Jalandhar, June 13
Countering his Haryana counterpart Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal said today that the state had all rights on water of its rivers and entitled to royalty on water being used by other states, including Haryana and Rajasthan. He was in the city to lay the foundation stones of various development works.

He said the government was seeking a legal opinion on scraping Section 5 of the Punjab Termination of River Waters Act to stop water flowing to these states.

Hooda had yesterday said that Punjab had not right on water flowing to his neighbouring states. Hooda had claimed that Badal was trying to politicise the issue.

When asked if he admitted to stop subsidy for farmers, Badal claimed that the final decision on the issue would be taken by the Sukhbir-Kalia committee.

Talking to TNS, Badal said the government was serious on water harvesting. Plans had been chalked out to launch rainwater harvesting projects at a major level.

Addressing a gathering at Mithu Basti, the CM also urged MLAs not to indulge in scuffles rather they should give more time for the development of their respective areas and redressing public grievances.

Moga, June 13
The Revenue and Panchayat Departments of the state are at loggerheads with each other over ownership right of 188 acre prime-agricultural land (1,471 kanal and 4 marla) worth Rs 35-crore falling within the Beer area of the Sherpur Taiba village situated on the banks of Sutlej in Moga district.

This controversial land, originally belonging to the provincial government, was transferred to the panchayat samiti of Dharamkot after abolition of the district board of Ferozepur vide a notification issued by the Financial Commissioner of the Development and Panchayat Department on February 13, 1962.

Now, a couple of months back, the Revenue Department has taken back the ownership rights of this land from the panchayat samiti and changed the mutation first on the name of the state government and then on the names of some individuals occupying it for the past few decades.

Opposing this, Block Development Officer-cum-Executive Officer of the panchayat samiti Arun Sharma filed a complaint before the SDM-cum-Collector of Moga, who has issued stay orders on May 24, 2010, stopping the change of mutations till the final disposal of the case.

Meanwhile, the collectors from time to time had created confusion over ownership rights of this land. On November 29, 2002, the then collector issued orders that panchayat samiti was the owner of the land, which was confirmed by the DC in 2003. But the then collector and DC again reversed these orders in 2005, as claimed by the revenue authorities.

DDPO Joginder Kumar claimed that the panchayat samiti has the ownership rights of this land for the past over 45 years. It was transferred to it vide a government notification and now suddenly the Revenue Department, after changing the mutations, has started allocating this land to individuals in back date.

Naib tehsildar of Dharamkot tehsil JS Brar, while talking to The Tribune, claimed that this land never belonged to the panchayat samiti. “The panchayat samiti is the owner of just 322 kanal 14 marlas of land,” he said. He also challenged the notification issued by the Development and Panchayat Department on the ground that it was not issued by consulting with the Revenue Department.

A local resident, Gian Singh, having possession of a portion of this controversial land, approached the High Court, vide CWP-15674, in 2003, in which the court asked the DC to pass speaking orders, but this petition was finally disposed-off in March 2009. It was here, taking advantage of the ‘speaking orders’, the revenue authorities started claiming that this land belongs to the state government.

In reply to a question, Brar admitted that he has allocated a portion of this land to some individual persons giving them the ownership rights in back date by taking his senior officers into confidence. “I have allocated a portion of this land to some individuals as per the policy of the government issued in 1997 to grant ownership rights to those who are cultivating the government land since the year 1994,” he added.

When this correspondent visited the village it came to light that people who have been granted ownership rights have started selling this property at higher prices to earn profits. Normally, a person can’t sell the government-allocated land within 10 years of allotment. Since, the ownership rights were granted in back date the people have taken the liberty to sell it.

DC Satwant Singh Johal told The Tribune that he ordered a magisterial probe into the controversy conducted by the additional DC, in which it came to light that the panchayat samiti was not the owner of this controversial land and thus, the mutations were rightly changed by the revenue authorities.

Meanwhile, investigations made by The Tribune revealed that many senior bureaucrats and politicians were involved in taking back the ownership rights from the panchayat samiti for allocating this land to individual persons, who by ‘manipulation’ have started selling it to earn profits. 

Patiala-Sangrur, June 13
Mirzapur Sandharsi is a village waiting to die. Half of its people have already opted out by selling their land. The remaining half is looking for buyers.

The will of the residents of Sandharsi in Patiala, all indefatigable Punjabi farmers, has been broken by their inability to find quality water for irrigating their fields. It is not as if they have not tried. Residents have dug up deeper bore wells each passing year and some have even gone up to 600 feet.

