Saturday, October 31, 1998
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P U N J A B | |
Saturday, October 31, 1998 |
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spotlight today's calendar |
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SAD
differences come to fore SAD
workers want regular meetings |
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 Onions by the gram in Amritsar AMRITSAR, Oct 30 — "Piaz pandran rupaya payia" (Onion Rs 15 for 250 grams). A call that was never heard from vegetable vendors until recently.This is the first time that potatoes, onions, peas etc are being sold in grams |
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Bandala repents wanton
killings BATALA, Oct 30 — "Neelatara" — one of the closest associates of Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale who was shown "killed" in an encounter by the Ropar police around four years ago is grateful to the almighty. He says "thank god" I was not killed again by the police". Minhas is Wadala’s candidate
too Facelift
to parks in Patiala Petrol
samples fail test Rain
takes its toll on labourers too |
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BADIALA, Oct 30 — Differences in the Akali leadership came to the fore here today when Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president P.S. Badal, addressing a gathering here, said the party would press the Central Government for the "completion of Punjabi suba" as conceived by Sant Fateh Singh while SGPC, president G.S. Tohra, talking to newsmen, categorically stated that Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee heading a 13-party coalition government, was not in a position to accept the demands of Akalis. Both Mr Badal and Mr Tohra, who were here to address a function organised in connection with the 26th death anniversary of Sant Fateh Singh, architect of reorganised Punjab again differed on the mention in the Congress poll manifesto of action against found guilty in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots. Mr Badal said the Congress was resorting to "tactics" to earn votes of Punjabis by "cheating" them. However, Mr Tohra said as the Congress had taken such a stance, the BJP should constitute a commission, like the Sri Krishna Commission in Maharashtra, to unmask the forces behind riots. Mr Badal, who left for his native village when Mr Tohra had yet to speak, in his speech said it was the "moral" duty of Punjabi to contribute his bit to the "completion of Punjabi suba" by including Chandigarh and other Punjabi-speaking areas into the Punjab boundaries. He said the fraud committed on Punjabis by the previous Congress governments should be undone by the Central Government. Regarding the plight of farmers, Mr Badal alleged that anti-farmer policies of the previous Congress governments had brought them on the brink of disaster. He said the rising cost of inputs and unremunerative prices of crops had rendered agriculture a non-profitable venture. Lashing out at the Punjab Congress leadership, Mr Badal said that the Punjab Congress now comprised a "bunch of opportunists." He said seat sharing with the BJP for the coming Delhi and Rajasthan assembly elections would be done before the process of nomination of papers begun. The Chief Minister said the Punjab Government had banned dumping of industrial waste in drains for rain water as this had been polluting ground water. He announced that a road from this village to Maur Mandi would be named Sant Fateh Singh Marg and Rs 25 lakh would be given to the village panchayat for opening a girls college. Mr Tohra, talking to mediapersons, later said the delay in the release of Rs 300 crore by the Central Government as compensation for rain-affected farmers of Punjab was "very unfortunate". He said the aid should have come promptly as in the cases of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. He said even Rs 300 crore as compensation would not be enough to bring necessary relief to the farmers. He made it clear that the SAD would take up the demands of farmers with the Centre after the ensuing assembly elections in four states. He claimed that he had
been elected president of the SGPC in a free and fair
manner and that he had decentralised powers for running
the SGPC affairs. |
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PATIALA, Oct 30 — Punjab Finance Minister, Capt Kanwaljit Singh today highlighted the urgent need to streamline the working of the party in response to feedback from its cadre. Talking to newsmen here after addressing party workers at the circuit house, Capt Kanwaljit Singh said a methodology was being worked out to do so and that the process would start soon. The Finance Minister, while admitting that there was lack of communication between party workers and the leadership, said the party leadership felt there was need for more interaction with party workers at the grassroots level. He said this must not however be construed to mean disenchantment of party cadre with the party. Earlier, while addressing party workers, Capt Kanwaljit got first-hand feedback. Several party workers said they felt ignored by their leaders as regular internal meetings were seldom held and some circle jathedars