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’84 Anti-Sikh Riots SGPC president Avtar Singh addresses mediapersons in Amritsar on Friday.
Photo: Vishal Kumar
SGPC seeks death for Tytler, Sajjan
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US Army Ban on Turban
PTU results: VC rules out technical error
Hotelier Chatwal takes dip in sarovar
‘No differences with Amarinder, Bhattal’
Farmers, agents block traffic
Truckers to launch stir today
Panel urges PTU to start 6-yr degree course
EC slashes state’s demand for forces
Rain upsets harvesting plans
Asthana in spot again
MC chief, doc lock horns
New look for AG office
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SGPC seeks death for Tytler, Sajjan
Amritsar, April 10 This was stated by SGPC president Avtar Singh here today. He said the withdrawal of ticket of Tytler and Sajjan by the Congress high command was not enough because the Sikh masses wanted death penalty for the guilty of riots. He said it was a matter of great concern that the victims of the riots had not got justice even after 25 years of the massacre. The SGPC president said Jarnail Singh, who had hurled a shoe on Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram, could join as media adviser any time. While supporting the action of the journalist, he said it was an emotional outburst because he himself was a witness to the anti-Sikh riots.
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SGPC writes to Obama
Varinder Walia Tribune News Service
Amritsar, April 10 The SGPC president also sought the intervention of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in the matter. The SGPC has described the ban as violation of the UN Charter of Human Rights. An emergency meeting of the Chief Khalsa Diwan held under the presidentship of Charnjit Singh Chadha here today described the decision of the US army to ban wearing of turbans by the Sikhs as “anti-religious act”. The meeting termed it unfortunate that two Amritsar-born Sikh medical professionals and student of the local Khalsa College, 2nd Lt Tejdeep Singh Rattan, a dentist, and Capt Kamaljit Singh Kalsi, a doctor, were told by the US army to remove their turbans and cut their hair and beards when they report for active duty in July, 2009. They are part of an army programme that pays for medical education in return for military service. At the time of their enrolment, military recruiters assured them that their turbans and unshorn hair would not be a problem. Captain Kalsi and 2nd Lieutnant Rattan maintained their Sikh identity throughout graduate school, during specialised army training, at army ceremonies and army medical facilities. The meeting lamented that four years later, the US army was telling both Sikhs that the recruiters’ assurances were false and that they would have to forsake their religious practices. Sikh Coalition, an advocacy group for the Sikh community, is going to file a formal complaint with the Department of Defence’s Inspector-General on April 14 on behalf of these two Sikhs. They are also contemplating lodging their protest on Baisakhi. The Akal Purkh Ki Fauj, headed by SGPC member Jaswinder Singh Advocate, and Charnjit Singh Gumtala, patron, Amritsar Vikas Manch, have condemned the decision of the US army to ban turban and other articles of Sikh faith. According to Gumtala, both Sikh officers could serve the US army well without compromising their faith. Moreover, Col Arjinderpal Singh Sekhon, a doctor, and Col GB Singh, a dentist, continued to serve in the US army with their turbans and unshorn hair for the past 25 years, he said. They both retired in 2008.
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PTU results: VC rules out technical error
Chandigarh, April 10 Talking to TNS, PTU VC Dr Rajnish Arora said there were no glitches in the compilation or uploading of the results and he had till date not received any complaint regarding the same. The management of the Chitkara Institute of Engineering and Technology, however, informed TNS that they have given a written representation to the university last week when the results were declared on the issue and were still waiting for a response from the university. President of the state Unaided Private Engineering Colleges Association JS Dhaliwal added that colleges were getting together to take up the matter with the university. The VC said students of the college from Lalru, who had been mentioned in the news report in these columns today, were actually on training and had never appeared in the seventh semester examinations. The authorities at the Swami Parmanand College of Engineering and Technology, Lalru, were, however, quick to point out that their students had appeared in the seventh semester examinations after which they went for training in the eighth semester. Students of the Chandigarh College of Engineering, Landran, too were facing a similar fate. A student, who had left the college last year, has been “passed” with flying colours by the university, while another student of information technology has been “failed” in a subject of electronics engineering, which she never appeared for. “The university should be careful in declaring results as seventh semester students are either already placed or waiting for placements. Their careers can be affected severely for no fault of theirs,” said SS Sandhu, director of the college. Meanwhile, students of the Institute of Engineering and Technology, Bhaddal, Guru Teg Bahadur Institute of Engineering and Technology, Chappianwali Malout, Rayat and Bahra Institute of Technology, Ropar, also called up The Tribune office to repeat that majority of their classes in some subjects have been failed by the university.
