Hazur Sahib, October 30
A 300-year-old handwritten Bir of Guru Gobind Singh’s time was taken in a golden palanquin from Gurdwara Nagina Ghat, situated on the banks of the Godavari to Takht Hazur Sahib in a procession to commemorate the century-old tradition of Gurta Gaddi.

The present building of Gurdwara Nagina Ghat is situated on a high plinth and comprises a square hall in which Guru Granth Sahib is seated on a canopied “palaki” of white marble, and a smaller square room topped by a dome on the first floor.

The devotees described the delay in the shobha yatra and rituals of Gurta Gaddi due to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit as the “most unfortunate”. They said the Takht management had failed to ensure the timely completion of Gurta Gaddi due to the visit.

Led by Panj Pyaras and Guru Granth Sahib, the short distance of a few yards between Gurdwara Nagina Ghat and Takht Hazur Sahib was covered in five hours. All arrangements made by the management went haywire due the Prime Minister’s visit.

Anmol, the offspring of Guru Gobind Singh’s horse, gatka parties and band parties added colour to the festivities. However, devotees faced a lot of inconvenience since the entire historic town was converted into a police cantonment. The three Jathedars from Punjab, Giani Gurbachan Singh, Giani Tarlochan Singh and Baldev Singh Nandgarh, were prevented from using the entry route to the Takht, which the Prime Minister’s was to use. However, they continued their march and entered the shrine through the same entry.

Devotees had to wait for the entry into the main shrine. Though the Takht Management Committee failed to meet the deadline in completing the buildings, including the main entry of Takht Hazur Sahib, these were covered with shining clothes.

Chandigarh/ Ludhiana, October 30
The two-member team investigating the Beechcraft King Air C-90 crash near Ludhiana yesterday that led to the death of two pilots onboard is looking into all aspects of the accident, including the possibility of human error.

According to sources here, the team, led by deputy director, Air Safety, Manish Chopra, examined the crash site today and is expected to visit the site again tomorrow morning.

Punjab civil aviation director Gaggandeep Singh Brar saidthe team was reconstructing the entire sequence of events that led to the crash in order to pinpoint the cause of the tragedy. He said the team had taken necessary information from both Air Traffic Control (ATC) towers in Chandigarh and Ludhiana. The team, he said, had also taken records from the Meteorological Office as well as GPS coordinates. Brar said the state government’s newly appointed chief engineer, maintenance, K.D. Singh was also assisting the inquiry team.

Meanwhile, according to sources, the team is also looking into the aspect of possible pilot error, which could have led to the tragedy. This is because the aircraft had been awarded airworthiness very recently after a propeller overhaul as well as the fact that the pilots did not record any technical snag during their conversation with the ATC, Ludhiana. The team is trying to ascertain what happened in the final one and a half minutes before the crash.

Patiala Flying Club chief flying instructor Capt Gurpreet Singh Mangat, who reached the crash site after the incident, while talking to TNS said, “I did not see any reason for the crash to happen”. He said the cause of accident could be either technical snag or human error but said the missing link was why a technical snag, if any, had not been reported to the ATC. Captain Mangat said there could be a possibility of a bird hit also.

Meanwhile, civil aviation secretary Visvajit Khanna said the government would take a call on whether to replace the King Air C-90 or not at the next meeting of the Aviation Committee. He said a helicopter leased from Pawan Hans was available for the Chief Minister’s travel since some years and the arrangement was expected to continue.

Khanna also clarified that there was no ban on the use of King Air C-90, which was imported in 1982, and that the Union government had only put a ban on import of aircraft, which were more than 20 years old.

Chopra said the age of the aircraft could not be held responsible for crash landing. The report would be submitted within three months.

As regards the recovery of the data recorder, the team members said it did not exist in this plane as data recorders had been made mandatory only after 1990s and this particular plane was engineered in 1981.

Chandigarh, October 30
Some days ago when a team of officers from Uttarakhand visited the Punjab State Backward Classes Commission here as part of a programme to study the working of such commissions in the country, it went back with a vital lesson - how not to run a Backward Classes commission.

