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Farmers block rail traffic
Bathinda, September 25 Addressing the protesters, vice president of the Punjab Kisan Sabha Jagjeet Singh Joga said denial of remunerative prices to farmers for wheat, paddy and cotton produce was one of the main reasons behind the rising debt of the farming community. He wondered that if the Kerala government could give paddy farmers a price of Rs 850 per quintal why the Punjab government and the Union governments could not extend the same to the state’s farmers. He alleged leaders of ruling parties were amassing black money in the name of special economic zones (SEZs). He demanded only infertile land should be acquired and there should be a check on forcible acquirement of farmers’ land by the government. He also demanded that the farmers be given the right to decide the rate of their land. The general secretary of the Sabha, Mr Bhupinder Sabar, alleged the state government was instigating commission agents against farmers and exploiting the police force to suppress their voice. He said the debt of farmers and farm labourers should be waived in Punjab as done by Tamil Nadu. MANSA: Farmers blocked rail traffic at the Mansa railway station for a couple of hours forcing rail authorities to stop trains at Budhlada and Maur Mandi railway stations. Addressing the agitators, state BKU Ugraha president Joginder Singh Ugraha alleged the state government was snatching livelihood of farmers and their land was being forcibly acquired for big industrial houses. He demanded that the law allowing forcible acquirement of farmers’ land should be scrapped. He sought a price of Rs 4,000 per quintal for cotton produce of farmers. Punjab Kisan Union state convener Ruldu Singh also addressed the protesters. AMRITSAR: To lodge their protest against the mindless acquisition of their fertile land and anti-farmer policies, farmers blocked the rail traffic on main lines near here, on Monday. The entire traffic on the Amritsar-Manawala section remained suspended for more than two hours in the afternoon. Disrupting the movement of major trains, including Delhi-Amritsar Shatabdi, Shan-e-Punjab and Ludhiana-Amritsar DMU, a large number of farmers from nine farmer organisations and kisan unions descended at Manawala station and raised slogans against the policies of the state and the Central Governments to make them suffer economically. Addressing the rally various kisan leaders criticized the current policies adopted by the government which was crushing the agricultural sector and not coming out with any package to get them rid of indebtedness. The kisan leaders said they would not withdraw their agitation till their genuine demands were met. They said that their entire families would jump into the agitation. ROPAR: Passengers of Shaharanpur to Nangal train were today stranded for half on hour at the railway station at Anandpur Sahib as protesting farmers blocked the level crossing. The farmers belonging to the Jamhuri Kishan Sabha and the Punjab Kishan Sabha staged a dharna at the level crossing here protesting against the sale of farmers’ land at cheap rates to Reliance company by the Punjab Government. Besides, they were also protesting against the supply of low quality seeds to farmers causing huge losses to them. Later, the farmers submitted a memorandum to the SDM, Anandpur Sahib, in this afternoon.
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Dalits gherao police station
Nabha, September 25 While addressing the agitators, Mr Kulwant Atwal, president, Dalit Bhalai Federation, said the residents of Ageta village got 8 bighas of the cremation ground land marked from the SDM, Nabha, many months ago. He added that a resident of the village, Kulwant Singh, removed the demarcation, and encroached upon the land. He added that villagers visited the police station a number of times but ASI Tilak Raj never listened to their woes. He said they were left with no option but to agitate in front of police station.
