Batala, August 26
People in large numbers reached here today to attend 522nd anniversary of marriage of Guru Nanak Dev, founder of Sikhism. The community kitchens were galore in the town and people regardless of religious affiliations organised these for devotees.

Langars (community kitchens) organised every where offered to devotees traditional food and sweets to mark the marriage anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev, known as Babe Da Viah. People from all walks of life were seen distributing eatables and gifts also among devotees.

Ballad singers and Gurbani kirtanias lent religious fervour to the ambience when devotees paid obeisance at gurdwaras Kand Sahib, Dera Sahib and Satkartaria Sahib, associated with Guru Nanak Dev. Avtar Singh, president, SGPC, who paid obeisance at Kand Sahib Gurdwara and addressed the congregation, also joined the barat of Guru Nanak, which took the shape of Nagar Kirtan in the town.

Kulwant Singh, manager, Kand Sahib Gurdwara, said yesterday two lakh devotees paid obeisance in this gurdwara and the number of devotees, who had paid obeisance till 5 pm in the same place, had touched three lakh. He said 500 devotees would be baptised to mark the occasion of Babe Da Viah.

The barat (marriage party) of Guru Nanak Dev, who married Bibi Sulakhni, daughter of revenue official of this town more than 500 years ago, started in shape of Nagar Kirtan from Dera Sahib Gurdwara and passed from markets and popular spots of the town.

The Nagar Kirtan was led by palki (palanquin) and Panj Piaras (five beloved ones) halted at various gurdwaras. The residents of town showered flower petals on the procession from rooftops of their houses. The residents also tied sehra (bridegroom’s veil) with the Palki. The barat will return to Dera Sahib gurdwara late tonight.

The three-day marriage ceremonies will conclude tomorrow. 

Ludhiana, August 26
The recent notification of the state government to continue the existing rates of non-practising allowance (NPA) and rural allowance of Punjab Civil Medical Services (PCMS) doctors has caused resentment among doctors in the state.

Terming it as an “arbitrary arrangement”, the Punjab Civil Medical Services Association (PCMSA) has decided to go on a statewide strike following the delay by the government in implementing the recommendations of the Fifth Punjab Pay Commission.

Dr Hardeep Singh, state president, PCMSA, said the piecemeal notification of the pay revision had created confusion.

Till the revision of all remaining allowances, the Punjab government has made arbitrary arrangements by issuing order no: 5/65/09-5PP1/397 dated August 18, 2009, pertaining to unrevised allowances. The order indicates the continuation of the allowances on the existing rates till revision.

The existing rate of the NPA for doctors is 25 per cent and rural allowances at 6 per cent of the basic pay. With the change in the basic pay, the amount of the NPA and rural allowance will also increase.

“But the accounts branch of the Department of Health and Family Welfare is deliberately misinterpreting the orders adding that the government orders clearly indicate that there will be no change in the amount of the NPA and the rural allowance”, Dr Hardeep Singh alleged .

The NPA amount on the previous basic pay of Rs 7,880 (PCMS doctors) at the rate of 25 per cent was Rs 2,000, but the revised basic pay is Rs 21,000 according to which the NPA of 25 per cent will be Rs 5, 250.

Interestingly, accounts officers working in the department in many districts of the state are sticking to the amount of Rs 2,000 as per the old basic pay.

With no message coming from the Directorate, Health and Family Welfare, doctors and other health employees getting benefits of the rural allowance are in a tight spot.

Barnala, August 26
Following the spread of gastroenteritis at Kurar village near Mehal Kalan, Dr Vir Inder Singh Mohi, Civil Surgeon, Barnala, today visited the village to take stock of the situation.

As many as 67 cases of gastroenteritis have been reported in the village so far.

Teams of the Health Department have also started a door-to-door survey to detect patients suffering from the disease and provide treatment to them. The health staff have distributed more than 7,000 tablets of chlorine in the village so far. Besides, 800 packets of ORS powder have also been distributed.

The health authorities also collected five samples of water from the village today. The Civil Surgeon said no death had been reported in the village due to this so far.

He said Neesha and Kulwinder Kaur had died of food poisoning, while Bant Singh had died due to the liver disease. He said the villagers were being educated by the health staff to drink water after boiling it.

