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Opposition blames SAD-BJP govt
Baba Dhumma: Not a battle between Sikhs & Hindus
H1N1: State lacks testing facility
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Vidhan Sabha a house of Badals, says Khangura
Prof Darshan Singh says no to tankha
RTI bares chinks at Maur Civil Hospital
Rural docs unhappy with salary
PSEB engineers to launch stir today
Dolphins under threat at Harike
Schools to get LPG refills on priority
Four die in road mishap
Anti-theft Power Drive Nod to new scales for PRTC staff SMS facility for RTI applicants sought
Fake currency worth Rs 2 lakh seized; 3 held
‘No dearth of funds for
promoting sports’
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Opposition blames SAD-BJP govt
Chandigarh, December 6 On the other hand, the Punjab State Committee of the CPM has demanded an immediate all-party meeting to discuss the “worrisome situation” in the state. Bhattal alleged that the SAD-BJP government could not secure property and lives of Punjabis, failed miserably to grant people the right of religious freedom besides pushing the state to virtual financial bankruptcy. It had no right to stay in the office, she added. “Because of turbulence and total anarchy prevailing in the state, it will be prudent to dismiss this government and impose the President’s rule in the state to restore order and rule of the law,” she maintained. Former Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh also expressed concern over the deteriorating law and order situation and blamed the ruling Akali Dal, led by Parkash Singh Badal and Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal, who hold the Home portfolio. He observed that the Badals seemed to be either deliberately or because of incompetence and political bankruptcy pushing the state to chaos and anarchy. “On Friday, there was an unabated violence against migrant labourers in Ludhiana and the next day people were fired upon,” he pointed out, observing that there seems to be a pattern in this violence. He further stated that ever since the formation of the Akali-BJP government in Punjab, there had been “consistent attempts” at damaging the social fabric. “Firstly it was an attack on followers of the Dera Sacha Sauda. Then the violence that erupted after the killing of Sant Ramanand and the wounding of Sant Niranjan Dass in Austria. Now, there have been incidents of violence in Ludhiana. This illustrates the total collapse of the law and order machinery,” he said. The Captain said it was now duty of the Chief Minister to set right what had deteriorated during the past three years before the states’ social fabric was destroyed. The State Secretariat of the Punjab State Committee of the CPM felt that fundamentalist and divisive forces were bent upon disturbing peace and communal harmony in the state. The incidents in Ludhiana were reminiscent of ugly events of 1978 that subsequently heralded the dark days in Punjab jeopardising peace and communal harmony that took toll of 26,000 innocent lives, shattered the economy. It urged the Badal government to take firm effective steps to maintain peace. The government should also take necessary measures to restore sense of security among migrant workers. The CPM also feels that people should be more vigilant about certain political forces that are trying to utilise these unfortunate developments for their narrow partisan interests.
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Baba Dhumma: Not a battle between Sikhs & Hindus
Ludhiana, December 6 The religious leader said both communities had been living in harmony for centuries together and they would continue to do so and the yesterday's incident was no reflection on the relationships between the two religions. “We are against Ashutosh as his followers popularise him as a reincarnation of Guru Nanak Dev, Lord Rama and Jesus Christ. We cannot buy this,” said Baba Dhumma. He added the bone of contention among them was that he used to say in his discourses that the Sikhs were not the real Khalsa. “He claims himself to be Khalsa. We have a video footage to prove the allegations against him.” Stating that he had never imagined that they would have to lose a Sikh in yesterday's protest, which was conceived to be peaceful, the religious leader said they had thought the administration would handle the case well. “But unfortunately our march was considered a mob. The firing was unprovoked and we have lodged a complaint also,” he said. He added that they were not against Ashutosh because of his being a migrant. “Punjab is a state where migrants are treated well. We are only against his ideology.”
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H1N1: State lacks testing facility
Jalandhar, December 6 Real Time Polymerase Chain Reaction, a confirmatory test for swine flu, is available only at the PGI, Chandigarh, which provides its services not only to Punjab, but also to whole population of Jammu and Kashmir and suspected cases of few districts of Haryana. Though the equipment, along with isolated bio-safety cabinet, costs around Rs 30 to Rs 32 lakh which is not a hefty amount to tackle such a pandemic, the government is still reluctant enough to provide the equipment in any other medical institute or hospital in the state. As according to norms of WHO, sample collection and its transportation for H1N1 testing needs high degree of delicacy, as sample needs to be stored at 8°C for first 24 hours and at minus 70°C for next 48 hours. Chances of false results definitely increase, when the samples have to be transported for the longer distances. Moreover, delayed results, owing to distant location of testing centre, hinder the early establishment of the disease. It is learnt that a proposal to provide the testing facility at the Government Medical College (GMC), Amritsar, has been sent to the government a few months back. But this move is still waiting to be materialised owing to the technical constraints as there is no building which fulfils the specified norms to install the equipment. “We have sent the proposal to the government under the Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Surakhsa Yojana. A committee, including experts from the PGI and GMC, Amritsar, has been formed to access the technical requirements for proper installation and working of equipment. However, it is still uncertain that how much time it will take to materialise it,” said director of Research and Medical Education Dr Jaikishan. Ironically, the picture is not much satisfactory even at the national level. On the one side states like Tamil Nadu and Delhi have seven authorised laboratories to conduct the test, on the other side only two laboratories, one in Kolkata and other in Dibrugarh, are bearing the burden of all north-eastern states, Jharkhand and West Bengal. Similarly, there is no such laboratory in Rajasthan.
Panic grips Khanna
Khanna:Panic gripped Khanna and adjoining areas after the death of Dr Gautam Punj and his mother Saroj Punj at the CMCH, Ludhiana, yesterday due to swine flu. Health Department officials said though reports of swine flu tests of both victims were yet to come, they exhibited symptoms of the flu. Medicines have been given to all family members of deceased. Health officials said department employees had gone through OPD records of Dr Punj. “All those persons, who visited Dr Punj, have been traced and put on medication for the swine flu as a precautionary method,” the officials added. —
TNS
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Vidhan Sabha a house of Badals, says Khangura
Chandigarh, December 6 He stressed: “The number of Badals is now sufficient to complete the quorum for a wedding party”. In a statement issued here today, Khangura alleged, “Of the 49 Akali legislators, seven are related to the Chief Minster of which regrettably five are in the cabinet. This is an insult to the intelligence and the capabilities of those Akali MLAs not lucky enough to be related to the CM”. Khangura said one of the two relatives currently left out of the Cabinet, Bikramjit Majithia, remained a minister until he had to make way for his brother-in-law Sukhbir
Badal. Khangura stressed, “Not being content with the dynastic rule, alone the Badals are making it abundantly clear that to get ahead in the SAD it is much wiser to marry well and to be directly or indirectly related to the CM”. He sought the CM’s assurance that he will not burden the house with more Badals and relatives and suggested that the CM might now want to appoint ministers more on their proven administrative and policy making skills and less on their blood lineage. “Sadly it is likely that competency will never a consideration for Parkash Singh Badal in appointing ministers lest any non-family member acquire an aura that threatens the very dynastic rule that he seeks to propagate. You can never imagine a situation where the CM would ever welcome any of his most vocal opponents to his party from today’s opposition benches”, Khangura added.
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Prof Darshan Singh says no to tankha
He was declared tankhaiya by the high priests yesterday after he was held guilty in a case pertaining to his alleged blasphemous remarks against Guru Gobind Singh during his discourse at a Rochester (US) gurdwara. Stating that the religious edict was passed against him without listening to his side of story, Prof Darshan Singh said he had not said anything against the 10th guru and he was his true Sikh. He said he appeared before Akal Takht yesterday but the clergy wanted him to appear in the Sikh secretariat. “When Akal Takht is a supreme authority then why should I go to a room and give my point of view? I will never give any value to a room when I believe in the supremacy of Akal Takht. I was there yesterday but they did not turn up there,” he said. Stating that he valued the tenets of the Sikhism and could never insult the 10th guru, Prof Darshan Singh said he was against some chapters in Dasam Granth, which was being promoted as the second guru after Guru Granth Sahib. “I have always stated that Dasam Granth was a bigger version of Bachhittar Natak that was always hated by the Sikhs. Now, people do not have time to read Dasam Granth and the clergy is trying that itgets acceptance among the people. “I will never let this happen and I will never cease to be a Sikh,” he said. The former Jathedar also said he would appear before Akal Takht on January 7. “But that does not mean they can keep on summoning me again and again. I will go there but not in the secretariat. Whatever decision they take, it is their will,” he added.
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RTI bares chinks at Maur Civil Hospital
Bathinda, December 6 Lodging a complaint with the Vigilance Bureau, Bathinda, two RTI activists Ajay Kumar and Vijay Kumar of Maur accused the hospital staff of running the hospital impishly. They mentioned that suspecting over some anomalies of the hospital, like fake bill entries in back dates, they had sought the inspection of the hospital record under a particular section of the RTI Act. Apparently, fearing the exposure of mischief, initially the staff denied permission, floating an excuse of non-payment of “prescribed” fee. The matter reached the appellate authority - the state Information Commission, from where the hospital authorities were directed to let them inspect the record without any fee, in accordance with the rules mentioned in the Act. “During the inspection, we noticed that the hospital authorities had mentioned two postal entries in our name, showing two-month old date, which had actually reached us just a few days back. Getting suspicious, when we raised question, the staff was observed without any answer,” alleged the complainants. After the inspection, the complainants got attested copies of the hospital records and found that the authorities had kept the space of five more entries blank (620-624). Giving information, Ajay Kumar said, “We had received a tip-off that the staff of the civil hospital, Maur, was indulged in misdeeds like corruption and entering fake bills. To check the malpractices we had applied for inspection of the record. Taking note of the malpractice, we have complained to the Vigilance Bureau, Bathinda, as well as senior authorities of the state health department.” Civil hospital officiating SMO Raghbir Singh Randhawa, who is also the district family planning officer, said, “Having burden of dual charge, I do not get time to check the hospital records, so it is possible that junior staff would have been indulged in malpractice. As the matter has now come to my notice, I will call an explanation from the officials concerned.” Bathinda Vigilance Bureau SSP Chaman Lal said, “We have not received the complaint but soon after getting it, proper inspection would be initiated and any body found guilty would be brought to the book.”
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Rural docs unhappy with salary
Chandigarh, December 6 The association president, Dr Aslam Parvez, said the body rejected the contract package of Rs 37,250 approved by the Cabinet, as it was contrary to what they had demanded. The association said they were drawing salary more than that of PCMS doctors in 2006. Later, Minister of Rural Development S Ranjit Singh Brahampura showed his sincerity towards rural health and by demanding equal pay for rural medical officers as was being given to the PCMS doctors. “Sukhbir Badal had also promised us that our jobs will be regularised during the Lok Sabha elections and the department had sent a proposal five months ago to the Finance Department in writing that rural medical officers working in peripheral rural areas work equally and deserve equal salary as been given to regular PCMS doctors of the Health Department,” he said. He added that a meeting chaired by the Chief Secretary was held in May and it was approved that rural doctors would be paid on a par with PCMS doctors. “But despite knowing that over 400 doctors had left and number of them still leaving Punjab, sent back file by deducting major amount and fixing the salary to 27,000. Sources reveal that the file reads that the rural doctors were given more salary than PCMS regular doctors when the dispensaries were handed over to the zila parishads in 2006 in order to motivate doctors to go to far-off rural areas. The contractual doctors were given 1,193 dispensaries for amount of total Rs 30,000 to run a dispensary. The contract money included the wages of staff and electricity, sanitation and maintenance,” he said. “On one side regular PCMS doctors mainly based in urban and semi-urban areas had been given all facilities, infrastructure and salaries amounting to lakhs of rupees and on the other side the rural doctors who were mainly taking care of the rural populace had been ignored and had not been given even the basic salary package,” Dr Aslam said. Dr JP Narula, advisor of RMSA, Punjab, said there is no dearth of funds with the government for rural development as they had been told many a times by the minister concerned. “The government is getting all funds from the Centre in the name of rural development and rural health and motivating rural doctors should be the priority of the government,” he said adding that Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad says that the rural doctors should be paid double the salaries than the doctors working in urban and semi-urban areas.
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PSEB engineers to launch stir today
Patiala, December 6 Association president HS Bedi and general secretary Bhupinder Singh alleged that posting and transfers of officers were being made in the board without any approved transfer policy and at the whims of powerful lobbies. “The posting of officers is an administrative exercise carried out to put right person at the right post, but in the PSEB it has become an instrument to please powerful lobbies. In this process, the promotion of eligible officers get delayed and sometimes the officers have to wait for four to five months for the promotions,” they claimed. While condemning the inordinate delay in promoting eligible officers, particularly from assistant engineer to assistant executive engineer and from AEE to senior executive engineer, by the board management, Bedi said regular promotion of engineers against vacancies arising each month was a routine, but in the last few months it had become irregular, resulting in resentment in the cadre. Bedi also pointed out that the engineers were also agitated because the board management had given extension in service to a superannuated engineer, who was working as a system operation adviser.
