FM rebuffed by Kalia
Chandigarh, October 11
Punjab Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal today indicated he is in no mood to be silenced by his party as far the issue of the Central loan waiver is concerned, even as he has started the process of reaching out to the party’s alliance partner - the BJP-- to drum up support in his favour.

Manpreet to make debt papers public
Chandigarh, October 11
Not in a mood to either forgive or forget, state Finance Minister Manpreet Badal is now all set to fire a counter salvo to silence those who have been demanding the “papers” from the Government of India that list out the debt waiver offer.Manpreet who was in Delhi for the past few days returned to Chandigarh today. His close associates added that he has decided to make public the official papers regarding the offer through a press conference.

Dal Khalsa seeks details of debt
Hoshiarpur, October 11
The Dal Khalsa has asked the Punjab Government to issue a White Paper on the state’s financial debt and clarify if the loan incurred during the militancy period had been written off.

Chandigarh, October 11
The Disciplinary Action Committee (DAC) of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) today postponed its decision to take punitive action against Manpreet Singh Badal, even as a defiant Finance Minister issued yet another statement, this time banking on help from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to buttress his case on the Central debt-waiver issue.

The DAC has, meanwhile, issued a one-line statement saying that it discussed the issue pertaining to allegations of indiscipline by Manpreet Badal, but could not reach any conclusion. The DAC will now meet again on Wednesday to review and recommend appropriate action. According to sources, at the start of the meeting the DAC seemed inclined to take a soft line on the utterances of Manpreet Badal. However, after it was revealed that the Finance Minister was trying to precipitate the crisis by insisting on explaining his stand on the Central loan waiver as well as announcing that he had the full backing of the BJP, the committee members decided to adopt a wait-and-watch policy on the issue.

In his statement issued today, Manpreet Badal reiterated his claim of a Central subcommittee making an offer on debt waiver to Punjab. He has announced that he will make all relevant records public soon. This statement made the DAC postpone its decision wanting to know what Manpreet had with him before deciding a further course.

Sources said the committee was likely to “evaluate” the BJP support being claimed by the Finance Minister, who has rushed back to Delhi where, he has announced, he will be holding talks with the BJP’s central leadership.

The DAC met for more than two and a half hours with all but one of the committee members under the chairmanship of Ranjit Singh Brahmpura. Sukhbir Badal made a short visit to Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa’s house where the meeting was taking place, but left shortly afterwards.

After the meeting all committee members were silent on what transpired inside. Brahmpura said, “The issue of Manpreet’s statements to the media as well as the presence of a few MLAs at a press conference held by Manpreet was discussed. However, as the issue required to be debated at length, it has been decided to hold another meeting on Wednesday”.

The Tribune had reliably learnt that the DAC had informally got the mind of other party leaders before holding the discussions today, wherein they reviewed various actions of Manpreet that are being termed as “anti-party” activity. The majority view was that Manpreet be served a notice to explain why disciplinary action should not be taken against him and at the same time make a recommendation to the Chief Minister to change his portfolio. It is obvious that the reason why the DAC chose not to make its decision public at this stage is that the party first wants to know what Manpreet Badal has to say in response to Sukhbir Badal’s exclusive interview to The Tribune. In this interview, the Deputy Chief Minister has said that Punjab was open to consider the offer made by the Centre, provided the offer come in black and white.

The SAD has been actively involved in in-house discussions since the time Manpreet Badal held a press conference and distributed a statement by the Chief Minister giving him a clean chit on the issue of “indiscipline”. After Manpreet Badal named a few senior leaders of the SAD at his press conference, these leaders have become equally critical of the Finance Minister’s actions.

Though the district jathedars who met here on Sunday did not openly name Manpreet, they too made it apparent that they all were supporting Sukhbir, and when it came to choosing between Sukhbir and Manpreet, they had no second thoughts.

Chandigarh, October 11
Punjab Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal today indicated he is in no mood to be silenced by his party as far the issue of the Central loan waiver is concerned, even as he has started the process of reaching out to the party’s alliance partner - the BJP-- to drum up support in his favour.

Manpreet, however, had a difficult time getting his message across. It was left to his personal staff to disseminate a release prepared by him after the state Public Relations Department did not release the same to 
mediapersons.

