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Adampur shivers at 2.3°C, Amritsar records 4°C
Sukhbir Badal holds sangat darshan in Manpreet’s bastion
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Government accepts some demands of power
staff
‘Immolation’ by 4 of Family
Governor honours 48 cops
Paddy worth Rs 3.5 lakh missing from godowns
Wildlife Department to equip field officials with firearms
Experts discuss pre-natal diagnostic techniques
Stag, blue bull rescued
AISSF to hold candle march at Akal Takht
Tribune Impact
SGPC, NZ varsity to liaison
HC issues warning to 3 IAS officers
SSP told to register case against excise official
Ensure parity between men, women over
LTC: HC to Punjab
Farmer shot at over property dispute
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Sukhbir Badal holds sangat darshan in Manpreet’s bastion
Kotbhai/Gidderbaha, December 8 At the entry point of Gidderbaha outside a factory, Sukhbir had cut a cake to celebrate the birthday of his father and Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal. From there, he headed towards the newly constructed suvidha centre in Gidderbaha in a cavalcade, along with a large number of motorcycles, carrying youths and elderly persons. Sukhbir first inaugurated the fully air-conditioned suvidha centre and later laid the foundation stones of two roads, Husnar road and Bharu road, at Gidderbaha. Addressing a large gathering at the sangat darshan programme, organised for 17 villages of the area, at Kotbhai village, Sukhbir told the people of the Gidderbaha constituency that his family’s relation with them was inseparable as his father had started his career from Gidderbaha. He said the Gidderbaha constituency was the constituency of his family, so nurturing of the constituency was the responsibility of his family now. As to who would contest from Gidderbaha during the ensuing Assembly elections, Sukhbir said the party would decide. However, he also told the gathering about the circumstances in which Manpreet had to be ousted from the party. Sukhbir said on the one hand, Manpreet was opposing continuation of subsidies while on the other, he had got ` 19 lakh as subsidy for his own farm. He said in the Gidderbaha constituency, injustice had been done to several people in the past, but now, people would get justice. Besides, he warned the police that not to register fake cases against anyone in the constituency. Sukhbir also reiterated that the SAD would rule the state for 25 years despite the appointment of Amarinder Singh as state Congress president. He said he had visited the Gidderbaha today after a long period as he was earlier not interested in interfering in the functioning of his cousin’s (Manpreet’s) work in this constituency. He further said on December 11, the ongoing progress in the construction of refinery would be showed to the media by taking them to the refinery site. At the sangat darshan programme, Sukhbir heard grievances of people and panchayats of 17 villages, including Peori, Madhir and Kotbhai. He also disbursed grants, worth Rs 1.5 crore, for development works in these villages. He also promised the people of Kotbhai village regarding the construction of two canals at an estimated cost of Rs 25 crore. Faridkot MP Paramjit Kaur Gulshan, SGPC members Gurpal Singh Gora and Navtej Singh Koni, senior leader of the SAD (mahila wing) Gurdial Kaur Mallan, and chairman of Central Cooperative Bank, Muktsar, Tejinder Singh Midu Kherra, were among those who were present.
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Government accepts some demands of power
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Patiala, December 8 Chaudhri has also appealed to the employees to call off the strike. “Since electricity is the lifeline of Punjab, PSPCL employees should resume their duties, in view of the larger interests of the state. The employees should not put the consumers to unnecessary inconvenience,” he said. Chaudhri thanked all officers, supervisors and employees of the PSPCL, who attended to their duties despite the strike call. “The principle of no work no pay will remain in force and striking employees will be liable to strict disciplinary action,” he announced. Chaudhri claimed that the PSPCL Secretariat and all other offices of the PSPCL situated in Punjab functioned smoothly with good attendance of employees. “All thermal and hydro generation plants operated normally. PSPCL has made adequate arrangements to maintain a regular power supply to all its consumers throughout the state,” he claimed. He also regretted inconvenience, if any, caused to the consumers of the PSPCL on account of the strike. Earlier, services