The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

	Drug peddling: BSF officer at it again P.K. Jaiswar Tribune News Service Amritsar, February 3 The same Deputy Commandant of the BSF, who had already spent four and a half years in Tihar jail over drug trafficking, again landed in soup after being caught with one kg heroin. As per the claims of the State Special Operation Cell (SSOC), BSF officer Harpreet Singh was nabbed with heroin near Pingalwara today. SSP (intelligence wing) P.K. Rai said Harpreet Singh was caught when he was waiting for a courier to deliver the consignment kept in his car (DL-9CJ-8018). The consignment was to be forwarded to major operators based in Delhi for smuggling to other destinations across the world through various means and well-knit nexus, he added. Harpreet currently residing at Tharial in Gurdaspur district was posted as Deputy Commandant in Gurdaspur sector when sleuths of Directorate of Revenue Intelligence nabbed him along with his driver in New Delhi for possessing 23 kg of heroin in 2005. Harpreet, who was suspended from the BSF, remained in Tihar jail for almost four and half years and was released on bail in September 2009. During his term, he came in contact with notorious drug smugglers active in border belt including Punjab Singh of border village of Rajatal here. Soon after his release, he revived his contacts as well as used the links of Punajb Singh and his brother Suba Singh in Pakistan to breathe life into his nefarious designs. “As the matter is serious and involvement of senior level officer has come to light we shall take up the matter with senior BSF authorities,” said Rai adding that his mobile phone calls and recent visits of various places are being investigated to trace his nexus. He said the consignment was arrived through trains and added that 3 kg of contraband seized by customs few days through goods train also belonged to him. Additional BSF DIG J.S. Saran talking to The Tribune said in 2005 when the involvement of this notorious cop in drug smuggling came to light, the whole battalion was shuffled. “Even the shifted officials of his battalion were thoroughly scrutinised and their involvement in any illegal drug smuggling was never established,” added Saran. He said the BSF would fully cooperate with the SSOC to crack the nexus.
	Gets clashing reactions from the IPS and IAS lobbies Police commissionerate system gets mixed response Bipin Bhardwaj Tribune News Service Jalandhar, February 3 Though the Punjab government notified the police commissionerate system for three main cities yesterday, the top brass of the department concerned is still in the dark about the actual powers and areas of operation of a police commissioner. Wielding the powers of executive magistrate of his city by a police commissioner has further sparked opposition in the IAS lobby. The lobby was always opposed to the idea of the police commissionerate, claiming that it would not be in public interest. However, the IPS lobby says that the unitary chain of command will ensure singular responsibility and accountability. Additional Director-General of Punjab (ADGP) Sanjeev Gupta expressed his ignorance about the actual powers of a police commissioner under the new system. He said a notification in this regard has not been issued as yet. Inspector-General of Police (Zone-II), Jalandhar, Sanjeev Kalra said the states (having the police commissionerate system) had delegated different powers to the city police commissioners. “I will be able to comment on the issue only after going through the notification,” said Kalra. The IPS officers of Punjab are of the view that with the introduction of the system, there would be no more intervention of IAS and PCS officers in the police functioning, which otherwise used to hinder police functioning in a big way. The new system would ensure the necessary preventive action with prompt decisions to maintain a better law and order situation. The system adopted by states like Maharashtra, Gujarat, Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Haryana is working efficiently and it would bring similar results in Punjab, members of the lobbies feel. The Punjab government, under sub-section (1) of Section 8 of the Punjab Police Act, 2007 (Punjab Act 10 of 2008), notified the city police commissionerate system for the municipal areas of Amritsar, Jalandhar and Ludhiana on Tuesday.