The Finance Minister also suffered a jolt with state BJP legislature party leader Manoranjan Kalia admonished him for going to the Press at a late- night Press conference today. The BJP leader even “advised” Manpreet to talk to Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and Deputy CM Sukhbir Singh Badal instead of asking for support from the BJP.

Kalia also made it clear that Manpreet did not hold any discussions with former state BJP in charge Balbir Punj. Kalia said Punj was having food when Manpreet came to his house today and left soon after. He said the Finance Minister then went on to “thank me for my cooperation” but he could not understand what cooperation he had extended to him. The BJP leader said as far as the issue of documents concerning the Central loan waiver was concerned, he had told the FM that he must show them to the CM and the Deputy CM.

Manpreet, meanwhile, came out with a statement saying he would release documents on Wednesday explaining the entire sequence of events, which led the Centre to agree to halve Punjab’s debt of Rs 70,000 crore provided the state fulfilled certain 
conditions.

Without naming his cousin and state Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal, the Finance Minister made it clear that he was holding the Press conference on Wednesday after it was claimed that no offer had been made by the Centre to write off the state’s debt. According to sources besides supporters from Gidderbaha, his constituency, the only important visitor to Manpreet’s house today was Health Minister Laxmi Kanta Chawla, who is from the BJP. 

Chandigarh, October 11
Not in a mood to either forgive or forget, state Finance Minister Manpreet Badal is now all set to fire a counter salvo to silence those who have been demanding the “papers” from the Government of India that list out the debt waiver offer.

Manpreet who was in Delhi for the past few days returned to Chandigarh today. His close associates added that he has decided to make public the official papers regarding the offer through a press conference.

In his statement, he added that the offer from the Centre was of waiving off Rs 35,000 crore of the total debt of the state and it was all in black and white.

Talking to the Tribune, Manpreet said, “This talk about wanting to see the written offer is absurd, if not strange. I have the papers and it includes the minutes of the relevant meetings, the formal offer, everything.”

“The state chief secretary does not have anything formal from the Government of India because the offer to waive off the debt is not being discussed at the level of the administration. It is an offer that has come from the Union Finance Minister to the Finance Minister of a state. How do you expect the offer to be circulated among the secretaries?” he said.

“All official record of the meetings of a committee constituted by the Union Finance Minister to consider the Punjab debt waiver, along with some other states, is available and can be checked,” added Manpreet.

Not ready to give up without a fight to the finish, Manpreet said he was meeting Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukerjee over the issue again and also some senior leaders of the BJP at the Centre.

“I am doing all this for my state, not to forward any personal agenda. My aim is that Punjab should become an economically stronger unit and as the Finance Minister, I am only doing my duty, whatever the outcome,” he said.

Mansa, October 11
A farmers’ leader was shot dead while two of his colleagues sustained serious injuries when arhtiyas and their goons allegedly opened fire at them in Veero ke Khurd village of Mansa district this afternoon.

The deceased was identified as senior vice-president of the Bharti Kisan Union (Ekta-Dakounda), Pirthi Pal Singh (35) of Chak Ali Sher village.According to reports, farmer Bhola Singh of Veero ke Khurd owed about of Rs 3 lakh to a commission agent (arhtiya), Ram Krishan of Budhladha. Finding that he was not repaying the debt, the commission agent got orders for taking his land measuring 10 kanals into legal possession.

To take possession, when Ram Krishan along with revenue officials reached the spot, activists of the BKU, who were already present there, started lodging a protest and even held a demonstration against the officials. Finding that the union activists were not relenting, the officials and the arhtiya had to leave the place.

Immediately after that, the union activists assembled at a common place in the village to rejoice over their so-called victory.

Meanwhile, Ram Krishan along with some other persons, brandishing weapons, reached there.

They started firing indiscriminately at the union activists assembled there, villagers alleged.

A bullet hit Pirthi Pal Singh, who died on the spot. Tarsem Singh and Lachhman Singh of Chak Ali Sher village sustained bullet injuries. Leaving them lying in a pool of blood, the attackers fled.

Soon after, villagers took the injured persons to the Civil Hospital in Mansa, where doctors declared Pirthi Pal dead.

