Ludhiana, November 19
Beleaguered former head of the International Dharam Samaj Shamsher Singh Jaghera, accused of hatching an abortive plot to kill Khalsa Panchayat chief Charanjit Singh Channy, has got a reprieve from the Punjab and Haryana High Court, which has directed the city police to question him from 10 am to 6 pm only at the police station.

The High Court has also directed Jaghera to join investigation in the case on November 11 and make himself available from 10 am to 6 pm.

Delivering the verdict on details pertaining to a series of criminal cases registered against the petitioner, Justice Surya Kant said the investigating officer would be at liberty to keep the petitioner, Shamsher Singh Jaghera, for interrogation and investigation up to 6 pm on that day.

The Judge also ordered: “However, in the event of the arrest, the investigating/ arresting officer is directed to release him on bail, subject to his furnishing surety bond and also subject to compliance of other statutory conditions as contained in Section 438(2), CrPC.”

Shamsher Singh Jaghera had in his petition claimed that he had been falsely booked on the allegation of hatching the contract killing.

He claimed that he had been politically victimised at the behest of Congress leaders, including Chief Minister Amarinder Singh. He alleged that Congress leaders were against him as he was close to former Chief Minster Parkash Singh Badal.

Jaghera was quite popular with Congress and Akali leaders, who frequented his dera here before his arrest in a rape case over two years ago.

Jaghera was booked for plotting the contract killing while he was incarcerated in the case.

The case was registered on the basis of an investigation by Jagraon police that nailed Jaghera for conceiving the murder and making a payment of Rs 1.5 lakh to a conduit while he was in the jail.

Ludhiana, November 19
The life imprisonment awarded to DSP Jaspal Singh and ASI Amarjit Singh in the Jaswant Singh Khalra murder case by the CBI court of Patiala Additional Sessions Judge Bhupinder Singh is a “slap on the face of all those who played a leading role in getting the DSP, a terrorist in uniform, reprieved of his earlier life sentence awarded in another case from the Punjab Governor recently.”

According to International Human Rights Organisation (IHRO) chairperson D. S. Gill, in light of the conviction there is a need for withdrawing the prestigious Police Medal for Gallantry awarded in 1994 to both “murderers” by the President of India for their “services” during the days of terrorism.

The Punjab Governor, Gen S.F. Rodrigues (retd), had granted pardon to Jaspal Singh, DSP, Detective, Tarn Taran, who was convicted in a case filed by the CBI on April 23, 1996, under Sections 365, 304, 342 and 34 of the IPC read with Section 120-B of the IPC.

All this illustrated that the Executive and its high offices, such as the President and Governors, had been clandestinely conniving with “uniformed terrorists in their illegal, forced disappearance and custodial torture and deaths of citizens which is nothing but a negation of rule of law and an attempt to scuttle the justice system by adopting extra judicial measures, he added.

The Judiciary, on the other hand, generally displayed leniency towards these “state terrorists” while the state security forces liquidated individual “terrorists,” the way human rights leader Jaswant Singh Khalra was done away with.

Expressing surprise over the court’s judgement, which did not even touch K.P.S. Gill, he said the court should have taken cognizance of the testimony of an eyewitness, Kuldip Singh, who had named the supercop for killing Khalra.

The IHRO has also urged the CBI to file an appeal against this judgement in the interests of justice.

Ludhiana, November 19
Coming to the aid of a local resident, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has ordered status quo on the construction of a part of Flamez multiplex adjoining the house of the complainant. The resident had alleged that cracks had appeared in his house due to digging in the under construction multiplex on Malhar Road in Gurdev Nagar area.

The High Court also directed the respondents, including the Municipal Corporation, Town Planner and Mayor of Ludhiana, to present the records pertaining to the construction of the multiplex through their counsel on the next date of hearing. The case comes up for next hearing on November 21.

