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Dullo against job quota for rich among reserved categories
Chandigarh, November 29 He said there was a well-off section among the reserved categories which should not avail itself of reservation on a caste basis while applying for jobs. Political leaders from the reserved categories, who were holding important positions, should not avail themselves of the benefit of reservation for their wards. He said this while speaking at a seminar on “Vanishing work culture: its remedies and role and duties of public servants” organised by the Punjab State Services Federation headed by Mr Charanjit Singh Walia. Making another important remark, Mr Dullo said the state government should frame a recruitment policy under which top priority should be given to providing jobs to those families whose members did not include a single government employee. He said there were families which had four or five government employees and there were also families which did not have even a single such employee. He also favoured reservation for the poor among “super castes”. There were people among the “super castes” who were very poor and they should also be extended the benefit of reservation in jobs, he added. Asked about the implementation of the 85th Amendment to the Constitution, Mr Dullo said that already 19 states in the country had implemented this. He said there was a backlog of vacant posts for reserved categories and this should be cleared soon. Mr Dullo said the Amarinder Singh government had waged a battle against corruption. As many as 960 cases had been registered against corrupt officials but more was required to be done on this front. Earlier, Mr Walia said that the federation had been fighting against corruption and had told its members to expose corrupt elements in government offices. Mr Walia urged the State Government to accept all pending demands of the employees at the earliest.
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VHP activists block road
Bathinda, November 29 Though the warring groups reached a compromise last evening following the intervention of the district administration, the VHP and other Hindu organisations had threatened stir over “beating up” of Mr Sukhpal Singh, a VHP leader, by the police. Activists of these bodies converged at a narrow bridge on the city’s outskirts at 9 am and blocked traffic till 1 pm. They didn’t allow even a fire engine to pass for 20 minutes. Mr Jaswant Kaur, who had come to the city for an eye operation, had to get off from a private bus and tread walk on foot. Her relative Mr Jagroop Singh rued — “She could barely see anything and these agitators were forcing her to walk her way to the hospital.” Commuters too had a tough time, as they were spotted crossing the troubled spot through an unsafe bridge, adjacent to the blocked bridge. Later, the Deputy Commissioner and the SSP held a meeting with the members of the Housefed Colony association and representatives of the VHP in the evening. DC Rahul Bhandari, said the association people tendered an unconditional apology for the damage to Lord Hanuman’s idol and felt that peace should be maintained in the locality. Regarding the VHP’s allegations against the police, he said the SDM had been asked to look into the alleged police excesses and the role of the SHO. He would submit his report within a week. He said the administration made all efforts to get the VHP’s blockade lifted in the morning, but they were not coming forward for talks on the issue. Meanwhile, taking a strong notice of the yesterday’s turn of events at Housefed Colony, the SAD (Amritsar) today urged the district administration to check the “disruptive activities” of “mischievous elements” to maintain communal harmony in the area. The party sought legal action against anyone found spoiling peaceful atmosphere of the city.
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Mother of AIDS victim seeks justice
Jalandhar, November 29 Having sold most of her belongings for the treatment of her daughter and son-in-law, physically challenged Darshan Kaur is now putting up with a friend in another village and cleans utensils in houses for earning livelihood. The only respite in her life is that her granddaughter has tested HIV negative. Darshan Kaur was in the city to meet the Deputy Commissioner to seek justice for herself and her granddaughter, Harpreet Kaur. Though she could not meet the DC today, she said she gave her submissions in writing. Revealing her sorrowful saga, Darshan Kaur said, “My son-in-law Satnam Singh was a truck driver from Kherhra Bhatian village in Phillaur. Things were going quite smooth till he was tested HIV positive in May last year. The duo had been anxiously expecting the birth of their first child the next month when the test reports sounded alarm. Their daughter was just five-month old when Satnam Singh passed away in November last year.” “My daughter, Kamaljit Kaur, was pushed out of her own house by her in-laws and she started living with me. Doctors advised her to get her tested for any possible infection. The world came crashing on her as she, too, tested positive. “In such unfortunate sequence of events, my husband met with a road accident and succumbed to his injuries,” she cried inconsolably as she narrated her tale. “Kamaljit, too, started remaining unwell. She remained admitted to Guru Nanak Mission Hospital here for quite long till she passed away on August 13 this year. Since then I have been looking after Harpreet. The house that she should have been inheriting and other belongings have been taken over by them”, she alleged as she said she wanted the district administration to intervene and get justice for the sake of the orphaned child. Meanwhile, members of the Pendu Mazdoor Union have come out to support them. Mr Tarsem Peter, president of the union, said he would meet the Deputy Commissioner in this regard to demand due intervention. He said he was also looking for a Good Samaritan who could provide financial and social security to them.
