The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

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50 YEARS OF INDEPENDENCE

TERCENTENARY CELEBRATIONS

CPS kicks off rainwater harvesting project
Hoshiarpur, February 17
Inaugurating the rainwater harvesting structure (small lift) project at Fatehpur village and Kothi, Chief Parliamentary Secretary (CPS) for Agriculture, Horticulture and Soil Conservation Sohan Singh Thandal said the Soil and Water Conservation Department would spend Rs 1.20 crore for different irrigation schemes and development works in the Kandi and Bet areas of this district during the current financial year.

Day 3: Protesting farmers block traffic
Gurdaspur, February 17
Hundreds of irate farmers, demanding arrest of SGPC President Avtar Singh and secretary Dilmegh Singh, blocked the main road at the busy Dak Khana Chowk for two hours, forcing residents to take longer routes to reach their destinations.

Custodial Death
ASI brought to law after nine years
Tarn Taran, February 17
An aged widow, Joginder Kaur of Gandiwind Dhattal village, 30 km from here, has succeeded in bringing to book an ASI Harbhajan Singh allegedly responsible for the custodial death of his 17-year-old son.

SDP rallies against price hike, LPG shortage
Hoshiarpur, February 17
Activists of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), led by president Jai Gopal Dhiman, staged a 10-km-long protest march from Chabewal village to Hoshiarpur to show their resentment against the increase in the rates of essential commodities and shortage of LPG and the failure of the Union and state governments to control them.

Gang clash in jail, one injured
Amritsar, February 17
Members of two notorious gangs, Jagtar Boxer and Ankur Likhari, involved in a scuffle on the high security Amritsar Central Jail premises here in which Amandeep Motu of the Lekhari gang was injured.

Man held in Tara Rani murder case
Jalandhar, February 17
The police has arrested a resident of Ajit Nagar, allegedly wanted in the Tara Rani murder case. Tara Rani (80), a resident of Vivek Nagar, near Kishanpura, was hacked to death by certain assailants on December 24, 2008.

