Chandigarh, October 22
District education officers of 19 districts in Punjab (other than Gurdaspur) today terminated the services of 254 elementary teachers who had been allegedly found to have given false information to the government to procure their jobs. Their services have been terminated with immediate effect.

These teachers are among the 560 teachers who are to be removed from service by the government for allegedly giving false information to get jobs. However, no action has been taken against the various district-level officials, who were hand in glove with these teachers.

Meanwhile, a hunt is on to locate the records of 300 of these teachers from Gurdaspur, which had gone missing from the district education office. Sources add that part of the record has been found in a school in Gurdaspur where officials of the education department had undertaken the verification exercise of the teacher’s records.

Minister of Education Upinderjit Kaur is also learnt to have called for a status report of the availability of these records and directed officers that the exercise of terminating the entire lot of tainted teachers should not suffer on this account. The district education officer along with other officials concerned have been asked to come to Chandigarh tomorrow with whatever record was available.

The sources add that a senior official of the education department is said to be involved in the record going missing in order to create confusion in the department about which teachers were in the tainted list and which were not. This official is said to have also identified a person in Pathankot as his “agent” to finalise deals with the tainted teachers.

The government had appointed 7,400 teaching fellows for elementary schools but following their joining, it was found that over 560 had enhanced their merit by submitting false experience certificates. The maximum number of such teachers were from Gurdaspur. 

Ferozepur, October 22
A sexually abused 13-year-old Dalit girl, pregnant for about 45 days, aborted in the toilet of government high school at Talwandi Bhai in Ferozepur district yesterday.

Police sources told The Tribune that Sucha Singh (24), son of Jora Singh, a resident of Jawahar Singh Wala village, had allegedly been sexually exploiting the girl for the past many months. She probably got pregnant in the first week of September this year.

The girl was living at her maternal grandparents’ house in the village near Sucha Singh’s house. She was studying in Class VIII in government high school at Talwandi Bhai in this border district.

Yesterday, she complained of pain in the lower abdomen and went to the school toilet where she aborted the foetus. She was shocked to witness the “abnormal behaviour” of her body and started crying in the toilet. Some of her schoolmates rushed to the toilet and reported the matter to the school principal and other teachers.

The school principal immediately called her maternal grandparents who were shocked over the incident and immediately took the girl to a local hospital and reported the matter to the local police.

The incident was immediately brought to the notice of the senior police authorities, following which an FIR under Sections 376, 313, 316, 201, 506 and 120-B of the IPC was registered against the alleged culprit Sucha Singh and his mother Shinder Kaur at the Ghal Khurd police station.

Preliminary investigations made by the police revealed that Shinder Kaur was a village dai (midwife) who knew that the girl was pregnant. She gave some pills to her son to give these to the girl for consumption. The girl swallowed the pills at night before going to sleep and the following day she went to the school where she underwent the physical and mental trauma of abortion.

Meanwhile, at the time of writing the report, the SHO of the Ghal Khurd police station had raided the house of Sucha Singh twice but he and his mother, Shinder Kaur, had fled from the village and were evading arrest. 

Chandigarh, October 22
Former Chief Minister Amarinder Singh today ridiculed Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal for what he called “a u-turn and double standard on nuclear power plants”. Referring to Badal’s demand to get a nuclear power plant for the state, he said in a statement “it is surprising as it is the same Badal who had opposed the Indo-US Nuclear Deal in Parliament only a year ago”.

The former Chief Minister questioned Badal’s moral authority to demand a nuclear power plant for the state when he and his party had strongly opposed the Indo-US Nuclear Deal in Parliament. “This betrays Badal’s lack of vision and foresight and his sheer double standards,” he remarked.

He asked Badal to specify where this nuclear power plant would be set up in the state. Two nuclear accidents had taken place, due to human error, in the recent past --- at Three Mile island in the US and Chernobyl in the former USSR.

“While I support a nuclear power plant, I do not support it being put in Punjab, which has a high population density. Any accident will not only create havoc in the state but also in Haryana, Delhi and western UP as the winds at high altitude, throughout the year, are westerlies. May be the Chief Minister should look to the desert region of Rajasthan to put this plant alongside the existing nuclear plant already there.”

