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Two years on, selection of
PCS officers in limbo
Engineer suspended for‘favouring’ contractor
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60 Cong candidates to be announced
this month
Badal has lost grip over state, says Amarinder
Capt Amarinder Singh at a rally in Barnala on Saturday. Tribune photo: Pawan Shartma 
Bouncers engaged
for Barnala rally
17 vie for Congress ticket in
Muktsar district
Manpreet a Cong man: Harsimrat
Manpreet takes a dig at SAD over FDI U-turn
PPP chief Manpreet Singh Badal addresses a gathering in Ludhiana. Photo: Inderjeet Verma
Sud takes on Capt for mudslinging
Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal offers a ‘siropa’ to Satinderjit Singh, alias Manta, at Roranwali village in Muktsar on Saturday. A Tribune photograph
Cantonments asked to stop levying octroi
Farmers plan to dump crop on roads
Indo-American group hails FDI in retail
12 vets injured in clash outside CM’s
house
Blood money paid for release of 4 youths in UAE
Illegal power connections
detected in Moga village
Ahead of Deputy CM’s visit,
govt wants to shift migrants
SGPC to open 21 institutes in rural areas
Woman surrenders in dowry death case
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Two years on, selection of
PCS officers in limbo
Bathinda, December 3 “PPSC started the recruitment process in December 2009 but
has not completed it even after two years. The prelims as well as mains
examinations have been postponed thrice. Interestingly, the Haryana Government,
too, started procedure for filling 180 posts of HCS officer at the same time
and all candidates have already completed eight to nine months of tenure. In
fact, the Haryana Government has even notified the recruitment of another 153
candidates,” said one of the candidates from Bathinda. The PCS mains
examination was held from September 14 to October 10. The PPSC had committed
that it would declare results by November 25. The candidates claimed that when they asked reasons for delay in declaring results from the PPSC office at Patiala, they were told that checking of answer sheets was yet to begin. “Two
days ago we were told that the procedure of codifying answer sheets had just
begun. At this pace, it won’t be possible to declare result even in December.
Later on, the model code of conduct for assembly elections would be in place
and things would be out of hands for the state government,” said another
candidate. It is pertinent to mention here that the state has been facing acute shortage of PCS officers. In newly carved out districts like Fazilka, only one or two PCS officers are handling all the administrative works. At present, Punjab does not have even a single District Food and Supplies Officer (DFSO) as all DFSOs have been promoted as District Food Supplies Controllers. Similarly,
as per the excise and taxation officers at Chandigarh, the state is short of
200 Excise and Taxation Officers (ETOs). According to an estimate, at least 145
posts of PCS executive and 600 posts of PCS are lying vacant in Punjab. In
order to meet shortage, the Punjab Government has given extension to around 80
retired PCS officers till December 2010. “Even if the results are declared
today itself, it would take at least another five months to join the service as
all the selected candidates will have to undergo four months’ foundation
course,” added another candidate. Results within 2 months, says officiating
chairman The officiating chairman of the PPSC, Brig (retd) Dr DS Grewal,
said: “This is the first time when the commission is involved in elaborate
procedure of making and declaring results. Within two months, the results would
be declared. Everything would be fair and transparent.”
