Jalandhar, June 30
Continuing with their action against polluting units dumping wastes into the Kala Sanghian drain, teams of the Punjab Pollution Control Board today sealed as many as 142 drums in industrial units at the leather complex.

The Drainage Department conducts a raid at Bulandpur near Jalandhar on Monday. A Tribune Photograph

Teams of the Drainage Department and the rural police, accompanied by naib tehsildar, Jalandhar II, also raided 11 dairies in the Bulnadpur area and cut the connections through which they were dumping their respective wastes into the Kala Sanghian drain.

Superintending Engineer PPCB, SP Garg, said, “An additional 122 drums from industrial units at the leather complex were sealed today. The process will continue in the coming days and the remaining drums shall also be sealed. We shall see for the next seven days whether the dumping of wastes has been reduced. If violators still continue, strict action will be taken against the remaining people who flout rules. The Drainage Department has also cut the connections of remaining dairies today.”

The water connections of 11 dairies were cut today at seven points, rendering them unable to dump waste into the drain in future.

With today’s action, the connections of all dairies situated outside the city, which were dirtying the Kala Sanghian drain with their respective wastes, have been terminated.

Umesh Kumar Khanna, SDO, Drainage Department, said, “With the action we have taken today, the connections of all dairies outside the city, which were illegally directing their wastes towards the Kala Sanghian drain, have been cut. While strict orders by the High Court have been passed that no such activity is to be allowed, any attempts by a dairy to resume such illegal connections shall be punished strictly as well.”

The violators will now be booked under the Canal and Drainage Act, 1873, under Section 70, he added.

He also said that dairies would have to devise their own ways to dispose of the refuse and discharge from their establishments. A treatment plant can also be established to effectively dispose of the waste.

On Friday as well, the connections of 46 dairies were disconnected by the Drainage Department, police and administration teams.

The action against dairies was taken on the basis of a civil writ petition which was filed in the High Court in the year 2005. An HC ruling had later held that all these polluting dairies were to be removed from the said site.

While the PPCB and the Drainage Department had repeatedly sent notices to the dairy owners to stop dumping wastes into the drain for the past many years, the dairy owners hadn’t responded to the orders. The residents of the area were being inconvenienced by the dumping of bad water into the Kala Sanghian Drain which was causing a very bad smell in the area.

Kapurthala, June 30
Two persons were injured after a Jalandhar-Ferozepur Diesel Multiple Unit (DMU) train hit a loaded tractor-trailer at the unmanned level crossing at Mansurwal village in Kapurthala today.

The badly crushed tractor-trailer at the unmanned level crossing in Kapurthala on Monday. Tribune Photo: Malkiat Singh

The tractor-borne persons had a miraculous escape as they jumped off the tractor a few seconds before the train hit their vehicle.

Finding negligence of tractor-trailer’s driver, the Government Railway Police registered a case against an unidentified person under Sections 279, 427, 337 of the IPC and launched a manhunt to nab him.

The incident occurred at 7.30 am when the sand-loaded tractor-trailer got stuck on the crossing. After noticing the train, the tractor riders jumped off the vehicle and fled from the spot.

The collision was so intense the tractor was smashed into pieces. The police said after the train hit the tractor, two youths, Banny and Lashman, of Santpura Mohalla in Kapurthala, sitting on the door of the train, also fell off the train and sustained injuries. The injured were rushed to a nearby hospital by passersby.

They were reported to be out of danger.

Jalandhar, June 30
A day after a police party, led by assistant sub-inspector Kirpal Singh, picked up a worker employed in a shop from the Phagwara Gate market in connection with a snatching case, the Police Commissioner sent the cop to the police lines and ordered an inquiry into the incident.

The police had picked up Maqbool Masih (35) from Raju Cheese Corner at the Phagwara Gate yesterday in connection with the May 28 snatching on the Mandi road.

Shopkeepers had also held a protest against the police in this connection.

The police had then claimed that Maqbool was picked up as he resembled a snatcher in an earlier snatching incident.

After people launched protest against the police outside the CIA staff, senior police officials intervened in the matter to placate the protesters. Maqbool was also let off by the police following the protest last evening. — TNS

Jalandhar, June 30
Ditched by the government, almost 40 students (and their parents) of a government school in the Radio Colony area of the city today held a demonstration outside the DEO (Elementary) and Circle Education Officer’s office, protesting the closure of the school.

