Chandigarh, July 13
A status report submitted to the Punjab and Haryana High Court in the “Nayagaon land grab case” mentions that 42 IAS officers, 28 PCS, 10 IPS, 39 PPS, 37 MPs, ex-MPs, ex-MLAs, and eight officers of the Excise and Taxation Department are yet to give details of properties purchased or allotted by them in and around Chandigarh.

The list also includes the name of State Director-General of Police-cum-Director of Punjab Police Academy Rajdeep Singh Gill.

The report submitted by an Additional Director-General of Police says: “In spite of several requests, these officers and others, who run the affairs of the government themselves, are avoiding the supply of vital information.”

The report also mentions the names of the 10 defaulting IPS officers. Along with Gill, other officers are Anil Kumar Sharma, Barjinder Kumar Uppal, Dinkar Gupta, Gurinder Pal Singh, Hardish Singh Randhawa, SK Asthana, B. Chandra Shekhar, Naresh Kumar Arora and Amardeep Singh Rai.

Describing the response as “sluggish”, the officer said more time was required to complete the inquiry.

Taking up the matter, the Bench comprising Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel and Justice Nirmaljit Kaur granted three months’ time.

In a letter, the Bench said it had been mentioned that the Mohali Deputy Commissioner, Punjab Registrar of Co-operative Societies, and the Chief Administrator of the Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (GMADA) were not cooperating.

The societies registrar had not supplied affidavits or declarations of the members registered with the co-operating house building societies in Mohali. As such, six months’ time was sought to complete the inquiry.

Before parting with the orders, the Bench directed the deputy commissioner, the registrar and the chief administrator to furnish the requisite information to the inquiry officer within a month from receiving the order’s copy.

Earlier, the high court had directed two task forces to report on encroachments on government land.

Chief Justice Tirath Singh Thakur and Justice Hemant Gupta had made it clear that the two panels would submit the reports to the State Chief Secretary. The report in the matter by ADGP Chander Shekhar, too, was directed to be placed before the Chief Secretary; and the entire exercise has to be completed in three months. 

Chandigarh, July 13
The area under premium quality paddy, particularly Pusa 1121 variety, will increase in the state from 3.5 lakh hectares last year to 7 lakh hectares this year.

Haryana, which has adopted the variety before Punjab, has also witnessed an increase in its transplantation. Though the primary reason for the increase has been the bumper Pusa 1121 harvests in the past two years, this year repeated power cuts and a late monsoon also forced farmers to go in for premium paddy varieties, including 1121, which are transplanted in July.

The increase in the transplantation of 1121 and other premium qualities, which will constitute around 25 per cent of the 27 lakh hectares under paddy in Punjab this year, has also led to demands that the state government should guarantee a minimum support price (MSP) for this variety.

The Punjab Young Farmers Association (PYFA) held a meeting in this regard today, which was attended by farmer leaders, the Confederation of Arhtiyas Association and also the Punjab Agro Inputs Dealers Association. The meeting claimed that declaring an MSP for paddy would encourage more farmers to take up premium varieties. Association General-Secretary Bhagwan Das Gupta said premium paddy varieties needed less water and could be transplanted along with the monsoon showers rather than in June, as was the case with the coarse varieties.

The meeting claimed that, though 1121 was not procured, in case the government fixes a minimum price for procurement, the state government agencies like Markfed and Punjab Agro could procure the variety for export.

The meeting, which was attended by YFA president Jagdeep Singh Cheema, farmer leader Satnam Singh Behru and Devi Dayal Goyal of the Confederation of Arhtiya Association, besides others, also demanded that the MSP for paddy be fixed at Rs 1,450 per quintal this year. The various representatives claimed that this was essential as the expenditure on diesel and labour had increased by 25 to 30 per cent this year.

The farmers have apparently had high sale proceeds as far as 1121 is concerned. The sale proceeds per acre went up to Rs 50,000 per acre, which was the highest in recent years, Bhagwan Das disclosed. Seventy five per cent of all the premium varieties being grown in Punjab and Haryana is 1121, he said adding other varieties included 'Moochal' or duplicate basmati variety, HBC 19, CSR 30 and Sharbati in Haryana and Basmati 2, Super basmati, Basmati 386 and PUSA in Punjab. The area under premium paddy varieties in Haryana has already gone up to 60 per cent.