When contacted, SSP, Mansa, Hardial Singh Mann said the police was recording the statements of the bereaved kin and various other eyewitnesses. Acting upon that, a case would be registered against commission agent Ram Krishan and eight others under Sections 302 and 34 of the IPC and various sections of the Arms Act.

“We have constituted teams to nab the accused,” the SSP said.

Meanwhile, various organisations have condemned the incident and asked the government to award compensation of Rs 10 lakh to kin of the deceased and arrest all accused, failing which a mass protest could take place.

Moga, October 11
With more than 50 cases of gastroenteritis and amoebiasis, in the new grain market and the Zira Road, the threat of water-borne diseases looms large in Moga. “ As many as 15 new cases of water-borne diseases have been reported in the district,” said Dr Rajesh Puri, senior medical officer, district hospital.

Since the last two days, many patients suffering water-borne diseases have been released after administering medicines. “The rest have been undergoing antibiotic treatment and will be released from the hospital upon showing signs of improvement,” Dr Puri added. Contaminated water is being citied as the main cause of increasing cases of gastroenteritis and amoebiasis.

“The health department has already sent the samples of the potable water to a government laboratory for clinical tests”, 
he added.

The commission agents of the new grain market had previously made complaints regarding the unfit drinking water being supplied to the market.

Dr Kuldip Singh, district health officer visited the affected areas and advised consumption of boiled water. He directed the use of chlorine in potable 
water supply.

The market committee had been supplying the water in the affected areas.

Exlaining the condition, the medical officers said amoebiasis was an inflammation of the intestines caused by a microscopic parasite ‘entamoeba histolytica’.The parasite enters the body through contaminated food or water and is common in areas with poor sanitation or living conditions.

No official announcement on the outbreak has been issued by the district administration. Dr VN Zade, district magistrate was not available for comments.

Bathinda, October 11
Two wagons of a goods train derailed while another wagon turned turtle at the Bathinda station in the wee hours of morning, delaying train traffic throughout the day. The train was en route to Malout from Jalana. An enquiry has been ordered by the railway officials.

Sudhir Garg, Additional Divisional Rail Manager along with several other senior railway officials were present at the site to supervise the salvage operations. The railway officials have estimated a loss of Rs 1 lakh to the railways due to the mishap. Although the exact cause of the mishap will be ascertained only after the investigations are complete, faulty wagons are being cited as one of the reasons. Though the derailed wagons were soon put back on tracks the other wagon has been kept aside. Surprisingly, the railway officials had previously decided to issue fitness certificates for the tracks where the mishap has occurred.

“We will restore regular train traffic on the tracks at the earliest,” a senior railway official concluded.

Bathinda, October 11
The entry of the Cotton Corporation of India (CCI) in the market has brought a smile on the faces of cotton growers as they are assuming it to be a sign of accelerating competition among purchasers.

Notably, finding the prices of white gold (cotton) to be much higher than the minimum support price (MSP), the CCI has entered at the commercial level, which means its officials will also purchase the crop, competing with private buyers.

The CCI has shortlisted 22 purchase centres throughout the state. All these purchase centres are in the Malwa belt.

Seeking anonymity, an official posted at the state office of the CCI in Bathinda said Bathinda, Goniana, Bhuccho, Sangat, Rama Mandi, Maur, Rampura, Mansa, Sardulgarh, Budhladha, Bareta, Barnala, Tapa, Lehragaga, Sunam, Kotkapura, Jaitu, Muktsar, Malout, Gidderbaha, Fazilka and Abohar were the purchase centres selected for the purpose.

However, the official mentioned that the CCI had just planned and not finalisedwhether it would purchase from all centres or not. All would depend on economic viability.

The CCI officials had started purchases from the Maur centre of Bathinda district, where they bought about 500 quintals of cotton on Saturday and about 400 quintals on Monday.

Being one of the competitors, the CCI has purchased the crop at Rs 3600-Rs 4310 per quintal. The officials have calculated an average of Rs 4310 per quintal.

When asked about the ceiling levels of price and quantity of the purchases, CCI officials said it would keep varying every day and they would just implement the decision coming from the national headquarters in Mumbai.

During a visit to various cotton markets of the district today it was observed that private buyers were purchasing the crop at Rs 4100-Rs 4360 per quintal. However, sources in the Mandi Board said an unusual jump in the price was recorded on Saturday, when a buyer purchased a heap of cotton at Rs 4560 per quintal.

