Amritsar, October 3
The state BJP appeared to be a divided house with MP Navjot Singh Sidhu apparently training his guns at his bête noire and newly appointed chairman of the Punjab State Small Industry and Export Corporation Rajinder Mohan Singh Chhina without naming him.

He even extended an advice to the state party leadership stating that important positions should be given to people on the basis of elected representatives of people.

The return of Sidhu to the holy city after a gap of 97 days says in itself that all is not well within the BJP, particularly in Amritsar.

Prominent party leaders, except for Amritsar Mayor Shwet Malik, chose to remain absent at what was projected as a “grand reception” and later at the Khanna Chowk party headquarters where Sidhu addressed party workers.

While no BJP MLA was there, a group of six of a total of 32 councillors received Sidhu, it was learnt.

BJP leaders, owing allegiance to state Local Bodies Minister Manoranjan Kalia and Health Minister Laxmi Kanta Chawla, were conspicuous by their absence.

Kalia, in fact, had virtually cold-shouldered Sidhu during his last visit to the city when he had categorically stated that development works were going on smoothly even in Sidhu’s absence.

Interestingly, a majority of city-based BJP leaders, including MLA Anil Joshi, 19 SAD-BJP councillors and state party general secretary Tarun Chugh, preferred to attend the Balmiki Pargat Divas function where former state minister and patron of the Youth Akali Dal Bikram Singh Majithia was the chief guest. Chhina was also present there. The timings of the function coincided with that of the reception of Sidhu.

Sidhu was annoyed over the appointment of BJP leader Rajinder Mohan Singh Chhina as the Chairman of the Amritsar Improvement Trust and had remained away from his home constituency Amritsar since his appointment. He had opposed Chhina’s appointment and returned only after he had tendered his resignation on Thursday.

Without taking Chhina’s name, Sidhu said those who were “rejected” by people should not be made to sit on important positions.

“I oppose such an ideology. Any person who is not elected by the people should not be accorded any important position. Parties should consult elected representatives before giving an important assignment to a person,” said Sidhu, who was accompanied by his wife.

A long cavalcade of about 150 vehicles escorted Sidhu’s vehicle to the party office from the Amritsar-Jalandhar entry point.

Chandigarh, October 3
An internal inquiry into the payment of Rs 2.8 crore to a private architect by the state government for designing government schools has held two former Director Public Instructions (Schools) responsible.

According to a report submitted by RL Mehta, Special Secretary, School Education, former DPI Jagtar Singh Khatra was held responsible for having allowed the entry of a particular private architect into a NABARD schools project without having called for any tenders or offer letters.

Another former DPI Harcharanjit Kaur Brar has been held responsible for having made payment to the architect without raising an objection to his claim.

As many as 351 schools are being built in 117 constituencies at a cost of Rs 141 crore under a NABARD scheme.

An approval for the project was granted at the level of the Chief Minister in November 2007. During a meeting held on July 29 to review the status of the project, GS Grewal, Secretary, School Education, noticed that a payment of Rs 2.80 crore had been made to a private architect for the designing of school buildings and preparing a project report.

Grewal ordered a probe into the expenditure and asked Mehta to file a report on the matter.

Mehta’s report states that Khatra as DPI wrote a letter to an architect based in Sector 17 here to prepare a project proposal for the submission to the NABARD. The DPI offered to pay the architect for the preparation of the proposal.

Sources add that in the proposal, the architect “referred” to himself as the project’s architect and fixed his fee at 2.5 per cent of the total cost of the project. The proposal was countersigned by Khatra and submitted to the higher authorities for an approval.

Mehta noted that at no stage any objection was raised to this by any of the officers concerned. Brar, who replaced Khatra as DPI, approved without questioning the payment to the architect.

The sources, however, added that a senior law officer of the state was allegedly involved in the day-to-day movement of the project’s file. He routinely called up the officers concerned to oblige this particular architect, both during the time of the choice of the architect and also when the payment had to be made to him.

Mehta’a two-page report highlights that these two officers neither called for any tenders or offer letters before making the choice of the architect nor was any caution exercised in making payment to the architect.

When asked what action will now be taken against these officers, Grewal said though Mehta’s report had been received, they had asked for another probe into the matter from the Director-General, School Education, whose report was now awaited.

