Anandpur Sahib, March 10
The Hola Mohalla celebrations took a political hue, especially in the wake of the coming Lok Sabha elections. The ruling SAD-BJP combine, Congress, SAD (Mann) and the Panch Pardhani (Bittu) held political conferences at the venue.

While the SAD-BJP government listed its accomplishments in the past two years of regime, the Congress resorted to condemning the SAD for revoking the Anandpur Sahib resolution and encouraging the ideology of “Khalistan”.

Continuing with his spree of announcing new projects, Badal announced three memorials would be erected in memory of martyrs of Chota Ghalugara (holocaust) at Khanuwan village in district Gurdaspur, Wadha Ghalugara in Kuppa Raheera village of Sangrur district and at Chapar Chiri village in district Mohali in memory of warrior Baba Banda Singh Bahadur.

Badal declared an electoral war against the Congress and sought votes to root out the UPA government at the Centre. He said the SAD-BJP alliance had adopted a unanimous resolution to uplift farming community in the recently concluded budget session.

It has asked the Centre to waive Punjab’s entire outstanding debt and provide fresh loans at an interest of 4 per cent besides fixing the MSP to provide a margin of 50 per cent over cost of production as recommended by National Farmers Commission.

Also Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal promised that the NDA, after coming to power, would reduce diesel prices by Rs 10 and link MSP with the price index.

At the Congress’ conference, former Chief Minister and president of the Congress campaign committee Amarinder Singh remained absent from the gathering. Former PPCC chief Shamsher Singh Dullo alleged the SAD was playing communal card over the issue of the Anandpur Sahib resolution.

“The government has already flexed muscle during various local bodies elections and now it is disturbing communal harmony with efforts to bring back the Anandpur Sahib resolution,” Dullo added.

Union Minister for Tourism Ambika Soni, PPCC leader Rajinder Kaur Bhattal, Amarinder loyalist and Nangal MLA Rana KP Singh were also present. Congress leaders said Badals’ focus was on son-rise, giving party’s reins in the hands of its own family members.

Patiala, March 10
Campaigning is yet to pick up in the Patiala Lok Sabha constituency as the Congress is yet announce its candidate. Congress candidate apparent and sitting MP Preneet Kaur may face more roadblocks this time due to unrest in the Congress and early start of campaign by the Shiromani Akali Dal.

If factionalism is disturbing for the Congress, same is the case with Shiromani Akali Dal candidate Prem Singh Chandumajra, who, however, has the advantage of starting campaign early despite his opposition by groups and leaders in the party.

Only difference between the SAD and the Congress in respect of factionalism was it was for the first time Preneet is facing stiff opposition from leaders in the party.

Most of these leaders, including former minister Brahm Mohindra, former Patiala Mayor Vishnu Sharma, sitting Congress MLA Randip Nabha, former senior Deputy Mayor Kabir Dass, 12 former councillors and Damodar Singh, brother of former Congress minister Lal Singh, were said to have been annoyed with Preneet for “distanciing herself” from grass-root level workers and leaders. It was a different matter that despite being “late-starter” Preneet started campaign from Harpalpur village where she drew large crowd at a rally last week.

Preneet’s progress in Parliament may not be that smooth this time despite being “well-mannered” parliamentarian. She was facing dissidence from within the party rank and file, observe political pundits. For the first time her candidature was opposed by Congress leaders, including Vishnu Sharma, Damodar Singh, Kabir Dass and 12 former councillors like Gurdev Singh, Reepinder Singh, Pawan Nagrath and Narinder Lalli during the recent Patiala visit of central Congress observer Anita Verma. Victory of Kabir Dass’ son Vikramjit against the pro-Preneet candidates in the recently held Punjab Youth Congress polls was said to have strengthened the dissident group.

Similarly, all was not well in the case of SAD candidate Prem Singh Chandumajra, who despite vigorous campaigning, was facing “non-cooperation” from SAD heavyweights like Cooperation Minister Capt Kanwaljit Singh, Harmel Singh Tohra, and even District Planning Board chairman Surjit Singh Rakhra. Chandumajra may have tough time ahead, if these leaders do not support him whole-heartedly as they have pockets of ‘strong influence’ and can tilt the scales. In other words, Chandumajra’s fate depends on the cooperation of these SAD leaders to a large extent.

Mandate of people will largely depend upon the ability of the two major contestants to contain dissent in their parties.

Meanwhile, the BSP has announced Pardip Joshi its candidate.