had not held a meeting since the Akali-BJP government took up the reins of the state. Capt Kanwaljit tried to soothe ruffled feathers by urging partymen to work as a group. He said it was important to present a unified front as the Congress unleashing propaganda about the policies of the government. He said it was necessary to inculcate discipline on the lines of the CPM cadre in West Bengal due to which its Chief Minister had managed to stay in power for more than two decades. If this was not done the Congress would take advantage of the situation. He also urged that the recommendations of the circle jathedars hold sway and party workers not make counter-recommendations. He said the Punjab Government had decided to observe "development week" in the state from November 1. Several new projects are expected to be taken up during this period. Listing other projects, he said Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee would lay the foundation stone of the multi-crore Bathinda refinery project during the month of November. The Rs 1200 crore Thein Dam would be inaugurated on February 21, 1999. The government had made
available Rs 250 crore to the state Public Works
Department (Building and Roads) for repair work of state
roads and Rs 7.50 crore for link roads with clear-cut
orders that they be completed by June next year. |
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AMRITSAR, Oct 30 — "Piaz pandran rupaya payia" (Onion Rs 15 for 250 grams). A call that was never heard from vegetable vendors until recently. For even a poor man in this agricultural state would buy vegetables by the kilo. This is the first time that potatoes, onions, peas etc are being sold in grams. The common man is baffled. Onion was exported from Punjab to Pakistan at Rs eight per kilo barely five months ago. Now traders of Amritsar have started importing onions at the rate of Rs 12 a kilo. Mr Om Parkaya (Lati) chairman Indo-Pak export association, while talking to TNS attributed the spiralling prices of vegetables, especially onions, potatoes, tomatoes and peas to unseasonal rains in vegetable growing states. He said had the rains not damaged the onion crop in Nasik and Dhulia (Maharashtra) it would have sold at Rs three per kg. He, however, said the rise in prices was a temporary phase which would be over with the import of onions from Iran, Dubai etc. The rise in prices has changed the eating habits of the people. Thus customers now prefer roast chicken to vegetables in hotels and restaurants. The "baingan" (brinjal) is no more "raja" (king of vegetables) as it's perhaps the cheapest vegetable in the market. Brinjals are sold at the rate of Rs six per kg, followed by turnips (Rs 10 a kg). Most other vegetables are beyond the reach of the common man with peas being sold at Rs 40 per kg. The high price of peas is being attributed to incessant rains in Himachal Pradesh, especially in pea-rich Chamba. Traders are of the view that the shocking situation is the direct result of hoarding and the indifferent attitude of the "pro-farmer" government towards the growers. Last year potatoes were dumped by roadsides by cold store owners. They are now unaffordable. Similarly tomato growers had to make distress sale of their crop especially in the Malwa region. In Bathinda tomato was sold at Rs 2 per kg last year. Now tomatoes are being sold at Rs 30 per kg. The district Congress Committee (Urban) has decided to organise a "thal and chamchas" (plates and spoons) march through bazaars and lanes of the city if prices are not arrested. Mrs Laxmi Kanta Chawla,
BJP MLA has said that poor residents of Amritsar could
not light their houses with earthen lamps at Divali due
to unprecedented rise in the price of mustard oil. She
attributes the spiralling prices of essential commodities
to mismanagement on the part of the government. Mrs
Chawla, who belongs to the ruling party, categorically
said that the government could not escape responsibility
for the miseries caused to the general public by rising
prices. |
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BATALA, Oct 30 — "Neelatara" — one of the closest associates of Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale who was shown "killed" in an encounter by the Ropar police around four years ago is grateful to the almighty. He says "thank god" I was not killed again by the police". Talking to TNS here today, Gurnam Singh Bandala, popular as "Neelatara" said that when he was nabbed by the Batala Police this month he thought he would be eliminated by the cops to cover up their previous error. It may be mentioned here that police officials of Ropar who had claimed to have killed Bandala in 1994 had also reportedly claimed the cash reward on his head. The arrest of the "dead" terrorist (Bandala) four years after the incident has opened a pandora's box with human rights organisations criticising the Punjab Police for getting promotions and cash rewards worth crores by killing of "innocents" in "fake encounters" as in the case of Bandala. One of the main architects of militancy, Bandala shot into limelight after Operation Bluestar. He was one of the main pillars of the panthic committee. Repenting on his "past" Bandala said that had the militants not