J A L A N D H A R    E D I T I O N

Political Zone
Batala MLA takes on Chawla
Batala, April 30
The maverick Batala BJP MLA and Chief Parliamentary Secretary (Excise and Taxation) Jagdish Raj Sawhney has landed himself in a controversy again.

Vinod Khanna Assault Case
One-year jail term for former Cong councillor,  two brothers
Pathankot, April 30
A local court today convicted a former Congress municipal councillor and his two brothers and sentenced to one-year jail term each, and acquitted five others in a case registered against them for attacking the vehicle of former Gurdaspur MP Vinod Khanna during the Lok Sabha elections in 1999.

Students from Canadian varsity visit LPU
Jalandhar, April 30
A team of 20 students and four faculty members from Thompson Rivers University, Canada, visited Lovely Professional University, Phagwara.

Students of Thompson Rivers University dance to bhangra beats at Lovely Professional University. Tribune photo: Malkiat Singh

Prime Crime
Group rivalry leaves three injured
Jalandhar, April 30
Three persons were injured when their rival group attacked them with sharp-edged weapons over a land dispute at Alichak village, near Lambra, today.

National Conference
Need for revival of DD’s old spirit: Josh
Jalandahar, April 30
A two-day national-level conference of the production staff of Doordarshan started here today. Chief Parliamentary Secretary (Education) Mohinder Kaur Josh was the chief guest in the opening ceremony. It was organised by the Association of Doordarshan Programme Production Personnel (ADPPP).

27 cr set for Sarv Sikhiya Abhiyan
Jalandhar, April 30
The administration today approved a budget of Rs 27 crore for the district for 2010-11. This amount is to be spent under the Sarv Sikhiya Abhiyan, Deputy Commissioner Priyank Bharti said at a meeting of the District Education Committee.

Missing CIA staff member found
Nawanshahr, April 30
Sukhdev Singh, alias Sukha, an employee of the CIA staff here, who had gone missing under mysterious circumstances on Thursday morning, was found near Banur late in the evening the same day.

MC prefers to dump garbage on private land
Pathankot, April 30
If you cannot dump it on your own land, dump it on other’s land. This seems to be the motto of the Pathankot Municipal Council (MC) as it has allegedly started dumping garbage on prime land owed by some residents after an influential councillor, in whose ward the MC garbage site fell, allegedly forced the authorities to scout for a new site.

Tatla takes over as Chairman
Gurdaspur: Karnail Singh Tatla took over as chairman of the Gurdaspur Central Cooperative Bank here today. Also present on the occasion were Public Relations Minister Sewa Singh Sekhwan, Agriculture Minister Sucha Singh Langah, Qadian MLA Lakhbir Singh Lodhinangal, Sri Hargobindpur MLA Balbir Singh Baath and Zila Parishad chairman Tarlok Singh Baath. — TNS

Political Zone
Batala MLA takes on Chawla
Ravi Dhaliwal
Tribune News Service

Batala, April 30
The maverick Batala BJP MLA and Chief Parliamentary Secretary (Excise and Taxation) Jagdish Raj Sawhney has landed himself in a controversy again.

After engaging himself in a war of words with Local Bodies Minister Manoranjan Kalia recently, Sawhney has now trained his guns on Health Minister Laxmi Kanta Chawla by claiming that the minister was the mastermind behind the raids that took place against ultrasound clinics owned by his kin in Batala.

In a letter addressed to Punjab BJP president Ashwani Sharma, Sawhney has alleged that there were at least 35 scanning centres in Batala but only those centres, which were run by his kin, including his son-in-law, were targeted by the Health Minister.

Sawhney has claimed that Chawla was shielding some corrupt officials like former Chief Medical Officer (CMO) of Gurdaspur Ashok Nayyar.

The MLA claimed that Nayyar had been caught accepting a bribe of Rs 3,000 from a clerk when he was posted in Jalandhar, but later the Health Minister managed to hush up the case.

“Not only this, the tainted officer was later promoted by Chawla to the post of Director,” Sawhney claimed. He alleged that money had changed hands in the case of Nayyar.

