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Farmers scout for labourers at railway station
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Rein in ‘vendetta’ or we will retaliate, Jakhar warns govt
Train unemployed rural youth, CM to engg colleges
Bhattal, Amarinder battle it out ahead of civic body poll
Congress manifesto a bundle of lies: SAD
BJP forms task force
Withdraw or face action: Capt to rebels
Army Chief’s alma mater celebrates his elevation
Paddy season
Illegal sand mining continues in Sidhwan
Bathinda-Chandigarh highway to be widened
Women lag behind in blood donation
Immigration aspirants to hold protest in Delhi
11 hand grenades, live cartridges found
Jilted lover gets life term for setting girl afire
5-kg heroin seized from Pak train
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Farmers scout for labourers at railway station
Rajpura, June 2 Rajpura is the first station in Punjab where trains coming from these states make a stop. Farmers here can be seen luring labourers with extra money, free accommodation and even intoxicants as a package deal. Shortage of labour has forced Punjab farmers to look for migrants for the paddy season, which officially starts from June 10. Paddy is grown on nearly 28 lakh hectares in the state. "I have come from Doraha and after waiting for nearly three days in Ludhiana where I could not find enough expert farm hands, I decided to come to Rajpura, which is the first station in Punjab and trains here are packed with enough labourers," said Jagdish Singh Garcha, a farmer. "In two days, I managed to get 50 labourers I needed," said Garcha, as he wiped sweat off his bearded face. A farmer from Sangrur said: "His sons and nephews are not ready to work in the fields and thus they have to depend on migrant labour, which is hard to find these days." "Even if you get them, they charge heavily and are still not experts," said Ravdeep Singh, claiming that migrant labourers demand nearly Rs 3,500 per hectare in addition to food, liquor and other expenses. Experts in the Agriculture Department say Punjab needs nearly seven lakh labourers for work in the fields in addition to other tasks. The dependency of Punjab on migrant labour is nearly 90 per cent. However, there is a shortage of migrant labourers due to the success of MNREGA scheme in states like Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. "Most of my cousins and relatives are happy back home as several schemes have been launched by the government under which they are getting handsome wages," says Radhey, a migrant from Lucknow. Experts say the shortage of migrants would increase every year due to improving working conditions in their home states. "To tackle this, the Punjab government has started giving subsidy on machines that sow paddy straight through drill and save labour," they claim.
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Rein in ‘vendetta’ or we will retaliate, Jakhar warns govt
Amritsar, June 2 Addressing Congress workers before handing over a memorandum to the Amritsar SSP (rural) regarding alleged police excesses against them, Jakhar alleged that right from the day they formed the government in the state, power seemed to have gone to the head of the ruling alliance. “We know that this memorandum will not solve the purpose and we will have to struggle to get justice from this government. We will corner the government on the floor of the Vidhan Sabha and seek answers from it on the police excesses on our party workers,” he said. Jakhar said Parkash Singh Badal had become the CM for the fifth time and he “should rise above petty politics”. “We will make the government hear our voice for justice and gherao every police station for it. Now, we will not hesitate in breaching the limits of the law. If the police excesses on our workers do not stop, we too will pay back in the same coin,” he said. Jakhar claimed while the farmers’ plight in the state was pathetic, the government was least bothered to appoint new agriculture minister after the exit of Tota Singh. “The government is awaiting the verdict on the appeal of its former minister and is indifferent to the peasants’ woes,” he said. He alleged that funds worth Rs 54 crore meant for scholarships to SC/BC students were embezzled. He reminded the CM of his promise to “bridle bureaucracy” in the state and asked him to keep his word. Regarding withdrawal of nominations by Congress, he claimed they were being pressurised to pull out of the race and it is a part of the SAD's vendetta politics. Among the senior Congress leaders present on the occasion were Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa, Ashwani Sekhri, Harpartap Singh Ajnala, Jugal Kishore Sharma, Prof Darbari Lal, Harminder Singh Gill, Gurchet Singh Bhullar and Dharamvir
Agnihotri.
