Chandigarh, September 6
Union Minister for Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh today announced that the country’s first inter-state biodiversity corridor would be notified in the Shivalik hills to put an end to unregulated sand and stone mining in the region.

Ramesh, who was here to inaugurate the sixth national meeting of state biodiversity boards, said the idea of the biosphere reserve, which had been mooted by Punjab, would include Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, and Uttarakhand.

The Union Minister was quick to point out that there would be protests. “The sand and stone-mining mafia will protest,” he said, adding “But I think the time has come and we should go ahead with the idea keeping in mind the sensitivity of the Shivaliks.” He, however, said mining would not be stopped in the biosphere. “It will only be conducted according to a biodiversity plan and would be sustainable in nature.”

The minister admitted that the implementation of the plan would be complex with other states also involved. “I will talk to the other states since it is a worthwhile initiative,” he added.

Ramesh also expressed his concern over bio-piracy, saying attempts had been made to even patent ‘basmati’ rice. He said registering unique products under the Geographical Indicators (GI) category could help, adding that there was a need to talk to Pakistan on the issue of a joint GI for basmati.

Speaking about the success of the vulture-breeding centre at Pinjore, he said Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal had requested for establishing a peacock-breeding centre in Bathinda, which was under consideration.

The Union Minister also announced that Punjab had received nearly Rs 1,000 crore out of the Rs 4,000 crore funds available under the National River Conservation Programme (NRCP). He said projects worth Rs 504 crore for cleaning of the Sutlej and Beas rivers in various districts of Punjab had already been cleared. He said projects worth Rs 104 crore, which are under examination, and sewerage projects worth Rs 215 crore had already been implemented.

Talking to newsmen later, the Union Minister said he had asked the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and the Central Pollution Control Board to carry out a joint study on cancer patients in and around Bathinda. He said the report would be submitted within three to four months.

Badal, while delivering his presidential address, acknowledged his gratitude to Ramesh for doing a lot for Punjab. He said cleaning the Sutlej, Beas and Ghaggar river systems was a priority for his government and that sewerage treatment plants were being established in 44 towns and cities under this initiative.

Others who spoke on the occasion included the National Biodiversity Authority Chairman, Dr PL Gautam, state chief secretary SC Agrawal and state Secretary Science, Technology and Environment Viswajeet Khanna.

Ferozepur, September 6
Kuldeep Singh, alias Billa, alias Laddu, a weapon courier and narcotics smuggler of Punjab, who was involved in supplying lethal arms to different terrorist outfits besides smuggling narcotics and fake Indian currency notes, was sentenced to 12 years’ rigorous imprisonment (RI) by Additional District and Sessions Judge JS Bhinder here today.

Police authorities and intelligence agencies consider the awarding of 12 years’ RI to Kuldeep Singh as a “fatal blow” to the activities of anti-national elements, who have been trying to regroup themselves to start a fresh era of violence in the border state of Punjab.

Police sources said Kuldeep Singh, who had been sentenced today in connection with a case registered against him in police station, Mallanwala, in 2008 under various sections of the NDPS Act, Arms Act and IPC for possessing 7 kg of heroin, an AK-56 assault rifle with 350 cartridges, Chinese- made .30-bore pistols with 20 cartridges and Rs 9 lakh in fake Indian currency. He was also facing trial in two other criminal cases.

Kuldeep Singh, whose village Muthianwali is located in the vicinity of the Indo-Pak border in this district, was involved in an armed attack on a police party in the area, falling under Jandiala Guru police station, about three years ago. A few years ago, he was also involved in supplying of assault rifles and other explosives to Makhu-based members of the Khalistan Zindabad Force (KZF) led by Ranjeet Singh Neeta, who has been operating from Pakistan.

After listening to the arguments put forward by the prosecution and defence sides, Bhinder also imposed on Kuldeep Singh, 28, a fine of Rs 1 lakh. In case, the convict failed to pay the fine, he would have to undergo imprisonment for three more years.

The Judge also ordered that Kuldeep Singh would undergo five years RI for possessing an AK-56 assault rifle, Chinese-made pistols and cartridges, adding that he would be liable to pay a fine of Rs 5,000. He also ordered that the convict would undergo three years’ RI for possession and smuggling of fake Indian currency and would be liable to pay fine of Rs 5,000 for this.

All these sentences will run concurrently.

