Jalandhar, June 23
The Jalandhar rural police today busted a gang of contract killers which was engineering heinous crimes in the border areas like Amritsar, Batala, Gurdaspur and Majitha. Two of its members were nabbed by the police with four rifles and a car.

The accused were planning to engineer a crime in the Jalandhar area but their nefarious designs were thwarted by alert police officials.

The accused have been identified as Gurdeep Singh, resident of Gujiawala, Gurdaspur and Manpreet Singh, alias Mann, a resident of Fategarh Churian, also in Gurdaspur.

HPS Khakh, Superintendent of Police (Detective), Jalandhar rural, under whose supervision the notorious gang members were apprehended, said acting on tip-off that the gang members, armed with deadly weapons, were planning to engineer some heinous crime in the area, Inspector Angrej Singh, in-charge, CIA rural wing along with a police party, set up a naka near Kala Bakra.

After intercepting a car (DL3C AJ 7071), four men suddenly alighted and started running. However, the police managed to chase two of them while two others, namely, Jagdip Singh, alias Jaggu, of Bhagwanpur, Batala and Malkit Singh, alias Nawab, of Mehta, Amritsar, managed to give a slip to the police party.

Jalandhar, June 23
Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) CMD KD Chaudhri has said that under the R-APDRP (Restructured Accelerated Power Development and Reforms Programme), Power Corporation has started an ambitious programme to boost power distribution system in 40 towns all over Punjab at a cost of more than Rs 1,300 crore. Jalandhar, Kapurthala, Phagwara and Nakodar are among the 40 towns to be covered.

Chaudhri said the project has been awarded to reputed firms like L&T, A2Z and Godrej, based on the competitive bidding and the work has been started by these firms in their regions. "The scope of work of M/s Godrej includes erection of new as well as augmentation of 1257-km High Tension (HT) lines, 1491-km of Low Tension (LT) lines, 2,764 Distribution Transformers, replacement of 94,971 electro mechanical meters with electronic meters," he said.

The CMD said the scope of work of M/s L&T includes erection of new as well as augmentation of 1,656 km of HT lines, 3,887 km of LT lines, 6,112 Distribution Transformers, replacement of 1,05,624 electro mechanical meters with electronic meters. "Work on shifting of 1,56,863 meters out of consumer premises is also to be carried out under the project," said Chaudhri.

Chaudhri said, "Similar work for Ropar, Dhuri, Mohali, Nawanshahr, Khanna and Jalandhar has been awarded at a cost of Rs 137 crore. The work is likely to start from next month." "All these works will be completed by July 2015. The CMD said that after the completion of augmentation/upgrade of the identified overloaded feeders/transformers, the problems of breakdowns/voltage fluctuations will reduce drastically, which will be of huge benefit to power consumers,” he said.

Chaudhri said, "The project will help in bringing down transmission and distribution losses."

Jalandhar, June 23
Following the collapse of the roof of the DEO (Elementary) office in Jalandhar, the office was finally shifted to the In-Service Training Centre in the city.

A few days ago, the roof adjoining the office of the DEO (E) had collapsed, posing a grave threat to the well-being of the staff who would be sitting in the adjoining building. While complaints regarding the dilapidated DEO office had regularly been sent to Chandigarh, (the building was unsafe for over 15 years), it took the Education Department and the government a collapsed roof to shift the premises to a new location.

Meanwhile, a new problem which is bound to create trouble for the Education Department, is that following limited space at its new site at the Government In-Service Training Centre, the offices of the DEO (E) and secondary are bound to be shifted to two different sites.

While the office utilities of the DEO (E) office are being shifted to a new building, it has no room to house any other office.

DEO (Elementary) Anil Awasthi said, "I have started working from our new location at the Government In-Service Training Centre today. Slowly, all the stuff will be shifted. Meanwhile, for the time being, the office of the DEO (S) continues to operate from the old building only."

DEO (Secondary) Kuldeep Sharma, when contacted, said, "We are presently operating from the old office but are on the lookout for a new space. The CEO has been asked to arrange for a government building where the office of the DEO (S) and the rest of the old building's establishment can be housed. Until then, things will work like before."

At the new space, the offices of the DEO (S) and CEO are expected to be housed in the same compound, before a proper building is available for the entire education staff.

Over 55 staff members and two DEOs — occupying over 10 rooms — were operating from the former office.

After the collapse of the DEO’s adjoining room, the official had written to the DC to arrange for an alternate building soon.

The education secretary had also held a meeting with both the DEOs and assured them of shifting their office space soon.

Spread in over 8 eight kanal area, the former office leaked during the rains. Roofs had fallen and the entire office compound used to get inundated during the rains.

Jalandhar, June 23
Several Sikh bodies today held a protest against Baba Ramdev and a Jammu-based assistant professor for hurting the religious sentiments of Sikhs. They also held a protest against the city police for delaying the arrest of the duo in the case.

Harpal of the Sikh Talmel Committee said following protests by various Sikh organisations last month in Jalandhar, the city police had registered a case against yoga guru Ramdev for allegedly hurting religious sentiments.

Protesters said a case was registered after the yoga guru's photographs, seated on a high chair with the picture of Guru Gobind Singh lying near his feet, had gone viral on the social media.

"Even after registering a case, the police have not arrested Baba Ramdev. We have been assured by senior police officials that Baba will soon be arrested," said Harpal.

In the second case, the city police have also not arrested a Jammu-based assistant professor, who used derogatory remarks against the gurus.

