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Gas-cutter gang targets PNB ATM
Residents of illegal colonies await refund from MC
Where people are not happy with the name of their village
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Time to celebrate for potato farmers of area
Better
jalandhar,
traffic chaos
Phagwara police grope in dark
Students set to make foray into music world
Hockey: Sangrur boys register impressive win
Woman burning case: Seven accused still at large
Woman found dead
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Gas-cutter gang targets PNB ATM
Jalandhar, January 13 However, the Punjab Police have failed to get lead even in a single such case. The latest target of robbers now has been an ATM of Punjab National Bank in Roawali village on the Jalandhar-Pathankot road. Although the attempt was unsuccessful, it has exposed the slow pace of the investigation by the police in the robberies of the same kind. Despite the same modus operandi of using gas-cutters in all past incidents, the shrewd robbers managed to dodge the police once again during yet another episode of the kind in Jalandhar reportedly on Monday night. Station House Officer of the Maqsudan police Pyara Singh said as per the CCTV footage, the robbers (faces covered) after entering the ATM booth put down the ATM’s shutter and made a hard attempt to cut the machine’s cash box with a gas-cutter. However, they remained unsuccessful in their attempt. “We have seen the CCTV footage which clearly showcased how two robbers put down the ATM’s shutter and used a gas-cutter to open the cash box. The shrewd robbers had covered their faces with a piece of cloth, hence half the face of robbers was left for the police to get their identification,” the SHO said. Past incidents
January 15: ATM of Punjab National Bank at Sham Churasi in Hoshiarpur broken, Rs 8.84 lakh looted. January 19: Thirty eight lockers broken at Punjab and Sind Bank at Reru village in Jalandhar. Cash and gold was stolen. March 19: The ATM of Axis Bank at Nangal Lubhana village, Begowal, in Kapurthala broken, Rs 9 lakh looted. June 3: An attempt to break into the lockers of Punjab National Bank on Ladowali Road, Jalandhar, failed. June 12: The ATM of Bhogpur-Bulhowal branch of Punjab National Bank at Hoshiarpur broken. Rs 21 lakh taken away. September 24: An ATM of the PNB broken at Tarn Taran. November 16: An ATM of the State Bank of Patiala broken at Phillaur, Rs 8 lakh looted. December 17: Burglars strike at two ATMs of the PNB in Hoshiarpur district and decamp with cash to the tune of over Rs 23 lakh. December 23: Miscreants looted Rs 18 lakh from two unguarded PNB ATMs at Dadwindi village and Talwandi Chaudhriya village in Kapurthala district. January 12, 2014: Unidentified miscreants made an attempt to cut a PNB ATM with a gas-cutter. In all the mentioned incidents, robbers chose to target seven ATMs of the Punjab National Bank only and at all the ATMs, no security guard was deployed by the bank. Kapurthala took initiative, but Jalandhar yet to act Following the incidents, Kapurthala SSP and Deputy Commissioner had instructed the officials of all banks in the district to ensure proper security arrangements at the ATMs. The police had said in the rural areas, the ATMs should be closed at night. Banks must also see to it that excess cash is not be kept at the ATMs. But the Jalandhar police and the administration had not directed the banks to keep the ATMs closed during night hours for security purposes. |
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Residents of illegal colonies await refund from MC
Jalandhar, January 13 Since there have been a lot exemptions and reduction in charges on various accounts introduced by the Punjab Government from time to time, all those who paid the dues early are a harassed lot, as they are not being given any refund now. It is being estimated that the MC is to pay up refunds to the tune of nearly Rs 2 crore towards the applicants from its side. While earlier residents of all illegal colonies had been asked to pay up regularisation charges, it was later that the residents of the colonies that came up prior to August 8, 1995, were given an exemption. Also, while construction charges were earlier being levied as Rs 12.5 per sq feet, the charges were cut down to Rs 5 per sq feet on October 25, one and a half months