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5 killed, 32 hurt in bus-truck collision
Lohtan (Balachaur), November 28 The incident occurred when the Ropar-bound private bus, belonging to Jawala Mukhi Motors, had just crossed Balachaur
and the truck coming from Ropar side rammed into it. The impact of the collision was so strong that the driver of the truck and five passengers travelling in the bus died on the spot and 32 passengers received serious injuries. As the shock generated by collision was intense, truck driver Shambu Dutt of Ludhiana and five of passengers of the bus, including a woman, died on the spot. The front parts of the ill-fated bus and truck got virtually torn apart. Most of the passengers sitting on front seats of the bus were either crushed to death or received serious injuries as seats got cramped with each other due to the impact. Those who died in the accident had been identified as Shambu Dutt, driver of the truck, Baljit Kaur (27) from Chack Sanghian village near Garshankar, Prem Kumar Pappu, an employee with a plywood shop at Hyatpur Rudki village of Balachaur subdivision, Mohan Singh of Jainpur village in Balachaur, who was working as a cashier with a bank at Ropar, and Raj Kumar (36) a Punjab Police Head Constable from Nandgarh
village. While Raj Kumar was heading for Mohali, where he was posted, after spending two days with his family, ailing Baljit Kaur was going to Chandigarh to get some medicines. Bodies of those killed got damaged beyond recognition. Injured have been identified as Bobby, Subhash, Mandip Kumar, Mohan Kaur, Nimma, Harnek Singh, Yachna, Harikishan, Mandip Singh, Avneet, Inderjeet Singh, Sangram Rana, Ranvir, Mohinder Singh, Jaspal Singh, Sunil Sharma, Darshan Lal, Akhil Kumar, Hardyal Singh, Amarjit Singh, Harbans Lal, Jarnail Singh, Rohit Verma, Sapinderjit Singh, Balbir Singh, Jaspal Singh, Jeet Ram and Jatinder Singh. Eighteen of the injured had been admitted to Nawanshahr, four at Suri Hospital on the Bhaddi road in Balachaur and 10 in the Balachaur civil hospital. Those, who had received minor injuries, were discharged after providing them with first aid. The driver of the bus was also among the seriously injured.
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Pak completes four-laning of Wagah-Nankana
Amritsar, November 28 Talking to The Tribune from Pakistan Mr D.S. Jaspal, Secretary Information and Public Relations, Punjab, who reached Pakistan in advance to make arrangements, said that four-laning was being done on the pattern of the Motorway of Pakistan by a multi-National company. He said it was unbelievable that the road which was single-lane during previous visit of Capt Amarinder Singh had been four-laned in record time. Mr Jaspal said round the clock work on four-laning was dedicated to the longest ever-religious procession from New Delhi to Nankana Sahib. Mr Jaspal said that Capt Amarinder Singh, Chief Minister would also call on Governor of Punjab at Lahore tomorrow. Meanwhile, in a belated decision, the SGPC made elaborate arrangements for the stay and langar for the devotees who visited the holy city with the palki procession. However, no official of the Shiromani Committee or office-bearer of the Shiromani Akali Dal, led by Mr Parkash Singh Badal was present to welcome the Palki. Mr Avtar Singh Makkar who had said that most of the time he would be staying in Amritsar failed to return here after his appointment. Though the SGPC chief was aware that ‘’Palki’’ procession was arriving in Amritsar but he preferred to go to New Delhi. On the other hand, residents of the city, cutting across party affiliations responded to the procession overwhelmingly. Capt Amarinder Singh would reach Wagah to receive the procession. Mr Pervez Elahi, Chief Minister West Punjab and his Cabinet colleagues, apart from Mr Mastan Singh, President, Pakistan Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee would reach Wagah to receive the procession. The special bus, carrying the golden palki will cross over to Pakistan. This is for the first time that a vehicle carrying Guru Granth Sahib will be allowed to cross over to Pakistan.
