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A benchmark verdict: Capt
Cleaning up of Budda Nullah |
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Badal leaves for US to see ailing wife
Sukhbir to return in a day or two Chandigarh, April 26 The Punjab government will miss its Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and his son-cum-Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal for next a couple of days, as they are taking turns to look after Surinder Kaur Badal, under treatment in the United States.
News Analysis
Party leaders want Amarinder back as PPCC chief
Criminal case to continue: Dhanda
Bhandari takes over as planning board vice-chief
UAE Court Verdict
Moga Passport Scam
Retirement Age
Govt wants transparency in auction of village common land
Medical college’s administrative staff goes ‘missing’
Work on approach road to IIT Ropar begins
A civil hospital without ambulance
Punjabi varsity to set up art museum
HP industries polluting Sutlej waters: Punjab
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A benchmark verdict: Capt
Patiala, April 26 Capt Amarinder Singh further said that Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and other SAD-BJP legislators have now lost the moral ground to sit in the Punjab Assembly. Terming the court verdict as a benchmark judgement, he said the verdict was extremely good for democracy to prevail and the constitutional position has been strongly put across by the Supreme Court Capt Amarinder Singh further said, “In a democratic set up, Chief Ministers who have powers cannot just throw people out.” Further taking a jibe at Badal, he said, “Tomorrow I come in and throw Badal out, then how will the democracy work?” He also said that the court verdict would be having a great bearing on the country, while adding that if Mulayam Singh Yadav and Mayawati start throwing each other out of the Assembly, how will the country work in a democratic manner. Meanwhile, senior Congress leaders across the state have hailed the court verdict and demanded resignation of
Badal. Speaking to The Tribune, Congress MLA from Bholath Sukhpal Khaira demanded that Badal must tender his resignation without any delay.
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Cleaning up of Budda Nullah
Ludhiana, April 26 While the Centre, at the instance of Ludhiana MP Manish Tewari, released a whopping Rs 50 crore to the state government, the MC authorities have been ignorant about any such grant received till date. Talking to The Tribune, Manish Tewari said on 10th August last year, the grant of Rs 50 crore was released to the Punjab State Council for Science and Technology for the cleaning and beautification of the nullah. “But even after eight months of release of the grant, we have yet to see the results. The pollution in nullah remains there itself. If the funds have not been used, then where has the money gone? I have requested the Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission, to ask for its status from the state government. The ruling government must have used it for some other purposes,” said Tewari. Then Principal Secretary, Punjab State Council for Science and Technology, Satish Chandra confirmed that the department received the grant. He said the grant had to be diverted to the Local Bodies Department. The officials in the Local Bodies Department maintained that grant was yet to be received. MC Commissioner SK Sinha, however, said they had yet not received Rs 50 crore for cleaning up of the nullah. He said, “We had got about Rs 30 lakh for the nullah and entire money was utilised for the purpose. Now that, the released money was part of Rs 50 crore grant, I do not know about that.’’
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Badal leaves for US to see ailing wife
Chandigarh, April 26 While Parkash Singh Badal accompanied by his Additional Principal Secretary KJS Cheema, a personal doctor, security officer and a personal attendant, have left for the US tonight, Sukhbir Badal has been expected back from the United States in a couple of days. He had left India last week. Besides looking after his mother, Sukhbir Badal has also been busy in organising the Shiromani Akali Dal units in the United States, besides holding meetings with NRIs and entrepreneurs to persuade them to invest in the state. Though no formal announcement has been made about officiating Chief Minister in absence of the Badals, political sources said Industries and Local Bodies Minister Manoranjan Kalia automatically takes the responsibility of deputing for them during their absence from the country. Surinder Kaur Badal has been in the United States for almost three weeks now, after preliminary investigations at the PGI here suspected her to be suffering from malignancy in the throat. Her treatment, revealed the family sources, has shown encouraging results and she is expected to continue her treatment for coming few more weeks till she is allowed to travel back to India. While the family sources refuse to confirm malignancy in throat, they maintained that Surinder Kaur Badal has problems with her knees and has been under treatment for them. They maintained that she has been in good spirits and responding positively to the treatment. Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal would return only on May 12, in time for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit to the state in connection with the tercentenary celebrations of Baba Banda Bahadur Divas. Incidentally, it was Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, who missed all but last two sittings of the Budget session of the Vidhan Sabha because of ill health. He recovered from herpes in time to attend the State Legislature before it adjourned sine die.
