Chandigarh, November 3
Punjab came to a near stop today with the day-long statewide bandh call given by radical Sikh outfits paralysing rail and road services and throwing normal life out of gear.

The bandh call, given by the Dal Khalsa, Damdami Taksal, All-India Sikh Students Federation, Khalsa Action Committee, SAD (Panj Pardhani) and SAD (Longowal), to protest against the alleged inaction against the 1984 riot accused passed off peacefully without any untoward incident being reported from anywhere in the state. It had a limited effect in Chandigarh.

A number of trains originating from Amritsar, Ludhiana and Ferozepur were cancelled while some others were terminated due to blockades set up by the Dal Khalsa and Khalsa Action Committee activists between Rajpura and Shambhu and at Amritsar on the mainline Ambala-Amritsar section that provides a link to the national capital and Jammu and Kashmir.

Affected trains included Amritsar-New Delhi Shatabdi Express, Amritsar-Nanded Sachkhand Express, New Delhi-Amrtisar Shatabdi Express, Amritsar-New Delhi Inter City Express, Amritsar-Hardwar Jan Shatabdi Express, Howrah-Amritsar Express, Ahmedabad-Jammu Express as well as a number of passenger trains. A number of trains were terminated at Ambala and other stations in Haryana while others were stranded at railway stations in Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Gurdaspur and Batala.

The Dal Khalsa activists also did not allow plying of state-owned roadways as well as private buses at various places in Punjab and also the Union Territory. Shops and business establishments remained closed in most parts of the state even as essential services remained unaffected.

At Amritsar, no Punjab Roadways bus was allowed to move out of the main bus stand even as hundreds of passengers were left stranded at the railway station there. Activists of radical groups cut off the Jammu-Delhi rail link at 4.30 am by squatting on the Bhaiyan Da Shivala railway crossing. The Shatabdi was cancelled immediately and no train could reach Amritsar station till late afternoon. The police stopped agitators from moving with unsheathed swords at Ram Bagh chowk and in the Sultanwind area.

In Ludhiana, except for a clash between activists of two radical organisations, the bandh passed off peacefully. Shops, business establishments, industrial units and educational institutions remained closed for most of the day. Markets which did not respond to the bandh call in the morning were forced to down shutters after groups of youth brandished unsheathed swords.

In Patiala the bandh was marked by stray incidents of mild lathicharge. Various Sikh organisations resorted to ‘chakka jam’ in different parts of the city. Some Sikh groups made a futile attempt to close the gates of Punjabi University and the main bus stand but they were thwarted by the police, which resorted to mild lathicharge to disperse the protesters. The police also dispersed a group led by SAD councillor Kanwaljeet Singh Gona who led a dharna outside the bus stand. Most of the protesters were wearing T-shirts having photographs of Sikh ideologue Jarnail Singh Bhindrawale.

The bandh passed off peacefully in Jalandhar. Vehicular traffic was restored after 5 pm. In Moga, groups protested outside the district headquarters and blocked traffic on the national highway. Traffic on the Moga-Barnala road was also disrupted following a sit-in.

In Bathinda, the main bus stand wore a deserted look as all private transport, including buses of the Badal family, remained off the roads. Activists of radical organisations forced closure of markets in Abohar and Fazilka in Ferozepur district. Markets also remained closed in Mansa.

The call for the bandh evoked a good response across Sangrur and Barnala districts.

Meanwhile in Chandigarh, Bhartiya Kisan Union (Rajewal) activists led by its president, Balbir Singh Rajewal, submitted a memorandum to the Governor, Lt Gen (retd) S F Rodrigues, to protest against the delay in providing justice to the victims of the 1984 riots. Traffic was disrupted at a few places in the city in the afternoon but educational institutions as well as commercial centres remained open.

Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal thanked the people of the state for a peaceful bandh and appreciated the role of the state civil and police administration.

