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Rumour of boy’s death due to cops’ beating sparks violence
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Revised pay scales for PSEB staff
Congress holds rally against ‘loot’ of paddy growers
Capt faces flak for keeping away
Resource mobilisation panel to meet
Tribune Impact
BSF, Rangers discuss rocket firing
HC upholds removal of trustees of lawyer’s estate
Concessions to Bathinda refinery in offing
12-yr-old dies after ‘beating’ by teacher
DTOs’ offices to be computerised
Seven dengue cases reported
Dal Khalsa to commemorate ’84 riots
OTS for sick units extended till Dec 31
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Takht finds Jhinda, others guilty of misconduct
Amritsar, October 14 The quantum and nature of the religious punishment (Tankah) in respect of Jhinda and others was, however, likely to be announced by Giani Gurbachan Singh and other Sikh high priests either on November 15 or anytime after that, said an aide of Giani Gurbachan Singh. Talking to The Tribune, Jhinda said neither he nor any of his four associates were apprised by the Akal Takht Jathedar or the Sikh high priests about fixing any next date for announcement of the quantum of punishment. “They have just informed us that they would be summoning us again after about a month. We have requested the Jathedar and other Sikh high priests that they should pronounce the edict today itself if they thought that we were guilty,” said Jhinda. The five Haryana Sikh leaders have been facing serious allegations that they had “usurped” the control of the Kurukshetra gurdwara and had barred the entry of devotees into the shrine on September 13. Jhinda and his associates have been maintaining that they had just taken over the ‘Sewa Sambhal’ of the shrine and that, too, for a couple of hours and in a “symbolic manner” in their bid to lodge their protest against the “indifferent attitude” of the SGPC authorities towards their genuine demands, including, carving out a separate gurdwara body for the Sikhs of Haryana. The Sikh clergy meeting today was presided over by Giani Gurbachan Singh. The Sikh high priests, Giani Balwant Singh, Jathedar of Takht Damdama Sahib, Giani Tarlochan Singh, Jathedar of Takht Kesgarh Sahib, Iqbal Singh, Jathedar of Takht Patna Sahib and the Jathedar of the Takht Hazoor Sahib Jyot Inder Singh were present at the meeting and it was their unanimous decision to hold Jhinda and others guilty in the case. Jhinda re-asserted that the demand for a separate body for Haryana Sikhs stood undiluted. Jhinda said the Haryana Sikhs had supported the Congress in a big way in the elections and would be seeking the Congress’ support for setting up a separate gurdwara body for Sikhs of Haryana.
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Rumour of boy’s death due to cops’ beating sparks violence
Gurdaspur, October 14 The residents of Rania village and its surrounding areas came on the highway when a rumour was spread that Lucky, who was allegedly beaten up by two policemen this afternoon, had died due to injuries in a nearby hospital where he was admitted for treatment. The protesters started damaging vehicles by throwing stones and disrupted traffic without verifying the news of Lucky’s death. A large number of people, who were travelling in their vehicles, were trapped in the jam and ran here and there for safety. While SSP Lok Nath Angra said there was only a verbal dispute between Lucky and a policemen, who accompanied a team of the District Health Department which went to nearby Dhariwal town to conduct raids to seize stale milk products allegedly being sold in the market before Diwali. He added that after the dispute, Lucky fell on the ground and was immediately taken to the hospital. He said when DSP Karam Chand was talking to the residents of Rania village, someone spread the rumour that Lucky had died following the injuries suffered by him due to the beating up by the policemen. After that, residents started indulging in violence. However, they were pacified and made to agree to end the road blockage. He said when the matter was enquired into, it was found that Lucky was absolutely fit in the hospital. He added that an official vehicle of DSP Karam Chand was also damaged. He said a case in this connection would be registered against those who were involved in the damaging of vehicles. Meanwhile, sources said the policemen, who were allegedly involved in thrashing of Lucky, had been sent to the police lines.
