Jalandhar, July 3
A 22-year-old youth, employed in the 21 Punjab Regiment of the Army, allegedly committed suicide by reportedly consuming some poisonous substance at a hotel here today. The deceased was identified as Amandeep, a resident of Akhnoor in Jammu.

A file photo of Army jawan Amandeep who committed suicide in Jalandhar on Thursday

Jagdish Kumar, investigating officer, police division No. 3, said Amandeep had booked a room in Samrat hotel, located on the Fentanganj road, last evening. “After checking in the hotel at 4 pm, Amandeep came out of his room only once at 7 pm. Today he was to check out at 12 noon. When he didn’t come out, the hotel manager Yogesh got suspicious. When he peeped inside the room, he found Amandeep in deep pain,” Kumar said. The manager then immediately informed the police.

After the police entered the room by breaking open the lock, they rushed the victim, who was in a critical condition, to the Civil Hospital, where he died.

The police said the victim, who was in the Army for the past nearly two years, had gone to his place in Jammu and yesterday, he was to join his duty. Instead of joining the duty, he opted to stay in the hotel. We thoroughly checked the room, but didn’t recover any suicide note, the police said.

Amandeep’s parents had been called and if any foul play was suspected, further investigation would be done accordingly.

Defence PRO Naresh Vig said the Army had ordered investigation into the case.

Jalandhar, July 3
Even though it had been announced that the Solid Waste Management project would get started last month, the project has gone into a limbo once again with everyone maintaining complete silence on the issue.

While the project had gained momentum last month, no one, including top officials, has done any follow-up on the issue. All that the officials have been saying is that since the matter was being taken up at the higher level, they would prefer not to comment on it.

Mayor Sunil Jyoti said he had been waiting for Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal, who has just returned from his foreign tour, to conduct meetings with Local Bodies officials on the matter. “I have learnt that some important issues pertaining to the department are lying lined up. This matter is also on the agenda,” he said.

The Safai Mazdur Union leaders had threatened to hold demonstration against the plans to start door-to-door collection of garbage by the staff of the private company JITF Urban Infrastructure Limited from June 10 last. The union leaders had even gheraoed Local Bodies Minister Anil Joshi. The unionists have been demanding that the project should be taken back from the company and be run by the MC on its own while securing jobs for the safai karamcharis already engaged in garbage collection.

At this, various political leaders had volunteered to get the matter resolved amicably and fixed up a meeting of the safai karamcharis with Deputy CM in Chandigarh. The union leaders had met SAD leader Hans Raj Hans, asking him to join him for a meeting. A meeting had been held by the union president Chandan Grewal, claiming that some issues were still unresolved.

Jalandhar, July 3
Following a news report published in Jalandhar Tribune, the Nakodar police have asked the Nakodar-based environmentalist Gaurav Jain to record his statement. However, no FIR has been registered as yet.

Senior Superintendent Police (Rural) Narinder Bhargav, in his version published in the previous report, had said that an inquiry had been marked in the case but the complainant was not joining the inquiry.

Refuting the SSP’s statement, Gaurav Jain said he was never summoned by the police to be a part of the inquiry.

“In fact there has never been any inquiry. This is a baseless claim made by the police. On the contrary, I had been struggling to get an FIR registered. Yet nobody from the Police Department paid any heed towards the issue,” he added.

Jain said after the publication of the report, he received a call from Nakodar station house officer (SHO) Surinder Pal Singh to record his statement.

“An assistant sub inspector came to my house to record my statement,” he added.

In his statement, he said necessary action must be taken against those who attacked his house, including executive officer, MC Nakodar, Rajiv Oberoi and sanitary officer Mukesh Sharma for threatening him of dire consequences if he didn’t withdraw the complaints with the National Green Tribunal.

Gaurav Jain’s house was attacked by employees of the Nakodar Municipal Council on May 14. He has been running from pillar to post to get a first information report (FIR) registered since then.

Nakodar (City) SHO Surinder Pal Singh said the statement had been recorded as per the orders issued by his seniors. He would pass on the statement to the DSP, he added.

He said he didn’t know if the FIR would be registered.

Jalandhar, July 3
Residents of Maharishi Dayanand area today held a protest against the opening of a wine shop in the area.

They said the liquor shop would not be tolerated at any cost in the residential area. They warned to intensify their protest if the authorities went ahead with their plan. They are apprehensive that liquor would lure the youth of the area towards liquor.

The traffic scenario in the area is already in a sorry state and if this liquor vend is opened, it will further add to the problem. “We will soon mobilise the area residents to intensify protest against the opening of wine shop,” residents said.

They were accompanied by representatives of some local NGOs.

Manoj and Rakesh, residents of the area, said they would raise the issue before senior authorities.

Jalandhar, July 3
The dilly-dallying on part of the district administration regarding the formation of the grievances committee is likely to end, as Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal has asked the Deputy Commissioner to bring the file to him for resolving the matter.