Low yields due to use of saline water has made agriculture unviable and villagers are selling out their land. A distillery is coming up on 90-acre land. A seed farm has come up on 65 acre, while businessmen have purchased another 45 acres for industrial use. The distillery has struck water at 1,200 feet, a feat not possible for farmers of the village.

Village sarpanch Surinder Singh said he gave up farming four to five years back after all four bore wells dug up by him failed. He has grown eucalyptus trees on his four-acre patch and is running a milk dairy now. As the farmers start trickling into his house, he points out to many who have shared a similar fate, saying successive attempts to search for sweet water had broken many a back in the village. Consequently he says the village has now started witnessing two to three suicides every year even as cancer cases are on the rise.

“The situation had become such that the entire village is up for sale. Everyone is ready to move out,” said Surinder, adding the land could be acquired by the government and given out for the industrial use.

Everyone seems to have given up on digging deeper bore wells in Sandharsi, though one farmer did try this season and failed. Gurcharan Singh, who is among those who have continuously dug bore wells every second year, said his last attempt was six months back. Gurcharan said the farmers were at the end of their tether as productivity has reduced to less than 10 quintals of paddy per acre. The average paddy yield has been around 20 to 22 quintals per acre.

The fate of those who do not have bore wells on their land is even worse. They have to purchase water as those who have dug bore wells have invested a lot of money and are no longer ready to give water for free as was the norm till few years back. This has created its own set of problems at not only Sandharsi, but also nearby Mardanpur, Untsar, Nanheri, Kamikalan, Harpalpur, Sangarpur and Sarain villages.

The sale of water has affected the social fabric in the village with the sellers usually being the ‘jat’-landed peasantry and the buyers mainly Dalits. The latter are sore that they did not benefit in any way despite years of free power and that even now the government had no plan to dig deep bore wells to facilitate them.

Most Dalit familys own ‘nazool’ (state) land on which a bore well connection cannot be taken making them completely reliant on purchasing water. Gurmail Singh, a dalit of Mardanpur, said, “He purchases water at the rate of Rs 400 per watering of one acre of land and plants wheat that needs lesser water and fodder on his field.”

The ‘jat’ peasantry, however, also feels an era of plentiful has been on the way out. The villagers at the ‘sath’ (common meeting ground) in Gagarpur village in Sangrur say when water was free for irrigation they drilled deeper bore wells and installed bigger motors. Now, they have to pay for power again even as high inputs and intensive agriculture have made yields static after decades of prosperity. “We know what is to be done says political activist Hardev Singh, only we have to be led by a firm hand”. Is the Punjab government listening?

Bathinda, June 13
Balwant Singh Ramoowalia, president of the Lok Bhalai Party, today announced his decision to adopt families of the 17 Punjabis facing death sentence for killing a Pakistani at Sharjah in UAE.

Ramoowalia said here that he would take care of their families until he managed to bring the 17 youths back from the jaws of death. He said he would reach Delhi tomorrow to persuade the External Affairs Ministry to expedite proceedings to get the death sentence of these boys pardoned.

Ramoowalia, while addressing mediapersons, criticised the ruling SAD and also the Congress for not taking steps to check price rise that has made life of the common people miserable.

Leaders of both parties that were ruling in Punjab and at the Centre respectively have lost courage to face the people whom they had made several promises before the elections.

He criticised the current political system for turning Punjab into a state of drug addict youth and debt-ridden farmers. A large number of youth fraudulently sent abroad by travel agents were languishing in jails and the state government had failed to take action against those indulging in such business.

Ramoowalia criticised the SAD-BJP government for not protecting the interests of farmers whose nearly 7 lakh acre land had been sold for raising money to pay commission to fake travel agents to arrange jobs for their wards.

He alleged that corruption was rampant under the present regime in Punjab. Government hospitals and schools had become non-functional due to shortage of doctors and teachers.

The UPA government at the Centre had failed to ensure pure foodstuff to the people, as adulteration had remained unchecked.

The Congress had failed to play the role of Opposition in Punjab, he said. He announced a reward of Rs 5,100 for anyone who could give him the whereabouts of Capt Amarinder Singh “who always remains abroad or outside the state”.

Patiala, June 13
Videoconferencing between jails and courts began in the state yesterday with the Patiala Central Jail extending the judicial remand of 13 inmates till June 25 using this facility.

Though the facility has been installed in almost all jails, the Patiala Central Jail is the first where this service has actually begun. Under the leadership of Jail Superintendent SP Singh, Assistant Superintendent of Jail Ramanjit Singh Bhangu has been appointed nodal officer for this project.