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Revised pay scales for PSEB staff
Patiala, October 14 The revision will put an extra financial burden of Rs 400 crore annually on the PSEB. The revised pay scales will be implemented from 1.1.2006. The PSEB has maintained the pay differential of its employees vis-à-vis state government employees and has given a higher initial to all categories of employees in all five pay bands. The only deviation from the recommendations of the WFC is that the rate of increment has been kept at 3 per cent instead of 3.5 per cent. Employees of the PSEB have been agitating for the past two months over the delay in accepting the recommendations of the WFC constituted by the board. The coordination committee of different associations of PSEB employees had even announced that they would not celebrate Diwali this year in case their demand was
not conceded. The Engineers Association had also met the Punjab Chief Minister on this issue. Making an announcement in this regard, PSEB Chairman Harinder Singh Brar said as per the new scales, the rate of annual increment had been kept at 3 per cent whereas benefits like house rent allowance, dearness allowance and pensionary benefits would be as permissible to Punjab Government employees. He said the decision on the pay scales was taken at a meeting of board officials and leaders of various employees’ associations, yesterday.The meeting was attended by Member, Finance and Accounts, Anurag Agarwal, Member, Generation, G.S.Sra, Member, Transmission, S.C.Sabharwal, Member, Distribution, K.D.Chaudhry and various union leaders, including H.S.Bedi, Bhupinder Singh, Surinder Singh Pehalwan, Sukhdev Singh, Harbhajan Singh, Baljit Singh, Vijay Kumar, K.K.Goyal and Paramjit Singh. Speaking to The Tribune, one of the senior leaders of the coordination committee of the employees, H.S.Bedi, said, “Until a notification regarding the revision of pay scales is issued, we will not comment on the matter.”
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Congress holds rally against ‘loot’ of paddy growers
Batala, October 14 While Punjab Congress chief Mohinder Singh Kaypee demanded that Badal must step down as the Chief Minister due to his failure on all fronts, Rajinder Kaur Bhattal, leader of opposition, said Badal and his family members were ruling Punjab just to promote their economic interests. Kaypee, Bhattal, Partap Singh Bajwa, Jagmeet Singh Brar, Ashwani Shekri, Parminder Singh Pinky, Lakhmir Singh Randhwa, Raman Bhalla, Vijay Sathi, Rumal Chand, Gurmit Singh Pahra, P C Paysya, Sardool Singh, Ram Lal, Gurwinder Singh Atwal attended the rally and a dharna organised in the local grain market today to lodge a protest against the “loot” of paddy growers by the rice mill owners in connivance with the state procurement agencies with the active support of the ruling SAD-BJP alliance. The Congress got a shot in the arm when Bhupinder Singh Mann, president, Bharti Kisan Union (BKU), and former MP, extended his support to it in its agitation for protecting the interests of farmers. Kaypee said about one lakh party workers along with farmers and other sections of society would gherao the official residence of Badal at Chandigarh in December 2009. “It’s an ‘open war’ against the misdeeds of Parkash Singh Badal, Sukhbir Badal and their kin, who have been enjoying ministerial berths in the Cabinet for looting and torturing all sections of society,” said Bajwa. Both Kaypee and Bajwa promised that all Congress MPs of Punjab would meet AICC president Sonia Gandhi in the third week of this month and would urge her to announce Rs 100 per quintal bonus on the paddy crop. They added that if Badal was really a well wisher of the poor peasantry of Punjab, then his government must announce a matching bonus for them. They demanded that a CBI probe be held to expose those, who had been looting the paddy growers by not allowing the state agencies to procure the crop at the MSP. Badals had also monopolised the liquor trade, cable network business, mining business and transport business. Shekri said the Congress agitation would continue and all workers would take to the streets in the days to come so that Badal could be shown the door and the money looted by him and his kin could be recovered.
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Capt faces flak for keeping away
Batala, October 14 While leader of opposition and former Chief Minister Rajinder Kaur Bhattal said any leader who remained absent from the Congress’ agitational programmes continuously and for a long time would be taken to task, former minister Sardool Singh said that those, who were opposing Mohinder Singh Kaypee, Punjab Congress chief, were opposing a Dalit leader and policies of the Congress high command. “No one is above the party. The leaders, who are trying to sabotage Kaypee’s and the party’s programme, would meet the fate of Bhajan Lal, who was the Congress Chief Minister of Haryana,” Bhattal said. She added that all Congressmen were soldiers of Sonia Gandhi and no one could be allowed to sabotage the programmes outlined by her. Disciplinary action could be taken against such leaders. “If we fail to take action against such leaders at this moment, the people of Punjab will take action against Congressmen in the next election,” she claimed. Raman Bhalla urged Kaypee to issue show- cause notices to those Congress leaders, including Capt Amarinder Singh, who did not attend today’s rally. He said if the Congress leaders would not stand by the poor and farmers in this hour of crisis, how would they come out in support of the Congress. Gurwinder Singh Atwal, former parliamentary secretary, alleged that those leaders who had been skipping the Congress’ agitational programmes on one pretext or the other were actually causing damage to the party and must be taken to task. Kaypee said the party would hold dharna and rallies in all 117 assembly segments of Punjab with the participation of its workers at the grassroots level to make it a big success.