Following a direction issued by the DGSE’s office to close down their school, 70 students and three staff members of Government Primary School, Radio Colony, have been left in the lurch. The parents say if the school closes, their children will either sit at home or do labour because they can’t afford to send them farther (Abadpura, Model Town or Ladowali Road).

While the pre-requisite for closing a government school is that it should have less than 20 students, the said school’s closure has been ordered despite the fact that it has 70 pupils.

All students of the school belong to poor families. Their parents either work as daily wagers, labourers or do odd jobs at people’s homes. The staff of the school alleges that the report prepared about the school falsely puts its total strength at 13.

Sources said, “Last week the staff was informed that the school will be closed. Data of the school was collected on a day when the attendance was thin. The students are happy here. Shifting will put a lot of burden on the poor families who are already making their ends meet with difficulty.”

While Education Minister Daljit Singh Cheema has categorically said that schools with more than 20 students won’t be closed, this is another example of hasty closure ordered at the cost of children’s education.

A parent working in a slipper factory (all three of whose sons study at the school) said, “I work in a factory, my wife works at people’s homes. We live at a home in the said locality and our earning hardly allows us to make ends meet. If the school is shifted, we don’t even have money to pay for transportation or time to drop children ourselves.”

A mother of two students, who study in the 4th and 5th standard, said, “I work as a maid, my husband is a driver. The shifting of the school will upset our entire schedule. The officer (DEO) has told us that students can go to the same school tomorrow on. But if the school is closed, our children will be forced to drop out. It would be very unfair to us.”

The protest today was backed by the Government teachers Union and Purvanchal Jan Kalyan Mahasabha.

DEO (Elementary) Anil Awasthi said, “We received a letter on June 20, asking us to close the school and shift it elsewhere. I have asked them to join the same school for the moment tomorrow. But since the orders are from the top, and they are based on a report, the school will have to be shifted sooner or later.”

The DEO did not comment on why the shift if there were 70 students.

Meanwhile, CEO Hukam Chand said he was not the only one who compiled the report. It was made on the basis of inputs from many other teams. “Some team must have noted the presence of only 13 students. Besides, the school is being shifted on the basis that other schools would be closer to students’ home (address).”

Set up in 1964, the school was shifted to its current location inside a park in the colony in 1982 from where it has been running since.

Fact file

* Staff alleges number of students falsely reported as 13, whereas school has 70 pupils

* All students from poor families; parents say students will have to drop out if school closes

Jalandhar, June 30
In response to the news report published in Jalandhar Tribune on Sunday regarding the lapse by the Health Department in serving food to drug addict patients without checking its quality, a team of food safety officers, working under the Health Department, today visited the de-addiction camp at the ESI hospital and took two samples of the food served to the patients.

The department has now sent these for testing to the State Health Laboratory in Chandigarh. The inspection was conducted after the department received directions from Husn Lal, Managing Director, Punjab Health Systems Corporation (PHSC), who, after going through the news 
report, expressed shock over the issue.

“I was not aware that the food is being supplied by some unauthorised contractor. I have directed the district Health Department to test the quality of food and to also check toxicants, if any, at the earliest. I have also directed them to issue a receipt for any money being charged from the patients either as meal or file expenses,” said Husn Lal.

When asked about the logic behind charging a whopping Rs 2,500 as meal expenses from extremely poor families of drug addicts, he replied that since such patients required special diet as prescribed by their doctors, the meal expenses had to be borne by the patient himself.

Although the Health Department received directions to inspect the quality of food in the morning itself, due to reasons best known to them, it could only dispatch its team of food safety officers by evening. “We had visited the de-addiction ward and took samples of ‘bhindi’ and ‘dal’ from the food given to the patients. The food is indeed being provided by a local contractor who was not holding any licence under the Food Safety and Standards Act 2006,” revealed Dr Harjot Singh, Food Safety Officer. He also said that during the inspection, the families had complained about the poor quality of food being served to them by the Health Department.

Jalandhar, June 30
All across the city the problem of stray dogs has inconvenienced a large amount of residents. While some put up with it, others curse the authorities and are surprised at the inaction and the patient wait which is allowing the problem to grow big. While veterinary department has already expressed skepticism at the future project of the MC to sterilise dogs, residents say no effort has been made by the department to survey or ease the situation is severely hit areas.

