Chandigarh, July 2
State DGP Chander Shekhar today put 14 IAS and 34 PCS officers in dock. Recommending a thorough probe, he asserted that they acquired properties, but intimation on the “source of acquisition” was not furnished to the authorities concerned.

The DGP is currently holding an inquiry into the allegations of land grab by high-ups on the periphery of Chandigarh. In an affidavit submitted to the Punjab and Haryana High Court, the DGP said: “Information regarding the property returns of 145 IAS officers and 180 PCS officers was sought from the Personnel Department of the Punjab Government. According to the information received, it has been brought to his notice that 14 IAS officers and 34 PCS officer have acquired some kind of property/land, but the intimation regarding the source of acquisition fully or partly of the same has not been given to the appointing authority/competent authority.”

The IAS officers named in the report placed before the Division Bench of Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel and Justice Nirmaljit Kaur are: Arvinder Singh, CS Talwar, Dilip Kumar, DS Grewal, Dr G Vajralingam, Gurkirat Kirpal Singh, Iqbal Singh Sidhu, Kamal Kishore Yadav, KAP Sinha, Sarvjit Singh, Tejvir Singh, VK Ohri, Vivek Pratap Singh and RK Verma.

The DGP added: “The means from which these properties have been acquired by the officers in their own names or close relatives need to be probed further.”

The assertion was made while seeking three months time to complete the probe. He said the information was still trickling in, as such additional time was required to complete the probe. After going through the affidavit, the Bench granted the DGP three months’ additional time.

The probe was entrusted to the DGP after Justice Ranjit Singh took cognisance of the matter. Justice Ranjit Singh had asked the DGP to lay emphasis on the Nayagaon, Zirakpur, Mohali, Kansal and Koraran areas.

The inquiry was initiated after Nayagoan resident Kuldip Singh brought the allegations of land grab to the HC’s notice. Accusing a senior police functionary in a land grab bid in Nayagaon, Kuldip Singh had sought protection, while seeking the registration of an FIR and a CBI probe into the dealings.

Chandigarh, July 2
The Punjab police is going slow on unauthorised colonisers active on Chandigarh’s periphery.

In all, 350 cases were detected from 1984 to 2010. Yet, the FIR was registered against only 128 unauthorised colonisers and just 41 complaints were filed in criminal courts.

Punjab’s Director-General of Police Chander Shekhar brought the slow paddling by the police to the Punjab and Haryana High Court’s notice.

He told the Division Bench of Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel and Justice Nirmaljit Kaur that almost all cases, Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (GMADA) wrote to the Senior Superintendents of Police concerned for the registration of the FIRs, but no cases were registered in 48 per cent cases.

Chander Shekhar said: “It is strikingly clear that the Police Department is quite slow in taking action against illegal colonisers. Taking this laxity on the part of the Senior Superintendents of Polices, this office taking this issue seriously has written memos to the officers concerned to immediately book the culprits under the relevant provision of law.

A detailed list of all 350 unauthorised colonisers was also annexed along with the documents submitted to the high court.

He also recommended that the “public representatives”, who used the process of house building societies for making huge profits should be asked to deposit the gains in the state exchequer.

The probe has already brought under the scanner the role of “representatives of the people”. The inquiry officer has claimed the Punjabi Cooperative House Building Society, constituted by them, purchased just over 21 acre in 2003 at a consideration amount of Rs 8,19,00,911. But, it was later sold to Tata Housing Development Company Limited for Rs 96,59,12,513.

Chander Shekhar said: “It is now for the high court to consider the matter and keeping in view the basis concept of house building society, the monetary benefits so acquired by selling the allotted plots’ land be got deposited in the state exchequer by treating these allotments as null and void.” 

Chandigarh, July 2
The Planning Commission has decided to treat Punjab as a model state for implementing the report on “ushering in the nation’s second Green Revolution” by the Technical Advisory Committee on Secondary Agriculture (TACSA), commissioned by the commission.

A team of senior Planning Commission functionaries that met with Punjab government officials, farmers’ bodies and industrialists said that eight to 10 projects would be allotted to Punjab as a pilot project to build the state’s secondary agriculture infrastructure for value addition to the agriculture produce.

Dr DPS Verma, consultant to the Planning Commission and author of the TACSA report, made a presentation to senior officials of the Punjab government, explaining how in the light of yields of various crops attaining their peak, a second Green Revolution through value addition was the only alternative to make this sector grow.

