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| Friday,
June 15, 2001, Chandigarh, India
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No change in PPCC leadership New Delhi, June 14 Mr Vora, who is going to Chandigarh tomorrow to preside over a convention of the Punjab Congress, would evaluate the efforts being made by the party unit for the forthcoming assembly elections. Mr Vora would also attend a convention of the Chandigarh Congress in the evening. Mr Vora said differences between state Congress leaders had been sorted out and the party would face the elections as a united force. Dismissing reports about differences between PCC president Capt Amarinder Singh and senior leader Rajinder Kaur Bhattal, Mr Vora said he had recently brought about a “patch-up” between the two leaders. Ms Bhattal, who was in New Delhi today, met Congress president Sonia Gandhi in the forenoon. Mr Vora said the Congress had not yet decided on the issue of electoral alliance in Punjab. He indicated there would not be much delay in the formation of PCC executive so that the state unit could prepare for elections with full force. The special committee of the Congress for Punjab elections headed by Mr Manmohan Singh, which held its meeting here recently, had assigned specific tasks to the state Congress to prepare the ground for an aggressive campaign for the assembly elections. The party unit had been told to prepare a White Paper against the Badal government which would highlight the issue of corruption and alleged maladministration. The state unit had also been told to form a campaign committee so that the party could launch its electoral campaign by the third week of June. Apart from assessing the progress made on all these issues, Mr Vora would also review the signature campaign of the party launched in the wake of the Tehelka expose. The party is in the last stages of its nationwide signature campaign to seek the Vajpayee government’s ouster over the Tehelka expose. Tomorrow’s convention would be attended by AICC and PCC members, party MPs, MLAs and office-bearers. |
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Ministers
should make assets public: PPCC Chandigarh, June 14 Releasing a statement on behalf of Capt Amarinder Singh, the spokesman of the party, Mr Sant Ram Singla, said the party would make “corruption by the Badal government” the main plank in the coming Assembly elections. He said that huge wealth had been amassed by certain MLAs and ministers of the Badal government. He said Mr Badal should give assurance to the people of the state that all targets of the Ninth Plan would be achieved. He said the talk of development by Mr Badal was “political kite-flying”. He said the rallies being organised by him were staged-managed shows which people, especially government employees, were forced to attend. He said the Congress when voted to power would fulfil the promise of removal of sales tax barriers, abolition of octroi, one job to each SC and BC family, distribution of agricultural land among the landless and exemption from water and sewerage charges to these classes. |
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DC orders probe into tubectomy death Bathinda, June 14 Mr Venkataratnam has asked Mr N.K. Wadhawan, Assistant Commissioner (Grievances), to conduct the probe. Mr M.M. Singla, District Family Welfare Officer, would give technical assistance to Mr Wadhawan. Mr Venkataratnam said that the enquiry officer had been asked to complete the probe within three days. The police had yesterday registered a case against Dr Ramesh Rani Thukral, the doctor who had operated upon Laxmi on the complaint of Mr Joginder Singh, husband of the deceased. Relatives of the deceased met the Deputy Commissioner today and informed him about the incidence. Laxmi was operated upon by Dr Ramesh Rani Thukral on May 29 at the local Civil Hospital for tubectomy. Some time later, she developed complications and her condition started deteriorating. She again came to Dr Thukral for consultations, but her condition did not improve. When she became very serious, she was referred to Rajindra Hospital, Patiala, where she died on June 11. After a post mortem and other necessary formalities, her body was brought here the next day. But the relatives of the deceased refused to cremate the body until some legal action was taken against the doctor. They did not cremate the body for more than 24 hours after the death. It was only yesterday, after a case was registered against the doctors that the body was put on the funeral pyre. The husband of the deceased would find it difficult to bring up the their four minor children. The father-in-law Mr Bhola Singh and mother-in-law Mrs Lalo Kaur of the deceased who are in the evening of their lives said that Laxmi was the bread earner of the family. They said that they have to take care of the family of their other son who had died a few years ago. Various social organisations have also demanded some legal action against the alleged guilty doctor. They said that if the doctor was spared, then many such incidences could occur in future. Dr Vineeta Gupta, General Secretary of Insaaf International, said that the action of the doctors who had tried to project the alleged guilty doctor should be condemned. |
