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Tehsildar Assault Case
Eye on electoral gain
Building cave-in kills one
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Transport officer held for taking bribe
US-based NGO comes to aid of needy students
Assembly Bypoll
Chief Minister Relief Fund
Funds given to civic bodies grant, not loan
House seeks rollback in fuel hike
Punjab to enforce ban on polythene bags
17 cases of power theft detected
More staff sought for new dists
Punjab to spend Rs 100 crore on rural toilets
Turban ban: US Sikhs meet Jathedar
Docs justify raise in retirement age
Another extension for PSEB unbundling
Gram Nyayalayas Act
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Tehsildar Assault Case Kanchan Vasdev Tribune News Service
Ludhiana, July 9 Mahesh Attri, an office-bearer of the Jail Guards Association, said the supporters of the two leaders browbeat the sentry at the entrance and pushed the guards aside to enter the jail when the gate was opened to let an inmate go inside the jail last evening. Attri alleged the supporters went inside the jail without getting mandatory stamps on their palms. It became a difficult task for them to differentiate the supporters from the inmates. ‘‘There could have been a serious problem, had Deputy Jail Superintendent Kuldip Dhaliwal not intervened. He checked the supporters one by one as they left the jail premises. We can say it may be an attempt to make possible the escape of their leaders. We could have lost our jobs,’’ said Attri. The guards, while protesting the act of the supporters, demanded a ban on the visitors coming to meet the leaders. They even staged a dharna outside the jail braving rain. Meanwhile, activists of Youth Akali Dal staged a dharna near Samrala Chowk. They alleged that Jail Minister Hira Singh Gabria was behind the demand of a ban on visitors coming to meet the two leaders. Gabria was not available for comments as he was said to be busy with the Vidhan Sabha session.
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Stamp paper scam: 2 to undergo narco test
Ludhiana, July 9 Additional public prosecutor Neelam Pathak has submitted that the police had made a good progress in the investigation of the case. But, they need more time to completely unearth the scam.
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3 seats going to polls spared from power cuts
Jangveer Singh Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, July 9 All three Assembly constituencies of Banur, Kahnuwan and Jalalabad were exempted from power cuts on Monday though people in all other areas in the state are doing without power for at least six to eight hours every day. The PSEB, which passes informal instructions to all subdivisions not to impose power cuts till the end of the election process in the three Assembly constituencies, has now passed instructions that scheduled cuts be enforced in a uniform way . PSEB Chief Engineer System Operation SK Jindal said he was not aware of the position of power cuts in the three Assembly constituencies since Monday. He, however, said he had passed instructions yesterday to enforce scheduled cuts everywhere on uniform basis. All areas in the Banur assembly constituency, including Zirakpur and Mubarakpur, remained without power cuts even today as has been happening since Monday. Situation is different in the two other constituencies. In Kahnuwan, an executive engineer said the Power Controller, PSEB, had earlier allowed uninterrupted power to the constituency. He said, however, fresh instructions had been received now and power cuts would be enforced in the constituency. In Jalalabad, the PSEB has been flip- flopping, allowing uninterrupted power for a few days and then enforcing power cuts. Today, however, Jalalabad had six-hour power cut in the constituency as in other parts of the state. While the PSEB’s policy for the three Assembly constituencies is still not clear, it has started taking measures to save power like switching off all streetlights after 11 pm to meet domestic demand. The board has also decided not to provide power to markets after 7.30 pm. Meanwhile, PSEB sources said though today was more comfortable day mainly because of storms, which forced closure of some feeders, the power demand was increasing steadily. They said the board, which was already facing shortage of around 400 lakh units per day, could see this increasing further. The present demand is pegged at 1,950 lakh units per day against the availability of 1,550 lakh units. There is no relief in sight with the industrial sector facing a three-hour peak load restriction besides the two compulsory weekly offs. The board, which is only getting 100 mega watt of power from Himachal , is likely to purchase power from private parties to offset the demand-supply gap.
