Jalandhar, April 2
The Election Complaint Cell (ECC) formed by the district administration as per the guidelines of the Election Commission of India has failed completely to respond effectively to the complaints lodged by the public pertaining to the 16th Lok Sabha Elections in the district.

So far, the Election Complaint Cell has received around 54 complaints till Wednesday evening, out of which it has claimed to solve around 38 complaints so far. According to the data received from the Election Complaint Cell, six complaints are under process and the final report is awaited in 10 other cases. Although, the district administration has claimed to have solved around 38 complaints, the complainants narrate a different story altogether.

According to Suman Verma, a resident of the Main Bazaar area in the city, she had lodged a complaint in the Election Complaint Cell regarding her family's name being struck off from the voter's list from the last few years.

"Initially it took them few days to respond to my complaint. Later, when the votes were delivered at my residence, I was shocked to see that my details were wrongly mentioned in the voter I-card. Along with the incorrect spelling of my name, they have written my birth year as 1973 instead of 1972 and even my address was wrongly mentioned as 'Balu Ram Dharamshala," said Verma. She has also revealed that despite repeated requests, the corrections have not been made and they have not even received the voter I- card for their younger son Ditesh Verma till date.

According to Asha, another complainant, although she has lodged a complaint regarding some local channels violating the code of conduct by telecasting political campaigns of various political parties, she has not received the status report about her complaint so far. "Even after lodging the complaint around five to six days ago, no ban has been imposed on these channels for illegally running political campaigns. It seems the administration is intentionally delaying action to provide publicity to the ruling government," said Asha. However, a notice was issued to two channels on Sunday following complaints by various people.

On Monday, the complaint cell had received a complaint from Balbir Singh of Butra village in Kartarpur regarding a police official pressurising people to cast vote in support of the ruling SAD-BJP government. Despite lodging the complaint, the Election Complaint Cell did not take any prompt action to check the authenticity of the complaint.

"Although, I have not received any call from the Election Complaint Cell regarding any further details on the complaint, I have received a call from the Kartar Pur Police station asking me to take back my complaint," said Balbir Singh.

Varun Roojam, Deputy Commissioner-cum-District Election Officer, said: "The complaint cell is receiving lot of complaints everyday and the number will increase in the days to come. It is quite difficult to call each complainant and inform him about the status and action taken on his complaint. However, we will plan a strategy by which a complainant can receive the status of his report by calling at the Election Complaint Cell toll free number, 24 hours after filing of the complaint."

According to sources, the district administration has taken around 12 new telephone connection for Jalandhar and five new connections for Kartarpur. Around 12 to 13 people have been employed at the Election Complaint Cell that works 24x7. Immediately after receiving a complaint they have to pass the information to the necessary Assistant Returning officer (ARO) of the respective area. It was also learnt that a complaint cannot be disposed off without getting a final nod from the Deputy Commissioner who is also the Chief Election Officer of the district.

Jalandhar, April 2
While holding an open session with the industrialists of the city ahead of Lok Sabha polls, Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal last evening faced a volley of questions such as those pertaining problems on higher collector rates for industrial plots, frequently changing policies on VAT, e-trip and advance VAT, problems in filing returns and a demand to change properties in Focal Point from lease deed to unconditional freehold possession.

Though Badal heard them all but chose not to respond in much detail asking them all to send him proposals in writing so that these could be worked out two months later. President of the Jalandhar Industrial Focal Point Association Narinder Saggoo put forth a proposal that all the industrial plots be given to them on freehold. Realising that there could be a problem if he made any announcements at the spot, he replied, "I cannot openly extend favours to you here. There is media sitting around. You better understand what I intend to say."

Tajinder Singh of Udyog Nagar Gadaipur Manufacturers Association proposed, "The collector rates are too high in Jalandhar for industrial plots. Since we require huge chunks of land for setting up industry, I feel that the rates should be lower than residential." Sukhbir replied saying, "We had started the process of rationalising collector rates. We were to impose it on April 1 but elections got announced and the matter got dropped for the time being".

