Bathinda, February 10
Braving heavy rains and demanding further reduction in the price of diesel, hundreds of farmers belonging to five farmers’ unions — the Bharti Kisan Union (Ekta-Ugarahan), Kisan Sangharsh Committee, Punjab Kisan Sabha (Sambhar), Kisan Sabha Punjab (Taggar) and Kirti Kisan Sabha of Punjab — blocked the rail traffic for three hours on the Bathinda-Malout rail section and the vehicular traffic at many other places, including Bathinda-Chandigarh road here today.

Lashing out at the UPA government, farmers’ leaders Shingara Singh Mann and Jhanda Singh Jethuke said, “The agriculture sector and transport industry are two major job providers in the country that give direct and indirect employment to millions. Yet both the industries have received step-motherly treatment from the government.”

“The Union government by pursuing pro-rich and pro-capitalist policies have been allowing oil companies to make huge profits despite the fact that international prices of petroleum products have come down to US $ 40 a barrel from US $ 147 a barrel,” Shingara Singh pointed out.

He added: “On an average, farmers in Punjab witness 8-10 hours of power cuts daily. So, they have no choice but to rely on diesel generators, which increases the overhead expenses and results in increased debts.”

The farmer leaders demanded that the government should issue a white paper on petroleum products’ pricing. They also demanded 50 per cent subsidy on diesel and further reduction in the prices of fertilisers and pesticides.

They said while the price of aviation turbine fuel had been reduced eight times in the past few months from Rs 72 per litre to Rs 29, there was no such decline in petrol and diesel prices for farmers.

“We don’t want huge subsidies but there should be some logical parameters for all. It is very disappointing that big corporate firms and airline companies are enjoying special benefits from the government,” they added.

Rural medical officers (RMOs), veterinary pharmacists, ETT and EGS teachers who had been staging protests for their demands for quite some time also supported the farmers’ cause.

Mansa: Following the state-level call by five farmer organisations, thousands of farmers today blocked railway and road traffic for three hours to press for their demands.

Railway traffic was blocked at the main railway crossing in Mansa and road traffic was blocked at the Mansa-Sirsa road near the Bhakra canal bridge.

The farmers who took part in the protest mainly belonged to the Bhartiya Kissan Union (Ugrahan).

Farmers raised demands like reductions in diesel and petrol prices and demanded 50 per cent subsidy on diesel for agricultural purposes.

Addressing the farmers, district president of BKU (Ugrahan) Ram Singh Bhaini Bagha said the farmers have been facing economic crises due to the increased productions costs on agriculture. He demanded the reduction in prices of pesticides, fertilisers and seeds.

Many farmers had committed suicide during the last decade in Mansa but the government did not pay any attention towards the problems of farmers, they rued.

Among others who addressed the farmers included Darbara Singh Kishangarh, Ram Phal Singh, Joginder Singh Dyalpura, Inderjit Singh Jhabar, Jora Singh Jatana and Nirmal Singh.

New Delhi, February 10
The Punjab Congress, putting up show of unity, today alleged the Shiromani Akali Dal-BJP in Punjab had unleashed terror.. Congress workers were being killing and framed to create fear psychosis ahead of Lok Sabha polls.

Former Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, accompanied by Rajinder Kaur Bhattal, Manish Tewari, Ambika Soni, Jagmeet Brar, Mohinder Singh Kaypee and Jassi Khangura among others demanded Punjab declared disturbed for the purpose of conducting elections or else the SAD-BJP will murder democracy.

Booth capturing and violence witnessed in panchayat and municipal election would be repeated in case the central forces were not deployed, he said.

The Congress delegation will also meetUnion Home Minister P Chidambaram and apprise him about the law and order in Punjab.

Law and order has collapsed in the state, the IG, DIG or SSP- level officers rendered ineffective as the MLAs and Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal operate through SHO-level functionaries. Amarinder Singh targeted Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal saying, he was misusing powers in the Home Department. Badal aimed creating more rural police districts to handpick non-IPS officers and post them SSPs in these districts.

Amarinder and the Congress team presented copies of a letter the Punjab Police wrote in July last year asking all intelligence officers in the field to provide information on “number of bad elements, smugglers and their vote bank”. Is the government making dossier on bad elements or was it collecting information of votes these bad elements controlled, asked Amarinder Singh as he produced a letter in Punjabi by senior functionary.

