Chandigarh, August 11
The Punjab Cabinet today gave a go-ahead to formulate a policy for the regularisation of the unauthorised/ unplanned colonies in different cities across the state.

Further, the Cabinet also gave its approval for the provision of funds to the panchayats for the purchase of land for making playgrounds and ‘janjghars’ in villages out of the discretionary grants of the Chief Minister, Deputy Chief Minister, Cabinet ministers and Chief Parliamentary Secretaries.

To make the administrative functioning smoother, the Cabinet also approved the recommendations of the Punjab Governance Reforms Commission for simplification of procedure for births and deaths registration in rural areas thereby transferring this work from Panchayat Secretaries to Multipurpose Health Worker (female).

The Cabinet at its meeting held today also approved the setting up of PUNMEDIA society in the state Information and Public Relations Department.

Stating this here today, a spokesperson of the Punjab government said that with the creation of PUNMEDIA as a society, all advertisements being issued by the department would henceforth be issued through the PUNMEDIA Society besides all the printing and publication jobs of the PR Department, which were at present being outsourced to the Controller, Printing and Stationery, in future be entrusted to 
PUNMEDIA.

The Cabinet gave ex-post-facto approval for exemption of VAT to Ek Onkar Charitable Trust Seechewal for the purchases being made by them for the service of community. This exemption will cost the exchequer to the tune of Rs 11 lakhs approximately.

Further the Cabinet also approved to rationalise the entry tax on various items with a view to protect the local industry by increasing the rate of entry tax from 4 per cent to 5 per cent on yarn, transformers, vanaspati etc. This was necessitated due to change in the slab of VAT from 4 per cent to 5 per cent. Similarly, to protect the local industry, the Cabinet approved to levy entry tax on some of the new items, namely electric motor, industrial acids and iron and steel material used for 
industrial and residential construction purposes.

The Cabinet also gave approval to fill the vacancies of six professors, four readers and 21 lecturers in different departments of Government Ayurvedic College, Patiala, through direct recruitment instead of contract basis by taking these posts out of the purview of the PPSC.

Also the Cabinet sanctioned the creation of 49 posts of teaching staff as per the norms of the Medical Council of India (MCI) and to revive 56 sanctioned posts of teaching faculty under direct quota in the Department of Medical Education & Research besides 82 posts of Junior Resident and 19 posts of Senior Resident would also be created as per the MCI norms.

To ensure smooth functioning of the Fard Kendras across the state, the Cabinet also approved the proposal of the Revenue Department for the recruitment of 922 Fard Kendra Executives initially on the contract basis for a period of two years.

The Cabinet also gave nod to grant status of the Cabinet minister to Sardarni Joginder Kaur Tohra, wife of late Panth Rattan Gurcharan Singh Tohra, former President of SGPC and former MP.

In the light of the provisions of Punjab Police Act, 2007, and the notification issued under section 4 (d) of the said Act, the Cabinet approved to amend the Punjab Police Services Rules 1959.

The Cabinet also gave ex-post-facto approval to include Kartarpur and Adampur subdivisions in the Police District Jalandhar (Rural) in addition to Nakodar, Shahkot and Phillaur.

Mohali, August 11
Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal laid the foundation stone of the Indian School of Business (ISB) at Knowledge City, Sector 81, Mohali, today.

This will be the first campus of the premier business school outside Hyderabad. Chairman of Max India Ltd Analjit Singh, chairman-cum-MD of Punj Lloyd Atul Punj, vice-chairman of Bharti Enterprises Limited Rakesh Bharti Mittal, chairman Hero Honda Motor Limited Sunil Munjal and Pawan Munjal of Hero Corporate Services Limited have joined hands to promote the ISB campus at Mohali.

The state government has provided 70 acres of land for the institute on lease money of Rs 1 per acre per annum for 99 years.

The ISB’s presence and the upcoming international airport were expected to enable Mohali to become an important centre of higher learning and help generate more employment opportunities, said the CM. It would be his passion to see Mohali at the top of the world, he added.

