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Daily hearing in Faridkot abduction case begins
Moga police wants rape accused discharged, court says a firm no
Plea on grant to Sanawar school turned down
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Row over Namdhari leadership
Badal seeks Rs 31 crore for watershed management
Will move privilege motion against Joshi on mining policy, says Jakhar
SAD demarcating rural wards for
political benefit, Cong tells Guv
Akali group, Jain supporters clash at party meeting
Gang Rape: Expedite probe, Gurdaspur police told
Expect little relief from power cuts this summer
Farmers confront power authorities at Dirba
Finally, Maqboolpura to get de-addiction centre
Now, a house to come up in 20 hrs!
PTU students express resentment over change in syllabus
Wireless sensors to check structural health of buildings
Health institutes flout waste-disposal rules
Patiala MC’s fiscal crisis puts on hold development works
Projects worth Rs 60 lakh for Fatehgarh Sahib
Frame policy for relief to acid attack victims, HC tells state
Robbers target rich eunuchs
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Daily hearing in Faridkot abduction case begins
Faridkot, January 16 The hearing in this case will be held everyday, except Sunday and court holidays, till February 5. Leaving no scope for unwarranted adjournments during the trial, the Judge asked the public prosecutor to ensure that the witnesses were present during the hearing. Key accused Nishan Singh will also face legal proceedings in a case registered on June 27 last year on similar charges. The police has presented challans in both the cases. The accused were produced before the court under tight security.
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Moga police wants rape accused discharged, court says a firm no
Faridkot, January 16 In his order yesterday, the Judicial Magistrate said that it was amazing that while an FIR was registered after an inquiry by a Deputy Superintendent of Police, three days after the accused was arrested, the Superintendent of Police (Hq), Moga, had conducted another inquiry into the case and given a clean chit to the accused. It was on the basis of this inquiry that the police had moved an application for the discharge of the accused. Opposing this application, the victim alleged that the police was working under pressure and a fresh inquiry be conducted by a senior police officer who was not from Muktsar. Dismissing the plea for discharge of the accused, the judge in his order wrote that the "somersault by the police was baffling. It is a pointer to the fact that extraneous considerations are at play which have led the police to file a discharge application. “There is no merit in the police demand for the discharge of the accused as no ground has been mentioned which proves that the accused is innocent.” The judge directed the police to record the victim’s statement and get her medically examined. The victim had alleged that the accused had physically exploited her for several years on the pretext of taking her aboard after marriage. But the accused had now married someone else.
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Plea on grant to Sanawar school turned down
Chandigarh, January 16 The verdict on the petition filed in public interest by former MLA Sukhpal Singh Khaira came soon after the Punjab Government questioned the powers of courts to decide whether a grant by Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal to his alma mater was given for some “public purpose”. The government had conceded that the donation was not strictly within the ambit of Punjab Nirman Programme but had said that the state government had unbridled powers to give grants for any purpose and that the courts could not sit in judgment as to whether a particular grant had been given for any public purpose. Appearing before a Division Bench of Chief Justice Arjan Kumar Sikri and Justice Rakesh Kumar Jain, Advocate-General Ashok Aggarwal had argued that “ the state government has been conferred the power under Article 282 of the Constitution to spend money on any public purpose and the issue as to whether or not the expenditure was made on public purpose can only be debated and tested in the state assembly. High Courts cannot interfere in such matters under their power of judicial review. Such expenditure can be made outside the state also...” Khaira had contended that funds for Punjab Nirman Programme had been approved by the Vidhan Sabha for specified activities within Punjab.
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Row over Namdhari leadership
Bhaini Sahib/Ludhiana, January 16 In a press conference at Bhaini Sahib, she said she had taken this decision willingly on the wishes of Late Satguru and Namdhari followers. She strongly objected to Thakur Dalip Singh displaying her portraits at various places and appealed to him to abide by the decisions of the Namdhari
Darbar. She said Uday Singh was designated as the Chief in the presence of thousands of Namdhari followers and several other organisations at the Bhog of Late Satguru Jagjit Singh. She said that all the related works of the Namdhari Darbar were functioning normally under the command of the new Chief and that he was performing his duties well. She cautioned the Namadhari Darbar followers not to go against the decisions of the Darbar and appealed to them to abide by its decisions.
