Bathinda, February 3
Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal today pooh-poohed the Centre’s proposal of interlinking rivers. “It is not feasible,” he said, while reacting to the proposal of the Union minister for Water Resources Pawan Bansal.

Sukhbir Badal was here to give awards to schoolchildren under the “Inspire” scheme.

He said, “This is our water. How can we share it with other states by keeping our own people thirsty?”

He lashed out at the Congress-led UPA government at the Centre by describing it as “directionless, mismanaged and full of confusion”.

The Centre was creating problems for the farmers of Punjab by not lifting the stocks of the recent crop of paddy from the shellers. This would pose a serious problem during the next crop when there would be no space in the godowns to stock the grains.

The Deputy CM accused the Centre of having usurped the powers of the states that it was now accusing of having failed to curb price rise.

“How do they expect us to check the price rise when we have no powers to do so? Let the Centre delegate powers to us and see the results within a fortnight,” he said.

Sukhbir Badal warned that any further increase in the prices of petrol, diesel and cooking gas would steeply push up the prices of essential commodities.

He said eradicating drug abuse was a top priority for the Punjab government and the issue of uniform law to curb the menace throughout the country was raised by him during a recent meeting of the national security council. Every effort of Punjab to curb drug abuse has failed because the neighbouring Rajasthan government was liberal on the issue.

Sukhbir Singh Badal said steps were being taken to meet the challenge of unemployment. Nearly 10,000 youth would be trained in industrial security so that they could get employment in private sector.

Earlier, speaking at the award giving ceremony, Sukhbir Badal said providing quality education in government schools was on the top of the agenda of his government. Science laboratories would be provided in all schools so that the students from rural areas were in a position to compete with those of urban areas.

He presented inspiration award of Rs 5,000 to each of the 411 outstanding students of government schools and 22 of private schools. A total sum of Rs 3.34 crore would be presented to students of classes VI to X in the state under the scheme.

Later, he launched the official website of the Bathinda Municipal Corporation (BMC).

Faridkot, February 3
Punjab is all set to become the first state in the country to provide online access to land records by completing a Rs 115-crore programme to computerize land records in all 153 tehsils and sub-tehsils and putting them on the Internet by the end of the current year.

This was claimed by Deputy CM Sukhbir Singh Badal while inaugurating the first ever fully computerized ‘fard kendra’ (computerised land record kiosk) in the administrative complex of Faridkot district here today.

He said that the government had completed 75 per cent of this work and the remaining 25 per cent of the work would take at least ten months to complete the task.

On the spot, he asked the District Magistrate to provide computerized working desks to the patwaris here to ensure that they provide the data of land record to the farmers without any delay.

He said that after providing computer connectivity in all the tehsils, Punjab would develop a software to provide online access to the land records. He regretted that farmers, since ages, had been suffering at the hands of some corrupt revenue officials due to lack of transparency in the land records.

Talking to the media persons, he said that the administrative reforms commission would submit its report to him tomorrow and the whole report would be implemented by December 31, this year.

Sukhbir also laid the foundation stone of a Rs 4.5 crore 66 KV sub-station at Kaler village, which would provide electricity to the surrounding villages.

He said that the transmission losses in the state account for 23. 91 per cent while the national average is 15 per cent. “We are strengthening the existing power transmission and distribution system in the state that will save Rs 1000 crore lost annually on this count.” He said that presently, four per cent were transmission loses and about 20 per cent were distribution losses, out of which, ten per cent were technical and the remaining 10 per cent losses were due to theft and pilferage.

Sukhbir said that the government had approved Rs 1,990 crore for transmission project and Rs 1,235 crore for distribution projects and both these would be completed in two years, resulting in reduction of losses by more than 15 per cent.

Apart from this, 35 lakh electric meters would be replaced by electro mechanical meters at a cost of Rs 175 crore within the next two years, he added.

The Deputy CM further said that the Punjab government has chalked out an ambitious project to the tune of Rs 3,225 crores to strengthen the existing the power transmission and distribution system in the state keeping in view the expected increased generation after the commencement of new thermal plants.

Sukhbir said that the government had approved Rs 1,990 crore for transmission project and Rs 1,235 crore for distribution projects and both these would be completed in two years, resulting in reduction of losses by more than 15 per cent.

Apart from this, 35 lakh electric meters would be replaced by electro mechanical meters at a cost of Rs 175 crore within the next two years, he added.

