Amritsar, June 5
Demanding a high-level inquiry into the Dera Sacha Sauda episode, chief of All India Anti Terrorist Front (AIATF) Maninderjit Singh Bitta has asked the government to expose the persons who are trying to create instability in the state.

He also criticised the Dera Sacha Sauda chief for hurting the sentiments of the Sikh community. Alleging that former Chief Minister Amarinder Singh and cats of the security agencies, including Daljit Singh Bittu and Jasbir Singh Rode were behind the dera row, Bitta said the former wants to divert the attention of the people from the vigilance probe being held against him. He further alleged that Amarinder was hand-in-glove with ISI and Pakistan-based militants, Wadhawa Singh Babbar and Paramjit Singh Panjwar, who are trying to vitiate peaceful atmosphere in the state.

Appreciating the decision of Akal Takht Jathedar Giani Joginder Singh Vedanti to hold a peach march to protest against the `sacrilegious acts’ of Gurmeet Ram Raheem Singh, Bitta cautioned the Damdami Taksal and other panthic organisations to not get befooled by Amarinder, DGSMC chief Paramjit Singh Sarna and SAD (Amritsar) chief Simranjit Singh Mann. “If Sarna really wants to close the Deras in Punjab he should begin from Haryana which was closer to Delhi,” he said.

Amritsar, June 5
The Punjab government should immediately release Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar) president Simranjit Singh Mann and 20 others, including a woman, and arrest Sirsa-based Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh for his blasphemous acts.

Stating this, SAD (A) vice-president Bhai Dhian Singh Mand and general secretary Ram Singh, in a memorandum to the Governor submitted through the deputy commissioner here today, said Mann and others were arrested by the police on May 14 by implicating them in false cases of sedition. They urged him to issue directions to the state government for punishing the dera chief for hurting  the Sikh sentiments, besides closing the deras in the state.

They also urged the governor to ban the celebrations of anniversary of former Chief Minister Beant Singh.

Tarn Taran, June 5
Four members of an in-laws’ family have been booked under the Domestic Violence Act by the Bhikhiwind police.

The woman was mentally and physically harassed by her in-laws

Police sources said here today that the accused had been identified as Rajinder Singh (husband of the victim), his mother Kuldeep Kaur, father Kulwant Singh and brother Balwinder Singh of the Naraingarh locality of Chheharta. A case under sections 498-A and 5/31 of the Domestic Violence Act has been registered against the accused.

The police said the case has been registered on the complaint of Ranjit Kaur of Dayalpur village of the area. She was married to accused Rajinder Singh on January 15, 2004.

Huge heroin haul near Kathunangal; 2 held
Tribune News Service

Amritsar, June 5
In a major breakthrough, the Amritsar (Rural) police has busted an international gang of heroin smugglers and recovered 12 kg of the contraband valued at Rs 12 crore from their possession.

Acting on a tip-off, a police party intercepted an Indica car in which three smugglers were travelling near Kathunangal around 11 am on Tuesday. While two accused were nabbed, one of them fled.

The consignment had come from Pakistan through the Punjab border and was headed for Delhi. SSP (Rural) Iqbal Singh said that some cell phones and identity cards had been recovered from the smugglers. “The accused are from Jammu and one of them is a retired Army subedar.

The massive heroin haul is the second major success of the Amritsar (Rural) police, which busted a big fake currency racket last month. The SSP said the three smugglers had been in the trade for a long time and they had recently transported a consignment of 10 kg of heroin, brought from Pakistan through the Jammu and Kashmir border, to Delhi.

“We are probing their links and trying to ascertain the identity of other persons involved in the racket, especially those who smuggle the contraband from Pakistan and receive the consignment in Delhi,” he said.

The two accused have been identified as Sansar Chand, a resident of Purkhoo, Jammu district, and Sanjeev Kumar, alias Tota, a resident of Shanti Nagar, Jammu. Their accomplice, who escaped, was Sham Lal, a resident of Palora, Jammu.

Sanjeev Kumar was carrying a trunk which contained 10 packets of heroin, while two packets were recovered from the bag thrown by the accused who escaped. The 12 packets bear Pakistani markings. A case has been registered against the accused under the NDPS Act at Kathunangal police station.

The team members who conducted the entire operation included DSP (D) Gurmeet Singh, inspector Suraj Kumar and sub-inspector Avtar Singh.

Amritsar, June 5
Though women have scaled new heights in almost every field, yet they aren’t given equal status in society, said a noted playwright Gursharan Singh. He was speaking at the conclusion of a three-week refresher course in English organised by the Department of English of the Guru Nanak Dev University under the aegis of its Academic Staff College here. More than thirty-seven university and college teachers from various states participated in this course.

Gursharan said until we give an equal status, respect and honour to woman, we could not build a healthy society. He said there was dire need of revolutionary change in our mindsets and society in whole.