He questioned the divergent stands taken by the Chief Minister and the Deputy Chief Minister on this issue as Sukhbir’s opposition to nuclear power plants is well known, as can be made out from his earlier utterances. 

Chandigarh, October 22
The SAD- BJP alliance today indicated it was ready to start afresh and reassess all subsidies, including free power to farmers, at the first meeting of the two-member resource mobilisation committee of Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal and Local Bodies and Industries Minister Manoranjan Kalia.

The day also saw Sukhbir Badal playing statesman and applying a salve on the much-troubled SAD-BJP relationship by going to his colleague and BJP Legislature Party leader Kalia’s residence to participate in the meeting.

Both gestures - throwing all subsidies, including the agricultural subsidy, open to discussion as well as showing good grace by going to Kalia’s residence to participate in the meeting---- were welcomed by the BJP, which now feels “the stage has been set to move in the right direction”.

Kalia, when contacted for his comments, said all issues had been discussed “and many inhibitions have been dispelled”. He said both leaders had put forward their viewpoints in a free and frank manner and “each of us appreciated the other’s views”. Refusing to disclose details of the talks held between the two leaders, Kalia said another meeting had been fixed for next week. “ I am confident we will reach a concrete conclusion in two to three meetings”, he added.

The meeting, which lasted two and a half hours, saw the two leaders discussing how to improve the fiscal health of the state as well as ways and means to make the alliance more strong on a one-to-one basis. When asked whether the two leaders had identified areas where expenses needed to be cut and also those from which resources could be generated, Kalia said all issues had been discussed and that the nitty-gritty would be taken up later.

The BJP leader also appreciated Sukhbir’s gesture in coming to his house for the meeting. Kalia said the meeting was earlier scheduled to be held at the Union Territory guesthouse but that Sukhbir offered to come to his house this morning.

According to sources this is the first time the two senior leaders of both parties have met for two and a half hours during the two-and-a-half-year tenure of the SAD-BJP alliance government. There has been immense friction in the relationship between the alliance partners and recently things came to a head with the BJP demanding that the power hike imposed on domestic, commercial and industrial consumers be subsidised. Subsequently, the coordination committee of the alliance formed the two-member committee to conduct a resource mobilisation exercise. 

Ludhiana, October 22
Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal is a silenced man now. The man, who used to reel out facts and figures on the state's economy and had ready arguments to defend the government’s policies, refused to speak to the media  at Jarkhar village, near here, today.

The minister, who talked about a vision and created a furore with his suggestions sometime ago, avoided the queries of mediapersons, stating he had nothing to say on any issue. He was visiting Ludhiana to unveil statues of two hockey olympians, Pirthipal and Surjit Singh Randhawa.

‘‘I will not say anything,’’ was his reply to all questions he was bombarded with. He refused to say anything on the issue of free power to farmers, the PSEB’s allegation that the state government had not paid the board for the subsidies and even the health of coffers of the state.

When he was confronted that being the Finance Minister, he should speak freely about the fiscal health of the state, he smiled and said he could not say anything while eluding similar questions.

He just made an announcement for the village stadium and said the government was committed to providing job avenues to sportspersons so that they could do well in life.

‘‘We just want medals. No matter how much we have to spend on the sports infrastructure,’’ he said, adding that he could not go into details as he was not the Sports Minister. 

Jalandhar, October 22
The Union Government is expected to announce bonus on paddy tomorrow. Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar will visit Punjab’s Rajpura and Khanna grain markets tomorrow. He made his programme to visit Punjab’s grain markets after a meeting with the delegation of the Bharti Kisan Union (Rajewal) in Delhi this morning.

Confirming the visit of Pawar to Khanna, a senior police officer said all arrangements with regard to the visit had been made. He said first Pawar would reach Rajpura by train and then proceed to Khanna, Asia’s largest grain market.

BKU president Balbir Singh Rajewal said he had been assured by Pawar this morning that he would make an announcement with regard to the bonus soon. Rajewal and other leaders of his organisation had a detailed talk with Pawar this morning on the issue related to paddy and also bonus.

The bonus amount could be Rs 50 to Rs 100 per quintal. Rajewal had told Pawar that the Commission for Agriculture Costs and Prices had recommended Rs 980 per quintal as minimum support price of paddy for the current year whereas for last year, it had recommended Rs 1,080 per quintal. Rajewal said there was no logic in recommending less price for the current year when farmers had spent an additional amount of Rs 3,000 per acre to save their crops from drought.

