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| Sunday,
May 12, 2002, Chandigarh, India
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Pritpal
comes out against Sidhu Patiala, May 11 Pritpal Singh has got his statement recorded under Section 161 which is a damning indictment of the rule of Sidhu and he could further tilt the balance in favour of the investigating agencies if he records a statement under Section 164 and turns approver. Pritpal
Singh, who was Secretary of the PPSC during Sidhu’s tenure, in his
statement to the police, has claimed that Sidhu played havoc with the
secrecy rules. He disclosed that all question papers and answer sheets
were handled by Sidhu alone and that they were received back in open
envelopes. The former Secretary said while he tried to ensure secrecy
in the entire process, Sidhu clearly did not. He said the PPSC Chairman solely decided as to which answer sheets would go to which examiner. He said similarly the Chairman was the sole deciding authority on the constitution of various interview boards and also decided as to who would be the subject expert for a particular interview with there being no panel of experts empanelled with the PPSC. The PCS officer has also disclosed that he burnt the official record of the PPSC 55 times on the directions of Sidhu and that he last burnt official record on May 2, 2002. It
was also disclosed by the former Secretary to the investigating
agencies that Sidhu started functioning from his Chandigarh residence
in 1999 because of tension with other members of the commission. He
said due to this he had to go to the Chandigarh residence of the PPSC
Chairman at least two to three times a week for official work. He
claimed that he had seen Jagman Singh, who has since been arrested for
working as a tout for Sidhu, at the Chairman’s house. Pritpal
Singh has also claimed in his statement that he had brought
allegations levelled against Sidhu in the media to the latter’s
notice. He said the PPSC Chairman, however, dismissed the allegations
as rumours floated by various parties. He has also claimed that Sidhu
had gone to the USA four times, to the UK once and to some other
countries also during his tenure in the PPSC. Sources said the Vigilance Bureau was working towards turning Pritpal Singh into an approver and that this was the reason why he had not been involved in the case. They said Pritpal Singh statement was recorded after he was given a notice under Section 160 and he joined the investigation process. |
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JOBS-FOR-SALE-SCAM Congress government in Punjab headed by Capt Amarinder Singh has appointed Justice
A. S. Garg, a retired High Court Judge, as Chairman of the Inquiry Commission set up to probe acts of omission and commission of the previous SAD-BJP government. Lauding Capt Amarinder Singh’s government for campaign against corruption, Mr Mann said that Mr Badal did nothing to expose corruption in the state. Without naming any one, Mr Mann said that now most of the former Akali ministers and other activists were feeling scared as the effect of various investigations had started reaching them. He said that judges whose names had figured in course of police investigations into the PPSC’s recruitment scam during the tenure of Mr Ravi Sidhu should proceed on leave till the completion of the inquiry into the “jobs-on-sale” scandal. He said that various sections of society had started raising voice against corruption and it would soon take the shape of a movement. Meanwhile, he has also sought a CBI probe into the “disappearance” of acting Jathedar of Akal Takht
Gurdev Singh Kaonke in 1993. He said that though several various inquiries into the disappearance of the Jathedar had been held by the state police but justice had not been done. The state police’s stress was on shielding the “culprits” who took away the Jathedar from his village, he added. Mr Mann said that one inquiry conducted into the disappearance of the Jathedar by ADGP,
B. P. Tiwari was rejected by the previous Punjab Police chief. A fresh inquiry had been entrusted to Mr
M. P. S. Aulakh and Mr K. K. Attari, both senior officers of Punjab Police, he added. |
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Withdraw
Army from border: Mann Amritsar, May 11 The communication urges the Union Government to send a delegation of experts to study the difficulties of the border villagers. In his letter to Mr L.K. Advani, Mr Mann points out that none of the assurances given by the Home Minister regarding compensation to farmers for crops destroyed beyond fencing in the zeroline area, rebuilding of bridges and posting of women constables for search operations have been fulfilled following his visit in 1998. However, in the changed scenario, the border inhabitants are facing a tough time due to the defence build-up In the communication to the Defence Minister, Mr Mann has sought his attention towards the distress sales of milch cattle by these villagers. Mines in their fields have played havoc with their lives and their standing crops, he alleged. The agricultural area is facing a drought-like situation due to non-functional tubewells that are surrounded by minefields. He urged the Ministry of Defence to pay lump sum compensations. |
