Kotkapura, October 12
At a rally held to protest against the SAD-BJP government, the state Congress leadership openly targeted the ruling Badal family for what it said was its “dubious and anti-people” policies, here today.

Congress MLA from Kotkapura Ripjeet Singh Brar and his brother, senior party leader Jagmeet Singh Brar, organised the rally. PPCC president Mohinder Singh Kaypee, CLP leader Rajinder Kaur Bhattal, MP Gurdaspur Partap Singh Bajwa and convener of the party Ashwani Sekhri were prominent among those who addressed the gathering and lashed out at the ruling SAD leaders.

In their speeches, the Congress leaders categorically accused the SAD leaders of playing a dual game with its coalition partner, the BJP. They said in Punjab, the SAD is with the BJP, but in Haryana, the same party has been openly accusing the BJP of pursuing “anti-people” policies. The Congress leaders went to great length accusing the ruling Badal family of keeping plum posts and departments with them in the government.

Sensing the pulse of the people, Partap Singh Bajwa referred to Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal as “Bugh” and narrated various instances that tickled the funny bone of all those present.

Elaborating about the reason for organising the protest rally, Bajwa said, “It was held to protest against the poor arrangements made for lifting paddy, but after the rally was announced, paddy lifting started. Though lifting has begun, we will carry such protest rallies in the other two regions of the states- Majha and Doaba. Otherwise, the government will start dilly-dallying in the mandis.”

Bajwa accused the SAD (B) leaders of taking control of the SGPC, capturing cable TV network, of favouritism in awarding contracts for sand, pebble and liquor and finally using the police as tools to shield personal interests.

Addressing the gathering, Mohinder Singh Kaypee said the government procurement agencies had been looting farmers citing high moisture content in crops. The business class was also going to be affected, as despite the claims of BJP leadership, the SAD was firm on imposing octroi, Kaypee claimed.

Bhattal, in her speech, accused the SAD-BJP government of creating friction among the religious sects in Punjab. Further, she added that the Congress leadership had always sacrificed their lives for the people, but the SAD leadership did not possess such quality.

Amritsar, October 12
The SGPC Sikh jatha members have returned from Pakistan as they were made to cut short their visit from eight to five days. They were not ready to speak up against the Pakistani authorities and were also reluctant to admit that their return was an outcome of the worsened law and order scenario in Pakistan.

As many as, 72 Sikhs had left for Pakistan on October 8 as part of the jatha of the Shiromani Gurudwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC). They were provided with an eight-day visa by the Pakistan High Commission authorities and were originally scheduled to return on October 15, as per an official press communiqué of the SGPC. But, all of them returned today by the “Samjhauta Express” train carrying them, they reached Attari at around 12.30 pm.

The jatha Leader was not available for comment. The members of the jatha, however, were reluctant to speak anything about the circumstances, which led to preponing of their return to India. They also said that there was no apparent threat to their safety and security as they roamed about freely in bazaars and other places. It was a different matter that they were provided with over 600 security personnel including, commandoes for the first time by the Pakistani authorities.

“There was no visible problem for us,” said Bhai Davinder Singh and Ajit Singh, the two jatha members hailing from Ludhiana. Most of the jatha members were tight-lipped about the law and order situation in the neighbouring country. “In fact, the Rawalpindi blast site was 500 km away from us so we did not feel any effect of it. They even hosted a dinner for us in a five star hotel. Why should we say we faced any problem when we did not come across any such thing,” said one of the jatha members.

The SGPC was also reluctant to comment on what had forced the jatha to come back early. The SGPC had repeatedly clarified that the jatha had to return on October 15.

Chandigarh, October 12
Will Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper visit Punjab during his visit to India next month? Though initial indications have no mention of Punjab in his proposed mid-November visit to India, the strong Punjabi-lobby in Canadian politics has been working overtime to influence a change and a stopover in Amritsar.

