Amritsar, October 29
Apparently dismayed over the ongoing hide and seek going on between the Union Home Ministry and the Shiromani Gurudwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) authorities over the grant of permission to the SGPC to enable it to take its jatha by the ministry, over 300 Sikh pilgrims of a total of 1,360 members of the proposed SGPC-led jatha have scrapped their programme to visit Pakistan.

The 300 Sikh pilgrims, who had planned to be part of the SGPC jatha, withdrew their papers and applications, allegedly owing to uncertainty over the SGPC-led jatha’s visit to Pakistan, revealed a senior SGPC official. The SGPC authorities, however, have asked the pilgrims who had applied to be part of the jathas to collect their passports from the SGPC office at around 8 a.m. on October 31, irrespective of the situation whether they were granted visas or not. Our Jatha, in all probability, will leave for Pakistan on October 31, said an official.

Meanwhile, the air was filled with religious fervour, as a 165-member jatha of Khadoor Sahib-based Baba Sewa Singh of Kar Sewawale left for Pakistan via Samjhauta Express amid shouting of religious slogans. They will participate in the birth anniversary functions of Guru Nanak Dev at Nankana Sahib and other Sikh shrines in Pakistan.

The train left for Pakistan at around 5.15 p.m. today.

The departure of the Sikh pilgrims, however, got delayed at the Attari railway station due to some confusion over the clearance of some members of the jatha. The issue, however, got resolved as the Customs officials obtained a clearance from their New Delhi-based headquarters.

Things were not clear in the SGPC over the proposed departure of the jatha even as the SGPC authorities have sent a team of officials to New Delhi to sort out the matter with the Home Ministry. Confusion engulfed the SGPC headquarters here, as earlier it was said the Home Ministry had not cleared the list of 1,360 members of the SGPC jatha and later on, the SGPC officials got information that the Punjab government had not sent the list to the Union Home Ministry after its clearance.

The issue got resolved to some extent only when the SGPC authorities took the matter with the Punjab government, which clarified that it had already sent the list to the ministry. A copy of Punjab government’s clearance was also sent to the ministry, sources in the SGPC said.

Referring to the alleged refusal by the Home Ministry in granting of permission to the SGPC to take its jathas to Pakistan, the SGPC secretary Dalmegh Singh said the controversy was uncalled for, as the SGPC had not received any denial by the ministry. “Moreover, it was the duty of the Pakistan government to ensure safety and security of visiting pilgrims,” said Dalmegh Singh.

Gurdaspur, October 29
A scandal pertaining to the diversion of kerosene, meant for distribution among the poor at subsidised rates, to trucks belonging to Jammu and Kashmir was exposed by the intelligence wing of the Punjab Police in the district today.

However, the police, to whom three accused with a truck belonging to Jammu and Kashmir, which was being filled with kerosene at a depot located at Man Kaur Singh village, was handed over by DSP, CID, Balbir Singh Randhawa, was reluctant to register a case against the guilty till the filing of this report.

Interestingly, officials of the CID wing of this district, including Randhawa, who was reportedly under pressure from a section of ruling politicians, for hushing up the matter, reported the matter to the ADGP, Intelligence, Punjab Police, immediately after the three accused were nabbed.

A written report in this connection would be sent to the ADGP, Intelligence, Punjab Police.

Harpal Singh, SHO, police station concerned, said a case against the accused could not be registered until DSP Randhawa would give a complaint in writing to him in connection with the incident.

Randhawa said when he had handed over the accused to the police, there was no need of a written complaint from his side in this connection.

He expressed surprise why the police official concerned was hesitating to register a case in this connection.

Randhawa said the accused had been filling fuel tanks of Jammu and Kashmir-based trucks with kerosene at the rate of Rs 25 per litre despite the fact that the accused were supposed to give same kerosene to the poor having ration cards at subsidised rate, ranging from Rs 11 to Rs 12 per litre.

He said when a team of the CID wing reached the spot, about 50 drums, containing thousands of litres of kerosene, were found in the three rooms of the oil depot.