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Fresh tenders disclaimer to govt claims
Gurdaspur, November 28 As per information collected by The Tribune, municipal councils of Gurdaspur, Ferozpore and Anandpur Sahib have recently floated tenders for collection of octroi. The new contract for octroi collection in Gurdaspur is to start from December 10 while the contract for Ferozpore and Anandpur Sahib from December 2 and December 16, respectively. The Phillaur municipal council also recently floated tenders for awarding contract for octroi collection. The tenders have upset the trading community that was expecting its abolition after the statements in this regard from the ruling party leaders. The trading bodies are alleging that the state government was not serious about the abolition of octroi. They, like their predecessors, are likely to abolish octroi only a few months before elections to sway the traders. The abolition was octroi was one of the main promises the Congress made in its election manifesto. However, by not abolishing the tax, the government has gone back on its promise.
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Cong MLA opposes plan of delimitation panel
Chandigarh, November 28 Urging the Centre not to implement the report of the National Delimitation Commission regarding the delimitation of Assembly and Lok Sabha constituencies in Punjab without holding a debate on it in Parliament, Mr Bajwa told The Tribune here today that there was a lot of resentment among MLAs and other aspiring to be MLAs against the recommendations of the Commission. He said that in fact the criteria which Commission had been asked to follow to reorganise the constituencies was so faulty that its implementation would create problems for the MLAs belonging to general categories in the areas where population of general categories had increased less in proportion to other categories. The Commission is to increase the number of segments for reserved categories on the basis of increase in their population but the total number of the segments, that is 117, is to be kept intact. Giving an instance, Mr Bajwa said that earlier there were 11 Assembly segments in Gurdaspur districts and it included two reserved constituencies. However, in its latest recommendation, the Commission had brought down the number of total segments to 10 and the number of reserved constituencies had been increased to three. Earlier, in 11 Assembly segments, nine were available to candidates of general categories. Now from 10 segments, only seven would be available to candidates of general categories. Mr Bajwa said that as the population of general categories had not increased much because these people were sticking to by and large, “hum do, hamare do” norm in Gurdaspur district, one Assembly segment would be shifted from that district now to some other districts such as Ludhiana where the population had increased because of various factors. Likewise, earlier, there were 10 Assembly segments in Jalandhar district and three of these were reserved. Now the number of constituencies would come down to nine but the number of reserved constituencies would go up to four there. “It means only five constituencies would be available to general categories in that district now”, he added. On the other hand there were earlier only 12 Assembly segments in Ludhiana district but the Commission had increased the number to 14 because of the high upward jump in the population of that district. There would be seven Assembly segments in Ludhiana city now. And two Assembly segments to Ludhiana would be shifted from the districts like Gurdaspur and Jalandhar, Mr Bajwa added. Though, Mr Bajwa has come forward to oppose the recommendations on record, there were several other MLAs who have also strong resentment against the recommendations. Mr Bajwa said that the number of Assembly segments for the reserved categories should be increased but it should not be done at the cost of general categories. He said that the Commission had recommended five more seats for reserved categories in Punjab. New five seats should created in the areas where the population of reserved categories had increased, but the number of segments meant for general categories should not be slashed. The Commission had recommended 34 segments as reserved because of the increase in the population of reserved categories. With this, the number of segments meant for general categories would come down to 83. Earlier, 88 segments were for general categories while 29 segments were reserved.
