The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Missing NRI found dead in Italy
Ashok Kaura

Phagwara, February 27
In a shocking incident, the decomposed body of Italy-based NRI Gurmukh Singh Sarkaria (37) was found floating in a river near Karema town of Italy on February 24. Reports received here said Gurmukh was missing since January 19. He had just returned to Italy from India and was on his way back to his home in Fabrike village in Italy in a car.

Meanwhile, a pall of gloom descended in Dhunde village, native place of Gurmukh Singh. His father Lakhwinder Singh (66), who was also residing in Italy since 2004, said Gurmukh came to the village on January 2 to get his eye and dental treatment. He said Gurmukh left for Italy on January 18 and informed him about his safe landing in Italy on January 19.

He said according to preliminary reports received from Italy, his son was received in Italy by his other friend Vishal Arora and both went to the house of their third friend Sukhwinder Singh where all three took meal and drinks. Later his son and Vishal left for Fabrike in a car. According to Vishal, Gurmukh left the car when he saw police checking details near Karema. Since then, he has been missing.

Lakhwinder Singh said he had contacted the embassies in Delhi and Italy when he heard his son’s missing news.

It was suspected that he had been murdered and the body thrown after that.

Lakhwinder said a fisherman found the body in the river and informed the Italian Police. Rajwinder Kaur and Shamsher Singh, wife and brother of the deceased, respectively, identified the body.

Gurmukh, who was a journalist, might have been murdered his own friends, apprehended

Lakhwinder. He said he along with his wife Nashtar Kaur would fly to Italy today for the cremation. Gurmukh had a daughter Jaspreet Kaur (8) and a son Baljit Singh (3).

Protesters storm into CM’s function, whisked away
Parmod Bharti

Nawanshahr, February 27
The activists of the district unit of the Medical Practitioners’ Association, Punjab, managed to enter the pandal premises, where Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal was addressing the gathering after laying the foundation stone of Baba Balraj Government College at Balachaur on Saturday.

The practitioners raised anti-government slogans creating a row in the pandal. The police immediately sprung into action and rounded up the agitating practitioners and took them away. The CM showed no panic and appealed the people to sit, after which he continued his address.

To protest against the police action, the medical practitioners accompanied by the activists of like-minded unions, blocked traffic at Balachaur on the Chandigarh-Nawanshahr-Jalandhar main road.

Kulwinder Singh Warraich, state vice-president, All-India Federation of Trade Unions (AIFTU), CPM leader Mahan Singh Rouri and Parminder Menka, while addressing the dharna, termed the police action on the medical practitioners, as murder of democracy in the broad daylight.

Meanwhile, the activists of the Unemployed ETT Teachers Union, Punjab, accused the district police of cheating them by not keeping the promise of organising a meeting with the CM so that they could have submitted a memorandum to him. Instead, the police manhandled and took us away from the road, alleged Kanwardeep Singh (Ropar), Varinder Singh (Kapurthala) and Balwinder Singh (Nawanshahr) adding that they just wanted to submit their memorandum to the CM demanding scrapping the recognition of ETT from Jammu and Kashmir and to recruit ETT teachers on regular basis.

Earlier, the Chief Minister laid the foundation stone of Baba Balraj Government College at Balachaur. The college would come up at a cost of Rs 8 crore.

He said with this college, the residents of backward Kandi area could realise their long-cherished dream.

Praising his own government, the CM said we have fulfilling our pre-poll promises on revamping the education system. As many as three universities at Bathinda, Amritsar and Fatehgarh Sahib, 13 colleges and 7 technical education institutes were being set up. The CM also announced a grant of Rs 5 lakh for the infrastructural development of a college at Mazari village.

Budget
Common man’s woes still unaddressed
Riva/Tribune News Service

MLA Anil Joshi protests against the UPA Government over price rise and budget in Amritsar on Saturday. Photo: Vishal Kumar

Jalandhar, February 27
The Budget has got a mixed response from city residents. While some have hailed the Budget as good, others have dumped it as anti-people.

Stating it to be “a good Budget for the aam aadmi”, the Jalandhar chapter of the Institute of Chartered Accountants stated that the common man, who was burdened by escalating food prices, could expect some relief coming in, with lots of incentives and benefits for the agricultural sector.

Punit Oberoi, senior member of the institute, said overall the Budget was good and balanced. “It is smartly managed to generate resources to not only enhance the fiscal incentives to drive the economy but also to lower the fiscal deficit. Pranab Mukherjee has tried to create more money in the hands of consumers, thereby increasing their purchasing power,” he said.

Prithpal Singh, Secretary of the Punjab State Ministerial Services Union, said the Budget seems to be increasing pressure on the middle class by increasing the burden of direct and indirect taxes on many commodities, ranging from mosquito nets to baby and clinical diapers.

“Increased prices of petroleum and diesel and even cement will affect the middle class adversely,” he said.

Gaurav Divedi, a student of economics, said: “It is not a laudable Budget as it does not offer special packages to promote higher education in the country. Instead of making computer and its products cheaper, the government has further increased the rates by putting four per cent duty on microprocessors of computers, optical and flash drives. Petrol and diesel have also become costlier.”

Rajwinder Kaur, a government employee, said the Budget is a moderate one, having certain pluses with a pinch of salt. While medicinal products will get cheaper, health check ups and schemes of insurance companies will attract service tax. I don’t see much good coming in with the Budget. The government cannot be trusted with keeping the price of domestic gas static. Though, not mentioned in the Budget, it might be increased on some pretext some day.”

