Fatehgarh Sahib, August 2
A day after the Vice-Chancellor of Sri Guru Granth Sahib World University at Fatehgarh Sahib, Jasbir Singh Ahluwalia, was shot at by an unknown assailant, the police today released a sketch of the suspect.

The police is working on various theories. It thinks it may be a hate crime or an act of terrorism. The sketch of the suspect has been created following clues provided by the taxi driver who drove him to the university and those witness to the shootout. The assailant is almost 6 ft tall and in his late-thirties. Forensic experts say the shots were fired from a .32 bore revolver.

Senior police officers and a counter-intelligence unit visited the university premises and reconstructed the scene of the crime this afternoon. The suspect, it has come to light, had hired a taxi near the Sirhind octroi post and consumed liquor before committing the crime. The assailant told the taxi driver and the university security personnel at the gate that he was a dean with the university. He was let in without checking, Fatehgarh Sahib SSP Ranbir Singh Khatra said. The police is yet to identify the man who drove away the attacker on his bike after the crime. Onlookers said the assailant raised slogans before escaping.

The VC had no police security and he preferred to travel alone. The attack occurred 100 metres from the main entrance and the security personnel deployed at the gate failed to react after the shots were fired at the VC.

Chandigarh, August 2
The condition of Jasbir Singh Ahluwalia, Vice -Chancellor of Sri Guru Granth Sahib World University, Fatehgarh Sahib, who was admitted to the PGI here last evening, is serious. He is on the ventilator.

Ahluwalia was brought here after he was shot at from close range by an unidentified youth at Fatehgarh Sahib.

Ahluwalia’s condition deteriorated last night with his blood pressure fluctuating but his condition was said to be stable today.

According to hospital sources, the blood seeping into his lungs was a major cause fror concern. The doctor at the Fatehgarh Sahib Civil Hospital, where he was first taken, reportedly did not try to stop the bleeding and the blood entered Ahluwalia’s lungs.

His son Vikram said the next 72 hours were critical. “ His blood pressure continues to be erratic and he is unconscious,” he said.

Meanwhile the ICU was thronged by VVIPs throughout the day. Chief Minister Prakash Singh Badal met Ahluwalia’s family members and promised all help.

The Punjab Government has provided security at the family’s Sector 33 residence and also the hospital. The Fatehgarh police today visited the Mohali residence of Saru Rana, who had accused him of trying to rape her. Ahluwalia was acquitted of the charges.

A senior police official said they were questioning all the persons who had made complaints against Ahluwalia earlier.

Amritsar, August 2
The two factions of the HSGPC (ad hoc) led by Jagdish Singh Jhinda and Didar Singh Nalvi are once again gearing up to contest the SGPC poll in Haryana over the issue of a separate gurdwara panel for the state, even as efforts are being made to re-unite them so as to give a straight fight to the ruling SAD there.

Jhinda said he would field candidates under the banner of the HSGPC and had been allotted sunflower as its poll symbol. “We have called our party meeting on August 7 where we will discuss the possibility of fielding sitting members, besides getting in fresh faces.”

On his participation in the in the July 31 meeting of the Panthic Morcha in Chandigarh, he said they would not join the morcha but support it in Punjab. “We will be contesting the SGPC poll in different states and on different issues. Therefore, we can’t unite on a single platform. The sole common cause is the defeat the ruling SAD in the elections,” he added.

On the possibility of a rapprochement with Nalvi, Jhinda said it had to be unconditional. He said he had not initiated talks with the Nalvi faction in this regard. He, however, revealed that his party was holding a dialogue with the Haryana State Akali Dal to explore the possibility of forging an alliance.

He lashed out at the Congress, alleging that the party had ditched the Sikhs in Haryana twice by backing out on its word to form a separate gurdwara panel.

Nalvi said the party executive today had decided to contest all 11 seats under the banner of the HSGPC (Nalvi group) for a one-to-one fight with the ruling SAD. He expressed hope that the newly formed Panthic Morcha in Punjab would contact Jhinda and they (Nalvi and Jhinda groups) would unite to give a tough fight to the SAD. He said they had released their manifesto today in which the demand for a separate gurdwara panel, a minority commission and according due importance to Punjabi as second language in Haryana figured prominently.

