Docs offered ‘pre-paid credit cards’ for prescribing pills
Chandigarh, May 26
Foreign junkets and consumer durables as gifts for promoting drugs are passé. Realising the lure of cash, many pharmaceutical companies are now providing “obliging” doctors with “pre-paid credit cards”.

Chandigarh, May 26
The process of registration of voters for the coming SGPC poll put on hold earlier for want of approval of lowering the age from 21 to 18 years will now start on June 1. The minimum age for registration will remain unchanged at 21.

The Sikh Gurdwara Election Commission had proposed to the Union Ministry of Home Affairs to lower the voters’ registration age to 18 years to bring it on a par with the age under the Representation of People Act.

Though the Gurdwara Election Commission has called a press conference tomorrow, a release issued this evening says the registration of voters will start from June 1.

All keshadhari Sikhs (with unshorn hair) will be required to fill Form 1. These voter registration forms will be available with patwaris in the rural areas and secretaries in the local authorities appointed by the Deputy Commissioner of the district concerned. The voter registration form is available free of cost and any eligible Sikh can fill it and get himself or herself registered as a voter.

The applicant has to be more than 21 years of age and a keshadhari as specified in Section 49 of the Sikh Gurdwaras Act, 1925. Lowering of the voters’ age could have required an amendment to the Act.

Since the Shiromani Akali Dal that dominates the SGPC had been accusing the Congress-led UPA government of delaying the elections to the general House of the SGPC, the Union Government has reportedly decided not to delay the process of registration of voters further for making any amendment.

For determining who is a Sikh, the Punjab and Haryana High Court in its 2008 decision in a civil writ petition had held that retaining bodily hair intact is an essential tenet of a Sikh as defined in Section 2 (9) of the Sikh Gurdwaras Act, 1925. Persons belonging to the Scheduled Castes are required to fill an additional declaration that is also given in Form 1.

In case the authorities designated by the Act or notified by the Deputy Commissioner concerned, decline or neglect to enter the name of any person who applies to have his or her name registered, he or she may at any time during the preparation of the electoral rolls apply to the Deputy Commissioner to have his / her name registered. And if the applicant is found eligible to be registered as a voter, the Deputy Commissioner shall direct the registration of his/ her name.

A spokesman of the Gurdwara Election Commission said parties, organisations, institutions or individuals interested in getting prospective voters enrolled may also get Form 1 printed, cyclostyled or typed, for distribution among the prospective voters. A handwritten, printed or cyclostyled Form 1 should, however, be in conformity with Form 1 printed by the Controller, Printing and Stationery, Punjab. The enrollment of voters would continue until July 15, the spokesman said.

Chandigarh, May 26
In order to meet the shortage of labour in Punjab, the government will soon be allowing a third working shift for women labour in the textile industries in the state.Addressing mediapersons at an entrepreneur’s meet organised by the Punjab Small Industries Development Corporation (PSIDC) here, Principal Secretary Industries, Punjab, SS Channy said the Industries Department had completed the exercise to ascertain the feasibility of such a move. 

“The proposal is yet to get the nod of the Chief Minister. However, when it is cleared, we will be allowing individual industries to have a third shift or night shift for women,” he said.

Channy added that the industries which were interested in running a night shift would have to follow certain guidelines with regard to the safety and security of women workers. “The permission would be given on a case-to-case basis and only after the factory fulfils the conditions laid down,” said Channy.

He added that there was a severe shortage of workers specially in the textile industry. “Garment and spinning factories were facing a problem of labour and since these works are labour-intensive, it was decided to allow women to work here for another shift,” said Channy. At present, women in the state are not allowed to work in night shifts under section 66 of the Factories Act.

During the meet, Onkar Singh Thapar, Chairman, PSIDC, highlighted the initiatives taken by the PSIDC for promoting new ventures in the state. The industrialists raised issues such as extension of the OTS policy, definition of wilful defaulters as provided under the RBI list, adjustment of state subsidy against the principal, rehabilitation of sick units by providing relief and concessions at par with other secured creditors, change of land use, permission for the women workers to work during the night shift and also issues relating to the availability of power to the industry as also the reduction of charges for power being obtained under open access scheme. 

