Chandigarh, May 27
The “pro-farmer” Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) is set to be in trouble in its core constituency with one of the two mainline Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) factions, which have always supported it, today expressing its “disillusionment” with the party and announcing it was getting ready for a “fight for justice” for the Punjab farmers.

The SAD has enjoyed the support of both the BKU (Lakhowal) and the BKU (Rajewal) factions, which has helped it in taking on the Leftist BKU (Ekta) and other groups that are stridently against it. The SAD does not have an effective farmers’ wing.

However, with the BKU (Rajewal) today claiming it had lost faith in the government, the Lakhowal faction will also be forced to take a stand. This is because the Rajewal faction has chosen a sensitive issue --- the alleged failure of the government to distribute Rs 800 crore received on account of drought last year among farmers — to take on the government.

The Rajewal faction held a well-attended meeting of farmers here today and its chairman, Balbir Singh Rajewal, gave a one-month ultimatum to the government to distribute Rs 800 crore among farmers besides paying productivity bonus to them immediately. Farmers had been assured a productivity bonus when the government had ordered a charge of Rs 50 per bhp on tubewell motors. This bonus is still to be paid to farmers even though the government had procured wheat from them.

Rajewal said farmers had suffered huge losses last year because the government had been unable to provide adequate power for tubewell operations during the paddy season. He said when the case for a special package was taken up with the Centre, the latter gave Rs 800 crore to the state on account of drought relief. Rajewal said this money, which was received on March 31 this year, was yet to be distributed among farmers.

Meanwhile, the Finance Department said that farmers had already been given a bonus of Rs 50 per quintal as drought relief. Sources said the Rs 800 crore received from the Centre had been given to the erstwhile Punjab State Electricity Board to compensate it for the power purchased by it during the last paddy season. The sources said there was no question of distributing this money among farmers.

The BKU (Rajewal), which is set for a “struggle” on the issue, also demanded that the government take back the urban development tax levied on farmers’ produce. It said farmers were being taxed Rs 5 per quintal on oilseeds and around Rs 8 to Rs 10 per quintal on cotton. “Why should farmers pay for urban development?” Rajewal said while demanding the immediate withdrawal of this levy. 

Chandigarh, May 27
The partner states of Punjab and Haryana have chosen risk over caution and demanded the release of adequate dam waters for meeting the irrigation requirements of their farmers during the paddy season. The Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB) has acceded to the their demand and farmers in both states will have nearly the same amount of water for irrigation in June as they had last year.

Following a review meeting of the BBMB management with the partner states yesterday, it has been decided to release 29,000 cusecs of water from June 1 onwards to both Punjab and Haryana. Last year both partner states received around 31,000 cusecs of water during this period. While Punjab will get 18,000 cusecs, Haryana will get 10,000 cusecs of water.

According to sources, the states said they needed increased releases in June due to paddy transplantation, which will start from June 10 onwards. State representatives said even though a concerted effort was made to reduce the area under paddy transplantation due to both water and power shortages, the area under paddy cultivation would reduce only slightly and that adequate water was needed during the transplantation season. The states are banking on a normal monsoon to pull through.

The BBMB authorities, while agreeing to the irrigation demands, have made it clear that a review meeting would be held on June 20 and that in case the level of the Bhakra and Pong dams still kept falling by then the discharge situation would be reassessed and even reduced.

BBMB member, Irrigation, MK Gupta disclosed that the partner states had been asked to make a discharge schedule in keeping with the water available and that the BBMB had kept the option of review in case of further fall in water levels. Gupta said the water level at Bhakra today was 1,513 ft, around 16 ft less than the level at the same time last year. He said similarly the level at Pong was 1,293 ft, 4 ft lower than the level at the same time last year.

Meanwhile, the increased temperatures are also leading to more snowmelt and an increase in inflows over the last few days though they are still to achieve last year’s figures. According to sources while the inflow at Bhakra was 23,000 cusecs yesterday, it increased to 27,000 cusecs today leading to 1ft increase in the dam level.

