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Jaitley, wife own assets worth Rs 113 cr
Majithia files papers as Harsimrat’s covering candidate, CM not amused
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Will canvass in Amritsar: Bajwa
BJP, AAP promise farmers high returns
40 election observers to arrive in state tomorrow
Eying Sikh voters, Congress revokes ex-MLA’s expulsion
Cong, Akali ‘crorepati’ nominees pitted against ‘lakhpatis’
3 FIRs against FCI official quashed
Former loyalist Dhillon pips Patiala ‘Maharani’ in wealth
Libra’s son pledges loyalty to Congress
Bhattal calls Soni’s rival ‘Chandu chor’
Harsimrat’s assets just 10% of her husband’s
Chhotepur comes in auto to file nomination
Chandumajra declares assets worth Rs 8 cr
Realtor-turned-neta richest of them all
Badal rakes up 1984 riots issue
Staff skipping poll rehearsal get the stick
SGPC seeks action against US designer company
State, UT rapped for appointing ex-babus as tribunal heads
Raja’s escape: Police fail to plug loopholes
Notice to Chandumajra on gurdwara meeting
The Ropar Deputy Commissioner-cum-Returning Officer, PK Agrawal, has issued a show-cause notice to SAD candidate Prem Singh Chandumajra for allegedly violating the poll code by holding an election meeting at a gurdwara in Chaunta village yesterday.
Wheat procurement begins at Khanna
50 % doctors didn’t receive ballot papers: IMA chief
Sainis want quota too
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Jaitley, wife own assets worth Rs 113 cr
Amritsar, April 7 Flanked by his wife Sangeeta Jaitley and daughter Sonali Jaitley, the BJP candidate filed his papers before Deputy Commissioner-cum-District Election Officer Ravi Bhagat here. Among his assets, Jaitley owns movable assets worth Rs 36.86 crore and immovable assets worth Rs 34.70 crore. In movable assets, he has Rs 1.35 crore cash in hand, bank deposits worth Rs 18 crore, bonds/shares worth Rs 1 crore, advances/loans worth Rs 10.37 crore, and gold jewellery and diamonds worth Rs 1.38 crore. Besides, the BJP candidate also owns a fleet of luxury vehicles, including Mercedes, BMW and Porsche, worth Rs 3.1 crore. His wife owns movable assets worth Rs 46.16 lakh, including jewellery worth Rs 23.44 lakh, bank deposits worth Rs 8.22 lakh and cash in hand Rs 7.5 lakh. Jaitley also owns prime commercial and residential properties in Delhi, Faridabad, Gurgaon and even Gujarat worth Rs 34.70 crore. These include a prime commercial property at Cyber Park Complex in Gurgaon worth Rs 6 crore, residential property in Delhi worth Rs 13 crore, and a residential apartment in DLF Golf Links, Gurgaon, worth Rs 6 crore. His wife too owns immovable assets worth Rs 41 crore most of which come from an equal share in the properties owned by Jaitley. Senior SAD leader Naresh Gujaral specially flew into Amritsar to accompany Jaitley while filing nomination papers. Senior BJP leader Shanta Kumar and Chief Parliamentary Secretary Dr Navjot Kaur Sidhu too were present at the dais during the workers meeting prior to it. Addressing the meeting, Jaitley said the people's vote for the SAD-BJP alliance would lead to formation of the NDA government at the Centre, development of Punjab and Amritsar. Targeting his Congress rival Capt Amarinder Singh without naming him, he said, "There is another advantage of my win. Someone's defeat will rid the people of a
political headache in Punjab." Plot up from Rs 2.45 lakh to Rs 80 lakh in 11 years Arun Jaitley's affidavit mentions that he purchased a piece of land measuring 14,240 square feet at Sector 1 in Gandhinagar (Gujarat) in 2003 at a cost of mere Rs 2.45 lakh. It has a built-up area of 750 square feet and its current market price stands at a whopping Rs 80
lakh.
