Punjab Diary: Cybercriminals are actively searching

Muktsar: Even Moga Deputy Commissioner Kulwant Singh, AIG Police Avneet Kaur, and Sumeet Khudian, the son of Agriculture Minister Gurmeet Singh Khudian, have been targeted by cybercriminals. They have all posted updates on social media in recent days, alerting their fans to the existence of phony accounts that have been made in their names. Whether the miscreants will be apprehended by the police is still a mystery.

Seniority wins out.

Gurdaspur: While visiting the Red Cross de-addiction center this week, SSP Harish Dayama and his wife Amrit Singh, an IAS official, were perplexed to see that there was just one chair set up for the two officers in the project director’s office. For a few while, the spouses gazed at one another, perhaps trying to decide who should take the chair. The ice could not be broken, however. Someone made the really funny joke that one could use musical chairs. At last, the SSP gave his wife a shove, and she took the chair. It wasn’t a “ladies first” situation; rather, her IPS husband lost out to the IAS official due to her seniority. Subsequently, the SSP requested another chair, which he placed next to his spouse’s. It’s all good when it ends nicely.

Staff ineptitude

Pathankot: When the Ravidassia community discovered that DC Aditya Uppal had issued an order—in violation of the law—stating that government personnel would not be granted a vacation on Ravidas Jayanti, they were enraged. But because the DC hadn’t really signed the order, where did it originate from? A brief investigation showed that a staff member had made a mistake. Recognizing that a potentially explosive scenario would arise, the DC rescinded the order right away. Sanity took the place of pandemonium.

Going back to the beginning

Batala: Cities with little growth eventually perish. The bus stop in Gurdaspur was moved to a new location in December, which created a lot of space in the town. There were rumors that Batala might do the same. There have been attempts over the last ten years to transfer the bus station to the city’s outside, but each time they encounter a political impediment. Politicians see the owners of the almost 3,000 stores that surround the bus station as a sizable voting bloc. Sherry Kalsi, an AAP MLA, started out intending to work on clearing the city’s traffic but gave up when someone told him how important these votes were. Everything is back to normal.