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SGPC slips on women quota resolution
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Manpreet was pawn of Centre: SAD
Farmers in south-west Punjab switch over to pisciculture
State farmers’ help sought in developing land in Canada
Elevation of PPS Officers
Rs 5,000 cr for Punjab roads
After ‘failing’ to get police help, labourer ends life
Railways, govt to ink pact
Dalits to hold protest in Delhi
Protesters call off stir
Power staff stir on
Yuvi pays obeisance
RTI activists’ ultimatum to Punjab info panel
2 held in Malout kidnap case
Tehsildar accused of taking bribe
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SGPC slips on women quota resolution
Amritsar, November 17 Contrary to its tradition, this time it was an “all-men show”. All four posts of office-bearers as well as 11 seats of executive members were filled by men only, whereas in the last SGPC executive committee, there were two women members - Bhajan Kaur Dograwala and Ravinder Kaur. SGPC president Avtar Singh Makkar and SAD spokesperson Daljit Singh Cheema cited “political compulsions” for their failure to reserve seats for women this time. It is learnt that the name of Bhajan Kaur figured in the list, but it was withdrawn at the eleventh hour. “We had one woman candidate on the list but her name had to be withdrawn after opposition members’ demand for including at least two members from their side got the approval of the general house,” he said. Though considered apolitical, the SGPC elections are always fought on political lines. The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), the ruling party in Punjab, had backed Avtar Singh Makkar for the coveted post. “At least one seat should have been given to a woman member, no matter what the political compulsions were,” said Kiranjot Kaur, an SGPC member. The Nanhi Chhan campaign was on top of the agenda of the SAD and it had resolved to reserve 33 per cent seats for women in the Shiromani committee. Backed by the SAD, Bibi Jagir Kaur was elected the first woman SGPC president in 1999. Kiranjot Kaur was elected the general secretary. She held the post for two terms, besides being the executive member for four years. Bhajan Kaur Dograwala was an executive member for the past three years. However, this time women members have been ignored.
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Malwa region becomes political battlefield
Bathinda, November 17 Although the ruling Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) was beaten by the Congress in the Malwa belt in the Assembly elections of 2007, the area is considered the traditional stronghold of Parkash Singh Badal. The Congress and the rebel Manpreet Singh have apparently chosen to launch an offensive against the SAD in this region as Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, his son and Deputy CM Sukhbir Singh Badal and daughter-in-law and sitting MP Harsimrat Kaur represent various constituencies in this area. While Ravneet Singh Bittu, president of the Punjab State Youth Congress and sitting MP, is currently touring various parts of the Malwa region campaigning against the Badal government, Capt Amarinder Singh is shortly expected to tour the region. Manpreet Singh has chosen to launch his “Jago Punjab Yatra” primarily against the ruling Badals on November 24 at Faridkot. Interestingly, he will visit the Ferozepur rural areas on November 26 but has listed the hotspots of Bathinda, Muktsar and Jalalabad towards the end of the first leg of his “yatra” itinerary in the last week of December and early January. These areas are of political significance because Harsimrat Kaur is MP from Bathinda, Parkash Singh Badal represents the Lambi segment of Muktsar district and Sukhbir Singh Badal is MLA from Jalalabad in Ferozepur district. He will take on Sukhbir Singh Badal at Jalalabad on the last day of the first phase of his “yatra” on January 12 following which Manpreet Singh will begin the second phase in the Majha and Doaba regions. He has been targeting Sukhbir Singh Badal at the rallies he has organised so far. Manpreet Singh had blown the bugle of rebellion by organising the first rally against the Badals in the gurdwara at Chhatiana village in his Gidderbaha constituency in Muktsar. The Badal family is also not taking lightly the emerging political scenario.The frequency of flights of Sukhbir Singh to his native Badal village has increased during the past few days. Harsimrat Kaur recently undertook a five-day “Sangat Darshan” tour to the urban and rural areas of Bathinda and Mansa districts during which her effort was to settle on the spot the grievances of people. Activists of the SAD have launched a whispering campaign to paint Manpreet Singh as anti-farmer as he had demanded the scrapping of farm subsidies.