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Whither
higher education? Chandigarh, May 11 All 219 colleges, government (49) and private (140-affiliated and aided and 30 affiliated but unaided), put together have failed to give education a direction. Like factories, these continue to churn out graduates, who have an uncertain future, no hope, no jobs. The situation has been further compounded with the introduction of computer, management and vocational courses. While government colleges couldn’t care less, private colleges saw “money” in the new courses and opened “shops”, as part of the ‘’self-financing’’ scheme allowed by the government. Consequently, the turnout of students with degrees in these courses far outnumbered the job opportunities. As a result, these courses have now a lower intake of students. The situation has reached flashpoint, where, for example, the Panjab University Syndicate on April 27 allowed four affiliated colleges to discontinue these courses. The annual fee charged for these courses is exorbitant. If it is in the range of Rs 20,000 to Rs 30,000 for computer courses, it is between Rs 9,000 and Rs 15,000 for management and vocational courses. On the other hand, there is no proper, qualified staff. Colleges hire teachers on contract for just seven months and pay them Rs 4,500 to Rs 6,500 per month. Now a situation has risen when the large army of unemployed youth, who have spent hefty sums on acquiring degrees, are seemingly frustrated. There are apprehensions of social tensions building up, particularly in the rural areas. There is also a total mismatch between the administrative and academic aspects in government and private colleges. The state spends Rs 70 crore per annum on 49 government colleges and Rs 72 crore on 170 private colleges. Against a student strength of around 51,000 in government colleges, the private colleges have 2.19 lakh students on their rolls. If the age of retirement in government colleges is 58 years, it is 60 in private colleges. Punjab has not implemented the UGC decision (approved by the Government of India) of raising the retirement age to 62 years. Even the Panjab University Senate has approved 62 years as the age of superannuation. There is a clamour among government and private colleges for money. In fact, the Punjab and Chandigarh College Teachers Union has exhausted all channels to make the state implement the pension-cum-gratuity scheme. Now, several teachers have knocked at the door of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, which has asked the government to file its final decision by June 15 next. Ironically, the pension-cum-gratuity scheme has been approved by five Chief Ministers since 1992. It has remained unimplemented despite there being an Act cleared by the Punjab Vidhan Sabha on March 30,1999. Asked about this, the Minister of Education, Mr Khushal Bahl, told TNS that the government was not averse to giving pension-cum-gratuity in the case of private colleges. There is fear of social upheaval with so many educated youth cooling their heels. Higher education is practically delinked from school education, primary to higher secondary, though the two have a symbiotic relationship. Therefore, realising the need for paying heed to education as a whole, the present government is preparing an ‘’action plan’’ to restructure the education system as a whole. Mr Bahl said that a memorandum on an overarching education policy would shortly be submitted to the Council of Ministers for approval. The broad contours had been discussed by him with the Principal Secretary, Higher Education, Mr N.S. Rattan. Mr Bahl said the policy would incorporate the suggestions contained in the education policy drafts already submitted by a former Secretary, Education, Mr G.P.S. Sahi, the Vice-Chairman, State Planning Board, Dr S.S. Johl, and a former Vice-Chancellor, Dr Amrik Singh, who submitted a report on vocational education. The Minister listed the problems faced by government colleges —poor infrastructure, unsatisfactory buildings, vacancies, non-competitive spirit, etc. He emphasised that the government would create an ‘’educational environment’’, with academics being linked as much to extra-curricular activities as administration, human resource development in students and identifying colleges to make them ‘’centres of excellence’’ in different fields. The most important aspect of the proposed policy would be the proper selection of teachers. They were the ones who chiselled young sensitive minds for a long period and carved the future of the country. Therefore teachers’ recruitment would get major focus. Punjab, in fact, had no HRD map showing the manpower requirement in different fields of education — general education, technical, medical, engineering, etc — or what type of courses need to be introduced. ‘’We will take care of these aspects. We will also pay greater attention to rural colleges. Our aim is to protect the sensitivity of students and the sanctity of education at all levels,’’ added Mr
Bahl. |
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Bookies
