Amritsar, August 3
The controversy of debarring a seven-year-old child from performing “gatka” by a judge during a programme, “India’s Got Talent”, being telecast on a channel today swelled up with the “gatka” team today announcing not to participate further if the child was not allowed to be part of it.

Akal Takht Jathedar Giani Gurbachan Singh declared to honour the child during a function on August 7.

The All-India Gatka Federation, led by its vice-president Dr Manmohan Singh Bhagowalia, addressing mediapersons said the judge, Sajid Khan, should tender an unconditional apology for his comments.

Sajid Khan had termed the sword in the hands of a child as promotion of violence, which was strongly objected and condemned by various Sikh organisations. The two other judges in the panel - Bollywood stars Sonali Bendre and Kirron Kher - had opined differently on the performance.

Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) chief Avtar Singh, while criticising the judge, has pointed out that the comments against “gatka”, the traditional Sikh martial art, have hurt the sentiments of the Sikhs.

Meanwhile, Bhagowalia said they would also meet the channel authorities in this regard. He said Sajid Khan should apologise from the Sikhs unconditionally for hurting their sentiments. He said he (Sajid) should be debarred from being a judge of the programme. He said if the seven-year-old child, Manpreet Singh, a Class III student of Guru Harkishan Public School at Tarn Taran, was not allowed to participate in the programme, an agitation would be launched all over the country.

He said the “kirpan” and “gatka” were inseparable part of the Sikh religion and culture and they were for the protection of oppressed and helpless people, besides self-protection.

Giani Gurbachan Singh said the channel authorities and Sajid Khan should apologise for the comments during the show.

Jalandhar, August 3
Alleging that the Deputy Commissioner of Kapurthala, the SDM of Bholath and the EO of the Nagar Panchayat, Begowal, had committed a breach of the privilege by providing false information, Bholath MLA Sukhpal Singh Khaira has urged the Speaker of the Vidhan Sabha to summon the officials concerned.

In a representation which he handed over to the Speaker this evening, Khaira had written that the officials had also hoodwinked the State Information Commission while colluding with the political mafia allowing encroachment upon prime government land worth Rs 100 crore.

The Congress MLA said after his repeated complaints at various levels, the EO of Begowal had issued a notice to Sant Prem Singh International School on August 8, 2009, to stop further construction over the Nagar Panchayat land. Disregarding the notice, the mafia went ahead constructing a boundary wall measuring 700 metres, he claimed.

Keeping in mind government inaction to stop illegal construction, he said he had filed a petition before the State Information Commission on April 14, 2010, seeking official information. He said the SIC had then directed the DC to depute a Class I officer to visit the spot and file a report.

“To my utter surprise, the DC has filed an untrue report on July 28, 2010. He has falsely reported that no construction had been done after the issuance of notice of the Nagar Panchayat. The construction of the boundary wall was well in progress till June 2010,” he said giving copies of news report and photos carried in a section of the media during that time.

Khaira further asked for setting up of an independent committee of officials of the Vidhan Sabha. He said that experts from government laboratories such as Punjab Engineering College, Chandigarh, could easily tell the age of construction by taking a sample of the boundary wall.

Kapurthala DC Raj Kamal Chaudhary, when contacted, denied all allegations saying, “Whatever I have given in this regard in writing is completely factual and correct.”

Hoshiarpur, August 3
Non-availability of fresh water has hit hard pisciculture taken up by the Department of Fisheries in village ponds renovated and dug up under the MGNREGA scheme in the district. Though the Punjab Government and the Fishery Department had pinned hopes on various projects taken under the MGNREGA, fish farming with inadequate water and proper marketing of the produce has dashed their hopes.

Besides rainwater, the villages where the department has motivated farmers to go in for pisciculture have no sources of fresh water, so they have been using water supply from the Irrigation and Public Health Department to fill their ponds. The IPH water supply contains inadequate oxygen and fails to fulfil the requirement of the fauna, experts say.

Sources in the department revealed that solid waste and sullage discharged from residential units directly flows in to the village ponds which further creates oxygen deficiency in the water, thus affecting the pisciculture adversely.

Chief Executive Officer Raj Kumar of the Department of Fisheries, Hoshiarpur, said over 36.80 hectares area had been brought under pisciculture in 50 villages in the district under the MGNREGS. This included 350 hectares area under pisciculture and belonged to panchayats in the district, he said.

Kumar, however, revealed that at present the average per hectare yield of fish was 3,500 kg to 4000 kg from the land under psciculture taken up under the MGNREGS and could be increased to almost 6,000 kg if fresh water was made available for the fish ponds. Presently common carp, grass carp, rohu, catla and mrigal are the species which are being cultured in Punjab. The department is providing seedling from its Haryana located fish seed farm.

The department has also released over 4.50 lakh seedlings in its dams in Dholbaha, Maili, Janauri, Mehngrowal, Chohal and Sleran this year.

Pathankot, August 3
Sapna, a 25-year-old resident of Jaman Kairi Mohalla, Sujanpur, 12 km from here, who was allegedly set on fire by her in-laws, including her husband Parmod Raj and mother-in-law Swarni Devi, yesterday, died in the Civil Hospital here today.

Complainant Santosh Kumari of Mugrala, Dinanagar, and mother of the deceased alleged in a complaint to the police that her daughter Sapna was married to Parmod Raj of Sujanpur two years ago and she was being harassed and forced to bring more dowry by her in-laws. She further alleged that on Monday evening members of her in-laws put kerosene on Sapna and set her on fire. Sapna was rushed by neighbours to the Civil Hospital with 90 per cent burns where she succumbed to her injuries.

The deceased was the mother of a five-month-old female child. SHO Rajinder Minhas said a case in this connection had been registered under section 304-B of the IPC in Sujanpur police station. No arrest had been made in this connection so far.

Hoshiarpur, August 3
As many as 2,466 cases of power theft have been detected by the enforcement wing and operational wing of Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) during the current financial year.

Disclosing this while addressing media persons here today, PSPCL Director (Distribution) A.K. Verma said that 632 cases of power theft had been found by the enforcement wing and 1,834 by the operational wing for which a penalty of Rs 78 lakh and Rs 138 lakh, respectively, had been imposed on power thieves.

To stop power theft, electric meters were being installed outside the houses, shops and industrial units. More than seven lakh electric meters had been installed outside the premises so far. As many as 32 lakh meters would be installed outside the premises within the next six months, for which the work had been allotted to contractors. After installing seven lakh meters outside the premises, the loss of power had been reduced to a great extent.

There are more than 1,000 overloaded feeders in the state. To increase the efficiency, all the services were being computerised for which the Union government had provided Rs 277 crore. To provide uninterrupted power supply to the consumers 50 transformers of 20 MVA and 20 of 1000 MVA were being installed within the next six months in the state.

Answering a question regarding imposing of overload power cuts by the local staff in rural and urban areas in the district, he said that one 220-KV substation would soon be set up at Ahrana Kalan and the substation at the local Sadhu Ashram would be upgraded very shortly.

Chief Engineer North Zone, Jalandhar, V.K. Sharma and Deputy Chief Engineer of Hoshiarpur circle Jagmohan Singh were accompanying the Director.