Dr Upinderjit Kaur, Minister of Education, Punjab, said: “This is a historic event for us and it has given us immense joy. The Indian education system has been witnessing unprecedented growth over the recent years, with special focus on expansion, quality and equity. The ISB is a premier management institution and it is our proud privilege that we are going to have the school’s campus at Mohali.”

Ajit Rangnekar, Dean of the ISB, said the Mohali campus would be totally different from the Hyderabad campus. It would house four institutes focusing on areas critical to India’s development: the Max India Institute of Healthcare Management, the Bharti Institute of Public Policy, the BML Munjal Hero Honda Institute of Manufacturing Excellence and Innovation, and the Punj Lloyd Institute of Physical Infrastructure Management.

Spread across 70 acres, the campus at Mohali will be equipped with state-of-the-art learning facilities, lecture theatres, a 500-seat auditorium, student and faculty housing, and a host of recreational facilities. The construction of the campus is expected to be completed by March, 2012, and the first academic session for the postgraduate programme in management is scheduled to commence in April, 2012, with an initial intake of 210 students. The campus at Mohali will also conduct several short-duration executive education programmes in various disciplines.

Analjit Singh, chairman of the Max India Group, said: “It is highly satisfying to have contributed to the development of ISB’s Mohali campus as a founder supporter. We have had strong linkage with Punjab and it is a feeling of joy to see a world-class management institution taking roots in the state.”

Rakesh Bharti Mittal, vice-chairman and managing director, Bharti Enterprises, said, “ Apart from being a centre of excellence in management education, the campus would also boost the external economy of the area. With the coming up of the institute, the allied services would boost the economy of the area as a number of prestigious institutes are coming to Knowledge City.” 

Chandigarh, August 11
After 13 years of trying to undo a “mistake”, the Punjab government has finally started the process of de-notifying over 55,000 hectares of land locked under the Punjab Land Preservation Act (PLPA) across five districts of Punjab.

The first set of notifications delisting the pockets under the PLPA in Karoran, Nadah and Perchh villages in SAS Nagar district were issued by the Forest Department today.

Interestingly, the department has started the delisting process from Chandigarh’s peripheral villages where most of the land under the PLPA is owned by VIPs, including politicians, bureaucrats and police officers.

Sources add that the VIP lobby and the land mafia had been pressurising the government to undertake the de-listing of the forest land in Chandigarh’s periphery first and only after that take up the delisting of other areas.

Thousands of farmers in Ropar, Hoshiarpur and Gurdaspur who are unable to till their land due to it being locked under the PLPA are, however, still awaiting relief.

Their turn, sources add, is likely to come within the next three years as the process of de-notifying was cumbersome and involved preparation of detailed khasra number lists. The source added that the de-listing of the PLPA is specific to certain pockets only in certain villages and it should not be thought that all land under the PLPA in Punjab has been denotified.

Most of this land falls in the eco-fragile zone and is notified under Sections IV and V of the PLPA 1900. The PLPA does not allow a host of activities, including construction. The move to denotify this land from the PLPA was initiated in 1997 when it was discovered that vast tracts of land under habitation and cultivation had been “wrongly” shown as forest land. The land was ordered to be delisted from the list of forest areas under Section 2 of the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980, by the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests in July last year.

The ministry has, however, laid down strict conditions on the delisting of land from the PLPA banning any form of commercial activity on this land. The land is to be used only for bonafide agricultural purposes and related activities to sustain the livelihood of the landowner.

In September last year, a committee constituted by the department had recommended that the land be denotified from the PLPA and its control handed over to the Revenue Department. The government accepted the recommendations of the committee and it was decided that the de-notified areas be placed under the jurisdiction of the state authority that managed the land.

For instance, for Nadah and Karoran villages, which along with Kansal village form part of the Nayagaon notified area committee (NAC), the NAC will manage the de-notified land.

“It will now be the duty of the Nayagaon NAC to ensure the implementation of the conditions laid down by the government of India for these pockets. In case they allow any activity other than agriculture on these chunks, they will be facing the ire of the steering committee of the Supreme Court,” pointed out a Forest Department official.

