Children have ice candy to beat the heat in Amritsar on Monday. Photo: Vishal Kumar

26 of anganwari union rounded up, released
Bathinda, May 3
Foiling the third consecutive attempt of the Anganwari Mulazim Union (AMU) to start a relay fast outside the Chief Minister’s residence in Badal village today, the Jhunir police rounded up 26 women activists of the AMU immediately after they moved towards the bus stand.

KLF chief Lahoria’s name dropped from challan
Ropar, May 3
The Ropar police has dropped the name of Khalistan Liberation Force (KLF) chief Daya Singh Lahoria from the challan presented against Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) terrorists about six months ago. Lahoria is presently lodged at Tihar Jail.

Moga, May 3
The FCI has suspended two manager-level officials posted at Moga for allegedly accepting poor quality rice from a rice mill after six out of the eight samples taken on Saturday failed quality tests. The mill has been banned for further dealings.

Confirming this, general manager (regional) Neelkanth Awahad and deputy general manager (quality control), Punjab circle, AS Arunachalam said poor quality rice were accepted from Durga Rice Mill situated adjoining the FCI premises here.

“We have banned the mill for further dealings with the FCI till orders and have asked it to replace the stock of 324 metric tonnes of rice, which has been found below the quality mark,” they said.

Arunachalam categorically said, “We are also placing Piyare Lal and Kishan Lal, both managers (quality control), under suspension with immediate effect because they were directly responsible for accepting the poor quality rice”.

A team of senior officials of the FCI, led by Arunachalam, had taken five samples of rice from one storehouse, one sample from other storehouse from within the FCI premises and two samples from a nearby rented storehouse of the food agency on Saturday.

Millers of the Nihal Singh Wala subdivision of the district had also faxed a written complaint to the senior authorities in this regard, demanding to take samples mentioning stack numbers of certain storehouses. They mentioned 23 stacks where according to them the poor quality of rice had been stored by the food agency.

It is learnt that Durga Rice Mill had milled most of the paddy directly procured by the central food agency from farmers.

Meanwhile, urging all District Managers to ensure quality of rice while accepting it from millers, Neelkanth Awahad said negligence in duty and corruption would not be tolerated at any cost.

Moga, May 3
A debt-ridden septuagenarian farmer allegedly committed suicide by jumping before a goods train near railway station at Moga late last night. His body was recovered by the railway police this morning.

Jagjit Singh, son of the deceased farmer identified as Saggar Singh, resident of Raunta village of Nihal Singh Wala subdivision, in a statement recorded before the railway police, alleged that his father had committed suicide after an arhtiya Jagat Singh tried to take possession of their agricultural land last morning.

The upset old man left the house this morning, went to Moga, 40-km from his village, and committed suicide by jumping before a goods train, the son said. The body was later taken to the district hospital for a post-mortem examination.

Jagjit further said his father had taken a loan of Rs 1.5 lakh from the arhtiya a few years back by signing on blank “pronote” paper.

The arhtiya compounded the interest at a heavy rate, making the total to Rs 7 lakh, which his father could not repay, he said.

Adding that his father had repaid some of the total amount but he did not know the exact figures, the son added in his statement.

Reacting to his statement, head constable Karamjit Singh, in charge of the railway police post, conducted a preliminary inquiry into it and recommended the registration of a criminal case against the arhtiya to the railway police station at Faridkot.

Later, in the evening, the railway police had registered a criminal case under Sections 306, 148 and 59 of the IPC at Faridkot against the arhtiya on charges of forcing the old farmer to suicide.

However, no arrest has been made when the news report was filed.

Every year before the harvest, small farmers of Punjab, who make up nearly 85 per cent of the state's farming community, borrow money at exorbitant interest rates to meet the production costs and family needs. During the time of harvest, these money lenders exert pressure on the debt-ridden farmers to either sell their produce to them or pay back the money with interest.

The basic reason of this problem is the lack of access to credit, a facility practically denied by banks to farmers having no or less property.

Therefore, farmers had to approach rural money lenders who charge exorbitant rates of interest ranging from 2.5 per cent to even 5 per cent per month.

The situation has become so worse in the remote areas of Punjab that about 15 per cent of marginal and small farmers had left farming over the past few years.

Jagjit said his father was not educated, so he could not calculate the amount of loan and once it reached Rs 7 lakh, he was publicly threatened by the money lender, forcing him to commit suicide.

