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Christians seek share in power
Ludhiana, July 22 Although a number of Congress leaders ,including the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee Mr Shamsher Singh Dullo, the Parliamentary Secretary and the area MLA, Mr Surinder Dawer, Dakha and Noor Mahal MLAs, Mr Milkiat Singh Dakha and Mr Gurbinder Singh Atwal,
were also present. They, however, remained non-committal about the unconditional support to the party. Bishop Joel
VMal, the Moderator of the Church of North India, who had organised the rally, made it clear that those who would safeguard the rights of the community would get their support. “It is not a special favour to us as this right has been guaranteed to us by the Constitution of India”, he asserted while waving a copy of the Constitution. The rally had been planned as a protest rally by the Christians of all denominations against the indifferent attitude of the governments towards their problems. However, the area legislator Mr Surinder Dawer, reportedly motivated the PCC president, Mr Shamsher Singh Dullo to address the rally. Prior to that he reportedly assured that all their demands would be conceded before August 15, as demanded by the community leaders. Addressing the rally the Bishop Joel V Mal demanded that Punjab Christians should be declared most backward classes or all the facilities of Scheduled Castes be given to them on the pattern of the Karnataka, Tamil
Nadu and Kerala governments”. He demanded that the Punjab government should grant minority status to Christians education institutions and also lift ban on appointments in government -aided Christian institutions. The Bishop demanded that the Minority Commission be set up in the state with a Punjabi Christian as its chairman, besides setting up a separate Development Board for the social and economic development of the community.
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Uma’s party keen on alliance with SAD
Chandigarh, July 22 In less than a month of setting up her Punjab unit, Ms Bharti has plans to visit Jalandhar on July 31 to demonstrate the political support she and her party workers have gained in the state. Till now it was only the BJP which enjoyed monopolistic control over minute urban Hindu trading community in the state. It was this position that made the BJP a natural alliance partner with the farmer-dominant SAD. Though the SAD chief, Mr Parkash Singh Badal, and the BJP leadership, including its President, Mr Rajnath Singh, have reiterated that they would remain together in the coming Assembly elections, it does not eliminate the possibility of Ms Bharti’s party also joining this anti-Congress alliance. Mr Badal has been offering an alliance to anti-Congress outfits. He has obliquely referred to Ms Bharti’s party as a possible partner in one of his recent rallies. “We are working hard to make our July 31 rally a success,” says Mr Pawan
Valecha, president of the Punjab unit of the Bharatiya Janshakti Party, maintaining that “our party has more natural and moral right to be a SAD partner in the next Assembly elections than the BJP as both Ms Bharti and Mr Madan Lal Khurana were known to be vociferous supporters of the Akalis in the NDA also.”
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Official ‘denied’ benefits in pension
Chandigarh, July 22 Whereas certain other civil servants who had earlier served in the military have been given the benefit of the military service while tabulating their pension, Mr Bains’ service as an ex-serviceman has not been counted in his service in the civil while determining his pension. After putting in service for 10 years in the Indian Air Force, Mr Bains was discharged in June, 1975. He joined the Punjab Public Relations Department as an Assistant Public Relations Officer in November, 1975, on ad hoc basis and was later appointed as a Public Relations Officer on January 12, 1982, against a post reserved for ex-servicemen. However, in May, 1990, Mr Bains was selected as a Labour-cum- Conciliation Officer by the Punjab Public Service Commission. He joined the Labour Department after his selection. In the Public Relations Department, he had made an appeal to the authorities concerned to count his military service in his service as a civil servant to give the benefits due to him. He cited various Supreme Court judgements in support of his demand. In the light of the law laid down by the Supreme Court in 1991 in the Charan Singh versus State of Punjab case, the Principal Secretary, Public Relations Department, after obtaining an advice from the Principal Secretary, Defence Services, Welfare, Punjab, accepted Mr Bains plea and included his military service to fix May 26, 1966, as the date of his joining service as a Public Relation Officer. Later, before retiring as an Assistant Labour Commissioner, Mr Bains represented to the Labour Commissioner to count his military service for pension and leave benefits, but was denied the same. He was asked to apply to the parent department, which was Public Relations Department. However, the Public Relations Department told him that the matter was to be decided by the Labour Department from where he would draw the pension. Before retiring on September 30, 2003, and after retirement, Mr Bains almost knocked at all doors, including of the Chief Minister, Capt Amarinder Singh, but he is yet to get the benefit of his military service in pension. He cited several court judgements, Civil Service Rules, policy instructions but nothing happened in his favour. Interestingly, the state government has extended the benefit of military service to certain other officers who had joined civil services. Now Mr Bains’ case is lying with the Finance Department for passing the relevant order. Mr Bains has told the Finance Department that his case was similar to those of Capt Narinder Singh, Mr S.S. Puri, Mr Phulwant Singh and Mr Khushbash Singh, who had been given the benefit of military service by the state government. “How can the Finance Department discriminate against me on the similar matter?” asked Mr Bains. He said he was prepared to return Rs 3,485, which he got as gratuity from the military, to the state government but no one was telling him that in which head (account) it was to be deposited. Mr Bains has requested the Chief Minister to direct the authorities concerned to do justice to him.
