Bathinda, April 23
The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) has captured signboards at all strategic places here for election campaign leaving none for the Congress.

Of the 49 signboards in parts of the town rented out by the Bathinda Municipal Corporation to two advertisement agencies, the SAD has grabbed 40 and painted election slogans of “development” theme on them.

These signboards carry advertisements of among others, upcoming Rs 18,000 crore refinery, the 2000 MW thermal power project near Talwandi Sabo, and the civil terminal at the Indian Air Force station near here. Keeping in view problem of contaminated drinking water faced by residents of the town, a hoarding with potable water coming out of a tap has also been put up.

The SAD has been choosy in hiring the signboards for election campaign and only those at strategic places have been rented . Large hoardings showing photographs of these development projects and members of the Badal family can be seen along the Mall Road, railway station road and Kotwali road. Photographs of Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, his son and Deputy CM Sukhbir Singh Badal and daughter-in-law Harsimrat Kaur Badal, who is the party’s candidate for the Bathinda Lok Sabha seat, have been printed prominently. Picture of the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate L K Advani has also been printed on some of these hoardings, but no state leader of the BJP figures on these.

Enquiries revealed the signboards have been rented to the SAD for one month. The remaining nine signboards carry advertisements of commercial banks and establishments.

If campaign through advertisements on hoardings here is any indication, the SAD is far ahead of the Congress. Party flags of the SAD and the BJP, which are coalition partners in Punjab, have been put up on private buildings and commercial establishments while those of the Congress were missing .

A Congress campaigner claimed 25,000 party flags had been distributed in the city but traders were afraid of putting them up these fearing harassment by the

“SAD hirelings” and the police. He pointed out vehicles with SOI (Students Organisation of India) stickers pasted on windscreens keep roaming in main bazaars to create fear among people. The SOI, which came into limelight during the recently held panchayat elections in the state, is considered as green brigade of Sukhbir Singh Badal. The posters and other campaign material brought for the Congress candidate, Raninder Singh, was lying in the Congress office.

Flags of other parties ,including the BSP and the CPI that are in the fray were not seen . These parties have also not yet launched poster war.

Khadoor Sahib, April 23
Late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi wanted to set up newsprint mill at India’s first Nucleus Industrial Complex (NIC) at Goindwal Sahib in Khadoor Sahib Lok Sabha constituency. He laid its foundation stone in 1988, but governments at the Centre and in the state later failed to realise his dream.

What to talk of newsprint mill, even the stone laid by Rajiv Gandhi has gone missing. With the mill project being uncertain, hopes of the owners of 160 small and medium auxiliary units set up at the NIC on 6,000 acres have been shattered.

Had the paper mill, to be set up with Rs 750 crore on 350 acres, been established, it would have provided jobs to several thousand persons and been a boon for the 160 auxiliary units, said Surjit Singh, who had set up his motor-winding copper wire unit (National Insulator) on 2,000 square yards at the NIC in 1989.

Surjit started this unit by investing his savings and even took loan of over Rs 18 lakh from the Punjab Financial Corporation (PFC).

Like Surjit, most of the small and medium-scale entrepreneurs set up units after taking loan from the PFC and the Punjab Small Industries and Export Corporation (PSIEC) and investing at least 25 per cent of costs from their pocket.

Now, all 160, except 10 units, have closed down operations as no proposed large-scale units, including the paper mill and an HMT watch unit, have become reality at the NIC.

Only BHEL established its unit at the industrial complex but that too not at as large scale as it had been announced. The BHEL invested only Rs 3 crore for the unit compared to earlier estimate of Rs 30 crore.

Most of the auxiliary units have been sealed by either the PFC or the PSIEC as the owners could not repay loan due to business loss. Now, as campaigning for Lok Sabha elections is on, the entrepreneurs demand the next government to revive the NIC by setting up proposed major units and waiving their loans, which are not more than Rs 20 crore.

Surjit Singh questioned if Amarinder-led previous government could waive loan nearly Rs 28 crore of Jalandhar MP Rana Gurjit Singh, Congress candidate from Khadoor Sahib, why could not the loan (Rs 20 crore) of 160 industrialists be waived.

