Amritsar, April 8
Activists of the Sant Samaj, Sikh Student Federation, Damdami Taksal and other Sikh organisations today blocked the Amritsar-Delhi rail line. Express trains, including Shatabadi from Delhi, were affected by the agitation.

They were demonstrating against CBI’s clean chit to Jagdish Tytler and his nomination, along with Sajjan Kumar, for elections from New Delhi. Holding placards and banners, the activists raised slogans against the Congress-led UPA government and demanded the severest action both Congress leaders for their alleged role in the anti-Sikh riots of 1984.

Meanwhile, trains coming from Delhi halted at Jandiala and Manawala while the others did not leave Amritsar in views of the agitation.

Tight security had been maintained by the Railway and district police to prevent damage to public property.

The protest continued for more than three hours as the activists squatted on the tracks from 11.30 am to 3 pm.

Jalandhar: Members of the Gurmat Sidhant Pracharak Sant Samaj, a conglomerate of various Sikh organisations, blocked railway tracks at various places for four hours between 11 am and 3 pm.

Agitators, led by SGPC chief Avtar Singh and the president of Sant Samaj Harnam Singh Khalsa, squatted on the rail track near Dakoha village in Jalandhar to stop the Ludhiana-Amritsar passenger train.

The protesters were raising slogans against the Congress, its president Sonia Gandhi and the CBI. Some were also heard raising slogans in favour of late Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale.

Meanwhile, the Jamnagar-Jammu train was stopped by railway authorities at the Chaheru station, near Jalandhar. According to railway sources, the Flying Express was stopped at the Amritsar railway station as a precautionary measure.

Ferozpur: Members of the various Sikh organisations, including AISSF (Mehta) and AISSF (Grewal) on Wednesday held a protest against allocation of ticket to Congress leaders Jagdish Tytler and Sajjan Kumar for their alleged involvement in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots. The agitating crowd blocked the rail traffic for some hours. Prominent amongst those who participated in the protest included Bhai Jaspal Singh, Harpal Singh, Bhagwan Singh, Sucha Singh, Daljit Singh, Navnit Singh, Shingara Singh besides leaders belonging to AISSF (Grewal) Paramjit Singh Kalsi and others.

Sangrur, April 8
President of the Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar) Simranjit Singh Mann has offered the party ticket from the Amritsar Lok Sabha (LS) constituency to Sikh journalist Jarnail Singh who had hurled his shoe at Union Home Minister P Chidambaram in New Delhi yesterday in protest against the clean chit by the CBI to Congress leader Jagdish Tytler in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots case.

In reply to a question here today, Mann asked all Panthic parties to extend support to Jarnail Singh if he accepted his offer and contested from the Amritsar LS seat on his party ticket. He said India had failed to understand the pain of Sikhs regarding the 1984 riots, and hurling of shoe by Jarnail was an outcome of that pain.

Mann said the SAD, led by Sukhbir Singh Badal, was supporting Varun Gandhi, BJP candidate from Pilibhit, who had made a hate speech against Muslims and Sikhs, but the same SAD was opposing allotment of tickets to Jagdish Tytler and Sajjan Kumar by the Congress.

Mann also appreciated the decision taken by Jasjit Singh Bunny, son of late Punjab Cooperation Minister Capt Kanwaljit Singh, to oppose the SAD leadership and its candidate in the Patiala LS constituency. He asked other Akalis to follow Bunny.

Mann said his party would contest LS elections on several issues, including war against poverty and unemployment, injustice to minorities and development of the state.

He said his party had been increasing its base as workers of the Shiv Sena (Hindustan) and the Lok Bhalai Party (LBP) had today joined the SAD (A) here. He also asked the candidate of the SAD from Sangrur Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa and candidate of the LBP Balwant Singh Ramoowalia to tell people what they had done for Sangrur during their respective tenures as Union ministers.

Ludhiana (OC): The Punjab Danga Peerit Society has announced that they will honour Jarnail Singh with a gold medal. The society will soon organise a function to honour the journalist for expressing the sentiments of riot victims, said Surjit Singh, president of the society.