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He killed 7 of family to take revenge Muktsar, June 14 Police sources said that the accused was arrested at a naka laid by a police party in Dabwali Dhab village at around 8 p.m. yesterday. The party was led by Mr Manmohan Kumar, DSP(D), and Mr Atma Singh, SHO, Police Station, Sadar Malout. The crime had sent shock waves in the region as it took place in the home district of Punjab Chief Minister, Parkash Singh Badal. To trace the criminal, the district police chief, Mr Kultar Singh, constituted a special investigation team comprising Mr Balkar Singh, SP(D), Mr Manmohan Kumar, DSP(D) and Mr Joginder Singh, DSP, Malout. Mr Kultar Singh, SSP, told TNS today that Ram Sewak was arrested on suspicion. On search, three watches were recovered from him. The accused confessed that he had stolen the watches from Abohar by making people unconscious with ladoos laced with poison. The accused also confessed that he had killed the seven members of family headed by Nathu Ram, and raped two women before killing them. Mr Kultar Singh said that during questioning of the accused, it was found that he had killed the seven to take revenge from Nathu Ram, who had raped his wife. Both Nathu Ram and accused Ram Sewak were friends. Once Ram Sewak caught Nathu Ram raping his wife in his own house. Ram Sewak became very angry and insulted Nathu Ram. He also decided to take revenge of the incident. One day before the murder, Ram Sewak visited Nathu Ram’s house. In his house, Nathu Ram again insulted Ram Sewak. On this, Ram Sewak decided to teach Nathu Ram a lesson. The next day Ram Sewak went to Nathu Ram and felt sorry for the past mistakes. He again became friendly with Nathu Ram. Both went to Malout town to bring meat and liquor. They took tea near the railway crossing at Malout. In the evening, they returned to Burj Sidhwa village and started taking liquor. Nathu Ram’s son also joined them. Ram Sewak prepared the meat and mixed poisonous tablets in it. He served the meat to the members of Nathu Ram’s family. Those who were vegetarian were given ladoos mixed with poison. The family members became unconscious. The accused then raped the 45-year-old-wife of Nathu Ram. After that he raped Nathu Ram’s daughter who was 18. Then he brutally killed Nathu Ram, his two sons, Raj Kumar and Koki, daughter Rekha, grandson Maninder and granddaughter Kunti and wife Jumuna Devi. After this incident, the accused stole clothes, utensils, a tape recorder, cycle and Rs 5000 from that house and ran away. The police is further interrogating the accused and some more robberies and murders were likely to be traced. |
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Floods: team visits Khanauri Khanauri (Sangrur), June 14 The high-powered committee met the representatives of the flood-prone areas at the local canal rest house and sought their suggestions to tackle the flood situation in their respective areas in the season. The committee also shared its views with them and assured that timely steps would be initiated soon to save them from the floods. Besides Ms Sandhu, other members of the committee were Mr Sarvjit Singh and Mr Jasbir Singh Bir, Deputy Commissioners of Sangrur and Patiala, respectively, Mr Shivdev Singh Dhaliwal, Chief Engineer (Drainage), Punjab, and Mr M.L. Bansal, SE (Drainage), Patiala circle. Later, talking to mediapersons at the local canal rest house, Ms Sandhu said the state government had drawn up long-term and short-term plans to tackle the floods caused by the Ghaggar every year. Ms Sandhu said the government would get the silt removed at the RD 460 near here. Besides, it would also initiate steps soon to acquire 3 acres near the RD 460 to channelise the Ghaggar. She also said a steel gate would also be installed at the Jhambowali choe (buriji No. 17900) bordering Patiala district soon by replacing wooden sleepers from there to protect the people from floods. She also announced that the state government would also install a regulator in three to four months on the Jhambowali choe near Chandu village in the district. She told mediapersons that the state government had also planned to acquire 700 acres on both sides of the Battisdara (RD 455) near here to dig a 5 km-long drain for creating a bypass for Ghaggar waters through Battisdara. Mr Jagraj Singh Hotipur, a member of the District Flood Committee, criticised the government for not finding a permanent solution to the problem of the flood-prone areas. He said every year at the time of floods, officers and politicians come and give assurances, but did nothing. Besides, Mr Jagraj Singh Hotipur, Giani Niranjan Singh Bhutal from Sangrur district, Mr Gurdev Singh Sidhu, MLA from Shatrana (Patiala), Mr Kashmir Singh Mavi, president of the Patiala district unit of SAD, and some other persons also met the committee. Besides these leaders, some people of nearby villages also visited the rest house to air their views against the government. |
