Bathinda, July 3
After having a new superfast train, doubling of tracks, face-lift of stations, stepping up of security, and most importantly showering of attention and care, perhaps for the first time by any Railway Minister, residents of Malwa are saying: “Full marks to Mamata” who tabled the Rail Budget for 2009-10 in Parliament today.

Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee has conceded the long-pending demands of the people of the area and announced the introduction of a weekly superfast train between Sriganganagar in Rajasthan and Nanded in Maharashtra via Bathinda and Delhi.

The minister also announced doubling of tracks between Mansa and Bathinda. Mamata has selected two stations of the area, namely, Abohar and Faridkot, to give them facelift under the Adarsh Station project.

Besides, she has also announced to implement an Integrated Security System (ISS) at 140 stations. Sources in the Railways told The Tribune that Bathinda had been included for the programme.

Hanuman Dass Goel, vice-president, Rail Passengers Association, Northern Zone, said our long-pending demand for one more superfast train for Delhi had been fulfilled.

“The most important thing, for the first time, a Railway Minister has tried to give heed to, is the problems of the people who have never been a vote bank of any Railway Minister,” said Goel.

Member of the Railway Grievances and Reform Committee, Gidderbaha, Sanjeev Kochhar said: “For the first time, the voice of residents living in the remote areas of Malwa has been heard.”

President of the Railway Passengers Welfare Association, Bathinda, AK Garg gave 10 out of 10 marks to Didi. “The national capital has become a bit more accessible to the people of the area,” Garg said. “We got more than our expectations.”

Chandigarh, July 3
The Punjab Vidhan Sabha Budget Session started here today with the House paying rich tributes to prominent politicians, freedom fighters, children who died at an unmanned railway crossing, victims of racial attacks in Australia and even a pop singer who died recently. The obituary references made in the House started with Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, who is also the Leader of the House, and ended with Speaker Nirmal Singh Kahlon after many others, including Leader of Opposition Rajinder Kaur Bhattal, remembered the departed souls.

The longest time was spent remembering the traits and contribution of former Cooperation Minister Kanwaljit Singh, who died in a car crash in March this year. Badal described him as a “light house” for the SAD and the spirit behind the function to mark the 300 years of the birth of Khalsa. He also said the Sikh Heritage Complex coming up at Anandpur Sahib was the vision of Capt Kanwaljit Singh.

The House also paid tributes to two students Rajat Garg from Bathinda and Maninder Singh from Kurali, who died in racial attacks in Australia. Badal led the House to pass a resolution pressing upon Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to take up the issue of racial attacks on Indians with his Australian counterpart and set an assurance on their safety and security.

While Sardulgarh legislator Ajit Inder Singh Mofar wanted the name of King of Pop Michael Jackson included in the list of obituary refrences, Chamkaur Sahib MLA Charanjit Singh Channi pointed out that he had raised the question about road accidents on the road from Kharar to Desu Majra in a previous House. But, despite assurances from the minister to improve road conditions, nothing had been done leading to the death of former Captain Kanwaljit Singh on the same stretch.

Channi revealed that as per official record, 225 persons had died on a 4 km stretch on this road during the past 10 months. The number of people who have suffered serious injuries is much higher.

BJP’s Industries Minister felt that Capt Kanwaljit Singh died because he was not being accompanied by a police escort owing to imposition of the model code of conduct. He wanted the government to take up the matter of safety of VIPs with the Election Commission and also seeking a relaxation on some restrictions out of safety concerns.

The others who were paid rich tributes by the House included Umrao Singh, Surinder Singh Kairon, Mani Ram Godara, Sadhu Singh Rajeana and Vimla Dang, all former legislators and minister. Freedom fighters Tara Sing, Sohan Singh Sra, Bhagat Singh Bilga, Kishan Singh, Kartar Singh, Jora Singh, Lal Singh, Kharak Singh, Budh Singh, Bhag Singh and Muni Lal Mehtab were also mentioned. Besides, the House also paid tributes to Sant Ramanand of Dera Sachkhand, who was killed in Austria recently.

The House will now assemble on Tuesday (July 7) at 11 am when Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal will present the state’s Budget. The Budget will be put to debate on July 8 and in the forenoon session of July 9. July 9 afternoon has been kept for non-official business, while the debate on the Budget will be concluded on July 10. July 11 will see a debate on grants and legislative business before being adjourned sine die.

