Jalandhar, October 31
Twentyfour years after they faced the turmoil and atrocities in the 1984 riots, the victims of those haunted days are yet to come to terms with their lives. It was a nightmarish experience for scores of riot-affected Sikh migrants, the memory of which is still fresh in their minds.

While some lost their husbands, young sons and daughters, others left their home and property worth lakhs in search of a safe abode. Nights came and went by but fear made it sure that they stayed right awake. And looking for a life afresh people migrated to different places and settled there.

Among the victims was Manjeet Singh from Delhi who lost his father in the riots. He was forced to leave his truck business in Delhi and look for a safe shelter within a fortnight. “My father Kuldeep Singh faced the wrath of the 1984 riots. He was thrown in a burning truck with tyres around his neck and we could do nothing. The mere mention of that day still haunts me. Those were the days of utter chaos and confusion and innocent people paid a heavy price for that,” he said.

After the riots, Manjeet shifted to Jalandhar with his wife and two sons. And here began the days of struggle and toil. “At present I am working as an auto-rickshaw driver but with hand-to-mouth existence life is virtually difficult. Above all the successive governments have done nothing apart from making fake promises with us,” he maintained.

He said though the government announced to provide free education to the children of riot-affected Sikh migrants, but nothing happened at the grassroots level. “The government also passed instructions to provide scholarship to the children of the riot-affected families, but everything remained in papers only,” said Manjeet.

According to advocate Manmohan Saluja, who has been working for the rights of uprooted Sikh migrant families, the SAD-BJP government had promised in its election manifesto that the riot-affected families would be given all basic facilities.

The Punjab government had formulated a sub-committee of ministers for the rehabilitation of the Sikh migrants. Apart from this, a special meeting was also held by local bodies minister Manoranjan Kalia, but to no avail. Saluja said, “Though the victims were issued red cards but the procedure in this regard was quite ambiguous and there are many people who are still running from pillar to post to get things done.”

It is pertinent to mention here that PUDA had decided to allot low income group (LIG) quarters in Phagwara to the riot-affected families but they were illegally occupied by the CRPF. “PUDA took Rs 1 crore as rent of the quarters allotted to the Sikh migrants and widows in Phagwara. Above all the authorities concerned had called applications from the victims for the allotment of the quarters nearly six years ago but nothing has happened so far,”said Saluja.

Jalandhar, October 31
Auction of one of the 10 commercial booths in Chhoti Baradari, Phase-II, today fetched the Punjab Urban Development Authority a sum of Rs 1,75,000 per sq yard, the highest ever in the area so far. The booth measuring 33.33 sq yard has been purchased by an NRI.

The reserve price for the plot was kept at Rs 89,100 per sq yard. The last auction in the area had fetched the civic body Rs 89,000. Even the shopping arcade site purchased by Reliance in the area almost a year back had gone for Rs 75,000 per sq yard. The 10 per cent collection of the final bidding amount of the 10 plots taken by PUDA from the bidders today was Rs 52,84,473, which also in a way is an average sale price of each of the 33.33 sq yards booths sold today.

Surprisingly, there was not even a single bidder for the seven residential plots in the area, the reserve price for which was fixed at Rs 31,600 per sq yard. The residential plots for which the auction was scheduled today included three 200 sq yard plots and three 250 sq yard plots in Chhoti Baradari, Phase-I, and one 520 sq yard p2 lot in Chhoti Baradari, Phase-II.

Most bidders felt that the reserve price for the residential plots was far too high. But PUDA officials believe the contrary. “This is not the case. We had actually conducted a market survey and then decided the price,” said estate officer, PUDA, Harbir Singh. 

Chandigarh, October 31
Ferozepur senior superintendent of police (SSP) will now look into allegations of official record tampering levelled against Punjab irrigation minister Janmeja Singh Sekhon and others in a land matter.

Taking up a petition filed by Ferozepur district resident Chanan Singh, Justice Sham Sunder of the Punjab and Haryana High Court today asked the SSP to dispose of a representation filed in the matter by the petitioner.

Justice Sunder observed the petitioner had sought directions to the SSP for initiating legal action against Sekhon and others for tampering with the official record in connivance with each other.

Justice Sunder added the petitioner had asserted a representation dated October 13 was pending before the SSP and directions be issued to him to dispose it of by passing a speaking order.

“In view of the matter, Ferozepur SSP is directed to dispose of the representation by passing a well reasoned speaking order in accordance with the provisions of law within a period of two months from the date of receipt of the order’s certified copy”.

Describing himself as a Congress supporter, Chanan Singh had claimed he had earned the minister’s wrath as he had opposed him during the elections. In order to take revenge from him, the minister hired the services of two supporters.

An attempt was made to take forcible possession of 144 kanals belonging to the petitioner. A suit was also filed. When they failed on the front of civil litigation, an application was filed for correction of “khasra girdwari” of the land in the petitioner’s possession. For the purpose, the minister used his influence, the counsel for the petitioner alleged.

Initially, the application was turned down and “rejected” was written on it, but under the minister’s pressure, the same was later accepted, the counsel said, adding that the petitioner subsequently forwarded the representation for legal action against Sekhon and others.

Chandigarh, October 31
Punjab finance minister Manpreet Singh Badal gave a call to all non-government organisations (NGOs) and voluntary organisations (VOs) to come forward in getting programmes and policies of the state government effectively implemented at the grassroot level.

Badal was speaking at the inauguration of a conference on ‘Prospects of participatory management in governance through voluntary organisation in Punjab’ organised by the Mahatma Gandhi State Institute of Public Administration, Punjab, here yesterday.

Appreciating the role of NGOs and VOs, the finace minister addressed their volunteers as the unsung heroes who were constantly at work behind the screen.

