Wednesday, March 10, 1999
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P U N J A B | |
Wednesday, March 10, 1999 |
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spotlight today's calendar |
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Cross-examination
recorded NRI's
complaint of fraud: notice to SSP |
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Surcharge
on IT ‘unjustified’ Principal
suspended on bungling charge 5
Takht heads to guide celebrations Tohra’s
‘conscience call’ questioned Mall
road in bad shape |
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Beant Singh case CHANDIGARH, March 9 — The Sessions Judge, Mr B.S. Bedi, today recorded the cross-examination of Mr Raghbir Singh, a former sarpanch of Chhingra village, in the ongoing Beant Singh assassination case. He told the court that the recovery memo and the declaratory statement of Nasib Singh contained his signatures. He said he had signed these documents without any outside pressure. In reply to a question he said the Delhi police (from where he had retired as Sub Inspector) used to work in Hindi. He also told the court that Nasib Singh had an adult married son who lived with him along with his (Mr Nasib Singh's) wife and daughter, Harpreet Kaur. He denied that he saw any of the accused in the C.B.I. custody. He informed the court that C.B.I. sleuth stayed at Nasib Singh's house until about 6-45 p.m. and went away with Nasib Singh. He disclaimed knowledge about Jagtar Singh Hawara, another suspect in the case, visiting Nasib Singh's house. He confirmed that the RDX
recovered by the CBI was the same which was recovered
from the house of Nasib Singh. |
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NRI's
complaint
of fraud: notice to SSP CHANDIGARH, March 9 — Mr Justice K.K. Srivastava, a Judge of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, today issued notice to the S.S.P., Ropar, for May 13, 1999, on a petition filed by Mr Gurcharan Singh, a Canada-based N.R.I., praying for entrusting to the C.B.I. the investigation of the fraudulently transfer of his two plots. The Judge also issued notice to the S.H.O. of Mohali, and the local C.B.I. branch. The petitioner stated that he had earlier lodged an F.I.R. (No 62 dated April 22, 1997) at the Mohali police station under Sections 420 and 409, I.P.C. in this connection. Mr Gurcharan Singh added that he had purchased two plots (No 650 and 651) in Phase II, Mohali, under the N.R.I. scheme in the early seventies. He alleged that Mr Bhag Singh Ankhi, a resident of Amritsar, met him in Ottawa and took the power of attorney from him. Later, he wrote a letter to him saying that he had sold his plots for Rs 3.70 lakh each. The petitioner came to
India in September, 1995, and demanded the sale proceeds
of the plots from Mr Bhag Singh but he did not give the
money. |
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Possession of land PUDA, hospital
lock horns PATIALA, March 9 — The Punjab Urban Development Authority (PUDA) and the Government Rajindra Hospital here are at loggerheads over the possession of nearly four acres of prime land located in a posh region near Khalsa College here. While PUDA claims that land owned by the government was vacant and under the rules PUDA can acquire it, the hospital authorities say that the land belonged to them and has been earmarked for constructing students’ hostel and official accommodation. Dr Ravinder Singh, Medical Superintendent, of the hospital said PUDA and unlawfully acquired the land and did not even bothered to ask the hospital authorities before taking the step and directly informed of the move to the Secretary, Research and Medical Education. The Secretary has written to the Rajindra Hospital seeking their comments on the move of PUDA. In its reply the Medical Superintendent said the land had been earmarked for constructing hostels and official accommodation of the staff. However, Mr Bhagwant Singh, Administrative Officer, PUDA, said hospital had no right over the land as PUDA had the legal right to acquire a vacant government land. He said last year a secretary-level meeting of all departments had decided that all government lands which were not being utilised by the department concerned can be given to ‘PUDA’ for optimum land use and also to avoid encroachment. He said the hospital authorities had no right to interfere in this matter as it had been unable to utilise the land for past so many years as a result of which it was being encroached upon. The Administrative Officer said PUDA has prepared a plan for the development of the land. The four-acre land is
adjacent to the Punjab Saket Charitable Hospital and
Khalsa College. |
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Surcharge on IT
