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| Tuesday,
May 8, 2001, Chandigarh, India
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7 arrested for poppy husk
smuggling Ludhiana, May 7 This has come to light following the arrest of seven persons, including a key member of a group of the smugglers, from different places in the Jagraon police district. Not only huge quantity of poppy husk has been seized, but the police has also claimed to achieve a significant breakthrough in the drive against these smugglers. According to the SSP, Mr Jaskaran Singh, the persons arrested by the Sidhwan Bet, Dehlon and Hambran police are Dilwara Singh, Kulwant Singh, Kewal Singh, Mukhtiar Singh, Karamjit Singh, Jeet Singh and Gursheetal Singh. The police has seized more than 500 kg of poppy husk from the alleged smugglers. They have also impounded an oil tanker, three scooters and a mobile phone from them. According to police sources, the arrests form only a tip of the iceberg of the problem of poppy husk smuggling being faced by the region. The gravity of the problem can be gauged from the figures of poppy husk smuggling cases in Sidhwan bet area only. About 50 people were arrested and 40 cases registered during the last year. The figures of other police station were not available, but sources said the problem was the same everywhere. According to Mr Ravinder Pal Singh Sidhu, SHO, Sidhwan Bet police station, the modus operandi of the gang was to buy poppy husk from licensed vends of Rajasthan, especially from Jaipur and Sikri areas, and then smuggle it into the state. While a route through Haryana and Sangrur district of the state used horses and small children, the gang, some of whose members, were arrested today, used oil tankers for smuggling drugs. According to him smugglers target the rural youth and labourers employed in villages. They buy poppy husk at cheap rates from Rajasthan and sell it at almost double the rates in this belt. |
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Fiery Kiran lashes out against female
foeticide Ludhiana, May 7 Talking to mediapersons at Circuit House she said due to decline in sex ratio a sociological imbalance was being created which would definitely lead to heinous crimes, including abductions and rapes. Lashing out against female foeticide prevailing in this part of the country the first woman IPS said the people of the state should be ashamed of themselves for creating this imbalance by tampering with nature’s ways. She said the people of the state were suffering from ‘‘son-stroke’’ and were eliminating the girlchild in the womb. She also said despite the fact that the women had already proved their mettle in all the fields, people were in a mad race to have their progeny in the form of male children only. She said despite the fact that this state was economically better than all the states of the country, it had undergone a retrogression as far as the mindset was concerned. She said states like Madhya Pradesh were termed backward because of the people’s tendency to kill female infants. ‘‘But we have fallen even more than them. They were killing infant girls and we kill them in the womb only,’’ she added. Ms Bedi said it was surprising that the practice of female foeticide was being practiced not only by the people belonging to uneducated class but even the educated persons were indulging in it. She said people of Punjab were prosperous and aware of the latest happenings in the world but were still resorting to the heinous crime of female foeticide and awareness created by the television and media had done nothing to change the psyche of the people. Ms Bedi further said it was the responsibility of the media and local administration to educate the masses about the gravity of the situation. Talking about the cyber crime prevailing in the state, Ms Bedi said Delhi Police personnel had been given special training to check it and the state police should follow suit. She said reforming of criminals languishing in various prisons was also a must as it was the responsibility of everyone to give them a chance to be good human beings and citizens. |
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Kiran’s reform mantra for prisoners Ludhiana, May 7 Overawed by the aura of the first woman IPS officer of the country, the inmates seemed to be lapping up every moment with her with gusto. Her loud and clear voice which reverberated in the tent exhorted the jail inmates to shun bad deeds and live a decent life. Delivering a motivating speech in Punjabi, Ms Bedi said, “Forget about the past. It’s all gone. The present is most powerful for you. Try to make the best of it for tomorrow may yield a better life for you.” Describing her stint at Tihar Jail as the most rewarding period of her career, Ms Bedi said Tihar was now the “Global Model” and other jails could also follow in its footsteps. She said, “It was all a matter of give and take. The adage, ‘as you sow, so shall you reap’ stands true even today. You have to suffer if you make others suffer. So it is time now to introspect, pray and change yourself completely. Life will be forgiving for you.” She called upon the prisoners to value human life saying, “Death is caused not only by killing, it is also caused by insulting and hurting fellow human beings. I have given