bare nexus with cricketers Ludhiana, May 11 The startling revelation was made up during questioning of two bookies, Vinodi Lal and Vijay Gupta, arrested by the CIA, Wing-I, of the Ludhiana police recently. Highly-placed police sources said the two accused had disclosed to the police that some very influential bookies based in Delhi and Mumbai were regularly consulting players, both playing and retired ones, before deciding on the bet ratio. The revelation recorded in the official “misle” ( case file) said the influential bookies then announced the bet ratio to their sub-agents, which then finally spread to the wide net of bookies and punters in the entire country and even abroad. According to the sources, three bookies — Seeta of Delhi, Sandy of Bathinda and Kuku of Ludhiana have been identified as key players in the bookies’ racket prevalent in the northern region of the country, especially Punjab. ‘‘We thought the players were out of this illegal gambling racket”, said a police official adding that the two bookies had claimed their involvement. ‘‘ We will investigate it further and verify it” the official said. He added that the bookies had revealed a lot more, but he could not disclose it as it might hamper the investigation. The Tribune has also accessed a long list of bookies active in the state. According to police records, the alleged bookies are Harminder Singh Minto, Parveen Kumar Tony, known as Gulati, Sandeep Singh, Sanjeev Kalra, Neeraj Kalra, Devinder Gulati, Bhup Singh, Kuku, Happy, Anand Sood, Raju Chawla, Pinki Sood, Rocky, Ashok and Sandy. Most of these are based in Ludhiana and New Delhi while some are in Bathinda and Jalandhar. The Ludhiana police had earlier this week arrested four bookies — Vinodi Lal, Vijay Gupta, Raj Kumar and Devinder Kumar. The former two were also booked under the Prevention of Corruption Act for allegedly trying to bribe the investigating officer, Inspector, Mukhwinder Singh, in charge CIA, Wing-I. The latter two had to be released on bail as bookies are arrested under the Gambling Act only, which is a bailable offence. The police had registered a case against seven others under the Gambling Act, but all of them are yet to be arrested. They are Om Parkash, Naresh Kumar, Harpal Singh, Sanjeev Kumar, Neeraj Kumar, Parveen Kumar and Gulati. |
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Row over death of
Akali leader’s kin Ludhiana, May 11 While the police claimed at a press conference that the girl had committed suicide and initiated the process to cancel the case of murder registered against four in-laws of the victim, Varinder Kaur, her maternal parents, represented by a close relative and Akali leader, Mr Amarjit Singh Bhatia, alleged that they suspected foul play in the case and did not rule out the involvement of money in shaping the sudden twist to the case. Mr
R. B. S. Parmar, DSP, claimed at a press conference that the police investigation into the case had found that the girl was not killed by her in-laws as alleged by her brother and other relatives and had instead, committed suicide. He said due to the unearthing of this fact the police was recommending cancellation of the FIR registered under Section 302 of the IPC against her four in-laws. Mr Parmar said the suicide claim was based on the report of a board of doctors that had examined the body and concluded that the girl had committed suicide as the mark on her neck seemed to have been imprinted due to hanging and not by strangulation. He said the police, after questioning persons concerned with the case, found that the woman and her husband used to quarrel often and had a fight that fateful morning also. To cap the evidence, he said the police also found a personal diary of the victim, on which she had written that she was ending her life on her own as she did not want to live in this cruel world. She had implored her parents to take care of her children. Interestingly, the said suicide note according to a press note, was written on the first page of the personal diary which seems quite improbable. When the example of the mysterious death of computer engineer Rohit was cited, whose case is yet to be solved, the DSP said the case had different circumstances and the viscera report was awaited. Interestingly, in the case of Varinder Kaur also, the viscera report is awaited. Asked about the action to be taken against the relatives of the victim who had claimed to have seen the murder, the DSP said action against them for filing a false complaint could be taken only after the approval of the court. The DSP, however, said if new facts emerged, the police could do a rethinking on the issue. Mr Amarjit Singh Bhatia alleged that the police was playing a partisan role in the case. He even alleged that money had exchanged hands. He said he would move the court on the issue. Varinder Kaur, a niece of the Akali leader, was found dead in her house in Basti Abdulahpur on Wednesday. On the statement of her brother, Charanjit Singh Punnu, the police had booked her in-laws, Jaswant Singh, Manmohan Kaur, Satwinder Kaur and Inderpal Singh for killing her. He had stated that he received a call from her sister that she was being beaten up and when, he along with others, reached the house, they saw the in-laws murdering her. |
