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| Sunday, February 6, 2000, Chandigarh, India   |
Plan panel warns Punjab Hectic campaigning by parties Ravi Inder vows to save SAD Strategy on Punjab’s progress |
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Nagar council chief ousted Official funds “being
misused” Farooq's demand 'anti-national'
PM’s visit: residents feel
harassed Bitta to approach Clinton Helping talent sprout in bastis 378 cr earmarked for canal Plan to move court in medicine
‘scam’ Kerala Governor cautions against
globalisation Need to revamp MCs: Dang Four trains restored Samata leader passes away
Providing relief to the shivering
Sunil Jain case: 1 held for
intimidation 4 cops suspended for misbehaviour Tension over robbery at mill
owner’s house Two Pakistani civilians held Theft in Sacred Heart School
Panel formed to settle demands of
schools Contempt notice to DPI (S) Ordinance to benefit Kehar Singh
on cards: FEAR
IT sleuths raid sweet shops
|
Plan panel warns Punjab CHANDIGARH, Feb 5 — The Planning Commission has warned Punjab against postponing reforms, including those in the power sector. Punjab with the highest per capita income has been slipping in resource mobilisation and consequently has been over indulging in market borrowings. The downward journey that started in 1992-93 during Congress rule has continued unchecked in the present Akali-BJP regime. In fact the situation has worsened, informed sources here said. The Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission, Mr K.C. Pant, who has drawn the attention of many other states, including Punjab, feels deeply concerned. He has warned Mr Parkash Singh Badal that the debt liability of the state has increased by 45 per cent of its revenue receipts. This is not sustainable, he wrote, and Punjab must take urgent steps and establish a positive tax and gross domestic product ratio. In fact Punjab has been literally living from hand to mouth and its huge salary and pension bill pegged at Rs 300 crore a month eats away all that the state earns. Finance, excise and taxation officials admit that the tax administration is lax and traders just would not like to pay taxes. Now a new system known as information check-posts has shown some bright side. The government would get an additional Rs 300 crore over a year by the uniform taxation system introduced last month. It could hope to come closer to the Rs 2,000 tax target for the current year. “But we are keeping our fingers crossed even after having increased several taxes in the state. Political interference and bad taxation machinery backed by equally ‘no-tax paying culture’ is the bane for the present malaise”, a senior officer summed up. He agreed with Mr Pant, who has said that user charges have to be there. The taxation system should be rationalised and a state with a large middle-class, bitten by the consumer bug, could not be just a beggar. Name any consumer durable, perishable or any item needed for the farming sector, Punjab tops the tally. That is why its coffers are empty? This question has been worrying all, but no serious solution has come up as yet. Mr Pant has suggested that civil services must be reformed, administration decentralised and user charges introduced at all levels. Recover at least the cost, he pointed out. He has suggested subsidies, both open the hidden, must be reworked so that these benefit the needy. But take the case of overstuffed power sector, while farm sector takes away some Rs 1,100 crore in total, the industrial sector is subsidised to the level of Rs 1,800 crore per year. No doubt the power sector is in red. About the Ninth Plan, the Planning Commission has pointed out the state has raised only 45 per cent of the promised revenue in the first three years. But the real picture showed that the Centre provided 34.3 per cent against 35.7 per cent, its own contribution which should have been 16 per cent is now negative side — 109 per cent and market borrowings which were to contribute 80 per cent are now at 175 per cent. By the state’s own admission there is a major financial imbalance. This year would end with over Rs 1,800 crore. It has been borrowing from all sources and has sucked dry most of its corporations and boards, besides taking some emergency help from the Centre. And about the reforms suggested by the Centre and as agreed by the state, nothing much has happened except in some stray cases. It was recommended by the State Cabinet Subcommittee that there should be no free power for the farm sector, and other hidden or open subsidies must be cut. The Chief Minister has not been able to muster enough political will. Only the transport sector has been touched so far. Non-Plan expenditure which is Rs 5,600 crore, has now touched Rs 6,000 crore. Salaries take away 63 per cent of the total revenue earnings. The state’s sick public sector undertakings add a neat Rs 1,150 crore annually, including loss and payment of interest. No doubt the Planning
Commission has indicated that the Centre would think
twice before bailing out Punjab in future. |
