Gandhian (Gurdaspur), August 24
Gastroenteritis has claimed the lives of as many as seven persons, including two children, at Gandhian village here in the past one week while more than 20 are still suffering from dehydration. The village is situated a few distance away from Gurdaspur.

Though the problem struck the village about a week ago, the district health authorities swung into action today and sent a team of three doctors to distribute chlorine tablets and educate villagers to take precautions in this regard.

In the absence of medical care, residents of the village, a majority of whom are labourers, have been fighting against the disease on their own and they are so poor that they cannot afford to buy medicines.

Information gathered by TNS revealed that the deceased included Gurdial Singh, his seven-year-old son Ritin, Raj Kumar, Tarsem, a two-month-old boy and a three-month-old girl.

Sudesh Kumari, sarpanch of the village, said though gastroenteritis started spreading its tentacles in the village about two months ago, no one cared for them and as many as nine persons had died due to this.

She added that a little help came from a pharmacist of a nearby village, who would visit the area and give chlorine tablets to residents to purify the drinking water.

However, HS Batra, Civil Surgeon, Gurdaspur, said the authorities had initiated action in this regard five days ago and water samples from the village for chemical examination had been taken, whose report was awaited.

He said the doctors team had been conducting survey in the village to identify patients and treat them accordingly. He admitted that as per his report, three persons had died so far.

However, Mohinder Singh Jassal, SMO, Gurdaspur, said no patient from the village had been admitted to the Civil Hospital here in the past two days.

Meanwhile, a section of the residents accused health officials of refusing them to give medicines free of cost for the treatment of gastroenteritis.

Chandigarh, August 24
Within hours of Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal’s statement on not re-employing retired employees in the government, the Cabinet reportedly approved re-employment of a retired employee in the Civil Secretariat.

On August 22, the Chief Minister issued a statement highlighting that he had “in principle decided not to re-employ retired employees against any vacancy except in cases of extraordinary circumstances and unavailability of experts with talent in the specialised field”.

A decision to this effect was taken at a meeting by Badal with a delegation of the employees wing of the Shiromani Akali Dal. He had categorically said preference must be given to unemployed youth and practice of giving extensions or re-employment must be discouraged and preference of employment be given to educated youth.

This meeting took place on Saturday morning and in the evening at the Cabinet meeting chaired by the Chief Minister, the ministers approved re-employment of a superintendent in the civil secretariat. Sources add this was done under pressure from some BJP ministers.

The fact that the Cabinet is interested in adhering to its decision on re-employment is also clear from a letter issued by former Chief Secretary, Punjab, Ramesh Inder Singh to the Secretary, Personnel, in August last year.

He rued that despite instructions that no employee, who has been retired from government service, should be given extension in services or re-employed is not being followed. “Such re-employments are neither administratively sound nor legally tenable,” wrote Ramesh Inder Singh in the letter. He also asked the Secretary, Personnel, to send strict instructions to the departments not to re-employ retired personnel.

The sources add several retired persons were re-employed in the Punjab State Electricity Board and the Education Department despite these instructions. These persons have been re-employed mainly on the pretext that since there is a ban on fresh employment, the day-to-day working suffers following retirement of old hands.

“There is acute shortage of staff in the secretariat. The government is neither employing new people nor allowing to retain those who retire. How does it expect the working to go on,” said an employee.

Amritsar, August 24
A heavy dose of taxes has made the rice industry economically unviable in the state and were being forced to move out of other states where the tax structure was more rational.

The Punjab Rice Millers and Exporters Association said here today that according to the last industrial policy, the rice industry has been bracketed in the negative list because of the closure of large number of mills in the state and now the extra burden of 3 per cent Punjab Infrastructure Development Fund (PIDF) would further add to the woes of the industry.

Rajeev Setia, president of the association, while addressing the media here today, said the recent imposition of 3 per cent PIDF cess had come as a shock to the industry, as the rice mills here have to pay 3 to 5 per cent extra tax as compared to their counterpart in Haryana, UP and New Delhi. He said this additional burden would lead to serious financial crisis.