in various offices of the PSPCL and PSTCL remained crippled as thousands of non-gazetted employees and junior engineers of the two power utilities went on a two-day statewide strike today. In the wake of the strike, the cash counters and complaint centres of the power corporation across Punjab remained closed. The joint forum leaders claimed that no transaction took place at any of the cash counters. The strike will continue till December 9 midnight. It is learnt that employees and junior engineers in Patiala, Sangrur, Mohali, Ropar, Bathinda, Faridkot, Muktsar, Ferozepur, Ludhiana, Khanna, Jalandhar, Hoshiarpur, Kapurthala, Nawashahr, Amritsar, Tarn Taran, Gurdaspur and other parts of Punjab remained on strike and also staged demonstrations at the subdivision level. “Almost 85 per cent staff remained on strike today,” claimed Employees Joint Forum spokesman Manjit Singh Chahal. Joint forum leaders Surinder Singh Pehalwan and Karam Chand Bhardwaj said when the erstwhile PSEB was bifurcated in mid-April this year, Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal had assured the employees that salary-related issues would be sorted out in one month’s time. “Now, seven months have passed but our demands have still not been conceded by the managements of the PSPCL and the PSTCL and all government assurances have proved to be a farce,” they rued. State president and general secretary of the Council of Junior Engineers Sawarn Lal and Davinder Singh, respectively, accused the PSPCL management of adopting an “indifferent” attitude towards their long-pending demands, which include reimbursement of cost of 30 litres of petrol per month to field JEs, Additional Assistant Engineers (AAEs) as per the agreement dated March 14, 1998, and enhancement in promotion avenue from JE/AAE to Assistant Engineer (AE). The JEs also alleged that the PSPCL management always settled issues related to senior engineers, which was sheer discrimination with them. The joint forum and council leaders reiterated that in case the Punjab Government failed to concede their demands soon, they would intensify their agitation.
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State fails to file reply on report in HC
Saurabh Malik Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, December 8 As the case came up for hearing, the Bench of Chief Justice Mukul Mudgal and Justice Ranjan Gogoi categorically asked the state to file its reply on whether the report should be accepted, while fixing January 13 as the next date of hearing. Bathinda District and Sessions Judge Kuldip Singh, in his report, had asserted victim Gurjant Singh and his daughter, Veerpal Kaur, were indeed “harassed on account of registration of FIR number 109 of 2005”. Gurjant Singh and his family, putting up in Behman Jassa Singh village, had set themselves afire after being “hounded by the police”. The report says they had poured kerosene on themselves to scare away the cops, after the police entered the house by scaling the wall. Instead of dousing the fire, the cops escaped from the spot and planted kerosene cans. Bringng the incident to the Punjab and Haryana High Court’s notice, World Human Rights Protection Council, through chairman Ranjan Lakhanpal, had sought an independent probe. The inquiry officer asserted the police never visited Gurjant Singh’s house, as claimed in the case diary. Gurjant Singh and Veerpal Kaur were “got declared proclaimed offenders by misstating the facts. The true facts of the FIR were never verified by the police by conducting an inquiry before deciding to arrest the two.” The Sessions Judge added the raiding party on September 29, 2007, disconnected the power supply to the house, apparently to use “some force”. As a result, “the entire family was scared and Gurjant Singh in order to scare away the police party put some kerosene on himself and on his wife… Daughters Beant Kaur and Veerpal Kaur also put kerosene on themselves for the same reason and probably lit the matchstick to scare away the police party. But one of the victims caught fire. Then, the family started embracing each other, probably to save each other, but also caught fire…”
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Governor honours 48 cops
