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SGPC Poll Today
HSGPC to contest, too
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Planning panel team to visit state
Sidhu moves privilege motion against DC
Speaker admits Sidhu’s privilege notice against DC
State gears up to notify rent control act
PTU to recruit 400 Class III, IV staff
Mega projects cleared
Name pangs for another Rahul Bhatt
Nod to 10 Adarsh schools in villages
Encroachments on road lead
to rise in accidents
Ex-chief of pollution board diverted
funds to buy vehicle
Murder Case
Ex-MLA’s grandson crushes 5 to death
5 die in accident
Custodial Death
of SAD Worker
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SGPC Poll Today
Amritsar, November 24 Amidst a sea of speculations, it was however, presumed that SGPC chief Avtar Singh would stage a come back for the fifth time in a row, as he is said to be close to Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and has also been a non-controversial figure during his previous tenures. The SGPC chief and other office-bearers will formally be elected at the general house meeting of the SGPC, to be held at Teja Singh Samundri Hall tomorrow. In the absence of his father, Sukhbir, accompanied by Adviser to the Chief Minister Daljit Singh Cheema, virtually adopted his father’s practice of putting the name of the candidate in an envelop. Senior Badal had returned from Irael on Monday but he apparently chose to hand over the affairs of the party to full extent to his son Sukhbir Singh Badal this time. Sukhbir said: “I have consulted the party leadership and the election for the post of the SGPC chief will be held tomorrow. The SGPC executive and office-bearers will be elected through an open and valid process. I have been discussing important issues with SGPC members.” It was for the first time that the Chief Ministr was absent in an event relating to one of the most religious-political affairs. Party sources said the envelop was handed over to Cheema, who would open it at tomorrow’s meeting. SGPC chief Avtar Singh has been claiming that the SAD had over 160 members in the 170- member House while his detractors maintained that the SAD (Badal) team comprised around 135 members.
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HSGPC to contest, too
Amritsar, November 24 HSGPC chief Jagdish Singh Jhinda and five others leaders of the HSGPC were members of the
SGPC, but they have been opposing the SGPC leadership on the issue of a separate Sikh body for the management of
Haryana-based Sikh shrines. There were a total of 11 SGPC members from
Haryana. As many as six of them were reportedly supporting Jhinda. More than 31 SGPC members, according to claims made by
Jhinda, were supporting Calcutta, who was also the head of the Shiromani Panthi Council. “We have authorised Calcutta to propose name of the SGPC chief in the election,” said Jhinda when contacted by The Tribune. On the other hand, the HSGPC has put up Bibi Ravinder Kaur as its candidate for executive of the SGPC in tomorrow’s election.
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Planning panel team to visit state
Chandigarh, November 24 The team will hold a meeting with Punjab Chief Secretary S.C. Aggarwal and other secretaries on the first day and go on a field trip to assess the functioning and implementation of a dozen-odd schemes. The schemes include the National Old Age Pension Scheme, the Social Assistance Scheme, the Indra Awas
Yojna, the Prime Minister Gram Sarak Yojna, the NREGA, the Irrigation Benefit Scheme, the Rajiv Gandhi Gram Yojna and the Sarv Sikhya
Abhiyan. The commission plays an integrative role in the development of a holistic approach to policy formulation in critical areas of human and economic development. Sources in the state Planning Department said the team would have a minute look at the social sector schemes and schemes that required coordination like those relating to rural health, drinking water, rural energy needs, literacy and environment. Punjab is expected to make a request for higher funding to the state which will be considered after
the team goes back and reviews the implementation of the central schemes in the state.