Amritsar, August 11
Citing a few instances of stage-managed encounters by the Punjab Police during the militancy period in the state, the Majha Ex-Servicemen Human Rights Front today urged the government to initiate action against those police officials who were involved in killing innocent Punjabi youths terming them as militants.

Nevertheless, officials were indicted in several cases by investigating agencies but after sham inquiries, they were allegedly awarded promotions and gallantry awards. It has been alleged that many of them are at present serving in the security convoy of the Chief Minister. However, several questions remained unanswered when kin of those who were killed in fake encounters narrated their tales here.

Dalbir Kaur, accompanied by her daughter Jeevanjot (16), alleged that in August 1994, her husband Sukhpal Singh of Kala Afghana village was abducted from his house and later killed by a police team led by an official, now a DIG-rank official. Later, it was shown that a notorious militant Gurnam Singh Bandala was killed. Likewise, Lakhbir Kaur alleged that her brother Kinder Singh of Nagoke village was a truck driver. He was pulled out of his truck in Madhya Pradesh by the police only to shot him dead while showing that militant Sukhpal Singh Nangli had been eliminated.

Col GS Sandhu (retd), chairman of the front, claimed that both Bandala and Nangli were alive. A former DGP-rank officer, who had allegedly patronised a militant, Sukhwinder Singh Sukhi, had admitted a few years ago that like him, about 300 terrorists-turned police “cats” had been rehabilitated by the Punjab Police in the state by giving them new identities.

Sandhu alleged that the police used these “cats” to engage arms and ammunition, only to be later shown as being recovered from their “false prey”. Tarn Taran-based Chaman Lal said his son Gulshan Kumar, a vegetable vendor then, was killed on June 22, 1993. Darshan Singh’s two sons Jarnail Singh (24) and Karnail Singh (21) were shot dead by the police on July 22, 1993.

Jalandhar, August 11
Some private BEd colleges, falling under the purview of the Federation of Self-Financed Colleges of Education, Punjab, are allegedly adopting wrong practices to ensure admissions to their institutions. Several aspirants for admissions in these colleges told The Tribune on condition of anonymity that many colleges especially the St Soldier College of Education on Kartarpur road are pressurising the students to deposit their original certificates with them.

Further, the staff of several colleges were pressurising the students to deposit Rs 5,000 in advance, they alleged, adding that Rs 600 was charged from them for the form besides charging a similar amount for the scratch card.

The Tribune team visited the St Soldier College of Education to verify the veracity of the allegations and found them correct.

Interestingly, the students present there were not given any receipt for keeping their original certificates and depositing the advance money. When questioned, the staff members gave a bizarre logic that the advance money and original certificates were taken to ensure admissions in their college.

“If a student is allotted a seat in their college on the declaration of a provisional merit list on August 12 but he refuses to take admission, he or she will be returned his or her original certificates only after paying the remaining Rs 45,000,” they added.

However, to a further query, they said if the student was not given a seat in their college, the original certificates and Rs 5,000 taken in advance would be returned. The Chairman of the St Soldier Group of Educational Institutions and Vice-President of the federation, Anil Chopra, claimed only some of the students had been asked to deposit their original certificates due to rush and they were asked to get back their certificates after verification the next day.

He claimed that his college was charging Rs 5,000 in advance only from those students who were seeking admission under the 15 per cent management seats. The federation includes several representatives from the Associations of Self-Financed Colleges affiliated to Panjabi University, Patiala, PU, Chandigarh, GND University, Amritsar, and LPU, Jalandhar.

Patiala, August 11
In protest against the non-fulfilment of their demands and assurances given to them by the state government at the time of the unbundling of the PSEB in April, employees of Punjab State Corporation Limited (PSPCL) and Punjab State Transmission Corporation Limited (PSTCL) today remained on a strike in the entire state.

