Amritsar, February 4
Targeting supporters of Prof Darshan Singh, the SGPC has appealed to the Sikhs not to pay any heed to “propaganda unleashed by them” against the Sikh high priests, as they had been using “inappropriate” language against the clergy.

Darshan Singh has recently been excommunicated from the Sikh Panth by the Sikh high priests.

Meanwhile, it has also hailed the decision of the Sri Guru Ravidass Sadhu Sampradaye, Samaj Bachao Morcha and other organisations of the Ravidassia community, which have rejected the formation of the separate religion for the community.

At its executive meeting held here today, the SGPC condemned Prof Darshan Singh and his associates for their alleged outburst against the priests before and after the excommunication of the former Akal Takht Jathedar from the Panth.

“Some organisations are acting at the behest of central agencies and have been spewing venom against the SGPC and the Sikh high priests. They want to create a division in the Panth. We appeal to the Sikh sangat not to listen to the propaganda of such organisation,” said SGPC chief Avtar Singh.

“The organisations have acted in a very wise manner by rejecting the idea of the formation of the new religion. It will save long-held ties between the Sikhs and Ravidassias. The Bani of saints is an inseparable part of Guru Granth Sahib,” said Avtar Singh.

Meanwhile, the SGPC executive has given its nod to a proposal pertaining to the holding of a “Shahidi March” from Garhi Gurdas Nangal to Mehroli in New Delhi in the memory of Baba Banda Singh Bahadur.

The SGPC has mooted an idea to make a documentary film on the life of Banda Bahadur and has decided to issue memorial silver and gold coins of denominations of Rs 5 and Rs 10 in his name. “A decision has been taken to display photographs of late SGPC member Kashmir Singh and Ragi Bhai Avtar Singh Dilli Wale in the Sikh museum,” the SGPC chief said.

Chandigarh, February 4
The Punjab BJP today decided in favour of a youthful leadership to take the party into the next Assembly elections in two years’ time by “electing” party general secretary Ashwani Sharma as its president.

The new president, whose election was said to be “unopposed” by central observer Ram Lal Kovind, who said that all 43 delegates had seconded his candidature, set out to emulate BJP president Nitin Gadkari and said his actions would speak louder than words.

Ashwani Sharma, who preferred not to speak about contentious issues only reminding mediapersons that he may be new to them but was 21 years old in the BJP, was quite frank with his party cadres. In this speech after being elected to the top post, Sharma said, “I admit there have been shortcomings in the working of the party in the past three years”. He said the party would have to reach out to the people in the next two years to win their confidence.

The new state president also made it known that he did not like politics revolving around photo opportunities. “I would rather like to live in the hearts of party men”, he said while advising legislators and ministers to go to the people to win their respect. “It should not happen that you go too late (at election time)”, he added.

Sharma also made it known that he would not let constituency politics come in the way of his functioning. He assured full support to the Transport Minister, Master Mohan Lal, who is perceived by many as his rival as they both hail from Pathankot. He even went on to assure Amritsar MP Navjot Singh Sidhu that he would cooperate fully with Mohan Lal.

The names of 13 delegates chosen to represent the state in the national council were also announced. These included four Dalit leaders, including minister Swarna Ram, former bureaucrat Som Prakash, Sita Ram Kashyap and Vijay Sampla besides veteran leader Balramji Dass Tandon, Brij Lal Rinwa, Madan Mohan Mittal, Mohan Lal Garg, Vinod Khanna, Prof Rajinder Bhandari, Nirottam Dev Ratti, Gurcharan Kaur and Vinod Sharma.

Chandigarh, February 4
Want a refill for your cooking gas cylinder immediately in this period of shortage? Be ready to shell out anything between Rs 550 and Rs 600 for a domestic LPG cylinder, if you do not wish to wait for your turn to get the refill.

No, the price of LPG has not shot up suddenly, as has been suggested by the Parikh committee. Its just that black marketeers are making a quick buck, selling LPG at a premium. With a severe shortage of LPG in the region, black marketeering in these cooking gas cylinders is on in almost all towns and cities in the region.

