|
|
|
|
|
Govt to offer incentives
to revive industry in state
Capt loyalists skip Bajwa’s lunch
School denies first-aid to
|
|
|
Rail fares hiked to fund projects: Bansal
Manpreet non-committal on pact with Congress
Panel formed to resolve row over expletives
Former state minister Saini dead
SC panel promises justice to assault victim
6 judicial officers under lens
over delay in rape case trial
3 arrested for illegal mining
Heroin worth Rs 750 crore seized from state last year
ASI was beaten to death, claims police
Cop who molested girl held
Man attacks niece, chops off her hand
|
Govt to offer incentives
to revive industry in state
Besides offering a slew of incentives, the new policy will create a land bank in industrially sparse areas and places with less agriculture activity, besides offering these to investors at concession and ensuring that land is not usurped by realtors for making gains. The industrial sites carved out of these land banks will be put on the website of the Industries Department. Investors can access it and choose the location where he would want to set up his unit. Once the investor decides on the location for his project, the government promises to expedite his proposal through a single window clearance within 30 days. Talking to The Tribune, Industries Minister Anil Joshi said land would also be offered in the various industrial focal points across Punjab. "The idea is to ensure rapid industrialisation and save land from the clutches of realtors. Steps are being taken to ensure that the land allotted for industry is not used for further sale and purchase. We will ensure setting up of industry on every piece of land allotted for the purpose. We will give three years to the investor to start commercial production, failing which he will face resumption of the plot. The ownership of land will be transferred to another person's name only after the continuation of industrial production for six years," he said. The minister said over the past one year, he had been holding meetings with industrialists and small businessmen, including those who run micro units in smaller towns, to get a feedback on how to re-energise the industry in the state. The state government claims to have studied the industrial policies of progressive states like Gujarat and Maharashtra and of neighbouring states like Haryana and Rajasthan with an aim to implementing positive ethos in each policy in Punjab. The government is also considering giving incentives in mega projects by lowering the minimum investment to avail benefits from Rs 100 crore to Rs 40 crore (in border areas, this is proposed to be brought down from Rs 25 crore to Rs 10 crore). "We will not offer any cash incentives in the form of subsidy. We will offer exemptions in stamp duty and value added tax (VAT) and faster approvals from government departments through single window clearance," Joshi said, adding the scheme of deemed approvals would be made effective wherein if a proposal did not get required clearances from any state government department within the stipulated time frame, the investment proposal would be deemed as approved. Joshi said the government would promote cluster approach in a big way in various industrial clusters like leather cluster in Jalandhar and textile cluster in Malwa region. This would ensure setting up of common facility centres and bringing down the cost of raw materials, he added. In the offing
|
|
Capt loyalists skip Bajwa’s lunch
Chandigarh, March 9 On his first visit to the city after being made the PPCC president, Bajwa called upon senior Congress leader and former minister Lal Singh. He is also scheduled to meet former Chief Minister Rajinder Kaur Bhattal. Though several senior leaders came to greet Bajwa, those considered close to outgoing state president Capt Amarinder Singh chose to stay away. They did not even turn up for a lunch hosted by Bajwa at his residence. Only two vice-presidents, Choudhary Jagjit Singh and Ashwani Sekhri, and two general secretaries, Vikram Bajwa and Aruna Choudhary, were present. Bajwa, however, claimed it was not a formal lunch and that whoever came to meet him came of their own accord. “In fact, I myself had lunch at Lal Singh’s house. The leaders who came to my residence had lunch with my wife (Qadian legislator Charanjit Kaur),” he said. Prominent among those who dropped in to meet Bajwa at his house were Congress Legislature Party Leader Sunil Jakhar, MLAs Randeep Nabha, Surinder Dabar and Bharat Bhushan Ashu and senior leader Harminder Jassi. Former Congress MLA from Bholath Sukhpal Khaira said no formal invitations had been sent. He said the PPCC president, too, was in and out of his house almost the entire day. Ashwani Sekhri said a few leaders, including party office-bearers, had been given the responsibility of preparing for Bajwa’s Amritsar visit on March 16. As such, he said, they, including vice-president Sukh Sarkaria and general secretaries OP Soni and Fatehjung Bajwa, could not come to Chandigarh. But, sources said, the fact that the core group of Capt Amarinder Singh did not come to welcome Bajwa indicated that Amarinder Singh was yet to give any clear signal to his supporters on cooperating with the new state chief. Amarinder Singh himself has retreated to his hillside residence at Kandiali in Himachal Pradesh. Questioned on this, Bajwa said he visited Chandigarh on his wife’s insistence. “She had told me that a large number of party workers from Majha wanted to meet me in Delhi. I thought it better to call them to Chandigarh instead of inconveniencing them to the Capital,” he said. Bajwa also indicated that a large number of Amarinder Singh’s loyalists had already got in touch with him. He said Rana Gurmeet Sodhi and Jeet Mohinder Singh Sidhu had also met him in Delhi.