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News Analysis SAD, BJP refuse to react Prabhjot Singh Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, April 26 For Amarinder Singh, the verdict has come at a time when the Congress high command has been on the look out for someone who can revitalise the party in time for the next Assembly elections. Election or naming of the new PPCC President has been long overdue. Some members of the SAD-BJP, including Harish Rai Dhanda, Chairman of the House Committee that recommended action against the former Chief Minister, gave individual views on the verdict; no official reaction came from either of the alliance partners. Interestingly, the Supreme Court order came when Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal was about to leave for the US while his son and Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal has been out of the country and is expected back only after a couple of days. “I expected relief from the apex court. I have always had the highest regard for our judiciary, which is the one institution that has consistently stood against acts of highhandedness on the part of the brute majority governments, which violate the Constitution and attempt to bend the law to suit their political convenience. This was once again intended in Punjab,” said Amarinder Singh in a statement after the verdict. Though in the last session of the Punjab Vidhan Sabha, the issue of putting an end to all cases of political vendetta came up on the basis of a letter written by Deputy Speaker Satpal Gosain to Speaker Nirmal Singh Kahlon, subsequently, Makhan Singh of the Congress wanted the letter to be taken up on the floor of the House. It evoked a mixed reaction. While Amarinder Singh rejected the “amnesty” proposal, some Congress legislators had their reservations saying the police at the instance of the ruling alliance was victimising the party workers at the grassroots level. The letter could not go far as the Speaker sought the opinion of Advocate-General Hardev Singh Mattewal. Since legislature has its limitations in intervening in cases that have already reached the legal scrutiny, the move met its natural end.
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Party leaders want Amarinder back as PPCC chief
Chandigarh, April 26 Though most leaders in keeping with the Congress tradition have qualified their statements with the obligatory “if the high command so wishes”, the striking down of his expulsion by the Supreme Court has definitely given them a cause to restart the “All for Amarinder” campaign. Pradesh Congress chief spokesman Ashwani Sekhri made it clear where his loyalties were by stating that senior Congressmen had been requesting the high command to put Amarinder in charge in Punjab earlier and that they would do so again. Sardulgarh legislator Ajitinder Singh Mofar put it even more clearly saying, “We will meet Sonia Gandhi again to plead for Maharaja sahib’s (Amarinder’s) case. Another legislator Kewal Dhillon said people still remembered the bold decisions taken by Amarinder as the Chief Minister be it on the issue of river water rights, power or quick and hassle-free procurement of food grains. Sangrur MP Vijay Inder Singla also came out openly in favour of Amarinder, saying the former CM could give a befitting fight to the SAD-BJP government in the next Assembly elections. Senior Congress leader Brij Lal Goyal claimed Amarinder’s stature had grown vis-a-vis the Badal family following the apex court verdict and that his case for appointment as the PPCC President had been strengthened. Amarinder himself is not so sure of a quick takeover of the PPCC President’s post. Talking to TNS, he said it was “very difficult” at this stage to make changes as the party organisational elections were on. He said the new President was likely to take over in July-end only. The former CM, who is in Dubai at present, said he was likely to return on May 7. He is scheduled to visit Bangkok to attend a launch function of his book “The Last Sunset” in the intervening period. Meanwhile, Amarinder aide Karanpal Singh Sekhon distributed ‘ladoos’ at the PPCC office here. Sekhon said a large number of people had collected at the office to express solidarity with Amarinder. Former Chief Minister Beant Singh’s grandson Gurkirat Singh also reached the PPCC office in this connection. The PPCC did come out with a press release “hailing the victory of democracy” but party frontal organisations and cells leader Raj Pal Singh made this statement. The PPCC did not come out with any statement on the issue by its President Mohinder Singh Kaypee. However, Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Rajinder Kaur Bhattal, who has not seen eye to eye with Amarinder in the recent past, has welcomed the apex court verdict. Bhattal also called for withdrawal of the “thousands of false vendetta cases” against Congress workers.
