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Job for HS Brar’s son
Malerkotla Violence
Manawar Masih, Chairman of the Punjab State Minorities Commission, at St Thomas Church in Malerkotla on Wednesday. Photo by writer |
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Rs 1.5 crore needed to continue Sadbhavna bus service
YOUTH DIES IN OZ
PM’s Directions to ICMR
Farmers hold a protest in front of the Deputy Commissioner’s office in Amritsar on Wednesday.
A Tribune photograph
FILLING OF VACANT POSTS
Farmers to get soil health cards
Anonymous Complaints
Compulsory computer classes for govt teachers
Private Schools
ETT teachers to ‘expose’ Badals
Challenges facing distance education discussed
Edusat lectures begin
24 Pak prisoners released
Beant Singh Case
High Court
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Minorities panel chief inspects church
Curfew relaxed further Vikrant Jindal
Malerkotla, September 15 When no untoward incident was reported during the relaxation period of seven hours in the curfew, the district administration gave further relaxation of one hour in the curfew this evening. Life returned to almost normal after the relaxation in the curfew by the authorities on Wednesday. Meanwhile, the police rounded up about 20-25 persons from different parts of the city, who were allegedly involved in the incident. Chairman Masih while talking to The Tribune outside St Thomas Church said they had taken stock of the situation and would submit their report to the government within 10 days. Masih praised the local administration headed by SDM Gurloveleen Singh Sidhu and DSP Sukhdev Singh Virk for their role in controlling the situation after the violent incident. Those who accompanied Masih during his visit to the church included Vice-President of the All-India Christian Council (AICC) Anoop Singh Gill, secretary of the AICC Pastor Deepak Dhingra, North India Christian Mission's operation manager Amit Singh, Abdul Shakur Maangat and Hafiz Tehseen Ahmed, both members of the Punjab State Minorities Commission. SDM Sidhu, while talking to The Tribune, said the situation was totally under control in the city. All shops, industries, business establishments, schools, hospitals and government offices across the city resumed work this morning. The markets that presented a deserted look yesterday were bustling with business activities. DSP Virk said the police would not spare any person involved in the incident.
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Rs 1.5 crore needed to continue Sadbhavna bus service
Chandigarh, September 15 The Sadbhavna bus service is being run by the state Transport Department since 2006. Two Volvo buses have been leased by Punjab Roadways, which ferry passengers from Amritsar to Lahore thrice a week. A similar service is being run from Delhi to Lahore by the Delhi Transport Corporation. “However, the number of passengers using the bus from Amritsar is very low,” said Master Mohan Lal today, adding that Punjab Roadways was, in fact, accruing losses running this bus from Amritsar. “The main reason why there are only a handful of passengers getting on the bus from Amritsar is because the passengers who travel from Punjab have to undergo a rigorous and time-consuming process of police verification. For the passengers travelling in the Sadbhavna bus from Delhi there is no such verification. The result is that people prefer to go to Delhi and board the DTC bus to Lahore than go in our bus from Amritsar,” said Master Mohan Lal. He said Punjab Chief Secretary SC Agarwal had written to the Union Home Secretary also in this regard a month ago. “We had requested the Home Secretary that there should be a uniform policy on police verification of passengers to Pakistan. If there is no verification in Delhi, why should there be verification in Amritsar?” Punjab Roadways has lost almost Rs 1.4 crore in running the bus since the inception of the service. “It was felt that instead of running a big Volvo bus we should run a mini bus, which will reduce the losses,” said DS Jaspal, Principal Secretary, Transport. “However, since the plying of the bus marks national pride and also is important in terms of our diplomatic relations with Pakistan, we decided not to shift to a mini bus. Now we have requested the Chief Minister to ask the Prime Minister for Rs 1.5 crore so that we can buy two of own Volvo buses and run these from Amritsar to Lahore. We will save on the lease amount that we have to give the company from which we have leased the buses, ” said Master Mohan Lal.
