All-Party Meeting on River Waters
Cong to decide after invitation
Chandigarh, June 21
The Punjab Congress today said it stood by the decision of the former Amarinder Singh-led government to terminate all river water agreements and that it would decide on attending a proposed all- party meeting on the issue as and when the invitation came.

Bhokhra (Bathinda), June 21
Accusing the Chief Minister and higher authorities of the state Education Department of ditching them, about a dozen activists of the Alternative Innovative Education (AIE) Teachers’ Union again climbed atop a nearly 90-feet high overhead water tank at Bhokhra village today.

Meanwhile, their colleagues (in hundreds) also launched an indefinite dharna and kept the Bathinda-Amritsar national highway (NH-15) blocked till the filing of this report (late evening).

The protesters claimed that after they protested atop a 100-feet high water tank located on the Bathinda-Muktsar road on June 10, the administration had pacified them by arranging a meeting with the Chief Minister on June 14.

“At the scheduled meeting, the Chief Minister had directed the higher authorities of the Education Department to issue a notification of our admission to the Elementary Teachers’ Training (ETT) course without any entrance test. Today our representatives visited Chandigarh to attend the scheduled meeting, but the officials flatly refused to accept the demand and even misbehaved with them, which led us to take this step,” alleged the agitators.

On the other hand, the incident exposed another failure of intelligence officials.

The protesters had assembled at Teachers’ Home, Bathinda, in the morning. After receiving a call from their president, who was at Chandigarh, they moved towards the water tanks of Bhokhra village, located about 8 km from there. Ironically, no police official took notice till the protesters climbed atop the tank and blocked the national highway.

Speaking to The Tribune, the SHO, Nehianwala, Gurpreet Singh, said, “I had no information from the intelligence officials. I was on a general surveillance visit in my area, when I found all this happened.”

Meanwhile, speaking on the phone from Chandigarh, state president of the AIE Teachers’ Union Swarna Rani said, “The CM and education officials ditched us as it was promised that all formalities would be completed till today and a notification would be issued but when we visited the Director- General of School Education (DGSE), he refused to pay heed to our demand, saying that no formality had been completed and that it required a lot of time.”

On the other hand, three agitators, including two agitating girls (atop the water tank), poured kerosene over themselves and threatened to set themselves ablaze, stating that they would not relent till the government issued a notification.

Till the filing of this report, neither the Deputy Commissioner nor the Senior Superintendent of Police had reached the spot. 

Moga, June 21
At least seven Punjabi youths were traced today locked up in a Dubai jail, facing charges of murder and smuggling of liquor. Out of them, two have been convicted to 25 years of imprisonment each in a murder case.

Stating this exclusively to The Tribune, Karnail Singh Peer Mohammad, President of the All-India Sikh Students’ Federation, said that Paramjit Singh, son of Balbir Singh, a resident of Tatle village falling under the Kanuwan block of Gurdaspur district, and Jaswant Singh (address not known) had been convicted to 25 years of imprisonment each in a murder case.

Adding that a Punjabi youth was allegedly murdered about two years back, he said the two had been punished without giving them a chance to defend themselves.

The other five youths have been identified as Talwinder Singh, son of Avtar Singh, a resident of Kapurthala town, Harbhajan Singh, son of Balwant Singh (address not known), Pardip Kumar, son of Jeet Ram, a resident of Jagraon, Ludhiana, Kashmiri Lal, son of Gurdial Ram, a resident of Jhande Bir village, Nawan Shahar district, and Tarlochan Singh, son of Surinder Singh, a resident of Sakrauli village, falling under the Mhalpur block of Hoshiarpur district.

The next date of hearing in the smuggling case against these five youths has been fixed at July 4 in a Dubai court, said Baljit Singh, in charge of the Dubai unit of the AISSF, who traced these youths.

Meanwhile, at home, Inderjit Singh Jugnu, general secretary of the youth wing of the SAD, who is the brother of Talwinder Singh, while talking to The Tribune said that his brother went to Dubai three years ago through a company agent who gave him a job.

He said when the validity date of his passport expired, the local authorities arrested him in March-April 2009 and implicated him in a case of liquor smuggling along with some other Punjabi youths.

“Four days ago when Talwinder called me up, he said that murder charges had also been slapped on him,” added Inderjit Singh.

Gurdial Singh, father of Tarlochan Singh, who is working as a constable in the state police, while talking to this correspondent said that he got a phone call from his son from the Dubai jail yesterday. “My son told me that he had been implicated in a false case of murder, the details of which had not been given to him,” he said.