With dam levels continuing to be low, hydel generation has suffered. New Punjab state electricity utilities interim committee member K D Choudhary said hydel generation was down by around 15 per cent. He said around 140 lakh units of hydel power were being produced during the last few days.

Chandigarh, May 27
The Punjab Medical Council (PMC) has taken a serious view of doctors in the state accepting gifts and favours for writing specific drugs on prescriptions. The administrative body of the council has directed the Registrar, Dr AS Thind, to take cognisance of a report published in The Tribune on May 27 highlighting the issue.

Sources said Dr Thind had been asked to explore legal and administrative ways to censure some doctors in Punjab who were accepting “pre-paid credit cards” and other gifts to write the drugs of particular companies. He had also been asked to explore the possibility of sending notices to companies that were indulging in the “unethical” practice. The company pointed out by The Tribune is also being asked to give a list of doctors who had accepted the “pre-paid credit card”.

Highly placed sources told The Tribune that the Health Department was trying to ascertain what kind of checks it could impose on doctors to stop the practice of doling out of gifts, etc, by offering “incentives”. A senior official, who did not wish to be named, said, “We can proceed against the doctors only if there is a complaint or evidence against them. But in this case it is a transaction between a business enterprise and an individual. Unless we know who is involved, it becomes difficult to act”.

But on the other hand the government is considering the strict enforcement of the MCI recommendation that only generic (salt) medicines should be prescribed.Generally, big medical institutions follow the practice of prescribing generics. This not only tests the knowledge of the doctor but also keeps companies from influencing the decision making of medical practitioners.

Once the registrar of the PMC prepares his report on the subject, a meeting of the PMC will decide the further course of action over the next few days, sources said. 

Nangal, May 27
The Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) has directed National Fertilizers Limited (NFL), Naya Nangal, to completely stop discharging its effluent in to the Sutlej by June 30.The orders have come after PPCB chairman Rajat Aggarwal gave personal hearing to team of three PPCB officials over issue of death of thousands of fish in the river on May 9.

NFL has been directed to deposit bank guarantee of Rs 25 lakh with the PPCB. “If in any case, fish death is reported before June 30 in the Sutlej, the PPCB will encash the entire amount,” PPCB spokesperson said.

Going a step ahead, the NFL authorities have also been directed to chart out a strategy before June 30, in collaboration with Deputy Commissioner, Ropar, Arunjit Singh Miglani and the district fisheries department aimed at improving aquatic life of Sutlej.

“Heavy discharges from NFL have claimed aquatic life and the PPCB feels that it’s NFL’s prime duty to work to detoxify the poisonous effluents it has released. This project would also cover efforts to revive aquatic life,” PPCB officials said.

On May 20, DC Ropar Arunjit Singh Miglani had written a strong worded letter to the PPCB chairman stating that samples of dead fish collected from near Bela Dhiani village in Nangal on May 9 were found to contain high levels of ammonia.

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 (GADVASU), Ludhiana, for lab tests.

Results showed that the sample collected near Bela Dhiani village had high levels of ammonia content. 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 samples collected on May 9, it was obvious that level of ammonia would have been much higher on May 8. “This (high ammonia level) is likely to be main cause of mortality of tonnes of fish in the Sutlej on that day,” he stated.

Jalandhar, May 27
Following reports of denial of visa by Canada to some former IB officials and BSF personnel, several more cases have come to the fore where the Canadian High Commission refused visa to a senior serving Punjab police officer and a former IB official.

Punjab ADGP (Crime) Rajan Gupta and a former IB Deputy Central Intelligence Officer TS Saroya and his wife Sudarshan Kaur were denied visa by Canada in 2007 and 2008 respectively.