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Australian Govt fails to inform parents
Tribune News Service
Ludhiana, September 15 The incident took place in the wee hours of September 4, when Bhangoo was reportedly travelling to his place of work in his SUV. It is learnt that he lost control over the vehicle and rammed it into a tree. Bhangoo died on the spot. He went to Australia four years ago and was currently enrolled in a business management course. The family of the victim was under shock following the incident. Bhangoo’s parents, Harinder Singh and Gurbinder Kaur, have demanded the intervention of the External Affairs Ministry so that the body of the 22-year-old Indian student could be flown to India. Manvir Singh, a close relative of the family, said the family was trying to establish contact with the Australian police to know about the investigation process but to no avail. Further, no one from for the Australian Government established contact with the family and briefed it about the incident. "Bhangoo's friend, who lives in Melbourne, broke the news and told us about the tragic incident," said Manvir. Harinder Singh said he was planning to visit Australia so that his son's body could be deported to India. In the meantime a pall of gloom descended in the house of the victim in Asha puri.
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Doctors to visit cancer-hit areas
Sarbjit Dhaliwal/TNS
Jalandhar, September 15 A few years ago, a team of doctors from the PGI had conducted an extensive survey in the Talwandi Saboo block of Bathinda district from where a large number of cancer cases were reported. The team had collected blood samples of a large number of people and a similar survey was conducted in the Morinda block for a comparative study with the Talwandi Saboo block. The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has constituted the team on directions given by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad. Talking to The Tribune on the phone from Delhi, the Director-General of the ICMR and Secretary to the Department Health Research, Dr Vishwa Mohan Katoch, said the team would interact with the doctors posted in the field, dealing with the cancer patients in the areas from where a large number of such cases had been reported. Dr Katoch said the team would visit Ferozepur, Faridkot, Bathinda, Mansa and other districts during its three-day visit to the state. The team would go into the medical history of patients of cancer. Dr Katoch said only after studying various aspects related to the cancer patients, the expert team would be able to conclude as to what were the reasons behind such a spread of cancer in a particular belt of Punjab. A National Cancer Registry Programme had been launched and the cancer-affected region of Punjab would also be covered under this programme. On doing so, it would become easy for experts to study as to what type of cancer is most prevalent in the region.
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Protest against ‘anti-farmer’ policies of state, Centre
Amritsar, September 15 The agitating farmers, including a large number of women, squatted outside the office of the DC for many hours to make their voices heard. They raised slogans against the state and Central governments and submitted a memorandum to the DC’s office. Leaders from various organisations addressed farmers on various pressing issues concerning them. They demanded that the government must increase the compensation per acre to Rs 5,000 to farmers whose fields were situated across the barbed wire on the international border besides offering their families education, health and employment on priority. Paramjit Wachhoa of the Pendu Majdoor Union claimed that the Central Government and the SAD-BJP coalition in the state were formulating their policies as per the dictates of the capitalist forces for privatisation, liberalisation and globalisation. He sought roll back of the recommendations of the Sukhbir Badal-Manoranjan Kalia Committee report as it would add a burden of Rs 950 crore on farmers and labourers. Among the prominent unions represented were Kisan Sangharsh Committee, Kirti Kisan Union, Jamhoori Kisan Sabha, BKU(Ugrahan) and Pendu Majdoor Union. Ferozepur: To lodge a protest against price rise, inflation and withdrawal of 100 units free power, more than 17 farmers’ organisations held a rally in front of the DC’s office where they sat on the road and blocked the traffic for a few hours. Raising their voice of protest against the state and the Centre, they called upon the government to check the rising price index. They made several other demands, including withdrawal of cases registered against farmers in connection with river water theft. They demanded that farmers, labourers and daily wagers should be provided 10 marla plots for residential purpose and flood-hit farmers be given compensation to the tune of Rs 30,000 per acre. Later they submitted a joint memorandum to the DC, Kamal Yadav.
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Farm technocrats to launch stir
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, September 15 Agri Technocrats Action Committee, which is an umbrella organisation, including technocrats from agriculture, horticulture and soil conservation departments, yesterday claimed that the agitation would be launched on September 21 with a statewide dharna here. Addressing a press conference here, the committee Chairman, Dr Mangal Singh, said following this, technocrats from different districts would hold a dharna in front of the office of the Director, Agriculture, on every Tuesday each week until their demands were acceded by the government. Technocrats claim the government wants to make agriculture profitable and even globally competitive. “However it is not ready to promote a technology package for the same and equip us to make it viable,” Dr Mangal Singh said. The technocrats are protesting against government moves to break their single cadre and also against what they term as discrimination in both pay and promotions vis a vis other state departments. Dr Avtar Singh, who represents Horticulture Development Officers (HDOs), said against a total of 1,167 cadre posts, only 483 posts had been filled till now. He said against a total of 167 posts of HDOs, there were only 89 HDOs working in the field. Similarly against 226 technical posts in the Soil Conservation Department, only 100 technocrats were working in the field.
