Jalandhar, July 9
Residents of the Jalandhar Vihar locality are a harried lot as they have been forced to live amidst sewage-filled plots and huge mounds of garbage collected by the municipal corporation (MC) from the entire city.

Residents said they were promised the moon when they purchased plots in the PUDA-approved colony in 1996, but their lives had turned nightmarish, as they had even lost access to clean water and air, leave aside other facilities such as streetlights and proper sewage system.

Residents said their problems started right at the onset on the monsoons as the level of the sewage-filled plots increased, making way on roads and their houses and the level of sewage in their houses rose above the normal level. With the entire problem comes the chance of spread of epidemics and the presence of huge swarms of mosquitoes, said Disha Mahendru and Anjana Handa, residents of the locality.

The residents said the garbage dumping site of the MC was just about 200 m from their site and foul smell and smoke from the mounds forced them inside their houses every morning and evening.

Asha Sharma, another resident, said the flow of sewage from the adjoining Wariana village into the vacant plots in their colony had added to their problems. Since there is no proper disposal to even the colony’s own sewage system, even this water flows back, they said, pointing to the non-working sewer disposing pump in the locality.

Suresh Bali, also a resident, said since there were no streetlights, incidents of snatching were common in the area and women felt unsafe moving around in the afternoon or late in the evening.

Residents said they had taken up their issues with everyone, including the coloniser, Deputy Commissioner and even the PUDA authorities, who had declared the colony approved, but to no avail. “Everyone is passing the buck. The DC told us to go to the PUDA officials. The PUDA officials have told us that the coloniser is responsible for the upkeep. Where do we go?” they ask.

Coloniser Anil Chopra said he had carved the colony in 1995-96. “I was responsible for their maintenance for five years. The residents have never even paid their water bills. How can I take the responsibility of investing for them for their entire lives?” he has said.

Contradicting his stand, the residents showed a copy of the RTI, which they had procured on March 5. The reply by the Jalandhar Development Authority reads, “The licence for developing the colony in an area of 44.925 acres was issued to St Soldier Properties & Industries on November 4, 1996. The licence expired on November 3, 2000. Since no completion certificate was issued to the coloniser, the responsibility of maintenance lies with the coloniser even still.”

Jalandhar, July 9
Burglars struck at a house in the Rishi Nagar area last night and decamped with cash, gold and other valuables.

Vikram, house owner, said all family members were sleeping upstairs and they came to know about the burglary in the morning. The burglars had locked the room door from outside before committing the crime. In the morning when we woke up, we were stunned to notice the bolted door. After our neighbours opened the door, the burglary came to light, the house owner alleged.

Vikram said the burglars, after breaking open the locks of almirahs, decamped with gold, Rs 15,000, silver ornaments, clothes and other valuables.

Sources said finger-print experts had also reached the spot and conducted investigation. The police division No. 3 was informed by the victim about the incident. 

Jalandhar, July 9
UP-based smuggler-cum-leader, Bachu Miyan, allegedly involved in cross-border smuggling activities, has gone underground.

The Rural police had twice conducted raids at his house in Rampur, UP, but the cops returned empty handed.

Bachu allegedly enjoys political patronage in UP. As per police claims, Bachu’s uncle was a former mayor and former MLA of Rampur under whose patronage, he reportedly set up his empire of smuggling activities.

Bachu’a name had cropped up after his aide Mumtaz was arrested by the Jalandhar rural police on June 11 with 1.25 kg of heroin. The police said Mumtaz, who was the courier of Bachu, had revealed his (Bachu’s) name and political links in UP during interrogation.

SP, HPS Khakh, said Bachu was a notorious smuggler and was said to be involved in cross-border smuggling. “Our teams had conducted raids at Bachu’s residence in Rampur city in UP. Even residences of two brothers were also raided by the police party, but he was never found in the house,” Khakh said.

He said the police was already in touch with the Rampur police. Recently, their team had handed over the arrest warrant of Bachu to the SP, Rampur police, and he had assured his full cooperation in the matter. “The Rampur police also conducted several raids at Bachu’s residence, but in vain. It seems that Bachu has gone underground,” he added.

Jalandhar, July 9
Following protests by residents of New Railway Colony, Mayor Sunil Jyoti today took a round of the road to take a stock of the ongoing work there. Shopkeepers on the road had been earlier protesting over the slow progress of the work, technical flaws in road construction and no rectification of the water-logging problem. As the mayor, along with the B&R staff, went to the site this evening, angry shopkeepers took on him, pointing towards a 4-inch cavity created in front of their premises leading to the collection of rainwater there. The shopkeepers also said that since the sewage and drainage system had not been rectified, the road would get broken quickly again. The Mayor, however, pacified them and promised to solve their problem. — TNS

Jalandhar, July 9
A truck driver was killed after his vehicle hit a stationary truck-trailer near the Ramamandi area in the wee hours here today.

The deceased was identified as Baldev Singh, a resident of Baba Bakala.

Police sources said the incident occurred due to the stationary truck, which was wrongly parked on a road near Rama Mandi. Since the loaded truck was parked in the road without any reflectors or indicators, the truck driver couldn’t notice it and hit it from behind. The driver sustained serious head injuries and died on the spot, the police said.

Soon after the accident, the driver of the stationary truck fled from the spot and raids were being conducted to nab him.

The Rama Mandi police initiated investigation into the cause of the accident and said, if during inquiries, the fault of the stationary truck was found, the required legal action would be taken against the driver.

Jalandhar, July 9
The stand-off between the representatives of Reliance Jio Infocomm and Congress leaders continues as the latter today said that they would take the issue to the Assembly through their legislative party leader Sunil Jakhar.

The Congress leaders maintained that the MC could have earned an amount of Rs 42.3 crore had it levied an amount of Rs 15,000 which the civic body had been charging from the residents across the city for the installation of mobile towers.

A spokesperson of the company, however, said that the councillors cannot take it upon themselves to sit in judgment on duly formed policies of the Punjab government and then make the company look like a wrongdoer, even though it is paying the fee for towers, optical fibre and other network requirements as fixed by the Punjab government.

“Reliance Jio is strictly adhering to the Cabinet approved telecom infra policy duly formulated and paying the amount that has been stipulated by the government. Some two to three councillors are only creating nuisance for personal gains,” said a spokesperson for the company. 

Jalandhar, July 9
The Hockey India league will soon be held in the state in five different categories of men and women.

The district sports officers of Jalandhar and Ludhiana have been directed by the Department of Sports to plan the entire tournament at Jalandhar, Mohali, Bhathinda, Faridkot and Ludhiana in consultation with Pargat Singh, General Secretary, Hockey, Punjab.

The tournament will be held in U-14, U-17 and U-19 in men’s category and U-15 and U-15+ in women’s category.

“We are in the process of finalising the schedule and the cash prizes for the tournament. We are expecting to hold the tournament in the month of July or August,” said Rakesh Kaushal, District Sports officer, Jalandhar.

The complete details of the tournament will be sent to the office of the Chief Minister of Punjab shortly.