Jalandhar, July 14
Following the confirmation of hepatitis A and E cases in the Chaugitti area and various other water-borne diseases in other parts of the city, KK Yadav, Deputy Commissioner of Jalandhar, has ordered an inquiry into the case.

He has sought a detailed report from the Municipal Commissioner (MC) on his department’s alleged lapse to prevent the problem from spreading in the city. The DC has also directed the MC Commissioner to fix the responsibility on the erring officials of the areas where four people, including a four-year-old child, died last week likely due to water contamination in their area.

Meanwhile, the Health Department took two water samples from the Chauggitti and Nurpur areas on Monday. It has also collected 29 blood samples from different parts of the city.

“I have sought a detailed report from the MC Commissioner on the epidemic prevalence in the city. He has been told to take stern action against the officials who failed to take timely action to prevent the outbreak of waterborne diseases in their area,” said KK Yadav, Deputy Commissioner, Jalandhar. He also said that as the prevalent epidemic has an incubation period of 30 days and more, many more cases were expected to come from these areas in near future.

Residents of the Gandhi Camp area have, meanwhile, again complained of water contamination in their area on Monday. “We have again received contaminated water in our area. The water in the morning supply was pale in colour and even had a foul smell. I have informed the Health Department officials who have assured to get it checked again on Tuesday,” said Rajesh, a Labourer from the Gandhi Camp area.

In Chaugitti, teams from the Health Department and the MC visited the area and after locating the contamination point, disconnected the worn-out pipe from the main supply line. So far, around 11 people have been detected with jaundice. A six-month-old pregnant lady from the same area also reported at the Civil Hospital with high fever, but was later discharged. Also, out of the 10 people detected with hepatitis A and E last week, four are admitted to the Civil Hospital. The health department also took 2 water samples and also distributed around 6,000 chlorine tablets in the area. Meanwhile, six diarrhoea patients were also reported from Nurpur. The Health Department also took 13 blood samples from the Bhargo camp. 

Jalandhar, July 14
Jalandhar continues to reel under power crisis, with Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) imposing long duration power cuts.

A majority of the city areas have been witnessing six-hour power cuts in different shifts. Apart from domestic consumers, the farming community has been badly affected due to the power crisis.

According to information, at present, there is a shortfall of about 200-300 lakh units of power because of which power cuts are being imposed on different categories of consumers.

The Punjab Power Corporation authorities have said that the power situation is expected to improve in four to five days. “With mercury hovering around 42 degrees Celsius, a power cut for a period of six hours in a day is really bad,” said Satnam Singh, a city resident.

The farming community has also complained of not getting eight-hour power supply as was promised. National president of the Indian Farmers Association Satnam Singh Behru said farmers were being supplied a five-hour power supply which is not sufficient, especially when there are no rains. “The paddy fields have virtually started getting dry because farmers are not able to operate their tubewells on account of suspended power supply,” said Behru.

Notably, Power Corporation has already imposed regulatory measures on the industry, citing weak monsoon and high power demand as the main reason behind the power crisis. The peak load exemptions granted to the consumers fed from the category 1, 2 and 3 feeders have already been withdrawn and no industry in the state can operate from 8 pm till 8 am. It may be mentioned that because of the coal supply issue, the one unit (660-MW) of Talwandi Sabo Thermal Plant is not operational. One unit of the 220-MW of Lehra Mohabbat Thermal Plant is closed for repair.

Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) president Partap Singh Bajwa said that what was ironic was that the PSPCL announced drastic power cut on the very same day when a full page advertisement appeared in newspaper with Power Corporation making tall claims about the state being power surplus. “The situation in the state mocks at the advertisement and at Punjab Deputy CM Sukhbir Badal, who has been making such hyperbolic claims from his rooftop of turning Punjab power surplus. Not only that, the Federation of Punjab Small Industries Association has filed a police complaint against the power corporation for this misleading advertisement,” he said.

Meanwhile, PSPCL CMD KD Chaudhri said due to the coal supply issue, we are not getting power from Talwandi Sabo Thermal Plant. For the same reason, the Rajpura Thermal Plant was not operational up to its maximum capacity. The coal issue has been resolved and the implementation process is on. We are hopeful that power supply will be eased out within three to four days.” Chaudhri further said that the state-owned thermal and hydel power plants are running to their full capacity.

“The PSPCL has been using full capacity of 5400 MW of transmission lines to bring in power from Central Sector allocations and power purchase, but persistent gap in demand and supply has forced the PSPCL to impose regulatory measures”, he added. The CMD said that Independent Power Producers (IPPs) of Punjab were not generating power to its capacity due to coal shortage at these plants. He said once coal starts reaching these plants, the gap in demand and supply would be bridged and the regulatory measures would be withdrawn.

