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News analysis
Administration gears up to tackle bird flu threat
Justice Bains demands action against Virk, Gill
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Farmers’ stir against wheat import from February 22
School girl raped, two held
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SAD (B) ‘Dalit rally’ may upset the apple-cart of Congress
Varinder Singh Tribune News Service
Jalandhar, February 20 The unexpected success of SAD’s ‘grand show’ could also have given the Congress a cause for concern, as the ‘show’ was planned in the heart of Doaba, the traditional bastion of the Congress. The event was politically significant, as it was for the first time that SAD had gone ahead to woo Dalits on its own and attack the Congress in its very stronghold — Doaba region — by organising a Dalit-centric rally. Also, it was held in the home constituency of Punjab Minister, Chaudhary Jagjit Singh, who is one of the prominent Dalit leaders of the state. The Congress party’s ‘Sunday show’ in Jalandhar hardly pulled any crowds and it was touted as a non-event in comparison to the SAD rally, say observers. Incidentally, like the Congress, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) also has its strong presence in Doaba region. The Dalit population is around 46 per cent in this region. The success of the SAD rally may also force the BSP to give a re-thinking to its existing political strategy, keeping in view the forthcoming Assembly elections. Interestingly, the SAD leadership was initially somewhat skeptical about the turnout, as the event was being held in the bastion of the Congress and the BSP. But the response to the rally has not only encouraged the SAD leadership, it has also seemingly enhanced the stature of Mr Sukhbir Singh Badal in the party hierarchy. “We had been thinking that the Congress had done nothing about the uplift of the Dalits during its four-year tenure and that it had been taking them for a ride. So, we planned to mobilise the Dalits on our own. Our rally has rattled the Congress and the Punjab Chief Minister, Captain Amarinder Singh,” claimed Mr Sukhbir Singh Badal, the Secretary General of SAD and former Union Minister. “People’s turnout is unprecedented. I have never seen such a massive crowd of Dalits in any of our rallies in the past,” was Mr Parkash Singh Badal’s comment.
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Administration gears up to tackle bird flu threat
Kapurthala, February 20 A monitoring cell, comprising Additional Deputy Commissioner (General), ADC (Development), Chief Medical Officer, SP (HQ) and Deputy Director (Animal Husbandry), has been set up. Fully-equipped isolation wards, supported by rapid action teams of doctors, have been created at the Civil hospitals of Kapurthala, Phagwara and Sultanpur Lodhi. Isolation wards have also been set up in the hospitals situated at Begowal, Panchhta, Kala Sanghian, Tibba, Bholath and Dhilwan. There was no reason to panic as no case of bird flu had been reported from any other region of the country, said Mr Sameer Kumar, Deputy Commissioner, Kapurthala, after a meeting convened to discuss the issue. The deputy commissioner further informed that in case of any exigency, the people could contact the control rooms set up at the Deputy Commissioner Office (01822-233777), the office of Deputy Director (Animal Husbandry) and the offices of the SDMs in the district. Meanwhile, the chicken suppliers and sellers here have already started feeling the heat. While talking to The Tribune, Gurmail Singh, a wholesale supplier at Sabzi Mandi here, said that his sale had dipped by 50 per cent in the past two days. “Half of the stock I procured yesterday is still lying with me, as people have started avoiding poultry products due to the fear of bird flu,” he said. Om Parkash, a shopkeeper at the Red Cross Market here, said that there was a decline of 20 per cent in the sales since the reports of flu had started pouring in and the situation was expected to worsen in the days ahead. “We are taking all precautions and providing the best quality product, so there is no reason to worry about the disease,” claimed Sanjeev, the owner of a chicken shop in Jattpura Mohalla. “In our district, there are not more than two lakh birds and only a few poultry farms house more than 10,000 poultries, so there is no problem in keeping a tab on them,” Mr Sameer Kumar informed. |
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Justice Bains demands action against Virk, Gill
Jalandhar, February 20 Justice Bains said that a PIL would be filed soon by the organisation in the Punjab and Haryana High Court to demand action against the two police officials for “harbouring Sukhwinder Singh Sukhi, alias Harjit Singh Kahlon, and 300 other terrorists in the state and for admitting to having done it through unlawful means”. He said this during a press conference here today. The human rights activist demanded that the list of those 300 terrorists be made public. He also said the officials should explain as to whose “dead bodies were shown at the time of terrorism”, if those terrorists had been alive and rehabilitated by the state police. Justice Bains said, “It was due to such unlawful means adopted by the bureaucracy under the patronage of politicians that innocent people were killed, property worth crores of rupees was looted.” He demanded that the “nexus” between the officials and the police cats be broken. If the “nexus” was broken, “people from the weaker section could heave a sigh of relief”, he added, while addressing the media persons. He said the victims of terrorism should not be “harassed” any more, instead they should be paid their due compensation. He also demanded that the “property amassed by the police officials of those times be assessed and that the property of victims taken away from them be returned”. Reading out his letter addressed to the Chief Justice of Supreme Court, Justice Bains demanded an inquiry by a sitting judge into the reported killings that took place in Punjab in the decade starting from 1982. He said that as many as 86 cases and 1,750 claims pertaining to CBI enquiry had been lying pending with the Punjab Human Rights’ Organisation, the Punjab and Haryana High Court and the Supreme Court since the days of terrorism. |
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Farmers’ stir against wheat import from February 22
Phagwara, February 20 Talking to The Tribune here today, the leaders of the unions condemned the move of the Union Government to import five lakh tonnes of wheat by giving concessions to importers by way of waiving off 70 per cent import duty on wheat. The leaders claimed that the move was aimed at deflating the prices of local produce expected to come to the market in March-April. The leaders also demanded an MSP of Rs 850 per quintal for wheat. Presently, the MSP is pegged at Rs 750 per quintal. They also demanded writing off the debts of farmers and payment of the paddy dues. |
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School girl raped, two held
Phagwara, February 20 The Phagwara ASP, Dr Sukhchain Singh Gill, said the girl had gone to the fields to answer nature’s call when she was allegedly abducted by the two brothers Sanjiv Kumar, alias Tinku, and Sunil. She was taken to a room in a farmhouse, where Sanjiv Kumar allegedly raped her. She was later dumped near her house. The brothers had been arrested under Sections 376, 363, 366, 506 and 34 of the IPC, Dr Gill added. |
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1 held for youth’s murder
Jalandhar, February 20 Sikander Pal was allegedly stabbed to death by a group of young men during a brawl. |
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Infant’s body found
Phagwara, February 20 |
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