Though the three state-owned oil marketing companies --- Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (HPCL) and Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL)-- deny that there is a shortage of LPG, saying that gas is being delivered within four to 10 days of booking (different waiting period for different company), consumers maintain otherwise. Sachin Kumar, a resident of Patiala, rued that he had to wait for almost a month to get his LPG refill (HP gas). “I had no option but to buy the LPG in the black. As against a price of Rs 318, I ended up paying Rs 600 for one domestic cylinder,” he said.

Elsewhere, Raman Kumar, a resident of Doraha, near Ludhiana, said that after waiting for almost a fortnight to get his refill (Indane), he bought the cooking gas cylinder by paying Rs 550.

Sources in the oil marketing companies informed TNS that the main problem was that HPCL was not getting its regular bulk supply of LPG from Mumbai in time. Since most consumers now have multiple connections, the pressure is now on the other two companies--- IOC and BPCL--- to deliver. This has ensured that the supply by these two companies has also been hit.

“Though the supply has resumed now, it is still not according to the demand and it is taking us some time to clear the backlog. But the problem will be solved within a week,” said a senior official in HPCL.

Also, with large-scale diversion of domestic LPG for commercial purposes (running gas geysers and gas heaters) in the wake of poor power supply has led to a sharp increase in demand. Officials in the oil companies said they were now checking this misuse of domestic LPG, with the help of the Food and Civil Supplies Department. “We are also moving ahead and withdrawing connections from those who have multiple connections, so as to meet the gap in demand and supply,” said the HPCL official.

Amritsar, February 4
In its bid to facilitate “hassle-free” customs and immigration clearance of passengers and goods, the Ministry of Home Affairs has finalised its plan to set-up an Integrated Checkpost (ICP) on the Attari border.

Following the global bids for the much delayed project, the Rs 90-crore worth work has finally been allotted to the toll plaza conglomerate, M/S Rohan Rajdeep Ltd. The Rs 150-crore project was expected to be completed by the end of April next year.

The ICP will be equipped with ultra-modern equipment, including, high-level scanners worth Rs 30 crore to facilitate the customs and immigration clearance of passengers and goods.

Though, officials have claimed that the Pakistani authorities were also setting-up a similar checkpost on their side of the border, but enquiries could not ascertain whether any such facility was being set up on the other side of the border or not.

KS Pannu, DC, Amritsar, said the ICP was being set-up under the aegis of the Land Port Authority of India, which has been tasked to set-up as many as, 13 ICPs on the international border of India in different states.

Attari would be the first land port to be commissioned, the DC said after attending a meeting with officials of the administration, BSF, Customs and Immigration by Sada Kant, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Home Affairs (Border Management) at Attari today. The ICP would come up on 131 acres.

Kila Hakima (Sangrur), February 4
Water in Punjab is depleting by the day but for the canal-fed regions of Mansa and Bathinda there will be more water for the first time in decades with the state Irrigation Department set to complete relining work over a 37 km stretch of the 129 km-long Kotla feeder.

The 37 km-long side relining is part of a Rs 185 crore project which has already seen 24 km being relined earlier. The present relining project, which will be completed next week, will benefit farmers of Bathinda and Mansa who were not able to get adequate water as their land fell at the tail- end of the canal.

“These farmers will now be able to get sufficient water so that they are able to take two full crops annually”, said Irrigation Minister Janmeja Singh Sekhon while showing irrigation works undertaken by his department in this village from where the relining work for the second phase had started.

Sekhon said an additional 68,000 hectares would be irrigated after the completion of the relining project in addition to the existing 2.65 lakh hectares irrigated by the canal. Water is the canal is expected to increase by 800 cusecs post relining which will mean more water for farmers in Patiala, Sangrur, Mansa, Bathinda, Barnala and Fatehgarh Sahib districts. A total of 12,000 villages will benefit by the relining project.