Jalandhar, October 11
If you are a dairy farmer and frequently losing milch animals to foot and mouth disease (FMD), just hang hundreds of chopped fish heads in and around your dairy farm and you may probably save your cattle.

Though sounds superstitious, thousands of such axed fish heads can be seen hanging in hundreds of dairy farms in villages situated in the south-west of Jalandhar city and are acting as the “first line of defence” to the disease, also known as “muh-khur” in the local dialect.

During the outbreak of the disease, dairy owners immediately rush towards city’s fish market, bring quintals of such heads and hang them through the ceilings, windows and entrances of their farms.

“An axiom prevails in the region for decades that such chopped fish heads could prevent cattle from this disease. During its outbreak, we replace the entire stock of such heads after an interval of three-four months”, said Sharandeep Singh, a dairy farmer in Jamsher Dairy Complex. There are over 250 dairies in Jamsher Dairy complex alone, which house over 15,000 cattle.

“Farmers believe that it is the smell of fish that keeps the disease away. Some others hang them out of mere sense of exorcism”, said another dairy owner, Amardeep Singh.

Dr Malkiat Singh, a veterinarian posted in the dairy complex, says that the belief of dairy farmers was so firm that they rely more on fishes than scientific treatment options.

He said dairy owners bore huge financial loss every year due this belief and should be educated about the disease, its causes, prevention and treatment.

Ludhiana, October 11
The Pre-natal Diagnostic Techniques (Regulation and Prevention of Misuse) Act was enacted in order to check female foeticide. It prohibits determination and disclosure of the sex of foetus. The enactment of this act has not helped in checking the misuse of the sex determination test to the desired level, despite the stringent measures taken by the government.

In the meantime, the physicians are alleged to have invented another method, under which the parents can decide to have either male or female child. Under this method, the doctors are allegedly using the sperm separators. The semen is taken from the semen bank and then the sperm separators separate it into male and female sperms.

This procedure is stated to be quite costly around Rs 1.25 lakh to Rs 2 lakh. The private hospitals or nursing homes allegedly make very careful selection of their clients, who are already having a female child. The take semen from the semen bank and separate it into male and female sperm. After this they perform the procedure called as IUI (intra uterine insemination). It is also alleged that such hospitals do not maintain any record of such IUI procedures of procuring semen from the semen bank. When patient conceives, the ultrasound is used to confirm the sex of the unborn child.

The medical experts are concerned over this new technique and strongly feel that this method would badly affect the already adverse male-female ratio, as under this technique sex can be chosen without causing any infanticide of the female child.

Under the PNDT Act, semen separation and IUI are allowed only in cases where the patient has some genetic defect. Civil Surgeon Dr Satwant Kaur Bhalla said the department would act if there were any complaints of the misuse of the PNDT Act. So far, she has not received any complaint.

Punjab Medical Council chairman Dr Manmohan Singh observed that any Act that caused prenatal determination of the sex was against the PNDT Act and it was a punishable offence. The state health authorities should not let go such violators of the law, he added.

It is worth mentioning that ultrasound was invented to find out the defects of the unborn child, but it was mainly misused for the determination of the sex of a child. The state health authorities have been tightening the noose against the ultrasound operators, but so far the new method of sperm separators has escaped the attention of the authorities.

Doctors are alleged to have invented a method under which the parents can decide to have either a male or female child. The doctors are allegedly using sperm separators. Semen is taken from the semen bank and then the sperm separators separate it into male and female sperms. After this they perform a procedure called the IUI (intra-uterine insemination). When the patient conceives, the ultrasound technique is used to confirm the gender of the unborn child.

Patiala, October 11
Primary school students seem to be the worst-hit by the on-going stand-off between the government and the elementary trained teachers (ETT). Most of the cooks, who have not been paid their wages for the past three months, have stopped cooking mid-day meals for the students. This has been followed by reports of children dropping out of schools.

There are 473 government primary schools in the district with 25,000 students. Many of the villagers, hired as cooks on payment of Rs 1,000 a month, have taken to other jobs. District manager of the Mid-Day Meal Scheme Randeep Singh said the wages were not paid because monthly reports from the schools had not been received because of the agitation by ETT teachers, who were demanding to be brought under the control of the Education Department. They are currently deemed employees of the Zila Parishad.

