Chandigarh, December 2
Since their hopes of studying in the UK have been ruined by the refusal of the student visa to them by the British High Commission, hundreds of prospective students from Punjab and Haryana are finding themselves in a deep financial crisis.

Reports of Indian students living a miserable life in Britain notwithstanding, hundreds of students from Punjab and Haryana are applying for admission to British colleges every day. Visa refusal and then failure to get the refund of the fee paid by students in advance are putting applicants under stress.

British colleges are refusing to refund the tuition fee — varying between Rs 3 lakh and Rs 4 lakh — on the plea that students are not sending back the visa letters issued to them by the institutions.

Prospective students have now started questioning as how British institutions can hold back to their money for reasons beyond their control. They alleged that crores of rupees with the British colleges belonged to the people, who had no chance to go there now.

They further alleged that after the refusal of a visa without an interview, there was no provision for an appeal.

However, British colleges are maintaining that they cannot refund the fee deposited by the prospective student till he/ she returns the original letter of offer for admission, usually described as visa letter. Each applicant has to attach the same with his/ her visa application form.

Normally, after the visa application has been processed, all attached documents are returned to the applicant. But students, who have been refused the student visa by the British High Commission during the past few weeks, did not get back this original visa letter back with their passports. And of late, the refusal rate, allege students, has gone up to 90 per cent.

“It is a huge money which the British colleges are holding back and preventing us to use our money for trying our luck for admission elsewhere,” allege a group of students who got their refusal letters last week.

“No one is ready to listen to us or explain why our original letter is not being returned to us. How can we ask for refund when we do not have this letter? We are caught in a piquant situation,” allege students.

Sources said over a 1,000 applications for the student visa are filed every day. The British had simplified procedure for the student visa. An applicant with plus two qualification and with Rs 5 to 8 lakh in his/her bank account for 28 days or more was eligible to apply for the visa after getting admission to a British college.

They said the college required the applicant student to deposit full year’s tuition fee before it issued a letter of offer for admission or visa letter, which facilitated the grant of a visa to the applicant.

Jalandhar, December 2
Nearly 7,000 teaching and non-teaching employees of 480 government- aided schools have not got their salary for the past eight months. The Finance Department has released the money but it is stuck in the office of the DPI (Secondary Schools). In fact, the failure of the state government to post an audit officer in the DPI’s office has resulted in the denial of salary to such a large number of employees for so long.

Ninetyfive per cent grant-in-aid to these schools is released to pay salaries only after pre-audit done by the audit officer. In the absence of any officer to handle this job, the grant has not been released to the schools. The Director, Finance, had posted an officer to handle the job a few weeks ago but he did not join. The Chief Secretary and the Principal Secretary (Education) have directed the authorities concerned to get the grant released but their orders have made no difference.

“ We had a black Divali and a black Dasehra. The way things are moving, we may also have a black New Year’s Day”, said Gurcharan Singh Chahal and N.N. Saini, president and general secretary, respectively, of the Punjab Government Recognised Aided School Teaching and Non-Teaching Employees Union.

Every time the union has to struggle to get the salary of employees released.

“It has been happening for the past 40 years. All, including the present Chief Minister and the Chief Secretary and their predecessors, are well aware of it. But none of them has sincerely made an effort to solve this problem. This in fact is a sad comment on the administration which has been constantly failing to deliver”, said M.L. Chopra, patron of the union. “If the government administrative machinery has not cared to solve the problem for 40 years, how can people expect it to solve problems of recent origin?” said another member of the union.

The issue of pension of employees of aided school has also been hanging fire for several years.

Chandigarh, December 2
Punjab has not taken well the Union Power Ministry’s decision to allow a “controversial” Engineer-in-Chief from Haryana to hold additional charge of Chairman of the Bhakra Beas Management Board.

The post of Chairman of the BBMB has been lying vacant since the retirement of U.C. Mishra on July 31.

