Chandigarh, March 18
Punjab Finance Minister Upinderjit Kaur today made a well-reasoned rebuttal speech, settling most issues raised by the Congress to term the Budget as “fudged” and a “bundle of lies”. 

Before concluding the debate on the Budget document, she said that was a sad occasion for her because the Opposition that had raised question marks on her Budget exercise did not bother to listen to her reply. “If you get eight pages written by someone and read them out, this does not mean what you are saying is true. I have an answer to every question and each averment, but they are not interested in answers because the entire opposition to the Budget is a political gimmick”.

The Finance Minister came well prepared to the House with every question that was raised by Amarinder Singh to contradict the Budget document. In reply to an allegation by Amarinder Singh saying that despite a healthy financial position in 2006-2007, the Akali -BJP combine had succeeded in pushing the state into the same morass that it had left in 2001-2002. She pointed out that at the end of 2006-2007, the state had a fiscal deficit of Rs 4383.58 crore and a revenue deficit of Rs 1,748 crore. Besides there was a public debt of Rs 48,344 crore and the Congress called this “healthy financial position”.

She termed as baseless that allegation by the Congress that Punjab Government had become virtually bankrupt and had pending bills of Rs 1,200 crore and arrears to employees had not been paid since January 2006 to July 2009. She told the House that the state government had not defaulted on even a single day for any of its debt obligation, payment of salaries and pensions, besides committed expenditure. The arrears to the employees were also being paid as per agreement with them.

Also responding to repeated allegations that the state was unable to fully utilise central grants, the Finance Minister said that during 2007-08, the utilisation of central grants was 87 per cent, 91 per cent in 2008-09, it went up to 99 per cent in 2009-10 and till February 2011 it is 105 per cent.

The Finance Minister quoted extensively from the records of the Accountant-General to make her statement authentic. She pointed out that the revenue deficit for 2010-11 would not exceed Rs 3,705 crore based on evaluations of the Accountant-General. 

The current SAD-BJP government had incurred huge investments in infrastructure and developmental works over the past four years, many of these would become visible in the current term of the government and others during in the term of the next government.

Chandigarh, March 18
The Congress today staged a walkout in the Punjab Vidhan Sabha boycotting the debate on the Budget, even as the Treasury and Opposition benches duelled over what should be discussed first, the WikiLeaks revelations on alleged bribes paid to Rashtriya Janata Dal MPs or the beating up of women teachers by a former SAD Minister.

Congress legislators trooped out of the House before the resumption of the debate on the Budget when Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal refused to heed Pradesh Congress president Amarinder Singh’s demand for amending the Budget. Amarinder Singh had claimed that independent verification had revealed a huge difference between Budget estimates and actuals.

Earlier, immediately after the start of zero hour, the Congress was on its feet waving newspapers depicting former SAD Minister Sikander Singh Malooka hitting out at protesting teachers at a function in Bathinda. Speaker Nirmal Singh Kahlon, however, gave time to SAD Minister Bikram Majithia who raised the issue of alleged corruption by the Congress in “purchasing” RLD MPs as per WikiLeaks reports.

Congress legislators trooped into the well of the House after the Speaker refused to heed pleas by Congress Legislature Party leader Rajinder Kaur Bhattal and Amarinder Singh that it was the Opposition’s privilege to raise issues of public interest during zero hour. The party also demanded that references made to Congress leaders by Majithia be expunged from the records.

Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal also jumped into the ring claiming it was unfortunate that the Congress was not ready to discuss an issue of national importance and was running away from a debate. The Chief Minister finally restored some order in the proceedings by suggesting that both the Treasury and Opposition benches be allowed to raise three questions each. 

Following this Congress legislator Harminder Jassi claimed a delegation of women of the unemployed physical instructors’ union who had gone to meet Bathinda MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal in Bathinda were beaten up by the police as well as the SAD leader. He said the CM should hold an inquiry into the incident or resign.

Congress legislator Sunil Jakhar raised the issue of stink being raised in cities and towns due to the strike by municipal workers and claimed that the BJP, which claimed urban votes as its own, was not doing anything to sort out the matter. Local Bodies Minister Manoranjan Kalia gave an assurance that the issue would be sorted out soon.

