Chandigarh, July 19
The president of the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee, Mr Shamsher Singh Dullo, at his first major election-related meeting with Ministers and senior Congress workers in Punjab here today, asked them to reduce the number of trips to Delhi carrying complaints against each other or to lobby for the party ticket. Rather, the concentration should be on Punjab listening to people, their needs and aspirations, Mr Dullo told them.

Mr Dullo has been reportedly told by Mrs Sonia Gandhi to create an impact regarding the development work carried out in Punjab during the Congress regime which came to power in February, 2002. The Ministers have been advised to work on a larger scale to watch the interests of Punjab and not just those of their own constituencies. Also, Mrs Gandhi has not taken kindly to the frequent visits to Delhi by Punjab Congress men to lodge complaints against each other or to create the wrong impression about others. Mr Dullo had been asked to convey Mrs Gandhi's message to party men, said sources in the party.

During the meeting Mr Dullo told the ministers to get the bureaucracy to work harder during the coming months and give a push to the ongoing projects. Mr Dullo told the party men to work for the poor and strengthen the party at the grassroots level.

The Ministers were also asked to speed up development work and spread awareness about projects among the people. This was required to make an impact about development activities in Punjab which would be the main plank of the Congress in the Assembly elections in February, 2007, said Mr Dullo.

Spending of the allocated funds needed to be speeded up under the Punjab Nirman scheme, said Mr Dullo. The Chief Secretary, Mr K.R. Lakhanpal, had informed the Punjab Chief Minister, Capt Amarinder Singh, that MLAs were allocated Rs 5 crore each under the scheme.However, the release of money was inadequate. According to Mr Parminder Singh, general secretary and in charge of media affairs, a mass-contact programme covering all 117 Assembly constituencies would start on July 26 and culminate on August 11. Each district would have a Minister in charge of party affairs. The Minister would hold one -to-one meetings with people and there would be no rallies or speeches laced with propaganda, Mr Dullo said.

Besides the Ministers each district would have a vice-president and a general secretary of the PPCC. The team of party men at the mass-contact programme would include the respective district Congress chiefs, MPs and MLAs of the area. The Chief Minister, the Deputy Chief Minister, Mrs Rajinder Kaur Bhattal, and Mr Dullo himself would carry out surprise checks in the districts. The Ministers had been asked to prepare reports on each district. The grievances would be brought to the notice of the officials concerned. 

Abohar, July 19
A black buck was killed near Bahadarkhera village of this subdivision on July 15, but the Forest Department initiated proceedings today. Preliminary reports indicated that the son of a leading Punjabi film star was among the four jeep-borne hunters, but official sources preferred to wait for confirmation. Some members of the same family had reportedly been nabbed during a hunting bid in October 2001 also, residents said.

According to available information, Amar Nath of the same village reportedly informed the wildlife office here on July 17 that the abovesaid had killed a black buck and took away the booty with them in the afternoon on July 15 from near the field of former sarpanch Surinder Kumar.

The wildlife staff had refused to entertain the complaint, arguing that Bahadarkhera was not part of the wildlife sanctuary that had the largest number of black bucks in Asia. The staff referred the complaint to the Forest Department.

Two district forest range officers Satnam Singh and R.S. Pannu visited the village this evening. They reportedly found blood stains in the field and took its sample for lab test. Footprints of black buck, shoe marks of unidentified persons and marks left by the tyres of a jeep were also found.

The department was now busy preparing a case under Section 9/51 of the Wildlife Prevention Act, 1972, sources said.

Meanwhile, the investigation team could not contact Amar Nath as he had gone to attend public meetings of former Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, according to family sources.

Sangrur, July 19
In view of the ensuing Assembly elections in the state, the Sangrur district unit of the BJP has staked its claim to the Sangrur Assembly constituency for fielding its candidate. This claim was made in a representation to Mr Harjit Singh Grewal, national secretary of the party, about a week ago.

Talking to The Tribune over the phone today, Mr Grewal confirmed that he had received a representation. He said he was not in a position to say anything at this stage as the coordination committee comprising members of the SAD and the BJP would meet on August 12 in New Delhi to discuss the issue.

He said both parties would focus on winning the maximum seats to form the SAD-BJP government in the state. Seats would be shared between both parties. In the process, the number of BJP seats might increase or decrease from 23 which had been contested by the BJP in the previous Assembly elections.

