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Few buyers for paddy at MSP
Khanna, October 2
A day after the Chief Minister, Capt Amarinder Singh, launched the procurement process here yesterday, the farmers are finding it hard to sell their paddy for Rs 560, the minimum support price announced by the central government for the standard variety.

• SAD seeks full bonus

Punjab needs another green revolution
Bhadson (Patiala), October 2
If Punjab has to maintain its lead in economic growth it will have to usher in a second agricultural revolution like the green revolution of the late ’60s. To achieve this, the state and central governments will have to play the role of facilitator to attract private investment in agriculture and rural development sectors, said Dr Satish C. Jha, former Director and Chief Economist at Asian Development Bank here today.

Heritage status for Golden Temple: survey begins
Amritsar, October 2
A team comprising SGPC officials, INTACH and representatives of the Central Government today started a survey on the elevated road project between the GT Road and Jallianwala Bagh, here today. The road will help ease traffic congestion around the Golden Temple as devotees visiting it face difficulty before paying obeisance.

World Sikh varsity to function from November 19
Ropar, October 2
The proposed World Sikh University on the pattern of Banaras Hindu University and Aligarh Muslim University will start functioning from November 19, the birth anniversary of Sri Guru Nanak Devji, at Anandpur Sahib after “Ardas” by Singh Sahibans at Takht Sri Kesgarh Sahib.

POLITICS

CM ‘trying to destabilise SGPC’
Phagwara, October 2
The SGPC President, Prof Kirpal Singh Badungar, today accused the Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh of trying to engineer a coup in the SGPC. Prof Badungar was talking to newspersons at Sant Baba Dalip Singh Memorial Khalsa College at Domeli, 20 km from here, before addressing an SGPC-sponsored seminar on the role of the Babbar movement in the freedom struggle of the country.

BJP behind delay in SGPC poll: Dal Khalsa
Amritsar, October 2
The Dal Khalsa alleged today that the BJP-led government at the Centre was using tactics to delay Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee general election to help the Shiromani Akali Dal Punjab.

Govt ‘acting like robber’
Chandigarh, October 2
SAD President Parkash Singh Badal today accused the Punjab Government of acting ”like a highway robber”. Reacting to the “abduction” and illegal detention of Mr Prahalad Singh, a close relative of Mr Badal’s former Officer on Special Duty, Mr Hardeep Singh Bhamra, by vigilance officials, the Akali leader described it as a disgrace and slur on the face of the present regime.

Money power behind defection: CPI
Chandigarh, October 2
Reacting to the joining of the Congress by two CPI MLAs — Mr Gurjant Singh and Mr Nathu Ram — today, the secretary of the Punjab unit of the CPI, Dr Joginder Dayal, said this issue would be taken up with the Congress high command by the CPI.

• Mann takes action against 4 leaders

COMMUNITY

NGO’s drive to green Bathinda
Bathinda, October 2 For Bathinda, synonymous with pollution with its smoke spewing thermal plant, an effort by a local NGO to green the city is now showing some result. Over the past two years, thousands of saplings of shady and ornamental trees as well as flowering shrubs have been planted in the city. Volunteers of the Sahara Jan Seva, an NGO, plant saplings at Bathinda. — Photo Kulbir Beera

Netaji’s ‘death’ certificate revives controversy
Ropar, October 2
Dr Yoshimi Teneyoshi, who had reportedly treated Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose in a hospital at Taihoku in Taiwan on August 18, 1945, after the air crash in which Netaji allegedly received serious burns, has now stated that he never knew Ochira Okura in whose name he had issued a death certificate, which was according to the Japanese Government pertaining the death of Netaji.

Mahatma Gandhi, Shastri remembered
Hoshiarpur, October 2
The birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi was celebrated at the District Congress Committee office here on Wednesday. Paying tributes to the Father of the Nation, Dr Kuldip Nanda, Mr Raman Khullar, Mr Rajnish Tandon, Ms Tarunjit Sethi and other local Congress leaders said the country could come out of the present crisis only by following the Gandhian ideology.

March against drug abuse
Bathinda, October 2
Stating that all possible help would be given to NGOs to eradicate the menace of abuse of narcotics, Deputy Commissioner Anurag Verma today said stern action would be taken against chemists selling medicines and syrups abused by youths without prescription.

CBI probe sought into kidney scam
Amritsar, October 2
A CPI leader, Mr Satya Pal Dang, today sought a CBI inquiry into the alleged illegal trade of human organs which has been going on for more than a decade. In a complaint faxed to the Chief Justice of Punjab and Haryana the Chief Minister, Mr Dang said “an inquiry by the CBI is likely to reveal startling facts”.