Fatehgarh Sahib, May 26
The future of thousands of students of classes X and XII, affiliated to the Punjab School Education Board (PSEB), is at stake as the board has instructed all schools to collect fee for these classes during summer vacation.

A notice in this regard was advertised in newspapers on Monday, the first day of the summer vacation. As per the notification last date of submitting fee falls well before the end of vacation on June 30.

Taken aback, school authorities are now trying to contact students through gurdwara loudspeakers to deposit fee before the due date.

Principals have even decided to release advertisements in newspapers and local cable networks.

Talking to TNS, principal of one of these schools, Ravinder Joshi, said most of the students would return only after completion of vacation on June 30 and class X students will not be able to submit their dues even with late fee.

“Hundreds of students would not be able to deposit fee as they are not aware of the notice published in newspapers,” added another principal.

Notice says that regular students of class X must deposit their fees before June 14 and after that a fine of Rs 1,000 will be imposed till June 21 and Rs 3,000 till June 28.

“It will be a cruel joke on part of students who would return on June 30 after vacationing.

By the time they return, even last date of submitting with late fee would have crossed. Students could not be informed timely as board did not inform schools. In fact many school principals are not aware about notice appearing in newspapers,” said a schoolteacher.

Moreover, results of classes X and XII are awaited. Those students, who might not clear exams, will have no time to seek admission again. However, students of class XII may deposit fees after paying late fees of Rs 3,000 before July 5.

Meanwhile, Controller of Examination, Dr Jagtar Singh Khattra, said the school principals should inform all students concerned.

“We have already passed orders on telephone to all district education officers that they could pass on the message to respective principals,” he said.

Jalandhar, May 26
Union Minister Ambika Soni will be the Congress candidate from Punjab for the Rajya Sabha election, which is to be held on June 17. The party high command had conveyed this to PPCC President Mohinder Singh Kaypee and leader of the Congress Legislative Party in state Assembly Rajinder Kaur Bhattal.

The party high command had yesterday called Kaypee and Bhattal for a meeting to New Delhi. Sources said the Congress President Sonia Gandhi held a meeting this morning with both leaders to inform them about the party’s decision. Soni, who was earlier also elected from Punjab for the Rajya Sabha, will complete her six-year term on July 4. The other member from the state to complete his term on July 4 is Rajmohinder Singh Majithia of the SAD. It is not certain yet whether the SAD will re-nominate Majithia as the candidate for the Rajya Sabha poll.

Other SAD leaders such as Balwinder Singh Bhunder and Charanjit Singh Atwal are trying hard to fill the Rajya Sabha slot. During the last Assembly elections, the SAD supremo Parkash Singh Badal had also given firm assurance to Dr Daljit Singh Cheema to send him to the Rajya Sabha. Badal is to keep that promise also because Cheema has served the party as its office secretary for several years and has stood with the Badals when they faced the most trying times during the Congress rule from 2002-2007.

Earlier, five members — Manohar Singh Gill, Ashwani Kumar, Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa, Naresh Gujral and Avinash Rai Khanna — were elected to the Rajya Sabha from Punjab a few weeks ago.

The win of both — the SAD and the Congress — candidates is certain because the SAD-BJP combine and the Congress have enough strength of MLAs to elect their party candidates to the Rajya Sabha.

Amritsar, May 26
The ongoing inauguration spree undertaken by Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal has virtually engaged the SAD and the Congress in a war to claim credit in Punjab.

Apparently cornered by an increasing number of inaugurations on the part of Sukhbir the past about two weeks, a section of the Congress leadership has either started condemning the move or party leaders have been claiming that these projects were an outcome of their efforts. Two Congress MPs, Vijay Inder Singla and Manish Tiwari, have already claimed that the Sangrur Rail Over Bridge (ROB) project and the Sahnewal Domestic Airport project have been initiated as a result of their efforts.

What has bugged the Congress the most is that Sukhbir undertook inauguration of as many as five development projects worth Rs 62 crore on May 11. They were three ROBs at Tanda, Malout and Dabwali, one submersible bridge and an ISBT at Hoshiarpur.

