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Resign in proper format or face sack: State BJP to Sahni
Sahni trains guns on Gadkari
Barnala girl tops in Class VIII exam |
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Defence varsity: Major setback to state’s plans
Jaypee authorities booked under Forest Act
Barbed wires have gone missing from the area around the clinker yard of Jaypee Cement at Dehni vilage in Kiratpur Sahib. Tribune photo: Vicky Gharu
Sirhind Fateh Diwas
Staff crunch hits colleges
CET results create confusion
Chief agri officer suspended
Girls outnumber boys but govt ignores village
Adulterated sweets destroyed
Dyers’ body gets land for effluent treatment plant
Rs 320 cr plan for hospitals cleared
Writers’ forum to honour Capt Amarinder
CM to attend Shekhawat’s cremation
Base appeals on question of law, HC tells Punjab
Nangal to get state’s first rural court
HC Justice Karam Chand Puri along with administration officials in Nangal. A Tribune photograph
Capt Amarinder Singh arrives to attend the hearing in the City Centre case in the Ludhiana district courts
complex on Saturday. A Tribune photograph
Freedom Fighters’ Claims
3 women strangled
Heroin worth Rs 97 crore seized
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Sahni trains guns on Gadkari
Batala, May 15 A furious Sahni, while addressing the media here today, claimed that Gadkari, who was in Chandigarh recently, had not given him a patient hearing and, on the contrary, he was briefed in a “wrong manner” by people who wanted to see the party hitting a roadblock in the state. Sahni, who feels that the party ditched him on the Chawla issue, dared Gadkari and the Punjab BJP president Ashwani Sharma to throw him out of the party. Sahni, a three-time MLA from Batala, added that he would neither resign as MLA nor from the primary membership of the party. The MLA said that Gadkari had assured him that action would be taken against Chawla but, till now, nothing had been done. Today’s statements have clearly put the party on the back foot. Said Ashwani Sharma, “I never expected Sahni to make such statements. We will not ask for his resignation. However, if he himself feels suffocated in the party, he is welcome to leave it any time. It does not behove a man like Sahni to issue such irresponsible statements.”
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Barnala girl tops in Class VIII exam
Mohali, May 15
Even otherwise girls have yet again hogged the limelight by bagging 386 positions in the merit list, leaving the rest for the boys. By securing 94.3 per cent, the first position has been bagged by a student of Sarv Hitkari Senior Secondary Vidya Mandir, Barnala, Mehak Sharma. The second position is shared by Harmanjeet Kaur, a student of BJSFS Senior Secondary Public School, Fatehgarh Sahib, and Gagandeep Kaur, a student of Sarv Hitkari Vidya Mandir Senior Secondary School, Dhura (Dhuri), with both securing 93.89 per cent marks. Again a girl, Arundeep Kaur, a student of Nankana Sahib Model High School, Janta Nagar, Ludhiana, has come third by securing 93.78 per cent marks. The board’s Chairman, Dr Dalbir Singh Dhillon, said the combined pass percentage of girls (regular and private students) was 76.76 per cent as compared to 69.81 per cent of boys. The overall pass percentage of students in the middle standard result has increased to 72.89 per cent as compared to 63.75 per cent in 2009. The Chairman said on May 16 (8 am onwards) the detailed results, merit list and pass percentage could be obtained from the board’s website www.pseb.ac.in <http://www.pseb.ac.in>. The board has also started the facility of providing the results through email and mobile phone through the IVRS system. Shariq Majeed adds from Barnala: A girl from the city has secured the first position in the Class VIII examination, the merit list of which was released by the Punjab School Education Board today. Mehak Sharma topped the examination scoring 847 out of 900 marks. Elated over the success of his daughter, Mehak’s father Rajeev Sharma, who is a teacher in Government High School, Sahore, said his daughter has not only made them proud but has also brought laurels to her school Sarvhitkari Senior Secondary School. Rajeev Sharma further said Mehak, who is influenced by astronaut Kalpana Chawla and aspires to be like her, had secured sixth position in the class Vth examination also. Mehak said she always dreamt of making it to the top. “I had fixed the target for achieving this feat immediately after my class VII examination. Sometimes I used to get frustrated but family members supported me. I feel everything is achievable in life provided one makes resolve to achieve it.” Responding to a query as to whether she found it difficult to achieve her goal studying in not-so-advanced area, Mehak said: “My mother tells me that a student studying even in remotest area of the state and in any environment can achieve success with his/her commitment to goal and conviction”.