Amarinder Singh then raised the issue of variance between Budget estimates and actuals to which the Deputy CM got up to say that there had been a difference of Rs 9 crore in the Budget estimates and the actuals during Congress rule. The Congress, however, chose to walk out immediately rather than debate the issue. 

Jalandhar, March 18
While the birth rate in the state has come down significantly, the death rate has been moving upward for past few years. Interestingly, the death rate is going up both in the urban as well as in the rural areas. However, the death rate is higher in the rural areas. This is happening despite the wide network of civil and private hospitals in the state.

Data provided by the office of the Director, Health Services and Family Welfare, has revealed that the death rate has gone up to eight per thousand in 2008 from 6.9 per thousand in 2004 in the rural areas. The death rate of 6.9 per thousand was the lowest figure recorded in the rural areas in the past two decades. In the urban areas, it has gone up to six per thousand in 2008 from 5.6 per thousand in 2004. However, the overall death rate, including urban and rural areas, was recorded at 7.2 per thousand in 2008 in the state.

Though the figures for 2009 were not available officially, sources said that there had been a minor decline in the death rate during this year. In the rural areas, the death rate was recorded 7.8 per thousand in 2009 whereas in urban areas it was 5.8 per thousand.That was slightly less than the figures recorded in 2008. However, the figure of death rate of 2009 is much higher than the lowest figures recorded in this regard in 2004.

Diseases such as heart ailments, cancer, sugar and accidents have become major killers in the state. The Malwa belt has become highly prone to diseases like cancer. Accidents claim about 3,600 lives in a year in the state.

The average birth rate came down to 17.3 per thousand in 2008 in the state. In the rural areas, it was recorded 18 per thousand. In the urban area, it was 16.1 per thousand. In 1990, the state’s overall birth rate was 27.7 per thousand. Likewise, the infant mortality rate has also come down. It was recorded 41 per thousand in 2008 whereas it was 61 per thousand in 1990. As compared to urban areas, where it was 33 per thousand in 2008, in the rural areas it was 45 per thousand, which is significantly on the higher side. However, Punjab’s performance in the infant mortality rate is bad as compared to Kerala and some other states. 

Chandigarh, March 18
The Punjab Advocate-General’s office is apparently turning out to be incorrigible.Its functioning has failed to improve much, even though the failure of its law officers to appear in cases was brought to the state Principal Secretary’s notice way back in January --- at least this is what the Punjab and Haryana High Court feels. In his latest order full of scathing observations, Justice LN Mittal has minced no words while ruling: It has been noticed time and again that great difficulty and inconvenience is being experienced by this Bench in cases of State of Punjab.“Either the law officer does not appear, or the law officer is not prepared with the case, or the law officer does not have the necessary documents, forcing unnecessary adjournments”.

Virtually passing strictures, Justice Mittal added: Copies of some orders have already been sent in the past to the Principal Secretary, Home, and Administration of Justice, Punjab, when verbal requests to the Additional Advocate-General looking after the work of Advocate-General also failed to evoke any result.“However, it appears the situation has not improved much, though there is some improvement. Copy of the order be sent to the Principal Secretary for appropriate remedial action".
The assertion came after state counsel, in an appeal against a head constable, asked for adjournment as a copy of the impugned order was not available.

Justice Mittal asserted: It is highly surprising that even the impugned order is not available with the counsel on the pretext that the same has been exhibited in the record of the trial court.“The judgment of lower appellant court is dated July 28, 2010, almost eight months back. Copy of the order must be with the department concerned and also the law officer who represented the state in the trial Court or in the lower appellate court.

“Without the copy of the impugned order, counsel for the appellant is unable to tell as to whether the forfeiture of service of the respondent was temporary or permanent. Consequently, the case has to be adjourned…”In January, the Advocate-General’s office virtually received a rap for the failure of its law officers to appear. Justice Mittal asserted that the number of law officers was double the strength of judges. Yet, the officers were not appearing. Not only this caused inconvenience to the Court, also precious time was being wasted.