Verma told the representatives of the Punjab government that included many secretary-level officers and heads of agricultural institutions that he had personally favoured Punjab to show India the path in the growth of secondary sector in agriculture.

After a day-long discussion, the core group of the Planning Commission that besides Verma comprised of Limbor Rynja, senior consultant, MK Bhan, Secretary, Bio-Technology, VV Sadamate, Adviser, Agriculture, Vandana Dwivedi, Joint Adviser, Daljit Singh, Diector, Agriculture, will make a recommendation to the implementation group of the Planning Commission to start eight or 10 major projects in Punjab that could set the tone for the rest of the country.

It is estimated that the Planning Commission has set aside Rs 8,000 crore for the initial funding of the projects that will boost the secondary agriculture sector.

Verma said the interaction with industry representatives had been very encouraging as one of the objectives of the TACSA was to establish new ventures in bio-processing and establish ties with agro-businesses. He said besides helping Punjab’s agriculture, the promotion of secondary sector in agriculture would also go a long way in bringing new technology to the state. “New technologies also mean new jobs for the state’s youth,” he added.

Member Agriculture Plan in the 11th Plan and Director Punjab Agro Food Grain Corporation Amardeep Singh Cheema suggested that Punjab should be given all necessary financial and infrastructural help in the nation’s endeavour to promote the secondary sector in agriculture He said there was a feeling that the research in the universities was not reaching the farmers.

Punjab’s Financial Commissioner (Development) NS Kang expressed the Punjab government’s keen desire to become the leaders in the nation’s foray into the second Green Revolution. The industrialists said the government should come out with a consistent agro-industrial policy.

At the meeting with the Planning Commission team, it was decided that SK Sandhu, MD, Punjab Agro Industries Corporation, would be made the nodal officer to prepare the industries’ wish list and to identify a project that could be launched in the state as part of the implementation of the TACSA report.

Chandigarh, July 2
Can rainwater harvesting provide an amicable solution to the vexed rivers water dispute between Punjab and Haryana?

“Yes,” says Prem Singh Chandumajra, a former MP and general secretary of the Shiromani Akali Dal. If Rajinder Singh could help Alwar to set an example by recharging the sub-soil water, why Punjab and Haryana cannot replicate that experiment?

In fact, he says, rivers in the region have been reduced only to rainy season nullahs; as for the rest of the year they either remain dry or have a little water in them. Building of dams over rivers in North India has virtually taken the sheen away from these natural water channels that otherwise contributed tremendously to the agrarian economy of the northern states.

“Nearly 80 per cent of the rainwater is allowed to go waste in Punjab and Haryana. We can harvest this natural source of precious water and use it in accordance with the irrigational needs of our farmers. All we need is generous Central Government support for harnessing rainwater,” maintains Chandumajra.

The states, he admits, do not have enough resources to go in a big way for rainwater harvesting. In case the Central Government steps in, this can be easily achieved. A 100 per cent subsidy to farmers for initiating rainwater-harvesting projects would bring in the desired results.

Village ponds can be cleaned and revived for off-season storage by channelling rainwater into them. Similarly, the contours of the rivers and existing canals can be so designed that during the southwest monsoon, they are able to store or retain maximum water for the subsequent off season.

It should be made mandatory that every plot -- residential or commercial -- that measures 500 metres or more should have adequate rainwater harvesting provision. Lakes in low-lying areas and other possible spots are so developed that they could retain rainwater for subsequent use. Besides, once rainwater harvesting is taken up as a campaign, it would also help reduce the bane of floods during the monsoon season.

He further stated that because of global warming and havoc wreaked on natural resources, natural rivers have been flowing at a much lower level than their potential.

Raipur Gujran (Jalandhar), July 2
While children from rich families have either gone to hills or abroad to enjoy their summer vacations, Ramandeep Kaur and her two brothers, Kamaljit and Karamjit, spend the days here in scorching heat as daily-wage workers in muddy fields to transplant paddy.

Ramandeep and her two brothers want to earn enough money to pay the school fee and other charges. “Our teachers have told us to pay the fee when the school will reopen after the summer vacations; otherwise our names will be struck off from the school rolls,” says Ramandeep, a student of Class VIII in the local Government Elementary School.

