Jalandhar, November 13
Revised and people-friendly administrative reforms will be in place in the next two to three months and work on the same was at an advanced stage, Deputy CM Sukhbir Badal disclosed while interacting with mediapersons here today. He was in the city as the chief guest at the closing ceremony of the 26th Indian Oil Servo Surjit hockey tournament.

He said the reforms were taking time since the working of every department was carefully studied and many outdated and unnecessary procedures and provisions were being changed. The norms and rules were also being changed and there was need to scrap certain laws, he added.

All the procedures would be implemented step by step and everything would be ready by early next year. I am committed to a transparent government where the procedures of every department would be people friendly, he said.

Commenting on the seniority list of PPS officers, he said the file was yet to reach him since work on it was going on at the lower level.

He refused to comment on queries relating to the arrest of senior IAS officer V.K. Janjua on graft charge and the unhappiness shown over it by the BJP. Sukhbir also ruled out that he would be the CM during the foreign visit of Parkash Singh Badal. The CM was going on a short trip only, he added.

On the black list of Sikhs, he said they had been raising the issue over the past years and would do so again but it was for the Centre to scrap or revise the list. He added they would raise the issue of negligible wheat MSP and the 1984 genocide in the forthcoming session of Parliament.

On scrapping Section 5 of the Punjab River Waters Termination Act, he said they would discuss the issue in the core committee of the party and the needful soon would be done.

On deputing DSPs as per the constituencies, he said it was done in public interest. More senior officials would be available to redress the grievances of the people, he pointed out. He said law would take its course in a case involving former Congress minister Avtar Henry.

Amritsar, November 13
Is veteran Akali leader, former Punjab Chief Minister and Tamil Nadu Governor Surjit Singh Barnala passing his time to return to Punjab politics?

The million-dollar question has an answer in the affirmative if his recent 10-day sojourn to his home state and his closed-door meetings with a number of veteran Akali leaders are any indication and if the highly placed sources in the Shiromani Akali Dal (Longowal), headed by Barnala’s wife Surjit Kaur Barnala, were believed.

When contacted, Barnala, however, has denied that he had any such plans in the near future. “There is no such plan in my mind as yet. I have nothing to say on this,” said Barnala in his usual and well-guarded tone.

The veteran Akali leader and SGPC member Manjit Singh Calcutta has already been inducted into the SAD (Longowal) as its patron, a move which is seen as a serious effort by the party to revive itself in a vigorous manner against the Shiromani Akali Dal (Badal).

Barnala was on a Punjab visit from October 22 to 31. Though he had refused to talk on any issue except the development of Tamil Nadu and its shaping up as a new IT hub of India, he was learnt to have held a number of meetings with a array of senior akali leaders such as Baldev Singh Maan, Talib Singh Sandhu, Manjit Singh Calcutta, former SGPC chief Kabul Singh, Partap Singh Advocate, Parmjit Singh Sarna, Kartar Singh Takkar and Jaswant Singh Maan at New Delhi, Chandigarh, Amritsar, Patiala, Ludhiana and Jalandhar.

What transpired among Barnala, his loyalists and other senior Akali leaders at these meetings could not be ascertained, but the agenda was said to have revolved around the question as to how to bring Barnala back to Punjab after end of his term as the TN Governor in 2011.

In case, Barnala decided to stage a comeback into the mainstream of Punjab politics as was being envisaged and proposed by veteran Akali leaders, party sources revealed, he could be made to lead the SAD (Longowal) which could even acquire a new name and framework after his arrival. In such a situation, Calcutta could be the general secretary of the party. Till then, a parliamentary board, comprising of veteran Akali leaders, was likely to be constituted to run the day to day affairs of the party, sources said.

The SAD (Longowal) leadership has already made its plans to contest the next SGPC general house elections next year.

Jalandhar, November 13
On a call given by the Punjab and Chandigarh College Non-Teaching Employees Union, the non-teaching staff of the DAV College observed a day-long strike here today.

Members demanded immediate implementation of the new pay scales, effective from January 1, 2006, and grant of enhanced interim relief and medical allowance. Convener of the union Dev Dutt Sharma said the government had failed in fulfilling the demands of the non-teaching staff.

“Despite bringing this issue to the notice of the government, our demands have not been fulfilled till date,” he added.

Amritsar, November 13
The State Special Operation Cell (SSOC) today nabbed two Afghan nationals involved in smuggling of heroin. They had made their base and were operating from Delhi.

This is probably for the first time that Afghan nationals were arrested in India by any agency in connection with smuggling of contraband that reached on this side of border through the porous Indo-Pak border after originating from Afghanistan.

Those arrested include Shah Jahan of Tagab in Parwan district and Mohammad Salim of Bagh district in Kabul. While Shah Jahan was a frequent visitor to India through tourist visa, Salim was studying in a school in Delhi.

Terming it a major achievement, P.K. Rai, SSP, SSOC, pointed out that their arrest would help in exposing linkages in Delhi, as Shah Jahan was the main conduit between smugglers of Pakistan, Afghanistan and India. He said vital information was likely to come out during further course of investigations.

The SSP said acting on a tip-off, the SSOC team caught the duo near Suraj Chanda Tara Cinema, just close to the inter-state bus stand. He said they were waiting for a party to deliver the consignment in their car. The team recovered 2 kg of heroin from them.

Preliminary investigations revealed that Shah Jahan used to frequently visit Delhi and Mumbai in connection with the illegal trade. He was also involved in hawala transactions.

Rai said the police had seized mobile phones and a diary from them. He said they were yet to find the passport of the accused, which Shah Jahan claimed to have given to a travel agent for visa to Iran.

A case under sections 211, 29, 61 and 85 of the NDPS Act was registered against them. They would be produced in court tomorrow.