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| Thursday,
May 30, 2002, Chandigarh, India
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Dheera ready to disclose all Patiala, May 29 According to sources, Dheera has apparently had a change of mind after the government has taken action against all officers who were selected during the tenure of jailed PPSC Chairman Ravinder Pal Singh Sidhu. In the application filed before Judicial Magistrate (First Class) Ranjit Kumar Jain, who had recorded his earlier statement made under Section 164, he had pleaded that he wanted to make a supplementary confessional statement. The Vigilance Bureau has been asked to file a reply on the plea tomorrow. Dheera reportedly told sources in the Central Jail yesterday that he was ready to cooperate with investigation agencies fully now, raising speculation that he may even go beyond the statement given to the Vigilance Department under Section 161 in which he had named 62 persons who had bribed as well as used their contacts to get jobs through the PPSC. Later, while giving a statement under Section 164, he had only given information about 31 names, allegedly leaving out those who had been selected on the recommendations of members of the judiciary as well as other powerful persons. However, surprisingly, contrary to claims by Dheera that he was sick and could not record his statement properly in an application filed again before Mr Jain, sources said Dheera was at presently the most stable among all the “touts” of the PPSC Chairman who are lodged in Central Jail. They said Dheera had complained of back ache and anxiety related problems, including chest pain, but was in a much better condition that the other “touts”, all of whom are admitted in the jail hospital along with Ravi Sidhu. The sources said the condition of Prem Sagar, a businessman from Moga, was the most serious out of the lot. He is suffering from diabetes, hypertension and coronary heart disease. They said there had even been fresh changes in the ECG of Sagar after being put in judicial lock-up. They said Panjab University Senator Paramjit Singh Pammi was suffering from blood pressure besides having problems in breathing. The scam kingpin Sidhu is also suffering in jail, having reduced 5 kg to 6 kg of weight after being sent to judicial lock-up. Sidhu is, however, fighting back attempts to get him treated at the local Government Rajindra Hospital by not getting any
specialty test conducted during his recent vist there. Sidhu had earlier asked that he be referred to the PGI, Chandigarh, claiming that the local doctors could be inimical towards him. Jail sources, however, said this could not be done by them and it was for the Rajindra Hospital authorities to recommend his
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Jagman’s bail plea rejected Ropar, May 29 Opposing the bail application, the public prosecutor stated that if bail is granted to Jagman there is an imminent danger to his life. Jagman Singh had become an approver and had made a statement before a magistrate under Section 306 of the Cr P.C. and under the said Section, he was not entitled to the concession of bail until the termination of the trial. While counsel for Jagman made an oral prayer before the court that Jagman be released on an interim bail because his wife was pregnant and was in advanced stage of
pregnancy. On the other hand, the public prosecutor stated that Jagman Singh was the material witness of the prosecution. If interim bail was granted to him then accused may kill him to frustrate the case of the prosecution. Meanwhile, the judicial remand of Randhir Singh, alias
Dhira, and Prem Sagar, accomplices of Mr Sidhu, was extended till June 13 next in the PPSC recruitment scam by Mr
A.S. Kathuria, Special Judge, Ropar. In another case related to the junior engineers’ recruitment scam in the Department of Rural Development and Panchayats, Punjab, the judicial remand of Kuldeep Singh,
DDPO, was today extended till June 13 by Mr A.S. Kathuria, Special Judge. Baldev Singh, Chief Engineer, another accused in the case, was also today further sent in judicial custody till June 13. |
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Bar association to intensify
