P U N J A B

Top stories | Politics | Community

Agriculture | Crime |  Business

TOP STORIES

Punjabi varsity VC’s wings clipped
Barred from carrying out recruitment, promotion
Patiala, April 25
In a significant development in the ongoing tussle in Punjabi University, Patiala, the Punjab government has curtailed the powers of vice-chancellor (VC) Swaran Singh Boparai.

• Attempt to attack VC

3 more dists under job guarantee scheme
Jalandhar, April 25
Thousands of rural unemployed of Jalandhar, Nawanshahr and Amritsar districts will get employment by May 20 under the second phase of the centre-sponsored National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme.

Chief Chemical Examiner
‘Board of 3 should handle sensitive cases’
Patiala, April 25
The post of the chief chemical examiner to the Punjab government enjoys immense power. The government should curtail its power in the interest of justice.

Officials at the state chemical labortory in Patiala on Wednesday. — Tribune photo by Rajesh Sachar

Human rights body hold officials guilty, orders relief
Chandigarh, April 25
Taking a serious note of death of a prisoner in Ludhiana Central Jail, the Punjab Human Rights Commission has held jail authorities guilty of negligence for failing to protect the life of the deceased.

Reviving link between Sikh shrines and divine trees Chandigarh, April 25 Rooted deep in religion, a senior IAS officer from Punjab has branched out to nurture the tree of knowledge. After travelling over 30,000 km across India and Pakistan, the 1976-batch officer, D. S. Jaspal, has faithfully revived the sacred link between Sikh shrines and the “divine” trees by religiously capturing in his 12-mega pixel camera the visible, yet indiscernible, realities of growth and decay. The sacred tree at Ber Sahib in Sultanpur Lodhi.

‘Swiss Embassy’s delaying tactics frustrate native’
Amritsar, April 25
“I will be forced to seek legal remedies against the dilly-dallying tactics of Swiss Embassy officials if they do not stop harassing and creating obstructions in my taking my husband along to my country”, said Claude Francoise, a resident of Switzerland.

Temple chapatti-making machine switched off
Amritsar, April 25
Following reports that pollution in the holy city has gone up, the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee has stopped the chapatti-making machine in the Golden Temple premises after four years of its installation.

Foundation for 2008 as year of religious pluralism
Chandigarh, April 25
The Guru Gobind Singh Foundation has decided to call upon international and national constitutional bodies to adopt a declaration to commemorate the tercentenary --- due next year --- of the investiture of spiritual authority on Guru Granth Sahib as the eternally living Guru.

Auction recorder suspended
Bathinda, April 25
Nirmal Singh auction recorder of Chak Fateh Singh Wala village purchase centre was suspended and the licence of commission agent Birbal Das Thakur Das was cancelled by deputy commissioner Rahul Bhandari after checking wheat procurement in the district today.

AGRICULTURE

Subsoil water over-exploited in 103 blocks
Chandigarh, April 25
Punjab is heading for self- destruction because of the excessive use of ground water for agricultural and other purposes.

CRIME

2 fake travel agents arrested
Hoshiarpur, April 25
SSP Anita Punj said here today that the district police arrested two fake travel agents, Paramjit Singh of Bhangala village, Jalandhar, and Satnam Singh, alias Babba, of Kariavir Sarkar Maulanawala, Ferozepore, under sections 420 and 406 of the IPC.

Flesh trade racket busted; 8 held

Patiala, April 25 With the arrest of four boys and as many girls, the local police today busted a flesh trade racket being operated by its kingpin, a woman, from her rented house in Gobind Nagar here. The alleged sex workers and their accomplices arrested by the police near Hira Bagh Colony, Patiala, on Wednesday. — A Tribune photograph

6 held for damaging secular pillar
Mansa, April 25
The district police has arrested six accused persons involved in damaging the secular pillar erected by Sirsa-based Dera Sacha Sauda at Mansa crossing on the night of April 22.

Synthetic milk factory raided
Patiala, April 25
The district police has unearthed a racket in which thousands of litres of synthetic milk was being produced and supplied in market. In a press statement here today, the SSP, Patiala, said last evening they raided the premises at Samana that were being used to produce synthetic milk.

BUSINESS

Wheat purchase: auction recorder suspended, arhtiya’s licence cancelled
Bathinda, April 25
Nirmal Singh auction recorder of Chak Fateh Singh Wala village purchase centre was suspended and the licence of commission agent Birbal Das Thakur Das was cancelled by deputy commissioner Rahul Bhandari after checking wheat procurement in the district today.

Frankfinn ties up with SBoP
Patiala, April 25
The Frankfinn Aviation Services today announced a tie-up with State Bank of Patiala making the bank its preferred partner to provide finances to the students of the institute.

Excise auction elicits lukewarm response
Abohar, April 25
The Excise and Taxation Department received only a handful of applications for 12 liquor shops in the town on the last day of submitting forms sources said this evening. The government under the revised excise policy has reduced number of sale outlets from 17 to 12 leaving it to the licensees to chose locations but the non-refundable fee was increased from Rs 45 lakh to 60 lakh for 11 months as the government decided to fix next allotments for last week of March 2008.Traditional traders virtually has lost interest in the liquor shops in urban areas due to tough competition but had preference for rural areas as was evident from the applications received at the district headquarter.