Fake Certificates
PSEB terminates services of 19 teachers
Chandigarh, July 13
The Punjab School Education Department (PSEB) has terminated the services of another 19 teachers for having submitted forged/fake certificates to procure job. In May, the department had terminated the services of 26 such teachers.

Recruitment drive in offing
Depts asked to submit proposals
Chandigarh, July 13
Punjab is set to launch a major recruitment drive with all 29 state departments being asked to submit proposals listing their human resource needs for the next 25 years.

Sardulgarh (Mansa), July 13
About 275 residents, mostly women and children, of Sadhuwala and Phusmandi villages were today evacuated by the Army and the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) as these areas were inundated due to breaches in the embankments of the Ghaggar.

More than six villages of Punjab and two of Haryana were submerged and men of the 7th Battalion of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) have pressed boats into service to provide relief to the marooned people.

There was panic among residents of several villages who have shifted their belongings and valuables to safer places.

DC Kumar Rahul said four villages, Phusmandi, Sadhuwala, Bhunder and Kanewala, had been cut off due to the flood caused due to breaches. However, the situation was not that alarming as the floodwater had started receding and the Army and the ITBP were providing rations to the marooned people. Sufficient fodder for two days was available with residents of these villages.

He said the standing crops on about 5,000 acres in 10 villages had been destroyed but no loss of life reported from anywhere. Tankers had been rushed to supply drinking water to the affected people and diesel generators had also been dispatched to various places to run the water pumps.

Rahul said the floodwater had receded by 5 ft at Chandpura.

Another breach in the embankment near the Bhunder village flooded the area at mid-night and the district authorities have mobilised men and machines to plug the breach. The Member of Rajya Sabha Balwinder Singh Bhunder, who belongs to the area, was present on the spot throughout the day supervising relief operations by the Army and the ITBP.

More than 190 houses have been damaged by the floods. The damage to houses was assessed around Rs.2 crore.

SK Sood, executive engineer of the drainage department, said the Ghaggar was flowing above the danger mark at Sardulgarh. Similar was the position at Chandpura where the river was threatening about 45 villages.

Sadhuwala village in the vicinity was totally cut off by the floodwaters and dry ration was being supplied to the marooned people.

Floodwater that had entered Sardulgarh yesterday had receded and there was no threat to the town now.

Haryana villages Rodi and Mattar have got inundated due to a 30 ft breach in the embankment.

About 100 activists of the Dera Sacha Sauda were engaged in relief operations in the flood-hit areas of Sardulgarh.

Patiala, July 13
After six days of devastation caused by floods, the situation in Patiala district today witnessed a drastic improvement with water levels in villages, rivulets and drains coming down considerably.

Water levels in the Ghaggar, Tangri rivulet, Badi Nadi, Markanda rivulet and other seasonal water channels are now several ft below the danger level. Following this, farmers in several villages, including Bijli village of the Devigarh area, have started replanting paddy.

It is learnt that the water level in the Markanda rivulet is at present 14.5 ft that is 5.5 ft below the danger level. In the Sarala area, the Ghaggar is flowing at the level of 4.5 ft against the danger level of 11.5 ft.

In the Bhora Siphon, near Nabha, the water level at present is 5.2 ft, which is 5.8 ft below the danger level. Badi Nadi, near Patiala city, is flowing at a level of 3.9 ft, whereas the danger level is at 8.3 ft. In the Tangri rivulet, the water level is 8.5 ft that is 4.5 ft below the danger level. The Sanolian drain is flowing at just 1 ft, which is 15 ft below the danger level.

Talking to The Tribune, DC Dipinder Singh said if it did not rain for a couple of days, the situation in the district would return to normality. “Relief operations will, however, continue,” he added.

Meanwhile, SAD general secretary Prem Singh Chandumajra visited flood-hit villages of Patiala today. He said all measures were taken to provide relief to the affected people.

Bathinda, July 13
The Irrigation Department and the district administration had a tough time here today when a 60-ft-wide breach took place in Pakka canal at Jassi Bagh Wali village near Bathinda.

The breach caught the administration unawares and damaged the standing paddy and cotton crops in many acres.

Later, officials of the Irrigation Department reached the spot but they expressed helplessness in plugging the breach, claiming the staff and funds crunch.