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SAD, BJP fail to tie up with BSP Jalandhar, May 11 Mr Harbhajan Singh Sarihn, Chairman of the Punjab unit of the BSP, who was scheduled to announce the seat-sharing arrangements in the presence of district chiefs of the SAD and the BJP for the ensuing poll, hurriedly left the press conference venue here when they failed to resolve the dispute over allocation of some seats demanded by the BSP. The problem started when the district SAD chief, Mr Partap Singh, refused to accept the demand of the BSP to leave the Ward No. 50 seat for the BSP just before the start of the press conference. Besides, the BSP was demanding 15 seats, whereas the Akalis were adamant to allot only seven seats to the former. Subsequently, the BSP leaders led by Mr Sarihn boycotted the press conference and left the venue. Later talking to mediapersons, Mr Sarihn alleged that though the BJP leaders had earlier acceded to their demand about the allocation of 15 seats to the BSP, the Akali leadership humiliated them by offering only seven seats. “We are not beggars. They have no right to humiliate us. We have decided to contest 16 seats, which was announced by the party high command last week and there will be no seat adjustment with the SAD-BJP during this election,” Mr Sarihn asserted. Interestingly, the SAD-BJP alliance has not allotted party tickets to their workers in seven wards, where the BSP was scheduled to put up its candidates under the seat-sharing formula reportedly evolved by the parties. Since the last date of filing nomination papers was May 9, the SAD-BJP combine has been left with no option but to support some independent candidates in these wards. Meanwhile, at the press conference the district SAD chief, Mr Partap Singh, and the district BJP chief, Mr Subash Sood, announced that seven seats had been left for the candidates of the BSP. “The BSP is demanding about eight more seats, where the Akali candidates had lost by a narrow margin during the last corporation poll. We have refused to give up our claims on these seats,” said Mr Partap Singh, adding that his party would contest 16 seats, the BJP 32 seats and rest of the seats would be left for the BSP. |
BJP’s 2-day session at Sangrur on May 20 Chandigarh, May 11 Mr Sangh Priya Gautam, national general secretary of the BJP, will also be present there. Mr Gautam was made in charge of party’s affairs of Punjab unit a few days ago. He replaced Mr O.P. Kohli, who has been allocated other states. Mr Gautam will arrive in Chandigarh on May 19 and proceed to Sangrur next day. All officer-bearers of the party, MLAs, former MLAs and former Ministers have been invited to attend the Sangrur meet. Presidents of the district units of the party and office-bearers of front organisations have also been invited. Mayors, Municipal Councillors etc have also been asked to participate in the session. Besides, those who have been party’s officer-bearers or held any other office after 1952 also have been requested to attend the meeting. The BJP suffered massive defeat in the Punjab Vidhan Sabha elections held in February 2002. Reasons behind the defeat and several other questions will come up at the meeting. |
Act remains only on paper Bathinda, May 11 As per the Act, three per cent posts were to be reserved in government and semi-government departments, local bodies, government-controlled institutions and government-aided organisations. The Punjab Government had issued a notification in 1999 for implementation of the Act in all establishments except in government-aided organisations. Official sources said that if the notification for the reservation under the said Act was issued, many disabled persons might have got employment. Although it could not be ascertained what had prevented the respective governments from issuing the notification, it showed the lack of interest of the government towards the cause of the disabled. The disabled all over the country had expected a miraculous change as far as job opportunities for them were concerned, when the Act was passed. However, their hopes were shattered as the same was not properly implemented. The Persons with Disability (Equal Opportunity, Protection of Rights, Full Participation) Act, 1995, was passed with the aim that the physically disabled persons should be given equal opportunities and three per cent job should be reserved for them in various organisations run, aided or controlled by the government. The Act was passed with much fanfare and it was called the opening of new horizon for the disabled, but for the disabled residents of Punjab it was not more than a daydream. |
Payment