Airport, Metro bus on poll agenda

Badal said that setting up Air force Station at Adampur would be high on his agenda. He said that he was also planning to metro bus service for an amount of Rs 1200 crore. He said that he was also planning to outsource water supply, road construction and sewage work for the cities of Punjab. "People say that I talk big. Only if we talk big can we plan big", he said adding that his promises would yield results in the next two years.

Apologises for deplorable roads

Perhaps sensing that he could be faced with a tremendous attack from the industrialists on extremely bad roads in the state, Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal began his address to them by apologising for the condition.

"I understand that you all have had a terrible time in commuting on broken roads but your problems will last for just another 15 days. The roads are being re-carpeted and the Jalandhar will be back to normal," he said though he later put the entire blame on the rains in winter and the non-availability of proper temperature for road work rather than poor fiscal health of the Municipal Corporation.

Sukhbir Badal was interacting with top industrialists of the city, including those representing Jalandhar Industrial Focal Point Association, Udyog Nagar Gadaipur, Sports Goods Exporters, Jalandhar CA Association, Punjab Leather Federation, pipe fitting, rubber goods and other business associations. He was welcomed by leading industrialists including Kamna Raj Aggarwal, Sharad Aggarwal, Narinder Saggoo and Kunal Sabharwal.

Go for Modi

Harping on the same note that they should cast vote for SAD candidate Pawan Kumar Tinu in the Lok Sabha polls to bring Narendra Modi in the centre, Badal said that Modi was much swifter unlike the Congress which remained completely indecisive on various important matters. "You know what it means to take no decision in business. Taking wrong decision is better than no decision as you might at least backtrack and then go the right way," he said.

"First concentrate on bringing in Modi. You can deal with Tinu later," he said.

Opponent's reaction

Referring to Sukhbir Badal's visit yesterday to meet a forum of doctors and industrialists, Vikramjit Singh Chaudhary, Punjab Youth Congress chief and son of Jalandhar Congress candidate Chaudhary Santokh Singh, said, "What an irony it is that Badal Junior is appealing to the masses to vote for Narendra Modi who would bring the much needed development to Punjab. I want to ask Badal as to what he has done on the development front for the past seven years since his government has been in power? Is he satisfied? If yes, then may we ask him that why does he need by the name Narendra Modi to stand before the masses pleading for votes? It is an irony that the municipal authority had been sleeping over rolling garbage, tattered roads got severe jolt when they had to make arrangements for the visit of Deputy CM, making a complete laughing stock of Sukhbir's much-boasted developmental achievements. How can Sukhbir Badal assume to make roads in just 15 days which have been non-existent for the past seven years of SAD-BJP regime?"

Jalandhar, April 2
Punjab Youth Congress president Vikramjit Singh Chaudhary has lodged a complaint against Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal for giving an assurance to the Jalandhar residents on constructing roads within 15 days during a meet with the industrialists late last evening.

Vikramjit, whose father Chaudhary Santokh Singh is contesting on Congress ticket from Jalandhar, has lodged a complaint with the District Election Office on the matter. Sukhbir was in Jalandhar yesterday holding interactive session with industrialists, doctors and other communities.

The PYC chief has lodged yet another complaint on the issue of taking an "undue credit" for 108 ambulance service in advertisements on the FM channel and hoardings on unipoles across the state.

He said the SAD-BJP government was taking an undue credit for the scheme which is Centre-sponsored under the NRHM. He said notice of motion for removal of the CM's photograph from the ambulance had already been served to the Punjab government by the Punjab and Haryana High Court. He has requested the DEO to take strict action and instruct the channels to off air the advertisement and get such hoardings removed.

