Jalandhar, August 11
Following a writ petition filed by six candidates seeking admission to Punjab Technical University-affiliated colleges, the university held its manual counselling in the light of directions given by the Punjab and Haryana High Court.

As there was some confusion among PTU officials over the interpretation of the high court, they repeatedly consulted their lawyer in Chandigarh on the matter before starting the counselling process. While PTU had announced that the third round of the counselling would be held on the basis of the merit of students in class XII, the petitioners, including a girl, had sought that it should be held as per their rank in the Common Entrance Test (CET).

As the four-day counselling re-started today after being postponed on August 6, the PTU authorities were a bit confused on how to comply with the court orders.

Passing the order, the court had asked the PTU authorities to inform it regarding “whether the available seats were offered to the candidates who had appeared in CET/AIEEE before issuing the impugned notice”.

The order further read, “The petitioners shall be provisionally permitted to participate in the counselling. Such participation shall not confer any right or equity in the favour of the petitioners. The participation shall remain subject to any order that may be passed by the court. However, the result of the counselling shall not be declared till further orders”.

As the six candidates turned up, they were asked to give their preference by the PTU authorities concerned. PTU officials said since these candidates hailed from Bathinda, they opted for admission in the colleges in that area.

Officiating Registrar, PTU, Sarojini Gautam Sharda said the seats preferred by these candidates had been blocked before starting the counselling.

She said these seats would not be offered to any other candidate during the course of the counselling or till the final order from the court.

Officials disclosed that many more aspirants were trying to knock the door of the court taking a similar plea.

Ferozepur, August 11
DSP Bahadur Singh, Sub-Inspector Tilak Raj and Head Constable Om Prakash Handa were booked under Section 409, IPC, on July 19 for making wrong entries in log books in respect of diesel and petrol bills of the vehicles not in working condition in the Police Lines here. No action has been taken in the case so far.

The high court had stayed the arrest of Tilak and Handa till August 17, but the DSP was evading arrest and reporting for duty as usual. The special committee headed by the SP(D), Muktsar, has detected embezzlement of more than Rs 25 lakh in fuel bills on the basis of which the FIR was lodged against them.

The FIR says fake bills for 77,071 litres of diesel and 952 litres of petrol were passed in the MT section in 2007-08 by making wrong entries in log books of nine out-of-service vehicles. Besides this, fake bills for Rs 11,179 were also passed against repair of vehicles not in a working condition.

This scam first came to light on July 2008, when Constable Jagir Singh posted in the MT section complained about the embezzlement. After the complaint, the constable was transferred to Moga district and not given normal duty.

Probe into the case has been stopped.

Meanwhile, Jagir alleged that his family members, still living in the Police Lines here, were getting threats from the DSP.

Bathinda, August 11
With 10 persons succumbing to swine flu across the country and over 900 cases being reported, panic has set in across the country.

Though Punjab in general and Bathinda in particular has remained largely unaffected by the pandemic, the Health Department here is still mulling over creating an isolation ward for swine flu cases.

Elsewhere like in Pune and at other places, the government is roping in private hospitals to conduct tests to confirm the presence of H1N1 virus, but dispensaries in rural areas have still not been equipped to handle a swine flu case. They have no medicines to give and no three-layered N95 masks to distribute in case of a possible outbreak.

Doctors at these dispensaries said they had just got instructions from the government to spread awareness about the flu and if a case of swine flu was reported, then they had been just asked to refer the patient to the nearest Civil Hospital.

However, the problem was that the patient, while travelling from his village to the hospital, might infect many people, a doctor said.

Neelam Bajaj, Civil Surgeon, Bathinda, said the Civil Hospital had Tamiflu and PP (preventive precautions) handy to fight a flu case but she showed helplessness in providing N95 masks as the state government had not provided them to the hospital in adequate numbers.

Another senior doctor said the hospital had got a fresh stock of Tamiflu tablets yesterday but only 60 tablets had arrived. The doctor stated that if an individual found to be infected with H1N1 virus, he needed 10 tablets. This means that Bathinda is capable of handling only six swine flu cases as of now.

The Civil Hospital, Bathinda, confirmed that no case of swine flu had been reported here yet.

