Wednesday, October 13, 1999
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P U N J A B | |
Wednesday, October 13, 1999 |
weather  spotlighttoday's calendar |
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Akali
factions woo SGPC members Anti-dengue drive launched |
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Exodus of
doctors continues
Public-friendly police office Tota Singh admits to factionalism Tohra group leaders meet in Mohali
Kainth for review of free power
policy Rly pension cases to be reviewed Gang of robbers busted |
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Akali factions woo SGPC
members AMRITSAR, Oct 12 — After the Shiromani Akali Dal's humiliating defeat in the recently held Lok Sabha elections the various Akali Dals, including the SAD, Sarb Hind Shiromani Akali Dal (Tohra) and Akali Dal (Mann) would again lock horns at the time of election of the SGPC president scheduled for November. The main contest is likely to be between the SAD (Badal) and the newly floated SHSAD and its allies. Both factions are making all-out efforts to win the election and prove their ‘popularity’ among the Sikh masses after their debacle in the Lok Sabha elections. As a part of this strategy the leaders of the SAD (Badal) and SHSAD have already started holding secret meetings with SGPC members. In all there are 190 members in the SGPC. Of these 15 are nominated while the five Sikh high priests are non-voting members. The SHSAD, SAD (Mann) SAD (Wadala) and SAD (Panthic) are likely to contest the post jointly as they did in the Lok Sabha elections. It is pertinent to mention here that Bibi Jagir Kaur became the first woman president of the SGPC on March 16 replacing Mr Gurcharan Singh Tohra on his expulsion from the post. More than 130 SGPC members had at that time expressed solidarity with the SAD president, Mr Badal by electing Bibi Jagir Kaur as president of the SGPC. However, Mr Simranjit Singh Mann and five SGPC members had staged a walk out from the General House at the time of the election. While SHSAD president, Mr Gurcharan Singh Tohra was president of the SGPC for 25 terms, he has said that he won't be a candidate for the post this time. Mr Manjit Singh Calcutta, a confidant of Mr Tohra claimed that the SHSAD had the support of around 50 SGPC members. Talking to The Tribune, Mr Calcutta claimed that some more pro-Badal members ‘disillusioned’ with the leadership of Mr Badal may join hands with the pro-Tohra members. Though the ruling SAD could win only two Lok Sabha seats the performance of SHSAD candidates was poorer still with many SHSAD candidates unable to save their security deposits. The split in Sikh votes helped the Congress bounce back. If the Tohra camp fails to measure up in the election to SGPC president it will have an adverse impact on his party itself, and its claim to represent the Sikhs. Though Mr Manjit Singh Calcutta has categorically denied that his party had approached any group within the ruling SAD for support in the SGPC elections sources said that Mr Jagdev Singh Talwandi, chairman Disciplinary Committee (SAD), who is also a member of the SGPC and Mr Balbir Singh Naushehra Pannua, senior vice-president of the SGPC were approached by mediators. Both leaders reportedly spurned the overtures. Mr Talwandi has already announced that he did not want to ‘play’ into the hands of the party (SHSAD) which was ‘instrumental’ in the election of many Congress MPs. The Badal camp has also ‘neutralised’ Mr Talwandi by appointing his younger son as chairman of a Punjab Government corporation in place of his elder son Ranjit Singh Talwandi, who is currently in jail. The Tohra camp, however, continues to bank on the support of pro-Badal SGPC members ‘disillusioned’ with Mr Badal. Mr Calcutta claimed that there were many aspirants to the post of SGPC president in the Badal camp which could help his party. Sources in the SGPC
claim that the Tohra camp is unlikely to win the election
as members of the political affairs committee and
district jathedars of the ruling SAD have already reposed
faith in the leadership of Mr Parkash Singh Badal after
the debacle of the party. However, if Mr Badal expands
his ministry before election of the SGPC president it
could open a Pandora's box of dissension which may
benefit rival Akali factions. |
