Chandigarh, August 23
The Punjab government will recruit 10,810 teachers in secondary schools in the state within three months. Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal has ordered starting of the recruitment process immediately. Besides, all posts lying vacant because of delay in promotion will also be filled within three months.

The Chief Minister also ordered that the posts of Headmaster/Principal in every school in the state be filled expeditiously and this process, too, would also be completed within three months.

In a major revamp of primary, middle and secondary school education, all schools will be provided requisite infrastructure, including building, labs, libraries and lab equipment. These decisions were taken at a review meeting of the Education (Schools) Department by the Chief Minister here last night.

The meeting was attended by the Chief Minister’s media adviser, Harcharan Bains, principal secretary to Chief Minister DS Guru, secretary, School Education, KBS Sidhu and director-general of Secondary Education Krishan Kumar and other departmental officers.

Giving details of the decision, Bains said 590 middle schools and 69 primary schools would be constructed in various districts during the current year.

In addition 1,833 additional classrooms would also be constructed during the current year itself.

Further, 21 model schools and a similar number of girls hostel would be constructed in 21 Educationally Backward Blocks in seven districts during the current fiscal. A separate meeting had already been held to finalise the various specifications and terms and conditions, etc.

The Chief Minister also emphasised the need of regular monitoring and inspection of the schools so that the quality of education gets improved in the government schools.

Badal also monitored the execution of civil works under the Sarv Shiksha Abhiyan Programme as well as Mid-Day Meal Programme.

Badal also reviewed the drop-out rates prevalent in various districts both at the primary and the secondary levels and also directed the department to take adequate measures to ensure that the situation improved by the end of the current financial year.

He further directed the PWD (B&R) to provide the list of all unsafe buildings in the Department of School Education so that the government could take necessary action. 

Kapurthala, August 23
In yet another blow to the Congress in the Bholath Assembly constituency in a few months, the ruling SAD wrested from it three MC seats of Begowal Nagar Panchayat for which byelection was held here today.

Bibi Paramjit Kaur, Joginder Singh and Amarjeet Singh Babbi of the SAD defeated their nearest rivals with margins of 21, 273 and 95 votes from ward Nos. 9, 10 and 11 of Begowal Nagar Panchayat.

Though the Congress this time did not contest on its “hand” symbol, its candidates had emerged victorious on these three wards during the general elections held for Begowal Nagar Panchayat.

Byelection for these wards were necessitated as Congress MCs Jeeto (ward No. 9), Sardari Lal (ward No. 10) and Mohinder Pal (ward No. 11) had been dismissed by the Director, Punjab Local Bodies Department, on the charges that they had encroached a portion of government land. Now with the victor of three SAD MCs, it has secured majority in the 11-member Begowal Nagar Panchayat. Now the SAD has seven MCs, whereas the Congress has only four MCs in the House.

Former SGPC chief and chairperson of the District Development Committee Bibi Jagir Kaur said the SAD would elect the president of the Begowal Nagar Council within a fortnight. Presently vice-president, Begowal Nagar Council, Chander Prabha Kuku is its acting chief.

The winning candidates and their SAD supporters carried out victory processions in Begowal town soon after the results were declared on Sunday evening. Earlier in May, Bibi Jagir Kaur had made a strong comeback by securing a considerable lead from Bholath for SAD-BJP candidate Som Prakash from Hoshiarpur (SC) parliamentary seat.

Amritsar, August 23
The Department of Irrigation has proposed a merger of the Irrigation and Power Research Institute (IPRI) and the Punjab Irrigation Management and Training Institute (PIMTI), both located here, with the Punjab Irrigation Power Research and Training Institute (PIPRTI). The proposal will be put up to the Council of Ministers.

The draft of the proposal states the new entity (PIPRTI) will be autonomous like the Water and Land Management Institutes (WALMI), Maharashtra, Orissa, Gujarat and the Haryana Irrigation Research and Management Institute to make it effective.

Besides introducing new nomenclature, it will reduce staff strength. Posts of assistant research officer (ARO), who oversees quality control of irrigation projects, will be curtailed by over 50 per cent.