He added that he was not sure whether the owner of the oil depot, whose employee, identified as Rahul Kumar, who was filling the kerosene into the fuel tank of the truck bearing registration number JK-02-T-8169 had been taken into custody by the police.

He said in this way, the accused had been minting money and depriving the poor of the subsidised fuel being given to them by the state government. He said only the police could investigate the matter and find out the bigwigs involved in the scam.

Lok Nath Angra, SSP, said he was away to Amritsar in connection with an official meeting and would depute a DSP rank officer to look into the matter.

Chandigarh, October 29
Within 20 days of the Punjab Government having started India’s first female foeticide helpline, this unique service has had its first major breakthrough.

The hotline has helped identify an ultrasound centre in Sirsa, Haryana, where a young woman from Mansa got an ultrasound check done, and when she came to know that it was a girl foetus, she got it aborted.

She was taken to the centre by her mother and the whole package cost the woman Rs 15,000.

A caller informed the hotline service yesterday that a young woman resident of Moosa village in Mansa had aborted her girlchild recently. Following this, the district programme management officials were alerted, who then sent the information to the Civil Surgeon, Mansa.

The Civil Surgeon constituted a team, which went to the village and met the woman. “The woman admitted that she had indeed aborted a female child recently. Her mother-in-law gave the name of the centre in Sirsa, where the whole procedure was carried out,” said Anurag Aggarwal, mission director, National Rural Health Mission.

The abortion took place more than a month ago when the woman was at her mother’s house in Soortia village in Sirsa.

Deputy Commissioner Mansa Kumar Rahul said the matter had been brought to the notice of the Deputy Commissioner, Sirsa, who has been asked to initiate strict action against the doctors at the ultrasound centre.

“We have also asked the Mansa police to conduct an inquiry into the whole issue. But the police has been directed that no harassment should be caused to the woman or her family members,” added Kumar Rahul. Sources added that the woman has a seven-month-old girlchild and had been pressurised by her mother-in-law to ensure that she bears a son.

The community health hotline (number 4005252) has been started as a pilot project as part of the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM). This service runs from 9 am to 6 pm and gives residents an opportunity to air their grievances and give suggestions with regard to health services in the state.

Callers are also asked to give information regarding female foeticide in the state. “The hotline gives an opportunity to women to speak up in case they are being forced to get their female foetus aborted. If she is not able to say anything, her relatives or friends can inform us. The caller’s identity is not asked and the whole thing is anonymous, ” added Anurag Aggarwal.

Batala, October 29
Shiv Kumar Batalvi, who won the Sahitya Academy Award and is also known as the John Keats of Punjab, has penned down the best of Punjabi literature. However, a section of the residents here has made his memorial into a garbage dump and the authorities concerned have a turned a blind eye to the same.

The memorial was built in this town at a cost of lakhs of rupees as a mark of respect to Batalvi after a section of poets, litterateurs, writers, critics, thinkers and art lovers fought a battle with successive state governments for the same. It has now become a place where people throw garbage and the situation has come to a point where stink has started emanating from the place. Not only this, the memorial has become a haven for stray dogs.

Fed up with the indifferent attitude of the authorities concerned, a section of writers, poets, art lovers, litterateurs and others decided to launch an agitation in November 2009 to protest against the same.

Anoop Singh, vice-president, Punjab Sahit Academy, Ludhiana, said they would break the nexus of ruling politicians and bureaucrats, who were trying to occupy the land of the memorial for their vested interests. He alleged that the memorial was being used for dumping garbage under a deep-rooted conspiracy.

Ravinder Singh, president, Shiv Sanehi Sahit Sabha, said the memorial was rarely used for holding any literary function. Its upkeep was not taken on the agenda by any state government agency despite the fact that they had approached MLAs belonging to Gurdaspur district with the request that the memorial must be looked after well so that tributes could be paid to the poet by holding literary functions there.

