Amritsar, September 2
The BJP faced an embarrassing situation when party MP from Amritsar Navjot Singh Sidhu did not show up at two important functions, the stone-laying ceremony of Rose Garden coming up on 30 acres and the draw of lots for flats of the Amritsar Improvement Trust by Local Bodies Minister and senior BJP leader Manoranjan Kalia.

The name of Sidhu did not figure on the foundation stone of Rose Garden though it duly had names of Manoranjan Kalia, Improvement Trust Chairman Rajinder Mohan Singh Chhina and BJP MLA Anil Joshi.

Sidhu, it was learnt, was not happy over the way Chhina was appointed Chairman of the trust despite his opposition. He was said to have been away from the city for a couple of weeks.

Doing a bit of plainspeak over the issue, Kalia said the presence or absence of Sidhu would not affect the pace of development works in the holy city. “Development works are to be done by the Punjab government and it has been doing its job,” said Kalia, who handed over a grant of Rs 5 crore for infrastructure development at Industrial Focal Point, Valla, in Amritsar to area MLA Malkiat Singh.

“We have provided an amount of Rs 165 crore for all-round development of the holy city. Besides, an MOU has been signed with an international organisation for setting up a Rs 360 crore sewage-treatment plant in Amritsar. Jalandhar will get a similar plant at a cost of Rs 5 crore,” said Kalia.

The Punjab government has planned to float an organised housing scheme worth Rs 116 crore for the uplift of people living in slums and under-developed areas of Jalandhar, Amritsar and Ludhiana. The upcoming Rose Garden at Ranjit Avenue bypass in Amritsar will prove green lungs for residents of Amritsar, he added.

Meanwhile, the local Municipal Corporation virtually landed itself in a troubled spot when Senior Deputy Mayor Ajaybir Singh Randhawa and BJP MLA Anil Joshi complained to Kalia that the MC Commissioner was not paying any attention towards the problems of people highlighted by them. They also demanded the transfer of the commissioner and threatened that if the latter was not transferred, they would be holding a gherao of the office of the Commissioner. Both leaders have been demanding the transfer of the commissioner for a long time.

Amritsar, September 2
The Punjab police is looking for a woman who has allegedly been misguiding and kidnapping teenaged girls from the Golden Temple by posing as a daily visiting devotee.

The Amritsar police has registered a case against Manjit Kaur, accused, under Section 363, IPC, at the Kotwali police station. While SSP Kunwar Vijay Partap Singh was not available for comment, ASI Ashwani Kumar confirmed the registeration of the case against the woman.

The case, it was learnt, was registered on the basis of an online complaint lodged by a Ludhiana-based teenaged girl and victim of the vicious trap of the woman.

During the three-month-long probe the police found that Manjit was a daily visitor at the Golden Temple where she used to perform “sewa” as a “devotee”. Her objective, police sources said, was to trap innocent girls coming there after abandoning their homes for some reason or even normal girls paying obescience. After trapping them, Manjit allegedly used to “sell” them or push them into the flesh trade.

In her complaint, the Ludhiana girl had narrated her tale of woe and how the woman was running her racket with help of her accomplices.

“The case has been registered on directions of the SSP. We are going to start tracing the woman from tomorrow as till now we don’t know about her whereabouts,” said Ashwani Kumar, Investigation Officer.

Gurdaspur, September 2
Demoralisation seems to have gripped officials of the Excise and Sales Tax Department since one of its officials, Harpreet Singh, Excise and Taxation Officer (ETO), was suspended immediately after he allegedly detected the evasion of sales tax worth crores of rupees by two transport companies.

The police has failed to arrest those tax evaders despite a criminal case having been registered against them on a complaint of Harpreet. Moreover, they could not get any relief from the court in the case.

A senior official of department said most of the officials had taken long leave on one pretext or the other.

Even a senior official, who was asked by Assistant Excise and taxation Commissioner (AETC), Gurdaspur, SC Das to investigate the matter, have refused to carry out the job.

Das said though he had been requesting the police authorities to arrest the alleged tax evaders for many weeks. A section of businessman, against whom the department had issued a notice to explain their position in connection with the transactions carried out by them as per bill books, had categorically stated that they had not carried out such transactions.

Harpreet was placed under suspension on August 3, one day after he allegedly detected the evasion of sales tax worth Rs 50 crore in Batala. No reason was mentioned in his suspension order issued by SS Brar, Financial Commissioner (Taxation).

