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Harsher punishment likely for petty crimes
Punjab Termination of Agreements Act
Now, marginal farmers can improve buffalo stock
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Rural docs threaten to close dispensaries
Four-laning of road up to Attari border complete
Scheme to turn garbage into fuel
Residents get respite from power cuts
5-yr-old addicted to poppy husk
‘Big sales return to small shops’
Emulate Hazara Singh: Dr Upinderjeet
Lal Singh is opportunist, says Bir Devinder
Award for Laxmi Kanta
Wrong info proves fatal
Suspected dowry death: In-laws booked
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Harsher punishment likely for petty crimes
Chandigarh, June 16 Sources said law-enforcing agencies had been since long feeling the need to introduce a sub-section in the IPC dealing with theft. Section 378, IPC, defines theft and section 379 deals with the punishment for theft. At present as per the provision of Section 379, whoever commits theft shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to three years, or with fine, or with both. With the introduction of Section 379-A, the quantum of punishment would increase. After the state Cabinet, chaired by CM Parkash Singh Badal, gives a nod to the introduction of sub-section 379-A, Punjab will have to seek an approval of the President, the IPC being a central Act. Motorcycle gangs of chain snatchers have been on the rise in Punjab with the police finding it almost impossible to manage them. Even after some of them were arrested, they were freed by the court. Recently the Ludhiana police busted a gang of motorcycle-borne “snatchers”, led by a woman. But in most cases of chain/ purse /mobile snatching, etc, the police could not make a foolproof case of theft as a result of which there was hardly any conviction. In many of these cases, the police presented challans in court under section 382, IPC, that also deals with “theft after preparation made for causing death, hurt or restraint in order to the committing of the theft”. But invariably, the defence council would find holes in police version and help evade conviction for the accused. Once section 379-A comes into force, it will lead to better conviction rates. Besides, the Punjab Cabinet that will meet at 4.30 pm at the Punjab Bhawan here tomorrow is all set to give a nod to increase in VAT on tobacco and tobacco products from 12.5 per cent to 20 per cent. Further, the Cabinet is likely to regularise services of about 800 Punjab Police constables that had been recruited earlier. There are a total of 28 items on the agenda that include transfer of jail land for other use, policy on power generation etc.
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Punjab Termination of Agreements Act
Jalandhar, June 16 Sources said the Supreme Court had asked all states concerned to appear before it on July 13 to decide a mutually convenient date to start the regular hearing for arguments in the case. The constitutional bench headed by Chief Justice SH Kapadia will hear the case. “We are fully prepared to argue the case before the Supreme Court. It will decide on July 13 when regular hearing in the case will start,” said Rupinder Singh Suri, an advocate, who will be one of the lawyers to represent the state in the Supreme Court. Advocates expect that the regular hearing will start some days after July 13. In the reference, four questions were referred to the Supreme Court to seek its opinion. They were: Whether the Punjab Termination of Agreements Act, 2004, and the provisions thereof are in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution of India? Whether the Punjab Termination of Agreements Act, 2004, and the provisions thereof are in accordance with the provisions of Section 14 of the Inter-State Water Disputes Act, 1956, Section 78 of the Punjab Reorganisation Act, 1966, and the notification dated March 24, 1976, issued thereunder? Whether the state of Punjab has validly terminated the agreement dated December 31, 1981, and all other agreements relating to the Ravi, Beas waters and is discharged from its obligation under the said agreement(s) and whether in view of the provisions of the Act, the state of Punjab is discharged from its obligations flowing from the judgment and decree dated January 15, 2002, and the judgment and order dated June 4, 2004, of the Supreme Court? The sources said at the core committee meeting, some of the senior Akali leaders suggested that an all-party meeting be convened to discuss various issues related to this sensitive issue. However, a final decision in this regard had not been taken yet. Akali leaders have argued that even Capt Amarinder Singh, who as a Chief Minister had led from the front to get the Termination of Agreements Act enacted, had also convened two all-party meetings — one in February 2003 and other on June 12, 2004. The next few weeks are crucial for Punjab and Haryana, the main parties to the dispute on river waters. Sources said the recording of evidence with regard to Haryana’s Hansi-Butana link canal, the construction of which has been challenged by Punjab, would start in the last week of this month in the Supreme Court.