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Hooda orders probe into child’s death in hostel
Ludhiana, November 29 The prob order ended three-week-long struggle of victim’s parents and relatives , who live near the Dabba road here. They were unhappy at the police action and would a high-level probe. The Chief Minister in a letter to Mr Pawan Sharma, National president, Shiv Sena (Hindustan) here, informed that in response to Mr Sharma’s letter seeking probe into the matter, he had deputed a senior police officer to look into the case and submit a report at the earliest. Mr Harish Jain, father of the victim, had also sent a representation alleging that there was an attempt to hush up the murder of his son and requested registration of a case of negligence and destroying of evidence in the case. The post-mortem examination report send the boy seemed to have been strangled. This was contrary to claims of the Gurukul authorities that said Neeraj had died a natural death. The boy was found dead in the hostel on November 9 night nad the Ambala police later arrested, Bahadur, a cook in the hostel, on the charge of attempting to sodomising and strangling him Mr Sudhir Jain, an uncle of the victim claimed here today. The family alleged that the Gurukul authorities had tried to hush up the matter. In a letter to the CM, the parents, alleged that there was no logic in the theory that Neeraj had died of cardiac arrest. It was a cooked-up they said the Gurukul authorities, reportedly got a doctor’s report claiming Neeraj had died of cardiac arrest. The parents also alleged they who had called up the Ambala police whereas the Gurukul authorities should have done so. They have also alleged that the police had arrested only the cook so and not his accomplice named in the FIR.
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Baba Chicago serves notice to US magazine
Amritsar, November 29 It is learnt that similar notices have also been served to editors and publishers of other Punjabi magazines. The Amritsar Times has alleged that Baba Chicago was found with a woman in an American hotel last week. While Baba has denied the allegations, Jathedars of different Takhts seem to be in tight spot because he (Baba Chicago) had been sponsoring their religious tours to America. As per the reports published in the columns of the Amritsar Times’, the American Police had confirmed that it found Baba Daljit Singh in the company of a woman from a motel. Earlier too, Baba Daljit Singh had been in the news when his estranged wife had lodged a complaint with Akal Takht against him. Meanwhile, Mr Prithpal Singh Sandhu, personal assistant to the Jathedar of Akal Takht, clarified that he had not given any statement that the story about Baba Chicago was ‘concocted’. Mr Sandhu said that he had simply stated that Baba Daljit Singh had claimed that the news of ‘moral turpitude’ against him was not based on facts
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Pak women no less free: Bushra
Ludhiana, November 29 She argues that the Pakistani society is as liberal or conservative about its woman as is any other society, including the Indian, in an interview with The Tribune here last night. The three-time member of the Punjab provincial assembly and now member of the Pakistan national assembly, Bushra is the chairperson of the parliamentary standing committee on social welfare and special education. She is one of the topmost writers of Pakistan. She believes that some stray incidents like that of Mukhtar Mai are blown out of proportion as if rape and gang rape are a routine affair in Pakistan and no rape takes place anywhere else in the world. Bushra argues that while there is no reservation for women in Indian Parliament so far, 17 per cent seats are reserved for women in the Pakistan national assembly. All the reserved seats for women are filled through nomination. Some women also get elected directly in the general elections. She said women in Pakistan have got all the rights any modern society can offer. There is also an added emphasis on women education and providing them with financial independence. She seeks to clear certain doubts about the feelings among Pakistanis about India. She says there are still some elements in India who are hostile towards Pakistan. However, there is “no such feeling among the people in general”. She is a member of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League. Bushra was here at the invitation of Dr Kewal Dheer, the president of Adeeb International. She was recently presented with the Sahir Award for her outstanding contribution to Urdu literature. She is the best selling novelist in Pakistan. She is also a short story writer and poet. She started writing at the age of 12 when her first short story was published and she owes her success to her poetess mother and scholarly father. Bushra is happy over the growing bonhomie between India and Pakistan. She agrees that things are not moving that fast. But then, she admits, the bitterness of a long time will take some time to be removed. She says mutual trust is building between the people on both sides of the divide and this has resulted in closer cooperation and the opening up of the borders at five points. “This is a beginning. Let’s see where it leads us to,” she remarks in her typical carefree style, while adding, “this was a long awaited beginning.”
