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12 held as village groups clash Aligarh (Jagraon), March 17 After about eight months of relative peace, tension broke out between two groups of this village, one of Jats and the other a mix of Dalits and Jats too, this morning. Both groups resorted to stone-pelting. The situation took a new turn when both groups made phone calls to political leaders to come to their aid. The groups had been at loggerheads with one another for the last couple of days after the children of members of the rival groups had some argument. The matter reached a flashpoint today when Harpal Singh, alias Sukhi, of the Dalit-Jat group and Gurdev Singh of the other group had an argument over some comment. Soon, more supporters gathered and the groups started pelting stones. The Jagraon police sent a posse to control the rioters. Twelve persons were taken into preventive custody and an anti-riot police squad was deployed in the village. SSP H.S. Bhullar said SDM Gurmeet Singh and DSP Randhir Singh rushed to the site and controlled the situation. Late in the afternoon, a compromise was arrived at between the parties. It was decided that the 12-member peace committee, having six persons from each group, would meet every Monday and solve the problems. The committee would regularly inform the administration about the situation and take the help of the officials whenever required. At the instance of both groups, no case was registered. The police hoped that preventive arrests might cool their tempers. The two groups have been clashing on one issue or the another. More often than not, the issues were trivial. Major tension had taken broken out between the two groups over the laying of the foundation stone of a park in June. There were disagreements between Jats and Dalits over several issues. The administration was keeping a close tab on the situation and the police force would remain in the village for a few days. The administration was not taking any chances despite the formation of the peace committee. |
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Oppn parties match govt hoardings with posters Ludhiana, March 17 In violation of the explicit instructions of the EC, private and public property is also being defaced with impunity and all political parties are guilty of such violations, without attracting any penal action. The authorities have failed to remove the hoardings highlighting the achievements of the government from several strategic locations. As a result, all political parties have gone overboard with their posters and banners announcing public meetings, welcoming senior party leaders, etc, leaving virtually no space vacant. A number of buildings of state and Central government offices and most of the private buildings have their boundary walls covered with posters. Party workers, in their zeal to please their paymasters, have not even spared the pedestals on which the statues of martyrs like Kartar Singh Sarabha, Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru stand. Some of the affected owners of private buildings alleged that owing to no action, the parties were having a field day. In a few cases, objections to the posters have been met with a rude or highhanded response. The Deputy Commissioner, Mr Anurag Verma, who is also the District Election Officer, being out of town, was not available for comment. However, inquiries revealed that the administration had so far not initiated any action under the Prevention of Defacement of Property Act against the campaigners for the Lok Sabha elections. |
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Bogus vet caught with protected animal Ludhiana, March 17 The Chinese Government had recently ordered the mass killing of the animal as it was found to be the main carrier of the deadly SARS virus.
The activities of the accused came to light when some neighbourers complained to the police about foul smell emanating from his clinic. When the police raided his place late last night, some residents were already there. The police called for wildlife officials after finding the animals. Mr Gurbans Singh
Bains, SHO, said the police found some dead dogs and pups inside the clinic. It was alleged that he had starved the animals to death. The residents claimed that several animals had died in the past too but
Mr Gurdarshan Singh, Range Wildlife Officer, said the prize catch was the recovery of the civet. The Wildlife Department had taken the accused into custody. Mr Sandeep Jain, president of the People for Animals, said the accused had a kennel and would treat some animals. He had worked with a veterinarian for sometime and had learnt some skills. Weeping profusely, the accused said he was the only earning member of his family and had four minor children. He said he didn’t know that civet was a protected animal. |
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Dehlon police washes its hands of paper-leak case Mandi Ahmedgarh, March 17 Police sources said the police investigation had revealed that the alleged fax by some person two days ago was not made from Dehlon as alleged by the DEO and thus fell the case the jurisdiction of the Malerkotla police. Confusion, however, prevailed over the issue as it was yet unclear how the paper was actually leaked and who was the sender of the fax. While the case was yet to be registered by the Sangrur police, the DEO at Ludhiana had given a clean chit to all examination centres falling under the jurisdiction of his office. The DEO office at Sangrur, on the other hand, had ruled out all chances of paper leak from the centre at Malerkotla. Mr Avinash Sethi, DEO, Ludhiana, had made a complaint to the Dehlon police in connection with the reported leak of the maths paper of class X of the Punjab School Education Board. In his complaint, Mr Sethi had alleged that the paper had been stolen from some centre at Malerkotla and was later faxed from Dehlon to a Hindi daily being published from Jalandhar. Sources at Dehlon police station said the complaint had since been endorsed and sent to the Deputy Superintendent of Police at Dakha to be forwarded to the DSP, Malerkotla, for action. Dehlon police further maintained that preliminary investigation had revealed that the document was not faxed from any of the PCOs at Dehlon. Sources at the DSP office, Dakha confirmed having received a complaint from Dehlon. Giving a clean chit to all examination centres falling under his jurisdiction, Mr