Jalandhar, November 13
l Gurdial Singh won the case against his termination by Deepak Car Agency, Basti Nau. Jalandhar labour court ordered for his reinstatement with arrears.

l Labour court in 1997 directed BDA Steel Rolling Mill, Jalandhar cantonment to reinstate Harbhajan Singh and several other workers.

l Punjab Iron Steel Company of Jalandhar cantonment was told to give Harbhel Singh and some other workers their jobs back in 1999 by a labour court.

Though these orders of reinstatement were passed by the Jalandhar labour court several years ago, they are still to be implemented. Thanks to the ‘callous attitude’ of labour department, which had been overlooking implementation of these orders.

These cases are not isolated ones. There are hundreds of such cases where the directions of labour court are still to be implemented even several years after judgement, alleges Ravi Wadhawan, president, Bar Association Labour Court, Jalandhar.

Fed up with the ignorant attitude of the labour department, now trade unions including CTU, INTUC, Hind Mazdoor Kisan Panchayat, AITUC, HMS, NSMTU and BMLU have joined hand and formed a joint action committee (JAC) to spearhead a campaign against labour department.

Talking to The Tribune, JAC convener Hari Muni Singh (from CTU) and other representatives Ravi Wadhawan (INTUC), Lalji Bhardwaj (Hind Mazdoor Kisan Panchayat), Rajesh Thapa (AITUC) demanded immediate transfer of assistant labour commissioner Inderjeet Singh for his lackluster attitude in implementing court orders.

The JAC representatives said, “It is the duty of labour department to implement the court’s orders, but labour officers are not doing so for their vested interests.” Labourers usually avoid knocking at the door of Punjab and Haryana high court for appeal due to their bad financial condition, they added.

Alleging that the rights of labour class were being totally ignored, they threatened to hold a dharna in front of assistant labour commissioner’s office on Thursday.

Meanwhile, assistant labour commissioner Inderjeet Singh claimed that no order was pending for implementation. Trade union leaders were leveling allegations of overlooking labourers’ rights just to get their illegal works done, he alleged.

Chandigarh, November 13
The role of law enforcement agencies and public health authorities, their proactive coordination and surveillance vis-a-vis defence against bio-terrorism at the state and national level requires a deeper introspection in order to prevent or combat a high intensity bio-disaster.

Stating this a paper on bio-terrorism, bio-weapons and bio-defence preparedness has cautioned that the present-day laws and regulatory framework in India would further need to be strengthened to deal effectively with any instance of bio-terrorism.

The paper, authored by a senior Indian Police Service officer and published recently by the Bureau of Police Research and Development, contends that there is always a possibility that motivated individuals or terrorist groups or even inimical states may cause a bio-attack in India. This could lead to a bio-disaster resulting in a massive disruption and chaos.

Calling for a complete review of available indigenous resources, capabilities and legal requirements to enhance preparedness to deal with and neutralise a bio-attack, the paper states that a very focused and coordinated efforts are required at the international level to check the “omnipresent” threat of bio-terrorism.

Maintaining that bio-terrorism poses an emerging threat on the country’s security horizon, the paper adds that bio-terrorism covers not only human beings as targets, but also the use of bio-agents to wage economic warfare by destroying animals and plant population important to the populace. The use of genetic engineering and biotechnology has given a fillip to the production of newer and lethal bio-weapons.

The paper points out that the High Profile Committee on Disaster Management had earlier pointed out the serious lack of public health infrastructure in India to deal with a bio-disaster. The need of the hour to combat lethal bio-agents are modern diagnostic equipment, anti-microbial agents, trained professionals and high containment laboratory facilities.

The paper suggests that apart from the IPC and the CrPC, which may be put into use for prevention or investigation of a crime involving bio-agents, it would be more expedient and advantageous if a specific criminal legislation dealing with such incidents were enacted.

Stating that here may further be a need to set up a surveillance mechanism on all such institutions or laboratories which are closely related to or are dealing with bio-agents, the paper also states that intelligence agencies also need to pay adequate attention on collection of information related to import, export, manufacture, storage and sale of dangerous pathogens.

Jalandhar, November 13
The joint action committee of Punjab Roadways Employees held a protest at the local depot here today demanding regularisation of contractual employees, giving due promotions and introducing new fleets of buses at the earliest.

President Jagtar Singh said the protests would continue till November 15 and if their demands were not met, they would launch a massive agitation in front of the office of director, state transport in Chandigarh from November 19 to 23.

The representatives have also been seeking withdrawal of unwanted changes in the time-table due to pressure by private transporters. The other demands, include overtime payment, distribution of uniforms to operational and workshop staff and providing jobs to the kin of deceased staffers.