Jalandhar, October 3
The parents of Sri Lankan Airlines pilot Raman Joshi, who was allegedly brutally murdered in a house in Colombo, have sought a high-level enquiry in the incident. The family members are also planning a fresh post-mortem examination in India so that the exact cause of the pilot’s death can be known.

Talking to The Tribune, Jagan Nath Joshi, the shattered father of Raman, alleged that a lobby of Sri Lankan pilots eliminated his son as they did not want that citizens of other countries should be employed as pilots in Sri Lanka.

“I have come to know that the lobby has released chilling messages in Sri Lanka warning ‘outsider pilots’ against dire consequences if they got jobs in the Sri Lankan Airlines. By stabbing my son to death, they have sent a message to the job seekers,” claimed Joshi.

The statements of Sri Lankan Senior DIG, Nimal Mediwake, have strengthened the apprehensions, he added.

“I have no faith on the Sri Lankan police. I will approach the Union Home Ministry and demand a fresh post-mortem examination in India,” said Joshi.

Varinder Parbhakar, a maternal uncle of Raman Joshi, claimed that Raman was under round-the-clock surveillance of the Sri Lankan police for the past six years of his stay there.

“On the arrival of the body, we will approach the Union government and the Indian High Commissioner in Sri Lanka for a high-level probe so that the actual culprits be brought to book,” he said.

Meanwhile, Jagan Nath Joshi along with his younger son, Ajay Joshi rushed to Delhi to get the body after receiving a phone call from the Sri Lankan Airlines this noon. The body is likely to reach Jalandhar tomorrow.

Raman’s wife, Ranjna, have been living in Canada with their daughters - Kosa (14) and Amanpari (6) -for some time now. They have flown back to India and are in a state of shock.

Jalandhar, October 3
Congress workers here were overjoyed to see an aggressive Capt. Amarinder Singh back in action and doing what he does best “taking the Badals” head on.

The former Chief Minister, who has been lying low for the past many months, was in his combative element as he lambasted Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal for poor governance and the need for a fiscal emergency in the state. In case no remedial steps were taken the debt of the state could cross the Rs 70, 000 crore mark and make it difficult to control, he warned.

Pointing to the Punjab Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS), he alleged it was a big scandal since the promoters were just front men for the Badals. We will approach the Punjab and Haryana High Court for an enquiry into the whole matter, he added.

Prime land of the institute worth Rs 2,000 crore had been given away for just Rs 133 crore and that too on a 99- year lease that was a sell out of the people’s interest, he pointed out.Such was the secretary surrounding PIMS that the Minister for Medical Education and Research was not even a member of the committee deciding the case, he said.

Similarly, the government did not include Technical Education Minister Swarna Ram in the panel deciding on privatisation of ITIs in the state. What is the use of having ministers if they are to be kept out of the loop on policy matters, he added.

Referring to another scandal, he said the file of the Singla Enclave in Ludhiana, was cleared in a single day even though the developers did not have the requisite permission from the authorities.

Chandigarh, October 3
The state, which has looked the other way while its farmers have extended the power load of their tube well extensions due to a severe depletion in the groundwater, has now offered farmers a voluntary disclosure policy to allow them to get this load regularised by paying a concessional fee.

According to a notification passed by the Power Department, the policy will come into effect immediately and farmers will be allowed time till December 31 to deposit charges of Rs 1,000 per BHP for regularising their load extension.

Besides this, they will also have to pay Rs 200 per BHP as an initial security so that measures can be taken to augment the transformers to match the extended load. Earlier, farmers had to pay Rs 3,800 per BHP to extend their load.

Similarly, farmers who have got connections under the Own Your Tube Well (OYT) scheme will have to deposit the difference of cost of transformer in addition to Rs 200 per BHP as initial security.

The PSEB had come out with a voluntary disclosure scheme earlier also, but recent surveys have shown that farmers have been forced to increase their power load due to depleting groundwater.

A recent survey has revealed that there are only 1.41 lakh three BHP motors in the state presently. In 2001, there were 20 lakh such motors. Similarly, five BHP motors have fallen from 29 lakh in 2001 to only 17 lakh presently.

Meanwhile, the notification said the problem of unauthorised load still existed despite punitive action having been taken in this regard.

It indicated that the partial failure of the monsoon this year had increased this problem. It said now it had been decided that before taking effective legal action, a last opportunity should be given to farmers to declare their unauthorised load and get it authorised.

