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Paddy Season
Leasing Godowns to Liquor Companies
CBI's Clean Chit to Tytler |
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PPSC Selection of Docs
HC questions Chief Secy’s authority
Tribune Impact Sirhind choe: Encroachers served ultimatum Fatehgarh Sahib, April 27 Acting on Tribune reports regarding illegal structures on the bed of Sirhind choe, the district drainage department has issued notices to the owners of these constructions giving them 10 days to vacate the area. With the issuance of notices, hectic lobbying has begun to save these illegal structures.
Burnt sand being dumped in the open
Retirement Age
Awarding of DLit to ex-PM Gujral postponed
Court orders probe into custodial death
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Leasing Godowns to Liquor Companies Jangveer Singh/Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, April 27 Amarinder had yesterday said that his heart bled when he saw images of liquor cartons stored in State Warehousing Corporations that were meant to store precious foodgrain. The SAD has hit back with Harsimrat claiming that Amarinder had during his earlier stint as Chief Minister allowed storage of liquor in warehouses in Ludhiana in 2006 and early 2007 to help ‘Jammu and Delhi based liquor barons’. Claiming that Amarinder could not escape responsibility by blaming the present government “for his wrong doings”, the Bathinda MP said the SAD-BJP had not renewed the lease of the godowns that expired on March 31. She said the godowns had subsequently been vacated. Meanwhile, Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee President Mohinder Singh Kaypee, who did not even respond to the striking down of Amarinder’s expulsion from the state assembly yesterday by the apex court, came out with a release demanding the resignation of Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal for “misusing” the scarce storage space available in the state to store liquor. The note, which belatedly also welcomed the apex court decision, claimed that the Chief Minister was “personally responsible” for this “criminal misuse” as he also handled the Excise and Taxation portfolio. It said, “now that the nexus between the liquor mafia and the rulers had been exposed, the government must go immediately as its anti-people face stood exposed”. Meanwhile, the SAD, which had all along tried to belittle Amarinder with the Chief Minister even saying that he had no locus standi to make any statement, as he did not enjoy any post in the state Congress, seems to be bending backwards to target him on every issue. Bathinda MP Harsimrat in a separate release on what she described as the “letting off ” of 1984 riot accused Jagdish Tytler by the Supreme Court, while attacking 10 Janpath also attacked Amarinder. Accusing Amarinder for adopting a double face on the issue, she questioned why he was silent on a crucial issue concerning Sikhs and humanity. She went on to allege that “the so-called proponent of Sikhs who created a drama of resignation from the Congress party after Operation Blue Star, was deliberately silent as he was eagerly hoping for state Presidentship and did not want to annoy the high command”.
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‘84 riots victims to lay siege to Sonia’s house
Kanchan Vasdev Tribune News Service
Ludhiana, April 27 Their reaction came after a trial court in Delhi accepted CBI's report that had stated the leader was not present at the spot during the riots. The victims, most of whom were settled in Ludhiana, said their wounds had not healed as yet and the CBI has allowed the leader to go scot-free. ‘‘We know the CBI has worked under pressure of Sonia Gandhi. She will face us now,’’ alleged president of the Danga Peerat Welfare Society, Punjab, Surjeet Singh. ‘‘We will protest outside her house. We will soon chalk out a plan and announce it. This time we are not going to bow down under their pressure,’’ he added. ‘‘We had many witnesses and they did not care about the threats before giving their statements. Now, the CBI is saying their statement has no relevance. It is shocking. We all knew this was going to happen,’’ added Surjeet. While recalling the horrid riots against their community, the victims said they knew how they survived the arson and violence on that day. ‘‘We lost our near and dear ones. The modesty of our daughters was outraged and the accused will now go scot-free. We are shocked at this justice," said Bibi Jagdish Kaur, a victim. Gurdeep Kaur, another victim, said they were ready to rush to New Delhi now. ‘‘We will raise voice against the decision. They should be ready for all this," she added.