Jalandhar, July 14
As many as 13,309 residents of Jalandhar are yet to get no-objection certificates for the regularisation of their properties in illegal colonies in the city and periphery.

The Municipal Corporation (MC) Jalandhar had received 29,186 applications in all till March 31, which was the last date for applying for the regularisation of their properties. Even as three and a half months have lapsed ever since, only 20,721 applicants have been issued NOCs, while the remaining are still in the dark about the status of their respective cases.

Since there is a huge bundle of stacked files, applicants have been made to fend for themselves in case they want their file to be re-examined.

Commissioner Manpreet Chattwal said there were 8,465 applications pending, of which 2,035 files cannot be processed by the MC for various reasons. These include 495 properties falling in the Army area and 1,540 pertaining to colonies that came up before 1995 and are exempted under the regularisation policy.

The town planning officials have said that the pending list includes 991 properties for which the owners had already got the building plans sanctioned. As many as 2,006 applicants have not made any payment towards the MC, while the remaining 3,433 are those who have made only part payments. The MC Commissioner has asked them to clear their dues by July 15.

The Jalandhar Development Authority (JDA) had received 19,638 applications till date, of which 11,768 have been issued NOCs. Chief Administrator JDA HS Kandhola said all those applicants who had submitted complete documents and had made full payments had been already issued the NOCs. He said all those who have not got certificates could appear in his office with the details and get the clearance.

Regarding the pending applications, he said 4,427 property owners had submitted incomplete papers and 3,443 were yet to make complete payments. “We have been calling such applicants to help them complete their files and pay pending the dues so that the backlog comes to a naught,” he said.

None of the 675 colonisers who have applied for the NOC, however, have yet got a clearance from the JDA. Secretary Housing and Urban Development A. Venu Prasad has said that the pending NOCs of the residents have to be cleared before the month-end and it will be henceforth that the cases of colonisers will be dealt with.

However, the MC has started issuing NOCs to the colonisers. Of the nearly 185 colonisers who had applied for regularisation, the MC commissioner said that 27 have been issued NOCs.

Members of the Punjab Colonisers and Property Dealer Association today announced holding protests on the matter. Kultar Singh Jogi, president, and RS Gill, general secretary, have demanded that their applications be disposed of by the civic bodies at the earliest. They have also demanded that fresh applications be also taken, as there were some NRIs and other people who could not apply in time. Our union has plans to hold protest over the issue of too many complications, additional permissions required from District Town Planners and adding detailed maps of colonies by architects which were much of a problem. We will hold protest at Fazilka and Ferozepur on July 16, Fatehgarh Sahib and Patiala on July 17, Moga and Faridkot on July 18 and Amritsar and Gurdaspur on July 19, members of the Punjab Colonisers and Property Dealer Association said.

Jalandhar, July 14
The auction of 14 parking sites, which was called by the Municipal Corporation (MC) authorities today, was put off as there were not sufficient applicants to form the required quorum of three persons for each site.

Previous contractors said since the MC had doubled the reserve price of the auction, there were fewer applicants this time. The applicants for different sites who came lodged their protest on the issue with the Joint Commissioner, Gurmeet Singh.

The MC staff, on the other hand, said that since the parking rates had been doubled from Rs 3 for cycle, Rs 5 for scooter and Rs 10 for car to Rs 6 for cycle, Rs 10 for scooter and Rs 20 for car, the reserve price, too, had been doubled from the last year’s final bid.

The reserve price for parking in front of Civil Hospital on GT Road has been kept at Rs 2.4 lakh. The base price is Rs 3.2 lakh for parking in front of Cutes Camp in Model Town, Rs 4.5 lakh for Bhagat Singh Chowk parking, Rs 1.75 lakh from Hotel Down to Lovely Sweets and Rs 1.75 lakh from Bhagwan Valmiki Chowk to Hotel Down Town.

The maximum amount of Rs 31.39 lakh has been fixed for space for cycles and scooters under ROB near War Memorial and Rs 27 lakh for the same site for taxi stand parking. 

Jalandhar, July 14
Following a call for protest given by the Punjab Roadways Joint Action, the roadways employees of depot I and II today staged a gate rally against Punjab Government’s policies.

While addressing a gathering, All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) state secretary Avtar Singh Tari said, “The government’s conspiracy to sabotage the Punjab Roadways and other undertakings will not be tolerated. Everyday, the government comes up with a new policy to demolish the Punjab roadways.”

