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Pak to release 17 Indians today
Only a good monsoon can bail out Powercom
Cong seeks White Paper on use of central grants
Now, mealy bug attacks cotton plants
Country’s best eye care facility coming to state
Language panel to be reconstituted
Superfast train for Malwa belt soon
Amritsar Car Bomb Case
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Constituency funds: BJP to confront Badals
Jalandhar, June 22 A two-day meeting of the BJP executive began here today to take stock of the political situation and decide the future course of action to prepare the party for the Vidhan Sabha elections due to be held in about one and a half years from now. After interacting with senior leaders of the party at an exclusive meeting of the core committee and office-bearers of the party, the chief of the Punjab unit of the BJP, Ashwani Sharma, announced a three-member committee headed by MP Navjot Singh Sidhu to take up all significant issues with the senior and junior Badal. The other members of the committee are Balramji Dass Tandon and Manoranjan Kalia. Sources said Ashwani Sharma had been left with no alternative except to announce the committee because almost all BJP leaders at the meeting of the core committee and office-bearers had made it clear to him that they would take extreme steps, even of resigning, if the required allocation of funds was not made to nurse their respective Vidhan Sabha constituencies. The sources said BJP general secretary Balbir Punj had to assure all concerned that the party would not hesitate to have a showdown with the SAD leadership in case it was not given it due share of funds for taking up development projects. What has the BJP annoyed the most is the releasing of the revenue accrued from surcharge on VAT to the Local Bodies Department to take up development projects in the urban areas. The BJP leaders said that as per the decision of the Sukhbkir- Kalia committee the revenue from surcharge levied on VAT was to go the Local Bodies Department for urban development. From January to March this year about Rs 200 crore was collected as surcharge on VAT but the money was not released to the Local Bodies Department. The BJP leadership has the feeling that it was deliberately done to damage its political image in the urban areas, its core constituency. On the other hand, a senior BJP leader said that the Badals had allocated funds from the Punjab Infrastructure Development Board (PIDB) to municipal committees falling in Bathinda and Mansa districts, which are a part of the Lok Sabha constituency from where Harsimrat Kaur Badal was elected. And this has been done bypassing BJP Local Bodies Minister Manoranjan Kalia. The BJP leader said that about Rs 396.84 crore had been allocated for certain municipal committees in the Malwa region and some historic religious places. For instance, Rs 32 crore had been allocated for Gidderbaha and Rs 9 crore for Patti. Besides, several hundred crores available with the Punjab Mandi Board, Rural Development Fund, etc had been also been allocated for the rural constituencies. “We are happy that money is being spent on the development of rural areas but at the same time we do not want that urban areas should become slums in the absence of funds”, said a senior BJP leader. “ We will ask senior Badal to give Rs 100 crore for each Vidhan Sabha constituency represented by the BJP MLAs in the state Assembly apart from a substantial allocation for the Lok Sabha constituencies represented by the BJP leaders and also for those areas where the BJP has a substantial vote bank”, said a senior BJP leader.
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Punjabis opt for blood money to get pardon
Chandigarh, June 22 Today’s revelation comes on the heels of news published yesterday that Dubai-based businessman SP Singh Oberoi has initiated a compromise with a Pakistan-based family, whose son was a victim of a gang fight in which 17 Punjabi youth have been awarded death sentence. Relatives of 13 Punjabi youth, who are in a Dubai jail along with two Pakistani citizens and a Bangladeshi on the charge of murder of Ashok Kumar of Chuharwal, Kapurthala, said they had arrived at a compromise with the victim’s family. The victim’s mother, Agyawanti, has in an agreement stated that she has consented to pardon the accused. Madan Lal, whose son Jatinder is facing trial for murder in a Dubai jail, said Jatinder had called him up and said he had been arrested despite the fact that he was staying at the company’s work site on the day of the alleged murder on December 22 last year. Madan Lal and other relatives of boys incarcerated in Dubai told TNS today that they had decided to go in for a compromise by exchanging blood money with the victim’s family because many innocent persons had been arrested by the UAE authorities and this was the only way they could get relief. All 13 boys are in a Dubai jail for the past six months and face death sentence if convicted. Meanwhile, lawyer for Human Rights International Navkiran Singh today said blood money should only be offered when there was no other scope for relief in several cases against Punjabi youth. He said offering blood money, before all avenues of appeal were exhausted, would send a wrong signal that all youth involved were guilty. Speaking about the case of 17 Punjabis facing the gallows in Sharjah, Navkiran said there was no need to offer blood money when the case was to be heard in the appeal court on July 14. He said already reports coming in from Sharjah claimed that bootleggers were trying to buy their way out of prison. “We have a good case for acquittal”, he said adding there was no evidence against the 17 youth and that “eyewitnesses” propped up by the state had claimed on YouTube that they had been made to give false statements. Navkiran also claimed that the Indian consulate was not following the case properly and that it had failed to provide a translator for the past six weeks. This view has, however, been disputed by SP Singh Oberoi of the Indian Punjabi Society, who claimed that the consulate had hired five lawyers, including an Indian, and that a translator had also been provided at the last hearing but he was not accepted by the court as he could not translate directly from Arabic to Punjabi.