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Punjab cops bound for Jharkhand Chandigarh, June 14 Though the initial request is for deployment of Punjab police personnel in some Naxalite-infested areas for four weeks only, the chances of the new contingent replacing the old contingent cannot be ruled out. Source indicate that initially six companies would be sent to Jharkhand later this month. These companies would be scattered and deployed in a larger radius. Though the Punjab police has been in great demand from various states it is after a long time that a request for use of this force for anti-Naxalite operations has been received. In the recent assembly elections, 20 companies of the Punjab police were deployed in West Bengal where their role was appreciated. Before that, a contingent of the Punjab police remained in Allahabad on Kumbh Mela duty for two months. Other requests received by the Punjab Government for the deployment of its force in Gujarat, Jammu and Kashmir and Tamil Nadu were politely turned down for technical or administrative reasons. Of late, there have been certain changes ordered in the Police Department. In addition to the deployment of commandos and India Reserve Battalions, the responsibility of deployment of Punjab Armed Police battalions has also been entrusted to the operations wing of the state police. Though the state requisitioning force from Punjab has to pay for it, the initial expenditure is incurred by the Punjab police from its exigency funds. And when the borrowing state pays for the force, the money is transferred to the state exchequer and which does not necessarily get back to the fund from where it was initially spent.. The fund-starved Punjab police, according to sources, has now requested the Jharkhand Government to make to and fro train reservations for the six companies it needs to avoid transfer of entry account from one state to another. As such, instead of spending money from its exigency funds on reservation and rail travel, the money would come straight from the host state which in any case has to pay for it. |
Panthic bodies want screening of candidates Chandigarh, June 14 Among those who attended the meeting were Justice R.S. Narula (retd), Baba Sarabjot Singh Bedi, Dr Kirpal Singh, Dr Kharak Singh, Brig Gurdip Singh (retd) , Principal R. Singh and Col P.S. Randhawa (retd). The participants felt that the past practice of the political parties had been to contest the SGPC elections as a subsidiary extension of their political activity. The participants, however, wanted that essential screening of candidates be made obligatory by representatives of Panthic bodies which do not themselves enter the electoral fray. Voters should also be educated so that they vote for only such candidates as have a total commitment to the Panth and the cause of gurdwaras, unfettered by loyalty to a political party. There was complete unanimity amongst the representatives of these leading Panthic bodies that it should be acceptable to the SGPC to constitute a group of devoted Sikhs who may be deputed to filter a list of such “sewaks” who are appropriately qualified to be members of the SGPC and that political parties, according due deference to Panthic primacy, should provide cooperation in supporting such nominated candidates. |
Maheshwari loves Punjabi food Jalandhar, June 14 “Punjabis are so warm, always ready to help others,” was Maheshwari’s first remark during a chat with The Tribune at the local NIFD centre, where “Kalakriti”, an exhibition of artefacts, was organised today. “I have a lot of Punjabi friends in Mumbai also and they are very accommodating,” said Maheshwari, who hails from Chennai. “Another thing which is memorable is the Punjabi cuisine, particularly spicy paneer. Paneer preparations in the South are not like the ones prepared in Punjab,” said a gleaming Maheshwari. She disclosed that she was passionate about Bernard Shaw’s writings. Talking about her college days and her ambitions, she said her titles had not brought her satisfaction. “Originally, I was planning to be a doctor, but all of a sudden my focus shifted for I wanted to attain instant fame which was not possible in a short period in a profession like medical science. She said,” The most satisfying factor in the fashion world is that one is always surrounded by people which makes one feel important. “I want to set up my own business, probably and advertisement agency. I am planning to pursue MBA for the purpose. Maheshwari has done Bachelors in English Literature from Chennai’s Ethiraj College About her
marriage plans Maheshwari said, “I will definitely marry when I come across my guy. |
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Plea
to set up panel to probe genesis of terrorism Chandigarh, June 14 Dr Dayal said such a commission was required to be set up to bring out the truth in this connection and identify the faces who promoted terrorism in the state. He said Mr Badal played the communal card in some of the byelections held in the state in the recent past. He is likely to play this card more prominently in the forthcoming assembly elections. Mr Badal had turned away from the Moga declaration where he had promised to promote Punjabiat. Quizzed
