Samrala, September 7
Situated at a short distance from here, Bijlipur, with a population of 650, has more girls than boys. Its panchayat wants the village should get recognition at the national level.Whereas in almost 99 per cent villages of Punjab and Haryana and some other parts of the country, except Kerala, the male-female sex ratio is highly skewed with the number of girls being far less than boys, in this village it’s other way round.“If tabulated on a per thousand basis, in our village there are 1,880 girls for 1,000 boys,” claims Charanjit Singh, Sarpanch of the village. “In other words, the number of girls is almost double that of the boys in the village,” he says, adding the government should promote our village as a model one and should give special status to it.

Punjab and Haryana have earned a bad name due to skewed sex ratio as low as 900 girls for 1,000 boys. Whereas the number of girls continued to increase till 1991, a decline in their number first came to light in 2001 census in Punjab. It was recorded 876 girls for 1,000 boys in 2001 compared to 882 girls for 1,000 boys in 1991. Female foeticide is said to be behind the falling number of girls.“Our village is named after a woman, Bijli,” asserted Charanjit. Village girls also outshine boys in studies. “Certain girls have done MBBS.”

Jalandhar, September 7
A mother attempted self-immolation after setting her two children on fire at Guru Nanakpura Mohalla (West) here this afternoon. Ravinder Kumar (2) and Tanu (4) died on the spot, while their mother Binder is struggling for life in the local Civil Hospital with 95 per cent burns.Binder, along with her children, went to the first floor of her house and bolted the room from inside. She reportedly poured kerosene on the children and herself. She set the children afire first and later herself, the police apprehends.

Illicit relations of Ashwani Kumar, her husband, with another woman, are said to be the main cause behind Binder’s drastic step.Her sister-in-law, who was sleeping in the adjacent room, heard shrieks of the children and noticed smoke billowing out the room. She raised an alarm following which Binder’s father-in-law Jeet Ram, who was on the ground floor, rushed to rescue them.

In the meantime, neighbours broke open the door. They found charred bodies of the children in the room filled with dense smoke.The neighbours, said Ashwani, a barber by profession, had dropped Binder and the children home almost half-an-hour before the incident. They said arguments between Binder and her husband were quite common. Binder had even left for her parental hose in Hoshiarpur a couple of times over the issue.

Station House Officer, Division No. VIII, Inspector Harinder Singh, who visited the spot soon after the incident, claimed Ashwani rushed Binder to the Civil Hospital and fled from there leaving her in the emergency ward. 

Chandigarh, September 7
An overzealous Punjab Education Minister is playing with the careers of hundreds of teachers working in elementary schools, simply because the government is unable to deal with unscrupulous education institutions that do not maintain employment records to evade detection of exploitation.As a result, many elementary school teaching fellows in Punjab face a double whammy, first by being debarred from selection for teaching jobs in future and secondly by being branded as “tainted aspirants who have been debarred from the selection process”.

The state Education Department has clubbed the section on all those teaching fellows who had submitted blatantly “fake degrees” with those cases where the experience certificates could not be verified as private schools, where they worked prior to being selected for government jobs, have not maintained proper records.

There are 563 teaching fellows out of the 9,998 recruited by the Punjab government in September last year in whose case either the degrees were found to be fake or their experience certificates could not be verified.

 The department has clubbed the two categories and has taken a decision to terminate the services of them all.Investigations by the department found that in many cases the experience certificates had been signed by principals of private institutes and countersigned by the District Education Officers (DEOs), but these private institutions failed to produce the record. Penal action has been recommended in all such cases. 

“It is a common practice for private institutions to destroy records or not maintain them in the first place because they do not pay teachers as per the prescribed scales. 

In all such cases, the government has penalised the teaching fellows for no fault of theirs as issued orders saying that these experience certificates are fake”, revealed an elementary school teaching fellow, who faces sack.Education Minister Upinderjit Kaur has issued a statement: “The department will proceed against tainted teachers and selection committee officers aiming at upholding merit and maintain transparency in the recruitment process of teaching faculty”.

All recruitments made last year were on a contract basis for a three-and-a-half year period. Many of these teaching fellows with genuine degrees would become overage for recruitment if the government goes ahead with its decision.

