Jalandhar, May 23
Even though it has been exactly four months since the Punjab and Haryana High Court had upheld the policy pertaining to the regularisation of the marriage palaces in the state, officials of the Department of Housing and Urban Development and Department of Local Bodies are sitting on the matter, with no headway in the matter.

While the court had asked the government to consider the cases of the marriage palaces within a period of three months, one more month has lapsed and the pending cases are yet to be dealt with from where they had been left about eight months ago. The process for the sealing of palaces was on when the owners had moved the court against the policy seeking certain relaxations.

Principal Secretary Housing and Urban Development said since there was election work in between, there could be no progress, but he was soon planning to get the process of regularisation of palaces restarted.

The court, in its order passed on January 22 had said, “Since the government has now framed the policy guidelines for the regularisation of the existing marriage palaces and also for the setting up of new marriage palaces in Punjab, the petition is disposed of with a direction to the government to deal with the cases in terms of the policy. Since many palaces are shut down and their cases are to be considered under the policy, those cases be considered and orders passed within a period of three months from today.”

The petitioner had pointed out that the palaces were being run without taking a "no objection certificate" from the Punjab Pollution Control Board, District Town Planner, Fire Department, Forest Department and other offices.

When the same matter was checked in Jalandhar, Kapurthala and Hoshiarpur by the Jalandhar Development Authority and Municipal Corporation, Jalandhar, it was found that there was not even a single palace owner who was fully complying with the orders.

Of the 188 palaces falling in the purview of the JDA, only 103 palaces had applied, while the remaining 85 had been issued notices. Nearly 10 palaces had been sealed in June last year. The government had framed a policy fixing Rs 40 lakh per acre from an owner having palace on national, state or scheduled roads, and Rs 28 lakh per acre from those owning a palace on other roads against which the palace owners lodged a protest for a long time and then had approached the court.

A member of the Association of Marriage Palaces, Prabhjot Singh Sidhu, said, “The court had dismissed our petition. While our Bathinda chapter has already filed an appeal against the order of the High Court in the Supreme Court, we too are following suit.”

Jalandhar, May 23
Employees of the Municipal Corporation (MC) today staged a dharna in front of the office over inaction on part of officials in getting the four elevators in the office repaired.

While three lifts have not been working for the past nearly two years, the fourth one went out of order about three months ago. The employees, who include some physically challenged persons, said they were finding it extremely difficult to use the staircase to climb the building.

All offices of the MC are located above the ground level and there are shops underneath. Sometime back, an aged contractor had collapsed in the building, as he, perhaps had to exert a lot in moving upstairs. His son, also a contractor, had last month pasted a notice near the elevator that officials would be liable to pay compensation to his family if he, too, met a similar fate again.

MC Commissioner Manpreet Singh Chattwal said, “The lifts went out of order due to overloading problem and their mishandling. The staff was careless in operating these. We have called the staff from the Delhi-based company who will repair the lifts on Monday. They will also train our four employees who would be put on the job of lift operator, operating all four elevators during office hours.”

Jalandhar, May 23
The city traffic police campaign on tinted glasses seems to have fallen flat as only a small number of challans have been issued this year.

Despite the Supreme Court’s ban on the use of tinted films on all vehicles, a majority of vehicles, mainly buses, flout the norm.

A visit to the inter-state bus terminal confirmed the anomaly.

The traffic police revealed that as many as 97 challans were issued for tinted glasses till April 14 this year while more than 400 challans were issued in the corresponding period last year.

The total numbers of challans issued last year were around 600.

On April 27, the Apex Court had prohibited the use of black films of any VLT percentage or any other material on safety glasses, windscreens (front and rear) and side glasses of all vehicles throughout the country.

During a visit to the ISBT, it came to light that a majority of buses are still plying with impunity as the traffic police do not bother to challan them.

In the above said figures, majority of challans were issued to car owners while only a small number of challans were issued for buses, which include private buses and Punjab Roadways buses.

Residents rue that the traffic police always erect nakas to catch local commuters but adopt a soft posture for buses.

A private bus operator said, “We have been using tinted films on glasses for the past several years, but the traffic police hardly ever stopped us.”

ACP (Traffic) Dalbir Singh Butter said the police would soon initiate a campaign to challan all vehicles, including buses for using tinted films.

Jalandhar, May 23
The driver of a tanker of Indian Oil was killed while several bus passengers were injured in a head-on collision between a Punjab Roadways bus and the tanker on the Jalandhar-Kartarpur road this evening.

