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Hola Mohalla festival begins
Anandpur Sahib, March 13 The three-day fair began with religious prayer by Jathedar Tarlochan Singh, along with head granthi, Sukhwinder Singh, and head granthi of Darbar Sahib, Gurbachan Singh, at Takht Shri Keshgarh Sahib Gurdwara, in the morning. The town wore a colourful look and was full of activities. The gurdwara was decorated, devotees with saffron and blue turbans could be seen everywhere.
Nihang Singhs wore blue traditional dresses, heavy turbans and along with their horses they camped here. They will display their martial art on the last day of the festival. Since morning, all roads leading to the town witnessed villagers coming on trucks, tractor-trailers, while youths carrying saffron flags reached here on their motorcycles. The locals have set-up community kitchen along the roads and are serving langer, tea and other eatable to devotees. To make their presence felt the political parties too have set up hoardings. Chief Minister, Capt Amarinder Singh, the PPCC president, Mr Shamsher Singh Dullo, and other Cabinet Ministers will be here to address the political
conference tomorrow. while the Akali Dal (Badal) are banking upon the SAD president and former Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, the senior Akali leader Capt Kanwaljit Singh, Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa, Sukhbir Badal, the SGPC president Avtar Singh Makkar and former president of the SGPC Bibi Jagir Kaur. The small-time shopkeepers from Himachal and the state have set up temporary vends to sell their
goods during the festival. As many as 10-duty magistrates and about 1,500 police personnel have been deployed in the town to maintain law and order. On this occasion, the Deputy Commissioner, Mr H.I.S Garewal, here today inaugurated an exhibition.
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Upgrade facilities at Amritsar airport, says M.S. Gill
Chandigarh, March 13 Talking to The Tribune on the telephone today, Mr Gill said he was not satisfied with the Rs 80 crore upgradation and renovation plan of the existing
airport. “If there could be Rs 4,000 crore each for the expansion plans for Mumbai, Delhi and other airports, then why not Rs 800 crore for Amritsar airport? Unlike other parts of India, there is only one international hub for both passenger and cargo traffic in the North, i.e. Delhi. And if Amritsar is developed as the second cargo centre in North India, it will give a great boost to the economy, benefitting not only farmers and industrialists of Punjab but also of neighbouring Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir,” said Mr Gill maintaining that he would continue to raise the issue both in Parliament and the Consultative Committee of Parliament on civil aviation. Mr Gill said the facilities at Amritsar airport needed to be
upgraded. The number of Customs and Immigration clearance counters needed to be increased. More baggage conveyor belts needed to be provided for the speedy clearance of deboarding passengers. Progress on the upgradation of facilities had been very slow. “I suggested that the Prime Minister should inaugurate the new expanded airport in Amritsar later this year,” Mr Gill added. He said that other than international connectivity, it was also important that Amritsar was served well on the domestic sector also. “There is an urgent need to connect Amritsar with cosmopolitan cities like Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai to give a fillip to trade, business and industry,” said Mr Gill hoping that both Jet Airways and Kingfisher would soon bring Amritsar on their air map. Mr Gill said the Delhi-Amritsar-Birmingham-Toronto flight would soon become a daily
flight. "I have already taken up the matter with the Union Civil Aviation Minister, Mr Prafulla Patel, for better connectivity of Amritsar. There is an urgent need to connect Amritsar with New York and Vancouver besides London. “I am hopeful that Jet Airways will start its Amritsar-London flight soon. Air- India would do well to introduce a flight from Delhi to London for onward connectivity to Toronto. Besides, there should be a direct flight from Amritsar to Toronto as the number of passengers deboarding at or boarding from Birmingham is very small. If Air Canada can fly direct from Delhi to Toronto, then why not Air-India? “I also requested the Civil Aviation Minister to consider asking Air Canada to shift its Delhi-Toronto operations to Amritsar as most of the passengers utilising this service are from Punjab. Similarly, British Airways could also be persuaded to start operations from Amritsar," Mr Gill added.
