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Tarn Taran case probe to be delayed by a month
PPCB to study pollution by Bathinda refinery
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SGPC to fund education of baptised Sikh students till Class XII: Makkar
Biggest international Sikh fest in Malaysia on May 30
Punjab Congress Committee chief Partap Singh Bajwa addresses mediapersons in Chandigarh on Saturday. Tribune photo: S Chandan
All these issues are being investigated separately.
Cong panel to prepare report
on zila parishad elections
2,500 deportees to get passports after 8 yrs
Fill vacant posts reserved for SCs, Verka tells state
govt
CM okays Rs 15 crore for power to deras in border areas
State awaits central funds for scholarships
Fishermen released by Pakistan pray after crossing over to India at the Attari-Wagah border on Saturday. Tribune photo: Vishal Kumar
Govt inks MoU to hone skills of rural students
6 arrested for Qadian shootout; cops under fire for reaching
late
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PPCB to study pollution by Bathinda refinery
Bathinda, May 25 The equipment has been installed after an expert committee formed by Chief Secretray Rakesh Singh recommended it. The team had visited the two villages on May 17. The move has evoked mixed reactions from Kanakwal residents, who were preparing to be relocated to a safer place. They might lose the argument if the air samples do not specify a major health hazard. The government is so far unable to find a proper place for relocation of the village. Sukhdeep Singh, a young activist of the village, said: "We are waiting for the results and hope the machines will corroborate our claims. Some residents feel that the government does not want to relocate us. It is dilly-dallying on the issue and might give a clean chit to the refinery". Though the villagers had been complaining against the pollution from the refinery for the last several months, the government swung into action in April when the former blocked rail and road route to the refinery to highlight their plight. Ramji Dass, Executive Engineer, PPCB, said the samples collected by the machines would be analysed and the results would be sent to the expert committee. He said the machines would collect the percentage of sulphur oxide, nitrogen oxide and suspended particle matter in the air. Villagers have been complaining of respiratory problems, asthma, skin diseases and a pungent smell in the air due to pollution from the refinery.
Relocation issue
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SGPC to fund education of baptised Sikh students till Class XII: Makkar
Amritsar, May 25 He said those selected had given an undertaking that they would follow the tenets of Sikhism honestly. He said the hockey team being prepared by the SGPC would only have "saabat soorat" (ones with unshorn hair) players. Talking about Sikh girls from Jammu and Kashmir, he said the SGPC would facilitate free education of five girls each in degree and diploma courses in the SGPC-run institutions every year. He said they had also got a specially designed vehicle which ccould showcase 500 books at a time for promoting Sikhism in Haryana. Makkar said an SGPC jatha would visit Pakistan for observing the martyrdom day of Guru Arjan Dev on June 12. They already had a word with the Pakistan High Commission regarding visas to jatha members, he said. Makkar said: "The SGPC jatha will take up the
matter of amended Nanakshahi Calendar with the Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB) in Pakistan, which looks after gurdwara affairs there, and try to convince them to allow the jatha to observe the event on June 12. If they are convinced, we will hold an akhand path at Gurdwara Dehra Sahib in Lahore to mark the event".
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Biggest international Sikh fest in Malaysia on May 30
Singapore, May 25 The highlight of the event is the continuous recital of the Guru Granth Sahib for three days. This year, a special memorial will be held for a former priest, Giani Mahinder Singh Ji Khalsa, popularly known as Khalsa Ji. Around 45,000 Sikhs from Asia, Europe, Australia and the US are expected to congregate for the event. Baldev Singh, president of the Sant Sohan Singh Ji Malacca Memorial Society Malaysia, was quoted by a daily as saying that Khalsa Ji was recognised for his missionary work (Sikhi Parchar) in Malaysia, Singapore, Germany, Holland, Britain, Pakistan, India and Indonesia. He also travelled extensively to promote the message of Sikhism to the Sikh youth around the world and was well-versed with the sacred scriptures of the Sikh holy book.
