Jalandhar, September 25
On the completion of his first year in office, Mayor Sunil Jyoti today launched a web portal that shows the digitised record of births and deaths for the past 12 years.

The Mayor said the website mcj.birthdeath.in would allow anyone to view the birth and death certificates issued from 2001 to 2012. He said that the certificates in bilingual version (English and Punjabi) could only be viewed as of now but would be printable from the same site from January 1, 2014, with the data of current year also to be uploaded onto it by then.

Jyoti said various educational institutes, embassies, passport office, private companies, LIC offices and government offices could verify the certificates of applicants from the site and check the authenticity of the documents submitted. He said, “The offices used to bring birth and death certificates to us for cross-verification, and our staff, which is already having a lot of workload, had to spend a lot of time on it which would no longer be the case.”

The Mayor said the website had a downloadable form, with checklist of documents to be attached and well-defined procedure. He said the department would be fully computerised by next year with the provision of online submission also to be made on it, but as of now the applicants would have to walk in to file their papers and even avail certificates.

Rajesh Sharma, systems manager, said in the coming days, the city hospitals would also be connected with the opening of their accounts so that they could register births on their premises with us in real time without making rounds to our office with the copies of documents. He said the record of the past 25 years was in the process of being digitised for the convenience of the applicants.

The authorities have plan to digitise the building branch from next year.

Jalandhar, September 25
The Punjab and Haryana High Court has given the Pinjra Pol Gaushala Management Committee a deadline of up to December 6 to improve the conditions prevailing at the gaushala, failing which the functioning of the gaushala will be handed over to the municipal corporation (MC).

In its latest ruling on the issue, the HC, on Tuesday, stated that if the trust does not take any step to improve the gaushala functioning by the given date, the gaushala land will be taken over "in accordance of law" so that its functioning can be improved.

The HC also observed that only a small part of the land for running the gaushala was available for running by the MC while a big part of it is privately owned. But what was owned by the MC was also transferred to the trust.

The ruling also stated that since there was no improvement at the ground level, grants had also been stopped.

While the HC stated that the MC, Jalandhar, had ensured that endeavours would be made to improve the gaushala functioning, it ruled that in the eventuality of the conditions still not improving, the gaushala land would be taken over "in accordance of law" so that its functioning can be improved.

While the latest ruling puts added onus on the MC-appointed supervisory committee to ensure fair working at the gaushala, the court has also sought a fresh report on the gaushalas from the MC by December 8.

A petition was filed with the HC by as many as 20 Jalandhar-based residents, who were disillusioned with the conditions in the district gaushalas on Tanda Road and Bulandpur - both run by the Pinjra Pol Gaushala Committee.

The chain of action by the MC had begun after the HC, in its order dated July 11, 2013, ordered the MC, Jalandhar, “to take necessary action or to take over the Gaushalas and entrust the task to other parties so that animals are properly maintained”.

Jalandhar, September 25
Punjab Pollution Control Board chairman Ravinder Singh today assured local industrialists on the relaxation of various norms for getting NOCs from the department.

The chairman was here to attend a meeting of the Jalandhar Effluent Treatment Society. Representatives of the industries raised the demand of relaxation on the availing of NOC on water connection. Led by Narinder Singh Sagoo of the Focal Point Association, the members demanded that the 20-year fee levied from the industry owners for water connection be waived off.

Sagoo claimed that several toka machine manufacturers of Goraya, who required minimal use of water too, had been asked to pay up the amount from 1992 onwards when the Water Act was implemented, which came up to as high as 1.5 lakh. Ravinder Singh assured them that deliberations would be held on the matter at a higher level and efforts would be made to apply fee from 2010 onwards since the fee was revised.

Another representative of the industrialists Gursharan Singh said even site plans by the unapproved architects should be made acceptable as those on the panel had been charging heavily.

The chairman announced that there was no need for anyone to take prior approvals from the Site Approval Committee. He said industrialists could forgo site clearance from the committee while starting construction at all those sites falling in Focal Point, Industrial Area, Gadaipur, Bulandpur or any other industrial zones declared by the District Town Planning department.

The industrialists expressed satisfaction over the initiation of the online mode of applying for various NOCs or permits. “We are able to track the movement of our files which helps us pursue with the official concerned where it gets stopped,” he said.

But they all expressed dissatisfaction over the increasing amount of fee and permits for various works. They sought little relaxation in the amount sought so as to encourage more regularisation of norms.