Chief Engineer (Research), IPRI, Kuldeep Singh Takshi refused to comment on merger saying it was under the consideration of the government. He maintained that the institute had provided quality irrigation for many decades. He said recently they finished two model studies in Himachal.

Now it is studying models for check dams in the Kandi area of Hoshiarpur. It had had surveys before the construction of Ranjit Sagar Dam and also of Shahpur Kandi Dam, which is yet to take off.

The IPRI was set up in 1926 and is headed by the Chief Engineer (Research)-cum-Director. It has nine research divisions, each headed by a research officer. The institute is engaged in research, investigations and consultancy in hydraulics, hydrology, reservoir sedimentation, concrete technology, reclamation of soil, weed control, water resources development and management, engineering properties of soil and others.

The PIMTI was established as autonomous body in 1993 here in the IPRI under the World Bank-aided Punjab Irrigation and Drainage Project, phase II. Its objective is to impart in-service training of multi-disciplinary nature to the staff of the Irrigation Department engaged in irrigation and water management.

The Punjab State Services Federation (PSSF) said the PIMTI had not been performing any tangible work for many years and its merger with the IPRI would hit its performance. It said the IPRI must not be tinkered with and the government must release funds for research projects and hire more scientists for more dynamic working. It decried its turning into a society.

The draft said all assets of the IPRI and the PIMTI shall vest in the 16-member governing council of the society headed by the Principal Secretary/Secretary, Irrigation Department.

The IPRI has two research officers against the sanctioned posts for eight, while the new PIPRTI would have six deputy directors (Research). Lone post of statistical officer would be scrapped. The sanctioned posts for assistant research officer (ARO) will be reduced from 26 to 15 and posted as assistant director.

The IPRI has only 14 AROs. The sanctioned posts for research assistant grade-A and research assistant grade-B would be cut from against 17 and 15 respectively, to 14 each. The IPRI has nine employees under these categories.

The supporting research staff is proposed to be halved from sanctioned 642 to 321 posts. Against the sanctioned posts it has only 566 employees.

The PIMTI, which now has only nine posts, is suggested to have five. 

Jalandhar, August 23
The Union government has started the exercise for the payment of subsidy on fertiliser direct to farmers. But it will take a few months to evolve criterion for its disbursement.

The Centre had convened a meeting of officials of states in Delhi on Friday in this regard. “It is a sensitive political issue and can affect the Assembly elections in Haryana and some states. The Union government is very cautious on it,” said an official.

There will be difficulty in making payment of subsidy direct to farmers in the absence of computerisation of land records in most of the states. Even a large number of farmers in the country are without kisan cards.

The Centre wanted subsidy on fertiliser be given direct to farmers and not to owners of fertiliser units. The Union Finance Minister had made an announcement on it in the last Budget speech. The subsidy Bill has been going up for several years, creating an impression that certain units were showing inflated production to pocket subsidy.

However, some states like Punjab apprehend that with the payment of subsidy to farmers, there will be no control on maximum retail price, to be fixed by fertiliser units. Farmers will lose because of this factor. With the increase in the price of fertilisers, the Centre will have to raise amount of subsidy to be given to farmers.

Chandigarh, August 23
The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) has taken exception to the announcement of the Union government policy to provide 4 per cent concessional loans only to sugarcane farmers and keep other farmers out of its ambit. Lodging a strong protest President, SAD, Sukhbir Singh Badal today said 4 per cent concessional loan announced by the Union government should cover all farmers of the country.

In a statement here today, Sukhbir said it was appreciable that the Union government had announced a concessional loan package for cane farmers keeping in view the severe drought conditions in the country. He said the farmers of Punjab, who had made India self-sufficient in foodgrains, should not be left in the lurch in this hour of distress.

Criticising the Maharashtra-centric vote-bank policy (where state assembly elections are now due) of the Union government, Sukhbir said on the one hand the Union government had ditched paddy farmers by announcing a meagre rise in the MSP, on the other hand they had been debarred to avail the concessional loan.

