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Flood Relief: Centre should ‘reconsider’ norms
Floods a man-made calamity, says Badal
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Centre downplayed situation: Sidhu
Jalandhar, July 17  Bharatiya
Janata Party national secretary Navjot Singh Sidhu today lambasted the Union
Government for their reaction to the floods in Punjab and Haryana, saying it had
behaved as if nothing had happened.Navjot Singh Sidhu, BJP national secretary, addresses a press conference in Jalandhar. A Tribune photograph
PAU draws up crop plan for affected farmers
Rain in HP, Ghaggar in spate
3 feared dead as car plunges into Bhakra Canal
Controversy Over Town Planners’ Selection
Man donates 2-yr-old son’s eyes
Man offers to sponsor UAE visit of convicts’ kin
Suicides by Farmers
Bridge collapses near Pathankot
Healthcare vans for cancer patients flagged off
Junior Engineers to protest from July 20
Sikh activists
lathicharged
Pak Hindu gets bail
Harminder gets police remand
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Flood Relief: Centre should ‘reconsider’ norms
Jalandhar, July 17 “Instead of finding fault with the states, the Centre should first have a look at its norms,” said an official associated with flood-relief distribution. And there is also a provision of only Rs 20 per cattle head to provide green and dry fodder in the flood-affected areas. Can a full grown buffalo, cow or other head of cattle survive on green and dry fodder procured by spending Rs 20? And there is even a provision of Rs 1,600 to pay per acre compensation to the farmers whose crops have been wiped out by floods. In the case of Punjab and even Haryana farmers Rs 1,600 per acre is a sum not enough even to meet the seed cost, not to speak of other expenditure made on the sowing and transplantation of paddy. The labour, which was engaged by farmers in recent weeks, had charged Rs 2,000 to Rs 2,400 per acre to transplant paddy. The Punjab government has announced to pay Rs 5,000 per acre to farmers affected by floods. “Obviously, we will have to spend money from our own treasury to pay over and above Rs 1,600 that is payable per acre to farmers under the norms fixed by the Centre for distribution of calamity fund,” said a senior official of the state government. Similar is the situation in providing food to the flood-affected people and fodder to cattle. One needs at least Rs 50 per head to provide food and other eatables. The state government has already released Rs 40 crore from the calamity fund for flood-affected areas. The Centre had stated that both Punjab and Haryana have Rs 3,467 crore in their kitty, whereas Punjab has Rs 2,316 crore and Haryana Rs 1,151 crore as unspent in their calamity relief fund. The Centre contributes a major share, about 80 per cent, to the fund and the remaining contribution is made by the state.
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Floods a man-made calamity, says Badal
Mirjeana (Talwandi Sabo), July 17 Badal said farmers and common people were undergoing misery because Haryana did not allow the channelisation of the Ghaggar in Patiala and beyond by obtaining a stay order against the strengthening of embankments from the Supreme Court. He said it was not a “natural calamity but a man-made tragedy” that had destroyed standing crops on more than 3.25 lakh hectares. Several houses had also been badly damaged. Badal said when Punjab refused to accept Haryana’s condition for allowing it to build the Hansi-Butana headworks in lieu of the channelisation of the Ghaggar, it created hurdles in the execution of the centrally funded scheme to contain the river. He said the Centre had in the first phase provided a grant of Rs 134 crore for building a concrete bundh to channelise the Ghaggar. However, Haryana obtained a stay when only 22 km of channelisation had been done. Referring to reports regarding the Centre having asked Punjab to first exhaust the already released natural calamity fund before seeking more money to compensate losses due to the current floods, Badal said the Centre had provided a meagre amount of Rs 1,500 for each victim which was insufficient to meet the loss. The Punjab Government had added Rs 3,500 from its own kitty as compensation to the sufferers. He said the Punjab Government was committed to cleaning effluents from all water bodies in the state and an action plan had been prepared for this purpose. Steps were being taken to stop the flow of municipal and industrial waste into the Sutlej, Beas, Ghaggar and other rivers.
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Centre downplayed situation: Sidhu
Jalandhar, July 17 “Floods killed and devastated lakhs of farmers and poor but none of the top functionaries had even a word of sympathy for the affected. Inspite of repeated calls from the Punjab Government, no functionary of the Centre came to visit affected areas. Both these states together grow half of the country’s foodgrain,” he said, adding that the issue would be raised in Parliament. Floods in both states were not a natural calamity but a manmade disaster, said Sidhu. “No adequate preventive measures were in place. Rains are an annual phenomenon and it is also known that both states are highly flood-prone. Why were then adequate funds not released to strengthen bundhs and remove silt and other barriers from natural water outlets?,” Sidhu asked. Punjab released about Rs 2 lakh to each district whereas Haryana released Rs 23 crore from Rs 75 crore kept for flood control measures. “When both states asked for relief, the Centre told them that that they both already had Rs 3,700 crore in the calamity funds,” he said.