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Engineer suspended for‘favouring’ contractor
Chandigarh, December 3 The order to suspend Superintending Engineer Amarjit Gupta was issued after a departmental inquiry established his role in tampering with the tender papers, thus causing a loss of over Rs 8 crore to the Housefed. Gupta is alleged to have tampered with the tenders submitted by a Delhi-based contractor, Manohar Lal Gupta and Sons, for the construction of 632 flats by the Housefed in Sector 79, Mohali, and allegedly allowing the contractor to raise the quotation by over Rs 8 crore. Sources said the quotation submitted by the contractor originally was the lowest amongst all other bidders. The suspended official, while allegedly helping the contractor keep his quotation the lowest, helped him raise it by over Rs 8 crore. Confirming the development, top Housefed officials said they were still investigating the extent of exact loss suffered by Housefed because of the tampering of tenders. It may be mentioned that the Housefed had bought the land from PUDA in 2004 for the construction of multi-storeyed flats in Mohali. The housing units were subsequently allotted, tenders for the construction of these flats were floated and the construction work began in 2010. Housefed Managing Director HS Sidhu confirmed to The Tribune that Gupta had been placed under suspension. He said a probe was conducted by him after the technical adviser to the Chief Minister reportedly found some discrepancies in the project. The MD said the CM himself had ordered a probe. Refusing to divulge details, he said the inquiry report had been sent to the CM Office
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60 Cong candidates to be announced
this month
Chandiagarh, December 3 The PCC will meet after the end of the Punjab Bachao Yatra on December 8 to make a preliminary list of candidates. This list will be forwarded to a four-member screening committee. The list finalised by the committee will be forwarded to the Congress high command for a final decision. Talking to TNS, PCC chief Capt Amarinder Singh said he had met the party president last week and she had agreed to announce candidates where there was only one claimant. Party sources said there were around 60 such seats, mainly comprising sitting legislators and senior leaders. Amarinder has made this recommendation following demands from party leaders that Akalis would get a head start if the party does not announce the candidates immediate. The SAD has reportedly already finalised a majority of its candidates who have started informal electioneering. The sources say the biggest challenge to the Congress is to adjust former legislators who are without a seat on account of delimitation. A number of general seats have been reserved or vice-versa, which has started a tug of war among leaders. There is also opposition to leaders who want to contest from the adjoining constituencies as they are being tagged as outsiders. The PCC chief said delimitation had resulted in many legislators losing their seats. He said the party had, however, conducted an exercise and taken the view of voters about various senior leaders who were forced to shift constituencies due to delimitation. Sangrur is one of the worst affected districts. Kuldeep Bhattal and Surjit Dhiman, Dhanaula and Dirba legislators, respectively, are without constituencies. While Dhanaula has been deleted as a constituency and half of its area attached with the Barnala constituency, Dirba has been reserved. Bhattal cannot shift to Barnala where sitting legislator Kewal Dhillon is a favourite. Dhiman’s villages have gone to Sunam, but there is a little space for him there. He will also be considered an outsider if he decides on Dhuri where Amarinder’s confidant GS Jawanda and Mai Roop Kaur are the favourites. In Patiala, Randeep Singh’s shifting from Nabha that has been reserved now is logical because many of his villages have been transferred to Patiala Rural seat. This is not the case with Amloh legislator Sadhu Singh Dharamsot. The latter wants to shift to Nabha, but is facing opposition as an outsider. In Gurdaspur, Partap Singh Bajwa’s brother Fatehjang is without a seat with Srihargobindpur being reserved. Same is the case with Mangat Rai Bansal whose Budhlada constituency has been reserved. Dhariwal candidate Sucha Singh Chhotepur has no seat with the constituency being merged with other. Amritsar West candidate OP Soni’s seat has been reserved and he wants to poach on Amritsar Central or North, which will invite opposition from other leaders. Similarly, Ferozpeur Cantonement has been reserved, forcing its candidate Ravinderpal Singh Sandhu to opt for Ferozepur City where Parminder Singh was projected as a candidate earlier. Beant Singh’s family wants to shift to Khanna with Payal seat held by Tej Prakash Singh being reserved now, but is facing opposition from former PCC president Shamsher Singh Dullo who only wants to contest from Khanna. Poll position Party leaders feel that Akalis will get a head start if the Congress does not announce its candidates immediately The PCC will meet on December 8 to prepare a preliminary list to be forwarded to a screening panel which will send a final list to the party high command The biggest challenge in the process is to adjust former legislators who are now without a seat on account of delimitation
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Badal has lost grip over state, says Amarinder