Eateries, garbage piles, slaughterhouses are the biggest breeding grounds for dog populations. Experts express doubts that in the coming times, the problem will grow even bigger than it presently is. Meanwhile, residents speak their mind on their view over the issue:

"There are so many dogs in our area that it is difficult to walk on the road or even enter the area in a bike. The chase any entrant to the area and people are shared to move alone at night. We have to be especially careful about children. Five years ago a child was eaten by wild dogs in the area. Incidents of dogs attacking the young ones of other animals like cows and bulls keep happening. It is constant scare and even as the population of canines keeps increasing, there are no measures being taken to prevent these incidents," said Beant Singh, a resident of the Shahkot area.

"One spends the entire day in office or at work and when we arrive at our homes in the day, we are firstly greeted by ferocious dogs and then when we try to sleep at night, the barking of dogs is a constant botheration. We have at least 20 to 30 dogs in the three four streets in our own immediate area. On top of it, dogs keep continuously barking at night. Even if one starts barking, the rest follow suit. Sometimes there are ferocious fights and unending noise all through the night not just passing the streets is a problem but even sleeping in the night is difficult. It is especially a pain for old people and students preparing for exams. We have been robbed of rest completely," said Rajinder Singh, a resident of Khingra Gate.

"On a visit to the corporation for some personal work about four months ago I saw a senior official's wife himself complaining about the problem. This means there must be some severe crisis of men or money owing to which they are not willing to take steps in this direction. Even if 10 people are put daily on the job and a place is allocated where dogs are sterlised or rehabilitated, the menace can be countered. The situation is on the brink. If the MC allows it to escalate any further, there will be drastic consequences. Immediate steps require to be taken to counter the problem," said Jasleen Sethi, president, Mahila Congress, Jalandhar.

"The sanitary conditions of the city are a major problem in caring for the situation in the city. Groups of dogs collect in largest numbers near garbage dumps. These play as homes for the canines. Half the menace of dogs will ease if the dumps do not play as breeding grounds for dogs. In addition, canines also pick up waste from the streets. Often dogs are seen in areas carrying carcasses of other dead animals or other infectious things. This is really bad and even can cause outbreaks. There is immediate need to put a stop at the growing canine population in the city," said a local resident Shally Bowry.

"I have felt threatened, scared to enter my own street many times. While dogs are basically considered the man's best friend, human beings themselves are creating conditions to render them ferocious. Domesticated animals do not behave like stray dogs do. In many areas I have even heard of stray incidents where people have been bitten or accidents have even been caused due to stray animals. In our own area, over the years the population of strays has increased dramatically. The authorities need to do something about the situation immediately," said Sonia Sharma, a resident of Rama Mandi.

"A few days ago one of our acquaintances met with an accident while trying to avoid a dog while entering his home in the evening. Stories keep on circulating about how dogs pick away domesticated pups of people from near their homes. Be it children or animals, we have to be wary of whether the gate is open or close. Leave alone the rest of the societal conditions; the menace of stray dogs has become a threat of its own. In this era of urbanisation people, there are a million ways to deal with the menace if the authorities are interested. But certainly there seems to be a lack of will," said Amrik Singh, a resident of Rehru village.

"It depends on the population of strays in a given area, while they victimise, they are also the victims. For people dog is just an animal to be scared of. Very few people think of the reasons behind why there populations are increasing or why are they something to be scared of. In markets, streets and around commercial areas, dogs are treated very badly. Whenever people talk about the population of strays they talk only of the menace or threat. But some of these animals are at the receiving end of savage behaviour. Vehicles trample on dogs. People beat them. Many passersby keep irritating and teasing dogs and if the dogs bark or react, these animals are labelled ferocious. While there is need to curtail the dog population, some people need to be given a lesson in behaviour towards animals. The flip side of the growing population of strays is that animal rights are being thrown to the wind. Dogs are gentle animals and friendliest of beings. While it is important to be wary and cautious, it is also important that people don't deliberately mess with them," said city resident KS Singh.

"The greatest solution to the growing population of strays is that an effective programme to sterilise strays is devised by the administration. Many areas which had lesser dogs now have many and the greatest groups are found near garbage dumps or near slaughterhouses. The only way to get rid of them is pick them up and dump them in another area because no drive to counter their numbers is presently happening. Incidents like a dog biting 5 children in a day happen due to a reason. Programmes to sterilise strays and rehabilitate wounded or diseased animals is extremely important. For this issue, mere officials won't do. Animal experts should be roped in so that the plan to counter the various issues surrounding a stray dog population is dealt with expertly," said Rana Ralhan, a resident of Garha.

Jalandhar, June 30
Following pressure from the political leaders of the ruling party after the poll debacle of SAD-BJP in the recent Lok Sabha polls, the administration has slashed the collector rates by a huge margin of more than 25 per cent in some areas.The rates have been cleared by the district collector today and would come to effect for all official purposes from tomorrow onwards.

