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Admn not to fiddle with Jallianwala Bagh Activists of the Shaheed Bhagat Singh Naujawan Sabha and student unions force entry into the Jallianwala Bagh in Amritsar on Monday. Photo: Vishal Kumar
Sikh clergy sort out differences
Board cancels school’s affiliation
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Time not right to join politics: Kiran
Pak Hindus welcome reinstatement of CJ
No truck moves to Lahore
Chandigarh police to charge PCA
Khalsa College convocation: 367 given degrees, 3 medals
Acquisition of Land
People against poll rallies at religious places
PTU to give scholarships to rural students
Ex-MP Surinder Kairon dead
Subsidy on paddy transplanter, laser leveller
Canada positive on trade with India
Prisoner tries to commit suicide
Cops fined for bail-order violation
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Admn not to fiddle with Jallianwala Bagh
Amritsar, March 16 With the administration’s decision, month-long uncertainty over the matter, which had the potential to snowball into a major issue in the ensuing parliamentary election, has been put to an end. The amicable resolution was reached at only after an unconditional release of detained activists of the agitating groups. Earlier, activists of the sabha and the federation managed to sneak into the Jallianwala Bagh in the morning. The moment the police realised about the intrusion, it closed all gates of the garden at about 10 am. Tourists had to face a tough time waiting for entry into to the historic garden. The police had deployed police personnel, including women staff, and installed a metal detector at the garden after the agitation of the sabha and the Punjab Students Union on February 12. Meanwhile, as per the proposed agitation, activists of the agitating groups gathered in front of the Hall Gate in the noon. Holding placards and banners and raising slogans, they walked towards the garden at about 12:30 pm. They squatted in front of it where already a posse of policemen, including mounted police, was deployed. Among others Jaswinder Singh Dhesi and Pargat Singh Jamarai, president and secretary of the sabha, respectively, and general secretary of the PSF Gurjinder Singh Randhawa addressed the agitators. In the meantime, the district administration called their leaders for the meeting. The DC announced that it was unanimously decided that the script of proposed light-and-sound show would be allowed to read by the members of the sabha and the federation, all construction work in the garden would immediately come to a halt and no entry fee would be charged.
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Sikh clergy sort out differences
Amritsar, March 16 They offered to amend Nanakshahi Calendar to meet the aspirations of Jathedars of Patna Sahib and Hazur Sahib after consulting Sikh intellectuals and Sikh organisations. Both Takht Hazur Sahib and Patna Sahib had refused to implement the Nanakshahi Calendar and had been celebrating all Sikh events as per the traditional Bikrami Calendar. These Takhts celebrated the 400th anniversary of Guru Granth Sahib and the tercentenary of its Gurta Gaddi Divas as per the traditional Hindu calendar. According to the Nanakshahi Calendar, all gurpurbs and other important dates of the Sikh history have been fixed on the basis of 1469, the year when Guru Nanak Dev was born. The Nanakshahi Calendar is tropical, based on “barah maha”, and authored by gurus. It starts from the month “chetra” (the first month of the year as per the Nanakshahi Calendar). Talking to The Tribune on the phone, the SGPC president said the meeting with the Sikh Clergy of Hazur Sahib was held in a cordial atmosphere. He said they agreed to sort out all differences regarding maryada. Meanwhile, SGPC president said he asked Jathedar Hazur Sahib that the Sikh clergy should not have made a complaint to the police, Prime Minister and Chief Minister of Maharashtra when they were threatened by two former presidents of Takht Hazur Sahib Management. Instead, they should have summoned them at Takht. However, SGPC president said the Sikh clerics claimed that they were kept in dark by the present management committee of Takht Hazur Sahib that complaints were being forwarded to the police or politicians. On the other hand, SGPC president urged Jathedar Kulwant Singh to prevail upon Dr PS Pasricha, president of the Takht Hazur Sahib Management Committee, to get baptised as per Sikh maryada.
