Jalandhar, March 26
There is no dearth of drugs and mobile phones in an overcrowded Jalandhar Central Jail. Five consignments of drugs and three mobile phones have been seized in just past 10 days in the jail.

According to sources, mostly three ways are being adopted by miscreants to supply drugs and mobile phones into the jail, which has remained in news for violence by prisoners on January 7 and May 30 last year.

As earlier reported, miscreants throw drugs into the jail from across the wall adjoining the Luxmi Narayan Temple road. Secondly, undertrial prisoners get drugs and cellphones from their known persons during their appearance in court and hide those in their undergarments or shoes. Thirdly, the visitors give drugs, mobile phones and SIM cards to prisoners during visiting hours.

Jail Superintendent SP Singh, who joined on March 5 after his transfer from Amritsar, said he had been trying his level best to block all routes of the supply of those things into the jail.

He said a number of seizures of prohibited items had been made in the recent past.

Faulty CCTV cameras have been non-operational since the violence occurred in the jail on January 7 last year. SP Singh, however, said those would be made operational soon.

Meanwhile, SP (City I) Gurpreet Singh Toor said adequate police personnel in uniform as well as in plain clothes would be deployed on the road adjoining the jail. However, he said there was no need to install CCTV cameras on the road.

The Punjab government is already constructing a new modern jail at Theh Kanjla village in Kapurthala district. The Jalandhar jail had been built in the 19th century during the British rule.

Jalandhar, March 26
As rice storage crisis has deepened in Punjab, rice millers , who have halted paddy shelling,, have urged the Union government to lift ban on the export of non-basmati rice.

Most of the millers today tried to meet senior Punjab Food and Supplies Department officers to urge them to deal with the crisis. ‘We have capacity to shell 20 lakh tonnes of paddy every month but we have curtailed our shelling to bare minimum as covered space was not available to stack rice. At some places millers stopped shelling completely due to lack of space for stacking of rice”, said Tarsem Saini, president of the Rice Millers Association.

As Punjab is facing rice glut, the Union government should allow export of non basmati rice to solve the problem of rice stacking in the state, said Balbir Singh Rajewal, president of the Bharti Kisan Union( BKU), who meting today the Secretary, Food and Supplies, Punjab.

Rajewal said another crisis would hit Punjab next week as wheat procurement agencies would have to stack wheat also in covered stores. “ A government officer told me today the Union government had conveyed it would not accept wheat stacked in the open”, said Rajewal.

In fact, already 75 lakh tonnes of food grains- 50 lakh tonnes of rice and 25 lakh tonnes of wheat, are lying in covered stores. Total capacity of covered stores is 104 lakh tonnes. Covered space will be required to stack 32 lakh tonnes of rice which is to be delivered by rice millers to the Food Corporation of India( FCI). Besides, covered space would be required to store 105 lakh tonnes of wheat which will be procured by the government agencies in four weeks, starting from April 1. In other words, covered space is available only to stack 29 lakh tonnes of foodgrains whereas it is required to stack about 110 lakh tonnes of food rains including fresh arriving in market on April 1.

“ As situation on food front has become comfortable, the Union government is not bothered about managing foodgrains in Punjab Neither it was allowing export of wheat and rice. At least export of wheat should be allowed to Pakistan through Wagah border”, said Rajewal. Country would have to face serious consequences of leaving Punjab in the lurch at this stage, said Rajewal. Many faults were being found now with Punjab’s rice and wheat because country had become food surplus, he said. Two years ago, when country was facing serious crisis and had placed orders to import wheat, the Union government was even ready to buy chaff along with wheat and rice, said Rajewal

In fact, the country has surplus of wheat and rice. Against the requirement of 40 lakh tonnes of wheat buffer stock, the country has 70 lakh tonnes. 

Jalandhar, March 26
The Punjab and Haryana High Court today issued notices to the state government and the Election Commission of India seeking their reply by April 2 on why the Nurmahal assembly byelection could not be conducted simultaneously with the parliamentary polls.

Admitting the petition of Amandeep Singh Farwala, the court referred the matter to the bench of Chief Justice TS Thakur, who issued the notice of motion to the state government as well as to both state and central Election Commissions on the issue.

The issue may cause embarrassment to the state government since it was reluctant to conduct the byelection along with the parliamentary elections fearing an adverse impact on the poll outcome due to a strong anti-incumbency wave.

The Nurmahal seat fell vacant after the untimely demise of sitting Akali MLA Gurdeep Singh Bhullar on December 28. Surprisingly, the segment was not included in the recently announced schedule by the ECI for assembly byelections in the country.