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Train unemployed rural youth, CM to engg colleges
Chandigarh, June 2 Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal has asked all engineering colleges to establish at least one such centre in their respective institute to impart quality training to uneducated, dropouts and unemployed youth, especially those with rural background. At a meeting with business tycoons, eminent educationists and senior officers of the state here today, Badal announced that no new engineering college would be granted permission without its commitment to set up such a skill development training centre. The institutions would ensure employability of these trained skilled workers through tie-up with the industry, he said. Expressing concern over "least attention" paid on human resources development at the national level, the Chief Minister asked the vice chancellors of PAU, GADVASU and Baba Farid Medical University of Health Sciences to introduce need-based courses in different disciplines to provide short-term vocational training. Emphasising the need to make rural youth aware about these courses and training programmes, Badal asked the universities to initiate a campaign so that the maximum number of youth could be benefited. The Chief Minister also approved a proposal mooted by the CII to establish skill training "gurukuls" in industrial towns to impart quality vocational training to the youth for their employment in local industry. He asked the CII to work out a complete plan to cover the entire state. He also approved to constitute a committee for an effective planning and implementation of this scheme. Badal said to avoid multiple certifications of skill centres, a single certification system would be formulated with the help and guidance of the PHD Chambers of Commerce. On job to check unemployment n No engineering college will come up without its commitment to set up a skill development training centre n
Universities have been told to introduce need-based courses in different disciplines to provide short-term vocational training n
CM clears CII proposal to establish skill training "gurukuls" to give training to the youth for employment in local industry
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Bhattal, Amarinder battle it out ahead of civic body poll
Chandigarh, June 2 Criticising the party’s “unorganised” campaign, Bhattal, a Congress MLA from Lehragaga who has also remained a Chief Minister and CLP leader, said the process “could be streamlined even at this late stage”. For this, she claimed, the PCC should issue a programme to take on the ruling Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), which was “bulldozing its way to victory” in the civic body elections. “It is necessary for the PCC chief to lead the workers from the front. The party leadership should have learnt a lesson from the Assembly poll debacle and worked hard to placate the rebels in the civic polls,” she said. Bhattal said a protest strategy against the SAD “vendetta” needed to be chalked out and executed immediately. She claimed she had spoken in this regard to CLP leader Sunil Jakhar and even tried unsuccessfully to contact Capt Amarinder Singh. For her part, she claimed, she would be leading an agitation in Khanauri against the Akali “excesses”. When contacted, Amarinder said the campaign was “going on well”. “Congress vice-presidents did a good job earlier in selecting candidates. I will start a four-day tour of all corporation cities from June 5 and spend the last day before the poll in Patiala,” he said. Earlier, Amarinder had announced a 13-day campaign programme. Reacting to Bhattal’s statement, he said the party workers had to take Akali excesses in their stride and that “there was no need for Bhattal to get concerned about it”. “In fact, Bhattal, being a senior leader, should participate in the campaign and not bother about the party, which is in good shape,” he said. Though the Congress has been trying to rein in the rebels, sources claim the effort may not achieve much success. Lal Singh, the party’s civic poll incharge for Ludhiana, said the 19 Congress rebels who had floated a new forum were still in the fray. Lal Singh visited Ludhiana today in a bid to persuade a few of the forum members to withdraw in support of official candidates.
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Congress manifesto a bundle of lies: SAD
Chandigarh, June 2 In a statement, SAD spokesman Daljit Singh Cheema said it was surprising that the Congress had made a host of promises without understanding the ground realities. He alleged that the Congress had released its manifesto hurriedly without even verifying whether the promises being made by the party were within the jurisdiction of the civic bodies. Ridiculing the Congress's announcement on ensuring transparency and removing corruption, Cheema said it was ironical to know that the party, whose leadership "itself was neck deep in corruption", was making such a promise. The SAD spokesman alleged that corruption and Congress were two sides of the same coin. He said it was surprising to note that the same day when the Congress imposed property tax in Haryana, the party's Punjab unit promised the opposite to the people. "One fails to understand how a national party is trying to befool the people of two adjoining states?" he said. On an announcement regarding the declaration of assets by the Congress councillors in the first week of every financial year, Cheema said the same promise had been made by the party leaders before the Assembly elections in 2002, which was never fulfilled.
