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Company got Rs 48 lakh, sex-ratio survey ‘doubtful’
State to buy power worth Rs 1,938 cr
Shiromani Awards |
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Naxal Threat
Badal to leave for US
Amritsar Shootout
Unserviceable bombs found in school
SAD slams Centre on defence varsity
‘Getting drug licence difficult’
Ludhiana college to offer PhD in Hindi
Toll-free helpline for accident victims
Dead Fish in Sutlej
Bindra foundation to aid Chappar Chiri
Virk’s Case
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Company got Rs 48 lakh, sex-ratio survey ‘doubtful’
Jalandhar, May 20 Though a payment of about Rs 48.50 lakh has been already made to an UP-based company, to which the contract was awarded for about Rs 1.08 crore to conduct the survey in August 2008, the department authorities are not sure till date whether any such survey was actually conducted or not. The expenditure on the survey was to be met from the funds sanctioned by the Union Government under its Reproductive and Child Health Programme, Phase-II. The final report of the survey was to be submitted till January 22, 2009. Certain officials of the Health Department examined the contents of the survey report of 10 districts submitted by the company. As the officials found the contents unconvincing, they sought confirmation from the civil surgeons concerned in March 2010 as to whether the representatives of the company in their respective areas undertook any such survey. Civil surgeons of Moga, Patiala, Hoshiarpur, Ludhiana, Ropar and Tarn Taran reported to the Health Department authorities that no such survey was conducted in their districts. The Civil Surgeon of Barnala reported that he had no information with regard to the conducting of any such survey in his area. Reports from Muktsar, Jalandhar and Ferozepur were also along similar lines. The Civil Surgeon of Fatehgarh Sahib reported that a company had conducted a survey in two wards of Khamano, three wards of Bassi Pathana, five wards of Mandi Gobindgarh, seven wards of Fatehgarh and three wards of Amloh town. However, in his second letter, the Civil Surgeon reported on March 11, 2010, that his office had received no report regarding the survey conducted by the company. In his report to the Director, Family Welfare, one official of the Health Department reported that he had asked the company employees to arrange a joint visit to the places where the survey was in progress but the company did not oblige. The company was again asked vide letter dated February 3, 2009, for a joint verification of the survey by the officials of the Health Department and company but there was no response. After that a team of senior officials of the Health Department, on its own, visited rural areas of Ropar district and found that no survey had been undertaken in the villages visited. Again the company did not respond when it was informed regarding the observations made by the Health Department officials. Health Department officials, who examined the interim report submitted regarding sex ratio by the company, while analysing the report challenged its basic content. They observed that “the total population of 10 districts has been depicted as 1,06,72,025 and births have been depicted as 1,35,452 vide which birth rate comes to 12.6 whereas it should be near 17.3 per thousand. Following controversy and reports by certain civil surgeons that no survey was conducted in their respective districts, some certificates purportedly issued by some sarpanches were submitted to the Health Department that a survey was conducted in their respective villages. However, one official of the department has made an observation that certificates need to be verified because most of them bear same handwriting.
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State to buy power worth Rs 1,938 cr
Chandigarh, May 20 The massive power purchase is also aimed at ensuring a hassle-free paddy season, which is crucial in view of the next Assembly elections being less than two years away. Last year, the government had purchased power worth Rs 1.093 crore during the paddy season. The steady increase in demand is also responsible for increased power purchase. June and July are the crucial months when power demand shoots up in the state. Powercom has moved to tie up 1,830 mega watt of power in June and July by making banking arrangements with Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir who will get the same amount of power back in the winters. The state has also moved to purchase 1,350 mega watt from other available sources. Power purchase this season has been tied up at an average price of Rs 5.38 per unit against an average price of Rs 6.11 per unit last year, Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal said the measures would ensure six to eight hours of continuous power supply to the agriculture sector during the paddy season. He said power cuts in the domestic sector would be in the range of only two to three hours in June and July and that the power-cut scenario had already improved in the last fortnight. Similarly, he said peak-load restrictions on industries would be reduced to three hours daily only. Efforts are also being made to ensure only one compulsory off for the industry this summer. The Deputy CM said simultaneously Transcom had initiated a drive to upgrade its transmission system. He said the system was such at present that optimum power could not be transmitted due to overloaded grids and sub stations. He said a survey had revealed that 30 of the 57 mother stations (220 kv), 14 of the 81 feeding stations (132 kv) , 135 sub stations (66 kv and 33 kv) were overloaded. Transcom has started a drive to reduce the load on the transmission system and seven 220 kv stations and 35 sub stations of 66 kv were being de-loaded before the paddy season. More high power transmission lines are also being set up in the state that could further improve the transmission system.