In the rather harshly worded three-page letter, Sawhney added that the Health Minister had played a big role in getting R.K. Sharma

appointed to the post of Director (Ayurveda) despite the fact that he was not qualified for the post. “Rules were changed just to ensure that Sharma was appointed to the post,” said Sawhney.

The MLA, who ruffled many feathers in the state BJP rank and file when he took on Local Bodies Minister Manoranjan Kalia recently, alleged that a grant of Rs 4.50 crore was given by the Central government to set up a medical plant but till now no such plant had been established.

Sawhney has also slapped allegations of corruption against the Health Minister.

The Chief Parliamentary Secretary claimed that the team which conducted raids of ultrasound centres run by his kin in Batala comprised a doctor who had already retired from service. “How can a doctor who has retired from service nearly eight months ago conduct a raid on behalf of the Health Department?” he asked.

Vinod Khanna Assault Case
One-year jail term for former Cong councillor,  two brothers
Our Correspondent

Pathankot, April 30
A local court today convicted a former Congress municipal councillor and his two brothers and sentenced to one-year jail term each, and acquitted five others in a case registered against them for attacking the vehicle of former Gurdaspur MP Vinod Khanna during the Lok Sabha elections in 1999.

Subdivisional Judicial Magistrate Daljit Singh Ralhan pronounced the judgement convicting former Congress councillor Jang Bahadur Bedi and his two brothers Kaka Bedi and Ashok Bedi.

As per prosecution, Vinod Khanna was heading to participate in a rally organised by the BJP in the Saingarh locality during the 1999 parliamentary elections. Some persons led by Jang Bahadur Bedi tried to stop his car and pelted it with stones.

A fine of Rs 1,600 each was also imposed on all the three brothers convicted in the case.

The judge released them on bail after the defence council submitted the necessary documents.

Students from Canadian varsity visit LPU
Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, April 30
A team of 20 students and four faculty members from Thompson Rivers University, Canada, visited Lovely Professional University, Phagwara, for a cultural exchange programme.

A team, led by Heather Williams, coordinator, School of Business and Economics, Thompson Rivers University, Canada, was accorded a warm welcome. She was accompanied by Prof Bernie Warren, Prof Dennis Richie and Prof Lorraine along with 20 students from the Vancouver-based university.

Lectures on diverse topics, including those on driving features of the India economy, India’s run to superpower by 2030, strengths of Indian education sector, possible avenues of cooperation between India and the West and India as an education destination, were delivered.

An elaborate show of various facets of the Indian culture was put to display for the guests. From the classical bharatnatyam to the folk bhangra, from the group performance of bihu to the solo odissi, from the synchronised instrumental jugalbandi to solo performance of Sanskrit bhajan, the student artistes from LPU extended the most alluring pieces of Indian culture before their Canadian guests. Katherine Stowell, a student from Thompson Rivers University, Canada, said, “I have always been enamoured by India and its culture.”

Prime Crime
Group rivalry leaves three injured
Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, April 30
Three persons were injured when their rival group attacked them with sharp-edged weapons over a land dispute at Alichak village, near Lambra, today.

The victims, Prabhveer Singh, Sandeep and Sukhdeep Singh, who sustained serious injuries, were admitted to a private hospital. The assailants also opened fire at them, sources said. Lambra SHO Gulshan Kumar said Harvinder Singh, alias Bindu, along with his accomplices, reached the house of the victims and attacked them. The assailants later disappeared from the spot.

A case bas been registered against Harvinder Singh and his accomplices on the complaint of Prabhveer Singh at Lambra police station. No arrest has been made in this regards so far.

Woman stabbed

Kapurthala: A man stabbed a woman who resisted his alleged attempt to rape her at Dam village, near here, today.

Noticing the woman alone, the suspect, Gurpreet Singh of the same locality, entered the house by scaling its boundary wall and allegedly tried to rape her. As the woman resisted, Gurpreet Singh repeatedly stabbed her at the abdomen leaving her critically injured.

The suspect escaped after the woman, mother of two children, raised the alarm. Neighbours assembled at the spot and rushed her to the local Civil Hospital.