In Model Town, the collector rate of commercial properties which stood at as high as Rs 19.8 lakh a marla have come down to Rs 14 lakh a marla while the rates of residential properties too have fallen from Rs 15.6 lakh to Rs 11 lakh a marla. The revised rates of Model Town have been equated with the other posh colony of New Jawahar Nagar. Barring these two localities, the rates of various other commercial properties on Nakodar Chowk, Lajpat Nagar, Rainak Bazaar, Rajinder Nagar and Chhoti Baradari which stood at Rs 14.52 lakh has come down to Rs 12 lakh for a marla. There also had been much pressure to reduce the collector rates along GT Road in Paragpur. While the rate of commercial properties has been brought down from Rs 9.6 lakh to Rs 5 lakh a marla, the residential properties too have the rates slightly slashed from Rs 1 lakh a marla to Rs 0.9 lakh. The rates of agricultural properties along the stretch have fallen from Rs 1.5 crore to Rs 1.2 crore for an acre. The rate of agricultural property in Nagra too has come down from Rs 70 lakh to Rs 50 lakh for an acre.

DC KK Yadav said that the collector rates of all the five tehsils had been revised. He said that the soft copies of the revised rate list had been handed over to the concerned SDMs and revenue officials for updation in their computers so that the new charges for registry of properties and other revenue purposes could come into effect from tomorrow.

The revenue department had seen a dip of Rs 129 crore in its annual income in the last financial year. The exercise to revise the collector rates had begun ahead of polls but lingered on for quite sometime. With the issue cropping up as a reason for the poll debacle of SAD-BJP, it being inter-linked with the property tax as well, the demand to rationalise the charges had become loud. A meeting to discuss the rates with the political leaders, business community and residents of various societies had been held on June 19. 

Jalandhar, June 30
With Jalandhar Municipal Corporation adopting a casual approach, the makeshift encroachments on roadside are increasing fast. The makeshift encroachment is not just the violation of the civic norms but also leads to traffic chaos.

Though civic functionaries had been claiming that the MC initiates drive to clear the makeshift encroachments on regular-basis, the situation on the ground suggests otherwise. As per the information, apart from shopkeepers extending their counters and encroach upon the road. The street vendors in many markets sell food from the footpaths meant for the pedestrian movement. What is surprising is that even if occasionally the Tehbazari Wing of the Municipal Corporation removes makeshift encroachments, things are back to square one the next day.

A visit to the different areas, including Master Tara Singh Nagar, Model Town, Adarsh Nagar, Ladowali Road, Bus Stand, Nakodar Road, Jyoti Chowk, Kapurthala Road, Football Chowk, Shastri Market, Civil Hospital Road, Garha Road, Cool Road, BMC Chowk, Civil Lines, Company Bagh Chowk and Namdev Chowk brought to light that the shopkeepers have extended their shops several feet towards roadside, even covering footpath meant for pedestrians. According to the majority of the commuters and shoppers heavy traffic congestion is the order of the day in most of the city markets just because of the temporary encroachments. “It is really surprising that why Tehbazari Wing do not conduct drive against makeshift encroachments on daily basis. Penalty must be imposed on violators,” said Sahil Ahuja, a student.

Interacting with Jalandhar Tribune, majority of the commuters also opined that problem of the traffic jam aggravates in the narrow lanes when the street vendors encroach upon the road. “The pedestrians have to squeeze through the haphazard maze of rehris, kiosks and stalls in most of the city markets,” said a senior citizen Jaspal Singh. “It is the need of the hour that the MC authorities should see to it that the Tehbazari Wing must visit one area/market on daily basis to clear the makeshift encroachments and impound rehris. Until and unless, strong action on regular basis is initiated by the civic body, the problem would not be resolved,” said majority of the commuters. Meanwhile, it is learnt that some of the Municipal Councillors are planning to take up this matter in the next general house meeting of the MC. 

Jalandhar, June 30
Jalandhar MP Chaudhary Santokh Singh has come down heavily on the deteriorating law and order situation in the city. Expressing concern over the increasing number of the snatching incidents, Santokh said it was shameful that the police authorities were watching the situation as a mute spectator.

While addressing the mediapersons here today, evening, Santokh announced that if in case the police fail to act to stop the theft and snatching incidents, the Congress party would gherao the Police Commissioner office and start an agitation. Notably, yesterday Bimla Devi, mother of the Hoshiarpur MP Vijay Sampla, became the victim of the snatching incident, after a youngster snatched her earring.

