Chandigarh, June 4
The state government has decided to enforce minimum standards for running of government and private drug de-addiction centres. The centres would now have to be registered with the Health Department and can function only after the department gives them license.

Following an interim order passed by Justice Rajive Bhalla of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, a committee was constituted to lay down minimum standards for the functioning of such centres. The committee submitted its recommendations to the court and Punjab has now told the court that it would fully implement the recommendations of the committee.

Chaired by Dr SK Matoo of the PGI, the committee members have also recommended setting up of two centres offering specialised services. “The treatment centres (STCs) will have facilities for inpatients as well as outpatient treatment, including detoxification, antagonist therapy, opium substitution therapy. while the counselling centres (SCCs) will have facilities for substance use disorder awareness, counselling and rehabilitation through psychological means on an outpatient basis,” states the recommendations.

The committee has recommended that the registration and licensing be done by the Department of Health and Family Welfare in collaboration with the Department of Social Security through a single window system.

The centres will be run by a panchayat, zila parishad, municipality, state or the UT government, recognised NGOs and trusts and not individuals.

The committee has also recommended setting up of a licensing authority under the aegis of the Directorate of Health that would also supervise and monitor the centres.

The committee members added that the state governments must establish a facilitatory-supervisory regime to ensure that the minimum standards laid down are applied and maintained.

In an affidavit submitted by Principal Secretary (Health) Satish Chandra to the court it has been stated that the state would implement these recommendations. Chandra said a team of two doctors has been asked to prepare a road map for the implementation of the recommendations. “We will begin the process of licensing the centres soon,” he said.

Chandigarh June 4
Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni (Congress) and general secretary and veteran Shiromani Akali Dal leader Balwinder Singh Bhunder are all set to enter the Rajya Sabha next week.

While the Congress high command has cleared the name of Ambika Soni, chief Patron of the SAD and Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal named his former Agriculture Minister as the Dal candidate in the Rajya Sabha biennial elections, the last date for filing of nominations for which is June 7. Earlier, the core committee of the Political Affairs Committee of the SAD authorised Parkash Singh Badal to name the party candidate.

Bhunder (66) had an earlier term in the Rajya Sabha (1998-2002) besides remaining a member of the Punjab Vidhan Sabha five times. With his nomination, both general secretaries of the SAD --- Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa and Bhunder --- will be in the Rajya Sabha.

Bhunder was the Agriculture and Forest Minister of Punjab in 1977-80.

According to the strength of different political parties in the Punjab Vidhan Sabha, both the SAD-BJP alliance and the Congress will share two seats to be declared vacant on July 4.

So far no nomination paper has been filed for any of the two seats, elections to which are to be held on the retirement of Ambika Soni and Rajmohinder Singh Majithia.

Besides former Deputy Speaker of the Lok Sabha Charanjit Singh Athwal, the others in the run for the SAD ticket were Mahesh Inder Singh Grewal, Prem Singh Chandumajra, Daljeet Singh Cheema and Tota Singh.

In the absence of SAD President Sukhbir Singh Badal, the core committee unanimously decided to authorise Parkash Singh Badal to make the final decision on the party nominee.

Besides Parkash Singh Badal, the others who participated in the deliberations included Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa, Ranjit Singh Brahmpura, Balwinder Singh Bhunder, Gurdev Singh Badal, Sewa Singh Sekhwan, Jathedar Tota Singh, Prof Prem Singh Chandumajra, Mahesh Singh Inder Singh Grewal and Harcharan Bains.

The core committee, by another resolution, demanded royalty for Punjab on the river waters of the state being used by other states, notably Rajsthan. The resolution said the demand was in conformity with the nationally and internationally accepted riparian principle, according to which only a state through which rivers flow has a right on their waters. It pointed out that the practice of royalty by non-riparian states is an accepted practice and even Rajasthan and erstwhile princely states, including Nabha, had been paying in pre-Independence days royalty to Punjab for the use of the waters of its rivers.

