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SAD or Cong govt, plight of border villages remains same
Amritsar police at it again
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Rajpura police solves murder case, arrests 2
Minor raped in Hoshiarpur
Cong forms another panel to select Moga candidate
Political hoardings dot Muktsar
Badal govt waives
Rs 1,300-crore loans to revive industry
15.5 lakh families yet to
get promised atta, dal
Threat call to father of rape victim
Ropar admn gets cracking on illegal mining
Bathinda WASPS prove they can sting
Talwandi Sabo thermal plant unit
set to miss April 13 deadline
Govt depts in Sangrur owe Rs 4.85 cr to power corp
Coal crisis may hit thermal plants
Register Sahari bungling case, DC tells police
IIT Ropar convocation on Feb 2
Man booked for stealing 6 tonnes of govt rice
540 bottles of liquor seized in Sangrur
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SAD or Cong govt, plight of border villages remains same
Rania (Indo-Pak border), January 18 The Tribune team visited this non-descript village along the India-Pakistan border and what came to the fore was a tale of indifference by the successive state governments. As one nears the village, one spots a dilapidated bus shelter on the left side of the main road while on the right side is the main approach road to the village having huge potholes. The village streets are not any better.
Inadequate staff at health facilities The health sub-centre in the village is functioning from an unsafe building and has a lone doctor and a pharmacist to attend upon patients. When this correspondent visited the facility, even the solitary doctor was missing. In his absence, the pharmacist was giving medicines to patients. The villagers say whenever anyone falls ill, he has to be taken to Lopoke, some 13 km from the village. “But, shifting a patient to Lopoke, especially during odd hours, is not that easy as there is hardly any mode of transportation available in this remote area,” said Avtar Singh, a villager. Buta Singh, another resident, said a health centre was opened for women a few years ago but it failed to serve the purpose. “Today, the rooms of the facility are filled with cow dung cakes.” Open sewers in the village add to the health hazard. Class IV employees giving medicines!
In Doot village also, the state of healthcare is dismal. A visit to the health sub-centre found that only a Class IV employee was present there. He said the only doctor posted there was on an official tour whereas the pharmacist was unwell. He had no answer as to how the patients — 10 villages depend on this centre — were being treated in their absence. Similarly, the doctor posted at Mohleke village — the dispensary caters to seven villages — had been deputed on pulse polio drive. Here too, a Class IV employee was attending to patients. The doctor as well as the pharmacist at Bhindi Saidan village had left the dispensary an hour earlier than the scheduled time as "it was raining". Poor state of affairs at schools The scenario in the education sector is no better. At Saidpur Kalan village, there are 55 students in the government primary school and only a single teacher to teach the students of five different classes (Class I-V). Not only that, there is only room to accommodate all these students, with the main school building lying shut after being declared unsafe. Some villagers send their wards to study at the government school in Navajeevan village, 5 km from Saidpur Kalan, which is comparatively better. At the primary school of Doot village, there are 58 students from Class I-V. But here as well, there is only one teacher. Executed projects turn out to be faulty Surprisingly, even the villages that have witnessed development works under government schemes complain that they were not delivered what was promised to them. For instance, Kakkar and Bhindi Saidan villages got water supply facility under 'Sunder Gram Yojana', but they are not getting potable water due to certain flaws in the project. Residents complained that the sewerage system laid in Kakkar village under the scheme was also faulty. Even manholes lie uncovered, thus posing a threat to the residents. Harbhej Singh, a resident of Kakkar village, said the ground water is highly polluted but a majority of households have no option but to consume it, something that is leading to diseases like hepatitis and cancer.
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Amritsar police at it again
The incident comes within 10 days of the sensational jailbreak incident — on January 8 — in which three prisoners had escaped from the high security Amritsar Central Jail after scaling a 25-feet high boundary wall. In this case, five policemen were dismissed from service on Thursday. The undertrials were being brought to Amritsar from Hoshiarpur after a hearing in the court in connection with a 2011 robbery case. While the police managed to arrest one of the escapees, Buta Singh, later, the other accused, Jassa Singh and Lakha Singh (both residents of Kapurthala), managed to escape. The trio too was lodged in the Amritsar Central Jail. The incident reportedly occurred when the policemen and the accused stopped for tea in Jandiala. Four of the suspended policemen have been arrested following the registration of a case against them under Section 223 and 224 of the IPC while their fifth colleague (head constable Dilbagh Singh) is at large. Among the arrested policemen are Hardeep Singh, Ranjit Singh, Lakhwinder Singh and Amrik Singh, all head constables. The three undertrials were involved in a number of criminal cases, including highway robberies, lootings, murder and rape, registered in various parts of Punjab. They were arrested by the Amritsar rural police in June last year. Senior Superintendent of Police Preet Paul Singh Virk confirmed that the five policemen had been suspended for dereliction of duty. He said a manhunt had been launched to arrest the remaining two criminals who had dodged the police.