indulged in innocent killings. They would have achieved something. But looting and killing of innocents brought a bad name to the "movement". Bandala said that he was produced before the duty magistrate within 24 hours of his arrest and never expected that the police would not harass his family. Bandala said that he had got "disillusioned" with the "movement" after Avtar Singh Brahma, Khalistan Liberation Force chief eliminated a whole family in Khadoor Sahib, including innocent children in the early nineties. Bandala was living under the assumed name of Sant Surjit Singh in Mankhera village along with his wife and three children when the police nabbed him. To a question, Bandala said that he had been raising his three children, including two daughters who he had hoped would one day become 'officers'. "However, all my dreams are shattered", he said. Saying his old mother was almost blind while his father had died in the seventies. "God knows the future of my family", he said. Aged around 43, and hailing from the border district of Ferozepur, during a militant career spread over 15 years he remained a Taksal loyalist and one of the trusted follower of Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindaranwale. Bandala, lodged in the
high security jail at Nabha was today produced in the
court here by the Batala Police. |
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JALANDHAR, Oct 30 — In a significant move, the Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar) and the SAD (Democratic) today announced Mr Anoop Singh Minhas as their common candidate for the Adampur byelection. Addressing a joint press conference here today, both party presidents, Mr Simranjit Singh Mann and Mr Kuldeep Singh Wadala, said the decision had been taken taking into consideration the interests of the Panth and the state. However, the parties would maintain their respective party structures, but "we will continue to work together", the leaders said. Declaring that a "constructive secular third front" had been formed, they appealed to the CPI and the CPM to support their candidate instead of the Congress. Mr Mann and Mr Wadala alleged that the Badal-Tohra duo had turned the state into a "fiefdom", ignoring the interests of "the Panth, the state and the country." Their role and stand on Udham Singh Nagar was just a shadow activity and lacked sincerity. While the farmers of the state have been totally ignored by a party which projects itself as pro-farmer, the non-availability of fertilisers is forcing the farmers to delay the sowing of wheat when, ironically, the Union Minister for Food and Agriculture is a representative of the SAD", the leaders said. Mr Mann appealed to the Chief Election Commissioner to appoint central observers for a fare election in Adampur. He announced that his party would field four candidates in the forthcoming assembly elections in Delhi. He dubbed the Congress
promise to take action against those guilty of the 1984
riots as an "election gimmick". |
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PATIALA, Oct 30 — The Patiala Municipal Corporation will give facelift to existing parks in Model Town besides laying an additional one in the locality. The corporation has also decided to use the Rajendra tank as a leisure spot. At present the tank is empty with a small garden around the Mahatma Gandhi statue. The tank will be filled and arrangements for boating made. Besides these, the corporation has also decided to set up a solid waste plant at a cost of Rs 3.50 crore to end the problem of garbage disposal in the city. It was expected to be commissioned in the coming six months. These were some of the projects enlisted by the corporation Commissioner Harkesh Singh Sidhu while speaking at a seminar organised by the corporation here on Wednesday. Mr Sidhu said Rs 1.20 crore had been received from the government for improvement of living conditions in slum areas. He made a strong plea to the residents to voluntarily remove encroachments from the roads to ease traffic bottlenecks, especially within the walled city. Mr Sidhu also announced
the building of dividers and slipways to check the
increasing number of road accidents. He said parking lots
would also be developed and roundabouts repaired to
ensure smooth movement of traffic in the city. |
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BATHINDA, Oct 30 — Samples of petrol and diesel from five fuel stations in the district which were taken on the directions of Punjab and Haryana, High Court have failed tests official sources said here today. The sources said the authorities of Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited, to whom these fuel stations belonged, had not taken action against the dealers despite the fact that a report in this regard had been sent to them by the Food and Supply Department 15 days ago. The sources said petrol and diesel adulteration was being done on a large scale in the district as the authorities concerned offered little resistance to such activities. A few days ago, the district administration sealed a petrol station for adulteration of kerosene. Last year, factories manufacturing spurious engine oil were also unearthed in the district. Mr Amarjit Singh, District Food and Supply Controller, when contacted, said he had written to the Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited authorities about the result of the sample tests. He said as per the