He showed photographs of people injured or killed in Punjab. He showed documents he claimed were “tales of atrocities” against Congress workers in Punjab total of 1,100 FIRs, involving 5,000 workers lodged in the state. Another 100 people killed. A reign of terror has been let loose. He said this was "irrefutable proof" of the SAD-BJP alliance “vendetta" against the Congress.

On the SAD raising the Anandpur Sahib resolution, Amarinder said “it was one of the most non - sensical things to talk about the resolution”. The state wants peace, solution to river waters and the Punjab Assembly has scrapped the river water sharing agreements with Haryana. “talking about it will inflame passions.” The resolution adopted in 1977 had led to mayhem in the state as terrorism emerged.

Mohinder Singh Kaypee, Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee chief said state finds were being squandered on advertisements . 

Bathinda, February 10
Efforts of the Congress to bring about unity within the district unit of the party suffered a setback today when four of the five party MLAs of the district abstained from the maiden meeting convened by Congress stalwart Varinder Kataria, central party observer of the Bathinda Lok Sabha seat, to stem factionalism ahead of the parliamentary polls.

Except MLA Harminder Singh Jassi, all other MLAs were absent.

Kataria said MLA Jeet Mohinder Singh was in Delhi whereas MLA Ajaib Singh Bhatti’s wife was unwell and legislator Makhan Singh was also out of town. Makhan told The Tribune that he couldn’t attend the meeting as he was out of the town and MLAs Gurpreet Kangar and Bhatti were also out of station.

The absent MLAs have been supporting the candidature of Raninder Singh, son of former Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, for the Bathinda seat.

Meanwhile, Kataria denied any factionalism in the party, quoting names of the three main stalwarts of state Congress, Amarinder Singh, Rajinder Kaur Bhattal and Mohinder Singh Kaypee, he said they were sharing dais at public meetings.

When asked about the names of contenders for the Bathinda seat, he said: “No name has been recommended to me so far. I have started the move and within a few days everything would be scanned and revealed to people.”

“It is the need of the hour to bring youngsters at the front of political platform, but it will not cause any harm to old workers. Moreover, if aged leaders will have to sacrifice, they would not deny it.”

Lashing out at SAD MLA Bikram Singh Majithia, brother-in-law of the Deputy Chief Minister, for his recent statement regarding the relations of Amarinder and Bhattal, Kataria said: “He has been speaking rubbish. We will reply to his statement in the polls”.

Chandigarh, February 10
Punjab and Haryana High Court has directed Punjab government to reserve seats for six petitioners-district revenue officers/tehsildars-before sending the file to the Punjab Public Service Commission for appointment to the PCS (executive branch).

Most of the 16 petitioners had alleged while making recommendations,the state government had ignored deserving and meritorious candidates and preferred those working with ministers or senior bureaucrats of the state. The process has been mired in controversies with allegations of corruption and nepotism in the recommendation of names of district revenue officers/tehsildars and naib- tehsildars for appointment to the PCS.

The file has been sent to the Punjab Public Service Commission.

As a sequel to these petitions, the high court has directed the government to reserve seats for six of the petitioner officials leaving only six seats for nominations.

Among those ignored were tehsildars’ association president Ram Singh and Phillaur tehsildar Varinder Singh Bajwa. The explanation given was they both were in the process of being chargesheeted.There is no provision in Punjab Civil Services Rules that bars the government from considering an officer for promotion yet to be chargesheeted. Bajwa and Ram Singh moved the HC and succeeded in getting seats reserved for them.

Name of another senior tehsildar Paramjit Singh was omitted by the commissioner, Faridkot, and substituted it with another name. Under rules, there are no powers with the commissioner to delete or add a name. Paramjit Singh, too, got relief from the HC, which directed the government to reserve one PCS post for him.

Suggestions from the Personnel and Finance Departments regarding lowering of the experience bar, too, were ignored. Sources reveal the eligible age limit was also raised to 54 to enable a PA posted in the CM’s office to become eligible for nomination.

The PPSC, too, held the opinion tehsildars and naib-tehsildars could not be equated in terms of age and experience.

The naib- tehsildars who have been shortlisted by the government for promotion to PCS, are not eligible as their services are not regular. A civil writ - Preet Kiran Dhillon vs Punjab - is pending in the HC on the subject. The government, in its attempt to circumvent this clause, got issued a letter from the Personnel Department that for PCS nominations confirmation in service was not necessary. Though these nominations are to be made on annual basis, the state has clubbed vacancies of five- six years.

