Clash, firing during nagar kirtan
Tribune News Service

LUDHIANA, June 3 — At least five persons were seriously injured during a clash between two rival factions of the Shiromani Akali Dal (Badal) during the nagar kirtan on the eve of the martyrdom day of Sri Guru Arjun Dev in the city this evening even as a police party of police station Division No. 3, led by an Assistant Superintendent of Police, Mr Shive Kumar, fled the spot to the safety of the four walls of the police station.

The injured have been identified as Kuldeep Singh Khalsa, Gurmeet Singh, Kashmir Singh, Karanjit Singh and Ranjit Singh Goldi. All the injured have been rushed to L.M. Civil Hospital for treatment.

It is learnt that the trouble between the two rival factions of the district jatha of the SAD — one led by Mr Amarjit Singh Bhatia and the other led by Mr Avtaar Singh Makkar, both strong contenders for the post of the Jathedar of the district unit of the SAD — started right in front of the police station around 5.30 p.m. after an altercation between the supporters of the two leaders. Soon the scuffle took a serious turn and both sides alleged that the other side started the firing and they had to retaliate in defence. The role of the police of the area was, however, questioned by both sides.

The group of ‘kirtaniyas’ led by Mr Avtaar Singh Makkar reached the Division No. 3 crossing much in advance before the other group led by Mr Bhatia. Throughout the nagar kirtan trouble had been brewing between the two sides and it is said there had been heated arguments between the supporters more than once.

While, Mr Makkar alleged that as soon as the Bhatia-led group reached the crossing where he was already present, Mr Charanjit Singh Pannu, a nephew of Mr Bhatia and Darshan Kumar, his gunman aimed an assault rifle at him and tried to kill him, which led to the clash.

However, Mr Amarjit Singh alleged that it was a Nihang supporter of Mr Makkar along with Kuldeep Singh Khalsa who fired at him, which led to the clash. The situation was brought under control when a police party led by DSP Sandeep Goel rushed to the spot and stopped the supporters of the two leaders from physically assaulting each other. The police had seized some fire arms and ammunition from one group.

CM dares rivals to topple govt

KAPURTHALA, June 3 (UNI) — A confident Punjab Chief Minister today dared Akali rivals Gurcharan Singh Tohra and Ravi Inder Singh to topple his government.

Reiterating his charge that Mr Tohra and Mr Ravi Inder Singh were hobnobbing with the Congress in a bid to bring down his government, Mr Badal said they should stop harbouring this illusion.

He accused Mr Tohra of stabbing him in the back, alleging that the latter hatched a conspiracy to topple his government when he was away to the USA for treatment in early 1998. Rumours were circulated that Mr Badal would not survive for more than six months, he added. “On the other hand I was the first person to visit Mr Tohra at midnight when he was seriously hurt in a militants’ attack near Ludhiana in the late eighties”, he added.

Speaking at the 50th death anniversary of Sant Prem Singh Muralewale, a religious guru of the Lubana community now being led by SGPC President Jagir Kaur, who also heads the “dera” founded by the Sant, Mr Badal said he always supported Mr Tohra in his 25 years as SGPC cheif. “But when I became Chief Minister he became jealous of me,” Mr Badal said.

Besides SGPC chief Bibi Jagir Kaur, Mr Badal’s ministerial colleagues Raghbir Singh, Ajit Singh Kuhar, Sikandar Singh Malooka and Gulzar Singh Ranike also addressed the gathering.

Later, addressing another function in connection with the anniversary at Miani in Hoshiarur district, the Chief Minister said it was Congress Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao who had signed India’s “death warrant” by becoming a signatory to the World Trade Organisation during the GATT talks.

He said he had taken up with Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee the issue of unrestricted import of wheat, milk and milk products and urged for import duty on these to protect domestic producer. “Punjab will be particularly hit hard if agricultural and milk products were allowed import under OGL,” he added.

