Patiala, February 23
The persons, who deposed before the one-man Justice KC Gupta Commission, have blamed the Government Medical College and Rajindra Hospital authorities for the January 31 fire which had engulfed the children’s nursery of the hospital killing five infants.

Former Punjab Minister Dalip Singh Pandhi, former PSEB Chief Engineer Person Ram, Dr Ravish Singla of Patiala city and Davinder Singh of Sangrur were among those who deposed.

Person Ram explained how events could have unfolded following the short-circuit of wiring. “Even if there was short-circuit, it was not possible for the fire to spread so fast and kill five infants. The short-circuit is not that fast process and it, in all probability, could have led to blankets catching fire in the first place. Then flames and rising temperature could have triggered blasts in the photo therapy unit tubes, causing damage to infants lying below on the unit platform,” said Ram. He added that the fire would have taken one and half hours to reach its peak and time was enough for the nursery or hospital staff to save the infants. Why employees were not there for that long was a mystery to be solved, he asked.

Dalip Singh Pandhi also blamed the hospital staff for the fire saying old equipment might have had a role in the incident. The deposition went on more than an hour.

Dr Ravish Singla, doing internship in the same hospital, felt the absence of the use of the latest equipment probably had contributed to the incident. “The incident can take place any time as the instruments being used there were purchased in 1970. Instead non-heat conductor material should have been used,” said Dr Singla.

Davinder Singh of Sangrur minced no words in criticising the attitude of the hospital staff. “If a canteen contractor and outsiders could save five infants, why could the staff not do the same?” he questioned.

Justice Gupta said the probe would be completed in two months as affected parents and other people were to be heard in the second hearing. He directed the Paediatric wing head Dr KK Lochan to present before him the record of wiring etc of the nursery.

Mohali, February 23
Punjab will soon get a pharma training centre. To be set up by the Union Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilisers, the centre would impart training to the passouts in pharma courses to enable them to set up pharmaceutical units or research centres.

Ram Vilas Paswan, Union Minister of Chemicals and Fertilisers, while inaugurating a Small and Medium Pharmaceuticals Industry Centre (SMPIC) at NIPER here, said the Central government would be establishing Star Colleges to impart education in the field. The government had established a research fund of Rs 50 crore for the enhancement of research and development activities, he said.

The ministry was taking various initiatives to revive the pharma public sector undertakings (PSUs). As part of the process, the support to the small-scale industries had also been initiated with the opening of the SMPIC at NIPER. It would provide training and equipment used in manufacturing of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) and formulations, guidance on good manufacturing practices (GMP), and good laboratory practices (GLP).

Talking in context of the ‘Jan Aushadhi’ centre selling unbranded generic medicines, he said role of PSU’s and small-scale industry in producing generic drugs of daily use, had increased. Since the demand of such centres was increasing, the role of PSU to provide cheap medicines was also on a high. The issue of cutting costs of life saving drugs was pending before the Union Cabinet.

Paswan also announced that NIPER students’ stipend had been increased from Rs 5,000 to Rs 8,000. All meritorious students of Masters and other programmes belonging to OBC category would also receive reimbursement of their tuition fee up to a certain limit, he said.

Earlier in his inaugural speech, the minister said Indian pharmaceutical industry had touched the achievement of Rs 72,000 crore and the rates of Indian medicines was less as compared to international market. The government had slashed rates of more than 850 medicines with the help of public and private pharma industry in order to make it accessible to all, he said.

Ashok Kumar, secretary, Department of Pharmaceuticals, Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilisers, and Prof P Rama Rao, director, NIPER, also spoke on the occasion.

Chandigarh, February 23
The Punjab and Haryana High Court wants Punjab to issue specific directions to prevent the violation of norms for setting up rice shellers. The Bench has also made it clear proper sanction has to be obtained before construction is raised.

The directions by Chief Justice Tirath Singh Thakur and Justice Hemant Gupta follow a petition by Sharanjit Singh. He had alleged a rice sheller was being set up at Rurki village in Fatehgarh Sahib in violation of the norms. In fact, it was being set up within 500 meters of Sirhind-Patiala road.

The Bench observed: “The Government of Punjab, department of science, technology, environment and non-conventional energy, by an order dated September 11, 2006, stipulated norms for setting up of new rice shellers and saila plants in the state….”

The Bench also observed: The district town planner, Fatehgarh Sahib, addressed a letter dated May 30, 2007, to the senior town planner, Mohali, stating that according to the site report, the proposed site abuts 22-feet-wide link road leading to Nalini village and is 300 feet away from Sirhind-Patiala scheduled road….