Jalandhar, April 2
After successfully running the first phase of the 'Wake Up Jalandhar' campaign with a much captivating slogan, 'Vote Bano, Vote Pao' for the general public to motivate them to make their electoral votes for the upcoming 16th Lok Sabha elections, the district administration is now planning to sensitise the urban women in the second phase of the campaign on their right to vote.

Since, the last date for making votes is over on April 2, the administration will now focus entirely on 'Vote Pao'-an attempt to increase the polling percentage of the district. For that, it has also roped in famous Punjabi folk singer Gurdas Maan as the poll ambassador for the district.

"Women form an integral part of the electorate and democracy in our country. But despite having facilities like easy mobilization and better road infrastructure as compared to villages, the rural women have left the urban women far behind while exercising their Right to Vote in the last few years. Following this, we have decided to target them this time in the next phase of our 'Wake up Jalandhar' campaign. Under this, our teams would be visiting places like markets, shopping malls and even some reputed corporate offices to motivate them to vote," said Varun Roojam, Deputy Commissioner-cum-District Election Officer, Jalandhar.

According to a recent UN report released by the UN Habitat's global Urban Youth research network, educated women in India were found least interested in politics. Also, the category among women that reported the highest number of 'No Opinion' on political situation was the educated women living in urban areas.

With the district administration almost done with sensitising the youth through its Systematic Voters Education and Electoral Participation (SVEEP) that is being run in various schools and colleges since the announcement of the elections, it has now geared up to have an active participation of the urban eves as well in the coming Lok Sabha Elections. Also, now to increase the overall poll percentage within the district, the administration has recently roped in Punjabi Folk Singer Gurdaas Maan as the poll Ambassador to their 'Wake up Jalandhar' Campaign recently.

"He carries huge fan following and is a name to reckon with. He is an idol not only to a specific age group but for all age groups beyond cast and creed. That is why he has been chosen as the Poll ambassador of our district," said Roojam.

With eves reaching the polling stations in huge numbers, the elections in the district is sure to have more glamour and colour added to it.

Jalandhar, April 2
Having taken rounds to 13 colleges of the city as a part of its 'Wake up Jalandhar' campaign, the district election office is now focussing on 20 such polling booths where the voter turnout remained low in the last Assembly and Parliamentary polls.

The office of the District Electoral Officer has identified 10 such polling booths of the 2012 Assembly polls and 10 of 2009 Parliamentary polls where the least percentage of voters turned up to cast the votes. The poll percentage and the reasons cited for low poll are also being looked into to encourage the residents to come out to cast vote.

A bedecked vehicle called 'voter rath' with team members from the district administration and a radio jockey has been visiting all such areas since the last weekend to boost up the residents of the localities around the booth and to interact with them.

The lowest poll percentage reported in the 2009 Jalandhar Parliamentary polls was at Government Elementary School Ekta Nagar. The poll percentage was just 18.42 with just 119 electors of the total 646 voters turning out to cast vote. The reason cited for low poll percentage is a high migrant population.

The second lowest poll percentage was in Government Elementary School Cantonment Board where only 21.7 per cent people had cast votes in 2012 Assembly polls. The residents of these areas include those on Ajit Road, Hardyal Road and Church Road and the reason for low participation has been mentioned as area being represented by military people.

The PWD guest house had just 26.15 per cent which too has voters from military. The reason cited for low turnout is voters going abroad in large numbers. The Cantonment Board Senior Secondary School for Girls too had seen a low participation of just 28.74 per cent.

Time for applying for votes

It being the last day for applying as voter for the April 30 Lok Sabha polls in Punjab, the offices of the Electoral Registration Offices witnessed a lot of rush. The 6A forms would be accepted last till tomorrow in all offices so that these get processed by April 9. The office of the ERO at Junior Model School on Ladowali Road too had a beeline for voters from the Jalandhar Cantonment Assembly segment.

Jalandhar, April 2
Coming as a blow for Congress candidate from Jalandhar Chaudhary Santokh Singh, former general secretary of the Punjab Youth Congress Monty Sehgal today quit the party to join SAD.