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‘No differences with Amarinder, Bhattal’
Patiala, April 10 At the same time, Lal Singh said his first priority was to bury differences, if any, between party leaders at the grassroots level. He said people of the state were fed up with the policies of the ruling party and the Congress would be winning all 13 Lok Sabha seats of the state. Interestingly, Lal Singh, a former Punjab Finance Minister, was very close to former Chief Minister Capt Amarinder during the previous Congress regime, but their relations had got strained after the SAD-BJP combine came to power. Now, he and Amarinder have seemingly buried the hatchet, either sensing the mood of the high command, or keeping in view the forthcoming parliamentary polls. “I had no differences with Amarinder or Bhattal at any point of time. There was not an iota of truth in these ‘rumours’. I want to clarify once again that all have supported me unanimously,” said a visibly elated Lal Singh.
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Aliwal to rejoin SAD today
Ludhiana, April 10 Aliwal, who has been MP from the Ludhiana constituency in 1996 and 1998, had distanced himself from the party during the last parliamentary elections after he had been denied ticket. Sharanjit Singh Dhillon had been named the SAD candidate then. He had joined the Akali Dal (1920) during past elections though he did not remain very active.
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Farmers, agents block traffic
Khanna, April 10 Former chairman of the market committee Harbans Singh Rosha said a large quantity of wheat is lying in the grain markets, but the government agencies were ignoring the pile up. For the past more than four days, these farmers are sitting in the grain market protecting their produce. Farmers trashed claims of the state government that procurement was going on smoothly. They said unseasonal rains had led to an increase in moisture content of wheat grains and government agencies are shying away from buying stock due to this factor. Farmers also alleged that the grain market is ill-equipped to meet their requirements. There are not enough sheets to cover their produce against rain. Sukhwinder Singh from Salana village said some agencies had kept threshold value of moisture content at 12 per cent, whereas it is flexible. “During loading and unloading, the moist gets dried up. Certain agencies buy wheat with moisture contest even up to 13 per cent,” he added. Sukhminder Singh Mangat, secretary, market committee, said the moisture content in grains should not be more than 12 per cent. “Owing to rain, the grain could not get dry, hence could not be procured,” he said. Procurement: BKU forms teams Ludhiana
(TNS): The Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) today constituted teams, which will grain markets in the state to redress farmers’ problems during the ongoing procurement season of wheat. Confirming the development following a state-level meeting of the union today, Ajmer Singh Lakhowal, president of the union, said: “We will compile a data on wheat arrivals and its procurement process. Based on the findings, we shall also prepare a report, particularly with regard to the problems faced by farmers and their possible solutions”. The Election Commission has allowed Lakhowal, who is also the Chairman of the Punjab Mandi Board, to visit mandis during the procurement season with the rider that the officers concerned give an undertaking regarding their visits. Lakhowal said the board had set up a control room in Chandigarh with four officers on permanent duty. A team of officers, specially designated for the procurement-related duty, would rush to the spot, in case of an emergency. He said: “I am aware about the problems faced by farmers in storing their wet produce. The wet grains have lesser storage life”. He also asked the farmers against harvesting wet crop. “The procurement agencies are strict regarding the procurement of wet crop. In case of the crop already harvested and threshed, we will try and ensure best money deals. However, farmers should avoid harvesting the wet crop,” he added.
