Amritsar, November 5
Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has given an assurance that the government is all set to follow a liberal visa regime for Sikh pilgrims and others and that there will be no restriction on the number of visas to be issued to them.

Gilani said the Pakistan Government had already acquired land for the proposed Guru Nanak Dev University at Nankana Sahib. A delegation of Sikh pilgrims who are in Pakistan in connection with the birth anniversary celebrations of Guru Nanak Dev called on the Prime Minister at his Islamabad residence-cum-office today.

The delegation comprised a number of Sikh leaders from different parts of the world--- Jagir Singh, the SGPC jatha leader from India, Dr Pritpal Singh, Convener of the American Sikh Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (ASGPC), Manmohan Singh from the UK and former presidents of the Pakistan Sikh Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (PSGPC) Bishan Singh and Sham Singh. Shahbaz Bhatti, Federal Minister for Minority Affairs, led the delagation.

More than one lakh Sikhs from across the world, it has been estimated, visit Pakistan every year to pay obeisance at half a dozen gurdwaras for which visas are given by the Pakistan Government.The total number of historical Sikh shrines in Pakistan is more than 170.

The meeting between the Sikh leaders and the Pakistan Prime Minister lasted over an hour in a cordial atmosphere.

Gilani assured the delegation that extreme caution would be exercised during the renovation or repair of Sikh shrines. He directed the Chairman of the Evacuee Property Trust Board to ensure that “Sikh architecture” was preserved during repairs, said the Convener of the American Sikh Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee.

Pritpal Singh said Gilani also promised to get constructed the building of the proposed Guru Nanak Dev University as early as possible. He said the ASGPC would be bearing all expenses pertaining to the Gurmat Sangeet Department of the university. The SGPC offered its services for the beautification of the Gurdwara Nankana Sahib complex.

“There will be no limit to the number of visas to be issued to Sikh pilgrims and others for their visit to Pakistan in future,” was what was conveyed by Gilani to the visiting delegation.

Amritsar, November 5
Sikh environmental activists, Baba Sewa Singh and Baba Balbir Singh Seechewal, from Punjab were among 200 leaders who gathered at Windsor Castle, near London, to participate in a three-day conference organised from November 2 to 4, which aimed at inviting the attention of world’s politicians towards putting the climate change on top of their global agenda. The conference was organised by the Alliance of Religions and Conservation (ARC), and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

World intellectuals and champions of the worldwide campaign against global warming were also invited to visit Punjab to participate in an international environment conclave, which is proposed to be organised by noted environmentalist Baba Sewa Singh next year.

The convergence of religious leaders from across the globe comes a few weeks before world leaders are due to participate in a major summit on global warming at Copenhagen in December.

Washington-based Dr Rajwant Singh, chairman of the Sikh Council on Religion and Education, which claims to have drafted an eco-Sikh plan and organised Sikh participation in this conclave, while talking to the Tribune over the phone from Washington, said, “It is vital that we present to the world the wisdom of gurus to tackle this crisis.”

The Sikh plan, according to Dr Rajwant Singh, is based on a concept that all Sikh gurdwaras will use eco-stoves, start rainwater harvesting and purchase reusable plates and cups.

“Secretary- General Ban Ki-moon has said that the world’s religions have a crucial role to play in the global fight against climate change,” said Dr Rajwant Singh. The Duke of Edinburgh and the UN Secretary-General presented certificates to religious leaders.

Chandigarh, November 5
The spiralling prices of pulses have now started taking a toll on the Punjab Government’s ambitious atta-dal scheme. With the prices of moong and urad dal going through the roof, the state government now proposes to replace these with cheaper black gram.

Officials in the Food and Civil Supplies Department, Punjab, informed TNS that the government now proposed to introduce black gram (kala chana) under this scheme. As of now, beneficiaries can get 2.5 kg of pulses per month from among chana dal, moong sabut and urad dal at just Rs 20 per kg. But with the price of moong sabut now touching Rs 85 per kg, and urad touching Rs 74 per kg , the state government is finding it difficult to supply these at such highly subsidised rates.

“PUNSUP, which is the procurement agency under the atta-dal scheme, will now float tenders to buy chana dal and black gram.The retail price of chana dal and black gram is Rs 37 a kg, making these more economically viable under the scheme,” said a senior official in the department.

The move to replace the expensive pulses with the cheaper ones follows the earlier decision of the government to prune this scheme, about two months ago. After the prices of both pulses and wheat flour started moving skywards, the state government had reduced the quantity of pulses from 4 kg per month to 2.5 kg per month and wheat flour supplied to beneficiaries from 32 kg per month to 25 kg per month.

There are 14.50 lakh beneficiaries under this scheme and about 3,000 metric tonnes of pulses are passed on to them under this scheme. When this scheme was introduced by the Akali-BJP government in 2007, the prices of moong sabut and urad were Rs 45-50 per kg. With the sudden hike in the prices, the subsidy component of the state government went up by almost 50 per cent in the last couple of months. 

Chandigarh, November 5
The RTI Users Association has appealed Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal to reconsider the decision of appointing yet another information commissioner to the State Information Commission.

“It is shocking for all taxpayers, including RTI activists, that the Punjab State Information Commission, which has only 700 complaints pending before it, and has nine information commissioners and one Chief Information Commissioner, has been burdened with one more information commissioner for rehabilitating a person from a political family despite reservation expressed by one member of the Selection Committee,” states the appeal sent by Advocate HC Arora, convener of the association.

He said the fund-starved government had ignored the fact that the State Information Commission is already work-starved and does not have sufficient work for the existing 10 information commissioners.