for levy rice within week Bathinda, May 11 The Punjab Government took this decision as some rice mill owners, whose payments for levy rice delivered to the Food Corporation of India (FCI) have been lying pending for the past many months, are finding it difficult to arrange funds to run their businesses. The non-payment of dues of levy rice may force mill owners not to run their mills in the coming season and it can affect the milling operations in Punjab adversely. Punjab Minister for Food and Supply, Lal Singh while talking to TNS today said the state government had decided to release about Rs 200 crore for making payments to rice mill owners for the rice delivered by them to the FCI under the levy category. He said the amount for payment to rice mill owners was misutilised by the previous SAD-BJP combine government after taking the same from the FCI. He said some rice mill owners had been running from pillar to post to get their payments for the past about six months. He said all officials concerned had been directed to calculate the dues of each rice mill owner and make the payment immediately. He said the Punjab Government had also appealed to the rice mill owners to have patience as they would soon get their payments. He pointed out that the Punjab Government had decided to take action against those rice mill owners who had defaulted in the delivery of rice after taking paddy from various agencies of the state government for milling. He said he had procured the data pertaining to the total loss caused to the state by the defaulter rice mill owners and shortly an action would be started against him by the Punjab Government to recover the loss from them. He claimed that so far not a single bag of wheat was allowed to be purchased by anyone in any purchase centre in the state below the minimum support price (MSP) of Rs 620. The payments of the commission agents would be cleared within a week. |
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Hospital
building dilapidated Batala, May 11 Qadian Civil Hospital has six rooms and all are in a dilapidated condition except one, where doctors examine patients. Even the in charge of this hospital, Dr Jasbir Kumar, examines patients in the corridor of the hospital and in his residential house nearby. Qadian has its Member of Legislature Assembly (MLA) in Punjab at present and Mr Natha Singh Dalam, an former Public Relations Minister, Punjab, during the SAD-BJP government in Punjab led by Mr P.S. Badal was also from this constituency. Residents of Qadian and nearby area said they had informed him (Mr Dalam) about the conditions of the Civil Hospital’s buildings but he except giving assurances did nothing for the hospital building. At present total seven staff members are working in this hospital, covering 70,000 population in the area which mostly is below the poverty line. Once termed the best hospital, but due to the conditions of the hospital building the staff do not permit any patient to stay here for night but serious patients needing emergency medical attendance can stay. The present “PWD Minister, Punjab, Mr Partap Singh Bajwa, who belongs to Qadian would do the needful and use his discretionary powers to get the building. |
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Electrician
‘exposes’ mobile phones’ security lapse
Patiala, May 11 Mr Ashwani Gaur, while addressing mediapersons, challenged the claims made by the developers about the security system of these phones. He claimed to have discovered major security holes that could lead in successful cloning of the CDMA mobile phones for the first time. Mr Gaur said that he had prepared a duplicate chip with similar configuration of a CDMA mobile phone and used it in another phone. In this experiment, the new mobile phone with duplicate chip proved like a parallel phone. The parallel phone gave positive results and the claims of the CDMA and the GSM mobile phones developers proved fake, he claimed. According to Mr Gaur, the CDMA and GSM mobile phones failed to keep privacy in communication and the systems could be used for spying purposes and proxy calls could be made from such phones. |
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Traffic
blocked Kapurthala, May 11 The agitated residents bolted the gate of the hospital and staged a dharna in the middle of road. Additional Deputy Commissioner Som Nath, SP (Detective) Darshan Kumar and DSP (City) Daljit Singh reached the spot and on their assurance that they would take action against the erring officials if negligence was proved, the agitated residents lifted the blockade. Mr Som Nath directed the Health Department to conduct an inquiry into the matter and submit the report to him. Civil Surgeon Dr
S. P. Jagat has directed District Health Officer Dr S. S. Gill and Dr Ashok Dhingra to jointly conduct the inquiry into the patient’s death. |
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Three day Urs
begins Fatehgarh Sahib May11 |
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IAS officer’s bail extended Ropar, May 11 |
Police to check misuse
of security cover Patiala, May 11 These officers are being asked to strictly supervise the duties for which the securitymen provided to various VIPs were being used and to report any misuse of personnel so that they could be withdrawn immediately. “Some VIPs made police personnel do work other than that assigned to them’’, said Mr Rajinder Singh, Inspector-General, (Security), while talking to TNS today. ‘’The practice of using gunmen as status symbols has to be stopped,’’ he said, adding that reports had been received that security personnel had been misused for personal work in the past. A survey is also being conducted of the number of persons who had been given security cover during the period of militancy due to threat perceptions but had continued to retain it on one pretext or the other. He said security to such persons would also be withdrawn with threat perceptions being reviewed. He said attempts were also being made to ensure unscrupulous