The visit of Canadian Prime Minister has assumed tremendous significance as Stephen Harper is set to assume chairmanship of the G-8. Incidentally, Canada will host both G-8 and G-20 summits in 2010 in Huntsville in Ontario. And India, being a nation of over a billion people with a booming economy, will have an important role to play in these summits.

During his visit to India, Prime Minister Stephen Harper may go for a free trade agreement with India, efforts for which have been on for sometime now.

It may be pertinent to mention here that after the Liberal government in Canada imposed strong economic sanctions against India and recalled its High Commissioner after the Pokhran nuclear test, it was Reforms Party (forerunner of the present minority government) leader Preston Manning who visited India and advocated immediate lifting of sanctions and return of the High Commissioner to Delhi.

It was Ludhiana-born Gurmant Grewal who had managed to get the Reforms delegation to India then. The Reform leaders had visited Golden Temple also. Subsequently, the Liberal government admitted a drop in bilateral trade before amends were made.

Of a million Indian immigrants in Canada, nearly 80 per cent of them are Punjabis. That is why the pro-India lobby is keen that Prime Minister Stephen Harper must visit Punjab and announce some important economic tie-ups besides promising expertise and help in power generation and agro-processing in the state that has had strong Canadian bonds.

Now Canada and India are keen for a free trade pact.

A recent report in Canadian media said although India was a fast-rising economic power, Canada was only its 26th largest supplier of goods and services. Many believed Delhi, courted for trade by many countries, had little interest in Canada. 

Last week, India's Commerce Secretary, Rahul Khullar, met in Ottawa with International Trade Minister Stockwell Day and other officials and signalled that after years of little progress, Delhi wanted real advances in trade. A long-awaited deal on investment, an agreement on energy exchanges, and an accord that allows Canada's nuclear industry to sell to India are expected within about month, Khullar has been quoted as saying in Ottawa.

Besides India, Harper may also visit China.

Because China and India are influential members of the G-20, Harper can boost his standing among other leaders by demonstrating a close relationship with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Chinese President Hu Jintao.

In addition to New Delhi, Harper is also likely to visit the country's commercial hub in Mumbai, and is being pushed to consider visits to Chennai or Hyderabad in the southern part of the country where Canadian companies are active.

Amritsar, October 12
Ten youths who had landed in Iran thanks to their alleged exploitation by an unscrupulous travel agent and who have finally managed to return to their villages - Kotla Gujjran and Bhangwan in Amritsar district - after intervention by the Ministry of External Affairs and the Punjab Government have revealed that they were repeatedly threatened that they would be sent in Pakistani jails if they dared to speak anything about their exploitation by the company management.

As many as, eight youngsters from Kotla Gujjran and the other two hailing from Bhangwan village, had allegedly been taken to Iran a year ago by a travel agent of the area, who had assured them that better opportunities were awaiting them in that country. The agent had taken Rs 1 lakh from each of them.

But, soon thereafter, their dreams were shattered once they came to know about the stark reality that they would have to work for a construction company and that too as labourers sans any salary.

“We were not even given proper food so it had become a challenge to sustain ourselves. Not only this, we were treated like animals and were made to work the whole day. We did not get any salary for 10 months we worked in that company,” said Gurmit Singh of Kotla Gujjran.

His associate Gurbaz Singh of the same village narrated his tale of woe. “ The owner of the company virtually tormented us for a long time and we had to pocket the insults as he snatched our passports the moment we landed there. He used to threaten us that we would be sent to Pakistan-based jails if we ever dared to speak to anybody about our plight. We had to work for the company without any salary,” said Gurbaz Singh. Amritpal Singh, another victim, said they moved the Indian mission in Iran when the situation went out of control for them.

“We were not even provided with proper food not to speak of salaries for over 10 months,” he complained.

Kotla Gujjran village wore a festive look as the families of the youths organised the bhog of an akhand path. Among others, the bhog was attended by Patron of the Youth Akali Dal and former Punjab minister Bikram Singh Majithia.