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BJP forms task force
Chandigarh, June 2 BJP state president Ashwani Sharma said the move would strengthen the party's poll campaign. The appointees for include: Arun Sharma, (Jalandhar North), Jeevan Sachdeva (Jalandhar South), Rakesh Duggal (Kapurthala), Sudesh Sharma (Nawanshahr), Jagtar Singh (Hoshiarpur), Umesh Shakar (Mukerian), Ramsharan Prashar (Amritsar Rural), Ashok Modgil (Batala), Rakesh Jyoti (Gurdaspur), Narender Parmar (Pathankot), Sanjiv Dhamija (Khanna), Dr Shristi Garg (Jagraon) and Vijay Sharma
(Moga).
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Withdraw or face action: Capt to rebels
Chandigarh, June 2 Amarinder, in a statement, has asked all the rebels to withdraw by Monday, failing which they would be expelled from the party for a period of six years. Maintaining that the rebels would not gain anything by standing against official candidates, he said it would only provide undue advantage to the Akali-BJP alliance. He said this was the time for the party rank and file to unite and romp home all the four municipal corporations. The PCC chief said the candidates were selected after thorough discussions and deliberations and that it was not possible to give seat to every applicant.
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Army Chief’s alma mater celebrates his elevation
Nabha, June 2 As students, teaching faculty and guests, including decorated defence officers and schooltime friends of the Army Chief, celebrated the elevation of General Bikram to the coveted post, for some, who used to call the General as "Biki", it was an emotional occasion. General Bikram shared his sentiments with present school headmaster Jagpreet Singh over the phone. Overwhelmed with the respect and honour accorded to him by the school, the Army Chief thanked his alma mater and expressed gratitude for the mega celebrations organised by the school. Giving the credit of his success to his alma mater, he said he was proud to be part of the PPS family. General Bikram also spoke to Dr Kulminder Singh "Kuli" Dhillon, a school alumnus and a friend of the former, for about five minutes. Some old time friends of the General, who had come from far off places to join the celebrations, said: Biki not only fulfilled the dream of his father but also made the school, its students, alumni and staff proud." Dr Kuli said: "It was four decades ago when he met the young and energetic Biki. We became best pals and stayed together till Bikram joined the NDA. Biki was good at everything and I often used to envy him". He said though Bikram was dedicated and committed to achieve success, letters by his father exhorting him to do something good for his motherland played a great role in inspiring him. General Bikram's success is being celebrated in the US as well. Charanjeet Singh, also a PPS alumnus, is hosting a jubilation event at Delaware, US. He has invited a number of General's schoolmates settled in India and abroad to join the celebrations.
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Paddy season
Patiala, June 2 PSPCL chairman-cum-managing director KD Chaudhri said during the paddy season, the daily demand for AP consumers would vary between 2,600 MW and 2,700 MW. "To meet this requirement, the corporation will purchase 2,000 MW from the market," he said, adding that short-term power purchase agreements have already been signed in this regard. Chaudhri said: "One unit (210 MW capacity) of Guru Gobind Singh Super Thermal Plant, Ropar, which was shut for maintenance, will become operational in next two-three days. Besides, unit No. 3 (110-MW capacity) of Guru Nanak Dev Thermal Plant, Bathinda, will be back by the last week of June. The power scenario is thus likely to improve in the coming days". Arun Verma, director, distribution, PSPCL, said work was in full swing to reduce load from overloaded agricultural feeders. "Likewise, the work to bring down the load of grid stations is in progress and in next six to eight weeks, there will be immense improvement in this regard," he asserted. Verma said the corporation had not been imposing any cuts and if there was blackout in any area, it was because of some fault.