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Majithia files papers as Harsimrat’s covering candidate, CM not amused
Bathinda, April 7 As soon as the CM alighted from his car, he asked Majithia what he was doing there. Turning to his sister, he said he was there at her bidding. He said Harsimrat wanted him to accompany her to the Deputy Commissioner’s office for filing the papers. Badal’s reply was lost in the din as he moved ahead with his guards, senior party leaders and supporters. Till yesterday, it was believed that Rajya Sabha Member of Parliament BS Bhunder would be Harsimrat’s covering candidate. Bhunder was with the Chief Minister today too. It could not be ascertained if the Chief Minister was kept in the dark that Majithia would be Harsimrat’s covering candidate or if he was only expressing his displeasure over Majithia’s presence on the occasion. The CM has reportedly instructed Majithia to look after the party affairs in the Majha region. Harsimrat , in an interview with The Tribune, had said: “My father-in-law wants Bikramjit in Amritsar, but I want my brother by my side this time.” The Chief Minister, Deputy CM Sukhbir Badal and Bhunder accompanied Harsimrat inside the office of the Assistant Returning Officer. Harsimrat touched the feet of her father-in-law, husband and several Akali and BJP leaders after filing her nomination papers.
Don’t read much into it: Majithia Revenue Minister Bikramjit Majithia told The Tribune that he felt sandwiched between his sister Harsimrat and Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal. “The Chief Minister has been telling me to stay put in Majha but my sister insists I should campaign for her in Bathinda. But not much should be read into it.” Majithia claimed he was asked to prepare the papers for filing his nomination from Bathinda, but refused to say if the directions had come from the Chief Minister or from somebody else.
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Will canvass in Amritsar: Bajwa
Speaking to The Tribune, Bajwa said he would campaign in all parliamentary constituencies of the Punjab. “I will definitely campaign in Amritsar. We are sure to win the seat,” he said.
Bajwa said Amarinder was a senior party leader and he respected him. “ I consider him as an elder brother and do not mind what he says about me.”
Bajwa claimed that with top guns in the poll fray, the Congress was expected to do well at the
hustings. “Sare diggaj uttar dite hai maidan wich. Hun koi kisi di lat nahi khechega (With all Congress stalwarts in the fray, there will be no leg-pulling),” he claimed. Addressing Congress workers at the District Congress Committee
(DCC) office, Bajwa accused Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal of discrimination. “The Majha and Doaba belts have been discriminated against. All resources are being diverted to the Malwa region, especially
Bathinda, Mansa and Muktsar districts,” he said. Bajwa reiterated that whenever Congress came to power in Punjab, it would abolish property tax.
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BJP, AAP promise farmers high returns
Both the BJP, which released its election manifesto today, and the Aam Aadmi Party that released its manifesto last week have assured the farming community that they would implement the Swaminathan committee recommendations. The Congress manifesto, on the other hand, harps on the benefits that farmers in agrarian states like Punjab can get through foreign direct investment in retail. They assure farmers that this will transform the agrarian economy as it will create a beneficial value chain from farm to fork, set up sorting and grading houses and bring more investment in infrastructure for food processing and cash crop storage. The national commission on farmers, headed by Prof MS Swaminathan, had recommended in 2006 that the government should ensure a minimum 50 per cent profit over the cost of production to the farmers while calculating the minimum support price (MSP). With farm distress taking a toll in this region, especially in Sangrur, Mansa and Bathinda districts, due to rising cost of farm inputs and low MSP, ensuring a minimum profit margin to farmers had been a long standing demand of the farming community. Over the years, the prices of diesel, fertilisers and farm labour have increased sharply while the hike in MSP announced by the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP) has remained minimal. Little wonder that the contribution of agriculture to the Punjab's gross state domestic product has been falling sharply and is 18 per cent at present. With Punjab's major demand finding an echo in the election manifesto of two main parties, there is a ray of hope for the state. Ajmer Singh Lakhowal, chairman, Punjab Mandi Board, feels that there is new hope that farmers will start getting their dues. "I was a member of the 17-member committee set up by the Congress in 2007 for implementing the Swaminathan report. But the committee just had three meetings and the recommendations could not be implemented," he said. Balbir Singh Rajewal, president, Bhartiya Kisan Union, too, welcomed the development. "But how will the CACP calculate the cost of farm inputs? Because CACP's terms of reference that cost of living, general price level, industrial cost structure, and demand and supply will have to be taken into account before fixing the MSP. So when the parties decide to implement the Swaminathan report recommendations, these terms of reference have
to be changed so that the farmers get justice," he said.