The foundation stone of the NIC was laid by then Minister of State for Industries Charanjit Chanana on November 14, 1980.

Chandigarh, April 23
Commission agents or arhtiyas in Punjab have a new set of musclemen for recovering outstanding loans from the farmers - cops.

It seems Punjab Police personnel have been usurping the jurisdiction of the civil court and registering cases against loan defaulters at the behest of arhtiyas, while only a civil suit is maintainable.

In one such matter, even the opinion of the district attorney (legal) was duly taken before registering a case against a hapless farmer.

Taking a serious view of the matter, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has made it clear: This is one case where the police officials and the district attorney should be taken to task.

Quashing the FIR registered against farmer Dharam Pal Singh of Patiala district, Justice Kanwaljit Singh Ahluwalia has also issued notice to the then Patiala SP “who ordered the registration of the case, the station house officer concerned who inquired the matter and the district attorney (legal) to show cause as to why heavy costs be not imposed upon them”.

Justice Ahluwalia has also asked them to explain why “the petitioner be not compensated as they have usurped the jurisdiction of the civil court and have unnecessarily harassed the petitioner….

“This court is of the view that a poor farmer has been harassed by the police…. This court cannot be oblivious of the fact that a number of farmers are committing suicide in the state of Punjab.” The case was registered against Dharam Pal on a complaint of a commission agent, to whom Dharam Pal’s father Gurdev Singh would sell crop and borrow money. At the time of his death, Gurdev Singh had borrowed Rs 13,00,000 for household expenses.

Justice Ahluwalia observed: “It is a sad case where the police is acting as recovery agent on the behalf of the commission agent for the recovery of the loan amount.... According to the petitioner’s counsel, the period of limitation prescribed to file a civil suit has elapsed…. In case loan amount is not returned, no criminal offence is made out”.

Justice Ahluwalia also directed the SSP, the SHO and the district attorney to be present in the court in the third week of May. The order’s copy was forwarded to the state’s assistant advocate-general Mehardeep Singh for onward transmission.

Amritsar, April 23
Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee president Avtar Singh has said Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh is ‘true Sikh’ but he had done nothing for Sikhs and Sikhism.

Addressing a Shiromani Akali Dal-BJP in favour of Dr Rattan Singh Ajnala, seeking re-election from Khadoor Sahib Lok Sabha constituency at Tarn Taran the SGPC president alleged consci conscience the PM did not pricked since he did not bother to ensure justice to the victims though he had first hand account of Delhi riots in November 1984 after assassination of then Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi. He alleged the Congress Sikhs who were holding high positions in New Delhi, including Giani Zail Singh , then President of India and Buta Singh were responsible for the holocaust since they did nothing to stop the anti-Sikh riots. Dr Manmohan Singh, who later became Finance Minister of India, took charge of Governor RBI on September 16, 1982, serving till January 14, 1985.

Seeking votes for the SAD- BJP candidates in Lok Sabha election, the SGPC president said the Congress should refrain from using the words ‘vote for Sikh PM’ because he is ‘good for nothing’ so far as demands of Sikh community were concerned. He said during his meetings with Dr Manmohan Singh, he had submitted memorandum enlisting the demands of Sikh community, but he did not bother even to read them.

He said the PM did nothing to get justice for the victims of Delhi riots during his five years stint as PM .

Manjit Singh Calcutta, SGPC member criticised Avtar Singh for using derogatory language against the Sikh PM He said Dr Manmohan Singh brought laurels to the Sikh community due to his statesmanship . He said the SGPC should take pride a big political party was seeking votes in the name of a Sikh PM.

Ropar, April 23
No pong ash is being used from Ropar thermal plant for the construction of Kurali-Kiratpur Sahib stretch of the National Highway 21 despite strict guidelines of the government of India.

Under notification issued by the Union government on September 14, 1999, use of fly ash, if available, is mandatory for all projects being constructed in the 100 km radius of any thermal plant. The regulations issued by the Ministry of Environment and Forest (MOEF), government of India, states that all thermal plants will have to ensure 100 per cent utilisation of solid waste (fly ash plus furnace- bottom ash).