Moga, August 2
Paddy, which was procured last year and kept in the mills for custom milling by various agencies and worth crores of rupees meant for the central pool, is reportedly missing from the rice mills of the Moga district.

According to sources, the Physical Verification (PV) of paddy had not been conducted by the state procurement agencies in the rice mills. Instead, “Paper Verification” was done to prepare the mandatory fortnightly reports.

n The millers have allegedly sold a huge stock of good-quality custom-milled rice in the market during June and July, when the wholesale market prices of rice suddenly increased ranging between Rs 100 to Rs 250 per quintal in most parts of the country n Most of the rice millers had purchased PUSA-1121 variety of paddy at their own level, besides the PR-11 and other varieties procured by the FCI and state procurement agencies. They mixed PUSA-1121 with PR-11 (long-grain rice) and illegally sold it in the market n The ‘masoori’ variety has been imported maximum in the state for mixing it with the locally produced rice for giving it to the central pool

The sources in the rice mill industry revealed that the millers had allegedly sold a huge stock of good-quality custom-milled rice in the market during June and July, when the wholesale market prices of rice suddenly increased ranging between Rs 100 to Rs 250 per quintal in most parts of the country.

Most of the rice millers had purchased PUSA-1121 variety of paddy at their own level, besides the PR-11 and other varieties procured by the FCI and state procurement agencies. They mixed PUSA-1121 with PR-11 (long-grain rice) and illegally sold it in the market. Even the short grain rice of PR-11 (permal) was also sold by the millers.

Meanwhile, many rice millers had imported raw rice of poor quality from outside states for mixing it with locally produced rice, the milling of which is still in progress these days. The ‘masoori’ variety has been imported maximum in the state for mixing it with the locally produced rice for giving it to the central pool.

District Food and Supplies Controller Baljinder Singh Dhillon, now transferred to Ferozepur district, said before relinquishing his charge, he had asked his subordinates to conduct a random Paper Verification of the rice mills in the whole district.

“During the past one-and-half months, the mills were not closed as the Union Government did not extend the time period of the custom milling, otherwise the Paper Verification is a routine process,” he added.

The DM of the FCI further said he was least bothered about the paddy stock, except purchased by them. “We take rice in advance from the millers and then allocate the paddy. As such there is no question of loss to our agency,” he said. It is the duty of the state government/agencies to conduct Paper Verification at routine intervals.

As per the Clause-10 of the policy of the Food and Civil Supplies Department for 2010-11, “The agencies’ staff shall conduct Paper Verification of the paddy stocks on a fortnightly basis. Copies of the Paper Verification reports will have to be submitted regularly by the staff concerned to the district offices. The reports, besides indicating physical availability of the stocks and their quality, should clearly give the quantity delivered and available with the miller. In case, a rice mill is allotted two or more agencies, the officials of the agencies concerned will conduct a joint physical verification of such mills.”

Khambra (Jalandhar), August 2
If the claims made by a family based in Khambra, (a village near Jalandhar), are to be believed human traffickers are allegedly pushing Indian youngsters into the web of terrorist organisations operating in Iraq.

Without any contact with the outer world, around 40 Indian youth have been detained in the terrorist camp at an undisclosed location, run by terror groups in the war-torn nation.

This shocking revelation was made by Bal Mukand of this village. His 20-year-old son Bhagwan Dass has been trapped in a camp for the past five months. Terror groups are said to be active against the Iraqi police and army, he claimed. Bal Mukand got to know of this after a brief conversation with his son a few days back.

“Somehow, my son managed to contact us through the phone of a mess worker. He told us that around 40 Indian youth are being forcibly made to work in the arms manufacturing unit established in the camp which is located in a semi-forested area. The youth trapped there are not aware of the camp’s location,” alleged Bal Mukand. The latter is running from pillar to post to bring his son back.

According to information Bal Mukand has gleaned from his son, others in the camp are: Balwant Rai of Dhade village, Zorawar Singh of Hariana Bhunga village (Hoshiapur), one youth each from Dheerpur (Kapurthala) and Sanoura (Jalandhar). Youth from Haryana are also holed up in the camp. Bal Mukand said that for the past five months, the families of the youth have been pleading with the travel agents to bring them back.

