Chandigarh, October 20
Certain sitting members of the Rajya Sabha from Punjab may not be able to retain their seats when elections are held early next year to elect seven new members of the Upper House of Parliament.

While five of the sitting members from Punjab — Varinder Singh Bajwa (Shiromani Akali Dal), Manohar Singh Gill (Congress), Naresh Gujral (Shiromani Akali Dal), Dharam Pal Sabharwal (Congress) and Ashwani Kumar (Congress) — complete their terms in the first half of April, the remaining two — Rajmohinder Singh Majithia (Shiromani Akali Dal) and Ambika Soni (Congress) — will have membership till the first week of July. Interestingly, both Manohar Singh Gill and Ambika Soni are members of the Union Council of Ministers headed by Manmohan Singh.

Going by the present strength of different political parties in the Punjab Vidhan Sabha, of all seven seats to fall vacant next year, four will go to the ruling SAD-BJP alliance and the remaining three to the Congress. It clearly indicates that at least one of the sitting Congress Rajya Sabha members has to sit out next time. Both Manohar Singh Gill and Ambika Soni look apparent certainties to retain their seats. Since New Delhi is playing host to the 2010 Commonwealth Games, Manohar Singh Gill is actively involved in the event.

Even Ambika Soni, because of her seniority in the party and the decision of the party not to field her during the last general election, makes her a certainty for a berth from Punjab in the Rajya Sabha.

The choice for the third Congress seat will be limited not only to the sitting members — Dharam Pal Sabharwal and Ashwani Kumar — but also other possible candidates, including Jagmeet Singh Brar, who may be inclined to get into the Rajya Sabha after several aborted attempts to get into the Lok Sabha.

The SAD-BJP alliance will also have a problem of plenty in renominating its candidates. Some senior SAD leaders like Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa and Balwinder Singh Bhunder besides Deputy Chairman of the State Planning Board J.S. Bajaj, Advocate-General Hardev Singh Mattewal, Media Adviser Harcharan Bains and Secretary of the Dal Daljeet Singh Cheema will be new claimants in addition to the sitting Rajya Sabha members. Besides them, former Chairman of the National Minorities Commission and sitting Rajya Sabha member from Haryana Tarlochan Singh will also be a claimant to the SAD-BJP ticket. Then there will be pressures from the BJP as well.Punjab BJP chief Rajinder Singh Bhandari is also said to be in the run. Another strong BJP contender will be Avinash Rai Khanna.

The ball will be in the court of the Badals to decide future Rajya Sabha members from Punjab. In all probability the elections may be held for all seven seats in March next year during the Budget session of the Punjab Vidhan Sabha.

Amritsar, October 20
The Sikh Gurdwara Judicial Commission, led by Manmohan Singh Brar, has revoked a controversial audit contract granted by the SGPC under “political pressure” to a firm -SS Kohli and Associates- at a whopping fee of Rs 3.5 lakh per month. The SGPC had hired the services of the firm in January for conducting the audit of its accounts.

Subsequently, the arrangement was challenged by SAD (Panch Pardhani) special secretary Balbir Singh Sirsa in July. He had alleged that the contract was awarded to “oblige” certain political bigwigs and that the SGPC chief had given away the contract to appease certain politicians.

Meanwhile, SGPC chief Avtar Singh has said that the contract was given to modernise the audit procedure of the SGPC. He said though he had not gone through the commission verdict order as yet, the SGPC would honour it. The SGPC would also seek legal opinion in this respect as soon as possible, he added.

In its order, the commission has held that the SGPC president was not vested with powers to employ any person whose monthly salary crossed the mark of Rs 7,000 and hence, the arrangement stood revoked.

The SGPC authorities, it was learnt, had allegedly awarded the contract to the firm in a hasty manner, as it had not deemed it fit to call for any tenders through any advertisement. The contract was awarded only on basis of a resolution passed by the SGPC executive.

