Amritsar, February 17
Alleging vendetta politics, huge number of Congress activists led by senior party leaders from Majha region today gheraoed the Jhander police station where a large number of “false cases” have been registered against party workers. They raised slogans against the ruling coalition government in the state and demanded an immediate suspension of the police officials posted at the chowki.

“As many as false 1,131 cases were registered against the Congress workers since the SAD-BJP came to power in the state. The police officials were behaving like Akali leaders and unleashing a terror at the behest of local MLA,” alleged Harpartap Ajnala, a former MLA.

Among others who participated in the agitation included Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa, Sukhbinder Singh Sukhsakaria, Swinder Singh Kathunangal, Tripat Rajinder Bajwa, Prof. Darbari Lal, Harjinder Singh Thekedar and Bhagwantpal Singh Sachar.

Recently, they alleged, the Jhander police registered a case of rape against a 67-year-old Shouri Shah, a Congressman, who was not even medically fit. This was done as Shah was an active leader of Congress in area, alleged Ajnala.

They demanded immediate suspension of Sub-Inspector Kimiti Lal, Assistant Sub Inspector Chanan Singh and Head Constable Prem Singh, posted at the police station who had allegedly registered maximum number of “false cases” against Congressmen.

Dharna was lifted only after DSP Tilak Raj visited the spot and assured them that police would investigate the charges against the policemen.

The Congress leaders threatened to gherao the SSP if he failed to take action in this regard.

Amritsar, February 17
The Beas police today registered an attempt to murder case against Gaganjit Singh, national vice-president of the Youth Akali Dal and his brother Parminder Singh, who were involved in a shootout incident at Rayya here on Wednesday. Five persons were injured in the incident.

Two groups of the ruling political party indulged in a clash last evening over a property dispute. Earlier, they had reached a compromise at Beas police station just a few hours before the incident. However, as both the factions reached the disputed site, they clashed over some issue leading to injuries to five persons. Injured were rushed to different hospitals.

Gaganjit led one group while Navtej Singh was the leader of the second.

Yadwinder Singh, SHO, Beas police station, said a case under Sections 307 and 34 of the IPC and Sections 25, 27, 54 and 59 of the Arms Act has been registered against them on the complaint of Surinder Singh Sethi of the opposite group led by Navtej Singh, who is an advocate and Akali sarpanch of Sudhar Rajputan village.

Parminder Singh and Buta Singh, who is Beas circle president of the party, received bullet injuries and were admitted to the Guru Nanak Dev Hospital. Surinder Sethi was also injured in the clash.

The SHO that nobody from other Gaganjit Singh’s side has given any statement and thus no case has been registered against Navtej’s group.

Gaganjit alleged that the police was siding with the opposite group and was not registering any case against them even as they had a medico-legal report with them. He said he would approach the higher police officials, including the DGP, to get justice.

“We had already intimated the SSP that Navtej Singh might indulge in such act of physical assault. Acting on this, he had marked the complaint to SHO,” he said. Navtej could not be contacted.

Jalandhar, February 17
Taking a serious note of the lapse of funds meant for the alleviation of the SCs in the state, the National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC) has directed the Punjab Government to file a report at the earliest.

The action has been taken following a petition by the Chamar Mahan Sabha about the alleged failure of the government in the implementation of Scheduled Castes Sub Plan and non-utilisation of funds over Rs 6,092 crore.

The sabha has demanded a probe by either the Comptroller and Auditor General of India or the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). Paramjit Singh Kainth, chief of the outfit, said the report has been sought by the NCSC from the Secretary, Welfare of Scheduled Castes and Backward Classes Department, Punjab, in this issue.

The callous attitude of the babus coupled with the erroneous policies followed by the department had led to a shocking situation where thousands of crores had remained unutilised for want of schemes.

Officials did not even bother to inform their superiors or the Chief Minister about the huge amount available for such welfare schemes, he alleged.

The funds were released by the Centre to the state in 2004-2005 under a five year plan for the uplift of the SC population in Punjab.

Since the state sat over the grant all these years, the funds lapsed and have to be returned to the Centre, he alleged.

This insensitivity on the part of the state government that boasts of championing the cause of the poor has been exposed to the masses by this incident, he said.

We demand a thorough probe by Central agencies into the whole episode and strict action against the guilty officers, he demanded.

He said by doing so the state government had betrayed with the commitments with the scheduled castes so it has demanded a thorough inquiry of this issue by central agencies.

Kainth said the sabha had already raised this issue with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, too during their meeting with the latter recently.

Ironically, no other Dalit organisation has raised this issue for the cause of the scheduled castes residing in Punjab, he added. We will take the issue to a logical end and will oppose all efforts to scuttle the probe, he warned.

Hoshiarpur, February 17
In an effort to make the public aware of the central schemes in the district, Jalandhar and Pathankot units of the Directorate of Field Publicity (DFP), Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, have been organising a four-day campaign on rural development.

A team of the DFP has been camping in the villages for the last three days and educating the public about various central schemes, especially MGNREGS, water supply and sanitation.

On the third day of the campaign, the DFP team visited Kang Kuthana village and apprised the people of the schemes.

DFP officer Gagandeep Kaur said besides educating the general public, the officials of the department concerned were also hearing the complaints of their respective departments.

The department organised camps in Bajwara, Slaimpur and Pallahi villages on the first, second and third day, respectively.

Dharam Dutt Tarnach, Deputy Commissioner, Hoshiarpur, said MGNREGS had helped residents of the Kandi area to get employment. He said 70,000 job cards had been made in the district and Rs 18.66 crore had been spent under this scheme so far.

The administration had asked for Rs 40 crore in the next year’s budget for various works going on under MGNREGS in Hoshiarpur, the DC added.

Jalandhar, February 17
The total death count with the deadly H1N1 virus has risen to 51 in the state with the death of a Kapurthala resident Anand Kishore Sood, 42, at a local private hospital here. The patient expired on February 15 and his blood sample was found positive for the disease today.

The patient, who returned from Germany around 15 days ago, was admitted to a local private hospital here on February 14. “His blood samples were taken on February 15 and were sent to National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD), New Delhi. His illness history points towards the possibility that he had been infected with the disease during his visit to Germany”, said Dr Deepak Bhaita, State Nodal Officer, Integrated Disease Surveillance Project. — TNS