— IANS
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Cong wants Maluka probed by CBI
Chandigarh, May 25 Addressing mediapersons here, Bajwa said the department had allegedly engaged fraudulent companies, which supplied “sub-standard practical notebooks and books with objectionable content. “The Chief Minister should ask Maluka to resign immediately so that an impartial investigation can be conducted. We will take to the streets and also protest in front of his house in case he fails to do so,” he said. Bajwa questioned how could Maluka wash his hands off the “wrongdoings” when the firm engaged to supply notebooks was chosen by his hand-picked team of officers. “The team ignored senior officers and even overruled the suggestions made by the Director General School Education, Kahan Singh Pannu. The results are for all to see now. Books with vulgar content and extremist thoughts have reached school libraries,” he said. Bajwa demanded only the CBI should conduct the probe as an “impartial investigation could not be expected from the Vigilance Bureau”.
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Back-to-back controversies
Chandigarh, May 25 The issues became an embarrassment for the state government. So much so that, the Chief Minister himself had to intervene. He got the notebook supply deal, alloted to a Mansa firm, annulled. Even as inquiries into these lapses were underway, yet another controversy hit the department — this time over supply of science kits. A day after a go-ahead to the supply of over 750 kits, the department reversed its order. For, the officers concerned came to know later that Education Minister Sikander Singh Maluka had put on hold all such allocations. Moreover, the schools did not even have the funds to pay for the kits.
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Cong panel to prepare report
on zila parishad elections
Chandigarh, May 25 He said the committee would also prepare a report regarding the cancellation of nomination papers of Congress candidates and incidents of "rigging" and other "foul play" in the conduct of elections. "What were the reasons for the cancellation of nomination papers? Was this done by the authorities concerned deliberately or our own people failed to submit the papers in a proper order? The committee will find the answers," said Bajwa. There were complaints that senior leaders of the party at several places did not campaign for the party candidates and remained passive during the elections. The committee would gather information about such leaders. "The party high command has sought a report in this regard", said Bajwa. Before the elections, all party leaders were told that they would have to campaign for the party candidates in their respective areas. The leaders who did not comply with these orders would have to explain as to why they remained inert during the elections, he added.
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2,500 deportees to get passports after 8 yrs
Jalandhar, May 25 These Punjabis were deported from the US, Canada, Europe, Germany, UAE and Italy. As the Regional Passport Office (RPO) authorities initiated the drive, the Indian consulates cleared the cases of most deportees. Only deportees involved in drug trafficking won’t get their passports. Passport officer Harmanbir Singh Gill said deportees, who have got their no objection certificates (NOCs) from Indian consulates, would be issued passports immediately. Over 5,000 Indians have been deported for breaking the law. The delay in issuing passports was a result of the authorities failing to obtain information from Indian consulates. “Most of the deportees are from Dubai, Europe, US, Italy and Canada. We have invited more than 3,500 deportees to visit our office on May 31 to participate in a Mega Lok Adalat,” said Gill. The passport authorities have already obtained NOCs from Indian consulates for over 85 per cent of the deportees in the past three months. “We communicated with the consulates on a daily basis to get the NOCs. Deportee cases wherein we have received the NOCs will be cleared on May 31 and their files will be sent to the Passport Sewa Kendra,” said Gill while talking to The Tribune. Explaining the procedure adopted by the passport authorities to clear the backlog of deportee cases, Gill said consulates were sent three queries for each deportee. “In cases where we received no response from the consulates concerned, we decided in principle to grant the passport to the applicant. Thereafter, another query was sent to the consulate concerned to advise if it had any objection to it,” said Gill. “It is our priority to clear deportee cases in one go this time. We have already cleared files of over 2,500 deportees and the files of around 2,300 would be cleared during this week,” said Harmanbir Gill.
Long wait over
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Fill vacant posts reserved for SCs, Verka tells state
govt
Verka, after having sent a letter to the Chief Secretary on the issue, sent a notice to the latter as nothing concrete had been
done. Verka said, “As many as 1.5 lakh posts reserved for SCs have also been lying vacant in various departments of the Centre for the last several years. The Centre has already launched a special drive to fill 75,000 such posts after the Union Cabinet gave its approval for the same on the direction of the commission. Punjab should also follow suit.” He said, “Similarly, Haryana has also begun a drive to fill 30,000 of the 45,000 vacant posts reserved for
SCs.” Verka said he would review in July whether or not the Punjab government has begun filling the vacant posts of
SCs. The Vice Chairman said SCs formed 33 per cent of the population in Punjab. Therefore, according to the rules, Punjab government should increase the number of reserved posts to 33 per cent and allocate the same percentage of funds for
SCs, he said. On the contrary, the state government was diverting funds provided by the Centre for the welfare of
SCs, he alleged.