Amritsar, May 3
Poultry farmers in Amritsar have taken to emu farming to exploit the multiple returns offered by these birds, in terms of their meat, oil, skin, feathers and even their colourful eggs are in huge demand for ornamental purposes.

With the poultry industry being caught in the imbroglio of avian flu, emu farming is fast catching up with the farmers of the region.

Gunraj Singh, whose love for the bird prompted him to set up the first emu farm in the state, feels that emu farming will turn out to be profitable venture, and will hugely contribute to the state's economy.

"The reason is that poultry has a lot of problems. We are bringing up poultry, everything is coming on antibiotics and all medicines. There are a lot of things but in this, there is less of headache," said Gunraj Singh.

"We don't have to just feed them as we do in poultry. We don't have to do much. They are very hardy birds," he added.

Emu farming is not labour-intensive and it is compatible with rearing other livestock. The birds are also said to be highly disease-resistant.

In winter, female emus lay eggs after a gap of every three days. Using an incubator/hatchery, eggs hatch in 49 to 52 days. Areas with water availability in abundance are appropriate to practice this unique farming.

Emus need space to roam freely and if cornered, they can get aggressive by kicking their feet at the target. An area of 3,000 square feet is considered optimum for raising five pairs of Emus.

From a 14 to18-month-old bird, 20 kilogram of flesh and at least four litres of oil can be derived.

According to the American Cardiac Association, emu meat is very healthy and contains very low amounts of fat and cholesterol.

Moreover, emu oil, estimated to be highly medicinal, is gaining its popularity in the pharmaceutical industry and is priced around Rs 4,500 per litre.

Emu (Dromaius novaehollandiae), a flightless bird, is also the largest bird in Australia and the second largest in the world after its distant cousin, the ostrich.

It can reach up to 6 ft in height and 30-45 kg in weight. — ANI

Chandigarh, May 3
State Education Minister Upinderjit Kaur has asked the director, census operations, Punjab, and all DCs to depute only non-teaching staff for census duty.

Stating this here today, a spokesman for the state Education Department said the minister in a letter to the director and DCs stated that in various districts, a large number of teachers had been deputed for census operations. “The DEOs have pointed out that many schools have come to closure stage due to the absence of teachers on account of census duty and in several schools whole staff has been put en bloc on the duty in districts,” she said.

The minister said this was the start of the academic session and it was felt that in case teachers were not present in schools during these days, it would be very difficult for the state government to improve enrolment in schools. She informed that 18,864 teachers from secondary schools and 17,331 primary teachers had been put on duty in various districts, affecting all schools in the state.

The minister said during the phase-II of census operations, which was going to be held during in February and March next year, the academic work of the schools and students would be largely affected.

In a similar letter to the Chief Minister and the Deputy Chief Minister, the minister has suggested to immediately issue appropriate directions to all DCs to exempt math, science, English and language teachers from census duty. She has also advised to deploy supervisors for census duty from other departments by attaching unemployed educated youth on daily basis.

She has also informed that the Right of Children for Free and Compulsory Education Act-2009 had been made effective form April 1 and the Centre had asked the state government to implement various provisions of this Act without any delay.

Bathinda, May 3
Foiling the third consecutive attempt of the Anganwari Mulazim Union (AMU) to start a relay fast outside the Chief Minister’s residence in Badal village today, the Jhunir police rounded up 26 women activists of the AMU immediately after they moved towards the bus stand.

Though the police did not lodge any criminal case against them, the women protesters were kept at the police station for about five hours. They were released only after they signed some police documents in the evening.

According to the plan, nearly 50 anganwari workers and helpers of Jhunir block assembled near the grid substation in the village and held a meeting to draw up a strategy.

Then raising anti-government slogans, a group of 21 activists led by Balveer Kaur Mansa, finance secretary of the AMU, left for the bus stand to board buses for Badal village.

However, the police intercepted them and told them to get into police vehicles. Refusing to abide by the direction, the protesting women activists started raising slogans.

They dared the police to arrest and send them to the Ferozepur jail, where 27 of their colleagues were lodged since May 1, when they started the protest from Bathinda.

After a round of negotiations, they announced that they would go to the police station on their own. Encircled by a large number of cops, the women activists kept raising slogans in the village streets.