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Defence varsity: Major setback to state’s plans
Chandigarh, May 15 In fact, the Punjab government had been lobbying hard to get the university as promised to it by former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee at the time of tercentenary celebrations of the birth of Khalsa in 1999 at Anandpur Sahib. Subsequently, the Punjab government started pressing for the Indian National Defence University as the idea for setting up this university was mooted way back in 1967. Its immense contribution to the defence forces and largest population of ex-servicemen in the state were quoted as arguments in favour of providing conducive environs for the university. After Akalis were voted out of power in 2002, the subsequent Congress government headed by Capt Amarinder Singh, too, pursued the demand for locating the proposed university in Punjab. Instead of Anandpur Sahib, Capt Amarinder Singh government proposed that the premises of the present Netaji Subash Institute of Sports (NIS) would be ideally suited for the Indian National Defence University. When the present SAD-BJP alliance returned to power in 2007, the demand for the defence university was revived again. This time Punjab offered a site in Sector 92 of Mohali. This 231-acre site met the initial approval of the site selection committee of the Ministry of Defence. Only in February this year, Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal had called on Defence Minister AK Antony to press for
the Defence University in Mohali. To strengthen its claim, the Punjab government also announced a new plan its last Budget. It decided to set up Maharaja Ranjit Singh Armed Forces Academy at Mohali where young enterprising youth would be trained for careers in
defence forces. The state has been keen to revive its share in defence forces. The Punjab government also decided to give to youth selected for NDA or IMA Rs 1 lakh for each of the years of their training prior to their induction in the armed forces as incentive money. In the final wrap-up for the budgetary proposals, Parkash Singh Badal also announced setting up of a separate Naval Training Academy in Mohali. Thinking that Punjab would get the National Defence University and two of its own defence-oriented institutions, including Maharaja Ranjit Singh Academy, Mohali would become a major hub for training, research and higher education in subjects
related to defence and strategic studies. But the plan has been slightly grounded with the Union Cabinet favouring Binoli in Gurgaon to Mohali for locating the INDU by overlooking its own promise and commitment made on the historic occasion of tercentenary celebrations of the
Khalsa.
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Jaypee authorities booked under Forest Act
Kiratpur Sahib, May 15 Sources said Divisional Forest Officer K Kannan visited the site this morning where the department had installed barbed wires and pillars on April 15 so as to bar Jaypee Cement from using forest land for non-forest purposes. Later, the cement company authorities removed those wires and uprooted the pillars. The Forest Department again approached the police on May 5 and got wires
re-installed. This morning, when Kannan visited the area, it was found that the Jaypee authorities had damaged the property again. After being ousted from its clinker yard at Bikkon village by the Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB), the company shifted its unit back to Dehni, occupying a large portion of land illegally, which is protected under the Punjab Land Preservation Act (PLPA). The police has booked senior vice-president of the group Brig AK Talwar and Jaiprakash Associates, Bagheri, under Sections 29, 33, 52 and 63 of Indian Forest Act, 1927, and under Section 2 of the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980, for damaging public property. The case registered draws punishment of up to two years and Rs 5,000 fine. The company has been in the thick of controversies earlier for opening clinker yard on protected forest land and later shifting it to a populated area at Bikkon village without seeking any permission from the Ropar district administration or the PPCB. Following the Tribune reports, the PWD officials had demolished ramps of the clinker yard situated at Dehni village, but the company was back in action few days ago.