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Board cancels school’s affiliation
Nangal, March 16 In a letter to the school principal and the board authorities, it has been stated that the affiliation stands cancel as the society, Dayanand Public School, Sector 1, Ropar, does not own the school land. 50 years ago, the local National Fertilisers Unit (NFL) had given this land on lease to the society. The lease ended on November 11, 2008, and has not been renewed till date. Also, as per the board letter, this place was given to Arya Samaj for the construction of a temple and not a school. The society was issued a show-cause notice on July 29, 2008, and was given 10 days’ time to submit its evidence and documentary proof. The authorities failed to produce the lease deed and other documents. The board has withdrawn affiliation to the school from April 1 onwards. Former secretary of Arya Samaj, Naya Nangal, Yashpal Dogra said he had complained to the board in this context. “Acting on our complaint, the board has withdrawn the affiliation to the school that has more than 800 students and classes up to plus two,” he said. Principal of the school Pushpa Mittal said the board had renewed school’s affiliation. “Today, I had a word with the personal secretary of the PSEB Chairman and he asserted that our affiliation stands intact. We have submitted certificate of safety provided to us by the Municipal Council, Nangal. Also, the NFL has extended the lease deed,” she said. Mittal added the personal secretary had asserted that the affiliation letter can be collected within a day or two.
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Time not right to join politics: Kiran
Amritsar, March 16 Dr Bedi, the first woman IPS officer and native of the holy city, said she had been approached by various national political parties with an offer to join the electoral battle on her own terms and conditions, but she had declined as the time was not ripe. She said she would decide her own time to play the role in active politics. At present her priority was to concentrate on social welfare projects. Dr Bedi said she left the police force after putting in more than three decades in the service of the nation and added that in case the parties were interested to induct her in the political arena, she would be glad to be nominated to the Rajya Sabha, but not fight the elections. She said in case she joined politics, it would be to serve people as a sole mission and not as a profession. Talking to the media here today, Dr Bedi said the present political scenario was horribly flawed where the political leadership breached the trust and betrayed the voter’s confidence. She said she was serving people as a private person through her three NGOs working to uplift the lot of the common man, including drug addicts, and bring about reforms in jails. Commenting on women’s reservation in the political arena, she said the current independent educated women were creating their own space and one day their collective empowerment would force the government to give them their due. She would fully back the 33 per cent reservation in legislative assemblies and Parliament.
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Pak Hindus welcome reinstatement of CJ
Amritsar, March 16 A 274-member jatha of Pakistani Hindu pilgrims that crossed over to India through Samjhauta Express at the Attari railway station here expressed hope of early resolution to the problem in Pakistan. The jatha was lead by Gobind Ram Makhija of Gotki district in Sindh province of Pakistan. Talking to The Tribune, Makhija claimed that there was absolutely no difficulty for Hindus in Pakistan, especially in Sindh province. When asked about many Hindu families having left their homes in Pakistan to settle here amid growing influence of Taliban in the neighboring country, he said it was a disturbing trend, but expressed hope that they would not spread their tentacles to other parts of the country. He said the reports of their (Judges) restitution had come as good news. The jatha will participate in the 49th death anniversary of their religious preacher Raja Ram in Raipur. The jatha, comprising 224 men and 50 women, was welcomed by Surinder Kumar Billa, president of the All-India Hindu Shiv Sena, at the railway station.