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Vigilance IG to probe graft allegations
Chitleen K Sethi Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, April 27
The Chief Secretary’s preliminary fact-finding report submitted to the Chief Minister yesterday had recommended the constitution of a team under an IG-level officer of the VB to “investigate whether there is any evidence of wrongdoing or illegal gratification in cases that show huge variation between the performance of the candidates on the basis of academic record and the marks awarded to them in the interview. The team has also been asked to “verify the genuineness of certificates furnished by selected candidates by taking the benefit of marks in social work relating to medical field. This team will also verify the credentials of the organisations who have issued such certificates. Aggarwal’s report had pointed out that several deserving candidates could not make it to the merit list despite having a fabulous academic record and many candidates who had performed poorly in their MBBS made it to the list. The report, a copy of which is with The Tribune has also stated that though the commission had sought information from the candidates regarding the number of attempts in which they cleared their MBBS, no negative weightage has been given to passing the exam in a higher number of attempts. The report further states that the range of marks given to the candidates on the basis of interview was about four times the range of marks the candidates got for their academic performance which “appears to be disproportionately high.” “I sought the opinion of the advocate-general as to whether such a high weightage for interview was sustainable in view of the various court judgments. According to the advice of the advocate-general, the selection may not be liable to be quashed merely on the ground that 50 per cent have been allotted for interview because this is a case where no written test has been conducted and selection has been made on the basis of academic record and interview,” states the report. The report adds that 65 applicants in the first recruitment of 100 doctors and 206 applicants in the second recruitment of 212 doctors were awarded marks for social work. “The comparison of marks awarded for social work with marks for interview does not show that candidates who furnished information in respect of social work were given very high marks in the interview. However, the Chief Secretary added that “the award of marks for social work in medical field is open to misuse because it is quite easy for candidates to obtain certificates of participation in camps from an organisation whose own antecedents may not be very clear. In contrast other items in the criteria such as academic qualifications, NCC, NSS and publications are fairly reliable and difficult to fake. It would, therefore, be desirable to verify the genuineness of the certificates furnished for social work in the medical field by selected candidates who have got benefit of marks awarded under this criteria.”
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HC questions Chief Secy’s authority
Chandigarh, April 27 As Sinha’s petition for independent probe into the allegations levelled against the commission in the selection of medical officers came up for hearing,
Justice Ajay Kumar Mittal asked the state counsel to explain how the chief secretary could examine the
matter, as Sinha was a constitutional authority, with constitutional safeguards. The poser came hours after chief secretary
SC Aggarwal, as per a news-report published in these columns, claimed that many selected candidates were found to have a poor academic records, but were given high marks in the interview leading to their selection. The question was asked orally by the Bench and by no means could be construed as the expression of the Bench’s final opinion in the matter. At the most,
it indicates that the Bench has been looking into this aspect of the matter also. As of now, the Bench has only fixed April 30 as the next date of hearing, and has called for the copy of the petition filed in public interest by “hero cop” KPS Gill for the constitution of a special investigating team and for directing the state government to place before it the CS’s enquiry report. As the assertions turned into heated arguments, Justice Mittal also asserted it was not a political battle being fought. At the very onset of the hearing, advocate Chetan Mittal appearing for the state of Punjab told Justice Mittal that the public interest petition on the same issue was pending before the first Division Bench. Reacting to the assertion, Sinha’s counsel Himmat Singh Shergill dubbed the entire exercise as a “deep-rooted conspiracy”. Bar-at-Law Shergill said the chief secretary has recommended to the Chief Minister the constitution of a vigilance team. The vigilance team means vigilance bureau chief Sumedh Singh Saini, he said. Reiterating Sinha’s
stand on independent probe, he added that the independence of the constitutional authority and its
honour was at stake. Mittal, on other hand said Sinha wanted to become a party to the public interest litigation. He added that Gill’s lawyer Anupam Gupta, who happened to be present in the court, could explain better. Gupta said Gill had filed the petition against the state of Punjab and other respondents, mainly based on news reports. During investigation, serious issues have cropped up. As such, Gill has sought directions for constituting a team with officers having unblemished record. He added Sinha had filed an application for
becoming a party to the petition. Shergill, in response, said the state counsel and Gupta were presenting half-truths. Before parting with the case, Justice Mittal
gave a short date.