Adding that he sent his son to the UAE in 2006 through a company agent who offered him a job, he said a couple of years after that, he was thrown out of the job without assigning any reasons and his passport was also not given back to him.

“My son managed to get another job but one day in September 2008 when he was sitting in a restaurant having dinner, he was picked up by the police and since then he is in the Dubai jail,” he added. He said he had sent many letters to the Indian embassy in Dubai but officials refused to accept his letter and returned them.

Peer Mohammad, while claiming that more than 250 youths were lodged in different jails in the UAE, demanded from the state government to set up a special committee so that it could visit the UAE and inquire into the charges slapped on the Punjabi youths. 

Bathinda, June 21
The overhead water tanks have become a headache for the bureaucracy in Punjab as the anti-government agitators have discovered the new protest method of climbing the high water structures and threatening to jump down in case their demands were not met.

This has become a routine feature particularly in the Bathinda area where protesting employees and unemployed youth resort to this path almost every second day to attract the attention of the government towards their plight.

Today it was again the Alternate Innovative Education (AIE) teachers who climbed a water tank on the Bathinda-Amritsar road to protest against the failure of their talks with the authorities. Three protesters, including two female teachers, made an attempt at self-immolation as the protest stretched till late in the evening. The AIE volunteers also blocked the highway as some of them squatted on the road.

The district administration, including the Deputy Commissioner and the Senior Superintendent of Police, along with their entire paraphernalia had to leave their official work and camp on the spot to prevent any untoward incident.

This has been happening here very frequently and the administration is left with no alternative but to reach the spot and persuade the protesters to climb down.

It was a virtual ‘tamasha’ last week as residents of the town turned out in large numbers to witness two groups ---unemployed linemen and unemployed veterinary pharmacists --- who took positions on two separate water structures at Gol-Dikki in the heart of the town and remained there for more than 30 hours in support of their demand that the government should immediately employ them.

The functioning of the offices of the DC, ADC, SDM and SSP here remained paralysed as the officers had to camp at the spot until the protesters climbed down.

The brunt of the incident was faced by the police as the SHO of the Kotwali police station was suspended for the lapse of not having taken steps to prevent the protesters from climbing the water tanks.

The AIE teachers had about a fortnight ago climbed a water tank on the road to Muktsar, which is the home town of Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal. They were persuaded to come down by the district authorities that arranged their meeting with the Chief Minister.

A woman teacher of the Education Guarantee Scheme (EGS) who immolated herself in support of her demands in Malerkotla a couple of months ago introduced this method of protest. The state government released an ex-gratia relief of Rs 10 lakh to her kin and a job to one of her relatives.

The government functionaries were busy getting walls built around the overhead water tanks in the town and around. However, the protesters this afternoon climbed an isolated tank on the side of the highway.

Instead of attending to complaints of crimes of a serious nature, police personnel have been deployed at the water tanks to prevent protesters from climbing up.

Employee leaders say that such protests will further increase as the Assembly elections in the state approach nearer.

Chandigarh, June 21
The Punjab Congress today said it stood by the decision of the former Amarinder Singh-led government to terminate all river water agreements and that it would decide on attending a proposed all- party meeting on the issue as and when the invitation came.

However, taking a partially different stand, former Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, who claimed he was not invited to the party meeting held here today on this issue, said an all-party meeting would not serve any purpose. “What is the need to go in for an all-party meeting?” he said, adding the Congress had watched the interests of the state with its Assembly passing the “Punjab Termination of Water Act”.

Amarinder Singh said now it was up to the SAD-BJP government to protect the interests of the state during the hearing of the Presidential reference on the act by the Supreme Court from July 4 onwards.

In a separate statement released by Amarinder Singh’s aide, Karanpal Singh Sekhon, the former CM also alleged that Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal’s past history had always been of doing anything that would safeguard his personal interests, if need be to the extent of supporting the interests of Haryana. “This has been his modus operandi in the past keeping in mind his friendship with the Chautalas”, he added.

A small group of the state Congress, including some legislators and office- bearers, met under the leadership of state party president Mohinder Singh Kaypee at Congress Bhawan here today.

Talking to TNS about the meeting Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Rajinder Kaur Bhattal said the party had not received any invitation from the SAD-BJP government to participate in an all-party meeting on the river waters issue. She said the party would take a decision on whether to participate in any such meeting when the invitation was extended.

The CLP leader maintained that the earlier Amarinder-led Congress government had protected the interests of the state and that the people had little faith in the SAD-BJP government doing the same. “In fact, they have always looked after the interests of other states”, she added.