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Pak to release 17 Indians today
Amritsar, June 22
Most of those to be released on Wednesday around 11 am through the Attari border check post are said to be those Indians who had crossed into Pakistan inadvertently at different points of time during past a decade. Though, officially both the governments of India and Pakistan have not stated anything about prisoners but, highly placed sources revealed that some of Indian prisoners could have got mentally deranged to some extent due to their long stay in jails coupled with prolonged uncertainty about their future. More than a dozen Indians who, were earlier released by Pakistan at different points of time were lodged in mental facilities in Amritsar itself, sources pointed out. We have got confirmation from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs about release of as many as, 17 Indians. They will be set-free at the Wagah border from 11 am onwards, said Deputy Commissioner KS Pannu. The office of the DC has also received a copy of a letter sent by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Pakistan. He said adequate arrangements had been made to facilitate the release and their subsequent travel into India. The Indians to be released have been identified as Mohammed Sameer, Seeta Ram, Mir Muhammad, alias Miro, Mohammed Soomar Khan, alias Juma, alias Kojo, Imamudin, Vinju Ram, Anwar Mohammed, Rama Ram, Rashid Masih, Ishra Ram, ILyas, Raja Singh, alias Billa, Ganesh Pandi, Riaz-Ud-Din, Vijay Kumar, alias Mohammad Abdullab and Boota Ram. Most of Indian prisoners hailed from Rajasthan and Jammu and Kashmir while, four of them belonged to Hoshiarpur, Amritsar, Fatehpur (UP), and Loni in Ghaziabad (UP).
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Only a good monsoon can bail out Powercom
KD Chaudhary, Chairman-cum-Managing Director of Punjab Powercom, in one-to-one session with The Tribune says “consumer satisfaction on power supply for the next four to six weeks will depend mainly upon the strength and vigour of the south-west monsoon. “Even if the monsoon is below normal, we will ensure that power cuts do not exceed a maximum of four hours a day besides promising eight hours of uninterrupted supply to 65-70 per cent of our agricultural consumers. For the remaining 30-35 per cent of the agricultural consumers we are assuring a minimum of six hours of uninterrupted power supply,” he says maintaining that because of increased demand, transmission and distribution systems “are getting overloaded”. “In urban areas, it is the air-conditioner factor that is responsible for the overloading of the system necessitating some localised power cuts over and above the scheduled power cuts for urban consumers. But we are trying to ensure that nowhere the power cut should exceed a maximum of four hours in a 24-hour cycle. “By next summer, we will give all categories of our consumers a much better quality of power supply as we are in the process of implementing a system upgradation programme at a cost of Rs 1,400 crore in 47 towns of the state. Though this money is coming as a loan, a part of it will be turned into a grant on the commissioning of the programme,” says Chaudhary. Since power generation, distribution and transmission are emerging sectors, the supply lines for the equipment and machinery are overbooked. “If consumers in Punjab experienced shorter or no power cuts in early summer this year, it is primarily because of our management as we had the material and equipment organised and procured in time. “In the next paddy season, we will guarantee eight-hour uninterrupted quality power supply to the entire farm sector. Punjab has signed power buying agreements to get 230 lakh units a day of which 100 lakh units come from the Power Trading Corporation of India. We are buying power at varying rates on short-term and long-term agreements besides unscheduled grid withdrawals. The total power purchase agreements are of Rs 1,800 crore and in the case of a good monsoon, the cost may come down to Rs 1,200 crore. This year we have organised 600 MW of additional power supply as compared to last year,” adds the CMD of Powercom. He admits that the biggest challenge for the newly formed Powercom after the reorganisation of the Punjab State Electricity Board has been customer satisfaction. “We may have to take some hard and even harsh decisions to safeguard the interests of consumers. Requirements for paddy will stabilise in another 10 to 15 days after which the normal supply to both the urban and industrial sectors will be restored.”