The hapless farmers approached the followers of the Dera Sacha Sauda, who hurriedly rushed the spot and launched the plugging operation. About 150 followers with the help of a number of tractor-trolleys and JCB machines reportedly plugged more than half of the breach till evening.

A leader of the Dera followers involved in the rescue operation, Captain Mahender Singh said,

”Immediately after the villagers informed us about the breach, we flashed the message to the Dera followers, who assembled within minutes and launched the operation.”

The staff of Irrigation Department did not turn up in requisite strength to plug the breach, which is otherwise their official job. The mere three officials of the department concerned, who reached the spot, expressed helplessness, added the Dera follower.

Officials of the Irrigation Department, who were present on the spot, said, “In the absence of funds, we cannot even buy empty bags to fill sand to plug the breach. Moreover, we are suffering from the staff shortage as against the total 25 sanctioned posts of beldar, 22 are lying vacant. Despite knowing the canals and minors were crying for the maintenance, we are not provided with proper funds,” they added.

The SDO irrigation, Talwandi Sabo, Gurdeep Singh said, “We are thankful to the Dera followers, who turn up in large number to plug the breach, which was otherwise a tough job for us due to staff crunch.”

Chandigarh, July 13
The Punjab School Education Department (PSEB) has terminated the services of another 19 teachers for having submitted forged/fake certificates to procure job. In May, the department had terminated the services of 26 such teachers.

These teachers were among 490 teachers recruited on a contract basis under the Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyaan (RMSA) to teach various subjects to Classes VI- VIII in government schools across the state.

Director-General (School Education) Krishan Kumar said the Education Department had also written to the SAS Nagar police to book these teachers for forgery.

Following a complaint from the department, the SAS Nagar police had lodged an FIR on May 25 in which five teachers were named. However, despite repeated letters from the department, nothing was done by the police.

Sources said teachers, whose services had been terminated, reportedly met the Chief Minister in this regard. During the scrutiny of documents submitted by candidates with their application forms, it was found that some candidates were from the same village in Muktsar and had managed to get selected together. There was a common pattern in their certificates. When these certificates were sent to universities, which had issued these certificates for cross-checking, it was discovered that candidates had enhanced their marks by overwriting over their original certificates.

“Following the discovery of these cases, we got every certificate cross-checked and found that 45 of the selected candidates had got job on the basis of forged certificates. Over 30 of these candidates had forged the certificates issued by Punjabi University and Panjab Universiy. Another four-five had forged certificates issued by Guru Nanak Dev University and another 15 had “rewritten” their marks on certificates issued by the PSEB,” said Krishan Kumar.

He added that since the criterion for the recruitment was marks obtained by candidates in their graduation and the BEd course, the candidates chose to change their marks on these certificates.

Chandigarh, July 13
Punjab is set to launch a major recruitment drive with all 29 state departments being asked to submit proposals listing their human resource needs for the next 25 years.

The mass recruitment drive, which will be the first to be held after a 10-year gap, will not only focus on filling of current vacancies, but will also take into account both present and future needs.

“The focus is on filling of posts which the state will need for the next 25 years,” state Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal told TNS.

“We want to bring in a new vision in the recruitment process and will also be willing to approve new posts,” he said.

There is a feeling that in many cases the government was sticking to posts, which were not required.

He said this was particularly so in case of many district level posts, despite the fact that the size of districts had reduced with creation of new ones. The Finance Department also feels that there are many posts that do not make sense due to advances in technology.

“The next 18 to 19 months will see a continuous recruitment process,” said Manpreet Badal, adding that nearly 50 per cent of the departments were functioning at half strength.

He said the state has lost out due to failure to recruit qualified manpower.

“Making research and design offices non-functional in key departments like Public Works has not only affected development but lowered the quality of engineers in the state”, he said, while giving an example.

Sources said lack of manpower has severely affected some departments and there was a feeling that recruitments were not taking place due to lack of finances. The government was keen to correct this impression also.

The government was also buoyed by the quality of manpower it had received during recent recruitments, which had seen a wide level of transparency. Recruitment of excise and food inspectors recently had seen highly qualified engineers opting for the posts.