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PAU draws up crop plan for affected farmers
Moga, July 17 Experts have suggested that farmers sow a nursery of basmati in areas where the fury and impact of floods was not tremendous, as this crop can be grown in July. They have recommended growing Basmati 370 and Basmati 386, which can also be sown directly using drum seeders. “Once the water recedes and fields become fit for sowing mash varieties, Mash-114, 338 and 1-1 can be sown using 6-8 kg seed per acre,” said varsity director (extension education) Dr MS Gill. “This will give 3-3.5 q/acre yield of mash. Particularly, varieties PMH-2 and JH-3459 can also be grown using 8 kg seed per acre. In addition to providing green fodder, green cobs from maize crop can provide good profit to farmers,” he said. Apart from this, a mixture of maize and bajra using a seed rate of 15 kg maize and 3 kg bajra can be grown for fodder, which will be ready in 40 days. After maturity of these crops in the first week of September, farmers can sow toria varieties PBT-37 and TL-15 using 1.5 kg seed per acre, maintaining a line-to-line distance of 30 cm. The crop takes around 90 days for maturity. Farmers have also been advised to grow a mixture of toria and gobhi sarson crops in middle September. For this, one kg seed per acre will be required. After preparing the fields, toria seeds can be sown by broadcast and gobhi sarson in rows 45 cm apart. The toria crop will mature in the end December while gobhi sarson in March end. Agro scientists also suggest that farmers consider vegetables. August is suitable for radish and cucurbits. Lobia may also be grown. Peas varieties Arkel and Matar Ageta-6 can be grown September end as these yield green pods after 60-65 days.
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Rain in HP, Ghaggar in spate
Patiala, July 17 Speaking to The Tribune, XEN (Drainage Department) KS Kapoor said: “Water from the catchments areas of upper Shivalik Hills from Kalka and Pinjore come into Ghaggar. Because of the heavy rainfall in HP, water level in Ghaggar at Bhankarpur point on Ambala-Chandigarh Road, near Dera Bassi, started increasing.” Kapoor further said close monitoring of the gaze (measurement scale) installed showed that from zero feet at 4 am, the water level went up to 8 feet. “But by afternoon, the water started receding and level was nil at 4 pm. At around 6 pm, water level near Sarala started increasing but here also the trend was similar as it started receding later,” he said. Kapoor also said now the water was going towards Kanouri, Patran and Samana. He added that the situation is under control.
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3 feared dead as car plunges into Bhakra Canal
Ludhiana/Fatehgarh Sahib, July 17 While the driver, Varinder Kala, and another youth, Mani, managed to come out of the car after breaking windowpanes, the other three could not do so. Divers were pressed into service but they failed to trace the missing boys due to strong water current. As per the statements recorded by the police, security guards of a restaurant situated near the accident site heard a crashing sound and found that a car had fallen into the canal. They informed the police about the accident. SP (headquarters) JPS Sidhu, Fatehgarh Sahib SDM Gurpal Singh Chahal, DSP Amarjeet Singh Ghuman and Sirhind SHO Manjit Singh reached the spot. The police was able to fish out the car after seven hours of rigorous search operation. The three missing youth, however, remained untraced.“The Drainage Department has installed a net near Ghanauri village, where the bodies may reach after a week,” a police official said. Meanwhile, pall of gloom descended on Nirankari Mohalla, Miller Ganj, as the missing belonged to the area. The family members of the missing youth were agitated over the incident and demanded action against the driver. They alleged that the driver was under the influence of liquor at the time of the incident.No case was registered till filing of the report and investigations are on.