Deputy Commissioner KK Yadav today held meetings with Public Grievances Officer and other staff regarding the matter so that he was ready to take the file to the CM for a meeting on coming Saturday. There has been no meeting of the committee for the past five years.

It has been almost 10 months since the district administration has been sitting on a file for clearing of names of 25-member District Grievances Committee. Three Deputy Commissioners have changed ever since, but the file has not been moved to the Home Secretary for the final nod.

While the move to proposals for the names of various nominees of ministers, chief parliamentary secretaries, MLAs and MP as members besides other socially active persons began during the tenure of Shruti Singh, her successor Varun Roojam also could not clear it and now the ball has shifted to the court of incumbent Kamal Kishore Yadav. Yadav had joined his office in the first week of June.

His staff had confided that the file remained pending as the political leaders had sent a long list of their nominees and had been insisting that all of them be accommodated. Bickerings among the BJP and SAD leaders are also to be blamed for the same.

While the strength of the committee has to be kept at 25, there is a list of total 60 recommendations with the officials. The administrators have been asking the politicians on bringing the number of their nominees down, on which there has been no consensus.

While most other districts have already formed their committees in August last year and have even been holding meetings, the matter remains pending in Jalandhar. Even though it has been more than a year since the state government had announced the name of Industries and Commerce Minister Madan Mohan Mittal for chairing the committee meetings in Jalandhar, there has been no headway in the matter.

Jalandhar, July 3
To ensure the punctuality of the Suwidha Centre staff here, the Directorate of Governance Reforms has passed a stricture, saying the employees who will be late in the office by five minutes will have to forgo their half-day salary.

Further, the directorate has also said that any official or employee coming late for duty at Suwidha Centre for three days in a month would be dismissed. An order in this regard has been passed following a visit of the Chief Secretary to Suwidha Centre in Ludhiana on June 20. The order copy issued by the Director reads that such directions have been passed so that the Suwidha Centre staff does not take its job casually and the applicants are attended to well by the staff.

The officials have also been asked by the Director to ensure that the services availed at the Suwidha Centre are boldly displayed in Punjabi and English for the convenience of the visitors. There also have been orders that all instructions to be followed for availing any service are boldly put up at counters to facilitate the applicants.

There have also been specific instructions that accounts book reflecting the levy of the fee and other charges should be maintained properly so that the funds levied can be scrutinised at any point of time.

Reacting to the directions, the Suwidha Centre employees have said that though they had been maintaining punctuality, they would be more wary after the orders. However, since there is no biometric machine installed at the centre, it will be extremely difficult for the officials to monitor compliance regarding punctuality on a daily basis. — TNS

Jalandhar, July 3
Gulshan, a youth who was attacked by members two gangs yesterday night, escaped from the Civil Hospital without filing any complaint with the police. He was admitted to the hospital following the attack. He reportedly preferred not to file a complaint as he feared for his life.

As per his disclosure, he was attacked by members of the Rocky gang and Saipur gang near a temple in Saipur last night. He had also identified the assailants as Rocky, Raja Saipuria, Vicky Saipuria and Manu Suri. Interestingly, when the police went to record his statement today, they were informed by the hospital staff that the victim had escaped from the hospital.

Confirming this, Sukhjit Singh, SHO, police station division No. 8 said they couldn’t record the statement of the victim last night as he was not in a condition to give statement.

“As the victim has not lodged any written complaint, we cannot proceed further with investigation. If the victim joins the investigation in future, only then we can try to nab the assailants” SHO added.

Jalandhar, July 3
In the murder case of an elderly woman at Shakti Nagar, the police are relying on the CCTV footage. Raj Rani and her daughter-in-law Madhu Seth were seriously injured by some unidentified youth who barged into their house on June 30.

Following the attack, Raj Rani had succumbed to injuries while her daughter-in-law sustained serious injuries. She is undergoing treatment at a hospital.

Sources said though the police worked on various theories, the investigation now relied on a CCTV camera installed at the victim’s house. Sources said in the CCTV footage, a cycle-borne youth, a car and a bike had paased by the house but due to the low-quality of the footage, it was not clear whether the persons roaming around house entered the house or not. — TNS

Jalandhar, July 3
In recognition of his work in the field of neuro pharmacology, a member of the faculty at LPU School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Dr Navneet Khurana, has been honoured with the Jewel of India Award.

The former Governor of Tamil Nadu, Dr Bhisham Narayan Singh, conferred the honour on him during the annual function of the Indian Solidarity Council (ISC) in New Delhi. The council is a national body that comprises eminent social leaders, bureaucrats and entrepreneurs.

This function was organised in collaboration with International Institute of Education & Management and International Business Council.

The award was given in the presence of former Chief Justice of Kerala High Court Justice OP Verma, former Chief Election Commissioner Krishnamurthy and former CBI Director S Joginder Singh.

The award is given to the individuals for contribution in different fields like industry, social work, media, information technology and science. Dr Khurana’s has researched on a commonly found weed Sida cordifolia (Bala).