Gurdaspur, August 1
Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, while claiming that setting up of a separate gurdwara parbandhak committee for Sikhs of Haryana will have serious and dangerous consequences, said he would meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh tomorrow or so to ask him to intervene in the matter and stop such a move.

“How Sikhs will tolerate another injustice done to them in the matter of religion by the Congress government at the Centre, which has been discriminating against this community for the past many decades,” asked Badal, adding that he had asked for an appointment with Dr Manmohan Singh so that corrective action could be taken at the earliest.

Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Chief Minister, Haryana, while talking to mediapersons yesterday at Chandigarh, had announced that a separate Sikh gurdwara parbandhak committee could come into existence in Haryana on November 1, 2009.

In an exclusive interview with The Tribune here today, Badal urged the Haryana government to learn a lesson from history. Punjab had already suffered a lot on account of militancy in the state.

The bad days started in Punjab only when the then Prime Minister, late Indira Gandhi, did not form a committee to find out whether injustice had been done to the Sikhs in the matter of religion or not.

“The SGPC, Amritsar, came into existence after a lot of sacrifices were made by Sikhs. Even a close kin of Dr Manmohan Singh was imprisoned during the movement launched for getting independence for gurdwaras. Now, the Haryana government was trying to break up the SGPC for protecting its political interests,” he pointed out.

Feeling hurt and disappointed over the move of the Haryana government to set up a separate committee for Sikhs, Badal said 95 per cent of the Sikhs living in Haryana were not in favour of such a committee. He added that the SGPC was a representative body of the Sikhs for the entire country and there was no point in trying to break it, at any cost.

He said the SGPC could move court to stop the Haryana government from setting up a separate gurdwara parbandhak committee for the Sikhs living in that state.

Chandigarh, August 1
Members of the Bharti Kisan Union (Ekta) and the Punjab Khet Mazdoor Union are up in arms against the state government for its failure to honour the February 27 agreement it had reached with their leaders.

Agitated farmers not only gheraoed offices of Deputy Commissioner throughout Punjab yesterday but also cautioned the state against any further delay in implementation of the agreement.

They held demonstrations and submitted memorandums in support of their demands to Deputy Commissioners and Subdivisional Magistrates throughout the state.

The focus of their demands has been a compensatory package for the families of farmers who had been forced to commit suicides because of their mounting debts. Sukhdev Singh Kokri Kalan of the BKU (Ekta) and Lachman Singh Sewewala of the Khet Mazdoor Union disclosed that Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal had agreed on February 27 that families affected by suicides would be provided with financial assistance — ex gratia of Rs 2 lakh each — besides promising a job to an eligible member of the bereaved family.

But even after several months of this agreement, the government was resorting to dilly-dallying tactics, the unions alleged.

“We will remain restless till our demands are implemented,” declared Joginder Singh Ugrahan, president of the BKU (Ekta). “We successfully agitated in the Trident land acquisition case and got the genuine demands of the farmers conceded”.

Joga Singh Nasrali said farmers were well trained to get their demands accepted by the state. “We not only want an ex gratia of Rs 2 lakh and a job for each bereaved family but also want stay on any further recovery of loan from the family concerned. The state should write to the financial institutions and private lenders concerned to stop any further recovery from the bereaved family,” he added.

The farm leaders also wanted extensive surveys to be conducted throughout the state to identify the families which had become victims of debt-related suicides. Of the 3,000 families identified so far, no one has been given any compensation or relief package, they alleged.

No steps have been initiated to introduce a legislation to oversee the functioning and operation of private moneylenders, including commission agents. The leaders also wanted the government to withdraw all cases pertaining to loan recovery pending against farmers and allot five-marla plots to poor and landless farmers and farm workers.

They also insisted that financial institutions should advance loans to farmers at 4 per cent interest rate.

Ferozepur, August 1
On the last day of campaigning for the byelection, SAD-BJP nominee for the Jalalabad assembly segment, Sukhbir Badal today outlined the ambitious development plan he had for the state. In an exclusive interaction with The Tribune, he gave an overview of his concerns and how he was going to address them.