Setia said the Basmati Export Association had taken a major initiative with the active support of the Punjab Agriculture Department to diversify from traditional parmal varieties to help arrest the declining water table and now the state was cultivating various Basmati varieties on more than 5 lakh hectares. He said the diversified crop into basmati had helped farmers to rake in huge profits as 1121 PUSA variety, the hot selling produce, was giving peasants a good source of income. He said all this was possible due to the efforts of the Punjab Rice Exporters, which have distributed free seeds to farmers and encouraged them to go ahead with the new variety.

Commenting on the contradictions in the state policy with regard to the rice industry, Setia said on one hand the rice industry had been put on the negative list while the government was sanctioning mega projects with huge tax relief. He said this would wipe out the old and the established small and medium industries in the state.

Chandigarh, August 24
City lawyer Pavit Mattewal, who is also a personal legal advisor to Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and Financial Commissioner and Principal Secretary, Punjab, BC Gupta have been conferred with honour of being invited to deliver a talk on “Empowering the Indian woman to play a greater role in India’s development and nation building” by the Global Organisation of People of Indian Origin (GOPIO) in New York earlier this week.

On the occasion, leading dignitaries, including Global NRI business leaders- Manjeev Puri deputy ambassador to the UN from India, former ambassador from the US to India, etc- discussed the issues pertaining to India and Indian diaspora in the context of global economic challenges and development. The event was co-sponsored by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).

Pavit Mattewal shared with the forum the plight of Indian women saying there was need to improve the lot of women in India, as India ranks almost at the bottom on the gender development index of the United Nations development programme. India, he said continued to have a highly adverse sex-ratio, indicative of continued and increasing female foeticide; almost 60 per cent of Indian women continue to be illiterate.

He pointed out that the National Crimes Record Bureau reports increasing incidence of violence against women- all of which reveal the low social and economic status of women in India. Chair of the session Dr Thomas Abraham and Co-Chair Dr Maya Chadda stressed upon the need to take India out of the global economic slowdown, while ensuring that the special attention to women did not suffer due to the economic slowdown.

Mattewal also expressed serious concern in the context of women’s empowerment.

Jalandhar, August 24
Setting up of a large number of thermal plants can prove to be a curse for Punjab. Asserting this, Dr HS Virk, a nuclear physicist and director of a research centre in a local institute, on Friday said the latest scientific studies made in leading international institutions had proved that some highly toxic substances such as mercury and uranium were released in the environment because of the burning of coal.

About 120 lakh tonnes coal will be burnt daily when all seven thermal plants become operational in the state, and in the process thousands of tonnes of fly ash will be generated. Besides three already operational thermal plants at Bathinda, Lehra and Ropar, two are coming up and the other two are awaiting some technical clearances from the Union government. The Bathinda area faces health hazards due to the high uranium content in the environment.

Quoting a latest study, published by Science Daily, made by Duke University environmental engineers, Dr Virk, who did his doctorate in nuclear physics from France, said owing to the burning of coal, mercury was released into the environment. Amrika Deonarine, a graduate student in civil and environmental engineering at Duke’s Pratt School of Engineering, had found that organic matter and chemical compounds containing sulphur, known as sulfides, could readily bind to form mercury sulfide nano-particles, said Dr Virk. This particular harmful form of the element, known as methyl mercury, was a potent toxin for nerve cells.

When ingested by living beings, it was not excreted and builds up in tissues or organs, said Dr Virk. There could also be other harmful effects of mercury ingestion on living creatures, he added.

“There are many ways mercury gets into environment, with the primary sources being the combustion of coal, the refining of such metals as gold and other non-ferrous metals and in the gases released during volcanic eruptions. The airborne mercury from these sources eventually lands on lakes or ponds and contaminates water and sediments,” states the study.

Quoting another study published by the United States Geological Survey, Dr Virk said, “It has been reported that the burning of coal releases uranium, thorium and their highly active decay products in the environment.” He said the US Environmental Protecting Agency was worried about radioactive elements from fly ash as these can raise the content of radon and uranium in drinking water.

Already uranium content has been found up to a worrisome level in certain parts especially in Bathinda Thermal Plant power colony. Bathinda is known as the cancer belt of Punjab now.

Dr Virk said ironically Punjab had opposed the installing of nuclear power plants in the state whereas it was all for setting up thermal plants, which produce coal ash that is more radioactive than nuclear waste. He said it would be more proper to take into account all scientific studies made on burning of coal, fly ash, etc before opting recklessly for thermal plants.

