Ranwan (Khamano),September 17
With no food value left in the 6,500 metric tonne of rotten paddy in Ranwan village, no bidder has turned up to purchase the paddy which is also posing health hazard for the nearby villages for the past three years.

The paddy was purchased by the Punjab Agro, on behalf of the Food Corporation of India (FCI), but was not lifted. Officials of the Punjab Agro said now this paddy was completely rotten and would be used for industrial purposes only.

The 3100 metric tonne grade-3 paddy, which has also been rotting for the past more than three years in the nearby tehsil complex and also rotting, was purchased by five millers of Punjab a few days ago and is being lifted.

A section of rice sheller owners, while talking to TNS, said the husk of the rotten paddy was used as a fuel in thread factory and cardboard manufacturing units and was sold at nearly Rs 400 per quintal.

However, since the grade-3 paddy was sold at a price of mere Rs 288 per quintal, this would not even fetch Rs 300.

Sources in the Punjab Agro said that the condition of paddy had deteriorated during the rainy season and before that a foundation stone of polytechnic college was laid by Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, the paddy was dislocated.

“The dislocation leads to more chaos and the entire lot got damaged in subsequent rains”, said an official of the agency.

Moreover, it took more than six months of paper work to dispose of the paddy through the process of inviting tenders, he said.

Only those firms were eligible to purchase the rotten paddy which was given a licence by the FCI to purchase the damaged grain.

Bathinda, September 17
Emphasising on conducting a scientific survey of the cancer patients in the state to know about the actual data of the patients and real causes behind the disease, the Chairman of a nine-member team of the ICMR, New Delhi, Dr GK Rath, said they could not say anything concrete about the prevalence of cancer disease in the state till they knew the causes behind the disease scientifically.

Regarding the presence of excessive heavy metals in the river waters and groundwater in the state that is said to be behind the cancer disease, Dr Rath said this was merely a suspicion so far as it was yet to be investigated scientifically. The incidence of genetic cause of cancer disease was not more than five per cent in the country, he added.

Dr Rath, who visited the city today along with members of his team and officers of the Punjab Health Department under the cancer control programme of the ICMR, said they were here to sensitise the doctors on how a survey of cancer patients should be conducted in a correct manner to bring the proper data on record.

The in charge of the Cancer Control Cell, Punjab, Dr Rakesh Kumar, and the Bathinda Civil Surgeon, Dr Inder Dayal Goyal, were among those who were present at the meeting.

Dr Manjit Singh Bal, Professor and Head, Department of Pathology, Government Medical College, Patiala, and a member of the team said the available data about cancer patients in the state was not proper, so the state needed to get proper data. At the meeting, the team was also provided a survey report, conducted by the health staff in Bathinda district in November/December 2009 with regard to cancer patients living or dead from 2001 to 2009. According to the survey report, more women were affected from the disease as compared to men in the district. A total of 2,733 persons (1,643 women and 1,090 men) were affected from the disease during nine years. Among the women, breast cancer and uterus was found more prevalent as compared to other parts of the body, while in the men the cancer of the gastrointestinal tract and blood was found more frequent as compared to other organs of the body. 

Chandigarh, September 17
The proposal to appoint erstwhile Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB) Chairman HS Brar’s son Amaninder Singh Brar as SDO in the new state electricity utility, Powercom, has fallen through with expert advice going against the appointment.

CM Parkash Singh Badal had presided over a special meeting here yesterday evening that was attended by senior officials from the Power, Cooperation and Finance departments besides the Chief Secretary, to consider Amaninder’s case.

Board members of the erstwhile PSEB objected to Amaninder’s appointment when the case was put up before them in September 2009. However, the board referred the case to the government with the plea that the state Cabinet could consider it. The Cooperation Department had besides granting compensation to the family also offered a job to one of its members. Amaninder took up the offer after completing his engineering degree last year but with the sugar mill having closed down, the matter was referred to the Cooperation Department. Within a month of this being done, the erstwhile PSEB received a letter, requesting it to consider Amaninder for appointment as an SDO. His father was then Chairman of the board.

