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July 31, 2001, Chandigarh, India
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I was tortured by drunk
cops: Nirmal Ludhiana, July 30 Dhidi, who had gone in hiding at a relative's place due to the fear of the police, had come back to the village today morning. However, he again disappeared in the evening following a visit by some officers of the Dehlon police at his house who had allegedly come to take him to the police station for signing some papers. Talking to Ludhiana Tribune, he claimed that he was tortured by five policemen at Dehlon police station, who beat him up day and night. He said most of the time the cops were drunk. Dhidi in fact was walking with much difficulty. Later while talking to team of another English newspaper Dhidi suffered fits and was given medical care. According to him, he found a colourful wooden box with carving on the top. Excited at the discovery he opened the box and found two gold bracelets and a diamond ring. As he was alone in the room, he took the box to his house. Later, he learnt that the
haveli owner had also found two pitchers from the same place. According to him the bracelets were worth about Rs 25,000 but the diamond ring was worth about Rs 60,000. He admitted that he had made a mistake but failed to understand why the police had treated him in such a cruel manner. Interestingly, village sources told this correspondent today over phone that Dhidi again went in hiding as a police party came to his house looking for him. Sources said the police party had gone to his house yesterday also and warned the family members against talking to the media about the case. Inspector Nirabhjit Singh, SHO, Dehlon, was, however, not available for comments. |
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Lawyer booked for
misleading police Fatehgarh Sahib, July 30 The SSP, in his report, mentioned that a dispute between Sher Singh and Suraj Bhan over encroachment on a street in ward 8 in Amloh was pending in the court of Executive Magistrate. Both parties had a quarrel on December 18,2000. After that Suraj Bhan got himself admitted to a hospital and got an FIR registered against Sher Singh and others, alleging that Sher Singh had attacked him with a knife and had injured him on the nose, Harbans Lal had hit him with a lathi and Mohinder Singh had tried to shoot him with a revolver. The SSP further mentioned that Sher Singh had given a representation to the DIG, Patiala Range, alleging that a false case had been registered against them. He had mentioned that Suraj Bhan, on the day of the inquiry, had forcibly entered his house and started abusing and threatening his family members. The DIG had marked the inquiry to the SSP and he had furthered it to the DSP of Amloh. The DSP, in his report, mentioned that a scuffle between Suraj Bhan and Sher Singh had taken place as Suraj Bhan had entered the house of Sher Singh on the day of the visit of GA to DC. The people present there had separated them. The spectacles of Suraj Bhan had broken during the scuffle and the frame of the spectacles had caused bleeding and injury on the nose of Suraj Bhan. Taking the benefit of the injury, the advocated had got himself admitted
to hospital and by creating false witnesses had misled the police and got a false case registered against Sher Singh and others. When the panchayat made efforts to arrive at a compromise, he had put up the condition that Sher Singh should vacate the encroachment. The SSP, after seeking legal opinion, recommended registration of a case against the advocate under Section 182 of the IPC. The District Bar Association, Bar Associations of Amloh, Khanna and others, had observed a strike for the assault on the advocate. The Bar had submitted a memorandum to the DC for the transfer of the SHO of Amloh and arrest of the alleged culprits. |
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Yet another extension for PAU
Controller Ludhiana, July 30 The BoM also decided to write to the Government of Punjab to appoint another inquiry officer in the WAKF Board land exchange case. Sources told Ludhiana Tribune that Mr S.K. Bhatia, Controller, who was going to vacate the coveted post on July 31, was given an extension of six months by the BoM. Interestingly, the PAU had interviewed five candidates on July 22 for the post of Controller and the Selection Committee had recommended the name of Mr Gopal Dass. The board, however, did not decide about Mr Gopal Dass today. The development is all set to give rise to speculations on the campus. The decision would also come as a surprise for those who were terming the recommendation of Mr Dass as an expected decision as the university was said to decide finally about the next Controller. Mr Bhatia had retired from the post on April 30, 2000, but at a special meeting of the PAU board, he was granted an extension and the post was advertised. Initially, he was given an extension for an year and later it was extended for three months. The university had called the candidates for an interview on May 20 but it was cancelled as the officials had said that a member of the Selection Committee could not come to interview the candidates. Later, it was re-scheduled to be held on July 22 and the selection of Mr Dass had ended all allegations of favoritism on the authorities that they were favouring Mr Bhatia and hence were granting him extensions. Meanwhile, with the BoM asking the government to assign another inquiry officer into the land transfer case, the decade-old issue has come to the fore. The university was asked by the BoM to provide the details and present status of the case involving the PAU land transfer to the Wake Board. The issue involves a former Vice-Chancellor of the university and interestingly after a gap of three years the PAU had again brought the case into the focus. |
