Chandigarh, May 11
The Punjab Government today issued fresh instructions to Deputy Commissioners across the state for on-the-spot issuing of computerised land records.

The DCs have been asked to publicly validate the records up to a particular date, get these signed by the patwari, counter signed by the qanungo and “frozen” at the “farad” centres. Copies of this “frozen” record would be made available to an applicant on the spot.

The instructions issued by the Director, Land Records, Jalandhar, further states that at least 25 per cent of the pages of these records would also be counter signed by the tehsildar.

Other than the “frozen record,” which would be provided to an applicant at the “farad” centre, for even a copy of a land deal registered after the date of freezing of records, the applicant has to apply only at the “farad” centre which will then ensure the sanctioning of mutations in a time-bound manner. “This can take a month but we are trying to bring down the time frame to a few weeks,” said Anurag Verma, secretary, revenue, Punjab.

The patwaris have been also asked to sit at the “farad” centres twice a week so that the applicant does not have to go looking for patwaris in the village for his work. “The idea of computerisation is to bring about a system where the land owner is able to get a copy of the land record immediately at the “farad” centre across the counter,” Verma said.

The computerisation process had, in fact, come to a grinding halt with patwaris refusing to sign page-wise “jamabandis” entered into computers at the “farad” centres. Members of the Revenue Punjab Patwar Union had passed a resolution last week that no patwari would sign on the “jamabandis”.

“We do not want to be take the responsibility of the authenticity of the computerised jamabandi alone. The physical jamabandi has the signatures of the qanungo as well. The computerised jamabandi should have the signatures of the qanungo and the tehsildar also,” said Amrik Singh, president of the union.

The statement between the patwaris and the state government sharpened when following the decision of the patwaris Harkesh Singh Sidhu, Sangrur DC, asked the patwaris of the district to hand over the entire set of land records to his office.

“Till the computerised jamabandis are signed by the patwaris the data entered is not considered to be validated and, hence, cannot be used. We have already issued instructions to tackle the issue of collective responsibility,” Verma said .

As many as 34 “farad” centres are now functional in the state. “Every tehsil and sub-tehsil will have one centre and by the end of this year at least half of the record would be on the Internet,” Verma added.

Bathinda, May 11
Alarmed over the appearance of pro-Naxal posters particularly in areas of the Malwa belt bordering Pakistan, Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal has discussed on telephone the issue with Union Home Secretary GK Pillai and appraised him of the action taken by the Punjab government.

Pro-Naxal movement posters have appeared during the past few days in various towns of Ferozepur, Mansa and Bathinda districts.

Sukhbir, who holds the home portfolio, today said that he had discussed the issue with Pillai.

He said such anti-people movement would not be allowed to raise its head in Punjab. “We won’t allow re-emergence of such terrorism in the state”, Sukhbir said.

He claimed sticking of posters was the handiwork of some mischievous elements and lacked support of common people.

Badal said Punjab was a developing state and the people would not allow hurdles to be created by disgruntled elements in the way of development.

He reaffirmed that Naxalism had no base in Punjab and the police was keeping an eye on isolated incidents meant to foment terrorism or Naxalism in the state.

He said Naxalism was born out of economic deprivation and Punjab did not offer any such case to build the movement in the state. He said the SAD-BJP coalition government was fully committed to protect the life and properties of people and would not allow terrorism or Naxalism to raise its ugly head.

He said some people had been arrested on the charges of pasting pro-Naxal posters in various towns.

Rohit Chaudhary, inspector-general of police (Bathinda-Ferozepur range), said there was nothing alarming about these posters that were distributed in a recent function of certain leftist parties in Jalandhar.

Meanwhile, it is learnt that the police has been alerted in Mansa, Bathinda, Sangrur, Barnala and other towns that recently witnessed CPI (ML) Liberation-backed incidents of land grabbing.

The movement to grab government lands was witnessed in 27 villages of Mansa, nine villages in Sangrur and certain areas of Bathinda and Barnala. More than 1,500 persons, including 600 women and 200 children, were arrested in this connection and the police got these lands vacated.

