Chandigarh, October 3
The adamant attitude of the vice-chancellor of the Baba Farid University of Health Sciences may hit at the careers of over 32 students of the first professional MBBS class of the Guru Ram Dass Institute of Medical Sciences and Research, Amritsar.

The students have failed the anatomy examination due to an “apparent” callous evaluation. The VC has brushed aside the letter of the secretary, Medical Education, and said the government was unnecessarily interfering in working of the university.

The secretary has written to the registrar of Baba Farid varsity, vide letter PA/SMER/08/1731 dated September 19, that the result of the students of the same class shows gross disparity.

In the interest of the reputation of the university itself, re-evaluation of the papers should be after charging an appropriate fee.

The secretary has further referred to the letter of the college principal and the representatives of the students and parents saying it is important to maintain “transparency” in the functioning of the university by allowing re-evaluation.

“The Punjab government vide its notification No 5/3/08-3HB-111/1934 dated March 31 has allowed re-evaluation for the PMT-2008 onward exams. After going through the representation, the state government feels such re-evaluation demanded by the students and their parents should be allowed”.

But the vice-chancellor has reportedly refused all re-evaluation on the ground that the students were given a chance to get re-totalling of marks of the answer sheets and no further re-evaluation could be allowed.

Principal of the Guru Ram Dass Institute Dr Geeta Sharma has also written to the vice-chancellor and has sought re-evaluation on the ground of fairness and justice.

Students of the college say, “All we are requesting is re-evaluation. We do not
want any grace marks or mercy to push us through. Let another examiner evaluate
answer sheets”.

Patiala, October 3
Hectic lobbying has started for the post of the vice-chancellor of the Baba Farid University of Health Sciences, as the term of the present vice-chancellor, Dr Ravinder Singh, is due to end later this month.

The Punjab government has already constituted a search committee for the selection of a suitable candidate.

A number of senior doctors of Punjab are already using their clout with powers-that-be to influence members of the committee.

Prominent among those whose names are in circulation in the medical education circles include Dr A.S. Khurana, former professor, Dayanand Medical College, Ludhiana, Dr Suri, former cardiothoracic surgeon, All-India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, Dr J.S. Dalal, director, Research and Medical Education, Punjab, and Dr P.S. Sandhu, principal, Medical College, Faridkot.

The term of the present vice-chancellor ends on October 23.

Meanwhile, Medical Education Department sources said the search committee set up for the purpose was functioning merely as a recruitment agency.

Prospective candidates were reportedly trying to convince the search committee members of their "suitability" for the post.

The sources said many senior medical teachers with proven administrative skill and experience were keeping away from the entire process.

Sangrur, October 3
Though the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) has already announced its candidates for contesting Amritsar and Gurdaspur Lok Sabha (LS) seats in the ensuing LS elections, it seems to be still in a dilemma to take a final decision on the Hoshiarpur LS seat.

Sources in the party are of the opinion that the party high command is hesitating
to make any public announcement at this moment on certain grounds; otherwise
it will have declared its candidate also for Hoshiarpur seat, along with Amritsar
and Gurdaspur seats.

Senior party leaders at a party platform also held a discussion on Hoshiarpur seat reportedly a few weeks ago, but no decision had been taken there, the sources added.

It is learnt that the BJP wants to shift from Hoshiarpur LS seat to any other seat, including Anandpur Sahib, Jalandhar (SC), Ludhiana and Ferozepur, as party has reportedly no strong candidate to contest from Hoshiarpur seat which is now a reserved seat for SCs.

Besides this, during delimitation of the LS constituencies, some BJP strongholds in the Hoshiarpur constituency were included in the neighbouring constituency.

Former Punjab BJP president Avinash Rai Khanna is BJP MP from Hoshiarpur.

Khanna, who visited Sangrur today, said the BJP had not left Hoshiarpur LS seat yet, but a final decision to retain its seat or take any other seat in lieu of Hoshiarpur from the SAD would be taken in the months to come.

Jalandhar, October 3
Striving to get posted Punjab’s engineer in the most important slot of member (Irrigation) in Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB), the state government has not yet forwarded the name of the engineer to be posted as member (Power) to Centre.

Sources said Punjab would not forward the name till a decision was taken to fill the vacant slot of member (Irrigation) to which it had laid its claim.