stir Chandigarh, May 29 After holding an hour-long general house meeting, the members resolved to send a copy of the memorandum to the Supreme Court of India, besides Bar Councils and associations of different states, to inform them of the reason behind their agitation. The members also decided to file detailed applications for the restoration of cases dismissed in default by the Judges following non-appearance of advocates during a day-long token strike yesterday. The members, however, refused to boycott the court of the Chief Justice, or any other judge allegedly involved in the PPSC scam — at least for the time being. Criticising the decision to dismiss the cases in default, the members, earlier during the day, asserted that the Chief Justice and other Judges should have co-operated with them. “They should have realised that we are trying to cleanse the institution and fight corruption in the judiciary,” said advocate H.S. Nagra. “Our attack is not aimed at any one in particular, but against the crumbling justice delivery system”. Agreeing with him, advocate I.S. Balhara added that the lawyers should first file applications for the restoration of cases and observe the attitude of the Judges. “If the cases are not restored even after the filing of the applications, then the advocates will fight it out,” he asserted. Claiming that the dismissal of cases in default was not something unheard of, advocate Bhim Sen Sehgal said such action had been taken by the Judges many a times during the past 25 years. “The action has merely exposed the weakness of Judges,” he stated. “They just cannot face the members of a united Bar Association”. Calling upon the advocates to act “in a strong manner”, he suggested, “the advocates should go to Rashtrapati Bhavan and knock the door of Parliament members in groups of five,” he concluded. It may be recalled that the advocates, in their memorandum, had stated that the “transfer policy of the High Court Judges should be made more transparent”. Regarding the appointment of Judges, they had quoted Supreme Court judgements stating that the government had no right to send their proposal in this regard after by-passing the Chief Justice concerned. |
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HIGH COURT Chandigarh, May 29 In one such petition, Surinder Kaur claimed that independent agency had not been appointed for looking into the allegations. Her counsel had contended that ideally investigations were required to be conducted in each and every case, otherwise an independent agency should be appointed for reaching a definite conclusion. She had added that her academic record had been brilliant. Her counsel had added that neither money was paid, nor was any kind of influence used. In another such petition, Paramjit Singh had earlier sought directions to the state of Punjab and the Punjab Public Service Commission to reinstate him with effect from the date of his initial appointment with all consequential benefits, including seniority and arrears of salary. Terming the order “colourable exercise of power” and “stigmatic”, counsel had added that it could not have been passed without conducting an inquiry into the allegations or giving the petitioner an opportunity of explaining his position. The case will now come up for further hearing on May 30 for considering the prayer for stay.
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Scams galore in Social Security Dept Amritsar, May 29 One of the biggest scams that surfaced was to the tune of Rs 23 crore in which pensions were allotted to ineligible persons for huge amounts of money in exchange. Similarly, another scam came to light involving a sum of Rs 16.8 lakh in which the money returned from various villages after it remained unclaimed was siphoned off to several bogus bank accounts which were opened in the name of the department by officials to skim off the money. At least four banks then were reportedly involved in the scam which had at least 17 bogus accounts. Many women who facilitated the vicious circle were also arrested. There were, however, only the tip of the iceberg as these were just a part of the inquiry reports of the city and a few suburbs. The inquiry report by Dr Rishipal Singh, Assistant Commissioner for grievances was hidden from public view, alleged Mr Satya Pal Dang, who had vigorously pursued the matter of pensioners with the Social Welfare Department. His suspicion was reinforced when an unstarred question by the CPI MLA, Mr Hardev Arshi, in the last Vidhan Sabha session was modified to delete the portion referring to the tabling and publishing of the report of Dr Rishipal without the consent of the MLA. It all started with a clever scheme of imposing of 10 per cent surcharge on sales tax which is one of the biggest source of state finance. The money thus charged was in the name of social security fund not liable for audit by the
CAG. However, before anyone could question the validity of the fund an amount to the tune of crores of rupees was already made admissible in the account. Later, the scheme was held unconstitutional by the high court. |