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Criminal case to continue: Dhanda
Chandigarh, April 26 Talking to TNS here, Dhanda, whose report on the Amritsar land scam had led to the eventual expulsion of Amarinder Singh from the state Assembly, claimed the Supreme Court had only set aside the privilege proceedings launched against Amarinder Singh. “The court has neither set aside the report nor found any fault with it,” he added. The CPS claimed that every aspect of the report authored by the committed headed by him that also included Congress legislators, was based on documentary evidence. He said the report had indicted Amarinder Singh for violating rules to exempt 32.10 acres of a notified scheme from acquisition besides pointing out that the record of the Vidhan Sabha had also been tampered to suit the interests of the then Congress government. When asked whether the SAD-BJP government had faulted on a point of law while initiating breach of privilege proceedings against Amarinder Singh, the CPS said the Supreme Court had established a new law on an issue which was not clear up till now.
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Bhandari takes over as planning board vice-chief
Chandigarh, April 26 Meanwhile, Surjit Singh Ablowal has been appointed as chairman of board of directors of the Punjab State Seed Corporation Limited, under the Article 122 of the Memorandum and Article of Association of the Punjab State Seed Corporation Ltd, this was stated by a spokesperson of the state government today. Terms and conditions of this appointment will be issued separately.
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UAE Court Verdict
Ferozepur, April 26 Talking to TNS from Dubai on phone, Sodhi said he had met Dharampal, a youth from Jhoke Thealsinghwala village of the district, who along with 16 others was lodged in Sharjha jail after being sentenced to death by a UAE court in connection with the murder of a Pakistan national. He said the way the Indian Government was handling this case, the Indian convicts’ release from Sharjha jail could not be ruled out. “All those who are lodged in the jail here are in good health and high spirits. I have come here especially to meet them. They have been sentenced to death without a proper judicial trial,” he pointed out. Commenting on the Supreme Court’s decision of quashing the expulsion of former Chief Minister Amarinder Singh from the Punjab Assembly, Sodhi said the SAD-BJP committee had subverted the constitution and damaged democratic principles and hence its members and chairman must be taken to task.
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Moga Passport Scam
Moga, April 26 The team has arrested nine persons, including one woman, in the past few days. The arrested also include four travel agents, Mehtab Chopra of Chopson Travels, Rajiv Bansal of Evergreen Travels, Mukesh Sharma of Thandal Travels (all Chandigarh- based), Moga-based Pankaj Gautam of Swastik Travels and five persons Shiv Charan Das of Ghalouti village, Manjit Kaur, alias Kuldip Kaur, of Charik village, Bubby Singh of Langiana Kala village and one other who allegedly travelled on fake passports. The trial of the scam is pending before a special sessions court at Faridkot. In this scam, as many as 300 fake passports made by fraudulent means during 2006-2007 were detected by the police. The record of the previous 10 years from 1995-1996 to 2005-2006 was not scrutinised by the previous investigating team. A new team has been constituted to look into it. An FIR under various sections of the IPC, section 2/8 of the Passport Act and sections 13 (2), 88 of the Prevention of Corruption Act was initially registered against three policemen, Jaswinder Singh, Ranjit Singh, Gurdial Singh, Ranjit Singh, an employee of the municipal council and Om Prakash, a postman, but later many travel agents and individuals also landed into the police custody. Didar Singh, an employee of the Regional Passport Office, Jammu, formerly posted at Chandigarh, the kingpin of the scam, had already been arrested by the police in April 2009.