Patiala, July 3
The two-day rain spell has brought respite from the long power cuts that Punjab was facing on account of sweltering heat conditions.

Punjab State Electricity Board, which had been finding it hard to maintain a balance between power demand and supply, was comfortably placed today with the power demand plummeting to 1,750 lakh units. Availability of power in the state was 1,533 lakh units.

Sources in the board said here today that it had relaxed stringent curbs imposed on the industrial consumers. The seven-day cut on arc and induction furnaces has now been reduced to a weekly off.

The board also improved power supply to the agriculture sector that had seen the power demand touching a new high during paddy sowing. The farm sector was supplied power for nine hours today against six hours during the past few days. Sources added that the board was getting power from outside Punjab under purchase and banking arrangements. It was getting power from states like Karnataka and Tamil Nadu where there had been little power available last week. The board today got a total of 625 lakh units of power under the purchase and banking arrangements.

The generation of power at the Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB) also improved with the water level at the Gobind Sagar Lake going up from less than 1,500 feet to 1527 feet. As a result of improvement in the reservoir, power generation had also increased. Punjab got a supply of 142 lakh units from the BBMB today as its share from the project.

This supply was in addition to 157 lakh units of power that was generated at the hydel projects of the state. 

Chandigarh, July 3
The Punjab government may forgo proposals aimed at taxing urbanites with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) clearly telling its alliance partner SAD that it does not approve introduction of an additional 10 per cent cess on Value Added Tax (VAT).

“How can they charge VAT if we do not agree. We are coalition partners and also protectors of the urban class,” said a senior BJP functionary while talking about the government proposal with TNS.

The BJP had earlier told its alliance partner that there was no question of hiking electricity duty by 5 per cent during a meeting of the cabinet sub-committee. Now only the issue of revival of ‘abiana’ or user charges for irrigation water from canal remains. This, even if charged at the proposed rate of Rs 150 per acre per annum, will rake up only Rs 150 crore annually and would do little to offset the Rs 3,000-crore shortfall in revenue.

Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal has proposed to rake in Rs 800 crore from the additional cess on VAT and Rs 120 crore from the hike in electricity duty. He may still try to force the issue with the budget due to be presented in the Vidhan Sabha on July 7.

Local Bodies Minister Manoranjan Kalia said he did not want to divulge details about decisions taken in various meetings. “However, the party has the right to safeguard the interests of the public,” he added.

According to sources, the SAD-BJP core committee met last evening during the course of which the BJP stressed that levying an additional cess on VAT would only further accentuate the rural-urban divide in Punjab.

The BJP held a meeting of its core committee last night. The committee after debating the matter stuck to its earlier stand and the party conveyed to the SAD today that “it would not be worthwhile to impose any new cess on VAT”.

Meanwhile, sources disclosed the proposed hike in electricity duty might be also dropped with the BJP agitating against it during a meeting of the cabinet sub committee. The party demanded that the charge should be levied on farmers also or none at all. 

Jalandhar, July 3
Rupees 15 per head on the aam aadmi, Rs 815 per head on VIPs and over Rs 500 per head on journalists are the expenses the state government’s Hospitality Department incurred for serving refreshments and food to people who had gathered at Amritsar in January this year to attend the swearing-in-ceremony of former Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal.

He stepped down this month due to his inability to get elected to the Assembly within the stipulated period of six months.

Nawanshahr-based NGO Human Empowerment League Punjab ( HELP) obtained the information under the Right to Information Act (RTI). The total expenses for the swearing-in ceremony, which was shifted to Amritsar, is officially put at Rs 60 lakh. HELP spokesman Parvinder Singh Kitna, who received the information, said Rs 59 lakh had already been paid by different departments.

Kitna had filed applications under the RTI to the Deputy Commissioner of Amritsar, to the Director, Public Relations, and and the Director, Hospitality Department. Information provided to him indicates that the state government paid Rs 50 lakh to the Amritsar DC for organising the ceremony. But the budget was overshot by as much as Rs 10 lakh.