Cup of tea proves costly
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Rajpura police solves murder case, arrests 2
Patiala, January 18 The police also claimed to have recovered gold and silver ornaments along with some other articles, which they had stolen from the victim’s house. Ritu, a resident of Satnam Nagar, Rajpura, was allegedly murdered on August 17 last year. Following a complaint lodged by the deceased’s family, the police registered an FIR under Section 302/34 of the IPC at Rajpura city police station and subsequently started investigations into the matter. Superintendent of Police Bhupinder Singh Khattra said the Station House Officer Bikramjit Singh Brar along with his team investigated the matter. "On the basis of the circumstantial evidence, the police found that the accused broke into Ritu’s house with an intention to steal and murdered her with a sharp-edged weapon," said Khattra.
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Minor raped in Hoshiarpur
Hoshiarpur, January 18 The police said the incident occurred when the victim, a Class XI student, was allegedly abducted at knife-point by the accused from a bus-stand at Adda Khanura. The accused later took the minor to Badla village where he allegedly raped her in a tube-well room.
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Cong forms another panel to select Moga candidate
Moga, January 18 AICC member Gulchain Singh Charak, who is the party affairs in-charge for Punjab, constituted the panel after holding discussions with party president Sonia Gandhi. The new panel would comprise PPCC president Capt Amarinder Singh, Leader of the Opposition Sunil Jakhar and senior youth leader Sukhwinder Singh Danny. Confirming the development, Danny said the committee would soon meet and discuss the names of probable candidates. “We will look into the merits and demerits of various candidates and also keep in view the caste combinations, which are likely to matter in the bypoll,” he said. Danny did not rule out the possibility of a Hindu candidate being nominated, as Moga was an urban-dominated constituency with a sizable population of the community living here. “As the SAD has already announced the name of a Hindu candidate (former MLA Joginderpal Jain), the Congress cannot ignore to look into the possibility of a Hindu candidate,” he said. Former MLAs Sathi Vijay Kumar and Punjab Mahila Congress president Dr Malti Thapar are the frontrunners for the party ticket. Former minister Darshan Singh Brar and Justice Mehtab Singh Gill (retired) are the probable candidates from the Jat Sikh community.
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Political hoardings dot Muktsar
Muktsar, January 18 Such hoardings are a common sight on almost all prominent roads of the city. Most of the hoardings carry photographs of senior leaders of various political parties like the SAD, Congress, BJP and the PPP. Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal had recently issued directions that a criminal case be registered against those installing illegal hoardings anywhere in the state. It was mentioned that residents can install hoardings/billboards only on poles earmarked for the purpose. But these rules are not being adhered to as a number of hoardings can be seen at public places on the Kotkapura road, Bathinda road, inner roads, bus stand and several roundabouts in the city. Even government buildings like schools have not been spared.