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Langar never tasted this good!
Gurdeep Singh Mann Tribune News Service
Fatehgarh Sahib, May 15 Varieties of more than 100 sumptuous dishes was served to the people at langar (community kitchen) held near Mata Gujri College. The langar is being served for the past three days. It includes more than a dozen varieties of ice cream, different kinds of dosa, rice, chapattis, vegetables, cereals, cold drinks and even pizzas were distributed. Balwinder Singh, spokesperson of Baba Pehove wale, said that they had been serving the food for past around three years during every major Sikh religious function in different parts of country. “We have organised such langars to satiate devotees in every possible manner”, he said. For this purpose they have three specially designed refrigerator vans in which cold drinks, ice creams and other edibles are prepared on the spot. “Earlier we used to buy ice cream from shops but with the increase in demand now we have begun preparing it on our own,” he said. All the food items are prepared by the devotees and trained volunteers who lend their services during such occasions. “We have 300 trained sewadars who perform the task of preparing sumptuous food during langar. Besides, a tandoor for preparing chapattis - we have every kind of modern gadget to prepare food in huge quantities during such occasions”, said another Menga Singh Rajpura. He said that though organisations have been preparing langar for past around two decades, however, the menu grew sumptuous around two and half years ago. “So far we have organised such langars on a large scale in Orissa, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Amritsar”, they said.
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Staff crunch hits colleges
Jalandhar, May 15 The government has banned recruitment in these educational institutions almost 10 years ago that has created a vacuum in the education system. As per the information gathered under the Right to Information (RTI) Act by Sanjiv Kumar, president of a Dasuya-based NGO, a ban on the recruitment of lecturers in government-aided colleges across the state was imposed on July 14, 2005, while there has been no fresh recruitment through the Punjab Public Service Commission (PPSC) since 2001. According to the information provided by the Director of the Education Department (Colleges), there are 537 vacancies of lecturers in 52 government colleges across the state. Sources, however, claim that the number of vacancies in government colleges have gone beyond 800 as of now. Interestingly, the DPI (Colleges) has no record of the number of posts of lecturers lying vacant in the aided colleges. He has asked the authorities of 140 aided colleges to submit a report in this context to his office. As per the information available, there are almost 3,600 sanctioned posts of lecturers in aided colleges and 1,600 of them are lying vacant. The number is likely to rise up to 2,600 as almost 1,000 lecturers will be retiring in the next two years. Jasbir Singh, who has cleared NET and presently working as an ETT on contract in government middle school near Gardhiwala, Hoshiarpur, said: “UGC-qualified lecturers are earning their livelihood by teaching in private schools or colleges while the unqualified part-time teachers are teaching students in various government colleges.” Davinder Singh, another NET qualified serving as an ETT in government primary school at Thinda Chipra village in Hoshiarpur district, said there were nearly 400 part-time lecturers in various government colleges who were appointed without going in for their qualification. “Hundreds of NET qualified lecturers are getting overage waiting for their turn while the unqualified teachers are managing to save their seats by using various tactics,” claimed Sanjiv Kumar. The NET qualified lecturers have urged the government to recruit through the PPSC so that every qualified person may get a fair chance.
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CET results create confusion
Jalandhar, May 15 It came as a major jolt for them when they realised that as many as 29,225 candidates had appeared for the test and such a candidate with just one mark should have been rather at the fag end. The candidates networked with one another and managed to lay hands on certain results wherein candidates had got less marks but got far better ranks. They felt that there were certain anomalies in the result preparation. They then tried to contact the authorities since late last evening but failed. However, the word soon spread and the information reached the authorities. Those into the result preparation soon realised that there was no major blunder in the result preparation. The only mistake that they had committed was that in the result they had not specified as to whether it was of pharmacy or engineering entrance. They found that the candidate with one rank had actually applied for pharmacy. Since there were hardly 1115 candidates who had appeared for pharmacy entrance, there was no big deal why a candidate with just one mark had got the 1113 rank. The mystery unfolded rather quickly and the authorities rectified their mistake this morning. While all ranks were earlier put under sub-head rank
(CET), these were later categorised as rank (engineering) and rank (pharmacy).