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Illegal sand mining continues in Sidhwan
Jagraon, June 2 Sources said the sand mafia enjoyed political patronage of certain leaders of the ruling party and they often issue threats to officials of the mining department not to interfere in their illegal activities. The practice continues unchecked on the banks of the Sutlej near Sidhwan Bet area despite a ban imposed on mining of the sand. Even after instructions of the high court, the state government has failed to curb illegal sand mining from the riverbed. Investigation carried out by The Tribune revealed that illegal mining had been going on at a large scale on the Sutlej riverbed near Parjian Biharipur, Madepur, Akkuana and other villages. Everyday, hundreds of tractor trolleys illegally carry sand from the riverbed. An official said, “The well-organised sand mafia earns crores of rupees every month. Sand worth Rs 9 lakh is excavated illegally everyday, thus causing a huge loss to the state exchequer.” Officials of the mining department alleged that they were unable to stop the illegal practice due to political pressure on them. "We are unable to act as certain leaders of the ruling party force us not to take any action against the sand mafia operating in the area. If any official try to stop mafia men from excavating sand, goons hired by the mafia threaten official of dire consequences," said a senior officer of the mining department. "The situation is so grave that officials who try to stop this illegal practice start receiving threat calls on their mobile phones," he added. The mining department had also written to Ludhiana Deputy Commissioner and Ludhiana (Rural) police about the threats being issued to its officials and demanded security from the police. "The police has failed to provide any kind of security cover to officials of the mining department for the reasons best known to them. As a result, officials fear in taking any action against the sand mafia," said an official of the department. Sources said the sand mafia had even hired goons to prevent anyone from exposing this illegal business and they were even provided with guns and other sharp-edged weapons and were paid highly for their services. District mining officer Mahesh Khanna said he was aware of the illegal sand mining in Sidhwan Bet area. Admitting that the sand mafia had been issuing threat to officials of the mining department, he said, "We have written to the Deputy Commissioner, Ludhiana, and the police for making security arrangements for officials the mining department and help in curbing this illegal practice. Unfortunately, no security has been provided to our officials and it is difficult to face the sand mafia in such a situation", he added. SSP Ludhiana (Rural) Gurpreet Singh Toor said the police had never denied security to the mining department officials. "We are always ready to cooperate with the mining department and whenever they have asked for security, we have provided it. In future too, the police will always be available to provide every possible assistance to the mining department in curbing this illegal practice", he assured.
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Bathinda-Chandigarh highway to be widened
Badal (Muktsar), June 2 It would have 14 grade separators and flyovers at Kharar-Banur, Tepla crossing, Liberty Chowk Rajpura, at the merging point of Patiala-Sangrur Dhanaula bypass, junction of Samana-Nabha Road, T-Junction with NH 71 at Barnala, Handiyaya Chowk, Bhucho Mandi Chowk, Bibi Wala Chowk and Rose Garden Chowk at Bathinda. It will have three rail overbridges (ROBs), one at Rajpura bypass and two at Sangrur bypass and Rampura Phul. The Chandigarh-Bathinda Road will have 11 vehicular underpasses, one in Banur, five on Patiala bypass, three on Sangrur bypass, Sunam junction and military area near the army camping ground. It would have 21 pedestrian underpasses, 17 on Patiala by-pass, village Channo, Gurdwara Mastuana Sahib, military area in front of KV School. Besides, the road will have a major high-level bridge on Bhakra main line on Patiala bypass besides service roads in Zirakpur, Banur, Rajpura, Bhawanigarh, Mastuana Sahib, Dhanaula, Barnala, Tapa, Rampura Phul, Lehra Mohabbat through Bathinda city.