Bhangu said the hearing was held in two sessions- from 12 noon to 1 pm and 3 pm to 4 pm. He further said the videoconferencing would be conducted everyday at the same timings. State Jail Minister Hira Singh Gabria said this would not only decrease work in courts but will also reduce the risk of undertrials escaping on their way to the court.

He said under the initial plan of this phase, BSNL lease lines had been laid and a contract had been given to a private company.

Patiala, June 13
In connection with a complaint filed by Sanjiv Kumar, wherein he had alleged that his land was acquired for construction of bypass at Rajpura in Patiala some three decades back, but was not given any compensation by the authorities, the Punjab State Human Rights Commission (PSHRC) has issued orders that show-cause notice be issued to the then Land Acquisition Collector, PWD (B&R), Jalandhar and also that why departmental action against him should not be recommended to the government.

The orders issued by the PSHRC bench, comprising Commission chairperson Justice (retd) RS Mongia and members Justice (retd) Baldev Singh and Justice (retd) KK Bhatnagar, a copy of which is with the Tribune, also mentioned that the Commission was of the view that ends of justice would be met, if Rs 50,000 was paid by the government to the complainant as compensation.

Notably, the perusal of the orders brought to light by a notification number NHJ/R/1 dated September 5, 1980, under Section 17(i) of the Land Acquisition Act (published in the Punjab Government Gazette dated September 12, 1980) certain land was acquired for the construction of bypass at Rajpura in Patiala. The complainant owned 8.5 marla land, but this land was not mentioned in the aforesaid notification by which the land was acquired.

The orders further reads, “However, possession of this 8.5 marla land was taken by the Land Acquisition Officer/Collector, PWD (B&R) Jalandhar in the year 1981, when the award was announced. Though the possession of the complainant’s land was taken, yet no compensation was released to him in as much as his land did not find mention in the notification. Strangely without checking up whether the land of the complainant was mentioned in the notification, the possession was taken by the officer and yet no compensation was paid.”

The orders mentioned that this was a great violation of human rights, as well as fundamental right not to be deprived of the property without payment of due compensation. “The Commission is of the view that a show-cause notice should be issued to the then Land Acquisition Collector, PWD (B&R), Jalandhar under Section 16 (1) the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993. Further, we may observe here that as and when notification u/s 17 is issued, needless to mention, the complainant will be entitled to the compensation of the land, as calculated in accordance with law on the day of the notification u/s 17 which will, however, be subject to any appeal etc, which may be filed by the complainant,” reads the order.

The case has now been adjourned to September 9, 2010, by which date an action taken report would be sent to the Commission by the respondents. 

Mahilpur, June 13
It was a feast of soccer for all. While many of the national stars, representing their village teams, were vying against each other for honours in the final of the unique seven-a-side football tournament, hundreds of tiny tots used the lemon break to exhibit their inherent talents under floodlights, here last night.

Both the events, though largely a part of the final-day proceedings of the Local Mahilpur Sporting Club’s fourth edition of the seven-a-side tournament, had different appeals for different sections of the crowd.

For the tiny tots in six to 13 age groups, their excitement was natural. They will not ordinarily get an opportunity to play under floodlights and that, too, in the presence of their more accomplished seniors and before a packed audience.

Though star-studded Panjaro won the tournament and a cash prize of Rs 21,000, heroes of the evening were these hundreds of future stars who made full use of the 10-minute lemon break to display their natural talent in dribbling, kicking and ball possession.

“We have achieved our objective,” says Gurkamal Bains, organising secretary of the tournament. If you can get so many tiny tots playing soccer at 10 at night, you have been successful in inculcating in them the love of the sport. It is happening on an evening when others are watching the World Cup games on their television sets.

Good quality football has generated lot of interest among youngsters here. The success of the tournament can be gauged from the fact that the number of participating village teams has swelled from eight in the first edition to 16 in the third. “Next year, we are being asked to hold a qualifying tournament as some other village teams in this football belt also want to enter their teams. We are still not decided,” adds Gurkamal Bains.

Poker-faced Jaspal Bhatti, who gave prizes to winners at the end of the seven-day rural football bonanza, was impressed so much by the turnout and the zeal shown by the youngsters during the break that he thought solution to the problem drug addiction was in the offing. “Such tournaments in some more villages and we will be rid of this menace,” he quipped besides spelling out hope that “if India is not there in the World Cup this time, it will be there once we have more and more such initiatives in sports nurseries.”

