Wednesday, November 10, 1999
|
P U N J A B | |
Wednesday, November 10, 1999 |
weather  spotlighttoday's calendar |
 |
||
|
Jagir Kaur justifies
retaining bungalow CHANDIGARH, Nov 9 — Despite stepping down as Minister for Tourism immediately after assuming charge of the presidentship of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee in March, Bibi Jagir Kaur continues to reside at the ministerial bungalow in Sector 39 of the city. EC seeks
powers of delimitation |
 |
|
||||||
|
‘Withdraw’ ST amendments LUDHIANA, Nov 9 — Even as the Punjab Chief Minister, Mr Parkash Singh Badal, has assured the traders that the recent amendments in the sales tax laws calling for punishment, including imprisonment, to tax evaders, would not be misused, the BJP, the coalition partner, has justified the resentment and apprehension of the business community. Illegal plying of buses continues Municipal
council gets shops vacated ‘Shwet
Ashwas’ on goodwill mission Kandi
areas to be Channi’s priority Dr
Aulakh is PAU Pro VC Directive
to SMOs Aid
panel for Orissa Council
gives 1 lakh for cyclone-hit Mulazam
Dal men to meet CM 19
arrested for gambling PSEB
employees call off strike 40
officials found absent from duty Commissioner
holds probe into Divali gifts’ case Club
kitchen sealed 3
awarded for services to art Businessman’s
house burgled School
vans on strike |
||||||||
 |
||||
Jagir Kaur justifies retaining
bungalow CHANDIGARH, Nov 9 — Despite stepping down as Minister for Tourism immediately after assuming charge of the presidentship of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) in March, Bibi Jagir Kaur continues to reside at the ministerial bungalow in Sector 39 of the city. The accommodation allotted to her is part of the high security ministerial housing complex in Sector 39. Even as the ruling Akali Dal has renominated her for the post of the SGPC chief, Bibi Jagir Kaur continues to enjoy the housing privilege, only the ministers are entitled to. Besides, the telephone connection allotted to her as a minister at the bungalow remains operative, although being a legislator from the Bholath constituency of the Kapurthala district, she is entitled to a flat in Sector 3 or 4, meant for the MLAs. Ironically, the five former ministers owing allegiance to her predecessor, Mr Gurcharan Singh Tohra, had to vacate their bungalows soon after they resigned in December last year. All five — Mr Harmel Singh Tohra, Mr Surjit Singh Kohli, Mr Mahesh Inder Singh Grewal, Mr Inderjit Singh Zeera and Mr Manjit Singh Calcutta — had stepped down in protest against public criticism of Mr Tohra by supporters of the party president, Mr Parkash Singh Badal, who is also the Chief Minister. Mr Calcutta lamented that they were instructed to vacate soon the bungalows, whereas Bibi Jagir Kaur continues to 'misuse' the phone connection provided at the bungalow. Adding that they were handed down the standing orders, asking them to vacate the bungalows within 15 days, he alleged that the power supply to Mr Zeera's house was cut as he delayed his shifting for a few days. However, Bibi Jagir Kaur claims that she being a head of the Sikh parliament is entitled to such privileges from the security point of view. "Tohra loyalists are mere MLAs, whereas I am the SGPC president", she quipped. The Punjab Parliamentary Affairs Minister, Mr Madan Mohan Mittal, who is authorised to take up the matter of facilities related to the legislators, disclosed that the five former ministers are now being allotted flats in place of bungalows. He, however, made it clear that the five "Tohra loyalists" were not forced to vacate the bungalows, but had left voluntarily. Saying that there is no controversy over Bibi Jagir Kaur occupying the ministerial bungalow, he said she was free to vacate it on her own and nobody could be asked to leave. "As there is no dearth of vacant bungalows in the housing complex, it hardly matters if she is occupying one of the houses", he tried to reason out. Accusing the state government of being partisan, Mr Calcutta however charged that the monthly phone bill of Bibi Jagir Kaur was being coughed up by the SGPC, as the connection at the bungalow belongs to the Punjab administration that is unwilling to pay for unofficial calls. On being contacted, Bibi
Jagir Kaur told TNS that being the head of an
organisation that represents the Sikh community, she was
entitled to such a privilege. Adding that "Tohra
loyalists" are mere MLAs, she said." I need a
bigger accommodation to house the security personnel
besides the 'sangat' frequenting the city to meet