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Farmers to get soil health cards
Patiala, September 15 Talking to The Tribune, Patiala Deputy Commissioner Dipinder Singh said he had directed the Chief Agriculture Officer to launch the project on pilot basis in 122 villages of a particular block of Patiala district. “The SHC is prepared after the soil is scientifically tested for various properties like productivity, mineral composition, water retaining capacity etc. The card contains information on what kind of pesticides, fertilisers, seeds and how much water should be used for getting better productivity from the land,” said Dipinder. He said they were hopeful that the SHC system would prove beneficial to the farmers. Elaborating on the benefits of the SHC, the DC said with the introduction of these cards, it would become easy for the farmers to understand properties of the soil. “These details will help them take accurate steps to increase productivity,” he added. The DC further said that directions had been issued to initiate the pilot project at the earliest.
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Engineers for probe by technical adviser
Chandigarh, September 15 Seeking intervention of CM Parkash Singh Badal at a function held on the occasion of the Engineers’ Day here today, engineers said a departmental probe or an inquiry from a technical adviser must be made before taking any action. Many a time, it was difficult to convince non-technical authorities looking into the complaints, they added. Badal inaugurated the Engineers’ Day at Bhargav Auditorium, PGI, where over 1,200 engineers participated. Last year, while addressing a congregation of diploma engineers at Tagore Theatre here on October 24, the CM had accepted engineers’ demand for celebrating this day on September 15 every year. This day happens to be the birthday of Sir Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya, an eminent Indian engineer, administrator and statesman, who was awarded the Bharat Ratna in 1955. The CM announced that “Engineers bhawan” would be built in Mohali. He further said the issues of time-scale promotions for JEs and new recruits would also be sorted out. He also agreed for the creation of the post of engineer-in-chief. — TNS
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Compulsory computer classes for govt teachers
Patiala, September 15 While some teachers have readily accepted the idea and have expressed happiness over the training, which, they say, has been scheduled at an adequate time as compared to the last session when these classes clashed with marking dates, there are some who are wondering how to put this training to use. “During the training, we tell the teachers about use of Internet, storage devices and assembling of various computer parts. But most of the teachers are not very keen on learning these things. They are coming to classes just for attendance. But I don’t blame them as many of them have taught for more than 20 years without computers. We shouldn’t expect too much from them. Even if they try to learn, by the time they start getting used to it, the training gets over and lack of practice brings them back to where they started,” said a computer teacher, pleading anonymity. Moreover, the system in government schools is such that it does not make much difference whether the teachers have computer knowledge or not, said another teacher. “The education department must formulate some policy if they actually want to make teachers computer-savvy,” said the teacher.
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No decision yet on fee structure
Amaninder Pal/Tribune News Service
Jalandhar, September 15 Although the board submitted the proposal in this regard to the state Education Department authorities concerned long ago, the issue is still hanging fire. Quizzed in this regard, C Roul, Principal Secretary, Education, today said that it was not possible for the government to enforce the fee structure in the private schools, affiliated to the PSEB, leaving aside the schools affiliated to the CBSE and the ICSE. “Along with the schools affiliated to the PSEB, such norms should be enforced simultaneously upon the schools affiliated to the CBSE and ICSE also, which are being run by private managements. Otherwise, the decision will invite resentment from the managements of the PSEB-affiliated private schools”, he added.
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ETT teachers to ‘expose’ Badals
Ludhiana, September 15 The ETT Teachers’ Association is all set to present a CD of the Badals’ pre-election promises made to the state’s ETT teachers at Akal Takht on September 19. They said if Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and Deputy CM Sukhbir Singh Badal said in front of the Sikh clergy at Akal Takht that they did not make any promise to the ETT teachers, they would immediately withdraw their protest and return to schools. District president of the association Paramjit Singh Mann said to decide the further course of action, a meeting of the association was scheduled for tomorrow in Jalandhar. Meanwhile, the association has decided to support nine teachers, who were suspended by the Education Department today.
