Jalandhar, September 6
With two more deaths in the Garha area today, the diarrhoea death toll has risen to four in the past three days.

An MC team fixes a leak in a sewerage pipe near the civil dispensary in the Garha area in Jalandhar on Friday. Photo: Sarabjit Singh

Over 200 cases of patients suffering from diarrhoea have been reported in the Garha area in Jalandhar and the total cases across the district are expected to be much more.

Today the death of Nisha (2) and Santo Devi (90) were reported from the area. Nisha was the daughter of a poor migrant from Bihar visiting his relative.

While the health authorities maintain that about 70 persons are down with diarrhoea in the district and about 10 of them are admitted to the Civil Hospital, in stark contrast the civil dispensary at Garha maintained that it had received 490 patients from the district in the past two days, of which over 200 were suffering from diarrhoea.

The civil dispensary staff said at least 17 to 20 critical patients had been referred to the Civil Hospital in the past two days.

The Garha area was much in news last year due to a spate of illnesses, prime among which was dengue.

The seriousness of the situation in the area can be gauged from the fact that Kirpal Pali, husband of Ward 32 councillor Satya, who was seen touring the ward until yesterday, had to be admitted to the hospital last night after he also suffered from diarrhoea.

Santo Devi

Over 5,000 scrap dealers also reside in the area.

Deceased Nisha was also staying at one such compound where scrap lay stacked all over the place. Her mother Geeta Devi was admitted to the area civil dispensary and other compound members, like Kishan Singh, said their family members were also ill due to consumption of contaminated water.

A resident, Radha, said the scrap yards were causing problems, but for years even the clean colonies of the area had been getting stinking water, smelling of sewage, in the rainy season.

A team, comprising MLA KD Bhandari, Mayor Sunil Jyoti, Civil Surgeon Dr RL Bassan, among others, surveyed the area today.

Mayor Sunil Jyoti said, “There is a serious problem regarding scrap yards in the area. There are also plans to fix the leaks in the sewerage connection for which the water supply to the area has been suspended for sometime, during which leaks will be fixed.”

“We shall not be allowing any illegal and faulty connections anymore. People get faulty connections and often do not bother to check the plumbing at regular basis and when it begins leaking it affects an entire area,” the Mayor added.

“We are also planning to rope in a company, which will be checking the water in the city two to three times during the monsoon season,” the Mayor said.

Civil Surgeon Dr RL Bassan said, “We have visited the area and provided tablets to residents. While three cases of deaths were due to diarrhea, the old woman, who died today, died due to old age. The condition of the rest is stable. We are also keeping a watch on sensitive areas like Gopal Nagar, Bastis and other congested areas.”

Jalandhar, September 6
An effort to stop a fight at her village in Shahkot cost an elderly woman her life last night.

The woman, Lachho, had just intervened and was standing outside her house at Rama village when she was crushed to death under a tractor by four persons, Joginder Singh, his two sons Malkiat Singh and Manjit Singh, and one Jarnail Singh.

The foursome had been reportedly fighting with others in the locality over the issue of illegal sand mining from the river banks close by. While the police had earlier lodged a case under Section 304-A of the IPC, but the supporters of the family of the deceased held a dharna outside the Shahkot police station, following which all four and some unknown others had been booked under Sections 302, 452 and 506 of the IPC.

The DSP, Shahkot, Harpreet Singh Benipal, said none of the accused had been arrested as they all had been absconding after the incident. He said the son of the deceased had lodged a complaint that his mother had been dragged from inside the house towards the road, beaten up with wooden rods and a ran over by a tractor, which led to her instantaneous death.

Jalandhar, September 6
Coming as a major relief to a family that had applied for Nitishree flats, the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum has asked chairman and directors of the company to pay Rs 9,775 per month as compensation from April, 2008 till the completion and delivery of the possession of the flat to them.

A Bashirpura-based family including PN Dhir, his son Puneet Dhir and daughter-in-law Monika Dhir had filed a complaint stating that the company had called applications for the sale of flats at Shourya Greens Apartments at Surya Enclave in 2007. The family said they were allured by the company which had published and distributed brochures for the same.