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Manpreet was pawn of Centre: SAD
Chandigarh, November 17 “When the Centre got cornered on issues like unequal sharing of taxes, waiving of loan taken for fighting the nation’s war on terror, certain anti-Punjab elements got Manpreet to raise the issue of subsidies and Central debt waiver to divert attention,” he said. The former Punjab Minister said the timing of “Manpreet’s revolt” left no doubt in his mind that certain forces that wanted to destabilise the state and halt the flow of investment into the state used the former Finance Minister and he “knowingly or unknowingly played into their hands”. Spelling out these anti-Punjab forces, Chandumajra said these were not limited to the Congress, but could include corporate houses, besides others. Not seeing the possibility of any compromise between the SAD and the former Finance Minister, Chandumajra said. “When I was a minister in 1985, the state’s budget was in the surplus. Punjab paid for fighting for terrorism, produced grain for the nation during the green revolution and in the process spoilt its land, polluted its water and even became debt ridden.” “When the Centre was confronted with these facts and it did not have any justification for discrimination with Punjab, the bogey of subsidies and Central debt-waiver was got raised through Manpreet to sideline the issue,” he added. “Did the Centre not give away Rs 5 lakh crore in subsidies to the corporate world, Rs 3 lakh crore for reviving of sick units? But when it comes to subsidies for the farmers, there is a problem,” he added. When Punjab buys power at Rs 7 per unit and gives it to domestic consumers for Rs 3.50 per unit and to the industry at Rs 4 per unit, it is subsidising domestic consumers and the industry. “There is a problem on the subsidy to the farmers, but no one talks about the subsidy to the industry and domestic consumers.” Chandumajra was of the opinion that the flight of 274 industrial units causing a loss of Rs 3,750 crore to Punjab has been on account of a well thought of strategy to ensure that there was no fresh investment in the state.
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Congress admits to unfinished agenda
Chandigarh, November 17 The party would like to give a fillip to industrial growth, which it maintains is stagnating, by focusing on an economic agenda for Punjab. It would also encourage turning part of the agricultural labour force into an industrial labour force besides bringing in the processing industry to double the income of farmers of the state. Senior Congress leader and party ecomomic and planning cell chairman R R Bhardwaj in an interview with TNS said the revenue deficit of the state had decreased during Congress rule from Rs 3,660 crore in 2002 to Rs 1,749 crore in 2007. Bhardwaj claimed the revenue deficit this year was likely to be around Rs 4,151 crore. He said similarly fixed expenditure during Congress rule in 2007 was Rs 11,811 crore as compared to Rs 18,701 crore now according to
the budgetary estimates of 2010. Admitting that industrial growth had been slack for some years and that mega projects could not take off during Congress rule also, Bhardwaj said mega and super-mega projects in the fields of health, education and agricultural research would be promoted if the party returned to power. Speaking about crop diversification attempts, including the citrus initiative, the Congress leader said more needed to be done on the diversification front and that the party would make attempts to ensure the minimum support price (MSP) for all agricultural products besides encouraging the setting up of agri-processing units in the state. On the issues of education and health, Bhardwaj said the party would promise the exact amount of the GDP it would allocate to the education sector. Claiming that the Adarsh scheme of the SAD-BJP government had failed miserably, he said the Congress would focus on improving the lot of all government schools. In the case of health, the Congress leader said not even 0.3 per cent of the GDP was being spent on this sector. “If you take away the national rural health programme only about Rs 150 crore is being spent on health by the SAD-BJP regime”, he said. Among other initiatives, which could not be taken up by the last Congress government, were the development of satellite towns and converting link roads into district roads. Bhardwaj said Pradesh Congress President and former Chief Minister Amarinder Singh was likely to constitute separate groups to prepare the agenda for the next poll which would include the unfinished agenda of the last government also. He said Capt Amarinder Singh would involve all sections of society in the agenda formation, which would be the basis for the party’s election manifesto.