me". To drive home her point, she said that the
Chief Minister had given his approval to prolong her stay
at the ministerial bungalow. |
||
EC seeks powers of
delimitation ROPAR, Nov 9 — The Election Commission of India has suggested to Parliament not to constitute a fresh delimitation commission for the Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha constituencies which is to be appointed after the year 2000 census in the country. It has asked Parliament to empower it to delimit the constituencies by issuing necessary guidelines in this regard. The Election Commission has also been reviewing the role of election observers to make the election process more effective for fair and smooth conduct of elections in the country. Talking to mediapersons here this afternoon, Chief Election Commissioner M.S. Gill said delimitation was the work of the Election Commission; so it should be handed over to it. He further said the commission had already written to Parliament in this regard as the Constitution had provided three functions to the commission with regard to the election process. These were: organisation, supervision and conducting the elections. Organisation of elections, he said, was a vast term which included the process of marking of boundaries of Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha constituencies. Mr Gill also said in some cases the delimitation of the parliamentary constituencies was not logical. He said he had come across instances where number of voters varied from five to six times in two Lok Sabha constituencies. He cited the example of Chandni Chowk in Delhi (4 lakh voters) and Outer Delhi (more than 25 lakh voters). He said if the commission was empowered to delimit the Lok Sabha constituencies by Parliament, then the commission would adopt a judicious process for the delimitation of constituencies. He said the commission would invite various political parties for their suggestions and objections on the proposals for new boundaries of each constituency. The commission, he said, had three members who could perform the duties of delimitation in a better manner and it would also be easy for it to conduct the elections in an improved manner. In reply to a question, Mr Gill agreed that the role of observers in the Lok Sabha elections needed a review because the commission had received some suggestions to improve the functioning of the observers. The CEC said the commission had not been considering any proposal to appoint election observers from non-government bodies because non-government observers might have political affiliations with one or the other party which was likely to create problems in holding the elections smoothly. He said the commission had been considering some proposals to make the functioning of the election observers more effective. However, he added that better results had been obtained after the appointment of observers in the election process. Earlier, Mr Gill visited
Takht Sri Kesgarh Sahib at Anandpur Sahib where he paid
obeisance. |
||
Road traffic becomes chaotic NAWANSHAHR: With a sharp increase in vehicular traffic, coupled with narrow roads, the congestion in the town is rising day by day. As most buses and passengers, instead of entering the bus stand, prefer to operate from the roadsides at Ambedkar Chowk, Chandigarh Chowk, Nehru Gate and Railway Station Chowk, etc. without caring for signboards banning stoppages and traffic policemen, these areas have become major traffic bottlenecks. The railway crossings near the sugar mill and Karyam Road have become traffics bottlenecks, especially during the cane crushing season and after procurement of paddy and wheat. Traffic jams are a common sight and driving has become increasingly difficult. Moreover, the haphazard traffic, pot-holed roads and lack of both traffic sense among the public and initiative on the part of administration to control traffic have added to woes. Besides, lack of coordination among different departments, is fully responsible for a sorry state of affairs that no one cares for administration, leading to total chaos on the roads. No action has been taken against the officials are yet to ensure that the buses should operate from the bus stand. The issues of traffic jams and encroachments has been raised during police meetings with the public whenever a new official takes charge and calls a meeting to hear public grievances, but nothing concrete is done to remove encroachments and ensure the smooth flow of traffic. To check the volume of
traffic, a bypass was planned during the Congress regime.