‘When Badal says no ...’
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, June 3 — “When Parkash Singh Badal says no, it should be taken as yes”. This is a perception of Capt Amarinder Singh, President of the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) about the Punjab Chief Minister.

At present Mr Badal was saying there would be no mid-term poll. “It means that Mr Badal was preparing to hold the mid-term poll”, asserted Capt Amarinder Singh. He said by taking into consideration the “no mid-term poll” attitude of Mr Badal, the PPCC had started preparing for a poll and united to defeat the SAD and its allies in the election.

Cong ‘opposed’ to Anandgarh plan
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, June 3 — The President of the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC), Capt Amarinder Singh, said today that his party was strongly opposed to the Anandgarh project and would denotify the project if came to power after the next Vidhan Sabha election.

He said even his party had to drop a proposal for a new Chandigarh as it was to affect a large number of villagers and farmers. He said with the implementation of the Anandgarh project, thousands of people would be displaced and the government would not be able to rehabilitate the dislocated persons. He said though promises had been made for the rehabilitation of the people whose land was acquired for thermal plants at Lehra Mohabbat and a DCW unit in Patiala, nothing was done in this connection.

He said senior Akali leaders would invest their money through NRI backed companies. He said he had got information that NRI companies were being floated by the Akalis for this purpose.

Strongly opposing the dumping of dairy, poultry and other products in the country from Europe and other countries, the Congress leader said such items would ruin the Indian economy. Seeking the imposition of anti-dumping duties, Capt Amarinder Singh said the Union Government was sleeping over the matter. It should have made arrangements in advance to save people from facing a complex situation on this front, he added.

Denying reports that there was disunity in his party, Capt Amarinder Singh said all senior party leaders, even those whom the media had described as dissidents in reports in the past weeks, today attended the meeting here and supported the decisions taken. He said the party had decided to stage dharnas at all block headquarters on June 7 to protest against the new public distribution policy adopted by the Union Government and its other anti-people and poor policies .

When asked why Mrs Rajinder Kaur Bhattal, Mr Jagmeet Singh Brar and Mr Ragunandan Lal Bhatia and some other senior leaders did not attend today’s meeting, Capt Amarinder Singh said Mrs Bhattal was in Delhi to attend a party meeting and Mr Brar and Mr Bhatia had informed the party office that they would be busy elsewhere.

He said he was not bothered about the activities of certain Congress leaders who were habitual rabble rousers. The party had to move forward and it would not wait for those who wanted to stay away from its policies and programmes. The party high command had given the Punjab unit a task and it was the duty of every party activist to participate to perform such a task.

Mr Santokh Singh Randhawa, who was also present at the press conference, said he would ask the party high command to close doors for those party leaders who were not following the party discipline and creating trouble.

CPM to seek transfer of Chandigarh
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, June 3 — The state committee of the CPM today decided to launch a statewide agitation to press the Union Government for the transfer of Chandigarh and Punjabi-speaking areas to Punjab and the resolve of the water dispute.

Speaking to mediapersons, Prof Balwant Singh, Secretary of the state unit of the CPM, said the Badal government had failed to get these demands conceded. The Akalis had shed crocodile tears with regard to the demands of Punjab for several years and were now silent when its ally parties, NDA, were in power at the Centre and Haryana.

Criticising the anti-people, farmer and labour policies of the Union and state governments, the CPM leader said by allowing the import of 714 articles, the Union Government had started ruining the agriculture, dairy farming and the small and medium-scale industry. He said the Akalis were a party in allowing the import of such items, as during Cabinet meetings they had okayed such decisions .

Mr Badal was befooling people on the dairy items issue. He should explain to the people why his party ministers did not oppose the import of diary and agricultural items which would be having a destroying effect on the farming community in Punjab. The Centre should immediately impose 60 per cent anti-dumping duty on all diary and poultry products imported in the country.

