Chandigarh, October 1
The appointment of Justice JC Verma as the first non-Sikh Chief Commissioner Elections of the Gurdwara Election Commission has snowballed into a major confrontation between the Union government and the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) and a “major source of embarrassment” for Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh, himself a Sikh.

The SGPC has termed this “unprecedented act” of appointing a non-Sikh as the gurdwara election panel head as an attempt by the Congress to establish a foothold in the SGPC.

The SGPC, considered to be a mini-parliament of the Sikhs, controls all important gurdwaras and in turn influences the state’s politics wherein the concept of “miri and Piri” (intermingling of religion with politics) is integral to Sikhism. The SGPC has written a letter to the Prime Minister asking him for a review in the decision and appointment of a Sikh as the Chief Election Commissioner of the Gurdwara Election Commission.

While SGPC President Avtar Singh Makkar has announced that the Sikhs will not accept a non-Sikh as head of the commission, Dalmegh Singh, Secretary of the SGPC has written to the Prime Minister pointing out the unacceptability of Justice Verma as it was not only against the past “precedence”, but was also unabashed towards the sentiments of the Sikhs.

The SGPC has pointed out that out of a panel of seven names recommended by the Chief Justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court five were Sikhs and two non-Sikhs, but without caring for the Sikh sentiment, all Sikh judges were ignored.

As per Section 47-A of the Sikh Gurdwara Act the superintendence, direction and control of elections of members of the SGPC is vested in the commission. As per convention, the panel is headed by a Sikh, who is conversant with Sikh maryada, tenets, issues and concerns that come up from time to time like those pertaining to “patit” and “non-Patit” Sikhs and their voting rights, etc.

Punjab’s Sikh politicians see a Congress hand in this move to help Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Parbandak Committee (DSGPC) chief Harvinder Singh Sarna’s infiltrate the SGPC dominated by the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD).

As per the letter written to the Prime Minister, the SGPC has said, “while the government can appoint any of those included in the panel as the Chief Commissioner (by the Chief Justice) and there is no question as to the competence and ability of any one included in the panel, yet considering the nature of the work and responsibilities, by convention only a Sikh has been appointed to this office”.

It goes on to read, “While for some offices like the Sikh Gurdwara Judicial Commission, the Act itself requires that a person appointed there be a Sikh, in this commission a healthy convention has developed that the appointee be a Sikh. This is entirely in keeping with the Act, especially as various questions regarding eligibility of voters and candidates, etc”.

“The appointment of a non-Sikh as the Chief Commissioner has the potential to create a needless controversy, especially in the context of certain recent developments which have exercised the Sikh mind and about which you are well aware”. The seven member panel included Justices Harphool Singh Brar, , K.S Grewal, Iqbal Singh, S.S Grewal, Nirmal Singh, K.C Gupta and JC Verma.

The appointment of Justice Verma and subsequent demand to have a Sikh as the Chief Commissioner has created a piquant situation since he has already taken charge.

Amritsar, October 1
Shiromani Akali Dal (Longowal) chief Surjit Kaur Barnala has urged Akal Takht to summon SGPC chief Avtar Singh, Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and the SAD leadership for not adhering to the Takht’s edict that had directed the Sikhs to sever relations with Dera Sacha Sauda followers.

Surjit Kaur Barnala and party general secretary Baldev Singh Mann have submitted a three-page memorandum to Takht Jathedar Giani Gurbachan Singh.

Akal Takht had issued an edict on May 17, 2007, that the Sikhs should not have any political, social or religious relations with followers of the dera.

The directive had also asked the SGPC to stress upon the state government to get activities of the dera and its followers stalled immediately.

“It is a matter of surprise that the SAD and the SGPC leadership have sought to ignore the edict and they have shunned their responsibility towards the implementation of the edict. 

Chandigarh, October 1
Former Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh today claimed that the state government had indulged in corruption by giving the Punjab Institute of Medical Sciences on lease to an NRI consortium headed by former Samana legislator Surjit Singh Rakhra. He alleged that he was a frontman for Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and his family.

Addressing the media here, Amarinder demanded that the lease granted to the society should be terminated immediately or else the party would move court to demand justice for the state.

He claimed the SAD-BJP government had gifted the institute to the society.

He said the institute was situated on 54 acres of land and Rs 150 crore was spent on buildings. “As of today in a depressed market, the land is worth Rs 40 crore an acre which adds up to a value of Rs 2,160 crore”.

He said despite this, the state government had given the project on a 99-year lease to the society for Rs 133 crore only. He said the entire deal was dubious with promoters unknown with Rakhra himself becoming the Chairman at the last moment.

