The Tribune, Chandigarh, India - Himachal Pradesh Edition

	Congress protests govt’s ‘anti-people’ policies Tribune News Service Moga, December 13 Congress workers and leaders held a four-hour long protest against the policies and its alleged ‘atrocities’ on their sympathisers by the SAD-BJP coalition government in the state in front of the Deputy Commissioner’s office here today. Among others, Congress MLAs Joginder Pal Jain from Moha, Darshan Singh Brar from Baghapurana, Joginder Singh from Panjgrahin, Ajit Singh Shant from Nihal Singhwala, Avtar Singh Brar from Faridkot, participated in the protest meet. Raising slogans against the state over its alleged anti-people policies, they reasoned that the government had failed in providing the benefit of atta-dal scheme to the marginal sections of society. They alleged that the Parkash Singh Badal government had let loose a reign of terror on Congress supporters and sympathisers. They warned the government to desist from it. Otherwise, they would be forced to launch a state-wide protest. They were of the view that the coalition government failed to deliver on its promises for they were not able to develop compatibility among themselves. They said that leaders of the SAD and the BJP were polls apart in their thinking, understanding and philosophy. Barnala: To lodge their protest against the state government, Congress workers here staged a dharna before the deputy commissioner office today. Local MLA Kewal Singh Dhillon and Dhanaula MLA Kuldeep Singh Bathhal led the dharna. The MLAs criticised the state government for pushing the state into financial crunch, which was creating trouble for the development projects initiated during Congress regime. Dhillon said the Sarpanch of Barnala Assembly constituency, who supported Congress during last elections, had to face the Akali leaders’ wrath on one pretext or the other. Bathhal said that the state government should amend its ways or they would have to resort to agitation. He criticised the state government for not providing basic facilities to its people. The long power-cuts during winters proved the poor management of the state government, he added. Later, the Congress workers presented a memorandum to the deputy commissioner, Barnala. — OC Muktsar: The Muktsar District Congress leadership today submitted a memorandum to the Deputy Commissioner, stating that the Akali-BJP government had lost the people’s confidence in just nine months of its existence as it failed to govern and administer the state efficiently. The party delegation and the activists also staged a dharna in front of the DC office before the submission of the memorandum in which it was alleged that the ruling coalition had even ignored its poll promises like removing unemployment by filling up vacancies, accelerating development and improving the overall fiscal health of the state. “The Akali-BJP government has no programme and no specific policy for the welfare of the state, which is now facing grave financial crisis to the extent that it had no money even to disburse the salaries to government employees,” the memorandum stated. The government had also failed in the conduct of important tasks like revenue collection and development works at various levels, it added. Led by senior party leaders, MLA Sunny Brar, Maheshinder Badal and the District Congress chief Gursant Brar and ex-MLAs Nathu Ram and Raghbir Pardhan, the delegation also included District Youth Congress (YC) president Randhir Singh Dhira, PPCC district unit secretary Bhai Gogi, district YC general secretaries Bharat Bhushan Binta and Gagandeep Singh and Muktsar Block Youth Congress chief Bhinder Sharma. — TNS Mansa: Answering the state-level call of the party, the Congress, district Mansa, staged a dharna here today. At the dharna, leaders of the Congress party alleged that because of its wrong policies, the government had created a financial crisis in the state. District president of the Congress Ajitinder Singh Moffer said that the government had failed to maintain peace in the state as this year, nearly 15100 cases had been registered, out of which 601 related to abduction, 30 to robbery, 407 to rape, 3100 to theft and 7059 related to smuggling. “The farmers have grown poor and unemployment in the state has increased,” Moffer said. Addressing the dharna, Mangat Rai Bansal, MLA Budhlada, criticised the state government for not adopting development policies. — OC
	Congmen fight among themselves; Ex-MLA plays spoilsport, expelled Our Correspondent Ferozepur, December 13 Washing their dirty linen in public, the Congress leaders, who had gathered here to stage a dharna against the political vendetta unleashed by the Akalis, ended up fighting among themselves. The district level dharna organised here on a call given by the PPCC president, Rajinder Kaur Bhattal, took an ugly shape, as it brought the internal strife between the Congressmen to the fore. At the dharna, instead of criticising Akalis, the Congress leaders started bashing each other for working against the party interests. While talking to The Tribune, Gurnaib Brar, president district Congress committee (DCC), said that Ravinder Singh Sandhu, the ex-MLA, and his men created indiscipline at the venue. He said that although the function was organised by the DCC some persons, close to Sandhu, took control of the stage and started abusing him. Later, Brar along with Parminder Singh “ Pinki”, general secretary PPCC, left the venue and submitted a memorandum to ADC Jaskiran Singh against anti-people and repressive policies of the state government. However, other Congress leaders present at the venue continued the protest in front of the DC office. All the efforts of senior Congress leaders present at the venue to bring peace between two warring groups went in vain. Former ministers Gurchet Singh Bhullar and Hans Raj Jossan, Rana Gurmeet Singh Sodhi, MLA Guruharsahai, Mohinder Rinwa and Parkash Singh Bhatti, both Ex-MLAs, Rajinder Sharma, chairman Block Samiti besides many Congress workers participated in the dharna and criticised the state government for bringing the state on the verge of insolvency. Addressing the workers, the Congress leaders accused the chief minister of ignoring the interests of the people of the state to promote his son, Sukhbir Badal. The Congress leaders participating in the dharna submitted another memorandum to the ADC at his office. Later in a press release, Brar expelled Sandhu from the party for six years for disrupting the party show. He said that Sandhu was working at the behest of Akali government and that the entire incident was pre-planned by his men to hurt Congress interests. Parminder Singh termed the event as unfortunate.