Hectic campaigning by parties NAWANSHAHR, Feb 5 — Even as this politically-charged constituency, where stakes are high for the SAD President, Mr Parkash Singh Badal and the PPCC President, Capt Amarinder Singh, has two weeks left to go in for the much-hyped byelection, the campaigning by the both parties has gained momentum with both the leaders making their presence felt in the area. Posters, banners and flags, elaborating achievements, future programmes and promises of respective parties have mushroomed in every nook and corner of the constituency. While the SAD-BJP combine, its rival the Congress and the Sarb Hind Shiromani Akali Dal (SHSAD) seem to have been content in trying to woo the voters through posters, flags and banners, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) has a supporter wrapped in blue party flag perched on a pillar in the busy main chowk to attracts, potential voters. The rural areas too resound with the whizzing caravans of vehicles, fitted with red lights, hooters and flags as leaders tour different villages. As almost all ministers have been asked to be in the “field”, the large number of VIP’s vehicles usually ends up in traffic chaos in the city, giving night mares to traffic cops. Vehicles of VIPs can be seen parked along the Jalandhar-Nawanshahr main road, on which all parties have set-up their poll offices. “At times, situation comes to such a pass that long queues of vehicles can be seen for hours as the traffic police personnel on duty keep waiting for the VIP cavalcades,” lamented Sunder Kumar, a grocery shop owner, who like most of the residents is irked at the poor traffic management in the city. While the Akali Dal supremo, known as a tireless campaigner, has taken a lead by personally visiting about 90 out of total 178 villages, his arch rival Capt Amarinder Singh has been able to tour nearly 40 villages in the constituency so far. In addition to the door-to-door mode of campaign at select villages, Mr Badal often summons the sarpanches and ask them about the problems faced by villagers. On the other hand, Capt Amarinder Singh, who tours eight to 10 villages every day, is holding small meetings in each village and apprises the villagers of the “misdeeds” of the ruling SAD-BJP combine. Back in the city, when this correspondent visited the SAD main office, it seemed as if the entire secretariat had been shifted there with chairmen of number of boards and corporations, three ministers, including Mr Tota Singh and Mr Janmeja Singh, being present there. The Sarb Hind Shiromani
Akali Dal has divided the constituency into zones, each
having 25 to 30 villages in it and headed by a senior
leader. We go door-to-door and question people where is
development done by Badal? and tell then to observe the
condition of roads and streets. We also tell them how
once a prosperous state of Punjab was now burdened under
a debt of Rs 24,000 crore, the annual instalment of which
is huge Rs 2750 crore” said, Mr Sukhdev Singh Bhaur,
the Secretary General of the SHSAD led by Mr Gurcharan
Singh Tohra. He said his party had a pact with the
Bhartiya Kisan Union as efforts to rope in the BSP led by
Mr Kanshi Ram had failed owing to objections by its local
unit. |
Ravi Inder vows to save SAD MORINDA, Feb 5 — After a show of strength at a “sanman samaroh” by the SAD leadership on January 25 in the town. It was the turn of Mr Ravi Inder Singh suspended SAD leader, who organised an “Akali Dal Bachao” political conference at the Grain Market today. Today’s conference made it evident that despite his suspension from the SAD, Mr Ravi Inder Singh has a hold in this area. The conference was attended by leaders of the Sarb Hind Shiromani Akali Dal (SHSAD), SHSYAD, BKU (Rajewal), SAD (Mann), All-India Sikh Students Federation (Gill), besides MLAs and former ministers and some members of the SGPC. Projection of Mr Ravi Inder Singh as the next Chief Minister of Punjab, saving the SAD, Panth and Punjab from the clutches of Mr Parkash Singh Badal, corruption charges on Badal family, corruption and financial crisis in the state were the issues which dominated the conference. Addressing the gathering, Mr Ravi Inder Singh said a political conference on similar lines would be organised by him on March 4 at Badal village in which people from Malwa region would participate. He called upon the people to attend it to strengthen the SAD. He also said a member of Badal family would share stage with him at the conference. Mr Ravi Inder Singh said he was considered to be an inaccessible politician by top Akali leaders but to remove their misunderstanding he would now go to the people in the state and would work to save the SAD, Panth and Punjab from corrupt leaders. He said after his suspension from the SAD he had taken some time to raise his voice but now he was fully prepared to work for the welfare of the SAD. He also criticised Badal government for corruption and financial crisis in the state. Mr Gurcharan Singh Tohra, President of the SHSAD, announced that a revolution was on the cards in Akali politics and Mr Ravi Inder Singh would replace Mr Parkash Singh Badal as Chief Minister of the state. He, however, clarified that he nursed no ambition to become the Chief Minister. Mr Tohra alleged that Mr Badal had ruined the state on all fronts, be it economic, political or religious. Mr Tohra said his party would not allow the dislocation of hundreds of people in the name of setting up “Anandgarh” near Chandigarh by the Badal government. He alleged that Mr Badal had lowered the image of Akal Takht, for which the Panth would never forgive him. Col Jasmer Singh Bala, a senior Akali leader, read 14 resolutions, which were adopted by the gathering amidst the chanting of “Bole so Nihal, Sat Sri Akal”. The resolutions include rejection of “Anandgarh” scheme and disowning of Mr Badal as Chief Minister and President of the SAD. Jathedar Surjan Singh
Thekedar, a senior leader of the SHSAD; Prof Prem Singh
Chandumajra, general secretary of the SHSAD; Mr
Gurdarshan Singh Grewal, a former Punjab Advocate
General; Mr Sucha Singh Chottepur, a former minister; Mr
Harminder Singh Gill, president AISSF (Gill); Mr Karnail
