Chandigarh, February 20
The Punjab Cabinet has cleared the single private bid received for the 1,320-MW Rajpura Thermal Power Plant after taking into account a report of the Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB) stating the project will be delayed by 270 days in case of a re-bid.

The Cabinet meeting, which was chaired by Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, also gave its nod to the revised tariff offer of Rs 3.30 per unit, which was arrived at after negotiations with Lanco Infratech by a committee headed by Chief Secretary Ramesh Inder Singh. Lanco had earlier offered a bid of Rs 3.38 per unit.

A government release here claimed that the government was ushering in a “power revolution” by generating additional capacity of 6,480 MW to make Punjab a power surplus state within next three years by setting up four super thermal plants at Talwandi Sabo (1,980 MW), Goindwal Sahib (540 MW), Rajpura (1,320MW) and Gidderbaha (2,640 MW).

Sources disclosed that the government was not in favour of delaying the Rajpura project at any cost as it had made the setting up of the four thermal plants a major “development” issue prior to the Lok Sabha elections.

Earlier, the PSEB facilitated this decision by claiming that it would have to go in for the stipulated nine-month long process in case there was a fresh re-bid for the Rajpura plant as per the Ministry of Power norms.

The board, which had also been asked to submit its views on all possible scenarios had also submitted that in case the PSEB decided to take up the project itself, it would have to arrange 25 per cent of the Rs 6,500-crore cost as equity besides arranging for a government guarantee for the loan needed. It also claimed that there was no surety that per unit average price would go down in case of a re-bid.

Meanwhile, the PSEB Engineers Association claimed today that the Cabinet decision was against the spirit of competitive bidding. Association president HS Bedi said the offer of Rs 3.30 per unit was still on the higher side. He said Lanco’s bid was 52 paisa per unit higher than that fixed for the Talwandi Sabo project by Sterlite, which too was yet to start work on the ground like Lanco.

“If the government thinks the price offer of Lanco is justifiable it means it is admitting that Sterlite will not put up the Talwandi Sabo plant, which has been awarded to it at a much lower rate”, Bedi said.

Amritsar, February 20
In a missive, Rajya Sabha member Tarlochan Singh, in Parliament on February 18 sought clarification from SGPC president Avtar Singh whether any representative of the SGPC had given any certification to the Central government that it (SGPC) did not want to pursue the case of the Sikh Reference Library anymore.

However, the SGPC chief described the claim of Defence Minister AK Antony as a “white lie” and sought his immediate sacking as the Defence Minister for “misleading” Parliament.

The SGPC president received shot in the arm when a retired CBI inspector Ranjit Singh Nanda, who was sitting with him in a press conference to clarify that he (Nanda) himself took the rare manuscripts/books or articles to the local youth hostel in gunny bags and trunks after the Army operation.

The SGPC president said the statement of Antony that the Army did not possess any manuscripts/articles was “baseless, misleading and factually incorrect”.

He said the fact remained that the SGPC had been taking up the case of returning more than 1,500 books of the Sikh Reference Library and other articles for the past 25 years.

The SGPC submitted a number of memorandums to Presidents, Prime Ministers and other Defence Ministers during their visits to Golden Temple in this regard. He said it was enough proof that CBIs then Inspector Nanda had spilled the beans on the claims of the Central government by revealing startling facts.

Nanda was a part of the five-member team that scrutinised the religious literature taken from the Sikh Reference Library at the time of Operation Bluestar.

He alleged that the Congress had been “anti-Sikh” and hence it failed to accept the most genuine demand of the Sikhs even after lapse of 25 years of the Army operation.

However, the SGPC president could not give proper reply when asked as to why the SGPC failed to get the articles of the Sikh Reference Library during the NDA government’s regime.

SGPC secretary Dalmegh Singh, who attended the meeting called by the Union Home Secretary on October 6, 2004 had also informed them that the rare artefact and manuscripts of the Sikh Reference Library were not restored to the SGPC.

The representative of the Ministry of Home Affairs had also given confusing statement that the books/manuscripts had either been handed over to the SGPC or to the government of Punjab.

The SGPC president said though few books and copies of newspapers were handed over to the Shiromani Committee but the rare books/manuscripts had not been returned so far. The then Chief Secretary, Punjab, had also mentioned in his affidavit about the gold coins/ornaments etc. belonging to the SGPC.

The minutes of the meeting also mentioned that claims of the SGPC that 10,500 books and 500 original manuscripts were still in possession of the CBI or the Central government.

The SGPC president said the irony was that the CBI, which was accused of taking away the artefact of the Sikh library, was asked to conduct the investigation despite opposition by the representative of the Shiromani Committee.