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Land scam: no action yet Ludhiana, July 30 The administration has failed to take any action against erring officials of the district administration even though the government admits that the land was sold not only once but several times well under the nose of the successive administrations. While the administration had been claiming that it would soon evict the occupants from the illegally occupied government land and remove all encroachments, nothing concrete has been done so far in the case. The complainant who had unearthed the scam is running from pillar to post to get heard but to no avail. Deputy Commissioner S.K. Sandhu had in January stated that administration would remove all encroachments on the grabbed government land and would not spare the guilty officials. Another official of the administration had told The Tribune that action would be taken against all involved in the land-grabbing case under the Public Premises Act as the land belonged to the Provincial government. He said the eviction procedure was a very difficult task as it was very tough to evict the residents from their houses but the administration had decided to act tough. The administration would prepare detailed lists of the residents, their history, sale of land and officials of the Revenue Department who had connived with the grabbers to sell off the land. The list would unravel the whole fraud and the guilty would be exposed. The moment one delves deeply into the land scandal, one is amazed at the manner in which the administration works. Not only has it failed to keep the promise of handing over 10 acres each to the 14 allottees, all belonging to the scheduled caste or ex-servicemen category, but has also not been able to update the revenue records which till date show the tillers as the owners of the land. The records even show two persons, Banta Singh and Jeet Singh, as the persons tilling some part of the land even though they had died long ago. Interestingly, the district administration after an inquiry into the ownership of 10 acres of land allotted to one Harbans Lal, who had later given the power of attorney to two partners, Mohinder Lal and Rakesh Sharma, registered a case of
cheating and fraud against four persons who had after illegally occupying the piece of land sold it off to some other persons. According to the two partners, the registration of the case stands as a testimony to the alleged scandal involving all 140 acres. However, the administration is silent on taking action against those who had sold off the remaining 130 acres illegally. The revenue records continue to show the tillers as the owners of the land even though about 2000 houses have been constructed on the what is claimed to be agriculture
land. Though four persons who allegedly illegally sold 10 acres of land belonging to Harbans Lal, no action has been taken against any revenue official. Another interesting component of the whole episode was the completion of an inquiry by the district administration into the illegal sale of 50 acres out of the disputed land. The inquiry clearly admits of the scandal but even though four months have passed since it was made public no action has been taken against any present or former official of the district administration or the Revenue Department. |
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MC pulls up
contractors Ludhiana, July 30 Telling the contractors point blank that their performance till now left much to be desired and that there was a lot of scope for improvement, Mr Sharma said that he, along with other officials of the electrical wing of the MC were carrying out checking of the streetlight points all over the city and had found that a number of streetlights were not functional. The contractors were further directed to streamline the system of rectification of faulty streetlights within 48 hours, as stipulated in the agreement. He maintained that the MC was well within its rights to invoke the penalty clause for delay in attending to complaints. Mr Sharma minced no words in asking the contractors to ‘deliver or depart’, while informing them that one of the contractors, had already been served with a show-cause notice for poor performance and the MC would not hesitate to take even the harshest step of terminating the contract and handing over the area to some other contractor, if the erring contractor failed to improve his working. The contractors assured the MC Additional Commissioner that they were fully responsive to the commitment of the civic body to bring about qualitative improvement in the streetlight network in the city. They attributed some slackness in the performance so far to ‘teething troubles’. They pointed out that there had been instances when the employees of the Punjab State Electricity Board had pilfered the PVC cable and even electrical fittings from the streetlight points. Despite bringing the matter to the attention of the MC authorities, no action had been taken against them. The contractors also demanded that certain deficiencies in the streetlight system, details of which were provided to the MC at the time of taking over of maintenance work, should be made up so that they were in a position to perform up to the expectation of both the city population and the MC authorities. Mr Sharma assured the contractors that the matter of pilferage of PVC cable and electrical fittings by PSEB employees would be immediately taken up at the highest level and the MC would also take steps to fulfil all commitments made in the contract documents. |