Mohali, September 6
A day after the Punjab School Education Board (PSEB) postponed the semester examinations of Classes X and XII, scheduled for September 6 and September 7, board officials on Monday started the exercise to dispatch the additional question papers to about 500 examination centres across the state.

Around 20 employees of the board had been requisitioned to take the consignment of question papers to the centres from where requests of additional question papers had been received.

“If a sealed packet contains 90 question papers and the requirement is less, it becomes very difficult to open the seal of the question paper as there is a risk of a leak,” said sources in the board.

It is learnt that the Chairman of the board, Dr Dalbir Singh Dhillon, has passed strict instructions to the board officials to send the additional question papers at the earliest.

The Secretary of the board, Dr Suresh Tandon, said additional question papers had been sent to 400 examination centres.

Fax messages about shortage of question papers continued to pour in on Monday.

Regarding the candidates who had not got their roll numbers, the board issued duplicate roll numbers to hundreds of students on Monday.

A number of students from Abohar could be seen running around in the board office. Officials said the admission forms of scores of students from Abohar, Fazilka, Muktsar and surrounding areas were not traceable.

Meanwhile, the PSEB Employees Association during a rally alleged that there was a nexus between the board staff and computer firms dealing in the examinations.

Despite warning by the board employees regarding possible chaos during the examinations, senior board officials did not listen to them.

The union leaders said due to negligence on the part of certain board officials in sending an inadequate number of question papers, the staff on examination duty and students suffered anxious moments. 

Chandigarh, September 6
RTI applicants, who do not receive information they have sought within the stipulated time, are liable to be compensated for “mental detriments”. If ordered by the Punjab State Information Commission, the compensation amount will be charged from the salary of the Public Information Officer (PIO), who defaulted on providing information on time.

Taking up an appeal filed by Raj Pal Madan of Amritsar, State Information Commissioner Ravi Singh has issued a show-cause notice to the PIO in the office of the Amritsar SDM to explain why he should not be monetarily panelised for causing mental detriments to the RTI applicant.

Madan had in an application in April sought information regarding the prevalent collector rate or the circle rate of land per sq yard in Krishna Square I, Shivala Road, Amritsar. Madan alleged that when he did not receive any response from the SDM’s office, he filed a complaint with the State Information Commission in July.

During the hearing of the case, the PIO claimed that the information was sent to Madan in May but since it was sent by an ordinary post, it might not have been received by him and the information would now be provided forthwith.

Madan, however, demanded that he be compensated for “mental detriments suffered by him and penalty for a delay in supply of information.”

Accepting his plea, Ravi Singh stated in her order: “The SDM-Amritsar I-cum-PIO, Sandeep Rishi, is hereby issued a show-cause notice as to why a penalty under Section 20(1) of the RTI Act, 2005, at the rate of Rs 250 per day subject to maximum of Rs 25,000 be not imposed on him till the information is furnished,”

“In addition to the written reply, the PIO is also hereby given an opportunity for a personal hearing before the imposition of such penalty on the next date of hearing. He may take note that in case he does not file his written reply and does not avail himself of the opportunity of personal hearing on the date fixed, it will be presumed that he has nothing to say and the commission shall proceed to take further proceedings against him,” further states the orders.

The case will now come up for hearing on September 22.

Jalandhar, September 6
Contrary to Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal’s assurance on Sunday, the Jalandhar Improvement Trust (JIT) continued the process of acquiring 380 acres in four villages of Jalandhar district for carving out a residential colony.

During his Jalandhar visit, Badal had assured the farmers of Lidhran, Fazalpur, Salempur Musalmana and Gadaipur villages that there land would not be acquired without their consent.

On the other hand, the JIT issued a public notice under the Punjab Town Improvement Act, 1922, for acquiring the land in accordance with resolution number 200 passed by it on July 8. The notice appeared in almost all major regional newspapers today.

A Lidhran farmer, Amrik Singh, told The Tribune they would not allow the JIT to acquire their land.

Taking serious note, Jalandhar District Youth Congress (Rural) president Vikramjit Singh Chaudhary accused the SAD-BJP government of adopting double standards on the issue.He said the Chief Minister should clearly state whether the land would be acquired or not.

Chaudhary said if the JIT continued the process of acquiring the land, a PIL would be filed in the Punjab and Haryana High Court in this regard.