Chandigarh, December 8 Speaking on the occasion, the Governor underlined the need to chalk out an immediate plan to counter the challenges of radiological, chemical and biological weapon usage in the near future as per the intelligence gathered by international agencies. He said time had come to upgrade weaponry, training methodology and communication equipment of the state police forces to prepare them to meet the growing challenges of changing crime patterns, especially white-collared crimes. The Governor further asked for specialised training of police personnel so that there could be a specialised set up to deal with different type of crimes. He said the state police must have its specialised units for effective traffic management, mob control, neutralising terrorists and other hardcore criminals. Congratulating the medal recipients, the Governor said he was feeling proud to honour such decorated officers with President’s Police Medal for Distinguished Services and Police Medal for Meritorious Services. Earlier, PS Gill, DGP, Punjab, welcomed the Governor and congratulated medal recipients for their rare feat. The President’s Police Medal for Distinguied Service has been conferred upon Lok Nath Angra, IPS,SSP/Gurdaspur, now DIG Bathinda Range; Pawan Kumar Uppal, PPS, SP, RTC, JRC; Braham Paul, PPS, AIG/CI, Punjab; Jagtar Singh, PPS, DSP 343/PAP/PPA/PHR and ASI Gurdev Singh 20/ Khanna, PS Sahnewal, Ludhiana city. Similarly, Police Medal for Meritorious Service has been conferred upon BK Garg, IPS, IGP/Security, Punjab; SS Chauhan, IPS, DIG, Jalandhar Range, now IGP (Hqrs.); RN Dhoke, IPS, DIG/Int.-II, Punjab, now Additional Commissioner of Security (Civil Aviation), Bureau of Civil Aviation, Security, New Delhi; PK Sinha, IPS, SP, now Deputy Director, SVP, NPA, Hyderabad; Kamal Kumar, PPS, SP/Z, crime, Jalandhar; Makhan Singh, PPS, AIG, Counter Intelligence, Amritsar; Mandeep Singh, PPS,SP/ Excise & Taxation, Punjab; Gurdev Singh, PPS, SP PRC, Chandigarh; Inder Mohan Singh, PPS, SSP Muktsar; Opinderjit Singh Ghuman, PPs, AIG, Counter-Intelligence, Jalandhar; Awani Kapoor, PPS, AIG/Personnel-II; Avtar Singh, PPS, DSP 298/PAP PRTC/JKN; Narinder Singh Rana, PPS, DSP, North Ludhiana city; Hardevinder Singh, PPS, DSP/Rural, Patiala; Dharm Singh Uppal, PPS, SP/Operation, SBS Nagar; Des Raj, PPS, DSP,Vigilance Bureau Unit, Bathinda; Balraj Singh Gill, PPS, ACP/Sahnewal, Ludhiana city; Lakhbir Singh, PPS, DSP, CID Unit, SAS Nagar, L/Inspr; Leela Devi, 1198/BTI in charge Women Cell DPO, Jalandhar; inspector Mohinder Lal, 7/PPA, Phillaur; inspector Jagir Singh, 138/PAP CID Unit, Amritsar; inspector Ranjodh Singh, 17/PR, Reader to DGP/Prison, Punjab; inspector Dilbagh Singh, 407/PAP, PPA, Phillaur; inspector Sukhjit Singh No 388/PR, in charge Training School, Fatehgarh Sahib; SI/inspector Kabal Singh, 75/66, O/o AIG/CI/Amritsar; SI Sohan Lal, 800/PAP, RTC, PAP, JRC; SI Mohinder Pal, 217/PAP, PPA/PHR; SI Bahadur Singh, 837/PAP, RTC, Jalandhar; SI Amrik Singh, No 472/W, O/o IGP Training, Punjab; SI Deepak Rai, No 771/PAP, Intelligence HQs, Punjab; SI Manjit Singh, 2012/Batala, PRTC, Jahan Khelan; SI Aok Kumar, No 884/PAP, 5th IRB, Amritsar; SI (Ad hoc) Kulbir Singh, 16/RTC, PRTC/JKN; SI (LR) Kartar Singh, 262/LDH, Police Lines, Ludhiana city, Late ASI Hardev Singh, 380/ASR (R), ASI Harpal Singh, 2335/PAP, O/o ADGP/IVC-cum-HR, Punjab; ASI Sukhpal Singh, 57/PTL, PS Rajpura city; HC Satpal Singh, 249/JGN, LDH (R ); HC Balwant Rai, 7/PPA, PPA/PHR; HC Baldev Raj, 506/ GSP Police Control Room, Gurdaspur; HC Devinder Kumar, 988/LDH (R ), DPO, LDH (R); HC Inder Mohan, 158/PTL, Accounts, Fatehgarh Sahib and HC Harjit Singh, 35/Moga, Police Lines, Moga.
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Paddy worth Rs 3.5 lakh missing from godowns
Fatehgarh Sahib, December 8 The officials were apprised that nearly 10, 000 bags of paddy were missing due to lack of security and boundary wall at the open godowns of paddy. Officials alleged that an influential rice miller from Khamano had taken away the entire stock without providing any slips to the local officials of procurement agencies. Manager procurement and storage of Punsup from Chandigarh IPS Malhotra, district manager of Punsup Fatehgarh Sahib Subhash Johar district, food and supply controller Fatehgarh Sahib H S Mokha, AFSO Labh Singh from Sirhind, AFSO Amarjit Singh from Khamano, Devinder Suri inspector Punsup and district manager of Markfed inspected the area. Punsup inspector Devinder Suri, while talking to TNS admitted that nearly 10,000 bags of paddy, worth around Rs 3.5 lakh, was missing from the open godowns. “Besides the missing paddy, large quantities of paddy got damaged as its grains got mingled with soil. Also wooden crates and polythene bags got damaged as heavy machines and cranes were used to dislocate paddy without the consent of the authorities concerned,” said the Punsup inspector. Demanding a stringent action against those who lifted 10,000 paddy bags from the godowns, local officials blamed the casual attitude of senior functionaries while addressing problems.