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‘Bara Makana’ to be preserved
Amritsar, September 25 An announcement regarding this was made by Mr Avinash Mohinderu, a senior functionary of the HTF , two days before the birth centenary of Shaheed Bhagat Singh that falls on September 28 . A state level conference is also being organised by the Punjab Students Union, here on Thursday . This Amritsar locality’s most famous guests have been Netaji Subhas Chander Bose who visited the place while escaping to Kabul, popularly known as ‘Great Escape’ . The HTF has also decided to raise to suitable memorial at Bara Makana and a huge plaque of revolutionaries who used to visit the place. The Heritage society will also endeavour to install statues of the revolutionaries who had carried out their activities to free India . Most of the residents of Amritsar seem to be oblivious of one of the best kept secrets that Shaheed Bhagat Singh used to edit ‘Kirti’ , a newspaper of revolutionaries along with Comrade Sohan Singh Josh for secret circulation from Bara Makana in local Islamabad area . Netaji had brief stopover at Amritsar en route to Afghanistan that generated patriotic fervour among the local residents. The treasure trove of a local freedom fighter, a resident of Bara Makana- the hub of revolutionaries established the visit of Netaji to Amritsar who escaped to Kabul in disguise with the active help of revolutionaries of Punjab. The rare picture that carries great historical significance shows that the inspired minds included women revolutionaries from Amritsar who also pledged to support Netaji for complete freedom. Women played especially a crucial role in the economic boycott campaigns and often participated in the non-cooperation movement with as much or even greater enthusiasm than their husbands or male relatives. Chittaranjan Das (C.R.Das) a major figure in Indian freedom struggle ,Lala Lajpat Rai popularly known as Punjab Kesari (Lion of the Punjab), Dr Saifudin Kitchlew, a Muslim revolutionary from Amritsar alongwith prominent Afghan leader and other revolutionaries from Punjab were seen posing with Netaji. Mr Avinash Mohinderu whose family was original resident of Bara Makan said that this locality was frequently visited by great revolutionaries and efforts would be made to preserve the site , originally constructed by 12 friends who had settled in the outskirts of Amritsar from walled city. The Bara Makan was the only Hindu area surrounded by Muslim populace before Partition. The area witnessed some of the bloodiest massacre, near the Railway crossing.
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Trees on village common land felled
Pathankot, September 25 Sources said the village panchayat had given permission to the brick-kiln owner to dig earth from the common land. To facilitate his job of digging and taking away earth, the kiln owner allegedly uprooted around 20 trees. As a rule, the panchayat has to take permission from the Department of Panchayats for any such felling on the common land. The village is situated in the Shivalik foothills and the area is covered under the Punjab Land Preservation Act (PLPA). The rules say if the area is covered under the said Act, the permission of the Forest Department is mandatory for felling trees. Even the earth cannot be lifted from the area covered under the Act. In the present case, no permission was taken from the Department of Panchayats or the Forest Department before felling the trees. Village sarpanch Tarsem Chand admitted that no permission was taken before felling trees. Now that the trees had been uprooted, information would be provided to the departments concerned, he added. The trees would be auctioned with the permission of the department concerned. Some trees had got uprooted due to rain, he said. The DFO, Gurdaspur, said appropriate action would be taken if it was established that felling was undertaken in the protected forest areas. The local BDO was, however, not available for comments on the issue.
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Tardy pace of laying sewerage paralyses town
Quadian (Gurdaspur),
September 25 The work for laying of sewerage has been progressing at a tardy pace much to the chagrin of the residents of the town. Twentyfive to 30 feet deep trenches have been dug through the main markets of the town. This has paralysed the entire traffic, affecting the business in the main markets. The affected businessmen alleged that the work has been handed over to inept contractors. They did not have adequate infrastructure to carry the work quickly. They employ just a few labourers to carry out the work, resulting in inordinate delay. The contractor has sold the soil dug from the trenches due to which trenches were not being filled up. Many people have been injured after falling in deep trenches at night. The deep trenches that have not been filled were also having adverse impact on the building and shops on their banks, they alleged. Those supervising the work said they were able to lay just four feet sewerage pipe per day. Under the plan, instead of laying ready made pipes, they have to construct the pipe as the concrete roof is constructed. This was taking time resulting in the delay. About the sold soil, they said that the soil dug from new trenches was being used to fill the trenches where laying of sewerage has been completed. They said that they were going to increase the number of labourers for the work. Opposition leaders have alleged that if the work continued at the same pace it would not be completed even in the next few years. Mr Amarjeet Singh Bajwa, a local SAD leader, said the businessmen of the town have given repeated representations to authorities concerned for increasing the pace of the work. However, all requests have fallen on deaf ears. The SAD/BJP activists would launch an agitation if no action was taken to increase the pace of work. The executive officer of the Quadian municipal council, when contacted, said the work was being carried out by the sewerage board. The matter of tardy pace of the work would be taken up with the sewerage board authorities, he said.