A brilliant goal in the second half by one of Indian international clinched the issue for Panjaro in a match that witnessed some exciting moves, superb ball control and good strikes at both goals. If Khairar, the losing finalists, could not draw parity, it was their bad luck for they, too, had good look at their opponents goals both at the end of the first half and midway in the second half.

Daljit Singh of Panjora was honoured with Parminder Hans Man of the tournament award.

Bathinda, June 13
Nirmal Singh Sekhon is a well-to-do farmer of Moga district, but these days he is camping at the railway station here and begging the migrant farm labour to accompany him to transplant paddy in his nearly 45-acre field.

Sekhon and several other affluent farmers from other districts of the Malwa belt rush towards the platform in the hope of influencing a few farm labourers whenever any train reaches here from UP, Delhi or Rajasthan.

However, their efforts have so far remained futile as the farm labourers were asking for anything between Rs 1,600 to Rs 1,900 and 5 kg of flour for transplanting on each acre. This was not affordable to the farmers, most of whom were camping at the railway station for the past three or more days.

Nirmal Singh said last year he had paid Rs 1,100 for transplantation of paddy on each acre. But this time because of labour shortage, the migrants were not only demanding high wages but also three meals every day, he said.

Another farmer, Malkiat Singh, who has come all the way from Sukhanand village in Moga district in search of labourers, cursed the Punjab government for having prohibited transplantation of paddy before June 10 that has put the farming community in trouble. When the government came out to fix the timing for transplantation, why has it failed to fix the wages for the farm labour to protect the farmers from exploitation at the hands of the migrants, he asked.

Mukhtiar Singh, a farmer from Gidder village in Bathinda district, cried that he had been sitting at the railway station since June 9 to get labour for his farm but his effort had remained futile. Dilraj Singh, a medium farmer from Moga, rued that central schemes like NREGA had resulted in reducing arrival of migrant farm labour to a trickle. The local labourers were also reluctant to undertake the tedious job of transplantation as they were getting free rations under various schemes.

A migrant labourer from Itawa in UP, Raju, said that he came here every year to work in agriculture farms. He had already fixed on phone to work in the farm of Tejinder Singh near Kot Kapura. Raju said that last season he had charged Rs 1,900 for transplanting paddy on each acre.

Fatehgarh Sahib, June 13
Hike in property prices has led to an increase in drug addiction cases as now both money and drugs are available in abundance.

An auto-rickshaw driver recently sold off his two-and-half-acres on Banur-Landran road for about Rs 3 crore. With the amount in bank, he still drives the three-wheeler but now he does not plead passengers to sit in his auto and drives only three hours in a day. He still consume country-made liquor but has increased its dose more than double.

“He has changed after selling the land. He could be seen drinking even in the morning while passengers tell him to drop them at their destinations,” said Suresh, another auto-rickshaw driver.

“Since prices of agricultural land as well as urban property has increased manifold, people addicted to drugs now feel more secure with the money and spend lavishly on drugs,” said Jaswant Singh, Senior Medical Officer at Fatehgarh Sahib Civil Hospital.

Recently, the government had acquired agricultural land in lieu of crores of rupees and many families have bought luxury cars and have left their jobs to enjoy the money.

“They consume drugs in their SUVs without any fear and many of them have developed relations with local politicians, police and other influential people owing to their recent windfall. Not only the youth, but also middle-aged and elderly could be seen roaming in luxury cars,” said Preetam, a shopkeeper on Sirhind-Landran road.

He said those residing in his village adjoining Landran now visit Chandigarh every evening for enjoyment.

Though Fatehgarh Sahib lacks drug de-addiction centre, doctors in the hospital said efforts were on to setup a full-fledged centre in the civil hospital soon. They said drug abuse had assumed an alarming proportion in rural areas with the rise in land prices. They added that people had been approaching them for the past few months to get rid of addiction. Most of them are addicted to poppy husk, opium, smack and other medicinal drugs.

Patiala, June 13
In alleged violations of the rules to benefit certain persons, the previous panchayat of Kalwanu village has donated shamlat land to a gaushala and officials of the Block Development and Panchayat Office of Pattran Block in Patiala district remained mute spectators. Making these accusations, representatives of an NGO — Naujawan Bharat Sabha — claimed that earlier the shamlat land was being used by the Dalits for dumping cowdung, but the previous panchayat used its influence, allegedly in connivance with the officials, and handed over the land to the gaushala.