(With inputs from S.P. Sharma, Varinder Singh, Kanchan Vasdev, Kulwinder Sandhu, Umesh Dewan, Bipin Bhardwaj and Shariq Majeed) 

Amritsar, November 3
The overwhelming and unexpected support extended by the people of Punjab, irrespective of religious affiliations, to the Punjab bandh notwithstanding, almost all educational institutes and offices of the SGPC remained open during the bandh.

The SGPC runs four medical, engineering and dental colleges, including Amritsar-based Guru Ramdas Medical College, around 40 senior secondary and public schools and around 22 colleges in Punjab and other parts of the country, like Haryana and Maharashtra.

What surprised one and all was that apart from almost all of these educational institutes, offices of the SGPC at its headquarters here remained operational all through the day and the staff worked as usual in these offices. The SGPC authorities, sources said, had even directed heads of these institutes to keep their offices open.

Ironically, all other major educational institutions, like Khalsa College and even the institutions run by the DAV group and the Chief Khalsa Diwan, remained closed in the entire state. “It is a matter of shame that the SGPC, which is the Mini Parliament of the Sikhs, did not bother to respond and close its offices and institutions particularly when the bandh call was given to seek justice for Sikh victims of 1984 riots. Even the authorities at Punjabi University, Patiala, had responded to the bandh call,” rued the Dal Khalsa general secretary Kanwarpal Singh.

An SGPC official admitted that all offices and institutes of the SGPC worked as usual today.

The call for the bandh was given by the Dal Khalsa to lodge its protest against the delay in grant of justice to 1984 riot victims for over 25 years. The bandh was supported by a number of Sikh bodies, including all factions of the AISSF, the Khalsa Action Committee, the DSGMC, Damdami Taksal, SAD (Longowal), a group from within the SGPC, and veteran Akali leader Kuldip Singh Wadala.

The Dal Khalsa, while expressing its gratitude to the people of Punjab for their cooperation in making the bandh successful, said it was a verdict against the politics of genocide started by the Congress 25 years ago. 

Chandigarh, November 3
Senior Congress leader and Gurdaspur MP Partap Singh Bajwa today urged party president Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to intervene and ensure an increase in bonus on paddy announced by the Centre recently.

In a statement here, the leader said party MPs from Punjab had also met Union Food Minister Sharad Pawar to request for a bonus of at least Rs 100 per quintal to compensate farmers for heavy input costs borne by them due to a partial monsoon failure this year. The Centre had earlier announced a bonus of Rs 50 per quintal.

Bajwa said Punjab was an agrarian economy and that 70 per cent of its population engaged in agriculture. He said in such a situation it was also important for the Centre and the state to work in tandem to make up losses incurred by the farmers.

“In this context, I would like to make an appeal to Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal to avoid wasting his time in frivolities and negative practices like forever attacking the Centre for the non-resolution of imaginary grievances. Badal should provide relief to the farmers of the state by providing a matching grant from the state exchequer to make up the bonus to Rs 100.”

The leader said this would not only provide much needed relief to farmers, but would also give concrete evidence of Badal’s credentials as a leader and well-wisher of farmers. Bajwa said besides this, farmers had also incurred losses due to “malpractices, bungling and corruption” as a result of the collusion between procurement agencies and private buyers.

Chandigarh, November 3
A high-level delegation of the Shiromani Akali Dal led by its President and Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal will meet the National Human Rights Commission tomorrow in Delhi seeking justice for the victims of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.

Disclosing this, Dr Daljit Singh Cheema, spokesman and secretary of the party, said the delegation would include MPs from the state as well as members of the core committee of the party.

He said the delegation would seek immediate action against the culprits of the Sikh carnage and justice for the victims of these riots which were directed against the community at the “instance of the Congress” which was in power at Centre at that time.

Amritsar, November 3
The scheduled visit of President Pratibha Patil for the launch of Nanhi Chhan project at the Golden Temple on November 9, has been postponed, according to a communication received here from the Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Delhi.

