Chandigarh, February 27
All-India Youth Akali Dal president Kiranbir Kang has resigned from his post, reportedly following serious differences with the SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal and patron of the Youth Akali Dal Bikramjit Singh Majithia.

The resignation letter handed over to Sukhbir yesterday states, “On February 25, I understood that the party did not need genuine principled leaders, but weaklings.” Sources close to Kang said he had a close-door meeting with Sukhbir on February 25, where he had raised several issues. “However, Sukhbir was dismissive of all the problems that Kang put forth,” said a source.

Kiranbir Kang was appointed as the president of the Youth Akali Dal on April 14, 2008.

Among other issues, Kang had been objecting to the growing “interference” of Majithia in his affairs. The sources added that Majithia had forced Kang to cancel a host of his public meetings and had insisted on drawing up the schedule of the meetings and address them.

Chandigarh, February 27
The “Punjab Prison and Correctional Services Act” will not only aim at arresting illegal activities inside the prisons, but also at ensuring rehabilitation and reintegration of the offenders in the society, says Dr Upneet Lalli, deputy director with the Institute of Correctional Administration-cum-Chairman of the committee set up to prepare the legislation’s draft.

The committee, with former Additional Director General of Police BS Sandhu as a member, has been given two months to prepare the draft. Deputy Inspector General (prisons) Jagjit Singh is to assist the committee.

In an exclusive interview with The Tribune, Dr Lalli asserts: “The prison administration is facing peculiar changes due to the alterations in the nature of crime and criminals. As such, scientific classification with a focus on correction, after-care and follow-up will be a major focus of the new Act”.

Dr Lalli says the draft prepared previously had included the rights of the prisoners. But, the present draft would also incorporate rights and duties of the prisoners. “Then there are new types of prison offences. You have the problem of mobiles and drugs inside prisons. So, the new Act will also have suitable provisions to curb these and other illegal activities inside the prisons,” Dr Lalli adds.

Detailing on the need to have the new Act, she says: “Probation, after-care and follow-up have been totally neglected by the prison administration and the social welfare department. The new Act will bridge this gap by focusing on the rehabilitation and reintegration of the offenders into the society”.

For the purpose, the committee is studying the Acts of Delhi and West Bengal and hopes to have “a law governing the prisons that would be visionary and helps to usher in prison reforms in the true sense”.

Dr Lalli says: “A progressive legislation is called for, as the administration and management of prisons has made significant progress since the enactment of the Prisons Act of 1894, and Prisoners Act of 1900. Acts of other countries are also being studied.”

Putting things in historical perspective, she says: “The British had formulated the Prison Act of 1894 for the regulation of jails for enforcement of discipline in British India. Prisons were not houses of correction, but aimed at making the prison life more difficult and harsh.

“It was mainly the freedom fighters, who were sent to prisons charged with offences under IPC. While the British has introduced new legislations to govern the prisons in the UK, and even has private prisons, India continues to retain the old Prison Act. The process of change, particularly the structural changes in prison administration have been slow.”

Dr Lalli was a member of the committee of the Draft National Policy on Prison and Correctional Administration, 2005-07, constituted by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs.

Ludhiana, Feburary 27
The court of Sessions Judge SP Bangarh today adjourned the hearing in the alleged multi-crore city centre scam case, involving former CM Amarinder Singh, after hearing the arguments of public prosecutor on framing charges against accused persons, till March 27.

The prosecution concluded its arguments against all the 36 accused. Different defence lawyers were agitating the framing up of the charges, with the plea that no offence was made out against their clients. The court asked them to argue on the next date of hearing.

The VB filed the charge sheet against the accused in December 2008. But the charges were yet to be framed. Special public prosecutor Mitter Sein Goyal advanced arguments against 17 accused related to the Today Homes Company, including its managing director GK Gambir, Ludhiana Improvement Trust's former executive officer DC Garg and SE Manmohan Singh.