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Govt cut development expenditure, says CAG
Sarbjit Dhaliwal Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, March 13 The CAG report for the financial year ended March 31, 2005 was tabled in the Punjab Assembly today. Two highlights of the report can be a cause of worry for all concerned. Although revenue has decreased, the continuous application of borrowed funds largely to current consumption and debt servicing indicates the increasing unsustainability and vulnerability of the state’s finances. The increasing ratio of fiscal liabilities to the gross state domestic product (GSDP) together with a substantial revenue deficit indicated that the state was gradually getting into a debt trap. “ The state’s high-cost borrowing for investments, which yielded very little returns, indicated an implicit subsidy”, states the report. The most serious indication in the report is regarding the curtailment of the developmental expenditure. “The proportion of the developmental expenditure in total expenditure declined from 49 per cent in 2000-01 to 44 per cent in 2004-05”, says the report. Elaborating on this, the report says that the expenditure on general services, which are primarily non-developmental in nature, increased from 49 per cent in 2000-01 to 55 per cent of the total expenditure in 2004-05 and the expenditure on social services declined from 22.72 per cent in 2000-01 to 20.09 per cent. “Thus, it is non-developmental general services which have gained at the expense of development services. Interpreted in this light, reduced expenditure would denote a loss of development impetus in the more important areas of governance”, adds the report. Obviously, the CAG report will become a tool for the Opposition to take the state government to task. Debt against the state was Rs 47,403 crore, which was 44.14 per cent of the GSDP. The measures being taken to stem the growth of debt such as putting a cap on debt, the phased reduction of debt, strict control on expenditure and a cap on short term-debt proved insufficient as the fiscal liabilities of the state increased by 64 per cent from Rs 28,957 crore in 2000-01 to Rs 47,403 crore in 2004-05. The government saved Rs 4,704.64 crore from Rs 30,831.78 crore, the amount which was voted for expenditure. And a major chunk of this saving of money was from important sectors such as agriculture and forests, education, health and family welfare, irrigation and power, local government, rural development and panchayats. Saving of the money from such important sectors obviously amounted to impeding the development process. The PWD (Building and Roads) has come under “attack” in the CAG report. It says that the “ the construction and maintenance of the national highways, which is done by the PWD of the state, with funds provided by the Union Government, highlights the administrative failure of the state government in the areas of planning, coordination and monitoring of works as also the technical failures of the department in the execution of construction and maintenance works”. Instead of utilising the funds released by the Union Government, the state government spent its own resources on the construction of national highways which are assets not belonging to the state. “The state could have utilised such funds on the construction and maintenance of its own assets”, adds the report. Substandard technical supervision and unsatisfactory financial management have been highlighted in the report. The CAG report says that of the Rs 333.91 crore allocated by the Union Government, the PWD failed to utilise Rs 54.76 crore during the period April, 2000 to September, 2004. Of claims totalling Rs 67.41 crore submitted by the PWD for reimbursement during 2000- 04, a sum of Rs 8.63 crore was withheld by the Union Government on account of excess estimates or irregular expenditure, causing a loss to the state. The upgradation of three national highways by spending Rs 119.57 crore by the state government from its own funds resulted in an extra burden on the state exchequer.
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AG objects to fresh loss of Rs 63 crore
Chandigarh, March 13 Some of the beneficiaries are politically well-connected. This is the second time in the past one year that the AG has pointed out irregularities in allowing concessions to industrial units that have defaulted on payments. In a communication last month, the AG said the PSIDC caused a loss of Rs 63 crore to itself and the government. Among other cases it has been mentioned that concessions were given to Fertichem Costpin Limited, Supreme Yarns Limited and Abhishek Industries even though these were profit-making units. These benefits caused a loss of Rs 51 crore. This is also the biggest case mentioned in this round of objections. The terse note of the AG says: "Besides being against the principles of financial prudence, these benefits were against the financial interest of the PSIDC as well as that of the Punjab Government". The AG has refused to entertain the explanation of the management of the PSIDC which claimed that it had implemented the policy of the government without any deviation. These may figure in next year's report of the Comptroller and Auditor-General (CAG) of India. In another case the AG says the PSDIC considered the matter of Suraj Solvents despite knowing that it was not a sick unit
case. The unit was actually making a profit. The loss to the government was Rs 6.53 crore. The company was not even entitled to the concessions, says the AG. Among other matters, the AG says, is the "irregular sanction of a Rs 1.06 crore loan" to Moltin Exports Private Limited. In another case the PSIDC and the Punjab Financial Corporation allowed another profit-earning unit, Kudos Chem, to avail itself of concessions. The total loss to the government was Rs 4.74 crore. The PFC's share was Rs 1.88 crore while that of the PSIDC was Rs 2.86 crore. The Punjab Government, in the past four years, has passed on benefits worth Rs 286 crore under the OTS policy to various sick units. The AG has questioned just some of these cases. In July last year the AG had questioned a loss of Rs 28.88 crore and this now figures in the report of the CAG for the year ended March, 2005. The report was released in the Punjab Assembly today. In this, a loss of Rs 26.58 crore was incurred while settling the accounts of Rana Gurjit Singh and Mr Rishi Oswal. Another loss of Rs 2.28 crore was incurred while settling the accounts of Ms Bubli Brar, a daughter of a former Chief Minister.