Mohali, March 10
The Punjab government seems to have found a way to circumvent model code of election conduct. Photographs of Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and Food and Civil Supplies Minister Adesh Pratap Kairon, with message “Koi ghar na khae rukha, koi ghar na sove pukkha” ‘adorn’ blank ration cards being distributed in districts of Punjab, including Mohali, even after the model election code of conduct coming into force.

To appease the “targeted” voters before the Lok Sabha polls, the Food and Civil Supplies Department has been distributing ration cards in rural and urban areas. Department officials are ensuring covertly the hurriedly-made ration cards reach the voters even if they do not carry mandatory photographs of the holders.

The blank ration cards, bearing signatures of the issuing authorities, could be misused in case the Election Commission allows its use as photo identity document for polling, fear politicians.

At some places in Mohali district, blank cards, carrying only the names of the holders were handed over by the department to the depot holders for distribution and they have been asked to fill the date of issue and paste the family photograph of the applicants, to escape action by the EC.

The faux pas came to light when blue-coloured ration cards without the date of issue reached the voters. Without taking risk of filing the date of issue, the depot holders roped in sarpanches and panches to distribute the cards to the applicants. Most of the beneficiaries have applied during recently held suvidha camps.

Sources say two days before the code came into force, the blank ration cards of wheat-dal scheme beneficiary cards were dumped at the office of the district controller, Food and Civil Supplies, Mohali. Since the code came into force on March 2, the ration cards with stamps of the district controller, Mohali, and other details were given to the beneficiaries without the date of issue. In many cases, filing the details in the cards and pasting the family pictures was left to the depot holders or the sarpanches.

District Electoral Officer, Mohali, Prabhjot Singh Mand, said he was not aware of the issue and would look into the matter.

Jalandhar, March 10
Preparing to strike hard against the ruling SAD-BJP combine, the Congress has shortlisted what it describes as “blatant discrimination against the Majha-Doaba region” as one of the important issues to be raised during the campaign in Punjab.

“The SAD-BJP government is just a one-district government. What it had done during the past two years was all for Bathinda district, obviously at the cost of all other districts,” said Sukhpal Singh Khaira, who is one of the most vocal Congress leaders against the SAD-BJP government.

“Surely, we will make it a big issue,” said Khaira. “We would prove with facts and figures the extreme disparity which the SAD-BJP government headed by Parkash Singh Badal showed against the Majha and Doaba regions while announcing development projects,” he said.

“The Badal family rule” will be another issue to politically attack Badal and his son Sukhbir. “It is a misuse of democracy to perpetuate the single-family rule in the state,” said Khaira.

For the past two years, “big-talk, no-work” has remained the main pursuit of Sukhbir. Instead of promoting knowledge industry and preparing the Punjabi youth to secure good jobs, Sukhbir had been talking of international airports, air-condition bus stands, express highways, thermal power plants, five star hotels and world-class stadiums.

When 95 per cent people cannot afford to buy air ticket even from Chandigarh to Delhi and as many were unable to afford to have a cup of coffee in a five star hotel, then for whom five star hotels and airports were being built, asked Khaira. In Punjab, people need well-equipped schools, good health care facilities, safe water, better agricultural techniques and jobs to survive.

Meanwhile, a visit to the countryside revealed that “the divide and rule” formula applied by the SAD-BJP government in the rural areas would recoil on the ruling dispensation in the Lok Sabha elections. “We are angry with the government over the manner in which it used arm-twisting measures to impose their favourites as sarpanches in most of the villages. The present government will be known for years for wiping out the democracy at the grass-roots level,” said Mukhtiar Singh of a village near Machhiwara. To capture most of the municipal committees, the SAD-BJP combine used all foul means and now it would have to pay the price for it, said Krishan Kumar, a resident of Samrala. 

Sangrur, March 10
Unhappy with the government over pension for more than 2,000 retired teachers and other employees of the government-aided schools, the Punjab State-Aided School Teachers and Other Employees Union will draw up an agitation programme. The SAD reportedly had promised revival of pension and other benefits for aided-school teachers and other employees in its manifesto before Assembly elections.

Adviser to the Punjab State-Aided School Teachers and Other Employees Union Manohar Lal Chopra said today an emergency meeting of the state executive committee of the union had been convened on March 13 at Jalandhar to draw up course of agitation as the government had betrayed the aided-school teachers and employees on revival of pension benefits from June 1, 2003. Pension and retirement benefits of aided school teachers and employees had been stopped by the Amarinder government, he added.

