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Amritsar admn ready with cure for drug-affected Maqboolpura
Ranike’s PA bought property worth
Rs 2.56 cr, Vigilance tells High Court
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Makkar: New DSGMC to look into bunglings by Sarna team
Jain releases calendar, courts trouble
Ex-Maharaja ‘shoots’ wildlife
Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee president Capt Amarinder Singh at the Art Folio in Sector 9 in Chandigarh on Friday. A Tribune photograph
108 Ambulance Service employees threaten to go on strike
Cash-strapped govt opts for online lottery
Congress questions credibility of electronic voting machines
‘Will work for pact with Left parties’
State Govt, Opposition vying for credit
Experts: Growth not determined by financial parameters alone
CJI to preside over Patiala law varsity’s convocation
Less than 50% specialist doctors join govt service
Fatehgarh Sahib schools to get
Rs 28 crore under SSA
282 ‘outdated’ PRTC buses plying in state
Sacha Sauda case hearing on Feb 8
Yannick case: Bail plea of accused rejected
Barnala man gets 10 years RI for rape
Woman found dead in Ropar
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Amritsar admn ready with cure for drug-affected Maqboolpura
Amritsar, February 1 Called ‘Maqboolpura Plan’, the authorities claim it is a multi-pronged strategy to facilitate de-addiction of those hooked to drugs, provide healthcare, education and social security to the area residents, besides curbing the supply of drugs. Deputy Commissioner Rajat Aggarwal said the locality had been crying for attention for long even as rising drug menace was throwing up various psychological and social issues, besides causing law and order problem. “We have devised a strategy under which we will not only initiate curative and preventive measures but also extend basic amenities to their families to bring their life back on track through sustained intervention,” he said. Aggarwal said they had launched a de-addiction counselling centre in Maqboolpura, besides opening centres for aiding cure of HIV and TB, two most common diseases found among the addicts. “We have not been receiving any addicts in our de-addiction centre and, thus, we felt the need for having a counselling centre in the locality.” According to him, the law enforcing agencies — police as well as drug controller — have also been directed to act tough against those involved in drug trade and submit their reports every month. “The report will dwell on the number of cases registered, challan produced, convictions and acquittals in cases relating to drugs. All this will be closely monitored to curb the supply of drugs.” “We had received a list of 298 widows from the locality, of which 100 were receiving widow pension. Apart from them, another 48 have been facilitated the same while the remaining 150 would be covered under the scheme before February 20.” Aggarwal said the cases of old age pension and disabled pension from the locality would be processed on priority. He said he had also directed the health department to hold regular health check-up camps at Citizen Forum Vidya Mandir, a school where the kids of most of the drug addicts study, besides setting up immunisation centre there and issuing them health cards. Apart from this, the administration has roped in social activists Brij Bedi and Master Ajit Singh, both of whom are actively working in the area, to identify the shortcomings in government schools so that issues like lack of infrastructure and staff crunch could be addressed. The ‘locality of widows’ Drug addiction is so rampant in Maqboolpura that almost every family has lost one or more of its male members to the menace. Due to this, the area is also dubbed as 'locality of widows'. The Tribune had been regularly reporting the plight of its residents in these columns for the last over a decade.
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Ranike’s PA bought property worth
Rs 2.56 cr, Vigilance tells High Court
Chandigarh, February 1 Out of these persons, Ranike’s personal assistant (PA) Sarabhdyal Singh alone allegedly procured property worth over Rs 2.56 crore. The Vigilance Bureau told the high court that the properties acquired by the accused had been identified. The information was furnished by the Superintendent of Police (SP), Vigilance Bureau, Amritsar range, Opinder Singh Ghuman. In an affidavit, the SP stated that a challan had been presented before the trial court against 21 persons and that the case was pending before the court for framing of charges against the accused. Petitioner Hari Singh Nagra of Dera Bassi had earlier stated that a former minister of the ruling coalition was involved in the scam and therefore, chances of a fair investigation by the Vigilance Bureau were less. Ranike, a senior Akali leader, had on September 16 last year resigned from the state Cabinet on "moral grounds". Nagra had stated that there had been a huge embezzlement of grants in the Departments of Animal Husbandry and Welfare of Scheduled Caste and Backward Classes, the portfolios held by Ranike. There was an alleged misappropriation of lakhs of rupees in the execution of the border area development programme, which took place during Ranike's tenure as a minister during 2007-08. However, the FIR was registered on May 22, 2011. No investigation has taken place since then. Another FIR was registered on June 25 against alleged embezzlement of rural development fund worth Rs 1.15 crore. "Ranike has not been interrogated despite the FIRs, which were registered in Amritsar," the petitioner said.
