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| Thursday, August 10, 2000, Chandigarh, India    |
Official neglect led to “Sahyog” Children most vulnerable targets Minister with 3rd division enrolled in PhD Centre changes regulations Hospital incinerator a non-starter
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Left parties urged to unite
Time clerks demand job regularisation Jathedar gives
warning on sacrilege Telecom employees’ stir in Aug-end SDEs welcome PWD drive Badal to unfurl
Tricolour in Amritsar Rise in sales tax collection Ladies club row takes new turn Akali Jatha begins
‘akhand path’ Punjab ‘neglecting’ Ayurveda Plea against
sentence allowed
Man on
bail commits suicide
College teachers stage dharna SC teachers given
assurance on demands
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Official neglect led to “Sahyog” CHANDIGARH, Aug 9 — The Army’s Vajra Corps is engaged in weeding out Eichhornia carssipes, commonly called water hyacinth, from the Harike lake. The operation is codenamed “Sahyog”. The need for this operation arose because of official neglect of the lake which gradually got choked either due to siltation or aquatic weeds. The main “target” is hyacinth: a plant obnoxious to some and nature’s wonderful gift to others. There is, however, a word of caution. It comes from Dr G.S. Dhillon, who once headed the Amritsar-based Irrigation and Power Research Institute. It had conducted some experiments to tackle the menace of weeds in the Harike
lake. Those were both chemical and biological. “Complete eradication of hyacinth (besides other species of aquatic plants) could harm the other biota and upset the eco-system there”. Of the nearly 15 types of aquatic plant species in the Harike lake, hyacinth is just one with the largest spread. This “floating” plant is a major nuisance since it proliferates rapidly. It gets flushed downstream during floods. But where water is stagnant, it grows obstinately, forming a green cover over the surface. The plant, however, has its uses, too, despite its unnatural spread mainly due to eutrophication. Effluents — industrial, municipal and agricultural wastes — which flow into the lake further help hyacinth to grow. This is because of the high organic load the pollutants provide to hyacinth, acting as “fertiliser”. Hyacinth cannot be condemned and eradicated from the lake just because of its nuisance value. This is one aquatic weed which eats up heavy metals and nutrients. Just because regular and effective harvesting has not been possible due to resource constraints, it does not mean the total destruction of hyacinth, says Dr Dhillon. Biological control, through weevils, had proved effective. Unfortunately, it was not pursued properly to achieve the desired results. Hyacinth purifies and cleans water. If properly harvested and handled, hyacinth can prove to be a very good source of methane through anaerobic digestion. The slurry can be used direct or after drying as “fertiliser”. Grown in clean, clear water it can be used as animal feed (silage). Substrate made from the plant can be used for mushroom cultivation as it has a very high biological efficacy. Hyacinth can also be used for the reclamation of alkaline soil. Parts of the plant can also be used to make “art” paper. In water treatment plants, hyacinth can be used to extract heavy metals like copper, mercury, chromium, etc. Attention has never been paid to the diverse uses of this water weed. Interestingly, Dr Dhillon points out, this aquatic weed is being used by NASA in the USA to experiment on “closed ecological life support systems for space applications”. The water treatment plant at Walt Disney’s utilises this weed to raise the level of polluted water to the secondary stage. “Operation Sahyog” should not aim at creating a “vacuum” in the lake while cleaning and clearing it of hyacinth and several other species of weeds and growth. If that happens, certain types of algae will move in since the lake water is rich in nitrates. Even hyacinth will stage a comeback given its “colonisation” character and behaviour. The operation should not destroy and disturb the biological clock and biota. Control of aquatic weeds is difficult in large water bodies unless proper machinery and equipment are available. In the past considerable money, energy and manpower were spent on attempts (manual, mechanical, chemical and biological) to eradicate the plant, with little success. “Harike lake” is a beautifully produced publication of the WWF for Nature-India. It expresses concern over the poor conservation of the wetland. What