He also said the BJP would change some constituencies to contest from there. The BJP would seek two or three seats in the districts of Sangrur, Bathinda, Faridkot and Moga of the Malwa-belt.

Asked that BJP workers and office-bearers of the district were emphasising on contesting Sangrur and Dhuri seats, Mr Grewal said these were the views of the BJP’s workers and leaders and the party would think over it.

The workers and office-bearers of the district unit of the party have mentioned in the representation that in the 1977 Assembly elections, the Janta Party candidate had won from the Sangrur constituency while in the 1992 Assembly elections, the BJP fielded Thakur Jagdish Rai as its candidate. In the 1996 Lok Sabha elections, Mr Harjit Singh Grewal contested as the BJP candidate.

Mr Jatinder Kalra, BJP councillor, said even in the 1953 Assembly elections, Mr Nanak Chand Kalra contested from the Sangrur seat as a Jana Sangh candidate and at that time Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee had come to Sangrur for canvassing in his favour.

Abohar, July 19
SAD chief Parkash Singh Badal today set at rest all speculations over changing the party candidate for next the Vidhan Sabha elections at Balluana constituency by giving go-ahead signal to MLA Gurtej Singh Ghuriana. He has played down the rumours that SAD would stake claim on Abohar constituency during the adjustment of seats. Rather the former Chief Minister observed that the BJP was in a winning position and its candidate would be extended support in the elections.

Mr Badal addressed more than a dozen public meetings in different parts of Balluana constituency today and exhorted the farmers to contribute Re 1 on each quintal of produce to the election fund of Ghuriana. He promised to visit all villages to motivate the electorate in this segment.

Later speaking to newsmen at Khatwan village, Mr Badal said the party had finalised 90 per cent candidates for the coming assembly elections. All had been given green signal, however, the list was to be officially announced at an appropriate time. The candidates for rest of the constituencies would be decided keeping in view their sincerity to the party.

Stating that principal challenge before him on coming in to power would be restructuring of the basic infrastructure in Punjab, Mr Badal said the Congress-led government had never been concerned over providing education, health services, potable water and electricity to people.

It was unfortunate that thousands of BEd and ETT teachers were unemployed but the state government could not offer them employment for past 4 years. What was the fun of opening new colleges then, he asked. Filling of vacancies in the Departments of Education and Health should have been a top priority for the government, but the CM preferred repressive measures against the unemployed, Mr Badal regretted.

Bathinda, July 19
Enraged over his relatives’ objection to his illicit relationship with a woman, a resident of Bangi Rughu village last evening shot three persons, including two of his nephews dead and seriously injured a woman before reportedly committing suicide.

Sources said Tejinder Singh had illicit relations with a woman of the same village to which his son and nephews were opposed. Sources said he would get infuriated whenever somebody stopped him from visiting her. Last evening was no different as Tejinder opened fire with his .12 bore pistol on spotting his nephew Jaswinder alighting from a bus at the village bus stand. He then fired gunshots at his other nephew Sukhbir in the heart of the village. He didn’t stop after killing his two nephews and went on to murder the brother of a village watchman, Noga Singh, who dared to ask him as to why he was ruining his family.

All three of them died on the spot. Manpreet Kaur, who works as a domestic help, also recieved serious injuries in the firing incident. She was rushed to the local Civil Hospital in critical condition. Tejinder escaped from the spot after gunning down three persons including his nephews.

The police has registered a case against Tejinder Singh his paramour Reshma and her husband Pali Singh.

The latter two were also suspected to be involved in the conspiracy. However, today the police was stunned to know that the body of Tejinder was lying in village’s fields. Police sources said he committed suicide after perpetrating three cold blooded murders. The body of the victims had been handed over to their family members after postmortem examination. Tejinder’s wife and son didn’t accept his body and it was handed over to an NGO for cremation. Sources said Tejinder had killed one of his nephews over a land dispute in the past and was also sentenced in the case.

Amritsar, July 19
The Punjab Government would virtually launch its election campaign from this Holy City by handing over the Rs 5-crore Maharaja Ranjit Singh Panorama to the Municipal Corporation, apart from laying foundation stone of a Rs 173-crore elevated road here tomorrow.

