Amritsar, December 25
Disinformation created by the Pakistan media about Indo-Pak trade through Wagah notwithstanding, 108 cargo trucks laden with fresh vegetables today crossed over to Pakistan from this trade route here today.

The export material included biscuits sent as aid to Afghanistan on humanitarian grounds while several rakes of Pakistani cement also landed on the Indian side.

DIG of the BSF Mohammad Akil said everything was normal and the trucks were moving across the Radcliff line without any hassles. A large number of residents in the border villages were in high spirits.

They told the media that they would not leave their homes in view of the heightened tension between the two neighbouring nations.

Earlier, afternoon bulletin of Pakistan’s private GEO Television flashed a news that “India has halted export of tomato, potato, onion, meat and other commodities through Wagha border”.

Amritsar, December 25
Chief Khalsa Diwan has discontinued the century-old practice of giving membership to the representatives of erstwhile states, “Sikh army officers”, “Jeewan Sewaks” (life members), diwan societies, Singh Sabhas/Jathas by amending its constitution.

It has also resolved that all office-bearers of the diwan would be elected for a maximum of two terms. The election of the diwan will be held before April 30.

However, this condition will be implemented from December 22 when the general house of the diwan passes the resolution to amend its constitution.

Talking to The Tribune here today, Charnjit Singh Chadha, president of the diwan, claimed that the amendments were passed by the general house by a voice vote.

It may be mentioned that the draft was prepared by the constitution amendment committee, formed in 2005, because it was felt that the existing constitution had become totally obsolete.

Former vice-chancellor of Guru Nanak Dev University Harbhajan Singh Soch, who had resigned as convener of the constitution amendment committee, expressed satisfaction over the amended constitution.

Earlier Dr Soch had described the draft constitution as “an attempt to butcher the democratic spirit of the Sikh institution”.

The diwan had been founded much before the formation of the Shiromani Akali Dal and the SGPC.

Its leadership consisted of personalities like Bhai Sahib Vir Singh, Sunder Singh Majithia, Harbans Singh Attari, Tarlochan Singh, Principal Bhai Jodh Singh, Dr Sohan Singh and Bhai Mohan Singh Vaid of Tarn Taran.

Chandigarh, December 25
Punjab has now decided to do away with the idea of selling the loss-making sugar mills in the state.

Nine, out of the 15 sugar mills, will be revived as the Punjab Cooperation Department entered into a public-private partnership with private companies that would invest Rs 1,000 crore towards infrastructure for producing 150 MW of power and recover their cost on a build-operate-and-transfer basis.

After the work starts in January next, it will take about 15 or 18 months for these nine sugar mills to start co-generation.

Out of the 150 MW that will be produced, 50 MW will be supplied to the mills, while the remaining 100 MWs will be sold and revenue shared among these mills. Power generation is expected to start by 2010.

According to Capt Kanwaljit Singh, Co-operation Minister, letters have been issued to four companies that will recover their investment cost and make profit for a period of 15 years, after which the sugar mills will take back the control.

He said the Punjab government had also appointed a consultant who will look at all aspects of reviving the remaining 6 sugar mills in the state.

The report submitted by the consultant will be presented before the cabinet sub-committee for an appropriate decision.

These nine sugar mills involved in the co-geneation process are located at Nakodar, Fazilka, Morinda, Budewal, Nawanshahr, Batala, Ajnala, Gurdaspur and Bhogpur.

The closed sugar mills are located at Patiala, Tarn Taran, Zira, Faridkot, Jagraon and Budhlada. Out of these sugar mills, only the one at Budewal is making profits.

The accumulated losses of these sugar mills till March 31, 2008, were pegged at Rs 280 crore, the minister said.

Chandigarh, December 25
Question marks have been raised over the credibility and usefulness of the Punjab NRI Sabha after its recent conference at Jalandhar was marred by acrimony.

While Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and president of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) Sukhbir Singh Badal stayed away from the conference, uncertainty looms large over its future as not only allegations and counter-allegations flew high during deliberations, even some minor incidents, including scuffles, left the delegates deeply polarised.

Interestingly, not many delegates are still clear about the membership and usefulness of the NRI Sabha.

There appears to be a big confusion between those people of Indian origin, who have taken citizenship of western countries, and those living abroad but continuing to be Indian citizens.

The OCI Act allows citizens of certain western countries, including the USA and Canada, to enjoy benefits of Overseas Citizens of India (OCIs) that are on a par with concessions extended to non-resident Indians, who continue to hold Indian passports and Indian citizenship.

But, OCIs are not NRIs is an issue that has been debated upon. There has been acrimonious scenes at some of the gatherings of the overseas Indians over the issue. Punjab has a fairly large population of overseas Indians.