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Controversy Over Town Planners’ Selection Chitleen K Sethi Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, July 17 The PPSC selected assistant town planners in July 2009 but the same was challenged in the Punjab and Haryana High Court. Candidates questioned the selection criteria, objecting to the commission setting aside 50 per cent marks for an interview, which they alleged had brought in a strong element of subjectivity. They also said that PPSC did not inform them of the criteria till the declaration of results and that merit was ignored. Candidates pointed out that some of them were gold medallists but were ignored. Similarly, even though they were holders of master’s degree in urban planning, some of those selected had only a bachelor’s degree. Madhu Arora, an unselected candidate, said that she was an MTech in urban planning, stood second in the university and had two years of experience as an assistant town planner. “I was working as ATP on contract but I was rejected in favour of some other candidates who did not even have a MTech degree and were without experience,” she said. The PPSC had advertised 11 posts of assistant town planners in March 2009. Arora said that after the first set of advertisements, the number of posts was increased by three, but no fresh selections were held. The same merit list prepared by the PPSC was used to fill these fresh posts. “This is against a Supreme Court ruling, which said that once the number of vacancies determined are filled, the selection process would come to an end and no further appointment could be made from the same select list to fill positions that were available later,” she said. Selected candidates, on the other hand, have been awaiting their appointment for almost a year and are now being given their appointment letters. “Since there is no stay from the court, we are issuing appointment letters to candidates selected by the PPSC,” said Principal Secretary Urban Housing and Development Sukhbir Singh Sandhu. Though the department claimed to be under constraint to appoint those on the PPSC merit list, interestingly, the department made a single deviation from the list while issuing appointment letters. In one case, from among two candidates in a reserved category, the department instead of appointing the person higher on merit list issued the letter to the person lower on the list. “In this case, the person higher on the merit list holds a degree in architecture while the person next to her holds a degree in urban planning. Since it is clearly written in departmental rules that a And why was not a similar review done for other selected candidates? “We did not receive any complaint from anyone regarding selected candidates,” added Sandhu.
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Man donates 2-yr-old son’s eyes
Ludhiana, July 17 Dr Ramesh Kumar, eye transplant surgeon who performed the corneal transplant in Ludhiana on July 13, said the deceased was the youngest donor in the state whose one eye was donated to eleven-month-old Sukhnoor Angel from Rurka Khurd village near Phillaur and the other to Amritpal (5). Dr Ramesh runs an NGO, Puanarjot Eye Bank Society, working for the cause of eye donation, which is registered with the Punjab Government under the Human Organ Transplant Act (HOTA). Talking to the Tribune, Shivam’s uncle Vinod Kumar said, “I was with Shivam when he died at the PGI. I called up my brother asking him to give me permission to sign a consent form for eye donation to which he agreed. We all are happy that Shivam’s each eye has been successfully transplanted to two children who were partially blind.” Sukhnoor Angel’s father Jagdeep expressed gratitude to Shivam’s family and said it was the family’s benevolence that gave light to their daughter’s left eye. Sukhnoor was born with glaucoma and the family had applied for corneal transplant at the PGI and Punarjot. Amritpal (5), the second recipient of Shivam’s eye, is a student of LKG, who was unable to hide his excitement to see the world with both eyes. “Amritpal lost the vision of his left eye after an accident three years ago. We tried getting corneal transplantation at various places but to no avail. Then we got registered with Punarjot where Amritpal got back vision of his eye,” said his father Ranjit Singh.
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Man offers to sponsor UAE visit of convicts’ kin
Dubai, July 17 He says that families could contact him with details of passports and two copies of the latest photograph of each of their relatives in jail. “I regularly meet all Indian boys in Sharjah Jail. I also had a chance to visit their families in Punjab and Haryana. I can understand the agony and pain of both the boys and their families. Keeping in view their plight, I have decided to sponsor two blood relatives of each of these 32 boys,” says Oberoi. Not many of the blood relatives of these 32 boys facing death in six different cases have till now had an opportunity to meet them after the trials started. The only contact these boys have with their families back home is a once-a-week permission to talk to them on mobile telephones provided through the joint efforts of the Indian Consulate-General and Oberoi. “The only way to mitigate the sufferings of the boys and their families is to organise meetings of the boys and their kin, but the families cannot afford to travel to Dubai. They had taken loans to send the boys abroad in the hope of a better future, but they have been in jail for while. Not only do the loans need to be repaid, a major channel of income has also been cut. It is terrible,” says Oberoi There are 350-odd Indians in Sharjah Jail and 32 are facing death sentence in cases of bootlegging and murder. In some cases, the Sharjah Appeal Court gave time to families of convicts to reach a compromise with the victim’s families at the end of trial. In cases where the compromise struck is ratified by the court, death penalty is waived and the sentence reviewed and re-issued.
