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Hola Mohalla: Devotees swamp Anandpur Sahib
State Cong gets 4 vice-presidents
Amritsar girl raped by youths in moving car
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Land grab: HC tells state to file reply in four weeks
Ex-DSP gets 3-yr RI in abduction case
Third front figment of imagination, says Badal
Bajwa: Won’t allow excesses during panchayat poll
High command forces Bajwa to withdraw appointments
Booster dose of Rs
8.10 crore for dying wetland
Govt breaks norms, appoints junior officers BDPOs
50 served notices for not deducting TDS
Breast cancer most prevalent among women, prostate cancer in men
He supplies biogas to Ropar’s model village free of cost
Assault victim’s uncle, cousin get police security
Patiala to get new Mayor on April 2
Unpaid PRTC employees strike work in Sangrur
Central Excise officers to strike work from March 29
Improvement Trust acquires philanthropist’s land
Inquire into state debt, Jakhar to Governor
Woman murdered in Fatehgarh Sahib
2 killed in mishap
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Hola Mohalla: Devotees swamp Anandpur Sahib
Anandpur Sahib, March 26
The nagar kirtan, which started from Agampur by Baba Pritam Singh of Nirmal Mandal, concluded at the dera of Sant Pritam Singh. Nihangs from various sects performed "gatka" during the procession. SGPC president Avtar Singh Makkar said: "We are expecting the arrival of over 30 lakh devotees for taking part in the Hola Mohalla celebrations". Ropar Deputy Commissioner PK Aggrawal inaugurated an exhibition displaying progress of the state in various fields. The Shaheed Bhagat Singh Sports and Cultural Club, Anandpur Sahib, is organising wrestling and kabaddi tournaments. Club president Kartar Singh said the title of Rustam-e-Zama would be bestowed upon the winner, who would be given a cash prize of Rs 2.5 lakh. The runner-up would get Rs 1 lakh, he said. The Anandpur Sahib Sports Club UK is organising the 10th Holla Mohalla Circle Kabaddi Championship. Twenty one teams from various districts are competing in the championship. Hundreds of individuals and social organisations have set up langars (community kitchens) all over the town and its adjoining areas to serve meals, snacks and beverages to the devotees. There are nearly 200 langars set up in and around the two towns of Kiratpur Sahib and Anandpur Sahib. Besides regular meals, the community kitchens are offering sweets, milk, juices and other snacks to the devotees. "We are serving paranthas with curd in breakfast while jalebis, pakoras, milk, tea etc are being served round the clock along with lunch and dinner," said members of a langar committee from a Moga village who have set up their kitchen near Virasat-e-Khalsa. The festival, where lakhs of devotees pay obeisance at various gurdwaras in the town, has provided a big market to many. Several local and outside traders have set up their kiosks to cash in on the festival fervour. Shakeel from Moradabad has come here to sell his musical instruments including drums, tablas and mridangs. Coca Cola has organised a dance competition for youths visiting the fair. Jathedar Bhan Singh from Khanna has set up a stall to sell traditional arms like swords, hoods, axes etc claiming to be up to 300 years old.