The whirlwind tour of Sukhbir to Amritsar today to inaugurate a Rs 223-crore elevated road and starting work on a Rs 10.30-crore project to cover the Ganda Nala besides inauguration of two flyover projects worth Rs 40 crore have sent alarm bells ringing in the Congress camp, sources pointed out.

Earlier, the Congress had tried to steal the show by claiming credit for the inaugural flight from Delhi to Ludhiana, but a detailed presentation by Sukhbir indicated that efforts were on for the upgradation of the air port since 2007.

Similarly, the Congress’ claim in respect of four ROBs for Sangrur district has allegedly got deflated as the Railway Board, it was learnt, had approved these projects in 2008, whereas the elections to Parliament were held in May 2009.

SAD sources said a series of project were lined up for inauguration by Sukhbir during the next six months.

These development projects had the potential to further irk the Congress. The party was likely to reshape its strategy in urban areas by kick-starting mass-contact programmes in the run-up to the Assembly elections.

Sukhbir, while talking to The Tribune, castigated the Congress for trying to take credit for the ROBs. “ROBs are 90 per cent state-funded projects and 10 per cent amount is extended by the railways. How can the Congress claim that these projects were the outcome of its legwork? questioned Sukhbir. 

Jalandhar, May 26
There will be no admissions to the Punjab Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) for MBBS course this year, even though the management had recently announced that they would be admitting students from this academic session.

Sources said in a letter to the government this month, the PIMS Medical and Educational Charitable Society had shown its inability to start the course from this session and had sought an extension to do the same from the academic session 2011-12.

The extension figured in an agenda that was discussed at a meeting of a five-member steering committee of the institute, which is responsible for dealing with day-to-day issues of the institute.

Vice-Chancellor of the Baba Farid University of Health Sciences, Faridkot, Dr SS Gill, said the university had not received any intimation either from the Centre or the state government so far to admit students to the PIMS this year.

As per the PIMS-government agreement, the society is bound to start first year MBBS classes with a capacity of 100 seats from this year. Even a “notice of commencement,” a mandatory permission to start the college and hospital is still pending with the government.

Meanwhile, Dr Jaikishan, Director, Research and Medical Education, said his department was ignorant of such development. “Our job was limited to issue them essentiality certificate to start the course. Now, it is the duty of the society to get a clearance from the Medical Council of India to proceed further,” he added.

PIMS president Surjit Singh Rakhra and Principal Dr Kiranjot Kaur could not be contacted despite repeated attempts. Rajshekhar K, a representative of the society, said he would be able to comment on this issue by tomorrow only.

Ferozepur, May 26
A large number of farmers in the state have started taking three crops a year from their respective holdings by sowing summer moong to improve the fertility of soil.

The trend of the cultivation of summer moong surfaced prominently this season when about 50,000 hectares of area was brought under this crop as compared to 16,000 hectares, which was sown with this crop last year. It is learnt that a large section of farmers, who were willing for the cultivation of summer moong this season, could not do the same due to shortage of certified seeds with state government agencies.

Sources said at present, the production of summer moong in the state was so low that it would be available less than 3 gm to each resident of the state per day. With the increase in the area, the state, which had been contributing a huge share of wheat and rice in the Central pool, would be able to contribute a large quantity of moong also.

Sources added that one of the major factors that had given a push to its cultivation was that this crop consumed less water and enhanced the fertility of soil. Farmers were not required to use fertilisers in a large quantity in their fields for the growth of next crop. The other factor that had boosted up the area under this crop was that due to the implementation of the Punjab Preservation of Subsoil Water Act, 2009, the transplantation of paddy before June 10 could not be done and hence about two months were available to each farmer for the cultivation of summer moong.

Joint Director of the state Agriculture Department Gurdial Singh said facilities under the National Food Security Mission (NFSM) were earlier given to seven districts o for the cultivation of pulses. Now, all districts had been brought under the NFSM and it had also played its role in the increase in the area under summer moong. A cross section of farmers, who had sown summer moong, said if the state government made arrangements for enough seeds and procuring their crop at MSP, they would be able to earn handsome profits from their landholdings.