“My son told me the unit is being used to manufacture and supply arms and ammunitions to the terrorists. Fearing that all 40 youth trapped there are at constant risk, he is begging for an early exit from there,” added Bal Mukand.

He alleged that two Jalandhar-based conduits of a travel agent from Chandigarh had promised his son a job in the Iraq army. “However, they have pushed my son into the web of a terror network”, he alleged.

Travel agents were working in tandem with the terror groups there, Bal Mukand alleged: “Till two months after his departure, the agents gave me no clue about the whereabouts of Bhagwan Dass. When we pressurised them they arranged a brief telephonic conversation with him through the managers of that camp. This cements the belief that the agents have a connection with the terror groups.”

Moreover, the deliberate delay in arranging a conversation with my son and agents’ hesitation in revealing the whereabouts of the youth substantiate the parents’ fears, he alleged. HS Mann, SSP, Jalandhar (Rural) could not be contacted. Jaimal Singh, in charge, Anti-Trafficking Cell, said that the police have called the agents to report on August 3. Strict action would be taken against them if found guilty, said Jaimal Singh.

Patiala, August 2
Amidst tension prevailing in Mansa over the acquisition of the farmland for setting up the coal-based thermal power project, Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee president and former Punjab CM Capt Amarinder Singh here today said in case, the farmers were not compensated adequately, the next Congress Government in Punjab would scrap the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), signed between the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) and M/s Indiabulls Power Limited.

“I don’t know what Akali’s got from the M/s Indiabulls Power Limited, but it is totally illegal to award the power project to Indiabulls without tendering process,” he said.

After interacting with the people from the Patiala assembly constituencies, Amarinder, while speaking to mediapersons, strongly condemned the lathicharge on the agitating farmers in Mansa. Amarinder said the farmers’ protest was justified, as they were being given money far less than the market price of the land being acquired for setting up of the thermal power project.

Amarinder termed the attack on the Vice-Chancellor of Sri Guru Granth Sahib World University, Fatehgarh Sahib, Jasbir Singh Ahluwalia, as a situation of complete “lawlessness” in the state. He said it was an extremely serious matter that a VC had been shot at in broad daylight.

“The incident reflects poorly on the governance, as how anybody can take law into his hands without any fear,” he said, adding that such incidents must not be allowed to happen, as these could de-stabilise the state once again.

Amarinder also expressed concern over the recovery of the weapons from the house of arrested SP(D) Randhir Singh Uppal. “It appears that some forces are trying to destabilise the state and unfortunately the SAD-BJP Government has miserably failed to keep the law-and-order situation under control,” said Amarinder.

Terming Punjab CM Parkash Singh Badal as “moral coward”, he said, had Badal and Gurcharan Singh Tohra not betrayed Sant Longowal, Punjab would not have seen the bloodshed.

Chandigarh, August 2
Senior officials of the Health Department are in a quandary. Reason: The BJP minister Laxmi Kanta Chawla has served an ultimatum to them with regard to their annual confidential reports( ACRs).

Chawla, who held the Health Department portfolio before she was allocated the Social Security Department about three months ago, has sent a note to the Health Department warning that in case ACRs of the officials concerned were not submitted to her for recording of her comments, she would herself initiate the ACR of each official and send the same with comments to the authorities concerned.

Official sources said that Chawla was entitled to record her comments on the ACRs of all Civil Surgeons, Deputy, Joint, Additional Directors, heads of various wings of the Health Department, special secretaries and other senior officials who served under her when she was a Health Minister. The number of such officials is about 35. However, sources said, she has got the ACRs of only about half a dozen officials.

Sources said that as Chawla was a hard task-master and some officials apprehend that she may append adverse comments on their ACRs. Owing to this reason, they have not forwarded their ACRs to her. Chawla does not like political interference in her Department from any outside quarter. However, in Punjab, senior officials habitually put political pressure on ministers to secure good posts.

From the day of giving up the charge of the Health Department as minister, Chawla is entitled to append her comments within three months on the ACRs of the officials who had served under her during her stint in the Department. That period would come to an end on August 13, said a senior official of the Health Department.