‘unjustified’ AMRITSAR, March 9 — The PCMS Association has accused the BJP government at the Centre for violating its own manifesto by imposing undue burden on the salaried class by way of surcharge on the already mismatched income tax, totally ignoring the skyrocketing rise in the prices of essential commodities. The PCMS Association leaders in a joint statement here yesterday said while the election manifesto of the BJP promised the salaried class a raise in the income tax exemption limit to least to Rs 1 lakh the government had made it difficult for salaried persons to maintain the necessary living standards. Giving data of the past 10 years, the association leaders said standard deduction and income tax exemption limit had been raised just one and a half times while the increase in pay after the Fifth Pay Commission recommendations was more than three times. This not only nullified the benefits of the recommendations of the commission but put the employees in an embarrassing position by taking back more than what the employee actually got in cash. They demanded publication of a white paper on the present day economic situation in the country. The association further demanded the increase in standard deduction and income tax exemption limit should directly be linked to the price index and special concessions for marriages and other such occasions and during the period children were going in for higher education. The association leaders,
namely Dr R.S. Butter, senior vice-president, Dr
Harpartap Singh, organising secretary, and Dr Rajinder
Singh Makna, regional secretary, appealed to all
associations of the salaried class to join hands and form
a joint platform against the unjustified hike in the rate
of income tax and protest against the callous attitude of
the Central government. |
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Principal suspended on bungling
charge TALWANDI SABO, March 9 — Mr S.R. Ladhar, Deputy Commissioner-cum-Chairperson of Sri Dashmesh Senior Secondary Public School, being run by the Punjab State Defence Security and Relief Fund Educational Society, Chandigarh, today placed its Principal, Mr Surinder Singh Gill, under suspension allegedly for large-scale bungling of school funds. Official sources said Mr Ladhar suspended Mr Gill on the basis of an inquiry conducted by Mr Alok Shekhar, Additional Deputy Commissioner (Development), into charges of alleged bungling of school funds. Mr Ladhar also ordered that henceforth the Vice-Principal of the school would officiate as Principal. The meeting of the school management would be held shortly for further action, the sources added. An inquiry report proved that Mr Gill made foreign trips and indulged in other luxuries after collecting lakhs of rupees from public in the shape of donations for the school. He had embezzled about Rs 19 lakh using fake building and the bus funds slip. The inquiry report revealed that Mr Gill used Rs 2 lakh of the school on foreign trips in private capacity. He made cash payments of about Rs 11 lakh to contractors without bills or vouchers. He did not keep entries of fuel used for the official car. Mr Gill was also guilty of not keeping general receipt books up to 1994 which contained accounts of large donations from public. He auctioned school's vehicles without the permission of the chairperson. Mr Gill has also been booked by local police for embezzling school funds under Sections 406, 409, 420, 468 and 471 of the IPC. The police is also investigating his alleged links with a proclaimed offender. Mr Gill could not be
contacted at his residence as he is on leave till March
10. |
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5 Takht heads to guide
celebrations LUDHIANA, March 9 — The tercentenary celebrations of the birth of the Khalsa will be held under the joint auspices of all five Takhts. The Head Priests being involved in the guidance and supervision of the celebration include Bhai Pooran Singh, acting Jathedar of Akal Takht, Prof Manjit Singh, Head Priest, Takht Keshgarh Sahib, Giani Kewal Singh, Head Priest, Damdama Sahib and Head Priests or their representatives of Patna Sahib and Nanded Sahib, according to sources in the Akali Dal here today. The move is aimed at taking the sting out of the repeated criticism by the SGPC chief, Mr Gurcharan Singh Tohra and his followers that the Anandpur Sahib celebrations being organised by the government were a "sarkari show". Referring to the meeting
of the executive committee of the SGPC convened by Mr
Tohra on March 14 at Jind in Haryana. The sources said it
was just an attempt by the beleaguered SGPC chief to
"draw political mileage" out of the present
situation. |
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Tohra’s ‘conscience
call’ questioned CHANDIGARH, March 9 — As many as 21 members of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee today asked Mr Gurcharan Singh Tohra to stop meddling with the honour and dignity of Sikh religious institutions for his personal gains, shun the language of violence and bloodshed and not to confront the collective will of the Sikh masses as expressed through their elected representatives in the SGPC. In a letter to Mr Tohra in response to his "conscience call" to SGPC members the signatories questioned the sincerity of Mr Tohra's call. The letter is signed among others by Mr Mohinder Singh Ramana, Mr Jarnail Singh Aulakh, Ms Daljit Kaur, Ms Kiranjot Kaur and Mr Inderjit Singh. The members expressed satisfaction and happiness over Mr Tohra's acknowledging the SGPC as the true representative of the Sikh religious sentiments but asked him, "Why then are you refusing to accept the supremacy of the Sikh religious sentiments and are in fact trying to dishonour these sentiments by describing them as "Sarkari or anti-Panthic? Have you lost all faith in the elected representatives of the Sikhs while you know very well that your present post and status is a gift of the Panth through the same representatives? The Badal loyalists charged Mr Tohra with "insulting the Sikh philosophy and heritage". Referring to the hukamnama issued by Akal Takht Jathedar Ranjit Singh on December 31 last year to stop all controversies till April 15 in view of Khalsa tercentenary celebrations, the letter said that the Jathedar who was later "suspended", turned down "our pleas not to become a party to the anti-democratic practice of imposing a chief against the wishes of the house". The letter said that the
question now "is not of allowing you to have a few
more days as president". The real issue is one of
saving the Khalsa celebrations from "your deadly
intentions", the letter said. |
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Mall road in bad shape BATHINDA: Constructed as the most attractive road about 30 years ago, the Mall road today is in bad shape and crying for the immediate attention of the authorities concerned. Big potholes, stray animals and haphazard parking of vehicles have made travelling unsafe on this road which links the railway station with various parts of the town. Municipal Council authorities have been neglecting this road for the past many years though two big schools, a number of private hospitals, shopping complexes, banks and hotels are situated on both sides of the road. Residents of this area alleged that they were living in miserable conditions though they were putting up in one of the most posh areas. They blamed that the Municipal Council had been ignoring their long-pending demand of repairing the road. For the past many months, about 50-metre piece of this road has been closed for vehicular traffic due to a large and deep hole. This stretch is now being used as a parking place by the people. Apart from it due to faulty drainage system, the Mall road is converted into a lake even after a few showers and it becomes difficult for patients to enter hospital as the area remains under water for days together. The students also face many difficulties to reach schools. The traffic on the Mall road is also haphazard and with vehicle parking in the middle of the road and encroachment of footpaths by shopkeepers, the vehicles move slowly. Moreover, a number of map plans of buildings have been passed by the authorities concerned in violation of the set principles. Mr Bhupinder Singh Bhullar, President, Municipal Council, when contacted said work for making one part of the Mall road with concrete had been started and would be completed in three months. He added that Rs 30 lakh would be spent to make Mall road traffic-worthy. He said to drain out water
from the Mall road, arrangements were being made. He
added that Municipal Council authorities were also trying
to fill the large hole that had developed on it few
months ago. |
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Woman's
complaint
against cop KHARAR, March 9 — Mrs Surjit Kaur of nearby Moujpur village in a complaint to the Senior Superintendent of Police, Ropar district, today alleged that a false case has been registered against her husband Dara Singh, under the NDPS Act at Morinda police station on February 28. The sarpanch, nambardar and six residents of the village have also signed on her application. She has written that a case was registered against her husband on the behest of a Head Constable who is posted at Morinda at present. She alleged the Head Constable had ill-will against her husband who was beaten up on January 25 last year. An inquiry was ordered against the Head Constable and others and they had felt sorry for the incident at that time. She alleged that her
husband was apprehended near the bus stop of Daon village
by the Head Constable and other police officials and was
falsely implicated. Popy husk was not seized from his
possession. She demanded that the matter should be
reinvestigated by a higher rank official. |
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Lok Pal has belied
