Jalandhar, September 7
Nearly 150 candidates took admission in B.Tech and B.Pharmacy on the basis of CET merit during the third round of counselling that began here today. The university officials had called the top 2,500 CET rank holders of general category today for counselling, most of whom were already seat holders and simply got their seats upgraded to a college or a stream of their preference.

CET Coordinator-cum-Dean (Examination) Dr N.P. Singh said there were many students who changed their stream within the same college. He observed that the mechanical engineering and civil engineering were slowly gaining more preference over electronics and communication engineering.

Most of the students who appeared today have taken admission in Guru Nanak Dev University, Guru Nanak Dev Engineering College, Ludhiana, Chitkara Institute of Engineering and Technology and Chandigarh Engineering College, Landran.

The university had invited fresh registration from the candidates for the online manual counselling for which nearly 3,300 applicants responded. The general category candidates with ranks 2,501 to 4,000 will appear for counselling tomorrow. The counselling on CET and AIEEE merit will continue till September 19, following which the university plans to conduct admissions on the basis of Plus Two merit.

Many colleges have around 100 seats in general category waiting to be filled in the counselling. Some of these even include those on the periphery of Chandigarh, such as Punjab College of Engineering and Technology (PCET), Lalru Mandi, that has 123 seats lying unfilled and Jasdev Singh Sandhu Institute, Patiala, that has 135 seats vacant.

Some newly opened colleges also have had a much weaker response. Surya School, Patiala, has 88 seats vacant, while Gulzar Institute of Engineering and Technology, Ludhiana, has 89 seats lying unoccupied.

A few women colleges that got opened last year have also got a feeble response. All these colleges with just three streams available have around 60 seats vacant in general category. The Doaba Women Institute of Engineering and Technology, Kharar, has 63 seats lying unfilled. The PCET for Women, Patiala, Rayat and Bahra College of Engineering and Nanotechnology for Women, Hoshiarpur, and Rayat and Bahra College for Engineering and Bio-Technology, Kharar, have 81, 64 and 63 seats vacant, respectively.

Pathankot, September 7
Land mafia has become active again. This time it is hand in glove with the property dealers and estate advisers of the city and nearby towns to lure the innocent people into buying land and construct home of their dreams in the military area where construction work is banned. The area is mostly adjoining posh colonies developed on the Mission road, Dalhousie road, AB College Chowk, Mamun Cantonment, Jalandhar-Kangra road and adjoining road of Sailli road of the city.

The dealers accompany the aspirants of having their own home of dreams to the areas near the ammunition depot of the Army and tell them that the land within the radius of 1,000 yards of the depot is very cheap and available on throwaway prices. They also tell them that the government had not imposed any ban on the construction activities in the area. Such type of activities have prompted the Army as well the civil administration authorities to take immediate corrective steps.

Abhinav Trikha, SDM, taking serious view of the activities of the land mafia has not only banned construction of buildings, but also setting on fire the remnants of crops in the fields within a radius of 1,000 yards of the depot.

Talking to The Tribune, Trikha said numerous complaints had been received by his office mentioning that farmers having their agricultural fields close to the ammunition depot used to burn remnants of crops and other organic waste while quite many people had been engaged in the construction of buildings in the area, which could cause a considerable damage to the property, besides putting the lives of the people residing in the vicinity of the ammunition depot in danger.

He said he had prohibited the burning of remnants and other organic waste and the construction of buildings, including marriage palaces, boarding schools, professional educational institutions and resorts, within the radius of 1,000 yards of the depot with immediate effect.

He said some resorts had come up in the vicinity of the ammunition dumps and fire crackers were bursted by the people holding various ceremonies in these resorts.

He said such kind of activities might cause considerable damage to the property and endanger the lives of people residing in the vicinity of the dumps and such activities could also results in a huge financial loss to the Army.

He said for the safety of public and property he had banned bursting of fire crackers within a radius of 1,000 yards from the ammunition dumps.

Jalandhar, September 7
Term it red tapism or lack of coordination among the district authorities and the Department of Welfare, Government of Punjab, but the ambitious scholarships and Means-cum-Merit scheme by the Union Ministry of Minority Affairs for minority students has virtually gone for a toss.

This, despite the fact, that the authorities concerned conducted a wide-spread publicity campaign in the state.

The district authorities had brought the curtains down for this scheme on August 31.

However, an advertisement appearing in The Tribune on July 23 reads that the students pursuing higher education from class XI up to Ph.D level from recognised colleges and universities should submit their forms to Director, Welfare of Scheduled Castes and Backward Classes, Punjab, latest by September 15.

As per this scheme, students belonging to Muslim, Christian, Sikh, Buddhist and Parsi communities, notified as minority communities under section 2(C) of the National Commission for Minority Commission for Minorities Act, 1992, are eligible to apply for the scholarships of the Ministry of Minority Affairs, Government of India.

It needs mention here that under the post matric category, the students of class XI and XII, whose parents have an annual income less than Rs 2 lakh are eligible for the scheme.