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Challenges facing distance education discussed
Patiala, September 15 The seminar was aimed at identifying problems being faced by the distance education system and exploring the possibilities of improving the situation in the light of New Policy of Distance Learning in Higher Education. Addressing the gathering, Prof Romesh Verma, secretary general of the Indian Distance Education Authority (IDEA), said distance education in India was passing through a phase of crises of identity, dominance by the conventional system, insensitivity for the development of quality distance education culture, paedagogy and research. “Step motherly treatment by the authorities concerned fuelled degeneration of distance education in the country. As a result, the system was facing the challenge of acceptability, accountability, accreditation, uniformity and employability of the stakeholders,” he added. He said there was a need to identify the challenges faced by the distance education system and try to work out solutions for the same.
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Edusat lectures begin
Chandigarh, September 15 Launched in 2008, the Edusat programme is part of the Punjab Government initiative in the field of education. Eminent academics are picked up for delivering the lectures, which are beamed through satellite. The programme is supplemental to classroom teaching. Fifty-five students of government colleges in the state watched the programme as she spoke.
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24 Pak prisoners released
Attari, September 15 After Partition, my parents migrated to Pakistan, but I stayed here with my grandparents. Later, I went to Pakistan for pursuing MBBS. I even worked there for a few years but was deported as some of the Pakistani officials used to call me Indian agent due to my Indian background,” Ikraar-ul-Haq said. He added that: “My uncles sent me behind bars on false pretexts to grab our property.
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Beant Singh Case Saurabh Malik/TNS
Chandigarh, September 15 As the appeals filed in the assassination case came up before Justice Mehtab Singh Gill and Justice Arvind Kumar this morning, Baldev Singh said the prosecution had claimed Inspector Nanha Ram of the Chandigarh Police deposited the skull and the legs with the Sector 16 hospital mortuary after recovering them from the site on the day of the blast. But the inquest report was silent on this aspect. Beant Singh and others were killed in an explosion outside the Punjab Civil Secretariat on August 31, 1995. The RDX, stuffed in a belt, was used by “human bomb” Dilawar Singh to trigger off the blast. Convicts Jagtar Singh Hawara and Balwant Singh are facing the death sentence. Three other convicts, Shamsher Singh, Gurmeet Singh and Lakhwinder Singh, have been sentenced to life imprisonment. Referring to the records in the presence of CBI counsel R.K. Handa, Baldev Singh said Dr Inderjit Diwan for the first time saw the legs and the skull on September 4, 1995. “Nothing has come on record to show as to where for four days the legs and the skull were kept”. Dilawar Singh’s brother Chamkaur Singh identified the body parts. “By his statement, it is not established as to whether the legs and the skull were that of Dilawar Singh; and Chamkaur Singh was evasive in his statement”, Baldev Singh said. He added even Dr Lal Ji Singh, the then Director of the Hyderabad-based Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, had asserted Chamkaur Singh and Dilawar Singh’s father were not hundred per cent sure. Attempting to blast the DNA report, Baldev Singh said Dr Lal Ji Singh himself had asserted that he had not given any opinion whether the legs and the skull were of a man or a woman. Dr Lal Ji Singh had also stated some of the samples were not fit for examination as they had been “improperly stored in formaline and ethanol and its DNA had decomposed”.
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Convict couple plans family, files plea in court
Saurabh Malik Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, September 15 Separated by legal bars, the two wish to be united “for the sole purpose of getting a progeny”. In an apparent attempt to clear any doubts, their counsel Gursharan K Mann says, “In their case, the demand is not personal sexual gratification”. Going into the circumstances leading to the demand, she says, “The husband is the only son of his parents and just after eight months of their marriage, the couple were involved in the case. Now his parents, he himself and his wife wish to have a child so that the lineage may continue”. Interpreting right to life as allowing individuals to achieve rational objectives, Mann quotes the law to insist: “The right to life has been interpreted by the courts to mean reasonably good life so that all reasonable aspirations of a citizen are achieved. The two most basic ingredients of right to life are preservation of cell and propagation of species. As such, sex life is a part of right to life.” Referring to apex court judgments to substantiate the plea, Mann says: “Even when lodged in the jail, a prisoner continues to enjoy all his fundamental rights, including the right to life guaranteed to him under the Constitution. On being convicted and deprived of their liberty in the accordance with the procedure established by law, prisoners still retain the residue of Constitutional rights.”
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Initiating action on the bid to burn St Thomas Church near Islamia School here on Sunday night, the Punjab State Minorities Commission headed by its Chairman Manawar Masih today inspected the church and recorded the statements of Christians here.
