Chandigarh, July 16
Finding their names in the list of alleged “wrongdoers”, many bureaucrats have taken up the matter the Chief Secretary contradicting contents of the report that dubbed  them “violators” of the society rules.

While the actual offenders mentioned by names in the report having flouted cooperative house building societies rules preferred to stay mum, a few have denied wrongdoing.

In a communication to The Tribune Additional Director- General of Police (Intelligence) Suresh Arora said, “Since my name has appeared in the list mentioned in the news, I can say an erroneous inference has been drawn from the report submitted to Punjab and Haryana High Court”.

He said it was wrong that some officers, including him, had submitted false affidavits in violation of the bylaws of Co-operative House Building Society. He said, “ I am not a member of any society either in or around Chandigarh or elsewhere in the country. However, my wife, an officer, is a member of a society in Mohali.”

This society, he said, has never asked his wife to tender an affidavit nor has she submitted any, much less a false one.

Similarly, another IAS officer said, “I along with a group of other fellow officers have decided to clarify our position to the high court through the Chief Secretary. But it is false that false affidavits have been signed or submitted to any authority by me”.

Pointing out shortcomings in the investigations many affected have preferred to take it up at “appropriate” forum rather than make a statement.

Amritsar, July 16
The Majha Ex-servicemen Human Rights Front (MEHRF) here on Tuesday alleged the police was under pressure for not acting against Baba Major Singh Wann, main accused in a land grab case.

Col GS Sandhu (retd), MEHRF chief, said at a press conference Baba Major Singh, accompanied with 40 to 50 armed persons , tried to take possession of 21 acres of widow Gurmeet Kaur of Chogawan village. He said the accused also injured two persons of the same village, Talwinder Singh and Jaimal Singh. He said though a case had been registered against Major Singh and eight others, the police had not arrested them due to pressure of SAD leaders.

Major Singh refuted the allegations and said the land was in the name of Gurmeet Kaur and her five daughters, including his wife. He said he was being framed in the case as he had not visited the village on the said date. He said share of 3.5 acres belonging to his wife had been given on lease to Jagir Singh who was being prevented from tilling the land by the other party. On the formation of the charitable trust he said as it could not be registered they had its abandoned idea. He said the trust never came into being and had not accepted any money from public.

Colonel Sandhu alleged said Major Singh also ran unregistered charitable trust, Sant Baba Kharak Singh Ji Baba Major Singhji Charitable Trust, to hoodwink the public. He said only three members had been incorporated in the governing body and his wife Naninder Kaur was cashier, his son Nambir Singh secretary, besides the accused as the founder president.

The MEHRF chairman has urged the government to arrest Major Wann besides withdrawing his security and impounding his passport. He said they would move the Punjab and Haryana High Court if no action was taken against the accused.

Chandigarh, July 16
The Department of Social Security has issued fresh guidelines and a checklist for the running of observation and children’s homes in the state. The move follows a Tribune expose into the pathetic condition of various observation homes in the state.

Secretary, social security, Punjab, Harjit Singh said officials working in the homes had been told to follow these guidelines strictly, failing which action would be initiated against them.

In charges of these homes have been asked to give complete details of the inmates, along with their pictures and history. All new admissions have to be reported every month to the head office.

The guidelines include the daily checking of quality of food being given to the inmates and the state of cleanliness of the home. The department has also told the officials to send reports regarding the problems being faced by them in implementing the various provisions of the Juvenile Justice Act so that these can be sorted out.

The department has asked the home in charge to report to them regarding shortage of staff, funds, infrastructure and other facilities.

“We have formed a purchase committee through which various things needed for the observation homes can be bought. The committee would include members of staff from the Deputy Commissioner’s office and the rest from the home,” said Harjit. Other than this, a three-member committee would be constituted within the home, which would check the quality of cooked food.

The secretary admitted that there were inadequate medical facilities for the children housed at these places and efforts were being made to ensure that doctors visited these homes regularly. The homes in charge have been asked to maintain a record of all the donations and their utilisation.

The secretary added that a checklist has been issued to the homes that have to keep in mind while preparing the reports. “At the same time the home in charge has been asked to tell about any other issue not referred in the check-list,” said Harjit.