For farmers in this area, the canal system is a lifesaver, which had been allowed to decay in recent years. Gurdial Singh of Mansa said farmers were finding it difficult to even maintain their cotton crop in various parts of the district due to the inadequate supply of canal water. “We get brackish water from tubewells in our area and are completely dependent on canal supply”, he said, adding farmers hoped the relining would change their fortunes. Another farmer, Mansha Singh, said farmers were ready to pay abiana if assured adequate water supply.

The Irrigation Minister said the state government would go in for the relining of all canals in the state in the next two years. He said besides this work was being undertaken to eradicate waterlogging in Faridkot and Muktsar districts with the help of central funds of Rs 1,400 crore.

Chandigarh, February 4
Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal has asked the Centre to start the procurement of maize through central government agencies to ensure diversification from the wheat-rice cycle.

Expressing concern over depleting water table, Badal has told Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar that unless the state diversified to other crops, the nation’s food security would be threatened in the next decade as over 75 per cent of the state fields would become rain-fed. The state has also asked the Centre to fix inter-crop price parity between different crops so that farmers find diversification easy. “Only diversification can ensure long-term food security”, the CM has said.

Punjab’s water table has fallen by about 10 ft over the past few years. Central Punjab is the worst affected. According to reports, the state’s ground water is between 29 to 30 ft at most places and continued sowing of paddy is resulting in the dropping of water table consistently. At present, Punjab grows maize in around 7,000 acres, which can go up considerably if efforts are made to procure the crop on the same pattern as wheat and rice.

Incidentally, maize is a multi-purpose food crop, which is the world’s third largest produced crop behind wheat and rice. Farm experts say enhancing production and utilisation of maize is essential for the nation’s food security.

Confirming that the letter has been acknowledged by the Union Agriculture Minister, a senior government official said Punjab’s claim had been that the state could not expend its precious land resource by growing paddy and wheat.

The CM has told the Centre that Punjab should be spared the burden of continuing to be the nation’s food bowl, instead the cultivation of paddy should be shifted to states like Bihar, Orissa and West Bengal.

Amritsar, February 4
Amritsar residents have a ray of hope for getting rid of the city’s biggest eyesore - the “ganda nullah” - as Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal has constituted a multi-departmental committee to find a permanent solution to the problem.

Besides, Sukhbir has also directed the committee to ensure beautification of patches along the “nullah,” which had been a long-standing threat to the life of residents.

Reviewing the progress of implementation of an integrated multi-thousand crore plan to bring Amritsar on the international tourist circuit, Sukhbir and the Punjab Tourism Minister have directed the committee to come out with a viable and permanent solution to the problem at the earliest.

The committee would comprise members from Irrigation Department, Amritsar Municipal Corporation, Improvement Trust Amritsar, besides officials of the Punjab Infrastructure Development Board (PIDB), it was learnt.

The committee would technically explore the possibility of covering the entire stretch of “ganda nullah” apart from landscaping and beautification of the entire vacant area around the nullah.

The committee has been asked to submit its report within one month so that the work on the project could be started at the earliest.

The progress of various projects - construction of heritage village, preservation and beautification of Ram Bagh Gardens, preservation of historic Town Hall building, setting-up of a food street, development of pedestrian plaza opposite the Golden Temple, restoration of the Historic Gates and massive restoration of Gobindgarh Fort was also reviewed by Sukhbir at Chandigarh today, said an administration official. Amritsar Mayor Shwait Malik and the ADC also attended the meeting.

In a statement issued here today, Sukhbir said Amritsar had a potential to emerge as No 1 international tourist hub if the state was able to prolong the stay of religious tourists by few days and attract more international tourists.

He said the Archeological Survey of India would put up their conceptual plan for the development of the Ram Bagh. After that the Amritsar Municipal Corporation would hand over the possession of Ram Bagh to the ASI.

It was also approved in the meeting to develop the historic Town Hall and adjoining area as place of heritage importance, in synergy with the surrounding area of Golden Temple.

Offices in the Town Hall would be shifted to an alternate location and Town Hall would be developed by the Tourism Department in association with the PIDB.

It was also approved that the PRTC would run shuttle service between the Amrtisar Airport to Golden Temple and Wagha Border for which, it would procure low floor air-conditioned buses for running this service.