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Resource mobilisation panel to meet
Chandigarh, October 14 The committee, which was formed on September 20, was asked to submit its report within one month to the coordination committee of the alliance government. The coordination committee is expected to debate the report before arriving at a final decision on whether current subsidies are sustainable or not and what steps need to be taken to improve the financial condition of the state. The Deputy CM has been abroad for some time and also been busy in the Haryana elections due to which the meeting could not take place till now, according to government sources. Kalia says a meeting was fixed two days ago but was cancelled “due to my counterparts over-busy schedule”. Kalia said he was hopeful that the meeting would take place next week. Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal also said the same thing during an interaction today. With the committee not meeting for nearly one month, a question mark has arisen about the seriousness of the government’s plans to review the entire gamut of subsidies. The Chief Minister, when asked today whether a few of his ministerial colleagues had given an assurance to Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal during the SAD Shimla conclave that the issue of subsidies would be discussed at a meeting of the legislative party, said now that a committee had been formed, it would go into the issue. Kalia, when asked whether he felt that the formation of the committee would ensure the status quo on the issue of subsidies and also put the BJP’s demand to subsidise the power hike in the deep freezer, said this should not be the case. “This is a serious issue which concerns the state’s economy and also its future,” he said, adding it could very well also determine the future of both the SAD and the BJP. Meanwhile, the government is also going slow on the BJP demand on the issue of subsidising the power hike of domestic, commercial and industrial consumers, which would involve a subsidy quotient of Rs 1,296 crore. A letter written by it to the State Electricity Regulatory Commission asking for the withdrawal of the power hike and a promise that it would be subsidised has been returned. The commission has asked the state to file a formal petition in this regard. The Chief Minister today claimed that the file in this regard had been cleared and that a petition would be filed soon.
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Tribune Impact
Bathinda, October 14 Taking suo-moto notice, the PSHRC authorities recorded it as complaint number 12719/2/2009 and called for a report from the state government through director, Health and Family Welfare, Punjab, and Civil Surgeon, Bathinda. The four-member bench of the PSHRC has also asked the principal secretary, Health and Family Welfare, Punjab, and director, Health and Family Welfare, Punjab, and Civil Surgeon, Bathinda, for submitting detailed report on or before the next date of hearing, which has been fixed as December 17, 2009. When asked, Deputy Commissioner, Bathinda, Rahul Tewari said he was not aware about the notice of the PSHRC, but said, “We, too, are helpless in such a situation as around 1,200 cancer affected cases of the district were sent to the state government for seeking grant from CM’s relief fund. Despite all efforts, we could get only Rs 15 lakh grant in the past, which could cover only 100 patients. About 1,100 cancer patients in the district are still waiting for any help from the state government.” It has also been informed that the secretary, State Health Department, has been collecting fresh details again on the basis of which Bathinda MP Harsirmrat Kaur Badal has been claiming funds in the Parliament. It may be mentioned that The Tribune had highlighted the pathetic condition of Malkana village, noted for its high cotton yield, as a typical instance of the desperate poverty amid the ostentatious wealth in one of the country’s most prosperous states. Plagued by teeming squalor, lack of sanitation, contaminated water, endemic diseases and above all the official apathy, residents still manage to eke out a living here. According to the villagers, though the political leadership had pledged to combat the epidemic form of cancer prevalent in the area during the previous polls, it remained failed to take any effective steps to contain the disease. In the face of the government apathy and their lack of means, many villagers are now taking recourse to ‘black magic’ in the hope it would help in ridding the village of the disease. Dozens of villagers had fallen prey to various forms of cancer in the past, with six people having succumbed to the disease during the past four months. They rued the state health authorities had not rendered any medical assistance whatsoever.