about the possibilities of his party’s alliance in the assembly
elections, Dr Dayal said the party had not decided its electoral
partner yet but as the BSP had stopped playing casteist politics, the
CPI would probe the possibility of a tie-up with that party in the
elections. He made it clear his organisation would not enter into
alliance with any communal party in the state. In other words he ruled
out the possibility of an alliance with the SHSAD and the Akali Dal
(Amritsar). He said as the Congress had not taken a stand against the WTO agreement, the CPI would have reservations to enter into electoral alliance with the Congress. However, he said the Congress had a secular character and was the principal opposition party in the state. He
said the WTO would ruin the country and Mr Badal was just opposing it
on paper and doing practically nothing to stop the enforcement of the
agreement in this part of the country. |
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Jt
Director, PR, dismissed Chandigarh, June 14 The order says as the “grave nature of allegations contained in the charge sheet having been proved in the findings of the inquiry officer, which have been accepted by the competent authority and with the concurrence of the Punjab Public Services Commission, the Governor of Punjab is pleased to order the dismissal from service of Mr Jagdip Singh Chauhan with immediate effect”. The order has quoted the letter number of the PPSC vide which it gave concurrence to award the punishment of dismissal from government service to Mr Chauhan. It says Mr Chauhan failed to rebut the findings of the inquiry officer. He was given reasonable opportunity to explain his position relating to the charges contained in the charge sheet. The main charge against Mr Chauhan, who remained on deputation with the Mandi Board a few years ago, was that as head of the publicity branch in the board he got published a tender notice for printing 5000 calendars only. However, subsequently with “malafide intention” he ordered the printing of 2,80,000 calendars without obtaining any orders from the competent authority. “ This act of Jagdip Singh Chauhan constituted a grave misconduct, irregularity and serious breach of financial propriety”. In view of such charges a regular departmental inquiry was ordered against him by the competent authority (the minister), according to the dismissal order. |
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IMA against Bill on private hospitals Amritsar, June 14 In a statement, Dr Hardeep Singh Deep, President of the IMA, suggested that the right procedure was to allocate powers to the Punjab Medical Council that registers all allopathic doctors and medical establishments with a committee of doctors, instead of empowering the state-government. The Council members said the proposed move amounts to bringing private enterprises under the government system whose working was likely to be inefficient as was the case in other government controlled departments. They further said allocating powers to the Punjab Medical Council would only be an extension of the Parliament Act under which the Medical Council of India (MCI) was designated powers to inspect all medical and dental colleges and hospitals attached to these for recognition. At the time when the Punjab Government’s own medical colleges are under threat of being derecognised it was not in a favourable position to take up the management of private health services,” they added. The members also decried the likelihood of the proposed fine and imprisonment for not cooperating with the selected nominees of the government. |
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No respite from power cuts Amritsar, June 14 Power supply to the Chherata area remained suspended from 7 a.m. on June 11 till 7 a.m. on June 13. Residents of the majority of the areas tell the same tale of woe. For the past more than a month, power shortage has hit the city but the problem has not been addressed yet. Unscheduled power cuts have become a constant feature. Mr Satya Pal Dang, veteran CPI leader, suggested to the Chief Minister, Mr Parkash Singh Badal, to address the problem in ‘sangat darshan’ programme. Rise in temperature had added to the plight of people, he said. Water supply had also been affected. Meanwhile, complaints of fluctuation in voltage resulting in damage to electrical equipment are also coming. |