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Now, marginal farmers can improve buffalo stock
Chandigarh, June 16 The JK Trust, which along with the Bharatiya Agro Industries Foundation (BAIF), has been given the job of establishing 300 integrated buffalo development centres in the first phase of the project, has recruited 104 unemployed matriculates for this purpose. Explaining the scheme, Punjab State Farmers Commission chairman Dr GS Kalkat said both trusts had been asked to recruit local youth, who would reside in the service centres established by the organisations. The youth, who have been taken for a four-month intensive training course to Maharashtra post-recruitment by the JK Trust, will provide artificial insemination facility on the doorstep of a farmer when needed besides other medical help.Each youth would be equipped with a liquid nitrogen cylinder along with semen straws, a motorcycle and a mobile. He said it had been revealed that the inability of service providers to reach farmers when needed was the main reason for the failure of the artificial insemination process. Initially, the project will establish service centres in 300 villages with each service centre catering to four to five villages. In the first year, service centres will be established in 200 villages and Rs 9 crore has already been transferred to Milkfed (Punjab State Cooperative Milk Producers’ Federation Limited) for this purpose. The scheme will eventually result in the establishment of 600 centres over five years at a cost of Rs 60 crore. Farmers’ commission consultant Dr Anil Kaura said initially 100 centres would be set up in the kandi area, 100 in the border belt and 100 in the trans-Ghaggar area comprising the Patiala-Dera Bassi area as well as waterlogged areas in Malout and Muktsar. The project would be gradually implemented across the state. Dairy experts have for some time felt that while dairy farming models have been implemented successfully in Punjab through the introduction of high yielding crossbred cows, something needed to be done to improve the milk yield of marginal farmers who keep only one or two buffaloes. The scheme envisages increasing the average milk yield of buffaloes in the state from the present 4 l per day to 10 to 12 l per day in 10 years time through artificial insemination with the semen obtained from genetically superior European breeding bulls.
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Rural docs threaten to close dispensaries
Ludhiana, June 16 Serving an ultimatum to the government after a meeting of the Rural Medical Services Association (RMSA), Punjab, here, its president Dr Aslam Parvez alleged that the government had been treating RMOs shabbily and their demand for regularising doctors employed on a contract basis was not being taken seriously. “If our pending demands, including the regularisation of RMOs, were not accepted by the month-end, we will shut down all rural dispensaries working under the zila parishads from July 1,” he added. He further said the RMSA was opposed to the re-employment of specialists after superannuation. He said this decision would affect the future prospects of young doctors. According to Dr Parvez, the state Finance Department also seemed to be turning a blind eye towards the core area of the rural
health and those who were providing healthcare facilities to the rural population. In an arbitrary manner, the department had returned a file to the Rural Development Department putting down the demand of increasing the salary of nearly 400 rural doctors working as RMOs under zila parishads, who had completed their contract on May 2009, while those joining afresh after January 2010 would get increased salary.
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Head of dera held, big arms cache recovered
Amritsar, June 16 This morning, Assistant Inspector-General (AIG) Manminder Singh announced that Sukha was arrested yesterday with a cache of lethal weapons, including RDX, one sub-machine gun, an AK-47 rifle, a .30-bore pistol besides magazines and plenty of cartridges for each weapon. The AIG said the accused was arrested following a tip-off received by the Jalandhar police that he had been seen in the Ratangarh area of Khalchian. Subsequently, the police laid a naka on the Ratangarh-Khalchian road, which bore desirable result, he added. The accused, father of three, was heading a religious dera. “His interrogation led to seizure of one AK-47 rifle along with four magazines and 190 cartridges, a sub-machine gun along with two magazines and 100 cartridges and two .30-bore pistols along with four magazines and 80 cartridges besides 1.4 kg RDX,” he added. He said the lethal weapons were buried at the backside of the house in Ratangarh village. When asked about the motive behind keeping lethal weapons and planting of IED at a roadside in the city, the AIG said it was yet to be known. Admitting that the accused had been visiting Pakistan more or less regularly along with the religious groups for pilgrimage since 2001, he said his links with terror organisations were yet to be ascertained. “During the preliminary interrogation, Sukha confessed that he along with two other associates received the consignments of RDX, arms and ammunition,” he added. Investigations were being conducted to know the source of the consignments and unearth the nexus with militants and smugglers.