persons were not able to take security cover at the lower level by keeping senior officers in the dark. Mr Rajinder Singh said as against 11,000 security personnel deputed for security duties around two months ago, the figure had been brought down to 5,000 men. He said security personnel had been withdrawn at all levels. He said while 86 persons had been provided X, Y and Z category security cover, the figure had been reduced to 58 at present. While the axe has fallen on private persons, the security cover of police officers and bureaucrats has also been reduced. This has led to the restoration of 3,400 personnel back to their respective districts. The IG said it was planned to repatriate some more personnel, following which the security cover in the state would be reduced by more than 30 per cent. The security cover of the Chief Minister has also been reduced with Capt Amarinder Singh moving around in a much smaller cavalcade than that of his predecessor, he said. |
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DC passes eviction orders Fatehgarh Sahib, May 11 According to sources the employees present there told the SDM about the misdeeds, but the night watchman, who is a witness to all the incidents, was not present at that time. The residents of the surrounding area had been protesting against the immoral activities being carried out in the residence by the engineering college student related to a local government official. The residents have welcomed the immediate action taken by the district administration. |
Vigilance-Intelligence row: CM unhappy
“What has happened in the past days in this connection was very unfortunate. It should not have happened at such a senior level”, a top officer of the Punjab Home Department said today. He said that Chief Minister was expected here early next week. He had some urgent engagements in Delhi concerning the state. On his return the issue would be taken up with all concerned. Officers
concerned had been told to avoid comments against the functioning of
anyone and as it is an internal matter of the Police Department, it
should be resolved amicably without holding debate in the press as was
going on for the past one week. |
Police crackdown on chemists Abohar, May 11 Sources said Mr Tiwari had received complaints from different quarters that cough syrups, pain killers, tension-relieving medicines were being sold by the chemists without a prescription. A majority of the customers were youth, including college-going boys and girls, who had become addicts. The town has been considered second-top centre in the state for drug and narcotic consumption inquiries have revealed that most of the local residents who took admission in Chandigarh-based educational institutions had not only become drug addicts but leading sellers also. Mr
P. K. Sinha, SSP, had also expressed concern over the situation that had taken alarming proportions. The police simultaneously carried out raids across the district. Decoy customers were used to trap the chemists who figured in the intelligence reports and the complaints from the public. Two chemists were arrested from Gandhi Chowk at Fazilka and Khulkhera village. Capsules and objectionable material were seized from Ravinder Singh of Nukerian village. Two chemists were arrested at Ladhuka township while three RMPs were held in areas that fall under the jurisdiction of the Mallanwala police station. They were identified as Ashwani Dhawan, Harbans Singh and Karnail Singh. Their clinics were reportedly sealed after the recovery of a large quantity of restricted medicines. Two chemists were arrested at Zira. Shops of many chemists were sealed. The police arrested Vipan Sehgal and Sunny Midha near the bus stand and the Nai Abadi area here while selling restricted medicines. Pawan Kumar of Jogewala village was also arrested. Mr Sinha held a meeting of police officials of the subdivision here last evening. It is learnt that the drive against the illegal sale of restricted medicines, inflow of opium, poppy husk from Rajasthan figured during discussions. The state headquarters of the Health Department had received complaints that the sample drawing campaign by the drug inspectors and district health officers had proved to be a farce. The offenders had allegedly been receiving information in advance about the raids. Mr Sat Pal Khariwal, Chairman, Consumer Movement, while welcoming the action of the civil and police authorities said the directions issued by the Punjab and Haryana High Court against quacks in the medical profession were not being implemented in the district. |
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Tax inspector booked Bathinda, May 11 Mr Baljinder Singh Grewal, SP (Vigilance), in a press statement issued here yesterday, claimed that Mr Surinder Kumar had taken a bribe of Rs 1200 from a trader, Mr Bikramjit Garg, based at
Gidderbaha, for not imposing a fine on him for his transaction in pipes at the information collection centre. He added that Mr Balwinder Singh, constable, posted at the centre, had taken the money from Mr Garg after being directed to do so by the accused. A section of inspectors, who had been trying to take up the matter with the Punjab Government through their union, alleged that Mr Surinder Kumar had not demanded bribe from Mr Garg. They added that the accused has asked Mr Garg to pay a penalty of Rs 1200 as tax had been evaded on some goods. Mr Vinod Kumar, DSP (Vigilance), when contacted, said the money had been recovered from the constable. The intention of Mr Surinder Kumar was evident from the fact that he had detained the vehicle carrying the goods for a long time, he added. |