By not using fly ash (containing 20 per cent of burning bottom ash), the authorities are violating norms and stipulations. Last year, the construction company executing works for the national highway authority of India (NHAI) on Kurali-Kiratpur Sahib stretch, had taken just 10,000 cubic meters of ash from the Ropar thermal plant. The ash taken covers an area of just 200 meters at the point where NH 21 passes the Bhakra main line canal near the thermal plant in Ghanouli village.

Presently, ACC cement and Ambuja cement are using 80 per cent of the fly ash produced from the thermal plant, while rest 20 per cent is being added to ash dykes situated on the outskirts of the thermal plant.

In the absence of ash, the construction agency is using mud to fill the earth and raise level of the road. Most of the mud used is being brought from hills nearby.

When contacted, project director of NHAI Anil Dahiya said he was not aware of any such violation. “I will take up the matter,” he said.

Tarn Taran, April 23
SAD-BJP candidate Rattan Singh Ajnala today filed his nomination papers for the Khadoor Sahib Lok Sabha seat amid protest from the Punjab State Ministerial Services Union over the delay in the implementation of the pay panel report.

As soon as Dr Ajnala, accompanied with Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal, Education Minister Upinderjit Kaur, Prof Virsa Singh Valtoha, Amarpal Singh Boney, Adesh Pratap Singh Kairon, and Dr Dalbir Singh Verka, reached the office of the district election officer, the ministerial staff raised slogans against Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, Sukhbir and Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal. They also burnt the effigy of the Chief Minister after submitting a memorandum to Deputy Commissioner Khushi Ram.

Prof Valtoha allegedly showed his shoe to the protesting staff. Certain MLAs asked the Prof Valtoha to show restraint.

Agitated over Prof Valtoha’s conduct, the employees organisations in the district have decided to go on an indefinite strike from immediate effect till the administration registers a case against him.

Members of a sugar mill union had also organised a rally led by Harpal Singh Saran on the occasion over the non-payment of salary for the past 14 years. Earlier addressing an election rally at a stadium, Sukhbir said they would provide diesel to the farmers at rates cheaper by Rs 10 to Rs 15. Meanwhile, Congress candidate Rana Gurjit Singh, accompanied by former MLAs Gurchet Singh Bhullar, Jasbir Singh Dimpa, also filed his nomination papers for the parliamentary seat.

Meanwhile, according to the affidavit submitted by Rana Gurjit Singh, he has cash Rs 5 lakh, various fixed deposits worth Rs 16.55 crore and he owns a house in Sector 16 Chandigarh jointly with his brother Rana Ranjit Singh . He has an outstanding loan amount of Rs 88.40 lakh. Besides, he owns land in Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and Ropar. He has two vehicles (Toyata Qualis).

Dr Ajnala has cash Rs 2 lakh while his fixed deposits in various banks, PPF and LIC is worth Rs 6.31 crore. He owns agricultural land worth Rs 2.13 crore. The SAD candidate owns a tractor-trailer while his wife owns a Honda City.

Fatehgarh Sahib, April 23
Congress candidate from Fatehgarh Sahib Parliamentary constituency Sukhdev Singh Libra today filed his nomination papers for the Lok Sabha elections before returning officer-cum-Deputy Commissioner Surjit Singh Dhillon.

Libra was accompanied by former Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh and hundreds of party workers. The cavalcade of Libra’s dozens of vehicles reached Fatehgarh Sahib from various parts of his constituency. Commuters in Khanna, Sirhind, Bassi Pathana and Amloh areas had a tough time due to the heavy rush.

Later, talking to mediapersons, Libra said his priority would be to build overbridges, underbridges and a medical institute in his constituency.

Khadoor Sahib, April 23
The newly carved Khadoor Sahib Lok Sabha constituency, after delimitation, is the only constituency which extends in three regions of Doaba, Majha and Malwa of Punjab.

While one of the nine Assembly constituencies of Khadoor Sahib is Zira, Ferozepur district, Malwa region, its two Assembly constituencies Jandiala (SC) and newly carved Baba Bakala (SC) are in Amritsar district, Majha region.

