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Officials caught napping
Khaira questions benefits
to Rana’s companies
Urge to delay paddy transplanting
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Farmer cannot harvest own crop
Woman devotee rounded up by Pak agencies
Auto-rickshaw strike puts students in lurch
‘Need to restructure NRI Sabha’
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Officials caught napping
Jalandhar, April 20 It was for the first time in four years that such a large number of government officials were put to a surprise test. The DC began his surprise inspections from the office of the District Transport Office at about 9.15 am. As many as eight Class II, III and IV employees were found to have arrived late. Thereafter, Mr Verma inspected the offices of the Tehsildar, Jalandhar-I and Sub-Registrar, Jalandhar–I, where the Tehsildar, Jalandhar-I and Naib Tehsildar, Jalandhar-I were found to be late along with as many as 11 Class III and IV employees. In the office of the Tehsildar, Jalandhar-II, and Naib Tehsildar, Mr Verma learnt that the Tehsildar was late. Two Class III and IV employees of the office were also late. During the surprise checking of the Assistant Excise and Taxation Commissioner, Jalandhar-I, as many as four Class III and IV employees were found late. Taking a serious note of the situation, the DC has demanded an explanation from the DTO, Tehsildars, Jalandhar-I, and Jalandhar II, Naib Tehsildar, Jalandhar–I, and AETC Jalandhar-I. Mr Verma has also asked that a report be submitted to him carrying comments of the erring officials within a week. According to the DC, surprise inspections were also conducted in the offices of the Shahkot sub-division by the SDM, Shahkot. In the Shahkot tehsil, a Naib Tehsildar and a Registry Clerk were found absent and their explanation has been called for. While in the office of the Nagar Panchayat, Shahkot, the Executive Officer, a Junior Engineer and a SO were found to be late in their offices. For this, the Deputy Director, Local Bodies, Jalandhar has been asked to call their explanation. Mr Verma warned officials that strict action would be taken against those, who were found absent or late during future periodical surprise inspections. |
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Khaira questions benefits
to Rana’s companies
Jalandhar, April 20 Showing documents of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG), Mr Khaira claimed that two of the beneficiaries under the scheme were profit-making companies owned by Jalandhar MP Rana Gurjit— Rana Polycot Limited at Abohar and Rana Sugar. He demanded that the Chief Minister must recover the amount or else he would file a PIL on the issue. However, Rana Gurjit Singh, when contacted, said the equities were bought at interest rates ranging from 19 to 21 per cent and the policy was made by the Chief Minister, Capt Amarinder Singh, and the state Cabinet. “The policy is for the industry in general and not for loss-making units only,” he claimed. He said the Chief Minister must be first asked about the policy of the government. He added that the equities that were bought must be looked at from a technical angle. “The case has been wrongly interpreted. The matter is about equity and not loans,” he said. But Mr Khaira alleged that several profit-making companies were provided with benefits under the scheme at the behest of bureaucrats. Quoting a report in this regard by the CAG, he alleged that the government had registered a loss of Rs 40.66 crore on account of the faulty policy, allowing one time settlement to profit-making units owned by the MP. He said an amount of Rs 17 crore was given to Rana Polycot and Rs 14.08 crore to Rana Sugarunder the scheme, the total benefit amounting to Rs 40.66 crore. |
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Urge to delay paddy transplanting
Kapurthala, April 20 The DC instructed Mr Manohar Singh, the Chief Agriculture Officer, to motivate farmers to wait for June 15 as per the directions of the Punjab Agricultural University to transplant paddy in order to get a good yield and save underground water. A news highlighting transplantation of paddy was published yesterday. |
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Farmer cannot harvest own crop
Kapurthala, April 20 Last year too, some other claimant of the land had harvested the crop sown by Jaswant Singh. A complaint in this regard is pending with the SSP, Kapurthala. The 60-year-old farmer alleged that one Satnam Singh, resident of a locality near Aujala Railway crossing in the town, reached his field on the night of Thursday last week with a combine to harvest the produce. On the intervention of the president of the Punjab Human Rights Organisation, Ms Kavita Singh, the police took away the combine and the accused. But Jaswant Singh rued that no action had been taken thereafter. He said that Satnam Singh was claiming his right on the land measuring 46 kanal and 17 marlas, though he had been cultivating it for the last 40 years. He said his name too was registered in the revenue records as cultivator (kaashtkaar) of the said land, which actually belongs to the state government. Moreover, he said he had a status-quo order from the court since 2004. The DSP said the police was investigating the case.