after being levied at higher rates. A resident of New Raja Garden Colony, GR Malik, said he paid Rs 40,785 for the regularisation of his house on October 1, 2013. He said, “I have paid construction charges at Rs 12.5 per sq feet, which were later slashed to Rs 5 per sq feet. I believe that there is Rs 20,000 refund due towards me from the department. Even though I made a representation on the matter before the senior town planner on November 8, there has been no assurance or headway from the MC side”. He adds on that he is a retired man and he is in a dire need of a quick refund. Nearly 15 residents of the Karol Bagh locality, including Dhanwant Singh, Baldev Singh Parmar, Arvind Gupta and Balwinder Singh Mangat, who have paid nearly Rs 30,000 to Rs 40,000 as regularisation charges only to later get exempted for their colony came up prior to 1995. The problem of Tarlochan Singh of Kalgidhar Avenue also falls in the similar category. Congress councillor Balraj Thakur said that nearly 100 people from his ward number 57 had been seeking refund to the tune of tens of thousands of rupees, but the authorities had not responded. “I had taken a delegation of residents of my ward to the offices of senior town planner Tirlok Singh and Joint Commissioner MC Anupam Kler, but they have been asking us to wait for at least four months, saying they did not have adequate staff to verify claims and make refunds,” he said. He fumed, “This is not done. If they have staff to make collections, hold camps in various colonies and go door to door for the purpose, they should also have staff to return the excess amount levied. Why are the residents who made payments on priority being made to run around after them?” Director Local Bodies Priyank Bharti said, “So far we have been concentrating on collection and will continue with the same for the next 15 to 20 days. The refunds will start then, as we have a limited staff to handle it both ways at the same time.”
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Where people are not happy with the name of their village
Jalandhar, January 13 Claiming that they are always looked with suspicion in various government offices in India and abroad, residents of Lutera Khurd village have rather been seeking a change of name of their village for the past two years. A resident of the village and an NRI Virinder Singh Parhar, said, “There are just about 325 voters in our village and as many as 200 of them are in the USA or Canada. I, too, worked all my life abroad. There, whenever anyone asked me as to which village I belonged to, I felt a little ashamed to tell its name. After I told them, they used to keep suspecting me of some foul play or malafide intention, thinking that I came from a village of looters. This feeling has really pained me. Coming back two years ago, I moved an application for the change of the name of my village as Baba Banda Singh Bahadur Nagar.” He shares the history of his village, “Ours is a 500-year-old village which was founded by Muslim community that moved to Pakistan during the Partition. My father has also written a book on the village, which indicates that the sixth Sikh guru Guru Hargobind had come here and fought against the then rulers. Dr Mohammad, an erstwhile Chaudhury from this village, had also visited us sometime back to see his Khangah and told us that it was a part of Sham Churasi district having 84 villages.” But that is past. Villagers want a better name to be given for which they all unanimously signed and moved an application before the District Development and Panchayat Officer (DDPO) more than two years ago, which is still making rounds in offices. The villagers say that they had also taken up the matter with MLA Adampur Pawan Tinu and Deputy CM Sukhbir Badal ahead of the last Assembly polls. DDPO Avtar Singh Bhullar said his predecessor had asked the village panchayat to pass a resolution on the matter, which they did after which the file was moved from his office to the DC office. “The DC office wrongly sent the copy to the office of Director Rural Development even as it was a subject matter of the Revenue Department. Now we had asked the panchayat to adopt a fresh resolution so that we could move it to the Financial Commissioner Revenue via the Deputy Commissioner office. The process is on and will be completed in the due course of time,” he said.
