 |
|
|
Singla asked to appear before court
Lack of awareness hampers law on ensuring food safety
Rural schools deserted as students harvest wheat
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
self-helP Groups
PTU GZS congratulates ISRO on satellite launch
One booked for operating distillery
Writers’ interaction at CUP
LJP seeks 85 pc jobs for Punjabis in refinery
|
|||||||||||
|
Singla asked to appear before court
Bathinda, April 26 AS Dhaliwal, Superintendent, Central Excise Department, had accused Sarup Chand Singla, the then president of the Beopar Mandal, Madan Lal Kapoor, and some others of instigating a mob and attacking the raiding party with sticks and iron rods. He alleged that the mob damaged two vehicles of the officials, manhandled them, resulting in injuries, and snatched Rs 1,500 in cash and a wrist watch. In his complaint to the police, Dhaliwal had stated that ten excise officials including the superintendents, inspectors and other officials from the Central Excise Commissionerate-II, Chandigarh, headed by the deputy commissioner, Central Excise, Manmohan Singh, had come to Bathinda on March 6, 1998. They had received reports that some units including the Super Steel Industry, Singla Machinery Store and Ajad Engineering Works, all situated on Bibiwala Road, Bathinda, were engaged in the manufacturing and clearing of excisable goods like diesel generating sets and diesel engine and were selling them clandestinely without accounting for in the statutory Central Excise records. It was alleged that these industries were suppressing their production and sales figures to remain under the exemption limit of Rs 30 lakhs in a financial year with the intention of evading the Central Excise duty. Three teams were formulated and it was claimed by the officials that statutory search warrants were issued to them-the claim was argued by the opposite party in the court and it was stated that no official showed the search
warrants. The first party comprising superintendent AS Dhaliwal along with inspector Jatinder Singh, inspector RC Sharma and sepoy Bharpur Singh
visited M/s Super Steel Industry. The second party including superintendent Sukhdev Singh and inspector KG Gautam searched the business premises of Singla Machinery Store and the third party comprising superintendent KK Kapoor, inspector Tarlochan Singh, inspector Harpreet Singh and sepoy Bahadur Singh searched M/s Ajad Engineering Works. Deputy Commissioner of the department, Manmohan Singh, was also present during the search but went back to office later. It was alleged that during the checking, a mob attacked them and used derogatory language against the officials, manhandled them and damaged their two vehicles, including a Gypsy and a Maruti car. A case under sections 353, 186, 427, 506, 382, 332, 148 and 149 of the IPC was registered in this connection at the Kotwali police station. Later, a challan was presented in the court against five people including Madan Lal Kapoor, Sarup Chand Singla, Des Raj and Sawal Ram (both servants), and Raman Kumar. Earlier, one of the accused named by the officials of the department, Sewak Ram Bhola, generator operator, was discharged on the pretext that he was in a hospital at Jakhal in Haryana when the incident took place. Singla's counsel and senior advocate Nand Lal Garg said Singla has been told to appear before the court for final judgment in the case tomorrow. He said that earlier, Madan Lal Kapoor, one of the co-accused in the case, was sentenced to one-year imprisonment and asked to pay a fine of Rs 500 by the court while the others were discharged. Garg claimed that no department officials gave statements against Sarup Chand Singla while recording their statements and instead stated that he had tried to pacify the mob. Though the department had moved a petition demanding action against the accused, the officials, however, failed to make any statements. Also, their department's lawyer was not present in the court today, Garg added. |
|
Lack of awareness hampers law on ensuring food safety