Meanwhile, JIT chairman Baljit Singh Neelamahal said the public notice had been given in the newspapers by the Local Bodies Department. He said efforts were on to persuade the farmers to give their consent for acquiring their land for which they would be offered reasonable prices.

Chandigarh, September 6
The Punjab government would spend Rs 2,611 crore for the welfare of Schedule Castes and Backward Classes in the state during the current financial year.

Bikram Singh Majithia, former Cabinet Minister and patron of the Youth Akali Dal, stated this at the taking-over ceremony of Bawa Singh Gumanpura as Vice-Chairman, Punjab Backward Classes Land Development and Finance Corporation.

Majithia said the state government had always accorded top priority to the welfare of the SC/BC population besides striving hard to launch various welfare schemes in the form of the unique atta-dal and Shagun schemes in which the amount of shagun had been increased from Rs 5,100 to Rs15,000.

He expressed confidence that Gumanpura would ensure advancing of sufficient loans to the members of Backward Classes through his corporation.

Prominent among others who were present on the occasion included Hira Singh Gabria, Cabinet Minister, Dr Daljit Singh Cheema, Adviser to Chief Minister Punjab, Baldev Singh Mahmujoian, Chairman, Punjab Backward Classes Land Development and Finance Corporation, and Manpreet Singh Aiyali, Chairman, Zila Parishad, Ludhiana.

Mehma Bhagwana (Bathinda), September 6
Residents of this cancer-affected dusty village of Bathinda district today lit the pyre of a four-year-old Dalit boy in the middle of a road ruing that in the absence of a common cremation ground, they had no other option.

The boy, Vijay Pal, was reportedly suffering from cancer for the past few months and passed away last evening. Since then, his kin were not only grieving over his death but also worrying about finding a place to cremate him.

The bereaved kin asked the sarpanch to make some arrangements for his cremation. Unable to do so, the sarpanch offered that they light the pyre in the middle of the road outside his house.

Before the bereaved kin could light the pyre, policemen from the Nehianwala police station reached the spot and the SHO, Gurpreet Singh, brought the matter to the notice of the Bathinda SDM, who assured to send an executive magistrate soon. Meanwhile, the police installed barricades on both sides of the road and diverted the traffic to an alternate route.

To prevent villagers from cremating the body, the SHO kept them engaged in negotiations. However, when even after over two hours the executive magistrate did not reach, the villagers lit the pyre on the road at 10.30 am.

The deceased’s grandfather, Bhola Singh, said: “It is our ill fate that we could not bid him a decent farewell. We are poor daily wagers who possess no land. The village too has no common cremation ground, which forced us to cremate him on the road.”

Gurcharan Singh, a villager, said: “Earlier, the village had its own cremation ground but about three years ago, the former panchayat passed a resolution to transfer the land for the cremation ground to construct waterworks with a hope that the village would get potable water to save us from the deadly disease of cancer.”

Sarpanch Gamdoor Singh said: “It was also decided that the village would get an alternate land for the cremation ground. Though the administration earmarked a piece of land for the purpose, it was within the boundary wall of the village gurdwara, which we are not ready to use for this purpose.”

He added that according to the revenue record, the village had one more chunk of land measuring three kanals and two marlas, which was the best suited for the cremation ground. “But despite our repeated representations, the administration is not allowing us to go ahead as the land is located near the houses of some landlords, who are close to leaders of the ruling parties,” the sarpanch said. Villagers said since the authorities had started the construction of the waterworks, which was being taken up under a World Bank scheme, nearly six deaths had taken place. In some cases, landlords offered their fields to perform the last rites but in most of the cases, villagers cremated their kin even inside their courtyards.

Executive magistrate Avtar Singh said” “The land earmarked for the cremation ground is best suited for the purpose, but the villagers are not willing to use it. They are saying that it should be located on the land near the houses of landlords, but they have objections over it. Despite this, we are trying to find an amicable solution as more sites are being considered for the purpose.”

Patiala, September 6
The last-minute decision of the Punjab School Education Board to cancel Classes X and XII papers scheduled for September 6 and 7 created a lot of confusion among the students when they reached schools in the morning. The decision to cancel the papers was taken yesterday evening due to which teachers could not convey the message to all students.

It was said that many students in various flood-affected areas did not get their roll numbers in time and the board had to cancel the papers. However, irked students blamed everything on the board’s negligence.

