Nawanshahr, October 27
Some startling facts have come to light about a fake GPF scam, amounting to Rs 1.31 crore in the Primary Health Centre (PHC), Mujjafarpur in the district, unearthed recently, and its prime accused Karampal Goel, pharmacist working at the PHC, Mujjafarpur.

As many as 62 fake GPF sanctions of the employees of the Health Department were prepared by Karampal Goel to draw Rs 1.31 crore from the state exchequer. The fake GPF sanctions were prepared on the pretext of the marriage of the daughters of the employees.

Interestingly, about 90 per cent of the employees in whose names the sanctions were prepared to draw money from their GPF accounts for the purpose of marriage of their daughters, either do not have any daughter or their daughters are not eligible for marriage. Moreover, in a case the sanctions were prepared to draw amount from the GPF account of an employee five times within a span of about one year for the purpose of solemnising marriage of the daughter. The most intriguing fact of the whole episode was that the amount withdrawn on the basis of the fake GPF sanctions of the employees from the state exchequer was not deducted from the GPF accounts of the employees.

Moreover, the sources in the Health Department say that Karampal Goel had been using the tactics to cause a loss to the state exchequer since 1997 and the scam of Rs 1.31 crore unearthed by the police is just a tip of the iceberg as it is related with the money drawn from the state exchequer on the basis of fake GPF sanctions during the period of December 17, 2007, to December 19, 2008.

It is worthwhile to mention here that while the Director, Health and Family Welfare, is a competent authority to sanction drawing of amount from the GPF account of the Class III employees, for Class IV employees, the SMO concerned is a competent authority. For drawing amount from the GPF account for the purpose of daughter marriage, apart from fulfilling a number of formalities, the marriage invitation card, GPF statement and affidavit of the employee concerned are also needed and these are verified by the SMO concerned before sanctioning it or forwarding it for sanction to the Director, Health and Family Welfare Department.

Moreover, When the sanction is accorded, copies of the sanctions are sent to the AG, Punjab, GPF Branch, treasury concerned, SMO and the employee concerned by registered post. In this case, neither the requirements were verified by the officials concerned nor the copies were sent to the departments and employees concerned.

Moreover, since 2002 it has been made mandatory to credit the salaries and other amounts in the bank accounts of the state government employees, but in this case, the direction was also violated as the money was withdrawn in cash allegedly by the prime accused by getting the cheques issued from the SMO concerned instead of crediting the amount in the bank accounts of the employees concerned.

Now, the moot question is when a lot of formalities are required and officials of different departments are involved in the process of sanctioning and withdrawing money from GPF accounts, then is it possible for a few officials of the PHC, Mujjafarpur, to commit such a big fraud without the “active involvement” of the officials of the other departments?

Phagwara, October 27
Former minister and BJP senior leader Balramji Dass Tandon has described the increasing indiscipline in the Punjab BJP as most condemnable.

Talking to newspersons in the office of former Improvement Trust Chairman Om Gupta here this evening, Tandon expressed his hope that the ongoing indiscipline in the BJP at some places, including Amritsar, would be controlled and the party would again come up as strong as before. Tandon suggested to the BJP cadres to bring and discuss their grievances or problems only at a platform instead of going on to the streets.

Answering a question about the proposed power tariff hike, Tandon said the matter was discussed and settled with Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal who had agreed to refund the increased power tariff which was being charged with retrospective effect.

When his attention was drawn towards indifferent attitude of the Badal government on subsidies, the BJP stalwart said the Finance Minister was speaking on the issue with open mind, and he was also of the view that service-oriented charges should be imposed because users charges must be imposed.

To a question on the ongoing differences between the alliance partners, Tandon denied the charge and claimed that both the SAD and BJP were working like a team and the alliance was as strong as rock.

Jalandhar, October 27
The Vigilance Bureau (VB) today arrested the District Education Officer (DEO) of Nawanshahr for allegedly taking bribe of Rs 10,000 from a stationery shop owner.

The DEO, Prem Chand Gupta, a resident of Ropar, was caught accepting the bribe in his office by a team of the bureau. The DEO sought the bribe to make up for the amount he had spent in getting himself transferred from Ropar to Nawanshahar.