Criticising the communal forces, Prof Balwant Singh said the RSS was playing a dangerous game in Punjab and such a design could again lead to violence in the state. It was a fact that Sikhism was a separate religion, but the Sikhs were not a separate nation. The Dasam Granth was authored by Guru Gobind Singh and there should be no controversy with regard to it. Sikh fundamentalists were trying to create disharmony in the society.

He said during the agitation next month, a 100 rallies and a state-level rally would be held in Chandigarh.

Token in hand, customer cries for payment
From Varinder Singh
Tribune News Service

JALANDHAR, June 3 — Even after a lapse of 25 days, Mr Amrik Singh, a local resident is running from pillar to post to get payment of Rs 2 lakh from a local branch of a nationalised bank where he had deposited a cheque on May 4.

All he has got during this period is disappointment which is normal for anyone like him who has already made dozens of rounds of different offices. The bank officials claimed that the payment was received by one of his “representatives”.

Mr Amrik Singh had sold one of his plots of Mr Sukhdev Singh for Rs 4 lakh and the latter had handed over a cheque worth Rs 2 lakh to the former after the deal. Both of them had presented the cheque (No 847986) at the Nakodar Chowk branch of the State Bank of Patiala at around 1.55 p.m. to get payment against it. They were allegedly told by the cashier on duty that since it was “lunch time” they should collect the amount after sometime. As part of the normal practice, the cashier had also handed over a token (No 76).

All was fine till he approached the cashier to get the payment. “I was shaken to the core when I presented the token to the cashier for payment after lunch time and he said some of my representatives had already collected the payment. He was not ready to listen to my viewpoint that I had not sent any representative for collection of the money from him and insisted that my money had been taken by somebody. But he was speechless when I pointed out that how could anybody draw the money without the token which is with me till now”, said Mr Amrik Chand, while showing the token to this correspondent.

He said none of the bank officials came to his rescue and he was still waiting for the payment. “Instead of doing my business. I have to make rounds of offices. I have to keep the token in safe hands as it is the only evidence with me that the bank still owed money to me,” says Mr Amrik Chand who alleged that the bank authorities, instead of extending help to a customer, were busy shielding Mr Arun Chadha the cashier.

Mr Amrik Chand said news regarding the loss of money was so shocking for his father that he had to be admitted to hospital for four days. He said though the police had registered a case against the cashier, he has not been arrested so far. it was learnt that the cashier has not been suspended by the bank authorities.

The bank authorities are tight-lipped about the incident. When contacted Mr S.P. Mittal, AGM, said he was not the right person for comment and the branch manager concerned should be contacted. The latter said he could not comment since a departmental enquiry had already been instituted to probe the incident. When pointed out as to how the cashier could give money to anybody without receiving the token, he said. “An enquiry has been ordered”. Mr R.S. Sharma, DGM of the bank at Patiala said he had nothing to say except that the case had been handed over to the Jalandhar police. Mr Gaurav Yadav SSP, was not available for comment.

POLITICS

Cong activists being ‘harassed’
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, June 3 — A Director of Markfed and Youth leader of the Congress party, Mr Avtar Singh Joga, said today that there was no alternative of Capt Amarinder Singh as President of the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) and those seeking his removal were trying to weaken the party.

Mr Avtar Singh has sought a disciplinary action against those party leaders who were playing the game of Akali leaders and creating trouble in the Congress party. He said it would be better if such leaders quit the Congress party and joined hands with the Akalis, He said the Badal government was registering false cases to harass Congress activists in various parts of the state.

He has appealed to all Congress leaders to strengthen the hands of Capt Amarinder Singh by participating in the in the campaign started against the anti-people policies of the Union and the state governments.