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State Cong gets 4 vice-presidents
Chandigarh, March 26
Banga legislator Tarlochan Soondh will be in charge of the Doaba zone, Amritsar Central legislator OP Soni of the Majha and former MLA Gurpreet Kangar and Chamkaur Sahib MLA Charanjit Channi of the Malwa zone. The Malwa region has the lion’s share of the assembly constituencies. Since the past one week, there had been considerable consternation in PCC circles over AICC vice-president Rahul Gandhi’s choice for the appointments. A number of leaders had reportedly made a representation to him to take back the decision. That obviously did not happen. The appointment order says: “They (vice-presidents) will be responsible for the party affairs in their regions mentioned against their names”.This effectively makes them zonal heads although they have not been titled so. The Tribune had carried a report a few days ago on the party decision to appoint a leader for each zone. Though all the four leaders are popular in their respective areas, the appointments have not gone down well with the state's senior leadership. Party leaders are questioning the judgement of the Congress high command in appointing Charanjit Channi, who only joined the Congress in November 2011. There is a feeling that as far as the Dalits are concerned, both Soondh and Channi are “Adharmis”. There are three other Dalit sub-sections in Punjab, Valmikis, Mazhabi Sikhs and Kabir Panthis, all of whom have been ignored. In the Malwa region, there is a feeling that senior leaders like Ajitinder Singh Mofar, Jeet Mohinder Sidhu and Kewal Dhillon could have been considered for the post. Sources said Rahul Gandhi had offered one post in the Malwa to senior leader Laal Singh, who refused the same. In the Doaba region, though the party has decided to play the Dalit card, Jat leaders like Rana Gurjit could have been considered. Similarly, there is a feeling that Khatri Sikhs like Rana Gurmeet Singh Sodhi and Tejinder Bittu and the Aggarwal community have not been given due weightage. Sources said the appointments are likely to further downgrade the post of PCC president. Vary of the personality cult, the high command wanted the loyalty of state Congress leaders with Rahul Gandhi or the high command. The sources said it was to be seen whether or not this experiment would succeed. Though the four appointees carried Rahul Gandhi's tag, they would have to contend with the state's senior leadership whose cooperation was a must if they were to be
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Amritsar girl raped by youths in moving car
Amritsar, March 26 The criminals played blaring music in the car to drown the victim's cries for help as they drove around the city. The girl was thrown out of the car near an educational institution a few metres from the residence of Amritsar Police Commissioner Ram Singh. She called up her mother from a cell phone that she borrowed from a passerby, who took her to a private hospital that referred her to Jallianwala Bagh Memorial Civil Hospital. In her complaint to the Rambagh police, the victim, who works in a telecom shop, said that at about 7.30 pm as she turned towards Mahan Singh Gate, she saw a car coming from near the Inter-state Bus Terminus. There were two persons inside. The man sitting on the back seat bundled her into the car. A third youth joined the abductors at the next chowk and the fourth one at Verka. She alleged that she was forced to sniff some powder that made her unconscious. She named three persons, Aditya, Rocky and Abhi, in her complaint registered under Sections 376-D, 363 and 34 of the IPC. The fourth accused is yet to be identified. Additional DCP (Crime) HS Brar said the victim had been medically examined.Call details of the girl's cell phone showed that she had received several calls from particular numbers before and after the crime. He said it was suspected that the accused might have been known to the victim. Police chief summoned Amritsar: National SC/ST Commission Vice-Chairman Rajkumar Verka has summoned the Amritsar Police Commissioner on March 28. The commission will also record the statements of the victim and her family members. Bajwa flays government Chandigarh: Partap Bajwa, Pradesh Congress chief, in a statement, said the Amritsar incident had exposed the tall claims on law and order by Deputy CM Sukhbir Singh Badal. Expressing concern over women’s safety in Punjab, he alleged that crime against women and Dalits was on the rise. "The Amritsar gang-rape, the police assault on a Dalit woman in Tarn Taran and another case in Patiala district are not isolated incidents," he claimed.
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Land grab: HC tells state to file reply in four weeks
Chandigarh, March 26 Setting a four-week deadline for the purpose, the Division Bench, headed by Justice Jasbir Singh, also asked the Tribunal to clarify its stand on land purchased by small bona fide purchasers in Nayagaon area. The Bench asked the Tribunal to submit its response on land, where the owners had received favourable verdicts from the High Court or other courts. The matter would now come up for further hearing on April 29. Already, the probe into land grab cases in Punjab has found faults with certain mutations in Kansal and Karoran villages in Chandigarh's periphery. In Karoran, as many as 30,000 to 35,000 sale deeds may be affected because of the findings. The committee was constituted by the High Court to look into land grab cases not just in Nayagaon and other villages on Chandigarh's periphery, but in the entire state of Punjab. As its first step, the panel has concentrated on "land within the periphery of Chandigarh". Out of 360 villages, it has looked into the revenue records of eight villages, including Karoran, Kansal, Mirzapur and Mullanpur Garibdass. In its damning interim report submitted to the High Court on the illegal acquisition of properties in Chandigarh's periphery, Justice Kuldip Singh panel had also minced no words to say "thousands of acres have either been grabbed or are in process of being grabbed". The panel had also placed in dock Directors and Additional Directors, Consolidation, for passing illegal and fraudulent orders after entering into collusion with revenue officers and "right holders". It had also found faults with certain mutations and sale deeds in Kansal and Karoran villages around Chandigarh where Punjab's Director-General of Police Sumedh Singh Saini too owns a chunk of land. At the same time, the panel had, on the basis of preliminary inquiry, asserted that land owned by Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal and some other VIPs was never owned or possessed by the State, the gram panchayat or any other public body". The panel had also recommended reopening of cases where orders of the civil courts, consolidation and revenue authorities were prima facie illegal and based on fraud, collusion and conspiracy. The setting up of special fast-track courts to deal with such cases too has been recommended.
