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Re-auction of 13 quarries on Feb 14
District admn gears up for Moga bypoll
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Cong ready with election strategy
Challenging road ahead for SAD in Delhi
Police officer fined for delaying info
210 MW unit shut as coal shortage hits Ropar plant
Follow sound limit, SGPC tells gurdwaras
High taxes spell doom for ginning industry
Ludhiana civic body to pledge its properties to clear pending bills
Phone smuggling: Tighter checks for jail staff
Swelling jails, lean staff a worry for authorities
Board takes steps to trace missing answer-sheets
Mandi Gobindgarh industrial units raided by PPCB
Fisheries Dept to introduce two more species
Latest machinery inaugurated in Patiala Medical College
Retired employee can’t be dismissed retrospectively
ASI's Murder
Ready to deposit one-third of arbitration fee, Ladhar tells HC
Assess implementation cost before introducing Bills: HC
Parsvnath Case
Lovers found dead in Hoshiarpur village
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Re-auction of 13 quarries on Feb 14
Chandigarh, January 31 The re-auction notice, issued by the Punjab Industries Department today, has not only substantially increased the earnest money to be deposited by bidders but it has also come up with a change in policy where the government can cancel the electronic auctioning of sand quarries without assigning any reason. The government may cancel the auction if it finds that the e-auction site has been hacked or that collusive bidding is on. Sources in the Industries Department told The Tribune that in order to ensure that only serious players participated in the auction and that collusive bidding could not take place for the fear of losing huge money, the government had increased the reserve price of each of these quarries by several times over. This means each of the participants has to deposit a much larger sum as earnest money to participate in the bid than what he did in the previous auction. Thus, if the bidder decides to back off from taking up the contract to mine the quarries after making the highest bid, he will stand to lose a substantial amount of money as 25 per cent of the reserve price has been kept as earnest money. For example, the reserve price of the Chandiala sand quarry in SAS Nagar has been raised from Rs 90 lakh to Rs 2.70 crore. This means that the bidder will have to now deposit Rs 67.50 lakh as earnest money instead of depositing Rs 22.50 lakh in the auction held earlier this month. It may be mentioned that though the government had made efforts to auction 22 sand quarries on January 10 and 11, highest bidders for only nine quarries deposited 50 per cent of the total bid amount and staked claim to extract sand and gravel from these mines. For the remaining 13 quarries, Chandiala (SAS Nagar), Amritpur, Mand Butala and Mand Dhilwan (Kapurthala), Kailon, Harta, Dandiana Kalan, Deowala. Hargarh, Patti and Khalwana (all in Hoshiarpur), and Chaula and Sangowal (Jalandhar), the government had sent offer letters to the second highest bidder for starting mining operations. The government had asked the second highest bidder to take the contract by asking him to pay the highest bid (same as offered by highest bidder). But no one had come forward for this too. Getting tough
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District admn gears up for Moga bypoll
Moga, January 31 Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal, former Chief Ministers Amarinder Singh, Rajinder Kaur Bhattal, ministers, MPs, MLAs and senior officials are expected to camp in the town from February 2 to February 21 (the last day of campaigning). District Magistrate Arshdeep Singh Thind and Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Ashish Chaudhary said the civil and police administration had made arrangements for the security and stay of at least 1,000 VVIPs. "I have summoned four companies of the Punjab Armed Police (PAP) from Jalandhar for the security of the VVIPs. This force will reach here by tomorrow afternoon," he said. He said the district police heads of Ferozepur, Faridkot, Barnala and Ludhiana had been asked to keep standby teams that could be called any time to meet an exigency. To a question, he said three companies each of the BSF and the CRPF from Jammu would arrive at the district headquarters here by February 12 and would be deployed at all polling stations and vulnerable points. Of the total 93 polling stations, the police had identified 47 sensitive and 27 hyper-sensitive stations. A drive was on to nab habitual offenders. "The SHOs have been told to handle the task sensitively and take stern action against all those who violate law and order, irrespective of their political affiliations," he said. The SSP said that special check posts have been set up on highways and link roads to check the flow of liquor and unaccounted wealth. Flying squads had been formed to keep a watch on policemen on duty. The constituency had been divided into 16 sectors. Two police parties would be deployed in each sector. Three surveillance teams would record political conferences/meetings of parties and their candidates. Amarinder Singh, who will arrive in Moga on February 2, will put up at Justice Mehtab Singh Gill's residence at Bir Charik village to manage the poll campaign.