The petition, filed through former Senior Advocate-General, Punjab, Bharatveer Singh, states the Lok Sabha election will be held in two phases in Punjab and the parliamentary constituency, under which Nurmahal falls, would be held during the last phase of the polls on May 13.

Under the circumstances, it would be better if the bypoll could be conducted along with the LS polls that would not result in a drain on the public exchequer and there would be no need to repeat the whole exercise just after a month. It is mandatory to conduct the bypoll by June 26, 2009, the petition states. 

Chandigarh, March 26
The Punjab Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) has sent the compact disc showing Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) Jalandhar candidate Hans Raj Hans addressing poll meeting in the community hall of a gurdwara in Phillaur sub- division of the constituency to the Election Commission.

Sources said here, the Jalandhar Deputy Commissioner, who is also the electoral officer for the constituency, had submitted the disc recording of the meeting to the CEO here. The recording shows Hans addressing a gathering in the community hall of the gurdwara in Dosanjh Kalan village.

There was complaint against Hans addressing election meeting in the gurdwara’s community hall, which was part of the gurdwara complex, in violation of the model code of conduct.

Meanwhile the Election Commission has disapproved request of the Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB) to give connections to below poverty line (BPL) families. As much as 90 per cent of the cost of these connections is subsidised by the government. The commission has however approved distribution of tube well connections under the ‘own your transformer (OYT) scheme to farmers who had deposited money for it before March 2 this year. As many as 30,000 farmers stand to benefit under this scheme.

An official spokesman said the CEO had asked for reports from around 15 departments following complaint from Congress’ Bathinda candidate Raninder Singh. The Congress candidate has mentioned the police and the PSEB and other departments were working to directions of the SAD. The official spokesman also said reports received regarding red lights allegedly sported by Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal and BJP leader Rajinder Bhandari said the red lights were sported on vehicles belonging to their security in charges.

The commission has directed the state government to remove lists of achievements made by them in their official websites. The Department of Information and Technology is expected to look into the directions and comply with.

Amritsar, March 26
A Chinese saying goes: “At the back of a successful man, you would always find a woman.”

However, after paying obeisance at the Golden Temple here today, following her announcement as the joint candidate of the SAD and BJP from Bathinda, Harsimrat Kaur Badal said it was now the turn of her husband, Sukhbir Singh Badal, Deputy Chief Minister, to ensure her victory.

She asked all her family members and party workers to join her in the election campaign against the Congress candidate, Raninder Singh, son of former Chief Minister Amarinder Singh.

Both Harsimrat Kaur Badal and the Deputy Chief Minister were honoured at the SGPC’s Information Office with siropa (robe of honour). Satyajit Singh Majithia (father) and Bikram Singh Majithia (brother) of the Akali candidate from Bathinda were also present.

Talking to the media, the Deputy Chief Minister said the Akali Dal would contest Lok Sabha elections on the agenda of development. He claimed the SAD-BJP combine would win all the 14 Lok Sabha seats, including Chandigarh. He said Varun Gandhi, a BJP leader, had uttered highly provocative words against the minorities.

With no love lost between Amarinder Singh and the Badal family in Punjab politics, the contest for the Bathinda seat will be the focus of the parliamentary elections in Punjab’s 13 Lok Sabha seats.

Both Raninder and Harsimrat are greenhorns in the political arena. 

Chandigarh, March 26
The Sehajdhari Sikh Federation (SSF) has asked the Election Commission to take punitive action against the SGPC and the leadership of the SAD for violating the election model code of conduct by releasing Nanakshahi Calendar carrying the photograph of a damaged Akal Takht.

In a letter to the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), the federation has said the SGPC does not take any action without consulting the SAD, so the latter should also be held guilty along with the SGPC for the release of the calendar.

Federation’s president PS Ranu has said the SGPC has failed to come up with a satisfactory reply to the objections raised by the SSF. Besides, it has not replied to specific objections thereby indicating that it had defied the code. The SSF has again raised objections, seeking a ban on the calendar as “it is aimed at drawing political mileage”.

According to the SSF, “the photograph of Akal Takht on Nanakshahi Calendar issued by the SGPC would certainly result in whipping sentiments of Sikhs, which is bound to defy the election code of conduct during elections, for which the EC need to take serious note and take the SGPC to task for doing so”.

“India as nation is going through hard times of terrorist threats and sporadic attacks. This type of actions by religious organisations like the SGPC, which are well known and under the control of political parties like the SAD, are preparing to throw their weight behind these parties. The calendar issue is just the tip of the iceberg.”