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PATHANKOT ROUND-UP Pathankot Stating this at a function organised by the Small Savings Department at Gurdaspur, Deputy Commissioner B. Vikram said a target of collecting Rs 191 crore had been fixed for the current financial year. More than Rs 6 crore was collected in April. He appealed to the people to invest more in small savings for a better future and all-round development of the state. Mr Shamsher Singh, District Savings Officer, said that more than 600 agents were helping the department make small savings schemes a success. He said the district had won a tractor, three Maruti cars and 500 gm of gold under lucky coupon schemes for investors. *** The district administration has assured the people of Narote Jaimal Singh block that adequate arrangements will be made to counter the menace of floods. A team of the District Flood Control Committee headed by the Additional Deputy Commissioner, Gurdaspur, gave the assurance after visiting villages situated on the banks of the Ravi and its tributaries of Jalalia, Ujh and Tarnah. The team said steps would be taken to ensure that no village remained cut off from the rest of the country during the rainy season. *** Mr Braham Parkash, who works in the office of the Garrison Engineer (E&M), has sought a thorough probe into corruption by certain senior officers. In a letter to the President of India, he appealed for an investigation into allegations of corruption and misuse of power by these officers. He said the probe should be entrusted to the Chief Vigilance Commissioner of India as the matter involved national security. *** The Anti-Reservation Front, Punjab, has appealed to the President of India to honour Mr Tarun Tejpal of Tehelka.com with the Padma Shri and ensure proper security arrangements for him. Mr Davinder
Saini, president of the front, said the NDA government had brought a bad name to the nation. Those involved in “defencegate” should not be allowed to go unpunished. He said the Tehelka tapes had exposed the dubious character of certain politicians. |
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Steps to curb female foeticide Kapurthala, June 14 He said if any case of female foeticide came to their notice, legal action would be taken against the institution that involved in the practice. Consultation committees were being formed at the district headquarters and subdivisional level to educate people against the female foeticide, he said. |
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Survey of TB patients ordered Ropar, June 14 This decision was taken at the meeting of the District Tuberculosis Control Society held here yesterday. As many as 616 tuberculosis patients have been identified in the district. These include 267 patients who have severe infection and 349 who need short-term treatment. However, out of these, only 100 patients were being treated at BBMB Hospital and 94 at the Ropar Civil Hospital. |
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Bitta questions validity of Indo-Pak talks Mansa, June 14 Speaking to mediapersons at Kotdharmu village in the district at Gurdwara Maharaj Jang Singh (Kukian da Gurdwara), Mr Bitta said a number of rounds of talks had been held in the past, but no significant result was achieved and terrorist activities had
witnessed a sharp increase at the time of the talks. The AIATF chairman asserted that before the talks, the Indian Government should press for the immediate release of 54 prisoners of the Kargil war, who were languishing in Pakistani jails, and also the handing over of dreaded terrorists like Paramjit Singh Panjwar, currently living in Pakistan. He said the working of the intelligence agencies, including the Intelligence Bureau (IB), Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) and the CBI be streamlined and made independent without any political interference in their functioning by forming a separate committee for the purpose. Mr Bitta advocated necessary changes in the constitution and political system of the country. Commenting on Khalistan supporter Jagjit Singh Chauhan’s desire to return to India, he said the move would prove detrimental to the peace of the state. He alleged that Ms Rajinder Kaur Bhattal, former Chief Minister, had been implicated in a false case by the state government in connivance with
Congressmen. Mr Bitta was here to participate in a function held to commensurate the death anniversary of Maharaj Jang Singh. He also visited the residence of Maha Singh, a freedom fighter and a close associate of Netaji Subash Chander Bose at Bhame Kalan village in the district and presented him a memento on behalf of the AIATF. Later Mr Bitta addressed a workers’ meeting at Boha and Budhlada towns in the district. |
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Chauke in grip of hepatitis-B? Chauke (Bathinda), June 14 Though the local Civil Hospital claims that two deaths have taken place in the past more than a year, the residents feel that all untimely deaths during that period have been due to hepatitis-B. Ajaib Singh was suffering from hepatitis-B for the past many days. The district authorities claim that only two deaths have taken place due to hepatitis-B in
village. Official sources said surveys conducted in the recent past 39 persons had found at least 38 persons suffering from hepatitis-B. The district health authorities have been holding health education programmes in the village. Dr S. Nevatia, District Malaria Officer, when contacted, said unregistered medical practitioners, who often used syringes to treat residents had played a havoc with their lives. He said the incubation period of hepatitis-B virus ranged from 15 days to 180 days. He pointed out that a few days ago the Deputy Commissioner had visited the village and ordered registration of criminal cases against these practitioners. He said the district health authorities had surveyed this village with 1295 houses and a population of 8,700 thrice. He claimed that most deaths in the recent months had been due to other ailments. He denied that all deaths had taken place due to hepatitis-B. He said a rapid response team (RRT) had been deployed in the village to check the spread of disease |