The core committee also urged the Centre for an expeditious amendment to the Anand Marriage Act for the Sikhs. The committee wanted the Hindu Marriage Act and the Special Marriage Act to be amended simultaneously so that the marriages solemnised under the Anand Marriage Act can be registered. Under a SC ruling, all marriages must be registered.

It also mourned the sudden demise last week of Manjit Kaur Sandhu , sister of Harcharan Bains, Media Adviser to the Chief Minister.

Jalandhar, June 4
Murder has not been ruled out behind the death of Capt Anand N. of Coimbatore, who had died of burn injuries when a fire broke out in a tent during an Army exercise in Kapurthala last month. Though this has been indicated in the postmortem report, the actual cause would be ascertained only after the viscera report.

The incident took place in Miani Bhagupuria village in the Mand area on the night of May 5. An Army spokesman had then attributed the cause of the Captain’s death to an accidental fire due to a mosquito repellant in the tent. Maj Sudhir Parmar, who was also in the tent at that time, however, managed to escape unhurt.

However, a three-doctor board that conducted the postmortem is of opinion that the deceased could have been done to death and his body burnt later to destroy evidence of the actual cause of death.

It has been found that the bones of the Captain, who hailed from Coimbatore, were charred unlike in an accidental fire. The doctors specified that fire victims usually died of shock while running for safety or due to a huge loss of plasma from the body.

In this case, burns were deep, raising suspicion that the Captain was poisoned due to which he died and the tent was set afire, the board opined.

Dr Guriqbal Singh, a forensic expert and SMO, Kapurthala Civil Hospital, has confirmed the report. He said owing to some suspicion, the viscera had been sent to the chemical examiner, Kharar. “The actual cause of the death will be ascertained only after the viscera report. Analysis usually takes a month or so,” he added.

Defence PRO Naresh Vig said that a Court of Inquiry was already on, but a report was awaited.

Ludhiana, June 4
Humans will soon be able to live 10-15 years more than their normal lifespan, courtesy Parteek Bajwa (17) of Ludhiana.

Parteek Bajwa with a certificate from the Guinness Book of World Records. Tribune photo: Himanshu Mahajan

He has done a detailed research on the subject and his study’s outcome has been corroborated by NASA.

Parteek has also achieved a rare distinction of figuring in the Guinness Book of World Records as the youngest microbiologist to have increased human lifespan by 10-15 years. He has also bagged the prestigious job of a senior microbiologist at NASA at a salary of Rs 1.65 lakh per day.

Talking about his project to The Tribune, Parteek said, “I did a research on the subject and put it on NASA’s website for study. To my astonishment, I soon got a mail from NASA stating that their scientists had experimented on the basis of my research and found it to be true.”

Parteek said under his project, he studied that if the upper shell of a human body is replaced with that of a tortoise’s, then humans can live longer by at least 10-15 years.

He was invited to NASA by its president on May 30. A special chartered flight was flown down to take him. There he participated at 43 meetings with NASA scientists and underwent five tests and became the first person to clear them in one go.

He was offered a job at NASA, which he is free to take up within the next five years.

“As a child, I had seen both my parents being constantly ill and dearly wished there was something that would help them live longer,” Parteek said.

“When I was in Class V, one day I casually told my father that a tortoise can live 200 years and humans generally live about 70 years on an average. If the life-extending substance is taken out of tortoise and put into a human body, it might help humans live longer. That idea got stuck in my head and forced me to study the subject deeply when I grew up,” said Parteek.

A medical student, Parteek scored 87.8 per cent marks in Class XII besides being the AFMC state topper. In AFMC, Parteek’s all-India rank is 7 and in CBSE PMT, he was placed third in the city with an all-India ranking of 152.

“I want to serve my nation and get recognition for my motherland on the world map. I am still confused about the future course of action,” remarked Parteek.