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A TRIBUNE FOLLOW-UP Chandigarh, May 29 Sources said that at least two officers, who have remained associated with the recruitment process of the teachers, have also been deputed to make an inspection of degrees. They should not have been associated with the inspection process, a senior officer of the Education Department said. All persons to be deputed for inspection of the degrees should have been taken from the examination branch of various universities in Punjab, he said. Officials working in the examination branch of such universities have the expertise to identify and check the fake degrees and they know of all institutions involved in awarding fake degrees in the country. On the directions of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, the Secretary, Education (Schools) has appointed four separate panels to inspect the academic degrees on the basis of which teachers were recruited by the various selection committees against the vacant posts of JBT teacher. Taking a suo motu notice of the news item which appeared in “The Tribune” on May 14 under the heading “Fake degree holders get teacher’s posts”, the Court passed an order on May 17 directing the Secretary Education to present a status report prepared on the basis of scrutiny of degrees undertaken by him to the court within eight weeks. It may be mentioned that the previous government had invited applications to fill 7230 posts of JBT teacher. These posts were thrown open also to candidates holding the degree of B.Ed and others with higher qualification as only 3,700 EET trained candidates, who were actually eligible to apply for these posts, were available to fill these posts in the state. As many as 40,000 B.Ed trained candidates had applied for these posts, but after preparing their merit list only about 17,000 were called for the interview while all ETT trained teachers were invited for it. It has come to light that a large number of candidates had procured fake B.Ed degrees to secure jobs. Most of these degrees were procured from unrecognised institutions in Uttar Pradesh. |
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HIGH COURT Chandigarh, May 29 Ahluwalia was apprehending arrest in a first information report registered by the police at Patiala under Sections 420, 415 and 120-B of the Indian Penal Code, besides under the provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act. As per the FIR, registered on the complaint of the members of the Joint Action Committee, funds earned through self financing courses, and from other sources, had been
misutilised. Claiming to have been implicated in the case, Ahluwalia had submitted that the committee was formed by persons having vested interests in order to oust him from the VC’s post. Hypothecated vehicles The Punjab and Haryana High Court, in a significant judgement, on Wednesday ruled that forcible repossession of hypothecated item by a creditor, without the intervention of the Court, could involve commission of an offence. Delivering the verdict, Mr Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel of the High Court further ruled that the nature of offence committed would depend upon the facts of an individual case. The judgement is significant as the police in both the states of Punjab and Haryana, besides the Union Territory of Chandigarh, was receiving a large number of complaints regarding the snatching of hypothecated vehicles by the financiers with the help of musclemen. In his detailed order, Mr Justice Goel held: “A hire purchase agreement may in substance be a loan transaction and the label of such an agreement is not conclusive. It is open to the Court to determine whether a particular agreement is loan transaction or a hire-purchase agreement. In a loan agreement for financing goods on hypothecated basis, the creditor cannot forcibly repossess the hypothecated item, though he can enforce the security through the Court.” The Judge further held: “If a specific clause is inserted in an agreement authorising the repossession of a vehicle or any other good by the
hypothecatee, such a clause may be unconscionable, unless otherwise shown by the
hypothecatee”. In his petition, Tarun Bhargava had earlier sought directions for quashing a first information report registered in October 1995 at a police station in Gurgaon under Sections 392, 323, 506 and 120-B of the Indian Penal Code. According to the prosecution, the complainant had alleged that he had purchased a car through the petitioner but it was snatched away by him with the help of duplicate keys. |
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Convention to elect ‘real’ SAD chief Moga, May 29 Addressing mediapersons here, Mr Tohra gave a call to all like-minded Sikh organisations and honest Akalis to come together on a common platform and constitute a “new and real Akali Dal”. Mr Tohra accused former Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal of being corrupt. When asked if Mr Badal would be allowed to join the “new Akali Dal”, Mr Tohra said there was no place for “such corrupt people” and he would be allowed to join the new Akali Dal only when he got a clean chit on corruption. He claimed that within a week when he gave call for Akali unity and revival of the real and traditional Akali Dal a large number of senior Akali leaders were approaching him to join after resigning from Mr Badal’s Akali Dal.