|
|||
|
School denies first-aid to
students hurt in accident
Amritsar, March 9 The school authorities have, however, denied the charge and claimed first-aid was given to the students. Sources said a bus carrying students of Delhi Public School (DPS) met with a minor accident when a car suddenly came in front of it on the GT road. While most of the students suffered bruises, a Class III student, Adishwar Singh, hurt his nose. Adishwar's father Amandeep Singh alleged it was disheartening that the students were not taken to the hospital even as two teachers were also travelling on the bus. "A lot of time was wasted in dropping other students on the way while Adishwar's nose kept bleeding profusely," he said, showing a blood-soaked shirt of his son. He said his daughter Harsimran Kaur, who is studying in Class VI, told the teachers to take her brother to a doctor, but the teachers calmed her down saying that they would be dropped home soon. Harjit Singh, whose two children also sustained minor injuries in the mishap, said: "We can understand that the accident was unavoidable. But the school staff must have provided medical aid swiftly". School principal Sangeeta Singh claimed the husband of one of the teachers, who is a qualified doctor, was called up to provide medical aid to students. She also said all buses ferrying children had first-aid boxes. She said it was the responsibility of the transport contractor to ensure the safety of schoolchildren during transportation. Deputy Commissioner Rajat Aggarwal said the schools could not pass on their responsibility to contractors. He said a three-member committee, headed by ACP Traffic Ketan Patil, had been formed to create awareness about traffic rules among drivers ferrying schoolchildren. He said the committee would also study the Chandigarh pattern where a tripartite agreement was reached among the school management, transporters and parents.
|
|||
|
Rail fares hiked to fund projects: Bansal
Nawanshahr, March 9 Interacting with mediapersons during his visit to Jadla village to attend the bhog ceremony of veteran Congress leader Rana Moti Singh, Bansal said owing to financial constraints he could not announce much for Punjab in the Rail Budget. He said the increased railway fares and service charges would help generate revenue which would be utilised for fulfilling pending projects of expansion in rail services not only in Punjab but also in other states in the next 10 years. "A strong political will and determination is needed to put the policy into practice," the Railway Minister said. Earlier, while paying tributes to Rana Moti Singh, Bansal said the veteran Congress leader, a pioneer in bringing green revolution in the country, had remained loyal to the Congress.
|
|||
Manpreet non-committal on pact with Congress
Chandigarh, March 9 Manpreet said his party could not take any such decision single-handedly as it was part of the Sanjha Morcha, a political alliance of like-minded outfits, including Left parties. “A political arrangement with the Congress to fight the ruling Shiromani Akali Dal, if ever, will be a collective decision by various constituents of the Sanjha Morcha,” he pointed out. Wishing Bajwa success in his new assignment, Manpreet said he had taken note of the PCC chief’s offer and would consult all concerned before taking the final decision. “Our party aims to change the present political system. For short-term gains, we are not ready to change our ideology. We are striving to achieve what Punjab could not in the last 65 years,” he said. A tie-up with the PPP was on Bajwa’s agenda even before he took over the reins from Capt Amarinder Singh. In fact, he is learnt to have met Manpreet before the 2012 Punjab Assembly elections as well. But, no headway could be achieved then. Reports of the possibility of an alliance between the two parties had again emerged in the run-up to the recent Moga assembly bypoll. However, things could not materialise for the second time too. As Bajwa faces an uphill task of defeating the Akalis -— the ruling party has not lost any election in recent years — in the next Lok Sabha elections, he has been exploring all options of winning over the anti-SAD votes so as to consolidate the Congress’ position.