Alongwith ACRs, the officials concerned were also supposed to submit their self-appraisal reports to Chawla.

Principal Secretary, Health Department, Satish Chandra said that he would “comply with the order of the minister as per the laid down rules and regulations of the state government”. Officials concerned had been told to submit their self-appraisal reports by August 5. In case they fail, then these reports would be initiated at the senior level for sending them to Chawla.

Chandigarh, August 2
The Punjab government has transferred Punjab Public Service Commission (PPSC) Secretary Inderjit Singh Sandhu following an altercation between him and a member of the commission during a meeting at Patiala yesterday.

According to sources, commission member Dalbir Singh Mahal and the Secretary got into an altercation over the conduct of the proposed PCS examination. The member is said to have demanded that the commission members be involved in the conduct of the examination as per the constitution of the PPSC.

Sources said as per past practice, all decisions regarding the conduct of the examination are taken in the presence of two members. Mahal wanted that this should be adhered to. The sources, however, claimed that the PPSC Secretary wanted a free hand in the matter. The Secretary is said to have cited issues of secrecy in this regard.

Sources said PPSC Acting Chairman Brigadier (retd) DS Grewal and Hardeep Singh Grewal supported Mahal and met Chief Secretary SC Agrawal along with the aggrieved member yesterday to protest against the behavior of the Secretary.

They also demanded that the commission be associated with the PCS recruitment process as per the constitution and urged for action against Sandhu. Following this the government is said to have taken action in the matter today.

The PPSC Secretary when questioned on the issue said there was a difference of viewpoint between him and certain members that was there since nearly two years now. He said he did not know that he had been transferred as he was on leave. Sandhu however maintained that he had been requesting for a transfer since the last two months due to personal reasons.

Meanwhile sources disclosed that Patiala Additional Deputy Commissioner (ADC) A S Virk had been posted as the Secretary, PPSC.

Sanghera(Barnala), August 2
It has been months since octogenarian Amar Kaur has slept peacefully. Her 24-year-old grandson Sukhjyot Singh was among the 17 Indians sentenced to death by a Sharjah court killing Pakistani National Mishri Khan. The plight of Sukhjyot’s father Jagdev Singh (51), an electrician, and mother Manjeet Kaur (45) was no different.

However, with a blood money deal sealed with the victim’s family, the youths are likely to be released on September 20.This has brought cheer back into their lives. Now Sukhjyot’s grandmother parents and brother and the entire village is eagerly awaiting his return.

Amar Kaur said: “My grandson, who left for Dubai in 2007, was working there as a carpenter. He is too gentle to harm anybody. When he was sentenced to death, knew the Almighty would protect him and he would be back.

“He likes saag and makki ki roti. We will prepare the same for him when he returns.”

Jagdev Singh said: “ I thank SP Singh, president of the Punjabi Bhartiya Relief Society, and Suresh Aggarwal for helping us. I am also thankful to the entire village for the support it lent to us all these months”.

Remarked a neighbour: “We are all waiting to see Sukhjyot a free man and back home with his near and dear ones. He is such a gentle person.”

Patiala, August 2
The mid-day meal scheme, which was started in all government schools in order to attract more kids to schools, is in trouble due to delay in clearance of cheques by the district administration. The problem has become so persistent that many schools are on the verge of closing the scheme due to lack of funds.

Sometimes, the schools don’t get the money for two months at a stretch due to which it becomes really difficult to provide the meals. “Though we are still providing mid-day meals but we are managing it with great difficulty. We continue to purchase ration because of our acquaintances with shopkeepers and somehow convince them to charge money together till the time we receive the payment but sometimes even they refuse to give ration,” said one of the in charges of mid-day meal in a government school in the city.

Another school principal informed that schools with large strength still somehow manage to run the scheme using money from one or the other funds but small schools are unable to generate money for continuing these schemes. It is worth mentioning that many schools in Samana block have threatened to discontinue the mid-day meal scheme because they cannot afford to keep providing meals when there is no money.

One of the sources on the condition of anonymity said though this was not the first time that the payment had been delayed but this time the payment could not be made as the former DEO Elementary was suspended and there was no one to clear the cheques in his absence.