Meanwhile, according to the circulars issued to the departments, their proposals will go through an officers committee headed by the chief secretary after whom it will come up before a committee of ministers headed by the Finance Minister. The proposals will then be presented for approval to the Cabinet.

The government, however, is in no mood to recruit class III and class IV employees. There is a feeling that there is an excess of such employees in many departments, including the Public Works Department and Powercom.

Recruitment will be limited to senior posts that have fallen vacant or creation of new posts, which provide a cutting edge to the departments concerned.

Chandigarh, July 13
A turf battle has broken out between the state Department of Agriculture and the Food Supplies Department over the new paddy policy mooted by the latter and their move to construct silos in the state.

The Department of Food and Civil Supplies, headed by Adesh Pratap Singh Kairon, has proposed that it will undertake all works related to the setting up of rice shellers in the state as part of the state paddy policy. His department, which is the nodal agency for the procurement of paddy, intends to ensure a uniform spread of rice shellers in the state so that transportation costs are brought down.

The Department of Agriculture, headed by Sucha Singh Langah, however, sees this move as a direct attempt to hijack the functioning of the Punjab Agro Industrial Corporation, which is the agency under the department that facilitates the setting up of rice shellers.

Kairon, however, is clear about his proposal. “We got a survey done and discovered that shellers are concentrated in large numbers in a few pockets across the state. Because of this, paddy has to be transported to large distances. If a single agency looked after the grain from the point of procurement till its shelling and storage, there would be less duplication of work and effort,” explained Kairon.

But PAIC officials are not impressed. “Going by this logic, all work related to meat processing should be given to the Department of Animal Husbandry, fruit processing to the Horticulture Department and all specialised agencies should be shut down,” quirked an official.

Sources said Langah had also raised objections before the Chief Minister regarding the Department of Food Supplies having undertaken the construction of silos to meet an acute shortage of storage space for the procured grain. It was felt that this was the specialised work of the Punjab State Warehousing Corporation, another agency of the Agriculture Department, which was being usurped by another department.

Sources said the Chief Secretary chaired a meeting of warring officials over the issue and it was reportedly decided that the two bodies would share the work equally. “We agreed to the arrangement grudgingly as the Food Supplies Department had already contacted the Government of India for funds for the silos,” said an official of the warehousing corporation.

However, the sources said despite the arrangement, the Food Supplies Department went ahead and issued an advertisement asking for bids for the silos.

“No written minutes of the said meeting were sent to me and we went ahead as planned. There is no uniform system of grain storage in the state and we have been talking to the Centre to work out a permanent solution to the storage problem,” said Kairon.

Langah, however, is waiting with his list of grudges for the Chief Minister to come back. “If the food and civil supplies minister can do so much work as he wants for himself then these two agencies can be handed over to his department. I have no objection to his running them as he wants. But employees of these agencies cannot be made to sit idle just because their work is being done by someone else,” said Langah.

Fatehgarh Sahib, July 13
State president of the BKU (Ekta-Dakaunda) Balkar Singh Dakaunda (55) and his wife Jasbir Kaur (50) killed in an accident late last night.

The farmer community and kisan union leaders of the state expressed grief over the deaths. The couple was survived by a teenaged son, who is studying in Australia. He will reach here tonight.

The couple was on their way to Fatehpur Ariyan village in Bassi Pathana on a motorcycle.

Their motorcycle was hit by a speeding truck near Aam Khas Bagh in Sirhind. As per police officials, the accident took place between 8.30 pm to 9pm.

Fatehgarh Sahib SHO Harjinder Singh, who rushed to the spot and helped the victims in rushing them to the local civil hospital, said the injured were first rushed to the civil hospital from where they were referred to PGIMER, Chandigarh.

He said the bike and truck collided head on as the rashly driven truck was overtaking another vehicle. The truck was on its way to Sirhind from Jyoti Swarup gurdwara and it could not be identified due to darkness.

He said a case in this connection had been registered against the truck driver and efforts were on to nab him.

Doctors declared the couple dead at around 1 am.

Relatives of the leader said Balkar Singh and his wife left for Bassi Pathana from Dakaunda village, near Nabha, and decided to stay overnight at his in-laws house in Fatehpur Ariyan in Bassi Pathana. They were supposed to leave for PGIMER next morning for their medical check-up.

Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal in a press release also expressed grief on the death of the BKU leader. He said the death of Balkar Singh was a great loss to the farming community as he spent his life fighting to make farming a viable profession.

Chandigarh, July 13
Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal today asked the Cooperatives Department to defer the recovery of crop loans from the farmers of flood-hit villages and convert short-term loans into long-term ones immediately.

The Deputy CM also wrote a letter to Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee to issue similar directions to all public sector banks. He has also requested the Union Home Minister to amend the relief guidelines for calamity-hit villages so as to provide appropriate compensation to those farmers whose tubewell motors had been damaged due to floods in the state.

The government has also waived abiana (water cess) for the supply of canal water to farmers. Irrigation Minister Janmeja Singh Sekhon said the cess, due for the last crop, would not be taken for a six-month cycle.

Meanwhile, reviewing the flood situation in the state in which Ministers as well as officers of all affected districts participated, the Deputy CM directed the Chief Secretary to ensure that all farmers and other affected people got compensation for damage to their crops and property within one week.

Releasing Rs 22 crore for the cleaning of drains in the rest of the state to avoid flooding those areas, Badal directed the irrigation authorities to complete this task on a war footing. He said an additional Rs 9 crore had been released to plug the existing breaches. 

Pathankot, July 13
Good, better, best. Never let it rest. Till your good is better and better is the best. This in essence sums up the attitude of 21-year-old Aanchal Bhalla who has created a sensation by shaking hands with top world leaders, including US President Barack Obama, during the G20 Summit held in Toronto last month.

Aanchal, brimming with youthful exuberance, arrived in her home town yesterday and has immediately became a celebrity of sorts. The Pathankot lass was a final year student in Jesus and Mary college, New Delhi, when she was informed that she will be a part of an elite 8-member team selected from across the country, which will take part in the Youth Summit held simultaneously with the G20 summit.

Aanchal was selected after she cleared a elaborate selection process put in place by the National Service Scheme - a Union government programme run by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports.

As many as 140 delegates from all 20 participating nations took part in the deliberations. The young delegates held discussions with renowned economists and discussed the same topics that were debated upon by world leaders at the summit. Recounting her experiences, Aanchal said: “The issues debated were recovery from global recession and the more recent European debt crises. Leaders were not having a unanimous view on how to end the crises. The European Union wanted to focus on austerity measures to bring down the deficit while the US sought to maintain economic stimulus to encourage growth.”

Aanchal, who is a first year student of MBA (finance) in Asia Pacific Institute of Management, New Delhi, said, “Canadian Premier Stephen Harper delivered an emotional opening speech in which he focused on recovery and new beginnings. India pitched in for durable, sustainable and balanced growth during the deliberations.”

The other issues debated by world leaders included Canadian Banking System, Taxes on financial institutions like the Robin Hood

Tax, Israel’s Gaza strip blockade, the nuclear programme of North Korea and the current situation in Afghanistan.

“Security was tight at the summit and no photography was permitted. The security was provided by the Toronto Police Service, the Ontario Provincial Police and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. These three departments were integrated into a single unit - the Integrated Security Unit (ISU),” said Aanchal, who is the daughter of a former Punjab Minister, Raman Bhalla.

Later, a day before the end of the summit all delegates got a chance to mingle with world leaders. For Aanchal, it was a moment of a lifetime when she and other Indian delegates got a chance to shake hands with Obama. 

Rajpura, July 13
A large number of Rajpura residents held a protest against the supply of dirty water by the local civic body here today.

The protest went on for around two hours at Tahli Wala Chowk.

An animal carcass was allegedly found in one of the water tanks of the municipal council yesterday following which the area residents demanded action against the erring MC officials.

Residents alleged they had been getting dirty water for the past many days.

The residents demanded action against the erring Municipal Council officials who failed to clean the water tanks of the council from where water was released to the entire city after treatment.

The residents said they would intensify the agitation if no action was initiated against the erring officials.

Patiala, July 13
The West Midlands Police in the UK has arrested four persons allegedly involved in the murder of Rulda Singh, state president of the Rashtriya Sikh Sangat, an affiliate of the RSS, last year.

According to senior police officials, the four suspected persons, the identity of whom was yet to be disclosed, had been arrested on the basis of a dossier given by the Punjab Police to the British Police sometime ago and their coordinated investigations.