“I feel the Badals have rerouted their money into the project,” he added.

Speaking on the Bathinda refinery, he claimed the SAD-BJP government was bending over backwards to extend benefits to Hindustan Petroleum Mittal Energy Limited.

He said his government had renegotiated the contract for the refinery and given an interest-free loan of Rs 250 crore per annum till five years amounting to Rs 1,250 crore in all.

He said the present government had now agreed to give a loan of Rs 400 crore per annum for 15 years, which meant a burden of Rs 6,000 crore.

“How can a state that is selling securities worth Rs 400 crore per month to meet its salary expenses extend such facilities”, Amarinder said.

He further said the CM was falsely claiming that the Congress had done nothing to increase power generation.

Refusing to give clear answer on his stand on the issue of free power, he said his government had given this facility after two years in office when it had arranged funds for the same.

Amritsar, October 1
The Haryana Sikh Gurudwara Parbandhak Committee (HSGPC-Adhoc) chief Jagdish Singh Jhinda and his four associates got respite today when Akal Takht Jathedar Giani Gurbachan Singh and the Sikh high priests deferred their decision to issue an edict in the Kurukshetra gurdwara row on the grounds that the ongoing probe into the case was yet to be completed.

Now, the Jathedar and the four Sikh high priests will be pronouncing the edict on October 14, Giani Gurbachan Singh said adding that Jhinda and his associates had been directed to appeared before the Takht on October 14. He said the clarification of Jhinda and his associates would be subjected to re-examination and the decision would be taken only on completion of the the ongoing probe into the September 13 incident.

“There is a huge gap between the facts presented by Jhinda and his associates and whatever has come out of the investigation so far,” Giani Gurbachan Singh said adding that the Sikh high priests were not in favour of formation of a separate gurdwara body for Haryana even as, the Sikh clergy was of the view that the Haryana-based SGPC members should get more rights and the clergy would be taking up this issue with SGPC chief Avtaar Singh.

On the other hand, Jhinda said he and his associates were satisfied over the way the issue was being taken up by the Sikh clergy, particularly, the Akal Takht Jathedar. “There is no politics involved. We have just put forth our point of view and have not violated the Sikh “Maryada” in any way so far.

The demand of a pro-SAD group of Haryana Sikhs is not valid as we have not deceived the Panth,” said Jhinda while lauding the statements of AICC chief Sonia Gandhi and the Prime Minister that the issue of a separate SGPC would be reviewed from legal point of view.

Meanwhile, the Sikh high priests have stayed the decision of the SGPC to fill the “Sarovar” of gurdwara at Mastuana. The Akal Takht Jathedar has directed the SGPC not to do anything in respect of the issue as the Gurdwara committee would be filling the holy pond on its own.

Amritsar, October 1
After about 90 days, the controversial issue of chairmanship of Improvement Trust today took a dramatic turn with the removal of Punjab BJP leader Rajinder Mohan Singh Chhina from the chairmanship of the Amritsar Improvement Trust.

Chinna today officially submitted his resignation from the chairmanship. The assumption of this office was the chief reason of outbreak of row between local MP and cricketer-turned politician BJP stalwart Navjot Singh Sidhu and Chhina. Speculations were that Sidhu had even resigned from the party in protest for apparently paving way for promoting his rival.

Bending before Sidhu’s inflexible attitude, the BJP leadership ultimately had to decide to remove Chhina from the chairmanship of the Improvement Trust and entrusted him with new charge as the chairman of the Punjab Small Industries and Export Corporation (PSIEC).

While reacting on the new development, Chhina restrained from speaking on the ‘rift’ between him and Sidhu but committed to be the loyal soldier of the party.

“ I would rather concentrate to plan for the new charge, the party has given me. My priority will be to raise the small-scale industry in collaboration with neighbouring states of Haryana, Himachal, Jammu and Kashmir”, he said.

It is important to mention that Sidhu had opposed the appointment of Chhina as the Improvement Trust chairman and had even declared that he would not come to Amritsar until Chhina was removed. Sidhu has, reportedly, accused Chhina of not helping him in last Parliament elections. Raj Kumar Gupta sitting chairman of the PSIEC has been removed to accommodate Chhina. Gupta was appointed chairman for one year.

With the decision to appoint Chhina as PSIEC chairman, race has now begun for the appointment of new chairman of Amritsar Improvement Trust. Sources said that Sidhu wanted to appoint chairman of his choice while the group headed by Rajinder Bhandari state BJP president was adamant on Chhina. The decision to remove Chhina was taken with the intervention of BJP’s central high command.