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Cong ready with election strategy
Moga, January 31 It has constituted booth-wise teams for door-to-door contact. Each team would be headed by a sitting or a former MLA. A flying squad constituted under former minister Darshan Singh Brar will include Sukhjit Singh Kaka and Jagroop Singh Takhtupura. It would conduct surprise checks on teams constituted for electioneering. A special control room would be set up to plan/revise the poll strategy on a daily basis and update the candidate and star campaigners on the same. There would be two other control rooms for media planning. Another team led by Congress candidate Vijay Sathi with Malti Thapar, Sukhwinder Singh Danny, Harjot Kamal, Manjit Mann, Pandit Sham Lal, Ravi Pandit, Pawan Thapar, Navdeep Sangha, advocate Satinder Sharma and Ramesh Kuku as members would go door-to-door for campaigning in Moga, which has 1.10 lakh votes. The campaign would be monitored jointly by PPCC president Capt Amarinder Singh and CWC member Jagmeet Singh Brar under the guidance of CLP Leader Sunil Jakhar, Rajinder Kaur Bhattal and Rana Gurjit Singh. The All-India Congress Committee (AICC) vice-president, Rahul Gandhi, reportedly discussed the poll strategy with Amarinder Singh and Jagmeet Brar at New Delhi this morning. It is learnt that Rahul will himself keep an eye on the bypoll who would send his youth brigade to
Moga. Congress nominee Vijay Sathi will file his nomination papers on February 2. Jagmeet Singh Brar, Capt Amarinder Singh, Sunil Jakhar and Rajinder Kaur Bhattal will be among those who would accompany him to the office of the Returning Officer for filing his papers. The Congress will open its poll office later in the day Moga bypoll
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Challenging road ahead for SAD in Delhi
Amritsar, January 31 Among the challenges before the new team of the DSGMC will be to secure justice for the 1984 anti-Sikh riot victims. Three days of sectarian violence in the aftermath of the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi's assassination had claimed the lives of 2,773 people in the National Capital. There have been two commissions of enquiry and eight committees to probe the riots, but justice continues to elude the victims even after almost three decades. In the aftermath of the riots, some 400 cases were filed in various courts, but most of them resulted in acquittal. Besides taking the legal battle to its logical end, the SAD will also have to make efforts to get the benefits of government rehabilitation schemes for riot-hit families. Noted lawyer HS Phoolka, who has been contesting the riot victims' cases, said the government had announced an employment scheme in the aftermath of the Nanavati Commission Report in 2006, but nobody had been given its benefit till date. Besides, there is a long-pending demand of Sikhs in Delhi for building a memorial of those killed in the riots. The SAD had made an attempt to construct the memorial, but its efforts were derailed by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi on November 4 last year. The party will also need to address the issues of bringing in more transparency in gurdwara affairs and improving the quality of education in the DSGMC-run educational institutions, both of which were prominently raised by it during the election campaign. A group of Sikh intellectuals in Delhi have already demanded that the DSGMC accounts be made available online and it should also be brought under the purview of the RTI to ensure transparency. Delivering quality education in the DSGMC-run institutions will be another challenge. The DSGMC runs 36 educational institutions, including 11 public schools, five aided schools, four colleges and four schools for underprivileged children, in Delhi. Sikh intellectuals have also stressed on the need for having educationists at the helm of affairs in these institutions and not the DSGMC members. Meanwhile, referring to the implementation of the amended Nanakshai Calendar in Delhi, SAD secretary Daljeet Singh Cheema said their topmost priority would be to implement the Akal Takht's "maryada" there. He also reiterated the party's resolve to usher in transparency in gurdwara affairs and improving the standard of education in the
DSGMC-run institutes. Tasks beforehand
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Police officer fined for delaying info
Chandigarh, January 31 Gurbax Singh Bains, a resident of Phase VI in Mohali, has been given a compensation of Rs 10,000 for mental harassment he faced on account of delay in the reply. State Information Commissioner Ravinder Singh Nagi said that the amount be deducted from the monthly salary of the IGP and Rs 10,000 be paid to Gurbax from government funds. Bains had sought the papers of the CSFL report on the death of his son under suspicious circumstances. He had not been provided these papers despite the fact that different IGPs assumed charge during this. Bains was provided these papers during the disposal of the complaint. The police, however, has been fined for inordinate delay in giving the information under the Right to Information
(RTI) Act.