the Army is doing today should have been done by the civilian authorities concerned in the intervening decades rather than allowing the lake to decay. During that period unregulated industrial and agricultural activities and effluents flowing into rivers connived to pollute and choke the lake. Clearing the lake of wild growth alone will not do. Upstream management of manmade problems is also required. Unless that happens, the health of the Harike lake will again be affected. So as not to allow aquatic weeds to kill the shrinking water body, a comprehensive, integrated action plan has to be evolved and implemented. As the WWF publication says: “Attention needs to be paid to human activities and land use in the immediate catchment of the wetland. Enforcement of the existing rules and regulations is also imperative”. |
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Disturbing
social trends-II CHANDIGARH Aug 9 — New disturbing trends in violent urban crime have made children, especially those below 12 years of age, the most vulnerable , unsuspecting soft targets. Only a few days ago, five-year-old Aman Sood, who was kidnapped in Khanna police district, was strangled to death and his body was recovered from fields. In June, three gruesome cases of crime against children — the rape of a month-old girl in Jalandhar and two separate cases of killing of three children in captivity (a brother-sister pair in Jalandhar and a boy in Ludhiana) — were reported. "It is an extremely disturbing phenomenon," says the Punjab Director-General of Police, Mr Sarabjit Singh, maintaining that the incidence was high in major cities like Amritsar, Jalandhar, Patiala and Ludhiana. Besides crimes against children, the incidence of kidnapping for ransom, abduction and rape has also started shooting up. The National Crime and Research Bureau (NCRB) in its latest report says that there has been an alarming 26.6 per cent increase in the incidence of child rape where victims are below 10 years of age. It further says that there is 5 per cent increase in the kidnapping of women and girls. The increase in rape cases has been put at 3.3 per cent. In Punjab, the crime figures for the first six months are startling. There were 240 reported cases of kidnapping and abduction in the state between January 1 and June 30 this year. Besides, 135 cases of rape were reported during the same period. In a majority of these cases, the victims, mostly females, belonged to the age group one month to 30 years. An interesting observation made in the NCRB report is that there has been 7 per cent decline in cases of rape of women above 30 years of age. Interestingly, Patiala, the smallest of four major cities of Punjab and the last to have a Municipal Corporation, has emerged as a major centre of crime against children and women. For example, it has recorded the highest number of 42 cases of kidnapping and 22 of rape in six months. Jalandhar comes next with 29 cases of kidnapping and 13 of rapes. Though Ludhiana also registered 13 rape cases until June 30 this year, the incidence of kidnapping was slightly lower than in the case of Patiala and Jalandhar. There have been 27 cases of kidnapping in the Manchester of Punjab" while the holy city of Amritsar is placed fourth in this new disturbing category of crime with 18 kidnappings and four rape cases. In all three cases of kidnapping leading to the death of children, the suspects appeared to be "first timers" in crime. "There is a new fast-growing category of first timers in crime. A majority in this category comes from affluent urban families. There have been instances showing the involvement of some migrant farm labourers and others," adds Mr Sarabjit Singh. In these cases, the motive of the crime was either petty personal enmity or attempted extortion. After kidnapping the children, the suspects panicked and killed the children. These cases apart, in most of the other cases, the demands were made on the parents of the kidnapped children. The police did succeed in tracking down suspects and rescuing the kidnapped children, but the number of such cases is extremely low. There have been instances when land and property disputes, family disputes and even love affairs turned out to be the reasons for kidnappings and abductions. In one case, a woman was abducted and her two children were also kidnapped in Barnala police district. In several cases, abducted girls and women were raped in captivity. Between June 13 and 26, there have been at least three cases in Punjab where boys, aged between 12 and 15, were kidnapped for ransom. Interestingly, very few cases of kidnapping or abduction could be solved quickly. Table 1 Kidnappings/rapes in Punjab (monthwise) Month Kidnappings Rapes January 39 12 February 40 18 March 35 26 April 50 32 May 46 30 June 32 14 Table 2 Kidnappings/rapes (districtwise) District Kidnappings Rapes Amritsar 18 4 Tarn Taran 5 3 Majitha 6 2 Gurdaspur 4 4 Batala 5 2 Jalandhar 29 13 Nawan Shahr 6 2 Hoshiarpur 8 7 Kapurthala 8 2 Patiala 42 22 Fatehgarh Sahib 8 x Sangrur 8 2 Barnala 7 2 Ludhiana 27 13 Jagraon 6 4 Khanna 5 1 Ropar 12 10 Ferozepore 11 14 Muktsar 4 6 Moga 7 3 Faridkot x 3 Bathinda 12 6 Mansa 1 6 (Concluded)  |