Wooing the farming community
Capt corners CM. Jaitley on manifesto
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40 election observers to arrive in state tomorrow
Chandigarh, April 7 The parliamentary constituencies of Bathinda, Gurdaspur, Amritsar, Patiala and Ferozepur, which have been declared “sensitive”, will have an additional observer. Senior IPS officials of the level of Inspector-General (IG) will be deployed at three police divisional headquarters of Bathinda, Patiala and Jalandhar to entertain complaints pertaining to the functioning of police officials, said Chief Electoral Officer VK Singh. The observers will arrive in Punjab on Wednesday. For fair polling, all 40 (general, police and expenditure) observers are from the central cervices like the Indian Revenue Service (IRS), the Indian Police Service and the Indian Administrative Service (IAS). Highly placed sources in the ECI said one of the most important tasks assigned to the observers was to ensure that none of the civil officials were put on poll duty in his/her home district. Also, no police officials (except for the basic staff like the munshi) would be allowed to perform poll duty in their home district. The ECI will use a special software for getting data on the officials. “No Deputy Commissioner or SSP will be allowed to retain an official for poll duty in his home district,” said an official. This means that the ECI will supervise the transfers of 1.60 lakh officials in the coming days. It is for the first time that such a mammoth exercise is being undertaken by the election authorities in Punjab. There will be 22,000 polling booths in the state in all. Arrangements are being made for web-cast (live telecast through the internet) of the polling activities at 750 “sensitive” polling booths to check bogus voting or impersonation. The CEO said there was no ban on politicians visiting religious places.
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Contestants promise to reopen Hussainiwala-Lahore border
Ferozepur, April 7 This catchphrase, considered a “magic wand” for the people of this area, has been exploited to the hilt by every candidate contesting the elections from the constituency time and again. All promises have, however, proved hollow as little has been done till now, believes local residents who still recall nostalgically the excitement of making rounds of Anarkali Bazaar, the stroll at Jahangir’s mausoleum and the beauty all around Lahore city. “Every time, the elections are on the anvil, the candidates cutting across the party lines talk about the need to reopen the Hussainiwala-Lahore border that was closed for trade and transit in he aftermath of 1971 India-Pakistan war,” Malwinder Sodhi, a local farmer, says and adds that the matter is pushed beneath the carpet after the elections. Before the onset of hostilities in 1971, the border was the lifeline for traders engaged in import-export business of dry fruit, vegetables and other commodities. Besides, local cinema halls used to attract a lot of Pakistani visitors. But the border’s sudden closure sounded a death knell for the economic prosperity of this region. Since then, the residents of this area have been clamouring for its re-opening, but without any tangible result.
“Lahore! Lahore!” the cry of the conductor at Barki chowk beckoning people to hop on the bus for a ride to the pre-Partition capital city still reverberates in the hearts of many old timers here who want those rosy days to return. “The opening of this border will open floodgates of prosperity for lakhs of people of the Malwa belt,” says Sunil Sharma, a retired banker. After waiting for more than four decades, “Lahore dreams” are now fading into oblivion as many traders have started shifting their bases elsewhere. “We cannot believe in leaders who make tall promises just to forget the next day,” said Inderjit Singh, a cloth merchant who has shifted base to Ludhiana.
Political wrangling
Terming it a very crucial diplomatic matter, Congress candidate from Ferozepur Sunil Jakhar said the kind of pitch BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi was raising was not conducive for the reopening of the border. “During the tenure of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the people of this region suffered for almost two years due to Kargil war as mines sprung up in the fields along the border, causing damage to farmers,” Jakkar said, adding that it was all the more important reason for the people to vote for the Congress here. His opponent from the SAD, Sher Singh Ghubaya, said: “Badal Saheb has already taken up the matter with his counterpart from across the border, Shabaz Sharif, during his previous visit for Kabbadi World Cup.” He promised that he would leave no stone unturned to see that the border was opened again if the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) assumed to power. “At present, most of the trade takes place through Mumbai or Dubai, which means a considerable increase in export costs. Perishable goods, including vegetables, cannot be shipped. Besides onions and potatoes, there is a great demand for green chilies, ginger and other such commodities in Pakistan which can be easily sent through Hussainiwala that has the shortest distance (11 kms) from the border,” said Ashok Kumar, a local fruit merchant.