Talking to The Tribune, Gupta confirmed he had been denied visa in 2007. To a query, he said though the reason for the denial of visa was not mentioned by the Canadian High Commission, it was obvious he was denied visa as he had been involved in counter-terrorism activities during his service.

To a query, he said he was denied visa in 2007 probably due to some policy change in this regard by the Canadian Government at that time as he had visited Canada twice earlier.

On the other hand, Saroya told The Tribune that the Canadian High Commission refused him visa terming him an “undesirable person” as he had served in IB.

Saroya said he had been denied visa under section A 34 (1) (F) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act in 2008. The Canadian High Commission stated, “You have been a member of IB, which is known to be heavily involved in counter-terrorism investigation against Jammu and Kashmir militants, Sikh militants, and Nagaland separatists. It is also responsible for intelligence collection within India. That is why you are undesirable person in Canada.

Having served 36 years in IB, Saroya had applied for visitor visa in August 2007 for attending his niece’s marriage next month and to see his mother-in-law there.

Interestingly, he also applied for the US visitor visa which was provided to him and he went there for one month in 2009. He again applied for Canada visa during his stay in Seattle in the US, but he was denied the same.

Surprisingly, his wife Sudarshan Kaur was also denied Canadian visa as she is the wife of a former IB official. Sudarshan applied for a visitor visa in April 2009 to see her dying niece who was suffering from brain cancer, he added.

Moga, May 27
A 32-year old woman, wife of a head constable, consumed some poisonous substance under mysterious circumstances on the premises of the SSP office at Moga this afternoon. A couple of hours after the incident, she died in the evening while under treatment in a hospital at Faridkot.

It is learnt that Sarabhjit Kaur, wife of head constable Lakhwinder Singh, posted in Mehna police station of the district, came to the SSP office at about 1.30 pm and all of a sudden consumed some poisonous substance. When she started vomiting in the corridor, police personnel on duty immediately took her to the district hospital here.

After preliminary medical aid, doctors who attended to the patient referred her to Guru Gobind Singh Medical College and Hospital at Faridkot. She died within minutes after reaching there.

SSP Sneh Deep Sharma said the exact cause of consuming poison was not yet known but there were reports that the husband, wife used to quarrel with each other on petty issues. “I have asked the DSP (city), Pargat Singh, to inquire into the incident and find out the exact cause of her death,” he said.

The DSP said during preliminary investigations it had come to light that Sarabhjit was living in their house at Bandala village in Taran Taran district. “Lakhwinder use to visit his family twice a week, a normal practice in the Police Department,” he said.

The DSP said the woman had left behind three children who are all going to the school regularly. When asked about what action has been initiated into the incident, Pargat Singh said he had called the parents of the woman who could tell whether there was something wrong going on in the marital life of the couple.

The DSP further said that the police would take action after receiving the report of the post-mortem examination.

Amritsar, May 27
The Excise and Taxation Department is all set to have its own police station to check bogus firms, frauds and cases of intimidation and assault on its employees.

The state government is expected to release a notification in this regard soon. The department’s police station will come up at Patiala with its jurisdiction spread across the state.

Joint Director, Enforcement Wing of the department, KVS Sidhu, said the men would be hired from the Punjab police. “Employees of the Punjab police joining the department is nothing new as already two battalions of the IRB are on deputation with the department.”

However, they will act directly under the administrative control of Commissioner, Taxation Department.

The department had to request the government to allow the alternative arrangement since detection of sales tax evasion and VAT were not the only problems. Cases of people committing frauds, intimidation and assaults on sleuths of the department have skyrocketed in the past, said Sidhu. The department has adequate infrastructure in Patiala. 

Jalandhar, May 27
Questioning the directives issued by the Punjab School Education Board regarding the submission of examination forms of Classes X and XII, students’ registration returns and 10 to 15 times hike in late fee for submitting examination forms, headmasters of many schools have threatened that they will not cooperate with the board if it continued to behave in a dictatorial manner with schools.

