several incentives for new industries in its industrial policy in an effort to attract investment in Punjab but it has not made any attempt to keep the existing industry in the state by removing the various problems they are facing.”

Dhir said “Instead of declaring incentives for new industries, Punjab Government should have announced the same for existing industries to retain them in the state. I had urged Deputy CM Sukhbir Badal, during the industrialists’ meeting with him on e-trip issue in Chandigarh on July 30, that the state government should have declared incentives for existing industries.”

“The industry and trade is currently facing various problems, including delay in VAT refund, sealing TIN number and imposing power cut on various categories of industrial units,” he added.

That is why the trade and industry body of Jalandhar city has formed a common platform to take up their issues jointly in the future, he said.

The presidents and general secretaries of as many as 80 associations of trade and industry have formed the Industrialists and Traders Joint Action Committee (ITJAC).

The presidents of each of the associations were included in the 80-member JAC, whereas the 31-member steering committee of ITJAC would be declared within a few days.

Besides Dhir, the president of Federation of Industry and Trades Association, Gursharan Singh, the chief of Federation of Jalandhar Industry, Raj Kumar Sharma, the Attari Bazaar Wholesale General Merchant Association chief, Sukhwinder Sing Bagga, Sugar Merchant Association president Pritam Singh and Wholesale Electronics Market chief Gurmeet Singh Bittu were present in the meeting.

Jalandhar, August 17
While the Municipal Corporation (MC) is spending nearly Rs 28 lakh per month for the upkeep of streetlight points, over half of the total such points in various parts of the city are not working.

“The contractors fail to keep streetlight points in working condition, so the other clauses of the agreement, including painting the streetlight poles, providing junction boxes and replacement of broken glasses are better forgotten,” leader of opposition in MC Jagdish Raj Raja alleged. “Over 60 per cent of the total streetlight points are currently not working. The MC officials and streetlight contractors are hand in glove. That is why the latter are not fulfilling the clauses of the contract,” he added

So much so, a photo journalist, Akhilesh Kumar, also lost his life due to open streetlight wires near Maqsoodan a few months ago.

Raja said he had raised the issue of streetlights in the MC meeting twice, on December 17 last year and July 9 this year.

He also submitted a complaint regarding poor condition of streetlights to the Assembly Committee on local bodies during the visit of its chairman and several members to the city a few days ago, he added.

In his complaint, Raja had demanded that responsibility be fixed in this regard and appropriate action be taken against the defaulters as nearly Rs 3.5 crore was being spent for the upkeep of the streetlight points.

Jalandhar, August 17
The Director General (DG), National Cadet Corps (NCC), Lieutenant Genral PS Bhalla started a two-day visit to NCC Group, Jalandhar, today.

He visited the NCC Group headquarters, met the Commanding officers and staff at the group headquarters, which was followed by a briefing by the Group Commander Brig GPS Sandhu, VSM, on the activities in the Jalandhar group.

He addressed all NCC Officers at the Layallpur Khalsa College auditorium. This was followed by tea with staff, where he interacted with them on NCC related issues.

Lt Gen PS Bhalla, PVSM, AVSM, took over as DG on 21 February 2011. He is an alumnus of national Defence Academy (NDA), Pune, and was commissioned into the 64th Cavalry in December 1973. The officer is also accredited with higher qualifications and is a Master of Philosophy in Social Science from Panjab University, Chandigarh.

He has commanded the 64th Cavalry, 88 Armed Brigade and 20 Mountain Division. He was awarded the Ati Vishisht Seva Medal (AVSM) for his distinguished service while serving as GOC 20 Mountain Division and was also awarded the Param Vishisht Seva Medal (PVSM).—TNS

Jalandhar, August 17
In a ceremony held at Government Middle School Rampur by the school management committee as well as the Gram Panchayat of village Rampur awarded the meritorious students of the school. Punjab Minister for Tourism, Jails and Cultural Affairs Sr Sarwan Singh Phillaur honoured school students Romi Jassal and Paramjit who recently won accolades at a district-level contest. The students had attained first position in the Spelling Bee contest held in the district. Ram Krishan, social studies master at the school, was also awarded for his services and the apt training provided to students, on the occasion.

