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Samjhauta Express may resume from New Year Attari, December 1 The decisions is likely to be taken in the forthcoming high-level two-day meeting being held between senior officials of Indian and Pakistani railways in New Delhi from December 18. Technical experts from both sides would finalise the schedule and other matters relating to early commencement of the rail and cargo services. A high-level team of the Electric Wing of the Indian Railways, headed by the Divisional Electrical Engineer has already inspected Attari railway station to give final touches to the arrangements. The local railway station and Custom Department has already provided necessary inputs about the various provisions to be made for the resumption of the train. Customs and railway officials have undertaken major overhauling of Attari railway station to meet the heavy rush of passengers and handling of goods. When contacted, Mr
G.S. Narang, newly appointed Commissioner, customs, said the department had drawn up a comprehensive anti-smuggling system to be installed at the railway station to thwart any attempt of smuggling narcotics or weapons through the Samjhauta Express. He said the department had already been geared up in anticipation of the resumption of train service. He said the officials were being imparted fresh training to cope with any eventuality. He said the list of custom officials having requisite experience had already been finalised. Replying to a question, Mr Narang said he could comment on the resumption of the train only after the top-level talks, proposed to be held between the senior officials of the railways where they would work out logistic plans. Mr Narang said in the fast-changing Indo-Pak normalisation scenario, the customs had decided to install lon scan machines, besides adding more X-ray machines and doorframe metal detectors, to strengthen the anti-smuggling steps to detect contraband. He said at the railway station the Custom Department was planning to install close-circuit television cameras to monitor the movement of passengers and others. The Custom Commissioner said the Visa Department was planning to computerise the entire working to keep track of the passengers and frequent travellers using the biweekly train plying between Attari and Lahore. He said besides strengthening the anti-smuggling measures, the department would provide better facility at the platforms. He said he had directed the staff to put up advertisement boards giving information about the facilities in different languages for the convenience of passengers and install complaint boxes. Mr
S.K. Madan, Station Superintendent, said whitewash of the station was in progress. |
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Sukhbir rushes to Delhi to counter Cong propaganda Bargadi (Faridkot), December 15 Mr Sukhbir Badal went to Delhi on a call by SAD leadership to deal with the situation which developed after Capt Amarinder Singh, who has been camping in Delhi, along with his ministerial colleagues for the past many days, had levelled allegations that the SAD President, Mr Parkash Singh Badal, with the help of BJP leadership, was trying to destabilise the Punjab government. Mr Parkash Singh Badal had already reached Delhi yesterday. Mr Sukhbir Badal, was here today to preside over a function at a sports tournament. When asked that why he was rushing to Delhi, he said that Capt Amarinder Singh had failed on all fronts due to his mis-rule and anti-people policies and he (the CM) was now trying to defame the Akalis by levelling false allegations against its leadership that was why he (Sukhbir) was going to Delhi to counter this false propaganda by Capt Amarinder Singh. “We (SAD) are not in habit of destabilising any elected government but the Congress leadership has been doing so ever since the country got Independence. It was Congress leadership which destabilised the duly elected government of SAD twice in Punjab and made the people suffer,” pointed out Mr Sukhbir Badal. Mr Sukhbir Badal, who was accompanied by Mr Gurpreet Singh Kangar, MLA, Rampura Phul and Mr Chiranji Lal Garg, former minister and a large number of supporters remarked that when Capt Amarinder Singh could not keep a few MLAs of Congress with him then how he could run the government. He said that Capt Amarinder Singh had lost all moral and constitutional rights to stay as Chief Minister after his senior colleagues, including Mrs Bhattal had levelled serious allegations of corruption against him. The SAD leader said that apart from it the Captain had himself confessed that the Congress government in Punjab had not been doing justice to the people. When the Chief Minister himself admitted that the Congress government was doing injustice to people of state then he should quit office, he added. “People have come to know about all acts of omission and commission of Capt Amarinder Singh and his associates. They have been suffering on account of rampant corruption, police atrocities and deteriorating law and order situation in Punjab. The people, will make Capt Amarinder Singh meet the same fate which the former Iraq ruler Saddam Hussain has met,” added Mr Sukhbir Badal. |
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BSP for dissolution of Punjab Assembly Jalandhar, December 15 “As the Chief Minister himself has openly admitted that he has support of only 40 MLAs, which are not sufficient to run the government, we demand that the state Assembly should be dissolved and fresh election be held along with the forthcoming Lok Sabha election,” national general secretary of the BSP Narender Kashyap told reporters here. Revealing that the party leaders of the state would very soon meet the Governor to seek dissolution of the Assembly, he said “Capt Amarinder Singh has no moral right to continue as the Chief Minister of the state, as he has lost faith of his own legislators, people of the state and in particular the faith of Dalits”.