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Badal govt waives
Rs 1,300-crore loans to revive industry
Amritsar, January 18 He elaborated that the government, with a view to revive dormant and closed industries in the state, had chalked out the OTS scheme to repay loans to the Punjab Financial Corporation on easy instalments. A major part of the benefit has gone to the industries in border districts as 409 units got a Rs 566 crore loan waiver and these would now have to pay only Rs 59 crore against the total loan of Rs 625 crore. Besides, the industries in border districts will be charged interest at the rate of 6 per cent while the units in the rest of the state will be charged interest at 12 per cent. Joshi said that the reason for the financial corporation's waiver to industries in border districts was the massive losses that these had suffered during the decade of militancy. He said that the industrialists who had taken an advance up to Rs 1 lakh need not to pay interest on it. He said that borrowers need not to repay double the amount of advance if it was up to Rs 5 lakh. He said the financial corporation won't accept an amount more than the actual advance in case the promoter had died — for a debt under Rs 5 lakh. The Industries Minister said that industrialists from the remaining districts of the state would be required to pay their debt at the rate of 12 per cent. He said it would be a great relief to those industrialists whose penal interest has mounted to 36 per cent. He added that the state government not only wished to promote new industries but was also chalking out ways to revive the industries which had got a beating in the past. Loans given under self-employment schemes for terrorism-affected persons, communal violence victims and ex-servicemen would not need to repay beyond the actual amount. He said that the manual single window system has been initiated and its response was encouraging. When asked about the much-talked-about industrial policy, Joshi said that it was almost complete and would be released soon.Among others, Punjab Financial Corporation Managing Director SS Bains, its General Manager VK Aggarwal, DGM RK Tikka and District Industry Office General Manager Dharampal Bhagat were present on the occasion.
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15.5 lakh families yet to
get promised atta, dal
Chandigarh, January 18 Not only has the floating of tenders been delayed, but the Finance Department has also not released the grant to the Department of Food and Supplies, said sources. Confirming the non-receipt of the grant, a senior official said, “We do have the quota to distribute flour this month. However, we have no money to purchase pulses.” The government spends approximately Rs 8 crore per month on the scheme. Sources said that instead of the provision for a variety of pulses, as it was earlier, people were only getting their monthly share of ‘urd dal’ at the moment. Earlier, the government was providing several pulses on subsidised rate. The government was, at that time, buying 3,100 tonnes of pulses every month from public sector undertakings under a Central scheme. The supply of pulses stopped in June last year. To a family of five members, the government gives 2.5 kg of dal at a subsidised rate of Rs 20 per kg and 25 kg of wheat at Rs 4 per kg. The original scheme, launched in August 2007, provided for giving 35 kg wheat to each family. The office of the Comptroller and Auditor General had pulled up the government for diverting wheat meant for Above-Poverty Line (APL) families to the quota of the atta dal scheme families. It was pointed out that 5.52 lakh tonnes of wheat worth Rs 648.69 crore (for 2007-08, 2008-09 and 2009-10), meant for the Centre’s APL scheme, had been diverted to the atta dal scheme. The state agencies, at one point in time, had procured wheat and pulses after securing loans from banks. The government, however, did not pay the agencies on time.
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Threat call to father of rape victim
Faridkot, January 18 The accused allegedly threatened the victim and her father with dire consequences in case they deposed against him in the court on Wednesday. The police investigation revealed that the call was transmitted from a mobile tower installed in a village near the jail and the SIM (subscriber identity module) card used for making the call was purchased in Haryana. The police has also started the process to access the International Mobile Equipment Identity number of this cell phone to identify the involvement of the subscriber and how many phone calls were made from the number. The police has already registered a criminal case against Nishan Singh for making the threatening call a day before the start of the trial in the case. The jail authorities have also launched a search operation to check the misuse of cell phones by other inmates, if any. “We have conducted two searches ever since we got information about the threatening phone call made from the jail premises,” said PK Garg, Jail Superintendent. But, no cell phone had been recovered so far, he said.
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Ropar admn gets cracking on illegal mining
Ropar, January 18 The district administration got their act together after a High Court judge on January 14, while hearing a case on mining, observed that illegal mining in the district could only continue if miners were protected by the DC and the Superintendent of Police (SP). Following this, the DC Pradeep Kumar Aggrawal called a meeting with officials concerned. Sources said one of the deputy superintendents of police (DSP) in the meeting alleged the officials in other departments, including mining and pollution, were soft on the offenders in the district and did not seal their crushers. Though some of the owners tampered with the seals put on their crushers and had begun operating crushers a few months ago, the departments concerned never complained to the police. Many crushers in the district were run without the requisite permission, pointed the DSP. Another police official in the meeting said since many local politicians and officials were involved in the mining business, the hands of the police were tied. Though many drives against illegal mining were started in the past, the offenders were always forewarned of the raids, he said. However, taking cognisance of the situation, the DC issued directions to the District Minning Officer BS Brar to seal the crushers and submit a compliance report within three days. He was also told to deploy block-level industry officers and mining guards to check illegal mining. Aggrawal warned the officials that the official in charge would be held responsible if any illegal mining was noticed in his area.