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Losses of 7 PSUs touch Rs 990 crore
Chandigarh, March 13 The paid-up capital of these companies was Rs 241.15 crore, says the report for the financial year ended March, 2005. The report was tabled in the Punjab Assembly today. The CAG report says the accounts of 38 companies and five corporations were in arrears for periods ranging between one year and 31 years. Separately, the report has also come down hard on the Punjab Financial Corporation, saying it delayed matters for one year before taking over 230 industrial units that had defaulted on payments. A sum of Rs 174 crore was to be recovered from them. Also, the PFC did not take over another 161 units that had defaulted on payments totalling Rs 85.40 crore. The PFC did not fix criteria for the takeover of such defaulting units. There is no system for the periodical submission of financial results and annual accounts of the units. The PFC has no consolidated record of assets it had mortgaged while giving loans. Also the PFC recovered only 37.3 per cent of its total outstanding dues during the period 2000 to 2005, says the CAG report. On the Punjab State Electricity Board, the CAG report says the labour cost of repairing transformers at workshops of the PSEB was higher than what private parties charged. This caused a loss of Rs 15 crore in the past five years. In another example the CAG report says the Punjab Agro Foodgrains Corporation suffered a loss of Rs 23.84 crore as rice millers misappropriated 17,553 tonnes of rice. Out of the 14 defaulting millers the company had lodged FIRs against 11. In one case a miller got away despite causing a loss of Rs 3.23 crore as his concern was a joint venture with the corporation itself. Also, the company allowed millers to give an output of 64 kg to a quintal of paddy which was lower than the specified 67 kg. This caused a loss of Rs 2.15 crore. The Punjab Agro Industries Corporation suffered a loss of Rs 14 crore while allowing settlement under the one time settlement policy. The CAG says the beneficiary, a sugar mill, was a wilful defaulter and was earning profit. Thus, there was no need to allow such concessions. The Punjab Warehousing Corporation failed to obtain a letter of credit and release of rice without adequate bank guarantee. This resulted in the non-recovery of Rs 5.25 crore. Also, the corporation lost interest of Rs 3.85 crore on rice that was not lifted for export, the CAG report said.
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Protest over demolitions stalls MC budget session
Amritsar, March 13 Holding black flags and wearing black arm bands, the shopkeepers and residents of the area with the active support of councillors of the Congress, Communist parties and BJP, took out a protest march from Putlighar to the Municipal Corporation office at Town Hall. The budget session was to begin at 4 p.m. However, a large number of people along with their area councillors Mr Surinder Choudhary (Congress), Mr Pramod Babla and Mr Amarjit Singh Assal, District Secretary CPI, reached the venue well before the time to register their protest. Ms Laxmi Kanta Chawla, state BJP vice-president, also addressed the
protesters at Town Hall and resolved to stall the proceedings of the House as long as the issue of shopkeepers was not resolved. Mr Assal informed that the protesters would also stage a dharna whenever the meeting of the House was called in future. When contacted Mr Om Prakash Gabbar, Deputy Mayor, denied that meeting of the House had been postponed following agitation of people and said that it had been done as Mr Raj Kumar and Mr Jugal Kishore Sharma, both MLAs, were in Chandigarh. Expressing solidarity with shopkeepers he said besides providing alternative places to run their businesses, shopkeepers must also be compensated for the loss suffered due to damaged goods. Earlier, the demolition of 27 kiosks was carried out under heavy security as at least eight shopkeepers from the affected shops had ‘‘volunteered’’ to hang themselves in full public view to protest against the demolitions.