One of the many commissions in the state languishing due to lack of government attention, the Backward Classes commission, however, is at the bottom of the heap. It is running from a kothi in Sector 33, Chandigarh. A statutory body of the Punjab government constituted following orders of the Supreme Court, the commission has no chairperson, no member, not even a member secretary to look after its functioning. The last member secretary, Dr Arvinder Singh, held the post for about a month before being shifted early this year.

The office is manned by the personal assistant of the chairperson. The personal secretary is an administrative officer and has a peon. There is also a lone assistant statistical officer, who handles some of the commission’s work. The rest of the staff is missing from the commission and has been put “on duty” at the Directorate of Welfare of SCs and BCs.

The commission gets over four or five complaints or requests in a day, which are simply forwarded to the director for consideration. The commission is also asked by the National Commission for Backward Classes to gather data regarding the social economic status of various groups. These communications are forwarded to deputy commissioners.

“But, there are many deputy commissioners who do not respond to the communications. The information, which has to be sent to the Centre, gets delayed,” said an official.

Requests from various groups and communities wanting to be added to the Backward Classes list are also sent to the government. “There are 16 such cases under consideration, but the final decision regarding these is bound to take time as there is no chairperson,” said an officer.

The commission’s almost defunct state comes more in focus following the announcement made by Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal last month that the state would have a Backward Classes Welfare Board. The board, he said, would be constituted under his chairmanship and would have Cabinet minister Hira Singh Gabria, who is also the president of the Backward Classes wing of the SAD, as vice-chairman.

The Chief Minister had stated that the board would ensure that the backlog of the posts reserved for Backward Classes were filled in a time-bound manner. “Before the constitution of a board, the government should put in some effort to revive the commission,” said an officer.

The commission was constituted following a landmark judgment of the Supreme Court in the Indira Sawhney and others Vs Union of India and others) case in 1992. The apex court had directed the Central and state governments and administration of UTs to constitute a permanent body in the nature of commission or tribunal for entertaining, examining and making recommendations upon requests for inclusion and complaints of over-inclusion and under-inclusion in the list of OBCs.

When contacted the Punjab chief secretary Ramesh Inder Singh said the government was aware of the situation. “The requisite appointments would be made in the coming weeks,” he said. 

Sikhanwala (Faridkot), October 30
Devotees thronged the temple of Baba Kala Mehar, a local deity near this village in the forest area, and in a unique tradition offered drinks to propitiate the deity.

The area surrounding the temple has a reserved forest area of more than 2,000 acres, which is said to have been reserved for constructing a temple of this deity by the erstwhile King of Faridkot. The landlords of this area also used this area for hunting, until recently, the union and the state government banned hunting in the reserved forest areas.

Devotees come here every month on the day of ‘masya’ to offer liquor. Liquor flows like water on this day every month, R.S. Sandhu, who visits the deity temple every month, said.

The atmosphere here is like a traditional ‘mela’ and as per an estimate, more than 50,000 people visit the temple, on this day. The devotees believe that offering a bottle of liquor can work wonders. After offering the liquor to the deity many people are seen sitting on the temple premises and drinking it with ‘dal’ prepared in the langar. Baba Kala Mehar is said to have once led the ‘Sandhu’ clan and then the Sandhus started worshiping him.

Bathinda, October 30
Delay in the installation of pollution-control devices at two of the four units of the local 440-MW thermal power station has made life of residents miserable.

The fly ash generated by the National Fertilisers Ltd (NFL) is yet another problem as it is being dumped in public places and around villages on the Bathinda-Abohar road.

The daily coal consumption of the thermal station is about 1,500 to 1,600 MT per unit depending upon the quality of coal. The total daily coal requirement is about 6,500 MT (about two rakes of 58 wagons each) when all four units are operational. The NFL consumes about 1,700 MT of coal that generates 700 metric tonnes of fly ash. The coal is supplied from Jharkhand and Madhya Pradesh.

The fly ash dumped by the NFL in and around the city is a health hazard. The cases with respiratory diseases have increased, particularly among children.