Chopra added Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal had rejected the pension demand of the teachers and employees on the ground the state had been facing crisis.He said the Badal government was befooling people by offering “lolli pops” and populist announcements.

Patiala, March 10
Over 80 per cent of posts of principal in government schools of Punjab are lying vacant. Out of 1,293 posts, 1,150 posts have been vacant for several years. Consequently most of these schools have been functioning without a regular principal.

Sources in the Punjab Education Department told The Tribune here on Monday that there were about 100 vacant posts of principal in Patiala district alone. In many cases the serving principals were due to retire next year. Officiating principals were running the schools. 

The lecturers who were officiating as principals were not being paid any administrative allowance. This means there was no financial burden on the state government on this count.

The sources added that the seniority list prepared at the divisional level had some glaring mistakes. They said certain lecturers had been included in the seniority list even though they had retired long ago.

Harcharanjit Kaur Brar, DPI (Secondary), said a large number of posts of principal had been vacant because of a writ petition pending in the Punjab and Haryana High Court which had recently been decided.

She said it was proposed to convene a meeting of the Departmental Promotion Committee to clear the backlog of promotions. Brar said in view of the model code of conduct, it was proposed to seek permission from the Election Commission to convene a meeting of the Departmental Promotion Committee.

Brar further said there were no crises in the functioning of government schools as administrative work had been assigned to the lecturers who were officiating as principals. She hoped that a large number of vacant posts would get filled once a meeting of the committee was held.

Chandigarh, March 10
In times of recession when industrial investment is hard to come by, Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal tried to hardsell Punjab as a future investment destination by talking about huge infrastructure spending.

Projecting Punjab as the state of the future, he took the industry delegates through a presentation of the expressways, high-level bridges, railway overbridges, international airports, state-of-art bus terminals and re-designing of cities.

But, he failed to cut much ice with the industry delegates from across Punjab, who wanted to know when the power crisis would be resolved, or when the anomalies in Value Added Tax would be removed.

Industrialists also spoke about the truck union menace in the state which was affecting transportation of their goods.

“It is good to spend on infrastructure. But this is certainly not enough. The state government will have to ensure that the infrastructure created now is also maintained. Regular funding for maintenance of infrastructure will only lead to sustained industrial development,” they opined.

Akshay Bector, managing director, Cremica Foods, said there were glaring tax anomalies in agro processing industry and the light engineering goods industry.

“The VAT charged is eight per cent higher in Punjab than in the neighbouring state of Haryana. The state government will have to first remove anomalies in its taxation, if it wants industrial development,” he pleaded.

Kewal K. Garg, chairman of Dera Bassi Industries Association, said initially Dera Bassi was the fastest growing industrial belt in the state. “But because new power transformers have not been installed there, no new power connections are being released, putting off future investment from there,” he rued.

Badal, while getting a feeler of the industry sentiment, said he would take up these matters. “The model code of conduct is in place, so I cannot give you an assurance as of now. Once the general elections are over, I assure that we will take equal care of the existing industry as we are taking care of the big corporates willing to invest in Punjab,” he said. 

Chandigarh, March 10
A division bench of the Punjab State Human Rights Commission (PSHRC) has directed various jail authorities in the state to inform all convicts whose appeals are pending in the High Court to give the particulars of their appeals to Registrar, Judicial, Punjab and Haryana High Court.

Disposing of a petition filed by Punjab and Haryana High court advocate HC Arora, Justice Justice RS Mongia and Justice Baldev Singh pointed out that Arora’s complaint had highlighted many convicts were languishing in jails for a pretty long time while their appeals were pending against conviction in the High Court and when the appeals came up for hearing, some of the convicts would have undergone their 
sentence.

The order also referred to The Tribune of February 4, 2009, which carried the story “Law Caged: Appeals outlast jail terms”. “In the said article, various instances are given where the convicts, whose appeals were pending in the High Court, had almost completed their sentence.”

The same day the Registrar, Judicial, requested all advocates to give particulars of cases wherein the accused were in custody for more than five years in division bench cases and more than three years in single bench cases, who preferred their appeals against their conviction and sentence and their appeals have not been listed so far,” said the order.

The PSHRC has asked that a copy of their order, which contains the contents of the registrar as well as the complaint, be sent to the DGP, Prisons, Punjab, and all superintendents of Central Jails/District Jails for bringing the contents of this order to the notice of the prisoners and also by displaying it on the notice boards.

Anandpur Sahib, March 10
The mega blood donation camp held at Khalsa College here today turned into an icon of unity in diversity. People from various castes, walks of life and all age groups participated in this exercise, which aims to making it to the Guinness Book of World Records.