He said his foremost priority was to make Punjab power surplus, as buying power from the Centre and other states was not a lasting solution. Moreover, it was also a strain on the state coffers, he added.

Sukhbir said besides commissioning of four new thermal power plants, the government was planning to set up mini power plants with inputs like agriculture waste, cow dung, which will not only generate additional power but also fetch more money for farmers. “One such mini power plant has been set up at Chunnu village in Muktsar and more will follow,” he said, adding that the Punjab government had purchased around 10,000 acres of land for these plants without any dispute.

He said concerted efforts were being made to improve the basic infrastructure and amenities like water supply and sanitation. Already 48 towns had been brought under NURM.

The road network was also being improved with projects like Jalandhar-Ambala six-laning, Chandigarh-Patiala four-laning and several others already started.

“Within two years, more than 50 per cent buses will be air-conditioned with only 10 per cent increase in fares,” said Sukhbir, adding, “Our revenues have seen a steep rise in the past two years. Now, Punjab is No. 3 in VAT growth, and by the end of the next fiscal we will be No. 1 with collections touching Rs 8,000 crore mark”.

When asked about formation of SAD (Longowal) by a section of rebel Akali leaders, he said many such Akali Dals had come and gone, but the fact was that there was only one recognised Akali Dal, the SAD.

Ludhiana, August 1
Attractive revised pay packages of the Indian Army and a dearth of jobs due to the ongoing recession is making youths in Punjab turn to the defence forces for employment as nearly 9,000 candidates have reported for recruitment this year, breaking last year's record.

This was stated today by Brig KD Malhotra, Deputy Director, Recruiting, Punjab and J&K, who added that during a rally at Moga last year not more than 5,000 youths had turned up. This time the turnout was very encouraging.

Brigadier Malhotra said the Punjabi youth were known for their passion to serve the country. There is no dearth of food in this part of the state and they have better opportunities. But the response increased manifold after the introduction of new pay scales. The salary of a soldier has touched Rs 15,000, besides perks including residence, transportation, medical facilities and post-retiral benefits.

Nearly 9,000 youths have tried their luck during the eight-day-long recruitment rally under way at Guru Nanak Stadium here, out of which 1,176 have cleared the physical fitness test. “Though this comes out to be 12.5 per cent, we are satisfied with the number. We will be able to meet the targets for the region. We want the best of the lot,” said Brigadier Malhotra.

The DDG said the Army had witnessed a similar enthusiastic response from youths in the terrorism-torn J&K region. “We were glad that youths there, too, wanted to be a part of the country's defence force. Punjabis, too, have not lagged behind now,” he said.

He said after catching hold of some persons trying to intrude into the armed forces on the basis of false documents, the Army was now overcautious. With the help of the civil administration, the Army was ensuring that nobody was able to hoodwink the authorities.

Ferozepur, August 1
Leading from the front, Bathinda MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal today held a massive road show, in support of her husband and SAD-BJP nominee, Sukhbir Singh Badal, which witnessed thousands of supporters converging on to the streets of Jalalabad bringing the vehicular traffic to a total halt.

Braving the intense summer heat and humidity, Harsimrat was an immediate hit with womenfolk coming out of their “mohallas” to accompany her.

Talking to mediapersons on the sidelines of the road show, Harsimrat said if the love and affection bestowed by people in today’s road show was any indication, it was better for the Congress to quit this electoral battle, which she claimed was now “one-sided affair”.

Scores of senior SAD-BJP leaders, including state BJP president Rajinder Bhandari, also participated in the road show.

Kapurthala, August 1
The Rail Coach Factory (RCF) will manufacture double-decker air-conditioned coaches for trains in metropolises . Union Minister of State for Railways E Ahmed stated this on his visit to RCF here today.

Ahmed said trials were on with non -AC old double-decker coaches on the Mumbai-Pune rail section. Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee had announced in Budget speech to run double-decker trains in metropolitan cities.

RCF GM Pardeep Kumar said engineers here were preparing design of double -decker coaches. The RCF would start manufacturing double-decker AC coaches in a year, he added.