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SAD (A) ready for zila parishad
poll Phagwara, May 29 The decision to hold elections for these bodies was good but the timing was not, said Mr Jaskaran Singh, who has been made party in charge of
Fatehgarh Sahib and Patiala district for the elections. He said the party demanded the deferment of the elections because a large number of people had migrated from the border districts because of tension on the Indo-Pak border and they would not be able to take part in the elections scheduled for June 9. However, the party had started shortlisting the names of candidates and would announce them soon, he declared. The party would field candidates with clean image, he said. Mr Jaskaran Singh, who is co-convener of the 11-member study panel for border areas, claimed on his return from his third visit to border districts of the state that the border residents did not want war. He said he visited border areas of Ferozepore city, Gurdaspur, Patti, Khemkaran, Abohar, Fazilka, Atari, Ajnala and other parts of Amritsar district. |
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9 file nominations for poll Dera Bassi, May 29 Accompanied by their supporters, the aspirants visited the office of Mr Amarjit Singh Dhindsa of SAD, who is also the returning officer for the poll. Those who filed their candidature included Mr Rangu Ran for Handesra, Mr Sant Ram and Mr Jasbir Singh for Kheri Gujran, Mr Jagtar Singh and Mr Bahadur Singh Jharmari for Jharmari, Mr Mohan Singh for Amlala, Mr Vijay Kumar and Mr Jaswant Singh for Malikpur and Ms Geetanjali for Pandwala zones. the Pandwala zone is reserved for women. Tomorrow is the last day for filing nominations while the scrutiny will be done on May 31. The date for withdrawal has been fixed for June 1, while the elections will be held on June 1. Meanwhile, no nomination was filed for the Zila Parishad zone. |
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BSP for tie-up Phagwara, May 29 |
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Novel campaign
against drug abuse Jalandhar, May 29 In Qazi Mandi and Bhim Nagar, having a domination of people from Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra and known as “smack hubs” of the Doaba region of Punjab drug peddlers were having a field day attracting hundreds of youths daily from Hoshiarpur, Nakodar, Kapurthala, Tarn Taran and Adampur. Finally the residents decided to take action on their own against the drug addicts. The residents, who alleged that “police patronage” to drug traffickers had emboldened them to such an extent that they had started selling drugs, mainly smack by even putting up “pharis” during the past two months in the area had to initiate action as their complaints to the police authorities had failed to elicit any response. They alleged that the two localities had turned into a big market of smack which was sold in pouches costing between Rs 50 and Rs 500. As a Tribune team reached Qazi Mandi today, witnessed a different scene as young residents were guarding all entry points to the Mandi and the adjoining Bhim Nagar under the leadership of Mr Varinder Sharma and Mr Gurdial Singh, chairman and president respectively, of the newly formed Social Welfare Society. Any stranger was grilled and his or her hands were checked for any burn marks to ascertain whether he or she was an addict or not. If he or she failed to give any satisfactory answer to the question why he or she had come the place, they would be thrashed till they told the truth. “Till now we have caught over 70 youngsters, all aged between 12 and 25. They had come from different towns and cities to get smack from here. “Most of them, who repented, have been handed over to their parents and those who did not have been sent to the police authorities,” said Mr Varinder Sharma, who was present at a naka with some other residents. They alleged that the police had failed to contain drug peddling in the locality and other parts of the city and had “rather patronised it”. The peddlers, according to the residents, had their links in Delhi, from where they brought the consignments of smack. Mr Sharma said the trade was continuing under the nose of police officials of Division 8 and the residents had got no respite despite numerous complaints to the higher police authorities. A number of addicts caught by the residents admitted that smack was available at much cheaper rates in the two localities for which they used to come here. |