Not only men, but women, too, showed keenness to donate for the cause of Panth. “I know this will make a history and I don’t want to be left behind without making a contribution to it,” said 55-year-old Naseeb Kaur from Sri Ganganagar, who donated blood for the first time in her life.

Army personnel from Jalandhar and Chandi Mandir were among the teams collecting units. “We target at least 150 units at this camp. This does not seem to be an impossible figure,” said Lt-Col MA Khan.

Eighty-year-old Nihang Jagtar Singh from the Ek Noor Khalsa Fauj, Haryana, did not tell doctors his exact age. “Had I told them I am 80, they would not have allowed me to donate blood. Our people have come in 19 buses to give as many units as possible,” said Jagtar.

The in charge of Poona Serological Institute Blood Bank, Pune, Dr Deepak Patil said the team aimed to collect at least 1,500 units. “We have earlier collected a maximum of 800 units from a single camp in 2004,” he added. Aditya from Himalayan Institute, Dehradun, added: “The last massive camp we visited was of Dera Sacha Sauda in Sirsa early this year. 

This seems to be yet another record in making.” The Sirsa-based Dera Sacha Sauda had collected 17, 921 units of blood on October 10, 2004, at Bapuji village in Sri Ganganagar.

Cameras had been installed at four various places at the camp for head count. “This has been done in compliance with the orders of the Guinness authorities. Only donors are being made to pass where cameras have been installed,” said Jasminder Singh Jassi, spokesperson for the camp. He added that the moment 20,000 units were collected, the camp would be concluded.

Till the filing of this report in the evening, more than 16,000 units of blood have been collected. The units collected by NGOs and blood banks from other states were sent to the New Delhi airport in a specially equipped van. From there those would be airlifted to other states.

A special train carrying 1,800 donors from Nagpur was late by 12 hours. It was supposed to reach Monday night, but could make it only this morning.

The site for the camp was divided into 14 blocks, each having 50 beds. There were around 2,500 donations in an hour averaging 15 minutes per donor. As many as 5,000 volunteers, including 3,000 paramedical staff personnel, were deployed to ensure a smooth operation of the camp.

Gurdaspur, March 10
The Department of Public Works (B&R) is in a fix and may earn the wrath of the Election Commission (EC) for issuing orders to shift the head office of the Executive Office, Construction Division, from Gurdaspur to Batala after the enforcement of the model code of conduct.

Superintending Engineer (Pathankot Circle) SK Gupta has endorsed the orders of secretary, PWD, Kulbir Singh on March 5, three days after the enforcement of the. He (SE) directed the executive engineer to do the needful.

Gupta claimed that he had received the orders on March 3 from the state government regarding the shifting of the office.

However, Jagdish Sahni, a BJP MLA from Batala, told The Tribune that he was instrumental in getting the orders of the shifting of the PWD office from Gurdaspur to Batala at the behest of Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal. 

Though the order of the secretary (PWD) mentioned the date of issuance of the order as February 28, after tampering with the orders, the date of issuance has been mentioned as March 2, the day when the EC had announced dates for holding elections to the 15th Lok Sabha. The code too was enforced with immediate effect.

Replying to a question, the BJP MLA justified the orders. He said the office was shifted from Batala to Gurdaspur during the Congress regime following the orders of then PWD Minister Partap Singh Bajwa. He had promised with the voters of Batala that the office would be shifted back to Batala after the formation of the SAD-BJP government.

Executive engineer Raminder Singh Tiwana is in a dilemma whether to implement the orders or not. Moreover, the Joint Action Committee of the PWD is up in arms against the decision of the state government. 

Certain affected employees have even written to the CEC for initiating action against the erring officials who allegedly violated the model code of conduct. They claimed that the orders were received by the Xen office on March 6.

The employees threatened to launch an agitation if the orders were not withdrawn by March 12. They said Batala was only a subdivision. 

Ludhiana, March 10
The main sponsor of the IPL, realty major DLF is in trouble in Ludhiana as the local court has summoned the chairman of the company in a cheating case of allegedly backing out of a housing project thus causing a loss of Rs 16.5 crore to a firm and farmers.

The Haveli project, involving land measuring 700 acres on the Ludhiana-Ferozepur Road and Dakha and Kailpur village, is now down in the dumps. The MoU for the project was signed on June 6, 2007.

