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BJP blames all problems on Congress-led governments
Pathankot, January 22 Rising prices of essential commodities was the main agenda for which BJP leaders targeted the state government. Mr Khanna addressing the rally said that prices of essential commodities had been under control during the SAD/BJP government in the state and the NDA government at the Centre. The cooking gas cylinders were easily available to all. However, now people were facing an acute shortage of LPG that was being sold on the black market by traders. He also criticised the state government for failing to make recruitments. The Departments of Education and Health had suffered the most. More than 30,000 posts of teacher and 12000 posts of doctor have been vacant. The Congress has announced 16 mega projects in the state. Chief Minister Amarinder Singh also announced that the no provision would be made to give Punjabis preference in employment in these projects. The BJP will reject the proposals if they could not be use to the residents of the state, he said. Mr Sidhu reciting couplets in Punjabi against the Congress government in the state alleged the Congress had not fulfilled any of promises made in the poll manifesto. The present government the Punjab had been the most corrupt especially in
relation to the implementation the public distribution system. Mr Vinod Khanna alleged that the Congress government had not done anything for the Gurdaspur district. Though Congress leader Sukhbans Kaur Bhinder was elected five times to Parliament not even one major development was carried out in the district by her. Most major development works in the district including construction of the Mukerian bridge, construction of Civil Airport, the Amritsar-Pathankot national highway were carried during the rule of the NDA government at the Centre. It is also strange the Chief Minister had been talking about airports at Ludhiana and Chandigarh, he had never mentioned about the one operating already at Pathankot. Mr Mohan Lal former minister in the SAD/BJP government and local leader levelled charges of corruption against the present Congress MLA Ashok Sharma. He alleged the MLA was behind land and forest mafia operating in the area. These mafia grabs government land and exploits farmers of the Dhar area by not paying them anything for their forest produce, he alleged. Mr Ashok Prashar Pathankot district president of the BJP, Ms Laxmi Kanta Chawla from Amritsar, Mr Jagdish Sahni former minister and Mr Shauker former MLA and Mr Ashwani Sharma state president of the Bhartiya Yuva Morcha were among other BJP leaders who participated in the rally. Criticising Dr Manmohan Singh-led UPA government at Centre for not opening Visa centre at Amritsar to facilitate journey for the Amritsar-Lahore bus service passengers, BJP, MP from Amritsar Sidhu said, the bus service could not be a success if such a Centre did not open in the holy city. He said common people could hardly afford to spend Rs 900 as fare of the bus to Lahore they would have to spend double amount for visa from Delhi. Mr Sidhu said the Punjab Chief Minister was not serious on setting up special economic zone at
Amritsar. Mr Sidhu said all sectors of society were reeling under price rise and unemployed youths were becoming victims of travel agents. Punjab BJP president Khanna said, the next Jan Chetna Rally would be held at Jalandhar on January 30 and a kisan rally at Bathinda on February 4, to expose the Amarinder government’s failures. Other BJP leaders, who addressed the rally were former ministers Master Mohan Lal, Satya Pal Saini, BJP vice-President Luxmi Kanta Chawla, former MLA Arunesh Kumar Shakur and District BJP president Ashok Prashar.
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Navjot wants visa office in Amritsar
Chandigarh, January 22 At present a person wishing to travel to Pakistan from Punjab has to go to New Delhi to get a visa and other necessary clearances and the expense and time involved does not make the trip viable. Mr Sidhu, who is a BJP MP from Amritsar, said the ground reality was different. This bus service should be accessible to all sections of society, both in terms of time and money. Only then will it fulfil the aspirations of the people.