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BSF, Rangers discuss rocket firing
Amritsar, October 14 The BSF delegation, which left for Pakistan this morning, was headed by DIG Mohammed Aquil while the Pakistani delegation was led by Pakistan Rangers’ Brig Shafaquat Ali Khan. The meeting, it was learnt, was part of a mutually agreed upon bilateral exercise, the objective of which was to take stock of the situation and evaluate existing measures and initiatives to manage the border effectively. Though a number of issues figured during the discussion such as smuggling of contrabands, coordinated patrolling of the border and inadvertent crossing of border by innocent civilians from both sides, but the focus of the talks was the issue of rockets that were allegedly fired into Dhanoe Kalan and adjoining villages from the other side, sources said. It was a different matter that Pakistan has been denying its involvement in the issue. As many as five rockets had landed in Dhanoe Kalan and adjoining villages during the last month and these were allegedly fired by certain terrorists, possibly by the Taliban, causing widespread scare among villagers on this side of the border. The Indian side had retaliated allegedly by opening machine gun fire. The resultant tension had apparently forced both sides to hold a flag meeting at the Attari-Wagah border post the next day, wherein the Indian authorities had lodged a strong protest with Pakistan asserting that no such incident would be tolerated
in future. It, however, could not be determined as to whether the rockets were made in Pakistan or not, even as the BSF sources said the splinters indicated that such type of rockets were widely used in China, Iran and other western countries.
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HC upholds removal of trustees of lawyer’s estate
Chandigarh, October 14 A bench comprising justices Adarsh Kumar Goel and Justice Daya Chaudhary also cleared the legal hurdle in way of resurgence of Dass’ legacy by dismissing an appeal filed by the ousted trustees against their removal, and remanded the matter back to a single judge for evolving a mechanism to make the will “operative and functional”. A prominent lawyer who practiced in the Punjab & Haryana High Court, Dass died issueless on April 25, 1989 after executing a will and a codicil bequeathing most of his property to a trust formed in his mother’s name. The immovable properties include a ‘bagichi’ in Amritsar and two ‘tewalas’. The prime objectives of the trust were “meeting educational and health” requirements of the needy. One of the trustees, Yadvinder Thakur, was appointed as the executive trustee. However, Dass’ sister filed an application for his removal under section 301 of the Indian Succession Act. In the impugned order the single judge, justice SN Aggarwal, directed Thakur’s removal from the “office of the executor as also from that of the managing trustee”. Om Parkash Aggarwal was also removed from the office of trustee and the appointment of all other trustees by Thakur and Aggarwal were declared illegal. Acting on the appeal, the bench today ruled that even after the death of Dass’ widow there was nothing to show that the property had been put to use for the purposes indicated in the lawyer’s will. “This conduct of an executor was not above board and he rendered himself liable to be removed. We are also in agreement with the single judge that the appointment of other trustees to which the executor was a party has to be annulled. In view of Aggarwal’s conduct in setting up tenancy and continuing in possession of the trust for his personal benefit, and there being hardly tangible account of use of the property for the last 20 years, sufficient grounds are made out for exercise of power under section 301,” the bench said. “The continuation of the substituted trustees is interconnected to the conduct of the executor and the chief trustee. The removal of the executor was clearly called for under section 301 and the removal of other appellants was consequential being interconnected to the functioning of the executor. There is, thus, no ground to interfere with the findings recorded by the single judge,” the bench added. Before parting with the order, the bench observed: “Since the properties are either in the state of Punjab or in Chandigarh, notice ought to be given to the Punjab advocate-general and the UT senior standing counsel to suggest an appropriate mechanism. Till the mechanism is worked out or till a further order is passed by the single judge, the status quo will continue”. The matter will now come up on October 26 for directions before the single judge.