Speaking to this correspondent, SHO, Jhunir, Dalvir Singh said, “We were not at all willing to arrest them as our purpose was to foil their plan to move towards Badal village, in which we succeeded.”

Meanwhile, the 27 activists of the AMU lodged in Ferozepur jail since May 1 were freed today.

Speaking on the phone, president of the AMU Hargobind Kaur said, “If necessary, we will intensify the protest.The responsibility of any untoward incident rests on the state government.”

The AMU volunteers said they were agitating to get their reasonable demands accepted. These included a hike in their honorarium, implementation of reservation for them in ETT teachers’ recruitment and providing of basic infrastructure at each anganwari centre.

Ropar, May 3
The Ropar police has dropped the name of Khalistan Liberation Force (KLF) chief Daya Singh Lahoria from the challan presented against Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) terrorists about six months ago. Lahoria is presently lodged at Tihar Jail.

Presenting the challan against the other five terrorists today in the court of CJM SP Sood, the police said the KLF chief’s name be discharged due to lack of evidence against him. In November 2009, the Ropar police had busted a module of terrorists to kill self-styled godmen Baba Bhaniarewala and Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh of Dera Sacha Sauda. Those arrested included Harminder Singh Cherian and Balwinder Singh Dekwala.

The two accused revealed the names of BKI terrorists Baljit Singh Bhau, Daljit Singh Bittu, Sukhwinder Singh Sukhi and Buta Singh. Most of them are already lodged in different jails.

The accused had also named Lahoria and consequently, the police took him in transit remand and had been presenting him in a local court for the past two days.

Lahoria was also involved in the kidnapping of Rajendra Mirdha, son of former Rajasthan minister Ram Niwas Mirdha, seeking release of his accomplice Devinder Pal Singh Bhullar. The KLF chief was arrested in 1995 at Minneapolis Airport, Minnesota, US, and was extradited to India. Keeping in view the seriousness of the crime committed by him, Lahoria was being brought from Delhi to Punjab by air, sources said.

“It was a risky and expensive to bring Lahoria here daily. There was the fear of him fleeing away with his aides. This was one of the reasons why the police decided to discharge Lahoria from this case,” the officials revealed.

Bathinda, May 3
A substantial downfall in the wheat yield has not only left farmers dejected but thousands of migrants, who land here during the harvesting season, are also worried for getting much lesser work (cleaning and filling) than the previous seasons.

After toiling for a month, labourers are now about to leave grain markets of the state. “We had come here with a hope to earn our livelihood in a better way. However, despite spending sleepless nights in grain markets here, we could not be able to earn even half of the expected wages,” said labourer Sanjeev Kumar of Bihar.

Another labourer Ram Bilas said, “We had boarded the Awadh-Assam Express on April 8 and the return ticket is for May 7. During the whole month exercise, I could not earn more than the wages assured under the NREGA scheme.”

“I am a sole breadwinner to feed seven dependants. Counting the number of bags we filled, I have calculated that I would get only Rs 25,00-3,000 for the month-long period. This amount is not at all satisfactory after travelling from a long distant place,” said Lal Miyan.

Narrating another tale of worry, a labourer, Kamrol said: “Earlier, I paid an amount of Rs 700 to a nambardar as a commission amount to get the job here. Later, the nature turned adverse.” “Now I feel, it would be better, if skipped visiting Punjab this season,” said Kamrol.

The labourer also disclosed that nambardars used to engage them for arhtiyas for unloading, cleaning and filling jobs.

“After the end of the season, they get the remuneration from arhtiyas as per the fixed norms but while distributing the amount, they keep their share double and distribute the remaining part in equal share to all labourers in the group. Moreover, many of them, using dominating position, take commission from the helpless migrants,” claimed a group of labourers, working at a grain market in Bathinda.

Gurdaspur, May 3
An uneasy calm prevailed in the town following a bandh call given by some religious organisations.

The call had been given last evening after the management of Gurdwara Mayia Mistry and the adjoining Shivala Mandir locked horns over the installation of Nishan Sahib.

A volatile situation arose but timely intervention by the police led to the defusing of the situation. Gurdaspur DC Pirthi Chand and SSP Lok Nath Angra visited the spot and persuaded elderly people of both communities to find an amicable solution.

Since morning, officials of the district administration could be seen swarming all over the place at Bata Chowk area of the town where the mandir and the gurdwara are located. A large number of police personnel were deployed and senior police officials monitored the situation.