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Sidhu moves privilege motion against DC
Amritsar, November 24 “At some functions that were held in recent past, including the inauguration of the passport office here and the National Youth Festival, no chair on the dais was arranged for me and on none of these occasions, I was allowed to address a gathering. Such a blatant violation of protocol norms vis-à-vis MP of that parliamentary constituency clearly shows indifferent attitude of the DC,” Sidhu alleged. “It is not only an insult to an individual, but 15 lakh voters of Amritsar whom I represent,” stated the privilege motion moved by Sidhu in Parliament and a copy of which is available with The Tribune. Talking to TNS over the phone from New Delhi, Sidhu said the Lok Sabha Speaker responded positively by speaking on the issue for slightly over three minutes. Citing a recent incident wherein, he was allegedly humiliated by the DC, Sidhu said when Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper visited Amritsar on November 18, he had got prepared a memorandum regarding various problems being faced by the people of his constituency. “It is my duty to highlight problems of the people but I was not invited and hence, was not allowed to meet the Canadian PM. In fact, I had spoke to the DC regarding the invitation and he had assured me that he would send the invite. However, this did not happen. Moreover, the DC asked me to keep a distance of 200 ft from the Canadian PM and I was not even allowed to enter the Golden Temple along with Harper,” Sidhu added. He said he would take the issue to its logical conclusion. “I will not tolerate such humiliation anymore,” he added. However, Pannu said Sidhu was invited along with other MPs. He said he had written a letter to the state Chief Secretary to hold a high-level probe into the issue and maintained that he had never intended to humiliate Sidhu.
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Speaker admits Sidhu’s privilege notice against DC New Delhi, November 24 Sidhu had, on November 19, moved the notice against Pannu, accusing him of obstructing the MP in the discharge of his duties and for humiliating him several times over. The last straw came when Pannu allegedly did not even invite Sidhu during the visit of the Canadian Prime Minister to Amritsar. "This was not the first time that I was left out of a public function despite being a third time representative of my people here. It happened when the Amritsar passport office was opened, when Pranab Mukherjee came to town and when national youth festival was organised here. So many goof ups can't pass off as coincidences. This is a deliberate attempt on the part of the DC to humiliate me," Sidhy told The Tribune today. The MP moved his notice of privilege a day after the visit of Canadian Prime Minister to Amritsar - an affair from which he was again left out totally whereas Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal and his colleague in the Cabinet Manoranjan Kalia were even allowed to accompany the visiting dignitary to Durbar Sahib in the city. "I was asked to stay 200 metre away from the Canadian PM," Sidhu said. LS Speaker, for her part, admitted the motion in the House today, saying: "I have got your notice and will seek comments of the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions in the case." The said ministry is the nodal ministry to look into the grievances of the MPs.
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State gears up to notify rent control act
Chandigarh, November 24 In case the state government does not implement the act even now, it will not get any more funds from the Government of India under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM). The mission has made it mandatory for beneficiary states to carry out rent control reforms to become eligible for JNNURM grants worth crores of rupees. The state government has been caught between this mandatory condition and a lack of political will to implement the act mainly due to pressure from the tenants’ lobby. However, faced with a situation where it has no option but to implement the act, sources state that a “middle path” has been worked out by the government to implement the act which, despite being landlord-friendly, will not “impinge” upon the interests of small tenants. Sources add that it is being considered that tenants who are paying less than Rs 5,000 as monthly rent may be kept out of the purview of the act. In September this year the Secretary, Local Government, had put up a note to the Minister, Local Bodies, Manoranjan Kalia pointing out that the implementation of Rent Control Act was urgently required if the state wanted funds under the JNNURM. He had added that the implementation of the act would give impetus to the state’s economy. A three-member committee of the Punjab Government had also studied the impact of the implementation of the act in other states and had reported that rent control reforms had led to several benefits. The implementation of the act had led to a boom in real estate besides increasing manifold construction activity in these states. The income of local bodies from house tax has also consequently increased in these states. The Punjab Rent Bill was passed by the Vidhan Sabha in April 1995 and got the President’s assent in 1998. The Bill regulates the landlord-tenant relationship laying down rules for the eviction of tenants.