He reiterated the allegations levelled against the accused in the charge sheet and claimed that they were actively involved in the scam, which caused loss of crores to the state exchequer. He stated that there was sufficient evidence against all the accused for framing charges..

Today former Amarinder Singh, his son Raninder Singh and ex- Local Bodies Minister Jagjit Singh were not present in the court. Amrinder and Jagjit were granted exemption, as they were to appear in a court at Mohali, whereas Raninder was granted exemption for attending the Commonwealth Shooting Federation Championship at New Delhi.

Amritsar, February 27
Asserting that the Shiromani Akali Dal (Badal) would continue its fight against those responsible for the 1984 anti-Sikh riots till they were brought to book, the Bathinda MP Harsimrat Kaur has accused the Congress and the Gandhi family of having been scared of arrest of Sajjan Kumar.

Harsimrat has also urged the Delhi police to initiate immediate action against those Congress leaders and police personnel, who allegedly gave shelter to Sajjan after issuance of non-bailable warrants against him. The Delhi High Court has granted anticipatory bail to Sajjan and six others in 1984 anti-Sikh riots saying the 25-year-long delay in deposition of witnesses weighed in favour of the accused and at the same time has pointed out that the CBI did not deem it fit to arrest Sajjan during its five-year-long probe.

Speaking to media here after conferring degrees to nearly 500 students at convocation of the Khalsa College for Women, Harsimrat said leaders close to Congress high command were deliberately sheltering Sajjan, as his custodial interrogation could have put 10 Janpath in a tight spot.

“It is a matter of great regret that apparently Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had to become party to this dirty job. Sajjan’s non-availability has raised question mark on the so-called protection given by the Delhi police to him,” alleged Harsimrat.

“The entire episode has made the Sikh community to loose any hopes for getting justice from any Congress-led government,” rued Badal. 

Patiala, February 27
Management of the Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB) has announced that it would simplify the procedure for power purchase through open access.

This was announced after representatives of the industrial units held deliberations on important issues with board officials here yesterday.

The meeting was chaired by principal secretary Irrigation and Power, Arun Goyal, and board chairman HS Brar. Main issues like power purchase through open access, peak load exemption and captive/co-generation of power were discussed.

“While planning the purchase of power, it was advised that consumers should keep in mind the pattern of weekly days off, which are planned to be 2.5 days in June 2010, 3 days in July and August, 2.5 days in September and 1.5 days in October. It was assured to industrialists that the transmission system would handle transmission of power and the availability of corridor will have to be managed by the open access consumers/traders on their own,” officials said.

The chairman said in order to make billing for the open access efficient, it has been decided that the meter reading data would be downloaded by XEN Meter Mobile Testing Squad (MMTS) and XEN Distribution in the presence of consumer’s representative and sent to Director/Open Access and the bills would be delivered to consumers by fax.

Brar said the applications for the grant of NOC for power purchase under the open access would be cleared within 15 days.

The chairman assured the industrialists that all regulations regarding open access, period of grant, first and last date, open access capacity used and other data would be made available on the board’s website by May 31.

PSEB member Finance and Accounts, Anurag Agarwal, member Transmission, SC Sabharwal, member Generation, GS Sra, member Distribution, KD Chaudhry, were also present. 

Bathinda, February 27
Non-cooperation movement started by the PSEB Engineers’ Association, against the chairman of the PSEB, today received a jolt when a large number of engineers boycotted the movement and staged a walkout in the central body meeting of the association held here today.

President of the association HS Bedi and general secretary Bhupinder Singh called the meeting to discuss further strategy of the movement with the engineers of GHTP, Lehra Mohabbat, GNDTP, Bathinda, and others posted in the west zone of the PSEB, which includes Bathinda, Faridkot, Ferozepur and Muktsar circles.

The split among the engineers came to the fore right at the beginning of the meeting, when some engineers objected to the “derogatory” language used against chairman of the PSEB HS Brar. They announced that the meeting would continue only after the central body leaders withdraw their statements making personal attacks on Brar.