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Shiromani Awards
Chandigarh, May 20 Seventeen famous Punjabi writers, littérateurs, journalists, theatre personalities and singers were conferred with the Shiromani Awards-2009 here today. Badal gave a call to Punjabi language-loving people to launch a united campaign to accord it due status in all Punjabi-speaking states. In a ceremonial function held here at Law Auditorium of Punjab University, famous Punjabi writer Kartar Singh Duggal was conferred with Punjabi Sahit Ratan Award. Piara Singh Bhogal (Shiromani Punjabi Sahitkar), Ravinder Kalia (Shiromani Hindi Sahitkar), Rajinder Nath Rehbar (Shiromani Urdu Sahitkar), Jagdish Prasad Semwal (Shiromani Sanskrit Sahitkar), Jaswant Deed (Shiromani Punjabi Poet), Rajinder Singh Bhaseen (Shiromani Punjabi Gian Sahitkar), Darshan Gill (Shiromani Punjabi Sahitkar, NRI), Mohan Kahlon, (Shiromani Punjabi Sahitkar, outside Punjab), Mahinder Singh Mannupuri (Shiromani Punjabi children literature writer), HS Bawa (Shiromani Punjabi Journalist), Sharif Eidu (Shiromani Dhadi), Om Puri (Shiromani Punjabi Theater Artist), Paramjit Singh Sidhu, alias Pammi Bai (Shiromani Punjabi Singer), and Raghbir Singh Sirjana (Shiromani Punjabi Sahitak Patarkar) were also honoured by the Deputy Chief Minister. Shiromani Punjabi Sahit Ratan Award includes Rs 5,00,000, while other Shiromani Awards include Rs 2,50,000 along with a medal and a plaque. Tej Parkash Singh Sandhu, renowned photographer, and Rup Singh, Sikh scholar, were also conferred with special prizes. Commendation certificates were also presented to Abhishekh Jain, Deputy Commissioner-cum-District Magistrate, Hamirpur; Varinder Kumar Sharma (IAS probationer) and Balwinder Singh for their significant contribution in promotion of Punjabi language.
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Naxal Threat
New Delhi, May 20 Badal called on Chidambaram at his office here this evening and apprised him of the law and order situation in Punjab. He said although the state was not affected by the Naxal violence so far, some frontal organisations of Naxalites were now actively organising themselves, posing a threat to the congenial atmosphere in the state. He impressed upon the Union Home Minister to change the category ‘B’ to category ‘A’ of Punjab for the Central funding of modernisation plan. He mentioned that the state was at present in category ‘B’ for the central funding of modernisation plan in which Central and state governments provide 75 per cent and 25 per cent share, respectively. He also requested that Punjab should be shifted into 'A' category, which would make it eligible for 100 per cent Central grant for modernisation. Raising an issue to increase the annual action plan for the modernisation of police from Rs 61 crore to Rs. 100 crore, he said the plan size for the state for 2010·11 was Rs 61 crore against the plan size of Rs 64.20 crore during 2005-06. He, however, said this plan was insufficient Referring to another issue for raising two India Reserve Battalions in the state, Badal mentioned that the state had been sanctioned to raise 7 India Reserve Battalions. Considering the ongoing increase in terrorist and Naxalite activities in the state, the Chief Minister urged Chidambaram to seek the Home Ministry’s permission to raise two more IR Battalions along with a requisite Central assistance.
