 |
|
|
|
|
|
Police foils Tapa rally, 225 farmer leaders held
Tapa (Barnala), June 10 The arrested farmers were today produced before the SDM, Barnala, who remanded them in judicial custody till June 25. A visit to the venue of the rally, revealed that there was no farmer there this afternoon. There was also no tent or any other material to accommodate the protesters. Only five policemen were at the deserted venue. Shops in the grain market and other bazaars in the town were closed in response to the bandh call given by various traders’ organisations. The police had made arrangements to avert any untoward incident. Mounted police was patrolling in the town. Besides, the police had also arranged a Vajra (riot-control vehicle) and deployed policemen in the town and adjoining areas. Eight duty magistrates were also on duty to handle any untoward situation. To thwart the rally, even in adjoining districts like Bathinda, Sangrur, Mansa and Moga, the police checked buses, tractor-trailers and other vehicles. Mr G. Nageshwara Rao, SSP, Barnala police district, who was camping in the police station here, said the police today arrested 225 farmers from different places in and around Tapa to prevent any untoward incident in case a rally was allowed in the town. All arrested persons were coming to Tapa for the rally. He also said though the arhtiya was ready to withdraw the case filed against the farmer in the court, but the BKU Ekta (Sidhupur) was adamant to hold the rally. The SSP said the police had also arrested 55 farmers who arrived at the local railway station by a train from Patiala. The group was led by Mr Balkar Singh, general secretary of the Patiala district unit of the union. He said the Barnala police had not arrested any top leader of the union today. However, the Mansa police had arrested Mr Ruldu Singh, senior vice-president of the BKU Ekta (Sidhupur), he added.
|
|
Tents erected in jail to lodge farmers
Bathinda, June 10 Though the police succeeded in turning the rally at Tapa into a flop show, the rush of farmers at the jail has been proving to be a headache for the jail administration. The Bathinda jail is accommodating prisoners from Bathinda and Mansa. The jail authorities were erecting tents to adjust them this evening. About 98 farmers had been sent to the jail in the last couple of days and today 292 more joined them. The jail now has 1,122 prisoners as against its capacity of 500.
|
|
Cheema to have free hand in building his team
Chandigarh, June 10 Informed sources said today that the Punjab Chief Minister, Capt Amarinder Singh, had told Mr Cheema to select best and talented advocates from the Bar for induction into his team. At present, the office of the Advocate-General (AG) is facing a crisis as far as defending the state in the high court and other courts is concerned. In the AG’s office, there were only handful of law officers, who have the competency to defend the state in important cases. There are many Law Officers are just fillers, They allegedly got the job because they either belonged to influential bureaucrats or are close relations of politicians. It is a common practice to accommodate wards of politicians and other influential persons as law officers in the AG office. The establishment can give such a job without creating any administrative complication. But it has come to the notice of the government that most of the Law Officers, who have come through “ sifarish” route, have in fact become an administrative problem for the AG’s office. They neither attend their office nor turn up in courts. However, Mr Cheema, official sources, said would be at liberty to pull up those law officers, who had not been performing their duty seriously and efficiently. He would be asked to review the work of the law officers and to remove those not doing work to his satisfaction. “ Even by losing a one case in the court, the state suffers a big financial and other loss. And most of the cases have been lost for lack of proper handling at the law officer- level”, says a senior advocate, who had been a part of the AG office, long ago. Punjab is engaged in a important legal battle against Haryana and Rajasthan over the river waters issue in the Supreme Court. Next few months are very crucial for the state in this regard. Mr Cheema will be required to interact with top lawyers in Delhi to defend the state on river waters issue in the apex Court. “ Losing a case with regard to the control of river headworks in the of Rajasthan High Court came as a wake up call to the Punjab government. Immediately after it, the Government started applying its mind to have a new AG in place”, said official sources. The sources said even after allowing Mr Cheema to pick up his team of 20 law officers, there will be enough scope for the political establishment to adjust sons of VIPs as law officers. There is a no fixed number of law officers to be appointed in the AG office. At one time, the number of such officers had gone beyond 100. The sources said that the AG office can run its affairs with the help of 60 law officers.
