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GPF Scam
Flood Victims In Leh |
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One more H1N1 case in Amritsar
‘Political Interference’ in Investigation
Harpreet Case
AI flight late, passengers stranded Amritsar, August 28 Over a 100 Dubai-bound passengers were found stranded at Amritsar International Airport, as Air India Express flight (Dubai- Amritsar-Dubai) failed to land at the airport on its scheduled time at 2.40 am from Dubai. The flight was supposed to fly back to Dubai after having a halt here.
No arrest yet in Batala scam
Opening Bhakra gates caused floods: Engineers’ body
Majha has lowest per capita income
State’s rural economy on verge of crisis, say experts
Retreat Ceremony
Terrorism ‘instrument of proxy war’
Power consumers rue ‘slow’ e-bill service
BCI Test
City Centre case adjourned till Sept 18
Public hygiene should be top priority: HC
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GPF Scam
Rajpura, August 28 The accused have been identified as teacher Sukhbir Singh and clerk Parveen Bala. Sukhbir was at present handling the charge of block resource person under the Sarv Shiksha Abhiyaan. Besides opening bank accounts in the name of retired officials by forging signature and preparing fake identity cards, the duo also forged signatures of senior government functionaries to withdraw the GPF of retired officials from the treasury. The issue came to light during the recent auditing and a departmental inquiry was conducted after which a case was registered against them. The role of a BPEO (Block Primary Education Officer) is also under scanner. The duo remained missing from their respective abodes after the auditing, but they joined investigations two days ago and disclosed modus operandi to the police. Police officials said this was just the tip of the iceberg as the role of some other senior functionaries of the Education Department was being probed. Patiala SSP Ranbir Khattra said while Parveen joined government service in 2001, Sukhbir joined in 2006. The SSP said the duo allegedly in connivance with some other department and treasury officials indulged in this unlawful activity two years ago. Being government servants, no one suspected them. The accused first prepared fake identity cards of retired officials in their office itself and then opened different bank accounts in their names to withdraw the GPF. Though the actual beneficiaries got their respective GPF once, the accused managed to withdraw the same through unfair means twice or thrice. The police has so far traced Rs 48 lakh from ICICI bank, Rs 38 lakh from the Central Bank of India; Rs 16 lakh from the State Bank of India and the money deposited in HDFC Bank is yet to be ascertained. The accused invested money judiciously and purchased a farmland in Kurukshetra, a few plots in Bhateja colony, Kanika Garden in Rajpura. They also invested money in bee keeping. Both had recently purchased a Tata Safari and Scorpio. The police has impounded their vehicles and recovered Rs 25.5 lakh and efforts are on to value all their other assets, which will be auctioned to recover the money bungled. It has already seized 550 boxes of honey bees, which are said to be worth Rs 2.5 lakh. A case under Sections 419, 420, 467, 468, 471, 380 and 120-B of the IPC has been registered against both accused at the Rajpura city police station. District Education Officer Varsha Shukla said both had been suspended and their services would be terminated if found guilty.
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Flood Victims In Leh
Ludhiana, August 28 Talking to mediapersons after flagging off 11 trucks of relief material for the flood victims in Leh from Ludhiana today, Sukhbir said the consignment included eight trucks of blankets, two trucks of hosiery and one truck of biscuits. He further stated that he along with the SAD-BJP MPs had already met President Pratibha Patil and had briefed her on the threat posed to the lives of Sikhs in J&K from anti-social elements and terrorists. He also said that he along with SGPC President Avtar Singh and Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal would soon meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, seeking his intervention in securing the lives of Sikh community in J & K. On traffic problem in Ludhiana, Sukhbir said the Deputy Commissioner, Police Commissioner and Commissioner, municipal corporation, had been asked to work out a mobility plan for the city and submit to him within one month a solution to the traffic problem.
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One more H1N1 case in Amritsar
Amritsar: One more person tested positive for swine flu here on Saturday. The PGI Regional Testing Laboratory confirmed that Satpal (55) admitted in the local ESI Hospital was the third positive case detected during this month in the city.
Out of the three, two died of swine flu. A pregnant woman, who died in Guru Nanak Dev Hospital on August 26, was also suffering from swine flu, confirmed a report of a Chandigarh-based laboratory. The deceased, Ritu (22) had no history of travelling abroad. Earlier, Malti Devi (48) had died of swine flu here on August 9. Deputy medical commissioner Dr Hardip Singh Ghai, also district nodal officer for swine flu, said five samples were sent to the laboratory. The report, which arrived today, confirmed two of them to be positive.