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Farmers seek bonus on paddy
Jalandhar, November 17 The Bharti Kisan Union (Rajewal) says the collective loss to farmers in fiscal terms will be in the range of Rs 1,800 crore. Government officials have estimated it at Rs 1,200-1,300 crore. Besides, there will be a loss of Rs 150 crore to ` 200 crore to the state exchequer and the Mandi Board in the form of VAT, market fee, etc. Against last year’s figure of 142.5 lakh tonnes, this year the arrival of paddy will be in the range of 130 lakh tonnes. Till today, about 127 lakh tonnes of paddy had arrived in various grain markets. Yesterday, the arrival of paddy had come down to a few thousand quintals from the peak season figure of 4-5 lakh quintals per day. In fact, the arrival of paddy has stopped in most of the districts in the state. However, its arrival continues, albeit in a small quantity, in some of Malwa’s districts such as Barnala, Mansa, Bathinda, Sangrur and Moga. Arrivals also continue in some parts of Gurdaspur district. “We expect that the total arrival of paddy that is procured for the central pool will be about 130 lakh tonnes this year”, said a senior state government official, who is monitoring the arrival on a day- to-day basis. “Most of the paddy procurement centres have already been closed due to the non-arrival of paddy”, he said. Meanwhile, BKU president Balbir Singh Rajewal said the Centre should give ` 500 per quintal as bonus to compensate farmers who have suffered yield loss. He said the Centre had not revised the minimum support price (MSP) of paddy this year and it had been procured at last year’s price of Rs 1,030 per quintal. Owing to floods farmers had to transplant paddy twice this year and the cost of transplantation shot up to Rs 2,500 per acre from last year’s figure of ` 600-1,000 per acre. Besides, the
input cost on diesel, fertiliser and seed had also gone up this year. Rajewal said that apart from bonus, the Centre should also give a package to the state to improve the deteriorating health of the soil. He said the soil had fatigued and a high dose of nutrients was required to rejuvenate it. “The BKU had met twice senior Ministers at the Centre in recent weeks. Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee had also given an assurance to announce a bonus on paddy,” said Rajewal, adding that this should be done immediately.
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Farmers in south-west Punjab switch over to pisciculture
Ludhiana, November 17 In an effort to give boost to industry and to uplift the spirits of farmers who were adopting the profession, the Zoology Department of Punjab Agriculture University and the Department of Fisheries, Punjab, have prepared and submitted a collaborative project on the culture of marine of freshwater salt-tolerant fishes in saline groundwater to Sir Ratan Tata Trust for
funding. The Fisheries Department, Punjab, has agreed to do 10-20 per cent funding of the project while the Tata trust has been asked to fund the remaining 70
per cent. Giving details about the project, Kanwarjit Singh Sidhu, president, Fish Farmers’ Association, Punjab, said in the state about 17 lakh hectare (33.8 per cent) area was affected by salinity and water-logging of which 1.72 lakh hectare in south-western districts, including Bathinda, Faridkot, Ferozepur, Mansa, Muktsar and some parts of Moga were severely affected, rendering it largely unfit for crop production. “Scientists at PAU, during their researches have found that inland saline aqua-culture is the new area of research and development, particularly in these areas,” said Sidhu. They have found that Indian major carps and Chinese carps grow very tall in the ponds with variations in salinity levels,” said Sidhu. HL Sehgal from the Zoology Department of PAU stressed that the project needs to be upscaled and be demonstrated in other salt-affected districts also. The socio-economic conditions of farmers could be improved if the state government took pains to make the project successful. “One should not forget that about 3,000 farmers in these belts have committed suicide (as per latest survey by PAU) as they failed to produce major crops, including wheat, rice and cotton etc. Freshwater prawn, Macrobrachium rosenborgi, attain a good growth at salinity levels. Males grow to an average body weight of 150 grams while females to 50 grams after eight months of rearing,” said Sehgal. “The state government must realise that there is a wide scope in the pisciculture. It must provide subsidies to farmers to boost their morale,” stressed Sidhu.