The repository of over 1,500 invaluable rare manuscripts, including copies of the Adi Granth, Damdami Bir (dated Bikrami 1,739) and portraits was destroyed during the Operation Bluestar. Earlier too, conflicting statements of the then Defence Minister George Fernandes complicated the matter. 

Ludhiana, February 20
In an important announcement here today, Rajinder Kaur Bhattal, Leader of the Opposition in Punjab, said, “I will not contest the forthcoming parliamentary elections”.

While addressing mediapersons on the sidelines of a family function of Kila Raipur MLA Jassi Khangura, Bhattal said, “I am interested only in politics at the state level and am happy only as an MLA.” She also brushed aside rumours about her son Rahul Sidhu asking for a ticket from the Sangrur constituency seat.

”Deciding on the party ticket is the prerogative of the party high command and I am committed to the orders it gives me”, she added. She said the party high command had put in place a scrutiny committee to decide on the party candidates from the 13 seats of Punjab. “We will have the complete list and the future plan of action chalked out soon after the Lok Sabha session finishes on February 26,” she said.

Bhattal said the SAD government was trying to cover up its financial management failure by not presenting the regular Budget. She said, “The Congress coming to power with absolute majority in the state during the forthcoming parliamentary elections could mean the end of SAD tenure. To save itself from embarrassment, the government has bought some time by going in for a vote-on-account Budget”.

Talking separately, Shamsher Dullo, a former Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee president, said, “The state was distributing money under different scemes of family welfare, health and roads, which came from the Central pool. Importantly, the state does not even contribute the basic share of 25 per cent to receive the remaining 75 per share from the Centre for a large number of schemes”.

Speaking on the ongoing rumours on the former Congress MP Gurcharan Singh Ghalib joining the SAD, Dullo said, “The Congress is a big party. Many come and have gone into oblivion. We cannot satisfy all and also life moves on”.

Sangrur, February 20
The Punjab unit of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) today suffered a setback when the state president and the general secretary of its Brahman Bhaichara Banao Committee, Punjab, made an announcement to quit the BSP and join the Congress in the presence of former local Congress MLA Arvind Khanna at his residence here.

Avtar Singh Ealwal, state president of the committee, and Sukhpal Singh Sajuma, state general secretary of the committee, joined the Congress along with supporters, who were present at Khanna’s residence at that time.

Making announcement with regards to quitting the BSP and joining the Congress, Ealwal alleged that the state leadership of the BSP had ignored him time and again in the past two years despite his good performance in the party.

He said in view of the social engineering concept of BSP president Mayawati, he had joined the BSP to work for people, especially the weaker sections, but he found that there was a lot of difference in the BSP of Uttar Pradesh and that of Punjab.

Welcoming Ealwal’s decision to join the Congress, Khanna said the BSP workers in Punjab seemed to be dissatisfied with the party’s performance in the state, as it had not done anything concrete for them. This was the reason they had begun joining the Congress, which had sympathy for them, he added. He also expressed hope that more persons would join the Congress in near future.

On the other hand, district president of the Congress and local MLA Surinder Pal Singh Sibia said he did not accept Ealwal joing the Congress, as Khanna was nobody to get him into the Congress fold. He said joining the Congress by Ealwal was neither in his notice nor in the notice of state president of the Congress.

He further said Ealwal was the same person who had opposed the Congress candidate from Sangrur in the previous Assembly elections by contesting from Sangrur as a candidate of the BSP on the directions of a Congress leader.

Chandigarh, February 20
The state Cabinet today failed to pass the new industrial policy on account of certain short comings, but it reviewed the policy and asked the Industries Department to take a holistic view of the ground situation before finalising and approving the new policy. It will now be brought in the next Cabinet with some proposed amendments.

This comes as a great setback to the industry that was hoping major concessions. Industries Minister Manoranjan Kalia had made a categorical statement on Wednesday that the new policy would be tabled and approved in today’s meeting. However, the Cabinet has given its nod to the Special Economic Zone (SEZ) Policy to facilitate the development of SEZs. The SEZ policy aims at providing a comprehensive framework for establishment, operation and sustainability of SEZs in the state. It is learnt that the biggest stumbling block in going ahead with the new policy was the objection from the Department of Excise and Taxation in granting concessions on the tax front. There has been a re-think on lowering of Value Added Tax (VAT), which is one of the major sources of revenue for the state government.

The move comes as a big setback personally for the Industries Minister who had been lobbying hard for pushing through the policy and had even made public statements to this effect. Today’s development is likely to have an adverse impact on the relationship between the SAD and its alliance partner, the BJP. The BJP has been pursuing the case for the industrial lobby by recommending concessions, as the BJP’s predominant vote base lies among the urban and the industrialists.