The Pollution Control Board has failed to take effective steps to check the menace.

The Ambuja cement plant and brick-kilns around here use this fly ash as raw material for their products. The residual fly ash is dumped by these units in the open places.

The problem is bound to aggravate as the thermal station at Lehra Mohabbat was functioning at its full capacity and two more such projects are to be set up at Talwandi Sabo and Gidderbaha.

The thermal station here had consumed 21,530 MT of coal last year, whereas the consumption of coal in the Lehra Mohabbat project was over 2.64 lakh MT when only two of its units were functional.

Officials of the plants said the poor quality coal being supplied to them was adding to their woes. 

Chandigarh, October 30
As the paddy arrivals slowly inch towards the targeted figures, farmers in Punjab and Haryana have started sowing wheat this week. Unlike the past practice to leave the farms vacant for a few days, the farmers in many parts of the region don’t want to have their produce ready for taking to the mandis at the same time, causing a glut as in the case of paddy.

Reports from various parties of Punjab and Haryana confirm that sowing of wheat has started at many places during the current week owing to good weather, conducive temperature, right moisture and with an attempt to beat the rush at the time of harvest. As in the case of paddy, there is no ban on early sowing of wheat. Normally, wheat is sown during the region during the first half of November.

Early sowing has also been facilitated due to good rainfall that has raised the moisture level in the soil. Punjab and Haryana farmers are mainly sowing DBW17 variety, while other varieties like PBW550, HD 2687 and some improved variants are also in demand

As the paddy procurement touched the 105,72,691-tonnes mark yesterday, the procurement agencies have run short of gunny bags. The Punjab government has ordered for 60,000 jute bags and another 80,000 plastic bags to meet the demand.

Punjab food and civil supplies minister Adesh Partap Singh Kairon reportedly told union food secretary Alka Sirohi during her recent visit to Punjab last week that currently over 95.22 lakh metric tonnes wheat and 4.91-lakh metric tonnes rice was stored in Punjab. He told her that unless about 14 lakh metric tonnes wheat was moved out of Punjab every month, it would not be possible to safely store the procured paddy.

Both states have almost completely done away with the plantation of sugarcane and this area will also go to wheat.

Moga, October 30
In the absence of purchase by the government agencies, most of the farmers of this district were taking away PUSA-1121 variety of paddy to the nearby districts of Tarantaran and Amritsar after having failed to get good rates for their produce here and other grain markets in the district.

Nirmal Singh, a farmer of Daulewala village near Fatehgarh Panchtoor, brought his produce here this morning, but in the open auction he was offered only Rs 1,055 per quintal by traders. Disheartened over the poor response from the local traders he said he would take away his produce to Tarantaran district, where the average price being offered to the producers was between Rs 2,700 and Rs 3,200 per quintal. Kuldip Singh of Manawan village of Ferozepur district, who brought his produce here in the Asia’s biggest grain market, was hopeful of getting a good price but he too had to take back his produce so that he could sell it outside the district.

After talking to a cross section of farmers, it was quite evident that the local traders here were offering good prices only to few farmers, who had brought good crop in huge quantities. The traders for the reasons best known to them were just overlooking other farmers.

However, Ranvinder Singh Lali, president of the local arhtiya association, said the price was based on length, quality and humidity content of the crop. He said the farmers, who were not getting good prices had brought their produce, which had high humidity content. He said the traders were giving chances to the farmers to use fans for drying the crop so that they could fetch good price.

In the official record of purchase of PUSA-1121 in the grain market here, it was found that good prices were being offered to just few farmers. A large section of the farmers were getting an average of less than Rs 2,400 per quintal. Few farmers revealed that some traders had come from Amritsar and Tarantaran districts, who, by manipulating with the local arhtiyas were offering lesser rates to the farmers.

When contacted, DM Satwant Singh Johal said he had already asked the authorities concerned to keep a check on the purchase of PUSA-1121 and ensure that the traders were not exploiting the farmers. “We will not allow anybody to exploit the farmers”, he warned the traders.