To attract more tourists to Amritsar, Deputy Chief Minister had also approved the plan to set-up a “heritage village” along the GT Road on a piece of land provided by the GNDU, said the official.

Ludhiana, February 4
“The recent developments in Maharashtra are the clear example of “provincialism”, which we do not advocate in Punjab,” said Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal during his visit to Shri Govind Gau Dham temple here today. The temple and ‘gaushala’ is run by Govind Gau Dham, an NGO.

He further said the Constitution gave equal right to every citizen to live and work in any part of the country. He, however, refused to comment on the role of the Congress towards Raj Thackeray with reference to his statements against Rahul Gandhi.

Bathinda, February 4
Hundreds of tearful eyes bid adieu to noted literary critic of Punjabi Tarsem Raj Vinod, popularly known as TR Vinod, at Ram Baag cremation ground here today. He had passed away yesterday at the PGI, Chandigarh, where he was under going treatment for brain tumor and kidney ailment. His death is being taken as a void created in the literary, which is difficult to be filled.

Vinod had contributed about 30 books and numerous articles in Punjabi, Hindi and even English languages on novel and short story criticism. Though prominent personalities of Punjabi literary largely attended the cremation of Vinod, hardly any politician or bureaucrat (except one Tehsildar) bothered to attend it, which irked the close associates of the departed writer.

It was just a condolence message sent to the media in which the state Education and Languages Minister, Dr Upinderjit Kaur, today expressed grief over the death of noted educationist and prolific writer TR Vinod.

Lashing out at the state government for being “indifferent” towards his pathetic condition, a renowned playwright, Ajmer Aulakh, said the CM had announced a grant of Rs 1 lakh for the treatment of TR Vinod, but the cheque reached just a day before his death. Moreover, the amount was too less as lakhs of rupees were spent on his treatment.

Patiala, February 4
The Punjab Rural Development and Panchayat Department has taken an important decision of not closing the dispensaries that were without doctors with a view to ensure that the people are not deprived of the health care facilities available there.

Sources said the department had issued a circular last week directing the chief executive officers of the zila parishads in their respective districts, to ensure that the charge of the rural dispensaries, where contractual doctors had either resigned or had proceeded on leave, be given to the doctor of the adjoining dispensary.

The circular also stated that the helpers and pharmacists working in such dispensaries should not be relieved of their duty. The Controller of Panchayati Raj (finance) has been told to make necessary arrangements for release of funds for paying them.

Of late, dispensaries in rural areas were put under the charge of contractual doctors and these were attached to the subsidiary health centres. The doctors in these dispensaries appoint pharmacist and helper at their own level and these staff members are paid out of a consolidated fund that is released to the doctor in charge.

But recently, it came to the notice of the department that in many dispensaries the doctors had either resigned or had proceeded on leave. In such cases, the helpers and pharmacists were left in the lurch.

Sources said the new arrangement would come as a big relief of the pharmacists and the helpers of these dispensaries, while at the same time ensure that the people in the vicinity of these dispensaries were not denied health care facilities.

Mohinder Singh, Secretary, Zila Parishad, said there were 17 vacant posts of doctors in rural dispensaries in Patiala district. He said these posts would be filled up soon and no dispensary would be closed. He said it had been proposed to have qualified pharmacists in future so that they could look after the dispensaries as a stop gap arrangement, if a doctor resigned or proceeded on long leave.

Patiala, February 4
The Punjab School Education Board has decided to introduce semester system for Classes X and XII, in order to reduce the pressure of studies and make it more interesting.

Making the announcemnt, Jagtar Singh Khatra, Controller, examination of the board and ex-DPI (schools), informed that this system would be applicable from session 2010-11.

Talking to The Tribune, Khatra said in earlier times, the syllabus for Class X and XII was limited because of less subjects and the annual examination system solved the purpose.

But with the addition of subjects like environment studies, computer science etc., the syllabus has increased manifold. Khatra said, “It is very difficult for students to prepare for all exams. Therefore, they are under constant psychological pressure. What adds to their woes are high hopes pined by their teachers and parents.”

