Jalandhar, September 27
Having already wasted crores of rupees on consultancy services of projects which have not seen the light of day for the past over seven years, the Municipal Corporation (MC) is set to dole out more funds for the purpose.

The consultancy services taken from private companies for setting up sports hub, developing the global environment facility (GEF) project for promoting non-motorised vehicles and 3G fish aquarium are yet to be put to any use despite crores of rupees spent on just preparing the designs for the same, as the MC intends to hand over two more consultancy plans to companies.

The agenda of the Finance and Contracts Committee (F&CC), which is to meet on Monday, mentions that two works, including preparing street-vending plan of the city and conducting the best use study for the commercialisation of various lands in Jalandhar, should be given to Darashaw and Company Pvt Ltd for its lowest bid and on account of better proposals.

Darashaw, in fact, is the same company which had suggested the 3G fish aquarium project for food court along Nehru Garden, over which the former Mayor Rakesh Rathour had to face much wrath from the public. The consultant had introduced a Philippines-based company for starting the project which, too, is unlikely to proceed with any construction for the purpose now. Clearly, lakhs of rupees taken by the company for offering its consultancy seem to have gone down the drain.

While the financial bid of Darashaw for land use study has been pegged at Rs 13.91 lakh, that of street-vending plan has been kept at Rs 390 per vendor. It is being planned that this amount should be recovered from the vendor at the time of the registration of his cart.

Meanwhile, the F&CC meeting is likely to be stormy, with Senior Deputy Mayor Kamaljit Singh Bhatia already showing a stiff opposition to Mayor Sunil Jyoti. There also are reports that MLAs other than KD Bhandari are also unhappy as they have been saying that the Mayor had been diverting a huge amount for Jalandhar (North), whereas there should have been equal utilisation of funds for Jalandhar (Central) and (West) as well, represented by Manoranjan Kalia and Bhagat Chunni Lal, respectively.

Jalandhar, September 27
Fumed over the government’s decision to shut four depots of the Punjab Roadways, the Joint Action Committee (JAC) of the Punjab Roadways Employee Union today gave an open invitation to Punjab Transport Minister Ajit Singh Kohar for an open debate on the deteriorating health of the Punjab Roadways and the ground realities behind the situation.

The union wanted to have a one-on-one session with the Transport Minister with a clear motive to apprise him of the impacts of government policies on the health of the Punjab Roadways.

Amrik Singh Gill, convener, JAC, said, “We challenge the Transport Minister Kohar to have an open discussion session with our union member on the deteriorating health of the Punjab Roadways. Instead of taking actions by sitting in their air-conditioned offices, the minister must talk to us directly. Closing down four depots will not serve any purpose.”

He said now the government had decided to shut four Punjab Roadways depots Jagraon depot, Patti depot, Amritsar depot- II and Jalandhar depot-II. “There is no need to shut these depots, instead the government should complete the fleet of as many as 2,407 Punjab Roadways buses, which has now dwindled to 1,500, which comprise 1,200 Pun Buses and 300 Punjab Roadways buses. The rest of the gap is filled by private transporters.”

Gill alleged that by closing these depots, the government would sell these prime lands to fill its empty coffers.

On the issue of the government’s attempt to include the PRTC in the Punjab Roadways, he said here, too, the government wanted to grab the prime land of the PRTC to improve the deteriorating health of the state’s economy. The union members lambasted Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal for taking the Punjab Roadways on the path of privatisation. “Several lucrative routes of the Punjab Roadways have been given to private buses, owned by the Badal’s family, and now the government is hell bent on further destroying the Punjab Roadways and its employees.”

To protest the government decision to shut the four depots of the Punjab Roadways, the union has planned to hold gate rallies at 18 depots of the Punjab Roadways on October 14 and October 16. All depots of the Punjab Roadways and bus stands will be closed for two hours to show resentment against the government.

Jalandhar, September 27
In a freak accident, three men from a band troupe, who were having food outside a marriage palace after a function, were run over by a speeding Tavera vehicle near Jandu Singha on the Hoshiarpur road in the wee hours today.

While one of them died on the spot, the other two got badly injured outside Ravi Marriage Palace. They were taken to the Civil Hospital.

The incident occurred between 1 am and 2 am. The deceased was identified as Talwa, hailing from Meerut. While Vishal got a fracture on his leg, the third one suffered minor injuries.

The police said the accused had been booked and arrested.

Jalandhar, September 27
In a shootout incident, a group of six persons in an Innova vehicle opened fire at traffic cops in the Markfed area in Kapurthala this evening.

No one was, however, injured in the incident and the police managed to nab three accused and impounded the vehicle.

At 7.26 pm, ASI Raman Kumar indicated the Innova vehicle coming from Subhash Chowk, Markfed area, to stop. Within no time, one of the persons sitting in the SUV started firing at the traffic cops there.

The cops luckily managed to escape the attack. The police chased the car and arrested three accused, identified as Satpal Singh, Harpreet Singh and Yadvinder Singh, all residents of Hari-ke-Pattan. The accused were taken to the CIA staff.

During questioning, they told the police that the three other persons in the car who managed to flee from the site were Sabu, Amritpal and Jasandeep Singh. They also said that it was Amritpal, who fired from his revolver.

The police has started investigation in the case and raids are being conducted to nab the other three accused.

Jalandhar, September 27
In an ongoing campaign of safety training programmes and emergency response drills in various industrial units, the Directorate of Factories, Labour Department, Jalandhar, organised an emergency response drills in Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited and in Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited at Suchi Pind.

