Jalandhar, July 8
Village panchayats have now vowed to help the Jalandhar rural police in their initiative to curb the drug menace.

Panchayat representatives, along with the kin of the peddlers apprehended by the rural police in various villages, are meeting the senior officials of the rural police, seeking a chance to bring the persons involved in the notorious trade into the mainstream. If still the drug peddlers do not budge, then the panchayats will bring the drug peddlers to the police.

It is a learnt that the panchayats are aware of the persons involved in drug trade in their village. Earlier, they were not cooperating with the police or were not ready to share information with the police about the whereabouts of drug peddlers.

Police sources said many drug peddlers, who have been declared proclaimed offenders or were eluding police arrest, were nabbed by the rural police with the help of the panchayats.

The police are also considering the development as a chance to further push the campaign against drugs.

Panchayats of many villages in Jalandhar, namely, Khurla Kingra, Thablke, Kingra Chowla, and some panchayats of Bilga area have met the Superintendent of Police (Detective), Jalandhar rural police, HPS Khakh, and apprised him of the issues at hand.

Members of two village panchayats accompanied by the kin of the nabbed drug peddlers, visited the The Tribune office and shared the development.

Resham Singh, sarpanch, Dharme Diya Channa village, said since the day police launched a campaign against drugs, over 24 persons involved in the notorious trade were apprehended by the rural police.

“We have observed that if we (panchayat) extend support to the police in the anti-drug campaign, it will not help only help wipe off the menace, but also wean away the village youth from drugs. Now, we want that instead of nabbing drug peddlers, police should give a last chance to the panchayats in helping the drug peddlers shun the trade. We are also issuing strict warnings to the villagers involved in the drug trade. Still, if they do not shun the trade, the panchayat will itself, either bring the drug peddler at the door of the police or will inform the police about his whereabouts,” said Singh.

Murti Ram, panch, Kingra Chowla village, said, “We believe panchayats can play a pivotal role in wiping out the drug menace. Several drug peddlers of their village were put behind the bars, but now we want a final chance to bring the remaining peddlers, who are in the profession and are yet to be arrested, to shun the trade and come in the mainstream. We have categorically told such villagers to shun it or get ready to go to jail.”

He said the panchayats were also taking drug addicts, who indulge in drug peddling, to a de-addiction centre for treatment. SP, Detective, HPS Khakh said, many panchayat members had met him and assured full help in making the villagers give up drug peddling. 

Jalandhar, July 8
In line with the Bathinda Municipal Corporation, various other local bodies, including the Jalandhar MC, are planning to impose cow fodder cess on various kinds of purchases made such as two-wheelers, four- wheelers, holding functions in marriage palaces and other extravaganza.

If implemented, the fund so collected will be diverted to the Municipal Corporations for supplying fodder to the cows in cowsheds in the city. The Bathinda MC is learnt to have passed a resolution in this regard in its recent House meeting. The resolution is being considered by the Local Bodies Department for being implemented across the state by a notification.

Jalandhar Mayor Sunil Jyoti said that an amount of Rs 1 lakh was being incurred as monthly expenditure by the cowshed managements. “If the proposal gets cleared, the MC would ensure that all stray cattle are moved to the gaushalas, are fed properly and taken care of,” he said while hailing such a move by the Bathinda councillors.

As per the move, an amount of Rs 1,000 per function would be levied on an AC marriage palace, Rs 100 on a non-AC marriage palace, Rs 1,000 on the purchase of a four-wheeler, Rs 100 on the purchase of a two-wheeler, Rs 10 on the purchase of an IMFL liquor bottle and Rs 5 on the purchase of a bottle of country-made liquor.

The Mayor said that if implemented, the various departments would collect the cess on behalf of the MC. Notably, the Mayor represents BJP, the party which has also formed cow protection cells in the state.

The issue of cows falling prey to diseases owing to unhygienic surroundings had been taken up by the local media extensively last year.