Rulda Singh was shot at his shop-cum-flat at the Grain Market on July 28, 2009, by two assailants, who later fled in a car. While one bullet passed through his neck, another pumped into his chest. He was admitted to the PGI, Chandigarh, but succumbed to his injuries on August 15, 2009.

As per information, a team of the West Midlands Police visited Punjab and held discussions with the Intelligence Bureau, the top brass of the Punjab Police and Patiala cops. During investigations that continued for the past several months, the leads pointed towards the involvement of some Sikh extremist groups in the UK in the murder case.

Talking to The Tribune, Patiala SSP Ranbir Singh Khatra, who is heading investigations into the matter, said, “We have shared whatever information was with us with the West Midlands Police and had subsequently sent a dossier to them.”

Khatra said the role of the four suspected persons in the murder case was being investigated, adding that, “Two of them are believed to be British nationals.”

He said a joint probe with the Britian Police points that Paramjit Pamma, Pyara Singh Gill, Amritbir and Gursharan Bir are involved in the case. Police officials told TNS that investigations strongly indicate that Paramjit Pamma masterminded the plot and Gursharan Bir and Pyara Singh are the main suspects who fired gunshots.

On September 24, 2009, the Patiala Police had arrested two persons, Darshan Singh and Jagmohan Singh, in connection with the murder case. At that time, cops had stated that the Babbar Khalsa International was behind the murder and the main objective to eliminate Rulda was its ideology.

Meanwhile, though the Punjab Police is waiting to get information about the four arrested persons, investigations by the British Police into the murder case were being conducted by officials from the West Midlands Polices’ CID and its Counter-Terrorism Unit.

Chandigarh, July 13
President of the Muktsar district Youth Akali Dal Triptdeep Singh Sekhon was shot dead by an unidentified person in Sector 9 here this afternoon.

Sekhon, in his early 40s, was found writhing in pain at a parking lot when he was noticed by passersby, who informed the police. He was rushed to a hospital, from where he was referred to the PGI. However, he was declared brought dead by doctors. Sekhon had a gunshot wound in his groin. He was known as Tippa Sekhon in his area.

Sources said Sekhon was a controversial figure and was booked in a case of making an obscene MMS of a married woman in Muktsar. A case in this regard was registered in February and he evaded arrest for long before he surrendered. He is survived by his mother, wife and a minor daughter. He got married over a year ago.

The police is trying to establish his track record and persons who had enmity with him. His cellphone call details were also being scrutinised.

Eyewitnesses told the police that Sekhon was murmuring something in an abusive language. They initially mistook him as a drunkard, but after realising that he was in pain, they informed the police.

Sekhon was staying with his sister, Kiranpreet Kaur, at her residence in Zirakpur. He came to the city this afternoon to meet two women, Sukhbir Kaur and Paramjit Kaur, at their residence in Sector 7-C along with his niece Abhir. He dropped Abhir with them and left saying he had a work to do. 

Banur/Rajpura, July 13
Two of the eight teenage inmates escaped from juvenile observation home at Shimlapuri in Ludhiana on Sunday were arrested at Banur today.

While no official confirmation was released yet, sources confirmed their arrest.

The main accused, Arvanpreet Singh (17), a resident of Zirakpur, also a mastermind of looting highway commuters and lifting cars, was arrested along with Sandeep Sunny from a slum area of Banur.

Arvanpreet is facing 17 criminal cases while Sandeep is facing four such cases.

The Rajpura police had arrested Arvanpreet in November last along with six others. He was the only minor criminal among the others.

The police said he drew his inspiration from Bollywood flick Oye Lucky Lucky Oye. From petty thefts he graduated to stealing luxury vehicles, gadgets like Lucky Singh-protagonist of the movie, does. Interestingly, Arvanpreet was arrested in a stolen Lancer today. He told the police that he stole the car from Patiala.

The police had earlier recovered costly music systems, laptops, vehicle accessories, 16 cars, three pistols, one air gun, one knife and 32 mobile phones from Arvanpreet and other accused.

Patiala SSP Ranbir Singh Khattra said they were trying to arrest those absconding and policemen had been dispatched at various hideouts in Punjab and Haryana.