Surjit alleged that the CBI was influenced by the Congress and the clean chit to Jagdish Tytler and Sajjan Kumar came as a bolt for thousands of families who were devastated during the 1984 riots. Avtar Singh Karampuri, a candidate for the BSP, said successive governments at the Centre had failed to punish the culprits.

Jalandhar, April 8
A day after the incident of shoe throwing at Home Minister P Chidambaram by journalist Jarnail Singh, PPCC president Mohinder Singh Kaypee said the Punjab Congress had apprised its party high command about the sentiments of Punjabis over the allotment of ticket to Jagdish Tytler and Sajjan Kumar.

Terming the incident as an outburst of anger, Kaypee said the Congress high command was reconsidering its decision of fielding Tytler and Sajjan Kumar, indicted by the Nanavati Commission for anti-Sikh riots of 1984.

Avoiding direct reply on the CBI clean chit to Tytler, Kaypee said the court would provide justice on the issue. The court would decide whether to accept or reject the CBI report on Tytler, he added.

Kaypee here today to attend the function where SAD councillor from ward number 55 Aruna Arora and her husband Manoj Arora rejoined the Congress.

The state Congress president claimed several Akali leaders and workers were feeling suffocating in the SAD in the manner it had humiliated late minister Capt Kanwaljit Singh’s son Jasjit Singh Bunny and his family.

To a query, Kaypee, who was accompanied by two former ministers Avtar Henry and Gurkanwal Kaur, said the doors of the Congress were open for Bunny.

Jalandhar, April 8
The Union Surface Transport Ministry and the All- India Motor Transport Congress today signed an agreement on single permit for the entire country for truckers, conceding the major demand of the country’s 45 lakh truckers.

With a changed transport policy, the truckers will have to pay Rs 15,000 fee for the permit. The new provision will save truckers from the harassment they faced in the existing multi-layer permit system from which states earned Rs 891 crore. The agreement signed will take effect before January 1 next.

The meeting to introduce single-permit system was held today in Delhi. AIMTC president Charan Singh Lohara from Punjab and other members attended the meeting. On the behalf of the Union government, Union Surface Transport Secretary Brahm Dutt, Joint Secretary, SK Dash and Transport Commissioners and Transport Secretaries of some states attended the meeting. Dutt and Lohara signed the agreement.

On a call of the Motor Transport Congress, truckers went on strike a few weeks ago for single-permit system and streamlining of toll system in the country. Truckers called off the stir as the Union government formed committees to resolve the issues. After meetings with truckers, the committee headed by Dutt today signed the agreement.

Lohara said the existing national permit system was a source of harassment. For national permit, a trucker had to pay Rs 15,000, but could ply truck only in three states of choice mentioned in the permit besides his home state. For plying truck to other state, a trucker had to pay Rs 5,000 more for each state. That money was going to the states concerned. It was a big burden on truckers.

Lohara said some states apprehended a revenue loss with a single permit system. But the Union government and the AIMTC have assured the states to review the decision after one year. If revenue of states falls below Rs 891 crore, then a way will be found to compensate the states losing revenue. However, if the single-permit system increases revenue of states, it will be spent on road safety measures.

The fee for single permit will be deposited in the State Bank of India to be shared among the states concerned later on the basis of criteria decided at the meeting today.

No Punjab Transport Department officer attended today’s meeting in Delhi. Punjab has 65,000 trucks. Only one officer from Punjab attended last meeting. “Punjab officers care the least for good decision for truckers,” said Lohara.

Chandigarh, April 8
Farmers in Punjab and parts of Haryana who are seeing their wheat crop being flattened by intermittent rain and hail for the past two days got a further battering from the rain gods today even as reports of clear skies from tomorrow are the only silver lining in an otherwise gloomy week for agriculturists.

According to the Meterological Department here, Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh are expected to see clear skies for the next seven days till Baisakhi, which may itself start off a race to harvest the ripe crop. However, this would only be possible in areas, which have seen little to moderate rainfall.