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Phul fort a picture of neglect
Phul (Bathinda), June 22 Alas! With the passage of time, neither the kith and kin of the royals nor the state and Centre authorities bothered to preserve it. The fort, which could bring the region on the tourism map, is now crying for immediate attention with the entire structure crumbling and turning into the debris. A major portion of its structure has collapsed and the huge gates of the main entrance were closed about a couple of years ago. However, finding the space as a source of income, the Market Committee, Phul, allowed some stalls (tea and vegetables) just outside the gate. A power transformer has also been installed there. Inside the fort, the old Baradari of the emperors is now been used as the Block Development and Panchayat Office (BDPO). Further, officials of the Panchayat Samiti also have their office inside the historical building, modifying it according to their needs. The old kitchen having a long queue of mud burners is now lying neglected. Most of the tombs have collapsed and the rest may fall anytime. Artistic wooden doors of rooms have been attacked by pests. Furthermore, due to the callous attitude of the authorities concerned, the sides of the fort have been encroached upon. Elderly people of Phul town, who had seen the period when there was a lot of activity in the fort, feel delighted on recounting the days when the Deputy Commissioner, Naib Sahib and Tehsildar had their offices in the fort. They had also witnessed the glorious movement of the last ruler of the fort, Maharaja Partap Singh, who used to come and go in a huge cavalcade. These old persons, however, feel sad about the fact that the system brought the downfall of the fort. “We have witnessed the fort when it used to shine from every corner. Pearls, diamonds, artistic wooden pieces, handicraft and mattresses were so beautiful and costly. Later, some wicked decamped with every precious thing and ruined it like anything,” said 77-year-old Ram Sarup, who runs a provision store just opposite the fort. “Though the fort is located just a few miles from the ancestral village of former CM Capt Amarinder Singh, he did not bother to preserve it when he was in power, “rued some elderly people. Ironically, neither the Archeological Survey of India (ASI) nor the state Tourism Department is willing to conserve the fort, even now. While superintending archeologist of the ASI SN Kesarvani refused to comment over the crumbling structure of the fort, special secretary of the Tourism, Punjab, Hussan Lal said, “As of now, there is no proposal to revamp or preserve the Phul fort. We have details of all historic monuments of the state and if was required at anytime, the project could be cleared as the availability of funds is not a problem.”
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Cong seeks White Paper on use of central grants
Sodhi alleged that the Punjab Government, led by Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, had used the central grants for wasteful expenditure and hence these could not be used for the purposes for which the same were given to the state. Thousands of crores of rupees had been given to Punjab by the Centre under different schemes, including the Indira Awas Yojna, the NREGA, mid day meal scheme, national health rural mission, food security scheme, horticulture mission, the tourism and rural development etc. However, major parts of the funds had been used for wasteful expenditure by the SAD-BJP, he alleged. About a year ago or so, the Centre sanctioned and released Rs 800 crores for distributing the same as compensation among those farmers, who had suffered losses during paddy cultivation due to drought like condition. The Punjab Government had not distributed the same amount among the victim in proper manner. The Congress leader also demanded that the White Paper should also contain the information about the expenditure incurred on the ministers, chief parliamentary secretaries, parliamentary secretaries, chairmen, vice-chairmen of different
corporations and boards, private secretaries and personal assistances of ruling politicians ever since the SAD-BJP came into power.
