SPECIAL COVERAGE
CHANDIGARH

LUDHIANA

DELHI



THE TRIBUNE SPECIALS
50 YEARS OF INDEPENDENCE

TERCENTENARY CELEBRATIONS



punjab
P U N J A B
Top stories | Politics | Community | Courts
Crime | Education | Business

TOP STORIES

SGPC terminates services of Calcutta, Bhanwer
Amritsar, June 14
Acting on the directives of the Sikh Gurdwara Judicial Commission, Mr Alwinder Pal Singh Pakhoke, working president Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee today terminated the services of its 27 employees including Mr Manjit Singh Calcutta, honorary secretary, Mr Harbir Singh Bhanwer, media adviser and two legal advisers — who were close confidents of late Jathedar Gurcharn Singh Tohra.

Panthic Morcha, SAD gear up for SGPC poll
Ludhiana, June 14
With the formation of the Panthic Morcha, battlelines have been drawn for the elections to the general house of the SGPC scheduled to take place on July 11.

Badal wants previous river water pacts annulled
Chandigarh, June 14
The SAD leadership said here today that all previous agreements on the distribution of waters among Punjab, Rajasthan and Haryana should be annulled immediately as these have been forced upon Punjab violating all constitutional provisions.
SAD President Parkash Singh Badal and other leaders stage a dharna at Matka Chowk in Chandigarh SAD President Parkash Singh Badal and other leaders stage a dharna at Matka Chowk in Chandigarh on Monday.
— Tribune photo by Manoj Mahajan






YOUR TOWN
Amritsar
Bathinda
Chandigarh
Faridkot
Fatehgarh Sahib
Jalandhar
Kapurthala
Ludhiana
Muktsar
Patiala
Ropar
Sangrur


EARLIER STORIES

 

Badal ridicules Army suggestion
Chandigarh, June 14
The Shiromani Akali Dal President, Mr Parkash Singh Badal, today described the Army suggestion that the Sutlej water flowing to Pakistan should be diverted within India as “completely illogical and divorced from elementary awareness of river waters reality’’.

Water flows to Pak only in monsoon, says Amarinder
Patiala, June 14
Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh today said Sutlej water flowed into Pakistan only during the monsoon when farmers in the state did not need it. Talking to newspersons after flagging off a fleet of 10 buses of the Pepsu Road Transport Corporation, the Chief Minister said the Army had only given general recommendations on how waters of various rivers in the state could be utilised and it should not be construed that it was supporting the construction of the Satluj Yamuna Link canal.

Punjab Cong endorses all-party meeting resolution
Chandigarh, June 14
Punjab Congress MLAs, MPs and ministers, besides members of the executive committee of the State unit of the party, today endorsed the resolution adopted at the all-party meeting held on the issue of river waters and the SYL canal on June 12.

426 MW of additional power for Punjab
Patiala, June 14
Punjab State Electricity Board Chairman Y. S. Ratra today said following the intervention of the Prime Minister’s Office an additional 426 mega watt of power would start flowing into the state from mid-night today to offset the gap of 800 mega watts which had arisen between the demand and supply.

Punjab Budget session starts
Chandigarh, June 14
The Budget session of the Punjab Vidhan Sabha commenced here today with obituary references to eight persons. Homage was paid to Mr Gurcharan Singh Tohra, MP, Master Jagir Singh, Mr Lakha Singh, Mr Baldev Singh Loomba, Chaudhary Baloo Ram (all ex-MLAs and freedom fighters), Mr Mangal Singh, Mr Rattan Singh and Mr Arjan Singh.

Death penalty for spurious drug makers sought
Chandigarh, June 14
If recommendations of the Punjab's State Drugs Advisory Committee are accepted, then different companies manufacturing drugs based on the same salt will have to sell medicines at uniform rates. For instance, paracetamol-based analgesics will have to be sold at the same price regardless of the brand name.

Armymen’s kin to share award money
Chandigarh, June 14
In two significant decisions concerning benefits to gallantry award winners, the Punjab Government has decided to divide the grant given to posthumous awardees among family members and substantially hike the grant to military personnel "Mentioned-in-Despatches" for gallantry.