Amritsar, October 20
The issue of alleged leasing out of over 20,000 acres of gurudwara land by the SGPC authorities for peanuts to certain “favoured ones” popped-up once again with former Akal Takht Jathedar Bhai Ranjit Singh asking SGPC chief Avtaar Singh to come out with an explanation. Amritsar District Congress Committee (Rural) chief Sukhjinder Raj Singh (Lally Majithia) has also filed an RTI application to seek details of the alleged deals from the SGPC.

Bhai Ranjit Singh, who was asked to vacate the house given to him by Guru Ramdas Charitable Trust, has shot back with a bundle of allegations against the SGPC authorities and particularly against its chief Avtar Singh. He has also alleged that the SGPC had leased out over 20,000 acres of agricultural land to his “favourite” persons at a nominal fee of about Rs 200 per acre. He also accused the SGPC of turning a blind eye to a scam involving many top Akali leaders whose wards had done MBBS and other courses from SGPC-run institutions without submitting requisite fee.

“If this was not enough, most of the nearly 250 SGPC employees had become a burden on the Sikh Panth as they were being used as cooks and drivers by different Akali leaders. A piece of 27 acres of gurudwara land in Shahabad Markanda in Haryana was leased out to a trust for just Rs 10,000. Similarly, another 20 acres and an amount of Rs 4 lakh was given to another trust under a resolution passed by the SGPC on September 9. I am ready to hold an open discussion on the issue. Is the SGPC chief ready for it?” questioned Bhai Ranjit Singh.

He demanded the SGPC should bring out a white paper on the issue and apprise the sangat about the deals.

SGPC chief Avtar Singh was not available for comment on the issue.

On the other hand, DCC (Rural) president Lally Majithia sought to throw a spanner in the wheels of the SGPC authorities by filing an application under the RTI Act to seek detailed information on all deals, including the SGPC leased properties.

He has also sought details specifying as to how the rights granted for live telecast of Gurbani were transferred “overnight” from one TV channel to the other.

Chandigarh, October 20
Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal would be making a strong case before Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to persuade him to not give the nod to the restoration of the post of the Chief Commissioner for Chandigarh.

Highly placed sources in the Chief Minister’s office said the Chief Minister was concerned about the Centre handing over charge of the UT administration to a chief commissioner which would mean jeopardising the state’s claim to Chandigarh.

“The replacement of the Punjab Governor as the Administrator of Chandigarh by the Chief Commissioner system widely and fundamentally affects Punjab’s claim over Chandigarh,” said a source in the Chief Minister office.

He added that the move would be seen by Punjabis as a conscious and calculated attempt by the Centre to end the state’s claim over Chandigarh and the administration of the city would come directly under the Centre.

“Also the fact remains that Chandigarh is the capital of Punjab. In fact, the issue is a touchy one and any insidious move on part of the Centre can even provoke passion of the Punjabis,” added the source.

The Badals had also met the Prime Minister over the issue recently, but since there had been no response from the Centre, it is being felt that there was a need to object to the move more strongly, including writing to the Prime Minister.

The Chief Minister is believed to have asked his team to also see if a legal remedy is available to the state in case the move fructifies. The Punjab State Reorganisation Act 1966 and the Rajiv Gandhi-Longowal accord are being studied afresh to see if the state has any preferential rights over who will hold the post of the Chief Commissioner.

Under Article 239 of the Constitution of India, the government of an adjacent state can be appointed as the Administrator of a Union Territory. Last month, it was reported that the Union Home Ministry had decided to restore the post of the Chief Commissioner and get the requisite changes on the ground by the time the present Punjab Governor and UT Administrator Gen SF Rodrigues’s (retd) ends his term in mid-November.

The post of the Chief Commissioner was created following the Punjab Reorganisation in 1966 and continued till the 1980s when it was felt that a better coordination was required between Punjab and Chandigarh to combat terrorism in the state.

Baba Bakala, October 20
More than 90 per cent villages in the state have been facing an uphill task to ensure proper disposal of sewage even as the state government is busy making arrangements to ensure proper disposal of wastewater in these villages on a priority basis.