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13 months ahead of poll, BJP gears up for battle Chandigarh, November 29 Besides organising political rallies in the districts, where the BJP had contested Assembly elections last time, to mobilise its workers, the BJP has planned to hold seminars to present its viewpoint before the intelligentsia with regard to what it describes as the deplorable performance of the Congress government in the state. The BJP leadership will hold “chintan baitak” here on December 17 and December 18 to discuss the major issues to be raised to attract the attention of electorate in the coming months in the state. Mr Sanjay Joshi, national general secretary (organisation), will be present during the two-day meeting. Among others who will be present at the meeting are Mr Avinash Rai Khanna, president of the Punjab unit, Mr Harjit Singh Grewal, Mr Vijay Sampla, Mr Prashant Arora and Mr Rajinder Bhandari, all general secretaries of the Punjab unit of the party. All former presidents of the state unit have also been invited to this crucial meeting. Mr Harjit Singh Grewal, spokesman of the state unit of the party, said the party would concentrate on the failures of the Amarinder Singh government, which had failed to give a single job in the government sector in the past about four years. He said the government believed more in building castles in the air than actually doing something concrete for the development of the state. Corruption had crossed all limits during the tenure of the government. Now, even Congress leaders who had become its victims had opened a front against their party ministers. “We will focus on corruption in a big way”, he added. The party would hold a seminar on December 6 at Rajpura. At the seminar, the report of the Nanavati Commission with regard to the anti-Sikh riots would be discussed. Political issues would also come up at the seminar, he added. The Congress-led government at the Centre had failed to do justice to those who were targets during the anti-Sikh violence in 1984 in Delhi. After the seminar, the party would hold rallies in Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Patiala, Amritsar, Gurdaspur, Hoshiarpur, Ferozepore and Ropar districts where the party had contested the Assembly elections last time. The rallies would start from Jalandhar in the first week of January. These would end with a farmers’ rally in Fazilka on February 4, Mr Grewal said. A Dalit rally was held in Jalandhar and a youth rally in Ludhiana a few weeks ago. The SAD-BJP alliance, which had contested the last Assembly and Lok Sabha elections jointly, is intact in the state so far. The BJP leadership has already made it clear that it will have no objection if Mr Sukhbir Singh Badal is projected as the next Chief Minister of the state by Akalis. However, the BJP leadership is of the view that Mr Parkash Singh Badal still commands wider acceptability in the state. |
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Punjab to become a land of bananas Chandigarh, November 29 Revealing this, Mr K.S. Pannu, a spokesman of the Commission, told The Tribune yesterday that the initial reports regarding the cultivation of banana, which was started on an experimental basis by certain farmers in Patiala and Fatehgarh Sahib, were very encouraging. He said the climate of Punjab was suitable to grow certain varieties of banana. At present, only 70 acres of land was under this crop but “we want to enhance the area to 2,000 acres”, Mr Pannu said. The Commission had sought the support of the Horticulture Department in this connection. Meanwhile, the Commission, which is the brainchild of the Punjab Governor, Gen S.F. Rodrigues( retd), has come out with its first list of recommendations. Mr Pannu said the Chairman of the Commission, Dr G.S. Kalkat, in collaboration with Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, had identified the crops rotation which needed less water but gave better net returns than the paddy crop. He said that the main rotations included the cultivation of summer moong after the harvest of wheat, sugarcane or potato followed by soyabean in the same fields. Trials had been held at the field level and results were encouraging, he added. The gross income from soyabean and moong was 40 per cent higher than paddy and the use of water, fertiliser and hired labour were lesser. The current year’s entire produce of soyabean sown in demonstration plots would be procured, graded and packed for next year. He said that potato had a vast export potential in west European countries such as Germany, Holland and France. For the export of fruit, the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry had been authorised to train farmers to grow fruits which could be readily accepted abroad. Vegetable cultivation technique within permissible limits of pesticide residue had been developed by the PAU. The Commission is also tying up for starting the cultivation of jatropha crop for the extraction of bio-fuel and other medicinal plants. Besides, poultry and agro-forestry had also been planned in a big way for the state. |
No need of CID men in SGPC office, says Avtar
Amritsar, November 29 After a meeting of the administrative staff held today at Teja Singh Samundri Hall, Mr Makkar directed all employees, irrespective of their status, to partake of the community kitchen in the langar hall along with the devotees during their lunch break. He said whenever a person, who holds the coveted post in the government, visits the Golden Temple the SGPC employees should desist from being photographed with him. He further said that the employees should do their duty honestly and try to maintain discipline. The SGPC chief said that the employees should not misuse the official transport and try to save the ‘Guru ki Goluk’ (committee funds) by proper utilisation. He said that he would also listen to their grievances while attending to the devotees in his office. He admitted that there were certain deficiencies in the administration, which needed to be addressed. He said the employees should try to attend to the grievances of the devotees, especially those who came from abroad to visit Harmandar Sahib.