The NGO, however, did not ask for the names of the 1,300 so-called VIPs who were presumably fed one meal at a cost of Rs 10.5 lakh. Ironically, Rs 9 lakh was spent on serving snacks to ostensibly 60,000 persons. The Hospitality Department had engaged a Jalandhar-based caterer to supply refreshment packets for 1 lakh people, but the caterer, it seems, could supply only 60,000 packets.

The Hospitality Department thus spent 50 times more money on providing food to the VIPs who were 50 times fewer in number.

The department also informed that Rs 1.12 lakh was spent on the hospitality of journalists who numbered around 200. The payment to be made in this regard is, however, still under consideration of the state government, the department claimed.

Besides, the Public Relations Office at Amrisar spent Rs 1,45,484 on journalists. The money was also spent to provide refreshment and dinner to journalists. 

Patiala, July 3
If decay has set on to devour the historic Quila Mubarak of Patiala, unscrupulous people have started encroaching upon the priceless land of this historic monument - which served as an official residence of “Maharajas” of erstwhile Patiala state up to middle of the 19th century - in absence of adoption of any corrective measure by the Punjab government.

The construction of the fort had started in 1763-64 under the guidance of Baba Ala Singh — the ancestor of “Maharajas” of erstwhile Patiala state who, had also founded the beautiful city of Patiala, which, offered better scope for expansions to Baba Ala Singh and descendents in comparison to his earlier capital — Barnala. The construction job was so enormous that it continued for next five generations. The 10-acre vast fort was still enchanting the visitors from across the globe and it has Prince Charles as one of its lakhs of admirers.

The building was falling a prey to a combination of a high degree of decay and encroachments as well but, its condition has failed to attract the attention of the powers that be. Elegant buildings situated within the fort, which, still boasted about its modern genre of architecture and facilities like an underground sewage and a cool basement, were crumbling. While a number of roofs of the fort have already caved in, numerous others were about to fall at any point of time in case timely care was not provided. Nothing worthwhile was done in the name of restoration of murals, though, a heavy amount was learnt to have been spent on the job through an “eminent restorer” and “heritage lover” by the Punjab government.

What was endangering the very existence of this historical fort was alleged encroachment of the land of the fort.

When contacted, DC Jasbir Singh Bir, assured that he would investigate the matter and the guilty would be brought to the book. “Historical buildings need proper care and preservation and I will try to ensure this,” said Bir.

Ropar, July 3
A team of the Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) collected four samples from the Sirsa-Nangal river after a large number of fish were found floating in the water body near Avankot village.

Environment engineer Karunesh Garg headed the team that collected water samples from the confluence downstream the river from Avankot village and under the main bridge over the Sutlej.

Industrial waste of the Dherowala industrial area in Himachal Pradesh is emptied into the river. “There is no Punjab’s industry in the vicinity and its obvious that polluted water from HP is responsible for fish mortality,” Garg said.

In May too the department had collected samples from the same river, which have failed the tests. Reports indicated biochemical oxygen demand in water samples that should not be present in fresh water.

Garg said the report of previous samples and those collected today would be together sent to the HP State Pollution Control Board (HPSPCB) for further perusal.

The tax-holiday package to HP is telling upon health of the water bodies of the state. With a sudden spurt in units of tannery, pharmaceuticals and other chemical-based industries in various pockets of HP, industrial effluents are easily finding their way into state’s waters.

Last year in October, waste from the tannery units of the Mehatpur Industrial Area was released into the Swan rivulet, which is lifeline of many villages of Punjab and Haryana. Despite several letters to the HPSPCB nothing substantial was done.

Chairman, HPSPCB, Nagin Nanda said every week sampling of water was done from the Sandholi Nullah to Nalagarh. “Yesterday was the day of sampling and all parameters have been found within the permissible limits. Nothing was found in our samples that can be attributed to fish mortality in Punjab,” he said.

Amritsar, July 3
Dismayed over the failure of the state government to provide jobs, unemployed veterinary pharmacists sat on fast unto death outside the residence of Animal Husbandry Minister Gulzar Singh Ranike here.

The hunger strike entered the third day today with no official from the district administration or political leader bothering to visit the protesting pharmacists.