Bathinda, April 26 Perhaps due to lack of awareness, no small shopkeeper, rehriwala, pheriwala or vendor with an annual turnover below Rs 12 lakh, has applied to the District Food Safety Office for getting himself registered in the Bathinda district while around 12 business establishments with an annual turnover above Rs 12 lakh have applied to the district office for procuring the licences so far. As per the available information, the 12 establishments that have applied for licences, included distributors of juice, edible oils and other food products, Easyday stores and a hotel. However, out of these around 12 establishments, the licences of five have already been prepared by the district office here. In the name of infrastructure and manpower, at present, there is only Food Safety Officer, besides a clerk who has been looking after some other work in the Civil Surgeon's office here. Besides, the District Health Officer has been made the designated officer (in-charge) for the implementation of the Act. For creating awareness among the small shopkeepers, pheriwalas and rehriwalas who are reportedly about one lakh in number and thousands of big business establishments in the district, no separate budget has been provided for the purpose by the state health authorities, which is essential if the government wants proper implementation of the Act. Besides, the District Food Safety Office also requires a computer operator and a clerk for it. Sources told this reporter that the Act had been enacted and implemented to protect the interests of the consumers. Some special provisions had also been included in the Act for the protection of consumers so that they could not be deceived or misled by anyone by adopting unfair practices, including advertisements, in the case of food articles. Caught in the web
|
|
Rural schools deserted as students harvest wheat
Bathinda, April 26 "While those from the affluent families are busy monitoring the harvesting, those from the lower strata of society work as labourers," said a teacher in Nathana block. Students of all age-groups start missing school with the onset of the harvesting season. Young children, who cannot work as labourers, are entrusted the task of keeping an eye on the wheat stock in the grain markets, serve food to the labourers and lend a helping hand in preparing food and in taking care of the other chores. Afraid of drawing flak from the education department, the teachers are forced to either mark fake attendance or show the students on leave in the attendance register. "We are under constant scrutiny through various components of education in the state such as the Parho Punjab and Sarv Shiksha Abhiyaan (SSA). Unable to meet the desired targets under these programmes, we have no option but to mark fake attendance and pass students without actually assessing their performance in the exams," added another teacher. The teachers also blamed the education department for being too lenient with the students. There is no fixed date for last admission and children keep pouring in for admission even till late July or early August in the middle of the academic session. A teacher revealed that two years ago, the education department had changed the last date for admission 11 times. "Education is not a priority for the common man. When people get Rs 300 per day working as labourer, why would they send their kids to school? The government should ensure kids are not deployed for any farm work at all," said another teacher. |
|
self-helP Groups
Bathinda, April 26 Besides providing employment to the members of the BPL families, these SHGs are also supplementing their income. According to information, every member of the SHG, after paying the instalment of the loan, earns several hundreds of rupees per month by working at the venture, for which the SHG has taken the loan from a bank. As per information, about 100 SHGs are active nowadays in the district. Each group comprises eight to 12 members. Most of these groups are running their ventures, like handloom, bee-keeping, stitching and knitting, dairy farming and tent-house. When contacted, Assistant Project Officer (APO) of the DRDA, Sadhu Ram Kusla said besides running their ventures, a large number of SHGs were also working for the mid-day meal scheme. These groups either prepare food in the schools for mid-day meal or supply the food to the schools, he added. Kusla said in 2005, the Bathinda DRDA involved the SHGs in the mid-day meal work in Bathinda block. After its success, in 2006, the SHGs had been involved in the mid-day meal work in the entire district. Then the Government of India sent a national-level monitor to Bathinda, who was impressed by the activity and reported the matter to the Union Government, he added. He said even two to three private companies had also adopted some SHGs by giving them work for their companies. He said these SHGs were now marketing the products of the companies or doing other work for them. The SHGs are being formed by the Gram Sewikas of the DRDA by motivating the women and girls in the villages. They get the forms filled by the women for forming the SHG. After that, the Block Development and Panchayat Officer (BDPO) sends the case to the DRDA that sends the same to the bank for sanctioning the loan to start the
venture. The bank also provides subsidy on the loan amount to the beneficiaries.
