Amritsar, November 15
Going by precedent, the SGPC members today extended all rights to the SAD president and Deputy Chief Minister, Sukhbir Singh Badal, to name all candidates, including that for the post of the president of the SGPC.

Sukhbir today had closed-door deliberations with the committee members in the Teja Singh Samundari Hall in the Golden Temple complex on the forthcoming SGPC general elections, likely to take place in March next year.

Former President of the SGPC, Prof Kirpal Singh, proposed to give all rights for the nomination of the SGPC members and the body’s president to the SAD president. The proposal was accepted unanimously by 114 members, who attend ed the meeting.

The SGPC president, Avtar Singh, a former president of the SGPC, Jagdev Singh Talwandi, and the SAD president addressed the gathering.

The SGPC House has a total of 190 members, including 170 elected members, 15 nominated members and five Jathedars. All of them, except the Jathedars, have voting rights. The SAD has a clear majority in the House with over 130 members. Though some SGPC members, mostly from the SAD, have passed away in the last few years, it would have little impact on the poll outcome.

After the meeting, the SAD President said that he would seek the opinion of all members of the SGPC before finalising the list. The list will be declared tomorrow.

The SAD president said the SGPC accounts

would shortly be made online. Through this facility, anyone sitting in any part of the world would have access to see the accumulation as well as utilisation of the committee’s funds.

Keeping in mind the enormous number of pilgrims’ footfall, the committee has decided to renovate its langar hall and sarai.

“We have already finalised drawings for these two projects, and it will be our endeavour to start these projects in January or February. The langar hall would be extended so that it caters to at least 50,000 devotees at a time. New sarais will be constructed with 300 rooms and the present ones will be renovated at a cost of Rs 20 crore,” he said.

Another significant addition will be that the four-acre land near the Akali market around the Golden Temple will be transformed into a museum and an auditorium (for a sound and light show) at a cost of Rs 60 crore.

Chandigarh, November 15
If the winds of change ever blew in Punjab, it would be riding on the colour saffron. Manpreet’s show of strength in Amritsar yesterday made it clear that the former Finance Minister had not just dented the SAD vote bank across Punjab, but also introduced a paradigm shift in how politics is conducted in the state.

The colour of sacrifice chosen by Manpreet for the “second freedom movement” and his clarion call to end an era of corruption, poverty and separatism to his supporters took back onlookers to the politics in the Gandhian times.

To begin with, Manpreet did not promise the moon to his supporters, if anything he warned them of difficulties ahead. Then he refused to succumb to the easy vote-gathering slogan of “panth khatre vich” (there is a danger to the panth), which has been for years used by politicians whenever it was felt that religion could be misused to draw support.

The crowds he managed to pull was yet another lesson for a whole tribe of politicians that it is possible to be “popular” while remaining simple and down-to-earth.

Declaring a Utopian agenda for Punjab, Manpreet expects the three political parties in the state to respond to his programme or at least push up by several notches the level of political discussion in the state. With this agenda in place, he is bound to catch the fancy of the state’s intelligentsia.

On the flip side, however, while mooting a blueprint for cleaning up politics and administration and strengthening the state’s economy, Manpreet has also set for himself and his group exacting standards of functioning. There is now a real danger of Manpreet’s agenda becoming his own worst trap.

Though Manpreet has the image of a “clean” politician himself, in the coming days, the former Finance Minister is likely to face a fair amount of criticism and allegations against those who support him.

The first reaction given out by SAD general secretary Mahesh Inder Singh Grewal today points towards what lies ahead for Manpreet and his group.

Grewal takes a dig at the principle advocated by Manpreet of not including blood relative in the ministry by pointing out that whatever Manpreet has achieved in politics since 1995 was only because of relationship with Parkash Singh Badal and Manpreet himself has admitted this at every public rally.

“While condemning dynastic politics, Manpreet should come out publicly that how he pressurised for Jalandhar Cantt ticket to his cousin Jagbir Singh Brar,” challenged Grewal.

He added that Manpreet while posing to launch a fight against corruption should come out clear on the corruption charges against his associate MLAs Manjinder Singh Kang and Charanjit Singh Channi.

Grewal also questioned Manpreet’s constantly changing stance on the issue of subsidies. Manpreet has been speaking against giving any kind of power subsidy to farmers. But over the days, he has changed his stance and said he was not against power subsidies being given to small and marginal farmers.

Chandigarh, November 15
The SAD has termed the new agenda announced by Manpreet Singh Badal at Amritsar as “a mere reiteration of the programmes and policies of the Shiromani Akali Dal.”

In a statement issued here yesterday, the SAD said Manpreet’s rally was a flop show where the gathering was a crowd of people borrowed from the Congress and anti-SAD splinter groups. “All the points that figure on the so-called new agenda form not just a part of the party’s programmes but also feature on its manifestoes for the 2002 and 2007 elections. Manpreet Singh needs to tell the people as to what did he do as minister to achieve these goals.”

The statement also ridiculed Manpreet’s assertion that two blood relatives should not be members of the same Cabinet. “If this is his genuine conviction, he should have refused to become a minister in a Cabinet headed by his uncle, Parkash Singh Badal.