Jalandhar, August 26
The Senior Punjab Civil Medical Service Association has directed its drawing and disbursing officers to grant non-practising allowance (NPA) to doctors on the existing rate of 25 per cent on the revised basic pay till a notification of new rates, if any, is issued by the Punjab government.

It said there was no ambiguity in this matter and an unnecessary controversy was being raised by certain officers of the accounts wing in offices of the Health Department. It was merely to create confusion by misinterpreting the issue to the disadvantage of the doctors.

In a statement issued today, the general secretary of the association, Dr DC Sharma, and its president, Dr YC Markan, maintained that there couldn’t be two basic pays of any employee at a particular time, one for calculating dearness allowance, licence fee and retirement benefits etc. and the other for calculating the NPA. Once the basic pay had been revised w.e.f. January 1, 2006, it was very much a legal exercise to give the NPA at the existing rate of 25 per cent on the revised basic pay w.e.f. January 1, 2006. The government had granted the NPA at the rate of 25 per cent of the revised basic pay from the same date.

Dr Sharma said the NPA was treated as pay for the calculation of dearness allowance, house rent allowance as well as retirement benefits, including pension and gratuity. Any guidelines regarding the allowances were not applicable to the NPA. The word allowance was a misnomer in case of the NPA. The association would demand that it should be termed as non-practising pay rather than non-practising allowance.

Dr Sharma said an urgent meeting of the executive committee had been convened at Chandigarh for Tuesday to discuss the issue of NPA, among others.

Bathinda, August 26
Punjab’s cotton belt has undergone a major transformation since the 1970s after two coal-fired thermal plants with a capacity totalling 1,360 megawatt were set up in this district - one in Bathinda (440 MW) and the other in Lehra Mohabbat (920 MW).

However, the development has also led to increasing health problems in the region in the absence of proper norms to monitor the environmental impact of ash ponds set up by the plants to dispose of their fly ash emissions.

Experts have warned the waste in the ash ponds carry hazardous materials like uranium into the groundwater, making it unfit for drinking.

The ponds are used to store fly ash, a waste product resulting from the process of burning coal. Fly ash along with the bottom ash is disposed of in the ash pond in the form of slurry (10 parts of water to one part of ash).

The water is either decanted or allowed to seep into the ground. This has contaminated the groundwater to such an extent that even RO (reverse osmosis) plants used by the government have failed to purify the water, said Dr GS Dhillon, who has been associated with the Punjab Irrigation & Irrigation Research Institute at Amritsar for 14 years.

He added it would be better if the surface water was treated at RO plants for making it fit for drinking rather than the groundwater that was now severely contaminated.

Most types of coal used in thermal power plants contain uranium and thorium as well as potassium, lead and even radium. These elements emanate from power stations in the form of light fly ash. Modern power plants bury 99 per cent of the fly ash emissions in ash ponds.

Uranium also gets deposited on the surface of ash particles during combustion. This surface bound uranium is more concentrated and is prone to leach into the ground, resulting in contamination of groundwater.

Dhillon said byproducts made from fly ash like bricks or blocks and additives for cement and concrete pose severe health hazards. This was one of the main reasons why people got skin and eye allergies as well as other diseases where ever fly ash was strewn around, he added.

A study conducted recently on the ash ponds of the Kolaghat thermal plant in West Bengal stated the ponds posed a significant health risk to those living in the vicinity.

Unfortunately, even after much hue and cry over the presence of uranium in Bathinda and surrounding areas, the government has not bothered to conduct a detailed study on what is contaminating the water in the region and from where the uranium is coming.

Jalandhar, August 26
The next move in respect of Rs 3,142 crore, to be given to the Punjab State Electricity Board for free power to farmers and poor people in the state for the current year, yesterday rested with Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal.

The Punjab State Electricity Regulatory Commission had written to the state government a few days ago that Rs 3,142 crore would have to be paid to the PSEB for supplying free power to farmers and poor sections of society in 2009-10. The government had moved the file in this regard to the Finance Department for approval.

The Finance Department had sent the file back to the Power Department with queries like hiking power tariff for farm sector from Rs 2.40 per unit to Rs 2.85 by the regulatory authority. The total subsidy for farm sector is counted on the basis of tariff determined by the regulatory authority.