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210 MW unit shut as coal shortage hits Ropar plant
Ropar, January 31 The 1,260 MW thermal plant has six units of 210 MW each. As an emergency measure, Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) has asked the plant management to shut down one of the units. Unit No. 3 would be shut down at 10 pm. It would be made operational on February 3, the sources said. The plant requires nearly 20,000 tonnes of coal every day. The stock of 25 days is considered normal. The plant has been facing shortage of coal since the supply from Panem was affected due to a protest drive by local residents at Jharkhand. Though the agitation had been called off, the supply was still not normal, the sources said, adding on Saturday, the plant had a mere 2 lakh tonne of coal in its stock, which is enough only for 11 days. By keeping one unit shut, the management will be able to save over 10,000 tonnes of coal till Monday morning, the sources added.
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Follow sound limit, SGPC tells gurdwaras
Chandigarh, January 31 The development follows a letter of the Director General School Education to the SGPC seeking control over the noise levels emanating from gurdwaras all over the state, particularly between 10 pm and 6 am, which was disturbing for students. The SGPC has also quoted the circulars with regard to a regulation on noise levels emanating from gurdwaras issued by the Akal Takht at different points of time.
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High taxes spell doom for ginning industry
Chandigarh, January 31 Over the past one year, almost 20 cotton ginning units in the state have shifted their base from Punjab to the neighbouring states of Haryana and Rajasthan. Another 70 units are not in operation. Sources said of the 420 ginning units in the Malwa region
(Mansa, Bathinda, Muktsar and Ferozepur), only 327 odd were operational.The remaining units had either already shifted to
Fatehabad, Sirsa, Ratia and Dabwali in Haryana or Ganganagar in Rajasthan or were in the process of setting up their new ginning units there.