He said in this condition of severe drought, farmers of Punjab would still provide enough foodgrains to the Central pool, but at a higher input cost of Rs 375 crore.

He said the farmers were feeling cheated and demoralised with this announcement. He said, “An immediate hike of Rs 300 in the MSP is a must to maintain food security in the country”.

Requesting Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to immediately intervene in this crucial issue concerning the food security of the country, Sukhbir said it was imperative for the Prime Minister to take bold steps to restore the faith of farmers in the policies of the Union government.

Reiterating the demand of minimum increase of Rs 300 in the paddy MSP, Sukhbir said nothing below this was acceptable to farmers of Punjab. He warned that if the Union government continued to follow an anti-farmer formula to fix the MSP of agricultural produce, it would be difficult for farmers to maintain the food security of the country.

Amritsar, August 23
To keep watch on passengers arriving at entry points at Raja Sansi airport, Attari Railway station and Attari- Wagah check-post, the District Health Department has involved private hospitals to treat patients of influenza A H1N1.

The department has tested 29 persons of which four were found positive. All samples were tested at the National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD), New Delhi.

Civil Surgeon Lehmbar Singh said following new instructions by the Punjab Health Department now all samples would be sent to Microbiology Department, PGI, Chandigarh. The decision was taken by the Union government following samples for testing H1N1 increasing at the NICD.

He said Military Hospital and four private hospitals, Fortis-Escort, Guru Ramdas Hospital, EMC and Mata Kaulan Hospital, in the district had been extended support to create facilities for treating H1N1 patients. He informed that all these hospitals had been issued viral transport media kits containing masks, goggles and other articles for treating patients, besides releasing Tamiflu tablets.

Meanwhile, he said 30 beds had been reserved in Guru Nanak Dev Hospital as 
all required gadgets like ventilator, anaesthesia are available there.

The department has placed round-the-clock medical teams at the airport, Attari railway station and Attari- Wagah check-post, as all of these receive passengers from international destinations.

The Civil Surgeon said three teams had been pressed for screening passengers alighting from 42 international flights every week. Each team, comprises two doctors and two health inspectors, screens suspected passengers and takes turn at morning, evening and night shifts. Two teams are deployed at Attari Wagah check-post and Attari railway station during the arrival of train from Pakistan to screen suspected patients.

He said announcements on symptoms of swine flu were made in aircraft, besides getting a form filled from passengers to extract information about their stay in foreign countries like which countries and cities you visited in 10 days? Have you come in contact with any patient there?

A medical desk has been installed in the forefront with an isolation area to quarantine suspected cases. An ambulance equipped with personal protective equipment is earmarked to ferry the suspected cases to the hospital.

Patiala, August 23
The Dairy Development Department of Punjab has launched a crackdown on synthetic milk producers in the state. The department has registered six cases in this connection in the Malwa belt.

Ashok Rauni, Deputy Director, (Dairy), Patiala, said here today that the department had been conducting regular raids to arrest those indulging in the adulteration of milk and milk products.

The department had got registered six cases of adulteration under the Milk and Milk Products Order (MMPO) of 1992 in the Barnala and Sangrur areas. Recently, two cases were registered in the Samana area of Patiala district, he added.

Sources said Kapoor Singh of Bammana village was caught red-handed while preparing synthetic milk. Another case was registered against GK Dairy of Samana. It had installed capacity of handling 10,000 litres of milk per day and was operating without obtaining a registration certificate under the MMPO, 1992.

Samples of raw milk collected from the premises of GK Dairy did not conform to the standards laid down in the Punjab Food Act.

A senior functionary of the department said the production and supply of synthetic milk and milk products at the village level of the state was a matter of serious concern as it posed threat to the health of innocent people. Most of the sweetmeat shops and bakeries used unpasteurised cream for making different types of products that influenced coliform bacteria, which was very harmful to the health of the people.

He said the MMPO and Section 7 of the Essential Commodities Act were required to be systematically implemented at grass-root level, so that people engaged in the adulteration of milk and milk products could be dealt with sternly.