On backburner
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Eying Sikh voters, Congress revokes ex-MLA’s expulsion
A copy of a letter signed by RPCC general secretary Pukhraj Prashar (available with The Tribune) has also been sent to Congress Sriganganagar candidate Master Bhanwer Lal Meghwal. This indicates that Meghwal had initiated the move. Sriganganagar, Srikaranpur, Suratgarh, Sadulshehar, Raisinghnagar, Hanumangarh, Peelibanga and Sangria assembly segments make part of Sriganganagar parliamentary constituency. The BJP had badly lost the Sriganganagar segment to the National Unionist Zamindara Party (NUZP) even as party’s PM pick Narendra Modi had addressed his maiden election meeting in Sriganganagar in Vidhan Sabha elections in 2013. Sriganganagar district is known as the “Punjab of Rajasthan” and “bread basket of the state of deserts”. Punjabi is the most spoken language in the district, with a majority of people speaking in the Malwai dialect. The Sikh voters have played a decisive role in the Sangria segment. Param, reputed gynecologist and wife of ADGP Navdeep Singh, had won on the Congress ticket from Sangria in the 2008 assembly elections. She polled 36,802 votes, while her opponents – Damyanti Beniwal of the BJP received 28,685 votes and Zila Parishad former vice-chairperson and Independent Gurdeep Singh got 28,212 votes. Gurdeep had revolted as the Congress denied him ticket. He later joined the BJP, but the saffron party did not keep its promise to field him in the 2013 assembly elections. He again contested as an Independent and polled 40,994 votes. Congress denied the party ticket to Param and fielded Zila Parishad vice-chairperson Shabnam Godara. On latter’s complaint Param and other senior workers were expelled from the party. Krishan Karwa of Lilawali village contested on the BJP ticket and defeated Godara by
11,601 votes.
Wielding clout
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Ferozepur MP’s assets double
Ferozepur, April 7 His assets now include vast tracts of agriculture land worth Rs 5.16 crore, besides non-agricultural land worth Rs 1 crore and commercial property worth Rs 40 lakh. As far as non-movable assets are concerned, Ghubaya possesses jewellery worth Rs 12.3 lakh, vehicles worth Rs 40 lakh, personal loans and advance amounting to Rs 88.99 lakh, besides investments in LIC and Rs 2 lakh cash in hand. In 2009, Ghubaya’s movable assets were worth Rs 9.69 lakh and immovable assets worth Rs 3 crore which indicates more than a double jump in the value of his assets. Having jumped into the political arena not very long ago, Ghubaya who belongs to the Rai Sikh community that commands substantial chunk of votes in this area was initially brought into politics by his mentor-turned-foe Zora Singh Mann in1997, the year when he contested his maiden assembly elections from Jalalabad. Ghubaya did not look back thereafter and went on to become the Chief Parliamentary Secretary (CPS) and was eventually picked up by the SAD to contest the 2009 Lok Sabha elections. He had won trouncing Congress stalwart Jagmeet Brar by more than 21,000 votes. Vying for second innings now, Ghubaya is up against a formidable opponent Sunil Jakhar from the Congress this time. He will need to overcome dissidence within his party and anti-incumbency to remain in the saddle.
Deputy CM doesn’t turn up
Sher Singh Ghubaya, SAD candidate from Ferozepur, today filed nomination papers in the office of the DC-cum-DEO Manjit Singh Narang. He was accompanied by BJP state chief Kamal Sharma, legislator Joginder Singh, former legislator Sukhpal Singh and other leaders of the SAD-BJP combine. Ghubaya’s wife, Krishna Rani filed papers as a covering candidate. It was expected that Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal will accompany Ghubaya at the time of filing nomination. But not only Sukhbir, but Irrigation Minister Janmeja Singh Sekhon and other prominent SAD leaders failed to turn up.
Ghubaya owns Agriculture land worth Rs 5.16
crore Non-agricultural land worth Rs 1 crore Commercial property worth Jewellery worth Vehicles worth
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Cong, Akali ‘crorepati’ nominees pitted against ‘lakhpatis’
Faridkot, April 7 In her affidavit to the Returning Officer, Faridkot sitting MP Paramjit Kaur Gulshan, the SAD candidate, stated that she and her husband, a former High Court judge, owned movable assets worth Rs 1.24 crore and immovable property worth Rs 2.52 crore. Gulshan and her husband have Rs 48.76-lakh liabilities. According to the affidavit filed by Congress candidate Joginder Singh, along with the nomination papers, his family's gross worth is more than Rs 3.36 crore, including Rs 6.67 lakh cash in hand, Rs 44.99 immovable assets and Rs 2.85 crore immoveable assets. The affidavit of sitting MLA from the Jaitu assembly seat stated that he Joginder owned .32-bore and.315-bore revolvers and a .12-bore gun, while his son Sharanjit Singh possessed a .32-bore revolver, a .30-06 rifle and a .12 bore gun. About his involvement in criminal cases, the affidavit revealed that the court of Sub-Divisional Judicial Magistrate, Muktsar, had on January 1, 1984, awarded him one-year imprisonment along with Rs 1,000 fine in a case under the Opium Act. He was released on probation on the order of the Punjab and Haryana High Court on August 24, 1984. Probation allows a convicted defendant to go free with a suspended sentence for a specified duration on account of good behaviour. Probationers are placed under supervision of a probation officer and must fulfill certain conditions. Another case was registered against Joginder on September 27, 1997, for attempt to murder. He was acquitted by the court of Additional District and Session judge on February 7, 2003. He faced another criminal assault case after an FIR was registered against Joginder Singh on June 10, 2000. The lower court convicted him, awarding one-year jail term on April 7, 2004, when he was an MLA. The sessions court acquitted him on October 27, 2004. The AAP candidate, Prof Sadhu Singh, a retired college teacher, declared that he and his wife had Rs 50,000 cash in hand, movable property worth Rs 7.85 lakh and immoveable property worth Rs 48 lakh. He has Rs 70,000 bank loan and owns a scooter. The CPI candidate, Kashmir Singh, claimed in his affidavit that he and his wife had immovable assets worth Rs 8 lakh, Rs 2,000 cash in hand, a scooter worth Rs 40,000 and 20-gram gold. An Independent, Badal Singh of Bhaloor village in Moga, netted the total worth of his assets at Rs 50,000.