Barnala, December 3 Addressing a party rally here, Amarinder alleged that Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal was not bothered even as some SAD supporters were engaged in illegal activities. “Badal has lost grip over the state,” he said. He said the deteriorating economic condition of the people was one of the reasons for rising crime. The industry was shifting out of the state because of erratic power supply and poor law and order situation. He said the SAD-BJP government had adopted the non-transparent MoU route instead of inviting tenders for allocating four thermal power plants in the private sector. The electricity generated by these projects would be beyond the paying capacity of the common man, he claimed. The poor were facing hardships as the government had failed to provide money for various welfare schemes, he said, adding that beneficiaries of the old-age pension and shagun scheme had not been paid for several months. Amarinder said the Badal government had not bothered to provide administrative infrastructure in Barnala that was made a district several years ago. AICC general secretary Gulchain Singh Charak said winds of change had started blowing in Punjab as “the people are fed up with the misrule of the Badal government”. CLP leader Rajinder Kaur Bhattal accused Badal of misleading the people in the name of religion. She said Badal was responsible for the “fragmentation of Punjab into three parts”. She said the state government discriminated against women kabaddi players by giving them a meager amount of reward than the men players. Bouncers at cong rally BARNALA: It was for the first time during the ongoing Punjab Bachao Yatra of the Congress at Barnala that private bouncers were engaged to prevent "unwanted elements" from venturing near the stage where Capt Amarinder Singh and other party leaders were sitting. The bouncers, who were brought from Chandigarh, were engaged by MLA Kewal Singh Dhillon. They initially did not allow mediapersons and photographers to come in front of the stage. They even pushed away some party activists. — TNS Capt seeks exemption from court LUDHIANA: PCC chief Capt Amarinder Singh, one of the alleged accused in the multi-crore City Centre scam, has moved an application seeking exemption from personal appearance in the court for two months for poll campaign. Amarinder Singh has asserted that he is to attend important meetings being president of the PPCC in view of the coming state assembly elections. Besides, his personal presence is not required as the defence lawyers are advancing arguments on behalf of all accused for not framing charges in the case, it is stated. Sessions Judge SP Bangarh will consider the application on December 8. — OC FDI: 'Farmers to benefit the most' Mullanpur Dakha: PCC chief Capt Amarinder Singh has said the farmers of Punjab will be benefited the most from FDI in retail sector. He said the foreign players entering the Indian markets would not only pay better prices to the farmers but also bring better farm technology. He stated this while addressing a rally at Mullanpur Dakha, near Ludhiana,today. "The state's past experience with agro companies shows that the farmers supplying their produce to these companies have been earning more profit as compared to those selling their produce in grain markets," he added. — OC Bouncers engaged for Barnala rally Barnala, December 3 17 vie for
Congress ticket in Muktsar district Bathinda, December 3
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Manpreet a Cong man: Harsimrat
Bhutiwala (Muktsar), December 3 Terming the PPP-led Sanjha Morcha as a “B” team of the Congress, she said the Morcha was floated as per the planning of the Congress. “Finding Manpreet to be a soft target, the Congress convinced him to separate from his “mother party” which had projected him as a Finance Minister,” she said. “The party always gave him due regard but playing a strategy of the
UPA, he started asking the Punjab Government to stop all subsidies, pension schemes and the party rejected his proposal. Finding it an opportunity, he opted to separate from the party to be with his “new masters” (Congressmen).” Playing an emotional card, Harsimrat said while playing the Congress’ game, Manpreet did not even mind stabbing the CM and the party in his “lust” for power and joined hands with the Congress, ignoring its role in 1984 riots.”
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Manpreet takes a dig at SAD over FDI U-turn
Ludhiana, December 3 Manpreet was speaking to The Tribune after having an interaction with a group of intellectuals here today evening. The PPP president also had to go through some awkward moments when someone from the gathering questioned party’s stand over the ongoing FDI row. “Some senior people from your party have publically welcomed the FDI in retail sector, while your associates in the Sanjha Morcha, the CPI and the CPI (M), have been opposing it at the Centre. Can you please clear your own party’s stand over this issue,” a speaker asked the PPP chief. Replying to the question, Badal said that as far as Sanjha Morcha was concerned, they had formulated a common minimum programme. “But all parties can have their own views over certain issues. Our stand on this issue is that the Central government should call an all-party meet to discuss the matter. Moreover, what was the urgency in bringing this issue now? I think the Union government wants to shift focus from the Lokpal Bill,” said
Badal.