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Ex-DSP gets 3-yr RI in abduction case
Patiala, March 26 The CBI had registered a case in January 1998, on the orders of the High Court, under Sections 365, 368, 343, 384 and 120-B of the IPC pertaining to abduction, extortion and conspiracy against Ajaib Singh Kaleka (retired AIG), Inspector Hazura Singh and Sub-Inspector Sham Lal (all acquitted earlier) and retired DSP Joginder Singh. Two other accused officers, retired Superintendent of Police Madanjit and Inspector Gurnam Singh, died during the course of the trial. As the CBI Judicial Magistrate holding Joginder Singh guilty under Sections 365, 368 and 342 of the IPC, the matter was referred to the CJM’s court. Dharam Singh, a resident of Partap Nagar here, had alleged that his sons, Balwinder Singh and Gurwinder Singh, were kidnapped by a police team of six officers in 1993 while they were posted at
Patiala.
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Third front figment of imagination, says Badal
Badal (Muktsar), March 26 “The SAD, being an important ally of the NDA, is committed to supporting the BJP to wipe out the Congress from the political scene,” Badal said. He described as meaningless the demand by Congress MLAs that the Bills passed at the Budget session be quashed because of the “one-sided proceedings.” At the Sangat Darshan, Badal disbursed grants for developmental works in Bhai ka Kera, Baloch Kera, Kangan Khera, Dabwali Malko Ki and Badal villages.
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Bajwa: Won’t allow excesses during panchayat poll
Amritsar, March 26 Talking to mediapersons on the sidelines of the death anniversary of Congress leader Sham Singh Chakwalia in Tarn Taran district, he said they would gherao ruling party leaders and even move the judiciary if the SAD resorted to excesses during the elections. Asked whether the Congress had failed to corner the government by boycotting the assembly session, he said, on the contrary, Congress MLAs had forcefully raised the people’s demands at their mock assembly session. “It may not be on the assembly record, but what matters to us is the public record,” he said.
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High command forces Bajwa to withdraw appointments
Chandigarh, March 26 He had appointed his brother Fatehjang Bajwa as general secretary in charge of the PCC office here yesterday and two secretaries to assist him. He had also announced that former legislator Sukhpal Khaira would be the party spokesperson. Sources said Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi had not taken kindly to the appointments, especially when it was brought to his notice that the PCC chief had not taken either of those in charge of state affairs, Gulchain Singh Charak or Harish Chaudhary into confidence on the matter. The PCC office issued a two-line press note, saying all "temporary" appointments made yesterday had been withdrawn with immediate effect. When contacted, Bajwa said there was no need for him to take permission to make appointments in his office. He said he had decided to make the appointments as the current office in charge, Arvind Khanna, had not been coming to office for more than a month now. Hence, he needed someone to facilitate office work. Bajwa said he had been told by the high command not to undertake piecemeal appointments and to recommend the entire list of office-bearers which would be duly approved. "Accordingly, I have taken the appointments back," he said. Sources, however, said the high command had weakened its own president by forcing him to take back the appointments made by earlier PCC chiefs too.