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Chief agri officer suspended
Chandigarh, May 15 Darshan Singh, who has been suspending for not implementing the government directive, is only a block-level agriculture officer. He has been given charge as district agriculture officer. Meanwhile, sources said nurseries had been grown before May 10 in paddy-growing districts in the state. However, in most cases the Agriculture Department had taken swift action, which had acted as a deterrent. However, in many cases farmers grew paddy nurseries two to three days before May 10. This, sources said, was because of the government turn around in the case of PAU 201. This variety, which has become a success in Punjab due to its high yield, short duration as well as low water consumption, has been banned this year because of the propensity of the grain to break during milling. However, the decision to ban this variety was not taken well in advance and even
PAU, Ludhiana, had distributed it among farmers as seed for the coming crop. Though PAU did replace part of this seed, there was a scarcity of good seed in the market and farmers have fallen back on PUSA 44. However, the problem with PUSA 44 is that its harvest cycle is longer than that of other varieties. Its nursery also needs more time to grow due to which farmers had gone in for planting it before May 10.
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Girls outnumber boys but govt ignores village
Samrala, May 15 “Whereas other areas of the state are known for highly skewed sex ratio - with number of girls far less than boys - our village is known for having far more girls than boys. We are proud of this,” said Charanjit Singh
Litt, sarpanch of the village. However, the government has not rewarded the village for this feat. “We daily read in newspapers that the government is doing this or that to improve the sex ratio in the state, but it has given no special incentive till date to our village where number of girls is far more than boys,” the sarpanch said, adding: “We are disappointed owing to
the indifferent attitude of the government”. “There are 180 females against 100 males here,” Litt said, adding that the village population at present was about 645. Out of 50 babies born in the village during the last five years, the number of female children was 32 and male 18,” he claimed. “We just want that either some good institution or a skills improvement centre should be opened in the village,” he stated. The village has a government primary school. “Girls of our village have always done well in studies and some of them have also done MBBS and other professional courses,” he said. “If the government does not honour our village it would mean that its claims to improve male-female ratio in the state are hollow,” another resident said.
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Adulterated sweets destroyed
Chandigarh, May 15 The report, received two days ago, said the samples failed the test. Director Health SPS Sohal said the department destroyed the adulterated sweets in the presence of the local Civil Surgeon and DHO of Ropar, after duly obtaining judicial permission for the same. He said the department was also committed to check illegal sale of “habit-forming drugs” in the state. As part of a special drive to check the sale of such drugs, the health authorities conducted raids at some retail outlets and godowns in Ropar district and made seizures. These places included Kanauli, Lutheri and Morinda. He added drugs worth Rs 70,000 were also seized from an unlicensed godown at Lutheri. Legal action had been initiated against violators of the Drug and Cosmetics Act and the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act. He said such drives would continue at other places also.
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Dyers’ body gets land for effluent treatment plant
Chandigarh, May 15 A decision to this effect was taken by Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal during a meeting with the industrialists here today. Badal also approved that the Industrial Department would facilitate the association for setting up of this 100-MLD plant and asked to install it within 18 months. The Chief Minister also assured the members of the association that two power grids of 66 KV capacity each would also be setup at Tajpur and Bhadurke roads for power supply for the industry. Badal also directed the power board to take action in this regard and set up these grids with in the next four months.
Inderjit Singh, chairman of the Small Industries Development Board, on behalf of the Punjab Dyers’ Association, Ludhiana, thanked the Chief Minister for showing concern in order to tackle the problem of effluent disposal of the dyeing industry of Ludhiana and rehabilitating it.