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Time to celebrate for potato farmers of area
Jalandhar, January 13 With nearly 7 per cent potato farmers having chosen to switch over to sugarcane cultivation this time, there has been no glut this time and their early crop (harvested in December) has fetched them an average of Rs 900 a quintal, which is almost Rs 200 per quintal more than the last year’s price. The last year's bad experience led to nearly 7 per cent less cultivation this time, with farmers switching over to sugarcane, admits Dr Satbir Singh, deputy director, horticulture. The total area under potato cultivation this year has been nearly 20,000 hectares in Jalandhar and nearly 83,000 hectares in Punjab, which is fetching the farmers an average of 240 quintals per hectare. Going by the figures, horticulture experts here have put the rough estimates of production in Jalandhar at nearly 4.8 metric tonnes and 22 lakh metric tonnes in the state this time. Jaswinder Sangha, a representative of the Potato Growers Association, said the season had so far been very good for us. “Unlike last year when the glut forced us to sell our produce for free, we have got on an average Rs 450 for each sack of 50 kg of potato from our buyers. We have got on an average 1 ton of potato from a hectare of land which has been a fairly good production. It is primarily because the demand of the staple crop has been high and some farmers chose to instead grow sugarcane. Those who took such a decision have been losers this time as the sugarcane crop has met a poor fate this time,” he said. Dr Satbir Singh too has his reasons, “The weather has been quite favourable for the farmers. The frost was little and came late and early crop which is good for seed production did not get affected. Only a few pockets of potato farms in Kapurthala, which have got sandy soil and had sown crop late have been affected somewhat,” he said. He also assigns another reason for the Punjab farmers to feel happy about. “The production of potato in southern states got badly affected due to rains. So the country is largely dependent on production in this part of the region. So, there is a high demand which is paying off a better price.” Agriculture field officer Dr Naresh Gulati said since the Jalandhar belt was aphid-free zone for the production of potato, the produce from the region was sought across the country.Dr JS Minhas, station officer of the Central Potato Research Institute, Badshahpur village, said most farmers were growing Kufri Pukhraj, Kufri Badshah and Kufri Jyoti varieties as per the demand of the buyers. He said the centre had also produced Kufri Chip Sona and Kufri Fry Sona varieties too for those selling produce to processing units for the manufacturing of chips and flakes running in Patiala and Jalandhar.
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Better
jalandhar,
traffic chaos In the concluding part of the series, The Tribune reporter Nikhil Bhardwaj speaks to the city residents who bat for the removal of encroachments, repair of roads and preventing underage driving Jalandhar residents held the traffic police and the Municipal Corporation responsible for the traffic mess in the city. The residents categorically said until the traffic police and the MC work in tandem, the traffic scene in the city cannot improve. The residents see encroachments and broken roads as the main cause behind frequent traffic jams. People feel encroachments have turned the roads into narrow lanes. Talking to the Jalandhar Tribune, the residents aired their views about the traffic mess and suggest solutions for it. Maintain discipline on roads
The traffic police concentrate more on issuing challans than forcing discipline on the road. Many a times, I have seen that the traffic cops stop riders for the checking of documents and do not pay any heed to ease routine traffic jams. Until and unless this practice continues, the traffic problem will persist. Senior police officials must review the functioning of the traffic police to maintain discipline on the road. — Pardeep Nayyar, an employee Erect special nakas outside schools, colleges
I feel that the police can improve the situation after erecting special nakas outside schools and colleges where students violate the traffic rules. If the traffic police install special nakas outside schools, they may nab hundreds of schoolchildren driving bikes and cars, which is against the norms. Driving by minors is the most dangerous practice and the police should get strict on it. Minors hardly have any traffic sense. They always tend to break the rules and create mess on roads. Many a times, I have noticed that underage drivers prefer to jump traffic lights or drive in a wrong direction. Apart from endangering their own lives, they put lives of others at risk. — Anand
Verma, a businessman Law shoul be equal for everyone