The Bench went on to notice: In the affidavit filed by the chief town planner, Punjab, it is stated that in terms of Rule 3-A of the Factories Rules, 1952, framed under the Factories Act, 1948, no building could be constructed or used as a factory unless plans in respect of such building are approved by the Chief Inspector.

“It is further stated in so far as buildings other than factories are concerned, the building plans have to be sanctioned from the department of Town & Country Planning, Punjab, outside the municipal limits....

“It is a common ground that no plans were either submitted by the respondent or sanctioned by the competent authority at any time before the construction of the sheller building was started.

“We have, therefore, no hesitation in holding the construction allegedly made by the respondent was contrary to the provisions of Rule 3-A of Factories Act, 1952.

“What is significant is that the government was totally oblivious of this aspect for it has neither noticed the provision, nor discussed the implications thereof….

“In order to prevent such a situation from recurring, it would be proper for the government to issue a direction to all concerned that the construction of the building shall not be undertaken by the entrepreneurs, unless proper sanction under Rule 3-A of the Factories Act and under the provisions of Town and Country Planning Act is obtained, wherever the same are applicable.

The Bench quashed the order for setting up the unit in relaxation of the guidelines and remanded the matter back to the state.

Chandigarh, February 23
Former bureaucrat Som Prakash’s candidature for the Hoshiarpur (reserved) constituency is all but certain with the BJP set to formally induct him into the party at a function here tomorrow.

However, the formal clearance to former PUDA chairman’s candidature is likely to be taken by the BJP’s parliamentary board.

BJP general secretary Kamal Sharma said the state election committee had met to discuss the candidates for the seat and that a six-name panel had been forwarded to the central election committee, which was likely to take a decision on the issue on February 26.

Party sources said developments during the last fortnight had made it clear that Local Bodies Minister Manoranjan Kalia, who was behind Som’s candidature, and state BJP president Rajinder Bhandari may have their say on the issue.

The sources said the fact that Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal had also endorsed Som’s candidature, made him a firm favourite for the seat. The SAD-BJP combine is also banking on the goodwill generated by Som during his stint as Deputy Commissioner of Hoshiarpur.

However, BJP detractors of the ruling group claim that the party has not given adequate importance to party MP Avinash Rai Khanna, who had earlier contested from Hoshiarpur. They claim that the required consideration was not given to the views of senior leader and minister Swarna Ram, who, besides being the Dalit face of the party in the Doaba region is also a legislator from the Phagwara assembly segment in the Hoshiarpur parliamentary constituency. Bhandari’s detractors in the party claim that the state’s Dalit Morcha was also not consulted on the issue.

The parallel group in the state BJP was working for the candidature of Vijay Sampla, a rising youth leader from Jalandhar and Chairman of the Punjab Khadi and Village Industry Board. This group advocated that the ticket be given to a party worker claiming allotment of the ticket to a former bureaucrat would mean that none of the three party candidates from the state are from within the party rank and file. Navjot Singh Sidhu and Vinod Khanna have already been declared party candidates from Amritsar and Gurdaspur respectively.

Jalandhar, February 23
While the exclusion of the chairman of the Punjab Congress Campaign Committee, Capt Amarinder Singh from the prestigious state Screening Committee is considered a major setback to his loyalists, Congress Working Committee (CWC) member Iqbal Singh thinks otherwise.

Iqbal Singh, also in charge of the Bihar Congress, told The Tribune that none of the chairmen of the state Campaign Committees were included in the Screening Committees of the four states.

Elaborating, he said the Congress high command had so far constituted the Screening Committees of four states Punjab, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra and none of the chairmen of the state Campaign Committees were included in the Screening Committees of these states.

Giving an example of Bihar, Iqbal said he himself had not recommended the name of chairman of the Bihar Congress Campaign Committee Vijay Shankar Dubey to be included in the state Screening Committee.

However, he said there was no policy to exclude Campaign Committee chairman from the Screening Committees of respective states.

Meanwhile, Congress sources said it sent wrong signals at least among his loyalists for Amarinder’s omission from the prestigious committee.

Interestingly, the five-member Screening Committee of the Punjab Congress for the coming Lok Sabha elections is headed by veteran Congress leader Janardhan Dwivedi and its members as Union Minister Selja, PPCC chief Mohinder Singh Kaypee, Congress Legislature Party leader Rajinder Kaur Bhattal and in charge of the Punjab Congress Mohsina Kidwai.

Chandigarh, February 23
Three state units of former Prime Minister Chandrasekhar’s Samajwadi Party (S) have decided to merge with the Congress. A formal ceremony in this regard will be held in Delhi on February 26.