Ramandeep and her brothers had to work in the fields for several hours daily during the summer vacations to secure their “right to education”.

Ramandeep’s parents, Parkash Kaur and Paramjit Singh, who are also daily-wage workers and live in one- room kutcha house without any power connection, want that their wards should receive education to secure jobs somewhere. “My husband does not want that our children should work for the whole of their lives in fields as daily-wage workers like us. They should get some education to take up jobs. But we don’t have the resources to meet the expenses on their education,” says Parkash Kaur. “We both earn Rs 200 daily and that also only for a few days in a month because work is not always available in a village,” she adds.

“We are often told that education is free in government schools, but we have been told to pay Rs 1,100 as fee and other charges for Ramandeep and Kamaljit, who is a student of Class VII,” said Parkash Kaur. Parkash Kaur had also approached Ajaib Singh, president of the Pendu Sikhiya Vikas Committee, which is officially associated with the school, in this connection.

Ajaib Singh said he had told the school authorities to give receipts for the money charged as fee, etc to all parents. According to the government notification, the monthly fee for Class VI to VIII is Rs 28 per month besides Rs 3 as admission fee and Re 1 as admission, which is chargeable once in a year. There is no computer fee for students up to Class VIII.

The government has issued an order that no other charges should be taken from the students. Interestingly, Rs 28 per month fee also includes Rs 10 as Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) fund. 

Jalandhar, July 2
While the PPCC general secretary Ram Pal Daipai has written to all MLAs and MPs, irrespective of their party affiliations, to make a collective effort to check the spread of cancer in the state, a nuclear physicist, Dr Hardev Singh Virk, has urged the state government to set up a high-level commission to find out the level of uranium, pesticides and other toxic elements in the underground water used for drinking and soil.

Daipai said cancer, which had become a major killer in most parts of the state especially in the Mansa-Bathinda-Faridkot region of the Malwa area, was spreading fast to new areas. He said all MLAs and MPs should pool their political and other resources to save people from the cancer menace.

He said he would soon meet the Union Environment Minister, Jai Ram Ramesh, to request him to help the state to bring down the level of toxic pollutants said to be causing cancer and other deadly diseases.

Dr Virk said it was surprising that doctors in institutions such as the PGI and state health services were maintaining silence on the issue of cancer and uranium, etc in the state. “They should have by now pressed the government authorities to set up a some sort of a commission for a detailed scientific study of Punjab’s environment to check the level of toxic elements in its soil, underground and river waters, etc,” he said.

He said silence of the Indian Atomic Energy Commission authorities, which had state-of-the-art labs and equipment to study the presence of uranium in the state, was also intriguing. The commission must find uranium’s source in the state, he added.

Dr Virk said the commission should include nuclear experts, epidemiologists, geologists, hydrologists, water analysts and other experts. He said the issue of toxic metals and chemicals, which had started affecting people in a big way, could not be swept under the carpet. 

Patiala, July 2
Officials of the Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) recently announced at its Patiala headquarters that the five million litre a day (MLD) effluent treatment plant of the Leather Complex Jalandhar will be made operational soon.

PPCB member secretary Babu Ram told The Tribune that after the release of the power connection by Powercom, the effluent treatment plant would be functional. He said with the installation and operation of the five MLD plant, the people of Jalandhar would get rid of the nuisance of Kala Sangha Drain that was one of the major polluters of the Satluj.

“Out of the total six MLD effluent generated by the tannery units there in the complex, a treatment plant of 1.5 MLD capacity is already operational there. For the remaining 4.5 MLD of effluent and keeping in view future expansions, a treatment plant of five MLD capacity is ready for operation, just waiting for the electricity connection to become functional,” stated Ram.

He further said soon, the Jalandhar Municipal Corporation would connect all seven sewer lines falling in the Kala Sangha Drain with the main sewer of the city, so that it was connected with the main sewer network.

Ram also said the board acted as a coordinator to get the above project executed with the help of different departments. “Though there is a delay of two-three months in the completion of the project, the board made all efforts and adopted a zero-tolerance policy to get the prestigious project executed as early as possible and now, it will soon be a reality,” he added.

