Morinda, September 2
The potholed 6.5-km stretch of the Chandigarh-Ludhiana road (NH-95) is proving to be a nightmare for the commuters.

Deep potholes on this virtually non-existent road have made driving an arduous task for the people. A numbers of accidents have been reported on this stretch.

Even light showers lead to flooding of the area. “As potholes get filled with water, it becomes difficult for the drivers to judge their depth. Vehicles often get stuck in these potholes and at times have to be pulled out with the help of cranes,” said area resident Sanjiv Kumar.

For the past two years, commuters have been facing hardship due to this damaged stretch of the highway. Vehicles also suffer a damage, while plying on this stretch.

Area residents rue that despite a number of representations to the local administration and political leaders, the problem has remained un-addressed.

“The government thinks that the alternative bypass has solved the problem. But the fact is that the bypass has only diverted the traffic flowing from Chandigarh towards Ludhiana and vice versa. A large number of buses and other vehicles still pass through the city. It’s we, the city people, who are bearing the brunt of official apathy,” added another resident Sukhwinder Singh.

Two-wheeler and four-wheeler drivers use the streets of ward number 4 (from near gurdwara) to avoid the potholed stretch. The result: Roads of ward number 4, which have not been designed for heavy traffic, have also got damaged.

Meanwhile, XEN (central works division) Karnail Singh said the department had prepared an estimate of Rs 8 crore and forwarded it to the Ministry of Road Transport, Government of India, for approval.

“We expect that the project will be cleared within a week. The work will then taken off in the next 45 days, and get completed in around six months,” he said.

Under the project, 6.5-km stretch of the highway will be repaired and separate drains will be laid for allowing proper outlet to rainwater, sources said.

Jalandhar, September 2
The first common facility centre allocated under the industrial infrastructure upgradation scheme (IIUS) of the Union Government has been running in rough weather with the state government not allotting land for the project for the past some time.

The cluster has not got the land for setting up of the centre (worth Rs 80 crore) as yet, while last date for the approval of the scheme ends on September 30.

Even though 40 industrialists, running hand-tool manufacturing units in the district, have completed all required formalities, including raising of funds and preparing project reports, the government has allotted a chunk of about 10 acres.

The state government asked the Jalandhar Municipal Corporation to allot the required land to the cluster, but the house of the civil body did not pass a resolution on the issue, claimed chairman, All-India Hand Tools Panel, Sharad Aggarwal.

Under the IIUS scheme of the Central Government, Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), the centre was to be set up with financial assistance (75 per cent) from the Union Government, 10 per cent from the state government and the rest 15 per cent amount from the cluster members.

Talking to the Tribune, Aggarwal said this would be the Punjab’s first centre for the utmost use of the small-time industrialists. The industrialists could get their tools manufactured on a large scale and at reasonable prices.

A chief executive officer, a chief financial officer and board of directors would govern the centre. 

Zira (Ferozepur), September 2
The Ferozepur district police has apparently taken seriously “raj nahi, sewa” (service, not rule), a slogan coined by SAD (Badal) before the last Assembly elections. This is because it has started ‘serving’ the people with ‘danda’ whenever they try to raise their protest during the visit of Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal to this area.

Today also a police contingent, on security duty near bus stand here, resorted to lathi charge on the employees of the closed cooperative sugar mills of the state. The sugar-mill employees were staging a dharna to protest non-payment of their salaries for the past many months. The dharna was being staged on the route from which the CM was to pass for holding sangat darshan in this and its neighbouring town Makhu.

Not only the lathi charge, but also a section of the policemen misbehaved with a staff member of the electronic media and damaged his videocassette after snatching his camera.

Earlier on August 14, when Badal laid foundation stones and inaugurated different projects in Ferozepur city and the cantonment area, the police mercilessly beat up a number of protesters outside the grain market when Badal was delivering his speech at a rally organised there. The fault of the victim was that they raised slogans against Badal and his government openly.

In charge, CIA staff police station, Sarabjit Singh, who was handling the security arrangements near the bus stand area, said mild lathi charge was resorted on the protesters when they were insisting to stage a dharna on the road, which was a part of ‘VVVIP’ route.