guidelines laid down by the government, all five fuel
stations should have been sealed for 45 days and each
fuel station dealer fined up to Rs 1 lakh. |
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CHANDIGARH: While tears are being shed for farmers who suffered a heavy loss due to unprecedented rains in recent weeks, no one has bothered to take up the cause of poor labourers who also faced such weather. Narrating the tale of woe of poor labourers, Ganga Ram Chowdhary, a labourer at Wadali Ala Singh village in Fatehgarh Sahib district, said 80 labourers working in the grain market at the village remained without work for about 15 days due to bad weather over the past fortnight. "For us it was the worst time in the past 10 years", said Ganga Ram. "I started coming here long with my fellow labourers in 1987 and in the past year never faced a bad time except for a day or two, but this year the rain has caused a big loss to us", he added. Ganga Ram, a matriculate from Bihar, is a well known among arhtiyas as well as farmers in the grain market. He, along with other farm hands, comes to this place every year before paddy transplantation and will return to his home state at the end of the season. The financial loss to labourers during the rains in the grain market alone was to the tune of Rs 1.5 lakh, he said. "We work on a contract basis and earn more than Rs 8,000 daily and in 15 days we would have earned Rs 1.20 lakh", he pointed out. Apart from this, the labourers spend about Rs 2000 daily to keep hunger at bay. The most interesting point about these 80 labourers is that they have devised a novel way of running their community kitchen. While 77 work in the grain market, the remaining three run the common kitchen. One of them prepares the dough, while the second prepares the dal and the third has been given the task of arranging the coal, wood, etc for the kitchen. Their daily ration includes about 70 kg of flour and about 30 kg of potato and rice, etc. The 77 persons who eat at the kitchen share their earnings with the three full time kitchen staff. Likewise, kitchen costs are also shared. Ganga Ram said it was true that farmers had suffered a big loss but the government should also extend financial help to labourers who also suffered along with farmers. Labourers were in a way contributing to the development of Punjab. In other grain markets
also hundreds of labourers suffered due to same reason. |
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CHANDIGARH, Oct 30 — "What will be our fate?" This question is troubling nearly 70 students whose dream of becoming qualified ayurvedic doctors by spending lakhs of rupees has turned sour. As many as 46 students had taken admission to the first year of the BAMS course of Lala Lajpat Rai Ayurvedic College, Moga, in 1996 following recognition granted to the college by the Central Council of the Indian Medical Council. On the same pattern the Punjab Government also gave recognition to the college, according to the students. Again the college authorities admitted about 25 students for the 1997-98 session. Students told TNS that when they were admitted to the first year course in 1996 each of them paid more than Rs 1.50 lakh as donation to the college authorities apart from the annual fee of Rs 58,000. But so far no annual examinations have been conducted although two years have passed since the students joined the college. Students said that in other ayurvedic colleges the annual examinations were held in April-May this year. They said that they had contacted the college authorities to conduct the examination but got no satisfactory reply from them in this connection. Students said the college management had collected about Rs 2 crore from them during the past two years. Students said that although the examination of the first batch had not been conducted, the management had collected the fees for the second year also. Students who have started a dharna here near the Matka Chowk to press the State Government authorities to find a solution to their problem, said the Punjab Chief Minister, Mr Parkash Singh Badal, should immediately take up their cause with the college authorities concerned. When asked what made them take admission in such a college, students said that the name of the college had appeared in the prospectus published by Punjabi University which was asked to conduct the PMT examination by the Punjab Government in 1996. Students said that certain other colleges had also faced a similar problem but in their cases the Punjab Government had constituted an experts panel under the chairmanship of the Director, Research and Medical Education. The panel had conducted the examination till the college got affiliation from the university concerned. Students said the same criteria should be applied in their case. Meanwhile parents of
certain students have demanded a high level probe in the
affairs of the college. |