District president of the ETT union Jagpal Singh Chahal, said the number of cooks was known to the department and they had been there for several years and, therefore, there was no need of a certification. ETT teachers conceded that they had refused to maintain record of the mid-day meals for the Education Department. While the government had stopped supplying ration for the meals and also the input costs for the past three months, the scheme had collapsed in the district, they admitted.

Patiala, October 11
Two young sisters Himani (10) and Ayesha (6) have won laurels during the ‘India Theatre Olympiad’, an all-India drama, dance and music competition, organised by the Utkal Yuva Sanskrutik Sangh, Cuttack, Orissa, which is an associate member of the National Institute of Performing Arts. Around 3,000 participants from all over the country participated in the competition.

Disciples of Manoj Maharaj Kathak, Himani and Ayesha, enthralled the audience with their performances of semi-classical dance and Rajasthani folk to win the second position. The competition was followed by an International Theatre Festival during which they received plaques of honour. 

Chandigarh, October 11
Nearly 15 years after “human bomb” Dilawar Singh and his accomplices killed Punjab’s then Chief Minister Beant Singh in a blast, the Punjab and Haryana High Court on Tuesday will pronounce the verdict on appeals filed by the assassins against the death and other penalties.

A Division Bench of Justice Mehtab Singh Gill and Justice Arvind Kumar will pronounce the orders after hearing the appeals on a near-continuous basis ever since these were placed before it earlier this year. The verdict, meticulously dealing with each and every contention raised by the prosecution and the defence, is expected to run into more than 150 pages.

The development is significant as the Bench will eventually give its findings on whether “human bomb” Dilawar Singh triggered off the blast; whether the then Chief Minister was sitting in the car when the explosion took place; and whether all convicts were involved in the conspiracy to eliminate Beant Singh.

The then Chief Minister was assassinated on August 31, 1995, in an explosion outside the Punjab Civil Secretariat. While “human bomb” Dilawar Singh was killed in the blast that also took the lives of 17 others, assassins Jagtar Singh Hawara and Balwant Singh were awarded capital punishment on July 31 last year. Three other convicts, Shamsher Singh, Gurmeet Singh and Lakhwinder Singh, have been sentenced to life imprisonment.

According to the Central Bureau of Investigation, the conspiracy was hatched in Pakistan by the BKI. Wadhawa Singh and Mahal Singh, in Pakistan, masterminded the assassination. The conspiracy to assassinate Beant Singh was, in fact, discussed and formulated in May-June 1995 between Wadhawa Singh, Mahal Singh and Jagtar Singh Hawara in Pakistan. Hawara, subsequently, was sent to India for executing the operation, the CBI had asserted.

The defence, represented by senior advocate Baldev Singh, has on the other hand tried to blast off the prosecution theory of a “human bomb”.

Baldev Singh has all along been claiming nothing on record had come to suggest whether the conspirators in Pakistan were dead or alive, and whether they were still there or some other country. Even the RDX theory propounded by the prosecution had been belied by its own witness. The owner of the truck, in which RDX was brought by Hawara from near Ajnala, had not supported the prosecution case, Baldev Singh has been asserting. 

Barnala, October 11
The Barnala police have arrested three fraudsters accused of duping innocent persons on pretext of sending them abroad. Sukhwinder Singh, a resident of Raikot has been accused of impersonating a travel agent. He floated advertisements from different places and sent people abroad without advancing him any money. Singh only stayed at one place for a while and shifted his base regularly.

“His modus operandi, as an astrologer, was to lure persons on pretext of sending them abroad by recommending names of his accomplices as reputed travel agents. The accomplices Davinder Singh and Ram Kumar have also been arrested,” the police said.

G.S. Toor, SSP, Barnala said, “ The Barnala CIA staff have seized Rs 18 lakh, a Safari Jeep HR-06P-5555, nine passports, 206 gm gold and 148 gm silver ornaments, 350 gm artificial ornaments, 30 watches and 4 mobile sets from possession of the accused. Toor added. Singh has also been booked on charges of rape, planning a theft and trespassing into private property. — TNS