Others in fray
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3 FIRs against FCI official quashed
Chandigarh, April 7 “The officer who had made an attempt to control corrupt practices has been arrayed as an accused along with other officials, who faced stringent action taken by him,” the High Court ruled. Parsad was accused of colluding with rice millers and the district-level FCI staff, resulting in the alleged procurement of sub-standard rice. The system evolved by Parsad involved attaching a tag to the bag with the name of the rice miller, crop year, code number, net weight and the lot number. As a result, the miller or the bag supplier, the procuring agency and FCI’s accepting officials could be very easily identified and responsibility fixed, no matter when and where the bag was sent across the country. The CBI, in all, registered three FIRs based on a single source of information. It also filed eight challans against him. It submitted that the petitioner was required to ensure the genuineness of the samples drawn by technical assistants at the FCI depot by carrying out surprise checks to restrain them from submitting improved or upgraded samples. But he failed to collect two per cent of the samples accepted by each technical assistant. Justice M Jeyapaul asserted the basic ingredients of dishonest intent and corruption were not made out against the petitioner from the allegations in the FIR and the materials collected by the investigating official. “Had the petitioner colluded with the rice millers and the FCI staff, he would not have issued instructions to one and all to adhere to the novel system of empower-the-bag to zero in on all erring millers and the accepting staff,” he said. Justice Jeyapaul also noticed that the petitioner had taken stringent action 58 officials. “Many of the officials against whom action had been taken have been shown as co-accused in these cases…. The petitioner initiated action against erring officials, yet false allegations have been made as though he had not taken any action…. “Though he had inspected the depots, a totally erroneous stand had been taken by the CBI that he had not inspected the depots. “The prosecution of a superior officer for his alleged failure to tone up the administration and take appropriate action against the erring subordinate officials is totally impermissible…. “The petitioner has been unjustifiably subjected to an undeserving prosecution… Grave injustice is shown to have been caused to petitioner. Non-interference in this extraordinary
circumstance would lead to the abuse of the process of the court.” His attempt to rein in corruption
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Former loyalist Dhillon pips Patiala ‘Maharani’ in wealth
Patiala, April 7 Interestingly, the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) candidate Deepinder Singh Dhillon, her one-time loyalist, has total assets worth Rs 14.13 crore, which is almost four times more than the income of the the daughter-in-law of the Patiala royal family. Even the Aam Aadmi Party candidate Dr Dharamvir Gandhi has assets worth Rs 3.05 crore, which is only Rs 75 lakh less than that of Preneet Kaur. What needs special mention is the fact that while Dhillon’s total assets have increased by more than Rs 8 crore in the past two years (from Rs 6.1 crore to Rs 14.13 crore) since he contested as an Independent from Dera Bassi in 2012, Preneet Kaur’s assets have increased only by Rs 1.71 crore in the past five years (as per her 2009 declaration of assets for the Lok Sabha polls). Preneet Kaur has movable and immovable assets worth Rs 2.14 crore and Rs 1.66 crore. However, Deepinder’s immovable assets amount to Rs 13.44 crore, which includes agricultural and non-agricultural land in Nawanshahr, Dera Bassi, Chandigarh and Gurgaon. Dhillon’s love for cars is evident from the fact that he has four cars in his name, including a Toyoto Fortuner (Rs 21 lakh), Pajero Sport (Rs 23.30 lakh), Toyoto Innova (Rs 10.15 lakh) and Nissan Micra (Rs 6.20 lakh). Preneet only has an Innova car in her name and Dr Gandhi owns two cars — a Scorpio and a Zen.
