Probe into SGPC land grab
From Our Correspondent

AMRITSAR, Dec 28 — The BJP MLA Lukshmi Kanta Chawla told Jalandhar range Commissioner that the Minister for Rural Development and Panchayats, Mr Nirmal Singh Kahlon had grabbed plot no. 649, adjacent to his residential house in the posh Basant Avenue colony of Civil Lines here.

Mrs Chawla had earlier complained to the Chief Minister, Mr Parkash Singh Badal, that a land mafia, backed by some Akali leaders, senior officials and the police was grabbing dozens of properties, including those of individuals, the local improvement trust and the Municipal Corporation.

Mr Badal had entrusted the task of inquiring into these complaints to Mr B.K. Srivastva, who visited several such properties along with a team of officials and Mrs Chawla.

On their surprise visit to the house of Mr Kahlon this morning there was a verbal dual between the minister and Mrs Chawla, who alleged that the minister had illegally occupied the plot no. 649 belonging to Raj Khurana.

Khurana who was present on the occasion presented land documents to the Commissioner and said he had never sold his portion of the plot to the minister. But the minister had forcibly built rooms for his security guards on the plot and used his gunmen to frighten away Khurana.

The Commissioner assured the complainant that he would investigate the matter.

Later, the Commissioner went to Ajit Nagar, where a marriage palace had grabbed the land of the local improvement trust. The trust filed an FIR in March this year. But the police and the District Magistrate were unable to evict the illegal occupants.

The Commissioner directed the officer of the trust to file a complaint under the provisions of the public properties eviction laws to get the land vacated. He also instructed the Deputy Commissioner, Mr Narinderjit Singh, to take suitable action under the law after examining the complaint and the records. Mrs Chawla alleged the hand of former Akali Minister Mr Manjit Singh Calcutta who had recently resigned from the Cabinet, in the case.

Mr Srivastava also visited the Guru Ram Das Dental College being run by the SGPC outside Mal Mandi which, according to Mrs Chawla, illegally occupied 711 yards of MCC land.

Besides these properties , the commissioner also listened to the management and the owners of Dera Baba Tara Singh near Shaheedan Sahib Gurdwara in the city which had been taken over by the SGPC. The manager of the dera, in his complaint alleged, that the civil administration and the police was harassing him at the behest of Akali leaders.

Mr Srivastva directed his ADC Mr Jagjit Singh to look into all aspects of the cases and present his report at the earliest.

Other places visited by him included a 28-acre plot in Jalalabad village in Verowal police station area allegedly grabbed by the SGPC from the Dawara Lala Nathu Mal Trust and a park in Rani Ka Bagh where attempts were made to build a religious place.

It was also alleged that some buildings meant for a shopping complex had been given to the local Akali Dal Badal unit for the Shiromani Youth Akali Dal-Kahlon office.

Historians told to frame code of conduct
Tribune News Service

PATIALA, Dec 28 — The Governor of Punjab, Lt-Gen (retd) B.K.N. Chhibber, inaugurated the 59th session of the Indian History Congress at Punjabi University here today and urged historians to draw a code of conduct for themselves to ensure that history was not coloured by vested interests.

Delivering the inaugural address at the congress, the Governor said the job of a historian became very difficult when vested interests tried to colour history according to their own perception of the events.

He said in such an atmosphere when the responsibility of projecting and reflecting history for future generations lay on their shoulders they should come out with the most objective historical accounts. He said if the congress was able to draw up a code of conduct, historians would be able to discharge their duties objectively without succumbing to pressure from any lobby.

Delivering the presidential address on "Identity Formation and Nation States" Prof Parthasarathi Gupta of Delhi University, said the unlovely features of nationalism — liberalism, exclusivitism and anti-humanism — were responsible for the resultant fascism in Germany and Italy. He said, "We should remember these examples as a warning as similar tendencies are lurking beneath the surface in India."

Giving an example of how Indian history had been distorted in the past, Professor Gupta said unscientific historical hypothesis were part of the curriculum at school level.

He said Indian history did not end on August 15, 1947 and over the past 50 years India, Pakistan and (since 1971) Bangladesh had seen violence but had also demonstrated a fair degree of determination and success in trying to make up for the lag in development created by two centuries of colonialism.

Earlier, while welcoming the Governor and the participants to the congress, the Vice-Chancellor of Punjabi University, Dr Joginder Singh Puar, highlighted the role of the university in the development of history as a subject and a discipline. He said the university had published over 250 books on various periods of regional, national and world history.

Later in the evening, Prof Satish Chandra delivered the S.C. Mishra Memorial Lecture and spoke on "Modern Historical Writing in the 17th and 18th centuries". Professor Chandra also inaugurated an exhibition of paintings, drawings and graphics at the museum and art gallery in the university.

Congress Local Secretary Parm Bakshish Singh said the congress had been attended by 500 delegates from India and abroad. He said among the important historians presenting papers on the occasion were Prof V.N. Duta, Prof W.E. Bagley, Dr Kapila Vatsayan, Prof K.S. Shrimali, Prof Nariani Gupta, Prof J.S. Grewal, Prof Irfan Habiab and Dr Bipin Chandra.