|
|
US-made gun recovered from Hawara’s hideout
Samrala, June 10 This was revealed today when the Khanna police recovered a US-made Spingfield semi-automatic gun along with about 100 live cartridges and a motor cycle, allegedly belonging to Hawara, from an undisclosed place near this town on the Ludhiana-Chandigarh road today. The police is also learnt to have seized lakhs of rupees from a hideout. A diary having mainly telephone numbers and some other details allegedly belonging to Hawara and his alleged harbourer Hardeep Kaur has also been recovered. The police has rounded up three relatives and a family friend of Hardeep Kaur. The owner of the house in which Hardeep was a tenant was also being questioned, reliable police sources said. Those detained and questioned since morning by the police were Charanjit Kaur, sister of Hardeep Kaur, Charanjit’s husband, Ajaib Singh, and son, Inderjit Singh. The police has also rounded up Amit Marwaha, a family friend of the alleged harbourer. The police approached the BSNL office in Khanna and private telephone operators seeking details about the calls made to and by certain persons written in the diary. It could not be ascertained if the gun and the motor cycle were hid somewhere by Hawara or were recovered from some unidentified person.
|
|
Human rights panel awaits govt nod on inquiry cell
Kapurthala, June 10 Mr N.K. Arora, member of the commission and retired Chief Secretary, Punjab, said the commission had been awaiting a reply from the government in this regard for long but no response had been received by it as yet. He was in the city to hold a meeting with the local NGOs and administrative authorities. The commission member said that at least 80 per cent of the complaints received by it were those pertaining to high-handedness by the police personnel. This year, he said, the commission had received nearly 15,000 complaints of which 12,000 were those against police officials. Mr Arora said since the commission had very few members who could go to different places to inquire into cases and take the version of local people, most of such cases had to be handed over to the local authorities and there was every chance that the reports submitted to the commission were manipulated under political pressure. Mr Arora also pointed out that of the innumerable complaints received against the police personnel during the past three years, only a few dozen officers could be indicted, which itself spoke for the need to set up a private inquiry team. He said an independent cell could be set up with its members trained in different skills to handle all types of cases and gather evidence from various sources so that the guilty could be brought to the book. The commission member also expressed concern over the incident in Chehlan village of Fatehgarh Sahib reported in The Tribune on June 8. He said the commission had taken a serious note of the incident in which three minor Dalit boys got their feet burnt while stepping on a fly ash dump in a playground of the village. He, however, gave a vague reply to a question pertaining to the probe into the death of a Dalit youth in police custody on April 21. During interaction with members of the local NGOs, Mr Arora said they must align with the commission and bring cases of atrocities on common man to its notice so that justice could be dispensed to all. He said a majority of the complaints to the commission were being routed through NGOs of different districts. Later, Mr Arora held a meeting with the Deputy Commission, Mr Sameer Kumar, the SSP, Mr T.P.S. Sandhu, and the SP (Headquarters), Mr Shammi Kumar.
|
|
Flyash was 100°C hot, says PPCB
Ludhiana, June 10 The Fatehgarh Sahib district administration, has also paid Rs 5000 to the Khanna civil hospital for the treatment of two of three children having burns. The village panchayat also put up signboards banning entry to the area. Small entrance to the playground was also sealed. Officials of the PPCB armed with a JCB machine and other equipment reached the village playground, dug flyash and filled samples of layers of various materials dumped there. Later, smouldering layer of flyash was cooled with water that was sprayed in the playground. The panchayat had to ask for generators from Mandi Gobindgarh to pump water as power supply in the village was snapped due to a squall that hit the region last evening. Dr Babu Ram, Executive Engineer, PPCB, who headed that team of officials in the village said that they had taken several samples of the flyash and other layers of earth from the ground. He added that it was too early to say what led to had a rise in temperature of flyash. He said that yesterday they noted the temperature of the flyash and it was more than 100 degrees celcius at some places in the playground. We arranged for a JCB machine and dug the ground up to 15 feet and filled samples of different layers. Although some villagers said the temperature had risen after a layer of grass under the ash, dumped by them to raise the level had caught fire and was smouldering due to unavailability of oxygen, Dr Babu Ram did not confirm it. The PPCB team was camping in the village for the third day today. Naib Tehsildar, Amloh, G.S. Michra said that he had recorded statement of panchayat and father of the victims and submitted a report to the SDM, Amloh. He said that he had paid Rs 5,000 from the Red Cross fund to the Civil Hospital authorities for the treatment.
|
|||||
|
|
SAD meeting on June 11
Khanna, June 9 Ms Dhaliwal said SAD candidates would contest all six zones of Khanna. She said a list of candidates for all zones including Mank Majra, Lalheri, Ikolahi, Bija, Nasrali and Rohno Kalan would be finalised at the meeting with the consent of senior workers and leaders.
