Punjab Diary: Cyber criminals on the prowl

Muktsar: Cyber criminals have not spared even Moga Deputy Commissioner Kulwant Singh, AIG Police Avneet Kaur and Sumeet Khudian, son of Agriculture Minister Gurmeet Singh Khudian. In the last few days, all of them shared information on social media and warned their followers that fake social media accounts have been created in their name. It remains to be seen when the police would catch the miscreants.

Seniority prevails

Gurdaspur: SSP Harish Dayama and his wife Amrit Singh, an IAS officer, touring the Red Cross de-addiction centre this week, were flummoxed to find out that just one chair had been placed for the two officers in the project director’s office. Both husband and wife looked each other in the eye for a few seconds, ostensibly to figure out who take the chair. However, the ice could not be broken. Somebody hilariously quipped that musical chairs could be resorted to. Finally, the SSP nudged his wife, who took the chair. It was not a case of ‘ladies first’ — the fact is that the seniority of the IAS bureaucrat prevailed over her IPS hubby. Later, the SSP asked for an additional chair, which he placed alongside his wife’s. All’s well that ends well.

Incompetence of staff

Pathankot: The Ravidassia community was up in arms when it learnt that DC Aditya Uppal had ordered, against rules, that government employees would not be given a holiday on Ravidas Jayanti. However, the DC had not signed any such order — so where did it come from, then? A quick probe revealed that a staff member had messed up things. Knowing that a potentially volatile situation could develop, the DC immediately revoked the order. Pandemonium was replaced with sanity.

Back to square one

Batala: Cities that do not expand, die. When Gurdaspur’s bus stand was shifted to its new address in December, the move opened up vast spaces in the town. There was talk that Batala would follow suit. Over the last decade, moves have been initiated to shift the bus stand to the outskirts of the city, but every time they hit a political roadblock. There are nearly 3,000 shops in the vicinity of the bus stop, and politicians see their owners as a substantial vote bank. AAP MLA Sherry Kalsi wanted to make efforts to decongest the city but stopped midway when somebody explained to him the value of these votes. Things are back to square one.

Contributed by: Ravi Dhaliwal, Archit Watts