Singh Panjoli, President of SHSYAD; Mr Balbir Singh
Rajewal, president of the BKU and Mr Ajit Inder Singh
Mofar, MLA, SAD (Mann) also addressed the gathering. |
Economic development-I CHANDIGARH, Feb 5 — Punjab for the first time has evolved a strategy for integrated development of the state. The strategy is postulated in “The Economic policy — 2000” which has been approved in principle. The document, circulated by the Directorate of Industries and Commerce, seeks to comprehensively address economic value addition by dovetailing private investment, infrastructural development, institutional mechanism and inter-departmental coordination with three critical areas of economic development. For added emphasis in the economic policy — 2000, the three critical areas of economic development, agriculture (integrated with industry and services development), small and medium enterprise and the services sector have been taken up together for “balanced” development and growth. Nevertheless, the economic policy — 2000 envisages that the net domestic product of Punjab will grow at a real average rate of 8 per cent per annum over a five-year period up to 2005. In this two-part series, the TNS will focus on the broad ingredients of the economic policy as well as the government endeavour for giving a new look to the state’s agricultural and allied disciplines: for which “diversification” is the watchword. A 15-member committee, headed by Punjab Agricultural University Vice-Chancellor, Dr G.S. Kalkat, stands constituted since January 21. It is to submit its report to the Finance Minister by February 15. The committee has a report on “Diversification” submitted in the eighties by Dr S.S. Johl. In the words of the Finance Minister, Capt Kanwaljit Singh, who has approved an “action plan” for agriculture and allied sectors, the move is akin to a “Mission for the second push in Punjab agriculture”. In fact he has assured the department of requisite funds. The draft Annual Plan for 2000-2001, shows that against a revised outlay of Rs 1565.88 lakh in the current year (1999-2000), the proposed outlay in the Annual Plan for 2000-2001 is Rs 3294.06 lakh. Of which the capital content is Rs 1638 lakh. There are as many as 20-odd schemes for which details are now available. The diversification plan draft paper has been got prepared by the Punjab agro-industries corporation through a broad-based consultancy firm, while the department of industries and commerce had commissioned a private company for framing the economic policy. The salient features of the economic policy — 2000 include the following areas: — setting up of an economic development board; — creation of an enabling environment for economic activity; which will include off the shelf provision of quality infrastructure, rationalisation of tax structure and streamlining of institutional roles through legislative reforms and information technology for better governance; — fiscal discipline in economic policy implementation through rationalisation of the role of incentives in investment attraction and minimisation of the state presence in commercial enterprise; and — human resource development. The policy takes into account the problems and prospects of agriculture, small and medium industrial units, services sector and communication including infrastructure. A “land bank” is proposed to be set up to make land available to bigger industrial units. Punjab is gearing to pay attention to development of small and medium enterprise in terms of financial and managerial support, creating industry renewable fund, market development assistance, technological and modernisation and human resource development. Thrust areas have been identified and so have the bottleneck coming in the way of vibrancy. There will be focused development to revive key clusters in Ludhiana (cotton and woollen textiles, light engineering and machine tools), Jalandhar (leather products and handtools besides light engineering goods), Amritsar (textile processing), Batala (machine tools), and Hoshiarpur (handicrafts). There is great emphasis on service sector for which the state will intervene across the following areas: extreme thrust to identified sectors; Mohali (SAS Nagar) to be developed as services capital of India by working for establishing a “greater” Mohali industrial park; fostering information technology and professional education by building skilled manpower bank. (To be
concluded) |
Nagar council chief ousted PHILLAUR, Feb 5 — The President of the Nagar Council, Nakodar, Mr Gurbachan Singh Dhiman, was removed from his post through a no-confidence motion passed at a council meeting yesterday. The meeting was convened by the SDM, Nakodar, Mr Sucha Singh, who was also the observer. All 15 councillors and an ex-officio member, Mr Amarjit Singh Samra, MLA, participated in the voting in which 11 councillors casted their votes in favour of the motion and five against it. The SDM said the
Vice-President, Mr Hari Mitter, would be the acting
President of the council. |
Official funds “being
misused” FAZILKA, Feb 5 — PPCC secretaries Hans Raj Josan and Mohinder Kumar Rinwa, and Mr Ravinder Singh Sandhu Rahhal, former MLA, have in a statement here yesterday said that the outcome of the Nawanshahr byelection this month would be a referendum on the three years of the Badal regime. They hinted at the possibility of a new alignment after the election results. The PPCC secretaries
alleged that ministers of the state cabinet and senior
officers were camping at Nawanshahr and misusing the
official machinery and funds in violation of the code of
conduct. |