In his petition to the High Court, Mr Prasana Gupta, who is son of a former city Mayor and who owns a house near the multiplex, had complained that his house was going to crumble any moment following damage by the digging in the multiplex, which was being carried out without leaving any distance from the adjoining wall of his house. Due to this reason the house had developed cracks in almost all rooms and Gupta family had to take shelter in his sister's house as his house was not fit for living anymore. The family had reportedly vacated the house on October 18 and had been living in New Lajpat Nagar.

Mr Gupta, while talking to the Ludhiana Tribune said his house had started developing cracks in September only and they had been running from pillar to post to get the construction stopped so that their house could be saved. Now they have put up supports at various places otherwise the house can come down crashing anytime.

‘‘In spite of our complaints nobody listened to us as Mr Pawan Garg is an influential person. Then we waited for some action after going to various authorities, but to no avail. Finally we moved the court in October end and we are thankful that the court has come to our rescue.’’ said Mr Gupta.

He added that the construction of the multiplex was illegal and in violation of the building bylaws. A mall plaza could not be constructed in a residential area without having a minimum of 5,000 square yards of land. But in this case the land was only 3,700 square yards.

Mr Pawan Garg, MD of M/s Dynamic Continental Private Limited, which is constructing the multiplex said they had already completed the construction work on the side adjoining Mr Gupta’s house. He added that they were not carrying out any construction activity in that area now. 

Khanna, November 19
Rapid industrialisation with no care for environment has brought this town the dubious distinction of becoming the sixth town to be categorised as a polluted place to live in the state.

The town has joined the infamous group of five other cities and towns of the state, which have been classified as polluted ones by the Punjab Pollution Control Board, (PPCB).

This information was given yesterday evening by Mr Kunesh Garg, on environmental engineer of Patiala at a meeting of the owners of steel re-roller units at Golden Grain Club here.

Ludhiana has got the dubious distinction of being the most polluted while Amritsar, Mandi Gobindgarh, Jalandhar and Batala were other four places. The declaration was made after day-to-day monitoring and testing sample of underground water twice a year.

The PPCB has announced new measures to check pollution in the town. This was announced at the meeting, which was organised by Mr Vinod Vashisht, president, All-India Steel Re-Rollers Association, Mandi Gobindgarh and Mr Harmesh Jain president, Small-Scale Steel Re-Rollers Association, Khanna. The meeting was held to give knowledge to the re-rollers about the newly implemented waste and hazardous rules for the rolling mills.

The town has mainly three types of industry, which have led to the deterioration of the environment — steel re-rolling units, cattle-feed manufacturing units and the rice-shellers.

Mr Kurnesh Garg said every re-roller had to get consent from the board under these rules and an air pollution control device would be stored in a room, specially built for it.

He said a plant with the help of Ranbaxy and Oswal Group was being installed at Dera Basi where the waste of all types of factories would be processed. It will take about one year to complete this plant thereafter it will lift the waste of the rolling mills. Till that time the units have to store the waste on their factory premises. Anybody found throwing the waste outside the factory will be dealt strictly, said Mr Kurnesh Garg.

Ludhiana, November 19
Tributes were paid to former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi today on her 88th birth anniversary. Various functions were held across the city to pay homage to the leader. The main function was organised at the local district party office which was presided over by Mr Jagmohan Sharma, a Congress leader.

Prominent among those present on the occasion were the Education Minister, Mr Harnam Dass Johar, the Parliamentary Secretary, Mr Surinder Dawer, an MLA, Mr Milkiat Singh Dakha, the Mayor, Mr Nahar Singh Gill, the District Youth Congress president, Mr Dimple Rana, and the District Mahila Congress president, Ms Usha Malhotra.

Addressing the function, Mr Johar recalled the great sacrifice of Indira Gandhi for safeguarding the unity and integrity of the country. He pointed out that she had unfailing faith in secular India and she never made any difference among people on sectarian lines. Mr Johar said Indira Gandhi had guided India on all major national and international fronts.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr Dawer said the Gandhi family had a great tradition of sacrifice. He pointed out that Indira Gandhi sacrificed her life for safeguarding the unity and integrity of the country and her son Rajiv Gandhi also lost his life for the same mission. He said it was only the Congress which had a rich and great tradition of sacrifices for the country.

