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Protesting vet pharmacists
cane-charged in Lambi
PPSC Recruitment Scam |
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Despite opposition, FCI begins direct payment to farmers
Centre has pushed economy to brink of disaster: Badal
Finally, 842 masters get promotion letters
Teachers seek release of arrears
Fire tragedy averted in Abohar
PSEB to install CCTV cameras at
exam
centres
Govt harassing IG Gakhar: Khaira
Contractual SSA staff to go on strike today Panel on Hondh-Chillar killings a damp squib, says Dal Khalsa
Cancer fear grips Amargarh residents
Gunman’s rifle goes off, youth killed, another hurt
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Protesting vet pharmacists
cane-charged in Lambi
Lambi (Muktsar), October 6 The police lathi-charged the 200-odd protesters at the outskirt of Lambi town near Kheowali village as they began to march towards Badal village. The pharmacists carried the CM’s effigy with 10 heads, nine of that of his Cabinet colleagues. Before the protesters could reach Badal village and set the effigy on fire, a heavy police contingent led by a DSP rained lathis on them. Infuriated, some protesters poured kerosene on their clothes but the police intervened before they could immolate themselves. The veterinary pharmacists started their march towards Badal village in the evening. The pharmacists, who have been on a dharna for the past over two months at Lambi, are demanding regular jobs. “The police had to use mild force to disperse the protesters after all pleas to abandon the protest fell on deaf ears,” explained DSP Mukhwinder Singh. Kamaljeet Singh, president of the Rural Veterinary Pharmacists Association, said they would continue their stir till their demand were met.
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PPSC Recruitment Scam
Chandigarh, October 6 Eight years after the dismissal of more than 90 petitions filed by PCS officers whose services were terminated, a three-Judge Bench of the Punjab and Haryana High Court is divided over the issue of referring the matter to a larger Bench of five Judges. On the one side is Justice Mutacci Jayapaul and on the other Justice Alok Singh and Justice Ritu Bahri. Apparently, Justice Jayapaul is not in favour of remanding the case to a larger Bench after the matter has been heard at length. Available information suggests Justice Jayapaul has written a dissenting note of two pages, giving in detail the reasons behind his refusal to agree with the other two Judges. The matter will now be heard by a larger Bench of the High Court, as in cases of dissent the majority view prevails. The officers were recruited in the executive, judicial and allied services when Ravinder Pal Singh Sidhu was PPSC Chairman. Challenging the orders passed against them, the petitioners had then claimed that they were not related to the alleged scam. The Bench, comprising the then Chief Justice BK Roy, Justice GS Singhvi and Justice NK Sodhi had on July 7, 2003, ruled that the state government had inherent powers to nullify the action in case of tainted selection. But the apex court, vide its judgment dated May 3, 2006, remanded the matter to the High Court, with a direction to constitute a committee to segregate tainted candidates from the non-tainted. Pursuant to the SC directions, a three-judge committee of Justice JS Khehar, Justice Viney Mittal and Justice Surya Kant was constituted for looking into the executive branch selections. Taking up the case, the three-judge Bench headed by Justice Alok Singh asserted: “The committee of three judges, vide report dated February 8, 2007, found 40 candidates tainted on the basis of material available before the committee. “After the report of the three-Judge committee, a supplementary challan was filed in the criminal case against Rubinderjit Singh Brar, Bikramjit Singh Shergill and Sukhpreet Singh Sidhu, although they were not found tainted by the committee. “It shows that there are more tainted candidates over and above the 40 candidates as found by the committee”. Speaking for the Bench, Justice Alok Singh asserted: “In my opinion, since the earlier judgment passed by the Bench of three Judges of this court was doubted by the apex court, and the matter was remanded and thereafter the committee consisting of three judges has given a report, in the peculiar facts and circumstances of the case, the matter should be heard by a larger Bench”. The view has been endorsed by Justice
Bahri.