Samrala, May 26
Anyone getting admission to Malwa College, Bondli, near here, will not have to worry about the course textbooks. The Malwa Education Council, which runs that college, has decided to give books free of cost to all students admitted in the college during the coming academic session. It is, perhaps, the first initiative of its kind taken by any college in the state.

Besides, the college management will give Rs 500 per month to each student belonging to the Scheduled Castes, Backward Classes, minorities and other poor sections of society. “We have already got Rs 6 lakh from the UGC to extend fiscal help to the SC, BC and other poor students,” said Balbir Singh Rajewal, President of the council. “That means education in the college would be free of cost to most of the students,” he added.

The UGC has also given Rs 7 lakh to the college to start a website-designing course. It has committed to sanction Rs 60 lakh more to the college for other development purposes. Though it is purely a rural college, it has MA(Maths), MA (Punjabi) and other modern academic courses such as BBA, BSc (IT), BSc (computer science)BCom, BSc (non-medical) and other academic streams.“We have decided to set up a text books bank in the college. Students would be issued books from the books bank after taking an undertaking from them that they will have to return these after the annual examination. Next year, those books would be issued to the next batch of students,” said Rajewal.

“People have been coming on their own to pay donations as they have seen the atmosphere improving. We have a zero tolerance for indiscipline from students and anyone connected with the college. The staff is recruited purely on merit,” he said.

“This year, we expect the number of students will go up substantially,” he added.

Patiala, May 26
Deputy CM Sukhbir Singh Badal today launched the online National Permit system for trucks and heavy vehicles, thereby giving Punjab the distinction of being the first state in country to introduce a new composite-fee regime for transporters.

Addressing a gathering of truck operators at the Mini Secretariat here, he said earlier obtaining a national permit was a cumbersome and costly process, as the transporters had to shell out Rs 3,000 per state every year for the permit. “Following the principle of ‘one country one permit’, the SAD-BJP government has started the online national permit system at a cost of Rs 15,000, which would give freedom to truck operators to operate their trucks from Kashmir to Kanyakumari - anywhere in the country, without any additional tax,” he asserted.

After handing over national permits to truck operators within minutes of their filing applications through the new system at the newly set up fully computerised Regional Transport Authority (RTA) office, Sukhbir, while speaking to mediapersons, said being from the family of transporters, he himself understood the grassroots problems faced by a transport operator at every check point in every state. “Under the new system, the applicant can download the form online and after filling it, the truck operator would submit it with fee at the special National Permit counter and would be issued a permit within 30 minutes,” he said, while adding that one lakh truck operators would be the beneficiaries of the new system. He said that the functioning of the Transport Department would be computerised by December this year and every RTA and District Transport Office of Punjab would have the online National Permit system. 

Sangrur, May 26
The People’s Union for Democratic Rights (PUDR) and the Association For Democratic Rights (AFDR) on Tuesday challenged the recent arrest and alleged harassment of rural workers under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) on the pretext of they being Maoists, saying that none of the issues or the forms of struggle adopted by these mass organisations is unlawful.

Addressing a press conference here, Harish Dhawan, PUDR member who is also a teacher in University of Delhi, said a systematic attack on these organisations threatens to erode the gains that the people have made through years of struggle.

Dhawan along with his team members was here to speak for Sanjiv Kumar Mintu, district president of the Krantikari Pendu Mazdoor Union, who was arrested by the Dhuri police and booked under the UAPA after being arrested on May 16.

A few months ago, BKU Krantikari president Surjit Singh Phool was also arrested on the same grounds.

Dhawan also alleged that Mintu had also been tortured by the police. He condemned the alleged institutionalised torture, saying that the law-enforcing agencies were violating the Constitution blatantly in letter and in spirit. “It is distressing that the courts are turning a blind eye to these barbaric practices,” Dhawan said.

Jalandhar, May 26
As many as 15 front organisations of Maoists, including the BKU (Ugraha) and the Pendu Mazdoor Union, are active in Punjab and the police is keeping a close eye on the activities of the leaders and members of these outfits.