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No truck moves to Lahore
Amritsar, March 16 Exporter Rajdeep Uppal said the land route at Attari post was shut down and no truck was allowed to cross over due to clampdown by security forces in Lahore. The transport system had been dislocated due to disorder in Pakistan. — OC
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Chandigarh police to charge PCA
Chandigarh, March 16 The UT police has raised a bill of over Rs 10.5 lakh for the security arrangements it did for the teams while they were in Chandigarh during the test match between England and India in December 2008. For the same match the Punjab police had raised a bill of over Rs 66.8 lakh for providing security to the players at the PCA stadium in Mohali but, as is well known about PCA, not a single penny
has been paid. The Chandigarh police has raised this bill following an audit objection. “In response to the audit objection, we had asked the police the send the bill to the
PCA,” said UT Finance Secretary Sanjay Kumar. Going by the Punjab police’s past experience, the Chandigarh Administration should harbour no hope of PCA paying up. “We had send a bill of over Rs 49 lakh for the India-Australia match held in October 2008 to PCA but are yet to receive any money,” added SSP SAS Nagar Jatinder
Aulakh. Various Police Acts clearly provide for charging of a fee for providing security at events, which are commercial in nature. Police heads of other states including Maharashtra, West Bengal and Karnataka, have been charging for security arrangements made outside stadiums during important international cricket matches. In Punjab these bills are raised under section 10.21 of the Punjab Police Rules 1934. While the PCA sells tickets and also earns millions from telecast rights, the state government does not earn anything from the whole exercise. Not even entertainment tax from the sale of tickets! For the conduct of IPL matches in Mohali in April-May last year, the SAS Nagar police had raised a bill of Rs 1.9 crore but no payment was made. Sources add that till date the PCA owes over Rs 5.6 crore to the Punjab police for its services rendered during various matches since 1995. Why the Punjab government does not insist on its police being paid and continues to virtually subsidise the organising of matches is any one’s guess. Senior IAS and IPS officers of the state are embedded in the management of the PCA and are known to misuse their official staff and vehicles for the “efficient” organising of the matches.
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Khalsa College convocation: 367 given degrees, 3 medals
Amritsar, March 16 Prof Mool Chand Sharma, Vice-Chancellor, Central University, Haryana, stated this in his address at the 103rd convocation of graduates at Khalsa College here today. Hardev Singh Mattewal, Advocate-General, Punjab was the chief guest on the occasion. Mattewal advised students to strive for better results and channel their energy in a positive manner, staying away from drugs and following teachings of the Gurus. Professor Sharma said it was good to talk and think about competitiveness in the today’s world of globalisation, scientific research, marketing, consumerism etc, but acquiring higher education was higher than earning a good salary. Quoting Mahatma Gandhi, he said education must include serving higher purposes of society’s welfare and nation building. He said rising corruption, growing consumerism and criminal tendencies among the youth manifested highly professional, educated and highly placed persons ignoring these principles. Earlier, Satyajit Singh Majithia, president, Khalsa College Governing Council, welcomed the dignitaries. Dr Daljit Singh, principal, Khalsa College, read out the annual report. As many as 367 graduates in the disciplines of science, commerce, arts, agriculture and bio-tech were conferred degrees, while 35 university toppers were also given medals. Three members of the management, including Harminder Singh, Tarlochan Singh and Nirmal Singh, were also honoured for contribution to education social service.
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Acquisition of Land
Sangrur, March 16 At Moonak the protesters sought the market price of the land to be acquired by the state government for constructing bandh on both sides of the Ghaggar from Phulad village to Karrail village in the second phase. Besides this, they also demanded compensation for tube well bores, fruit trees, kothas and trees, situated on the land. Another demand was construction of bandh before the ensuing monsoon season to save the standing crops from the floods. Talking to The Tribune president of the Lehragaga block of the BKU (U) Balbir Singh Jhaloor said the dharna at Moonak would remain continue till the acceptance of the demands. At Dhuri, the farmers and activists of the BKU (U) demanded action against a patwari who had allegedly taken Rs 34,000 from three farmers of Kalleran village to do their work, but failed to fulfill the commitment. State press secretary of the BKU(U) Hardip Singh Tallewal said the union leaders had earlier met the Dhuri SDM either to direct the patwari to return the money to the farmers or initiate legal action against him, but to no avail. He said the protesters today also took out a march through the town and burnt the effigy of the Badal government.