The PPCB officials agreed to another demand of industrialists to have a common dumping site for hazardous waste such as those of induction furnaces. “We have agreed in principle of not levying an amount of Rs 20,000 from individual industry and instead allowing them to operate in cluster. Vehicles will come and lift such waste from the common point at regular intervals,” SE PPCB Jalandhar SP Garg said. 

Jalandhar, September 25
The Punjab government is making a mockery of the Panchayat Raj Act by debarring the elected members of the panchayats from the actual powers conferred under the Act.

The Panchayats are virtually converted ‘toothless gods’ by the government as they are not given any prominent representation in development works even in their own villages.

Moreover, the panchay resolution on any issue are given dark corners by the panchayats secretaries, BDPOs, DDPos and even by the deputy commissioners, alleged newly elected office bearers of the Panchayat Union, Punjab.

Interacting with media persons, the Union president Hardev Singh Syalu claimed that the panchayat unions and panchayat associations have joined hands to fight against the indifferent attitude of the government and its officials.

He said that many sarpanches and panches are not given allowance (Rs 600 which was later increased to Rs 1200 per month) promised by the government for the past seven years while the monthly salaries of the MLAs have been increased to over Rs 1 lakh.

Moreover, the government has been charging secretary wages from panchayts and even giving salaries to the secretaries out of it. The Pannchayat members oppose the decision and demand that the money (secretary wages be used on development works of the village instead).

The union has demanded salaries (on the same pattern as Kerela state ) instead of wages and has threatened to file a Public Interest Litigation in this pretest. 

Jalandhar, September 25
Students of B. Pharmacy, M Pharmacy and Biotechnology of CT Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences have bagged the top eight positions in PTU, in the recently declared results.

In total, 22 students of CT Group of Institutions have featured in PTU merit list and the 22 merit position holders will be awarded degrees during the convocation of PTU, Kapurthala.

Amritsar, September 25
Even as the Union Railway Ministry had announced the commencement of Amritsar-Lalkuan Express in February this year, its launch has got delayed due to want of notification. 

It has been learnt that the racks have arrived here for the train which would operate once in a week. The train would facilitate a large section of Sikh population residing in Lalkuan area of Uttarakhand. — TNS

Amritsar, September 25
Ten students of GNDU have been placed with IT multinational Infogain through campus placement which was held here recently.

Hardeep Singh, director placements, said the senior officials from Infogain conducted the selection process and arranged pre-placement talk for students from Amritsar, Jalandhar and Gurdaspur campuses and conducted written test, technical and HR interviews for all the eligible candidates.

He said Infogain has offered a salary package of Rs. 3.50 lakh per annum at the time of joining for the students. "With this, the total number of placements this session is 233. Different IT and software companies have confirmed their visit to GNDU for campus recruitments for the 2014 batch in October and November 2013. —TNS

Amritsar, September 25
A special screening of the film "Nooran" was organised at Sri Guru Harkrishan Public School. Punjabi actor and theatre artist Sohi and theatre actress Kul Sidhu played the protagonists in the directorial debut of Navtej Sandhu. The star cast and the director of movie were also present on the occasion.

Kapurthala, September 25
University of Delhi clinched the title of the North Zone Inter-University Chess Championship held at the Lovely Professional University (LPU), near here.

In the championship, Panjab University Chandigarh, Punjab Technical University Jalandhar, Punjabi University Patiala bagged second, third and fourth positions, respectively.

With the concluding of the championship, now the above four teams will participate in the Zonal National Chess Championship to be held at Mahatma Phule Krishi Vidyapeeth, Rahuri in Maharashtra.

In the finals, the University of Delhi defeated Kumaon University Nainital by 4-0; Panjab University Chandigarh defeated GNDU Amritsar by 3-1 while Punjabi University Patiala tied with LPU by 2-2.

The Himachal Pardesh University defeated DCRUST Murthal by 2.5-1.5; PTU defeated HNB Garhwal University by 4-0; KUK subdued Jammu University by 4-0; CCS University of Meerut remained ahead from Lucknow University by 4-0; Dev Sanskriti Vishwavidyalaya routed CDLU Sirsa by 3.5 -1.5 and DRML Avadh University and got bye points.

University of Delhi won over all other teams by gaining 17 points. Panjab University Chandigarh remained runners up with 16 points. The PTU got 14 and Punjabi University Patiala 13 points. The LPU also got 13 but lost in match point sum as it got 27 in comparison to PUP with 30.