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Amarinder welcomes Palki Sahib
Shambhu (Patiala), November 28 Mr Sarna made this statement when Capt Amarinder Singh received Palki Sahib (gold palanquin) along with the Guru Granth Sahib procession here, bordering Haryana early this morning after waiting for hours. Mr Sarna, who was sitting on the special vehicle carrying the palanquin, also presented the siropa to Capt Amarinder Singh and showered praise on him during his brief speech by dubbing him a true panthic leader and the right man who could manage the affairs of Punjab for the welfare of its people. The Chief Minister, along with his Cabinet colleagues, after paying his obeisance to Guru Granth Sahib said he was fortunate to welcome the nagar kirtan, which started from Bangla Sahib Gurdwara (Delhi) and is bound for Nankana Sahib ( Pakistan). He used this occasion to criticise the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbhandak Committee (SGPC) for destroying the heritage of almost all important and historical gurdwaras dotting Punjab and its neighbouring states. He added that that nagar kirtan being taken out by the DSGMC was a unique initiative and it would foster mutual goodwill, friendship and communal harmony between the people of both the countries. He added that he along with 29 MLAs would cross over to Pakistan from the Wagah border tomorrow. The nagar kirtan, which arrived here is the dead of night, was given a rousing reception by the people of the area. A large number of people sat on one side of the Grand Trunk (GT) road, braving the chill and inclement weather. They also organised a community kitchen. The nagar kirtan was led by the Panj Piaras. A contingent of horsemounted the Punjab Police escorted it. The people were raising slogans “ Bole So Nihal Sat Sri Akal” and showering petals on the vehicle carrying Palki Sahib.
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Plane returns after Iran refuses permission
Amritsar, November 28 The spokesman of Air Slovakia, Mr G.P. Singh, said this was perhaps for the first time that this unsavory situation occurred as they had valid permission but due to communication gap, the Iranian air controller refused permission to overfly its territory and plane had to return to Amritsar. He added that the confusion was further compounded as yesterday being Sunday holiday in both India and Iran and as such they were unable to take permission from the higher authorities. The flight took off this morning after due permission was accorded today from both the governments. In the meanwhile, due to inclement weather in Kabul, the scheduled Jeddah-Dubai-Kabul flight of Airana-Afgan airlines had to be diverted to Rajasansi airport this morning. According to the local manager, Mr Prithivi Raj Dhiman, the flight took off after two hours when the weather cleared over Kabul.
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Police traps blackmailer
Barnala, November 28 Mr G. Nageshwara Rao, SSP, Barnala, informed that following a tip-off, Mr Swaran Singh, SHO of Kotwali Barnala, and Mr Gurdev Singh, Sub-Inspector in charge CIA Staff Barnala, planned a trap to nab Mr Sukhdev Singh by preparing five packets appearing to contain Rs 5 lakh by setting Rs 1,000 denomination notes on the outer cover of packets and plain papers inside. Mr Kewal Krishan had complained to the Barnala police that he had found a letter in his house written by an unidentified person. It was a threat note demanding Rs 5 lakh. The letter said that he must keep this amount at a drain bridge on the Barnala-Bhadaur road or face dire consequences. The letter further made it clear
that the persons who murdered Biru, a resident of Shehna, had got money from him. They wanted to punish Biru’s murderers for which Rs 5 lakh was needed. The police asked Mr Kewal Krishan to go to the drain bridge with the cash bag for handing over to the blackmailer. When Mr Krishan executed this plan, the police captured the ransom seeker. When the accused, Sukhdev Singh was questioned, he replied that he wanted big amount for the treatment of his maternal grandfather who had been suffering from some serious ailment. Sukhdev was arrested and a case under Sections 384, 506 of the IPC and 25/54/59 of Arms Act was registered against him.
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Tension over temple construction
Bathinda, November 28 Sources said the two communities were at loggerheads over the construction of a temple for the past some time. There were differences among them over the location of the proposed temple. While a representative of one community accused members of the other community of hampering its construction, people from the other side said they had only objected their plan to raise the temple on green belt of the colony. The latter stated that some residents had also voiced objection to some of their proposed sites owing to their proximity with their residences. Sources said the trouble broke out today when a group favouring construction of the temple installed the idol of Lord Hanuman on green belt. Sources said a large group of colony residents came out against the move, as besides being on green stretch the location was close to their homes. Both the sides had an altercation over the issue. The idol of Lord Hanuman also got damaged in the melee. Some VHP activists headed by Mr Sukhpal Singh also reached the spot. In the meantime SP City Mr Darshan Kumar, SDM Mr S.K. Singla and Kotwali SHO Surinderpal Singh rushed to the locality with police force and rounded up three persons including Sukhpal Singh. Sources said the police also beat up Sukhpal. However, now questions are being raised on his “sound thrashing” by the police and some Hindu organizations have threatened to launch a stir on the issue. The SDM later said that both the parties had agreed on a location for the temple and the matter had been sorted out amicably.
