06122022-JTR-01.qxd 12/6/2022 12:13 AM Page 1 c m y b Jalandhar TRIBUNE RAISE FARMERS’ DEMANDS IN PARLIAMENT, MP URGED Farmers on Monday gathered outside MP Santokh Chaudhary’s house and handed over a demand letter to him. FORECAST MAINLY CLEAR SKY PAGE 2 KATE WINSLET STARS WITH HER DAUGHTER IN I AM RUTH PAGE 3 ACTOR ALI FAZAL WRAPS UP SHOOT OF MIRZAPUR SEASON 3 Hollywood actress Kate Winslet stars with her daughter in I Am Ruth, where they play mother and daughter on screen too. MAX 24°C | MIN 8°C | YESTERDAY MAX 24°C | MIN 8°C SUNSET TUESDAY 5:22 PM PAGE 4 Ali Fazal dropped a fun video and pic on his Instagram account as he wrapped up the shoot of Mirzapur Season 3. SUNRISE WEDNESDAY 7:05 AM TUESDAY | 6 DECEMBER 2022 | JALANDHAR Not so ‘smart’: City grapples with same old problems Frequent snarl-ups have become the order of the day on the stretch leading from Kapurthala Chowk to Workshop Chowk in Jalandhar. The road has been closed to lay pipes for the surface water project. PHOTOS: SARABJIT SINGH Dug up a year ago for water project, road near Tagore hospital a bottleneck Tribune News Service Jalandhar, December 5 Despite being a part of the Smart City Mission, Jalandhar doesn’t appear to be anywhere close to being called “smart”, as it continues to grapple with the same old problems that it used to before it was included on the coveted list. One classic example of the official indifference is the road from Kapurthala chowk to workshop chowk. One side of the road near Tagore hospital has been lying closed for the past many months, which has led to never-ending snarlups at Kapurthala chowk, especially during the evening. As a result, it takes 30 to 35 minutes for the commuters to cross the stretch. Commuters rue neither the administration nor the Municipal Corporation is mindful of the fact that residents are the worst-affected due to the colsure of the stretch. They say the road was dug up in December last year to lay pipes for a surface water project; however, a year has passed by already, but neither the pipes have been INBRIEF FOUR INJURED IN ROAD ACCIDENT Phagwara: Four passengers, including two women, sustained serious injuries and 10 others sustained bruises when a Chandigarh-bound Punjab Roadways bus turned turtle on the PhagwaraChandigarh highway in Phagwara on Monday. The injured have been admitted to the local Civil Hospital. The accident occurred when the driver swerved the bus to avoid hitting some stray cattle. OC THREE BOOKED FOR MOLESTATION Phagwara: The Shahkot police have booked three persons, including two women, on the charges of outraging a woman's modesty, voluntarily causing hurt and committing crime with a common intention. The police said a woman had complained to them that the accused Lachhmann molested her on November 10. She further alleged that she was then assaulted by the accused. his wife and their daughter. TNS ❝ OFFICIALS CONCERNED PASSING THE BUCK Officials concerned are simply passing the buck on each other; Nobody is ready to take the responsibility. We are suffering badly and are forced to take longer routes to reach our destination, but who cares! Khushboo, COMMUTER WHY NO URGENCY TO FINISH THE PROJECT? Commuters are a troubled lot while crossing the stretch from Kapurthala Chowk to Workshop Chowk. laid nor the condition of the road has improved. “The officials concerned are simply passing the buck on each other, and nobody is ready to take the responsibility. We are suffering badly, and are forced to take longer routes to reach our destination but who cares!” says Khushboo, a daily commuter on the road. She further says as one-side of the road has been closed, the traffic on the Kapurthala chowk side has quadrupled. “Earlier, it used to take us hardly five minutes to cross the Kapurthala traffic lights. Impose heavy fine on company responsible: MC to Smart City officials But now due to long queues of vehicles, it takes us more than half an hour to cross the traffic lights,” she adds. Another commuter, Ajay Sharma, says Local Bodies Minister Inderbir Nijjar was in the town on Sunday and he made tall promises of providing first-class facilities and infrastructure to the residents. All these claims fall flat in the wake of pending projects. “This surface water project here on this road has been in doldrums for the past one year. Why isn’t the government getting it completed on priority? Why the accountability of the officials concerned is not being fixed?” he questions. Meanwhile, MC officials say the company which has been awarded the tender of this project is responsible for the delay, and the corporation has asked Smart City officials to impose a heavy penalty on it. They say the repair work, meanwhile, has already started, but it will take a few months to be completed. Auditorium in Phagwara without power since 2018 The surface water project on the road (from Kapurthala chowk to workshop chowk) has been in doldrums for the past one year. Why isn’t the government getting it completed on priority? Why the accountability is not being fixed? Ajay Sharma, COMMUTER CAR DEALERS HAVE NO FEAR OF LAW Encroachment on footpaths and parking lots in the PUDA complex by junk and car dealers continue without any fear of law. Even the space where PUDA was supposed to build a park has been encroached upon. Harvinder Pal Singh, OFFICE SPACE OWNER Ashok Kaura Phagwara, December 5 Though the Punjab Government is publicising free electricity to the people, shockingly, the auditorium of Phagwara Municipal Corporation, built to facilitate social organisations, is being run without any power connection since June 2018, even four and half years after its inuaguration. The auditorium was constructed by the PWD but handed over to the Municipal Corporation immediately after its completion. This bitter experience came to light during the 37th Environment Mela organised