“All we affected teaching fellows are demanding is that in cases where the government has not been able to verify the experience certificates (for no fault of ours), it can simply take out the weightage accorded to our experience certificates and see if we still make it as per the merit”, they question.

Mandi Ahmedgarh, September 7
Police personnel who have received notices regarding their demotion have threatened to return their awards and citations in case the decision to revert them is not reviewed by the state government.Claiming that they had played a key role in curbing terrorism in the state, 177 cops, including gazetted officers and other ranks, have urged the higher authorities, including the Chief Minister and the Sports Minister, to issue a notification in their favour after getting an approval of the Assembly in a special session.

Investigations by The Tribune revealed that about 100 national and international sportspersons, working on various posts in the Punjab Police, had met the higher authorities, including the DGP, to demand the review of the decision to revert them.

Recollecting that the state government had created 295 posts to adjust an equal number of sportspersons in the Punjab Armed Police in 2003 with seniority, the cops urged the DGP to impress upon the government to adopt the similar method now.“Though the DGP has assured us of justice, we want that the government should adopt a constitutional method to save our future,” said a DSP, who had fetched at least six medals for the state police during his service. He, along with about 100 cops, met the DGP today.

The dejected cops have now decided to return their awards and citations to the President in case the decision was not reviewed. 

“What benefit can we drive from awards and citations if they can not save our esteem and livelihood? Had we not fallen prey to the allurement of the bright future and job satisfaction by serving people after completing our education, we could have got high profile jobs in public sector organisations and multinational companies,” said an ASI, who had fetched medals in the world police sports during his service.

Amritsar, September 7
The Food Corporation of India (FCI) is “dithering” on the payment of bonus on paddy procured by the state government for the past year.According to sources in the Department of Food and Civil Supplies, the government of India had announced in October last that it would give Rs 50 per quintal bonus to farmers for the procurement season of 2008-09 as per a notification issued in October 2008.

The state government procured 125 lakh tonnes of paddy on behalf of the Central government for which an amount of Rs 54 crore bonus was due, but the FCI had paid only Rs 42 crore till date and the balance payment, along with the interest for the overdue payment, had yet to be cleared, forcing farmers and millers association to agitate, they added.

The Department of Civil Supplies, quoting the notification issued by SM Gupta, Under Secretary, government of India, stated that the FCI would release incentive bonus to the state government or agency authorised by against the total paddy milled by millers to deliver the levy rice.

It added that as the millers delivered 5.25 kg as levy rice, the FCI would release incentive bonus of Rs 50 per quintal of the paddy to the state government.Mills under contract for the delivery of levy rice will give 75 per cent of the rice produce on which the FCI has cleared the payment of bonus, but has failed to give the similar bonus amount of the 25 per cent balance.

Meanwhile, Satnam Singh Pannu of the Kisan Sangharsh Committee (KSC) said they had been struggling for the early release of the pending bonus amount and added that in case the government failed to release the same, they would be forced to intensify their agitation.Dev Raj, Senior Regional Manager, FCI, said the pending bonus related to the period of September 29 to October 20 last for which they had referred the matter to the headquarters and the local regional office would act as per the directions of their superiors.

Amritsar, September 7
Poultry farming in Amritsar, Gurdaspur and Ferozepur districts, which supplied chicken and eggs to Jammu and Kashmir since the early ’60s, faces closure following the Jammu and Kashmir government raising the entry tax by 12.50 times in four years.More than 1,000 of the 3,500 poultry farms in the state have closed shop due to rising costs of inputs like hike in the price of feed and lack of government incentive in 25 years.

The worst-affected are the 1,000 poultry farms in the districts of Amritsar, Gurdaspur, Ferozepur and some in Kapurthala and Mukerian which supply more than six lakh eggs and over 50,000 chickens to J&K a day and worth over Rs 5 to Rs 6 crore.

The Jammu and Kashmir increased the entry tax from 40 paise per bird to Rs 2 a bird in 2009. Now the entry tax has been increased from Rs 2 a bird to Rs 5 a kg of chicken weight, hike of 12.50 times in three-four years. 

Poultry farmers feel the vocation has become a non-profit-making. “The cost of one-day-old chicks has increased from Rs 10 a bird to Rs 23 in four months. 