Trailing them remained in a chronological order HPU Shimla, Kurukshetra University, GNDU Amritsar, CCSU Meerut, Kumaon University Nanital, DCRUST Murthal, Chandigarh University, HNB Garhwal University, Dev Sanskriti Vishwavidyalya, Jammu University, Lucknow University, CDLU Sirsa, DRML Avadh University and Islamic University Kashmir. 

Amritsar, September 25
The C-division police station has booked an NRI woman and a local resident for allegedly duping three youths for sending them to Japan. The police registered a case following the statement of the three victims, identified as Pargat Singh of Chak Mishri Khan, Jagbir Singh and Lakhbir Singh.

They told the police that Sarabjit Kaur, who originally hails from Bandala village and now lives in Japan along with Jaginder Singh of Nagar Nigam Colony, allured them to send them to Japan and took Rs 8 lakh, Rs 1.96 lakh and Rs 6.5 lakh from them respectively.

In the second incident, Mandeep Singh of Guru Nanak Abadi in Verka was fleeced by Ludhiana-based four residents on the pretext of sending him to Canada. However, he smelt the rat well on time and managed to save his money from being transferred in the accounts of the accused, identified as Rajinder Kumar and Sanjiv, a resident of Sunder Nagar in Ludhiana district, Rajinder Kumar's driver and one Mr Gill.

In the third incident, the cantonment police has booked Vishal Parbhakar of Nawa Kot for allegedly cheating Avtar Singh of Islamabad area.

The accused reportedly took Rs 2.60 lakh from him for sending his son abroad. But he neither returned the money nor sent his son abroad, it was alleged. The police has registered three separate cases against the culpritsunder various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). No arrest has been made so far in this connection, the police said.

Amritsar, September 25
The Rajasansi police has nabbed Bikka Masih, a resident of Dheedowal villagein Gurdaspur, who had allegedly slit his wife's throat.

Mamta, the victim, was found in a critical condition near the Rajasansi cremation ground. The incident took place a couple of days ago.

Confirming the development, Sukhdev Singh, Rajasansi SHO, said the accused was reportedly upset about the mysterious disappearance of his wife for six months before she resurfaced again. He said Bikka told the police that the victim was not giving any satisfactory reply for her disappearance and was adamant to return home. However, he refused to take her back.

He said the accused took the victim to her sister's residence in the Rajasansi area.

An altercation took place between them. Infuriated, he slit her throat with a sharp-edged weapon.

The victim was rescued by some villagers who informed the police and took her to hospital. The police said her condition was critical.

Amritsar, September 25
Three persons, including a woman, and a head constable lost their life in separate road accidents in the district in the past 24 hours.

Avinash Kaur, a resident of ward number 9 in Majitha, died when a tractor-trailer hit the two-wheeler she was riding along with her husband. Avinash died on the spot while her husband is fighting for life at the Guru Nanak Dev Hospital.

The victims were returning to their native village Ting Nangal after a medical check-up at Majitha.

The police registered a case under Section 304-A, 337, 338 and 427 of the IPC against the unidentified driver of the tractor-trailer on the statement of the deceased's son Vikas Nayar.

Head Constable Narinder Kumar who was posted in the city police lost his life while he was returning home from Jalalpura village on his motorcycle. The accident took place near Haria Majitha. He was hit by a tractor-trailer. The trolley driver, identified as Harpreet Singh, fled from the scene.

Hari Dev, a resident of Ranjit Avenue, was crushed to death when a speeding school van hit his vehicle.

Gurdial Singh, a resident of Ranjit Avenue and a relative of the deceased, said the driver of the school van who was driving recklessly hit Hari's vehicle near the Housing Board colony. The victim was rushed to hospital where he succumbed to his injuries. The police has arrested the van driver, identified as Sarabjit Singh of Vallah village, and a case under Section 304, 279 of the IPC has been registered in this connection. 

Amritsar, September 25
The Islamabad police has nabbed Dimple Baba, the third accused in the murder case in which a youth Ramesh Kumar was beaten to death by four eunuchs.

The police has arrested three persons so far in this connection. The other two who have been arrested are Raji Baba and Lara Baba. Their fourth accomplice who was still evading arrest has been identified as Monika Baba. The family members of the deceased had staged a protest while demanding registration of case under Section 302 of the IPC while the Islamabad police had registered a culpable homicide case not amounting to murder. Ramesh Kumar was allegedly beaten to death by the accused after he refused to associate himself with them after his marriage. He used to work with them earlier.

The doctors who conducted the post-mortem examination of the deceased said fatal injuries inside the stomach led to the victim’s death. Following this, the case was converted to murder.