Meanwhile, Badal laid foundation stones of various development works, including power grid worth crores of rupees in Zira and Makhu, apart from addressing two separate rallies at these places. 

Mamujoyia (Ferozepur), September 2
Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today said he would soon take up the matter connected with the obstruction caused in the natural flow of Sutlej by Pakistan with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh so that the problem could be solved by the two countries through bilateral talks.

Though Pakistan was diverting water towards India through the Sutlej, the Punjab government could not take up this matter with the Pakistan authorities directly as only Centre government was authorised to do the same, said the Chief Minister.

Interestingly, Badal, who stayed in the house of irrigation minister Janmeja Singh Sekhon last night, talked to Mian Shahbaz Sharif, chief minister, Punjab (Pakistan), in the morning for about 10 minutes and offered help to flood victims in that country.

Addressing a press conference during Sangat Darshan programmes at three places of this border district, Badal claimed: "I hold all the leaders of BJP in high esteem and there is perfect harmony in the SAD-BJP alliance, and none can create any differences between us."

Badal said Punjab State Power Corporation Limited had been ordered to release power connections to village panchayats on priority within a week and the chairman, Puncom, had been asked to ensure 24-hour power supply to water works and schools in the state.

At the Sangat Darshan functions, Badal distributed 200 sports kits to the youth.

Badal said the main aim of Sangat Darshan was to hold an interaction with complainants who came up mostly with grievances related to disposal of sewage, pavement of streets and drains, drinking water, construction of roads, dharamshalas, cremation grounds and sports clubs. 

Patiala, September 2
In a gross violation of the Section 29 of the Punjab Excise Act, 1914, the liquor vends across the state are selling alcohol to persons below the 25 years of age. Not only the liquor vends, but also restaurants and hotels, where drinking is permitted, are not following the guidelines for not supplying alcohol to the persons below 25 years. Though authorities of the Excise and Taxation Department, Punjab, had instructed all its field officers to take action against violators, but so far nothing concrete has been done.

The Section 29 of the Punjab Excise Act, 1914, prohibits the sale of liquor to persons under 25 years of age. “Licensed vendor should not sell or deliver any liquor or intoxicating drug to any person under the age of 25 years, whether for consumption by such person or by any other person and whether for consumption on or off by the premises of such vendor,” reads the Act.

But contrary to the above-mentioned guidelines, the sale of alcohol to the persons below 25 years continues unabated in almost all parts of the state. Furthermore, hardly any liquor vend, restaurant and hotel having a bar, have put up a mandatory display board mentioning that, “The sale of alcohol to person below age of 25 years is an offence”.

As per information, liquor vends in Amritsar, Jalandhar, Patiala, Ludhiana, Bathinda, Sangrur, Moga, Ropar and other districts of Punjab are flouting Section 29. During a visit to various liquor vends of Patiala, Sangrur and Ludhiana, it came to light that hardly any liquor vend has displayed the notice board pertaining to age-limit guidelines for the sale of alcohol.

Meanwhile, as per information sought by an RTI activist Kamal Anand in this regard, the authorities of the Excise and Taxation Department, Punjab, have given it in writing that instructions were issued to the Excise and Taxation Department field officers stationed in all districts of the state to make sure that liquor vends, hotels and restaurants having bar, falling in their respective areas, must display the boards mentioning, “Sale of alcohol to person below age of 25 years is an offence”.

Speaking to The Tribune, Kamal said, “If the Excise and Taxation Department authorities had done anything for the compliance of the instructions, the liquor vends would have displayed the boards.”

However, Excise and Taxation Commissioner, Punjab, A Venu Prasad claimed that all field officers were issued instructions to ensure compliance of the Section 29. “Our field officers have challaned the violators,” he added. When it was told to Prasad that most of the liquor vends were not following the directions, he said, “Our department is committed to ensure that the department rules are followed. We will further intensify the drive to ensure strict compliance of Section 29.” 