Sources said overruling queries of the Finance Department, the Power Department yesterday moved the file to the Chief Minister with observations of the power tariff for the farm sector had been decided by the regulatory authority. The Power Department is nobody to reject tariff decided by the authority, a constitutional body. The Power Department can only challenge the tariff by filing a petition. Entertaining such petition or not is the jurisdiction of the authority. Hence, the Power Department at this stage can do nothing as far as the enhancing tariff for farm sector is concerned.

Sources said if the government wants to continue free power to farm sector and poor sections of society, it would have to assure the authority to pay Rs 3,142 crore to the PSEB in writing. However, the decision in this regard will be taken by the Chief Minister.

The state government paid Rs 2,602 crore as subsidy to the PSEB last year.

Due to the critical situation faced by the government, Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal has been opposing the subsidy, saying at least it should be capped. Every year, power subsidy‘s amount increases. From a few hundred crores, it has become thousand crores.

The Punjab government has urged the Centre for a package to overcome the fiscal crisis.

Ludhiana, August 26
Balbir Singh, alias Bhootna, a suspected Babbar Khalsa terrorist, who was arrested, along with his paramour, after an encounter that lasted for four hours at the local railway station yesterday morning, was here to solemnise his marriage at Gurdwara Dukh Niwaran.

DGP PS Gill, Punjab, visited the CMC Hospital here on Wednesday to ask about the health of two personnel, who sustained bullet injuries in the gunbattle with Balbir on Tuesday. Appreciating their bravery, the DGP gave immediate orders for their promotion. Head Constable Karampal Singh was made ASI and Constable Naranjan Head Constable. He said the police was tracing the family of Santosh, a tea vendor, who was killed while stopping the “terrorist” from fleeing. He said his family would be rewarded for this.

The revelation came to light during the interrogation of the alleged terrorist here today.

Police sources said the duo had decided to marry early in the morning and was planning to leave the city after that. Bridal clothes have also been found from the bag of the “terrorist”.

The police is now probing that how many times Balbir visited the city for making arrangements for his marriage and with whom he remained in contact for the same.

Meanwhile, Balbir was produced before the court of Duty Magistrate JPS Wanipal, who remanded him in nine-day police custody.

Amritsar, August 26
The murder of Dalip Kumar (25) in front of Gurdwara Dehra Sahib in Lahore, Pakistan, on Tuesday has created a scare among minority communities of Hindus and Sikhs living in that country. The Lahore police is making all-out efforts to solve the murder at the earliest, apparently to ward off possible criticism by India.

Sources said Nankana Sahib-based Dalip, an MBA, was looking for a job. He had been staying in the gurdwara for a couple of days. Two motorcycle-borne assailants came to the gurdwara and called him out. They fired at him indiscriminately following a brief verbal duel.

The incident sparked protests and a group of agitated Hindus and Sikhs converged in front of Gurdwara Nankana Sahib. They raised slogans against the Pakistan government before the cremation of Dalip. A number of Hindu and Sikh leaders, including member of Pakistan’s National Assembly Ramesh Kumar, former president of the Pakistan Sikh Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee Bishan Singh, attended the cremation.

“We have talked to police officers. The police has assured us that the crime would be solved by this evening,” said Ramesh while talking to The Tribune on the phone. Bishan Singh has demanded a thorough probe into the murder.

The sources said the assailants had been identified. The police was working on the theory of personal enmity in the case and that the two assailants might have been acquaintances of the victim. Information from another source pointed out that the two assailants tried to snatch the mobile of the victim. When he resisted the move, they shot him from point-blank range, killing him on the spot.

Chandigarh, August 26
Following the report of an incident of ragging in DAV Nursing College, Jalandhar, Punjab Medical Education and Research Minister Tikshan Sud has formed a committee to look into the matter and submit report in a week.

Joint Director, Medical Education and Research, Rajrani, Principal, Nursing College, Patiala, and a representative of the Deputy Commissioner, Jalandhar, are on the committee. The minister has also instructed the Director, Medical Education and Research, if there was a case of NOC/Recognition of this institution pending with the government, it should not be sanctioned till further orders.

Sud said the heads of educational institutions should inform the police if the incident of ragging came to their notice. He told the Vice-Chancellor, Baba Farid University of Health Sciences, and the DRME to make amendment to the affiliation rules to debar educational institutions trying to shield errant students.