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Maintain sanctity of profession: docs told
Sangrur, November 28 This was stated by Dr R.K. Gorea, Professor and Head, Department of Forensic Medicine, Government Medical College, Patiala, at a seminar on “Medico legal aspects and post-mortem examination” here on Saturday. The seminar was inaugurated by Dr Narpal Singh, civil surgeon, Sangrur, and attended among others by Dr H.S. Bali, SMO, Civil Hospital, Sangrur; Dr Surinder Singla, Chairman, Legal Cell, Punjab IMA; Dr H.S. Ballian, Additional Professor, Medical College, Patiala; and Dr. K.G. Singla, president of Sangrur IMA. Dr Gorea further said that involvement of certain doctors in heinous acts of sex determination and female foeticide was bringing bad name to the entire fraternity. They should not indulge themselves in such acts. He further said such doctors should also be exposed to maintain the sanctity of the profession. Ms Virginia Lynch, an expert in forensic nursing, and Ms Chrisfinn, Principal of a nursing college, both from the USA, spoke on role of nurses in medico-legal work. They were of the opinion that forensic nursing should be encouraged in India to give proper care to medico-legal cases. Dr Harpreet Kaur Sandhu from UK, a specialist in forensic psychology, delivered lecture on truthful and unbiased investigations in medico-legal cases. She told the doctors that if they remained unbiased while discharging their duties in medico-legal cases, society could be made crime-free to a large extent. Dr H.S. Bali, SMO, Civil Hospital, Sangrur, advised the doctors not to succumb to any pressure while discharging their medico-legal duties. Dr Surinder Singla said that such seminars were need of the hour as doctors were facing complications due to the lack of latest knowledge on the subject.
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Nothing will impede peace process: Azad
Ludhiana, November 28 Mr Azad, who was here to express his gratitude to the people of Punjab for extending generous aid and relief to the quake hit people of his state, in an interview with The Tribune said incidents of violence can never disturb his resolve. “The terrorists want to make their presence felt whenever there is a change of power,” he observed, while pointing out that similar incidents of violence took place when Dr Farooq Abdullah took over as the Chief Minister of the state in 1996 and Mufti Mohammad Sayeed took over in 2002. The Chief Minister pointed out that the sporadic incidents of violence should not be taken as indicators of the situation. He said he would bring in “hard taskmaster cops” and replace those known to be soft. At the same time he would keep the communication channels open. He said the ongoing process of dialogue with the Hurriyat Conference would continue and hoped that it reaches its logical conclusion. He said the incidents of violence were desperate acts of frustration. He said he was in Punjab during the turbulent days of terrorism and had worked closely with the late Beant Singh. “I covered almost each and every village in the state along with Mr Beant Singh,” he disclosed, adding, “I was not scared then and I am not scared even now. We got peace in Punjab and we would be getting similar results in J&K.” Mr Azad said unemployment was contributory factor to terrorism. He appealed to industrialists to invest in Kashmir. He also made it clear that he did not want the investors (from Punjab) “to just cross the border and set up their units in Kathua, (about 10 km from Punjab border) to get incentives” as there is a tax holiday in Jammu and Kashmir. “I want employment generating investments,” he said.