Gurdaspur, September 2
An unconfirmed report of infiltrators sneaking in from across the border and settling themselves in sugarcane fields near

Tibri village, 6 km from here, was enough for the local police to send nearly 150 fully armed cops to arrest the culprits. A massive search and combing operation was launched in and around the village and after 13 hours, stretching throughout the night, the operation ended in a whimper with the cops failing to lay their hands on the culprits.

The SP (Headquarters), Charanjit Singh, under whose command the operation was initiated late yesterday evening, later clarified that a woman identified as Savinder Kaur of Tibri village noticed some men moving aimlessly near the sugarcane fields adjoining the village, following which she informed village sarpanch Manjit Singh

Randhawa. The sarpanch, in turn, informed Parmod Kumar, SHO, Sadar police station. Charanjit Singh added that after 13 hours of hectic activity the police came to the conclusion that the “infiltrators” were actually “innocent nomads” and once they got to know that the cops had laid a siege to the village, they got panicky and escaped.

The SP (Headquarters) pegged the number of the wandering nomads at four.

Since 10 pm last night, when the Sadar SHO received the call from the sarpanch, high drama prevailed and cops from neighbouring Pathankot were also pressed into service. Teams were formed under four Deputy Superintendents of Police, Garib Dass, Joginder Singh, Gurmeet Singh and Jaspal Singh, and every inch of the two sq km area near Tibri village was scanned.

The police did not want to take chances as the sugarcane fields were just a stone’s throw away from the Tibri cantonment. Although there was no official word from the Army, yet sources revealed that the Army asked the cantonment inmates to be vigilant till the mystery was solved.

The villagers were benevolent enough to provide food and drink to the weary cops. A langar was quickly organised at the village gurdwara and food was sent on motorcycles as the area was inaccessible to four-wheelers.

A senior police officer said, “The moment the cops received the call from the village sarpanch, they launched the operation since the police cannot afford to take risks.” The operation was called off at 11am. 

Chandigarh, September 2
Unpaid bills continue to be a headache for the BSNL as over Rs 42.28 crore are outstanding in the landline segment just in the Punjab circle. In terms of numbers of defaulters, over two lakh customers have not paid their bills to the BSNL and have an outstanding payment of anything between Rs 5,000 to Rs 7 lakh.

According to BSNL officials, there are 20,000 defaulters in Chandigarh alone with an outstanding amount of a whopping Rs 4 crore. Interestingly, of these 200 have been categorised as “big defaulters”, with an outstanding amount of over Rs 50,000 each.

Officials admit that though the names of these “big defaulters” have been published in newspapers, they haven’t bothered to pay.

Officials attribute the rising number of defaulters to the mass shift of customers from landline to mobile phones.

“Many customers who discontinue their landlines while opting for a mobile phone do not pay their last bills,” said an official, adding that there had been a decline of over two lakh landline users in the past three years.

Till July this year, there are 12, 81,984 lakh landline customers in the Punjab circle.

Talking to The Tribune, Chief General Manager S S Sirohi admitted that recoveries were a huge problem but claimed that the department’s decision to hire “recovery agents” had proved beneficial. He said a special drive, “Kuber”, was launched last year and the recovery agents were able to realise Rs 6 crore in addition to the money that came in through the department’s efforts.

If one goes by figures, the outstanding dues for the BSNL in 2008-09 were Rs 77.08 crore and they fell to Rs 42.73 crore in the last fiscal. The recoveries in the current fiscal have so far not been encouraging as the outstanding amount stands at Rs 42. 28 crore as of June 2010. 

Chandigarh, September 2
Mukul Joshi, a 1975 batch Punjab IAS officer, will be Secretary (Pharmaceuticals) in the Union Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilisers, until October 26 next year when he superannuates.

Mukul was till recently Secretary, Inter-State Council, Ministry of Home Affairs. Interestingly, the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilisers, has another new Secretary, Sutanu Behuria, who belongs to the 1976 batch of the Himachal Pradesh cadre.

He will look after Department of Fertilisers.