“I got an average of Rs 2,200 per quintal on sale of 1121,” said farmer at Baran village in Patiala Jaswinder Singh. He said the rate of 1121 had picked up after it was declared a Basmati variety by the Centre. 

Nangal, July 13
Water levels in reservoirs are shrinking as snow-fed rivers have got reduced to a trickle.

The water level in the Pong reservoir is 387.93 metre against last year’s level of 404.77 m. The water stored in the reservoir is 4 per cent of full reservoir level against 36 per cent last year. The inflow and outflow from the reservoir is 170.16 cubic m per second.

“Pong is mainly dependent on rains, while Bhakra is fed from the snow melting in its catchment areas,” said BBMB officials.

The Bhakra reservoir has registered 15 per cent of full reservoir level, while it was 56 per cent last year. The level of water in the Bhakra reservoir is 468.20 m against last year’s level of 494.24 m. Inflow is 1,047.33 cubic m per sec, while outflow is 784.61 cubic m per sec.

After a meeting of the partner states held in the last week of June, the BBMB had decided to cut down the share of water released to partner states. However, after request from Rajasthan, the BBMB is now releasing 3,000 cusecs of more water to meet with its requirements.

“Reducing the water share had significantly improved water level in the Bhakra reservoir by 10 to 15 feet in around 10 days. But now since Rajasthan is overdrawing water, condition is back to where it was earlier,” the officials added.

With scant rainfall registered so far, the hydel units’ power generation, too, has got affected. The power generation from Bhakra is around 197 lakh units daily and from Pong is 18.4 lakh units.

It’s the thermal units of the state that are trying to grapple with the power situation by producing around 555 lakh units daily. The power supply in the state was 1,544 lakh units yesterday against demand of 1,698 lakh units leaving a gap of 154 lakh units. The peak load demand restrictions in the state in peak hours were 750 MW and it was 800 MW during the off-peak hours after midnight.

Chandigarh, July 13
There was an air of festivity at the residence of former Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) stalwart the late Captain Kanwaljit Singh, three months after he passed away, with his son Jasjit Singh Bunny finally being cleared for the party ticket from Banur today.

Though the SAD core committee that met at Ferozepur today reportedly left the decision on nominating the party candidate from Banur, which faces byelection on August 3 along with Kahnuwan and Jalalabad, to party president Sukhbir Singh Badal, it was conveyed to the Captain’s family today that Bunny would be the party candidate from Banur.

Bunny himself admitted saying the party had conveyed its decision to him today. He was also seen accepting congratulations with supporters of the late Capt Kanwaljit Singh flocking to his house in Sector 9 in large numbers.

The way was paved for Bunny being nominated from Banur after his mother Sarabjit Kaur refused to take the party ticket offered to her by the SAD leadership. Sources said the family conveyed to the party leadership that it would rather not participate in the elections process if the party chose to ignore Bunny’s claim due to his “emotional outburst” following the death of Capt Kanwaljit.

The sources said though there was a feeling in the SAD to deny the ticket to Bunny, it was felt that it would send a wrong message if the son of a senior party leader was ignored.

Bunny has since his outburst, which saw him resigning from the party leadership, reformed his behaviour, which the sources said was also responsible for his rehabilitation.

However, with Bunny adjusted, it is the turn of Capt Kanwaljit’s supporter-turned-bete noire NK Sharma to feel “used” by the SAD.

During Bunny’s revolt, the party had re-inducted Sharma into the party and had also reportedly assured him that he would be the party candidate from Banur.

Sharma’s spokesman Krishan Pal Sharma said the announcement of Bunny’s name had come like a bolt from the blue.

He said Sharma had decided to hold a meeting of his supporters tomorrow to chalk out the next plan of action.

Sources claim Sharma could revolt and fight the byelections as an independent as he does not have any future in the SAD with the ticket being given to Bunny.

This would make the contest triangular and also result in a nail biting finish with Congress candidate Deepinder Singh Dhillon likely to benefit in such a scenario.

Ferozepur, July 13
Former Deputy Chief Minister and president of the Shiromani Akali Dal Sukhbir Singh Badal today filed his nomination papers for by-election from the Jalalabad Vidhan Sabha constituency in the office of SDM of Jalalabad Rajiv Prashar.

Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, his wife and Bathinda MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal, Ferozepur MP Sher Singh Ghubhaya and senior SAD-BJP leaders accompanied Sukhbir. Ghubhaya’s wife Krishna Rani filed her papers as a covering candidate.