Sangrur, March 26
The Congress today put up a united face at the launch of the election campaign of Congress candidate from Sangrur Vijay Inder Singla here. Singla has been chosen by Rahul Gandhi though there were six aspirants, including Rajinder Kaur Bhattal’s son Rahul Inder Singh Sidhu, for the seat.

This united face of the Congress is being considered as a danger signal for SAD candidate Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa, whose name was even today mentioned in her speech by Leader of Opposition in the assembly and MLA from Lehragaga Rajinder Kaur Bhattal. She termed Dhindsa as an “empty cartridge” and Vijay Inder Singla as a “cannon ball”.

The function was attended among others by six Congress MLAs, Rajinder Kaur Bhattal (Lehragagga), Surinder Pal Singh Sibia (Sangrur), Kewal Singh Dhillon (Barnala), Kuldip Singh Bhattal (Dhanaula), Harchand Kaur Ghanauri (Sherpur) and Surjit Singh Dhiman (Dirba). However, Malerkotla MLA Razia Sultana was represented by Suleman Josh who spoke on her behalf. Though former Sangrur MLA Arvind Khanna was not present, Avtar Singh Ealwal addressed the function on his behalf.

Among others who attended the function were Aman Arora, Mai Roop Kaur Bagrian and Surinder Kaur Balian, all unsuccessfully contested last assembly elections on Congress ticket from Sunam, Dhuri and Bhadaur, respectively. Former Punjab Minister Jasbir Singh Sangrur, former Dhuri MLA Dhanwant Singh, former MLA Bachan Singh Pakho, Rajinder Deepa from Sunam, Sanmukh Singh Mokha also from Sunam, also attended the function.

Singla said Patiala was his “janam bhoomi”, but from today the Sangrur constituency was his “karam bhoomi” (work place), so give him an opportunity to serve this constituency. He assured the people of all-round development of the constituency.

Bhattal said she had requested Rahul Gandhi to visit Sangrur first during his election tour programme. She said a 21-member election campaign committee was being formed in Punjab.

Today’s gathering and enthusiasm among Congress leaders showed that Singla would give a tough fight to Dhindsa, SAD (A) candidate Simranjit Singh Mann and other candidates in the poll fray.

New Delhi, March 26
Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee office- bearer and ticket aspirant from Gurdaspur Swaran Salaria today joined the BJP.

The BjP was quick to welcome Salaria into its fold and named him chairman of the party’s state campaign committee. He was welcomed into the party by national president Rajnath Singh, who claimed the BJP would retain all three seats it was contesting in Punjab - Amritsar, Hoshiarpur and Gurdaspur.

A Mumbai-based businessman, who became popular in Gurdaspur for organising Baba Ramdev’s yoga camps, Salaria claimed energising the Congress in Punjab and explained switch -over, saying, “The BJP credits loyalists and is not like the Congress which ignores ground-level workers. I worked relentlessly for the party in Punjab but what did I get in the end. My name was short listed for Gurdaspur by the Central Election Committee but vanished when the final list came.” Salaria lost the Congress nomination of Gurdaspur to former Minister Pratap Bajwa.

Salaria said he would do his best for the BJP in Punjab and campaign for Vinod Khanna, the three-time MP, seeking reelection from the border area.

Born in Gurdaspur but settled outside, Salaria is Rajput and is said to have some sway in the Rajput vote base of Hoshiarpur and Gurdaspur. He was also Congress’ observer for the Jammu and Kashmir elections held last year, and said to have been promised ticket by the Congress high command.

Salaria, joined the BJP in the presence of party spokesperson Balbir Punj, Punjab BJP president Rajinder Bhandari and Punjab BJP Kisan Morcha president Jitendra Atwal. But Punjab Congress sources said Salaria was essentially an outsider, who wanted ticket from his birthplace Gurdaspur.

Vinod Khanna, said “Swaran Salaria has been working in Gurdaspur for long and his joining the party would impact our prospects in Punjab. Congress’ loss is our gain.”

Ferozepur, March 26
Upset over the recent allegations of the Punjab police regarding smuggling of arms and drugs through the Indo-Pak border, Union Minister of Home Affairs P Chidambaram, along with senior officials of the ministry, Intelligence Bureau and the BSF, visited frontier areas of Hussainiwala in this district today.

His visit was kept secret and no official of the BSF was willing to comment on the visit. Sources in the state intelligence revealed that Chidambaram interacted with the jawans of the BSF and enquired about their working. 