The traffic policemen are bound to maintain discipline on the road either by punishing offenders by issuing challans or simply making them aware of the rules. I have noticed on several occasions that the policemen themselves break the rules, which sends a wrong message to others. Interestingly, when they notice any of their counterpart drives without helmet or break rules, they always prefer to ignore it. This mindset needs to be changed and the law should be equal for everyone. If any cop violates the traffic rules, he should be punished. — Manish
Sagar, a businessman Eradicate bias towards men
If the traffic police will enforce law in a biased manner, then it will not be possible to bring reform in the management of traffic. The traffic police always prefer to stop male riders for the scrutiny of documents, but hardly stop a woman for checking. Why women are being given immunity from the rules ? The norms should be equal for all. By continuing such a practice, the traffic police is putting the lives of women drivers at risk. — Sarju Hans, a computer designer Put traffic signboards
Traffic sign boards play a very important role in enforcing the traffic rules. I have noticed that a majority of the sign boards have turned illegible, but no authority paid any heed to it. Due to this, people tend to break the rules. Suppose if there is a one way road and the traffic police have not put any signboard, commuters will obviously be in confusion and are likely to drive in their own way. — Balwinder Babbar, a computer expert Remove encroachments
I believe until and unless encroachments in the city remain intact, traffic jams will be an everyday affair in the city. There are several places in the city where illegal vends have come up and have turned the wider roads into narrow lanes. The Municipal Corporation should take strict action against such violations to improve the traffic scene in the city. —
Pooja, a housewife Dilapidated road results in traffic jams
Broken roads are the root cause of traffic jams. Due to potholed roads, the traffic cannot move at a smooth pace. I feel, broken roads lower the speed of vehicles, which further leads to traffic jams. The sorry state of roads is also responsible for accidents. Two-wheeler riders face more difficulty on a broken road. —
Nisha, a housewife Hold seminars to make people aware of norms
To instill traffic sense among people, the traffic police should arrange seminars in various localities of the city. This will help in apprising people of the traffic rules. Special seminars also need to be organised at the school level so that children could learn something about the traffic rules. — Mandeep
Bains, a travel agent Stop underage driving
I have noticed that parents of minors hardly bother if their children drive rashly. Parents should not allow underage children to drive and should tell them that it is an offence. — Jagbir Brar, a businessman |
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Phagwara police grope in dark
Phagwara, January 13 Though the then IG Zonal, Hardip Singh Dhillon, and DIG PS Gill had announced a reward of Rs two lakh for providing information about the culprits, it turned out to be a futile exercise. Moreover, the Phagwara police could not solve the mystery behind the murder of four members of a family. The incident took place Kot Rani village on November 29 last year. Unfortunately, the police are still to record the statement of main accused Baljinder Kumar, who has again been admitted to the Phagwara Civil Hospital on December 29 night after undergoing treatment in Jalandhar, Amritsar and the PGI, Chandigarh. Senior Medical Officer Jaswinder Singh said his condition was stable now. The accused had landed in police net following an accident near Chachrari village on November 29 . Baljinder Kumar has been booked for killing his wife Seema, his sister-in-law Reena, daughter Sumni and son Harsh, but his other accomplices are still at large. However, the police seems helpless in cracking the case even after one-and-a-half month. The police has also failed to solve the blind murder of a Nepali youth. He was allegedly killed by his brother and sister-in-law on April 5 this year and none of the killers could be arrested so far. The police has also failed to solve two cases of female foeticide. Two infants were found dead near an abandoned places near Chachoki and Khangurra villages last year, but the police failed to nab the culprits. It seems as if the police is busy in guarding politicians belonging to the ruling party besides participating in several social functions. Though the cops are being seen in VIP’s functions or in the functions being organized to honor the police officers, no body bothered to maintain law and order in the subdivision. When contacted, SP Gursewak Singh Brar, said he would act soon to solve all the pending cases.
