Ludhiana, June 17
For the six-laning of national highway-1 from Jalandhar to Karnal, chopping of trees has started. Thousands of trees have been cut down from Khanna to Sahnewal as widening of the GT Road is on. Many more trees are waiting to be chopped. As many as 43,900 trees are in Ludhiana district alone.

Trees like kikar, tahli, eucalyptus, mulberry, amaltas, gulmohar, besides shrubs, have been felled on the sides of the GT Road. Environmentalists say the trees were 20 years old and several species like kikar were not found in Punjab's forest land anymore.

The Forest Department has said 1.11 lakh trees in the state would be cut under phase V of the National Highway Development Programme (NHDP) in four districts, including Patiala, Fatehgarh Sahib, Ludhiana and Jalandhar. The GT Road passes through these four districts.

As many as 24,000 small trees and two lakh shrubs will also be axed for cleaning the forest land acquired for the project. The Forest Department has given the green light for the same.

The deforestation drive will be under way in 713.9 hectares of forest area on the road between 96 km to 387.1 km on NH-1. Besides trees, many birds that nest on these will also lose habitat, said Dr Sandeep K Jain, Chief Coordinator, CAPE-India.

Divisional Forest Officer, Ludhiana, Vishal Chauhan said though the trees were being felled, they were starting an afforestation drive in July this year.

As many as 10 saplings would be planted for every single tree to be axed, he said. Land banks for forestation had been identified, he added.

Jalandhar, June 17
Tall claims of the state health authorities taking all possible steps to contain swine flu have proved hollow as persons under observation have been visiting their “quarantined” children at special isolation ward at Civil Hospital several times a day.

Alarmingly, they come in contact with a number of persons while going to isolation ward of the Civil Hospital from their houses located in different localities of the city and, thus, the chances of further spreading of the virus can not be ruled out.

Actually, the parents of swine flu patients are left with no option but to go to the isolation ward to provide their children eatables as the health authorities have not made any arrangement to provide them food.

In this way they are inadvertently flouting the advice of medical experts to remain indoors for at least a week, the usual incubation period for the flu.

Civil Surgeon SS Walia said the health authorities were unable to provide any food to patients as there was no mess in the hospital.

Daljit Kaur of the Sat Kartar Nagar locality said both she and her husband Gurmeet Singh had been going to the isolation ward several times a day to provide eatables to their daughter Loveleen Kaur (16) since Sunday itself. A student of Guru Amar Dass Public School, Loveleen is one of the seven students who have been tested positive for swine flu.

However, she does not forget to add they go inside the isolation ward after wearing masks provided to them by the health authorities.

On the contrary, the state nodal office for swine flu Dr Deepak Bhatia denied that the under observation persons had been coming out of their houses to provide food to patients in the Civil Hospital.

Bhatia claimed that the under observation persons were not coming themselves, but were sending someone else to give eatables to their children and no one except the patient and medical staff was allowed to enter the isolation ward, he claimed.

However, in a counter question regarding the statement of a patient’s mother, Bhatia said, “We can not stand like policemen outside the isolation ward”.

“We are spreading awareness among them and the parents of swine flu patients are not uneducated. If they enter the isolation ward without the knowledge of the health authorities, the parents are at fault,” he said.

Medical experts, including Dr Bhatia and Dr Bhawani Singh of the National Institute of Communicable Disease (NICD), Delhi, are camping at Jalandhar with their teams and have advised parents and relatives, who are in contact with the swine flu patients, to remain indoors for at least a week.

Jalandhar, June 17
As many as 297 persons are still under observation for swine flu in Jalandhar. Each of these persons has remained in contact with at least one of the 14 patients admitted in the Civil Hospital during the past few days.

One of them is a private doctor, whom one of the confirmed swine flu patients had visited for a check-up soon after returning from NASA, USA.

The private doctor and six others had come at the swine flu screening ward at the Civil Hospital for their check-up today.