Meanwhile, the state government has decided to extend the facility of grant of on-the-spot power connections to all religious places for the installation of tubewells on lines of priority power connections for common village lands.

“Ninety per cent villages in the state are coming across a common problem pertaining to proper disposal of sewage and wastewater. We have taken the task on priority and will come out with an early solution. Not only this, village ponds are the other problem area and these are being cleaned under a NREGA scheme,” said Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal.

He was here to hold a sangat darshan programme for residents and panchayats of about 40 villages. He also distributed grants worth Rs 1.40 crore among panchayats for the completion of development projects.

Badal said 75 per cent of problems put up before him at today’s programme could have been solved at the level of the DC. “People should come forth only with those complaints in these programmes which cannot be tackled by local administration officials,” said Badal. Talking about standoff between BJP MLA Anil Joshi and Amritsar SSP Kunwar Vijay Partap Singh, Badal said action would be taken only after a thorough probe into the issue.

Chandigarh, October 20
With the one-month deadline fixed for taking a decision on resource mobilisation as well as the entire gamut of subsidies in Punjab by a sub-committee coming to an end today without the committee meeting at all, the BJP has put the blame for the inability of the committee to make any recommendations on its alliance partner SAD.

A sub-committee, comprising Deputy CM Sukhbir Badal and Local Bodies and Industries Minister Manoranjan Kalia, was formed on September 20 after the BJP protested against the imposition of power hike on domestic and industrial consumers and demanded that the hike be subsidised.The alliance coordination committee formed a two-member sub-committee to look into ways and means to raise resources to do so, besides assuring that it would approach the State Electricity Regulatory Commission and seek to subsidise the power hike at a later stage.

However, with the panel unable to meet even once, the BJP claims that it has raised suspicion among trader and industrial associations as to whether the government stands committed to its assurance, according to senior BJP leader and former minister Balramji Das Tandon. The senior leader today claimed that the government and the PSEB were taking unilateral decisions without taking the agreement between the alliance partners on the issue of power hike into consideration.

Tandon claimed that even while power bills had been issued at enhanced rates to consumers, there was not a single clarification from any single agency the PSEB, power department, public relations department or the chief minister’s office assuring the public that the government stands committed to its assurance that the enhanced bills would be adjusted later in subsequent bills.

Meanwhile, Local Bodies Minister Manoranjan Kalia said a meeting of the committee fixed for October 12 was postponed at the Deputy CM’s instance, as the latter was “overbusy”. “I have yet to receive any communication as to when the meeting will happen again,” he said.

Amritsar, October 20
Four-laning of the Amritsar-Attari road is likely to be completed by June next year, even as the woes of lakhs of tourists and commuters would come to an end by December when the under-construction elevated road linking the Bhandari bridge and the Jalandhar road would be thrown open for vehicular traffic.

Similarly, the second phase of the much-hyped elevated road to the Golden Temple would be completed by June next year, facilitating hassle-free visit by tourists without coming across traffic snarls.

“There are a number of Centre-sponsored and monitored projects, including the integrated trade check post at Attari, which are witnessing a fast progress,” said Vini Mahajan, joint secretary with the Prime Minister’s Office, who visited both cities to take stock of the progress of various projects underway at different places in the area.

Mahajan said first phase of construction at the Attari railway station was over and customs officials would be shifting to the new building soon. “The Government of India is supporting a couple of schemes, including the water supply and sewerage system projects in urban areas of the state. The Centre has earmarked a Rs 400-crore package for various development projects,” said Mahajan, who also discussed the progress of the projects with senior administrative officials.

She said though the residents and tourists were facing inconvenience owing to delay in completion of the elevated road project, but once the project is completed, they would witness a smooth flow of traffic to the holy city that is an attraction for tourists from across the world.

Amritsar, October 20
The UPA government might have been boasting about its ongoing efforts to contain inflation, the price of onion is skyrocketing with each passing day in the region.