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Sud takes on Capt for mudslinging
Hoshiarpur, December 3 Talking to mediapersons here, Sud said Capt Amrinder Singh had given a wrong statement in the press against him by distorting facts regarding legal proceedings of the Punjab and Haryana High Court in a writ petition bearing CWP No 10750 of 2011 (Gunraj Singh Saini and another versus Union of India and others). He claimed that he would initiate legal proceedings against a vernacular daily. He alleged that the PCC had no positive issue in the forthcoming assembly elections due to which its leaders were targeting BJP and SAD leaders, which would not help them get favour of the people. — OC
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Jolt to PPP as Manta returns to SAD
Roranwali (Muktsar), December 3 The Badals played an emotional card while welcoming Manta, a former PA of Gurdas Badal (younger brother of Parkash Singh Badal). Badal recalled the good old days when the family was united. “We (Pash and Das) had strong bonding than any other brother in the world. But, due to Manpreet’s wrong step we have separated,” he said. It may be mentioned that just after few months of formation of the PPP, Manta was booked in a fraud case in May, which, the PPP leaders, including Manpreet and his father Gurdas, had claimed to be a case of vendetta politics. Before Manta’s return, Charanjit Singh Brar, OSD to Manpreet Badal, and PPP’s zone in charge Jagdeep Singh Kala, too, had returned to the SAD. Despite repeated attempts, Gurdas Badal could not be contacted.
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Cantonments asked to stop levying octroi
Chandigarh, December 3 The draft notification for stopping octroi collection by the Cantonment Board, Jalandhar, has been approved while the draft notification for stopping collection of octroi in Ferozepur Cantonment is under examination. Jalandhar and Ferozepur are among the nine cantonments in the country that are still collecting octroi from the public. There are 63 cantonments across the country. Octroi is a local tax imposed on the movement of goods to generate revenue. Under the provisions of Section 66 of the Cantonments Act 2006, cantonment boards are empowered to impose any tax in any municipality in the State in which the cantonment is situated. At the time when the octroi was imposed in cantonments, municipalities of the state were empowered to impose the same. Whereas state governments are financially compensating the municipalities in one form or the other, no compensation is being paid to cantonment boards in lieu of abolition of octroi. The collection of octroi by a cantonment board can be stopped or suspended by the board in case the state government concerned decides to compensate or reimburse the revenue of the board on account of
octroi.
About the octroi
Octroi is a local tax imposed on the movement of goods to generate revenue
Jalandhar and Ferozepur are among the nine cantonments in the country that continue to collect octroi from the public The collection, however, can be stopped or suspended in case the state government concerned compensates the cantonments
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Potato Glut
Jalandhar, December 3 The state has witnessed a bumper crop this year too due to favourable weather conditions but it has not brought cheer to them since they are still saddled with the left over stocks from the previous crop. Raghbir Singh and Jaswinder Sangha, president and general secretary of the Jalandhar Potato Growers Association, respectively, said the crop had been cultivated on over 70,000 hectares and the yield would be in excess of over 2 lakh tonnes. The farmers had not been able to sell their previous stock of over 15-20 lakh quintals and nobody was willing to lift this stock even for free from the cold stores, they added. The farmers have spent over Rs 20,000 in inputs costs per acre and the small farmers will run into huge losses. “We had apprised the government of such a scenario in February itself but they did not prepare any contingency plan. The glut-like condition is being faced by us for the third consecutive year and the nodal agency for this, Markfed, has done nothing to help us,” they pointed out.