The third new Secretary in the ministry will be M. Raman, also of 1976 batch from the Tamil Nadu cadre. He will take over on October 1 this year after the present incumbent, Bijoy Chatterjee, a 1973 batch West Bengal cadre officer, retires.

Another Himachal Pradesh cadre officer, Saroj Kumar, belonging to the 1980 batch, has his central deputation extended. He will continue to be Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Road Transport and National Highways until February 27 next year. His deputation was supposed to end on November 27 this year.

In the Ministry of Road Transport and National Highways, Chairman of the National Highway Authority of India Brijeshwar Singh has been retained for three months or till the time his successor is named.

Brijeshwar Singh belongs to 1975 batch and is from the Tamil Nadu cadre. Raminder Singh Gujral, a 1976 batch officer belonging to the Haryana cadre, has already taken over as Secretary, Road Transport and National Highways, last month.

Though a number of officers from both Haryana and Himachal Pradesh empanelled for positions at different levels, including joint secretaries, additional secretaries and secretaries in the Union Government, are awaiting appointments, Punjab has none on the waiting list.

Jalandhar, September 2
The Balmiki-Mazhabis community is up in arms over the ‘systematic’ dilution of their quota in the civil services that has closed the avenues of the government service for bright candidates over the past several years.

They have demanded revision of the preliminary list of PCS (Judicial) candidates, the result of which was declared by the Punjab Public Services Commission (PPSC) on August 30, denying them their rightful due.

Talking to TNS, president of the Bhagwan Valmiki Sena Nav Vikas Shampu said they had been the victims of discrimination by the upper castes and even after 63 years of Independence, they were being discriminated.

He said out of the 25 per cent reservation in the state, they were entitled to 12.5 per cent of all government posts, while the other SC communities made up the rest. But overturning this position, the Punjab and Haryana High Court in March 2010, ruled that there could be no reservation within the reservation and they could only avail their due share from the overall percentage of 25 per cent, he added.

This came as a shock for the community that started statewide protests in the state. Coming to their rescue, CM Parkash Singh Badal assured them that the government would file a special leave petition against the HC decision in the Supreme Court and the case came up for hearing on August 30.

Taking up the petition, a bench, comprising Justice B Sudershan Reddy and Justice Surinder Singh Nijjer, issued a notice to the state government and stayed the operation of the HC order.

He alleged that though the government knew of the stay orders, the PPSC declared the PCS (Judicial) preliminary list the very day the SLP case came up before the apex court.

In light of the stay, the commission should declare a fresh list giving them their share of 131 candidates out of the total 262 posts. He said this reservation within reservation given to them by former CM Giani Zail Singh in 1974 was the need of the day, since the aim to grant them this relief had not been achieved till date.

Ludhiana, September 2
The Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC) president, Paramjit Singh Sarna, today accused the SAD of having made bogus votes for the forthcoming SGPC elections.

Addressing a press conference in Ludhiana today, Sarna said, "Bogus votes cast in the absence of photo-identity cards will hurt the religious sentiments of the Gursikhs, as this is not an election of a municipal corporation, but it is for the religious body of Sikhs, recognised world over."

The DSGMC President, raising a question mark on the 40 lakh votes made in the last five days of the registration of voters, said, "The total number of votes made in three months did not exceed 18 lakh, while the number of votes made from August 9 to 14 were 40 lakh that clearly points towards deception."

Sarna also accused Justice Harful Singh Brar, chairperson of the Sikh Gurdwara Election Commission, for having sided with the SAD, adding, "He is not doing his duty with honesty as he has not issued any statement for the photo-identity cards, thus he should step down from his chair."

"We have called upon the Union Home Minister to intervene and make photo-identity cards mandatory to ensure transparency in SGPC elections," Sarna went on to add.

The DSGMC president further said that he was ready to join hands with Sikh factions opposing Badal, to contest the SGPC elections, provided the factions are not pro- Khalistan. "I am ready to talk to SAD (Amritsar) President, Simranjit Singh Mann, also, but he would have to give up his demand for Khalistan," Sarna said.

