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| Monday, January 24, 2000, Chandigarh, India   |
Militants regrouping under ISI
tutelage Sukhbir Badal dares Tohra J&K Govt ‘avoiding’
terrorist victims English requirement for PMT eased
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Charges baseless, says Tandon Plan to disseminate Netaji’s
ideas PPCC unveils Nawanshahr plan SHSAD plans third front in Haryana
Army Aviation Corps felicitated Jacob to open new complex Last phase of polio drive begins
Officials directed to pay Rs
10,000 Providing succour to the needy
Woodbridge Mayor calls on Atwal Bijli Mazdoor Sangh strike Non-govt colleges' gesture
Gangs of robbers busted, 15 held
Computerised reservation centre
opened ‘Open market cautiously’ Millers’ plea to DC on paddy
storage Hosiery goods destroyed in fire Sell your suspect Rs 500 at a
premium
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Militants
regrouping under ISI tutelage CHANDIGARH, Jan 23 — Peace apart, the intelligence agencies monitoring the activities of the militants in Punjab and Haryana have warned that some groups are coming together and may strike. Detailed analytical reports claim that several groups based in Canada, the USA and Pakistan are active. Senior officers here claimed that all was not well and whatever they were saying is based on hard information and past experience. These elements remain relentless in their efforts to reorganise and recover from the losses suffered by them. "Fresh efforts are there to forge linkages between Punjab militants and fundamentalist groups active in Jammu and Kashmir by Pakistan's ISI. The blast near Chakki Bank station on November 11, 1999, is suspected to be a joint venture by militant groups operating under this strategy," one report said. Heavy recoveries of weapons, explosives and deadly gadgets coupled with the arrest of a large number of criminals working for the revival of terrorism since 1997 are clear manifestations of continued interest of the ISI to promote terrorism and subversion in Punjab and Haryana. Over four quintals of explosive material, mostly RDX and PETN, along with a variety of gadgets, timing devices and weapons were recovered in Punjab 1999 alone. In the past one year 65 terrorists were arrested and five surrendered, including a major one, Manjinder Singh Issi, a top KLF hand, wanted in a series of sensational crimes, including the killing of former Punjab minister Balwant Singh and kidnapping of Romanian diplomat from Delhi in 1991. Recoveries in the current year include over 147 kg of explosives, 136 kg being the deadly RDX, 52 revolver pistols besides eight AK-47 rifles, 19 bombs, three-rocket- launchers and three sniper guns. Timely recoveries of pre-fabricated bombs in Gurdaspur, Fatehgarh Sahib and on rail tracks between February, 1999, and May, 1999, averted many major mishaps. The Punjab Police claimed to have worked out the all cases of blasts reported in the past one year in Amritsar and the mystery behind the unexploded bombs in Patiala and Fatehgarh Sahib. Elements associated with KCF-Panjwar and ISYF were behind these actions. While Rattandeep Singh of Jind in Haryana belonging to KCF-Panjwar was the alleged brain behind the explosives fitted on railway tracks in and around Patiala, the bomb fitted on a bicycle near a school in Fatehgarh Sahib was said to be the handiwork of another module of the KCF associated with the Shatrana group. "The arrest of Sukhchain Singh of Khurmania village in August, 1999, not only solved the mystery behind the blasts in Amritsar district on six occasions but also exposed the channel used by Panjwar to supply weapons and explosives to his associates in Haryana, UP and New Delhi", the police claimed. A series of operations against Babbars culminated in the arrest of over a dozen new members from different parts of the state, including two ‘human bombs’, Amrik Singh and Manjit Singh. More recently the arrest of Gurinder Singh and Kuljit Singh have further exposed the alleged linkages created by Babbars in collaboration with their allies. According to latest inputs, Babbars have joined hands with KZF led by Ranjit Singh Neeta again and are very desperate for actions intended against VIPs. The agencies also
claimed strong revival efforts by terrorist groups having
been decimated in mid nineties prominent of them being
the Khalistan Liberation Force. This group had carried
out a sensational kidnapping which was successfully
worked out. This outfit nevertheless remains relentless
to reorganise in the wake of killing of Dr Pritam Singh
Sekhon, chief of one of the factions with the splinters
close to the Navneet Qadian group working for the merger
of both factions, who have a large number of their
sympathisers scattered in western Europe and North
America. The police also said ISI-sponsored elements not only made efforts to puncture Punjab border (the detection of the tunnel in Ajnala sector recently being the latest development) but also continued to use the adjoining Jammu and Kashmir border for their nefarious activities. Efforts were made from time to time to use the rail channel (Samjauta Express) for smuggling activities, weapons and narcotics. Fake currency, over Rs 45 lakh mostly smuggled from Pakistan, was recovered. Several routes being used by the ISI operatives in Ajnala, Ramdas and Ferozepore were identified during a series of operations, and plugged. Smugglers, however, continue to take interest in Punjab border and are learnt to be working afresh to activate certain routes, including a riverine route close to Ferozepore. The Punjab Police,
actively assisted the Gujarat Police in a sensitive
operation against Babbars led to the arrest of Kulwant
Singh Kanta and three of his associates belonging to the
Babbar Khalsa in Baroda. |
Sukhbir
Badal dares Tohra LUDHIANA, Jan 23 — In his first ever public attack on the former SGPC chief and president of the Sarb Hind Shiromani Akali Dal, Mr Gurcharan Singh Tohra, the former Union Minister of State for Industry and son of Punjab Chief Minister, Mr Sukhbir Singh Badal, today described Mr Tohra as a frustrated man. He was talking to mediapersons, after presiding over the concluding function of Punjab beyond 2000 — a seminar on the role of youth for shaping 21st century in Punjab. Answering to a query about serious charges of corruption being levelled against him and his other family members by Mr Tohra, Mr Sukhbir Badal challenged Mr Tohra and his aides to publicly bring out specific instances where he or his family had indulged in corruption, if any. “Making general accusations against my family seems to be prime on his mind, in order to rake up an issue and be in the limelight,” he said. Answering queries about repeated claims by the SHSAD about further defections in the SAD to reduce the present government to minority, the former Union Minister of State said there was no danger to the ruling SAD-BJP combine. “I also challenge Mr Tohra to either give a definite time limit for these “defections” and prove it or leave politics.He also accused Mr Tohra of being hand-in-glove with the Congress and playing to their tunes. When asked if he favoured the proposed 1 per cent cess on finished agricultural products, Mr Badal said agriculture was already taxed at various stages. Land, and raw material needed for agriculture was taxed and there was no need to put extra burden on the farmers and consumers, he said. Earlier, addressing the function, Mr Badal called for the setting up of an “agriculture intelligence wing”, which would help give advance information to the farmers and also help to know, the amount of a particular crop sown in the fields, weekly weather reports, world wide demand of the crop sown and its demand in the country, prices of the produce and marketing of products. During the four-day
seminar that concluded today eminent educationsits,
scientists and experts presented their papers on various
subjects like economics, culture, politics and education.
