Raipur Rasulpur (Jalandhar), September 15
Even as the Indian Army ceremoniously brought back the ‘soul’ of Sepoy Harbhajan Singh to his native village in Kapurthala for a two-month leave late last night, this 38-year-old tradition has been challenged in a local court by an ex-serviceman from Raipur Rasulpur village here.

Subedar Piara Singh, who had retired in 1970 after serving the 1st Sikh Light Infantry Battalion, has filed a suit for mandatory injunction in the court of Mr G.S. Dhillon, Civil Judge, against the Defence Ministry through its secretary, Commandant of Punjab Regimental Centre and Records at Ramgarh Cantonment in Jharkhand, Chief of the Army Staff and Commanding Officer of 23 Punjab, asking them to controvert on the matter and ensure that such “superstitions” were not advertised through media in future.

In his complaint filed in the court on October 28 last year, Subedar Piara Singh has said that he read a news item pertaining to the tradition in a vernacular paper and felt hurt as the Indian Army never believed in such “superstitions”.

He said that he read that Jawan Harbhajan Singh of 23 Punjab deployed on Indo-China border had died on duty on October 4, 1968, but was still believed to be alive in the form of a ghost and seeking all amenities of living person, including pay and allowances, availing of annual leave and promotions.

The ex-serviceman pointed out that the news item had not been controverted by the Army authorities and as such wrong signals had been sent to the public at large that the Army believed in “live martyr” Baba Harbhajan Singh. The retired Subedar has written that such incidents were bound to tarnish the image of the Indian Army, otherwise known for its valour.

Talking to The Tribune in his village, the retired Subedar said that while he had been hearing tales that the Baba came in the dreams of Army men and was commanding them, he never came in his dreams even as he had filed a case on the matter.

When Subedar Piara Singh had filed the suit, Baba Harbhajan Singh held the post of Honorary Subedar Major, but the latter has now been promoted as Honorary Captain. The case has gone for hearing for three times. The last hearing was on August 23. The next one is scheduled in the month of October.

In a reply filed by GSO-I (Legal) Infantry-6, Lt Col M. Sabharwal has said that the unit was not involved in promoting any superstitious or unfounded beliefs about the case. He also wrote that the unit was in no way connected with the published news item.

In yet another reply filed by Col V.K. Sharma, Commanding Officer, 23 Punjab, it has been written, “The unit was deployed in Sikkim under 164 Mountain Brigade/27 Mountain Division from October 1967 to December 1970. Sepoy Bhajan Singh was serving the unit during the period. On October 4, 1968, when he was on patrol, he slipped and fell in a fast flowing stream. His body was washed away by the fast current along with weapon and found subsequently after a search. The Sepoy was unmarried and his mother is still alive at Koke village in Kapurthala.”

The officer further wrote, “The unit left Sikkim for Rajasthan in December 1970. The unit had no knowledge of Sepoy’s fame and memorial in Sikkim till it arrived at Jalandhar. On September 1999, the unit received information from 21 Punjab under 17 Mountain Division asking for reception and transportation for Baba Harbhajan Singh from Jalandhar Cantonment to his residence. Subsequently, a jawan arrived at Jalandhar Cantonment in the second week of September 1999 and was dropped in Koke village by a transport going through that route to the unit’s operational location where it was deployed during Operation Vijay. Another jawan of 21 Punjab came to the Cantonment on November 10, 1999, in a civil vehicle. As per the information, both the jawans were on leave”.

The CO added that the unit was not aware of granting any rank to the dead soldier or any financial assistance to the next of kin. 

Phagwara, September 15
One step forward, followed by two steps back. The Punjab government that had ordered the restructuring of the Public Health Department for efficient working, on Friday caved in under workers’ pressure and issued notices to cancel the same.

Talking to The Tribune from his office on phone, Mr Vijay Kain, Principal Secretary, Water Supply and Sanitation, said that he had passed the order to stay the implementation of the department structuring plan after Public Health Minister Avtar Henry asked him to do so. The minister, in his recent statement, had told the workers’ delegation that the government would not implement the plan considering their problems.

Mr Kain said the decision to rescind the restructuring of divisions and sub-divisions was taken by the minister, after consulting Chief Minister Amarinder Singh.

According to official sources, the government’s decision to revert to the old system is aimed at making the workers happy.

It will also help to ward off any ‘negative effect’ on the electoral fortunes of the Congress in the coming Assembly elections, say observers. But, the move for reforms and a new system has become an exercise in futility now. Sources also reveal that the government had ordered a merger of several existing divisions and sub-divisions to streamline their functioning, and the implementation was already in process. However, the agitated workers had prevailed upon the minister to prevent the change that would “adversely” affect them. 

Jalandhar, September 15
Even as the preparations for the much-hyped state rally organised by the Bahujan Samaj Party (Ambedkar) began two days ago, it had to be wrapped up today in just half an hour owing to heavy rain at that time.

The rally in front of the DC office that was targeted as a show of strength was addressed by its President, Mr Devi Dass Nahar, alone. Owing to rainfall that began just at the time of the start of the rally, the stage was directly taken by Mr Nahar who spoke about the “anti-poor policies” of the government.

He also lambasted the SAD-BJP alliance in the state for “not paying an iota of attention to their needs”.

After raising a few slogans he wrapped up the rally, saying that it was raining and he did not want to continue.

The programme’s end came abruptly for thousands of activists who had come to listen to him after travelling for an hour or two.

Most of those present were from Kala Sanghian and other villages in Kapurthala.

Interestingly, hundreds of supporters from Tarn Taran and places near Chandigarh reached the venue at 2.45 pm only to see that the rally was over and everyone had dispersed.