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Now, mealy bug attacks cotton plants
Abohar, June 22 Cotton growers of this region had been facing a number of problems ever since the cotton-sowing season began in April. First the acute shortage of canal water coupled with an artificial scarcity of BT cotton seeds caused inordinate delay in the sowing of cotton within the period considered optimum for sowing and subsequent growth. After the farmers managed to complete cotton sowing by May 30, the high temperature started burning cotton plants and a number of farmers were left with no option but to go in for resowing. Sukhdev Singh, agriculture development officer (ADO), Abohar, said the attack of the mealy bug was not severe. He said the growers were being given pesticides at subsidised rates. They were being educated in methods to control the attack of the mealy bug by carrying out a poster campaign in the rural areas. The scouts, who had been trained in taking care of the cotton crop under the Ratan Tata scheme, were being sent to villages to cater to the needs of the farmers. Moreover, weeds and congress grass, which were present in the area, had become major reasons for the menace of the mealy bug.Farmers had been advised to clear the weeds and congress grass surrounding their fields. On the other hand, a section of the farmers claimed that the mealy bug had attacked cotton plants in those areas where farmers were forced to use underground water for irrigation in the absence of canal water.
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Country’s best eye care facility coming to state
New Delhi, June 22 To come up on the Pakhowal road along the Ferozepur road, the said facility will be the first-ever extension of Sankara institutions in North India. The organisation is credited with its model of eye defect surveys in rural populations, which are surveyed for eye problems and treated at the base hospitals free of cost. As many as 80 per cent cases of blindness can either be prevented or cured by avoiding instances of needless visual impairment. Speaking to The Tribune, Dr RV Ramani, managing trustee of the institution, said Punjab was one of the major states in North India to be affected by curable blindness. Moga and Bathinda districts of the state are particularly vulnerable. Asked why Sankara chose Ludhiana for a set up, Ramani said: “Since Bathinda is already being serviced by a hospital across the border in Rajasthan, we chose to come to Ludhiana which is nearer to Moga, and is severely affected.” Sankara is also looking at prospective eye care technicians from Punjab. “We work with the local population and select about 40 youths interested in working with hospital, train them at our oldest facility in Coimbatore for two years and bring them back to serve their own community. We call for applications from aspirants,” Ramani said. The institution is a steady partner of the Government of India in the ambitious National Programme for Control of Blindness, which seeks to reduce blindness prevalence in India to 0.3 per cent by 2020. Its model of visual defect detection was recently hailed by the Centre, with the Health Ministry calling for a replication across India, which bears the largest burden of global blindness. One-fifth of the world’s blind live in India; they are numbered at 1.5 million. Another of Institution’s goals is encouragement to eye donation, with its Coimbatore facility getting two pairs of eyes a day in donation. “We have the experience in motivating the community and want to take it across the country,” Ramani added. Sankara started from Coimbatore and is now partnering with the national blindness control projects at seven other locations, including Guntur, Krishnakovil, Bangalore, Shimoga, Anand, Pammal and Silvassa. It works on a self-sustaining model of providing 80 per cent free treatment to the poor and 20 per cent paid treatment to the rich, who are made to cross-subsidise the treatment of the economically weak.
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Promoting Punjabi is mission of this village
Rampur (Khanna), June 22 All this began way back on August 7, 1953, when eight persons formed the Punjabi Likhari Sabha in this village. Now there are over 100 members from all over Punjab associated with this sabha. President Surinder Rampuri said, “The first president, Surjit Rampuri, once said jehra paani peenda shaayar ban jaanda, kinniyan sakht sazaawaan mere pind diyaan (whosoever drinks the water of my village becomes a poet, such harsh are the punishments of my village).” “A few years back, we thought that the young generation might not continue the tradition, but to our surprise, now many youngsters have become members of our sabha. They have come out with their books on poems, story and plays also,” he added. Prominent Punjabi writers like Surjit Khurshidi, Santokh Singh Dheer, Ajaib Chitarkar, Sukhminder Rampuri, Gurcharan Rampuri, Mal Singh Rampuri and Joginder Singh are associated with the sabha. Some writers like Joginder Singhhas written on rare subjects. In his book ‘Pingal Aruz’ he has talked about the different styles of ghazals. With nearly 6,000 books in the village library, every villager is allowed to read them free of cost. “Now we are renovating the library building with help of one of our Canada-based member who had recently donated Rs 4 lakh. Earlier, the government helped us in setting up the library,”Surinder Rampuri said. The members comprise government employees, teachers, farmers, NRIs and some students. Among the youngsters who have already carved out a niche for themselves include poet Gagandeep Sharma, ghazal writer Noubi Sohal and playwriter Tejwant Mangat.