by the Phagwara Environment Association headed by social activist and former Nagar Council president Malkiat Singh Ragbotra on Sundat. Though the name of Deputy Commissioner Vishesh Sarangal was printed in the invitation card as chief guest at the function, he could not come. The MC Commissioner attended the function. The two-day envi- In PUDA complex, parking lots turned into scrap, car market Avneet Kaur Tribune News Service Jalandhar, December 5 The office of Punjab Urban Development Authority (PUDA) is located just a stone’’s throw from its one of the main commercial complexes in the city on Ladowali Road, but it has miserably failed to take legal action against encroachers, who, right under the officials’ nose, have turned the entire complex into scrap and second-hand car market. Not just this, even the car parking space of the media houses and other offices have been illegally No action against encroachers I Owners of offices, shops harassed lot encroached upon by the car dealers as they park their second-hand cars (which are to be sold) in the parking lots early in the morning. Most of those who own shops, offices, etc., in the PUDA complex say in spite of repeated complaints and personal meetings with the authorities concerned, no steps have been taken to address their problems. They add the entire area right from Ajit Chowk to Alaska Chowk Subordinate services’ union announces agitation plan Jalandhar, December 5 The Punjab Subordinate Services’ Union today announced that a state-level rally will be held on February 11, 2023 at Sangrur. They said before the state rally, to ensure maximum participation of employees, block and tehsil-level rallies will be held from December 5 to 25. They said thereafter, rallies will be held from Januray 15 to 25 January in every district during which demand letters will be sent to the government so that it addresses the longpending demands of the employees. Union members said the present government was indulging in lip service about employee’s demands. They said the CM was solving people’s issues only by talking as infrastrucural demands suffered. They said this apprach of the government would not be tolerated and employees would intensify their agitation for their rights as long as their demands were not met. — TNS Scrapped and second-hand cars in a parking lot of the PUDA complex on the Ladowali road, Jalandhar. The auditorium built by the Public Works Department. TRIBUNE PHOTO Take action, reduce daily rent of ~1OK to ~5K: MLA Dhaliwal to MC ronment mela which concluded in the auditorium on Sunday, could be conducted only with the help of a generator, which consumed around 150 litre diesel during the two-day function based on “Swachch Bharat Abhiyan” of the government, Ragbotra said. Phagwara MLA Balwinder Singh Dhaliwal who also attended the function later said the MC should be aware of it and take action immediately. Moreover, Dhaliwal said the charges of using the auditorium should be decreased from Rs 10,000 daily to Rs 5,000. Though it was a dream project for the society, the diesel to run the generator was sponsered, arranged and sent by renowned philanthropist Kuldip Sardana. MC electrician on duty Sanjeev Soni said the generator consumes 7 litres per hour. Despite repeated attempts, MC officers could not be contacted. c m y b and PUDA complex has been encroached upon by scrap and second-hand car dealers. They further say the dumped vehicles parked alongside the road have made it narrow by 5 to 10 inches. Besides, the secondhand cars displayed in the parking area of the PUDA complex has not only affected their businesses, but also the customers who visit their offices and find it difficult to park their vehicles due to encroachment. Apart from encroachment, in the absence of any check, vacant plots in the complex continued on page 2 Implement 6th pay commission report, demand home guards The dengue ward in the Civil Hospital, Jalandhar. FILE PHOTO Dengue case count 400 Jalandhar, December 5 The dengue count in the district rose to 400 cases (226 urban and 174 rural) today with one more person testing positive for dengue. As many as 1,976 samples of dengue have been tested in the district so far, of which 15 were tested today. One came out positive. The number of people served challans in the district stays put at 27 for the past almost a month (21 urban and six rural). As many as 13 notices have also been issued to residents regarding dengue related violations by the MC, Jalandhar. Besides, dengue larvae have been found at 1,894 places during the entire season (1,799 urban and 95 in rural areas). Larva was not found at any places during the random surveys carried out by health teams on Monday. Meanwhile, in the entire season so far, as many as 26,9187 houses (1,36,428 urban and 1,32,759 rural) have been surveyed for the dengue larvae. Today, 3,488 houses were surveyed (502 urban and 2,986 rural). Of the 1,951 people tested for dengue in Jalandhar so far, 204 samples have been tested in Nakodar. —TNS Hoshiarpur, December 5 The home guards in Punjab would stage a protest on December 6, the foundation day of Punjab Home Guards (PHG), over the non-implementation of the recommendations of the Sixth Pay Commission report. Home guards union state president Kamaljit Singh and district president Sarabjit Singh said on December 6, home guards would be donning black badges in protest against the pay commission report being not implemented. They rued the Punjab Government has neither implemented the recommendations of the Sixth Pay Commission Report for the Punjab home guards, nor are they implementing the pension facility for the home guard jawans. CM Bhagwant Mann had vowed to address the problems facing the home gaurds prior to the polls, however, they have ignored the issue, Kamaljit and Sarabjit alleged in a joint statement. — OC