According to sources, the legal department of Powercom, which had prepared a brief on the case, felt that Amaninder’s claim did not have any basis. It was pointed out that the letter of the sugar mill, offering a job to the family, clearly stated that in case it did not reply to the same, it would be considered that the family was not interested in it.

Officers attending the meeting also pointed out that rules did not allow the appointment. They said Class I and Class II jobs could not be offered in such cases and that if this was done, a precedent would be set for others too. It was also pointed out that the erstwhile PSEB or the new entity Powercom were not liable to offer any job to Amaninder as they had neither acquired his land nor promised any job to him. 

Chandigarh, September 17
Nearly 15 years after Balwant Singh confessed his hand in the killing of Punjab’s then Chief Minister Beant Singh, the defence today claimed the confessional statement was not made voluntarily.

As the appeals filed in the assassination case by the convicts came up for hearing before the Division Bench of Justice Mehtab Singh Gill and Justice Arvind Kumar this morning, senor advocate Baldev Singh said the confessional statement could not, as such, be relied upon.

Raising a finger of suspicion, Baldev Singh said Balwant Singh’s judicial confession should have been recorded at Ambala. There was no reason why the Metropolitan Magistrate in Delhi recorded the judicial confessional statement. The action, he asserted, gave rise to doubts.

Alleging the adoption of an improper procedure, Baldev Singh said the Metropolitan Magistrate neither enquired from the police, nor looked into the case diaries, as to why Balwant Singh was arrested by the Haryana Police. He did not even ask Balwant Singh when the Central Bureau of Investigation took him into custody.

Baldev Singh asserted the recording of the confessional statement in the Metropolitan Magistrate’s chamber was a violation of Rule 5 of the High Court Rules. Claiming the Magistrate “seriously faulted” in the recording of the statement, Baldev Singh said even legal aid was not provided to accused Balwant Singh.

He argued much importance could not be accorded to the confessions, as the apex court had held in a number of judgments that the statement of an accused could not be read against a co-accused, until there was some other convincing evidence before the court. Baldev Singh added in any case just the judicial confessional statements of Shamsher Singh and Balwant Singh were before the court. There was no judicial confession by other co-conspirators Jagtar Singh Hawara, Gurmeet Singh and Lakhwinder Singh.

Chandigarh, September 17
The formality of authorising Congress President Sonia Gandhi to name the new President and the state executive committee has been deferred once again, this time on account of its clash with the Guruta Gaddi Divas celebrations at Khadoor Sahib.

A meeting of the delegates will now be held on September 19 and not on September 18 as was announced earlier. In fact, the election of the new President and the executive members of the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) were originally scheduled to be completed by September 17.

Since a controversy started over the naming of “favourites” of some senior leaders on the delegates list, the pre-election meeting of the electoral college comprising 234 delegates nominated from blocks, 11 sitting MPs, 44 sitting MLAs and eight former PPCC chiefs could not be held till now. Though the decision to be taken at the September 19 meeting has already been conveyed by the Pradesh Returning Officer Usha Thakkar in her press statement issued today, the September 19 meeting may still witness some fireworks as some senior party leaders may give vent to their feeling over ignoring of claims of party loyalists to be among the delegates.

In fact, a four-page printed brochure brought out by loyal workers of the Congress has been in circulation. It questions the list saying whether it is a list of the delegates of the Punjab Congress Committee or is a list of senior leaders’ kith and kin, wives, sons, sons-in-law, brothers, brothers-in-law, sisters, sisters-in-law, cousins, butlers, “karindas”, tainted leaders in various scams and committed terrorists of militancy in Punjab.

The brochure addressed to the party high command wanted its immediate intervention.

“The way our senior leaders in Punjab have conducted themselves during the present organisation elections needs serious and urgent intervention. Intentions contradict the spirit and high principles for which the Congress President and Rahul Gandhi stand for,” reads the brochure by referring to “some glaring examples” of naming favourites by ignoring the claims of the senior and loyal party workers.