Dera Bassi, July 16
The SAD candidate from the Banur Assembly seat, Jasjit Singh Bunny, today got a shot in the arm when Zirakpur MC president NK Sharma took a u-turn in Bunny’s support at the intervention of Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and decided not fight as an Independent candidate against him.

A few hours before Bunny, son of late Cooperation Minister Capt Kanwaljit Singh, was to file his nomination in Dera bassi, CM aided by Prof Prem Singh Chandumajra descended at the NK Sharma’s office and persuaded him to withdraw his resignation. Though the CM stated that Sharma’s gesture was unconditional, sources said the betenoire of Capt Kanwaljit Singh has been assured suitable recognition in the coming days. Interestingly, NK Sharma had called a large gathering at his farmhouse before proceeding to file his nomination as an independent candidate.

Political analyst believe that NK Sharma’s u-turn was a calculated move which suited him and the Badal’s in wining over the confidence of the pro-capt Kanwaljit Singh supporters.

As the events turned in favour of the SAD, Jasjit Singh Bunny, led by the CM, Prof Prem Singh Chandumajra and NK Sharma filed his nomination papers before Returning Officer Puneet Goyal. In violation of code of conduct, a large numbers of vehicle of the SAD supporters almost caused a jam in Dera bassi town as the traffic on the Chandigar-Ambala National Highway was also affected.

Earlier talking to mediapersons, the CM said decision to give ticket to Bunny was a decision of the party. “ The party had left the decision to the family of the Late Capt Kanwaljit Singh. NK Sharma is a honest worker of the party and is like my son”, the senior Badal added.

After filing his nomination, Bunny, led by the senior SAD leaders and senior BJP leaders, addressed a large rally at Ram Lila ground. Addressing the rally, the CM said he had promised late Capt Kanwaljit Singh to groom his son in politics.

He said that sudden demise of Capt Kanwaljit Singh was personal loss to him as late leader had always stood by the party in turbulent times and was a far sighted leader who helped to resolve different issues faced by the party.

Jasjit Singh Bunny thanked the Chief Minister for providing him an opportunity to fulfill the dreams of Capt Kanwaljit Singh by developing this area as model one. He also thanked NK Sharma and Sheelam Sohi for lending him full support. CET made compulsory for BEd admissions 

Chandigarh, July 16
The SAD has written to Punjab’s Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) disassociating itself from surrogate advertisements. Copies of the letter have been sent to all newspaper editors in the region and returning officers of the Jalalabad, Kahnuwan and Banur Assembly segments.

SAD Administrative Officer KK Sachdeva has written “unscrupulous elements used the name of the party to insert advertisements in newspapers on behalf of the party”. He said the party had not authorised anyone to act on its behalf.

It is felt the SAD move is aimed at preventing the returning officer from adding cost of surrogate ads in the election expense of the candidate. With the Election Commission of India coming down heavily against excess election expenditure in the recent Lok Sabha elections, the SAD nominees from Ludhiana and Fatehgarh Sahib were not allowed to speak at the NDA rally at Ludhiana lest the rally expense should be attributed to them.

In March 2009, the EC had banned surrogate advertisements on the initiative of Nawanshahr-based NGO, HELP that had used the RTI Act to find out the extent of the use of surrogate advertisements in elections and the action taken thereon. Following the ban, all political parties were directed to mention “advt” in all advertisements given in electioneering.

In May this year, the ROs across Punjab had started adding advertisement value to the expenditure account of candidates, besides issuing notices to them. Congress president Mohinder Singh Kaypee had Rs 14.22 lakh added to his election expenditure on account of surrogate advertisements, while SAD candidate Hansraj Hans had Rs 5.44 lakh added to his expenditure account. Similarly, Navjot Singh Sidhu and others too had to pay on account of surrogate ads given in their names.

Rana Gurjit Singh, who contested the Khadur Sahib elections, was asked to explain news items that had appeared in his favour. Around 50 notices were issued in the Jalandhar Division alone.

The SAD has told the CEO ,for all intents and purposes, the party or its candidates shall not be responsible for unauthorised advertisements, including surrogate ads, published in any newspaper issued by any third party or agency. 