Satguru Uday Singh, who was also present, said he had not pulled any strings to become the Chief. He appealed to the Namdhari followers to unite and work for the welfare of humanity as directed by late Satguru Jagjit Singh. Sant Surinder Singh
Namdhari, Sant Jagtar Singh, Sant Harpal Singh and other senior functionaries of the Namdhari Darbar were also present. Meanwhile, in another press meet held in Ludhiana, the International Namdhari Sangat (the group opposed to the present Guru) alleged that some administrators at Bhaini Sahib had been harassing Thakur Dalip Singh and his associates during the
programmes, where they preach the teachings of the Namdhari sect. "Thakur Dalip Singh asks people to follow Mata Chand Kaur's teaching in order to keep the Namdhari Sangat united. There is nothing objectionable in his speeches but some of the administrators, who want to divide the sect, have been trying to disrupt his
programmes," Jaswinder Singh, Chairman, International Namdhari Sangat.
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Badal seeks Rs 31 crore for watershed management
Chandigarh, January 16 Official sources here said the Chief Minister demanded that a sum of Rs 31 crore be released under Phase IV of the Integrated Watershed Management Programme for development of state’s kandi areas as well as the balance of Rs 91 crore under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act
(NREGA) budget. To ensure smooth movement of heavy vehicular traffic on link roads across the state, Badal impressed upon the Union Minister to sanction 385 km of roads. Accepting the demand, the Union Minister approved a proposal for 707 km-link roads.
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Will move privilege motion against Joshi on mining policy, says Jakhar
Chandigarh, January 16 In a statement here, CLP Leader Sunil Jakhar said contrary to what Joshi and Parliamentary Affairs minister Madan Mohan Mittal had promised on the floor of the House during the assembly session in June 2012, the building materials were still selling at exorbitant rates. He said the government had also failed to come out with a pro-people mining policy. Jakhar said the State Industry Department had auctioned 22 sand quarries across the state for Rs 335 crore against the reserve price of Rs 4 crore. He said this disproportionate jump would make sand, the basic raw material for construction, available at a high cost. "It will completely halt the construction activities across the state and add to the unemployment of rural poor, who earn livelihood by doing labour jobs in lean non-harvesting and non-sowing seasons", the CLP leader said. Jakha said ironically successful bidder for only seven out of 22 quarries auctioned had been able to deposit the 50 per cent amount and the remaining had presumably gone into willful default. He said the sand mafia would now indulge in exploitation of quarries and the government would lose out on revenue. The CLP leader said Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal had personally assured that sand prices would come down and the state would put a cap on the prices of sand and gravel. But the government had given a freehand to the contractors in terms of fixing the prices of mining produce. He said it was high time the Chief Minister intervened and quashed the auction which abetted monopolisation by sand mafia and put in place a policy to ensure that building material was available to the public at affordable prices.