Gagandeep Singh, one of the Class XII student, said, “This is really bad on the part of the board. If non-delivery of roll numbers was the reason, why did they not cancel it a few days back so that teachers could at least inform us. It’s not possible that they realised it just a few hours before the exam that the roll numbers had not reached students.”

“I had been preparing for this paper for long and the cancellation is bothering me now. It is so difficult to mentally prepare oneself for the same paper again,” added another Class X student.

The teachers were also equally perturbed over the decision. They had been making necessary preparations for the papers since long. “This is highly irresponsible because most of the government school students belong to villages. How could we inform them when even we got to know about this so late? Students came prepared for the papers. Worst is that the schools didn’t even declare it a holiday so we had to make the students sit for the whole day without the books,” said a teacher. 

Fatehgarh Sahib, September 6
The newly introduced semester system in government schools of Punjab is taking toll on students and teachers as they are feeling overburdened and unable to meet deadlines.

After the festival season in October-November, there will be winter break in December, to be followed by the pre-board examinations in January and the second round of census in February. All this is giving worries to the staff and students.

“Temperament of teachers gets disturbed due to holidays, census and exam duties. But the Punjab School Education Board (PSEB) authorities fail to understand it and continue experimenting with the future of children,” said Hakam Singh Walia, state president of the Government School Lecturers Union.

Walia said the sudden announcements of postponement of semester papers led to a chaos and the students were at the receiving end.

Pushpesh Kumar, a school lecturer, rued that besides being overburdened, teachers were not paid adequately for exam duties. “The honorarium for exam duty is just Rs 75 per day per exam for a superintendent, Rs 60 for deputy superintendent, Rs 50 for clerk and invigilator. Besides this, no travel allowance is given to teachers who had to travel long distances to reach examination centres,” he said.

“For checking answer sheets, the board pays only Rs 6 per copy for class XII exam, Rs 5 for class X and Rs 4 for class VIII. A teacher cannot check more than 300 answer sheets a day,” he said.

Another teacher Ravinder Joshi said CBSE teachers got much more honorarium as compared to that given to PSEB teachers.

“It becomes very difficult to complete the prescribed syllabus in the stipulated period as children also miss classes during the harvesting season and most of the admissions take place during summer vacation,” he said.

Instead of experimenting, the board should accept that the semester system could not succeed in the state, he said.

PSEB Chairman Dalbir Singh Dhillon said these were all teething problems. “Everyone has widely appreciated the semester system and it will take another couple of weeks for the teachers and students to get acclimatised to it,” he said. Only the illegally run educational institutions would be affected with the system, he added. 

Patiala, September 6
Colleges have now started showing interest in introducing forensic sciences as a subject. A Mohali and a Patiala college have got in touch with the Forensic Sciences Department of Punjabi University, Patiala, enquiring about the procedure of setting up a forensic science department on their campuses. Till date, no college in the state offers forensic sciences as a subject.

Giving information in this regard, Dr Mukesh Thakkar of the Forensic Science Department of the varsity said in case everything was sorted out, these colleges would start MSc and postgraduate diploma courses in forensic sciences.

Talking about the fee structure, he said nothing had been finalised as of now. “Our main focus right now is to facilitate the launch of these courses. Most probably, these will begin from the next academic session,” he added.

Students of the department have also hailed the decision of these colleges. “Forensic sciences offer good job prospects. Such courses will provide opportunity to more students to study the subject and ensure good career prospects for themselves,” said a student.

Patiala, September 6
Rajya Sabha member Avinash Rai Khanna today vent ire on the Department of Local Government for not paying proper attention to the enforcement of rainwater harvesting norms in case of new houses being constructed in the state.

He said it was compulsory for the municipal authorities to ensure that rainwater harvesting norms were taken care of whenever any residential building plan was approved. “But on account of casual attitude of the department authorities, most of the houses are coming up without any provision for rainwater harvesting,” he said.

Addressing inmates of the Patiala Central Jail here this evening, Khanna said depleting ground water table was a matter of concern and only installation of rainwater harvesting systems could help recharge the groundwater aquifer. He was speaking at a programme organised by NGO Bhumi to create awareness about the judicious use of water.

“Rainwater harvesting systems would be installed in all jails of the state,” he announced.