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Despite opposition, FCI begins direct payment to farmers
Under the new system, the FCI has roped in several nationalised banks and the Punjab State Co-operative Bank in which farmers have opened their accounts. For the past few days, paddy stocks brought to the grain markets were found with a moisture content of more than 17 per cent. Today, the central agency started procurement from those farmers whose paddy had less that 17 per cent moisture. Nahar Singh, Area Manager, claimed that the moisture content was decreasing each passing day and all the 15 mandis allotted to it by the Director, Food and Civil Supplies, were likely to see a glut in the coming days.In Gurdas Nangal, Bolewal, Chandoi and Chawa mandis, FCI officials are procuring stocks with a moisture content less than 17 per cent. The Gurdaspur FCI has a daily bank limit of Rs 12 crore and payments are to be credited to the farmers from this limit within 48 hours of procurement. The FCI had announced last year that it would pay the farmers directly but after the Punjab Government approached Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar, it kept the system in abeyance for a year.Under the earlier payment system, FCI issued cheque of payment to commission agents and thereafter the commission agents made payment to farmers. The FCI is all set to buy 10 per cent of the total paddy arrivals (an estimated 130 lakh tonnes) and 80,000 tonnes are expected to be procured in Gurdaspur alone. An elated Angrej Singh from Kot Santokh Rai said: “The FCI has finally pulled us out of the trap of commission agents who would exploit us.” Reports gathered from the local office of the FCI today indicated that the central agency has also started procuring paddy in rest of the 21 district from the mandis allotted to it. The Gurdaspur FCI has a daily credit limit of Rs 12 crore and payments are being credited to the accounts of farmers from this amount. This amount is replenished daily by the Chandigarh head office on a day-to-day basis. FCI agents have stationed themselves at each of the 15 markets and farmers bringing in their produce are asked to give the officials details of their bank accounts. Several nationalised banks and Punjab State Cooperative Bank have been roped in, where farmers have been asked to open their accounts. A beaming Angrej Singh, whose produce has been procured by the FCI in the Gurdas Nangal market, said, “The FCI has told us that we should not fall into the trap of the commission agents. “These unscrupulous agents have been fleecing us for the past so many decades. This is a revolutionary step taken by the central agency”.
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Centre has pushed economy to brink of disaster: Badal
Ludhiana, October 6 Talking to
mediapersons, Badal, who was here to participate in the Ramayan Gyan Yag organised by the Sri Ram
Sharnam, observed that lack of adequate storage space for food grain would also have adverse impact on procurement operations because the purchasing agencies would not be able to shift the procured paddy to
godowns. Terming the allegations of corruption against the ruling combine by the Congress as the result of frustration, the Chief Minister said the Congress and corruption were the two sides of the same coin. “The UPA government at the Centre, led by a thoroughly corrupt Congress, has brought our economy on the brink of disaster. The Congress is even worse than termite which has eaten up the entire democratic system of administration through illegal and unlawful practices thereby paralysing the governance at all levels,” he maintained, while blaming the Congress for being hand in glove with a few influential persons who had amassed black money and stashed in foreign
banks. Badal stressed the need to immediately bring back the hordes of black money, which could be utilised for funding public welfare schemes. At the same time, he also demanded a legal mechanism to award severe punishment to the guilty involved in amassing black money. Taking a jibe at the Planning Commission for making mockery of the poor, he said it was shocking to learn (from parameters of the Planning Commission) that a person earning Rs 26 in villages and Rs 32 in urban areas, was not poor. “The UPA government is shedding crocodile tears by claiming to be a sympathiser of the poor while its own planning body is playing a cruel joke with millions of poor families.”
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Finally, 842 masters get promotion letters
The Education Department promoted 842 masters as headmasters yesterday. Since the orders were issued post-lunch, most teachers could not join their new station of posting. Many, in fact, got to know about their promotions only today. It has been almost a decade since so many promotions in the department have been made in a day. There are 1,665 posts of headmaster in Government High Schools in Punjab, out of which 1,147 had been lying vacant. Of the 3 per cent promotion quota, 1 per cent each is for the visually impaired, the hearing impaired and the physically challenged. This quota list will be out soon. Said Bhim Singh: “Despite the fact that the promotion process started almost a year back, I was not sure whether the department would complete the process. Now, that I have received the promotion orders, I am really excited. Dasehra has never been so special before.” For Harpal Singh it was a dream come true. “When I received the orders yesterday, my happiness knew no bounds. I joined my new assignment immediately,” he said.