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Minister with 3rd division enrolled in PhD PATIALA, Aug 9 — The research board of the Punjabi University Language Faculty today granted formal approval to Punjab Higher Education Minister Master Mohan Lal, a third division holder in MA Punjabi, to register himself for a PhD on
"Trends in 20th Century Punjabi Poetry." The minister’ s registration was done along with around 25 to 30 other candidates. His case was passed in a “routine” manner by the faculty board members who only disallowed a co-guide to the Minister, as there was no provision for the same if the PhD subject concerned only one faculty. Earlier his case had been passed by a committee instituted in the Punjabi Department. The faculty board gives final approval to candidates aspiring to get themselves registered for a doctorate degree . The minister has been registered to do his PhD degree under the university Vice-Chancellor, Dr Jasbir Singh Ahluwalia . He had earlier attended the registration exercise conducted around two months ago at the Vice-Chancellor’s residence. The name of Dr Satish Kumar had been proposed as a co-guide but the faculty board did not allow it as a similar case had been rejected by it on the grounds that a co-guide could only be allowed if the subject of Phd was not of inter-faculty nature . The university is being hush hush about the entire exercise with no board member or the Punjabi Department head knowing details of the marks scored by the Minister at the graduate and postgraduate level. Most of the faculty members claim not to have seen the file in which the eligibility criterion is mentioned. The Vice-Chancellor, Dr Jasbir Singh Ahluwalia, however claimed that no relaxation had been given to Master Mohan Lal while registering him for the PhD degree nor had the minister requested for any relaxation in the university rules. He said the Minister had been subjected to the same vigorous discipline as any ordinary student because of which his case had been presented for approval before the faculty board. Dr Ahluwalia when asked about the eligibility criterion and the Minister’s third division at the postgraduate level, said as Master Mohan Lal had done his post graduation in four to five subjects, marks of any of the courses could be taken into consideration while calculating the eligibility criterion. He however said he did not know how the eligibility criterion had been calculated adding that he did not think there had been any digression in rules while doing so. University teachers have, however, contested the claim of the Vice Chancellor on the eligibility front. They said as the minister wanted to do his PhD in Punjabi the marks scored by him in any other language could not be considered while calculating his eligibility as Punjabi language could not be touted as an “allied area” with any other subject. Punjabi Department sources claimed that the institution had taken the help of a recent recommendation of a university committee whereby the Vice-Chancellor had been allowed to relax academic criterion in case of prominent personalities. They said the meeting section of the university had made out the Minister’s case keeping this in mind and had declared him to be eligible. However this claim has been officially denied . According to university rules, every candidate aspiring for registration for a PhD degree must have a combined percentage of 105 in his graduation and post graduation courses. Though sources confirmed that the Minister had earned a third division in MA Punjabi and also had a below average percentage in BA course, the university is not forthcoming with the marks scored by him in other post graduate courses. |
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Centre changes regulations CHANDIGARH, Aug 9 —The Union Government has issued a notification amending the regulations for promotion to the IAS from the provincial civil services like the PCS and the HCS (Executive branch).