3 sisters’ bodies found
Fatehgarh Sahib, June 14
The bodies of three of the four daughters of Harnek Singh, a granthi in Gurdwara Fatehgarh Sahib, who along with his wife, four daughters and a son had jumped in the Bhakra Main Canal, were recovered today.

POLITICS

BSP expels Satnam Singh Kainth
Jalandhar, June 14
The BSP today expelled the convener of its Punjab unit, Mr Satnam Singh Kainth, from the party for disobeying orders of the high command. Mr Narinder Kashyap, national general secretary, stated here today that Mr Kainth, who had joined the party just before the general election, was expelled for not accepting the responsibility to rejuvenate party rank and file in Himachal Pradesh.

Party to protest against Kanshi’s ‘detention’
Jalandhar June 14
The Samta Samaj Party today announced to hold a protest march against the BSP supremo Ms Mayawati at Delhi on June 23 for the alleged detaining of the founder of the BSP, Mr Kanshi Ram, at Batra Hospital “under the garb of treatment”.

I want to quit as Deputy Speaker, says Bir Devinder
Kharar, June 14
“I want to quit from the post of Deputy Speaker of the Punjab Vidhan Sabha as I am unable to raise issues related to my constituency in the House.”
This was stated by Mr Bir Devinder Singh, Deputy Speaker of the Punjab Vidhan Sabha and Kharar MLA, at a press conference here today.

COMMUNITY

Bids invited for Kanjli resort
Kanjli (Kapurthala), June 14
Inability of the Central Government to provide funds for maintaining the Kanjli wetland resort has forced the district administration to hand over its reins to a private company. The district administration recently invited applications from private companies which could spend nearly Rs 45 lakh on developmental projects on the site in lieu of its lease for five years.

Probe ordered against Punjab Parliamentary Secy
Faridkot, June 14
Mr Hussan Lal, Deputy Commissioner, Faridkot, marked an inquiry to Dr Devinder Singh Jassal, Executive Engineer (Canal), here today to probe the matter against Mr Ravinder Singh Sandhu, Parliamentary Secretary, Punjab, and also MLA from the Ferozepore cantonment, for allegedly stealing irrigation water from the Sappanwali minor by fixing plastic pipes in it to irrigate his fields in Ratta Khera village.

Batala residents fear spread of dengue
Batala: Heaps of garbage are lying outside Khajuri Gate, Haathi Gate, and on the side of Hansli Bridge in the heart of Batala town. At present there are 33 wards in the Municipal Council. The council has given the contract for Rs 2.65 lakh to the contractor for lifting garbage in the town. Interestingly, the council has no place for garbage dump. Even sweepers do not sweep areas daily.

MC chief appeases temple management
Amritsar, June 14
The Commissioner, Municipal Corporation, Mr K.S. Kang, visited Durgiana Temple today. But the visit is not being seen as just that. His first visit to the shrine after taking over the reins of the MC, it is being considered a virtual “truce” between him and the Durgiana management working head, Mr Surinder Arjun.

Rs 1.66 cr to be spent on Dhussi bundh repair
Jalandhar, June 14
The district administration has decided to spend Rs 1.66 crore on completion and repair of Dhussi bundh along the Sutlej. This was stated by the Deputy Commissioner, Mr Ashok Gupta, after conducting an inspection along the banks of the Sutlej near here yesterday.

Mann is junior vice-chief of Gymkhana Club
Jalandhar, June 14
Dr H.S. Mann today won the election to the post of junior vice-president of the Gymkhana Club here by defeating his nearest rival and renowned film distributor Yash Pal Mittal by a margin of 299 votes. The elections were held yesterday.

Resentment over impanelling of mechanical engineers
Amritsar, June 14
Civil engineers are sore over the impanelling of mechanical engineers as valuers for land and buildings by certain nationalised banks. Mr Ranjeev Goyal, secretary, Association of Practising Civil Engineers, said the association had information about certain nationalised banks having deputed mechanical engineers as valuers for land and buildings which was against the bye-laws of the Institution of Valuers, the only body entrusted to impart licences to valuers for practice.

Enjoying power by proxy!
Ropar, June 14
“These MCHs really create trouble in the councils”, said a high ranking official in the district administration. Elaborating that the abbreviation stood for Municipal Councillors’ Husbands, the official said husbands of these elected women were enjoying the power in proxy.