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Anti-dengue drive launched LUDHIANA, Oct 12 — Even as the number of dengue cases in the city crossed the 400-mark, the district administration today launched a special campaign from October 13 for surveying houses for stagnant water and educating people regarding measures to be taken to prevent it. This was decided at a meeting of the rapid response team held today under the chairmanship of the Deputy Commissioner, Mr Arun Goel. The Municipal Commissioner, Mr S.S. Sandhu, Additional Deputy Commissioner K. Siva Prasad and coordinator of the rapid response team, Dr Alex Zachariah were also present at the meeting. It was also decided that 660 teams comprising students and staff of medical colleges, Health Department nursing institutes, pharmacists and the staff of the Municipal Corporation would visit all houses in the city within a fortnight for the purpose. During the meeting Mr Sandhu informed that the corporation had undertaken the survey of 38107 houses in the city for six days and found stagnant water even in those places from where dengue cases were reported. He said fogging machines had been put into service and the first round of fogging was now over. The Commissioner also said prosecution against defaulters under Section 302-B of the Municipal Corporation Act of 1976 would also be initiated. The Deputy Commissioner also said the help of educational, social and other voluntary organisations was being sought for creating awareness about dengue. He also asked the managements of the schools to ensure that the students wore winter uniforms for protection. Meanwhile, the Civil
Surgeon’s Office confirmed that so far there had
been 370 confirmed dengue cases in the city. As many as
21 fresh cases of dengue in the CMC, 17 cases in DMC, one
in Mohan Dai Oswal Hospital and one in Bhagwan Ram
Charitable Hospital were reported today. |
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Build first, get permission
later PATIALA, Oct 12 — It is nearly two months since an alleged projection constructed by Krishan Kumar Behal at his shop in Model Town was demolished by the Municipal Corporation. While the Municipal Corporation went to great lengths to remove the 10-foot projection, it has turned a blind eye to several other encroachments. Corporation Commissioner K.S. Kang, when contacted about this said Mr Behal had chosen a holiday to construct a projection and that it had been demolished after complaints by neighbours. He said due notice, however short, had been given to Mr Behal who had tried to connive with lower-level municipal staff to ensure the status quo was maintained. Replying to several allegations of pick and choose levelled Mr Kang said notices had been given to encroachers. Replying to a specific case of a demolished building being reconstructed behind Century Enclave, he said notices had been given to the owner. However, despite notices, the building still stands. Behal also cited the example of four shops in Sidhu Colony constructed recently near the house of corporation inspector Jasbir Singh. While the Corporation authorities said the shops in Sidhu Colony followed the norms. This did not appear to be the case as a no space has been left adjacent to the road with even part of the foot path being encroached upon. While these shops may be small fry major construction activity is on behind temporary sheds of A-one motor garage opposite the General Post Office. The building being constructed seems to be a hotel and a basement and ground floor has already been built. The Municipal Commissioner, when asked about this building, said the owners had submitted building maps now. This seems to be a modus operandi of most people. Mr Kang said people usually first built then went in for regularising the construction. He cited the example of Gopal Sweets, which he said had built a second storey without proper paperwork. Sources say builders seldom leave open spaces around buildings, which are a must under the law. They said in many cases site plans are accepted but not approved. But before they can be disapproved builders construct the building itself. Mr Kang said the corporation did not have the requisite staff to check illegal building activity on throughout the city as there were only four to five inspectors for the whole city. He however said action was taken wherever illegal activity was detected. He said he had got the building being constructed behind the premises of A-one motor garage stopped when it came to his notice. Mr Behal in his representation, which has also been submitted to the Punjab government, has also cited the wrong use of residential premises for commercial purposes, such as Singla Hospital in Model Town, a residential locality. Mr Kang said the
construction had not escaped the authorities notice. |
