Phagwara, July 18
The Union Government is actively considering constitution of an equal opportunities commission to facilitate people belonging to all communities.

This was stated by National Commission for Minorities Member and former PPCC president H.S. Hanspal while talking to newsmen at the residence of former minister Joginder Singh Maan after condoling the death of Baljinder Kaur Maan, wife of Maan, this afternoon.

Answering a question, Hanspal admitted that Jammu and Kashmir should be brought under the purview of the Minority Commission to safeguard the interests of the minorities in the valley.

He said the state-level Minority Commission was presently working in 15 of the 25 states, but the minority commissions should be set up in all states. He disclosed that no state-level Minority Commission has been set up even in Punjab till now.

Hanspal, however, advocated the demand of Sikhs of Haryana to set up a Haryana Gurdwara Sikh Parbhandhak Committee like Delhi.

When asked about the proposed Anand Karaj Act, Hanspal said he was in favour of the act for Sikhs and he himself had recommended to the UPA government to pass such a resolution in Parliament.

Hanspal alleged that the Punjab Government could not utilise the funds sent by the commission for the welfare of minorities even though it was repeatedly being asked by the commission to do so.

Despite continuous insistence, the state government could spend only Rs 17 crore out of a total of Rs 35 crore sent by the Minority Commission. He said the commission had sufficient funds for the welfare of the minorities, but the state governments should come forward to properly utilise it.

Hanspal said after receiving some complaints against the Rail Coach Factory, Kapurthala, for allegedly discriminating against minorities during recruitment and promotions, he had written to the Railway Board and the Railway Ministry to act accordingly to safeguard the interests of minorities at every stage.

Hanspal disclosed that minorities, including 15 per cent Muslims, 2 per cent Christians, 2 per cent Sikhs, and 0.5 per cent each of Parsis and Buddhists, should actively work to educate their future generations.

Amritsar, July 18
No breakthrough could yet be established by the Amritsar police in the incident in which a doctor was shot dead by four unidentified miscreants last night. The police is working on the theory of “personal enmity” in the case.

Police Commissioner Varinder Kumar said, “Looking at circumstantial evidence, it appears to be personal enmity, which led to the incident. We are investigating the case, but no concrete reason has come to light so far.”

Harminder Pal Singh was running a diagnostic centre at Tarn Taran. He was shot dead late in the evening when he, along with his friend Parveen Kumar, was travelling in his Santro car by four assailants.

The police has prepared sketches of assailants on the basis of the description given by Parveen Kumar.

The incident occurred at about 10 pm on the Sultanwind bypass road leading to Gurdwara Bhai Manji Sahib when four persons in a white Bolero jeep fired gunshots. While the doctor died on the spot, his friend received bullet injuries in his arm.

Meanwhile, it was learnt that health services were disrupted at Tarn Taran by different wings of private doctors and nursing homes in the wake of the incident. — TNS

Jalandhar, July 18
Members of the Unemployed ETT Teachers Union, Punjab, said the state government should advertise 3,425 posts of ETT teacher. The union held a convention in this regard at Desh Bhagat Yaadgar Hall here today.

While the Cabinet had accepted the demand of the union on June 29, it is yet to be implemented.

Members maintained that ETT seats should be filled at the earliest to reduce unrest among the unemployed ETT teachers.

District president of the union Jagtar Singh said the state government had accepted this demand owing to statewide protests organised by the union. “It was due to our protests that the Punjab Government acceded to our demand of the 70:30 (Punjab state ETT candidates:other states ETT candidates) ratio. However, now the government should immediately fill the vacant seats,” he added.

Expressing concern over the rapid privatisation of the education sector, the union said this trend was depriving children of poor farmers and labourers of their basic right of quality education.

Today’s convention was attended by members from Jalandhar, Gurdaspur, Tarn Taran, Amritsar, Kapurthala, Moga, Hoshiarpur and Ludhiana. The union would be conducting another convention on July 25 at Bathinda.

“If the state government fails to advertise the vacant post of ETT teacher, the union would be forced to launch a statewide protest once again,” said Pawan Kumar, a member.

Jalandhar, July 18
Punjab Minister for Information and Public Relations Sewa Singh Sekhwan said today that Punjabi newspapers published from abroad would get government advertisements pertaining to the development works of the state government.

The minister said the move would not only help the foreign-based Punjabi newspapers in increasing their revenue, but also publicising the various development works of the state government.

“The state government has been considering the plan to provide government advertisements to Punjabi newspapers published from abroad but delay by the Ministry of External Affairs is leading to problems,” he added.

He was here to attend a seminar on “Pravasi Punjabi Media”, organised by the Media Punjab (German) at the Punjab Press Club. The minister said the foreign-based Punjabi newspapers should create such avenues where they could invest their money. “It is a matter of pride that Punjabi people settled abroad are concerned about their mother tongue and had been working to publicise it for years,” he added.

The seminar was attended by the president of NRI Sabha, Kamaljeet Singh Hayre, Gurdish Kaur Bajwa, editor of Media Punjab (German), Dr Lakhwinder Singh Johal, Baljeet Singh Brar and many others.

Tarn Taran, July 18
All the 150 students of Government Elementary School, Pandori Ran Singh, 14 km from here, were given uniforms by the family of Darshan Kaur, retired head teacher of the school, at a function organised on the school premises yesterday.

Rural Education Development Committee (REDC) chairman Narinder Singh and centre head teacher Kuldeep Bharti, among others, participated in the function.

The representatives appreciated the act of the family of Darshan Kaur.