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FARIDKOT, Oct 30 — The Punjab Government will organise special camps at the block level from the next financial year to educate farmers on the latest techniques for sowing paddy and safeguarding it in unforeseen circumstances. This was stated by Mr Madan Mohan Mittal, Minister for Food & Supply at a press conference here today. The minister has already visited 300 purchase centres to persuade rice millers to procure the damaged produce at reasonable rates. Directions have also been issued to state agencies to assess the volume of discoloured paddy lying in grain markets so that the procedure for compensating farmers can be arrived at. Mr Mittal, who was on a tour of different grain markets in Faridkot division, said a delegation of seniors state officials led by him will meet the Prime Minister next week at New Delhi and reiterate the state’s demand for release of central aid of Rs 300 crore soon. The deputation will also
appeal to the Prime Minister to direct Seniors FCI
officers to immediately lift last year stock of rice and
wheat lying in the state godowns so that Punjab agencies
could stock this year’s paddy. Praising different
state agency officials, Mr Mittal said nearly 75 lakh
tonnes of paddy had already been purchased against the
target of 1.20 crore. |
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CHANDIGAR H, Oct 30 — Seven institutes of management have been recognised by the Punjab Technical University and counselling will commence on November 6 . Interviews of all reserved categories will be held on the first day while all general category candidates will be interviewed on November 7. The counselling will be held on the basis of the combined merit of the written test , group discussion and interview. Counselling will be held for Apeejay Institute of Management (Jalandhar), Punjab Institute of Management and Technology (Mandi Gobindgarh), Malout Institute of Management and Information Technology (Malout), Lala Lajpat Rai Memorial Institute of Management and Technology (Moga) and Mata Gujri College (Fatehgarh Sahib). The list also includes two colleges from SAS nagar . These are the Centre for Management Training and Research and the Gian Jyoti Institute of Management and Technology. Each institute will have a
total intake of 60 students . The reservation policy of
the Punjab government will be followed except in the
institute at Malout where there are 50 per cent free seat
as and 50 per cent paid seats. |
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SAS NAGAR, Oct 30 — The local Municipal Council today passed a resolution for privatising sanitation work in the town. Many councillors at the meeting of the civic body held at its Phase VII office flayed the poor sanitary conditions. In certain ward areas, they said, cleanliness was negligible as safai karamcharis rarely visited these localities. The meeting was presided over by the council president, Mr Harinder Pal Singh Bills. In view of "sanitation fortnight" from November 1, it was decided to provide 50 additional workers and five tractor-trailers to carry out the cleanliness drive. The civic body also cleared a proposal to sink its own tubewells as the councillors were not satisfied with the shallow tubewells of the Punjab Water and Sewerage Board which were yet to become operational even after 18 months. Councillors criticised the Principal Secretary, Local Government, for giving the work to the sewerage board despite councillors' resolution to the contrary in this matter. A five-member committee was formed to scrutinise the octroi collection work fortnightly. The House was informed that till October 29 octroi collection was going in a loss of Rs 22,23,578 out of which Rs 15 lakh related to the "04" credit facility for industrial units. A resolution was also adopted relating to the opening of a workshop by the council to maintain machinery and equipment. Councillors said Rs 1.5 crore was cleared for removing congress grass, clearing kerb channels and related work but no progress had been made in this sphere. Councillors demanded action against one of the contractors doing work on roads for ignoring directions of council officials and doing "unsatisfactory" work. Some of the councillors criticised the state government for privatising octroi collection work even though most of them were not in favour of this step. Mr Billa told The Tribune
after the meeting that most of the items on the agenda
were cleared unanimously. |
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PHAGWARA, Oct 30 — With a view to counting the corrupting influence of satellite channels, the SGPC plans to start a round-the-clock "dharmik" channel. This was stated at the local Guru Nanak College today by Jathedar Sukhdev Singh Bhaur, acting president of the SGPC. He was talking to newsmen after inaugurating the 16th eye camp organised in the college hostel by the Istri Akali Dal. "We will raise this issue at the sarab dharam sammelan" being held in connection with the tricentenary celebrations of the Khalsa Panth", Jathedar Bhaur said. He poohpoohed as a "political stunt" the draft manifesto of the Congress promising appropriate action against those behind the anti-Sikh riots. How can the guilty be
judges and how can the killers take action against
themselves", he asked. |
