Jalandhar, November 3
Following a complaint of the alleged abduction of a student of Hans Raj Mahila Maha Vidyalaya here, the district police has booked the owner of a private hostel, her roommate who is a student of DAV College, and another hosteller who is her batchmate and close friend.

Even as the girl has been missing since the last one month, a case in this regard was registered yesterday. Though a case of abduction has been registered, sources in the police and college claim that the girl has eloped with her lover.

The girl, who is a student of BSc II in the college and resident of Talwara in Hoshiarpur, had been putting up at a private hostel, AS Hostel, in BSF Colony near the college.

Prabhu Dyal Chopra, owner of the hostel, claimed that the girl had left the hostel on October 4 after signing the register and giving a leave application for three weeks, saying that she was going home.

He said he suspected that the girl had gone on her own volition. He claimed that he had even recorded her speech over a mobile phone.

Mr Chopra, however, denied having seen her with any boy near the hostel. “We are not responsible when the girls are outside our premises,” he said.

The girls putting up at the hostel refused to talk about the issue. Nearly 45 girls are putting up in the accommodation there. The students of her class, too, remained mum over the issue, though a few, on the condition of anonymity, said they suspected that she had gone off with a boy.

A case has been registered in the Police Station Division No. 1.

Jalandhar, November 3
Religious fervour marked Nagar Kirtan that was taken out in the city today on the occasion of 537th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev.

The “Panj Piaras” led the Nagar Kirtan as Guru Granth Sahib was taken in a bedecked “Palki”, on which devotees showered flower petals. They also chanted “Bole So Nihal, Sat Sri Akal” as they marched along with the “Palki”.

The Nagar Kirtan procession took off from the Central Town Gurdwara and it passed through Milap Chowk, Bhagat Singh Chowk, Adda Hoshiarpur Chowk, Patel Chowk, Basti Adda Chowk, Jyoti Chowk. Beautiful welcome-gates were erected enroute and “langars” were also organised for the devotees by shopkeepers.

Students of various schools participated in the procession, which was so huge that the flow of traffic came to a standstill at a number of places. Those who took part in the procession included Mr Tirlochan Singh, president of the Gurdwara Central Town, former councillor Kamaljit Singh Bhatia, Mr Mandip Singh, Mr Baljit Singh Neelamahl, Mr Parminder Pal Singh Khalsa, all Akali leaders.

Jalandhar, November 3
City residents had a harried time this evening as traffic remained jammed at all important intersections. After all major events of the day, including the visit of Home Minister, Mr Shivraj Patil, Senior National Hockey Championship and nagar kirtan to mark Guru Nanak birth anniversary concluded at 5 pm today.

The worst affected was the area around Workshop Chowk close to Surjit Hockey Stadium from where Mr Patil and a host of other VVIPs were to leave after the concluding ceremony of the final hockey match. Bumper to bumper traffic, blaring horns and smoke emanating from the vehicles made it even more tough for the commuters to stand there waiting for the traffic to ease . Tractor–trailers with devotees singing gurbani were also seen caught up in chaos.

Traffic jammed at Workshop Chowk, Kapurthala Chowk, Nakodar Chowk, Football Chowk and Guru Nanak Mission Chowk.

Even before Mr Patil was to visit the venue, the residents had a tough time as all lanes leading to Mahavir Marg were closed at that time. Roads also remained blocked around PAP Chowk near where Mr Patil was to visit Police DAV Public School for laying foundation stone of its pre-primary block. The visit of the minister was delayed by almost an hour owing to which barricades were put up for a longer time, aggravating the problem further.

Even as it was made difficult for the mediapersons to get across to the Home Minister, an unscheduled press conference was arranged at the last moment after much persuasion. He talked about the objectives of the newly constituted Police Mission Committee whose first meeting he had attended at New Delhi this morning.

Mr Patil said that the committee members discussed remedial measures in law, police organization and modernization. He said that the members also delved into the need to carry out research, adding courses on policing at the university level, setting up a police university, improving training centres set up at the state and centre levels and improving communication between state police departments, India and neighbouring countries on matters related to law and order.

The minister said that the committee represented by all senior police officers ,including DIGs, directors of training institutes, Vice Chancellors of universities, director of DRDO, Defence Minister and Defence Secretary had been asked to submit the reports pertaining to the observations in their fields.

Phagwara, November 3
Manila, the capital of Philippines, has become a killer field for Punjabis as yet another murder of a moneylender belonging to Phagwara has been reported from there. Fourteen Punjabis, all in money lending business, have been killed in Manila this year. In the latest incident, Harpreet Singh, a resident of Saprod village in Phagwara, who had gone to Manila two years ago, was kidnapped and murdered.

Jaswant Singh, father of the deceased, informed that Harpreet Singh was also in money -lending business. A few days back, he had received a message from there that some unidentified persons had abducted his son for ransom. On Thursday ,he got a message that his son’s body was found from near a canal. 

Phagwara, November 3
Encroachment of government properties in cities and villages has become a common practice.

The latest instance of alleged encroachment is the construction of eight shops on a 10-marla piece of panchayat land in the nearby Jamalpur village.

When The Tribune visited the village today, only two shops were found open and one of the shopkeepers Baljit told The Tribune that he had been a tenant in the shop for the last three years.                

Karnail Singh, a villager, told The Tribune that an NRI had allegedly encroached upon the panchayat land and constructed eight shops on it. He said though Kapurthala Deputy Commissioner Raminder Singh had ordered the demolition of the “illegally-constructed” shops on August 8, 2006, nothing was done even after two months of the orders of the DC.

He said the villagers had time and again knocked the doors of several officials, including Phagwara SDM Balwinder Singh Dhaliwal and Block Development Officer Harbilas, but to no avail. He added that after the repeated attempts of the villagers, District Development and Panchayat Officer, Kapurthala, had instructed Phagwara Tehsildar to take action. However, still nothing had been done.

Karnail Singh told The Tribune that the villagers had again approached the Kapurthala DC on October 9, 2006, who immediately instructed Phagwara SDM to implement the orders according to the law. The villagers had met Phagwara MLA Joginder Singh Mann, SDM Balwinder Singh Dhaliwal and Block Development Officer Harbilas again on November 2 at Phagwara, who assured them that these “illegally-constructed” shops would be demolished by November 10.

Meanwhile, when contacted, Jamalpur village sarpanch Lekh Raj told The Tribune that the said encroacher had filed an appeal before the Joint Development Commissioner at Chandigarh and the case was pending for consideration.

Jalandhar, November 3
Skits dealing with social issues, including corruption, female foeticide, unemployment and police atrocities, marked the second day of the three-day Zonal Youth Festival for Men at Guru Nanak Dev University’s regional campus in Ladhewali here today.

Mimes were a testimony to the fact that silence could express itself beautifully. Group shabad and bhajan evoked a feeling of devotion.

A medley of rhythms and beats could be felt in Indian group songs. Folk orchestra took the audience to the heart of the rural Punjab.

In quiz competition, the teams from Lyallpur Khalsa College and the Apeejay College of Fine Arts were declared the joint winners.

DAV College stood second. The topic of the debate, “Should capital punishment be abolished?” had participants give interesting points in favour and against it.

One-act plays, poetical symposium, elocution, clay modelling, painting (landscape and still life), sketching, cartooning and poster-making contests were also held today.

Contests for classical dance, Western vocal solo, Western group song, geet, ghazal, folk song, shabad, bhajan and vaar singing would be held on the third and final day tomorrow.