Ludhiana, May 11
Chairman of the Punjab Mandi Board and BKU president Ajmer Singh Lakhowal yesterday asked the government to distribute Rs 800 crore under the Centre’s drought relief fund to farmers so that the money should not be misused.

He also said if the government gave green signal to the board, it was ready to compensate families of those farmers who committed suicide. Proposal mooted by the board could not see the light of the day in want of the nod by the government, he stated.

Lakhowal was addressing a meeting of the State Working Committee of Farmers’ Union. He said the farmers had suffered losses during the wheat season due to sudden rise in temperature. The yield was affected and they were not able to pay back loan instalments.

“I want the government to come to their rescue and release the grant on the basis of J-forms issued by commission agents to farmers at the time of procurement,” he said.

Advocating fixing of minimum support price on the basis of the Swaminathan report, Lakhowal said it was the only way to help the agriculture sector that was in a poor condition.

General secretary of the union Puran Singh Shahkot also demanded action against the shopkeepers who sold BT cotton seeds for double the price in the state. The union announced that 501 farmers would participate in the All-India Farmers’ Coordination Committee meeting in Patna on May 16. 

Chandigarh, May 11
Manisha Jain does not have to go through a lesson on inconvenience - at least for the time being.

A private schoolteacher, she was put on the census duty after working hours. But after she dubbed the action as illegal and violative of her fundamental rights, the Punjab and Haryana High Court today gave her interim relief.

“The petitioner shall not be compelled to undertake the census duty till the next date of hearing,” Justice Kannan observed, while issuing notice of motion to the state of Punjab through the chief secretary, principal census officer-cum-commissioner of Ludhiana Municipal Corporation and another respondent. The case will now come up for further hearing on July 17.

As the case came up for hearing this morning, Justice K. Kannan verbally observed the Bombay High Court had already settled a similar matter. Elaborating, Justice Kannan said the Court had held a private teacher could not be forced to undertake census duty. Justice Kannan verbally observed that it would be incorrect to force a private teacher to serve on census duty, after working hours.

The observations were made orally by Justice Kannan and cannot be taken as an expression of final opinion in the matter. At the most, it can be said the action has prima facie not found favour with the high court.

In her petition, Ludhiana-based Jain alleged she had been forced to work on census duty after working hours. Her counsel Anil Pal Singh Shergill had stated the petitioner had joined an unaided private school as a teacher in May 2009 and was continuing to work there as a mathematics teacher.

But she was directed by the subdivisional census officer-cum-zonal commissioner to perform the duties of a census enumerator for the census operation being undertaken by the Government of India. Such direction by the government to force the petitioner to perform the duties of a census enumerator was illegal, void ab-initio and infringed the fundamental rights of the petitioner, Shergill said.

Seeking directions to the respondents against compelling the private school teachers to do census duty beyond the school hours and without their explicit consent and free will, Shergill said it was the mandate of the Constitution of India. 

Patiala, May 11
Congress leaders have virtually flooded the city with hoardings to welcome former Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh, who will return to Patiala on May 13.

Though Amarinder had returned to India on May 9, but from New Delhi, he went to Amritsar to pay obeisance at the Golden Temple. Amarinder, who left for Dubai on April 18, will be coming to his hometown almost after a month. Elated at the apex court’s verdict terming his expulsion as unconstitutional, the Patiala Congress is all set to give a rousing welcome to their leader.

Former minister and Dakala MLA Lal Singh is supervising all arrangements for a road show to be taken out to welcome him here on May 13.

Gurmail Singh Mavi, PA to Minister of State for External Affairs Preneet Kaur, said Amarinder, along with Preneet Kaur, would reach Patiala around 12 noon. District Congress Committee (Rural) president Tarsem Bansal said before the road show converged at Amarinder’s Moti Bagh Palace residence, party leaders and activists would welcome him at different places.Leaders of the urban and rural units of the Patiala District Congress Committee are busy convening meetings for ensuring maximum turnout of party workers during the road show.