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PTU to recruit 400 Class III, IV staff
Jalandhar, November 24 The PTU Board of Governors, which met under the chairmanship of Chief Secretary S.C. Aggarwal, has given the green light to the university authorities to start the process to recruit regular staff. For the past decade the university is being run with persons recruited on an ad hoc and daily-wage basis. There are only 10 regular employees and that also at the senior level in the university. In fact, no government has ever thought about the fate of employees working on an ad hoc and daily-wage basis. Some of them were recruited during the then SAD-BJP government about 10 years ago and others later during the previous Congress government. In the next few days, the university authorities are expected to start the process of recruitment. “ First of all, we want to set up the establishment structure in the university by making regular recruitment and doing away with ad hocism”, said Dr Rajnish Arora, Vice-Chancellor the university. He said with the recruitment of supporting staff at the Class III and IV levels, the university would be on a course of building up further at the campus level. The university has already issued an advertisement to recruit deputy and assistant registrars besides 10 lecturers. “ We have a proposal to start on the campus postgraduate and doctorate-level courses from the next academic year”, said Dr Arora. “ The recruitment of teachers is part of that proposal”, he said. The university is also on a course of taking over the School of Excellence of Manufacturing and Material Technology, which was set up by it with the London-based Caparo Group headed by Lord Swraj Paul. The board has allowed the university authorities to sort out the matter with Lord Paul. A PTU Caparo Society was set up to run the school set up in joint venture with management control resting with Lord Paul. However, owing to functional problems in the tie-up, PTU and the Caparo group decided to snap ties. As the board has given the approval, the university authorities are expected to return the money to Lord Paul, who would exit the society.
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Mega projects cleared
Chandigarh, November 24 The projects approved at a meeting included one manufacturing project of Vardhman Texgarment Ltd in Ludhiana, four multiplex/hotel projects to be developed by Silvercity Construction Ltd at Zirakpur, C&C Towers Ltd (Rs 251.27 crore) at Mohali, Bharti Reality Ltd (Rs 311.18 crore) in Ludhiana and Trif Amritsar Projects Private Ltd (Rs 550 crore) in Amritsar. Besides, two new agri mega projects would be developed, one each by Duli Chand-Narender Kumar Exports Private Ltd (Tarn Taran ) and Shree Hari Spintex Ltd at Maur Mandi (Bathinda). The Media Adviser said the empowered panel had also given an extension of six months to LT Overseas Ltd to establish its unit at a new site in Warpal village in Amritsar.
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Name pangs for another Rahul Bhatt
Nabha, November 24 Rahul Bhatt, who has directed many serials, including ‘Heena’ and ‘Meri doli tere angna’, is in the town for the shooting of the serial. He said he had seen the location of Nabha in ‘Jab we met’ and was so impressed that he decided to shoot a part of this serial here. He said a section of the media also published his pictures when the name of Rahul Bhatt, son of Mahesh Bhatt, was highlighted in connection with his alleged links with terrorists. He lamented that the media even did not bother to clarify his credentials before publishing his photographs and report.
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Babbu Tir’s mirror to socio-politico life
Chandigarh, November 24 “Ik Baat Main Pavan” is her second book after her first collection of short stories was released a couple of years ago. Though Convent educated, Babbu prefers to write in the language the masses, especially rural youth, cherish the most. “I have been writing a fortnightly and weekly column in a Punjabi daily and have been surprised at the overwhelming response I have been getting from the rural youth. I could never imagine that my column, written more in the style in which my father used to write a couple of decades ago, would have such wide acceptance. I am at times amazed by the letters I get from young men and women from rural areas,” she adds. “To be honest, I was never a good student of Punjabi. My father always insisted that I must study Punjabi at least till Matriculation so that I become eligible to sit in the entrance test for the PCS (Executive Branch) or for a government job in the state. I, however, never took serious note of his advice at that time. It is only in the past few years that I have started realising how powerful a medium my mother tongue is. When I write I get a feeling as if I am talking to a common man. It may be perhaps because of the magnetism of the style of writing that I have inherited from my father whose column on contemporary humour was read the most,” adds Babbu Tir. In her new book, she has chosen subjects like female foeticide, infanticide, dowry, farmers’ suicides, political corruption and other relevant socio-politico issues. This book, she says, holds a mirror to the diverse Punjabi life, moving the “fourth wall”, the social evils or the basic problems facing our society. Fictionalising facts is her style of conveying the message in a telling manner. It is just an attempt to improve on silence,” she says, holding that Punjabis’ potential has not been tapped to the full.