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Concessions to Bathinda refinery in offing
Chandigarh, October 14 The government has during talks with the refinery management given an in- principle nod to increase the annual loan from the present Rs 250 crore for a five-year spell to Rs 400 crore for a 15-year spell. While the refinery was to start repayment from the sixth year onwards under the present agreement, now it may start repayment only after the 16th year. Former Chief Minister Amarinder Singh had recently lambasted the government for extending “undue benefits” to the project promoters. Addressing newsmen here, Badal said the government was eager to sit down with the refinery management and settle the issue. He said work on the refinery was being conducted on a war footing with 15,000 persons being engaged and that 45 per cent of the project had been completed. The Chief Minister also made it clear that farmers could also take payment of cheques direct from state agencies if they chose to do so. He said they would otherwise be handed over cheques through commission agents. Later Director, Public Relations, Gagandeep Brar disclosed that this was in line with the Mandi Board Act. There was earlier confusion on this score with a government notification stating that cheques would be handed over through commission agents. Answering another question, Badal said the government would directly pay institutions for the fee charged from Scheduled Castes and backward caste students.
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12-yr-old dies after ‘beating’ by teacher
Fazilka, October 14 According to the statement of Joginder Kaur, wife of Mohinder Singh, resident of Sher Mohammad village of the nearby Jalalabad subdivision, recorded with the Sadar Police, Jalalabad, her son Sukhwinder Singh alias Raju (12) was studying in Class III in the government primary school of the village. About seven months ago, her son went to the school without wearing a proper uniform. Acccording to Joginder Kaur’s statement, upon this the class teacher got enraged and allegedly beat up his son badly and hit him in the abdomen. After the alleged thrashing, Sukhminder Singh fell ill. Initially the doctors treated him at the civil hospital, Jalalabad. However, he did not recover there. Ultimately he was shifted to Medical College, Faridkot. His mother, Joginder Kaur, has alleged that after suffering blows in the intestine, Sukhminder alias Raju developed some problem. Hence doctors conducted two surgical operations upon him at Government Medical College, Faridkot. After two surgeries he recovered to some extent. After getting treatment for three months, they returned home. However, the boy developed abdominal pain again. Following this, he was admitted to Medical College, Faridkot on October 9. He succumbed to his injuries there on Tuesday at 7.30 pm. He was brought to the civil hospital, Fazilka, in the evening for postmortem. The police has registered a case under Section 174 (unnatural death). On the other hand, the teacher community has resented the move to put “false blame” on their colleague.
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DTOs’ offices to be computerised
Chandigarh, October 14 Reviewing the working of the Transport Department, Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal today directed to computerise all the DTO offices, authorise vehicle sale agencies to issue registration of the vehicles along with sale letter of the vehicles and outsource the driving licence work to professionally competent body. Transport Minister Master Mohan Lal informed the Deputy CM that for this purpose, required funds have already been allocated and National Informatics Centre (NIC) was the implementing agency. Sukhbir said the state government was ready to usher in an era of administrative reforms in the state from December onwards to make the life of ordinary citizen easy. He said it was brought in his notice that there was inordinate delay in registration of new commercial vehicles, thereby their owners have to suffer losses despite heavy investment.
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Seven dengue cases reported
Jalandhar, October 14 Two dengue patients belonged to the family of the PPCC president Mohinder Singh Kaypee. Asked in this regard, Kaypee said his wife Suman Kaypee and his daughter had been admitted to the DMC. He said a grandson of a former minister from Jalandhar city had also been admitted to the DMC at Ludhiana. Besides, there were four other dengue patients from Jalandhar admitted to Ludhiana hospital. However, the district health authorities denied having information with this regard. “We have no information regarding any such case,” said a senior officer of the Health Department here.
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Dal Khalsa to commemorate ’84 riots
Amritsar, October 14 In a communiqué addressed to the SGPC president, members of the executive committee of the Dal Khalsa, Sarbjit Singh Ghuman and Baldev Singh, said the massacre of Sikhs in Delhi and other places had left a deep scar on the psyche of the Sikh people. “Like the Army assault on Darbar Sahib, the 25th anniversary of this holocaust would also be observed by the Sikh groups to remind the perpetrators that Sikhs had neither forgotten nor forgiven them,” Baldev Singh said.
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OTS for sick units extended till Dec 31
Chandigarh, October 14 Disclosing this, Industries Minister Manoranjan Kalia said the decision was taken at a meeting chaired by Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal. Kalia disclosed that the OTS scheme was aimed to rehabilitate the sick units by the state-level financial institutions like the Punjab State Industrial Development Corporation (PSIDC), Punjab Agro Industries Agro Corporation and Punjab Financial Corporation
(PFC).
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