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Rs 320 cr plan for hospitals cleared
Chandigarh, May 15 A decision was also taken to upgrade the district hospitals at Muktsar (from the existing 50 bed capacity to 100 bed capacity) and Tarn Taran (from the existing 60 to 100 beds). The subdivisional hospitals at Dera Bassi and Budhlada would also be upgraded from the existing bed capacity of 30 each to 50.
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Writers’ forum to honour Capt Amarinder
Patiala, May 15 Chairman of the forum Ved Parkash Gupta said we would soon felicitate him. He said the Punjab Assembly had passed a biased resolution removing Capt Amarinder Singh from the House. The Congress leader recalled how Patiala was put on a road to development during the tenure of Capt Amarinder Singh during his regime. He said the Congress was the only hope of Punjab and the policies and programmes of the Congress were designed to benefit the people of Punjab.
— TNS
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CM to attend Shekhawat’s cremation
Chandigarh, May 15 The Chief Minister and his Cabinet colleagues have paid glowing tributes to the departed leader. In a statement issued here, Badal described Shekhawat as "one of the tallest statesmen the country had produced in the past century or more. He brought the influence of a unique mix of sobriety, charisma and gentlemanliness to bear on our national polity. He lent
dignity and grace to any office he held.” — TNS
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Base appeals on question of law, HC tells Punjab
Chandigarh, May 15 Deprecating the approach, Justice Ranjit Singh has asserted it was becoming a common practice with the state to file appeals without formulating the question of law. Justice Ranjit Singh also warned the appeals could be dismissed just on this ground. The ruling came on the appeal filed by the state against roadways employee Premjit and another respondent. Based in Batala, conductor Premjit was aggrieved by as many as 13 punishment orders. Justice Ranjit Singh observed: “It is routine now to observe this in regular second appeals filed by the state and pending before this Court, no substantial question of law is ever formulated. “This is so despite the fact that in some cases, time was afforded to the state to formulate the question of law. This is also one such case where again no substantial question of law is formulated…. This appeal filed by the state is liable to be dismissed on this short ground….” Justice Ranjit Singh added that he was not adopting the course of dismissal of appeal, as in a connected appeal by an employee a question of law was formulated. In larger interest of justice, Justice Ranjit Singh took upon himself the task and observed: “Besides, the violation of the procedural law to impose the major penalty would be another substantial question of law, which may arise in this case, in addition to what was formulated as a substantial question of law by the employee”. Justice Ranjit Singh observed: “The short question that would arise for consideration is whether the major penalty could be awarded to the respondent-employee without holding regular inquiry…. By now, it is fully settled that for awarding major penalty, holding of an inquiry is a legal necessity…. In view of the settled position, the punishment awarded to the employee (on 12 counts) cannot be upheld and would require to be set aside.
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Nangal to get state’s first rural court
Nangal, May 15 Punjab and Haryana High Court Justice Karam Chand Puri was here to find land for the court. He told The Tribune that the first class judicial magistrate would head this court under the aegis of Punjab and Haryana High Court. Puri said the focus was to provide justice to the rural population and reduce burden of litigation and pendency of cases in the court. “Nangal does not have a court of its own. Litigants have to go all the way to Anandpur Sahib, which is expensive. The Centre’s motive is to make litigation a smooth process for rural pockets. It has a proposal of setting up 5,000 such courts across the country,” he said. Justice Puri and officials of the Ropar administration today visited three sites of the Bhakra-Beas Management Board (BBMB) that could be converted to suit needs of the rural court. The team visited TB hospital of the BBMB, which now lies defunct. After the place is chosen, the BBMB would be persuaded to hand it over for setting up the court. Puri said after Nangal, another rural court would come up in the Kot Isse Khan area of Moga. While the rural court here might start functioning in August, work on Kot Isse Khan Court would start later. Haryana has already been running a rural court in Shahbad for the last one month. “Litigants are satisfied with the justice meted out to them and we hope to replicate same in Punjab as well,” he added. Puri also visited the Anandpur Sahib court complex and listened to the problems of lawyers. He asserted them of solving the same expeditiously.