Met office Director Chatar Singh Malik disclosed that Patiala had witnessed the maximum rainfall of 34 mm in the region. He said Amritsar and Ludhiana had witnessed just traces even as Ambala and Karnal say 5 and 6 mm of rainfall.

Sources disclosed that parts of Patiala, Fatehgarh Sahib and Hoshiarpur had been hit by a hailstorm today, which caused extensive damage to standing wheat crop.

The Punjab government has, meanwhile, received reports of crop damage due to rainfall around a fortnight back. The state is expected to fork out Rs 5.22 crore as relief at the rate of Rs 5,000 per acre with district administrations reporting crop damage in 2,617 acres in Amritsar, 1,319 acres in Sangrur, 5,416 acres in Ludhiana, 1,386 acres in Moga and 3,100 in Jalandhar.

Meanwhile, Bhartiya Kisan Union (Rajewal) president Balbir Singh Rajewal claimed that the Election Commission (EC) was unfairly stopping the State Food and Supplies Minister and the Mandi Board Chairman from visiting mandis to check ongoing procurement facilities.

He alleged that the EC was acting like a Congress Commission by coming in the way of mechanised transplantation of paddy and other facilities being extended to farmers in the state.

Chandigarh, April 8
By offering a minimum support price (MSP) of wheat at Rs 1,080 per quintal, the government has almost wiped out private traders and flour millers from Punjab mandis. Private players had a large presence in the mandis till two years ago, but are now unable to match the price being offered by the government for the produce.

Last year, by the end of the first week of April, private players had procured about 968 metric tonne of wheat. This time the figure has crossed 1,639 tonne, but this is mainly because of early arrivals in the mandis.

Deterring private players from entering Punjab mandis are the plethora of taxes, including 4 per cent mandi fee, 4 per cent purchase tax, 3 per cent infrastructure cess and 2.5 per cent arhtiya’s commission.

Naresh Ghai, president, Punjab Flour Millers Association, said in Punjab, wheat was available at a price of Rs 1,160 a quintal for processors and Rs 1,250 a quintal for traders. “This year we are procuring wheat from Uttar Pradesh where we are able to buy wheat at Rs 930 per quintal. Bringing it to Punjab will raise its cost not more than Rs 1,100, including tax and transportation,” he said.

Punjab mandis are, however, witnessing a hectic procurement by government agencies this year. Last year, till April 7, the state agencies had procured only about 30 tonne of wheat, while this year the figure has crossed 252,330 tonne.

“This year we are having a steady flow of wheat into the mandis since April 2. Last year arrivals were really slow till Baisakhi after which the mandis were suddenly glutted. In fact, last year in 10 days after Baisakhi, we had the kind of arrivals which we normally have over 20 days,” pointed out SP Singh, Director, Food and Civil Supplies, Punjab.

Among the state agencies, Punsup has procured the largest amount of wheat at 68,662 tonne followed by Markfed (63,643 tonne), Punjab Warehousing (34,401 tonne), Punjab Agro (34,019 tonne) and Pungrain (24,225 tonne). The FCI has procured 27,360 tonne of wheat.

Chandigarh, April 8
The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) today did another rejig of its candidate list in Punjab to accommodate former Uttar Pradesh bureaucrat Rai Singh who has now been given party ticket from Fatehgarh Sahib (reserved) after he announced his resignation from the Congress.

Rai Singh, who had been camping in Fatehgarh Sahib for the past few months and was also included in the Congress panel for allotment of the party ticket, said he was quitting the Congress in protest against its anti-Dalit stand as well as “protection” being given to leaders like Sajjan Kumar and Jagdish Tytler despite their alleged role in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.

BSP national general secretary and in charge of Punjab affairs Narinder Kashyap, while announcing Rai Singh’s candidature, said the party had made a change in Fatehgarh Sahib because it had received reports that its candidate Gurnam Singh Sewak was not being able to conduct an effective election campaign.

The BSP leader, when asked whether changes in the candidate list would send a wrong signal to party workers, said this was not the case. He said party workers were convinced that the exercise was aimed at bringing in candidates with better winning chances.