you the mantra. Value human life and this is my gift for you.” Stating that she had spared time from her busy schedule and had visited them only to help them. “You have to believe in yourself as only you can change yourself. This is what I made the inmates of Tihar Jail believe and believe me whoever listened to me did not come back there.” Later while talking to the jail authorities, Ms Bedi disclosed her ‘secrets’ from Tihar and said in order to bring about reforms among the jail inmates cooperation from general public was also necessary. She called upon them to work in collaboration with various NGOs. Meanwhile, Ms Bedi also launched a Dental Health Education and Awareness Drive at the Christian Medical College and Hospital. She also inaugurated a mobile dental hospital. The focus of the event was on creating dental health awareness among the city residents and the rural people. |
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Dowry devours
teenager? Ludhiana, May 7 While only the chemical examiner’s report would determine the exact cause of her death, the Sidhwan Bet police, on the basis of allegations levelled by her parents, arrested the victim’s mother-in-law Charan Kaur on the charges of harassing her for dowry. Two sarpanches — Raman Kumar Tita of Sidhwan Bet and Karnail Singh of Kishan Pura — were held on the charges of conspiring and destroying evidence in the case. The duo had allegedly, along with the in-laws of the girl, cremated the body without getting her postmortem examination conducted. The police took her ashes in its custody. According to the SHO of Sidhwan Bet, the incident took place in the village yesterday. The girl was married to Basant Singh two years ago, but had returned to her parents’ house in a nearby village several times as she was being allegedly harassed to bring more dowry. She had recently returned to her husband’s house. She went to work in the fields yesterday. She began vomiting after coming back home and was dead a few hours later. While her in-laws said she could have died of heatstroke, their move to cremate the body without getting her postmortem examination conducted raised suspicion among the girl’s parents and other villagers, who informed the police. By the time the police reached the cremation ground, the body had been cremated. The mother of the deceased lodged a complaint with the police that her daughter was being harassed for dowry by her mother-in-law, while other in-laws were nice to her. The mother of the victim alleged that a number of persons who had seen the body had claimed that there were several blue spots on the body. She suspected that someone had poisoned her daughter after beating her. |
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Harassment by traffic cop alleged Ludhiana, May 7 In a representation, Mr Arvind Kumar, business development manager of a private company, alleged that the police official challaned him on the charge of jumping red light, although he had not done so. He further alleged that the challan paper was not complete and did not bear the rubber stamp of the traffic police. He also complained that the traffic cop took away his driving licence, although the challan paper mentioned that the registration copy of the vehicle was to be taken. According to him, he crossed the Gill Chowk in his car on Sunday evening. A traffic cop chased him and accused him of having jumped red light. He protested and argued that if he had jumped the red light then the driver of the scooter on whose pillion the traffic cop had chased him must also have jumped the light. But the cop did not listen to him. |
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Three held in torture case Ludhiana, May 7 The medical examination report also confirmed that the man was tortured brutally with hot iron rods. Meanwhile, the Mullanpur Dakha police has arrested all three persons accused of torturing the old man. While the main accused, Narinderpal Singh, owner of a transport company, was arrested last evening the other two, Raju and Subash, were nabbed today morning. According to an FIR, the old man Thakur Singh was employed in the transport company of Narinder Pal Singh. He had recently gone to Guwahati on the truck of the company. On his return, he had a dispute with the owner over the amount earned from the trip. While the owner demanded about Rs 2 lakh, Thakur Singh gave him only Rs 48,000. According to police sources, he was then kept in illegal confinement by the owner and was tortured with hot iron rods. The matter came to the knowledge of some Jagraon-based journalists who went to the village and after meeting him reported the matter to the police. The SSP, Mr Jaskaran Singh, said he immediately sent a police team to the village which rescued the old man and arrested the main accused Narinder Pal Singh.A case has been registered. |
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Punjab lifts ban on recruitment Fatehgarh Sahib, May 7 He said, “The current year is being celebrated as development year and the Chief Minister is organising “sangat darshan” programmes in rural as well as urban areas. |
