Amritsar, May 16
The local police has achieved a major breakthrough as it has identified the alleged mastermind behind the planting of explosive material in an abandoned white Maruti car on May 8 -- a day before the much-hyped visit of former Chief Minister Amarinder Singh to the holy city.

Meanwhile, the Chandigarh-based Central Forensic Laboratory has ascertained that the 1.8 kg of explosive material recovered from the car bearing number plate -- DEA 5554 -- found abandoned in front of the local canal office, was nothing but deadly RDX, highly placed police sources said.

The explosive could have caused a huge loss of life in the bustling area, had the accused managed to detonate it. An LPG cylinder, a detonator and a wire were also recovered during the subsequent search of the car on May 8.

The alleged mastermind, according to Amritsar Police Commissioner Varinder Kumar, has been identified as Sukhdev Singh, alias Chirra, owner of a dera situated on the Chabbal road in Sursingh village in Tarn Taran district. Varinder Kumar, who, headed the Special Investigation Team (SIT) formed by the DGP to investigate the sensational case, said a reward of Rs 1 lakh would be given to anyone giving a clue about the whereabouts of Sukhdev Singh.

Sukhdev Singh, highly placed sources said, had no established terrorist links, but he had visited Pakistan twice as part of Sikh jathas. The SIT comprising intelligence wing and police sleuths was working round the clock to pinpoint the mastermind behind the planting of the explosive. Sukhdev Singh, it was learnt, was absconding since May 8 along with his wife and three children.

“A manhunt has been launched to arrest Sukhdev Singh,” said Varinder Kumar.

Lehra Gaga (Sangrur), May 16
With mercury continuing to rise every passing day, residents of Lehra Gaga in Sangrur district are grappling with water shortage.Locals say not only are they face water shortage every 2-3 months, especially during summer, but even when the water is supplied, it is laden with high fluoride content resulting in fluorosis.

“In many areas of the town, water is supplied from Sanktiwala Rajwaha. It is treated in a treatment plant managed by the Water Works Department. For at least 2-3 months in a year, the department concerned repairs and cleans Rajwaha. This results in shortage of water,” says Kewal Krishan Singhla, a resident. “We cannot drink water from tube wells since it has a very high content of harmful minerals like fluoride that results in fluorosis. In our area, around 30% population is suffering from this disease”.

Another resident, Sneh Lata, says: “There is shortage of water, especially during summer when the temperature is high. Since water is needed for every domestic activity and for drinking, we have to suffer a lot. We don’t use water from tubewells for drinking purpose as it has high fluoride content.”

A doctor on condition of anonymity confirmed that fluorosis - skeletal fluorosis wherein adults suffer from backaches and joint pains, and dental fluorosis in children resulting in discolouration of teeth and their decay - is quite common in the area.

Municipal Council president Shiv Kumar Kauharian said they had proposed a water pipeline from Nadampur canal for the township. He added that presently they were drawing water from Sanktiwala Rajwaha and eight tube wells.

“There is break in supply of water from Rajwaha sometimes when the department cleans it or makes repairs. It is at this time that there is shortage of water for the township. Water from the tube wells is not fit for drinking as it has high fluoride content,” he said.

Ludhiana, May 16
With the increase in the cost of sugar production, the farmers in the state are shying away from growing sugarcane. Traders have started importing sugar from Brazil, Thailand and Dubai, even though the consumers still prefer the very ‘‘desi’’ crystals.

The sugar imported from foreign lands is crystallised refined sugar and is available at lower rates than the sugar produced here locally. On the one hand the farmers complain that the cost of sugar production is way beyond the present market price of the sugar, the imported sugar is giving a tough competition to them, as it is available at cheaper rates than the locally produced sugar.

Facing tough competition from the imported sugar, the price of local sugar has also come down to Rs 32.50 from Rs 38. Imported sugar is priced at Rs 30 per kg. “There is a difference of Rs 300 per quintal in the price of imported and local made sugar,” said Om Parkash, a wholesale trader at Kesar Ganj market.

Om Parkash said there was no limit on storing the imported sugar, while the stock of the local made sugar has to be cleared within one week. “Initially, the time period for storing the local made sugar was one month, then it was reduced to 15 days and now, it 
has been made one week. Clearing the stock in one week's time is very difficult,” he added.