— TNS
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‘Political Interference’ in Investigation
Chandigarh, August 28 The directions came on a petition filed by Surjit Singh for transferring the investigation of a theft case registered on July 28, 2009, in Jalandhar to an independent agency, like the Crime Branch. In the petition through counsel RS Bajaj, Surjit Singh claimed his representation for action against the accused was marked to DSP City-I Gaganjeet Singh on August 18, 2009. “But very strangely, instead of taking any action against the accused, the DSP told the petitioner in clear terms he was under tremendous pressure from local MLA Sarabjit Singh Makkar, belonging to the ruling Akali Dal, not to take any action against the accused,” the petitioner alleged. Going into the background, Bajaj said Jathedar Pritam Singh, his brother Bhagat Singh and their sister Pritam Kaur were convicted in an injury case after the petitioner’s wife filed a criminal complaint. As the petitioner came back from hearing of the appeal on July 25, 2009, also, he found cash and documents stolen from his scooter, parked on the court premises. CCTV camera footage revealed the “thief” was accused Pritam Singh’s son Gagandeep. Justice Gurdev Singh asserted: “The main grievance of the petitioner made in the present petition is that the investigating agency is not arresting the accused on account of political pressure being exerted upon it by the local MLA. “The state came out with the reply that every effort has been made to arrest the accused, but he could not be arrested as he is missing from his house. “The petitioner has filed his counter-affidavit that the accused is very much living in the same house and is roaming out freely. This affidavit reflects upon the working of the investigating agency and shows that the investigating agency is not intentionally arresting the accused. “Let commissioner of police file his affidavit in reply to the affidavit of the petitioner. He is to come present in the court in order to explain what type of control he is exercising on his subordinates regarding the investigation being done by them and how the political interference is making all the difference.”
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Harpreet Case
Patiala, August 28 As the hearing in the case resumed today, CBI counsels, SK Saxena and RK Handa, said Kamaljit, the main witness in the case, should be asked to deposit his passport in the court. A few months ago, Kamaljit had turned hostile in the court. After his cross-examination completed, he was exempted from personal appearance in the court during the trial of the Harpreet murder case. However, the CBI counsels today filed an application urging the court for making Kamaljit’s presence in the court mandatory. Pertaining to the application moved by the CBI on August 21 seeking the cancellation of bail granted to Bibi Jagir Kaur and six other accused in the case, the court today asked the lawyers of the accused to give a reply. In its application, the CBI had claimed that Bibi Jagir Kaur was a senior SAD leader and was trying to influence witnesses in the case to backtrack from their statements, violating conditions furnished in the bail bond. The CBI had moved the application for the cancellation of bail on the basis that out of 83 witnesses examined till now, 25 had already turned hostile. Meanwhile, on the request of Bibi Jagir Kaur’s lawyer for giving some time to reply regarding the CBI’s application for the cancellation of bail of his client, the court fixed September 10 as the next date of hearing in the case. Except Dalwinder Kaur Dhesi, who is abroad, other accused were present in the court during today’s court proceedings.
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AI flight late, passengers stranded
Amritsar, August 28 Later, passengers were accommodated in different hotels of the city. Till the filing of this report, the flight had not reached Amritsar. The worst affected among them were 10 passengers, whose visa validity for Dubai had to lapse today only. “We will have to face a tough time to get our visa renewed in Dubai if we failed to reach there on time. Who will bear this loss?”, rued passengers. Air India officials said the flight had been delayed due to a technical snag. “Efforts are on to rectify the snag. We are in constant touch with our Dubai office and it is expected that the flight will reach anytime in late hours today,” said Shashi Kant Kaundal, Station Manager (AI).
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No arrest yet in Batala scam
Batala, August 28 The embezzlement came to light when a bill for Rs 15,44,854 in the name of a retired teacher, Jagtar Singh, under the signature of Partap Singh, headmaster of Government School, Dharamkot Bagga, was submitted to treasury officer Harjawant Singh for the payment of GPF. However, Harjawant Singh got suspicious and contacted Partap Singh. After verification, it was found that the headmaster never signed or submitted the bill and no such teacher was working in that school. Following this, Harjawant Singh and Partap Singh lodged a complaint with the police on August 16, which registered an FIR under Sections 420, 467, 468, 471, 120 B of the IPC. However, no one has been arrested fo far. Talking to mediapersons, Harjawant Singh said the verification of the office record had further revealed that bills for over Rs 2 crore were similarly put up and cleared as retirement benefits to non-existent retired teachers of government schools at Teja Kalan, Bollewal, Shukarpura, Dharamkot Bagga etc. The cheques issued by the treasury officer were deposited in branches of the State Bank of India, Nakokar, Jalandhar cCantt and Phagwara. Batala SSP Dinesh Partap Singh has ordered to seize all records. On the other hand, District Education Officer Jaspal Singh said records pertaining to all government schools were being verified to know the exact figure of the embezzled amount. Meanwhile, Harjawant Singh was allegedly attacked by three employees of his office and he did not rule out their involvement in the scam.
