The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

	SAD, Cong gear up for parliamentary polls SP Sharma Tribune News Service Bathinda, April 16 Having tasted defeat here for the first time in the assembly elections despite the blessings of the Dera Sacha Sauda, Harminder Singh Jassi of the Congress has virtually launched his campaign for the Lok Sabha election that is still two years away. Jassi, whose daughter is married to the son of the Dera chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim, has started addressing rallies in the high-profile Bathinda parliamentary constituency, in which he was targeting the SAD-led coalition government. He had lost the recent assembly election to the SAD candidate Saroop Chand Singla. On the other hand, the SAD is also preparing to launch its mass contact programme in the constituency that is represented by Harsimrat Kaur Badal, wife of Deputy CM Sukhbir Singh Badal. The Congress that is still licking the wounds received in the shape of its senior leaders, particularly in the Malwa region, being defeated in the assembly elections, has not yet reconciled to the unexpected situation and was hunting for some issue that could be raked up to mobilise the public opinion in its favour. With Jassi virtually launching his election campaign, it is almost certain that the Congress was not in a mood to make Raninder Singh, who is son of the PPCC chief Amarinder Singh, again contest the Lok Sabha election from Bathinda. Harsimrat had badly defeated Raninder in the last Lok Sabha election and he also lost the recent assembly election in Samana segment. Singla, after being appointed a chief parliamentary secretary, is camping here to listen to the grievances of the people and settle them on the spot. He is considered close to Sukhbir and was reportedly doing the legwork for Harsimrat's campaign. He said he would camp here for three days every week and spend the remaining time in Chandigarh. While Jassi and other Congress leaders were trying to ridicule the Badal family by making allegations against them of getting registered “fake” cases against Congress activists in a bid to demoralise them, the SAD leadership was sticking to its development agenda. Work has been speeded on construction of the civil airport so that flights start operating within the next two to three months and steps were being taken to formally inaugurate the `20,000 crore refinery that is being claimed as one of the major achievements of the SAD. Sukhbir has reportedly asked the private players to accelerate work on the two upcoming thermal power projects in the Mansa district that is also a part of the Bathinda parliamentary constituency. It is to be seen whether the PPP chief Manpreet Singh Badal or his father Gurdas Badal, both of whom lost the recent assembly elections, would contest the Lok Sabha election from here or not. After losing the election against his brother and Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, Gurdas had said he would now start preparing to contest the Lok Sabha election against Harsimrat.
	checking corruption Singled out, revenue officials cry foul Balwant Garg Tribune News Service Faridkot, April 16 In an image-refurbishing mode, Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh has asked the Chief Secretary to enhance the allocation of hospitality expenses for every district to nail corruption in the revenue department. But the Revenue Officers' Associations in Punjab has claimed that corruption was an all-pervasive and vertical phenomenon in the state. It was not fair to single out the revenue department, the association said. General secretary of the association JC Parinda said, “These voices against corruption are just a superficial move - high on rhetoric and low on substance,” adding that corruption was a vertical phenomenon and needed to be checked at the top first. After a meeting in Ludhiana last year, the executive body of the revenue officers had asked the state government to bring transparency in posting and transfer of revenue officials. “We support the fight against corruption but making only revenue officials as scapegoat is not fair,” said Parinda. “We had sent a copy of 'reasons and solutions' for corruption in the revenue department to the Chief Minister, the Deputy CM, the financial commissioner (Revenue), commissioners, deputy commissioners and all members of the association. But there was no response,” said Parinda. About 16 years ago, a senior IAS officer wrote a letter to the then Punjab CM and the then chief secretary, making many startling revelations about corruption in the revenue department, Parinda said. In this letter (PA-96/2467/13-6-1996), the divisional commissioner of Jalandhar, BK Srivastava, wrote that the revenue officials were under huge burden of incurring heavy expenses on the visits of VIPs and so they were forced to earn money the wrong way. Srivastava's letter followed an agitation by revenue officials of Jalandhar and Amritsar divisions as one of them had been insulted by a senior judicial officer for not arranging a comfortable car for his family, which was on way to Dalhousie in Himachal Pradesh for holidaying. Messages are received at district headquarters from the protocol department at Chandigarh for treating officers/judges and VIPs as state guests without giving any funds, revealed the letter, a copy of which is in the possession of TNS. But 16 years down the line, there was no effort to improve the situation, said JC Parinda. Besides, the state government needed to ponder over other reasons for corruption in the department, he said.
	10 villages request for shifting liquor vends Archit Watts Tribune News Service Muktsar, April 16 The State Excise and Taxation Department, which earlier faced problems in allotting liquor vends in Muktsar district for the fiscal 2012-13, is now facing public demand to shift the location of liquor vends. At least 10 such applications have reached the district office seeking immediate shifting of the liquor vends from the existing locations. Sources in the department told TNS that residents of Sotha, Bhangchadi, Krishanpura, Dabra, Maur, Kauni, Lakhewali, Ballamgarh, Kotli Sanghar and Shaheed Beant Singh Nagar in Gidderbaha have requested them to relocate the liquor vends to some other site. For the purpose, residents of Kotli Sanghar village have even approached the Punjab State Human Rights Commission (PSHRC), which has sought a reply from the district administration in this regard. Similarly, residents of Kauni village have taken a joint decision in the village panchayat that they would not allow opening of a liquor vend in residential areas. Residents of some other villages have also lodged protests to shift the vends in their villages. GS Tiwana, assistant excise and taxation commissioner, Muktsar, said, “I have directed the inspectors to visit the sites and submit a report in this regard. The action will be taken on the findings of the report.” However, he added that the public must raise objection before the allotment of vends, so that the department could easily change the location.
	Minister asked to withdraw ‘false’ cases against forest workers Our Correspondent Fazilka, April 16 The Punjab Sub-ordinate Services Federation (PSSF) and the Forest Department Workers’ Union have asked the forest minister to withdraw the “false” cases registered against forest workers. A deputation of leaders and workers led by PSSF general secretary Harbhajan Singh Khunger, vice-president Kulwant Singh Lehri, district president Ravinder Luthra and vice-president Shashi Kant met the minister, Surjit Kumar Jyani, today and expressed resentment over the “false” cases registered against the forest workers at the behest of senior officials in the department. The leaders alleged that the workers were being implicated as they tried to expose the corrupt practices prevailing in the department. In a memorandum submitted to Jyani, representatives of different employee organisations pointed out that four criminal cases have been registered against the workers in the police stations of Ferozepur cantonment and the city. They have been booked on the charge of felling 342 trees during the month of March, 2012. The minister assured the deputation that an inquiry would be conducted to look into the allegations.
	Damaged bridge threatens to cut short commuters’ lives Our Correspondent Fazilka, April 16 The bridge situated on the Aspal seepage drain on the national highway-10 near Karni Khera village in this district is a lurking danger for commuters. The bridge was raised nearly a decade ago, at a wrong angle by allegedly violating the set norms of constructing a bridge on a national highway. Hence, drivers running their vehicles at a high speed fail to anticipate the curve ahead resulting in accidents. Secondly, the width of the bridge is about 10 feet only. As a result, it is not possible for two four-wheelers to cross the bridge simultaneously. The railing of the bridge was extensively damaged a few years back, which has not been repaired so far. Notably, dozens of villages fall across the bridge and it connects these villages to the town. Thousands of people, including tourists, travel to witness the retreat (flag lowering) ceremony at the Sadiqi JCP and to pay obeisance at the war memorial in Asafwala village on this route. The area is nearer to the international border. However, it will not be easy for the Army’s large vehicles to cross the bridge if there is an emergency. “Recently, several accidents have taken place on this bridge. Not a long time ago, a tractor-trolley and a motorcycle had fallen into a nearly 15-feet-deep Aspal seepage drain causing serious injuries to the drivers. The accident could have been averted if the bridge was not damaged,” pointed out one Surinder Kumar Ahuja of village Karnikhera, whose land falls across the bridge. He added that the villagers had brought the matter to the notice of the authorities concerned but to no avail. Fazilka MLA Surjit Kumar Jyani had raised the issue of this wrongly-constructed bridge in the Punjab Assembly during his previous tenure. An expert contractor and official sources maintain that as per the bylaws, the bridge on the national highway should have been constructed at a 90-degree angle. On the contrary, the road was diverted and the bridge became “dangerous” for the commuters. Superintending Engineer (Drainage), Muktsar, AS Maan said he had taken charge of the newly set up circle recently and hence, was not in a position to comment on the matter. The villagers have demanded from the Drainage Department authorities that it should re-construct a comfortable, straight and wider bridge for the convenience of the villagers to avert any major tragedy in future.