Hoardings congratulating Capt Amarinder Singh in the wake of the SC verdict have come up in almost all parts of the city. It has been after a long time that some of the hoardings put up by party leaders have a photograph of Bhart Inder Singh Chahal besides senior party leaders. Meanwhile, Major Amardeep, a close aide of Capt Amarinder Singh, has demanded the resignation of Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal. 

Bathinda, May 11
Terming the rousing reception received by the former Chief Minister Amarinder Singh at Amritsar ”mere showmanship tactic,” Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal today claimed that despite all “ploys” of Amarinder, the ruling SAD will not leave “Kabza” (rule) over the state for the next 25 years.

Sukhbir was here on his statewide bridges inauguration spree. After inaugurating the railway over bridge (ROB on the Bathinda-Dabwali road, Sukhbir asserted that such road shows were small things for SAD leaders. Pointing towards a defeated candidate of the SAD in previous assembly polls, Sukhbir said: “If we would have planned such steps to fool people this party man could pull much more crowd than Amarinder.”

Avoiding controversy by commenting over the verdict of the Supreme Court in Amarinder’s case, Sukhbir quipped: “The decision, which the assembly had taken was right at that time but we all have to abide the verdict of the SC.”

“Moreover, Amarinder was never on our agenda. In spite of indulging in the mudslinging game, we worked for the development of the state and people of Punjab will consider our policy, while casting votes in the next assembly polls,” he said.

Taking a dig over the different statements of Congress leaders about strategy to support candidates planning to contest polls for the SGPC, he said: “They all have exposed that the Congress is a fragmented party, where nobody bothers for each other and move in his own way.”

When questioned about the frequent reports of police seized explosive material at different parts of the state, he said, “There is nothing to worry as we are committed for a peaceful Punjab. Such seizures should be seen as the attentiveness of our intelligence and police machinery.”

Earlier addressing gathering at Malout, where he inaugurated a railway over bridge (ROB) on the Malout-Dabwali road, constructed with a combined cost of Rs 21 crore. Sukhbir said: “This is a humble gift of a son to his mother on Mother’s day, adding that his mother had emotional bonding with the city Malout and had always tried for overall development of the city.

Ludhiana, May 11
As the sowing of cotton is in full swing in the cotton belt of the state, there are conflicting reports regarding the productivity of Bt cotton. Experts of Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) maintain that per hectare productivity of Bt cotton has been falling from the past three years. But the officials of the state Agricultural Department do not agree with them and said there had been fluctuations in the productivity due to weather conditions.

Dr PS Minhas, director, research, and Dr Manjit Singh Gill, senior cotton breeder, PAU, told The Tribune that maximum productivity of Bt cotton was achieved in 2006-07 at 750 kg lint per hectare and after this had been falling and the latest achievement was 634 kg lint per hectare.

They said they had conducted soil and chemical tests to find out the fall in the productivity but so far they has not reached any conclusion. Further tests were being conducted, they added.

However, Dr BS Sandhu, director, Agriculture, Punjab, maintains that the average productivity of cotton in 2005-2006 was 732 kg lint per hectare and it rose to 750 kg per hectare in 2006- 07. After this there was attack of Milly bug on the cotton crop as a result of which the productivity fell to 737 kg lint per hectare in 2008-09 and during 2009-10 it was 714 kg lint per hectare. Sandhu said at present, the sowing of cotton was late because of non-availability of power.

Meanwhile, enquiries made by The Tribune have shown that farmers in the cotton belt are allegedly being fleeced by dealers who are selling the Bt cotton seed on the black market. The BG1 variety of Bt cotton is priced at Rs 750 per packet but it was sold for Rs 800 to 1,000 per packet.

Moreover, there are reports of spurious seed being sold to farmers. There is so much craze for Bt cotton seed among farmers that they go in large groups to Gujarat to buy seed.

According to rough estimates, at least 25 per cent area would go under the spurious seed purchased from Gujarat.

Dr Joginder Singh, former head of Entomology Department, PAU, who is now working as adviser to the RASSI seed company, said at least 45 lakh packets of seed were required for the northern belt of cotton comprising the states of Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan. In Rajasthan, earlier Bt cotton was sown in Ganga Nagar district and now it had extended up to the Bikaner belt.