Farooq's demand 'anti-national' AMRITSAR, Feb 5 — Mr Tarun Chugh, president of the Punjab Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha, lashed out at the demand for autonomy by the J&K Chief Minister, Dr Farooq Abdullah, calling it "anti-national and unconstitutional". Commenting on the
statement of Dr Abdullah here yesterday, Mr Chugh said
the Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir should devote his
energy to streamline the administration to make it
competent to tackle the onslaught of terrorism. |
PM’s visit: residents feel
harassed JALANDHAR, Feb 5 — An assurance by district police chief Gaurav Yadav that the convenience of people will be taken into account during the security arrangements in connection with the visit of Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee tomorrow notwithstanding, residents of the city, looking like a cantonment for the past three days, have been feeling harassed at the hands of securitymen deployed in every nook and corner of the city. Almost all parts of the city from cantonment to Milap Chowk and the entire old city and from Adampur to the PAP complex on the outskirts of the city where Mr Vajpayee’s chopper is scheduled to land has been sealed with heavy deployment of police along the G.T. Road, in the city and surrounding areas. Confusion and chaos prevailed at every roundabout as policemen looked confused the way they should divert the traffic. An example of utter confusion was witnessed by the TNS at BMC, Namdev, Milap and Circuit House Chowks, the most heavily guarded areas. The securitymen deployed at BMC Chowk diverted the traffic through the slow-carriage way along the G.T. Road to proceed towards the old city. However, at the next Namdev Chowk, the traffic was allowed to proceed further and was again diverted to the residential area adjacent to the Circuit House. As a result people had to languish in their vehicles for about one an hour after parking these at an open space adjacent to the Circuit House. “Can’t they tell us in advance which way to go?” lamented one of them. The worst affected were the office-goers, whose offices are located either on the G.T. Road as not only vehicular traffic but human movement was also stopped at these places a number of times. “Please let us go to our office across the road,” were the pleas by a number of people stranded at Namdev Chowk and the Circuit House, but all their pleas apparently fell on deaf ears with policemen threatening them. “How can you dare, not a single bird can fly from this end to that end,” was the response of a police official to the request of an employee. Same was the predicament of bus passengers who were left stranded at the bus stand. “It took us two hours to reach bus stand after being shuttled from one road to the other,” said Mohan Singh, a Patiala-bound passenger coming from Amritsar. “From Pathankot bypass they allowed our bus to proceed further, but again it was stopped at BSF Chowk from where it was diverted towards the district court complex. As it delayed me for over two hours I would not be able to reach Patiala,” he complained and suggested that the traffic should have been allowed to proceed towards Phagwara after bypassing the city. This is going on for the past three days in the name of security and we don’t know when this is going to end,” said a Lajpat Nagar shopkeeper. The SSP, who had assured
that no inconvenience would be caused to people during
rehearsals, said sectors in charges might have done
“dry runs” on their own, which in turn would
have caused problem to people. He said security cover was
less in the city as compared to Amritsar and Ludhiana in
the wake of a visit of a VVIP. He said keeping in view
the difficulties of people, traffic on one of two lanes
would be stopped in areas through which the Prime
Minister was scheduled to pass. “We will stop the
traffic completely for about 10 minutes tomorrow when Mr
Vajpayee’s cavalcade travels from the PAP complex to
the venue of the function,” the SSP assured. |
Bitta to approach Clinton TAPA (Sangrur), Feb 5 — Mr M.S. Bitta, Chairman, All-India Anti-Terrorist Front, today said the front would submit a memorandum to the US President, Mr Bill Clinton during his visit to India for declaring Pakistan as a terrorist state. He said the front had contacted the US Embassy for an appointment with Mr Clinton so that the memorandum could be handed over to him personally. Mr Bitta, who was here to attend a social function, while addressing a press conference, said that Mr Clinton would be urged to pressurise the military rulers to hand over the hijackers of the Indian Airlines plane and three terrorists released in exchange. He said the front would organise a seminar on terrorism before Mr Clinton’s visit. He added that during this three-day seminar, heads of various political parties and ministers from various SAARC countries would be invited to evolve a common opinion against Pakistan so that it could be isolated for its terrorist actions. Regarding the signing of the CTBT, Mr Bitta should said the Central Government should not take any hasty step and any decision should be taken by taking all political parties in confidence. He added that personally he felt the Indian Government should not sign the CTBT under any pressure from the US Government. Mr Bitta, while claiming that the front was apolitical body said that it would organise seminars all over the country to launch a war against the terrorism. Prominent personalities, including retired Army, Air Force and Navy officers, would be included in this exercise. Mr Bitta alleged that the Nanakshahi calendar issue was created in the country by “foreign agencies” which were inimical to the interest of India. Regarding the recent controversy in the Sikh panth over the dispute between Giani Puran Singh, Jathedar, Akal Takht and SGPC President, Bibi Jagir Kaur, Mr Bitta said that nobody should be allowed to defame the Sikhism. He pointed out that