The BBMB manages the projects such as Bhakra Dam and also the distribution of power and water among partner states such as Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan.

While its chairman is appointed by the Centre, the members are taken from
Punjab and Haryana.

The slot of member (Irrigation) fell vacant in third week of September this year and that of member (Power) will become vacant next month, it is learnt.

Since the setting up of the BBMB, the member (Irrigation) used to be posted from Haryana and the member (Power) from Punjab.

“The Centre has been posting member (Irrigation) from Haryana for the past several decades and now an engineer from Punjab should be posted on that slot”, said a senior officer of the state government.

According to BBMB rules and regulations, there is no binding that member (Irrigation) should be from Haryana and member (Power) from Haryana”, said the officer.

“As Haryana has been given the opportunity to get posted its engineer as
member (Irrigation) for a long period of time, the post should now be given
to Punjab”, said the officer.

Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal had written a letter in this regard to the Prime Minister and also to the union minister for water resources.

Badal stated in letter that the authorities concerned in the water resources ministry and other levels such as the Central Water Commission had been denying justice and discriminating against Punjab on certain inter-state river-water related issues.

Because of this reason, Punjab wanted its man as member (Irrigation). Moreover, it is Punjab, that has to bear the brunt of floods in the Sutlej and the Beas.

This year, the floodgates of the Bhakra Dam had to be opened because of water level in the Gobind Sagar reservoir going beyond 1,680 ft.

Amritsar, October 3
Coming down heavily on Congress leaders from the Majha region who have accused him of playing into the hands of Akalis, former deputy speaker Bir Devinder Singh has alleged that the statement made by them is a sad reflection of their mindset.

“Perhaps they do not know the terms of reference of the Committee of the House probing the irregularities in the exemption of 32.10 acres from a scheme of the Improvement Trust, Amritsar”, he said.

“As far the allegations of the supporters of Capt Amarinder Singh, made in the media today, I have to send them a note of advice. Just for the public consumption I would like to make the record straight. Harminder Singh Gill, a new convert to the Congress, has already served a jail term of more than five years in terrorist activities. So is his brother-in-law Bhai Manjit Singh, vice-president of the SAD, with whom he is doing joint property business nowadays,” he alleged.

He also accused another Congress leader, Sawinder Singh Kathunangal, a former MLA, of having been convicted in a fraud case.

He said Kathunangal was sent to jail for three years for committing forgery under Section 420, IPC, and was on bail.

With regard to another signatory to the statement, Jasbir Singh Dimpa, a former MLA, Bir Devinder said he, too, was facing trial for murder under Section 302 and currently on bail.

“I have enough material to expose their misdeeds they committed during Amarinder regime”, he said.

He said he was sure that the land mafia operative during the Amarinder regime
would get thoroughly exposed and the Vigilance Bureau would go to the bottom
of the case.

Pathankot, October 3
Gurdaspur MP Vinod Khanna while dubbing the allegations levelled against Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal by former Congress minister Partap Singh Bajwa regarding discrimination against Doaba and Majha regions as baseless, said all promises made were being fulfilled by the SAD-BJP government.

“What Bajwa has said is politically motivated,” said Khanna, adding that all areas were witnessing development under the SAD-BJP rule.

Bajwa had alleged that the Chief Minister was acting as the Chief Minister of Bathinda district as 90 per cent of the total development projects brought to the state in the past one and a half years were allocated to the district where his son Sukhbir Badal was willing to contest the next Lok Sabha elections.

Khanna said the project for the construction of a bridge on the Ujh river was sent to Nabard and the process to build a flyover in the town had also been initiated.

Khanna was here to listen to grievances of people of two Assembly elections.

He said a plan had been envisaged to set up a private university in the Kandrori area of Himachal Pradesh.

He said the management of KD Foundation Trust of Delhi had come forward to set up the university and its foundation stone was likely to be laid by Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal tomorrow.

He said he was also aware of the problems being faced by industrialists and
other businessmen of Gurdaspur district and HP areas due to the closure of
the civil airport at Pathankot.

He claimed that he had also held a meeting with union civil aviation minister Praful Patel and urged him to restart the flights from the airport.

He said the minister had assured him that he would try to get the Indian Airlines flights started from the airport soon.