The statement said that Manpreet’s stand on subsidies was “laughable”. On the one hand, he is opposing the subsidies, calling them as a fiscal management disaster, while on the other hand, he described old-age pension, food subsidy (atta-daal scheme), education and health subsidies as “good subsidies”. Further the statement reads that Manpreet did not utter a word against the policies of the Congress government at the Centre that are responsible for the debt burden against Punjab. Meanwhile, Congress Qila Raipur legislator Jassi Khangura said the panic over Manpreet’s Amritsar visit in the ruling SAD-BJP alliance indicated that Manpreet was striding towards a viable alternative to the family-ruled SAD in the state.

Ludhiana, November 15
A 27- year-old man, who was suffering from dengue for the past 15 days, allegedly committed suicide by hanging himself from a fan at his house at Khud Mohalla here yesterday. The deceased has been identified as Davinder Kumar.

According to his kin, Davinder Kumar was upset, as the treatment of dengue had led to financial crises in the family. However, no suicide note was found from the possession of the deceased.

He was working as a sales executive in a telecommunication company and was the sole breadwinner, as his father had passed away 10 years ago. 

Sangrur, November 15
Women in villages in this district are practically sewing their way to self-reliance. Many like Gurmeet Kaur of Akoi village, near here, had little hope till a year back. Married to a daily wage worker, who misses out on work regularly, she sometimes found it difficult to make two square meals for her family. However, learning crochet and embroidery has changed her life. Now she can sell what she sews, has a comfortable work place and can even dream of branching out on her own.

Gurmeet and others like her are taking advantage of a rural centre of excellence project started by the Umeed Foundation one and half years back. The project has created three centres of excellence for embroidery work in villages and is in the process of establishing three more centres.

“We wanted to ensure regular work to rural women to their liking”, says Umeed Chairman Arvind Khanna. He disclosed that earlier the foundation had established a work centre in Sangrur but decided to make small centres in villages to ensure more women could participate in the programme.

At Akoi Sahab, Umeed uses a government centre where women get mattresses and low tables of their own to ensure ease of work. Centre in charge Asha says while some women and girls know embroidery before coming to the centre, others learn as their work. Asha says working at the centre, where the work done by the women is constantly monitored, ensures quality in all products made by the women.

Umeed helps market the products by taking advance orders from shops in Delhi and Mumbai and even arranges direct tie-ups with the women. “The motivation is infectious”, says Asha, adding women were getting into individual entrepreneurship after taking part in the programme.

Besides this Umeed also runs a “health on the doorstep” programme in the district. Under this medicines are provided free of cost to villages by a set of seven teams comprising one doctor each. An Umeed doctor in Munshiwala village said the organisation had identified around 30 generic medicines, which covered most illnesses. He said besides providing primary healthcare, the organisation was also holding specialty camps for various illnesses.

Former Sangrur legislator Arvind Khanna says he started Umeed in 1997 to provide primary healthcare as well as work for women empowerment in the rural areas. He says from covering only 20 villages on initiation, the two projects now cover 550 villages. (Concluded)

Chandigarh, November 15
Prof Atamjit Singh, an eminent academic and a literary scholar who worked tirelessly throughout his life to promote Punjabi language and literature in India and around the world, passed away in San Jose (United States) on November 12. He was 76.

Prof Atamjit Singh was born in Muktsar, raised in a family of academics and received his PhD from the University of Delhi under the guidance of Punjabi poet-scholar, Dr Harbhajan Singh. His doctoral work was on the concept of shringhar in the compositions of the fifth Sikh Guru, Guru Arjan Dev.

He served as a Professor and held the Chair of the School of Punjabi Studies at Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar. He also taught courses in Punjabi language at Tokyo University of Foreign Languages, and held seminars and workshops at the Osaka University of Foreign Studies. In August 1993, Prof Atamjit Singh joined the University of California-Berkeley's Department of South and Southeast Asian Studies and established the first Punjabi Language Program on a California campus.

Both in India and the United States, Professor Atamjit Singh worked with a number of academic organizations such as the Punjabi Sahit Akademi (the Punjabi Literary Academy) in India and the Punjabi Writers Associations in US and Canada. In a message from Delhi, Prof Chandra Mohan, the General Secretary of the Comparative Literature Association of India (of which Prof Atamjit Singh was an Advisory Council Member), paid tributes to Prof Atamjit Singh’s “outstanding contributions to the development of Punjabi and Comparative Indian Literature both at national and international levels.” Prof Atamjit Singh is survived by his wife, Swaranjit Oberoi, and his son, Col Pankaj Punit Singh.

Fatehgarh Sahib, November 15
Restoration work of dilapidating historical Jahaz Haveli of Diwan Todar Mal has begun. The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) has initiated the work with help of England-based Virsa Sambhal organisation.

Diwan Todar Mal had relinquished his entire wealth to get a small piece of land to perform last rites of Sahibzadas of Guru Gobind Singh and his mother Mata Gujri. Nawab Wazir Khan (Nawab of Sirhind) had ordered to brick alive both Sahibzadas. The SGPC had stated that efforts were being made to restore the haveli to its original shape and glory. Major portions of the building collapsed over the years due to lack of care.