The notification said augmentation of the line and distribution transformer wherever required would be done by the PSEB at its own cost after due verification.

Ludhiana, October 3
In spite of our differing stands on the issue of Sutlej Yamuna Link (SYL) canal, the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) stands committed to the electoral alliance with the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) in Haryana, Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal said here today.

The Chief Minister was in the city to inaugurate a modern pack house set up by the Punjab Mandi Board at a cost of Rs 3.75 crore at Salem Tabri Sabzi Mandi. This pack house, meant to preserve and store fruits and vegetables, consists of five cold storage rooms each with a capacity 50 MT and six ripening rooms each with a capacity 10 MT, air-conditioned space for reconditioning and repacking and two grading lines.

Talking to mediapersons, Badal said they continued to be an integral part of the NDA but they had to make state-level electoral adjustments keeping in mind the party's interests. "We are working on a common minimum agreed programme with the INLD in Haryana," he added.

The Chief Minister also said the SAD was ready to contest the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) elections on whatever dates the Union government would announce.

Meanwhile, Badal refuted the allegations levelled by former Chief Minister of Punjab Capt Amrinder Singh regarding Punjab Institute of Medical Sciences, Jalandhar. "He (Amrinder Singh) is in the habit of levelling such baseless charges none of which have ever been proved," remarked the Chief Minister.

Also present on the occasion were Agriculture Minister of Punjab Sucha Singh Langah, Jail and Tourism Minister of Punjab Hira Singh Gabria and Punjab Mandi Board chairman Ajmer Singh Lakhowal.

Jalandhar, October 3
Former Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh said here today that the failure of the Badal government to procure paddy had led to choking of grain markets at various places. In the absence of adequate arrangements the farmers are facing problems.

He said there was immediate need to clear the grain markets as the stocks were piled up there. Prediction of bad weather in the days to come could further add to the woes of the farmers, who were being made to suffer by the Badal government, 
he said.

All issues related to procurement of paddy and with rice millers etc should have been settled well before the commencing of the procurement season. He said during his regime no farmer faced trouble even for a day for five years as far as procurement of paddy and wheat was concerned. No farmer had to resort to agitation to get their food grains procured. He said farmers were feeling agitated because of the poor handling of the food grains procurement in the state.

Talking about the power crisis in the state, former Chief Minister said that it was a case of another gross mismanagement on the part of the Badal government. “ My government bought 20726 MW of power from April 2002 to March 2007 and spent Rs 11,893 crore. We provided power to farm sector for 8 hours and also supplied power to domestic sector. There were not lengthy power cuts”, Capt Amarinder Singh said. “ But now power supply had become a rare thing in rural areas. Industry was being made to suffer. People in urban areas had to face long power cuts”, he said.

The Badal government had failed to deliver on all fronts. The people were angry with it, he said. 

Bathinda, October 3
“Analysing the current status, it is unpredictable how long people will have to bear power cuts in the state,” said HS Brar, chairman, Punjab State Electricity Board, here today.

Brar was here for a meeting with the PSEB officials of the West Zone.

Speaking to the media, the chairman clearly expressed his inability to announce the date when the power crisis would be tackled, adding, “Despite generating 2 per cent more energy, in comparison to the previous year, we are still facing a huge crisis. It is the climatic and behavioural changes which have increased the demand by about 20 per cent from the previous year in the same days.”

“We are not at fault. It was deficit rains which hit us severely. If we see the level at Bhakhra, Anandpur Sahib and Ranjit Sagar Dam, it has caused a loss of 350 MW, which is equivalent to the total generation of a thermal power plant.”

Giving data of declined level of water, he said according to the latest report, the water level at Bhakra Dam was 40 ft low, at Pong Dam it was low about 51.5 ft and at Ranjit Sagar Dam the decline was recorded at 50 ft.

When asked about the burden of giving thousands of tubewell connections in the recent poll days, despite knowing that the PSEB could not set up any of the proposed plants, he said, “It is the policy of the state government. I just have to follow directions.”

Regarding the total distribution and system losses of the PSEB, he said at present the board was suffering about 19.91 per cent, which included all kinds of losses. However, he maintained to check theft cases, the enforcement wings of the PSEB had been streamlined.