Presently, the bulk users cannot hold sugar stock exceeding 10 days of their requirement, if it was sourced from the domestic market. The time limit had been imposed to rein in the spiralling sugar prices. The government has asked the bulk users to source their sugar requirement through imports to tide over any shortfall in the country, so there was no such ceiling on imported sugar.

Another wholesaler, Dharamveer Singh, added, “Even the government has asked us to import the sugar and keep the local made sugar for domestic use, while the imported sugar is preferred by bread, biscuits and cold drink companies.”

President of the Punjab Bread Manufacturers Association Ramesh Maggo said big multinational companies like Coke, Britannia, Nestle and others have started using imported sugar, as there is dearth of sugar in the state. “In addition to this, the government is not imposing any restriction on the quantity and time to which extent imported sugar can be stored. So, the MNCs prefer imported sugar,” he added.

While the traders prefer the imported sweetener, the consumers want the locally produced one. Pritam from Super Value Store at the Pakhowal road said, “ The customers generally go in for local made sugar. We do bring imported sugar, but it is not preferred,” he added. 

Patiala, May 16
The Patiala District Congress Committee (urban) has become almost defunct from the past couple of years. The activity of the district Congress pertaining to issues related to the common man has also witnessed a steep decline.

A recap of events of the past one year shows that besides organising programmes on birth and death anniversaries of leaders and martyrs, activities of the DCC (U) are confined to organising programmes of former state CM Capt Amarinder Singh and Minister of State for External Affairs Preneet Kaur only.

The DCC (U) is being headed by Prem Krishan Puri from the past almost four years. Till the time the Congress was in power, the district Congress was very active. But since the SAD-BJP took over the reins of the state, Patiala Congress leaders seem to be cooling their heels. “It is really unfortunate that the district Congress has confined itself just to organise birth and death anniversaries of party leaders,” said a senior Congress leader. Fearing disciplinary action, party leaders are not ready to come in the open, but several Congress leaders claimed that there was no activity at the party level to take up problems being faced by city residents and other public-related issues.

During an interaction with Congress leaders, it came to light that the DCC (U) has not been able to organise rallies and mass-level functions in the city. Insiders in the Congress told The Tribune: “There is so much problem of power and lack of civic amenities. The education and health sectors are in a shambles. But during the past three years, the district Congress has not been able to play the role of opposition by taking up these matters in a big way.”

A veteran Congress leader opined that activities of the SAD have increased in the city in the past six months. “Being Capt Amarinder Singh’s bastion, Akalis are concentrating more on Patiala now and it is evident from frequent visits of Deputy CM Sukhbir Singh Badal to Patiala,” he added.

However, the DCC (U) chief claimed the district Congress was taking up all public issues aggressively but he was short of words when asked to specify some of the issues taken up by them in the recent past. “If someone feels that the activity of our unit is not satisfactory, we will intensify the same in coming days”, he said.

Interestingly, president of the District Youth Congress (urban) Sonu Sanghar said, “When Capt Amarinder would become the PPCC president, the district Congress will 
get into motion.”

Bathinda, May 16
The CPI has asked the SAD-BJP government to issue a white paper to tell the people of the state that how many promises made in the election manifestoes of the SAD and the BJP it had fulfilled so far after coming to power in March 2007.

Dr Joginder Dayal, a member of the national executive of the CPI, said today that it was the right of the people to know about the fulfilment of promises made by the SAD and the BJP during the last Assembly poll.

Dayal said there was a total collapse of governance in the state on law and order front, as the crime rate was increasing day after day. Besides, the state was also facing financial, agriculture and industrial crises, he added.

Regarding appearance of Naxal posters in the state, the CPI leader demanded a high-level probe into it to find out people and forces behind it.

He said it seemed that such type of activities in the state were being done to defame the Left movement. Left parties did not believe in violent activities, he added.

He also flayed the state government for power crisis and said the agriculture sector was getting power for only three hours in a day. He said if the situation continued to remain like this in the paddy transplantation season, no one would be able to save farmers.

He said the Badal government was making tall claims on the education front, but in realty, the education system in rural areas was collapsing.