According the district administration, the President was to attend a function to dedicate the project for the protection of a girl child and to enhance green cover in the state.

The administration said new date for the visit of the President had not been communicated to them

Amritsar, November 3
To make thousands of its young workers establish their links at grassroots levels, the Punjab Youth Congress (PYC) has planned to impart training to them, particularly to over 2,900 of its delegates, by organising over 2,000 camps across the state.

The PYC leadership has already been striving hard to take the “aam admi ka sipahi” programme initiated by Rahul Gandhi, who had also participated in a delegation training programme held in Ludhiana recently.

President of the PYC and Anandpur Sahib MP Ravnit Bittu said under the programme, the first training session would be organised in Gurdaspur tomorrow, followed by training sessions in Jalandhar, Kapurthala and Amritsar on November 5 and 6, respectively.

“The training sessions are a sort of self-appraisal programmes wherein, delegates will be assessing their own performance in respect of membership and identification of problems of their respective areas,” said Bittu.

While Amritsar has over 200 delegates looking after different blocks, the state has 2,900 PYC delegates who have been assigned task to speed up the PYC membership drive and identify problems of the common people.

During these camps, delegates and youngsters will also be imparted training regarding the proper use of the RTI Act.

Jalandhar, November 3
Is there any role for MLAs to play in the governance of the state? Yes, there is. The Parliamentary Affairs Department, Punjab, will organise a series of lectures from tomorrow for MLAs of the ruling SAD-BJP combine as well as for the opposition to make them aware of their role in the governance of the state.

Mostly MLAs feel that they have nothing to do with governance. Their job is only to interact with party workers at the constituency level and get their work done from the officials concerned. They rarely join debate in public on policy issues and the programmes related to various departments.

The executive, in fact, draws its power from the Assembly that enacts laws and frames policies for the executive to implement.

MLAs could point out flaws in the implementation of any policy and programme and to enable them to do so, there was a need to provide information regarding functioning of the various departments.

“We have planned a series of lectures for MLAs beginning from tomorrow,” said Tikshan Sud, Minister for Parliamentary Affairs. Tomorrow’s lecture will be about the various aspects of the Agriculture Department and its off-shoots, said Sud. Agriculture experts had been invited from the PAU to give lectures. The MLAs will meet at the Mahatma Gandhi State Institute of Public Administration.

A few weeks ago, the Union Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, Pawan Kumar Bansal, had convened a meeting of his counterparts in the states. At that meeting, it was decided to hold training, study tours, research assistance for Members of Parliament and state legislatures. At that meeting, ministers from various states had opined that elected representatives required to be given detailed information regarding activities of various departments and programmes being run by them.

Already, states like Bihar have set up a training bureau for MLAs; Kerala has set up the Institute of Parliamenaty Affairs and Karnataka runs a Karnataka Institute of Law and Parliamentary Affairs. The Punjab government has also planned to set up an institute. 

Gurdaspur, November 3
The crisis in the state unit of the Congress has been deepening day by day as the party high command has started identifying those leaders and workers, who have been spreading rumours regarding the appointment of the new chief of the state unit in place of Mohinder Singh Kaypee by planting reports in the media.

Sources close to the Congress high command confirmed that Mohsina Kidwai, general secretary, AICC, and in charge, Punjab Congress affairs, had conveyed her displeasure that the issue regarding the appointment of the president of the state Congress unit was being taken up in the media by vested interests.

The sources said Kidwai had asked the senior leaders of the party to identify the persons who were spreading the rumour that Kaypee would be changed. She had also made it clear that there was no plan to replace Kaypee at the moment as the recruitment drive of the party was on and it would go till December-end. 

Chandigarh, November 3
Basmati that fetched farmers very good returns last year has disappointed them this year. The prices of PUSA 1121 and the traditional “mucchal” - both basmati varieties - have crashed to half of last year’s rates. Farmers who chose to cultivate basmati expecting to earn more and also to save water are now in for a double whammy as there seem to be no buyers.