However, the government has not yet bothered to build any memorial to two other martyrs, Major Shiv Dev Singh Sidhu and Capt Vijay Sehgal, who were killed in the Indian Army’s Goa operation in 1961. Both of these young officers were from 7th Cavalry and belonged to Ludhiana. The only edifice named in their memory is the library of the city’s SC Dhawan Government College for Boys, where their portraits have been adorned by the college authorities.

The late Major-Gen Rajinder Singh Sparrow, who had commanded the operation, joined the Congress party after his retirement and was president of the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee. He was later elected member of Parliament from the Jalandhar constituency.

Sidhu was survived by his wife, Shivinder Sidhu, and three daughters. Shivinder told The Tribune she had to take up a job at Lawrence School, Sanawar, to raise her daughters and was able to face the ordeal with courage because of the support extended by her parents and in-laws. Her father-in-law, Mohinder Singh Sidhwan, who had been a freedom fighter, was a popular political figure in the region who served as chief of the Ludhiana Zila Parishad.

Sidhu’s three sons-in-law have also served in the country’s defence forces. One of them retired from the IAF as a wing commander and another retired as army commander with the rank of lieutenant general. The third son-in-law is now serving in the army as a lieutenant general and his wife is a colonel in the army’s medical corp.

Shivinder said Major Sidhu also saw action in Kashmir in 1948 at the Zojila pass and his name was mentioned in dispatches.

The Ludhiana Municipal Corporation had named a city street leading to Sidhu’s house as ‘Major Shivdev Singh Marg’, but the nameplate is now missing from the street.

Col Chanan Singh Dhillon (retd), who is patron in chief of the Indian Ex-Services League (Punjab and Chandigarh) strongly feels the government should recognise the sacrifice of the two martyrs and erect a memorial in their honour in the city.

Jalandhar, August 11
The news of the acquittal of “serial baby killer” Darbara Singh by the Punjab and Haryana High Court has been greeted with disbelief and anger by the families of his victims who want the state government to go in appeal against the verdict so that the “beast” is not allowed to roam free in society.

Talking to The Tribune, Gobind Ram, father of Diksha, who was allegedly raped and drowned by Darbara in the Rayya canal in 2004, breaks down on being asked about the verdict. “Our eyes were on the court and we were hopeful that he would be given the death sentence for his brutal acts. The man is a beast and should be hanged publicly. How could one kill so many innocent children for no reason at all ?” he questioned.

Ashu, an eyewitness to her sister’s rape and murder, is 10 years old now, but still shudders when she recalls the harrowing time she spent with her kidnapper.

“He lured us with the offer of getting new badminton racquets. He then took us on his bicycle to a canal. On the banks of the canal, he took off the clothes of my sister, raped her and drowned her.

“I fled from the spot and hid in the nearby bushes. Fortunately, some villagers rescued me and handed me over to my parents,” she recalls.

She is so traumatised that she is afraid to go out even today and mainly plays with other children inside her house only.

The other victim, Nishu is 12 years old today and was only seven when Darbara lured her with the offer of sweets on Navratras eve in 2004. She was allegedly taken to the sugarcane fields at Mahadipur Arian village and raped. To stop her from screaming, he allegedly slit her throat and coolly walked away after committing the crime.

Fortunately for her, she managed to come out of the fields and was spotted by villagers in a naked condition and profusely bleeding from her neck. She was taken to a hospital and timely medical attention saved her life.

Fear is writ large on her face as she recalled that horrific night in the presence of her father, Kharga, a daily wage earner. She is so scared to go out that she does not even attend school. The life of my daughter has been ruined, says Kharga.

“But, I will not rest till Darbara is hanged. If he were in front of me, I would strangle him to death,” he adds.

SP Rakesh Kaushal, who caught Darbara in 1996 and again in 2004, said the accused is without a conscience and is not repentant about the ghastly crimes he has committed. “I respect the verdict of the HC but would appeal to my seniors to do something in this context,” he added.

Chandigarh, August 11
The Union Ministry of Agriculture has agreed to rework the criteria for granting 50 per cent diesel subsidy to farmers in Punjab.

The move is expected to benefit a majority of paddy farmers, who have spent an additional Rs 400 crore to sustain the paddy production target in the state.

On August 3, the ministry had proposed to give 50 per cent of the state’s contribution for diesel subsidy to farmers in rainfall-deficit states. The GOI share was capped at Rs 7.50 per litre of diesel and Rs 500 per hectare. This too was limited to two hectares and was to be given to farmers in only those areas where the rainfall shortfall was more than 50 per cent from July 15 to September 30.