	Bank fraud comes to light Rs 4.2 lakh debited from the accounts of father-son duo and transferred to two fictitious accounts P.K. Jaiswar Tribune News Service Amritsar, February 17 A fraud of several lakhs in a private bank situated on Mall Road involving its employees have come to light in which amount was debited from the accounts of some persons and transferred to some fictitious accounts without their knowledge by forging documents. An inquiry in this regard was conducted by the police, which has found prima facie evidence against six bank employees, including its Manager and Assistant Manager. Navjot Singh, a student in Australia, on his return here was shocked to see his account. He said he found that about Rs 60,000 were transferred from his account to two accounts belonging to one Surjit Singh and Monica Kakkar while about Rs 3.60 lakh were transferred from his father’s account to the same account numbers, which were later found to be fictitious during the probe. Interacting with mediapersons here today, he said about Rs 30 lakh from his and his father account were invested in the share market without even their knowledge. Interestingly, the passbook provided by the bank had handwritten entries of the account. Navjot, who was accompanied by his father Jagtar Singh, a resident of White Avenue here, said when he brought out the original records from the bank, there were glaring discrepancies in the entries. “We were much pained by the attitude of the bank authorities who did little to resolve our grievance,” said Jagtar Singh. He said a complaint was submitted to the district police chief, who marked an inquiry to the DSP, Civil Lines. However, he alleged that although the inquiry had been completed in which bank officials were found guilty, yet no case was registered till now due to alleged political pressure as one of the accused had close political links. Lakhbir Singh, DSP, Civil Lines, when contacted said he had completed the inquiry and submitted the report to the police chief. “Due to unavoidable circumstances, I could not discuss the outcome of the investigation with the SSP and later Commissioner system came into force in the district,” he said. He said during investigation the prima facie involvement of the bank employees has come to light. He said he would discuss the case with the police Commissioner and a case would be registered soon.
	Congress govts made state educationally backward: CM Dharmendra Joshi Tribune News Service Begowal (Kapurthala), February 17 Blaming the successive Congress governments for making the state educationally backward, Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal alleged that they had given little attention towards this vital field of human resource development. He was speaking at a function here today after laying the foundation stone of Rs 12.50 crore Government Polytechnic College. Claiming that Punjab is now heading towards knowledge-based society, he said the SAD-BJP government focused attention on technical education with the opening of seven new polytechnic colleges, 13 academic colleges and three universities, including world-class university in Amritsar and Central University in Bathinda. Badal made it clear that the commissioning of these institutions was made time-bound with the completion of all necessary formalities and provision of requisite funds. He said the SAD-BJP government was giving top priority to this sector and a crusade had been launched to strengthen academic and technical education network. The CM said 21 new model schools were being opened in rural areas of the state to impart quality education to the poor talented students, at par with the public schools in the urban areas. He said 29,000 teachers of different categories were selected and over 1,000 vacant posts of principal were filled to meet the long-pending needs of the education institutions. Badal also announced meeting of various demands put forth by the people of the area, which included 23-km Subanpur-Nadala modern road link network and completion of Nadala Mandi. Technical Education and Industrial Training Minister Swarna Ram said the state was witnessing technical revolution with the strengthening of technical infrastructure network under the Technical Education Quality Improvement Programme. Speaking on the occasion, a former SGPC president and the chairperson of the District Planning Board, Kapurthala, Bibi Jagir Kaur, said a sum of Rs 32 crore was approved for various development works of the district, besides over Rs 31 crore for strengthening the road network in the area. Chief Parliamentary Secretary Bikramjit Singh Khalsa was also present.
	CPS kicks off rainwater harvesting project Hoshiarpur, February 17 Inaugurating the rainwater harvesting structure (small lift) project at Fatehpur village and Kothi, Chief Parliamentary Secretary (CPS) for Agriculture, Horticulture and Soil Conservation Sohan Singh Thandal said the Soil and Water Conservation Department would spend Rs 1.20 crore for different irrigation schemes and development works in the Kandi and Bet areas of this district during the current financial year. Keeping in view the necessity of the scheme, the Soil and Water Conservation Department had completed this small lift irrigation project within a record period. Under this project, after lifting the water to 21-metre high fields of Fatehpur village and Kothi, fields would be irrigated with the sprinkling system, benefiting 23 acres of land of both the villages. A 10-metre long and 3.25-metre high structure had been constructed on all weather rivulets to store water and utilise the same for irrigation which would increase the crop yield. Thandal appealed to the people to save water and extend their cooperation to the department for the success of the scheme. He distributed cheques for Rs 10 lakh among the panchayats of the area for development purposes and announced a grant of Rs 21,000 to the Sandhiya Self-Help Group of Maili village. Deputy Commissioner Megh Raj also addressed the gathering on the occasion. — OC
	Day 3: Protesting farmers block traffic Tribune News Service Gurdaspur, February 17 Hundreds of irate farmers, demanding arrest of SGPC President Avtar Singh and secretary Dilmegh Singh, blocked the main road at the busy Dak Khana Chowk for two hours, forcing residents to take longer routes to reach their destinations. The farmers sat on a dharna in front of the Deputy Commissioner’s office for the third successive day and aired their demands even as the district administration had positioned a riot-control vehicle at the venue. There was a scare when a farmer from Sudhar (Ludhiana), Avtar Singh, complained of chest pain and was rushed to the Civil Hospital by his colleagues. Deputy Commissioner K.S. Sra and SDM J.P. Singh visited the hospital. The DC announced that all the expenditure on Avtar Singh’s treatment would be borne by the administration. Meanwhile, Congress leaders, including local MP Partap Singh Bajwa, demanded that the police should register cases against Makkar and Dilmegh Singh for the “goonda raj the SGPC task force had unleashed on farmers on November 3 last year at Khanna Chamara.” Satbir Singh, a spokesman of the farmers unions, claimed that the kin of Balwinder Singh, who was killed in firing at Khanna Chamara, was being threatened by the police. He said he had brought this to the notice of the DC. He added a delegation of the farmers met the DC yesterday who said that he would be taking up their demands with Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal.
	Custodial Death ASI brought to law after nine years Our Correspondent Tarn Taran, February 17 An aged widow, Joginder Kaur of Gandiwind Dhattal village, 30 km from here, has succeeded in bringing to book an ASI Harbhajan Singh allegedly responsible for the custodial death of his 17-year-old son. According to the information collected here today, Judicial Magistrate Deepak Kumar Chaudhry has ordered to issue non-bailable summons under sections 302 and 304, IPC, against ASI Harbhajan Singh. Joginder Kaur’s son Pardeep Singh, alias Deepa, a students of class X in Government High School, Kallaha, had died on December 22, 2001, in the custody of ASI Harbhajan Singh, the then in charge of Jamarai police post (falling under Goindwal police station). Pardeep was booked under sections 22, 61 and 85, NDPS Act, and was interrogated by the ASI. The police tried to hush up the case but on the intervention of the mass organisations of the area which threatened an agitation. A case regarding the custodial death was also registered against ASI Harbhajan Singh the same day. Though the case was registered, the ASI was neither arrested nor suspended. Joginder Kaur approached the Punjab State Human Rights Commission and the matter was inquired into twice by a DSP-rank officer. In both the inquiry reports the ASI was allegedly held responsible for the death of Pardeep Singh in police custody during interrogation. The police instead of giving justice to the widow submitted a report for cancellation of the case registered against the ASI in a local judicial court and declared the case to be cancelled. The widow on the basis of the cancellation report submitted a complaint in the local judicial court on December 20, 2006. After her three-year efforts the widow has succeeded in getting non-bailable warrants issued against the ASI.
	SDP rallies against price hike, LPG shortage Hoshiarpur, February 17 Activists of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), led by president Jai Gopal Dhiman, staged a 10-km-long protest march from Chabewal village to Hoshiarpur to show their resentment against the increase in the rates of essential commodities and shortage of LPG and the failure of the Union and state governments to control them. They held rallies at various bus stops on the way and condemned the governments for making false assurances to control the prices of edible goods and for not taking any step against black marketeers and hoarders. Later, they presented a memorandum to the Deputy Commissioner in this connection. — OC