We were supplying chicken to J&K at a margin of Rs 3 as the production cost works out to be around Rs 51 per kg. We have been selling it to J&K traders at Rs 53/54 a kg. 

The J&K government’s raising the entry tax has pushed us out of vocation. J&K traders buying our chickens have been asking for a deduction of Rs 5 a kg, meaning giving us Rs 49, Rs 2 per kg less than the cost,” lamented GS Bedi, president, Amritsar Poultry Industry Association. He said, “Our letters to J&K Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and Punjab Animal Husbandry Minister Gulzar Singh Ranike have not been answered.

Harpal Singh, poultry farmer of Gaggo Bua village near Jhabal, and having more than 2.5 lakh birds, said the J&K government’s step had sounded the death knell of the dying poultry farming of the state. 

The trade faced a loss due to hike input costs. “Feed price has gone up from Rs 6 kg to Rs 12 kg in two years, but the price of eggs in the wholesale market increased from Rs 2 to just Rs 2.25 per piece in this period. 

The middle-man is gobbling most of the profit by selling it in retail at a price between Rs 3 and Rs 3.5 per piece. No new poultry farm is being set up in Punjab any more,” rued Harpal.Then Chief Minister Partap Singh Kairon had encouraged poultry farming in the border belt of Punjab in the early ’60s. Lack of incentives made poultry farmers to shut half of nearly 8,000 farms in the state in the late ’80s.

Ludhiana, September 7
Members of the special investigation team looking into the tehsildar assault case have allegedly been asked not to oppose the bail application moved by SAD councillor and accused Simarjit Singh Bains.

The application will come up for hearing on September 9. Bains, along with six other accused, had moved the bail application recently. Sources in the police told The Tribune that a senior police functionary had called a meeting of three members of SIT in Chandigarh tomorrow to review the case.

The three were being asked not to oppose the application of Bains, the sources added.While all three members refused to comment on the development, the sources said decks were being cleared for the release of Bains as it was being felt that he had spent enough time in judicial custody. He was named an accused in only the supplementary statement of Tehsildar GS Benipal.

Benipal was also being sent feelers to effect a compromise. He has, however, refused to accept the proposal. He has decided to fight his battle to a logical conclusion. “I am going to fight it out, come what may,” Benipal told The Tribune today.

Besides, the police is also dilly-dallying the investigation and no further arrests have been made in the case. Several accused are still at large, said Benipal.

While DIG Sharad Satya Chauhan had claimed they would present the challan within stipulated 90 days’ time, the police seems to be in no mood to do so. It is also learnt that following political pressure, the police is being asked to delay the presentation of the challan.

Moga, September 7
The All-India Sikh Students’ Federation (AISSF) will celebrate its 65th foundation day on September 13 in New Delhi.Karnail Singh Peer Mohammad, president, AISSF, said nearly 1,000 delegates from all over the country were expected to participate in the function.

He said the AISSF had changed the venue of its annual function from Zira in Ferozepur district to New Delhi on the demand of delegates.He said former Jathedar of Akal Takht Giani Joginder Singh Vedanti, Rajya Sabha member Tarlochan Singh, senior journalist Kuldip Nayar and many other eminent personalities were likely to attend the function.He said the delegate session would be dedicated to the victims of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.

Barnala, September 7
Activists of the Mazdoor Mukti Morcha and labourers today gheraoed a police station for two hours at Tapa (Barnala), demanding the arrest of a ration depot holder of Tajoke village and suspension of a “tainted” policeman.

Talking to The Tribune over the phone today, Gurpreet Singh Rooreke of the Mazdoor Mukti Morcha, said a depot holder had not been distributing commodities from the depot to the people. He said when Shinder Kaur and Hansa Singh went to the ration depot, the depot holder allegedly abused them.

Patiala, September 7
The Pepsu Road Transport Corporation (PRTC) has moved a case for regularisation of services of over 200 contractual employees of the corporation.Managing Director of the corporation Manvesh Sidhu confirmed that a move for regularisation of the contractual employees had been initiated. 

He said that plans were to regularise contractual employees in a phased manner. He confirmed that the corporation had moved a case to the Transport Department for regularisation of the contractual employees.