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Badal to leave for US
Chandigarh, May 20 Badal is now expected to return on June 2 and has scheduled his appointments in office for June 3. Badal’s wife Surinder Kaur is undergoing treatment for malignancy in the US and is reported to responding well to the chemotherapy. Besides some close relatives, a handful of senior government functionaries that include one or two secretaries attached to him will accompany him to the USA. Sukhbir has confirmed that the treatment being followed was on the lines suggested by doctors at the PGI and added “by the grace of God, she is responding and the worse seem to be over”. The CM has had to return to Punjab on April 10 as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was scheduled to visit the state to participate in the tercentenary celebrations of the Fateh Diwas. But the PM, however, did not make it.
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Amritsar Shootout
Amritsar, May 20 Police Commissioner Varinder Kumar said: “The search operation was conducted at 10 am after we received information about his presence in the Daburji area, but had to return disappointed.” Questions are also being raised over the subsequent letdown of the police in nabbing the assailant if reports about his “connections” with the police are any indication. The assailant, Randip, alias Vijay Kumar Topi of Amritsar, who dodged the police again, is a notorious criminal. He has been involved in at least 17 cases of vehicle theft, attempt to murder, kidnapping, lootings and rape. The cases against him have been registered at Amritsar, Chandigarh, Panchkula and Pathankot. Sources said Randip shared “cordial links” within the police force, which allegedly helped him to escape in the past. They added that Randip even shared “intimacy” up to the DSP level. Many a time, he would be informed prior to police raids at his hideouts. Our Correspondent adds from Tarn Taran: Constable Balwinder Singh (29), the gunman of SP (Detective) Malwinder Singh Sidhu, who was shot dead by the assailants on the Lawrence Road, Amritsar, yesterday was cremated with state honours in his native village Jallewal here, today. He is survived by his wife Kanwaljit Kaur and two sons. SSP Preet Pal Singh Virk, SP Sidhu and SDM Bakhtawar Singh were also present at the cremation. Gurmej Singh, the father of the deceased, was gunned down by militants about 20 years ago and Balwinder was given the job in the police on compassionate ground in 2001. He was appointed as a constable in the Third PAP Battalion and had joined here over one month ago.
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Unserviceable bombs found in school
Gurdaspur, May 20 The school management informed the local Army unit, which however, did not make its presence felt till late last evening. The authorities were left with no option except to inform the district administration early this morning. The school, Little Flower Convent, was closed for the day, as the police cordoned off the area. Sources said the Army might have placed bombs there inadvertently many decades ago when the school building was yet to be constructed. Later, a bomb disposal squad was called in from the Amritsar cantonment and it confiscated the bombs. — TNS
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Deceased SPO’s kids face a dark future
Bathinda, May 20 Barinder Kaur (16), Tina (13), Rajni (11) and Arshdeep Singh (9) are the four children, who sustained a shock when five years ago, their mother eloped with her paramour, deserting them at a tender age. Though their father, SPO Nachhattar Singh, did his best not to let them feel the absence of their mother, he succumbed to his illness a few months ago and left the children to lead the lives of orphans. The children’s neighbours collected some money to assist them financially at that time, but with the passage of time, after meeting their routine needs, the children are left with only Rs 1,800 in their pocket. The police department is issuing eviction notices to make the children vacate their residential quarter located in police lines in Bathinda. The department gives the excuse that as per the rules, after the death of an SPO, the allotment of accommodation in his name is cancelled. The children, who all study in government schools, have no other shelter to go to. Their fee is borne by their teachers. Thanks to them, they also get shoes and clothes to wear. Barinder said her father had some insurance policy but they could get nothing in return. A teacher at Government Elementary School, Jhutika Mohalla, where three of the siblings study, said she tried a lot that Barinder, the eldest daughter of the deceased, should get some job but all in vain. Observing the pitiful lives of these forsaken children, the Police Department or some NGO should come forward to help them, she said.