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‘Awareness growing on women’s freedom’
Amritsar, September 25 These were the views expressed by the TV artiste Kavita Leelawati Chaudhary, nee Ms Kavita Chaudhari here on Saturday. She said as crime against women had increased considerably, after Partition parents were forced to restrict the movement of girls. But with the passage of time some of the mothers like her mother, Mrs Leelawati Chowdhari, realised that they were doing injustice to their daughters by not allowing them to participate in cultural programmes. She said her mother wanted her daughters to be self-dependent. Hence her elder sister rose to become the Director-General of Police of Uttaranchal. And for this reason she liked to add the name ‘Leelawati’ to her name, she added. Ms Chaudhary, who was in the city of her birth to receive the award for her script and direction in the teleserial ‘Udaan’ to be awarded by Mohammad Rafi Memorial Society, said marriages, on which the people spent lavishly in Punjab, were the only meeting ground for boys and girls. She said parents should change their attitude and allow children to participate in cultural programmes and workshops as was being done in Maharashtra and south India. She said she had experienced eve-teasing only in Punjab whereas she had travelled extensively in trams and public transport in Mumbai and had not witnessed a single incident there. The Udaan girl while complimenting The Tribune for serious reporting said she was happy to note that it was the only newspaper in the region which highlighted the sufferings of the common masses. Talking about her film ‘Sanjh Mohabtaan Di’ a Punjabi film on Indo-Pak relations, which was being produced to strengthen the bilateral ties between the two neighboring countries, Ms Chaudhari said the paper work and locations of the Punjabi film had been finalised and shortly the film would be shot in Amritsar and adjoining areas. She said the audition of the artistes was on and she would try to involve maximum number of artistes from the holy city itself.
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Train to promote tourism in state
Amritsar, September 25 However, he added that the state had already submitted a proposal to launch this train with the central government and on its receiving the necessary approval the project would be started. The train would be connecting the major tourist destinations in the state and would provide state of the art facilities on board. Addressing a joint meeting of tourism ministers of Rajasthan, Ms Usha Punia and senior officers of the state government, Mr Puri said the government was preparing a detailed action plan to promote tourism in the state. Ms Punia speaking on the occasion said Punjab and Rajasthan had shown an inclination towards encouraging joint promotion of tourism in both the states. She said under this project both the governments would combine their resources to develop heritage tourism which would enable the governments and the people to raise their income levels. Such a venture would promote goodwill and harmony among the people.
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Mandira leads walk on World Heart Day
Amritsar, September 25 Led by actress Mandira Bedi, along with Mayor Sunil Datti and Chairman Improvement Trust Jugal Kishore, students of 15 schools and colleges and doctors participated in the walk. The doctors took the initiative to help people understand the importance of keeping one’s heart young. The students in white caps held banners, spelling out slogans, “How young is your heart?” “Stop smoking, keep heart beating”, “Healthy heart, healthy start”, “Prevent obesity, live longer” as they walked with the city’s top heart and other specialists. Decrying smoking, the walk spread the message that quitting smoking could reduce the risk of heart disease by 25 to 30 per cent. A heart check up was also organised on the occasion and 250 persons availed the service. In addition to this, the hospital launched An inter-school quiz competition was organised to highlight the role of healthy diet and exercise. Holy Heart Presidency and DAV Public School were adjudged the winners and runner-up, respectively.
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Pesticides affecting newborns’ health: doc
Amritsar, September 25 Addressing a seminar on creating awareness on the public health at Pingalwara here today, Dr Kabra said Punjab had the highest probability of pesticides exposures on a large percentage of its population. He said it was a well-established fact that cancer and pesticides were linked. A recent survey had pointed that the reproductive system of women had directly impacted by the high exposure of pesticides. Dr Kabra said the higher exposure was deteriorating the semen quality which had also resulted in babies born with poor health.