It also quotes the names of Vishnu Sharma (Patiala), Surinderpal Singh Sibia (MLA), Brahm Mohindra (MLA), Ripjeet Singh Brar (MLA), Harminder Singh Jassi (MLA), Sukhwinder Singh Danny (MP candidate from the Faridkot constituency in last Lok Sabha elections), Gopal Krishan Chatrath (former Advocate-General), Trade union leader MM Singh Cheema and Mangat Ram Bansal (MLA) to be among those who have got a raw deal in the delegates list. The brochure does not mention the names of those who brought it out. All it says that it has been got printed by Punjab Congress workers. How the party high command reacts to the brochure remains to be seen.

Ferozepur, September 17
Taking a serious view of the presentation of the “incorrect data” connected with the number of cancer patients in Punjab by the authorities to the Central Government agencies, the PPCC has urged the SAD-BJP combine to carry out a time-bound cancer census in the state to determine the true extent of the problem.

“What has caused concern to the Congress is that under a conspiracy, the authorities have been showing that Punjab has a lesser number of cancer patients than the prevailing national average,” said Parminder Singh, media in charge, PPCC.

He said a team of the ICMR, which visited Ferozepur yesterday, also “questioned” the intention of the state government in dealing with cancer as the head of the team, GK Rath, claimed that data supplied to them was incomplete and hence confusing.

He said the PPCC was of the view that the Badal government had manipulated the data of cancer patients deliberately to 
stop the Central Government from setting up a hospital in Punjab so that private players could be allowed to set up shop to fleece poor patients.

Though the SAD-BJP combine had facilitated two private companies to set up cancer hospitals in Bathinda and Mohali by claiming that cancer had acquired alarming dimensions in Punjab, its 
agencies were claiming that the number of cancer patients were below the national average.

“Badal should make a statement on the issue to clarify that who have manipulated the data and why,” said Parminder Singh, adding that a delegation of the PPCC would meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh with a request to make arrangements for setting up a cancer hospital in the Malwa region of Punjab.

Chhat (Banur), September 17
Tallest flying bird - saras crane - is on the verge of extinction in Punjab due to lack of expertise to identify gender and basic infrastructure for captive breeding of this bird.

Though officials of Mohendra Chaudhury Zoological Park claim that the programme of captive breeding of sarus crane is quite successful, figures from inventory of the Central Zoo Authority (CZA) tell a different tale.

Official figures say there were seven sarus cranes, including five males, one female and one unidentified in 2008-2009. However, at the end of the year, there were five males, no females and three unidentified birds with death of one female and the birth of two unidentified birds.

Similarly, in the beginning of 2009-2010, there were eight birds, including five males, no female and three unidentified birds and by year-end, this number had increased to nine with five males, one female and three unidentified birds.

Zoo field director Churchil Kumar said the authorities were in process of sending DNA samples of the three unidentified birds to Hyderabad and then a pair of birds accordingly. All unidentified birds had been kept in separate cages and there is only one-pair breeding at present, he said.

However, bird lovers say that physical features of birds change with maturity and body plumage changes from cinnamon brown to grey and colour of head becomes red. After maturity, this bird attains a height of up to 6 feet with a wing span of eight feet.

Bird lovers added that the zoo authorities, besides relying upon DNA tests, which was a tedious and lengthy procedure, should also rope in some bird watchers in identifying birds with calls, size and colour.

Female is slightly smaller than males in sarus cranes, besides there is a difference of pitch in their calls. Navjit Aulakh, a Chandigarh-based bird watcher, said sarus were found in Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat and Rajasthan whereas its number had reduced to just a few pairs in Punjab. These are seen on and off near the Nangal wetland.

Widespread use of pesticides, changing crop patterns, degradation of wetlands and marshy areas and the increase in a number of tractors in agricultural land have brought the bird on the verge of extinction in the state.