In a recent meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Punjab Chief Secretary SC Aggarwal had pointed out that this proposal did not suit the state as most of the area under paddy had been sown before July 15.

He added that an individual farmer and the state had incurred a high cost to meet the paddy production target.

“The state has spent Rs 3,000 crore in providing power and another additional Rs 400 crore has been spent by farmers to ensure that the state’s contribution to the national food security mission is not compromised,” said Aggarwal.

The ministry is now learnt to have agreed to customise the criteria of the scheme, giving more options to the state and molding it to include more farmers.

In the current proposal, the GOI share is considered to be too little to meet an additional expenditure the farmer incurred and is expected to incur in the coming days.

Also state farmers cannot benefit from the current scheme, as 83 per cent of the total area sown under paddy in Punjab had already been cultivated.

The 50 per cent rainfall deficit criteria is also flawed as some districts in the state, where it did rain towards the end of July, recorded normal rainfall. “By which time farmers of these districts had already sown their crops,” added BS Sidhu, Director, Agriculture, Punjab.

The added disadvantage that the state has in implementing such schemes is that the revenue records in the state are yet to be computerised and there is no accurate information available on the size of land holdings.

The ministry has asked Punjab to submit a detailed proposal highlighting the formula that suited the state.

“We are working on the proposal and it will be sent to the government of India shortly,” said Aggarwal.

“We told the GOI that its attitude towards Punjab was inconsistent. When their grain stocks are down, they give Punjab VIP treatment and when their coffers are brimming with grain they treat Punjab as outcastes. We impressed upon them that they should take a futuristic view of the situation and give Punjab farmer his due,” added Aggarwal. 

Patiala, August 11
College lecturers of Patiala today struck work to protest against inaction of the Punjab government in implementing revised pay scales.

The lecturers, under the banner of the Punjab University and College Teachers’ Organisation, decided to boycott classes and staged dharna in front of their colleges. They were demanding immediate implementation of new pay scales and also held the government responsible for ignoring the interests of the teachers.

The UGC had recommended increased pay scale with effect from January 1, 2006, which also had the Cabinet nod. But the Punjab government has not yet passed a notification in this regard. “About 80 per cent of our salaries come from the Ministry of Human Resource and Development. Then why is the state government delaying its implementation,” said a teacher of MM Modi College. Executives of the districts are meeting tomorrow to decide further course of action, he added.

“Though we do not want to boycott classes, we can not help it. The government is delaying the release of salaries. We are not going to give up and the protest will be further intensified if the government does not take immediate action,” said a teacher of Bikram College.

Students were seen roaming around. Some of them were disturbed with the strike as they had come from villages just to attend classes. They said: “Earlier, because of elections the session started late and if this continues, we would not be able to finish our syllabus on time.”

Patiala, August 11
Parents of students and the management of Yaadvindra Public School (YPS) has seemingly won the first phase of their battle against the Patiala municipal corporation with the civic body finally putting its proposed August 14 school premises auction in abeyance. A large number of NRIs have come in defence of the school assuring that they would even extend financial help to it, if required.

The MC had planned to auction the school premises in case the management failed to deposit the house tax amounting to Rs 16 crore. The case is pending in the court of the Divisional Commissioner.

Earlier, Patiala Mayor Ajit Pal Singh Kohli and municipal commissioner MS Narang discussed the issue with school principal Stanley Vinod Kumar and other officials for an amicable settlement. “I have discussed the issue with CM Parkash Singh Badal and we are trying to hammer out a solution,” Kohli said.

“We will wait for the next step of the MC which has held the auction in abeyance for the time being,” said Stanley Vinod Kumar and Major Amardip, OSD to former Chief Minister Amarinder Singh who was a patron of the school. Other prominent members of the governing council of the school included former Chief Justice of Allahabad High Court Justice SS Sodhi, former PU Vice-Chancellor RP Bambah and the Union Minister of State for External Affairs Preneet Kaur.

Avinash Gupta of Toronto, father of a class VI student, expressed his shock over the incident, while Joginder Singh Shahi, president of the Brampton-Springdale (Toronto) unit of the Liberal Party, said Toronto-based former Yaadvindrians had converged there to discuss the issue at length.