sacred institution of Akal Takht was earlier defamed by
the terrorists who were led by Jarnail Singh Bhindrawala
and now certain politicians for their narrow and vested
interests were trying to defame it again. |
Helping talent sprout in bastis PATIALA, Feb 5 — Jarnail was like any other boy in the Bazigar Basti in the city. He rarely went to school, indulged in antics and generally did nothing productive. So did many others like him in the most backward settlements of the city. Today Jarnail’ s talent as a gymnast has been recognised. Others like Neelam Rani are destined to have a better future having been given a scholarship at a Navodaya School. Many others in bastis like that of the Sikligars who lead a part nomadic existence have got a chance to better themselves through study classes. All this has been possible through branches of the Sewa Bharti functioning in various parts of the city, catering to the most downtrodden. While Jarnail had been going to the polo grounds for regular gymnastic practice, Neelam Rani from Badungar village in the city was able to get into the local Navodaya School. Sikligar girls Meena and Geeta who had dropped out from school due to constant travelling done by their father are again making a bid to be reasonably educated. Even though the children in all the five bastis where a study class is held by volunteers live in a deprived world without basic amenities, the wish to improve themselves is present in them. Eleven-year-old Sikligar children Meena and Geeta want to be literate as they feel it would better their lives . “Zindagi vadiya ho jayegi”, says Meena adding she would not like to go into the profession of her father which was polishing old utensils. Educating children and opening a sewing class for women in these bastis has resulted in a change in the environment . Sikligar settlement head Harbhajan Singh says there has been a qualitative improvement in the lifestyle of the people following the drive to educate children and teach skills to the womenfolk. These activities and the self-awareness drive are competing with free doles being given to settlement dwellers. Even as this correspondent visited the Sikligar Basti a few cars were coming out after distributing grains and utensils to a household there. Local Sewa Bharti President Des Raj Maleri said some people came to the settlements for donation purposes to get rid of their bad luck but nothing was being done to improve their lot through spreading awareness and enabling them to lead a better life . Mr Maleri said the Sewa Bharti was running five study classes centres in Sikligar, Bazigar, Badungar, Deen Dayal and Bishen Nagar settlements. He said two sewing centres were being run in Sikligar and Badungar settlements. Explaining the operations, organisation General Secretary Ravinder Sandhu said teachers were hired to teach the children basic skills as well as to teach the women sewing. He said the aim generally was to involve persons of the same area who had some zeal in their work. He said teams of the
organisation also toured the settlements to impart a
feeling of patriotism and awareness of values to the
children. He said the annual function was held by the
organisation during which talent was spotted and efforts
made to groom exceptional children. |
378 cr earmarked for canal FATEHGARH SAHIB, Feb 5 — The Punjab Government has earmarked Rs 378 crore for the construction of Dashmesh canal to facilitate irrigation in Ropar, Fatehgarh Sahib and Patiala districts. This was stated by Capt Kanwaljit Singh, Minister for Finance, while addressing a function at Marwa village, 20 km from here, yesterday to implement the Unant Gramin Scheme of the government. He said the low water-lying areas would be provided with water from this main canal through small distributaries. He said Rs 2,700 crore had been earmarked in the next Budget to strengthen the economy of the state, particularly that of farmers. He said a team of specialised scientists from the USA had been invited which would train scientists at Punjab Agriculture University. He said the farmers would be given loans and subsidies for dairy farming and the milk would be purchased on high rates by milk processing units. The agro-based industry would be given concessions and cold stores with new technology would be set up. He announced a grant of
Rs 3 lakh for a Dalit dharmshala and for sanitation
facilities. He also distributed cheques to homeless
villagers. |
Plan to move court in
medicine ‘scam’ HOSHIARPUR, Feb 5 — The Public Anti-Corruption Board of India will file a writ petition in the Punjab and Haryana High Court if the state Health authorities fail to take action against officers of the department in Hoshiarpur within a month for allegedly purchasing medicines at exorbitant rates during 1997-98 and pocketing lakhs of rupees from the government exchequer. The Chairman of the board, Mr Sanjiv Walia, said here today that the board had made representations against the officers to the Director, Health and Family Welfare, Punjab, for purchasing medicines of the dental wing of hospitals from a firm in Gagret (HP) at exorbitant rates about two years ago. Mr Walia said he had approached the authorities concerned many times seeking an inquiry and legal action against the culprits. However, the authorities did not act, he said. The Special Secretary,