Talking to The Tribune here, Darshan Singh Jeeda, president of the Punjab unit of the Samajwadi Party (S), says it has been left for the remaining units to decide their future line of action.

“In the last assembly and Lok Sabha elections, we supported the Congress candidates on the seats where we did not put our candidates. In Punjab, for example, we contested one Lok Sabha seat and supported the Congress on the remaining 12 seats. In the assembly elections, we contested seven seats and supported the Congress on the remaining 110 seats. But, this time we will all work for the Congress,” said Jeeda.

“It is because of the secular credentials of the Congress that we have decided to merge with it,” he claims, holding that after Chandrasekhar’s death, the party high command was indecisive about its future action plans.

“It will be more or less home return for most of SP(S) men as Chandrasekhar was one of the then young leaders to walk out of the party before joining Jai Parkash Narains’ Jan Andolan that ultimately led to the formation of the Janata Party.

Chandrasekhar, says Jeeda, had special attachment with Punjab as he tried to find a peaceful and lasting solution to the problem of terrorism in this border state. Even during his brief tenure as Prime Minister, he wanted return of peace in the state.

He was perhaps one of few political leaders of that time who held a series of secret parleys with top militant leaders to negotiate a peaceful settlement to the vexed Punjab problem.

For all its good and sincere work, neither the SP(S) nor its leaders drew any personal or political benefit, claims Jeeda.

“Our leader never supported either the BJP because of its caste and religion based politics. Since no other party in Punjab, Haryana and Delhi has secular credentials to match the Congress, we have decided to go with it.”

Some of our senior leaders, including Om Parkash and Swami Agnivesh, who had been from the Socialist background, may not join the Congress along with us on February 26. “They will, however, attend the merger ceremony where senior Congress leaders will also be present,” Jeeda says, adding that the Congress is the best choice for the minorities.

Mandi Ahmedgarh, February 23
Following a report of resentment among cops seeking justice in the Punjab and Haryana High Court in respect of seniority lists prepared by the committee formed on court’s directions in The Tribune, Chief Parliamentary Secretary Harish Rai Dhanda assured the affected assistant sub-inspectors and sub-inspectors to coordinate talks between cops’ representatives and Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal who could not meet them (cops) at Ludhiana today.

“I have heard their grievances and it seems their promotions were diluted wrongly. I assured them to arrange their meeting with the Deputy Chief Ministerl,” said Dhanda .

Dhanda intervened when ASIs and SIs from across the state gathered at Ludhiana and failed tomeet Sukhbir today.

Dhanda assured them to support their demand of presenting the actual seniority list in the high court soon.

The disbanding of the committee of senior IPS officers had sparked resentment among cops who are hoping that genuine seniority list will be presented in the high court on February 28.

The cops had apprehended shielding of those promoted in violation of rules.

The resentment became visible when hundreds of cops gathered at Ludhiana. They were persuaded to wait till Dhanda arranged their meeting with Sukhbir.

Amritsar, February 23
The police traced the mutilated body of Gurpartap, LKG student, from the backyard of former sarpanch of Wazir Bhullar village under Beas police station. He had been missing since February 19 from his house.

One of his eyes was found gouged out and blunt weapon injuries were found on his body. The police has arrested Sukhjit Kaur, widow and daughter-in-law of Jagir Singh, former sarpanch, along with Jagjit Singh,her brother-in-law and second son of the sarpanch in this case. A case under Section 302, IPC, was registered against the two accused.

The accused were reprtedly sore at not receiving their share of money being sent by her Dubai-based brother-in-law who had a joint transport business with the deceased boy’s father Jagtar Singh. To teach a lesson to the family, both accused conspired to kidnap the boy. They allegedly also had illicit relations, said police sources.

The police traced the body with the help of a dog squad after receiving missing report from Sardul Singh, retired sub-inspector and grandfather of Gurpartap.

Gurpartap went missing on February 19 in the morning from his residence while playing. Sardul had gone for some work after bolting the outside gate of the house, while his mother was busy in household chores. The accused taking advantage opened the gate and took him away.

According to the police, the body was hidden under fodder in the haveli of Jagir Singh. 

Jalandhar, February 23
After the septic tank scam, the Punjab Water Supply and Sanitation Department has been embroiled in another controversy. This time the functioning of the department has come under cloud following allegations of nepotism by senior officials in regularisation of employees.

Regional secretary of the PWD Field and Workshop Workers Union Rajinder Dhiman and senior leader Tarsem Singh said certain senior officials of the department were ignoring the orders of former Water Supply and Sanitation Minister Bikaram Singh Majithia and Secretary PS Aujla.