The Deputy CM further said that the Punjab government has chalked out an ambitious project to the tune of Rs 3,225 crores to strengthen the existing the power transmission and distribution system in the state keeping in view the expected increased generation after the commencement of new thermal plants.

Bathinda, February 3
As many as 6,699 students throughout the state have been selected for the Inspire Awards for which an amount of Rs 3.08 crore has been released by the Union ministry’s department of science and technology.

Acting upon the policy, the state education department today distributed the Inspire Award to 433 students of about 260 schools of the district at a function organised in the Teachers’ Home here. Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal was the chief guest on the occasion.

The award stands for innovation in science pursuit for inspired research (INSPIRE), an initiative of the Union ministry, under which Rs 5,000 have been rewarded to each selected student.

During the function, education officials stated that the objectives of the Inspire Award was to communicate the excitement of creative pursuit of science to the students and to attract talent.

According to the officials, the award would help in building a pool of human resources for escalating and expanding the science and technology system.

“The Inspire award is an investment of Rs 5,000 per student, which would be given to them to prepare model projects based upon a topic of science of their choice. It will reflect its result in encouraging scientific thinking among students,” said district science supervisor Gurdeep Singh.

He added that two students from each government and private schools, which had enrolled for the scheme, had been selected for the award. One of these students has to be from classes VI to VIII while the other should be from standard IX or X.

It has been stated that the winners of district-level competitions will participate in the state-level event to take place in April.

Bathinda, February 3
On the one hand, the neighbouring state of Haryana has increased the amount of the “Indira Gandhi Priyadarshani Vivah Shagun Yojna” from Rs 15,000 to Rs 31,000 for the marriage of girls belonging to families of the Scheduled Castes living below poverty line and on the other, thousands of beneficiaries of the “Shagun scheme” in various parts of Punjab have been awaiting the grant of Rs 15,000 since May last as the state government has not released funds for these cases till January this year.

For example, the beneficiary families of the scheme in Bathinda and Sangrur districts, whose daughters were married from May last to January this year, have been waiting for the benefit. In Punjab, the Shagun amount is given to the daughters of Schedules Caste families and the daughters of widows of all castes.

According to information available, the Bathinda district has received 1,751 valid applications under the “Shagun scheme” from April to December 31, 2009, but the district welfare office could only make the payment to only 240 beneficiaries for the month of April 2009 and some cases of May 2009.

The remaining beneficiaries are still waiting for the “Shagun”, for which the district needs Rs 2, 26, 65,000. The cases of January are yet to be added to the list of beneficiaries awaiting benefit. The beneficiaries belong to Bathinda, Talwandi Sabo and Phul tehsils of this district.

Besides, the state governement has not released the funds to the tune of Rs 1.86 crore for 1,243 pending cases of the Shagun scheme from November 2006 to March 2007 to the Bathinda district so far.

It may be recalled that Capt Amarinder Singh-led government had set up a social security dedicated fund for providing social security pensions and grant under the Shagun scheme. Reasons as to why the funds for the Shagun scheme are not being released regularly are best known to the authorities concerned only.

Bathinda, February 3
Judges of the district court, Mayor, politicians, bureaucrats, city residents and others assembled at the Kotwali police station today as the Bathinda police observed the bhog ceremony of Akhand path with traditional fervour.

It was an unusual scene at the police station as cops were seen requesting everyone including passersby to partake of langar, for which they had pooled in money from their monthly salaries.

Nearly 42 cops including some SHOs donated blood, which was collected by the blood department of the Civil Hospital, to mark the occasion. SSP Bathinda Ashish Chaudhary boosted the morale of the cops and presented them mementos.

Meanwhile, the cops also arranged a de-addiction camp, where about 101 people, most of them from poor strata of society, voluntarily disclosed their drug problem and got registered for treatment.

A team of six counsellors, including the SMO, Police Lines, not only motivated the addicts to shun drugs but also initiated their medical treatment, giving medicines on the spot.

The drug de-addiction camp served a dual purpose as cops were found noting down the particulars of addicts as well as of the sources from where they get the drugs.

The cops, who were put on the job, said that they wanted to eradicate the evil from its roots, so the list would be used to target the suppliers of drugs in the area.

The Kotwali police station was well decorated with hoardings, carpets, chairs, etc. to celebrate the occasion.