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People against poll rallies at religious places
Ramdas (Ajnala), March 16 People had gathered at the venue to hear Sidhu, but were disappointed as he refused to talk politics in a shrine. Sidhu was ready to address the rally, but his confidants told him not to do so as it amounted to code violation. The rally, organised by SAD MLA Amarpal Singh Boney at Baba Budha Singh Ramdas Smadh, received flak from the public. Sevadar of the shrine Randhir Singh of Pandori Ramdas village said the rallies were being organised in the shrine so that langar (community kitchen) could be served to people attending the rally. But such rallies should not be organised in religious places as it amounted to misuse of funds of the shrine, he added. Earlier, Boney said they were sitting in the Guru’s house and as the LS election bugle had been sounded, it was their duty to support Sidhu to strengthen hands of Parkash Singh Badal and Sukhbir Singh Badal, Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister, respectively. Later at a rally at Ballarhwal in Ajnala, Sidhu lashed out at the Congress-led UPA government for failure to implement the common minimum programme. He said the latest World Bank development report had said the NREGA scheme was impeding development and poverty alleviation. He said migration should be encouraged as it helped people out of poverty. He claimed distribuing Rs 2.75 crore from his MPLAD fund for development of Ajnala, but his predecessors had disbursed only Rs 68 lakh in 20 years for Ajnala.
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PTU to give scholarships to rural students
Chandigarh, March 16 PTU was found to have only 2.97 per cent rural students enrolled in various institutions affiliated with it, following a study conducted by Punjabi University, Patiala, recently. The study was conducted after inviting information from 70 per cent of institutions affiliated with it. PTU Vice-Chancellor Rajneesh Arora told TNS that the technical university would earmark Rs 1 crore for distribution via scholarship in the first year. He said the proposal envisaged giving a scholarship amount to deserving students from rural areas in the state. Students who have either done matric or plus II from rural areas will be considered rural students under this scheme. The Vice-Chancellor also disclosed that “taking a cue from the report on rural students which appeared in The Tribune”, he had constituted an advisory committee which would be entrusted with the responsibility of suggesting ways and means to further increase the number of rural students in professional institutions in the state. The committee, which would comprise eminent educationists, scholars and media personalities, would hold its first such meeting in the first week of April. PTU is also in the process of creating further “awareness” among its affiliated colleges under its “go rural go global” motto for the next academic session. He said all institutions would have to carry out a vigorous awareness programme regarding the number of seats available with them, especially the 5 per cent seats that were already earmarked for rural students in the state. Dr Arora said besides this an additional 10 per cent seats had been earmarked for poor but meritorious students, whether from rural or urban areas. Meanwhile, Dr Arora said there were seats for rural students in professional institutions but they remained unfilled in many cases, mainly because very few rural students took up the non-medical stream in plus II. He said according to the latest figures of the Punjab State Education Board only 22,000 students were clearing the plus II examinations in non-medical, medical and commerce streams. “This leaves us a very small pool for admissions in professional courses,” the Vice-Chancellor said adding it was important to increase the talent pool available to the state. He said the issue needed to be addressed at the level of the state Education Board.