	Urban-rural divide manifest at Cong dharna Rajay Deep Tribune News Service Bathinda, December 13 The dharna staged by the District Congress Committee, Bathinda (Urban and Rural) outside the Mini-Secretariat here, to highlight and expose the alleged misdeeds and misgovernance of the ruling party in Punjab on Thursday, remained a show basically of party workers from rural areas as city-based workers were found in very small numbers. All the five MLAs from the district, Harminder Singh Jassi, Gurpreet Singh Kangar, Ajaib Singh Bhatti, Jeet Mahinder Singh and Makhan Singh, marked their presence at the dharna, but the number of people gathered there generated lot of speculation. The present MLAs and some district level urban and rural party leaders condemned the present government for its policies. Various topics were discussed at length at the protest meet. But the main issue, which was supposed to be discussed was the Dera-Sikh controversy, did not elicit much views. The leaders at the dharna spoke in detail about the alleged bankruptcy of the state. The leaders stated that the ruling party had dragged the state into a financial mess, but was blaming the Congress party for it all . Some of the assembled leaders also charged the government with playing up communal sentiments. The SAD (B)-BJP combine was described as an alliance of two fundamentalist and communal groups in the garb of political parties. The present government was condemned for its alleged failure on the law and order front. The leaders alleged that the percentage of the criminal cases was going up as compared to last year. The Congress leaders alleged that many new taxes were in the pipeline and even the octroi was also going to be reintroduced. The condition of farmers and agriculturists was also pitiable. The atta-dal scheme was a fraud, they alleged. Some of the speakers at the dharna said that the government had adopted a callous attitude towards the rural aspect of development. The promise of abolishing the ‘inspector raaj’ was also a hoax, they charged. When the leaders present at the dharna were contacted, some of them spoke about the internal friction in the party, especially among the urban and rural groups. Paramjeet Singh Bhagta, president, District Youth Congress Committee, Avtar Singh, president Congress, Goniana block, Jasvir Singh Ablu, leader, District Congress Committee, Chotte Lal, secretary, Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee, were of the view that only workers in rural areas were present at the venue. From the urban areas, only the leaders had reached, but the workers but were missing, they alleged. On the other hand, Tehal Singh Sandhu, secretary, Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee, refuted the allegation and said that city-based workers had also marked their presence in large numbers. But due to personal work or business purposes, might have come and gone. Some people were of the view that official videography of the dharna had been done. So, businessmen of the city might not have wanted to come into the picture, and therefore, must have avoided sitting at the venue of the protest themselves.
	Building rented in 2001 Cops owe Rs 31 lakh as rent to Mandi Board Rajay Deep Tribune News Service Bathinda, December 13 Some time back, it was the office-cum-residence of the DIG, Faridkot range, which was in the news for the alleged possession of a building that did not belong to the police department. Now, it is the Kotwali police station that is in the dock for its alleged illegal possession of a building for the past six years. The Kotwali police station had been shifted to the District Mandi Board office six years back, but for this, not even a single penny of the settled rent has been paid to the department concerned. The building in question was given on rent to the Kotwali police station and to the SSP office on May 16, 2001. The SSP office was shifted to its present premises in the Mini-Secretariat on October 27, 2005. But still, the Kotwali police continues to enjoy the possession of the building partially for its economic offences wing (EOW). As per the official records, Rs 59,800 was settled as monthly rent for the building to be paid by the police department to the Mandi Board. If the amount is calculated, it is more than Rs 31 lakh. An official of the District Mandi Board’s accounts office said, “The pending rent is Rs 31.50 lakh and no official seems to be interested in releasing it. Even after writing so many letters to the higher officials, no step has been taken in this connection.” An accounts clerk in the office said that an amount of Rs 1.72 lakh was pending with the police department as electricity bill, which had been paid only after the intervention of the deputy commissioner. The police department is neither paying anything nor vacating the rooms even after our repeated requests, letters and memorandum, he added. The superintendent of the board, Baldev Singh, said some rooms in the building were vacated on October 27, 2005. “Within half an hour we occupied the vacated rooms, at midnight, as we were in need of the building but the police personnel were not leaving.” “Out of the 34 rooms, the police department has been occupying nine rooms at on the top floor, six on the ground floor and a huge meeting hall on the first floor. The office of the executive engineer (civil) is also in the building,” he disclosed. And this is not all. The police department has been using the open area in the premises as a dumping ground for vehicles impounded in court cases. The dowry articles and bags of drugs seized are also reported to be there. When contacted, District Mandi Officer Ramesh Jindal said, “We have been regularly corresponding with the higher authorities of our department. The police department has also been requested, but we have received no response in this connection.” It may be learnt that a few days back, the PWD (B&R) had issued a notice for the rent due and ‘illegal’ alteration of the rest house of the department which is now housing the office-cum-residence of the DIG, Faridkot range, to the police department.