And this change should start from our homes itself. Indiscrimination among boys and girls should be a top priority for parents, he added.

In the era of science and technology, we witness many drastic changes in the society but our attitude and approach towards women had still not changed. He said that due to IT revolution, the world has changed manifold but our Indian society still lagged behind.

The eminent playwright exhorted the authorities of educational institutions that they should ensure that with the name of father, the name mother should also be added to the name of the child. He also pleaded for increase of maternity leave of women employees working in the government and public sector departments from six months to two years. He distributed certificates to the participants of refresher course.

Earlier, Prof H.S. Bhatia, director of Academic Staff College said the teachers who attended this course should make optimum use of the knowledge gained by them during this course. The participants, on this occasion also shared their impressions and experiences of the course. 

Amritsar, June 5
An exhibition of garments designed and stitched by students of the department of adult, continuing education and education and extension was organised on the Guru Nanak Dev University (GNDU) campus here today.

All-India Pingalwara Charitable Society president Inderjit Kaur inaugurated the exhibition and was impressed with the garments and other articles prepared by the young girl students.

Commending the GNDU for playing its role in providing self-employment to woman folk through its adult education department, Inderjit Kaur said unemployment was the biggest problem facing the nation. She said tailoring, cutting, dress designing, cosmetology and other such courses not only made women independent and self-employed but also provided them respectable place in society. She expressed the hope that the university would start more self-employment courses for unemployed youth of this region.

Vice-Chancellor Jai Rup Singh said the university was committed to work for the uplift of the woman in society. He said they would soon introduce a new one-year course in cutting and tailoring for the women of educationally backward area of Niari (Gurdaspur) this year. He said the university would also start more self-employment courses for the youth of educationally backward areas located in the border belt.

Department director Subhash Chander said more than 260 students of cutting, tailoring and dress designing, textile designing, cosmetology, electronic and TV repair and computer hardware participated and displayed their products in this exhibition. A.S. Sidhu, Harish Sharma, Radha Sharma and a number of other faculty members and students were present on the occasion.

Amritsar, June 5
In order to equip children with abilities and mindsets critical for surviving and excelling in a rapidly globalising India, Spring Dale Senior School opened a scholastic aptitude test (SAT) and advanced placement (AP) examination centre in the city.

The school authorities said these were one of initiatives related to creating US education opportunities for children in Punjab in association with Mentors Education Services, New Delhi. They added that SAT examination centre was first in Punjab, Jammu and Kashmir, Chandigarh and Haryana while the AP examination centre was north India’s first open centre for advance placement.

Dr Shivinder Singh Sandhu, chairman, Spring Dale School, said the school was determined to provide world class education opportunities in Amritsar and Punjab in whole. Moreover, opening this centre, in Amritsar has proved to be de-stressing for the students. Earlier, they had to waste both time and money in traveling to Delhi to appear for their SAT and AP examinations but now its very convenient for them since they have a centre in their own state, where traveling and the examination would take a couple of hours, he added.

Another major advantage is that students can get proper counseling and guidance, any time they want, with in their state, he said.

About 80,000 Indian students go to US, 90 per cent of these are from Delhi or Bombay and the other eight to nine per cent are from south India and negligible percentage from Punjab. and he reasoned that this is due to lack of proper guidance.

Shyam Ji Aggarwal, a US Admission Consultant with Mentors said, “US education is a very good alternative for talented children who are not able to get admission in good universities despite good marks, due to excessive competition. A child, who is judged average by the Indian examination system, tends to excel in the US system.”

Manveen Sandhu, principal Spring Dale Educational Society, laid emphasis on the fact, that students can appear for their SAT and AP examinations anytime, while pursuing their class XI and XII, thus avoiding stress while preparing for both the CBSE board and the competitive examinations.

Amritsar, June 5
SDM Vimal Setia has ordered the closure of Avtar Poultry Farm situated at Waryam Nangal village on the Amritsar-Batala road under section 133 (1) of the CrPC for allegedly creating health problems for the local residents.

The SDM has issued the order after a number of complaints from villagers who have been suffering from skin and respiratory problems.

Confirming this, Setia said that action was taken after getting reports from the health and pollution department. He said the Punjab Pollution Control Board had been asked to initiate action against the poultry farm under the environment protection act. He also directed the SHO of Kathunangal police station to close the farm by  June 10.

The residents of area in the complaints alleged that the foul smell had made their life miserable in the village and the waste was not being dumped properly by the owner of the farm.

Tarn Taran, June 5
Members of the District Bar Association abstained from judicial courts work here today to protest against booking association district president Baljinder Singh Sandhu in an alleged false criminal case by the police.

The association at its meeting held under the presidentship of district vice-president Shamsher Singh Kang condemned the police for booking Sandhu in an alleged false criminal case as he was not present on the occasion when the clash took place. The association warned that if the case was not withdrawn it would intensify its agitation.

A case has been registered in this regard against 21 persons from both the sides.