He said the MMPO needed to be made more powerful so that the Dairy Development Department could eliminate manufacturers of synthetic milk and milk products.

Chandigarh, August 23
The Punjab Education Department has declared the current academic year 2009-10 as a “qualitative year” to bring out revolutionary educational reforms in the schools in the state. Among various steps for improvement in imparting quality education, teams to inspect schools at the district level had also been constituted.

Stating this here, a spokesman for the Education Department said to spare more teaching time for the teachers all DEO, BEOs and schools heads had been categorically directed to depute clerks or non-teaching staff only on the accounting jobs like collection of funds and fees from the students.

Adding further, he said it would be mandatory to call parent teachers association (PTA) meeting on the last day of every month after schools hours.

He further added that for surprise checking of schools, inspection teams had been constituted at the district level. These teams would inspect at least 30 schools every month in the district besides annual inspections and would submit their reports to the director-general, School Education, by the fifth of every month.

Patiala, August 23
Gian Sagar Medical College and Hospital has launched a health insurance scheme in association with Apollo DKV Health Insurance Company.

Addressing a gathering of sarpanches, panches, and representatives from corporate houses on the occasion, Dr AS Sekhon, Principal of the Gian Sagar Medical College and Hospital, said once a patient was covered under the scheme, he would not have to spend anything from his pocket for treatment.

He said the hospital was started with a vision to provide medical treatment not only to the people who could afford it but also to those who could not afford it. The endeavour was to provide facilities at costs even lower than those charged by government hospitals, he added.

Chief executive officer of the hospital Kamaljit Singh said the hospital had already launched schemes for farmers, sarpanches, students, shopkeepers, and businessmen keeping in view different needs of these segments.

He said the hospital had brought together some of the most talented medical professionals in various medical fields. “Availability of the best technology and excellent working environment has ensured highest standards of patient care at our hospital at an affordable cost,” he said. It had over 30 specialities with more than 200 consultants, 500 beds, 18 operation theatres, 50 ICUs and emergency beds, 24-hours emergency services and 24-hours pharmacy services.

Dr Sukhwinder Singh, vice-chairman of the Gian Sagar Educational and Charitable Trust, also addressed the gathering on the occasion. He told village elders that the hospital had also made available free ambulance services at its rural health centre at Gajjukhera and at the urban health centre at Rajpura. He said the hospital was committed to providing the best of medical treatment to the people of the area. He said super-speciality treatment was available in disciplines like neurosurgery and laparoscopy.

Harnam Singh, president of the Gian Sagar Educational and Charitable Trust, said there was no profit motive in the running of the hospital. The trust had been running a medical college, a dental college, a college of nursing, a college of physiotherapy, and a college of paramedical sciences, he added.

He invited sarpanches and panches of the area to visit the hospital in groups so that they could see for themselves the facilities available there. He said the hospital had the best of medical equipment and had latest machines for diagnostic tests.

Chandigarh, August 23
The Punjab Cabinet yesterday gave its approval for establishing a society to modernise technical education and industrial training in the state.

The decision was taken at a meeting of the Cabinet chaired by Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal last evening.

Chief Minister’s media adviser Harcharan Bains said the society would meet aspirations of the industry in competitive industrial and economic environment driven by advanced emerging technology.

The Board of Governors (BoG) of the society will comprise Chief Minister as chief patron; industrialist/ educationist as patron, Technical Education Minister as chairman and the Principal Secretary/Secretary, Technical Education and Industrial Training, as vice-chairman. 

The Director, Technical Education and Industrial Training, and principal of the institution concerned will be the secretary-general and member secretary, respectively.

The executive-cum-finance committee will have the Principal Secretary/Secretary, Technical Education and Industrial Training, as chairman besides, the Director, Technical Education and Industrial Training, a chartered accountant to be nominated by the chairman of the committee as a member.

The Cabinet also approved revival of 2,000 posts of cop. The existing 1,000 posts of constable will be filled by absorption of an equal number of SPOs in the armed battalions. Of 500 general posts of cop (male), 50 for intelligence, 62 for horse-riding and 46 constables for police band will be recruited. Besides, 500 posts of women cop in the general cadre will be filled through direct recruitment.