Fact file
|
|
SVIMT to introduce journalism courses
Bathinda, April 26 In a press release issued here today, the centre head, Raj Gupta, stated that a specially constituted team from Punjab Technical University, Jalandhar, visited the institute’s campus for inspection. The team members included the assistant manager of PTU Invasions Regional Centre, Ludhiana, Atul Kumar and Dr Rajiv Chawla from the Adesh Medical Institute of Medical Sciences and Research, Bhucho. Centre head Raj Gupta, fashion designing department’s head Sharnjeet Kaur, lecturer Maninder Kaur Bhullar and librarian Reena Katoch welcomed the inspection team. “The team members were impressed by the infrastructure, in terms of books, latest computers and buildings, available here,” Raj Gupta said. She added that the facilities were not only reviewed for the journalism courses but also for the B.Sc fashion technology, M.Sc fashion technology and diploma in textile designing courses. “The committee has given its nod for the courses that would start in July 2012,” she added. |
|
PTU GZS congratulates ISRO on satellite launch
Bathinda, April 26 In a press statement issued here, the institute’s spokesperson stated that the satellite would provide data about the earth, anytime of the day or night or even under cloudy conditions. This success would be particularly beneficial in mapping floods, the area under agriculture apart from other applications. Given the vast potential of remote sensing data in mapping earth resources, the Punjab Technical University (PTU), Jalandhar, in collaboration with Punjab Remote Sensing Centre (PRSC), Ludhiana, is launching an MTech course in geoinformatics, which would be based on remote sensing technology. The course is expected to overcome the shortage of trained technical manpower in the area. The team involved in launching geoinformatics
MTech course, including the vice-chancellor, PTU Jalandhar, Dr Rajneesh Arora, Dean Academics, PTU Jalandhar, Dr Buta Singh Sidhu, Director, PRSC Ludhiana, Dr Brijendra Pateriya, campus director PTU GZS campus, Dr Jasbir Singh Hundal, registrar PTU GZS campus, GS Bath, nodal officer of the course from PRSC Ludhiana and PTU Giani Zail Singh Campus, Dr Ajay Mathur, and Dr Manjeet Bansal, congratulated the ISRO team. |
|
One booked for operating distillery
Bathinda, April 26 Police has also recovered five kg of illegal liquor and 200 kilogram of illegal material used to prepare liquor. No arrest has been made so far by the police. One booked for cheating
A resident of Malwala village has been booked by the police for duping a resident of Kot Shamir. The complainant in the case, Jaswinder Singh, alleged that Surjit Singh cheated him of Rs 11 lakhs by getting the fake registration of a piece of land in his name in Tungwali village. A case under Section 420 of the IPC has been registered against the accused at the Nathana police station. No arrest has been made by the police so far. One arrested with habit-forming drugs
Harchet Singh of Jethuke village has been arrested by the police with habit-forming drugs. Nearly 200 capsules and 150 tablets have been recovered from his possession during a naka laid by the police near Jethuke village. A case under Sections 22, 61, 85 of the NDPS Act has been registered against the accused at Rampura Sadar police station. Two booked for stealing wheat bags
Police has booked two residents of Kot Shamir for allegedly stealing six bags of wheat of three quintal. The complainant in the case, Jagjit Singh said Sewak Singh and Namdev Singh, both residents of Kot Shamir, had stolen his wheat crop from a room situated in his agricultural fields. A case under Sections 457 and 380 of the IPC has been registered against the accused at the Kotfatta police station. One arrested with pistol
A resident of Rama has been arrested by the police with a country-made .315 bore pistol and three live cartridges from near Rama Mandi during a special checking. The accused, Krishna alias Ravi, was brought to the Rama police station for investigation and a case under Sections 25, 54 and 59 of the Arms Act has been registered against him. |
|
Writers’ interaction at CUP
Bathinda, April 26 Navtej Bharti and Ajmer Singh Rode are famous for their epic work 'Leela'. Both these writers write both in Punjabi and English languages and in addition to writing poetry, they have made significant contributions in the field of prose and translation. Central University of Punjab has been conducting seminars and extension lectures by inviting scholars and intellectuals of great repute to its campus. Thes lecture is a part of that series. The lecture would be followed by a brief interaction with the audience. |
|
LJP seeks 85 pc jobs for Punjabis in refinery
Bathinda, April 26 In a press statement, issued here today, Gehri said an announcement to this effect should be made by the Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh when he would visit the refinery to inaugurate it formally on April 28. He said the Punjab government should ask the Prime Minister to do the same. He urged the government to make the refinery staff and the Punjab a partner in the profit.
— TNS |
|
| HOME PAGE | |
Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir |
Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs |
Nation | Opinions | | Business | Sports | World | Letters | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | Delhi | | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | E-mail | |