Patiala September 17
With lump sum fee hitting the pockets of parents hard, the Punjab School Education Board has now decided to charge monthly fees from Class XI and XII students. Earlier, the students had to pay the yearly fee in two installments.

The board said the decision has been taken because there was a sudden decline in the class strength as students from economically weaker sections could not afford to pay the hefty bi-annual installment.

In a letter issued by the Director General of School Education Dr Krishan Kumar, instructions have been issued regarding the collection of fee on monthly basis. While the authorities claim that the move would reduce the financial burden on students, some teachers opine that the main reason for decline in number of students was actually the steep hike in the fee.

“The major issue is the fee hike. The decrease in the number of students is because of the fact that by introducing the semester system, the board has put additional burden on students,” rued a teacher.

“Contrary to the board’s claims that the semester system would make the government education better and student-friendly, the move is sheer wastage of time and effort as the exams have to be conducted twice. Also, there has been a two-fold increase in the fee. If the board really wants to actually help these children, they should rollback the fee hike,” said another teacher.

A school principal said the fee was collected on monthly basis till Class X. “Now that we have been asked to collect the fee on monthly basis, it would certainly increase our workload. Students in our schools are not very particular. They would have to be given constant fee-reminders. Precious teaching hours would be wasted in the process,” she said.

Jalandhar, September 17
Thousands of retired and working teachers of government-aided schools across the state have decided to gherao the state Assembly on September 24 to highlight their long-pending demands, including the restoration of pension scheme for teachers and to lift ban on the recruitment of teachers in government-aided schools.

President of the Punjab State Aided Schools Teachers and Other Employees Union Gurcharan Singh Chahal said besides 3,000 teachers, who retired after June 1, 2003, and were devoid of the pension facility, 3,500 pensioners and 7,000 working teachers would go on mass leave and participate in the protest.

Ropar, September 17
The All India Power Engineers Federation (AIPEF) has written to Union Power Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde demanding his interference into the “unnecessary spillage” from the Pong Dam by Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB).

The AIPEF have stated that inflow of water in the Pong Dam has been reduced from 1.85 laces cusecs on Monday to 17,000 cusecs today.

“But the BBMB continues to release water through spillways,” said president AIPEF Padamjit Singh.

He said that release of water from reservoir through spillways is sheer waste of hydro energy. Today, the water level came down to 1,393.93 feet. Water level is likely to go down further, if BBMB authorities failed to stop spillage.

Chandigarh, September 17
Justice Ajay Lamba of the Punjab and Haryana High Court yesterday ordered an inquiry by the Punjab Home Department to find out why the state Director-General of Police’s orders on promotion of ASIs to inspectors have not been followed till date.

The directions came on a petition filed by advocate Anil Pal Singh Shergill for petitioner inspector Sukhjit Singh Virk. He was seeking directions to the state of Punjab and other respondents to follow and implement in its true letter and spirit a memo dated October 23, 2007, issued by the DGP and to make “the promotion policy binding on all promotions in the ranks of non-gazetted officers and all promotions from inspectors to DSPs”. Taking cognisance of the petition, Justice Lamba issued a direction to the Punjab Home Department secretary to immediately conduct the inquiry and show justification for deviation from the instructions issued by the DGP. Justice Lamba also directed placing on the record the inquiry and also asked the state Additional Advocate-General Praveen Chander Goyal to communicate the order to the secretary. The memo was written to ADGP, Armed Battalion, Jalandhar Cantt, by the state DGP. It reads: “It has been revealed from the recommendations of your wing that officers of the 1993 batch of ASIs, promoted between January 1, 1993, and May 14, 1993, who were further promoted to the rank of SI from March 9, 1994, to February 10, 1999, are under consideration for promotion as police inspector, whereas the directly recruited ASIs of 1992 batch have not yet been promoted to the rank of the sub-inspector.” It was further mentioned that the decision has been taken to set right the anomaly.