Bhagwan Bansal, president of the Punjab Cotton Factories and Ginners Association, said the tax imposed on cotton was the highest in the region. “Punjab imposes 16.40 per cent tax on cotton purchase, which includes market fee (2 per cent), commission (2.5 per cent), VAT (4.95 per cent), Punjab Infrastructure Development Fund (2 per cent) and CST 4.95 per cent. Though 2.95 per cent of the CST is to be refunded back by the state government, this is not being done in Punjab,” he said. Comparatively, Haryana charged just 10.10 per cent as tax (market fee 1.60 per cent; commission 2.50 per cent; VAT 4 per cent; and CST: 2 per cent) while Rajasthan charged just 9.60 per cent tax (market fee of 1.60 per cent, commission 2 per cent, VAT 4 per cent and CST 2 per cent). “It is more economical for the ginning industry to buy cotton and gin it in other states. It is for this reason alone that of the 18 lakh bales of cotton produced in Punjab, six lakh bales (one- third) are sold in the neighbouring states,” said
Bansal. He said in order to halt the cotton ginning industry from shifting base to the neighbouring states, the Punjab Government should rationalise taxes. Fleeing Industry
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Ludhiana civic body to pledge its properties to clear pending bills
Ludhiana, January 31 Congress councillors rued that the MC did not have funds for carrying out even minor repair works. The Municipal Corporation, once considered the richest civic body in Punjab, is going through a rough patch. Due to non-payment of dues, several development works have been stopped by the contractors. Rakesh Prashar, a councillor, alleged the civic body was facing fund shortage due to poor policies of the state government. “The MC does not have funds for maintenance works. Mayor Harcharan Singh Gohalwaria is not convening general house meeting of the MC because he knows that councillors will raise the issue of shortage of funds," Prashar said. Sources say out of its total budget, the MC spends around Rs 250 crore annually on paying salaries to its employees while Rs 2 crore to Rs 3 crore is spent on electricity bills. They say the MC has even decided to pledge its offices as collateral security for seeking a bank loan of Rs 100 crore. To clear the backlog payments (money which it owes to contractors), the MC is in a dire need of around Rs 100 crore. The MC has prepared a proposal to pledge its properties to clear the same. The MC is in talks with Bank of India, Punjab National Bank and ICICI Bank. “The officials of Bank of India have assured the MC to lend a loan at an interest rate of 12.5 per cent per annum. Officials from PNB have verbally conveyed that they might sanction a loan at an interest rate of 10.75 per cent per annum, but they are yet to take final permission from their head office,” MC Commissioner Rakesh Kumar Verma said. He said the MC officials were actively involved in the recovery of outstanding dues from city residents. Staring at bankruptcy
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Phone smuggling: Tighter checks for jail staff
Patiala, January 31 Punjab Additional Director General of Police (Jails) Raj Pal Meena has instructed the jail staff to ensure that metal detectors are used to prevent anyone from smuggling mobile phones into jail premises. According to official figures, jail officials have seized 24 gram opium, 560 narcotic tablets, 465 gram narcotic powder and four SIM cards from visitors in the last few days. Two jail officials were dismissed after they were found running the drug nexus inside jails.
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Swelling jails, lean staff a worry for authorities
Patiala, January 31 At present, 23,200 persons are lodged in the state jails that have the capacity to house 18,604 prisoners at the most. Even the high-security jail in Nabha that houses hardcore criminals, is overcrowded. It has 723 inmates whereas the jail capacity is 462. At present, Punjab has 21,936 men and 1,264 women prisoners, including 106 foreigners. Punjab Jails Minister Sarwan Singh Phillaur claimed that the jails in the state were better than those in several other states. “We have initiated the process to fill all vacant posts,” he said.The Jails Department is short of 65 senior officers. Two posts of Deputy Superintendent (Grade I), 28 of Deputy Superintendent (Grade II) and 31 of Assistant Superintendent are lying vacant. Besides, four SP-level posts are to be filled too. Punjab Additional DGP (Jails), RP Meena, says that his department is doing its best. With the available personnel, it had recovered drugs and cell phones from inside the jails. In this regard RP Meena told TNS that the jail department faces many problems as they have to deal with criminals round the clock.
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Board takes steps to trace missing answer-sheets
Mohali, January 31 Dr Balwinder Singh, secretary of the board, said earlier they could not find which school or official was responsible for the missing answer-sheets. “Now we have plugged all the loopholes to check the menace as special litho codes would be marked on every answer-sheet. We would now be able to maintain a record of the answers-sheets and their destination. A special attendance chart would also be prepared on which every candidate would have to sign next to his role number and a special code number. A system has been developed to trace the answer-sheet by matching the attendance chart and the special codes,” claimed Dr Balwinder Singh. With the new system, they would also come to know the identity of the responsible official if an answer-sheet goes missing, said Dr Singh. He said a six-member committee had been constituted for the purpose and some other modifications had also been made in the answer-sheets. Dr Bawinder admitted that 400 answer-sheets had gone missing in 2011 and 135 last year. The board has also issued directions to officials concerned to ensure that the evaluation of papers is done in a fixed time frame of 15 days. Moreover, the colour of the answer-sheets for class 10 and class 12 would be different to prevent the answer-sheets from getting mixed. “The answer-sheets for class 10 would be red and those for class 12 would be blue,” said Dr Balwinder Singh.