He said public participation was the need of the hour and thus the state government had an open mind towards the NGOs and VOs and certainly wanted their active participation in various projects.

Badal further said NGOs were emerging as a strong force as there was greater realisation to introduce community participation in various new areas of governance such as community policing, alternate dispute management and transparent performance report cards. 

Chandigarh, October 31
Panjab University (PU) teachers, seeking the enhancement of retirement age from 60 to 62, did not get any relief from the Punjab and Haryana High Court.

After hearing arguments for over seven hours on two consecutive days, a Division Bench, comprising Justice Ashutosh Mohunta and Justice Rajan Gupta, today dismissed a bunch of petitions filed by them.

As of now, the Bench has pronounced just one-line dismissal order in the open court. Detailed judgment in the matter is expected to follow soon. The Bench had time till today to adjudicate the case, as October 31 was the deadline set by the Apex Court.

Legal luminaries insist the order has come to force with immediate effect, as time for moving the Apex Court against the Division Bench judgment was not sought by the petitioners.

The order is expected to affect the service conditions and promotion avenues of the entire faculty, besides directly affecting over 130 teachers belonging to different departments. A substantial number of teachers are, as of now, serving post-60, following interim orders allowing them to continue till the decision on the writ petitions.

Benefiting from the interim orders, some of the teachers, who had attained the age of superannuation at 60, had continued till 62. It is believed that the interim orders automatically stand vacated with the dismissal of the petitions.

The issue of enhancement of retirement age has been pending before the high court since 2000 and was taken up by the Bench in August end. The significance of the judgment can be gauged from the fact that almost 70 petitions were filed by the varsity staff for benefiting from the move to enhance the retirement age.

The Government of India, following the revision of the pay scales of the Central government employees, on the recommendations of the fifth pay commission and after taking into consideration the UGC recommendations, had decided to raise the pay scales of the teachers in the central universities.

In fact, the scheme of revision of pay scales was made applicable to the teachers in all central universities and colleges. The scheme had also provided that the age of superannuation of university and college teachers would be 62.

One of the questions before the Bench was whether PU was a centrally funded university. But the Union ministry of human resource development (Department of higher education) had made it clear that PU was neither central varsity nor a centrally funded institution. It could only be treated as an inter-state varsity.

In one of the petitions filed by Dr A.C. Julka of the Economics department, directions had been sought to quash letter dated July 23, 2002, vide which the Union of India had refused to approve the regulations framed by the PU for enhancing the age of retirement of varsity teachers from 60 to 62 years.

Jalandhar, October 31
Kavi darbar, quiz and painting contests marked the second day of the three-day mela Gadari Babeyan Da at the Desh Bhagat Yadgar Hall here.

The quiz contest had several rounds which involved judging the contestants regarding their knowledge on the history of the revolutionary movements during the pre-independence era. The first, second and third prize winners of the contests were Bharat Mata Society Jalandhar, Government Arts and Sports College Jalandhar and Hindu Kanya College Kapurthala, respectively.

The senior group participants of the painting contests were asked to pictorially depict the answer to the question, “Whether this is the India as in the dreams of freedom fighters?” The top three winners of the contest were Apurva Lal of Apeejay College of Fine Arts Jalandhar, Midul Mandal of Malwa College Bathinda and Chandra Kant of Apeejay College of Fine Arts.

The junior group contestants were asked to prepare portraits of leaders of the Babbar Akali Movement and Gadar Movement put up before them. The winners in this category were Jasmeen Kaur of Sant Baba Bhag Singh International School, Lavdeep Singh of Malsian and Vinod Ahir of Lyallpur Khalsa Senior Secondary School Jalandhar.

The sub-junior category participants were asked to paint anything of their choice. The winners were Tamanna of Lala Jagat Narain DAV Public School, Anmoljit Kaur of Sant Baba Bhag Singh International School and Mahesh of Lala Jagat Narain DAV Public School. The first three prize winners received cash prizes of Rs 1,500, 1,200 and 900, besides certificates, mementoes and books.

The kavi darbar saw participation of Punjabi poets including Anoop Virk, Gurbhajan Gill, Surjit Judge, Sushil Dosanjh, Harvinder Bhandal, Tirlochan Lochi and others. Plays and choreographies continued till late in the evening. One of the plays presented today included ‘Anniyan Gallian’ by Kulwinder Khehra.

The ceremony to hoist the flag will be held tomorrow morning. Plays and songs will be presented throughout the night. 

Chandigarh, October 31
The Punjab State Human Rights Commission (PSHRC) today asked the director, Health Services and Family Welfare, Punjab and Chandigarh, to submit a report regarding a news item that appeared in a Hindi daily.

It is mentioned in the news item that although the government proclaimed that every medical facility was being provided to the patients, yet the doctors posted in dispensaries being run in the villages under the control of zila parishads were often found absent. That was why this facility seemed to have remained unsuccessful.

The commission took suo motu cognizance of the matter and called for the report from the director, Health Services and Family Welfare, Punjab, Chandigarh, by December 16.

Meanwhile, the PSHRC has also asked the deputy commissioner (DC), Bathinda, and DPI Schools, Punjab, to submit a report after cognizance of a news article wherein it was stated that classrooms had been converted in to toilets in a school in Bathinda.

The news report stated that the ground of the Govt. Girls School, Bathinda, was reserved for the cracker sellers on the eve of Diwali and necessary permission was granted by the local administration. Before leaving, they caused damage to the furniture of the school.

Not only that, the classrooms were turned into toilets, which were stinking. When after the Diwali holidays, the girl students entered the classrooms, they returned to their homes, as it was not possible for them to sit and study there.

Due to this very reason, the prayer in the school could not be held.

The case is adjourned to December 17.