Though leaders of the PSEB Employees’ Joint Forum claimed that the strike was near- total, the PSPCL and PSTCL authorities claimed that it had virtually no impact. Protesting employees raised slogans against the government and held demonstrations outside the power corporation offices at the subdivision and circle levels. Protest demonstrations were also held in Amritsar, Patiala, Jalandhar, Bathinda and Ludhiana.

As per information, the effect of the strike was more in the distribution circle (field staff) and work at the Patiala headquarters was not much effected. “Cash collection counters of the PSPCL remained closed throughout the state and no financial transaction took place today,” said spokesperson for PSEB Employees’ Joint Forum Manjit Chahal. He claimed that in the south circle, which covers Mohali, Patiala, Sangrur and Ropar, nearly 82.77 per cent employees remained on strike.

President of the Federation AITUC Karamchand Bhardwaj said, “The government has failed to fulfill assurances given to them during the April 16 meeting held the post-PSEB unbundling. There has been no concrete and written assurance regarding protecting pension and gratuity benefits, pay fixation and service conditions of employees in newly created corporations.” The PSEB Employees’ Joint Forum has called a meeting in Patiala on Thursday. Meanwhile, Chairman-cum MD of the PSPCL KD Chaudhri termed the strike as “unjustified”. He said it had virtually no impact on the PSPCL secretariat and its all other offices here. He said adequate arrangements were made to maintain regular power supply. 

Chandigarh, August 11
Amendments carried out to the 1925 Sikh Gurdwara Act, preventing Sahajdhari Sikhs from casting their votes in the SGPC elections, have come under the judicial scanner.

In a petition filed before the Punjab and Haryana High Court, a Sahajdhari Sikh has challenged the action of the Union of India and other respondents, “whereby the Sahajdhari Sikhs are not being considered as Sikhs in view of the impugned amended Section 49 and Section 92 of the Gurdwara Act.”

In the petition filed through counsel Mansur Ali and H.S. Deol, Hans Raj of Jalandhar district has contended special voting rights were given to Sahajdhari Sikhs in 2002. As such, it is evident that “Sahajdhari Sikhs were recognised as Sikhs and got all electoral rights thereof”.

The petitioner added that up to 2003 Sahajdhari Sikhs were considered as Sikhs. But at present “the respondents are restraining the definition of Sikhs by ousting Sahajdhari Sikhs by amending Section 49 and Section 92 of the Act.”

Going into the legality of the action, the petitioner said the original Act declared Sahajdhari Sikhs as qualified electors for the SGPC elections; and the apex court in numerous judgments held the state cannot regulate the definition of religion.

As such, the state authorities cannot fetter the definition of Sikhs in general and Sahajdhari Sikhs in particular, when religion is not within the bounds of any kind of legislation.

The petitioner said Sahajdhari Sikhs were ones not born in Sikh families, but were followers of the Sikh religion for all intents and purposes.When even the preachers have not restricted any man from entering the Sikh fold, the action of the respondents in creating a class within a class is bad in law.

Taking up the petition, the Bench of Chief Justice Mukul Mudgal and Justice Ajay Tewari issued notice of motion for September 28 to the Union of India, the State of Punjab and other respondents. 

Gajniwala (Ferozepur), August 11
For hundreds of residents of this and its surrounding villages, life seems to be becoming harder day by day.

The floods that ravaged this and surrounding Chak Sarkar and Bhadur Ke villages -- razing a number of dwellings apart from damaging the crops in hundreds of acres of area -- have changed the complexion of life in these villages.

Putting up in tents and surviving on borrowed rations, a number of families have been finding it difficult to start life afresh as the promised government aid is yet to reach them.

Most of the victims are yet to find any kind of occupation to make both ends meet. They complained that so far no government official had come to see the conditions in which they had been living without basic amenities and necessities.

Moved by the plight of these people, chief whip of congress in the Punjab Vidhan Sabha and MLA from Guru Har Sahai, Rana Gurmit Singh Sodhi, who visited the affected areas today, extended financial help to a section of them on the spot.