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Woman devotee rounded up by Pak agencies
Amritsar, April 20 The unidentified devotee was not allowed to return along with other Jatha members who arrived in India today. Recently, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, while flagging off the Amritsar- Nankana Sahib bus at Amritsar, had announced that he would take up the matter of linking Gurdwara Kartarpur Sahib with Gurdwara Dera Sahib. Mr Jasjit Singh Bhullar, an independent SGPC member, claimed that the woman, who was among the 40-member Jatha that had gone to Pakistan from Jammu, could not return to India, as she was detained by the police for filming at Gurdwara Kartarpur Sahib. The SGPC member who was part of the Jatha, said the Pakistani police had claimed that the woman was taken into custody, as she had not taken the prior permission from the authorities for filming. He said it was a sensitive issue, which could snowball into a controversy and impede the progress already made for providing a corridor between Dera Baba Nanak and Kartarpur Sahib. He said video filming was also not allowed from the Indian side of the border at Dera Baba Nanak.
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Auto-rickshaw strike puts students in lurch
Jalandhar, April 20 Meanwhile, the police has asserted that the guidelines issued by the Punjab and Haryana High Court pertaining to stipulated passenger carrying capacity of auto-rickshaws would be implemented in toto and there would be no laxity on this front. But thousands of common residents faced discomfort, as auto-rickshaws in the city went off the roads all of a sudden from 8 pm on Wednesday. They however resumed work this afternoon after getting an assured from the police that their genuine grievances would be redressed at a meeting next week. As news of the strike spread, frantic parents of school going children were seen making beelines to schools to drop and pick-up their wards in the morning and in the afternoon. The parents rued that they were not informed in advance about the strike neither by school authorities nor by the auto-rickshaw drivers. “Our entire plan for the day got shattered, as I had to go and pick up my son from school,” a parent here complained. Meanwhile, auto-rickshaw drivers gave a vent to their ire by alleging that they were being harassed by the police without any valid reason. “They don’t spare us even if there are two or three school children in our vehicle. Most of us have taken loans from various sources. If we are not allowed to carry students and passengers, then how can we pay back the loans?” Ved Parkash, an auto-rickshaw driver, alleged. He said the strike had been lifted, but the matter, he added, would remain unresolved till a final meeting with police officials. Mr Opinderjit Singh Ghumman, SP, who reportedly persuaded auto-rickshaw drivers to shun strike, said the guidelines issued by the court about the passenger-carrying capacity of the auto-rickshaws would strictly be adhered to. “We are, however, in the process of making auto-rickshaw drivers aware about the court guidelines,” the SP said. Police sources said that to weed out the problem, schools, which were devoid of buses would be asked to acquire buses, so that there was no need of auto-rickshaws, as far as ferrying school children was concerned.
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‘Need to restructure NRI Sabha’
Jalandhar, April 20 Demanding a review of the constitution of the Sabha and the restructuring of the body, the members, including various district heads, rued that even the elected president of the Sabha did not have all the rights which had been given to the chairman, a bureaucrat. The Sabha’s president, Giani Resham Singh, said the executive committee members must be elected and not nominated, “so that the members cannot be changed when the next president or chairman comes to office”. The members further demanded that all the functionaries of the Sabha must be NRIs only. The NRIs regretted that the Sabha’s constitution had failed to help them because of “inbuilt loopholes”.
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