M.K. Gupta, Member, Irrigation, who belongs to Haryana, has since then been holding additional charge of the Chairman of the board. The only member of the board from Punjab is its Member, Power, V.B. Bassi. Even the post of Secretary that traditionally remained with Punjab is now held by Haryana. H.K. Gupta of Haryana is the Secretary while S.K. Sharma of Himachal Pradesh is the Special Secretary. M.K. Gupta is both Member, Irrigation, as well as the Chairman of the board.

Punjab has also objected to the post of Secretary being given to Haryana.

According to the Reorganisation Act, the Ministry of Power makes appointments to the board. The board has two whole-time members --- the Member, Irrigation, and the Member, Power. They are chosen, one each from Punjab and Haryana, from a panel of names sponsored by their respective states for the purpose of administration, maintenance and operation of Bhakra Nangal and Beas projects.

The Punjab Government, feeling aggrieved by the failure of the Ministry of Power to name a regular Chairman, has also raised objections to the giving of additional charge to Member, Irrigation, M.K. Gupta.

In a letter to Union Power Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde, Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal has questioned the prudence of the Power Ministry in naming a Haryana member the Chairman.

“The members of the BBMB are equal in status and there is no issue of inter se seniority among them. Therefore, a whole-time member merely on the basis of his earlier appointment cannot be given additional charge of the post of Chairman, BBMB. Needless to say that Bhakra Nangal and Beas projects involve Sutlej and Beas waters, respectively, and Punjab is the only state riparian to these rivers qua Haryana and Rajasthan. Punjab has a major stake in the operation of these hydel projects.

In case the Ministry is required to give additional charge of Chairman, it should go to a member representative of the major stakeholder and not a state that is a beneficiary of an arrangement that is not even constitutional,” writes Badal.

He has also questioned the credentials of the present incumbent, M.K. Gupta, saying he was instrumental in implementing the Hansi-Butana link channel project of Haryana in violation of the Bhakra Nangal Agreement, 1959. He made submissions in the Punjab and Haryana High Court by way of affidavits in defence of suits against the construction of the Hansi-Buttana canal as well as in Punjab’s suit that was pending in the Supreme Court, Badal said.

The Punjab Chief Minister has also reportedly mentioned in his letter to Union Power Minister the failure of Haryana to give an additional 125 cusecs of water to Delhi. Only in May this year, the Supreme Court passed orders issuing notice to Haryana for non-compliance with its earlier orders. Badal held that M.K. Gupta had played a partisan role favouring Haryana and as such was not fit to be the Chairman of the BBMB.

He wants this decision to be reviewed and also wants that the positions of Member, Irrigation, and Member, Power, may be rotated between the two states.

Jalandhar, December 2
Eager to have a nuclear power plant and also a share in power from such plants proposed to be set up in Haryana and other neighbouring states, Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal will hold a meeting in this regard with Union Power Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde tomorrow in Delhi.

Sources said Badal would brief the Power Minister with regard to the power crisis faced by the state during the past one year. As the state is a highly power-deficit state, Badal wants that the Union Government should either allot a nuclear power plant to the state or allow it to be a partner in the nuclear power plants proposed to be set up in Haryana and some other states. Already, Punjab is getting a share from units III and IV of the nuclear power plant at Kota city in Rajasthan.

While Badal is strongly in favour of setting up a nuclear plant in the state, former Chief Minister Amarinder Singh has reservations in this regard. However, experts say nuclear power plants have been set up even in big cities in some countries because they have a high safety factor.

Chandigarh, December 2
Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today sought the Union Power Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde’s personal intervention to allow the Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB) to continue as a state transmission utility and a licensee for another six months till June 15, 2010, though the government would try to complete the process of consultations with the stakeholders concerned much before the onset of the paddy season of 2010.

In a letter to the Union Power Minister, Badal mentioned that the state government had initiated the process of consultations with the stakeholders and preparation of a roadmap for the restructuring of the state electricity board.