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Ministers join issue with Badal
Chandigarh, January 22 A joint statement said “ Mr Badal was totally disillusioned by the spectacular development in the state due to the pro-people and visionary approach of Capt Amarinder Singh”. They were reacting to Mr Badal’s statement in which he has said that “setting up of mega projects in the state was a big scandal.” The statement was issued by the Food and Supplies Minister, Mr Avtar Henry, the Excise and Taxation Minister, Mr Sardul Singh, the Chairman, Punjab Pollution Board, Mr Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa and Parliamentary Secretary, Power and Housing, Mr Surinder Dawar. During Mr Badal’s own regime from 1997 to 2002 not even a single small-scale industrial unit was sanctioned despite the Akali’s being allies of the NDA Government at the Centre. They further claimed that Mr Badal was creating unwarranted hype in the media deliberately over this issue out of sheer frustration. These Ministers accused Mr Badal of being “cynical” and said he was in the habit of distorting facts to his own advantage. The statement of the ministers said the empowered committee had so far approved 95 mega projects worth Rs 43,000 crore with an employment potential of 7.5 lakh jobs. Mr Badal was putting these investments as merely Rs. 15,000 crore, which was wrong, the statement said.
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11 Punjabis killed in Philippines since 2005
Jalandhar, January 22 “I feel that many more Punjabis most of them are in the Lazone area, might have been killed during this period,” says Principal Rajinder Singh, a Kapurthala-based scholar, who has studied Punjabis in the Philippines. Since most Punjabis were into money lending business, which has made them vulnerable to fluctuating financial condition of native Philipinos particularly those living in rural areas either do not have money or don’t clear their debt. “It is almost impossible to get a case registered over there. Common crimes against Punjabis or NRIs go unreported. Another aspect to this is that Punjabis also do not have good relations with each other and in some cases they were also suspected to be behind such killings, which, were used to avenge some old enmity,” says a Punjab Police officer. Those, who, were killed during past one year and prior to that have been identified as Jatinder Kumar, of Lasuri mohalla, Jalandhar city ( killed on December 25, 2005), Kewal Singh, of Krishna Colony, Goraya ( August 2005), Jasvir Singh, of Boparai village (2002), Tarsem Lal, of Nawan Pind Jattan near Nakodar (December 25, 2005), Lakhwinder Singh, of Aulakh village near Nakodar (2006), Manjit Singh of Chhimbian near Noor Mahal, (June 2005), Pappu, of Bilga, November 2003), Charanjit Singh, of Kala Sanghian, Kapurthala (December 31, 2005), Amarjit Singh, of Tibba in Kapurthala (May 34, 2005), Mangat Ram, of Tibba village (January 15, 2002), Ajay Kumar, a resident of Assra village near Balachaur, 2005) Hardev Singh, a resident of Kariha village, Nawanshahr (2005), Shiv Dyal, of Kaleran near Banga (2005), and Hardev Singh, of Chack Mai Dass near Behram (2005).
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Herd registration to be must soon
Ropar, January 22 The registration of details of animals would help in preventing the stray cattle menace in the state as the ordinance would also help to identify owners who do not care for their animals when they become unproductive, he added after inauguration of a semen bank here. Giving details he said the state had at present 80 lakh livestock, including 60 lakh buffaloes and 20 lakh cows. Crossbreed population of cows has increased to over 85 percent in the state, he added. Talking about milk production Mr Kang said average milk production had increased from 800 litres in domestic breed cows to 2,500 litres in cross breed in 305-day lactation period. The state has been contributing 11 per cent in the country milk pool with only 2 per cent livestock. Besides it, he said, the Chief Minister had sanctioned an Embryo Transfer Technology (ETT) project worth Rs 5 crore to Punjab Livestock Development Project. ‘‘This technique will help us to produce 100 and more calves from a single cow and buffalo as compared to five to eight calves produced through normal procedure’’.