He also condemned steps being taken by the government regarding the privatisation of the education saying that the government should not recruit teachers on a contract basis as it led to the privatisation of education.

Ludhiana, May 16
Union Minister Kapil Sibbal today said the Congress did not have many options for the post of president of Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC).

He was in the city today to attend a private function. He said the AICC would soon finalise the name of the PPCC chief and announce it. Refusing to take any names that were being considered, the Union Minister said the suspense would soon be over. He did not even divulge the details of leaders who were in the race. ‘‘I can only say there are not many people, who can be considered. The party has limited options,’’ he added.

Commenting on the recent episodes involving Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh and former minister Shashi Tharoor's controversial statements, Sibal said no doubt they were well educated people. ‘‘But there is a difference between a well educated and a wise man,’’ he remarked.

Talking about the education reforms, Sibal said the education system would witness a paradigm shift within five years. ‘‘For the time being, we are concentrating on having more doctors, engineers, technicians and managers in the country. We are going to increase the seats in medical and engineering colleges in order to check colleges running with capitation fee. We will create so many seats that aspirants would not need to pay donations to get admissions,’’ he said.

He said the country was so short of technicians required in medical labs that the standard of health was suffering. ‘‘We will address this problem on priority, ’’ he added

Amritsar, May 16
Termite, widely known as the deadly white ant that gobbles up wood, crops, fruit plants and trees, may cease to exist in the near future in the city where as many as 6,100 termite colonies have been identified under an exhaustive exercise undertaken by officials of different departments.

Known for its harmful nature, the dreaded insect lives in underground colonies.

The termite menace has been increasing in Punjab to such an extent that in spite of extensive spraying of varied insecticides and due to the absence of a concrete plan for its eradication, it has started knocking at the household doors, offices and commercial establishments in a big way.

The problem has gripped orchards, farms and households in a big way and a group of farmers had approached the Amritsar DC, Kahan Singh Pannu, urging him to launch some effective termite eradication programme in their villages 
and townships.

In turn, the DC had asked the Department of Agriculture to control the termite problem by coming out with a pilot project with an objective to eliminate the pest. He had also directed the district heads of Agriculture, Horticulture, Animal Husbandry, Forestry, Co-operative Departments and officials of the local sugar mill to hammer out a solution to the persisting problem possibly by eradicating termite colonies from villages and townships. Different areas were allocated to all departments to survey the termite colonies.

“In a large-scale survey, which is still going on, we have identified 6,100 termite colonies in the district in the first phase. Since no recommendation to destroy termite colonies or mounds was available, I had instructed the Agriculture Department to prepare a methodology to destroy termite colonies on the basis of expert advice of officials of the Departments of Agriculture, Horticulture, Animal Husbandry, KVK , and the PAU Ludhiana and the methodology has yielded good results,” said Pannu.

The indigenous methodology suggested that after digging the termite colony to a level of up to two feets, it should be filled with water. On the next day, it should be filled with a solution of Chlorpyriphos 20 EC, 500 ml in 100 litres of water and thereafter the mouth of the mound should be covered with sand and it should be marked as treated. For the identified 6,100 termite colonies, money was required for the purchase of insecticide and it was sourced by the DC from the Punjab State Farmer Commission, Mohali, and the campaign to eradicate the termite colonies virtually got kicked off. “By the end of June 15, the identified colonies will be destroyed. The farmers and the people of Amritsar will heave a sigh of relief. This innovative move will be taken to other districts too,” said an agriculture department official.

Jalandhar, May 16
The Punjab government has been urged to implement the order of the Punjab and Haryana High Court with regard to the enhancing of the retirement age of university and college teachers to 65 years.

The Punjab Government College Teachers Association has said that a certified copy of the order of the high court had been submitted in the office of the Principal Secretary, Higher Education, Punjab. Jaipal Singh, President, and JS Kahlon, Vice-President of the Association, said the court had directed the Principal Secretary to Government, Department of Higher Education, to put up “the matter before the competent authority under the rules of business of the state and ensure that a final decision in this regard is taken as early as possible but not later than two months from the date of the receipt of the copy of the order”.

In order to deal with the situation arising out of the shortage of teachers in the universities and other teaching institutions and the consequent vacant positions, the age of superannuation for teachers in the central educational institutions has already been enhanced to 65 years.