Calling upon the principals to monitor the situation, he said the Principal and staff must watch the attitude of newcomers and any sign of depression noticed in new students be probed. He also called upon new students to report any incident of ragging to authorities and that their identity would be kept secret. 

Patiala, August 26
Punjab continues to be in throes of an acute power crisis with the Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB) facing a shortage of at least 400 lakh units of power daily. With the gap in power availability and demand growing by the day, the board has been forced to resort to massive power cuts on all types of consumers.

Sources in the PSEB here today said the board had been imposing a cut of at least five to six hours on different categories of consumers. Even the four important towns of Patiala, Ludhiana, Jalandhar and Amritsar, where power position in previous year was better than other smaller towns, have been facing long power cuts.

The sources said the power availability as of today was 1,544 lakh units from all sources of the board. This included 128 lakh units from the hydel sources, 568 lakh units from thermal sources and 10 lakh units from non-renewable sources of energy.

Besides, the board had been getting 141 lakh units as its share from the Bhakra Beas Management Board. Under the purchase and banking agreement, the board had been getting 700 lakh units on daily basis. 

Ludhiana, August 26
Manjinder Singh charged with an attempt to murder former Director-General of Punjab Police (DGP) DS Mangat by planting a bomb on the railway overbridge was acquitted by Additional Sessions Judge MS Virdi.

Manjinder was also acquitted of charges under TADA. He was charged with planting a bomb near the Sherpur railway overbridge crossing, Ludhiana in February 1991. The then DGP was travelling in his car when the bomb had exploded. The DGP was travelling in bullet-proof car, but had received injury in his leg.

The court held it was proved on record a bomb blast had taken place. But the prosecution failed to prove the said blast was mischief of the accused.

A case under Sections 307 and 427, IPC, and Sections 3 and 4, Terrorist and Disruptive Activities Act (TADA), was registered at division No. 6 police station, Ludhiana. The prosecution had claimed that the accused was found to have masterminded the blast.

Earlier, the accused was declared proclaimed offender. He was arrested in this case in August 2002.

The then DGP was going from local PWD rest house to Chandigarh. SP (Security) RC Sethi, who was sitting beside him, was also injured. ASI Joban Singh sitting on the front seat of the same car had also recieved injuries. With the sudden blast, the entire convoy came to a halt and there was smoke all around, according to the prosecution.

The injured persons were shifted to Oswal Cancer Hospital. The prosecution examined 17 witnesses to prove the case, but could not do so.

However, the accused had pleaded his brother-in-law was killed by the police in a false encounter. They were pursuing the case against the police. Out of retaliation, he was falsely implicated. 

Chandigarh, August 26
Principal of Nawanshahr-based RK Arya College SK Sachdeva and its managing committee president Prem Bhardwaj are prima facie guilty of contempt, the Punjab and Haryana High Court today ruled.

Tarn Taran, August 26
Over 200 cops chased armed persons who had hijacked a bus heading to Patti and held three “hardcore criminals”. Two of the alleged gangsters escaped.

Five “gangsters” were roaming in fields of Dubli village on Tuesday morning in a Ford Fiesta car under suspicious circumstances. Some villagers informed Patti police station cops, who after instructions from SSP, Tarn Taran, Sukhdev Singh Brar began action.

SHO Hardeep Singh with a force reached the village and asked the suspicious-looking persons to reveal their identity. This provoked the “gangsters”, who fired at the police making top officials send reinforcement. Head Constable Mukhtiar Singh was injured in the shoot-out.

Meanwhile, in a bid to escape, the “gangsters left the car and boarded a private bus heading for Patti. They virtually hijacked the bus and its passengers as one of the armed “gangsters” instructed the driver to speed up as the police party was chasing them.

They allegedly fired at the police party from the moving bus. Meanwhile, passengers had a tough time apprehending that the speeding bus might go out of control.

The police overpowered three of the “gangsters” after the bus covered 2 km. SSP Sukhdev Singh Brar identified the “gangsters” as Karan of Ludhiana, Ravi Kanihya of Amritsar and Ranjit Singh Rana of Jalandhar.

Two accused, Samma and Rama, escaped, said the police officials. Two .315 bore and one .12-bore pistols and a stolen car were recovered from them. The SSP said the accused were wanted in a couple of cases.

A case has been registered under Section 307, IPC, and Sections 25,54 and 59, Arms Act.