Its foundation stone was laid in November, 1996 by the
then Chief Minister Harcharan Singh Brar and a sum of Rs
3.75 crore as first instalment was sanctioned. But a site
for the bypass could not be finalised during SAD-BJP
rule, the project was given unceremonious burial. |
||
‘Withdraw’ ST amendments LUDHIANA, Nov 9 — Even as the Punjab Chief Minister, Mr Parkash Singh Badal, has assured the traders that the recent amendments in the sales tax laws calling for punishment, including imprisonment, to tax evaders, would not be misused, the BJP, the coalition partner, has justified the resentment and apprehension of the business community. Mr Lajpat Rai, senior BJP leader and member of the Rajya Sabha, while claiming that there were no differences with the SAD on this count, said the amendments might lead to more corruption and provide an opportunity to unscrupulous officials to blackmail people on minor lapses. The BJP leader said imposing heavy taxes was not the solution to a bad economic situation. What was required was introspection to diagnose the causes leading to the financial crisis in the state, he added. Mr Rai also urged the various trading and industrial organisation to shun the agitational path and observe restraint. Meanwhile, in a statement released to the Press here today, Mr P.D. Sharma, President of the apex Chamber of Commerce and Industry, has said the trade and industry was not ready to accept the review of only that part of the amendment which pertained to prosecution. He demanded the withdrawal of the entire amendment. The Ludhiana Motor Parts
Manufacturers Association also held a meeting here today
to discuss the amendments in the Punjab General Sales Tax
Act. While urging the government to withdraw these
amendments, Mr Charan Singh Kohli, General Secretary of
the association, said it was unjustified that no court
could take cognisance of any offence punishable under
this Act. |
||
Illegal plying of buses
continues BATHINDA, Nov 9 — The authorities concerned have not taken any action against the illegal plying of buses on different routes in the district. Official sources said last month local PRTC authorities had identified some private transporters who were allegedly plying buses illegally on different routes in the district. The matter was brought to the notice of the state transport authorities for necessary action but no action had been taken yet. The sources said some of the buses plying from Bathinda, Rampura and Mansa towns had no valid permits. One of the bus of the transporters was covering about 420 km daily and another 480 km without any permit. Moreover most of the buses, which had valid route permits, were covering more distance than prescribed. The sources said the illegal plying of buses was causing a loss of lakhs of rupees to the PRTC. During primary investigations by PRTC officials it was found that while some buses were plying without registration numbers others were plying on illegal routes and using different bus stands to pick up passengers. Mr Raj Singh Sidhu, General Manager, PRTC, Depot-1 when contacted said he had taken up the matter with the higher authorities. He alleged that despite the department having written to the state transport authorities regarding the illegal plying of buses in the district, nothing concrete had been done so far. He said about 35 buses
were plying illegally on different routes. |
||
Municipal council gets shops
vacated BATHINDA, Nov 9 — The municipal council authorities with the help of the district administration have taken back the possession of shops in Gole Market which were under the illegal occupation of a few individuals. Mr Bhupinder Singh Bhuller, President, municipal council and Mr B.S Aulakh, Executive Officer said the possession of about 11 shops belonging to the municipal council which had been occupied illegally was taken on November 7. Mr Aulakh said municipal shops were in the illegal possession for the past three years. On the other hand, Mr Ved Parkash, President, Shree Mahaveer Gole Market Association (Owners), in a complaint to the Chief Minister, Mr Parkash Singh Badal, alleged that the municipal council had forcibly taken possession of shops by violating the agreement reached between the association and the municipal council. He pointed out that the municipal council had, to stop the illegal possessing of the shops, asked the association to put shutters in front of the shops. It was also agreed that the municipal council would not take possession of the shops till the payment of the shuttering was made by it to the association. He alleged that earlier the municipal council had failed to pay the amount spent by the association on the construction of municipal shops and a dispute arose between the association and the municipal council. He alleged that
officials of the municipal council also destroyed goods
which were lying in the shops. |
||
‘Shwet Ashwas’ on goodwill