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PU to open regional centre at Bajwara
Chandigarh, January 22 A society running the Swami Sarvanand Giri Institute of Information Technology from its 10-acre campus on the Una road has donated its land to the university to run these courses and start any other course it deems fit. BE courses in computer science, electronics and communications, electrical and electronics and mechanical engineering are expected to begin from the coming session. The university has agreed to run a three-year graduate law course and a five-year integrated law course also. Other than this the university would also run Bachelor of Nursing, Ayurveda, Homoeopathy, Physiotherapy and Radiography courses along with running the charitable hospital that is housed on the 10 acres campus. The society’s original proposal had been given the green light by the PU Senate on December 18, 2005. However, the society made some changes in the proposal and sent a fresh proposal on December 28, 2005. The earlier proposal had laid down that other than the 10 acres of the institute’s campus, another piece of 22.5 acres of land in Tharoli village (about 6 km from the campus) would also be given to the university to be put to use for the development of the institute and the hospital. In the revised proposal, the society had decided to sell this chunk of land and buy land nearer the 10-acre campus for the construction of a nursing and law college, handing over the new property to the university. This revised proposal sent by Mr Lajpat Rai Munger, the NRI and president of the society, was agreed to by the Syndicate members today. In another decision the Syndicate has formed a committee to consider a resolution regarding lowering/cancelling the minimum admission percentage for BA/BSc/BCom first year in colleges from the current 20 per cent in Class XII. It was put forth that Punjabi University and Guru Nanak Dev University did not follow such a rule. However, Syndicate members led by Mr N.P. Manocha said this would lead to the lowering of academic standards. “Just because the other universities do not have a cut-off percentage for admissions does not mean PU has to follow suit,” he said. The resolution proposed by Mr Harpreet Singh Dua and Dr Suresh Tandon stated that those students who got a compartment in 10+2 from the Punjab School Education Board be allowed to get admission provisionally in BA/BSc/BCom first year even if they got less than 20 per cent marks. The Syndicate also approved the introduction of the five-year integrated programme in economics after Class XII. This course would include BA honours school in economics (three years/six semesters) followed by two-year/four-semester MA honours schools in economics. The university would also offer an MSc in solid waste management. These courses would begin from session 2006-07.
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Study pinpoints problems of farmers
Chandigarh, January 22 Farmers in these “unsuitable agro climatic zones” are forced to cultivate paddy and wheat because of the government’s support in the shape of minimum support price (MSP) and assured procurement. Citing example of low yield of wheat and paddy against their natural habitat in the Kandi belt, the study says that in case of wheat against an average yield of 41.66 quintals per hectare in 2002-03, it was only 13.06 quintals per hectare in Talwara block (Hoshiarpur). Similarly in Bhunga block (Hoshiarpur), the rice yield was 16.79 quintals per hectare, way below the state average of 35.10 quintals per hectare. The ATAC has asked for immediate State intervention to support alternative crops by providing necessary infrastructure for value addition. Farmers are resorting to “enforced” farming of wheat and paddy in view of the government’s support to these crops. The existing system of enforced farming of popular crops regardless of natural suitability of an agro-climatic region for specific crops is adding to the production cost burden, lower yields and poor quality of output. The ATAC study dealt with the State’s diverse vast potential for different kinds and varieties of crops, fruit plans and other alternatives to be grown in different regions. “There is an urgent need to meticulously assess various regions through a study of agro climatic data and develop natural growing areas (NGAs) for different crops so as to increase the returns for farmers,” says the ATAC report. “The natural potential of different regions which suit specific crop kinds and varieties needs to be tapped in a planned and systematic way to make Punjab’s agriculture profitable and globally competitive. In the emerging WTO regime, such planning and execution assumes increased importance”, said Dr Gurkanwal Singh, Convener, ATAC. The study has also emphasised the need for value addition to the raw horticulture and agriculture produce by setting up processing units near the NGAs. It will energise the rural economies by providing productive employment and thus check the migration of population to urban centers. Development of market infrastructure with cold chain facilities will increase the life span of agriculture and horticulture produce and increase the bargaining position of the farmers. The study has suggested the implementation of kinnow model as an example of developing NGAs. According to the model, five NGAs of citrus particularly kinnow called Citrus Estates each having a radius of about 10 km were selected in Hoshiarpur, Ferozepore and Muktsar districts. Extension activities were increased in these NGAs for transfer of latest technologies. Good quality pruning and harvesting tools were imported and supplied to orchardists. Mechanical grading and waxing facilities were installed in each citrus estate for value addition. The estates were developed as common resource centres for buyers who contacted the farmers for bulk produce. This increased the profitability of the farmers manifold making citrus the most viable alternative to the traditional crops. Unfortunately in India farmers are still wary of growing perishables, as there is no minimum support price available for horticultural produce. Moreover, the absence of facilities like cold chains and agri-processing infrastructure severely impact farmers’ ability to get remunerative prices. Consequently, the wastage and value loss in respect of perishables has touched a level of Rs 50,000 crore in the country due to inadequate storage, handling and processing facilities. The level of processing is just about 2 per cent in the case of fruits and vegetables in India while it is as high as 70 per cent in France, 80 per cent in the USA, 80 per cent in Malaysia and 30 per cent even in Thailand.
