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BJP urges govt to tackle Naxalism with iron hand
A Sorry State of Affairs
17 youths facing death sentence |
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10-month-old girl drowns in bucket
‘Half-ticket entitles child to a seat in PRTC bus’
Work on 14 RoBs delayed
Engg student abducted from Amritsar recovered
To buy electricity worth Rs 1800-cr
Decision soon
Memorial raised to honour martyr
Amarnath yatra
Tax evasion by municipal contractors
‘Daughters at par with sons’
Steroids found in drugs
ETT teachers to hold meeting with Sukhbir
Privatisation of school
Sarpanch booked for misusing pension funds
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Chawla’s case pending with party: State BJP chief
Bathinda, May 19 Sharma added that the party was examining the matter, but it could not reach any conclusion so far. It is worth mentioning here that suspended BJP leader Jagdish Sahni had levelled allegations against Chawla after three ultrasound diagnostic centres in Batala were raided by a team of the Health Department last month. The state BJP chief also said the party had suspended Sahni from its primary membership with a heavy heart. He said he was of the view that Sahni should not have gone to the press as the BJP was a disciplined party. However, he added that indiscipline would not be tolerated in the party at any level, and it was a clear message of the party to all. He also claimed that during his tour to Patiala, Sangrur, Barnala, Bathinda, Mansa and Abohar during past some days, he had not noticed any indiscipline among the party men. When asked if any reshuffling in the Council of Ministers of the SAD-BJP government was in the offing, Sharma said he would not say anything about it at this stage. The BJP state chief claimed that the state unit of the party had collected 20 lakh signatures against price rise and it expected that the figure would be 50 lakh by June 12. He also said these signatures would be presented at the national executive meeting of the party on June 15. He held the Centre responsible for price rise. To a question regarding party’s lowering graph in the state, Sharma said it would be decided during the next Assembly elections by the voters whether the party’s graph had lowered or gained. He said at present, the party was taking the Assembly elections as a challenge, for which it would work at a grand scale. Meanwhile, Sharma asked the district leaders to nominate the party workers for membership in the Improvement Trust, Bathinda. He said they would be made members in a week. Among others present on the occasion included senior BJP leaders Kamal Sharma and Manjit Singh Rai, district president (Urban) Sham Lal Bansal, district president (Rural) Dayal Dass Sodhi and senior deputy mayor of the Bathinda Municipal Corporation Tarsem Chand Goyal. |
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BJP urges govt to tackle Naxalism with iron hand
Abohar, May 19 It is better to nip the evil in the bud, he remarked with firmness. “Punjab had been bleeding for more than a decade due to previous phase of terrorism, we can’t afford to swim in the black sea again,” he said. Speaking to the media at the residence of district party president Arun Narang here today afternoon he criticized the Congress-led Central government for its “lenient attitude” towards the insurgence of terrorism in different states owing to vote bank politics. “Why is the hanging of Parliament attack mastermind Afzal Guru being delayed on one pretext or the other,” he asked. Those present at the media meet included Prof Brij Lal Rinwa, member of the National Discipline Committee (NDC) of the saffron party. Asked about the simmering discontent against the Municipal Council president Shiv Raj Goyal among a strong group of party councillors, Sharma said he will meet both the factions and sort it out before leaving Abohar. He was aware of the fact that no meeting of the council could be held for past three months due to infighting. He was told that the sub-committee formed by the party high command had failed to address it. When apprised of the grievances of the business community against the alliance govt, he said grievances of all the sections need to be addressed sympathetically. “The alliance is not based on political thinking but it is more cultural and emotional aimed at the welfare of Punjab,” he remarked. |
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A Sorry State of Affairs
Bathinda, May 19 At present, Dr MS Brar is the only eye surgeon in the district who has been performing surgeries in the Civil Hospital here. Though there are two posts of eye surgeon in the government woman and children hospital here, but one surgeon has reportedly not performed a surgery for past about eight to nine years. This is because he had worked with a diagnostic mobile van for about seven years and is working as an emergency medical officer in the local Civil Hospital for past about two years. The other post has been lying vacant nowadays. Due to such conditions, the percentage of eye operations, performed in a year in the local Civil Hospital (as compared to other institutions or by voluntary organisations) is reportedly very low. Sources in the department told TNS that about 45 per cent of the total eye patients in the district were examined in government hospitals and CHCs in a year while only 14 per cent of the total eye operations conducted in the district in a year was performed at the Civil Hospital here. The sources said as per the norms of the Government of India in the light of population of the district and number of the patients, at least four eye surgeons were required in this district. One surgeon each should be posted at sub-division hospitals in Rampura Phul and Talwandi Sabo. The sources said if four eye surgeons were provided to the district then the eye patients, who needed surgery following examination in government hospitals or CHCs, could be operated upon in the government hospitals only rather than at private hospitals. The hospital authorities are also of the view that the only eye surgeon in the Civil Hospital had to bear a lot of work load. |