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Tribune Impact Gurdeep Singh Mann Tribune News Service
Fatehgarh Sahib, April 27 The notices, copies of which are with The Tribune, have been issued under Section 55 of the Canal and Drainage Act and Section 432 of the IPC. Notices served to the nine owners, state that they had illegally occupied the Sirhind choe’s bed, which disrupts flow of rain water. All of them have been directed to remove the encroachments within 10 days or else face legal action. “Owners of these illegal buildings would be held responsible for any damages to nearby commercial or residential areas due to this disruption of natural flow of water in event of heavy rains and floods,” the notice said. Notices have been issued to Ravinder Kumar from area opposite court complex of Fatehgarh Sahib, Bhupinder Singh of Sangatpura Sodhian village, Palwinder Kaur residing opposite district court, Nirmal Singh of Sirhind, Gurvinderpal Singh from Attewali village, Kuljit Singh Nagra of Mohalla New Saran in Bassi Pathana, Gurmel Singh living opposite district court, Balkar Singh of Khanna Khurd in Ludhiana and Malkit Singh of Mahaddian village. Copies of these notices have been sent to Fatehgarh Sahib DC Yashvir Mahajan as well. The notices were issued on April 20. Senior revenue officials said most of these constructions had come up during the past few months. They said demarcation of the choe should be done immediately. XEN of drainage department DS Kohli said the next course of action would be initiated after consultations with the DC.
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Burnt sand being dumped in the open
Kurali\ Ropar, April 27 As per rules, dumped burnt sand is supposed to be covered with a layer of good earth and sprinkled with water to minimise suspension of particulates in the air. However, the TNS team found that the rules were being flouted. “The situation worsens during windy days and summers when sand enters into our homes,” said Surjit Kaur from Sialba Majri. Two schools have been constructed upon the pile of burnt sand. Though an inert material, burnt sand poses irritation and subsequent rashes in eyes and skin. Dumping it into seasonal rivulet can pose obstruction to the natural flow of water, especially during monsoons and floods. Foundry’s HR DGM plant-I, Tejinder Singh claimed that some excavation and construction work had been going on the factory premises. “Good earth recovered during this construction is being spread over the burnt sand. Many people have used our burnt sand for land-filling purposes,” he said. XEN, drainage, Ropar, Varinder Pal Singh said nobody was allowed to cause anything obstruct the natural flow of water. He assured that he would look into the matter. Similarly, the unit of DCM Engineering dumps its waste burnt sand on leased land in Katli village, near the world-famous Ropar wetland. Around two years ago, Ropar forest department had stopped dumping of waste on the land as the residue found its way into the wetland during rains and posed danger to flora and fauna. Anil Kaushik, senior manager and liaison officer, DCM Engineering, said the company adhered to environmental guidelines and no waste burnt sand was being dumped in nearby areas.
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HP industrial hose spews toxins into Swan
Nangal, April 27 SDM Nangal Lakhmir Singh has made this startling revelation in his report submitted to Deputy Commissioner, Ropar, Arunjit Singh Miglani. During his visit to the area on April 18, DC Miglani had come across several instances where she found Himachal Pradesh industries were polluting the Swan rivulet, which further gets polluted in Nangal and on reaching Agampur village in Anandpur Sahib before finally falling into the Sutlej. The district administration team had studied disposal of industrial waste from Himachal Pradesh which is polluting Talwara, Brahmla Khad and the Swan rivulet. DC Miglani said he had discussed this particular problem with the Chairman of the Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB). “We are conducting a pollution survey of the entire district and will soon submit it to the PPCB as a consolidated report,” he said. Report states that units set up in Bilaspur district, near the Bhakra Dam in the Golthai industrial area often release acidic pollutants that enters into the Sutlej lake in Nangal, which is marked as national wetland and areas around it have been notified as state wildlife sanctuary. It is frequented by migratory birds from Siberia, Russia and China during October-November to March every year. The SDM’s report reveal that the number of winged visitors is declining every year, which is a matter of concern, and may be the increasing pollution level is one of the foremost reasons. Similarly, industries at Mehatpur, mainly distilleries, have been releasing acidic pollutants that pass by Santokhgarh and Tahliwal bridge and enters into the Swan rivulet that further falls into the Sutlej. “This proves that the HP industrial units lying near the Nangal subdivision in Golthai (district Bilaspur) and Mehatpur — Santokhgarh (Una) have been polluting the Swan,”
he states. Earlier, people working in Brahmla Khad have reported boils on their bodies due to the acidic water.