HIGH COURT
Order to pay pension 10 yrs after death
Chandigarh, October 2
Nearly 10 years after a Ludhiana district resident received news about her soldier son’s death, the Lok Adalat of the Punjab and Haryana High Court has directed Union of India, Chief of Army Staff and other authorities to pay ordinary family pension to her with effect from November 1992.

• Record shown to PCS (E) counsel

Varsity entrance prone to mishaps
Patiala, October 2
No traffic lights or round-about. No traffic constable, blinkers or even a speed-breaker. When you approach Punjabi University from Rajpura or Patiala no signboard warns you to reduce the speed of your vehicle. The absence of streetlights along the stretch makes sure that you do not see any person or stray animal crossing the road in the dark.

Bhunder, kin seek pre-arrest bail
Mansa October 2
Balwinder Singh Bhunder, MLA and general secretary SAD and his brother Bhag Singh Yesterday applied for anticipatory bail in the court of Additional District and Sessions Judge, Mr Dharam Singh, in connection with cases registered against them in Sardulgarh police station under the Arms Act following the recovery of one carbine and one .30 Spring field rifle and some cartridge by the Vigilance Bureau.

Kids taught art of puppet making
Amritsar, October 2
Celebrations to mark the beginning of 70th year of Punjabi magazine Preetlari started here yesterday with an interaction of story-telling with students of Government High School, Preet Nagar, by Editor Ms Poonam Singh.

HelpAge clarifies
REACTING to a news report published in The Tribune on September 28 quoting Industry Minister Avtar Henry that HelpAge India should go to the slums and do the needful there rather than organising such functions in a hotel, HelpAge says it clarified there and then that the function was totally sponsored by the Radisson Hotel, Jalandhar, and that the reason for gathering the elite crowd was to make them a part of the HelpAge family by making them members on a payment of Rs 1,000/- annually.

Harinder Mehboob gets SGPC award
Phagwara, October 2
Prof Harinder Singh Mehboob, a scholar of Sikhism, was today awarded the first Giani Ditt Singh Puraskar instituted by the SGPC. The award was presented to Professor Mehboob by the SGPC President, Prof Kirpal Singh Badungar, at Sant Baba Dalip Singh Memorial Khalsa College, Domeli, 20 km from here, at a seminar on “Role of the Babbar Akali Movement in India’s Freedom Struggle.”

Bajwa inaugurates link road
Gurdaspur, October 2
Mr Partap Singh Bajwa, PWD (B&R) Minister, today inaugurated the Kahnuwanchak Sharif link road today. He said link roads from Gurdaspur to Sri Hargobindpur, from Batala to Qadian via Kot Todar Mal and Batala to Kahnuwan would be widened to 33 feet. A sum of Rs 18 crore had been sanctioned in this regard and construction would be undertaken shortly.

Army top brass to visit forward areas today
Ferozepore, October 2
Top officials of the Army are visiting forward areas of Ferozepore tomorrow to review the defence arrangements along the Indo-Pakistan border in view of the continuing stand of between the two neighbours. The Chief of Army Staff, Gen S. Padmanabhan, is also expected to visit the forward areas.

Bank officer denied bail
Moga, October 2
The District and Sessions Court, Moga, yesterday dismissed the anticipatory bail application of a bank officer involved in illegally withdrawing money from an NRI’s account and then destroying all relevant records of his account.

AGRICULTURE

Are mixed pesticides useful?
Bathinda, October 2
Cotton growers of the region are in a dilemma over the use of mixed pesticides, with farm experts and pesticide manufacturers differing in opinion. Farmers use two or more pesticides as per their own experience.

“Technology can lessen farmers’ plight”
Patiala, October 2
“Punjab has not just witnessed a rapid decline in its overall economy, even the agricultural sector of the state is in a sorry state” said Dr Satish C Jha, economist and former director of Asian Development Bank, while speaking at a seminar organised at Young Farmers Public School at Bhadason, near here.

CRIME

Gang of human traffickers busted
Gurdaspur, October 2
The police has busted a gang of Bangladesh nationals for their alleged involvement in human trafficking from Bangladesh. The accused allegedly brought the innocent girls, men and women by giving them false allurements and sold them in India. All Bangladeshis entered India without valid travel documents.

Burglars murder watchman
Bathinda, October 2
A watchman was murdered by certain persons who intended to break into a shop here. The body of watchman Nar Bahadur (21) from Nepal was found by members of his family from a pond on the premises of a truck workshop his morning.

Three held in murder case
Muktsar, October 2
The police today claimed to have solved the murder case of Surinder Kumar, who was killed on September 28, with the arrest of Rajinder Singh, alias Teetu, his father Hansa Singh and mother Manjit Kaur.