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Women lag behind in blood donation
Ludhiana, June 2 Harwant Singh Baidwan, officer in-charge of the blood donation programme at the State Red Cross Society office in Chandigarh, said, "We keep organising blood donation camps from time to time all over the state and also keep public aware through seminars, workshops and talks. Yet, we observe that only 15 to 20 per cent women come forward for this cause." Dr Amarjeet Kaur, professor and head of blood transfusion department, Dayanand Medical College and Hospital, Ludhiana, said, "Women and girls do come for blood donation but many of them are anaemic. The females should take iron and calcium supplements at the appropriate age." Setting an example, Mohali-based Jaswant Kaur (56) inspired her husband Balwant Singh (58) for blood donation. Talking to The Tribune, Jaswant Kaur said, "It was in 1986 when I donated blood for the first time during a camp at Baba Farid Mela in Faridkot. I also persuaded my husband to donate blood and he also started donating blood." The couple has got its name registered in the Limca Book of Records-2012 for the maximum blood donations (72 times by a couple). The couple donates blood on January 1, April 7 (World Health Day), July 5 (their marriage anniversary) and October 7 (National Blood Donation Day).
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Immigration aspirants to hold protest in Delhi
Jalandhar, June 2 More than 3 lakh Asians had applied for Canadian PR before 2008. But their hopes to seek a better future in Canada crash-landed following a proposal of the Canadian Government to terminate “certain applications” filed under its Federal Skilled Worker Programme before February 27 in 2008. The proposed rejection of such applications had resulted into protests in north India, particularly in Punjab from where more than 2 lakh PR applications were filed before 2008. — TNS
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11 hand grenades, live cartridges found
Maherna Kalan (Mandi Ahmedgarh), June 2 The ammunition was recovered from the land belonging to Jarnail Singh yesterday. The Jagraon police today informed the bomb disposal squad of the Punjab Armed Police about the recovery of hand grenades. Meanwhile, a case has been registered under various sections of the Arms Act at the Raekot police station against unknown persons. An official said a plastic bad containing 11 hand grenades and two live cartridges was found buried in a field on the outskirts of the village. Jarnail Singh, who had purchased the land from a farmer of Maherna Khurad village recently, was shocked when labourers digging land near a house informed him about recovery of a bag. Eleven round blocks of the size of a human fist, resembling hand grenades and two cartridges, were found in rusted condition, he said, adding that the bag was buried only 3 feet deep in the land. Ludhiana (Rural) Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Gurpreet Singh Toor initiated a probe into the incident and advised the investigating team to hand over the ammunition to the bomb disposal squad of the PAP after verifying origin and nature of the recovered grenades. The area remained the epicentre of terrorist activists during eighties and hardcore terrorists owing allegiance to the Babbar Khalsa, Khalistan Liberation Force and the Khalistan Liberation Force (Panjwar Group) had managed their hideouts in some of the villages of the region, including Maherna Kalan. The conspiracy for the Shingaar (2008) blast was also allegedly hatched at Ghuman village in the area. The SSP said he had directed the concerned officials not to ignore any angle while carrying out the investigations. As particulars and genesis of the ammunition could not be ascertained in normal way, the same would be sent to the PAP for disposal, he added.
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Jilted lover gets life term for setting girl afire
Faridkot, June 2 The court has also imposed a fine of Rs 1.5 lakh on the convict and told the officials concerned to give the amount to the parents of the victim girl. On October 27 last year, Veerpal Kaur of Kotsukhia village in Faridkot was set afire by Hoshiar Singh of the same village. She succumbed to her injuries two days later. In her dying declaration to the police, the victim alleged that Hoshiar Singh had been stalking her for the last several months. She had said that she didn't respond to his advances, which infuriated him and he took the extreme step.
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5-kg heroin seized from Pak train
Amritsar, June 2 Also, this is for the first time that narcotics have been recovered from a goods train at the Amritsar customs cargo. Deputy Commissioner (Customs) Vijay Bahadur Singh said that during routine checking, officials noticed a cement bag in wagon number 72214 that appeared different from others. The bag was of a different brand and bore special marks on it. “We got the bag opened and recovered five packets of heroin… We have inputs about smugglers trying to push narcotics and fake currency into India. Though seizures have earlier been made by the customs authorities at Attari, this is for the first time that narcotics were seized from a goods train,” said Vijay Bahadur.
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Nabha, June 2