Rajewal had submitted a memorandum to Pawar warning that the farmers would decrease at least 25 per cent area under the wheat crop in case the Union Government did not announce a bonus on paddy. Earlier, the Union Government had promised to review the MSP of paddy but did nothing in this regard.

Ludhiana, October 22
The crime branch of the Punjab Police has declined to undertake the reinvestigation of the case of assault on Major GS Benipal, Tehsildar and Sub-Registrar, on the plea that the SIT formed for the purpose had investigated the case and a challan had also been put up in court.

An application was moved to the Director-General of the Punjab Police on behalf of Simarjit Singh Bains, district president, Youth Akali Dal, Karamjit Singh Karwal, counsellor of the SAD, and others seeking reinvestigation of the case. Benipal was attacked in his office and was dragged out from there. His clothes were also removed.

Rajan Gupta, ADGP (Crime), Punjab, told The Tribune that they had refused to take up reinvestigation, as already a special investigation team (SIT) had been formed for the purpose. “ We have returned the application to the DGP,” he said.

Enquiries by The Tribune showed that the SIT completed its investigations within one month as directed and had arrested eight persons so far. They included Simarjit Singh Bains and Karwal.

DIG, Ludhiana Range, SS Chauhan said a challan against eight persons had already been presented in court and the prosecution proceedings would now start. The process for declaring the remaining 32 persons proclaimed offenders was in progress.

The DIG said the SIT had now been scrapped since the challan had been presented in the court and the police was now further investigating the case.

PS Parmar, SP (Detective), Jalandhar, who headed the three- member SIT, said they were asked to complete the investigation in one month.They did so and submitted the report. The SIT was not functioning since the challan had been presented in the court. Moreover, both DSPs attached with him in the SIT had been transferred too.

SSP Sukhchain Singh Gill was not available for comments despite attempts to contact him. 

Chandigarh, October 22
Maulana Habib-Ur-Rehman Sa-ani Ludhianavi, Shahi Imam, Jama Masjid, Ludhiana, and national president, All-India Majlis Ahrar Islam Hind (Party), yesterday hailed the historic decision of Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal ordering statewide survey of Wakf properties in the state and seeking a report within three months.

Leading a delegation of Muslims from all over Punjab to thank Sukhbir Badal for taking this bold step to get the properties released from illegal occupation and encroachment, the Shahi Imam said it was for the first time after Independence that any leader had taken a conscious decision to restore the Wakf properties back to the Muslim community. He said 25 lakh Muslim residents of Punjab were greatly relieved that the SAD President had taken this bold step to defeat the nefarious designs of the building mafia that was encroaching on these precious Wakf properties.

Seeking stern action against erring officials responsible for alienation and encroachment of these precious Wakf properties, the Shahi Imam demanded fixing of responsibility of officials concerned and stern action against them.

Muktsar, October 22
The BEd Teachers Front has decided to organise a rally at Lambi, the home town of Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, on October 25 to protest against the state government’s “indecisiveness on increasing their pay scales.”

Sandeep Sharma, a spokesman of the Front, said going by the recommendations of the Fifth Pay Commission, the Punjab government should have enhanced their pay scales by now. “However, despite repeated assurances by officials, nothing has been done till now. We had met Education Minister Upinderjit Kaur, who said she had cleared the file and it had been sent to the Finance Ministry for final approval. However, despite the fact that so many months had elapsed, the bureaucrats in the Finance Ministry were still sitting over the file.”

Sharma also claimed that the Chief Minister had assured the teachers that all their genuine demands would be fulfilled before Diwali. However, till now the government has not made any plans to increase the salaries of the teachers.

Ludhiana, October 22
A dengue death was reported from Ludhiana, as a resident of Hoshiarpur who was admitted in DMCH on October 15 died of dengue shock syndrome after 24 hours.

The patient was undergoing treatment in Hoshiarpur, but was referred to DMCH when his condition deteriorated on October 15. Having been admitted in DMCH, Rajesh Kumar was tested positive for dengue.