But the Cabinet did not overlook other aspects relating to the economic slowdown and pushed through concessions for affordable housing and relief to promoters/developers in response to the memorandum submitted by the Confederation of Real Estate Developers’ Association India and the National Real Estate Development Council to the Chief Minister. These concessions included reduction in government charges External Development Charges (EDC), licence fee, change in land use, moratorium of EDC payment, increase in the period for payment of the EDC and waiver of penal interest on delayed payment of EDC instalments. In another significant decision, the Cabinet approved a comprehensive policy for the survival and revival of Goindwal industries for the promotion of existing and new industry there.

Jalandhar, February 20
In anticipation of shortage of gunny bags, the Union government has allowed the use of plastic bags for stacking of fresh wheat, the arrival of which will start in 6 weeks from now.

Official sources said there was strike in some of the jute mills engaged in manufacturing of gunny bags. Apprehending that enough stock of gunny bags may not be available to stack wheat, the Union government has informed the Punjab government authorities concerned to make arrangement for plastic bags.

Meanwhile, the state government has told the Food Corporation of India (FCI) to buy at least 20 per cent of the wheat that will arrive in various grain markets of the state. The government is expecting arrival of about 115-lakh tonne during April and May, that is a procurement season for fresh wheat in Punjab.

Last year, the FCI had procurement 11-lakh tonne of wheat. However, this time the state government wanted that it should procure 22-lakh tonne.

The state government continues to be worried about the stacking of fresh wheat, as according to its assessment, adequate storage space is not available for this purpose. The government needs additional space for stacking about 40-lakh tonne of wheat.

The sources said the state government had hired additional open space to stack about 10-lakh tonne, besides re-hiring some of the open stacking yards, which were released by it earlier.

About 65-lakh tonne of old wheat is still lying in various storage yards in the state. The source said about 15-lakh tonne would be sent to other states by March end when arrival of fresh wheat would start in Punjab. Besides the availability of 50-lakh tonne of old stock in the state by March end, about 115-lakh tonne new wheat will arrive in the state in April and May.

Boparai Kalan (Nakodar), February 20
Balbir Singh gets up from his cot, takes maize from bags inside a room and scatters the grains on the roof of house. The old man has been doing it as routine for 15 years to conserve national bird peacock.

Decline in the peacock population spurred Boparai Kalan residents to take up peacock conservation project. The project has paid off and in a decade peacock population has increased to over 200 in the village.

Due to excessive use of pesticides and insecticides by farmers, population of this bird has been on the decline for a few years. The Forest and Wildlife Department has not conducted census to know the population of the national bird in the state.

Vacant houses of the NRIs have been inhabited by scores of peacocks. The presence of peacocks in the houses of NRIs, which otherwise wear a deserted look, are of charm to the villagers now.

Recalling the days, almost 40 to 45 years ago, when the village was known for peacocks , Balbir Singh, former sarpanch, says poaching of the bird by hunters and landlords of the surrounding areas had ruined the beauty of the area.

However, he gives credit to late Gurbachan Singh and Bhajan Singh, former sarpanch and panch, respectively, for nurturing pair of peacock chicks almost 25 years ago when the village was left with not even a single bird. As a result, today the population of the bird is over 200.

Taking up the peacock conservation project and following in the footsteps of the elderly the villagers started feeding the birds, says Pritpal Singh, a resident.

“The peacocks have become permanent residents of the village, especially in bungalows where human beings are rarely seen. The birds roam on terraces and ground as the villagers feed them,” he adds.

Jaspal Singh, another resident, said villagers were feeding the birds foodgrains and birds hardly go to the fields, thus being away from pesticides and insecticides used there.

Chief Wildlife Warden, Punjab, RK Luna lauded Boparai Kalan village for taking up peacock conservation in Jalandhar district. “I am hearing this for the first time that peacock population has gone so high in a particular village. There is also one another spot (between Moga and Muktsar) where people feed peacocks along a canal,” he said.

He added the department had no figures on peacock population in the state and a census was required.

Patiala, February 20
A two-member team of the Central Council of Indian Medicines (CCIM) inspected the Government Ayurvedic College here yesterday. The visit by the CCIM team was much awaited by the college authorities since it had been on its notice since last year when the inspection team had recorded six objections. The team comprised Dr Amitabh Kumar of Ranchi and Dr Alakh Narain Singh from Bihar.

The affairs of the college, which was at one point a premiere ayurvedic institution of the state, took a nosedive few years back when faculty members started leaving for green pastures.

With paucity of funds staring the college in the face, there were no medicines in the Ayurvedic Hospital which led to a drastic drop in the number of patient.