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Jacob visits border areas
Khem Karan (Amritsar), May 29 The Army officers and jawans were in high spirits when Punjab Governor Lt-Gen J.F.R. Jacob visited them today. General Jacob, himself a hero of 1971 war with Bangladesh which had got him the pvsm for his “pivotal” role in the surrender of Pakistani forces, said he was “very happy” to be in the midst of jawans, who have always defended the frontiers of the country. He said, “the country is safe and secure in the hands of defence personnel”. “Bole so Nihal”, “Wahe Guruji Ka Khalsa Wahe Guru Di Fateh”, “Jai Hanuman”, “Bharat Mata Ki Jai” and other slogans rent the air repeatedly as General Jacob visited the border areas of Khem Karan, Valtoha and Patti. At each place he met all jawans and officers present and sought to know their problems way back at home so that he could make a contribution in getting them resolved. But all jawans told him that they were fully prepared to follow any command on the borders. The Army officers apprised him of the prevailing situation and preparations made to handle it. General Jacob gave the tips and suggestions to the officers. Residents of the Khem Karan village where the general stopped for a short while, told him that they had witnessed action in the past and were prepared now also. “Being close to the border we are aware that problems are bound to be there, but the security of the country is most important”, the villagers told General Jacob. The villagers told the Governor that the cheques for compensation to them given by the government were not being cleared by the banks even after one month of their being deposited. General Jacob asked Amritsar Deputy Commissioner S.S. Puri to take up the matter with the banks concerned which should immediately encash the cheques. The Governor also assured compensation to the daily labourers, who pointed out that they were unable to get work due to tension in the area. Meanwhile, General Jacob laid a wreath at the memorial of Company Havildar Major (CHM) Andul Hamid of 11 Infantry Division, known as “tank hero”, who had destroyed three patron tanks and played a key role in halting the march of Pakistan Army to Amritsar in the 1965 war. Abdul Hamid had died while trying to blow up the fourth tank. He was later on posthumously given Param Vashist Chakra (PVC) for his valour and courage displayed. General Jacob laid a traditional “chadar” at the memorial. PTI |
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Ferozepore gears up for
war Ferozepore, May 29 Disclosing this to mediapersons at joint press conference here yesterday, Mr D.K. Tiwari, Deputy Commissioner, and Mr Praveen Kumar Sinha, Senior Superintendent of Police said relief camps had been established for migrants and efforts made to ensure social security in these camps. The SSP said it had asked local intelligence agencies to strengthen their network. An inter coordination cell had been established under the command of the SP (Detective) to ensure better understanding between the Army, local intelligence and civil authorities. For the effective implementation of civil defence, a committee had been constituted comprising government officials, NGOs and civilians.
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Army officer killed
in border firing Jalandhar, May 29 His body will be cremated with full military honours at his native Kaki Pind village on Friday. The Captain was killed while he was supervising fire operations and was hit by the enemy bullet as he had come out of his bunker to take stock of the situation. Son of Lieut-Col (retd) Avtaar Singh Parmar, Satnam Singh is survived by his wife, a three-month-old son and three brothers. His body was flown from Srinagar to Chandigarh, from where it was shifted to the military hospital, Jalandhar, according to Mr Sukhbir Singh Parmar, a brother of the deceased. Captain Satnam Singh, who becomes the first Army officer belonging to the Doaba region, to lay down his life while fighting the enemy during the ongoing border squirmishes, had joined the Army in 1997.