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SGPC to discuss fate of daily wage workers
Amritsar, November 28 Though the previous general house of the committee that elected Mr Makkar as president had cleared the appointments of the daily wage workers, he is unlikely to give extension to them. The Sikh Gurdwara Judicial Commission has already imposed a blanket ban on further recruitment of the employees and described the appointment of over 1,000 persons as a violation of the rules. It has been the practice since 1999 that the new president removes the daily wage employees recruited by his/her predecessor. Bibi Jagir Kaur too had axed hundreds of employees when she succeeded Mr Kirpal Singh Badungar and Mr Alwinderpal Singh Pakhoke. The forthcoming Dharm Parchar Committee and executive bodies may like to change the panels and sub-committees as per the practice too.
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Mann seeks Bhattal’s ouster
Sangrur, November 28 Mr Mann also asked Ms Sonia Gandhi, president of the All-India Congress Committee, to expel Ms Bhattal from the Congress, by alleging that due to consumption of excess liquor, served by Ms Bhattal at the ceremony, two persons had lost their lives.
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Manpreet Akhtar enthrals audience
Amritsar, November 28 She enthralled the audience with her melodious voice and sung traditional Punjabi songs ‘Mast kalandar’, ‘Jad bhangra paan Punjabi ne mein wari jawan’ and ‘Mirza’ at the pop music concert held. And the audience equally responded by raising hands and dancing. The other artistes who took part in the concert were Manpreet Chinda Satwinder Bitti and Bhotu Shah. Local heritage lovers and NGOs have condemned the district administration for draining about Rs 60 lakh, which could have been used for preserving the crumbling heritage buildings. They claimed that it was an official show with no public participation. Mr Brij Bedi, president, Citizen Forum, rued that the residents of the city were not even aware whether such function was being held in Amritsar. Two local eminent doctors Dr Daljit Singh and Dr B.L. Goel were honored for their services to the society by choudhry Jagjit Singh, Local Bodies Minister. Addressing the gathering, Mr Choudhry said that such festivals must be organised frequently to make general public aware of their rich heritage and motivate them to strive for its preservation.
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Dogra’s forum to hold seminar
Chandigarh, November 28 Besides former Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh, other speakers will include Mr Ram Madhav, spokesman for the RSS; Mr C.V. Ranganathan, former convener of the National Security Advisory Board; Mr B. Raman, convener of the Chennai chapter of the Observer Research Foundation and Air Vice-Marshal Kapil Kak (retd). The seminar is the second and concluding part of the third seminar on India’s foreign policy and national security which was held on October 15 and 16.
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Indian, Pak artistes to perform at Sai Mian Mir Mela
Amritsar, November 28 The second session of the first day would be assigned to recreational activities in which ghazals and naqals, a dying traditional humorous art, would be presented by Indian and Pakistani artistes.
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IT officials raid saree house
Amritsar, November 28 According to the details available from reliable source, the director of investigations on tip-off searched the premises of Kishore Saree House. The raiding party also searched the complex of their
brokers through which major transactions were being made. According to unconfirmed reports, cash and stocks amounting to several lakhs have been seized and till the filing reports the income tax officials were busy verifying the unaccounted assets.
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high court High Court Correspondent
Chandigarh, November 28 The petitioner had also taken the B-1 exam held on March 15, 2002, for the purpose of being deputed to the Lower School Training Course. However, while she was not selected for the course on the ground that she had not made the grade, some other candidates were cleared. The petitioner had alleged that irregularities had been committed to help at least five selected candidates make it to the course. When her representations to senior police officers did not yield any result, the petitioner moved the High Court, which ordered reassessment of the answer-sheets. After the reassessment, the marks obtained by all the respondents, except one, were revised and they fell below those obtained by the petitioner. On November 4, 2004, the petitioner served a notice on the respondents seeking information about her status as well as the status of the five candidates. Thereafter, she was informed that her marks remained unchanged, following which she filed a fresh writ. In her writ, she challenged the action of the respondents in sending the five other candidates for the course in spite of the fact that they too had not obtained the minimum 50 per cent marks in the B-1 test. During hearing, on the plea of her counsel, Mr Sandeep Bansal, the Bench summoned the original record pertaining to the selections. The government took the stand that since the five candidates had completed the course, any action to undo the same would result in loss to the exchequer. Holding that in the normal consideration, neither the petitioner nor the five other candidates would be entitled to take the course, the Bench allowed the petition. The Bench also set aside the selection notified pursuant to the previous result via-a-vis the five candidates. It ordered that they would not be entitled to any benefit for having completed the course. “As and when the government would hold the examination in this regard, the petitioner as also the aforestated respondents, if found eligible, would be entitled to appear for the said examination,” it ordered.