Ahmed inspected the Duronto coach, recently prepared by RCF in record time of 10 days for running on long distance Duronto trains without break in the journey.

Showing interest in Duronto pantry coach, he advised the RCF GM to make provision for first-aid facilities in these coaches. The RCF is likely to roll out seven to eight rakes of Duronto coaches this year.

To a query, he said the Railways had conducted preliminary survey on the New Delhi-Amritsar section for running bullet trains on the proposed fast track corridor.

To a question on demand of the RCF for more m staff here to meet high production targets, he said the department was facing shortage of employees at several other places and the ministry would see what could be done.

Fazilka, August 1
Ten more companies of paramilitary forces are required for free and fair election in the Jalalabad constituency, said Hans Raj Josan, Congress candidate for the Jalalabad byelection, at Chack Bandiwala village today.

Appearing confident, Josan said five companies of paramilitary forces were deployed on Friday by the Election Commission, which were insufficient for fair elections.

He demanded that the remaining 10 polling booths should also be declared hyper-sensitive. As many as 162 booths out of total 172 booths had been declared hyper-sensitive. He urged the commission to have videography of every booth to avoid booth-capturing and check fake votes.

Josan said Badals wanted to win the election with money, muscle power and influence of the office of the Chief Minister. He alleged that official machinery was being used and the model code of conduct violated for votes.

To a question Josan said he was in the fray as Sukhbir Singh Badal was an outsider and had been thrust on people.

On the issue of development, Josan said the Badals should compare development of Lambi and Jalalabad. He claimed getting sub-divisional status for Jalalabad, setting up of an ITI and sewerage in Jalalabad town with help of Nabard during his tenure. Besides this, 20 new purchase centres were set up for the procurement of foodgrains and clean water supply in every village, he said. Diseases like cancer in Lambi and Gidderbaha were due to contaminated water supply, but no case of cancer had been reported in Jalalabad and its border villages so far, claimed Josan.

Josan hoped the voters of the Jalalabad constituency would reject the junior Badal by voting against him.

“It is a matter of prestige, of ‘pag’ (turban), of people to not elect an outsider,” said Josan.

Sangrur, August 1
With the opening of Satya Bharti Schools in 19 villages of Sangrur district by the Bharti Foundation under its Satya Bharti Schools’ programme, a ray of hope for underprivileged and rural children has emerged in a big way as the foundation provides them free primary education, with special focus on the girl child.

The names of villages are Laddi, Fatehgarh Channa, Bhamabaddi, Panwan, Khurani, Ballial, Jhaneri, Safipur Kalan, Dyalgarh, Akoi Sahib, Kanjali, Kaheru, Meemsa, Kandhargarh, Phaguwala, Sangatpura, Bakhtri, Kila Hakima and Kamalpur.

This reporter on Wednesday visited two Satya Bharti schools in Phaguwala and Ballial villages, both situated near Bhawanigarh. Krishan Kumar (class I), Manpreet Singh (class II) and Paramjit Kaur (class II), children of agriculture worker Jaspal Singh, and Jaswinder Singh (class I), son of rickshaw puller Sat Pal Singh, said the school provided them books, stationery, mid-day meal and uniforms free of cost.

In Phaguwala school, there are 107 students, including 45 girls, studying in pre-primary, classes I and II, while in Ballial school there are 186 students, including 87 girls, studying up to class V.

When asked about salary, teacher Anju Bala said they were satisfied with their salary as it was a noble cause and social service. Cluster coordinator Parveen Dogra said in the 19 schools of the district, there were 1,547 children, studying in different classes from pre-primary to class V.

He said as the main focus of schools was on the girl child, they had about 45 per cent girls in each school.

The foundation opened its first school in August 2006 at Ladhowal village in Ludhiana. Now, 90 Satya Bharti primary schools are in 90 villages of Ludhiana, Sangrur and Amritsar districts.

Amritsar, August 1
To wean people off fast food, the All-India Pingalwara Charitable Society and women’s wing of the Kheti Virasat Mission have decided to promote traditional diet.