The amendments to the relevant provisions will affect Punjab, where eight promotions to the IAS are to be made from the PCS cadre. According to information available here today, a notification in this connection has been issued by the Department of Personnel and Training of the Union Government. The Indian Administrative Services (Appointment by Promotion) Regulations now stand amended. The changes have been well received by officers of the PCS cadre who say that in the absence of the appropriate rules, several state governments had been “misusing” their powers by delaying the holding of meetings of the panels constituted for promotions. A number of PCS officers told TNS that some of the state governments in their endeavour to accommodate their “favourites” in the matter of promotion had not been forwarding names to the authorities concerned in the Union Government. Such tactics were used for including the names of “favourites” in the “consideration zone” prepared by the State Government for putting up at the meeting of the panel set up for appointment by promotion from the state civil services cadre. Copies of the notification containing the amendments to the regulations have been sent to the Chief Secretaries of all states, the Union Public Service Commission, the Lok Sabha Secretariat, the Rajya Sabha Secretariat, the Comptroller and Auditor General of India by Mr R.Vaidyanathan, Under Secretary to the Government of India. By making the amendments, the state governments have been told to prepare their “select list” separately for each year during which the committee could not meet. The cut-off date for each year has been fixed as December 31. In the case of Punjab, in 1998, one post was available, and in 1999 three posts. In the current year four posts are available in the IAS cadre for promotion from the PCS cadre. A meeting of the panel, which includes three representatives each of the Union Government and the state government, was held on May 28 this year in Delhi. However, it was postponed without transacting any business as the Punjab Government took the plea that it was recasting the seniority list of the PCS officers and wanted the meeting to be put off. The meeting was held on the directions of the Central Administrative Tribunal. However, it was alleged by a section of the PCS officers that the postponement was engineered by the Punjab Government to get the names of certain PCS officers, who were said to be its “favourites” included. Now with the latest amendments made to the promotion regulations, the names of “favourite officers” will remain out of the “consideration zone”, says a section of the PCS officers. In fact, the postponement of the meeting led to a split in the PCS Officers Association. A section of the PCS officers has formed a separate organisation named the All-Reserved Categories PCS Officers Association. It has alleged that a few PCS officers played a crucial role in getting the meeting postponed as they were interested in getting certain PCS officers promoted. A section of the PCS officers has now submitted a representation to the Chief Secretary for preparing a fresh “consideration zone” in the light of the latest amendments. It says as the promotions have already been delayed by several months, the Government should now expedite the process. |
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Hospital incinerator a non-starter PATIALA, Aug 9 — The incinerator in Government Rajindra Hospital here which has never been used since its installation 10 years ago has again come into focus following a Supreme Court ruling that all hospitals should create their own medical waste disposal facilities. Though the hospital authorities can abide by the Court rulings by burning hospital waste in the incinerator, they do not have any funds to do so and are not even considering using the incinerator. The incinerator room is presently lying locked in the ground near the Doctors hostel in the hospital compound. Sources said the room had not even been opened for years. Hospital sources disclosed that the diesel-fired incinerator needed 200 litres of diesel every day, which amounted to an expenditure of Rs 3,000. They said at a time when the hospital did not have sufficient funds at its disposal for urgent medicines or even repair of costly diagnostic equipment, running of the incinerator was very low on its priority. Though Hospital Medical Superintendent A.S. Sekhon refused to comment on the issue, other sources said the incinerator, which was purchased in 1991, was never used. They said while earlier it could not be used due to a dispute between the private firm which had supplied it and the Public Works Department, later the high cost of operation went against it. They said the incinerator could be made functional if necessary. The Municipal Corporation, which is presently picking up the hospital waste, had also been requested by the hospital authorities some time back to run the incinerator. The move behind the offer was that the corporation could also burn its waste in the incinerator once it was started. However, sources said nothing had come out of the offer. The hospital authorities said they were keen to follow the guidelines but did not have the money to do so. They said the hospital was likely to appeal to the state government to release funds to tackle the problem of medical waste. Municipal Corporation Commissioner K.S. Kang said that notices were being issued to Rajindra Hospital and other hospitals and nursing homes, making it mandatory for them to follow the Court guidelines. He said while Rajindra Hospital had time till