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Makkar: New DSGMC to look into bunglings by Sarna team
Amritsar, February 1 Makkar said the new DSGMC body would look into financial irregularities committed by the earlier team headed by Paramjit Singh Sarna. He mentioned the coming up of a hospital on Gurdwara Bala Sahib premises in this regard. He said Sarna should apologise to the Akal Takht for defying its directions. — TNS
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moga bypoll
Moga, February 1 The All-India Valmiki Khalsa Dal had organised a function to mark the 21st death anniversary of Baba Pritam Singh here this morning. The religious head of Dera Shaheed Baba Tega Singh of Chand Purana village, Baba Gurdeep Singh, was among those present on the occasion. Jain, in his capacity as Chairman of the Warehousing Corporation, released the sect’s calendar allegedly in violation of the election code. Congress block chief expelled Senior Congress leader Rana Gurjit Singh, convener of the Congress campaign committee, today expelled Navdeep Singh Sangha, block president of the Moga city unit of the party for six years. Rana said this had been done on the directions of Pradesh Congress president Amarinder Singh. Sangha said he had not received any official intimation on the matter. Sangha was close to SAD nominee Joginder Pal Jain when the latter was with the Congress. The Congress leadership feared that he could sabotage the party campaign. Party leaders had been keeping a watch on him for some time now, said a senior leader.
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Ex-Maharaja ‘shoots’ wildlife
Chandigarh, February 1 The former Chief Minister of Punjab, Capt Amarinder Singh, along with Jaskaran Sandhu and Gautam Kapoor, captures his flair of shooting with the camera in a three-day photo exhibition, ‘African Wildlife’. The shots, taken from a Canon 650, are neat and crisp. “Photography has interested me always. As a child, I would take a lot of photographs. So, handling a professional camera was not an issue,” says Amarinder, the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee chief who took the wildlife photographs in just two days in South Africa. If it is his passion for cooking and writing that made to the editions of many glossy magazines, Amarinder Singh does not rate photography as a recent development. “Wildlife, as an object of photography, has always interested me. I have been to Ranthambore where I shot in the mountains; then in the Terai region of UP. I have also shot at 20,000 feet,” he shares excitedly. The exhibition sees deer, leopards, elephants and rhinoceros captured in professional shots. “But, I missed out on a lion.” He may have missed out on a few animals, but this isn’t the moment to grudge. Amarinder has quite a lot up his sleeve. Writing: Two hours in the night after nine are dedicated to reading and writing. “I want to start a coffee table book on India's contribution to World War-I in addition to another one on the troubled period of Punjab,” he adds.
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108 Ambulance Service employees threaten to go on strike
Amritsar, February 1 As part of its backup plan, the company has tied up with private players to hire supporting staff. As many as 1,200 ambulance drivers and pharmacists run 250 ambulances across the state under 108 Ambulance Service. Ziqitza Health Care is registered under the Motor Transport Workers Act, 1961, and the Punjab Motor Transport Workers Rules, 1963. Some of its employees, pleading anonymity, complained of low wages. They wanted their duty hours reduced. “The company is neither complying with the Minimum Wages Act nor the Motor Transport Workers Act 1961,” they alleged. However, project head Jatinder K Sharma, blamed “certain vested interests” for instigating employees to boycott work. He warned that employees who struck work would be shunted out. He said that alternative arrangements with private ambulance operators had been made to transport patients needing immediate medical help. “A majority of staff members are still on the job,” he claimed. The company had been paying basic wages and other allowances to its ambulance crew, either equal to or even more than the revised basic wages and special allowances notified by Punjab and effective from September, 2012. “It’s a life-saving emergency service and the Motor Transport Workers Act, 1961 permits an employer to employ its staff for more than 8 hours. Any disruption in the operation of 108 Ambulances will effect the common man and may lead to loss of lives. We have decided to take stern action against the striking workers ,” Sharma said.