Shops in the town remained closed today and even banks downed shutters. However, public transport functioned normally.

The DC said the administration had brokered an agreement between the warring factions. He claimed that the situation was under control and there was no untoward incident reported from any part of the town. However, some Sikh leaders managing the affairs of the gurdwara claimed that negotiations would take place tomorrow after which the fate of the Nishan Sahib would be decided.

Gurdwara management committee spokesman Satwinder Singh claimed that they had installed the Nishan Sahib on gurdwara land and that Hindu organistaions had no right to protest.

However, leaders of Hindu organisations claim that the Nishan Sahib had been installed at a place where the Shivala Mandir management was trying to lay down a new passage.

Ferozepur, May 3
Acute shortage of staff and delay in restructuring of the state Forest and Wildlife Department by the Finance Department have adversely affected the plantation 
drive and checking of illegal tree felling.

The staff shortage has denied the opportunity to the authorities concerned to implement Puncampa (Punjab Compensatory Afforestration Fund Management and Planning Authority) project, which has been funded by the Centre and for which first instalment of Rs 33 crore had been given to Punjab about eight months ago.

This project is to be implemented in five years and the Centre is supposed to give about Rs 350 crore for it.

The department came in for another shock when the Centre had refused to sanction Rs 771 crore under the Natural Resources Management Project as an external aid for community forestry in Punjab on the pretext that the staff strength with the forest and wildlife department is inadequate to implement it.

“Not only this, the department has been facing problems on account of illegal mining, felling of trees and encroachments of areas in forest and wildlife sanctuaries due to shortage of staff,” pointed out a senior functionary.

“How will we be able to implement all projects with the staff strength of about 1,600 persons against the requirement of 2,369,” said another functionary.

Information gathered by TNS revealed that about 18,000 acres of forest land was under encroachment. Regular attempts were being made to encroach upon the land belonging to the Hari Ke wetland. The complaints in of felling of trees had been pouring also.

“If action is not taken by the Punjab government, neither the forest department nor forest cover will survive in the state,” claimed a top official of the department.

Tikshan Sood, Forest Minister, Punjab, said the finance department had been keeping the proposal of restructuring of the forest and wildlife department with it for the past many months despite the fact that restructuring of the department had been given approval by different committees.

He added he had also taken up the matter with the Chief Minister and hoped this problem would be sorted out shortly.

Amritsar, May 3
Most residents of around 140 Punjab villages along the Indo-Pak border seem to be hardly interested in getting potable water.

The villagers’ indifference to an ambitious World Bank scheme aimed at providing rural people with potable water is obvious. Residents of the 140 villages are not ready to deposit a paltry one-time amount of Rs 200 or Rs 400 (in the case of the Scheduled Castes and the general category, respectively) with the executing authorities.

Since the residents are seemingly waiting for the Punjab Government to intervene and come to their rescue, as in the case of free power to farmers, they are dilly-dallying on the payment issue leading to a delay in the execution of the waterworks projects in the border areas of Amritsar district. The WB has already launched an ambitious Rs 1200 crore scheme in collaboration with the Punjab Government to provide potable water to residents of rural areas in the state with a condition that the residents will bear a negligible 5 per cent cost of the project. The rest of the 95 per cent share will be contributed by the WB.

The Amritsar district administration has already identified as many as 280 villages where residents are either getting potable water in small amounts or are not covered under any water supply project.“We have assigned the 140 villages, the residents of which are reluctant to pay up, to a group of 50 gazetted officers. These officers will not only be persuading the villagers to participate in the scheme but also collect the villagers’ share by May 31,” said Deputy Commissioner Kahan Singh Pannu.

In fact, the sarpanches are reluctant to push fellow villagers to pay their share towards the scheme as they fear that this may erode their votebank. “I have directed the officers to take along the sarpanches if they were not willing to lead the campaign. We are also busy creating awareness about the importance of clean water. In fact, the share amount is so negligible that every household can pay it easily,” said Pannu.

In non-border villages — beyond a distance of 10 km from the barbed wire fencing — a Scheduled Castes family is required to pay a one-time amount of Rs 400 while general category families are required to deposit Rs 800 to participate in the scheme.

Mohali, May 3
Seventeen railway overbridges and underbridges being constructed at a cost of Rs 360 crore would be opened to traffic in the next six months. Besides, work on another 18 overbridges would start soon.

Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal stated this after reviewing the progress of the infrastructure projects during a meeting held at Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB) guesthouse here today.

Progress of projects, including thermal plants, roads, high-level bridges, Bathinda refinery, and elevated road system in Amritsar was reviewed.

He said the rail overbridges on Tanda-Sri Hargobind road, Bathinda-Dabwali road and on Dabwali-Malout road would be inaugurated on May 11. Two more on Batala-Dera Baba Nanak road and Jagraon-Raikot road would also be inaugurated this month.

In June, seven bridges on Dabwali road in Bathinda, Mansa, Amritsar (Jawala flour mill), Maqsoodan and near Khalsa College in Jalandhar and on Batala-Beas road would be completed.

The overbridge at Ferozepur Cantt, and on Morinda bypass would be completed in December. The bridges at Beas on Dera Baba Jaimal road, on Bathinda-Ghudda Badal road and in Fatehgarh Sahib would be completed by March 2012. He said he was committed to clear all bottlenecks in the way of smooth flow of traffic.

The state has approved construction of 18 more railway overbridges at the cost of Rs 350 crore, including one on Chawa-Samrala road, on Khanna- Lalheri road, SD College, Barnala, Shambhu Yard, Budhlada (Budhlada-Ratia road), near Jakhal (Gurney-Jakhal road), Mukerian-Gurdaspur Road, Amritsar-Bikhiwind Road, Chhajli (Sunam-Lehra road), Sunam (near grain market), Kapurthala (near Science City), Gidderbaha, Bathinda (Dabwali Road), Bathinda (Bathinda-Talwandi Sabo road), Suranassi (Bidhipur Phatak), Gobindgarh (Gobindgarh-Kheri Naudh Singh road), Malerkotla (Malerkotla-Raikot road) and at Banga (Banga-Phillaur road).

Besides, one submersible bridge at Bhangi choe at Hoshiarpur has completed and another one at Sarai Ka Pattan would be completed by August. The state has also approved high-level bridges on Sultanpur Lodhi-Chola Sahib road, another on the Sutlej near Matewara on Ludhiana-Rahon road and third one on Chakki River on Mirthal (NH1)-Dina Nagar (NH-15) road.

Sukhbir said the concept of roads on the banks of irrigation canals to reduce the distance between cities considerably has got a momentum with project report of five roads getting approved by experts. Five roads namely, Ropar-Doraha road along Sirhind canal , Manpur Head to Jagraon-Raikot road along Abohar branch, Rayya to Khara road along Sabhraon Branch, Manpur Head to Barnala-Raikot Road along Bathinda branch and Nidampur to Lehra road along Ghaggar branch would be completed October next at the cost of Rs 500 crore.

Mandi Gobindgarh, May 3
Unloading of coal at Mandi Gobindgarh railway station has upset residents of the area living nearby who complain pollution emitted at the time of loading and unloading of coal.

As per the railway authorities, unloading of coal had been going on for the past around 50 years and residential areas came up just a decade ago.

While it takes nine hours to unload coal and further 12 hours to load it in trucks. “The loading and unloading is done at least 20 times in a month”, said Ashish Bansal, a resident of the area.

He said nearly 1,500 residents of Shyam Nagar and Guru Nanak Colony get affected due to the unloading. Most affected are the children who suffer from various respiratory diseases.

Residents rued that the pollution content is already very high in Mandi Gobindgarh and loading-unloading of coal further deteriorates the atmosphere.

The railway authorities said there was no way out to get rid of coal ash and the residents have to bear this problem until the site is shifted to any other place. “The problem aggravates during high-velocity winds when it becomes difficult to breathe, prepare food or even eat something”, said the residents.

They said recently they blocked trains in protest against the dumping of coal. However, the railway authorities got different cases registered against them. “We will continue holding demonstrations unless and until the site get shifted,” they added.

Residents also alleged that the railway authorities unload coal near residential areas due to shortage of space adjoining their unloading site.

Station superintendent Parveen Kumar said the quantity of coal had increased during the past few years as number of coal-based factories in the area had gone up.

“It is all up to the senior authorities to look into the matter”, he added.

Jalandhar, May 3
Punjab Technical University has decided to conduct a mock exercise for online counselling for admission to engineering and pharmacy colleges. The exercise is being conducted to train candidates for filling of streams and colleges based on their result in the CET.