Nabha, August 24
Bus service from here to district headquarters Patiala is far from satisfactory. Commuters are at the mercy of the Pepsu Roadways Transport Corporation (PRTC) that has the monopoly of this route for 20 years. Only two private buses run on this route. The route towards Gobindgarh-Khanna-Ludhiana is well connected and private operators ply buses on this route.

Headquarters of many departments like Irrigation, PWD (B&R), PSEB and Punjabi University are in Patiala. Employees and students commute from here to Patiala and back. They have to face problem both ways. Patients and old persons are the worst sufferers.

Commuters rue between 8 am and 10 am the bus service is inadequate. They sought bus to Patiala after every 15 minutes. Now it comes after 45 minutes or one hour, resulting in rush and many get injured while boarding the bus, they said. They said the condition was the same in the evening.

The condition of the main bus stand and bus stop at Patiala gate is pathetic as there is no shed for waiting passengers. Neither the Municipal Council nor the PRTC listens to their woes. Commuters of Ghamrouda, Rakhra, Kalyan and Rouni, villages located on the Patiala-Nabha road, are the worst hit as buses seldom stop there.

An ex-employee of the PRTC said Patiala-Nabha and Patiala-Samana routes were most earning routes, but the authorities were doing nothing for commuters. He said four to five private buses should be introduced on these routes.

Gurdaspur, August 24
Random checking of state-run primary and senior secondary schools, made today by about nine inspection teams in this district bordering Pakistan, has shown that these schools have not been functioning according to the norms.

The inspection teams found that 14 teachers were absent in different schools.

Besides, children of about 25 primary schools, falling in the Narot Jaimal Singh block of the district, were not being supplied the mid-day meal for the past 10 days. Furniture, too, was not available in most of the schools.

The inspection teams said attendance of students in the school was found ranging from 50 to 80 per cent, which was disappointing. The newly constructed classrooms, toilets and science laboratories were not well maintained.

Krishan Kumar, Director-General, Schools, Punjab, who later held a meeting of school heads, block master trainers (BMT), cluster master trainers (CMT), in this town, said disciplinary action would be taken against the absent teachers. It was found that teachers working in the schools being run by the Panchayati Raj institutions (PRIs) were being deployed on non-teaching duties.

He added that this matter would be taken up with the Department of Rural Development and Panchayat, Punjab, so that teachers working in the PRI schools were deployed for teaching jobs only.

He, however, said all components of the Parho Punjab Project, started by the Punjab government, had been functioning well.

He claimed that teachers working under this project had been taking a keen interest in their duties and students were the beneficiaries.

Sangrur, August 24
In separate resolutions, passed by four village panchayats of the district recently, it has been decided that these panchayats will oppose the opening of liquor shops in their villages from the next financial year.

The panchayats of Chatha Nanherra village (block Sunam) and Jati Majra village (block Malerkotla-1) have passed the resolutions under Section 40, Punjab Panchayati Raj Act, asking the Excise and Taxation authorities not to open liquor shops in their villages.

The panchayat of Maana village of tehsil Dhuri has also passed a resolution against a liquor shop near the bus stand of their village. It has asked the excise authorities to shift this liquor shop. The panchayat of Sherpur Sodhian village (Dhuri) has also passed a resolution against the existing liquor shop near the bus stand of Maana village (near Sherpur Sodhian). The Sherpur Sodhian panchayat has asked the excise authorities not to allot a liquor shop near the bus stand of Maana village.

At a meeting of the Sarpanch Union of Sangrur block here today, the sarpanches were educated by the president of an NGO, Scientific Awareness and Social Welfare Forum, Dr AS Mann, and general secretary of another NGO, People for Transparency, Kamal Anand, who discussed the powers under Section 40 of the Panchayati Raj Act by saying that the Act empowered them not to allow opening of liquor shops in their villages by passing resolutions.

They appealed to them to make use of this Section in an effective manner so that the youths of the state could be saved from consuming liquor. 

Muktsar, August 24
On the one hand Muktsar is said to be the most educationally backward district of Punjab, on the other the fascination of the local youth for computers has been increasing day by day.

At scores of cyber cafes dotting the town, romance seems to be spreading like jimson weed in the vast virtual plains of cyberspace. Cyber cafes dotting the town are a hit among students of prominent educational institutions like Desh Bhagat Dental College and Hospital and St Soldiers Convent School.