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Pistol stolen, thief held
Sangrur, November 28 Mr Shammi was asleep in his office at Jeji Resorts this morning, when the alleged theft took place. Mr Darshan Singh, SHO (City), told mediapersons that the thief had been arrested from the local Barnala Kenchian chowk this afternoon when he was waiting for a bus for Tapa there. He said Bhola Singh had been identified by Mr Shammi as before stealing the pistol Bhola Singh had met Mr Shammi two times during the night at the Jeji Resorts on the one pretext or the other as a marriage was in progress there. The body search of Bhola Singh by the police revealed the pistol. The police has registered a case.
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Gang of kinnow thieves busted, 3 held
Muktsar, November 28 Police sources said the gang had started operating in the belt known for its good-quality kinnows as soon as the plucking season began. They used to make a round of orchards during the daytime and strike at their targets at night. The police nabbed Ram Kumar, Satnam Singh and Naresh Kumar when they were stealing kinnows from an orchard.
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Dutch students get ayurveda training
Jalandhar, November 28 These are the observations of students of ayurveda at the Holland-based European Institute of Science and Research in Ayurveda. They have come for practical training in “panchkarma” at Jalandhar-based Dayanand Ayurvedic College, an oldest ayurvedic college of North India. “People over there have started believing that ayurveda is a preventive therapy which can change their lives. I have seen myself that ayurveda purgates the body and mind,” said Lydia, a student. Ineke, a yoga teacher of Amesterdam, who is pursuing a five-year course at the Amesterdam-based institute, said the biggest factor which was behind shift of interest was that allopaths in Holland hardly had any time to examine their patients closely, which bred dissatisfaction. In Amesterdam, we have a big yoga community, said Ineke. According to Bea, a nurse with a 10 years’ experience at a hospital in Brussels in Belgium, most of diseases got eradicated with help of ayurveda as it was a “Science which along with yoga put a patient to an exalted platform and boosted his morale. This relieves him of stress, which is the root cause of most of modern-day diseases. In some cases, you can even feel herbs.” Sanjili, a citizen of Holland, said “Our people have started shedding most of signs of Western culture like junk food,”. Dr Raj Kumar Sharma, Principal of Dayanand Ayurvedic College, and Dr G.P. Garg, a paediatrician at the institute, said the students had accomplished their practical training successfully.
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Nostalgia marks Punjabi varsity’s alumni meet
Patiala, November 28 The VC, while welcoming all the alumni to the university, apprised them about the on-going projects and new plans of the university for the students. The VC was greeted with applause when the role of the university in empowerment of rural youth, through opening of the window of technical education for them, and establishment of neighbourhood campuses in rural areas was highlighted. It was amidst an emotive environment that Mr Sharnjit Singh Dhillon, MP from Ludhiana, who was present at the function as one of the alumni, declared financial support of Rs five Lakh. Others who chipped in with donations included Dr Gian Singh of Economics Department (Rs 31,000), Mr Gurcharan Singh Virk (Rs 11,000), Mr Bhajan Singh, SP of Sunam (Rs 25,000).
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College Principal gets award
Fatehgarh Sahib, Nov 28 The award was presented by Dr Bhisham Narain Singh, former Governor, during a seminar on economic growth and national integration held in New Delhi yesterday. The function was attended by Justice O.P. Verma, former Punjab Governor, Mr Kaul Singh, Minister for Education and Law, Himachal Pradesh, and other dignitaries. Dr Walia has also been a member of the NAAC PEER Teams which have accessed and accredited number of colleges.
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