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Indo-American group hails FDI in retail
Jalandhar, December 3 “It will also bring about efficiency in the retail supply chain. There will be lesser food wastage in India where about 25 per cent of food produced gets wasted owning to lack of cold storages. It will also benefit farmers after the elimination of middlemen between farmers and retailers,” said Raman Dutt, chairman of the California-based group. The government has also introduced some restrictions like foreign retail stores could be opened up only in areas having a population of more than one million, 30 per cent of the manufactured and processed products should be from small industry and 50 per cent of the investments have to be incurred on back-end infrastructure.
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12 vets injured in clash outside CM’s
house
Badal (Muktsar), December 3 The protesters had met Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal this afternoon at Aadhnian village, near here, to apprise him of their demands, but unsatisfied over his reply, they decided to gherao his residence. As soon as they blocked the road outside the CM’s residence, the police resorted to lathi charge to disperse them. Talking over the phone, Sandeep Singh Sra, state general secretary of the association, said, “We had given a call to hold a statewide protest rally at a stadium in Lambi. However, when we reached there, the authorities took us to the CM. Irked over his reply, we started carrying out protest march in the nearby villages and when we reached outside the CM’s residence, the cops used force.”
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Blood money paid for release of 4 youths in UAE
Chandigarh, December 3 The victims in both the cases were expatriate workers from India. The kin of the victims - Chinna Ganganna Chepuri from Andhra Pradesh and Rateesh Vijayan from Kerala - have agreed for settlement on payment of blood money and offer pardon to the perpetrators. Yesterday, when the case of murder of Chinna Ganganna Chepuri came up before the Sharjah Appeal Court, death sentence awarded to Talwinder Singh of Kapurthala and Paramjit Singh of Gurdaspur was waived. The two convicts were, however, ordered to undergo three years’ imprisonment. In the case of bootlegging and arson that took place on May 26, 2009, expatriate Chinna Ganganna Chepuri was killed. Talwinder Singh and Paramjit Singh were charged for his murder and were subsequently convicted and sentenced to death in the case. Dubai-based businessman-cum-hotelier SP Singh Oberoi with the help of his friend in the police in Andhra Pradesh traced the next of kin of the victim and convinced them for settlement with the families of the convicts. After paying the blood money from his pocket, SP Singh Oberoi produced the settlement documents before the Sharjah Appeal Court on October 10 this year. The Court, however, fixed November 29 for the final order. Waiving off the death sentence brought cheers to the families of both Talwinder Singh and Paramjit Singh. And since they have already completed three and a half years in jail, they are set to be released subject to clearance by the security agencies in the UAE. Hopefully, they would be travelling back to Punjab by the end of first week or early second week of December, says Oberoi. In the second case, Jaswant Singh of Ludhiana and Harbhajan Singh of Hoshiarpur were convicted for the murder of Ratheesh Vijayan of Kerala on November 30, 2007, in a similar bootlegging-cum-murder case. The Sharjah Appeal Court today accepted the settlement documents produced by SP Singh Oberoi. At the next hearing, the Appeal Court would pronounce its order of waiving the death sentence. Since Jaswant Singh and Harbhajan Singh have been in jail for more than four years now, the chances of their release look imminent. The case files An earlier case pertains to murder of Chinna Ganganna Chepuri from AP on May 26, 2009 The Sharjah Appeal Court had waived the death sentence awarded to two Punjab youths In another case, Rateesh Vijayan from Kerala was murdered on November 30, 2007 Jaswant Singh of Ludhiana and Harbhajan Singh of Hoshiarpur were convicted in the case The court has accepted the settlement documents and orders for their release are expected in the next hearing
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Illegal power connections
detected in Moga village
Moga, December 3 Vigilance DSP Banarsi Dass claimed the power connections, eight in all, were given a couple of years back by local officials of the erstwhile Punjab State Electricity Board -- now Power Corporation -- a complaint regarding which was received at their office. The connections were sanctioned under the chairman’s quota allegedly by bypassing the waiting list to a few farmers at Bhaloor village in Baghapurana sub-division of the district. Of these eight sanctioned connections, power lines were also set up illegally by using the material (poles and cable), especially from the then under-construction power grid in the village. Power was also supplied, thus, enabling the beneficiary farmers to pump out underground water for irrigation purpose.
