Amritsar, June 18
President, SGPC, Avtar Singh, has urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Home Minister P Chidambaram to take up the issue of ban on the turban by the US army with the Barack Obama government.

Avtar Singh, in two separate communications to Singh and Chidambaram, attributed the decision to a lack of awareness on the part of the US army, which had asked two Sikh recruits, Capt Kanwaljit Singh Kalsi and 2nd Lieut Tejdeep Singh Rattan, that they could continue in the army only after removing their turbans and shaving their hair.

Captain Kalsi, a doctor, and 2nd Lieutenant Rattan, a dentist, were part of an army programme that pays for medical education in return for military service. One of the affected officers, Rattan, belongs to Amritsar. 

At the time of their enrolment, military recruiters had assured both men that their turbans and unshorn hair “would not be a problem.” However, after serving in the army for four years, the authorities were now asking them not to adhere to the basic Sikh identification symbols.

Meanwhile, the Sikh coalition has launched a campaign to protect the right of Sikhs to serve in the US army with their religious identity intact. The coalition has launched a signature campaign to garner support as the Sikh community was hurt by the decision of American army. The coalition had also written to the higher authorities of the US army in this regard. 

Chandigarh, June 18
The Punjab Council of Ministers today approved the implementation of UGC pay scales of teachers and equivalent cadres in universities and colleges in Punjab in the wake of the recommendations of the Sixth Central Pay Commission.

A decision to this effect was taken here at a meeting chaired by Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, which was boycotted by his BJP colleagues.

Giving details, Chief Minister’s media adviser Harcharan Bains said this decision would be applicable to the teachers and equivalent cadres of Panjab University Chandigarh, Punjabi University, Patiala, Guru Nanak Dev University Amritsar, Punjab Agriculture University Ludhiana, and Guru Angad Dev University of Veterinary Sciences Ludhiana, along with government colleges and government-aided colleges. The state government will be liable to pay the total liability of about Rs 215.11 crore annually due to enhanced scales.

In another significant decision, the Cabinet also approved the creation of 10,710 new posts in government schools, of which 5,287 would be filled in 351 newly upgraded senior secondary schools under NABARD scheme and remaining 5,423 in the schools upgraded under rationalisation policy.

Of the 5,287 newly created posts, those of 77 principals, 1902 lecturers, 2,106 vocational masters/mistresses, 500 senior laboratory attendants, 351 librarians and 351 library restorers would be filled involving an expenditure of Rs 35.29 crore per annum for the schools upgraded under NABARD scheme.

Likewise, the Cabinet also accorded approval for creation of 5,423 posts including 73 principals, 150 lecturers in Physical Education, 600 science masters, 1,700 math masters, 1600 Punjabi masters, 950 Hindi masters and 350 art and craft teachers in 200 schools, which had been upgraded from elementary to middle, middle to high and high to senior secondary level due to the rationalisation policy in 2001. The total annual expenditure involved in the creation of these 5,423 posts was expected to be Rs 27.05 crore per annum.

The Cabinet also approved the creation of 146 posts in the Department of Water Supply and Sanitation, which included 50 posts of subdivisional engineers, 85 posts of junior engineers and 50 posts of draftsmen to be filled through direct recruitment. 

Ludhiana, June 18
Travelling between Chandigarh and Ludhiana is going to become faster, more comfortable and cheaper from next year. Ten years after work started on the Chandigarh-Ludhiana railway link, indications are that the project is in the final stages of completion.

Barring some last-minute hitch, train services between the two cities may well start as early as next year. The railway line will reduce the existing rail route between the two cities by 46 km and will provide a faster alternative to commuters. Trains from Chandigarh can now approach Ludhiana only via Ambala.

Passengers now have to travel first to Ambala and then change into a train going to Ludhiana. There is, however, no direct train between Chandigarh and Ludhiana at present.

Railway officials here said the Chandigarh-Morinda section is already complete and after hitches related to land acquisition near Morinda have been sorted out, work has started on the Morinda-Sahnewal section.

The railway track will cover a length of 112 km and trains will pass through Mohali, Kharar, Morinda, Madpur, Sahnewal and Samrala.