The university has decided to conduct the drill after last year’s bitter experience when quite a few students had to suffer owing to mistakes committed in filling options.

Many candidates with lower ranks had filled choices only in top colleges, leaving them with nothing in hands later. There were top rankers who did not fill choices in more preferred college by mistake or just thinking that they would not get a seat there, thus missing a big chance. Since all such mistakes are incorrigible later, the university, in association with the National Informatics Centre, has decided to start mock exercise.

While the university conducted entrance test for 29,225 applicants yesterday, it has plans to declare the result on May 21 and start online registration for counselling from June 15. Believing that a majority of the candidates start filling choices on the first day, the university has plans to declare a mock result on the basis of choices filled till the third day.

“The students will not have to pay any extra effort. If they want to be a part of the exercise and want to have a vague idea of it, they just need to enter the maximum choices at the earliest. Even after the mock result, they will have three or four days for making suitable amendments in filling options,” said a CET coordinator.

“The mock result will vary a lot from the actual one since many candidates may enter choices later”, he cautioned. Apprehending that the candidates might feel a bit disheartened after seeing the actual result later, officials have decided to boldly display a warning in this regard.

The university has also decided to conduct online counselling of various categories, including Sikh minority quota and sports quota for which manual counselling was held last year. Admission under a few quotas such as rural category as applicable in Guru Gobind Singh College, Talwandi Sabo, and Guru Nanak Dev Engineering College, Gill village, Ludhiana, will, however, be conducted manually.

Ferozepur, May 3
Posters motivating people to join the Naxalite movement have appeared in and around Zira town. Businessmen of the area have also reportedly received anonymous letters, urging them to fund the movement. At the bottom of the letter is written “Lal Salam”

One person has been rounded up in this connection and a case under Sections 121-A and 153-A of the IPC had been registered at the Zira police station.

Posters carried the names of organisations, including the Nepali Ekjut Communist Party, Purva Bangladesh Sarvhara Kendri Committee, Purvi Bengal Di Communist party (MLM Lal Jhanda), Communist Party, Bhutan, CPI (MLM), CPI (ML) Naxalwari and CPI (Maowadi).

The message on the posters urge people to unite to oppose the ‘Operation Green Hunt’ launched by the Centre against Maoists in various states; to oppose a war launched against the struggle of people and to spread Maoist movement in South Asia.

Intelligence agencies, which had sounded a note of warning to the police a few months ago in connection with the spread of the movement in this area, said this kind of situation could had been avoided, had the police taken steps at that time.

Earlier in November last, the police had arrested Harnek Singh of the district, as he was an active member of the Naxalite movement and a foreign-made .32-bore revolver was seized from his possession. The weapon was given to him reportedly by Naxalite leader Surjeet Singh Phool, an associate of Kobad Ghandy, a top Maoist leader, for carrying out criminal activities.

The police said the person, who had been rounded up, was earning livelihood by transporting goods on a mule cart. He had brought these posters from Jalandhar where a convention of those outfits, which carried the agenda of Maoists, was held.

Patiala, May 3
Tightening its grip on teachers who often went to foreign countries on long leaves, which sometimes stretched to a few years, the Punjab Education Department has issued strict instructions regarding the sanctioning of such leave applications.

In a letter issued to District Education Officers (DEOs), the department has made it clear that any teacher wanting to travel abroad will have to apply for leave two months in advance and will have to return on the scheduled date.

The instructions have been issued by Director General of School Education (DGSE) Krishan Kumar. The DGSE said this had been done with an aim to ensure proper functioning of the department. The teachers would also have to submit an affidavit along with their leave application stating that in case they did not return on the scheduled date, it would be considered as a case of premature retirement. They would also have to report to the head office on their arrival.

The duration of leave would be two months for going abroad and four months for travelling within the country. If it has to be more than that, it will have to be applied two months before hand along with an affidavit stating that the teacher would return in time.

Deputy DEO Harinder Kaur said not just foreign visits but the teachers would also now have to get medical leaves sanctioned from the DEOs after the approval of their respective principals. Appreciating the step, she said this would certainly improve the working environment.

Ropar, May 3
Punjab’s private universities are aggressive in terms of business, while the government universities have mammoth and quality infrastructure.

Faculty members of a delegation from Thompson Rivers University, Canada, have observed this during their two-day visit to Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, and Lovely Professional University, Jalandhar.