Mohali, October 30
The Department of Health and Family Welfare has appointed 97 allopathic doctors under the National Rural Health Mission to provide medical and specialist services to the people of the state even as Rs 5 crore have been earmarked for the special school health programme under the mission.

Prof Laxmi Kanta Chawla, health and family welfare minister, handed over appointment letters to these doctors at a ceremony here today. They include 12 paediatricians, 11 obstetricians and 13 medical officers (women) for the Emergency Medical Obstetric Care Centres.

Chawla exhorted them to work selflessly and honestly for the welfare of the people. She said doctors had a commitment towards society and they should take their work as a service to humanity. She said during the past 12 years no appointments were made which led to a shortage of doctors.

Satish Chandra, mission director, briefed the doctors about the various key objectives and goals of the mission. He added that to meet the shortage of medical and paramedical staff, recruitments were being made.

The health minister said Rs 5 crore would be utilised for providing treatment to the students suffering from congenial heart diseases. The treatment will be given with the help of the PGI, Chandigarh.

Chawla disclosed that the emergency medical response services would be launched in the state by December. These vehicles could be called at any location through single telephone number of 3 digits.

Chandigarh, October 30
The University of Wolverhampton, UK, will tie up with the Punjab government for setting up of the Punjab IIT. Jasbir Singh, principal lecturer, Overseas Development, Wolverhampton University, who was here to hold talks with government officers told The Tribune that the university would be collaborating with IIT Delhi, which is the IIT Punjab mentor.

“We are providing administrative and decisive support to Punjab government on infrastructure, curriculum development, knowledge transfer to develop IIT in Punjab,” he said. The Punjab IIT would be set up in Ropar and for the first year, Punjab IIT students would study in IIT Delhi before shifting to Ropar.

Jasbir Singh added that the university had also undertaken a project in the state to train school and college teachers to teach English. “We have already trained 42 teachers from across the state in May. It was a ten-day camp in which we went to local schools and tried to explain the importance of perfect English teaching. The main skill that we are trying to develop in teachers is communication methodology,” he said.

The project would be continued through the year. “We will be looking at the classrooms, infrastructure, teaching skills, teaching systems, lesson plans, assessments etc. We want to improve the balance between the theory and the practical aspects of learning English. Our effort is to make students start communicating which would enhance their skills drastically and also improve confidence level of the students,” he said.

The next phase of the project will be launched in December. The teachers who will be trained under this project will be taken as master trainers who will further cascade the projects. “We started the project with 10th class students and now are planning to shift our focus to primary as well as secondary level education,”  said Jasbir.

He met principal secretary Tejinder Kaur and chief secretary Ramesh Inder Singh and discussed the possibility of improving the quality of education being imparted under the Punjab Technical University (PTU)  curriculum.

“We want PTU should embrace some of the most modern teaching techniques that are currently being used in the UK for the benefit of the students,” he said.

The Punjab government had signed an MoU with the University in May this year. 

Chandigarh, October 30
Less than a month after Fortis Healthcare Limited accused Punjab of denying it a "level playing field" for developing Punjab Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) at Jalandhar, the organisation today reiterated its stand that the decision making process was vitiated “due to bias and mala fides”.

In a short replication to the written statement earlier filed by a respondent, Fortis said: “At the moment, only decision on prequalification has been announced, and this decision making process is entirely vitiated on account of bias and mala fides on part of Professor J.S Bajaj”.

Dr Bajaj is the “standing committee chairman” of Punjab Institute of Medical Sciences. Fortis has all along been alleging that Dr Bajaj "has ensured that his favoured prospective bidder gets pre-qualified". The organisation has, rather, been alleging that the consortium headed by "Aishi Ram Batra Public Charitable Trust" is among three pre-qualified prospective bidders. It is also the founder of "Batra Hospital" with whom Dr Bajaj has a deep and strong professional relationship.

Fortis, in the replication placed before the Division Bench headed by Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel, asserted a respondent had gone to the extent of putting on record its “strong belief” in the bona fides of Professor Bajaj, although there was no denial of strong professional relationship between him and Batra Hospital.