Patiala, June 4
The Bharti Kisan Union (Ekta), Punjab, today announced that various farmer unions of the state would participate in the protest rally to be held on June 7 at Moga. After addressing a meeting of the union leaders at Gurdwara Dukhniwaran Sahib here today, BKU (Ekta) state president Balkar Singh Dakunda said they were holding the rally in protest against the anti-people recommendations of the Sukhbir-Kalia Resource Mobilisation Committee and imposition of power bills for the farm sector. He further stated that more than 50,000 farmers, labourers and people from various parts of the state would attend the rally.

Union general secretary Satwant Singh Wazidpur said the state government should not have levied power charges on farmers already reeling under heavy debt. “The government’s decision goes against the promise it made in its election manifesto and the entire farmer community would oppose this decision tooth and nail,” he announced.

Notably, on the recommendations of the Sukhbir-Kalia Resource Mobilisation Committee, the government had recently announced that agricultural tube wells would have to pay power tariff at the rate of Rs 50 per BHP per month. 

Jalandhar, June 4
The state government today given permission to the private management of the local Punjab Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS), which remained in the eye of a political storm for long, to start its operations with immediate effect.

The permission was granted at a meeting held today under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal. Chief Secretary SC Aggarwal, other senior officials of the government and representatives of the PIMS Charitable and Educational Society were also present.

Opposition leaders, including former Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, had taken on the SAD-BJP government for handing over the institute worth several hundred crores to a private company for a meagre sum of Rs 130 crore on a lease for 99 years. Amarinder had urged the government to cancel the deal and had threatened to move the court if it was not cancelled.

“We have cleared all state government dues”, said C. Rajshekher, a representative of the society. He said the OPD services would start from tomorrow at the institute.

“We have a team of 106 doctors with a supporting staff of 175 nurses and 86 technicians. Besides, there is clerical staff to handle registration of patients and other related jobs”, he said. Asked when the indoor services would start, Rajshekher said it would take a few days more. He said: “There is already a provision of 350 beds at the hospital in the institute.” He said on Monday and Tuesday he would meet the Board of Governors to present the case to start the medical college with a provision of 150 seats.

“After going through the documents, the board would give us a date for inspection”, he added. “I would like if the medical college starts from the coming academic session. It would benefit the state because there would be an addition of 150 seats in the MBBS course”, he added. However, the starting of the School for Nurses would be little delayed, he added.

The management would also have to approach the Baba Farid University of Medical Sciences to take affiliation from it to start the college. The PMET test is to be held later this month.

Ropar, June 4
Government Senior Secondary School, Boor Majra, which won National Award under the Center for Science and Environment Green School Programme for two consecutive years in 2006 and 2007, has failed to even send a nomination for the award this year.

School politics has taken a toll on the efforts of students who had worked hard to bring laurels to the school.

The school was awarded for managing its water, waste and natural resources in the best possible way. From recycling wastewater to teaching villagers about using the plastic sheets in house foundation stones, the students and staff had worked hard on even rationing the water supply. Besides Science, the Economics Department also roped in to audit the amount of water spent and received on the school premises.

Sources said even trophies and prizes the school received as a part of the award were now missing from the premises. “A few days ago, a teacher, who has been shifted to Chandigarh, took away the prizes claiming that they belonged to her.”

Though the school authorities did not file a nomination, the students were enthusiastic about the project. Senior students, who won the award in 2006 and 2007, have passed out. The enthusiasm, however, remains in the younger ones who are now in senior classes.

“We learnt to save each drop of water through this project and we continue to do so,” the students said.

However, school principal Jaswinder Kaur denied to comment saying that she had joined just a few months ago. District Education Officer (secondary) Dharam Singh said he would look into the matter. 

Kharar, June 4
Deposing before the court of judicial magistrate Surjit Singh, accused Irfan Ulha today said that he was forced to become an ISI agent.

ISI agent Irfan Ulha being produced at a court in Kharar on Friday. A Tribune photograph

Not disclosing the circumstances publicly that forced him to become an ISI agent; Irfan told the police that he had given everything in written to the police.