— PTI
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Case against tehsildar false, claim trade panels Bathinda, December 15 In separate press notes issued here, they condemned the corruption case registered against Mr Brar and said officials of Vigilance Bureau, who were allegedly involved in registering a false case, should be taken to task. Mr Brar was arrested by a team of Vigilance Bureau led by the DSP, Mr Kahan Singh, for his alleged involvement in acceptance of bribe for making an entry into the mutation record of land belonging to a farmer Baldev Singh. Mr Brar did not accept any money from him, the mandal asserted. The Vigilance Bureau officials had registered a corruption case against Mr Brar and subsequently arrested him though the money was taken from farmer Baldev Singh by a third person, who had no connection with Mr Brar, they insisted. Mr Bhagwan Rai Jain, president, Punjab Pradesh Beopar Mandal, Raman Mandi, demanded that the state Chief Minister, should order an independent probe into this case, Mr Keshav Mittal, general secretary, DCC(I), Bathinda, demanded that all officials of the Vigilance Bureau, involved in the registration of false case, should be placed under suspension. He added that party would take up the matter with the Chief Minister, Capt Amarinder Singh. Mr Amrik Singh Waraich, SSP, Vigilance Bureau, when contacted, denied all allegations against the officials of the department and said that case was not fabricated. Meanwhile, Mr Lakhbir Singh, Special Judge, today granted bail to Mr Brar, who was arrested on December 11 in the corruption case registered against him the police station, Vigilance Bureau, Bathinda. |
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10 cops summoned in
‘fake encounter’ case Ropar, December 15 The complainant alleged that Mohinder Kaur had links with the police. In the evening when Paramjit Singh entered Mohinder Kaur’s house, a team of policemen comprising the then SHO, Chamkaur Sahib, Mr Harpal Singh, ASI Santokh Singh, ASI Gurnam Singh, constables Batnam Singh, Iqbal Mohamad, Mohinder Singh, Sikandar Lal, Parmail Singh, Rajinder Prashad and Jaswinder Singh, shot him dead. The police later declared that Paramjit Singh was killed in a crossfire between terrorists and the police. The killing of Paramjit Singh was witnessed by Gurcharan Singh, son of Santa Singh, the then sarpanch of the Maujlipur village. The complainant initially approached the Punjab and Haryana High Court that ordered an inquiry into the incident by the CJM, Ropar. The CJM on the basis of the statements of the eyewitnesses in the case concluded that Paramjit Singh was killed accidentally in the crossfire between the police and terrorists. The complaint also quoted the post-mortem report of Paramjit Singh that stated that the wounds could have been caused due to close encounter only. On the basis of the arguments of the counsel for the complainant and the statements of the eyewitnesses recorded once again before the court the CJM held that the offence under Sections 304-A and 120-B of the IPC was made out against the accused. The accused have been summoned to file their reply. |
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BJP memo to Governor Chandigarh, December 15 They also urged the Governor to convene a special session of the Punjab Vidhan Sabha and ask the Chief Minister and prove his majority on his floor of the House. The memorandum stated Mr Amarinder’s claim that he had the support of 40 MLAs indicated that he no longer enjoyed majority in the 117-member House. A copy of the memorandum was later submitted to the Deputy Speaker, Mr Birdevinder Singh. |
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Indian handed over to BSF Amritsar, December 15 While talking to newsmen at the Wagah joint check post, about 25 km from here, Shahid Ali said 31 more Punjabi youths had landed in Pakistan jails recently. He said the youths, most of whom belonged to Hoshiarpur, had gone to Lebanon for earning money where they were caught by the police which pushed them into Turkey, they were then sent over to Iran which pushed them into Pakistan. He said about 25 out of 100 Indian prisoners in Pakistan had become mentally disturbed. He said they were still languishing in various jails in Pakistan even after they had completed their sentences. Shahid Ali further said Jagjit Singh, a resident of Kapurthala had been languishing in Kot Lakhpat jail in Lahore and was waiting for his release. He said Jagjit had been sentenced for only three months in jail. He said he had gone to Pakistan to meet his relatives on October 30, 2000 and was returning home via Samjhauta Express when he was caught by the Customs officials of Pakistan. He said he was sentenced for five years for smuggling gold. However, he said his mother had made an appeal in the Lahore high court which had lessened his sentence by two years. |
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Rally