Initially, when PUSA 1121 started arriving in the mandis, farmers were expecting Rs 3,000 per quintal. But much to the disappointment of those who brought in the produce initially, the price never crossed Rs 2,000. Even at this price there are very few buyers, either from among the procurement agencies or private traders.

According to Harbans Singh Rosha, a commission agent in Asia’s largest mandi at Khanna, farmers have started holding onto their produce after realising that there are no takers. While traditional basmati will still take about a week to reach the mandis, the combine harvested PUSA 1121 variety is fetching Rs 1,700 per quintal while the one harvested by hand is fetching Rs 250 more.

At present the Khanna mandi is receiving about 2,000 bags per day of PUSA 1121, but even this is not being procured the same day. According to Rosha, “Once ‘mucchal’ (ordinary basmati) starts arriving in mandis towards the middle of November, it is expected to fetch around Rs 1,500 per quintal only”.

Chief Manager, MARKFED, M.B.S. Sandhu has described the fall in the price of basmati mainly to the increase in crop size in the region. “In Punjab and western Uttar Pradesh, the area under cultivation of basmati has gone up by around two and a half times as compared to last year, though by simple economics one would expect the price to drop in comparison”. He said that most farmers who went in for basmati were expecting a price of around Rs 2,000 this time. This in terms of numbers means that a farmer will be able to fetch around Rs 36,000 per acre with a mean produce of around 18 quintals per acre.

Though the Punjab Government is expecting a bumper harvest of 140 lakh metric tonnes, farmers who have grown basmati are not too comfortably placed. The government procurement agencies are purchasing only paddy as agencies such as Markfed have entered into a contract with farmers to grow basmati for them. Markfed has around 50,000 acres under contract farming and these farmers will take the produce direct to the godowns of Markfed without going to the mandis. With a prior commitment, such agencies cannot lift basmati from the market, further causing a crash in the prices.

With the state expecting a bumper crop, the plight of the farmers is only going to become more worrisome, unless the government decides to step in to help. Recent reports about Punjab’s basmati not meeting international standards too have led to outside agencies shying away from local basmati. 

Chandigarh, November 3
While it is mandatory to have a Ph.D. degree in engineering for holding the post of a principal in an engineering college, the rule is being defied in many private engineering colleges in Punjab.

In one such case that has been investigated by TNS, principal of an engineering college in Muktsar appear to have obtained a doctorate in Sociology, and that too even before he secured a M.Sc ( Technology) degree.

The enterprising principal obtained a doctorate in sociology from North Bengal University in 1994 and a M.Sc ( Technology) degree from Pune University in 1995. The subject of his Ph.D. thesis was on tribes in Arunachal Pradesh. He also claims to have a M.A.(English) degree from Himachal University, obtained in 1976.

Though the principal in question claims to have authored 30 books and to have conducted nano-technology courses under AICTE, he seemed to have no recollection of where he himself had studied nano-technology first. But while parrying the question, he said, “ I have delivered many lectures and presented papers on nano-technology.”

Based on the degrees ( copies of which are with TNS) the gentleman first secured a position as principal in an engineering college in Ludhiana in 2002, after being elevated from the post of training and placement officer in the same college.

As per AICTE rules, candidates for the post of principal should hold Ph. D degree in any branch of engineering/ management with a first class degree in Bachelors’ or Master’s level. For computer engineering / computer technical education Ph D Degree in computer sciences is required with a first class MCA degree.

However, as proof of 15 years of teaching, the principal had produced experience certificates issued by the Indian Army. The artillery regiment at Nasik issued a certificate in May 1995 that says that he had held various appointments at various periods of time. But it is unclear as to which regiments he had served and taught and during which period.

The gentleman is at present serving as visiting faculty at the Adesh Institute of Engineering and Technology ( AIET) at Faridkot and engaging classes on electronics and communication engineering. He also claims to be guiding several Ph.D. students.