The union has been protesting the alleged high-handedness of department officials for the past over a month.

Citing a case, the union leaders said superintending engineer of the department at Ludhiana AK Soni has allegedly deregularised the services of pump operator Rajinder Kumar in the Pathankot circle while his junior Rakesh Kumar Soni was put on regular rolls.

He said Rajinder joined the department on September 1, 1988, and was promoted pump operator on January 1, 1992. He was regularised as pump operator on September 10, 2004, vide order No. 36886-91. In a second seniority list Rajinder was reverted and was deregularised.

The leaders said there were several similar cases where senior workers were ignored and junior given promotion. In certain cases, they had been reverted at the behest of their political opponents as certain union leaders who were hand in glove with senior officials were taking anti-worker stand in the department.

Soni, however, said the man had been de-regularised as per the government directions. The union has demanded a CBI inquiry into the case.

Jalandhar, February 23
India wants mutually friendly relations with Pakistan but it should be two-way traffic. Pakistan should not allow its soil to be used for carrying out attacks against our country and our relationship should be based on mutual trust and understanding, says Union Home Minister P Chidambaram.

The minister, who was at Khatkar Kalan to lay the foundation stone of a memorial dedicated to Shaheed-e-Azam Bhagat Singh at the latter’s native place, said it was the triumph of our cohesive diplomacy that forced Pakistan to admit that its soil had been used to carry out the terror strikes in Mumbai.

The international pressure was also a result of our irrefutable dossier detailing the logistics and the accused involved in the attack, he pointed out. The charge sheet in the Mumbai terror attack would be filed in the next couple of days in the Bombay High Court, he revealed.

“We also expect that Pakistan completes its investigation in the attack and punish all guilty if they want to win our trust. Pakistan is an epicentre of terrorism and that must stop,” he added.

They must dismantle the terrorism infrastructure that has gradually been built in the past 10-15 years.

Interacting with mediapersons, he said he had not got a request from the Punjab government for taking the border state out of the disturbed areas’ list. In fact, he was surprised to know that Punjab was still on that list.

The need of the hour for India is to fight another war, this time against poverty and disease. For that we again require patriots and nationalists like Shaheed Bhagat Singh.

Others present on the occasion included union Minister of Tourism and Culture Ambika Soni, Chief Minister Prakash Singh Badal, besides relatives of the martyr.

Sangrur, February 23
Leader of the Opposition in Punjab Assembly Rajinder Kaur Bhattal today asked the Union government to order a high-level inquiry into the alleged misutilisation and diversion of Central development funds by the Badal government. She said the funds, which amounted to crores of rupees, were being provided by the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government to Punjab under its Bharat Nirman programme.

Bhattal said the Congress felt that the SAD-BJP alliance would rig the ensuing Lok Sabha elections in Punjab like in the previous panchayat elections. In view of this, state Congress leaders had met the Union Home Minister who had assured them holding of free and fair elections. She said they had demanded from the Home Minister to bring Punjab under the control of Central forces, while the Central forces should work under the control of Central election observers, in place of the state government. Bhattal said the Congress needed protection for its task force, leaders and workers, but if the Akalis tried to harm them in any way in the elections, they would give them a befitting reply.

Bhattal said the Punjab Congress had sought more industry and power projects for Punjab in the Congress’s Central election manifesto. She said the Congress would contest elections in Punjab on four issues, peace, strengthening of democracy, development and law and order situation in the state. She said law and order situation had deteriorated in the state in a big way, so people would teach a lesson to the Badal government in the ensuing LS elections.

Bhattal said no discussion had been held so far regarding an alliance with the Lok Bhalai Party in the ensuing LS elections. Regarding atrocities on followers of Dera Sacha Sauda during SAD-BJP regime, Bhattal said as the dera followers had supported the Congress in the previous Assembly elections so the Congress was with them. 

Chandigarh, February 23
There is a ray of hope for cancer, arthritis and gout patients of the Malwa region with the state government announcing reverse osmosis (RO) water treatment plants in 471 worst-hit villages in districts of the region. The decision has been taken based on the success of RO pilot project in 57 villages of the Gidderbaha constituency that has completed a year of operation.

On the success of the RO project in the constituency of Gidderbaha Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal said, “It is like a dream come true. I had always thought of providing clean drinking water to be my priority. My dream has been fulfilled with clean drinking water flowing to 1,500 odd families from the 63 water centres in 57 villages with the help of Naandi, an NGO”.