COMMUNITY

Sant Samaj against ‘ghallughara day’
Tribune News Service

JALANDHAR, June 3 — While the call of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) to Sikhs to observe “ghallughara day” to pay tributes to those killed during the Operation Bluestar in 1984 and other Sikh martyrs has been hailed by a number of radical Sikh leaders, it has evoked sharp criticism from Gurbani Gurmat Sidhant Parcharak Sant Samaj headed by Baba Kashmira Singh, who has dubbed the SGPC decision as “painful” and a conscious effort to “jeopardise” Hindu-Sikh unity.

Though small functions have been held in the past in connection with “Operation Bluestar this is the first time in five years that the SGPC has announced observation of the day on a grand scale and asked Sikhs to ensure participation at a function at Amritsar on June 6.

A section of Sikh intellectuals consider the announcement as an SGPC effort to pre-empt any move by radicals to create problems for it by raking up the issue later on.

In an exclusive interview with the TNS, Baba Kashmira Singh, who has been critical of the present SGPC set-up and had sided with Giani Puran Singh, the former Akal Takht Jathedar in his month long clash with the SGPC chief Bibi Jagir Kaur before he was replaced with Joginder Singh Vedanti, said though he was not against honouring martyrs holding of a function inside the Golden Temple Complex to observe “ghallughara day” could stir passions of the affected families and harm the hard-earned peace in the state.

“They should organise the function elsewhere and not inside the complex,” said Baba Kashmira Singh.

He said going by the way Akal Takht jathedars had been made or removed in the recent past, they would not have the courage to object to such decisions. “It is all a power game these days. Once anyone gets power, religion takes a back seat in his mind,” he said.

Baba Kashmira Singh said Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal is the only leader working for Hindu-Sikh unity, but his move was being “sabotaged under a well rooted conspiracy which could be a handiwork of some foreign powers also.”

Describing himself as a “strong supporter” of Mr Badal, the Baba said he has been and would be the first person to react if the latter indulges in any wrongdoing.

The SGPC had officially observed “Ghallughara Day” way back in 1995 when Mr Gurcharan Singh Tohra was its president. Later on, small functions have been held at Akal Takht every year.

AISSF opposes panel on Dasam Granth
From Our Correspondent

FEROZEPORE, June 3 — The All-India Sikh Students Federation (AISSF) has opposed the setting up of a 10-member panel on Dasam Granth to carry out preliminary research on the compositions believed to be authored by the 10th Sikh Guru, Guru Gobind Singh, by the World Sikh Council (WSC) headed by former Supreme Court Judge Kuldip Singh, apprehending that such “individual level” panels would further deteriorate the situation.

Talking here today, the AISSF president, Mr Karnail Singh Peermohammed, said, “we do not accept the setting-up of panel that might ultimately flare-up the controversy instead of ending it”. The AISSF would accept only that panel which would be set up under the patronage of the Akal Takht and approved by the SGPC, he added.

Strongly condemning the RSS, the AISSF president alleged that the RSS was indulging in propaganda against the Sikhs of presenting distorted facts about the Sikh religion and the Sikh history as well.

To a question, Mr Peermohammed admitted that the Sikhs had a separate identity. “Culture of both the communities may be the same but their principles are different”, he added.

PSEB to release connections
Tribune News Service

PATIALA, June 3 — The Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB) has decided to release temporary tubewell connections in view of the coming paddy season from June 1 to June 30.

An official press note here yesterday said that applicants would have to deposit a lumpsum of Rs 5,000 per connection which would be non refundable for getting a temporary tubewell connection along with a test report. The connections would be allowed from June 1 to October 31 and would not be regularised subsequently.

The temporary connections would be released only from rural feeders without resorting to any augmentation of the lines or transformer capacity. The limit of maximum load to be applied would be 7.5 BHP and no connection for a load above this would be accepted . The technical feasibility regarding release of the load will be given by the Executive Engineer (Operations).

The connections would be released from the nearest pole and the maximum service cable length of connection would normally be limited to 100 meters and only in case of hardship be allowed till 110 meters.

The note said the applicants would have to provide their own material for release of the connections which would be returned to them on disconnection after a lapse of four months.