Demonstration of foods like mothan di khichdi, kikkar de tughle (known as tukke in Malwa), made from seeds of kikkar tree, suanjane da achar, flour of a variety of crops and other programmes will be organised by the society to observe the 17th death anniversary of Bhagat Puran Singh, founder of the society, from August 2.

Head of the society Dr Inderjit Kaur said food was physical development of human beings. However, people, especially women, were ignorant of traditional cooking and relied more on ready-to-eat fast food.

Traditional chapatti made from flour of kangni, maize, bajra and swank has disappeared from urban and rural households. Kangni is grown around the field where maize, bajra and swank plants are sown.

All these are enriched with calcium, minerals and nutrients. The farmers hardly grow these crops as there is no demand. So a booklet, “Bebe Di Rasoi” (grandma’s kitchen), in Punjabi will be distributed among people, especially women.

Kheti Virasat Mission’s Kavita Kuruganti said traditional food items were healthy alternative for people in realising the slogan of Back to Nature. She stressed healthy and nutritious food was the best medicine.

The three-day programme will have blood donation camp, inauguration of sewage treatment plant and cultural programme.

Sangrur, August 1
A Sunam-based NGO, Sankalp, has asked the state government to ban single-digit lotteries, commonly known as online lotteries, throughout the state, besides taking stern action against the violators of the law. The NGO has also asked the government to enact a law to ban online lotteries as early as possible.

A memorandum to this effect was handed over by the NGO to Punjab Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal at Sunam yesterday.

Members of the NGO also met him and briefed him about the dangers of online lotteries. They also told him that the single-digit lotteries was not permissible as per the Central Lotteries (Regulation) Act, 1998.

President of the NGO, Jatinder Jain, asked the state government to direct the police for initiating stern action against all those who were running online lottery stalls.

Jain said the Finance Minister had invited them to Chandigarh after August 16 to hold discussions on the issue and chalk out a strategy to initiate further steps for ending the menace.

Chandigarh, August 1
The Punjab government has demoted a Bathinda Civil Hospital doctor involved in the issuance of false certificates to the kin of convicts for enabling them to secure parole.

The government was at loggerheads on the issue of punishment with the Punjab Public Service Commission, which was demanding his dismissal from the service.

A notification dated July 22 has already been issued reverting Dr Ajitpal Singh from the post of senior medical officer to medical officer “as a measure of punishment for misconduct proved against him in the departmental inquiry.

Disposing of the petition pertaining to this case, the Bench, comprising Chief Justice Tirath Singh Thakur and Justice Kanwaljit Singh Ahluwalia, asserted: “The inquiry having eventually culminated in an order of punishment against the officer found guilty for misconduct, this petition has become infructuous”.

The Bench, on the previous date of hearing, observed: “On proof of a charge that the respondent had committed misconduct in as much as he had issued false certificates regarding the illness of the relatives of certain convicts released on parole, the state government appears to have made a reference to the commission for imposition of a major penalty by way of his reversion to the post of medical officer from the post of senior medical officer.”

However, the commission appeared to have recommended his dismissal from service.

“Aggrieved, the petitioner appears to have made a representation to the Chief Minister, who directed a de nova inquiry into the matter. Upon examination, it was pointed out that such an inquiry was not legally permissible in view of the fact that a regular inquiry had already been conducted into the charges framed against the petitioner.

“The matter was referred to the commission once again in January, which after reconsideration once again recommended that he be dismissed from service, keeping in view the gravity of allegations proved against him”.

Sangrur, August 1
Dozens of policemen led by Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Naunihal Singh today sealed the bus stand at Sunam, 13 km from here, from all sides. The cops searched the buses, taxis, shops and suspected persons in the complex and also questioned several persons about their identity. The drive continued for about two hours. However, no one was reportedly detained or taken into custody by the police, nor any objectionable material recovered from anyone.