Bhattal said the Pradesh Congress had meanwhile formed a committee under its legal expert, Naseeb Singh Gill, who would give his report on the legal remedies that could be pursued in the case in a few days. The party also invited water expert PS Kumedan to participate in the discussions today.

Chandigarh, June 21
The Primary Agriculture Cooperative Societies (PACS) in the state will soon be running gas agencies for supply of LPG to rural households. Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal has written to Union Petroleum Minister Murli Deora to direct oil companies to provide distribution of the LPG to the PACS through the Department Of Cooperation, Punjab.

The Chief Minister has added that there was a great demand for the supply of LPG in the rural areas, but the distribution network in these areas was grossly inadequate.

“The people living in the rural areas are forced to burn wood that results in the environmental pollution,” added the Chief Minister in his letter.

He has further pointed out that the state had a dynamic network of agriculture cooperative societies covering almost the entire rural population of the state. Many of these had been declared as multipurpose cooperative societies and were undertaking multifarious business activities to enhance the income of their members in addition to their traditional role of supply of agricultural inputs.

“I feel that the network of the PACS in the state can be effectively used for the supply of the cooking gas in the rural areas,” he wrote.

There were over 3,450 PACS in the state with over 22 lakh members. “Starting with about 400 in 2003, almost two third of the total number of the societies have been declared as multipurpose cooperative societies. These are allowed to undertake any activity, which is in the interest of the community, they represent. They enjoy utmost freedom,” said principal secretary, Cooperation, Punjab, Dr BC Gupta.

“These societies had done remarkably well and over the past two years undertaken a host of activities that are earning rich dividends for their members,” added Gupta.

The activities taken up by these societies include arranging and maintaining agricultural machinery for custom hiring of the members, supply of credit for meeting the term loans and working capital requirements of the members, providing consumer articles and non-consumer articles, insurance services etc.

“The societies now are also involved in collection of the electricity bills and running petrol pumps, but what is most heartening is the fact that the common use of the agricultural machinery by the members through the society is actually leading to the reduction in individual buying of costly agriculture equipment,” said Gupta.

An impact study on buying of agriculture implements of the cooperative society at Sukhananad village, Moga, has been conducted by the department and has brought forth significant results.

“When this society bought its first tractor, almost five tractors were bough individually each year by the farmers in the village. Now when the society has four tractors, which it gives on hire, as many as 14 farmers have sold off their tractors and related machinery. The estimated saving for these farmers works out to be almost 40 lakh,” added Gupta.

Jalandhar, June 21
The All-India Sikh Students Federation has urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to give an open invitation to all Sikhs living abroad to visit their motherland especially to those who have been ‘black listed’ by the Indian Government due to their criticism of India’s “record on human rights abuses”.

President of the Federation Karnail Singh Peermohammad said today that the Prime Minister should extend such an invitation during his two-day visit later this week to attend the G-20 Summit in Canada. He said the Prime Minister should treat this visit as an opportunity not only to establish economic ties with the member countries but also to inform the Canadian and other G-20 members that demand for justice made by victims of the “Sikh genocide in 1984” was well within the framework of the Constitution of India.

Peermohammand said during his last visit to Canada in April, the Prime Minister was given “incorrect” information by Indian officials abroad and the lobbying groups such as the Canada-India Foundation, which were bent upon creating “disharmony” between Sikhs and the Government of India. He said the Prime Minister’s statement made in April 2010 in Canada had disappointed Sikhs in that country.

The federation leader said Sikhs settled abroad held India as their ancestral motherland and had been playing a positive role in boosting its economy through foreign exchange remittances and investment. He said Prime Minister should meet Sikhs for Justice, a human rights group, which had been pressing for justice to the victims of the “ Sikh genocide”. The group has sent a letter to the Prime Minister for a meeting during the visit.

Patiala, June 21
The Punjab Public Service Commission (PPSC) today announced the postponement of the Punjab State Civil Services Combined Competitive Examination. It was scheduled for July 11, but in the wake of the Punjab and Haryana High Court orders that government employees, whether employed in Central or any other state government services, including the Punjab Government, will be eligible for the relaxation of age up to 45 years for the PCS (Executive) examination, the PPSC has decided to postpone the examination.

The decision to this effect was taken at a meeting of the commission held at the PPSC headquarters here today. A large number of candidates have got relief with the announcement because of the fact that the Forest Service Examination being undertaken by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) was to begin from July 10.

