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‘Governments have forgotten martyrs’
Are more concerned about carving new states than national integrity
Amaninder Pal
Tribune News Service
Jalandhar, January 23
“We never nurtured him with any special care. It was his inherent patriotism that prompted him to die for the nation. It is just because of his martyrdom that people regard us as parents of a national icon,” said K. Unnikrishanan, father of Sandeep Unnikrishanan, who sacrificed his life during the 26/11 Mumbai attacks.
K. Unnikrishanan, along with his wife Dhanalakshmi, was in the city to participate in a function organised by the National Martyrs Memorial Committee on the eve of the 144th birth anniversary of Netaji Subhas Chander Bose. While talking to The Tribune, he said it was very tough to bear the shock of Sandeep’s death as he was his only child. “Who will set an example if everybody wants to see his or her son as an engineer or doctor. One has to bear the heat of not being with his loved one,” said the composed man, who serves in the administration department at the Indian Space Research Organisation. While expressing his regard to the spirit of patriotism in Punjab, he said Punjabis were gifted with transparent patriotism. One can feel this spirit just by visiting the real memorial of real patriots, he said in reference to his visit to Hussainiwala Memorial of Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev. “The governments have forgotten the martyrs. Today we are asked to motivate the youth. But which political party we can quote today as an icon of the youth? We are more concerned about carving new states than national integrity. It is strange that even today we find some sense of patriotism in the country where we need to bribe people even to get the death certificates of our
relatives,” he said while commenting on the current political system. Col S.S. Sidhu of 7 Bihar, who served as the Commanding Officer of Sandeep for two years, recalled some moments with him. “He was not only a brave Army man but a nice and kindhearted colleague. He always respected his juniors more than his seniors and colleagues. The nation must equally salute his sacrifice and his personality,” said Col Sidhu in a brief address. Lieut-Gen Surjit Singh (retd) presided over the function and Mayor Rakesh Rathore and former Chief Secretary N.K. Arora were the guests of
honour.
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Khanna Chamiara Episode
Farmers, labour bodies demand Badal’s resignation
Tribune Reporters
Nawanshahr, January 23
The activists of various farmers and labourers’ organisations blocked traffic here at the Chandigarh Chowk for about two hours on Saturday to press the government to punish the real culprits of the Khanna Chamiara episode, grant land ownership rights to the tillers and to protest against the unprecedented rise in prices of the essential commodities.
Earlier, the activists of different farmers and labour organisations gathered here near the Government Senior Secondary School and
held a rally. Addressing the rally, Kulwinder Singh Warraich, State Vice President, All India Federation of Trade Unions (AIFTU), Surinder Singh Bains and Jarnail Singh Bhukhri, President and General Secretary, respectively, of the Kirti Kisan Union, Gurdial Rakker, Brick Kiln Workers Union, among others, while addressing the rally, demanded the resignation of the CM, Parkash Singh Badal for his failure to protect the interests of the farmers, arrest of the accused, including SGPC president Avtar Singh Makkar, and suspension of the SSP and DSP, Batala, and to conduct a high-level inquiry into the Khanna Chamiara episode. They also demanded ownership rights to the tillers of land belonging to the religious places and government. Expressing concern over the unprecedented rise in the prices of essential commodities, the union leaders demanded strengthening of the Public Distribution System. Meanwhile, due to the long duration of the traffic jam, hundreds of commuters on the main Jalandhar-Nawanshahr-Chandigarh highway were stranded and the public had to face a lot of inconvenience. The traffic was diverted and the buses, cars, trucks etc. had to take link-road routes to avoid the traffic blockade in the town. It created a traffic chaos not only on the Jalandhar- Nawanshahr-Chandigarh highway but also on the main roads and bazaars like Rahon Road, Railway Road, Old Court Road, Kothi Road, Arya Samaj Road and Kulam Road etc. here in the town. “The administration should have come into action immediately and no one should be allowed to cause such an inconvenience to the public by blocking traffic for hours together on the main highway,” said the harassed commuters.