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Cash-strapped govt opts for online lottery
Chandigarh, February 1 Punjab will hold 24 draws a day. Except for Sundays, the online lottery will be held everyday. This online lottery will be started besides the monthly lottery and the five bumper lotteries taken out by the State Lotteries Department on New Year,
Baisakhi, Holi, Rakhi and Diwali. Global tenders for starting online lottery will be floated by mid-February. The government expects to attract international players. Only those lottery operators with an annual turnover of Rs 100 crore will be eligible to participate in the bid. In case of new entrants in the lottery business, the bidders would be required to have a turnover of Rs 200 crore. Till three years ago, the Punjab Government ran single-digit, double-digit and three-digit lotteries. With the Supreme Court banning these lotteries from April 1, 2010, the government was forced to stop the draws for these lotteries. At that time, the state government was earning Rs 47 lakh per day through the lotteries. The government revenue dropped drastically following the ban on these daily draws. Other than the state government’s monthly and bumper draws, lottery agents in Punjab also retail in Sikkim and Mizoram Government lotteries with 18 draws a day. Global tenders for online lottery had been floated earlier too. But the venture never took off. Now that a four-member committee comprising the Deputy Chief Minister, the Health Minister, the Finance Minister and the IT Minister has been formed, the government seems all set to launch the venture. Sources said lottery kiosks would be set up in urban areas. Betting Big *
The state government expects to attract international players * Lottery operators with an annual turnover of Rs 100 crore alone will be eligible to participate in the bid *
New entrants in the business would be required
to have a turnover of Rs 200 crore * Govt sets up four-member committee to implement lottery plan
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Congress questions credibility
of electronic voting machines
Chandigarh, February 1 Referring to the Delhi High Court’s observation of January 17 last year that the EVMs were not “temper-proof”, Brar said he had sought the
VVPAT-fitted EVMs that had been tested at 180 polling stations in various states. Asserting that these voting machines were more reliable, he said that senior advocate Ashok Desai, appearing on behalf of the EC on January 22, 2013, had submitted before the Supreme Court that the EVMs fitted with the VVPAT system would be first used for
byelections. “Since the first byelection is being held in Moga, I have made a submission to the EC in this regard,” said
Brar. He pointed out that EVMs that could be tempered with had been discarded by 80 countries, including Japan. Alleging that the incumbent
SAD-BJP Government in Punjab had “broken into” the EVM software (or the source code), “free and fair elections” through these “rigged” EVMs was not possible. Brar claimed that the source code of Indian EVMs was available on the black market. The code, he alleged, had been bought and used by the Shiromani Akali Dal to its advantage for the Vidhan Sabha elections last year.
* That the SAD-BJP Govt had broken into the EVM software *
Hence, free and fair elections through these “rigged” EVMs was not possible *
Brar claimed that the source code of EVMs was available on the black market *
This had been bought and used by SAD during the assembly poll
Jagmeet Brar in Chandigarh on Friday.
Tribune photo:Parvesh Chauhan
He is doubting EC’s integrity: SAD
Dr Daljeet Singh Cheema, SAD spokesman, refuted Brar’s allegations. He said Amarinder Singh, Rajinder Kaur
Bhattal, Sunil Jakhar and other Congress leaders would not have won their seats had the SAD “rigged” the
EVMs. He said by raising doubts on the EVMs, Brar had questioned the credibility and integrity of the Chief Election Commission.
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‘Will work for pact with Left parties’
Chandigarh, February 1 Claiming that the Moga byelection would be a game changer, he said he would meet senior CPI, CPM and PPP leaders to request them to withdraw the Sanjha Morcha candidate. “We have been repeatedly appealing to Morcha leaders to withdraw their candidate to make it a straight contest between the
SAD-BJP and the Congress,” Brar said. “Our battle in Moga is to save democracy. Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal has endangered democracy by making MLA Joginder Pal Jain defect to the SAD. Moga voters will not forgive Sukhbir and the Chief Minister for this sin,” he claimed.