Though none of the PPSC members was ready to speak to the media, members have confirmed that the exam has been postponed. “Now fresh advertisements will be given in newspapers so that candidates, who could not apply because of the age limit criteria, can submit their applications. After the scrutiny of applications and completion of other necessary processes, the new date of the exam will be announced”, a member said. 

Patiala, June 21
In protest against the Punjab government’s decision that agricultural tube wells will have to pay power tariff at the rate of Rs 50 per Brake Horse Power (BHP) per month, thousands of farmers will burn the bills sent to them by the Powercom outside the offices of Powercom XEN’s of all districts of the state on June 23. Leaders of various farmers’ unions claimed that around one dozen farmers’ unions and half a dozen labour unions were with the protesting farmers and besides burning the bills, the farmers would also stage protest demonstrations across the state.

Notably, in protest against the imposition of power charges on farmers, various farmers’ unions had staged a massive protest rally in Moga on June 7. President of the Bharti Kisan Union (Ugrahan) Joginder Singh said, “There has been no response towards our demand to withdraw the power bills from the state government. Hence, it has been decided unanimously by farmers’ unions of Punjab not to pay the bills.”

Terming the policies of the state government as “anti-farmer”, state president of the Bharat Kisan Union (Ekta-Dakunda) Balkar Singh Dakunda said though earlier Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal had assured them that the matter would be discussed in the Cabinet, so far the government has not announced withdrawal of the decision. Meanwhile, the prominent farmers’ unions to stage a protest demonstration on June 23 include the Bharti Kisan Union (Ugrahan), Bharat Kisan Union (Ekta-Dakunda), Jamoohri Kisan Union, Kissan Sangharsh Committee, BKU (Ekta), BKU (Krantikari), Kirti Kisan Union and Punjab Kissan Union.

Jalandhar, June 21
Bathinda today remained the hottest in the region with a sweltering temperature of 47.1°C while Amritsar recorded a high temperature of 43.8°C followed by Adampur (43.3°C) and Halwara(43.1°C).

People had to face a tough time, as today was the longest day of the year with the sun remaining in the sky for almost 14 hours. Adding fuel to the intolerable sweltering heat was unscheduled power cuts.

The met department at the Adampur Air Force station has predicted fine to fair weather in the next 24 hours with persistent heat wave in the coming days. However, a slight cloud formation at some places may bring a momentary relief for the people. But chances of a likely rain or thundershowers are a few.

The authorities said as the monsoon is late by a week, chances of rains taking place before July 1 are bleak. 

Ferozepur, June 21
Out of all places of religious and historical significance here, the Dargah of Asthana Oliya Hazrat Baba Sher Shah Wali (Pir Baba) stands tall as a symbol of devotion of the masses. Located on the main Ferozepur-Fazilka highway, the popularity of this dargah has been growing constantly as thousands of people, including women and children, belonging to all age groups, irrespective of cast, creed and religion, throng this place every Thursday to seek the blessings of the Muslim saint in whose memory this dargarh was constructed. The atmosphere here seems vibrant with qawali artists in attendance and devotees dancing to the beats of the dhol.

Muslims, Hindus, Christians and Sikhs converge here to pay obeisance to the Baba in the faith that their woes will disappear with the blessings of the Baba. Even passersby stop at the dargah and bow in reverence to seek blessings. Old timers recollect that the dargah was in existence even before Partition, though at that time it was a kutcha structure. They said that Hazrat Sher Shah Wali was a Sufi saint, whose origin was not known. He is believed to have passed away here and while his body was taken to his native village, Gharyala, 10 km from Patti in Amritsar. His followers built a small edifice in his memory at this place.

People here believe that continuous prayers at the dargarh fulfil one’s innermost desires. Many also believe that this border town was saved due to the Baba’s blessings from the enemy’s bombardment during the the Indo-Pakistan conflicts of 1965 and 1971. due to the baba’s blessings.

Earlier, a widow, Sunder Bai, used to maintain the dargah. Afterwards, the responsibility for its upkeep and maintenance was entrusted to a trust formed by the efforts of the then SSP, Mohammed Mustafa, in 1993. Since that time, the dargah has undergone a lot of development. Now, this dargah is looked after by a Police Public Welfare Trust which has the SSP as its ex-officio chairman.

Baba Shershah Wali Trust, as it is commonly known, is also involved in several philanthropic activities which include organising free medical camps, solemnising marriage of poor girls besides helping the poor and needy. The trust is also running a academy to nourish the talent of budding hockey players of the area. 

Amritsar, June 21
Shera, the official mascot of the XIX Commonwealth Games, after having remained elusive for the first two days of his stay here, finally came out in the public today.