“I have given Rs 15,000 to those families, whose dwellings have been washed away due to floods caused by a breach in the Phida drain,” said Sodhi. He said he would keep on extending financial help to the victims till they settled down.

If the state government was serious about the welfare of the victims of flood, then it must give them Rs 25,000 as compensation for loss of their paddy crop in one acre. Besides, the state government must give adequate funds to enable them to reconstruct their dwellings.

Not only this, Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal must explain to the people why the drains were not cleaned in the past more than three years and why the poor people were allowed to suffer miseries on that account.

Meanwhile, KK Yadav, Deputy Commissioner, said the report, which was sent to the state government in connection with the floods, had been approved and money needed for giving compensation to the victims was expected to reach within four days.

He said adequate care was being taken of the flood victims. 

Ropar, August 11
Russian national Olga Timoshik had procured business visa from Kathmandu on fake documents. This was revealed during her investigation, said SSP LK Yadav. But the occupation and source of income of Olga remained a mystery for the police.

During investigations it was found that in 2006, Olga had applied for a business visa for 12 months. As proof, Olga had submitted documents with the Kathmandu Embassy in Nepal, which had been found to be fake. Confirming the credentials, the Ropar police had sought help of the Indian Embassy in Nepal as well as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Olga had submitted a document in the name of owner of a resort in New Delhi. The document dated January 1, 2006, states that Olga Timoshik is business partner in running a venture named Lord Krishna DS Inn Country Resort, New Delhi. The document is on a letter pad of this business venture and duly bears signatures of chairman Basuki Mishra.

Addressed to the vice-council, Indian Embassy, Kathmandu, business visa for Olga has been sought in this document.

The document mentions that Basuke had taken Olga Timoshik as marketing director for company’s international penetration into tourism industry and her signatures for the same will be taken after she returns to India.

Seeking business visa for Olga, the letter even mentions that clearance has been sought from the Reserve Bank of India and decision to hire Olga has been taken by the board members of company after duly passing a resolution.

“The letter mentions that once Olga gets business visa, the RBI will permit her to open a bank account and she will get residential permit to India. On the basis of this letter, Olga was issued business visa,” Yadav said.

The owner o this resort Manish Aggarwal and manager Basuke told the Ropar police that neither they know anyone named Olga, nor a person by this name has ever stayed in their resort.

Consequently, Aggarwal and Basuke have forwarded a complaint to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Home Affairs and the Delhi police alleging that Olga has wrongly used resort’s letter pad and faked Basuke’s name and signatures.

The owner of resort, Manish Aggarwal told police that someone has used the resort’s name to secure business visa for Olga. Letter to the Indian Embassy Kathmandu has wrongly mentioned Basuke as chairman/CEO of the resort.

Olga was arrested from her house in Jaipur on June 23 after German spy Thomas Keuhen told the police that Olga has taken away his passport, but never returned. 

Patiala, August 11
Schoolchildren in Punjab are having a tough time. With harsh weather (heat and humidity) taking a toll on their health, the government’s decision to extend the morning assembly time to 30 minutes has added to their woes.

According to reports, many children are complaining of dizziness and are even fainting during the assembly hours. In the past week, many such incidents have come to light, with teachers also acknowledging that the enhanced timings have certainly affected the students’ health.

“My daughter could not take the heat and fainted. We had to bring her back from school,” rued Zora Singh, a Hardaspur village resident.

“The increased assembly timings have piled up children’s woes. Many of these kids are undernourished and it becomes all the more difficult for them to bear the heat,” said a government teacher, who did not want to be named.

The timings of government schools were increased by 10 minutes to include some form of exercise for the kids in the daily routine. While the move has been welcomed, its timing has come under fire.

“There is no harm in increasing the assembly timings as exercise is a good thing. But the weather these days is very harsh. The authorities should postpone the extension till the weather gets more comfortable,” said another teacher.

A principal of a senior secondary school, pleading anonymity, revealed that deputy DEO (Secondary) had conveyed the instructions to school heads, though no written notification has been issued in this regard yet. “We have been asked to take attendance and include some exercises during the assembly. In schools, which have high strength, taking attendance during the assembly means total chaos. The authorities must revert their decision. We can certainly do this when the weather is fine,” the principal added.