In an attempt to substantiate its contentions, counsel for petitioner institute added that “deep and long professional relationship” between them was clear from a perusal of document downloaded by the petitioner on September 20 from Batra Hospital site. Professor Bajaj is on the doctor’s panel in it.

He has been specifically shown as chief consultant and director. In the latest telephone directory issued by the Batra Hospital, his name is also mentioned.

The counsel added the petitioner “has also reliably learnt that Professor Bajaj was consulted by patients at Batra Hospital and Medical Research Center, New Delhi, at least till January-February 2008. It seems that now serious attempts are afoot and underway to cover-up the relationship between Professor Bajaj and Batra Hospital and Medical Research Center, New Delhi”.

The company, it may be recalled, has sought directions from the high court to restrain the State of Punjab and other respondents from finalising the bids "for public private partnership for developing PIMS on the basis of an advertisement”. In alternative, directions have been sought to Punjab Infrastructure Development Board to provisionally issue the “request for proposal document” to the petitioner before allowing it participate in the bidding process. The case will now come up for hearing on November 5.

Amritsar, October 30
An “azadi bachao muhim” march, being organised by the Democratic Youth Federation of India, started from Jallianwala Bagh here today. It will culminate in New Delhi on November 3 after passing through various cities of Punjab and Haryana.

Addressing the gathering, Tapan Sinha, general secretary of the federation said the march was being organised to educate the masses about protection of their freedom, rising inflation, unemployment, communalism and terrorism. He said the federation would hold a rally on July 21 next year during the Parliament session besides sending delegations to various places in the country.

Sinha said these organisations earlier blamed the Muslims for indulging in terrorism. He said developments like the involvement Sadhvi Pragya in the Malegaon bomb blast were dangerous for the integrity of the country. 

Sangrur, October 30
On the order of a court, officials of the National Highways Authority of India today demolished parts of three structures situated on the NH-71, near Mehlan village and Sular Gharat village.

Parts of a factory manufacturing cement tiles and a dhaba near Mehlan village were demolished while the drive also covered a banquet hall near Sular Gharat village. These structures were constructed with the 100-ft area of the PWD boundary.

An official said the structures had been been constructed in violation the Sections 143 and 144 of the PUDA Act. The government had notified this road as a scheduled road in 2004.

Sunam naib-tehsildar-cum-duty magistrate Bahadur Singh was also present during the drive.

Chandigarh, October 30
Is inquiry by a judicial magistrate essential in a custodial death case? The vital question of law will be answered by a Division Bench of the Punjab and Haryana High Court after hearing the State of Punjab on the issue on November 3.

The question cropped up during the hearing of a petition filed by Amritsar resident Swaranjeet Singh. He was seeking probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the “custodial death” of his 25-year-old son Harinder Singh.

Appearing before the Division Bench of Justice Hemant Gupta and Justice Daya Chaudhary, his counsel Navdeep Chhabra asserted inquiry by a judicial magistrate was required to be conducted in the matter.

Chhabra quoted the provisions of law to support his contention. He said Section 176 (1) (A) of the Code of Criminal Procedure made inquiry by a judicial magistrate mandatory. Countering the claims of Punjab that a probe by a subdivisional magistrate had already been conducted in the matter, Chhabra said the officer in question was an executive magistrate, and not a judicial magistrate. He added the victim had died in Amritsar central jail, following torture and beating.

After hearing the rival contentions at length, the Bench observed the case was being adjourned as the state counsel wanted to seek instructions in this regard.

Harinder Singh had died in “custody” in September 2006. His father Swaranjeet Singh believes the police has not carried out proper investigations in the matter and has sought CBI probe, besides directions to Punjab and other respondents for handing over adequate monetary compensation.

Going into the background, the petitioner alleged his son, lodged in Amritsar Central Jail for an offence under Punjab Excise Act, was in “good health and sound physique” when he was produced before a magistrate on  October 26, 2006.

But the next day at about 5.22 pm, Harinder Singh was brought to Amritsar Civil Hospital, where he was declared dead at 6.30 pm.