“The board authorities should play the role of a facilitator and not behave like a super boss,” said NN Saini, general secretary of the Aided School Teachers Union. He said there were about 400 high and senior secondary aided schools and heads of these schools were ready to take on the board because of its “bullying” tactics against the schools.

He said while schools had been closed for summer vacation, the board had issued instructions to schools to submit examination forms of Class X by June 14 and of Class XII by June 21.

He added that they came to know in this regard from an advertisement in a newspaper and had not received any circular from the board.

Saini asked when students were away on summer vacation, how their forms could be filled and submitted to the board. And in case the forms were submitted late by a week, the board would charge Rs 1,000 as a late fee and for delay of two weeks, the late fee would be Rs 3,000. Earlier, the late fee was Rs 100 and Rs 200.

Saini alleged that: “The board is being run like a private company, whose motive is just to make money. He said the examination fee per semester had been enhanced to Rs 500 from Rs 300 and practical fee per subject had been raised to Rs 60. Besides it, students were supposed to pay Rs 120 as a migration fee.

“As the practical exam of certain subjects was taken at the school level then why the board is charging fee for that?” asked Manohar Lal Chopra, adviser of the union. He said the examination fee burden had doubled for students, as the board had switched over to the semester system from the annual system.

Fatehgarh Sahib, May 27
The legacy of Baba Banda Singh Bahadur is all set to come alive on stage at Fatehgarh Sahib.The 60-minute play named Deg, Teg, Fateh will cover the life and works of the Sikh warrior at Giani Ditt Singh Auditorium at Baba Banda Singh Bahadur College of Engineering and Technology tomorrow.A group of 32 professional artistes from Naiti Theater Group, Patiala and students of the college will stage this play directed by Gurcharan Singh.

“The play is a sincere effort of three years to project history, religion and social life of the people during the time of Banda Singh Bahadur,” he said.

Gurcharan added that Sikh historians, preachers and SGPC officials were consulted before giving final shape to the script and play.

“It took nearly three years to come over various technical hitches, to learn the mindset of people and about their common attires of that time,” he said.

Adhering to the norms of Sikhism, the play artistes have not characterised Sikh Gurus or their families. “The presence of our Gurus has been signified using light and sound with apt narration,” he revealed.

In order to maintain sanctity of play, five baptised (amritdharis) Sikhs have been roped in to play role of the five Singhs who take orders from Jathedar Baba Banda Singh Bahadur 
to fight the battle against Mughals.

“The play will familiarise people with the kind of infectious enthusiasm Banda’s followers had when they attacked Sirhind and wiped off the Mughal Empire from here. The people are shown in their traditional dresses carrying weapons like sticks and swords,” he said.

Besides this history of martyrdom of younger Sahibzadas of Guru Gobind Singh, battles of Chamkaur Sahib and Sirhind have also been displayed. Major characters will depict Nawab of Suba-e-Sirhind Wazir Khan, Nawab of Malerkotla Sher Mohammad, Zaina - wife of Wazir Khan, Sucha Nand - Diwan of Sirhind and Muslim priests, qazi and mullah.

Theater artistes said religious leaders, including the SGPC chief, were taken into confidence before taking the play to the public.

Patiala, May 27
Notwithstanding a ban imposed on the sale of cut fruits in the district, the menace of its sale is continuing unabated in every nook and corner of the city.With mercury rising with every passing day, more and more people could be seen relishing cut fruits being sold by the street vendors. According to physicians, these cut fruits poses threat of serious health ailments.

As flies and mosquitoes keep swarming around cut fruits, the chances of stomach infections increases manifold and hence doctors advise people to avoid taking cut fruits.

A visit to various city areas reveals that majority of people, who regularly consume these roadside cut fruits, belong to migrant families. Most of them are completely unaware of the fact that they could face serious medical complications because of this.