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Guilty
in pension scam evade arrest Amritsar, May 11 In a press note issued today, Mr Dang said about 10 agents, including the kingpin of the whole scam, Surinder Kumar, a panch, who was getting pensions sanctioned for bogus and ineligible persons had still not been arrested. A case was registered against Surinder Kumar, on the orders of SSP Param Pal Singh Sidhu. However, he managed to get bail from the high court. Subsequently, another case was registered by the Punjab vigilance bureau at Chandigarh against him recently. Mr Dang said the high court had rejected the bail application of Surinder Kumar following the registration of the new case but he had managed to evade arrest so far. Similarly the Rs 23-crore scandal unearthed by Dr Rishi Pal Singh and many other pension scams exposed with the help of the AITUC, Punjab Istri Sabha, CPI activists and Mr Dang had not been pursued by the government, he said. |
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SAD leader held; stolen cars seized Sunam, May 11 This was stated by Mr Amardeep Singh Rai, SSP, Sangrur, in a press note issued here today. The SAD leader allegedly stole cars with the connivance of Suresh Kumar and some resident of Delhi. He arranged fake documents to get the stolen cars registered at the town and Mansa, the SSP added. Mr Rai said the leader was arrested during a raid led by Mr Gurmeet Singh Chauhan, DSP, Sunam. A case has been registered under Sections 420, 411, 467, 468 of the IPC and 120 of the Cr PC. |
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SDO held
on bribery charge Fatehgarh Sahib, May 11 Giving the details Mr Paramjit Singh Grewal SP, Vigilance Patiala, told that Surinder Singh, a resident of Marwa village had applied to increase the electricity load of his connection. The SDO Ayodhya Parsad demanded Rs 1500 for passing the test report. He said the SDO was not attesting the test report on one or the other pretext. Surinder Singh had approached Mr Paramjit Singh
Khera, DSP, Vigilance, Fatehgarh Sahib, and laid out a plan to trap the
SDO. He said as soon as he handed over the money to the SDO, the Vigilance teams arrested him. A case has been registered against the
SDO. |
Assurance to former govt college teachers Chandigarh, May 11 The president of Association, Prof Sarwan Singh welcomed Mr Bahl and Mr N.S. Rattan, Principal Secretary Higher Education, Punjab. Principal
B. K. Bhalla, Secretary of the Association read the annual report.
Prof S. P. Dhawan, former Deputy Director (Higher Education) delivered the keynote address on the subject of ‘‘Quality Crisis in Higher Education’’. He called for curbing mushroom growth of colleges, without proper infrastructure, attracting the finest talent for teaching
faculty even from other states, provision of adequate financial support, and realisation on the part of the teachers to give their best to students and society. Mr
N. S. Rattan assured the members that most of their demands were being taken up with the Finance Department, while several steps of far reaching significance, were being implemented in the near future for qualitative improvement of higher education. Dr Bhagat Singh, former Vice-Chancellor, Punjabi University, Patiala, Prof Gursewak Singh and Mrs K. Atma Ram, former DPIs (Colleges) were among the gathering. |
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250 medical students left in lurch Amritsar, May 11 The university has fixed two schedules for conducting MD, MS and MDS final examinations in its calendar — one in May-June and another in November-December. But, this time the examinations are scheduled to be held from May 17, which is unsuitable for the students as the stipulated period of the postgraduate course completes on August 31. They will have to wait for the next examinations losing four months of their prospective career. The students will not be paid stipend after August as per the rules of the state government. The problem has arisen because the dates of admission of postgraduate medical students are decided according to a notification issued by the government. These dates vary every year whereas the dates of examinations are fixed according to university schedule. Mr Dang has suggested to the government that the powers of fixing of dates of admission to the course be rested with universities. Subsequently, the university should conduct the examinations twice a year with one especially for the outgoing batch. However, he demanded that the predicament of the students should be solved at the earliest. |