The trust looks after development projects in the city and has an annual budget running into millions of rupees. Following Sidhu’ opposition, Chinna’s appointment to the public office was stalled temporarily. Sidhu had accused Chhina of working against him in the Amritsar Lok Sabha seat elections in May this year. Sidhu won the seat by a small margin of over just 8,000 votes.

Bathinda, October 1
“We are facing a shortage of veterinary doctors in the state as our youth feel ashamed of being called ‘dangar doctors’ (animal doctors),” said Punjab Minister for Animal Husbandry, Fisheries and Dairy Development Gulzar Singh Ranike.

“Since I am the Minister for Animal Husbandry, people used to call me ‘pashu mantry’ (minister for animals) but I never took offence. So I request the young generation to shed this narrow mindset and join this profession and serve society,” he added.

“To fill vacancies of veterinary doctors, the state government has approved four veterinary colleges in the private sector, which will produce nearly 160 veterinary doctors every year,” Ranike said.

At present, the department was finding it tough to fill the vacancies as there was only one veterinary college in the state. Five more colleges had been approved in the state. Three of these would come up in Amritsar, Ludhiana and Patiala. The locations were yet to be decided in the case of the others, the Minister said.

To make temporary arrangements against the 250 vacancies at present, Ranike said the department had been transferring staff members so that the work did not get affected.

When asked about the future course of action against institutions accused of running veterinary courses affiliated to some unauthorised universities, he said the matter had reached the Punjab and Haryana High Court and the state government was waiting for its decision.

According to the Minister, five more polyclinics at Mohali, Amritsar, Kapurthala, Ludhiana and Nawashahr and 19 new block-level hospitals would be opened.

About dairy development, Ranike said: “Business centres will be opened in 50 villages to make it a large-scale trade. Out of this, 10 will come up during the current financial year and 25 more in the coming years.”

Patiala, October 1
On the call given by the Coordination Committee of the Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB) employees and officers constituting the PSEB Joint Forum, PSEB Engineers Association, Council of JE’s, General Officers Association and Accounts Officers Organisation, the employees and officers, including the Chief Engineer today staged a protest demonstration and took out a rally against the non-implementation of the revised pay scales, as agreed by the PSEB through the Wage Formulation Committees.

While addressing the dharna outside the PSEB headquarters here this morning, various union leaders, including HS Bedi, Bhupinder Singh, Jagtar Singh Uppal and Karam Chand Bhardwaj, criticised the state government for interfering in the pay revision exercise of the PSEB. “As per the section 79-C of the 1948 Supply Act, the board is autonomous and is empowered to devise the pay structure of its employees and officers. In the past also the PSEB had been revising the pay scales of its employees without any interference from the government”, said union leaders.

The speakers rued that this time that the state government was forcing the board management to enforce downgraded pay structure. Bedi said on one hand the state government was conceding in writing that the PSEB was autonomous to devise the pay scales and on the other hand, the government was dictating its own terms. 

While condemning the state bureaucracy, protesting officers and employees said that although the state government employees had been given revised pay scales from August 1, 2009 and IAS officers had even withdrawn their arrears but the PSEB employees and officers were being denied the benefit of the revised pay scales.

The union leaders expressed resentment for the failure of the board management to fulfil its commitment of revising the pay scales from September 2009. The protesters have threatened to intensify the agitation in case the recommendations of the Wage Formulation Committee were not implemented immediately. 

Chandigarh, October 1
The Punjab and Haryana High Court wants Punjab to take “protective steps” for preventing “undesired elements” from usurping church properties in the state; and has asked the Chief Secretary to intervene. Taking over of the properties, or making alternative arrangements, have been suggested by the high court.

Taking cognisance of the unholy attempts to grab church properties, Justice Rajesh Bindal asserted: “I deem it appropriate to bring the matter to the notice of the Chief Secretary, Punjab, that huge properties of churches in Punjab, especially in bigger cities like Amritsar, Ludhiana and Jalandhar are being grabbed by persons in charge of these.”

“Many of them are with a criminal background…. A lot of civil and criminal litigation is pending regarding church properties. Lest the entire property, which is in fact meant for public good, is usurped by undesired elements, protective steps are required to be taken by the state either to take over all these properties or make alternative arrangements,” the judge said.

Justice Bindal also directed the forwarding of the order’s copy to the state Chief Secretary for necessary compliance of the orders.