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Building cave-in kills one
Amritsar, July 9 Fire brigade reached the spot and out injured Kapil Kumar (32) from the debris in half an hour. But his brother Amit Kumar (35) later died on the way to hospital. It took one and half hour to pull out Amit from the debris. Both worked in the factory , polishing utensils on the ground floor of three-storey building. Eyewitness said Amit could have been saved had he been taken to hospital on time. People of the nearby area pulled out Amit from the vehicle of Fire brigade saying they would take him to hospital. They reportedly took him on a motorcycle to hospital, due to which he could not reach hospital on time. The witnesses said wall of nearby building collapsed and fell on the roof of the three-storey building, which resulted in the collapse of the century- old building leading to the death of Amit. Meanwhile, D P S Kharbanda, Commissioner Municipal Corporation,visited the spot, and notices had been issued to several other old structures in the area posed danger to nearby people. According to information, there are 105 dilapidated buildings and structures inside the city that have been declared unsafe. The houses share walls and are located in congested and roads pose danger to commuters and passersby. Kharbanda said the corporation has issued notices to the building owners to evict so that they could demolish these structures. He rued more than 50-60 per cent cases were pending in court, due to which corporation is unable to take action against them. He added notices had been issued to remaining building owners in this regard. As many as 17 persons, including five children, died in two separate building collapses in 2001. Five children belonging to the family of a vegetable seller were buried alive when roof of their two-storey house collapsed at Hathi Khana, near the Golden Temple complex.
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Transport officer held for taking bribe
Gurdaspur, July 9 Rana earlier was also caught the Vigilance Bureau on November 20, 2008 when he was ADTO, Fathegarh Sahib. Then he was caught for taking Rs 20,000 bribe. Though Rana was suspended after he was caught taking bribe in November 2008, but was reinstated and ‘succeeded’ in getting the same post in a few months. The SP, Economic Offences Wing (EOW), Vigilance Bureau, Amritsar, who supervised the raid today, said Rs 15,000 taken by Rana as bribe from Arwinder Singh was recovered from the drawer of his office table. He said Arwinder Singh runs five cars as taxis and Rana was challaning the vehicles on flimsy ground to force him to give him bribe. Arwinder Singh agreed to give bribe to Rana and deal was struck between them under which Arwinder Singh was to give Rs 5,000 as bribe per vehicle to Rana per month. He said Arwinder Singh had already paid Rs 10,000 to Rana as bribe for two vehicles. Today he went to make payment of Rs 15000 as bribe. After Rana accepted the money, Vigilance Bureau, raided the official premises and recovered the money. Rana was taken into custody. A case under the Prevention of Corruption Act was registered against him at Vigilance Bureau, police station, Amritsar. A Vigilance Bureau team has also been sent to Jalandhar to search house of Rana.
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US-based NGO comes to aid of needy students
Chandigarh, July 9 This is the highest number of yearly scholarships in the history of the 10-year-old organisation, involving transfer of $ 1,20,000 (Rs 60 lakh) by the foundation, which is perhaps the largest financial grant for higher education given by any overseas NGO to Punjab. Dr Rajwant Singh, a founding member of the foundation, who was in Chandigarh yesterday, told The Tribune that though 314 scholarships appeared substantial, the need exceeded what could be given. “According to a recent government report, over 70,000 students from poor households need assistance to pursue higher studies”. He said the Punjabi diaspora was yet to engage in a sizable manner in lifting people out of poverty. “We will make all efforts to reach out to as many potential donors as possible to support this worthy initiative. There are thousands of students having the dream of becoming engineers, doctors and IT experts and they deserve our support”. The foundation has given 1,100 scholarships since its inception in 1999. Its mission is to assist meritorious and needy students to improve their access to higher professional education in disciplines like medicine, engineering, agriculture, nursing, IT, business administration, and architecture. From 200 scholarships last year, the number has jumped by 57 per cent, mainly on account of a sharp increase in the number of applications from students of northern India. Secretary-general of the foundation Gajinder Singh Ahuja said: “This is a major undertaking by our organisation to fulfil our commitment to support these deserving students”. In many cases, annual cost of studies of a student exceeds the annual family income. About 70 per cent of the students are from rural areas with incomes of less than a dollar a day per person and half of these students are women. Amar Jit Singh Sodhi, chairman of the foundation, recently visited many grass-roots institutions in Punjab and met scholarship recipients to make an assessment of the programme. He also met the Vice-Chancellors of Guru Nanak Dev University and Punjab Agricultural University. Sodhi also visited Khadoor Sahib and educational institutions there to explore partnership possibilities with the foundation. The foundation encourages needy students to apply for scholarships and accepts only online applications at www.sikhhumandevelopment.org
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Assembly Bypoll Amarjit Thind Tribune News Service
Jalandhar, July 9 The high command reportedly went by the recommendations of the MPs on candidates. Amarinder Singh and his wife, Preneet Kaur, were said to be differing over the candidature of Dhillon. While Amarinder was said to be backing case of former MLA Arvind Khanna and Preneet Kaur was in favour of Dhillon. Similarly, the recommendation of MP Partap Singh Bajwa has been accepted in favour of his younger brother, Fateh Jung Singh. Fateh unsuccessfully contested the 2007 assembly elections from Sri Hargobindpur and lost to Capt Balbir Singh Bath of the SAD by 3,500 votes. Bajwa will face Sewa Singh Sekhwan of the SAD. Josan is a former minister and had lost to the SAD’s Sher Singh Gubaya by over 42,000 votes in the previous assembly poll. His name was proposed by Jagmeet Singh Brar.