BJP leader Manit Malhotra too has demanded that the imposition of such a cess was the best way of generating funds for the care of cows in the state. “We hope the state government passes a notification regarding the levying of the tax across Punjab for proper upkeep of animals, worshipped by many,” he said

Jalandhar, July 8
Following an issue raised by the Congress councillors regarding allowing Reliance Jio Infocomm to install 94 ground base masts at various locations in the city, the Municipal Commissioner today clarified that these were not akin to the mobile towers that required more space.

Councillors of the Dynamic Group of the Congress have been raising the issue of picking sites such as dividers, public parks, footpaths and other public places in the city. They have also been creating a hue and cry that the Municipal Corporation had charged much less an amount from the company that should have been levied, causing a major revenue loss.

As per the agreement, the Municipal Corporation will be levying an amount of Rs 3,200 for each mast. Various other charges including a lease amount of 6 per cent collector rate and pit digging charges of Rs 1,000 per pit have added up to make for an amount of Rs 27.74 lakh levy from the company.

Councillors Sushil Rinku, Amanpreet Kaur and Bal Krishan Bali have been demanding that at least an amount of Rs 15,000 be levied as user charges per pole from the company to bring good revenue to the MC.

They said that any private building offering the space to a mobile phone company for installing a tower was being asked to pay Rs 15,000 to the Municipal Corporation and that the civic body should levy the same amount from the company for installing any of their structures.

However, Jalandhar Municipal Commissioner Manpreet Chattwal has said that unlike towers which occupied 500 to 800 square feet of space, the masts only needed 45 square feet of space.

He said that the charges had been levied on the basis of a policy of the government.

Chhatwal added that the project would help improve internet services in the city and aid in e-commerce and e-governance and come as a boon for the education sector.

The issue was raked up during the recent installation of a mast in Model Town.

The councillors, while recalling an incident of the uprooting of a mobile tower on the 120-feet road, have also said that such masts could pose a severe risk to the commuters passing through the area. 

Jalandhar, July 8
Congress councillors representing the dynamic group today gave a memorandum to ADC (G) Pritam Singh demanding that the decision regarding the distribution of atta-dal blue cards through the SAD-BJP MLAs be withdrawn.

The Congress leaders including Sushil Rinku, Bal Krishan Bali, Mohinder Gullu and Major Singh said that it were they who went door-to-door asking each underprivileged family to take the scheme, helped them fill up the forms and sent them to the district administration for taking the scheme.

They said that by distributing the cards on their own, the SAD-BJP MLAs would be taking the entire credit. They said that the government should not resort to politicisation of the matter and should instead distribute the cards either through department officials or also involve the Congress leaders in the functions.

The leaders have threatened that they would have to resort to protests in case their demand is not conceded to. In Jalandhar, as many as 92,000 new blue cards had been prepared ahead of the Lok Sabha polls by the Food and Civil Supplies Department but these could not be distributed owing to implementation of the election code. Only a few token cards were issued at that time.

Since the issue is a major concern and directly affects the vote bank, all parties have wanted to take credit for it. 

Jalandhar, July 8
The city police have busted a gang of robbers who were involved in numerous incidents of robbery and dacoity.

Four persons of this gang have been arrested, namely, Raghav Kumar of Qazi Mohalla, Deepak Sobti of Dhan Mohalla, Rahul Mehra of Modian Mohalla and Rahul Sharma of Mohalla Karar Khan, Jalandhar. One of the accused, namely Deepu, fled away.

Jalandhar, July 8
Coming as a boon for the visually impaired, Saksham, an NGO, has announced the availability of smart canes which can help the users detect the objects above knee level, which otherwise is a problem with the prevalent, simple white canes.

While high-end users had earlier been importing the cane at a price ranging between Rs 50,000 to Rs 75,000, the members of the NGO today announced that the same cane detecting objects hanging at a higher level on the basis of ultra- sonic waves was available with them for just Rs 3,000.

Anubhav, project director of Saksham at Delhi, said, “The canes are being provided at a subsidised price as a part of the joint project with the IIT, Delhi, National Institute of Blind, Delhi, and the UK-based Welcome Trust. The cane which has been devised by a team from the IIT has been tested by the NIB, Delhi, and the research and production has been partly financed by the Welcome Trust. Our role is in spreading awareness about its availability and delivering it to the visually impaired in the remotest of the areas.”