The Promotion and Communication Committee formed specifically for the Delhi Commonwealth Games also came out with the schedule of its stay in the city till the Queen’s Baton enters the country across the Attari-Wagah joint checkpost on June 25.

Shera went to the Government College for Women in the afternoon, encouraged budding hockey players at Guru Nanak Stadium in the evening and later interacted with the public at Bhai Veer Singh Marg (popularly known as the Lawrence road), Rambagh and a shopping mall.

Shera was accompanied by a dholi, officials of the committee and an official of the district administration.

Earlier, Shera remained elusive since its arrival on June 19. Neither officials of the Commonwealth Games Organising Committee nor officials of the district administration made efforts to inform residents of the city about its arrival, stay and participation in the run for the Games.

Even run for the Games, which was held yesterday morning in the historic Rambagh, was not publicised among the public. Though some sportspersons of the city participated in it, many of them were not informed. Hockey Olympian and Arjuna awardee Col Harcharam Singh was also not intimated about the event. It was the only event yesterday in which Shera was present for a brief duration.

The district administration found refuge in the statement that a private company for the promotion of the spirit of games had brought the mascot from Delhi and the state government was not aware of its activity

Shera will visit the Golden Temple, Jallianwala Bagh and Durgiana Temple on June 22 and Cantonment, Guru Nanak Dev University and BSF headquarters on the next day.

To accord a warm welcome to the Baton, artistes selected by the Centre and the North Zone Cultural Centre, Punjab, will perform showcasing different shades of the Indian culture near the zero line.

Bhamian (Fatehgarh Sahib), June 21
The Forest Department and district administration have decided to preserve 12 ancient trees, said to be more than hundred years old. They are presently been looked after by volunteers of a gurdwara.

Earlier, the Forest Department had drawn attention of the district administration for conserving these ancient banyan trees on nearly three acres of land in Cholti Kalan village.

District Forest Officer Balbir Singh said efforts were on to acquire nearly four acres of land adjoining the banyan trees and a report in this regard had already been forwarded to Deputy Commissioner Yashvir Mahajan.

He said samples of unidentified trees near Bhamian village had also been taken and its identification would be done with the help of scientists of the Forest Research Institute, Dehradun.

Residents of Bhamian village said the ancient trees were in abundance just a few years ago, but their number has reduced to 12 now.

However, gurdwara sewadar Nachhattar Singh said some Forest Department officials and scientists visited the gurdwara to take samples of the trees recently and expressed their desire to conserve them.

Many of these trees have a radius of 2.5 to 3 m and are 10-12 ft high. The villagers said these trees are called ‘Anjaan’ trees, which were named after Anjaan, a religious priest hundreds of years ago.

Patiala, June 21
The Department of Sociology and Social Anthropology, Punjabi University, Patiala, has signed a three-year MoU with the Criminal Justice Department of Minot State University, USA, for furtherance of educational benefits and promotion of long-term cooperative activities.

Punjabi University Vice-Chancellor Dr Jaspal Singh and president of Minot State University Dr David Fuller signed the MoU on behalf of their respective institutions.

Professor and Head of Department of Sociology Dr Harvinder Singh Bhatti will coordinate the activities for Punjabi University, the same will be done by Libby Claerbout and Dr Prit Paul Kaur for the Minot State University.

According to Bhatti, the agreement entails visits by students and staff for research, teaching and discussions, joint participation in internationally funded projects and joint course development and delivery programmes.

Patiala, June 21
With most of the Patiala colleges offering certain master’s courses and job-oriented graduation courses other than the routine gradation courses, the colleges here have become the top choice of the students from the nearby villages.

Not only the students, but also the parents of the students coming from the rural areas, too, see Patiala as one of the best options for higher studies.

Many families feel that their kids cannot adjust with the fast pace of the bigger cities and are scared to send their kids far away due to such reasons feel that Patiala is one of the best choice for their kids.

“The culture of this city suits our family values and there is certain decorum in the colleges that is a must for the college students,” added Kahn Singh of Mandor village, who was in the city to get a prospectus for his son.

“With an increase in drug addiction among youth in bigger cities, I am reluctant about sending my child to the big cities like Delhi and Chandigarh. Though we cannot generalise all students of bigger cities, but still I feel that Patiala colleges are much higher on cultural values. The kids here are more sincere and respect their teachers more than the metro kids,” said Bachhan Singh, another parent. Bikramjeet Singh, a student, said., “Even if you don’t get hostel in college, one can still afford to live outside, whereas in cities like Chandigarh, Mumbai etc. the room rents and food are very expensive.”