Chandigarh, May 11
Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal returned from the US after two weeks yesterday night. He attended office this morning. He had left for the US on April 26 to be with his wife Surinder Kaur, who is undergoing a treatment for malignancy in New York.

Badal told officials that his wife was undergoing chemotherapy and was recovering well. The Chief Minister attended to several pending files and held meetings pertaining to development in the state.

Badal spent some time giving approval to the Mandi Board for the construction of new rural roads. These roads would be built under the scheme that allows every member of the Legislative Assembly to get 20 kilometers of roads constructed. He directed the secretary of the Mandi Board to expedite the procedure for construction of new rural roads and the repair of old ones within their jurisdiction so that the entire work could be completed within the next six months.

Badal asked MLAs to submit their lists of rural roads to be constructed in their respective constituencies so that the entire work could be taken up at the earliest.

Surinder Kaur has been in the US for nearly a month after investigations at PGI, here, and suspected malignancy in the intestines.

Badal has returned as per schedule as he is expected to welcome Prime Minister Manmohan Singh who is scheduled to visit Punjab this week for the tercentenary celebrations of “Fateh Diwas” to celebrate Baba Banda Bahadur’s victory in the battle of Chappar Chiri.

Ludhiana, May 11
The Punjab and Haryana High Court has appointed nearly 100 lawyers as mediators at 18 mediation and conciliation centres across Punjab and Haryana. These lawyers will replace judges, who were earlier heading these mediation centres from over one year. The move is to bring down heavy pendency of cases and encouraging parties to settle their disputes through dialogues.

Earlier, two judges - one of the rank of the Additional District and Sessions Judge and Civil Judge - were heading each of the centre.

These lawyers were given a 40-hour training in five days at the Judicial Academy, Chandigarh, under the supervision of Justice M M Kumar, Chairman of Mediation and Conciliation Committeee of Punjab and Haryana, a few days ago.

They were imparted training for making them perfect in breaking a deadlock between parties and resolve their disputes amicably. They were instructed not to share details of dialogues exchanged by parties during the mediation proceedings.

In the first sitting, all these mediators will hold a joint session of both parties and in the second, both parties will be heard separately to find out the real cause of their dispute and make efforts to resolve issues between them.

After the final settlement, a draft of settlement will be prepared by mediators and then sent to the court concerned for passing a decree or appropriate order. Mediation and conciliation centres were set in both states on November 8, 2008, by Justice S B Sinha, a Supreme Court judge, through videoconferencing.

These centres were set up at Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Amritsar, Sangrur, Hoshiarpur, Ferozepur, Patiala, Moga, Gurgaon, Faridabad, Rohtak, Sonipat, Jind, Karnal, Kurukshetra, Rewari and Hisar.

Patiala, May 11
Naib tehsildar Harnek Singh Mukhmailpur, brother of former minister and SAD leader Ajaib Singh Mukhmailpur, has been suspended with immediate effect in a fraudulent land deal case. Orders in this regard were issued by Patiala Divisional Commissioner GS Grewal today.

Harnek has been accused of ignoring revenue laws in a registry of property worth crores located on the prime location in Patiala. It is also alleged that the registry was done on the basis of false documents by bypassing norms, which not only tantamount to a fraud but also caused revenue loss to the administration.

When the matter came to the notice of the district administration, a magisterial probe was entrusted to Patiala SDM Gurmeet Singh. After a report submitted by the SDM to Patiala DC Deepinder Singh indicted Harnek, orders were issued for withdrawing all work from him.

During his visit to Patiala on May 5, Deputy CM Sukhbir Singh Badal was also apprised of the matter by the district administration authorities. “On the basis of the report sent by the Patiala DC regarding the fraud pertaining to the registry of Plot number 46 on the Passey Road, naib tehsildar Harnek Singh Mukhmailpur has been placed under suspension with immediate effect,” reads the orders issued by the Divisional Commissioner.

Grewal has appointed the Sangrur ADC as the inquiry officer in the said case and till the time Harnek remains under suspension, his headquarters office would be Tehsil Office, Sangrur.