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Students set to make foray into music world
Jalandhar, January 13 Paras is now a student of bachelor of performing arts at Lovely Professional University. is set to make a foray into the music industry . "It is a sad sufi song written and composed by me," he said. He shares his passion for music and says, "I can never think of doing anything else other than singing. Music is so powerful that it lights up the soul and is a medium that connects one directly with God,"Reminiscing the memories of finale of Voice of Punjab, Paras said, "I performed in front of ace ghazal singer Jagjit Singh. He showered praises on me and wished me luck. I will never forget that day." "My guru is my father Rajinder Kumar. My grandfather Master Mohan Lal was a great harmonium player. My sister Lata is the winner of Voice of Himalaya-2013 and my brother is a guitarist. Music is in my blood and it is a god gift," he tells.— OC
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Lohri celebrated
Gala celebrations were held at CT Institute, Shahpur, and at its Maqsudan campus on Lohri. Charanjeet Singh Channi, chairman, CT Group of Institutions , while celebrating Lohri with the faculty and the students stressed upon women empowerment by sending a message against discriminatory practices against girl child to society. The festival was celebrated with fervour and gaiety with a pledge to eradicate social evils like female foeticide. A huge gathering of traditionally-dressed faculty and students lit the bonfire and sang folk tales. They also danced to the tunes of folk songs. Complementing the initiative of the staff, director of CT Institutions Dr Manoj Kumar said there were many social fallacies, which needed to be improved and teachers, being nation builders, could help in it. He said girls were not less than boys in any field. "It is important that female foeticide is stopped to maintain a balance in society," he added. 'Betiyon Ki Lohri'
Kanya Maha Vidyalaya celebrated "Betiyon Ki Lohri". KMV Principal Dr Atima Sharma lit the bonfire. She wished the students success in future. The Principal of Sanskriti KMV School, Rachna Monga, was also present on the occasion. The students and the teachers enjoyed the festival and relished groundnuts, revari and gachak. The students danced to the tunes of dhol and sang folk songs. GNDU College
Lohri was celebrated with zeal and enthusiasm at GNDU College, Ladhewali. Prof MS Dhall talked about the historical significance of the festival. The day was marked by cultural and traditional performances. A skit was performed by the students of B Com and M Com. Lyallpur Khalsa College
A sense of rich cultural heritage along with the mood of festivity and jubilation could be seen during Lohri celebrations at Lyallpur Khalsa College today. The event was dedicated to the theme, ‘Lohri for Girls’ and it conveyed the message against female foeticide. The chief guest at the programme was MLA Pargat Singh, who is an old student of the college. He said celebrations of the festivals could play significant role in keeping the cultural roots intact and urged the intelligentsia to play a vital role in this regard. The president of the College Governing Council, Balbir, reiterated the commitment of the college towards preservation of the Punjabi culture and language and literature. The event was marked by the presentation of cultural items such as folk songs, bhangra, giddha. College Principal Dr GS Samra said the cultural identity of a society could be kept intact despite rapid technological advancement and globalisation only with the active and greater involvement of academic institutions and added that the college was doing its best to achieve this aim. Sony Mahotsav
Sony Entertainment Television organised an extravagant activity "Sony Mahotsav" at Doaba College to celebrate Lohri. Sony Entertainment Television brought alive the Sony characters for the spectators. Students visit Pingalwara
The Students' Welfare Association of Apeejay College of Fine Arts made Lohri special for the inmates of Pingalwara, Jalandhar, as a special initiative to work for the underprivileged was undertaken. The students, accompanied by their teachers, spent time with the elderly. They distributed sweets, sang songs, performed dances and played games with the inmates. The students lent a sympathetic ear to the inmates and boosted their morale. Principal Sucharita lauded the initiative of the association and said that these activities showed sensitivity towards the less privileged sections of society. Ultramodern car developed