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Man alleges police torture; SSP orders inquiry
Moga, July 22 While the injured Karaj Singh was admitted to the Moga Civil Hospital, his family members brought the matter to the notice of SSP, Mr Pawan Kumar Rai, who marked the inquiry to the Dharamkot DSP, Mr Chaman Lal. Interestingly, separate FIRs were lodged against Karaj Singh and his seven family members on a complaint of a PSEB SDO and an ASI . Karaj Singh’s family members alleged that some policemen, led by ASI Jarnail Singh, along with some PSEB employees reached their house and started beating up Karaj Singh and his family members. Later, the policemen took Karaj to the thana and again beat him up and gave him electric shocks, they alleged. His family members said when Karaj Singh was returning from his shop in Fatehgarh Panchtoor village to his native village Masita at around 10 pm, he enquired from certain PSEB employees working in the village the reason for a power cut. They abused him and took some policemen to his house. On the other hand, Kot Isse Khan SHO SI Ravinder Singh denied having beaten up and giving electric shocks to Karaj Singh. The SI claimed that when a police team, led by ASI Jarnail Singh, went to Karaj’s house, after receiving a complaint from the PSEB SDO, he and his family members attacked the team. The SHO said while an FIR was registered against Karaj Singh on the complaint of the PSEB SDO, a separate FIR was filed against his other seven family members on the complaint of ASI Jarnail Singh. The PSEB Xen, City, Mr Mohinder Singh Brar, said Karaj Singh was drunk and he misbehaved with PSEB employees. He also impersonated himself as a police sub-inspector, he said, adding that the PSEB employees were shifting the load of Masita village to Kot Isse Khan to remove the fault. Mr Brar said SDO Charanjit Singh Mann was also present there. He, along with PSEB employees, went to the Kot Isse Khan thana and registered the FIR against him. Karaj was not
beaten up by PSEB employees, he added.
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Inter-state gang of vehicle-lifters busted, 13 cars recovered
Bathinda, July 22 Addressing a press conference here, Mr Varinder Kumar, SSP, said the police had received a tip-off that a gang of vehicle-lifters was duping people of their hard-earned money by selling them vehicles stolen from
various parts of Punjab as well as its neighbouring states. They had also gained expertise in making fake registration copies (RCs) so as to sell these vehicles without any glitch. The accused were roaming around in the city in stolen vehicles like a Maruti Zen car (HR10E-7523), Santro (HR10E-5782), and Maruti Esteem (HR6D-4578). The police swung into action and nabbed Rachhpal Singh, Sukhmandar Singh, Jasvir Singh and Naveen Kumar. During interrogation, they revealed that the gang’s kingpin, Ajay Kumar, who is a resident of Palwal in Haryana, and his wife, Anjumala, were the ones managing the entire trade. The SSP said the gang used to lift vehicles from Delhi and Rajasthan, prepare their fake registration papers and sell it off to unsuspecting customers in places like Sangrur and Bathinda where they already had their men in the business of second-hand vehicles. He said a majority of the cars seized had fake registration numbers of Haryana and enquiries revealed that a few of them were numbers of motor bikes in Sonepat. He said the gang comprised nine members and had a very strong network. The SSP informed that though they might have been making fake RCs on their own, but the connivance of some Transport Dept staff could not be ruled out. Those arrested also confessed to have sold 20-25 such vehicles in the region. He further said Ajay was carrying out all his transactions through a bank account in which customers would deposit money for taking the vehicle’s delivery. He said the police would be scanning vehicles having their registration done from Haryana in the wake of the recovery. The SSP hoped that further interrogation of the accused would lead to the arrest of their other aides and more recoveries in the near future. The vehicles seized from their possession included seven Maruti cars, three Maruti Zen cars, one Esteem, one Santro, one Indigo and a motorcycle. A case has been registered against them under sections 379, 411, 420, 465, 467, 468, 471 and 120B of the IPC.