Later, while addressing a large gathering, Sukhbir promised to usher in a new era of development and prosperity in this backward border region, which he said had remained neglected till date due to erroneous policies of the Congress.

About the water woes and sewage disposal problems of the Jalalabad area, Sukhbir said the Irrigation Department had already approved a plan to check the canal water shortage of this area within next 18 months. “Every village of Jalalabad has already been included in the ambitious Reverse Osmosis Programme of the state government, in which 5,000 villages will be covered to supply potable drinking water,” he added.

He further said the state government had already sanctioned Rs 19 crore for laying sewage network in the Jalalabad area out of which Rs 9 crore had already been disbursed.

Expressing determination to complete the unfinished task of providing P-rights to tillers of the border belt, the SAD president said the government had already extended the date to submit claims keeping in view the difficulties faced by the people.

The CM, while trying to establish an emotional chord with the local audience, congratulated them for defeating the self- proclaimed Awaz-e-Punjab Jagmeet Brar with the power of ballot during the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections.

Badal assured that he would make concerted efforts for the opening of a trade link between India and Pakistan through the Hussaniwala border, adding that the matter would be taken up with the Centre at priority.

Badal also lambasted the Congress for power woes and poor fiscal condition of the state. “The Congress left the state’s economy with huge debt burden of Rs 45,000 crore and left the SAD-BJP government to service this unmanageable burden,” he added. 

Doda (Muktsar), July 13
Due to the occurrence of a technical snag, a Microlite training aircraft of the Indian Air Force (IAF) made an emergency landing at Doda village in Muktsar district this morning. No casualty was reported as the aircraft landed in vacant fields.

Pilot of the aircraft YS Brar took off from the Air Force station at Bhisiana in Bathinda district in the morning. The landing was recorded at about 8.25 am.

Though no IAF official present there was ready to give details, farmer Mehar Singh, who was ploughing his fields nearby, said he saw the aircraft hovering above his head. Frightened, he tried to run away. Meanwhile, the aircraft started losing altitude and when it was barely at a height of 3-4 feet from the ground, it fell all of a sudden with a thud.

“We immediately rushed towards it and attempted to rescue the pilot, but he was alright and came out himself. Immediately after the incident, the police and IAF officials rushed to the spot and cordoned off the area,” Mehar added.

Deputy Commissioner of Muktsar Rajat Aggarwal said, “No causality and injury have been reported”. 

Amritsar, July 13
Rules framed by the British in Punjab are in effect even after 62 years of Independence. The government is dithering on amending such rules on Nazul land (leased by municipal authorities for non-agricultural purposes) and projects in the city have been hanging fire. Over Rs 200-crore Nazul land in Amritsar is maintained by the Municipal Corporation (MC) though the ownership rights of this property still vests with the state government.

The MC here has been trying to dispose of prime property (Nazul land) to meet commitments relating to on-going projects, but it could not do so till rules framed by the British are amended.

The city has been selected under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) scheme and the corporation started several projects under this scheme like elevated road project, management of municipal solid waste project, augmentation of water supply and sewer system in the city. In all these projects, contribution of the Centre, state government and MC, Amritsar, is 50 per cent, 20 per cent and 30 per cent, respectively. But due to the poor financial health of the corporation, it is unable to contribute its share leading to the hampering of execution of all projects.

The only alternative with the corporation is to contribute its share by disposing of the land belonging to the state government and Nazul property to the care the corporation.

Several chunks of land/property belonging to the state government and Nazul property are mainly situated in the Shaheed Bhagat Singh Extension Market near the general bus stand, commercial plots adjacent to Goal Bagh, Bakkar Mandi, 1,126 shops in areas of the city allotted on nominal rent basis, 164 plots in different areas of the city given on lease etc are situated in the MC limits.

On the strength of the agreement executed between the erstwhile Municipal Committee, Amritsar, and the then Governor of Punjab, all property is vesting with the MC, Amritsar, only for maintenance and control though the ownership of the property still lies with the state government. Most of the property was leased to different lessees long ago on nominal lease and their lease periods have expired. In the light of the latest government instructions, instead of extending the lease, efforts are to dispose of the property. However, due to the ownership of the property still vested with the state government, the MC is unable to dispose of the property.

Sangrur, July 13
The Punjab Mandi Board has cancelled the notification, issued by it on June 29, with regard to making payment for crops from July 1 directly to farmers. This has reportedly been done due to the resentment expressed by arhtiyas before the Chief Minister.