Jalandhar, July 16
The Congress has urged union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee to set up a special task force for Punjab on the Maharashtra pattern to deal with the issue of loans advanced to farmers by moneylenders in the state. Mukherjee has also been urged to review the earlier loan waiver package because it does not benefit Punjab farmers much. Congress MLA Sukhpal Singh Khaira has written a letter in this regard to Mukherjee.

“As you are aware, Punjab is passing through a serious agrarian crisis with a debt burden of Rs 35,000 crore on its farmers. Of this, approximately Rs 22,000 crore is institutional loan of various banks and the remaining is debt of moneylenders or arhtiyas”, Khaira states in the letter.

Khaira has written the letter after The Tribune highlighted that a task force had been set up to deal with loans advanced to farmers by moneylenders but Punjab, which was also facing a similar problem, had been ignored.

“In fact, the per household debt in rural Punjab is the highest in the country at Rs 41,576 against the all-India average of Rs 12,585. The debt of moneylenders accounts for a huge burden due to very high interest rates, at times 24 per cent per annum, being charged by them. Punjab is the biggest contributor to the central pool of wheat and rice,” the letter says.

A large number of farmers have committed suicide in the state during the past two decades. The state government, for reasons best known to it, had kept the issue of suicides by farmers under the wraps to save itself from public criticism. Only recently, the state government had got a sample survey conducted by Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, and a startling figure of 2,890 suicides by farmers had emerged from only two districts of Sangrur and Bathinda in 2000-08.”

“The Congress demands that a special task force be set up to examine the case of Punjab for the new programme. The party also demands that since Punjab was not covered appropriately in the earlier loan waiver scheme, a review of the case of debt-ridden farmers be done on a priority,” Khaira adds.

Jalandhar, July 16
Human death rate has gone up and birth rate come down in Punjab. While infant mortality rate in villages has come down, it is fluctuating in urban areas. That the death rate in Punjab is going up when advanced medical facilities are here, is worrisome.

Official documents confirm that death rate went up in 2005 and has been rising since then. It went up by almost 1 point per 1,000 in rural areas and by 0.3 point per 1,000 in towns and cities. However, the average increase in death rate, after tabulating rural and urban figures, is 0.6 point per 1,000 since 2004.

The documents say death rate in 2004 was 6.4 per 1,000, going up to 7 per 1,000 in 2007. Figures of rural area have shown it was 6.9 per 1,000 in 2004, 7.2 in 2005 and 7.4 in 2006. In 2007, it has been shown as 7.7 per 1,000. In urban areas, it went up to 5.8 per 1,000 in 2005 from 5.6 in 2004 and in 2007 it was 5.9 in 2007, 5.8 per 1,000 in 2006. In simple terms, for every 1,000 people seven die in Punjab every year.

The office of the Director, Health and Family Welfare, provided data on this to the Finance and Planning Department. The Director, Health and Family Welfare, used the sample registration system operated by the Registrar General of India.

A senior Health Department official said, “We will get a fresh survey done going into the reasons for the rise in the death rate”. Diseases like cancer have been killing many in Punjab, especially in parts of Malwa. Besides, deaths due to heart and other diseases related to lifestyle have also gone up. Even diseases like dengue are proving to be a killer.

The level of basic immunisation for diseases like DPT, measles etc has also gone down from 72.1 per cent in 1998-99 to 60.1 per cent in 2005-06 revealed in the National Family Health Survey. Besides diseases, road accidents have also become big killers.

Death rate in Punjab was 7.8 in 1990, but it came down steadily to 6.4 per 1,000 in 2004. In urban areas it was 5.8 per 1,000 in 1990 and had come down to 5.6 per 1,000 in 2004, but went up to 5.9 in 2007.

Birth rate came down to 17.6 per 1,000 in 2007 from 18.7 per 1,000 in 18.7 in 2004. In fact, it has come down by 10 per 1,000 in rural areas since 1990 when it was 28.4 and in 2007 it was 18.3.

Infant mortality rate is on the decline in rural areas. It came down to 48 per 1,000 in 2006 from 66 in 1990. However, in urban areas it came down to 34 per 1,000 in 2003, went up to 37 in 2005 and came down to 36 the next year. In 2007, it was 35 in urban areas, whereas it was 45 in 1990.