During a raid conducted on the offices of the two transport companies, Harpreet had come across fake bill books

Naresh Arora, SSP, Batala, said the culprits would be arrested shortly and the investigation into the matter would be sped up.

Kapurthala, September 2
After an attack on an acting SDO and a meter reader, Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB), junior engineers (JEs) have decided not to make raids in Kapurthala circle to detect power theft without police help.

Kapurthala circle president, Council of JEs, Ramesh Chandra said they on Monday had submitted a memorandum to SE Ishwar Singh to this effect.

Earlier, Additional SDO Ashwani Sharma and meter reader Surinder Singh were attacked on Friday evening allegedly by Mohan Singh and his six associates after they had detected power thefts at six houses in Kahlawan villages under Kapurthala city division.

The acting SDO with PSEB team had raided several places at Kahlawan village and detected six cases of power theft. When the SDO and the meter reader were returning to the office from the village on a scooter, Mohan Singh forced them to stop by parking a car in front of their vehicle.

Subsequently, they took them to Mohan’s house, where he and his six others thrashed them. They saved their lives when Mohan’s mother intervened. Both of them were admitted to Kapurthala Civil Hospital.

The police arrested three accused under Sections 332, 353, 186, 342, 506, 389, 148 and 149, IPC. Mohan Singh, Satinder Singh and Sidhu were remanded in police custody for two days.

State acting president of the council Raj Kumar Chaudhary said the police had not added sections of kidnapping and attempt to murder in the FIR. Chaudhary met Kapurthala circle SE Ishwar Singh in this regard.

Sadar police station SHO Sarabjit Rai said Section 308, IPC, was included in the FIR on Monday evening. 

Chandigarh, September 2
It’s official. None of the four power thermal plants proposed as the flagship projects of the SAD-BJP combine may be completed till February, 2012, when Punjab goes to the polls for a fresh mandate. All four projects, which have been conceived in two years, were supposed to come on steam within three years making Punjab a power-surplus state.

However, this is not likely to happen for another four years or so. Moreover, government’s most ambitious 2,640 MW Gidderbaha project may take even longer to be commissioned as work has not been started on it.

Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, when questioned on the issue at an interaction here today, admitted as such saying: “Whenever they take off at least the SAD-BJP term will be remembered as one in which the initiative to establish the thermal plants was taken”. This is the first time the government has admitted that it may not be able to ensure commissioning of all four thermal plants by the end of its term.

According to the estimates of the Central Electricity Authority, only one 270 MW unit of the 540 MW Goindwal project may be commissioned by February, 2012. GVK, which has been awarded the project, has, however, “assured” Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal that it would commission the project within the next two years. The company has initiated work by placing orders for turbines and boilers with BHEL.

Regarding other projects, the 1980 MW Talwandi Sabo project, which was awarded to Sterlite around a year ago, is still to witness its financial closure. The company has, however, “assured” the government that it would complete the project by the beginning of 2012. In case of the Gidderbaha project, the position is even shakier. This is because the bidding for the project has not taken place due to a lack of coal linkages. The matter is being taken up with the Centre.

In case of the 1320 MW Rajpura thermal project, a dispute has arisen and the matter is before the Appellate Tribunal. Lanco, which has earlier been the lone bidder for the project and had also renegotiated the per unit price, has approached the tribunal after the PSEB decided to go in for a rebid. As of now, the time for submission of bids has been extended by another month.

Even as the commissioning of all four projects is not going to happen soon, the demand-supply gap of power is expected to increase. The Central Electricity authorities has projected a demand-supply gap of 1,932 MW for 2008-09. For 2009-10, the authority has projected a gap of 2,239 MW with demand being 9,312 MW against an availability of 7,073 MW.

Meanwhile, the Chief Minister said efforts were afoot to get more power for the state.

Chandigarh, September 2
The Punjab government will start reviewing functioning of all departments regularly with Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal evaluating at the end of month. Badal today said after two and a half years, it was time to “take stock and accelerate projects”.

On education , Badal said all government schools in the state would have adequate staff, infrastructure and basic facilities and 11,530 teachers appointed in three months.

He said this would be in addition to 17,417 teachers already recruited bringing total number of teachers to 28,947, a record..

The Chief Minister told journalists this morning that 69 primary schools had been opened spending Rs 4.14 crore. Also Rs 53 crore had been spent to upgrade 589 primary schools to middle level. Apart from this, Rs 27 crore and Rs 19 crore had been spent to build classrooms in 1068 primary schools and 764 middle schools.