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Govt seeks World Bank aid for
healthcare Ropar, May 29 Talking to mediapersons here last night, Dr Ramesh Dutt Sharma, Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare, Punjab, said after improving health services in hospitals in urban areas the government now wanted to strengthen healthcare facilities in rural hospitals, primary health centres and subsidiary health centres to achieve the goal of “health for all”. Dr Sharma said the state government would soon introduce a plan in civil hospitals to help poor and needy persons. He disclosed that under this plan, powers would be given to SMOs of the civil hospitals to help needy persons with money, collected through “parchi” (hospital’s examination slip), X-rays, etc. He said the SMOs would be empowered to spend 5 per cent of this collected amount on poor patients. Dr Sharma said the state government would provide medicines free of cost to TB patients for six months from October 2 next under the revised National Tuberculosis Control Programme in eight districts, including Ropar. He said a survey would be conducted to identify the TB patients in the state. Regarding elections to block samitis and zila parishads in his Assembly constituency of Anandpur Sahib, Dr Sharma said the Congress had finalised the names of candidates for this area. He said Congress nominees would contest on the party symbol on all 22 block samiti seats and three zila parishad seats in his constituency. |
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Emu pairs for zoos in Ludhiana and Patiala
Chhat Bir (Patiala), May 29 Resembling the ostrich, the Emu is a flightless bird that can run at a speed of over 40 km per hour. It is an inhabitant of the desert areas. Only four or five zoos in India have the birds and are breeding them successfully in captivity. The month-old Emu chicks have been brought from Mr. Sasusman, a Pune-based bird dealer, for Rs 13,000 each. The birds were air-lifted from Pune to Delhi and the cost was borne by the dealer. The birds were transported to Chhat Bir Zoo by the authorities later. It may be recalled that Mr R.K. Luna, former Zoo Director, had procured a pair of emus from the same dealer after paying Rs 40,000 in October last year. The cost factor has raised many eyebrows. When contacted Dr Vinod Sharma, Chief Warden (Zoos), Punjab, disclosed that a pair of chicks would be sent to the Ludhiana zoo in a week or so. One Emu pair has already been been sent to the Deer Park in Patiala. Under its animal and bird exchange programme, a pair of baboon will be procured from Lucknow zoo against the third pair of Emu chicks. The Lucknow zoo has also agreed to gift a pair of wolves to Chhat Bir Zoo, claimed Dr Sharma. He said an old enclosure in the Patiala Deer Park had been renovated to keep the birds. While a new enclosure had been constructed at Ludhiana zoo for the Emu pair. With the arrival of these birds, Chhat Bir, Deer Park in Patiala and Ludhiana zoo would come in the list of zoos having emus. The pair of wolves from Lucknow would add to the variety of zoo inmates at Chhat Bir. |
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Paucity of funds hits development
work Nawanshahr, May 29 Under the project, Hudco is to provide 80 per cent of the total cost as loan and the remaining 20 per cent is to be shared by the local municipal council. The Punjab Water Supply and Sewerage Board (PWSSB) has received the first installment of Rs 47.46 lakh and Rs 22.22 lakh for providing sewerage and water supply facilities in the town under the project. The PWSSB, has laid the sewerage and water supply lines in ward No. 4 and 7, made the water works set up at Heeran Jattan locality operational and linked it with the interior localities of the town to augment the water supply. The PWSSB is facing difficulty in getting another installment of the loan from Hudco as the local municipal council has failed to contribute its 20 per cent share in the first installment and pay the installment of interest on loan due to paucity of funds. Apart from the paucity of funds, lack of coordination between different departments has also been causing hindrance in executing the project. The PWD (B&R) authorities had demanded Rs 20.58 lakh as road cutting charges to provide the sewerage facility to the colonies developed on the Rahon road, though the total cost of project itself was much less. The matter was taken up with the authorities concerned to charge the minimum amount but in vain. The road is being widened and reconstructed on a war footing by the Punjab Infrastructure Development Board, this would not only further enhance the cost of the project but also damage the road whenever the PWSSB gets another installment from HUDCO, leading to sheer wastage of public money. Residents have urged the Chief Minister, Capt Amarinder Singh to look into the matter and to take appropriate steps to ensure proper coordination between different departments so that wastage of public money and inconvenience to the people could be avoided. |