A disillusioned supporter from Tarn Taran said that he believed that the rally would go on for an hour or more and they would be able to join by then.

As it rained, many activists stayed back in the tent trying to find a dry place. Those who had been squatting there stood up as the mats went wet.

A wise few had got umbrellas from home. Others wrapped themselves with saffron and blue cloth that they were carrying.

There were others who took shelter in the covered verandahs of offices and shops near the venue. Many stayed back in trucks and trolleys that had arrived there.

Some had huddled themselves under the stationary trucks to seek protection from the rain.

The party men, however, managed to get a huge gathering for the rally. A party supporter revealed that Mr Nahar had asked the district unit presidents to get 50 trucks each. Even as it was an exaggerated figure, he said that a few managed to get more than 20 trucks.

Commuters in the area, however, had a bad day as one side of the road was already blocked, and the other side got blocked due to trucks forming long queues. 

Jalandhar, September 15
The Punjabi film industry is all set to take a new leap with the release of “Anokhe Amar Shahid — Baba Deep Singh,” in India and abroad on September 22. It is not only the first cinemascope Punjabi feature film on Sikh history, but also it has the biggest-ever budget of Rs 2.5 crore.

 That the canvas of the film is vast is clear from the fact that more than 700 artistes and 250 horses are part of the film. Its songs have been rendered by top Bollywood playback singers, including Jagjit Singh, Daler Mehndi, Udit Narayan, Sonu Nigam, Uttam Singh and Hans Raj Hans. The baton of the inspirational and devotional music of the film is in the hands of ace music director Uttam Singh.

The entire film is a subtle portrayal of the two major battles of Shaheed Baba Deep Singh, who along with his enthusiastic fellow Sikh soldiers, warded off Moghul invader Ahmed Shah Abdali’s attempts to take looted jewellery and about 33000 Hindu, Muslim girls to his country.

Interestingly, no living character has been used in the film to depict Baba Deep Singh, a devout Sikh of Guru Gobind Singh, who avenged Abdali’s invasion by waging a war against him.

“No one but the Sikh Sangat provided the requisite degree of inspiration to us. This inspiration made us handle such a huge project. It is a mission to propagate the supreme and unparallelled sacrifice of Baba Deep Singh Ji amongst the world and at the same time to portray the Sikh identity to the international community. So many Sikhs have been shot as they were mistaken as Afghans in the West. This movie will make it clear that Sikhs are not Afghans, rather they fought Afghans and drove them out of India,” said Guriqbal Singh, the chief of the Amritsar-based Mata Kaulan Ji Bhalai Kendra Trust, which has produced the film.

 He said that though they were not expecting any profits at this moment, any profits that trickled in would be used in initiating an ambitious project aimed at starting “Dashmesh Airline”, which would operate direct flights between Amritsar and Takht Sri Hazoor Sahib.

“This is our project for the future and it is all dependent upon the blessings of the Almighty. We are looking forward to a day when Sikhs would be able to go to Hazoor Sahib and return from there after having ‘darshans’ the same day. One should dream big and we are doing so,” said an enthused Mr Guriqbal Singh, who has also rendered a one-minute song in the film.

The film has been directed b Mr Jaswinder Singh Chahal while its songs have been penned by renowned Mumbai-based lyricist Dev Kohli.

Mr Anil Trehan, the distributor of the film, said the film would be released in five to seven cinemas in India, and in about 15 multiplexes in the US, Canada and the UK. “After two -three months, the film would be available on VCDs. We have already got the permission of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) in respect of screening of the film,” said Mr Guriqbal Singh.   

Kapurthala, September 15
The Union Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav’s dream of running ‘Garib Rath’, the common man’s air-conditioned train, at cheaper fare, will soon take a practical shape as the Rail Coach Factory (RCF), Kapurthala, rolled out 14 AC 3-tier sleeper coaches and three power cars for the Garib Rath train to hand them over to the Northern Railway.

The RCF will manufacture a total of 56 AC sleeper coaches and 12 power cars for Garib Rath trains in the current year. These coaches have higher berthing capacity of 75 berths per coach to carry more passengers and are capable of running at the speed of 130 kmph.

The coaches have the provision of accident emergency light, modified AC unit and mobile charging socket. Power car cam guard van is specially designed to facilitate wheelchair-borne passenger in a separate AC compartment, according to the official spokesperson.

Mr R.K. Rao, Member Mechanical, Railway Board, inspected these coaches and expressed his satisfaction over the efforts made by the RCF in turning out the coaches for Garib Rath within the targeted time period.

Addressing the officers and the staff, he said the RCF was a modern factory with the latest machines and infrastructure. He said the RCF should strive to further improve maintainability of coaches. On the occasion, he announced cash award to motivate RCF employees.

Earlier on his arrival, he was extended welcome by Mr Pratap Srivastava, General Manager, RCF, Mr D.A. Anand, Chief Mechanical Engineer, and other officers and staff of the RCF. He inspected the infrastructure, coach manufacturing capabilities and the CAD/CAM facilities available with the RCF. 

Jalandhar, September 15
As part of the platinum jubilee celebrations of the Indian Air Force, an air show and equipment display will be organised at Air Force Station Adampur on September 26.The main attraction of the show will be aerobatics display by 9 Aircraft Surya Kiran team. Microlight aircrafts will be seen flying and parasailers will display their skills.

A display of fighter aircraft and weapons will also be organised on the occasion. The show and exhibition will be open for public for which entry would be allowed through Aerodrome Gate on the Hoshiarpur-Adampur road.