mission ABOHAR, Nov 9 — “Shwet Ashwas” motor cycle expedition team of the military police entered Punjab today from Rajasthan. The 16-member team led by Sub R.K. Gopalan was flagged off by Brig. Surjit Singh, Offg. GoC of an infantry division at a brief ceremony at Sadhuwali village 35 km from here. “Shwet Ashwas” was mentioned in the Guinness Book of World Record for making a pyramid of 133 men on 11 motor cycles over a distance of 350 metres at Bangalore on September 22, 1995. The 16- member expedition team was originally flagged off from CMP Centre and School, Bangalore on 18 Oct. The team included Nb Sub Bhojraj Singh, Hav. Samala Dasu, Nk TKL Chander Shekhar, L/NKs C.N. Raghu, G Thulasi Ram, V.A. Lobo, Manoj Kumar, A Adhikan, Bibhishan Giri, A.Y. Naidu, T. Senthi Kumar, Laxmi Narain, Ramachal Singh, A.K. Towari and Sep Kuldeep Singh. They reached Sriganganagar yesterday after covering Chennai, Kanyakumari, Cochin, Bangalore, Pune, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Barmer Pokharan and Bikaner. After visiting Amritsar the team is scheduled to enter Jammu and Kashmir. Nagaland, Assam, West Bengal will be covered the next month. The team will reach Delhi on Jan 14, 2000 on the occasion of Army Day. They will present a show at the Republic Day function. Welcoming members of the team Col C.C. Kohli Infantry Division Provost Unit, said at a simple and impressive reception today that the expedition was aimed at fostering the spirit of adventure in the men of white belts fraternity by interacting with serving and ex-servicemen in the remote areas. The leader of the
expedition Sub R.K. Gopalan said the team using eight
motor cycles, would cover 15,000 km distance in 85 days. |
||
Kandi areas to be
Channi’s priority ROPAR, Nov 9 — Mr Charanjit Singh Channi, the MP from Hoshiarpur, today said development of the kandi area would be his first priority. Residents there were facing several problems due to bad roads and shortage of irrigation and drinking water. Talking to newsmen at the J.R. Theatre complex here, Mr Channi also demanded that the work on the kandi canal in Dasuya, Mahilpur and Garhshankar areas should be started. Mr Channi was here to thanks voters of the town for electing him in the recently held Lok Sabha election. He was given a warm reception by Mr Ramesh Goyal, a member of PPCC and Mr Bhupesh Sharma and Dr Ramesh Dutt Sharma all Congress leaders. The MP said he would
give due share to each Assembly segment from the MP Local
Area Development Fund. He said Ropar town would also be
given sufficient grant for development. |
||
Dr Aulakh is PAU Pro VC CHANDIGARH, Nov 9 — Dr K. S. Aulakh, Director of Research of the Punjab Agriculture University, Ludhiana, has been appointed Pro Vice-Chancellor of the university for a period of four years. A decision to create the post of Pro Vice Chancellor and to appoint Dr Aulakh was taken during a meeting of the board of management of the university which was held at the regional office of the university here today. The post of Pro VC has
been created by the board under the university
administration non plan-1, said an official order. |
||
Directive to SMOs BATHINDA, Nov 9 — The Punjab Government has made the counter-signing of medico-legal report of injury cases involving offences under Sections 324 and 326 of the IPC by the Senior Medical Officer (SMO) of the civil hospital mandatory. According to a letter issued to all SMOs, the Punjab Government has directed the medico-legal report should be prepared by the Medical Officer and it should not be released till it is counter-signed by the SMO. This will ensure proper handling of injury cases. The government has also
directed that a medical board should be constituted in
all medico-legal cases in which there is dispute about
the report issued by the Medical Officer concerned in
discharge of his or her duties. |
||
Aid panel for Orissa FATEHGARH SAHIB, Nov 9 — The district administration with the help of voluntary organisations will send cash, foodgrains and medicines and other articles worth lakhs of rupees to the cyclone-hit people of Orissa. The decision was taken at a meeting held here yesterday under the chairmanship of the Deputy Commissioner. According to Mr V.K. Janjua, Deputy Commissioner, all officers have been directed to mobilise social organisations to collect relief material. He urged the residents, voluntary organisations, clubs, shopkeepers and industrialists to help the victims of Orissa. He said counters had
been opened to collect the relief materials at the block
level. The collected material would be loaded into trucks
and would be flagged off from the D.C. office on November
11. |
||
Council gives 1 lakh for
cyclone-hit CHANDIGARH, Nov 9 — Bhai Balwinder Singh Rangila, president of the International Kirtan Council, here today presented a cheque for Rs 1 lakh to Mr Parkash Singh Badal, Chief Minister, as relief fund for the cyclone-hit people of Orissa. Bhai Balwinder Singh
said the council had already honoured a few families of
Kargil martyrs at Kirtan darbars held at Hoshiarpur,
Ludhiana and Chandigarh, respectively, in the past weeks
and also gave financial aid to the tune of Rs 8 lakh. |
||
Mulazam Dal men to meet CM CHANDIGARH, Nov 9 — The Punjab Raj Mulazam Dal headed by Mr Dal Singh Sandhu said here today that the Punjab Chief Minister, Mr Parkash Singh Badal, would hold a meeting with representatives of the Dal on November 16 at Punjab Bhavan as regards the Dal's demands. The main demands are regularisation of the services of work charged and daily wage employees in Punjab on the Haryana pattern. Mr Sandhu alleged that
the bureaucracy was creating hurdles in the
implementation of the accepted demands of the employees. |
||