He arrived by a chopper in the morning at Ferozepur and straightaway went to Hussainiwala where he addressed jawans of the BSF.

Thereafter, the minister visited war memorial, national martyrs’ memorial, the samadhi of Shaheed Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev where he paid tributes to the martyrs. Sources revealed that he visited various border outposts along the Indo-Pak border in this sector. The minister interacted with farmers of the border villages working in the fields across the fencing.

Jalandhar, March 26
In what may be termed lack of coordination between senior Congress leaders of the state before Lok Sabha elections, former Chief Minister Amarinder Singh and state Congress president Mohinder Singh Kaypee have convened separate meetings of core group of party leaders and the PPCC at different venues, Patiala and Chandigarh respectively, on Monday.

While Amarinder stated in a section of the media on Thursday that Kaypee would not have time to attend the meeting of the core leaders in Patiala as he was candidate from the Jalandhar constituency, the state Congress president made it public in Jalandhar today that a PPCC meeting would be held in Chandigarh on Monday to discuss different poll-related issues.

When his attention was drawn to the proposed meeting called by Amarinder Singh in Patiala on Monday, Kaypee said if it was so, the PPCC meeting would be postponed to Tuesday. Kaypee said he would campaign in all 13 constituencies .

Mohali, March 26
When it comes to time management, Punjab politicians have learned their lessons. Even as the election campaign is yet to pick up, the politicians are spending their time in rural areas.

Knowing well that elections are coinciding with the harvesting season, the politicians have started mobilising the voters in the rural areas. The mobilising in form of social get-togethers and small meetings are being held.

As the elections draw nearer, the energy would be focused on urban and semi-urban areas. The SAD candidate from Anandpur Sahib, Dr Daljit Singh Cheema, said for the moment the focus was on rural areas, keeping in mind the availability of the masses.

The political activity is visible in the rural areas in Mohali, Kharar and Morinda Assembly segments. Once the harvesting season begins, the rural electorate would have little time to participate in electioneering. Since a major part of the constituency has rural area, the changed political boundary of the parliamentary seat could force candidates to rework their strategies

On the other hand, the Congress candidate, Ravneet Singh Bittu, is also launching his campaign in the rural areas in the coming days. Compared to Dr Cheema who was already campaigning for the last over one month, the congress candidate is late in starting his campaign.

Rajbir Singh Padiala, son of a former MLA from Kharar, Late Bachittar Singh, claims that compared to relatively less voter turnout in urban areas, the rural voters are crucial of all the candidates. There are many pending issue concerning the rural voters that could be hard for the candidates to face. Development of the rural areas, availability of electricity and water for irrigation could turn out to be major issues of the rural voters. 

Nabha, March 26
The building, which houses the Lions Club in the town, has dilapidated water tank. Almost every day functions take place in the Lions Club and the place below the tank is used for parking. A samadh also exists there and it is visited by people. Piece of land below this tank belongs to the Municipal Council which has abandoned it to be encroached on by influential persons. The water tank was constructed by the Sewerage and Water Supply Board and handed over to the MC. The water tank has not been used by the MC for 20 years and it was declared unsafe many years ago. Despite warning in the media as well as by residents, the administration is not dismantling it. Many times people escaped from the falling cement plaster from the water tank. In absence of any security guard or employee of the MC youths and children also try to climb stairs of the tank. This may also cause accident as the stairs are almost broken.

Near this water tank are e godowns of the District Food Supply Department which are in the form of ‘storage bins’ over 1.5 acres and meant to store one-lakh bags of paddy or wheat. Such ‘bins’ were constructed in 1965 in the major towns of Punjab with grants from the World Bank. These have not been in use since 1985 and were declared unsafe and an order was passed in 2000 to dismantle these but nothing happened so far. The department has also constructed some offices under these unsafe ‘bins. Residents say the administration will wake up only after a tragedy.

Sangrur, March 26
A seminar on “Organ donation awareness” was organised by the local Scientific Awareness and Social Welfare Forum in association with the Gift of Life-Organ Donation Awareness Society (GLODAS), Ludhiana, at the Akal Degree College for Women here yesterday. About 250 students and teachers from five educational institutions attended the seminar. Dr GPI Singh, Head, Department of Community Medicine, DMC, Ludhiana, delivered the key-note address at the seminar.