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State farmers’ help sought in developing land in Canada
Chandigarh, November 17 Mann, who immigrated from Jalandhar to Canada in 1990, said he wants agriculture to be included among skills required for immigration to Canada
in general and Alberta in particular. “There is a vast potential for developing agriculture in Alberta as the land is fertile. What Alberta needs is trained manpower to develop its agriculture and Punjab can fill the gap,” he said, maintaining his meetings with Punjab Agriculture Minister Sucha Singh Langah and Vice-Chancellor of Punjab Agricultural University MS Kang. “We may go for some joint ventures in agriculture and agro-based industry with the Punjab Government,” he said. People of Alberta are convinced that immigrants from Punjab can be their partners in economic development of their province by making investments or providing their skills in different areas of their expertise. Other area in which Alberta can help Punjabi youths in honing their skills is education. “We want more and more Indian students in general and Punjabi students in particular to come and join special courses tailored
for them. Talking about education, he said: “Universities and colleges in Alberta are ready to introduce
new courses that will suit Punjabi youths. Alberta is the home of Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper. The ruling Conservatives is represented in the House of Commons by two Indo-Canadians of Punjab origin, including Tim Uppal.” “Purpose of my visit is to explore all possible avenues that can foster closer and stronger relationship between Punjab and Alberta,” he said, hoping that after the provincial elections, an official delegation would come and visit Punjab to sign MoUs in areas of bilateral and common interest.
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Elevation of PPS Officers
Jalandhar, November 17 The government had written to the commission in June, seeking the Centre’s permission to fill the vacant posts by promoting provincial officers. The state is facing a shortage of officers, especially because of the setting up of specialised wings. However, even after five months, the state government has not got any response from the UPSC in this regard. Over 22 per cent of the 144 sanctioned IPS posts in the state are lying vacant. As many as 32 posts are required to be filled according to the record available on January 1 this year. According to the IPS Recruitment Rules, 1954, one-third posts of the total authorised strength of IPS officers has to be filled from the state cadre. In this way, 44 of the total 144 IPS posts in Punjab go to the PPS, but surprisingly 18 of these posts are lying vacant at present. Interestingly, no PPS officer has been promoted to the IPS since 2001 due to a long-pending litigation on the seniority list. According to sources in the Home Department, the PPS officers who figure in the list sent to the UPSC include Rajinder Singh, Balkar Singh Sidhu, Gurinder Singh Dhillon, Anish Chawla, SPS Parmar, Amar Singh Chahal, Jatinder Singh Aulakh, Paramdeep Singh Sandhu, Jaskaran Singh, Yurinder Singh, AK Mittal, Gursharan Singh Sandhu, KB Singh, SK Kalia, Parminder Singh, Shammi Kumar, Ranvir Singh Khattra, Tulsi Ram, Sukhdev Singh Bhatti, Dilbagh Singh, Mohinder Singh, Baljot Singh Rathour and Gurpreet Singh Bhullar.
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Panel formed to take up issues of Sikh diaspora
Anandpur Sahib, November 17 Makkar was here to pay obeisance after being re-elected as the SGPC president. He claimed that the SGPC had repeatedly taken up issue of co-opting ten members of the SGPC from different parts of world, with the union government. “Since the union government is taking its own time to give a nod for the co-opting, we have decided to take up this issue. The 21-members committee will be constituted and handed over the task to look after all Sikh diaspora issues,” he said. Blaming the Centre for giving more significance to president of the Delhi Sikh Gurudwara Management Committee (DSGMC), Makkar said, “Centre considers any demand of Sarnas even when given on a plain paper. SGPC duly passes resolutions in its general body meeting and sends it to the union government, but no one cares.” Talking about the demands of making Jagdish Singh Jhinda as ad-hoc president of the Haryana Sikh Parbandhak Commiitte for separate Sikh body for Haryana, Makkar said that Jhinda was merely interested in taking over reigns of a powerful Sikh body. “Jhinda is merely interested in gaining access to vehicle with the red-beacon light fixed atop,” he said. Elaborating on the major works to be undertaken in next few months, Makkar said SGPC would construct a museum worth Rs 60 crore to be situated behind the Akal Takht at Amritsar. He added that all major renovation work of the existing langar hall at Darbar Sahib would be taken up at Rs 20 lakh and another Rs 17 crores would be spent on constructing an inn for pilgrims. He added that all SGPC members have been directed to initiate a campaign in their respective areas against drug addiction.