Talking to the TNS, Bernie Warren, Professor of BBA programme, TRU, Canada, said the delegation had come to India to study various aspects of future partnerships primarily for student exchange. The team is on a visit to India as a part of its Field School Study Course in India. Course includes promotion of in depth study of India and its emergence as a global business powerhouse.

Warren was here with group of 20 BBA students from TRU, Canada, and group coordinator Heather Williams to visit Institute of Management Studies (IMS) at Bhaddal, Ropar.

“The state-run universities are pretty much similar to our back home. The kind of intellects and knowledge base state-run universities have is appreciable,” he noted.

He added that the team was spellbound to see the eagerness of Indian students to learn. “The Indian students have a keen desire to study abroad. During our interaction with students, we were flooded with questions pertaining to the best courses available at TRU, kind of infrastructure made available and many other things,” he said.

The student delegation talked about the aggressive marketing strategy Indians apply in various sectors. 

Chandigarh, May 3
The Punjab government, it seems, does not learn from its mistakes. After 27 years, the government has increased the marks set aside for interview for selection to PCS (executive and allied services) from 75 to 100.

Despite the fact that several objections have been raised to this move, the government has not done anything to revise its decision.

In a signed communication sent to the Chief Minister, president of the Society For Social Reform, Patiala, Ajmer Singh Lohat has stated that there was no reason for an increase in the marks of the interview except for the fact that it would give more power to PPSC members.

Lohat pointed out that from 1972 to 1983, there were 200 marks for viva voce for entry into PCS (executive and allied services). “These were misused to the hilt and while many non-deserving candidates were given 190 marks out of 200, brilliant candidates were given as many as 20-25 marks,” he said.

In 1983 marks for the interview were reduced to 75. “The 1984-batch was selected by the then PPSC chairman Santosh Chaudhry who later faced a vigilance enquiry over the selections too,” Lohat added.

Now, the government has not only empowered the commission by increasing the interview marks, it has also made the commission final authority in all selections. “In the event of a tie, the order of merit shall be determined in accordance with highest marks secured in the viva voce test,” states the notification for the examination.

After passing preliminary examination, the candidates would appear for the main examination where he would be marked out of 1000 marks. Earlier, the candidates were marked out of 750. This time other than the increase in marks for the interview, another 25 marks have been added for essay. The number of optional subjects has been decreased from three to two, each worth 200 marks.

“I have not received any response from the CM’s office,” Lohat said, adding that he had send copies of the letter to deputy CM Sukhbir Badal, Manoranjan Kalia and leader of Opposition Rajinder Kaur Bhattal.

Chandigarh, May 3
The Punjab and Haryana High Court has made it clear that Punjab police personnel indulging in bigamy won’t get judicial relief against their termination from service.

Dismissing one such petition, Justice Ranjit Singh also ruled an employer is competent to lay down the condition for employing a person.

Taking up the petition by Tapinder Singh challenging his dismissal from service, Justice Ranjit Singh asserted the appellant, who was serving in the police, was accused of performing the second marriage for which he was chargesheeted and ultimately dismissed from service.

“Having failed in his departmental appeal, he had filed the suit, challenging the order of his dismissal. The suit was dismissed and so also the appeal filed against the same. He has accordingly filed this regular second appeal”.

Justice Ranjit Singh added: “The present case is not a simple case of a second or a plural marriage. There are certain peculiar features in this case, which may be noticed. In fact, brother of the petitioner, constable Sukhdev Singh, was killed by extremists on January 7, 1991.

“He left behind wife Chhinder Pal Kaur. As per the customs, she was married to the appellant with his consent in the presence of all relatives. Out of this wedlock, Chhinder Pal Kaur gave birth to a son. Later the appellant married one Gurmit Kaur on September 22, 1999, without obtaining divorce from Chhinder Pal Kaur. She had accordingly moved complaint against the appellant for which a charge sheet was framed against him and departmental enquiry ordered…. He was dismissed from service by a competent authority on 30.11.2001.

Justice Ranjit Singh concluded: “The employer, in my view, will be well competent to lay down condition on which employer would employ a person. Such a rule was said to be not offending any condition of service even in the case of MS Mann (apex court judgment).

“A rule prohibiting second marriage was found in consonance with the valid law and the plea to term the same as ultra vires of Article 21 was rejected in this very case. There is, thus, no merit in the appeal and the same is accordingly dismissed in limine”.