It was Majithia who had taken up the cause of the families of the youths as he had contacted the Ministers of State for External Affairs Preneet Kaur and Shashi Tharoor, who, in turn, had directed the Indian Mission authorities to provide these youths with travel documents. Kashmir Kaur, mother of Gurbaz Singh, said the families of youths owed a lot to the Punjab Government.

Tarn Taran, October 12
Holding the SAD-BJP government responsible for the plight of farmers, particularly in view of the alleged distress sale of paddy and long power cuts, the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) has urged farmers of the state to observe a “black Diwali” to show their “increasing resentment” against the government and its policies.

Meanwhile, a number of PPCC leaders from the Majha region of Punjab organised a protest dharna here today in the home district of Food and Civil Supplies Minister and slammed the SAD-BJP government for its alleged failure in lifting paddy in time, resulting in the distress sale of the crop. The Congress leaders, who raised anti-government slogans, alleged that the government had been biased and doing nothing to ensure lifting paddy from marginal and small farmers associated with the Congress, led the protest.

Congress leader Sukhjinder Randhawa said after high input costs, the distress sale of paddy crop was going to force the Punjab farmers to observe a “black Diwali”. “We appeal the whole Punjab farming community to observe “black Diwali” to lodge their protest against the SAD-BJP government,” said Randhawa.

He alleged there were “hundreds of cases” in the Majha area, wherein the ruling politicians had been affecting and influencing the government paddy procurement process to provide benefit to private traders, who, in turn, were exploiting the farmers by paying lesser price than the MSP. “The ruling SAD MLAs are using tactics to ensure paddy belonging to their supporters only is lifted, thus, the marginal and small farmers aligned with the Congress are being targetted by millers,” added Randhawa and other Congress leaders.

They alleged that all the markets in the Majha have been affected and farmers were forced to sell the produce at Rs 800 per quintal, even though, the MSP was fixed at Rs 980 per quintal.” All this is being done to promote rice traders, who are in deep nexus with ruling government,” added Randhawa.

“Due to distress sale, the Majha region farmers have already come under burden of debts. How can they observe a normal Diwali with usual festive spirit in such financial condition? We urge all farming community to observe black Diwali against state government,” said the Congress leaders. 

Ironically, after the rally was over, some of the Congress leaders kept on calling the mediapersons to expose the in-house rift among the party leadership. Some of the Congress leaders even denied invitation being extended to Amarainder and also added that he was sick.

Chandigarh, October 12
To save industries of the state and give it an even playing field as compared to industries in neighbouring states, Punjab Industries Minister Manoranjan Kalia has sought immediate intervention of the Government of India in the form of industry sector-specific packages.

Claiming that though the state had come out with a “realistic industrial policy,” industry here or any other part of the country would flourish only if the Centre came out with a blueprint identifying potential of each state and projects should be allocated accordingly.

Kalia, who has taken up this concept with Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia, told The Tribune that the Centre should identify strengths of each state and allocate grants to strengthen those areas to exploit the state’s potential. This will not only help states harness their potential, but also help boost national Gross Domestic Produce.

If Punjab is given specific grants for agro-based industry, Jammu and Kashmir for fruit processing and likewise Himachal Pradesh for Hydro-electric generation, it will reduce transportation and other overhead costs and give a tremendous boost to the states’ economy.

“If Himachal Pradesh becomes power surplus, it has to give its excess power to Punjab and other neighbouring states; similarly Punjab would supply agro-based products to other states. This will promote better cooperation between states, promoting dual purpose of national integration and making production viable”, he added.

Talking about the state’s new industrial policy, Kalia said this was aimed to be a “realistic” one that would actually promote productivity and a congenial atmosphere. “The government is even willing to make changes to the policy to make it more workable. To get a first hand feedback from the industry, I have decided to interact with small groups of industrialist here as well as in their towns to ensure the new policy works,” he said.