Director of Northern Trading and Impex Poonam Mehra today alleged that she and her son were forced to sign a new MoU by DLF officials on September 25, 2007, according to which the area of project land was reduced to 143 acres. Even then the trading firm was not paid the amount as promised in the MoU.

Mehra’s firm, which had to acquire the land for the township on behalf of DLF, has filed a fraud case against DLF chairman KP Singh and his son Rajeev Singh in the court of JMIC Amit Thind for not paying the token money as promised.

Mehra alleged that she, along with several farmers of the village, has spent Rs 16.5 crore when they saw the real estate giant investing in their property.

She further alleged that she, along with her battery of lawyers and other employees of her firm, was made to stay in Delhi for 52 days, which cost a lot of money to the company.

“I was forced to file a petition under Sections 342, 384, 385, 409, 420, 506 and 12-B, IPC, in the court at Ludhiana, as I have no faith in the police,” said Mehra, adding that the court had summoned chairman KP Singh, son and vice-chairman of the company Rajeev Singh and others, but they refused to accept the summon. However, the date of appearance is on March 16.

Despite repeated attempts at DLF office in New Delhi, no official could be contacted. 

Chandigarh, March 10
The Budget session of the Punjab Vidhan Sabh saw parliamentary democracy slipping to its lowest ebb, both in terms of conduct of its members as well as the interest shown by elected legislators in the proceedings of the House. The opposition virtually left all fields open for the treasury benches due to their boycott, leaving no scope for challenging any action of the ruling alliance. 

Besides making some tall claims, which may never see the light of the day, the House also passed seven Bills without any questions asked.

Indications of things to come were reflected from the very first day of the House. The opening day of the session saw a dharna by journalists for not being issued press passes to cover the proceedings of the House. 

It is for the first time in the history of the Punjab Vidhan Sabha that mediapersons had to resort to such an act to seek entry into the House.

Within a day, the rebellious spirit spilt over to the opposition benches when Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal compared Congress legislator Sukhpal Singh Khaira with a bird while making a reference to a debate on the turban issue. The House unanimously passed a resolution asking the Union government to initiate a move to end ban on Sikh students wearing a turban to school or work in France. 

But Khaira’s objection to the delay in bringing the resolution to the House was rebutted by Badal where he compared Khaira to a bird found in Punjab. This led to a walkout and a subsequent boycott of the remaining period of the House, also a first of its kind in the history of the Vidhan Sabha.

Because most senior Congress leaders like CLP leader Rajinder Kaur Bhattal remained out during the entire session as they are camping in Delhi for party tickets for the parliamentary seats, even junior leaders chose to remain out. Even an appeal by Badal asking them to come back and debate issues did not move them. 

They preferred to sit in dharna, saying there was no need to go in because the Speaker had not extended the session. Resultantly, no significant issue or concern of people of Punjab was raised in the House.

This was a rare Budget session where Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal did not present a regular budget, but sought a Vote-on-Account to run Punjab for the next four months. The ride for Manpreet was smooth as there was no opposition in the House to ask him questions on his financial wizardry. 

Most other questions raised by members of the treasury benches pertained to their particular constituencies and did not have a bearing on rest of the state.

The House also saw Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal attend his first session in his elevated capacity. But much to the disappointment of the visitor and press galleries, he did not utter a single word throughout the session. “I am observing the proceedings and getting used to the Vidhan Sabha, which is different from Parliament,” he told reporters.

The Governor’s address too was a repetition of issues and demands made by the SAD-BJP from time to time. Most of the issues were raised only on the floor, but never pursued outside, may it be transfer of Chandigarh to Punjab or more water from Punjab based upon its riparian rights. 

Like on several occasions in the past seven Bills were passed on the last day of the House in barely 15 minutes. Overall the Budget session of the assembly passed off as a non-event.

Phagwara, March 10
Kapurthala SSP Ram Singh suspended three policemen posted at Chaheru police post falling under Sadar police station, Phagwara, for calling two women at the post without the presence of any woman constable in connection with the case.

Confirming this, the SSP said head constables Inderjeet Singh, Baljinder Singh and constable Gurmukh Singh were suspended as they had defied the directions of not calling any woman at the police post orstation without the presence of any woman constable.

He said a copy of the order of their suspension was also sent to Chief Electoral Office, Punjab, in view of the model code of conduct for the upcoming Lok 
Sabha elections.

Chandigarh, March 10
Haryana cops, dismissed from service last year for their alleged involvement in Sarita rape case, today sought judicial intervention for their reinstatement. Rohtak-based Sarita had committed suicide in front of state police headquarters at Panchklula.