lays stress on planting trees Ferozepore, December 15 Mr Sandhu, while addressing a number of students, who took part in the rally said clean and pollution-free environment was the need of the hour, which could be achieved by planting a number of trees. He said everyone should contribute towards making the society pollution-free, which would not only save us from a number of diseases but would also make the surroundings look better and more beautiful. Mr Desh Deepak ADC (Development), Mr Anoop Singh, president of the DCC, Mr Birinderjeet Singh, SE (Zonal) PPCB, Mr Ashok Kumar Kalsi, Mr Nazar Singh, Mr Surjit Singh Dhaliwal, all environmental engineers, Mr Dev Raj Goyal, SDO, PPCB, and other functionaries of the PPCB participated in the rally. Mr Sandhu said the initiative taken by the PPCB in organising such rallies was really commendable. He said the increasing population, smoke generated by automobiles, disposal of agricultural and industrial waste, polythene bags, noise, razing of green belts and biological waste produced by hospitals were among the reasons behind increasing pollution. The rally passed through main roads of the town before culminating at the stadium. |
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Dr Balbir Singh remembered Patiala, December 15 Dr Jaswant Singh Neki, a Sikh philosopher, highlighted the significance of use of numeral in the beginning of the word as it denoted the monotheist nature of ultimate reality. ‘This numeral not only pertains to the word, “Omkar”, but also has relation with the subsequent word following Omkar in the “moolamantra”. Elaborating on the uniqueness of Guru Granth Sahib, Dr Neki said this was the only pluralistic scripture in the world. It contain wisdom of five centuries as it has the writings of saints and gurus from Baba Farid to ninth guru, Guru Teg Bahadur in it. He said the whole bani of Guru Granth Sahib the stressed on the wholeness in the universe in which contentless consciousness prevails and nothing could be understood in isolation from other segments of nature. Vice-Chancellor Punjabi University Swarn Singh Boparai appreciated the project undertaken to prepare complete “Nirukat” in Gurbani. He added that the university would set up a centre for technical development of Punjabi in the campus shortly. The Registrar of the university, Dr Param Bakhshish Singh, said they would make all efforts to strengthen Sahit Sadan to preserve it spirit.
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Safeguard
interests of ex-servicemen, says Verma Chandigarh, December 15 Enlisting measures initiated by the Punjab Government, the Governor said exgratia for the disabled had been increased to Rs 2 lakh and Rs 1.50 crore released for 172 beneficiaries. Besides, Rs 12.10 crore had been released to dependents of 308 Kargil martyrs from Punjab. A decision had been taken to extend ex-gratia to the martyrs of “Operation Parkarma”. Under the new policy, even battle casualties resulting from mine blasts would be entitled to ex-gratia, he said, adding government jobs had been provided to dependents of martyrs. Winners of Paramvir, Ashoka, Veer and Shuarya Chakra and Sena Medal winners would get Rs 25 lakh, Rs 22.5 lakh, Rs 15 lakh, Rs 12.5 lakh, Rs 10 lakh, Rs 7.5 lakh and Rs 5 lakh, respectively.
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SAD demands
CM’s resignation Patiala, December 15 Mr Chandumajra said either the Chief Minister, Capt Amarinder Singh should resign or prove his majority in the state Assembly. He said due to mutual conflict among Congress leaders the people of the state were suffering. Mr Prem Singh Chandumajra said the results of the election in four states had already proved that the people were not ready to accept Sonia Gandhi as their national leader. He added that they would pressurise the Centre to reconsider all economic decisions taken regarding the state. |
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Punjab
Cong infighting unfortunate, says Behal Kharar, December 15 This was stated by Mr B.B. Behal, president of the Chandigarh unit of the Congress Committee while talking to mediapersons at the Municipal Council office here today. He said the Central Government was indulging in discrimination against the states that were being governed by Congress which was against democracy. |
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Lecturer killed in mishap Abohar, December 15 The other two members of the family received multiple fractures. They were first taken to Muktsar hospital and later shifted to Ludhiana. A post-mortem examination of the body was carried out at Civil Hospital, Muktsar, this afternoon. |
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SGPC not to join in govt
celebrations Phagwara, December 15 |
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Split in lawyers’ body averted Sangrur, December 15 A five-member committee comprising Mr Bhupinder Singh Sekhon, Mr Gianinder Kumar Garg, Mr Dasveer Singh Dalee, Mr Daljeet Singh Sekhon and Mr Rajesh Kumar Garg was set up to conduct the annual elections of the DBA to be held on December 20 for the year 2004. Besides, as part of the settlement, the matter relating to the censuring of Mr Sirjiwan Jain, president of the DBA, by a section of the DBA office-bearers and other members at a meeting on December 9 has also been withdrawn. According to election committee members, Mr Ashwani Chaudhary, candidate for the post of president, and Mr Surjit Singh Grewal, candidate for the post of vice-president, withdrew their nomination papers today. |