|
|
Fake currency case: prisoner’s daughter seeks CBI probe
Sunam, June 10 According to a statement, issued on August 11, 2000, by the then SSP, Sangrur, Dev Raj, a former cashier in the Sunam branch of the State Bank of India, was arrested on, August 10, 2000, by the Sunam police with counterfeit currency notes on him besides a computerised, counterfeit currency note-making machine and other material. During the search of a Maruti car, the police seized counterfeit currency note-making machine and other material. The police seized counterfeit currency notes worth Rs 60,000. During interrogation of Dev Raj, it also recovered more counterfeit currency notes worth Rs 2.21 lakh from his house. In a letter, written to the Director, CBI, Ms Jaspreet Kaur, who is an LL.B. student, has threatened him that if the CBI failed in initiating an inquiry into the case within a month, then she and other members of her family would immolate themselves in the office complex of the CBI in New Delhi on June 25. Talking to The Tribune at her house in Sunam, Ms Jaspreet Kaur alleged that earlier due to pressure from certain quarters, his father had not disclosed the names of influential politicians involved in the preparation of fake currency notes and had also not opened his mouth in this regard in the court during the trial and had preferred to go to jail for seven years. She said she wanted that influential politicians who collided in the crime should also be put behind bars.
|
|
IMA, PCMS docs bay for Dr Singla’s blood
Patiala, June 10 Not only this, Dr Darshan Singh Sidhu, who allegedly misbehaved with Civil Surgeon Dr Yash Pal Singla and to whom Dr Singla had asked to join duty after getting a medical fitness certificate from the Institute of Mental Health, Amritsar, has also made a representation to Secretary, Health and Family Welfare, Punjab, to allow him to continue with his duty and to look into the matter to bring the guilty to book. Dr Singla had carried out the surprise checking of Civil Hospital, Rajpura, after 10 pm on June 8. He did not disclose his identity first and was allegedly misbehaved with by Darshan Singh who was on duty and was not wearing apron. When Dr Singla disclosed his identity, Dr Darshan Singh kept on misbehaving with him. Dr Darshan Singh said neither he misbehaved with Dr Singla nor he was under any intoxication. He said the incident had disturbed him a lot and added that he was forced by Dr Singla to leave his duty on that day. In a press statement issued here today, the representatives of the PCMS Association and IMA pointed out that Dr Singla had transgressed his limits by asking a doctor to get medical fitness certificate from a mental hospital before performing duty. They added that it would create a big hurdle in the smooth functioning of health services in this district. They claimed that Dr Singla had earned displeasure of a significant section of people including medicos and Chief Minister, Capt Amarinder Singh for his style of functioning. They demanded that Dr Singla should be dismissed from services. Dr Singla could not be contacted as he was away to Delhi in connection with some official work.
|
|
Tricycles distributed among 200 schoolchildren
Ferozepore, June 10 Mr B.C. Thakur, Deputy Commissioner, presided over the function and more than 3,000 schoolchildren between 3 years and 14 years,
with disabilities had been identified in the district. He added that under the Sarv Shikhsha Abhiyan schemes had been initiated to ensure that every child attended school. He said the children unable to attend school because of some disability were being provided aids with assistance from the Ministry of Social Welfare and Justice and with the cooperation of Alimco and the District Red Cross Society. He said already 1,300 schoolgirls from the economically weaker sections of society had been provided cycles free of charge to go to school. Today’s camp, 122 tricycles, 25 wheelchairs and hearing aids and crutches distributed among schoolchildren. A camp of this type is to be organised in Zila on June 11, in Abohar and Fazilka on June 18 and in Jalalabad on June 27.
|
|
Youth drowned
Kapurthala, June 10
|
|
Faridkot DTO's Office under a cloud
Chandigarh, June 10 No insurance claims are given if the driver who suffers injury or dies does not have a valid driving licence. The three conflicting reports sent by the DTO during the course of a routine inquiry point to serious lapses. Some interesting facts highlighted by the perusal of these reports: the name in which a driving licence was issued was changed on the basis of an application, filed by a man who had died almost nine months earlier in a road accident. Also, the application for the change of name had signatures of the deceased! And the DTO ordered the change of the name of the licensee, one month before the application was filed! There is more. The same licence was shown to be in three different names. The issue came to light when the deceased's wife moved the Insurance Ombudsman here for settlement of a claim dispute. Her husband's Tata Safari vehicle, insured by United India Insurance, had met with an accident on June 14, 2001, leading to his death. The Insurance Ombudsman settles insurance claims between insurers and the insured parties of Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and Chandigarh. During the course of the settlement of the deceased's wife's claim, the driving licence was sent to the office of the DTO, Faridkot, for verification. The DTO wrote back saying that the licence was not in the deceased's name, but was held by one Mr Jagroop Singh. When this was conveyed to the complainant, she produced another verification report by the DTO, this one saying that the licence was in the name of her husband. In view of the conflicting claims, the insurer sought another report from the DTO. This time, the DTO claimed that the licence had originally been issued to one Balbir Singh. However, following an application made on March 21, 2002, the name of the licensee was changed to Lakhbir Singh on February 21, 2002. The change of name on the application further complicated the matter. The insurer was again asked to seek more clarifications. On December 22, 2004, the DTO informed that the licence was renewed from August 18, 1998, to August 17, 2001, and the name was corrected to Lakhbir Singh on the basis of application filed by him on March 21, 2002. The DTO also claimed that the earlier report about the licence being in the name of Jagroop Singh was not correct. But, nothing was said to clarify that how a dead man could move an application. Also, how come the name was changed one month before the application in this regard was filed? Pointing out that there are serious discrepancies in the reports of the DTO, the Ombudsman, Dr A.K. Kundra, has asked the DC, Faridkot to get the matter investigated.