Badal said all 18,408 schools would have toilets and drinking water in this year. He said 351 Senior Secondary Schools had been given better infrastructure and science facility. He also stated that 20 Adarsh Schools were being set up to provide free education to poor and brilliant students in the first phase and the project was being monitored at his level.

On priorities of higher education, Badal said the classes had been started at Central University , Bathinda and it would have Bio-sciences, Environmental science and Technology, Comparative Literature and South Central Asian Studies courses by next month in the temporary building .

He added the Vice-Chancellor had been appointed and land been acquired for the university. Posts of the faculty members and other staff had been advertised.

On World Class University at Amritsar on 700 acres Badal said the Site Selection Committee headed by the Chairman, UGC, would visit Amritsar on September 26 to select site. The IIT classes at Ropar had been started in Polytechnic college there. Meanwhile, the government has transferred 501 acres to the IIT for the building.

He said 13 degree colleges would be set up by spending Rs 104 crore and 21 model schools in educationally backward blocks of the state. 

Chandigarh, September 2
The Punjab State Human Rights Commission has ordered the Health Department to look into why vitamin A could not be administered to children in the state.

Acting on a complaint of Sukhwinder Kaur of Nawanshahr, the commission has directed the Director, Health Services, to probe the allegations and submit a report to the commission. The matter will come up for hearing on October 20.

The Tribune on August 31 had highlighted the issue that for three years the Punjab government did not provide iron and vitamin A tablets/syrup to children in the state. No one in the Health Department was held accountable for this nor was the department bothered why the supplements were not given.

Chandigarh, September 2
The Bharatiya Kisan Union (Rajewal) today held a dharna in front of the headquarters of the Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB) protesting against reduction in the water share of Punjab vis-a-vis Haryana besides “discrimination” meted out to Punjab with the charge of acting chairman of the board being given to a Haryana officer.

BKU (Rajewal) president Balbir Singh Rajewal, while briefing newsmen on the issue, said Haryana was getting 60 per cent of total supply of water from the BBMB projects vis-a-vis Punjab which was only getting 40 per cent. He claimed this was also true as far as canal supply was concerned adding Punjab was only getting 28 per cent of the total canal supply as compared to Haryana, which was getting 45 per cent of this supply.

Rajewal also claimed that the BBMB was toying with the idea of changing the present method of allocation of water and making availability of water a factor in its distribution. He said this would adversely affect Punjab as it had more groundwater available vis-a-vis Haryana. He said less supply of canal water would further deplete groundwater resources in the state and turn it into a desert over time.

The farmer leader also claimed that Punjab despite paying the most for BBMB operations was being discriminated against with preference being given to Haryana officials at top positions. Meanwhile, BBMB acting chairman MK Gupta could not be contacted despite several attempts.

Patiala, September 2
Director General of Police Paramdeep Singh Gill here today said there has been no threat of revival of terrorism in Punjab.

Talking to a select group of newspapers, the DGP said the Punjab police has been fully geared up to meet any threat of terrorists. He was here to inaugurate a community police centre. Sub-inspector Jatinder Pal Singh has been posted as first community officer along with supporting staff.

DGP emphasised that the gap between the police and public should be reduced. In its first phase of community policing, it was being implemented in one selective model police station of the five districts of the state i.e. Amritsar, Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Patiala and Bhatinda.

In the second phase, it would be implemented in all the districts of and in the third phase, it would also be implemented in all the police stations of the state.

Gill further said the centre has been an outcome of extensive research, analysis and process of inheriting the best practices to present a unique beneficial model to provide better policing services.

After the function, he also laid the foundation stone of Gymnasium Hall at the police lines, Patiala, to improve the health and fitness of the police personnel. DGP, Punjab, IGPs Zonal-I, Punjab, Patiala, and Training, Punjab and DIG, Patiala Range also planted sapling in the police lines. He added the police had almost completed investigations into the killing of Rashtriya Swayam Sewak president Rulda Singh. He said the killer would be nabbed soon.

Meanwhile, parents of Shamsher Singh, a missing teacher of local Khalsa College met the DGP at the civil lines police station. The DGP assured them and ordered a high-level inquiry into the case of Shamsher Singh, who had been missing from November 2, 2006.

Chandigarh, September 2
In Punjab Police, the hands do not do what the head says, apparently. Over a year has lapsed since the Punjab Director-General of Police instructed that inquiry by an officer from outside the district could be ordered only with his or the state government’s approval. But, the orders are not being complied with.Available information suggests the inquiries and reinvestigations are being marked by the officials at their own level to officers outside the district concerned.

One such case of alleged non-compliance has led the Punjab and Haryana High Court to seek Ferozepur Deputy Inspector-General of Police’s explanation.