To boost productivity and curb obstacles, Punjab’s new industrial policy has outsourced a lot of workers. “The inspectors for example have been replaced by certified mechanical engineers,” Kalia said. He said to encourage more investment, the government now proposed to change the earlier rules, which required an investment of Rs 100 crore to qualify for being considered a mega project. Now, several projects can club to form an investment of Rs 100 crore, qualify as a mega project and avail benefits for the same.

Several provisions have been made to ensure quick refund of Value Added Tax (VAT). In case, VAT is not refunded within 60 days, the person claiming the VAT will be entitled to interest on the refund amount. The new industrial policy has a special focus on IT and agro-based industries. Besides, a corpus of Rs 150 crore has also been created to promote the cluster development programme and set up common facility centres in industrial focal points.

Jalandhar, October 12
The Punjab Education Department is likely to chargesheet 565 government school teachers for bringing dismal results of class VIII i.e. a pass percentage between 0 and 10 per cent in the Punjab School Education Board examinations this year.

In an exclusive report available with The Tribune, it was found that the teachers concerned would be asked to assign reasons for the poor results and explain why no action should be taken 
against them.

Sources in the department said a final decision in this regard was awaited from the minister concerned. After the ministry’s nod the decision would be implemented. “We are awaiting the final nod from the government to initiate action against the teachers concerned,” said a senior education official.

According to the report, Jalandhar tops the list with 119 teachers for failing to bring a minimum pass result, while Barnala district with two teachers was at the lowest. Number of teachers to be chargesheeted in Mohali is six, Ropar and Gurdaspur is five and Mansa is three.

Surprisingly, it were the bigger cities of the state which lagged behind miserably in reaching the pass mark.

In Ludhiana, 77 teachers would be issued show-cause notices. Following close on the heels is Hoshiarpur with 74 teachers under the scanner.

Even Patiala registered a poor show with 66 teachers in the list failing to bring good result. Kapurthala also has 44 teachers in the list.

In Ferozepur, 29 teachers are likely to be issued show-cause notices followed by Nawashahr (26), Amritsar (18), Moga (17), Bathinda (15), Fatehgarh Sahib (14), Sangrur and Tarn Taran (12), Faridkot (11) and Muktsar (10).

Last year show-cause notices were issued to teachers in July. However, this time the department has made the final list in the middle of the academic session.

Chandigarh, October 12
The Punjab government today transferred four IAS and 19 PCS officers with immediate effect. BS Sudan is the new Secretary, Home Affairs and Justice; SR Ladhar will hold additional charge of Commissioner of both Ferozpur and Faridkot divisions; CS Talwar becomes Special Secretary, Finance and Director, treasury and accounts.

Inderjit Singh Sandhu gets additional charge of Special Secretary, PWD (B&R); Harjeet Singh goes as ADC, Barnala; Inder Yash Bhatti is the new ADC, Tarn Taran; Praneet has been posted as Commissioner, MC, Amritsar; Harcharan Singh becomes SDM, Baghapura.

Indu Malhotra is the new ACA, GLADA, Ludhiana; Malwinder Singh Jaggi becomes Commissioner, MC, Ludhiana; DPS Kharbanda has been posted as ADC (Dev), Amritsar; Ajmer Singh is the new ADC, Kapurthala; Jaspal Singh becomes SDM, Nakodar; Mukan Singh Sandhu will be the SDM of both Jagraon and Raikot; Ragbhir Kaur becomes SDM, SAS Nagar (Mohali).

Sarojini Gautam Sharda has been posted as ADC (Dev), Jalandhar; Bhupinder Singh-II becomes SDM, Faridkot; Gurpreet Singh Thind is the new DTO, Sangrur; Subash Chander will be the new SDM, Mukerian; Paramjit Singh-II goes SDM, Amritsar-II; Sukhmander Singh is the new SDM, Pathankot; Manmohan Singh Kang has been posted as Estate Officer, PUDA, Amritsar and also holds additional charge of Joint Commissioner, MC, Amritsar and Balbir Singh becomes DTO, Ropar.