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Booster dose of Rs
8.10 crore for dying wetland
Keshopur Chamb (Gurdaspur), March 26 The wetland, spread over an area of 850 acres and renowned for attracting migratory birds from as far as Central Asia, Russia and Siberia, has been in a poor state. But the state government has now prepared an elaborate plan to resurrect it. The project, which is to be jointly implemented by the Ministries of Tourism, Wildlife and Forests and the district administration, aims at developing the area into a major eco-tourist spot by conserving its ecological sensitivity and simultaneously generating revenue by providing employment to locals. Deputy Commissioner Abhinav Trikha said: "Thousands of migratory birds used to visit the area every winter, either in search of food or to escape the harsh weather conditions at their native habitat. However, because of an assortment of reasons, both natural and man-made, the birds have stopped coming, which is very disturbing. We will be spending Rs 10 lakh to plant 3,000 saplings over the next three years while a sum of Rs 35 lakh has been earmarked for removing weeds. We will spend Rs 30 lakh on de-silting and on nature trails." A Tourist Interpretation Centre is also being established in Matwa village (at a cost of Rs 71.58 lakh) over an area of 3 acres, just across the wetland. An 8 km-long-nature trail, which will be a boon for trekkers, will be constructed at a cost of Rs 22 lakh. However, the road leading to the wetland from Gurdaspur is full of potholes and work on recarpeting the road is yet to commence. The project
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Govt breaks norms, appoints junior officers BDPOs
Patiala, March 26 The Department of Rural Development and Panchayats has overlooked many senior officers in the process and appointed junior officers as BDPOs. Most of these seniors haven’t got a posting for several years. This has created a rift in the department as juniors, wielding influence in political circles, have bagged the coveted posts of BDPOs, superseding the senior officers. A BDPO’s duty is to successfully implement government schemes for people’s welfare and the development of villages and panchayats. A BDPO has access to funds to the tune of several crore rupees, and thereby is a sought after posting. At present 70 BDPOs are working in Punjab against the sanctioned total strength of 142 posts. Sources said the department seniors, in proximity with halqa incharges, continue to appoint junior accountants, Social Education and Panchayat Officers and even Pachayat Officers in some cases as BDPOs. Rural Development and Panchayats Minister Surjit Singh Rakhra said he was aware of some anomalies and would soon seek an explanation from the officers concerned. “We will prepare a list of 160 officers as per seniority and merit. Only those that will be on the list will be appointed BDPOs,” Rakhra said, accepting he had overlooked the issue. Currently, the department has appointed two junior most officers as BDPOs in important districts of the state, despite the fact that more than five BDPO-ranked officers are currently holding no charge. Despite repeated attempts, Mandeep Singh Sandhu, Principal Secretary, Rural Development and Panchayats, could not be contacted. Sirra Karuna Raju, Director, Rural Development and Panchayats, said, “I cannot comment on the issue. You have to ask my seniors or apply under the RTI Act to seek information,”
Raju said.
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50 served notices for not deducting TDS
Ludhiana, March 26 “After collecting data from Sub-Registrars across Punjab and verifying it, we have found that many people do not deduct TDS before making the payment,” said Ajay Kumar, Additional Director of Income Tax. He said on average, the amount of tax evaded in one case was Rs 50 lakh. Jatinder Khurana, tax professional, said, “Generally NRIs are not present at the time the deal is struck. They give the power of attorney to one of their relatives or friends to sell their property. They in turn do not deduct TDS, causing massive losses to the state exchequer.”