Similarly, two Assembly constituencies, Kapurthala and Sultanpur Lodhi are in Kapurthala district, Doaba region, whereas four Assembly constituencies Khadoor Sahib, Patti, Tarn Taran and newly carved Khem Karan are in Tarn Taran district, Majha.

The radial distance of Khadoor Sahib from Tarn Taran is not less than 55 km as it extends in four districts, Amritsar, Tarn Taran, Kapurthala and Ferozepur.

Tarn Taran DC-cum-Khadoor Sahib returning officer (RO) Khushi Ram said poll arrangements were no problem despite the huge area as the DCs and DEOs of respective four districts were looking after preparations for the elections in their districts.

While Khadoor Sahib was declared a sensitive constituency, as 293 of total 1,441 booths were identified as hyper-sensitive, Khushi Ram said security arrangements would be made especially at these booths.

Six Assembly constituencies, Patti, Tarn Taran, Khadoor Sahib, Valtoha (now replaced with newly carved Khem Karan), Jandiala Guru (now Jandiala SC), Beas (now Baba Bakala SC), included in the newly carved Khadoor Sahib seat, were earlier part of the Tarn Taran LS seat, dissolved after delimitation.

Kapurthala and Sultanpur Lodhi Assembly seats, earlier part of Jalandhar LS seat, and Zira Assembly constituency are also included in Khadoor Sahib. In other words, most of the areas falling under Khadoor Sahib were earlier part of Tarn Taran seat, said to be SAD bastion.

Two sitting MPs Dr Rattan Singh Ajnala (SAD candidate and Tarn Taran MP) and Rana Gurjit Singh (Congress candidate and Jalandhar MP) and BSP contestant Dr Surinder Singh Sahi are in the fray for this seat. As many as 13,29,412 electors, including 6,46,720 women voters, will exercise their franchise on May 13.

Gurdaspur, April 23
If there is one Lok Sabha constituency in the state where anti-incumbency has never been a factor during elections it is Gurdsapur.

In the past 60 years, only three MPs have held the seat for a single term each. All others have been consecutively winning the seat back.

Bollywood actor Vinod Khanna, who is the BJP candidate from here, has remained the MP for the past three consecutive terms.

Khanna, in fact, broke a record of sorts in 1998 when he defeated almost invincible Sukhbans Kaur Bhinder of the Congress.

Wife of cop Pritam Singh Bhinder, who belonged to Gurdaspur, Sukhbans Kaur was offered the Gurdaspur seat in 1980 by the Congress.

She ruled as an MP for five consecutive terms before Vinod Khanna, offering nothing more than freshness and star appeal, was elected to the Gurdaspur Lok Sabha seat. The verdict of the electorate in the 1998 elections was clear. Khanna won by over a lakh votes.

Bhinder tried to wrest her glory back from Vinod Khanna twice after her first defeat and almost did in 1999 when she lost only by a margin of 2,000 votes from Khanna. Bhinder contested the 2004 elections reluctantly but lost to Khanna again. She died some years ago and in these elections her husband Pritam Singh is backing the Congress candidate Pratap Singh Bajwa.

Bajwa is also the sitting MLA from the Kahnuwan constituency occupying the only one Congress seat out of the nine legislative assembly segments that fall in the Gurdaspur parliamentary constituency. The rest are held by BJP and SAD MLAs.

While the “incumbency” factor can favour Khanna, residents here say it is going to be tough for him to retain his seat. “Gurdaspur has been a Congress bastion and whenever they have lost it is because of infighting. But this time for once and for the time being the Congress seems to be putting up a united show,” said Hira Singh, a farmer of Babehalli village near here.

“Teja Singh had begun the Congress journey in 1951 after which the Congress ticket went to Dewan Chand in 1957. Dewan Chand remained MP from the seat for three consecutive terms,” said Sant Singh of Harchowal village.

For the 1971 elections, the Congress fielded Prabodh Chandra who mopped up 62 per cent of the votes polled here that year. Prabodh Chandra was a renowned Congress leader of the area and remained member of the legislative assembly several times besides serving as a minister and speaker of the Vidhan Sabha.