the end of this year, other hospitals and nursing homes still had one to two years to comply with the guidelines. Mr Kang said the Corporation had started the process of dialogue with nursing homes, saying there had been a request from the private hospitals that a joint waste disposal site should be developed which should be maintained by the corporation. He said the corporation had told the private hospital managements that they would first have to jointly purchase land for the task and only then further modalities could be discussed. Experts opine that Rajindra Hospital could offer its incinerator to private parties so that the medical waste of the hospital could be treated without any cost along with waste of other private hospitals. Besides this, they say if funds present a problem, waste can be tackled by going in for secure land filling, under which process the waste could be buried in land earmarked for the task. They said biodegradable waste could be separated from this waste and treated separately. |
Left parties urged to unite PATIALA, Aug 9 — The Marxist Communist Party of India (MCPI) has called upon Left and democratic forces in Punjab to unite on one platform in order to build an alternative to the Akali Dal (Badal)- BJP alliance and the Congress because both parties had failed to protect the interests of Punjab and common people. This was stated in a press release issued by the party here. Mr Prem Singh Bhangu, a central
committee member of the MCPI, Mr Labh Singh Bhangu and Mr Prem Singh, both state
committee members of the MCPI, said here in a joint statement that the Akali Dal (Badal)-BJP Government has not lived up to the expectations of people. All long-standing political and economic demands of Punjab have not been met and even raised before the Centre even after more than three years’ rule of the coalition. They further said that on the Udham Singh Nagar issue, the Akali Dal has virtually surrendered before the BJP Government at Centre only to save its government in Punjab despite being the party of minority community, it has totally failed to watch and protect the interests of minorities as attacks on Christians in Punjab are increasing. They appealed to the rank and file of the CPM and the CPI to pressurise their leadership to make a sincere effort for forging unity of Left and democratic forces in Punjab. The three Left parties — MCPI,
CPI (ML) Liberation and CPI (ML) New Democracy — have already forged a front and other Left groups are shortly joining it, according to a press release issued here toady. |
Time clerks demand job regularisation ROPAR, Aug 9 — Time clerks working in the irrigation wing of the Bhakra-Beas Management Board (BBMB) have demanded an immediate regularisation of their jobs failing which they will resort to an agitation. In a press note issued yesterday, the time clerks have alleged that their services are not being regularised by the authorities of the Irrigation Department of the BBMB in spite of the fact that orders for the purpose have been passed by the Chairman, BBMB, on August 28, 1998. About 300 time clerks and store clerks have been serving in the BBMB for the past 30 years against temporary appointments. However, after a long agitation by the recognised unions of the BBMB it was decided that the workers working under these temporary categories would be merged with the clerical category and their services be regularised. The unions alleged that maintaining workers on temporary appointments for such a long period against the permanent nature of jobs was a gross violation of the Contract Labour Abolition Act, 1970. The Chairman of the BBMB passed the order in 1998, directing the heads of various departments in the BBMB to take necessary steps to regularise the jobs of the workers working under these temporary categories. Following these orders the power wing in the BBMB regularised the jobs of these temporary workers and merged them with the clerical cadre. However, in the irrigation wing of the BBMB these orders have not been implemented so far. The representative of the time clerks working in the irrigation wing alleged that the management was illegally withholding the regularisation due to pressure from the BBMB clerical association. They also alleged that the BBMB clerical association was pressurising the management for delaying the regularisation of their jobs because they fear that they might lose their seniority if these categories were merged with the clerical cadre. Various worker unions of the BBMB, including those affiliated with the BMS, have demanded the immediate regularisation of the jobs of these workers. The Chief Engineer, BBMB, when asked said since he had recently taken over the charge he did not had any knowledge regarding the case. He, however, assured that he would look into the matter. Jathedar gives
warning on sacrilege AMRITSAR, Aug 9 — Akal Takht today took serious note of the sacrilege of Guru Granth Sahib by some unscrupulous persons. In a strongly worded press statement issued here today, Giani Joginder Singh, Jathedar, Akal Takht, said the secretariat of Akal Takht had received a number of complaints regarding denigration of the Granth which could not be tolerated. Giani Joginder Singh also appealed to the Sikh masses to beware of the anti-Sikh activities of such persons. Meanwhile, Damdami Taksal has also took strong exception to the denigration of Guru Granth Sahib by some anti-Sikh forces. The press note, however, appreciated those Sikhs who had ‘‘punished’’ a granthi for denigrating Guru Granth Sahib in Nihalsinghwala. Bhai Mohkam Singh, spokesman of Damdami Taksal, however, clarified that the baptised Sikhs who had punished the granthi did not belong to Bhinderanwala jatha. Bhai Mohkam Singh said Damdami Taksal would send a legal notice to the Editor of a Punjabi daily from Jalandhar for publishing a ‘‘baseless’’ news that some members of Damdami Taksal had fled from the scene when villagers started pelting stones on them. |