Though the common man has been suffering due to this, neither the state nor the Centre has done anything to check the widening gap between retail and wholesale prices of the essential commodities.

A quick survey of different markets in the state revealed that consumers were hard-pressed to buy onion at a high price of Rs 25-30 per kg in retail markets in major cities like Amritsar, Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Bathinda, and Patiala. However, the same was available between Rs 10 and Rs 15 a kg about a month ago.

Intriguingly, the wholesale price of good quality onion was between Rs 1,500 and Rs 1,600 a quintal which meant that the wholesale price of the commodity was between Rs 15 and Rs 16 a kg.

“Onion is priced at Rs 1,500 and Rs 1,600 a quintal in wholesale markets across the Doaba region,” confirmed Prince, a Jalandhar-based onion wholesaler.

While retailers have been making all out efforts to reap maximum profits by blaming floods in certain Southern states for the sudden hike in onion prices, wholesalers clarified that there was no visible impact of floods on the supply of onion to the North region. “In fact, this way the profit of a retailer has jumped up to 100 per cent from a usual of 20-30 per cent,” said a trader.

“The high price of onion has shattered the budget of households and so is in the case of potatoes which are available for a price ranging between Rs 15 and Rs 20 per kg,” said Deep Kaur of Silver Enclave colony here.

On the other hand, Director of the State Bank of Patiala Ashwani Gupta said on an estimate, the daily vegetable expenditure of a family of four revolved about Rs 1,500 a month. “How can a person with an income range of Rs 5,000-6,000 a month survive in such a condition? he asked.

Patiala, October 20
Punjab Transport Minister Master Mohan Lal today fired a fresh salvo at former Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh, while stating that during his tenure, Amarinder wanted to shut down the Pepsu Road Transport Corporation (PRTC), labelling it as one of the corporation running in loss. Expressing these views, Mohan Lal, who was in the city to honour the PRTC employees for their meritorious services, said immediately after the change of regime, there had been a major turn around and now the PRTC is a profit-making corporation.

Speaking to mediapersons, he said, “the SAD-BJP government waived off PRTC’s loan amounting to Rs 200 crore and now the corporation is in profit. The said transformation is the result of good governance.” He further said that soon the PRTC would get 600 new buses. “Under the kilometre scheme, the PRTC will get 150 new buses in near future,” he announced.

Chandigarh, October 20
The Punjab and Haryana High Court has made it clear to Punjab that failure to comply with the orders on carrying out inspection and submission of status report on protected monument status for Quila Mubarak would be viewed seriously.

The Division Bench of Chief Justice Tirath Singh Thakur and Justice Mahesh Grover has even asked the Secretary concerned to be present in the court in case of non-compliance of the earlier orders.

As the matter came up, state counsel Rupinder Khosla expressed his inability to say whether the state government had taken any action pursuant to order dated July 22 on inspection and other issues.

The Bench observed: “We had by the order directed the state government to have property inspected and evaluated afresh and submit a status report whether any part deserves to be declared a protected monument.

“Khosla says the needful, even if it has not yet been done, shall be done by the state government within three weeks and the status report filed in the court”. Fixing November 9 as the next date of hearing, the Bench asserted Khosla and central government counsel OS Batalvi would by then file the status reports.

“In case the order of July 22 is not complied with by the state government and status report not filed as directed, the Secretary to the state government, in charge of the department concerned, shall remain present in person”, the Bench concluded.

The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has already asserted vested interests are creating hazards for “heritage” Quila Mubarak in Nabha; and wants the state to protect it from “decay” and “encroachments”.

The high court is currently hearing a petition filed against the State of Punjab and other respondents by Raj Kumar of Nabha and another petitioner. The petitioners are seeking directions to the respondents to quash the proceedings dated April 17, 2007, based on the state's decision to lease out Quila Mubarak in Patiala district for 66 years.

This, they had claimed, was illegal and without jurisdiction. So far, the state has only declared “Rani Hall” a protected place, leaving out the rest of the Quila out of the process.