“So, in order to reduce their burden and also to make them more comfortable with the examination system, we have decided to introduce the semester system. It will be beneficial in many ways. The students, teachers and parents will be alert throughout the year. Moreover, the syllabus will be covered in two parts, making it easier for students to study thoroughly,” he added.

The exams will be conducted in September and March. He said the next session would commence from April 1. Even if the results were not declared for the previous classes by that time, students would be given provisional admission, so that their studies were not affected.

The board has already started working in this regard. A meeting comprising 36 teachers was held recently to discuss the format of questions papers to be framed for these examinations.

Chandigarh, February 4
The Punjab government will train unemployed youth in the state to enable them to take up jobs abroad. The Punjab government has asked for funds from the Centre to establish training centres across the state. Other than training centers, the government has also decided to put its own machinery in place to assist the trained persons to migrate to other countries for jobs.

Giving details of the proposal, Principal Secretary to the Punjab government DS Bains said Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal would be attending a national meeting on skill development for youth to migrate abroad this month. “The Prime Minister had directed the Planning Commission to fund the scheme for which the Planning Commission had called the meeting. The Chief Minister is going to push the state becoming the skill capital of the world,” said Bains.

He added that the Government of India proposed to create 500 million skilled workers by 2022. “This number is currently only three million. Punjab has been identified to be one of the three states where the first set of unemployed youth would be trained to get jobs for overseas countries. The other two states are Kerala and Andhra Pradesh,” he said.

Punjab has identified sectors for skill improvement, including drivers for heavy machinery, hospitality, dairy entrepreneurs, first-aid management practices, workers for poultry farms, horse breeding, turf club management, security personnel, construction workers, health care workers, etc.

The state government has also planned to train 2 lakh youth under the Centre’s Skill Development Initiative (SDI). The Centre has planned to train 5 million youth under this programme by 2022 across the nation, has sought a two-year training programme prepared by the state government under the SDI.

Patiala, February 4
Most of the marginal and small farmers of Sangrur district are reeling under “indebtedness” and “agrarian distress”. These are the findings of the Human Development Report of Sangrur district, prepared by the Economics Department of the Punjabi University, Patiala.

The report has suggested that there is need for the Punjab government to constitute State Farmers and Agricultural Labour Debt Relief Commission on the pattern of the Kerala government.

This first ever report of any district of the state on human development, drafted by Prof Sucha Singh Gill, with the assistance of some other professors, has already been submitted to the state government.

Chandigarh, February 4
The Punjab and Haryana High Court today issued a Notice of Motion for March 29 to the state of Punjab and other respondents on a petition filed in public interest for quashing January 27 order granting one year extension in service to employees retiring between January 22 and December 31.

The petitioner threw a challenge to the order on grounds, including large-scale persisting unemployment and decreasing job opportunities due to shifting of industries to neighbouring states like Jammu and Kashmir, Uttranchal and Himachal Pradesh.

Ludhiana, February 4
The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), arrested two Nigerian nationals and seized 212 gm cocaine, worth Rs 3 crore in the international market, following a raid in Mohali. The accused are Ndidi Evans Peter and Monye Alexander, alias Ben Daniel Alex, and were arrested under the NDPS Act.

Rajiv Gupta, a DRI official, said the accused were nabbed following a tip-off. The DRI received information that Monye was operating his drug trade from Mohali. A raid was conducted on the residential premises of Monye Alexander and 212gm of white powder, suspected to be drugs, was recovered. The contraband has been sent to chemical examination. The official said the contraband was kept in a hydraulic door spring along with other mechanical tools, which was to be sent abroad through a courier. The DRI officials are suspecting the involvement of the duo behind the attempt of smuggling of 310 gm of heroin, also kept in a similar hydraulic door spring.

The drugs were smuggled in a parcel on January 19 and were sent by air to Milano, Italy. Sources said the DRI received information that the parcel had contained drugs in it. It was returned to India and the narcotics were recovered. Monye was earlier arrested by the Mohali police in July last year and was later released on bail.