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NPA abolition: Docs to hold
dharna Ludhiana, May 29 In a statement, Dr Hardeep Singh, state president, Dr Surinder Singla general secretary and Dr Puneet Girdhar state president of the PCMS (Dental wing), said they had given a call for dharna. Dr Hardeep Singh termed these moves as anti-people and anti-doctor. He said the banning of the
NPA, a special allowance given to a doctor for duty that involves 24 hours work, medica legal action, VIP duty and conducting a post-mortem examination, would increase proportion of absenteeism. The association also condemned the move to terminate the whole batch of doctors under the anti-corruption drive of the government and threatened that the association would start statewide protest if the decision was not reversed. |
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Janshatabdi to link Ferozepore with Delhi Bathinda, May 29 Mr Singla, who toured about 20 villages of the Bathinda Assembly segment in the past two days, said he had got the signatures of about 116 MPs on a representation to the Union Railway Minister, Mr Nitish Kumar, for introducing the train between Ferozepore and New Delhi via Bathinda. He said this was one of the long pending demands of the residents of at least six districts in the state. Mr Singla pointed out that the state government had also arranged an interest free loan of Rs 800 crore for providing potable water and other civic amenities in the rural areas. |
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Moga advocates extend strike Moga, May 29 |
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PSEB to supply 8-hr 3-phase power Patiala, May 29 |
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Punsup Inspector gets judicial remand Mansa, May 29 |
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Randhawa: no plan to reorganise
dists Faridkot, May 29 He was referring to reports published in a section of the Press a few days ago regarding the reorganisation of Nawanshahr, Fatehgarh Sahib, Moga, Muktsar and Mansa districts which were created by the previous Congress governments in the state. The minister said the government had also reversed its earlier proposal to abolish six police districts, including Khanna, Jagraon, Barnala, Batala and Tarn Taran keeping in view the security of the state, besides the war-like situation on the border. He said the government had decided to stop the non-practising allowance (NPA) shortly to about 7,000 doctors working in government hospitals. This step would save Rs 80 crore to the state exchequer yearly. He said the government had worked out a plan to generate Rs 1,800 crore to provide uninterrupted power supply for eight hours to farmers. No decision had been taken to abolish the free power and water supply facilities being give to agriculturists, Mr Randhawa said. |
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District grievances panels after Budget Ropar, May 29 Talking to mediapersons here last night, Dr Ramesh Dutt Sharma, Minister of State for Removal of Grievances, said the government had already appointed official members including the Deputy Commissioners and the SSPs, on the district-level committees while Assistant Commissioners (Grievances) had been appointed secretaries of these district-level committees. Dr Sharma said MPs, MLAs, and representatives of ministers of the district concerned, representatives of recognised political parties, ex-servicemen, social workers, traders and mediapersons would also be the members of these committees. The minister said the government had fixed a term of three years for district Public Grievances Redressal Committees and subdivisional-level committees. He said each complaint, received by the committees, would be redressed within three months. Besides, these committees would only take up public interest grievances and discourage individual complaints, he added. Dr Sharma claimed that the government would increase the powers of these committees with a view to providing justice to people. Dr Sharma said the meetings of these committees would be held on 12th of every month. |
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6 cops suspended Amritsar, May 29 Mr Narinderpal Singh district police chief said serious complaints were received against the traffic police for extorting money from visitors who came here for sight-seeing and for paying obeisance at Golden Temple or Durgiana Mandir. He added, these officials stopped vehicles with registration numbers of other Districts and States and visitors in the vehicles were harassed on flimsy grounds for extracting money. A special team was formed to check the malpractice. The team succeeded in trapping more than six police officials allegedly involved in the extortion. These police officials have been suspended, he claimed.