Water Supply and Sanitation secretary PS Aujla, who accompanied the minister at a function to celebrate the first anniversary of the RO project, said 471 worst-affected villages in the Malwa region had been identified in the Mansa, Bathinda, Faridkot, Ferozepur, Sangrur and Barnala districts. “With budgetary allocation of Rs 10 to 11 lakh for these RO centres, 225 such clean drinking water centres will be up by the end of March and the remaining 246 in the next fiscal year ”.

The RO project in Gidderbaha was part of the Public Private Partnership (PPP) in collaboration with panchayats, the government and the Naandi Foundation. Depending upon requirement of particular villages, the RO machines can clean between 500 litres to 1,500 litres per hour. This water is sold to the villagers at 10 paise per litre.

Amit Jain of the Naandi Foundation said so far, the foundation had provided similar expertise in eight states benefiting 40 lakh people. The Gidderbaha project had benefited 1,500 families.

Manpreet said nearly two-thirds of the constituency’s population had already started using drinking water from the RO plants. There were some villages where the reliance on RO was 100 per cent , especially in the disease-affected areas. “In terms of cost it has been estimated average family uses 20 litres of water for drinking and cooking per day which in terms of cost becomes Rs 60 per month for everyone”.

Following the success of the Gidderbaha model, Rohtak and Jhajjar districts of Haryana had also decided to adopt the technology, the minister disclosed.

Chandigarh, February 23
Congress legislator from Bholath Sukhpal Singh Khaira has asked Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal to support a unanimous resolution in the forthcoming session of the Vidhan Sabha beginning on February 27 on the turban issue.

In a letter to the Chief Minister he has appealed for support to the case filed by the United Sikhs before the United Nations Human Rights Commission (UNHRC) challenging the ban on Sikhs to wear turbans by the French government.

Khaira said, “Although this ban has been in effect since March 2004, not enough has been done by the Shiromani Akali Dal or the SGPC. Now that an independent group of Sikhs living in the USA and other European countries by the name of the United Sikhs have filed a case before the UNHRC in New York, it is our moral duty to support their genuine grievances”.

Chandigarh, February 23
Punjab Health and Family Welfare Minister Prof Laxmi Kanta Chawla today said the foundation stone of the super speciality cancer and trauma hospital on the premises of Civil Hospital, Mohali, would be laid tomorrow by Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal.

Giving details of the project, she stated that the project would come up on 3.20 acre spare land available in the hospital. The hospital would be built by Max Healthcare under public-private partnership mode on the basis of project proposal prepared by Punjab Infrastructure Development Board (PIDB). The hospital would provide super speciality care in key disciplines of cancer and trauma. Other super specialities and advanced diagnostic centre will also be part of the project.

Prof Chawla stated that Max Healthcare’s bid had been accepted at an upfront fee of Rs 4.73 crore which would be provided to the civil hospital for infrastructure development. Max Healthcare will also provide to the hospital 5 per cent from its gross revenue for the treatment of poor patients. The funds received will be utilised for the improvement of hospital infrastructure and for poor patients.

Chandigarh, February 23
Rajya Sabha member and former Minorities Commission chairman Tarlochan Singh today urged Lok Sabha Deputy Speaker Charanjit Singh Atwal to summon Union Law Minister HR Bhardwaj to his chambers to find out why the Centre had not introduced the Anand Karaj Marriage Act bill in Parliament for amendment despite assurances on this account.

Talking to TNS, Tarlochan Singh said during the last session in November, the Law Minister had assured that the Act would be taken up for amendment in Parliament in the present session. He said with only four days of the session remaining, the Act was not listed in the agenda till now, indicating it might not be introduced in the House this time also.

The MP said though the Act was valid, only the registration clause needed to be added to it. He said non-addition of this clause was causing problems for Sikhs leaving for foreign shores.

The Act had not been introduced in Parliament despite the fact that it had received the nod from the Standing Committee on Law and Justice, Tarlochan said. He said the Shiromani Committee had also supported this and all 22 Sikh MPs had made a united appeal for amendment in the Act.

Tarlochan Singh also disclosed that he had appealed to the Union government to allow temporary visas to black-listed persons to visit Punjab, saying some of them had died waiting for visas. He said last year as many as 1,020 persons had been sent back by immigration officials despite the fact that they had valid visas and return ticket.

The MP also clarified that contrary to the statement made by Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMS) president Paramjit Singh Sarna, the Home ministry had told him in writing that Punjab was no longer a disturbed area.

He said in case this was so, Pakistani nationals travelling to Punjab on the Samjhauta express should not be made to first go to Delhi and then come back to Punjab. He said the Indian government should issue visas for direct travel to Punjab to ensure Pak nationals were not troubled.