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Truckers to launch stir today
Jalandhar, April 10 The All-India Motor Transport Congress, that represents 45 lakh truckers across the country, held talks with top officers of the Centre, including those of the National Highway Authority of India in Delhi, yesterday. Its president Charan Singh Lohra told The Tribune today that the Centre had stabbed truckers in the back by breaking the agreement that was reached on among them on July, 2008. The Centre had committed then that it would not hike the toll on any national highway for one year. It had also promised to keep a distance of 100 km from one barrier to another, he said. Lohara said the Centre had announced a steep hike in the toll on various national highways early this week. The toll on the Delhi-Jaipur national highway had been enhanced from Rs 160 to Rs 442 for trucks and on the Vijaywara-Kajha national highway, it had been raised from Rs 100 to Rs 160 per truck. On the Krishnagiri-Phophur national highway, it had been raised to Rs 269 from Rs 168 and on the Surat-Dahisar highway from Rs 233 to Rs 349 per trip per truck. Lohra, who presided an emergency meeting of the congress today, said the Union Surface Transport Ministry had virtually sold all national highways to private companies, which were charging toll without following any rules and regulations. Earlier, there were four categories of vehicles on which toll was charged but now a multi-axle vehicle category had been added to the list. The toll on multi-axle vehicle would be one and a half time more than other vehicles, he said. He made it clear to Union Surface Transport Secretary Brahm Dutt, NHAI head Brajeshwar Singh and other authorities concerned that the truckers would pay toll on old rates only. He said toll on various roads in Punjab was also raised early this week. It had been raised on the Jalandhar-Phagwara-Chandigarh road since April 4. Lohara said the road network should be created with the taxes collected from people. In the name of creating more infrastructure, the government assets such as road networks, hospitals, etc, were being handed over to private companies by ruling politicians to mint money, he alleged.
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Panel urges PTU to start 6-yr degree course
Jalandhar, April 10 Referring to a study that has indicated that the percentage of rural students is just 3.71 per cent in the technical and other professional courses, the commission has told the PTU that it should start a six-year degree course in professional and technical streams with matriculation as eligibility qualification. For first two years, students should be imparted education in science, mathematics and English and after that they should be upgraded to the technical degree courses they opt for. In a letter written to the Vice-Chancellor, Dr Rajnish Arora, member secretary of the commission KS Pannu has stated that earlier the number of students in professional and academic courses in Punjab Agricultural University (PAU), Ludhiana, had gone down abysmally. However, on the intervention of the commission, a six-year degree course was started there. Things have improved remarkably in the PAU after that. Recently Punjabi University has released the findings of a study conducted by its three teachers, Dr Ranjit Singh Ghuman, Sukhwinder Singh and Jaswinder Singh Brar. According to the study, only 2,085 (3.71 per cent) of the 56,240 students enrolled in all courses being run by institutes and colleges affiliated to the PTU, Baba Farid University of Health Sciences, Thapar University, Sant Longowal Institute of Engineering and Rajiv Gandhi National University of Law are from the rural areas. The share of men students is only 2.87 per cent. Poor infrastructure in government school and colleges in rural areas and exorbitantly high fees and sundry expenses of higher professional courses, coupled with low-level of income, have been main reasons behind the systematic exclusion of rural students from the benefits of higher professional courses. National as well as state-level entrance tests are inhibiting the entry of rural students in professional courses.
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EC slashes state’s demand for forces
Chandigarh, April 10 The EC has informed the state that only 86 companies of additional forces can be given to the state. Sources say following the EC communication, the state’s Home Department has sent a fresh request to the EC for additional forces and reply in this regard is awaited. While it is being hoped that the state will be given additional forces, the EC’s communication has upset the elaborate security arrangements chalked out by the police for the elections. Senior policemen pointed out that in case the EC did not agree to the fresh demand, the state would have to thin down the security arrangements at deras and other vulnerable points to meet the election duty demands. ADGP, elections cell, SM Sharma said the first set of paramilitary and armed police would start arriving in the state from May 2. “Till then, once the process of filing of nominations begin, we will be deploying our own men for election duties,” he said. According to the security plans chalked out by the state police, almost 75 per cent of the state police employees and 50 per cent of the Punjab Armed Police (PAP), besides the outside paramilitary forces and armed policemen would be on duty for the elections. The state’s own 14 companies of the PAP would be sent outside the state for the elections. As many as 30 per cent of 10,600 polling booths in the state had been identified as sensitive and tight security arrangements have also been planned for certain constituencies. Interestingly, while the Home Department is feeling the pinch of their demand having not been met, Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal had announced in February that there was no need of Central security forces in the coming Lok Sabha elections in the state. “It was during the previous Capt Amarinder Singh regime that central security forces were required as maximum highhandedness and use of muscle power had taken place in the elections during his regime,” he said.