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Mandi Gobindgarh industrial units raided by PPCB
Patiala, January 31 Board chairman Ravinder Singh said 17 teams under the supervision of PPCB member secretary Dr Babu Ram were directed to reach Mandi Gobindgarh at 8 am. “The area of each raiding party was earmarked and they were instructed to raid the industrail unit which was found emitting black smoke. “The team raided 36 industrial units and found nine violators, which did not operate their air pollution control devices,” said
Ravinder. He said one industrial unit was found discharging its cooling water through a bore well into the ground. He said strict action would be taken against defaulting industrial units.
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Fisheries Dept to introduce two more species
Jalandhar, January 31 The department has asked a city-based Sukhjinder Pal Singh to nurture the species in his farm in Bara Pind near Kartarpur. Chief Executive Officer BS Randhawa said the Fish Farmers' Development Agency, Jalandhar, had claimed that with the introduction of the species, fish farmers would reap rich dividends. Also, the consumers would be happy as the species had a single bone.The eggs of the species had been acquired from a hatchery in Andhra Pradesh, he said. The tilapia fillets are low in fat, calorie and carbohydrates, but high in protein. As this species of fish is a herbivore and feeds mainly on plankton, filamentous algae, aquatic macrophytes and other vegetables, it does not carry pollutants and other toxins. At fish farms, tilapia are fed mostly on grain. Tilapia can thrive on either fresh or brackish water and is the second most cultivated fish in the world after carp. Belonging to the catfish family, pangasius needs less oxygen in water. Sukhjinder demanded that the government provided fish farmers with power on the same tariff as charged by the neighbouring Haryana. He sought ultra-modern fish markets with storage capacity and small-scale processing units for meat and oil besides ready-to-eat packaging facilities.
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IIT Ropar to have its own building soon
Ropar, January 31 The new building will come up on 501 acres provided by the state government near Birla seed farm, five km from the town. It is expected that a meeting in this regard will be convened by Secretary, Department of Science and Technology, after the first convocation of the institute here on February 2, sources said. After the project was approved by the Board of Governors, tenders would be floated, said an official.
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Latest machinery inaugurated in Patiala Medical College
Patiala, January 31 The minister said the government had given the approval for installing the DNA finger scan machine, which costs Rs 1.50 crore, in Government Medical College, Patiala. Dr AS Thind, Director Medical Education and Research, said these machines could perform 40 tests from one sample in a very short span of time. —TNS
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Retired employee can’t be dismissed retrospectively
Chandigarh, January 31 A Division Bench of the High Court has also set aside the orders of dismissing an employee from service retrospectively, following his conviction. The ruling by the Bench of Chief Justice Arjan Kumar Sikri and Justice Rakesh Kumar Jain came on an appeal filed by The Punjab Scheduled Castes Land Development and Finance Corporation against a retired employee, Tarsem Singh. Allegedly involved in a criminal case, Tarsem Singh was booked by the police. But during the pendency of the criminal proceedings, Tarsem attained the age of superannuation and was allowed to retire honourably with effect from September 30, 2008. Later, the FIR registered against Tarsem culminated in his conviction vide a Trial Court judgment dated October 25, 2010. Armed with the conviction order, the corporation passed an order in January 2011, dismissing Tarsem retrospectively with effect from his actual date of retirement. Aggrieved by the decision to dismiss him from service from a back date, Tarsem moved the High Court against the orders. After going through the rival contentions and the case record, a Single Judge of the High Court directed the setting aside of the dismissal orders. Challenging the Single Judge's verdict, the corporation then filed an appeal before a Division Bench. Taking up the matter, the Bench of Chief Justice Sikri and Justice Jain minced no words to assert: "There cannot be such a dismissal order passed that too retrospectively. The Single Judge has rightly set aside such a dismissal order". Turning down the corporation's plea, the Bench concluded: "We do not find any merit in the present appeal and as such the same is hereby dismissed".