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Punjab docs seek parity with other states
Umesh Dewan /Tribune News Service
Patiala, April 27 Chairman of the ISDW DS Bhullar stated that the Medical Council of India (MCI) has recommended 65 years as the age of retirement of the medical teachers. “Under these guidelines of the MCI, the medical teachers working in All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi, PGI, Chandigarh, all the private medical colleges in the states of Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh and even the GGS Medical College, Faridkot, which earlier was under the Punjab government, are retiring at the age of 65 years, while the retirement age of the medical teachers in Punjab is 60 years and the specialists doctors in the State Health Department are retiring at 58 years,” he claimed. Further deliberating upon the issue, Bhullar said ISDW of IMA, Punjab, demands that the state government should enhance age of all specialist doctors working in medical education and the health departments to 65 years, under the guidelines of the MCI in the interest of people of Punjab, as there has been a dire need of specialist doctors in the field at the district, sub-divisional level and community health centres. The ISDW leaders asserted that the decision of the state government to raise the retirement age of the specialist doctors was a welcome step, but it should be raised to 65 years, as the experience of working with age would definitely benefit the patients. “The work experience of the technocrats, especially the medical professionals, cannot be compared with the non-technocrat state government employees because of the fact that there is still acute shortage of the specialist doctors in the state-run medical and health institutes and that experience of a technocrat increases with age and that must be used for the welfare of poor and needy patients visiting government hospitals,” added Bhullar. The IMA leaders stated with an appeal to take up the matter at the earliest possible, they would soon be sending a memorandum to Chief Minister Punjab Parkash Singh Badal through his advisor Daljit Singh Cheema, Ministers of Medical Education and Health, and the State Chief Secretary.
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Mansa gets
Rs 17 crore
SP Sharma Tribune News Service
Bathinda, April 27 The details of the allocations under the SSA for the current financial year indicate that many districts in the Malwa region have not been given due importance. However, Mansa is the only district in the state, where with 52 per cent literacy, all five blocks have been declared educationally backward, against a total number of 21 blocks. As due to the lack of infrastructure, the district was facing hurdles in enrolling children in the age group of 6 to 14 years. A sum of Rs 5.27 crore out of the total allocation would be spent on construction of classrooms and buildings. The allocation also covers various other components of the SSA, including civil works, learning enhancements, alternate innovative education centres, special classes and inclusive education for disabled children. In Bathinda, the allocation was Rs 19.29 crore. Whereas, Barnala has the lowest allocation of Rs 7.03 crore, while Ferozepur got Rs 38.06 crore. The allocation for other districts of Malwa, includes, Faridkot Rs 11.38 crore, Moga Rs 19.05 crore, Muktsar Rs 16.09 crore and Sangrur Rs 21.39 crore. The highest amount of Rs 145 crore has been earmarked for civil works, followed by Rs 97.26 crore for salary of teachers under the SSA scheme. For education of disabled children Rs 34.7 crore have been earmarked and Rs 25.59 crore for free textbooks.
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Awarding of DLit to ex-PM Gujral postponed
Patiala, April 27 The function had to be put off due to non-availability of Punjab Governor and Chancellor of the university Shivraj Patil as a result of the demise of Rajasthan Governor Prabha Rau yesterday. Programme coordinator Gulshan Kataria, Punjabi University, informed TNS that Patil had to take over the additional charge of governor of Rajasthan as a result of which he would not be available. “No convocation can take place without the Chancellor and as he is busy with the additional charge of Rajasthan Governor, he could not attend this function. Therefore, we have postponed this convocation till further information,” he added.
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Tribune lensman wins top honour
Amritsar, April 27 Vinay has to his credit a long list of national and international awards. “It just happened by chance that I got an opportunity to be there when she was eating a slice of watermelon while relaxing on its stockpile. I rang up for a crane instantly and took the aerial view,” he said, after being honoured by the academy with the first prize in photography. He has received a cash prize of Rs 10,000.
— TNS
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Court orders probe into custodial death
Chandigarh, April 27 Pronouncing the orders in an open court, Justice Gurdev Singh also expressed dissatisfaction with the probe carried out by an executive magistrate. The jail’s medical officer, too, was held at fault for “negligence”, and departmental action has been ordered against him. Justice Gurdev Singh observed: Amar Singh was admitted to the jail on September 4, 2009, and his death took place on December 30, 2004, within three months. “Had the medical officer of the jail performed his statutory duty of recording the state of health of the now deceased at the time of admission to the jail, the same would have been very much helpful for deciding the controversy. “For the negligence on the part of the medical officer, the director health services, Punjab, is directed to take departmental action against him, in accordance with Punjab Civil Service Rules and to report the action taken by him within six months”. Mohinder Kaur, wife of the deceased, in her petition had alleged that Amar Singh, convicted in a criminal case, died in jail due to “negligence of police and jail staff” on the intervening night of December 29-30, 2004.
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