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No grant for aided schools, staff sans salaries Chandigarh, July 22 About Rs 25 crore is released on a quarterly basis by the state government to pay the salaries of the staff.” Not a single penny has been released as grant since January this year”, says Mr Daljinder Singh, president of the Punjab Privately Managed schools Management Association. “Teachers and other staff members are a depressed lot because of the apathetic attitude of the state government towards aided schools, which have been doing well on the academic front”, says Mr M.L. Chopra, patron of the Punjab Aided Schools Teachers and other Employees Union. For salaried employees, February to June is a crucial period because during that period they get their wards admitted to various educational institutions and need money for this purpose. “To deny employees salary during these crucial months amount to playing with the careers of their wards,” says Mr Mohan Lal, general secretary of the association. “The Education Minister had promised last year to release the grant for all four quarters in advance and to make financial
adjustment, if any, at the end of the year. What happened to that promise no one knows”, says Mr Mohan Lal. Mr Chopra said that it was unfortunate that for the past four years, the government had been virtually strangulating the aided schools, which were being run by established organisations such as the Sanatan Dharma Sabha, the Arya Samaj, the SGPC, Christian bodies and at some places by Muslim organisations without any profit motive. These schools had made an immense contribution in the field of education. But the government authorities concerned were out to get these schools to close down, said Mr Chopra, adding that the emphasis of officialdom was now on commercialising educational institutions. Mr Chopra said that no one would believe that S.N. Arya Kanya School, one of the aided schools, came into existence in 1904 at Ropar. Not to release the grant to such established schools was a sin. The state government had also has been denying pension to retired teachers of such schools since June, 2003. As many as 700 teachers and others employees had retired from such schools since June, 2003, but the government had not given even a rupee as pension to them. They had been denied pension on the plea that the government was preparing a new pension scheme for them. Interestingly, these employees of the aided schools had contributed money from their salary to the pension fund during their service. But state government was sitting on those funds. The pension scheme was yet to be put on paper. “They had planned to prepare the scheme on the pattern of the one for the staff of aided colleges. However, not a single teacher from the aided colleges has opted for that pension scheme”, said Mr
Chopra, who is a representative of the teaching staff on the body set up by the government to prepare the new pension scheme for the aided school staff. Moreover, the Legal Department authorities had disagreed with the new pension scheme, he said. Capt Amarinder Singh had given an assurance on February 11 at Patiala that teachers and other staff members who retired after June 2003, would start getting pension soon. But, the staff, members who retired before June, 2003, were getting pension on the basis of the old scheme. Further, he said, 1,000 approved posts were lying vacant in aided schools. The state government, which had given permission to fill posts in government schools, was not allowing the managements of aided schools to fill approved posts, says Mr Daljinder Singh. The posts had been vacant for the past three years, he claimed.
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Raninder lashes out at Akalis
Bathinda, July 22 He said this while addressing an impressive gathering of his party workers in Talwandi Sabo. Raninder, who recently took over as the Bathinda (urban) incharge, was on a two-day visit to the district to galvanise party workers for the Assembly elections. On reaching Talwandi Sabo Raninder first paid obeisance at Takht Sri Damdama Sahib. In an interesting development, he then visited the ‘chhaoni’ of Baba Budha Dal where its chief Baba Santa Singh presented him a ‘siropa’. Talwandi Sabo MLA Jeet Mohinder Singh and Markfed Chairman Harminder Singh Jassi sunk their alleged differences and gave a call to strengthen the party from a single platform. Addressing the workers at Talwandi Sabo, Raninder said the agricultural produce of the farmers, who had to resort to road jams to get it procured during the Akali regime, was lifted without any hitch under the Congress rule. He said the CM risked his chair by terminating water sharing agreement with the neighbouring states, which the Akalis could never think of.
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Senior ministers lambast Badal Chandigarh, July 22 They said Mr Badal's tenure as the Chief Minister from 1997 to 2002 had brought the state's economy at the brink of disaster because of his self-centric approach. Mr Badal's government spread corruption, nepotism and autocracy thereby throwing all democratic and moral values to the winds. Launching a frontal attack on Mr Badal, these ministers asked him to explain as to why he was running from pillar to post to evade legal proceedings in the alleged corruption case by seeking injunction from the Punjab and Haryana High Court and subsequently from the Supreme Court. “Had he been innocent he would have gladly faced the trial proceedings against him at the lower court. On the contrary, when he was prosecuted way back in 2002 on the corruption charges none of his party leader or party worker came to his rescue because everybody knew the stark reality and kept a distant from him and left him in a lurch” said the ministers. The ministers dared Mr Badal and his son SAD general secretary Sukhbir Badal to come clean on the issue of corruption and desist from issuing such provocative and politically motivated statements.