Dr. Harshwinder Kaur, a lecturer at Department of Pediatrics, Government Medical College, Patiala, said consumption of cut fruits being sold in open by vendors could lead to various health ailments, including gastroenteritis, typhoid, hepatitis A and E, cholera. “Fruit chats, which are most preferred during summers, could play havoc with the life of people, if these are prepared in unhygienic manner,” she asserted. Many other doctors said there was need for the strict enforcement on the ban on sale of cut fruits.

District Health Officer Charanjit Singh said the Health Wing of the Patiala Municipal Corporation was responsible to check the practice.

However, Health Officer of Patiala MC YS Banga claimed that regular checks were being conducted on daily basis in the city to ensure that no vendor sells cut fruits. He said the team would enhance its drive for strict implementation of the ban. Though whatever the officials may claim - the harsh reality is that cut fruits are being still sold by vendors in the city.

Patiala, May 27
Though illegal, the Patiala Municipal Corporation (PMC) authorities are not removing hoardings put up by SAD-BJP leaders. Though the menace is not new, many officials say they are under pressure from the ruling SAD-BJP combine not to touch their hoardings. 

The MC claims could be substantiated from the fact that while the hoardings of the former CM Punjab Capt Amarinder Singh were removed immediately after the latter’s road show was over on May 13, hoardings of the SAD-BJP leaders are still there in almost all city areas.

Flaying the authorities for not taking any action against violators, the residents complain that the illegal hoardings have started defacing residential colonies also.

Meanwhile, accusing the civic functionaries of playing in the hands of the ruling SAD-BJP, several Congress leaders, including former MLA BL Goel and PPCC secretaries KK Malhotra and Ajay Thapar, have accused the corporation officials of adopting pick and choose policy. Agitated over the removal of hoardings of only the Congress, they said presence of hoardings of SAD-BJP leaders in city made it clear that the MC was biased.

Meanwhile, municipal commissioner Manjit Singh Narang stated that they frequently carried out drive to remove illegal hoardings. 

Fatehgarh Sahib, May 27
While the area under sugarcane crop is expected to increase nearly 1,700 hectares in Fatehgarh Sahib, this season farmers are bitter over deteriorating condition of sugarcane crop due to unscheduled power cuts and crop infection.

Lack of water and rise in temperature has infected the crop with shoot borer disease in almost 50 per cent of crop grown here. Farmers have already expressed their helplessness in cultivating this crop without earning much out of it.

Though agriculture department officials have brought matter into notice of electricity department officials through the office of Deputy Commissioner, but nothing has been done in this regard so far.

“We have requested the electricity department to provide uninterrupted power supply for at least those villages where sugarcane crop is grown in abundance”, said Agriculture Officer in Amloh, Jaswinder Singh.

He said the department had conducted a survey last week in 32 villages and it was found that nearly 50 per cent of crop was affected . He added that most of sugarcane growers are in Amloh and Khamano blocks of the district. The officials said area under sugarcane cultivation was 3,200 hectares last year. It has increased to 5,000 hectares this season. “We have not yet calculated area as many farmers opted out in initial stages due to lack of power and early diseases,” said Chief Agriculture Officer of Fatehgarh Sahib, Sarabjit Kandhari.

Last year, there was shortage of sugarcane and mills purchased it at cost of Rs 200 to Rs 250 per quintal.

Keeping in mind last year’s shortage, many farmers have grown sugarcane this season hoping to make big profits. 

Patiala, May 27
State Health and Family Welfare Minister Laxmi Kanta Chawla inaugurated a drug-testing laboratory at Government Ayurvedic Hospital, Patiala, today. It is the first of its kind laboratory in the state and fourth in India which will check the quality of ayurvedic and Unani medicines.

Chawla thanked the Centre for its support in setting up this lab. She said a team of 16 technical experts would work on testing medicines here. Some equipment for the lab had already reached it and the remaining will be brought soon. The lab is almost ready, she added.