Speaking on the occasion, the host of the event, SHO Kotwali, Gurjeet Singh Romana said the Akhand path was observed to thank the Almighty for a peaceful past and better future.

Hailing the efforts of the cops, Deputy Commissioner Rahul Tewari said, “It is a noble gesture on the part of the cops, which will surely rejuvenate them besides spreading a positive message.”

Ferozepur, February 3
The District Manager (DM) and Branch Manager (BM) of Markfed, Ferozepur, and six other persons have landed in trouble after Mukhtiar Singh, a retired employee of this organisation, allegedly committed suicide a few days ago.

The matter connected with the suicide allegedly committed by Mukhtiar Singh came to light when his body was found floating in the Ferozepur feeder canal, passing about a distance of five kilometres from this town. A suicide note, in which, the deceased has categorically stated that for his suicide the DM, BM and six others were responsible.

HS Pannu, SP (D), when contacted, said that a case under section 306 of the IPC was registered against DM, BM, Markfed, Ferozepur and six others had been registered in the Sadar police station on the statement made by Nirmarjit Singh, son of the deceased. He added that arrest of any accused in this case was yet to be made.

Information gathered by TNS revealed that Mukhtiar Singh, who attained the age of superannuation from the Markfed a few months ago, was missing since January 27 from his house.His body was found floating in the canal yesterday. When a search was carried out for the identification of body, a suicide note was also recovered from there.

Police sources said that Mukhtiar Singh was feeling harassed by his former superiors as he was not being given pension after retirement. He was not given gratuity by the department. His economic condition had been affected adversely due to non-availability of hard cash to him from any source. Sources added that the body was cremated today in evening after postmortem. Sarbjit Singh, SHO, Sadar police station, said the real reason behind the alleged suicide would be known only after the investigation.

Moga, February 3
The DGP of Punjab, PS Gill, has marked an inquiry to the DIG Ferozepur range against inspector Satnam Singh, who was in-charge of the CIA-Staff, Moga, against whom allegations of extortion of money were levelled by the chemists’ association on the pretext of registering criminal cases under the NDPS Act on the chemists during the past couple of months. SSP of Moga district, Ashok Bath, had already suspended him from the service, last evening.

A delegation of the chemists’ association met the DGP on Wednesday evening and apprised him of the ‘false’ cases registered against some of their colleagues under the NDPS Act by the suspended police officer. The DGP ordered an inquiry against him to the DIG Ferozepur range.

Earlier, the SSP had suspended him from the services following a complaint given to him by the chemists association that the said inspector had taken Rs 9 lakh from a chemist running drugs store at Dharamkot for releasing him.

The chemist, Sanjiv Bansal and his brother Ravinder Kumar were taken into custody on January 31 by Satnam Singh allegedly possessing psychotropic drugs. Bansal in an affidavit given to the SSP on Tuesday alleged that the said police officer took Rs 9 lakh to release him. He said, “Satnam demanded Rs 15 lakh from him to release both of them but the deal was struck at Rs 9 lakh but even after paying this amount his brother was not released and an FIR was registered against him.”

However, an FIR under the NDPS Act was registered against his brother Ravinder, who was sent to the judicial custody by the court of the CJM Karunesh Kumar Kakkar, this afternoon.

Bansal alleged that he was badly bashed up by Satnam Singh and his subordinates in the CIA-Staff and the bruise marks on his feet were confirmed by a medico-legal court conducted by a specialised doctor in the district hospital here.

On the other hand, Satnam Singh while talking to The Tribune, refuted all the allegations and said that the chemists were baffled by the drive of the police against sale of psychotropic drugs. Therefore, they had levelled the allegations of corruption against him. “I have not taken even a single penny from anybody,” he claimed.

Abohar, February 3
The three-member medical board of veterinary surgeons, which conducted the postmortem of the female black buck at village Rampura today, reportedly did not find any bullet mark on the body.

However, the department has come in the dock as the witnesses were surprised to find that no postmortem had actually been conducted earlier whereas the veterinary surgeon of Seeto Gunno hospital had reported to the sub-divisional authorities that he conducted postmortem on Monday evening.

He opined that the animal had died of cardiac arrest as stray dogs were chasing her and there was bite injury at the neck, sources said.

The three-member panel comprised veterinary surgeons Sukhwinder Singh Gill, Sunil Narula and Narinder Pal Singh Gill. Ramesh Kumar Bishnoi, vice-president and other senior functionaries of the Akhil Bhartiya Jeev Raksha Bishnoi Sabha told the newspersons in the evening that the body of the animal was exhumed in the presence of the representatives of the Bishnoi community.