 He said only those employees whose work and conduct were found to be satisfactory would be regularised. He said that when the employees were recuited on contract in 2001, a proper examination, including a written test, had been conducted before the employees were offered contracts. Sidhu also admitted that a five - member committee had been formed to oversee the cases of these employees in 2001.

The PRTC had recruited nearly 260 employees, most of them drivers and conductors, since 2001 and the corporation used to pay these employees their salaries. However, after 2001 till 2003 no employee was kept on contract basis. In 2003 the PRTC decided to outsource work to private parties. 

Outsourcing led to frustration among the workforce as the contractor, through whom the employees were taken in contract, did not give full salaries to the employees. Moreover, the employees brought in the corporation through the contractor, were made to work for more than eight hours.Nirmal Singh Dhaliwal, general secretary of the PRTC workers union, told the Tribune that more than 1,500 employees had been taken on contract by the corporation.

 He added that the work of taking employees on contract had been distributed among five contractors.Dhaliwal added that these employees were urging the PRTC management to regularise their services since they were virtually being victimised against by the contractors. 

Chandigarh, September 7
SGPC president Jathedar Avtar Singh and three other advocates have asserted that a booklet by the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC) is “motivated attempt to defame as a part of larger conspiracy the SGPC, Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, advocate-general Hardev Singh Mattewal and his son Pavit Singh Mattewal.

In an open letter to the DSGMC, “in reply to their pamphlets containing false claims about the proceedings in Gurleen Kaur case” on definition of the Sikhs, they have asserted that even their counsel KTS Tulsi “had complimented Pavit Singh Mattewal for his assistance to the court”.

They asserted that the judgment reveals the SGPC counsel forcefully argued about the fundamental requirement of maintaining unshon hair as a part of the profession of the Sikh religion and the court agreed with the same.

 The submissions of Pavit Singh Mattewal regarding the significance of unshorn hair have been noticed in the judgment.It was further added: “The SGPC knows fully well and duly acknowledges the contribution of Parkash Singh Badal as a world Sikh leader of the highest order, along with his contributions for the path. SGPC also acknowledges the contribution of HS Mattewal for the SGPC and the larger Sikh cause.

”The letter added: “In sum and substance, we are shocked that anybody can resort to such gross misrepresentation and distortion of the court proceedings and arguments advanced in the case for launching a false, vile and defamatory campaign against the SGPC and individual lawyers, politicising the issue and projecting the historic decision as an exclusive win of the DSGMC, when the decision was a result of combined effort of all the lawyers and intervenors and most of all the learning, sagacity and judicial statesmanship of the Judges constituting the Bench.”

Ludhiana, September 7
Six dreaded criminals, who fled from police custody while they were being ferried back to the Central Jail in a bus after a court hearing, were nabbed from Sector-32, Chandigarh Road, near here, this evening. There were 41 undertrialsin the bus.

According to a cop, the criminals threw red-chilli powder into the eyes of security personnel and jumped off the running bus.After a massive hunt involving around 200 cops, the police arrested four runaway criminals while the other two were nabbed by people and handed over to the police.Of the six undertrials, Garan Sharma, Raju, Rinku and Jatinder face murder charges.

Ludhiana, September 7
Balbir Singh Bhootna, an alleged Babbar Khalsa terrorist, and his two accomplices, Makhan Singh and Amritpal Singh of Mansa, were today sent to judicial custody for 14 days by the court of Duty Magistrate Karan Garg.Bhootna was arrested on August 25 after an encounter at the local railway station.

Chandigarh, September 7
Moga-based advocate Ramesh Grover, representing an accused in the murder 1991 of Nachhatr Singh Gill, today moved the Punjab and Haryana High Court for protection as he apprehended threat to his life and liberty.

Nachhatr Singh Gill was the father of the present Punjab Police Chief Paramdeep Singh Gill.

 As the case came up, Justice Augustine George Masih asked the petitioner counsel to furnish the details of specific instances of threats and the sources of the same.The counsel replied those issuing threats over the phone were not disclosing their identity and were only saying they would set him right.

 The Bench, in the absence of some specific instances, dismissed the plea.