A recent study put the number past 30 lakh of which nearly two-thirds, according to records available with the authorities here, continue to hold Indian passports.

But, there are no corresponding confirmatory figures available to indicate how many of these holding Indian passports have already taken citizenship of the countries of their present residence.

Other issues that have led to virtual clashes are divisions among bodies overseas which the NRIs allegedly try to settle during their sammelans or conferences here.

Since the laws in western countries are strict, allowing little or no liberties for the citizens to take laws into their hands for resolving personal or family disputes, winter months reserved for visits to Punjab and India are used to vent their spleen here.

The overseas Indians in general and Punjabis in particular have a series of genuine and long-standing demands, including special fast-track courts, protection to their immovable properties here against increasing complaints of their lands and houses being grabbed by locals, harassment by police and other agencies, increasing number of NRIs being declared proclaimed offenders besides representation in various advisory committees to ensure participation in infrastructure development.

Since NRIs claim that they are a legal sanctity and hold both Indian citizenship and Indian passport, some seats should be reserved for them in the legislature.

Only an NRI should be made a minister for NRI affairs and the state should follow the central pattern in setting up a separate department and portfolio for NRIs.

They also want that both media and judiciary should not act as a mediator in disputes involving NRIs. Rather local laws should take precedence and cases should be decided as per rule of law.

Narpal Singh Shergill, an England-based NRI, and who brings out a year book not only about outstanding overseas Indians but also about Sikh gurdwaras worldwide, says the Punjab government would do well to adopt the 10-point NRI agenda suggested by him. He wants the NRI web site to be updated regularly.

Bathinda, December 25
Large number of ETT teachers from all over the state gathered here today to protest against what they termed was the government reneging on its promise and announced that a campaign against Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal would be launched from January 1.

The protesting teachers, spearheaded by the ETT Union, Punjab, have been demanding that their services be brought under the jurisdiction of the education department as at present, it is zila parishad that supervises their functioning.

They gathered at the Teachers’ Home where a police force was also deployed. The event took an ugly turn when after the rally, some persons believed to be Akali Dal members, created a ruckus by attacking two buses that had come from Fatehgarh Sahib carrying the teachers. However, no one was injured in the incident.

The protesting teachers also blocked the Bathinda-Goniana road, near the Bathinda Military Station’s Chetak Park.

Jagseer Singh Sahota from the union said, “We are trying to block the traffic here in protest so that the police nab those who came and attacked the teachers.”

Some leaders of the union announced that a campaign against the Chief Minister would begin from January 1.

“The present government lacks honesty, management and good policies to run the state and this has been proved time and again,” an ETT leader said.

They planned a major protest campaign before the forthcoming elections and said the government would be given what it deserved.

The union decided that those contesting elections from this constituency would have a tough time.

Fatehgarh Sahib, December 25
Religion took a backseat at the ongoing Jor Mela as political parties left no stone unturned to woo devotees and made tall claims foreseeing forthcoming elections.

While the SAD-BJP indulged in mudslinging against the Congress, the SAD (Amritsar) announced its Lok Sabha election candidates.

However, the absence of former Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh remained the talk of the day.

Paying tributes to sahibzadas of Guru Gobind Singh’s, SAD leaders called for a change of guard at the Centre.

Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal used this opportunity to highlight achievements of his government and urged people to elect BJP-led National Democratic Alliance.

He lashed out at the previous Congress government, accusing it of an autocratic style of functioning.

SAD president Sukhbir Badal, too, spoke on the occasion and outlined major initiatives of the government towards the progress of the state.

SGPC president Avtar Singh Makkar spoke about the pilot project of SGPC Nanhi Chhaan. Prominent among others included Cabinet Ministers Manoranjan Kalia, Captain Kanwaljit Singh, Deputy Speaker of Lok Sabha Charanjit Singh Atwal, general secretary, SAD, Professor Prem Singh Chandumajra, former president, SGPC, Kirpal Singh Badungar and others.

From the Congress camp senior leaders, including president, PPCC, Mohinder Singh Kay Pee, Rajinder Kaur Bhattal, Shamsher Singh Dullo, Payal MLA Tej Parkash Singh, MLA Kharar Balbir Singh Sidhu, ex-minister Jagmohan Singh Kang, MLA Bholath Sukhpal Singh Khaira, ex-Minster Harbans Lal and others started their active campaign for LS polls from today itself.

The SAD (Amritsar) declared its candidates for two Lok Sabha seats. SAD (A) president Simranjit Singh Mann announced he would contest elections from Sangrur constituency, while Dhyan Singh Mand would contest elections from Ferozepur.

Jalandhar, December 25
To take the issues related to the disbursement of bonus on paddy to farmers, the BKU (Rajewal) will hold a meeting with Food and Supply Minister Adesh Partap Singh Kairon tomorrow.