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SAD slams Centre on defence varsity
Chandigarh, May 20 At a meeting of the general council of the party presided over by SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal at the party headquarters, the SAD described the shifting of the defence university from the state to Haryana and cancellation of the rail project as another grave injustices with the state. In a resolution passed at the meeting, the party noted that whenever the Congress had come to power at the Centre, it had always discriminated against Punjab. The resolution reminded the people that the defence university was announced for the state by the PM in 1999 on the occasion of the tercentenary celebrations of the creation of the Khalsa. The Congress, by shifting the university to Haryana, has shown its anti-Punjab bias. In another important resolution, the party expressed anguish on the statement of former CM Amarinder Singh for giving clean chit to Jagdish Tytler in the 1984 anti-sikh carnage. —
TNS
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‘Getting drug licence difficult’
Patiala, May 20 Throwing light into the matter, Mehta said earlier the applicant had to apply for drug licence at district level. But now, an application has to be sent to a committee comprising of Drug Controller and two Assistant Drug Controllers at Chandigarh, that scrutinises the application before forwarding it to the District Drug Inspector concerned for further verification. “After the verification, it would be sent back to Chandigarh, where the same three-member committee would verify it again and the applicant would be interviewed before issuance of drug licence to him. This may not only lead to corruption but would also make the procedure for obtaining the drug licence extremely cumbersome,” stated Mehta.
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Ludhiana college to offer PhD in Hindi
Ludhiana, May 20 With the new status for the college, the dream of hundreds of research aspirants will now come true. The status came following a detailed analysis by Panjab University which had invited colleges to get approval as research centre to undertake PhD research. A high-powered research team had visited SCD Government College to verify infrastructure, faculty strength and contribution and other facilities that are required to conduct PhD research in Hindi. The proceedings of the research team verification were discussed by the Joint Research Board of the university and it was decided that the college should be acknowledged with the status of research centre to undertake research for PhD degree in the faculty of languages in the subject of Hindi. “The opening of the research centre in Ludhiana will bring great opportunities for researchers to explore new possibilities and produce great literary work which will give a new direction to the society,” remarked Dr Mukesh Arora, head of Hindi Department, SCD Government College, and member of the senate and syndicate of Panjab University. Talking about the college’s achievement, principal Jasbir Kaur Makkar said, “Ours is the only college not only in the state, but also in the area of Panjab University, which has got the opportunity to be declared as research centre.” She added that the college has a great research potential and the Hindi Department has four PhD teachers and one D.Litt teacher. The college has a total of 28 teachers as PhD and 31 as MPhil degree holders. “The institution has a glorious history of producing great literary personalities like great Urdu poet Sahir Ludhianavi and KK Daruwala, thus, the status is all the more special,” Makkar remarked.
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Toll-free helpline for accident victims
Zirakpur, May 20 Punjab Health Minister Laxmi Kanta Chawla stated this while inaugurating a private hospital here today. She said the Dera Bassi civil hospital will be upgraded to 50-bedded hospital soon and asked health officials to provide a new ambulance to the hospital soon. A 30-bedded hospital at Dhakoli would be completed this year. Taking a serious note of typhoid cases reported at Lohgarh village last week, the health minister claimed that the department had provided all facilities to the patients and regular camps had been organised at the village. She had asked officials to take preventative measures regarding this matter. The minister said the helpline number would enable the department to take accident victims to the nearest hospital. This facility has been approved by the state government and would be implemented soon. While asking about the corruption allegations leveled by Jagdish Sahni against her, Chawla refused to talk on this issue. She said Sahni was her elder brother and she did not want to speak about him.
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Dead Fish in Sutlej
Ropar, May 20 Miglani stated that the Fishery Department collected four samples of dead fish and sent the same to Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal Sciences University, Ludhiana, for tests. The samples were found to contain 0.186 mg per litre ammonia as against optimum range of less than 0.05 mg per litre. Miglani observed that since this report was based on the samples collected on May 9, it is obvious that the levels of ammonia must have been much higher on May 8. Demanding strict legal action against the industries concerned, Miglani has recommended that industries should soon be identified and brought to book. In the fifth-such incidence of fish deaths in the last five years, hundreds of fish were found lying dead in the Sutlej on May 8 near the effluent discharge area of the National Fertilizers Limited. Taking suo motu notice of the media reports, the Punjab State Human Rights Commission has sought report from Deputy Commissioner, Ropar, and PPCB secretary by June 22.