His son Ashwini Kumar is a Rajya Sabha member and the union state minister for commerce and industries.

The first non-Congress candidate from Gurdaspur was elected in 1977 when Yagya Dutt, Bhartiya Lok Dal candidate, defeated Prabodh Chandra by almost 30,000 votes.

Patiala, April 23
Keeping in view the Patiala Parliamentary constituency’s being one of politically most important constituencies, as many as 894 of a total of 1,558 polling booths have been declared as ultra-sensitive, sensitive and lesser-sensitive by the election authorities.

Polling at a large number of 206 ultra-sensitive booths would be supervised by micro observers and with the help of digital cameras to keep “anti-social” elements at bay.

Meanwhile, in its effort to maintain law and order situation in the constituency, the Punjab police will be deputing as many as 2,500 Patiala police officials, 3500 PAP officials, apart from five companies of the CRPF. “As many as 22 of a total of 23 complaints received by the EC have been disposed of while 7,230 arms have been depoisited with the police by people of the constituency,” said SSP Arpit Shukla.

“Political parties would not be allowed to use loudspeakers between 10 pm and 6 am,” said DC Deepinder Singh.

New Delhi, April 23
The Election Commission today announced the conducted of bypoll in the Nurmahal assembly constituency in Punjab on May 28. The seat had fallen vacant following the death of SAD MLA Gurdeep Singh Bhullar last year.

The last date of making nominations will be May 11. The counting of votes will be held on June 1.

Patiala, April 23
Farmers can wear a smile on their faces as the Punjab Food and Civil Supplies Department has purchased nearly 99 percent of 83.26 lakh metric tonne of wheat arrived in Punjab mandis and the RBI has allowed it to utilise requisite money for the purchase of wheat out of a total of Rs 12,153 crore central allocation beyond the Rs 8,800-crore limit for April. Now, the department could extend payments to farmers beyond Rs 8,800 crore in April.

Punjab mandis witnessed the purchase of as much as 82.58 lakh metric tonne of wheat by this evening. The arrivals at 83.26 lakh metric tonne were almost double caompared to 43 lakh metric tonne of wheat received by Punjab mandis by April 22 last year.

Though the department has fixed its total wheat procurement target at 115 lakh metric tonne by the end of the ongoing procurement season, the highest quantum of procurement in recent years was witnessed by it in 2008 when state purchased 105 lakh metric tonne of wheat. “It is a big relief for us. Now, we can make payments to farmers without any delay,” said DS Grewal, Director, Punjab Food and Civil Supplies Department, Punjab.

Chandigarh, April 23
Punjab police personnel are in the dock.

Taking up two different matters alleging police inaction and non-compliance of the court orders, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has called for detailed report and asked the top brass of the Sangrur police to remain present in the court.

Acting on a petition filed by Jawinder Kaur under the provisions of the Contempt of Court Act, Justice TPS Mann of the high court today asked the Sangrur senior superintendent of police, the deputy superintendent of police and the station house officer (SHO) of the Sadar police station to be present in the court. Justice Mann also issued notice of motion on the petition for April 24.

In her petition against SSP Nau Nihal Singh, Jaswinder Kaur of Sangrur had earlier alleged intentional disobedience of orders dated May 26, last year. Going into the background of the matter, the petitioner had contended she had inherited 16 bighas of agricultural land.

Her maternal uncle’s sons wanted to grab the land, and in fact the accused gathered wheat crop from her fields. The petitioner claimed she filed a complaint for providing protection to life, liberty and property.

On May 26 last year, the high court directed the respondents to look into the matter and dispose of the representation. But the same had not so far been decided.

In the other matter by Mandeep Kaur and Mohinder Kaur of Patiala district, Justice Mohinder Pal issued notice of motion and asked the Patiala senior superintendent of police to submit a detailed report.

As the case came up, counsel for the petitioner Chaman Lal submitted that despite the registration of a criminal intimidation and hurt case, no arrest has been made against the accused so far.

In the petition filed against the state of Punjab, Patiala SSP, the SHO and other respondents, the petitioners also asked for directions to save their lives and liberty. The case will now come up for further hearing on May 25.