Sehgal, who has twice remained general secretary of the PYC in 2004 and 2006-08 and an active NSUI leader, said he was feeling suffocated in the party. He said the ideology of the party was being trampled. Sehgal was a close associate of Vikramjit Singh Chaudhary, son of Santokh Chaudhary, till the last few months.

Jalandhar, April 2
Bearing in mind the water crisis in the state as the water table has been drastically going down due to regular cultivation of the paddy crop, the Punjab Agriculture Department has kicked off an awareness campaign to motivate farmers to opt for crop diversification.

Speaking to The Tribune, Dr Suttantar Kumar, Chief Agriculture Officer, said with the enforcement of the Subsoil Water Preservation Act, the water table had started improving. Earlier, the water table used to go down by 74 cm every year before the implementation of the Act. Now, it decreased by 37 cm per year, he added. “The desired outcome is yet be gained as our target is to get a stable water table, in order to maintain a productive environmental cycle,” said Dr Suttantar.

Giving information about the crop diversification scheme, he said more than 1,38,000 hectare of farming land in the Jalandhar district was under paddy farming, which had to be reduced. “Our plan is divert above 5,000 hectare of farming land from paddy to other crops like maize, sugarcane, groundnut, oil seeds and basmati,” he added.

He said under the same scheme the area under the maize crop would be increased from 11,700 to 14000 hectare, whereas the farming land under basmati crop would be augmented from 20,500 to 22,000 hectare. Apart from this, the farmers would be encouraged to grow groundnut. The area under groundnut would by enhanced by as much as 400 hectares, he added.

Dr Suttantar said seeds for such crops would be provided on subsidy. Other related material like herbicide or pesticide would also be provided to the farmers.

When asked about marketing of these crops, he said these crops were already high in demand. Therefore, farmers won’t be facing any problem as far as marketing was concerned.

“District level awareness camps are being organised for this purpose at the moment. Our objective is to reach each and every farmer in the state. Village- level camps are being planned to get this information to the people concerned. Other than verbal communication, relevant literature will be distributed among the farmers,” he added.

Jalandhar, April 2
The Jalandhar Tent Dealers’ Association has alleged that the district administration had allotted the contract for the Lok Sabha elections related arrangements at an exorbitant price to a tent house company without inviting open tenders. The association members said they were ready to offer the same services at half the amount quoted by the company.

The association said it was also planning to move to the Punjab and Haryana High Court in case the administration did not cancel the previous contract.

Chairman of the association Vijay Kumar said the rates quoted by the company were far too high as compared to the open market. He said the administration had just asked one tent house company to give three tenders in different names. They said there were at least 15 big tent house companies in Jalandhar, all of which were being asked to quote their rates for various government functions held in the city, including the Republic Day and Independence Day functions. But this time, the authorities concerned did not invite any quotes.

Rajinder Kumar Kackria, another tent house owner, said even a simple electricity wire used for election rehearsal, conduct of poll or for counting had been rented at the rate of Rs 4 per metre per day.

He said they were ready to give the wire at just 50 paisa per day.

He said generator, chairs, pandals and all other items used for polls were being hired on inflated rates, which showed involvement of some vested interests. He said he would also write to the Election Commission for checking the wrongdoing on the part of the District Election Office.

The tent house association members also handed over a copy of the orders issued by the office of the Deputy Commissioner-cum-District Electoral Officer. Deputy Commissioner Varun Roojam said he had not passed any such orders. He said, “I will check who has passed these orders. Instead I just want such arrangements to be made at the assembly segment level.”

Jalandhar, April 2
An exhibition of the art work made from waste material was organised at Virsa Vihar by Satinder Hothi, an artist.

Talking about his work, he said the only motive behind organising the exhibition was to encourage people, children in particular, to adopt a positive attitude to make use of waste stuff, including cold drink bottle, CDs, ash, cardboards, wooden saw dust, newspapers and used tea etc.

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