The Chief Minister pointed out that the consultations were inconclusive as yet though he had held a number of meetings with the stakeholders and also with his senior colleagues to evolve a consensus on the matter. He said he was sure that the steps initiated by the state government in this regard would be successful soon. “Nevertheless, we need some more time to conclude the process and achieve a meaningful restructuring of the board,” wrote Badal. 

Amritsar, December 2
The repair of the verandah ceiling, along with the Parkarma in the Golden Temple complex, has finally reached the completion stage with a number of artistes and workers giving finishing touches to the painting and repair jobs at the place.

Similarly, experts working on the restoration and repair of the Darshani Deodhi (main entrance to the sanctum sanctorum) were also busy winding up the work, which had taken off in July this year. The daunting task of the repair of the verandah encircling the Parkarma, particularly the replacement of its more than 50-year-old ceiling, was started by the SGPC on April 4, 2007, with active participation of Baba Harbans Singh “Delhi Wale” and his followers. The pillars of the verandahs have also been repaired.

“The workers are now giving only final touches to the repair of the verandahs. The same is the case with the Darshani Deodhi where the plastering process of the walls is almost complete. The only task now left is that of the restoration of murals and paintings,” said Bhai Ram Singh, a senior SGPC official.

While new concrete grills have been affixed to the parapet of the verandahs and the paint work was about to reach its final stage, special care was being undertaken by the experts to ensure the complete restoration of the Darshani Deodhi from its heritage point of view.

Kasauli (Mullanpur), December 2
In what has turned out to be a major embarrassment for the Punjab Forest Department, a “politically well-connected” sarpanch of Kasauli village near Chandigarh has carved out a road of around 1 km, damaging tree cover and levelling parts of hillocks.

For the past few days, man and machinery of land mafia have been busy in levelling gatka and constructing causeways to make the road accessible to “investors”, who have bought land in the area through sarpanch Sham Lal. On both sides of the road, outsiders have bought land.

Interestingly, the sarpanch has managed to use NREGA funds to construct causeways on the private road. “It is my ancestral land. I have taken permission. The road is approved and is being constructed through NREGA funds,” said Sham Lal, a fact contradicted by department officials.

Eager to open the road, the “enterprising” sarpanch has started setting up the base of an inauguration plaque, purportedly to be inaugurated by a senior politician.

Enquiries reveal that since the entire area was covered under the Indian Forest Act, Forest Control Act and Punjab Land Preservation Act, permission has to be sought from the state and the Centre before carrying out any such activity.

“No such permission has been given by us. We have lodged a complaint with the police and have also issued a damage report. We are also filing a case of violation of the Forest Act in the local court so that legal action could be initiated against the violator,” said District Forest Officer, Ropar, S Kanan.

Sources said a local BJP leader and relation of senior Congress leaders have been siding with the sarpanch.

Last evening, when certain officials of the department tried to stop the illegal activity, they were reportedly pushed back. Later, the police had to intervene to stop the construction activity.

Mullanpur SHO HS Bal said they had lodged a report on the basis of a complaint filed by the department.

Patiala, December 2
Jaggery eaters have a bad news. The hot steaming gur (jaggery) that they got from crushers along the highways would now be a rare commodity with the cane commissioner deciding to regulate the number of crushers along the highways.

The cane crusher owners would have to get a licence from the cane commissioner office in Chandigarh and they would be issued licence only for a fixed spot. They would not be able to use that licence to set up shop anywhere else in the state on the strength of that licence. There is no fee for applying for the licence.

According to sources in the cane commissioner office, till date only 20 persons applied for licence for setting up crushers and they had been given licence.

The cane commissioner, Dr Mangal Singh, said the decision to regulate the number of crushers along the main roads in the state had been taken following reports that the gur being sold by them was substandard and at times adulterated. He said that his office had issued instructions to the health authorities in the districts to crack down against the cane crushers doing business illegally and take samples from their crushers.

Even at the authorised crushers, the health authorities would take samples, which would be sent for chemical examination, and if the gur was found to be adulterated, strict action would be taken against the defaulters.