The work on the project had started in June 1999, but had got stalled over land acquisition at Morinda. The project was estimated to cost Rs 566 crore in 1999. 

Chandigarh, June 18
A political crisis has been created in Punjab with the state BJP deciding to stand up and be counted rather than always be seen to be hanging on to the coat tails of its coalition partner, the SAD.

Though the immediate provocation for the present crisis is the alleged mistreatment of senior minister Manoranjan Kalia at the hands of SAD legislator Sarabjit Singh Makkar, it is set to lead to other points of contention between the coalition partners, who are finding it difficult to get along.

The present situation is in line with a chain of events, all of which have seen the BJP being humiliated and even losing ground in urban pockets as was seen by the drubbing received by the party in urban areas in the parliamentary elections. The party even lost two of the three seats contested by it.

There is a feeling in the BJP rank and file that the party has been systematically discriminated against during the last two years and that now this “discrimination” is going to increase with the party being unable to show the required results in the parliamentary poll.

Though BJP members hold important portfolios in the coalition government, the party laments that they as well as the party office-bearers do not enjoy the same power as their SAD counterparts. During soul-searching after the Lok Sabha debacle, the party had even claimed that appointing SAD President Sukhbir Singh Badal as the Deputy Chief Minister had demoralised the party cadre. Incidentally Manoranjan Kalia was the BJP candidate for the Deputy CM’s post.

Earlier the saffron party had claimed that its alliance partner did not want it to strike roots in the rural areas due to which its cadre was targeted by the SAD in the run-up to the zila parishad elections. Though the Chief Minister had stepped in to defuse the situation after a resignation threat by BJP ministers, the BJP remained unhappy at the treatment meted out to it.

Senior BJP leaders claim the SAD is taking important decisions unilaterally and that there was no tradition of discussing important subjects in the two-party coordination committee. They claim the committee rarely meets, failing which there is no other forum for redressal of grievances among coalition partners.

Meanwhile sources said though the SAD was at present dependent on the BJP and needed it more, both parties did not want separation. 

Sangrur, June 18
Old-age pensioners and beneficiaries of financial assistance, comprising widows, destitute women, dependent children and disabled persons, of the schemes of the Social Security Department of the state are a disappointed lot nowadays.

About 1.4 lakh beneficiaries of these schemes have not received their pension or financial assistance to the tune of Rs 250 per month each, for the past three months (March, April, May) in Sangrur and Barnala districts so far.

About 20,000 new old-age pensioners and beneficiaries of other social security schemes have also not received their pension from April this year in both the districts. Thus, a total number of about 1.6 lakh beneficiaries have been awaiting their pension/financial assistance for two or three months in Sangrur and Barnala districts till now.

Non-issuance of pension to such a large number of old-age pensioners and beneficiaries of other social security schemes even for the month of March of the previous financial year (2008-09) by the Social Security Department only in Sangrur and Barnala districts shows that the financial health of the state is not in a good condition, otherwise needy and helpless persons succeed in getting their financial assistance well in time.

These days a large number of old-age pensioners and beneficiaries of other financial assistance schemes can be seen visiting banks in cities, houses of the sarpanches in villages and the district social security office at Sangrur time and again to enquire about their pension of three months, but due to non-issuance of funds for the purpose to the Social Security Department they return empty handed every time after listening that the government has not sent funds for disbursing their pension so far. All they could do now is wait for issuance of funds to the Social Security Department.

As per the information gathered by The Tribune, in Sangrur and Barnala districts there were about 1.05 lakh old-age pensioners, about 15,400 widows and destitute women, more than 13,550 disabled persons, and more than 5,450 dependent children, who have been getting pension or financial assistance from the Sangrur office of the Social Security Department up to February 2009.

Moga, June 18
The Punjab State Commission for Scheduled Castes has raised doubts on the investigations conducted by the police in the death case of a Dalit farm labourer, who died of poisoning at Badhni Kalan in Moga district in the first week of this month.