A majestic hotel-cum-facility centre would come up at the outer gate of the Wagah joint check post, which would include a bank, an ATM counter and a waiting hall. The foundation stone of this project, New Neem Chameli, would be laid by Ms Ambika Soni, Union Minister for Tourism and Culture. The Central Government-funded project would be constructed by demolishing the existing Neem Chameli restaurant belonging to Punjab Tourism at a cost of Rs 1.23 crore.

The Chief Minister, Capt Amarinder Singh, would also lay the foundation stone of 66-KV grid substation, Golden Temple. The Chief Minister would inaugurate Maharaja Ranjit Singh Panorama at Ram Bagh, the summer palace of the Maharaja here tomorrow. Mr I.K. Mukherjee, Director-General of the National Council of Science Museums (NCSM), while talking to the media here today said the project had been completed in about 27 months at a cost of Rs 5 crore.

The panorama has a very large visual panoramic display for telling the story of the Maharaja’s life and war efforts visually. It depicts the Maharaja’s war efforts through a three-dimensional 39-meter diameter and 12.5-meter high cylindrical panoramic presentation. A large circular foreground diorama displaying numerous mannequins of prominent warriors, soldiers, animals and weapons supplemented with specially designed creative illumination and battlefield sound effects enhance the level of experience of the viewers.

The Maharaja’s Lahore durbar has also been recreated in the panorama hall through a large three-dimensional dioramic presentation where the Maharaja is seen with his chiefs, nobles and also the poor and destitute celebrating Dasehra.

Moga, July 19
Some policemen here have allegedly discovered a refined way of corruption. They book a person under a criminal case and ask that person to engage a particular lawyer who gets a hefty amount for representing him in the court and the policemen receive their commission from the lawyer.

This accusation has been levelled against the Moga police by none other than the District Bar Association (DBA).

The president of DBA, advocate Ramesh Grover, told The Tribune that advocate Roopinder Singh Brar, a former Deputy District Attorney in Moga, started practising law after getting pre-mature retirement from his post nearly two years ago.

As the police had already links with Brar, they joined hands, he alleged.

Grover said they had already brought the matter to the notice of SSP Pawan Kumar Rai after passing a resolution in March but nothing satisfactory was done in this regard, then the DBA decided on Saturday to make a written complaint to the Punjab and Haryana Bar Council.

Grover said the DBA would not only request to the council for cancellation of Brar’s licence but it would also request to make a rule to debar such influential persons from practising at the places of their posting before the expiry of minimum five years.

The president of the DBA said they would also sent a written request to the DGP to order a free and fair inquiry into the matter.

Another advocate Pradeep Bharti said the allegation of the DBA might easily be substantiated by getting details of the calls made and received by Brar. Further, Brar was engaged as defence counsel in most of the criminal cases filed in the district, including those bribery cases registered by the Vigilance Bureau, he alleged.

Terming the allegations as baseless, Brar said several advocates were jealous of his professional skill and he was being targeted by Mr Grover group as he belonged to his rival Narinder Pal Singh Chahal group.

Advocate Chahal said his group was neutral on the issue. “Neither we support the resolution passed by Mr Grover group nor we oppose it”, he added.

However, he admitted it was a fact that some lawyers kept on conniving with policemen for procuring work from them. He also named two former advocates for their connivance.

SSP Rai said the DBA had levelled accusation, had it brought a specific case to his notice, he would have got the matter investigated. 

Chandigarh, July 19
The Member of Parliament from Patiala, Mrs Preneet Kaur, has been urged to take up the issue of linking Chandigarh to Rajpura through the rail route. Bhai Ashok Singh Bagarian, an eminent social activist and Sikh intellectual, has written a letter in this connection to Mrs Preneet Kaur.

He said, in his letter, that by linking Chandigarh to Rajpura through rail route, people up to Bathinda and even Ganganagar and Bikaner would be benefitted.

He said only road route was presently available to people from Ganganagar-Bathinda belt to reach Chandigarh.

Mr Bagarian said, “ Already Rajpura is linked to Bathinda via rail route. If Rajpura is also linked to Chandigarh, then the rail facility up to Bathinda and Ganganagar and even Bikaner in Rajasthan would become available to people. Rail link from Patiala to Bikaner already exists.”

It would also reduce traffic on two main road routes — from Bathinda to Chandigarh via Sangrur and from Bathinda to Chandigarh via Mansa and Sunam — considerably, he added.

Chandigarh, June 19
The Bahujan Samaj Party has urged the Punjab Government to immediately revive the public distribution system (PDS) in the rural areas to bring relief to Dalits, poor farmers and other marginalised sections of society.