The Sabha has now trained its guns at the Seeto Gunno veterinary surgeon for allegedly submitting a false report.

Even if the deer had been killed by stray dogs, it speaks volumes of the negligence on the part of the wildlife department, which is supposed to protect hundreds of animals and birds in the Asia's largest open wildlife sanctuary in Abohar sub-division, the Sabha said.

Sub-divisional veterinary officer, Shyam Bhalla, said the report is likely to be placed before him tomorrow in the morning. Only then would he be able to make detailed observations.

Ferozepur, February 3
To check traffic chaos due to frequent closure of the railway crossing near Basti Tankan Wali (BTW), the members of the Indian Social Welfare Society (ISWS) today submitted a memorandum to the Deputy Commissioner KK Yadav, demanding requisite steps.

SN Malhotra, president, ISWS, while talking to The Tribune said since the railway overbridge connecting the city and cantonment area was under construction, much of the vehicular traffic has been routed towards the BTW railway crossing.

However, as this rail crossing remains closed most of the time, due to crossing of trains and shunting, it often leads to traffic jams and vehicles remain stranded for hours together, he added.

Malhotra demanded that the road on both sides of this crossing should be divided into two lanes for the smooth flow of traffic and police personnel should be permanently deployed to monitor the same.

Ferozepur, February 3
Dalip Singh Pandhi, member, Punjab State Commission for Scheduled Caste, has ordered the district administration to produce the relevant record connected with a piece of land, on which demolition was carried out by the municipal council authorities a few days ago to him within two days.

Pandhi made this order today after visiting this town late last evening and after listening to hundreds of members of the SC community, who have been protesting the arrest of their leader Bagga Singh and demolition of their hutments, which they have been occupying for the past 20 years.

The protestors, who had staged dharna on the Ferozepur-Jalalabad road and blocked traffic for the past two days in this city, lifted the blockade and suspended their agitation late last night when Pandhi assured them that they would get justice.

Bagga Singh was arrested and he was sent to the judicial custody after he allegedly made an attempt to stop the MC authorities from carrying out the demolition of structure, which had come up on a piece of land, belonging to the local municipal council.

On last Sunday, MC authorities with the assistance of civil and police administration had demolished the temporary structures erected by these people on 84 canal government land located near Basti Shekhan in this city. The members of SC community were sitting on dharna since Sunday.

Pandhi said protestors suspended their agitation when they were assured that Bagga Singh would be released from jail by noon today (February 3, 2010) and a committee would be set up to verify the fact that whether the municipal council authorities were having title of possession of that piece of land where the protestors had raised their shelters.He added that it was unfortunate that Bagga Singh could not be released from the custody today as decided in the meeting held by him with deputy commissioner, additional deputy commissioner and the SDM last night. He added that deputy commissioner should have made arrangements for the release of Bagga Singh.

He said that before uprooting the members of scheduled caste community by demolishing their hutments, the district administration must have made alternative arrangements for their shelter.

He said that MC authorities had violated the directions issued by Punjab government in 1996 that nobody would be uprooted from any piece of land till the alternative arrangements were not made for his accommodation by the authorities concerned.

He added that the Supreme Court had also held that it was the duty of the state government to provide shelter to the homeless.

Abohar, February 3
The government that had failed in utilising more than one-third of the grant received earlier, has no moral right to demand Rs 1400 crore more for improving the power management system in Punjab, said Sunil Jakhar, a member of the Estimates Committee of Punjab Vidhan Sabha and former parliamentary secretary for irrigation and horticulture.

Terming the demand made by the CM Parkash Singh Badal as irrelevant, he said the Central government had released several hundred crore of rupees under the Accelerated Power Development Resources Programme (APDRP) but the alliance government in Punjab had not taken interest to utilise the funds. About 35 per cent of the grant amount was still lying unused.

Even when the state government was not to bear the burden of any matching grant to go ahead with the major renovation/upgradation programme, the legislator regretted that by utilizing 65 per cent of the grant amount, the consumers have not been provided with relief from tripping, line loses and less power generation.

Intriguingly, the CM has again approached the union cabinet ministers and sought intervention of the Prime Minister also to reintroduce the same scheme, Jakhar said.