Taking a dig at the Punjab Deputy CM Sukhbir Singh Badal for holidaying abroad, Santokh said, “It is high time the Deputy CM should realise the responsibility. Sukhbir is having the portfolio of the Home Affairs Department and it is his duty to ensure the safety of the people of the Punjab. On daily basis, snatching and theft incidents are noticing an upward trend in Jalandhar but the police authorities have not been able to take necessary steps. If the situation continues like this, the day is not far away when the people of Jalandhar will start migrating to other places.”

Santokh said in the newspapers he read about the Jalandhar Police Commissioner’s new initiatives aimed at bringing down the crime. "The need of the hour is to implement initiatives effectively,” he said, while making it clear that in case things do not improve within one or two weeks, they will gherao the Police Commissioner office. "The Congress party would also launch an agitation against the police,” he announced.

Jalandhar, June 30
Unaided Staff Union, Jalandhar, today burnt the effigy of Punjab Government in front of the District Administration Complex to protest against their negligent attitude on long pending demands.

The union member also organised a protest march under the leadership Vijay Gautam before burning the effigy.

While addressing the gathering, Gautam said they have been teaching in the aided school on such meager amount that they cannot fulfill their basic needs. They want their services to be regularised as soon as possible.

Gautam said, "The students in such schools are deprived of the facilities like uniforms and scholarships, which is being provided to the students of government schools."

Jalandhar, June 30
Table Tennis Hall at the Raizada Hansraj Stadium will soon wear a new look as the District Sports Department has decided to renovate it with an estimated budget of Rs 10 lakh to be borne by the Punjab Sports Department. Located in the heart of the city, the hall caters to around 150 players everyday.

“Since the wooden flooring is nowadays out of fashion in various national and international tournaments, we have also decided to replace it with the synthetic one. Under the renovation, besides the floor, the ceiling of the hall would also be repaired. The corporation has already inspected the hall to estimate the overall expense to be incurred on the entire renovation plan. We are expecting the renovation work to begin soon after the monsoon season,” said Rakesh Kaushal, District Sports Officer, Jalandhar.

The hall was constructed around Asian games in 1982 and the first renovation work of the hall was carried out in 2000 when the wooden flooring was installed with an estimated cost of Rs 30 lakh. The hall being the only air-conditioned hall with the Municipal Corporation not only caters to around 150 players who come everyday to get coaching in table tennis but is also a popular place for the district administration to hold various meetings and conferences. During all the elections, the hall is turned into a strong room to keep EVM machines before being dispatched to the specific voting centers. Also, some times the counting of votes also takes place in this hall only. However, in the recent Lok Sabha Elections held in April, the Sports Department had alleged that the election staff on duty for damaging the wooden flooring severely. 

Jalandhar, June 30
Two looting incidents were today reported in the city in which an NRI woman was targeted by snatchers in the Model Town area, while two women were allegedly looted of gold earrings by unidentified armed men after the latter barged into their house in Shakti Nagar. The youths also reportedly injured the two women in this incident.

In the first incident, a USA resident, Baljit Kaur, a native of Shifipur village in Pholriwal in Jalandhar, was looted of her purse by snatchers outside Geeta Mandir.

The victim, along with her kin, had come to Model Town for shopping. She said her purse contained Rs 2 lakh, a mobile phone, passport and some foreign currency.

In the second incident in Shakti Nagar, Raj Rani and her daughter-in-law Madhu Seth alleged that two armed youths barged into their house late this evening. When they protested, they attacked them with sharp-edged weapons and injured them. Later, they snatched their gold earrings.

Meanwhile, ADCP Naresh Dogra claimed that no loot had taken place, as the victims had sustained injuries due to electrocution only.

Jalandhar, June 30
A 23-year-old migrant youth Raj committed suicide by hanging himself from a ceiling fan at his residence in Sangat Singh Nagar here today. The cause of taking the extreme step was not known.

Raj was a daily wage labourer and was living along with his friend Satyam in a rented accommodation. The police said the victim was a native of Uttar Pradesh and was living in Jalandhar for the past several years.

The police said it had thoroughly searched the room where Raj had committed suicide, but no suicide note or anything vital regarding the suicide was recovered by it. The police also questioned Raj’s roommate Satyam about the cause of the death, but he was also not aware of anything.

Suspecting no foul play, the police initiated inquest proceedings under Section 174 of the Cr PC. — TNS