The directions came in connection with an anticipatory bail petition filed by Anwar Masih and others. They were booked in a rioting case registered on July 1 under Section 326, 324, 148 and 149 of the IPC at Dera Baba Nanak in Batala district.

The case was registered on the statement of 26-year-old John Masih of Talwandi Rawa village under the Dera Baba Nanak police station. He had alleged Bishop Ashok Kumar was transferred, but he refused to go and did not vacate the church house and the community house. After they got the community house vacated, he nursed a grudge and subsequently Ashok Kumar, along with others, attacked them.

Taking up the matter, Justice Bindal asserted: “As far as the grant of pre-arrest bail to the petitioner is concerned, considering the fact that effort of the parties to the dispute is to grab the property of the church.

Though claiming themselves to the followers of Christianity and living in the church, the parties are fighting with deadly weapons. I do not find any reason to grant the concession of anticipatory bail to the petitioners. Accordingly, the present petition is dismissed.”

Ludhiana, October 1
Punjab Mandi Board Chairman and Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) chief Ajmer Singh Lakhowal today demanded that paddy procurement in mandis should be done twice a day at 11 am and 3 pm so that farmers who were bringing their crop could easily sell it.

Besides, cleaning of the crop should be also be ensured. Lakhowal was in the city to meet officials of the Market Committee and take stock of paddy procurement in the district.

He said the government should also ensure that farmers were provided with basic facilities in the grain markets across the state like shelter, drinking water, etc.

He said Rs 55 crore was being spent on the upkeep of mandis while Rs 20 crore was to be spent on roads especially in the new mandis in Sahnewal and Mullanpur.

He urged the government to fix the MSP of paddy as recommended by the Dr M. Swaminathan Committee at the rate of Rs 1,520. "The government should meet our demand for fixing the MSP in lieu of giving us bonus," said Lakhowal, adding that the rice millers' strike in the state would not affect the process of paddy procurement much. 

Chandigarh, October 1
The stage is set for Punjab to become the first state in the country to set up a maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) hub for helicopters.

A memorandum of understanding to this effect was inked here today between the Punjab State Industrial Development Corporation and Interrelated Helicopter Services Pvt Ltd through a joint venture between JSC Russian Helicopter of Russia and Vectra Group of India.

The MoU was signed by Managing Director, PSIDC, S.S. Rajput and Chief Executive Officer of IHS, Air Commodore (retd) S.B. Prashar, in the presence of State Industry and Commerce Minister Manoranjan Kalia.

The MRO will be developed over an area of 50 acres near Anandpur Sahib at a cost of Rs 30 crore. The company is also considering a proposal to undertake the construction of an airstrip and a flying training institute at a cost of Rs 100 crore.

This prestigious project is an outcome of persistent efforts of the Chief Minister with the Ministry of Civil Aviation, Government of India. Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel gave the nod for establishing the MRO hub to extend facilities for all Russian-origin helicopters operated by various civil operators and services to the defence sector as well since the Air Force is operating a big inventory of Russian-origin helicopters.

Sangrur, October 1
At a state-level Voluntary Blood Donation Day function here today, Punjab Health and Family Welfare Department Secretary Satish Chandra gave a clarion call to people of the state to donate blood voluntarily at least once in a year to save the lives of needy persons and fulfil the requirements of the state’s blood banks.

Satish Chandra was the chief guest at the function here. Besides him, Sangrur DC VK Ohri, ADC Arshdeep Singh Thind, additional project director of Punjab State AIDS Control Society NM Sharma, Sangrur Civil Surgeon Dr Gurinderjit Singh Nagi, Deputy Medical Commissioner Dr Amita Goyal and Blood Transfusion Officer in Sangrur civil hospital Dr Inderjit Singla were also present at the function.

A mega blood donation camp was also organised to mark the Voluntary Blood Donation Day. About 350 persons donated blood at the camp. The Secretary, Health, also honoured about 70 star donors with state-level awards for donating blood many times.

The names of the persons, who were honoured for donating blood for more than 100 times or 100 times, were Dev Pandhi (Pakhowal village in Ludhiana), Vinod Bansal (Bathinda), Parveen Singla (Mansa) and Harbans Singh (Mansa).

Gurdaspur, October 1
The GNDU authorities today got the hostels of its local Regional Campus vacated as the students, who had been observing strike for the past many days, were not willing to end their stir even after the assurance by the officials concerned that their demands would be considered sympathetically.

Jasdeep Singh, DSP, who assisted the university authorities to get the hostel vacated, said that the university authorities had offered the students that an independent agency could be pressed into service to probe the allegations being levelled by them against a woman lecturer in connection with her misconduct with them.