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Retirement Age
Chandigarh, April 26 PSSF general secretary Pradeep Dewan said here today that the government had failed on other fronts, including failing to make budgetary provisions
for clearing arrears of employees.
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Govt wants transparency in auction of village common land
Chandigarh, April 26 Rural Development and Panchayats Minister Ranjit Singh Brahmpura says the state government is categorically opposed to the illegal disposition of village common land to unscrupulous tillers or persons in connivance with officials, as such lands were revenue-generating sources and lifelines for the development of villages. All field officials of the Rural Development Department have been instructed to submit detailed records, including annual jamabandis of village shamlats and mushtarka-malkaan land at the earliest, he added. Complaints have been galore over malpractices, nepotism, favoritism and circumvention of the provisions of the Village Common Lands Act in allowing certain influential and powerful groups and individuals over nominal increase in re-allotment or even at the time of auction. In many areas, panchayats were getting far less than the average prevailing price for such common village land. To generate more revenue from annual auctions for agricultural purposes of village shamlats, the minister has also directed development officials to enhance per acre auction rates from the previous year auctions (bolis) and asked to complete the auction process by May 31 in a fair and transparent manner after announcing fixed dates publicly to farmers. “The auctioneer official will be responsible to deposit the full amount after the successful completion of the auction of land. The bid money has to be deposited in the bank on the same day, else the erring official would have to face the disciplinary action,” warned Brahmpura. The rural development minister also directed officials to dispose of all pending cases under Sections 7 and 11 of the Panchayats Act within two months so that litigants should not suffer. “Strict instructions have also been issued to employees to properly monitor and supervise court cases pending in various subordinate courts, including the HC and the Supreme Court. No leniency will be tolerated in dishonestly delaying the cases,” the minister said. Suggesting the optimal utilisation of surplus land under the village focal points, Brahmpura said out of total 6,434 acres of land earmarked for various rural focal points, about 1,185 acres of land were still laying unutilised. He asked field officials to prepare cases for the restoration of such unutilised common lands to the village panchayats concerned so that they could fetch revenues for their village development.
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Medical college’s administrative staff goes ‘missing’
Banur, April 26 “We are waiting for the picture to get clearer. There are rumours of the college’s de-recognition. Nobody is here to guide students and we, too, don’t know what to do,” said a doctor of the college on condition of anonymity. Another doctor claimed that as of now everything seemed to be normal. “I have attended as many as 20 patients before lunch but nobody knows what will happen tomorrow”, he added. To know more, The Tribune team entered the posing as patients, as the administration has banned media entry into the premises. All administrative offices in college bore a deserted look and none of officials were found present in their offices till afternoon. Even the public relation officer of the hospital failed to turn up, despite repeated assurances of making the management come out with the real story. Though a handful of patients were seen getting themselves treated in the hospital, no outsider was allowed to enter the hospital premises. Even the reception counter, where manual entries used to be registered just a few days ago, has been shifted. The staff said they had been instructed to give admit slips to patients after entering their names in computer. However, they claimed that this is not done after the raids by the CBI. While no health department official was available for comments, administrative secretary, medical education and research, Anjali Bharwra said details in this regard were still awaited. “We have come to know about the arrests and CBI raids in the hospital only through the media. Nothing could be said in this regard until we get complete details of the case”, she said. CBI sleuths had conducted raids at Gian Sagar Medical College and Hospital and arrested Kamaljit Singh, chief executive officer of the institute, along with the chief of Medical Council of India (MCI), Ketan Desai in New Delhi, for allegedly giving a bribe of Rs 2 crore to get affiliation of one of its college. The CBI has also reportedly scrutinised offices of vice-chairman Sukhwinder Singh and Harnam Singh, president of Gian Sagar Group.