He admitted that the party was rethinking about former police officer Madanjit Singh’s candidature from Sangrur but he said this was purely due to health reasons. The party had earlier changed its Ferozepur candidate Harbhajan Awla and brought in Gurdev Singh Mansahiya.

Kashyap also announced that the Gurdaspur ticket had been allocated to Thakur Sohan Singh, former president of the Pathankot Bar Association, following a demand from the Rajput community.

He also announced that party president Mayawati would address a “maha rally” in Ludhiana on April 28.

State president Avtar Singh Karimpuri said those responsible for the anti-Sikh riots should get punishment not power. He said similarly Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal had been part of the NDA government but done nothing to bring those responsible for the anti-Sikh riots to book.

Ropar, April 8
The SAD-BJP candidate from the Anandpur Sahib Lok Sabha constituency has written to the Election Commission of India, demanding action against Congress candidate and president of the Youth Congress Ravneet Singh Bittu.

Bittu allegedly got an advertisement in a vernacular daily published in the form of news report, which also carries photographs of Dr Daljeet Singh Cheema, BJP’s Avinash Rai Khanna and BJP senior leader Madan Mohan Mittal.

“Nobody can carry our photographs without our permission. The advertisement has been designed such that it seems to be more like a news report. This is against the code of conduct of the EC,” Dr Cheema said.

Dr Cheema has sought inquiry into the matter.

Jalandhar, April 8
For the first time in the state, CCTV cameras will be installed at polling booths in highly sensitive Lok Sabha constituencies. The Election Commission of India has conveyed its decision in this regard to the office of the Chief Electoral Officer.

The CCTV cameras will record the entry of each voter into the polling booth. The job to select the sensitive booths has been left to the poll observers, it is learnt.

Keeping in view a fierce rivalry among main parties in the elections, the Election Commission is not taking any chances.

Sources said the poll observers would take the help of senior police officers to identify the highly sensitive booths. Police officer at the district level have already identified highly sensitive booths.

The commission has got the report that there will be a fierce contest in Bathinda where candidates of two big families, Badals and erstwhile royals of Patiala, are pitted against each other.

In fact, Bathinda has been counted among the most sensitive constituencies in the country.

There is all possibility of high-profile electoral battles in Amritsar, Gurdaspur, Patiala and Khadoor Sahib. At Amritsar Navjot Singh Sidhu of the BJP is contesting against OP Soni of the Congress and in Gurdaspur, actor Vinod Khanna is contesting against Congress candidate Partap Singh Bajwa.

In Patiala, Congress candidate Preneet Kaur is pitted against the SAD candidate Prem Singh Chandumajra. In Khadoor Sahib, the fight is between Rana Gurjeet Singh (Congress) and Dr Rattan Singh Ajnala (SAD).

The police has been asked to keep a watch on 2,139 persons, who are referred to as bad characters in police record.

Chauke (Bathinda), April 8
Residents of this hamlet, that over the years has come to identified as village of widows and orphans due to the large number of suicides by farmers in debt, feel cheated by governments that have shown only lip sympathy towards them. They intend to make politicians realise their indifference to their problem when they come for votes in Lok Sabha elections.

The village has hardly any house that has not lost a breadwinner of the family. Magar Singh, village elder, has a list of all 43 victims of suicide in a register and shows it to visitors.

Gurmail Kaur, an elderly woman with poor eyesight and hard of hearing, with tears, narrates how her only son Gurpreet Singh committed suicide by consuming pesticide following pressure by the arhitiya from whom he had raised loan that had increased in a short span.

Most of the suicide victims had borrowed from arhitiyas, so the Centre’s scheme of waiving the debt did not apply to them.

Another elder, Dhana Singh, pointed out that suicides by farmers had not stopped in the village and the recent one by Gurnam was committed last week, he claimed.

He regretted that instead of helping the families of those who committed suicide, the SAD-BJP combine government was playing politics by providing oldage and widow pensions and cheap ration only to its supporters in the village.