“The roadways officials have already indulged in time-table tampering to benefit the private bus operators. Now, they are planning to shut down four Punjab Roadways depots in the state, which will be big jolt for the government undertaking. We will stand united against this move,” he said.

Reiterating their long pending demands, committee convenor Amrik Singh Gill said their demands, including 571 debt-free PUNBUS merging to the mainstream Punjab Roadways, buying 300 new buses for PUNBUS fleet, providing jobs to the kin of died roadways employees, regularisation of PUNBUS employees, terminating the recruitment on contract bases, and promotion of the staff in roadways have not been fulfilled, in spite of the fact these demands have been accepted in the meeting.

“Despite of the fact that the meeting with ministers and officials, including chief minister, finance minister, transport minister, secretary transport and director state transport have been held several times, however nothing conducive has been done,” he said.

Jalandhar, July 14
Angered by the non-release of their salaries for the past 18 months now, the NCLP staff today began an indefinite strike outside the DC office in Jalandhar. The 70 members of the 27 NCLP staff from various parts of the district have not been getting their salaries for over a year now even though the department has resumed sending stipends to the students. The salaries of NCLP staff haven't started arriving.

While holding the demonstration, the staff said the strike will continue until their demands are met.

Notably, irked by the problem, on June 12, the National Child Labour Day, all the 14 NGOs running the 27 schools signed a letter addressed to the Union Minister for Labour and Employment Narendra Singh Tomar, requesting the release of the salaries of their staff working in the NCLP schools.

Prof Anup Vats who runs schools under his NGO Citizens Welfare and Protection Council, said, "We had posted the letter written back the very next day and we have received a communication from the NCLP project officer just this afternoon that the salaries have arrived. The first instalment of the pending salaries have come and the staff will be receiving them tomorrow."

Project Director, NCLP, Inderjit Singh said, "The salaries have arrived and they will be received by them soon. The salaries of the first six months shall be paid tomorrow and we have been told that the rest shall be paid by the first week of October."

There are a total of 1,350 students in 27 NCLP schools in the district. While they were started with lots of hope to reform students from the deprived section, the project has now hit some snags. While the staff feels demoralised owing to non-receipt of pay, lack of electricity and water in schools during the shift timings also plays a spoilsport. 

Jalandhar, July 14
Taking up the issue of supply of contaminated water at Gandhi Camp, Bhargo Camp and Chugitti, leaders of the Aam Admi Party (AAP) held a protest outside the MC office here today.

Dr Inderjit Singh Bhalla, a representative of the party, said that the residents had been suffering from jaundice, diarrhoea and other ailments. "While some lives have been lost, more and more people are getting affected daily. But the officials of the MC have failed to act. The fact that the water-borne diseases have been spreading to newer areas each day further proves their laxity," he said.

The party representatives have also demanded that adequate compensation be given to the families of those who have died due to the water problem. They have also demanded that departmental action be taken against the officials who are found negligent in their duties. They also demanded that proper teams be formed to look into the problem.

Meanwhile, the residents of Shivaji Nagar in Basti Danishmandan also held a protest over water scarcity in the Municipal Corporation office. The residents said they had to wake up all night to store water for the next day. "When the entire city sleeps, we get up for it is only after 2 pm that there is water supply in our area," said the women who had come to lodge their protest. 

Jalandhar, July 14
Farmer Mahinder Singh Danoa open fire at his wife following a minor argument late at night at his residence in the Karol Bagh locality. The woman was taken to a private hospital from in a serious condition where doctors further referred him to the DMC Hospital, Ludhiana. Now, her condition is said to be out of danger.

The farmer was under the influence of liquor when he opened fire at his wife. The victim has been identified as Kamaljit Kaur. Her son told the police that his mother was the second wife of Mahinder. “Yesterday at night, when my father arrived home, he had heated arguments with my mother over some minor issue. The arguments took a ghastly turn when my father, in anger, took out his pistol and opened fire at my mother. Two bullets hit my mother in the back and she fell unconscious,” the victim’s son said.

The police had also recovered three empty cartridges and a pistol from the spot. The police said the accused fled from the spot after the incident. Hardyal Singh, SHO, police division number 7, said the police had registered a case of attempt to murder against the victim’s husband and efforts were being made to nab him. “We have also conducted raids at the suspected hideouts of the accused, but he is still at large,” said Singh, adding that the victim was shifted to the DMC Hospital in Ludhiana late at night where her condition is stated to be out of danger.