Epidemiologist Dr TP Singh said considering his contact with the flu patient, the private doctor was given Tamiflu capsules.

Besides, most of the other 296 under-observation persons are family members and relatives of the flu patients.

Meanwhile, the condition of the 14 patients admitted to th isolation ward is reportedly improving.

The four suspected patients Daljinder Singh, Rohit Kalra, Sanjiv Mahey and Arvind Mahey have been tested negative for the virus.

Dr Walia said reports of their blood samples were received through fax from NICD, Delhi, late Tuesday night. Their blood samples had been submitted with NICD on Wednesday morning itself, he added.

Jalandhar, June 17
The Punjab government today issued directions to all district education officers (DEOs), block education officers (BEOs), besides heads of various private educational institutions and universities to detain students and accompanying staff on arrival from other countries in their respective institutions.

The directions have been issued as a preventive measure against the spreading of swine flu among students and teaching staff who are away to various countries on various educational tours, especially swine flu-hit nations.

The institutions have also been directed to ensure that every person should undergo the screening tests by a team of doctors of the Health Department before sending them to their respective home or make alternative arrangement to keep the suspects under observation for some days.

Punjab Health Minister Laxmi Kanta Chawla said the decision was taken in a high-level meeting comprising principal secretaries of health and education departments, Punjab, in Chandigarh, this morning.

The directions were issued to all educational institutions and departments concerned this afternoon. An alert has been sounded on all airports in Punjab.

Attari, June 17
The 210-member Sikh jatha returned by a special train from Pakistan today at the Attari station after observing the 503rd martyrdom anniversary of Guru Arjan Dev.

The Indian consulate in Pakistan helped the leaders of the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC) and Ferozepur jathas to reach India via land route after they missed the train at the Wagah railway station in Pakistan.

Baldev Singh Chunga, leader of the SGPC jatha, at the Attari-Wagah check post said they had arrived at the Wagah railway station late due to breakdown of the vehicle. He said after they got their documents cleared from the immigration authorities, they took eatables to the train specially parked at Zero Line and returned to the station to take baggage. However, the train had left leaving them stranded on the Pakistan side.

Chunga said 450 families, including 150 of Sikhs and 300 of Hindus from the Swat valley, putting up at Gurdwara Panja Sahib were almost in penury even though the Pakistan government was providing them ration and medical aid.

He said they had offered the same to them on behalf of the SGPC, but they wanted cash to buy items of daily need. He said they had assured them that the SGPC would help them start life afresh after they returned to their ancestral places. He suggested that Pakistan should facilitate the visit of the SGPC chief to take stock of the situation.

Harbhajan Singh of Jalandhar said there was no coordination between the SGPC and the Pak-based gurdwara committee. He said the SGPC should have better liaison with the Pakistan consulate in India so that members of the Sikh jatha could visit their ancestral homes in Lahore and other cities.

Amritsar, June 17
Lal Haveli at Mochi Bazaar in Lahore, Pakistan, associated with martyrdom of the fifth Sikh Guru, Guru Arjan Dev, will be thrown open soon.

Pesident, America Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee, Pritpal Singh, while talking to The Tribune on phone from Lahore, yesterday informed that vice-chairman of the Wakf Board Mohammad Ali Khan announced this during the annual Shaheedi Jor Mela in Lahore.

He said Lal Haveli, also known as Lal Khuh due to the presence of a well, has great religious significance for the Sikh community, as the fifth Sikh Guru was tortured to death here by one Chandu.

The haveli, also known as Chandu’s Haveli, has a small cell where Chandu had imprisoned Guru Arjun Dev after arresting him in 1606 AD.

During his detention, the Guru used to draw water out of the well and use it for his bath. It is also the place where the Guru was put to several tortures.

He said Khan had also announced that the road to the Kartarpur Sahib Corridor on the Pakistan side would also be completed soon and the government of India would be informed for taking the next course of action.