DD documentary on Preet Nagar
Amritsar, June 14
The secular Utopian village Preet Nagar — a hub of Punjabi writers, poets and intellectuals on the Indo-Pak border conceived and built by renowned Punjabi writer Gurbax Singh Preetlari during the pre-Partition era, will come alive on the TV screen soon, as Doordarshan has already completed the work on a documentary to be telecast in September this year.

Police arranges 1.6 lakh for dead migrant’s family
Kapurthala, June 14
The Community Policing Resource Centre today helped a handicapped Bihari migrant, Bijal Dass, whose son Bhupinder Dass (20), a labourer, was electrocuted while working on a house here a month ago, by arranging Rs 1.6 lakh for the family.

Police destroys narcotics
Amritsar, June 14
The Majitha police today destroyed a large quantity of narcotics which were seized by the police during the past few years. Mr Paramjit Singh Gill, DIG border range, while talking to mediapersons at the Majitha police lines, said that under his chairmanship, a team was formed for assessing the case properties of the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act lying in the police malkhana for the past many years.

175 doctors attend counter-pulsation programme
Patiala, June 14
A programme on enhanced external counter pulsation was organised by Amar Hospital while the EECP was launched in the state here today.

Water supply poor, says Deputy Director
Kharar, June 14
The Deputy Director, Urban Local Bodies, Ludhiana, has pointed out that sanitation was in a state of neglect in many parts of the town and the supply of water was also not satisfactory.

COURTS

7-year jail term for terrorist
Jalandhar, June 14
A fast track court today sentenced a terrorist to imprisonment for seven years while imposing a fine of Rs 10,000 on him. Former terrorist, Dhyan Singh, who was arrested by the district police in 1998 from the local Guru Nanak Mission Chowk, was presented before the presiding officer of the fast track court, Mr Naresh Joshi.

Nine get life imprisonment for murders
Patiala, June 14
The local court today sentenced nine persons to life imprisonment and 21 others to three years of imprisonment each for murdering two persons and injuring three others of Chuharpur village by a group of 31 persons. One of the accused was acquitted by the court.

CRIME

3 escape from juvenile home;1 re-arrested
Faridkot, June 14
Three inmates of a juvenile home here escaped after scaling its wall last night. Though one of them, Paramjit Singh, who is accused of killing four members of a family, was later overpowered by residents of Bazigar Basti with the help of the police, the remaining two are still absconding.

Financier’s murder: job agency owner rounded up
Fatehgarh Sahib, June 14
Acting on prima facie information, the police has taken in custody Chander Mani Bhandari of Delhi, who had been running an employment agency and had got Ramesh employed as servent with Kulwant Mehta, a leading financier of Sirhind who was allegedly murdered by him.

EDUCATION

No takers for humanities courses
Amritsar, June 14
Guru Nanak Dev University is planning to extend the dates for the submission of forms for various courses. Several departments, especially the Punjab School of Studies, have not received the required admission forms till the last date, which was today.

Hans Raj college girls secure top positions
Jalandhar, June 14
Students of Hans Raj Mahila Maha Vidyalaya here have once again proved their mettle by securing top positions in the bachelor of commerce (B.Com) examinations conducted by Guru Nanak Dev University.

No change in status of Punjabi
Patiala, June 14
There will be no change in the status of Punjabi and English as subjects being taught at graduation level. The total number of marks as well as syllabi would also remain same for the coming academic session.

Aided-school staff in Patiala to get HRA
Chandigarh, June 14
The Patiala district unit of the Punjab State Aided School Teachers and other Employees Union, in a statement issued here today, claimed that the Finance Minister, Mr Lal Singh, had cleared the file regarding sanctioning 15 per cent house rent allowance to employees of aided schools of Patiala city.

BUSINESS

Malwa Gramin Bank branches honoured
Sangrur, June 14
Mr C. Suman Roy, General Manager (Planning and Development), State Bank of Patiala, here today honoured 18 branches of the Malwa Gramin Bank for their outstanding performance in different fields during 2003-04.
Top

HOME PAGE | Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir | Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs | Nation | Opinions |
| Business | Sports | World | Mailbag | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | Delhi |
| Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail |