Jalandhar, January 16
Some of the sugar mills in the state are ready to process the raw sugar into refined sugar. A large stock of 10 lakh tonnes of raw sugar is lying on some ports in India for the past few weeks. The raw sugar was imported for processing into refined sugar by some of the sugar mills in Uttar Pradesh.

However, as Chief Minister Mayawati has banned the processing of raw sugar in Uttar Pradesh till the crushing of sugarcane crop in that state, the Union government has relaxed the rules allowing that any mill in the country can process the raw sugar. Before relaxation of the rules, only those mills were authorised which have placed orders for its import.

Jarnail Singh Wahad, owner of a sugar mill at Phagwara, said he was prepared to process the raw sugar in case he was allotted the stock by the authorities concerned. He said his mill had the capacity to process 2,500 bags of raw sugar daily.

He said most of the sugar mills were facing shortage of sugarcane. In the absence of sugarcane, such mills would be happy to process the raw sugar. He said he had imported some stock of raw sugar from Brazil and it had been processed.

The state has about 20 sugar mills. Most of these are in cooperative sector. Of these, seven are in private sector. The combined capacity of these mills process about 30 bags of raw sugar daily.

Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar had stated that the processing of the raw sugar would help to bring down the sugar price in the state. Blaming the Uttar Pradesh government for the rise of sugar price, Pawar had alleged that the ban on the processing of raw sugar contributed in this regard.

Meanwhile, the price of sugar came down further yesterday. The sugar price was quoted at Rs 4,500 per quintal on Thursday. It was quoted at Rs 4,450 per quintal yesterday. Three days before, it was selling between Rs 4,800 and Rs 5,000 per quintal in the wholesale market.

Ludhiana, January 16
Preventive healthcare has become a lost cause in the state Department of Health and Family Welfare, as is evident from a list of vacant posts in the Mass Media and Information Wing of the department that is elemental in creating awareness among the people through mass contact programmes.

Following such missing programmes in villages, towns and slum areas of the city, the state has witnessed major epidemics like gastroenteritis, dengue and swine flu in the past one decade. Shortage of the staff in the wing is also hindering national health programmes like pulse polio campaign and revised national tuberculosis control programme.

Interestingly, the health authorities have not filled 88 posts of block extension educator (BEE) in the state for the past 10 years. Moreover, the Health Department has also ignored the appointment of the state mass media and education officer since 2008. Out of the nine posts of BEE in Sangrur, eight are lying vacant while Jalandhar has only two BEEs out of nine. Similarly, 10 out of 12 blocks in Ludhiana do not have BEEs and all five posts in Moga and four in Kapurthala are vacant.

Contrary to a comprehensive healthcare plan of the state Health Ministry, wherein it was mandatory to have two posts of deputy mass media official in each district of the state, these are missing in Moga, Muktsar, Nawanshahr, Barnala, Tarn Taran and Mohali.

The Mass Media Employees and Officers Association had also reportedly taken up the matter with the state Health Minister and the Secretary, Health, but to no avail. Association state president Satish Sachdeva said, “Instead of having qualification in journalism, we have been reduced to clerks in the past few years”.

Jalandhar, January 16
The Kapurthala District Congress Committee president, Sukhpal Singh Khaira, has demanded strict disciplinary action against Rana Gurjeet Singh, former MP for indulging in “anti-party” activities.

In a press note, Khaira alleged that the leaking of internal party grievances and complaints to the media by Rana Gurjeet Singh amounted to gross indiscipline.

While talking to the media in Chandigarh, Rana Gurjeet Singh said he and a delegation of leaders had met Oscar Fernandes, general secretary, All-India Congress Committee (AICC), and had complained of widespread irregularities in the party membership drive.

The senior Congress leader stated that the delegation also pointed out that proper procedure was not followed in the recruitment drive and added that in many cases, money had been deposited but membership forms had not been submitted. Meanwhile, coming down heavily on Rana Gurjeet Singh, Khaira alleged that the senior Congress leader had been playing into the hands of the Akali leaders and the Badals while pointing fingers at the Congress membership drive.

In any case Rana Gurjeet Singh must not forget that this membership drive had been launched by Sonia Gandhi, Congress President. Therefore, any criticism of this drive tantamounts to criticising the Congress President. In case he had any grievance regarding the ongoing membership drive, he should have spoken to the party high command in person and not to the media on party affairs. Besides his political ascendancy, Rana Gurjeet Singh has derived benefits amounting to hundreds of crores during the previous Congress regime, he alleged.

“So far as his allegations of bogus membership are concerned, I wish to state on record that in fact it was Rana Gurjeet Singh who had indulged in the practice of bogus membership as he has deposited Rs 45,000 with the PPCC office and taken a receipt, while he has not deposited a single form that he was supposed to deposit with my office as President, DCC, Kapurthala. I have found that he has also not deposited any form with the PPCC office at Chandigarh till January 15,” Khaira claimed.

Amritsar, January 16
In its effort to resurrect itself from its “fractured past” and presenting itself as a unified lot under the leadership of its new president Nitin Gadkari, the BJP leadership is all set to corner the Congress on the inflation front by taking up the price rise issue with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on January 19.

Gadkari has seemingly initiated his efforts to infuse a fresh spirit into the “fading” BJP by initiating his political campaign in form of stage shows from the holy city, where he arrived today to address a rally tomorrow.

“We will meet the PM on the inflation and other important issues on January 19. Whenever the Congress comes to power, it brings with it the spectre of inflation. Rise in the prices of essential commodities has disturbed all and everybody wants the BJP back to power at the Centre,” said Gadkari.

He was accompanied by top BJP leaders, including Balbir Punj, Rajinder Bhandari, Manoranjan Kalia, Laxmi Kanta Chawla and Navjot Sidhu, and senior SAD leaders, including Ranjit Singh Brahmpura, Bikram Majithia and Gulzar Singh Ranike.

Gadkari also visited the Golden Temple, Durgiana Temple and Ramtirath Shrine and partook of langar at the Golden Temple.

Talking about the party’s “strained relations” with its alliance partner, the SAD, Gadkari claimed that the BJP-SAD alliance was over 40 years old and the two parties were “like a family”. Meanwhile, Amritsar accorded a warm welcome to the new BJP chief on his first visit here. A large number of people gathered on the Ajnala Road and in the front of the office of MP Navjot Sidhu and garlanded Gadkari.

According to Sidhu, Gadkari had come by a special plane and would leave Amritsar on Sunday by a special plane.

However, people faced a lot of inconvenience, as the Rialto Chowk-Kitchlu Chowk Road was blocked by BJP workers by erecting a stage in the middle of the road. Gadkari is scheduled to unveil a statue of Baldev Parkash here, even as one of the factions of the AISSF flayed him for that.

Chandigarh, January 16
The race for the Rajya Sabha membership is hotting up in the ruling SAD-BJP alliance. The top contenders include Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa, Balwinder Singh Bhunder, Tota Singh and Naresh Gujral among the politicians and Harcharan Singh Bains, Hardev Singh Mattewal and JS Bajaj among the non-politicians.

Dhindsa, a former MP and a senior minister in the NDA Cabinet, is an old Badal loyalist. Suave, non-controversial and a mature politician, Dhindsa enjoys complete confidence of Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and also has an excellent rapport with Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal. However, the fact that he lost the Lok Sabha elections this time might work against him as also the fact that his son has already been given a crucial portfolio in the Badal Cabinet.

Bhunder is another trusted lieutenant of the Chief Minister. Apart from Dhindsa, he is among the few who have stood by Badal during all his moments of political isolation, spurning even offers of a Cabinet berth during the chief ministership of Surjeet Barnala. However, Bhunder has faced rejection at the poll and also seems to have committed a political hara-kiri by accepting the relatively “lightweight” office of the chairman of the district planning board. Many feel that Bhunder slipped from the position of virtually deciding who should be given which political loaves to actually accepting the crumbs of a small office. All other members of his family, including a son and a daughter-in-law, have also been adjusted by Badal in different assignments.

Tota Singh is also an old Akali hand but had deserted Badal during the standoff with Gurcharan Singh Tohra in the critical early nineties. In addition, controversies surrounding his son seem to have eroded his political standing considerably. Nevertheless he remains a strong contender as he is the only one among the senior leaders yet to be “adjusted”.

Gujral’s biggest asset is considered to be his surname. Badal’s personal equation with the former Prime Minister, IK Gujral, and the remarkable contribution of the latter to Punjab is likely to weigh heavily in his favour. He is also considered to be close to Sukhbir Badal. His role as an SAD-BJP high command go-between may also be a factor. His experience of grassroots politics, however, goes against him.

The Chief Minister's media adviser Bains is his long-standing ally and a political ideologue of the party. Soft-spoken and suave, he is considered to be the intellectual face of SAD. Bains’ articulation of the problems of the state has found voice at the national level especially during the days following Operation Bluestar and the Sacha Sauda crises. He is, however, considered to be inconsistent and at times lacking professional focus and is considered to be too forthright to be a good politician.

Punjab’s advocate-general Mattewal claims to be close to the Chief Minister but is also known to have had an old association with the Badals’ bete noire Amarinder Singh. Also according to some, the fact that he chose to be “professional” and allegedly charged the Badals a very high fee to fight their vendetta cases during the Amarinder regime has not been forgotten by many in the party.

Bajaj’s personal equation with Badal is the strongest of the lot. He is also considered an exceptionally competent and a nationally decorated professional. However, his inflexibility on political matters may tilt the scales against him.

The Rajya Sabha has seven elected members from Punjab -- four of the Congress and three of the Akali-BJP alliance. Three seats held by Congress members DP Sabharwal, MS Gill and Ashwini Kumar and two seats of the Akali BJP alliance, held by Varinder Singh Bajwa and Naresh Gujral, are going to be vacated in April 2010. In June, the Congress seat held by Ambika Soni and the SAD-BJP alliance seat held by Raj Mohinder Singh Majithia would fall vacant.

Jalandhar, January 16
In an effort to strengthen the party at the grassroots level, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) will launch its membership drive in the state from January 18 onwards.

The party will also review the working of its leaders in the state to access the reasons of its defeat in the previous Lok Sabha and Assembly constituency elections, claimed Narinder Kashyap, national general secretary and in charge of party affairs (Punjab).

Kashyap was in city to celebrate the 54th birthday of BSP supremo and UP Chief Minister Mayawati, here yesterday.

Talking to The Tribune, Kashyap claimed that the vote percentage had gone drastically down in the state in the past five years. The party had decided to constitute various wings, including women cells, trader cells, farmers cells, youth wings and student wings at state, district, sub division, block, village or sector levels so that the party could be strengthened.

Replying to a query relating to protests by party leaders and workers against Avtar Singh Karimpuri, Punjab president of the BSP, Kashyap denied to have received any complaint in this regard. He admitted to have heard and read (in newspapers) regarding the prevailing resentment in certain section of party workers against Karimpuri.

Kashyap, however, claimed that if someone comes with complaints against Karimpuri, only then he would be able to take up the issue with the BSP high command. Defending Karimpuri, he said this could be an outcome of the rival parties.

Later, he also addressed a gathering and highlighted the achievements of Mayawati. 

Chandigarh, January 16
In the year gone by, Ludhiana topped the list of districts for the highest number of fatal road accidents followed by Patiala. On the other hand, Muktsar recorded the least number of road accidents in 2009 followed by Faridkot.

Contrary to popular belief that almost every district in Punjab was equally unsafe, the latest report of the Punjab Governance Reform Commission (PGRC) has suggested a huge variation in road traffic across the state with districts like Ludhiana recording almost seven times more fatal accidents as compared to Muktsar. According to the report, five districts of Fatehgarh Sahib, Ropar, Patiala and Barnala were highly prone to fatal accidents.

Incidentally, Kapurthala topped the “road accident per one lakh population”, only to be followed by Mohali and Fatehgarh Sahib - otherwise known to be small and peaceful districts. Traffic management has been put as one of the major challenges before the government as the “existing infrastructure has become dysfunctional leading to the widespread violation of traffic rules”.

According to the data provided by the PGRC of the first three quarters (from January 1, 2009, to September 30, 2009), Ludhiana recorded 604 fatal accidents in 2009, followed by Patiala that had 500, Kapurthala and Gurdaspur reported 347 and 304 accidents. In all, the state had 4,652 cases of fatal accidents till the end of September, which would had further gone up by another 25 per cent by the end of the fourth quarter i.e. December 31.

The PGRC Chairman, Dr Parmod Kumar, said the main reason for the high rate of accidents was due to “increased reliance of the people on personalised transport modes such as cars, two-wheelers and non-motorised transport modes such as bicycles. Along with this, there has been a preponderance of the private transport modes such as tricycles, auto-rickshaws, tempos, and negligible presence of public transport within the cities”.

A large number of drivers of motorised vehicles are untrained. This gets compounded by the large number of illiterate drivers.

All this produces anarchy on the roads, the report reads.

Further, the high accidental casualties have been attributed to driving vehicles under the influence of alcohol and drugs, rash driving and the lack of medical facilities along the highways.

The report mentions that enforcement of traffic rules and road-safety norms were compromised. These include not wearing seat belts, violation of traffic signals etc.

With increased mobility, road users like cyclists, motorcyclists were compromised. Also, pedestrians proved to be more prone to injuries as compared to four-wheeler owners.

Ropar, January 16
MLA Rana KP Singh has condemned the state government for handing over Dasmesh Martial Arts Academy, Anandpur Sahib, to the Anandpur Sahib (APS) Foundation for residential purposes.

Rana said while the state government contemplates of charting new sports policy, it had leased out a decade-old academy to the Anandpur Sahib Foundation.

He said with this, the possibility and hope of sports getting major impetus in the area had taken a backseat. The APS Foundation would upgrade the academy for converting it into a residential area for its officers. After the SAD-BJP government came to power, sportspersons expected that the academy would become functional, giving a major uplift to sports in the area. Immediately after taking over reigns of the state, the Chief Minister had promised that the academy would be given a facelift and students would be enrolled.

Even the state sports department had been talking about revival of the academy for enrolling players and promoting them. Instead, it has been extended to the APS Foundation on lease for serving residential purposes. The academy was established in 1999 by the then SAD-BJP government at a whopping budget of Rs 16 crore.

The Punjab Urban Development Authority (PUDA) developed the academy on 40-acre area. The SAD government undertook this project on holy land of Anandpur Sahib, considering its religious and historical importance. It had aimed at creating skilled players in various fields. The then Defence Minister, George Fernandes, had inaugurated the academy. Even after a decade, not even a single player was admitted at the academy.

Ludhiana, January 16
The Indian Ex-Services League, Punjab, and Chandigarh, has sought a high-level inquiry in the alleged scandal of not granting land and other benefits to the decorated soldiers and their widows.

A large number of decorated soldiers had died and their kin had not been given any benefits as announced by the state government from time to time.

Lt Col Chanan Singh Dhillon (retd), patron-in-chief of the league, said that the state government had sufficient land to allot to the decorated soldiers but officials of the state Revenue Department and other babus had played a big fraud on these soldiers and their families.

Colonel Dhillon said according to a report of the Revenue Department published on April 29, 2002, the state had land to the order of 1,72,428 acres available in 17 districts of the state. About 36,127 acres were available, which were not under any encroachment.

He further said the state Defence Advisory Committee, which met on August 11, 2004, had found that the Revenue Department had been acting in a pick and choose manner for allotment of land to the decorated soldiers and their widows.

Colonel Dhillon said Capt Amarinder Singh had ordered an inquiry into the scandal and directed the Defence Department to dig out the facts and put up report regarding the officers involved in the same. He charged that neither the Revenue Department nor the Defence Department, including the director of the Sainik Welfare Board of the state government, acted in this regard and adopted a dilly-dallying attitude and the scandal remained buried in the babudom.

According to Colonel Dhillon, when Parkash Singh Badal took over as the Chief Minister, the matter was again taken up with him and it was complained that the Revenue Department was not cooperating and had played havoc with the decorated soldiers.

During investigations, it was found that the Revenue Department had re-employed some of the officials, who had retired at higher salaries. Badal refused to grant sanction to such officers.

Colonel Dhillon had demanded a high-level inquiry into the scam.

The state government were keen to help the decorated soldiers and their widows but department officials had not allowed them to help their widows and the living decorated officers, he alleged.

It is learnt that there were as many as 256 decorated officers in the state in which 125 were alive.

Jalandhar, January 16
Responding to the demand raised by the Bharti Kisan Union (BKU), the Health Department has started working on the project to issue health cards to all families in the state.

BKU president Balbir Singh Rajewal had urged Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal that all families in the state should be issued health cards and a medical examination of all card holders should be held at least twice a year and recorded on the health card.

A senior official of the department said instructions in this regard had been received from the CM. “We are working on the project and a report in this regard will be submitted to the CM within two weeks,” the official said.

He said doctors and paramedical staff would be required to examine families in the state and to record their health indicators in the card.

Rajewal said he had met Principal Secretary, Health, Satish Chandra yesterday in this regard.“I have been told that the project is being worked out by the officials concerned”, he added. He said many people die a sudden death due to heart attacks, cancer and some other diseases.

Ludhiana, January 16
SGPC chief Avtar Singh Makkar claims that the changes in the Nanakshahi calendar have been accepted by the Sikhs all over the world and the SGPC is printing 10 lakh calendars for distribution. The amended calendar will be implemented from March 15, first day of ‘chetar’ month.

The Sikh organisations opposed to the changes in the calendar have refused to accept the amendments.

The Sikhs in south California at a convention have asked the SGPC to convene a sarbat khalsa by March 15 to discuss the panthic affairs, failing which the Sikhs will not accept the changes in the Nanakshahi calendar.

Makkar told The Tribune today that no objection had been received from any part of the world against the changes as suggested by the SGPC executive and accepted by the Akal Takht.

Makkar maintained that even in 2003 when the Nanakshahi calendar was introduced, there was opposition from some parts of the world. Sikh diaspora by and large had accepted the changes in the calendar.

Makkar said the SGPC had started the printing of the amended calendar and 10 lakh calendars would be distributed by March 15 all over the world.

He said the changes in the calendar had brought about unity among the Sikh takhts and the Sikhs as a whole. There was no dispute now about the dates of the different gurpurbs of the Sikh Gurus and the sangrands (first day of the month).

Makkar said finally the will of the Akal Takht would prevail upon the Sikhs. Meanwhile, Manjit Singh Calcutta told The Tribune that the California convention had also blamed the SGPC for raising the issue of Prof Darshan Singh out of proportion to sidetrack the issue of changes in the Nanakshahi calendar and the issues facing the Sikhs.

Calcutta, who is heading the Sikh panthic council of the Sikh organisations, said a meeting of the Sikh organisations would be held at Ludhiana tomorrow to discuss the latest situation arising out of the changes in the calendar.

According to Calcutta, Sikhs in the UK were also organising a convention in London on January 23 to discuss the situation.

Chandigarh, January 16
Nearly two years have lapsed since the Punjab and Haryana High Court issued notice of motion on a petition filed by Punjab Public Service Commission chairman Sanjit Kumar Sinha, but Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, son Sukhbir Singh Badal and vigilance chief Sumedh Singh Saini have apparently not filed their replies.

As a result the matter has made little progress ever since the HC, during the initial hearings, directed the state against initiating steps to arrest Sinha without intimating it.

As the matter came up for resumed hearing before Justice Ram Chand Gupta, petitioner’s counsel barrister Himmat Singh Shergill brought the fact to the court’s notice.

Appearing before Justice Gupta, Shergill said the matter was hanging fire, even as selections for filling up the posts of PCS (executive), deputy superintendents of police, tehsildars and others have started after a gap of around a decade. After hearing Shergill, the Bench adjourned the case to April 6.

Taking up Sinha’s petition against the Punjab CM and five other respondents, Justice Mahesh Grover, in 2008, had observed: “Himmat Singh Shergill, advocate for the petitioner, contends the petitioner is sought to be victimised on account of political vendetta with the change of guard in Punjab.

“He further contends as per information, the petitioner has gathered from press reports, a case more than a decade-old is being put under a scanner to implicate him and reportedly the vigilance bureau, acting at the behest of the CM, is determined to implicate the petitioner”.

Apprehending arrest due to political and personal vendetta at the hands of the CM and his son, Sinha is seeking blanket bail.

He was Principal Secretary to the CM and also the Home Secretary in the previous Congress regime. He had sought directions to the Punjab Chief Secretary, the DGP, the CM and Sukhbir Singh Badal to give him 10 days prior notice in any case registered against him in the state by the police, the VB or any other state agency.

The PPSC chairman submitted he was apprehending his arrest in a bid to dislodge him from the post, so as to facilitate the chairman of the choice of Badal, who held a grudge against him because it was during his tenure cases of corruption were registered against them.

Muktsar, January 16
The recently exposed “fraud” of Rs 1.18 crore at the PSEB office, Muktsar, has not only given a bad name to the office but also put certain staff members in the dock.

Though the prime accused, head cashier Sukhpal Singh, who allegedly decamped with the money, is still at large, revenue accountant Yograj and lower divisional clerk Krishan Kumar have been arrested after PSEB officials alleged their connivance in the crime.

Sources said the police had interrogated a cashier, Satwant Kaur, also but failing to ascertain her involvement in the crime, she was released. On the other hand, the PSEB authorities have suspended Sukhpal Singh, Yograj and Krishan Kumar.

Executive engineer, PSEB, Muktsar, said the department had suspended Satwant Kaur also, but in the absence of any proof of her involvement in the scam, she was reinstated yesterday.

He said many others could have been involved in the case, as investigations were going on.

The “fraud” was exposed when on January 12 he left the office in the morning with cash amounting to about Rs 12 lakh to deposit in the bank but did not turn up till 4 pm. Worried over his absence, the staff tried to contact him, but his cellphone was switched off.

Officials brought the matter to the notice of the higher authorities and lodged an FIR with the city police. Later, while investigating, officials found discrepancy of Rs 1.18 crore in the accounts. They also found that Sukhpal also allegedly took away some official records.

Sources said being a head cashier of the office, Sukhpal used to have the possession of one of the two keys of the cash safe.

Chief engineer, PSEB (west zone), GP Singh said, “We have been investigating the case in detail as all records are being thoroughly inspected. Any body found guilty will not be spared.”

The SHO, Muktsar, Davinder Singh said, “A case has been registered under Sections 409, 120-B and 201 of the IPC. Two accused, Yograj and Krishan Kumar have been arrested while prime accused Sukhpal Singh is still at large.”