Spelling Bee contests were recently held in the district to check the prowess and grip of students over language and to encourage them to strive for a better understanding of words and their meanings.

The good performance of the school students had won them accolades from all quarters. Headmaster Jaswinder Singh, sarpanch Baljit Kaur, among others were present at the ceremony. The minister lauded the efforts of the students and the staff. 

Jalandhar, August 17
In an effort to help poor patients get medical consultation at an affordable cost, a city-based physician, Balraj Gupta and proprietor of Rattan Hospital, will start a charitable dispensary shortly.

While addressing mediapersons Dr Gupta said as the cost of living had escalated and it was very difficult for a common person to get private treatment.

He said a laboratory would be started for all patients where tests would be done at half rates. The hospital has also offered Angiography at low cost from August 15 to September 15.

The hospital was in controversy in July when a police party from Patti raided it to nab Dr Gupta for his alleged involvement in a criminal case. The chief vigilance officer of the Punjab Health Department subsequently had raided the same hospital and sealed scanning machine besides confiscating medicines in bulk.

Dr Gupta, however, termed the episode as a handy act of his certain rivals to defame him. 

Phagwara, August 17
Activists of Block Congress Committee, headed by BCC president Sanjeev Bugga, hold demonstration and raised anti-police slogans over the arrest of Block Youth Congress president Gagandeep Soni, who was arrested in a case of personal enmity.

Later, the protesters submitted a memorandum to the officials. Bugga threatened to intensify the stir from Monday if Soni was not released till then. 

Jalandhar, August 17
Softball players of Hans Raj Mahila Maha Vidyalaya represented Himachal Pradesh team in the 5th Federation Cup Softball Championship held at Guru Nanak Dev University from August 8 to 11. The team got first runners- up position. The members of the team were Poonam Kumari, Priyanka Nekta, Sandhya Devi, Amrita, Payal, Minakshi, Shivani, Kamini, Kumari Poonam, Jr Priyanka. Km. Sandeep and Harpreet represented Punjab state team and got winner position. Principal Rekha Kalia Bhardwaj congratulated students, staff of Physical Education Deptt and their coach for this achievements.

Results declared

Kanya Maha Vidyalaya Jalandhar’s students of Postgraduate Department of Fashion Designing brought laurels to the institution by their outstanding performance in university exams. Taranpreet bagged 3rd position, Pardeep secured 9th position and Aarti 10th position in MSc (FD).

Group discussion

A group discussion on the topic “Children and their relationship with grandparents” was conducted among the students of Apeejay College of Fine Arts, Jalandhar to investigate the deterioration in the relations in the present times. As many as 20 students comprising two groups participated in the discussion. The students focused on the need for spending more time with grandparents and for becoming more understanding and accommodating towards them who had slowed down with the age.

There was a general consensus that spending quality time with grandparents would go a long way in developing healthy relations as well as enhancing the well-being of the family. The discussion concluded with the idea that children who enjoyed healthy relations with grandparents also emerged as well adjusted adults who are an asset to the society.

Dr Sucharita, Principal said the college should provide a platform to the students to air their divergent opinions on different social issues.

Phagwara, August 17
Irate activists of the ABHSS, led by state vice-president Deepak Bhardwaj hold protest and sat on dharna in front of Satnampura police station and blocked the vehicular traffic on Phagwara-Nakodar road for about an hour on Saturday evening. They were demanding immediate arrests of the owners of mineral water factory.

DSP, Phagwara, Manjit Singh, who rushed to the blockade site pacified the protesters and assured them appropriate action against the violators and the blockade was lifted.

It may be recalled that the district health authorities yesterday sent a prohibition notice to the Satnampura police to seal the mineral water factory allegedly running illegally. The police has sealed the factory on the directions of the health authorities.