He disclosed that PSEB was going to shut down one unit of Guru Nanak Dev Thermal Plant, Bathinda, from October 8 for a month and one unit of Guru Hargobind Thermal Plant, Lehra Mohabbat, from October 20 for 20 days for annual maintenance purposes.

Amritsar, October 3
Acting tough against the ongoing students’ strike on the Gurdaspur campus of Guru Nanak Dev University, Vice-chancellor Ajaib Singh Brar said the university authorities were left with no alternative but to keep the campus locked till students apologised for their “misconduct”.

He said the students were not cooperating irrespective of the university’s efforts to normalise the situation.

He said action would be taken against those students who had been using “unsavoury” language against their teachers.

It was learnt that the authorities had locked the campus on October 1 after students reportedly failed to turn up in spite of repeated appeals by the authorities.

“We have accepted almost all demands of the students, but it was impossible to transfer one particular teacher. However, we assure them that the reasons behind this strike will be investigated,” the VC said.

He said a campus teacher had to remain posted there particularly when nothing objectionable was found on his/her part during preliminary investigations.

He added that the students had promised to end the strike, but certain “political people and vested interests were influencing them and their acts”.

University Registrar Raghbir Singh said: “The allegation of the students that hostelers were not given food is wrong. The Gurdaspur campus has no foreigner student and all three students from Bihar have been shifted to the Amritsar campus.”

The VC said certain politicians were trying to “create an issue out of the strike and were trying to incite the students”.

Meanwhile, the Guru Nanak Dev University Teachers’ Association has expressed concern over the “deteriorating atmosphere” on the campus due to the ongoing strike. It has termed the agitation as an “unfortunate”.

Attari, October 3
Mutual understanding is a direct outcome of people-to-people contact between the peoples of two countries and no effort should be spared to establish and strengthen such contacts.

This was the collective opinion of a 30- member delegation of educationists, sportsmen and academicians from the Lahore-based Aitchison College which reached here from Pakistan to participate in the 150th anniversary celebrations of Bishop Cotton School, Shimla. It is the second delegation to come from Pakistan. Earlier, a group of Pakistan-based old students of the school had reached Shimla two days ago.

During a chat with mediapersons, Principal of Aitchison College F.S. Aijaazuddin said it was a matter of greater satisfaction that the young generation of both India and Pakistan does not carry the bitterness which was there to witness among old generation people who had suffered during Partition and were witness to a phase of hatred on both sides.

He said the future of both countries lay in mutual understanding which came only if people-to-people contacts were established.

“Teachers can play an important role in achieving this goal. There should be an exchange of teachers as they can apprise the young generation of the common culture, history and other aspects which could help in the re-bonding of people of the two countries,” he said.

Other members of the group were of the view that the governments of the two countries should strive hard to bury misunderstanding, if any, and start their bilateral relations afresh and with a future perspective.

According to college Vice-Principal Shahnaz, contacts between youth of the two countries could play a vital role in re-establishing some missing links in the bilateral relationship. “They can understand each other in a better manner if they are allowed to meet frequently,” said Shahnaz.

Fatehgarh Sahib, October 3
Procuring agencies are in a fix over the storage of paddy in coming few days as rice shellers of Punjab are on strike and refused to take paddy for milling.

Though the quantity of paddy received at various grain markets is not much at the moment, but it is expected to increase manyfolds.

“Since procuring agencies do not have adequate space or godowns they would have to face problem in view of strike,” said a rice-sheller owner in Sirhind. The godowns of these agencies are already filled with wheat and there is hardly any space for paddy, he said.

At present it is expected that nearly 4.5 lakh metric tonne would arrive in Fatehgarh Sahib only and there is not much space to store this paddy in district. Officials of procuring agencies said they are looking for an alternate place to store paddy.

Paddy stored in year 2007-08 is still rotting in various open godowns of Khamano block and are still not been cleared by any procuring agency and paddy worth crores is rotting in many other godowns.

The owners of a section of rice shellers said the Punjab government promised them to remove tax from rice bran and from the paddy husk, besides elimination of quality cut. But nothing had been done in this regard.

Percentage of damage and discolour in 201 variety of paddy is 5 per cent, due to which rice is not delivered, said the sheller owners. No storage and milling would be done until the government listens to their problems and solve them immediately. The rice shellers also demanded that the paddy, with minor problems, still lying in various rice shellers should also be lifted immediately.