The students would be awarded a scholarship of Rs 7,000 annually.

Talking to The Tribune, a volunteer of ‘The Kalgidhar Trust, Baru Sahib’, Davinder Singh Anand said they brought the information, pertaining to the extension in the date for the Post Matric Scholarship Scheme, to the notice of Deputy Commissioner Ajeet Singh Pannu.

“We were assured that necessary initiative would be taken by the District Welfare Department in making the scheme a success,” he maintained.

He added that the scheme, which is a part of the Prime Minister’s new 15-Point Programme, has been especially envisaged for the welfare of minority students.

“We have been creating awareness to bring as many students as possible under the ambit of this scholarship scheme,” added Anand.

Deputy Commissioner Ajeet Singh Pannu said the officials concerned have been directed to enquire about the extension of the Post Matric Scholarship scheme. “The officials have been put on duty and it would definitely lead to a positive outcome,” he added.

Jalandhar, September 7
The Punjab Government will put up its case strongly before the Central Finance Commission (CFC) for waiving of its loan taken to combat militancy from 1984 to 1994.

Finance Minister Manpreet Badal stated this while talking to mediapersons on the sidelines of a function organised by the District Bar Association (DBA) here today.

Manpreet expressed hope that Punjab would get major relief from the CFC in its report scheduled to be issued next month.

Elaborating, Finance Minister said the loan taken during the militancy period in the state was creating a major hurdle in the development of the state. If the CFC did not waive the loan, Punjab would ask it to reschedule it at less rate of interest for the next 30 years, he added.

Manpreet said Punjab was paying nearly Rs 6,000 crore as interest per annum against the loan taken during the militancy period.

Interestingly, Manpreet’s statement of putting up case before the CFC may create embarrassment for the SAD-BJP alliance as it had claimed, especially during past several elections, that the then Inder Kumar Gujral-led government had waived the entire loan of Punjab taken during the militancy period.

In reply to a question, the Finance Minister said there was need for creating consensus for rationalising subsidies provided to different sectors, including farming, on several items. To a query regarding raising the issue of rationalising subsidies in the proposed “Chintan Baithak” of the SAD in Shimla, Manpreet said he had already raised the issue in the cabinet and at party level.

Manpreet announced financial help of Rs 5 lakh to the District Bar Association.

Tarn Taran, September 7
The Kisan Sangharsh Committee (KSC) has given an ultimatum to the state government to stop its move of privatisation of the Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB) or they will block road and rail traffic on September 15 for five hours.

The ultimatum was given at a rally organised by the KSC here today in which large number of farmers, including the women folk, took part.

Satnam Singh Pannu, state president of the KSC, while addressing the rally advised the state government to learn from the failure of those state governments who privatised the electricity boards but could gain nothing except a huge lose to the state exchequers.

The farmer leader warned that in case the government did not drop the move to privatise the electricity board, the farmers would block rail and road traffic in the state on September 15 for five hours.

The farmer leader said the farming community was already under debt and could not bear more economical burden.

In the resolution passed at the rally, the KSC demanded waiving of all loans of farming and labour community, fixing the prices of the farming products according to the Swaminathan Commission, allotting the common land to the farmer who made that cultivable, cancelling the alleged false criminal cases register against the farmers, etc.

Amritsar, September 7
A team of agriculture officials, including Dr Gurdev Singh Gill, Joint Director, Agriculture, was allegedly manhandled and misbehaved by an unauthorised dealer of pesticides in Ajnala block here during an inspection in Harsha Chhina and Ajnala block on September 4.

The dealer along with his muscle men locked Dr Gill along with Dr Paramjit Singh Sandhu, Dr Baldev Singh Kahlon and Dr Manohar Singh, Chief Agriculture Officers (CAO) of Amritsar, Gurdaspur and Tarn Taran, respectively, in their office-cum-store.

The CAOs from all over Punjab yesterday held a meeting at Kheti Bhawan here and decided to hold a protest rally in collaboration with various farmers’ organisations in Ajnala on September 9. They threatened that if the authorities concerned failed to take any action besides registering criminal case against the dealer, his son and other unidentified persons, they would go on indefinite strike.

Condemning the incident, agriculture officials said even as they lodged a complaint in this regard to the SSP, Amritsar (Rural) and Deputy Commissioner, Amritsar, yet no action had been taken against the dealer and his men.

While detailing the incident that took place on September 4, Dr Sandhu said all officials were part of a flying squad that was inspecting all dealers in the two blocks after specific complaints. He said during checking they reached Ajnala Kheti Store in Ajnala where they took samples of pesticides.

He said when the team asked the owners of the store, Varinder Kumar Sareen, to produce licence and record regarding selling of pesticides, he and his son Subash Sareen, alias Rajan, started abusing and manhandling the staff. He alleged the store owner was selling pesticide without any authorisation.

He said they called up their goons and locked the staff inside the store. They also tried to snatch the official records and samples taken.