Addressing the gathering, Dr Singh said if one was in a position to donate an organ to save another’s life, then there must be a feeling of donation in him even if he (donor) did not know about beneficiary. In India there were about 1.5 lakh patients (per year) with the end stage of renal disease, but only 3,000 got donors every year. There were about 50,000 patients with end-stage of heart disease in India, but only 26 transplantations had taken place so far. There were about one lakh patients with end-stage of liver disease, but only 200 transplantations had taken place so far.

President of the Forum Dr AS Mann emphasised on the need of spreading awareness among people to donate organs of their near and dear ones, who had already been declared as “brain dead persons” by Boards of doctors to save precious lives of living patients.

Patiala, March 26
The Consortium of Indian Farmers Associations (CIFA) has urged the Central government to implement recommendations of the National Commission on Farmers headed by Prof MS Swaminathan.

CIFA demanded minimum support price (MSP) for all farm products based on costs be fixed and then minimum 50 per cent representing risk factors and family labour added to make MSP remunerative.

Satnam Singh Behru, president, Indian Farmers Association, Punjab, said provision of innovative and modern agriculture implements for sowing and harvesting be provided at subsidised prices to farmers, panchayats and other non-government organisations (NGOs).

CIFA also urged the Centre to provide ample and quality electricity and also plan small power projects for the benefit of farmers.

Ruing falling water table in the country, CIFA urged the government to programme to recharge underground water through percolation tanks.

On crop change which, it said, was depleting water resources fast, CIFA said the Union government should ensure that farmers come out of the paddy- wheat cycle.

It also emphasised the need of popularising organic farming.

CIFA wanted all levy schemes on procurement of crops scrapped and the Centre should purchase crops from market to help below poverty line (BPL) families.

The demand to put agriculture in the concurrent list was also made. CIFA also sought a separate budget for agriculture.

Chandigarh, March 26
The Punjab and Haryana High Court today virtually passed strictures against the Punjab Secretary, Rural Development, for succumbing to the pressure build by a coloniser through the Rural Development and Panchayat Minister.

“He should have been bold enough to stick to his view,” Justice Ranjit Singh asserted.

The case pertains to land exchange. The coloniser, Country Colonisers Private Limited, wanted shamlat land of Sukhgarh village in Mohali district in lieu of its land in Raipur Khurd. In the process, he was being helped by the panchayat of Sukhgarh village.

However, the matter was brought under the high court’s scanner by 25 residents of the village. Terming the panchayat’s action as illegal and guided by extraneous considerations, they had sought directions for quashing it. During the petition’s hearing, it transpired the prime land under exchange measured 111 kanal and 10 marlas.

The coloniser apparently wanted the land in Sukhgarh village as his land in Raipur Khurd fell in the institutional zone and a residential colony could not be built on it.

“One need not stretch much to find that the land in the institutional zone would certainly not be equal in value to the land in residential or commercial zone,” Justice Ranjit Singh ruled.

In his details order running into over 25 pages, Justice Ranjit Singh took note of the contention that the Secretary, Rural Development, had initially taken a stand against the exchange.

But the “power of the coloniser was so overwhelming that the Rural Development and Panchayat Minister, on July 30, 2007, directed the land in Raipur Khurd to be reassessed”. The deputy commission concerned was appointed the committee chairman. After carrying out the process, the same value was reassessed.

Subsequently, the secretary, “who had earlier rejected the proposal for exchange, endorsed the report, which was then approved by the minister without much fuss”.

“The secretary, rural development, was expected to stand up and not succumb in the matter as is done. He could not have ignored valid grounds taken into consideration by him earlier. Influence of the Rural Development and Panchayat Minister seems to have weighed heavy on him…. He should have been bold enough to stick to his view, which was appropriate and as he has rightly assessed that this exchange would lead to profit of nearly Rs 2 crore per acre to the coloniser, which shall be a resultant loss to the gram panchayat”, Justice Ranjit Singh maintained.

Allowing the petition, Justice Ranjit Singh added “the evaluation done by the committee, which has been subsequently been approved and the exchange ordered, cannot be accepted as it suffers from apparent influence and apparently is not bonafide exercise of power”.

Sangrur , March 26
Nirmal Kaur and her 15-year-old daughter Mehakpreet Kaur, residents of Turi village (near Bhawanigarh), today died in a mishap at Bhawanigarh, 22 km from here, when their scooter was allegedly hit by a four-wheeler. Maljinder Singh, husband of deceased Nirmal Kaur, was hurt .

According to Bhawanigarh police this evening a case under Section 279, 304-A, 337 and 427 of the IPC was registered against the driver of the four wheeler.