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Exodus of doctors continues PATIALA, Oct 12 — Doctors exodus from government medical and dental colleges continues unabated even after the proposed move of the state government to stall it by offering lucrative policy of pay clinics in government service. The latest to put in their papers are Dr A.S. Sekhon, Head of Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, and Dr Inderjit Kaur Dang, a paediatrician. Both are from Government Medical College here. Dr Malkiat Singh, Principal, Government Dental College, has also resigned and paid three months’ salary for giving an instant resignation notice. Dr M.S. Gulati of the same college had put in his papers a couple of weeks ago. Dr Ravi Kapoor of Government Dental College, Amritsar, has also sent his resignation to the Officiating Director Research and Medical Education (DRME), Dr S.S. Sidhu, and Principal Government Medical College, here. Confirming the receipt
of resignations, Dr Sidhu said the medical colleges were
already facing a grim situation with the resignations of
a number of doctors last month but with more following
suit the situation has become alarming. |
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Arrival of cotton in North
doubles ABOHAR, Oct 12 — The cotton arrival in various markets of Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan has picked up and doubled as compared to the arrival, last year. Up to October 11, about 1,32,000 lakh bales had arrived in Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan as compared to 64,000 bales that arrived in the corresponding period last year. Sources said cotton production was expected around 26 lakh bales in Punjab and Haryana and Sriganganagar and Hanumangarh districts of Rajasthan as against the 19.74 lakh bales produced last year. Cotton traders are expecting the production of 26 lakh bales this year despite the fact that the area under cotton crop has decreased considerably. Last year, the area under cotton in the North was 16.47 lakh hectare, including 5.62 lakh hectare in Punjab, 5.82 lakh hectare in Haryana and 5.03 lakh hectare in Rajasthan. The area in the current year came down to 13 lakh hectare and cotton sowing was done in 4.5 lakh hectare in Punjab, 4.5 lakh hectare in Haryana and 4 lakh hectare in Rajasthan. According to the Northern India Cotton Association, the daily arrival in the markets is of about 11000 bales. In Haryana, the arrival is about 5,000 bales while in Punjab and Rajasthan it is 2500 bales and 3,500 bales, respectively. However, in the absence of outside buyers and in anticipation of better yield, the prices of cotton are not picking up. The prevailing prices of desi and Narma variety of cotton is fetching Rs 100 and Rs 50 less than the prices prevailing last year in the corresponding period. Mr Ashok Kapur, a Director, of the Association, said the other factor which was keeping the prices low was that international prices of cotton were very low. The traders don’t want to export cotton as they were getting higher rates in the domestic market. He pointed out that so far the Ludhiana group of spinning mills had come into the market and doing brisk buying of raw cotton. He said the arrival
would pick up further in the next month. The sources said
the arrival was very less in the Asia’s biggest
cotton market, Kotkapura, where it had yet to cross 50
bales daily while it had crossed 1,000 bales in this
market. |
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Seminar on vegetables
improvement LUDHIANA, Oct 12 — India is the largest producer in vegetables amongst the developing countries of the world. This was disclosed by Dr Kirti Singh, an agricultural scientist and former member, Agricultural Scientists Recruitment Board, while addressing vegetable scientists during the inaugural session of the group meeting of the All-India Cooperation Research Project on "vegetables improvement," here yesterday. He however, expressed concern over the fact that 70 per cent of the technology generated by the scientists still did not find its application in the fields. Dr Kirti Singh lauded the role of Punjab Agricultural University in training farmers in hybrid seed production of vegetable crops. The farmers trained by PAU have played a significant role in production and distribution of the hybrid seeds of vegetable crops like chillies and tomatoes. While speaking on the occasion, Dr G.S. Kalkat, Vice-Chancellor, PAU, expressed concern over the pollution of vegetables with pesticides and chemicals. He suggested the adoption of integrated pest management and bio control as solutions to this problem. Dr S.P. Ghosh, Deputy Director (General) (Horticulture), ICAR, New Delhi, in his presidential address said the vegetables had a great export potential. During the last year the vegetables worth Rs 316 crore and spices worth Rs 1,400 crore were exported. In order to further increase the export there was need to lay emphasis on quality of our vegetables. Dr K.S. Aulakh,