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Libra’s son pledges loyalty to Congress
Fatehgarh Sahib, April 7 “ I accept the Congress high command’s decision not to allot the ticket to me and continue to be faithful to the party”, he said, promising to campaign actively for the Congress candidate in the constituency. Sukhdev Singh Libra refused to comment on the issue. To a query, he said the contest in Fatehgarh Sahib was a tough one. He said he was approached by SAD leaders to return to the party fold. Libra had voted in favour of the Manmohan Singh-led UPA Government in defiance of the party whip and was expelled from the SAD. He then joined the Congress.
EC acting on baseless complaints: SAD Chandigarh: The SAD has urged the Election Commission not to act on “false, baseless and illogical complaints” of the Congress and to ensure a level playing field for all parties. In a representation to the Chief Electoral Offic, SAD secretary DS Cheema, said it was surprising that the EC was taking “unwarranted actions on bogus, false and highly misleading” complaints of the Congress. He said that District Electoral Officer, Amritsar, had given orders to remove all hoardings installed by the SAD in the city whereas the SAD had taken the permission to put up advertisements carrying the party propaganda on unipoles, foot overbridges and bus shelters. — TNS
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Bhattal calls Soni’s rival ‘Chandu chor’
Ropar, April 7 On Chandumajra’s remarks on Soni’ age, Bhattal said: “Laton ke bhoot baton se nahi mante. Chandumajra should tell the people why he was made to ride a donkey by a former Director-General of Police.” Referring to Chandumajra’s earlier defeats, Bhattal said he was destined to be “defeated by women.” Chandumajra has been defeated by Bhattal and Preneet Kaur in the past. Lashing out at Chief Minister Prakash Singh Badal, she said he had at first supported the Anandpur Sahib resolution, but on coming to power he had not bothered to grant powers to local bodies such as block
samitis.
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Harsimrat’s assets just 10% of her husband’s
Bathinda, April 7 Accompanied by her husband, father-in-law and Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and brother and Cabinet Minister Bikram Majithia, she today filed nomination papers for the Bathinda seat. But, Harsimrat owns just Rs 12.02 crore of the total amount. Her assets jumped four times from Rs 3.03 crore (claimed by her in her previous nomination papers) in 2009. Her assets, however, have come down from Rs 15.38 crore, as declared by her husband when he fought the Punjab Assembly elections in 2012. Her sizeable possession is jewellery worth Rs 5.4 crore, and another Rs 5.14 crore, which she has given as loan to Sukhbir Badal. She does not own any agricultural, non-agricultural or commercial land. The husband-wife duo owned assets worth Rs 81 .38 crore in 2012 (as per the details furnished by Sukhbir). The Deputy CM’s assets have grown 61 per cent from since 2010 when he had declared assets worth Rs 58.57
crore.
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Chhotepur comes in auto to file nomination
Gurdaspur, April 7 The rain took the sting out of the procession of nearly 2,000 AAP cap wearing workers, a majority of whom had to run helter skelter while scouting for a shelter. Chhotepur (66), who named his son Ajay Pal Singh, a post-graduate in Human Rights from Panjab University, Chandigarh, as his covering candidate, came in an auto-rickshaw to file his papers. He walked the one km distance to the DC’s office after his auto rickshaw was stopped at a barricade. Rain deterred all his plans of making the show a success. Speaking to mediapersons, Chhotepur, who remained Minister of State for Tourism in the Akali government led by Surjit Singh Barnala in 1985, said, “I see AAP president Arvind Kejriwal as a metaphor of change.” Chhotepur has assets worth Rs 4.25 crore. He owns a Renault Duster car.
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Chandumajra declares assets worth Rs 8 cr
Ropar, April 7 Before filing his nomination, Chandumajra paid obeisance at the local Gurdwara Sri Bhatha Sahib after the bhog of Sri Akhand Path Sahib. In his affidavit, he has shown assets worth Rs 8.32 crore. His wife has wealth worth Rs 5.93
crore.
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Realtor-turned-neta richest of them all
Fatehgarh Sahib, April 7 Kulwant (52) has most of his wealth in the form of immovable assets pegged at Rs 91.10 crore while his movable assets stand at around Rs 16.45 crore. He has Rs 24.69 lakh cash in hand, jewellery worth Rs 14.30 lakh and bank balance of Rs 58.40 lakh. He owns a Bullet motorcycle and a Pajero jeep. Most of the investments made in real estate by Kulwant Singh, who owns a house in Mohali, Ludhiana, Khanna and Kumarhatti in Himachal, is pegged at Rs 89.9 crore. He has shown his total taxable income at Rs 3.77 crore. His wife Jaswant Kaur has assets worth Rs 7.84
crore.