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‘Forged’ NOC detected Ludhiana, July 30 The Municipal Town Planner (MTP), Mr S.S. Bhatia, was in for a shock when a local firm produced a clearance certificate for some clarification from his office here today, purportedly issued under his signatures, but which in fact bore forged signatures. On an inquiry, a representative of the firm told the MTP that they had submitted an application in the B zone of the civic body and the certificate was issued to them in routine. However, Mr Bhatia, was absolutely sure that he had not signed any such certificate and as the said document bore a despatch number of the office of the Assistant Town Planner, B zone, he smelt a rat. Meanwhile, a councillor, Mr Sat Pal Puri, also maintained that certain employees of the building branch were involved in issuing such forged documents. The matter was brought to the notice of the Additional Commissioner, Mr S.K. Sharma, who has directed the police officials attached to the civic body to investigate the matter. The drawing branch officials of the B zone have also been asked to produce the relevant file so that the truth could be found out. Mr Sharma said if prima facie some foul play was established, a formal criminal complaint would be lodged with the police. An employee in the B zone’s drawing branch confirmed that the ‘Clearance Certificate’ was issued from the said office with a proper despatch number but the main file, on the basis of which the document was issued, was not traceable at the moment. While the matter was under investigation, sources in the MC revealed that some MC employees, including a personal assistant to high official in the building branch, were behind the racket of issuing such forged and fabricated documents. The sources said it was not for the first time that such incident had been unearthed. On previous occasions also some MC employees were nabbed with a large number of duplicate rubber stamps and blank official documents. |
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Ludhiana airport to
be expanded Ludhiana, July 30 Mr Gupta was talking to reporters before attending a private function. The Jet Airways flight, which was to start between Ludhiana and Delhi on August 1, would now start on September 1 as the private airline had already conveyed its inability to start the flight from Ludhiana on August 1. Mr Gupta affirmed that air traffic between Ludhiana and Delhi would definitely start on September 1. In the initial stages only small aircraft would operate as there was not adequate runway available here. For the time being, there would be a maximum capacity of 30 to 50 seats in the aircraft, which would be augmented in due course of time. The Civil Aviation Minister disclosed that while Jet Airways will start its flights on September 1, Indian Airlines will also explore the probability of operating its flights between Ludhiana and Delhi in the next six months. The Union Civil Aviation Ministry was seriously contemplating the expansion of the airport and its runway. “As of now the runway is not sufficient to provide an adequate take-off space to the big aeroplane so it needs to be expanded,” he said. For expanding the airports the requisite land is provided by the state government. He announced “if the state government provides us land tomorrow we will start work immediately”. |
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Sportspersons favour enactment of anti-doping
law Ludhiana, July 30 Olympian Hardeep Singh Garewal is of the view that there is no substitute for hard work. The sportspersons wanting to become champions by using drugs are on the wrong track. In every international event, the medicos closely monitor the players. There is no chance of using drugs to enhance their performance and they will rather defame themselves and their country. Hardeep is a classic example for sportspersons. He is a vegetarian and a teetotaller. He claimes that during his sports career he has always remained on top in health fitness test. He opines that the government should take strict action against players using drugs. He also demands strict action against the coaches who encourage the player to walk on this death track. General secretary of the Punjab Basketball Association Teja Singh Dhaliwal favours the idea of enacting a special law for those who are involved in this dirty game. He says sport is the only way to make our countrymen physically fit to live a healthy and prosperous life. He opines, “These drug addicts should have no place in the world of sports.” The coaches and sports organisations involved in such activities should not be spared. There should be a strict stricture passed