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Chief Minister Relief Fund Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, July 9 However, the public information officer (PIO) of the Chief Minister said the said information related to third party and most of it was also not available. Later on, the PIO took the plea that the information required too much time to prepare. Not accepting the defence of the CMO, the information commission bench of Surinder Singh and Darbara Singh Kahlon directed that the information about the beneficiaries was of public importance and comes within the definition of public information, therefore, not only the CMO should provide it to all those who demand it, it should also be proactively published on the state government’s website. Earlier, the CMO has refused to divulge information under RTI Act regarding beneficiaries who have been given grants out of Chief Minister’s Relief Fund. The information was sought by an NGO on in December 2008. The PIO had denied the information saying that it was personal information which had no relation to any public activity or interest and that disclosure would “seriously jeopardize the confidentiality and social security” of the beneficiaries. Interestingly, in response to another application filed by the applicant on the issue, the CMo has denied the information on a plea that photocopying of cashbooks would be detrimental to the safety and preservation of the cashbooks! In response to yet another application, the CMO has claimed that the records of the office were destroyed in the fire that broke out during bomb blast at Punjab Civil Secretariat on August 31, 1995 in which the then Chief Minister, Beant Singh was killed. However, the CMO admitted in a written reply that the CMO neither lodged any FIR/DDR regarding destruction of records in fire nor did it possess any report of the Fire Department. Not only that, the CMO has stated that the detail/inventory of records destroyed in the fire was also not available with it. The CMO has also admitted that there was no entry regarding burnt records in the register pertaining to destruction of records. Based on the information gathered from audit reports, the NGO had discovered that the Punjab Chief Minister’s Relief Fund has been “misused and abused by successive Chief Ministers” as per their whims and fancies to please those who had access to the powers.
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Funds given to civic bodies grant, not loan
Chandigarh, July 9 Kewal Dhillon, Barnala MLA said beore Lok Sabha elections the government gave grants ranging from Rs 1 crore to 3 crore to committees. Now the Department of Local Bodies has sent a letter demanding pledging land with PUDA as security against the loan (not sought by them). At this Badal rose to clarify saying “ an error has been made, the committees can ignore the letter”. After Badal ended the controversy that brought bad name to the SAD-BJP alliance, Chamkaur Sahib MLA Charanjit Singh Channi raised the issue of gay marriages, drawing attention to reports of three male couples marrying in Punjab. Channi wanted the House to debate the issue. But Speaker Nirmal Singh Kahlon told Channi to have moved a resolution. None supported the issue and it was overridden by other issues . Brahm Mohindra, raised the issue of absence of a policy of insuring government vehicles before these were registered. He pointed out government drivers who met with an accident had to pay huge sums from their pockets to settle accident claims. These sums sometimes exceed entire savings of these government drivers. He asked the government to look into the issue, but this too did not evoke much response. During a Calling Attention Notice Balbir Singh Bath pointed out pollution caused by Himachal by discharging effluents into the Sarsa river. To this Chief Minister Badal said he had taken up the matter with the HP Chief Minister and also with the Central Pollution Control Board, New Delhi. "The untreated effluent in the Sarsa River is discharged by some industries situated in Dherowal and Bir Plassi of Nalagarh district in Himachal " he said. He disclosed the samples collected from Sarsa River on May 5 and July 3 revealed discharges beyond permitted limits. The zero hour certain MLAs wanted petrol and diesel reimbursements in cash. The Finance Minister said this would make Punjab government liable to pay Income Tax on this as it would then be an “allowance”, and only “reimbursement of expense”.