Ambika Khanna, president, Municipal Council, said, “The memorial does not belong to the MC and hence we cannot be held responsible for the garbage being thrown on the premises of the memorial. The MC authorities have, however, issued a show-cause notice to a doctor for throwing garbage outside the premises of the memorial.”

Rahul Chaba, SDM, said he had called a meeting of residents on Friday so that a mechanism could be worked out to generate adequate funds for the upkeep of the memorial. He added that action against those who had been throwing garbage into it must be taken under the law.

Khamano, October 29
As thousands of rotten paddy bags await being picked up from godowns of a rice mill near focal point in Ranwan, fresh stock is being stored right besides the rotten ones.

The fresh paddy would get damaged within few days if the rotten paddy is not removed immediately, pointed out the officials of a procuring agency in Fatehgarh Sahib.

While the stock belongs to a private trader, he is supposed to hand to back to the government after milling. A visit at godown revealed that there is no boundary wall in the godown.Over the years, entire boundary wall has fallen victim to thieves who have not even spared the barbed wires that fenced the area, pointed out villagers of Ranwan.

The paddy stock lying at godown for the past two years has rotten badly emanating foul smell.

Paramjit Singh, a resident of nearby village rued that stinking smell emanating from rotting paddy has made lives of nearby villagers hell.

It was found that fresh stock of paddy was being unloaded and stocked just a few feet away from rotten paddy amidst creepy organisms crawling out of rotten paddy bags.

District Food Supply Controller Atinder Kaur said paddy belonged to a private trader who was responsible for storing paddy. She said some procuring agencies from outside Fatehgarh Sahib had stocked the paddy in this godown.

Fatehgarh Sahib Deputy Commissioner Yashvir Mahajan said he was not aware of unloading of fresh paddy alongside rotten.

Khamano, October 29
Paddy procurement season is spelling trouble for commuters on the Chandigarh-Ludhiana road with serpentine queues of vehicles leading to traffic jams during peak hours.

Hundreds of trucks loaded with the crop are parked alongside the road for several kilometers, creating chaos. Commuters, shopkeepers and people from nearby villages are having a tough time and even crossing the road safely has become a challenge.

“I counted the trucks yesterday. There were 268 trucks that stretch more than 3.5 km from Khamano city towards Ludhiana,” said Parminder Singh, a resident.

“These trucks enter a rice mill situated in the city and create havoc during paddy procurement season every year,” said another villager Jeet Singh.

He added that none of these trucks were parked off road and occupied most of the space on the road.

For villagers it has become a risky affair crossing the stretch in peak hours. Shopkeepers too complain that their business was being affected due to parking of these trucks.

The residents said due ton the haphazard parking many accidents have taken place in past few months. Recently seven boys were killed here as their vehicle rammed into a stationary truck.

Traffic police officials expressing helplessness over issue. There are only two traffic cops in Khamano who cannot manage entire traffic.

SSP Kaustubh Sharma stated that the rice mill owners have been told to take some land on lease and charge trucks for parking. “We are in talks with the mill authorities to mitigate this problem without affecting smooth procurement season,” he added.

Jalandhar, October 29
Punjab Chief Secretary SC Aggarwal had to intervene to resolve the tangle between Pungrain, an off-shoot of the Punjab Food and Supplies Department, and the State Warehousing Corporation with regard to the creation of additional covered storage capacity to stack food grains procured for the central pool in the state.

Sources said the Chief Secretary yesterday held a meeting with officials of both departments to resolve the issue. The Chief Secretary instructed the officials concerned of Pungrain to hand over the entire correspondence with regard to the creation of the additional capacity to the warehousing corporation.

In fact, Pungrain had already floated the tenders for creating additional capacity to store 71 lakh tonnes of food grains. However, objecting to it, the minister in charge of the corporation took up the matter with Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, who directed the Chief Secretary to handle the issue. The minister had argued that the corporation was set up to handle the job of storage of food grains. It should not be denied the primary job it was mandated to do.