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17 youths facing death sentence
Moga, May 19 The plea was taken up by this court on Wednesday but was adjourned for discussions for one month giving relief to the youths for four weeks. The president of Lok Bhalai Party and former Union Minister Balwant Singh Ramoowalia who was pursuing this case said the lawyers appointed by the Indian Embassy and some Sikh organisations appeared before the court on behalf of the youths but the shariat court adjourned the hearing to June 16. Meanwhile, the court had directed the authorities of the concerned police to provide a copy of the registered case to each of the 17 accused youths translated in Punjabi language. It has come to notice that the youths did not even know the facts of the case in which they had been given death sentence as the entire process of the trial was being conducted in Arabic language. Most of them could not even read and write English language. After adjournment of the hearing, officials of the Indian Embassy called on family members of all the 17 youths and apprised them of the latest development. Karnail Singh Peer Mohammad, president of the All India Sikh Students' Federation (AISSF) who was in the UAE, said that Navkiran Singh, an advocate of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, also appeared before the shariat court on behalf of the youths. Peer Mohammad, while talking to The Tribune on telephone from the UAE, said he had personally met all the youths in the jail and discussed the case in which they were facing death sentence. "I will also meet senior functionaries of the UAE government seeking their intervention in giving general amnesty to the youths under benefit of doubt because these youths signed certain documents under fear of the police which they could not even read and understand as it was written in Arabic language." The 16 youths belong to Punjab while one of them hails from Haryana. They were picked up along with 50 other persons in January last year, for murder of a Pakistani national which occurred due to turf war between two gangs over the illegal sale of liquor in Sharjah city. During investigations and confessions, 17 of them were held guilty of the murder while others were let off. |
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10-month-old girl drowns in bucket
Bathinda, May 19 On receiving information, volunteers of the Naujwan Welfare Society reached the spot and rushed the girl to the local Civil Hospital where doctors declared her brought dead. The Civil Lines police said the bereaved family accompanied by the municipal councillor of the locality ruled out any foul play and urged in writing not to initiate legal proceedings. “So, we took no action,” said the cops. —
TNS |
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‘Half-ticket entitles child to a seat in PRTC bus’
Bathinda, May 19 The sticker, prepared by the local Human Rights Protection Organisation, was released at the office of the GM here in the presence of office-bearers of the organisation, including SK Gaur, Navneet Duggal, BL Sachdeva, Pardeep Kataria and Santosh Sharma. The GM said these stickers would be pasted in all 157 buses of the Bathinda depot of the PRTC in a day or two. |
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Work on 14 RoBs delayed
Fatehgarh Sahib, May 19 Funded by the Punjab Infrastructure Development Board (PIDB), these ROBs were meant to ease out bottlenecks in areas where railway lines pass through populated pockets creating traffic chaos. The PWD, B&R department, claims that the PWD work on these ROBs has almost been done “Over 80 per cent work by the PWD has been completed. Now, the railway tracks need to laid out, which has to be done by the railways,” PWD officials said. Executive engineer of PWD B & R department Gurmukh Singh said its work on the ROBs would be finished within a month or so. Deputy Chief Engineer of Railways, Dinesh Sharma admitted the delay and said he was supervising two ROBs, those in Jagraon and Morinda. One ROB each is being constructed at Batala, Jagraon, Mansa, Amritsar, Ferozepur, Morinda, Fatehgarh Sahib, two each in Ferozepur and Beas and three in Bathinda. |
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Engg student abducted from Amritsar recovered