Health and Family Welfare, had promised him on January
27, in his office at Chandigarh that he would submit his
report within a week, he said, adding that till date he
had not heard anything from him. He alleged that the
officers involved in the ‘scam’ were trying to
harass him for which he had lodged a complaint with the
local SSP. |
Kerala Governor cautions
against globalisation PATIALA, Feb 5 — Mr Sukhdev Singh Kang, Governor of Kerala, today inaugurated a ‘dosti bhavan’ on the Kerala pattern here and gave a call to intellectuals and nations to unite against the adverse effects of globalisation. He said there were several dosti bhavans in Kerala spreading a feeling of brotherhood. The bhavan has been constructed by the district unit of Society for Cultural Cooperation and Friendship. The Governor while addressing the audience said globalisation had brought fruitful developments like converting the earth into a global village through ultra-modern information network. It had given rise to several ills also. Looking at these ills one tended to agree with intellectuals dubbing globalisation as another name for corporate colonisation. This was evident from the fact that rich-poor divide was widening. Giving examples of countries like China and India, Mr Kang said the rich-poor ratio was 1:3 a few years ago, which had now widened to 1:7. Political leaders had
understood the might of powerful economic companies and
the need to toe their line. It was this that they had to
prepare themselves for. |
Need to revamp MCs: Dang AMRITSAR, Feb 5 — A social activist, Mr Satya Pal Dang, has stressed the need to revamp the working of the municipal corporations, which have allegedly failed to improve the civic amenities. In a press note issued here today, Mr Dang questioned the wisdom of the authorities to impose a ban on the recruitment of sweepers immediately after the Corporation Act was passed in 1978. He pointed out that the local corporation had 1,900 sweepers in 1978 and the number had decreased to 1,600 while the area under the body had increased more than four times. He said besides the four-fold increase in the area, the population had also doubled. He said because of this the city streets were littered with garbage. Mr Dang said the plan to privatise cleaning through the joint efforts of the mohalla committees by employing private hands had to be looked into. The Commissioner of the
corporation, Mr S.S. Rajput, said the corporation had not
felt the need to add to its workforce. He added that the
scheme to involve the mohalla committees had provided
beneficial in a number of areas. |
Conference on human settlements AMRITSAR, Feb 5 — The South and South-East Asian regional group of the Forum of Researchers of Human Settlements (FRHS), Rome in collaboration with Guru Nanak Dev University will organise an international conference on habitat agenda and human settlements in South and South-East Asia on February 18 and 19 on the university campus. Prof Ranvinder Singh Sandhu, coordinator of the FRHS, said deliberations would be held on issues relating to human settlements in South and South-East Asian countries, thereby providing a platform to various organisations involved in the development and management of human settlements. The conference is being sponsored by the International Forum of Researchers on Human Settlements, Indian Sociological Society, Institute of Town Planners, India, Centre for Urban, Regional and Environmental Research and several other international organisations. He said more than 100
delegates from various parts of the world were expected
to participate. |
Four trains restored PHILLAUR, Feb 5 — The Northern Railway today restored four passenger trains, including 333Up/334Dn Amritsar-Ambala trains and three Jalandhar-Pathankot trains. According to Railway
sources here, these trains were cancelled on January 1,
to regulate other important trains during foggy season. |
Samata leader passes away HOSHIARPUR, Feb 5 (UNI) — Punjab Samata Party President R.K. Mishra died following a heart attack today. He was 70. A staunch Socialist, Mr Mishra was associated with various trade unions. He is survived by his wife, three sons and two daughters. The cremation will take
place here tomorrow. |
Providing relief to the shivering SANGRUR, Feb 5 — The district administration is doing a commendable job through its efforts to make the winter comfortable for the poor. According to Mr Anirudh Tewari, Deputy Commissioner, senior officers of the district move in vehicles at night and visit various bus stands, railway platforms, slums and footpaths. The officers give quilts to those found sleeping without them in the open. Mr Tewari said so far over 600 quilts had been distributed which were provided by the district Red Cross Society. The move was still
continuing, he added. |
Sunil Jain case: 1 held for