The leaders and the workers who participated in the function resolved to carry forward the mission of Indira Gandhi. They said the best tribute to the late leader would be to safeguard the unity and integrity of the country for which she laid down her life. They also recalled her contribution in ensuring the development in all spheres, be it poverty alleviation or the country’s defence.

A separate function was organised by the Youth Congress in Model Town. It was presided over by the senior vice-president of the Pradesh Youth Congress, Mr Pawan Dewan. The participants at the function took a vow to safeguarding the unity and integrity of the country at all costs. 

Ludhiana, November 19
Keeping in line with ambitious project of ‘Aao Gaon Chale’ instituted by the Government of India to shoulder the responsibility of providing positive health care to every village in the country, Bibi Manmohan Kaur Memorial Welfare Society in collaboration with DMC&H recently organised a medical camp at Shug Bhatoli village in Kangra district of Himachal Pradesh.

As many as 450 residents of Shug Bhatoli and nearby villages turned up and obtained the benefits of the medical camp.

A series of lectures and visits to family quarters were organised by the consultants to motivate the families to take required precautions for healthy living and making them aware about lack of proper hygiene and sanitation facilities. The secretary of the society, Air Cdr N.S. Chahal lauded the contribution of DMC&H in its endeavor of providing medical treatment to the needy and underprivileged. He informed that the society, since its inception in 1998, has held medical camps in remote areas of Punjab and Himachal Pradesh and so far, more than 25,000 persons have been benefited by its services.

Jagraon, November 19
Jagdish Lal, Rabi Kumar, Ashok Kumar, Kala Singh, Bishnu Kumar, Raj Singh, Paramjit Singh of Pakhowal and Ajit Singh of Tusse allegedly tried to take forcible possession of land belonging to Onkar Singh.

Ludhiana, November 19
The international conference on textiles and clothing, Texcon — 2005, identified consolidation as the key to success in global market.

On the concluding day of the two-day conference conducted by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), the participants deliberated on issues like logistics support, supplier interface and financial strategies for the textile and apparel industry.

Mr N. Balaji, Senior Manager, Deloitte, Haskins and Sells, said, “It was generally felt by the industry players that the Indian textile industry needed to go in for a phase of consolidation in terms of systems, technologies and processes. This could be done by focussing on productivity and reducing non-value added activities. The urgent need today was for technology driven global competitiveness.”

Talking about textile supplier interface and logistics, which was becoming a key area as outsourcing had become the norm the world over, Mr. Balaji said outsourcing was a big opportunity for India because of its inherent advantage of low costs.

Mr Balaji also said management strategies would play a big role in industry’s growth.

Ludhiana, November 19
Knitwear Industry has urged the government to include a couple of more machines used for garment processing in the list of machines that are given an additional subsidy under the Technology Upgradation Scheme.

The Knitwear Club submitted a memorandum in this regard to Minister of Textiles, Mr Shankersinh Vaghela, yesterday.

In the memorandum, the industry urged the government to include rotary drum washer, hydro extractor based on centrifugal or vacuum system, automatic/ semi-automatic screen printing machine, dry-t-cry cleaning machine, industrial garment washing/drying machine, combisoft machine for softening, drying and stone wash effect, coating/laminating/ embossing machine, laser engraving machine, thermo pac/ other high temperature heating system/ steam table and presses , air compressor and garment dyeing machines.

The club urged the minister to give an additional incentive of 10 per cent in the form of capital subsidy for the processing machinery under TUF.

Mr Vinod Thapar, president and Mr Naridner K. Miglani, general secretary, referred to the meeting with Ms Shashi Singh, Director, office of Textile Commissioner in June 2005, and said the Director had given a positive response to include second hand computerised flat knitting machines, hand flat knitting machines, and bar code printers and scanners also to be included in TUF. The club said that TUF incentive on these machines would facilitate industry growth. — TNS