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Tribune Impact Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, January 22 All stocks in Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh will be released at old rates that is Rs 825 per quintal plus taxes. A total of 80,000 quintals and 60,000 quintals of wheat has been allocated to Punjab and Haryana, respectively , for the month of January. Mr T.C. Gupta, General Manager, Punjab Region said today that Area Managers of the FCI had been advised to release the stocks to functional roller flour mills in Punjab. The population of each district would be taken into account for the release of stocks. As per the original instructions of the Government of India, the first preference for issue of wheat was given to government agencies nominated by the State Government. It may be recollected that The Tribune had first highlighted on January 21 that wheat prices were rising as the FCI had not released wheat for small flour mills in the region for the past several weeks. Giving the version of the FCI on the matter, Mr Gupta said an erroneous impression is getting around that due to the non release of wheat stocks by FCI, the prices of wheat flour were rising. There is no shortage of wheat and the FCI was holding sufficient stocks of wheat. Mr Gupta said the Governments of Punjab and Haryana were asked to nominate agencies for the sale of wheat. The Government of Haryana desired that wheat be released to flour mills by the FCI. To make the system transparent, applications have been invited from buyers in Haryana and allotment is to be done on January 24. In Chandigarh 20,000 quintals of wheat has been allotted for January 2006. This wheat will be released tomorrow and the day after tomorrow.
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Three doctors face music
Bathinda/Muktsar, January 22 DC Bathinda Rahul Bhandari has asked the SSP to register a case against Dr Prem Kumar Verma, posted at the Ghasokhala village dispensary in Talwandi Sabo sub-division. The DC had received a complaint against the doctor from the SC/ST Commission, on May 12, last year. The DC asked the SDM to investigate into the case. The probe revealed that Dr Prem Kumar had take admission in Sardar Patel Medical College, Bikaner, in 1967 on the basis of an SC certificate, whereas he was appointed under the general category. His service book also mentioned him as Hindu Arora, which corroborated his caste. The doctor is to retire on June 30 next year. The DC has also written to the Secretary, Health Department, for appropriate action against the doctor. In another case in Muktsar, the DC has recommended action against a doctor couple to the Medical Council of India for “misleading” people on their qualifications. Following a complaint from Mr Maninder Pal Singh and Mr Harnek Singh in this regard, the DC had asked the District Grievances Officer, Mr Rajiv
Parashar, to investigate into the matter. The action against the doctor couple, Dr RK Bansal and Dr Bhavna Bansal, came after the inquiry indicted them for “misguiding” people. The complainants had alleged that Dr Bansal was mentioning on his prescription and display boards a degree that he didn’t possess. Another charge was that his wife Dr Bhavna Bansal was projected as a child specialist while she was actually a dental surgeon. Dr R.K. Bansal said the degree that the complainants were talking about was actually a medical body’s membership, which had expired. About his wife’s qualifications, he said her mention as “child specialist” was merely a printing mistake.