Mr Paramjit Singh Kainth, secretary of the Punjab unit of the BSP, said yesterday that the state government had given several statements with regard to the distribution of essential commodities, including wheat flour, at subsidised rates but it had done nothing in this regard as far as the rural areas were concerned. Dalits and other poor sections were suffering because of the steep rise in the prices of essential commodities. For daily wage earners, job opportunities had shrunk almost to zero in the rural areas, he added.

He said education and the health services had become so costly that poor sections could not think of availing themselves of the facilities. He said the Congress came to power by making a promise that it would root out corruption. But it was sparing influential persons making huge money and trying to justify its campaign against graft by arresting Class III employees.

Mr Kainth said all farmers owning land up to 10 acres should be given power connections to operate their tubewells. Besides, free power at the domestic level should be given to all poor persons.

Patiala, July 19
The Urban Estate Phase 2 Residents Welfare Association has urged the PUDA authorities to look into the issues of lack of storm water sewers and throwing garbage.

The president of the association, Mr J.S. Bhullar, during a meeting with the Additional Chief Administrator of PUDA, has urged the authorities to provide streetlights on the Sirhind bypass and to create a sidelane near the accident-prone octroi post.

Members of the association have added that there should be proper number indication plates installed in front of houses and the problem of low water pressure in some houses should be looked into.

The Additional Chief Administrator has said wild growth and Congress grass in several areas will be removed once the monsoon is over.

Fatehgarh Sahib, July 19
To review the progress of various Centre sponsored schemes initiated in the district, a meeting of the Vigilance Monitoring Committee was held under the chairmanship of Mr Sukhdev Singh Libra, MP, here yesterday.

Special attention was given to the schemes started to raise the standard of the SC/ BC people living below the poverty line and create employment opportunities for the rural youths. Mrs Jaspreet Talwar, Deputy Commissioner, along with all district heads attended the meeting.

Mr Libra disclosed that during 2005-2006 a grant of Rs 3.7 crore was released under the MP Local Area Development (LAD) fund for various development projects to be initiated in Fatehgarh.

Sahib, Ludhiana, Patiala, Ropar and Sangrur. He directed all officials concerned to send the utilisation certificates to their respective offices.

He said in Fatehgarh Sahib under the National Old Age pension scheme 1,255 beneficiaries had been covered and a grant of Rs 30 Lakh had been released. He said under the Prime Minister Gramin Sarak Yojna an 18.10 KM road from Chuni to Salempur at a cost of Rs 3 crore was under construction and more than 75 per cent work had been completed. Similarly the work on

Bassi Pathana- Kharar road was in progress.

Mr Libra said under the Swarn Jyanti Gramin Self Employment Scheme efforts were being made to mobilise those living below the poverty line to form self help groups. They were provided loans and subsidies to start their own work and generate employment for them.

He said till today 10 self help groups had been formed and loan of Rs14.3 Lakh and subsidy to the tune of Rs 6.82 Lakh had been provided to them.

Chandigarh, July 19
A team of senior officers led by the Punjab Chief Secretary, Mr K.R. Lakhanpal, will hold a meeting on July 25 in Delhi with Union Government officials with regard to loans advanced by nationalised banks to farmers in the state. Sources said the Secretary (Banks) of the Union Government would also attend the meeting.

The state government had prepared a detailed note in this regard which would be presented at the meeting for discussion. The state government says nationalised banks should give at least Rs 390 crore as relief to debt-ridden farmers who do not have the capacity to return the loans.

The state government is expected to urge the nationalised banks for a one-time settlement of loans with all defaulter farmers as was done by banks in the case of industrialists and traders.

Amritsar, July 19
With the introduction of new Bt cotton seeds which are resistant to the American Bollworm disease, farmers of the Valtoha block of Amritsar district have shown keen interest in the cash crop once again.

Record level of productivity of cotton in the state coupled with the availability of the much publicised Bt cotton has led to curiosity among farmers with the efforts of Agriculture Department and the state government in this border area.

As many as 6,500 acres of Valtoha block has already come under cotton cultivation.

Dr Harpreet Singh, Agriculture Development Officer, Valtoha, said the border belt of Khem Karan and Valtoha blocks were known as the cotton belt. But the farmers had discontinued sowing of this cash crop in the past few years as they had incurred heavy losses due to the American bollworm disease.