	Badal’s rival ups the ante, accuses CM of nepotism Prabhjit Singh Tribune News Service Muktsar, December 13 Agreeing that nepotism has taken its roots in the ruling Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal’s political rival Maheshinder Badal today said that the CM had sidelined the senior Akali leadership to bring forth his own son Sukhbir Badal as the next prospective chief minister of Punjab. “Leaders like Sukhev Singh Dhindsa, Ranjit Singh Brahmpura and Captain Kanwaljit Singh and even the much deserving Manpreet Badal could easily step into the chief minister’s shoes if Badal so desires,” said Maheshinder Badal in an informal chat with The Tribune here. In response to a specific question, he said that finance minister Manpreet Badal would be a far better option than Sukhbir Badal to succeed as the next CM of Punjab, looking at the Akali party’s tendency for nepotism. Maheshinder Badal, who gave a scare to the CM as the Congress candidate in the last assembly polls in which the margin of votes between the two bigwigs of the Badal family was just 8,000, said he doubted whether it was the CM or his son who was now “running the show in the state.” Expressing his understanding that Sukhbir Badal was interfering in the state administration, he said that the bureaucracy as well as the police top brass were unhappy with the political atmosphere now prevailing in the state. Reacting to the fact that various other parties, even the Congress, were known for nepotism, Maheshinder Badal commented that the Punjab chief minister was leading in this regard. Making a comparison with the former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Farooq Abdullah’s son Omar Abdullah as the president of the National Conference, Maheshinder Badal said the junior Abdullah had worked at the grassroot level and was proving his position amongst party cadres and the masses there, “unlike Sukhbir Badal.” He even agreed to and expressed his grave concern over the “growing might of muscle power at the behest of Sukhbir Badal.” He said that even the three-time MLA and finance minister, Manpreet Singh Badal’s proposals for fiscal reforms, were sidelined by the chief minister. Maheshinder Badal said that the four-time chief minister had deviated from the Akali Dal’s ‘sewa bhav’ (service the people) ideology many years back and now he was all out to manipulate even the state’s administration and compromise with its fiscal health for his own vested interests. On the Congress front, he said that the party in opposition would soon intensify its agitation “especially when the government is surrounded by controversies all around.”
	Scintillating start to CIH function Bhanu P. Lohumi Tribune News Service Bathinda, December 13 The display of equestrian skills was at its best at the three-day sesquicentenary celebrations of Central India Horse (CIH), which got off to a scintillating start here today. Known as one of the finest regiments of the Indian Armoured Corps, the CIH has the distinction of fighting several overseas wars and all wars since independence. Besides Lt Gen R. S. Sujlana, General Officer Commanding, 10 Corps, who was the chief guest on the occasion, Brigadier R. V. Kanetkar, Commander, 14 Infantry Armoured Brigade and Colonel P. S. Minhas, Commandant, CIH, were also present at the function that was marked by action-packed equestrian display by boys and girls of Punjab Public School, Nabha, and an equally captivating show of rural sports. The presence of Anar Zorawar Singh, wife of late Maj Gen Zorawar Singh, the first Indian commandant of the CIH added grace to the function. The grand celebrations started from the Regimental Mandir with all serving and retired officers, junior commissioned officers, soldiers and guests of the regiment seeking the blessings of the Almighty. This was followed by the horse show, where the young equestrians presented a magnificent display of their riding skills. A major highlight was the presence of 38 British nationals at the show. The show concluded with a sparkling display of acrobatics by local artists and a pulsating bhangra in the end, which had even the foreign guests tapping their feet to its tunes. The chief guest, Lieutenant General R. S. Sujlana, who distributed prizes to all the performers, said the function had lived up to its reputation. He said that everybody was proud of the glory that the regiment has brought to the Army and conveyed his best wishes to Armymen, ex-Armymen and their families.