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Breast cancer most prevalent among women, prostate cancer in men
Patiala, March 26 These facts came to light during the development of ‘An Atlas of Cancer in Punjab’ project of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) to generate reliable data on the magnitude and patterns of cancer in Punjab. Though the project is still on and is expected to be completed by the year-end, the data compiled till date has indicated that breast cancer cases are on a rise and have replaced cervix cancer, which was earlier the most common form of cancer among women. The participants at a recent workshop held in
Bangalore inluded Dr Manjit Singh Bal, Head of Pathology Department at Government Rajindra Hospital in Patiala and principal investigator of Punjab Cancer Registry with his team; representative of the state Health and Family Welfare Department Dr Behal; representatives of civil surgeons and contributing centres of Punjab and Mohali; Head of Radiotherapy, PGI, Chandigarh Dr SC Sharma; representatives from Acharya Tulsi Regional Cancer Hospital and Research Centre, Bikaner; Rajiv Gandhi Cancer Institute and Research Centre, Rohini (New Delhi); and AIIMS, New Delhi. They discussed ways and modes of data collection so that all cancers and cancer-related deaths are recorded online. The participants also discussed difficulties being faced in data collection so that the detailed project could be completed by the year-end. Dr Bal said the project was running successfully as the Punjab government had already issued a memo to all private and public institutes dealing with cancer patients that they must notify the cases coming for diagnosis or treatment online for the Punjab Cancer Registry. “Under the ICMR project, details of individual cancer patients are submitted to the National Cancer Registry Programme (NCRP) website by various cancer hospitals and centres of Punjab and other centres in India dealing with cancer patients from the state. Duplicate entries are dealt with at Bangalore level," he added. Dr A Nandakumar, director in charge of the NCRP, said the report will be made public at the annual review meeting of cancer registries at the Rajindra Hospital in Patiala in November. The meeting is expected to be attended by Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh or by Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi
Azad. Cancer
Registry
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He supplies biogas to Ropar’s model village free of cost
Ropar, March 26 He also runs a modern dairy farm on the outskirts of the village. The farm has got 120 cows. The village panchayat got a Nirmal Gram Puraskar from the Union Ministry of Rural Development two years ago in April 2011 for its clean streets, underground sewerage system. Dilbar Singh assisted the villagers in bringing about this change. Dilbar Singh said after helping the village residents in revamping the village, he thought of setting up a biogas plant in the village to supply free gas to everyone. “Initially, I had proposed that anyone, who wished to get a gas connection, deposit cow dung at the plant. “But, it was difficult to implement this idea so I set up a dairy farm with over 120 cows and decided to use their dung in the plant. It generates enough gas to fill 10 LPG cylinders daily,” he said. Village resident Sukhdeep Singh, who is employed with the Punjab Police, said, “My yearly consumption went down from 12 cylinders to four ever since I started using biogas.” Karnail Singh, an architect, echoed his views and said, “Mine is a family of six, including two children. Earlier, we had to buy over 12 cylinders to meet our domestic needs but now our consumption has gone down to six.” Setting an
example
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Assault victim’s uncle, cousin get police security
Amritsar, March 26 Usma village sarpanch Sukhraj Singh said two IRB jawans each had been deployed with him, Gurmukh and Jagjeet. He said it had come as a respite to him as he was receiving threat calls. The sarpanch has stood firmly by the victim's family and even accompanied them to Chandigarh. Sukhraj said three more IRB jawans, one each with three of them, would join the duty tomorrow. The trio had moved the Punjab and Haryana High Court, seeking a security cover. The victim had got CRPF security on March 22, the day the HC issued contempt notice to the CRPF DG for failing to provide security to her as per the court order.
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Patiala to get new Mayor on April 2
Patiala, March 26 Sources said the MC General House would meet to discuss about the possible candidates for the post. However, they said, the new mayor would be named by the party high command. A meeting to discuss, who would be the new mayor, was held in Chandigarh, sources said. It was attended by two cabinet ministers and the chief minister. A senior government functionary said, “Nothing concrete could be decided at the meeting but soon another meeting to discuss the issue would be held.”
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Unpaid PRTC employees strike work in Sangrur
Sangrur, March 26 They observed a strike as they hadn’t got their salaries and pensions for February.
Maninderjit Singh Hundal, General Manager of the Sangrur depot, said the strike had not affected the plying of buses. However, he admitted that the salaries of over 50 drivers were yet to be paid for
February. Gurpal Singh Dara, a leader of the union, said the PRTC managing director had promised to pay salaries to the entire staff by March 25 in a meeting held on March 10. He said they decided to wait until the promised date. “But the PRTC management failed to keep its word. So we were compelled to stage the dharna today and urge the authorities to take this matter seriously. We demand that the PRTC management release our salaries as soon as possible. It has become difficult for us to sustain ourselves,” he added.