Speaking about the effluent plant, PPCB Deputy Director (PR) Charanjit Singh said the board played a very active role and no laxity was tolerated on the part of the any officer concerned of the board, while adding that the board got cooperation from all departments concerned, including the Jalandhar MC. “The PPCB is committed to provide clean environment to Punjabis,” he concluded.

Ropar, July 2
First legal aid clinic is coming up at Ropar. A state project, the clinic will provide free legal aid consultancy services to the litigants, mainly poor and village people.

The clinic will be inaugurated at Majri Thekederan village. Chairman district legal services authority-cum-district session GK Dhir will inaugurate the clinic.

A lawyer from the district free legal services authority will be available at this clinic from 5 pm to 8 pm every evening. Advocate Rajbir Singh Rai has been designated to provide this aid.

The project is aimed at providing legal consultation to those who are either afraid of legal procedures or are not well versed about way to file a litigation and carry it forward. The people from around 74 villages of this block can avail free legal services from this clinic.

Patiala, July 2
The Pepsu Road Transport Corporation (PRTC) authorities have sent a proposal for increasing the bus fares by 10 paise per km to the state government.

Confirming this, PRTC chairman Ranjit Singh Balian stated that in the wake of the hike in the diesel price by Rs 1.66 per litre by the Union Government, the PRTC would have to bear an additional financial burden.Hence, an increase in the bus fares had been proposed and a request in this regard was sent to the state government yesterday.

Balian said if the price of 1 litre of diesel went up by Re 1, the PRTC had to face an additional financial burden of Rs 29 lakh monthly. In 1998, the diesel price was Rs 9.38 per litre and at that time, the bus fare for one person per km was 36 paise. “On June 25, 2010, the diesel price was Rs 35.83 per litre, an increase of 282 per cent as compared to 1998. But at the same time, there has been an increase of 56 per cent in the tariff since 1998. In wake of this, it is a must to increase the bus fare by at least 10 paise per km”, he said. “The diesel price has increased thrice since February this year till now but the request to hike the bus fares has not been accepted by the state government”, he added

Moga, July 2
A Dalit labourer was allegedly killed by men belonging to upper castes at Saddasinghwala village early this morning.

Initially, the police was reluctant to register an FIR and arrest the alleged culprits.

Agitated over this, a group of Dalit families protested outside the police station (rural) by carrying the labourer’s body along with them and raised slogans against the local police for adopting an “insensitive” attitude towards the incident.

SHO JJ Singh, allegedly under pressure from local leaders of the ruling party, was unwilling to lodge the FIR on the pretext that an inquiry would be conducted before registering a criminal case.

This agitated the Dalits who raised slogans against the police.

Amid high drama, the police authorities finally registered a criminal case on the complaint of Asha Rani, wife of the deceased, against three persons, Baldev Singh, Angrez Singh and Nirmal Singh, under Sections 302 and 34 of the IPC, after which the protest was withdrawn by the Dalits.

The police, however, has not added relevant sections of the SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities Act in the FIR and also not arrested the alleged culprits at the time of writing the report, sources said.

Asha Rani stated to the police that she along with her husband, Gurmeet Singh, and two children came to this village about 20 days back.

“I and my husband along with some other labourers used to work in the fields.

Three persons of the village whose fields are adjacent to where we used to work used to pass offensive remarks at me. My husband had warned them many a time,” 
she said.

“The men kept on pestering me and this morning at about 7.30 am when I and my husband were heading for the fields, they stopped us and began arguing.

Soon the argument turned into a brawl and the men attacked my husband with sharp-edged weapons and my husband died on the spot,” she told the police. 

Patiala, July 2
The representatives of the Punjab College Librarians’ Association (PCLA) have urged the state government to fill the vacant posts of the College Cadre Librarians at the earliest.

Discussing the issue during the general body meeting of PCLA held recently, the Association president Kuldeep Singh and general secretary Barjinder Pal Dhiman said presently out of 98 sanctioned posts of College Cadre Librarians, 60 are lying vacant, which was affecting the working of the library services in the government colleges, district and public libraries of the state.

They requested the secretary, Higher Education, Punjab, to immediately initiate the process of recruitment for filling up the vacant posts of the librarians. The association also urged the state government to concede their other long-pending demands, including that of confirmation of services of the librarians recruited during the period 1998-2000.