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ASI's Murder
Amritsar, January 31 The police, that is treading with caution, filed the challan on January 25, but chose to keep it a secret. It took the police more than a month to file the
challan. Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime) Harjit Singh Brar, who led the investigations into the case, declined to give any details. Sources claimed that expelled SAD leader Ranjit Singh Rana has been made the prime accused. The challan pointed out that Rana and his aides first resorted to eve teasing on December 1. It read: "On the fateful day, she noticed the accused moving in their car in the Chheharta area of the city. Subsequently, she called up her father who was in the local court premises for work. Ravinder Pal reached the spot within minutes and confronted Rana and his men, which triggered an altercation between them. The scene turned ugly soon after with Rana taking out his gun and firing at the
ASI, besides thrashing his daughter." The sources declined to reveal if the challan mentioned that Rana had returned 20 minutes after the first assault to strike again with his reloaded gun.
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Ready to deposit one-third of arbitration fee, Ladhar tells HC
Chandigarh, January 31 Blamed for charging arbitration fee in lieu of arbitration work, Ladhar claimed in a reply submitted to the Punjab and Haryana High Court that he was conducting arbitration cases not in ex-officio capacity. Elaborating, he said he was rather conducting cases as an arbitrator appointed by the Central Government under the provisions of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996. As such, his was a statutory appointment. The IAS officer said he was entitled to determine his fee as an arbitrator as the central or state government had not prescribed the arbitration fee to be charged by him. The reply came in response to a PIL filed by advocate HC Arora. Ladhar further said he had time and again written to the State Chief Secretary that he was ready to deposit one-third of the arbitration fee charged by him. But the state government had not responded to his letters. Ladhar claimed the state government was asking him to deposit the entire amount of arbitration fee along with interest. But it was silent in the case of arbitration fee charged by two other IAS officers, BK Srivastava and Anurag Verma. He also said some serving officers of the Punjab State Electricity Board, Patiala, had been charging fee in arbitration cases. In support of his contention, he enclosed documents to show that BS Sabharwal, PSEB Engineer-in-Chief, Civil Design, had also charged arbitration fee in two cases. His contention
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Assess implementation cost before introducing Bills: HC
Chandigarh, January 31 Judicial impact assessment is a process whereby the government can anticipate the likely cost of implementing a legislation through courts and help deliver timely justice to litigants. The key element in assessment is the methodology for estimating judicial workload resulting from new legislations and determining the additional costs involved in Judge-time and support services. The PIL was filed by advocate HC Arora for directions to the State to restructure the commission, which was top heavy with a Chief Commissioner and four Commissioners. The Bench observed that the legislation had already been enacted. As such, directions could not be given to the state government at this stage. But the Bench expressed its “hope and expectation” that the respondent State would conduct “judicial impact assessment” in all the cases before Bills were presented in the Vidhan Sabha. The development is significant as the apex court, in its judgment on the Salem District Bar Association case had asserted that there must be “judicial impact assessment, as done in the US, whenever any legislation is introduced, either in Parliament or in the state legislatures. Workload