|
|
DC takes stock of flood-control measures
Fatehgarh Sahib, June 10 The Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB) has earlier said that the water level in Bhakra reservoir is higher by about 60 ft this year as compared to the level last year, so there can be a possibility of floods in the Sutlej during the monsoon. The Deputy Commissioner said all necessary steps, precautions and arrangements at the administrative level were being made to meet any eventuality. She said 24-hour flood control rooms would be functioning at district and subdivision levels under the direct control of the Deputy Commissioner and respective Tehsildars. She directed all revenue officers to submit a report on flood-prone areas in the district within a week. She directed the Civil Surgeon to ensure regular supply of drinking water, fresh eatables, ensure cleanliness and vaccination and medical facilities in case of floods.
|
|
|
Ultrasound machines of 2 clinics seized
Bathinda, June 10 Dr Dhillon said that the ultrasound machines of Kalra Nursing Home and Thukral Nursing Home had been seized for 15 days as they didn’t get their record authenticated by the local appropriate authorities. He said they had also issued a notice to another clinic seeking explanation about a patient who was examined on May 25, but his entry was made on May 27. He said the clinic had been given two days to submit clarification. He said the inspection of ultrasound centres would be carried out in every three months. The Civil Surgeon disclosed that two teams comprising the Assistant State Drugs Controller, Mr Ajay Singla, three drug inspectors and a couple of doctors, raided chemists shops and clinics of unregistered doctors at Bhagta Bhai Ka. During the raid, medicines sans bills and physician samples were seized from Vivek Medical Store. Similarly, 16 different medicines were seized from Babu Ram of Chadat Maud Singh village when he could neither produce their bills nor his licence. Apart from it, the drug inspectors collected samples of 12 medicines for testing their quality.
|
|
Woman kills
2 sons, self
Patiala, June 10 Police sources said though Satpal Kaur had committed suicide under mysterious circumstances, her father had not levelled any allegations in connection with the same. Sources added that Ms Satpal Kaur, whose husband Mr Tara Chand was running a flour mill, first administered poison to her two sons Yatin and Amanjot by mixing the same into ice cream. Afterwards she slashed her wrist.
TNS
|
|
|
Domestic help raped, woman booked
Patiala, June 10 Police sources said a 17-years-old girl was raped by three persons in the house of a woman where she was working as a domestic help. The accused raped the victim with the help of the woman identified as Kalawanti. Though a case under Sections 376 and 120-B of the IPC has been registered against the woman and three accused, no arrest had been made in this connection so far. In another incident a jewellery shop situated in the local Dharampura market was allegedly looted after the accused managed to break its side shutter with the help of gas cylinder cutter. The incident took place late night yesterday. The accused managed to enter the shop and took away all jewellery. The owners of the shop came to know about this incident today morning when they opened the shop. As per the initial estimates, the
thieves decamped with jewellery worth Rs 4 lakh. However, owners of the shop were still calculating the value of jewellery taken away by the accused. The police officials, who visited the spot, took the help of a dog squad and finger print experts to get a clue about the identity of the accused. A case has been registered under Sections 457 and 380 of the IPC.
|
|
Delhi businessman, drugged, robbed
Phagwara, June10 It was learnt today that the 50-year-old businessman had boarded the night bus from Delhi which was to reach Phagwara yesterday morning. A youth occupied the seat beside him from
Delhi. When the bus stopped near Karnal in Haryana, the youth bought a bottle of soft drink and poured it in to two glasses. He gulped one glass himself and politely offered the other glass to Gulab Singh who accepted it. After consuming the soft drink, Gulab Singh fell unconscious. The youth decamped with his valuables, including a cell phone and thousands of rupees in cash. When Gulab Singh regained partial consciousness, he found himself lying near a roadside kiosk on the GT road. Somehow, he reached the local Bhagarpura, Bhanoki road house of his brother Karam Singh last night. Gulab Singh, who keeps shuttling between Delhi and various cities of Punjab in connection with his
business, was in a state of shock over the incident.