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Pandemonium at BJP meeting
Hoshiarpur, July 22 According to party sources, Mr Balramji Dass Tandon was criticising those within the party who were going to the Press and highlighting even petty things which was not only tarnishing the image of the party but was also promoting factionalism in it. On his remarks, supporters of Mr Avinash Rai Khanna became agitated and raised slogans against Mr Tandon and in favour of their leader. On account of the pandemonium Mr Khanna adjourned it. Mr Harjit Singh Grewal, national secretary of the BJP alongwith prominent leaders of state the BJP, including Mr Navjot Singh Sidhu, MP, Ms Laxmi Kanta Chawla, Mr Vijay Sampla and Mr Tikshan Sud, MLA, were present.
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Congress councillor joins SAD
Patiala, July 22 Mr Jalota, a three-time Congress municipal councillor had announced his intentions of changing loyalties nearly a month ago. Apart from Mr Badal, other prominent Akali leaders who were present at the function held at Mr Jalota’s residence in the Dhob Ghat area of the town, were former Finance Minister Capt Kanwaljit Singh, Mr Tajinder Pal Singh Sandhu and Mr Surjeet Singh Rakhra, Mr Jalota and his son were presented siropas by Mr Badal and Capt Kanwaljit Singh. Mr Jalota alleged that corruption was rampant in the Congress. He added a section of Congress leaders, who were befooling the people. He said he would try to serve the masses in Punjab by working hardly in SAD (Badal). Mr Jalota also alleged that the municipal corporation authorities had asked sweepers of the area to pile up garbage in front of his residence. However, he added that his supporters prevented this ugly development. Both the Mayor, Mr Vishnu Sharma, and the Junior Engineer, Mr Arun Tiwari, In charge of the Water supply and Sewerage Department of the Municipal Corporation, could not be contacted for comments despite repeated attempts. The Commissioner of the municipal corporation, Mr S.K Ahluwalia, said he had received a call from Mr Jalota in this regard and he in turn tried to get in touch with Mr Arun Tiwari. However, Mr Ahluwalia admitted that he could not make much headway as Mr Tiwari’s mobile phone remained switched off throughout the day.
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Gastroenteritis hits Nakodar, 4 dead
Phillaur July 22 Though the health authorities were claiming that today’s death was a case of heart attack, but the Bahujan Samaj Party state general-secretary, Mr M.P. Singh Goraya, who had read the file number 2837 of the deceased patient, found that doctor on duty had written “ascertain the cause of death?”. Mr Goraya claimed that the 50-bed Civil Hospital of Nakodar was overloaded presently as 65 gastro patients were being treated in the hospital along with other patients. He alleged that several patients were seen lying in corridors of the hospital. He added that 17 more gastro patients were admitted in the Nakodar Civil Hospital today. Mr Goraya alleged that health authorities and Nagar Council officials were very negligent and no preventive measures were taken. He alleged that Mohalla
Gaunspura, Gurunanakpura, Kamalpura, Dheeran Mohalla, Guru Tegbahadur Nagar, Preet Nagar,
Kherra, Charsi Bazaar, besides several other areas of the town were badly affected with Gastroenteritis. He urged the Jalandhar Deputy Commissioner, Mr Venu Prasad, to take adequate action against
guilty and careless officers who had failed to take preventive measures. It may be mentioned here that Ram Rakhi (60) of Mohalla Gaunspur, Banso (58) of Mohalla Gaunspur and Niranjan Dass of Mohalla Dheeran had died due to gastroenteritis last month.
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J&K Govt stand discriminatory: Ahmadiyyas
Gurdaspur July 22 A few members of the Ahmadiyya community reside in Bhadarawh town of Doda district in Jammu and Kashmir. On July 18 the members of the community in the town were allowed to bury Nasrin Gannai, a member of the community only after they gave in writing that in future they would not use it. The SDM of the area, Mr Talat Parwez, reportedly played an active part in the episode. He did not allow the community members to bury the dead in the cemetery, which they had been using for the past over 100 years. Earlier, also the people of the area had protested against the cremation of those belonging to the Ahmadiyyas at the same cemetery. However, the matter was resolved after the intervention of the administration officers of the area, they alleged. Mohammad Nasim Khan, secretary general of the community, while talking to The Tribune alleged that the state administration had been discriminating against them since Pakistan declared them non-Muslims. From the way the state government was acting it seemed that they were following the policies of the Pakistan Government despite being a part of India. After this episode the community leaders took up the matter with the local authorities and with Mr Ghulam Nabi Azad. However, no action was taken in this matter.