The seminar was organised by the Institute of Punjabi
Culture, Ludhiana, and the Punjab Sahit Akademi.s |
J&K
Govt ‘avoiding’ terrorist victims JALANDHAR, Jan 23 — Accusing Pakistan of aiding and abetting terrorism in India, the Union Civil Aviation Minister, Mr Chaman Lal Gupta, said today that the Jammu and Kashmir Government shied away from helping victims of terrorism in the valley. Mr Gupta who was speaking at a function organised by the Shahid Parivar Fund set-up by the Punjab Kesri group of newspapers in connection with distribution of relief to victims of terrorism and the cyclone- hit in Orissa, alleged that it seemed that the state government was not willing to extend relief to the families of thosse killed or displaced during the turmoil in the state. “It is a matter of concern. I think they are shying away as they apprehend that victims will become their perennial responsibility,” said Mr Gupta. Mr Gupta said though Pakistan was sparing no effort to keep terrorism alive in the state, people were fed up with the violence and had even started putting up resistance against terrorists at individual level or through the village defence committees. “Those aiding terrorism from across the border have also realised their diminishing base in the valley and that is why they are sending Sudanese, Pakistanis, and Afghanistanis to create problem in the valley,” said Mr Gupta. He said Pakistan was creating problem in the state as powers there were unable to digest the fact that Jammu and Kashmir despite being a Muslim state was with India. He exhorted people to fight the menace of terrorism to defeat the nefarious designs of Pakistan. Mr Bhupinder Singh, Urban Development and Information Minister, Orissa, who attended the function on behalf of the Chief Minister of Orissa and received an amount of Rs 51 lakh provided by the fund as aid to cyclone victims, said the people of Punjab had always been on the forefront to help those in distress. “I was proud to see Punjabis helping cyclone victims in the Orissa countryside, where cyclone had wreaked havoc and had resulted in deaths of thousands besides leaving countless displaced. “He said as many as 20 international non-government organisations were busy in rehabilitating those who were displaced by the super cyclone. He said if all parties united no body could harm the unity and integrity of the country. Dr Manmohan Singh, former Union Finance Minister, said the cyclone had adversely affected lives of people of Orissa in more than one way. The worst thing, he said, was that the infrastructure had been damaged and it needed big amount of money to be re-established again. Talking about the national development scenario, he said poverty was hitting the development process and to curb it the country needed peace. “Peace was the basic requirement for development and progress and we should ensure that peace is not disturbed in any case. Likewise, forces which are out to create divisions in the society should be discouraged,” he said. Captain Amarinder Singh,
President of the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee said
the decade-long turmoil in the state had shattered its
economy as no major industry had come here for fear of
militants. This had resulted in widespread resentment
among the youth as there were no jobs for them. He said
the situation would not have worsened had the community
leaders shown courage and stood against the evil of
terrorism. He cautioned that people should not think that
the spectre of terrorism had vanished as Pakistan was
still trying to revive it in one form or the other form.
Among those who spoke included Mr Sat Mahajan, president
of the Himachal Pradesh Congress Committee, veteran CPI
leader Satya Pal Dang, Dr Joginder Dayal also of the CPI,
the Punjab Health Minister Dr Baldev Raj Chawla, Mr
Balbir Singh MP and Satguru Jagjit Singh of Bhaini Sahib
in Ludhiana.s |
English
requirement for PMT eased PATIALA, Jan 23 — The Medical Council of India has relaxed the qualifying marks in English language for the entrance test to medical colleges in the country. The MCI has also lowered the minimum age limit for admission to a medical course. According to the latest MCI circular, a student should have attained the age of 17 years on or before December 31 of the admission year to the course. Earlier the MCI demanded that a student should be 17 on or before July 1 of the year of admission. A circular of latest amended rules reaching Government medical college here states that aspirants would have to secure pass marks in English language besides scoring 50 per cent marks collectively in Physics, Biology and Chemistry in the qualifying examination of 10 plus 2. Earlier the MCI regulations on admissions to medical colleges had demanded that a student, apart from 50 per cent marks in the three science subjects, should also have secured 50 per cent in English to become eligible for the entrance test. The regulation had sparked off a debate in the whole country with arguments that it was framed to benefit students of public schools at the expense of those from rural schools. It was also seen as unjust on students who might be brilliant in science but weak in the foreign language. Votaries of the rule however argued that as most of the academic work in medical colleges was in English, it was imperative that a student be of at least average standard in the language. In Punjab educationists, students organisations and political leaders have long raised a banner against the rule ordering the state government to order non-implementation of the controversial regulation in the state. However, while the regulations remained, it was feared MCI might exert pressure on the state. Observers feel that lowering of the minimum age would help students too as they will get one more chance to take the test. These days due to an early start many students finish 10 plus 2 at the age of 16 and have to wait for several months to become eligible for the test. A similar amendment has
also been made in the competitive entrance examination. |
Charges baseless, says