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Wildlife Department to equip field officials with firearms
Abohar, December 8 The authorities will be writing a letter to the state government within a day or so to get the formalities completed before the wildlife guards can be equipped with
firearms. Gurbaz Singh, Chief Warden, Wildlife, Punjab, said a letter would be written to the Secretary concerned within a day or so for the issuance of a notification empowering officials of the Wildlife Department to carry and use firearms, whenever required. The Punjab Government would be urged to carry out an amendment in the Wildlife Protection Act. The state government would also be urged to give the same powers to the Wildlife Department officials that had been given to the Punjab Police regarding use of firearms. It is learnt that more than 80 firearms, including five pistols and about 77 double- barrel .12 bore guns, were purchased by the state Wildlife Department about 10 years ago to equip its field force with firearms. There were a number of cases of encroachment, poaching and illegal fishing in Hari Ke sanctuary, forest reserves in the
Kandi areas and other protected areas. However, these firearms could not be used by the officials of the Wildlife Department as they were not trained to do it. Moreover, there was no provision in the Wildlife Act that empowered them to use firearms. Besides, the wildlife sanctuaries and protected forest areas were not having an armoury to keep these weapons in safe custody.
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Experts discuss pre-natal diagnostic techniques
Patiala, December 8 President of the PAFMAT, Dr DS Bhullar alleged that the Medical Council of India (MCI) was working according to the private medical colleges in the country. Bhullar condemned the council’s decision for the reduction of faculty in the Department of Forensic Medicine. Several experts from the forensic medicine and medico-legal fields attended the conference. Experts from Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand deliberated upon several issues in the conference. Dr Sanjoy Dass, Professor and Head of forensic medicine from the Himalayan Institute Hospital Trust (HIHT), University Jolly Grant Medical College from Dehradun discussed the amendments and guidelines of the Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PNDT) Act, Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP), and rape victim examination cases. Professor and Head of forensic medicine from SMS Medical College Jaipur Dr Shiv Kochhar spoke on Aluminium Phosphide (Celphos) poisoning. He described it as the reason of suicidal deaths in North India and suggested ways to reduce the incidence of Celphos poisoning. Principal of the Government Medical College (GMC) Patiala, Dr KD Singh stressed on the need of regular Continued Medical Education (CME) programmes, which update doctors and medical students with the latest in their field. Professor and Head of medicine from GMC Dr Harbir Kaur Rao chaired the scientific sessions. Several experts, including Patron of Indian Medical Association (IMA) MA Punjab Dr OPS Kande, Head of the Department of Forensic Medicine of Medical College Mullana Dr OP Aggarwal and Dr SS Oberoi from the GMC Patiala also shared their views at the conference. The scientific Journal of the PAFMAT was also released during the conference.
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Stag, blue bull rescued
Fatehgarh Sahib, December 8 The officials reached the spot after area residents called up forest minister Tikshan Sud. The animal strayed into the Government Girls Senior Secondary School, Mandi Gobindgarh in the afternoon. As soon as the officials reached the school, the stag fled away and entered into the house of a municipal councillor from where he frantically ran around busy market places. The stag was finally held in a factory adjoining the railway lines. Officials, including Bhim Singh, block forest officer Harpal Singh and forest guard Mandeep Singh rescued the animal without injuring it. The stag was medically examined by Dr Budh Singh and was released into the forest area of Siswan. Chief wildlife warden Gurbaz Singh said the officials also rescued a blue bull near Patiala. The bull is undergoing treatment at the Chhatbir Zoological Park and will be released after its treatment is complete.
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AISSF to hold candle march at Akal Takht
Moga, December 8 Stating this in a press note here, Karnail Singh Peer Mohammad, president, AISSF, said the candle march was being organised to observe International Human Rights Day and press the Centre to punish those involved in the November 1984 anti-Sikh riots. He said the federation would also launch a “Sikh Insaaf Lehar,” an international campaign under the patronage of Akal Takht, to collect signatures on a petition that would be filed before the United Nations Human Rights Commission (UNHRC) demanding to declare the killings of Sikhs as “genocide” under Article 2 of the UN Convention on Genocide and conduct an independent inquiry into the “systematic killing of Sikhs throughout India”. Mohammad said the petition was being filed before the UNHRC by Sikhs for Justice, a US-based human rights group that has already extended support to the AISSF in the fight to seek justice.