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Telecom employees’ stir in Aug-end HOSHIARPUR, Aug 9 — Telecom employees of the country will go on indefinite strike in August-end if the government fails to withdraw its decision regarding conversion of DoT into a corporation. This was disclosed by Mr Onkar Singh Rana, secretary of the AITEU Class-III while talking to this correspondent here today. He said with the conversion of DoT into a corporation the growth of telecom in the rural sector would be affected adversely. The present telephone density in India was about 2.66 per 100 persons and in the rural sector it was still much less. The advanced countries of the world had resorted to having a corporation only after reaching saturation level of 50 to 60 telephones per 100. Referring to the working of the Telecom Department he said there were about 80,000 manual telephone lines in the country at the time of Independence which were raised to 3.27 crore approximately up to March 31 this year from 27,750 fully automatic electronic exchanges. More than 20,000 stations in the country were available on STD and almost all the countries of the world were connected with ISD facility. India had the eighth largest telecom network in the world in the field of telecom. He said all this had been achieved by the DoT mainly through its own resources. SDEs welcome PWD drive AMRITSAR, Aug 9 — A meeting of the Sub-Divisional Engineers Association, PWD B and R, in the district has appreciated the drive initiated by Mr Sucha Singh Langah, Minister, Public Works Department, for the maintenance of berms along roads in the state. All subdivisions of the PWD B and R, Amritsar, will actively participate in the drive. The association also welcomed the state government’s move to adopt the Public Works Department for computerisation. In this regard a decision has been taken to educate all association members to make them computer savvy. The association suggested that all appointments of SDEs and junior engineers should first be made by the Public Works Department and thereafter as the need arises the same could be transferred to various boards and corporations. This would end the controversy regarding politically motivated appointments and promotions as is prevalent in the technical wings of various boards and corporations and encourage the influx of qualified engineers in to government and semi-government organisations. It condemned the negative attitude of the Punjab Mandi Board which has put aside all norms and rules to promote a diploma-holder junior engineer to the post of chief engineer whereas contemporaries of the same were still junior engineers in PWD, while SDEs of the PWD appointed by PPSC were still awaiting their first promotion for the past 28 years. The association requested the government to probe the controversial board decisions and implement the Cabinet decision regarding the taking of 50 per cent officers from the PWD, B and R, in to various boards and corporations. Meanwhile, new office-bearers of the association were unanimously elected. Mr L.S. Sandhu was elected as president, Mr J.S. Sodhi as vice-president, Mr Parvinderjit Singh as general secretary, Mr G.L. Aggarwal as finance secretary, and Mr Inderjit Singh and Mr Sukhdev Singh as joint secretaries.
Badal to unfurl
Tricolour in Amritsar AMRITSAR, Aug 9 — This year’s state-level Independence Day function will be held at Guru Nanak Stadium which has been recently renovated in this historic city. The Punjab Chief Minister, Mr Parkash Singh Badal, will unfurl the national flag on the occasion. Giving this information, the Deputy Commissioner, Mr Narinderjit Singh, said the Chief Minister will take salute from a march past comprising contingents of all paramilitary forces, the Punjab Police, NCC cadets, Scouts and Guides. The highlight of the day will be the presentation of tent peggings by Punjab Police jawans and a cultural programme by the school and college children. Similar Independence Day functions will be held at all subdivisions of the district. Mrs Satwant Kaur Sandhu, Punjab Minister for Printing and Stationery, will unfurl the national flag at Tarn Taran, Mr Gulzar Singh Ranike, Minister of State for Agriculture, will preside over the function at Baba Bakala and Prof Jagir Singh Bhullar, Chief Parliamentary Secretary, Punjab, will unfurl the national flag at Patti. The Deputy Commissioner informed that elaborate arrangements to host the state-level function at Amritsar are being made. |
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Rise in sales tax collection CHANDIGARH, Aug 9 — The Punjab Government today claimed that the setting up of information collection centres, backed by the enforcement wing, had led to the plugging of loopholes in the collection of sales tax in inter-state trade. A press note issued by the government said that this exercise helped the government increase its revenue by 35 per cent during the first quarter of the current financial year. A penalty amount of Rs 6 crore had been recovered in 1,050 cases by the enforcement wing of the Excise and Taxation Department. In a recent case, it was noticed that an iron and steel trader of Mandi Gobindgarh was indulging in the large-scale evasion of sales tax. He adopted different modus operandi from time to time to evade tax. The main modus operandi of dealers, the press note added, was that they issued bills from bogus bill books of other firms which either willingly allowed them to use their bill books for a consideration or sometimes were not even aware of it. The department recovered bill books of 30 different firms and goods receipt books of 12 transport companies. He added that 82 bill books, from which bills had been issued, were in the name of a firm registered in Chandigarh. These bill books were used for issuing bills for the movement of goods outside Punjab. |