Chairman of Adesh Group of Institutes, Dr H S Gill defended him and said, “ He is duly educated for the post he is serving at. Three years ago, AICTE had also approved his appointment.” When asked about Col Grewal’s doctorate in sociology, Dr Gill said there are several loopholes by which one can hold the position of principal.

However, the regional officer AICTE, Dr Chandrashekhar Verma clarified that no person can hold office of director-principal of a technical institute unless and until he or she has a Ph D in engineering.

Chandigarh, November 3
In an attempt to effectively douse the problem of wheat and paddy straw burning, the Punjab state has asked all deputy commissioners to submit detailed action taken reports by November 15.

Punjab and Haryana have assured a Division Bench of the Punjab and Haryana High Court that the committees, earlier constituted by it, are effectively monitoring the implementation of the action plans for tackling the menace.

The assertions came during the resumed hearing of a PIL on the menace of wheat and paddy straw burning in the two states. Taking on record the claims made by the two states, the Bench of Chief Justice Tirath Singh Thakur and Justice Mahesh Grover called for a status report from the committees. Fixing December 15 as the next date of hearing, the Bench asserted: “In the circumstances, we do not, for the present, consider it necessary to issue any further directions, except that the committees constituted vide order dated October 15, 2008, would continue to monitor the progress made in the implementation of the action plan”.

Punjab has already launched an awareness drive on the threat to the environment due to straw burning. Only recently, the state in an affidavit filed before the high court claimed the agriculture department was holding as many as 40 district-level, 280 block-level and 1400 village-level awareness programme each year.

The affidavit had added Punjab Energy Development Agency too would promote the setting up of biomass power plants in the state. In fact, it was proposed to set up 29 units of 330 MW capacity plants by 2011-12.

Besides this, the Punjab pollution control board would “take up the monitoring of the ambient air quality in the districts of Gurdaspur, Hoshiarpur, Sangrur, Mohali, Patiala, Ludhiana, Amritsar and Bathinda during the wheat and paddy straw burning period”.

Patiala, November 3
The Punjab Civil Medical Service (PCMS-I) Association has demanded that the pay fixation formula for PCMS doctors should be amended as per the recommendations of the Punjab Pay Commission.

The pay commission had recommended parity of the pay scales of PCMS doctors with Central Government Health Services (CGHS) doctors, on the pattern of the Union government to take into account the dearness allowance admissible on the pre-revised quantum of Non-Practicing Allowance (NPA) admissible to the doctors on January 1, 2006.

The Punjab government has so far not worked upon that recommendation. The CGHS doctors after 20 years of regular service are given dynamic assured career progression, with grade pay of Rs 10,000 per month, an allowance not given to the PCMS doctors.

The general fitment tables released by the Punjab government are causing a loss of Rs 2,000 to Rs 5,000 per month to each doctor.

The association has demanded the higher administrative grade (HAG) with grade pay of Rs 12,000 for the directors of Health Services, as admissible in the Union Government.

The association further demanded immediate filling up of the post of director, Punjab Health Systems Corporation (PHSC).

The post has been lying vacant since the past one month due to which the supervision of over 200 hospitals under the control of the PHSC has been adversely affected.

It has also demanded the immediate appointment of the Director of Health Services, Family Welfare.

The association has demanded the up-gradation of all posts of deputy directors and joint directors to those of additional directors and bracketing of the district civil surgeons with the deputy commissioners in protocol. It demanded that the civil surgeon and not the deputy commissioner should be the chairman of the district health society and other health committees.

The association strongly criticised the irrational posting and transfer policy being followed by the health department.

It said all district programme officers should be re-designated as deputy civil surgeons and senior medical officers of district level hospitals re-designated as medical superintendents and senior-most medical officers must be appointed to control the peripheral health institutions. 

Ex-servicemen’s body gets HC rap
Saurabh Malik
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, November 3
The Punjab Ex-Servicemen Corporation has literally received a rap on its knuckles, for “dragging its feet through mindless litigation”, and for allowing “heartburns to escalate for the workmen by engaging them in long-drawn litigations”.