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Four-laning of road up to Attari border complete
Amritsar, June 16 The project was initiated by the National Highway Authority of India
(NHAI). The four-laning of the Amritsar-Jalandhar stretch of the highway, however, has already started affecting over 1.5 lakh tourists who visit the holy city daily to pay obeisance at the Golden Temple and the Durgiana Temple. Already hit by rising costs of the fuel, the tourists, most of whom visit the city in their own or hired vehicles, have to shell out heavy amounts of money at the two toll tax barriers between Jalandhar and
Amritsar. At least, the Central and state governments should have spared pilgrims from bearing this additional burden on their pockets. “After reviewing the status of the work with officials of the NHAI and Rohan and Rajdeep Toll Roads Limited, I have found that the stretch of the road has got completed. The Rs 205.88-crore project commenced in June 2008 and the completion is well within the stipulated deadline of two years. As per the agreement, 35.9 km road was to be four- laned along with the construction of seven bridges, one underpass on the airport junction and 37 culverts at various points,” said Deputy Commissioner KS
Pannu, who inspected the stretch along with officials of the NHAI and that of the private construction company. The commuters have been facing a lot of difficulties on account of the construction of the stretch of the road for the past about two years. There have been frequent diversions of traffic and traffic bottlenecks on the stretch. “The road is now open for public. The major benefit will be that now there will be lesser accidents on the stretch. This was the second major road-widening project in the holy city after
four-laning of the Dhilwan-Amritsar stretch of the highway at a cost of Rs 290
crore,” said Pannu. The 50-km long Dhilwan-Amritsar stretch was opened for public use in April.
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Bumpy ride on Patiala roads
Patiala, June 16 The roads in some areas are potholed, thus making the commuters vulnerable to accidents, especially during night hours. But, the civic authorities appear completely unconcerned about the problem, as repeated requests for their repair have gone unheard. A visit to various city areas, including Punjabi
Bagh, Model Town, Sewak Colony, Lal Bagh, Nabha Gate, Sherawala Gate lane, Chhoti
Baradari, Rajpura Road stretch from railway station to bus stand and Rajpura Colony, says its all about the dilapidated roads. And once one enters the inside lanes in Model Town, potholes are more visible than the metalled patches. “Though Patiala may bear the tag of being the royal city, it is really a sorry state of affairs when it comes to city roads. The roads in the Model Town are in such a bad condition that the big potholes at every inch of road can be spotted,” said an area resident, Satnam Singh. He added that there were some roads in the area whose construction had been left midway. Flaying the nonchalant attitude of the
PMC, Lal Bagh resident Rakesh Kumar said the roads were last repaired three years ago. “We have made several requests to the PMC officials for re-carpeting of the roads and doing the patchwork but to no avail,” said Avtar Singh, a resident of Sewak Colony. The bad condition of the main road alongside main Bus Stand, used by hundreds of commuters daily, also speaks about the apathetic attitude of the authorities. “The condition of roads in some areas had gone from bad to worse over the years but civic authorities had paid no attention to repair work,” rued residents of Chhoti
Baradari. And with big potholes all over, water accumulates on the roads whenever there is rain, thus compounding the worries of the commuters. Mayor Ajit Pal Singh Kohli said he was aware of the problem. “The work of laying premix amounting to Rs 3.5 crore and Rs 1 crore would be undertaken by PUDA and Patiala MC, respectively. As far as the patch work is concerned, it is an ongoing process and presently it has been stopped because of the rains,” he added.
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Vegetables injected with chemicals to increase size
Ferozepur, June 16 Consumption of such vegetables, which are being grown in various parts of the district, has made the residents’ lives worse. The menace connected with the injection of various chemicals into vegetables, which cause deformities and cancer in human beings, came to light in a number of villages of the district where the growers have been injecting Oxytocin into vegetables and fruits to get more yield and bigger size. KK Yadav, Deputy Commissioner, ordered a probe after coming to know about this problem. He said he had asked the district health authorities to inquire into the matter. “We have been injecting chemicals in the plants during the growth of vegetables so that vegetables and fruits could give a fresh and attractive look to the customers,” said Taranjeet Singh (name changed), a vegetable grower, on condition of anonymity and not disclosing the name of his village. “People want to buy fresh-looking vegetables, hence we use this method as we find it expensive to use fertilisers to increase the fertility of soil,” said Mokham Singh, another vegetable grower. These growers have also been using other harmful chemicals apart from Oxytocin. The packets of some of the chemicals, which were being used by them, did not carry any wrapper on which the brand name or details of contents were written.