CIA, Kharar police, asked for an extended remand of the accused. Responding to it, the court asked the police to present the facts and figures it had obtained from Irfan in the six-day remand.

The police said a camera had been seized from his possession that contained photographs of a restricted area of the country, which could not be disclosed.

The court was told that a diary with notes in English and Urdu had also been seized. The notes were yet to be decoded, the police said.

The police also came to know that Irfan never used a mobile phone, as he used to make calls to Uttar Pradesh, Jalandhar and Amritsar from different PCOs.

The cops are trying to ascertain as to how many people are involved with Irfan. The court asked Irfan if he had any document to prove his identity but he denied.

Acting on the CIA’s plea, the court extended his remand by three days. Irfan would be taken to the Joint Investigation Center at Amritsar, wherein three agencies would interrogate him.

Interestingly, during the first hearing on May 30, the court had asked advocate Deepak Sharma to appear as counsel for Irfan. On the second date today, Deepak told the court that he would not be able to attend the hearing due to some personal work. The court thus appointed another advocate to defend Irfan.

The new counsel requested the court to ask mediapersons to leave the court. The counsel said: “My family will not feel comfortable when they would come to know that I am defending a Pakistani.” Accepting the plea, mediapersons were asked to leave their cameras out.

Fatehgarh Sahib, June 4
The Punjab Police does not have fast-moving vehicles, thus, it fails to handle anti-social elements efficiently. While thieves and robbers use high-speed bikes and SUVs, cops have jeeps that fail to catch up with them.

Cops deployed in and around Rajpura, Fatehgarh Sahib and Khanna told the TNS that they desperately needed fast-moving vehicles to nab criminals, especially on the border of Haryana and Rajasthan and on highways.

“Though we manage to nab criminals in cities, they run away on the highways as they mainly use SUVs,” Rajpura SHO Bikramjit Singh Brar said. It’s only the police siren that manages to keep traffic at bay on the highways.

The Punjab police is equipped with jeeps, gypsies, truck canters, buses at police stations and ambassador cars for SSPs but most are in terrible shape and require immediate maintenance.

Usually, they are repaired at maintenance sections strategically placed in the police lines area. As all areas don’t have police lines, private garage owners fix the vehicles.

However, SP (D) Shamsher Singh Boparai said they had been demanding fast-moving four wheelers for long and letters had been written to senior officials in this regard but to no avail.

Patiala, June 4
In what may be termed as a serious threat to the safety of the people, the unsafe hoardings in many city areas and the city bus stand are standing tall with the authorities concerned looking the other way.

The seriousness of the situation can be gauged from the fact that many such unsafe hoardings got damaged and fell on the road, during the dust storm last week. While most of the big hoardings installed in the bus stand got damaged and their frames were spotted on the road.

Speaking to The Tribune, majority of the people expressed their concern over the matter. “It is really worrying that civic functionaries are allowing the private advertisers to put up hoardings without ensuring their safety. If the hoardings cannot sustain the duststorm, it is clear that their frames were of poor quality,” said Jagat Ram, who resides near the YPS School, where few hoardings were damaged during last week.

“More than six billboards and hoardings at the bus stand were completely damaged after they failed to sustain the winds last week. Luckily, it was night hour and no one sustained any injury,” stated Ravi Singh and Mukhtiar Singh, both shopkeepers.

Interestingly, Municipal Commissioner Manjit Singh Narang claimed that the matter comes under the purview of the Pepsu Roadways Transport Corporation (PRTC). However, when quizzed that whether there were any guidelines pertaining to the size and the height of the hoardings being put up in the areas, coming under the MC jurisdiction, he had no reply and said, “We follow the instructions of the High Court regarding the installation of the hoardings.”

However, PRTC chairman Manvesh Singh Sidhu said, “The contract period of the advertiser, who had put up the hoardings at the bus stand had expired and he had not removed the hoardings. In future, we will ensure that hoardings that are being put up are safe.”