An ultramodern and advantageous car named low-cost "Go- Kart" has been developed by students of St Soldier Institute of Engineering and Technology. Under the supervisison of the HOD, Mechanical Department, Vineet Jain, and his team, the final year students of the department- Prabhat Singh, Varinder Pal Singh, Maninder Singh, Shashank Bhatt, Manish Jamwal, Sarabjeet Singh, Rajesh Mehto, Akashdeep Singh, Varinder Kumar, Manjinder Singh and Harpreet Singh- completed the project. It took around 45 days to complete the project. The car fabricated to be used in racing and various other competitions and can also be a source of amusement. "Some of its physical features, which make it different from others, are specially designed strong frames that are made up of square iron pipes to reduce its cost and to provide high strength to buckling. To reduce lateral and longitudinal load transfer, its wheel-base and track width has been increased. It gives the average of 40 km/lt, having fuel capacity of 6 lts," informed authorities. Institute chairman Anil Chopra, vice-chairperson Sangeeta Chopra, managing director Prof Manhar Arora and director HS Payal appreciated the students and wished them luck in future. —TNS |
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Hockey: Sangrur boys register impressive win
Jalandhar, January 13 In the opening match of the Pool A, Government Raj Senior Secondary School, Sangrur, dominated the game in the first half as they led by 3-0 till the break. Harish Bawa scored in the 12th minute while Akash Hans and Navpreet Singh scored in the 20th minute in 22nd minute respectively. In the early minutes of the second half, Khadoor Sahib boys struck twice to reduce the margin. Sumeetpal Singh scored in the 36th minute while Guriqbal scored in 38th minute. In the 51st minute, Sangrur's Navpreet Singh struck once again, taking the tally to 4-2. In the 60th minute of the play, Lovepreet Singh of Khadoor Sahib again reduced the margin 4-3. In a match of Pool D, Guru Gobind Singh College, Lucknow, controlled the game from the very first minute. For Lucknow, Ravins Jaiswal score twice in the 10th and 49th minute. Om Parkash Yadav scored in the 36th minute while Abhash Sharma, Shivam Anand and Niranjan Boro scored in the 46th, 55th and 56th minute respectively. For Gurdaspur, the lone goal scorer was Virinder Singh who registered goal in 38th minute of the play.
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Woman burning case: Seven accused still at large
Jalandhar, January 13 The accused, Balbir Singh (victim’s uncle), was arrested by the police on Monday, while others, including Harpreet Kaur (Balbir’s daughter), Ajit Singh, Rana (Mokha village sarpanch) and Harjinder Singh (gurdwara granthi), are at large. The police said raids were being conducted at the suspected hideouts of the accused to nab them. Davinder Kaur of Mokha village was allegedly set on fire by some persons who poured petrol on her in a property dispute case on Saturday. The victim had sustained over 60 per cent burn injuries. The woman was set on fire with the petrol which she had reportedly brought to put the tractor of the persons of the other party on fire to The case
Davinder Kaur of Mokha village was allegedly set on fire by some persons who poured petrol on her in a property dispute case on Saturday. The victim had sustained over 60 per cent burn injuries.The woman was set on fire with petrol |
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Woman found dead
Phagwara, January 13 The deceased was in stress for the past few days. She is survived by her husband two sons and two daughters. The Satnampura Police rushed to the spot after getting the information. The body has been sent for a post-mortem to the local Civil Hospital. 3 of robbers’ gang held The Phillaur police claimed to have busted a gang of robbers and arrested its three members. The accused have been identified as Kamal, Balwinder and Jogi on Sunday. The police have also recovered three stolen motorcycles from their possession.
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Incidents of cutting ATMs with gas-cutters continue to haunt the police of the Doaba region, as about a dozen such incidents have been reported in the region since January last year.
Unlike last year, when farmers of the region had thrown off trolleys loaded with potatoes on city roads in protest against extremely low returns, potato growers of the region, concentrating in the Jalandhar and Kapurthala belts, are brimming with hope this time.
Jalandhar residents held the traffic police and the Municipal Corporation responsible for the traffic mess in the city. The residents categorically said until the traffic police and the MC work in tandem, the traffic scene in the city cannot improve. The residents see encroachments and broken roads as the main cause behind frequent traffic jams. People feel encroachments have turned the roads into narrow lanes. Talking to the Jalandhar Tribune, the residents aired their views about the traffic mess and suggest solutions for it.