Restoration work will be done in a phased manner under the supervision of the Punjab Conservation Department. The work of first phase will be completed in next one month. The SGPC took charge of the haveli after it passed resolution to conserve Sikh culture-related heritage. Over the years, the haveli fell victim to the government’s apathetic attitude and mostly people around took care of it. Interestingly, in the year 2003, a private trust got the haveli’s egistration in its name without even paying its stamp duty. A local NGO and Jain community had also claimed its stake over the haveli and demanded that the haveli be given to them.

The SGPC brought the entire matter to the notice of Chief Minister Prakash Singh Badal. On interference of the SGPC, the private trust and the local NGO withdrew its claim. The trust, in fact, handed over all documents of the haveli to the SGPC in 2007. Since then the SGPC is in possession of this haveli and has been making plans for its restoration work.

Rajpura, November 15
Lack of basic infrastructure has lead to rise in the number of accidents on the roads of Rajpura. The traffic police neither has adequate manpower nor basic facilities like ambulances or cranes to deal with accident victims and vehicles.

“There have been instances when an accidental vehicle has not been removed from road and other vehicles plying on same stretch have ended up colliding with it,” said a traffic cop on duty in Rajpura. Three people have lost their lives in this month itself on the busy roads of Rajpura.

Similar accidents have been reported in the past as well. Admitting lack of basic infrastructure and problem of amateur and uneducated drivers, the Rajpura traffic police in charge Roshan Lal said low visibility due to dip in temperature has also lead to rise in the number of accidents during early morning hours.

Besides this, volume of traffic during odd hours has also increased manifolds due to marriage season, he added.

“Nine constables and two assistant sub-inspectors have been assigned the task of regulating traffic on a stretch of around 55 km area in Rajpura,” he said.

Besides losing precious lives in accidents, there have also been many cases of serious injuries going unreported, added the traffic cops.

They said the government had not provided them cranes or ambulances and they have to depend upon NGOs to get services of cranes and ambulances, they added.

A bus driver, while trying to save a scooterist on the Rajpura-Patiala road at around 7 am, met with an accident today. However, the bus could not be removed from accident spot even after four hours and a speeding car bedecked with flowers from Chandigarh rammed into it.

“While the bridegroom received injuries on his arms and the driver received head injuries. They were rushed to a nearby hospital,” said Jaswinder Singh, an area resident. Had the bus been removed from the road, the second accident could have been averted. Traffic police officials claimed that the driver was drunk and action would be initiated against him.

Chandigarh, November 15
Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal recently directed the Punjab Police to go in for technological upgrading of its infrastructure to keep ahead of techno-savvy criminals. Speaking after distributing the prizes for inter-district and inter-battalion competitions held by the Punjab Police, the Deputy Chief Minister said with criminals becoming techno-savvy, it was imperative to equip the force with ultramodern technology and weaponry.

Badal also urged the police force to ensure that the proposed Police Suvidha Kendras should start functioning in an efficient manner by March 31 next year. He appreciated the initiative of State Police Chief PS Gill to recognise the services of cutting-edge-level Officers/Officials of the Punjab Police by organising an inter-district and inter-battalion competition aimed to improve the professional competency of the force.

It may be mentioned here that the Roopnagar district headed by SSP Jatinder Singh Aulakh was adjudged the best district, followed by Faridkot and Moga. Similarly, in best Battalion category the 7th IRB /Kapurthala was adjudged the best followed by the 1st IRB/Patiala and 82 Battalion, PAP Chandigarh. In the best police station category, the police station of Noorpur Bedi, Sultanpur Lodhi and Sarabha Nagar (Ludhiana) bagged the first three positions. 

Chandigarh, November 15
The Punjab Government’s Department of Local Bodies is all set to go hi-tech with its plan for adoption of e-governance in offices of all municipal bodies, improvement trusts and the Local Government Department.

Making an announcement to this effect recently, Minister for Local Bodies Manoranjan Kalia said all e-governance centres would be operated on the public private partnership (PPP) mode. Kalia spoke at the pre-bid meeting of prospective bidders held at Hotel Taj recently. The project aims to bring citizen satisfaction through integrated service delivery on anytime and anywhere basis.

“The focus is on transparent, effective and efficient system of governance. The Department of Local Government through the Punjab Municipal Infrastructure Development Company (PMIDC) is implementing this prestigious project,” Kalia said.

Service delivery infrastructure will be set up in the form of the urban suvidha centres (facilitation centres) in urban pockets across the state. People will have the convenience of availing services in their areas apart from offices of respective corporations and municipalities’ offices or at conveniently located authorised kiosks in addition to online services for bill payments and other services for various utilities.

“With click of button, all details of house tax dues, water supply bills and recoverable arrears etc. of all urban local bodies will be available,” he said.

These kiosks will provide single window solution for people toppled with quick response time for a service. Keeping in view the convenience of working class, these will operate from 8 am to 8 pm, except on Sundays.