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Patiala police constitutes anti-gunda staff cell
Patiala, November 17 Brainchild of the Patiala SSP, Gurpreet Singh Gill, the cell would prove to be an effective tool in checking petty crimes in the district and would also provide a sense of security among the inhabitants of the Patiala, especially women and children. Making it clear that the cell would be working independently, Gill said sub-inspector Hemant Sharma would be heading the staff. The office of the staff would be housed in the Civil Lines Police Station. Stating that he would be monitoring the functioning of the cell, SSP said only the best performing cops would be posted there. During the recent past, especially during the festive season, the incidents of snatching, theft, drug trade and other anti-social activities had witnessed a spurt. Besides, the problem of eve teasing in Patiala needed serious attention. “Based on such feedback and minimising public nuisance, even by a drunken person in the royal city of Patiala, we held lot of deliberations and finally decided to formulate a designated cell to tackle the situation,” Gill said. SSP said the cops under the staff would be deployed at various places in the Patiala. “The cops in mufti would work on checking the increasing drug menace and device methods to end the drug trade network. Besides, the cops will remain stationed near educational institutions, busy markets, parks and other public places so that they can immediately swing into action in case of any emergency”, he added. Gill said in order to report any activity against law, people can call city police control room at 098764-32100 and 0175-2311115. “Once the information is passed on, within minutes the control room would inform the cell to take stock of the situation,” he concluded.
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India-Oz working group visits Ropar
Ropar, November 17 The group would be visiting Bhakra dam tomorrow and will interact with the Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB) officials as well. The Group aims to study water planning and allocation management, basic management of water, water information and knowledge management, water and climate change, hydrology and groundwater governance. This is the first phase of JWG’s visit to India. The four-day visit from November 15 to 19 will focus on integrated water resources, development, climate change and collaboration programs in peace areas. The Delegation members represent senior level professionals in respective fields associated with water resources and hydro metrology sectors in Australia. They will share their experiences with Indian professionals and engineers. The Interaction will enable the JWG to flag a number of relevant issues, which could be taken up for bilateral cooperation.
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Rs 5,000 cr for Punjab roads
Fatehgarh Sahib, November 17 Admitting that there were problems in some of the busy intersections of major cities, Dhindsa said utmost attention was being been paid by their government towards road safety and convenience for the commuters. He honoured the meritorious students of the school and announced a grant of Rs 1 lakh for the various developmental works of the school. He also announced the construction of a one-kilometer long road from Bassi Pathana bypass to the police station. District Planning Board Chairperson Satwinder Kaur Dhaliwal, Sirhind municipal council president Gurbinder Bhatti, president of the school management Nakesh Jindal and other prominent people of the area were also present.
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After ‘failing’ to get police help, labourer ends life
Faridkot, November 17 The police had lodged an FIR against the former sarpanch and two others for abetment to suicide but no one was arrested. As per the details, the labourer, Kulwant Singh, consumed some poisonous substance before going to sleep late last night. Surjit Singh, father of the deceased, has alleged that former sarpanch Munsha Singh and his sons Kala Singh and Gola Singh were harassing his son for the past many months, the complaint of which was also registered with the police at the Faridkot police station (rural). The police also harassed him, he claimed. The police initially took into custody Kala, but later released him. After his release, Kala and his father again started harassing his son, he further alleged. Initially, the police did not register any case against them but when a deputation of local villagers and Dalit organisations met the SSP, the police lodged an FIR against the three accused. Meanwhile, Gursher Singh, SHO, of the local police station claimed that the police never harassed the deceased and the allegations of his father were baseless. SSP Gurmeet Singh Randhawa while talking to mediapersons had stated that he was going through the facts and circumstances of the case and until that he could not comment anything.