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Centre’s approval for Sangrur hospital
Sangrur, February 1 On January 24 this year, Vijay Inder Singla, Congress Lok Sabha MP from Sangrur, held a press conference to take credit. On January 29, Parkash Chand Garg, SAD MLA from Sangrur and Chief Parliamentary Secretary, issued a press note through district public relation office doing the same. Today, Jatinder Kalra, former president of BJP’s Sangrur district unit and in charge of party affairs of Patiala district, addressed a press conference to make a similar claim. On January 24, Congress MP Vijay Inder Singla showed a letter (dated January 23, 2013), written to him by Ghulam Nabi Azad, about the in principle approval for building a 300-bedded satellite centre of the PGIMER, Chandigarh, at Sangrur. Claiming that the approval for the proposed hospital was an outcome of his personal efforts, he also showed a letter written in this regard by Azad to Prime Minister on May 9, 2011. Azad had made a reference pertaining to Singla in the letter. He also showed a letter dated June 28, 2012, written by Rahul Gandhi to Union Health Minister, and another written by him to Azad on January 18, 2013, in this regard. However, on January 29, Parkash Chand Garg, SAD MLA from Sangrur, said it was the SAD-BJP government’s efforts that resulted in getting the minister’s approval for the cancer hospital and not of any individual person. He had said the Punjab Government had provided land worth Rs 100 crore for this hospital. Today Jatinder Kalra also joined the race, saying the project was approved only because Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and Rajya Sabha MP Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa put forth Punjab’s case in the matter during the several meetings they held with Azad.
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Experts: Growth not determined by financial parameters alone
Chandigarh, February 1 A group of economic experts who debated the issue have expressed serious concern over Punjab slipping from second position to fifth position in 2011 in terms of Human development Indicators (HDI) despite growth in economy. Prof Surinder Kumar and Dr Kulwant Singh while analysing Punjab’s economy in the presence of Prof Surjit Singh, Director Institute of Development Studies, Jaipur, felt there was an urgent need to mobilise additional resources to meet the social sector priorities. This assumed importance since the state’s own resources were not adequate to meet the committed expenditure. Experts pointed out that the share of power subsidy to GSDP was much higher than the share of Public Health and Water supply jointly. For long-term sustainability they recommended that subsidies should be targeted, but not at the cost of other social sector priorities. Another expert, Dr RS Ghuman opined that tax evasion should be checked. Dr Upinder Sawhney was in agreement saying that there was total fiscal mismanagement in Punjab. Due to inefficient tax administration, the state’s own receipts have not increased and that has led to fiscal deficits. A significant portion of the total expenditure has been consumed by the revenue expenditure. Director General of CRRID, Prof Sucha Singh Gill said the Finance Commission talked only about the tax efforts, but the non tax revenues must also be emphasised. He also pointed out that the incentives to agriculture were being characterised as subsides while the bad debts of the industry were simply being written off.
in-depth analysis *
There is an urgent need to mobilise additional resources to meet the social sector priorities *
For long-term sustainability, subsidies should not be targeted at the cost of other social sector priorities
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CJI to preside over Patiala law varsity’s convocation
Patiala, February 1 Supreme Court judge SS Nijjar will preside over the convocation. Justice AK Sikri, Chief Justice, Punjab and Haryana High Court, Chandigarh, and Chancellor, RGNUL, Punjab, will confer PhD, LLM and LLB degrees upon the students. Former Supreme Court judge DK Jain and chairman, Law Commission of India, will be the guest of honour. RGNUL will award 151 BALLB (Hons) degrees; 21 LLM degrees and one PhD degree. Meritorious students of the undergraduate and postgraduate courses will be awarded with medals. For overall best performance, Chancellor’s medal will be awarded to graduating students of the batches 2006-2011 and 2007-2012 and Vice-Chancellor’s medal will be awarded to the 2nd best student. In addition the deserving students will also be awarded sponsored medals. The list of sponsored medals includes Pavani Satyanarayanamma gold medal for academic excellence; KTS Tulsi medals for excellence in penal law and criminal procedure subjects of undergraduate courses; Mohan Law House medals for excellence and constitutional law and also Surana gold medals for excellence will be awarded to top students in undergraduate and postgraduate courses.
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Less than 50% specialist doctors join govt service
Ludhiana, February 1 Sources said, “From September, 2012, to January, 2013, 122 specialist doctors were selected. Of these, less than 50% of them reported for duty. In January, 2013, 59 specialists were selected, 28 joined while 31 asked for extension on one pretext or the other.” However, some of the doctors are of the view that the state government is paying them too little. An expert, requesting anonymity, said, “The government has been paying us the same amount as is being paid to general doctors.” Dr Ashok Nayyar, Director, Family Welfare, said, “The newly appointed medical experts, who could not report to their duties, have been given an extension of three months. However, we will recruit more experts in case they fail to report.” The state health department has started appointing these experts through walk-in interviews which are scheduled every month. These interviews were held for the first time in September, 2012. Meanwhile Punjab Civil Medical Services Association (PCMSA)also supported the specialist doctors’ cause. State President of PCMS association Dr Hardeep Singh said, “The 5th Pay Commission has assured PCMSA doctors that their salary is kept at par with that of central services doctors. General doctors have been given parity but specialsists have been denied the same. While in central health services, specialist cadre is getting an entry scale of Rs 15,600-39,100+ grade pay Rs 6,600 as compared to general cadre getting Rs 15,600-39,100 + grade pay Rs 5,400. And the specialist doctors are also getting a time assured progression in pay after two and six years as compared to general duty doctors getting the same after four, nine and 13 years.” He further said PCMSA demanded a separate pay structure for specialists in Punjab that was at par with their pay scale in the central service. The PCMSA also demanded that experts be given an assured carrier progression after two and six years of service.