Shahi, who was also a leader of the SAD’s Canada unit and a former student of the YPS, said the Yaadvindrians were planning to set-up an NGO to take up the cause of the institute.

Chandigarh, August 11
The Punjab and Haryana High Court wants to know from the Health Secretary the details of steps being taken to increase the number of chemical laboratories in the state.

The development is significant as the state has just one chemical laboratory; and the testing of samples takes up to two months. As a result, even an innocent, accused of being involved in a criminal case, is compelled to stay behind the bars for the want of result.

Directing the Secretary, Department of Health and Family Welfare, to appear on August 25, Justice Rajesh Bindal today asked him to apprise the court “as to what effective steps were being taken to increase the number of laboratories or the staff working there so as to ensure there was no delay in the testing of samples sent to them”.

The directions came in connection with a habeas corpus petition filed by Ratta Singh of Beli village in Ropar district. He was seeking production of his son Piara Singh, allegedly in illegal confinement since May 22.

Going into the background, Justice Bindal said: “On August 6, considering the fact that a sample of vomiting was sent to the chemical examiner at the state chemical laboratory, Kharar, by the medical officer for testing on May 29 and the report thereof had not been received till date, the head of the laboratory was directed to appear in person in the court.”

“Today, the state chief chemical examiner appeared in person. He apprised the court that there is only one chemical laboratory in the state, which is carrying out tests in cases of poisoning, drug abuse and rape. The tests of the samples can be conducted within five to 10 days. However, considering the workload that has increased manifold, the testing takes time ranging from one month to two months. This results in unnecessary delay in the investigation of the case, and also filing of challan and prosecution of the accused.”

“Sometimes even a person who is not guilty of the offence may have to remain in jail on account of non-receipt of report from the laboratory within the minimum required time,” the court said.

Moga, August 11
Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) of Moga Karunesh Kumar Kakkar today again extended the police remand for three days of NRI Jagdev Singh in the case of submitting false documents for seeking police clearance certificate to get Canadian citizenship.

He is already facing charges of allegedly murdering former MLA Nachattar Singh, who was the father of Paramdip Singh Gill, the present DGP of the state. The trial of this case is also pending against him before the Sessions’ Court here.

Jagdev was produced before the CJM court by the police after the expiry of five-day remand this afternoon. The police submitted before the court that they had taken the accused person to Mumbai for investigation of his travel documents and further needed to take him to Orissa for his fake passport verifications.

But defence counsel Ravinder Grover while arguing before the court said his client had not been taken to Mumbai for investigation and instead was kept in lock-up here.

Chandigarh, August 11
Law officers appearing before the Punjab and Haryana High Court are still not getting assistance from the Punjab Police.

Around 15 days ago, the high court had asked the Punjab Director-General of Police to take remedial steps to prevent inconvenience to the courts due to non-appearance of investigating officers. Yet, the problem continues; and is apparently worse in Bathinda.

It is evident from the fact that in just two days, the investigating officers failed to appear before the court of Justice Rajesh Bindal in at least three cases pertaining to Bathinda district.

Taking cognisance of their failure appear in court, the Bench of Justice Bindal today made it clear that the court was not going to overlook sloppiness on their part and had called for the Bathinda Senior Superintendent of Police’s explanation. He had, in fact, been asked to remain present in the court and explain.

Justice Bindal observed: “On August 1, notice on a petition was issued to the Punjab Advocate-General. Counsel appearing for the state submitted that in spite of having sent an email, TPM and even talking to the station house officer concerned, no one had responded.

Even yesterday, there were two cases pertaining to Bathinda district in which there was no assistance to the state counsel, as the investigating officers in those cases had not come.

“Let the SSP, Bathinda, appear in the court in person on the next date of hearing to explain as to why the cases of Bathinda district are not being taken care of,” the court said. The case will now come up for hearing on August 18.

This is not the first time the high court has taken strong exception to such a lapse. Calling for the DGP’s intervention, Justice LN Mittal had earlier observed: “It has to be noticed that daily problem is being faced in cases pertaining to the state of Punjab. Investigating officers or police officials do not turn to assist the state counsel or the court. Even the costs imposed are not deposited in time. It not only causes inconvenience and wastage of precious time of the court, but also results in longer incarceration of the accused, who might ultimately be found entitled to bail. State counsel has been requested many times to streamline the functioning, but with no result.”