At that time, the company chairman and directors had stated that they had got the license to develop the flats and applied for the same. A written agreement was executed between the parties. At the first instance complainants deposited, Rs 3.5 lakh vide two different cheques. As per the agreement and schedule, the applicants were to deposit the payments in installments as per the construction of the project (slab wise). It was duly stipulated in the agreement that the opposite parties were bound to complete the construction and further were bound to handover the complete flat to the complainants by December 2007.

The complainants said they got the financial assistance from the HDFC Ltd and paid Rs15.6 lakh in one shot to the opposite parties. Not only this before getting the loan, the complainants paid a huge amount to the opposite parties. Till now, they said that they have paid Rs 27,43,322 to the company. They said they have also paid interest on the loan amount taken from the HDFC Ltd. and failed to get rebate on the income tax.

Till today, the Dhirs said, they have been burdened with the interest of Rs 6,72,545.They alleged that the company officials were manipulating the accounts and never submitted the correct statement of accounts, nor supplied the correct accounts to the complainants.

While the family claims that it has nothing to pay now, but again the owners of the company demanded Rs. l,02,945 in May 2008 and have been charging the interest illegally on this amount till now. “Rather the opposite parties are liable to pay the penal amount of Rs 5 per sq.ft. per month till the completion of the construction of the flat from December 2007. The total area of the flat is 1955 sq feet. So the penalty amount per month is Rs 9,775, and the total calculation shows the total amount recoverable is Rs 5,66,950 and this amount will go further up as the construction even now is not complete.

Upon notice, the counsel for the company appeared and filed a written reply saying that the complainants themselves have failed to pay the amount to the opposite parties. They denied that any unnecessary interest had been charged. They further pleaded that calculation given by the complainants was incorrect and denied any deficiency in service on their part. The opposite parties produced no documents and closed the evidence.

The forum members saw the photographs of the flat in question put on record and said it was evident that the flat had not been completed till date. The company has already delayed the construction of the flat and delivery of its possession to the complainants by five years. It observed, “When the opposite parties are not completing the construction of the flat, they are not entitled to receive any interest or penal interest on the ground that complainants have failed to make the entire payment of the flat. The payment by the allottees is construction-linked. When the opposite parties are themselves defaulters and have delayed the construction of the flat by five years, they are stopped from charging any interest or penal interest on the ground of delayed payment”

It directed the company to pay Rs 9,775 per month as compensation to the complainants from April, 2008 till the completion of the flat and delivery of its possession to them. They were also awarded Rs 5,000 on account of litigation expenses.

Jalandhar, September 6
A three-member team of horticulturists from Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) surveyed Burlton Park on the basis of a scribbled plan provided by the Municipal Corporation (MC) today. The team was called by the MC after being directed by the Punjab and Haryana High Court to assess the environmental damage to be caused by cutting of trees during the proposed construction of commercial area inside the park.

The survey team inspected the area according to the measurements scribbled on the map and did not solicited a copy of the original map submitted in the court from the MC during the whole inspection. Also, while leaving, they did carry the copy of the modified map on the basis of which they conducted the entire survey, the report of which will decide the fate of proposed sports hub inside the 200 years' old Burlton Park.

In the original map that was submitted in the high court as option 16, the proposed 74 ft-wide road with 6 ft-wide centre verge is passing from Rose Garden, whereas in the modified map shown to the PAU team, it was shown passing out of the garden. Due to this, the number of trees to be cut during the development of the commercial area is restricted to 150, whereas the actual number of trees to be axed according to the original map is more than 400.

“We have submitted an affidavit regarding these modifications in the court,” said Kulvinder Singh, Assistant Commissioner, MC, but on questioning about whether the modified map has also been submitted along with the affidavit in the court, he replied that he would submit the modified map only once the court would ask for it.