Amritsar: Chaos ruled at the Inter-State Bus Stand for over two hours here this afternoon, when thousands of activists of the Kirti Kisan Union blocked the road in protest against the “liberal” attitude of the authorities concerned, towards the culprits of the Khanna Chamiara shootout incident. However, the move resulted in a lot of inconvenience for the commuters and passengers boarding buses and the police had to face a tough time regulating traffic on the GT Road. It is pertinent to mention that this incident occurred over the possession of land dispute at Khanna Chamiara last month in which two persons lost their lives and left 12 persons seriously injured. Nevertheless, various Kisan unions of the state today joined the Kirti Kisan Union for their cause and demanded action against the culprits besides extending the ownership rights to the genuine farmers for their land. The leaders of various kisan organisations also held the SGPC officials responsible for this shootout and demanded registration of cases and arrest against the guilty ones. While addressing the protesters, just at the entrance of the bus stand, the state president of the Jamhoori Kisan Union Satnam Singh Ajnala stressed that 90-day challan must be issued against the SGPC officials who were involved in the incident and also sought dismissal of the SSP and DSP of Batala, who allegedly have helped the main culprits to flee from the spot. They also demanded a reservation in government job for the family member of the deceased ones, besides a financial compensation of Rs 10 lakh and the injured should be paid upto Rs 3 lakh each. Dhanwant Singh, state committee member of the union, told that the agitation would be intensified in coming days if the authorities still did not pay any adhere to their cause.
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3 cops booked for intrusion, extortion
P.K. Jaiswar
Tribune News Service
Amritsar, January 23
The Chheharta police has booked three policemen for allegedly barging into the house, threatening the family members and decamping with cash and jewellery.
The case was registered after an inquiry conducted by the Deputy Superintendent of Police in this regard.
Victim Sarabjit Kaur, a resident of Bhalla Colony, in her complaint lodged with the police, alleged that Head Constable Manjit Singh along with Sukhwinder Singh and Harinder Singh, all posted in the Narcotics Cell, Amritsar (Rural) police district, and seven other unidentified persons entered her house in plain clothes. The victim said that the police persons used foul language against her and alleged that she was running a flesh trade racket. She alleged that the accused also took away Rs 25,000 and gold jewellery. When the case was brought to the notice of the district police chief, he marked an enquiry to the DSP of Chheharta. Gurpreet Singh, SHO of Chheharta police station, said that no arrest had been made so far as the accused had absconded. He said they
had been suspended with immediate effect.
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Insurance co told to pay Rs 2.4 lakh
Hoshiarpur, January 23
Providing relief to Neelam Gupta, widow of Ravinder Kumar of Garhdiwala, the District Consumers Forum, headed by President P.D. Goel, has ordered Reliance Life Insurance, Navi Mumbai, and its local office to pay Rs 2.40 lakh to the former with interest at 9 per cent per annum within one month from the date of filing of the complaint till realisation. The forum also told the
company to pay Rs 1,000 as litigation expenses.
In her complaint Neelam had stated that the insurance company had wrongly repudiated the claim of Rs 2.40 lakh which she had filed against the Reliance money guarantee plan policy purchased by her husband before his death. Her husband died of cardiac arrest and respiratory failure in the Civil Hospital here on August 21, 2008, nine days after taking the
policy. She was the nominee of the policy. The insurance company took the plea that the policy holder had suppressed the material facts regarding his health condition at the time of getting the insurance policy as he was a known case of ALD and HTN with esophageal varices with cardiac diseases. Ravinder Kumar was hospitalised in August 2008 for liver cirrhosis in the DMC, Ludhiana, just three day prior to proposing for insurance. This fact was not disclosed at the time of filling the proposal form. Thus the company had repudiated the claim on the ground of non-disclosure of material facts, in terms of section 45 of the Insurance Act, 1938. The forum held that since the proposal forum was filled by Ravinder Kumar in the hospital, therefore, it was the duty of the insurance company to ensure that the policyholder was not suffering from any disease. It was open for the company either to provide or not to provide the policy to the policyholder.
— OC
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Opium, smack seized, 5 held
Our Correspondents
Nawanshahr, January 23
SP (D) Kuldip Singh, while addressing mediapersons here on Thursday, said the Rahon police, led by SHO Hardip Kumar, arrested two drug peddlers identified as Gurbaksh Singh of Sangowal village (Jalandhar) and Budh Ram of Kusana village, Jodhpur district (Rajasthan), and seized 2.50 kg of opium from their possession at a naka on the Garcha-Bahadurpur link road.
The accused were coming on a scooter (PB-10-AQ-6073) from Bahadurpur and tried to turn back when they saw the police, said the SP (D), adding that suspecting some foul play, the police nabbed them. Besides opium, the police also seized the Bajaj Chetak scooter. A case under section 18 of the NDPS Act and 207 of the MV Act has been registered against them. Hoshiarpur: The Model Town police arrested Ganesh Kumar of Panshta village under sections 22, 61 and 85 of the NDPS Act and seized 250 intoxicated capsules last night. The Garhshankar police arrested Mohinder Sharma of Garhshankar town and Amrik Singh of Denowal last night and seized 8 gram smack
from them.
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