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Ladies club row takes new turn PATIALA, Aug 9 — The rebel group in the prestigious Maharani Ladies Club has received a shot in the arm, today, with the Rajindra Gymkhana and Mahendra Club management, to which they are aligned, clearly stating that they only recognised the old team of the club in which the rebels are office-bearers. The club president, Ms Pratibha Jain, had recently expelled six members of the rebel group from the club executive committee and while informing the club’s management of the decision had urged that the rebel groups should not be allowed to use facilities of the parent club. Today’s decision, which was disclosed by club president Bhupal Singh, however, makes it clear that the rebels are part and parcel of the club and will remain so. He said the parent club recognised Mrs Pratibha Jain as president, Mrs Dolly Sadana as vice president and Mrs Shubchint Kaur as secretary of the ladies club. The decision means that recent appointments made to the executive committee to fill the vacancies caused after the dropping of six rebel members by ladies club president Pratibha Jain are null and void. Mrs Jain had dismissed club vice president Dolly Sadana and secretary Shubchint Kaur besides four others from the executive committee taking advantage of a clause in the club’s constitution whereby the President was within her rights to sack anyone from the executive committee not attending three consecutive meetings. However, the dissidents claimed that the ladies club meetings had been held in hurried succession without letting the mandatory one month limit between each meeting elapse. They had also contested that the parent club should recognise the old term and allow all its office-bearers to use the club premises for their activities. The ladies club has seen wrangling between its members for many months now. Both groups have celebrated functions separately including the recently celebrated Teej. Trouble in the club started after its president nominate expressed her inability to assume office. When, then secretary Pratibha Jain was nominated as president, there was a controversy whether the post of vice president should be filled by nomination or by election. The rebels had their way and elected Mrs Dolly Sadana and then went on to pass a no confidence motion against Mrs Jain. The ruling group retaliated by expelling them from the club. Akali Jatha begins
‘akhand path’ FATEHGARH SAHIB, Aug 9 — The Akali Jatha, Amloh, has begun an “akhand path” at SAD (B) office in Amloh town in the memory of those killed during Amarnath Yatra by terrorists and those who died during a stampede at Naina Devi temple. The bhog of the path would be performed on August 12. According to Mr Balwant Singh Sahpur, MLA, Amloh, the step had been initiated to strengthen social relations between all communities and it would be followed by the workers meeting on that day. On the other hand political sources revealed that the path had been started to encroach upon the SAD (B) office, as the supporters of Capt. Kanwaljit Singh, Finance Minister, are to organise a meeting against the MLA on August 11. The meeting after the bhog ceremony, called by the MLA, is meant to counter the meeting of Kanwaljit group. While talking to The Tribune Mr Balwant Singh Sahpur, MLA, expressed concern over way of functioning of the president of the district unit of the SAD (B). He said no meeting of the jatha had ever been called by the district president and alleged that the president had been involved in various anti-social activities. Even his village panchayat is against him and he owed Rs 45,000 to village Gurdwara. |
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Punjab ‘neglecting’ Ayurveda PATIALA, Aug 9 — Ayurveda, the ancient science of healing, has by and large been neglected in Punjab, according to a press release issued by the Punjab Ayurvedic Medical Service Association here. The ratio of expenditure on ayurveda and allopathy, which was 1:10 about 30 years ago has become 1:3000 now, alleged Dr Harmanjeet Singh, president of the association in the press note. The provision for setting up 10 bed hospitals at each district headquarters and swasthya kendras at the subdivisional level had not been implemented yet, he remarked. He said that the cadre was being ignored since a long time and its demands were accepted only in
principle. The setting up of the anomalies committee by the Punjab Government was a delaying tactic, he said. He said a state-level stir would be launched if no positive result came out in the association's meeting with the state Health Minister on August 30. |
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Plea against