Govt failed on every front: Tohra Fatehgarh Sahib, May 7 He alleged that the police had miserably failed to protect lives and properties of citizens. He said it was unfortunate that as the strength of the police force was increasing, so was the graph of crime in the state. He said, priorities of the police have changed. The respective SSP’s have created traffic wings for their own benefit. Men in white uniform can be seen all over the state collecting money from vehicle owners on various nakas, resulting in long queues of trucks on the GT Road.” He said the government had failed on every front. He said no one was safe today, whosoever dared to expose the corrupt faced threat to his life. He said the owner of tehelka.com which exposed the misdeeds of various officers and politicians was facing threat to his life. He urged villagers to form self-defence groups instead of depending upon the government for security. He said robberies and lootings were going on unabated in the state and police had been able to do nothing. He apprehended nexus among criminals and police officials. Addressing the gathering Mr Simranjit Singh Mann, president, SAD (A), urged the rural people to purchase weapons for self-security alleging that the government had failed to provide security to them. He said, “This is the government of only promises and claims.” He demanded that the migrant labourers should be registered as the criminal gangs from Bihar and UP had infiltrated into the state. He strongly criticised the police for not performing its duties. Mr Pishora Singh, state president, BKU, called upon the farming community to unite for survival. He urged the farmers to employ only those migrant labourers who were known to them. Dr Harbans
Lal, MLA, Mr R.S. Cheema, former minister, Mr Didar Singh Bhatti, Bibi Surinder
Kaur, state president, BSP, and Mr Kirpal Singh Libra also addressed the gathering.
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Sena men burn Sheikh
Hasina’s effigy Ludhiana, May 7 Addressing the gathering, Mr Tangri said the government’s lenient attitude towards Pakistan had encouraged Bangladesh to indulge in similar anti-India activities. If these forces are not paid back in the same coin, these could prove dangerous to the unity and integrity of the country, he added. |
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Drive on road safety
awareness Ludhiana, May 7 During this period, special teams of the transport department, the traffic police and representatives of voluntary organisations will cover all important towns in the district. The volunteers and special teams will educate the public on traffic safety measures for minimising road accidents. According to the District Transport Officer, special camps are being organised in all subdivisions, towns and mandis, with the help of government employees, health officers and educational institutions, to lay emphasis on use of reflecting stickers on the rear side of tractor trollies, mule carts, bullock carts, rehras and other slow-moving vehicles to avoid accidents at night. The motorists and drivers of other vehicles will be persuaded to keep their vehicles in order and to keep all related documents with them. The State Transport Commissioner has issued detailed guidelines for covering the entire district to make the programme a mass movement. The programme will also aim at providing training to the drivers of buses, trucks and other vehicles on safe driving habits and abiding by traffic rules. A special programme has been chalked out, under which children from different schools in the city will be imparted training in the Children Traffic Park. A team of the transport department headed by the Additional District Transport Officer has organised camps at Jodhewal Basti, Salem Tabri, Tajpur Road, Jalandhar Bypass and Jamalpur areas in the city to educate the pedestrians and drivers on road safety. |
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Labourers’ convention on May
25 Ludhiana, May 7 The state secretary of the Punjab Khet Mazdoor Sabha told mediapersons after the meeting that the front would launch a struggle to force the government to accept the demands of rural and agricultural labourers. Other unions of the area had been invited to participate in the convention. The members demanded a separate department and a union law to protect the interests of rural and agricultural labour, free water and electricity supply, Rs 2.5 lakh as compensation in case of death in accident and Rs 1 lakh as compensation in case of permanent disability. The joint front also asked for Rs 2500 per month as unemployment allowance, 50 kg wheat per month at Rs 2 per kg for labourers’ families and free higher and technical education to their children. The front further demanded Rs 1000 as old-age pension for men above 58 years of age and women who were more than 55 years old. It added that the government should fix daily wages at Rs 125 and ensure equal wages for male and female workers and medical facilities on ESI pattern. |
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Budha Nullah to be
desilted Ludhiana, May 7 A meeting was convened by the Mayor to discuss the matter with the area councillors concerned and officials of the O and M cell of the civic body. The Additional Commissioner of the MC told Ludhiana Tribune that the task of desilting the nullah within the MC limits would be carried out at an estimated cost of Rs 1.03