State secretary of the NGO Raminder Singh said it was unfortunate that though they had taken up the matter with the district administration, nothing has been done in this regard. “We have met senior district administration functionaries regarding the issue and informed them about the alleged involvement of government employees as some records have been changed. Though the SDM was asked to look into the matter, but so far nothing concrete has come out”, he alleged.

The agitating sabha members stated that since February, they were pursuing the matter and had requested the authorities, including Deputy Commissioner Deepinder Singh, to direct the officials concerned to take necessary action and restore the land being used by the Dalit families. They said they had submitted a memorandum in this regard to DC two days ago and SDM Balraj Singh had been instructed to sort the issue out at the earliest by generating a consensus among both parties. “Hopefully, the matter would be resolved soon,” he assured further.

Chandigarh, June 13
The Punjab State Road Safety Council and vice-chairman of the Police State Apex Committee on Road Safety and Traffic Management Kamaljit Soi have urged the Centre that the 15 per cent toll collected should be given to Punjab for spending on road safety efforts. Soi made these observations during a meeting with AV Sinha, Director-General (DG) Road Development.

Expressing concern over the rise in fatal road accidents in Punjab, especially on highways, Soi said such accidents occurred due to poor safety measures. The agenda of the meeting was to discuss the sudden rise in accidents in the state.

Punjab being the second most fatal state as far as accidental deaths are concerned (as per latest NCRB figures) in the country with the 90 per cent fatality rate just after Nagaland.

Soi said six-laning of the National Highway Project from Panipat to Jalandhar did not have required safety measures. The DG promised him of immediate and stern action. It was also pointed out that the company had given contract for construction and maintenance of the road for 15 years should start coordinating with state agencies like the road safety council as it was the state’s responsibility to ensure safety of its citizens.

Soi further said bad toll management was leading to traffic jams. Lack of highway patrolling, recovery vans and ambulances was also brought to his notice.

Ropar, June 13
A district-level community policing resource centre members today called upon the masses to remain alert about any suspicious-looking person lurking in their .

This was done following arrest of a German spy near Bhakra Dam in Nangal. He had been posing as a sadhu.

SSP LK Yadav said vigilant citizens could help the police in identifying and informing about any person whose activities seem suspicious. He also laid emphasis that the people should be alert about the presence of doubtful persons.

The SSP stated that it was illegal to tour the area without valid passport or visa. Yadav said general public could give information on following numbers 01881-221273 and 9779464100 if they find suspicious activities were going on in their area. 

Kharar, June 13
Chandigarh Group of Colleges has undertaken an initiative to study effect of polluted water in the villages of Ferozepur district situated on Sutlej-Beas confluence.

For this, water samples from the confluence as well as hand pumps of Rasulpur village of Makhu block in Ferozepur district have already been taken. Rasulpur village lies about 5-7 km from the Harike barrage.

“There are no elders left in our village. People in nearby villages are suffering from life threatening ailments like hepatitis and cancer. We no longer have the large number of cattle that we once boasted of. We think that highly polluted ground water is wreaking havoc on people in our village,” said college chairman Satnam Singh Sandhu, who belongs to village Rasulpur.

He reasoned that both rivers carry industrial and sewage pollution of not only Punjab but that of Himachal Pradesh.

“Before the water is further released to Rajasthan, it is collected at the confluence near our village. This means that the polluted water gets collected in our villages and we drink the same leading to diseases. Not just talking on speculations, we decided to conduct proper study,” Sandhu added.

The pharmacy college of group has been roped in for conducting the study and samples would be checked at Punjab Biotechnology Center, Mohali.

Interestingly, ground water in these villages is just 80-90 feet as compared to 300 feet in many parts of the state. While the villagers feel pride in telling that their hand pumps have never run dry, Sandhu feels that the same pumps are spewing out water laden with toxic waste .

The Malwa belt is already reeling under cancer crisis with large number cases being reported every year.

Fatehgarh Sahib, June 13
The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) has signed as MoU with Sheriden College Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning, Canada.

A delegation comprising SGPC secretary Dalmegh Singh, SGPC director (education) Gurmohan Singh Walia and principal, Mata Gujri College, Fatehgarh Sahib, Dr Jatinder Singh Sidhu was welcomed by Jeff Zabudsky in the Oakville campus of Sheridan institute.

The MoU stipulates possibilities of joint cooperation and collaboration in education and research through exchange of ideas, expertise and joint endeavours. Both Sheridan and the SGPC have decided upon academic programmes in three courses - Advanced Diploma in Business Administration and Accounting, advance diploma in electronics engineering technician and Bachelor in Applied Information Sciences (Information Systems Security). — TNS