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Rain upsets harvesting plans
Ludhiana, April 10 A visit by The Tribune team to surrounding villages in the district showed farmers with drooping faces. The wet crop means lesser returns. Further, a sizeable portion of the wet crop will get blackened, lowering the prices further. Eightyseven-year-old Baisakha Singh from Churpur village said, “We have stopped the harvesting of the crop because the soil is wet and the fallen wheat needs time to recover. In case there is no rain now, we will start harvesting the crop after 10 days. There are certain areas with sandy soil in the district where the process can begin after a week.” Harkishan Singh, a resident of Mundian Kalan village, said, “I’m lucky because I had planted the crop about a week later than the normal time. The yield is still green and will stand the impact of the rain.” This year, the Grain Market of Khanna has seen a sizeable arrival of the wheat crop. “Many farmers had harvested their crop and planned to come a little later. The rain has forced them to come early because they fear they will loose on crop pricing if they were late.” Kulbir Singh from Jamalpur said, The cost of the combine and thresher has gone up due to rain, by at least Rs 500 per acre. The fallen crop at many places will have to be harvested by the labourers, who, too, will charge us extra.” Sukhminder Singh Mangat, secretary of the Khanna market, said as compared to the arrival of only 5,700 quintal of wheat so far, last year we had received more than 81,000 quintal of wheat.
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Asthana in spot again
Chandigarh, April 10 The Punjab Pradesh Congress Campaign Committee had submitted a complaint to the Chief Election Commissioner of India questioning Asthana’s role in the SAD and his presence at the SAD meetings presided over by its president Sukhbir Badal. Col CD Kamboj (retd), coordinator of the campaign committee, had alleged that Asthana’s presence at the Akali meetings was aimed at influencing his subordinates to work for Akali candidate Prem Singh Chandumajra. A delegation of the committee met the CEO, Punjab, Kusumjit Sidhu and demanded action against Asthana. Asthana was the SSP, Patiala, but was later posted as DIG, Patiala, even as his batchmate Arpit Shukla was posted as the SSP of the district under him. However, Asthan was removed as DIG following the directive of the EC.
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MC chief, doc lock horns
Pathankot, April 10 DSP Ranvir Singh said the police was investigating the matter. Vij said he had only asked Dr Goel to show the site plan of the hospital building being raised on a piece of land situated on the Durga Mandir road, but instead of showing the site plan, the doctor allegedly summoned his supporters and soon a scuffle broke out. On the other hand, Dr Goel said here today that Vij and his son Ashish Vij prevented him from starting the construction of his private hospital building. He said he had obtained the permission from the municipal council to raise the hospital and also got a site plan approved by the Town Planning Department. Meanwhile, Vij said residents of the area had filed a complaint with the council objecting the construction of a commercial venture in the residential area.
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New look for AG office
Chandigarh, April 10 Chief Justice Tirath Singh Thakur of the Punjab and Haryana High Court on Thursday visited the renovated office in the Punjab Bhawan complex, and was appreciative of the work carried out to give a fresh lease of life to the dilapidated building. Chief Justice Thakur was accompanied by state Advocate-General Hardev Singh
Mattewal, Chief Secretary Ramesh Inder Singh and about 70 high court and Apex court advocates from Punjab, Haryana and Delhi. Punjab and Haryana High Court Bar Association president Rupinder Khosla too was present at the function, along with Punjab Bhawan’s Resident Commissioner Sudhir
Mittal. The Chief Justice expressed hope that the renovated complex would provide congenial atmosphere to the staff to discharge their day-to-day professional duties, diligently and efficiently.
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Resham Singh, another eyewitness of the anti-Sikh riots of 1984, at present settled in the US, has come forward to record his statement before the CBI against Congress leader Jagdish
Tytler.
Farmers and commission agents today blocked traffic on the Samrala road in protest against government procuring agencies.
These farmers and commission agents (arhtiyas) had come to sell produce at the Sardar and Rohon grain markets on the Samrala road.