Responding to the announcement over the public address system of the village gurdwara, many old women and men, whose family members had committed suicide, turned up there to narrate their woes to this correspondent.

Sobbing Jameer Kaur said her husband Jaimer Singh and son Bhola Singh committed suicide in a period of one month. The old woman is shattered and left alone.

Harpal Kaur said her husband Beant Singh died 11 years ago by consuming insecticide. Surjeet Kaur said her daughter-in-law Surinder Kaur immolated herself as the arhitiya pressured her husband to return the loan of Rs 4 lakh. Joga Singh said his son Jarnail Singh, scared of the arhitiya, committed suicide a year ago.

The villagers were critical of the government for failing to provide them with potable water and send a doctor and staff in the dispensary locked for two months.

Jalandhar, April 8
In a campaign against black money stashed in foreign banks, the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) plans to target people in 300 cities and towns of the country, besides sending more than 10 lakh e-mails appealing people to vote for the NDA in the Lok Sabha elections.

Talking to The Tribune from Gandhinagar, Gujarat, Amit Thaker, national president, BJYM, said seminars would be held to create awareness on the need to bring back black money from tax havens across the globe for nation building.

They would seek people’s views online, and Internet users could log on to their site www.bjym.org. Indians should raise voice against black money stashed in Switzerland based accounts of Indian tax evaders, corrupt individuals, criminals, corrupt politicians and others.

Chandigarh, April 8
Punjab rice millers today threatened to stop trains in the state from April 15 in protest against the non-extension of rice milling period and acute shortage of space for storing paddy crop.

“We will stop trains from April 15 from Fatehgarh Sahib if the Centre did not accede to our demands,” Punjab Rice Millers’ Association president Tarsem Saini told reporters here today.

Rice mill owners made this announcement here today after holding a dharna in front of the FCI office.

About 3,000 mills in the state have been forced to halt their milling operations in view of non-extension of milling period beyond March 31 by the Centre.

“Our rice mills have stopped working from April 1 as the Centre has not extended the rice milling period till June 30,” he said, adding, “As a result of it, just 60 per cent milling operations have been completed against 80 per cent done last year,” he said.

He apprehended if the Centre did not extend the milling period, then paddy worth Rs 5,000 crore would get destroyed. — PTI

Chandigarh, April 8
Varsity students, opening the chapter of litigation for compelling the university authorities to function their way, are likely to fail in their endeavour.

The Punjab and Haryana High Court has ruled: “It will be a risky exercise for the court to breathe down the affairs of the university, just in order to please some of the students”.

The observations by Justice K Kannan come on a petition by Upinder Singh and other petitioners. They were seeking directions to Baba Farid University of Health Sciences and other respondents to conduct supplementary examination forthwith.

The intention behind filing the petition was to make them “eligible to compete for entry into postgraduate courses of MD and MS after completion of one year apprenticeship following MBBS course”.

Justice Kannan ruled: “The admitted case is that the persons who have approached this court, have failed in one or more subjects in the final MBBS course in the examination held in November-December 2008”.

After hearing rival contentions, Justice Kannan added: “It shall normally be left to the wisdom of the university to prescribe the date to regulate their own functions. Unless the conduct is patently arbitrary and capricious, there is hardly a scope for the court to dictate to the university a time schedule in its exercise of jurisdiction under Article 226…

“While the grievance of the petitioners, who are aspirants to higher courses, could not be turned as outlandish, it will have to still stand within the realms of the university.

“The university hardly requires any sagacious counsel from courts when it could normally be believed that university has the best of guidance of its own academician and persons who have the students’ interests in their hearts and soul.

“Under the circumstances, it is difficult, nay improper, to intervene on behalf of the students and mandate the university to prescribe the time schedule in the manner just sought for the petitioners”.

Dismissing the revision petition, Justice Kannan said: “The conduct of supplementary examination involves a process…. It will have to take within its fold preparation of question papers by entrusting the job to the competent persons, working out the time schedule for the exams which shall not clash with other examinations, provision for invigilation, correction of papers and making arrangements for viva voce by persons who can competently handle an oral test”.