When asked about a separate gurdwara parbandhak committee for Haryana, Sarna said Haryana would have a separate committee as soon as the Badal regime came to an end in Punjab.

Speaking on Rajiv-Longowal Accord, Sarna stated that Badal impaired the Accord in order to retain his chair of the Punjab Chief Minister. 

Chandigarh, September 2
Women visiting beauty parlours or men stopping at the “theka” for a quick shot of “daaru” can lose their voting rights in the 2011 SGPC general elections if someone reports about them. Only men and women who strictly adhere to the tenets of Sikhism will be allowed to vote.

These will be the first SGPC elections where only keshdhari Sikhs (who do not remove hair from the body) have been registered as voters after they gave an undertaking that they are Sikhs in the true sense. Every voter, at least on paper, has had to sign the form making such a declaration. Any objection questioning this declaration at any stage can lead to the voter’s disqualification up to the poll.

“The gurdwara election commission does not have any discretion with regard to holding and conduct of the election. The Sikh Gurdwara Act-1925 binds us. The commission has to go strictly by the law. There was a demand for lowering the age of the voters from 21 to 18, but we have no role beyond conveying this to the Central Government,” said chief commissioner of the gurdwara election commission Justice HS Brar.

According to the Act in question, only a Sikh can be listed as a voter for the SGPC poll. A recent judgement of the full bench of the Punjab and Haryana High Court excluded sehajdharis (clean shaven) from the definition of a Sikh. The matter has been challenged, but unless and until this judgment is altered or quashed, only people adhering to the Sikh tenets in the strictest sense of the word will be allowed to vote.

To deal with several ticklish issues that may come up, challenging a voter declaration, the commission has decided to set up “revision authorities” under Deputy Commissioner, who would look into objections and complaints with regard to the adherence to Sikh tenets.

Though, Justice Brar did not want to go into a hypothetical question, but he said “If there is a complaint that in a family the father is baptised, but his son consumes alcohol, the son will face disqualification, but only after the allegation is proved to be correct. For this, the revision authorities will be free to use anyone’s services, including that of doctors, to verify facts and decide the complaints”.

Similarly women who do their eyebrows or get threading or waxing done are technically disqualified as candidates. But in reality, it would depend if people go to that extent of lodging complaints. The nature of the complaints.

Chandigarh, September 2
Even as the Gurdwara Election Commission gives final touches to the publication of electoral rolls for the SGPC elections, it has turned out that a whopping 45 lakh voters were registered in the week preceding the last date of accepting forms.

The total number of voters who have enrolled for the SGPC elections in Punjab this time is 52.36 lakh. Starting at a sluggish pace, the enrolment suddenly shot up from 16.71 lakh on August 6 to 52.36 lakh on August 14, the last date of enrolment.

While this points towards the possibility of bulk registration of supporters by the candidates, sources add that the desperation of the candidates to muster voters at the last minute could also be due to lack of enthusiasm among Sikhs in registering themselves as voters.

In fact, despite the extension of the last date for enrolment, only 12.7 lakh persons had been registered till July 30. Sources add that the patwaris, who were the enrolment officers in villages, camped in the village gurdwaras throughout the day during the last week, announcing the last date and calling for people to come and enrol as voters.

Despite all efforts, the number of voters this time is still almost three lakh less than the number of voters who registered for the last SGPC elections in 2004.

The largest number of voters this time has enrolled in Ludhiana where over 6.6 lakh Sikhs have registered as voters. Another 5.7 lakh Sikhs have registered as voters in Amritsar followed by Tarn Taran where the registration is over 4.3 lakh and Gurdaspur where 4.1 lakh Sikhs have registered. There are a little over 3 lakh voters in Haryana and almost 12,000 voters in Chandigarh. The least number of voters have been registered at SBS Nagar where only 56,000 Sikhs have registered as voters.

The sources add that the number of women voters enrolled this year is likely to be much higher than the men voters as most of the Sikh women have been counted as keshdhari women. On the flip side, the sources said, several male voters who were registered in a hurry towards the end of the registration process might not be able to meet the condition of being keshdhari Sikhs.