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Fatehgarh Sahib schools to get
Rs 28 crore under SSA
Fatehgarh Sahib, February 1 He directed the officials to identify schools that don’t have basic infrastructure so that funds may be provided to them on a priority basis. He also directed the respective Sub Divisional Magistrates to visit the schools in their areas to find out the progress of the ongoing projects. The DC said 2,591 differently-abled students were being educated at 38 resource centers.
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282 ‘outdated’ PRTC buses plying in state
Ludhiana, February 1 Responding to an application filed under the Right to Information Act by Wazir Singh Jassal, a local resident, the PRTC authorities wrote that 282 of the total 763 buses in Punjab were ‘outdated’ and ‘unfit’ as they had completed their tenure (8 yrs/6.5 lakh km). The maximum number of outdated buses was at the PRTC head office in Patiala. Out of the total 133 buses there, 60 were unfit and continued to be in use, putting the lives of several passengers at risk. Bathinda comes second with 37 unfit buses, followed by 35 in Kapurthala, 30 in Chandigarh, 29 in Faridkot, 27 each in Barnala and Sangrur districts, 22 in Ludhiana and 15 in Budhlada. DPS Kharbanda, PRTC Managing Director, Patiala, said these buses had run for over 6.5 lakh km and would soon be auctioned. “We are adding over 200 new buses this year. Of these, 150 will be ordinary while 50 will be AC buses. The old ones are being discarded and auctioned each year. About a month ago, we auctioned over 70 buses,” said
Kharbanda.
Alarming figures *
There are a total of 763 buses in Punjab
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Sacha Sauda case hearing on Feb 8
Bathinda, February 1 Last year, the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Bathinda, had directed the Sacha Sauda chief to appear in person before the court. The sect chief, however, had procured stay orders. The case pertains to an FIR lodged in 2007 against Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh for allegedly hurting the religious sentiments of the Sikhs. The next hearing is on February 8. — TNS
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Yannick case: Bail plea of accused rejected
Jalandhar, February 1 Yannick, a first-year student of computer science at Lovely Professional University in Jalandhar, was attacked on April 21 last year. Seven of the nine accused have been arrested in the case. Two among these accused, including former Superintendent of Police the late Dharam Singh Uppal’s son Romi Uppal, were granted bail recently. Dharam Singh Uppal died a few days ago due to cardiac arrest. He was suspended several months ago for allegedly threatening eyewitnesses in the case.
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Barnala man gets 10 years RI for rape
Sangrur, February 1 The judge also awarded seven years’ RI and a fine of Rs 1,000 under Section 366 of the IPC, and three years’ RI under Section 363 of the IPC to Pritpal Singh. The case was registered against Pritpal Singh under Sections 363, 366 and 376 of the IPC on November 8, 2012, at police station (City-1) in Malerkotla. As per the case, the girl’s mother had lodged a report with the police on November 5, 2012, that her daughter had gone missing on November 4, 2012, from Malerkotla bus stand. However, on November 9, the police caught the girl and Pritpal Singh from Dholewal Chowk in Ludhiana. Later, on the statement of the girl, the police added Section 376 of the IPC to the FIR. She was also examined medically at Civil Hospital,
Sangrur.
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Woman found dead in Ropar
Ropar, February 1 Farm house owner Jagdish Singh told the police that Rano along with another person had been working at his farm house since January 28. Yesterday, the woman was found dead in her room while her accomplice was missing from the spot, said the police.
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He stands there, greeting the visitors, most of them who have known him for a long time. He sips his wine and settles to talk about photography, an art, a childhood passion which has now graduated and found place on the walls of the gallery, Art Folio in Sector 9.
Grave Charges