Under the observation of Assist Director of Factories, Labour Department, Jalandhar, an emergency response drill was conducted separately by both the units, where all the employees of both of the unit participated.

Speaking to Jalandhar Tribune Duarka Dass, Assistant Director of Factories, Jalandhar, said it was an exercise to check the coordination between various departments in case of any disaster.

Jalandhar, September 27
The birth of a bull calf with rare anomalies at the Pholariwal village in the district has triggered off an unusual chain of events here.

Born during the Navratras, the bull calf has born with four eyes and a trunk (like an elephant), which has given way to all kinds of ‘holy’ rumours, much to the annoyance of the owner of the calf, Lovepreet Singh.

Born on the night of September 24, the news of the birth of the calf was earlier kept under wraps, but the news spread like wildfire not just in Pholariwal but also in the neighbouring villages from where people in large numbers are coming to take a look at the calf.

Owner of the calf, Lovepreet Singh Padda, said, “The calf was born late on the night of September 24, while we keep the news hushed initially, some people saw it and spread the word. Since then, we haven’t had a moment of peace. Some people have spread a rumour that the calf has a trunk like Ganesha and is holy. People from various villages are coming in trolleys and other vehicles to take a look at the calf. They want to touch it, to fondle it and to offer money. But we have so far only allowed them to look at it. So far, 5,000 people have come in the past three days.”

Speaking on whether he shares the belief, Lovepreet said, “For me it’s just a medical anomaly and I don’t attach any other phenomena with the birth of the calf. My family is not superstitious, otherwise people would have killed the calf just by pulling and tugging at it. Some even told me to put the calf on pedestal. We have specially made two of our men sit beside the calf to prevent people from holding it. We return money offered by the visiting people. The calf is weak and needs the rest.”

Dr Jatinder Bedi, a veterinary doctor, tending to the calf , said, “It is surprising what people believe and the Navratras have only added to the rumours. The second eyes and mouth of the calf, we believe, are only due to the process of ‘incomplete duplication’. The anomaly probably occurred during embryogenesis, during the development stage. Though the features make the rarest of the rare calves. The calf was born normally and is consuming at least two litres of milk every day. We shall, however, be totally confident that it shall live, when it starts walking.”

“I would love if the calf survives and becomes an illustrious highlight of my farm,” said Lovepreet.

Jalandhar, September 27
BSF Punjab Frontier has won the Inter Frontier Football Tournament held at Kalyani (West Bengal) under the South Bengal Frontier of the BSF.

The tournament was held from September 17 to 21. In all 11 teams of the BSF participated in the event. Punjab Frontier defeated South Bengal Frontier in the semi-final by 2-1.

In the exciting finals, the Punjab Frontier defeated Gujarat Frontier by 2-0 to lift the Inter Frontier Football Tournament-2014 title. Constable Kamal Kishor of Punjab Frontier was adjudged the best scorer and constable Saddam Hussain of the Punjab Frontier was adjudged the best player of the tournament.

On arrival at the Frontier headquarters, the team was accorded a warm welcome by Ashok Kumar, IG, BSF Punjab Frontier, along with other officers.

Inspector General BSF Punjab Frontier appreciated and congratulated the team members on this achievement and encouraged them to continue with the same spirit in future also.

Border Security Force has been a home to many sports stalwarts. The Force has produced 17 Arjuna Awardees in various disciplines who have represented the country in different international competitions.

Jalandhar, September 27
The PG Department of Hindi, Kanya Maha Vidyalaya, organised a two-day UGC- sponsored a national seminar on “Globalisation, Media and Hindi”.

The chief guest, Chander Mohan, president, Arya Shiksha Mandal, was felicitated by the college principal Prof Atima Sharma Dwivedi.

In her inaugural speech, a Hindi story-writer, Chitra Mudgil reiterated the long-felt need of assigning the status of official language to Hindi, a demand which was stressed upon way back in 1902 by Mahatma Gandhi.

In his key-note address, Prof Surya Prasad Dikshit, former director, Department of Indian Languages and Hindi, Lucknow University, delved into the origin of Hindi tracing it to 25 different regional dialects.

Chief guest Chander Mohan, Dr Vinod Shahi, former principal, Govt College, Jandiala, Prof Harmahendra Singh Bedi, Prof Sudha Jitendra, Prof Suresh Seth, a Hindi writer, Dr Bhawani Singh (Research Officer, Himalayan Studies Institute, HP University, Shimla), Sandeep Upadyaksh, Prof Hukum Chand Rajpal, Prof Mohan Sapra, Dr Dharam Pal Sahil, Dr Tarsem Gujral, also spoke on the occasion.

Jalandhar, September 27
Lauding the dual role played by the Defence personnel in saving the lives of civilians in flood-ravaged Kashmir and checking infiltration along J&K and Chinese borders, the All India Defence Brotherhood (AIDB) has demanded that the one rank one pension scheme be implemented, the way it has been approved by the UPA government.

State president of AIDB Brig (retd) Kuldip Singh Kahlon said. “It is a matter of great concern that the rulers tend to forget the relentless efforts and sacrifices of the Defence services during peace and war.”

“The decision taken in the Parliament on February 17 regarding one-rank, one- pension has being lying pending.” he added. Brig Kahlon said any meddling of the concept definition approved by the UPA government would be counter-productive and will not be in the national interest. — TNS