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Bail plea in dowry case rejected Patiala, December 15 Ms Singla had given an application to the Patiala Senior Superintendent of Police in which she had stated that her husband and father-in-law were harassing her and her daughter for not bringing dowry as per their demands. Reacting to her petition, the SSP directed the Civil Lines police station to register a case in this regard. The father and the son, both residents of Charan Bagh, had moved the court seeking anticipatory bail following the registration of the case. After hearing the respondents, the court dismissed their bail application. |
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SC stays Principal’s
termination Chandigarh, December 15 As per information reaching here, the directions were issued by a Bench, comprising Mr Justice Brijesh Kumar and Mr Justice Arun Kumar, after hearing at length Punjab’s former Additional Advocate-General Jayshree Anand. It may be recalled that the Punjab and Haryana High Court, in an order passed on November 3, had dismissed a writ petition filed in the matter on the ground of non-maintainability of writ petition against the college as it was not a grant-in-aid institute. |
Two held under Copyright Act Amritsar, December 15 The SSP, Batala, Mr Ram Singh, in a press note issued here today stated that on the complaint of Vijay Malik of LT Overseas Sonipat Limited that some persons were allegedly printing ‘Dawat’ brand basmati rice bags for export purposes to the USA, the police raided the premises of the bag printers at Focal Point, Batala, and recovered bags along with printing material. The Civil Line police had registered a case under Sections 420 and 511 of the IPC and Section 63 of the Copyright Act. He said during investigation both accused revealed that Ashok Sachdeva and Varun Sachdeva of Amritsar had ordered them to print these bags. The further investigation in the case was continuing, he added. Meanwhile, the Batala police has registered a fraud case against a travel agent couple Rajpal Singh and his wife, both residents of Amritsar. According to the police, Rajpal Singh took Rs 14 lakh from four persons, Jagjit Pal Singh, Rashpal Singh, Sukhwinder Singh and Satinder Singh, for sending them to Italy. The police said the boys were taken to Delhi on October 19 by assuring them that their flight had been booked for October 21. It added that after lodging them in a hotel, Rajpal Singh manage to give them slip and is absconding with his wife.
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Explosives seized in Tarn Taran Tarn Taran, December 15 Mr Gurkirpal Singh, SSP, said here today that the explosives belonged to Khalistan Cammondo Force (KCF). The SSP added that more recoveries were expected. He further said that a stolen movie camera belonging to Kulwinder Singh of Makhi Kalan village had been recovered from the possession of Karamjit Singh, alias Kamo, of Bhai Ladhu village and Rachhpal Singh, alias Pala, of Sursingh village. The accused had snatched the camera from Kulwinder on Friday. They were going to sell it in the market when the police party nabbed them. A case under Sections 382, 34, IPC, has been registered against them. The SSP told in another seizure 40 grenades and 30 detonators were seized from Major Singh of Assal Uttar village about two weeks back. These explosives also belonged to the KCF.
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Gang of burglars busted Jalandhar, December 15 The district police chief, Mr G.P.S. Bhullar, in a press note issued here yesterday, said three persons were intercepted by the police near “Ikehri puli” while they were moving under suspicious circumstances late last night. They were immediately arrested and later identified as Vijay Kumar of Jangla Bhawani village in Pathankot, Suresh Kumar of local Bardana Bazar and Prakash Kumar of local Rishi Nagar. The arrested persons were being produced in the court. |
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4 killed in road mishap Bathinda, December 15 Those injured included Jasvir Kaur, Karamjit Kaur, Gurpreet Singh, Harpreet Singh, Hangir Kaur, Labh Singh, Happy Kaur, Bhola Singh, Sukhwinder Kaur and Balwinder Kaur. Police sources said the accident took place when the occupants of the jeep were coming back from Baho village of the district after attending the engagement ceremony of Gurpreet Singh and going to their village Rudeke. Gurpreet, his mother Karnail Kaur and photographer Sukhwinder Singh were among the deceased.
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Labourer killed in brawl Jalandhar, December 15 Kishan Lal was rushed to the local Civil Hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries. He is survived by his wife and eight children. Balwinderjit Singh has been absconding. A case has been registered.