Besides a large number of constables, Sunam DSP Pritpal Singh Thind, Moonak DSP Sharanjit Singh and Sangrur DSP Kuldip Sharma also accompanied the SSP in the search operation. However, the police termed it as a routine exercise in the light of ensuing Independence Day celebrations on August 15.

It was rumoured that the police had information that the killers of a follower of Dera Sacha Sauda, Lily Kumar, who was killed in Mansa district some days ago, had come to Sunam. However, the SSP denied this.

Patiala , August 1
For people the National Police Day on October 21 ‘might be a special occasion as it reminds of our police forces’ valour, but, the nation seems to have forgotten DSP Karam Singh, the man who, on this day in 1959 gave tough time to the enemy in the Hotsprings conflict, which, proved to be the prelude to the 1962 Sino-India war.

DSP Karam Singh, hailing from Gujjranwala in Pakistan , settled in Raikot in Ludhiana district after partition of the country, was on deputation with a central intelligence agency and posted in the Ladakh area as part of a contingent in view of suspicious activities in the region on the part of certain anti-national elements.

He was heading a company of 19 personnel and patrolling the Hotsprings area as usual on October 21 when he, and his team was ambushed by Chinese troops in what was later described as onset of the growing Chinese intolerance towards India.

The team ‘comprising mostly officials of border intelligence agencies repulsed the attack in rare show of courage and nearly 10 of them lost lives while, rest of them, including, DSP Karam Singh, were captured by Chinese troops and detained in harsh conditions. They were, released on November 14, 1959, by China following intervention of then Foreign Minister Krishna Menon. Karam Singh, who, had lost toes to frostbite, was honoured with the President’s Medal by then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. Since then the nation started observing the day as the National Police Day.

But afterwards, the hero of the conflict was ‘forgotten’. He passed away in 1967 as he had attained premature superannuation due to ill-health following hardships in detention. ‘Hardly, anyone remembered my father thereafter. Nobody ever came to him after he was awareded the President’s medal. Though, conflict and valour of officials is commemorated as the National Police Day, no government representative ever came to us to show sympathy or invite us to state functions. We feel his service to the nation was forgotten. We celebrate his birthday where family members or friends participate. The state or central governments have never bothered to do so. This upsets us when heroes of Kargil conflict were being given due recognition’ rued Dr Satwant Sachdeva, a son of DSP Karam Singh. His other son Lieut- Gen Harcharan Singh, has retired from Army. ‘In fact, apathy of the government to one who dedicated his life to the nation disturbs us, he said.

Patiala, August 1
Income Tax authorities today attached a house in the posh Khalsa College Colony as the owner of the house had defaulted on the payment of income tax.

Bikramjeet Singh, Tax Recovery Officer of the Income Tax Department, said Tejwinder Singh Sekhon had an arrear of Rs 9.54 lakh with regard to assessment year 1999-2000. Several notices had been sent to Sekhon but he failed to respond.

He said a notice had been served again today on GS Sekhon, a brother of Tejwinder Sekhon who was present when the IT department attached and sealed the house.

Bikramjeet said if the defaulter failed to clear the outstanding amount within a month, the house would be put on public auction.

Patiala, August 1
People living in rural areas of Patiala are going to witness a pleasant change in their surroundings as more than 14 lakh saplings would be planted by the Independence Day.

Not only that, village panchayats would also be focusing on improving their financial condition as each of member village of the central-sponsored Forest Development Agency (FDA) will be getting an incentive worth Rs 10,000 in shape of cash, utensils, hand pumps, or even water coolers.

During the plantation drive, more than 2.20 lakh saplings of various species of trees would be planted. Similarly, 2.25 lakh saplings would be planted under the watershed scheme aimed at making institutions greener. Along with institutions and panchayats, the common man will also be involved in the Forest Department’s initiative. The department is moving ahead with an ambitious scheme to provide them with more than 2.5 lakh saplings at subsidised rates under its “Japan Project”.

“The income from this sale would be utilised to run various other schemes in rainy days when we might be facing shortage of funds,” said Divisional Forest Officer Karamjit Singh Jatana. The department is also planning to plant 2.25 lakh saplings under its farm forestry schemes.