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Opening Bhakra gates caused floods: Engineers’ body
Ropar, August 28 These observations have been made in a white paper issued by the All-India Power Engineers Federation (AIPEF) on spillage from the Bhakra reservoir. The federation has demanded that the BBMB must allow filling up to 1,685 feet in case the inflow pickup in the coming days. Chairman of the federation Padamjit Singh said the BBMB took the decision of shifting the date for achieving 1,680-foot level from August 31 to September10 out of fear psychosis. “This implies that even if there is surplus water inflow in the reservoir during first 10 days of September, in case the level is 1,680 feet, water would have to be spilled, thereby denying benefit of full storage up to 1,685 feet,” he said. The BBMB opened spillways of Bhakra from August 22 to 27, releasing 1,00,947 cusecs of water with an energy loss of 814 lakh units at Bhakra and a consequential energy loss of 308 lakh units at Anandpur Sahib hydroproject. The total energy loss due to spillage worked out to be 1,122 lakh units. “If spillage had not taken place, water could have been utilised in the subsequent months to generate power and villagers could have been saved from flood fury,” he said. From August 22 to August 27, total inflow into the dam was 3.96 lakh cusec days (LCD) out of which 2.18 LCD was utilised for power generation, 0.77 LCD was stored and 1.01 LCD was spilled. “This means 25.5 per cent of the inflow was spilled, while 55 per cent was utilised for generation and 19.5 per cent stored during the period,” he observed. Pointing towards factors responsible for breach in the Sutlej at Anandpur Sahib on August 24, he pointed out that on that day the inflow in the Sutlej and rivulets was already high due to rain. Additional spillage of 25,000 cusecs from Bhakra, when reservoir level was at a comfortable level of 1,673 feet, was totally unjustified, the paper said. He revealed that as per the Indian Meteorological Department forecast on August 24, rainfall in Himachal Pradesh areas was likely to decline after 48 hours. On August 25, the forecast confirmed that rain in HP would decline after 24 hours. Even then the BBMB persisted with spillage of 25,000 cusecs of water on August 24 and 17,000 cusecs on August 25, he said. Padamjit said the BBMB should adopt its previous years’ practice of filling reservoir up to 1,680 feet on August 31, while additional inflow between August 31 and September 20 could be stored up to 1,685 since filling season of Bhakra was up to September 20. “This way, even if the reservoir level reaches 1,685 feet on September 20, there is a further storage margin of 5 feet as per design limit of 1,690 feet,” he argued With present level being just 1,675 and increasing by only 0.3 feet per day, any spillage beyond 1,680 feet would be totally unjustified and the BBMB must allow filling up to 1,685 feet in case inflow pickup in the coming days. Commenting on the observations made in the white paper, BBMB member (irrigation) MK Gupta said, “Making observations is a democratic right. The BBMB took the decision only after taking its partner states into confidence. The Punjab Government is receptive and care for the life and property of the common man. We did whatever was the wisest.”
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Majha has lowest per capita income
Jalandhar, August 28 Against the state’s average per capita income of Rs 30,041 at the end of the 10th Plan, the per capita income in Gurdaspur was Rs 24,378, which was lowest in the state. It was Rs 26,683 in Tarn Taran and Rs 26,824 in Amritsar. Dr Sucha Singh Gill, Director General of the Centre for Research in Rural and Industrial Development (CRRID), said it was a result of “imbalanced regional development that needed to be corrected”. The per capita income in Nawanshahr, which tops the list, is Rs 37,838 and in Ludhiana, which is at number two, is Rs 34,986. Moga with a per capita income of Rs 34,380 is at number three, Fatehgarh Sahib at number four and Patiala at number five. Kapurthala is at number six, Sangrur at seven and Jalandhar at the eighth position. Gill, under whose command a mid-term appraisal of the 11th Plan has been made at the CRRID and report has been submitted to the state government, said, “There was a large inter-district disparity in per capita income. The difference in the income between the lowest income district (Gurdaspur) and the highest income district( Nawanshahr) is 51.1 per cent”. Nawanshahr figures on the top because it has good industrial manufacturing base in its Asron-Balachaur belt.