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Three teachers chargesheeted Amritsar, May 11 The management enlisted nine charges against the suspended teachers, including indiscipline, picketing inside the college, issuing wrong and defamatory statements in newspapers, disobeying lawful orders of the Principal, threatening and intimidating the Principal and the working staff, hatching conspiracy and fabricating character assassination against Principal and staff, disobeying the orders of the district court, and instigating other staff members to indulge in above activities. Meanwhile, the district administration has deputed an SDM to hold a thorough probe into the charges and counter-charges (including that regarding alleged sexual harassment). Dr Vibhakar Sharma Vice-Principal of the college who has been facing serious charges had written to Baba Farid University of Health Sciences that the college had established a cell to tackle sexual-harassment cases as per the directions of the Union Government. However, Mr Santosh Gupta, President of the college management, while talking to TNS, said the cell was yet to be formed. On April 23, the Registrar of the university asked the college management about the complaint lodged against Dr Sharma. The letter reads: “intimate the names of members of the committee to combat sexual harassment and violence against women at workplace. You have not so far done the needful. A complaint signed by the three women teachers has been received against Dr Sharma. It has been alleged that a woman safai worker had to resign as she refused to succumb to his physical advances. She approached the women teachers to plead her case but the teachers are not feeling secure as the senior professor was supported by the higher authorities. You are requested to reply to the said charges against the senior professor as the matter appears very serious”. The teaching and non-teaching staff, in the representation sent to the Vice-Chancellor of the university, said it was “abuse of the process of the law that the senior professor was still enjoying all privileges at the college as well as university level. The teachers sought registering of an FIR against the professor. The teachers who received the charge sheets today refuted the charges levelled against them. They described the charges as concocted as the Principal had given certificates of good character, conduct and satisfactory work to them. Meanwhile, Mr Gupta said the management was ready to accept the genuine demands of the teachers. He, however, said the teachers had been instigating the students to join them on the protest dharna. However, the teachers described the charges as baseless. On the collection of Gujarat relief fund, Mr Gupta admitted that the amount to the tune of Rs 10,400 was collected by the Principal from students. However, when teachers and non-teaching staff refused to donate for the fund, the students pleaded that the fund collected from them should be deposited with a senior student so that it could be used for farewell and welcome parties. He said the fund had not been misused as claimed by some students. |
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Schools
‘fleecing’ parents Pathankot, May 11 The school authorities provide a list of books and other articles to the parents along with the name of the book-seller. A similar list is given for the uniform along with the name of a particular dealer. Parents have to make the payments to the school or to the dealer even for winter uniform. In some cases, a selected book-seller or his helper is called by the school authorities and parents are asked to buy the books from him. The parents reportedly have to buy the books and stationery items at exorbitant prices. |
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Controversy
over paper slip Bathinda, May 11 Though the president of the sabha, Mr Manohar Lal Gupta, claimed that no such slip has been issued, some members of the sabha favoured a fair probe into the matter. They also alleged that such incidents had taken place earlier also. Mr Gupta claimed that some vested interests had forged the signature on the slip. He asserted that action had been taken against those members found
guilty of misconduct. |
3 more qualify for ‘Staara Yaara’ contest Patiala, May 11 The stage is now set for an exciting final at Ludhiana to be held tomorrow evening in which the six finalists will put in their best performance for the No 1 title. All rounds of the contest will be telecast on ETC Channel ( Punjabi). Nine-year-old Kanak Joshi, 16-year-old Jasmet Kaur and 30-year-old Sanjay Khan emerged winners in the second semi-final held at Patiala. At a live concert held last night at Circus Grounds, seven semi-finalists performed in front of a large crowd of over 15,000 people. The contestants were judged by well-known singers like Chanda Das, Harbhajan Mann, Sardool Sikandar, Gursevak Mann, music directors Jaidev and Atul Sharma and well-known journalist Vipin Pubby. All artistes mesmerised the audience with a live performance at the concert. Earlier at another concert at Jalandhar, three talented singers had won the semi-final round and entered the finals — Tarlochan Singh, Sukhdev Sagar and Sewa Singh. Pepsi had received over 3,000 entries for the “ Pepsi Banjaa Staara Yaara Contest”. Shortlisted candidates were then called for auditions, which were conducted by a panel of experts from T-series and ETC Channel ( Punjabi). |
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Chandigarh, May 11
Chandigarh, May
11