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Cong leaders block Malout-Bathinda highway
Muktsar, April 7 The protesters were demanding action against SAD workers, including the brother of SAD’s Gidderbaha constituency in-charge Hardeep Singh Dimpy Dhillon. Earlier, Raghbir and his supporters took out a protest march in the town, raising slogans against Dhillon, his brother Sunny Dhillon. They later blocked the highway. Former Congress Kotkapura MLA Ripjit Singh Brar and senior leader Maheshinder Singh Badal were among the protesters. Raghbir said despite his lodging a police complaint, no action had
been initiated. The former MLA had alleged some youngsters led by Sunny came to his shop and demanded proceedings register of the Dharam Sabha, but
when he refused they thrashed him and tried to kidnap him.
The trigger
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Badal rakes up 1984 riots issue
Rampura (Sangrur), April 7 He said instead of expressing remorse over the massacre, then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi had justified it. To a question, Badal said the Sikh massacre was a big issue that had been raised by non-Congress parties in Parliament time and again. He said he was hopeful the Sikhs would get justice when the NDA Government would come to power at the Centre. Badal claimed a 1977-like wave in favour of of the NDA. He said BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi was in favour of a federal system too. He alleged that AAP candidates were in the fray only to help the Congress and weaken the BJP. He lashed out at Surjit Singh Barnala and Manpreet Badal for joining hands with the Congress. Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa, Finance Minister Parminder Singh Dhindsa and Chief Parliamentary Secretary Parkash Chand Garg also spoke at the rally.
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Staff skipping poll rehearsal get the stick
Fazilka, April 7 “The department heads of absentee employees have been asked to initiate action against them,” DEO S Karuna Raju said. He said 4,131 presiding, assistant presiding and polling officers would be deployed at 734 polling booths in the district. The rehearsal of these employees was fixed on Sunday at three sub-divisional headquarters of Fazilka, Jalalabad and Abohar in the district. Of the total, 151 officers were marked absent during the rehearsal. Maximum absentees were recorded in Fazilka, where 48 presiding, assistant presiding and polling officers failed to turn up. In all, 47 officers in Abohar, 31 in Jalalabad and 25 in Balluana were absent. Raju said the action had been taken against the absentees under the Representation of the People Act, 1950. During his visit to places were rehearsal were held, he told the employees that it was their responsibility to perform duties with dedication in the larger interest of democracy. “A four-member medical board headed by the Fazilka Civil Surgeon has been constituted for employees seeking exemption from election duty,” the DC said, adding exemption would not be granted without the board’s recommendation.
Absentees in figures
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SGPC seeks action against US designer company
Amritsar, April 7 SGPC chief Avtar Singh Makkar said the US firm’s move had hurt the sentiments of the Sikh community across the globe and the US administration must initiate a legal action against it. “This insulting act of the company cannot be forgiven or forgotten,” he added. He alleged that the company had used sketches of the Golden Temple and of the Sikh gurus on products like t-shirts and even slippers. Besides, he said Sikh religious symbols like the 'khanda' were also displayed on some of its products. “The US government should withdraw and ban all products being manufactured by this company,” he said, while appealing Sikhs and members of other communities to boycott all products of the company. He said the SGPC too would resort to legal recourse to get these products banned.
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State, UT rapped for appointing ex-babus as tribunal heads
Chandigarh, April 7 The court said the states and the UT had not made an effort to find retired judges for the post. The rap came during the resumed hearing of petitions filed in public interests by advocate HC Arora. The Division Bench of Justice Jasbir Singh and Justice HS Sidhu expressed its total dissatisfaction over the manner in which the respondents were appointing retired bureaucrats or retired police officers as heads of statutory tribunals. The bench was of the view that the manner of appointment was in total disregard of the fact that the confidence of the public could only be inspired with the appointment of retired judges. The Bench also directed the state to file an affidavit on the efforts made by it to find a retired judge for the post of Punjab State Police Complaints Authority chairperson, before appointing DS Bains. The Bench further directed the respondents to specify why preference should not be given to a retired judge for appointment over a retired bureaucrat, if a retired judge was available. The HC also directed the state government to produce the record to enable it to ascertain whether efforts were made by the state government to check the availability of a retired judge for appointment as the chairperson of Punjab
PCA.