The directions by Justice LN Mittal came on a petition filed by Moga resident Surinder Pal Singh. In his petition, the petitioner had asserted he sustained injuries after being attacked by miscreants while he was acting as the polling agent of a candidate during elections to the zila parishad and block samiti in May last year.

Alleging that the accused had political backing of the ruling party, the petitioner asserted that the police was not taking any action in the theft and rioting case. Elaborating, the petitioner contended that even after the registration of an FIR and submission of an inquiry report, prime accused Harpreet Singh, alias Lovely, had neither been arrested, nor final report had been submitted. As the petition for directions to the police and other respondents to submit the final report came up for hearing, Justice Mittal observed the DIG’s affidavit did not refer to the instructions dated April 1, 2008 issued by the DGP.

Referring to the instructions, Justice Mittal asserted inquiry by an officer from outside the district could be ordered only after the DGP or the Punjab government’s approval, but in the instant case “the DIG himself at his own level marked the inquiry/reinvestigation to a police officer from outside the district concerned. The matter now stands adjourned till September 18.

Ludhiana, September 2
The court of Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate JPS Wehniwal today extended the police remand of Balbir Singh Bhootna, alleged Babbar Khalsa terrorist, by two days in a case of killing a vendor at the local railway station. However, the court refused to extend the police remand of his women accomplice Sukhjinder Kaur. She was remanded in judicial custody for 14 days.

During the court hearing, it came to light that the police had also booked Bhootna under Sections 15, 16 and 17 of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act. His interrogation has revealed that he was allegedly involved in unlawful activities along with Mohkam Singh, Didar Singh, alias Dari and Amritpal Singh at the instance of Daljit Singh Bittu, chairman of the Shiromani Akali Dal (Panch Pradhani).

Additional Public Prosecutor Sukhchain Singh had sought the police remand of Bhootna with the plea that the accused was very clever and he was not divulging details about their plans for creating disturbances in the country. He said the police wanted to know about his links with foreign persons vis-a-vis the funding of militants in India.

Chandigarh, September 2
The Bar Council of Punjab and Haryana, Punjab and Haryana High Court Bar Association, and the District Bar Association have, in separate resolutions, strongly condemned “false and frivolous complaint” by Vijay Pal Singh Dimpy against Parampreet Singh Brar, son-in-law of former Punjab DGP SS Virk.

The lawyer bodies have termed the incident as a brazen attempt to intimidate a lawyer who was present as an officer of the court and not relative of a “co-accused”.

The Bar Council has passed a resolution saying no case of intimidation of Dimpy ever took place in the court. “Every lawyer is under constitutional obligation to appear and defend his client. By making such omnibus allegation on a lawyer, he (Dimpy) is trying to subvert the process of law. He has indulged in arm-twisting of a colleague in order to restrain him from performing his duty. We strongly condemn such false allegation on an advocate.”

The Punjab and Haryana High Court Bar Association, while condemning the allegation made by Dimpy, has said the lawyers who were present in the court have filed affidavits to the effect that no such incident (Brar threatening to kill Dimpy, if he did not sign blank papers) took place and the entire incident was an attempt to create false evidence against Brar.

The association has strongly condemned “criminal intimidation by Vijay Pal Singh Dimpy against a. honourable member (Brar) of the Bar Association”.

Chandigarh, September 2
Dishonouring of a cheque has cost a dealer dear as a local court convicted and sentenced him four-month imprisonment. Holding dealer SP Ghai guilty, the court of Additional District and Sessions Judge Raj Shekhar Attri has convicted him and had also directed him to compensate the cheque of Rs 11,68,163 in favour of the Godrej and Boyce manufacturing Company Limited.

Earlier, a lower court had convicted him on March 31, 2005, and had sentenced him to one-year imprisonment and a fine of Rs 2,500 under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act.

Thereafter, the accused filed an appeal against the orders and the company also went in for an appeal for the enhancement of the sentence and also for awarding of the compensation. It must be mentioned here that SP Ghai had issued a cheque amounting to Rs 11,68,163 in favour of the company on December 9, 1993.

However, when the cheque was presented for encashment, it was dishonoured due to, payment stopped by the drawer. In its orders, the court observed that the cheque had been issued by Ghai to discharge the legal liability.

Taking a lenient view, the court further stated that while considering the totality of the circumstances, the ends of justice would be adequately met out if Ghai be sentenced to four-month simple imprisonment. However, he has to pay compensation equal to the amount of the cheque.