“They are idle for three working days every week, and hold sittings only for two hours or so on. In case they start holding sittings every day for six hours like the High Court Judges, there will be absolutely no work left for them in the commission after two months or so,” he wrote.

“In these circumstances, the appointment of another person as SIC is nothing but wastage of taxpayers’ money, and talent, if any, of the persons who are being rehabilitated as state information commissioners with salaries above Rs 1 lakh, luxury cars, palatial kothis and upto 200 litres of petrol expenses,” he wrote. Arora said the full commission had recently observed that the gross emoluments currently being paid to outsourced drivers, data entry operators and peons at the rate of Rs 5,500, Rs 5,000 and Rs 4,000, respectively, needed an upward revision as with these meager salaries, it was difficult to get or retain well-trained staff.

“I may submit that salary and perks to be paid to the additional State Information commissioner, if utilised for revising the salaries being paid to the watchmen, ward staff, peons and date entry operators would be sufficient to give an increase of Rs 3,000 per month to each employee,” he wrote.

Chandigarh, November 5
Jalandhar Divisional Commissioner SR Ladhar is being accused of keeping one of the two guns of the Sangrur District Rifle Association.

Ladhar claims Sangrur Deputy Commissioner VK Ohri allocated the club gun for the use of his son Krishna Kashyap Ladhar. Krishna failed to make the mark in the pre-nationals held at Sangrur yesterday.

However the “allocation” has come in for flak from former Dhuri legislator Dhanwant Singh and others, who claim the DC, who is an ex-officio chairman of the club, cannot allot association’s guns to anyone. They claim this right is vested in club’s general secretary JS Sidhu.

Ladhar claims that Dhanwant originally encouraged his son to take on shooting when he was DC in Sangrur and even gave a gun to him. He said the gun was taken back when the boy started showing results and even alleged that the chokes of the gun were changed yesterday which was the reason for the poor scores of his son.

Dhanwant said the DC has abrogated the powers of the general secretary and that new Olympic association rules clearly state that no officer can become office bearer of an association in an ex-officio capacity.

The former legislator alleged, “If the gun remains in Jalandhar where Ladhar is now posted how will Sangrur boys use it? The gun is for everyone. The Commissioner cannot keep it in his house”.

Ladhar when questioned on the issue said, “Yes, the gun is with us”. He said anyone desirous of using the gun could approach the Sangrur DC who was its custodian. When asked as to what period the gun had been allocated to his son, he said, “It is till further orders unless someone needs it”.

Gurdaspur, November 5
PS Gill, DGP, Punjab, said yesterday that Pakistan’s ISI was making efforts to revive terrorism in the state but the Punjab police had foiled its designs.

Gill, who visited this district , said while interacting with mediapersons that so far the Punjab police had not allowed the ISI to succeed in its designs and was keeping a close watch on its activities.

He said the ISI had been contacting persons with a shady past who were now settled in their lives and youths to initiate them into militancy. He added the ISI had also been trying to send weapons to Punjab through the India-Pak border falling in Punjab.

He said the ISI was trying to use the Babbar Khalsa and the Khalistan Liberation Force for reviving terrorism in the state. He added that the state police had identified nine persons so far who were in league with them. Six of them belonged to the Babbar Khalsa and three to the KLF. He said the police had drawn up a plan to check road accidents in an effective manner. Traffic police posts equipped with an ambulance would be set up at every 30 km on main roads. 

Fatehgarh Sahib, November 5
Micro and small-scale industrialists of Fatehgarh Sahib alleged that their condition is deteriorating due to step-motherly treatment by the state and Central 
governments.

National president of small-scale industry Vinod Jain, during a meeting at Sirhind, said the industry of the state is shifting to other states due to lack of any concrete 
policy for the industrialists.

He also said the labourers have also got unemployed due to this problem.

He added that the workers and owners of the industries must get social security. He also pointed out that instead of many registration numbers for smart card of the labourers, to avail medical facilities in different states, only one time registration should be done in the various states.

District president Balwant Singh demanded that a focal point should be constructed in Fatehgarh Sahib for the benefit of the industrialists of the district.

He also said an industrial feeder should be made for uninterrupted power supply for the industry until focal point comes into being.

The industrialists also demanded that a doctor should be deployed in the ESI hospital of Sirhind as labourers of Sirhind have to go to Mandi Gobindgarh for treatment. The industrialists also gave a memorandum to the Deputy Commissioner Yashvir Mahajan during the occasion.

Rajpura, November 5
In a major breakthrough, the Rajpura police today arrested five persons, including four members of an interstate gang of opium smugglers, with 16 kg opium worth Rs 10 lakh in two separate cases.

The four accused were trying to enter Punjab through Rajpura and were arrested by the police during a special checking of buses at two different checking points in Rajpura and Devigarh areas.

Patiala SSP Ranbir Singh Khattra said the four accused on board a Punjab Roadways Bus - on its way to Jalandhar from Delhi - tried to escape over the pretext of attending nature call in the adjoining fields of the highway but were chased by alert cops and arrested.

About 14.5 kg opium of very high quality was recovered from their possession. A case in this connection has been registered against them at the Rajpura police station. The accused have been identified as Dinesh Yadav, Manoj Paswan, Mohan Saho and Shaminder Yadav, all residents of Jharkhand.

They had bought the narcotics at a cost of Rs 40,000 per kg and had decided to sell it off for Rs 60,000 per kg in Mamdot area of Ferozepur district.

In yet another case, Bikramjeet Singh, a resident of Sonour, was arrested from Devigarh area of Patiala during a special check and 1.5 kg opium was recovered from his possession. He had purchased opium from Haryana and was to sell the same in Punjab.