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Central Excise officers to strike work from March 29
Chandigarh, March 26 Dhawan, who has put in 34 years in service, has served as superintendent for 14 years. “Earlier, I was an inspector for 20 years. I feel sad that I am retiring in another five days and will not get my due despite the fact that restructuring of the department to remove stagnation has been on for the past seven years”. Ludhiana-based Superintendent HS Sharma, who is slated to retire in November this year, said: “Though “justice” has been denied to him, a promotion to the post of Assistant Commissioner and the Indian Revenue Service (IRS) rank even in the last stage of my career would have been welcomed.” Inspectors and superintendents of the Central Excise Department, including the Chandigarh Zone comprising Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and Chandigarh, said they were getting one or two promotions in their entire career, while their counterparts in the Income Tax and other departments were getting five to six promotions. Agitations by the officers this year had already resulted in a shortage in the revenue collection in the first half of the current financial year. Association’s senior leader Ravi Malik said the agitation would be intensified in the coming days. He said for the first time, nearly 30,000 inspectors and superintendents would go on strike from March 29 to 31. Malik said they would hold a rally at Jantar Mantar in Delhi on April 12 in their uniforms and also march towards the residence of the Union Finance Minister. He said if this too failed to move the Centre, then they would submit their resignations on April 30. Association’s Chandigarh zone president AK Sharma said the ongoing restructuring was not taking place despite the fact that it had been approved by the Expenditure Committee and the Union Finance Minister two years ago. Sharma said even recommendations of the Sixth Pay Commission giving Central Excise officers parity in pay with their counterparts in the Enforcement Directorate were not implemented. Chandigarh zone Inspectors’ Association general secretary Bhagwan Singh said it was ironic that the IRS officers were given parity with their counterparts in other departments and even assured up to nine promotions during their service career, while those who were serving directly under them were being discriminated against.
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Improvement Trust acquires philanthropist’s land
Fazilka, March 26 The Trust had set up MR College in 1940 in the memory of its founder Seth Munshi Ram Aggarwal. The college, which was a pioneer educational institute, catered to the educational needs of a large area for several decades. The college was taken over by Punjab government in 1980 and was rechristened as MR Government College. Since then, the Trust has been serving humanity. As its founder had donated his entire land to the Trust for the furtherance of welfare scheme, it continues to own 16.3 acres of land on Freedom Fighter Road.
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Inquire into state debt, Jakhar to Governor
Chandigarh, March 26 In a memorandum sent to the Governor, the legislators said even though the Punjab Revenue Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Bill, 2011, mandated that the revenue deficit in 2012-13 should be below 1.2 per cent of the Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP), but the same had reached 1.61 per cent of the GSDP. They also said the CAG had accused the government of diverting Rs 3,194 crore to various state bodies. They said it was a clear violation of the constitutional norms. Jakhar said it was a sorry state of affairs on the part of the SAD-BJP government that in the past six years, Punjab had accumulated loans worth Rs 38,019 crore.
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Woman murdered in Fatehgarh Sahib
Fatehgarh Sahib, March 26 Gurpreet said Piara murdered his mother as she had refused to have sexual relations with him. Superintendent of Police (D) confirmed the body was that of Jaspal Kaur and had been sent for postmortem. He said the Santro car recovered from the spot was registered in the name of Piara Singh. A case has been registered against the accused and raids
are being conducted to nab him.
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Muktsar, March 26
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Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today said the proposed third front was nothing but a figment of imagination. Talking to mediapersons on the sidelines of Sangat Darshan at his native village today, he said the picture would be clear only after the process of Lok Sabha elections was set into motion.
In this day and age when energy is scarce and costly, people in Bahadurpur village are supplied free gas in abundance!
Entrepreneur Dalbir Singh, who deals in scrap metal in Dubai, runs the biogas plant and has been supplying gas for six hours a day to all the 75 houses in the village free of cost for over a year.