While the city economists think the Budget to be smartly managed, the common man, to a large extent is unsatisfied, given the uncontrolled inflation.

Patil lays stress on quality education
Tribune News Service

Amritsar, February 27
Stressing on the need for focused attention on quality education and high standard of research by reshaping the roadmap of academic curriculum, to realise the goal of a knowledgeable society, Shivraj Patil, Governor of Punjab and Chancellor of the Guru Nanak Dev University said universities have the enormous responsibility of building the nation by improving the higher education system.

Presiding over the 36th annual convocation of the university, he pointed out that unless basic and specific strategies are set in place by our centres of higher learning, to deliver a suitable and competent workforce for nation building activities, the goal of targeted economic growth will be difficult to achieve.

The universities have a special responsibility to equip our youth with appropriate skills to meet international standards. He said we must utilise all resources available at our disposal to explore and develop the potential of our students by stretching their abilities through innovative programmes.

Earlier, delivering the convocation address, Dr. Naranjan Singh Dhalla, distinguished professor and director of cardiovascular developments, St. Boniface General Hospital Research Centre, University of Mantitoba, Winnipeg, Canada, said the need of the hour is to have a joint research programme between the department of applied health sciences and the Government Medical College, Amritsar, for novel and innovative approaches and strategies towards improving human health and welfare.

He said our society is also faced with an increasing number of problems associated with law and order, social injustice, human dignity, climate change and global poverty. He said some novel and innovative approaches and strategies have to be developed for improving human health and welfare in addition to eliminating poverty and stimulating the economy.

He said for this purpose, it would be helpful for the academic institutions to establish local, provincial, national and international collaborations for the optimal use of their resources.

Meanwhile, the Governor awarded Doctor of Science (honoris causa) degree to Dr. Dhalla, and Doctor of Literature degree to Dr. Surjit Patar, the highly acclaimed, popular and decorated Punjabi poet. Lauding the achievements of GNDU, Vice Chancellor, Prof. Ajaib Singh Brar, he pointed out that the universities were passing through a serious financial crisis due to maintenance grants having been frozen long ago and a continuing increase in expenditure due to hike in salaries and other expenses.

He said an ever-rising fee structure of the students ultimately renders a large section of the society unable to access quality education and would ultimately prove to be disastrous for the expansion of higher education, needed badly for India’s progress in the present technologically advanced scenario.

He said without a liberal contribution by the government, the system of higher education would not be able to sustain itself. He also appealed to the government to bail the university system out of the present crisis either by increasing the maintenance grant proportionately or at least sanctioning a one-time grant.

Inflation, exams dampen Holi spirits
Riva/Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, February 27
City residents are gearing up for celebrating the festival of hues and colours, but the spirits are not at the usual high. Global meltdown, escalating inflation, Ludhiana violence and examinations have dampened the spirit of the festival, reducing it to a low-key affair.

Gaiety and cheerfulness are innate to Punjab. Punjabis across the world are known for utilising every excuse to make merry and people of all religions and financial backgrounds celebrate Holi. But, for the past some years, the festival is losing out on its usual gusto.

“People from affluent classes aren’t really fond of the festival. It is always the children and migrant labourers who like to drench themselves in coloured water and gulaal. With the violence in Ludhiana and implementation of schemes like NREGA, many of the labourers have moved back to their homelands. It has affected their spirit for sure. Not many have come to buy gulaal till now, however, the true picture will be clear only on Sunday,” informed Gurbachan Lal, a grocery shop owner near Domoria over-bridge, who has also kept gulaal, balloons and pichkaris.

“With the children busy writing exams and girls keeping away for the fear of gundagardi, the festival has lost its lustre. A round of the market reveals that not many invested in buying colours and other stuff. Even sweetshops have restrained from preparing gift-packs on a large scale. “It is usually on Diwali, Lohri and New Year that we have customers thronging the shops for purchasing gifts and sweets for the purpose of exchanging them with friends and relatives. Holi is not that popular these days…” said Bansi Lal, owner of a bakery near Jyoti Chowk.

Holi enjoys a special place in the lives of migrant labourers. “We will celebrate the festival at home, with the people of our community. All the friends will gather at one place to play holi first and then eat the savouries prepared at home by the womenfolk,” said Kishan Kumar, a rickshaw puller from Uttar Pardesh. “Holi is a day when even strangers become friends. It is the only day when men and women can mingle with each other, breaking the ‘hands-off’ norm of social interaction...” laughed Rishi, a businessman, adding that they celebrate the festival among a close circle of family and friends.

“This year, the spirits look subdued. I have not across any such thing,” shared Sherya, a student of BSC Nursing.

Looted jewellery recovered within 24 hours

Pathankot, February 27
The police has recovered gold and silver jewelry worth Rs 90,000 within 24 hours of the looting incident. Interestingly, the ornaments have been handed over to the owner Lalli Devi, a resident of Sailli Kullian.

Devi, a widow, in her complaint said the ornaments, bought for her daughter’s marriage, were stolen from her house on Thursday night. She gave some important clues about the thief, on the basis of which a police team led by DSP (City) Naresh Dogra and SHO Dev Dutt Sharma conducted raids in the Sunder Nagar area and nabbed the culprit and recovered the ornaments.

The police after registering a case under sections 457 and 380 of the IPC against Yogesh Kumar and completed the legal formalities and handed over the ornaments to the lady at the police station in the presence of area councillor Vijay Kumar. — OC