In Big Trouble l
Case 1: Mishri Khan murder case Convicted: Sukhjinder Singh (Patti), Sukhjot Singh of Sanghera and Ram Singh of Kanvi (Amritsar), Baljeet Singh of Sangwal (Jalandhar), Daljeet Singh of Aitiana, Kulwinder Singh of Bansipura, Namjyot Singh of Raikot and Satnam Singh of Koolikalan (Ludhiana), Dharampal Singh of Jhoke Tehal Singhwala (Ferozepore), Satgur Singh of Khanaur Jattan (Sangrur), Kashmir Singh of Rattu Ke (Taran Tarn), Sukhinder Singh of Nikki Miani and Suban Singh of Lohian Khas (Kapurthala), Kuldeep Singh of Kukrana (Moga), Arvinder Singh of Ghokulwada (Gurdaspur), Harjinder Singh (Phagwara) and Taranjit Singh (Kaithal). l
Case 2: Bootlegging, murder of Pakistani youth Convicted: Kuldip Singh, Sachin Kumar Sharma, Rakesh Kumar, Rashwinder Pal, Sukhpal Singh, Hardev Singh, Charanjeet and Amarjeet Kumar. In this case, Hardev Singh has accepted his guilt. l
Case 3: Bootlegging, murder of Bikramjit Singh ofDayalgarh (Gurdaspur) Convicted: Pardeep Kumar of Fatehgarh Niara and Tarlochan Singh of Garh Shankar in Hoshiarpur and Kashmiri Lal of Bhar Singhpura in Nawan Shahr l
Case 4: Murder of a youth from Kerala Convicted: Harpal Singh of Megha Singh Munda in Gurdaspur, Talvinder Singh of Kapurthala and Paramjit Singh of Talla in Gurdaspur l
Case 5: Rajbir Singh convicted and sentenced to death in a murder case. l
Case 6: Murder of another youth from Kerala Convicted: Jaswant Singh of Bigwar village (Ludhiana) and Harbhajan Singh of Moaniwat
(Hoshiarpur)
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Suicides by Farmers
Ludhiana, July 17 While PAU and Punjabi University have received Rs 5 lakh each to start the survey, GND University has not yet received the money. It has taken almost a year for the universities to undertake the survey as it was in September last year that the Chief Secretary had convened a meeting of officials of the three universities and entrusted to them the job of conducting a survey. The state government failed to provide the requisite funds for the survey. It was in March this year that the government sanctioned about Rs 90 lakh for the three universities and granted them an initial sum of Rs 5 lakh each to initiate the survey process. But the state treasury declined to encash the cheques because of “no money” with the result the amount lapsed. Two universities --- PAU and Punjabi University-- have got the amount revalidated. Guru Nanak Dev University has not been able to do so yet. Dr Gian Kaur, Principal Investigator of Guru Nanak Dev University, told The Tribune that they had also asked the state government to provide them the initial amount of Rs 5 lakh to start the survey. The Punjab Government has sanctioned Rs 34.17 lakh for Guru Nanak Dev University and Rs 34 lakh for Punjabi University. Both Punjabi University and Guru Nanak Dev University will undertake a survey of seven districts each. Dr OP Miglani, Principal Investigator, Punjabi University, said they would cover Muktsar, Faridkot, Patiala, Ropar, Fatehgarh Sahib, Mohali and Hoshiarpur. They have started the survey and hope to complete the work in eight to 10 months.
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Bridge collapses near Pathankot
Pathankot, July 17 The bridge, originally built by the British, was washed away in August, 2007. A pontoon bridge was then built with the help of the Army at a cost of Rs 53 lakh but that too gave way following rains last year. Since then, a temporary bridge was constructed twice with public initiative and after collecting funds from people. After the bridge collapsed early this morning, travellers are coughing up higher fare and taking up longer time to reach their destination.
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Healthcare vans for cancer patients flagged off
Malkon (Mansa) July 17 The vans will cater free of cost to the patients in the districts of Bathinda, Mansa and Muktsar. While the flagging off was done at Malkon in Mansa, the ceremony was performed at Mirjeana in Bathinda district. Addressing the gatherings at the two places, Parkash Singh Badal appreciated the initiative of Ranbaxy to provide basic healthcare facilities on the doorstep of the poor and needy in 238 villages of 40 blocks. He said that under the first phase of the programme 166 villages with a population of 3.5 lakh in the region would benefit through facilities like diagnostic tests. Doctors and paramedics would be available in each of the state-of-the-art vans. The initiative would help in the early detection of commonly found cancers in this region. Badal said the Punjab Government would acquire 50 such vans for being deployed in other areas of the state. He said Rs 346 crore had already been sanctioned on the recommendation of the special committee for upgrading health services.Under this scheme 29 new community health centres would be set up besides upgradation of the existing infrastructure in the district and subdivisional hospitals. Chairman-cum-Managing Director of Ranbaxy Atul Sobti hoped this joint venture between the Punjab Government and Ranbaxy through the Sanjeevan Health Service would usher in a new era in the health delivery system.