DEO (Elementary) Balbir Kaur Gill informed that she joined as DEO yesterday only and had already released the grants worth Rs 96 lakh today through e-payment.

Patiala, August 2
Under pressure after numerous leopards died after being given alleged overdose of tranquiliser, the Wildlife Department has chosen the easy way out and decided to conduct a Census of leopards. While numerous other species found in Punjab are almost near extinction, the department’s decision has astonished many. Following the recent deaths of leopards, allegedly due to the lackadaisical attitude of the department, which has done nothing concrete to check illegal poaching and instead wants to count the leopards that enter Punjab from Himachal Pradesh.

In a meeting held recently, attended by officials of the department and the Wildlife Wardens, they discussed the issue of leopard Census. “Instead of ensuring steps to check poaching and train wildlife staff in controlling the wild animals, the whole emphasis of the meeting and the leopard Census was based on the fact that an NGO would be roped in spending lakhs of rupees to count the leopard population in four belts of the state,” said one of the members.

Another wildlife warden present in the meeting said leopard was not an original inhabitant of Punjab and usually strayed from the upper hills and therefore, a proper Census was impossible. “A leopard count alone would be a futile exercise and such a Census is not the need of the hour. Instead more stress should be laid on proper training to staff which uses tranquiliser,” he stated.

Jalandhar, August 2
While the recovery of two AK-47 rifles, a .12 bore rifle, and a .38 bore revolver from the Amritsar residence of the arrested Hoshiarpur SP (Detective) Randhir Singh Uppal, has raised hackles in the police circles. The state Vigilance Bureau is far from convinced by the explanation of Uppal that he had borrowed Rs One lakh “recovered from his office drawer” from someone to pay his loan.

Uppal was arrested by the VB sleuths on Monday from his Hoshiarpur office while he was allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs 50,000 from a Nangal (Ropar) resident Roopdaman Ohri for taking action against his Hoshiarpur-based tenant.

Another Rs One lakh was recovered from his office drawer and Rs 50,000 from his Hoshiarpur-based government house, alongwith 24 cases of costly whisky. Besides, the VB officials had allegedly recovered two AK-47 rifles, one .38 bore revolver and a .12 bore gun from his Amritsar residence, alongwith 188 bottles of whisky.

Meanwhile, a seemingly upset Uppal was presented by the VB in the court of the Hoshiarpur CJM at around 3.30 pm today. The court remanded him to police custody for three days. The defence counsel pleaded that the accused should be sent to judicial custody straightaway as there was no tangible evidence against him. The AK-47 rifles belonged to his gunmen and the revolver was a licenced weapon of the officer.

Contesting the claim of the defence counsel, the counsel of the Vigilance Bureau sought a remand of eight days on the plea that the bureau had to make a number of recoveries for which, it needed the custody of the accused. Uppal will now be presented in the court on August 5, said SSP Jalandhar Vigilance Bureau, SSP Surjit Singh Grewal who supervised the entire operation carried out against Uppal.

Highly placed sources in the Vigilance Bureau revealed that during his interrogation, Uppal failed to come out with a sustainable explanation about the recovery of Rs one lakh from his office drawer. “He said he had borrowed money to pay one of his loans but, could not tell from whom he had borrowed it,” said a senior official.

Kuldip Singh, IG, Vigilance Bureau, Punjab said the VB was focusing on the recovery of arms from his Amritsar residence. “The AK-47 rifles were found lying in his house and there was no gunman. We are getting the numbers of the rifles checked so as to ascertain whether these were actually issued to him or his gunmen. Even absence of gunmen and leaving behind of sophisticated arms like that without any supervision, as in this case, amounted to serious offence. We are also going to investigate if the arms were subjected to misuse. Another question popped up in the investigation was as to why the revolver, even if it was licenced, was left at Amritsar as normally such a weapon is used for personal protection by an officer”, said Kuldip Singh.

The VB has informed the Hoshiarpur police about the recovery of such a huge quantity of liquor from the government residence of Uppal. The Hoshiarpur police, it was learnt, has forwarded the case to the Excise and Taxation department which, could slap another case against the SP allegedly for violation of provisons of the Excise Act.