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Raja’s escape: Police fail to plug loopholes
Ludhiana, April 7 Sources said the police instead of taking its own vehicle asked the undertrial to arrange a private vehicle for taking the latter for court hearings. A Toyota Innova in which Raja was being taken to a court on March 10 when he fled was also hired by his accomplice. On the provision of hearing through videoconferencing to prevent such incidents, Additional Director General of Police Raj Pal Meena said: “An inmate can be produced before the court through videoconferencing only before the filing of challan. But once the challan is presented in the court, the undertrial has to be physically present for hearings.” Raja, facing trial in several murder cases, was shifted to various jails last year to prevent his escape. Interestingly, the police chose to keep him in the Bathinda jail that is far away from courts where Raja is facing a trial. In September last year, Raja had tried to get parole on the pretext of attending his ailing
mother, but his application was rejected.
Law ‘hinders’ use of tech
The videoconferencing facility in jails that was launched in 2010 has turned out to be mere eyewash. During its launch, the then Jail Minister Hira Singh Gabria had said all hardcore criminals would be tried through videoconferencing. However, this was not done since as per law undertrials are required to be physically present in the court
after a challan is filed against him.
Not up to the mark
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Notice to Chandumajra on gurdwara meeting
Ropar, April 7 Chandumajra had held a meeting in the gurdwara hall. Agrawal said further action would be taken after they received a reply from the SAD leader. Liquor worth Rs 2.59 cr seized Ropar: Excise and Taxation officials on Monday raided an unauthorised godown at Khairabad village and seized liquor worth Rs 2.59 crore. The godown was hired by a Chandigarh-based contractor, sources said. Officer Surjit Singh Bahiya said 899 cartons of IMFL and 13,051 cartons of coutnrymade liquor were found at the godown that had now been sealed.
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Wheat procurement begins at Khanna
Khanna April 7 The Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM) along with secretary, Market Committee, inaugurated the wheat procurement. A total of 75 quintal arrived in the market. A private trader purchased wheat at the rate of Rs 1,420 against the government rate of Rs 1,400. Last year, a total of 10.58 lakh quintal was purchased in the grain market and it is believed that around 10 lakh quintal would be bought this year. The SDM said they had made the required arrangements of space for the smooth procurement of wheat. He further directed the officials of various procurement agencies to ensure the farmers were not hassled in any manner. Ajmer Singh Gill, president of the commission agents and officials of other agencies were also present.
Purchase delayed
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50 % doctors didn’t receive ballot papers: IMA chief
Ludhiana, April 7 The election for the member posts of Medical Council of India (MCI) are scheduled for April 11. The counting too will be held on the same day. The ballot papers are sent through registered post to the doctors who return these back to the MCI after marking their preference. Dr Parminder Singh Brar, who is contesting for the post of member from the state, said, “The rule states the votes are to be sent through registered post, but this time the votes are being sent through ordinary post. I have filed a writ petition in the High Court regarding the same and the court has summoned the MCI officials.” Dr Kulwinder Singh, who has not received his ballot paper till date, said, “The date of counting should be postponed.”
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Sainis want quota too
Ropar, April 7 The All-India Rice- Millers Federation president, Tarsem Saini, was the chief guest. Ashok Saini, member of the BC Commission, Government of India, was the guest of honour. The community leaders said the Punjab Government had issued a notification in February 2009 granting Backward Class status to the community. The notification was, however, kept in abeyance.
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Jalandhar, April 7
Chandigarh, April 7
Amritsar: Former Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh has asked Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal to clarify his stand on three contentious issues in the BJP's election manifesto, which was released in Delhi on Monday. In a statement here, Amarinder said: "People of Punjab would like to know from Badal his stand on Uniform Civil Code, abrogation of the Article 370 and construction of a temple at the disputed site in Ayodhya as announced by the BJP in its election manifesto. He said: "BJP leader Arun Jaitley should specify whether he will advocate these issues in Punjab also". Amarinder said Badal had "always been advocating a separate personal law for Sikhs, strongly opposed to any move to abrogate Article 370 as he advocates greater autonomy for the states and has not been in favour of constructing a temple at the disputed site". The former Chief Minister alleged the fake facade of development the BJP was trying to project over communalism had started wearing off. He hoped that Jaitley, who is so fond of discussing and debating the national issues would spell out his stand vis-a-vis these three important issues which have a crucial bearing on Punjab as well.
Abohar, April 7