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Naughty monkey captured Bathinda, June 14 The people of the city had been urging the civil and police authorities to tackle the problem for many days. When the authorities failed to do any thing, the aggrieved people asked the Sahara Jan Seva to help them. The organisation formed a team of six volunteers and chalked out a programme to capture the monkey. The task was not easy as the beast did not stay at one place for long. He changed his hiding places many times in a day. The Sahara worked for three days to get rid of the monkey. Mr Vijay Goel, president of the organisation, said Sahara team caught the monkey at Kila Mubarak. But it escaped from there. They were chasing the monkey since 5 a.m. and could capture it only at 2 p.m. Most of the victims of the monkey were in the area of Hira Chowk.The Sahara team chased the monkey through Hira Chowk, Sirki Bazar, Sadar Thana area and ultimately caught it at the Multania road. |
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Ordinance on Panchayat Act approved Chandigarh, June 14 About three months ago, the Council of Ministers headed by Mr Parkash Singh Badal had cleared the proposal to effect certain amendments including the percentage of members to be elected directly and indirectly to the block samitis and zila parishads in the state. The elections of these bodies have been held up for the past two years due to this reason. |
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Probe auction of hotel site: Cong Amritsar, June 14
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Mentha farming picks up Nawanshahr, June 14 Claiming this, Mr Mohinder Singh Dosanjh, convenor, District Crop Diversification and Produce Marketing Association, told this correspondent here yesterday that the association had entered into an agreement with the Indoment Agro Products for the cultivation of mentha. The high-quality mentha roots would be provided by Indoment. With this the area under mentha cultivation would double in the district. Indoment had provided mentha roots for 1365 acres. Mentha oil would be purchased by Indoment at the rate of Rs 520 per kg. Besides, a number of plants to extract mentha oil had also been set up in Nawanshahr and Jalandhar districts and Indoment had reserved as many as five furnaces exclusively for extracting oil from the mentha crop sown by the farmers whom it had supplied mentha roots. A progressive farmer, Mr Balraj Singh of Rehipa village, had set up a mentha oil extracting plant at Chahal Khurd under an agreement with Indoment and another such plant had also been set up at Karyam by a farmer and distiller from the Malwa region, added Mr Dosanjh. Besides, the farmers had also been showing keen interest in sowing basmati 386, whose seed had been supplied by Pepsi. The association under an agreement with Pepsi had supplied 700 kg of basmati 386 seed for 100 acres in the district. This variety would be purchased at a rate of Rs 1,200 per quintal by Pepsi. Now a number of farmers had entered into agreements with Pepsi for the cultivation of basmati 386, Mr Dosanjh added.  |
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Power cuts affect farming Patiala, June 14 Paddy transplantation was affected in large parts of the state due to wide spread power cuts. Both agriculturists and the urban sector have been hit by the power shortage. Agriculture sector night groups comprising districts of Patiala, Tarn Taran, Nawanshahr, Jalandhar, Ferozepore, Sangrur, Ludhiana, Amritsar, Ropar, Faridkot, Hoshiarpur, Khanna , Kapurthala, Gurdaspur, Muktsar, Batala and Mohali were the worst affected for the past few days, though small cuts were also imposed on the day groups. Board officials said the night groups got around five hours of power for the past two days and the day groups got a little more than seven-and-a-half- hour supply. They said the day groups in the border area were the most comfortably placed getting nearly the full quota of eight hours of supply. However, the people of the villages dispute these facts, saying that they had hardly received any power for the past two days for agriculture use. Moreover, single-phase power to villages for domestic purposes was also severely affected. The government had directed the PSEB to supply power for domestic use to villages between 4 to 7 am and between 6 to 9 pm. Villagers complain that the supply in the morning and evenings was not being maintained regularly. According to the board sources, the genesis of the recent crisis is the tripping of one unit of the Lehra Mohabbat and Bathinda thermal plants. They said while the Bathinda plant had been
