Jalandhar, June 21
The Jalandhar regional centre of Mahatma Gandhi State Institute of Public Administration Punjab (MGSIPAP) will hold series of programmes to train heads of different government departments and other officials of the seven districts falling under Jalandhar division about different rules to improve their efficiency.

MGSIPAP Director General BK Srivastava stated this while talking to The Tribune soon after presiding over a meeting of different heads of government departments and other officials at the regional centre of MGSIPAP located in the office building of Director Land Records on Kapurthala road here today.

Srivastava, accompanied by adviser of regional centre of MGSIPAP and former Chief Secretary NK Arora and Jalandhar Divisional Commissioner and its regional Deputy Director SR Ladhar, further said it would be finalised after due consideration when and what type of training should be imparted to officials of different government departments of the division.

Earlier, addressing the meeting Arora emphasised the need of such training programmes for better performance in serving the general public. Speaking on the occasion, Ladhar stressed the requirement of recommending the state government through MGSIPAP to do away with several outdated rules. Expressing his views, Jalandhar DC Priyank Bharti asked MGSIPAP to make arrangements to provide soft copies of different rules including Punjab Financial Rules.

Kapurthala DC Raj Kamal Chaudhary, Hoshiarpur DC Meghraj, Tarntaran DC Khushi Ram, Nawanshahr DC Shruti Singh, Gurdaspur DC Prithi Chand, Jalandhar MC Commissioner Vinay Bublani, JDA Chief Administrator Parveen Kumar, Assistant Labour Commissioner Inderjeet Singh, Conservator of Forests Jarnail Singh and Deputy Director Horticulture Sukhbir Singh also expressed their views on the occasion.

Jalandhar, June 21
In the wake of various unresolved issues and intra-party fights, the state executive of the BJP will meet here tomorrow. The meeting is expected to be stormy keeping in view a lot of dirty linen washed in public by senior leaders of the party a few weeks ago.

The bad blood created between Health Minister Laxmi Kanta Chawla and former Chief Parliamentary Secretary Jagdish Sahni continues to bother the leadership.

Earlier, the state leadership was expecting that the issue would be resolved by the party high command at its Patna meet but nothing happened there in this regard. It is believed that high command has told the state leadership to resolve the issue at their own level.

Sahni has been pressing the party that while he has been shown the door, no action has been taken against Chawla who allegedly targeted his doctor relatives.

As the issue continued to flare up with each consecutive day, the state party chief Ashwini Sharma remained by and large a mute spectator.

Most party leaders have been saying that while his predecessor Rajinder Bhandari was vocal on most of the issues, Sharma prefers to remain silent even on the most important issues concerning public. He has not uttered a word with regard to lengthy power cuts faced by the people in scorching heat.

The party, instead of showing a united face, appears to be more like a divided house with leaders rather bent on settling scores with one another. The leaders seem to have lost their focus in the race for supremacy.

The meeting is likely to be attended by 140 party leaders including state ministers, MPs, MLAs, national leader Balbir Punj, former MP Avinash Rai Khanna. The meeting, to be held at Adarsh Palace on Kapurthala Chowk, will conclude with the staging of a play, which will be a mockery on PM’s statement regarding raising the country’s GDP to 10 per cent.

A workers’ meet will be held at JC Resorts on Pathankot Bypass day after. Over 1000 workers are likely to attend the meeting. The idea is to gear up the workers for assembly polls which are just one and a half year away, said Jalandhar district president, Subhash Sood, while announcing the programme at a press meeting here this afternoon.

Gurdaspur, June 21
Members of the Gurdaspur District Congress Committee staged a rally in front of the Deputy Commissioner’s office in protest against the alleged atrocities being committed by a minister and two MLAs of this district against Congress supporters.

The Congressmen, led by Punjab Pardesh Congress Committee spokesman and senior Congress leader Fateh Jung Singh Bajwa, assembled at the Congress Bhawan before they moved in a procession towards the DC’s office. After staging a protest rally and delivering fiery speeches, the demonstrators handed over a memorandum addressed to the Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal to the DC.

Bajwa alleged that a Congress supporter Amarinder Singh and his brother were booked at the instance of Public Relations Minister Sewa Singh Sekhwan. He added that another Congress supporter Tilak Raj and his wife were booked in criminal cases allegedly on the instructions of Qadian MLA Lakhbir Singh Lodhinangal.

Bajwa claimed that in yet another case of “high handedness” by the police, a Congress supporter Gumeet Singh Pahra was booked because of his differences with Gurdaspur MLA Gurbachan Singh Babbehali.

He said they had requested the Chief Minister to take action against Public Relations Minister Sewa Singh Sekhwan and MLAs G.S Babbehali and Lakhbir Singh Lodhinangal.

Jalandhar, June 21
Members of the All-India Passport Employees Association today started a three-day lunchtime peaceful demonstration in protest against the privatisation in passport offices across the nation.

Employees are forcing upon government to roll back its decision through which it invited a private firm to accept passport application forms in the passport offices. Members of the association also threaten to protest by going bald on June 25 and planning to go on hunger strike on June 28 at the association headquarters in New Delhi. — TNS