Talking to The Tribune over the phone on Thursday, president, Arhtiyas Association, Punjab Ravinder Singh Cheema said this notification (No. 5595) had been issued by the Board by making an amendment in the 28-A bylaw. The notification had been cancelled.

Cheema said, however, the arhtiyas would now make the payment for the crops to farmers through account payee cheques. He said the arhtiyas would issue cheques to the farmers from their own bank accounts, while the procurement agencies/buyers would continue to make the payment to the arhtiyas through cheques as earlier.

He said they had held a meeting with Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal at his residence recently. The Chief Minister had assured them that the arhtiyas would make the payment to farmers through cheques from their own bank accounts.

Cheema also said in some grain markets of the state, cheques of payments for some crops, like maize, sunflower and chilli, were being given to arhtiyas by buyers, while arhtiyas were making payments to farmers through cheques from their own bank accounts.

He also said arhtiyas could give advance amounts to farmers and get their money back from them in cash or by way of taking advance cheques from them. He said any farmer could get his payment immediately or later, but the payment would be made through cheque.

Cheema also said in case the state government again made an effort to make direct payment to the farmers, then the arhtiyas would oppose the same. 

Jalandhar, July 13
The Union government has accepted the Maharashtra government’s request on loans advanced by money lenders to farmers in the state, but taken no note of the similar issue raised by Punjab.

Of the loans given by money lenders to farmers in Maharashtra, Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee made a mention in his Budget speech on July 6. On the debt relief for farmers, Mukherjee said, “It is learnt that in some regions in Maharashtra, a large number of farmers had taken loan from private money lenders and the loan waiver scheme did not cover them. To examine the matter in detail and suggest the course of action, I propose to set up a task force”.

Ignoring Punjab in respect of waiver of farm loan of money lenders and considering Maharashtra’s case of similar nature is due to clout of Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar at the Centre.

Even Prime Minister Manmohan Singh did not find it appropriate to tag Punjab’s case along with Maharashtra’s.

The Badal government also failed to take note of Mukherjee’s mention of Maharashtra ignoring Punjab that contributes more than 60 per cent wheat and 34 per cent rice to the Central pool and urge the Union government to include Punjab in the task force proposal.

Punjab gained poorly from agricultural debt waiver package granted to farmers of the country in 2008-09. Punjab got waiver of only Rs 1,044 crore (1.5 per cent) out of Rs 71,000 crore package given by the Union government to waive outstanding loan of farmers in the country. The rural debt in Punjab is estimated to be at Rs 35,000 crore, Rs 22,000 crore institutional debt and Rs 13,000 crore of money lenders and arhtiyas. In fact, the per household debt in rural Punjab is the highest, Rs 41,576 against the all-India average of Rs 12,585. This was brought to the notice of the Planning Commission at the time of passing of the annual plan of the state for 2009-10.

Loan advanced by money lenders was also not covered in Punjab at the time of implementing loan waiver package announced by the Union government last year.

Punjab is also not benefiting from schemes like Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojna for farmers of the Union government.

Punjab farmers are also disappointed as the Prime Minister chose to visit some regions of Maharashtra and other states where farmers had committed suicide due to debt, but not Punjab where too farmers had ended lives due to debt. Not taking note of loan advanced by money lenders in Punjab will further disappoint farmers in Punjab.

For some years the Punjab government has been thinking of bailing out farmers from the loan of money lenders, but has failed to do anything worthwhile except deciding to make direct payment to farmers for foodgrains sold by them to government procurement agencies. 

Amritsar, July 13
President of the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC) Avtar Singh today decried the Maharashtra government for appointing former DGP PS Pasricha as the Takht Hazur Sahib Management administrator.

The SGPC president said the appointment of Pasricha had come as a “great shock” to the community. He said the government should immediately withdraw the decision to revive the Gurdwara Board by removing Pasricha as administrator. — TNS

Chandigarh, July 13
Mere use of offensive words will not get you in trouble under the provisions of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, if you do not have the knowledge that the aggrieved party belongs to the SC/ST category.

Justice Mahesh Grover of the Punjab and Haryana High Court has ruled a “perusal of the provisions makes it abundantly clear that intention and knowledge to commit the offence are essential ingredients of the offence”. With this, the HC has quashed a complaint against a former polytechnic principal.