crore. The drainage department would deploy seven draglines for this purpose. The desilting would be carried out in the empty reaches first. The construction of the road along the nullah was nearing completion in some stretches. The silt removed from the nullah would be directly loaded in tippers and dumped elsewhere. Some councillors raised the issue of encroachments along the
nullah. The Mayor directed the Additional Commissioner of the MC to conduct a survey of the encroachments along the nullah and submit a detailed report at the next meeting on May 11. The councillors also demanded that other open drains in various localities be cleaned thoroughly. The officials of the O and M cell informed that the desilting of all nullahs in the city would commence on May 15 and would be completed within a month. |
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Publisher of Aarsi to be honoured Ludhiana, May 7 Mr Amrik Singh Punni, while presiding over the executive body meeting, condemned the recent attack on Mr Fakhar Zaman, leader of Punjabi movement in Pakistan. He disclosed that the academy had decided to honour Bhapa Pritam Singh, the publisher of Aarsi, a Punjabi journal, and a leading journalist. The annual budget of the academy for Rs 16.94 lakh for 2000-2001 was also passed. The income was expected to be around Rs 15.63 lakh and the deficit of Rs 1.31 lakh would be covered through contributions of authors. Mr Punni told that the executive body had taken a serious note of the dues of Mr Harpal Singh Tiwana’s Punjab Kala Manch since 1979, which stood at Rs 38,266. The academy would also provide identity cards to its members. Mr Parminder Singh, general secretary of the academy, in his annual report, informed that the academy had 700 members. The academy had organised a workshop and seminars on various topics, released 15 new books and honoured 12 authors with the Kartar Singh Dhaliwal Award. The academy also demanded the upgradation of All India Radio station of Jalandhar so that the programmes could be heard all over the country. The meeting criticised the move of the government to implement English as the official language in Chandigarh. Mr Punni welcomed the decision of the state government to increase pensions of writers from Rs 800 to Rs 2000. He urged the government to increase funds for the rural libraries’ project to Rs 5 crore per annum. |
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SSP
clarifies Ludhiana, May 7 The SSP, Mr Kuldip Singh, said today that the SHO had been sent to police lines as he has found no concrete proof of his involvement in the custodial death, which had led to violence in the Haibowal area last week. While agitating residents, relatives of the victim and a 21-member action committee formed to fight the case had been demanding immediate registration of a murder case against the SHO as he was allegedly aware of all developments in the case. However, justifying the suspension of the SHO of the Sarabha Nagar police station, Pawanjeet Singh, for alleged dereliction of duty leading to the death of three persons in a shoot-out between two groups at Sunet village yesterday, he said had the SHO taken timely action the dispute would not have taken such an ugly turn. |
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Children’s park encroached
upon Ludhiana, May 7 According to residents of the colony, the encroachment was reportedly made at the behest of the coloniser, who had initially developed the colony. The area was later transferred to the MC and the sites left as streets and parks in the locality were duly shown as such in the site plan of the colony drawn by the civic body. SAD(B) councillor Darshan Singh Shivalik, who led a deputation of the Adarsh Nagar Welfare Committee met the MC Additional Commissioner, Mr Raminder Singh today, said the construction work was on till late last night and repeated pleas of the residents to the persons behind the encroachment failed to yield any positive result. Mr Raminder Singh assured the deputation that the construction work had already been stopped at the specific instructions of the MC and the officials of the building branch had been asked to inspect the site and demolish any unlawful structure set up in the park. A representation, signed by a large number of residents of the colony, has also been submitted to the SSP and the police station concerned to ensure that the encroachment did not lead to law and order problem in the area. |
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Auditing power sought Ludhiana, May 7 Mr Harish Rai Dhanda, a member of the Bar Council of Punjab and Haryana, in a press note here today, said,‘‘ The Bar Council of India (BCI) has taken up the matter seriously due to which day to day provisions of accounts audit were adversely affecting the profession of taxation advocates. A national-level meeting of the BCI and the Bar councils of states has been called at Jodhpur on June 2 and 3 to demand auditing powers for taxation advocates.’’ In a meeting of taxation advocates and income tax practitioners from the state at Ludhiana, it was argued that when advocates and income tax practitioners could check and get the cases done and plead those cases where the accounts were audited then why they should not be given the power to audit accounts. |
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