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Railways, govt to ink pact
New Delhi, November 17 The MoU will be applicable to mutually agreed projects and will help expedite work on these, a spokesperson for the Punjab government said after a meeting between Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal and officials of the Northern Railway here today. Presiding over the meeting, the Deputy Chief Minister said he had already met Union Railway Minister Mamta Banerjee and the Chairman of the Railway Board and they had appreciated his new proposal for the unified construction of a railway overbridge. The meeting was informed that the department had started the construction of 28 railway overbridges and underbridges of which 22 had been completed. Five others were likely to be ready by March 2011.
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Dalits to hold protest in Delhi
Bathinda, November 17 The national president of Dr Ambedkar Parinirvan Bhoomi Samman Programme Samiti, Delhi, Indresh Gajbhiye, who is a former Finance Minister of Madhya Pradesh, said here today that he was here to mobilise Dalits for the protest. Indresh said the then Vajpayee-led NDA government had declared “Parinirvan Bhoomi” as a national memorial in 2003 after purchasing it for Rs 16 crore. Besides, the NDA government had also made development plans worth crores for its development, but after a change of government at the Centre in 2004, nothing had been done by the UPA-led government and the place was in a state of neglect, he added.
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Protesters call off stir
Mansa, November 17 NS Brar, SDM, Mansa, said all their demands, including the compensation to the family of a farmer, Sadhu Singh of Gehal village, who had died on Monday night due to heart attack while sitting on dharna, were accepted by the state government. Besides, the SDM announced that the persons accused of shielding Naib Tehsildar Budhladha, who was also an accused in the firing incident, would face departmental and legal action.
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Power staff stir on
Patiala, November 17 Some of the protesters, who had perched on PSPCLs rooftop and threatened to commit suicide, continued to remain there. All efforts of the district administration failed to pacify the protesters. As many as 200 kin of the deceased employees of erstwhile PSEB, have been demanding jobs in PSPCL, on compassionate grounds. Under the Mritak Mulazam Asrit Sangharsh Committee, these protesters had earlier resorted to similar agitation in March, this year. Five persons perched on PSPCLs rooftop are not ready to come down, till their demands are met. It is learnt, these protesters are carrying petrol with them. Raising slogans against the Punjab government, the protesters threatened to jump from the roof. President of the association, Dilbag Singh said PSPCL authorities were not ready to accept their genuine demand of giving them jobs.
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Yuvi pays obeisance
Anandpur Sahib, November 17 Appreciating Bhajji’s century he said it showed that the budding spinner had worked quite hard to improve his batting. Manager of the Punjab and Sind Bank, Inderpal Singh Chadha and other prominent people of the area welcomed
Yuvi.
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RTI activists’ ultimatum to Punjab info panel Chandigarh, November 17
Addressing the press conference, state president of the Federation HC Arora along with vice-president HS Rathi and secretary Anil Vashisht disclosed that an action committee of seven office-bearers had been set up for the purpose of deciding further course of action of agitation. This Committee shall meet after expiry of 15 days. The Mohali District president Kuldeep Singh Walia added that yesterday a Charter of Demands containing 23 demands of the Federation had been delivered in the office of the Chief Information Commissioner Ramesh Inder Singh and copies of the same had been delivered in the offices of all other nine information commissioners. A charter of demands has been separately sent to the Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, he added. The charter includes a complaint against a commissioner from whom the members have requested that work be withdrawn.“It is a general complaint that some Information Commissioners ask the appellants as to what is their interest in seeking information; some others discourage the appellants by observing “What would you get if penalty is imposed; the penalty would go to Government and not to you”; this approach amounts to “misconduct or misbehaviour” on their part, and discourages and demoralises the RTI Activists/ appellants,” state the charter of demands. They added that all the Information Commissioners should hold sittings daily from their Chambers till they could be provided with courtrooms. In the Central Information Commission, New Delhi, the Information Commissioners are holding sittings in their Chambers. The Information Commission should categorically state in the notice of hearing that only the PIO/APIO should attend the hearing of the case, and that in case some other person is deputed for hearing before the Information Commission, leading to adjournment of the proceedings, the Commission may pass an order for giving compensation to the appellant for adjournment.