|
|
3 officials held for raping minor
Muktsar, June 10 Sources said those involved in the matter were the Reader to the Deputy Commissioner, Rajinder Singh
Butar, registry clerk to Muktsar Tehsildar, Daljit Singh, the in charge of the Red Cross, Madhusudan and Ashwini
Gumber, a commission agent. These persons were arrested yesterday and a case was registered against them under Section 109, IPC but further investigations into the case gave it a new turn. Sources said the victim, who is a daughter of a gardener and hails from Kanpur, was on her way to the clinic of Dr Baldev Raj for getting some medicines. In the meantime, the commission agent and the in charge of the Red Cross persuaded her to sit in their car saying that they would drop her back home after taking the medicines. They took her to the Red Cross building where two of their companions were already present. They reportedly raped her there. The victim had been medically examined. The accused have been booked under Sections 376, 376-B, 364, 420 and 34, of the IPC, at the city police station. The SSP, Mr L.K. Yadav, confirmed that these officials had been booked for kidnapping and rape of the victim. He said the action came after recording the statement of the victim and further investigation. Meanwhile, sources said the police was also probing into the misuse of the Red Cross building by some people of the area and it may lead to their exposure in the coming days.
|
|
|
4 booked in cheating case
Kharar, June 10 Following a complaint given by Dr Kashmir Singh of Phase II, Mohali, the Kharar police booked Gurmukh Singh of Balongi, Narinder Kumar of Ludhiana, Jagjit Singh of Ropar and Bhupinder Singh, Chairperson of Green Enclave, Balongi. According to the police, Kashmir Singh had alleged that he had bought a plot in Green Enclave in December, 1989, and had also got it registered and taken its possession of the plot. However, when he tried to build a boundary wall on his plot the accused in the case tried to grab his plot.
|
|
PMT leak: probe shifted to Vigilance
Patiala, June 10 Sources said the investigation had been shifted from the Faridkot police to the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Vigilance Bureau. Mr Parbodh Kumar, DIG, EOW, would conduct the investigation. The Faridkot police authorities had been asked to send the file to the Economic Offences Wing at the earliest. The investigation would start from tomorrow morning. The Tribune had carried a report that the PMT question paper had leaked after a part of it was sent to its office by a Moga-based person, Dr J.S. Gujral, Vice Chancellor of the university, took the unprecedented decision of cancelling the entrance test. He also declared that no stone would be left unturned to bring the culprits to book. On June 7, the university lodged a complaint with the Faridkot police and an FIR was registered under Sections 379, 420, 406, 409, 465, 467, 468 and 120-B of the IPC. The university authorities have reportedly decided to set up a one-man commission headed by a retired judge of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, Justice Jai Singh Sekhon, to look into the paper-leak case and to submit its report to it as early as possible. However, whether the commission has come into existence and started functioning or not could not be known yet. Sources said the state government, which was perturbed over the state of functioning of the BFUHS that remained involved in a number of controversies following its coming into existence during the regime of the previous SAD-BJP government, had decided to get the PMT entrance test re-conducted by Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar. The government was also contemplating action against those connected with preparing, printing, dispatching and conducting the entrance test. A number of heads in the BFUHS might roll in the coming days as the episode had put the state government in an embarrassing situation and had eroded the faith of the people in the present system of functioning of the university. Information gathered by Tribune News Service revealed the DIG, EOW, who would be assisted by a number of officials of the Punjab Vigilance Bureau for conducting investigation, had started collecting relevant documents and information that could be helpful in solving the case. However, no arrest had been made by the EOW officials so far in that connection.
|
|
PMT not later than July 3
Chandigarh, June 10 A spokesman said the Registrar of Baba Farid University of Health Sciences had been asked to immediately handed over the relevant records to that university.
— TNS
|
|
|
Minkle tops in BA exam
Amritsar, June 10 In BA, Sumiti Sharma of KRM DAV College, Nakodar, stood second with 630 marks, while Rupa Kapoor of HMV, Jalandhar, remained third with 625 marks. In the BSc stream, Komal of Kanya Mahavidyalya, Jalandhar, bagged the second position with 648 marks, while Jatinder Kaur Judge of KMV College finished third with 634 marks.
— OC
|
| 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 | |