Justice Mittal then also asked state Principal Secretary, Home, to intervene after making it clear that bringing the problem to Additional Advocate-General Rupinder Khosla’s notice proved to be an exercise in futility. Khosla is currently in charge of the AG office, as Advocate-General Hardev Singh Mattewal is not playing an active role in its functioning after his illness.

Chandigarh, March 18
The SAD-BJP alliance has singled out the PPCC president, Capt Amarinder Singh, as their target to take on the Congress. Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal and BJP leader in the House Manoranjan Kalia made a point in their replies to the debate on the Budget that they were not nervous about the former Chief Minister taking over the command of the Opposition.

Rebutting issues raised by Amarinder in his reply to the debate, Sukhbir said, “The Congress has been saying “Sher Aauga (the lion will come - referring to Amarinder), but I must tell you the Congress lion has become old and weak, he has even forgotten how to hunt for himself, he bites on someone else’s hunt,” he said, referring to the speech Amarinder “read out” on the Budget debate. 

Sukhbir went on to say, “He simply read it out without even trying to understand what he was saying. How can a Budget be a bundle of lies? The Budget document is subjected to so much scrutiny not only here but at various levels.” He described the Budget as “futuristic” and “holistic” that has excelled on every economic parameter like the fiscal deficit percentage of the GDP, revenue deficit or even debt. Quoting from the Budget document, he suggested that the state’s economy was healthier than even that of the Indian nation. “I had challenged the Congress to come and debate each point, but they have chosen to run away rather than face facts”.

Earlier Kalia, speaking for the BJP, said that his party would be willing to concede all points raised by the Congress if Amarinder repeated 10 lines from the eight pages without referring to these. He demanded that the Congress must admit that the paper was written by someone else and not Amarinder. “The Vidhan Sabha only allows elected represented to express their views. But since Amarinder was reading out a speech written by someone who is not a member of the House, this amounted to contempt of the House”.

He went on to say that demanding that the government run on a vote of account for three months was not only absurd, but baseless when there was an elected government in power. 

Chandigarh, March 18
The Punjab Government today made it clear in the Assembly that it was not considering any proposal to give district status to Batala.

Answering a question raised by BJP legislator, Jagdish Sahni, Revenue and Rehabilitation Minister, Ajit Singh Kohar, said according to government norms it was essential for any town to be considered for district status to be 50 to 70 km away from the district headquarter. He said Batala was only 35 km away from its district headquarters, Gurdaspur.

Sahni, however, demanded that Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal should give an assurance that Batala’s case would be considered even as he claimed that districts were always made more on political reasons than administrative ones in the past.

He said Batala fulfilled all conditions to be given district status.

Mohali, March 18
Call it oversight or an effort by the Punjab School Education Board (PSEB) to fill its coffers. A public notice issued by the PSEB, inviting all candidates, who could not earlier deposit their examination fee, to deposit a fee varying between Rs 7,760 and Rs 7,810 has created confusion among candidates appearing in the second semester of Class X examinations beginning from March 21.

The most confused lot are the hundreds of candidates whose result of the first semester had been withheld by the board in September last year after their middle class pass eligibility certificates from other boards were found to be bogus or the proof of age was found to be false. The board had detected around 1,000 such cases last year.

While the cases were still under a scrutiny, the public notice issued this month resulted in many such candidates depositing the fee and preparing themselves for the second semester of Classes X and XII exams. Through the public notice, the candidates have been asked to show the fee receipt to enable them to appear in the examinations.

Admitting the anomaly, officials in the board admit that to avoid the confusion, a clarification should have been given in the public notice itself. “After getting the fee from such candidates and making them appear in the examinations, the board would again withhold their result. It should have been done at the first step itself,” said a board official in the examination branch.

The irregularity about the bogus pass certificates was detected due to computerisation of records. The board officials had found that the candidates who had failed in the middle class examinations had submitted documents showing they had passed in the same examinations. In some of the cases, the middle class pass certificates had been issued by educational institutions in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. 

Jalandhar, March 18
To provide financial benefits of the Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF) scheme to thousands of contractual and daily wage employees of the municipal corporations and councils in the country, the Government of India has directed the urban local bodies to implement the EPF and pension schemes for all such employees.

Till now, the financial and social security benefits under the EPF and pension schemes were beyond the reach of contractual and daily wage employees of the municipal corporations and councils as there were no clear guidelines for the urban local bodies in this regard.

Under a notification (a copy of which is with The Tribune), recently issued by the Ministry of Labour and Employment of the Central Government, all municipal corporations and councils employing 20 or more persons are required to implement the newly framed norms with effect from January 2011.

“The Ministry of Labour and Employment has given strict directions that all municipal corporations and councils should implement both the EPF and pension schemes for such employees before April,” said a senior official of the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation.

Amritsar, March 18
While a devastating earthquake and subsequent tsunami may have wreaked havoc in Japan, it has failed to shake up the indomitable spirit of the Japanese who have not only initiated a mammoth rescue effort but also started picking up threads of their lives. This is how Parminder Sodhi, a Punjabi writer living at Osaka in Japan since 1985, described the post-tsunami scenario in Japan while talking to The Tribune here today.

According to Sodhi, the panic, which followed the natural calamity, was more in other countries. “There is absolutely no panic in Japan and the people have simply got down to rescuing life and property in the affected areas. The Self Defence Force (SDF) is on the job along with thousands of volunteers from different parts of the country.” He said the foreigners are making a beeline at the airports to flee Japan which hasn’t gone down well with the Japanese. “They feel that while the foreign nationals were making money when things were good, but started leaving at the hour of crisis in Japan. Even my son, Harman, doesn’t like my visit to India at this time and has left for chipping in in the rescue effort along with his friends,” he added.

The noted Punjabi writer with 14 books to his credit said the fortitude and the national character among the Japanese was unparalleled. “Around 80-odd workers, who were trying to control the situation in the Fukushima nuclear reactor, were recalled by the government in view of the increasing radiation levels. However, they fought with the authorities, contending that they must be allowed to go back and do their job. They were even ready to risk their lives,” he averred. 

Anandpur Sahib, March 18
The political conferences, to be organised on Hola Mohalla tomorrow, may don the colour of the forthcoming Assembly elections. Political parties, including the SAD, the SAD (Amritsar) and the Congress will put up their stages.

After a gap of four years, the chief of the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee Amarinder Singh is expected to make a public appearance on the Congress stage.

Chief Minister Prakash Singh Badal has also convened a meeting at the Dasmesh Academy with different officials tomorrow.

The ruling SAD-BJP government will focus on the list of development activities initiated in the state.

“Such political conferences have taken over the religious spirit of Hola-Mohalla and other religious festivities observed in state. The occasion has become a show of public strength and now has nothing to do with religion,” observed Jarnail Singh, a visitor the celebrations at Kiratpur Sahib.

Another visitor said the day was celebrated as the Gurgaddi Diwas (enthronement day) of the seventh Sikh Guru, Guru Har Rai ji, in 1644. “However, not many participants or even speakers at these conferences are aware of this fact. Except for nihang Sikhs, who take out Mohalla procession on the last day (March 20), maintain the spirit of festivities,” another pilgrim said.

Langar organisers allege harassment

Langar organisers protested against the Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM) of Anandpur Sahib alleging harassment in providing kerosene oil and vehicle passes.

A group of people gathered outside the office of the SDM office at noon and raised slogans against him.

Harjinder Singh from Mamdot in Ferozepur, Gurmeet Singh, Pritam Singh and Gurmukh Singh from Bhogpur village said they had requested the SDM to provide adequate supply of kerosene oil.

“We demanded 500 l of kerosene, but got 100 l. People like us, who do not have any connections in the District Administration, are at the receiving end. Those, with connections, are getting enough amount of kerosene to keep the hearth of the langar burning,” the agitating people said.

Some of the pilgrims also alleged the SDM office was not providing enough passes for the occasion.

Meanwhile, Deputy Commissioner Arunjit Singh Miglani said around 48, 000 l of kerosene oil had been distributed so far.

“The kerosene is being distributed as per the need. We have also issued several passes. Still, any convenience of pilgrims is intolerable and I will look into the matter,” he said.