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Cooperative bank poll postponed
Bathinda, September 25 Today was the day for scrutiny as well as withdrawal of nominations, but neither the returning officer nor his assistant came to the bank and their record room was also found locked. There are nine zones in the bank and each zone has about 30-31 cooperative societies. The number of societies was more in zone Nos. 8 and 9. As many as 39 candidates had filed their nominations for elections to nine zones. The elections were scheduled to be held on October 3. The district manager of the bank, Mr Gian Chand Gandhi, said he was unaware as to why the returning officer and his assistant didn't turn up. The Deputy Commissioner, Mr Rahul Bhandari, said he was in Chandigarh for a meeting and could not comment on the matter as of now.
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Motor vehicle Bill condemned
Chandigarh, September 25 It will affect 75 per cent of the mini bus operators and result in a huge tax burden on them, said Mr Harinder Sharma, president of the association.
— TNS
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Society for raising memorial to Rafi
Amritsar, September 25 The Society rued the fact that the ancestral village of the great singer, Kot Mohammad Khan did not have so far any memorial dedicated to him. It urged the government to install a memorial and academy in the village for perpetuating his memory. It honoured Shabbir Kumar (singer), Harbhajan Mann (singer and actor). Bhagwant Mann (comedian), Babu Singh Mann (lyricists), Gurmit Singh and Dheera Ghosh (music directors), Kumari Ashu (anchor) and Kavita Choudhary of teleserial “Udaan” fame (director) for promoting the Punjabi language and culture across the country.
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Mother, son killed in road accident
Hoshiarpur, September 25
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Bail plea of Baba Amrik dismissed
Chandigarh, September 25 He had committed the alleged crime while supervising kar seva at the sarovar inside the Golden Temple, gold plating of the Darbar Sahib, Tarn Taran, and on Sikh shrines in Pakistan. Turning down the plea of the Baba for grant of anticipatory bail, Mr Justice Ajai Lamba observed that a perusal of the record had shown that the dera collected donations for very pious purposes such as construction of gurdwaras, etc. He further noted that the allegations against the Baba and his accomplices were that they defrauded the dera and siphoned off more than Rs 2 crore. The court also observed that the petitioner had purchased land worth lakhs in his own name. The Judge held that custodial interrogation of the accused would be of paramount importance as only interrogation in custody would reveal the extent of fraud and the modus operandi of the petitioner. Earlier, the Baba’s counsel argued that he had done nothing wrong and even the land that is in his name actually belonged to the Dera. He also stated that it was an accepted norm in the dera to allow persons such as the Baba to purchase land in their own names which, in fact, belonged to the dera. However, advocate C.S. Bakshi, appearing for the Baba Jagtar Singh Kar Sevawale of Tarn Taran pointed out that the petitioner was involved in several cases of similar nature wherein funds collected from the public for religious and pious purposes had been utilised for his personal benefit. It may be recalled that Baba Amrik Singh stands accused of having collected huge donations and embezzled them. He and his accomplices were booked by the police, but Amrik Singh has so far managed to remain free. There are allegations that the police did not arrest him due to intense pressure brought on by influential supporters of the Baba. Some days ago, the Patiala Police had found documents pertaining to purchase of prime land in parts of Punjab and bank accounts in the name of the culprits. Yet another FIR stands registered against the Amrik Singh and his supporters at Kum Kalan in Ludhiana. The complainant, Kuldip Singh, a former driver of the Baba Jagtar Singh, has alleged that he and other followers of the Baba were beaten up by supporters of Amrik Singh.
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Water-saving technique for paddy introduced
Patiala, September 25 Under its scheme called ‘Atma’, the department has been making efforts to popularise the new technique of paddy cultivation called Technocrats Technique Number 1. The department authorities organised a field day in the farms of Mr Rajdeep Singh at Bhundthe village. In a press note issued here today, Dr Balwinder Singh Sohal, Chief Agriculture Officer (CAO), said that the new sowing technique in paddy was demonstrated to the farmers. He added that by adopting this method of sowing, farmers were not required to puddle their fields and the paddy would be transplanted directly on the ridges. This resulted in reduced surface area of irrigation on one hand and an increase in percolation of water on the other. He said that this technique also increased the aeration thereby increasing the quality as well as per acre yield. The major benefit of this technique lay in water harvesting because there was no crust formation beneath the soil and the water applied helped in recharging of water table. Mr Kahan Singh Pannu, Secretary, Farmer’s Commission, who was also the chief guest said that the farmers were facing the challenge of depleting water table as well as stagnation in income levels but the department had come up with the solution of these problems. Dr Narankar Singh, Joint Director, State Agriculture Department, gave information regarding the ‘Atma’ scheme and its working. He insisted upon the role of women in modern agriculture and appealed for the active participation of women, particularly in ‘Atma’ activities. District Training Officer, Dr Subash Chander Khurana, assured farmers that all farmers training camps in the future would be organised in farmers’ fields.