He said the state government and the Genetic Engineering Department had now approved more than 20 varieties of Bt cotton seeds instead of the six displayed last year and the price is also less this year.

Hoshiarpur, July 19
A case of duping an innocent person of Rs 3 lakh by travel agents was reported at Hariana police station last evening.

According to police sources, Balbir Singh of Sarhala alleged that travel agents, Mehnga Singh, a son of Jai Singh, his wife Jagdish Kaur of Kesopur and Kamaljit Singh, a son of Hakim Singh of Preetam Nagar, Hoshiarpur, took Rs 3 lakh and the passport for sending his son Sandeep Singh abroad. But they neither sent his son abroad nor returned the money and the passport.

The police has registered a case under Section 420 of the IPC against the travel agents.

Hoshiarpur, July 19
A case of gangrape of a teenaged girl of Nasran village was reported at Mahilpur police station last evening.

According to police sources, the 14-year-old daughter of Mewa Singh (name changed) of Nasran told the police that she had gone to the fields on the night of July 10. On the way three unidentified motor cycle-borne youths abducted her and took her to the fields of Jandoli village and gangraped her. She became unconscious. When she regained consciousness the next morning, she found herself lying in the fields. Later, she went to her home and narrated the incident to her parents.

The police has registered a case under Sections 363, 366-A and 376 of the IPC in this connection.

Batala, July 19
Three persons were injured in a head-on collision between a truck and a car near Sheikhupur police chowki on the Batala-Amritsar road here today.

According to a report, a truck (PB-02-9569), going from Batala to Amritsar, collided with a Maruti car (PB-02-5817) coming from the opposite side. All the passengers in the car, Shamsher Singh, his wife and a daughter of his sister, were injured. They were coming to Batala.

A police team rushed the injured persons to Guru Nanak Hospital, Amritsar, and arrested the truck driver.

Sangrur, July 19
With the cancellation of deputation of some science lecturers and shortage of science lecturers in various government senior secondary schools in Sangrur district, students have been suffering.

The deputation of the teachers has been cancelled in the light of orders of the Punjab Education Minister. The Director, Education Department (Secondary), Punjab, had told all Circle Education Officers (CEOs) and the District Education Officers (Secondary) to cancel the deputation of teachers and employees who were working under temporary arrangement or on deputation at places other than their place of posting.

It is learnt that many senior secondary schools where science groups are in progress, there is a shortage of lecturers. In some schools that have science lecturers, they have no work as science groups are either closed or have been discontinued by the authorities.

It is being felt in the educational circles that the problem could be solved by rationalisation of science lecturers without delay.

As per information gathered by The Tribune, Senior Secondary School (Boys) of Bhawanigarh, despite having a science group, has no lecturer of physics and chemistry. Likewise, Sunam boys’ school has also no physics and biology lecturer. Longowal boys’ school has no physics and chemistry lecturers. There is no lecturer of physics and mathematics in Lehragaga boys’ school.

Gowara School has no physics lecturer while Sherpur school has no lecturer in physics and mathematics. Kothala school has no physics lecturer while Ghanauri school has no lecturer in physics and chemistry. Dhanaula boys’ school also has no chemistry lecturer.

Sources said there were some government senior secondary schools in Sangrur district where science groups were either closed or discontinued but they had one to three lecturers in physics, chemistry, biology or mathematics. The names of the villages, which had such schools, were said to be Bhalwan, Sehna, Mehal Kalan, Gharachon, Mehlan, Dhanaula and Saron.

When contacted, Mr Ram Murti Goyal, District Secretary of the Government School Lecturer Union, said the union felt that rationalisation of lecturers was the only solution. 

Chandigarh, July 19
Sector 49 resident Shrutika Sahni has alleged that functionaries of the Tehsildar’s office in Ludhiana refused to follow the new directives of the Punjab Government on the issue of residence certificates, as a consequence of which she was unable to appear for counselling for admission to engineering colleges. Speaking to The Tribune here today, she said the Punjab Government had authorised naib tehsildars in the state to issue residence certificates to bona fide residents of the state and those who possessed immovable property in the state.

She said when she went to get a residence certificate on the basis of property documents, officials denied to entertain her claims and instead insisted only on the ration card.

She said despite repeatedly pointing out that under the new orders, residence certificates could be obtained on the basis of property documents, the officials were rude. — TNS