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BJP workers burn Singla’s effigy
Sangrur, March 13 Earlier, they took out a protest march from the local BJP office to the Traffic Lights’ Chowk here and raised slogans against the Finance Minister. They were protesting against the remarks of the Finance Minister regarding former Prime Minister Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee. Mr Singla had referred to Mr Vajpayee as an enemy of Punjab while presenting budget proposals in the Punjab Assembly recently. They also submitted a memorandum to the Deputy Commissioner in this regard to forward the same to the Punjab Governor, demanding immediate dismissal of Mr Surinder Singla. The protesters also held a rally in the DC office complex, which was addressed among others by Mr Satwant Singh Punia; Mr Vasudev Arya, Mr K.K. Moudgil, Mr Prem Gugnani, president, vice-president, general secretary, respectively, of the district unit of the BJP; Mr Lalit Kumar Garg, district president of the Legal Cell of the BJP; and Mr Jatinder Kalra, a local BJP Municipal Councillor.
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SGPC revives Sikh Itihas Board
Amritsar, March 13 The meeting was held after more than a year. The SIB, which had brought out a number of books on Sikh history during the time of renowned historians, Bhai Shamsher Singh Ashok and Mr Pyara Singh Padam, was ignored by the committee after Operation Bluestar. Mr Iqbal Singh, Media Adviser to the SGPC chief, in a press release issued here today said the SIB would publish four volumes on Sikh history. He said monographs of
Sri Guru Arjan Dev would be published by renowned Sikh historians in English, Punjabi and Hindi. Some
books, dedicated to forthcoming, Sikh centenaries would also be published by the SIB.
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Teachers’ deputation in UT for limited period
Chandigarh, March 13 In future there would be a limit on the number of years a teacher could be posted on deputation in Chandigarh, Mrs Bhattal added. She assured the House that the practice of unlimited period of deputation would come to an end. There were teachers who had been on deputation for more than 20 years. At present there are 94 Punjab-cadre teachers on deputation in Chandigarh. Punjab has a quota of 97 teachers. She turned down a request from members that these teachers should be called back to Punjab where there was a shortage of teachers. “Punjab has a right over Chandigarh and by leaving vacancies in our quota we will send the wrong signal”, she added. Deputation in Chandigarh is considered a plum posting. Most teachers, who are well connected, manage to stay on. The role of “sifarish” in deputation was admitted by Mrs Bhattal on the floor of the House. The Minister for Transport, Mr Mohinder Singh Kaypee, said the construction of a new bus stand at Anandpur Sahib and the second phase of the bus stand at Hoshiarpur would start in the next financial year. A Shiromani Akali Dal MLA, Dr Upinderjit Kaur, said PUDA should set up an urban estate in Sultanpur Lodhi keeping in view the number of illegal colonies mushrooming in that area.
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Protest against recruitment of docs on contract
Sangrur, March 13 The health staff also warned the state government that if it did not accept their demands then they would intensify their struggle. The rally was addressed among others by Dr Inderjit Singla, president of the local unit of the PCMSA; Dr Makhan Singh, a PCMSA activist; Mr Swarnjit Singh, general secretary of the Punjab State Pharmacists Association; Mr Suraj Prakash, a leader of Laboratory Technicians; Mr Yash Paul, a representative of drivers; Sat Pal Dhaliwal and Mr Sat Pal Maur, both leaders of Class IV employees; and Ms Violet, a representative of Nurses.
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Rotary project for elderly kicked off
Kharar, March 13 It was inaugurated by Mr Charanjit Singh, president , Kharar Municipal Council, who presented a health care kit to Rotary health worker Harbans Singh. Former president of the council Manmohan Singh welcomed guests. Dr C.D. Verma, also a former president, said health workers would provide nursing services to senior citizens in their homes like blood pressure check-up, injection, dressing and blood sugar monitoring. Dr
H.S. Kalra, vice- president, IMA, Kharar, promised cooperation by his association. Mr Ram Murti, senior vice-president, MC, Kharar, and Mr Shashi Pal Jain were among the speakers. Mr JPS Sibia said the project could be adopted by the other Rotary clubs also.’ Mr Charanjit Singh praised the club. He donated Rs 10,000 for the project and thanked senior citizens for participating in the function.
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Cutting short the National Anthem tune
Chandigarh, March 13 The function was held yesterday, said Mr Sampla while adding that Governor S.F. Rodrigues and the Chief Minister, Capt Amarinder Singh, had served in the Army and should have known about this. The BJP has brought the matter to the notice of the President of India and demanded strict action against senior officials present on the occasion.