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Punjab to recruit 1,200 police personnel
Chandigarh, November 29 Separately, the Police Department has also sent a proposal for filling 3,000 posts. This was expected to be cleared soon. Sources pointed out that recruitments of teachers, policemen and doctors are part of the plan of the Congress-led government in the state to have a recruitment drive as An advertisement laying down the procedures of recruitment and eligibility criteria would be published soon. A battalion of the IRB is raised with expenses being shared between the Central Government and the beneficiary state. Besides the new battalion of the IRB, Punjab Police has sought that new recruitment be allowed to fill 3,000 posts. Senior police officials maintain that the latter claim was made after the proposal of the IRB. It may be mentioned
that Punjab Police has a high ratio of personnel when compared with the population of
the state. The Director-General of Police, Punjab, Mr S.S. Virk, had recently said that the force needed 5,000 more men and women to fill vacancies.
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Probe irrigation works on Beas: Mann
Gurdaspur, November 29 Mr Simranjit Singh Mann, president of SAD (A), levelled these allegations after visiting the villages in the Bet area today. He alleged that the Department of Irrigation had erected spurs along the Beas river only to protect the lands of those in power. The result was that the land of poor Dalit farmers was getting eroded. Most of the Dalit farmers in the area had a land-holding of just 1 or 2 acres. By not allowing the Irrigation Department to take steps to check the erosion of poor farmers land, they were coaxing them to sell it at throughaway prices. Mr Mann met the poor farmers in Paswal, Mera, Sandhi Bakht and Mojpur villages. He demanded an inquiry into the protection measures taken by the department in the recent past. Many works had been carried out just in paper and an inquiry into it could turn out into a big scam.
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107-page reply by Bir Devinder
Kharar, November 29 Stating that the reply was more of a report with documents and proof of his allegations against the Minister for Local Bodies Punjab, Mr Bir Devinder said he was still standing by his allegations.
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Badal’s wife allowed to visit Pak
Ropar, November 29
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high court Our High Court Correspondent
Chandigarh, November 29 The petitioner, Mr Gurcharan Singh of Jalandhar, has alleged that these institutes have been granted affiliations without following any policy, which has resulted in mushrooming of such institutes. Also, the duration of the course has been reduced in some cases, the petitioner has alleged. The petitioner, who is circle president of the Shiromani Akali Dal, has alleged that the respondents, including some private institutes, have been making a mockery of the educational courses and affiliations are being granted indiscriminately. Saying that the art and craft teachers training course, which is of two-years’ duration, was till 2002 being offered by only six institutes, of which three were private. The petitioner has stated that while the present government has granted affiliation to over 125 private institutes in the past three years, the number of seats in government-run institutes have been reduced. He has also given details of some private institutes that have been granted affiliation in a controversial manner. Among these institutes is Salmaa Art and Craft Training Centre, Gurdaspur, allegedly owned by a close relative of Ms Sushil Mahajan, Chairperson of the Punjab Technical Education Board. The institute in located on a first floor of a building, while the ground floor of the same building has a liquor vend. Punjab Institute of Art and Craft, Ropar, was allegedly granted affiliation when its owner, Mr Amarjit Sethi, was private secretary to Mr Mohinder Singh Kaypee, the then Minister for Technical Education and Training, Punjab. The petitioner has also highlighted the fact that Mr NS Bhatia, the Deputy Director, Technical Education and Industrial Training Department, was nabbed red-handed while accepting a bribe for clearing the affiliation case of a private institute. During hearing, advocate R.S. Bajaj, counsel for the petitioner, told the Bench of Chief Justice Mr Justice D.K. Jain and Mr Justice Hemant Gupta that the respondents have been continuing with counselling for admissions to the private institutes till date without taking into consideration the loss of studies that students would suffer. After hearing him, the Bench issued notice of motion for February 23. It also directed that admissions made, if any, would be subject to the outcome of the writ.