The bus that collided head on near Kartarpur on Friday. Tribune photos: Makiat Singh

The mishap took place when the tanker, heading towards Amritsar, collided with the Punjab Roadways bus heading towards Chandigarh. The impact of the collision was so great that both vehicles got badly damaged.

Passersby pulled out the driver and the injured from the vehicles. The driver sustained serious injuries in the accident and was referred to Jalandhar Civil Hospital, where he died.

The deceased was identified as Shinderpal.

Jalandhar, May 23
The interim bail of the four accused in the abetment to suicide case of industrialist Chandar Mohan Arora was rejected by the District Courts here today. They had applied for the interim bail in the court of Harbans Singh Lekhi, Additional Districts and Sessions Judge.

Those who applied for interim bail were Yograj Puri, Neeraj Puri, Rajesh Verma and Harish Verma, said Rakesh Dhir, counsel from the side of the deceased.

On May 19, the interim bail of three other accused, namely Ramesh Sharda, Naresh Sharda and Sudesh Sharda, was also rejected by the court. One of the accused, namely Davinder, had also applied for interim bail, but he had later withdrawn the bail plea, fearing rejection from the court.

Against the alleged failure of the Government Railway Police in nabbing the accused who had abetted the suicide of industrialist Chandar Mohan Arora, the victim's kin had also threatened to intensify their stir against the railway police. They had also organised a candlelight march outside the Government Railway Police station on May 18.

Jalandhar, May 23
With no grant from the Punjab Government either for the maintenance of the building or even for student scholarship coming to Sainik School Kapurthala, the students, staff and the administration of the prestigious educational institute here are a worried lot.

About 100 students of the school, who had been inducted in the Punjab state quota, are eligible for the scholarship from the state government. While the scholarship was to come prior to the closing of the financial year in March this year, the students have not got the amount of the previous annual session.

Even a grant-in-aid to the tune of Rs 2 crore for the repair of the school building, which had been promised to the authorities for the last financial year, has not reached. The building, which is housed in the Jagatjit Palace here, has developed deep crevices and needs urgent repair.

The matter was discussed at the meeting of the Local Board of Administration under the chairmanship of Maj Gen Binoy Poonnen, Chief of Staff Headquarters 11 Corps. Representatives of the Deputy Commissioner Kapurthala, DPI and Circle Education Officer also attended the meeting besides two eminent educationists, Brig HS Bhandal (retd) and Subash Joshi.

Principal Col Sudhanshu Arya briefed the board about various scholastic and non-scholastic activities conducted in the school and various developmental projects undertaken. The school authorities mentioned that they had projected a requirement of Rs 2.1 crore, which was scaled down by the government to Rs 75 lakh. “However, ultimately no funds were released to the school. Due to this, the school has put on hold all development and maintenance work. This will have an immediate adverse effect on the maintenance of the school building (Jagatjit Palace), staff quarters and cadets hostels,” the school authorities are said to have mentioned.

The principal also informed the board that for the first time, even the scholarship amount for the Punjab domicile students had not been received during the last financial year. “Both these factors will also reflect in the performance of the cadet in the long run,” he said today.

Jalandhar, May 23
The 60 councillors of the Municipal Corporation (MC), who came to power about 18 months ago, are yet to get the copies of the group photograph of the new House.

While it had taken months for the group photograph to be clicked, the proposal for the framed group photo with an amount of Rs 1,450 was cleared in the January 24 meeting this year.

Four months have passed and the councillors still do not have a group picture in their houses.

Councillors, on the other hand, are quite eager to get the new photograph and replace it with the 2007 group photograph.

The councillors were elected on June 10, 2012, but they officially came to power on September 25, 2012. It took Mayor Sunil Jyoti 16 months after joining his office to assemble all councillors for a group photograph. But the photos have not been done, framed and distributed till date.

First time Congress councillor Neerja Jain, representing Ward 33, said she was much excited to get the photograph. “The mayor should have been equally anxious for he too sat in the chair for the first time. He might have been just a councillor and standing in the back rows, but this time he sat in the hot seat. There seems to have been no effort at all from his side,” she said.

Third time Congress councillor Surinder Kaur too showed old group pictures hanging in her house in Buta Mandi. “People come to my place and ask why I have put up a photo of the previous MC House. They laugh when I tell them that a group photo is yet to come even as nearly one-third of the tenure of the new House is over,” she said.

Mayor Sunil Jyoti said, “I could not pursue the matter. The work in the MC remained almost shut for two months. I am in Delhi and when I get back, I will see where it is stuck.”