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52 hurt as bus overturns
Anandpur Sahib, March 13 The injured were admitted to the local Civil Hospital and 33 of them were discharged after first aid. The mishap occurred around 3 p.m about 7 km from Naina Devi when the driver of the bus (PB-13H-1786) lost control reportedly due brake failure. The bus hit the semi-hills along the road and overturned.
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Hisar youth found murdered
Bathinda, March 13 Sources said the deceased, Manoj Kumar, had come to the town on March 9 for purchasing mobile phone handsets from Deepak and Jalbir Singh. He was accompanied by one of his cousins who was also a friend of Deepak. When Manoj didn’t return home even after two days, his father, Ram Phal, came searching for him. He didn’t get any satisfactory answer about his whereabouts from Deepak’s family members. He then lodged a complaint with the Kotwali police which registered a case of kidnapping. Finally, his body, reportedly bearing many injury marks, was found near Multania Bridge today. A post-mortem examination was conducted on the body. A case of murder has also been registered and some persons have been rounded up for interrogation.
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‘Gang of brides’ rounded up
Amritsar, March 13 These two girls would decamp with jewellery and cash within a week of their “marriages”. The kingpin of the gang is from border village of Lopoke. When contacted, Mr Kewal Krishan, SP (Headquarters), refused to divulge the details. It is learnt that a number of victims of the “gang of brides” had approached the Majitha police that swung into action and rounded up the alleged accused.
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Two gas agency workers held for fraud
Bathinda, March 13 According to sources, Prem Kumar and Ratan Singh, both from Uttar Pradesh, were working in a gas agency having dealership of Hindustan Petroleum (HP). They were engaged in home delivery of LPG cylinders for the past one year. The sources said they would take these cylinders on their 'rehris' to their rented accommodation located on Namdev Marg, where they had kept an instrument to extract gas from LPG cylinders and fill up empty ones with it. The sources said they would fill up 4 cylinders by extracting gas in small quantities from 10 cylinders. and then supplied those 10 cylinders to customers after mixing water in
them. They sold newly filled cylinders either to taxi owners or hoteliers. In this way they were not only making quick buck but were also duping customers. They cashed in on LPG crisis that gripped the city sometime back when people even paid Rs 500 for a gas cylinder. The sources said the customers had also approached the agency with complaints of their cylinder finishing up early. However, their luck ran out of favour when following a tip-off, the Civil Lines police raided their home today. They were caught red-handed while filling cylinders. SHO Ranbir Singh said out of the 22 LPG cylinders recovered from their possession, 12 were filled . A case has been registered against them under Section 7 of the EC Act and Section 420 of the IPC.
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Clash leaves 2 injured
Kharar, March 13 Mr Som Nath, a member of the panchayat, said his son was attacked by a group of 10 persons in the village last night and when he went to help his son he too was attacked by the group. He said trouble started on March 9 when his son was coming back from work on a motor cycle. A youth from Nada village had parked his car in the middle of a road near Jayanti temple in the area. Some devotees were finding it difficult to move because of the wrong parking. His son then approached the youth and requested him to move his vehicle on one side. This irritated the youth from Nada who called up his friends and beat up his son. Mr Som Nath further said he then approached the police for action in the matter. Even before the police could take any action, his son was again attacked last night.
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Three killed in road accident
Sangrur, March 13 The Dhanaula police said this evening that at the time of accident Mr Mohan Lal, ASI, posted at Patiala, along with his wife, Amarjit Kaur, daughter, Manjit Kaur, son, Amrik Singh, and daughter-in-law, Gagandeep Kaur, had been travelling in the car from Bathinda to Patiala. The police said the car and the bus collided due to which the wife, daughter and son of Mr Mohan Lal lost their lives.
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Function at Kidzee El Nino
Ambala, March 13 School director Varesh Khanna said Ambala Cantt MLA D.K. Bansal was the chief guest. The programme began with Saraswati Vandana followed by a number of items, including ketchup dance, rapture dance, boogie woogie and song skits by the tiny tots. The school students wore different costumes. A number of persons from different educational institutions were present. Best in
academic went to Naavri Kathuria, Vasu Sachdeva and Siddharth Issar. Harshit Aneja was most regular student while Ritukar Awathi was awarded to all round achievement for the academic year 2005-06.
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