19 arrested for gambling LUDHIANA, Nov 9 — The police has arrested 19 persons under the Gambling Act and seized Rs 9,599 from them while they were gambling. In another case, a police party led by Mr Naresh Kumar, SHO, Jodhewal police station, has arrested five members of a gang who were planning to commit a dacoity. The police had received a tip-off that these persons were hiding in the cremation ground of Subhash Nagar and were armed. The police arrested all miscreants in a raid and seized three knives and two daggers from them. A case under Sections
399 and 402 of the IPC has been registered against them. |
||
PSEB employees call off
strike PATIALA, Nov 9 — The Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB) employees struggle committee today called off its strike scheduled from November 11 following an agreement with the board management. A board press note said it had been agreed to implement the promotion scale according to the 9-16-27 years promotion scheme. Besides this, the board management agreed to raise the basic pay of some categories from Rs 5,500-9,100 to Rs 5,700-9,400. The note said it had
also been decided that the board Secretary would be
Chairman of the Wage Formulation Committee instead of the
administrative member. According to the note, the cut-off
date to make daily wage employees work charged ones would
now be September 30, 1999. It said it had also been
decided that all 117 draftsmen who had been declared
surplus would be reinstated. |
||
40 officials found absent
from duty FEROZEPORE, Nov 9 — As many as 40 officials, including four gazetted officers, were found absent from their duties at Zira town in the district when the Zira Sub-Divisional Magistrate, Mr Bakhtawar Singh, conducted a surprise visit to a few departments today. The SDM has sent a list
of these absentees to the local Deputy Commissioner for
taking necessary disciplinary action. |
||
Commissioner holds probe into Divali
gifts’ case FATEHGARH SAHIB, Nov 9 — Responding to news item published in The Tribune regarding the forcible collection of Divali gifts by the Bassi Pathana SDM, the Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal has sent Mr Sudhir Mittal, Commissioner, Excise and Taxation to hold preliminary inquiry into the matter. The affected shopkeepers made their statements before Mr Mittal. He also listened to the SDM. Meanwhile, Mr Bhagwant
Singh President, Municipal Council, Bassi Pathana and Mr
Mubarak Singh, General Secretary, district Akali Jatha,
Mr Kirpal Singh Sethi, Propaganda Secretary, district
Akali Jatha, Mr Mohinder Singh, President, General
Merchants’ Association along with Municipal
Councillors denied that the SDM has taken gifts. They
said an Akali leader was trying to blackmail the SDM. |
||
Club kitchen sealed AMRITSAR, Nov 9 — The district health authorities today sealed the kitchen of Lumsdon Club which was found to be “highly unhygienic”. The kitchen was sealed after an on-the-spot inquiry conducted by the District Health Officer, Dr Sant Parkash Singh Dhillon, following reports of food poisoning of 35 persons who had taken dinner at the club on the eve of Divali here. Talking to The Tribune, Dr Dhillon said that only 22 persons had complained of gastroenteritis after consuming unhygienic food at the club. Dr Dhillon said the meat products, including fish, were also found unhygienic. “The kitchen was horrible”, he said adding that it would be opened only after a categorical assurance by the office-bearers of the club for serving hygienic food in future. At least 35 persons,
including the president and secretary of the club, had
fallen ill. However, all patients are stated to be out of
danger. |
||
3 awarded for services to
art PATIALA, Nov 9 — The National Theater Arts Society (NTAS), Patiala, in collaboration with the Bhagwan Shri Vishwa Karma Mandir Committee, Lahori Gate, awarded three prominent personalities for their outstanding services in their respective fields of art on the occasion of the 29th annual festival of the temple on Vishwa Karama Jayanti. The chief guest, Mr M.S. Narang, SDM, gave Vishwa Karma Rupsaja Awards to Mr Mohan Kamboj, a well-known make-up expert and Kala Shri Awards to Sampan and Ms Anupama Sabharwa, an architect couple from Delhi who are experts in interior designing and stage visualisation. Mr Narang also gave away prizes to students of a sewing learning school, being run by the temple committee. Mr Surjit Singh Rupal,
President of the mandir committee, announced a donation
of Rs 5,100 for the cyclone victims of Orissa on an
appeal by the SDM. |
||
Businessman’s house burgled ABOHAR, Nov 9 — A theft committed at the residence of Mr Thandi Ram Aggarwal, noted businessman and social worker, in Street 7 on the eve of Diwali has bred panic among the residents of the locality. Recently a couple had been murdered in Street 9. The miscreants entered
the rooms by removing the glasspanes or the plyboard of
the doors. Rs 45,000 and gold ornaments weighing 12 tolas
were missing. Residents of the locality said. Cases of
chainsnatching from women were unsolved due to
incompetence of the police. |
||
School vans on strike PHAGWARA, Nov 9 — The School Vans and Matadors Owners Association today went on indefinite strike to demand regular permits and an end to harassment by the police. A five-member action committee was set up to spearhead the agitation, Mr Surinder Singh Pali, a panel member, said. The strike had put
parents and their wards to great hardship. |
||
 |
||
 |
| Nation
| Haryana | Himachal Pradesh | Jammu & Kashmir | Chandigarh | | Editorial | Business | Sport | | Mailbag | Spotlight | World | 50 years of Independence | Weather | | Search | Subscribe | Archive | Suggestion | Home | E-mail | |