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SAD demarcating rural wards for
political benefit, Cong tells Guv
Chandigarh, January 16 In the memorandum, party leaders Jeetmohinder Singh Sidhu and Sukhpal Khaira said earlier the ruling alliance had got the Punjab Panchayati Raj Act amended solely for "a political motive to capture the gram panchayats". The memorandum alleged the government was threatening the democratic spirit and misusing the process of law by creating new panchayats in a fraudulent manner by keeping the elected representatives belonging to the opposition in the dark. It said even the natural principal of contiguity had been flouted with houses from different areas being cut, copied and pasted in a particular ward at the whims and fancies of the jathedar's of the villages concerned. They said the list of proposed wards was never displayed either at the village or at the sub-division level to allow the general public to file objections. They alleged Food and Civil Supplies Minister Adesh Partap Singh Kairon had exerted undue political pressure to withhold notification in three blocks of the Patti assembly constituency. ‘Negative propaganda by Congress’
Reacting to the issue, the SAD said a negative propaganda was being unleashed by the Congress against the creation of new gram panchayats which was done solely for the purpose of the smooth conduct of panchayat elections. SAD spokesman Daljeet Singh Cheema said it was strange that the Punjab Congress was complaining about the delimitation of wards knowing well that the election of the sarpanch was a direct election in which all voters of the village participated. The creation of wards would have no bearing on the outcome of the election, he said, adding when the elections of sarpanch and other panchayat members were not contested on party symbol, the question of favouritism and manipulation did not arise.
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Akali group, Jain supporters clash at party meeting
Faridkot, January 16 Buta Singh, a member of SAD's district working committee and a Tota Singh loyalist, and Jain’s supporters reportedly came to blows during the meeting with both sides hurling allegations against each other. Some senior Akali leaders tried to pacify the warring groups but in vain. The Moga Deputy Commissioner-cum-District Election Officer, Arshdeep Singh Thind, said his office came to know about the meeting at the gurdwara and a team was sent there. But the meeting had ended by then. He said strict action would be taken against those found guilty of violating the election code. Joginder Pal Jain said he had visited the gurdwara to pay obeisance. "There was nothing political. It was a visit of a devotee to a religious place. There was no fight at the gurdwara. My rivals are spreading these rumours," Jain added.
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Gang Rape: Expedite probe, Gurdaspur police told
Chandigarh, January 16 Principal Secretary, Home, DS Bains said that Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal had spoken to the Gurdaspur district police chief to personally supervise the probe into the case. The prosecution department had also been directed to coordinate with the
police. Bains said the Chief Minister wanted speedy trial as had been done by a Hoshiarpur court that had given its verdict within nine days of the filing of the case. The CM wanted to send out a clear message that criminals could not walk
free. Bains said the Chief Minister had told to the Home Department to fill all vacant posts in the prosecution department. The state Director-General of Police, the Advocate-General and the prosecution department had been told to hold meetings regularly to examine the progress of important cases. The Punjab Government, he said, had approved the filling of 71 more posts in the subordinate courts and had written to the Punjab and Haryana High Court in this regard. The recruitment process was likely to start next week. As many as 85 judicial officers recruited some months ago are under training, it is learnt. The sanctioned strength of judicial officers in the state is 531. However, their strength as of now is 446. There are 5,42, 442 cases pending in various courts in the state. Towards Speedy Justice...
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Expect little relief from power cuts this summer
Patiala, January 16 Senior officials of the power corporation said the 500 MVA transformer at Amritsar and the 250 MVA each transformers at Moga and Malerkotla were under the Power Grid Corporation of India. Another 500 MVA transformer was to be installed at Amritsar. Furthermore, the transformers at Moga and Malerkotla were to be augmented with another 150 MVA. As of now, Punjab's ATC is 5100 MW and the total transfer capacity (TTC) 5400 MW. The gap of 300 MW between served as a cushion for grid security. Because of the power crisis last summer, Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) had put a strong demand before the Northern Regional Power Committee (NRPC) and the Northern Regional Load Despatch Centre (NRLDC) to increase the state's ATC by at least 600 MW. Subsequently, it was decided that there was a need to augment the transmission system before raising the ATC limit. Senior officers say since the delivery time for a transformer is 15-months, it will not be possible for the same to be installed in Amritsar by August-end. “Likewise, the augmentation of the transformers at the Moga and Malerkotla will also take time.” Current affairs
No Overdrawal The NRLDC refusal to the power corporation to be allowed to overdraw power from the Northern Grid more than the daily scheduling is causing a problem. "Despite the fact that the grid frequency is comfortable at 50, the NRLDC is not allowing us to overdraw in order to meet power shortfall because of which cuts have to be imposed in various parts of the state", said PSPCL officials.