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Dolphins under threat at Harike
Jalandhar, December 6 When a team of senior officials of the wildlife and some civilians visited the Harike wetland a few days ago, they found several nylon nets cast far and wide in the prohibited area of the sanctuary. “Fishing inside about 86 square km area of the sanctuary is not allowed without the written permission of the wildlife authorities concerned. No one can even enter the area where nets were found laid in the sanctuary,” said an official.Nets were reportedly burnt after removing from the sanctuary area. “If the poachers can dare to enter the prohibited areas, they could also lay their hands on the fresh water Indus river dolphins, which have chosen that area of the sanctuary as their habitat,” said a bird watcher. Dolphins are very friendly to human beings. However, greedy people also kill them to get oil from their flesh. The oil is used for some medicinal purpose. According to sources, the police force, which was deployed there to guard against poachers, have been withdrawn from the wetland area. “The police used to patrol the area a few years ago but it is no more so,” sources said. The fresh river dolphins are on the red list of threatened species world over. Some international bodies give crore of rupees for their conservation. Even a wildlife inspector Ajit Singh, who was honoured by the state government and International Wildlife Trust for showing exemplary courage against the poachers a few years ago, was transferred from Harike to Abohar recently. Poachers had fired at Ajit Singh grievously hurting him a few years ago. His one arm, which had suffered bullet injuries, had become dysfunctional. “Besides the illegal entry of the poachers, the other bad news is a transfer of Ajit Singh. Poachers would be further emboldened with this development,” said the bird watcher. Another disappointing factor is that the contract has been given to catch the fish from the Beas river, upstream sanctuary. Sources said the contract to catch the fish in adjoining area of the sanctuary had been given for a few lakhs of rupees by the Fisheries Department. Dolphins also swim to upstream area in the Beas river. “If any of the dolphin is trapped in the net cast by the contractors and hurt in the process, it would be most sad development,” said a wildlife fan. The union government has declared the river water dolphin as national aquatic animal. Interestingly, the Wildlife Department has prepared a bio-diversity plan for the Beas river to improve the habitat for wildlife in it, on other hand contract had been given to catch the fish. Sources said Sanghera fish that is found in the Beas river fetched a price of Rs 600 per kg in winter season. Wildlife fans have appealed to the Chief Minister to take steps immediately to secure the dolphins and to allocated some newly trained jawans at Jahan Khelan for the security services in the sanctuary area. They said earlier, Badal had also done a lot for the sanctuary and had got the thousands tones of weeds removed from it with the help of the Army.
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J&K missing on Chinese globes
Amritsar, December 6 But, it does not seem to be the case at the trade fair, where visitors are shocked to find China-made globes sans depiction of Kashmir as part of India. The stone-finish beautiful globes flaunting a price tag ranging from Rs 1,500 to Rs 6,500 a piece sold at the fair did not show Jammu and Kashmir as a part of India, which was shown in colours like black, green and blue on differently sized globes. Apparently, the trade fair organisers could not be blamed for the lapse, as these globes kept selling at different stalls of Chinese items and it might not have been possible for organisers to check each item before its display. But, even the stall owners apparently passed these globes on to the customers without knowing that these violated the law. It was a different matter that such Chinese globes are selling like hot cakes across the world, particularly in the Western countries and in the North America. Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee general secretary Parminder Singh Pinki has demanded a probe into the matter saying that everyone knew that J&K was a part of India and those violating it should be booked. “Such globes should be seized and action should be taken against those selling such items,” said Pinki.
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Schools to get LPG refills on priority
Chandigarh, December 6 Stating this here today, a spokesman for the School Education Department, Punjab, said the department had been successfully providing hot cooked meal to about 20 lakh students of Classes 1 to VIII in all state primary and upper primary schools, including aided schools, for all working days in a year. He said to provide better facilities for safe and hygienic cooking, kitchen devices and proper sheds, including storage bins, fire extinguishers and LPG gas connections, had been provided in all schools. He said heads of schools providing food to students under the mid-day meal scheme, had been informed that all LPG distributors would provide requisite connections and refills at the school level on priority. “The head teacher will request for registration to refill the cylinder on telephone by mentioning consumer number and the dealer will inform him about the date of supply,” he said.
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Four die in road mishap
Sangrur, December 6 Three persons also received serious injuries in the incident. Police sources said Azad Singh (27), son of Kali Ram of
Jallandhar; his niece Monu, daughter of Mohan Lal; driver Ravi Kumar, son of Jagdish Chand of Delhi; and Sunil Kumar (38), son of Prem Chand of
Ludhiana, died on the spot. The sources added that the injured were rushed to district hospital,
Sangrur.