Sources said the Food and Supplies Department authorities would now hand over to the corporation all correspondence received by it in response to the tenders floated by it to create the additional capacity.

The Union government had allowed the state government to create additional capacity of 80 lakh tonnes in the state. The Centre wanted that entire stock of food grains should be stored in roofed buildings. At present, the state has a roofed capacity to store about 80 lakh tonnes of wheat and rice. Of it, 52 lakh tonnes capacity is with the corporation. Many private parties have built roofed godowns, which had been hired by various government food grains procurement agencies.

More than 180 lakh tonnes rice and wheat are procured every year in the state. Owing to inadequate roofed storage capacity, thousands of tonnes of wheat, which is stacked in the open, is damaged every year. Keeping in view this factor, the state government had approached the Centre this year to create further storage capacity.

As the existing rent rates it was difficult to create a new storage capacity, the corporation has urged the Centre to raise the storage rate to Rs 6 per quintal. The existing rate is of Rs 3.80 per quintal. The godowns built by private parties are hired for five years or more by the procurement agencies.

Chandigarh, October 29
Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today said the Rs 50 bonus on paddy announced by the Centre was too little, too late.

Reacting to the bonus, which is in addition to the MSP, the Chief Minister said the Centre had always had an apathetic attitude towards the genuine demands of farmers of the state.

Badal said even though the farmers of Punjab had spent a huge amount on diesel to save the paddy crop due to a partial failure of the monsoon, the Centre had not considered their case for a bonus of at least Rs 100 per quintal. He said the bonus announced today was a cruel joke on the farmers of the state and demanded that it be hiked.

Amritsar, October 29
Lawyer Awais Sheikh today finally met Sarbjit Singh, who is lodged in the Kot Lakhpat jail for over 19 years and facing death sentence, after a legal battle and gave him some items sent by his family.

Sarbjit might have a ray of hope heralding for him despite the fact that a review petition regarding his mercy was turned down by the Pakistan Supreme Court, as the Amnesty International is now likely to take up his case and drum up support for him at the international level.

The Amnesty International has already established contact with his lawyer and has given an questionnaire regarding the case proceedings to the latter.

Sheikh reached the jail around 11 am as per a stipulated time by the court, but was allowed to meet Sarbjit around 12 noon due to some formalities.

The meeting between him and Sarbjit lasted for over 45 minutes in the presence of an official of the Special Branch (CID wing) of the Punjab (Pakistan) government.

The high court, which had granted permission to Sheikh to meet Sarbjit on October 27, it was learnt, had ordered for the presence of the special branch official during the meeting.

“Sarbjit is doing well and is hale and hearty in the jail. He is thankful to over one lakh Indians who had signed a mercy petition for his release. However, he got emotional when I gave him items of daily use sent for him by his Khalra-based family. He asked me to muster support for him so as to secure his early release,” Sheikh said while talking to The Tribune over the phone from Lahore.

“The Amnesty people have contacted me and are upset over the fact as how a person could be retained behind the bars for over 19 years without registration of any FIR in his name,” said Sheikh.

He said Sarbjit had also appealed to the Indian government to take up his case with the Pakistan government and seek his release.

Sheikh also gave a copy of letter written by his sister Dalbir to the Chief Justice of the Pakistan Supreme Court, seeking mercy for him.

Jalandhar, October 29
Following threats of recurrence of 26/11 attacks, the Union Home Ministry has decided to strengthen its intelligent network especially in those areas of the country where the risk of militant activity is higher.

The Home Ministry has decided to make its intelligence network stronger by filling the vacant posts of Assistant Central Intelligence Officer II (ACIO II) in the Intelligent Bureau (IB, it is learnt.

Apart from collecting day-to-day routine information, the ACIO II equivalent to Sub-Inspectors (SIs) will also be assigned responsibility of keeping an eye on militant activities especially on the sleeper cells of different militant groups, the sources in the IB said.

As many as 500 ACIO II will be recruited in the IB in the next few months. The process of recruiting these ACIOs has already started.