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Docs’ stir hits services
Patiala, December 3 Around 280 resident doctors gathered in front of the emergency and the OPD and took out a procession on hospital premises. The health services in emergency and labor rooms were totally paralysed, as no doctor was available there. With this, the entire hospital became non-functional, as the junior doctors were also handling all the services in absence of nurses and Class IV employees, who were on strike for the past five days. Talking to The Tribune, Dr Ashish Jangir said that all junior resident doctors working in various government medical colleges in Punjab were on strike and would continue to boycott work. "We have been forced to take this extreme step to highlight our demand of pay parity with our counterparts in other states like Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Delhi, Chandigarh and Central government. Though, we went on strike earlier, but ended our agitation after the Chief Minister Badal assured us that our demands would be accepted at the earliest. Even after 15 days, not a single step has been taken in this regard," he added.
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Ahead of Deputy CM’s visit,
govt wants to shift migrants
Patiala, December 3 In the morning, a team of the administration swooped on Kasturba Sewa Ashram, near the newly constructed Mini Secretariat, and asked the residents to vacate their houses at the earliest or their belongings would be forcibly removed. The families were told that the deputy chief minister was expected to inaugurate the building on December 7. “We have been residing here from the past 60 years and allotted rooms and now, we have been asked to vacate and shift from here. The administration wants us to shift in incomplete houses”, claimed
Hansraj, a local resident. Another resident, Gian Chand said that the government was in a rush to inaugurate the Mini Secretariat ahead of elections. “If they are in a haste, they should have completed our houses before asking us to vacate”, said
Chand. The migrants, who have been living in the ashram just behind the newly constructed Mini Secretariat in
Rajpura, said that they were not even issued a single notice in this regard. Rubbishing the claims, Patiala Deputy Commissioner Vikas Garg said that notices had already been served on them to vacate their houses and they would be shifted to better houses.
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SGPC to open 21 institutes in rural areas
Fatehgarh Sahib, December 3 On increasing use of drugs by youths, he said that a special campaign would be launched by the SGPC and all the members of the committee would be asked to prepare lists of drug addicts in villages falling in their respective areas, following this, the SGPC would organise special drug de-addiction camps to enable them live a better life. He said that sports could be effectively utilised to channelise the energy of youths and divert their attention from the menace of drug. He announced to set up a hockey team of the SGPC that would provide employment to Sikh youths. He said that an astroturf would be installed at Mata Gujri College here in order to promote the game of hockey.
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Woman surrenders in dowry death case
Patiala, December 3 According to the police, Devinder Kaur’s son Amandeep Singh married Gagandeep Kaur in 2010 and after a couple of months, Gagandeep died under mysterious circumstances. After the incident, the entire family went missing, while other members of the family were arrested, Devinder Kaur evaded arrested, the police added. Gagandeep’s father Balwinder Singh said that their daughter was mercilessly murdered for dowry and he would fight the case till he gets justice.
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PCC chief Capt Amarinder Singh today said stringent measures were required to restore law and order in Punjab that had collapsed under the present
SAD-BJP regime. Addressing a party rally here, Amarinder alleged that Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal was not bothered even as some SAD supporters were engaged in illegal activities. “Badal has lost grip over the state,” he said.
Taking a dig at the Shiromani Akali Dal (Badal) over its U-turn on the foreign direct investment (FDI) issue, People’s Party of Punjab (PPP) president Manpreet Singh Badal today said Akali Dal is known for a flip flop over such issues. “This is not for the first time that the Akali Dal has backtracked from any such issue,” Manpreet quipped.
It
was for the first time during the ongoing Punjab Bachao Yatra of the Congress
at Barnala that private bouncers were engaged to prevent "unwanted
elements" from venturing near the stage where Capt Amarinder Singh and
other party leaders were sitting. The
bouncers, who were brought from Chandigarh, were engaged by MLA Kewal Singh
Dhillon. They initially did not allow mediapersons and photographers to come in
front of the stage. They even pushed away some party activists.