The first list of electoral rolls is expected to be out by September 6.

Chandigarh, September 2
After approaching a gurdwara and a mosque, a couple has now come to “the temple of justice”.

Staying together after the religious institutes refused to marry them off as the “girl” is Jat Sikh and the “boy” is Muslim, they have now moved the Punjab and Haryana High Court for protection.

The counsel for petitioners, Kulwant Kaur and Jagroop Ali of Moga district, has asserted: “Out of love and affection, they decided to live together as husband and wife. They left their villages on June 22, as the girl’s parents were not ready to accept their marriage. The petitioners approached a gurdwara, as well as a masjid, for solemnisation of their marriage, but both institutions refused to conduct their marriage on the ground that the same was unacceptable as the petitioners belonged to difference religions.”

“Ultimately the petitioners, as token of commitment to each other for living together, solemnised their marriage themselves by garlanding each other. Since then, they have been in a live-in relationship as husband and wife. They are on the run since they left their villages; and apprehend serious threat to their life from private respondents.”

Taking up the petition, Justice Daya Chaudhary of the Punjab and Haryana High Court directed the state of Punjab, the Moga SSP and other official respondents to protect the life and liberty of the petitioners. 

Chandigarh, September 2
Decrying the practice of posting employees against non-vacant posts, or posting two employees against the same post, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has directed Punjab Secretary, Department of Education, to ensure the maintenance of “a single data”.

Describing it as “administrative inefficiency”, Justice Ajai Lamba has asserted: “To subject an employee to transfer, only for him to find that the new place of posting is not available for him to join, is certainly subjecting an employee to unnecessary and avoidable hardship which cannot be permitted in equity and for humanitarian reasons. Passing of such orders is not only irrational and unreasonable but also irresponsible. It clearly shows administrative inefficiency and inadequacy”.

Asking the secretary to look into the matter, Justice Lamba directed that single data be “maintained throughout the state so that a person is transferred only against a vacant post, or against a post available, and not otherwise”.

The directions came on a petition filed by Lakhwinder Kaur. She was seeking the quashing of order dated June 29 transferring her from S.S. Kaler Kalan to Kalianpur. Justice Lamba noticed the transfer order mentioned a condition that “in case the post is not vacant or is surplus, the orders will not be implemented and will automatically be considered as cancelled.”

As Justice Lamba expressed concern, the Bench was told such conditions were included as transfer orders were issued at various levels by “DEO, DPI and at secretary level”. “There might be overlapping of orders of transfer and a person might be transferred on a post declared surplus or two persons might be transferred against the same post by two authorities,” the Bench was told.

Justice Lamba asserted: “I find the practice to be a bad administrative practice. Public exchequer money is wasted by virtue of transfer at a place where ultimately it is found that the post is not vacant or has been declared surplus.

“Such orders are in total disregard to the convenience and rights of the employee. An employee cannot be harassed by creation of such fluid and uncertain conditions created by the respondents. An employee is not alone and has his dependents who might be his aged parents, wife and school going children.” 

Rajpura, September 2
The Rajpura police has recovered Rs 3 lakh, a passport, some missing records and a bill book from the hideouts of an arrested teacher and a clerk.

Teacher Sukhbir Singh and clerk Parveen Bala, both employed with the Education Department, Rajpura, were arrested by the police a few days ago for illegally withdrawing the GP fund of retired employees.

Police officials investigating the matter said the bungled amount might go up to Rs 2 crore. Earlier, the police had recovered Rs 25.5 lakh from the arrested government servants, besides two SUVs and other electronic goods.

At present, the accused are in police custody and efforts were on to gather more information about the bungling by these government employees.

The accused have admitted to have withdrawn money from the state exchequer by opening fake bank accounts in the names of retired officials by forging their signatures and preparing fake identity cards.

The issue came to light during the auditing and departmental inquiry after which a case was got registered against the teacher and the clerk. Police officials said they were also trying to inquire into the role of a Block Primary Education Officer (BPEO) in that regard.