by the government to stop this evil, he demands. General secretary of the Punjab Handball Association Balkar Singh Brar opposes the use of drugs to enhance the performance of a sportsperson. He says it is sad that some of our sportspersons are drug addicts and they do not play with the spirit of a sportsperson. He opines that they are cheating themselves and their country as they are a giving bad name to our country. Coaches and sports officials should be the first targets of the government to ensure that no sportsperson uses these drugs. He thinks that their close monitoring is necessary. He favours the enactment of a special law to punish the guilty sportsperson, coaches and sports officials. The best swimmer in the girls section of Punjab Agricultural University for the academic session 2000-2001, Bhavna Maheshwari, wants that the players should be groomed in such a manner that they rely on themselves and not on the drugs. "One must not forget that after all it is the individual strength and stamina of an athelete that pays in the long run", she points out, while adding, "You cannot change your destiny with the use of drugs". Mr Apinder Singh Grewal, Mayor, Ludhiana, is of the view that the Sports Ministry should take serious note of this problem. He states that the ministry should frame strict rules for the guilty player as well as other involved. We should launch awareness campaign at the grassroot level, he adds. |
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No clue to Manewal murder Ludhiana, July 30 With nothing coming out of the interrogation the police continues to grope in the dark in the case. In fact, the case is becoming intricate with further investigation. While on the first day it was suspected that the Congress leader was shot dead because of some political rivalry, the police strongly probed his personal life. However, now the police has found out that the deceased had financial disputes with several other persons. Sources said an unknown person had telephoned the police about a financial dispute being the reason behind the murder. The informer had mentioned the name of Golden Forests but the call got disconnected and the informer did not call again. The Head Constable is the brother of Surjit Kaur, who was living with the deceased Congress leader at Samrala for the past several years. She is incidentally the only person who has seen the two youths with whom the Congress leader left his home in the afternoon of July 26. His body was found at the banks of a canal near Machchiwara in the evening. The police suspected that the Congress leader might have been murdered by some aggrieved persons due to his relationship with the woman. The deceased was living away from his family. The police had earlier visited Ubhewal village near Machchiwara to question the Head Constable but he was not available. A police party was sent to Chandigarh to trace him but he was not found there too. He, however, appeared for questioning on his own today. |
No factionalism in Cong: Bhattal Ludhiana, July 30 Talking to reporters here today before addressing a membership rally of the Youth Congress organised by the District Youth Congress (Urban) president Parminder Mehta, Ms Bhattal refused to be drawn into any controversy over her grievances with the PPCC leadership, particularly after the party reorganisation. She said, “It is the internal matter of the party and if there are any grievances these will be raised at the party forum and not in the media”. Even on a specific question about the removal of Mr Harmohinder Singh as the District Congress Committee president Ludhiana (rural), she refused to comment. Mr Singh, who is the sitting MLA from Raikote, is considered to be close to her. He was also present at the press conference. Ms Bhattal refused any comment on the issue. Mr Singh had been replaced by Mr Gurdev Singh Lapran, a loyalist of Capt Amarinder Singh. Denying any factionalism in the PPCC, the senior Congress leader claimed that the party was gearing up for the elections and would emerge victorious. She maintained that all leaders of the party in the state were unanimous in the resolve to defeat the “corrupt” government of Mr Parkash Singh Badal. She also clarified that the party would not project any chief ministerial candidate and it would be decided by the party high command after the elections. The former Chief Minister lambasted the Badal government for its alleged soft corner for militants. She pointed out that while the Badal government was not bothered about the victims of militancy, it had issued directions to the Deputy Commissioners, asking them to provide relief to the families of the militants killed by the police. She asserted that her party would not allow the government to soft paddle with militancy and fiddle with peace which had been won after so many sacrifices. She disclosed that the party would soon come out with a charge sheet against the government, listing all its wrong deeds during its tenure. Later addressing the Youth Congress workers, she said the party had great expectations from them and hoped that they would utilise their energies for constructive work. She assured that the party would take due care of their aspirations during the forthcoming elections. She lauded the efforts of Mr Mehta in mobilising the youth for the party activity. Speaking on the occasion, Mr Mehta assured Ms Bhattal that the party rank and file was united and would leave no stone unturned for the success of the party. He claimed that the youth were feeling disillusioned with the government as corruption and unemployment were at their peak. He said the youth had great expectations from the party and hoped that it would come up to their expectations after coming to power. Mr Rakesh Pandey and Mr Harmohiner Singh, senior Congress leaders and MLAs, also spoke on the occasion. Among others present on the occasion were former legislator Jagir Singh Dard and local councillors Kuldeep Janda and Shyam Sunder Malhotra. |