The NGO today invited faculty from the institutes for the visually impaired students across the state and apprised them of the technique and its availability. Deepika, who coordinates for Saksham in Punjab, said, “Various items such as ACs, sharp objects hanging from the roof or the wall cannot be detected using a simple cane and we tend to get hit. We often need to take the help of a person on the road, in malls, markets or unknown places but with the device mounted on a white cane, no assistance is required.”

She explained its working, “The sensors in the device help detect any obstacle from a distance of 3 metres. It also has a short range mode which detects an object from 1.8 metres. As the object comes nearer, the vibration intensifies. The lithium battery of the device, once charged, works for 10 hours and since it can be switched off when not in use, it can even work for three to four days. Its product also bears a standardisation mark of the CE. ”

Prem Sagar, also a representative with the NGO, urged various corporate and eye hospitals to join the project for providing more concessions to the visually impaired. “One group has approached us to pay Rs 2,600 for each stick with the financially weak user required to pay only Rs 400. In Jalandhar, the Rotary Club has sponsored two sticks for the students. We expect the state government to include the device through its Sarv Sikhya Abhiyan scheme as well and help the needy, visually impaired students.”

The NGO had a word of thanks for HMV College principal Dr Rekha Kalia Bhardwaj, who has given them space to open a centre of Drishti in the campus for the purpose. 

Jalandhar, July 8
Less than average monsoon and inadequate power supply have added to the woes of paddy farmers.

As per information gathered from the Agriculture Department, there is 1.62 lakh hectare under the paddy crop that includes 22,500 hectare under basmati. Nearly 80 per cent of the non-basmati paddy has been transplanted so far.

Ideally all transplantation should have been completed till now. Only 5 per cent basmati transplantation has been done so far.

Speaking to Jalandhar Tribune, chief agriculture officer Dr Suttantar Kumar said this was a hard time for the farmers. “We have been in constant touch with the farmers under the ‘Farmer Friend Scheme’ in which we send them messages about the ways to deal with the current situation,” he added.

He said farmers should not keep their fields filled with water all the time as it would be wastage of water. Rather, they should provide water to the paddy crop after every two days, he added.

Following heavy pre-monsoon rain, many farmers had sped up the work of paddy transplantation. Now, they are worried as chances of rain seem bleak.

A paddy farmer from Chak Chela village, Sulakhan Singh, said following the last heavy rainfall in the region, they had sped up the transplantation work thinking that the rainy season had started.

“But now, there is no rain at all, which has increased our woes. It is very hard to manage water as we have other crops such as maize that also requires water. Moreover, the power supply is sporadic,” he said.

Deputy chief engineer, PSPCL, Gopal Sharma, said they were committed to provide eight hour power supply but due to some problems at the local level, the supply is hindered.

“Yet, the department tries to compensate the supply later on. During the last rainfall, we supplied power for more than 12 hours,” he said. 

Jalandhar, July 8
The Punjab Government Pensioner’s Joint Front has decided to stage a protest demonstration on July 17 in Mohali during the budget session against anti-pensioners policies of the Punjab Government.

Convenor Mohinder Singh said during their meetings with the Chief Minister, Finance Minister and other officers concerned, their demands were accepted but they had never been implemented.

The ministers and officials had been making false promises to them, 
he added. 

Jalandhar, July 8
While condemning the recent incident of stone pelting on Amarnath yatris in Jammu and Kashmir, Hind Kranti Dal warned that if any such incident happens in the future then they would launch a strong protest against the government.

Dal members today submitted a memorandum in the name of Prime Minister to the ADC.

Dal’s national president said, “We strongly condemn the stone pelting on Amarnath yatris. The yatris were attacked due to the security lapse. It is a clear indication that terrorists want to create hurdles in the pilgrimage.”

He said despite the fact that the number of pilgrims has decreased as compared to the previous years, the Amarnath Shrine Board has failed to provide adequate facilities to the pilgrims.

The leader demanded that the government should take strict action against the persons who resorted to stone pelting on yatris. Members also demanded that enough security should be deployed to ensure safety of pilgrims.