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Nod to 10 Adarsh schools in villages
Patiala, November 24 A meeting of the Punjab Education Development Board was held with representatives of three organisations wherein it was decided to open 10 Adarsh schools in rural areas, sources in the Education Department said. These three organisations included the Bharti Enterprises, the Chief Khalsa Diwan, Amritsar, and the Career Launcher (India), Delhi. Sources said an agreement had been signed with these organisations. Accordingly, the Bharti Enterprises would open schools at Chogawan and Fatubilla villages in Amritsar district. In Ludhiana district, schools would be opened at Dhandran, Chorar, Sherpur, Rauni village. Schools would also be opened at Tarn Taran in Sangrur and Ucha Pind in Kapurthala district. The Career Launchers would open a school at Agampur village in Ropar district. The schools would be affiliated to the Central Board of Secondary Education and a sum of Rs 4 to Rs 5 crore would be spent on setting up of each of these schools.
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Encroachments on road lead
to rise in accidents
Fatehgarh Sahib, November 24 The encroachers, most of them farmers whose fields are adjoined to these roads, have annexed either sides of the road, including the stones laid by the government for the demarcation of the roads. During the previous paddy season, the district administration under the supervision of area tehsildar and SDM had launched a drive to remove these encroachments. However, many of the farmers have now once again encroached upon the land. These encroachments have decreased the width of the roads, due to which vehicles generally tend to fall off road. “At places there is virtually no space to overtake a vehicle. Many-a-times even a cyclist fails to find space to give way to a bus coming from the opposite direction,” said Paramjeet, a resident of Khamano. He added vehicles usually fell off road due to soil erosion at either sides. Such encroachments can be seen at Lohari village in Bassi Pathana, Nogawan, Khant village in Khamano and various other villages of the district. The police, when contacted, admitted that commuters suffer due to the problem. However, it said, it was the responsibility of the administration to look into the matter. The police said, a number of incidents had been reported in the past wherein people fell off road due to the small width of link roads, and major accidents had also been reported. People driving two wheelers are the worst sufferers, as speeding heavy vehicles get past at high speed and they loose their balance. Demanding a permanent solution of the problem, some residents of Bassi Pathana and Khamano block said, the administration should launch a drive to curb the menace to save lives of commuters. Manjit Kaur, chairperson of the Human Rights Manch, Khamano, demanded that stringent action must be initiated against the encroachers.
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Ex-chief of pollution board diverted
funds to buy vehicle
Chandigarh, November 24 Information obtained from the board under the RTI Act by advocate HC Arora shows that funds meant for central schemes were diverted by Goyal to buy a vehicle for his use. The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) had in February, 2007, sanctioned Rs 22.5 lakh for monitoring surface water (Rs 10 lakh); monitoring ground water (Rs 7.5 lakh) and to study the effect of industrial waste water for irrigation and ground water (Rs 5 lakh). The CPCB had also directed the PPCB that “the grant is being released for a specific purpose and it should be exclusively spent for the purpose for which it has been sanctioned within the stipulated time,” and “separate utilisation certificate for the first instalment for all three projects will be forwarded to the CPCB along with report on the physical progress achieved on the projects”. “However, on March 18, 2008, Goyal approved the buying of a car from the money meant for these schemes. The utilisation certificate issued under signatures of the assistant scientific officer, scientific officer and member secretary on February 12, 2009, certified that the board had spent Rs 12.35 lakh on the implementation of various schemes. No mention was obviously made of purchasing the vehicle out of these funds,” said Arora. The member secretary, sent the certificate, hiding the complete facts, and moved the case again with the CPCB, New Delhi, for release of the second instalment of funds. Goyal was recently in news for having been removed as the Chairman of the PPCB. Considered “close” to the Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal, Goyal was one of the first persons to be “rewarded” with a chairmanship, when the Badal government was formed in the state in March, 2007. This was done despite the fact that the post had been “promised” to Akali politician Rajbir Singh Padiala by late Capt Kanwaljit Singh. Miffed Padiala chose to join the Congress and had been the supporter of Capt Amarinder Singh for the past several months.