Meanwhile, as per the inquiry report, the plot was shown sold to Amit Bansal of Mandi Gobindgarh by Gurinder Singh of Kaithal district. The report mentioned that Gurinder sold the property through the general power of attorney (GPA) for Rs 2.9 crore, which was much lower than the actual cost of Rs 14.8 crore.

The report further mentioned that without going into the details of the ownership, the naib tehsildar went ahead with the registry on the basis of false documents and the GPA presented by Gurinder Singh.

The district administration has also stalled the mutation of the registry and action is also being initiated against the beneficiaries of this fraudulent sale deed.

Sirhind/Rajpura, May 11
Sirhind city is all set to celebrate the tercentenary anniversary of Fateh Diwas.

The Shiromani Gurudwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) and district administration is fully geared up to receive the Fateh March tomorrow at Shambhu barrier in Rajpura.

The march started out from Nanded Sahib and would end at Sirhind on May 13, a day before the Fateh Diwas celebrations.

Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal, besides SGPC officials and other leaders, would also be present at the Shambhu barrier to receive the march.

The police has made stringent security arrangements and nearly 2,000 cops have been deployed in Fatehgarh Sahib to streamline traffic and for security purposes.

A laser show near Gurdwara Fatehgarh Sahib, religious sermons, community kitchen and culmination of the march will be part of the celebrations.

Sirhind Fateh Diwas is being observed to commemorate victory of Baba Banda Singh Bahadur over Sirhind where young sahibzadas of Guru Gobind Singh laid down their lives for Sikhism. Baba Banda Bahadur destroyed Sirhind city and hoisted the Sikh flag on May 13, 1710.

Drinking water, night stay and toilet facilities for thousands of devotees have been ensured with the help of district administration.

Welcome gates have been erected at various places in Fatehgarh Sahib to welcome the march.

A specially designed waterproof tent, with seating capacity of around 22,000 people, has also been erected in the ground of Mata Gujri College at an expense of Rs 28 lakh.

On May 14, CM Parkash Singh Badal would lay foundation stone of a museum in memory of Baba Banda Singh Bahadur adjoining Gurdwara Fatehgarh Sahib, where Baba Banda Singh Bahadur hoisted the flag of victory.

Besides this, sports events have also be organised at Baba Banda Singh Bahadur Engineering College which would continue till May 14.

Patiala, May 11
If it comes to wastage of funds, Patiala Municipal Corporation would definitely lead the race. Funds amounting to Rs 17 lakh seem to have gone down the drain, as a tubewell installed in Municipal Ward Number 2 about six months back is yet to become operational.

After its trial run, the tubewell was shut down due to some leakage problem.

Failure of the Patiala MC in rectifying the snag in the tubewell has brought the functioning the civic body under scanner, as the tubewell was installed by a private contractor. Notably, Adarsh Colony, Prem Nagar, North Avenue and Adarsh Nagar-B come under the Ward Number 2.

“In order to ensure sufficient supply of water in the ward, a tubewell was installed some six months back. The work was awarded by the MC authorities to a private contractor. But, because of the casual attitude of civic functionaries, the tubewell installed at a whopping cost of Rs 17 lakh is still non-functional,” said Ward Number 2 Councillor Gurcharan Singh.

He said he had taken up this matter at many occasions with the functionaries but to no avail. “The material used by the contractor was of cheap quality”, he said. Speaking to The Tribune, Rashmi Satija, a resident of Prem Nagar said, “Following the unavailability of water, taps have gone dry. We get water supply from tubewells installed in nearby wards but the supply is just for few hours.”

Residents of Adarsh Colony have demanded an inquiry into the matter. “The contractor concerned should be taken to task”, they demanded, while adding that because of scarcity of water, the area residents are compelled to install their own submersible pumps.

Municipal Commissioner Manjit Singh Narang said the tubewell would be repaired soon. “Besides the technical snag, the number of water connections, which would get supply from this tubewell is less, resulting which high pressure is developed, creating backflow of water. But we would sort out this problem by supplying water from this tubewell to Ward Number 1 as well,” stated Narang. 