Members of Sikh bodies, who were forcing shopkeepers to close shops, later put off the dharna on the promise of senior police officials to arrest both of them soon.—TNS

Jalandhar, June 23
The Phulkari Emporium in the city that is suffering huge losses from the last few years is planning ways to boost their sale in the city. To begin with, it has announced a summer sale on most of its items brought from various parts of the country. The sale will be on till July 17.

"We are getting a very good response in the last few days. The marble items from Rajasthan are getting the maximum response during the sale period," said Meena Kumari, sales representataive at the Phulkari Emporium in Jalandhar. She informed that the emporium is offering 20 per cent off on Luckhnawi items and 30 per cent off on marble items, paintings, wooden items and handicraft bought from various parts of the country.

The emporium located in the Old City area is not visited by many residents. vey few people visit the old City area as most of the items are easily available at the high-end markets like Model Town and Lajpat Nagar, informed Davinder Kaur, another employee.

Punjabi Phulkari, in the last few years, has almost lost its sheen as improvisation and innovation have crept into the traditional art of phulkari. Bright colours are being replaced by subdued strains. The pattern is now made on a computer and executed by the machines. The tedious work is now completed in hours which earlier used to take months.

Although there is only one government-run emporium in the city, the phulkari items with better designs and more appealing colour combination are available at various places in the city. "Although I love phulkari items, I had never gone to the emporium at Jyoti Chowk due to parking problems," revealed Jyoti Handa, a bank employee.

Another student, Aarti from Apeejay College, also revealed that most of the handicraft items required in her various art projects are being brought from other places only.

The emporium has witnessed very few visitors in the recent years but has some exquisite handicraft items that will take your breath away at the first instance.

It has beautiful wooden carved items from Saharanpur, brass items from Moradabad and handlooms from Jaipur. 

Jalandhar, June 23
While Jalandhar has traditionally seen serious outbreaks owing to water borne diseases in summer, various departments have often passed on the blame to the others, rather than owning up responsibility for it.

In preventive, pro-active measures before an outbreak hits the city this year, Civil Surgeon Dr RL Bassan has written to Deputy Commissioner KK Yadav as well as the MC Commissioner Manpreet Singh Chatwal to prevent the spread of water-borne and vector-borne diseases in the city this year.

A high-level committee comprising the Civil Surgeon, DC and MC Commissioner, shall shortly hold a meeting on Thursday over the steps and measures to be taken this year to prevent sordid outbreaks - like those in the previous years - from spreading in the city.

With various localities sans water, others getting polluted water and yet others developing issues relating to water supply from time to time, the state of water supply system in city schools is also pretty similar to that of the various localities reeling under a water crisis.

Various areas of the city are in a dark zone and while the municipal corporation has quite a bit of responsibility on its shoulders, in the face of an outbreak, along with the rest of the departments, it is the health department which gropes with the failing health of the localities.

Civil Surgeon Dr RL Bassan said, "We have written to the Municipal Corporation regarding the prevention of outbreaks in sensitive areas as well as those in which there were outbreaks last year. It is very important that water supply pipes and illegal water connections in all these areas be checked to prevent any fault or problem beforehand. We have also requested for the repair and fixing of all faulty pipes. A high-level committee, comprising the DC, Civil Surgeon and the Municipal Commissioner will be meeting on the issue shortly."

"On our part, the health department shall be making sure the awareness level of people is raised on these issues. Preventive measures have already begun and chlorination and distribution of pamphlets is taking place. We are also taking steps to upgrade and make arrangements at the civil hospital so that immediate and effective health care is provided in the face of an outbreak," the he added.

Speaking of the problem of failed water samples in schools witnessed last year, the civil surgeon said, "We shall be talking to the education department on the issue and it will be ensured that all school children get potable water this season."

Deputy Commissioner Kamal Kishore Yadav said, "We have received the communication and a meeting has already been fixed with the civil surgeon and the Municipal Commissioner on Thursday. We shall be taking steps to prevent outbreaks in the district. I am regularly in touch with the civil surgeon and four to five sensitive areas have been identified in the city. Specific measures shall be initiated for these areas whereas the regular process will be there for the rest of the areas in the city."

"In the meeting, the future action plan will be formulated to prevent the spread of vector-borne diseases and to make sure no polluted water finds its way to the residents. We shall be looking to curb the major causes which cause these outbreaks," he said.

DC KK Yadav says meeting on Thursday to plan action to prevent water and vector-borne diseases this year. The CS and DC say potable water should be ensured in schools in the city. 

Jalandhar, June 23
The Jalandhar rural police have nabbed two proclaimed offenders with 490 grams of heroin and seized a motorcycle. They were also declared proclaimed offenders by the courts in the NDPS Act case.

The smugglers were identified as Subash Chandar of Basti Sheikh Jalandhar, and Rajwant alias Raju of Amritsar. Today, the duo was heading to deliver a consignment on bike (PB 02 BR 4607) but was nabbed by the police

Superintendent of Police HPS Khakh said these two smugglers were in the trade for several years and had reportedly cleared several consignments of drugs in the recent past. Several cases under the NDPS Act were registered against them at various police stations in Amritsar.

Interestingly, these smugglers, Khakh said, who were earlier living in Amritsar, had shifted their base to Jalandhar. Their purpose of moving to Jalandhar was to remain away from the eyes of Amritsar police, where they were proclaimed offenders.