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House seeks rollback in fuel hike
Chandigarh, July 9 The resolution, which was moved by Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, said the increase, affected by the Centre, had come as a bolt from the blue for the common man who was already reeling under inflation. It said the hike had adversely affected the prospects of the agriculture-dominated economy in the state as well as the industry. The state industry, which was already facing hardships due to concessions given to neighbouring states, was likely to be affected further. The resolution also said the transport sector would also take a hit due to the central decision to hike the fuel prices. Speaking on the resolution, Congress legislator Lal Singh said petrol and diesel were cheaper in Haryana and that the Punjab government must at least reduce the cess on petroleum products to make them on a par with the neighbouring state. Congress legislator Makhan Singh said petroleum prices were controlled by international market and that the government was forced to hike prices in view of the increase in the price of crude oil in the international market.
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Punjab to enforce ban on polythene bags
Patiala, July 9 The Science Technology and Environment Department has issued directions to all Deputy Commissioners, Commissioners of Municipal Corporations and the Punjab Pollution Control Board asking them to ensure effective implementation of the Act. It has also directed theses authorities that action taken report in this regard be sent to the Punjab State Council for Science and Technology. The latest communication issued by the department says that on a petition by the Punjab Recycled Plastics Manufacturers Association, the government had given a one year relaxation in the enforcement of this ban and this period ended on May 15, 2007. Now it has been decided to strictly enforce the plastic ban. Dr YS Banga, Health Officer of the Municipal Corporation today confirmed that a communication from the Punjab government had been received. He said that an action plan was being worked out for enforcement of the ban and violation of directions given under this Act would attract imprisonment not less than three months and up to one year or with a fine of not less than Rs 25000 or both. Dr Banga said the polythene bags were playing havoc with the environment. These were also a heavy burden on the systems of agriculture, sewerage and disposal of waste water. The coloured polythene bags prepared from plastic waste contained mercury, lead and some other heavy metals. These caused cancer and were unsuitable for packing eatables. He further said the disposal of the polythene bags was problematic as polythene was not bio-degradable. The plastic bags were also playing havoc with the lives of cattle who contracted terminal diseases by eating these with other waste material. Dr YS Banga added it was proposed to educate the public and mobilise public opinion against the use of polythene bags and thereafter take strict measures for effective implementation of the ban.
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Punjabi writer Tera Singh Chann dead
Chandigarh, July 9 Born in Bilawal village in Kaimbalpur district, now in Pakistan, Tera Singh Chann started as a teacher and after partition moved to Preet Nagar where he joined Preet Lari. Chann also had a stint in Nawan Zaman,a Punjabi daily of Jalandhar, as Assistant Editor, before moving to Delhi where he joined the Information Department of the Soviet Embassy. After retirement he settled in Mohali. His first anthology of poems - Siskian - was published in 1940. He followed it up with “Jai Hind” and a few other books of poetry before he took to play writing in verse . His first was Amar Punjab. Chann also translated some classics and other books. Leftist in his ideology, Chan, had his plays staged in parts of the country. He also helped organise the Kendriya Punjabi Lekhak Sabha and remained its general secretary for 15 years. Punjab Education Minister Upinderjit Kaur mourned he death of Tera Singh Chann. In the death of Chann, Punjab and literary world has lost a prolific writer and novelist, whose writings gave new identity and social purpose, she said. Chann had vision, impulse and living amidst realties of commoner’s life he conveyed what he observed with explicable urge giving new dimension to Punjabi literature, she added. Writer Santokh Singh Dhir, former Minister Harnek Singh Gharuan, Ranjivan Singh, Manmohan Singh Daun, Ripudaman Singh Rup, Savy Satwinder Kaur, and Jarnail Singh Kranti also mourned Chann’s death.