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Farmers confront power authorities at Dirba
Sangrur, January 16 The farmers, who gathered around the office around 12 noon, dispersed around 5 pm when the XEN assured them that the power supply to tube well motors would be given during daytime from the next day. Dilbag Singh Harigarh, a BKU member, said farmers had been facing problems due to the supply at night as they could not irrigate their fields properly. Due to this, their standing crops, especially wheat, were getting damaged. He said the Power corporation was supplying power to them for just four hours instead of eight hours. Harigarh said the XEN had earlier told them that power supply to tube well motors during the day was not in his hands. In the past one week, farmers have held demonstrations at grid sub-stations and blocked roads in Kapial, Dirba, Bhawanigarh and Ghabdan villages to press their demands.
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Finally, Maqboolpura to get de-addiction centre
Amritsar, January 16 Deputy Commissioner Rajat Aggarwal has issued directions to Civil Surgeon Dr Yash Mitra to open a de-addiction and counselling centre in Maqboolpura to encourage addicts to give up drugs, besides facilitating proper supply of medicines for their treatment. Aggarwal also asked him to send a mobile medical unit to carry out necessary diagnostic tests on the area residents. Apart from it, he stressed on the need for an increase in police patrolling in the area, besides stepped up vigil by the Health Department. Master Ajit Singh, who has been spearheading a campaign against drug addiction in Maqboolpura for years now, said the Civil Surgeon had told him that he will visit the area to decide the location of the de-addiction centre. Currently, there are two proposals: either to set up the centre at a charitable dispensary at Baba Jeewan Singh Gurdwara or at a school being run for the children of drug addicts in the locality. He said the process to provide widow pension to the women in the locality had also started with the administration officials filling up application forms. He said 298 widows will benefit from the issuance of BPL cards as well as facilitation of widow pension. Maqboolpura has been facing the scourge of drug addiction for the last over one-and-a-half decade. Ajit Singh claims that 234 persons have died due to the menace in the last 14 years. Last year, he claimed, 13 addicts died, most of the deceased being in the age group of 20 to 40 years. Sons dead, onus to bring up kids on grandparents
Injecting relief
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Now, a house to come up in 20 hrs!
Jalandhar, January 16 Harpal Singh, who was at Punjab Technical University to attend its 17th Foundation Day function, said the house would be made of all concrete in a 25 sq m area with a room, a kitchen, a toilet and a bathroom. "It will be in a walk-in condition with even vitrified tiles laid out at a cost of Rs 1,000 per sq m. The idea of improving efficiency in construction came to my mind when I got sick of constructing my own house for two long years," he said, adding Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal was scheduled to inaugurate his new venture at Mohali. He said he had a plan to construct 300 houses for economically weaker sections for the government in a similar fashion. Harpal Singh said his buildings being lighter were much safer as these had passed the seismic zone five tests. "While the average weight of a building is 1,200 to 1,500 kg per sq m, the average weight of a building designed by us is just 320 kg per sq m. We do not use bricks for the reason that most of these are of lower quality and lead to seepage of salt from the walls sooner or later," he said.