Tandon LUDHIANA, Jan 23 — Mr Balramji Dass Tandon, leader of the 18-strong BJP group in the Punjab Assembly and number two in the Badal Cabinet, has offered to retire from public life if anyone could prove that money had played any role in a large number of appointments made by him in the Department of Local Bodies. “My life is an open book”, he said during an interview with TNS today. “I have been in public life for about 50 years now. And never have I been touched by even a breath of scandal. Therefore, whatever has been alleged in the Press and elsewhere about large-scale corruption and bribery during recruitments in the Department of Local Bodies is false, baseless and concocted”, he claimed. The minister pointed out that the issue of alleged irregularities in recruitment was already before the Punjab and Haryana High Court. As a matter of fact, recruitments in several other departments of the Punjab Government. So whatever the court decided would be implemented. Mr Tandon has been the target of a sustained attack by dissidents in the Punjab BJP ever since the expansion of the Badal Cabinet on December 31. Two major ministerial aspirants belonging to the BJP, Mr Satpal Gosain and Mr Jagdish Sahni, were left out of the ministry by the Chief Minister on the recommendation of Mr Tandon who claimed to have obtained clearance from the party high command in Delhi. The dissidents, who claim to have the support of certain BJP ministers in the Badal Cabinet, alleged that Mr Tandon had deliberately sacrificed party unity by insisting on the exclusion of Mr Gosain and Mr Sahni from the ministry and the inclusion of MLAs like Mr Tikshan Sood who owed allegiance to him. Mr Gosain and Mr Sahni held a press conference here a couple of weeks ago to level a series of charges of corruption and misuse of office against Mr Tandon. Mr Parkash Singh Badal has suggested that if the two BJP MLAs have anything specific against Mr Tandon, they should approach the Lok Pal. The two have since been served with a show-cause by the BJP chief, Mr Daya Singh Sodhi, for breach of party discipline. But the controversy has so far refused to die down. At least eight BJP legislators, including three ministers, are reported to have held a closed door meeting at Punjab Bhavan in Delhi a few days to consider the next course of action. Some of them claim to be in possession of a video and audio cassette containing “incriminating” evidence against Mr Tandon and Mr Sodhi. Meanwhile, a junior BJP leader of Ludhiana has faxed to the Prime Minister a memorandum containing a series of charges against Mr Tandon. A party meeting held at Pathankot a couple of days ago which was presided over by Mr Narendra Modi reportedly discussed the issue of maintaining discipline in the party. It was felt that discipline must be maintained in the BJP at all costs.The meeting was attended by district chiefs and office-bearers of the Punjab unit. According to Mr Tandon, the meeting reposed full confidence in the party leadership and authorised the party chief to take any action deemed necessary to maintain discipline in the party. Mr Tandon said he did not expect the present crisis in the party to last for very long. “I am confident that all issues will be resolved and the persons who have taken certain steps will retrace them. Otherwise, the party is determined to maintain discipline at any cost”. He asserted that
seniority in the party had never been a criterion for
ministerial berths. Persons like Mr Manoranjan Kalia, Mr
Swarna Ram and Mr Surjit Jani, who had been elected to
the assembly for the first time, had made to the
ministry, he pointed out adding that there were several
“other factors” which weighed with the
leadership while selecting persons for ministerial
“gaddis”. |
Plan to
disseminate Netaji’s ideas ROPAR, Jan 23 — To mark the birth anniversary of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, the All-India Jai Hind Parivar today resolved to launch a nationwide campaign for a year to disseminate the philosophy and ideas of Netaji by adopting several measures with the participation of masses especially the followers of Netaji. In an interview with TNS here today, Mr Triloki Nath Gupta, national convener of the parivar, disclosed that the organisation had enrolled nearly 5,000 members from all over the country in a short span of one year. The parivar had drawn up a scheme to hold block and district-level conferences till September, while state-level conferences at the respective state headquarters would be held by December. He said a national-level conference would be held in January 2001. Mr Gupta further stated that the parivar had decided to organise exhibitions of photographs relating to Netaji in every part of the country to inculcate the spirit of nationalism into the countrymen and aware them about the ideas and philosophy of Netaji. The parivar has also drawn up a scheme for the school-going children to provide them literature on Netaji. Mr Gupta said the literature would be published in the shape of booklets which would be provided at ‘no loss, no profit’ basis. He said the parivar would launch a nationwide campaign to enrol 21,000 members this year. Besides spreading the ideas of Netaji, the parivar would also run special campaigns against social evils like drugs and dowry. Mr Gupta said Mr Debaratta Biswas, General Secretary of the All-India Forward Bloc, Mr Pradeep Bose, a nephew of Netaji, and Dr Purbi Roy, a renowned scholar, would tour different parts of the country this year to spread the ideas of Netaji. AMRITSAR (FOC): The
103th birth anniversary of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose
was celebrated at the Bhandari Bridge crossing here on
Sunday. Members of Azad Hind Fauj Sabha, garlanded the
statue of Netaji. Those present at the function included
Dr Daljit Singh, patron of the sabha, Capt Ajmail Singh,
president, and Capt G.S. Dhillon, general secretary. |
PPCC
unveils Nawanshahr plan JALANDHAR Jan 23 — To ensure proper coordination among party workers and leaders, the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee has divided the Nawanshahr Assembly constituency into 32 zones, each too be headed by a senior party leader. Mr Charanjit Channi, the Congress MP from Hoshiarpur and a close relative of Mr Parkash Singh, the Congress candidate from Nawanshahr has been made incharge of the party’s campaign. Capt Amarinder Singh, the President of the PPCC, talking to mediapersons here today said the decision to divide the constituency in zones has been taken to ensure the party’s victory. Each zone, comprising of 4-5 polling booths, will be headed by a senior party leader. Captain Amarinder Singh said all party leaders have been asked to reach Nawanshahr by January 25. Regarding Mrs Santosh Chaudhary’s party MP from Phillaur’s anger the allotment of ticket to Mr Parkash Singh, Capt Amarinder Singh said that she was duly consulted and has assured her support to the party candidate. Referring to allegations
that Mr Parkash Singh was an “outsider”, Capt
Amarinder Singh claimed he had been in politics since
1962. |
Resentment