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17 cases of power theft detected
Sangrur, July 9 Additional Superintending Engineer (SE), PSEB Sangrur Division (Distribution), DPS Grewal said yesterday in the 17 power theft cases, power to consumers had been disconnected and notices issued for depositing fine of Rs 6.18 lakh. FIRs would be registered by the special PSEB police station in these cases. On July 5 the raids werw made in Sant
Nagar, Officers Colony, Mann Colony and Kartarpura road at Sangrur, Grewal added. Meanwhile, Deputy Chief Engineer of the Sangrur Circle (Distribution),
PSEB, Dalip Singh said in all eight divisions of the PSEB here fines Rs 3 crore fine had been imposed since June 1 for using unauthorised extension in tube well motors . Grewal said since June 1 Rs 51.37 lakh fine had been imposed for using unauthorised extension in tube well motors in the Sangrur Division of the
PSEB. He added 69 cases of power theft had been detected since June 1 in Sangrur Division. Notices had been issued to the “erring” consumers to deposit fine of Rs 14.70 lakh, he
added. Grewal said “power thieves” used magnet, direct tapping of the power lines, tampering with meter seals, use of frequency jammers etc.
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More staff sought for new dists
Sangrur, July 9 Member of the State Advisory Board of the Punjab State Ministerial Services Union Raj Kumar Arora said yesterday as the new districts had been created without creating new posts, so old districts now faced shortage of staff. In Sangrur district’s Food and Supply Office, he said, of 28 auditors, more than 10 auditors had been shifted to Barnala district. Besides this, ministerial staff and field staff had also been shifted to Barnala, but no recruitment done to fill vacancies, he added. Arora said the government should create posts for the new districts and recruit staff to end shortage. He said besides the shifting of employees to newly created districts, retirement of employees also caused shortage of staff as no recruitment was done against the posts of retired staff. He said the ministerial staff had also to do election duties, preparation of information sought by the public under the RTI Act. Arora also asked the government to keep the education qualification as 10 plus II for the post of clerk for giving jobs to the wards of deceased employees on compassionate ground as the government had raised qualifications for the post of clerk as graduation with computer knowledge.
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Punjab to spend Rs 100 crore on rural toilets
Chandigarh, July 9 The Chief Minister added that this would benefit the poor belonging to backward classes. The government will build individual household latrines at a cost of RS 10,000 each. Badal response came in reply to a question raised by Virsa Singh Valtoha of the SAD. Valtoha had asked the Rural Development and Panchayat Minister to state if the government had any proposal to construct toilets in rural areas based on the Central government pattern. In reply to the question, Badal himself made the announcement and tabled the letter to all heads of district administration to undertake the same. According to the details of the scheme, priority will be given to villages where elections are held unanimously, villages with women sarpanches, villages of religious and historical importance, villages with 100 per cent scheduled caste population, where problem of water logging existed, etc.
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Turban ban: US Sikhs meet Jathedar
Amritsar, July 9 The delegation informed the Jathedar and the SGPC president that Sikhs were facing discrimination by the US administration on various accounts. Moreover, in many schools there baptised Sikh children were not allowed admission. The SGPC president assured the delegation that he would take up the matter with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. He had already written to Barack Obama, President of the US, urging him to direct the US army to withdraw a ban on conspicuous Sikh religious articles of faith, including wearing of turban. The SGPC chief described the ban as violation of the UN Charter of Human Rights.
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Docs justify raise in retirement age
Amritsar, July 9 Dr Amrik Singh Bhatia, president of the association, said the decision for enhancement of retirement age bar was taken after a careful consideration, which was also recommended by a national-level expert committee. He said the decision was applicable to all government and private medical institutes. Earlier, the younger doctors had said according to the latest vacancy position of the office concerned and MCI norms, 32 posts of professor and 28 of associate professor were surplus at the government medical college of Amritsar and Patiala. Dr Bhatia said there were a number of vacancies at top rung and highly experienced teachers were required to be appointed to these posts. The person, who had issued the statement against senior doctors, himself enjoyed the benefit of the government decision to enhance the retirement age, Bhatia added.
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Another extension for PSEB unbundling
Chandigarh, July 9 Disclosing this here today, a spokesman for the Punjab government said the state government had urged the Centre to give another extension to the PSEB till December 31 to carryout the re-organisation process in the board.
— TNS
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Chandigarh, July 9
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Gram Nyayalayas Act Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, July 9 The petitioner asserted the “respondents have no justification in remaining inactive over the matter of non-implementation of the Act, enacted by Parliament and assented to by the President of India on January 7, 2009”. He added the executive authorities were “making laudable expressions in the media that they shall be going for speedy justice, whereas reality was the authorities were inactive in making the Act enforceable. The Bench of Chief Justice Tirath Singh Thakur and Justice Kanwaljit Singh Ahluwalia today issued notice of motion, while taking up the matter.
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