The meeting has been fixed on the direction of the Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal. Earlier, Badal had been urged to give interest to farmers on the delayed payment of bonus.

Union president Balbir Singh Rajewal said the disbursement of bonus at various places had hit the roadblock as private IT firms engaged for the online transfer of money in bank accounts of farmers have bungled at certain places.

“I have the reports that at some places names of farmers or their villages were wrongly spelled by such firms and it led to a lot of confusion”, said Rajewal. How long it would take to resolve the confusion, no one knows, he added.

“At some places, two government agencies have distributed cheques but at other places farmers are still waiting for the payment of bonus”, he said.

Though The Tribune tried for official version in this regard, senior officers did not pick up their mobile phones.

“Now that payment of bonus has been delayed by two and half months, farmers should be given at least simple bank interest on this delayed payment”, said Rajewal, adding that the Punjab government had already availed Rs 675 crore from the Centre against the payment as bonus for the current year.

Another issue to be raised at tomorrow’s meeting is regarding the payment of bonus on paddy that was purchased last year by traders.

Ludhiana, December 25
As many as 1,000 surgeons from various parts of the country participated in a surgery workshop conducted on the inaugural day of the 68th annual conference of the Association of Surgeons of India (ASICON-2008) here today.

Satya Nand Munjal, managing director of Hero Cycles, inaugurated the conference at the Dayanand Medical College and Hospital (DMCH). Renowned surgeons of India performed surgeries at the hospital and were also relayed live.

The workshop began with a laparoscopic removal of gall bladder by Dr Deepraj Bhandarkar from Mumbai. Dr Rupesh Mehta from Ahmedabad, a renowned cancer surgeon, performed the removal of cancer of stomach.

Having received global recognition for surgeries under local anaesthesia, Dr Ashok Ladha demonstrated his technique of piles surgery at the workshop.

Besides, surgeries were performed by Dr Praveen Bhatia from New Delhi, Dr Kiran Kothari from Ahmedabad and Dr H Ramesh from Kochi.

Dr Ajay Kriplani demonstrated the technique of laparoscopic repair of groin hernia. As many as 3,000 surgeons are expected to attend the six-day conference, which will conclude on December 30.

The surgeon said: “Looking at increasing rate of obesity that starts at an early age, the Ministry of Health and Indian Council of Medical Research approved the guidelines wherein physicians and surgeons would treat obesity.”

Patiala, December 25
In what could turn out to be the first step towards bureaucracy streamlining exercise in Punjab and a move which could even disturb a number of senior Punjab officers, Patiala divisional commissioner Jasbir Singh Bir has not only directed the deputy commissioners to be punctual and more “people friendly” but has also asked them not to run their office from their residences on working days.

Adopting a “proactive” posture Bir, who, took over as the commissioner of the Patiala division recently, has also asked all the seven deputy commissioners to be punctual in the meetings to be presided over by him.

What came as a bolt from the blue for the top Punjab officials, highly placed sources pointed out, that Bir, who was already looking into bribery allegations against Ludhiana deputy commissioner Sumer Singh Gurjar, even snubbed two deputy commissioners for coming late and for taking calls on their mobile phones during his very first formal interaction with the deputy commissioners of Ludhiana, Ropar, Sangrur, Fatehgarh Sahib, Patiala, Barnala, and SAS Nagar, here on Tuesday.

“The DCs are public servants and they should not behave like kings. Their salary comes from public exchequer so they have to work for public welfare,” was the hard-hitting message coming from Bir for the deputy commissioners, insiders said. Bir, however, declined to elaborate much on the issue.

Interestingly, what could stir a hornet’s nest is that Bir has already instructed his staff to get his camp office and residence re-assessed for electricity bills from the Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB) officials as he was of the view that the power consumption at his residence was shown to be on the lower side as compared to his camp office.

The monthly bill of the camp office room of the commissioner was said to be around Rs 20,000 while, it was just about Rs 2,000 in case of residential accommodation.

Amritsar, December 25
The SGPC chief has called an emergency meeting of all its executives on December 28 to rethink the definition of Sehajdhari in the wake of the ultimatum served on the Shiromani Committee by various Panthic organisations yesterday.

The decision was taken after the return of SGPC chief Avtar Singh Makkar from abroad. A spokesperson for the SGPC said the meeting would be held at Guru Nanak Nivas on the SGPC complex and convened by the SGPC president. He said all executives had called on a 72-hour notice to attend the meeting.

The meeting of Gurmat Sidhant Parchark Sant Samaj, Nihang and Sikh organisations held at Gurdwara Gurdarshan Parkash, Mehta Chowk, yesterday had served a seven-day ultimatum on the SGPC to withdraw the affidavit on the definition of a Sikh from the high court.