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City Centre case adjourned
Ludhiana, May 15 The defence lawyer termed the allegation of accepting Rs 1 crore by the former minister to be unreliable. He said the allegation came up in the statement of a witness RD Awasthi, when the bail application of the former minister was going to be heard by the court on the very next day. He claimed that the allegation was levelled just to prejudice the court and ensure dismissal of bail application. Claiming it to be a case of political vendetta, the defence lawyer, APS Deol, specifically referred to the letter written by Deputy Speaker of state Assembly Satpal Gosain to the Speaker, requesting for reaching a consensus and withdrawl of cases of political vendetta. What bigger proof was required that it was a case of political vendetta, he added. All the accused, including former Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, his relative Raminder Singh and former Local Bodies Minister Choudhry Jagjit Singh, were present in the court . However, the court has given exemption to Amarinder Singh's son, Ranninder Singh, from personal appearance in the court for today.
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Ascertain realistically, HC to state
Saurabh Malik Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, May 15 Justice K. Kannan has also asked the authorities concerned not to outrightly reject hearsay, if direct evidence is unavailable. The directions came on a petition filed by Anok Singh of Rajpura. In his petition against the secretary in charge of the freedom fighter branch, he had sought direction to the respondents to issue freedom fighters' pension “on the basis of original relevant documents submitted before the Punjab government”. Justice Kannan observed: “It appears that, in this case, the petitioner did not have the jail records and he had, therefore, appended along with the application two affidavits of persons, who claimed to be co-prisoners with the petitioner at Lahore central jail between August 20, 1942, and August 15, 1943, for his participation in the Quit India Movement”. Justice Kannan ruled: “We have come distant by at least two generations from the time we obtained freedom. The persons who had suffered incarceration for the freedom of a country and who are still alive today could only be a handful and there must be a certain realism in the approach of authorities in considering the claims of persons who have undergone sufferings and who claim the pension under the scheme.” Disposing of the petition, Justice Kannan directed that Patiala DC shall undertake an inquiry in the manner detailed earlier and forward appropriate recommendations, if the petitioner's case merits acceptance. “The whole exercise shall be completed within a period of eight weeks from the date of the receipt of the copy of this order”.
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3 women strangled
Amritsar, May 15 Gurpreet Singh, husband of Sukhwinder Kaur, and their three children narrowly escaped in the attack. In his statement, Gurpreet said unidentified persons pulled him out of the jeep and forcibly took him away while their accomplices strangled his wife and sister. “We are verifying the facts as Gurpreet’s statement has raised many suspicions, but it would be too early to comment,” Amritsar (Rural) SSP Gurmeet Singh Chauhan said. Meanwhile, in another incident one Anita (40) of Shakti Nagar area was strangled allegedly by her husband. The father of the deceased, Chiranji
Lal, alleged that the accused was demanding dowry from them which led to constant fights between the couple. A dispute occurred today also after which the accused first thrashed Anita and then strangled her. A case has been registered.
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Heroin worth Rs 97 crore seized
Gurdaspur, May 15 BSF DIG SS Chatrath disclosed that besides 19 packets of contraband, one .9mm pistol bearing Chinese markings, two magazines and 20 rounds of ammunition were also seized. According to the BSF DIG, some jawans noticed suspicious movements on the border and started search operations following which two Pakistani smugglers, who had allegedly pushed the consignment into the Indian side, started firing. The soldiers retaliated following which the
smugglers fled from the spot leaving the consignment behind. Chatrath added that ever since two insurgents were killed following firing between Pakistani rangers and the BSF at Simbal post on April 25, the Border Security Force was put on high alert. “We were keeping a strict vigil and checking for any suspicious movements along the border,” he added.
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Kiratpur Sahib, May 15