He said the vice-chairman also stated that their government wanted that Sikh devotees from India should come to pay obeisance at historic Gurdwara Kartarpur Sahib without any passport and visa restrictions.

Amritsar, June 17
Even as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was trying to redefine the new contours in Indo-Pak relations by reaching out to Pakistan with an offer to restart a fresh dialogue, the neighbouring country, in a retrograde step, has imposed a heavy tax on the import of fresh vegetables from the Attari-Wagah land route.

The sudden imposition of tax has taken its toll on trade and not even a single truck with fresh vegetables crossed over to Pakistan. Earlier, more than 150 trucks crossed the Zero Line at the Attari-Wagah joint check-post.

In a major setback to the flourishing fresh vegetable trade, which includes onions and potatoes, the Pakistan government has enhanced the 2 per cent import duty to 16 per cent sales tax and in addition added an extra burden of 4 per cent income tax on its importers.

This has sent jitters among exporters who have huge financial stakes in the Indo-Pak trade. Amritsar-based exporter Rajdeep Uppal said here today that this step had completely jeopardised Rs 1,000 crore plus annual trade which had come to a virtual standstill.

He said with the imposition of heavy tax, trade with Pakistan had become totally unviable as businessmen across the border were unable to place fresh orders for onions and potatoes.

Earlier, Pakistan had allowed duty-free import of fresh vegetables, including onions, potatoes, tomatoes, garlic and meat products, to Pakistan as the country was not producing the commonly consumed vegetable.

Two years ago trade relations were strengthened with the movement of cargo-laden trucks across the Radcliff Line to facilitate faster movement of goods from both sides of the border.

The Amritsar Chamber of Exporters has urged the Pakistan government to review its decision of imposing heavy tax on fresh vegetables.

Chandigarh, June 17
Punjab has ordered the transfer of five Deputy Inspector Generals (DIGs) of police and four PPS officers.

According to an official spokesman, Ishwar Singh, DIG, Ludhiana Range, has been posted DIG, Jalandhar Range, Dr SS Chauhan, DIG, Faridkot Range, as DIG, Ludhiana Range. Dr Jitendra Kumar Jain, DIG, Vigilance Bureau, has been posted at Bathinda as DIG, Faridkot Range, Bathinda, and Kuldeep Singh, DIG, Jalandhar Range, as DIG, Administration, CPO, Punjab, Chandigarh .

Arunpal Singh, Commandant, 7th Battalion, PAP, Jalandhar, has been attached with Excise and Taxation Department, Punjab, in addition to his duties, Gurkirpal Singh, SP, Vigilance Bureau, Punjab, Chandigarh, has been posted Commandant 13th Battalion, PAP, Chandigarh, in addition SP/Vigilance, Punjab, Harpreet Kaur, Commandant, 13th Battalion, PAP, Chandigarh, as AIG/Litigation Wing, Punjab, Chandigarh, Harminder Pal Singh Bains Commandant, 6th . IRB, Ladda Kothi, Sangrur as Commandant 2nd. CDO Battalion, Bahadurgarh, Patiala, and Baljinder Singh Grewal, Commandant 2nd. CDO Battalion, Bahadurgarh, Patiala, as Commandant, 6th Battalion IRB, Ladda Kothi, Sangrur.

Chandigarh, June 17
In a first of its kind of endeavour in the state, the Sangrur police has trained over 500 of its non-gazetted officers (constabulary) to work on computers.

Out of the 540 constables trained as part of a special exercise undertaken by the Sangrur police, 500 have passed the final test that took place on June 13 and 14.

Many of them are not even Class XII pass and a majority of them do not even know how to read or write in English.

“There have been similar efforts in other districts, but computer training is limited to teaching some basic skills to a handful of the policemen. The aim of our exercise was to train investigating officers to handle the computers themselves,” said Sangrur SSP Naunihal Singh.