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DM for legal action in IAY scam
Kulwinder Sandhu/TNS
Moga, December 8 While talking to The Tribune, the DM said he had also asked the Director of the department to conduct a departmental inquiry against the block development and panchayat officer concerned who directly released funds to the panchayat instead of disbursing these among the beneficiaries. The Tribune in a news report, “Funds for Dalits embezzled in Moga village,” published in these columns on November 13 had stated that 41 Scheduled Castes families of this village were being deprived of the benefit of pucca shelters under the Indira Awas Yojana (IAY).
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SGPC, NZ varsity to liaison
Fatehgarh Sahib, December 8 Dr Walia met Dr Ed Weymes, vice-president and Dr Asad Mohsin, chairperson of the department of tourism from the university. The university has assured scholarships to the meritorious students.
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HC issues warning to 3 IAS officers
Chandigarh, December 8 The warning to the officers, DP Reddy, Mukul Joshi and Vikas Garg, came after Justice LN Mittal categorically asserted a false statement was made before the court on their behalf. Strictures on the state for its style of functioning are not uncommon. But this is, perhaps, the first time three IAS officers arrayed by name as respondents in a contempt petition have been issued a warning by a single order. The warning came on a petition filed by Ludhiana district resident Harpal Singh against IAS officer SK Sandhu and 14 other respondents. The petition in a land matter filed this year describes Reddy as Patiala’s then divisional commissioner, Joshi as the then financial commissioner and Garg as Ludhiana’s then deputy commissioner. Taking up the petition alleging “wilful disobedience of a judgment”, Justice Mittal asserted: “A false statement was made on behalf of respondents number two to five (Reddy, Joshi, Garg and naib tehsildar Nirmal Singh) on August 25 that reply on their behalf had been filed in the office, whereas the office report reveals that reply on behalf of respondents number four and five was filed on August 26, whereas no reply on behalf of respondent number two and three has yet been filed. Respondents number two to five are directed to be careful in making statement”. Justice Mittal directed that reply on behalf of Reddy and Joshi be positively filed before the next date of hearing, with advance copy to the opposite counsel. “No further adjournment shall be granted for the purpose,” Justice Mittal categorically ruled. The Judge also directed the issuance of bailable warrants against a respondent, Shisha Singh. No one appeared on his behalf in spite of service of the notice. The case will now come up for further hearing on February 15 next year.
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SSP told to register case against excise official
Chandigarh, December 8 The petitioner, Shikha Traders, had earlier claimed the shop was sealed on September 13 in the proprietor’s absence. Its initial petition was disposed of with direction to decide the petitioner’s representation, if it was made, within 10 days. But no action was taken, following which the present petition was filed. In reply to the petition with photographs of the shop with shutter down and locks with seals, it was stated the shop was never sealed.
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Ensure parity between men, women over
LTC: HC to Punjab Chandigarh, December 8 Taking exception, a Division Bench of Chief Justice Mukul Mudgal and Justice Ranjan Gogoi directed the state government to ensure parity between men and women officials within four weeks. The directions came on a petition by additional civil judges (senior division) Navjot Sohal and Priya Sood. They had asserted as per a notification of Punjab personnel department on October 6 2000, that the facility of LTC should be extended to judicial officers and all government employees whose spouses were not serving in any other government department or institution. But the facility was not extended to the women judicial officers whose spouses were not serving in government departments, stated the petitioners.
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Farmer shot at over property dispute
Fatehgarh Sahib, December 8 Ranjeet belonged to Gaddomajra village near Rajpura. He had bullet injuries on his legs and was referred to a hospital in Patiala from the Rajpura Civil Hospital. As per the owner of the dhaba, the incident occurred over a small piece of land. Ramesh Kumar, brother of the dhaba owner, said they were using a piece of land adjoining their dhaba as a parking area and other purposes for the past few years. However, the opposite party also claimed the piece of land. “We got a case registered against them few months ago, after a scuffle, but no further action was initiated by the police. They again attacked using a double barrel gun at around 5 pm today and fled from the spot, after injuring one of their relative who was having tea at dhaba,” he said. Police officials said they were recording statements of the victims and suitable action would be initiated against the guilty.
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Strike cripples services