Patiala, October 3
Leaders of the Indian Farmers’ Association (IFA) today announced that they would be moving the Punjab and Haryana High Court on the issue of payments being made to farmers for their produce by Arhtiyas middlemen.

IFA state president Satnam Singh Behru said the payment to farmers by Arhtiyas middlemen and not the purchase agencies was nothing but great injustice to the farming community.

Speaking to The Tribune, he said the notification issued by the state government in this regard was not acceptable to farmers and now there was no other option than to knock the doors of the HC.

“It is certainly a black day in history of Punjab that the state government has authorised the Arhtiyas to make payments to farmers on behalf of the purchase agencies. The SAD (Badal) government will have to pay a huge price for this decision,” he said.

IFA leaders pointed out that the report submitted by Punjab State Farmers’ Commission chairman GS Kalkat on February 27, 2006, clearly mentioned that agricultural crops were the only commodities in the state whose payments instead of being made directly to the sellers by
the buyers, was done through third party’s commission agents.

“Though the report recommended that it was imperative to make payments directly to farmers through account payee cheque by the purchase agencies but the government is not following it,” Behru rued.

Mansa, October 3
The police today unearthed a duplicate certificates scandal by raiding a local bookstore and seized certificates of different universities and boards.

According to information, Tarsem Chand, a local resident, had filed a complaint in which he had alleged that the National Book Depot had been providing false and duplicate certificates.

He said: “I had gone to Government High School, Heerokhurd, to take a certificate of my wife, but the school authorities told him that the certificate was with the owner of the depot.”

He said when he asked about the certificate from the owner of the depot, he demanded money for returning the same.

SHO, Mansa, Sulakhan Singh said duplicate certificates of universities, boards and institutions of other states had been seized.

He said duplicate certificates of SC/BC, answersheets of classs VIII, X and XII of the Punjab School Education Board and certificates of ETT College, Jammu, were also seized.

A case against the owner of the depot, Shiv Kumar, and his worker Lovedeep Singh has been registered. Lovedeep has been arrested while Shiv Kumar is absconding. 

Moga, October 3
Three armed persons kidnapped a 20-year-old Chandigarh youth from Phagwara today. They withdrew money on his ATM card, looted him of Rs 30,000, took away his new car and threw him on a roadside at Baghapurana in Moga district.

Victim Avtar Singh, who runs a business, went to the police station at Baghapurana and narrated the incident to the SHO, who refused to register a criminal case.

When contacted, SHO Kikkar Singh admitted that he had refused to register an FIR as the incident had occurred at Phagwara. “However, we have flashed a message across the state to recover the car bearing registration number DL-4CAV-3316”, the SHO said.

Avtar Singh, while talking to The Tribune, said the three unidentified persons were travelling in a red Tavera car and stopped their vehicle near the overbridge at Phagwara, when he was busy attending to a phone call. Two persons came out of the Tavera and walked towards his car.They took out pistols, kidnapped him and took away his car.

They travelled in his car for more than five hours through Ferozepur, Ludhiana and Faridkot districts while the third person travelling in the Tavera car followed them. “At one place they took out Rs 5,000 on my ATM card and also snatched Rs 30,000 in cash, besides some gift items that were with me in the car”, the youth alleged.

Finally, he was thrown out of his vehicle on a roadside near Baghapurana this afternoon. 

Police sources revealed that a mobile phone was recovered from an inmate, early this month. A case was registered against the inmate on the directions of the jail superintendent.

However, when the inquiry officer came to the jail to inquire into the matter, Karamjit Singh Bhullar, assistant superintendent of the jail, allegedly gave a written statement to the police that recovery of mobile phone was not an offence. When the jail superintendent came to know about it, a detailed report on the conduct of the assistant jail superintendent was sent to the director general of the jail department, who placed him under suspension early this week and ordered a departmental inquiry against him.

Meanwhile, senior authorities of the jail department, also brought this matter into the notice of the local SSP, who asked the SHO police station (city) to lodge a case against him.

Following which, a case was registered against Bhullar under the Prisons Act and 120-B of the IPC by the police on Friday, confirmed the SHO of the police station (city). 

Meanwhile, senior authorities of the jail department also brought the matter to the notice of the local SSP, who told the SHO, Police Station (City), to register a case against him. A case was registered.