synchronised, the Lehra Mohabbat plant was likely to be synchronised today. They added that the Lehra Mohabbat plant had developed a fault because of a generator. The third unit of the board at Ropar which has been closed for the past two months, is expected to start functioning by June 20. Board officials are pinning their hopes on the Lehra Mohabbat plant to take them out of the present crisis. With the power demand still exceeding the supply, the board has decided to continue with the power cuts. A three-hour cut has been imposed on all category I urban, industrial and rural feeders. The cities will experience a one-hour rotational cut. Peak load restrictions remain in force from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. and weekly offs will continue. Meanwhile, according to reports from the district, farmers have started using their own “load jumpers” and fuses on power lines to ensure they do not trip resulting in damage to scores of small transformers in the region. This is causing problems to the board which is finding it difficult to get replacements. |
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Farmers released Bathinda, June 14 The farmers who were arrested due to the non-repayment of loans were released this morning, on the orders of district administration. Nine farmers were arrested for the non-repayments out of which four were released earlier as their relatives had paid the instalments. The five farmers including Karnail Singh, Ranjit Singh, Surjit Singh, Jaggar Singh and Jora Singh, werre released today morning after the BKU(E) activists reached a compromise with the administration. Mr Jhanda Singh Jhethuke, district president of the BKU(E), alleged that the efforts of the state government were not tallying with their actions. One of the culprits manufacturing fake pesticides was arrested from Goniana town of the district, a few months back, the same person shared the chair at a Kisan mela held recently, he alleged. The activists later organised a victory procession. |
Sujanpur MC gets Rs 25 lakh Pathankot, June 14 Earlier, Mr Badal laid the foundation stone of the Block Development and Panchayat Office at Sujanpur and announced a Rs 10-lakh grant for the construction of the office. On his arrival here yesterday, he was welcomed by Mr Sat Pal Saini, Minister for Information and Technology, MLA, Mr Rakesh Sharma, Chairman, Market Committee, Jathedar Bharat Bhushan Sharma, Jathedar Hardeep Singh Lamini and others. Mr Badal announced a grant of Rs 25 lakh to the Sujanpur Municipal Council for development projects. He also announced a stadium for the people of the Sujanpur. Mr Badal handed over cheques for Rs 2.5 crore for various development projects to 135 panchayats. |
Man kills beautician, commits suicide Abohar, June 14 |
Move to change eligibility norms decried Amritsar, June 14 In a memorandum to the Vice-Chancellor, Mr H.S. Soch, the students of the department have expressed reservations about the reported move. The bachelor’s course in physiotherapy is an allied medical course of four-and-a-half years whereas the latter is only of a one-year course. Their eligibility after the completion of one year will put the former at an obvious advantage. |
Entrepreneurs dump projects Bathinda, June 14 Many entrepreneurs of the area have moved applications with the Punjab State Industries and Export Corporation
(PSIEC) for a refund of the amounts deposited against the industrial plots at the Industrial Growth Centre of this city. Work on Guru Gobind Singh Refinery began only a few weeks ago. The foundation stone of the refinery was laid by the Prime Minister amongst much fanfare. But even after two-and-a-half years, only its boundary wall has been built. The district has been categorised as industrially backward and many schemes have been devised by the state government for the upliftment of the area. The industrial growth centre was set up here with the help of the Union Government, which had spent about Rs 75 crore on its development. Sources said that the industrial plots were allotted to the entrepreneurs at Rs 150 per square yards, whereas even today land for industrial purposes was available at about Rs 100 per square yards, on the state highways. Most of the plots are lying vacant as not many entrepreneurs have set up units in centre, the sources added. Mr
M.R. Madan, press secretary, Consumer Welfare Council, Bathinda, said that no facilities have been provided by the government in the centre. Infrastructural facilities as promised by the
PSIEC, while the plots were allotted have not been given. No water, sewerage, power supply connections have been provided. The power supply is through the rural feeder for only eight hours a day and the water supply lines are choked, added Mr
Madan. The entrepreneurs were promised that the plots with 24-hour power supply would be allotted within six months, but they have been allotted after four years, he alleged. Mr Major Singh, one of the allottees of the industrial plots, has applied for a refund of application amount to the
PSIEC. |
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