Patiala youngsters cast Net far and wide
From Jangveer Singh
Tribune News Service

PATIALA, June 3 — It may still be difficult to get Net connectivity here but this has not deterred people of the city from hitching onto the information technology bandwagon.

Besides showing a keen interest in computers, city residents, specially youngsters, are even opening up their own portals.

Among those who have set up their own site are Navjit Singh Grewal and Navsangeet Singh Gill who have launched www.punjabiat.com, a site devoted to the concept of Punjabiat as well as highlighting the culture and traditions of the state.

Navjit and Navsangeet said earlier Punjabi sites were mainly targeted towards the non-resident Indian (NRI) community . They said they had attempted to provide a broad based site which would showcase Punjabi culture and traditions. They said the site, which had been built in three months, was tilted towards the youth. They said the site had various sections, including Apna Punjab which revealed the statistics of the state, Apna Sangeet which concentrated on traditional vocal and instrumental music, Apna Shaheed which highlighted freedom fighters of the state and Vahan ( the flood ) which concentrated on literature.

The youngsters, who are doing their engineering, said under the Vahan head old issues Vahan magazine and live performances of Shiv Batalvi at Mohindra College and other videos would also be showcased. They said they had also started a chat service to attract Punjabis throughout the world towards the channel .

Another youngster Neeraj Mogla, who is studying medicine, has launched a portal by the name of www.helpme-doctor.com under the netlynx label. The portal follows the recent trend in western countries of providing web-based medicine.

Neeraj said his portal had been specifically developed for all those members of the medical fraternity who intended to get this hi-tech exposure on the Net to keep in tune with tomorrow .

Neeraj said the features of the portal included member/institution profile under which the site allocated dedicated space for the registered doctor or the registered institution. He said the page would bear all information they wanted to share with their clients. Other features included services of an appointment manager to fix appointments for the clients, a discussion forum where clinical online discussions could be held with a panel of medical specialists from India and abroad. He said besides this Recent Advances would keep viewers in touch with the latest developments in the medicine field. Events would provide up to date information about medical conferences being held at different places and Medical Bazaar' would enable registered members and institutions to go shopping online. He said Bazaar would provide medicines, instruments, equipment and entertainment gadgets.

Among other techno-savvy youngsters in the city is Dr K R S Thind who has provided supporting veterinary information through www.vethomopath.com site which is an exclusive site giving information about veterinary homeopathy.

Dr Thind said the site gave general information about afflictions which struck dogs, cats, poultry, cattle, horses, information about homeopathy and “when to call a vet”.

He said the site was also helpful as it gave details on how to look after ones' pets and also diet charts so that they could be fed properly.

BJP MLA calls for check on govt ads
From Our Correspondent

AMRITSAR, June 3 — Ms Laxmi Kanta Chawala, MLA, has taken strong objection to ‘meaningless’ expenditure on the advertisement campaigns by the government and the government-controlled departments while crying hoarse over a ‘fund crunch’ in the state.

Ms Chawla, in a press note, stated that development projects, pension for the aged, compensatory benefits for terrorist struck families like issue have all been put on the back burner as the government spends extensively on advertisements. Money meant for the field operations for eradication on the problems is utilised on awareness programmes.

She appealed to the government to curb the extravagant spending habits of the ministers.

Sangat darshan organised
Tribune News Service

PATIALA, June 3 — The Deputy Commissioner, Mr J.S. Bir, while addressing the grievances of the people at district-level Sangat Darshan, urged the people to first meet officials at the subdivision level and if they were not satisfied, they should make an appeal at the district sangat darshans.

During the Sangat Darshan, Ms Jagir Kaur of Jasowal village alleged that her sons forcibly took her thumb impressions on a judicial paper, defrauding her of 12 acres. The Deputy Commissioner directed the local SDM to look into the case.