Bathinda, May 19 The case was reportedly traced after Gurpreet Singh of Bhagi Vandar, one of the alleged kidnappers, was arrested and a revolver recovered from his possession at Mansa Mandi in Bathinda during the wee hours today. It may be mentioned that the victim family had been receiving calls for ransom of Rs 1 crore. Registering the case under Section 364-A of the IPC against unidentified persons, the Amritsar police had started monitoring the mobile numbers used for making calls to demand ransom. Detecting the locations, it had sounded alert in Bathinda zone. After the recovery of the boy, the Bathinda police termed it as a planned crime to earn easy and quick money, as the victim’s family had recently got Rs 4 crore by selling a property and the kidnappers were apparently aware about it. During interrogation, Gurpreet not only led the police to recover the boy but also named five of his accomplices — Kala Singh of Bhagi Vandar, Kaka Singh of Sandhu Khurd in Barnala, Gagni of Sandoolgarh, Lakhwinder Singh alias Lakha of Sidhana in Bathinda and one Jaskaran Singh of Sandhu colony Amritsar, a distant cousin of the victim, who had property dispute with the victim’s family. SP (Detective) Bathinda Ranvir Singh Saini said, “Acting upon a tip-off from the Amritsar police, we intercepted a black Scorpio (HR 99AJ-8770), reportedly used in the crime, at a check-post in Maur Mandi of this district during the wee hours today.” “The vehicle owned by Lakhwinder Singh was boarded by Gurpreet Singh and Kala Singh. Despite best efforts, we could nab only Gurpreet along with .32 bore revolver and six live cartridges while Kala managed to flee along with a .12 bore gun. However, Gurpreet led the police team to recover the kidnapped youth from a house of Kala’s kin located at Khiala village this afternoon,” said Saini. The SP (D) said, “During interrogation, Gurpreet disclosed that victim’s cousin Jaskaran Singh had asked Kala Singh to hatch a conspiracy to kidnap Gurinderbir. He also revealed that they all had agreed for a fixed share in the ransom amount.” The Bathinda police booked Gurpreet under the Arms Act and sent Gurinderbir to Amritsar along with a police team. About the criminal record of the alleged kidnappers, the SP (D) said Kala and Lakhwinder were facing different cases of murder and attempt to murder while others were also notorious. “We have been conducting raids to nab the absconding accused,” he said. |
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To buy electricity worth Rs 1800-cr
Arniwala (Ferozepur), May 19 Addressing a function organised here today in connection with his Sangat Darshan, Badal said that the first priority of the state government was to supply adequate power to the farmers so that they could go for paddy “We have advised the farmers not to indulge in paddy cultivation before June 15. The government has also been promoting the paddy transplantation machines by offering huge subsidies on the same to farmers so that they could overcome the problem connected with shortage of migratory labourers this season,” he added. The plan to purchase power worth Rs 1800 crores had been finalised by the government with different suppliers today. The other sources were also being exploited to arrange more power so that farmers would not face any shortage during the peak summer season. To improve the transmission of electricity, the state government had decided to spend Rs 650 crores in the current financial year to upgrade and strengthen the transmission system by setting up grid sub-stations. About Rs 3,500 crores would be spent during the next two years on the same job. Badal, who distributed a grant of Rs three crore for different development works during the Sangat Darshan, held here at Arniwala and Teh Kalander to 46 panchayats belonging to Jalalabad and Fazilka assembly segments, also pulled up some civil and police officials when people lodged complaint in connection with their style of functioning. “Our government is committed for overall welfare of the people of all walks of life. We want to bring them all sorts of relief by carrying out huge development in infrastructure, education, medical facilities, transportation and industrial sectors,” pointed out Badal adding that irrigation system of the state was being revamped at a cost of Rs 3500 crores. “Can anybody claim that he or she has witnessed such a huge development during the Congress governments in Punjab,” he asked alleging that instead of bringing economic prosperity to people of Punjab, the successive Congress governments had bartered away all the interests of the state under a deep-rooted conspiracy to do injustice with the border state of Punjab. He said that he had come to know about the spread of jaundice in Arniwala area of the Ferozepur district and he had asked the official concerned to find out the reasons for the same. |
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Decision soon
Teh Kalander (Ferozepur), May 19 “The youths constitute about 65 per cent population of the state. The party has nominated a number of youths as its candidates in the last assembly elections. The party would nominate the suitable youths for the SGPC elections,” said SAD (B) president while talking to media persons here today. “I have called meetings of various frontal organisations at Chandigarh on May 20-21 to decide strategy for the SGPC elections,” he disclosed. Badal, who was here to distribute grants to different panchayats for development works, said that the Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal had directed Inspector General (IG), Intelligence, Punjab, to look into the matter connected with the alleged beating up of a scribe and lensman of a Punjabi daily by the SAD (B) MLA Amarpal Singh Ajnala alias Bonny and his gunmen at Amritsar on Tuesday. When asked whether action would be taken against Bonny, who was involved in such things in the past also, Badal while dubbing the incident as unfortunate, said, “Let the report of IG come.” Sukhbir while answering another question said that he would direct the director, agriculture, Punjab, to find out whether fake Bt cotton seeds had been sold in Punjab or not. He added that earlier he was not aware of such a thing but now as the matter had been brought to his notice, a proper inquiry would be made into the matter. On the demand of the residents of Fazilka sub-division for elevating it to district level, the Deputy CM said that he would convey the sentiments of the people to the CM. He, however, added that a post of the SP rank official of the Punjab police would be created for Fazilka