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Held for wife’s murder
Abohar, September 25 Sawan Kumar had informed his father-in-law, Mr Babu Lal, on Saturday that his wife Rekha had died after slipping from the roof of the room. However, Mr Babu Lal, on arrival here found the body deserted in the house. There were signs of strangulation on her neck. The body was kept the mortuary at Nehru Memorial Civil Hospital for the night. DSP Parampal Singh and SHO Satish Malhotra visited the locality and got the post mortem conducted. Mr Babu Lal stated that Rekha had been married to Sawan Kumar in 1999 and had two daughters besides a one-year-old son. She had to spend 12 months with her parents at Sangria as Sawan Kumar allegedly insisted on bringing a motor cycle for him. The parents ultimately sold half of their house and fulfilled the demand. She was brought back to the in-laws house only few months back. Sawan Kumar and his parents had been harassing Rekha for money. As her parents responded in the negative, Rekha was allegedly strangled with a piece of rope as was evident from the post mortem, the police said. Sawan Kumar was arrested immediately. Mr Parampal Singh assured the parents of the victim that involvement of others would also be probed.
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Commandos hurt in clash
Abohar, September 25 According to available information, Ajay Singh, a son of Hakam Singh, posted in the Army had come to his native Bakainwala village. His friend, Rakesh Kumar, a son of Bidhi Chand of Chathiala village in Hoshiarpur district, had arrived to meet him. They, along with another person, had some altercation with employees of a petrol filling station after attending a social function last night. The police commandoes were as duty to check smuggling of narcotics from the neighboring state. They signaled the triple-riding motor cyclists for physical verification. The Army men in civil dress protested and allegedly used hot words. However Ajay Singh was allowed to go to Bakainwala village to prove that he was a local resident. Sources said that Ajay Singh returned along with Balkar Singh, Sarpanch, his armed son Pawan Singh and nearly 20 more residents. They allegedly thrashed two commandoes and torn their uniforms. When other policemen rushed to rescue the commandoes the villagers opened firing in the air. The policemen took up positions forcing the miscreants to retreat. Mr Gurbhej Singh, SHO, Khuyiansarwar, rushed in with more force. Some empties of .12-bore rifle were found there. The police registered a case against the Sarpanch, Army men and others.
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Murder solved after 6 years
Hoshiarpur, September 25 The SSP stated in a press note here today that a body of a 30-year-old woman, who was later identified as Ram Piari, wife of Ajit Singh of Mianda village, Dasuya, was found in the forest area of Saleran. On the information of watchman of the forest Gurdial Singh, the police registered a case under Section 302 of the IPC on January 7, 2000. The police investigated the case, but no one was arrested. The investigation was restarted under the supervision of a DSP and the police had succeeded in arresting accused Karnail Singh of Kiratpur Sahib. During interrogation, Karnail Singh revealed that he had illicit relation with Ram Piari. Her husband was serving as a sevadar at Gurdwara Banga Sahib,Kiratpur. He used to visit Ram Piari in the absence of her husband. Their relations had remained cordial for about two years. The SSP said Ram Piari had gone to her native place at Mianda village. When accused Karnail Singh came to know about it, he telephoned and called her to Hoshiarpur. Ram Piari came to Hoshiarpur, along with her two-year son, from where they went to the holy shrine of Chintpurni on scooter and stayed for a night there. On returning, Karnail Singh stopped the scooter near the Manguwal barrier and after leaving the child near the scooter, he took Ram Piari to the forest area where he killed her. After murdering her, he dropped the child before a gurdwara at Tanda and went back to Kiratpur.