The water table in the state went down by 1 m every year, he said. “If the trend continues, Punjab will turn into a desert one day. Hence, every jail inmate must ensure that water is not wasted and should make efforts to save every drop of water,” he said. Khanna said 90 per cent of the rainwater went down the drains, notwithstanding the fact that it could be utilised to recharge the groundwater table. “In order to spread awareness among the jail inmates regarding the proper use of water, I am visiting various jails of Punjab and I have been to eight jails so far. I am hopeful that from now onwards, the inmates of the Patiala Central Jail would not waste water,” he said.

As per a survey, 3,712 villages of Punjab were facing water scarcity in 1980. “The figure went up to 5,287 villages in 1990, 8,528 in 2000 and 11,849 in 2006,” he said.

Notably, Khanna’s remarks about the Department of Local Government have surprised many as BJP’s Manoranjan Kalia is the state Minister for Local Government while Khanna himself is a senior BJP leader and is presently a BJP MP in the Rajya Sabha.

Patiala, September 6
Four months after the Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB) was bifurcated, the resulting two new power utilities - the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) and the Punjab State Transmission Corporation Limited (PSTCL) - have finally switched to new logos.

The need for separate logos was felt after the power board was unbundled on April 16, said officials.

“Momentum Result Services Private Limited, a Delhi- based company, which has designed the Videocon logo, is behind the PSPCL logo, whereas logo for the PSTCL has been designed by the Critique Communication Private Limited. The total expenditure incurred on the designing exercise was around 9.5 lakh,” said a spokesman of the PSPCL.

In a release, issued by the PSPCL’s public relations wing, it was mentioned that the new logo depicts Gurmukhi symbol ‘g’ and English letter ‘P’ representing Punjab. It has power symbol in between. The punch line - Powering Punjab, Enriching Lives - tells about the noble aim of the corporation,” said the spokesman.

The PSTCL logo is self-explanatory. The symbol ‘t’ representing Transmission Tower, with wires joining both ends, depict the aim of corporation to provide continuous and uninterrupted flow of power from one end to other.

Chandigarh, September 6
The Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (GMADA) today made it clear that the inclusion of “mentally ill and mentally retarded” in the category of reserved persons was not feasible at the current stage for the much-hyped Aerocity project, but could be included in the future allotments.

In an affidavit before the Punjab and Haryana High Court, PSC officer Baldev Singh, functioning as GMADA estate officer, referred to the Apex Court directions on the subject to say: “In view of the Supreme Court directions, the state government was required to formulate a policy by taking into consideration the total percentage of disabled in all future allotment of plots.

“The GMADA will implement the modified reservation policy for disabled in all future allotments as and when the reservation policy for the disabled is modified by the state government in view of the directions issued by the Supreme Court”.

Referring to the petition filed before the Bench of Chief Justice Mukul Mudgal and Justice Ajay Tewari by Gurcharan Singh and another petitioner for including “mentally ill and mentally retarded” in the category of reserved persons, Baldev Singh added that the petitioners had approached the high court at a belated stage.

He stated that the last date for applications for the Aerocity project was over and the GMADA had finalised the procedural formalities for holding the draw of lots.

A petition, blaming the GMADA for not providing concession in rates to physically challenged applicants is also pending before the court.

Taking up the petition filed by visually challenged Sucha Singh; the high court has already directed that the allotment of plots to physically challenged persons should be subject to the outcome of the civil writ petition.

Ludhiana, September 6
A Pakistani spy, who was living in India for over three years, was arrested from the Focal Point area here last night. Saheem Siddique, alias Ahmed Mohammad, who hails from Faislabad in Pakistan, used to teach Urdu to children near Shepur Chowk.

He was arrested following an intelligence alert that a Pakistan’s ISI member was sending out sensitive information about the deployment of units of the Indian Army, its location and other vital details by calling up duty officers, control rooms and telephone operators of various civil and defence establishments posing as a defence officer.

The police has seized maps containing military information, some documents, sim cards and two cellphones from his possession. It is also suspecting his links with madrassas located in Shepur and the Focal Point area.

Police sources said Siddique was an active member of the Pakistan’s ISI and was sending crucial details to his master in Pakistan. They added that Siddique would not have been arrested had he kept on speaking Urdu. He landed in trouble when he started conversing in Punjabi, the dialect of which was similar to the language spoken in Pakistan. This raised suspicion among residents of the Focal Point area, who informed the police.

The police is investigating that how he managed to sneak into this side and from whom he got defence details. It is learnt that Saheem Siddique also came in contact with Nizam Baksh, a Pakistani spy, who was arrested in July.