in Cong over ticket NAWANSHAHR, Jan 23 — After the SAD(B), now fissures have started appearing in the local Congress over the allotment of party ticket. Mr Sat Pal Joshi, a senior Congress leader and former president of the Municipal Council, Rahon yesterday submitted his resignation to the PPCC, president, Captain Amarinder Singh to express his resentment over the allotment of party ticket to Mr Parkash Singh, a cousin of Mr Charanjit Singh Channi, MP. In his resignation letter, Mr Joshi accused the PPCC president of allotting the party ticket on the basis of family background. He alleged that the PPCC had ignored merit and sentiments of local workers. In separate press
statements Mr Sulakhan Singh Shetra and Dr Surinder Singh
Jhalli, senior youth Congress leaders, also expressed
resentment over the allotment of party ticket to Mr
Parkash Singh, ignoring the aspirations of the local
workers and even the local MP Mrs Santosh Chaudhary. They
said that the local party workers were with Mr Iqbal
Singh and Mr Kartar Singh Sekhon, whom the party had
denied ticket. |
SHSAD
plans third front in Haryana CHANDIGARH, Jan 23 — The Sarb Hind Shiromani Akali Dal (SHSAD) led by the former SGPC chief, Mr Gurcharan Singh Tohra, has taken the initiative to form a ‘third front’ to contest the coming Assembly poll in Haryana. A meeting, convened by the party was held here yesterday to discuss the strategy for the elections, which was attended by representatives of the Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU), the Samajwadi Party (Chandra Shekhar), Mr Prem Singh Chandumajra, general secretary of the SHSAD; Mr Kartar Singh Takkar, chief of the SHSAD’s Haryana unit, and also five Tohra-loyalist SGPC members from Haryana, namely, Mr Bhupinder Singh Asandh, Mr Bharpur Singh, Mr Tara Singh, Ms Daljit Kaur and Mr Didar Singh Habari attended the meeting here. Later, talking to TNS, Mr Chandumajra said the SHSAD was in touch with the CPM the CPI, the BSP and the HVP for forming a broad electoral front in the state. He added that another meeting of the participants would take place at Panipat on January 26 to sort out seat sharing and other issues. The Akali leader said the front would like to put up its candidates in all 90 seats in Haryana. The SHSAD would put up its nominees in 15 to 20 seats. He added that the front would mobilise the voters on the issue of "Dynastic rule", epitomised by the Devi Lal clan in Haryana. The Congress was no better in this respect as the example of former Chief Minister Bhajan Lal’s family showed. Meanwhile, informed
sources said Ms Daljit Kaur, an SGPC member, could be the
SHSAD nominee from the Rori constituency. Significantly,
Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala is also slated to
fight election from Rori, which has a sizeable number of
Sikh voters. |
Army Aviation Corps
felicitated AMRITSAR, Jan 23 — Proud winner of Sena Medal Col Devendra Singh Yadav of Army Aviation Corps and his men did a commendable job, being the eyes and ears of army command had won admiration of troops in the Kargil sector. Commanding 606 Cheetah squadron of the Army Aviation Corps was responsible for providing first hand information and graphic account of enemy forces having dug-up in the Kargil heights. Talking to The Tribune after the investiture ceremony, Col Yadav said that his squadron was the first to spot the Pakistan army built up in the first week of May last year in Mushkoh and Dras sectors which helped the ground infantry troops to plan action to evict the intruders from the Kargil heights. The commanding officer, who is also an ace helicopter pilot said that during the crucial battle, his Cheetah choppers managed to video photograph the enemy strongholds and “sangher” temporary fortification to keep the troops in the know of their weapons and the gun positions. Daring sorties by his squadron pilots managed to go on top in spite of heavy gun firing and missiles, to give exact location of their fortification, supply lines and the command position for the ground headquarter for meticulous planning of the operation. His own chopper had to evade the missile hits at least on a couple of occasions and luckily none of their choppers received a direct hit. Col Yadav added that his men were able to evacuate over 574 casualties during the two-month-long operation. Besides the injured, he was ferrying fully equipped troops, ammunition, doctors and even essential supplies of blood and medicines in one of the toughest mountainous terrain in the world. His squadron won many gallantry awards including his second in command also being presented with a Sena Medal. The commanding officer of 108 medium regiment — a Bofors gun equipped battalion, Col Prabhat Ranjan was proud recipient of Sena Medal not only for himself but for his second in command Lt-Col Ambrose Amalaraj, and Capt Amitabh Roy, talking to The Tribune he said that his regiment recently received “Army Chief’s Citation”. Col Ranjan said that his
regiment was deployed on May 15 in the Dras sector and
the Mushkoh valley and the Bofors guns played havoc with
the enemy supply and command position paving the way for
the infantry to move forward to capture strategic
positions on the snow-capped ridges. The guns were firing
at the range of over 13 km and had adopted a unique
‘shoot and scoot concept’ to dodge the enemy
heavy shelling. The men under his command fired more than
14,000 shells while the enemy guns had no match to Bofors
ability to inflict losses both human and material on the
other side of LoC. He said that it was the Bofors guns
which with their superior mechanism and better trained
men which brought glory. |
Jacob to
open new complex CHANDIGARH, Jan 23 — A four-storeyed district administrative complex at Jalandhar has been constructed by the Punjab Urban Planning and Development Authority (PUDA) in an area of 8.59 acres under the first phase of the Optimum Utilisation of Vacant Government Land (OUVGL) scheme of the state government. The ownership of the vacant government land, located on the Ladowali road had been transferred to PUDA under the scheme. Disclosing this here, the Chief Administrator of PUDA, Mr K.B.S.Sidhu, said the administrative complex would be inaugurated by the Governor of Punjab, Lieut-Gen J.F.R. Jacob (retd), on January 25. The Housing and Urban Development Minister, Dr Upinderjit Kaur, will also be present. The new complex completed in one year, will house the offices of the Deputy Commissioner, the Senior Superintendent of Police and the treasuries. The complex has been designed to provide easy access to different district-level offices under one roof. The new building has a provision for 13 garages and additional car parking space for the visitors vehicles. The Additional Chief Administrator, Jalandhar zone, Mr Raminder Singh, said the administrative complex has three blocks and there are facilities like an air-conditioned committee room, two lifts and a sub-station for power supply. After the district-level