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Murder Case
Chandigarh, November 24 Setting aside the trial court’s order, Justice Jasbir Singh and Justice Daya Chaudhary ruled: “It was a case of blind murder and the trial court has not properly appreciated the evidence available on record.” It was not worth believing that a totally blind person participated in causing injuries to the victim, grappled with him and thereafter held him tightly thereby gave a chance to the other accused to inflict injuries on him, the court said. The Bench added: “The prosecution story is totally unbelievable, untrustworthy and beyond imagination of a prudent man. It is also surprising that a totally blind person ran away from the place of commission of the murder in the presence of two sons of the deceased.” Mangal Singh, along with Bir Singh, was convicted and sentence in May, 2001, by a Gurdaspur court. The first information report (FIR) in the matter was registered in August, 1998, at the Rangar Nangal police station for murder and other offences under Sections 302 and 34 of the IPC on the basis of the statement of Buta Singh, son of the victim. The motive put up by the prosecution was that victim Shangara Singh was cultivating the land of brother Bir Singh and Mangal Singh’s aunt Basant Kaur. They were under the impression that Shangara Singh had illicit relations with their aunt and hence they murdered him. Counsel for the accused Ashok Saini argued there was a delay in lodging the FIR; and Mangal Singh was totally blind. As such, the prosecution’s version was not convincing. Speaking for the Bench, Justice Chaudhary asserted: “The trial court has totally failed to appreciate the golden principle of criminal jurisprudence that the “motive is a double-edged weapon which cuts both ways. It can be used by both, the prosecution as well as the defence, in the same fashion. We are of the view the prosecution has totally failed to prove its case against accused-appellants. Accordingly, the appeal is allowed.”
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Ex-MLA’s grandson crushes 5 to death
Ferozepur, November 24 Ramandeep is yet to be arrested. A case under Section 304 of the IPC (for committing culpable homicide) has been registered against him. The dead have been identified as Balbir Singh, his wife Pritam Kaur and son Gurnaib Singh alias Nabby and another couple Kikar Singh and Manjit Kaur. According to sources, Ramandeep was going to Fazilka from Ferozepur when his Scorpio allegedly collided with two motorcycles coming from the opposite direction. Sources added that Balbir Singh, Pritam Kaur and Gurnaib Singh died on the spot while Kikar Singh and Manjit Kaur succumbed to injuries at Civil Hospital, Ferozepur. Later, people gathered at the accident spot and raised slogans against the government, demanding Ramandeep’s immediate arrest. DSP Jasbir Singh visited the spot along with other police officials and said the vehicle involved in the accident had been impounded. He added that a case has been registered on the statement of Joginder Singh, who was a witness to the accident. The police official also stated that raids were being conducted to arrest Ramandeep. Meanwhile, the deceased were cremated in their respective villages after a postmortem was done at the local civil hospital.
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5 die in accident
Malout, November 24 People had a tough time extricating bodies from the badly mangled remains of the car. Police sources disclosed that the victims died on the spot. The deceased included Bachhitar Singh (65), Pawandeep Singh (16), Jagjit Singh (30) and Gurvinder Singh (29), while the fifth one is yet to be identified. Muktsar SSP Gurpreet Singh Gill said although no case has been registered, proceedings under Section 174 of the CrPC had been initiated.
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Custodial Death
of SAD Worker Chandigarh, November 24 To resist mounting pressure, the government had ordered a judicial inquiry on September 6. Kapurthala SSP had also ordered the suspension of SHO Dhilwan Gurmukh Singh and other staff. The inquiry report has found that the SAD worker died due to poisoning, but no substantial action has been taken against the guilty. Khaira alleged that the police had, on the other hand, registered a case against 16 workers of the Congress and the Communist parties for blocking the GT Road in protest against the incident. Instead of punishing the “guilty” SHO, who was reinstated within 15 days of the custodial death, he was posted as SHO Begowal, native village of Bibi Jagir Kaur. Khaira has also sought a compensation of Rs 10 lakh for the family of the deceased and a government job for a member of the family. |
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Amritsar, November 24