Chandigarh, June 4
Responding to a petition filed by the SAD (Panch Pardhani) for permission to take out a “peaceful march” to Amritsar, Punjab today claimed that the party was not entitled to receive any sort of relief under the Constitution, as it adhered to the ideology of “Khalistan”. The state has already imposed a ban on the procession, after dubbing it a “holocaust memorial march”.

As the case came up for hearing before the vacation Bench of Justice Rajan Gupta, the state asserted that the party was placing the photographs of Baba Banda Singh Bahadur, along with snaps of Sant Jarnail Singh Bhidranwale.

The state contended that Bhidranwale was a militant killed during an Army operation in June 1984. Additional Advocate-General Amarjeet Singh Jatana argued on the state’s behalf that Article 4 of the Panch Pardhani Constitution pleads for securing federal structure in India as per the Anandpur Sahib Resolution and the Amritsar Declaration. But the Article also says the ultimate goal of a Sikh nation is to implement the concept of “Raj Karega Khalsa”.

It only implies the party does not believe in the Indian Constitution. As such, the organisation was not entitled to claim any relief under it. The state counsel asserted: “A ban on activities of the SAD (Panch Pardhani) were imposed earlier also”.

The SAD (Panch Pardhani), on the other hand, maintained earlier, the government had not imposed any ban on any activity of the party. Rajvinder Singh Bains, counsel for the SAD (Panch Pardhani), strongly contested the state's attorney claim and pleaded implementation of federal structure does not deprive the organisation from seeking judicial relief for protection of its lawful rights.

Bains, on the previous date of hearing, had contended that the petitioner was a political party, wanting to take out a “peaceful march” from Chappar Chiri to Amritsar. He had submitted that the petitioner party intended to take out the procession in view of the historic victory of Baba Banda Singh Bahadur over the Mughal forces in the battle of Chappar Chiri in 1708. Justice Rajan Gupta asserted the matter required serious and detailed discussion; and fixed July 5 as the next date of hearing. — TNS

Chandigarh, June 4
Less than a fortnight after the Punjab and Haryana High Court took suo motu cognisance of The Tribune report ‘After DLF, Omaxe wants panchayat land on lease’, the State of Punjab today asserted neither the government nor an empowered committee exercised powers to lease out panchayat land to DLF. The matter has been left to the Department of Rural Development and panchayat to take a policy decision, the state claimed.

Taking suo motu cognisance, Justice Ranjit Singh had earlier asserted: “Lease of panchayat land for setting up a golf course certainly would not advance the cause of the farmers”; and “some considerations have gone to some pockets.”

Justice Ranjit Singh had also directed “till further orders no land belonging to panchayats shall be leased out to private companies; and lease, if reached, would not be put to operation till further direction from this court”.

In a reply placed before the Division Bench of Justice Ranjit Singh and Justice Ajay Tewari, additional secretary in the Department of Industries and Commerce SS Bains said: “Regarding the development of a golf course on panchayat land, as proposed by the company, the empowered committee decided that the company will directly apply to the department of rural development and panchayat. The department will co-ordinate between the developer company and the panchayat concerned and will make a policy decision for leasing out panchayat land to the company.”

Bains said the Industries Department had received a proposal from DLF Homes Developers Ltd for setting up super mega mixed use integrated industrial park project on 1,250 acre. Subsequently, the company requested for 231.36 acres of panchayat or shamlat land.

“The proposal was considered by the empowered committee in its meeting held on February 23. A representative of the company informed the committee that panchayat land would be used by them as green area, in accordance with the master plan of the area. He added that the company could develop a golf course of international level. The committee approved the super mega mixed use integrated industrial park project in accordance with the conditions….

“While approving the project of the company, the empowered committee made it clear the panchayat land would not be a part of the super mega missed used integrated industrial park,” Bains further added.