offices shift to the new building, the existing land
under the DC complex will be exploited commercially by
PUDA, said Mr Sidhu. |
Last
phase of polio drive begins LUDHIANA, Jan 23 — During the fourth and the last leg of the pulse polio campaign today, 2301 polio posts had been created in the district and around four lakh children were administered polio drops, the District Immunisation Officer, Dr Harwinder Singh, said. He also informed that the Health Department staff would be making a round of various areas in the district on January 24 and 25, to administer polio drops to those children who could not come to the various posts today. AMRITSAR: The local Social Welfare Association inaugurated the pulse polio camp at Vijay Nagar Bazaar here on Sunday. The camp was inaugurated by Dr Baldev Raj Chawla, Civil Surgeon. Dr Raj Inder Singh was also present. Around 1260 children were administered polio drops. Dr Chawla announced a grant Rs 10,000 from his discretionary fund for the association. SANGRUR: Dr C.P. Bansal, Civil Surgeon, inaugurated the three-day pulse polio campaign by administering a polio drop to a child at a camp organised by the Samaj Sewa Manch here on Sunday. During the campaign over 2.7 lakh children up to the age of five would be administered polio drops in the district. HOSHIARPUR: Ms Mohinder Kaur, state Minister for Health Services, inaugurated the final phase of pulse polio programme by administering polio drops to children at the civil dispensary at Piplanwala here on Sunday. Later, she also administered polio drops to children at the civil dispensary, Shamchaurasi, 18 km from here. The local Civil Surgeon said that 858 camps had been organised in rural areas and 123 in the urban areas of the district during the final phase of this programme. GURDASPUR: Mr Husan Lal, ADC (General), Col Pillai, commanding officer 19 Guards, and Mr Suresh Chaudhary, Governor, Rotary District 3070, on Sunday inaugurated pulse polio camps at Bariar, Army area, and Naushehra Ferry, respectively. These camps were organised by the local Rotary Club Mid-Town and more than 100 children were administered polio drops. According to Dr S.S. Sohal Civil Surgeon, five lucky draws were held at various polio camps in this district to choose prize winners from among the immunised children. FARIDKOT: More than 50,000 children up to the age of five were administered polio drops in the last round of the immunisation programme in this district on Sunday. The Civil Surgeon, Dr K.K. Aggarwal, launched the scheme in the Jeewan Nagar basti here. KAPURTHALA: Dr Upinderjit Kaur, Housing and Urban Development Minister, on Sunday launched the fourth phase of the pulse polio campaign at the local Civil Hospital. Mr V.K. Singh, Deputy Commissioner, Mr Iqbal Singh, SSP, and senior officials of the district were present. Dr Ajaib Singh, Civil
Surgeon, said polio drops were administered to 1.20 lakh
children in the district at 750 camps organised in the
rural and urban areas of the district.s |
JDPRO’s
office sans funds JALANDHAR Jan 23 — The office of the Joint Director Public Relations Department, Punjab here has virtually become an inaccessible to media as the most of telephones and a teleprinter installed in it have been disconnected by the authorities concerned allegedly owing to non-payment of dues. Even as Mr Natha Singh Dalam, Punjab Minister of Public Relations has promised to modernise his department, but nothing in that direction is in sight so far and an example of it is the departments’ office here as telephones of the Joint Director and that of District Public Relations Officer (DPRO ), have been lying disconnected for over a fortnight. This has resulted in a number of difficulties to reporters as well as office staff, who have to rely on the department messengers for sending press notes and conveying messages to all newspapers published from this “media capital” of the state . Sources in the department revealed that the lone teleprinter line which was used by the office to supply news to small newspapers was closed down about six months ago as the department was not able to pay the piling up dues and the department still has to pay Rs 18 lakh to the news agency which had been providing teleprinter services to it. “The agency people have even taken away their printer installed in the office,” one of the department officials said. He said the department owed several lakhs of rupees to small and medium newspapers published from the city against government advertisements and insertions. According to the Punjab Newspapers Association, an organisation of newspapers published from the city, the dues towards the department on account of advertisements ran into several crores and except for once when one fourth of dues was cleared by the department six months ago, there has been no clearance of bills since 1997. “ We have been jointly writing to the department for payment of bills, but to no avail,” lamented an office-bearer of the association. While a senior officer
admitted that the telephone lines of the local office of
the department have been disconnected owing to
non-payment of dues, another officer said he had been
paying major part of the bi-monthly bill from his own
pocket for a couple of months. “We have a limit of
Rs 2730 , but the actual bi-monthly bill is somewhere
around Rs 4200 for each of telephone. The problem is that
we cannot withdraw an amount more than the fixed
limit,” he said adding that this time he was not
going to pay the money from his pocket even if the
telephones remained disconnected for a longer period. |
CM urges
media to activate itself FATEHGARH SAHIB, Jan 23 — Mr Parkash Singh Badal, Chief Minister, advocated the freedom of the Press at a seminar on “The role of reporters towards society” organised by the Punjab-Chandigarh Patarkar Parishad at Mandi Gobindgarh town in the district today. He said reporters had great responsibility towards society and served as a chain between the government and society. He urged reporters not to publish biased, table stories. False reports damaged the career of those concerned. However, healthy criticism should always be welcomed because it helped to improve the working of the government. People had high hopes
from the media, he said and urged the media in the state
to activate itself to face the challenge of foreign and
national newspapers. These days newspapers were being
commercialised, he said. |
Officials