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Martyr cremated Samrala, July 30 A pall of gloom descended on his village. But it did not stop the villagers from raising the slogans of “Long Live Dharam Singh”. Among others who attended the funeral were Mr Charanjeet Singh Atwal, Speaker of the Punjab Vidhan Sabha; Mr S. S. Brar, SDM, Samrala; Mr Sushil Kumar, DSP, Samrala; Mr Kirpal Singh Khirnian, a member of the SGPC; Mr Ishar Singh Meharban, a former minister; and Mr Gurdev Singh Mushkabad, a senior Akali leader; besides sarpanches, panches and lambardars of the area. |
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BSP seeks security cover for Kanshi Ram Ludhiana, July 30 Mr D.P. Khosla, vice-president of the Punjab unit of the party, said in a press note issued here today that the Centre as well as the Punjab Government was not serious about the security of Mr Kanshi Ram who has been in the state for the past eight months or so. He said even while the BSP was among the top political parties of the country, the Punjab Government was providing security to only those leaders who were close to Mr Parkash Singh Badal. He said in the wake of Phoolan Devi’s murder, the government must provide security cover to the party supremo and also make adequate security arrangements for other state level leaders of the party. Mr Khosla warned that if any harm comes to any of the BSP leaders in the state, Mr Parkash Singh Badal would be responsible for that. Mr Khosla said the party would contest the forthcoming Assembly elections on its own and would field its candidates for all the 117 seats and gain a comfortable majority to form a government. Citing the example of Uttar Pradesh, Mr Khosla reiterated that while other parties believed in empty rhetoric promising a lot of things with the electorate, BSP was the only party which believed in delivering the goods. He said many welfare schemes for the poor were started by Ms Mayawati during her two tenures as Chief Minister of UP. The BSP would even fulfill promises made by other parties, he added. |
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AISSF supports SAD-BJP coalition Ludhiana, July 30 Presiding over a workers’ meeting at Jamalpur, Mr Kulwant Singh Ranike urged the AISSF activists to propagate the policies and programmes of the government among the masses to combat the campaign of misinformation and disinformation, launched by the Congress and certain other disgruntled Akali Dal factions. Focussing on the intensive measures, initiated by Chief Minister Mr Badal, to speed up the development programmes, he said development grants worth crores of rupees were being distributed all over the state, which had irked the opposition parties. The meeting adopted resolutions to call upon the party leadership to nominate Mr Sharanjit Singh Dhillon, Director, Markfed as party candidate from Ludhiana (Rural) constituency and acting President of the District Akali Jatha Avtar Singh Makkar from Ludhiana (West) segment for the coming Assembly elections in Punjab. According to Mr Ranike, a delegation of the AISSF functionaries would soon meet the Chief Minister to press upon the candidature of Mr Dhillon and Mr Makkar. |
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Returning officers for YC poll Ludhiana, July 30 Mr Babbu and Mr Dewan said the membership drive for the PYC was being done from the grassroot level onwards as per the decision and directions of the All-India Congress President Ms Sonia Gandhi. They announced that the membership drive would be held from August 1 to 31. The Youth Congress leaders disclosed that the membership would be a “genuine one” and the workers would go to each household. They said the workers would create awakening about the nationalism among the youth. Mr Babbu will conduct the statewide tour to personally supervise the membership drive. He will be accompanied by Youth Congress leaders including Dharminder Rana, Raminder Singh Rechie, Jaswinder Singh Sabi and Rajesh Jain Kala.
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PWD workers stage rally Ludhiana, July 30 Mr Baljinder Singh, zonal president of the union, while addressing the workers, condemned the attack by the police. The workers burnt an effigy of the Punjab government and presented a memorandum to the Deputy Commissioner, Mr S.K. Sandhu, demanding action against the erring police officers. The speakers urged the government to accept the pending demands of the notification issued in January. |
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Two hurt as truck
hits scooter Sahnewal, July 30 |
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Panch elected Amloh, July 30 |
Software firm signs MoU Ludhiana, July 30 |
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