At what age do more people die in Punjab? Certainly not at the infant stage because infant mortality rate has been coming down constantly.

Ludhiana, July 16
Falling water table in the state has been forcing farmers to go for deeper submersible tube wells with cemented structures at the base. Though found in select areas of Bathinda and Mansa districts, where water table has gone below 300 feet, experts feel other areas will also have to have deep tube wells very soon.

Devinder Singh a farmer, said, “ Submersible tube wells install 25 horse power (hp) motor in the pipe to lift water. As water table is falling further and farmers in certain areas are being forced to install 30 hp to 50 hp motors. The base where the motor is set up is cemented”.

Besides the declining water table, farmers are also peeved at insufficient power to the farm sector in the state. Except eight-hour power supply for paddy, farmers are not assured regular supply of power for other crops. “We are not getting even promised eight-hour for paddy,” Jyoti Randhawa, a farmer from Malerkotla, said.

Devinder said, “We don't get water for vegetable crop. Rice is not the only crop that farmers grow. Vegetable prices are rising because a great portion of vegetable crops does not grow at all”.

Bodh Singh, a farmer of Tughalpura village, said, “Drip sprinkler installed in 5 acres of my land have been idle. These gadgets, marvellous water savers, however, need at least eight-hour power for desirable results. I have to water my fields using submersible tube wells”.

He added, “We are willing to pay for electricity, but want it regular. We are spending extra money on generators to run submersible tube wells. An average generator costs Rs 50,000 and all farmers can not afford it .They hire generators for between Rs 300 and Rs 1,000 per day”. Depending on the depth of the tube well and the strength of the motor, the running cost of the machinery is between Rs 100 and Rs 250 per hour.

He added, “The poor state of transformers all over the state led to tripping frequently, farm fires and inconvenience”.

Amritsar, July 16
Farmers of Cheecha village of this border belt district are up in arms against the Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB) for fining them for power theft detected on July 12.

They at a meeting organised by the Kisan Sangharsh Committee (KSC) in the village yesterday decided not to pay any fine, besides holding dharna outside Khasa power substation from July 17.

The PSEB had imposed Rs 24.02 lakh fine on 12 farmers, including sarpanch, for stealing electricity. It had found three electricity motors running tube wells installed by the sarpanch with extended load.

Fourteen PSEB teams accompanied by the police had checked load of 49 transformers under Mahmoodpura feeder. In the eight-hour operation, the PSEB teams detected 139 cases of unauthorised load of power of 59 horse power (BHP), besides 12 cases of power theft.

Jasbir Singh, zonal president and member of the state committee of the KSC, said Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal at a meeting with farmer leaders had promised to direct the PSEB for extending the load by depositing Rs 1,200 per BHP instead of Rs 3,800 being charged. He alleged the government had also started Own Your Transformer (OYT) scheme for providing connections at cost of Rs 25,000 each. However, he added farmers had deposited the amount but connections were not being provided.

A senior PSEB official said the OYT scheme was still going on and charges for extending load were under the purview of power regulatory board. He added if it happened, the government would have to compensate the PSEB for the loss.

Moga, July 16
To goad farmers to go in for fruit cultivation, the Punjab government has now fixed a target of 250 acres for the plantation of banana plants in the state in September, this year.

This was stated by Dr Bhagwant Singh Chahal, consultant of the Punjab State Farmers’ Commission, while addressing a group of farmers and officials of the agriculture and horticulture departments here recently.

He said the state government was making all-out efforts to promote cultivation of bananas in the state. “It is an important fruit crop of tropical regions, but certain varieties can also be grown here with the technologies developed by our agriculture university,” he said.

He said in 2006 the commercial cultivation of banana was started for the first time in the state. At present, 25 farmers across the state were successfully carrying out banana cultivation in 67 acres of land, he added.

Dr Chahal said the Grand Naine variety of banana was best suited for cultivation in Punjab. “The Horticulture Department has developed nurseries for producing banana saplings of this variety this year,” he said, adding that saplings developed by tissue culture had shown good results as compared to the conventional sucker method of propagation.

The fruits were partially damaged by frost in December and January.