people’s hopes: CPI CHANDIGARH, March 9 — The institution of the Lok Pal, which had been created with much fanfare and high hopes has failed to live up to the expectations of people. This observation was made at a press conference here today by Dr Joginder Dayal, Secretary of the Punjab unit of the CPI and Mr Hardev Arshi, leader of the CPI group in the Punjab Vidhan Sabha. They urged the Punjab Government to table the out-put of the Lok Pal in the Vidhan Sabha. Dr Dayal wanted to know result of the charges probed by the Lok Pal against certain former Ministers belonging to the Congress Party. The Government should make facts public in this connection, he added. He alleged that the level of political corruption had gone up in the state, but there was no effort on the part of the Lok Pal to halt it. Mr Arshi said he would take up the Lok Pal issue in the Vidhan Sabha and urge the House to examine its functioning and to provide it more teeth, if required. He said that if there was need to amend the Lok Pal Act, this should be done at the earliest. Mr Arshi said that the SAD-BJP combine had come in the power by promising to end the corruption in high places but there was no effort on the part of their government to keep the promise. He said that his party was not against the person manning the Lok Pal and criticising its functioning and effective as an institution. Mr Arshi was of the opinion that the Lok Pal should be made an independent institution. He said the party had decided to take up the issues pertaining to farming community forcefully in the House. Both CPI leaders said the popular government in the state had ceased to work and it had handed over the governance of the state to bureaucrats. No more representatives of people hear grievances of people as state government had instructed bureaucrats to hold "sangat darshan". Mr Arshi said neither meetings of grievances were held at district headquarters for months together nor had the government constituted department consultative committees of MLAs. He said the government was nominating its activists on the District Planning Boards by throwing all norms and precedents to winds. The Government has not revised the minimum wages for the past three years although as per rules it should be revised after every two years. There was no effort on the part of the Government to end the strike in OCM mills in Amritsar or to provide help to farm labourers. Mr Arshi said he would also raise the issue of allocation and actual utilisation of funds in the various Government departments. He said he had information that only 50 per cent of the total allocation in the last budget was given to certain departments this year. The Government should also
disclose what happened to its promise of asking all the
ministers and MLAs of ruling combine to file their
property returns. This promise was a part of party
manifesto of the SAD, he added. How many ministers and
MLAs had submitted their returns to the Government or the
Punjab Vidhan Sabha secretariat? Mr Arshi questioned. |
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Pay loans direct to farmers:
CM CHANDIGARH, March 9 — The Punjab Chief Minister, Mr Parkash Singh Badal, has directed the Punjab Cooperative Banks and Punjab Agriculture Development Banks to make direct payment of loans to farmers up to Rs 1 lakh for starting poultry, dairy, fishery, bee keeping and other agro based projects. Cheques of loans should be issued on the name of farmer concerned and not to a third party. Earlier banks used to make
payment to dealers from whom farmers used to buy material
for such projects. Mr Gurnihal Singh Pirzada, Registrar,
Cooperative Societies, Punjab, said here today all
cooperative banks had been directed to dispose the cases
of cash credit limit up to Rs 2 lakh within a week after
receiving the application in this connection and also
review the rejected cases. |
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Smack siezed from Tanzanian ROPAR, March 9 — On a tip off, the SHO of the local police station, Mr Harjinder Singh, nabbed a citizen of Tanzania, Jabwa, and siezed 53 grams of smack from his possession in the local Giani Zail Singh Nagar area yesterday. The SSP said here today that the value of the smack was about Rs 2.50 lakh. He said the police had also seized a computerised small size weighing machine, a CD player, a TV set and a telephone set from him. A case had been registered
against him under Section 21 of the NDPS Act. |
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DPI (Primary) Punjab CHANDIGARH, March 9 —
Mrs Daljeet Kaur Chadha has joined as the DPI (Primary),
Punjab, after getting an extension of one year in service
with effect from March 1. The extension in service has
been given to her for being a state awardee. |
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Rapist arrested LUDHIANA, March 9 — A 20-year-old youth who raped an eight-year-old girl, has been arrested by the police. According to the FIR lodged with the Moti Nagar police station, the girl, a resident of Bhagat Singh colony was taken to a vacant flat in the Housing Board Colony, by her neighbour, Shailendra and raped. A case under Sections 366,
363 and 376 of the IPC has been registered against the
accused. |