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Anti-theft Power Drive Patiala, December 6 Brar told Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal that cops had targeted his sons, as they are furious over the anti-theft drive. Cops had been booked and fined by the board on charges of power theft. Information available with The Tribune revealed that in February, 2009, the board had registered 46 theft cases in Faridkot Police Lines and penalised defaulters worth Rs 12.19 lakh. In November, 13 cases were registered against the cops and a penalty of Rs 1.61 lakh was imposed. Brar said: “Since June, 2009, 13,38,720 connections were checked, out of which 64,479 thefts and 88,780 unauthorised loads were detected. The penalty of Rs 130 crore was imposed on defaulters.” He said the board had checked 24,881 connections in October and November and found 7,777 cases. Also, a penalty of Rs 16 crore was imposed. Brar said the board had also introduced VDS scheme.
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Nod to new scales for PRTC staff Patiala, December 6 Stating this here yesterday, Manvesh Singh Sidhu, managing director of PRTC, said it was approved by Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal at a meeting with representatives of the transport department held in Chandigarh. Sidhu said the case would be cleared from the office of the Punjab Labour Commissioner before the new scales were implemented that would benefit over 5,200 employees of the corporation across the state. There are 1,500 employees working with the corporation on a contract basis, he added. He said Badal had approved the recruitment and regularisation policy framed by PRTC for appointing the staff. He further said the new employees were recruited on contract basis and were regularised in a phased manner. Badal also asked transport gencies to emulate and adopt this policy. Sidhu said the plan had been approved for raising loans for replacing its buses in a phased manner. The corporation had added about 300 new buses while the old ones would be phased out. The private agency hired by the state government for building a new bus stand on the Patiala-Rajpura Highway had started the work, he added.
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SMS facility for RTI applicants sought Chandigarh, December 6 Arora has complained to the State CIC that complaints and appeals filed by the RTI users are being dismissed by information commissioners on the basis of presumed service and due to non-appearance of complainants. “There is dire need to frame rules of procedure in this regard, in the absence of which commissioners are following their procedure. Some adjourn the complaint if the complainant does not appear on the first date of hearing whereas others close the case on the basis of a statement made by PIO or his representative,” said Arora. HC Arora said the Haryana State Information Commission was considering introducing the service.
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Fake currency worth Rs 2 lakh seized; 3 held Nurpur Bedi, December 6 “Even the crackling sound and thickness of fake notes is as good as original ones,” Yadav added. The fake currency makers failed to copy optical fibers, which when held against ultraviolet rays show florescent ink. “The notes seem to be made either in Pakistan or Bangladesh,” he added. The accused have been arrested on the Nurpur Bedi-Ropar road. They have been identified as Kuldeep Singh from Kotshamir area in Bathinda while Suresh Kumar Dubey and Anil Kumar from Homganj area in Oriya. The police has seized about 100 notes of Rs 1,000 and 200 notes of Rs 500 besides 7.65-mm pistol loaded with live cartridges, a Mahindra Bolero and 4 kg opium. The police said the trio had been smuggling opium, fake currency and weapons for the past two years. They bought fake currency from areas situated along India-Bangladesh border and supplied it in parts of Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chandigarh and Haryana. The opium confiscated today is worth Rs 1.60 lakh. Bolero car recovered had also been stolen. The police has been dispatched to the areas in West Bengal from where fake currency was bought. A case has been registered under Sections 25/54/59 of the Arms Act, 489 A, 489 B and 489 C of the IPC and 18/61/85 of the NDPS Act.
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‘No dearth of funds for
promoting sports’ Patiala, December 6 Dr Jaspal Singh, Vice-Chancellor, Punjabi University, said there is no dearth of funds for developing world-class sports infrastructure at the university. Member secretary,
AIU, Dr Gurdip Singh, delivered a lecture on ‘Professional Management of University Sports’- a springboard for winning Gold Olympic-2012. He said the representation of our political system is essential to enhance the sporting standards. He added that the main purpose is to draw attention of the policy makers to streamlining the sporting facilities in the university. While executive joint secretary,
AIU, Dr GS Sivia, and executive joint secretary of Athletics Federation of India spoke about ‘National University Games-Management Organisation and Eligibility Rules’. He emphasised that sports agencies like
IOA, AIU, national sports federations and the Central Sports Ministry should encourage the youth to participate in national tournaments. Dr Jagmohan Singh Kang and Prof Sanjiv Dutta were the chairpersons of the session. Conference director Dr Raj Kumar Sharma said the concluding ceremony would be organised tomorrow. Assistant director, Sports, Dr Gurdeep
Kaur, fooball coach Dalbir Singh and Mittarpal Singh were also present.
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Nurpur Bedi, December 6
Ludhiana, December 6