Director, Research, PAU, and Dr Dhankar, ADG (Vegetable
Crops), ICAR, also spoke on the occasion. |
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Public-friendly police office PATIALA, Oct 12 — People visiting the district police complex here from tomorrow are going to be in for a pleasant surprise with a new public-friendly office and canteen being put into service to facilitate them. Inspector General of Police R.S. Gill today inaugurated the office and the canteen complex consisting of a double-storeyed office block in which separate windows have been provided for general tasks. Briefing reporters, Patiala district police chief Harpreet Singh Sidhu said the main purposes for which people visited the police office had been identified as arms verification, service verification, passport verification besides follow-up of complaints. He said special counters had been provided for processing arms licences, receipt and disposal of complaints, information regarding criminal cases, passport services and other verifications and pensions, bills and receipt of dak. He said also for the first time in the state, people coming to the police office would be guided by a reception counter as to how to proceed with their work. He said the main aim of the scheme was to reduce the waiting time for the public. Besides, the scheme would ensure more transparency in police working. Mr Sidhu said the construction of the office and the canteen complex had been necessitated by the lack of accessibility and safety in portions of the old building housing many administrative branches. The office complex comprised a total of 12 single offices and four bigger halls for the functioning of various branches. He said canteen and toilet facilities had also been provided for the public and the area in front of the complex which was low-lying had been raised and would be landscaped later. The IG distributed
commendation certificates among members of the local
Contractors Union. |
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Tota Singh admits to
factionalism SANGRUR, Oct 12 — Mr Tota Singh, Education Minister, Punjab, in response to a question admitted that factionalism in the party was responsible to an extent for the humiliating defeat of the SAD-BJP alliance in the recent Lok Sabha elections in Punjab. However, he hastened to add that information about the various steps initiated by the Punjab Government for the welfare of the people and the weaker sections of society were not fully propagated allowing the Congress and other opposition parties to mislead the people. Regarding the chances of a patch up with the faction led by the former SGPC chief Gurcharan Singh Tohra, Mr Tota Singh said it was for the party president Mr Parkash Singh Badal to decide. Mr Tota Singh was talking to mediapersons here today. Earlier, at a state-level function held at the local Holy Heart Convent School today, the minister honoured the teachers who won state awards for their meritorious contribution in the field of education. As many as 13 secondary
school teachers and seven primary teachers were honoured. |
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Tohra group leaders meet in
Mohali SAS NAGAR, Oct 12 — A closed-door meeting was held by senior Akali leaders of the Tohra group at a private showroom, owned by a financier in Phase 7 market here this morning. According to reliable sources the meeting was attended by the former Jathedar of Akal Takht, Bhai Ranjit Singh, a former MP, Prof Prem Chandumajra, and the local MLA, Bibi Daljit Kaur. Though what transpired at the meeting could not be known, the sources said the strategy to launch a struggle against Badal government was discussed, at the meeting. The sudden appearance of Jathedar Bhai Ranjit Singh along with some of the senior Akali leaders of the Tohra group took every one by surprise. As the leaders came to know that the media and the CID personnel had come to know of their presence, they left the place in a hurry for an undisclosed destination. Bibi Daljit Kaur, who
was however, confronted by some mediapersons did not
disclose the details of the meeting. She said the
Jathedar came but she could not meet him. But she gave
enough indications about efforts being made to dislodge
the government. |