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Scheme to turn garbage into fuel
Chandigarh, June 16 In a press release issued here, Kalia said the State Department of Local Government had worked out a comprehensive scheme under which garbage would be collected from every urban house, segregated, processed at a central place, turned into fuel for power generation or compost for agricultural use and disposed of scientifically. The minister said the entire state had been divided into eight clusters and each cluster would be developed into a viable solid waste management project to be operated in a public-private partnership mode. Under the project, all urban local bodies (ULBs) of the state, including five municipal corporations of Amritsar, Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Patiala and Bathinda, have been clubbed into eight clusters. These clusters are: Amritsar, Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Ferozepur, Bathinda, Pathankot, Patiala and GMADA. They will include adjoining urban local bodies. Kalia said the State Department of Local Government had completed all formalities and paper work and the bidding process had already been initiated for three clusters -- Jalandhar, Ludhiana and Ferozepur. He said collection and transportation of garbage in Jalandhar would begin by December 2010. The Ludhiana project would be awarded by January 2011 and the collection and transportation of garbage would begin by March 2011. Similarly, other remaining projects were expected to be operational by the end of March 2011. Private parties against a nominal tipping fee would undertake the door-to-door collection segregation, processing and disposal of garbage. The minister added that the government would try to make this free once the project begins to generate money.
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Residents get respite from power cuts
Patiala, June 16 Powercom CMD KD Chaudhry claimed that it was a big achievement for them as the paddy season was on and no power cuts were imposed in the state. Earlier, the state used to face long power cuts in June, he added. “Last year, the people of the state had to bear the brunt of seven-hour power cuts. But this year, there has been an improvement in power supply to consumers. Though we had declared three-hour power cuts for the paddy season, due to an efficient management, Powercom is supplying 24-hour power to consumers,” he added. The CMD further said power demand on June 16 last year was 1,400 lakh units, whereas this year, the demand was 1,568 lakh units. He claimed that Powercom was managing to meet this demand. He clarified that if there was any power cut, it must be on account of some snag or maintenance activity. The CMD said except in the areas of overloaded grid substations, over eight-hour power supply was ensured to the farm sector. He, however, added that since this year power demand was more than the last year, a sudden spurt in demand might force the management to impose a few power cuts. “This year emphasis has been laid on the better management of the distribution system to avoid breakdowns,” said a Powercom spokesman, adding that the CMD was convening regular meetings with the HoDs (Powercom). Meanwhile, the CMD has cautioned officials that they should discharge their duties diligently and in case anyone found showing laxity towards work, a strict action would be initiated.
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5-yr-old addicted to poppy husk
Ropar, June 16 Undergoing treatment at a drug de-addiction centre in Malwa, parents of the girl disclosed that they came to know about her addiction five months back. “At that time, we thought it will be over soon. But later, we realised that the girl refused to abandon her addiction despite continuous nagging, offer of toys, chocolates and even severe beating,” said parents of the girl. The parents, belonging to Ganganagar in Rajasthan, said poppy husk was available in abundance there and was available at vends just like liquor vends in Punjab. They used to hide poppy husk in bags for sale in border districts of Punjab. Their daughter, being alone at home, began to take a pinch of poppy husk secretly and soon got hooked to it. Like this girl, there are many other children, who too are addicted to various kinds of drugs. Children, most of them from poor backgrounds or rag pickers are addicted to sniffing of fluid, tobacco chewing and cigarette smoking and not many of them get admitted to drug de-addiction centres. “I have not treated a child below the age of 15 so far. There may be children consuming some kind of drugs even below 15, but they never visit drug de-addiction centre as their parents think that their child will give once he is grown up,” said psychiatrist at Ropar Civil Hospital Dr Harinder Singh. He said the family members either take away their child to other places for sensitisation or simply put him under house arrest, but never come to drug de-addiction centres. Even the adolescents do not come openly at de-addiction centres and prefer to meet doctors secretly due to social stigma associated with a drug addict. He said the 5-year-old girl seems to be an exception, but children could be seen experimenting with drugs at the age of 10 or 15. Many of such children die without medical aid even before attaining 25 years of age. They fail to come out of the vicious cycle of drugs and either dies of an overdose or commit suicide due to various reasons. Lack of practical advice to schoolchildren and their parents, no government help and lack of professional drug de-addiction centres has lead to increase in the number of the young drug addicts. Such children seem to be older as compared to their equals due to addiction. “Children feel that they may quit anytime, as they are just trying a bit of drugs. But they fail to understand later when they got completely hooked to,” said Dr Vandana, who is counseling the 5-year-old girl addicted to poppy husk and her parents.