Fatehgarh Sahib, May 11
New techniques and development ideas being propagated by the Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK) notwithstanding, farmers are shying away from the organisation because of its poor infrastructural set-up. The dingy rooms and dilapidated building of the kendra can put off anybody.

Training camps, modern techniques and other educational programmes are being organised at the KVK for farmer extension services at regular intervals.

While scientists and agriculture experts tried their best to allure farmers to attend seminars and training camps, the lack of basic building infrastructure, the building was originally a decade-old godown of the Agriculture Department, was keeping farmers at bay, said KVK officials.

The KVK owns 20 acres where vegetables and seasonal crops are grown. However, there was lack of proper space to conduct meetings with farmers, said the officials.

“If equipped with better facilities, more farmers could be roped in for promoting diversification and other agricultural schemes,” they added.

The KVK has 15 officials, including scientists, technical staff and class III employees.

The work on new building for the KVK stands incomplete for the past two years. The under construction building houses a technical laboratory, soil testing facility, hostel for farmer, community centre, meeting hall and other offices.

At present, the KVK officials and agriculture department conduct meetings at a nearby nationalized bank.

Chief Agriculture Officer Sarabjit Kandhari said the completion of the under constructed building would bring more farmers to the kendra.

Patiala, May 11
The State Information Commission has achieved a big success by disposing of approximately 90 per cent of the cases till December 31, 2009.

As per the figures given by Information Commissioner Darbara Singh Kahlon, out of 12,955 cases from various parts of the state, 11,654 were disposed of till December-end last year. Kahlon, who was in the city yesterday, said penalty was imposed in 136 cases and 250 complainants got the compensation.

“The RTI Act was enforced in Punjab in 2005 and now it has started showing encouraging results. The Act has brought transparency in the functioning of various government departments”, he asserted.

Kahlon, however, condemned those who were misusing the RTI Act for their vested interests. Interacting with the District Public Information Officer and his colleagues, Kahlon said, “Information which is sought under the RTI Act and poses no threat to the national security, should be supplied within the stipulated tenure.” He also said all records in different government departments should be maintained properly and the department authorities must computerise all records, so that they were available online.

Later, addressing a two-day convention for the PIOs, so that the RTI Act is implemented in totality in the district, Kahlon said villagers could obtain the information regarding the development works of their respective villages under the RTI Act by approaching village panchayat secretary.

“However, in case the panchayat secretary fails to provide the information, the applicant is free to approach the higher authorities”, he said.

Meanwhile, Kahlon also paid a surprise visit to various government offices, including that of the Patiala SSP, the Civil Surgeon, the Municipal Corporation, the District Revenue Officer and the District Development and Panchayat Officer. During the visits, he checked various records pertaining to the RTI Act. “The work in all offices was found satisfactory”, he said, while appreciating Patiala Deputy Commissioner Deepinder Singh for the same. 

Chandigarh, May 11
Punishment does not commensurate with crime, when it comes to foreign prisoners. Nothing else can explain the continuation of detention of 57 Pakistani prisoners in Amritsar central jail, even after the completion of their sentence.

As their plight was brought to the notice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court by city-based advocate Ranjan Lakhanpal, the Division Bench of Chief Justice Mukul Mudgal and Justice Jasbir Singh issued notice of motion to the Union of India, the state of Punjab and other respondents for August 24.

In the petition filed through his non-government human rights organisation, World Human Rights Protection Council, Lakhanpal asserted that 45 of them have even lost their mental balance. Some of them were not even in a position to wear clothes and were roaming about the jail premises, naked. Some were not even able to consume food and had to be fed by others. Lakhanpal, who has been filing such petitions earlier also, says he received the information through a letter from the Amritsar jail. A list of the 57 prisoners was enclosed along with the letter, he said.

The petitioner said the practice of Pakistani prisoners being kept internees even after the completion of their sentence was not new. But the high court had come out with a solution in a civil writ petition filed by Fida Hussain and others. As they were in detention even after completing their sentence, the high court ordered compensation and made them board Samjautha Express.

Lakhanpal said in spite of a precedent, the needful was not being done by the authorities concerned.

Seeking directions for their release, Lakhanpal said they should also be adequately compensated.