DEO (Secondary) Pritpal Kaur Sidhu said the order to increase the timings came from senior authorities during a meeting last month. However, she was quick to add that no written instructions have been issued yet.

Patiala, August 11
The Department of Psychology at Punjabi University here is all set to research increasing violent behaviour among adolescents and their tendency to lean on drugs and alcohol.

Project coordinator Daman Sidhu said that the UGC had sanctioned Rs 5.21 lakh for the research, which would be carried out on 600 adolescents from rural and urban areas of Punjab.

“Adolescence is the most crucial stage in a person’s life. It is the transitional stage of development between childhood and full adulthood, representing the period of time during which a person is biologically an adult but emotionally not fully mature. Major physiologic, cognitive, and behavioural changes take place during this period,” Sidhu said.

As part of the research, students and teachers will try to find out behavioral changes that occur in adolescent subjects due to biological and psychological changes. The study will also try to find out the reasons for these changes and the tendency among adolescents to lean on drugs and alcohol after interacting with their teachers and parents.

“Identity crisis is the biggest problem of adolescents. Because of this, children take to bad company or succumb to other bad habits. This research would help better understand their behaviour and help in finding various ways to deal with them,” Sidhu added. 

Patiala, August 11
UK Panda joined as the Director, Finance and Commercial, of the Punjab State Transmission Corporation Limited (PSTCL) here today.

Panda, a qualified cost accountant and company secretary, has 30-year experience of working on various senior-level posts in the corporate sector, both private and public. He has spent 15 years in the power sector.

Before joining here, he was working as the Director, Finance and Corporate Affairs, GRIDCO Limited, and Director, Finance, Orissa Power Transmission Corporation Limited, Bhubaneshwar.

Chandigarh, August 11
Government hospitals in Punjab are the last resort for poor patients suffering from chronic diseases.An annual survey of the government has revealed that most beds in state hospitals are occupied with patients who are suffering from chronic ailments. This is mainly due to the fact that private hospitals refuse to admit chronic patients.

The survey, conducted by the Punjab Health Systems Corporation, has also compared various indicators of the functioning of government hospitals in the state since 1996 till 2009.

The number of beds in district hospitals, sub-divisional hospitals and community health centres in Punjab has not gone up much in the past 15 years. In 1996, the number of functional beds available was 5,157 and in 2009 this had increased to 6,566, an addition of about 1,400 beds in all these years.

The number of admissions (in patient) has, however, doubled during this period, increasing from about 24,000 patients in 1996 to over 50,000 in 2009. Also the number of patients examined in and outpatient departments has doubled from over 5 crore to over 10 crore during this period.

Though the bed occupancy rate has also increased from a mere 44 per cent in 1996 to almost 65 per cent in 2009, the government hospitals are still not able to function to their maximum capacity. The bed occupancy rate shows the extent of utlisation of the medicalcare offered by the hospital. The bed occupancy rate of most private hospitals in Punjab is over 75 per cent.

The turn over rate in the government hospitals has increased from 37 per cent to 77 per cent. “The turn over rate is the rate at which one patients leaves the bed and another occupies it. His number should be on the lower side. However, since the turn over rate has increased over the years, it goes on to show that government hospitals are treating chronic patients who end up staying in the hospital longer,” said Dr Gurvinder Kaur, assistant director Hospital Management Information System.

The biggest achievement of government hospitals for the past 15 years, according to this survey, has been a sharp increase in the number of deliveries conducted in these hospitals. The number of deliveries done in these hospitals in 1996 was about 18,000. In 2009, this number has shot up to over 62,000. Raji P Srivastva, MD, PHSC, added that this was because of a consistent campaign to encourage institutional deliveries in the state.

The survey reports also shows a whopping increase in the number of lab and diagnostic tests conducted in these hospitals, an almost 2,000 per cent increase from 1996 to 2009.