|
|||
|
|
|
Panel formed to resolve row over expletives
Chandigarh, March 9 Sources said the committee would meet before the session to resolve the issues. They said both Majithia and Congress MLA Rana Gurjit Singh could be summoned. A meeting of representatives of the SAD, BJP and the Congress, including Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal, Education Minister Sikander Singh Maluka, Finance Minister Parminder Dhindsa (all SAD), ministers Chunni Lal Bhagat and Madan Mohan Mittal (both BJP) and Jakhar, Rajinder Kaur Bhattal and Ashwani Sekhri (all Congress) was held at the instance of the Speaker. Sources said the Speaker was anguished at being targeted by the opposition for moving a resolution to suspend Rana Gurjit Singh during the last session. The Speaker said the opposition also defied his directive expunging the alleged expletives uttered by Majithia and aired the same on television. Atwal said he did not want such incidents to occur again to ensure smooth running of the House. The sources said Jakhar, while decrying the incident that had led to repeated adjournments, had urged for the adoption of healthy democratic values.
|
|
|
Former state minister Saini dead
Pathankot, March 9 Having represented Sujanpur in the Punjab Assembly, Saini was considered one of the tallest BJP leaders in Pathankot. He remained the Minister of State for Information Technology in the Parkash Singh Badal government in 1997. On Friday, Saini was presumed to be dead at a Ludhiana hospital, where he had been ailing for quite some time, following which his relatives were shifting his ‘body’ to his native place Pathankot. However, he started breathing near Mukerian, 25 km from his hometown, and was admitted to a local private hospital where he breathed his last 16 hours later at 7:40 am. Prominent among those who attended the cremation were Punjab Deputy Speaker Dinesh Babbu, Pathankot MLA Ashwani Sharma, Bhoa MLA Seema Kumari, former Ministers Master Mohan Lal and Arunesh Shaker, former Chairman of Pathankot Improvement Trust Anil Vasudeva and Akali leader Manjit Dala.
|
|
|
SC panel promises justice to assault victim
Tarn Taran, March 9 The victim and her father demanded exemplary action against the policemen involved in the incident. Bagah said no police official had the right to beat up a woman. He said a case had been registered and two policemen had been suspended. The victim would be paid compensation as per the norms, he added. Bagah said the government had already ordered a magisterial probe into the incident and its report would come within three weeks. Besides, the police had formed a probe team under the ADGP (Crime), which would also submit its report to the government soon, he added. He said if the victim's family did not get justice, the Commission would hold a probe.
|
|
6 judicial officers under lens
over delay in rape case trial
Chandigarh, March 9 Taking up the matter, Justice Ranjit Singh observed: “There appears to be some negligence on the part of various officers dealing with the case. Except for some period, when the proceedings in this case were stayed, there is really no reason for the officers to deal with the case lightly”. Justice Ranjit Singh also observed that as many as six Additional District and Sessions Judges dealt with the case from 2007. They are: JS Chugh, Surinder Mohan, Harpal Singh, Kishore Kumar, SP Sood and Rajiv Malhotra. The observations by Justice Ranjit Singh came on a petition filed by a Gurdaspur district resident against the State of Punjab and five other respondents, alleging that unnecessarily adjournments were being taken on one pretext or the other. Justice Ranjit Singh took into consideration the fact that the rape case was registered way back in May 2006 and the trial was still pending. Justice Ranjit Singh has already summoned the details of other pending rape cases in both Punjab and Haryana. In her petition filed through counsel Ramdeep Partap Singh, the petitioner insisted that directions should be issued to the trial court to expedite the trial and complete it in two months. The counsel said the victim and her college mate Anju used to visit each other at their residences. But Anju’s brother Surinder Kumar started nursing “bad intention” towards the complainant. Soon, Anju and others of her family started pressurising the complainant to be Surinder Kumar’s wife. After her engagement with someone else, Anju’s family threatened to flash some of her photographs. When the complainant went to Anju’s house on August 12, 2004, to collect the photographs, she was allegedly raped by Surinder Kumar. Ramdeep Partap Singh claimed that the complainant was compelled to move the High Court earlier also as the FIR too was not being initially registered on her statement as the accused were influential. The counsel added even after a lapse of almost six years since the registration of the present case, the trial was yet to conclude.