Dera Bassi, March 18
The bridge, on the National Highway on the Ghaggar River, near Dera Bassi, is posing a threat for the commuters. The land near the main pillars of the bridge is becoming loose, making the bridge unstable.

Noticing the threat the GMR Company, which had constructed the National Highway, has started reinforcing the bridge. Some residents of Bhankarpur village have alleged that illegal sand mining was making the bridge unstable.

Following the reinforcement work, the area has been barricaded to reduce the danger. Residents of the village, Mandeep Singh and Satpal Singh, alleged that illegal sand mining had caused the land to become loose and made the bridge unstable.

They demanded that a proper inquiry and action be taken against the accused from the authorities concerned. However, district mining officer H S Pannu has denied the illegal mining near this bridge and said the National Highway authorities and the GMR company had not received any permission to reinforce the bridge from the Mining Department till now.

Project Director of the National Highway Authority, Anil Dahiya, admitted that the land around the bridge was becoming loose and said GMR had started the work to reinforce the bridge. However, he could not identify the reason for the same.

Anandpur Sahib, March 18
A 25-year-old photograph, of water droplets hanging by a spider’s cobweb, reflecting an image of a red flower in each droplet, marks Gurbani’s wisdom of God being omnipresent and invincible.

This photo, and 50 others, marks the exhibition Gurbani, vision through camera where ace nature and wildlife photographer, Thakur Dalip Singh, has depicted the Gurbani through photographs.

“As our mind thinks in pictures, I came out with these assorted photographs from different walks of life spreading the message of Gurbani,” said Dalip. Dilip is nephew of Satguru Jagjit Singh, the spiritual head of Namdhari Sikhs.

His photos have appeared on covers of the British Journal of Photography, Sanctuary Asia, Indian Photography and Cinematography and many other publications.

Several of these have been published in BBC Wildlife, 35 mm Photography UK., Femina, Zoom, Asiad 82 magazine, Swagat, Discover India, newspapers and other publications.

From aerial views to under water shots, his exhibition at Anandpur Sahib, opposite Takht Sri Kesgarh Sahib, covers life in the most simplest, yet artistic form.

Dalip Singh has special permission from Defence to shoot aerial views in parts of Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh.

One of the under water shots includes a baby dolphin following its mother, while aerial views of Karnal city and parts of Thailand are breathtaking. Yet another striking picture is that of a blue coloured snake coiled around a rope, trying to climb it. These photographs transport viewers to sublime world of nature and greatness of almighty as depicted in Gurbani.

“It took me five years to create the water droplets necklace covering cobweb picture, the snake picture was shot during a snake rescue operation at Sri Jiwan Nagar, Sirsa, many years ago,” he said.

The exhibition dwells on the unique combination of nature and Gurbani. “Both are sublime. This combination inspires people to achieve spiritual goals, make them competent to meet challenges of globalisation and imbalances created in environment,” he said.The meaningful photographs carry latent message of peace, harmony, coexistence, universal brotherhood and tranquillity.

Patiala, March 18
As the hearing in the high-profile murder case of Harpreet Kaur, daughter of former SGPC president, Bibi Jagir Kaur, started in the Court of Special Judge (CBI Cases), Patiala, Balbir Singh, here today, the CBI counsel SK Saxena submitted a statement that CBI did not want to examine any more witness in the case.

On March 4, the Court had instructed that CBI counsel should file a reply that whether CBI counsel want to examine other witnesses in the case or not. Defence counsel Satnam Singh Kler said in compliance with the Court instructions, the CBI counsel filed the written statement today.

“I drop the remaining witnesses and close the case of prosecution,” mentions the reply filed by CBI counsel. Kler said now no further evidence would come on the case file and whatever evidence had would be put to the accused during the further court proceedings.

During the court proceedings, the main accused in the case, Bibi Jagir Kaur, and the co-accused Paramjit Singh Raipur, Satya, Harminder Singh, Dalwinder Kaur Dhesi and Sanjeev Kumar were present during the court proceedings.

One of the co-accused Nishan Singh has taken an exemption from personal appearance on medical grounds. The next date of hearing has been fixed for March 25.