The unemployed veterinary pharmacists had earlier also gone on hunger strike in January this year, which was later called off after the intervention of the government. It was Ranike who had negotiated with them and assured to provide jobs within two months. Those who sat on hunger strike include Gurpreet Nabha and Davinder Malerkotla.

President of the union Ravinder Pheruman said there were total 430 passouts, who had completed their training from the Veterinary Pharmacist’s Course Training Centre, Patiala, during the sessions 2001-2003 and 2004-2006. Since then they have been struggling to get jobs.

He said during the Assembly elections, the SAD-BJP combine had promised them jobs, which was also mentioned in their manifesto. However, he alleged, more than three years had passed, the ruling government had failed to provide jobs to them. They said they would launch “poll khol” rallies in the city from July 7, besides they would also launch rallies in the Attari parliamentary constituency of Ranike. 

Ludhiana, July 3
The entire staff of the Excise and Taxation Department today decided to go on an indefinite mass casual leave from July 7 if the assailants, who attacked an excise and taxation officer (ETO) at Abohar, were not arrested within 72 hours.

The officials, including the top brass, ministerial staff and class IV employees of the department, wore black badges as a mark of protest and went on mass casual leave. All barriers, mobile wings and district offices of the department remained closed in protest against the attack on Harminder Singh Sidhu, ETO, and his associates at Abohar.

A state-level meeting of the Confederation of Excise and Taxation Department was held today and all present condemned the attack on the ETO. A joint action committee was also formed to look into the matter.

The confederation condemned the Abohar police for inaction as the accused had escaped from the Civil Hospital. “We demand immediate suspension and transfer of the SHO concerned,” said DS Garcha, convener of the Joint Action Committee of Confederation of Excise and Taxation Department.

Jalandhar, July 3
The Ministry of Railways has presented a people friendly Budget, especially industrialists would benefit a lot from the new Budget. The introduction of 12 non-stop point-to-point long-distance trains would help in saving time of the industrialists during their frequent business tours across the country. Even the reduction in the advance booking period from five days to two days and minimum charge from Rs 150 to Rs 100 is a highly commendable step, which will help the common man. This was stated by Pankaj Dhir, businessman and general secretary of the Laghu Udyog Bharti, Jalandhar

Sharad Aggrawal, chairman of the All-India Hand Tools Panel of Engineering Export Promotion Council, said: “I welcome the decision of the Railway Minister to modernising 50 railway stations across the country. With no facility of porters and escalators, passengers had to face a lot of problems. A majority of foreign tourists virtually feel lost at the railway stations due to poor maintenance and lack of facilities”.

Amritsar, July 3
SGPC president Avtar Singh today formed a five-member high-level committee of Sikh intellectuals to check authenticity of the Kalgi.

Jathedar Akal Takht Giani Gurbachan Singh had received the relic at the Rajasansi Airport without taking the committee into confidence.

The SGPC president said the way the relic was brought in a charted plane from New Delhi without taking the committee into confidence smacks of suspicion. He said both Harprit Singh Sidhu, a Punjab cadre IPS officer, and Kamaljit Singh Boparai were not coming forward to reveal the name of the person who possessed it.

“After all it is a matter related to the sentiments of crores of people and nobody could be allowed to hurt them”, he said. “Why the charted plane was hired from New Delhi?” asked the SGPC president. He said the SGPC had received a number of complaints from the Sikh masses in this regard.

The fact-finding committee is comprised Kirpal Singh, Balwant Singh Dhillon, Dilmegh Singh, Sukhdyal Singh and Chawla. The probe committee will submit its report to the committee shortly.

Former Jathedar Akal Takht Bhai Ranjit Singh also raised questions on the authenticity of the relic. There are many “missing links” in the story, narrated by the committee.

Ludhiana, July 3
Issuing a fatwa against the landmark ruling of the high court, which has legalised same-sex relations, Shahi Imam of the state has termed it as “sinful”. Condemning the ruling, Shahi Imam Maulana Habib-ur-Rehman Shahi Ludhianvi alleged that gay relationships are morally wrong and should not be encouraged.

Giving a green signal to gay relations will result in jungle rule, said Shahi Imam. Quoting Article 21 of the Indian Constitution, he said every citizen had the right to life and liberty and live one's life according to his or her choice.

He said whenever somebody tried to go against nature he had to face serious consequences.