Dr Ashwani Kumar, principal of the college, told The Tribune that the CCIM team had left satisfied. He said there were 37 faculty members on rolls as against the requirement of 35. During the inspection, the indoor wards had cent per cent occupancy with 106 admissions. The principal said the OPDs had been reporting about 150 patients daily.

He expressed optimism that the college would get a green signal from the team and there would be no threat of derecognition of the college.

Amitabh Kumar said the team would submits its report in New Delhi.

The team has already conducted inspection in 11 Ayurvedic Colleges across Punjab since early January.

The Patiala Ayurvedic College was the last on its list for inspection. Dr Ashwani Kumar said if the team gave a favourable report, the college could make regular admissions for the next academic session without any uncertainty.

Mohali, February 20
Students of government and private schools across the state will now learn new vocational skills. In a significant decision, the academic council of the Punjab School Education Board (PSEB) today approved revision of the vocational syllabus being taught to students of classes XI and XII.

It has not been revised for the past six years and now the focus will be on job-oriented courses so that students can acquire vocational skills by the time they pass out.

Chairman of the board Dr Dalbir Singh Dhillon said the process was already on and some portions of the syllabus had been revised. The new syllabus would be introduced from the next academic session and only those courses were being introduced which could be taught at the school level.

The board has also decided to introduce computer education in schools. “Learning computer education will be compulsory but it will not be compulsory to pass the exam”, clarified the chairman.

Meanwhile, the academic council has also approved the introduction of semester system in pre-board classes--- IX and XI, instead of class XII from the coming academic session.

Chandigarh, February 20
The Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC) today accused the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) of changing the first affidavit defining the term “sehajdhari” before submitting it to the Punjab and Haryana High Court on the directions of state Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal.

DSGMC president Paramjit Singh Sarna, while speaking on the issue here, said though the SGPC had submitted a second affidavit following protests led by DSGMC, it had not withdrawn the first affidavit.

Sarna, who was here in connection with the hearing on the issue at the high court, said as far as DSGMC was concerned, there was no word like “sehajdhari”. He said there could be only Sikhs and Hindus and nothing in between.

Fielding questions, he said DSGMC was not trying to create a divide in Sikhism by taking this stand but maintained it was trying to unite Sikhs and ensure they had only one identity.

DSGMC president claimed that SGPC, as well as the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), were taking the ongoing case in the high court lightly and had not even tried to defend it properly.

“We have requested senior counsel KTS Tulsi to argue the case and today even academician Gurdashan Singh Dhillon explained the word in its historical context in court,” he added.

Dhillon claimed that the word “sehajdhari” did not exist before 1849 and that this analogy had been introduced by the British to dilute the Sikh identity. Akali leader Jaswant Singh Mann was also present on the occasion. 

Chandigarh, February 20
Even a common man’s voice on the definition of Sikhs was heard by the Punjab and Haryana High Court today.

The Full Bench of Justice Jagdish Singh Khehar, Justice Jasbir Singh and Justice Ajay Kumar Mittal not only listened to the experts impleaded as parties, but almost everyone present.

In general, only petitioners have a say in the proceedings. Anyone wishing to put forth his viewpoint has to first seek the court’s permission to get himself impleaded as a party. In case they are not appearing in person, they speak through their lawyers.

But the Bench enlarged the scope of discussion on the sensitive issue in larger public interest by asking the audience in the jam-packed courtroom for their opinion.

Even those sitting in different rows were given the liberty to simply stand up and air their views - something practically unheard of. Speaking for the Bench, Justice Khehar allowed them to hand over relevant material to the Bench secretary on any working day and not necessarily on the date of hearing.

Even before the case was taken up, members of the Sikh community from all over, including the national capital, gathered in the high court. They were, however, asked to proceed to the Sector 25 protest grounds. Traffic bottlenecks were created on the road to Sector 25 as they marched, holding placards.

During the hearing, senior Supreme Court lawyer KTS Tulsi said unshorn hair was vital for a Sikh. Those not adhering to the most important ingredient prescribed by the 10th Guru, Gobind Singh, could not call themselves Sikhs.

Appearing for Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC), Tulsi said the Guru was specific on providing a distinctly different identity to the Sikhs to ensure recognition even among thousands.

If this one principle of “kesha” or hair was not adhered to, the other four principles were irrelevant, Tulsi argued, adding a person not keeping unshorn hair was a Patit and not a Sikh.

DSGMC president Paramjit Singh Sarna was present in the courtroom, along with Sikh scholars including Gurtej Singh, Gurdarshan Singh Dhillon and ex-MP Atinder Pal Singh.

Sarna sought permission to bring two Sikh scholars. The Bench agreed on condition that written submissions would be submitted in advance and arguments would be restricted to the importance of unshorn hair. Similar permission was also granted to Atinder Pal Singh. The case would now come up for further hearing now on February 27.