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Bathinda WASPS prove they can sting
Bathinda, January 18 Deployed to check crime against women, the WASP units have made their presence felt by rounding up youngsters in more than five cases in the last one week. The unit was formed following concern over the safety of women after the brutal gang-rape and murder of a 23-year-old girl in Delhi. Twenty female personnel have been deployed on 10 specifically designed scooters equipped with modern gadgets and weapons. Braving the chill, the police force is making the rounds of the city and the educational institutes in search of anti-social elements. Police officials said though the number of cases was less, the presence of the WASP units in the field had increased the morale of the girls to a great extent. "An example of this unit's swiftness could be gauged from the fact that a teenager, who passed a lewd comment on these girls, was caught immediately," said SSP Ravcharan Brar. — TNS
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Talwandi Sabo thermal plant unit
set to miss April 13 deadline
Patiala, January 18 Though officials of the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) are claiming that they have directed authorities of the Talwandi Sabo Power Limited (TSPL) to make the plant operational by April 13, highly placed sources in the power corporation have confirmed that it is likely to be delayed by four months. The development assumes significance in wake of the fact that the non-commissioning of the first unit of 660 MW of the Talwandi Sabo Plant before the start of the paddy season (June 10) will make it very difficult for the PSPCL to manage the power demand during summer. The 1980 MW Talwandi Sabo Thermal Plant was awarded to Vedanta Group Company M/s Sterlite Energy Ltd and subsequently, the TSPL was incorporated as a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV). However, noticing that the work will not be completed on schedule in 2012, the developer had requested the power corporation to extend the deadline to August 8, 2013. The demand of the developer was rejected by the power corporation and on September 19 last year, Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal had announced April 13 as the new deadline for the commissioning of the plant. Though, after making inquiries at the ground level even at that time, The Tribune had carried a detailed news report mentioning that the first unit was not likely to get functional on the new deadline. However, the authorities kept maintaining that the unit will meet the deadline. Meanwhile, PSPCL Director (Generation) GS Chhabra said, “During the recent review meeting, we have directed the developer to accelerate the work and complete the first unit by April 13.” However, according to the sources in the power corporation, the work of setting up the chimney of the plant is presently on. “The work of the chimney’s concrete structure is expected to be completed by middle of February. After that, the work of the steel duct inside the chimney has to be done. Hence, a lot of ground has to be covered and the plant is unlikely to generate power before August,” said a senior official preferring anonymity. Once the RCC structure of the chimney is complete, the flue (steel duct) will be set up. Then, the work for the final phase of the plant will get under way. According to the technocrats of the thermal design wing, it will take at least two months for the oil synchronisation of the plant and another two months for the coal-fire process. After that, the authorities will have to wait for the plant to stabilise before initiating the power generation process. If the coal-fire process gets completed by July, the plant will be operational only in August.
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Govt depts in Sangrur owe Rs 4.85 cr to power corp
Sangrur, January 18 As much as Rs 4.85 crore of electricity dues are pending towards various government departments, including the Punjab Police and the Water Supply and Sanitation Department, in the Sangrur circle of the PSPCL till December 2012. Under Sangrur circle of the PSPCL, there are five divisions: Sangrur, Sunam, Lehragaga, Dirba and Patran. According to information, the amount outstanding against government departments till December 2012 in Sangrur division was around Rs 1.98 crore, followed by Rs 1.09 crore in Patran division, Rs 79 lakh in Sunam division, Rs 55 lakh in Lehra division and Rs 42 lakh in Dirba division. The defaulting amount outstanding against the Water Supply and Sanitation Department in the Sangrur circle of the PSPCL is Rs 2.72 crore followed by Rs 1.32 crore (Punjab Police) and Rs 57 lakh (Health Department). In the case of the Water Supply and Sanitation Department, the pending amount of Rs 2.72 crore is related to the electricity bills of water works in all the five divisions of the Sangrur circle of the PSPCL. A number of water works are being run by the Water Supply and Sanitation Department while many water works, which were earlier handed over to the panchayats, are being run by the panchayats. The defaulting amount (Rs 1.32 crore) outstanding against the Punjab Police is related to the bills of police stations, police posts, Police Lines and other constituents of the Police Department. The pending electricity bills (Rs 57 lakh) of the Health Department belong to various government hospitals and health centres.