Sethi said: “My staff had checked various examination centres including Adarsh Senior Secondary School at Dehlon, before the opening of the centre and packets containing the question papers were found to be in order.” Referring to information received from officials of a Hindi daily, he said a question paper had been faxed before the opening of the centre for examination on March 15. The PCO owner had told him that the person carrying the question paper had come from Malerkotla side. This made him construe that the paper had been stolen from Malerkotla. Dr Maghar Singh, DEO, Sangrur, was unhappy to learn that some centre under his jurisdiction had been named in the complaint. He said all examination centres in his area were working fine and no such incident had been brought to his notice either by the Board authorities or the public. Mr Joginder Singh Aulakh, president, Gazetted Education School Services Association, has criticised the board for not handling the issue properly. |
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Exam officials shifted Mandi Ahmedgarh, March 17 Mr Sethi, had made a massive change in the staff at the examination centre on March 10. Nine examinees were caught using unfair means. Disturbed by the action, the guardians of examinees met senior party leaders who reportedly impressed upon the authorities to change the Superintendent and Deputy Superintendent. The two officials performed their duties only for one session on March 13. Mr Avinash Sethi, DEO said the centre had been working properly since he made the changes. He, however, expressed ignorance about any change in staff at the examination centre and said, “Controller of the centre might have made the reported changes.” Mr Harnek Singh, controller, said all changes were made by the district office only. |
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Akalis join Lok Bhalai Party Ludhiana, March 17 Addressing a gathering, Mr Ramoowalia said the “dictatorial” style of functioning of Mr Parkash Singh Badal, SAD chief, had been exposed following the expulsion of leaders like Mr Gurcharan Singh Tur and Mr Inderjit Singh Zira. He said the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee had also supported his candidature. Commenting on the industrial sector, he said the faulty policy pursued by the successive governments had resulted in loss of capital. Our neighbouring states are giving incentives and a majority of the local industry is shifting there. Persons educated in other parts of the country are getting employment in Punjab but our own educated youth are jobless,” he said. He promised to set up a passport office here if voted to power. He was weighed against coins at several villages. A large number of local leaders joined his party on the occasion. |
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Women express concern over diversity issues Ludhiana, March 17 A jury was constituted to hear the testimonies of victims and experts on positive alternatives to WTO prescriptions. Over 250 persons from several districts of Punjab participated. On the panel were Dr Vandana Shiva, Director, Research Foundation on Science, Technology and Ecology, New Delhi; Ms Amarjeet Kaur, Secretary, All-India Trade Union Congress; Ms Manjeet Sodhia, former Principal, Government College for Women, Ludhiana; Dr Chanchal Gupta, Dayanand Medical College, Ludhiana; Dr S.N. Sewak, a writer and renowned theatre personality; Dr Daler Singh, District Agriculture Information Officer, and Mr B.C. Chibber, an advocate. The speakers said that women in India had traditionally been the producers and conservators of bio-diversity. They had worked with wheat and atta for ages and would not allow the patenting of traditional foods by multi-national corporations (MNCs). The various presentations and speeches conveyed that the policies of the World Trade Organisation were destroying our farms, access to healthy food, and the right to natural resource. This was creating inhuman conditions by turning humans into a disposable commodity, especially women. In Asia, 70 per cent of the women worked in food production, they pointed out. Dr Shiva said that with industrialisation and world-wide trade, food had come to be produced where labour was cheap and environment laws weak. Agricultural inputs from MNCs (seeds, fertlisers and herbicides) had flooded rural areas, driving out indigenous products and pest-control systems. In addition, MNCs had manipulated the genetic structure of seeds and were distributing these seeds widely, pressurising farmers to adopt this new technology, she alleged. The wisdom of genetic modification had been questioned, she pointed out. Women entrepreneurs raised the issue of lowering water table. A woman farmer talked about the aggressive attitude of male farmers towards her. Among those who participated in the discussions were Dr Arun Mitra, Dr Rajinder Pal Singh Auluck, Ms Jit Kumari, Maj Sher Singh Aulakh, Ms Gurcharan Kocher, Ms Avtar Kaur, Ms Barjinder Kaur, Dr Balwant Singh, Dr Hiti Mahedru, and Dr
Jalees. |
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“Virsa Punjab Da” released Ludhiana, March 17 The book, authored by Dr Gurcharan Singh Mohay, has 20 chapters, on subjects like fairs, celebrations, rituals, marriages, poetry and ‘kissas’ of Punjab, most relevant to the culture and heritage of Punjab. Popular folk songs, proverbs and art forms inherent to the Punjabi way of life have been discussed meticulously in the book. |
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Nomination papers for the post of general secretary Sutlej Club, of Mr Sunil Jain and Mr Yogesh Bansal, were rejected by the returning officer (RO), Mr M.S. Jaggi. They have alleged that their nomination papers were rejected ‘unconstitutionally’ by Mr Jaggi after the scrutiny on Tuesday. OC
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4 injured in
attacks Khanna, March 17 In another incident, four persons attacked Dheeraj Kumar who was going to his house after closing his shop. He has been admitted to the Civil Hospital.
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Muthoot Group services launched Ludhiana, March 17 Mr Geroge said the group had a turnover of over Rs 5,000 crore and a network of over 650 branches spread across 10 states in the country. The group was striving to strengthen its network in Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.
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