Ms Sundri, a resident of Nabha tehsil, alleged that the sarpanch of her village, Mr Gurvinder Singh, was threatening her without any reason. In another complaint, a member of the Punjab Lok Dal alleged that some anti-social elements were trying to forcibly take in their possession land belonging to Dera Loh Langar in Sular village.

Abolish octroi, urge traders
Tribune News Service

PATIALA, June 3 — The trading community of Punjab has urged the state government to abolish octroi with immediate effect.

In a press release of the Punjab Pradesh Beopar Mandal, its Vice-President, Mr Surjit K. Mehta, said that the state government should follow the policy of the Haryana Government which has abolished octroi in the state. Mr Mehta added that abolishing of octroi was a promise made by the Chief Minister, Mr Parkash Singh Badal, before the Assembly elections and he should fulfil his promise.

Hospital staff threaten stir
Tribune News Service

PATIALA, June 3 — The Mata Kaushalya Hospital Bachao Committee on Friday condemned the ‘irrational’ transfers of gynecologists and pediatricians from the hospital and threatened to resort to agitational approach if the transfers were not cancelled immediately.

Committee convenor Dr M.S. Randhawa in a statement here said the working of the hospital had been adversely affected due to large-scale transfer of doctors. He said the hospital administration was unable to cope with patient needs in face of acute shortage of gynecologists. 

Speed post centre opened
From Our Correspondent

TARN TARAN, June 3 — The Department of Posts organised a function here yesterday to mark the inauguration of a speed post centre.

Mr Tarlochan Singh Tur, Member of Parliament, was the chief patron and Mr Jatinder Sood, President, Municipal Committee, was the chief guest.

Mr V.K. Mahendru, Senior Superintendent of Post Offices, Amritsar, highlighted the importance of speed post. He said the Tarn Taran speed post centre was being linked to 129 speed post centres of the country and 97 international speed post centres.

CRIME

Woman forces daughter into prostitution
Tribune News Service

MUKTSAR, June 3 — The local police has arrested one Charanjit Kaur and two of her associates, allegedly for forcing her daughter into prostitution and into marrying a 35-year-old man.

Police sources said Charanjit Kaur along with one Sukhwinder Kaur alias Sukhi, Jasveer Kaur and Gurnam Singh, a special police officer (SPO), Punjab Home Guards took the minor Dalit girl to the house of Kamaljit Singh and forced her to marry him.

Resham Singh, a rickshaw puller and father of the victim, when came to know of the incident went to the house of Kamaljit Singh and got his daughter back. But Resham Singh was beaten up by Charanjit Kaur and her associates for this and the girl was returned to Kamaljit Singh

Resham Singh then went to city police station and reported the matter to the police. The police, after registering a case raided the residential premises of Kamaljit Singh and rescued the minor girl.

Mr Kultar Singh, SSP, when contacted said the incident took place on May 9 and three accused — Jasveer Kaur, Charanjit Kaur and Sukhwinder Kaur alias Sukhi — were arrested on May 11, while two other accused Gurnam Singh and Kamaljit Singh were yet to be arrested.

He said police investigations revealed that Charanjit Kaur was herself indulging in the prostitution and had forced her daughter into the same profession over the last two years.

He said Sukhwinder Kaur and Gurnam Singh were middlemen who brought customers to Charanjit Kaur. The marriage with Kamaljit Singh was also arranged by them.

117 persons arrested under police drive
From Our Correspondent

AMRITSAR, June 3 — The Majitha police has arrested 117 persons under a drive launched to arrest antisocial elements and recovered stolen property worth lakhs and a weapon.

According to Mr Lok Nath Angra, SSP, Majitha, 102 illicit distillers were arrested and 601 litres of illicit, 31 kg of lahan and nine working stills were seized.

Vaishnu Dass, a poppy-husk smuggler, who is a member of an inter-state gang, was also arrested. Six persons were arrested under the NDPS Act and 24 gm of smack was recovered from them.