The DSP (VB), Nawanshahar, Amarjit Singh, revealed that the DEO had been demanding 5 per cent commission on the supply of stationery by Sarabjit Singh, the complainant. Sarabjit Singh had been running a shop at Bharapur village, near Balachaur, for the last many years and supplying stationery to government and private schools.

The DSP said Sarabjit Singh alleged that the DEO was demanding bribe from him as he was claiming that he had spent a huge amount in getting his station back from the higher officials in the Punjab Education Department.

The VB revealed that Prem Chand Gupta was transferred to Ropar from Nawanshahar following serious complaints against him some months ago. He reportedly managed to come back to the same office a fortnight ago.

A case under the Prevention of Corruption Act has been registered against the DEO in Jalandhar.

Jalandhar, October 27
Everyday when we wake up, we inhale air in the city, which is among the 10 most polluted cities of the country. Unbelievably, Jalandhar was rated as third most polluted city of India by a survey done by Centre for Science and Environment.

Jalandhar ranked third after cities of Raipur and Jahria in the study, which was conducted in 2006. In this scenario, what makes the situation more miserable is status of green cover in and around the city.

In experts view, at least 33 per cent of total area should be under the green cover. But in urban areas, minimum limit should be around 12-13 per cent. However, situation in Jalandhar city, or areas fall under the jurisdiction of the Municipal Corporation, is making the matter worse. Only four per cent of total area of MC Jalandhar is under green cover. It turns out to be approximately six per cent if areas which fall outside the municipal limits, like playgrounds of schools and colleges and other gardens which are not under the supervision of municipal corporation, are also included.

On the other side, level of pollution is much above the normal higher limits. The Punjab Pollution Control Board monitors level of air pollution at four different locations of the city. Though accepted higher limit for Respirable Suspended Particulate Matter is 120 microgram per metre cube, level at all these locations is much higher.

In Industrial Area and Focal Point, this level ranges from 160-180 microgram per metre cube; 165 microgram per metre cube is level around commercial areas. Even in the residential areas, level of RSPM is around 130 microgram per metre cube.

An area of 101.40 sq km falls under municipal limits. There are total 288 parks, which are being maintained by the Horticulture Department of MCJ. As per guidelines, Horticulture wing of MCJ, Improvement Trust, PUDA and Forest Department are responsible to develop and maintain green cover in the city.

MCJ has just started campaign to promote green cover in the city by planting just 500 plants in each ward, but much is needed to be done on this front.

“There are number of open spaces in city like educational institutes, government offices, health centres, factories, alongside roads and electricity grids, where extensive plantation drive can be chalked out. In an open space like Bus Stand, which spanned across acres of land, you can see not even a single noticeable plant. Moreover, in some internal areas of city, there is no space available for plantation as there is no kucha land available in these areas”, said a horticulture expert.

In these situations vertical and satellite forestation can be the best alternative. Saturated plantation can be done alongside the vast network highways, which surround the city. Similarly, an extensive plantation can be done on the dividers of inner roads of the city. All this obviously need a will to chalk out and implement these drives, which can only be made possible by sensitizing people of city and officials and workers of corporation too.

Jalandhar, October 27
A pilgrim was killed and 15 others sustained injuries, four of them serious, when a Panipat-bound private bus rammed into a stationary truck on the busy Ludhiana-Jalandhar highway near Rama Mandi in the wee hours today.

The bus drive also sustained injuries in the accident.The bus, with over 45 pilgrims on board, was heading towards Panipat from Jammu when the mishap occurred. Residents of Panipat, the pilgrims were on their way back to home after paying obeisance at the Vaishnu Devi shrine in Jammu when the bus rammed into the truck, loaded with paddy, from behind.

The police said Satish Kumar, a pilgrim, succumbed to injuries after being hospitalised in a private hospital in Rama Mandi. Condition of Ramesh Kumar, another pilgrim, was critical.

The SHO of Sadar police station, Rajinder Singh, revealed that the bus driver lost control over the steering wheel while overtaking another vehicle thus resulting in the accident.

The pilgrims with minor injuries were discharged, while the seriously injured are still undergoing treatment at the hospital.

The body of Satish Kumar was handed over to the family members after post-mortem examination at the Civil Hospital.

Meanwhile, the police has booked the bus driver, Prakash Chand, for rash and negligent driving.