Any male or female whose educational qualification is that of a graduate and whose age is below 27years may apply for the post. Last date for submitting application for ACIO II is November 9. The written test for this post is likely to be held in February next year.

The newly appointed ACIO II personnel will be posted in different parts of the country.

Ludhiana, October 29
Ever since the Nanakshahi calendar was inaugurated in 2003 by the then Jathedar, Akal Takht, Giani Joginder Singh Vedanti, and the then President, SGPC, Kirpal Singh Badungar, the Sant Samaj has been sulking.

Initially the Sant Samaj got the support of the two takhts -- Patna Sahib and Hazur Sahib. Since the Sant Samaj has its roots in the village Sikh population, it is prone to stick to the established order of rituals. The Sant Samaj is more concerned about the dates of sangrands (first day of the Bikrami month) and Dasvin (10th day of lunar day) and such other dates. In view of this, the Sant Samaj has been pressing upon the SGPC to accommodate the lunar dates also. At that time the lunar dates for Guru Nanak’s birthday, Baisakhi and Hola Mohalla were accommodated.

Consequently the solar dates came into clash and it was decided that these dates would be again ascertained… to correct the clashes. Since then no serious efforts were made. Now, when the SGPC general house elections are approaching, the Sant Samaj has put all its pressure on the Akali Dal supremo Prakash Singh Badal and his son, Sukhbir Badal, to get mileage in this controversy. It is electoral considerations that are weighing with the Akalis and they have become inclined to make amendments in the calendar.

On the other hand, there is a lobby within the Sant Samaj that wants the calendar to be scrapped and replaced by the traditional Bikrami calendar. This is being opposed by the ever-conscious strong section of the Sikhs who always had the separate Sikh identity in focus.

The problem of such dates was earlier discussed by Karam Singh. Now only Dr Balwant Singh of Guru Nanak Dev University and Dr Kirpal Singh, formerly of Punjabi University, are conversant with the issue. They are not being associated because they had supported the Nanakshahi calendar in 2003, but for making changes, they will have a role to play.

The Sikh psyche will not accept the wholesale scrapping of the calendar nor the reintroduction of the Bikrami calendar so as to dilute the Nanakshahi calendar.

Avtar Singh Makkar, President, SGPC, admitted that there was pressure from the Sant Samaj and Damdami Taksal to change the calendar.

Makkar, however, said there were some anomalies in the Nanakshahi calendar, which would be corrected in consultation with the Sikh scholars. He pointed out that there was some dispute on the date of birthday of Guru Gobind Singh and four sangrands.

The SGPC President said the matter was likely to be solved within a month.

Patiala, October 29
Highlighting the unique contribution of the ‘Sikhs in saffron robes’- most often taken as followers of the Hindu religious traditions, Vice-Chancellor Dr Jaspal Singh said their institution known as Nirmal Samapardaa (sect) had played a pivotal role in propagation and implementation of the Sikh thought during most trying hours of the history.

Presiding over the two-day seminar on the “Contribution of Nirmal Sampardaa to the Sikh literature” at the university campus here today, Singh said if the institution had not preserved and compiled the life and deeds of Sikh Gurus and their followers after the demise of Guru Gobind Singh, we would have been deprived of knowledge of real developments that constituted a distinct Sikh ideology and thought.

The Nirmal Sampardaa (sect) was founded by five Sikhs, who were sent by Guru Gobind Singh in 1686 to Varanasi- then and even now, a centre for erudition and practice in Hindu religious traditions- to study Sanskrit and Hindu mythology there. The Guru’s purpose was to study and understand the Hindu religious literature for the benefit of the masses, as the study of Sanskrit was, then, confined to the upper caste Brahmins only.

Sant Jodh Singh Maharaj of Nirmal Ashram, Rishikesh, was present at the inaugural ceremony of the seminar, which was organised by the Guru Granth Sahib Studies Department of the University in collaboration of the Nirmal Ashram.