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Coal crisis may hit thermal plants
Patiala, January 18 However, according to recent reports, the gap between demand and supply of domestic coal is increasing rapidly. In 2011-12, installed coal-based thermal plant capacity increased by about 19.3 per cent while the domestic coal production went up by just over 1.4 per cent. As far as Punjab is concerned, the upcoming thermal plants at Talwandi Sabo and Rajpura will also face coal shortage. Even today, there are 24 thermal plants in the country that have less than four days coal stock and are presently under the “super-critical category”. Another eight thermal plants have less than a week's stock.
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Register Sahari bungling case, DC tells police
Gurdaspur, January 18 However, the police, allegedly under pressure from a senior SAD leader who is said to be shielding the sarpanch - Varinder Singh, is said to be sitting on the case. SSP Raj Jit Singh admitted that the "case was in the pipeline and an FIR will be registered only after taking the opinion of the District Attorney (Legal).” The DC, after conducting an exhaustive inquiry, had asked the ADC (Development) and the BDPO of Dhariwal, under whose jurisdiction Sahari village falls, to get an FIR registered against Varinder Singh. The DC had also directed the ADC (Development) Prof Rakesh Kumar to recommend disciplinary action against the then ADC SK Vashisht under whose tenure the funds were directly credited to the account of the sarpanch against IAY norms. Rules state that money can be deposited directly to the accounts of the beneficiaries, but in this case, the entire amount of Rs 35.1 lakh was paid directly into the account of the sarpanch. Sources said that top police officers were not inclined to register a criminal case against the sarpanch because of his political clout. However, these allegations were vehemently denied by the SSP who repeatedly claimed that the “case was in the pipeline.” The fraud had surfaced during a meeting of the District Monitoring and Vigilance Committee held in October last year in which MP Partap Bajwa and some Congress legislators, including Sukhjinder Randhawa, had pointed out discrepancies in the allotment and disbursement of funds. Following this, the DC had ordered a spot inquiry into the alleged bungling. Prof Rakesh Kumar, Partap Bajwa and Sukhjinder Randhawa were part of a delegation that visited Sahari village, a day after the monitoring committee meeting, to physically check the construction of houses as part of the inquiry process. However, they found glaring irregularities in the construction of the houses. “The sarpanch failed to show any newly constructed houses. All he could show were some houses constructed several years ago. Moreover, he was also guilty of giving grants worth Rs 90,000 to one of his uncles for construction of a house. Interestingly, his uncle Ajit Singh lives in a palatial house and he used the money to refurbish it,” maintained Bajwa. He added that the SSP should not bow to the diktats of his political masters and instead should register a criminal case against the sarpanch so that justice is delivered to the “poorest of the poor” for whom the IAY is actually meant.
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IIT Ropar convocation on Feb 2
Ropar, January 18 The new IIT, a first in this region, was established by the Ministry of Human Resource and Development in 2008. The classes for academic session 2008-2009 were held at IIT Delhi before the institute started functioning from its transit campus in Ropar in August 2009.— TNS
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Man booked for stealing 6 tonnes of govt rice
Sangrur, January 18 Bhawanigarh police registered the case after receiving the inquiry report, which was conducted into the alleged embezzlement, from the Senior Superintendent of Police, Sangrur. Sangrur District Manager, Pungrain, had complained to the police about the matter. Police said no arrest had been made so far.
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540 bottles of liquor seized in Sangrur
Sangrur, January 18 The ASI said Puran Nath was remanded to judicial custody till February 1. Goods damaged Nawanshahr: Electronic equipment, including TVs, LCDs, washing machines, inverters, CFL tubes, refrigerators, worth lakhs of rupees was damaged due to sudden increase in voltage at Teachers Colony here today. Residents of the colony said the voltage fluctuated as Powercom officials had not replaced the old cables.— OC
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ord ‘development’ sounds Greek to the residents of border villages who have been leading a life of deprivation in the absence of basic amenities like roads, drinking water, healthcare and education.
Patiala, January 18
In what may be termed a major setback to the power corporation, the commissioning of the first unit (660 MW) of the Talwandi Sabo Thermal Plant is all set to miss the deadline of April 13. This will be second delay as the first unit of the plant was earlier scheduled to be commissioned on November 30 last year.
Amritsar, January 18