“Now, with tissue culture we have advanced the fruit maturity period by more than one month, i.e. in November, which has increased the yield by over 30 per cent,” he said.

He said one could earn Rs 1.10 lakh to Rs 1.50 lakh per year from one acre, depending on the yield of the crop.

Banana cultivation could be carried out successfully across the state except in Amritsar and Gurdaspur districts due to harsh frosty conditions during winters and in some parts of Bathinda and Mansa districts where the saline content in water is more than the requirement of the banana plant.

He said 1,200 to 1,400 plants could be planted in one acre of land and the farmers’ commission was providing a subsidy of 50 per cent on the purchase of saplings.

District Magistrate Satwant Singh Johal asked farmers to go for banana cultivation to improve their socio-economic status as the income generated from this fruit crop was more than double the income of wheat and paddy.

Kapurthala, July 16
The Centre has released Rs 7 crore for the completion of Sardar Swaran Singh Renewable Energy Institute, being set up on 75 acres on the Jalandhar-Kapurthala road.

Scientific Adviser, Central New and Renewable Energy Department, AR Shukla stated this on a visit to the institute. He was accompanied by Joint Secretary of the Department Hari Kumar and other senior officers.

He said construction work was likely to be completed by the end of July 2010.

The construction here was slow reportedly due to paucity of funds for several years after laying the foundation stone of the institute was laid in 2002.

Now work has started again after the department engaged new contractor.

Hari Kumar said these buildings were designed to save energy and for cooling purposes ACs would not be needed .

Dr Shukla claimed more than 70 per cent of the construction work had been complete. The department appointed four scientists and some other staff to initiate research in the field of bio-mass, he added. The Scientific Adviser said the Forest Department would start planting saplings of plants, including jatropha, for research on bio-fuel from next week.

Sangrur, July 16
The Department of Local Government,has ordered probe into the works undertaken by Municipal Council here through contractors/societies with grant of Rs 3 crore by the government.

In a compliant to Local Government Minister Manoranjan Kalia on July 13 at Chandigarh, Jatinder Kalra district BJP chief alleged out of Rs 3-crore grant, development works had not been done per specifications in the town. Besides many works had not been started even after five months of opening of the tenders on February 11, 2009, he added.

Director, Local Government SK Sharma, said on Tuesday he had ordered probe into the complaint and the Chief Vigilance Officer of the department asked to look into charges of development works not per specifications.

Kalra said 72 tenders of works were opened on February 11, for allotting works to the contractors/societies.

Out of 72 works, the contactors/societies had not started work at 29 places, while in five other cases the works had been left incomplete or not be started .

Residents face problems on account of non-laying of storm water line,flooring in streets, DB flooring and drains, premix carpet in streets etc, he added.

Kalra also mentioned the contractors were to complete the work from one month to three months, but even after more than four months of allotment of works,works had not been started . The council had also not initiated action against these contractors, he added.

He also stated quality of several development works was also poor. Kalra asked the minister to initiate action against the council for poor quality of the work and works not done per specifications.

Amritsar, July 16
President of the SGPC Avtar Singh today flagged off two buses, which will carry pilgrims to historic gurdwaras here and in neighbouring towns. Each bus has a 30-seat capacity. These would ply from Sri Guru Ramdas Serai in the Golden Temple complex in the morning.

Chandigarh, July 16
A legislator’s attempt to ensure the return of a black listed Punjabi back to his homeland has borne fruit with New York resident Daljit Singh returning back to Punjab after a span of 20 years.

Daljit, who addressed the press here along with Bholath legislator Sukhpal Singh Khaira, claimed that he was lucky that Khaira facilitated his return back to Punjab.

Daljit said he had left Punjab in search of better avenues in 1989 and subsequently learnt that the police was continuously coming to his house to ask about his whereabouts. Daljit said the resultant fear ensured that he could not come back even after he lost his father or even visit his ailing mother in Bagwanpur village in Kapurthala district. He said attempts made by him to seek an Indian visa also failed.

Daljit said Khaira had taken up his case on an appeal from the sarpanch of his village. Khaira himself said there was a lot of misinformation regarding the antecedents of many black listed persons. He said in case of Daljit he was thankful to DIG Counter Intelligence Gaurav Yadav who had helped in processing of the case which itself took nearly one year.