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Accept teachers’ demand: CPI BATHINDA, March 9 — The leader of the CPI in the Punjab Vidhan Sabha, Mr Hardev Arshi, has urged the state Finance Minister, Mr Kanwaljit Singh, to accept the demands of the teachers of government recognised and aided schools immediately. In a press note issued here today, Mr Arshi said that by accepting their demands they could be asked to end their strike. He said teachers were demanding the implementation of recommendations of the Fourth Pay Commission from January 1, 1996, parity between service conditions of government school teachers and aided school teachers, extension of all the facilities to aided teachers which were presently being given to government school teachers and payment of salaries through government treasuries. He pointed out that according to Service Security Act, 1979, the Punjab Government was bound to bring parity of pay and other allowances between government school teachers and aided school teachers. He said at least 10,000
teachers of nearly 500 private schools were presently
staging dharnas and holding rallies in protest against
the non-acceptance of their genuine demands by Punjab
Government. It had put a big question mark on the future
of lakhs of students, he added. |
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Silent protest to seek
dissolution of civic body FEROZEPORE, March 9 — To demand the dissolution of the local Municipal Council and to show resentment against the poor condition of roads, streets, street lights, drainage system and other amenities, 100 members of the Ferozepore, Citizens' Council today held a "maun pradarshan' (silent demonstration). The 'silent' demonstration began from eight places — Multani Gate, Zeera Gate, Delhi Gate, Bansi Gate, Housing Board Colony, bus stand, Basti Tankan Wali and Basti Bhattian — in the morning. The participants carried placards depicting various slogans, including "nagar council bhang karo", "sadkon mein khadde ho gai, sare MC so gai" and Punjab sarkar karo dhyan, Ferozepore ka karo kalyan". The eight groups of silent demonstrators later arrived at Chowk Udham Singh and built a human chain around the square there. The demonstration lasted two hours. Later, Mr Raj Kumar Kakkar, Mr Hari Ram Khindri and Mr Ravi Kant Jain, the patron, president and general secretary, respectively of the citizens' council told this correspondent that they would intensify their struggle if the authorities concerned failed to accept their "genuine" demands. They alleged that the
municipal council was divided into two factions and
indulging in infighting. As a result, all development
works in the town had come to a standstill, they said,
adding that funds meant for development purposes were
lying unutilised. |
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Plea to create parking areas PATIALA, March 9 — The Patiala Citizens for Social Action yesterday appealed to the municipal corporation to create parking areas in its jurisdiction both inside the walled city as well as outside it. Disclosing this here, association president Major B.S.S. Bedi said a meeting had urged the corporation to create parking areas in the Sheranwala Gate area, near the bus stand, Leela Bhavan, the railway crossing number 22 market area and the Mansarovar Market area. Major Bedi said besides this the association meeting also urged the corporation to remove encroachments on roads and road berms, including ramps and driveways, constructed by private persons. He said the meeting, which was also attended by members of the traffic police, noted that mostly government and police vehicles with red lights flouted traffic rules the most, which led to other motorists flouting them also. Major Bedi said the
meeting also urged a notification regarding one-way
traffic routes and fixing a certain time for heavy
vehicular traffic in congested areas of the city. |
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Redress grievances, Badal urged AMRITSAR, March 9 — The BJP MLA, Mrs Laxmi Kanta Chawla, yesterday made a fervent appeal to the Chief Minister, Mr Parkash Singh Badal, to resolve the problem of private school teachers with urgency. Mrs Chawla in a press note issued here yesterday felt their grievances should be redressed keeping in view the need to safeguard the interests of thousands of students whose future could be in jeopardy. She urged the Chief Minister to take the initiative personally to get their demands implemented for treating them on a par with the government school teachers with regard to both salary and perks. She also questioned the wisdom of the government announcing a cut of 5 per cent in grants to aided schools. She described the decision as most unfortunate and untenable. She regretted that as such
the government-run schools were not up to the mark and if
the private institutions also failed to deliver education
would suffer while the government would have to pay a
heavy price. |
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