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Teachers seek release of arrears
Patiala, October 6 He said teachers working in government colleges of the state were the only category of the state government employees, who were denied the first instalment of 40 per cent of arrears, which has been paid to other employees in May 2011. He further said out of about Rs 110 crore for 51 months w.e.f. January 1, 2006, to March 31, 2010, the Centre shall reimburse Rs 88 crore as 80 per cent central assistance. The remaining 20 per cent by the state has already been contributed as it has paid 100 per cent share w.e.f. August 1, 2009, to March 31, 2010. As the arrears for the initial period are less as compared to the 2009-10 period, the amount of total arrears for the remaining 43 months is approximately Rs 90 crore, he said. “Now, the argument of the state Department of Finance that government college teachers shall be paid arrears only when the Centre releases its share of 80 per cent, smacks of a step-motherly attitude towards us. The release of 80 per cent central assistance is with a condition that the Centre notification of the Ministry of Human Resource Development, New Delhi (dated 31.12.2008), is implemented by the state governments as a composite package, which includes raising the retirement age to 65 years,” Singh said. The state has refused to raise the retirement age for government college teachers from 58 years to 65, or even to 60 years (the age of retirement for teachers in private colleges and state universities in Punjab) on the plea that a single category of employees cannot be isolated from others and it is contesting this case in various courts of law. He said, “With this decision, the state has isolated them by denying the first instalment of arrears. Therefore, the government should at least release the first instalment of 40 per cent of Rs 90 crore, which is just Rs 36 crore, to the teachers at the earliest so as to end this discrimination.”
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Moga man running finance co in Philippines shot dead
Moga, October 6 Identified as Gurdial Singh Sangha (55), a resident of Dosanj village, he was running his business of finance. He was shot dead by a few assailants while travelling on a highway in the Manila area. A pal of gloom descended on his native village since yesterday evening after his wife reported about the tragic incident on telephone to one of her sons and brother living
here. Pandeep Singh Sangha, son of the deceased, told mediapersons that according to reports, his father was attacked by a few persons suspected to be criminals. He said his father immediately informed the police when the criminals attacked him.
Gurdial, along with the police, engaged in a brief encounter with the criminals. In the ensuing
gunbattle, Gurdial was killed and one policemen also received serious injuries. However, the criminals managed to flee the
spot. Gurdial had gone to the Philippines about a decade ago and started his own finance company in Manila. His wife, Parminder
Kaur, was also living with him. Devinder Singh Rania, a SAD leader and brother-in-law of the deceased, has urged the Centre to contact the Philippines Government to bring back the body. Meanwhile, Paramdeep Singh Gill, former DGP and Adviser, Home Department, Punjab, went to Gurdial’s residence and expressed condolences to the grief-stricken family members. Local MLA Joginder Pal Jain, senior SAD leader Jathedar Tota Singh and his son and Youth Akali leader Barjinder Singh Brar also expressed sympathies with the family members. Most of the Punjabis living in Philippines are reportedly doing the illegal business of money lending. The killings of Punjabis started about six years ago. So far, more than 120 Punjabi youths had been killed by criminals in the country. On January 31, Harveer Singh of Raonta village was killed here and on April 18, Baljit of Kokri Heran village of the Moga district was also murdered in the Philippines.
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Fire tragedy averted in Abohar
Abohar, October 6 A dozen buses that were parked in the complex were immediately shifted to a safer place while calling in the municipal fire brigade. The staff of the company controlled the flames with the help of fire tenders within a few minutes. Notably, the complex of another transport company is located next door and half a dozen buses were parked there also at the time of the mishap. Meanwhile, in another incident, an expectant mother, Paramjit
Kaur, succumbed to her burns. She sustained burn injuries after her clothes caught fire while preparing breakfast at her in-laws house at village Rukanpura
Khuikhera, yesterday. She was referred to the Muktsar-based hospital but could not be saved. Her statement has been recorded by the
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PSEB to install CCTV cameras at
exam
centres
Mohali, October 6 The CCTV cameras will be installed in examination centres located in
Amritsar, Gurdaspur, Tarn Taran and Pathankot. Videography will also be done in and around examination
centres. A decision to this effect was taken at a meeting held to review various examination- related works. It was presided over by the chairman of the board, Dr Dalbir Singh
Dhillon. — OC
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Govt harassing IG Gakhar: Khaira
Chandigarh, October 6 Khaira said the Lokpal had directed Gakhar to look into the allegations levelled against the Chief Minister and his kin on misusing their official positions to promote their own transport business in the state. Besides, Gakhar was probing a land grab case against Bibi Jagir Kaur, to which the Chief Minister had been made a party. In a statement, Khaira alleged: “The Deputy CM has directed the Patiala administration to harass the family of the IG. That is why official goons tried to get his official house vacated on Tuesday while he was away, leaving his wife and children traumatised.” He wondered why no action had been initiated against a large number of other officers “overstaying in their officials residences.” He said the Akalis had organised dharnas in solidarity with the Anna Hazare movement, but “in reality, the Badals are not only terrorising an honest IG, but is in the process weakening the institution of the Lokpal in Punjab.” He said the Congress condemned the “terrorising techniques” adopted by Badal Junior to harass honest and clean officers like Gakhar. The party demanded an apology from the government for sending “official goons” to the IG’s house.