The police has registered a case against Gurpreet Singh.

National Conference
Need for revival of DD’s old spirit: Josh
Tribune News Service

Jalandahar, April 30
A two-day national-level conference of the production staff of Doordarshan started here today. Chief Parliamentary Secretary (Education) Mohinder Kaur Josh was the chief guest in the opening ceremony. It was organised by the Association of Doordarshan Programme Production Personnel (ADPPP).

In her keynote address, Josh said through its productions, Doordarshan had played an important role in building social consciousness.

While stressing on the need for the revival of the real and old spirit of Doordarshan, she said till today rural audience had blind faith in Doordarshan as it embodied the real picture of rural life and acted as the mouthpiece of the rural populace.

Senior Director, Doordarshan Jalandhar, Dr Daljit Singh, who presided over the conference, said the spirit of team work and to produce programmes of 
public interest still prevailed in the staff of Doordarshan and it was due to the same reason that some of its productions had turned immortal.

Media critique Prof Kulbir Singh said Doordarshan had remained successful to check the creeping in of sensationalism in its working style which differentiated it from private channels.

Josh announced a financial assistance of Rs 1 lakh to Doordarshan.

27 cr set for Sarv Sikhiya Abhiyan
Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, April 30
The administration today approved a budget of Rs 27 crore for the district for 2010-11. This amount is to be spent under the Sarv Sikhiya Abhiyan, Deputy Commissioner Priyank Bharti said at a meeting of the District Education Committee.

He said of the total amount, Rs 62.64 lakh was allocated to pay pending salary of three months to pre-para teachers, Rs 64.6 lakh for pending salary of two months of block resource persons, Rs 16.83 lakh for the pending payment of upper primary para teachers, Rs 36.11 lakh under the intensive education development scheme and Rs 10 lakh for administrative purposes. He said Rs 80 lakh was being spent on the mid-day meal scheme every month.

Missing CIA staff member found

Nawanshahr, April 30
Sukhdev Singh, alias Sukha, an employee of the CIA staff here, who had gone missing under mysterious circumstances on Thursday morning, was found near Banur late in the evening the same day.

The SSP, Dr Narinder Bhargav, reached there to take stock of the situation. Accompanying by the Banur police officials, Bhargav visited the sites, where Sukhdev was taken to by his alleged kidnappers. — OC

MC prefers to dump garbage on private land
Ravi Dhaliwal/TNS

Pathankot, April 30
If you cannot dump it on your own land, dump it on other’s land. This seems to be the motto of the Pathankot Municipal Council (MC) as it has allegedly started dumping garbage on prime land owed by some residents after an influential councillor, in whose ward the MC garbage site fell, allegedly forced the authorities to scout for a new site.

The MC had acquired 56 kanals at Rara village, near here, in 2003 and till February this year the council was dumping the garbage there. However, a councillor, in whose area the site fell, has now forced the council to shift the duping site elsewhere.

Bowing to the whims of the councillor and left with no option the MC deemed it fit to throw the garbage on land owned by Baldev Raj Kalra Nehru Chowk, near the Civil Hospital. Kalra also owns orchards near the dumping site and has claimed that his orchards are getting affected following the “anarchy unleashed by the MC.”

In 2000 when the MC had dumped garbage on his land, Kalra had moved the Punjab and Haryana High Court. The MC counsel informed the court that it had “cleared the disputed place”, following which the court disposed off Kalra’s petition. Simultaneously, the court had directed the Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) to monitor the situation after every six months.

Dr Arvind Kalra, son of Baldev Raj, has claimed that the PPCB has failed to monitor the situation every six months and its officials visited the area only on March 25 this year and that, too, when a final notice of contempt was sent to the PPCB and the MC.

Kalra says that burning of garbage may lead to break out of some epidemic in the town.

Sanitary Inspector Sarup Singh showed documents to prove that the council had purchased 56 kanals of land in 2003 and

the garbage was being thrown at that place. However, officials, preferring anonymity, said the garbage was dumped at the council’s site till February this year.

The issue is snowballing into a major controversy and a section of the residents are irked over the “highhandedness of the council”.