Commenting on his film career he said four-five films, in which he has played different characters, would hit the silver screen shortly.

Chandigarh, October 3
The BJP continues to draw lion’s share in appointments and nominations to various boards and corporations.

The number of its leaders heading these bodies went up to five today with the clearance of appointments of H.S. Grewal and Vijay Sampla.

Grewal will be the chairman of the Punjab Information and Communication Technology Corporation while Sampla will head Backfinco.

Both Grewal, who had two terms as general secretary of the Punjab unit of the BJP before his induction as a national executive committee member a couple of years ago, and Sampla, vice-president of the state unit of the party, are considered close to Lok Sabha member and former Punjab BJP chief Avinash Rai Khanna.

Sampla, who once headed the Dalit wing of the BJP, enjoys considerable influence in Doaba. Grewal, a Jat Sikh from the Malwa belt, had been the first from his community to be on the national executive committee after serving the state BJP both under Brij Lal Rinwa and Avinash Rai Khanna.

At present, he looks after affairs of the Haryana BJP. According to sources in the BJP, both Grewal and Sampla will assume new offices on October 7.

Ajitwal (Moga), October 3
Rail traffic remained disrupted between Moga and Ludhiana today with farmers continuing the blockade on the railway line on the second consecutive day here.

Hundreds of farmers who had assembled here yesterday under the banner of the Bhartiya Kisan Union (Ekta) had levelled allegations of sheltering a commission agent, who had forcibly taken away a tractor-trailer belonging to a poor farmer of the area.

Commission agent Iqbal Singh had forcibly taken away the tractor-trailer of Karnail Singh following a monetary dispute a couple of weeks ago.

District magistrate of Moga Satwant Singh Johal, along with the district police chief, went to the spot late last night to persuade the agitators to end the protest. They had promised them to solve the issue by today noon.

A police official told The Tribune that they had recovered the tractor-trailer from the commission agent and taken the vehicle into its custody. The vehicle could be got released through the court.

However, the farmers were not satisfied with this and they continued the protest, demanding the arrest of the agent.

The police had expressed its inability to arrest the agent as he had obtained anticipatory bail from a local court.

The district magistrate has appealed to the agitators to lift the blockade as the tractor-trailer had already been recovered by the police.

Meanwhile, the Ferozepur-New Delhi passenger train was suspended along with all other trains that run on the line.

The Ferozepur-Jaipur train was routed through Jalandhar, said an official of the railways. However, trains between Ferozepur and Moga continued to ply as usual.

Sangrur: A large number of farmers, led by president of Sunam block of the BKU (Ugrahan) Dilbag Singh Harigarh, today blocked rail traffic for four hours at Chhajli village, near Sunam, in protest against the “snatching” of tractor and trailer from farmer Karnail Singh of Ajitwal village (Moga) by an arhtiya about three weeks ago.

The protesters lifted the blockade this evening when they got information that the arhtiya had returned the tractor and trailer to the farmer.

The protesters were addressed among others by president of Lehragaga block of the BKU (Ugrahan) Balbir Singh Jhaloor, district secretary of BKU (Ugrahan) Amrik Singh Dhindsa, and Dilbag Singh Harigarh.

Tarn Taran, October 3
Residents of Rajbir’s native village have lauded her stand on severing ties with her prospective husband, after she came to know that he was a drug addict.

The entire village has stood by the girl for her decision not to marry Amandeep Singh, a mini-bus conductor, who had been hospitalised earlier for de-addiction.

The family of Rajbir, though initially distressed, later decided to back her decision to stay away from the wedding. Rajbir’s marriage was to be solemnised yesterday.

Various NGOs and social activists here have appreciated Rajbir’s step. President of the Vikas Manch, Punjab, Kashmir Singh Sohal said she had brought glory to the area by setting such an example.

Master Parminder Singh of Kalpna Chalwa Pragati Sheel Society said they would honour Rajbir. She belongs to a poor family of Backward Class.

Her father is a daily-wage earner and she has four sisters. She is a matriculate and had studied at the village school.

While talking to The Tribune today, she said during her study she used to take part in the one-act plays to create awareness against the social evils like dowry, drugs, female foeticide, etc.