Khaira demanded the state government also effectively take up the issue of deleting of names of persons who had not committed any crime from the present black list. 

Chandigarh, July 16
Students seeking admissions to elementary teachers training (ETT) and bachelor of education (B.Ed) courses in Punjab will now have to take a common entrance test (CET). For the time being, establishment of new institutions for offering the course has been put on hold.

Acting on a petition filed by the Association of Punjab Self Financed Colleges of Education, Justice Permod Kohli of the Punjab and Haryana High Court today directed the state to hold CET, in accordance with its policy, before the commencement of every academic year for admission to the courses in the “petitioner-institutions” and other such institutions established and affiliated with the “appropriate university”.

The state government was also asked to constitute a committee of experts to carry out a survey on future requirements of the institutions. For the purpose, at least one-fourth of the total committee members would be representatives of the existing institutions.

Upon completion, the state government would take a policy decision whether to permit more institutions to come up in the state. Till the completion, it would not allow any new institution to be established.

Justice Kohli has asserted the students would be admitted on the basis of the entrance test in each institution in accordance with the laid down norms and to the extent of intake capacity prescribed. If the state was unable to conduct CET for any academic year, it “shall” permit the petitioner-institutions or authorise any other state authority or body to hold such an examination.

It could also constitute a committee of representatives of the institutions under the overall control of the director of education of the state. In such an eventuality, the institutions “shall” invite applications for CET and adopt a fair and a transparent procedure or method for admission to the courses. But, it would be appreciated if the state government itself held CET every year, Justice Kohli added.

In its petition, the association had earlier claimed 28 intuitions offering B.Ed and ETT courses were its members; and were recognised by the National Council for Teachers Education. They had sought directions to the state and other respondents to conduct centralised counselling.

Ferozepur, July 16
The police today registered an FIR under charges of kidnapping against unidentified persons in the case of missing lawyer amid high drama of protests by the Bar Association and employees of the cantonment board. The investigating team is still without any clue to the whereabouts of the lawyer.

The Bar Association met in the morning demanding the registration of an FIR against Joginder Singh Jindu, vice-president of the cantonment board, and Satish Arora, junior engineer, on a statement of the family of Kiran Pandey, the missing lawyer who is also a local RTI activist.

When Jindu and Arora came to know about it, they led a huge procession of the employees of the board and a few local unions to protest against the Bar Association. They went inside the court complex and intimidated office-bearers of the association.

The advocates came out in the open and blocked traffic on the national highway. Later, SSP Surinder Pal Singh Parmar, said he had ordered to register an FIR against both Jindu and Arora for threatening the office-bearers of the Bar Association.

Ludhiana, July 16
Unable to make both ends meet due to rising cost of living, a man committed suicide after stabbing his wife and two minor children in sleep in Guru Angad Dev Colony here this morning.

Harcharan Singh (36), a carpenter, first gagged and then stabbed his two children Jaswinder Kaur (9), Manpreet Singh (6) and wife Tajinder Kaur (33) with kitchen knife early morning. After killing them, he poured kerosene and set himself ablaze.

Tenants of his house noticed smoke emanating from of the room. They informed about this to his mother Kulwant Kaur who lives on the first floor of the house. When the room was forced open, Harcharan, with severe burns, was writhing in pain while bodies of other three members of the family were lying soaked in blood. He was taken to the hospital but died on the way.

His relatives and neighbours said Harcharan’s family was passing through difficult financial phase. He was not able to pay school fee of his children. Last night, there was a quarrel in the family. Soon after everything was settled and his mother went upstairs to sleep.

According to Sucha Singh and Ashwani Kumar, living in the same house as tenants, said Harcharan was into business for 15 years and an alcoholic. Due to economic slowdown, he was not able to get enough work to arrange liquor for himself and food for the family.

For a few moths, the family was receiving monetary help from Kulwant Kaur. There used to be frequent quarrels in the family over money.

Surinder Singh, younger brother of Harcharan, said: “Though problems were there in the family, we never thought Harcharan would take such an extreme step,”.

“He might have woken up early when the three other members of the family were fast asleep. He killed them all. I am ruined. I have nobody else to look after me,” the mother said.