The detective wing of the police nabbed a smuggler, Sardool Singh, alias Shull, of Naushera Dhalla and seized a .32-bore revolver and three cartridges from him. According to the police Sardool had links with Pakistani smugglers.

Meanwhile, two persons were arrested for illegally carrying 340 bags of wheat from the FCI stock with intentions of selling it. The accused were named as Gurdit Singh of Kotli Karotala and Balkar Singh of Meharbanpur.

Sarwan Singh, of Thothian village, Ajnala, was arrested and fans, B and W TV sets, country-made stereos, besides silver ornaments were recovered from him.

ISI ‘supplying’ drugs in Punjab
From Our Correspondent

GURDASPUR, June 3 — A function to launch awareness against drug addiction was organised here today. Dr B.R. Chawla, Health Minister, presided over the function while Mr Natha Singh Dalem, Minister for Public Relations, was the chief guest.

Both ministers while addressing a gathering on the occasion said the ISI of Pakistan had chosen to weaken Punjab by making its youth drug addicts. The ISI had trained 2,000 persons in Karachi and Lahore for distributing smack and heroin free of cost in colleges in Punjab, they said.

Dr Chawla said smack was being sold in colleges at Pathankot. He appealed to chemists not to sell drugs to anybody without the prescription of a doctor.

Dr Chawla cautioned the doctors to be regular in their work and honest. He said the Internet would be introduced shortly in the offices of civil surgeons. He said factories manufacturing spurious drugs would be wiped out soon and anybody giving information about them would be awarded.

Dr Chawla asked the Deputy Commissioner and civil surgeons to constitute a district TB association with the DC as its chairman and a civil surgeon as its vice-chairman and work for the elimination of TB. He said 40,000 patients were added to the list of 3 lakh TB patients in Punjab every year.

Mr B Vikram, Deputy Commissioner, said a year-long action programme would be launched to check addiction among the youth in the district.

Later, talking to newspersons, Dr Chawla said transfers in the Health Department were being reviewed after talks with various associations of doctors.

Dr Chawla said ayurvedic and homoeopathic directorates would be created in the Health Department very soon.

Dr Chawla said the budget sanctioned for health during this year was Rs 7 crore against a demand of Rs 15 crore. The balance, he said, would be met by contributions from philanthropists.

Cop arrested for wife’s murder

AMRITSAR, June 3 (UNI) — Paramjit Kumar, a dismissed Punjab police constable, who allegedly murdered one of his many wives Ms Sunita Thakur in January at Jalandhar and had absconded was finally arrested. Paramjit had decided to put an end to Sunita Thakur’s life after she went public in December, last year, and told the Press here of his activities and his connection with senior police officers.

According to a press note issued by SSP Parampal Singh Sidhu here today, Paramjit was nabbed by the police on June 1.

As per the note Paramjit was dismissed from the police in March as he was wanted by the police. He took shelter in New Delhi where he worked as a driver with a private firm.

The dismissed constable’s first victim was Veerta Kumari of Wadala Granthian village, who left him after she came to know of his activities and relations with other women.

A local women police constable was also a victim of his good looks and his connection in high places.

Sunita Thakur whom the constable married in 1998 had gone on record before the local media just before her death alleging that Paramjit had photographed and video taped a number of his victims in nude poses and was black-mailing them. This fact was brought to the notice of higher police officials here who did nothing to ensure Sunita’s protection resulting is her death.

Sant arrested for raping 5-yr-old
Tribune News Service

LUDHIANA, June 3 — The Focal Point police has booked a sant on charges of raping a five-year-old girl at his dera in Sherpur Market today.Accoring to an FIR registered at Focal Point police station, the complainant, Shiv Kumar has alleged that when he went to the dera of Sant Bhoot Nath this morning to seek his blessings, he found that the Sant was absent from his gaddi. When he searched the dera for the sant, he found him behind a tree raping the victim.