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Bindra foundation to aid Chappar Chiri Chandigarh, May 20 In a communication to The Tribune, Kevin
Khajuria, on behalf of the organisation, said the foundation’s mission was to provide basic facilities and education to the underprivileged. The foundation’s field management has already contacted village
ex-sarpanch Johar Singh for ascertaining the problems. Abhinav Bindra himself has instructed the field management “to go and investigate the real problems in the school on Saturday and extend the helping hand to the needy”. Acting on the petition, the Division Bench of Chief Justice Mukul Mudgal and Justice Jasbir Singh also issued notice of motion to the state of Punjab and other authorities. The case will come up for further hearing on July 1. Taking suo motu cognizance of a news report, “Chhapar Chiri’s plight fails to attract govt attention”, carried in these columns on May 19, the high court had earlier directed it to be treated as public interest litigation. Chief Justice Mudgal had asserted the news item highlighted “the plight of the amenities provided to the residents of Chhapar Chiri Kalan and Chhapar Chiri Khurd, particularly the condition of the government primary school, Chhapar Chiri Kalan. “The news item highlights the lack of basic amenities in the two villages and particularly the lack of basic facilities in the village schools. It is further reported that the school at Chhapar Chiri Kalan does not have adequate water supply and has no fans in the two rooms, for which reason the children sit in the verandah of the school building”. The Chief Justice had concluded: “If the facts reported in the news item are correct, it required a positive response from the Punjab government for education in the government schools in the state. The matter, therefore, deserves to be looked at in the PIL jurisdiction of this court”.
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Harpreet murder case shifted
Patiala, May 20 On this ground, he sought exemption from the Court to remain present in the Court during today’s and tomorrow’s hearing. Subsequently, the Court fixed May 27 and May 28 as the next dates for the hearing. Bibi Jagir Kaur was also present in the Court.
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Virk’s Case
Chandigarh, May 20 As Virk’s plea came up for hearing this afternoon, Justice HS Bhalla directed the trial court to adjourn the case, scheduled to be taken up on July 1, to any date beyond July 14--- the date when the petition will come up for resumed hearing before the high court. Both the state and Virk’s counsel sought an adjournment for enabling them to argue the matter in detail. Taking note of the assertion, Justice Bhalla pointed out that the trial was not proceeding because of the pending proceedings before the high court. Justice Bhalla made it clear that he wanted the case to be taken up at the earliest. The Judge even suggested that the matter be taken up on Friday. But Virk’s counsel said the high court was closing for the summer vacation after just about a week, and it would not be possible to conclude the arguments in the matter. As the court on the request of the counsel fixed July 14 as the next date, Virk’s counsel added directions should be issued to the trial court against going ahead with the matter on July 1. Responding to the assertion, Justice Bhalla said the matter was pending before the high court, and the trial court as such would not go ahead. But Virk’s counsel insisted orders in black and white were necessary for convincing the trial court. Acting on his prayer, Justice Bhalla issued the directions to the trial court. The case against Virk was to come up for hearing on the issue of framing charges, even as the police investigations are still incomplete. So far three challans have been filed in the matter.
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artistes are the omniscient persons who represent the cultural ethos of the people in their creative writings that invariably influences changes in social, cultural and political milieu of a region.
Zirakpur, May 20
Dhiani village in Nangal on May 9 were found to contain high levels of ammonia.In a strong-worded letter to the chairman of the Punjab Pollution Control Board
(PPCB) demanding stern action against erring people, Deputy Commissioner Ropar Arunjit Singh Miglani has stated that the incident of fish deaths had evoked strong protests from various organisations in the region against those industries that were “responsible” for it.