directed to pay Rs 10,000 PHAGWARA, Jan 23 — The District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum Kapurthala, has directed four officials of the Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB), Kapurthala, including two from Division No 2 of the Board to pay as compensation Rs 10,000 to Mr Gurmit Singh of Khiranwali village for removing his electric meter, between August and mid-October last year. The judgement was passed on January 20 by Mr M.L. Puri, President of the Forum. Disclosing this here today Mr Surinder Mittal, forum member, said PSEB had been directed to pay Rs 10,000 to the complainant. The electric meter of
the complainant was removed on August, 1999, even though
he had deposited Rs 2,400 with the PSEB. The challan
followed when I refused to bribe an official by paying Rs
800, complainant alleged. However, the meter was
reinstalled in mid-October. |
Providing
succour to the needy PATIALA, Jan 23 — Three plastic chairs, a rickety table and a sign board lie in the office of the Roop Chand Malhotra Charitable Trust, housed in the corridor of the artificial limb centre of Government Rajindra Hospital here. However, from this obscure place of the hospital, yeoman service is being done by senior citizen members of the trust, who are helping needy patients by providing them medicines free of cost as well as giving small essential necessities of the hospital. Explaining their working, Trust Vice-Chairman Col (retd) Karaminder Singh said poor patients were identified by doctors who sent their attendants to the trust office. He said the trust members judged the merit of the case on the spot or if needed visited the patients’ wards. Following this, the attendant was given a form in which the doctor prescribed medicines which were given to the attendant by a chemist just outside the hospital. Col Singh said the trust had provided medicines to around 800 patients last year and hoped to increase this figure this year. The trust spent around Rs 20,000 it received from contributions from the general public and staff of Rajindra Hospital on disbursing free medicines as well as looking after urgent needs of the hospital. The Colonel said that only two days ago the trust had got a requisition from the hospital pharmacy for 10,000 diazapam tablets, 1,000 paracetamol tablets and 500 gardinal tablets. He said the pharmacy was generally in need of common drugs as their supply was erratic. Besides providing drugs to the pharmacy the trust also provided cotton and gauzes wherever needed, needles for the blood bank and even got minor repairs done on the ECG equipment to ensure the patients did not suffer as these repairs took a long time if done through government channels. Other schemes undertaken by the trust include arrangement of costly tests of microbiology and biochemistry in the hospital itself. Government Medical College Principal Dr Ravinder Singh said the hospital was taking the help of the trust at various points of time, especially in case of small medicine purchases and equipment repair. It is ironical that the
trust is operating from a corner in the hospital, whereas
its earlier counter in the reception of Rajindra Hospital
has been allocated to the Red Cross. This counter,
however, is not being used by the Red Cross. Trust
members Col Karaminder and Mr Maleri say the space should
be given back to the trust, as it would be easier for
patients to approach them at the reception. However, they
are ready to work anywhere. “Roop Chand was a
legendary figure who visited Rajindra Hospital everyday,
come hail or storm to help the needy. It is with this
zeal that we want to work’’, says a member R S
Manrao. |
Old tanks
stand the test of time PATIALA, Jan 23 —The proverb “old is gold” fits aptly in case of over-head water reservoirs in the city. While some water-tanks, built in the not so distant past are no longer in use, two tanks A-tank and B-tank, built way back in 1908 and 1909, are still providing water. The Municipal Corporation records show that there are 14 water tanks in the city, out of these, only eight are in working condition. Residents complain that these also provide erratic water supply. According to the records, the water reservoir in Passey Road, Quila Mubarak, Waterworks, Power-house and one near Ragho Majra area are out of use. Out of these, the water tank at Passey Road here deserves special mention. Constructed in 1985, the tank has never been filled, says Mr K.S. Sidhu, a resident living near Passey Road. “The tank was supposed to augment water supply in several colonies like Lehal, Punjabi Bagh, Charan Bagh and houses on the Passey Road. However, the tank never came in use”. The municipal corporation incurs huge expenses in digging tubewells to ensure water supply, but if such reservoirs are made operational, quite a substantial amount can be saved. Sources in the MC revealed that the water tank could never be filled as its filling capacity is 3 lakh gallons, which is too much for the existing tubewells. Sources also said that there were some leakage problems. Other non-functional water tanks were also built later than the A-tank and B-tank. Ironically, the latter tanks supply water to the highest number of residents in the old walled city and according to municipal sources have rarely given trouble to the corporation. So good is their condition that the water supply office of the MC here is also located just beside the tank. Other water-head reservoirs in the old walled city at Arya Samaj and Tara Singh Park have also been giving trouble to the MC. These two had actually remained non-functional for the past few years until recently when they were made operational again. Mr K.S. Kung of the
municipal corporation said the corporation does not
construct water tanks. These are built through the
sewerage board and the MC cannot be questioned about the
construction faults, if any. Mr Kung said the water
supply in the city was being maintained through tubewells
and the supply through reservoirs was not viable. He said
it takes about 6 hours for a reservoir to be filled while
it is emptied within 2 hours. |
Damanpreet
wins declamation contest PATIALA, Jan 23 — Damanpreet Kaur of Veer Haqiquat Rai Senior Secondary School here won the first place in a declamation contest for girl students organised on the occasion of the birth anniversary of Swami Vivekanand here today. Laina Aneja of Arya Senior Secondary School of Girls was adjudged second, while Richa of Bakhshish Bir Singh High School won the third place. Prof Harinder Sharma, Chairman of the Education Committee of Veer Haqiqat Rai School, where the contest was organised, said students of 22 schools of the city participated in the event. He said the function was organised by the NSS unit of the school. Dr S.K. Gupta, Head of the Department of History in Punjabi University, presented trophies to the winners, consolation prizes were given to Navneet of Victoria School and Ravita of Arya High School. Among those present on