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PTU students express resentment over change in syllabus
Ropar, January 16 Though the future of these students from ten colleges in Punjab is at stake, the university authorities are yet to address their grievances. Students said there was no reply to queries submitted by them in this regard through e-mails and SMSes to the authorities. When contacted, PTU Deputy Registrar (academic) ES Johal said Dr Prabhjot Kaur at the Mohali campus of the PTU was the person who should be contacted in this regard. Dr Prabhjot Kaur, however, expressing surprise over it said she had nothing to do with it and the right person to enquire from in the matter was Johal himself. For the past two years, thousands of students have been pursuing the EEE degree at PTU colleges. A student said they had chosen the course after going through the syllabus, which is the same as that of the Electrical Engineering (EE) degree. He said the EEE students who had earlier applied for the posts of electrical engineers in the Punjab State Power Corporation, Indian Railways and the defence services were rejected as the recruiters said they could not be hired as electrical engineers as they hold the EEE degree. Following this, Johal on August 1 last year wrote a letter to the Punjab State Power Corporation saying that both the degree courses, the EEE and the EE, of the PTU were same as there was no difference in the syllabus of the two courses. Students said the changes in the syllabus of the EEE course in the university had not only made its letter to the Punjab State Power Corporation null and void, it had also put the students, who chose the EEE course after finding it similar to the EE course, in a tight spot. They said that the university had played with their future and that the mistake on the part of the authorities had limited their options. A student said even if the university had to change the syllabus, it should have done it for the new students. Prescribing it for those who were already pursuing the course was not justified, he said. The students said if their grievances were not addressed, they would have no option but to resort to a demonstration.
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Wireless sensors to check structural health of buildings
Chandigarh, January 16 Laboratories under the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) are undertaking the research project that would develop technology, which could be exploited to produce a monitoring system for the building industry. The Central Scientific Instruments Organisation (CSIO) here is among the three laboratories executing the project, the other two being Central Building Research Institute, Roorkee and Central Electronics Engineering Research Institute, Pilani. Large buildings have complex structural systems which use materials that are often subjected to harsh loading scenarios and severe environmental conditions not anticipated during the design phase, resulting in long term structural deterioration. Health monitoring of buildings, therefore, is essential from safety, durability, serviceability and sustainability point of view. Scientists said that the new concept of WSN and numerical techniques offers an automated method for tracing the health of a structure by combining damage detection algorithms. WSN, which is not very expensive to install, can play a major role in processing and interpreting response data for screening signs of damage. The current health monitoring approaches, scientists said, placed serious limitations on the practical use of existing methodologies. Continuous structural health monitoring, using WSN, becomes important because it can greatly reduce the routine maintenance and inspection costs. This also facilitates in providing an increased level of safety by alerting engineers to the potential structural problems before any problems arise. Further, with the advancement in sensor technology, affordable and high-speed network, enormous date storage space, the date availability on parameters related to structural health monitoring such as acceleration, strains, temperature, humidity, wind speeds and corrosion is also increasing exponentially. However, these features are not being utilised to monitor building health in India whereas a large number of old and new buildings could be monitored through development of such an accurate and economically viable approach, a senior scientist said. Going Hi-tech
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Health institutes flout waste-disposal rules
Patiala, January 16 According to these rules, every hospital/healthcare centre is supposed to segregate bio-medical waste into different containers and bags in accordance with a colour code and these containers are to be transported from the hospital premises to a Common Bio-Medical Waste Treatment Facility unit. These units are located in Mohali, Ludhiana, Pathankot and Amritsar. Dumping of the bio-medical waste in the open in an unscientific manner can lead to health hazards. Notably, the PPCB authorities had taken some steps to check these violations last year, which had a positive impact then but things are back to square one. The seriousness of the problem can be gauged from the fact that during a raid conducted by the PPCB last year in July, as many as 54 hospitals and healthcare centres in the state were found to be violating these rules.
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Patiala MC’s fiscal crisis puts on hold development works
Patiala, January 16 As per the statistics available with The Tribune, the revenue generation for the first three quarters (April to December) of the financial year 2011-12 was Rs 56.80 crore whereas in the corresponding period this fiscal, the revenue collection has been Rs 49.37 crore. The dip of Rs 7.43 crore has dashed the hopes of the financial wing of the MC for an annual ten-per cent increase. The main earnings of the Patiala MC are from the VAT, advertisement tax, building fee, house tax collection, water and sewerage charges and the sale of property. While the income of the Patiala civic body for the first nine months of the fiscal 2011-12 from the house tax was Rs 10.71 crore, the figure for the corresponding period this year is Rs 8.72 crore. Likewise, the income from the advertisement wing has also come down by approximately Rs 17 lakh. Patiala Mayor Jaspal Pradhan said in order to resolve the crisis, they had sought financial help from the Minister for Local Government.