Political pulls & pressures handcuff police action
Balwant Garg/TNS

Faridkot, April 16
With growing incidents of chain snatching, misbehaviour with women and rowdyism, cops are facing a big challenge in dealing with suspected culprits, most of whom are drug addicts. Besides facing political ‘pulls and pressures’, the police have to face a tough time in dealing with the psychiatric problems, relating to these addicts.

On Sunday evening, an incident took place in Faridkot in which a Pakistani woman was looted. The police faced a tough time in questioning a suspected youth. Minutes after the culprits snatched a bag from Tahira Hadayat, a resident of Lahore who is in Faridkot for the treatment of her son, the police rounded up five suspected youths because of their resemblance with the culprits.

When the police were questioning these youths, a politically well connected senior official arrived and rebuked the cops for daring to question her son. As this official flaunted her proximity to a DGP rank officer, the police officials questioning the suspected youths, retreated and freed them all without any questioning.

It is not just this kind of pressure from the ‘higher-ups’, that makes the police reluctant in laying hands on these suspects. Another reason is that most of them are drug addicts.

Depending on the severity of addiction, cops feel that in the absence of drug supply to these addicts lodged in police lock-up, the withdrawal symptoms not only put these detainees at the risk of medical and psychiatric problems but can also land the police in a difficult situation in case an addict dies.

“Once an addict is arrested by the police, in the absence of any medical intervention in the lock-up, these addicts prove to be a big headache for the police due to the withdrawal symptoms that they suffer. So, many a time, the cops on duty have to bear the burden of providing drugs to these addicts so that any medical complication does not land the police in trouble with the tag of custodial death,” said a police officer in Faridkot.

Deep Malhotra, Faridkot MLA, said he had given clear-cut directions to the police not to care about any pulls and pressures and take strict legal action against the culprits.

“The involvement of addicts in such cases is common but the police is not taking a lenient view,” said Gurmit Singh Chauhan, SSP, Faridkot.