the occasion were Mr Gobind Chopra, President of Veer
Haqiqat Rai School management and its Secretary, Mr Vidya
Sagar. The school Principal, Mr Parkash Chand Garg read
out a report on the school’s achievements. |
24-hr
power supply to villages PATIALA, Jan 23 — With round-the-clock power supply having been provided to Mattran village under the Nadampur subdivision of the PSEB, all 23 villages lying under this sub-division have been connected with the 24-hour supply. Claiming this in an
official PSEB press release issued here today, Mr Baldev
Singh Mann, Member Administrative of the Board, assured
the people of Punjab of 24-hour supply to the remaining
villages at the earliest. |
Govt to
check false medical cases PATIALA, Jan 23 — Dr Baldev Chawla, Health Minister, Punjab, today said that doctors found responsible for issuing false medical certificates would be severely punished. Talking to reporters at Circuit House here today, Mr Chawla said special instructions had been issued to all the chief medical and senior medical officers to keep an eye on the issuance of such certificates. He said he had received several complaints that doctors were taking money to issue a medical certificate according to the liking of the applicant. Mr Chawla said as many
as 16,000 camps were organised in the state today to
administer pulse polio drops to children. |
25 pc
old-age pension cases false: DC PATIALA, Jan 23 — Mr Jasbir Singh Bir, Deputy Commissioner, disclosed at a sangat darshan programme at Ghanuki village, near Nabha, here yesterday that 25 per cent cases of old-age pension given in the district have been found to be fake. According to an official release here today, Mr Bir said registration of criminal cases against the false applicants had been recommended. He said the role of government servants in preparing false pension cases was being probed and the guilty would be punished. Mr Bir also informed
that Rs 1.25 crore for disbursement of old-age pension
had been received. He said those who could not get the
pensions in due time in the past would be given pension.
He said the district administration had also ensured that
from now onwards pension should be given on time. |
Woodbridge
Mayor calls on Atwal CHANDIGARH, Jan 23 — A four-member delegation, led by Mr James E.McGreevey, Mayor, Township of Woodbridge, New Jersey (USA), today called on the Speaker of the Punjab Assembly, Mr Charanjit Singh Atwal. The other members of the
delegation were Ms Sharon McGreevey, Indian leader, Mr
Peter Kothari, and Director, Asian Affairs, Mr Rojer
Chugh. |
Bijli
Mazdoor Sangh strike LUDHIANA, Jan 23 —
The Punjab Raj Bijli Mazdoor Sangh has announced its
decision to observe a token strike on January 24 in
support of the striking employees the UPSEB. This
information was given by Mr Sewa Singh
"Neelam", secretary of the sangh, in a press
note today. |
Non-govt
colleges' gesture CHANDIGARH, Jan 23 — Dr Ishwar Singh, President, Non-Government Colleges' Management Federation of Punjab, today presented a cheque for Rs 2.5 lakh to the Chief Minister for the War heroes family relief fund. While expressing his gratitude, Mr Parkash Singh Badal said it was the prime duty of all to contribute towards the noble cause. The financial aid to the affected families was a small effort for their sacrifices. Meanwhile, a deputation of Muslim National Front, Punjab led by Syed Yakub Hussain Naqvi, called on Mr Badal and submitted a memorandum, listing demands. Assuring the deputation
that their demands would be considered sympathetically,
Mr Badal appreciated the front for strengthening the
bonds of communal harmony, peace and universal
brotherhood in Punjab. |
Gangs of robbers busted,
15 held AMRITSAR, Jan 23 — The police claims to have made a major breakthrough in cases of thefts and burglaries in plush colonies of Amritsar and Ludhiana with the arrest of 15 members of at least six gangs. Stating this, the SSP, Mr Parampal Singh Sidhu, told newspersons here today that with the arrest of the culprits the police had solved about 40 cases of thefts and recovered gold ornaments, costly household items and other valuables worth over Rs 10 lakh. The recovery included gold and diamond ornaments, cameras, TVs, VCRs, gas cylinders, car stereos, a car, four scooters and a large number of jackets. Mr Sidhu said the raids were conducted by special police teams during their campaign against criminals following reports of a spate of robberies in the Civil Lines area here. The arrested had been identified as Rajesh Kumar, Rakesh Kumar, Chanan Singh, Raju, Dharam Chand, Sanjay Thapa, Satnam Singh, Virender Kumar, Avtar Singh, Ram Lubhaya, Sarwan Singh, Sher Singh, Mangal Singh, Harmel Singh, Prem Singh and Darshan Singh. Meanwhile, the police, he said was on the look out for a woman belonging to Madhya Pradesh and her two teen-aged granddaughters who had been intruding into marriage parties and depriving women of their purses. Many such cases had been reported in the past couple of months. The police had been able
to get their identification through video films covering
marriage parties, he added. |
Pak woman
held for smuggling gold AMRITSAR, Jan 23 — Neem Bai, a resident of Hyderabad in Pakistan, was arrested under the COFEPOSA for smuggling gold. The woman, who is wedded to Kishan Chand, was traced by the police from Bhilwara in Rajasthan. She was declared a proclaimed offender five years ago. Mr Parampal Singh Sidhu, SSP, said here today that the accused was caught at the Attari Railway Station in 1991 while smuggling seven gold biscuits. The police arrested her last week from the R.C. Colony in Bhilwara and brought her here. Meanwhile, the police
has also arrested another woman, Darshan Kumari, after
300 grams of charas was seized from her. |
Probe
sought into bank manager’s death AMRITSAR, Jan 23 — Senior CPI Satya Pal Dang demanded a CBI probe into the murder of a senior branch manager of a bank at Amritsar about eighteen months ago. Mr Dang said no one had been arrested in the case even though the investigation had been entrusted to as many as 7 SPs—one after the another. About two months ago it was entrusted to the crime branch at Chandigarh, but has again been returned to Amritsar. It is widely believed that large-scale ‘parallel banking’ was under-way in the nationalised bank, with some important person and smugglers involved in the scandal. He demanded an impartial
enquiry into the case in interests of the financial
sector. |
Two held