Anandpur Sahib, July 2
Russian national Olga Timoshik arrested on spying charges today refused to recognise German national Thomas Keuhen. Arrested for having links with Thomas, Olga refused to recognise him while being questioned by the Punjab police in presence of her lawyers and said Thomas was not that person whom she had met a couple of years ago.

In the court of junior divisional judicial magistrate Kapil Aggarwal, the Punjab police officials demanded that they be given an hour to question Olga in front of Thomas. The court allowed an hour, but the police demanded yet another hour for the same. Public prosecutor demanded Olga’s police remand. Acting on the plea, the court granted police remand of Olga till July 3. Also the judicial remand of Thomas was extended to July 15. Besides Olga’s lawyers, officials of Russian Embassy also came for Olga’s help. As per the Punjab police cops, lot of matter has been recovered from Olga’s laptop and forwarded to forensic lab for further investigation.

Jalandhar, July 2
Punjab Technical University (PTU) and the managements of private engineering colleges are on a collision course on the issue of 10 per cent admissions under the fee-waiver scheme to certain category of students.

The controversy erupted ever since the PTU decided to hold the online registration of applicants and conduct common manual counselling for all its affiliated colleges on its campus to ensure strict adherence to its notification.

Declaring the schedule, the Dean (students affairs), Dr Anirudh Partap Singh, said registration would begin from July 9 to 16 while the manual counselling would start from July 19.

The major issue on which the university and its colleges are confronting is creating additional seats to accommodate more students under the scheme. While PTU VC Dr Rajneesh Arora claims that he will go ahead with free admissions only after taking due consent from the AICTE, PUTIA president BS Dhaliwal claims that colleges are without any approval for additional seats as of now and that there could be a problem later.

The PUTIA president argues that admissions under the fee-waiver scheme should have been conducted after the university was through with the counselling. But the PTU VC claims that the interest of the colleges had been given due consideration.

“We have added a clause in the notification that in case the claimant of a free seat has already taken admission through counselling, his seat will not be shifted to another college. Instead, he will be given free seat in the same college and in lieu the college will get an additional seat”, he said.

As per the scheme, 10 per cent of the total seats filled in the previous academic session would be filled with a bifurcation of 50 per cent for women candidates, 33 per cent for economically weaker section and 17 per cent for physically challenged. Parents with an annual income of less than Rs 2.5 lakh from all sources are eligible to apply.

The scheme had started almost three years ago with an MoU signed by PTU, the Punjab State Technical Education Board and PUTIA. 

Fatehgarh Sahib, July 2
The Fatehgarh Sahib police has started issuing daily crime report in Punjabi. The move has come up after The Tribune highlighted the way cops use distorted English while drafting the crime reports.

The senior police officials also ensured that correct phone numbers of the investigating officers were carried along with the crime reports. 

Earlier the crime report, which was also released to the senior police functionaries, had been carrying incomplete sentences with self-invented incomprehensible English language. The cops said, “It is now easy to read and write the crime report everyday.” 

Amritsar, July 2
Amolak Singh, who was injected with HIV+ infected blood by a patient in order to take revenge in Batala, might not contract AIDS, observed doctors attending upon him at the local government-run Guru Nanak Dev Hospital.

Dr RPS Boparai, medical superintendent of the hospital, while talking to The Tribune said the doctors started post-exposure prophylaxis or anti-AIDS treatment on the patient within 24 hours of the incident. It would help in preventing the spread of the infection.

Amolak was shifted here last evening from Batala Civil Hospital. The doctors conducted laboratory tests to ascertain the exact condition of the patient. “At present, his condition is normal and tests are negative. We are not sure how much blood entered his body through the injection, but we will keep doing follow-up checks on his condition in future,” said Dr Boparai.

Amolak (45), a resident of Dheer village in Batala was injected with the infected blood by Wassan Singh of the same village. Wassan, a truck driver by profession, who was diagnosed with AIDS, suspected that Amolak had illicit relations with his wife. Amolak was returning home on his scooter when Wassan asked for a lift. Riding pillion, he pierced the syringe filled with his blood in the body of Amolak. A former panchayat member, Amolak, termed the charges levelled against him as rubbish. “I could not even explain what had happened with the kind of allegations levelled against me. What would I tell my family comprising two daughters and a son besides my wife? ” said a distressed Amolak.

He sought stringent action against Wassan, who was arrested by the Civil Lines police, Batala, under Section 308 of the IPC.