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Projects worth Rs 60 lakh for Fatehgarh Sahib
Fatehgarh Sahib, January
16 He also announced development projects worth Rs 50 lakh in four villages falling in the constituency of Fatehgarh Sahib. He was accompanied by Prof Prem Singh
Chandumajra, in charge of party affairs in the constituency. The State Government has earmarked Rs 15,000 crore to develop infrastructure in the villages of Punjab. The four-year plan will be implemented from April
2013. Brar said the state government had decided to gain possession of all government properties from encroachers. He said presently sewerage system in villages was in dire need of repair.
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Frame policy for relief to acid attack victims, HC tells state
Chandigarh, January 16 As two petitions filed in public interest by Poor Patients Relief Society came up for hearing before the Bench of Chief Justice Sikri and Justice Rakesh Kumar Jain, the Punjab Government also undertook to pay Rs 3 lakh to the acid attack victim of Morinda. The money is to be paid by this evening for the victim's eye surgery at Chennai. At the very onset, Punjab Additional Advocate-General conveyed the decision to pay Rs 3 lakh from the Chief Minister Relief Fund immediately for meeting the expenses of Inderjit Kaur's eye surgery. Taking up the matter, the Chief Justice observed: "An acid attack is worse than murder. After murder, a person may lie in peace. However, an acid attack victim faces ordeal throughout her life." The Bench then issued directions to the Punjab Government to take a decision to frame a policy. The two PILs will now come up on March 22 for further directions. In one of the petitions, the society has brought to fore the plight of a mother and daughter allegedly attacked with acid by a close relative in Bathinda. The other petition seeks relief for Inderjit Kaur of Morinda. Society secretary and advocate HC Arora has asserted that Amanpreet Kaur and her mother Paramjit Kaur were attacked with acid when they were on their way back home in a rickshaw after closing their beauty parlour in Bathinda on January 31, 2011. Their faces were badly disfigured. After about three months of the incident, the accused turned out to the brother-in-law of Amanpreet Kaur. He along with an accomplice was arrested. But the accomplice turned out to be a juvenile and was sent to a juvenile home. The victims were undergoing treatment for the last two years at Bassi Nursing Home in Ludhiana, and had spent several lakhs on their treatment. The society prayed for the free treatment of the two acid attack victims, reasonable compensation and rehabilitation.
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Robbers target rich eunuchs
Gurdaspur, January 16 The robbers took away Rs 60,000 in cash and 150 gm of gold. “In all, four persons were involved in the crime. Three of them went inside Shano Rani's house where Parvez and his family lived while the fourth kept a vigil outside,” the Gurdaspur Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Raj Jit Singh said. He claimed that a search for the killers had been launched. The Batala police is yet to trace a group that seriously injured a eunuch on December 15 last. The Batala SSP, Tulsi Ram, said that the police did not rule out the possibility of the same gang being involved in the attack on Shano Devi's driver.
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Chandigarh, January 16
Following news reports on rampant drug addiction in Maqboolpura, also known as ‘locality of widows’ in these columns, the local administration has taken a note of the issue and ordered setting up of a de-addiction centre in the locality. It has also set the ball rolling for issuing BPL (below poverty line) cards and extending pension to the widows in the area.
Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today called on Union Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh in Delhi and urged him to ensure speedy completion of formalities related to construction of rural link roads in Punjab under the Pradhan Mantri Gramin Sadak Yojna
(PMGSY).
With the Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) failing to keep a check on health institutes in Patiala, healthcare centres, nursing homes and hospitals have started dumping bio-medical waste in the open. During a visit to areas near the New Lal Bagh, Khalsa College Road and the Badungar Road, it was found that many hospitals are dumping bio-medical waste on roadsides and vacant plots here in violation of the Bio-Medical Waste (Management and Handling) Rules, 1998.