When contacted, Dr DR Sharma, member of the PAU survey team, confirmed that his team was actually confused about the original map. “We are aware that there is some ambiguity in the map shown to us. We will conduct proper investigation before filing our report,” said Dr Sharma.

“They got the PAU survey done on an unapproved map. These modifications were simply proposed by the Mayor in an in-House meeting and did not have the approval of the high court. How can they get the survey ordered by the high court done on a fake map. This can be taken as a contempt of court,” said Arvind Chauhan, counsel for the Burlton Park Society. He added that the affidavit submitted in the high court merely stated that the corporation would try to save as many trees inside and outside Rose Garden and Leisure Valley. “Nowhere it is mentioned that they will exclude these two areas completely in the proposed project,” said Chauhan.

Society members also revealed that since the Rs 130-crore loan from Housing and Urban Development Corporation Limited (HUDCO) had been sanctioned on the existing map, the corporation could not do any amendments to the original map. “They cannot do these amendments to the project as shown today to the survey team as they will have to again apply for loan on a new plan, which will take lot of time. The cost of the proposed project has already escalated to 30 per cent in the last four years,” revealed Harish Sharma, General Secretary Burlton Park Welfare Society(R).

The society members also pointed suspicion towards the readiness of Nagarjuna Constructions Ltd to make the sports hub in the same cost of 148 crores even when the entire cost escalated to 30 per cent. “Why the government does not leave this controversial 176 ft commercial area that is ruining the greenery of the park. We are not against sports hub, but no commercial activity should be allowed inside the park, which holds a heritage status in the minds and hearts of the local population,” said Capt MM Khosla, a member of the society.

The corporation has to submit the survey report in the hearing scheduled for September 10. The corporation is reluctant to build 70 shop-cum-offices in the park, which would be sold specifically to sports goods manufacturers, including Nike, Adidas and Reebok, and fast food companies, like McDonalds, KFC and Pizza Hut. The cricket stadium proposed by the BCCI was planned to be made with the international standards so that the top-class cricket could be played at three different venues in Punjab - Mohali, Bhatinda and Jalandhar.

Jalandhar, September 6
A miscreant snatched the purse of woman, Poornima, a resident of Udhampur, who was in the city to attend a marriage function, this evening. The purse contained Rs 1.5 lakh and jewellery.

Poornima was going in a rickshaw with her son to a relative's place. When the rickshaw reached near DAV College the motorcycle-borne miscreant snatched her purse, containing Rs 1.5 lakh and jewellery.

The woman said she was here to attend a marriage in the family of the in-laws of her sister at Sheikhan Bazaar. She said she was putting up near Devi Talab Mandir, had shopped at Kala Shree store here and was heading towards Professor Colony when the incident occurred.

She lodged a complaint at the Division Number 2 police station. The ACP (North), Balkar Singh, said there was no clue about the snatcher. "It will be difficult to solve the case," he pointed out.

Jalandhar, September 6
Kar sewa continued for the second consecutive day on Friday at Pinjara Pole Gaushala on Tanda Road for improving living conditions of cattle there.

A batch of another 25 youths headed by the national president of Hindu Jagriti Manch, Mandeep Bakshi, cleansed the floor by removing cattle dung with their hands for about six hours from 10 am to two pm.

The kar sewa will continue for a fortnight. A batch of another 25 youths headed by former chairman of the Punjab Gaushala Board Keemti Bhagat will perform kar sewa on Saturday.

Earlier, following the directions of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, the MCJ on August 30 decided to take several steps, including starting kar sewa for improving the condition of cattle at two gaushalas in the city.

“A batch of 25 kar sewaks would do voluntary service at Pinjara Pole Gaushala on Tanda Road from September 5 to 20 on trial basis,” he said, adding that the kar sewa would be started thereafter at Bulandpur Gaushala.

Ritu Grover

City girl tops MA exam

Jalandhar, September 6
Deputy District Attorney at Punjab Police Academy, Phillaur, Ritu Grover, has brought laurels to the city by topping GNDU in MA (Police Administration) by securing 1058 marks. — TNS