Patiala, October 12
The coordination committee of different associations of employees of the Punjab State Electricity Board has decided not to celebrate Diwali this year. The step aims at conveying resentment prevailing among employees and officers of the board due to non- revision of pay scales.

A spokesman of the coordination committee here today said the pay revision of board employees and officers had become a victim of the proxy war going on between the state authorities and the board management for the past sometime. 

The recommendations of the wage formulation committee were put up before the board for decision on September 18, but no decision could be taken as the state government nominee stressed that the board should first obtain approval from the government knowing fully well that the board has been empowered under Section 79 C of the Electricity Supply Act, 1948, to formulate pay scales and allowances of its employees.

The issue was again raised in 2006, but upon reference to the state government, it was decided at the level of the Chief Minister that the board could decide the pay scales and allowances of its employees at its own level. Despite all these facts available on record, the board management referred the matter to the state government for decision, thus delaying the pay revision of board employees.

Coordination committee leaders, including HS Bedi, Pal Singh Moga, Karam Chand Bhardwaj and others, said during a meeting held between the PSEB Engineers Association and the Chief Minister on October 2, the proposal of the state government to refer the issue to a committee of officers headed by the Chief Secretary, Punjab, was shelved after discussions and instead the Chief Minister directed the Principal Secretary (Finance) to sort out the issue within a week.

The coordination committee said it was distressing that the benefit of revised scales had already been extended to Central and state governments and power board employees of other states whereas PSEB employees and officers were being denied their legitimate right of revised pay scales from January 1, 2006.

The committee has decided that all officers and employees will wear black badges as a mark of protest on October 14 and hold rallies from 9 am to 10 am at subdivision level. Joint rallies of employees, supervisors and officers would be held at zonal headquarters from 1 pm to 2 pm to convey resentment prevailing among employees and officers of the board.

Chandigarh, October 12
The Punjab and Haryana High Court today made clear its intention of going deep into the septic tank controversy by setting November 16 as deadline for Punjab to file a comprehensive affidavit on lapses at various levels leading to the development of cracks.

In all, as many as 9,000 tanks were installed in 36 villages across the state at an estimated cost of Rs 7 crore. Of the total, an estimated 67 per cent of the tanks reportedly developed cracks and other defects soon after installation.

As the case came up for hearing before the Bench of Chief Justice Tirath Singh Thakur and Justice Mahesh Grover, state counsel Rupinder Khosla said the failure occurred at all levels, right from designing to installation, and carrying out of the mandatory checks. He added the state would file a fresh status report on what went wrong at what stage.

Patiala, October 12
The Patiala police has claimed to have busted an inter-state gang of robbers involved in several incidents of bank robberies. While six members of the gang were arrested, five managed to flee. The gang was active in Himachal Pradesh, Haryana and Punjab.

IG, Patiala zone, Paramjit Singh Gill said acting on a tip-off that the accused had assembled in a deserted house near the Sirhind bypass, the Patiala CIA staff conducted raids and arrested six accused.

The police seized five pistols, three cars, one motorcycle, one scooter and Rs 28.5 lakh in cash from their possession. Patiala SSP Ranbir Singh Khattra said the accused had earlier remained in jail for committing different crimes. In fact, they came together in the jail and formed a gang to commit robberies, he said.

Those arrested are Kulwant Singh (alias Babla), Tejinder Singh (alias Vicky), Jaswinder Singh, Jaspal Singh (alias Bhatti), Davinder Singh and Parminder Singh. Those who are still absconding have been identified as Hitesh Sharma (alias Vicky), Sukhwinder Singh (alias Jacky), Pargat Singh, Angrej Singh and Bamb.