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Language panel to be reconstituted
Chandigarh, June 22 Besides this, the State Punjabi Language Empowered Committee would also ensure implementation of Punjab State Advertisement Policy drafted for releasing of advertisements to newspapers in accordance with Punjabi language policy. Presiding over a meeting of the State Punjabi Language Empowered Committee, the Chairperson, Dr Upinderjit Kaur, Education & Languages Minister Punjab here today, said some of privately managed convent schools and central schools including, Kendriya Vidhiayalas for not implementing the Punjabi as a compulsory subject from 1st to class 10th under the Punjab, Punjabi and learning of other Languages Act, 2008. The Education Department has been asked to issue strict warning to such institutions to implement Punjabi at the earliest, adding this she said the state government had already amended the clause (e) of Section-2 of the Punjab, Punjabi and Learning of other Languages Act, 2008 through a notification on March 22, 2010 thereby, including all central, navodya or army schools affiliated to the CBSE and the ICSE in the state under the provisions of schools.
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Superfast train for Malwa belt soon
Bathinda, June 22 Sources said the run of the superfast train between Delhi Sarai Rohilla and Sriganganagar would be a tri-weekly affair. Train number 2455 will run from Delhi Sarai Rohilla to Sriganganagar while train number 2456 will run from Sriganganagar to Delhi Sarai Rohilla. The train between Udhampur and Ahemdabad will be weekly. Meanwhile, the timing of many trains passing through Bathinda had been changed from July 1, sources said.
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Suicide bid by AIE teachers
Bhokhra (Bathinda), June 22 Three activists of the AIE Teachers’ Union had last evening poured petrol on themselves in an abortive bid of self-immolation. The two activists suddenly jumped into the reservoir this morning while their other colleagues were raising slogans against the “callous” attitude of the district administration that did not bother to come to them for negotiations. Witnessing the women drowning, the SHO Nehianwala, Gurpreet Singh, immediately jumped into the reservoir in their rescue but during the daring attempt, he too lost his balance. Watching the SHO drowning¸ his gunmen and some social volunteers jumped in the reservoir. Meanwhile, the DSP (rural) Baljeet Singh also rushed to the spot in his rescue. Finally, they pulled the SHO and protesters out of the reservoir. As the protesters fell unconscious, they were admitted to civil hospital, Bathinda, where the doctors declared them out of danger. However, about two dozen agitators, who were moving towards Bathinda to stage a dharna in the city, were rounded up by the police. Scared over the police action, a number of women protesters were observed pleading the cops with folded hands to let them go home. Despite, a number of their colleagues continued the dharna near the water tank and kept the Bathinda-Amritsar National Highway (NH-15) blocked till filing the news in the evening. The state president of AIE teachers’ union, Swarna Devi, who was at Chandigarh on Monday for a dialogue with senior bureaucrats of the Education Department, also joined the protest, reaching here late last night. She climbed atop the tank today but after sometime fainted and her colleagues carried her down. The AIE activists were demanding issuance of a notification for their admission to the Elementary Teachers’ Training (ETT) course, without any entrance test. Raising anti-establishment and anti-Badal slogans, they alleged that the Chief Minister had assured them of fulfilling demand till June 21 but the higher authorities of the State Education Department flatly refused them, during a meeting on Monday at Chandigarh, which led them to launch the protest.
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Amritsar Car Bomb Case
Amritsar, June 22 An eight-member ATS team, led by Inspector Wapre, brought Nishan Singh on transit remand, which will expire on June 28, here today. They were accompanied by a two-member CI team comprising AIG Manminder Singh and DSP Navjot Singh, who had gone to Mumbai to arrest the accused. The recovery of weapons close to the international border and the involvement of dwellers of Tarn Taran has pointed towards a nexus between cartels dealing in smuggling of arms and ammunition with their agents and masters in Pakistan. The joint team managed to apprehend Nishan Singh after Sukhdev Singh, alias Sukha, alias Chirra, who was arrested on June 15, spilled the beans. Both are said to be involved in parking an RDX-laden here on May 8. Investigation agencies did not rule out the involvement of more
persons. As per police records, Karam Singh, father of Nishan Singh, is a smuggler and at present he is undergoing sentence for one such crime. The AIG said it was too early to say that for which organisation they were working. He said it had come to light that Sukhdev was working as a courier for Nishan Singh.
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Chandigarh, June 22
Ferozepur, June 22