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Work on approach road to IIT Ropar begins
Ropar, April 26 In absence of its own campus, the IIT is functioning from a transit campus of ITI Women Polytechnic College on Nangal road. The approach road will facilitate the movement of heavy vehicles carrying construction material to the farms. District forest officer K Kannan said the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests had given its approval in principle to axe down the trees that lie on the path of the road. Sources said the Public Works Department would soon deposit Rs 53 lakh needed for the environmental clearance and the work on axing down of trees will commence thereon. While the stipulated time period for the completion of road is six months, the PWD officials expect that it might take little longer. Besides applying for environmental clearance, the department has also deposited utility shifting fees with the electricity department. As soon as the work on axing down of trees begins, the electricity department would start shifting its poles and cables. “But it is not as easy and expeditious as it sounds,” added a PWD official. “The construction of the IIT campus is heavily dependent on this road. Presently, heavy vehicles find it a Herculean task navigating their way through the link road of villages from the city,” pointed out a district administration official.
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A civil hospital without ambulance
Dera Bassi, April 26 The absence of specialist facilities in the hospital often forces the people to visit Chandigarh or Ambala in critical cases. The hospital does not have even a blood bank and surgeons. Critical cases are referred to PGI, Chandigarh, and GMCH-32, Chandigarh. There are no ambulances in the hospital. The two
ambulances that it has have become defunct due to defected engines. There is serious dearth of doctors and specialists in the hospital. There are no permanent doctors as well as ENT specialists, dermatologists and dentists. Accident victims are able to get just first-aid treatment at the hospital, due to lack of emergency equipment. Senior Medical Officer Rajiv Bhalla said the hospital needed a blood bank at the earliest. The hospital needed a surgeon and the demand had been forwarded to the authorities concerned, he added. Civil surgeon, Mohali, PK Sridhar admitted the death of these facilities in the hospital and said efforts were on to make electricity available all-day long, as that was necessary for blood storage. He assured an ambulance would be provided to the hospital.
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Punjabi varsity to set up art museum
Patiala, April 26 A writers-cum-artists home will also be raised to create conducive ambience for the artists . This was stated by Dr Jaspal Singh, Vice-Chancellor of the university, while inaugurating a sculpture workshop on Punjabi culture and music, organised by the University’s Department of Fine Arts here recently. —
TNS
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HP industries polluting Sutlej waters: Punjab
Nangal, April 26 In the last two years, the PPCB has thrice shot off
letters to the HPPCB complaining about industrial units of its village Tahliwal polluting Swan rivulet, sewage of village Santokhgarh being discharged untreated into
Swan rivulet, industrial waste from Goalthai finding way into Talwara Khad and Nalagarh industry polluting Sarsa rivulet unabated. Even the Punjab Chief Minister had written to
his HP counterpart demanding immediate solution to this perennial problem, which aggravates during monsoons. Supporting its letters, the PPCB had also sent chemical analysis reports of the samples collected from the affected areas. Most of the samples collected reveal concentration of various pollutants to be beyond permissible limits for such discharges into inland water bodies. In its reply to a complaint filed by Nangal-based NGO Jagriti Sansthan with Punjab State Human Rights Commission (PSHRC), the PPCB has clearly mentioned that despite repeated requests made to the HPPCB, industrial units continue to spew venom into Punjab waters. HPPCB member secretary Nagin Nanda said acting
on the letters from the Punjab government and the PPCB, the state formed a special committee to look
into the area. “We, too, collected samples from the same place from where the PPCB had and our team visited the affected areas thrice. “Our results are contrary to what Punjab has claimed. We have fool-proof system of constant monitoring and vigilance and our industries are not polluting the Sutlej,” he categorically stated. Nanda added he has sent the outcome of committee’s findings to the additional chief secretary. However, member
secretary PPCB Babu Ram said if the HPPCB does not accept its’ units follies, the PPCB will approach the
Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB). “We have not been crying hoarse on only hearsay. We have scientific data to prove our claims. We will approach CPCB,” he said. Advisor to Punjab CM Daljit Singh Cheema added that the CM would take up the issue at higher level and ensure that no industrial pollutants enter into Sutlej waters anymore.
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Banur, April 26
Ropar, April 26
Nangal, April 26