The course for the entire police force, which was involved in the written work, began in January and ended in May. The police tied up with nine technology institutes in Sangrur, where the policemen attended the classes given by the instructors provided by the institute.

“The institutes charged a nominal fee, but gave immense cooperation. By the end of the course the policemen learnt to lodge FIRs on the computer, generate computerised case files, send e-mails and gather information from the Internet,” said the SSP.

The policemen were tested for their abilities four times during the course. After every module, they went through an application-based test.

“A large number of computer literate constables in the district will help us enter the second phase of computerisation of policing (involving investigation and prosecution) much before any other district,” said Naunihal.

Sangrur, June 17
District police chief Naunihal Singh gave away certificates to more than 500 policemen, who had passed computer examination, at a function at the Police Lines here this evening.

He also presented commendation certificate-1 (CC-1) to 30 cops clearing computer examination. He also presented CC-II to 28 cops who did well in the examination. Mementos were also given to police officers and others for good work in computerisation.

Meanwhile, Akali leader Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa today inaugurated Police Computer Training Institute in the presence of Additional Director-General of Police (Computer and Telecom), Punjab SM Sharma and SSP Naunihal Singh at the Police Lines here.

The SSP said with the completion of computer training, 554 cops (11 gazetted officers, 125 non-gazetted officers and 418 others) of Sangrur district, first phase of computerisation of the work of the police, related to FIRs, had been completed.

The SSP said Rs 65 lakh had been spent on computerisation of which Rs 15 lakh had been given by Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa from the MPLAD funds, while the remaining by the public.

ADGP Sharma also honoured all instructors of different educational institutions who had imparted computer training to the cops. He also inaugurated a renovated swimming pool at the Police Lines here.

Kurali, June 17
The state-level function held here to celebrate the 470th birth anniversary of Maharana Pratap witnessed every speaker scripting a different history of the great warrior king.

Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) MLA from Morinda Ujagar Singh Badali reflected on an “episode” wherein Mughal emperor Akbar had captured Maharana Pratap.

Badali dwelt on conversation between Akbar and the Maharana, highlighting bravery of the latter.

However, Maharaja Raghubir Singh Sirohi from Rajasthan, a descendant of Prithviraj Chauhan, said Akbar was never able to capture Maharana Pratap.

“It remained a cherished desire of Akbar to capture him for just once, but he failed miserably. The Maharana never even easily acceded to the demands of Akbar to reach a peace treaty and mutual understanding, as other Rajput kings had done,” Sirohi said.

Sirohi belongs to the clan that used to make swords for the army of Guru Gobind Singh. These swords later came to be known as “Siri Sahib” among Sikhs.

Sikh Gurus from Guru Hargobind Singh to Guru Gobind Singh were presented with swords made by members of the Sirohi clan when they occupied the “guru gaddi”.

Interestingly, most of the political speakers from SAD chose to dwell on the history of Sikhism and spoke about association of gurus with the Rajputs.

But the Rajputs had little to offer on Maharana’s legacy at the function, except for key speakers former Governor of Goa Maharaja Bhanu Parkash Singh, Maharaja Raghubir Singh Sirohi and Dr PS Parmar.

Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal also paid rich tributes to the great king, who was the first to rebel against ruler of the time - Akbar. He said Punjab was the only state in the country to observe Maharana Pratap’s anniversary as a state function.

Meanwhile, Ragunath Singh Rana, chief organiser of the Punjab Rajput Maha Sabha, who “chose” to stay away from the celebrations, said the state government failed to observe the anniversary last year.

“The anniversary was on May 27. Why was the function held so late? To regain the lost confidence of Rajputs, the function was held under utter chaos and in a hurried manner today,” he alleged.

In 2007, Badal had announced to install a statue of Maharana Pratap in Pathankot, but the promise had not be fulfilled, they said. It was also demanded that NFL Naya Nangal be named after Maharana Pratap.