intimidation LUDHIANA, Feb 5 — The Ludhiana police has arrested Anil Jain, alias Mickey, on a charge of criminal trespass and criminal intimidation of Mrs Reema Jain, wife of well-known industrialist, Sunil Jain, whose body was found in his car about a month ago under mysterious circumstances. According to a complaint lodged with the police, Mrs Reema Jain alleged that the accused had been threatening to liquidate her and her three children ever since the death of her husband if he was not made a director in her late husband’s company. She has already been provided with police protection. The police said Mickey was arrested from the residence of Mrs Reema Jain in Civil Lines when he was allegedly threatening her son. He was later presented in the court which remanded him in police custody for a day. Mickey has also been booked under the Narcotics Act following seizure of opium from his house. He has been remanded in judicial custody in this case till February 18. Mr Kuldeep Singh, SSP, has already constituted a special investigation team(SIT) to conduct an inquiry into the death of Sunil Jain. According to sources, the SIT suspects foul play in the death of Sunil Jain even though the post mortem report of the body and viscera sent to Patiala for chemical analysis has been inconclusive so far. The SIT is now trying to establish the exact cause of death. The body of 35-year-old Sunil Jain was discovered on the morning of December 24 lying slumped on the driver’s seat of his car. His both hands were on the steering wheel of the car. The body had turned blue. All doors of the car were locked and windows closed. He had two mobile phones with him. Both the phones had been switched off. The car itself was carefully parked by the side of the road near Dhandari Kalan on G.T. Road. Some members of his family, including his widow, are convinced that it was a murder and point the accusing finger at a “close kin” of Sunil Jain. Others in the family are not sure and say that he may have died of “natural causes”, probably a heart attack. A post mortem of the body was carried despite opposition from certain members of the family. The post mortem showed that there were certain injury marks on the body. The SIT is trying to find out how the body acquired the injuries and whether these could be fatal. The SIT sources say that according to their information, Sunil Jain was a healthy man. He was regular with his morning walks and jogging and was recently, adjudged the swimming champion of a local club. Therefore, there was no way he could have died of a heart attack. On the day of the murder i.e. December 23, the deceased rang up his wife, around 6.30 p.m. to inform her that he was going to Doraha to drop his “close kin”. But when Sunil failed to return till around 8.30 p.m., the “close kin” on being questioned, said that he had no knowledge about Sunil’s whereabouts because he had dropped him off at Sherpur bypass. A systematic search launched by members of the family led to the discovery of the Sunil’s body. The police says that it
is making progress in the investigation. Though its task
has been made difficult by the fact that not many in
Sunil’s family are willing to come forward to pursue
the case to secure “justice” for the deceased.
Certain leaders of the Jain community including Mr Ram
Kumar Jain, are also said to be in favour of
soft-pedalling the case. |
4 cops suspended for
misbehaviour JALANDHAR, Feb 5 — The mystery surrounding the “missing” of three youths from the custody of the local CIA staff has deepened with confusing statements by the district police and civil authorities. Meanwhile, the authorities have suspended four police officials, who had allegedly misbehaved with newspersons, who went to the CIA staff office at the local Patel Chowk, along with Mr M.S. Gill, the Warrant Officer appointed by the Punjab and Haryana High Court, to locate six persons alleged to have been detained by the police. A magisterial inquiry has also been ordered into the case. The drama started at around 10.30 p.m. when the Warrant Officer, two scribes of a local daily and several more were allegedly prevented by the sentry on duty from entering the CIA staff office. Later, the Warrant Officer and others, who forced their entry into the office found three hand-cuffed youths identified as Raju, Raj Kumar Singh and Sukhwinder Singh, in a corner. In the process, scribes and a lensman were allegedly beaten up and detained by the staff on duty. All three, who were traced by the Warrant Officer, alleged that they were beaten up, tortured and forced to commit “unnatural sexual”acts by the police officials. Pardeep Kumar, Mahendra and Shashi Sharma, however, could not be found by the Warrant Officer. All five were employees of Shashi Sharma, who runs a transport company in the Mota Singh Nagar locality here, from a rented premises owned by a Superintendent of Police, posted in Assam. During the raid, when the Warrant Officer questioned Inspector Gurmeet Singh, In charge of the CIA staff, the latter, replied that the three youths, who had been booked under Sections 199 of the CrPC, were nabbed while they were roaming under suspicious circumstances in the Partap Bagh locality. Interestingly, the Inspector when questioned by the Warrant Officer and the munshi of the Police Division No 3, failed to give the names of those found by the Warrant Officer from the Divison No 2 office of the CIA staff. At this juncture, the Warrant Officer entered the arrest of the three youths in the daily diary register of the CIA staff and instructed the inspector to get them medically examined before producing them in court. Mr Guarav Yadav, SSP,
said an inquiry had been ordered into the alleged
misbehaviour by the CIA officials with lensman. Head
Constable Onkar Singh, constables Gurdev Singh, Balwinder
Singh and Dilbagh Singh had been suspended. He said all
three, who were arrested by the police on suspicion, had
been traced by the Warrant Officer. |
Tension over robbery at mill