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“Missing” boy found
Hoshiarpur, January 22 Mr Lok Nath Angra, SSP, Hoshiarpur said here today that Mr Ashawani Singh complained that his son left house at 5 pm on January 20 for jogging in the ground of Government College, Tanda, but did not return. Mr Ashawani Singh also revealed to the police that Harkamal had taken Rs 50,000 from house four months back but was caught and snubbed. Mr Harkamal did not attend school properly. Mr Ashawani Singh did not suspect any foul play. Interrogation of friends of Harkamal revealed that he had a mobile phone (No. 98552-16269) which he used to hide in a letter box after use. The phone was recovered. Further search and questioning revealed that Rachpal Singh alias Pal had dropped the boy at bus stand at Tanda. Rachpal Singh also disclosed that the boy wanted to take a bus for Amritsar. Harkamal called up his house from an STD outside Sri Harmindar Sahib. The moment he called from the STD, he was caught by the police. The SSP added that Harkamal told the police that he had to accompany his friend Satwinder Singh, who was going to pick up his sister from Amritsar airport. But could not join him due to delay. Later he went to Amritsar to join his friend. But there he also failed to join. Scared of parents he did not return home and had a room in Guru Ram Dass Sarai and stayed there.
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Sewerage work started
Nawanshahr, January 22 The project was conceived during the Nawanshahr Assembly by-election held in February 2000 by the then CM, Mr Parkash Singh Badal. Under the project, the augmentation of sewerage and water supply scheme was proposed to be done at a cost of Rs 556.65 lakh and Rs 218.83 lakh, respectively with HUDCO assistance. HUDCO was to provide a sum of Rs 445.33 lakh and Rs175.07 lakh to the municipal council as loan and the remaining 20 per cent was to be shared by the municipal council. The work under this project was started during the SAD-BJP government. New water-works were set up and sewerage and water supply lines were laid. But, the Punjab Water Supply and Sewerage Board (PWSSB) has been facing difficulty in getting loan installments from HUDCO as the fund starved municipal council has been finding it difficult to contribute its 20 per cent share. Besides, the lack of coordination between the different departments has also been causing delay in the execution of the project.
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Death of 8 in fire: SDM to hold probe
Ludhiana, January 22 He has directed Ms Amrit Gill, SDM (East) to look into the reasons of fire and submit a report in a fortnight. Mr Verma said he had felt that there seemed to be more than what met the eye as eight persons could not die in a fire in a hut. There was no inflammable material except a layer of grass that the family had been using to keep warm. The fact that a goat escaped death despite being tied made strengthened the suspicion. The DC added that even the father of the deceased woman had only asked for making an arrangement for the burial and he had directed the SDM of Samrala to make sure that there was no difficulty.
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Forest guards not trained to protect wildlife
Ropar, January 22 Wild animals who stray into residential areas usually suffer serious injuries due to lack of proper facilities like net to catch them and also vehicles to carry them safely to the forest. Recently four sambar suffered injuries when they entered in to residential areas. The locals complained that the forest guards took far too much time to net the animals. They were neither trained nor had the facilities to rescue the animals. While forest officials remain tight-lipped about the facilities, insiders say the Forest Department do not have trained guard rescue the animals, nor have they any arms. The department has deployed only 60 guards in the forest area spread in Ropar, Nangal, Anandpur and Nurpur Bedi subdivision. When contacted, the Divisional Forest Officer (DFO), Ropar, Mr S.S Bhatti, said: “We have been making efforts to save the wild animals with our present strength and facilities. “We leave the animals back into the forest after they strike in residential areas and also provide them medical aid if they sustain injuries during rescue operations,” he added.