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Contractual SSA staff to go on strike today Patiala, October 6 Rohitdeep Singh of the SSA union, Punjab, said despite the fact that they have been working for almost six to seven years now, the government is yet to regularise our services. “We work from 9 am to 5 pm just like regular staff members, but comparatively our salary is less and we are getting 6 per cent annual increment. While our assistant project coordinator (General and Finance) gets a salary of Rs 15,000, accountants get Rs 10,000, data operators get Rs 7,500 and assistant block controllers get a meagre salary of Rs 5,000. Even out of this Rs 5,000, 12 per cent is deducted as Provident Fund, which leaves them with Rs 4,400,” he said. “We get our salaries in lump sum amount whereas we want that we should get pay scales like other government employees. We have already given a MoU to district education officer Balbir Kaur Gill and Patiala DC Vikas Garg and will proceed on a pen-down strike from tomorrow and will continue the strike till our demands are met,” he added.
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Panel on Hondh-Chillar killings a damp squib, says Dal Khalsa
Amritsar, October 6 The Hooda Government had on March 5 constituted a one-man inquiry commission headed by a retired judge of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, TP Garg, to probe into the massacre. In his statement, Hooda had said, “The commission will submit its report to the state government as soon as possible, but not later than six months from the date of its first sitting”. Expressing anger against the Haryana Government, Dal Khalsa spokesperson Kanwar Pal Singh and senior leader Satnam Singh Paonta Sahib said seven months had passed and there was deafening silence vis-à-vis the outcome of the commission.
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Cancer fear grips Amargarh residents
Krishen Kumar Koushal (74), member of the Nagar Panchayat, Amargarh, who lost his son Sanjay in 1998 to blood cancer, said: “There have been more than 40 deaths in Amargarh during the past 10 years.This is frightening.There seems to be something wrong with the town’s water. Not only the elderly, but young men and women are falling prey to the disease.” Dr Harjeet Kumar, who runs a clinic in Amargarh’s main market, said: “There have been 35-40 deaths in Amargarh town alone during the recent years. As of now at least 35 patients are at suffering from intestinal, uterus, lymph node, oesophagus or breast cancer. The patients belong to all age groups.” Dr Sunil Prakash, Senior Medical Officer (SMO), Amargarh, said the number of cancer patients was not alarming. “Not many cancer cases are reported at the Community Health Centre in Amargarh. People mostly take the patients to super speciality hospitals in big cities.” He said there was no problem with the water in Amargarh as was evident from the water samples tested regularly for mineral components.
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Gunman’s rifle goes off, youth killed, another hurt
Ferozepur, October 6 All of them were sitting in the same car and returning to Ferozepur after attending a wedding when the incident took place near Baghdadi Gate in the city last evening. The deceased has been identified as Amritpal Singh of Ferozepur city, whose father Narinder Singh is a head constable with the Punjab police. Incidentally, another youth Yadwinder, who was injured in the firing, is also the son of an ASI, Pyara Singh, posted in Moga. Yadwinder was hit in the arm and is undergoing treatment. The police has registered a case against
Navtejpal.
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As effigies of the Ravana were set aflame during Dasehra celebrations in the city, an attempt was made by protesting rural veterinary pharmacists to burn an effigy of Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal in his constituency
Lambi.
Charging the Congress-led UPA government at the Centre with an anti-farmer stance and apathetic attitude towards Punjab, Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal said today that despite numerous requests made by the state government at different forums, the Centre had neither bothered to speed up the movement of food grain stocked in godowns to create storage for the new paddy crop, nor did it allow the state to construct more godowns to generate additional storage capacity.
Gurdaspur, October 6
Patiala, October 6
Amargarh (Sangrur), October 6