The Cabinet also extended the last date up to September 30 for submission of applications for allotment of pond area land acquired by the Irrigation Department, falling between the international border and barbed wire and along the Sutlej towards Pakistan and between the Sutlej and Hussianiwala headworks/Ferozepur to its unauthorised occupants. Earlier, the last date for submission of applications was June 30.

The Cabinet exempted from entertainment tax the Punjab Naatshala, Amritsar, for promoting theatre. The approval was also given to fill 398 posts of Class III and IV on contract basis in the Department of Medical Education and Research.

It also scrapped a memorandum signed with the Reliance Industries for setting up of agricultural mega projects in the state, as no action had been taken in accordance with the provisions of the MoU.

The Cabinet approved to transfer 501 acres, 3 kanals and 19 marlas of land at Birla Farm in the name of the “Indian Institute of Technology, Punjab, ” Ropar for an IIT.

It also granted ex-post facto approval to the revival and filling of 212 posts of medical officer (General) on regular basis through the Punjab Public Service Commission.

Ludhiana, August 23
The common man will have to pay more for the registration of sale deeds, wills and power of attorney, as the state government has hiked the registration fee of all revenue documents with immediate effect.

The maximum fee of the registration of sale deeds has been hiked from Rs 10,000 to Rs 30,000. Earlier, the fee for property worth up to Rs 10 lakh was charged at 1 per cent of the price and Rs 10,000 was the maximum slab for the registration of sale deeds.

Those who had to buy property up to Rs 10 lakh had to pay the fee at 1 per cent, which means Rs 2,000 for land worth Rs 2 lakh, Rs 3,000 for land worth Rs 3 lakh and so on.

However, now those buying property up to Rs 30 lakh will have to pay at the rate of 1 per cent and above this would pay a maximum amount of Rs 30,000.

The power of attorney that was registered for Rs 370, including payment for land records, has been raised to Rs 520.

The cost of registration of wills, too, has gone up. The maximum registration price of will has been raised from Rs 370 to a whopping Rs 1,370.

In a case of the registration of wills after death, the fee has been raised from Rs 570 to Rs 2,170.

The hike orders have been sent to all districts of the state.

Parminder Singh, a real estate agent, said this sector was already reeling under recession. The government was announcing that they would increase the fee, but they had never imagined that it would go up to this extent.

Ludhiana, August 23
In a heartening follow-up to the release of Rs 50 crore each by the Centre and the state government for the cleaning of the Buddha Nullah, a team of the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) today visited the city for a ground-level assessment of the problem before recommending a unified action plan for the cleaning, at the earliest.

The three-member team headed by Dr DD Basu, senior scientist, CPCB, Delhi, visited different areas of the city, including the industrial area and certain other localities along the nullah, for an on-the-spot assessment. He was accompanied by NK Verma, a retired expert from the CPCB with years of specialisation in the discharge from dyeing units.

Talking to The Tribune, Dr Basu said, “In the first place, we will be assessing the treatment capability of the industrial units, particularly the large-scale industry and the ground-level reality in pollution control. Our chairman will submit the report to the Central government with a recommended plan of action”.

Dr Basu said, “We will also look into how different wings of government agencies can be assembled on a common platform for a unified action plan. The money sanctioned by the Centre and state government, separately, will have better results in case a planned unified plan of action was put in place”.

Earlier during the day, Baba Balbir Singh Seechewal met Dr Basu and handed over a memorandum to him. Talking to The Tribune, Baba Seechewal said, “I have been urging, repeatedly, that cleaning the nullah is not the core issue”.

In a letter, addressed to the chairman of the CPCB, he has highlighted: toxic waste of Focal Point, Surgical Complex and Leather Complex of Jalandhar flowing into Kala Sanghia Dam; domestic and toxic industrial waste of Phagwara flowing into Phagwara drain; Kala Sanghia and Chitti Bein conveying all the toxic waste into the Sutlej; and hundreds of industries in Ludhiana throwing their trade effluents into the Buddha Nullah.