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Chhina new SSP of Jagraon Chandigarh, May 29 |
Two gangs of supari killers
busted Jalandhar, May 29 Their interrogation revealed that Nurmahal based PCO owner Ajay Kumar used to act as a link between the gang and had struck deal with Sohan Singh, for which he charged Rs 45000. Another gang of “Supari” killers comprising Amarjit Singh Rana, Didar Singh Billa Satnam Satta, Gurjit Fauji and Gurmit Singh Kaka, nabbed recently by the Hoshiarpur police had confessed having killed Punjab-based relatives and adversaries of NRIs living in the UK, the USA and the Germany. The gang, according to Ms Gurpreet Deo, SSP, Hoshiarpur was also involved in robbery, snatching and dacoity. |
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Theft of wheat worth Rs 68,200 detected Bathinda, May 29 Acting on a tip-off the police raided Bhagwati Rice Sheller, Rampura Phul, 35 km from here, today and recovered 220 bags of wheat worth Rs 68,200. The wheat was sent to this firm by Baldev Singh and Iqbal Singh, Manager and Inspector, respectively, of the Punjab State Warehousing Corporation (PSWC) from a godown by a truck which was to be sent to the railway station from where a special train was to carry the wheat to other states. Mr Ishwar Singh, district police chief, said that we had information that the manager and the inspector of PSWC had been diverting wheat to some rice sheller for personal gains. He added that Baldev Singh and Iqbal Singh, escaped with official record. The driver of the truck, which carried wheat to the rice sheller, Makhan Singh had been arrested. He added that Sham Lal, owner and Kiranpal, agent of the rice sheller were also involved in the pilferage. Kiranpal Singh, agent escaped scaling the wall. The SSP said PSWC high-up would be approached for the physical verification of wheat stock in the godowns. A case under Sections 406, 408, 420 and 120-B of the IPC and Section 7 of the Essential Commodities Act had been registered. Meanwhile, Mr Amritpal Singh Brar, President, Punjab Young Farmers Federation, said that the federation would urge Punjab Chief Minister, Captain Amarinder Singh to set up a special task force to detect scandals. |
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Police ‘refuses’ to
register FIR of dowry victim Jalandhar, May 29 Mr Arvind Sharma, father of the victim, in a complaint submitted to the local SSP here today, alleged that he, along with his daughter Ragini, had visited Police Station No 8 several times for the registration of a case against her husband, who would beat her
up for bringing inadequate dowry. He said Ragini was married Kamal Sharma on December 9, last year. Even as he had spent huge amount on the marriage, her husband would thrash Ragini for bringing inadequate dowry. Talking to this correspondent, Ragini alleged that though she had made several visits to the police station for the registration of her complaint but the police officials refused to do so. Mr Arvind Sharma has demanded strict action against the erring police officials. |
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GND varsity Dean’s PA
booked for graft Amritsar, May 29 University authorities decided to register a case against Rakesh Kumar based on the reports of Parmanand who claimed that Rakesh had managed to secure admission through unfair means. The university then got an FIR registered against Rakesh for his admission into MCA thereby exonerating university officers involved.
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Boy, sister killed in accident Jalandhar, May 29 According to the police, the bus rammed into the scooter. Thirteen-year-old Shruti died on the spot while her brother Manav, who was driving the scooter, was admitted to the Satyam hospital with serious injuries. Later, he too succumbed to his injuries. The victims were the residents of the Adarsh Nagar locality. The driver is absconding. A case has been registered. |
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Gang of car thieves busted, two held Gurdaspur, May 29 Mr B.K. Uppal, SSP, while talking to newspersons here today, said four cars had been recovered. Two other members of the gang identified as Kashmir Singh, brother of Santokh Singh, and Vicky, financer and travel agent at Hoshiarpur, were still at large. Mr Uppal said the local police on an information registered an FIR in this regard on May 25. The accused were arrested at a naka on the Kahnuwan road here yesterday. 880 grams of charas was also seized from them. A case under Sections 379, 411, 420, 457, 458, 471 and 34 of the IPC and 20, 61, 85 of the NDPS Act has been registered. |
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Punjab PMT postponed Hoshiarpur, May 29 Answering a question Mr Dogra said as many as 363 MBBS and dental doctors were recruited in April, 1998 and 422 in December, 1998, during the tenure of Ravinder Pal Singh Sidhu, Chairman, PPSC. The Health Department had not received any letter from the state government for any action against them. The Health Minister said the purchase policy for medicines was being changed to decentralise powers. According to the new policy, medicines could be purchased according to the requirement at district headquarters. Referring to the de-recognition of MBBS degree of Baba Farid Medical University by foreign universities for higher studies, he said that the Government of India had approved the degree and had issued notification in this regard. The name of this university would now figure in the Medical Directory of the World Medical Organisation. |
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