sub-division. Meanwhile, office-bearers of the Nambardar Union, Tehsil Fazilka along with members of the Bar Association, Fazilka, submitted a memorandum to Badal for elevating the status of Fazilka sub-division to district level. Earlier, Badal laid the foundation stone of a 66 KV grid sub-station in this village. |
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Memorial raised to honour martyr
Abohar, May 19 Akhil Bhartiya Jeev Raksha Bishnoi Sabha president Hanuman Dass and Kuldeep Poonia, president of the memorial committee, thanked the dignitaries. |
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Amarnath yatra
Abohar, May 19 Notably, the NGOs have been directed by the Shri Amarnath Ji Shrine Board that they would have to pay Rs 15,000 on each truckload as VAT for transporting food items and tents. A sum of Rs 2,300 would be charged as road tax from each bus that ferries pilgrims to Shri Amarnath Yatra. —
OC |
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Tax evasion by municipal contractors
Moga, May 19 Revealing this to The Tribune, Bisla said that he sent his subordinates to the municipal council today,who scrutinised and procured certain relevant record pertaining to the construction works done by the contractors in the past one year. “We are still going through the records and cannot comment anything at this point of time,” he said. In reply to a question, he said that authorities concerned of the local body had not yet given all the required record. Therefore, the department would again request them to supply all the
documents. Bisla said that the department would also procure all the records of sale and purchase of interlocking tiles from all the companies and firms from where the contractors had purchased them and then tally it with the official record of the local body so as to ascertain the exact amount of tax evasion done by the contractors from the quantity of material used in the construction works. “Further action will be taken accordingly,” he added. |
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‘Daughters at par with sons’
Fazilka, May 19 Prior to the amendment in property law, any farmer who had no son had to surrender his land holding as surplus. He said that the state government has sent a detailed draft in this regard to the President of India for her assent. “The minute details of the draft would be disclosed only after the receipt of presidential approval, Sukhbir said.” —
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Steroids found in drugs
Moga, May 19 The director of Ayurveda department, Dr Rakesh Sharma, after consulting senior authorities of the health department has today asked the district Ayurveda official of the Faridkot district to visit the premises of the herbal drugs manufacturing unit, take fresh samples of drugs and send a detailed report in this regard by Thursday evening to his office. “We are initiating action against the JP herbal pharmacy,” he said. This herbal drug manufacturing firm was registered with the state excise and taxation department in 2006 and since then it has done business worth crores of rupees. As per a report , the firm has filed a turnover of Rs 3,47,90,818 for the fourth quarter January 1 to March 31 of the last financial year. The total turnover of the firm for the last financial year was more than Rs 13 crore. A CBI team from its Nagpur zonal office raided the firm on Monday and registered a criminal case against its owner taking him into custody. He has been accused of mixing steroids of allopathic compositions in the herbal drugs. Besides, registering a criminal case under various sections of the IPC and Prevention of Corruption Act, the CBI has also added various sections of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940, including the 33EEC, which prohibits manufacture, distribution and sale of ayurvedic medicines. |
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ETT teachers to hold meeting with Sukhbir
Fazilka, May 19 |
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Privatisation of school
Abohar, May 19 The protesters said the government had earlier taken the first step to privatise the first PSEB (Punjab State Electricity Board) and may contemplate privatising the second PSEB (Punjab School Education Board) in the next few days. Principal of the school informed the complex-head at village Bhagu, who requested the sub-divisional authorities to intervene. A contingent was rushed there. However, the protesters did not relent. — OC |
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Sarpanch booked for misusing pension funds
Fazilka, May 19 The complainant said the sarpanch allegedly withdrew monthly pension of the deceased beneficiaries under the old-age pension scheme in 2008. The accused was stated to be at large. —
OC
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While inaugurating the memorial that has been raised to recognise the sacrifice made by one Hazari Lal
Manjhu, in saving a blackbuck, at village Mehrajpur Dhora today, former Haryana Chief Minister Bhajan Lal said the Bishnoi community would always be respected for protecting animals and trees. Akhil Bhartiya Bishnoi Sabha president Malkhan Singh, MLA from
Looni, said Manjhu kept the tradition up by chasing hunters in the open wildlife sanctuary and became a martyr.