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Thikriwala residents upset over Sukhbir’s remark
Barnala, January 22 Paying tributes to Sewa Singh Thikriwala on January 20, Sukhbir had said that those who had invited Captain Amarinder Singh, Chief Minister, to the martyrdom function of Sewa Singh Thikriwala on January 19 were “Gaddaar” (traitors). Talking to this reporter today on phone Mahant Gurmit Singh, head of Dera Bhai Kapoor Singh Nirmal Sampardai Thikriwala and Mr Pargat Singh, son of Mrs Gurmail Kaur, sarpanch Thikriwala, said that Sukhbir had called all those who had invited Amarinder Singh on January 19 as traitors. Two residents Gursharan Singh and Labh Singh would file a defamation suit against Sukhbir Singh Badal for using an objectionable expression for the Thikriwala residents.
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Literacy plan for 10 villages
Ropar, January 22 The ICC has also selected 72 schools in the district to provide computers and teachers according to number of the students. The Chief Secretary, has passed the information to the Deputy Commissioner, Ropar, Mr H.I.S. Grewal, in this regard. The DEO (Secondary) Piara Singh, said: “Earlier we had provided computers and teachers to 71 schools. In the second phase we will provide facilities in 72 schools including, senior secondary and high. We have been charging Rs 130 fee for six months from every student. Poor children studying in rural areas will get exposure to computers. In third phase we will provide these facilities in all middle schools,” he added.
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Malerkotla councillor booked
Sangrur, January 22 The case against Pappu Kalyan and others had been registered on the directions of the court of Sub-divisional Judicial Magistrate, Malerkotla. The police further said the alleged accused had got someone released in a case by preparing fake documents. The police said it had registered a case against the accused under Sections 419, 420, 465, 467, 468 and 471 of the IPC.
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ASI booked for murder bid
Abohar, January 22 Mr Jagdish Singh of village Islamewala in a complaint alleged that 30 persons attacked his family on Thursday. Four persons were rushed to the hospital after the incident. One with bullet injury and the other with a neck injury. As Joginder Singh his bother Rajinder Singh, son Gurtej Singh and relatives/friends including Raghubir Singh, Jaswinder Singh, Bohar Singh, Balkar Singh, Angrej Singh, Dara Singh and Paramjit Singh were booked under sections 307, 325, 323, 447, 440 of the IPC and 25, 27, 54, 59 of the Arms Act. The complainant had also alleged that they along with 15 others used tractor-trailers to grab the 25 acre land and resorted to firing.
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Students interact with industrialists
Fatehgarh Sahib, January 22 It was held under the supervision of members of the PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the CII and the Mohali Industries Association. Students of the institute also had an interaction with top industrialists of the region and shared their views with them. The meet was organised to provide an opportunity to students to help meet HR needs of the market. Col B.S. Sandhu, president,
CIIS, said automobile engineering and graphic applications were the need of the hour. He added that the innovations were required to meet the requirements of the market. Speaking on the occasion, Lieut-Gen K.S. Mann, director,
CIIS, said interaction with industrialists and HR professionals was important. He said with the growth rate of 8 per cent, the Indian economy was headed towards being an economic power by 2020. Later, several local industrialists addressed the students. They answered various queries of the students.
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NSS volunteers hold medical camp
Kharar, January 22 These patients, mostly from neighbouring villages like Khijrabad, Khuberi, Mirzapur, Mianpur, Majra, Majri block, Paroal, Siswan and Mullanpur-Garibdas were given treatment. Reputed doctors from various organisations, including Grewal Eye Institute, Chandigarh, Civil Hospital, Kharar, IMS Complex and Shri Guru Granth Sahib Sewa Trust, Chandigarh participated. The head of the trauma unit of the General Hospital, Chandigarh, Dr Ashok Gupta, was also present. More than a 1,000 patients were treated at the camp. Mr Sukhdev Singla, chairman, Indo-Global Group of Colleges, said over 380 patients came with eye-related problems, the orthopaedic patients numbered 319 and dental patients more than 300. Mr Singla said patients were given free medicine and spectacles. The camp was organised with the help of the Chandigarh Chapter of the Art of Living along with social organisations.
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