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Life term for killing brother
Ropar, November 29 A case against Ram Singh, his wife and a son was registered on the statement of Surinder Kaur. The complaint said that her husband, Kamaljit Singh, was murdered on May 26, 2002, by his elder brother, Ram Singh, with a sharp edged weapon. She alleged that Ram Singh took the help of his wife and son to murder her husband. Meanwhile, the court has acquitted the accused’s wife in the case and a case against his minor son was pending in the juvenile court in Ludhiana.
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Killed youth’s kin allege police inaction
Bathinda, November 29 In a plea to the Chief Minister, Mr Garg has stated that the deceased, Varinder Mohan Garg, was his only son and was having LIC business. According to him, Varinder was about to be engaged on July 24 and an hour before the ceremony he had gone out to get his clothes ironed, but didn’t return. After making all efforts to trace him, a DDR was lodged at Kotwali police station in this connection next day. The police found his body in Lehra Dhurkot on July 26. The family had ruled out suicide stating that the deceased had a flourishing business and was not addicted to any vices. Mr Garg claimed that his son was murdered. He accused the police of not taking any action in the matter despite their family pointing a needle of suspicion towards some individuals. When contacted, the SSP, Mr Kapil Dev, said they could not act on the basis of mere allegations.
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Akali leader booked
Amritsar, November 29 The case has been registered under Sections 321, 332, 353, 427, 506 and 283, IPC, against Mr Kang, Mr Kashmir Singh Gandiwind, Mr Joginder Singh Nijjar and several other Akali workers for disturbing peace. A large number of activists of various political parties, including the Shiromani Akali Dal, had protested by blocking traffic against the alleged police inaction in arresting the accused policemen even after registration of a case. The policemen were alleged to be involved in the custodial death of Sukhwinder Singh, a resident of Rayya.
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School staff not paid salaries since April
Batala, November 29 Mr Sukhdev Singh Bal, president, government-aided and privately managed schools, Gurdaspur, disclosed that there were about 484 aided schools in Punjab which get grant at 95 per cent of their salary bills. Out of them, only 20 schools got the grant till March, 2005, and none had obtained any grant since April, 2005. Mr Jatinder Singh Bajwa, president, Mr Darshan Singh, secretary and Mr Davinder Singh Malikpuri, executive member, of the staff of the aided schools of the Batala block protested against the government policies. The association members demanded and requested the Chief Minster and the Education Minister, Punjab, to feel the difficulty of 10,000 employees and release the grant immediately. A deputation of employees has met the DPI Schools on November 22, 2005, but so far nothing has been done in this direction.
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Students block traffic
Barnala, November 29 Addressing protestors, Mr Pardeep Kasba, finance secretary of the PSU and Mr Navkiran Patti, a PRSU leader, said the college students were facing many challenges like the privatisation of education and efforts were being made to withdraw students facilities like bus passes etc. The student leaders demanded that the expelled students of Punjabi University Patiala and D.A.V. College, Bathinda should be reinstated in their institutions immediately. They threatened that if the demands were not met they would intensify stir. Prominent among others who addressed the rally included Mr Balwant Singh Hathoor and Mr Jagroop Singh Jhorara (All India Kisan Mazdoor Sabha leaders), Mr Gurdip Singh Bhatia, District President DYFI, Mr Balraj Singh Bhotna and Mr Jaswant Singh Ramgarh (both PSU and PRSU leaders).
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538 get degrees at convocation
Amritsar, November 29 Mr R.L. Bhatia, Governor, Kerala, presided over the function. Principal Jasmeet Kaur highlighted the various achievements and activities of the college.
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