The Punjab and Haryana High Court has also asserted the corporation ought to treat its staff “with respect and esteem that they deserve”. The ruling came on a petition filed by the corporation, which Justice K. Kannan dismissed off after describing it as “wholly vexatious”.

Justice Kannan ruled: “A corporation that owes its origin to a statute and which carries on production activities and reaping profits through the working of their staff ought to treat them with respect and esteem that they deserve. The ex-servicemen that have been associated with the corporation are not men of straw, and if they did wallow in dirt, it was for the sake of the country.”

The corporation had earlier challenged the award of the industrial tribunal in favour of the workers. Justice Kannan observed: “The award of the industrial tribunal must have been an eye-opener for the management to correct their own ways and better their industrial relations. “They have instead allowed the bickering to grow and the heartburns to escalate for the workmen by engaging them in long-drawn litigations. All that the industrial tribunal had done was to direct that the workmen participating in unions shall not be victimised.

The direction from the industrial tribunal should have been taken up as a wake-up call by the organisation to spruce up their ways. Instead, the management has appeared before the court pleading that workers who had completed 240 days of service were not entitled to regularisation. It was unjustified.”

Justice Kannan added: “The corporation has only dragged its feet through mindless litigation and attempted to scuttle a justifiable legal process that was set in motion by the workmen through their union. In the meantime, it has also indulged in several precipitative acts that heightened the industrial tensions between the management and the workmen.”

Khanna Chimayara (Gurdaspur), November 3
Kashmir Singh and Balwinder Singh, both residents of this village, were killed and 10 others were injured when over a 100 members of the task force of the SGPC allegedly opened unprovoked firing on them besides using swords and sticks to attack them this morning.

Both Kashmir Singh and Balwinder Singh suffered gunshot injuries. The injured have been shifted to Guru Nanak Hospital, Amritsar.

Members of the task force of the SGPC allegedly attacked the residents of this village when the latter resisted their attempts to dispossessed them of various chunks of agricultural land being cultivated by them as tenants of the SGPC.

The task force descended on the village to get possession of a piece of land measuring 12 acres and being cultivated by Baljit Singh as a tenant of the SGPC on the basis of a decree awarded in the SGPC’s favour by a court of law. However, they did not ask the police force to accompany them.

Those who got injured in the attack included Baljit Singh, a leader of the SAD and sarpanch of the village, Charan Singh, Prem Masih, Natha Singh, Gurnam Singh, Ranjit Singh, Pala Singh, Hardeep Singh, Lakha Singh and Surinder Kaur.

Harcharan Singh Sangha, circle in charge, SAD, who was an eyewitness to the incident, alleged that the SGPC and its task force took the law into its own hands. He alleged that about a dozen persons belonging to the SGPC opened direct fire on the residents of the village instead of firing into the air.

Members armed with swords and wooden sticks mercilessly beat up the unarmed residents of the village, including women.

Sangha said he had taken up the matter with the Speaker, Punjab Vidhan Sabha, Nirmal Singh Kahlon.

Gurmit Singh, senior leader of the CPI (ML), who was supporting the residents of the village in their court case against the SGPC, said when he along with Satvir Singh, state secretary, Kirti Kisan Union, reached the spot, a section of the policemen had been helping the members of the task force to damage the recently sown wheat crop in various pieces of land belonging to the residents of the village as tenants of the SGPC.

He added that ‘goons’ of the SGPC did not allow the near and dear ones of those killed and injured to shift them to hospital for about two hours.

D P Singh, SSP, Batala, who along with other senior police officials visited the spot, said security in the village had been beefed up.

He said a case had been registered against Daulat Singh, Dilbagh Singh, Jagdeep Singh, Nirmal Singh and Sukhvir Singh and cases against 50 unknown persons had been registered at the police station concerned. Five persons had been rounded up in this case.