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‘Big sales return to small shops’
Fatehgarh Sahib, June 16 The study compared the sales and profits of organised retail outlets and unorganised retailers in urban and semi-urban areas with the opening of big malls. It was found that when the malls opened, initially people were quite attracted by them, which in turn hit the sales of small-time shopkeepers. However, with time consumer’s interest in big retail outlets has considerably reduced. Now, it’s mostly youngsters, who visit these malls and
outlets. Kuldip Singh, who conducted the study, said the entry of organised retailers had brought down sales of small-time shopkeepers by around 4 per cent, but these were now looking up again. The overall consumption pattern of consumers also did not change during this period and they still buy general and daily-use items from shops, instead of big malls or organised retail outlets.
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Emulate Hazara Singh: Dr Upinderjeet
Patiala, June 16 The minister expressed these views during a visit to the house of the scholar who recently passed away. Kaur also met Hazara Singh’s daughters — Karminder Kaur, Tejinder Kaur, Yadvinder Kaur and Supreet Kaur — and
other family members and recalled his contribution towards Punjabi language. Hazara Singh was also the editor of a Punjabi newspaper ‘Sarv Kala Pandarwara.’ Talking about his achievements, the minister said Singh’s students were working
on high posts in the country and abroad.
“He dedicated his life for the welfare of the society and contributed a lot towards its betterment,” she said. “Till his last breath, he used to ride a bicycle and visit the houses of various students for providing free tuitions in Punjabi. We must take inspiration from his life and try to do whatever possible to save out mother tongue,”
she added.
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Lal Singh is opportunist, says Bir Devinder
Speaking to mediapersons at his Patiala residence, Bir Devinder, who left the Congress in April 2009 to join the SAD, said during Amarinder’s tenure as the CM, Lal Singh used to provide him vital information about Amarinder’s activities. In a virtual outburst against Lal Singh, Bir Devinder said former should explain the failure of the Congress for not been able to generate a single unit of power during the previous Congress regime in the state. While claiming that he still enjoys good relations with AICC president Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, he said, “I am still capable of establishing contact with Gandhi family and if, at all, I will have to come back in the Congress, I do not need Amarinder and Lal Singh.” Replying to media queries about his future course of action, Bir Devinder, who had recently announced that he would not contest polls on the Akali ticket, stated that he was not an advocate of the policies of the SAD, but added that he had no grudges with the Badal’s. “As far as my political career is concerned, all options are open and I am in touch with my supporters. Soon, my next action would be known to people of Punjab,” he concluded.
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Award for Laxmi Kanta
Chandigarh, June 16 During the past few years, Sadhvi Ritambhara, athlete PT Usha and Nazma Heptullah have been among the few renowned female personalities that have received this award. On June 18 in the year 1857, freedom fighters fought with the Britishers in Gwalior. The fair is organised as a mark of respect to those freedom fighters. Prof Chawla will visit Gwalior on June 18 to receive this award.
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Wrong info proves fatal Patiala, June 16 He hailed from Adaltiwala village and was brilliant in studies. He was studying at Guru Nanak Dev Ji School at Devigarh. According to villagers, when Harmeet got to know that he had failed, he could not believe it and ended his life under depression. Villagers tried to locate the body, but failed to do so. They called divers, who finally took out the body from the Ghaggar.
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Suspected dowry death: In-laws booked
Malerkotla, June 16 According to information, Jaswant Singh of Bhogiwal village had stated that his daughter Sarabjit Kaur was in a critical condition with over 90 per cent burns. She was taken to the local Civil Hospital on Monday. However, doctors referred Sarabjit to Rajindra Hospital, Patiala, where she succumbed to her injuries on Monday night. SHO Amritpal Singh said a case of abetment to suicide under Section 306 of the IPC had been registered against the deceased’s husband, Karamjit Singh, her father-in-law Mohider Singh, mother-in-law Amarjit Kaur and sisters-in-law Manpreet Kaur and Komalpreet Kaur, all residents of
Nabha.
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Patiala, June 16