The government has also claimed no case was pending against any of the officers recommended by it while in reality a number of probable PCS candidates face Vigilance or other criminal cases or have inquiries pending against them. There are two FIRs in Gidderbaha against a naib- tehsildar currently OSD with a senior minister. Another recommended naib- tehsildar is facing Vigilance case in Amritsar. An FIR has been lodged against yet another naib- tehsildar in Ludhiana for which he has secured bail. In yet another case, the HC has ordered the naib-tehsildar,who figures in the recommended list, cannot be appointed to a public dealing post. 

Chandigarh, February 10
Punjab Cooperation Minister Capt Kanwaljit Singh today demanded that NABARD should enhance the quantum of refinance from present 35 to 75 per cent of the advancements made by the cooperative banks in a year, besides reducing the rate of interest on refinance to 2.5 per cent, to enable cooperative banks to provide adequate and timely flow of agriculture credit.

Presiding over the plenary session of the national conference on Revival of Rural Cooperative Credit Structure here today, Capt Kanwaljit pointed out that NABARD had enhanced quantum of refinance to 75 per cent for kharif 2008 keeping in view the agri debt waiver and debt-relief scheme as a one-time measure but again in rabi 2008-09 it has been reduced to 35 per cent.

He further said NABARD had also increased its rate of interest on refinance from 2.5 per cent in 2006-07 to 3.5 per cent during 2008-09 which was further to be increased to four per cent during 2009-10. As a result the margin of cooperative banks in the advancement of crop loan was rapidly shrinking and it became difficult for these banks to provide agri loans at the rate of seven per cent, he added.

The Cooperation Minister also demanded amendments in Vaidyanathan Committee report on short-term cooperative credit structure as their was no real benefit to the credit cooperatives of the states like Punjab which had performed well over the years. Meanwhile, a memorandum of understanding (MoU) was also inked between the Punjab government and International Cooperative Alliance (ICA), the world confederation of cooperatives, for the establishment of an international centre for promotion and development of cooperatives in the state.

Chandigarh, February 10
With Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal today signing the file revoking the suspension and reinstating Punjab Inspector-General Police Rajinder Singh, way has been paved for his and three other IGs’ becoming additional director generals of police (ADGPs).

Sources said , a file was moved through Principle Secretary, Home Sudhir Mittal to Sukhbir Badal, who looks after Home Affairs, after a decision was taken to reinstate the IG who is perceived to have been close to Congress government led by Amarinder Singh.

Sources said as promotion of three other officers - Vigilance chief Sumedh Singh Saini, IG, Intelligence Suresh Arora and IG, Provisioning Sanjeev Kumar - was being delayed , so the decision favouring Rajinder Singh was taken. Suresh Arora and S S Saini are perceived to be in the good books of the government and the suspension of Rajinder Singh was coming in the way of their promotion. All four officers are batchmates of 1982 batch.

Revocation of Rajinder Singh’s suspension cleared the decks for the Departmental Promotion Committee (DPC) meeting for all four officers on February 12. All four s are expected to be promoted to the rank of ADGP. With their promotion the Punjab Police will become more top heavy. Already the force has nine ADGPs and five Director Generals of Police (DGPs).

Rajinder Singh was suspended on March 5 last on a complaint of the management of a private engineering college in the periphery of Chandigarh. The management claimed the IG’s brother exerted unwanted influence on the management.

Before this Rajinder Singh had also moved Punjab and Haryana High Court seeking stay on the promotion of his batchmates of Punjab cadre. He claimed being ignored for promotion as ADGP, while his batchmates were being considered. He had also claimed despite four posts of ADGPs were vacant, he was being denied promotion. 

Ludhiana, February 10
Dharwal family here has set a precedent by opening school for over 70 children who otherwise while away time in nearby streets. Ashu teaches them while her father-in-law Ram Krishan brings them from near temples, dharamshalas and from streets.

It was a sight to watch them recite Ba Ba black sheep, who had never been to school, at Field Ganj school run under the Sarv Sikhya Abhiyaan. "I have at least six children, who are very regular with studies and show bright spark in comprehending classroom teaching".

Prabhjot Kaur, daughter of a cloth seller on the streets, is a transformed child. She said, "I am getting a lot of support from my family members so I go home and study too". So is the story of Ritu, daughter of a hosiery worker. "I want to be a teacher", she said. Meena Bansal, another child , said "her mother is a domestic help so she brings her younger brother Manoj along to the school".