Stating this during a visit here today, DGP PS Gill said nine Maoist sympathisers, including two with weapons, were arrested from different parts of the state recently.

To a query, he denied the possibility of revival of any violent agitation by Maoists in the state, which had witnessed the same in the 60s and 70s.

Gill said Maoist sympathisers were more active in Malwa and Majha as compared to the Doaba region. Pro-Naxalite posters found pasted in Dhuri, Barnala and other areas had been distributed at a meeting of Maoists in Jalandhar.

The DGP said the front Maoist outfits kept on fighting for the cause of students, farmers and workers publicly to expand their base. Their hidden agenda was to promote Maoism.

In reply to a question, the DGP said different militant organisations kept on trying to revive militancy but they would not succeed in their efforts as the police remained on high alert.

As many as 63 terrorists of different outfits, including the Babbar Khalsa International, the Khalistan Liberation Force and the Khalistan Commando Force had been arrested in the past six months, he said, adding that 17 modules of militants were busted during the period.

The DGP said the police was also investigating the funding and activities of different human rights organisations operating in the state.

To a query, he asked IG Sanjiv Kalra to look into the matter where the police failed to present the challan in a case in which three members of a Dalit family commited suicide in Nurmahal a few years ago.

On out-of-turn promotions, he said it was the prerogative of the DGP to promote personnel. Promotions were done both on the basis of merit and the current circumstances.

Cholti Kalan (Fatehgarh Sahib), May 26
Spread over an area of nearly three acres, one of the centuries-old banyan trees of the region stands in immediate need of conservation.Drawing the district administration’s attention towards the issue, District Forest Officer (DFO) Balbir Singh said it should be conserved immediately to save it from the vagaries of time, weather and human behavior.

“It has been continuously spreading for the past many years and now has occupied nearly three acres of agricultural private land,” said the DFO during a recent meeting of district administrative officials, presided by Deputy Commissioner, Fatehgarh Sahib, Yashvir Mahajan. The tree nests a number of birds and animals like sparrows, owls and insects. People, on whose land the tree stands, are reluctant to axe down the tree as they venerate it due to religious beliefs and its medicinal value. “The tree seems to be more than a century-old. Since my childhood, I have seen villagers worshipping it. The Government should intervene to save it and the farmers on whose land the tree has spread over,” pointed out village Sarpanch Ranjeet Singh.

He added that people didn’t want to axe the tree because of its Hindu mythological significance. They believe that anyone who tries to cut even a twig would be damned.

Balbir Singh said the tree attracts many visitors from nearby areas and even abroad. Its conservation can be beneficial from tourism point of view as well. A temple and a resthouse (dharamshala) have been constructed under the tree. Believing that the tree has unique healing power, people suffering from different ailments, too, visit this place to spend some time under its shade in order to get cured. 

Chandigarh, May 26
The Punjab and Haryana High Court today stayed the trial court order as far as it directed the attachment of 10 per cent of former IAS officer Bikramjit Singh’s property.

Taking up the matter, Justice Gurdev Singh made it clear the stay order would continue till the pendency of the appeal. The directions were issued soon after counsel for the former IAS officer undertook not to alienate the property. Senior advocate-cum-former advocate-general RS Cheema and SPS Bhullar are representing him.

Bikramjit Singh’s petition against trial court’s order sentencing him to two-and-a-half years’ rigorous imprisonment in a disproportionate assets case has already been admitted. The operation of the sentence, too, has been suspended.

Also the former Principal Secretary to Punjab Chief Minister, Bikramjit Singh, has challenged the trial court’s orders of holding him guilty in the case, and sentencing him to imprisonment, besides imposing a fine of Rs 30,000.

In the petition, Bikramjit Singh has asserted that he has explained his assets. The trial court had held him guilty of owning assets worth Rs 24 lakh, which came from unaccounted sources.

In 1997, a case under Sections 13 (2) and 13 (1e) of the Prevention of Corruption Act was registered against Bikramjit Singh, after obtaining prosecution sanction from the then Punjab government.