A survey revealed that 90 per cent of students visiting cyber cafes here click on to the world of cyber romance.

A cyber café owner says: “In today’s world of cut-throat competition, a few get the time to romance. It is easier just making it out on the Internet.”

Similar views are echoed by yet another cyber café owner: “On any given day countless teenagers from various educational institutions engage in intimate conversations, chatting endlessly. Students, particularly from professional colleges, make a beeline for cyber cafes once their classes are over.”

A lot of people are figuring out why this phenomenon has become so compelling an addiction here in a district know more for its illiteracy than anything else. A Punjabi University psychologist said: “In some ways it is good to see students coming in droves to cyber cafes. Earlier, the same youth, once out of college, would be weaned away by drugs. It is encouraging to see students at cyber cafes instead of roaming the town in search of their daily dope.”

Drug counsellers are happy at this development, said the owner of a drug de-addiction centre, adding “earlier we used to receive reports from parents that their college-going wards were on drugs, particularly poppy husk. However, ever since these cyber cafes were opened in the city, the incidence of drug addiction among the youth has come down sharply.”

Student of a professional institute, Vikram, who is waiting for Shailja, his London-based friend said: “Nearly all my seniors are into this. In this way I keep myself away from bad company. What’s bad in visiting these shops for chatting?”

Amritsar, August 24
The Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC) here today honoured the sacked additional head granthi of the Golden Temple at Akal Takht on his retirement.

Acting head granthi Giani Jaswinder Singh and SGPC president Avtar Singh Makkar honoured Giani Mohan Singh, one of the oldest employees of the SGPC, by presenting him a siropa, shawl, plaque and Rs 11,000 in cash. Giani Mohan Singh offered the reward money to the SGPC for organising langar.

Earlier, Giani Mohan Singh, who had also served as Jathedar of Akal Takht for a brief period, was sacked from the post of additional head granthi of Harmandar Sahib for celebrating the golden jubilee of his wedding in violation of the Sikh code on June 25. He was asked not to perform ‘rehras’ (daily evening prayer) by acting head granthi Giani Jaswinder Singh.

Earlier too he was removed as head granthi when here refused to accept the post of Jathedar of Akal Takht on December 9, 2000, after the removal of Bhai Ranjit Singh as Jathedar.

Praising services of Giani Mohan Singh, Giani Jaswinder Singh prayed for his good health.

Giani Mohan Singh had joined as granthi at Sri Keshgarh Sahib in September 1964 and also served at Fatehgarh Sahib and Dukhniwaran Sahib gurdwaras in Patiala and was promoted head granthi in Patiala in 1973. Later, he was transferred to Amritsar as granthi in August 1978 and promoted head granthi of Harmandar Sahib in 1988. He was given extension in service after retirement.

Amritsar, August 24
Pilgrims visiting the Golden Temple will not have to walk on the parkarma of the holy sarovar in harsh weather as re-doing of the verandahs along the passage is expected to be completed in three to four months.

The verandas in the Golden Temple complex along the parkarma on all four sides give shelter to devotees from harsh weather or rain.

But since the verandas being repaired by devotees and volunteers of kar sewa led by Baba Jagtar Singh have not been in use, the kar sewa for the repair of the corridor has been on for more than one year.

As devotees walk barefoot on open marbled passage to reach the sanctum sanctorum covering the parkarma, they sometimes face harsh nature, particularly in peak summer and winter.

“The repair will be over in three to four months. Two-thirds of the work has been completed towards the Atta Mandi Deori, Bunga Shaheedan and up to the langar hall side,” said Ram Singh, in charge, Publicity Department of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC).

The verandas are said to be more than 50 years old and their rooftops have got damaged making the SGPC start repair to avert a mishap.

“Last year sewadars detected that the iron bars on the rooftop had got disengaged from the upper side and showing signs of rust. So, repair work was started,” said a volunteer.

Sources in the SGPC pointed out that though a major portion of the verandas had been repaired, yet the SGPC was in a fix over the side where karah parsad was served. “This side is being vacated to facilitate repair,” said an official.