Elaborating, Justice Grover has asserted it was also important that a “person who allegedly commits such an offence is attributed the knowledge of the person, so abused with offensive words, as belonging to the scheduled caste/tribe”

Justice Grover added: When a complaint is initiated against a person, these two ingredients automatically form essential bed-rock of the allegations; and if the complaint is lacking in these, prima facie, the court cannot record a conclusion that a case has been made out sufficiently so as to warrant summoning of an accused under the provisions of the law.

In his detailed order, Justice Grover asserted the court “is not expected to act mechanically and summon an accused, and it necessarily has to apply its mind to the averments made in the complaint….”

The directions follow a petition by retired principal of Mehar Chand Polytechnic College at Jalandhar ML Ohri and others. The trial court had concluded they had not been shown to have committed an offence under the provisions of the Act, as the complainant had failed to produce the certificate showing she belonged to the Scheduled Caste.

The revision petition was, however, accepted and the trial court was directed to procure the presence of the petitioners as the accused.

Quashing the complaint and the consequent summoning order, Justice Grover asserted: In the instant case, if the entire complaint is perused there is not even a single word mentioned by the complainant that she belongs to the Scheduled Caste and that the petitioners intentionally, and knowing her to be a member of the Scheduled Caste, had uttered the words so as to insult her.

Chandigarh, July 13
Over 170.25 acres of declared forestland around Chandigarh is under unlawful construction by bigwigs, says a report submitted to the Punjab and Haryana High Court.

In the report placed before the Division Bench of Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel and Justice Nirmaljit Kaur, Punjab Additional Director-General of Police Chander Shekhar said the Ropar district forest officer had conveyed that “in 26 villages of Koraran, Nada etc, persons were having unlawful/ unauthorised construction on 170.25 acres of declared forestland”.

The ADGP, looking into the matter on the Punjab and Haryana High Court directions, also gave the details of the “big violators in Nada, Koraran and Parchh villages”.

Among others, the mentioned names included BS Sandhu; “Monisha Gill, daughter of HS Mattewal”; “Barry IPS”, “Sanjiv Kalra IPS”; and “Rana Jolly”.

The inquiry was entrusted to ADGP Chander Shekhar after Justice Ranjit Singh of the high court had taken cognisance of the matter.

Justice Ranjit Singh had asked the ADGP to lay emphasis on Nayagaon, Zirakpur, Mohali, Kansal and Koraran areas.

The Judge had added, “It will also need investigation to see as to what is the source of acquisition.”

The matter was brought to the high court’s notice by Kuldip Singh, a Nayagoan resident.

Accusing a senior police functionary in a land grab bid at Nayagaon, he had sought protection while praying for the registration of an FIR and a CBI probe into the dealings.

Taking up the matter, Justice Ranjit Singh had observed: “It is a case where valuable property in and around Chandigarh is a subject matter of dispute between senior police officers.”

“They are not the only officers, who appear to have acquired these assets. Since the matter is being investigated by an officer of the rank of ADGP, it will be appropriate to unearth the true state of affairs in respect of various high-ups,” the Justice added.

Ludhiana, July 13
Youth Akali leader Devinder Pal Singh Makkar has accused Jail Minister Hira Singh Gabria of conspiring to kill SAD councillor Simarjit Singh Bains and Karwal accused in tehsildar assault case.

In an SOS to the Punjab and Haryana High Court, the Punjab State Human Rights Commission, the DGP-Punjab, the DGP-Prisons, the SSP-Ludhiana and Jail Minister Gabria, Youth Akali leader Makkar has alleged that both Youth Akasli leaders faced risk to life and Gabria was behind it.

Seeking high court’s intervention, Makkar alleged political rivalry was behind the booking of Bains, who was not even present on the spot when tehsildar GS Benipal was assaulted and stripped.

“Both leaders face risk of life and limbs. We have sources to corroborate our information. If something goes wrong, the Jail Minister will be responsible,” said Makkar demanding proper security and food for the accused.

Balwinder Singh Bains, SGPC member and elder brother of Simarjit, alleged the latter was being treated badly in the jail. He said piles of garbage were collected near the beds of accused.

“Prison officials are misbehaving with them badly. We respect the law of the land, but nothing bad should be done to anybody at the instance of a minister,” said Balwinder.

Gabria, denying all charges, said Simarjit was safe and sound in prison and there was no danger to his life. He was ready to shift him to any other jail in the state.

The minister said he would provide him security inside the premises whenever he would get his representation. He was yet to get any communication from Bains in this regard.