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Kainth for review of free power policy JALANDHAR, Oct12 (PTI) — Bahujan Samaj Morcha President Satnam Singh Kainth today said the electoral reverses suffered by the ruling SAD-BJP alliance in Punjab underline a deep resentment among the masses against government functioning and the need to review a number of policies. "This is a clear message to the SAD-BJP alliance to re-assess the impact of some of their policies," Mr Kainth told reporters at Sautran village in Banga near here. The former Lok Sabha MP,who lost the Phillaur seat to the Congress’s Santosh Chowdhury, said while a lot of stress was laid by the government on providing free irrigation, water and power to farmers in the state putting a burden of crores of rupees on the state exchequer, it was "my view that farmers do not need freebies but regular and assured power supply." "Only the 20 per cent rich farmers benefited from such free supply of power and water. While poor farmers having marginal landholdings complained about erratic power supply,the policy of freebies only angered urban voters and Dalits, who felt discriminated against," Mr Kainth said. He said the Congress did
not have any constructive programme to offer and was a
beneficiary of negative vote against some policies of the
Parkash Singh Badal government. |
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Rly pension cases to be
reviewed JALANDHAR, Oct 12 — The Financial Adviser and Chief Accounts Officer, Northern Railway Headquarters, has ordered Railway Accounts Officers (Pension) and personnel officers concerned at Delhi, Ambala, Ferozepore Cantonment and Jalandhar to deal with pre-1986 pension revision cases on top priority basis. Mr V.S. Jolly, General Secretary, All-India Central Government Pensioners Association (North India region), said here today that in its orders the Chief Accounts Officer had asked the officers to review all such cases of pension revision and issue new pension payment orders. It may be recalled that
a large number of railway pensioners were subjected to
mental agony and financial loss to the tune of Rs 10,000
to Rs 15,000 as an "illegal" reduction was made
in their monthly pension on wrong revision of their
pensions. |
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Gang of robbers busted HOSHIARPUR, Oct 12 — The police has busted an inter-state gang of robbers and thieves with the arrest of four of its members when they were reportedly planning a dacoity near Bajwara last night. The SSP said here today that a Maruti car without number plate, a revolver of .32 bore, six cartridges, a gun with four cartridges had been seized. Rupees 50,000 and gold ornaments were also recovered from their possession. A case under Sections 399/411, and 414, IPC, and Sections 25, 54 and 59, Arms Act, had been registered against them. The gang was operating
in Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh. |
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2 lottery sellers arrested RAJPURA, Oct 12 — Two local lottery sellers have been arrested today for selling tickets at 10 times their value. Police sources said a case under Sections 420 and 426, IPC, had been registered against Ram Chand and Harish Kumar for selling a weekly lottery ticket priced at Rs 1.10 for Rs. 11. The lottery sellers have
been arrested following a complaint by Roop Singh,
Ludhiana-based Manager of Punjab State Lotteries.
Meanwhile, Mr V.K. Bhall, Director, Small Savings, in a
statement said checks would be conducted elsewhere also
to ensure that there was no overcharging. |
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Martyr cremated LUDHIANA, Oct 12 — Havaldar Darshan Singh of the 8 Sikh Regiment was cremated with full military honours at his native village Irak here today. He had attained martyrdom on October 4 in Jammu and Kashmir. Deputy Commissioner Arun
Goel, SSP (Khanna). R.L Bhagat, SDM (Samrala) Baldev
Singh and senior Army officials were present on the
funeral. |
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Psychiatric society meet at Moga CHANDIGARH, Oct 12 — The 10th annual conference of the Punjab and Chandigarh Psychiatric Society will be held in Moga on October 16 and 17, according to president, Dr Kuldeep C. Sharma. It will be inaugurated by Mr Justice Iqbal Singh of the Punjab and Haryana High Court. The presidential address will focus on "Mental health in 21st century". Dr Sharma is at Rajendra
Hospital as Professor and head of the Department of
Psychiatry. |
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Supplementary exams PATIALA, Oct 12 —
The Punjabi University supplementary examination shall
begin from October 15 for most under-graduate and
post-graduate courses while the examination of
professional courses shall commence from October 21,
according to a university press release issued here
today. |
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