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Warrants against
truckers’ leader
Ropar, July 22 The production warrants for July 24 were procured from the court of the Chief Judicial Magistrate. He was in judicial custody till July 24. The police arrested him on June 19 after truck operators threatened to stage a dharna in front of the Ambuja Cement plant here in support of their demands. The chairman of the Punjab Truck Operators Union, Mr Charan Singh Lohara, and his associates, arrested by the police yesterday in a case of attempt to murder, were today remanded in judicial custody till August 5. They were lodged in the Ropar jail.
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Ultrasound centre sealed, doc booked
Nawanshahr, July 22 According to available information, Jyoti, wife of Jagdish of Sloh village, who was in her third month of pregnancy, in an affidavit submitted to the Deputy Commissioner, had offered her services to expose the errant doctor and ultra sound scan centre indulging in sex determination test and female foeticide. Mr Krishan Kumar, DC, constituted a team comprising officials of the Health and Police Departments and representatives of ‘UPKAR’. Ms Jyoti, the ‘dummy client’ contacted the doctor through a mediator and the doctor demanded Rs 10,000/- for aborting the female foetus. The deal was struck at Rs 8000/-. The trap was laid and Jyoti, was sent to the private clinic. Dr Harcharan Singh, Civil Surgeon, Dr Daljit Singh, SMO, Banga, Dr I.S. Sekhawat, DHO, Dr Yuvraj Singh, Mr Rajinder Singh, DSP, Banga, and Mr Jaspal Singh Gidda, general secretary, UPKAR, were present during the
operation.
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Murder case cracked, 3 held
Faridkot, July 22 The SSP, Mr Arun Pal Singh, said Mr Gurdas Ram, an SDO with the Punjab State Electricity Board, Kotkapura, had lodged a complaint on December 12 last year that unidentified men had killed his 15-year-old son Rahul with sharp-edged weapons. On the basis of his statement, a case was registered under Sections 302 and 34 of the IPC. Last month, the SSP had formed a special investigating team (SIT) to solve the murder case. The SIT probe revealed that Rahul was killed by Amandeep Singh, who was a former student of his school and used to visit his friends in the school. Once he reportedly had a tiff with Rahul following which he was nursing a grudge against him. The SIT concluded that Amandeep, along with Bharat Bhushan and his aunt’s son Baljinder Singh, barged into Rahul’s home on the fateful day and murdered him. The Kotkapura police had registered a case against them on June 20 and succeeded in arresting them yesterday. The weapons with which they perpetrated the crime were also seized from their possession.
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Man shoots father-in-law
Amritsar, July 22 The accused has absconded after killing his father-in-law. A case has been registered under Section 302, IPC, at the Rambagh police station here. According to details, Davinder Singh was an alcoholic and used to beat his wife, besides demanding dowry. Last evening the couple had an altercation over some minor issue, which embroiled into a major controversy. When Sukhbir learnt about it, he came to resolve the matter. He visited the house of Davinder and try to pacify them. However, enraged over his intervention, Davinder took out his revolver and fired two gunshots, hitting Sukhbir in the stomach and on the shoulder. He was taken to a private nursing home, where he declared dead.
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NRI among 3 killed in mishap
Amritsar, July 22 The accident took place near Tangra on the Amritsar-Jalandhar stretch of the G.T. Road under the Majitha police district here. The Tata Sumo was coming from Jalandhar. Three other persons travelling in the ill-fated vehicle were also injured. The driver of the tanker fled the scene after the mishap. Those who died include Daljit Singh of Nawa Pind, Phagwara, and Bhajan Lal, the driver of the Sumo. A case has been registered under various sections of the IPC at the Khalchian police station. The condition of the injured was stated to be serious.
— OC
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35 kg opium found
Pathankot July 22 At 3.30 am a truck
(HR-38D-7177) was intercepted on the Jalandhar-Pathankot national highway near Mirthal. On search 35 kg opium
was found concealed under the seats of the driver. The driver,
Karamjeet Singh resident of village Miavind under Khadoor Sahib police station and Sanjay Kumar, Nasib Singh
residents of village Budanpur in Karnal district and Jagjit Singh resident of the Tanda
area in Hoshiarpur were arrested. A case under the NDPS Act has been registered against the accused.
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Another murder in Ludhiana
Ludhiana, July 22 Hardev Kaur was found dead by her husband, Satinder Singh, a financier and builder, at about 8 pm when he returned home. He had gone to Jalandhar to collect cash from some persons. The aged woman was alone in the house and could have been murdered in the afternoon only, the police said. She had more than five stab marks on her body. The robbers had pulled off her earrings, necklaces and ransacked the house. No neighbour had spotted any person barging in or out of the house.
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