The Sant Samaj, Nihang factions and other Sikh organisations had threatened to become party in the court if the Shiromani Committee failed to withdraw the affidavit within a week, besides condemning the SGPC in public meetings and religious functions.

Chandigarh, December 25
The Mohali police would be raising a bill for the security it provided at the Punjab Cricket Association (PCA) stadium for the India-England Test match.

SSP, SAS Nagar, Jatinder Singh Aulakh, said he would be finalising the total bill and sending it to the police headquarters for further action.

This is not the first time that the Mohali police has raised a bill for the security it provides to PCA for matches.

During the IPL matches held this May, the police had raised a bill of Rs 1.9 crore, not a penny of which has been paid.

“Raising bills has over the years proved to be fruitless as there seems to be no one in the government to insist on these being paid,” pointed out a local police official, adding that when there were “enemies within” the system it is bound to remain a waste of effort.

Interestingly, Punjab DGP NPS Aulakh is chairman of ‘security committee’ of the PCA from the cricket association’s side while IG Sumedh Singh Saini is its co-chairman.

Both these officers were put on duty by the PCA to ensure tight security in and around the stadium.

Despite being a part of the management of the match it seems none of these two officers have insisted that their own police be paid for the services it was rendering.

Sources added that when a senior official of the district administration brought up the matter in a meeting held at the PCA before the Indo-Australia match Saini had even gone to the extent of pooh-poohing the idea of the police or any other government department being paid.

When contacted Saini refused to comment on the issue. Sources said SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal, who is the president of the organising committee of matches at PCA, was also at the meeting but did not bother to resolve the matter.

“Compare this situation with the time when the ICL Champion’s Trophy was organised here. Naunihal Singh was SSP SAS Nagar. PCA paid for all the equipment and the food of the staff. A decent amount of money was paid by the PCA to the Punjab Police Welfare Fund and on his insistence every employee on duty at the PCA was given two passes for each match for his family or relatives,” said the officer.

He further rued that the police officers, representing PCA, posted their own men on duty at the match to keep an eye on the local police.

“This was done to make sure that Mohali policemen do not get any one inside without passes,” said the cop.

Chandigarh, December 25
Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today appealed to farmers and different farmers associations of the state to call off their proposed ‘Rail Roko’ programme.

The Centre had agreed in principle to remove all bottlenecks coming in the way of the procurement of cotton on his persuasion and strenuous efforts of SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal, he said.

Disclosing this here today, Chief Minister’s media adviser Harcharan Bains said Badal had raised the issue with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for doing away with all unnecessary conditions imposed by the Cotton Corporation of India (CCI) for the procurement of cotton.

These had been causing great inconvenience and hardship to farmers and on account of these stringent instructions farmers should bring a copy of the fard- jamabandi at the time of bringing their cotton to mandis.

Chandigarh, December 25
The Punjab and Haryana High Court feels courts, trying police officials as the accused, are perfectly justified in passing orders to protect witnesses from harassment, threat or injury.

A Division Bench of the high court, comprising Chief Justice Tirath Singh Thakur and Justice Jasbir Singh, however, is of the opinion that directions for expeditious disposal of cases against police officials cannot be issued in isolation.

The Judges are, rather, of the view that courts should take steps to expedite the disposal of cases not just against police officials, but other accused as well.

Acting on a public interest litigation filed by one Paramjit Singh against the State of Punjab and other respondents, the Bench asserted the petitioner had asked for expeditious disposal of cases against police officials. “Even here, we see no reason to interfere in public interest.

“It is common knowledge that a large number of criminal cases are pending in different courts in the country, as also in the states of Punjab and Haryana, where accused are in custody.

“Cases where the accused are languishing in jails, would certainly deserve priority for early disposal. There are also cases of heinous offence against women and against the weaker sections of the society which, too, call for expeditious disposal”.

In their detailed three-page order, the Bench added: “Suffice it to say that in a situation where the number of cases pending in the courts is very large, any direction which would operate to prejudice other persons involved in the criminal cases cannot be issued.

“This would not, however, mean that courts would not take steps within their powers to expedite disposal of cases against police officials, just as they are expected to do in respect of other accused persons”.

In his petition, Paramjit Singh had earlier sought directions to the respondents to ensure grant of protection to witnesses in cases involving police officials, against whom “serious charges” had been framed by courts.

The petitioner was allegedly booked, but later released, in a case under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985, in Malout. Investigation of the case eventually culminated in a charge sheet against two police officials.

Taking up the matter, the Bench asserted: “The petitioner has not drawn our attention to any specific provision under the CrPC under which a witness protection scheme is framed by the Legislature.

“Having said that, we are of the view that the courts trying police officials as accused, would be perfectly justified in passing such orders as may be considered necessary or proper to protect any witness against harassment, threat or injury by or at the instance of the persons, who are facing the trial”.