|
|
3 arrested for illegal mining
Moga, March 9 Those arrested are Karam Singh, Charanjit Singh, both residents of Raoke Kalan village in Nihalsinghwala sub-division, and Nirmal Singh of Dharamkot town. “We have recovered one .315 bore rifle, one .12 bore gun and one .32 bore revolver along with live cartridges from their possession. The accused could not produce valid arms licences for the weapons,” Toor said.
|
||
|
Heroin worth Rs 750 crore seized from state last year
Muktsar, March 9
Seventeen kilograms of heroin was seized from Manipur, Delhi, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Haryana, Maharashtra and Uttarakhand. The first seizure in Punjab was made on January 18 near Border out Post (BoP) Bharopal in Amritsar and 16.915-kg heroin was seized. Thereafter, on January 21, another seizure of 13.93 kg heroin was made near BoP Muthianwala in Ferozepur. On February 4, a seizure of 12.71 kg heroin was made near BoP Pall Patti, Tarn Taran. On the same day, another confiscation of 10-kg heroin was made near BoP Ghoga, Amritsar. On April 19, nearly 21.85-kg heroin was seized near BoP Dharma, Tarn Taran. On March 29, 10-kg heroin was seized near BoP New Sundargarh, Amritsar. Thereafter, seizure of 7.91 kg heroin was made from the high growth ‘sarkanda’ on southern bank of river Sutlej. On April 24, a consignment of 12-kg heroin was seized near the Pakistan International Border. Later, on May 26, a seizure of 10-kg heroin was made, when the consignment was thrown out from a goods train plying between Wagah and Attari. On June 16, a consignment of 17-kg heroin was seized. On August 18, a consignment of 6.91 kg heroin was seized in Ferozepur. Subsequently, on September 21, a seizure of 9.96 kg heroin was made from a PVC pipe along Indo-Pak border adjoining Amritsar. The NCB officials stated that the suspected source of the seized heroin was South West Asia.
|
||
|
ASI was beaten to death, claims police
Tarn Taran, March 9 Tarn Taran Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) KS Dhillon said: "An interrogation of the accused revealed that the ASI was beaten up by them. We have rounded up more people in the case. They will be arrested if found guilty". ASI Kulbir Singh had gone to Geobala village along with a police party to arrest farmer union activists on March 5 in a bid to foil their "rail rook" agitation. After the raid, the body of Kulbir Singh was found near a drain under mysterious circumstances. Meanwhile, the five accused arrested in the case were sent to another two-day police remand by a local court in Patti today. However, protesting farmer leaders, including Lakhwinder Singh Palasaur and Sawaran Singh Walipur, reiterated that the ASI had died of natural causes and that the farmers were innocent. Meanwhile, various farmer bodies burnt the effigy of the state government to lodge their protest against the case that was registered against the farmers. They threatened to intensify their agitation if the case wasn’t withdrawn immediately. The police meanwhile continued its efforts to trace the remaining accused. It had booked a number of farmer leaders and some unidentified persons in the case.
|
||
|
Cop who molested girl held
Moga, March 9 After arresting Harjit, the police produced him before a local court, which sent him to 14-day judicial custody. The accused has also been placed under suspension and a departmental inquiry has been initiated against him.
|
||
|
Man attacks niece, chops off her hand
Hoshiarpur, March 9 Deputy Superintendent of police, (DSP) City, Digvijay Kapil said the girl sufferred 20 injuries on her body, including eight on her head. Her left hand and fingers of her right hand were chopped off, he said, adding the victim was rushed to the PGIMER, Chandigarh. Her condition is said to be critical. The police claimed Sunil was a drug addict. The motive behind the attack could only be ascertained after recording the girl’s statement, he said. The police has arrested the assailant and registered a case against him at the Sadar Police station.
|
|
| HOME PAGE | |
Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir |
Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs |
Nation | Opinions | | Business | Sports | World | Letters | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | Delhi | | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | E-mail | |
Newly appointed Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) chief Partap Singh Bajwa today started the process to build bridges with senior party leaders who matter in state politics.
Chairman of the Punjab State Commission for Scheduled Castes Rajesh Bagah today visited the Tarn Taran assault victim's family at Usma village. He assured them that the guilty policemen would be punished. He also directed the district administration officials to arrest those named in the FIR within 24 hours.
Chandigarh, March 9