Sangrur, August 24
In a corruption case, DR Arora, Judge, special court, Sangrur, today awarded two years’ rigorous imprisonment (RI) and a fine of Rs 7,500 under Section 7 of the Prevention of Corruption (PC) Act to Surjit Ram, an Industry Inspector in the office of BDPO, Sangrur. The judge also awarded him two years’ RI and a fine of Rs 10,000 under Section 13 (2) of the PC Act in this case. Both sentences shall run concurrently.

As per the case, an FIR was registered against Surjit on July 18, 2005, under Sections 7 and 13 (2) of the PC Act at the police station of Vigilance Bureau, Patiala. The FIR was got registered by Ranjit Singh, an unemployed graduate of Longowal village. Ranjit wanted to do some business by raising loan. Accordingly, on July 15, 2005, he met Surjit in the office of the BDPO at Sangrur. Surjit told Ranjit that he would fill up the form for raising loan and demanded Rs 2,500 from Ranjit for getting the loan sanctioned. However, the deal was struck for Rs 1,500 only.

Surjit called Ranjit to his office on July 18, 2005, along with money. However, Ranjit was not willing to get his work done by making the payment of bribe money. So he approached the Vigilance DSP. The vigilance team laid a trap and nabbed the Industry Inspector when he accepted the bribe money.

Chandigarh, August 24
Even after 62 years and three high court orders, Davinder Pal and so many others uprooted from Pakistan during Partition are still struggling for “alternative sites” to carry out their business.

Just when Davinder Pal Singh and others were settling down along Sirhand canal, the government decided to get the land vacated for widening the national highway.

Coming to their rescue, the high court issued directions to the state for providing them with alternative sites. But the directions remained unimplemented, compelling them to move the high court again. Taking it up, Justice Surya Kant ruled “inordinate delay” in allotting alternative sites to those uprooted during Partition was unfortunate and unwarranted. Despite the scathing observations, the order has still not been implemented, compelling them to file a petition under the Contempt of Courts Act.

As the matter came up, Justice Rakesh Kumar Garg directed the issuance of notice, which was accepted by the state counsel. The matter will now come up for further hearing on October 15.

Justice Kant had earlier observed there was nothing per se illegal in asking the petitioners to vacate the sites for widening the national highway, but their claim for allotment of alternative sites, as directed by the high court, had to be taken care of and implemented.

In their petition filed through counsel Pritam Saini, Davinder Pal Singh and others had asserted that they had constructed houses and shops on government land after migrating from Pakistan.

They were settled on leasehold basis, but the state government on March 24, 1990, took the decision against renewing the lease.

Their petition against the move was disposed of by the high court with direction to the state to provide alternative sites to the petitioners. 

Chandigarh, August 24
Taking up a petition on the continuation of “tainted officers” on “sensitive posts”, the Punjab and Haryana High Court today verbally asked the state of Punjab to file an affidavit on officials against whom departmental inquiries were pending.

The Bench of Justice JS Khehar and Justice SD Anand also asked the state to inform the court what the state was going to do about the officers.

As the matter came up, state counsel Rita Kohli informed the Bench that the only exception to the rule was the officers who fought militancy in the state, to which the Bench did not give its nod of approval.

The court, during a previous hearing had asked Punjab to define “tainted” and tell whether officers convicted, or chargesheeted, fell in that category.

The matter pertains to the mandate of the Punjab Police Act against the continuation of tainted police officers on plum postings.

Taking a serious view of the continuation of tainted police officers on plum posts in alleged violation of the Police Act, 2007, another Bench headed by Justice Mehtab Singh Gill had earlier ruled propriety demanded their removal or transfer.

An officer not below the rank of an Additional Director-General of Police was asked to clarify the state’s stand in the matter.

Chandigarh, August 24
The Punjab Police is in contempt loop.

Acting on a warrant officer’s report in connection with a habeas corpus petition, the Bench of Justice KS Garewal and Justice Nawab Singh today issued notice to a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) and two other Kharar CIA staff officials to show cause why proceedings under the Contempt of Court Act be not be initiated against them.

The officials are: Kharar DSP Satinder Pal Singh; SI Gurvinder Singh and constable Kailash Kumar. The Bench also fixed September 16 as the next date of hearing.

The court was of the view the police staff had interfered in the administration of justice by obstructing a warrant officer appointed for the release of a detainee.