Pointing out an irreversible loss to the human population, Baba Seechewal has sought the CPCB to: take effective measures to stop the inflow of domestic and toxic trade effluent into Kala Sanghia and Chitti Bein; immediate medical relief to the people affected with cancer, hepatitis, asthma, kidney failure and gastroenteritis; and registering criminal cases against the guilty polluters and making sure they are penalised.

Amritsar, August 23
The IT Department is yet to come out with the exact figure of unaccounted wealth even after two days of raids on several nursing homes, clinics, medical labs and hospitals.

A team of 250 IT sleuths from different parts of the state conducted raids on two major hospitals, clinics and medical labs to find out disproportionate assets on Friday. The raids continued till Saturday morning. Sources in the IT Department say they are yet to ascertain the full quantum of unaccounted assets discovered as they are evaluating several documents and are yet to check bank lockers.

It is learnt that the department has seized Rs 1.28 crore worth of cash and jewellery from different hospital and clinics. The managements of the hospitals were giving out details of the cash and other assets to nullify the impact of the raids.

A spokesman for a medical centre said their patients were harassed and the centre was not allowed to conduct tests. Doctors threatened non-cooperation till the normal functioning was restored, which led IT officials to allow the patients to go ahead with their tests or treatment.

Meanwhile, the medical fraternity has expressed resentment against the “threatening postures” of the IT officials.

Sangrur, August 23
Row over the golak money (cash offered by devotees) of Gurdwara Sachkhand Angitha Sahib, Mastuana Sahib, again erupted yesterday when the authorities of the newly formed Yadgiri Sant Attar Singh Ji Maharaj Gurdwara Sachkhand Angitha Sahib Charitable Trust (Regd), Mastuana, started counting the money.

Peeved at this, the other faction, led by Sant Baba Surjit Singh Duggan, called the police and stopped the process.

Talking to mediapersons, Jarnail Singh Changal, Chairman of the Trust, said the Trust was registered and they had, along with its president Sant Baba Sadhu Singh, opened the golak yesterday morning.

He said when they were counting the money, the police reached there and asked them to stop the process otherwise a case would be registered against them.

Changal said following this, they put the entire money back into the golak, whose key was now with Sant Baba Sadhu Singh.

However, Sant Baba Surjit Singh Duggan said he was satisfied with the action of the police.

Chandigarh, August 23
The right of a person to assail the trial court judgment by way of an appeal cannot be taken away, even if he is an absconder, a Division Bench of the Punjab and Haryana High Court has ruled. The ruling came in connection with an application filed by Manmohan Lal seeking the dismissal of an appeal filed by his son-in-law Vikram as he had escaped from the custody and was absconding.

Lal had contended that his son-in-law was sentenced to life imprisonment for causing “gunshot injuries” to him and his family after barging into their house in Ferozepur district. An FIR for attempt to murder and other offences was registered on June 4, 2007, he added.

But on February 25, Vikram escaped from the police custody before he could be produced in a court in Sirsa the next day.

Taking up the application, the Bench of Justice KS Garewal and Justice Nawab Singh ruled: “We fail to understand how an appellant court can dismiss an appeal without hearing the appellant or his pleader simply on the ground that the appellant is absconding.”

Referring to the legal provisions, the Bench asserted the appellant court, after perusing the record and hearing the appellant or his pleader, might, if it considered that there was no sufficient ground for interference, dismiss the appeal or pass any other order. But it could not be dismissed without being heard.

The Bench added: “If Virkam is alive, he has the right to argue that he is innocent and seek relief. Simply because he is absconding, his right cannot be taken away. As it has been brought to our notice that Vikram is in fact absconding and appears to have escaped custody, the state of Punjab is directed to step up its efforts to apprehend Vikram and proceed against him in accordance with the law.”

For taking the matter to a logical conclusion, the Bench added: Ferozepur Senior Superintendent of Police shall personally supervise the case.