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Flesh trade racket busted, 6 held Amritsar, December 15 |
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3 held for selling
pirated CDs Jalandhar, December 15 According to the police, a shop at Bains Market here was raided this afternoon and around 5,000 pirated CDs were confiscated. During questioning, owner of the shop Mintu admitted that he was in the business of sale and distribution of pirated CDs. Others, who were arrested include Bhagat Singh and Harjeet Singh, residents of the local Gopal Nagar locality. |
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Unemployed teachers demand jobs Bathinda, December 15 Mr Singh alleged that rather than providing jobs to the unemployed, the Punjab Government was
contemplating to recruit teachers on a contract basis. He said that the Congress had not fulfilled the promises it had made before the state Assembly elections. He said that the front would resist all moves of the Punjab Government to recruit teachers on contract basis. He added that the activists of the front had staged a dharna at the AICC Delhi office to press for their demands. He said that a memorandum had been submitted to the Congress high command. |
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PUNJABI UNIVERSITY DIARY Writing representations to the Chancellor has become a fashion of late in Punjabi University with suspended teacher K.S. Sidhu sending his fourth representation to the Chancellor, asking for an inquiry against Vice-Chancellor Swarn Singh Boparai for his "anti-academic and vindictive attitude". Earlier too he had represented to the Chancellor, claiming that he had been wrongfully removed from the post of the Registrar by Mr Boparai and that he should be reinstated. The Chancellor had then dismissed his petition saying that his appointment was not substantive. Following this, Dr Sidhu protested twice to the Chancellor claiming that the university had not given him permission to visit Austria to present a seminar and had also recently not given him a no objection certificate to travel to Sri Lanka for a similar purpose. The latest representation was sent after Dr Sidhu was suspended from the university on charges of overstepping his authority in confirming an employee when he was the Registrar of the institution. The suspended teacher has claimed that he has again been victimised. He claimed that the Vice-Chancellor was taking action against him because he had filed a defamation suit against the latter for writing objectionable things about him on official files. The varsity is presently honing its reply to charges and is set to claim that Dr Sidhu was never invited personally to Austria and had only applied for going there under an exchange scheme of the UGC. SSF takes varsity to task The varsity is perennially short of funds and shortage of funds was the main motive behind its earlier exercise to raise the fee which was partially withdrawn later. A student organisation, the Sikh Students' Federation, (SSF) has now taken it to task as to why it is creating new posts if it is short of funds when it can try to do with the resources at its command. The Federation, in a letter to the Chief Minister and the Finance Minister, claimed that the varsity had created new posts of the Director, the Joint Director, the Deputy Director, a professor and four readers in its recently opened University College of Engineering. It said the varsity could have done without so many posts when it was running through a rough patch. It also claimed the varsity had created a new post of the Chief Coordinator, Examinations, to "adjust" Dr Baldev Singh, who retired last month and was the Professor In charge of the Examination Department. The federation claimed that there was no need for creating this post when the post of the Coordinator, Examinations, already existed. Teachers decry govt's control Even though there is criticism from certain quarters about the necessity of taking the running of universities out of the control of respective state governments, teachers in Punjabi University apparently do not adhere to this view. In a discussion held on the issue on the recommendation of the University Grants Commission (UGC), which was attended by all heads of departments, a consensus emerged that the present set up should not be disturbed. The UGC had recently asked the university to send its "suggestions" to the proposal to convert the present post of Chancellor, held by the State Governor, to that of a Visitor who would be responsible for appointing the Chancellor. The Vice-Chancellor is expected to lose his paramount role in the proposed set up. However, the heads of departments did voice concern over the need of laying down a proper procedure for the appointment of Vice-Chancellors and not leaving this to the "whims" of respective chief ministers. The teachers similarly advocated that instead of the present system of nominating representatives to the varsity's Senate and Syndicate, at least half of the representatives should be elected. It was also felt that in case of nominations, prominent educationists should be chosen instead of nominating legislators of the ruling party as was the present norm.
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Plan to set up
law college Faridkot, December 15 Punjabi University, Patiala has already granted recognition and all modalities in this connection have been completed to start the classes from the next academic year. |
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Workshop
for special children Patiala, December 15 This main aim of the workshop is to provide an opportunity to special children to learn and perform to the best of their ability. As many as 350 special children from various institutes of Punjab, Haryana, Chhattisgarh, Chandigarh, Delhi, Jammu , Uttaranchal are participating in the workshop. The main attraction of the workshop is art and craft, clay modeling, folk dances and creating the best out of waste. The Vice-President of Navjivini School, Ms Satwant Kaur, inaugurated the workshop. The Secretary of Navjivini School, Dr N.S. Sodhi, was also present on the occasion. |
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Industrial units against house tax Bathinda, December 15 In a press note issued here yesterday, Mr R.K. Garg, vice-president of the association, pointed out that though the state government had banned the levying of house tax on different units in the developing focal points, the local corporation authorities had been pressing the industrial unit owners to pay the tax by issuing them notices in this connection. |
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