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State’s rural economy on verge of crisis, say experts
Chandigarh, August 28 Mincing no words and expressing their concern from a common platform, Punjab Mandi Board Chairman and BKU (Lakhowal) President Ajmer Singh, Bhartiya Kisan Union (Rajewal) President Balbir Singh, a leading agricultural economist, Prof Ranjit Singh Ghuman, and several experts who participated in a panel discussion on the agricultural crisis in Punjab, agreed that the situation was far worse than comprehended so far. It was felt that farmer suicides, the vicious money lender-commission agents’ nexus and exploitation of the farmers by politicians had pushed them to the brink of revolt. Lakhowal said the agriculture had become non-viable as the MSP of the produce was not linked to the wholesale price index. In the past few decades, the cost of produce had increased only 15 times. He said people in the rural areas had been deliberately deprived of education so that they continued to work on farms to ensure that Punjab continued to provide food security to India. Alleging a conspiracy to keep Punjab on the wheat/paddy cycle, Rajewal said he did not want Punjab’s farmer to diversify as it would pose a threat to the national food security. Further he felt that schemes like the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGA) had caused a crisis in Punjab as the skilled worker did not want to work for wages offered under NREGA. Due to higher input labour costs, the area under vegetable cultivation had been drastically reduced, making vegetables more expensive. In the absence of quality education, employment avenues and profitable agriculture, farmers were being pushed into a debt trap and the state’s youth into drugs, Rajewal said. Basing his arguments on statistics, Prof Ranjit Singh Ghuman said agriculture was facing a negative growth to the tune of 2.18 per cent in paddy and wheat and 15.82 per cent for cotton. Ghuman pointed out that since 83 per cent area in Punjab was already under cultivation, there was no scope for enhancing the area further. The entire panel was strongly in favour of direct payment for produce to the farmers. Ghuman said the activity of money lending by commission agents was not only illegal, but a major cause for debt crisis.
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Retreat Ceremony
Jalandhar, August 28 The BSF officials had informally broached the matter regarding inducting women, having high appeal among visitors from both sides of the border, in the retreat ceremony with Pakistan Rangers. However, there is no response as yet in this regard. Sources said it appeared that because of some cultural and social inhibitions in that country, Pakistan Rangers did not want to make women part of the retreat ceremony. A few weeks ago, India had made women part of the beating retreat ceremony. But they play only a peripheral role in this highly emotive exercise. “Actually our women recruits just pilot the BSF jawans, who conduct the ceremony along with Pakistan Rangers. Women recruits do not take part in the real action of lowering the flag, the high-stomping parade etc,” said a BSF official.
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Terrorism ‘instrument of proxy war’
Amritsar, August 28 Delivering a talk at Khalsa College here today, he said in this scenario deployment of armed forces became a necessity for the security of the nation, constitutional provisions and guiding rules for the forces. He opined that if India was a major power today, it was the consequence of its democratic set-up, which was further stabilised by its strong Army. Dr Daljit Singh appreciated the constitutional provisions, which ensured that the Army must wholly devote itself to tackle the enemy on the frontiers. However, in order to tackle the menace of terrorism and organised crime, the need to deploy the Army in the domestic arena could not be avoided. A former Professor, Department of Defence Studies, Punjabi University, Dr KS Sidhu, said the scourge of terrorism could never be tackled unless the socio-economic disparities were addressed. Honorary Secretary, Khalsa College Governing Council, Rajinder Mohan Singh Chhina said the restricted quota of the Punjabi youth in the Army was doing no good to the nation.
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Power consumers rue ‘slow’ e-bill service
Patiala, August 28 However, the PSPCL authorities have claimed that their e-billing service is functioning properly and that there may be some delay in the posting of e-bills in some particular division. Notably, the e-billing facility was launched in Punjab last year for all power consumers except those coming under Large Supply (LS) industrial consumer category and on-the-spot billing categories. However, this year the facility was extended to LS consumers as well. According to PSPCL authorities, the process to cover all ‘on the spot billing’ areas is currently underway. “But what is disturbing is the fact that this facility is not working properly,” complained Rajvir Singh, a consumer of Patiala. PSPCL Senior XEN (Computerisation) AK Gupta claimed that the e-billing facility was going well. However, when argued that consumers are complaining, he said, “There may be some particular division where ‘on the spot bills’ being issued were posted late.”