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Cong for 30 per cent
reservation for SCs ROPAR, Oct 30 — No reservation should be given to more than three children in a single Schedule Caste/Schedule Tribe family to curb population and extend the benefit to more families. This was stated by the convener of the PPCC SC/ST cell Mr Shamsher Singh Rai, said to newsmen here today. Mr Rai is a former Congress MLA from Chamkaur Sahib and former Chairman of Punjab Scheduled Castes Land Development and Finance Corporation. He said the SC/ST population was 15 per cent in 1947. It rose to more than 25 per cent as per the census 1981, and had now reached 30 per cent. Though he disfavoured reservation for more than three children he demanded 30 per cent reservation for SCs and STs. He also demanded an
enactment of reservation act to fill the backlog in the
jobs. He said under the act there should be a time frame
for filling government jobs and promotions. He said, a
big backlog had been created in the absence of the act. |
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State to press FCI for back
payments BATHINDA, Oct 30 — The Punjab Food Minister, Mr Madan Mohan Mittal today said that the state government would start an exercise to recover Rs 300 crore from the FCI for setting paddy procured by state agencies in 1994-95 shortly after the current procurement season ends. Talking exclusively to TNS here, he said that the Union Food Minister had agreed in principle on the Punjab Government's claim relating to the sale of paddy by state agency the FCI. However, action against the millers was stayed by the arbitrators. He said the government would not allow millers who had shelled the paddy and sold it to the FCI, to go scot-free. The dispute relates to the
sale of 1994-95 paddy which the state government
procurement agencies had kept with millers because of
lack of godowns. An unspecified quantity of this paddy
was sold by the FCI to the millers who shelled it and
sold it as rice to the FCI. The unsold stock is still
lying rotting on the premises of millers. |
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Jatha
leaves for Nankana Sahib AMRITSAR, Oct 30 — A jatha of about 2500 Sikh pilgrims led by Mr Balbir Singh Pannu, general secretary, SGPC today left for Pakistan to observe the 529th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak at Nankana Sahib. The pilgrims will also
visit Gurdwara Panja Sahib at Hassan Abdal and Dehra
Sahib, Lahore to pay obeisance before returning to India
on November 8. In a communication to the Chairman,
Evacuee Trust Property Board of Pakistan, the SGPC
secretary Mr Surjit Singh demanded that the pilgrims also
be allowed to visit historic gurdwaras at Eminabad. |
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PATIALA, Oct 30 — The Sangrur based National-Agro Industries Limited Managing Director, Mr Gurpartap Singh Kairon, today demanded a probe into the purported gas leak from his plant on October 3 and said people might have been affected by smog caused by the burning of paddy straw. In a statement, Mr Kairon said the havoc the burning of straw could cause was seen in Ludhiana and other cities of the state recently. He said similar side effects had been cited at Sangrur on October 3. Mr Kairon denied there had been any gas leak from his plant. He said even if some amount of chlorine had leaked on October 3 it could have been from some other source as he was not the only user of chlorine in the city. He said 30 employees of the factory were on duty when the gas leak from the plant was said to have taken place. He said none of the employees had been affected by the alleged leak and that none had been hospitalised. He said similarly no one was taken ill in the adjoining milk plant or in the cantonment area after the alleged leak. He said despite this he had agreed to close his plant on request by the district administration. Mr Kairon said inspection
teams from Punjabi University and from the forensic
science laboratory had visited the factory and inspected
it. |
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AMRITSAR, Oct 30 — The police has sounded an alert in the state, especially in the border districts, to nab those responsible for the powerful bomb blast which damaged the Old Tehsil complex here yesterday. Forensic experts have been called to examine the bomb. The district police chief,
Mr Gurdev Singh Sahota, said that army experts were also
called to ascertain the nature of the blast. No arrest
had been made so far, he added. |
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PHAGWARA, Oct 30 — Over 100 guests at a marriage party fell sick, about a dozen of them seriously, due to food poisoning at nearby Mehli village around midnight on Wednesday, hospital sources said here today. They were admitted to Banga and other hospitals nearby. The invitees, including villagers and guests, were attending the marriage of the daughter of one Prem Nath. Following the incident panic gripped the whole village and a team of doctors from Phagwara went to Banga hospital to assist doctors there. The food poisoning patients are now out of danger, the medical team said today. Meanwhile, samples of the food have been sent for testing.