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Amritsar , March 16 He was taken to a private hospital at 9 pm where doctors declared him brought dead. He is the father of Adesh Pratap Singh Kairon, Food and Civil Supply Minister. The cremation will take place tomorrow at Kairon village in Tarn Taran district. Meanwhile, Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal condoled the death of Kairon. — TNS
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Subsidy on paddy transplanter, laser leveller
Chandigarh, March 16 Sources said in the amended proposal,t it had been recommended farmers be allowed to import mechanised transplanters and laser levellers. It has also sought from the commission permission to distribute gypsum to farmers on subsidised price to treat soil before the onset of paddy season. Sources said the department aimed at facilitating the import of 700 mechanised transplanters and offer subsidy of 50 per cent of the cost of the machine or Rs 1.50 lakh per machine. The department has proposed to give subsidy of 33 per cent or Rs 1.25 lakh per machine on laser levellers. The new proposals are comedown from earlier proposal to allow sale of rotavators, happy seeders and other equipment through over 200 agricultural societies in the state on subsidy to farmers. The department will plead denial of permission for these subsidies would hit t the farmers and the two- year old programme to mechanise paddy transplantation. Meanwhile, Bharatiya Kisan Union (Lakhowal) president Balbir Singh Rajewal met state Chief Electoral Officer Kusumjit Sidhu and requested her to take back the ban on agri subsidies announced by the commission. Rajewal said agri subsidies, including those on mechanised transplanters were essential to ensure smooth transplantation of paddy.. He said use of laser levellers was prerequisite for a farmer wanting mechanised transplantation. Meanwhile, the Election Commission today recommended suspension of Talwara Block Development and Panchayat Officer (BDPO) Baldev Singh. There were complaints he had distributed cheques. The commission also ordered the transfer of two Bathinda naib tehsildars Gurmail Singh and Subhash alleged to be working in their home districts. The commission has also directed the secretary, Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB) to give report on allegations that the office of PSEB, north under Chief Engineer TS Thind had distributed meters and violated and model code of conduct.
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Canada positive on trade with India
Chandigarh, March 16 On his first-ever visit to India, Lynch, who visited the Golden Temple in Amritsar yesterday, says there is a huge scope for business partnerships between India and Canada as the two nations, both members of the Commonwealth, have so many commonalities, including strong democratic traditions and the Westminster systems of governance. Besides, India and Canada have strong bonds as nearly one million people of Indian origin are Canadians of which more than 50 per cent are Punjabis. Further, Canada is a multicultural, multi-ethnic society with good public infrastructure, strong public education system, stable, peaceful, rule of law and one of world’s largest energy producers. Lynch says Canada has been able to limit its inflation to 2 per cent for the past several years and has been on the threshold of becoming the country with the lowest corporate income tax among G7 nations. Canada lays emphasis on higher education. As much as 43 per cent of Canadians have post-secondary education. Canada, rich in natural resources, is a technology savvy nation. “Our biggest claim to the technology world has been the hand held Blackberry that many people mistake it to be of American origin. We have been successful in applying technology to our natural resources well and accelerate our infrastructure development. “It is Canada that is the largest supplier of crude oil, natural gas and electricity to the US,” claims Lynch. Talking about supply of nuclear fuel to India, top Canadian bureaucrat says after India and the US signed 123 treaties, there has been a considerable change in the Canadian policy towards India. “India has appreciated our stance,” he says. Canada has tremendous potential in several areas, including education, technology, power generation, food processing and other areas. “There is a huge scope for business partnerships in many areas as Canada offers an ideal ground for trade and business in entire North America. Unfortunately, in spite of a tremendous potential for bilateral trade, very little has been done till now. A better connectivity or networks and awareness can work wonders for promoting business between the two nations,” he adds.
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Prisoner tries to commit suicide
Sangrur, March 16 City in charge of the local police station William Jeji said today that the woman was undergoing life sentence in a murder case. She tried suicide by cutting blood vessels of her arm with a spoon, besides strangulating her neck with a cloth.—
TNS
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Cops fined for bail-order violation
Chandigarh, March 16 Notify appointment
Notify appointment of CIC before May 28, were the directions to the State of Punjab issued by Chief Justice Tirath Singh Thakur and Justice Hemant Gupta today during the hearing of PIL filed by advocate HC Arora. The Bench, on the previous date of hearing, had granted six weeks to the government to notify the appointment. The timeframe had expired on February 28. Appearing before the Bench, Punjab advocate-general Hardev Singh Mattewal said the appointment could not be made for want of consensus as the leader of opposition did not agree to the names.
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Amritsar, March 16