The petitioners had stated that Government of India through the University Grants Commission provided substantial financial aid to the state government to impart higher education in the state and, therefore, it is imperative upon the state government to implement the decision taken by the Government of India in its entirety and consequently to enhance the age of retirement of college teachers from 58 to 65 years. However, opposing the petitioners’ argument, the state counsel had asserted that the determination of service conditions, including age of retirement of its employees, fall within the domain of the state.

After hearing the arguments, Mr Justice Surya Kant had passed the order, “I am of the considered view that the state government is obligated to take a conscious policy decision with regard to the increase in the age of retirement of the college teachers in terms of the Government of India Notification dated 31.12.2008.” 

Jalandhar, May 16
Raising some fundamental questions against the proposed caste census in the country, SAD (A) president Simranjit Singh Mann said today that the SGPC and other Sikh religious organisations should take a firm stand against such census because it was against the basic tenants of the Sikhism.

He said Guru Nanak Dev had founded Sikhism to build a casteless society. The proposal was unconstitutional and a retrograde step, he added.

He said the proposed census would put Sikhs in a situation, which was against the basic philosophy of their religion. Giving instance, he said when an enumerator on the census duty would approach a Sikh family, he or she would ask about the caste of the family to fill the census form. However, as there was no place of caste in Sikhism, the family would be in a difficult situation to answer the question.

“ If the family will not answer the question, it may not be counted,” he said.

Asked what would be his stand when enumerators would come to his house, Mann said that he would say no to fill the caste column.

He said a person, who believed in the caste system and mentioned his caste, could not be counted among the Sikhs.

Mann said the caste census could also cast its shadow on the SGPC elections because only Sikhs could vote in it.

“If one person mentions his caste to a census enumerator and on the other, he is on the voter list of the SGPC, his right to vote could be challenged because of his belief in the casteism,” said Mann.

“With this, the identity of settlements of minorities and various castes will be available on record and such settlements can become easy target during hostile situations. In Gujarat, minority community settlements were attacked leading to the killing of hundreds of people a few years ago,” he added.

Patiala, May 16
In order to solve the problems of its employees and smoothen the working of the department, the Punjab Education Department will organise two camps in June.

These camps will be held at Mohali and Fatehgarh Sahib on June 12 and June 26, respectively. Confirming this news, Director-General of School Education Krishan Kumar said this camp was aimed at solving various grievances of the employees whether working or retired.

The problems that will be dealt with in this camp will be GPF, ACP, pension, medical bill, service letters, etc. Also, various issues regarding department notices and complaints will also be discussed. The problems will not only be discussed but also be solved on the spot as well. These camps will be organised at the District Education Officer’s office in the respective districts. The timings of the camp are 10 am to 5 pm.

Sources said the DGSE had also issued letters to DEOs of all districts in this regard asking them to inform all school principals in their district regarding this camp.

The principals have also been instructed to inform all their colleagues and retired employees of primary and upper primary schools so that they could come to these camps and get their problems solved.

This move has been highly appreciated by the employees. They feel that it will become easy to convey their problems to the department and also find quick solution to it.

Patiala, May 16
The Sports Ministry’s decision to fix the term of office-bearers of national federations and associations to not more than two terms or 8 years has got a thumbs up from the sports fraternity. They are hoping that it gets implemented at the earliest.

Director Sports, Punjabi University, Patiala, Dr Rajkumar Sharma says it is a good decision, as it will break the monopoly of some politicians and bureaucrats who use these associations for self-promotion.

He said: “I feel that the decision should be performance-oriented. There might be some who are capable of holding the terms for as long as they want to while there are some who are not potential enough to hold the post even for a single term.”

Kamaljit Singh, Director Sports, GNDU, Amritsar, said it was a good decision.

He said: “I want to congratulate the Sports Minister for having the courage to say what is known to everyone but rarely spoken.”

Coaches are of the view that the government must implement this decision, as it would be very beneficial for the upliftment of the overall standard of sports in nation.

“Most of the office-bearers are sitting there for personal gains and have no idea about sports as such. All they care about is the money and power. If implemented, this decision will be a blessing in disguise for sportspersons who have time and again been raising hue and cry about lack of facilities but to no avail,” an ardent sportsperson said.