Gudiya, a tiny tot, who comes with her sister, shows special interest in learning with her elder sister. Nilam Kapoor, general secretary of the Jago Group associated with the school, said "along with the Education Department we will assess in March to see how many students can join regular schools. Going by the results sizable number should be able to make it to regular classes".

Rajinder Dharwal, a lawyer, volunteered to allow school from his residence. "I hope the school spreads message in society of the noble mission. It was not difficult to open school at home because my family supported me".

Nilam Kapoor said "we know the SSA programme at many places has failed to have desired results.This makes it a challenge for us to sustain the student interest along with parental support in attending classes.".

The programme offers uniforms to students,mid-day meal and books. Class teacher Dharwal pointed out the"books available for children had certain flaws which need to be removed. The department needs to invite suggestions to improve the system from the ground level and make amendments".

Chandigarh, February 10
A police officer of the 1985 batch belonging to the Andhra Pradesh cadre has been allowed three years inter-state deputation to Haryana. The officer, Dr Rajwant Singh, a qualified allopath, actually belongs to Punjab.

He had earlier served the Punjab government on deputation also. His Punjab assignments included stint as Jalandhar SP.

His inter-state deputation was reportedly approved at a meeting of the appointment committee of Cabinet today. Another interesting development was cancellation of posting orders of Jatinder Pal Singh, a UT cadre officer of the 1977, who is at present the Chief Secretary of Goa, as Chief Executive Officer, Food Authority, under the Department of Health and Family Welfare.

Instead, VN Gaur, an IAS officer of the Nagaland cadre belonging to the 1978 batch, has been named new CEO, Food Authority.

Jatinder is still in the run for appointment as Adviser to the Administrator of Chandigarh as the name of Sanjay Kumar Srivastava of the 1980 batch of the UT cadre is doing the rounds as new Chief Secretary of Goa. Sanjay Kumar Srivastava has just completed his five-year deputation with the union government as Joint Secretary.

Meanwhile, KC Verma, the new RAW chief, has been asked to continue concurrently as Director-General (Security). His place as Secretary (Security) in the Cabinet Secretariat will, however, go to BK Dey, an IPS officer of the 1973 batch belonging to the Assam cadre.

Other changes made in the Central Police Organisations include those of new chiefs of Bureau of Police Research and National Disaster Response Force and Civil Defence.

While P Mukherjee, an IPS officer of the 1973 batch belonging to West Bengal cadre will be the new Director-General of Bureau of Police Research, RK Bhatia, an IPS officer of the UP cadre belonging to the 1974 batch, will be the new chief of the National Disaster Response Force and Civil Defence. Till now, Bhatia was Additional Director-General, Central Industrial Security Force.

Moga, February 10
A controversy kicked off by procurement agencies and rice millers during the last procurement season on the paddy variety PAU-201 that its rice is brownish in colour seems to be over. The Agriculture Department here has claimed that the tests conducted by it have proved that the grain of this variety is normal and white in colour after milling and polishing.

During the last procurement season, almost all procurement agencies had initially refused to purchase this variety raising doubts over its quality.

It was purchased only after the intervention of the state government when the farmers across the state protested the non-purchase of this variety by the agencies.

The agriculture development officer of Moga, Dr Jaswinder Singh Brar, told The Tribune that he had conducted tests on this variety. The tests proved not only positive but also testified that the rice and rice bran made out of this variety were better in quality and quantity than any other variety.

Amritsar, February 10
The interrogation of two Nigerians, who were arrested with 5 kg of heroin worth Rs 25 crore in the international market, has led to the seizure of 19 packets of a deadly chemical from Mohali. With the latest seizure, their links in Dubai, Punjab, Nigeria and New Delhi have come to light.

Talking to The Tribune, district police chief (rural) Iqbal Singh said the seizure of 5 kg heroin from the two Nigerians on February 1 was just the tip of an iceberg and many heads may roll in the coming days. Their Punjab links were revealed when some local persons tried to strike a “deal” with second-rung police officials.

The SSP (Rural) said the Nigerians were constantly in touch with their mentors in Dubai and New Delhi. The drug used to be sold in districts of Punjab, including Mohali and Patiala.

Both Nigerians Emeka Ugo and Ugba Odili Benneth had been interrogated at Joint Interrogation Centre here for four days.

They were allegedly carrying the contraband in two bags and caught during a naka laid by the narcotic cell of the Amritsar rural police at Rayya on the Amritsar-Jalandhar GT road. On seeing the police, they tried to flee, but were nabbed by the police. However, their accomplice escaped.