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CM okays Rs 15 crore for power to deras in border areas
Chandiagrh, May 25 An official spokesperson said here today Badal directed the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) to ensure the timely completion of this ambitious project of electrification in far-flung areas in the border and kandi belts of the state. He also gave approval to release the requisite funds to the PSPCL for the execution of this project. The Chief Minister asked the PSPCL to connect deras/dhanis with a cluster of three or more households with UPS feeders after laying separate lines to ensure better power supply on the urban pattern and sought people's cooperation to ensure a timely completion of this gigantic task. The Chief Minister also constituted a committee under the chairmanship of Anirudh Tiwari, Secretary, Power, to work out the modalities for the settlement of outstanding arrears of electricity bills due towards BPL and SC category domestic consumers up to March 31, 2013. He also ordered the PSPCL authorities to issue fresh power bills to these consumers on the basis of current consumption from the next billing cycle from April 1, 2013.
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State awaits central funds for scholarships
Chandigarh, May 25 The issue was earlier raised by the Opposition on many occasions, including in the state assembly, but the government had no clue about the matter. The issue finally came up before a joint meeting of the Punjab State Commission for Scheduled Castes and the Social Welfare Department. It was pointed out that the Union Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment had not cleared the funds for 2011-12 and 2012-13. In a communication to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment and the National Commission for Reserved Castes, chairman of the Punjab State Commission for Reserved Castes has sought an early release of the funds. The communication said students of the reserved classes were facing difficulty in pursuing their studies in several institutions of the state. The state was not charging tuition and other refundable fee from such students due to which it owed crores to colleges. Due to lack of clarity on the matter, several institutions were dilly-dallying admissions of reserved category students, it read.
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Pak releases 45 fishermen
Amritsar, May 25 They were arrested by the Pakistani forces and sentenced to six to seven months’ imprisonment. Though Pakistan’s interim Prime Minister Mir Hazar Khan had announced the release of 51 Indian fishermen, only 45 were repatriated today. Those freed said there were over 740 fishermen languishing in Pakistani jails. They thanked the Pakistan government for facilitating their release. The fishermen said they were released two months prior to the completion of their jail term following the announcement of the
interim Prime Minister.
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Govt inks MoU to hone skills of rural students
Badal (Muktsar), May 25 The MoU was inked in the presence of Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal here. He said it was a leap forward towards providing quality education to the students, especially in rural areas. The organisation will select 20 students each from 14 schools (seven from each district). They will be imparted training in community service, skill development, physical recreation and residential recreation.
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6 arrested for Qadian shootout; cops under fire for reaching
late
Qadian, May 25 Taking on the Punjab Police, state Congress chief Partap Singh Bajwa said, “It (police) is hand in glove with the assailants. The leaders who lost the assembly elections have now been designated ‘halqa’ (constituency) in charge and they are dictating terms to senior police officers. They are the ones who are shielding a few of the accused.” Bajwa said a month ago, two SAD sarpanches of Sri Hargobindpur assembly segment were allegedly involved in a theft at a jewellery shop at
Qadian. “In that case as well, the police arrested the duo after much delay,” he said.
Gurdaspur Congress unit president Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa also hit out at the police: “The police covered 100 yards in 45 minutes! It purposely delayed action and the erring policemen should be taken to task for the laxity.” SAD leader Sewa Singh
Sekhwan, however, said the Congress was “unnecessarily raising a hue and cry”.
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An administrative inquiry into the March 3 incident of the alleged thrashing of a Tarn Taran woman by the police is likely to be delayed by a month.
Inquiry officer-cum-Commissioner, Jalandhar Division, SR Ladhar, who was given 10 days to investigate the matter on April 12, said he had sought one month's time to prepare the report and the government had accepted his request.
Jalandhar, May 25