Medical superintendent at DMCH Sandeep Puri confirmed that the patient had come with high fever and low platelet count adding that he was a confirmed case of dengue fever.

When asked about other cases in the hospital undergoing treatment for dengue, Puri stated that they have symptoms of dengue, but it will be confirmed tomorrow after their test reports come.

“But the situation is under control as compared to the last year’s dengue epidemic, as there are a few cases of dengue that are normal at this time of the year.”

However, district epidemiologist GP Mangla, while speaking to The Tribune stated that except for half a dozen cases reported from the city and its peripheries, the situation in Ludhiana is under control.

“It was the constant effort of the anti-larvae wing of Ludhiana and the team from National Vector Borne Disease Control Program, New Delhi, which were elemental in timely destruction of larvae of AEDES mosquito,” Mangla added. 

Chandigarh, October 22
It may send alarm bells ringing, but Punjab today said there were legal “impediments” in bringing to book jail inmates using mobile phones for chalking out criminal activities. In an affidavit placed before Punjab and Haryana High Court Bench of Chief Justice Tirath Singh Thakur and Justice Mahesh Grover in a matter pertaining to condition of Bathinda jail, DGP (prisons) Anil Kaushik asserted: “The law is silent on the use of mobile by inmates, which is a big impediment in bringing defaulters to book”.

Kaushik admitted mobile phones were indeed being used in jails by the inmates “at times for planning crimes and other dubious activities,” though their number was not sizeable.

Elaborating, Kaushik said: It has been observed that 90 per cent or more inmates, who manage to get mobiles inside, use it to speak to their family or lawyers. It is only 10 per cent or less of mobile users in the jails, who use it for criminal purposes”. Coming out with a solution, Kaushik suggested: “The jails need to be equipped with frequency jammers so that the mobiles in the jails become redundant”. He also mooted the idea of having STD booths inside the jails with safeguards against misuse.

Kaushik blamed drug menace in jails for custodial deaths. “A large number of drug users and peddlers are in jails. To fulfill their requirements, they either manage to smuggle drugs inside or harass the medical staff to prescribe them medicines of their choice. “Quite a few custodial deaths occur because the addict inmates either die of mismanaged withdrawal symptoms, or due to overdose,” Kaushik said.

He said money was generally used to bribe the jail officials, “either to get a choice of barracks or cells; or to prevent hard labour”.

Kaushik also recommended frequent transfer of jail staff to prevent creation of vested interests. “In most of the dubious activities, whether it is smuggling of mobile phones, drugs or currency, connivance of the jail staff is suspected/indicated. Hence, it needs to be ensured warder, head warder, and assistant superintendents remain posted at one station for not more than three years in his entire service. 

Civil Supplies Secy’s  appointment stayed
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, October 22
The High Court has stayed the operation of an order by which the Secretary, Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs, was appointed as appellate authority for cases under the Essential Commodities Act.

The Bench of Justices MM Kumar and Jaswant Singh also issued notice of motion for November 16 on the petition filed in the matter by Jalandhar-based Rajiv Enterprises. Seeking the quashing of the order dated October 15, the petitioner had contended it was ultra vires of the provisions of Section 6 of the Act, as only a judicial officer could be appointed as an appellate authority. 

Moga, October 22
A middle-aged woman and her two children died today after consuming some poisonous substance over a dispute with her lover, with whom she was living for the past three years at Khukhrana village in Moga district.

As per the details available, the woman identified as Jasveer Kaur was first married to Resham Singh, a resident of Khachar Panna village of the Zira subdivision of Ferozepur district. She gave birth to three children Sukhdip Kaur, Amandeep Kaur and Pradip from her husband. They were studying in Class VI, III and II, respectively.

Since, Resham was allegedly a drug-addict, she left him about three years back and started living with one Sukhdev Singh, a resident of Khukhrana village in the Moga district along with her children. After quarrelling with Sukhdev over some issue, she consumed some poisonous substance along with her three children.

They all were first rushed to a hospital at Talwandi Bhai in Ferozepur district, from where they were referred to the district hospital. The woman and her two children were declared brought dead by the doctors. She also gave poison to her third child, a 12-year-old girl, Sukhdip Kaur. However, she was lucky to be saved by the doctors as she was brought to the district hospital in time. The police had begun investigations into the incident.