Chawla said a grant of Rs 1 crore had already been released by the Cente for this lab and the remaining grant of Rs 1 crore would be released soon. “It will basically aim at checking the contents of the medicines and ensuring that only approved formulas of medicines are manufactured. Various samples of medicines will be checked here,”she further said.

On being questioned about the shortage of jobs in the Ayurvedic Department, she said the department had appointed 199 permanent and 133 contractual employees. The notification for 199 employees will be released soon.

Defying allegations against her by Jagdish Sahni, former Chief Parliamentary Secretary, she said it was a party matter and should not have been brought to the media. All allegations had been proved to be baseless, she added. 

Chandigarh, May 27
MS Sandhu is off the contempt hook. Convicted by a Division Bench of the Punjab and Haryana High Court for contempt of court, the Punjab Principal Secretary for school education was let off after a Division Bench accepted his unconditional apology.

The case pertains to the non-release of pension arrears. The Bench of Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel and Justice Alok Singh had held Sandhu guilty of contempt following his failure to appear before the court despite repeated directions.

As the case came up for resumed hearing, the Bench observed: “Taking a liberal view, we accept the unqualified apology, particularly in view of the stand that the grievance of the petitioner will be re-examined with regard to claim for leave encashment.”

The Bench added: “The state counsel also says that as directed, the outstanding dues have been paid; and since no inquiry was pending, no dues have been withheld”. While deciding petitioner-cum- former district education officer Malti Batra’s pending applications, the high court in a separate order had earlier “directed the principal secretary, education, Punjab, to ensure that all inquires against the petitioner were concluded by December 31, 2008, and she is paid her outstanding dues by January 31, 2009”.

The high court had added: “We propose to monitor the progress of settlement of the petitioner's dues. We are adopting this extraordinary procedure because we would like to effectively apply closure to this whole matter and also because the petitioner, on account of various factors, may be vulnerable to unnecessary delays and unjust administrative action”. 

Chandigarh, May 27
In a significant judgment, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has convicted a man for raping a minor, even though the victim’s mother-cum-complainant and her husband could not be examined during the trial.

The parents, working as labourers, could not be served summons during the trial, leading to the acquittal of the accused. Reversing the trial court’s orders, a Division Bench of the high court made it clear that under such circumstances other evidence was required to be appreciated.

Setting aside Amritsar fast track court orders acquitting accused Mohammad Zamal Ansari in the case, the Bench also sentenced him to undergo life imprisonment. A fine of Rs 2,000 was also imposed.

The Bench of Justice Hemant Gupta and Justice Jaswant Singh asserted: “No doubt the author of the FIR and her husband have not been examined. It may be noticed that they are ordinary residents of Hazaribagh district, Jharkhand, and are migrant labourers.

“As per the report on the summons to secure their presence, it was reported that neither their addresses nor whereabouts are known. In such circumstances, it needs to be examined that whether the other evidence produced on record is sufficient to conclusively prove the charges of rape against the respondent”.

The Bench asserted: “The evidence is sufficient proof of the commission of crime by the respondent…. There is nothing on record to infer any doubt about the prosecution case….”

“We are of the opinion that the judgment passed by the trial court acquitting the respondent is not sustainable in law. Consequently, we set aside the said judgment and convict the respondent for an offence punishable under Section 376(2)(f) IPC…” Ansari was acquitted on April 1, 2008, by additional sessions judge, fast tract court, Amritsar. He was booked on the statement of the victim’s mother. She had alleged that on August 10, 2006, the accused took her two-year-old daughter to his room. Alarm was raised after she saw her daughter weeping in Ansari’s lap.

Finding that “the prosecution has failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt the commission of crime by the respondent,” the trial court acquitted the accused. It was found the mother of the prosecutrix was not examined as a witness. It was also found the report of the Forensic Science Laboratory could not be taken into consideration as proof of the accused committing the rape.