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Parsvnath Case Chandigarh, January 31 Justice Raveendran has been requested to decide the matter preferably within six months. He has been given the right to decide his own remuneration. The development is significant as the mandate of the three arbitrators stands terminated. Initially, the arbitration tribunal consisted of Punjab and Haryana High Court’s retired judge, Justice Amar Dutt, and Supreme Court’s former judges Justice DP Wadhwa and Justice SC Agrawal. Later on, Supreme Court’s former Chief Justice GB Patnaik stepped in, replacing Justice Agrawal. Except for Justice Patnaik, who came in only recently, Justice Dutt and Justice Wadhwa get to retain more than Rs 30 lakh they charged and received till now. So far, approximately Rs 80 lakh have been paid as fees. The housing board alone has paid more than Rs 39 lakh. The Apex court order comes as a relief to the housing board, suffering from crumbling finances. The developers and the housing board had launched a scheme some seven years back to develop costly flats and villas at the IT Park, Chandigarh. Housing board transferred 135 acres as freehold to Parsvnath Developers on November 15, 2005, for the residential and commercial project to come up. Due to controversies between the parties on issues, including passing of the maps, the project could not be completed on time. In a petition initially filed in the Punjab and Haryana High Court through advocate and barrister Harpreet Singh Giani, the housing board challenged the arbitration tribunal’s order of May 2, 2011, dismissing its application for the reduction in the quantum of arbitral fee. The board has asserted: “The arbitrators are charging the parties the entire arbitral fee of Rs 1.5 lakh per arbitrator even for sitting conducted solely for the purpose of granting adjournments, even if the other side has given its prior consent; and for two sittings in a day if the proceedings take up more than half of the working day.” The petition, argued by UT senior standing counsel Sanjay Kaushal and advocate Giani, said “numerous arbitral sittings have also been conducted at New Delhi in premium five star hotels at expectedly high prices”. Taking up the petition, Justice Hemant Gupta declined Parsvnath’s plea to hold that the Bench had the jurisdiction to hear the case and had the authority to redress the housing board’s grievances. Parsvnath then went to the Supreme Court against the order, resulting in the appointment of the sole arbitrator. Chief Justice of India Altamas Kabir ruled: “Having considered the facts and circumstances of the case and the fact that after several sittings, nothing substantial has really materialised, except that the pleadings are complete and the parties have filed their respective claims, we are inclined to accept the suggestion which has been made on behalf of both the parties." “Accordingly, at the instance of the parties, we… terminate the mandate of the present arbitration tribunal and, in their place, we at the instance of the parties, appoint honourable Mr Justice RV Raveendran, a retired Judge of this Court, to be the sole arbitrator to decide the disputes of the parties. Giani, when contacted, said, “As the board’s sole counsel in the arbitration, I am delighted with the Supreme Court judgment”.
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Lovers found dead in Hoshiarpur village
Jalandhar, January 31 The boy shot the girl in the head and then turned the gun on himself, said the police. Two country-made pistols with cartridges were recovered from the spot. “We are examining various possibilities. For the time being, we have registered a case of murder against Pardip Singh. It is likely that he fired the first shot,” Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Sukhchain Singh said, adding that it looked like
a suicide pact between the lovers. Pardip Singh worked with a money exchange firm at Dhoot Kalan village.
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The state government is all set to re-auction 13 sand quarries across three districts of Punjab on February 14. Earlier, the mining mafia went in for collusive bidding to thwart the government's attempts to auction these quarries earlier this month.
Amritsar, January 31
Sathi to file papers tomorrow
The management of the Ropar Guru Gobind Singh Super Thermal Plant has decided to shut one of its six generation units from today due to shortage of coal. Sources said the plant management was left with coal stock for just 11 days.
High taxes imposed by the state government on cotton are sounding the death knell for the ginning industry.
Grappling with the problem of overcrowded jail cells and acute staff shortage, often leading to jailbreak, the state government plans to set up four new jails and recruit over 1,000 personnel. Work on two of the four jails is nearly complete.
Official figures show that the jails held 18,813 inmates in 2011, a 30 per cent increase in the past one year that also speaks volumes of the law and order situation in the state. The jails are being run by 1,900-odd officials.
Punjab Pollution Control Board
(PPCB) officials today raided 36 industrial units in Mandi Gobindgarh and found nine violators.