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PU to review system of internal assessment
Chandigarh, September 25 While most senators felt that there was an urgent need for an appraisal of the system, some fellows, including Mr P.S. Sangha, Mr S.S. Hundal, Mr Jarnail Singh, Mr Mukesh Arora and Mr Suresh Tandon, suggested the complete abolition of the system. Many college principals, including Dr Satinder Dhillon, Mrs Tejinder Kaur and Mr R.K. Sharma, however, strongly objected to the abolition of the system on the grounds that this would reduce the control of the college teachers on their students even further. Many senators openly pointed out that the internal assessment marks were being used by teachers to harm or help particular students. “Also while most private colleges made sure that their students get maximum possible marks in the internal assessment, since they were worried about the results, government colleges made no such efforts and students suffered as a result,” said Principal Mrs Harmeet Kaur. Objections were also raised regarding the effectiveness of the system in the Department of Correspondence Studies of the university since many students had suffered on this account in the last session. It was pointed out in the meeting that the department had failed to forward to the university’s examination branch the list of internal assessment marks as a result of which the results had to be delayed. The students were then given marks on proportionate basis. The Vice-Chancellor, Prof R.C. Sobti, finally decided to constitute a committee which would look into the entire system. However, the Senate approved that the system be continued in the Department of Correspondence Studies this year since students had already sought admission to the department. The Senate also approved that the system be continued in MCom classes. However, the internal assessment would be reduced to 20 per cent marks from the existing 50 per cent marks. It was further approved that the college would maintain the record for internal assessment for one year which would be inspected by the university at any time without any prior information to the college. In order to maintain transparency and faith of the students in the system the Dean, faculty of Business Management and commerce, had been authorised to appoint various committes to visit different colleges to monitor and check the records on the basis of which internal assessment is awarded. The colleges offering MCom must follow the same criteria for seminar/workshop courses. This is because seminar and workshops are also internal papers. The record for seminars and workshops will also be kept by the colleges. The senate also approved the introduction of internal assessment in each paper of the three-year law course being run in the university. Quantifying the importance of attendance for the first time in the university, internal assessment worth 20 marks would include five marks for attendance and 15 for the project report and moot court discussions. For students who have attendance from 75 to 79 per cent would get one mark, 80 to 84 per cent would get 2 marks, 85 to 89 per cent would get 3 marks, 90 to 94 per cent would get 4 marks and attendance above 95 per cent would fetch 5 marks.
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Boparai asked to submit draft
Chandigarh, September 25 Presiding over a meeting to work out the modalities for setting up this university, Capt Amarinder Singh said it would help rebuild rural Punjab, besides offering enormous opportunities to rural students to show their merit. The university would come up at a cost of Rs 181 crore and assured him that the paucity of funds would not be allowed to come in the way of this prestigious project. He also mentioned that Punjabi University’s initiative in establishing neighbourhood campuses in the rural areas had already drawn considerable attention of villagers because of quality education available to them under the aegis of the university on their doorstep and that, too, at almost half the cost. Earlier, Capt Amarinder Singh also released a project report on Guru Gobind Singh university.
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Workshop on music
Patiala, September 25 The workshop was inaugurated by Prof Such Singh Gill, Dean, Academic Affairs, Punjabi University. The workshop will be conducted by two eminent artistes of classical music who had been invited by the Department of Music. For classical vocal, Pandit Baldev Raj Verma, an exponent of Indore gharana had come to conduct the workshop. Hailing from Punjab, he was a senior disciple of Pt Amarnath ji of Indore
Gharana. For sitar, Pt Satish Chandra Srivastva had come from Kanpur, who was disciple of world renowned Sitarist Pt. Ravi Shanker
ji. Addressing the workshop, Dr Navjot Kaur Kasel, Head, Department of Music, Punjabi University, highlighted the objectives of this workshop. She said through such workshops the students got on opportunity to explore themselves to “Gharanedar
Talim”.
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NSS camp concludes
Patiala, September 25 In a press note issued here the Principal of college said during the camp, the volunteers were enlightened about the social evils like female foeticide, and AIDS. Col. Bishan Dass a social activist, advised the volunteers to save the environment from pollution. Mr Sanjiv Srivastva, from Career Launchers spoke on the opportunities available in the market.
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