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2 held in Malout kidnap case
Bathinda, November 17 Though the boy, Nandan Nagpal, a student of Khalsa College, Chandigarh, was released three days after the kidnapping, the state police had failed to nab the kidnappers. Since the crime was committed in Bathinda, a case in this regard was registered at the Thermal police station in Bathinda. Being a high-profile case as it involved a renowned family of the region and because the kidnappers had demanded a ransom of Rs 3 crore, the then IG, Bathinda, had taken the investigation into his hands. Later, the IG got transferred and the investigation was reportedly swept under the carpet. However, recently, two persons, Daljeet Singh of Aspala village and Kampal Singh of Sarava Bodla village (both villages in Muktsar district), emerged as suspects in two old cases with the CBI. A joint team of CBI sleuths and the Haryana police reportedly rounded them up from their villages. During interrogation, they confessed to their role in the Malout kidnapping case, CBI officials claimed. It was only after a complaint was lodged by the kin of these two persons at the Kabarwala police station (Muktsar) on Tuesday stating that they had gone missing, that the Haryana police today disclosed that they were in its custody. A case was registered against them at a police station in Sector 14, of Panchkula. According to reports, the boy was kidnapped with the help of a girl, who had offered him friendship. He was on his way to Malout from Chandigarh in his car, when he was kidnapped at Bathinda, where the girl had met him. After the kidnapping, the accused kept him in the basement of a building, somewhere in Muktsar district. After three days, the boy was left on a road connecting Malout and Muktsar in the wee hours, from where he called up his family members.
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Tehsildar accused of taking bribe
Morinda, November 17 Instead of taking Rs 31,000 as the government fees, the tehsildar allegedly asked for Rs 1.26 lakh. “My relatives called me up and next day and I visited the tehsildar. The tehsildar claimed that though Rs 1.26 lakh was the government fees he would take only Rs 1 lakh from my relatives,” said MLA Jagjeevan Singh Khirnia. Khirnia added that his relatives paid the requisite amount of Rs 1 lakh. A day later, Surjit Singh came to know that the actual government fee was Rs 31,000. “Then we realised that when an MLA can be made to pay bribe, what would be the plight of a common man. I again approached the tehsildar and told him that he had wrongly charged Rs 1 lakh. But instead of accepting his mistake, he held his subordinate patwari responsible,” Khirnia said. Deputy commissioner Ropar AS Miglani said he had received the complaint and stringent action would be taken against those found guilty. When contacted, tehsildar Harnek Singh Makhmailpur, said the patwari Joginder Singh had taken the amount by mistake.“Joginder was in an inebriated state and he has created this mess. We have initiated an inquiry against him,” he said. The accused, patwari Joginder Singh was not available for comments. In Punjab, many revenue officials hide the rule that when a landowner gives land to his or her successor in rural areas, only one percent of total registry is charged as transfer government fees. The state government has waived off stamp duty on this procedure. Area residents said a detailed inquiry should be conducted into similar episodes all over the state and people should be refunded their money that has been wrongly taken.
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The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), which had resolved to reserve 33 per cent seats for women and which was the launching platform of the Nanhi Chhan campaign for women rights, has invited the ire of women for ignoring them while finalising the candidates for the executive committee of the Shiromani committee yesterday.
Adding a conspiracy theory to the rift in the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), party general secretary Prem Singh Chandumajra has said some corporate houses and anti-Punjab forces at the Centre used Manpreet Badal to prevent flow of investment into the state.
“When the Centre got cornered on issues like unequal sharing of taxes, waiving of loan taken for fighting the nation’s war on terror, certain anti-Punjab elements got Manpreet to raise the issue of subsidies and Central debt waiver to divert attention,” he said.
Chandigarh, November 17