	Senior dy mayor ‘manhandles’ MC secy, employees announce strike Tribune News Service Jalandhar, February 3 All employees’ unions of the Municipal Corporation today announced to go on strike tomorrow morning, following allegations of the MC Secretary Ashok Kumar Sharma being manhandled by Senior Deputy Mayor Kamaljit Singh Bhatia at the former’s office, this afternoon. Sharma has alleged that Bhatia came to his office, rebuked him, pushed him back and held him by his collar over an argument related to a case pertaining to old age pension. “I was simply telling Bhatia that a 55-year-old woman was ineligible for the pension as 65 was the minimum age for the same. But Bhatia was hell-bent on getting an approval for the same and was not ready to accept any refusal. He took the matter as his prestige issue”, he said, adding that he had other forms as well in which there were certain mistakes in filling up or some columns left blank. Bhatia, however, has totally denied the allegations. “It is totally incorrect. This has never happened. My PA, my peon and oldies whose application forms I was carrying, were with me. There were a few visitors as well. How can I act like that in front of everyone?” he questioned. He gave his stand, “People are upset with the working of the MC Secretary especially because cases related to widow and old-age pension are kept pending for long unnecessarily. I took a form of a woman whose age had been put up as 65 years or above, by the Civil Hospital doctors, but he refused to accept her case.” While Commissioner Vinay Bublani was away to Chandigarh, Mayor Rakesh Rathour and Asistant Commissioner DP Bhardwaj tried to intervene and pacify both of them but to no avail. Reports pertaining to the incident spread soon with Technical Employees Union, Safai Mazdoor Union and Sewermen Union declaring solidarity with Sharma. Unrest was evident among the employees who plan to hold a dharna in front of the office tomorrow, demanding an apology from Bhatia.
	Wipro BPO on hiring mode; job fair at LPU Deepkamal Kaur/TNS Phagwara, February 3 Giving an indication that the IT companies in India have managed to overcome the phase of economic slowdown, Wipro BPO yesterday outlined its mass recruitment plan. National head (campus initiatives) of the company Vikas Dua was on the Lovely Professional University campus here to make this announcement. Even as he did not disclose the exact number of appointments that would be made during the job fair to be held on the campus tomorrow, he said any young graduate with a good command over English had a fair chance of getting employment with their centre in Noida. Asked if the recession period in IT sector was over, he said, “I cannot say that myself but I believe in reports that mention that India and China were the two countries to get out of it quite early.” Talking about the way the BPO industry was evolving, he said in the first and second phases of their inception, these companies were primarily working as call centres helping solve queries of the customers and resolving billing issues. “But now in phase three, the BPOs have restructured themselves to help their clients in efficiency development and storing technical data,” he disclosed. Regarding packages being offered during the job fair, he said these were very competitive depending on the individual capacities. “In general, we will offer anything between Rs 1.4 lakh and Rs 1.7 lakh annually to the freshers,” Dua said. The BPO head said students of the region were lagging in English communication skills and the colleges needed to improve their stuff on that front.
	68 MA, 2 PhD degrees conferred on students of police administration Our Correspondent Phillaur, February 3 The 10th convocation of the Punjab Police Academy, Phillaur, was conducted yesterday in which two PhD and 68 degrees of MA in police administration were conferred on police personnel. Academy Director-cum-DGP Dr R.S. Gill presided over the function and delivered the convocation address. Gill said excellence had always been a tradition of this police training institution and efforts were being made to update the training methodology by adding the latest technological techniques and other inputs. He said the academy was coordinating on international partnership projects with the police forces of many other countries and the PPA was also organising training of trainers’ programmes for staff members regularly. Dr D.J. Singh, Dean and Senior Deputy Director, Punjab Police Academy, presented the welcome address. The academy caters to the training needs of 11 states and union territories of India and also to that of the central police forces and police forces from other countries as well.
	415 kg of poppy husk seized, 2 held Pathankot, February 3 The Sadar police today nabbed two Jammu & Kashmir-based inter-state drug smugglers who deal in poppy husk, supplied in different adjoining states of Punjab and Delhi, and seized 415 kg of poppy husk from them. SP Bhupinderjit Singh Virk said acting on a tip-off, a truck containing some narcotics had been coming from the J&K side to enter Punjab, a police party, led by DSP Naresh Dogra, laid a naka near Bharoli Kalan, 7 km from here, on the Pathankot-Amritsar road and intercepted a truckload of apple cartons (JK-08A-6969) coming from the Jammu side. During search, the team seized 14 plastic bags of poppy husk, (weighing 415 kg) which were kept under the apple cartoons. During preliminary investigations the accused were identified as Kulwinder Singh resident of Sawan Chak, district Kathua of J&K and Manjit Singh of Hatli More (Jammu & Kashmir) and used to bring narcotics in apple cartons to supply in Punjab and Delhi, said Virk. — OC