He informed the police who reached the spot and the sant was caught by the police. The police has registered a case under Section 376, and 511 of the IPC.

5 women draw pension on fake documents, held
Tribune News Service

JALANDHAR, June 3 — Five aged women have been arrested by the local police for drawing pension on the basis of fake documents.

The women have been identified as Balwinder Kaur of Sandhu Colony, Amritsar, Paramjit Kaur of Muradpur in Tarn Taran, Kulwant Kaur of Gillwali in Amritsar district, Baljit Kaur of Adhi Khuhi, Tarn Taran, and Baljinder Kaur of Baharwali in Amritsar, said Mr Gaurav Yadav, SSP.

The suspects had adopted a simple method for committing the crime. They obtained plain pension order (PPO) from the market, filled in fake names and addresses in it and forged the signature of the District Treasury Officer to make these look like original ones. In the first instance, five such forged PPOs worth Rs 55,000 and subsequently four PPOs worth Rs 24,000 were presented to the State Bank of India on May 31 and payment was obtained. Verification later on revealed that no such PPOs were issued by the treasury, which led the police and bank officials to make an enquiry.

All the five women were arrested from the SBI premises here today. Interestingly, all nine PPOs were worth less than Rs 10000. According to the police, for withdrawal of an amount exceeding Rs 10,000, pensioners need two witnesses. Mr Yadav said the enquiry into the case has been entrusted to Mr P.K. Uppal, SP (City).

3 hurt in shooting incident

AMRITSAR, June 3 (UNI) — Three persons were injured in a shooting incident at Hasanwala village near here today over a land dispute. The Goindwal police has registered a criminal case against three persons, including an Assistant Sub-Inspector, under various sections of the IPC.

A police spokesman said here that Gurdial Singh, Harbhajan Singh and ASI Sarabjit Singh allegedly opened fire and attacked Hari Singh and his party while the latter was going towards his fields. He said both parties were engaged in a legal battle over a piece of land. 

Robbers loot dera, injure mahant
From Our Correspondent

FATEHGARH SAHIB, June 3 — An eight-member gang of robbers struck at the dera of Mahant Om Giriji near Adampur village, 5 km from here, today and seriously injured mahant and decamped with Rs 18,000, according to sources.

EDUCATION

B.Pharmacy test rescheduled
Tribune News Service

PATIALA, June 3 — To avoid clash of dates of the entrance test for admission to the B.Pharmacy course at Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, and at Punjabi University Patiala, the Punjabi University authorities have decided to postpone the date of the entrance test.

Giving this information, Dr Kuldip Singh Dhir, Dean Academic Affairs, said instead of July 5. the entrance test to be conducted by Punjabi University would now be held on July 6.

Plus 2 PSEB results on June 11
Tribune News Service

SAS NAGAR, June 3 —The results of the science and commerce stream of the senior secondary school- level examination of the Punjab School Education Board (PSEB) is likely to be declared on June 11.

The results of the arts stream would, however, be declared in the last week of this month. Last year the results was declared on May 28. The main reason for the delay in the results was that the examinations started on March 13, much behind the schedule.

There are about 40,000 students in the science and commerce stream and the total candidates in the science, commerce and arts stream is around 2.19 lakh.

Sources in the board said another reason for the delay was the entire record of the 10+2 candidates, which had been prepared manually, was being loaded on computers as the results was being prepared by a Chandigarh based private firm. The sources said the board officials at a meeting held today had decided to give grace marks to the candidates of the science stream in physics, chemistry, maths and biology reportedly due to poor performance by the candidates.

The Controller of the Examination, Ms Harcahranjit Kaur Brara, when contacted by TNS said 65 per cent of the record relating to the conduct of examination had been computerised. The record of around 50,000 students of the humanities group had only been prepared manually. About the grace marks, she said it was common practice but added that this year's results was good.

Regarding the results of the tenth class she said it would be declared at the end of this month.