sentence allowed CHANDIGARH, Aug 9 — The High Court has allowed an appeal filed by a Kapurthala district resident against the trial court’s orders sentencing him to life imprisonment in a murder case. Karam Singh, along with the other accused, was earlier booked by Punjab Police under Sections 302 and 34 of the IPC after one Lachhman Singh succumbed to his injuries following an attack on December 4, 1990. According to the prosecution, a civil suit between the accused and the complainant’s side regarding a piece of land at Bhandal Dona village in Kapurthala was the reason behind the attack. After hearing arguments on the appeal, Mr Justice H.S. Bedi and Mr Justice A.S. Garg observed: ‘‘No bloodstains have been found from the scene of occurrence. No person from the neighbourhood of the deceased has been produced as a witness except the relatives and friends who were close to the deceased’’. They concluded: ‘‘We do not agree that there was a motive for the accused persons to assault the complainant party only because of the reason that cross civil cases were pending against them. The reason mentioned by the trial court for the conviction of Karam Singh are all conjectural and are not borne out of the record... The appeal is accepted”. |
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Snake found in tap water PATIALA, Aug 9 — An Urban Estate Phase I, resident today complained that a small snake flowed in from a tap installed in his house. The supply is provided by PUDA. Mr K.B. Singh disclosed that the snake flowed out of the tap at the morning. He said this was the third such incident of such living creature coming out of the tap in his house . He said earlier also a snake like creature had come out of the tap and he had complained to PUDA authorities regarding the matter. He said water supply in the area was of very poor quality with overhead tanks not being cleaned regularly. |
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Computer training for hostel inmates PATIALA, Aug 9 — Punjabi University has decided to arrange a number of professional and creative activities in the evening at the university campus for the students living in university hostels. Stating this university Vice-Chancellor Jasbir Singh Ahluwalia said the university had entered into an agreement with a computer training company which would provide facilities at the university campus for training in computer application. He said similarly the Departments of Dance, Music, Fine Arts and Theatre and Television had been asked to arrange for hobby classes. He said that the aim of these activities was to enable and help the students to channelise their energy in purposeful and useful activities so that when they completed the course they were well versed in other related fields also. The VC added that the computer training facilities would be subsidised and the students would be requested to pay only a small amount as fee. |
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Vidhan Sabha
session CHANDIGARH, Aug 9 — The 11th Punjab Vidhan Sabha session will begin on September 4 at 2 p.m., says a press note. |
Man on bail commits
suicide PATIALA, Aug 9 — Surjeet Singh, who was involved in
nearly six robbery cases and was on bail, allegedly committed suicide
here today by jumping in front of a running goods train. Surjeet Singh jumped in front of a goods train coming from Rajpura to Patiala. The incident occurred near the FCI godowns, situated towards the Rajpura side. According
to Dr O.P. Aggarwal, Associate Professor in Government Rajindera
Hospital, the post-mortem confirmed that the neck of the deceased had
been completely cut off from the body. |
College teachers stage dharna CHANDIGARH, Aug 9 — Teachers from all over the Punjab staged a dharna in protest against the non-implementation of the pension-cum-gratuity at “Matka Chowk” here today. The call for the dharna was given by the Punjab and Chandigarh College Teachers Union ( PCCTU), an apex body of 173 aided and unaided colleges. Addressing the protesters, Prof Charanjit Chawla and Prof J.S. Randhawa, general secretary and vice-president of the PCCTU, respectively, charged that the Finance Department of the state was creating unnecessary hurdles in the smooth implementation of the pension-cum-gratuity scheme in place of the Contributory Provident Fund. It was pointed out that the pension Bill had been moved by Mr Parkash Singh Badal, Chief Minister. The Bill was cleared by the Punjab Assembly and later signed by the Governor. It was notified on April 26, 1999. The protesters charged that the state executive lacked the will to question the bureaucracy’s failure to implement the scheme. The others who addressed the rally included Prof N.P. Manocha, Dr V.K. Tewari, Prof Prakash Singh and Prof Amrinder Singh. Teachers also criticised the unhelpful attitude of the Punjab Government regarding the issuing of orders on various accepted demands like the condoning of the 26-day strike period as per the directions of the Union Government, the grant of the lecturer’s designation to DPEs and librarians and the grant of HRA to employees of 48 rural area colleges. Professor Chawla said the SAD government had failed to honour its own commitments. |
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SC teachers given
assurance on demands AMRITSAR, Aug 9 – Representatives of the SCBC Teachers Union, Punjab, in a meeting with the District Education Officer (DEO), Ms Savinder Kaur Kahlon, were yesterday assured of early completion of roaster register which would further clear the backlog. However, she said promotions were held in abeyance for the time being but suitable posts would be given to members of the SCBC segment. Mr Balkar Singh, President and Mr Ajit Singh, senior vice-president, respectively of the unit, were among those who participated. |
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