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BCI Test
Patiala, August 28 SSF President Parmjeet Singh Gazi said, “Officially, nine languages, including Hindi, Tamil, Telgu, Kannada, Marathi, Bengali, Gujarati, Oriya and English, have been recognised for the test. Punjabi is not included in the list.” He further said that in Punjab, various institutions, including Punjabi University, Patiala, are providing legal education in Punjabi medium. “Moreover, Punjabi is official language of the state and work of lower courts is also conducted in Punjabi. When law graduates can be awarded degrees in Punjabi language, there is no reason to exclude the language from being a medium for the eligibility test,” asserted Gazi. The SSF claimed that this decision would adversely affect all those candidates who opt to study law in their mother language. Gazi said representatives of the SSF would approach the Punjab Education Minister, Dr Upinderjit Kaur, to seek her intervention in the matter. Meanwhile, a delegation of students of Punjabi University, Patiala, met university Vice-Chancellor Dr Jaspal Singh and Dean Students Welfare Dr Kulbir Singh Dhillon seeking their intervention on the issue.
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City Centre case adjourned till Sept 18
Ludhiana, August 28 Former trustee of Ludhiana Improvement Trust Kala Navkar Jain's lawyer continued her arguments on framing charges against his client on the fifth hearing. She was yet to conclude her arguments. Former Chief Minister Amarinder Singh's personal appearance was exempted by the court for today, in view of the averments made by him in his application. Talking to The Tribune, Amarinder’s son Raninder Singh, general secretary, PPCC, claimed that a one-day mini session of the AICC in Mohali, scheduled in the second week of September, would be “historic”. It would give boost to the Congress cadre. Preparations were in full swing. Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi would attend the session. The Akali-BJP regime had lost credibility in Punjab, contrary to their tall claims.
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Public hygiene should be top priority: HC
Chandigarh, August 28 Mincing no words, Justice Kanwaljit Singh Ahluwalia also indicated performance of duties by the functionaries would go a long way in ensuring hygiene; and also made it clear that orders passed by civil court will not come in the way of “ensuring public good”. The ruling came on a petition filed by Mehar Singh of Jalandhar district against the state of Punjab and other respondents. Though the issue brought to the fore in the petition pertained to blockage of drains in a village in Jalandhar district, the directions are being seen as a wake up call to the functionaries in general. Taking up the petition, Justice Ahluwalia also directed Jalandhar district development and panchayat officer ensure that “drains in the village are functional and nowhere the dirty water accumulates”. The officer has been asked to work in collaboration with the gram panchayat. Justice Ahluwalia asserted: “This court is of the opinion that the grievance of the petitioner can be redressed, in case the authorities perform their duties. “Grievance of the petitioner is that the drain passing through a village is not functional, therefore, there is accumulation of dirty water in front of house of the petitioner in the common street due to which foul smell is emitted”. Justice Ahluwalia added: Counsel for the gram panchayat submits that since a civil court has granted order of status quo, the gram panchayat cannot make the drain functional…. “In the present rainy season, if the drains will not function properly, there would be a threat to the public hygiene…. Punjab additional advocate-general J.S. Puri says he will ensure that Jalandhar DDPO complies with the order and there is no accumulation of dirty water, so that mosquitoes do not breed.
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Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal has said that the SAD-BJP alliance has sought the intervention of the Union Government to ensure the safety of life and property of Sikhs residing in J&K for decades.
Chandigarh, August 28
The CBI today moved an application in the Court of Special Judge (CBI cases) Balbir Singh at the district court complex for making compulsory the appearance of Kamaljit Singh in the court during the proceedings of the murder case of former SGPC chief Bibi Jagir Kaur’s daughter Harpreet
Kaur.
The retrogressive decision of the Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB) to open spillways of the Bhakra reservoir caused floods, damage to crops and brought power losses to the state.
These observations have been made in a white paper issued by the All-India Power Engineers Federation
(AIPEF) on spillage from the Bhakra reservoir. The federation has demanded that the BBMB must allow filling up to 1,685 feet.
Accepting a slowdown in the state’s agriculture, farmer leaders and agricultural economists of the region say that Punjab is on the verge of a crisis with the entire rural economy passing through an unprecedented phase. The rate at which incomes are shrinking and expenditures are rising, both in terms of agricultural activity and day-to-day living, the state could soon be facing a violent revolution.