owner’s house SUNAM, Feb 5 — Tension prevails among the residents of Budladha and adjoining villages in the wake of the attack on Mr Amrit Pal Goyal, owner of a mill at Budladha, 30 km from here, by a gang of 12 persons. According to Mr Goyal’s wife, an eyewitness, a group of persons whose faces were covered and who were armed with sticks and iron rods broke into their house at around 1 a.m. yesterday. The assailants locked her and her children in a room and dragged Mr Goyal into the corridor and beat him up with rods and lathis till he became unconscious. Then they re-entered her room and ordered her to remove all ornaments and to hand over all cash and gold available in the house. The robbers finally left at around 3 a.m. with 60-70 tolas of gold and other valuable items. Mr Goyal has been admitted to the civil hospital where his condition is stated to be out of danger. The police has registered a case. When this correspondent
visited Budladha today he was told by a number of
residents of the area that the number of such cases in
the area had increased. Earlier, kale kachhe wale gang
had created terror in the area causing uncertainly among
the residents. |
Two Pakistani civilians held BATALA, Feb 5 — Two Pakistanis have been arrested at border observation post (BOP) in the Dera Baba Nanak sector by the BSF. The chief of Batala police district, Mr Lok Nath Aangra, said today that the two Pakistanis had been identified as Sharan Raj (18) of Kila Kular village in Sialkot district and Majad Munir (20) of Narowal district. The BSF hand over these two to the Punjab Police and both had been sent to Amritsar. A case under Section
3/34 of the Indian Passport Act have been registered
against these two at police station Dera Baba Nanak. |
Theft in Sacred Heart School KHANNA, Feb 5 — A gang of thieves struck Sacred Heart Convent School here last night. After manhandling the staff living in the school complex, they went away with Rs 50,000 in cash and articles worth Rs 10,000. Sources said six
intruders entered the school complex and beat up the
women staff. They remained in the complex for 30 minutes
before fleeing. |
Panel formed to settle demands of
schools FARIDKOT, Feb 5 — The Punjab Government has constituted a seven member committee headed by Mr Gurdev Singh, Vice-Chairman, Punjab School Education Board (PSEB), to settle the demands of the Recognised and Affiliated Schools Association (RASA) in the state. The other members of the committee include Mrs Harcharanjit Kaur, Controller, Examinations, PSEB, Mr Jagdish Sharma and Mr Gurmukh Singh, President and Vice-President, RASA, respectively, Mr Kulwant Rai, Amritsar, Mr Rajinder Sharma, Ludhiana, and Mr Ram Lal Sewak, Mohali. The first meeting of the body will be held at Ludhiana on February 8 to review the problems, Mr Jagdish Sharma said here today. The main demands of the
association include recognition and affiliation of any
private school either by the state government or the
Punjab School Education Board, a uniform policy for
conducting examinations and other concessions at par with
government education institutions. |
Contempt notice to DPI (S) CHANDIGARH, Feb 5 — Mr Balbir Singh Bains, a lecturer in the Government Senior Secondary School, Ropar, moved a contempt petition against Mr T.N. Goyal, D.P.I. (Schools), for allegedly not implementing the direction of the High Court to consider his representation for seniority and his appointment as Principal on the basis of decision by the Supreme Court in the Ajit Singh Janjua case after which the state government also issued implementation order dated November 29, 1999. The petitioner alleged that out of 156 sanctioned vacancies of the Principal's post for promotees from lecturers, Scheduled Caste candidates had already got promotions beyond their quota of 14 per cent. It was contended that the respondent knowingly and intentionally was not giving him the benefit of the Supreme Court verdict. Mr Justice V.S. Aggarwal
issued notice to respondent for April 6. |
Ordinance to benefit Kehar Singh
on cards: FEAR PATIALA, Feb 5 — The Forum of Educational Action and Reform (FEAR) today welcomed the quashing of the appointment of Dr Kehar Singh as Chairman of the Punjab School Education Board by the Punjab and Haryana High Court. In a statement here, FEAR President Dr Amarjit Singh Dhillon said by quashing the appointment, the court had upheld the academic standards of the high office. Dr Dhillon, criticised the move of the Punjab Government to lower the qualifications for the post. He said the government was in the process of issuing an ordinance in this regard “tailor-made” for Dr Kehar Singh. This, he said amounted to circumventing the judgement of the High Court and was against all canons of justice and fair play. The FEAR President said issuing of an ordinance at this stage was improper and was likely to be struck down in view of the code of conduct enforced in the state due to the Nawanshahr poll. He appealed to the
Governor to study all legal aspects of the case before
taking any action. |
IT sleuths raid sweet shops AMRITSAR, Feb 5 — Income tax sleuths today conducted raids on two prominent sweetmeat sellers in the city. The raids were conducted on the orders of the Director, Revenue Intelligence, Ludhiana. The officials had to face a tough time during a raid on a sweet shop in the heart of the city as traders downed their shutters in protest against the raids. A senior officer of the department preferring anonymity told TNS here that tax authorities were maintaining a vigil on these two shop owners for the past over an year and had strong evidence that they were evading tax. Meanwhile, various business associations held a meeting this evening to condemn the raids, which they described as unjustified. A spokesman of an
association said they would resist any further
“harassment” in future and appealed to the
government to desist from such an action failing which
they would be forced to give a call for a complete bandh. |
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