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Junior Engineers to protest from July 20
Patiala, July 17 Making an announcement in this regard, the president and general secretary of the council, Swaran Lal and Davinder Singh respectively, stated that their central working committee has held deliberations on this issue. “It is now clear that the state government has not implemented the assurance given for the early finalisation of tripartite agreement to safeguard the interests of the employees pertaining to their existing service, working conditions and settlement of the pay scales/allowances etc within reasonable time,” they said. The council leaders further stated that they would hold circle level rallies in front of all circle headquarters of the PSPCL across the state from July 20 to July 23.
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Sikh activists
lathicharged Barnala, July 17 The police has arrested 12 activists of the Ek Noor Khalsa and the SAD (Mann) and registered a case against them for violating Section 144 and preventing the police from performing its duty.“Sikhs protested in a peaceful manner but the police resorted to canecharge. Naam charcha was also held under police patronage,” an activist of the Ek Noor Khalsa said. Barnala SSP Harcharan Singh Bhullar said 12 activists of the Ek Noor Khalsa and the SAD (Mann) had been arrested and booked under relevant sections. “The police resorted to a mild lathicharge. However, the samagam passed off peacefully,” the SSP added.
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Bridge collapses near Pathankot Pathankot, July 17 The bridge, originally built by the British, was washed away in August, 2007. A pontoon bridge was then built with the help of the Army at a cost of Rs 53 lakh but that too gave way following rains last year. Since then, a temporary bridge was constructed twice with public initiative and after collecting funds from people. After the bridge collapsed early this morning, travellers are coughing up higher fare and taking up longer time to reach their destination.
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Fake Currency: Pak Hindu gets bail
Amritsar, July 17 Vaasu is a part of the Hindu jatha that arrived here on Thursday. It is learnt that the accused procured the counterfeit notes in the denomination of Rs 500 at a cheaper deal from Pakistan. “We had sought police remand of the accused for further interrogation but had to give up before the court orders”, said the SHO of the Kotwali police station.
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Harminder gets police remand Khanna, July 17 This was stated by senior police officials interrogating
Harminder. He, along with three other terrorists, was produced at the residence of Subdivisional Judicial Magistrate (First Class) Varinder Kumar Sharma due to security reasons. They have been sent to police remand till July 24. The other three terrorists, Jaswinder Singh, Gurjant Singh and Manjinder Singh, were arrested on Thursday night and were being interrogated today by senior police officials, including the SSP of the adjoining district. Sources said there was a difference among senior police officials of Ludhiana over the credit of arresting the accused. Usually a press conference is held immediately after the arrest or the next day, but no such media briefing was held today. Police Commissioner Ishwar Singh said he was not aware of the case and it should be inquired from DIG
(Ludhiana range) Jatinder Jain. Jain when contacted said the press conference was delayed as various facts regarding the crime had come out after a detailed interrogation of the accused. Meanwhile, family members of the three accused alleged the police arrested the three from their respective villages in Rajpura and that they had no association with any terrorist outfit. Sewak Singh, father of Gurjant Singh, alleged the police was taking revenge from the three as they had brought the
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Mirjeana (Talwandi Sabo), July 17
Ludhiana/Fatehgarh Sahib, July 17
Three youths were feared drowned while two had a miraculous escape when the car they were travelling in fell into the Bhakra Canal near Mandi
Gobindgarh. The incident took place this morning when the victims were returning home after attending a wedding at
Patiala. The driver lost control over the vehicle while overtaking and the car broke the railings of the bridge and fell into the canal.
Ludhiana, July 17
Dubai-based Surinder Pal Singh Oberoi has offered to host two blood relatives each of the 32 Indian convicts on death row in Sharjah Jail. The businessman has offered to arrange return air tickets, free board and lodging in Dubai for three days, visas and a possible meeting of immediate family members — father, mother, brother, sister, wife, son or daughter — with the convicts.
Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and Deputy CM Sukhbir Singh Badal today flagged off 10 fully equipped healthcare vans of Ranbaxy at two separate functions in Mansa and Bathinda districts that have the highest number of persons suffering from cancer.