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ROPAR, Oct 30 — A sum of Rs 38 lakh has been collected by the District Transport Office so far during the current financial year by way of challans. Mr Sunil Bhatia, District Transport Officer, said nearly 2,000 challans had been made. He said to reduce accidents, a reflective tape would be pasted on the rear of tractor trolleys. In addition to this, 1,000 plastic reflectors had also been procured.
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AMRITSAR, Oct 30 — The human rights wing of the Shiromani Akali Dal has said if the state government is sincere in celebrating the tercentenary of the Khalsa next year, it should release all Sikh detainees who are 'languishing' in various jails. In a press statement
issued by the wing here yesterday said without releasing
them the celebrations would be of no use. Mr Surinder
Singh Ghariala, chairman of the wing, said it was a
matter of great concern that no police official had been
suspended in the "Khalra murder case" even
after three years of his kidnapping by the police. He
said Mr Khalra, a human rights activist, he exposed the
police on the cremation of more than 2500 unidentified
bodies during the days of militancy. He said the death
anniversary of Khalra would be organised on November 8 at
his native village, Khalra. |
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FARIDKOT, Oct 30 — Deputy Commissioner Gurinder Singh Grewal told press persons here today that 3 more persons have identified as having died of water-borne disease due to contamination of water at Kotkapura taking the toll to 15. They include Mrs Manso (70) w/o Isher Singh, Ms Balbir Kaur Finno (60) w/o Mr Hazur Singh & Rajbir Kaur (8) d/o Gurmail Singh. The next of kin of the bereaved have been given a cheque of Rs 50,000/- each from the Red Cross as an ex-gratia grant.
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JALANDHAR, Oct 30 — The Jalandhar police had arrested Sanjeev Kumar, a computer expert, involved in preparing fake bank drafts, registration certificates identity cards and driving licences, Mr P.S. Gill, S.S.P., Jalandhar range said in a press conference here today. Mr Gill said the accused used fake bank drafts to buy vehicles. Such vehicles were sold to ignorant customers on cash payment after changing the number plates and preparing the requisite fake documents like registration papers etc. The police has recovered 150 fake bank drafts of 33 fake blank registration certificates, six fake complete registration book of various vehicles, 27 fake blank identity cards of the State Bank of India, 115 fake blank identity cards of press, 16 of Delhi University and 10 of the Food Corporation of India. Two computers have also been recovered from home. The police had arrested
Jagjit Singh Jaggi, who had been sending persons abroad
on bogus visas. A case under Section 420/468/471, IPC,
had been registered against him, he said. |
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MANSA, Oct 30 — Five members of a family of Sardulgarh town were drowned when their jeep fell into Bhakra main line canal near Pilchia village today. They have been identified as Inderpreet (eight), his two sisters Paramjeet Kaur (12) and Manpreet Kaur (10), his mother Baljinder Kaur and grandmother Kartar Kaur. However, Amarjit Singh, father of Inderpreet, who was driving the jeep was rescued by villagers and certain government officials. Mr Sanjay Kumar, Deputy Commissioner, SSP, said Amarjit Singh had been admitted to Civil Hospital here and his relatives had been informed. He said the bodies of Baljinder Kaur and Kartar Kaur and jeep had been taken out of the canal while a net had been placed in the canal to recover the other bodies. He said Amarjit Singh
along with his family was going towards Jhunir from
Kulrian village when he lost control over the vehicle and
it fell into the canal. "Branding" case hearing put off
PATIALA, Oct 30 — A local court today adjourned the hearing in the branding case of undertrial Tarlochan Singh to November 3 following submission of a medical report of the undertrial by Government Rajindra Hospital. Tarlochan Singh had filed a complaint in the court alleging he had been branded by a hot iron rod by jail officials of Patiala Central Jail and the Nabha jail on the Divali night. He had named a few jail officials and claimed he could recognise others. He had also pleaded to be medically examined by senior doctors the plea was granted.
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