for murdering cop AMRITSAR, Jan 23 — Two persons, including a gunman of a former Punjab Minister, were arrested for murdering a police constable on December 31. The police said here
today Ajit Singh, a car dealer and Manjit Singh a gunman
of the minister, Mr S.S.Shahbazpuri, were allegedly
involved in a firing incident outside a club near Gandhi
grounds in which a police constable, Rajesh Kumar, was
seriously injured. The constable, later succumbed to his
injuries in a hospital. A licensed .32 bore revolver was
seized from the culprits. |
Computerised reservation
centre opened NANGAL, Jan 23 — The computerised reservation centre at the Nangal railway station was inaugurated by the AGM, Northern Railways, Mr VP Chandan, here yesterday. With this, the railway station has been connected with the wide-area network, and the passengers here, now have the facility to get confirmed reservation for any destination. Talking to newspersons, Mr Chandan said the computer networking facility in the Railways, which was started a year ago, had been completed. He said now the Railways was making efforts to provide the computer reservation facility at all railway stations where the number of passengers exceeded 200 per day. He said the electrification of the railway track up to Nangal would be completed by March, 2001. He, however, declined the possibility of the Shatabdi being run from Anandpur. The Punjab Government had requested the Railways to run Shatabdi from Anandpur, but the proposal had been turned down after a feasibility study, he said. Regarding the
Nangal-Talwara rail line, he said the proposal for laying
a railway track from Una to Churaru, costing about Rs 38
crore, had been presented in the current Budget. Work on
two major bridges on this track would be completed by the
end of March, he said. |
‘Open
market cautiously’ PATIALA, Jan 23 — India should tread cautiously on the path of globalisation and opening of its markets. This was the common message sent by various speakers participating in a national seminar on modernisation without westernisation organised by the Swadeshi Jagran Manch at Seminar Hall, Language Department, here today. In his inaugural address, Prof Gursewak Singh, a former Vice-Chancellor of Punjabi University, questioned the usage of the term modernisation. He said every country had its own concept of modernisation. Cautioning thinkers not to criticise for the sake of criticism only, he said the fact that the country needed progress had to be faced. He added that modernisation was used as a synonym of westernisation. “We should concentrate on scientific evolution of the country,” he said. He advocated a blend of tradition and progress. “We should import technology but there is no need to forget our cultural ethos and traditions”, he stated. Prof Gursewak Singh called for a need to set up anthropological museums in the country. He said it was unfortunate that Indians were not keen to preserve their traditions, unlike Americans and Europeans, who had maintained age-old museums. Mr Harpal Tiwana, a Punjabi theatre personality, underlined the importance of awakening the soul to the threat of modernisation. He said the threat was limited not only to consumer goods but also to art and culture. Mr Krishan Kumar Sharma, National Organising Secretary of the Swadeshi Jagran Manch, said leaders had faltered in planning after Independence. Instead of formulating schemes for development, they adopted the Western model. He called for a middle path towards modernisation and suggested that the country could allow multinationals only in technology import. There was no need for allowing them to set up ventures in consumer goods, he stated. Dr Ram Murti Goel, Pro Vice-Chancellor, Punjabi University, said the country should think before leaping into the realms of modernisation. He said progress had given birth to a number of conflicts and in order to have a better understanding and tolerance of each other, markets of the country should be opened only in select areas. Mr J.S. Dardi, in his keynote address, stressed the need for inculcating religious (dharna) practices among the masses so as to bring Ram Rajya in the country. Earlier, Dr Baltej S.
Mann, convener of the seminar, in his welcome address,
announced the setting up of a working group of the
Swadeshi Jagran Manch to strengthen swadeshi culture to
counter the Western attack on Indian culture. Dr Rajinder
Kumar of Punjabi University briefed participants on the
implications of patents of seeds on Indian agriculture.
Mr Sanjeev Kumar Dev, District Coordinator of the SJM,
proposed the vote of thanks. |
Millers’
plea to DC on paddy storage PATIALA, Jan 23 — The Patiala Rice Millers Association has urged the Deputy Commissioner here to provide space for storing paddy. Mr Gian Chand Bhardwaj, president of the association, in a press release said that during kharif 1999-2000, 85 lakh quintals of rice was expected to be delivered to the FCI for the central pool by the rice millers in Patiala district against which only 29 lakh quintals of rice had been received by the FCI for central pool till date and entire milling operations were held up due to unavailability of space whereas the season was coming to an end by March 31, 2000. He said the association, time and again, had been demanding sufficient storage space or to provide maximum number of rice specials trains for the district to make room for receipt of rice but there was no response from the authorities concerned. He feared in case no
arrangement was made in due course there was possibility
of increase of damaged paddy stocks and rice might not
confirm to the specifications and also driage would
increase up to 5 per cent. |
Hosiery
goods destroyed in fire LUDHIANA, Jan 23 — Hosiery goods worth lakhs of rupees were destroyed in a fire that broke out at Tangri Hosiery at Kidwai Nagar, here last night. Ram Lal, a fire fighter was also injured. The cause of fire is
stated to be short-circuit. The fire engulfed large
portions of the factory and its godown. |
Sell your
suspect Rs 500 at a premium MOGA, Jan 23 — A flourishing black market has emerged in currency notes of Rs 500 denomination. Big businessmen and industrialists in need of currency notes are forced to get them either from banks or in the black market. According to business sources, they have to pay Rs 1,000 premium on a bundle of currency notes. A similar situation prevails for new currency notes of Re 1 to Rs 10 denomination. General merchants, who
sell garlands of new currency notes to marriage parties,
get them (notes) from certain banks at a premium. They,
in turn, sell them to marriage parties at Rs 130 for a
hundred Re 1 notes. |
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