Before staging a walkout, they warned that if the executive body of the association did not go by their demand, then they would be forced to constitute a separate body of engineers for which the leaders would themselves be responsible. Later, issuing a press release, the protesters informed about setting up of a new five-member body for the Bathinda zone to initiate further proceedings against the “unjustified” activities of the association.

On the other hand, Bedi said, “We are not against the chairman HS Brar personally. The sole purpose of the protest is to force the management to think about the welfare of the PSEB as well as the state. Taking serious notice of today’s incident, we are going to take disciplinary action against them. Show-cause notices would be served to all of them,” asserted Bedi.

Anandpur Sahib, February 27
Sikh organisations today condemned privatisation of the upcoming Khalsa Heritage Project.

Chief of Damdami Taksal Baba Harnam Singh said, “The project is very dear to people of Punjab and it should not be given in private hands by any means.”

The statement comes in wake of the recent tenders floated by the Anandpur Sahib Foundation for handing over the contract in private hands.

Those, who have been working on it since its inception in 1999, are being asked to re-apply for various posts.

Working employees have been asked to re-apply through online job portals. Earlier, Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal had said he would look into the matter. 

Anandpur Sahib, February 27
The cops deployed for security for Hola Mohalla celebrations are keeping a watch on ETT teachers.

A special force has been deployed in plain clothes to pre-empt movement of agitating ETT teachers who may disrupt the political conferences tomorrow. Similarly, a group has been constituted to keep an eye on anti-social elements during the fair.

Ropar SSP LK Yadav said 10 SPs, 35 DSPs, 386 inspectors, 496 head constables, 1,798 constables and 92 women police employees had been deputed during the three-day celebrations. Also, eight quick response teams (QRT) had been constituted to help in crisis situations and each comprises around 30 persons.

Besides, four anti-sabotage teams, two riots control vehicles, four sniffer dog teams, four tear gas teams, 10 video camera teams, two CCTV cameras, eight recovery vans and 24 mounted cops have been deputed.

To navigate traffic during the fair, 210 traffic police cops have been deployed and 22 nakas would be put up. Yadav advised pilgrims not to accept eatables from strangers and guard their belongings.

To contact the police, call 01887-232327 or SMS to 9779410300. For SMS, one needs to type police station/police post code>space<problem. Code numbers for Ropar police station is 101,102 for Sadar, 103 for Purkhali police post, 104 for Ghanauli police post, 105 for Bharatgarh, 106 for Kiratpur Sahib, 107 for Anandpur Sahib, 108 for Anandpur Sahib, 109 for Nangal, 110 for Naya Nangal, 111 for Nurpur Bedi, 112 for Haripur, 113 for Kalma, 114 for Behrampur (Dalla), 115 for Bela, 116 for Chamkaur Sahib, 117 for Morinda and 119 for Lutheri 

Kapurthala, February 27
In a move to avoid any recurrence of self-immolation by any agitator, the district police took 107 protesting members of the Elementary Teachers Training (ETT) Union, Jammu group, who were staging dharna at local Shalamar Bagh for about eight weeks, into custody in the wee hours today.

It may be recalled an Education Guarantee Scheme (EGS) volunteer Kiranjit Kaur set herself on fire on a water tank located in the local civil hospital premises on February 7.

SSP Ram Singh said the protesting ETT teachers, including several women had been taken into custody on the charge of issuing threats of setting themselves on fire in favour of their demands. Four petrol filled bottles were also recovered from their possession, he said, adding that they were sent to various jails outside Kapurthala district after arresting them under various Sections, including Section 309 of the IPC.

Apart from this, two ETT passed women- Harpreet Kaur and Manpreet Kaur- sitting on fast unto death for several days were sent to a multi-speciality hospital outside Kapurthala. The former had started fast unto death on February 15, whereas Manpreet Kaur sat on indefinite hunger strike on Feb 19.

Interestingly ETT Union (Jammu group) has been agitating for past some time demanding their appointment after properly recognising their course. On other hand the ETT Union, Punjab group, was protesting against recognising any person, who had passed his or her ETT from Jammu.