Member of the commission Dalip Singh Pandhi while talking to The Tribune on telephone revealed that family members and representatives of the local Dalit organisations met him in his office at Chandigarh on Thursday.

“They have alleged that farm labourer Gurpreet Singh, son of Mangat Singh, who was working with a village landlord Bant Singh was poisoned to death,” he said.

Pandhi said it has come to the notice of the commission that Gurpreet was forcibly kept by the landlord with him for the past many months as a bonded labourer.

However, the police instead of registering a case of murder had booked the landlord and his associates under Sections 306 and 34 of the IPC.

Gurpreet’s wife has alleged that her husband did not go to work for three days with the landlord that irked him. She said her husband was first abducted, then beaten up. Later, a poisonous substance was fed to him.

The family members had alleged that the landlord used political influence of the ruling party and did not allow them to take Gurpreet to the government healthcare centre, when he was battling with life soon after the incident. 

Jalandhar, June 18
In what may be termed as yet another negligence by health authorities in handling pandemic swine flu disease, the students tested negative have been kept with confirmed patients in the same ward in Civil Hospital here for past four days.

The first report of blood samples of the nine students was received from the National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD) on Monday evening. Two of them tested negative.

These students were not discharged keeping in mind the six-day incubation period for swine flu but instead of isolating them from the confirmed swine flu patients, they have been kept in the same ward since then.

The parents of negative tested students are worried about their children. Interestingly, the seven negative tested students may easily be shifted to any of the two other 45-bedded isolation wards set up already at trauma centre in the hospital and nearby ESI hospital.

Admitting that the negative tested students have been kept with confirmed swine flu patients in the same ward, civil surgeon Dr. SS Walia, however, claimed there was no risk for negative tested kids of getting infected with the virus. 

Chandigarh, June 18
The state government today decided to settle all pending uncontested cases of mutations within a week and contested ones within three months.

Presiding over a meeting with the delegation of the Bharatiya Kisan Union led by its president Balbir Singh Rajewal, Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today directed Financial Commissioner Revenue Romila Dubey to issue detailed guidelines to the deputy commissioners for strict compliance of the decision and monitor day-to-day progress by holding regular meetings with the revenue staff to accomplish the entire task of settlement of pending mutation claims within the stipulated time frame.

The Chief Minister also asked the Revenue Department to ensure that the people should get ‘Fard’ by paying the prescribed fee of Rs 20 only and they must be issued a receipt for it. The properties within the ‘Lal Lakir’ should be properly entered in the revenue record to avoid disputes arising out of partition within the family.

The Chief Minister also assured the delegation that the voluntary disclosure scheme (VDS) would soon be reintroduced by the PSEB to enable the farmers to enhance the desired capacity of load. He also asked the PSEB to begin the OYT (Own Your Transformer) scheme again which had been suspended temporarily by the board. 

The Chief Minister categorically said that no such instructions had been issued by the government to recover biyana from the farmers on account of the usage of canal water.

He also directed the Forests Department to issue public notice through advertisement in newspapers to inform people about their share in the trees planted across roads, distributaries and canals and instructed the department to make payment of the due share to the people after cutting of trees. 

Sangrur, June 18
In a complaint sent to the district health authorities yesterday, Principal of the local General Gurnam Singh Public School Kulwinder Singh alleged that the loaf of Premium Brown Bread, manufactured by Bonn Nutrients Pvt Ltd, Jhabewal, Ludhiana, he had bought from one of the dealers of the company on June 16 at Sangrur, was found to be contaminated as it had two green patches on the interior of the top most slice.

The date printed on the bread cover read: “Best before 20-6-2009.”

The Principal further stated that when he brought the matter to the notice of the dealer, he replied that those patches were of green paint and not of fungus. He then rang up at the company’s toll-free number from where he got no response, while the other number of the company was found to be temporarily out of service.

Sangrur Civil Surgeon Dalip Kumar said on the basis of the complaint of the Principal, three samples of the bread of Bonn Company had been taken from three different shops of the town by the health staff.

He said all three samples had been sent to the Public Food Laboratory, Chandigarh, for analysis. On the basis of the report of the laboratory, further proceedings would be initiated, he added.