About a dozen newly books, authored by eminent scholars on role of the Nirmal sect were released at the function.

Chandigarh, October 29
The State Punjabi Language Empowered Committee today unanimously resolved to issue a warning to educational institutes who were violating the implementation of the Punjabi Language Act of the committee.

It also urged the neighbouring state of UT, Chandigarh, to implement Punjabi as second language in the offices and educational institutes.

Presiding over the maiden meeting here today, chairperson of the committee, Dr Upinderjit Kaur, who is also Education and Languages Minister, Punjab, took a serious view of privately managed convent schools and Kendriya Vidiayalas, situated in Ferozepur, Ludhiana and Mansa for implementing Punjabi as compulsory subject from class 1 to 10 under the Punjabi and other Languages Study Act, 2008.

The minister informed that it had been brought to her notice that all types of educational institutes in the remaining districts had been following the Act in its true spirit. The education department had been asked to issue warnings to such institutions to implement Punjabi language till November 30, 2009, she added.

The state empowered committee also collectively passed a resolution, urging the UT administration and states like Haryana, Himachal Pardesh, Delhi, Rajasthan, Uttrakhand etc to implement Punjabi as a second language to fulfil the aspirations of Punjabi community residing to these states. The committee also resolved to exempt Punjabi theatre activities/plays from state entertainment to promote the language.

Sangrur, October 29
In a case of deficiency in service, the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum (DCDRF) yesterday ordered a private medical scan centre to compensate Rs 5 lakh to a couple for wrongly reporting a child born without legs as normal.

The forum in its judgement has ordered the scan centre run by Dr Vikram Jain and Dr Geetanjli Jain to pay Jasbir Kaur and her husband Paramjit Singh, residents of Dharmgarh, Sunam, to pay compensation of Rs 5 lakh to the victim couple. The couple had demanded a compensation of Rs 10 lakh on account of the mental agony and litigation expenses.

The forum in its observation said the scan centre may ask for permissible remittance from United India Insurance Company that issued the centre indemnity doctor policy. The forum, comprising of president MD Sharma, members Harvinder Sharma and Nisha Sarad holding them jointly and severally liable, was also directed interest at the rate of 9 per cent per annum from birth of their child without legs on November 1, 2008, till realisation.

The couple in their complaint before the forum had alleged that they visited the scan centre on May 21, 2008. They had averred that they paid Rs 500 as requisite fee to know the growth of child in the womb of 17-week pregnant Jasbir by way of ultrasound examination.

The couple in their complaint had alleged that after conducting ultrasound Dr Geetanjali declared the child in womb of mother as normal and no abnormality was reported.

They added that they and their family members were shocked when Jasbir gave birth to a male child without legs that vanished their hopes of a normal child in their family as reported in the ultrasound report.

Chandigarh, October 29
The Punjab government was at the receiving end over the issue of construction of new court complexes in the state.

As a public interest litigation on the issue came up, the high court Division Bench of Chief Justice Tirath Singh Thakur and Justice Mahesh Grover even suggested verbally a cut in the security of the Chief Minister and his own security cover, for generating enough resources for the purpose.

Apparently miffed over the state’s attitude, the Bench did not mince words and made clear its intentions of even looking into the expenditure of the ministers. The judges asked the state to initiate the steps to complete the construction work expeditiously, as the condition of some of the court complexes was bad. Before parting with the matter, the Bench also asked the state chief secretary to personally look into the matter.

Earlier during the hearing, an affidavit filed by secretary, department of home affairs and justice, Bharat Bhushan Sethi was placed before the Bench, stating the government has provided Rs 51 lakh for the construction of the complexes in the state.

He added the work could be completed on the availability of funds to be released by the Government of India.

In all, the work of constructing and upgrading 15 court complexes in the state is in progress. So far, the demand is of Rs 102 crore for 2009-10.

It is believed that in all 26 works were to be carried out initially. Out of the total, the work of setting up or upgrading 11 court complexes is complete, while in remaining 15 it is still going on.