Amritsar, October 3
The statement of Sunny (23), an unemployed and unmarried youth of Chhehrta (Amritsar) who had offered to donate kidney to Kirpal Singh, ADC, Tarn Taran, that he was offered job and marriage at their expenses, has put the members of authorisation committee in a sticky position.

Earlier, in his affidavit, Sunny had stated that he was donating his organ out of “sheer love and affection”.

This statement may open Pandora’s box since many doctors, including two principals of Government Medical College, remained behind bars for passing the cases of unrelated donors since 2002.

“Now that I understand the post-operation complications, I won’t donate my organ to the ADC”, he said.

Meanwhile, the committee has stopped the process of kidney transplantation to the ADC who has been admitted in Mohali’s private hospital.

Earlier, deputy commissioner Kahan Singh Pannu was to preside over the meeting, but he had to go to Chandigarh in connection with some urgent meeting.

In his absence, additional deputy commissioner Paramjit Singh presided over the meeting, which was also attended by Kunwar Vijay Partap Singh, SSP, Dr Lehmbar Singh, civil surgeon, and representatives of the Indian Medical Association.

Mohali, October 3
Punjab’s first biotech testing facility, created at a cost of Rs 10 crore, was inaugurated at Punjab Biotechnology Incubator centre in Phase V here today.

Set up jointly by the department of biotechnology, government of India and the Punjab government, the facility offers state-of-the art facility to test and certify agricultural and processed food products.

The facility, presently housed in a rented accommodation, would shift to the upcoming Knowledge City, Sector 81, here.

The foundation stone of the Knowledge City is to be laid by Prime Minister
Dr Manmohan Singh.

After inaugurating the centre, Bikram Singh Majithia, minister for science and technology, Punjab, told The Tribune that the facility would cater to Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Rajasthan, Haryana, Punjab and Chandigarh.

Dr S.S. Marwaha, CEO of the centre, said the facility was capable of testing and certifying dairy products, processed fruits and vegetables, bakery, confectionery, cereal grains, honey, fertiliser, animal feed, soil and waste water.

Chandigarh, October 3
Taking a serious note of the shortage of members in the Punjab State Human Rights Commission (PSHRC), the Punjab and Haryana High Court stated that if the government does not do the needful, then the state’s home secretary should come to the Court on the next date of hearing.

It is pertinent to mention here that the Commission receives around 15,000 complaints of human rights’ violations every year. 80 complaints are taken up daily with only two members (instead of five members), namely chairman Chief Justice R.S. Mongia and Non-Judicial Member K.K. Bhatnagar on panel.

Recently, from July 31 to August 15, the working in this panel came to a screeching halt, as under the rules, a single member cannot take cognizance of new matters. All new cases had to be adjourned.

Following a news report carried in The Tribune, a PIL was filed by advocate H.C. Arora for seeking the issuance of directions to the state government to fill up the vacant posts in the panel.

The PIL came up for a resumed hearing today before a Division Bench of the HC comprising Chief Justice Tirath Singh Thakur and Justice Surya Kant.

The CJ repeatedly asked the government for filling up the three vacant posts and requested them to disclose what steps had been taken.

The response could not satisfy the Bench. Additional Advocate-General (AA-G), Amol Rattan Sidhu, informed the Bench that the government had initiated a proposal before the Cabinet for reducing the strength of members from existing five to three.

The Chief Justice stated, “You cannot make these Panels non-functional by delaying the filling up of posts.”

He added there was no justification for preparing the list of municipal councils in English, when the entire election work, right from preparation of electoral rolls to nomination forms was in Punjabi.

Gurdaspur, October 3
Subash Chander, a smuggler, who was nabbed in a joint operation by sleuths of the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), Ludhiana and Delhi, near Madhopur, was remanded in judicial custody till October 17 here today.

Chander, a resident of Mishriwala village of Jammu and Kashmir, was lodged in the local Central Jail here after he was arrested by the sleuths of the DRI with 10 kg of heroin hidden in the stepney of a Tata-407 vehicle, bearing registration number of Jammu and Kashmir.

Though the sleuths made efforts to extract information about his connection with Pakistan-based smugglers and ISI agents, he did not reveal much.

However, they managed to recover a sim card of a new mobile phone connection
from his possession.

Information revealed that the accused was supposed to use the sim card after entering Punjab and he was to receive orders from his “bosses”.